here on the plateau. The geology and vegetation of the Khasia hills have been so well described by Sir Joseph Hooker in his Himalayan Journals that I need not go into details. But though he botanised in these hills with a large staff of collectors for several months, he did not exhaust the wonderful riches of the vegetation. Mr. Clarke, who was then the best botanist in India, had resided there for some time and collected diligently during the whole of his numerous excursions into the hills, but he found new plants on several occasions during our rambles.
As regards butterflies, my first impression was that the locality was a poor one, and though this impression was somewhat modified later, I must say that at this season, which is perhaps not so favourable as a month or two later, the number of species of butterflies which I found abundant was very small. During my ramble round the station the most remarkable species I took was Argynnis rudra, which, though distinguished by slight differences from the European A. laodice, is found nowhere else in India, and represents a group whose range is from East Prussia through Siberia to Japan. Other species which I took were characteristic of the North-Western rather than of the Eastern Himalaya; whilst only one or two of the insects common here are found in abundance in Sikkim. With regard to birds, they were so few in numbers and variety that they might almost be said to have no characteristic facies. I never was in any locality in India, and in very few in Europe, where birds were so scarce as in the hills round Shillong at this season. You might walk for six or seven miles without seeing as many species of birds, and these were merely common species such as Mynahs, Bulbuls, Pipits and Crows. I made enquiries for natives who might be useful in my collecting, but, though two or three were brought to me, it was evident that they had little or no knowledge of the subject, and being unable to speak Hindustani they were useless. A certain Roy an Sing from the village of Maoflong, who turned up on the next day, was, according to his own account, an ac¬ complished collector of plants, birds and insects. But I soon found that he valued himself and his accomplishments so highly that I could do nothing with him; though I got from him a few butterflies of sorts which I did not see myself. In the afternoon Clarke returned from Jowai and kindly asked me to take up my quarters in his house. Among other visits, we paid one to Mr. Mann, who was the chief officer of the Forest Depart¬ ment in Assam, and lived there during the rainy season in a charming bungalow a mile from Shillong. His garden was one of the best kept and richest that I saw in India, and contained numerous native and exotic trees, shrubs, orchids and herbaceous plants. A fine red Salvia was very showy, and many interesting species of Balsams, Begonias and Hedychium were flowering, but, except for a new species of Balsam from Upper Assam, Impatiens Manni, which has variegated leaves and the habit of a Sonerila, I saw nothing in flower that was very striking from a horti¬ cultural point of view. Mr. Mann, a Hanoverian by birth, was a dis¬ tinguished forest officer and botanist and had 2,500 square miles of forest under his direction in various parts of Assam. He showed us a beautiful album of coloured drawings of the Khasia orchids which are extremely numerous. Sir Joseph Hooker says that fully 250 species occur in the
