COLLECTED IN SIKKIM. 459 
I followed the eastern spur of Tonglo, along which runs the track to Pulbazar, 
and there found several species which I did not notice elsewhere, among them 
the beautiful Symplocos dryophila and Pyrus Hedlundi. 
May 9th. Tonglo to Darjiling by Manepanjan, Chiman, Sukia, and Jorepokri 
(7400). From Manepanjan a forest-ridge is followed of the same character as 
Gumpahar, of which it is a western prolongation. 
The forests of Sikkim have been so often and so well described that I will 
only say that, with the exception of the Rhododendron region, they struck me 
as flowerless at all levels at the season when I visited them. The individual 
flowering trees, shrubs, and plants are scattered and do not form a mass of 
any colour. А group of Bauhinia variegata near Badantam and occasional 
patches of Melastoma malabathricum alone made any great colour impression 
on my eye. Above the forest-level the flowers must be brilliant later in 
the year, but when I was there, except a few groups of Anemone obtusifolia 
and some Primulas here and there, nothing but Rhododendrons made any 
show. 
The foliage, especially of the upper forest, is monotonous, almost as much 
so as т the Lucalyptus bush of Australia, the texture and colour of the leaves 
of trees оЁ quite unrelated genera being curiously similar, due no doubt to 
parallel adaptation to the climatie conditions. 
Perhaps I did not properly appreciate the profusion of orchids, owing to 
their having been ravaged everywhere near the Governor's route to decorate 
the flowery arbours erected for the wayside repose of H.E. and for his 
refreshment with Marwa beer, a taste for which beverage is very quickly 
acquired in the hot valleys. 
The great marvel of the upper forests are the aroids, particularly Arisema ; 
they are so plentiful and of so many species, one more wonderful than 
another. Perhaps A. Grifithii is the most extraordinary. There is a field 
for glory for any young naturalist who could devote sufficient time and 
sufficient brains to the study of their life-history, their method of fertilization 
and the insects concerned in it. What is the function of those astounding 
filiform appendages which lie along the ground? I never found any insects 
in the spathes that I opened. Гога Carmichael, whose knowledge of ento- 
mology is very exceptional, suggested that these plants may be frequented by 
small nocturnal spiders guided by these appendages when they encounter 
them in their peregrinations. They certainly seem to be arranged for 
creatures whose movements are directed by some sense of touch and not by 
sight or smell. 
This list contains a far greater number of genera and of orders than would 
be found in the same number of specimens collected in the richest districts 
of the Mediterranean flora. But this superiority does not extend to species. 
