,(»2 WIIITFOIJI*. 



lii'f palms, epiphytic- orcliids and ferns, insectivorous plants, large lianas 

 and the like are the main features of tropical forests, principally because 

 these forms are not as a rule present in temi)erate regions and con- 

 sequently are more apt to force themselves upon investigators from 

 temperate regions. After all, these peculiar forms are only ornaments 

 that a tropical climate permits. Stripped of their showy fonns the 

 tropical forests of the Philippines are more nearly like temperate forests 

 than they are difTerent from them. 



To measure the entire bulk of any forest is impracticable. It is 

 therefore proposed to apply tlie methods used by lumbermen and foresters, 

 viz. rougli cruising and valuation surveys. 



While the measurement of the merchantable ''bulk" of the forest is 

 not l»y any means the entire bulk, yet for the purposes of this paper it 

 can be used com])aratively and will give a far better indication of what 

 comprises the main bulk than merely indicating the number of trees and 

 other plants. It may be objected that the measurement of trees of mer- 

 chantable size gives undue importance to those reaching that size, and 

 that if those species that do not reach merchantable size were measured, 

 the proportion of the entire bulk would be greatly changed in favor of 

 the smallei- s])ecies. It must be remembered, however, that the large- 

 sized species have small-sized unmeasured representatives and that the 

 quantity of the latter in most instances would be as great as the entire 

 bulk of the other species that do not reach merchantable sizes. Then 

 the great amount of bulk in the branches of the large trees would add 

 gi-eatly to the bulk of the principal species. All things considered, it is 

 l)elieved that if the entire woody bulk of the forest could be measured 

 the relative pi-oportion of the principal family would be even greater 

 tlian that shown in the tables given below. 



In most of the discussions on the composition and volume given below 

 no attempt is made to arrange the forests under discussion in "types." 

 That ''types" do exist is without question, but a discussion of such types 

 and their composition and volume is reserved for another paper. 



FOI{ESTS IX BATA.\X PI^OVINCE. 



In a previous paper ^ by the author the results of a quantitative analysis 

 of the arboreal composition of a number of measured plots was given. 

 In these no consideration of volume was taken other than that all trees 

 under 4 meters in height were excluded. 



In order to give a more comprehensive idea of the volume, one - of 

 these tables taken at random has been copied and then rearranged. 



Table I illustrates the complexity qualitatively and quantitatively. 



' \Vliitf(Mii. II. N. Tlie Vi-jrctation of the Laniao Forest Reserve. This Journal 

 1 (1900) 373-431 ; 637-682. 

 = Loc. cit. 637, 638. 



