chap, xvii.] HILL VEGETATION. 389 



species. One of these, Papilio blumei, of which I obtained 

 a few specimens only, is among the most magnificent I 

 have ever seen. It is a green and gold swallow-tail, 

 with azure-blue spoon-shaped tails, and was often seen 

 flying about the village when the sun shone, but in a very 

 shattered condition. The great amount of wet and cloudy 

 weather, was a great drawback all the time I was at 

 Euriikan. 



Even in the vegetation there is very little to indicate 

 elevation. The trees are more covered with lichens and 

 mosses, and the ferns and tree-ferns are finer and more 

 luxuriant than I had been accustomed to see them on the 

 low grounds, both probably attributable to the almost 

 perpetual moisture that here prevails. Abundance of a 

 tasteless raspberry, with blue and yellow Compositee, have 

 somewhat of a temperate aspect; and minute ferns and 

 Orchidese, with dwarf Begonias on the rocks, make some 

 approach to a sub-alpine vegetation. The forest however 

 is most luxuriant. Noble palms, Pandani, and tree-ferns 

 are abundant in it, while the forest trees are completely 

 festooned with Orchidese, Bromeliae, Aracese, Lycopodiums, 

 and mosses. The ordinary stemless ferns abound; some 

 with gigantic fronds ten or twelve feet long, others barely 

 an inch high ; some with entire and massive leaves, 

 others elegantly waving their finely-cut foliage, and adding 

 endless variety and interest to the forest paths. The 



