a23 



climbing plants and a fairly ricfi under-growtli, Sloan ea javan ica 

 only grows very sparsely, but is by no means rare, at least not in 

 yonng specimens. Adult trees, however, are only found in very 

 small numbers. The soil in I he forest of Depok is fertile, and hke 

 the climate, it is rather moist throughout almost the entire year. 

 With regard to rain-fall and location of this station (Depok) the 

 following data are taken fVom "Regenwaarnemingen in Ned. Indie" 

 II (J 913) p. 6&, published by the Royal magnetic and metereological 

 observatory of Batavia. 



Depok is situated at an altitude of 93 metres above sealevel; 

 33 kilometres from the coast. Annual rainfall 3156 millimetres. 

 Monthly rainfall maxima 487 millimetres in November and 678 

 millimetres in April. Monthly minima of rainfall 95 millimetres in 

 June and 61 millimetres iji August. 



Means of distribution. The well developed, brilliantly coloured 

 arillus of the fairly large seeds, and (he brilliant colour of the fruits 

 would already indicate that the distribution is effected by fructivorous 

 animals. Since the arillus has, however, an extraordinarily bitter 

 taste, many animals will pi'ol)ably soon drop the seeds they have 

 taken. The very scattered occurrence and the relatively small number 

 of specimens of this tree in the Depok forest may perhaps be 

 thus explained to some extent. T myself have not yet observed 

 any transport of the seeds by animals. I did indeed observe on 

 March 31 that the numerous fruits lying below tree 39h had all, 

 without exception, been gnawed by animals before dehiscence. The 

 mature seeds, although damaged in some cases, were still w^ithin 

 the fruit. As far as I have been able to ascertain, this dainage to 

 fallen fruits and also to fruits still on the tree, was probably all 

 due to monkeys (Semnopithecus) occurring near Depok in large 

 numbers. As a rule the strong woody pericarp was completely 

 gnawed away at or near the apex of the fruit, down to the arillus 

 of the seeds. The large embryo, which has a particularly 'pleasant 

 taste, had only been eaten up in a few cases. Apparently the 

 intensely bitter arillus, which surrounds the greater part of the seed, 

 had protected it in most cases against the monkeys. 



So it seems that S 1 o a n e a j a v a n i c a depends for iis means of 

 distribution on exozoic seed-distribution by small mammals and large 

 birds, which, having been attracted by the brilliant colour of the 

 pericarp and arillus, take seeds from fruits which have opened, but 

 soon droj) them again on account of the intensely biltei' taste of 

 the arillus. 



34 



Proceedings Royal Acad. Amsterdam. Vol. XVIII. 



