COLLECTING EXPEDITION TO BATANG PADANG. 143 
These branches reached down to the earth and, for a great 
part of their length, were buried and out of sight, but the 
extreme ends stood up nearly vertically from the ground at 
perhaps 6 or 7 feet from the tree and bore pretty sweet scented, 
cream coloured flowers and bunches of dark velvety brown 
coloured fruit. The object of such an arrangement and the 
causes which have led to it form a scientific puzzle well worthy 
of solution. 
On the 2ist I went up to the higher camp, and from there to 
the rock on the top of the spur, and found a very handsome 
Rhododendron in flower; it was quite a small bush and was 
growing on apiece of moss-covered rock. The flowers, which 
were nearly two inches across, were borne in large bunches 
and were of acolour resembling the yellow Allamanda com- 
monly grown in the gardens in the Straits. I brought down the 
root and planted it in a basket and I also brought down young 
plants of 5 or 6 other species, some of which I had previously 
planted in baskets while living at the higher camp. Near the 
place where the Rhododendron was growing were three roots 
of a large and pretty fern, the fronds were about sixteen feet 
long and the stem was covered witha blueish bloom. The 
spores were contained in small oval capsules, which opened 
by a single slit along their greater diameter. “These were the 
only three plants of this beautiful fern I had then seen, though 
on the hills near Ulu Batang Padang I afterwards saw others. 
On the way down while going after a monkey I came upon a 
large fir tree of a different species to that which is so common 
on the summit. It had light, graceful, feathery branches and 
the leaves were extremely minute. In appearance it is much 
like the Casuarina that isso much grown in Penang. Unfortu- 
nately it was not in fruit, nor did a prolonged search beneath 
it reward us with any old cones. 
I had the bird trap set again, but without success. Among 
other birds shot during this time was a large and handsome 
red-headed trogon. This may be Harpactes erythrocephalus, 
Gould., which is recorded from the hills of Eastern Bengal, the 
Himalayas and the hills of Tenasserim, but has not been met 
with in the Malay Peninsula as yet. Another was a broad- 
bill, closely allied to, but apparently distinct from, Corydon 
