JN JAVA 



79 



far as I am a\Yare, hitherto collected uncultivated in tho 

 Old World. 



The 14th of June is to me memorable as heing tho day 

 on which for the first time I saw in its native ]ia1»it,nt, and 

 gathered there, that most singular of the vegetahle productions 

 of the Indian Archipelago, the Mijrmecodia tuherom and 

 Ht/droophytuui formicarum. Tlieir most striking characteristic 

 will bo indelibly marked in my remembrance by the sen- 

 sations other than mental, by which their acquaintance was 

 made. 



In tearing down a galaxy of epipliylic orchids from an 

 erythrina tree, I was totally overrun, during the short momen- 

 tary contact of my hand with the bunch, with myriads of a 

 minute sj^ecies of ant (Fheidole javana), whose every bite was a 

 sting of fire. Beating a precipitous retreat from the spot, I 

 stripped with tho haste of desperation, but, like pepper-dust 

 over me, they were writhing and twisting their envenomed 

 jaws in my skin, each little abdomen spitefully quivering wit! 

 every thrust it made. Going back, when once I had rid 

 myself of my tormentors, to secure the specimens I harl 

 gathered, I discovered in the centre of the bunch a singular 

 plant I had never seen before, ivhich I perceived \o bu the 

 central attraction of the ants. It was called lulang-hirah by 

 my boy, who said it was the home of the ants. I was over- 

 joyed with the revelation that a slice struck off by my knife, 

 made of an intricate honeycombed structure swarming with 

 minute ants— a livinij formicarium. 



1 



o 



genen 



the trees, abundance of specimens of both genera, which, not 

 without several futile attempts and many imprecations and 

 o-,.^o«,-.,^c ^r. fi.^ ,...vt nf mv l)nvs- were broudit to tho ground ; 



una, at tlie ends oi a poie uvui ui<-ii c..^ , * , • i 



infuriated dwellers would ascend to spread over their bare 

 bodies to their frequent discomfiture, they were at last sale y 

 deposited in a spot in ^h. Lash's garden, where I could 

 examine them with comfort without disturbing their inhabi- 



Tlie accompanying representation (page 80) represents the 

 general appearance ot tlie epiphyte : a spme-covereJ bn b 

 snrmonuted by a cylindrical a.is bearing leaves and mmute 



