IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap. 



for development, and who has contributed largely to their specific 

 formation. 1 



A curious new Zingiberaceous plant deserves special notice 

 among my Marop novelties, Alpinia crocidocalyx, recently described 

 and named by K. Schumann from my specimens. It is called 

 goppak by the Malays, and produces large, long, compact radical 

 spikes, in which the flowers are hidden by a sort of putrescent slime. 

 It is, indeed, the nastiest flower which I have ever seen ; though it be- 

 longs to a genus of plants which includes many species with splendid 

 corollas wrapped in bracts, which are also brightly coloured. In the 

 above-mentioned species the bracts instead have become converted 

 into a pale mucilaginous slime, in which an enormous number of 

 Coleoptera seek refuge. These I easily captured by putting the 

 whole inflorescence in water, and obliging the little creatures to 

 emerge from their retreat. The inner part of the shoots of this plant 

 can be eaten cooked, and I have found it very agreeable but slightly 

 acid in taste. The Dyaks make excellent mats with the very fine 

 fibres they extract from the leaf-stalks of the plant. 



One morning, Kisoi, my Chinese cook, who had gone fishing in 

 the adjoining stream, brought home amongst other fish a species 

 called by the Malays " Ikan tion." When I saw it, it had been got 

 ready for the pan ; but I noticed quite a number of small ones of the 

 same kind, and these Kisoi told me he had taken living from the 

 mouth of the big one. The Malays, who are so well acquainted with 

 the ways and habits of the animals of their country, assured me that 

 the young of the "Ikan tion" always swim close to the mother, 

 and at the approach of danger, and during the night, seek refuge 

 in her mouth. The fish is, I think, a Siluroid of the genus 

 Arius. 



On the whole, I was not very fortunate with my entomological 

 collections at Marop. Coleoptera were rather scarce, perhaps 

 because there had not been much recent tree-cutting in the neigh- 

 bourhood ; decaying wood was consequently not abundant. I had, 

 however, obtained a small series of splendid butterflies. But, alas ! 

 one day, just after my return from Tiang Laju, I discovered that a 

 host of minute ants had got into the box in which I had put them, 

 and had practically destroyed the lot. 



Amongst the ants at Marop there were some species which had 

 unusual means of protection. Ants may be animals which are 

 sometimes useful, but it appears that from time immemorial they 

 have had many enemies, which fact has obliged them to make use 



1 In the Sarawak Gazette, July 16, 1875, it is asserted that wild bananas 

 grow abundantly on the banks of the Baloi after the rice is cut, and that 

 they thrive for five or six years, disappearing when the forest begins to grow 

 up. 



160 



