34 JOURNAL, NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY OF SIAM. Vol. 1. 
Whaie” or “Tao Pek.” These rocky and stony hills are asa rule 
sparsely covered with a small Bamboo (Siamese, “ Mai Ruak”) and 
trees of the Shorea obtusa and robusta species, with scattered clumps 
of coarse grass and a few deciduous trees and shrubs. But in the dry 
season the vegetation on these hills is baked brown ; and generally 
jungle fires sweep over them annually. Live tortoises have been 
found with their shells scorched, and except for the dead leaves, fallen 
from the trees, it is hard to find what they feed on during the dry 
months of February, March and April. Two small ones brought into 
camp, and tethered by the hinder edges of the shells, died in 36 hours 
though not exposed to greater heat than they experienced on the 
hills, but death was probably due to exhaustion from tugging at 
their tethers. 
The Flora of the more precipitous limestone erags is peculiar 
and mostly deciduous—the yellowish brown appearance of the hills in 
the dry season being strikingly different to the bright green of the 
rains. Many of the trees flower in the dry months and have acquired 
a bulbous trunk, presumably for storage of moisture. 
A species of cactus grows up to an elevation of 400 metres—the 
branches being triangular in section, and both this and the flat oval- 
branched species occur on the wastes near the coast. Brandis, in his 
work on Indian trees, only mentions the branched species ( O. dillenit ) 
or Prickly Pear. Whether or no the three-sided species has been more 
recently introduced, and not yet run wild in India, I cannot say. 
A third species, observed only near habitations, has branches up to 1 
metre in length, and in section the branch is six-winged, the flutings 
being about 5 cms. in depth, 
Ground orchids, and the tree orchids which occur, are not 
conspicuous. Small maiden hair ferns, either deciduous or annual, 
spring up as the rains commence. 
THe Suicutty UnpuLatinc Country aND THE FooTHILLs. 
The third and fourth classes of country insensibly merge one 
with the other, and since the Fauna are the same or migrate from one 
to the other according to season, I will take both together. 
Continuing with the Flora. The magnificent ‘‘Ton yang” or 
Wood-oil tree, growing on the river banks or near underground water, 
as a rule does not occur below the 6 metre line and rarely extends 
above the 80 metre line from sea level, where it is replaced by H. 
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