22G 



A NATUJIAIJST'S WANDEniNQS 



j>heasaiits screamed, mid the howl of tliB Siamang broke the 

 stillnosa of the evening. Tho senstitiou \vm as if inter- 

 imttent upheaval, such as I witnessed in the crater of the 

 Benipo, had taken place nnder my feet. 



The stream close at hand swarmed with excel lent fish, of 

 which some were caught every day for my table ; the woods 

 were full of deer, which frequented the hot springs to drink, 

 of herds of tapir an<l of elegant little Tmffuh'd/v, Numerous 

 Buceros birds advertised their presenee by their cries the 

 darker shades were pittag (P. vmmta) pheasants and sj)ecies of 

 partridge {Cahperdix ocuha)-; while Babbling- thrushes (Rhino- 

 eu'hla mitrata and Sihia simillima), and many kinds besides, 

 added their chorus to the woods. 



The botanic^d features of the district were not wnthout 

 interest, though not so rich as some of the hxudities I had 

 already visited. At my door, growing in a tliicket, was one of 

 those shrubs (Smnl/ucm javaniea), which like the Po\i^*ett'in, 

 jiroduce in the close vicinity of their tlorets, curious -h*i-c}- 

 little cups full of rich, yellow honey whose function is still a 

 disputed question- The species of Samhtcm in Enroj>e, as 

 is well known, have thread-like stipules with glandular tips, 

 which in racemosaf M. Bonnier* has observed, produce 

 liquid Bugar abundantly. H. Miillert has recorded that a 

 species of Sanihueiis (6\ mgra ?) is not visited by bees, but by 

 flies, on accmmt of its odour ; but M. Bonnier says, " S, raeemom 

 is ^^sited by bees. The distribution of the nectaries . . . 

 (according to the German physioh>gicaI botanist Sachs) is 

 always in immediate relation t^ the specific combinations that 

 the flower has developed {rialist) for the pufjiose of fertilisa- 

 tion by insects. They visit the flowers to imbibe the nectar, 

 by which they are nourished, and which is distilled exclusively 

 for this purpose." M. Bonnier holds | that ** the greater part 

 of the accumulated sugar returns to the plant when the nectar 

 loses the sugar it contained [which supervenes when the fruit 

 begins to grow]. * , . In regard to the floral nectaries, when 

 the sugar disappears from the nectariferous tissue, they go to 



^ Bonnier, " Ltn N'ectaires,*' Annatm de» Sciences SuiitrrUes IJofa7iitpu\ viii. 

 1879, pji. 1-212. For a rderenccj ta this intercsLmg pafer I am much 

 ijiclebU^J to Lfinl Justice Fry. 



t * ni« Tk'fruclitiii!j der Blumen dtircli In.-^kteu,' Loinzig, 1873, p. 4S!S. 

 ■ t lor. r/V, J.. IWK 



