154 



A NATUItALIST'S WANltMBlNGS 



Here also I gathered a splendid orcliid (Galeola sp.) grow- 

 ing on damp rotting tree-truuks, eliinbinf^ over tlie low forest, 

 singular in producing no foliage but putting forth a stem pro- 

 fusely floii^'ering at short nodes for i\>rty feet in length, with 

 blossoms of a rich yellow colour. In the ilepths of the forest 

 I found the large Ruffiema armldi and UasseUiit and the 

 smaller but handsomer Bni^marma Lowii. 



On the giani Urodlgma 1 shot several specimens of 

 Bucerotidm, the white-t;rested Mijdroeim alhirosiHs^ and the 

 great hornbill (Biweros gahatm), whose heavy seurlct hammer- 

 fronted eiisque, which it uses to beat with far-resounding 

 ttnids the branches of the trees, dniws vii>o!i it a severe perse- 

 cution, as Ln Palembang each head Gommandf* a large price, 

 ibr out of its dense white ivory-like consolidated horn, are 

 manufactured studs and sleeve-links of great beauty. The 

 casque in most species of this family is a cancellated structure 

 permeated by blood-vessels so teased out as to give it great 

 lightness, that it is difficult to understand why in this 

 species it should be so solid and heavy ; yet, notwithstantling, 

 no bird could flit about more lightly in the tree-tops, or 

 gather its food more agilely. Tn a longitudinal section of the 

 head and casque of this bird, the thick horny hammering por- 

 tion, as well seen in the iigure opposite, has behind it a layer of 

 dense bone to which osseous bars radiate towards the occipital 

 condyle, where the head joins with the neck, and pass above 

 and around the brain cavity, to protect it in a most beautiful 

 way from shock. The brain cavity is thus lodged below the 

 line of shock, and is besides separated from the c^isque by 

 padding in the shape of a cartilaginous joint. To Professor 

 Flower I am indebted for directing my attention to the 

 beautiful section in the Jiluseum of the lU>yal College of 

 Surgeons sketched here, whose structure had indeed led hiiii 

 to infer, before he knew the fact, that the bird must use its 

 head as a hammering instrument 



In a neighbouring stream, flitting from stone to stone, I 

 obtained the lively Iltfdroeichla i(jnica2>il'nSf a h'ml in babit 

 tmd colour closely resembling the true wagtails ; and on its 

 banks the horned frogs {Megahphrp nasuia) were abundimt, 

 whose anvil-Iike clinking " kang-kang " filled the air in the 

 evenings J but, in simulating so closely the dead leaves among 



