£lltts'tratt0ng of }3t)j)t0--<©c03nqpV)g. 



XV 



foliage. Immediately behind it rises an 



isolated cocoa palm, and more to the right 



a young specimen of Barringtonia spedosa, 



one of the most beautiful trees of this 



region, but which grows less freely in these 



I , coral islands. Groups of cocoa-nut palms, 



II which suffer little underwood to spring 



II up, show themselves here, and through 



I i these may be seen the other end of the 



I I forest, a proof of the limited extent of 

 1 1 such an island as this. In its centre, where 

 j the accumulation of vegetable mould has 



I been going on the longest, stately forest 

 i I trees have already found a home, among 

 them a large Eugenia with lanceolate 

 leaves, and fruits about the size of a large 

 plum of a pale green colour tinged with 

 red, and several bread-fruit trees {Artocar- 

 pusincisa) of considerable height. [B. SJ 



VEGETATION" OF TENERIFFE, WITH 

 SUCCULENT EUPHORBIAS. 



(Plate VIII.) 



Our illustration introduces us to a wild 

 rocky glen, a barranco, on the east coast 

 of Teneriffe, Canary Islands, where succu- 

 1 1 lent cactus-like Euphorbias (E. canariensis 

 I and piscatoria), arborescent Composite and 

 i Rubiacece are the leading plants. The ve- 

 getation has a glaucous look. The Euphor- 

 bia canariensis, with its straight stiff 

 branches, all springing from the root, is 

 generally seen on the top of rocks and 

 . the very edges of precipices, imparting a 

 ; peculiar feature to the landscape, and con- 

 j trasting strangely with the tree-like Klei- 

 \ nia neriifolia with its long naked branches 

 ' crowded at the top with tufts of leaves, or 

 , Plocama pendula, almost resembling a 

 weeping willow, and seen in close proxi- 

 ! mity to a Kleinia in the lowermost right- 

 hand corner of our illustration. Pyrethrum 

 crithmifolium, Conyza sericea, and Periploca 

 laevigata, are three plants also found in this 

 spot. The whole may be taken as a fair 

 illustration of the aspect of the vegetation 

 of the coast region of the Canary Islands, 

 where herbage is so scanty ?s to afford pas- 

 turage to only a few flocks of goats. [B. S.] 



VEGETATION OF JAVA-TREE-FERNS 

 IN THE FOREGROUND, A FOREST 

 OF AMENTACE.E IN THE DISTANCE. 



(Plate IX.) 



The traveller in Java, after emerging 

 from the coast region and ascending to the 

 height of 4,000 to 6,000 feet, experiences so 



great a change in everything surrounding 

 him, that he can hardly believe himself to 

 be in the same island. Instead of the sul- 

 try heat and clammy atmosphere, he now 

 inhales a pure cool air which exercises a 

 delightful reaction upon his spirits. Moun- 

 tain streams of delicious coolness are met 

 with at every step, and a bright ver.dure is 

 spread over hill and dale. Our illustration 

 introduces us to a view in the mountains 

 of Java, where a large waterfall dashing 

 over the edge of high perpendicular rocks, 

 looking like a stream of silver from a dis- 

 tance, diffuses an unusual amount of mois- 

 ture, and favours a great luxuriance of 

 vegetation. Ferns, especially tree-ferns, 

 those palm-like plants, unrivalled in their 

 grace and beauty by any other members of 

 the vegetable kingdom, are here plentiful, 

 and attain often forty to seventy feet in 

 height, their fronds measuring several 

 yards in length. The background of this 

 view is filled by a variety of amentaceous 

 trees, chiefly species of evergreen oaks and 

 Castanopsis, growing gregariously together 

 as do their congeners in more temperate 

 climates. [B. S.] 



SWAMPY FOREST, WITH BANYAN 

 TREES, IN THE ISLAND OF UALAN. 



(Plate X.) 



[Reference.— a. Spiny Cyperaceous plant; 

 6. Ficus, with root-covered trunk ; c. Epi- 

 phytal Freyeinetia ; d. Barringtonia acu- 

 tangula, young plants ; e. Cordia ; f. Tham- 

 nopteris Ntdus, nestling on a fig stem.] 



A description of forest peculiar to the 

 tropics. The adjacent ground, just above 

 high-water mark, becomes inundated by 

 the high tide forcing back the water dis- 

 charged by rivers and rivulets. A soil 

 thu& periodically submerged is never quite 

 dry, and only becomes somewhat firm by 

 the gigantic roots of the trees occupying 

 it. In Ualan, these swarnpy forests have a 

 twofold character. Where the underwood 

 consists of the Hibiscus tiliaceus, they a e 

 almost impenetrable ; where this is want- 

 ing, there is, under the huge bower formed 

 by the crown of large trees, a wider pro- 

 spect. The underwood is composed of nu- 

 merous small trees, the crowns of which 

 have not been able to attain the height of 

 the larger trees, and therefore remained 

 undeveloped. The greater number of them 

 belong to Barringtonia acutangula,the fine 

 drooping flower-bunches of which are often 

 seen on the ground. The stems are cover- 

 ed with epiphytal ferns : amongst them 

 Thamnopteris Nidus, which imparts a strik- 

 ing character to the landscape. No less 

 ornamental are the isolated Freycinetias, 

 which in Ualan mostly grow epiphytically, 

 and are shown quite in the foreground of 

 the picture. The principal features of the 

 1 plate are gigantic Fig-trees, such a6 are 



