INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 237 



lower hills, together with Cycas pectinata and Gnetum scan- 



dens, which are abundant everywhere. 



As in all very humid climates, orchids occur in very great 

 abundance in the Khasia mountains, constituting there at 

 least one-twelfth of the vegetation, and being by far the 

 largest natural order of flowering: plants ! 



They are equally 



Many 



species are also common, both in dense woods and in open 

 grassy places. Scitaminece are very numerous. From the 

 barrenness of the surface over a great part of the hills, grasses 

 constitute the most prominent feature in the flora of this 

 district, occurring gregariously in prodigious abundance. 

 Most of the species belong to the tropical division of the 

 order, coarse Panicea being the prevailing forms, but there 

 are also many Poacete of European genera. 



In some respects the vegetation of the Khasia approaches 

 more closely in its features to that of the mountains of the 

 Peninsula than of the Himalaya: this arises mainly from 

 the form of the hills and their much less rugged outline, 



more 



grassy 



clumps 



are remarkable features 

 uite foreign to the Hinu 



which must be added a very strong resemblance in the genera 



mass 



though almost all Himalayan, are there less gregarious and 

 more interspersed with large trees of different genera. These 



consist of: — 



Ehododendron arboreum. Styrax. 



Pieria ovaUfolia. . Callicarpa, several species. 



Ligustrum. Celastrus, ditto. 



Eurya, two species. Michelia, ditto. 



Vaccimum Iracteatum. Goughia Himalaica. 



Gaultheria, several speck - Gomphandra. 



Sv mplocos, ditto. Photinia, several specie*. 



