374 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1921. 



tending to intrude in all open places and sometimes occupies enor- 

 mous areas, called cogonales by the Filipinos. Cogon is often used 

 as a thatch for the roofs of houses and sheds. 



At Los Banos, the seat of the agricultural college, one has an 

 opportunity to explore virgin forest on Mount Maquiling. On this 

 mountain is preserved, at a point easily accessible from Manila, the 

 undisturbed native vegetation. In ascending this mountain the 

 writer had his first experience with one of the worst pests of the 

 Old World Tropics — the leeches. These are brownish worms as 

 much as an inch long and one-eighth inch in diameter. They are 

 present in countless numbers on the fallen leaves on the floor of 

 the trail and on the vegetation along the sides. As one walks along 

 the leeches are seen to advance like measuring worms, now and 

 then waving a free end in the air, attaching themselves with wonder- 

 ful dexterity to any part of the body with which they come in con- 

 tact. The feet may be protected by wearing shoes in which the 

 tongue is sewed to the body along each side to the top and then 

 wrapping the legs closely with wool puttees, being careful to come 

 down well over the top of the shoe. Thick socks drawn up outside 

 the legs of the trousers may take the place of puttees. Soap well 

 worked into the socks is a deterrent. Particular care must be taken 

 to prevent their entrance to the nose, eyes, and other openings in 

 the body. They are usually able to attach themselves without excit- 

 ing the sense of touch. Persons going in pairs watch each other 

 for attacks about the head and neck. When they find lodgment 

 they gorge themselves with blood and become oval in shape and 

 finally fall off, but they inject a substance which prevents the coagu- 

 lation of the blood and a wound bleeds for several hours. Fortu- 

 nately the leeches are troublesome only in very wet woods during or 

 between showers. On Mount Maquiling they did not extend as low 

 as Los Banos. 



A trip was made to Baguio, a resort in the mountains about 170 

 miles north of Manila at an altitude of nearly 5,000 feet. The 

 weather here is cool and comfortable in summer, in striking contrast 

 to that of Manila at this season. The trail to Santo Thomas (about 

 7,000 feet) led through grassy mountain slopes and yielded an ex- 

 cellent collection of grasses. 



to 



JAPAN. 



Japan is very mountainous and largely forested, hence not pre- 

 eminently a grass country. Aside from bamboos, only about 50 

 species were collected here while in some localities in China as many 

 species might be obtained in a single day. Even in the grassy slopes 

 and meadows in the vicinity of Lake Hakone, though the individuals 

 were numerous the species were few. Mount Fuji is a beautiful 



