THE ORCHID REVIEW. 83 
ORCHIDS OF THE MALAY PENINSULA. 
A LONG and interesting paper on the Orchids of the Malay Peninsula, 
by Henry Ridley, M.A., F.L.S., Director of the Gardens and Forest 
Department, Singapore, appears in the thirty-second volume of the 
Journal of the Linnean Society, from which we extract the following 
remarks relating to the natural conditions under which they grow. 
The greater part of the Malay Peninsula is covered with dense jungle, 
which extends to the tops of nearly all the hills, though the trees at 
about 4,000 feet elevation are more stunted. In the low country forest, 
epiphytic Orchids are comparatively rare, and when they occur, are usually 
situated on the upper branches of the loftiest trees, so as to be nearly 
inaccessible. Terrestial Orchids, chiefly Neottie, some of which are 
saprophytic, occur scattered all through the forests—usually sparingly— 
and, owing to their dull or brown colouring, are often very inconspicuous. 
The Mangrove swamps and tidal river banks are often very rich in 
epiphytic species, which, sometimes, ‘thickly cover the branches of the 
trees. In the drier and more sunny spots along the sea-coast, and the 
more open rivers, species of Thrixspermum, Renanthera, and Aérides, 
scramble over the rocks in thick masses. The open country where the 
forests have disappeared, produces but few species; Spathoglottis plicata, 
Eulophia, Geodorum, Bromheadia palustris, Habenaria lacertifera, occur 
in dry, §tassy spots. Liparis paradoxa, Thrixpermum lilacinum, and 
Vanda Hookeriana, grow in the grassy swamps. A few species are 
abundant in the orchards and gardens of the villages; such are Dendro- 
bium crumenatum, D. pumilum, D. Leonis, D. micranthum, Cirrhopetalum 
vaginatum, Bulbophyllum clandestinum, Dendrocolla Trichoglottis, D. 
filiformis, and Acriopsis javanica. 
In many of the hill forests, Orchids become more abundant; as one 
ascends, the jungle becomes more open; and on the exposed, rocky 
slopes, called Padang Batu (stone fields) by the natives, a great variety 
can often be found. And in these places it is noticeable that species which 
In the low country are only to be found on the tops of the loftiest trees, 
are here to be seen growing on the ground or quite low down on the 
stems and branches of the bushes and small trees. Thus, on Kedah 
Peak, at about 3,000 feet elevation, the ground in some places is thickly 
Carpeted with plants of Bulbophyllum, Ccelogyne, Dendrobium, Platyclinis, 
Eria, €tc., in such a manner that gne is up to one’s waist in them. 
A very different Orchid flora is that of the limestone hills, which are 
Scattered about all over the Peninsula, but which chiefly run in a broken 
es north and south. These hills are usually mere isolated masses of 
Crystalline limestone, of no great size or altitude, often many miles apart, 
