1893. ] A Vacation in the Hawaiian Islands. 21 
luxuriant and tropical found in the whole group. I remained 
in Hilo for six days and collected some most interesting 
specimens. Through the kindness of Mr. Hitchcock of Hilo, 
I was enabled to spend the night at his camp in the woods 
near the town, and the greater part of two days collecting in 
the vicinity. The forest here is most interesting. 
Hitchcock was starting a coffee plantation and had cut trails 
through the woods in several directions so that collecting was 
very convenient. There is great danger of losing one’s self 
in these woods where there are no trails, as much of the for- 
est is an almost impassable jungle. In these moist forests 
ferns and mosses luxuriate, and every trunk and log is closely 
draped with those beautiful growths. Flowers are almost 
entirely wanting, a fact repeatedly observed by collectors in 
tropical forests. I saw here fully developed specimens of 
tree-ferns. The finest of these were species of Cibotium. 
Many had trunks from fifteen to twenty feet high, and some 
must have been fully thirty. The most beautiful were some 
with trunks ten to fifteen feet high, as these were more sym- 
metrical and had finer fronds than the taller ones. I meas- 
ured the leaves of one that had fallen over, and roughly esti- 
mated the length as eighteen feet. I have no doubt that 
specimens fully twenty feet long could be found. These 
giant fronds, arching high over one’s head as one rides on 
horseback under them, present a sight at once unique and 
beautiful, Growing upon the trunks of these ferns were 
many epiphytic species, the most peculiar of which was 
Ophioglossum pendulum, with long strap-shaped leaves, a foot 
or two long, and a spike of sporangia sometimes six inches long. 
Exquisite species of Hymenophyllum and Trichomanes, the 
most ethereal of all the fern-tribes, with almost transparent, 
filmy leaves, were common, sometimes completely envelop- 
ing the trunks of the trees. Of the terrestrial ferns, which 
abounded everywhere, two were especially notable as repre- 
senting groups unknown in the United States. One of these, 
Gleichenia dichotoma, forms extensive thickets on the bor- 
ders of the forest, and in the Hilo district extends down 
almost to the sea-level. The other, Marattia Douglasii, a 
very large fern with leaves eight to ten feet long in well 
grown specimens, has fleshy dark green leaves, and thick 
stipules sheathing the base of the leaf-stalks. Several species 
of Lycopodium and Selaginella were common, and a good 
