38^f)oboi)EntJron ^ocietp 
have escaped the observation of collectors who have gathered the same species 
from different localities, from different elevations, or perhaps from different 
sides of the same valleys. Such an explanation is surely more philosophical 
than the notion that so many variations have arisen—not gradually, but aU of 
a sudden—from cultural influences. My readers will apprehend how interesting 
botanically it is to find such a variety of types packed together in so small a 
compass, for instance, as Sikkim ; but they will, of course, remember the 
character of the country and its climate, where Alpine and almost tropical 
conditions occur side by side. 
The Heaths at the Cape of Good Hope give an example of great variation 
in the same family, but Dr. Beccari’s* remark on the Rhododendrons of Borneo 
offers the best, and a very curious, analogy. His words are verj?^ striking: 
“ According to my personal observations it appears that almost every mountain 
top in Borneo has its own special forms, which do not seem to spread themselves, 
at least on the adjoining mountains.” 
J. H. M. 
* Dr. Odoado Beccari’s work "Malesia,” to which Mangles so frequently refers, was 
published at Genoa in 1877-1890 (3 vols). 
98 
