CHAP. XXIX] 



FEGETJTIOK 



423 



beetles, and of course torn to pieces. The principal draw- 

 back of the place for a collector is the waut of gofjid pathss, 

 and the dreadfully rugged character of the surface, le- 

 quiriug the attention to be so coutinnally directed to 

 securing a footing, as to make it very difficiilt to capture 

 active winged things, who pass out of reach while one is 

 glancing to see that the next step may not plunge one into 

 a chasm or over a precipice. Another inconvenience is 

 that there are no running streams, the rock being of so 

 porous a nature that the surface-water everywhere pene- 

 trates its fissures ; at least such is the character of the 

 neighbourhood we visited, the only water being small 

 springs trickling out close to the sea-heaclL 



In the forests of Ko, arboreal Liliaceaa and Pandanaceie 

 abound, and give a character to the vegetation in the mora 

 exposed rocky places. Flowers were scarce, and there 

 were not many orchids, but I noticed tlie fine %vhite 

 butterfly-orchis, Phaljenopsis grandillora, or a species 

 closely allied to it. The freshnesa and vigour of the 

 vegetation was very pleasing, and on such an arid rocky 

 surface was a sure indication of a pei"petually humid 

 climate. Tall clean ti'uuks, many of them buttressed, and 

 immense trees of the % family, with aerial roots stretciiing 

 out and interlacing and matted together for fifty or a 

 hundred feet above the ground, were the characteristic 

 features ; aud there was an al)sence of thorny shrubs and 

 prickly rattans, wliich would have made these wilds very 

 pleasant to roam in, had it not been for the shai^p honey- 

 combed rocks already alluded to. In damp places a fine 

 undergrowth of broad-leaved herbaceous plants was found, 

 about which swarmed little green lizards, with tsiils of tlie 

 most " heavenly blue," twisting in and out among tlie 

 stalks and foliage so actively that I often caught glimpses 

 of their tails only, when they startled me by their resem- 

 blance to small snakes. Almost the only sounds in these 

 primiEval woods proceeded from two birds, the red lories, 

 who utter shrill screams like most of the parrot tribe, aud 

 the large green nutmeg-pigeon, whose voice is either a 

 loud and deep boom, like two not^^s struck upon a very 

 large gong, or sometimes a harsh toad-like croak, altogether 

 peccdiar aud i-emarkable. Only two quadrupeds are said 



