^i ZONES AND REGIONS [Pt. Ill, Sect. I 



season. The appearance is quite different from that presented during the 

 so-called dry season in West Java, where the difference in the vegetation 

 during the west and east monsoons respectively is indeed visible, but much 

 less marked in the lowlands, for example at Buitenzorg, and hardly visible 

 at all in the mountains. 



To the north of the Cordilleras on the coast of Venezuela, as well as 

 among them in the moist valley of Caripe, during the dry season (February) 

 I found myself surrounded by dense evergreen rain-forest, whereas south 

 of the Cordilleras on the side of the llanos the open savannah-forest, 

 composed almost exclusively of leafless trees, would have presented a wintry 

 aspect had not many trees and epiphytes been in full flower. 



The periodically deciduous tropical forests and the low xerophilous 

 woodlands of the tropics have hitherto been much less investigated than has 

 the rain-forest. It is however certain that they display much variety. 

 Like rain-forest they form chiefly mixed wood, in which hardly a single 

 species of tree can be described as dominant ; occasionally however one 

 species gets the upper hand and may even form nearly pure woods, as for 

 instance Tectona grandis in East Java. As regards the height and mode 

 of growth of the trees, as well as of the underwood and herbaceous 

 vegetation covering the soil, there are numerous modifications, which, from 

 the point of view of the Indian forester, have been utilized to constitute 

 numerous types and subtypes. But, without straining a point, they can all 

 be deduced from the chief types that we have established, monsoon-forest, 

 savannah-forest^ and tJiom-forcst, or from intermediate forms of these 1 . 



ii. TROPOPHILOUS AND XEROPHILOUS WOODLAND IN INDIA. 



Kurz has given a detailed description of the periodically deciduous 

 forests in Pegu, where however they owe their varied characteristics not 

 only to the climate, but also in a high degree to the soil. Coming nearest 

 in physiognomy to the evergreen rain-forests, are those deciduous woods 

 termed by Kurz ' mixed forests,' which according to our terminology 

 belong to the monsoon-forests and form in Burma the true home of the 

 valuable teak-tree (Fig. 190). Here the trees average in height 70-80 feet, 

 but in many parts of the country are even 120 feet high ('upper mixed 

 forests '). They grow straight and are often accompanied by lianes. Their 

 epiphytes are practically confined to the tops of the trees. The intervals 

 between the trees are frequently filled with a tall bamboo thicket ; but 

 shrubby and herbaceous vegetation, particularly grass, is very scanty (Figs. 

 125 and 189). 



Other forests of Pegu, especially those that Kurz names 'open forest,' 

 perhaps also his 'dry forest,' are xerophilous forests of low or middle 

 height (30-60 feet high), which belong to our type of savannah-forest. Here 



1 See p. 260. 



