48 . "INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
In Java the species that reach a considerable altitude on the mountains are 
C. javensis, C. heteroideus and C. adspersus; the last mentioned has been 
gathered by Zollinger on Mount Semiru at an elevation of about 1800 metres. In 
Sumatra I have obtained C. opacus at 1700 metres on Mount Singalang. In Borneo 
and in the Philippines a few species of Calamus have been found growing up to an 
elevation of 1900. metres, and in New Guinea C. Cuthbertsonii occurs at an elevation 
of 2500 metres. E 
The ‘species which exhibits what is perhaps the greatest altitudinal range is 
C. javensis, for it extends from the level of the sea to the tops of mountains of 
moderate height in Java, Borneo and the Malayan Peninsula, where however it assumes 
peculiar and very slender forms. 
I have not found Calami so frequent in New Guinea as in Borneo: still, the total 
number of species known from that island is considerable. It seems that a few 
representatives of this genus occur more or less scattered over the whole Papuan 
region, and as the species there appear strictly localized in small areas, it is probable 
that, when the flora of the island is thoroughly explored, the number present in 
New Guinea will be found not to be smaller than the number present in Borneo. 
In India several species of Calamus contribute to the luxuriant vegetation of the 
. forest-clad sub-Himalayan slopes of Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan, ©. Flagellum has been 
collected at 1370 metres and C. acanthospathus at 1800 metres in Sikkim; this is 
the highest altitude that I find recorded as attained by a Calamus in the Himalaya. 
The same altitude of 1800 metres is reached by €. Huegelianus and 1900 metres 
is reached by C. Brandis in the Nilgiri mountains in Southern India. 
In the most completely explored forests of the districts of Perak and Malacca in 
the Malayan Peninsula, several species of Calamus, such as C. Diepenhorstii, €. javensis 
O, bubuensis, C. exilis, C. luridus, etc., have been found growing on Gunong Tamban 
Batak, Gunong Bubu, Mount Ophir, on the Taiping hills, etc., at elevations of from 
1,000 to 1,900 metres. 
As regards the geographical distribution of the Calami, taking into consideration 
only those species that occur within the boundaries of the British Indian Empire, I 
have to observe that the Calami found on the southern slopes of the Himalaya 
following the Burmese “littoral” from Chittagong to Pegu and Tenasserim, pass int 
the Malayan Peninsula, which is the chief head-quarters of endemic species. 
In the Indian Peninsula the head-quarters of the genus lie in its most southern 
extremity. The Indian species so far known number 83 or about 40 per cent. of all 
known species; of these 71 are endemie and 12 extend’ to other countries. As already 
stated, the Indian region that is the richest in Calami is the Malayan Peninsula, which 
possesses 31 species, or 40 per cent. of those belonging to the Indian flora and 16-5 
per cent. of the known species of the genus. Of the 31 only one species, C. palustris, 
has been found north of the Isthmus of Krau, and 23 are endemic. ° $ 
In Northern India the two principal head-quarters of Calami are Sikkim ana 
Assam. The following are the species grownig in Sikkim :—C. erectus, C, schizospathus 
C. Flagellum, C. ieptospadiz, C. acanthospathus, C. latifolius, €. latifolius niarmoraius, 
C. inermis; the following are those of Assam :—C. erectus, €. leptospadiz, C. Ardini: 
C. Kingianus, C. viminalis, C. tennis, C. Garuba, C. gracilis, C. khasianus, C. nambariensis, 5 
