84 INTRODUCTION. 
The remaining 130 species belong to the second or rainy season period. А large 
number of the terrestrial kinds may be said to form a portion of that curious sub-trop- 
ical herbaceous vegetation which suddenly makes its appearance on the advent of the 
moist monsoon weather, and as rapidly withers and disappears as soon as the rains 
are over and the air becomes drier and colder. The most conspicuous examples of 
this monsoon herbaceous flora are the epiphytic ferns, which clothe the trunks and 
branches of the trees, and more especially the oaks, with a profuse lace-work of brilliant 
green. Мапу of the Sceiíaminew, such as species of Hedychium, Cautleya, &c., are fre- 
quently found as epiphytes, whilst the rocks and steep banks are gay with the flowers 
of begonias and gesneraceous species belonging to Chirita, Platystemma, Didymocarpus 
and Rhynchogiossum. These conditions prevail, of course, to a much greater extent in 
the Eastern Districts of Kumaon and Garhwál where the rainfall is heavier, and more 
so, and for a similar reason, on the outer than on the inner ranges. Some of the 
rainy season terrestrial species appear to prefer an epiphytic habit of growth. Habenaria 
latilabris, for instance, is more frequently to be found on the trunks of trees than on 
the ground, whilst H. Edgeworthii is invariably a ground orchid and is usually found 
growing in open places away from the shelter of trees. Habenaria Llisabethe is very 
often met with on the branches of trees, whilst Herminium Mackinnoni has not as yet 
been seen growing on the ground either at Mussoorie or in its Sikkim locality. 
