50 



fongeres de petite taille, et fort peu de plantes herbacees," and further on 

 (3, iv. 602), " Tous les environs du Havre proprement ditsont occupes par des 

 tbrets a 1'etat de nature, situees sur un sol entierement madreporique, qui 

 s'eleve en pente tres douce " ; and, finally, Wallace, in 1852 (6, 173), describes 

 " the Dorey promontory is a raised coral reef, and, geologically speaking, a 

 very recent one. The beach is a mass of dead and broken coral, not yet 

 ground into sand, quite impracticable for walking, and from this beach up 

 into the jungle, and even on to the hill, to the height of 200' or 300', there is 

 scarcely a perceptible change in the coral rock, and the masses of coral and 

 shells that everywhere strew the surface. In some of the gulleys, however, 

 I found traces of a core of stratified rock." 



I did not work over any of the gullies, as once off the "korang" range 

 the conditions are all secondary, every inch of ground having been under 

 present or past cultivation. 



With regard to the beach, the coral mentioned by Wallace had possibly 

 been washed up by a heavy N.W. monsun, as our own beaches are often 

 covered with shingle during the winter gales, to be dispersed again later. 

 At the period of my stay it was certainly not an apparent factor. 



On the "korang" the soil is so thin that the coral is always visible, 

 mostly covered with dead leaves. The most interesting portion is along the 

 flat-topped summit where the surface is more even and advantageous to 

 plants, and in parts small soak-areas hold shallow standing water. The 

 immediate flanks proved barren of results, being very dry with great over- 

 hanging outcrops of pure " korang "-like cliffs, too porous to offer much hold 

 for plants. 



On what may perhaps be referred to as the drainage-line of the streams 

 issuing from the range, quite a different type of undergrowth prevailed, 

 almost luxuriant in character, comprising chiefly ferns, Zingiberaceous and 

 Araceous plants. 



Trees. Most conspicuous were fine isolated examples of that magnificent 

 palm *Pigafetta pilaris. Too beautiful to cut down, I only took some old 

 fruit and the measurements of the immense leaves, those shed, with the 

 old flowering rhachises, remaining piled around each tree, which in con- 

 sequence form isolated spots in the forest. Dr. Beccari, however, with his 

 personal knowledge of this locality and expert interest, had no difficulty in 

 determining this splendid species. *Ficus myriocarpa, *F. celebica, *F. botryo- 

 carpa, and F. Irachiata, the two latter with green receptacles which all 

 contained water, were very general, with the large-leaved c Macaranga riparia, 

 *Mallotus tilicvfolia, Aglaia Gibbsece, with large branching white racemes, 

 * Euonymus javanicus, and *Albizzi.a moluccana. 



Climbing plants. All the trunks of the trees were covered with root- 

 climbing epiphytes, as in the "korang" forest of the inundation-zone of 



