LIANAS. 79 



the masses of fine Tvliitisli-grey moss (or lichen, I am not sure 

 which) hanging from its branches in long thi^ead-like filaments. 

 This grey moss or lichen occurs chiefly in the upper and 

 colder portions of the woods. In a spur of forest wdiich 

 crosses the road from Imerina to Betsileo, at a height of 

 nearly 6000 feet above the sea, almost every tree bears long 

 i'estoons of this venerable-looking appendage hanging from 

 its branches. I believe it is allied to, if not identical witli, 

 Ilocdla fuciformis of Eastern Africa. 



A more usual feature of tropical woods is the way in which, 

 in the Madagascar forests, the trees are bound together in all 

 directions by countless creepers and lianas, which cross and 

 intertwine in an inextricable tangle, like the disordered cordage 

 of a hundred ships. Some of these stretch from the topmost 

 boughs to the ground like the backstays of a lofty ship's 

 mast, and others cross at every conceivable angle. These 

 lianas form without any preparation a very strong tough 

 cordage, and in carrying goods from the coast to the interior 

 they are largely used for securing all kinds of jDackages. 

 Great quantities of the fibrous bark of certain trees (esj^ecially 

 that of Astrapcea cannahina, which has long oval leaves and 

 white pendent flowers) are brought up to the capital every 

 year by the woodmen, and are there manufactured at the 

 Government workshops into rough-looking but strong ropes. 



In the dim twilight of the Madagascar woods, the ground 

 is generally covered with a dense undergrowth of shrubs and 

 young trees, the latter shooting up wherever an opening- 

 appears in the leafy canopy overhead. A great variety of 

 ferns are found in every damp hollow or shady bank ; great 

 masses of hart's-tongue or stag's-horn fern are seen in every 

 crevice in the tree trunks or fork of the branches ; and tree- 

 ferns sj)read their graceful fronds wherever there is any mois- 

 ture. Large collections of ferns have been made by some of the 

 English ladies, and these have been described in the Journal 

 of the Linnman Society by Mr. J. G. Baker, F.L.S., of the 

 Kew Herbarium. Many of these are new and peculiar to the 

 country. Mr. Baker says, in reference to one of these collec- 

 tions, that it " contains altogether 1 1 2 species, of wdiich 2 8 

 prove to be novelties. That such should be the case in an 



