264 
NOTES. 
know of no better or more interesting headquarters for an ecological 
worker than Cherra, and it has a good dâk bungalow and fine climate, 
except in the rains, which may be avoided by going further north to 
Shillong. It can be most easily reached from Calcutta by steamer 
from Goalundo up the Surma Valley to Chattuk and native boat to 
Companygunj, from whence it is a walk of about 25 miles with coolies. 
Another centre from which interesting excursions may be made is 
Mawphlang (Moflong) between Cherra and Shillong, but it is a bleak 
cold place in itself. 
My second excursion was into the Sikkim Himalaya in the Darjiling 
and Kurseong Districts. Sir Joseph Hooker’s classical description 
of the interesting flora and vegetation of this country gives all that 
is necessary for preliminary information, but it may be worth while 
to point out to European botanists that this region is now very 
much opened up, excepting in Nepal. Darjiling is a large town, 
within 22 hours of Calcutta by rail, and there are now resthouses 
at easy stages throughout the Sikkim routes followed by Hooker 
up to elevations of 12,000 feet. The flora has been well worked 
from a purely taxonomic standpoint, but there is a vast field for 
ecological work in this region ; botanists familiar with the Swiss or 
Pyrenean floras should find it of particular interest. At the same 
time the flora of the lower slopes, e.g.^ about Darjiling itself (7,500 feet), 
is very like that of Horton Plains and other high levels in Ceylon, but 
mingled, like the flora of the Khasia Hills, with many more northern 
types. The whole formation and scenery of the Lower Himalaya, as 
seen from the Darjiling Railway, is very closely similar to that of the 
western side of the Ceylon mountains. From the foot of the hills to 
Calcutta the line passes through cultivated country, which in the last 
portion is very like the neighbourhood of Colombo, but evidently drier. 
I take this opportunity of expressing my thanks to the various 
Government Botanists of India, Curators of Botanic Gardens, and 
other officials in the districts which I visited, for the hospitality and 
kindness shown to me at every stage of my journeys, and for the help 
rendered in arranging details of tours, &c. 
J. C. WILLIS. 
Opening of the Experiment Station at 
Gangaroowa, Peradeniya. 
In the article on the history of the Botanic Gardens with which this 
volume opened, it was mentioned on page 12 that the chief desideratum 
for a complete modern organization of the Department was the opening 
of an experiment station or garden, where experiments could be 
tried on the large scale with staple products or with new products not 
