22 MISS L. 8. GIBBS ON THE FLORA AND PLANT FORMATIONS 
the temperature being always pleasantly cool, while the nights are quite cold 
for the Tropics. f 
The vicinity proved botanieally interesting. Another sand-area showed 
a distinct association : passing a damp patch, with the minute Utricularia 
eallophysa growing abundantly, a path led on to drier soil, with Fordia 
Gibbsiv of fastigiate habit, having erect racemes of magenta-pink flowers, 
Vaccinium bancanum with white flowers, and Vitex pubescens, all about 3 m. 
high. White Dianella ensifolia, Nephrolepis biserratum, Pteridium aquilinum, 
and Rhynchospora glauca var. chinensis formed a dense growth beneath and 
between these species, in which Nepenthes gracilis and N. ampullaria, with the 
beautifully-shaped N. Rafflesiana, climbed in bewildering profusion up any 
and every available support, each plant surmounted by flowers or fruits. 
The radical pitchers of these plants were always arranged like water-Jars. 
at a well, close together, erect, and half full of water, but I was interested to. 
see that the sensitive petiole of the aerial pitchers would twist round any 
support, the pitchers standing out in all directions, often upside down, 
a circumstance Professor Macfarlane explained by the fact that these aerial 
pitchers are intended to be blown about by the wind, as the movement 
increases the secretions of the digestive glands. 
Beyond this sand-area, the ground sank to ragged secondary forest full of 
buffalo wallows. Here Dryopteris unita, Xyris pauciflora, Burmannia celestis 
favoured an open boggy patch ; while in the forest, Cratowylon arborescens, 
with its quaint red stems, flowers, and fruits, was veiled in Hoya coronaria, 
whose branches hung down in curtains bearing corymbs of its large green 
flowers. A form of Saurauia feroz showed red hairs on the calyces of its 
transparent white flowers, but otherwise could not be distinguished from the 
species. Decaspermum paniculatum was covered with its little May-like 
blossom, and Loranthus centiflorus with conspicuous dark red flowers, so 
far only known from Kinabalu at 6000', was an interesting find. Phaius 
Blumei was very handsome in several clumps near the buffalo-wallows, where 
the beautiful Arachnis Hookeriana ran up trees for about 3 m., sending out 
its lateral racemes of rose-mauve flowers. 
In the open, near the “kedehs,’ I found Buddleia asiatica, Rubus rosa- 
folius, and Ocimum Basilicum, which, according to Mr. Pritchard, the Dusuns 
use as a vegetable. The noticeable absence of the weeds so luxuriant at 
Tenom, and present to a much lesser extent on the “ Lalang "-eovered plain 
of Kaningau, was a most interesting fact, as Tambunan has only been 
opened a year or two, being the farthest station in the interior up to the 
present. 
Tbe Tambunan Dusuns are a very industrious and intelligent race, and 
Mr. Pritehard was enthusiastic about their many good qualities in comparison 
with the lazy Muruts of Kaningau. They have a regular system of rice- 
cultivation, in irrigated terraces, and their charming little bamboo houses dot 
