APPENDIX 



productions of the vegetable kingdom, more largely represented in Borneo 

 than elsewhere, are the Pitcher-plants or Nepenthes, and those ant- 

 harbouring species to which I have applied the term of " hospitating 

 plants." 



The Nepenthes, which I have had occasion to mention more than once, 

 are now so well known in their general characters, for they are everywhere 

 successfully cultivated in Europe, that I shall here merely note some of 

 their many peculiarities. I shall begin by stating that of about forty 

 known species of Nepenthes, half at least are to be found in Borneo, 

 and of these about a dozen are exclusively confined to its soil. 1 



The term " hospitating plants " is applied to certain singular species 

 which constantly shelter (in cavities specially destined for that purpose) 

 insects, which are nearly always ants. In this category various epiphytal 

 Rubiacece belonging to the genera Myrmecodia and Hydnophytum, both 

 comprising numerous species, are most conspicuous. 



The genus Myrmecodia is represented in Borneo by a single species ; 

 Hydnophytnm by two. In Sarawak these strange plants appear to have 

 struck even the imagination of the natives, who have given them the 

 fantastic name of " anak antu," or " children of the spirits." Both the 

 Hydnophytum and the Myrmecodias are provided with a large bulbi- 

 form enlargement, formed by a thickening of the basal portion of the 

 stem. In Hydnophytum this organ sometimes acquires the size of a 

 child's head, whilst the remainder of the plant is reduced to a few twigs 

 and leaves. In Myrmecodia the enlargement is also voluminous, but 

 the stem is single, rather large, and continuous with the swollen part, 

 terminating in a tuft of good-sized leaves. The tuber or bulb both in 

 Hydnophytum and in Myrmecodia is formed mostly of cellular tissue, 

 soft and watery, and is highly adapted to store up a large amount of sap. 

 The structure of the outer layer or skin of the bulb is such as to render 

 evaporation difficult, for which reason, in a country with such frequent 

 rain and an atmosphere so constantly saturated with moisture, that 

 organ is sufficient to retain in the tissues the quantity of water necessary ' 

 to keep the plant in a condition of active vegetation even during the 

 time intervening between a wet and a dry season. The basilar swelling 

 of Myrmecodia and Hydnophytum cannot properly be called a bulb or 

 tuber, because it is not, as true tubers are, a store of alimentary reserves, 

 but merely a reservoir of water. 



Interiorly these organs of the above-mentioned plants show a singular 

 structure. If cut across they are not found full, but excavated in all 

 directions and crossed by canals and sinuous galleries, in which ants are 

 constantly sheltered. The insects have in fact permanently established 

 their home in these galleries, where they breed in prodigious numbers. 

 And this is the reason why I have proposed for this class of plants the 

 name of " hospitators " 2 in preference to that of " formicarians," for 

 the latter qualification applies equally to quite another series of plants, 

 which, instead of possessing receptacles or homes of shelter for ants, 

 present small spaces secreting saccharine fluids which are a great attraction 



1 Cf. Malesia, vol. iii., p. i. 



2 For further and more complete 7 information on these plants I would refer to 

 my memoir on " Hospitating plants," published in the second volume of Malesia. 



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