For a large number of European plants Dr. Selim Birger has 
recently made and published numerous feeding experiments 1 ). For 
Java however, germination experiments with seeds and fruits from 
birds stomachs have, as far as I know, only been made with Myrica 
javanica Bl. (compare footnote 2 above on p. 109). 
In order to obtain a better insight into the significance of endozoic 
seed-dissemination by birds in the Dutch East Indies and especially in 
Java, special comparative feeding-experiments are further very desirable 
with some species of birds, which are the most important from a 
phyto-geographical point of view. With these experiments on captive 
birds it would also be desirable to choose in each case a portion of 
the seeds and fruits from common, wild plants and always to keep 
a portion of the seeds in order to check the botanical determination. 
By combining the serial numbers (of the birds) with the letters 
a, b, c, for the seeds and fruits, the origin of each of the seeds can 
thus be sharply defined scientifically, and a confusion with other 
seeds and fruits be excluded. 
As the first example of this simple method of numbering, which 
has been found to serve its purpose well, I choose here the following 
combination: Barthels n. 5903a means for instance the seeds and 
fruits of the plant species a found in the stomach of the bird Coll. 
Barthels n. 5903 on 18 X 1908 in Western Java on the Pangerango. 
And in this case (see below) the bird n. 5903 was, according to 
the original label, determined by Mr. Barthels as Criniger 
gularis Horsf., where as the vegetable stomach contents a has been 
provisionally determined by me as Micromelum pubescens Bl. 
As a second example the following combination may serve: 
Barthels n. 6162a and Barthels a. 61626. Here n. 6162a therefore 
signifies (see below) the seeds with portions of the fruit wall of the 
species of Euphorbiaceae while the combination 6162 b indicates the 
truit-stones of the species of Myrsinaccae , both of which were found 
m the stomach contents of the bird, shot by Mr. Barthels on 
0 I. 1909 in Western Java on the Pangerango and determined by 
him as 2 Poliomyias luteola Pall, (winter visitor!). 
With the aid of this combination of a number and a letter, the 
provisional botanical determination can always be confirmed or 
corrected with ease. 
