OF MT, KINABALU AND BRITISH NORTH BORNEO. 39 
whilst Leptospermum javanicum and L, recurrum showed a flat-topped 
Japanese effect as one looked down on to the lower ridges. Between these 
trees, where the yellow crumbling serpentine rock was exposed, spaces 
opened out with the handsome Euphrasia borneensis, erect in the sun and 
prostrate in the shade, the charming little Gentiana lycopodioides, with its 
vivid dark green foliage and white flowers, spreading in the shade and tufted 
in the open, and the yellow Platanthera Gibbsie. — Elatostema bulbothriz was 
prostrate in habit, while Sigmatochilus kinabaluensis, Cologyne papillosa, 
C. exalata, Sehenus kinabaluensis, Scirpus pakapakensis, Polypodium 
incurvatum, Polystichum aristatum-and Plagiogyria adnata were distributed, 
together with Trichomanes digitatum in moss at the base of trees. In 
small pans where moisture had accumulated, Aletris rigida, Eriocaulon 
Hookerianum, Didiscus saniculæfolius var. rupicola, Eria kinabaluensis and 
Sphagnum gedeanum occurred. 
Always ascending, the ridge narrowed again and the shrub association 
reasserted itself, with Lycopodium scariosum and L. volubile. Here one 
exposed serpentine peak was covered with a uniform growth of Dawsonia 
brevifolia, 0°25 m. in height, with brown leaves adpressed to the stem. 
Another sheltered patch of mossy forest occurred below 9500" exactly 
similar in facies and species to that described for 7500'. After this the 
spur again broadened out at about 9500’, and we entered a more sheltered 
type of low forest with trees close together and about 6-9 m. high. The 
soil underneath was devoid of humus and bore little undergrowth, except 
for a few sedges and orchids. 
The area covered was almost flat and water evidently did not run off 
easily, as the surface showed many pans and depressions which would hold 
rain-water, and in one part there seemed to be standing water for some 
distance, which did not, however, modify the general facies. 
Here I found Symplocos zizyphoides and the myrtle-scented S. deflexa, 
Myrtus flavida, Polyosma Hookeri, P. bracteosum, Schima brevifolia, Stranvesia 
integrifolia, Actinodaphne Foaworthyana and Quercus Havilandii, all with the 
exception of the latter of a sclero-microphyllous type. Towards the middle 
were some huge sandstone blocks where the brilliant red of Vichrotrichum 
asperifolium was an unwonted sight on some trees. Schenus kinabaluensis, 
Scirpus pakapakensis, Carex hypsophila and C. saturata were scattered on 
stems and about the bases of trees, whilst Vincentia malesiaca and the 
brown-flowered Eria grandis, both growing in large patches, made up 
the greater part of the undergrowth. The stems of the trees were all 
clothed in moss. Here I saw the delightful Merula Seebohmii, a brown 
blackbird with a black breast, first collected by Whitehead, but recorded by 
all previous visitors, so tame and inquisitive that it came up within half a 
metre, intent on investigation, without showing the slightest diffidence. 
Passing up through this sheltered forest the path diverged suddenly to the 
