244 



work. There is also a small glass-house, necessitated by the 

 relatively cool climate at this altitude. 



In front of the laboratory are the plantings, and they are 

 decidedly suggestive of a temperate zone climate, with rectan- 

 gular flower-beds, lawns, and coniferous trees. The best feature 

 of the plantings is the display of conifers, which seems to find 

 almost optimum conditions in this mild cool rainy climate. 

 The genera Agathis, Cryptomeria, Cupressus and Dacrydium are 

 represented by large trees of several species, and there are numer- 

 ous species of Araucaria. The genus Pinus is completely lacking : 

 in fact, the only genus of eastern America represented is Juni- 

 perus, with a couple of species. 



Behind the laboratory is the government reserve of original 

 forest, extending almost all the way to the top of the Gedeh. 

 There are good paths through it in every direction, the different 

 sections of the garden are numbered, so that plants are easily 

 located, and many of the trees are labeled. The most interesting 

 trees to us were Vernonia arborescens, up to three feet in diameter, 

 and AUingia excelsa, up to eight feet. In general, giant trees 

 are not common. Epiphytes and lianas occur profusely, but most 

 of them are comparatively small. The ground cover is dense, 

 with numerous species of ferns, Medinilla, and Marantaceae. 

 Buttress roots are not well developed, and strangling figs are 

 few in number and small in size. The numerous paths through 

 the forest make all parts of it more accessible than is the case 

 on Mt. Makiling, but as far as the vegetation is concerned, the 

 Tjibodas forest is far inferior to the one on Makiling. This is 

 probably due to the greater altitude and the consequently cooler 

 climate, since the highest peak of Mt. Makiling is over a thousand 

 feet below the lower edge of the Tjibodas forest. 



We left Java for Ceylon in the middle of February, and that 

 island will be considered in the next of these sketches. 



{To be continued) 



