Flora of Krakatau 31 



we found clumps of small mosses (Phikmotiis secunda [Dz. and Mb.] v. 

 d. B. and Lac. and Bryvm coronatum Schwaegr.) and delicate ferns, 

 especially Gymnogramme calomelanos with its young fronds covered 

 with white calcareous scales. Blocks of pumice and lava lying in 

 hollows below undermined banks were covered with a mantle of 

 blue-green algae. By the sides of the stream, on undulating ground 

 sloping upwards towards the mountain, some of the shore species of 

 grasses and Cyperaceae predominated, and of the plants associated 

 with them Sacehcvrum spontaneum, Gymnothrix elegans, and Phrag- 

 mites Roxburgh it are remarkable for their unusual size. Their stems, 

 3 4 metres high, form at first scattered bushes, in other places in 

 company with Vigna, Ccmavalia and Cassytha, which occur here as 

 climbing plants, they form regular thickets associated with shrubs of 

 Tournefortia, Scacvola, and various ferns. 



A sudden rustling in the reeds in front of us was caused by a yellow- 

 brown lizard (probably the strong swimming species, Va/ranm salvator 

 Laur.), nearly 1 metre long, which had been lazily basking in the sun 

 and made off in great haste. The fact that Selenka 1 and Sluiter 

 found two specimens of Oalotes jubatus in 1894 renders it probable 

 that other lizards, in addition to Varanus, occur on the island. 

 Birds have also already established themselves on Krakatau. We 

 occasionally saw gulls above the strand-forest, and in the interior of 

 the island small birds flew noiselessly from the bushes to seek a 

 quieter resting-place a short distance away. Beyond the strand- 

 forest the whole gently sloping surface of the south-east side of the 

 island was covered with the steppe-like vegetation which we have 

 described and this extended in a dense mass into the wild ravines 

 and on to the steep sides far up on the cone. The uniformity of the 

 jungle of fresh and decaying stems of grasses and reeds is only 

 occasionally broken by the occurrence of a fallen tree or shrub. 



Stretching in front of us half-way up the slopes of Rakata was 

 a deep ravine the dark vegetation of which, rich in trees and shrubs, 

 we had noticed as the ship approached the island. We attempted to 

 penetrate the thicket and succeeded in reaching the first steep 

 ridges which, with the intervening deep furrows and ravines, radiate 

 in all directions on the slopes over the foot of the mountain (PI. VIII., 

 fig. 12) a . We clambered up to the ridge through a tangle of grasses 

 waving above us, then down the ravines ; it was tiring work, the 



1 Selenka, E. and L. Sonnige Welten. Oslasiatische Reiseskizzoi. Edit. n. 

 Wiesbaden, 1905, p. 138; also a communication by letter from Prof. Sluiter of 

 Amsterdam. 



['- This photograph (PI. VIII., fig. 12) was originally reproduced in Penzig's paper in 

 the Annates du Jardin botanique de Buitenzorg, 1902, p. 104.] 



