chap, v.] PITCHER-PLANTS AND FERNS. 127 



The wonderful Pitcher-plants, forming the genus Nepen- 

 thes of hotanists, here reach their greatest development. 

 Every mountain-top abounds with them, running along 

 the ground, or climbing over shrubs and stunted trees ; 

 their elegant pitchers hanging in every direction. Some 

 of these are long and slender, resembling in form the 

 beautiful Philippine lace-sponge (Euplectella), which has 

 now become so common ; others are broad and short. Their 

 colours are green, variously tinted and mottled with red 

 or purple. The finest yet known were obtained on the 

 summit of Kini-balou, in North-west Borneo. One of the 

 broad sort, Nepenthes rajah, will hold two quarts of water 

 in its pitcher. Another, Nepenthes Edwardsiania, has a 

 narrow pitcher twenty inches long ; while the plant, itself 

 grows to a length of twenty feet. 



Eerns are abundant, but are not so varied as on the 

 volcanic mountains of Java ; and Tree-ferns are neither so 

 plentiful nor so large as in that island. They grow, how- 

 ever, quite down to the level of the sea, and are generally 

 slender and graceful plants from eight to fifteen feet high. 

 Without devoting much time to the search I collected fifty 

 species of Ferns in Borneo, and I have no doubt a good 

 botanist would have obtained twice the number. The 

 interesting group of Orchids is very abundant, but, as is 

 generally the case, nine-tenths of the species have small 

 and inconspicuous flowers. Among the exceptions are the 



