IN JAVA. 79 



far as I am aware^ hitherto collected uncultivated in the 

 Old World. 



The 14;th of June is to me memorable as being the day 

 on which for the first time I saw in its native habitat, and 

 gathered there, that most singular of the vegetable productions 

 of the Indian Archipelago, the Myrmecodia tuberosa and 

 Hydnopliytum formicarum. Their most striking characteristic 

 will be indelibly marked in my remembrance by the sen- 

 sations other than mental, by which their acquaintance was 

 made. 



In tearing down a galaxy of epiphytic orchids from an 

 erythrina tree, I was totally overrun, during the short momen- 

 tary contact of my hand with the bunch, with myriads of a 

 minute species of ant (Pheidole javana), whose every bite was a 

 sting of fire. Beating a precipitous retreat from the spot, I 

 stripped with the haste of desperation, but, like jsepper-dust 

 over me, they were writhing and twisting their envenomed 

 jaws in my skin, each little abdomen spitefully quivering with 

 every thrust it made. Going back, when once I had rid 

 myself of my tormentors, to secure the specimens I had 

 gathered, I discovered in the centre of the bunch a singular 

 plant I had never seen before, which I perceived to be the 

 central attraction of the ants. It was called Kitang-Jcurah by 

 my boy, who said it was the home of the ants. I was over- 

 joyed with the revelation that a slice struck off by my knife, 

 made of an intricate honeycombed structure swarming with 

 minute ants — a living formicarium. 



In the space of a short search I found, generally high on 

 the trees, abundance of specimens of both genera, which, not 

 without several futile attempts and many imprecations and 

 groanings on the part of my boys, were brought to the ground ; 

 and, at the ends of a pole over their shoulders, up which the 

 infuriated dwellers would ascend to spread over their bare 

 bodies to their frequent discomfiture, they were at last safely 

 deposited in a spot in Mr. Lash's garden, where I could 

 examine them with comfort without disturbing their inhabi- 

 tants. 



The accompanying representation (page 80} represents the 

 general appearance of the epiphyte : a spine-covered bulb 

 surmounted by a cylindrical axis bearing leaves and minute 



