VALLEYS ON RUWENZORI. 99 



(also found on Kilimanjaro and Mlanje), is fre- 

 quent at low levels up to perhaps 7,000 feet, feeding 

 on the banana flowers. In one spot there were 

 numbers living on a flaming red Combretum. 

 This is a beautiful little creature with a pink 

 and bronze shot over the whole body. 



Another Nectarinia (apparently N. Johnstonei) 

 I have seen up to 11,000 feet. It feeds chiefly on 

 long-tubed flowers of the Labiate and Acanthus 

 families. In order to save it too much trouble in 

 honey gathering, those flowers which it specially 

 frequents are almost all collected in masses at the 

 end of a branch. 



I mention this because one of the most general 

 rules of flowering is that a condensed rosette or 

 umbel of flowers at the end of the stalk is 

 characteristic of a dry and exposed climate. 



During a pretty long stay between the Yeria and 

 Kivata camps, I had plenty of opportunity for in- 

 vestigating the flora thoroughly. On days (far too 

 frequent) when I was unable to walk far, I used to 

 get up to the moistiest part of the forest and hunt 

 for fungi. On the rotting sticks and- leaves in this 

 rainy and hot climate, these were curiously abun- 

 dant. I have gathered perhaps seventy, all diffe- 

 rent, in as many minutes. One form has the most 

 curious distribution I have ever heard of. It is 

 only known from three places — Texas, Japan, and 

 Ruwenzori ! This is also a feature of the bamboo 

 zone. Every old fragment has eruptions of deli- 



