480 REMARKABLE PLANT. 



cure of intermittent fever, and it is said with much be- 

 nefit. The Coculus Indieus of commerce, the seeds of 

 which are used to adulterate beer, belongs to quite a 

 different genus, the Anamirta. I have frequently col- 

 lected berries which leave almost an indelible yellow stain 

 on the fingers, and have no doubt many valuable vege- 

 table dyes yet remain to be discovered in Borneo. The 

 men frequently, during watering and wooding, stained 

 their hands with a yellow sap, perhaps that of the Termi- 

 nalia Chebula. The smooth, black, shining nuts of the 

 Semecarpus Anacardium, yield a juice which produces an 

 indelible stain, and forms much better marking ink than 

 the caustic usually employed for that purpose. 



At Pulo Tiga, Sir Edward Belcher discovered a spe- 

 cies offisonia, a plant remarkable for having the perianth 

 surrounding the fruit covered with hooks and viscid 

 glands, and the inflorescence being in loose pannicles 

 and covering the tops of large bushes, birds frequently 

 become involved among the branches, and while feeding 

 on the fruit get caught by the sharp recurved hooks, 

 assisted by the viscid secretion which acts like birdlime. 

 Many old forest-trees in Borneo, where the soil is super- 

 ficial, unable to sustain the weight of their wide-spread 

 leafy crowns, and deprived of that sheet-anchor the tap- 

 root, throw out strong butresses from their sides in the 

 shape of wing-shaped masses, which extend in various 

 directions, and maintain the perpendicularity of the 

 trunks. Crawling slowly on the leaves in the forest of 

 Balambangan, is found a very remarkable form oiAcarides, 

 allied in many respects to the genus Ixodes. It is about 

 half an inch in length ; the back is covered with rounded 



