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NATURALIST'S GUIDE TO THE AMERICAS 



collections, published in the Philippine 

 Journal of Science and elsewhere. 

 Extensive studies of the parasitic in- 

 sects of this region have also been made 

 by F. Muir and other members of the 

 scientific staff of the Hawaiian Sugar 

 Planters' Association. 



Among the reptiles, the largest now 

 found in this locality is the iguana-like 

 biauac, a large terrestrial lizard living 

 near the water courses, the crocodile 

 having been exterminated in this thickly 

 populated district. The large house 

 lizard or Gecko gecko L., naturally 

 arboreal and common in broken bam- 

 boos, is apparently nocturnal, and makes 

 the night hideous with his raucous call 

 of "Gecko, Geck-ko, Geck-ko-ko-ko." 

 This common species is possibly intro- 

 duced, though there are many native 

 species. There is also a small, brown, 

 house lizard, more numerous and much 

 less timid. The skinks are less frequent 

 in the houses, but common in moist 

 thickets and forest. 



Common lizards at low elevations 

 around Mount Makiling are according 

 to Taylor:* Sphenormorphus curtirostris 

 Taylor; S. steer ei Stejneger, a small 

 species. Other species found there are 

 Leilopasma pulchelhim Gray, Tropido- 

 phorus Gravi Giinther, etc. 



Competing with the larger lizards 

 in the capture of mice and insects are 

 numerous species of snakes; pythons 

 and cobras, of which the king cobra is 

 the largest and probably the most 

 poisonous. He is frequently found 

 in the grasslands, but less often fre- 

 quents dwellings than do the pythons 

 and larger snakes. 



In the mountain streams are found 

 several species of frogs: Rana magna 

 Stejneger, which is one of the largest 

 forms and much prized for food; Rana 

 woodworthi Taylor, which is described 

 from Los Banos material; and Rana 

 similis Giinther. 



^ Taylor, Edward H. Additions to the herpeto- 

 logical fauna of the Philippine Islands. I — ^Phil. 

 Jour. Sci., 21: 161-206; II— Phil. Jour. Sci., 21: 257- 

 303; III— Phil. Jour. Sci., 22: 515-555. 



See also for further herpetological data: Philip- 

 pine Amphibia, Phil. Jour. Sci. 16: 213; Snakes of the 

 Philippine Islands, 1922. 



HIGH FOREST 



The assertion has frequently been 

 made that the Philippines were origi- 

 nally a practically unbroken forest, and 

 this assumption is made the more prob- 

 able by the fact that most of the en- 

 demic forms of both plant and animal 

 life are either confined to or closely as- 

 sociated with the natural, dense forest. 

 Fortunately the lumbering on Mount 

 Makiling has not been sufficiently 

 intensive to destroy the natural forest 

 cover. Therefore all, or nearly all, 

 of the original species of plants and 

 animals have persisted here, though 

 the proportion of some of the tree species 

 in particular has been greatly modified 

 by the selective cutting of the more 

 valuable woods, rattans, etc. 



Whereas we have seen that the grass- 

 lands and parang contained many intro- 

 duced species, in the forest introduced 

 species are exceptional and have gained 

 little foothold. Thus the traveler seek- 

 ing distinctively Philippine wild life 

 may well neglect the open country and 

 immediately go into the dense forest 

 areas. 



The High Forest, which forms a zone 

 around the base of Mount Makiling up 

 to an elevation of about 500 meters, is 

 characterized by its dominant canopy 

 of very tall, large trees, beneath which 

 are successive layers of shorter trees and 

 finally shrubs, each layer containing its 

 own particular group of species. This 

 makes up the so-called "three-story 

 forest" of the eastern tropics. The 

 general contour is not unlike the hard- 

 wood forests of the eastern United 

 States, where the dominant trees may 

 consist of large oaks, etc., while in the 

 more open places are trees of smaller 

 stature, such as sassafras, and below 

 these in turn are the dogwoods, and 

 then the large shrubs. But in the 

 Philippine forests the composition is 

 much more complex, consisting of scores 

 of species, on a single acre, and the 

 number of distinct layers or "stories" 

 of vegetation is greater. 

 Among the top story trees, the most 



