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1 7 ;

THE

JOURNAL

OF THE

BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY

INDEX AND TITLE PAGE

VOL. XXXV

NOS. 3 & 4

Price ae Les. 2-4-0.

MADRAS

PRINTED AT THE DIOCESAN PRESS

1933

INSTRUCTIONS TO BINDER

The contents of these two parts should be arranged in the

following order when they are being bound :—

Title page ae ae oe

Contents of Nos. 3 and 4 of Vol. XXXV |

List of Contributors dee oy

List of Plates ... _ _..' To follow frontis-

Index to Illustrations piece in this order.

Errata aes wee a

Index of Species sed

List of Office Bearers, } To go at the end of

Life Members and Members two numbers.

bad

Stare

Pat be, +_2*3t9 eo ee .

Cae Ree

THE

JOURNAL

OF THE

BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY

EDITED BY

SIR REGINALD SPENCE, Kt., M.L.c., J.P. & S. H. PRATER, C.M.Z.S., M.L.C., J.P.

VOL. XXXV

Nos. 3 & 4

Containing 5 Coloured Plates, 27 Black and White Plates,

39 Text-figures, 2 Maps, and 7 Diagrams.

Dates of Publication

Part Ill. (Pages 475 to 702) ... 15th February, 1932.

IV. ( , 703t0 926) ... 15th July, 1932.

LONDON AGENTS

DULAU & CO., Ltd., 32, Old Bopd Streeteaburiton, WI.

PRINTED AT THE DIOCESAN PRESS, MADRAS

1933

jun 7 1933

CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXXV.

No. 3

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE. Bye diac.

Stuart Baker Cil.B..F:Z.S., FsLiS., MoB.O.U., H.F.A.O.U. Part

XVI. {With a coloured plate of The Black-winged Stilt

(Himantopus h. himantopus) and The Ibis-bill (/ézdor-

VEN PEC LOMSUIULILCL SED.) \pavncee Ree ucist tates Sp lecetiilsctias wersten Fado see esl diay aa

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY.

Part XVII. By Rev. E. Blatter, s.3. (With three plates and

LCN ESD OU TO) ee ei gi aoe el on ote oiesd siesta Ras edly pana eeaRG es ae

A Few NOTES ON PERSIAN, AFRICAN AND INDIAN LIONS IN

THE FIRST CENTURY AFTER CHRIST. By Dr. Sir. Jivanji

Janishedji Modi, Az.. hae tee :

THE VERNAY een ee Garver OF THE Aca unis

(Ornithological section). By WH. Whistler, F.z.S., M.B.O.U.

Assisted by N. B. Kinnear, m.B.o.u. (With two maps

RUC ALE OO LUT Cr tra eres oe icce cts yee sateen ae Lice Stes ees ee

SOME BEAUTIFUL INDIAN TREES. By Rev. E. Blatter, S.J.,

and W.S. Millard, F.z.s. Part VIII. (With two coloured

plates, two black and white plates and six text-figures.).....

THE RHESUS MACAQURFS (Macaca mulatta). By R. I. Pocock,

F.R.S. (With a plate and two text-figures.)... ee eer:

THE SNAKES OF IRAQ. By N. L. Corkill, m.z., ena EZ.S:,

FLOWER-BIRDS AND BIRD-FLOWERS IN INDIA. By Salim A.

Ali. (With four plates and tour text-figures.)..........

MEASUREMENTS AND NOTES ON SOME LITTLE-KNOWN

CEYLON MamMAtLs. By A. C. Tutein-Nolthenius, F.z.s.

(With one text-figure.)... DE eis cies iiat oat ease eee ds

SOME NOTES ON THE Momaane a Malcolm A. Smith.

(With a plate.)... = Be er ere rer

THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE Sa eee By Go W.. V-.

DeRhe-Philipe, F.z.s. Part III.. ees

THE STUDY OF INDIAN BIRDS. By Er Wiser HiZiss,

M.B.O.U. Part IX. (Witha plate and a tlext-figure.).,....

PAGE

484

505

502

635

iv CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXXV

PAGE

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES. By Lt.-Col. F.C. Fraser, 1.M.S., F.E.S.

Part XXXIX. (Wath a plate and @ 1C71A Ue Nery ee 645

OBSERVATIONS ON THE TRIFID TAILS IN TWO SPECIMENS OF

(Hemidactylus flaviviridis, RUPPEL) WITH A NOTE ON

THE ARTIFICIAL REGENERATION OF DOUBLE AND TRIPLE

TAILS OF THE -‘ TOKHAK’ LIZARD (Gecko verticillatus,

Laurenti.) By G.M. Das, M.sc. (With a plate and a

text-figure.)... Lf ca sais Siete) cee eee eter ODE

OBITUARY: MISS le OAN Spaoctas aE ca hie id Sora een ee 663

REVIEWS.

1. SwHortT HISTORY OF THE CEYLON GAME AND FAUNA

PRESERVATION Society. By A. C. Tutein-Nolthe-

nius, F.Z.S., 1894-1931 _... BA 1665

2. BUTTERFLIES OF LAHORE ... a kee 667

3. Ostrea cucullata—THE BOMBAY Once te 667

4. AN INTRODUCTION TO PLANT PHYSIOLOGY ms 668

5. A BOOK OF MAN-EATERS _... = i 60S

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES :—

I. The Occurrence of the Flying-Fox (Pteropus

giganteus) in the Punjab. By C. Breadon... ~—670

II. Number of Cubs inva “Tigers Uitter. by AZo:

Berrithssakivi3 25 ch oe ee ee ee 670

III. Occurrence of the Panther in the Sind Desert. By

Hamid: AvsAl1-AUGiS 7st ct ct rece ie feta 671

IV. Do Lions still: exist in Persia? By- Ronald

Sinclatt. di: iG G8 xg eicccepeee 9 ines ace eee

V. A useful type of Machan. By W. Forsyth. (W2th

BT EA RUAN Nes tircb est, ah ie genatencia mete tae Scere ages yarns 672

VI. Do Wild Dogs hunt and kill by night? By

Raman) OF DUPOAMIA ws ..ehee dee kaa eee eee ee 673

VII. The Malay Bear. By J. C. Higgins. (With a

PHOLO.\. Sake Shc id edt ae sataieteee ee ate eect 673

VIII. Black Four-horned Antelope (Telvaceros quadri-

cornis).. By RatmanujerSureuia.. 22 ee ener

IX. Rogue Elephants in the Khasi Hills. By L. L.

RGAE 2565 eo vedice cov etet ae Metta: Clee erly eae OTIC

XIV.

XV.

DOV

OVE OE

XV IIT.

DOE.

XA.

O46

XO:

DEX,

XXV.

RON I.

XXV II.

CONTENTS OF VOLOME XXXV

The Migration of the Paradise Flycatcher

trea pavadist). By F.S. Briggs.. ;

Sex differences in the migration of the Conon

AGATE MEV ELI TOM IC CLG) ven fctie oes tae sells sn sg Sec Ao naka 0

Notes on the Nesting habits of the Red-vented

Bulbul (A7clpastes cater). By ©; McCann. 1...

Double Nests of the Weaver Bird (Pleceus philip-

pinus). By S. H. Prater, ¢.m.z.s. (With @

QUE OT AUIDL Neate este Peete (A Gp sue Ae noes tee Rasen

Place of the Java Sparrow (Muna oryzivora L.) in

the Indian Avifauna.

Note on the breeding of the Indian Moorhen

(Gallinula chloropus parvitrons). By J. C.

Hele Oiy ele CC at yee Senten arse nee he ene, sous aa

Description of the immature siumanoe of the Indian

Pratincole or Swallow Plover (Glarcola m. maldt-

VOUT wa ay N nore laa. CES OMG tad a>. ous. Me lees

Early arrival of Fantail Snipe (Gallinago ee!)

Me Viadt Puts = ISVs, LINO OIS Teer S. .6 via eeee

The Distribution of the Eastern Grey Duck (Anas

pectlorhyncha zonorhyncha). By C. M. Inglis....

The Stiff-tailed Duck (L9r7sinatura leucocephala),

Bye MG ..derk, isle Stirs: ees Se cccdctes oo “

Pilyane. Enogs. by Jn Gee, UriiminOnd secs ses oa

Case of recovery from the bite of a Phoorsa (Ach7s

(Tcht-

GAY LOLA) =) Dy NN) A, i) lla tinier sa cident aoe

Treatment of Snake Bite. By Colonel M. L.

Crimmins .

Snakes on ae Bi Si one Bikes (ese “By

K. Lindberg...

Description of a new eWieenet Butterds Gaytens

heodes irm@). By Lt.-Col. F. M. Bailey, c.1.5..

Distinctive characters of the Butterflies (Appias

libythea libythea F. f.) and (Appizas albina

darada Fd. 3‘) By J. A. Yates. (With a diagram).

Dry and Wet season forms of the Butterfly (Przoner7s

SILVA LCIL 2. PIATO) BB Jie Din NCAUCS.c20 tae 28

How abundant are Land Leeches? By J. Percy

INIT rr ete Gols oh cen enn. Petes MRE Val nw ao vs

681

683

685

700

701

vi CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXXV

No, 4.

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE. By E. C. Stuart

Baker, (C4.Bi, FZ:S., “EiLtS:,0 M B-OLU. 4 Pe Osu 2ieane

XVII. [With a coioured plate cf The Curlew (Mumentus

arguata arguata) and The Bar-tailed Godwit (Lzmosa

VAD PONICA LAPDONTIO | oe ences asa te aie eee oe

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY.

Part XV ili. By Key.” 2. Blatter; Stripers:

Waih:? plates Qa DT LCRTIV Uy e.) anes a eae a ee ete

THE VERNAY SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF THE EASTERN GHATS

(Ornithological = Secizon). ~ Patholl.= By- e} Wihistles,

M.B.O.U.~assisted by N.2bs Kinnear. WMepsOsUeana. ae ee

OLp Deccan Dayvys—My TIGER-HUNTING JOURNAL IN 1899.

By Breadier-General R.-Gy Burton, 44.2.5. ssneee ee

Tue BLiacK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA.

Parti. By R.1, Pocock, Finis’) (Wah ai iexi ce 7ess)

Some BEAUTIFUL INDIAN TREES. Part IX. (With a coloured

plate, 1 black and white plate and 2 text-figures). By

Rey. E. Blatter; s., PhD.) #-1L:S., and W. ©. Millard: p.z.s:

THE SHELL-FISHERIES OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY—

REPORT OF THE BomBaAy NAtrurAL HISTORY SOCIETY'S

SURVEY. By H.S. Rai, M.se. (With 5 plates and 2 text-

TU QUI CS 0) bot hectn zg oles Wn eee as No net cle anata tree

THE STUDY OF INDIAN Birpss Part xX.) “By -Hin Whistien,

B.Z:S.,. M.BsO.U. (Witihe ten 1g e pee) ne eee a

A NEw GENTIAN FROM N. WAzIRISTAN. By Rev. E. Blatter,

8.3.5 PDS Des BEE cS, occ seas are eee ee eee eee

On A COLLECTION OF Carabid@ FROM WAZIRISTAN. By

TL AAO WES. 55 ire oi tae ee Ree eee ce eee

FISHING FOR ‘ BomBAy Duck’ (Harpodon nehereus). By

©. B. Setna, M.sc., Ph.p. (Cantab.). (With Z plate and 2

LORTALLOUVES \esclSsinacs des 08d Dra get Se ee Oe oe ELE

NOTES ON THE FAUNA OF BritiIsH INDIA: BiRDs. Vols. IV.,

Vaand V1. (New Edn. )a.i2 nee eae

FLD PTIOR TAT hice ioa sie'enl nh cd agate bole he esse aa See ene ae eee

OBITUARY»... Mir Gey IRVAN? jue cee ee ae ee

AN SAPPRA LHe iid aly pigs etn eas et See ee eee

ReViIbWs ——

THE FAUNA oF BritisH INDIA, INCLUDING CEYLON

AND BURMA. Repiilia ANE HUDIE00G ee, ee teen ee

PAGE

703

[eae

Hoy

(hoy

824

826

881

CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXXV

KO EExXE-BOOK OF HLEMENTARY- ZOOLOGY .ss..... fier .ces 0s

BOTANISCHE .VERSUCHE OHNE APPARATH......:..cccccccce

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES :—

GONE

XV.

Wh.

roy I.

XVII.

Age of Animals. By H. N. G. Acharya, B.A., F.z.s.

Tiger killing Swamp Deer or Gond (Rucervus

auvaucei2). joy Capt, I. WW. Hearsey..n.....

The Persian Panther (P. pardus saxicolor) in

Baluchistan. “By kh. J: Pocock, BoR.G..-..4.2 nse

Use of artificial light in Panther shooting. By

IRE MG NEOEERIS) LE ZeScue es cae sae eset cane Leber er Aneeee

An Albino Chital (427s axis). By G. Atkinson...

Vitality of Bison mauled by a Tiger. By R. C.

NEOUS ges Gunn Si, Mer ent sh conaaien «Mae etcne ee eernne eee

Unerupited Tusks of Elephants. By R. C. Morris,

EV Zee enna bree atts st sue Medes datisce nT ren a eee ens

Game Preserves and Miacnliont photography. By

NPG NNOGIS p25 Sigs ree Se a en Ne noe ee

some Andaman Birds. By B. B. Osmaston, ¢.1.R.

Notes on the Birds of Baluchistan. By Col.

eek IN Olah Old ae nein ere Teak pete eae eee

Bulbuls in Calcutta and its Suburbs. By N. B. Dutt.

Migration of Paradise Flycatcher ( 7chitrea paradist).

Died wh eee Dales moments atone ee. eoertion

Nestling of the Indian Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle

rudis) attacked by Larvee of Parasitic Fly. By

Ore Wie Canis Hale Scare, AG eee ee ean oe ee cee

Occurrence of the Nukta or Comb Duck (Sarkidzor-

nis melanotus) in the Larkana District, Sind. By

ee eam iomle le 1s C See. 5 5 sarees sacl teens en ee ee

Occurrence of the Bronze-capped or Falcated Teal

(Zunetta falcata) in Kutch. By Maharaj Kumar

RYOTE (eae Tai 2) 2 062 ar a en

Occurrence of the Bronze-capped or Falcated Teal

(Aunetta falcata) in Burma. By C. EH. Milner.....

Occurrence of the Golden Eye (Glauctonetta

clangula) in the Champaran District. By A.C.

fel ail A Otte aetna e Riisletnce hers cceleaNeaaitinet nace ontt:

Occurrence of the Smew (Mergus albellus) in Sind.

Bye el elves cri IC Kr ©, Ohasece tia coMece Merete ee eee at

Soy

898

899

ogg

899

300

Vili CONTENTS OF VOLUME XAXT,

XIX. Comparative frequency of Fantail, Pintail and Jack

Snipe near Bangalore. By Canta BE. BaGe &

Searels, 5d meer sete eciae ta ay Renee en ee Sac Rshes eo

XX. Disease among Crows. By Samsar Chand Koul..

XXJ. Migration of Wild Fowl. The Society’s Bird-

Rin ome Schemicin. ees cee ae a

XXII. Tucktoo versus Dhaman. By HE J.- Curran

RAs ME, Coty Wicd ak anutoneteeed obs Ses ee es ee ee er ee

XXIII. The Fat-tailed Lizard (Aublepbharis hardwickit).

By JANe *Omial es ee oe ee ;

XXIV. Some notes on Water Monitors in the Garo Hills,

Assan. By NE. Pariyeare.s. 5 ue ee

XXV. Note on the Fasciolated Rat Snake (Zaments

fasctolatus). By Lt.-Col. K. G. Gharpurey, 1I.M.s.

XXVI. Cannibalism amongst Cobras.. By A. D; Hieckie.=.

XXVIII. A note onthe Fishing Industry at Danda. By

G. L. Cameron and C, L. Curzai. (With a plate.)

XXVIil. The Giant Locust (Saga ehhippigera). By Lt.-Col.

J: Ramsay «Painish.). 05h oa ae eee eee

XXIX, Termite Fungi. By C: McCann) pins) (1/2ih @

PROLOGT APN)... ees s hoi ee

XXX. Note on Zestus chrysomallus (Hub.). By J. A. Yates

XX XI. -‘ Butterflies of Lahore’... By DS RY Pure 2.

XXXII. Mycalesis anapita, Moore. By O. C. Ollenbach,

BESS. CHC -@ et 17@007 eG.) aasnsee so, Se cdne ee eee

XXXIII. A Plantago new to the Bombay Presidency. By

Rev. He Blatter<s3.3. Papi 20, ese ee ee

XXXIV. Puccinia helianthi, Schwr. (Syd.). A Rust Fungus

on the Sun Flower (ffelzanthus annuus). By

S. A. Parandekar, M.sc. (With a diagram.)......

XXXV. Cotyledonary vegetative reproduction in Mango

(Mangitera indica, Linn.). By L. P. Khanna,

M.SC.;.F-LS. (With a dia ovagi eta a ee

PROCEEDINGS—

Annual Report of the Bombay Natural History Society

for the year endine’ Sist December tose. sae. beet

Balance Sheet and Statement of Accounts for 1931.........

PAGE

916

oA?

918

924

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

VOLUME XXXV

Nos. 3 and 4

PaGE

ACHARYA, HARI NARAYAN G. ; BLATTER, REV.* 1... .5.J.,. PH.

Age of Animals : . 884 D., F.L.S.; Revision of the

Aut, Hamip A,, I.C.S.; Oc- Flora of the Bombay Presi-

currence of the Paather in dency, Hart AVIS (O7chi-

the Sind Desert fe Oy dacee) (With three plates

Att, Satim A. ; Flower-Birds and one text-figure) . =

and Bird-Flowers in India. = Part XVIII. Or-

(With four plates and four chidacee (contd.) (With four

text-figures) 573 plates and one text-figure) ...

ANDREWES, H. E.; BS Oavaicollee: : — A new Gentian

tion of Ground ‘Beetles (Ca- from N. Waziristan

rabide) from Waziristan 852 ———A Plantago new

ATKINSON, G.; an Albino to the Bombay Presidency ...

Chital (Axis axis) .. 888 | ——- === and = Nillard,

BAILEY, lt.-CoL. Fo. Me; De- W.S., F.Z.S.; Some Beauti-

scription of a new Lycenid ful Indian ‘l'rees, Part VIII

Butterfly (Lycena trm@) 697 (With two coloured, two black

BAKERY Ho. STUART, ©.LE., and white plates and six

BZ 3 M.BIO.0., diagrauis.) 2 Ms

H. F.A.O.U.; The Game ——— -— Part LX,

Birds of the Indian Empire, (With one coloured, one black

Vor Vi Part XVIi- (W27k a and white plates and two

colonved pblate of The diagrams) ee ch

Black-winged Stilt (A/zman- BREADON, C.; The occurrence

topus h. himantvpus) and The of the Flyinge-Fox (Pleropus

Ibis-bill (Zézdorhyncha stru- giganteus) in the Punjab

thersit) |.. : 475 | Briccs, F.S.; The Migration

aaa of the Paradise Flycatcher

Vol. V., Pari XV il. [With a a ( Tchitrea paradist) %

coloured plate of Tine Curlew BURTON, BRIGADIER-GENERAL

(Numenius arquata arguata) R. G.; Old Deccan Days—

and The Bar-tailed Godwit My ‘Tiger-Hunting Journal

(Limosa lapponica lappont- in 1899 .. oe oe

ca) | 8 ‘ah .. 703 | CAMERON, GoRDON L.; and

—_— Se ; Notes on the Curzal, C. L.; A note on the

Fauna of British India: Birds, Fishing Industry at Danda.

Vols. IV, V and VI. (New (With a plate)

edition ) a .. 873 | CoRKILL, NORMAN L ,M. B.,

BATES, CAPT. R. S. eS . Migra- ChiBiy 2 tZ.0%; “Lhe Cares

tion of Paradise Flycatcher of Iraq sie aah as

(Zchitrea paradist) 1 o9G-| CRIMNINS, “COL, M. Li;

BERRIFF, ARTHUR II.; Num- Treatment of Snake-bite

ber of Cubs in a Tiger’s GURRAN, E. J.;. K.A.M.C,,

Litter 670 Tucktoo versus Dhaman

PAGE

484

861

JIS

670

675

761

& LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

Curzal, C. L. see CAMERON,

Gorpon L.

Das, G. M., M.Sc.; Observa-

tionson the Trifid Tails in

two specimens of Hlemzdacty-

lus flavivtridis, Ruppel,

with a note on the Artificial

Regeneration of double and

triple tails of the ‘‘ Tokhak ”’

Lizard (Gecko veritcillatus,

Laurenti). (With one plate

and a text-figure)

De L’IsLE StuRM, Capt. M. ee

The stiff-tailed Duck (471s-

matura leucocephala)

Dr RHE-PaILIPE, G. W. V.,

F.E.S.; The Butterflies of

the Simla Hills, Part III

DRUMMOND, Magsor J. G. P.;

Flying Frogs a

Dutt, N. B.; Bulbuls in Cal-

cutta and its suburbs i

Epvitrors; Distribution of the

Flying Fox (Pteropus gigan-

teus) in the Punjab

——-—— ; Number of Cubs in

a Tiger’s litter ec

; Sex differences in

ene migration of the Common

Teal (Nettion creécca)...

———-——— ; The Retrenchment of

the Scienune Services in

India

--——-—— ; Sale on fae Or Hithole:

gical Collections at Tring

; Rey, “Father 1:

Blatter, S.J.; Ph.D., F.L3..

- Age of amanals

- Occurrence of the

Nukta or Comb Duck (Sar-

kidiornis melanotus) in Sind.

> Occurrence of the

Bronze-capped or Falcated

Teal (Eunetta falcata) in

Kutch and in Burma.

——--—-— ; On the limnwe af

the Golden Kye

—_—_—_- —_——

——— =

—_—— - —————

the

——- ; Occurrence of

Smew in Sind m

-~—-——; Disease among

Crows’ © 22: ne a e

PAGE

657

687

620

688

894

670

671

680

898

899

900

~ 900

901 |

Epitors; Migration of Wild-

Fowl. The Society’s Bird-

Ringing scheme

*: ‘Tucktoo

Dhaman se ssie ee

-——; The Fat-tailed

Lizard (&ublepharis hard-

LUTERULY aac ai das ae

; Note on Water

Monitors in the Garo Hills,

Assam

vEVSUS

——. =

eee

; he acne.

ce Sa oe ee

EVANS, BRIGADIER -

Butterflies of Lahore }

Forsyvty, W.; A useful Type

of Mackan (With a diagram.)

FRASER, Ligut.-CoL. F.C.,

EMoS.; 2... 8.2] Indian raz

gonflies, Part XXXIX, (With

one plate and one text-figure)

GHARPUREY, LIEUT.-COL.K.G.,

I.M.S. ; Note on the Fascio-

lated Rat Snake (Zamenis

fasctolatus) : A correction

HARMAN, A. C.; Occurrence

of the Golden Eye (GJaucio-

netta clangula) in the Cham-

paran District... 33 on

HeARSEY, CaprT:. .: D:-W.;

Tiger killing Swamp Deer

or Gond piace duvau-

cellt) : “eae oe

Hickin, A. D.; ~ Cannibalism

amongst Cobras —

Hie GiIns,.J.C.:C.5.: The

Malay Bear ( With a photo er

-—— ; Note on the

Breeding of the Indian Moor-

hen (Gallinula chloropus

parvitrons) ai an

; Early arri-

val of the Fantail Snipe

Hurram, W. T. E.; Case of

recovery from the bite of a

Phoorsa (#chis carinata)

INGLIS, CHARLES M., F.Z.S.,

DE) 1) OBO. eh hee

Distribution of the Eastern

Grey Duck (Anas pecilor-

hyncha zonorhyncha)

W. H.

—

685,

Pace

901

903

905

909

914

672

645

906

899

885

906

673

686

687

688

687

EIST OF CONTRIBSUTORS

KHANNA, LPs Mosc... 1 L.s: ;

Cotyledcnary Vegetative Re-

production in Mango (J/an-

gifera indica, Linn.) (With a

diagram) ; Bais are.

KINNEAR, N. B., M.B.O.U. ;

see Whistler, Hugh.

KouL, SAMSAR CHAND; Disease

among Crows ...

LAMBRICK, H, T:, I.C. Ss. OG:

currence of the Nore or

Comb Duck (Sarkidiornts

melanotus) in the Larkana

District, Sind ... me

- Occurrence

of the Smew (Mergus albel-

Jus) in Sind .

LA PERSONNE, V.S.,M. B. O. U. ;

Description of the armature

plumage of the Indian Pra-

tincole or Swallow Plover

(Glareola m.maldivarum) ...

Law, SATYA CHURN. Place of

the Java sparrow. (Munia

oryzivora, L.) in the Indian

avifauna

LINDBERG, K. ;

Snakes on the

Barsi Light Railway (Dec-

can) ae i:

McCanv, C., F. ok S. ; Notes on

the Nesting-habits ontne Red-

vented Bulbul (Molpastes

cater) si fey ae

—— Nestling

of the Indian Pied Kingfisher

(Ceryle rudis) attacked by

Larvee of Parasitic Fly

Termite

Fungi (With a photograph).

MibEARD! Wwe ms FiZs 2 See

BLATTER, E.

MILNER, C. E. ; Occurrence of

the Broaze-capped or Fal-

cated Teal (Lunetta falcata)

in Burma

Moni, DR. SIR ian a ioe

SHpbIL, Kel bea Pe, Ds,

C.LE., Lb3D:;; Notes ‘on

Persian, African and Indian

Lions in the First Century

after Christ

PAGE

900

895

900

686

683

690

680

897

309

899

496

Moork, J. PERCY ; How abund-

ant are Land Leeches ?

Morris, R. C., F.Z.S. ; Use of

artificial light in Panther-

shooting : fat

— + ace

lity of Bison mauled by a

Tiger ae

- Un-

erupted Tusks of Ele-

phants : ees

—- — Game

Preserves and Flashlight Pho-

tography oe,

NORTON, Com i; Noa on

the Birds of chiocan

OBITUARY. MISS JOAN PROCTER

— GEORGE MICHAEL

RYAN

OLLENBACH, O. C.: TUN COIESts

anapita, Moore! (With a

text-figure)

OntIAL, J. N., The Fat- fnled

Lizard (eublepharis hara-

W2CK11) ce ee “ae

OsMASTON, B. B. ; Some Anda-

man Birds a sas

PARANDEKAR, ©§. A., M.Sc.%

(Puccinia heliantht). Schwr.

Syd. A Rust Fungus on

the Sun Flower (Fe/ianthus

annuus). (With a diagram).

PARRY, N. E.; Some notes on

Water Monitors in the Garo

Hills, Assam ae sa

Pocock, R. I., F.R:S.; The

Rhesus macaques (A7/acaca

mulatta) (With a plate and

two teat-figures) oie

The

Black and Brown Bears of

Eurcpe and Asia. Part I

(With 11 teat-figures)

—. “+= — The

Persian Panther (P. pardus

saxicolor) bis ae

PRATER: soo, Hi. (CLM. Z Ss. >

Double Nests of the Weaver

Bird (Ploceus philippinus) ..

PROCTER, MISS JOAN, Obituarial

notice of

PaGE

701

887

888

879

903

891

916

903

530

681

663

xii LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

PAGE

Puri, D. R.}; Butterflies. of

Lahore O13

Ral, HARDIT Sinise M. Sin The

Shell Fisheries of the Bombay

Presidency (With 5 plates

and ? text-figures) ... 826

READE, L.L.; Rogue Bleanante

in the Khasi Hills... sie 674

REVIEWS :— |

1. Short History of the Ceylon

Game and Fauna Preserva-

tion Society ... Re wee. 605

2. Butterflies of Lahore eee. HOOy

3. Ostrea cucullata. The

Lombay Oyster... 667

4. An Introduction to eiace

Physiology ... a wee. (008

5. A Book of Man-eaters ... 668

The Fauna of British

India, including Ceylon

and Burma. Reptilia and

Amphibia, Vol. I: -... : 881

A Text-Book of Plementary

Zoology a on 5082

Botanische Ventana: Ohne

Apparate... i 883

SCHMIDT, JOHANNES: Re

Appeal — Freshwater Eels

in British India a 880

SEARIGHT, Capt. E. E.G. ie

Comparative frequency of

Fantail, Pintail and Jack

Snipe near Bangalore wv. aO0

SETNA, S. B., M. Sc., Pu. D.

(Cantab.); Fishing for ‘ Bom-

bay Duck’ (Harpodon nehe-

reus) (With 1 plate and 2

text-figures) ... 867

SINCLAIR, RONALD,. FE. R G. S.

Do Lions still exist in Pe eee 671

SmitH, Marcotm A. Some

Notes on the Moaitors (W2zth

a plate) ... ve sa ee) Oba

SPENCF, SIR REGINALD, A?.,

VEC.” F.Z.S.5 Annual

Rkeport of the BombayNatural

History Society for the year

ending 3lst December 1931... 918

SURGUJA, RAMANUJ of; Do Wild

Dsgs Hunt and Kill by night?

Black Four-

horned Antelope ( Z7etraceros

guadricornis ) aie

TAINISH, LT.-CoL. J. RAMSAY;

The Giant Locust (Saga

ephippigera) -

‘TUTEIN-NoLTHENIUS, A. C.,

F.Z.S.; Measurements and

Notes on some little-known

Ceylon Mammals (With 1

text-figure) Bee on

VIJAVARAJJI, H. H. PRINCE

MAHARAJ KUMAR’ SHREE,

Occurrence of the Bronze-

capped or Falcated Teai

(Eunetta falcata) in Kutch ...

WHISTLER, HvuGuH, F.ZS.,

M.B.0.U:; The ‘study ° of

Indian Birds, Part IX. ( With

a plate and a text-figure)

The Study of Indian Birds—

Migration. (With 1 text-

figure) : eae ae

and KINNEAR, N. B., M. B.

O.U.; The Vernay Scientific

Survey of the Eastern Ghats

(Ornithological Section) Part I

(With 2 maps and 7 ftext-

figure) Ps

——_— —-—_ —_ Pax IL

WvatTt, M. D. N.; Sex differ-

ences in the migration of the

Common Teal -(Vefizon

» CYECCR) ee aoe a

YaTES, J. <A.; Distinctive

characters of the Butterflies

(Appias 126) thea libythea F.24)

and (Appias albina darada

Fd. ¢) (With a diagram)

—---—— Dry and Wet

season forms of the Butterfly

| (Prioneris sila) (With a

plate) a aes aie

+___...__-__--Note on Zesius

chrysomollus Hub,

PaGE

673

674

908

606

899

635

848

505

737

680

698

700

911

ELSE OOP PLAT 2S

VOLUME XXXV

No. 3

PAGE

The Game Birds of the Indian Empire—

Plate (4) The Black-winged stilt (77zmantopus h. himantopus).

(B) The Ibis-bill (/6¢dorhyncha struthersiz) ... ne ATS

Revision of the Flora of the Bombay Presidency—

Plate IX. Luzsta truncata hi a5 safe .. 49]

Plate xX. Lwutsia macrantha ese on she ee e402

Plate XI. Luztsza evangeline a _ cee eo 6496

Some Beautiful Indian Trees—

Plate 15 Sterculia colorata ... its re oe 505

Plate XVI. (A) Sterculia colorata in flower... ie fo 526

Plate (B) Sterculta colorata, Flowers of ... vi a SoC

late 16 Lagerstramia flos regine mT: a a. 527

Plate XVII. (4) Lagerstremia flos regine in flower he wn) 528

Plate (B) Lagerstremta flos regine, Flowers of ... .. 528

The Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta)—

Plate (Upper fig.) McMahon’s Rhesus (J/. mulatta mcmahont) dee IOS

Plate (Lower fig.) Common Rhesus (7. mulattz mulatta)... eee

Flower-Birds and Bird-Flowers in India—

Plate I. 1. Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus) 2, Dhyal (Copsychus

saularis) 3. Red-vented Bulbul (Molpastes cater)

4. Striped Squirrel (Punambulus tristriatus) ... ite 57d

Plate II. 1. Bombay Babbler (Zurdoides somervillei) 2. Jungle

Crow (Corvus levaillanti) on Erythrina indica 3. Rosy

Pastor (Pastor roseus) 4, Purple-rumped Sunbird (Lepto-

coma zeylonica) on Bombax malabaricum oe awk O79

Plate III. 1. Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis) 2. Jungle Myna

(4:thiopsar fuscus) on B. malabaricum. 3. Leptocoma

zeylonica on Loranthus longitlorus. 4. Leptocoma astatica

on Calotropis procera... nS Ses eae DOL

Plate IV. 1. Leftocoma astatica on Moringa oletfera. 2. Flowers

of Sterculia colorata. 3. Flowers of Careya arborea

4. Flowers of Calycopteris floribunda _ sue “590

Some Notes on the Monitors :—

Plate 1. Varanus monitor. 2. Varanus monitor. 3. Varanus

flavescens.4. Varanus nebulosus. 5. Varanus salvator ... 616

The Study of Indian Birds—_

Plate Fig.1. Male organs of a Bird Eas se see, 036

Plate Fig. 2. Female organs of a Bird “as ees see OOO

Indian Dragonflies—

Plate Figs. 1-10 Anal appendages of Coeliccia spp. uss an OdS

xiv LUST OF PLATES

Trifid tails in specimens of House Lizards—

Plate Upper fig. Dorsal view of Hemidactylus flaviviridis with a

trifid tail. Specimen B. oe

Plate Lower fig. Dorsal view of Gecko verticillatus (laurent) with

a trifid tail produced artificially

Dry and Wet Season forms of the Butterfly (Prionerts sita)—

Plate fig. 1. Dry Season Form ¢ December 1928

Plate fig. 2. Intermediate Form ¢ 31st December 1928

Plate fig. 3. Wet Season Form ~ March 1928

No. 4

The Game Birds of the Indian Empire—

Plate (4) The Curlew (Numentus arquata arquata)

Plate (B) The Bar-tailed Godwit (ZLzmosalapponica eppomien,

Revision of the Flora of the Bombay Presidency—

Plate I. Saccolabium flabelliforme

Plate II. Nervilia monantha

Plate IL]. Nervilia infundibulifolia ste

Plate IV. Chetrostylis kanarensis ... a we

Some Beautiful Indian Trees—

Plate 17 Cordia sebestena :

Plate XVIII. (4) Cordia sebestena in the Bipninetone Gardens ies

bay..

Plate (B) Conta Berns Hisar of

The Shell-fisheries of the Bombay Presidency—

Plate I. (1) Fishermen with ‘Clam net’ hauled out (Mahim)

(2) Tapes pinguts

(3) Meretrix tmpudica ... ree

Plate II. (1) ‘Clam’ fishing at low tide at Tajerioun ae

(2) ‘Tony’ full of ‘Clams’ after fishing at Jayatapur

(3) ‘Clam’ fishing in deep water at Kodi-bag, Karwar ...

Plate III. Fig. 1 Shell ot Ostrea eryphotdes

Fig. 2 Anatomy of Ostrea gry phoides

Plate IV. (1) Ostrea discoidea. The right valve removed

(2) Ostrea discoidea

Plate V. Fig. 1. Purpura carnifera, Fig. TOpibowiun ann

Fig. 3. Natica ala papilionis, Fig. in Mytilus smaragadinus,

Fig. 5. Dostna prostratus, Fig. 6. Arca ineqguivalvis,

Fig. 7. Pecten townsendi [right!, Cardium rugosum

[bottom left], Zed/zna edentula {top left]

Fishing for ‘ Bombay Duck’ (Harpodon nehereus)—

Plate (Ad) A Bombay fisherman’s sail boat as employed in the

‘ Bombay Duck’ fishery

(8) A boat come back to shore mien a part af the days s

catch a

A note on the Fishing Industry at Danda—

Plate (A) One of the large boats at Danda ise

One of the Danda boats about to set out for the fishing

grounds ie ae ees dhs ee

PaGE

657

701

70]

703

122

724

725

732

824

825

824

830

833

835

836

844

TNE MO MII SI Ted I TONS

VOLUME XXXV

Nos. 3 and 4

PAGE PAGE

Acridotheres tristis, Pl., fig. 1. 582 | Fig.4. (A) Base of ear of

Atthiopsar fuscus, Pl., ig. TORE Wacelsy European Brown

Appias albina. Bear, (Or7sus

Fig. b. wings ... ses ae 2 O99 arctos arctos) ... 778

—libythea. (B) The same cut open

Fig. a. wines ... ; 699 to show the

Arca ineguivalvis, Pl. ie Ee aieoeries 4. » /10

aeae a Ae : 844 (C) The rhinarium, or

Bears of Europe ane eas nose, -of. Grizzly

(Black and Brown). Bear (U. a.

Fig. 1. (A) Underside of right VECTOR te aes 778

fore foot of (D) The some efron the

_ young Red Bear side a 778

“ (Orsus — arctos Fig. 5. (A) Lower view of skull

isabellinus) ... 772 of European

(B) The same of the Brown Bear... 783

hind foot a 72 (B) Upper view of the

Fig. 2, (A) Side view of skull same. _<s, 783

of European Bio. rosie variation ef the

Brown Bear upper surface of the

(Ursus arctos skull of the European

arctos) ... 774 Brown Bear.

(B) Teeth of right a6 (A) The old male skull

of upper jaw of from Sweden

Red Bear ws 774 (Earl of Selkirk) 784

(C)* Teeth: of lett side (B) The .adult* nrale

of lower jaw of from Sweden ... 784

the same Perey Arc (C) The adult male

Fig. 3. (A) Jaws of the Mala- from Olonetz,

yan Bear (Ael- Russia (Lataste) 784

arctos malaya- Fig. 7. Variation in the shape

US ) a 775 of the mesoptery-

(B) The same of ene goid fossa in the

Himalayan European Brown

Black Bear, Bear me ms

(Selenarctos thi- (A) A youngish speci-

betanus) .. Vis men from Bihar,

(Cj); The same a fie Hungary el Gf S5

Sloth Bear, (B) An adult specimen

(Melursus urst- from Transyl-

nus) ac Fido 2) : vania... ee DO

paral

variation of

the upper surface

of the skull of

Brown Bears of Asia

Minor and the

Caucasus.

(A) Old female from

the north-west-

ern slope of the

Caucasus (Little-

dale) oi

(B} Immature, prob-

ably male, speci-

men from the

Caucasus (Little-

dale) fsx

from Smyrna ...

Claw of forepaw of

examplar of the

Brown Bear (Ursus

arctos).

(A) "Of ~ the=- typeof

(U. a. shanorum)

Captive speci-

men o oes

(B) Of a typical Brown

Bear. (CU. a.

arctos) from

Lake Ladoga ..

a Red Bear

(U.a. tsabellinis)

from Gilgit

(D) Of a Tibetan Blue

or Snow Bear

(U.a. pruinosus)

from Kansu

(E) Of the type of a

Manchurian

Fig. 8. Profile

Fic. 9:

Blaek Bear

(U. &@: lasiotus)

Captive —speci-

men re oY

(F) Of a Kamschatkan

Brown Bear

(U. a. beringia-

NUS ) i

Fig.10.(A) Last upper molar

of right side of

adult female

. from. Kansu

PAGE

792

795

812

INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS

(B) The same of the

young female

from Lhasa

nassial of young

male fro)

Kansu cen

(D) The same of an old

Lem ale from

Kansu ne

(E) Side view of

skull of ¢he

same 3

(F) The same of young

male from

Kansu est

Fig. 11. Profile variation of

upper surface of

skull of the Kashmir

Brown Bear (U. a.

tsabellinus.)

(A) Old female from

Kashmir (Stock-

léy yea Ke

(B) Young-adult

female from

| ' Kashmir (Ab-

bott) oats

Kashmir (Little-

dale) ae:

(D) Old male from

Kulu (Whistler).

(E) Old male from

Kashmir (Little-

dale)

Calycopterts floribunda.

Flowers of, Pl., fig. 4..

Cardium rugosum, P\., fig. 7,

bottom left - cies

Careya arborea, Flowers of,

Pl., fic, 3 at

Cheirostylis kanarensis, P).

Big, “Flower,

Fig. 2. Sepals

the lip.

Dorsal sepal

adnate petals.

subtending

Pig. 3. and

Fig.4. Lip and Column,

Fig. 5. Column.

Fig. 6. Lip.

Pack

812

821

INDEX-LOTLLOSTRATIONS

Attachment of polli-

nia hanging from

underside of the

raised caps, quite

DOSE Ace

Ceeliccia chromothorax.

Anal appendage, dorsal view,

Ply, hoes

Hion 7.

seen from

jaoe sane ae

—_—_—

left side; ik,

ea didyma.

Anal appendage, seen from

left side, Pl., fig. 11

———-- frasert.

Anal appendage, seen from

leit side, Pl, iio. 1

~—— —--———_., dorsal view,

Ned fig. 12

—_—_ loogalt.

Anal appendage, seen from

left side. Pl., fig. 3...

—--——- -. ————., dorsal view,

Pl., fig. 8

—_—— loringe.

Anal appendage, dorsal view

Pl.; fig. 9

— poungyl.

Anal appendage, seen from

lett side, eho, 2.25

— , dorsal view,

PU lige Me aay oe

——— renitera.

Anal appendage, dorsal view,

Rie, tio. 6

left side, Pl.,

Cordia sebestena,

» seen from

fig. 10 ‘

Plate 17

Plate 18

(A) Tree in the Elphinstone

Gardens, Bombay

(B) Flowers

Fig. Petals : se

Chilochista andiloe: figs.

1-12.

Flowers and fruit

Copsychus saularis, Pl., fig. 2

Corvus levaillantt, Pl., fig. 2...

- macrorhynchos culmina-

LUS Min

MaACVO-

_—_— - ——_—

rhynchos, fig. 2...

PaGE

645

Dicrurus macrocercus, Pl.,

Dosina prostratus, Plate V, fig.

Elephants, unerupted Tusks of,

fig.

photo

Feroculus ePECIT us.

Pig. lay b>. Head,, forefoot

and skull

Fishing Industry at iseeer

Plate (A) One of the large

boats at Danda..

(B) One of the Danda

boats about to

set out for the

fishing grounds.

Funambulus tristriatus, Pl.,

fio. 4 bee

Gecko verticillatus.

With a trifid tail produced

artificially, Pl., fig. 2

FHlarpodon nehereus or ‘ Bombay

Duck’ complete ‘ ddl’ out-

(A) A Bombay fisherman’s

sail boat as employed

in the ‘ Bombay Duck’

fishery di

(B) A boat come back a

shore with a part of

the day’s catch

Diagram showing aver-

age monthly catch of

‘ Bombay Ducks’

Hemidactylus flaviviridis.

Weontate ae teri Gv tailen sila,

fis Vivaes : ys me

Diagrammatic sketch of

specimen with trifid tail.

Fig. a. Dorsal surface, fig.

b. ventral aspect ;

Hlimantopus h. himantopius, Pl.

fig. 1 (coloured) es

Lbidorhyncha struthersit,

fig. 2 (coloured) a

Indian Birds, The study of

Pl., figs. 1 & 2. Male and

Hemale organs of 4

Bird ss as me

Fig. 1. Sketch of egg with

shell rernoved

Pie

XVii

PAGE

613

807

907

974

657

868

-636

641

XvVili

Indian Birds, The study of

Reproduction of picture by

Olaus Magnus (Archbishop

of Upsala about 1550) of

fishermen standing on the

ice drawing in a mixed

catch of swallows and

fish : orn oe

Lagerstremia flos regine, Pl.

(coloured). .2 wee

Pl., fig. (A) in flower

(B) flowers of

Leptocoma astatica,

foo

Pk;

te Or i hearer

—— zeylonica, Pl., fig.

On Ole

of, fig. 1 awe ues

——_—_ -—_——- Pl, fig.

Limosa lapponica Jlapponica,

Pl., fig.’ 2

Loligo, sp. fig.

Loranthus cuneatus.

Pollen grains, fig. 4

—— longitlorus.

Pollen grains, fig. 4 ...

scurrula,

Pollen grains, fig. 4 ...

Luisia evangeline.

macrantha.

Pl. ey as

truncata.

PI. i or rep

Macaca mulatta mcmahoni.

Pl; upper fie.

Fig. of skull

-—— mulatta.

PI, lower fig.

Fig. of skull

Machan, a_ useful

(with a diagram)

Mangitera indica,

Diagram

Meretrix inpudica

Molpastes cater.

Pi. fis: 3

Mycalesis anapita.

3 Fig.

type of

PAGE

574

915

INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS

Mytilus smaragadinus.

Plate V., ie. 4

Natica ala papilionis.

Plate V., fig: 3

Nervilia infundibulttolia.

Pale ek Are

——— monantha.

Pi: te ee on}

Numentus arguata arguata.

Pie. le

Ostrea discoidea.

Fig. 1 Right valve removed.

Fig. 2 Shell of

Ostrea gryphoides.

Shell of, Plate III

Internal

organs (soft parts)

Pastor voseus.

Pl ios3

Pecten townsend.

Plate fic. /, right

Ploceus philippinus.

Figs. 1 & 2. Nests

Prioneris sita.

PI., Dry and. wet

forms ... a we Be

Puccinia helianthi on Helian-

thus annuus, fig.

Purpura carnitera.

Plate V, fig. 1 :

Saccolabium flabellitorme.

Sepia, sp. fig.

Shell- Fisheries

Clam Fishing

Clam net

Plate I.

Plate II.

Sterculia colorata,

Pl. (coloured) ne

Pine A. in dewer., ».

Pl. fig. B., flowers, of

Pl. fig. 2, flowers of

Tapes pinguts

Tellina edentula.

Plate fig. 7, top left

Termite fungi. Photo

Turdoides somervillet.

Plo fig. 1 ;

Umbonium vestiarium.

Plate V, fig. 2

—

season

INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS xix

PaGE PAGE

Ursus malayanus (with a Vernay scientific survey of

photo)... ae es. tee OFS India :—

Varanus flavescens, Pl. fig. 3 Sketch map of Southern

Head of is oe Soe LG India ... ree ete tL

———— monttor, Pl. figs. 1 & 2 Map to illustrate the dis-

Heads of sa) ae ee OG tribution of the Races

—— nebulosus, Pl. fig. 4 of Machlolophus xan-

Head of ae ae ee song thogenys oe ee! BOZ0

—— salvato7y, Pl. fic. 5 Zosterops pal pebrosa.

Head of oe vt a OLG Tongue of, fig. 2 ne ee AT

ERRATA

Vol. XXXV, Nos. 3 & 4

Page II (contents) line 15 for creca read crecca.

SIZ

,, 18 for philipinus vead philippinus.

,, 29 for peciioryncha vead pecilorhyncha,

,, 30 for zonoryncha vead zonorhyncha.

1 for macrorynchos vead macrorhynchos,

2 for macrorynchos macrorynchos vecd macrorhynchos

macrorhynchos.

2 from bottom for leucogastar vead leucogastra.

33 for Biandford read Blanford.

27 for Osmasten 7ead Osmaston.

7 for creca read crecca.

20 for peeciloryacha zonoryncha vead peecilorhyncha

zonorhyncha.

13 /or piscotor read piscator,

10 for arquatas vead arquata,

ll from bottom for pheoceps read pheeopus.

OU ae for Otocampsa read Otocompsa.

9 for Pelicanus vead Pelecanus.

INDEX

OF SPECIES

PaGE

Acampe excavata 495

———-- preemorsa 495

-- wightiana : 495

Achalarus bifasciatus casyapa 630

—_——___-—_——_—— liliana ... 630

Acinopus leevigatus 862

Acridotheres tristis 578, “585, 588, 59,

593, 596, 604

Actinor radians §33

Adhatoda vasica 596

AEgithina nigrolutea 2 ete 0

——-—— tiphia 584, 590, 603

-——_—__- ——_——- humei ... 749, 750, 751

—-—_—__——__- ——- multicolor FOU; 751

————_———-- tiphia... 750, 751

A®luropus melanoleucus 774

Aerides crispum 490

———- guttatum 490

- lindleyana 490

- lineare 490

-————- maculosum 490

- praemorsum 495

= - radicosum 490

- - ringens 490

- retusa 490

- tessellatum 494

- wightianum ; 494

Afromachus inachus mae 632

AEschynomene coccinea : 590

AXthiopsar fuscus. 578, 585, 588, 593, Sheleyy

604

AXthopyega siparaja is ... 604

So vigorsi. "574, 580s 505,

592, 598, 599, 604

Agama tetradactyla 618

Ailuropoda melanoleuca 774

Albama argillacea JIS

Albizzia moluccana 911

Alcippe bourdilloni 748

- poioicephala brucei 748

— - - poioicephala 747

Amandava amandava ... 893

Amara (Leiocnemis) pimalaicn 863

Ameiva ... ae ne ee 619

PacE

Amherstia nobilis 575, 602

Anacardium occidentale ene

Anas poecilorhyncha zonorhyncha 687

Anguilla spp. : 880

Anthocephalus cadamba 896

Anthornis melanura 601

Anthus trivialis 857

Apatura lindleyana 484

-- montana 484

Apaturia senilis 484

Sere os HOON IAL HE oye) 484

Apharitis lilacinus 626

Aphnaeus ictis : 914

Aplosteltis fla bellifanmnis i? font a 724

Aporia soracte 667, 913, 914

Appias albina 698

——.- darada 698

-- + libythea libythea. ... 698

Araschnia levana 200/, 913 sold

Arca sp, - 829, 844

Arcticonus thibetanus .. LIS

Arethusa plicata ad,

Argya caudata caudata... 740

———— eclipes 740

——--_—_—— huttoni 740

malcolmi 740

-———- subrufa ee .. = 740

Argynnis aglaia on O0/s Slow oie

—--—— _ maia 913

Arhopala : et 911

——-——- amblypodia ... Sat

——- --—— ganesa ganesa 626

——-—— rama rama 626

——-—— (Amblypodia) dodoncn 626

Aristolochiz aristolochiz 583

Astur badius 636

Athene brama 893

Atractaspis wilsoni 566

Augiades brahma 633

Axis axis 888

Azanus jesous gamra 624

- ubaldus 623

- uranus 623

Badamia exclamationis

630

Xxii

Baoris discreta himalayana

bevani bevani

guttatus bada

--——~———-——- guttatus

mathias mathias

sinensis sinensis

zelleri colaca

Barringtonia racemosa

Bauhinia purpurea

———_ racemosa

Bembidion insidiosum .

palaciosi

—— waziristanum

Bibasis sena sena

Bletia dabia

-- masuca

Bombax insigne ...

malabaiicum ...

Bougainvillea laterita

- spectabilis

Brachypternus aurantius

———

Brachypteryx atriceps

Brachypus gularis

——_——— xantholamus

Bruguiera gymnorhiza

Bryophyllum calycinum

Buchanga longa

——- cinerea

Bufo melanostictus

Bungarus ceeruleus.

Butea frondosa

——-- superba

Calanthe emarginata

——_——-- masuca

————-- versicolor

wightii

Calicnemis chromothorax

Callophis trimaculatus ...

Calosoma maderz

Calotes versicolor

Calotropis gigantea

— procera

Calycopteris floribunda

Canna indica

Caprona ransonnettii pouphee!

Cardium sp.

Carduelis caniceps

Careya arborea ...

— benghalensis ..

INDEX OF SPECIES

PaGE

852,

DL/3.0775

691,693;

839,

489,

634

633

634

093

589

590

862

864

862

629

486

485

SYR,

5/9

598

585

604

748

758

7oo

758

602

587

696

691, 692, 693, 694, 696,

697

587

588

485

654

696

862

695

594

Soo

592

602

631

845

893

592

Carolinea sp.

Carpodacus erythrinus Toscana!

Castalius rosimon rosimon

Catachrysops cnejus

—— ——_——-- strabo

Ceiba pentandra

Celzenorrhinus leucocera Tedcoeete ae

-~munda ...

- pulomaya

Cephalandra indica

Cephalopoda sp.

Cerastes cornutus

Ceratopsis rosea ...

Certhia spilonota

Ceryle rudis

Chaetoprocta odata

Charadrius himantopus

mongolus

Cheirostylis flabellata

kanarensis ...

Chilochista glandulosa

Chirocentrus dorab

Chilades laius laius

Chleenius hamifer

lederi 5

——-—— tenuelimbatus

Chlamydotis undulata

Chloropsis aurifrons

—— —rs

— insularis .

—— jerdoni

Chrysomma Sinensis

- sinensis

Chrysopelea ornata

Cinnyris gutturalis

————— osea

———— pectoralis

—— — rhizophoree

—— spp.

Cocos nucifera

Coeliccia bimaculata

— — chromothorax

———— didyma

———— fraseri

——— loogali

————_ loringee

—_—— poungyi

————- renifera

-————. vacca

ee ea Aeon “584, 7951,

| 584, 603,

— hypoleucus

Pace

Xb MdDSO

582, 585,

604

620

914

623

602

630

895

ae GZS

569, 572

729

760

897

625

475

856

731

732

488

908

622

862

Re dio OF!

603, 896

752

603

745

902

580

600

604

579

601

647

654

650

655

652

651

653

648

647

584,

INDEX OF SPECIES

PAGE

Coelomys bicolor ae te jeer OOS

—_——— mayorl ae ae Bee 0S)

Ccelopeltis moilensis 565

—— monspessulana_... RO

Coereba bahamensis oe 980, 583

Coladenia dan fatih ... ane sie OL

Coluber dahlii 556,.5595, 571

-diadema 55/7, O71)

- helena 691, 692, 693, 694,

695

— jugularis 08, O71

— ravergieri Sod. o7 1

— ventrimaculatus 900,857!

Contia collaris 001s 502, Of 1

- coronella S015. 571

——-—- decemlineata SO. o

- persica 02, 071

Copsychus saularis 584, 603

Coracias vagabunda ... és fee. old

Cordia sebestena ve ae .. «= B24

myxa ue ee vee a Oe

Coronella brachyura 691, 692, 693, 694,

695

Corvus andamanensis ... we eo oul

-corone... oon Sar ey er OOis

———-- coronoides eee Ole

- enca compilator om ee OLS

- levaillanti _ ie O10

- macrorhynchos Cragin ahs eee ema) yk

a ——-——-culminatus ... 510,

plz

—_———— ———-- ——intermedius... 512

——- —— —_ —- macrorhyn-

chos 012. O13, 004, 998,590, 003

—- monedula 855, 893

———- - protegatus ar = fi OS

- rufus 514, 515

- splendens aplendene 513, 584,

588, ee 996, 603, 900

——-- tenuirostris a ie OS

- zugmayeri oe ae es)

- Sp. i a ea a Lous

Coryllis vernalis ... Ae ai ... 604

Cossyphus caudatus ... ee (one. 720

Cottonia macrostachya 494

Crateropus cachinnans ie wes O24

——-delesserti ... aS. era OeS

——- terricolor sindianus ASSa war Gte!

Criniger ictericus om is seep OE

Crocidura macropus ... es a OZ

—--—— miya... 612

Sxill

PAGE

Crypsirina pallida ee ee Hibant Lo

COTTA 2 aise 53 ae, O08

Cuminum cyrnium a oe a) US

Curetis acuta dentata ... ane ae! O28

- bulis 625

Cursorius cursor a oe -. 804

Cylindrophis maculatus es oa A617

—— rufus wit sale se Oe

Cymbidium aloifolium ... ae eer aoe

~ ——-~ bicolor 488

——_———- preemorsum ee foe G05

———_-- tenuifolium ae 491, 492

-—_—_—_ ——- tessellatum as .. 494

———_-——- tesselloides ae ww. 494

—— - triste re ee sw AO)

Cymindis glabrella me rot tu GOO

Cyprea sp. sie $$. aos we Ord

Cyrtoptera fusca ae as oo. 487

——- mysorensis ... = eae 487

————_ nuda... sae ae ihe BO

—— per ; 487

Daboia xanthina... Se oF sass SOW

Delias eucharis sce on 983, 914

Delichon urbica ... a .. 894

Dendrocitta formosze eeciaenete eee es iY)

~_—--————-— sarkari ... sco. OA

———-—— leucogastra se rem post

———-——- occipitalis ro tite ONG

———_- —— rufa... ... 014, 584, 603

—_—_—-- —---- —— vernayi ie ss = SLO

—__+ ——-- rufigaster es 516

——_—_-——-- vagabunda sis ase Ae

——— —— pallida 5J5

——————_—_——_———-——- parvula oo, 016

—_—_—_—_—_ —_ vagabunda 514, 515

—— vernayi ee ee

Dendrocycna javanica 685, 686

Deudoryx epijarbas ancus 628

Diczeum erythrorhynchum. 577, 582, 590, 592

599, 602, 604

‘Dicrurus coerulescens ... ae tcc © OU

- macrocercus ... . 984, 587, 603

Diplocentrum congestum 495

Dipisadomorphus trigonatus 691, 692, 693,

694, 696

Dissemurus paradiseus ... sie jae OL

Dosina sp. eee ae 829

Draco dussumieri ie eae wen (GLE

maculatus a ae er od

norvilli 617

Dracophyllum longifolium ... vera Ul

xxiv | INDEX OF SPECIES

PAGE

Dromas ardeola ... ee a w. =: 644

Dumetia albigulare ... soe wath = 2 OE

albogularis... oe, Sse IOUS

— hyperythra abuensis . 744

a - albogularis .. 7/44

~—— hyperythra ae: 743

Duranta plumieri ‘ 597

Echis carinata 552, 553, 870, 572, 688, 691,

692, 693, 694, 696

——-schistosa ... ae a ee p.oS

Elaphus indicus ... re Bhs ne. 0/4

Elathea ... sae ee nae Soe OO

--jocosa... ... 084, 591, 596, 603

Emberiza cia a sie ea SenrOu

Enhydrina schistosa ... JO), DOO nOn2

—.- valakadyen am f3 OOS

Epidendrum pendulum... — .. 488

— premorsum ek ws 495

——_—- retusum ... = .. 490

aa tessellatum se ww. 494

Epipactis carinata ee _ ne, feu

——-~-—— plicata bes ee vou e eal CL

Epipogum nutans of aes ss 120

——- roseum ony tee some feo

Erica sp. ... : mes ae aie. OL

Erionota thrax fran wets ate seme wOG2

Erismatura leucocephala a aoe) 1607,

Erythrina blakei ... sus me Serger store:

——_——-- crista-galli.... re 583, 586

achive yy. wee +; 0/0) 083, 586

——_-—-- lithosperma ... oe os OA

—_——- stricta at me Sale ROO

--——_—-—- subumbrans... We So WOOL,

Eryx conicus 56 e 691,693, 694

——- jaculus ed ee 691, 693, 694

- familiaris ... ee 504,57 1

Euaspa milionia ... ve ee soe. O20

Eublepharis hardwickii sus one OOS

-——- macularius ses se SUS

eee ficifolia a4 ee Se wersts,)

globulus ... “o 593, 603

Euchrysops cnejus ae ae mas FOZ)

——- pandava Peale en O20)

Eudynamis scolopaceus ps 585, 604

Eugenia jambolana ... uae on ee Odd

— jambos ... a a eee tle

Eulophia brachypetala ... ae ere =, 480

—-campestris... oe ASO

————-- carinata ae oS Shean ole

———-hemileuca ... or w. 486

o———- herbacea if Pe Pe heys)

Eulophia nuda

—- ochreata

—- pratensis

= =a as ee amentaces:

—- ramentosa

—- rupestris

—-virens ...

Eumeces punctatus

Hunetta falcata...

Euthalia garuda...

Everes argiades diporides

dipora

Felis leo persicus

Feroculus feroculus

macropus

Ficus religiosa

- retusa

Firmiana colorata

Fringilia n:ulticolor

Funambulus palmarum

pennanti

tristriatus

Galera nutans

rosea

Gallinago gallinego

Gallinula chloropus pare fOne

Garrulax delesserti

jerdcni

Gecko verticillatus

Gegenes nostradamus

Gentiana lowndesii

Geodorum densiflorum

———— — dilatatum

-———--——._ purpureum

Glareola m. maldivarum

Glaucionetta clangula

Glauconia macrorhynchus

Gloriosa superba

Gmelina arborea

Golunda ellioti

newera ...

Gonepteryx zaneka

Grevillea robusta

Gymnoris xanthocollis ...

Habenaria goodyeroides

— lawii x

—————- — peristyloides

—————. stenostachya

—— —— stocksii

= ae SUSAN aS.

Pace

o79;

979,

685,

657, 661,

487

485

486

618

&99

914

621

671

612

581

600

ey)

75)

586

729

687

686

523

524

902

634

861

487

686

879

554

602

997

610

621

603

604

foo

735

734:

734

735

. 736

INDEX OF SPECIES

PAGE

Habenaria torta ates os 2225735

-—— wightii ae 735

Heemadispa z. montivindicis ... en ah OZ

Heematornis luteolus Thee)

Halpe moorei a DOr

Harpalus confinatis 863, 865

- -- melaneus 862

Harpodon nehereus 867

Hasora alexis alexis bee 2029

Helarctos malayanus 1134 110

Helianthus annuus ee 916

Heliophorus androcles coruscans 624

odaoda ... ae ve 624

(Ilerda) sena 624

Hemidactylus flaviviridis 657

a gleadovii 661

leschenaulti 695

Heodes kasyapa 624

- phloeas flavens .. 624

——_——-———- indicus . 624

————__—__——- timeus ... ‘ a LOet

-—-— (=Chrysophanus) pavana ... 624

Hesperia galba et a 403.

— alpina cashmirensis ous - O32

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 574, 580

Himantopus himantopus Hanentopte A75

Horaga onyx onyx On

-- viola a os 627

Horornis pallidipes osmastoni =e eke

Hyarotis adrastus praba 632

Hydrophasianus chirurgus ne 893

Hydrophis cyanocincta 565, 566

—— lapemoides 566

——_-——- ornata 566

—— spiralis ii O60

Hypothymis azurea 585, 603

Hypsipetes ganeesa a Oo

Ibidorhyncha struthersii 480

Innuus sancti-johannis 546

Iole icterica oe ete ee AOL

Iraota timoleon Hinbleont 626

Jambosa vulgaris 593

Jamides bochus bochus 623

———— celeno celeno 623

Jynx torquilla 643

Kittacincla macroura al pivenee a Sok

Lacerta agilis 660

-- dracena 619

-- longicauda 619

——-- punctata 618

-- varia 618

XXV

PAGE

Lager: troemia flos-reginze 527

-- indica 529

Lampides (Polyommiatus) beeticus ... 623

Lanius rufus 514

- schach de aronots ae 585, 603

Lapemis curtus .. 566

Larus ridibundus 694

Lebia sp. 862

Leonotis Repetto 602

980, 581, 582, 585, 587,

988, 589, 590, 591, 592,

993, 594, 595, 596, 597,

598, 599, 602, 604

Leptocoma asiatica,

Leptocoma asiatica brevirostris 590, 594

- lotenia, 976, 580, 505, O99,

604

———_——-- minima, 580, 592, 594, 597, 598.

600, 604

- zeylonica, 580, 581, 582, 585, 587,

988, 589, 590, 591, 592,

593, 594, 595, 596, 597,

598, 599, 602, 604

Leptotyphlops macrorhynchus. 554, 571

Leucocirca pectoralis 584, 603

Licinus corustes 862, 864

Limnodromus taczanowskius cc. «6— FL

‘Limodorum bicolor 486

-——-- densiflorum 487

———---——- ramentaceuin 486

———- -- ——_ recurvum 487

—-——-- roseum 729

Limosa Bice Si cote ELIS

- lapponica lapporica — teh oe TL

——- limosa limosa ... a 713

‘ -- melanuroides ... 415

Lobelia sp. ae

Loligo sp. 829, 846

Lonicera sp. 602

Loranthus acaciz cae OUD

—————--- cuneatus 599, 601

——_——-- langeniferus .. §98

———\—--- longiflorus 598, 601

————--- loniceroides... 598

———- -- obtusatus 599

Se SCUTTna fois 601

——_—_——_ — —_——__ var. cordifolia 599

Loriculus vernalis ad ei cae e OOS

Luisia evangelinz 493

macrantha 492

pseudotenuifolia 492

tenuifolia 49?

xxvi

PAGE

Luisia teretifolia

truncata ..

Luminitzera cocunea

Lyceena astrarche

- eros ariana

- galathea galathea

———- pheretes lehana

- (Heodes) irmeze

Lyceenopsis alboccerulea

——-——-- argiolus coelestina ...

——_-—— -- cardia dilecta

huegelii huegelii

——_——--- puspa gisca .

—-——-- (Cyaniris) een

Lycodon aulicus

Lygosoma punctatum ...

Lytorhynchus diadeina cae S61,

Mabuia carinata ..

Macaca brachyurus

- erythreea OBR

— mulatta... 330, 033,040,

—_—._ —-— ——-- lasiotus

———_— —_-——- mcmahoni

—___ ——-——-- sancti-johannis 546,

———- -—- —— tcheliensis

-—-—~-- —-——-- villosa...

-~- nemestrina nce O52,

=- oinops

—-——- radiata soe

-- siamica ...

Macacus rhesus .. 530, 533,

———- SHEE 539,

Machlolophus s. subviridis sou.

——- xanthogenys aplonotus.

ee - travancor-

enlsis ....020,

a es - xanthoge-

nys ae

Macropisthodon plumbicolor... 691, 692,

. 694,

Macrorhamphus griseus un

—-- semipalmatus

Malacocercus albogularis

~-——— terricolor.,.

malabaricus

Malpolon moilensis 565,

——.-——-- monspessulana 564,

Mangifera indica

Margatifera sp. ..

Martes flavigula ...

.. 691, 692, 693, 694, 695,

738

491

603

G226

§22

622

697

621

0217

621

696

618

of 1

695

536

535

548

544

549

550 |

30%;

536

Syels)

Sot

543

921

519.

Sal

520

693

695

719

744

738

872

572

917

845

579

INDEX OF SPECIES

Pace

Melanarctos arctos lasiotus ... ee OOD,

od - cavifrons... i.; 798, 799, 801

Meliteea didyma ... 913, 914

——--— trivia 914

Melursus ursinus .. 7/3776

Mergus albellus ... 900

~-SErrator ... 893

Meretrix impudica 831

meretrix F ech Ow

——- sp. : 829, 830, 846

Merula nigropileus see) 586, 603

Metabletus ephippiger ... 863, 865

— fuscomaculatus 863.

Metrosideros lucida 601

Microcephalophis gracilis 566

Micropalama taczanowskia 7A:

Microptera maculata 488

viridiflora : we «=» 488

Microscelis psaroides ganeesa 603, 753

a — humii 754

Microtarsus poioicephalus 759

Millingtonia hortensis ... 595

Mixornis gularis rubricapilla 747

Molpastes bengalensis ... 894

————- cafer. 584, 591, 596, 600, 603; 680

aa bengalensis 755, 756

-—_—_—_—_—_——. cafer 754, 755

-—______-——- intermedius we 258

—__-_—___-— pallidus oe eeu ae

——_—_-——_—-——. saturatus 754, 755

—— ——-——— heemorrhous pallida... 755

Monochilus affine wi 73

-- flabellatum ues aves

— - longilabre... vee FSA

Moringa oleifera 582

Motacilla emeria she OE

——-—— rubicapilla ne ee

——--—— tiphia... 751

Mucuna pruriens... vee) ee

-Munia oryzivora ... 683

Musa paradisiaca 602

——- sapientum ... 602

——-— textilis Bey (81) 7

-Muscicapula tickelliz .., 585, 603

_ Mycalesis anapita peri s oeule

——-——- perseus mercies

Mylarctos Sr na ae

——--———- pruinosus 779, 793, 795, $07-

Myrmarctos 778

Mytilus sp. as 829, 844

Nacaduba ardates 623

INDEX OF SPECIES XXvii

PAGE PAGE

Nacaduba dubiosa indica jue ... 623 | Pachystoma sessile ae eed .. «©4684

— -—-- nora.. fee ie OO - smithianum ie . ~ 484

————--- noreia hampson ed 623 | Padraona dara dara. ... ss erage,

Naia tripudians . 691, 692, 693, 694, 696 | Pamphila comma dimila ed Sie OOO

Naja morgani a 35; 000; 566, 572 | Panthera pardus saxicolor = en aoSO

Natica sp. . : op ie 829, 846 | ————-tigris ... a vee ae 1. O70

Natrix feceellatds oe me 559, 571 | ——-—— spp... mir sr vee - 495

Neottia sinensis ... as 4 ...- 730] Parus jerdoni a pee ver 920

Nerodia piscator... ... 691, 692, 693, 694 | -—— major cncchiminena oF . ~-o918

Nervilia aragoana re a) we 729 | ——- Cinéreus- .., es ee Oe

————biflora ... ee ae .. «6 726 | —- mahrattarum it Ly SOLO, Oo

———carinata....... ia we «729: | -—-~ nipalensis ... a 518, 519

—hallbergii eae tne | Pies . 726 | ——- ziaratensis ... sue) eee OLS

-————hispida ... a ..- 728 | ——- nuchalis ... ae ane So Ot)

: eS infunaibulizolia: at ... 725 | ——-Sinmensis ... we = vee =A

———juliana ... ae wad ... 726 | Passer domesticus we O85, 604, 636:.853

-—————-— monantha ee Mae .. 724 | ---——-hispaniolensis ... oes Rete)

—plicata ... es Bae ... 727 | Pastor roseus 578, 585, 593, 604, 860

Nettion crecca ... ; ... 680 | Pathysa antiphates naira sande ee UU

Notocrypta Feletnamielil aie i O62 4 sLectenisp, oi oe ne $29, 845

Nucifraga sp. te ie Soo) Felecamissp., 22 as .. 894

Numenius arquata arauata as 705, 707 | Pellorneum ruficeps ¢ ann a ww. 746

= ——_ lineatus ... ee LOL oe — TuUneeps ae: #20

tee orientalis ici ... 707 | Peristylus elathus wT dei iw. fae

pee HUMUeNIIS |... cn .. 704 | ——-—— goodyeroides... vee iat ted oo)

——-— pheopus pheopus... 709, 711 | ——-——- lawii ... Fe ae a 435

—_—_-____-__ yarievatus 711 | -——-—— plantagineus .., ae va 735

Odontoptilum angulata... ©... .... 631 | ————- spiralis... ve Se eS

(Ecophylla smaragdina ... sai = = Ol) == stendstachyus oe bate Oe

Orchis susanne ... es os ww. 736 | ————: stocksii ue ah a 2 {88

-Oriclus criolus kundoo ... ee 585, 604 | —— - xanthochlorus , sia eco

— - xanthornus a see 585, 604 | Phajus albus Y sft rr we = 485

Orthotomus sutorius. .. 585, 603 | Phalacrocorax sp. Ves ie ... - 642

Oligodon arnensis me 691, 692, 693, 695 | Pheropsophus catoirei ... 4. 1, 863

< — teeniolatus ... 691, 692, 693, 695 | Philcetherus socicus... vas ehoos

Osiris arborea... ve ae “=. °o89 | Phoentcopterus ruber ... ea .. 894

Ostrea cucullata... 1a aes 668, 835 | Phoenicurus frontalis ... ins .. 854

discoidea ... ov he .. 835 | Phyllornis jerdoni Bas ae Hae LOZ

edulis er Koi = ... 668 | Piprisoma agile ... se is whe 4400

gry phoides we cee a. 850 1|) Pithectis brevicatidus ... - 533, 536

-rivertans ... ise oe Piss (ucts --littoralis ibe 2; 540, 546

SPe. ses Bs ae sth ... 829.) ————villosus ... ma tds BEE’)

Otocompsa emeria 2 : ns 895 | Placuna placenta... rae ste 829, 845

- flaviventris Aee entris ... 757 | Plantago exigua ... ots ve va OS

—- jocosa abuensis_... .. 757 | —~—-—— pumila... ... = i LS

—_—_ - emeria zo 756, 757. | ——-—— psyllium wee ee ae) ts)

—— ——— - fuscicaudata “s+ 700:| === rosetana ae ae we OS

Pachystoma edgeworthii ae .. 484 | ————— stricta ... me os Fo aoo

lindleyanum a .. 484 | Platanthera robusta... ae ... 136

—— montanum... oe ww. «= 484 ——- stenostachya &, ie Oe

eS senile ‘se es w= 484. | ~ —— -susanne .., me ee foe

XX Vill

PaGE

Ploceus megarhynchus... 683

- passerinus infortunatus = ool

--——-- philippinus ...089, 604, 681

Podanthera pallida Hes)

Podiceps sp. 642

Pogonia biflora .. 726

——_——- carinata UES)

—— —— flabelliformis ... 729

—— ——. juliana... 726

——_—— nervilia... ae 729

———— plicata ... wereear (hi)

Poinciana regia ne 970;/558

—<—- ——-—- (Cane icpriC era.

575, 589

Pomatorhinus horsfieldii horsfieldii... 741

-———-——— obscurus ... 742

—_———_-_ _—_——--- melanurus,,. 742

—<—<—<—$__—_—~_ —---- = {ravancore-

ensis... 742, 743

Pratapa ( = Camena) icetas icetas 627

Prinia inornata 585, 592, 603, 854

socialis 585, 603

Prioneris sita 700

Prosthemadera novee- Sealandic 601

Psallus seriatus ... wee

Psammophis schokari ay 965, 572

Psittacusa krameri 585, 589, 591, 604

Pteropus giganteus ae ae, O70

——_———_——— —_-— eae e070

Pterygodium sulcatum . : 731

Ptyas mucosus 691, 692, 693, 694, 695

Pucinia helianthi ee POG

Purpura sp. ane 829, 846

Pycnonotus aurigaster ... 596

—_— —-—~—- bengalensis 756

———_——-- gularis 758

———.——__- intermedius fet aS

————-——-- luteolus 584, 603

—_—- - insulee 759

Eee -luteolus ... 7099

—_——_——-- xantholeemus 758

Pyctorhis sinensis major 745

Pyrrhocorax alpinus 893

Quamoclit coccinea 602

Randia uliginosa 489

Rapala melampus 628

- micans selira 628

- nissa nissa 628

- - Varuna grisea 628

- niviventer 607

Rattus ohiens’s ... i

606

INDEX OF SPECIES

PaGE

Rattus rattus kelaarti ... se O08

Ratufa gigantea .. 979

Recurvirostra Soren Sreucits 479

Khopalocampta benjaminii benja-

minii , Sas 630

Rhopocichla atriceps Rericeoe 748

-—— ——--- bourdilloni 748

-———— -- nigrifrons 749

Rhynchostylis retusa 490

Rucervus duvaucelli 885

Russelia juncéa ... : 594

Saccolabium euniinatenn 495

---- flabelliforme V22

——- guttatum ... 490

——_-—-——. maculatum 488

a paniculatum 490

—_—— papillosum 495

—— preemorsum 495

os ringens 490

a rubruin 490

—_——- speciosum... 490

— viridiflorum Peat: torte)

wightianum 490, 495

Saga ephippigera : 908

Salpornis spilonotus magpie: 760

— ——- spilonotus 760

Salvia splendens... os 602

Sarangesa dasahara dasahara 631

——--——_- purendra 631

Sarcanthus pauciflorus ... 495

- peninsularis 495

Sarcochilus maculatus .. 488

——- viridiflorus ... 488

Sarkidiornis melanotus ... 898

Satarupa sambara doherty1 630

Saxicola caprata 852

Scarites granulatus ot SZ

-- limitaneus 862, 863

Scizenia sp. coe 908

Scolopax arquata 705

-—— ——- lapponica iene, ALO

-—————- limosa... 712, 713

— - phzeopus - ae ee LON,

Selenarctos thibetanus ... Be everhen ISP

Sepia sp. : .. 829, 846, 847

Sesbania Pranciacne 580, 590

Shorea robusta 903

Sinthusa chandrana anandiaae 628

—-——— nasaka pallidior 628

Sitta castanea almore .., 022

——_—_ ——--—-castanea... 521, 522

INDEX OF SPECIES

PAGE

Sitta castanea cinnamoventris ... eee

- - prateri 522

—— frontalis corallina ... 923

- frontalis .. Waele

solen sp. ... : $29, 845

Sonneratia acida wa 200d

Sophora sp. 602

Sorex feroculus 612

Spathodea campanulata She)5

Spelzeus : 778

— cavi fone 798

————- leuconyx 807

————- melanarctos 8Q3

-— piscator... 798

Sphodrus indus ... 863

Spindasis elima uniformis 627

———-~ ictis ictis 627

-——_——- lohita ... ; 627

——__- himalayanus ... 627

————- nepalicus nepalicus .. pe O2T

—-~- (Aphnezeus) Satente vul-

canus . 626

Spiranthes Aistealig 730

sinensis 730

Stachyridopsis rufifrons Amabie ue 747

Stellio punctatus... oe SOLS

- salvaquardia 618, 619

salvator : 618

saurus 618

saxatilis 618

tessellatus POLS

- thalassinus 618, 619

viridis 618

Sp.. ae Oils

Sterculia eoleracas 525,.08 |

Stromateus cinereus 908

- ——- niger 9038

Strymon sassanides abs, .. 624

Sturnia malabarica .. 585, 588, 604

Sturnopastor jalla 596

Sturnus v. humei 637

Suastus gremius gremius : 632

Surendra quercetorum quercetorum 626

Syntarucus plinius 623

Tachys tetraspilus 862

Tagiades atticus khasiana 630

———\-- litigiosa litigiosa 631

————- menaka 631

Tajuria cippus cippus ... 627

——-——- longinus 627

Tantalus variegatus aoe aft 711

XXix

PAGE

Tapes sp. ... .. 829, 830, 846

Taractrocera danna 635

— — mevius flaccus ... 633

Tarbophis fallax iberus 563, 571

Tarucus theophrastus nara 620

Tarucus venosus... : ce OD

Tchitrea paradisi “584, 603, 674,

896

Tecoma radicans ; 580

Telicota pythias pembucs ee 083

Temenuchus pagodarum 585, 604

Terias venata ae 914

Terminalia tomentosa ... O11

Terpsiphone paradisi feucop ester 679

———_——-- paradisi 677

Tetraceros quadricornis 674

Thalarctos maritimus ... 776

Thallasophina viperina 566

Thecla ataxus ataxus 625

- bieti dohertyi 625

= birupa e.. 625

- icana 625

- syla syla... 625.

- ziha 625

Thespesia populnea 581

Thunia alba 485

— venosa 485

Timalia hyperythra 743

-- malcolmi 740

-- somervillei 738

-- subrufa . 740

Totanus hypoleucus w. 482

Trichocnemis didyma ... 648, 650

—— — -——-— renifera 648

Trochalopteron cachinnans “eodes

--—— -—- —- + —_- cinnamo-

meum 524

—___..— jerdoni fairbanki 524

——_——_—_. ——- jerdoni 524

—— —- ———---—. meridionale 524

Tropidia bellii a 730

Tropidonotus tessellatus 995

Tupinambis texuigin 619

Turdoides somervillei ... 578, 584, “588, 603

a ———— malabaricus 737, 738

———_——_—_—__ --— sindianus 738

ee somervillei 738

—— terricolor Lets (iste:

—_— striatus polioplocamus 738

_— -—— striatus 738

———-—-— terricolor 584, 603

XXX.

PaGE

Turdus malabaricus 751

———-- merula 894

—- nigropileus 603

Typhlops acutus 691, 693, 694

—--—_— braminus §53, 571, 691, 692,

693, 694.

-—— -- —— syriacus 5384

-._-——_-- vermicularis 904, 5/71

—_—-———. wilsoni 554

Udaspes folus 632

Umbonium sp. 829, 846

Uroloncha malabarica 585, 604

-— striata 585, 604

Ursarctos ee 778

Ursus arctos arctos 110, 1404 00,2 fO5

beringianus 789, 793, 795, 796

—— caucasicus 787, 788

———_—_————- collaris “53

—_—— dinniki . 788, 789

— —-———- isabellinus 787, 795, 814

— jeniseensis Fos

——- kolymensis me oo, pes

—— lasiotus 779, 795, 796, 793; /99

——_ marsicanus see OU

-———_——_——. meridionalis 787, 788, 789

—- persicus 789

— pruinosus we oO Oud

ee shanorum 795, 805

——_—_-—-—— var. sibiricus 793

—— - smirncvi ... ee sm 409

—_ syriacus 786, 787, 788, 796

_——- yesoensis 779, 799, 803

—— alpinus 780

-—— annulatus a» 480

arctus 775, 814

—— argenteuls 780

——-— aureus 780

—§— badius Ne or 780

—— arctos baicalensis se 799, 800

—— brunnenus 780

——. cavifrons 798

——— crowtheri 780

——— eversmanni 780

—— ferox 799

— formicarius 780

—._——— fuscus 780

gedrosianus re mo asoe

lasistanicus ..«. 788, 789, 790

leusonyx 800, 814

longomyiarius 807

—-— major aT is 780

INDEX OF SPECIES

PAGE

Ursus malayanus G13,2775

mandchuricus 794, 796.

melanarctos 7)

——— minor fa 789

——— myrmecophagus 780

——— niger 780

normalis 787

— norvegicus 780

pamirensis cn ee

piscator 194, 199, (902799

polonicus ae wer 180

--—— pruinosus and U. Jagomyiarius

and U. clarki 807

-—— pyrenzeus mee eee

pyrenaicus 789, 787

rufus 780

schmitzi 786

thibetanus ; Tis

torquatus sean Peeks ean // 7h)

Vanda parvifolia 494

roxburghii 494

tessellata 404

——— tesselloides 494

wightiana 495

Vanga flaviventris re osdiads LOU,

Varanus bengalensis 616, 618, 619, 905

——-—-— draccena Pe SW,

—-——— dumerilii 616

—-—-———. flavescens 616

-——— griseus ofa iyeiOLG

——.-—-~- monitor 616, 618, 619, 905

———— nebulosa svind 4 axe paol6

4 niloticus .-« 617, 618, 619

———— prasinus <i Bo tes OI)

———— salvator ... 616, 618, 905

Venus sp. “f 829, 845

Vipera euphratica brs ade ROOK,

lebetina 9025903, 507,-07 2

—— — russelli ».. O91, 692,696

Virachola perse perse ... 628

Vitex pubescens 603

Walterinnesia egyptia 567

Wood fordia fruticosa ae og

Xiphorhamphus superciliaris Ee OOS

Xylocopa amethystina 583, 597

Ypthima nareda ...067, 913, 914

Zamenis dahlii 556

—— diadema ; oe Se Oe

———— fasciolatus 691, 692, 693, 694,

695, 906

——--——- gemonensis 998

INDEX OF SPECIES XXX1

PAGE PAGE

Zamenis ravergieri ao 2 .. §59 | Zizera gaika ss et es pee O22

-———— ventrimaculatus is .. 909 | -——- lysimon sa a, 622

Zesius chrysomallus _... ee ... 911 | —— maha maha ve sen won O22

Zeuxine brevifolia an a ... 731 | --—— otis otis i as aa Oe

————-longilabris ee os sea ot OL trochilus trochilus = bite OE

——_——mem branacea ae uw» 731°) Zosterops palpebrosa. ... PEt OO? , OOOg

————-strateumatica ae Wise 75 600, 604

—.——-sulcata ae ee ae 731

in -

ian’,

aa ee

. :

a ie i)

ie ae

- Dah

BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY

OFFICE BEARERS, 1933

Patrons.

H. E. The Viceroy of India, G.M.S.1., G.M.I.E.

H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, K.c.

Vice-Patrons.

eo The Maharao of Cutch, G.C.S.1.,/¢.C.1.8.

HA. The Maharaja of Jodhpur, K.c:S:1., K.C.v.0.

H.H. The Maharaja of Rewa, K.C.S.1.

H.H. The Maharaja of Bhavnagar.

Mr. F. V. Evans, Haymans Green, Liverpool.

Mr. A.S. Vernay, New York, U.S.A.

Sir David Ezta, AZ., B.Z:S., Calcutta,

Done Rcran:

Mr. C.O. O’Donnell, U.S.A.

President.

H. E. The Right Hon’ble Sir Frederick Sykes, P.C., G.C.1.E., G.B.E., K.C.B.,

C.M.G.

Vice-Presidents.

fH. the Mabarao ot Cuteh? G:C.s.1., G.C.1.E.

Rev. E. Blatter, S.3., Ph.D., F.L.S.

ihe Eon: ble Mire: Khe: Bell G:Sa. Cob. 1.0.5:

Executive Committee.

Rt: Revd. R. D--Acland, B: as of Bombay ... Bombay

Mr. Ei. Ds Ash 2 ae :

Mr. Farrokh E. Bharucha

Rev. Fr. J. Fo Caius, s.r. a

Col sir Prank Connor, K7Z.,. D:S:0.; F.R:G.S., I.M:S.

Mr. Alwyn Ezra, F.R.G.S., F.Z.S.

Mr. J. B. Greaves, M.L.C.

Prot. VeiN; Hate; B.Sc,

Mr. J.G. Ridland <..

Major S. 8. Sokhey, I.M.S. re

Mr. A. Forrington (Honorary Treasurer)

Mr. lige M. 1D Sanderson, F.Z.S: \ LO On re

Sir Reginald Spence, A?é., F.Z.S.

Advisory Committee.

DraC. ne, Beeson,.W.SCe MaAG, TeH.Se 4.4 we Dehra Dun

rT Re, Belly @.1-H.4 Tr.S? ( Retd..) a ... Karwar.

Mrs Cals Donald r.Z.s: a ee ... Dharmshala.

Lt.-Col. F. C. Fraser, 1.M.s. a oe ... Coimbatore.

Dr. EF... Gravely, D.Sc. es ee ... Madras.

Mr. S. F. Hopwood, 1-F-s. wes aoe .. Rangoon.

Mr. C. M. Inglis, M.B.0.U., F.Z.S. aie we Warjeclime;

Mie Re Ce Mors, H.Z.S+,4.R:G.S. ei ... Coimbatore.

Major E. G. Phythian-Adams, F.z.S. ae ... Mysore.

Dr. Baini Prashad, D.Sc. shy aie we Calcutta:

Mr; Ei, ie Smith Pre on ie aper eiclieinateye

leh =ColnC we Stockley, O.B un, DsS.O. MC. .. Meerut.

Major a B. Trevenen ve bss .» Jtubbulpore.

LIST OF MEMBERS

LIFE MEMBERS

Aga Khan, H.H. Aga Sir Sultan Mahomed Shaha

(GCS. 1. 9G7C 1)...

Aitken, C. E. 7 te ase

Ali, Hamid Avw(1.C.5.) eee

Alwar, Col. H. H. Sawai Vee Sir Vaictiatt

Bahadur (K.C.S.1., G.C.1.E.) ee

Armstrong, Dr. J. scaiie(MB., Che., Dil Mow a.)

Armitage, Capt. A. E. (R.E.)

Bahawalpur, H. H. The Nawab Gant.

Mohammad Khan Abassi (K.C.v.0O.)

Baini Prashad, Dr. (D.Sc.)j

Baker, E. C. Stuart (F.Z.S)

Balkrishna Vinayek Wassoodeo

H.H. Maharaul Shri Indra Sian Pern

‘Sir eadiq

Bansda,

Singhji, Raja Saheb of ;

Baroda, H. H. Tne Maharaja Sir Sayaji Rao Gaciaene

(GsC:S aie, KaC. Salt) a:

Baroda, Shrimant vvarss Pratapsingh Gece

Barton; 1. Ll. Lon

Bhavnagar, H. HW. The Mananias ‘Shri engine rene

Singhji { Vzce- Patron)

Bhopal, A. H. Col. Sir Menomined eenaraten Nan

Bahadtir (6.C.S1.,5C-9.2.,,C, v.04)

Bikaner, Piwesroan H.H. The Matarara Shri Sir

Guinea Singhji Bahadur (¢.c:5.45,6:¢.1:2 1G,Csy 01,

C.B. Evy KC. Biych. D.C. ek, Ds)

Bikaner, Capt. H. H. Maharaj

Singhji Bahadur (C.v.o.)

Bodeunham, Count K. Lubienski...

Bradshaw, J. P. oe os

Bridgeman, Lt.-Col. Hon’ble H. G. O (ReRYA: )

Brook, Carlton P. : a see

Burton, Brig.-Gen. R. G.

Burton, Lt.-Col. Richard W. oe

Bute, The Most Hon’ble The Marquis of

Butler, Sir Harcourt (G:c,1.b4K-C:s.1., pone

Caccia, Major A.-M. (1.5:;s.)

Cambay, H. H. Nawab Hussain Vavareien Jafar Ali-

khan Saheb Bahadur

Cassamali Jairajbhoy Peerbhoy

Chhota-Udepur, Makarawal Natwar Sinhji F,

Christopher, Sydney A. (Bar.-at-Law)

Clarke, (OO. (64.87; 1:C35.)

Kumar Shri Sadul

Europe.

Bombay.

Alibag.

Alwar.

New Zealand.

Ouetta.

Bahawalpur.

Calcutta

England.

Bombay.

Bansda.

Baroda.

”

EKogland.

Bhavnagar.

Bhopal.

Bikaner.

London.

Bombay.

Northumberland.

Norwich.

England.

India,

London.

Oxford.

Cambay.

Bombay.

Chhota-Udepur.

Rangoon,

London.

LIST OF MEMBERS

Clutterbuck, Capt: J... (R.E.)--.

Clutterbuck, Sir Peter

Cooch Behar, Maharaj Kumar Victor N. Neragaa

Coode, John M. ae

.B., C.H.B.)

Corkill, Dr. Norman L. (m

Cowie, Rev. A. G. G. oe. Bee es

Cox, sMasor-Genli oir, Percy “(¢.C.1.B),, -.K.C:S.1.,

IenCe MGs BL ZeSe s BaR. GS.)

Craw, Hy He (LC.s.) wie

Crawford, W.M. (F.E.S., I.C. S. ) (retd a:

Cron, Herman ; oe ws

Culbertson, J.-M. .S. (A M.1.C.E.)

Cursetji, Khan Bahadur C. M.

Cutch, H. H. The Maharao Sir Shri eee Sawai

Bahadur (G.G:S.1., G-C.1.B:) (Vice-Patron- and

Vice-President)...

Cutch, Kumar Shri Godji

Cutting, C. Suydam ...

Dalai, Rustomjee D. ae

D2 Almeida; J: E.R. [B.A.,. BSC. SCHomol

Davidson; Lt.-Col: J. (D:S.0., F.M.S. )

Dharampur, H.H. The Maharana Shree Nano

Rana, Maharaja Saheb of .

Dhrangadhra, H.H. Maharana Sri Sir

Simliji (RCS. 25 )e..

Dhunjibhoy Bomanji, Sir, Kt.

Drake-Brockman, Lt.-Col. H. E. ie ZiSa, L.M.S.)

Dungarpur, H.H. Rai Rayan Maharajadhiraj Mahara-

wal Shri Lakshman Singhji Bahadur ... a

Duxbury, Brigadier C. D.

Elgee, Colonel J. W.L. -

Ellison, Bernard C. (C.M.Z.S., F.R.G.S.)

IXnglish, E. E.

Erb, E.

Evans, F. V. cesPatpan)

Ezra, Alfred (0.B.E., F.Z.S.) ;

Ezra, Sir David, A?. ( Vice-Patron)

Pret vlc 2. ne ioe

Prere,.Lt.-Col. A. G. (1.A., F.Z.S.)

Gammie, Prof. G. A.

Gauripur, Raja Preouemenanara anda

Gharpurey, Lt.-Col. K. G. (1.M.s.)

Gonsalves, A. F. nee ae

Gregory-Smith, Capt. H. G.

Elarris;, Jr, William! P.

Hide, P.

Hill, Major R. D. O. ae bec

Holkar, Sir Tukuji Rao ae ae

Hopwood, S. F. (1.8F.s.)

Hotson, Sir Ernest (K.Cc.S.1.,

Hoyas, Count E. ea ace os

Husbands, Major H. W. S. (M.c., A.M.I.C.E., S.M.R.E.)

cer

Ghanshyam

O:Beky LCSs)

XXXV

Bombay.

Srinagar.

Cooch Behar.

Plymouth.

Khartoum.

England.

London.

Rangoon

S. Belfast.

New York.

iearaent.

Bombay.

Bhuj-Cutch.

Cutch.

New York, U.S.A.

Bombay.

Bandra.

Scotland.

Dharampur.

Dhrangadhra.

Bombay.

Twyford.

Dungarpur.

Poona.

London.

Cornwall.

Bombay.

Liverpool.

London.

Calcutta:

Switzerland.

Coimbatore.

London.

Gauripur.

Ahmednagar.

Bandra.

London,

CSSA

Oxford.

London.

Indore.

Rangoon.

Eneland.

Austria.

London,

XXXvi LIST OF MEMBERS

Hyam, Khan Bahadur Judah (G.B.v.C., F.Z.S.) 7 Foond,.

Ichalkaranji, Sardar Narayanrao Govind alzas Baba-

sahab Ghorpade... ae oon ... Ichalkaranji.

Idar, H. H. Maharaja Shri Himmat Singhji Saheb

Bahadur ine ne fos .. Himatnagar.

Indore, H. H. The Maharaja, Yeshawantrao

Holkar sat sas An ... indore,

Enelis, Chas;-M.. (.2.S:,M.B/0.0:) sue Ne ... Darjeeling.

Tvens; J)... (eawD:) ane aoe uiidford:

Jamkhandi, Shrimant Shankarrao Parccerarae alias

Appasaheb Patwardhan ... Jamkhandi.

Jind, H. H. The Maharaja Sir Ranbir Singh (K.G3SH-,

G.C.1.E.) me cee as 23° soi.

Jodhpur, Lt.-Col. H. H. The Maharaja Sir Umaid

Sing Bahadur (K.C.S.1., K.C.v.0.} (Vice-Patron) Jodhpur.

Kaiser Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, 8.M., Lt.-Gen. Nepal.

Ker, Dra. 8. Ge ae ¢ bpanekok,

Khairpur, H. H. Mir Ali Naw apichen ee >. Khairpur.

Khetri, Raja Sardar Singh Bahadur és ce hetriy

Khilchipur, H. H. Durjansal Singh bes . Khilchipur.

Kirk-Greene, Mrs. Leslie wa London.

Kolhapur, H. H. The Maharaja Lt.-Col. Sir Rania

Chhatrapati (G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E.) Kolhapur.

Kotah, H. H. The Maharajadhiraj Lt. {Call ‘Sir ined

Singhji Saheb Bahadur (G.C.1.E., C.B.E.) ws. eKovah?

Lewis, J. Spedan ay sis ae on Ondo,

one iG, Rs (ans) oa. ae a ... Woodbridge.

Lorimer, Major D. a. R. (Cm. LA) a ... London.

Lowndes, Capt. D. G. wes oe ... Lansdowne.

Ludlow, F. (M.A., M.B.O.U., I.E.S.) : oo) Srinagar,

Lynes, Rear Naaea Herbert (C.B., C.M.G. S) *, London,

Mackenzie, J. M. D. (1.F.S.) ... ove ., dtitope.

Mandlik, Narayan V. ae ve ... Bombay.

Manegrol, The Shaikh Saheb ... see ... Mangrol.

Marshall, Arch. McL. 8 bic .. Hagland.

Marshall, J. McL.: 2. Sa o 0 scotland:

Maxwell, M. ee oes ... Hurope.

McConaghy, Lt. Col ron Be (Ms. ) 7S. .. Camberley.

Millard, 3a.” We Pin ios. ae eee .. England.

Millard, W.S. (#.z:s:)

Miraj, Shrimant Sir Gaugeans Rao Garcon as

Babasaheb Patwardhan (K.C.1.E.) oe ae Mira:

Mitenell, TH, El. Gy 7.; sae ae .. England.

Montacnon,, Di... ae ee a.) Dibrugarh.

Monteath, G. (I.C.S.) ae aes .. England.

Morris, Lt.-Col. D. O.

Morvi, H. H:.. The Maharaja ‘Sit Lakhdiriji Waghji

’”)’

(K.¢.S.1.) ae ne ENLORVA.

Mosse, Lt.-Col. A. H. E. (Co Beh. cA) | es, ... England.

Murland, Lt.-Col. H. F. Suntikoppa.

Mysore, H.H. The Maharaja Sir Keeanares Too geaat

Bahadur (G.¢:S.1.4 G.B.Ey)- 4. ae ... Mysore.

LIST OF MEMBERS XXXVil

Namjosi, V. K. is aire eels ao Bombay.

Naraenji, Dwarkadas

Narayanlal Bansilal, Raja — oe

Narsingarh, H. H. Raja Vikram Singhji Sahib

y)}

»)

Bahadur a on See .. Narsingarh.

Nawanagar, H. H. The Jamsaheb (G.C S.I., C.B.E.,

BKeCsSi0,) Jamnagar.

Nepal, Supradipta Mangeber Genera Sir Month Hine

shere Jung Bahadur Rana (K.C.I.E.) ... i. Nepal.

Newman, T. H. (F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.) i pe OnGOn.

Noyce, Sir Frank (1I.C.S.) Eas aie ae > DELI.

Nurse, Lt.-Col. C. G. (F.E.S.) ... 6: .. England.

Oberholser, Harry C. bit ie ww “Washington, D.C:

O’Donnell, C.O. (Benefactor)... ws poe Ue Sak.

Ooilvie, G. He (1. F-S.) Set my, ... Rangoon.

Olivier Col. 31..8:. (Roms, FZ.S.) tr .. England.

Pave, A. J. Ci5.)) ais London.

Palitana, H. H. The Thakor nen Bangi Sinhji

(CLE) Palitana.

Parlakimedi, Shri Shri Shri eebnacnandra Giapatl

Narayan Deo, Raja of oes ae ... Parlakimedi.

Parlett, L. M. (I.C.S.) .. England.

Patiala, H. H. The Manaeaie: Sir Sri Saape naan

Singh (G:C.S.1., G.C.LE., G.B.E.) a = Patiala.

Patiala, Capt. Rao Raja Birindra Singhj1

Patiala, H. H. Maharaji Kumar Brijindra Singhji

Patuek, 2.5: (1.C:S.)

Peacock, &.-H.. (BES: )

Pestonji Jivanji (N.c.S.) aii av ... Hyderabad, Dn.

”

ie)

England.

Petit, Dhunjibhoy Bomanji Bombay.

Petit, Jehangir Bomanji Rs

Phipsonsabe. Mi. G.2:s.) England.

Poncins, Viscount Edmund de Prance,

Porbundar, H. H. The Maharaja Natwat Sion

Bhavsinghji ies ... Porbundar.

Radhanpur, H. H. Shebiateidonn ghee .. Radhanpur.

Rae, Lt.-Col. M. E. (1.A.) eee wes ... Edinburgh.

Rajgarh, H. H. Raja Rawat Sir Brindha Singh

(an. Be) a Rajgarh.

Ravenshaw, Col. C. W. ‘

Reid, Mrs. D. W. England.

Rewa, H. H. The Maharaja Si ‘eulabsnen Banat

(K2C.S.0:)) (V2ce-Fatron). ax. os .. Rewa.

Ribeiro, J. (L.c.E.) ile ry santa Cruz,

Roosevelt, Kermit... re Big ome Welt

Roosevelt, Col. Theodore Fe

Ross, Major Tyrell England.

Roumania, H. M. the King of Roumania.

Sanders, Major C. W. Kam ptee.

Sanderson, Henry _... U.S.A.

Sangli, Meherban Sir SHnmant (GHuES nent ce

saheb Patwardhan (K,C.S.1.) ave jae Pang)

XXXViii LUST OF MEMBETRS

Savile, Sir Leopold (K.c.B.) ... tae re =. JEnoland:

Schmid, W. en se ms ... Krenzlingen.

Scotts: 1s. ae ae .. scotland.

Seton-Karr, Capt. H. W. a a .. England.

Smith, A. Kirke Sen ane rp o. Delint:

Smith, Maior G. De Heriez ee cs .. Ootacamund.

Smith, ElO; ets or London:

Spence, Dr. Arthur D. ere Be oh, B.) (Edin.) .. England.

Spence, Sir Reginald (A7.) a oe e1. DOmiDay.

Standen, Sir B. (K.C.1cE., 1.C.Seretd-). 4: . Surope.

Stanton, W. C. oe sn = s.. . Hngland,

Stewart, CG. PS. A.) ee ae ... Rangoon.

Studd, E. ae :.. ‘Calcutta,

Suket state; EH. .H- Rave TaLenien "en... Jao uket.

Surguja, Maharaja Ramanuj Saran Singh Deo

(C.3.E.) foe ve ae - SuUrewijar

Swaine, J. K. ‘ a3 - 2 | Ondon:

Swithinbank, Mrs. B. W. ee Rangoon.

Tehri-Garhwal, H. H. Raja Narendra Shah Saheb

Bahadura(@-s,1.) ds is i. Mehrix

Thomson-Glover, Capt. J. W. .. vi. Peshaivar;

Udaipur, H.H. The Maharana Sahib SEDO ... Udaipur.

Venning, Brigadier F. E. W. (C.B.K., D.S.0.) Ape ied lgay oly

Vernay, A.S. (Vice-Patron) ... a .. England.

Waite, H. W. os Ae = if Oo ieltim:,

Walker, Roland bss se owe =, » bombay.

Wauchope, Major R. S. (1.A.) ... oe ., Calcutta.

Whistler, Hugh (M.B.0.U., F.Z.S.) RE .. England.

Williamson, Sir W.J. F.(C.MiG., BiZ.S 5 M.B.OnU; )s ser e

Wilson, SirAtnold (Cis 71.5 CG 7, DS.0. uk. Cle aia .

Wyndham, PP. (cB 8.1 C.Sa)i ~ ... London.

MEMBERS

Acharya, H. ON: (8.2.55 2B os.) een: oe “.+ Ahmedabad:

Acland, Rt. Rev. R. D. (Bishop of Bees) i, Soman.

Addyman, J. as Sue er ... Ambernath.

Aitken, J. E. : = see a. Rajkot:

Akka-Saheb Manat, Hi HS: = an oo. Kolhapur.

Alimahomed Mecklai ne T ... Bombay.

Ali, Salim A. (M.B.0.U.) hee ee: oa 55

Alington,-Capt. N.S. (M.c.).9 a. Fort-Sandeman.

Alipur, Agri. and Horticultural Society of TpaGl dh ce

Secretary ao Aliptun:

Ali Rajpur, Maharaj aren Cape Rattencine (ee peel Ragin:

Allen; MajomC, HYP (qos eu. a 2 Avondone

Alleyne, Lt. H. Massy 5 ee, ... Cullompton.

Allsop, F. (1.F.S.)_ ac 5 ... Rangoon.

Ambalal Sarabhai Ahmedabad.

American Museum of Natural Higiory The Wear New York, U.S.A,

LIST OF MLMBERS

Amir Sheikh Mahomed Khan (C.1.E.)

Anamalai Game and Fishing Association ...

Anderson, J. 5S. ;

Anderson-Morshead, Capt. R. y.

Andrew, G. P. (1.C.S.)

Andrews, E. A. ae

Angelo, Capt. N. L. (.A.)

PVG CMO V..

Arathoon, J. D. L.

Ash, H. D.

Asoden,; HH. lL; ee

Atkinson; D. J. (1.F:s.)

Atkinson, G.

Aundh, Shrimant B. S. Papteaned tae Amine Chief of

Australian Museum, The Secretary

Awagarh, The Raja of

Aylesford, The Right Hon’ ble, The Ear] of

Bacon, A. L. ok —

Bahadurji, D. N. (Bar.-at-Law)

Bailey, Lt.-Col: F. M. (¢.1.5.)

Bale Sons and Danielson, Ltd., Messrs. Fond

Balt Ea Ps

Barclay, Jeb, ae ae Mos an

Baria, H. H. The Maharaja Sir Raniit Singhjee

(i :G.S.1) es

Barlee, Hon’ble Mr. quactice ie. W. (1:C.S.)

Barnes, Miss Tirzah ...

Barraud, Capt.b. J. (B.Z.S., FES. s.)

Batrett, 1. Bs (ES. )

Barry, Miss Agnes T.

Bassett, A. E. oa te

Bates, Capt. R. S. P. (M.B.0.U.)

Battye, bts Ry KM. (RsA.)

Baxter, N. B. ee

Bayley d’Castro, Dr. A. (1.M.D. )

Bazete, tie MM. aa

Beadnell, C. B. (D.S.0.)

Beadon, W. R. C. (F.G.S.) bea

Beeson, Dr. C. F. C. (M.A., D.Sc., F.E.S.)

Beg, Nawab Nazir Jung Bahadur Mirza Nazir

Begbie, Ut.-Cole Ace >. = aa: ae

Belgium, Le Directeur, Musee Royal d’ Histoire

Naturelle de Belgique : wee

Belle @hetion’ ble: Mr. R. D:. (Csii:, C.1.B., 1-C.8:)

Belle Ro( CE.)

Bell, W. E.

Bengal, Military ReCieIaTS to re E. The @orcnor

Benson, Capt. C. E.

Benson, Major R. L. (on StO;4, MC.)

Benthall, Sir F.C.

Berchten, E. se Ne

Berlie, Drie €. (M-R.C.S.;.L-R.C.P,;,D.1T.M.H.)

Ajatrai.

Anamalai.

Bombay.

England.

France.

London.

Poona.

Bombay.

Indore.

Bombay.

Maymyo.

Dehra Dun.

Aundh.

Sydney.

Awagarh,

Delhi.

Magok.

Bombay.

Srinagar.

London.

Bombay.

Baria.

Bombay.

Cawnpore.

Kasauli.

Rangoon,

Borsad.

Rampur Hat.

Bareilly.

Ziarat.

Poona.

Calcutta.

London.

Cannanore.

Rangoon.

Dehra Dun.

Hyderabad, Dn.

London.

Brusselles.

Bombay.

Karwar.

Mergui.

Bengal.

London.

Calcutta.

Amraoti.

Selang Hat.

x] LIST OF MEMBERS

Bernard, J. L:; . aes jan INairobit

Betham, Brig.-Genl. R. NE utCer oe) ae .. England.

Bethell> Major-Genl. Ha Ky "C8: MG /Cw..07

D.S.0. ee aie oe so) aCaleuttay

Betts, F. N. ae as me ... Mercara.

Bharucha, Farrokh E. sie mt .... Bombay.

Bhatia, Major S. L. (1.M.S.) fe -

Bhosle, Miss Lilabai ve ee ... Kolhapur.

Bignell, Major R. G. (R.G.A.) ... ons .. London.

Billimoria, N. M. we nas Oe ep anaAciit :

Bingham, G. H. ve ee me ... London.

Binony, Lt.-Col. AoC. M. a a .... Mymensingh.

Birch, Cav; 3 ae Su ... New Zeaiand.

Bird, B.-H. (L.C25:) . te a ... London.

Biair, Or. 1. Pe. (es ae. ay 2) Liverpool

Biantord, EH. ik. (058.2 1.8.S,.) bai -». London,

Blatter, Rev. E. (S.J.) ae ate w=. Pancheani,

Boag, G. Ly (1-C:8..)<: woe se . London.

Bodding, Kev. P.O, ; wos ... Mohulpahari.

Bolitho, Capt. E. H. W. (R.F.A. ) a i. - Bombay.

Bonnell, Bonavis (M. A.) ie a vo» Madras.

Bor, Ne i.:(1-F-Sz)) 2: ue es fn okra.

Borao, Rev. Fr. G. Palacios de... oe ... Bombay.

Borradaile, Lt. J. W. ioe oH j. Shartoum.

Bot, ok. ks er e os ~. ounthaik,

Boyd, Major J. KE. M. ae aia, ae :.. Dalhousie.

Boyt, N. E. : ee oe .. Kawkareik.

Bradbury, Rev. A. Le ie ae ree shbley it

Brassey .oe-Col, -.2. (Seine. ae ... Peshawar.

Breithaupt, Lt.-Col. E. A. ie wae -. London,

Brent, H. A. W. ae as Sue %

Bridge, M.'E. (1.F-s.) ai - Pp Csbhiakoyale

rideney C.k, an — a a2 Rajat,

Briggs, Rev. Frank S. aes bus ... Ghazipur.

Brooke, Major A. S. (M.C.) ane ne a. bombay.

Broughton, Col, 7, D. (R°B,,/C-R.E, ) a ... Pewsey, England.

Brown, L. N. (I.C.S.) Bt fe ee Nasik;

Browne, Lt.-Col. C. H. ne a ,.. N.Ireland.

Browne, E.G. ta hd aa we bareilly::

Brownlow, A. L. E.... ae os .. Meiktila.

Bryden, Lt.-Col. R.A, (RAs MC. D.S.07) .. Gluecairn.

Buckwell, B. E. ai: ai ty 1. .Juahore:

Burder, John H. sate eae es a» .Caleutta’

Burgess, F. G. (1.F.S.) ae oe ... shwebo.

Burma, The Forest Zoologist ... a .. Maymyo.

Burton, 5. Vi. (1.eis.) S! aes ... Lahore.

Burton, K.ING an io fe .. Jalpaiguri.

iBusher, Rey. kh, C. =. om ie ae DNaimiesale

Caius, Rev. John F: {s.J.) see , Bombay,

Calcutta Zoological Gardens, The Honorary Secretary Calcutta.

Caldecott, C. D’a Ve ee ae -.- Bettl:

Caldwell, John M. ... oe a ... Panighatta.

Cambridge, University Museum of Zoology,

Superintendent

Cameron, I. L.

LIST OF MEMBERS

Cameron, Thos. H. (F.z.S.)

Campbell, A. A. H.

Campbeil, A. S.

Campbell, R.. G.

Campbell, S.

Canning, Fred. (1.F.38.) a

Capito, C. Erik (0.B.E., M. INST. C.E.)

Captain, Mrs. A. H.C.

Cardew, Major C. G. (R.E.)

Carnegie Museum, The Director

Cassell, Rs. H..

Castens, H. E. (1.F-.S. )

Cateneny. Ne Le (CE, Los).

Cave, Capt. F. O.

Chamba State, H. H. Raja er Singh

Chamier, Major R. O.

Champion, F. W. (1. .S.)

Champion, H. G. (1.F.S.)

Charles, F..D.

Chatidhri,,.C.. M.G.r.s.)

Chevenix-Trench, C. G. (1.C.S.)

Chevenix-Trench, Mrs. C. G.

China, The Science Society

Chislett, E. V. D.

Chopra, Dro. N:

Claudius, C.D.

Clee, C28. B.. (hu)

Clifford, Lt.-Col. R.

Clifford, W. Walters

Clough, R. J.

CLUBS—

Bombay Club The Honorary Secretary...

Bombay Gymkhana Club, Ltd.,

Byculla Club, The Honorary Secretary ...

Club of Western India, The Honorary Secretary

Cuttack Club, The Honorary Secretary ...

Darjeeling Club, Ltd.

I, D. Gymkhana Club

(D.Sc.)

Kolar Gold Field Club

Madras Club, The Secretary .

Mawlaik Gymkhana Club, The Heneran Geutan,

Maymyo Club, The Secretary ..

Muktesar Club, The Honorary Bede ann.

Naini Tal Club, Ltd.,

The Secretary

Nerbudda Club, The Secretary

Northern Shan States Club

Quetta Club, Ltd., The Secretary

Ranikhet Club, The Honorary Secretary...

The Secretary

Cambridge.

Colombo.

Devicolam.

Mangalore.

Karachi.

Evegland.

Bara Jamda.

England.

San Fernando.

Bandra.

Poona.

Oe Sse

Moniarah.

Akyab.

Quetta.

Petersfield.

Chamba.

Belgaum.

England.

Dehra Dun.

Bombay.

Angal.

Udaipur.

Namking.

Belgaum.

Calcutta.

London.

Bombay.

London.

Jalgaon,

Calcutta.

Bombay.

Poona,

Cuttack.

Darjeeling.

New Delhi.

Oorgaum.

Madras.

Mawlaik.

Maymyo.

Muktesar.

Naini Tal.

Jubbulpore.

Lashio, Burma.

Quetta.

Ranikhet.

xli

xlii

CLuBS—coutinued.

LIST OF MEMBERS

Royai Bombay Yacht Club, the Secretary

Secunderabad Club Library, The Honorary Secretary

Sind Club, The Honorary Secretary

Srinayar Club, The Secretary...

Trivandrum Club, The Honorary Sccreony

United Service Club, The Secretary

United Service Club, Ltd.

Wellington Gymkhana Club, The Honocaty Secretary

Cochrane, R. A.

Cocke, Lady H. G.

Coldstream, Hon’ble Mr. neces i (1.C.8.)

Cole, Lt.-Col. B. L.

Cole, F. H.

COLLEGES AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS—

Agricultural College and Central Research Institute,

The Librarian

American Coilege, The aeceease

Assumption College, The Principal

Baroda College, The Principal

Burma Forest School, The Director

Calcutta, The Presidency College

Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine ae apiene

The Director

Carmichael Medical College, The Bane nal

Central College, The Principal

Central Research Institute, The Director

China, The Science Society of China Library

Daly College, The Principal ...

Deccan College, The Principal

Forest Research Institute and College,

Botanist

Forest Research Institute and College, The Principal

gee

Government English School, The Head Master

Gujarat College, The Principal

Gwalior, Victoria College, The Principal

Haffkine Institute, The Director

H. H. The Maharaja’s College for Women

Indian Lac Research Institute :

Institute of Plant Industry, The Direcise

Intermediate College, The Superintendent

Islamia College

Karnatak College, The Pancipal

King Institute, The Director ...

La Martiniese College, The Principal

Ludhiana, Government Intermediate College,

Principal

Madras Forest Gollees The princi

Maharaja’s College, The Principal

Mayo College; The Principal ...

Nowrosjee Wadia College, The Ennoipall

Bee

The Forest

The

Bombay.

Secunderabad.

Karachi.

Srinagar,

Trivandrum.

Bangalore.

Simla.

Wellington.

Rangoon.

Bandra.

Lahore.

Ajmer.

Sukkur.

Coimbatore.

Madura.

Bangkok.

Baroda.

Pyinmana,

Calcutta.

Bangalore.

Kasauli.

Nanking.

Indore.

Poona.

Dehra Dun.

Virajpet.

Ahmedabad.

Gwalior.

Bombay.

Trivandrum.

Namkum.

Indore.

Bangalore.

Peshawar.

Dharwar.

Guindy,

Lucknow.

Ludhiana.

Coimbatore.

Ernakulam.

Ajmer.

Poona.

LIST OF MEMBERS

COLLEGES AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS—continued.

Mrs. A. V. N. College, The Principal

Osmania University College

Presidency College, The Principal

Punjab Veterinary College, The Panera)

Rajkumar College, The Principal

Rajaram College, The Principal ae

Royal College of Medicine, The Professor

Royal Institute of Science, The Principal

Scott Christian College, The Principal ...

St. Joseph’s College, The Principal

Trivandrum, H. H. Maharaja’s College for omen

University College, The Principal

Victoria College, The Principal

Victoria Technical Institute, The Curator

Wilson College, The Principal

Colombo Museum, The Librarian

Colvin, Lt.-Col. E. J. D.-(1: A.)

Congreve, C.R. T.

Conley, Andrew nee

Connor, Col. Sir Frank (A?., D.S.O., I.M.S.)

Conservator of Forests, Bhopal State

Conservator of Forests, Cochin Government

Conservator of Forests. Working Plan Circle

Cook, Ardian H. ae

Cooke, E. Bernard as

Cooper, Khan Bahadur D. B. (M.L.A.)

Cosens, Lt.-Col. F. R. ;

Cousins, Capt. C. W.

Covernton, S. H. (1.C.S.) we

Cowasji Jehangir, Sir, K?. (Jr.) (K.C.1.E., O0.B.E.)

Cowper, G. St. John...

Cox; Gs HC. ULE.S.,, &.Z.S;)

Cranfield, J. ies

Crawford, William G. 6 F.S.) ees

Crerar,oll sames (K.C.Si1.,.C.1. Bs, L.C.oy ).es

Crofton, R. M. (I.C S.)

Crombie, A. D. (I.C.S.)

Cruickshank, F.C, B. (1.C:S.)

Cunningham, G..(C.1.e., 0.B.8., 1.C.S.)

Currie, A.J. va

Currie, The Hon’ble Mr. meee M. Mo U.(1.C. 52)

Dalal, M. P. M.

Dalal, Miss Perin P. M. : ses

Dalal, Dr. Phiroz A. (L,M-S., D.7.M. & H.)

Daly, M. O. Me es re

Danson, J. W. W. ... sus sis

Darby, A. W. (0.B.E.)

Darjeeling, The Curator, Nat. ate Mus.

Daultana, Khan Bahadur Mian Nieasavar M, A Oe

Davenport, Major C, (0.B.E., R.A.V.C.) a,

xhii

Vizagapatam.

Hyderabad, Dn.

Madras.

Lakore,

Rajkot.

Kolhapur.

Baghdad.

Bombay.

Nagercoil.

Teppakulam.

Trivandrum.

Rangoon.

Colombo,

Palghat.

Nagpur.

Bombay.

Colombo.

Srinagar.

Valparai.

Jamaica.

Bombay.

Bhopal.

Chalakkudi.

Maymyo.

Edinburgh.

Jhansi.

Satara.

Fatehgarh.

London.

Ahmednagar,

Bombay.

Amraoti.

Travancore.

Rangoon.

England.

Nagpur.

Madras.

Sitapur.

Peshawar.

Bombay.

Lahore.

Bombay.

Dumka.

Rangoon,

Calcutta.

Darjeeling.

Luddan.

Bombay,

xliv

Daver, Framroze A.

Daver, The Hon’ble Mr.-J. D.

Davey, G. H.

David, Meyer I.

Davidson, E. R.

Davidson, M. N.

Davies, T. G. B. ee

Davies, Capt. V.

Davis, G.a(l-C.s.

Davis, P. W. ‘Ga8:s-)

Davis, Dr. W. St.

Dawkins, "CG, (ars.

Delacour, Mons. Jean

Delme-Radcliffe, Lt.-Col. A. aoe SO.)

Dent, T. V. (1.47.8. :

Deo, Sri Balavadra Narayau Barns

deRhe Philipe, G. W. V. (F.E:S.)

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft,

affungsamt

Dewas (Sr.) Prince Vikram Siar a0

Dickson, Lt Gol, H, Re Ps (C1)

Dinajpur, Maharaja Jagadish Nath Ray

Dinshaw, Kaikobad Cowasjee (J.P.)

Director of Museunis,

Dobson, F.

Dobson, Roderick

Deds, Wa K. (C.428,) <3.

Donald, C. H:

Donald, D.-R.

Donald; Lt; J40.S: =:

Donovan, Lt.-Col. C. (1.M.S.)

Doyle, Lt.-Coi. E. E. (1.M.s.)

Drake-Brockman, Lt. R. F. H. (R.A.)

Drake-Brockman

Dubash, J. K.

Duke, A, H.

Duke, J. A.

Dunbar-Brander, A ‘A, (O. BGP;

Duncan, Capt... ty. 43

Duncan, John E.. (P.w.D.)

Duncan, P. R. (-F-E:S.) ae a

Duncan, Major W. E. (D.S.0., N.Ci; R.A.) ...

Dundas, A. Dvir. Ce.)

Dunkley, FE. J.

Dunlop, Dr. W.

Dunn, ©. Vi.(C# Ee. LCS.)

Dunsdon, A. C.

Dyer Or. J.C.

Fates, K. R.

Ebden, J. W.

Edmonds, A. C. 2

Edwards, M. Vincent (1.F-.S.)

LIST OF MEMBERS

Bar.-at-Law)

S.S. & F. M. States

Bombay.

Kottayam.

Bombay.

Cairo.

Lampang.

England.

Bombay.

Mangalore.

Dwarbund.,

Rangoon.

France.

London.

Darjeeling.

Keonjhargarh.

London.

Berlin.

Kolhapur,

Persia.

Dinajpur.

Bombay.

Kuala Lumpur.

Panposh.

Passara.

Calcutta.

England.

Pyinmana.

Chitral.

England.

Poona.

Bangalore,

Bareilly.

Bombay.

Bangkok,

Nagpur.

Elgin, Scotland.

Loralai.

London.

Dehra Dun.

Naini Tal.

Delhi.

Rangoon.

Baghdad.

Rangoon,

Lucknow.

Meerut.

Sukkur.

Rangoon.

Bellary.

Rangoon,

LIST OF MEMBERS

Eliot-Lockhart, Lt. Wm.

Elliott, A. (C.1.E.)

Elliott, A. G. C.

Ellis, E. T. H.

Ellis, Ralph Jr.

Ellis, S. F,

Emerson, Gerald H. (I. C.S.)

Emerson, Capt. J.

Evans, E. J. - Sue

Evans, Coll Gall) (ec .1.8s, 8.1.)

Evans, T. M. (J.P.) ... ae oe

Evans, Brigadier W. H. (C.S.1., C.LE., D.S.0.)

Evershed, John

Ewbank, R. B. (C.1.8., F.L.S., LC.S.)

Ezra, Alwyn (f.R.G.S., F.Z.S.)

Pawcus, lL... {1sC.8:)

Fedtschenko, Prof. Boris

Ferard, R. Ll. .

Ferrar, Lt.-Col. M. L. cae oe

Fidlin, J. W.

Field, Capt. F. D.S. iG M.S.)

Field, Frank (M.B.O.U.)

Field, Gi°G. {4.P38.)) <.;

Fletcher, Thos. Bainbrigge (F.E.S $)

Florence, James

Flynn, A. iA. (C.0r.Z.S. )

Fooks, H. A.

Forrington, A.

Forsyth, Dr. Wm.

Foulkes, R. .

Fountaine, Miss Niateanet (F.E.S. ,)

pacer eit. 7h. 4a. 4a. D. )

Fraser, Duncan : a ae

Fraser, #t.-Col. F.C. (1.MiS., M.D., F.L.E.S.)

Fraser, Major 8. G. G.

Frederickson, H. 7a

Freke, C. G.(CUC.8.)

Prenchiman, 1). P(e ses)

Erend, G.-ViaRe

Gairdner, K. G. A

Galiant, M. N. (8.Sc., I.F.S.)

Game Secretary, The :

Gamlen, R. L. {0.B.£., Touas|

Garbett, C..C.3GC3s..)

Gaye, W.C.

Geddis, A..

Geer Wao.

Gentle, J. A. Ik, oe.

Geoghegan, Mrs. O. A.

George, Hugh S. (1.F.s.)

Gibson, H..C. asCs5.) 0:

Gilbert, C. Ea. (ur S)

xiv

London,

Jammu.

Calcutta.

California. _

England, RED,

Murree. yr te’

Bombay.

Calcutta.

London.

Deolali.

Quetta,

Ewhurst, England.

Bombay,

Calcutta.

Leningrad.

Bombay.

Eneland.

Udaipur.

London.

Saharanpur.

England.

Kievcote.

Karachi,

Calcutta.

Bombay.

Edinburgh,

Madura.

London.

Deolali.

London.

Coimbatore.

Bombay.

Beccles, England. .

Bombay.

Balehonur,

Lakon, Lampang.

London.

Gilgit.

Hyderabad, Dn.

Lahore.

Arlington.

Bombay.

Golaghat.

Chanda.

Simla.

Betul.

. Ajmer.

-Karachi,

xlvi LIST OF MEMBERS

Gilbert, 22. ae

Gill, E. EH. N.(k:z:s.):

Gill, HooASC:

Gillj rie. P:

Gimson, C. (1.C.S.)

Gladstone, Capt. H. S. (F.Z.S., F.R.S.E.)

Gladstone-Solomon, Capt. W. E. (I.&.S.) ...

Glass, E. L. é Ay

Glennie, Major E. A. fan: S055. Rebs.)

Godfrey, E. J.<(8.Se.) oy

Goldie, Dr. E. A. (M.C., I.M.S.)...

Gondal, Kumar Shree Nutversinhji

Goord, T. D.

Gordon, F. W. (M.c., M.A. (OXON) I.F.S.) ...

Gordon, Major J. W.

Gordon, R. G. (1.C:S.)

Gough, Capt. W.

GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS—

Deputy Director of Agriculture, Myingyan Circle ...

Director of Agriculture, Bombay

Director, Bureau of Science

Director of Agriculture, B. &. O.

Director of Agriculture, Punjab

Gould, B. J. (c.1.5., I.C.S.)

Gouldbury, C. P.

Gow, Cedric J.

Graham, A. A.

Grant, E. R.

Grant, F. A.

Gravely, Dr. F. H.

Graves, Mrs. D. J.

Greaves, J. B.

Green, E. Ernest (F.E.S.)

Green, M. M.

Gregson, T. S.

Grier, J.2A..B. oe

Guthrie-Smith, F. J....

Guzder, H. B. =a

Hakro, Khan Saheb Haji Ali pesean

Hamber, Major L. G. W. :

Hamid Khan, MM. s(W-Se., 2.83) as

Hamilton, Ky bo B:(i:C.s.)

Hance,. Lt.-Col. J. B. (0.B.E:; 1.M.S.)

Hancock, Major C. P.

Hanhart, S.

Hardie, J. H. ary.

Hare, Brigadier G. A. (R.A.)

Harman, A. C.

Harper, Lt.-Col. A. Forrest

Harper, William

Harrison, Mrs. H. Z.

Europe.

Budaun.

Kulu.

london.

Sylhet.

Capenoch, Scotland.

Bombay.

Ranchi.

England.

Bangkok.

Lahoal, Assam.

Jetalsar.

Baghdad.

Scotland.

Jodhphur.

England.

Dehra Dun.

Meiktila.

Poona.

Manila.

Sabour.

Lahore,

Kurram.

Mattupatti.

Madras.

Rawalpindi.

Washington, D. C.

London.

Madras.

Bombay.

Cam berley-Eneland.

Ardmore, US.A.

Bombay.

Sholapur.

Meerut.

Bombay.

Larkana.

Dharamsala Cantt.

Lyallpur.

England.

Rajkot.

Bharatpur.

Bombay.

Simla.

Bettiah.

London.

Lahore.

Bombay.

LIST OF MEMBERS

Hartnoll, B®: S. GsF.s:)

Harvey, ,Captsc. We le (M.C.) a:

Hasted, Capt. J. S. H. ae ree

Haswell, Capt. F. W. (1.4.) a

Hate, Prof. Vinayakrao N. (B.Sc.)

Haughton, Lt.-Col. H. L. (€.1.E.)

Hawes, C. G. =

Hay, Major R. (I.M.S.)

Hayes, A. tea

Heaney, Capt..G. F.(R.zE.) es

Mearsey, Capt. 15, D. W. (M.Cy V.D:)

Hector, G. P. (M.E., D.Sc.)

Henderson, L. 8S. see

Hennessy, Major J. M. R. (1.M.S. y

Hewetson, C. E. (1.F.S.)

Hicke, Major F. C.

Bickin; 3.5: i

See ec Dr. Sam

Hhiecins, Jo Cy (1.C 52)

Hiley, A. C. eee a

ills, Gow Ik. te

Pee ie, 4 CeS,.)

Hillyer, R. A. N. Rs

Hingston, Major R.W.G. (1.M.S8.)

Hislop, Major J. H. ea I.M.S.)

Holmes, H. R. ; ae

Hopkinson, A. J. (I. Cs Si)

Hora, Dr. Sunder Lal (D.Ssc.)

Horner, Capt. B. Stuart

Horst, W. (1.S.E.)

Horticulturist, Municipal eardene: The

Hoshang, N. E. Dinshaw rie

Hotz, KE.

Howard-Bradshaw, Comar. C, T. (R.N.)

Howe, P. A. W.

Howell, Sir Evelyn (x. Chee .,7... Cc. S. )

Howitt, Capt. J. F.G

Hughes, A. R.

Hughes-Hailet, Capt. N, M.

Humayun N. Abdulali

Hundley, G.

Hunt, L. E.

Hutton, C. I.

Imperial Council of Aericaanal Research

Inder, RoW. (1.8:S.): a

Inglis, C.C. y at f

Irvine, N. G. ee nes wee

Irwin, Major H. R: (1.4.S.c:)

Isaacs, Miss Mozelle (M.A., M.Sc.)

Iswardas Lukhmidas...

Jackets, C. H. aes

Jackson, Dr.-2. S.

England.

Imphal.

Dehra Dun.

Bombay.

Karachi.

Nowgong.

England.

Maymyo,

Kheri.

Dacca.

Tinnevelly.

Jubbulpore.

Chanda.

Poona.

sukkur.

Allahabad.

Imphal.

Poona.

Fyzabad.

Calcutta.

Siam.

London,

England,

Calcutta.

London.

Bhimnagar,

Karachi.

Agra.

Lifton.

Pyinmana.

London.

Ferozepore.

Colombo.

Ahmednagar.

Andheri.

London.

Calcutta,

Insein.

New Delhi.

Nasik.

Poona.

Bombay.

Dombivli.

Bombay.

Cocanada.

Bombay.

xlvii

xl viii LIST OF MEMBERS

James, Lt.-Col. F. H. :

Jamesetji, M. Doctor (¥.Z:S., C.M.Z.S.)

Jarinan, Capt, Gio

Jephson, Major M. D.

Jenkin. R. Trevor (1.F.S }

Jermyn, Lt. R. O.

Jhalawar, Hi. Hy The mamaccn ane Rance Sinen

Bahadur

John, A. W.

Johnson, Kay

Jones, A. E.

Jones. J. Csr)

Jourdain, Rev. F. C. R.

Jubbal, Rajkumar Dieviaicvand, Heir oparees OF } is:

Junagadh, His Highness the Nawab of

Kanga, Miss P. M. (M.Se.)

Karachi, Victoria Museum, The Curator

Katrak, M.N.

Kazi, he D(a) : as

Keays, Lt.-Col. R. W. C.e({1.A.)...

Keip, Oscar +e =

Kemp, W.N.R. we

Kempe, J. E. aS

Kermode, C. W. D. Gz. F.S.)

Khan, Sahebzada Sardar Mahomed

Khanolkar, Dr. Vasant R. (B.Sc., M.D.)

Khateghat, M. P. (1.C.S.)

Kiernander, Major O. G.

Kilburne, R. G. =

King, E. O. (tA. .0.)

Kinloch, Mrs. A. M.

Kirby, RoR. i

Kirwan, Noel G. &.- ...

Knioht, Hob o(ies.)

Koechlin, E. L. vas

Kothavala, Le.

Krishnalal, Rai Bahadur Capt. or R;C., Ms Es-B. &'S.,

A-E.R.A.SS)

Kuroda, Dr. Nagamichi

ijaidlay, J.-C

Lakshminarayanan, C.

Lalliee, Hooseinbhoy A.

Lamb, Thos.

Lampard, L. A.

Landells, W. J.

Langdale, A. H.

Lane, H. Ss.

Latham, H. D:

Latif, Sarhan C. ;

La POuCche Joh. as.

aud, .D.-5; :

Laurie, M. V. (12F.s.)

+ dik

Nagpur,

Secunderabad, Dn.

Jhalrapatan.

Ellapatti.

Moran,

Simla.

Rangoon.

England.

Jubbal.

Junagadh.

Bombay.

Karachi.

Bandra.

Bombay.

Madras.

Bombay.

Peeprah.

Klang.

London.

Karachi.

Bombay.

Iraq.

Nepal.

Kodaikanal.

Kotagiri.

Tindharia.

Mangalore,

Sholapur.

Pykara.

Surat.

Indore.

Tokyo.

Scotland.

Madras.

Bombay.

Calcutta,

Ouilon.

Monywa.

Bombay.

Bangalore.

Vellore.

Karachi.

.. Rangoon.

Bombay.

England.

LIST OF MEMBERS

Lawther, B. C. A. (C.1.E.)

beach, A: Hel:

Lee, Capt..G, Hy (M.c.)

Leech, Mrs. A. J. .

Bees MnCl Cle) ess

LeMarchand, A. E. M.

LeMarchand, W. M.

Leonard, D. G. ae wate

Leonard, Lt.-Col. W. H. (1.M.s.)

Leonard, P;: M. R. (0.B.5.)

Levett, R. W.

Ley, Hon’ble Mr. A. H, (Sai CE 1G soi)

LIBRARIES—

Agricultural Library, The Librarian, U. P.

Allahabad Public Library, The Secretary

Annamalai University Library

Benares, Hindu University Library, The orarane.

Burma, Bernard Free Library, The Honorary

Librarian

Hyderabad, The Tepearian Siar Library

Imperial Library, The Librarian

Lahore, University of Punjab, The tipracian

Lucknow University Library

Madras, Connemara Public Library, The Principal

Librarian , Rite ae

Neilson Hays Biprary

Niigiri Library, The Honorary Scorers.

Public Library, Museums and National Gallery or

Victoria, The Chief Librarian

Public Library, Museum and Att Galeay Irie lence

United Service Library, The Honorary Secretary

Lightfoot, Capt. G. S. (1.P.)

Lightfoot, S. St. C.

Limbdi, H. H. Maharana Shri Sir Daulatsinhjee

(K5CG.DE4)

Limbdi, The ay een ny

Lindley-Hinde, G.

Lister, R..S.

Little, E.

Locket, A.

Lodce, GE.

Logan-Home, Major W. M.

Longbottom, Capt. J. L.

Lothian, W.A< C.(L.C.8:)

Lowndes, R. C.

Lowsley, C. O. aes

Lowther, E. H. N. (#.Z.S., M.B.O.U.)

Lucknow, Provincial Museum, The Curator

Lunham, Lt.-Col. J. L. (eMtsa)ins

Lushington, Mrs. C. G..

Lutyens, F. M. B.

Peshawar.

Rangoon.

Balaghat.

Kodaikanal.

Rangoon.

Europe.

Dibrugarh.

Cawnpore.

Bombay.

Rangoon.

Ootacamund.,

London.

Nawabgunj.

Allahabad.

Annamalai.

Benares.

Rangoon.

Hyderabad, Dn.

Calcutta.

Lahore.

Lucknow.

Madras.

Bangkok.

Ootacamund.

Melbourne.

S. Australia.

Poona.

Jorhat.

Taunggyi.

Limbdi.

Calcutta.

Ghoom, Bengal.

Kirkee, Poona.

Numaligarh.

England.

Cannanore.

England.

Baroda.

Bombay.

England.

Dhanbad.

Lucknow.

Bombay.

‘Talawakelle, Ceylon.

Calcutta.

| LIST OF MEMBERS

MacColl, H. H. (1.E.S.)

MacDonald, A. St. J....

MacDonald, R.

Macdonell, J. F. *

MacGregor, Lt.-Col. R. Be: ae M.S.)

MacGusty, H. M.

Mackay, J.a. (1;53S.)

Mackenzie, J. M.

Mackenzie, T. J.

Mackenzie, Wm.

Mackereth, J. (1.F.S.) ee

Mackie, A. W. W. (c.1.£., I.C.S.)

Mackie, Bt.-Col. F. P. (I.M.S., 0.B.E., K.H.S.)

Mackinlay, Lt.-Col. Chas.

Mackwood, F. E.

MacLachlan, D.

MacLachlan, R. B.. ..

Macleod, A. (1.C.S:)

Macleod, Lt. A. J. W. ae

MacMichael, N. (c.s.1., I.C.S.)

Macnaghten, Sir Henry (Az7.)

Macnaught, W. E. :

Maconachie, Sir Richard (A‘?.,

Madan, F. R. (1.F.S.)

Madras, H. EF. the Governor

Mahendra, B. C. (M.Sc.)

Mahon, Col. A. E.

Mahon, Major B. Mac. M. (D:8.0., M.C.)

Main; 2b (BsSc:) er

Major, R. A. M. ae gee

Mateolm:, C. 7A. (C.1.E., ES.) «2

Maltby, Major C. M. (1.4., M.C.)

Manson,-Dr. Di. (htees, Chas D5.)

Maricar, B. E.

Marjoribanks, Sir Norman (K.C.1.E., C.S.I.

Marshall, A. W.

C.L2.)

Marshall, Maj.-Genl. F. J. (c.B., C.M.G., Soren

Marshall, Mrs. H. A.... oe,

Marshall, Brig.-Genl. T. E. (R.A.)

Martin, ©, —. aoe ae

Martin, Lt.-Col. H. G. (D.S.0., 0.B.£.)

Martin, S. J. — ee

Marzban, K. B.

Mason, Miss E. D.

Matthews, W.H.

Maude, E. W. ane en

Maxwell, R. M. (1.C.S., €.1.£.) ..

McCarthy, Capt. G. W. ose

McCormach, K.-H.

McGlashan, J. (C.1.8,)

McLeod, Lt.-Col. D. K.

McMahon Museum, The Honorary Ceeretary

“Tesot.

London.

Darbhanga.

Chubwa.

Bombay.

Rangoon.

Calcutta.

Indore.

Udamialpet.

London.

Poona.

England.

Edinburgh.

Colombo.

Poona.

Karachi.

Bournemouth.

Waziristan.

London.

Perak.

Kabul,

Bellary.

Madras.

Agra.

Kulu.

Parachinar.

Poona.

Saharanpur.

Nagpur.

Simla.

Cinnamara.

Tavoy.

Madras.

Scotland.

England.

Travancore.

N. Wales.

Bombay.

Quetta.

London.

Bombay.

Madras.

Rungli-Rungliot.

Lebong.

Bombay.

Deolali.

Bombay.

England.

an,

Quetta.

LIST OF MEMBERS

Mears, C. E. D. “ive

Measham, Dr. J. E. (M.D.)

Mehta, H. M.

Mehta, J. N. R.

Mehta, K. M.

Meinertzhagen, Lt. 1Cor 1G

Menezes, J. Hector

Merriman, Commdr. R. D. (R.I.M.)

Milburne, W. Ea

Miller, A. C. (0.B.E., M.A.)

Miller, John i. (#.R.G.S., F.Z.S.)...

Miller, Lt. R. O.

Wiliss Je P(r. C.S..)

Milner, C. E. :

Mirchandani, U. M. (1. Cc. S.)

Mistri,, Dr. J.D: i

Mitchell, Lt. E. D. Treneer

Mitchell, F. J.

Mohamed Raza Ses

Mohr, Dr. V. der Meer

Moloney, W. J. :

Monte, Dr. D. A. de (L.M. @ 3.)

Monteath, J. (I.C.S.)

Montmorency, H. E. Sir Geotitey (K,CyV20r, KC lak.

GiB, LC25 3)

Mooney, H. F. (1.F.S.)

Moore, Capt. A. C. (I.A.)

Moore, G. D.

Moore, John

Morden, W. J.

Morgan, Major J. 8. H.

Morgan, R. W. D.

Morgan, Vernon

Morison, Lt.-Col. John (1.M. Gye

Morris, Chas. W, G....

Morris, Ry C.(8.Z.S., F.R-G.S.) .5.

Morton, Geo. B,

Mott, John L.

Mudhol, Shrimant Sir Malojirao Raje Ghorpade

CkC1-E;,) ae

Mueller, Dr. H. C. (D.Sc.)

Mulroney, J. T.

Mundy, N.S.

Munns, F. A. C.

Murphy, P. J.

Maursell, 1.0.

Musgrave-Hanna, Cane. RP se

Mysore, The Director of Agriculture

Mysore, Government Museum, he Superintendent

Nagpur, Central Museum, The Curator

Nawab Nazir Yar Jung Bahadur

Neal, Dr. W. L. (1.M.S.)

Indore

Vaiparai.

Bombay.

Karachi.

Ahmedabad.

London.

Goa.

Bombay.

Barjuli.

Rajkot.

Calcutta.

Rawalpindi.

Caleutta.

London.

Thana.

Bombay.

London.

England.

Mergui.

Medan, Sumatra.

Boinbay.

Bandra.

Ahmedabad,

Punjab.

Dublin.

Rangoon.

Bombay.

London,

i Sak,

Sidapur.

Calcutta.

Agra.

London.

Attikan,

Calcutta.

New York City.

Mudhol.

Bombay.

Kurseong,

Silchar,

Turkaulia.

Ramna, Dacca.

Sidapur.

Jhelum.

Bangalore.

Nagpur.

Hyderabad, Dn.

Manipur.

lii LIST OF MEMBERS

Neaves, J. S.

Needham, F.-M. ie

Nevill -@apt, SNe Ci:

Newcome, Lionel :

Newland, Lt.-Col. B. E. M. (inne)

Nichole‘ts, W. A. B.

Nicholson, Lt.-Col. F. i (D.S.0., ne

Nicholson, Lt.-Col. M. A. (1.M.S.)

Nilgiri Game Association

Norman, Col. H. H. (R.A.M.c.)

N. W. F. Province, His F xcellency

O’ Donel, H. V. :

O’ Donovan, Capt. M. 1, W

Oldfield, A. V.

Oliver, A. W. L.

Ormiston, W.

O’Rorke, Major J. M. W.

Ortcheson J. G.6.S.)) =:

Osborne-Jones, M. T....

Osmaston, A. E. (1.F.S.) sat

Osinastons Ba be (Grrsh nie hiss), ee.

Osmaston, F. C. (1.F.S.)

Oxley, Col. J. C. S. (1.M.S.)

Palanpur, H.H. Sir Nawab Saheb quate Mahomed

Khan Bahadur (K:C.LE., K.C.v.0; }

Palmes, W. T. (1.C.5.)

Panday, Mas. J; Ie,

Parker, Hl(1-G-S.)

Parry, IN. (Cs) a2

Paterson, E. A.

Paterson, J. J.

Patten, Hugo J.

Patterson, A. se

Pawsey, C. R7G.Ccs. ’

Pazze, Peter P.

Peart, Capt. J. FP.

Peck, Mrs. L. J.

Peebles, W. J. M.

Peet, Major L..M.

Péeppe, -F . i. Ses

Percival, Ay Ps (acks:)

Perfect, E.

Pershouse, Maios onnicy

Petit... C.D:

Petit; FCs...

Petley, C. A.

Peyton, Lt.-Col. J. H. B. (Tee Ag)

Phillips, A. 2. {1S:Ro)

Phillips, Charles H.

Phillips, W. W. A.

Phythian-Adams, Major E. G. Ge. A aE eZ.S:)

Jubbulpore.

Murkoneg-Sellek.

London.

Somwarpet.

Bareilly.

Rangajan.

Bombay.

Ootacamund.

London.

Peshawar.

Binnaguri.

Deolali.

Bombay.

Shanghai.

Haldummulle,

Ceylon.

London.

Rawalpindi.

Tanjore.

Dehra Dun.

Oxford.

Sambalpur.

Jubbulpore.

Palanpur.

Minbu.

Bombay.

Rangoon.

London.

Calcutta.

Hongkong.

Edinburgh.

London.

Dibrugarh.

Bombay.

Calcutta,

Simla.

London.

Poona.

Herbertpur.

England.

Hubli.

London.

Bombay.

Toungoo.

Rawalpindi.

Karachi.

Ssuffry.

Gammaduwa.

Mysore,

LIST OF MEMBERS

Pinhey, Capt. L. A. G.

Pipe, T. S.

Pirpur, Raja Syed Watorwiad Mehdi

Pitman, Major C. R.S.

Pizey, R. M. Mt

Pogson, Major F, V. ...

Popper, x. Ey.

Porteous, A. -B.

Poulton, Capt.:H. M.

Preeston, R. A.

Prendargast, H. V.

Pickle, Capt. .

Pudukottai, State Museum, The recs

Pullan, A. U. ils

Purkis,) He -G7 (8.5 .S,)

Quicke, W.J. BB...

Rago, Hi, A.

Raitt, W. Chas.

Rajkot, H. H. Thakore Saheb Bice Dhar Seadansnni

Walston Iot.-ColseW . El. (D.S-0:., 1.As:)

Ramadhyani, R. K., (1.C:8.)

Rane, K.R. (Met. and S:P.)

Ranicar, E..E. “s

Rao, S. Raghunatha (1. B.S)

Readymoney, N. J.

Rees, Roderick

REGIMENTAL OFFICERS’ MESSES—

Rk. As Mess

The Royal

Royal Deccan Horse

Royal Irish Fusiliers

Small Arms School :

Ist Bn. The Worcestershire Resiment

6th D. C. O. Lancers

2nd Lancers (G.H.) see sea

4th Bn. 6th Rajputana Rifles (Outrams)

3/15th Punjab Regiment -

3/17th Dogra Regiment (Semi- Life Ween

jst North Staffordshire Regiment

1/10th Gurkha Rifles (Semi-Z7fe Member)

60th Rifles

1/7th Raiput Res ment

Reuben, D.-B. (L-C.8.) ar

Reynolds, Dr. F. [(M.B., ch.B. (Edin. ) ]

Reynolds; K, P.

Riches, F. C. ed

Richmond, R. D. (1.F.s. =

Ridland, J..G. He re

Raishworth, Dr. ie. Re (1..S.))...

Ritchie, Lt.-Col. W. D. (1.M S.) En

Roberts; Major ..Cy(v-C.,.D.Ss0.5; M.Gs)) ..,

liii

East Persia.

Poona.

Pirpur.

England.

Gohpur.

Bombay.

Bhilad,

Kalat.

Calcutta.

Cawnpore.

Ambala.

Pudukottai.

Baradighi.

Kiminini.

Bombay.

Munnar.

Kutta.

Rajkot.

London.

Amraoti.

Andheri.

Valparai.

Cuddapah.

Bombay.

Mazbat.

Trimulghery.

Poona.

Deolali.

Ahmednagar.

England.

Sialkot.

Meertt.

Mhow.

Saugor.

Shaghae.

Madras.

Quetta.

Lucknow.

Peshawar.

Cuttack,

Loimwe.

Kuala Lumpur.

Rydak.

Madras.

Bombay.

Jhansi.

Tezpur.

Baghdad.

liv LIST OF MEMBERS

Robertson, Lawrence (c.S.1., I.C.S.)

Robinson, A. C.

Robinson, G. C. ay

Robinson, Capt. J. A.

Robinson, Mrs. R. B.

Rodger, Sir Alexander (1.F.S.,

Rogers, C. G. (1LF.S.)

Rondano, Rev. A. (S.J.) i

Roper, Lt. J. R. Stockley (R.A.)

Rosenthal, V. ni

Ross, Lt.-Col. E.-J.

Row, Dr. R. (M.D.)

Rowland, J. W. (1.P.)

Rowley, Major Guy 8.

Rowson, W. S.

Roy, M. H. Trevor

Rubie, C. PB.

Runciman, Rev. J. Ww.

Rusby, Capt. UL. #..... eee

Russell sUte-Col.G. H(i. b., D5,0.,)

Rustomjee, Miss Sherene B.

Ruttledge, Capt. R. F. (M.c.)

Sanders, D. F. eee

Sanderson, P. M. D. (F.z.S.)

O.B.E.)

Sant, Maharana Shri Jarwar Singji, Raia Sanep Olea.

Sarawak Museum, The Curator

Sarma, M. R. Venkatarama

Satya Churn Law, Dr. (M.aA.,

M.B.O.U.) ;

Saunders, H. F.

Saunders, L. (I.P.)

Savantwadi, H. H. The CAraeeat

Sawyer, H. H. ney,

Schomberg, Lt.-Col. RCA: (DeS.0-9)

Scott, A. G. (I.P.) a

Scott, C. W. (i-#:S.)- «..

Scott, Lt.-Col. F. B. (1.4.)

Scott, James E.

Scott, J. Ramsay

asad Aucalee C.F;

Seaton, E. A, (I.F-.S.) ;

ene for Agriculture, S. 5S. saad F.M. S.

Seervai, Dr. Rustom F.

Sevastopulo, D. G. (F.E.S.) :

Seymour: Sewell, Lt.-Col. R. B. (1.M.S.)

Shah, Major B. (I.M.S.)

Sharif, M. (M.Sc., F.R.M.S.) noe

Sharples, C. N. (I.C.S.) ee Sas

Shaw, G. E. a ine =

Shaw, John (B.F.S.) ...

Shebbeare, E. O.

Sherred, P. R,

Bis. PhDs, oF :Z.S.;

England.

Bedford.

Engiand.

Bannu.

Negapatam.

London.

Mangalore.

Bombay.

Dehra Dun.

Bombay.

Belgaum.

London.

Vandi-Periyar.

London.

Karachi.

Udaipur.

Dhulia.

Peshawar.

Bombay.

Peshawar.

Cawnpore.

Bombay.

Sant-Rampur.

Kuching.

Aduturai.

Calcutta.

Madras.

Vellore.

Savantwadi.

Bombay.

Herefordshire.

London.

Rangoon.

Simla.

Muzaffarpur.

Cawnpore.

Kohat.

Mogok.

Kuala Lumpur.

Bombay.

Calcutta.

London.

Quetta.

Dadu-Sind.

London.

Hsipaw.

Darjeeling.

Ramegarh,

LIST OF MEMBERS

Sherriff, Capt. George (R.A.)

Shipp, G. W.I.

Shirley, G. 5S. ate

Shortt, Major H. E. (1.M.s.)

Shoveller, H. L. (a.c.A.)

Simmonds, A.

Simmons, R. M. ae

Simonds, Major M. H.

Sinarh, Dre Ve Re Pa; =A see eae

Skinner, Lt.-Col. J. M. (1.M.S.) bes

Die Pime, Cao bscky tne, en — 6

Sladen, D. A.

Sladen, J. M. (1.C.S.)

Slater, A. F. (A.M.I.M.E., M.B.E.)

Slingsby, Lt.-Col. T. (m.c.)

Smith, Capt. D. R.

Smith, Dr. Malcolm ...

Smith, We J. fs.

Simyth, Cir:

SOCIETIES—

Royal Society of :

New York Zoological Socica

Sokhey, Major S. S. (1.M.s.)

Souter, C. A.: (1.C.S., .¢.S.1.)

Sparrow, Col. R.

Spong, Major William A. (R.A.M.C.)

Srinivasarao, Dr. H. (M.A., D.Sc.)

Stable, Capt. R. H. (D.s.o.)

Stables, Major Alex. (R.A.M.C.) ie

Stanford, J: Kk.) (M.C.;. M-A., M.B.0.U., J. C. S.)

Stapylton, J. M. (I.C.S.)

Steele-Perkins, Lt. cee C. 3.

Slentyeks- Iecel. (iC

Stevens, Herbert ae Z.S., M.B.O.U. )

Stevenson, Capt. H. A. ae

Stewart, D. ae

Stewart, Prof. R. R. (ph.p.)

Stileman, D. F. (1.8.S.)

ublino, J. Hl. ; pas rr

Stininos Col Win. (CM-G., 05S-;0%. RA.) v3

St. Mary’s High School ou fe

stockléy, Lt.-Col. C. H.-().5.0., 0.B.E:, M.C,)

SHOkes; Elon ble Mr.cH Aa, (C.Sits, €.1.8., 1-C.S.)

Stoney, R. F. ee

Storrs-Fox, Rev. E. me

Strauss, M.

srudd, 9B: C:

Sturm, Lt. M. G. ac ee (R.A.M.C.)

Sudan Government Museum, The Curator ...

Sultanbhoy Hajeebhoy

euter: Dr, MF (D.Sc.)

Srinagar.

Glasgow.

Rangoon.

Bombay.

Dimakusi.

Abu Road.

England.

Goa.

Bombay.

London.

Tinnevelly.

Karachi.

London.

Ferozepore.

London.

Palaw.

Alipore.

Edinburgh.

New York, U.S.A.

Bombay.

Madras.

England.

Cawnpore.

Calcutta.

Turkey.

Scotland.

Rangoon.

Port Blair.

Calcutta.

Nagpur.

England.

London.

Haldwani.

Rawalpindi.

England.

Jodhpur.

London.

Bombay.

Madras.

Ootacamund.

Meerut.

Alleppey.

Calcutta.

Peshawar.

Khartoum.

Bombay.

lvi LIST OF MEMBERS

Swat State, Shahzada Jahanzeb . Wali-ahd.

Sykes, H. E. The Right Hon’ ble Si Préderick eae (c

GAG Taka, ELCs) tee ied oe --- Bombay.

Symes, A. w. J. is oe bas ise Lendon:

Symons, C. sor Ane .... Colombo.

Tait, Major H. Ci; fan M.S.) A sa ... Bombay.

Taleyarkhan, K. M. (Bar.-at- Lae a os a

‘Pasker, gh. Js (O;8.Ey 1 -CeSe) t=, ae .., Myderabad, Dn;

Pate, WMaior Je (Ceres) ae Aer ont, «IN aSOt:

Vaylor, Lt:-Colz Je D:S.0c, elevinse) eet ee was ath:

Taylor, Dr. W. R..(M.R:C.S., ¥.R.C.S,, D.PsH.) ... InSein.

Thatcher, aC, sie ee: aN ee ersvaubrsyoyeucy

Theobald, Utzds Ay As Pap ae 21.2 Ondon:

Thom, W.S. aes oe ace ee SALAM:

Thompson, C. H. (1.F.S.) cs ee ... Maymyo.

Thomson, E. 8. er vas Py a banda.

(horne,. J; An Cao, Cas.) ee ie ... Madras.

Thursfield, R. M. C. : ae ... Mawlaik.

‘Ticehurst, Dr.-C,’B, (xe, A. M.B.O.U., R.A, MC.) .. England.

Hilden, ib. (e.cs,) ey: ee .... London.

Tlley,.J.s. — = ei .. Bombay.

Todd,A. a: 2 oe ee ad Calcutta,

Tomibazi, N.cA. (BR.G.S., A.C)... oe 4.2) Karaehi.

Transvaal Museum, The Director oe tal Etetoria:

Travers, Sin: Walter, A7.(CiB:B:; Ciba) meee .. Jalpaiguri.

Traylen, G. D. eae = ae ..... Bombay.

Treuthardt, M. ; oe rr we) Calcutta:

Trevenen, Major W. B. ; . Jibbulpore:

Trivandrum, The Govt. Mus. a Public en The

Superintendent sue aoe ee oe brivandGuin.

Trotter, Genl. E. W.... om abs «. Banekok:

Pucks Wt Ped bls GReAS) noe eet ... Meerut.

Turkhud, Dr. D. A. (M.B;, C.M., ete.) ai .. Kodaikanal.

Turner, Mrs. M. Carrington ... aon ... Dehra-Dun.

Turner, Sir Montague ee — 72 london:

Tutein-Nolthenins, A. C. ay on ... Ohiya, Ceylon.

a yerell, Lt-Col: J.0R.(CaA.e., 1.063) oe 3) bombay,

Tyson, John D:41;C.5.) Las eT se) Caleutta,

Ubsdell, A. R. es ”

University of Amoy, The Head ‘of the Depariaicnt Ge

Zoology ate 20. Amey, China.

University of Bonny "The Resiceat Aa ». Bombay.

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COMMENTS OF VOLUME XXX Nox 3

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE, By E. C. Stuart Baker,

Cisne eS Pes.) MB On.) (Her. A, OU an Part: OV 1. (W/2tni a

DUD BE NAIC oe) ie seb Rede ct ec RCO OREO Ee ee rE

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY. By Rev. E.

Blatter, s.J. Part XVII. (W2th3 plates and a text-figure.)........<c0

A FEw NOTES ON PERSIAN, AFRICAN AND INDIAN LIONS IN THE FIRST

CENTURY AFTER CHRIST. By Dr. Sir Jivanji Jamshedji Modi, Kt....

THE VERNAY SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF, THE EASTERN GHATS (ORNITHO-

LOGICAL SECTION). By H. Whistler, F.z.s., M.B.O.U. Assisted by

NEB. Kinnear, m.B.0.U, (W272 2maps, and a 1EXt-L12UTE) «2 .00.cc0ce-ss

SOME BEAUTIFUL INDIAN TrEES. By E. Blatter, s.J., and W. S. Millard,

F.z.S. Part VIII. (With 2 coloured plates, 2 black and white plates

QUOD OLCLEN TOUTES ia eu clecs te tus voehin siteinalcloinh aint Manicisiteamnuecuase oe: sat eaelta tema aeas

THE RHESUS MACAQUES (Macaca mulatta). By R. I. Pocock, F.R.sS.

GCP LACE ANOPS TEAL ANT LUTES) ra ree cconsatenc soleee inc eue seks Satecceiesaes bons

MED SNAKES ION IRAOw we bYy Nel. Corkill,, McBys CH. Bi, \BsZ.S +. 0,c0lcscesncss

FLOWER-BIRDS AND BIRD-FLOWERS IN INDIA. By Salim A. Ali. (With

FEUDUESLOMLONT LEMUR DS UTES seals Gees MOR nbs cas tie siacsaiioe Sates fadewedaubes oe weeees:

MEASUREMENTS AND NOTES ON SOME LITTLE-KNOWN CEYLON Mam-

MALS. By A.C. Tutein-Nolthenius, F.z.s. (With 1 text-figure).....

SoME NoTES ON THE Monitors. By Malcolm A. Smith, (With a

PLCC OMAR Oeics eT titre Se Oita-e Ta ttoadibn seisilen ss cabweiel vasleds By vert win non teee

THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE SIMLA HILLS. By G. W. V de Rhe-Philipe,

Aes Sey Weare cme Aei Seteedohae cans Hin PS Ge cr ecteni eA cs Bical on aunt cutie ok

THE STUDY OF INDIAN BirDs. By H. Whistler, F.z.S., M.B.0.U. Part

TOC CH Om LEZANDG LCLE-TFEUTEC) cocvc wast saudieeviaenseinasraevedseteniseres

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES. By Lt.-Col. F. C. Fraser, I.M.S., .E.S., Part

KOONCE CCL GO PLAT AGG LELE-1 VENUE) 1 Be samen aejec desea soe teas te

Observations on the Trifid tails in two specimens of Hemzdactylus flavivt-

yidis, Ruppel, with a note on the artificial regeneration of double

and triple tails of the ‘ Tokhak ’ Lizard, Gecko Verticillatus, Lau-

renti. By G.M. Das, M.Se. (Witha plate and 1 text- figure) setae

ORMMWONNe NGS PIOAN PROCTE Re icalic, as cCdiarescncianssiiedsLavtesilieecesters

REVIEWS :—

1. SHorT HISTORY OF THE CEVLON GAME AND FAUNA PRESERVA-

TION Society. By A. C. Tutein-Nolthenius, F.z.s., 1894-1931

SS WA EGRS Bile Tae Si © RMI ATEN OUR Foo s vo sa sisiow vag sacis aidtets ciescesicdescng ae eet en

NOSLVER GUCHILALE— © HEE) BOMBAY: OVSTER ic. ooccecghecesce Side enewcdaces

. AN INTRODUCTION TO PLANT PHYSIOLOGY ........:ccc00 soccccsacs nae a

mn & Ww Pr

MANGE © OK OR MNUA N= BADR Gi aioe its aaias Goativasdiunsicy Weetosarotbe Ne vasenvae oes ee

ee NOTES :—

No. Il. The occurrence of the Flying Fox (Ptleropus giganteus) in

Bem Osea ye Cop D> TOAC OM ripe. conus nics siucee oid cleee'vosardeiveespan ss «

by Number of Cubs in a Piger’s Litter. By A. OH. Berriff........,

PAGE

475

484

496

505

657

663

665

667

568

668

CONTENTS OF Vol. XXXV, No.3

III. Occurrence of the Panther in the Sind Desert. By Hamid A.

Alig G.Siee ala’ geldty Ge Suigyee tls hive veteseaie en mrs seas eee cee eiaee Acree taba see

IV. Do Lions still exist in Persia? By Ronald Sinclair, F.R.G.s.

V. A useful type of Machan. By. W. Forsyth. (With a dia-

STON) weese oem enaetaas oe e-skile ines Sasimaletle eae poate casas ae ealenes a weneenecsasiis

VI. Do Wild Dogs hunt and kill by night. By Ramanuj of Sur-

PU] Ais ecscacstcsan aaletcescnt saa sionaseuae your scene ge sina. geen Reet heer eee

VII. The Malay Bear. By J.C. Higgins. (Witha photo}............

VIII. Black Four-horned Antelope (Zetraceros quadricornis). By

Ramanty of Sur caja. h..t.c.2.conecsynat eee eee cee ean ee

IX. Rogue Elephants in the Khasi Hills. By L. L. Reade.......... ‘

X. The Migration of the Paradise Flycatcher (Zchitrea Paradis).

By: FS (BVI GOS. Oh ois wees Cuces cue didneeneanine samen terns onscreen aon

XI. Sex differences in the Migration of the Common Teal (Vettion

Creca).. "BY NED IN Wivatien. as cone conten. caste ees seme eee

XII. Notes on the Nesting habits of the Red-vented Bulbul (Jolpas-

tes cater)®. “By'C. McCann envi Sasser creases a eee

XIII. Double Nests of the Weaver Bird (Ploceus philipinus). By

S..H. Prater, CoM:Z.S. “(Wath -a Gia @raut) ae

XIV. Place of the Java Sparrow (Munia oryzivora I.) in the

Indian Avifauna.. By SA@oWlaw. ee eo ce een eee

XV. Note on the breeding of the Indian Moor-hen (Gadlinula chloro-

pus parviirons). By J.C. Hicoimseii@ iS a7. ss. ace eeccc en eee

XVI. Description of the immature plumage of the Indian Pratincole

or Swallow Plover. (Glareola m. maldivarum) By V.S.

LWA PELSONNE ise vera onc ttc ans'oe cecate since cone teen ot ee

XVII. Early arrival of Fan-tail Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) in Mani-

pur, By dsC. sHigeins MSCS... 3. ose cee ee eee eee

XVIII. The distribution of the Eastern Grey Duck (Anas peiloryncha

conoryncha) BYC. Ne In Gisw nego eee ne ae eee

XIX. The Stiff-tailed Duck (Hrismatura leucocephala). By M. G.

deL Isle Stuttia.2 Baceeesscenscnes sc neki eesee oes eae ee ee ae

KX. Flying) Frogs.“ By. J..G. Pe Drummond.) eee piney crs

XXI. Case of recovery from the bite of a Phoorsa (Zchis carinata).

Bey Ws CPs SR ener ana 55d. de ae taeecrs seroma cito coer covered

XXIT; Treatment of Saake Bite, “By, Colk Mal Crimmincs.. 9 eee

XXIII. Snakes on the Barsi Light Railway (Deccan). By K. Lindberg

XXIV. Description of a new Lycenid Butterfly. (Lycena (Heodes

tyme). By Lt.-Col. F. M. Bailey, ie ee Soho ae

XXV. Distinctive characters of the Butterflies (Appzas libythea liby-

thea F. 3.) and (Appias albina darada Beia)s casy, yee

Vates.) (With, a diasvain) cn. ee ee

XXVI. Dry and Wet season forms ‘of the Butterfly (Prionerts sift

(Witha plate.) By J. A. Yates y ( ia).

XXVIII, How abundant are land Leeches? By Percy Moore

Coat eee ere eres seemeosenseerensceaseerDD

seeees Srveeteoe

PAGE

671

672

673

674

675

680

681

683

685

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JOURNAL

OF THE

Bombay Natural History Society

FEBRUARY, 1932. VoL. XXXV No. 3

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE.

E:C. STUART BAKER, C.1.E., F.Z.S., F-L.S., M.B.0.U., H.F.A.O.U.

Vor. Ve

THE WADERS AND OTHER SEMI-SPORTING BIRDS.

RARTEOV As

(With a coloured plate).

GENUS : HIMANTOPUS.

fHimantopus Brisson, Ornith., i, p. 46; v, p. 33 (1760).

Type by taut., Charadrius himantopus Linn.

In this genus the most remarkable character is the great length of

the legs, the tibia being very long, as well as the tarsus, and bare

over about three-quarters of its length; the tarsi are reticulated

throughout ; there is no hind toe and the outer toe is joined to the

middle toe by a broad web, that between the inner toe and middle toe

being narrower ; the billis long, straight and slender, the dertrum not

swollen; the nostrils are long slits piaced in the base of a groove

which runs about half the length of the upper mandible; the wing is

long and pointed, with the first primary longest; the tail is short and

even.

stilts are resident birds in nearly all tropical and temperate

countries ; one species of very wide range occurring in India.

HIMANTOPUS HIMANTOPUS HIMANTOPUS.

The Black-winged Stilt.

Charadrius himantopus Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th. ed., i, p. 151 (1758)

(Southern Europe); Stuart Baker, Fauna B.I., Birds, vi, p. 193,

1929.

Vernacular Names.—Gaj-paun, Tinghur (Hind.); Lal-Gon, Lal-

thengt, Lam-gora (Beng.); Gusling (Sind).

Description : Adult Male——Mantle and wings, above and below,

black, glossed with metallic green; upper tail-coverts tinged with

476 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

brownish-grey ; tail delicate, pale, grey-brown; remainder of plumage

white, a few black spots often showing on the head.

Colours of soft parts.—Iris bright red; bill black; legs and feet

crimson-red, the claws black.

Measurements.—f Wing 240 to 253 mm.; tail 80 to 86 mm.;

tarsus about 115 to 145 mm. ; culmen 60 to 69 mm.

2 Wing, 227 to 236 mm. - culmen 54 to 68 mm.

Females have the back, ‘scapulars and inner secondaries cog

instead of black; the white head is nearly always sullied with some

grey, whilst the ‘hind-neck also often shows some grey.

Young males have the anterior crown, upper ear-coverts and a line

down the back of the neck black.

Nestling.—Upper plumage pale fulvous, mottled with black, this

forming very indefinite lateral and a distinct median coronal line ;

there isa fairly distinct dorsal line with an arrow-head cross-line on

the shoulders and extreme rump.

Distribution.—Southern Europe, Africa, Central and Southern Asia

to Ceylon, Malay Straits, etc. In India, the Stilt is very generally

distributed wherever there is suitable country near, but onthe other

hand there are wide areas where I think it never occurs at all

or merely as a wanderer during the cold weather.

Niditication.—The Stilt is a resident bird breeding wherever it is

found, provided there are suitable places. It makes its nest in swamps

and marshes, sometimes actually in the shallow water, sometimes on

little islands or on the edges of the swamps. Its time of breeding is

governed to a great extent by the question of water-supply, though

the majority of birds seem to nest during April and May, before the

rains break, when there is a vast extent of shallow muddy water with

an ample supply of food. In former days they used to breed in vast

numbers on the Sultanpoor salt works, about 35 miles south of Delhi.

The birds were present round about these works throughout the year,

but about the middle of April they began to congregate in great

numbers. ‘The salt works consisted, according to Hunie, ‘ of brine

wells and many hundred acres of shallow, rectangular, evaporating

pans from 100 to 200 feet square and from 6 to 10 inches deep.

These pans were merely depressions dug in the soil and lined

with chunam or fine lime obtained by burning kunker, a nodular

concretionary limestone found in beds near the surface more

ot less throughout the piains of Upper India. Small strips of

ground from a foot to five or six feet broad divide the pans,

where only a litile brine ever stands. On, these the Stilts build

their nests.’

‘They collect together small pieces of kunker, or the broken

lime-lining of the pans, into a circular platform from seven to

even twelve inches in diameter and from two to three inches in

height ; on this, again, they place a little dry grass, on which they

usually lay four eggs, but, not infrequently, only two or three. They

begin to lay, according to season, towards the end of April or the

beginning of May ; and by the beginning of June, numbers of young

are to be seen about, and by the lst July most of the eggs that

remain are hard-set. The majority of the birds lay during June,

earlier or later according to season.’

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE 477

‘The temperature of the nest at this time in the full sun probably

averages quite 140° Fahrenheit.’

Doig records it as nesting in a somewhat similar situation in the

Eastern Narra in June, where they make their nests on the salt-

encrusted ground. They also breed in the marshes of Sind, but here

they are sometimes driven away by the drought which completely

dries up all water of their breeding places. Even then, however, a

few pairs will sometimes stay, as Ticehurst records three pairs of

Stilts breeding on the Khinjur Lake at Jhimpir reduced by the

drought to a sheet of water less than half a mile around. ‘The nest

varies considerably in construction. Those laid on dry ground, such

as the saltpans, consist of little platforms of broken limestone or

kunker, varying from seven to twelve inches in diameter and from

two to three inches in height. Sometimes these are lined with a

little grass, sometimes they are quite unlined. .At other times the

nest is a mere platform of earth, or just a hole is scraped in the

ground and lined with small stones or similar material. When made

in muddy soil or actually in the water, the nest is often of considera-

ble size consisting of a pile of water-weeds, stones and other rubbish,

sometimes as much as a foot in height and comparatively broad. On

the top of this pile a small depression is made with a little dry

lining cn which the eggs are deposited. Sometimes the nests are

scattered about over a considerable area but at other times they

are made close together ; thus Hume records finding 38 nests on a

strip of high dry ground three feet wide and a hundred feet long, in

addition to which there were five nests of the Red-wattled Lapwing.

In Mesopotamia, where Pitman found them breeding in vast num-

bers on the Musseyib marsh, Euphrates Valley, the nests were often

so close together, that the sitting birds almost touched one another ;

here the nests were nearly all on little islands, but even in such places

the nests were bulky affairs, whilst some of those built in the shallow

water were over two feet in height. In Ceylon, these birds seem to

have two breeding seasons: the first, from early March to May, and

the second, in the North, during July and August. ‘There the birds

breed both in marshes and on the great inland lakes, where they

generally make use of smallislands. The number of eggs laid seems

to be either four or three, though a great many birds only lay two

eggs, whilst five have been found in the same nest once or twice. In

appearance the eggs are distinctly like those of the plover’s but decided-

ly less pyriform than most. The colour varies very little, nine eggs

out of every ten having a ground colour of greenish brown or light

brown marked with spots, specks and blotches, or occasionally

streaks of black, blackish brown or rich umber brown. Secondary

markings very seldom occur, and when they do, they are of a rather

dark inky grey. The markings are distributed fairly numerously

over the whole surface but generally more numerously at the larger

end, and nowhere thickly enough to obscure the ground colour. Ina

few eggs the tint may be anything varying froma pale yellow or

yellow-grey stone colour to a warm tint of the same, but such eggs

are exceptional.

In shape the egg’s are rather long and pyriform with a smooth and

often a silky texture. Jourdain gives the average of 100 European

478 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

eggs as 44:0 by 31:;6 mm. Eggs taken in Mesopotamia average

rather larger; forty-two averaging 45-1 by 30°7 mm. with a maxi-

mum of 48:2 by 33:0 mm., the smallest being 38:0 by 28-0 mm.

A hundred Indian eggs on the other hand average almost exactly the

same as the English eggs, that is to say, 43°8 by 30°8 mm.

In Ceylon, Waite found them breeding in small grassy islets in the

salt lakes, where they made no nests beyond a thin lining of reeds to

a shallow scratching in the ground. In Southern Burma, where they

have also been found breeding, the nests were described as compara-

tively thick masses of muddy weeds lined with a few dry ones.

The birds are very clamourous round their breeding grounds,

circling over an intruder’s head, uttering loud cries the whole time.

They are not shy birds when nesting and, generally, allow a fairly

close approach to the nest before taking their departure whilst, in the

days when they bred in the salt works, they got so used to human

beings passing backwards and forwards that they would continue to

sit on their nests even when the workers came within a few inches

of them.

One would have imagined that to birds with such immensely

long legs, sitting on their nests would be a matter of no little diffi-

culty but, as a matter of fact, they seem to tuck them up under

themselves just as comfortably as the short-legged birds can.

Habits.--This is a resident bird though it may be forced to make

local migrations in times of drought or in the wetter parts when

there are heavy floods. It is always a gregarious bird and it will

nearly always be found in smail parties though occasionally single

birds and pairs wander away some distance in search of food. In

the breeding season the smaller parties collect in still bigger flocks

and, as has already been remarked, some of their breeding colonies

number many hundreds. On the wing the Stilt has an easy, rather

flapping flight, though it is capable of moving at a considerable pace

when frightened. Its slight form, with the long thin legs trailing be-

hind, give it a rather curious appearance, recognizable at a great

distance. When feeding, it usually walks slowly and quietly about in

the shallow water, though it can run at some speed and it also swims

well. Its food consists principally of aquatic and other insects, fish-

fry, frog-spawn and tadpoles, small frogs, lizards, etc., as well as

small moilusca.

GENUS: RECURVIROSTRA.

Recurvirosiva Vinn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 151.1758).

Type by mon., Recurvirostra avocetta Linn.

In this genus the biil is very long, flexible, curved upwards

towards the tip, depressed and with both mandibles flattened; the

nostrils are placed near the base in an ill-defined groove, which

extends over less than half the upper mandible; the tarsi and tibia

are long and bare, the former reticulated ; there is a small hind toe and

claw and the anterior toes are deeply webbed, the webs notched

in the middle; the wing is long, the first primary longest.

As in the preceding genus, Hzmantopus, the value of the differences

in these birds has been considered from various points of view by

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE 479

different systematists, some considering them merely of subspecific

value, whilst others consider them to be not only specific but generic.

One species, the type of the genus, occurs in India.

RECURVIROSTRA AVOCETTA AVOCETTA.

The Avocet.

a icouruirosira. avoceiwa Linn. Syst. Nat.; 20th: ed. 1,:p. 151. (1758)

(Europe, Oland); Stuart Baker, Fauna B.I., Birds, vi, p. 195, 1929.

Vernacular Names.—Kusya Chaha. (Behar).

Description.—Upper part of head and neck, scapulars and a line

over the shoulders in continuation, median wing-coverts and inner

secondaries and primaries black; the longest secondaries greyish at

the ends; the inner primaries with white bases; remaining plumage

white.

Colours of soft parts.—lIris red-brown to red; bill black ; legs and

feet pale bluish-grey. :

Measurements —Wing 220 to 235 mm,; tail 86 to 90 mm.; tarsus

about 84 to 90 mm. ; culmen 84 to 91 mm. (//arte7?),

In Winter the tail is greyish, the long secondaries more grey

and less black.

Young birds have the black replaced by brown, the brown

scapulars, coverts, etc., edged with paler brown, giving a mottled

appearance.

Nestling in down.—Above pale grey; a black line through the

lores and another down the centre of the crown with other black

marks laterally ; two broken dorsal lines of black and a well-developed

black line down the posterior flanks joining round the tail; a few

black blotches between this last and the dorsal lines; below dull

white.

Distribution.—Breeding over the greater part of Europe; the

Black Sea and the Caspian Sea to the Yenesei; Tropical Africa and

South to North and Western India and Ceylon in winter.

Nidtticatiorn.—The Avocet breeds nowhere within Indian limits but

breeding coionies may be found as far west as Denmark and Spain.

The colonies are sometimes of considerable size and the birds

commence laying in the end of April, depositing their eggs either on

the bare ground or in scratchings more or less well lined with

vegetable debris. The site for the nest is in or around marshy land

or sometimes in wet meadows of long grass, and the nest is generally

well hidden, though I have seen nests occasionally in Denmark which

were comparatively well exposed to any passer-by. ‘lhe eggs, like

those of all plovers, number four and are very like those of the Stilt,

but average browner on the whole with rather darker and more

definite markings, whilst they are also of course much bigger.

Jourdain gives the average of a hundred eggs as 50°5 by 35-0 mm.,

max. 55°6 by 35°6 mm. and 50:4 by 37-5 mm.; min. 46°8 by 34:3 mm.

and 48°3 by 37:2 mm.

Flabits——In India, this most beautiful bird occurs commonly in the

North-West, from whence it decreases in numbers southwards,

though it occurs in Ceylon whilst eastward it has occurred as far as

480 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Behar. It arrives in India late in October though in the North-West

a few birds may be met with in September, whilst Ticehurst has

recorded it as early as the 28th of August. It leaves again in the

end of March, the last few being seen as late as the second week in

April. Ticehurst records having seen one as late as the 24th of May,

whilst he saw yet another bird, apparently not breeding, on the 22nd

of June at Jhimpir. In countries where it is more or less protected,

the Avocet becomes very tame, but, where persecuted, it soon

becomes very shy and wild, whilst in approaching its nest it is every-

where very cautious and suspicious. In India accounts of its wild-

ness vary very greatly, and I have had it described to me by sports-

men as being sometimes exceptionally tame and confiding and at

other times equally wild and difficult to approach. It keeps entirely

to marshy lands, swamps and lakes, feeding on small crustacea,

water insects, etc., obtaining its food by sweeping in the mud with a

circular action of its curved bill as it walks quietly and slowly

through the chalky shallows. It flies well, with its legs outstretched

behind it and also swims well, sitting, like the Stilt, very high on the

water. Witherby syllabifies its call as ‘ Klweet, klweet’ and says

that the male also has a low ‘ Chuck, chuck, chuck, chawy’ which it

utters on the ground.

GENUS: IBIDORHYNCHA.

[bidorhyncha Gould, Century Birds, pl. 19 (1831).

Type by mon., lbzdorhyncha struthersti Gould.

This very curious genus still requires considerable study before its

position can be finally settled. Pending this I follow Lowe in retain-

ing it in the Vanelline.

The bill is hard, long, slender and curved downwards over nearly

half its length ; the nostril is linear and is placed at the base of the

bill in a groove which extends over more than half the length of the

bill; the tarsi are comparatively short and reticulated throughout ;

there is no hind toe; the outer and middle toes are connected by a

deeply-indented small web, but that between the middle and inner

toes is obsolete; the wing is very square, the first three primaries

subequal and the inner secondaries almost as long.

IBIDORHYNCHA STRUTHERSII

The Tbts-B7z/1.

lbidorhyncha struthersit Gould, Century Birds, pl. 19 (1831)

(Himalayas); Stuart Baker, Fauna B.I., Birds, vi, p. 196, 1929.

Vernacular Names. —Puggah (Hill Miri).

Description.—Face as far back as the middle of the eye, throat and

crown black bordered by white ; the forehead and lores more or less

speckled and streaked with white - neck, sides of head and upper

breast bluish-grey, above merging into the ashy grey-brown of the

upper plumage; rump-feathers with dark brown bases showing

plainly ; tail ashy-grey with narrow, wavy dark cross-bars, the other

feathers with broad blackish subapical bars ; primaries rather darker

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE 481

brown, the inner webs marked with white, indefinite broad margins

to the first three or four, becoming well-defined white spots and bars

on the innermost ; a narrow white band below the grey-blue upper

breast followed by a broad black gorget; axillaries, under wing-

coverts and rest of lower plumage white.

Colours of soft parts.—lIris crimson; bill deep crimson-red to

scarlet-red ; legs and feet pinkish-grey (non-breeding and young) to

blood-red (breeding adults).

Measurements.—Wing 230 to 245 mm. ; tail 113 to 120 mm. ; tarsus

about 47 to 49 mm, ; culmen 68 to 80 mm.

Young birds have no black and white on the head; the black breast-

band is wanting or only just shows; the upper plumage has each

feather narrowly margined paler.

Nestling in down.—Above grey, this tint formed by the most

minute stipplings of blackish and white with, here and there, a tinge of

fulvous ; a darker line round the back of the head; a well-defined

black and rufous line down the posterior flanks and round the tail;

below greyish-white.

Distribution.—The Pamirs and Gilgit to North-West China, in

Winter moving down to the foot-hilis ail along the Himalayas. In

Assam it is common in the hill-streams where they debouch from the

hills but never wanders any distance into the plains. In the

Himalayas, in Summer, it occurs principally between 9,000 and

15,000 ft.

Nidttication.—The breeding of the Ibis-Bill was first discovered

by S. L. Whymper in April 1905, when he obtained nests in the

streams of the Garhwal Hills between 8,000 and 9,000 feet. The

same year Lieut. F. M. Bailey obtained its eggs from Gyantse, in

Tibet. Since then it has been found breeding by Osmaston, Ludlow

and others in Tibet, up to an elevation of at least 13,000 feet,

whilst La Touche also obtained several nests on the Shinho River

in North-East Chihli. Mr. Whymper thus describes his finding of

the eggs:

‘On May 5, 1906, I found the [bis-Biil (/ozdorhynchus slruthersit)

breeding on the Bhaghirathi river—at about 8,000 feet. I got three

clutches of eggs (four in each), there being, so far as I could make

out, only three pairs of birds there. The nests, composed of small

stones, were hollowed out and placed on sand and shingle among

boulders and were very like a large nest of the Spur-winged Plover.

I found two of the nests by watching the birds, but the first one I

found by tracing back the tracks of a bird that was crouching and

running along in this manner and at once flew back when flushed.

I had to trace the tracks back well over a hundred yards before

I came to a well-trampled spot and the eggs were at the side of

it.’

‘T sat down some way off to watch and the bird returned in about

five minutes (the eggs were very hard-set), running almost straight to

the nest and stood over it bobbing her head like a plover. She then

sat down alongside the eggs, not actually on them, and this seems to

be a habit of theirs as I saw another bird act in the same way when

returning to its nest. The egg's in the different clutches vary a good

deal in size, but the largest are 1:95 x 1°45 and are shaped very like

482 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

a whimbrel’s eggs. The ground colour is greenish-grey and they

are spotted more or less ali over but chiefly at the larger end with

reddish-brown and pale purple, in colour and markings they are not

unlike some terns’ eggs. Ali the clutches were very hard set and

indeed one would have hatched ina very few days. I was overjoyed

at getting them, as I do not think they have been recorded before.’

‘While hunting for these eggs I also founda fresh clutch of the

Common Sandpiper ( Zotanus hypoleucus) in quite a neat little nest of

twigs and pine needles under a boulder. I am not aware if this nest

has been recorded from Indian limits before, though, of course, it

breeds freely in Kashmir.’ |

Lieut. Bailey adds something to the description of the nest and says:

‘The nest was situated ona stony island in the middle of the

river here (13,000 ft.). The nest was made of small flat stones about

4 inch in diameter, forming a perfectly smooth and flat surface. I

unfortunately did not measure the nest. The eggs, four in number,

were laid with their points inward. This nest was taken on the

9th June when the eggs were hard set. On the same day I saw two

birds with two young ones each. On my approaching, the young

birds lay among the stones with their necks stretched out flat on the

ground while the old bird endeavoured to draw me off in another

direction, uttering loud cries. The young when crouching among

the stones were very difficult to see, and lay so still that they allowed

themselves to be picked up before showing any signs of life. The

other three eggs were accidentally broken, sol have not attempted

to blow the remaining one.’

The birds breed at least as high as 14,000 ft. though more often

between 8,000 and 11,000 ft., and Mr. Macdonald, who sent me

several clutches of the eggs of this bird, informs me that they were

nearly aiways taken on islands in the middle of streams, though

occasionally one might be found on shingle beds running into the

river from the banks. Mr. Whymper aiso refers to this predilection

of the birds for islands and writes: ‘They are especially fond of

nesting on the little islands which are numerous and sometimes

rather hard to get at... The nest is always placed right out in the

open; I never saw one under the shelter of a stone or stranded log

as is mentioned in the Birds of India;:a common site is near the

edge of a shingle bank. The nest is usually found by keeping a

sharp look-out ahead and the bird will be seen running stealthily

away. If the nest is not immediately discovered the bird will return.

to it ina short time. I have found fourteen nests in a few days, the

egos of which were well incubated although I was a fortnight earlier

than in 1906. Infournests I found incubated clutches of three eggs,

so it seems they sometimes lay three only. The nests have already

been described and all those I saw were made as before, of little

smooth black stones.’

La Touche had two eggs of this bird brought to him by his

collector in 1915 from a stream in the mountains of Chihli and, on the

second of the May following, he himself went out and found numerous

nests, mere depressions among the stones of the shingiy beach.

The depressions were lined with small stones, all of much the same

size. The breeding season of this bird seems to be restricted to

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE 483

April and May. The earliest I have recorded is one taken on the

9th of April by La Touche and the latest, with fresh eggs, is one taken

on the 29th of May and with hard set eggs on the 11th June. Birds,

however, have been seen in their breeding places after their eggs

had been taken, haunting the vicinity, and I have no doubt that they

lay again and later than May in these circumstances. The eggs, I

think, remind one more of the Woodcock’s eggs than those of any

other wader, but they are very pale and weakly marked. The ground

colour is a very pale grey, tinted either greenish, yellowish or buff,

whilst markings consist of small blotches and spots of light to dark

reddish, with secondary markings of pale lavender. Both types of

markings are fairly numerous at the larger end but scanty elsewhere,

and in no eggs are the markings at all bold. Fifty-two eggs average

Or GO mina eemaxiina Jo OC <0:0nmm.s and 50'S: xX 35-0 mm.;

minima #6'0 by 34:0 mm.

Habits.—In summer the Ibis-Bill keeps entirely to the banks and

islands of rivers, between 8,000 and 15,000 feet, or perhaps even

higher still. In Winter they seem to remain sometimes as high as

12,000 feet as they have been seen on the Gyantse Plateau all the

year round. On the other hand, the majority of birds appear to

wander down tc the foothilis and are to be found on most of the

Himalayan rivers; where they debouch into the plains, though they

never wander far into them. In Winter this species seem to be more

common in the foothills in Assam than anywhere else, and Stevens

records them as being found regularly every year on the Subansiri

and other rivers between November and March. Ihave myself seen

them on many of these rivers and saw one small party containing

half a dozen birds on the Dunsiri as late as the fourteenth of April.

They are said to be very wild in the breeding season, not allowing

anybody to come within a considerable distance, but in winter they

are distinctly not wild and I found them easy to approach within sixty

to a hundred yards as they fed at the water's edge. The birds I

saw were walking quietly about, feeding on the shingle, every now

and then turning over small stones to quest underneath them.

Those on the bare shingle were feeding on insects of various kinds,

small mollusca and sandhoppers, but one I shot feeding on some

shingle upon which there was a certain amount of scrubby grass and

equisetum, seemed to have been feeding entirely on small grass-

hoppers. This latter bird allowed me to sit and watch it for

at least twenty minutes before it rose up to leave, and was shot. On

the wing it is not unlike a large sandpiper, though not, I think, so

swift, whilst during the breeding season it is said to indulge in all

sorts of acrobatic feats in the air, much like a pee-wit. The only

note I have heard is a musical ‘ klew, klew,’ but it is said to have a

loud harsh call of fear and a similar warning note to its mate when

sitting. It is a very graceful bird, both when walking and flying, and

always seemed to me to be particularly charming to watch, so much

so that I always felt a regret at turning one into a specimen,

even though the flesh was extremely good to eat after the skin had

been made ready for the museum.

Cz o be continued)

REVISION OF

THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY.

EB (BUATTERS “S.J. Phas. Se

PART XVII

(With 3 plates and 1 text figure.)

(Continued from page 275 of this volume.)

ORCHIDACEA.

Ey: “BLATTER, S.J.,/ Ph. D..h. LS. ee CMe Cann. bs)

12. PACHYSTOMA Blume (not in Cke.).

Terrestrial herbs; rhizome underground, nodose. Leaves 1 or 2, long,

narrow, plaited, often post-floral. Scape pale, with.many sheaths. Flowers

racemed, pendulous, moderate sized; bracts large, scarious. Sepals and

petals subequal, lateral sepals adnate to the base of the column. Lip sessile

at the base of the footless column, erect, side lobes oblong, midlobe small ;

disk with 3-5 deeply crested or fimbriate ridges. Column slender, clavate

upwards. Anther dorsal, 4-celled ; pollinia 8, pyriform.

Species 8.—British India, China, Malay Archipelago, Papuasia, N. Australia,

New Caledonia.

1. Pachystoma senile Reichb. f. in Bonpland. iti, 250 ; Hook. f. in F. B. I. vl.

812; King & Pantl... Ann? Roy. Bot. "Gard. Gale." vit, st-3140)eiRidles ie

Malay Pen. iv (1924) 116 (P. sessile per errorem); Brthl Orchids Sikkim .

(1926) 75; Fischer Fl. Madras pt. viii (1928) 1426.—P. Smithianum, Edge-

worthii, montanum et Lindleyanum Reichb. f.1.c.—Afpaturia senilis, Smithiana

et montana Lindl. in Wall. Cat. 3739, 3737, 3738; Gen. & Sp. Orchid. 130,

131.—A. Lindleyana Wight Ic. t. 1662.

Description: Rhizome 2°5-5 cm. Leaf solitary, very long and narrow.

Scape with raceme 20-70 cm. long, white or nearly so. Sheaths 12 mm.-5 cm.

long. Flowers about 12 mm. long, glandular pubescent, white, greenish or

pinkish. Bracts scarious, longer or shorter than the flowers, strongly nerved.

Sepals membranous, acute or acuminate, 5-nerved. Petais narrowly spathulate,

acuminate, 3-nerved. Mentum very short. Lip from oblong to nearly orbicu-

lar, claw very short ; side lobes large, obtuse or subacute ; midlobe as long or

longer, oblong or obovate, retuse or pointed, purplish ; disk with 5, rarely 3

crested ridges from the base to the midlobe, and there thickened. Column

puberulous.

Locality : S. M. Country: Belgaum, in black soil of grass land, 2,600 ft.,

rainfall 50 in. (T. R. Bell 940 ! 941 ! 942 ! 9431!).

Flowered beginning of March 1926. ‘ The flowers were out at the beginning

of March. ‘The leaves were not fully up and grown until towards the middle of

August and there was not a vestige above ground before the middle of July.’

(T. R. Bell 77 epzst.)

Distribution: Plains and foot-hills of N. India, from Garhwal to Sikkim,

Khasia Hills, Manipur, Malay Peninsula, W. Ghats of Bombay and Madras

(apparently not in Ceylon).

13. THunia Reichb. f, (Cke. ii, 692).

Species 4.—Indo-Malayan. There is only 1 species in the Presidency.

1. Thunia venosa Rolfe in Orchid Rev. xiii (1905) 206; Cke. ii, 692; Haines

Bot. Bih. & Or. 1167 ; Fischer Fl. Madras, pt. viii (1928) 1427.—FPhajus albus

Lind}. (partim) ; Hook. f. in F.B,I. v, 818 (partzm.).

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 485

This species had been mixed up with 7hunia alba Reichb. f. This latter

species can, according to Rolfe, be distinguished by the somewhat elongate

raceme, by more and much larger flowers, by a yellow disk to the lip and a few

lilac radiating veins on the side lobes.

Distributioz: Kumaon, Mussoorie, Sikkim, Assam, Khasia, Burma, Chota

Nagpur, W. Ghats of Bombay Pres., Travancore.

14. CALANTHE Br. (not in Cke.)

Terrestrial herbs, often pseudobulbous with a short or tall, leafy stem.

Leaves plaited. Scape axillary, terminal or lateral from a leafy pseudubuib.

Flowers medium sized, racemed. Sepals subequal, spreading, rarely connivent.

Petals broad or narrow. Lip adnate to the top or base of column, 3-lobed,

midlobe often 2-fid, disk lamellate or tubercled, with or without a spur.

Column long or short, obliquely truncate ; foot O. Anther conical or convex,

2-celled ; pollinia 8, waxy, cohering in pairs by a granular viscus.

Species 120.—Warm countries. One species in the Bombay Pres.

1. Calanthe Masuca Lindl. in Wall. Cat. 7337; Gen. & Sp. Orchid. 240; Bot.

Mag. t. 4541 ; Hook. f. in F.B.I. v., 850 ; King and Pantl. Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard.

Calc. viii, t. 234; Fischer Fl. Madras, pt. viii (1928) 1432; Brtithl Orchids of

Sikkim (1926) 108.—C. versicolor Lind]. Sert. Orchid. t. 42; Bot. Reg. 1844, sab

tab. 37.—C. emarginata Wight Ic. t. 918.—C. Wightit Reichb. f. in Walp. Ann.

vi, 933.—Bletia Masuca Don Prodr. 30.

Description: A terrestrial herb. Stem short, stout. Leaves elliptic-ovate

to lanceolate, acuminate, 25-50 cm. long, 7-15 cm. broad, sessile, or base

tapering into a usually short petiole, usually sparsely pubescent, at least

below, sometimes glabrescent. Scape lateral, stout, with the lax-flowered

raceme up to 90 cm. long, sparsely puberulous ; bracts large, 20-25 mm. long,

ovate-lanceolate, herbaceous, puberulous. Pedicels with ovary 3-3-7 cm. long.

Flowers usually pale or dark purple, sometimes pale rose or white with a

purple lip ; lip always bright coloured, 20-25 mm. long, puberulous. Sepals

lanceolate, up to 3:7 cm. long, lip hardly exceeding the sepals, side lobes short,

falcate-oblong, midlobe much !arger, broadly or cuneately reniform, spur

linear-subspathulate, longer than the sepals. Capsule 3°5 cm. long.

Locality : N. Kanara: Malemanighat (Sedgwick 7216!).

Distribution: Tropical Himalaya from Nepal to Sikkim (1,500-4,000 ft.)

Deccan Peninsula, W. Ghats of Madras Pres. (3,000-6,000 ft.), Java.

15. Europuia R, Br. (Cke. ii, 693).

Species 200.—Warm countries of the Old World.

Cooke gives 4 species. We add another not known from the Presidency

before: Hulophia canipestris Wall.

A, Column not produced into a foot

I, Leaves and flowers coetaneous or nearly so

1, Lip longer than broad; side lobes of lip short or O

a. Sepals 12 mm. long ; side lobes of lip O tee Le Le. OCH Venta.

6. Sepals 2°2-3 cm. long; side lobes of lip 3 mm.

long Si re oy sha, Lone HEV OACEE:

2. Lip broader than long; disk of lip with 3 crested

nerves se me ee wo. 3. LO. pratensis.

II. Flowers appearing long before the leaves .. 4. &. campestris.

B. Column produced into a foot _... * es I Lee

1. Eulophia ochreata Lindl. in Journ. Linn. Soc. iii (1858) 24; Dalz. & Gibs.

BoOmO.sEt. 2009 Hook.f. E+ Baly vi, 235 Cke. 11, 693: Pischer Fl. Madras’ viii

(1928) 1435.

Description : Cke. 1. c.—Tubers sometimes ]5 in a line. Scape up to45cm.

Leaves dark green, plicate. Flowers pale cadmium yellow.

Locality ; Gujarat: Khodwa, Panch Mahals (Raoji!).—Konkan (Stocks) ;

Salsette, hills east of Tulsi Lake, in red earth in fairly open forest (McCann

1651! 1652 ! 1653 !).—S. 17. Country : Dharwar (Law).—Kanara (Law).

Distribution ; Vizagapatam Hills at 3,000 ft.

2. Eulophia herbacea Lindl. Gen. & Sp. Orchid. (1833) 182; Dalz. &

Gibs. Bomb. FI. 265; Hook. f. in F.B.I. vi, 2; Cke. ii, 693; Fischer Fl. Madras

pt. viii (1928) 1435; Duthie Ann. Roy. Bot, Gard. ix, t, 106.—£. brachypetala

486 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Lindl, in Journ. Linn. Soc. iii, 24.—Liuucdorum bicolor Roxb. FI. Ind. iii,

(1832) 469.— Fulophia carinata Grah. Cat. p. 202 (zon Lindl.)

Distribution « W. Himalaya, Garhwal, 4,000-7,000 ft., Bengal, Rungpore,

Gujarat, Konkan, Kanara, Bababudan Hills in Mysore.

3. Eulophia pratensis Lindl. in Journ. Linn. Soc. iii (1858) 25; Dalz. &

Gibs. Bomb, FI]. 264; Hook. f. F.B.I. vi, 4; Cke. ii, 694; Fischer Fl. Madras.

pt. viii (1928) 1435.—Z. ramentosa Wight Ic. t. 1666 (zon Lindl.)—Z. virens

Grah. Cat. 202 (zon Brown).

Locality « Gujarat: Panch Mahals (Raoji!).—Deccan : Poona (Woodrow

965 !); canal-side, Poona (Herb. Econ. Bot.!); Pishan, 6 miles W. of Poona

(Tukaram !, Paranjpe!, Gammie!).— W. Ghats : Panchgani (A. St. J. Cooke) .—

S. M. Country: Belgaum (Ritchie 1421) ; Dharwar, in grass, 2,400 ft., rainfall

34 in. (Bourne 3481!); Havasbhavi in Dharwar Dist., in long grass, not

common, 2,000 ft., rainfall 33 in. (Sedgwick 2146!).—N. Kanara: Haveri

(Talbot 2225 !).—Hook.f. says from the Konkan southwards. We have not

seen any specimen from those parts.

Flowers : Nov. 1919 (Dharwar), Dec. 1917 (Dharwar).

Distribution : Deccan, S. M. Country, W. Ghats of Madras Pres.

4. Eulophia campestris Wall. Cat. 7617; Lindl. Gen. & Sp. Orchid. 185 ; in

Journ. Linn. Soc. iii, 24 (eacl. syn. Wight) ; Hook. f. F. B. J., vi, 4; Haines Bot.

Bih. & Or. 1171.—£. vamentacea et rupestris Lindl. in Wall. Cat 7367, 7368 ;

Gen. & Sp. Orchid l.c.—&. hemaleuca Lind). in Journ. Linn. Soe. iii, 25.—

Limodorum ramentacéum Roxb. Hort. Beng. (1814) 69; Fl. Ind. iii., 46—

Bletia Dabia Don Prodr. 30.

Description: A slender orchid. Flowering stem 15-16 cm., rising laterally

from the apex of a chain of erect ovoid tubers which are connected at their

base (Haines). Sheaths subappressed, acute. Leaves 2, rising from the apex

of the slender sheathing pseudostem, developing long after the plant has

flowered, 25-40 cm. long, linear, acuminate. Scape sheathed at intervals by

loose membranous bracts. Flowers many in lax racemes, sometimes secund or

subsecund, or nodding on slender pedicels. Floral bracts variable, membra-

nous, linear or lanceolate, acuminate, usually longer than the slenderly stalked

ovary. Sepals slightly attached to the base of the lip, 8-12 mm., linear-

lanceolate, or linear-oblong, acute or acuminate, 5-7-nerved. Petals elliptic or

broadly oblong, obtuse, or lanceolate, as or nearly as long as the sepals,

5-6 mm. broad, broader than the sepals, 3-5 nerved, greenish or yellowish,

with red or brown clouds. Lip 9-11 mm. long, oblong or cuneate-obovate ; side

lobes short, rounded or subacute, erect or upcurved, adnate to the column,

veined with red, midlobe orbicular, quadrate or oblong. crenulate, purple? or

yellow ?, basal portion of disk with 3 median lamellae, ending in a fimbriate or

tubercled patch on the terminal lobe. Spur short or hardly any, obtuse, coni-

cal subclavate. Column as long as the lip, slender, without a foct or scarcely

any. Pollinia 2, broad, notched and perforated near the base ; caudicle stout ;

gland elongate. Capsule 18 mm, long, ellipsoid.

Note.—The various botanical writers do not agree on several details of

morphology. ‘Their statements show that the plant is an extremely variable

one or that further observations are required on several points, We mention

only a few:

Tuber : ‘From a deformed tuber.’ (Hook. f.).

‘From the last of a chain of erect tubers which are

connected at their base.’ (Haines).

Colour of flower : ‘Flowers yellowish or green with pink or purple mark-

ings.’ ,

‘ Flowers pale pink with darker lines.’ (Brihl).

‘ Sepals yellow or green, striped with pink.’ (Hook. f.).

‘Sepals and lateral petals green. Lip white, strongly

green-veined.’ (Hallberg in MS.).

‘ Sepals greenish outside, brownish inside.’ (Haines).

‘ Petals greenish or yellowish with red or brown clouds.’

(Haines).

‘ Side lobes of lip beautifully veined with red.’

(Haines).

‘ Midlcbe usually purple.’ (Hook. f. and Duthie).

‘ Midlobe yellow.’ (Haines). |

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 487

Nerves of sepals: ‘Sepals 5-nerved.’ (Haines).

‘Sepals 5-7-nerved.’ (Hook. f. and Duthie).

‘Size of sepals ‘Petals broader than the sepals.’ (Haines).

and petals;

‘Petals narrower than the sepals.’ (Hook. f. and

Duthie).

Shape of petals: ‘ Petals oblanceolate.’ (Hook. f. and Duthie).

‘ Petals elliptic or broadly oblong.’ (Haines).

We found them lanceolate.

Ridges on palate ‘3 median lamellae.’ (Hook. f. and Duthie, Brihl).

of lip:

‘2 crenulate lamellae.’ (Haines).

Our specimen shows 2 lamellae.

Locality: Konkan: Bombay, Victoria Gardens, wild (Hallberg 15377 !),

Flowers: Aprilin Bombay.

Distribution : Baluchistan, Afghanistan, sub-Himalayan tracts of Rohilkhand

and N. Oudh, Nepal, Sikkim (Terai and Duars), Bengal, Chota Nagpur,

Chittagong, Upper Burma, Deccan.

5. Eulopkia nuda Lindl in Wall. Cat. (1828) 7371: Hook. f. F.B.I. vi, 5;

Kine Pant: Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard..-Calc. vin (1893) 180, t. 243; Duthie

20a: t. 1x, pt. ii, 12/3, Prain: Bene. Pl) 1016 ; Cke, ii, 695; Duthie Fl. Upper

Gane, Plain iii, pt. 11 (1920) 200 ; Haines‘ Bot. Bih. & Or. 1171; Bruhl Orchids

Sikkim (1926) 109; Fischer Fl. Madras viii (1928) 1435; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. pt. iv

(1898) 177.—£. bicolor Dalz. in Kew Journ. Bot. iii (1851) 343; Dalz. &

Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 264.—Cyrtopera fusca Wight Ic. (185?) t. 1690 (Che. habet

Cyrtoptera per errorem).—C. nuda Reichb. f. in Flora (1872) 274.—C. mysoren-

sis Lindl. in Journ. Linn. Soc. iii, 32.

Description: Cke. ii, 694. More complete in Duthie Fl. Upper Gang.

Plain iii, 200.

Locality: Konkan: Ambenali at foot of Mahableshwar (Blatter &

McCann !).—S. MW. Country: Ramghat (Ritchie !); Amba, Manoli forest

(Bhide!) ; Londa (Ahmed Khan 2541!).—N. Kanara: Kalanaddi (Ritchie

708) ; foot of Arbail Ghat, 800 ft. (Sedgwick 6646 !).

Flowers: Jan. 1917 (Londa).

fyiuit. Oct. 1919 (N. Kanara).

Distribution: Tropical Himalaya from Nepal to Sikkim, N. Oudh, Chota

Nagpur, Assam, Khasia Hills, Manipur, Burma, Pegu, Tenasserim, W.

Peninsula, W. Ghats of Madras Pres., 2,000-7,000 ft., Vizagapatam Hills at

3,800 ft., Ceylon.

16. GroDoRUM Jackson (Cke. ii, 695).

Species 10.—Indo-Malayan.

One species in the Bombay Pres. We follow Fischer in changing Geodorum

dilatatum R. Br. into G. densiflorum Schlechter.

1. Geodorum densiilorum Schlechter in Fedde Report Besih. iv (1919) 259;

Fischer Fl. Madras. viii (1928) 1437.—Lzmodorum densiflorum Lam. Encycl.

iii, 516.—Geodorum purpureum Hook.f. F. B. 1. vi (1890) 16; Dalz & Gibs.

Bomb. FI. 266 ; King & Pantl. in Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Calc. viii (1898) 181,

t. 245 ; Duthie eod. /. ix, pt. ii, 130.—G. di/atatum R. Br. in Ait. Hort. Kew. ed.

2 i (lsla)207) Eo balioawis l/s Wichtlce ty 912; Prain Beng, Pl. 1017 Cke. 11,

695.) ainesiBot) Bikiode Or; 1170; Duthie Fl. Upper ‘Gane? Plain ii; pt.. ii

(1920) 203.—Lzmodorum recurvum Roxb. Corom., Pl. i (1795) t. 30; Fl. Ind. iii

(1832) 469.

Description and Locality: Cke. ii, 695.

Distribution: Dehra Dun, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Assam, Bengal,

Andaman Islands, Konkan, N. Kanara, all districts of the Madras Pres.

between 200-3,000 ft., Ceylon, China.

17, CyMBIDIUM Swartz (Cke. ii, 696).

Species 30.—Africa to Australia.

1. Cymbidium aloifolium Swartz in Nov. Act. Upsal. vi (1799) 73 ; Hook. f.

F.B.1. vi, 10 (Jartzm) ; Lindl. Gen. & Sp. Orchid. Grah. Cat. 203: Dalz. &

488 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Gibs. Bomb. FI. 266; Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii (1832) 458; Wight Ic. tt. 1687, 1688 ;

King & Pantl. in Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Calc. viii (1898) 189, t. 252; Duthie

eod. 1. ix, pt. 2, 136 ; Fl. Upper Gang. Plain iii, pt. ii (1920) 204 ; Cke. ii, 696°;

Brihl Orchids Sikkim (1926) 115; Fischer Fl. Madras, pt. viii (1928) 1436.—

Gu bicolor Hooke i... dbl. visi (non Lindl.) ; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. iv (1898) 179.—

E pidendrum pendulum Roxb. Cofom. Blt: 44.

Description: Cke. ii, 696.

Locality: Add: Konkan: Savantvadi at Tamboli (F. X. Miranda !).

Flowers : May 1903 (Poona, in garden).

Fruit: Jan. (Savantvadi).

Distribution: Sikkim, Bengal, Assam, Andaman Islands, Konkan, Kanara,

all hilly tracts of Madras Pres., 100-3,500 ft.

18. SARCOCHILUS Br. (Cke. ii, 697).

Species about 40.—Indo-Malayan, Polynesian.

We retain the 2 species given by Cooke.

1. Racemes shorter than the leaves ae seta let Svercdsioss:

2. Racemes much longer than the leaves woe 2e Se 27ACILALNS.

1. Sarcochilus viridiflorus T. Cooke (zom Hook. f. in F. B. J. vi, 38); Cke. ii,

697..—Saccolabium viridiflorum Lindl. in Journ. Linn. Soc. _ iii (1858)

36 ; Hook. f. F. B. I. vi, 63.—Micropera viridiflora Dalz. in Kew Journ. Bot.

ili (1851) 282.

Description: Cke.1. c.

Locality: Konkan (Dalzell).—W. Ghats : Mahableshwar (Cooke!) ; Koina

valley below Mahableshwar (Cooke); Castle Rock (Bhide!) ; Amboli Ghat

(Gammie 15067!).—S. 4. Country: Amba (Bhide!).—M. Kanara: Usheli

(Ritchie 1426) ; Chandwar (Ritchie 1426) ; Tinai Ghat (Bhide !).

Distribution: Endemic in the Bombay Pres.

2. Sarcochilus maculatus Benth. in Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Pl. iii (1883)

575; Cke. ii, 698.—Saccolabium maculatum Hook. f. F.B.I. vi (1890)

64. —_Micropera maculata Dalz. in Kew Journ. Bot. iii (1851) 282; Dalz. &

Gibs. Bomb. FI. 263.

Description, etc.: Cke. ii, 698.

Locality: W. Ghats : (Dalzell) ; Phunda Ghat (Ritchie 1427!).—WN.

Kanara. Idigangi (Bell); Kadra (Bell!); Yellapur 1,600 ft. (Sedgwick 5834!).

Flowers: May 1911 (N. Kanara).

Fruit: Aug. 1919 (N. Kanara).

Distribution : Endemic in Bombay Pres.

19. CHILOCHISTA Lindl. (not in Cke.).

Epiphytic herbs; stem very short, leafless, scaly; roots slender, long.

Racemes erect. Sepals and petals similar, broad, spreading, the lateral sepals

inserted on the apical portion of the foot. Petals usually running down the

foot. Lip movable on the foot, 3-lobed, spur saccate, side lobes erect, midlobe

very short; disk with a pubescent callus. Column short; foot broad. Anther

2-celled, pollinia 2, globose, deeply furrowed, caudicle short.

1. Chilochista glandulosa sf. mov. Blatter & McCann.

| Orchidacea vicina Chilochiste pusille@ Schlechter sed differet ab eu bractets

ovario aequilongis, pedunculis, pedicellis necnon ovartis densissinie glandulis

albis conicis coopertis, floribus flavis maculis brunneo-rubris ornatis. |

Description: Avery small epiphytic plant. Roots loosely tufted, tortuose,

up to 15 cm. long and about 2 mm. broad, flattened, when fresh white-satiny

with a pinkish tinge, running along the underside of branches. Stem o.

Leaves none. Peduncle and: raceme about 3-4 cm. long, thin at insertion,

thickening upwards, bearing 2-4 flowers, jointed, with a bract at base and at

each joint about the same length as the bracts subtending the flower.

Peduncles, pedicels and ovaries thickly covered with minute white conical

glandular hairs. Racemes about 15 mm. long. Bracts as long as the sessile

ovary, 1‘5 mm. long, glabrous, veined longitudinaliy, straw-coloured. Flowers

distichous. Sepals yellow, spotted and blotched irregularly and usually densely

with brown-red. Dorsal sepal broadly oblong, 5 mm. long, 2°5-3 mm. broad,

subobtuse ; lateral sepals broadly oblong, subacute, 3-3°5 mm. long, 2 mm.

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 489

broad. Petals slightly longer than lateral sepals, narrower and subacute at

apex, the same colour as the sepals. Lip 3-lobed, 2-3 mm. long, inflexed

upon the foot of the column; side lobes more than twice as long as the

midlobe, reaching to beyond the inflexed column, then curving towards each

other and meeting, even overlapping; midlobe short rounded, slightly

emarginate ; each little roundish lobe due to the emargination, white-woolly,

the woolliness only slightly encroaching upon the upper side of the lip (not

visible owing to the inflection of the whole lip). Column very short, scarcely

1 mm. long, somewhat curved, very much bent inwards towards the long foot

(about 1mm. long) to which the lip is joined, white, with the foot purple-

blotched. Cap broad, obcordate, yellowish. Rostellum square, transparent,

coming away with the gland. Pollinia 2, obovate, slightly compressed, deeply

grooved; caudicles short, extensible. The stigmatic surface seems to be a

hollow immediately under the rostellum on the front face of the column,

Fruit 11 by 2 mm.,, light green, speckled and blotched with purplish brown,

curved thickest in the middle, gradually narrowed into the rhachis, 4-sided,

the dorsal and lateral faces slightly ridged down centres, the ventral face

broadest with a broad low central longitudinal thickening, the whole surface

covered with minute, erect conical whitish glandular hairs. (Most of the

description from Bell’s MS. prepared from live specimens.)

Locality: N. Kanara: Karwar (T. R. Bell 4969, type); Dandulli (T.R.

Bell); Yellapur, on Careya arborea and Randia uliginosa (T. R. Bell).

Flowers: Jan. 1912 (Yellapur).

Fruit: June (Karwar).

Note: It is useful to remember that Schlechter has united Chilochista

usneoides Wight Ic. t. 1741 and Sarcochilus Wighti: Hook. f. under the name

of Chilochista pusilla,

Chilochista glandulosa sp. nov. Blatter & McCann:

1. Dorsal. sepal, x 2.. — .2.° Lateral sepal, x 2, — 3. Fruit. — 4, a.

Side-lobes of lip, x 4. — b. Petals, — 5..Cap. — 6. Flower, x 8.

— 7. Attachment of dorsal sepal. — 8, Lip — 9. Side view of column

and foot, x 8. — 10. Top view of same, x 8. — 11. Front view of

column, x 8. — 12. Pollinia with gland, x 20.

490 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

20. RHYNCHOSTYLIS Blume (Cke. ii, 698).

Species 2,~-Indo-Malayan.

1. Rhynchostylis retusa Blume Bijdr. (1825) 286, t. 49; Hook. f. F.B.I. vi,

32°) King & -Pantl; im Ann, ivoy. Bot. Gard: Cale. viii (1898) 9 21355t. -284-

Trim. Fl. Ceyl. iv, 187; Prain Beng. Pl. 1020; Haines Bot. Bih. & Or.

178 ss Brahh ee an Sikkim (1926) 128; Fischer Fl. Madras, pt. viii (1928)

1440; Cke. 698 .— Saccolabium guttatuin Lindl. in Wall. Cat. (1828) 7308 ;

Dalz. & Gibs. a, Bl) 263% Wight Wc.> tt. 71/4550 1746) Bots Macrat: 4108.

—Aerides retusa Sw. in Schrad. Journ, IL (1799) 233 ; Grah. Cat. 294.—

A. guttatunm Roxb. FI. Ind. HI (1832) 471.—Hpidendrum retusum Linn. Sp.

Pl (1705) 351.

Description : Cke. ii, 698.

Locality : Konkan: (Stocks) ; Salsette (Dalzell & Gibson, Herb. St. X.C

8691 !); Thana (Ryan 49!); between Chandal and Karjat (Blatter & Hallberg

26534!).—S. AZ. Country « Lanze, on Kolhapur-Ratnagiri Road (R. K. Bhide !);

W. of Dharwar (Mrs. Wilkinson 4018 !).—MV. Kanara: Kalanaddi (Ritchie).

Flowers: May 1904 (S. M. Country); June 1918 (W. of Dharwar); July

1918 (Salsette).

Distribution : Tropical Himalaya from the Punjab eastwards to Nepal,

Sikkim and Bhutan, up to 4,000 ft, Assam, Khasia Hills, Chota Nagpur,

Konkan, Kanara, Deccan, Circars, Walayar, Malabar Coast, Ceylon, Burma,

Malav Peninsula, Siam, Java, Philippines.

21. AFRIDES Lour. (Cke. ii, 699).

Species about 50.—Eastern Asia.

Cooke mentions 3 species: A. macilosum, A. crispum and A. vadicosum.

For the latter we substitute the name A. vingens Fischer. Key in Cke. l. c.

1. Aerides maculosum Lind]. in Bot. Rep. (1845) t. 58; Dalz. & Gibs. FI.

Bomb..266; Hook. f. F.B.1. vi, 45; Prain Beng. P].. 1020; Cke. 11, 699 ; Haines

Bot. ‘bit. Ge Oral132" Fischer FI. Madras, pt. viii (1928) 1442.—Saccolabium

sfectosum Wight Ic. tt. 1674, 1675.

Description : Cke. ii, 699.

Locality: Konkan: Near Vehar Lake in Salsette.—W. Ghats: Lonavla .

(Garade!); Khandala (Hallberg!) ; Panchgani (Cooke, Alice Pigott!) ;

Mahableshwar (Cooke!).—S. 7. Country: Belgaum, west face of Cheeta

Hill (Ritchie 713).

Flowers: Jan. 1927 (Salsette) ; May 1902 (Poona).

Distribution : Chota Nagpur, Konkan, S. M. Country, W. Ghats of Bombay

and Madras Pres., up to 4,500 ft.

2. Aerides crispum Lindl. in Wall. Cat. (1828) 7319; Dalz & Gibs. FI.

Bomb: 265; Hook. f.'F.8.1. vi. 453 Cke-11,, 700; Bischer Blo Madras.) pt. vant,

1442.— A. Lindleyana Wight Ic. t. 1677.

Description : Cke. ii, 700.

Locality « Konkan: Between Khandala and Karjat (Herb. St. IC Dis

near Vengurla (Dalzell & Gibson); Wari country (Dalzell & Gibson).—

W. Ghats: Khandala (Hallberg!); Panchgani (Blatter!) ; Mahableshwar,

very common (Blatter 230!, M. Ezekiel 26572!).—S. M7. Country - Devarayi,

S. M. Railway, 1,800 ft. (Sedewick 4087 bis!}.—N. Kanara: Yellapur, 1,500 ft.,

rainfall 100 in. (T. R. Bell 6061 !).

Flowers : May 1903 (Poona); June 1925 (Mahableshwar).

Fruit ; March 1917 (Between Khandala and Karjat).

Distribution : Bombay Pres., Nilgiri and Pulney Hills, 3,000-4,000 ft.

3. Aerides ringens Fischer Fl. Madras, pt. viii, 1442.—Saccolabtum ringens

Lindl. in Wall. Cat. 7313; Gen. & Sp. Orchid. 220.—Aerides radicosum

A: Rich. in “Ann.'Sc. Natcser.’2, xv “C184i) 65,00. a eC Sblook: fob sels

vi, 46; Cke. ii, 700.—A. lineare Hook. f. 1. c. 47; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. iv (1898)

189.— Saccolabium lineare Lindl. in Wall. Cat. 7312.—S. paniculatum Wight

Ic. t. 1676.—S. Wightianum Lindl. in Wall. Cat. 7303; Gen. & Sp. Orchid.

221 (excl. syn.); Wight Ic: t. 917.—-S. rubrum eS Ic. 1673 {zon Lindl.).

As Aerides ringens Fischer is a combination of 2 species which were consi-

dered to be distinct before, we are going to give a description including the

characters of A. radicosum and A. lineare.

Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. PLATE IX.

Del. C. McCann after Miss E. Bell.

Luisia truncata Blatter and McCann, sp. nov.

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 491

_ Description: Stem short, 4-17 cm. long, as thick as the thumb, with very

stout simple vermiform roots. Leaves thickly coriaceous, 10-42 by 0°1-2°5 cm.;

scymitar-shaped, linear or linear-oblong, unequally 2-lobed at the apex, keeled,

often mottled with purple, bases closely imbricating. Flowers from nearly

white to deep rose-pink, in simple or branched racemes or panicles shorter or

longer than the leaves; bracts minute, ovate, acute, persistent ; pedicels with

ovary 6-16mm. long. Sepals suborbicular ; lateral sepals 6 mm. lony and as

broad as long, broadly elliptic or suborbicular ; dorsal sepal 8 by 4mm.., elliptic,

obtuse. Petals narrower. Lip 3-lobed; side lobes very smail; midlobe

ovate ; disk with 2 large basal calli; spur cylindric, obtuse, incurved. Anther

beaked ; caudicle of pollinia short, subtriangular ; gland large.

Locality: Konkan: Salsette (Dalzell & Gibson).—W. Ghats : Mahableshwar

(Woodrow !).—S. M7. Country - W. of Astoli (Sedgwick 2523 !).—N. Kanara :

Near Kanapa on the Kalanaddi (Ritchie 715) ; in forests (T. R. Bell 4089!).—

Growing on trees and rocks.

Flowers; July 1917 (S. M. Country).

Distribution: Konkan, S. M. Country, N. Kanara, W. Ghats of Bombay

and Madras Pres., 800-8,000 ft., Ceylon.

22, Luista Gaud. (Cke. ii, 791).

Species 35.—Tropical Asia to Japan.

Cooke gives 2 species as belonging to the Bombay Pres. We add 4 new

species.

Key :

I. Petals as long as the lateral sepals or only

slightly longer

1. Petals linear-oblong, obtuse Toe 2 teveu1 ora.

2. Petals strap-shaped, truncate 2a La Ivuncala.

II. Petals much longer than the lateral sepals

1. Leaves not caudate

a. Leaves rounded at apex 3. £L. tenutfolia.

6. Leaves sharp-pointed at apex 4. L. pseudotenut-

folta.

c.° Leaves rounded at apex with a short

conical apiculus ; 5. L.macrantha.

2. Leaves long-caudate 6. L. Hvangelinae.

1. Luisia teretifolia Gaud. Bot. Freyc. Voy. (1826) 427, t. 37; Hook. f. F.B.I.

Wigce >. Kino. Pantlh. in Anns Roy. Bot. Gard. Catc. viii .(1898) 202, -¢..2715

Trim. Fl. Ceyl. iv, 190; Prain Beng. Pl. 1018; Brtihl Orch. Sikkim (1926)

123; Fischer Fl. Madras, pt..vi, (1928). 1438.—Cymb6idium triste Roxb. Hort.

Beng. (1814) 63; Bot. Mag. ie 3618 : Wight Ic. t. 911 (Zext. tantum).—C. tenut-

folium Wight. Ic. t. 1689 (textu excl.).

Locality : Konkan: Vettora (Sabnis!).—S. 17. Counlry : Devicop (Sedg-

wick 5786!).—M. Kanara: Usheli (Ritchie 1417) ; Wadehukli, 1,500 ft.

(T. R. Bell 6078 ! 6zs.), in forests (T. R. Bell 5414 !).

Flowers : May 1919.

Distribution: Sikkim, Khasia Hills, Bengal Pegu, Andamans, Konkan,

S. M. Country, N. Kanara, W. Ghats of Madras Pres., 3,000-4,000 ft., Vizaga-

patam Hills at 4,000 ft., Ceylon.

2. Luisiatruncata sf. zov. Blatter & McCann. [Orchidacea vicina Luisiae

teretifoliae Gaud. et L. brachystachyae Blume, sed differt ab ets folits apice

apiculatis petalis liguliformibus apice truncatts et epichtlio 3-lobulato.|

Description: Stem stout; internodes short. Leaves comparatively stout,

up to 1l cm. long, spreading, flexuose, uniformly thick throughout, green

or greenish, biotched with purple, apiculate at apex. Rhachis a few

mm. long, few-flowered (about 3). Flowers small, atout 10 mm. wide.

Dorsal sepal up to 5 mm. long, a little more than 2 mm. broad, oblong,

acute, slightly concave, tip incurved yellowish green outside, greenish

purplish inside. Lateral sepals ovate, subacute, boat-shaped, size of

dorsal sepal, yellowish green outside, spotted with dingy purple inside.

Petals slightly longer than sepals, strap-shaped, truncate at apex, greenish

yellow on both sides, spreading, tips bent forward and downwards. Lip

492. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL FIST: SOCIETY, Vol. 32x.

in general outline obovate, a little longer than the sepals, about 7 mm.,

purple, deeply constricted between hypochile and epichile ; hypochile quadrate,

concave, a little shorter than the epichile, distal corners rounded ; epichile

broadly ovate, broader than hypochile, 3-lobulate, all lobules rounded, central

one double the diameter of the lateral ones, a few yellow streaks from the

constriction forward. Anther 2-celled. Capsule shortly stalked, about 18 mm.

long, 3-4 min. diam,, slightly thicker upwards, but again contracting towards

the apex. (Described from detailed coloured illustrations prepared under

T. R. Bell’s direction by Miss E. Bell.)

Locality: N. Kanara: Yellapur (T. R. Bell).—W. Ghats: Castle Rock

(T. R. Bell).

Flowers : May 1911.

Fruit: July 1911.

3. Luisia tenuifolia Blume Rumph. iv (1848), 50; Dalz. & Gibs. Fl. Bom,

266; Hook.f. F.B.1. vi, 245 Trim. Fl: Ceyl. iv, 391¢ Fischer Pls Madrasipt. vi

(1928) 1438.—Cymbidium triste Wight Ic. t. 911 (7c. tantum) .—C. tenuifolium

Lindl. Gen. & Sp. Orchid. (1833) 167 ; Grah. Cat. 203.

Locality: Add: W. Ghats : Castle Rock (Bhide!).

Distribution: Konkan, N. Kanara, W. Ghats of Bombay Pres., Madras

Pres. : W. Ghats, Melpat in S. Arcot, near sea-level to 4,000 ft.

4, Luisia pseudotenuifolia sf. 20v. Blatter & McCann.

[Orchidacea similis Luisié tenuifolie Blume a gua tamen differt caulis

internodits longts, foliis ad apicem acumine preditis sepalo laterali apiculato,

sepalo dorsati lineart, longitudine petalorum et labii relativa.|

Description : Stem very long, sleader ; internodes long, 2-2°5 cm. Leaves up

to 20 cm. long, very thin, mostly straight, spreading, forming a knee 2 or 3cm.

from the apex and at the same time becoming much thinner ard finally ending

in a very thin sharp point. Rhachis of spikes few-flowered, up to 14mm. long,

considerably thinner than the stem. Dorsal sepals linear, rounded at apex,

10 mm. long, 2-3 mm. broad ; lateral sepals ovate-oblong, broadly apiculate,

concave, 10 mm. long, 3-4 mm. broad. Petals linear, obtuse at apex, slightly

broadening and bent in the upper half, about 20 mm. long, 2-3 mm. broad.

Lip narrowly panduriform, 13-14 mm. long, 3-4 mm. broad, with 2 small

rounded spreading lobes at the base and 2 short square, diverging lobes at the

apex, these lobes about 2mm. long and over 1mm. broad. Column stout,

much shorter than the lip. Pollinia 2, ovoid. Fruit not seen.

Locality: N. Kanara. In forests (T. R. Bell 5401, type, 5411, cotype).—

Found by T. R. Bell in 1907.

5. Luisia macrantha sf. mov. Blatter & McCann.

[Orchidacea ab omnibus aliis Luisie speciebus distinguitur florum magni-

tudine multo maiore, petalis linearibus 4 cm. attingentibus. Differt a Lutsia

tenuifolia Gaud. cut est vicina labto late oblongo, folits apice conico-apiculatis,

partibus omnibus multo maioribus. |

Description : Stem more than 56 cm. high, stout, almost uniformly so from

base to tip, branched or unbranched, dark brown with green shade, branches

almost the same thickness as the stem; internodes 2°5-3°5 cm. long ; roots

vermiform, stout, up to 20 cm. long. Leaves up to 20cm. by 3 mm,, cylindri-

cal, variable in thickness, light or dark green, spreading or ascending, straight

or flexuose, the tip bluntly rounded with a short conical apiculus at outer side.

Buds triangular in section, subobtuse at apex, arising from a woody cylindrical

support which is covered with membranous closely appressed brownish grey

sheaths, with more opaque, lighter coloured annularedges. Flowers few short

in extraaxillary usually 1-flowered spikes reaching with the peduncle about

2.5em., very large, measuring in their natural state 3 by 3cm., when spread

out, up to 8 cm. wide and over 6 cm. from the tip of the dorsal sepal to the end

of the lip. Sepals equal in size, boat-shaped, 1°6-2°5 by 1-1'5 cm., slightly

subemarginate-apiculate at apex, surface shagreened, apple-green, blotched

with purplish red, lateral sepals underneath mostly purple-red. Petals long

and narrow, linear, pointed obliquely at apex, curved outwards and then

inwards, 2°5-4 cm. by 3 mm., apple-green outside and on the distal half of the

inside, the basal half of the inside nearly completely purple-red. Lip broadly

oblong, slightly dilated before middle, somewhat constricted just before the

‘n0u ds ‘UUeQIN PUB IONVIG VY~jUvsIVIE DISINT

19T °A SSUT 49ff0 UNO DIVE 2°79

‘xX HIVIg "20g 3S1}] “VEN Aequiog ‘vinor

PLATE XI.

Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

y fi

~ id

~ Lf

Ze fi f

Del. C. McCann atter Miss E. Bell,

Luisia Evangeline Blatter and McCann, sp. nov

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 493

endlobes, 2‘5-3 em. long,"5-8 mm. across where broadest, 6mm. broad at base,

endlobes well developed, rounded, diverging ; hypochile very broad at base,

square, with a small rounded lobe at each basal outer corner, separated from

the epichile by an impressed semi-circular curve with the convexity outwards ;

calli on epicnhile 3, parallel and close together, the central one triangular in

section, high, gradually increasing in height forwards to beyond the middle of

its length, then suddenly decreasing to end in the little point separating

the endlobes, the lateral calli very much Jower, roundly convex in transverse

section, slightly higher in centre of their course; endlobes 1°5-3 mm. long.

Colour of lip: Apple-green, the calli darker, endlobes very dark purple,

hypochile dark purple except its margins which are increasingly apple-green

from base forwards, underside apple-green with half its length in centre dark

purple-red. Column opaque white, short, semi-circular in transverse section,

the front completely hollowed and containing the stigmatic surface, the top

slightly concave, the semi-elliptical gland with its 2 sessile anther-lobes separate

one from the other but touching, occupying about} of the area from front back-

wards and sideways; length of column about 5mm., breadth 4mm. Pollen-

masses ovoid, 1 mm. long by less in breadth. Anther-cap squarish with round

corners, broadest in front, convex, divided into 2 by a depressed central line,

separating the 2chambers which underneath are partially covered by a mem-

brane; cap white slightly sprinkled purple. Length of twisted ovary 2°2 cm.

Capsule 3°5-4 cm. long, spindle-shaped, slightly ridged, rising at an angle of 45°.

This species is a very distinct one. On account of the great size of the

flowers and the characteristic shape of the various flower-parts, it cannot easily

be confounded with any other species of the genus.

It comes nearest to Z. ¢fenuifolia but the following points distinguish our

Species at once: The leaves are not rounded at the apex, but conical-apiculate ;

the flowers are much larger in all their parts ; the sepals resemble each other,

all are boat-shaped and the apex is submarginate-apiculate; the lip is not

narrowly pandurate but broadly oblong.

Locality: N. Kanara: In forests (T. R. Bell 5397, 5400, type, 5414, cotype) ;

Yellapur (T. R. Bell 5398); Anmod, on Zizyphus, alt. 2,000 ft. (Sedgwick

3224 !).—We made also use of a coloured plate by Miss E. Bell and MS. notes

by T. R. Bell.

Flowers : Nov. 1919 (Yellapur} ; Dec. 1907 (Anmod). “a

Note: The plants are not easy to see owing to the leaves looking like stems

or twigs and the flower, being always bent with its face to the stem, is most

inconspicuous by reason of the green and red colouring.

6. Luisia Evangeline sf. zov. Blatter & McCann.

[Orchidacea similis Lutsiae tenuifoliae, differt tamen foliis apice longe

caudatis, sepalis lateralibus subfalcatis, dorsali in dorso subcarinato. |

Description: Stem long, slender, olive-green above with dark red-brownish

spots and blotches. Roots very stout, vermiform, fleshy Leaves up to 18cm.

long, 1-2 mm. in width, long-tailed at apex, tail about 2 cm. long and more or

less jointed to rest of leaf, and projecting in a different plane. Buds seen from

side triangular, the dorsal sepal flat and convex, broader than the 2 lateral

mucronate ones which are keeled in the line of junction and rather prominently

winged where they meet the dorsal one. Pedicel half as long as the bud,

springing from a short woody support out of a short rounded brown bract ; if

several arise from one support, the support is just above a leaf, but not

necessarily on the opposite side of the stem ; base of bud suddenly narrowed

into the ovary. Flowers very few, 18 mm. long, 20 mm. broad. Lateral sepals

boat-shaped, slightly falcate, 8 by 3 mm. greenish, base red-brown. Dorsal

sepal slightly longer, dorsally slightly keeled, obtuse at apex, greenish, base

red-brown, spotted with red-brown on back. Petals longer than sepals, narrow,

15 by 1:5 mm.; rounded at apex, upper half apple-green inside, becoming

purple towards the base, outside light purplish. Lip panduriform, about

13 mm. long, broad and square at base with 2 small rounded lobes ; epichile

decreasing in width towards apex, constricted in a wide curve to broaden out

again into 2 diverging up-turned lobes 1'5 mm. long ; disk with 3 calli, one

central rather broad, triangular in transverse section, highest in middle, having

its origin at commencement of epichile, running to and between the lobes, the

lateral, one on each side, immediately contiguous, somewhat broad, but of

uniform height more or less throughout, only o2 epichile ; hypochile smooth,

494 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

flat. Colour of lip: white with a decided green tinge, hypochile dark purple

in the middle throughout its length, each basal lobe with a central dark purple

spot; the epichile sometimes with a chevron-shaped mark (the hollow side

inwards), this chevron being sometimes reduced to a spot ; the purple mark of

the hypochile thinly prolonged on each side, sometimes up to the chevron

which is, however, always separate, each prolongation sometimes reduced to a

spot ; the epichile is separated from the hypochile by a semi-circular slightly

impressed curve, the purple marking of the hypochile bordered irregularly

towards the epichile. Column very short, semi-elliptical in transverse section,

the truncation being the front, slightly broader at top. Pollinia 2, ovoid,

sessile, divergent from contiguous bases; gland large, deep purple-coloured ;

cap nearly pure white, the same shape as in L. fenuzfolia. Capsule spindle-

shaped, stalked, ridged, suberect.

Locality : N. Kanara: Astoli and Chandwadi (T. R. Bell, MS. and painting

by Miss Evangeline Bell).

Flowers: April 1911.

23. CorTrronia Wight (Cke. ii, 792),

Species 2.-Ceyion to China.

We retain the one species given by Cooke:

1. Cottonia macrostachya Wight. Ic. v, pt. 1 (1852) 21, t. 1755; Dalz. & Gibs.

Bomb. FI. 263’; Bot. Mag. t..7099; Hook fF Bal. vi. 26 = irinm, (hl Ceviesy.

203 ; Cke. ii, 702 ; Fischer Fl. Madras, pt. viii, (1928) 1439.

Description : Cke. 1. c.

Locality - Konkan (Stocks, Dalzell4).—N. Kanara: Supa (Ritchie 1424.) ;

Yellapur, 2,000 ft. (Sedgwick 2494 bis!); Astoli (T. R. Bell!) ; without

locality (T. R. Bell 6062 bis !).

Flowers : May 1911 (Astoli) ; May 1917 (Yellapur) ; June 1919 (N. Kanara).

Fruit: May 1911 (Astoli) ; May 1917 (Yellapur).

Distribution: Konkan, N. Kanara, Malabar, Anamalais at 2,000 f¢.,

Travancore, Ceylon.

24, VANDA R. Br. (Cke. ii, 703).

Species about 45.—Tropics and subtropics.

Cooke has 2 species: V. parviflora Lindl. and V. Roxburghii R. Br. ; the

latter name has to be changed into V. fessellata Hook.

1. Vanda parviflora Lindl. in Bot. Reg. xxx (1844) Mise. 45; Wight Ic.

t..1669:;. Hook. fF. B-1. vi,.50; “Grinn. Bl. -Ceyl icin, 1922 Kame sc) Pantie

Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Calc. viii (1898) 215, t. 286; Prain Beng. Pl. 1021; Cke.

ii, 703; Haines Bot. Bih. & Or. 1181; Brtthl Sikkim Orchid. 129; Fischer F1.

Madras pt. viii, (1928) 1444.—Aerides Wightianum Lindl. in. Wall. Cat. 7320 ;

Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 265; Wight Ic. v, pt. i (1852) 8.

Locality: Add: S. WM. Country - Devicop, Dharwar Dist. 1,800 ft. (Sedg-

wick 5927!).—N. Kanara: Yellapur (Sedgwick 2478!) ; Wadchukli (T. R.

Bell !).

Flowers: May 1887 (Poona, cult.); May 1817 (Yellapur); May 1911

(Wadchukli).

Fruit: April 1919 (Devicop) ; May 1917 (Yellapur) ; May 1911 (Wadchukli).

Distribution: Kumaon, Nepal, Sikkim, Assam, Burma, Chota Nagpur,

Konkan, W. “chats, S. M. Country, N. Kanara, in all districts of Madras Pres.

in hilly tracts, 1000-4,000 ft.

2. Vanda tessellata Hook. ex G. Don in Lond. Hort. Brit. 372; Fischer

Fl. Madras pt. viii (1928) 1445; Haines Bot. Bih. & Or. 1181.—-Apidendrum

tessellatum Roxb. Corom. Pl. t. 42.—Cymbidium tessellatum Swartz in Nov.

Act.. Upsal. vi, 75; Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii (1832) 463.—C. tessellotdes Roxb.

Fl. Ind. 1l.c.—Aerides tessellatum Wight in Wall Cat. 7318.—Vanda tesselloides

Reichb. f. Walp. Ann. vi, 864.—V. Roxburghii R. Br. in Bot. Reg. vi (1820)

17506; Wight Ic. t7/ 916: Hook..f-* RB. vi2o2; Erie ie Cey loti, toc

Duthie Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Calc. ix, t. 116; Prain Beng. Pl. 1021; Cke. ii,

704. :

Locality : Gujarat: Chikli (Gibson).--Konkan (Woodrow !).—V. Kanara:

Kalanuddi (Ritchie 1425) ; Astoli (Bell !); in forests (Bell 5399 !).

* ere

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 495

Flowers : April 1911 (Astoli).

Fruit: April 1911 (Astoli).

Distribution : Forests of Dehra Dun and in the sub-Himalayan tracts of

Rohilkhand and N. Oudh, Bengal, Bihar, Chota Nagpur, Central Prov.,

Gujarat, Konkan, N. Kanara, in all districts of Madras Pres., about sea-level to

2,000 ft., Travancore, Ceylon.

25. DIPLOCENTRUM Lindl. (Cke. ii, 704).

Species 2.—India.

1. Diplocentrum congestum Wight Ic. v, pt. 1 (1852) 10, t. 1682; Hook. f.

yl View/or Rowen im look, Ie; Pl. xxvii (1901) {. 26873" Ckes 11,704.

Fischer Fl. Madras, pt. viii (1828) 1449.

Locality: W. Ghats : Castle Rock (T. R. Bell 7505!).—N. Kanara : Sirsi-

Kumpta road (Woodrow !).

Flowers and fruit : May 1920 (Castle Rock).

Distribution ;: N. Kanara, W. Ghats of Bombay and Madras Pres., Travan-

core,

26. ACAMPE Lindl. (Cke. ii, 705).

Species about 15.—East Africa, Madagascar, India, Malacca, China,

There is only one species in Cooke: A. Wightiuna Lindl. We change its

name into A. premorsa.

1. Acampe premorsa zov. comb. Blatter & McCann.—Zpidendrum

premorsum Roxb. Corom. Pl. t. 43.—Cymbidium premorsum Swartz in Nov.

Act. Upsal. vi, 75; Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii (1832) 465.—Aerides praemorsum Grah.

Cat. 204 (won Willd.).—Saccolabium premorsum Hook. f. F.B.I. vi (1890) 62;

Prain Beng. Pl. 1022; Haines Bot. Bih. & Or. 1180.—Acampe Wightiana

Lindl. Fol. Orchid. (1853) 2: Cke. ii, 705; Fischer Fl. Madras, pt. viii (1828)

1447,—A. excavata Lindl. Fol. Orchid. 1. c. 3.—Saccolabium Wightianum

Hook. f. F. B. I. vi (1890) 62; Trim. Fi. Ceyl. iv, 199; Petech in Ann. Roy,

Bot. Gard. Peradeniya 7 (1920) 79-83.—Vanda Wightiana Lindl. ex Wight Ic.

v, pt. 1 (1852) 9, t. 1670.—Saccolabium papillosum Dalz. & Gibs. Bom. FI.

(1861) 264 (zon Lind}.).

Description : Cke. ii, 705.

Locality : Konkan: Kanheri, Thana Dist. (Gamme 16273!); Thana Dist.

(Ryan 5! Herb. Calc.) ; Bhandup (Blatter 25820 !) ; Condita, Salsette (Blatter

25816!); Sion (Blatter 15371!); Indapur (Graiiam).—.S. M/. Country: Belgaum

(Ritchie 716); Devicop (Sedgwick 4084!).—N. Kanara: Dandeli (Sedgwick

2546!); in forests (Bell 5398 !).

Flowers: May.

Fruit; July.

Distribution : Bengal, Chota Nagpur, Bombay Pres., W. Ghats of Madras

Pres., Circars, Godavari Dist., Ceylon.

27. SARCANTHUS Lindl. (Cke. ii, 706).

Species about 90.—Ceylon, India to New Guinea.

Only one species from the Presidency, S. pentnsularis (called by Cooke

peduncularis by mistake).

1. Sarcanthus peninsularis Dalz. in Hook. Kew Journ. Bot. iii (1851) 343;

Dalz & Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 264; Hook.f. F.B.I. vi, 67; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. iv, 200 :

Fischer Fl. Madras, pt. viii (1928) 1447; Rolfe in Kew Bull. (1914) 71.—

S. pauciflorus Wight Ic. (1852) t. 1747.—Saccolabium acuminatum hw.

Enum. Pl. Ceyl. (1861) 304.

Description : Cke. ii, 706. .

Locality: Konkan ; (Stocks 35); Wari country (Dalzell).—N. Kanara:

Kalanaddi (Ritchie 430); Arbail Ghat, 1,550 ft. (Sedgwick 5836 bis!) ; Yellapur,

peo00 tt (LS Re Bell 78204) Anshan E.R Bell).

Flowers : May (Anshi).

Fruit: Aug. 1919 (Arbail Ghat).

é Distribution » Konkan, N. Kanara, W. Ghats of Madras Pres., Travancore,

eylon,

(Zo 6e continued.)

A FEW NOTES ON PERSIAN, AFRICAN AND

INDIAN LIONS IN THE FIRST CENTURY AFTER CHRIST.

Read on Wednesday the 15th July, 1931 before the

Bombay Natural History Soctety.

BY,

Dr, Sik JIVANIJI JAMSHEDII MODI, KT. BA.) PH.D.) (Cie. ol bep:

INTRODUCTION.

The subject of this Paper is suggested by an interesting article,

entitled ‘The Lions of Asia’ by Mr. R. I. Pocock, in a recent issue

of the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Soctely (vol. xxxiv,

No. 3, pp. 638 ff.).. Itis the general account of the lions, and not the

too technical, that has interested me. The object oi this brief paper

is two-fold : |

(1) To submit a few observations on the subject of the lions

from an old Iranian or Persian point of view.

(2) To submit afew notes on the lions of Persia, Africa and India,

as collected from an account of the travels of a Greek ascetic or

sddhti, Apollonius of Tyana, as given by Philostratus the Elder,

on the authority of the Notes of Damis, a disciple of Apollonius,

who accompanied the Greek sédhz in his travels in the countries

of the Iranian Magi and the Indian Brahmins. In these few

Notes, as regards my account of the observations of Apollonius,

I follow a recent publication of the biography of Apollonius,

entitled, ‘ Life and Times cf Apollonius of Tyana, rendered into

English from the Greek of Philostratus the Elder’, by Charles

P. Eells (1923). I will, at first, say a few words on Apollonius

and his travels.

APOLLONIUS OF TYANA.

Apollonius, who is said to have lived for 100 years, was born

about three years before Christ in Tyana, a city of the Greeks which

was the capital of Cappadocia in Asia Minor. He was a follower of

the philosophy of Pythagoras (d. 500 B.C.), who himself was said to

have been a disciple ot Zoroaster, i.e., a follower, to some extent, of

the teachings of Zoroaster.! From his very boyhood, he devoted

himself to the study of philosophy and practised austerities. He is

1 Pythagoras and the Delphian Mysteries, by Ed. Schure, translated

by F. Ruthwell (1918), p. 27.

ee 4

NOTES ON PERSIAN, AFRICAN AND INDIAN LIONS 497

said to have observed complete silence for five years in order to

discipline his mind. Like Gautama Buddha of India, he distributed his

patrimony among the poor, abstained from the company of women,

observed vegetarianism and total abstinence from wine. He is said

to have predicted future events, read the minds of men, and known

what happened in foreign lands. Like the ancient Iranians and like

some of their descendants, the modern Parsees, he prayed to God,

reverencing the Sun thrice a day, offering incense to the deities, who,

he believed, were ‘merely phases and agencies of the Supreme

Deity.’ Like Iarchus, the Indian sage, with whom he had long

interviews, he compared the universe to a ship, God to its captain

and the subordinate deities to the subordinate officers under the |

captain. He believed in metapsychosis. He travelled a good deal

from the Atlantic in the west vza Persia, to the Ganges in the East,

returning to his country, vza the Persian Gulf and Babylon. He

went to the south in Egypt up to the Cataracts of the River Nile. He

is said to have worked some miracles like Christ and some Indian

Brahmins. He was honoured as a god after his death, and, to some

extent, even in his life. After his death, the Emperor Hadrian

founded at Tyanaatemple in his honour and instituted a special class

of priests for worship in that temple. Alexander Severus, another

Roman Emperor, is said to have installed in his ‘ private chapel or

larariunm’ his image, ‘in company with Orpheus, Abraham and Christ’.!

It was Juslia Domna, the queen of the Emperor Septimius Severus,

who deputed Philostratus to write a life of Apollonius on the

authority of the Notes of Damis, spoken of as ‘the Asiatic Boswell of

Apollonius’ 7, that were preserved, and on that of some other

materials which she had collected. Sometime after this, Hierocles, a

Roman pro-consul of the Emperor Diocletian, in his book Candid

Words to Christians, in order to set back ‘the rising tide of

Christianity and in his zeal of comparing and extolling him, showed

Apollonius in a better light than Christ.’ The followers of the

nascent Church, thereupon, began turning the tide upon the fame

of Apollonius and represented him as a charlatan, sorcerer, etc.

This turning of the tide seems to have continued since, especially

with the advancement of new learning.

Some of the feats, attributed to Apollonius, remind us of the feats

of some eastern adepts, e.g. Azar Kaivan of Istakhar or Perseipolis

in Persia, who also is said to have travelled to India, in the time of

Akbar with a number of disciples and stayed in Patna, the seat of

pilgrimage of Buddhist, Brahmin and Jain devotees.

elt

THE LION IN OLD PERSIAN LITERATURE.

Mr. Pocock says: ‘It is a matter of common knowledge that

within historic times the lion extended, so far as Europe and Asia

are concerned, from northern Greece and Macedonia to western

1 Life and Times of Apollonius of. czt., Preface p. 4.

207d, pO.

498 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Bengal. In Europe, Asia Minor and Syria it has long been extinct.’

(p. 641). This statement has led me to look into old Persian books,

to know what is said about lions in those books.

Lion not mentioned in the Avesta Books

Looking to the older Iranian writings of the Avesta, we find

mention made of ferocious beings like the wolf and snakes, but no

mention is made of lions and tigers. So, we may saiely say, that

lions and tigers were not found in the countries where the Avesta

was written. ‘There is a difference of opinion as to the Home of the

Avesta, i.e., as to where the Avesta was written. Scholars like

Dr. Spiegel, Prof. Harlez and Dr. Dillon! said that the Avesta was

(2) co-Achemenian or post-Achemenian and (4) that its Home was

in the West in or towards Media. On the other hand, Prof. Geiger

and other Oriental scholars say that the Avesta was pre-Achazmenian

and pre-Median, and that its home was in the East towards Bactria,

and not in the West towards Media. Most of them say that the Home

of Zoroaster was in the West towards Media, but that he promulgated

his religion and wrote the Avesta in Bactria.

Thus, as the Home of the Avesta was in the east of Persia, in

Bactria, and as we find no mention of the lion in the Avesta, we are

led to think that the lion did not flourish there. The Home of the

Pahlavi writings was west-ward. So, when we find a reference to

the lion in Pahlavi books written in a comparatively western part of

ancient Persia, we are led to think that the lion flourished there, i.e.,

in the western part of the Persian Empire, e.g., in Mesopotamia.

Mr. Pocock’s Association of the Lion with Tigers and

Panthers. The same in a Pahlavi Book.

Mr. Pocock associates the lions with tigers and panthers in one

genus, the genus Panthera and speaks of the three as ‘ these great

Cats’.2. When we look toa very earlier Pahlavi book, the Bundehesh

(the origin 6% of Creation, dehesh, the Iranian Genesis), we find

there some account of the fauna and flora of ancient Persia, but

therein we do not find any mention of the lion. ‘This book has its

origin in a lost Avesta book, known as the Damdad nusk$’. So, as

the lion was not known in the country where Avesta was written, i.e.,

in and about Bactria, we do not find any mention of the lion in

this old Pahlavi book aiso, because it was based on a lost Avesta

book. But we find* the lion referred to in some later Pahlavi

books,°®

(a) Firstly, it is mentioned in the later Bundehesh, known as the

Greater Bundehesh, which, as I have shown in my Bundehesh,® is a

1 The Home and Age of the Avesta translated from the German by

Mr. T. H. Walsh, Bombay, 1887.

2 Jour. Nat: Hvs. Socrety, op. cit., p. 638.

3 Vide my Transliteration and Translation of the Bundehesh, p. 10.

# I am indebted to Mr. Bomanji N. Dhabhar for some of these references.

> The Bundahishn, edited by the late Ervad Tehmuras Dinshaji Anklesaria

(1808)5.p. 142, 4.03.

S/01d 0p. le de.

NOTES ON PERSIAN, AFRICAN AND INDIAN LIONS — 499

later amplification of the original old Bundehesh. There we read

that the tiger, the lion and the panther are mentioned in the class of

wolves. We read: ‘Akhar avartk gtrg sardagian chegin baparg va

shéy va palang. i.e. ‘The other kinds of wolf like the tiger,’ the

lion? and the leopard.?’

We find from this passage that, like Mr. Pocock, the writer of this

later Bundehesh associates the tiger, the lion and the leopard in one

group and he speaks of them, as it were, as ‘ the great Wolves.’

(6) Lion in the Pahlavi Shikand Gumanik V ajar.

The lion is referred to in the Shikand Gumanik Vijar as a ferocious

animal from whom a man is to be afraid. In this respect, he is

classed* with wolves, (ferocious) dogs, and robbers (shir va gurgan

va kalban va diydan). ‘The lion is referred to again in this book as

killing men-at times and as being killed by men at other times.5

‘ digham khadtitint mardi minash sher ¢ aytp sheri munash mardi

bara zaktalunt, 1.e., ‘1 sawa man whom alion killed or a lion whom a

man kiiled. ’

Lion reterred to tn a Pahlavi Pand-nameh.

We find a reference to the lion in the Pahlavi ‘ Pand-nameh-i-Adar-

bad Maraspand’ i.e. the Book of Advice by Adarbad Maraspand who

was a divine ofthe reign of Hormuz Shapur, the grandson of Ardeshir

Babegan. There we reac: ‘ Dayan abi vaam i nephshman tarskads va

ntyokshidar va tarman-bardar yehvinit meman gabré vad abi vaamt

zivandeh avin humanak chegtin shir amat dayan visheh min aishich

stah ta tarcet’ i.e. ‘Be respectful, careful to hear and obedient to

your father and mother, because a man during the life tiie of his

father ‘and ‘mother is like: a lion that is afraid of none-in a

forest.’ Here we find a reference to a lion as the bravest of all

animals.

Derivation of the word ‘ Shir’

The Pahlavi and Persian word ‘ Sfzr’ for lion is derived by Dar-

mesteter from Avesta khshathrya, king (cf. Pahl. Artakhshathra,

Pers. Ardashir)®. Darmesteter gives this derivation, while giving an

account of the process of epenthesis, but does not explain the word.

The lion is said to be the king of animals. Hence, this derivation.

This derivation is supported by what we read in ‘ Pythagoras and

the Delphian Mysteries, by Ed. Schure.’? We read: ‘In their

TP. ye? or le? ys? babr or babr-i biyaen.

2P. yee shér.

ae SKaly palang.

+ Chap. ty 34,5. 37-5. Babe vol. xxiv, .p. 127. The text of Drs: Hoshane and

West (1887), p. 193, 1. 7.

207d. Chapsev,, 32,. Lext, p.. 209; 15 7.

S Etudes Iranniennes, vol. i, p. 106.

7 Ed. Schure’s work Translated by F. Rathwell (1918), p. 27.

500 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

temples darkness reigned in broad daylight. Lamps were lit with-

out humanagency. The Magi gave the name of celestial lion to this

incorporeal fire, the agent that generates electricity which they could

condense or disperse at will.’ We know, that Parsee writings speak

of the sacred fire of the Fire-temple as shéh or king. As a king

rules over, and protects, a country or city, so, the Sacred Fire of a

Temple rules spiritually over a country or city where it is situated

and protects it. This sacred fire which is spoken of as a king was,

as told by this author, called ‘celestial lion.’ Hence the

derivation of the word s7r (lion) from khshathrya, king, seems to be

probable.

THE LION REFERRED TO IN THE ACCOUNT OF eee: S

TRAVELS IN PERSIA.

Now, I will speak of what is said of the lion in Philostratus’s

account of Apollonius’s travels in Persia and India.

Lions tn Mesopotamia, the Western part of

the Persian Empire

Mesopotamia formed a part of the Persian Empire at the time when

Apollonius passed through it towards India. We read about

his travels in this region, that, after passing Ctesiphon and entering

the territory of Babylon, he met the Persian King Verdanes.?

In the account of Apollonius’s approach before Verdanes, we read:

‘About twenty stadia further on, they came upon the largest

lioness they had ever seen, which had just been killed by a party of

hunters from a nearby village, who were shouting over it as a great

curiosity. It certainly proved to be so, for when ripped open it was

found to contain eight cubs. Now the normal period of gestation in

lionesses is six months, and each lioness produces only three litters

in her life, having three cubs in the first litter, two in the second and

only one cub in the third, which is said to be unusually large and

fierce. No credence should be given to the fable that young lions

enaw their way out of the womb through their mother’s body, for

the natural instinct to preserve the race is common to all parents and

their offspring.’ After silently observing the beast for some time,

Apollonius said to Damis: ‘We shall spend one year and eight

months of our pilgrimage with the king of this country, for he will

not let us go sooner; and besides it will be for our advantage to make

that stay. The cubs stand for the eight months and the lioness for

the year as perfect things are to be compared with perfect.’2 The

1 This Verdanes was the Parthian King, known in his country as Behram

Goudarz. This Gudurz is the Gutarzes of Western writers. He was the third

king of the second Arsacide dynasty. He is said to have punished the Israelites

for having killed John the Baptist (Malcolm’s A/zstory of Persia, vol. i, p. 66).

Vide Eucyclopedia Brit., 9th ed., vol. xviii, p. 601.

* Life of Apollonius, op. cit., p. 22,

NOTES ON PERSIAN, AFRICAN AND INDIAN LIONS _ 501

stay of Apollonius in the court of the Persian king, lasted 18 months

as predicted by Apollonius.

We gather the following facts about the lion from Philostratus’s

account of Apollonius’s visit of Mesopotamia: :

1. An extraordinary big lioness had eight cubs in her womb.

2. The normal period of gestation in lionesses is six nionths.

3. Each lioness produces only 3 litters in her life. She has

three cubs in the first litter, two in the second and one in the third.

This last one is unusually large and fierce.

4, There was a belief at the time that young lions gnawed

their way out of the womb through their mother’s body. But that

was a wrong belief.

5. People took some predictions from animals like the lions.

An Iranian King’s Hunt of Lions at Babylon.

From Apollonius’s account of the Iranian king’s hunt at Babylon,

we gather the following :

(a) The Iranian kings had a preserve at Babylon where lions,

bears and leopards were kept for their hunt.

(6) The king used beaters who harassed the beasts, and fenced

them in’ ‘so that they cannot protect themselves in their own way.’ !

We learn from this statement that the modern Indian practice of

kings (a) to have their own preserves and (4) to take the help of

beaters in the hunt, is very old, more than about 2,000 years old.

As to what is said about harassing the lions, etc., and forcing them

into an enclosed fence and then hunting them, that does not seem to

be now practised in India. I had the pleasure of seeing in December

1924, through the courtesy of the present Maharaja of Oodepur—‘ the

Kashmir of Rajputana ’—who was then a prince, atiger-hunt and I saw

that there was no forcing the animals within a fence.

Lions in the country round Taxala, in the Eastern part

of the Persian Emptre.

At the time of Apollonius’s visit to India, Taxala and the

country round about it formed the eastern part of the Persian

Empire. It was ruled over by Phraotes ?, a Parthian king. Apollo-

nius had an interview with that king and he speaks thus akout

the order of Fhraotes to his lion-tamers: ‘They must never

strike the lions, because lions once beaten never forget the

injury ; nor must they pat them, because they would become spoiled ;

but they could make them docile by stroking them softly and showing

the whip at the same time.’ Apollonius thought this instruction

about curbing the lion to be equally useful for curbing tyrants. In

this connection, we find a reference to AXsop’s lion. Damis says to

Apollonius: ‘ Asop tells of another lion, in a den, who, he says, was

not really ill though he pretended to be, and who used to pounce on

any beasts which came to see him.’

Tbid, Bk. i, 38. Life of Apollonius op. cit., p. 33.

? This Phraotes seems to be Phraotes V (Vide Aucyclopedia Britannica,

Uthred; Voleot3;"p. 600;-colt.22)

> Bk. vii, 30. The Life of Apollonius, op. cit., p. 204,

502 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIS7. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Wws

AFRICAN LIONS.

We find two references to the lions of Africa: (a2) A reference to

the lions of Egypt and (6) A reference to the lions of Ethiopia

(modern Abyssinia).

The Story of an African Lion: Its Metam psychosts.

In this account of Apollonius’s visit, we find the story of an Afri-

can lion associated with the belief in metampsychosis. We read:

‘A beggar was leading a lion about in a leash like a dog,! which

fawned on its master and on any one else who came near. They

begged their way about the towns, and even went into the temples, as

the animal was pure and did not lick up the blood of victims, nor try

to get at their skinned and cut up carcasses, contenting himself with

honey-cakes, and rolls, and sweetimeats and cooked flesh. He would

even drink wine at times, without being affected by it. Apollonius

being seated in a temple, this lion came up to him and gently rubbed

against his knees, soliciting him alone, of all the men there’.1 Some

thought that he was begging money, but Apollonius said, ‘ He is

begging me to tell you whose soul he has. He was that Amasis who

was a king of Egypt in the Saitic Province. On hearing that, the lion

howled mournfully and groaned pitifully, crouching and actually

shedding tears.’ Then Apollonius said, patting him: ‘I think this

lion should be sent to Leontopolis and be kept in the temple there.

I do not think it right that a king, who has been metamorphosed

into an especially royal beast, should wander about as a beggar.

Thereupon the assembled priests made sacrifice for Amasis and sent

the animal into Egypt adorned with a coilar and fillets, while they

played on flutes and chanted hymns and song's about him.’

Lions of Ethtopia.

We read the following about Ethiopian lions in the life of Apollo-

nius: ‘ They saw lions and leopards and beasts of that description

near the trail, which did not molest the party, but got out of their

way as if afraid of man. ‘They also saw deer, gazelles, ostriches,

zebras in great numbers, and still more numerous wild cattle (buffa-

loes ?) and ox-goats (gnus ?). Of these animals the wild cattle are a

combination of the bull and the stag ; and the ox-goats are a compound

of the animals whose names they bear. The party often came across

bones of these beasts, and their half-eaten carcasses ; for lions, after

gorging themselves with a recent kill, would abandon the remnants,

trusting to the success of their next hunt, as I suppose.’ 3

Vi:

LIONS IN INDIA.

We find several references to Indian lions in Philostratus’s account

of Apollonius’s visit of India.

* We observe even now, practices of this kind in India, wherein beggars

lead about animals like a cow, a goat, a bear, etc., and ask fo1 alms.

2 Ibid, Bk. v, 42, p. 146.

* Bk. vi, 24. Lifeof Apollonius,,op: cits, 172:

NOTES ON PERSIAN, AFRICAN AND INDIAN LIONS _ 503

Lions abounding in India.

From the account of the return of Apollonius from India, where he

lived for about four months in a hili-town, we learn, that on approach-

ing the Erythrean Sea,! he passed through a country abounding

with ‘many ostriches and buffaloes, many asses and lions and leopards

and tigers, and a different kind of ape from those found in the pepper-

trees, these being black and bristly, shaped iike a dog and about as

large as a Small man.’?

(a) Lions and Apes as enemies in India.

Indians protect Apes.

In the account of Apollonius’s visit to India, we find a curious

instance of how apes help men, and so, are helped in return by men

against lions. In one mountainous place there grew pepper-trees in

abundance ‘in precipitous rocks inaccessible to men.’ The apes

thus helped men in collecting pepper from the trees on these

inaccessible cliffs. ‘The native method of procuring the pepper

is to gather the berries from the few trees which grow below

the cliffs, wherever they can be reached, and then to clean a space

about each tree, on which they fling the berries down as if getting

rid of a useless thing to which they attach no value. Meantime

the apes are watching these proceedings from the inaccessible

cliffs, and when night comes they imitate these actions of the

natives by plucking the berries from their own pepper-trees in

high glee and throwing them down onthe places cleared by the men.

Next day the Indians come and take away those piles of spices, which

have been gathered without any labour of their own, while they were

asleep at their ease.’%

Now, Philostratus, the biographer of Apoilonius, says that the

lions in this part of the country* killed the apes for their food. So,

the natives defended the apes ‘ from lions with dogs and weapons ’5

and killed the lions. |

(6) Lionesses breeding with Leopards. ~

Mr. Pocock, in his above-mentioned article, thus speaks about

spotted lions: ‘It is .well-known that newly-born lion cubs are not

uniformly tawny in hue like the adults; and it was stated by

Lydekker (Game Animals of India, p. 293, 1924) that their spotted

pattern proves the descent of the lion from a spotted progenitor, like

the panther. Unfortunately for this theory lion. cubs are by no

means always spotted.’® Then, referring to a certain lion cub

Mr. Pocock says: ‘If we take this cub as a criterion, it appears to

supply evidence that the ancestor of the lion in the matter of pattern

stood midway between the panther and jagaur on the one hand and

the tiger on the other; and this pattern is strong corroborative

1 ‘The whole expanse of sea between Arabia and Africa.’

27000) Wa ei1l,.00 5.) Del Oo.

3 Ibid, Bk. iii, 4, pp. 35-66.

* The country is spoken of as ‘the range of the Caucasus which extends

towards the Erythrean Seas.’ This seems to be the Hindukoosh.

5 Jbid; Bk. iii, 4, p..65.

504 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

testimony of the close kinship between lions, tigers and panthers.’?

This view, that, in some cases, lion cubs are the offspring of the

lionesses’ union with tigers, is supported by what we read in the

account of Apollonius’s, visit to India: ‘It is said of lionesses

that they accept leopards, as their lovers, and entertain them in

the lions’ lairs in the plains’, (6) that ‘when their preg-

nancy (by the leopards) is nearly over they run away to the hiiis

where the leopards range’3, (c) that ‘the cubs they bring forth are

spotted like their sires (i.e. the leopards)’*, and (d) that ‘for that

reason the lionesses hide them from the lions and suckle them in

distant thickets, pretending to go there to hunt by themselves ; tor any

such cubs which the lions discover they tear to pieces as_ bast-

ards.’> Apollonius, in his conversation with Damis, refers to one

of Homer’s lions, which ‘ glares fiercely about and nerves himself to

fight for his litter of cubs.’®

Flesh of Lion eaten by Indians.”

When Apollonius came toa region between the Caucasus and

the Kophen river, he came across a people who ate the flesh of lions.

We read: The nomads ‘raised a joyful shout and called them nearer,

and on their approach held out to them a wine which they make very

skilfully from dates, and honey obtained from the same trees,

together with slices of lion and leopard meat which had just been

skinned.’ We read further on that, at times, lions were cookea

and ‘served up whole.’® The account of the feasting of the eastern

Iranians on lions, etc., is interesting, and so, I will quote it at some

length: ‘The king reclines on a couch, and near him recline not

more than five of his kindred, but all the other guests sit during the

meal. A circular table is set in the midst, which is about knee-high,

like an altar, of a size which thirty men could encircle by taking

hands like a chorus. On this table are scattered laurel leaves, and

another leaf like myrtle, which the Indians use as perfume. Fish

and fowl are set on it, with lions, antelopes and swine. served up

whole: but only the hind quarters of tigers, for they are unwilling to

eat the rest of that animal, because they say that as soon as it is

born, it lifts its fore-paws to the rising sun. Each guest rising in

turn goes from his seat to the table and selects or carves tor himself

his portion of the dishes set on it, which he brings back to his piace

and eats there,*®° accompanying it with a great deal of bread. When

all have enough to eat, gold and siiver bowls are passed around

to them, one for every ten guests, from which they drink, stooping

their heads to it like sheep at a trough.’?1

Wot. 2 0d, Bk, Wis 14, pease 2 907d ea word, 2 WOU eo LOT.

7 The India, referred to by Damis in his account of Apollonius, on which

the life of Apollonius as given by Philostratus depends, began from a reyion on

the west of modern India. ‘The mountainous region on the west of India was

known as the Caucasus. This western region had Taxala as its capital and

it was ruled over by an Iranian King, Phraotes, who'was a Parthian.

§ Ota ik liao:

2 TOGA NOV eo:

10 IT remember attending some such dinners at Sweden when I went to

Stockholm in 1889. ‘There also the guests serve themselves.

11 Jbid, Bk. ii, 28, pp. 53-54. If the Parthians were Zoroastrian, this custom

of drinking from the same cup looks strange as it is non-Zoroastrian.

THE VERNAY SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF THE

EASTERN GHATS

(ORNITHOLOGICAL SECTION).

HuGuH WHGISTLER, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U., ASSISTED BY N. B. KINNEAR,

M.B.O.U.

(With two maps and one text-figure.) |

In the Journal for July 1930 (vol. xxxiv, pp. 386-403), we furnished

an introductory account of the genesis of the Vernay Survey of the

Eastern Ghats and the work which it was expected to accomplish.

The introduction was then followed by a preliminary report on the

first collection which was sent in by Mr. LaPersonne from the Salem

district. Since that report was written, the work of the Survey in the

field has been completed, and the whole collection has been received

at the British Museuin.

The speed with which the specimens from the various collecting

camps reached England and the paucity of field-notes from some of

the camps, have led us to abandon the idea of reporting separately on

the birds from each locality. It was found that this would lead to a

good deal of reduplication of work. Single birds would take as much

-time to identify as complete series. Whilst in those cases where

revision of a species or group was required, it wouid be sheer waste

of time to write out in detail the results of an examination, whose

value and results might be affected by material received in a subse-

quent batch.

No further local report has therefore been written. In the mean-

time, however, much work has been put in on the collections. We

now propose to start the publication, in batches, of the result of our

examinations of the collection as a whole.

It will, however, be desirable to explain, first of all, the manner in

which we propose to deal with our material.

After a good deal of consideration, we have decided to deal with

the survey material from two aspects, that of the Madras Presidency

as a politically defined area, and from the general aspect of Indian

Ornithology.

There can be no doubt that, ornithologically, the Madras Presidency

is the least known part of India. It is not easy to understand why

this should be so, but the fact remains. We think therefore it will be

useful to write our: report in the form of an account of the birds of

the Madras Presidency, mentioning all species which have been

recorded from the Presidency whether they have been met with by

the Survey, or not. Under each species we shall detail briefly all that

is recorded about it from within the Presidency limits. Our idea is

that this account should bring to the notice of observers within the

Presidency the points on which they can supplement published

knowledge. The distribution of even the most common birds is

imperfectly known, and if our account serves to underline this fact

there will certainly be a response from local observers who alone can

fill in the deficiencies.

Here a word of explanation 1 is due. Since we started the prepara-

tion of this aspect of the report, Messrs. Inglis and H. R. Baker

506. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIAL Yayo neem

have published a book on the Birds of Southern India, by which is

meant virtually the Madras Presidency. We have had to consider,

therefore, whether this book nullifies this aspect of our report. We

do not however think so. The authors expressly state that their book

is a compilation, and it consists mainly of extracts from the new

edition of the Aauza. The distributions are written in general terms

and express not so much what are known to occur as what may be

expected to occur. The result is not very accurate as the differences

between the widely different areas included in the Presidency are

marked and not always easy to foresee. We have therefore continued

our original design, and because, (as explained below), we

have gone back to original records. We have not quoted from the

book except in respect of those records which are clearly original and

published for the first time. This will explain why our account of

the distribution of species in the Madras Presidency does not always

agree with those in this book.

With regard to those species actually obtained by the Survey, we

have gone into far greater detail. We have sought to make the

new specimens the vehicle for a revision of the species represented.

To this end we have done a great deal of work which will never

appear on paper.

The first thing has been to coliect and collate ail published records

that we could find bearing on the species within British India proper,

keeping as a rule to the boundaries of British India, but taking cog-

nizance of any records from Baluchistan, Kashmir, Assam, Burma and

Ceylon which might appear to be useful and pertinent. These

records have been plotted out on skeleton maps of India, similar

to those used in the Wammal Survey. ‘These published records have

further been supplemented by any records we have collected from

private correspondence and from the examination of specimens.

When the known range of the species within British India has thus

been accurately discovered we have set ourselves to revise the

question of geographical races. To this end we have examined

and measured a vast amount of material. The main body of our

material has of course been furnished by the huge collections of the

British Museum. ‘These have, however, been turned over by numbers

of workers in the past 50 years. Our hope of finding new results of

value are based on the fact that we have supplemented the material

in the British Museum not merely with the specimens procured by

the Survey, but by the large amount of fresh material contained in

Dr. C. B. Ticehurst’s collection from Sind and the large collections

made in 16 years’ service in N.-W. India by one of the authors of this

report. In addition we have examined many other specimens

contained in the Society’s own collection as well as valuable material

kindly provided by Mr. H. W. Waite, Colonel R. Sparrow, Colonel

R. Meinertzhagen, Mr. A. E. Jones, Rev. F. S. Briggs, Mr. C. M.

Inglis, Mr. D'Abreu of the Central Museum, Nagpur, the Director of

the Zoological Survey, Calcutta, and Dr. Gravely of the Madras

Museum. It will be a long time before so much material is again

available, assembled for examination. We are obliged also to Dr.

C. B. Ticehurst for reading through our manuscript and assisting us

on many points.

VERNAY SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF EASTERN GHATS 307

In estimating the question of geographical races in India, we have

somewhat departed from the customary method of procedure. This

is to take the specimens from an established type locality as a basis,

comparing all others with them as a starting point. This would be

an excellent method if a type locality were originally fixed on

scientific principles, so that one might deduce from it some fact such

as the origin of the parent form. But it has seemed to us that the

basis of the type locality, as at present established under the rules of

priority in nomenclature, is necessarily haphazard and unscientific. To

take the first species on our list for instance—the Jungle Crow—we

find that Poona has been fixed as the type locality for the form

culminatus on grounds of nothing more or less than _ historical

accident. If the geographical races of the bird in India were negligible

and science was merely concerned withthe Jungle Crow asa species,

a central type locality like this might be an advantage. But

examining the races of the bird and finding marked differences in the

bird at the three points of the Indian triangle, differences almost

sufficient to separate three species if there were not connecting inter-

mediate areas, we can only regard as unfortunate a type locality near

the area, where all three races intergrade.

In our examination of every species, therefore, we have at first

entirely disregarded published opinions and the established type

localities of the Indian area. We have worked out the apparent

Indian races with their distribution de zovo and then to the result

have applied the existing names and type localities. By this means

we are able to recognize races which would not be so apparent by the

method of comparing extremes, not with each other, but with an

intermediate.

We are afraid that field-workers in India may not relish the fact

that in many cases we have had to differ from the sub-species as

recognized in the Mew Fauna. We are in sympathy with their

feelings. Twenty years ago, working ornithologists in India were

almost alone in the world in the happy possession of a uniform

nomenclature, that of Blanford and Oates in the first edition of the

Fauna. They worked to a uniform and neatly numbered catalogue.

But it was at the cost of a static separation from the progress

in ornithology in the rest of the world. The perfection of their

happy separation has made their re-entry into world-currents the more

difficult. European ornithologists have had a complete generation of

gradual changes in which to accomplish the change to recognition of

subspecies and the strict application of the laws of priority. Indian

ornithologists have paid the penalty for compressing these changes

into a dozen years, the usual penalties for haste. The AHazndlist

upset the firmly established nomenclature of Blanford and Oates.

Then the new Fauna upset the Handlist, and was again itself upset

by its own volumes of synonymy and corrigenda. Now we fear that

we snall propose a number of changes that will not agree even with

the revised list in vols. vii and viii of the Vew Fauna.

1 For the sake of brevity we propose to refer to the Fauna of British India,

Birds by Blanford and Oates, 4 vols. 1889-1895 as the Old Fauna and to the

Fauna of British India, Birds, second edition, by E. C. Stuart Baker, § vols.

1922-1930 as the New Fauna.

$08 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

These changes will be found to fall into two categories. In some

instances we are tunable to agree with the names in the check-list of

vols. vii and viii for reasons concerned with the ordinary application

of the rules of nomenclature. Inthe majority of instances, however,

the changes will be found due to the fact that we are unable to agree

with the subspecies as defined in the Vew Fauna. This is partly due to

the fact that we have examined more materialthan Mr. Stuart Baker,

some of which was not available when he wrote. We have thereby

been compelled sometimes to recognize races on ditterences which, to

some, may seemsmall. But we consider that the study of races must

be consistent. If the possession of a large beak is sufficient to

separate Parus major newtoni of the British Isles from the continental

form, the fact that J/icroscelis psarvoides in Ceylon has a larger beak

than in Peninsula India is also sufficient for the creation of a

subspecies. The fact itself was recognized by Hume 50 years ago.

It is useless recognizing the north-western and south-western races

of Pomatorhinus horsfieldit and denying recognition to the other

equally marked races. A small difference is just as important as a

large difference provided that it is constant and is recognizable under

the usual 75 per cent. rule.

One thing however Indian ornithologists must clearly recognize.

Under the binomial system of the O/d Fauna, clear-cut distributions

were easy and possible. A species occurs or does not occur in an area

and the only doubt on the point is the credibility of the evidence.

Under the trinomial system it is seldom possible to define the ranges

of the different subspecies in a continental area like India, because

of the intergrading between the subspecies, which are generally easily

distinguished at their further limits and grade inwards to a common

centre. The worker at Cape Comorin and at Peshawar will have

little difficulty in identifying his subspecies. The man in the Northern

Central Provinces will, on the other hand, be able to be positive about

very few races amongst the wide-spread species. This difficulty

cannot be got over and it becomes more apparent with every

increase in the number of specimens available. It is not peculiar to

India, but to all coatinental areas and species with wide continuous

distribution.

We do not think that there is much to be gained from the use of

the ss signs to express this intergrading. These may be useful ina

report on a single collection from an isolated and little-known area.

But once full material is available from a large and continuous area,

one is forced to make a choice of either dropping these signs

altogether or using them in sucha variety of combinations that their

value entirely disappears. Remeinbering therefore that nomencla-

ture is but a system of labels and convenience, and not in itself an

end, we have entirely dropped these symbols and have given our

distributions as far as possible in general terms, placing the birds of

intermediate areas under those forms with which their inclusion

appears most satisfactory.

Finally, we should like to emphasize that there is still much more

to be learnt about Indian birds, especially as regards distribution,

migration and local movements. There is a huge area in the centre

VERNAYV SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF EASTERN GHATS _ 509

of the Peninsula between the Central Provinces and the southern

boundary of Mysore which is virtually unknown. and over which

we have found no indication of the distribution of the inost common

species. So we urge all members of the Society to write to the

Journal on any point, large or small, on which they can correct or

supplement our conclusions.

In our introductory report we emphasized the debt of gratitude

which ornithologists in general, and those of India in particular, owed

to Mr. A.S. Vernay for making it possible for the Society to carry

out the Eastern Ghats Survey. Now that all the specimens have

come to hand, we would like to add that the results have fully

justified the expense and trouble involved. Many new forms will

need to be described from the collection. In addition, much new

light has been thrown on the distribution and races of many other

species already well known in other parts of India.

In all, about 1,550 birds were collected by Mr. V. S. La Personne

who is to be warmly congratulated on the keenness and energy with

which he pushed through the Survey. In the course of a year’s

collecting in places that were often wild and very unhealthy, he

maintained the greatest interest in his work until the moment when

malaria proved too much for the Survey, and compelled a curtailing

of its programme. We are happy to be able to state that the

meinbers of the Survey are now fully recovered from the effects of

their malaria. A special word of praise is due tothe way in which

Mr. La Personne prepared his skins. From first to last, the birds

have been collected with a uniform level of technical skill that can

seidom have been surpassed.

For purposes of record we have, under each species, given a list

of the actual specimens coliected in the course of the Survey with a

summary of their measurements. Unless otherwise stated, the

ineasurement of the bill is taken froin the actual base at the skull in

a direct line to the tip. The tail measurement is taken with callipers.

One point is inserted between the base of the two central feathers ;

the other is extended to the tip of the longest feather, whether

central or external. The wing and tarsus are measured in the

customary way.

Under the heading of each form. we have inserted the original

reference, date and type locality on which that name is based. In

those cases where a summary of the Indian forms is-given under the

account of the race obtained by the Survey, the reference is inserted

in the summary and not under the heading. Inthese summaries we

have not arranged the races in chronological order. The sequence

has been determined only by the convenience of each particular case

and so varies. A bibliography of papers and records referring to

the Madras Presidency with a note on previous collectors who have

worked there will be given as an appendix.

A map has been specially prepared under the auspices of

the Royal Geographical Society to show the collecting camps

and the principal features of the Madras Presidency.!. Asthecamps

eventually differed somewhat from the original programme, detailed

+ This map was specially drawn by Mr. H. F. Milne, and we are much

obliged to him for the excellence of his work.

510. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

on pp. 387-8 of our introductory report, we now give the following

summary of them.

ITINERARY

Salem District—

8th April 1929 to 7th May 1929.

- Kurumbapatti Forest Reserve 1,000-1,500 ft.

10th May 1929 to 26th May 1929.

Shevaroy Hills. Camps at varying altitudes 3,500-5,000 ft.

28th May 1929 to 9th June 1929. Foot of Chitteri Plateau 1,500-2,000 ft.

10th June 1929 to 17th June 1929. East Chitteri Hills 3,000 ft.

19th June 1929 to 24th June 1929. Plains north of Chitteri Hills 500-1,000 fi.

Trichinopoly District— :

Ist July 1929 to 12th July 1929.

30 miles from Trichinopoly town,

South Arcot District—

14th July 1929 to 25th July 1929.

Gingee forest and open country around Tindivanam,

South Cuddapah District—

29th July 1929 to 28th August 1929.

Balapalli, Paikonda Hills 1,000 ft.

30th August 1929 to 21st September 1929.

Kodur. Below Palkonda Hills 500-1,000 feet.

23rd September 1929 to 27th October 1929.

Guvalacheruv 1929. Seshachalam Hills 2,000 ft.

South Kurnool District—

29th October 1929 to Ist December 1929.

Diguvametta, Nallamalai Hills 2,000 ft.

2nd December 1929 to 2nd January 1930.

‘Cumbum Valley, Cumbum, 1,000-1,500 ft.

Godavari Delta—

4th January 1930 to 31st January 1930.

Godavari Delta.

Vizagapatam Districti—

4th February 1930 to 28th February 1930.

Eastern Ghats. Anantagiri 3,000 ft.

Ist March 1930 to 19th April 1930.

Eastern Ghats. Sankrametta 3,500 ft.

20th April 1930 to 15th May 1930.

Eastern Ghats. Jeypore Agency.

18th May 1930 return Bombay.

Corvus macrorhynchos culminatus Sykes.

Specimens collected :—91 Q 19-4-29, 104 2 21-4-29 Kurumbapatti; 294 ¢

30-5-29, 391 9 12-6-29 Chitteri Hills, 2,000 ft. ; 1412 2 19-2-30 Anantagiri 3,000 ft.

Measurements—

: Bill. Wing. ail: ‘Tarsus.

yes 62 278 176 945 mm,

42 56 5-58 25 2/9-297 167-174 55mm.

As remarked in our first report (xxxiv, 390) there has been much difference of

opinion as to the correct systematic treatment of the Jungle-Crow. Since we

wrote, the question of whether this bird should be accepted as conspecific with

the Australian coronoides has been settled in the negative (Hartert, Mov. Zool.

xxxv, p. 53, 1929), and in his final volume Mr. Stuart Baker has accepted the

change, regarding the Asiatic forms as forming one group, He has however

fallen into the error of calling the species /evaillantz. As pointed out by

Delacour (/67s 1930, p. 599), mzacrorhynchos is the older ard correct name.

We are by no means certain, however, that further investigation will not show

that the Jungle-Crows are merely oriental races of Corvus corone. 1t must be

remembered that the two forms are exceedingly difficult to differentiate both in

the museum and the field, and much of the supposed overlapping on the

borders of N.-W. India is demonstrably due to wrong identification.

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VE TENVAVOSCIENTTIICG SORVEV OF EASTERN GHATS 511

As regards the races of Jungle-Crow within Indian limits there has been also

some difference of opinion. To take two recent instances: Mr. Stuart Baker

divides the birds of the Peninsula into’ two races levatllanti and culininatus.

The former, he considers, occupies ‘ the whole of India south of the Himalayas,

as far South as the Deccan and on the East to about the latitude of the Madras

Presidency. To the North-east it is found up tothe Bay of Bengal, but East

of the Brahmaputra its place is taken by the Burmese form’. Culminatus, on

the other hand, he considers as occupying ‘ India in the Madras Presidency

southwards, the Deccan and South through Malabar and Travancore to the

South of Ceylon’.

Meinertzhagen however (Nov. Zool. xxxiii, 1926, p. 85) differed considerably

from this treatment. He placed the boundary between the two forms far lower

in the Peninsula, namely ‘ south at least to Madras and the Nilgiri Hills’ thus

making culminatus a synonym of /evatl/anti and using anthracinus of Madarasz

for the Southern race. Both these writers have made the mistake of keeping

the measurements of the sexes together. They have also apparently failed to

appreciate the fact that at the post-juvenile moult, the wing and tail-quills are

not shed but retained so that all measurements of wing and tail of birds in

their first year refer to the juvenile plumage and are so quite misleading.

Had they appreciated this point, Meinertzhagen would have avoided (oc. cit.

p. 83) dismissing the type of culminatus ‘as a very small specimen’, ‘an

aberrant specimen and not typical ’—‘ similar dwarf examples occur at Simla,

etc., but are exceptional’. It is in fact an immature bird cdmpleting the post-

juvenile moult, and perfectly normal for its age. Whilst Stuart Baker would

not have required (vol. i, p. 29) to have suggested that the late Summer birds

which decreased the average measurements ‘may well be visitors from the

plains wandering into the hills after breeding’.

It was disappointing to find that the Survey had missed the opportunity of

collecting a large carefully-sexed series of Jungle-Crows. For since all writers

on the subject had arrived at different results from the examination of the same

material in the Hume collection, the obvious need was to get fresh material. At

our suggestion, however, with the co-operation of the Indian Museum, the

Nagpur Central Museum, and the Madras and Trevandrum Museums, the Society

was able to collect some fresh specimens. Combined with those in the Whistler

collection this new material amounted to over 70 birds, of which the majority

were from the N.-W. Himalayas, Calcutta and Bombay, virtually to potypes

that is of zntermedius, levaillanti and culminatus. With this basis we have

re-examined the crows in the Hume collection.

The result shows that there can be no hard and fast line of demarcation

between the races. Individual variation is great so that individuals as well as

first-year birds interrupt slightly any orderly sequence of measurements. But:

allowing for this there is a regular and gradual intergradation between the

crows of the whole of India from a small-billed race in Ceylon to a large bird

with asmall bill in the Western Himalayas and a medium-sized bird with a

deeply-bowed Raven beak in Bengal. The sequence continues eastwards until

we reach the huge bird with the huge beak of Java. The facts areclear. The

problem largely resolves itself into one of convenience as to the best way to

express these facts.

Birds from the N.-W. Himalayas present no difficulty. Their habitat is

largely isolated. That the same race extends to the Eastern Himalayas is a.

matter of supposition. No series exists to prove the point.

It is clear moreover that birds from Ceylon and Bombay and Nagpur and

Vizagapatam cannot be separated, whereas they differ most markedly from the.

Calcutta series’ with the strongly curved Raven beak (vde text figure, p. 512).

This latter we cannot separate in any way from the Assam, Burma and

Andaman birds.” The measurements speak for themselves on this point.

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

4% Calcutta 61-66 310-328 186°5-196°5 58-59 mm.

5 ¢ Andamans 60°5--67°5 265-322 167-199°5 53°5-59 11m.

82 Calcutta 55° 5-65 283-305 165-182 - §2°5-56°5 mm.

52 Andamans 60°5-65°5 287-307 164-185 53°5-56 mm.

1 Corvus levaillanti Lesson, Traité d’Orn. (1831), p. 328—Bengal.

* Corvus andamanensis Beavan, Ibis 1866 (October), p. 420—Andamans, -

512, JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

4 ps

o Ss I

Fic. 1. Corvus macrorynchos culininatus, Mahim, Bombay.

Fic. 2. Corvus macrorynchos macrorynchos, Chakada, Nadia, Bengal.

The birds of the Gangetic plain of the United Provinces and Bihar are in truth

intermediate between the two series, but it will be most convenient to unite

them with culminatus, and in agreement with the established practice of

regarding them as separable from the larger-billed form.

Delacour (/é/s 1930, 598) unites these large-billed Andaman birds with

macrorhynchos. Macrorhynchos has the bill up to 73°5, and the wing up to

361 mm., a figure never reached by Andaman birds. But if we include in one

form in the gradation in size from Calcutta to Java'we are not accepting a wider

grading of size than we get in the area assigned to culiminatus from Ceylon to

the Ganges.

We accordingly recognize the following Indian races* :—

Corvus macrorhynchos intermedius Adams.

Corvus intermedius Adams, P. Z.S., 1859, p. 171—Kashmir, Dagshai and

Simla, restricted*® to Kashmir.

A large bird with a weak bill. Plumage a comparatively dull greyish black

with little gloss on the hind neck and lower parts. Base of the nape feathers

usually whiter than in other forms. :

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

33 ¢ 54-65 311-365 193°5-241°5 52°5-60 mm.

LP 54-65 292-343 173° 5-224 51-56 mm.

‘Himalayas from Afghanistan to Bhutan’ (Stuart Baker). It is said to

breed on the boundary hills of the N.-W. Frontier but no specimens exist from

this area. The extension of this race to the Eastern Himalayas is similarly

unsupported by a proper series of skins.

Corvus macrorhynchos culminatus Sykes.

Corvus culminatus Sykes, P. Z. S., 1832 (July) p. 9s—Dukhun = Poona,

A small bird with a strong beak. Plumage black and glossy. Base of nape

feathers dusky.

Bill. Wing. ait? ‘Tarsus.

18 ¢ 54°5-.66'5 274-317 156-189 48°5-56'5 mm.

222 54° 5-63 260-301 147-182°5 43°5-55 mm.

1 Range of measurements includes adults and first-year birds.

* Stresemann, Verhandlungen der Orn.Geselleschaft in Bayern, xii(1916) ,p.282,

VERNAY SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF EASTERN.GHATS _ 513

The Indian Peninsula and Ceylon.

The Jungle-Crow does not occur throughout Northern India as stated in the

Fauna, lt is absent from the whole plains area north-west of a line from Delhi

to the eastern border of Sindh, in which area it is largely replaced by the Raven.

Corvus macrorhynchos macrorhynchos Wagler.

Corvus macrorhynchos Wagier, Syst. Av., corvus sp. 3 p. 313, 1827—Java.

A large bird with a heavy deeply-bowed beak. Base of nape feathers dusky :

deeper and more glossy black than other races. Measurements (Calcutta

only) :—

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus,

4 61-66 310-328 186°5-196°5 58-59 mm,

82 55°5-65 283-305 165-182 52°5-56'5 mm.

From the vicinity of Calcutta through Assam and Burma to Java. The

Andamans.

Corvus tenuirostris Moore, Catalogue, Vol. II, p. 558, 1858, is wrongly attri-

buted to the synonymy of this species in the New Fauna, volo vi, p.: 2. ‘The

type is in the British Museum and is a specimen of Corvus enca SCHEELS,

Richmond, from Sumatra, Borneo, Malay, etc.

So far as is at present known the Jungle-Crow is very generally distributed

throughout the whole of the Madras Presidency except in certain of the hill

ranges of the South-West. In this Presidency the bird somewhat differs in

habits as compared with other parts of India. It isa very common and familiar

species vying with the House-Crow as a parasite of towns and villages, occur-

ring with that bird and often in greater numbers.

In Vizagapatam? La Personne found it common from the coast into the interior

both in the plains and on the hills and this seems to be its status all down the

eastern side of the Presidency. In the Nilgherries and the Wynaad it is

exceedingly common everywhere, being the common crow of Ootacamund

-and the other hill stations. In Coorg it is common wherever there are human

habitations, occurring also, though in smaller numbers, throughout the jungle.

In South Kanara and Malabar we have no information about it.

South of the Palghat Gap it is far less generally distributed. In the Nelliam-

pathy Hills it does not occur at all according to Kinloch, and Fairbank noticed

and Bates has since confirmed that it is entirely absent from the summit of the

Palnis, where the former placed its limit about Vilpati 5,500 ft. Although Fer-

guson found it common throughout Travancore, he also noted its absence from

the Southern hills.

Throughout the Presidency the breeding season appears to be fairly regular,

from about February until June. In the Nilgiris most eggs will be found in

April and May and this is the case everywhere. Bates however remarks that

although the Jungle-Crows commence to breed about February at Madras in

the drier climate of Trichinopoly, they do not start until May.

Corvus splendens splendens Vieillot.

Corvus splendens Vieill., Nouv. Dict. ad’ Hist. Nat., viii. 1817, p. 44— —Bengal,

Specimens collected :—185 9 186 O? 4-5-29 Kurumbapatti ; 537-8 a Is) 9-7-29,

Vyampatti, Trichinopoly; 1040 Q 25-11-29 Nallamalai Range 2,500 ft.

Measurements—

Bill. Wing A DENRA Tarsus.

2 50-50°5 266- 268° 5 162-168°5 47-50 mm.

2° 45°5-59 252-253 154°5-155 45-48 mm.

Everyone neglects this common and familiar species with the result that there

is very little material for examination from lower Peninsula, India and Ceylon,

though 12 fresh specimens from Calcutta and 10 from Nagpur were kindly

collected for the Survey by the Zoological Survey of India and the Nagpur

Museum. The five specimens collected by La Personne agree with the Calcutta

series though their slightly weaker beaks remind one of the complete inter-

gradation throughout our area between prvotegatus, the dark Cinghalese bird

and zugmayert, ‘the very pale bird of the desert and semi-desert areas of the

North-west.

-1McMaster (J.4.S.8. 1871, 212) curiously enough says that he could not

find it at Waltair. ;

914 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX V

On the whole the House-Crow is less generally distributed throughout the

Madras Presidency than the Jungle-Crow, though in the towns its numbers are

certainly larger. In Vizagapatam, La Personne considered that it did not

penetrate into the interior to any considerable extent and in the Godavery delta

it was mainly concentrated inthe towns. Throughout the rest of the Presidency

east of the Nilgiris and Travancore it is evidently generally distributed, common

in the neighbourhood of man and absent from forest tracts. In Madras City it

is a positive pest and according to Dewar who dilates at length on its habits

there, its numbers must far exceed the human population. An albino at

Madras is recorded in SS. /. ix, 507.

In the Nilgiris the House-Crow is evidently a recent colonist. Davison

specifically remarks that in his day it did not ascend the hills and was absent

also from parts of the low country at their base, as for instance from Goodalore

to Nellacotta. While McMaster also says that the Jungle-Crow was ‘ the only

crow of the Nilgherries, replacing his grey cousin at Kullar, the posting stage

at the foot of the Kunur Ghat to which place, and no further, sflendens had

penetrated in 1870’. Bates informs us (J.B.N.A.S. xxxi, 291) that in the

Nilgiris the House-Crow is now common; indeed almost as numerous as the

Jungle-Crow. Inthe Wynaad also it was absent from the hills in Davison’s day-

but we have no information whether it has since colonised that area. In

Coorg it is still uncommon, a few odd pairs only to be seen about the

villages.

South of the Palghat Ghat the House-Crow is entirely absent from the

Nelliampathy and Palni Hills, and perhaps also from the various Travancore

ranges though there does not seem to be any very definite information

on this point. Outside the hills it is at any rate common throughout the

State.

No one has troubled to record much about the breeding of this common bird

except that Dewar gives June, July and August as the breeding season in

Madras City. In Vizagapatam, La Personne saw birds building in the middle

of April and in the Palkonda Hills in August. In Travancore, according to

Bourdillon, the eggs are not laid before June, but Ferguson took eggs in

February.

In the rain area of Malabar and South Kanara, the breeding season may well

agree with that of North Kanara where Davidson found that the crows bred in

October and November to avoid the heavy rain.

Dendrocitta vagabunda vagabunda (Latham).

Specimen obtained :—1605 ¢ 26-3-30 Sankrametta 3,000 ft.

Measurements :—Bill 34, wing 145, tail 204, tarsus 33.

In the northern portion of the Madras Presidency down to the valley of the

Godavery the Indian Tree-Pie is distinctly scarce and La Personne notes that

he-only saw single birds at Anantagiri and Sankrametta. The latter (¢) was

secured and proves to be quite different to all specimens collected south of the

Godavery. It agrees well with a female in the British Museum obtained by

Blanford in January 1871 in the Godavery vailey near Dumagudiam, and both

birds though slightly intermediate in character must evidently be included

under the typical race.

Consideration of the magpies collected by the survey immediately introduced

two difficult problems, the correct name of the species and the races to be

recognized in India. Of late years the name of this bird has oscillated between

Dendrocitta rufa and D. vagabunda, the former being used again in the new

edition of the Fauna. The bird was first described as Lanius rufus? by

Scopoli (1786) but that name is unfortunately preoccupied by Lantus rufus of

Linnzeus 1766. Latham in 1790 independently described it as Corvus rufus.?

Mr. Stuart Baker is of opinion that this name may stand but we agree with

‘Ticehurst (/6zs 1931, p. 585) that as Lantus rufus and Corvus rufus are

admittedly the same bird the specific name is not rendered tenable by the

1 Lantus rufus Scopoli, Del. Faun. et Flor., Insub., vol. ii (1786), p. 85.

2 Corvus rufus Latham Index Orn. vol. i (1790), p. 161.

Both descriptions are based on ‘ La Pie rouse de la Chiné’ in .Sonnerat’s

‘ Voyage aux Indes Orientales et la Chine’, pl. 106, p. 186. As the bird does

not occur east of Indo-China, Stuart Baker has fixed Malabar as the type

locality. ‘-

VETRINAVESCIENITLIG SURVEY OF HASTERN GHATS. 3515

change of genus. This being so we have no option but to use the next oldest

name which is vagabunda. 'The Malabar form is then left without a name. —

In our first report we mentioned the divergence of opinion between Ticehurst

and Stuart Baker as to the races of the Tree-Pie in India. This has been partly

reconciled by Stuart Baker’s final admission (Mew Fauna viii, p. 7) of Blyths’

pallida tor the large pale birds of N.-W. India. We also said that in our opinion

neither treatment was entirely satisfactory and this view has been justified by

the survey series.

Ticehurst had hinted at the possibility of southern birds being separable on

their smaller size, but the real position was obscured rather than suggested by

the material in the British Museum. The series from south of the Nilgiris

consisted of the following specimens, all old and unsexed, 4 from Madras, 1 from

Calicut, 1 from Malabar and 6 from Travancore. All are precisely alike, small

and richly coloured, agreeing in tint with Bengal birds. They stand out

markedly however from the birds from Mysore and the Nilgiris which are pale

and at a casual examination recall the birds of the north-west. Individual

variation was formerly considered to cover both pale and dark birds.

The survey series however cleared up the position. All birds obtained by

La Personne south of the Godavery agree in being small and very pale and

quite unlike the dark birds enumerated above. It was immediately suggested

therefore that this species agreed with many others in having a dark saturated

race in the rain-areas of the South-West and a pale race in the dry Carnatic.

The only objection to this theory lay in the four birds marked ‘ Madras’

Two of these are from the Gould collection and two from H. H. Baker (missp elt

Baber on the labels which are not original). It is known that H. H. Baer S

birds were mostly collected in Malabar through nothing is known of the source

of these Gould specimens. All four agree so exactly with the other specimens

from Malabar and Travancore and are so different to the survey series that we

feel justified in concluding that ‘Madras’ on the labels stands not for the

town but for the Presidency and that these birds came from the western side.

The loose use of the word ‘ Madras’ for the whole Presidency was a common-

place of 50 years ago and is still hardly extinct.

We accordingly recognize the following races in India :—

Dendrocitta vagabunda vagabunda (Latham).

Coracias vagabunda Latham, Judex Ornith., vol. i (1790), p. 171—India

restricted to Calcutta.”

Large richly coloured race. Back and scapulars dark brownish rufous ;

rump belly and lower tail coverts fulvous buff.

Bill. Wing. “aals ‘Tarsus.

14 ¢ os gee coed 142-158°5 204-253 31-34 mm.

49 31-33 136° 5-149 198-225 31-32 mm.

Outer Eastern Himalayas from Nepal to Assam, extending to those parts of

India not occupied by other forms, and intererading with them.

Dendrocitta vagabunda pallida Blyth.

Crypsirina pallida Blyth, J/.A.S.B., xv (1846), p. 30—Western Himalayas,

restricted? to Simla.

The largest race, much paler than all others except vernayi. Back and

Scapulars isabelline with a tinge of dusky but devoid of rufous; rump paler;

belly and lower tail coverts pure isabeline or buff cream colour.

Bill. Wing. ail, Tarsus.

WA ee 32°5-35 153— 173 242-315 33°5-36'5 mm.

92 30-34 156 -164 250-295 32-30; Ov tilin.

Outer Western Himalayas, N.-W.F.P., Punjab, Rajputana and Sindh.

Dendrocitta vagabunda parvula 707. zov. fon Corvus rufus Latham, Index Ornith.,

vol. i (1790) p. 161 (Malabar). Similar in colour to the typical race but much » /

salir

Twelve specimens unsexed measure :—

> Bilt Wing Tail

30°5-34'°5 | 133-151°5 188°5-238°5 mm.

West Coast from S. Kanara to Cape Comorin.

a Hicehurst O75, 1922; p. 537,

}

516 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Dendrocitta vagabunda vernayi Kinnear and Whistler.

Dendrocitta ruta vernay? Kinnear and Whistler, Buil B.O.C. cccxliv, vol. li

p. 17 (1930—Nallamalai range 2,000 ft. S. Kurnool).

Small race, paler even than D.v. pallida; the chin throat and breast are

almost sooty grey and the abdomen pale creamy fulvous.

Bill. Wing. ralatl Tarsus.

12 ¢ 29-34'5 144°5-157°5 201-226 . 31-33°5 mm.

92 29°5-32'5 139-149°5 187°5-224 31-32°5 mm.

South East India, South of the Godavery, S. E. Hyderabad, Mysore and the

Nilgiris.

The above measurements include both adults and first-year birds. The latter

are easily distinguishable from adults by the pale tips to the tail feathers. They

are generally smaller.

D. rufigaster Gould P.Z.S., 1838, p. 80, is wrongly given in the Vew Fauna

(vii, p. 6) in the Synonymy of this species from which the white nape at once

distinguishes it. The description agrees better with JY. occipitalis (Muller)

from Sumatra.

Dendrocitta vagabunda parvula Kinnear and Whistler.

The range of this form in the Presidency lies outside the path of the Survey.

There is nothing on record to show the boundary between it and DV. wv. vernayi

but it presumably is confined to the area of heavy rainfall.

In Travancore according to Ferguson it is found in the low country between

the hills and the coast and does not ascend the ranges at ail. It is very rareon

the Nelliampathis (Kinloch) but Fairbank obtained it at 5,000 ft. on the Palnis.

There is no definite information about the bird in Malabar and South Kanara

beyond the specimens from the former district in the British Museum,

In Travancore according to Ferguson it breeds in the S.-W. Monsoon, that is

between the middle of May and the middle of September.

Dendrocitta rufa vernayi Kinnear and Whistler.

Specimens collected :—82 ¢ 18-4-29 Kurumbapatti ; 2392 17-5-29, 255 2

20-5-29 Shevaroys; 375 ¢ juv. 9-6-29, 382 ¢ 11-6-29 Chitteri range 3,000 ft. ;

729 2 22-8-29, 770 2 28-8-29 Palkonda Hills 1,000 ft. ; 847 ¢ 28-9-29 Seshachaiam

Hills 2,000 ft. ; 957 4 1-11-29, 1027 2 22-11-29 Nallamalai range 2,000 ft.

Measurements :—

Bill. Wing. Taw. Tarsus.

5 29-33 145-157°5 197-210 31-32'5 mm.

52 30-32'5 139-149°5 187°5-224 31-32 mm.

South of the Godavery, in all localities visited by the Survey from the islands

of the delta, the various ranges up to 4,500 ft. (Nallamalais, Palkonda. Sesha-

chalam, Shevaroys, Chitteri) to the plains round Kurumbapatti and Trichino-

poly, the Tree-Pie was very common in all types of country and jungle. All

specimens obtained in this area belong to the small pale race which we have

named zvernayi and it presumably occurs throughout the whole of the presi-

dency down ta Cape Comorin. Westwards this race extends to the Nilgiris

and parts of Hyderabad and Mysore. In the Nilgiris according to Davison it is

common upto 5,000 ft. more numerous at low elevations and gradually decreas-

ing up to that limit, but in many years heonly once met it above that elevation,

at 6,500 ft. about 7 miles from Ootacamund. ‘The breeding season is not

recorded.

Dendrocitta leucogastra Gould.

Dendrocitta leucogastra Gould, P. Z. S., 1833 (July 5), p. 57—-Eastern Asia,

Malabar Coast.”

The Southern Tree-Pie was not met by the Survey and its range lies to the

west of the areas worked. Its distribution is not very clearly given in the

New Fauna. McMaster (J. A. S. &., 1871, pt. 2, p. 214) states that he procured

a specimen in May at Chikalda in the Gawilgurh Hills, but this record certainly

must be regarded with suspicion until confirmed.

The most northerly authentic records are for N. Kanara where A. T. Crawford

(S. #. x. 422) first obtained a specimen and James Davidson later found it very

1 The specimen in the British Museum Jabelled in the handwriting of Gould’s

Secretary ‘Dendrocitta leucogastar Gould Irides blood red Malahar Coast’ may

safely be taken as the type,

ViRNAYeSGLENTIBTC SCORVEY OF BHASTERN- GHATS 517:

local and confined to the ghats, and ever rare where found. His account,

substantiated by specimens now in the British Museum, is as follows :—‘ The

place I have seen it oftenest is at Nilkund on the crest of the ghats between

Siddapur and Kumta. I have also seen it at Davimane on the crest of the

ghats between Sirsi and Kumta and in the broken country West of Siddapur.’

T. R. Bell saw a pair on the Bhara Ghat a little further north.

South of this-the bird becomes far more common. There is no accurate

account of its status in Mysore but, at Manzeerabad, Macgregor (.S. /. x. 462)

obtained one specimen and at Bangalore Bates found it exceedingly common,

though Davison did not meet it in S. Mysore below the Nilgiris. From here

it evidently extends over into our area on the Eastern Ghats near Palmaner,

where Bates found it on the Munar Ghat.

It occurs in Coorg and Malabar and in the Wynaad it is very common. On

the slopes of the Nilgiris it is less common but it occurs up to 5,000 ft. A\l-

though very common in the Nelliampathis, and in Travancore from the foot of

the hills up to about 5,000 ft., it is curiously absent from the Palnis.

The ordinary breeding season in all parts of the range is apparently from

February to April, but Baker quotes Stewart to the effect that in Travancore

there is a second brood about August. Both in Travancore and in the Nelliam-

pathis (Bourdillon S. /. iv, 402; Kinloch J. B. N. M. S., xxix, 294) this

magpie is said to associate habitually with D7ssemurus paradiseus and further

information on this point and the reason for the association is most desirable.

Dendrocitta formosae sarkari Kinnear and Whistler.

Dendrocitta formose sarkar: Kinn. and Whistler, Bul/, B. O. C., LI

(ceexliv) 1930 (October), p. 17.—Anantagiri, Vizagapatam.

Specimens collected :—1325 ¢ 5-2-30, 1377 ¢ 12-2-30, 1390 ¢ 14-2-30, 1418

2 20-2-30, Anantagiri 3,000 ft. ; 1690 4 16-4-30, 1696 ¢ 17-4-30, 1708 4 19-4 30,

Jeypore agency 3,000 ft.

Measurements—

Bill. Wing. Tail. ‘Tarsus.

6 2 33-34 136°5-144°5 201-214 28-30 mm.

Ee 3225 14225 200 28 mm.

Long ago Jerdon wrote that the Himalayan Tree-Pie ‘ occurs very rarely on

the hills of Southern India. I got a specimen said to have been killed on the

Eastern Ghats and fancied that I saw it on the Segoor Pass of the Neilgheiries.

Horsefield also had one specimen from Madras.’! (8. of J. ii, 316). This

statement was however discredited by W. Davison (S. /. x. 399) and Hume

lent the weight of his authority against it. ‘The possibility of its occurrence in

the Peninsula was accordingly disregarded in both editions of the Fauna. |

Great interest therefore attaches to La Personne’s rediscovery of this bird in

the Vizagapatam district where he procured a good series at Anantagiri and

Jeypore at elevations about 3,000 ft. His note is as follows :—‘Common through-

out the area under survey in Vizagapatam but not extending beyond the hill

tracts. ‘Their call was at once reminiscent of the Himalayan bird. During the

“months February, March and April these birds were in various stages of

genital development and courtship. ‘They were to be found in rather large

numbers feeding principally on the flowers of Bombax malabaricum.’

These birds differ from the typical form (E. Himalavas) in the much smaller

beak 33-34 mm. as compared with 36°5-38:5 mm. WD. f. occidentalis

(Western Himalayas) is an altogether larger bird, wing in 4 145-160 mm.

Parus major mahrattarum Hartert.

Specimens collected: 385 ¢ 12-6-29, 497 9 14-6-29, 417 2 419 ° juv. 15-6-29

Chitteri range 3,000 ft. ; 963 9 3-11-29, Nallamalai range 2,000 ft.

Measurements :—

Bill. Wing. Rail. ‘Tarsus,

1d 1] 67 o9'5 18 mm.

3 11-12 62-68 51-58 17°5-18 mm.

The Grey Tit appears to be scarce on the eastern side of the Presidency.

There is no actual record north of the Nallamalais where La Personne procured

*Cf. Horsf. and Moore, Cat. Mus. H. E. 1. Co. 115). S09). from Wright’s col-

lection,’

518 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

the above specimen and south of that he only met with in the Chitteri range,

commenting specially on its absence elsewhere. ;

In the West we know more about it. In Travancore it is confined tothe hills

and is not uncommon, being found at all altitudes from the base to 6,000 ft. but

most numerous at 3,090 ft. In the Nalliampathis Kinloch says it is rare. Inthe

Palnis Fairbank did not meet with it but Terry found it in the Pittur valley

(S. #. x. 478).

Northwards it occurs al! over the Nilgiris, the Wynaad and Coorg, being

especially abundant near habitations on the higher ranges of the Nilgiris.

In the Nilgiris the Grey Tit breeds from February to May, and Miss Cockburn

records a nest with young as late as 10th November. There is no other informa-

tion on record for the presidency beyond the fact that in June in the Chitteri

range the season was evidently ending. The juvenile obtained agrees with

two others in the British Musewm (Ahmednagar, Fairbank; Ootacamund,

Gosse.) and one obtained by Dr. C. B. Ticehurst at Nasik in having the upper

plumage tinged with green and the lower parts faintly washed with yellow.

Another juvenile in the British Museum from Ceylon however differs in having

no green or yellow tints in the plumage while the upper parts are darker than

in the adult. This is probably only an individual variation as although

juveniles of caschmirensis, nepalensis anc cinereus (E. Java) examined betray

their origin in the major group by possessing the green and yellow tints, two

other juveniles of czmereus from Flores and Alor (Moluccas) are duller replicas

of the adults as in the Ceylon bird.

Ticehurst (J.B. AZ.S. xxxt. 491) and Whistler (407. 6:0... vol. i pao,

1929) both objected to the arrangement of the Grey Tits of India in vol. 3,

of the New Fauna and their emendations were accepted in vol. vii p. 12.

We are however of opinion that no arrangement is satisfactory which combines

the Grey Tit of Bihar, Bengal and Assam with that of Java and the neighbouring

Islands. The group is a difficult one but on series we think there should be:

no obiection to upholding the following races in India on the distinctions

indicated :— .

A. Larger and paler forms.

Parus majer caschmirensis Hartert.

Parus major caschmirensis Hartert, Vogel P. F., vol. i, (June 1905),

p. 345—Gilgit.

(a) Grey predominates on central tail feathers.

(6) Blue fringes of greater coverts broad so that coverts appear blue.

20-45 mm., almost always over 30 mm.

(d) Outer web of penultimate tail feather practically entirely white.

Bill. Wing. Tail- Tarsus.

27 2 12-13 72-78 60°5-71 17-20°5 mm.

18 2 11°5-13 68°5-73'5 56-62°5 18-20 mm.

N.-W.F. Province, Kashmir and Western Himalayas, visiting Punjab and

Western United Provinces in winter.

Parus maior ziaratensis Whistler.

Parus major ziaratensis Whistler Bull B.O.C. vol. L, No. ccecxxv (October.

1929), p. 6, Ziarat, Baluchistan.

Details as in caschimirensis but differs in the slightly paler bluer grey of the

upper parts, the greater amount of white edging on the tertiaries and in the

smaller stuimpier bill.

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

VS 11-12 73-78 62°5-71 mm. | (not noted).

239 11°5 70°5-71'5 60 mm.

Ziarat, Baluchistan ; Kandahar, Afghanistan.

B. Smaller and darker forms.

Parus major nipalensis Hodgson.

Parus nipalensis Hodgson, /nd. Rev. 1838, p. 31—Nepal.

(a) A wide band of black along shafts of central tail feathers, remainder

orey.

(4) Blue fringes of greater coverts broad so that coverts appear blue.

usually over 25.

VERNAY SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF EASTERN GHATS 519

(2) Always a black line on white outer web of penultimate tail feather.

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

5 11°5-12 67-68 59°5-61 16°5-17°5 mm.

22 11°5-12 62°5-65 $4 ay mm.

Lower Nepal, Bihar, Bengal, Duars and Assam.

Paris major mahrattasum Hartert.

Parus major mahrattarum Hartert, Mov. Zool., vol. xii (September 1905)

p. 499—Ceylon.

(a) Central tail feathers black, a line of grey down the outer web.

(6) Blue fringes of greater coverts narrow, so that coverts appear black

with blue edges.

usually over 25.

(2) Sometimes a black line on white outer web of penultimate tail feather.

Bill. Wine. ail. Tarsus.

18 ¢ 10-12°5 62-73 5 51-60°5 16°5-19 mm,

72 10°5-12 61-68 48°5-58 15°5-18 mm.

India south of and including Mt. Abu, Central Provinces and Orissa ; Ceylon.

In order to show why we have separated P. mm. nipalensis we enumerate

the corresponding points of.

Parus major cinereus Vieillot.

Parus cinereus Vieillot, Ncuv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat ,

(1818), p. 316 ex Levaillant pl. 139, fig. 1—Batavia.

(a) Anarrow band of black along shafts of central tail feathers, remainder

rey.

(6) Blue fringes of greater coverts narrow, so that the coverts appear

black with blue edges.

mm., usually under 20.

(d) Outer web of penultimate tail feather black, except for a white tip.

There appears to be no difference in size.

[Parus auchalis Jerdon.

Parus nuchalis Jerdon, Madras Jour. Lit. Sci. xiii (1845), p. 131—Eastern

Ghats...

Jerdon obtained his type of the White-winged Black Tit ‘from the Eastern

Ghats, west of Nellore’ where it was said by the shikaris who produced it

to be very rare. It is difficult not to feel that there must be some mistake

(in spite of the further statement by Jerdon that it had since been obtained

by Dr. Stewart at Bangalore) when a bird which is definitely known to be

characteristic of the dry country of Rajputana is recorded on native testimony

from the densely wooded and moist Eastern Ghats, Jerdon’s and Stewart’s

specimens apparently no longer exist and Hume was inclined to think that

when rediscovered, the bird of the Eastern Ghats would prove distinct from

that of Rajputana. Unfortunately the Survey has thrown no light on the point. ]

Machlolophus xanthogenys aplonotus (Blyth).

Specimens collected: 1320 2 4-2-30, 1334 4 6-2-30, 1348 ¢ 7-2-30, 1378

12-2-30, 1383 ¢ 1385-6 g¢ 13-2-30, 1397 Q 16-2-30, 1398 ¢ 17-2-30, 1432

of 21-2-30, 1434-5 ¢ QP 23-2-30, Anantagiri 3,000 ft.; 1471 [2] 4-3-30 Sankrametta

3,500 ft.; 1692 4 17-4-30, 1728 °$ 26-4-30 Jeypore agency 3,000 ft.; 1752 ¥ 2-5-30,

1774 $ 5-5-30 Anantagiri 3,000 ft.

Measurements :—

nouv. ed, vol. xx,

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

1S oe 12-13 70°5-77°5 54-60 18 -19°5 mm.

42 12-12°5 70° =/1 52-53 18°5-19 mm,

The Yellow-cheeked Tit is widely spread in Peninsula India, chiefly as a bird

of the elevated plateau and hill ranges, and this area is separated from that of

the typical race (Western Himalayas) by the great Gangetic plain. The

Peninsula birds have hitherto been treated as belonging to one race but

an examination of the material shows that this is not correct.

If birds from Travancore are compared with those from Mt, Abu (i.e. from

the extremities of the Peninsular distribution) it is at once evident that they are

different. The former differ from the Jatter in (1) the larger size ; (2) the duller

more saturated green of the upper plumage as compared with bright yellow

green ; (3) the duller darker blue edging to the wings, the marked reduction of

520 JOURNAL, BOMBAY. NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

the white tips of the tertiaries, and the smaller white spots on the median and

greater wing coverts; (4) the duller and more olive green colour of the yellow

parts of the lower plumage.

The following table shows comparative measurements of the three forms,

males only, and explains also why previous writers have disagreed as whether

aplonotus (in which they included both northern and southern birds) was the

larger than xanthogenys or not.

Bill. Wing. aite ‘Tarsus.

xanthogenys 12 ~—12°5 7 1°5-76 54°5-60 18-19'5 mm.

aplonotus 12 ees 70°5-77'5 54 ~-60 18-19'5 mm.

Southern birds 12°5-14 76° 5-82'5 97°5-62'5 19-19'5 mm.

As in other birds of Peninsula India there is a gradual passage from one form

te the other. After a careful comparison of the survey series and other material

available we consider that all specimens from the Konkan southwards should

be grouped together and all Peninsula birds from Mahableshwar northwards

should form another group to which belong the survey series from Vizagapatam

district. To the latter group the name ap/onotus rightly belongs,

We have considered whether Parus jerdoni Blyth, J.A.S.B. xxv (1856),

p. 445, could be used for the southern race. ‘The type apparently does not

exist. Biyth said that his specimen was amongst a collection of birds sent on

inspection by Dr. G. Buist on behalf of the Bombay branch of the Asiatic

Society but no hint was given of the actual locality. The description is not

clear enough to refer conclusively to either race and in any case Blyth was

thoroughly confused over these Tits (wz7de Hume SS. /. vii, p. 405 fcot-note).

We have therefore thought it desirable to name it as

Machlolophus xanthogenys travancoreensis subsp. nov.

Type ¢ 12 Nov. 1878, Mynall, Travancore (Bourdillon). Brit. Mus. No. 80-8-19,

109.

The races will therefore stand as follows :—

Machlolophius xanthogenys xanthogenys ( Vigors).

Parus xanthogenys Vigors P.Z.S., vol. i (1831, Feb.), p. 23—Himalayas,

Simla—Almora district.*

Western Himalayas from Murree to Nepal (but apparently not Sikkim as

usually stated). Breeding about 5,000 ft. to 7,000 ft.

Machlolophus xanthogenys aplonotus (Blyth).

Parus aplonotus Blyth, J.A.S.B&. xvi (1847), p. 444—Chaibasa, Singhbhun.

Mt. Abu: Parisnath Hill: locally at all elevations in the Central Peninsula from

Mhow, Saugor.and Orissa down to a line from Poona to the Godavery valley.

Machlolophus xanthogenys travancoreensis Kinnear and Whistler. subsp. nov.

The Western Ghats and neighbouring wooded areas from S. Konkan to the

Asambo Hills, at all elevations.

When the contact zone of MW. xanthogenys and M. spilonotus in Nepal is

understood we suspect that J7. s. spilonotus (E. Himalayas and Assam) and

M. s. subviridis (Burma and ‘Tenasserim) will prove to be also races of

M. xanthogenys. .

In the Madras Presidency J/. x. aplonotus (as above defined) is only found

in the extreme north. The Survey met with it in the Vizagapatam

district whence La Personne notes :—‘ Extremely common around Anantagiri

and extending well into the interior. Absent from the plains. Not quite so

numerous in the Padwa Valley but I believe these Tits are common in the hill

tracts of Koraput and Jeypore. Breeding during the latter end of April, a nest

being found in a coffee plant. These Tits feed chiefly on the flowers of

Bombax nialabaricum in company with Zosterops, Sitta and Phylloscopus. 1

have seen them chase and devour flying ants.’

A male from Jeypore 4th March 1877 (Hume Coll.) is the only other known

record for our limits. The bird is strictly a resident.

The breeding season is not easy to define but in the north of Peninsula India

it is apparently from April to August, whilst about Poona it is certainly later

from July to October as in ¢vavancoreensts.

The series collected by La Personne introduce an interesting problem with

regard to the plumages of the Tits of this genus. ‘The fifteen males all agree

in being black crested and in having a broad longitudinal black band from the

1 [bis, 1924, p. 471.

| Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

| MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE DISTRIBUTION OF

(0 COND trim Gs

THE RACES OF MACHLOLOPHUS XANTHOGENYS.

Mt. Aboo

Neemuch

Jhalawar

Goona

Saugor

Mhow

Sehore

Pachmarhi

Satpuras

“"r MYDERABAB®, .”

MACHLOLOPHUS X. APLONOTUS.

Numbers in round brackets.

Melghat

Chikalda

Beetul

Nagpur

Moti Nala,

Majgon, Kapa

Balaghat

Raipur

Sirguja

English Mules

0 50 100

200 300 400

Jashpur

Udaipur

Sam balpur

Chaibasa

Parasnath

W. Khandesh

Egutpura

Lanoli

Poona

MACHLOLOPHUS X.

XANTHOGENYS.

Numbers in square

brackets.

Murree

Chamba

Dalhousie

Dharmsala

Kulu

Koteghar

Simla

Mussoorie

Naini Tal

Ranikhet

Nepal Valley

MACHLOLOPHUS x.

TRAVANCOREENSIS.

Numbers in triangular

SOON CB wo Hs

brackets,

S. Konkan

Belgaum

Castle Rock

N. Kanara

Mauzeerabad

Coorg

Wynaad

Nilgiris

Nelliampathies

Palnis

Travancore

Mahableshwar

S.-E. Berar

Bastar State

Jeypore

Sankrametta

Anantagiri

Wardha Valley

Pranhita

Yenchapali

VERNAY SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF EASTERN GHATS — 521

chin to the vent. ‘his is usually described as being the adult plumage

common to both sexes. ‘The three females on the other hand (and an unsexed

bird agreeing with them) differ in having the black band replaced by dull olive

green. It is evident therefore that either the sexes differ or the bird takes a

year to assume the adult plumage. Either explanation is unusual in the

Paring.

Examination of the large series in the British Museum has not settled the

problem owing to the scarcity of juvenile birds and the fact that the sexing of

all specimens is not reliable. Both green and black banded specimens are

found in other parts of the range but the only juvenile which we have been able

to examine (5-8-1868 Mt. Abu, King) although marked @ agrees with the adult

gin being black banded and black crested. A first winter °% still retaining the

juvenile wing coverts (16-10-1911, Nagpur : Central Mus. Col. No. 165) is black

banded.

An examination of the series of ¢vavuncoreensis, only makes the puzzle more

complete. In this area we find not only the black and green banded forins,

both with a black crest but also a third type of apparently mature bird. This is

green banded but has the crest also green like the colour of the back, the

feathers centred with blackish shaft stripes. The black on the lores of

travancorcensis and the broad black line through the ear coverts are replaced by

dark green slightly darker than the green of the back. There are six specimens

of this type in the British Museum, viz. :—

@ 19-4-69 Coonoor Carter oO? ‘Tndiay Jerdon.

Although these specimens have always been passed over as a stage of

plumage of the species under review we cannot fit them into the known facts

and it is not impossible that they represent an overlooked species from the

rain forests of the S. W. of India. But we hesitate so to describe them until

the plumages of the ranthogenys group are fully understood.

From the area of travancoreensis 3 juveniles exist, one in the British Museum

marked ¢ Coonoor 28-8-76 (Wardiay-Ramsay) and two, unsexed, in the Whistler

collection (22-12-01, Sigur Ghat, H. R. Baker). All agree in being dull versions

of the black crested, green banded plumage.

We suspect that the Coonoor bird is wrongly sexed and that travancorcensis

and aplonotus agree in having the sexes different, the juveniles of the two sexes

agreeing with the respective adults. Examination of other members of the

genus does not throw light on the matter as there is evidently no uniformity,

In xanthogenys xanthogenys the sexes are alike and four juveniles examined

agree with the adults. In spzlonotus spilonotus the female differs from the

mnale in a marked restriction of the amount of black on the chin and throat and

the black is apparently never replaced by olive green. In spzlonotus subviridis

on the other hand the adult male and female are alike, but in both sexes

in the first winter plumage the black band is replaced by dull olive

green.

The correct solution of these difficulties must be left to workers in the field.

Careful dissection of a few specimens wil! soon settle the matter.

Machlolophus xanthogenys travancoreensis

This south-western race of the Yellow-cheeked Tit is common in the western

side of the Presidency, but it was not met with by the Survey. It is a common

member of hunting parties of small insectivorous birds in Coorg and the

Wynaad, right through to the Nilgiris. It does not ascend to the plateau or

above 6,000 ft. in the Nilgiris, there occupying a lower zone than Parus mayor

mahrattarum, a curious reversal of the zones of the respective races of these

two ‘Tits in the Western Himalayas.

In the Nelliampathis it is extremely common, though apparently less so in

the Palnis. In Travancore it is said by Bourdillon and Ferguson to be a high

elevation bird, abundant from 3,000 ft. upwards.

Evidently a late breeder from July to August and possibly even later.

Sitta castanea castanea Lesson. .

The typical form of the Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch is confined in the Presidency

to the western side. Birds from this area are not separable from those of the

north. Although it occurs in the Wynaad and Malabar, round the base of the

Nilgiris and in the Palghat hills it nowhere appears to be as numerous in our

522 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST SOCIETY, Volo XXX

area as it is in northern India. Nothing is recorded about the breeding season

in this area.

Sitta castanea prateri subsp. nov.

Specimens collected: 1325 ¢ 5-2-30, 1366 ¢ 10-2-30, 1413-4 4 9 20-2-30, 1429

3,000 ft.

Measurements :—

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

5 21-22 77° 5-82 40°5-43 17-18'°5 mm.

62 20-22 75-78 5 38--41 17-18'5 mm.

This Nuthatch, which Jerdon had already recorded as common in Gumsoor

and the Northern Circars, was found by La Personne to be common. through-

out the hills of the Vizagapatam district where it was evidently breeding,

chiefly at 3,000 ft. Birds were observed carrying food as early as 3rd March.

They were not met with in any of the other collecting camps. The good

series collected are very uniform in size and colour and differ from Sztla Castanea

castanea in their longer bills, in the paler underparts of the ¢ and in the

colour of the lower tail coverts which are ash-grey with narrow pale

subterminal bands and chestnut fringes. As the large series of the typical

form examined from the rest of the Peninsula are remarkably constant in size

and colour, we have no hesitation in accepting this race from the upper

Eastern Ghats, and, in its name, have much pleasure in recognizing Mr, Prater’s

ereat services to Ornithology. Topotypes of this common species cannot be

traced in any collection but we have no reason to think that Bengal birds differ

from those of the rest of the Indo-Gangetic plain.

The Indian races of this species will stand as follows :—

Sitta castanea almore Whistler.

Sitta castaneoventris almore Whistler, Bull. B.O.C. li, (Nov. 1930), p. 27—

between Pethora and Alimora.,

Beak very heavy, underparts in ¢ cinnamon brown, under tail coverts ash-grey

with broad white subtermina] patches and cinnamon fringes.

Western Himalayas.—

Bill. Tail. Wing. Tarsus.

73 Zl O=Z23L0 84-87 40-44 18-20 mm,

Dee 21-24 79-85 40-43°5 18-19°5 mm.

Sitta castanea cinnamoventris Blyth.

Sitta cinnamoventris Blyth, /.4.S.8. vol. xi (1842), p. 459—Darjeeling.

Beak very heavy, underparts in ¢ chestnut brown, in @ slightly richer than

in last, under tail coverts as last but fringes chestnut. Nepal and Eastern

Himalayas to Assam.

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus,

Tic. 19-23°5 81-86°5 38°5-45: 18-20 mm.

PSO 18-21°5 77° 5-82 38-41 17-18'5 mm.

Sitta castanea castanea Lesson.

‘Sitta castanea Lesson, Traité d’Orn., 1830 (Sept. 25), p. 316—Bengal.

Beak fine and short. Underparts in ¢ deep chestnut brown, darker than in the

last. Under tail coverts ash-grey with chestnut fringes. India. Generally but

only locally distributed.

Bill, Wing. Tail. ‘Tarsus.

20 ¢ 18-20°5 72-81 36-41 16-18°5 mm.

15° 18-20°5 71°E-78 35° 5-38'5 16-18 mm.

Sitta castanea prateri Kinnear and Whistler.

Beak medium sized. Underpartsin ¢ as ¢. Cinnamoventris. Under tail coverts

ash-grey with narrow paie subterminal bands and chestnut fringes.

The underparts of the females of ¢c. castanea and c. pratert are paler and

pinker in colour than in the other two races.

Bill. Wing. Tail. ‘Tarsus.

Pires 21-22 77° 5-82 40°5-43 : 17-18°5 mm.

6-2 20-22 75-785 38-41 17 =)S-S. mim.

Sitta frontalis frontalis Swainson.

Sitta frontalis Swains., Zool. Illus., Ser. i, pt. i, 1820 (Ist October), pl. 2—

Ceylon.

VERNAY SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF EASTERN GHATS — 523

Specimers collected : 225 § 15-5-29, 267-8 ¢ 23-5-29 Shevaroy Hills,

3,500 ft.-4,000 ft. ; 401 9 13-6-29 Chitteri Hills 3,000 ft.; 1370 ¢ 11-2-30.

1438 ¢ 25-2-30, 1,444 2 26-2-30 Anantagiri 3,000ft.; 1470 ¢ 4-3-30, 1,584 2

23-3-30 Sankrametta 3,900 ft.

Measurements :

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

6 15-16 71°5-78°5 39-43°5 15-16°5 min.

3Q 14°5 71°5-74 36-41°5 15-15°5 mm.

There has been some confusion over the type locality of this species which in

the Fauna, vol. i, p. 132 is given as Java and in vol. viii, p. 25 as Ceylon. The

latter is correct as explained inJ.N.A.S. Siam vol. v, pt. 3, 334 (1924).

The distribution given for this species in India in the Fauna is perhaps too

sweeping—‘ the whole of India east * of Bombay, Gwalior and Kumaon’ It is

found on the mountain ranges of the Western Ghats from about Khandesh to the

extreme south of Travancore; on the Shevaroys; in the hilly country from

Dholbhum to Vizagapatam ; and in the submontane valleys of the Himalayas

from Kumaon eastwards. Apart from these areas, I can trace only isolated

records for Gwalior and Saugor ae Betul district, C.P. The bird is certainly

not generally distributed.

Careful examination of all available material confirms Ticehurst’s statement

(J.B.N.H-S., xxxi, 491) that Himalayan birds are smaller than the typical race

and should be separated as S. f. corallina Hodgson, J.A.S.B&., v (1838),

p. 779—Nepal.

Bill. Wing. Tail.

7 ¢ Sikkim 14°5-16 72-76°5 38°5-40 mm.

oe 14 70-72 38 mm,

Birds from the Nilgiris, Palnis and Travancore agree with those from Ceylon

and measure as follows :-—

Bill. Wing. Tail,

3 ¢ Ceylon 16-16°5 76-77 39°5-41 mm.

19 ¢ Nilgiris

Palnis 15°5(2) ,16°5-17°5 77-83'5 39°5-46 mm.

Travancore

3 2 Ceylon 16-17 72°5-79 38°5-41 mm.

10 2 Nilgiris, etc. 15(1),16-17 74:5-83°5 39-45°5 mm.

As measurements alone distinguish the races and intergradation occurs in

the few specimens available from the range of the bird between the Nilgiris and

the Himalayas it will be convenient to consider all birds south of the Indo-

Gangetic plain as belonging to the typical race; whilst the small Himalayan

form extends through Burma to Java.

In the presidency the Velvet-fronted Nuthatch is widely distributed as a

resident hill bird though its range on the eastern side is not properly known.

Jerdon met with it in Gumsoor, and inthe Vizagapatam district, La Personne

found it common everywhere about 3,000 ft. It has not been yet recorded bet-

ween there and the Shevaroay Hills and Chitteri Hills where it is common about

3,000 ft.—4,900 ft.

It is common throughout theS.W. group of ghats, the Nelliampathis, Palnis

and Travancore Hills, apparently at all elevations, growing commoner above

2,000 ft.

In the Nilgiris it reaches its greatest degree of abundance spreading from

there through the Wynaad, Coorg and the forests of the Malabar coast.

The breeding season in the presidency is from February to April and

appears to be well defined.

Garrulax delesserti (Jerdon).

Crateropus delessertt Jerdon, Madras Jour. Lit. Sci. x, 1839 (December),

256.—Kotagherri.

The Wynaad Laughing Thrush is peculiar to the Western Madras Presidency.

It is found, but not very commonly, in the Brahmagiris, the Wynaad, and

on the slopes of the Nilgiris down to the Palghat hills. South of the Palghat

gap it is found in the Nelliampathy Hills and southwards throughout the whole

of the Travancore hills at all elevations; in this areait is apparently far more

common. Curiously enough however it does not occur in the Palnis so far as

is known.

1 By a slip printed as west.

524 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Ferguson states that in Travancore it breeds in June. Stuart-Baker however

says of Travancore ‘the breeding season is March to May, but Mr. Stuart has

taken eggs in February and again in August’. There is no information for the

other parts of its range.

Trochalopteron cachinnans (Jerdon).

Crateropus cachinnans Jerdon, Madras Jour. Lit. Sci. x, 1839 (December)

255 Nilgiris.

Confined to the Nilgiris where it is exceedingly common at all elevations

above 4,000 ft. The Nilgiri Laughing Thrush breeds from February to June and

occasional nests may be found with eggs in July.

Trochalopteron cachinnans cinnamomeum Davison.

Trochalopteron cinnamomeunt Davison, bis, 1886, 204 (locality unknown).

Nothing is known of this bird beyond the fact that Davison discovered two

specimens of it in the Museum at Trivandrum, Travancore which were said to

have been brought from the west coast of India, though the actuai locality was

never verified. The Palghat Hills have been suggested. We cannot help

thinking however that the colour of the specimens is due to stain and that

there is really no subspecies of this bird.

Trochalopteron jerdoni jerdoni (Blyth).

Garrulax (?) jerdoni Blyth, J.A.S.B,, xx (1851), 522 no locality—Banasore

Peak.

Peculiar to the Madras Presidency. Jerdon obtained the type at about 5,000 ft.

6,000 fr. at the top of the Banasore Peak, a high hill at the edge of the ghats

separating Malabar from the Wynaad (ZB. of J, ii, 50). Later, Davison obtained

a series of 12 specimens from the Bramagherry Hills in Coorg which are about

20 miles away from Banasore (Balasore) and in sight of it. These remain the

only authentic records of what must be considered one of the rarest birds of

India.

R. W. Morgan (S. F. ii. 532) considered that he had met with the Banasore

Laughing Thrush on the Palghat Hills and the Chinnaconoor Ghat of the

Nilgiris, but it is by no means certain that he did not really observe one of the

other allied forms.

“>

Trochalopteron jerdoni fairbanki. Blandford.

Trochalopteron fairbanki Blanford, J.A1.S.B8. (1869) xxxviii, pt. 2, p. 175—

Palni Hills.

Confined to the Madras Presidency. In the first edition of the Fauna, Oates

gave the range of this bird as ‘the Palnisand Anamulli Hills in South Travancore

above 3,000 ft.’ ‘This was very misleading as pointed out by Ferguson (/.B.N.

H.S., xv, 257) but unfortunately the second edition of the Fauna did not profit

by the correction.

In Southern Travancore it is not found at all. It iscommonin North Travan-

core at 5,000 ft. and upwards on the Kanan Devan Hills, or High Range, the

highest peak of which, Anaimudi, is the centre from which spring the Palnis

and Anamallais, where it is also common. These two ranges are not in

Travancore but in British Territory.

A specimen in the Bombay collection was obtained by Prater on 15-5-17 in the

High Wavy Mountains of Madura.

The breeding season is from April to June.

The change of the trivial name in the new Fauna from Palni to Travancore

Laughing Thrush is probably a slip. It is at any rate undesirable. A very good

account of its habits and nidification by Capt. R.S. P. Bates will be found in the

Journal, vol, ¥xxv, pp. 204-7.

Trochalopteron jerdoni meridionale. Blanford.

Trochalopterum meridionale Blanford, Proc. As. Soc. Bengal, 1880 (N ovem-

ber), p. 184--S. Travancore Hills [Mynall].

Peculiar tothe Madras Presidency. Hereagain the Vew Fauna (i. p 179) isat

fault in the distribution. It dces not occur in orth Travancore as stated but

is confined to the summits of the hills above 3,500 ft. in Sow’ Travancore up

to and including the Achankovil gap (Autchincoil gap of the Fauna).

The breeding season is not recorded.

( Zo be continued. )

JourN. Bompay Nar. Hist. Soc. Prats “15:

John Baie Sons & Danielsson, Ltd London

THE CoLOURED STERCULIA.

Sterculia colorata, Roxb.

(about “2 nat. size).

SOME BEAUTIFUL INDIAN TREES.

E. BLATTER, S.J., Ph.D., F.L.S., AND W. S. MILLARD, F.Z.S.

PArT VIII.

(With two coloured and iwo black and white plates and 6 diagrams.)

(Continued trom page 296 of this volume.)

THE COLOURED STERCULIA

Popular Names: Bodula, Walena, Samarri (Hind.); Mula (Beng.);

Khowsey, Pinj (Berar); Pisi, Sisi (Kol.); Bolazong (Garo); Sitto

udal, Phirphiri, Omra, (Nepal); Kanhlyem (Lepcha); Bodala, Bodal

(Kumaon); Mutruk (Merwara); Lersima (Kharawar); Bhai-koi,

Khowsey, Bheckhol, Samarri, Walena (Bomb.); Karaka, Karu bop-

payi (Tel.); Wet-shaw, Yaseng-shaw (Burm.); Berda (Andaman).

Sterculia colorata Roxb. Hort. Beng. (1814) 50. By some called

Firmiana colorata R. Br. (Sterculiacee).

(Sterculia from Sterculius of Roman mythology, derived from

stercus, dung. The Romans in the height of paganism deified the

objects of their greatest dislike and most immoral actions. Thus

they have the gods Sterculius, Crepitus, and the goddesses Caca

and Petunda. The flowers and leaves of some species of Sterculia

are ill-smelling. Co/orata means coloured, referring to the orange-red

calyx.)

A very conspicuous tree when in flower from March to May. The

tree is leafless at this period and the branches and twigs are covered

with coral-red flowers and as these fade, their place is taken by

the winged leaf-shaped follicles which are pink at first and turn red

later. These bear on the edges one or two seeds. Thetree is fairly

common at Khandalla on the Western Ghats and there used to be a

few trees growing in Bombay

fairly recently.

Description: A large tree

with a_ straight, sometimes

fluted trunk covered with

thick, scaly, ash-coloured bark

and a crown of spreading

branches. The leaves are

crowded together at the

ends of the branches. ‘They

grow on slender _ stalks

from 4”-12” long. The leaf

is broader than long; it

measures 4”-8” in length and

is, ftomio. —I2- inewidth., It

has 3-5 points formed by

shallow triangular lobes which

taper acutely towards the

tips. In the older trees the

926 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol” XXXV

number of these lobes is usually three, but in the younger plants

and seedlings, the number of points is increased. Young leaves and

shoots are always downy. ‘The older leaves are smooth on both

surfaces, but this is a character which differs in different localities.

There are varieties of this tree in which the under-surface of the old

leaf is hairy. The tree commences to

shed its leaves in November and is

leafless from January to April, when

the young leaves commence to sprout.

This generally takes place after the tree

has burst into flower. The Coloured

Sterculia is then a conspicuous and

brilliant sight. In the forests of the

Western Ghats and the Deccan where

the tree is common, these trees in

flower appear on the hill sides and in

the ravines like masses of flaming red

CO male gale

flowers grow in

short dense

panicles at the

ends of the bran-

ehes;) (alive:

colour varies

from.brioht

coral or orange-red to greyish brown. The

stalks, the flowers and the stem on which

they grow are covered with fine downy hairs,

giving the whole inflorescence a soft, velvety

appearance. The calyx of the flower is

funnel-shaped. The petals form a long,

lobed tube from which the column of the

stamen protrudes, bearing at its summit about

30 yellow anthers. ‘The style is short and

recurved. The interior ofthe flower is deep

red. The fruits are numerous and conspicuous and might be mis-

taken for leaves. The fruit is composed of from 2-5 leaf-like

membranous valves growing on acommon stalk. These valves are

green or pinkish on the outside and yellowish within. They open

much before the fruit is mature, revealing usually two yellow, much

wrinkled seeds the size of a small bean, adhering one to each margin

of the valve.

Flowering Season: March to May. Fruits, May to June. New

Leaves, April to May.

Distribution: Satpuras up to 3,700 ft; W. Ghats from South

Kanara to Travancore, Konkan and Deccan Forest, N. Circars,

Mt. Abu, East Bengal, Burma, Andamans, Ceylon. Indo-China,

Siam.

Uses: The bark yields an inferior fibre. The twigs and leaves

are used in the W. Peninsula as a cattle fodder. The flowers are

used in some parts of the country such as the Berars to decorate the

horns of cattle during the Holi Festival.

PuatE XVI.

Bomsay Nat, Hist. Soc.

JOURN

YUE

Flowers of the Coloured Sterculia (Stercwlia colorata).

The Coloured Sterculia (Sterculia colorata), in flower.

Photos by C. McCann.

Journ. Bompay Nar. Hist. Soc. Pirate 16.

John Bale Sons & Danielsson. Lt¢ London.

THE QUEEN’S FLOWER.

Lagerstroemia flos reginae, Retz.

(about % nat. size).

SOME BEAUTIFUL INDIAN TREES O27

THE QUEEN’S FLOWER

Popular Names: Arjuna, Jarul (Hind.); Jarul (Beng.); Gara

Saikre (Kol.); Sekra (Santal); Ajhar, Jarul (Assam); Bolashari

(Garo); Taman, Bondara (Bomb.) ; Bondara, Mota-bondara (Konkan);

Taman, Tamana, Mota-bondara (Mar.); Kadali (Tam.}; Chennangi

(Tel.) ; Challa, Holedasal, Maruva (Kan.) ; Adamboe (Malay.) ; Kone-

pyinma, Pyinma (Burm.); Kamaung (Magh.); Murute, Muruta-gass

(Sing.); Arjuna (Sans.).

Lagerstroeemia Flos-Reginae Retz. Obs. (1789) fasc. 5, p. 25. Family

(Lythrace@).

(After Magnus v. Lagerstroem, 1696-1750, a Swede and friend

of Linnzeus; F/os-Regine means flowers of the Queen.)

This tree does not grow to a large size in Bombay, about 20 feet

in height only, probably because Bombay is too far North for it to

excel in growth, but it is a beautiful sight when in flower from May

to July. ‘fhere are various shades of colour in the flowers of these

trees, some being purple and others different shades of mauve,

approaching to pink and these light pinkish mauve varieties are

perhaps the most beautiful. The upstanding panicles of the flowers

rather remind one of the shape of the white racemes of the horse-

chestnut when in flower in England.

Description : A moderate sized tree but when growing on the banks

of forest streams, it may reacha height of 60 ft. The trunk is straight.

Its pale bark flakes off in irregular patches. The branches spread

, widely. The leaves grow

on stout stalks; they are

paler in colour below,

oblong-lance-shaped and

bluntly pointed at the tips.

A leaf measures from

5”-8” in length and 1$”-3”

in width. Its main nerves,

there are from 10-13

upward curving pairs, are

conspicuous and _ promi-

nent. A network of fine

veins covers both surfaces

of the leaf.

The tree sheds its leaves

during the cold weather

when some of the leaves

turn coppery red or yellow.

But this leaf-fall is gene-

rally gradual. Few trees

are absolutely bare. The

young leaves come out with the blossoms in May. Then the tree

covered with great clusters of large mauve flowers isa delight to

the eye. Its massed flowers have not the aggressive beauty of the

Gold Mohur or the Flame of the Forest but their soft pastel colouring

is tenderly attractive and pleasing. Each cluster or panicle of flowers

528 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

“may be quite a foot in length springing from the branch as an

upstanding spike, massed with flowers at its base and bearing

numerous downy pink and green buds towards its tip. The earlier

flowers at the bottom of the spike fade to a

paler tone thus varying the colours of the

cluster from deep to palest mauve. The

colouring of the flowers varies in differ-

ent trees; in some it is almost purple, in

others mauve or pinky-mauve, while there

is a beautiful variety in which the colours are

bright pink. The calyx of the flower is

green. It is covered with a white, some-

times reddish down. It has from 6 to 7

sepals which are fused together and form a

heavily-ribbed cup with a lobed brim.

There are from 6 to7 petals, very crinkled

and wavy, rounded at the apex and clawed

or narrowing suddenly at the base. ‘The

stamens are all equal, shorter than the style,

they are purplish red and bear yellow

anthers. The tree fruits in great profusion

and the fruits persist for a long lime. Green

fruits of the year are seen on the tree

together with blackened fruits of the prece-

ding season. They are globular in shape

and contain smooth pale brown seeds.

Flowering Season: Flowers during the hot season and fruits

during the rainy season. But young trees may be found in flower

late in the rains.

Distribution: W. Ghats of N. Kanara and S. Konkan through

Malabar to Travancore, along the banks of nalas and rivers and in

swampy localities, N. Circars, Chota Nagpur, E. Bengal, Assam,

Burma, Malaya, China, Ceylon. Very

often cultivated, especially so in the Gora-

khpur district of the United Provinces.

Leat-shedding Flowering and Fruiting:

‘The tree sheds its leaves about February-

March, the leaves turning reddish before

falling ; the new leaves appear in April—

May. The large terminal panicles of

mauve flowers 2-3 inches in diameter,

appear from April to June, at which

time the trees are extremely handsome.

The capsules 5--6-valved, broadly ovoid,

0:7-1 inch long, ripen from Novernber to

January, according to locality, though

they do not actually open and scatter the

seeds for some little time. The seeds

are light brown, angular, fairly hard, with

a stiff, brittle wing, the whole —,/, inch

long ; they are often unfertile. The tree i)

seeds at an early age; vigorous plants raised from irrigated broadcast

JouRN. Bompay Nat. Hist. Soc. Puate XVII.

The Queen’s Flower Tree (Lagerstroenia Flos Regine), in flower

in the Victoria Gardens, Bombay.

Flowers of the Queen’s Flower Tree (Lagerstroemia Flos Regine).

Photos by C. McCann.

: p : : : ‘! 4 :

, / : , ’

a 7 1 a : a vs pm to SS ey tal igthdede Ei eatneaiet

: : £6 fe Fe , ' . | “ ae ay :

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. fei ie Hf 7 7

: 7 - {fh

eh. : aD i ; : wn ,

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SOME BEAUTIFUL INDIAN TREES 529

sowings at Dehra Dun commenced to bear seed at the age of three

years.

Gardening : ‘In full blossom in the morning the tree looks as if

mantled with roses, but the flowers change through the day to a

beautiful purple, making it appear at evening, if seen from a short

distance, like a bower of English lilacs.’—-(Hunter).

During the first season the growth of the seedling is slow, a height

of only 2-6 inches being ordinarily attained by the end of the year;

subsequently the growthis considerably faster. Weeding and irriga-

tion, particularly the former, greatly stimulate growth. Owing tothe

lightness of the seed and the small size of the young seedlings, direct

sowings are less suitable than transplanting from the nursery.

Uses: This is the most valuable timber of Sylhet, Cachar, and

Chittagong, and in Burma the next in value after teak. It is used in

ship-building, and for boats and canoes, all kinds of construction,

timber and carts.

Medicinal Uses: The root is prescribed as an astringent. The

root, bark, leaves and flowers are used medicinally by the Natives.

It is stated that the seeds are narcotic, the bark and leaves purgative.

The fruit is used in the Andamans as a local application for aphthe

of the mouth.

Another species of the same genus is widely grown in Indian

gardens: The Crape Myrtle (Lagerstremia indica Linn.) called

Chinai-Mendhi. It is a native of China. It is one of the most

beautiful shrubs in our gardens, grows to a height of 7-8 ft. The

flowers hang in branches at the extremity of the branches. The

flowers are usually bright pink, but there are dark crimson, bluish,

purplish and white forms. It flowers at the beginning of the rainy

season. Easily propagated by cuttings or seeds.

(To be continued).

THE RHESUS MACAQUES (MACACA MULATTA).'

RK. 1. (BOCOCK, FaR:s.

Temporary Assistant in the Zoological Department of the

British Museum.

(With a plate and two text-figures.)

INTRODUCTION.

There is no monkey better known in northern India than this

species, the Bandar; and no monkey is more familiar as an exhibit

in the Zoological Gardens of the world where it is invariably called

the Rhesus. But it has never been adequately studied from the

point of view of individual, seasonal and local variation.

As I understand the species, it has a far wider geographical dis-

tribution than any other Macaque, its range extending through the

Himalayas, up to 5,000 ft. or 6,000 ft., from Kafiristan and Chitral

to Assam and beyond to Burma and Siam and thence northwards

into the Tsheli Province of China. South of the Ganges it occurs,

as far to the west as Gujerat and according to Blanford, as far to

the south as the Godaverti.

Collectors for the Mammal Survey of India secured a large

number of specimens, many of which are in the British Museum,

and the subject-matter of this paper is based upon an examination

of that material, supplemented by specimens obtained from a

variety of sources and stored in the Museum.

RANGE OF COLOUR VARIATION IN THE RHESUS.

A marked specific character of this monkey is the yellowish or

orange-red hue of the hind quarters where the hairs are grey or

whitish in the basal half and yellow or orange in the outer half.

On the fore quarters and head the hairs are typically annulated with

orange or buff and blackish or grey. But sometimes a generally

orange or yellowish hue pervades the whole of the upper side,

although it is never so intense on the fore back, shoulders and head

as on the rump and thighs. It may be crudely asserted that the

species has an innate tendency to erythrism; and in monkeys

addicted to that variation degrees in the brightness and extension

of ‘russet’ are untrustworthy criteria for subspecific differences.

As an instance of individual variation in the species I will describe

two adult males of almost exactly the same size and collected by

H. W. Wells at Rajapara in South Kamrup, 600 ft. alt., one on

1 For the substitution of the name Macaca mulatta for Macacus rhesus and

for the disentanglement of the involved synonymy of this species, see the paper

by Hinton and Wroughton, Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc., xxvii, pp. 665-669,

1921.

THE RHESUS MACAQUES (MACACA MULATTA) Dol

November 21st, the other on November 25th, both being in perfect

coat.

a. Head, nape and shoulders yellowish olive in general tint, the

hairs clearly annulated with bright yellowish buff, ashy grey at the

base; the back brighter and yellower turning to orange on the loins

and almost fiery red on the outside of the thighs, the basal half of

the hairs on the bright red areas being white and the distal half

red and not annulated. Tail like the rump at its base, greyish olive

terminally. Arms grey, with yellowish buff speckling giving an olive

hue. Legs washed with bright yellow, paling from the thigh to

the foot which is greyish yellow. Some black hairs on the brow

and close to the face; cheeks speckled, a little lighter than the top

of the head. Under side mostly white, slightly reddish on the

belly.

b. Much darker. Head, nape and shoulders deep greyish olive

in general tint, the hairs annulated with pallid greyish buff, deeper

smoky grey at the base; the back yellower olive, the lumbar

region being like the head and nape of the other specimen. But-

tocks and outside of thighs not nearly so fiery, the red being

less bright and smaller in extent. Tail much darker. Arms a

little darker, with grey ticking, hands blacker. Legs, feet and

underside very much as in the first specimen.

Here and there occur specimens which are rich rusty red all

over the dorsal surface from the head to the rump, although

brighter behind than in front. One of this type, an adult female,

was secured by A. C. Miller on January 2 in the Dangs, Surat

District, associated with another not quite so red and with a

young one much duller in tint, yellowish olive in front and not

so bright behind. Quite as red as the first is a specimen from

Dharmsala 4,500 ft. in the Punjab, shot by H. W. Wells on

February 2; and even redder than these is a specimen secured by

the same collector at Boska Nadi, N. Kamrup, 2,ooo ft., on January

E1920,

Another variable character in these monkeys is the length of

the tail as attested by the table of measurements given below.

SEASONAL CHANGES IN THE COLOUR AND LENGTH OF THE COAT

In the paper I recently published on the Bonnet Macaque (Macaca

vadiata) of South India, I showed that the ccat is at its best,

so far as colour is concerned, in the winter months, that it gradu-

ally fades. through the spring and has a shabby and dead look

just before the moult, which occurs in June or July.

The same series of phenomena takes place in M. mulatta. In

the winter from about November to January the coat is perfect

in colour and texture as described in the case of the two examples

from Rajapara in South Kamrup, shot at the end of November.

It is then soft in texture, the long hairs overlapping each other

so as to conceal the grey tint of their basal portions.

There is some evidence that the coat may go on increasing in

length during the early months of the year and that fading may

set in towards the end of February. For example, a female shot

532 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

on January 9 by Baptista at Hasimara, 600 ft., in Bhotan Duars,

which is almost exactly like a male he shot 2 miles W. of Gorkha,

N.-W. Nepal, on December 7, is shorter in the coat and much

more brilliantly coloured than a male shot at Bharnabhavi, 600 ft.,

Bhotan Duars, on February 21. These differences may, however,

be independent of season, because the Bharnabhavi specimen very

closely resembles the darker of the two specimens (b) shot in

South Kamrup on November 25 and a male shot by J. M. D.

Mackenzie 20 miles S.-W. of Kindat in Upper Burma _ on

January 3rd.

Through March, April, May and June the coat gradually loses

its lustre, softness and colour, the hairs tend to become uniformly

tinted buffish or brownish grey and to adhere loosely in irregular

bands or patches displaying the greyer hue of their basal portions.

It then exhibits a shaggy, streaky appearance and is decidedly

harsh to the touch. When remnants of the old coat are found in

places after the new coat is up, the hairs are all uniformly greyish

without a trace of buff in them. I am inclined to think that their

distal, originally annulated ends break off from brittleness. ~

The moult is not exactly coincident in time even in the same

locality, and no doubt varies still more with altitude or latitude

in accordance with the earlier or later onset of warm weather. In

two specimens, for instance, shot at Samyala, Kangra, 5,000 ft.,

by H. W. Wells on May 9g, although the coat is long, shaggy,

streaky and obviously faded in both, in one only has the moult

set in as shown by a large median cap of new short hair on the

forehead. This area appears to be always the first to clear. It

is the only part that is cleared, for example, in a male with a

faded shabby coat, shot at Kakara in Damoli, 1,200 ft., by Crump

on May 12; and in another male shot by Shortridge on June 6

at the Mamsano Falls of the Nano Sao River, 2,000 ft., in the

North Shan States.

From the evidence of other specimens it seems that the moulting

of the forehead is followed by that of the extremities and the tail.

A faded, shabby coated specimen, for instance, secured by Baptista

on June 15 at Bouzini in Nepal has the forehead, feet and tail

covered with quite short fresh hair. The tail, it may be added,

in this and similar cases is exactly like that of the Pig-tailed

Macaque, M. nemestrina.

In several cases in which the crown and feet are covered with

short new hair while the rest of the body still carries the old,

faded, shabby coat, the new hair of the dorsal surface can be

detected beneath the old. This is clearly illustrated by a male

example shot on June 15 at Patriata, Murree, 7,150 ft., by H. W.

Wells. Here the long, shaggy hairs, sooty grey on the back of

the head, the nape and shoulders and tipped with rusty brown

on the loins, are everywhere underlain by the new short coat which

is annulated reddish and black. A very similar condition of the

coat is exhibited by two Burmese examples from Tatkon, 250 ft.,

near Kindat on the Upper Chindwin River, shot by G. C. Shortridge

on July 5, and from Mingun in Upper Burma shot by the same

collector on July 12. These three specimens suggest that the moult

JOURN. Bompay Nat. Hist. Soc.

Upper Fia.—McMahon’s Rhesus (M. mulatta memahont) from Chitral.

Lower Fia.—Common Rhesus (M. mulatta mulatta) from Bhotan Duars.

THE RHESUS MACAQUES (MACACA MULATTA) 233

is later in Burma than in the Western Himalayas. However that

may be, the moult is usually completed by August although in one

specimen obtained by C. A. Crump on August 1 at Luia, Chaibassa,

about 250 miles west of Calcutta, some of the old hair, lustreless

and dull grey in hue, is still retained on the back. A still later

date for its retention is attested by an example from Lamsakhang

in the Cachar Hills shot on September tro.

One or two of the specimens from Upper Burma collected by

Shortridge and Mackenzie in that country have already been refer-

red to. In connection with these, I must add that a_ splendid

series, ranging from Hkamti in the north to Prome and Toungoo

in the south, was obtained by these collectors at various months

of the year, mostly in the summer. These, with tne exception

of one probably wrongly-dated skin, bear out the conclusions

regarding the moult and colour-change described above.

I have been quite unable to find any external character by which

these Burmese specimens can be distinguished from specimens of

typical mulatta from India.

THE LocAL RACES OF THE RHESUS

Since several subspecies of M. mulatta are, in my _ opinion,

admissible, it is necessary to fix upon one of them as the typical

form to carry that name. The selection is narrowed by Pennant’s

statement that the living individual he described as the Tawny

Monkey, which Zimmerman named mulatta, came from India; but

it may have been captured near Bombay or Calcutta or in one of

the hill-stations. For the specimen described by Buffon, the type

of rhesus, fulva and erythrea which are synonyms of mulatta, no

locality was given. But for the monkey represented by the synonym

next in order of date, namely oiops Hodgson, 1843, a definite

locality, the Nepal Tarai, is known; and since I concur with Ander-

son, Blanford, Hinton and Wroughton in considering oimops the

same animal as mulatta (rhesus), I propose to regard the Nepal

Tarai as the locality of the typical race.

THE COMMON INDIAN AND BURMESE RHESUS

Macaca mulatta mulatta, Zimm.

Macaca mulatta, Zimm., 1780; fulva, Kerr, 1792; rhesus, Aud.,

1798; erythrea, Shaw, 1800; oinops, Hodgs., 1840; Hinton and

Wroughton, J. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc., xxvii, p. 665, 1921.

_Pithecus brevicaudus, Elliot, Rev. Prim., ii, p. 216, 1913.

Macaca siamica, Kloss, J. Nat. Hist. Soc., Siam, il, p. 247, 1917.

To the synonymy of this race published by Hinton and Wroughton

I have added, for reasons given below, the last two names on

the list.

The range of variation in the colour of this race is practically

covered by the descriptions given above of the two examples from

Rajapara in South Kamrup.

534 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL_HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

The following notes on some specimens referred to this race

may be interesting.

Nagarcot, Nepal, 8,oo0 ft. (R. L. Kennion). October 15th. An

adult female, colour very much as in Rajapara a. The coat is

soft and short, barely 2 inches on the shoulders despite the altitude

which is considerably above that of any other specimen in the

collection. It is shorter than in October skins of villosa from

Kumaon at much lower elevations. The head and body are 1 ft.

9 ins., the tail 9 ins.

Chengl, Ghorkha, W. Nepal (N. A. Baptista). December 7. A

male skin, redder than the last, with a softer fuller coat, the

hair on the shoulder about 24 ins.

Hazaria Pathergatta, the Nepal Tarai, 600 ft. (N. A. Baptista).

February 17. A topotype of mulatta as indicated by oinops. The

colour almost identical with that of Rajapara a. The winter coat

is neither wavy, woolly nor particularly thick, the hair on the

shoulders being a little over 2 ins.

Bouzini, the Nepal Tarai, June (N. A. Baptista). The moult is

just setting in and the old discoloured woolly winter coat measures

about 2 ins. on the shoulder.

Bharnabai, 600 ft., and Hasimara, 600 ft., in the Bhotan Duars

(N. A. Baptista). Several specimens varying considerably in colour

and intergrading completely in tint between a and b of the Rajapara

pair. In a male from Hasimara, January 1, the coat is only

about 2 ins. on the shoulder; in one from Bharnabai, February 21,

it is nearly 24 ins. Two Q from Hasimara, January 8, are softer

coated than the ¢. The Bhotan Duars are similar in physical

features to the Nepal Tarai.

Bogra Nadi, 2,000 ft., N. Kamrup (H. W. Wells), Jan. 5. A

young well-coloured ¢3 with soft thickish fur but the hair only about

14 in. long.

From comparatively low-lying country south of the Ganges the

Survey unfortunately secured only a few specimens which seem

referable to this race.

Luia, Chaibassa, 1,000 ft. (C. A. Crump), Sept. 1. Two young

specimens above referred to as just free of the old coat, the new

coat being very short and sleek.

Sohagpur, Hoshangabad, 1,000 ft. (C. A. Crump), April 10, ¢

adult. The winter coat still retained but shabby, streaky and

faded, dull grey, with pallid buff tips to most of the hairs on the

fore part and washed out orange on the rump. The cheeks, feet

and tail below are white and the hands nearly so. The hair on the

shoulders is from 2 ins. to 24 ins. in length.

Kokara, Damoh, 1,200 ft. (C. A. Crump), May 12, @. Colour

and coat much as in the last but new coat appearing on the fore-

head; the colour rather darker, the cheeks, hands and feet and

lower side of tail not white.

Dangs, Surat, (C. A. Miller), Jan. Three flat 9 skins. The coat

is soft and thickish and about 2 ins. long. The colour, as pointed

out above, is individually very variable.

In Assam H. W. Wells procured specimens from the following

localities: —Nangpon, Khasia Hills, 1,200 ft. ; Lamsakhang, Cachar,

THE RHESUS MACAQUES (MACACA MULATTA) 535

200 ft.; Golaghat, Dening in the Mishmi Hills, 2,250 ft. These

specimens show no distinctive characters; and the same is true of

examples collected by Messrs. G. C. Shortridge, S. A. MacMillan

and J. M. D. Mackenzie at the following localities in Burma:—

Hkamti, Homalin, Tamanthe 460 ft., Kindat 600 ft., Tatkon 200 ft.

in Upper Chindwin; at Yin, Alicha in the Chin Hills 1,000 ft. in

Lower Chindwin; Pyaungyaung 2,790 ft., Mamsano Falls, Nano

Yao River, 2,000 ft., Seen Hsipaw State gro ft in the Northern

Shan States; and farther south at Mt. Popa, to the east of Toungoo,

100-500 feet; and 30 miles S.-E. of Prome, 800 ft.

The most southern localities for typical mulatta in Burma on

this list are Toungoo and Prome. How much farther south the

animal extends is unknown; but it is not found in Tenasserim.

To the east of the Shan States in Northern Siam this race

also occurs. At all events C. B. Kloss gave the name Macaca

siamica to an adult male example collected at the Me Ping rapids,

below Chiengami, 850 ft., (Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc., Siam, II, p. 247,

1917), and I cannot find either in the description of the skin or

the measurements of the skull a particle of evidence to justify the

admission of siamica as a symbol even of a local race of M.

mulatta. But Kloss’s acquaintance with the macaques of this

group was practically restricted to Elliot’s Review which has

only a bibliographical value. Kloss drew attention to certain parti-

culars in which the Siamese skull differs from the figures of the

skull of the Hainan rhesus published by Elliot. But the two skulls

are very different in age, the one from Hainan being much younger

with the sutures of the upper side very clearly defined, whereas

in the Siamese skull all the sutures, according to Kloss, are

obliterated.

I have seen no examples actually from Siam, but farther east-

ward, in Annam and Tonkin, Delacour and Lowe, met with this

monkey and sent three females to the British Museum.

The Tonkin specimens were taken at Bac Kan, 500 ft., on

December 13 and 24. They are therefore in perfect colour. One

of them is practically indistinguishable from some examples of

mulatta from Hazaria Pathergatta in the Nepal Tarai and from

Hasimara in the Bhutan Duars described above; but the base of

the hair is more sea-gull grey, and the tail is fuller.

The second specimen is distinctly darker, the hairs being more

sooty-grey basally, with the pale annuli on the fore part and the

rump more rusty. The tail is not so bushy.

The Annam specimen taken at Phua-a-Qui, too ft., on February

28th is not nearly so bright as the foregoing, the fore quarters

being more olive and the rump is less red. It is not so red behind

as a Q from the Bhutan Duars but is almost identical in colour with

it on the fore parts.

I am unable to distinguish these skins from Indian specimens

referred to M. mulatta mulatta.

The same must be said of examples from Hainan. Swinhoe was

the first apparently to record the existence of a Rhesus-like monkey

in, Hainan (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1870, p. 226). He quite correctly

identified it as Macacus erythreus, one of the many names given

536 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

to the Rhesus; and one of his specimens, a young male, killed in

March 1868, was presented to the British Museum.

Subsequently several specimens were acquired from Mt. Washi on

the island by the American Museum of Nat. Hist., New York.

Elliot got hold of these and described them as representing a new

species under the name brachyurus (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (8),

IV, Pp. 251, 1909) which, on account of its preoccupation!, he

altered afterwards to brevicaudus (Rev. Primates, ii, p. 216, pl.

XXlil, 1913.). He wrote with assurance about the distinctness of

this monkey from the Indian rhesus, claiming its tail to be much

shorter and its colouring much brighter. He also laid particular

stress on some cranial features; but since there seems to be no

doubt that he compared his skulls from Hainan with abnormal

skulls of mulatta reared in captivity, of which there are many in the

British Museum, where he was working at the time, the skull

characters he mentioned have no value.

The measurements? he quoted for the skin, give the head and

body as 510 mm. (=20 # ins.) and the tail as 220 mm. (=8 #

ins.), the tail being considerably longer than the foot and between

one-third and one-half the length of the head and body. There is

nothing unusual about the dimensions. The actual measurements,

indeed, of the type of brevicaudus coincide very closely with those

of a male, collected at Damoh in the C. P. of India, in which the

head and body are 515 mm. and the tail 218 mm., the tail being

a trifle shorter in proportion than in brevicaudus. But, as has been

shown, the length of the tail is very variable in these monkeys.

And Elliot’s statement that the colour of the Hainan rhesus is

much brighter than in the typical Indian form, is_ entirely

unsupported by the facts known to me. At ali events, the two

specimens of it that I have seen are duller in tint than most of

the Indian specimens, the topotype being almost as close a match

as it is possible to imagine with the two examples from Chaibassa,

to the west of Calcutta, which must be assigned to typical mulatta.

The two Hainan specimens in the British Museum show certain

differences in colour, no doubt mostly, if not wholly, seasonal. In

the topotype of brevicaudus collected on October 10, when the coat

was almost fresh, it is tidy, comparatively short and the hairs of

the head, neck and fore-part of the body are annulated with

yellowish buff and blackish grey, the general effect being olive at

a distance; and the hind quarters have but little brightness about

them. Swinhoe’s specimen, shot in March, has, on the contrary,

the coat distinctly longer and rougher, the hairs on the fore quarters

being curled and dead at the tips and exhibiting very inconspicuous

annulation. The arms also are browner and the under side a less

dusky grey. The made-up skin measures: head and body 15

1 By Hamilton Smith (Jardine’s Nat. Libr., i, p. 103, pl. i. 1842), who gave

tlhe name to an albino macaque with a very short tail. Elliot put brachyurus

amongst the synonyms of nemestrinus; but obviously quite without justification,

the tail of brachyurus being much too short for nemestrinus.

2 Presumably these dimensions were taken in the flesh by the collector.

But a topotype received from the American Museum and presumably one of

the specimens Elliot examined, has no measurements, nor is there any provision

on the collector’s label for them.

THE RHESUS MACAQUES (MACACA MULATTA) - 537

inches, tail 7°1 inches, and the hind foot 4°5 inches, the proportions

being about the same as in Indian specimens.

The following table gives the principal dimensions, taken in the

flesh in English inches of specimens ranging from Central India

to Tonkin.

Locality & Sex Snare Tail Sa Weight

Hazaria Pathergatta, |

Nepal Tarai. i 21-6 16°4 6°4

Ghorkha, Nepal, J 20'8 10 6-4

Rajapara, S. Kamrup, J 21°6 e) | 56 163 lbs,

Hasimara, Bhotan Duars, 3 19 8°8 6 ]

Damoh, C. India, Jb 20°6 8°8 6:2

Mingun, Upper Burma, mi 22 8 6:4 15 lbs.

Homalin, Chindwin, 3 23 8°4 335

Mamsam Falls, N. Shan

States, J 2.4 8°2 6°3 154 lbs.

Siam (szamica) . 3 19°8 9-4 54

Chaibassa, Bengal. Young ¢ 14-4 9 Ses)

As e Young @ 16 (Be 5°6

Nagarcot, Nepal, 2 21 9 6°3

Narbong, Darjiling, 2 20°2 8°4 5°6 114

Hasimara, Bhotan Duars, 2 17°6 9 6

Sohagpur, C. India, © 18°6 Ie) 5°8

Mishmi Hills, Q 1972 dele? 5°8

y - o 16°4 9°6 oT7

Kindat, Upper Burma, 2 i7-2 9°6 a7, 11

Pyaungyaung, N. Shan

States, 2 20 7°4 5°4 13

Tonkin, io) 20°8 or4 5°8

os 2 19 8 5°6

Annam, g 18 7°6 38

This table shows tolerably close agreement in size between

specimens assigned to this race; but it somewhat surprisingiv

reveals very little difference, except in weight, between the males

and the females.

5388 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

The following are the principal cranial dimensions' of a few specimens assigned to 47. mulatta

mulatta.

The tail,

it will be noticed, although always longer than the

hind foot, is very variable, occasionally over one half the length

of the head and body, but usually between one half and one third.

I have inserted the dimensions of two young specimens from Chai-

bassa to illustrate its individual variation in examples from the

same locality.

this paper the width of the maxilla is

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penultimate cheek tooth.

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The cheek teetlb are t

THE RHESUS MACAQUES (MACACA MULATTA) 539

Although the male skulls in this list agree tolerably closely in

dimensions, no two are precisely alike, the individual variation in

the roundness of the crown, the prominence of the occiput and of

the jaws, the length from the brow to the nares and the degree of

concavity of the interorbital and nasal bones, being very consider-

able. It may be noted that Kloss’s type of siamica is in close

agreement with examples from Bhutan Duars and Chittagong.

The female skulls are almost equally variable, a good illustration

being supplied by the three from Tonkin and Annam collected by

Delacour and Lowe. The first of these is a little larger than any

of the Burmese or Indian specimens. This is partly due to the

prominence of the occiput. The second, an older animal, from the

same locality, has the occiput much less produced, the maxilla much

less pinched, the brows less prominent, the nasals much narrower

and the teeth much larger. The Annam skull has such prominent

brows that the interorbital septum is nearly vertical. In this as in

other respects, except the smaller teeth, it closely resembles the

Bengal skull (Prof. Oldham). They might, indeed, be sister-skulls.

THE RHESUS OF KASHMIR AND KUMAON

Macaca mulatta villosa, True.

MGcacus “hesus, mlosus; lrule,-roca-U.S Nat. Mus: xvit; p..2,

1894.

Pithecus vulosus, Elliot, Rev. Prim. “1, p. 200, 1913.

Locality of type: Lolab at the northern end of Wular Lake,

about 4o miles N.-W. of Srinagar in Kashmir.

Distribution: Southern Kashmir, Upper Punjab, Kumaon.

The original specimens of this monkey, collected by Dr. Abbott,

were shot on September 8th and oth, from four to six weeks after

the completion of the moult when the coat should be comparatively

short. But True described it as ‘long, dense, and moderately

wavy’, and Elliot as ‘long, loose and woolly’. Otherwise there is

nothing in the description of this monkey, apart from a slightly

larger skull, to distinguish it from the typical Rhesus.

Through the kind offices of Mr. Gerrit Miller junr., I have

received on loan from the Smithsonian Institution,. two of the

specimens, an adult and a young male, described by True and

Elliot. The coat in general is most emphatically neither long,

loose, wavy nor woolly, but is short, close and smooth as in the

normal new pelage of the Rhesus, although it is a little longer

on the limbs, especially on the toes, in both examples and on

the head in the smaller. The colour is a little redder and brighter

than in average typical mulatta, the tail darker above and the

hands and feet duskier; but the differences in the skins amount to

very little.

Before examining these specimens, I had identified as M. mulatta

villosa a fine series of Rhesus skins in the British Museum mostly

obtained by the Mammal Survey, from tolerably high altitudes in

the Himalayas, Kangra, Kumaon etc.

Of this series, one already historical, may be disposed of first.

It is a female received from the Zoological Society in 1871 and

540 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

labelled Kashmir. But according to Anderson it was purchased at

Delhi or Agra from a native who stated it came from Kashmir,

which is, of course, no proof that it did. (Zcol. Res. Yunnan,

Pp. 73, 1878). Elliot subsequently got hold of this specimen and

thinking it belonged to the Macaque from Fokien in Eastern China

which he described as Pithecus littoralis, stated that the animal:was

‘evidently erroneously attributed to Cashmere’. (Ree. Prim. “ai,

p. 202’). I have no doubt that the monkey came from Kashmir.

In tint the skin generally resembles that of typical mulatta and is

well coloured; but the coat, although not exceptionally long is

remarkably thick, woolly and close. On the toes the hair overlaps

the long claws by 4 an inch. In the made-up skin the head and

body are about 184 ins., the tail, without the khair, about 9% ins.,

and the hind foot, although shrunken, about 5 ins. Since the skull

is very young, without trace of true molars, the dimensions of the

skin indicate a large monkey.

The Survey secured examples at the following localities :—

-y-Patriata, Murreée, 7,150 ft., (H. W. -Wells). An-adult male shot

on June 15th. This specimen has already been alluded to in connec- °

tion with the moult. The old, long, shabby, discoloured winter

coat is everywhere being replaced by new characteristically annulated

hair.

Dharmsala, Punjab, 4,500 ft., (H. W. Wells). A young male

shot on February 5. Very like the female from Kashmir and

nearly as bright as Abbott’s examples. <A well-coloured skin, with

considerable amount of red, in perfect coat, the hair long, between

24 and 3 ins. on the shoulders, loose and beautifully soft, dark

grey basally, red at tips. No measurements taken.

Samyala, Kangra, Punjab, 5,000 ft., (H. W. Wells). Two males

shot on May oth. A couple of shaggy skins with the moult

imminent. In one the coat is shorter but considerably more curly

than in the other. There is hardly a trace of red on the: fore

quarters, the general hue being dark greyish brown, but the red

of the thighs and loins is retained although faded. In the dusky

hue of the hands and feet and of the upper side of the tail, the

larger of the two closely resembles True’s villosa.

Kangra Fort, 2,450 ft., (H. W. Wells). An adult male shot on’

March 18. Coat loose But very long, about 34 ins. on shoulders

where the hairs are palish grey basally and with the tips already

beginning to fade and curl; otherwise the colour is fairly normal

although not nearly so dark and rich as in the example from

Dharmsala. Berta

Bageswar in Kumaon, 3,200 ft., (C. A. Crump). Two males and

a female shot on October rst and 3rd. These skins are decidedly

longer in the coat.than Dr. Abbott’s specimens, but not so brightly

coloured, the annulations being less distinct on the fore quarters

and the red not so bright behind. Possibly the difference is due to

the later season. The female is duller, more olive in tint.

Ratighat, Naini Tal, Kumaon, 3,700-3,800 ft., (C. A. Crump).

A pair collected on November 1 and 5. The colour is as in the

1 An error Elliot fell into as a result of this mistaken identification is.

explained (vide p.- 546 infra) in connection with the Chinese ‘race.

THE RHESUS: MACAQUES (MACACA MULATTA) ~ SAY

female from Bageswar and not so bright as in the males; and in

the male the hair is much paler at the base, white on the hind

quarters. The coat is long, 2$ ins. on the shoulder but not~-so

thick. Be

..Sitabani, Ramnagar,.Kumaon, 2,000 ft., (C. A. Crump). Two

males shot on November 22. . Both are very well coloured, one

of them being hardly distinguishable from Abbott’s Lolab specimens

but the coat is not so full and is greyer at the base of the hairs.

Dela Ramnagar, Kumaon, 1,500 ft., (C. A. Crump). A male’

shot on January 7. The coat is loose and long, 3 ins. or more

in length and well coloured and annulated, but paler than in the

Lolab specimens and with much less under fur, the base of the

hair being paler ashy grey. It is not nearly so brightly coloured

as in the Sitabani examples. As in them the ee us tice dtc

that it is immature. :

The following are the flesh measurements and: weights of a few

specimens : —

Head

Locality and Sex: "and Body Tail | aa Weight

Satriata, Murree, a uA 29 12 on a:

Pamyala, Kangra, eee Meo eo LO af OF AG - or

ie $ d pss 20:5 10°5 oo ea

Kangra Fort, Jb sh 20 We 6. me

Bageswar, Kumaon, ¢ © ee 22 IOS 6°8 22 ibs,

ee ‘ a Bd 21:8 95 6°8 28h" ee

Ratighat, Naini Tal, ¢ — 20°5 9 6°5 Late;

Bageswar, Kumaon, @ ae SES. 8°6 Spore else sn

Ratighat, Naini Tal, 2. aS 10 202.7 10 oie eee

ineee parcculars indiestes a wees ne on mines ce a Sein

larger monkey than typical mulatta; but the differences are not

very marked and there is no doubt that villosa intergrades with

mulatta at the lower levels. The individual variation in the length

of the tail as compared with the head and body and the foot is

very considerable, as in typical mulatta.

The largest skull of this race in the British Museum is that of

the male example from Murree. It is a little smaller than the

skull of the type from Lolab; but the more open sutures indicate

a younger animal with the skull: probably not quite full sized.

This is also indicated by the lighter mandible with lower ascending

ramus. It also has the muzzle narrower and the brow-ridge in

profile higher; but otherwise the skulls are unmistakably alike.

The same applies to the skulls from Kangra and Kumaon, although

no two are exactly alike in all characters. Except that these skulls

are larger than those assigned to typical mulatta and on the

average have deeper muzzles; more pronounced brows, and the

temporal ridges in the adult closer together, although never actually

joined, they are naturally very like those of the typical race.

542 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

It is interesting to note that the skull of a male Rhesus, ticketed

Chunar, Benares, in the Museum Collection is villosa-like in form

but is smaller and has an exceptionally short tooth-row.

In the following table of cranial measurements of examples of

villosa, all actually approximately full-sized, are included those of

the type of the Chitral race described below. 3

The skulls of villosa are decidedly a little larger on the average

than those assigned to mulatta.

= © ®

G&G Q,

RS ma) a

2 Bo go

S = 2 2 2 S

= S ~

qi S S

¥ N 3 e = 2 = i =

=| s op) o>) op) op) oe) oO ore) oe)

a Sacer x x x x x x x x

os ai

S fo) op) fo) op) rep) op) oe) nN

3 1199.L Zo) un un xH un 0) =) rH

ov ane se) So) se) So) Se) ae) oO <o)

sp ieddq

s[qipuvyy + +

jo = op) ore) ~ i Lo) ee) ae

yjsue'] =H 0) mo) eo) so) So) So) Se)

BILL Xe +

jo op) SN Jo) i Ln To) La) In

; UPIAA — _ = _ rf _ r re

2 | syqs0 # +

oes SSOIOB N am op) ee) oa) ore) co To)

aS UIPIM <0) oo) oN) “1 N N N oN)

a ene Mare 28

nA +

m0Bh7Z Xo) o) on cn eo) ao) eo) oo

1e}0], un un un un un wn Ye) <H

b So ne) So N16) ne) Ne} SO 2 4Ot 2 OF OF

vo in ~

NM qd = 5

oie eas

Lo) ioe} fe) ° ran

q S| ss sy g a

Ke | |

b vy = 5 vi

= in craps MM ce

5 oo ivaee r=

S < a Aa a. ene ee Mac Ree aac z

oO n u n ia

5 = a DE 3k od EA OOT ore nticg Seine “5 ap

aa & bas] = tev) yp ras] p on

aa ° tay © w SH o © 3

@ eI = wa og ad —Q 4 —Q

THE RHESUS MACAQUES (MACACA MULATTA) 543

THE RHESUS MONKEY OF KAFIRISTAN AND CHITRAL.

The earliest reference apparently to this monkey was made

by Captain H. G. Raverty when he wrote:—‘In some of the

warmer parts of Kafiristan, in the densely wooded districts, monkeys

of the largest size are found, but are not very numerous’. (Journ.

As. Soc., Bengal, 28, p. 332, 1859). Blanford, who assumed this

record referred to the Himalayan Langur, doubted the truth of it

when he declared it ‘requires confirmation’ (Mamm. Brit. India,

1888, p. 30). But since Captain Raverty was writing of his own

knowledge, Blanford’s scepticism was perhaps a little uncalled

LOL .<.

At all events, the correctness of Raverty’s statement was

established later by Sir Henry McMahon, G.c.v.0O., G.C.M.G., K.C.LE.,

who reported: —‘Monkeys are to be found in the lower end of the

Chitral Valley. Captain Gurdon saw a herd of them at Mirkandi

on the bank of the Chitral river only 4,o00 ft. above sea-level.

The general characteristics seem to be those of Macacus rhesus,

but all the specimens I have seen have, instead of a tapering: tail,

a tail of about 8 ins. coming to an abrupt end as if cut off like

latoxateruicrs.. | (four. AS. Soc, Bengal, 70," pp:..4=5,. 1901).

Subsequently in 1906 he procured an adult female for the Zoological

Gardens and told me he was convinced of its distinctness from the

ordinary Rhesus of India. It was certainly darker and _thicker-

coated; but close inspection of. the living animal was impossible,

and even after its death in 1910 I could not satisfy myself that

it differed from the Kashmir race, M. mulatta villosa, which was

known to me only from the very misleading description published by

True in 1894. In reply to my inquiry, made in March this year,

regarding the exact locality of this individual and the occurrence

of the Rhesus in Kafiristan, Sir Henry McMahon wrote to me:—

‘The place where I saw a herd of these monkeys in a wild state

and from where the Zoological Society’s specimen came is in that

part of Kafiristan which juts into the south-west portion of the

Chitral State.’

Captain H. Fulton also observed this Rhesus in Chitral and,

dissenting from McMahon’s view of its distinctness, cited it as

Macacus rhesus and recorded it as ‘Very plentiful at the lower end

of the Chitral Valley in summer on the right bank of the river.

They come up as far as the Utzun Valley in troops at 5,000 ft. and

probably come over the pass into Utzun from Kafiristan Valley.’

(Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc., 14, p. 758, 1909).

When revising the ‘Survey’ specimens of the Rhesus in the

British Museum, I came across the skin and skull of an adult male

shot by Captain F. D. Stirling early in February at Kootai in

Lower Chitral between the Bashgal Valley in Kafiristan and the

Chitral Valley, 3,600 ft. alt. This specimen, represented by the

skin and skull, had been identified by Wroughton as villosa. But

since it differs from villosa, its nearest ally, in certain characters,

I propose to describe it as a new subspecies dedicated to Sir Henry

McMahon who from the first was convinced of the distinctness of

the Chitral Rhesus,

544 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL. HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Macaca mulatta mcmahoni subsp. nov. |

| Locality of type: Kootai in Lower Chitral, between the. Basted

Valley in Kafiristan ‘and the Chitral Valley; 3,600 ft.

*Distribution: Kafiristan and Chitral.

Description of Type : Coat extremely long, thick, shaggy, fence

and wavy but silky in texture. Colour of head, shoulders and fore-

back deep greyish olive, the hairs dark grey ait tips very indis-

tinctly annulated with buff, sufficient. only to give a yellowish green

wash over the grey. the hind-back brown, the annulations being

a little brighter and more extensive, so that the grey of the hair,

which is here lighter, is less in evidence. On the rump, which: is

redder, the hairs are more silvery grey with the outer half rusty

yellow. This tint is continued on to the upper part: of the thighs

and the basal third of the tail; but the rest of the outer side of

the leg is grey with a yellowish wash, the feet being a little

browner; and the thickly haired tail gradually turns to a dark

brownish grey towards the end. The arms, which are long haired

to the elbow, and the hands are a deep almost blackish grey, with

minute annulations only just perceptible. The crown of the head is

blackish olive, with no perceptible speckling; the long hairs of the

cheeks are grey with dark and paler annulations, and the whoie

of the under side, the inner side of the limbs and even the lower

side of the tail are uniformly pale greyish white.

No’ measurements in the flesh were taken; but the dimensions

of’ the dried skin are: head and body 1 ft. rr ins., tail 9% ins.,

hind: foot 6 1/5 ins.

Fic. 1. (a) Skull of M7. mulatta mcmahoni ftom Chitral.

.. THE, RHESUS MACAQUES (MACACA _MULATTA) £45

Shot ‘at the beginning of February, this specimen has the winter

coat in full development and in no respects deteriorated. In the

Fic. 1. (6) Skull of YW. sulatta mulatta, male of about the

; same age from Bhotan Duars.

looseness and length of the coat of which the hairs on the shoulders

measure up to 4 ins. (100 mm.) in length, and in the general dark-

ness of its hue, the skin differs strikingly from those of typical

mulatta and of lasiotus killed in the same month of the year. The

colour, however, is not very different from that of the example of

villosa from Murree shot on June 15 which still carries most of its

winter coat; but the hairs are shorter and discoloured and the

newly erupting coat shows that in mid-winter the monkey would

have been conspicuously annulated with reddish buff all over the hind

quarters.

{n the female specimen brought from Chitral by Sir Henry

McMahon, which died on January roth, 1910, the coat is not so

long, streaky or shaggy as in the male described above but is

thick, comparatively smooth, full and longish everywhere, about

2% is.,. (Over 60° mm.) on the .shoulders.: The head ‘and. fore

quarters are dusky olive and a little greener, less grey and rather

more distinctly speckled than in the male; the head is not so dark

on the crown but the cheeks are dark grey and unspeckled, darker

close to the face; the arms are paler grey and ‘unspeckled.. The

redness of the hind quarters is very much the same but is a little

brighter and there is rather more colour on the outside of the

legs and the top of the feet where the hairs are long and overlap

the nails. _The colour of the under side differs in the pallid rusty

hue of the abdominal hairs. The measurements of the made-up

‘skin are: head and body 1 ft. 94 ins., tail 84 ins., hind foot

(stretched) 5? ins.

This skin is decidedly less brightly coloured and duskier olive on

the fore quarters than average examples of M. m. villosa; but some

of the duller specimens of the latter approach it in those respects.

The skull of the male specimen of mcmahoni, although youngish

and probably. not quite full-sized, is decidedly bigger than the

546. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

average skulls of villosa and in addition has the brows much better

developed. It is the largest skull of the Rhesus group that I have

seen; but not so large as the reputed Rhesus-skull of which Elliot

gave the measurements. This has the mandible 13 mm. (about 4

an inch) longer than in the Chitral skull. But Elliot supplied no

particulars about his specimen and his identification of it carries

no weight. Likely enough he had a skull of m. assamensis or

m. Speciosa in his hands.

The measurements of the type-skull of mcmahvni are published in

the table with those of villosa.

THE RHESUS OF Honc-KONG AND FOKIEN.

Macaca mulatta sancti-johannis, Swinhoe.

Innuus sancti-johannis, Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1866, p. 555.

Pithecus littoralis, Elliot, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (8), iv, p- 250,

1909; 1d; Rev. Pam itp. 20 19ne:

Locality of type of sancti-johannis: North Lena Island, Hong-

Kong.

Locality of type of littoralis: Kuatun, N.-W. Fokien.

Closely resembling typical mulatta in colour but distinguishable

from all the races hitherto considered by the shortness of the tail

which is only a little longer than the hind foot. The skull, in the

Q at least, is larger than in typical mulatta.

Swinhoe sent the type of sancti-johannis as a living animal to

the Zoological Gardens whence it was transferred to the British

Museum. Here it was examined by Anderson and Elliot who left

its status unsettled on account of its immaturity. It is a young

female, with milk dentition, and measures head and body about

300 mm. (12 ins.), tail: 118 mm. (4°7ins:), hind foot 107 mms (qi

ins.). But the length of the body is considerably shortened by

a lateral curvature of the spine and contraction of the loins, both

associated with rickets. Swinhoe recorded the length of the tail

of the newly caught animal as 44 ins., which was no doubt approxi-

mately correct. But Anderson, who measured it on the specimen

in alcohol, gave 54 ins. This is true with the hair at the tip

included. From my measurements it will be seen that the tail is

only 11 mm. longer than the hind foot; and to show that the

shortness of the tail is not a juvenile character I subjoin particulars

of the dimensions in millimetres of four young examples of typical

mulatta from Burma :—

Head and Body . 209 270 342 423

Tail ey 157 150 174 240

Hind Foot ye 88 iy eet fare eat 137

In these and many more, from the newly born up to maturity

that I have measured, the tail is always very considerably longer

than the hind foot,

JHE RHESUS MACAQUES (MACACA MULATTA) 547

Swinhoe’s specimen, now made up into a skin, was in full

moult when it died. The winter coat, still adherent to the neck,

shoulders, flanks and thighs, is long and soft, about 2 ins. long

on the shoulders where the hairs are tipped with ochreous brown;

on the thighs the tips are much brighter and redder. But the

new coat which is fully exposed on the crown and the back from

behind the shoulder to the root of the tail is unusually dark owing

to the presence of a good deal of blackish pigment in the hair.

The under side is buffy white.

The typical example of littoralis is an adult 9 collected at Kuatun

by C. B. Rickett in November 1898. A second specimen, a young

do, was secured by J. de la Touche at the same place on May 12,

1898. Both are in the British Museum and both were seen by

Elliot who detected the shortness of their tails but attributed it

to injury. The tails are complete and supply the only satisfactory

character substantiating the racial status of this form.

Elliot’s description does not mention a single feature by which

littoralis can be distinguished from mulatta. He, indeed, referred

to it a third specimen in the British Museum received from the

Zoological Society as coming from Kashmir. But he dismissed

Kashmir as its locality because he thought the specimen belonged

to the same kind as the two from Fokien. It does not. It is a

thick-coated rhesus with a tail of ordinary length, no doubt came

from the country assigned to it, and is practically certainly an

example of M. m. villosa (cf. supra).

The two Fokien specimens -exhibit great difference in colour.

The female killed in November has the comparatively new coat

smooth, of moderate length, with the characteristic reddish annula-

tion on the hairs of the head and shoulders, becoming brighter

posteriorly and turning to bright orange red on the outside of the

thighs, the legs and feet being washed with yellowish red. The

male, collected in May, has the coat still in good condition

but considerably longer, rather shaggier and much more olive in

hue than in the female. There is, indeed, unusually little red on

the hind-back and the brightness of the thighs is buff brown rather

than orange, and the lower legs are hardly visibly washed with

yellow; but the scrotal hairs are red as in typical mulatta. The

under side is greyer, less buffy white than in the type.

No measurements in the flesh were taken of these specimens

and the dimensions of the head and body in made-up skins are apt

to be misleading, owing to stretching. The tail, however, does

not stretch to a great extent. In the two. specimens the tails

measure about 6 inches (150 mm.) and the hind feet, allowing for

shrinkage with drying, are at most only a little shorter.

Apart from the very immature type-skull of sancti-johannis there

are two skulls of this race in the British Museum, both of females

and both presented by C. B. Rickett. The skull of the type is that

of an adult, but youngish adult, specimen and possibly not quite full-

sized, the. other. is _younger.. They seem to be a little larger

on the average at all events than skulls of typical mulatta from

India; but the difference does not amount to much. Individually

they differ in one or two features worth recording. In the type

3448 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL. AIST. SOCIETY, Vol.. XXXV

the orbital sockets are slightly higher than wide, the nose: and

muzzle are more compressed, the cheek teeth are straighter and

the occipital protuberance more truncated. (For measurements, see

table under lasiotus.) ?

THE RHESUS “OF SZECHUEN.

Macaca mulatta lasiotus, Gray.

Macacus lasiotus, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1868, p. 61, pl. vi;

Anderson, Zool. Res. Yunnan, p. 83, 1878; Elliot, Rev. Prim,

il, p. 198, 1912 (lastotus): gee

Locality: Szechuen; 5. China:

For many years the only known example of this Macaque was

the typical, accidentally tailless,' specimen exhibited in the Zoolo-

gical Gardens and sent to the British Museum in 1871. This was

a full-grown male and was tolerably fully described by the authors

above quoted, especially by Anderson who gave a figure of the

skull with its structural peculiarities.

In 1911 a second specimen, an adult female, was collected

by M. P. Anderson, for the Duke of Bedford’s expedition, in the

mountains 30 miles S. of Kia-ting, Sze-chuen, at an altitude of

2,900 ft. on a bush-covered precipice. This specimen was referred

fo by-- Thomas’ (Proc. Zool. Soc:, 1912, Pp. 128) as an unidentified

Simia of the rhesus-group.

There is no doubt whatever that this female is lasiotus and it

possesses a well developed tail. It was shot on February 6th, 1911,

when in fuller winter coat. But the coat is not particularly long

or thick and is not at all shaggy or woolly. It is about the same

in length and consistency as in Delacour’s Tonkin specimens shot

in December, but the tail is exceptionally well haired, the hairs

increasing in length from the base to the tip. The general colour

is decidedly dark, the under hair of the upper side and outside of

the limbs being everywhere deep slate grey, especially dark and

sooty on the back. The hairs of the head and shoulders are annu-

lated with rusty yellow which increases in amount and intensity

posteriorly and becomes bright rusty on the thighs. The arms and

hands are very deep brownish olive grey, and faintly annulated;

the legs like the thighs but paler and the feet are paler still and

greyer. The under ‘side is a dirty grey. The cheeks are) rather

dark and there is a good deal of black hair round the face.

The male, which died in May, is also in good coat and very like

the female in colour, although a little darker and rustier brown on

the thighs and with a decided wash of reddish on the belly.

The measurements of the skin of the young-adult female taken

in the flesh by Malcolm P. Anderson, indicate a Macaque by no

means unusual in size, the head and body being 490 mm. (=19 3/5

ins.) and the tail 260 mm. (=10 2/5 ins.). But the tail is unusually

1 In another example assigned to this race and shipped from Shanghai to

the Zoological Society, where it arrived in Jan. 1880 and died in June 1881,

the tail is represented by a stump about half an inch long. The June coat

is longer, coarser, more distinctly annulated and paler grey at the base, with

the rump redder in the two known definitely to have come from Sze- chuen,

This skin would pass anywhere for typical Indian M. m. mulatta,

wo. LHE; RHESUS. MACAQUES. (MACACA.MULATTA): ~~. 549

long, exceeding half the length of the head and body. It does not

approach that on the dried skin, falling short of half the head and

body even with its long terminal hairs included.

The skull of -the 3; figured and described by Anderson is heavy,

massive and exceptionally broad across the orbits and zygomata,

the Jatter and the lower part of the orbital rim being also excep-

tionally stout. Although the sutures are everywhere faint, the

teeth are hardly worn; but the canines have been cut off short as

1S a common custom -with male monkeys in captivity. Apart from

its greater massiveness and breadth, to which Anderson attached

considerable importance in separating lasiotus specifically from

mulatta (rhesus), the skull differs from those of adult and old males

of mulatta in the great distance between the temporal ridges on

the parietal bones where they are more widely separated than on

the frontals. In skulls of. typical mulatta of about the same age

these crests lie near together over the parietals where they are

closer together than on the frontals. But I- mistrust all these

features because the monkey had been in captivity an unknown

length of time, probably many years, since it is improbable that

it was: captured as an adult animal. Captivity alters monkey skulls

in a variety of curious ways, excessive weight of bone often being

one of them; and if during its cage-life this macaque used its jaws

less than a wild monkey by being fed, maybe, on softer food, we

get the explanation of the widely separated temporal crests.

The skull of the female has the sutures very clearly defined, no

trace of the temporal crests and perfect unworn teeth. It is pro-

bably neither quite full sized nor fully developed since it has a

shallower upper jaw and less pronounced, more sloping brow-bridge

than in full grown examples of typical mulatta. It exhibits a pecu-

liarity in the comparative flatness of the parietal region- of the

skull imparting an unusual prominence to the occiput. This I

regard. as an individual peculiarity since a very similar variation

occurs in a female skull of typical mulatta from the Mishmi Hills,

Assam, and is exhibited more or less in others

Racially this Chinese Macaque may be distinguished from the

Indian by its darker colour, probably larger size and_bushier,

perhaps longer tail. .

Skull measurements of A/. 2, sancti-johannis and of

M. m. lasiotus.

Skull in inches. - Teeth-in mm.

Locality and ra -. | o ions M ®

| Sex lect aoe eS ea cect 29 S| BS

Cade |, Syeui Que oH jae) 5’ Remarks

Se los, Se. Doc =

His O = ones.

Fokien, Oued Fase 39S 237 = LS 322. |'8x8 Type of @zttoralis.

55 oe a6) 3 210 1:6 34. | 8x8+

mzechuen, fy 5°3 SFO | oi) eae 347 9x8 Type of lastotus.

“a lou Sov Sole? 6 1:6 34. | 8x8

990 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

THE RHESUS OF NORTH CHINA.

Macaca mulatta tcheliensis, M.-Edwards.

Macacus tcheliensis, A. Milne-Edwards, Rech. Mamm. pi227.

pls: xxxu and xxxiil, 1870,

Locality: The mountains to the east of the Province of Tche-li,

N. China.

Milne-Edwards himself when describing this Macaque suggested

the possibility of its belonging to the same species as lasiotus from

Szechuen. This suggestion was adopted as a certainty by Anderson

in 1878 and since then its name has figured, but quite wrongly, in

the synonymy of the Szechuen form.

There seems to be nothing to justify that view in the original

description of tcheliensis, which is evidently a much paler animal

than lasiotus; but the artificial basal truncation of the tail in the

type and only known specimen of lasiotus obscured the principal

difference between the two.

M. m. lasiotus, as recorded above, has the tai! at least as long

as in typical mulatta, whereas M.-Edward’s recorded measurements

of the type of tcheliensis and his illustration of the animal show

that the tail is only about one third the length of the head and

body and a fraction longer than the hind foot. In this respect

the Tcheli Rhesus very closely resembles the Hong Kong or Fokien

Rhesus (M. mulatta sancti-johannis).

Milne-Edwards described his specimen, a female apparently in

short summer coat, as being bright reddish fulvous in general hue,

with the tail bright yellowish tawny and the hands greyish yellow.

The only example I have seen is the skin of an adult male, ticketed

‘N. China’, presented by the Zoological Society, where it was receiv-

ed in August 1880 and died on March 6th 1881, in the perfect winter

coat, long, thick and beautifully soft. On the shoulders the hairs

are about 3 inches but towards the axilla they are over 4 inches

long and on the head about 14 inches. The general colour above

is brown, ochreous on the head and fore quarters, much brighter

and redder on the rump and thighs; but on the fore quarters there

is only a faint trace of annulation in the hairs. Beneath their

reddish tips the hairs are pallid grey, turning nearly white quite

at the root. The cheeks are duskier than the top of the head, the

arms are olive grey, unspeckled, the legs and feet washed with

dull yellow, the tail is nearly the same tint as the loins but darkening

distally and the under side is greyish white except the scrotum

which is clothed with reddish hair. On the made-up skin the tail

without the hair is 5:2 inches, swith the hair 7-6. “the: feet, nor

shrunk, are 5.3 inches and the head and body from the crown to

the root of the tail 14 ft.

This male is not so pale apparently as the type described and

figured by Milne-Edwards,

THE RHESUS MACAQUES (MACACA MULATTA) 551

As compared with the skins of lasiotus it may be noted that,

apart from the shortness of the tail, this skin from N. China differs

in colour and coat, its tint being not so dark, the under fur espe-

cially much paler and the coat far longer and more luxuriant than

that of the Szechuen female shot in February and also in full

winter pelage.

THE SNAKES OF IRAQ.

BY.

Norman L. CORKILL, M.B., Ch.B., F. Z. S.

Late Irag Health Service.

In 1927, when the writer was appointed to teach Hille in abe

new medical college at Baghdad, little appeared to be definitely

known about the snakes of the country. There were people who

said that no poisonous snakes were to be encountered in Iraq, and

others who vouched vehemently to have seen Kraits and Russell’s

vipers.

The Central Laboratory had, however, identified specimens of

Etchts carinatus and Vipera lebetina in connection with snake-bite

fatalities and there was in existence a scanty literature.

The literature comprised /Votes on the Animals of Mesopotamia, a

small booklet published by the B.N.H.S. in 1916, a paper in the

Journal of the Society by Boulenger in 1920 ?, and a further paper by

Miss Joan Procter % in the same publication the following year. The

information about Mesopotamian snakes in the first of the above is

apparently a collection of the relevant data from Boulenger’s Cata-

logue of Snakes in the British Museum.* Boulenger’s 1920 paper is

a list of specimens taken by members of the Mesopotamian Expedi-

tionary Force during the War, and Miss Procter’s contribution is a

similar and additional list.

Cases of snake-bite, some fatal, kept cropping up, and in most

instances the snake was not secured. It was thought worth while to

attempt something in the nature of a rough survey of the country’s

snake population with a view to establishing the species that occurred,

ascertaining if there were any peculiarities of distribution or relative

abundance, and formulating some simple key or means by which the

poisonous species could be identified easily in the field. Moreover

it was thought advisable to SET a representative collection of speci-

mens in Baghdad.

Officials were wriiten to in the: provinces and responded generously

with specimens and notes. Searches were made in hospitals and

laboratories, and specimens were unearthed from mouldy oblivion

on several occasions. The Royal Air Force Medical Service and the

British Officers of the Assyrian Levies contributed valuable material

and notes, and students provided a further fruitful source. The

investigation covered roughly two years, 1928 and 1929, the signifi-

cance of the data amassed being assessed in mid-1930.

The writer has no claim to any specialist knowledge of snakes and

is painfully aware that much information that might have been

collected from the hundred odd specimens exanuined, was lost through

lack partly of time, partly of works of reference, but mainly through

1 Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. : Notes on the Animals of Mesopotamia, 1916.

2 Boulenger, G. A.: A List of Snakes from Mesopotamia. J. B. V. A. Soc.

xxvii, No. 2, 1920.

3 Joan. Procter: Further Lizards and Snakes from Persia and Meso- .

potamia. J: B. N.S S0c. xxvii Noa, 192i.

+ Boulenger, G. A.: Catalogue of Snakes in the British Museum, 1893-96,

= a eee amy

2 ee ee se SIV AICS OL LAO | bs} O53

lack of knowledge. Much has been learnt since farewell was said to

the specimens, now in the Zoology Museum of the Royal College of

Medicine, Baghdad. However, it has been thought as well to put on

record the few additions to our knowledge of Mesopotamian snakes

that accrued.

I am indebted, for permission to . publish, to the Director of Public

Health, Iraq, the Inspector-General of Health Services, Iraq, and

the Dean, the Royal College of Medicine, Baghdad.

Modern political Iraq is a land of diverse features. To the north-

east, the desert plains of the south and west break up to be replaced

by the hilis and mountains rising away to Persia. To the south

Stretches the monotonous plain threaded by the two rivers, away to

the Persian Gulf. The course of the River Euphrates is beset with

lake and marsh. The great Shamiyah Desert rolls away in a gradual

ascent to the west. Extremes characterise the climate ; a temperature

of 125° F. is a commonplace in the summer in Baghdad, and I have

seen frozen puddles on the roads.during winter. In Kurdistan, the

north and north-eastern portion of Iraq, it is of ccurse much colder

in winter.

As might be expected, having regard to the geographical position

and physical make-up of the country, its fauna is a jumbie. Species

that are typically European, African and Asiatic, all occur, and in the

waters of the Persian Gulf is found a sea snake (4. schistosa) which

ranges as far as China and Australia.

- It is considered that the twenty-four specimens dealt with below

are unlikely to be supplemented in the future. They represent over

two years collecting from all parts of the country and the available

literature has been utilised. Seven families are represented and

fifteen genera. These are Typhlops, Leptotyphlops, Eryx, Natrix,

Coluber, Lytorhynchus, Contia, Tarbophis, Malpolon, Psammophis,

Enhydrina, Naja, Vipera, Cerastes, and Echis. Of the Colubrides

there are eleven Aglyphs and four Opisthoglyphs. The old Protero-

glyphs are represented by one of the Hydrophiide and one of the

Elapidz. The vipers number three. Five of the twenty-four

species are considered to have venoms dangerously toxic to man.

These species are Enhydrina schistosa, Naja morgant, Vipera lebe-

tina, Cerastes cornutus, and Echts carinatus.

Family : TYPHLOPID.

Tr ATOhs braminus, Daudin.—The Common Worm Snake,

Vernacular Names. oye would most likely be spoken of as ‘ Dood’

which is the Arabic for worm.

This species has been recorded from South Africa, Arabia, South-

ern Asia as far over as the Philippines Island in the Indian Ocean

and Mexico. One suspects the last named to be an importation.

During the Great War a single specimen was taken in Basra.!

The distribution being what it is, there is no reason why 7.

braminus should not be fairly common in Iraq. Its nocturnal

and burrowing habits will, of course, provide against its being

frequently encountered.

~ .1.Boulenger, G. A.: A List of Snakes from Mesopotamia. /. B. N. Hf. Soc,

xxvii, No. 2,:1920:

554 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Typhlops vermicularis, Merrem.—The Greek Blind Snake.

Synonyms.—Typhlops syriacus,’ Typhlops wilsoni.?

Vernacular Names.—Like the preceding species this snake would

be spoken of by the Iraqi Arab as a‘ Dood’, that is, worm.

Specimens have been recorded from Greece and its Archipelago

through the Levant to Persia, Afghanistan and Turkestan.

Irag may now take its place in this list as two specimens were

obtained in 1928 and 1929.

Locality. rey Rows. | Nasals.|Length: Breadth.) Remarks.

)

Baghdad ee O22 24 |Division 46 sy ee Pair pil iis hi

incom- brown, belly

plete. paler.

Nasiriyah ion 6°5 24 cf 50 rane) *

Like 7. braminus, this species is probably fairly commion in the

country.

Family : LEPTOTYPHLOPIDA.

Leptotyphlops macrorhynchus, Jan.

Synonyms.—Glauconta macrorhynchus.

Vernacular Names.—This snake, again, would probably be referred

to as ‘ Dood’, but it would be called a ‘ Sul’ by some natives who say

that the attributes of the latter are thinness, redness, smallness and

the ability to jerk about with great activity.

Previous records for the species include North Africa, Sind, Balu-

chistan and, in Iraq, ‘ Euphrates’ and ‘ Faleya’ (Fallujah ?).4 During

1928-29 three further specitrnens were taken in the country. Two

were revealed during digging operations on the south bank of the

Diyala River at Baqubah and the other specimen was secured in

Nasiriyah. The species would appear to be uniformly distributed

throughout riverain Iraq.

SL ee | ee ER a Pee a eee Sa he aE St en ay et EG ee ee

Locality. Size (ins.) | Rows. | Tail—Total Ratio. Remarks.

Baqubah Heo 14 1/10 Uniform pink.

Do. ane 8:0 14 Ve /sel 5

Nasiriyah 8°8 14 T/12 Uniform brown.

Family: Boipa#.

Sub-family : Boina#.

Eryx jaculus familiarts Linneeus.—The Javelin Sand Boa.

Vernacular Names.—‘ Batra’ is applied to the Sand Boa throughout

Arabic-speaking Iraq.

Jan. : Icon.’Oph-"p.15, 17.3; 1864:

Wall. 2°. Bo. Fs S0c.. xvi, p.s02,01 005.

Boulenger, G. A. : Catalogue of Snakes in the British Museum, 1893-96.

* Boulenger, G. A.: A List of Snakes from Mesopotamia. J. B. N. 4H. Soc.

xxvVil, INo:-2, 1920.

THE SNAKES OF IRAQ 555

The species ranges from Algeria, Egypt, the Levant, Roumania,

Greece and Turkey through Asia Minor and Iraq to Persia. In Iraq,

specimens have been previously recorded from Basra, Sheikh Saad,

Shaiba, Amara, Baghdad and ‘Mesopotamia’.! In 1928-29 eight

more specimens were examined. They cane trom Baghdad’,

Baqubah!, Hinaidi and Nasiriyah in the riverain. plains, Mandali at

the foot of the Pusht-i-Kuh and Sulamainia in the Kurdish hills. The

species is apparently uniformly distributed throughout the country.

wee

: Tail-

Locality Size Vent- Dorsal | Colour ele

: (ins.) rals SHLCals Rows | (dorsum) felts IARI

Baghdad 26 200 26 ol) Greenisin (217 13

yellow

with

brown

markings

RA 10°5 200 30 50 i 1/10

Hinaidi 19:5 195 28 49 6 As

Baqubah 29 197 21 47 > At Tail

mutilated,

a B2 202 20 onl - 1/11

Nasiriyah 1875 186 30 53 4 Lyla

Mandali 18 203 31 53 1/10 | Markings

very

heavy.

Sulamainia 10 205 31 bigs) Paleorey 17 10 Belly

with speckled.

brown

markings

In all specimens the perioculars numbered eleven and the anal

scale was undivided. The dorsal scales were invariably keeled

posteriorly. The bellies were of a uniform white or pale straw colour

with the exception of the Sulamainia specimen which had a heavy

speckling of dark brown. The scale counts of ventrals, caudals and

dorsal rows average higher than the Egyptian specimens reported by

Anderson.

Family ;: COLUBRID.

Series: AGLYPHA.

Natrix tessellatus Laurenti-—The Tessellated Water Snake.

Synonyms.—Tropidonotus tessellatus.* .

Vernacular Names.—Known to the Arabs of riverain Iraq as

‘ Haiat al Mai’.

The distribution of the species is South Europe and Russia, Egypt

and the Levant, Asia Minor, Iraq, Persia, Siberia, West China and

1 Boulenger, G. A.: A List of Snakes from Mesopotamia. J. B. VN. H. Soc.

xxvii, No. 2, 1920.

* Boulenger, G. A. + Catalogue of Snakes in the British Museum, 1893-96. -

556 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

North-West India. In Iraq specimens have hitherto been recorded

from Basra and Fao,' and also from Basra, Qualet Saleh, Sheikh Saad,

Hagqicole, Faleya (Fallujah ?), and Zobeya (Zobeir ?).2 Fifteen new

records were obtained in 1928-29. All had the dorsals strongly

keeled in nineteen rows, the anal was invariably divided and the

supralabials always numbered eight. In all but three specimens the

fourth supralabial only, entered the orbit. Colour varieties were

numerous and were not related to size or ‘counts’ nor was any one

colour variety apparently peculiar to any particular locality or type

of habitat.

Locality (ans Ventrals | Caudals Colour Remarks

Baghdad ... ee 169 58 _Jet black. Belly | Fourth and fifth

| | spotted white. supralabials en-

| ter eye,

. 29 167 56 | Olive. Belly black

and white.

5 oe 25 166 D/ on

i a 24 173 60 ,

Nasirivah) e2s4\) %2580 169 62 | .

FP earth eae 171 65 .

Nejaf on 25 168 61 by

Tuz ae TO 168 66 - oe

nh : 19 170 64 Olive with brown | Fourth and fifth

markings. Belly | supralabials en-

black and white. | ter eye.

Baqubah. ... 27 170 61 ass :

7 Ae 34 167 95 is

Mosul ae 4) We a be 66 Olive with brown

markings. Belly

| white. ie

Beled Ruz ... ZO ae BY, 73 Olive with brown | Third, fourth

markings. Belly | and fifth supra-

black and white | labials enter

check. eye:

inaidi vc 26 17.2 63 is

Mandaliiy 2%. 24 169 62 a

This is one of the two commonest snakes in the country and may

be seen in numbers almost anywhere in Iraq particularly after the

annual floods. I have seen many in pools in the Euphrates near

Nasiriyah swimming about vigorously and often with smail fish in

their mouths. They always assume a very aggressive attitude when

approached.

Coluber dahlit Fitzinger.—The Dahl’s Whip Snake.

Synonyms.—Zamenis dahlit,

Vernacular Names.—Shares the Arabic name ‘ Zerrag’ with

C. ventrimaculalus.

This species is found in South Europe, Egypt, the Levant, Asia

Minor, Iraq and Persia. In Iraq specimens have been recorded

1 Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. : Notes on the Animals of Mesopotamia, 1916.

2 Boulenger, G. A.: A List of Snakes from Mesopotamia. J. B. NV. A. Soe.

xxvii, No. 2, 1920.

THE SNAKES OF [RAQ JO

previously from Baghdad.! In 1928a further specimen was secured

from a Baghdad garden and in 1929 another was sent in froin a

garden in Baqubah.

Locality ( nee Ventrals | Caudals Remarks

Baghdad ... 45 ZnS BY Both specimens were olive with

white bellies. Anteriorly there

Baqubah ... 39 215 1353 were 5 pairs of vellow-edged dark

green blotches; the anterior pair

had united to form a collar.

In each case the tail was about a third of the body length, there

were nineteen rows of scales, the anals were divided and there were

eight supralabiais, the fourth and fifth of which entered the eye.

This snake seems to be quite rare in Iraq.

Coluber diadema Schlegel.—The Clifford’s Whip Snake.

_ Synonyms.-—Zaments diadema.*

Vernacular Names.—Known to the Arabs of the plains as

fRagta’.

Clifford’s Whip Snake is found in North Africa, Arabia, Iraq,

Persia, Turkestan, Baluchistan and Kashmir.

In Iraq specimens have been previously recorded from Basra,

Baghdad, Sheikh Saad, Shaiba, Faleya (Fallujah ?), Zobeya (Zobeir ?),

Nasiriyah, Baqubah, and Daur.' Twelve new specimens were

secured in 1928 and 1929.

| Be

| g =

Localit ae a | 4 e s Remarks

er Gs.) es pes n rs ay

Pees bers eet

> | Oo | aa Ay op)

Baghdad a 30 | 220 72 29 g | 11 | Olive, darker mark-

; ings.

- aed ane A 218° | 74 33 Sie dd aN >

e aes, 226 | 68 31 aac Y ”

a Pe AO 22a aan re il 8 1] a me

Fallujah ala OD 207 | 60 29 Beg well - 3

INasinivgaliee ss.) 52 214 70 31 8 1] 4 Bs

tele OO 218 74 oll 8 Il Fe re

Samarra cea OO 216 Tie) 31 8 11 | Brown, darker mark-

| ings.

Baqubah vult, 46 223.63 31 8 11 | Olive, darker mark-

ings,

Gebal Hamrin | 42 229 | 68 31 9 11 Me =

Khaniqin ...; 41 224, 05 33 9 1] . iy

Stilamainia..| 33. 1¢233-| 87 35 9 13. | Pale grey, darker

| markings.

1 Boulenger, G. A.: A List of Snakes from Mesopotamia. J. B. VN. A. Soc.

xxvii, No. 2, 1920.

? Boulenger, G. A.: Catalogue of Snakes in the British Museum, 1893-96,

558 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

In all of the specimens the anal was divided, the dorsals were

keeled, particularly posteriorly ; the belly was of a pale uniform

straw colour, and the darker markings were heavy and defined. The

three longitudinal marks on the head and neck were invariably

distinct. The tail averaged a sixth of the total Jength.

Specimens were taken in such diverse habitats as houses, riverain

cultivation, desert and mountain. A small rat was removed from the

stomach of a Baghdad specimen.

Coluber juguiar’s Laurenti.—The European Whip Snake.

Synonyus.—Zaments gemonensts.*

Vernacular Names.— Known to the Arabs of Iraq as‘ Arbid’ or

‘ Abrid’ i.e. the black snake. It presumably shares the name with

the much rarer and smaller Vaja morgant. |

It has been recorded from the West Coast of Europe to South

Western Asia. The ‘astanus’ variety to which most Iraqi speci-

mens seem to belong is found in Egypt, the Levant, Iraq and Persia.

In Iraq specimens have previously been taken in Baghdad, Basra,

Amarah, Haqicole and Faleya (Fallujah ?).2 In 1928-29 further

specimens were secured from Baghdad, Baqubah and Nasiriyah, the

North of Iraq not being at all represented.

The eight specimens recorded below had their dorsals in nineteen

rows, the anal divided and eight supralabials with the fourth and

fifth invariably entering the orbit. The tail was a third to a quarter

of the total length. The colour of the dorsum ranged from dark

brown to black, each individual scale having a pale yellow or white

longitudinal streak. The bellies were either red, yellow, or white,

blotched and peppered with black, or of a uniform white.

Locality | Gay Ventrals | Caudals Remarks

ee | ine

Baghdad a 52 165 104

" 43 198 | 124

ss wen 46 203 | 92+} Tail mutilated.

‘ Sal ees? 198 100

Baqubah | 46 2024) |. edae

i Bibs 188 | 107 |

Nasiriyah eal: paeuils 193 «100 |

- e850 198 99

The ‘ Urbid’ is much feared by the Arabs, possibly on account

of its large size and fierceness when cornered, but also I am inclined

to think, because it is unlikely to be distinguished from the uniformly

black Naja morgant. Certainly the latter is not a ‘biter’ as far as

1 Boulenger, G. A. : Catalogue of Snakes in the British Museum, 1893-96. ©

2 Boulenger, G. A.: A List of Snakes from Mesopotamia. J. B. NV. H. Soc.

xxvii; INO. 2;:1920, Sri caae

THE SNAKES OF lkRAQ 559

records go but it belongs to a poisonous genus, accidents with it

have probably occurred and any ‘ Urbid’ or black snake thereafter

would be feared.

Coluber ravergiert Menétriés.—Ravergier’s Whip Snake.

Synonyms.—Zaments raver E7ert.

Vernacular Names.—Too rare in Iraq to have one, Would

probably be spoken of as a ‘ Zerrag ’.

The distribution is ‘Transcaucasia, Persia, Baluchistan and

Afghanistan. There are no previous records from Iraq. Two

specimens were obtained in the Autumn of 1929, one from a Mosul

house and the second from an earthwork near the town. In each

there were two pre-oculars and two post-oculars, the anals were

divided, the dorsal rows were faintly keeled and numbered twenty-

three, and in each case the fifth and sixth labials entered the orbit.

The tails were a quarter of the respective body lengths.

In both specimens the three characteristic longitudinal dark lines

on the tail were beautifully defined.

Locality ae Ventrals | Caudals | ee : Colour Remarks

oo |

Mosul, House 4? 210 98 y Pink with | Markings

brown very

markings.| defined.

Mosul, Earth- | 40 210 102 10 Olive with | Less so.

works. brown

markings.

The snake is a rarity and Iraq appears to be the westernmost

limit of Var. typica, further West a Var. nummztfer is found.

Coluber ventrimaculatus Gray.—Gray’s Whip Snakes.

Synonyms.—Zamentis ventrimaculatus,*

Vernacular Names.—Known throughout Arabic-speaking Iraq as

‘Zerrag’ and ‘Nishab’, both words meaning ‘arrow’ and being

applicable apparently to any thin and swift snake. The names

would thus be used also of C. dahliz and C. ravergiert. I havea

note to the effect that in Diwaniyah a specimen taken from a date

palm was referred to as ‘ Jaaferiyah’. It is also quite commonly

referred to as ‘ Haiat al Asfar’, the yellow snake.

The Bombay Natural History Society? gives the distribution as

Mesopotamia to India. Wali? iimits the Indian distribution to the

North-West of the Peninsula. Tristram records it from Palestine.*

In Iraq previous records are from ‘ Huphrates (Euphrates Expedi-

tion)’, ‘Mesopotamia’ and Fao,* aiso from Basra, Sheikh Saad,

Ezra’s Tomb (Qurna), Shaiba, Faleya (Fallujah ?), Zobeya (Zqbier?),

Boulenger, G. A. : Catalogue of Snakes in the British Museum, 1893-96.

Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. : Notes on the Animals of Mesopotamia, 1916.

Wall, F.: How to Identify the Snakes of India, 1923.

+ Tristram, H. B.: Suryey of Western Palestine, 1883,

560 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Nasiriyah, Baqubah and Daur.! Others again from Baghdad and

Amarah.? In 1928-29 eighteen further specimens were examined

- out of literal dozens sent in. The localities represented were

Baghdad, Basra, Nasiriyah, Nejaf, Diwaniyah, Baqubah Hillah and

Tuz Khurmatu.

Locality | ae Ventrals Caudals Sea | epee Remarks

Baghdad- ...| 32 iheneatnny a hes 526

eis 14 200 76 10 4—5

Pe 4] 210 7) 10 €—7

53 14°5 205 93 9 5—6

5 40 210 99 9 5—6

ry 40 210 93 9 5—6

Nasiriyah sk 43 211 90 9 5—6 /

. si Ma ders ea 87 91526

Basra At Sho) 204 85 9 5—6

Nejaf - 36 220 94 9 5S—6

Diwaniyah ... 40 215 99 $ 5S—6 | Taken ina date

palm.

Baqubah as 39 217 86 9 5S—6

. ae 41°5 208 82 9 5—6

" He 34 211 100 9 5—6

Hillah sae 20:5 211 79 9 5—6

i zene Sota 2s 85 3 5—6

Tuz 2 37 209 93 i) 5—-6

Iraq et 28 ZANTE 97 G 5—6

In all specimens the tail approximated to a quarter of the body

length, the dorsal rows numbered nineteen, the anal was divided, and

the colours were, dorsally, olive barred crosswise with black, and

ventraliy a pale straw ground with lateral black spots in a regular

series. The nape was invariably heavily marked with a thick black

longitudinal line and the vertex of the head usually bore two black

markings like ‘commas’ placed back to back.

1 Boulenger, G. A.: A List of Snakes from Mesopotamia. J. B. N. A. Soc.

xxvii, No. 2, 1920.

2 Procter, Joan.: Further Lizards and Snakes from Persia and Meso-

potamia, J. B&B. N. AH. Soc. xxviii, No. 1, 1921,

THE SNAKES OF IRAQ 561

This snake is extremely common in houses and gardens in Iraq,

It feeds on small frogs and lizards. When handled it bites fiercely

but of course quite harmlessly. ‘Two natives that were produced on

different occasions for me to see because they claimed to be snake-

charmers, brought the Gray’s Whip Snake with them as their stock-

in-trade. It is probably this snake of which the Sumerians have left

a record in their word ‘ Dashna’, a yellow or green snake.

Lytorhynchus diadema Dum. and Bibr.—The Diademed Sand

Snake.

Vernacular Names.—Being rare, insignificant and possessed of no

notable attribute it has no vernacular name as far as I know. -

Its distribution is North Africa, Arabia, Syria, Iraq and Persia. In

Iraq specimens have previously been recorded from Shaiba and

Faleya (Fallujah ?).1. At the end of 1929 a further specimen was

secured from Rutba in the Shamiyah Desert. The specimen was

eleven inches long, the tail being a seventh of the total length. The

ventrals numbered 171, the caudais 36, and the dorsal rows 19. The

anal was divided. ‘There were eight supralabials of which the fifth

entered the eye. There were two pre-oculars. The pupil was

circular although, according to the literature, it should be vertically

elliptic. The ‘ bobbin’ shaped rostral was beautifully exhibited.

The dorsum was coral-red with thirty heavy black cross bars. The

belly was white. A black cephalic blotch was continued through the

eyes from the vertex to the corners of the mouth.

Contia collaris Menétriés.—The Collared Dwarf Snake.

Vernacular Names. --None are known of.

The distribution is Caucasus, Syria, Iraq, Persia and Arabia. In

Iraq, specimens had previously been recorded from ‘ Ruins of Nine.

veh’ ? and Baghdad.! In 1929 two further specimens were obtained.

One was taken from the crop of a houbara (Chlamydoits undulata),

shot in the neighbourhood of Baqubah, and the other was sent from

Sulamainia in the Kurdish hills.

Locality | Size (ins.) | Ventrals | Caudals

Baghdad iv are or 12 V2 62

Sulamainia ... au nae 10 | 195 62

In both specimens the tail was a quarter of the body length,

the rows numbered fifteen, the anal was divided, and the supralabials

numbered seven of which the third and fourth entered the eye.

The colour was fawn with the head and neck heavily blotched with

black ; the belly was a pearly white.

Contia coronella Schlegel.-—The Syrian Dwarf Snake.

Vernacular Names._-None known of.

1 Boulenger, G. A.: A List of Snakes from Mesopotamia. J/. B. N.H. Soc.

xxvii, No. 2, 1920.

2 Boulenger, G, A, ; Catalogue of Snakes in the British Museum, 1893-96,

962 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

The distribution is Syria, Palestine, Iraq and Persia. In Iraq,

specimens have previously been recorded from Shaiba, Zobeya

(Zobeir ?) and Faleya (Fallujah ?).1. In 1928 a specimen preserved

‘in spirit was unearthed from a Baghdad office. It was labelled

SRutpa-. :

It was 7:4 inches long, the tail measuring two inches. The

ventrals numbered 136, the caudals 45, and the dorsal rows 15.

The anal was divided and there were seven supralabials of which

the third and fourth entered the eye. There were two post-oculars.

The dorsum was a dull brown (spirit specimen) with sixty-three

darker reguiar cross bars, the first one being markedly heavy and

forming acollar. The belly was white with a faint suggestion of

speckling.

Contia decemlineata Dum. and Bibr.-——-7he Lined Dwarf Snake.

Vernacular Names.—-None known of.

The distribution is Syria, Palestine, Iraq and Persia. There are

no previous records from Iraq, but in 1929 three specimens were

received from the Kurdish hills. One specimen had the head and

neck destroyed and one had the extremity of the tail missing.

Locality ee Ventrals | Caudals Remarks

Sulamainia (alt.. 1,300

ft \iiene a es 21 Tl 66 Complete specimen.

Tislaja ( alt. 2,500 ft.) ... 21+ 145 + 66 Head and neck de-

stroyed.

Diana: (alt. <1,600ft.). s2, 13 + 163 30+ | Tail mutilated.

The tail of the intact specimen was a quarter of the total length,

the dorsal rows numbered seventeen and the anal was divided in all

three specimens. The two complete heads exhibited seven supra-

labials with the third and fourth entering the eye, one pre-ocular, and

two post-oculars. All three were alike in colouring. The dorsum

was a pale fawn with two pairs of longitudinal fine brown lines; a

pair running down each side of the back. The individual dorsal

scales had barely perceptibie, central, paler streaks. The bellies were

pearly white.

All three specimens were taken in September in gravelly areas at

considerable altitudes.

Contia persica (Anders.)—The Persian Dwarf Snake.

Vernacular Names.—-None known of.

The distribution is Iraq and Persia. From Iraq two specimens are

recorded?, one from Kizil Robat and the other from the pear i

ing Jebal Hamrin hills.

Iam not at all satisfied as to the relationship of C. collaris and

C. persica and would like to examine a larger series of the genus

1 Boulenger, G. A.: A List of Snakes from Mesopotamia. J. 4. N. H. Soc.

xxvii, No. 2, 1920.

.2 Procter Joan.: Further Lizards and Snakes from Persia and Meso-

potamia, J. B. NV. a SOc. xxvilk, INO 1921",

THE SNAKES OF [RAQ ” 563

in Iraq. One or two valuable characteristics I unfortunately made

no note of at the time when examining the two specimens recorded

under C, co/laris ; in colour they were identical.

Series : OPISTHOGLYPHA.

Tarbophis tallax tberus Eichwald.—T he Caucasian Cat-Snake.

Synonyms.—-Tarbophts therus.}

Vernacular Names.--None known of. .

_ The distribution is Caucasus, Iraq and South-West Persia. Six

specimens have previously been recorded from Baghdad and Meso-

potamia.? In 1928 and 1929 a further eight were examined from

Baghdad, Mandali and Khanidin.

= oa Dorsal

Locality es 5 Ss colour Remarks

eae o q markings

> Ss)

Baghdad 44 240 68 46 spots Light specimen. ‘Third, fourth

and fifth supralabials enter

eye.

ep 32 20) fies OOK s.55 Divided anal. Light specimen.

i abe 224 91 50m Dark specimen. Seven supra-

labials. Belly dark.

" 16 239 67 (?) Faded old spirit specimen.

i 14 237 80 AS. 5, Belly very dark. Third, fourth

and fifth supralabials enter

eye.

pe 13 202 72 fee 55 | Very dark specimen. Third and

fourth supralabials enter eye.

Mandali 21 216 63 AT 53 Light specimen.

Khaniqin 30 | 239 | 31 (?) ij

The tails averaged a sixth of the total lengths. The rows of

dorsals numbered 21 invariably and, with the exception of one

specimen (Baghdad No. 2), the anals were all undivided. The

supralabials numbered 8 in all specimens but one (Baghdad No. 3)

and in five specimens (Nos. 2, 3, 4, 7 and 8) the fourth and fifth

entered the eye. The iris was invariably golden. The colour of an

adult specimen was pale brownish pink with barely perceptible brown

biotches 46 to 60 in number. The bellies were white, blotched,

peppered, and marbled, irregularly with black. In the specimens

under 20 inches in iength, the dorsum was darker and more grey than

1 Boulenger, G. A.: Catalogue of Snakes in the British Museum, 1893- 96.

* Boulenger, G, A.; A List of Snakes from Mesopotamia. TA ONE Fy, OG.

xxvii, No. 2, 1920,

564 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

pink, and the black element very much predominated on the venter,

in some cases the venters being practically entirely black. One’s

first impression on examining the series was that two species were

involved but as the proportions and counts agreed, and as all four of

one colour type were smali, and the other four specimens were all

large, and of the other colour type, one is led to suggest that the

snake grows lighter as it grows more mature.

All specimens were taken in gardens or cultivation except one

small one which was found amongst the ‘drinks’ in a pantry. Five

were handled alive and were of a very tranquil disposition. The

Khanigin specimen was killed with a sparrow firmly embedded in

its jaws.

Malpolon monspessulana Hermann.——The Montpellier Snake.

Synonyms.——Ce@lopeltis monspessulana.'

Vernacular, Names—None known of definitely. Possibly it is the

snake spoken of as ‘ Hannash.’

The distribution is from North Africa, the Mediterranean and the

Adriatic to the Levant, Iraq, Caucasus and Persia. Previously one

had been recorded from Baghdad.” In 1528-29 nine more specimens

were cxamined all from Northern Iraq, being from Baghdad, Mosul,

Tuz Khurmatu, and Suwara Tuka, North of Mosul.

Locality ee Ventrals | Caudals Colour | Remarks

Baghdad aes 26 168 95+ Bluish grey! Tail mutilated,

with pale-| Dorsal rows 19.

edged darker

spots. Belly

white.

2 40 200 | 104 “ 3

- 31 176 | 40+ |Olive brown, |Tail mutilated.

| belly straw.

a bee 36 186 100 a

‘5 a eed 176 2-84 if

is Sa 30 174 | 42+ | Fe Tail mutilated.

Taz ae 36 LAD ell 8

Mosul foe 33 172 29+ ms Tail mutilated.

Suwara Tuka 105 170 66 Chocolate

(alt. 2,000 ft.) brown, belly

white.

In the complete specimens the tail was a quarter of the body

length. In all specimens there were eight supralabials of which the

fourth and fifth entered the eye. The anal was invariably divided.

ae Boulenger, G. A. : Catalogue of Snakes in the British Museum, 1893-96.

2 Boulenger, G. A.: A List of Snakes from Mesopotamia, J, B. N. H. Sog¢.

Zxvil, No. 2).1920,

THE SNAKES OF IRAQ 565

The dorsals were always deeply grooved. Numbers 1 and 2 in the

list would appear to be var. zzstzgenztus ' and the others var. zeuma-

yert. } It is remarkable that no fewer than four of the nine had

mutilated, that is abbreviated, tails. Most of the specimens came

from gardens or cultivation. Four of the six Baghdad specimens

came from the highly cultivated Rustum Farm, south of Baghdad, a

place with a considerable rodent population.

Malpolon moilensis Reuss.--The Moila Snake.

Synonyms.——Celopeltts motlensis.*

Vernacular Names.—-_None known of.

The distribution is North Africa, Syria, Arabia, Iraq and Persia.

In Iraq, specimens have been recorded from Sodom, Sheikh Saad

and Shaiba.2 No fresh specimens were seen in 1928 or 1929,

Psammophts schokari Forskal.--The Variable Sand Snake.

Vernacular Namés.--None known of.

The distribution is from North Africa to Arabia, Syria, Palestine,

Iraq, Persia, Baluchistan, Afghanistan and Sind. In Iraq, specimens

had previously been recorded from Basra and Shaiba.* In 1929

a further specimen was brought in from Rutba in the Shamiyah

Desert.

The specimen was a young snake, twelve inches long with an olive

dorsum streaked with two dark longitudinal bands. The belly was

edged longitudinally with the characteristic interrupted lines. The

ventrals numbered 183, the caudals 96 and the dorsal rows 19. The

anal was divided, and of the nine supralabials, the fifth and sixth

entered the eye.

Apparently quite a rarity in Iraq.

Family : HyDROPHIIDA

Enhydrina schistosa Daudin.*—The Hook-nosed Sea Snake.

Synonyms.—LEunhydrina valakadyen.> Z

Vernacular Names.—None known of.

The distribution is given by Malcolm Smith as from the Persian

Gulf to the coast of Cochin-China and the North Coast of Australia.

None have been reported from the waters of the Persian Gulf that

wash the coastal extremity of Southern Mesopotamia, but in 1929

four snakes were discovered in spirit in the Laboratory at Rustum

Farm, Agricultural College, Baghdad. They were labelled ‘ Hydrophis

cyanocincta—Persian Gulf’ and were assumed to be duplicates of

the 1921 Cox Cheeseman collection.

No helpful literature was available in Iraq at the time and in

consequence very few particulars relating to the specimens were

looked for and recorded. However the rows numbered 54 at mid-body,

the rostral projected over the lower jaw, the ventrals were barely

differentiated, and the individual scales were not imbricate; they

1 Boulenger, G. A.: The Snakes of Europe, 1913.

2 Boulenger, G. A.: Catalogue ot Snakes in the British Museum, 1893-96.

5 Boulenger, G. A.: A List of Snakes from Mesopotamia. J.B. N. H. Soc.

xxvii, No. 2, 1920.

* Smith, Malcom. : Monograph of the Sea Snakes, 1926. .

5 Gray. : Catalogue of Snakes in the British Museum, 1849,

566 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

bore the faintest suggestion of a short central keel. The colour was

dull olive barred with black dorsally. It was decided that the

specimens approximated more to Exhydrina schistosa and they

were so labelled.

An engineer from one of the dredgers employed at the bar of the

Shatt-el-Arab off Fao told me that it was not uncommon for sea-

snakes four feet in length to be emptied out in the contents of the

sludge buckets of the dredger. He said that these snakes were green

with black cross-brands and were known to the native crew as being

poisonous.

The following additional species of Hydrophiidze have been recorded

from the Persian Gulf: !

Thallasophina viperina Schmidt.—Persian Gulf and Muscat.

Hydrophis spiralis Shaw.—Persian Gulf, Gangestum and Muscat.

Hydrophis cyanocinctus Daudin.——Persian Gulf.

Hydrophis ornatus Gray,—Muscat.

Hydrophis lapemoides Gray.——Persian Gulf and Jask.

Lapemis curtus Shaw.——Muscat.

Microcephalophis gracilis Shaw.-—Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.

Family : ELAPIDA

Naja morgant, Moquard. —The Hoodless Cobra.

Synonyms. —Atractas pts wilsonz.*

Vernacular Names.—It shares the names ‘ Urbid’ and ‘ Abrid’,

that is, the ‘black snake’ with C. jugularis var. asianus.

The recorded distribution is Persia and Iraq. Specimens have

previously been taken in Shaiba and ‘Mesopotamia’. 3

In 1928 and 1929 five further specimens were secured foetal

Mosul 3, Baqubah, Mandali, and Rutba in the Shamiyah Desert.

Locality ee | Ventrals | Caudals | Rows | Anal Remarks

Mosul ae 12 185 46 21 1/1 | Uniform black.

Ys 25 183 43 21 ee $i

Baqubah ... 26°5 185 44 21 1/1 | Purplish brown,

belly paler.

Mandali_... 29 185 30+ 23 1 Tail mutilated.

| One preocular,

two post-

oculars.

| | Uniform black.

Rutba 2 pe) o 22 182 45 21 A aa .

2 ointh), Malcom. : Monograph of the Sea Snakes, 1926.

2 Wall, we: N. HI. Soc. xviii, p. 804, 1908.

9 Boulenger, GeA ASList of Snakes from Mesopotamia. J, B. N. fl. Son

KVL NOw2. 1920,

| THE SNAKES OF IR AO 567

In the six complete specimens the tai] was a sixth to a seventh of

the total length. There were invariably seven supralabials with the

third and fourth touching the eye. The third also touched the nasal.

Unfortunately the periocular scales were not noted in four specimens,

nor were the caudals closely examined in any. These gave the

impression in every specimen of being divided but a photograph in

the writer’s possession suggests that a number, six or so, of the

more immediately proximal caudals were entire.

It is interesting to compare this cobra with Walterinnesia Doni

Lataste! of which five specimens are known, all recorded from

Egypt. Two only, however, are reputed to have their exact proven-

ance known. ‘These were caught on the Cairo-Suez Road. In

‘counts’, proportions and colouration the two species WV. morgant

and W. egyptia appear to more or lessagree, ‘There remains

however the generic obstacle in the absence of snail teeth behind the

fangs in the Walterinnesia type specimen. Mr. H. W. Parker of the

British Museum was good enough to examine the type specimen

and was of the opinion that if a further examination of Naja morgani

revealed an agreement with Walter7nnesza in other externals, such as

keeling of the posterior dorsal scales; proportion, numbers and

distribution of the perioculars ; and the variation in the division of

the caudals, then a dental dissection ought to be made to verify the

generic validity of Walterinnesta. I am awaiting with interest the

opportunity to again examine specimens.

Naja morgant is apparently uniformly distributed throughout Iraq

and is not uncommon. It may be found in various habitats and is

by no means shy. The young Mosul specimen was picked up on a

tennis court. The aduit emerged daily from a hole in the gateway

of the Mosul Civil Hospital to glide about amongst the waiting

patients. This went on for months and the snake enjoyed a certain

status as a sort of ‘divan habitué’ until one day, a request for

snakes having been received, he was killed, bottled, and sent in. The

Baqubah specimen was brought up alive from a bricked well by an

enthusiastic chauffeur. He was passed round an appreciative and

inquisitive circle before being killed, pickled, and passed on. Though

he hissed very angrily he is said not to have attempted to bite, even

when freely handled. The Mandali specimen was taken on a track

near cultivation and the Rutba specimen came from the desert. I

know of no records of snake-bite by this species or W. @gyftia but

presume that its genus alone should be sufficient to procure it

respect.

Family : VIPERIDA.

Sub-family : VIPERINA:.

Vipera lebetina, Linnaeus.—The Levantine or Blunt-nosed Sees

Synonyus.—Vipera euphi atica,* Datbota xanthina.?

Vernacular Names.—In spite of the fairly frequent occurrence ‘of

this snake and of its reputation, I could not get hold of a name for it.

1 Lataste : Le Naturaliste, p. 411, 1887.

2 Martin : Proceedings Zoological Society of London, 1838.

° Gray : Catalogue of Snakes in the British Museum, 1849,

568 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Everyone north of Baghdad knew of it and could describe it. It was

always spoken of as being deaf. On one occasion a Mosuli described

it surprisingly well as ‘a dangerously poisonous snake, with a thick

body and a thin neck, a tail like a cigarette, of a brown colour, and

blind and deaf’. In Cyprus the snake is known as ‘ Koufi’, a Greek

derivation meaning deaf. I understand that in ancient Assyria (Mosul

and area) a word ‘Kuppu’ was used in application to a ‘terrible

snake’. In the Mosul area to-day aninquiry as to the ‘deaf snake’

would, I think, instantly bring descriptions of the Levantine Viper.

However, I was unable to collect a definite name.

The distribution is from North Africa, Greece and Cyprus

to the Levant, Transcaucasia, Iraq, Persia and North-West

India. In irag, specimens have previously been recorded from

Baghdad and: .Aushuru (?)3t- During) 1928271929) and weeny

1930 seven more specimens were examined ; all of them from places

in the north-east of Iraq, namely Sulamainia, Mandali, Mosul, Baqu-

bah, Jebal Hamrin, Qaragan and Barazan on the Greater Zab River.

Locality pe Ventrals | Caudais Dorsal Remarks

(ins.) rows

Sulamainia sy.) a2 173 52 27 | Very dark ; young

specimen.

Mandali eA rail iaae 4 150 44 23

Mosul! Pes 24 181 48 29 | Bit man, result

. | recovery.

Baqubah ... | 38 162 38 ipa | .

Jebal Hamrin...| 40 164 47 23 | Bit man, result fatal.

Oaragan Ge eR 176 53 23 |

Barazan (Greater| 38 173 46 as)

Zab)

In all specimens the tail was about a seventh of the body length.

The scales were invariably strongly keeled, the anal was always

single and ten supralabials were constant. The colour ranged from

dark olive in the smallest specimen, with clear cut darker markings,

to pale grey or brownish grey with less defined markings in the

largest specimens. ‘The larger the snake the lighter the colour. The

bellies always exhibited the characteristic viperine speckling.

Mr. J. Parlby once spoke to me of having seen a snake answering

in description to V. /ebetina, travelling downstream in the Diyala

River near Oaragan.

Vipera lebetina seems to be confined to the hills and broken coun-

try north-east of Baghdad. There is no record of &. carinatus

thereabouts and only one of the nine C. cornutus recorded below for

Iraq, came from this region. ‘There are no other vipers occurring in

Iraq. Out of seventeen cases of bite (viperine type) by unidentified

1 Boulenger, G. A.: A List of Snakes from Mesopotamia. J. B. NV. A. Soc.

XXvii, No. 2;51920;

THE SNAKES OF IRAQ 569

snakes no fewer than fourteen came from this area as did also two

cases in which the snake was identified as V. debetina. It rather

looks as though the majority of snake-bite accidents in Iraq are caused

by this viper. If this is correct, then the mortality from its bite would

be forty-four per cent, seven deaths in sixteen cases. This is a high

percentage, but, that it is quite possibly of true significance is sugges-

ted by the widespread fear in which the ‘ deaf snake’ 1s held in the

country north and east of Baghdad.

It is spoken of as being deaf and blind on account of its sluggish-

ness and torpidity by day, a characteristic also, I understand, of its

congener the Indian Daboia, V. vussellz. If shouted at or threatened

with a stick it is said to show no perturbation whatever.

Cerastes cornutus Linnaeus.—The Horned Viper or Asp.

Vernacular Names.— Efa’ and an apparent corruption ‘ Al Fiyah’

appear to be applied in Iraq to all noxious snakes, more particularly

vipers, and most particularly to the Horned Viper. ‘Qarna’ and

‘Um Grun’ are also used referring to 1is horns and I have heard it

discussed and described in the Muntafik Liwaas ‘Um Jenaib’ in

reference to its-peculiarity in coiling (1.e. moving) to a flank, with its

head poised and threatening to the front. ‘ Abu Jenaib’ is used of

the local fresh-water crab.

The distribution is North Africa, Arabia, Palestine, Syria and Iraq.

It is figured on the monuments of ancient Egypt, Babylonia, and

Assyria. In Iraq previous records, six in number, all of hornless

specimens, were from Basra and Shaiba.!_ In the period 1927-30,

three more records were obtained, all of horned specimens. One

from Nebr in the Muntafik area lived in the writer’s possession for

seven months. Another was responsible for a fatality in Dohuk,

North of Mosul, and the third specimen came from Rutba, in the

Shamiyah Desert.

Size

Ge) Ventrals | Caudals Rows Remarks

Locality

Nebr Bo ee es Pe ie a5 No counts done.

Lived in writer’s

possession for over

seven months,

Rutha ears | 144 37 29 Anal single, supra-

labials thirteen,

Dohuk i 30 | Rie oe wey No counts done. Bit

a man who died in

24 hours.

The characteristic flat triangular ‘ace of spades’ head was notable

in both specimens seen. The Dohuk specimen was reported by the

relatives of the bitten man as being about four-hand spans long, as

having horns, and as having a thick body and a broad head.

1 Boulenger, G. A.: A List of Snakes from Mesopotamia. J.B. NV. Hf. Soc,

xxvii, No. 2, 1920.

570 JOURNAL BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Incidentally this is the only record I know of in which death has

resulted from Cerastes bite. The other eight specimens of this snake

caine from the desert plains to the south and west but I feel that the

Dohuk fatality rings true and should be accepted although no doctor

saw the victim alive, or the snake.

Lichis carinatus Schneider..—The Saw-scaled Viper.

Vernacular Names.—None known of. Would probably be spoken

ofas* El iar:

The distribution is from North Africa, Syria and Arabia to Iraq,

Persia and India. In Iraq one has previously been recorded from

Imam Hamza in the Diwaniyah area.! This was in 1924, the speci-

men being responsible for a fatality. Since that date four further cases

of snake-bite have occurred in the same region. In three instances

followed by recovery, the snake was identified as Achis carinatus. In

the fourth case which terminated fatally the snake was not seen and

although for various reasons I consider that the snake must have

been an /chis, I do not record it as such here as this paper is intended

to be more or less purely zoological and should take note only

of snakes actually identified.

Size

Locality fins) Dorsal Rows Colour Remarks

Imam Hamzi ... 16 25 Characteristic | Fatal bite.

keeled broad arrow

Diwaniyah...| .... | No particulars recorded wu Bite—recovery.

3 Ei eac ll as 5 i . *

Khan Judwhal |... | yy - re | s +i -

It is notable that all these four specimmens came from the Middle

Euphrates and none from elsewhere in Iraq.

me ee eon i

1 Sinderson, H. C.: Snake Bite in Iraq. Edin. Aled. Journal. Nov., 1924.

THE SNAKES OF 1RAQ

571

The conclusions of this rather superficial survey may be conveni-

ently tabulated as follows.

LS;

16.

Species

TYPHLOPIDA

T. braminus

T. vermicularis

LEPTOTYPHLOPIDZ

L. macrorhynchus ...

BoiD#

E. jaculus familiaris.

COLUBRIDZ

Aglypha

N. tessellatus

Ce dahlit

. diadema

C, jugularis

C, ravergieri

C. ventrimaculatus ...

L. diadema

C. collaris

C. coronella

. decemlineata

C, persica

Opisthogly pha

T. fallax iberus

Distribution in

Iraq

Basra

Riverain Iraq

| Riverain Iraq

| Iraq including

Kurdistan

ee | Throughout

Iraq excluding

Kurdistan

Baghdad area

Throughout

Iraq including

Kurdistan

Riverain Iraq

Mosul

Riverain Iraq

Western Iraq

Northern Iraq

and Kurdistan

Western Iraq

North East

Traqg and

Kurdistan

North East Iraq

Iraq excluding

Kurdistan

Number of

new

specimens

Nil

Remarks

New for Iraq

Colour variety

in Kurdistan

Colour variety

in Kurdistan

Var. asianus

New for Iraq.

A mountain

species ?

Relationship to

C. collaris ?

Young darker

than adults

572, JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIS1, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Wie

18.

19.

ade

22.

23.

24.

Species

M. monspessulana ..

M. moilensis

P. schokari

HYDROPHIIDZ

E. schistosa

ELAPIDZ

N. morgani

VIPERIDZ

Viperine

V. lebetina

C. cornutus

E. carinatus

Iraq

Iraq and

Kurdistan

Southern Iraq

Western Iraq

Persian Gulf.

Possibly Shatt-

el-Arab

Iraq as far

| North as Mosul

North East

Irag and

Kurdistan

Iraq as far

be North and East

as Dohuk

(Mosul)

Middle Eu-

phrates

Distribution in | Number of new |

specimens

Nil

_ Remarks

Var. insignitus

and Var.

neumayeri

No records of

bite. New for

Iraq.

No records of

bite. Possibly

related to

W. egyptia.

Two cases of

bite—one death.

Probably

responsible for

many more.

One case of bite

—one death.

First horned

specimens from

Iraq.

Four cases of

bite—one death.

FLOWER-BIRDS AND BIRD-FLOWERS IN INDIA.

SALIM A. ALI

(With four plates and tour text-tigures. )

Hermann Miller, one of the most noted pioneers in the study of

the fertilization of flowers, summing up our knowledge on the

subject, avers that although self-fertilization by itself may suffice for

the propagation of organisms for an unlimited number of generations

producing healthy and fertile offspring, yet, as has been proved by

the researches of botanists, whenever plants which are the offspring

of self-fertilization are opposed in the struggle for existence to the

offspring of cross-fertilization, the iatter have the advantage. Thus it

becomes evident that all peculiarities which aid cross-fertilization will

be retained and perfected by natural selection.

The importance of bees, butterflies and a host of other insects in

the cross-fertilization of flowers is well known, but the significance

of birds in the same capacity has been consistently underrated. It

is a subject which has hitherto received no attention whatsoever

from workers in India inspite of the vast opportunities the country

offers for observation and study, and my purpose in writing this

paper is merely to arouse a general interest in the subject, and

broadly indicate its possibilities.

To my mind, this branch of research lies more within the sphere of

the field ornithologist than in that of the botanist, and the reason is not

far to seek. The ornithologist, even though he may know nothing

whatsoever of botany, will seldom have much difficulty in collecting

specimens of the flowers on which he has observed bird visits, and in

having them identified subsequently. The botanist, similarly placed,

will be left in doubt as to the identity of the visiting bird as it cease-

lessly hops and flits about among the blossoms or darts off to

another tree, and will seldom have the means at hand of getting a

satisfactory determination of its species. The result will often be

that the botanist’s record will remain incomplete and, as such, value-

less from the scientific point of view.

While it is but rarely that an ornithologist also possesses sufficient

competence in botany to be able to conduct research of this nature

without the aid of a specialist, and vice versa, an intimate co-operation

between the two is clearly indicated for obtaining optimum results.

Although this paper does not claim to be any more than merely

casual notes of observations in the field, I could not have written it

without constant help in identifications, suggestions and advice

principally from the Rev. E. Blatter, s.J., but also from a number

of other botanists with whom I have been in constant correspondence,

to all of whom my best thanks are due.

I am also greatly indebted to Professor Dr. Otto Porsch of the

Hochschule fir Bodenkultur, Vienna, for kindly placing at my

574 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

disposal the separata of his recent excellent publications on Ornitho-

phily from which I have taken the liberty to quote freely.

It must be borne in mind that the mere fact of a bird being

casually seen en a flower is by itself no evidence of the fact that the

flower is ornithophilous or that the bird is an agent in its cross-

pollination. But if it is repeatedly ovserved that a particular species

of bird is partial to a particular species of flower and frequents

them regularly; that the object of its visits is obviously the

nectar situated deep down within the flower-tube; that the

structure of the corolla and the position of the essential organs—the

stamens and the style—are such that in its endeavours to get at the

honey, the head, breast or other portions of the bird’s anatomy might

reascnably be expected to come into contact with them, then alone

can we have justification for assuming that that particular flower may

be wholly or in part bird-pollinated. To prove the correctness of

this assumption, it will further be necessary to secure the bird and

subject its plumage to a microscopic examination for adhering

pollen. As Neger points out in his excellent summary of Ornitho-

phily (9) it isin a great measure due to the wild generalizations based

on insecure premises made in the past that discredit has been

brought on the value and importance of birds as agents in the cross-

pollination of flowers, and it therefore now behoves workers to

exercise special care and attention in the observations they record.

The most highly organized bird-flowers as we find them to-day

present certain well-marked characteristics which serve to differentiate

them in a general way from flowers fertilized by insects, wind or

other agencies. The most important of these are:

(1) Their structure and pollenizing mechanism is such as to

render the transfer of pollen possible only through visits of birds to

the nectar:

(2) They usually possess bright and conspicuous colours such as

crimson or scarlet, yellow, white, bright blue, also brown and others,

which react on the keenly-developed colour-sense and sharp eyesight

of the feathered visitors. Experiments have shown that red is the

most attractive colour to birds.

It is also worthy of note that the colours of many bird-flowers are

not infrequently reproduced in the plumage of their bird-visitors.

I was particularly struck by this in the case of a Yellow-backed

Sunbird (4 thopyga stparaja vigorst) recently observed at Lingmala

(near Mahableshwar) on the scarlet blossoms of //zbzscas Rosa-sinensts,

whose breast and upper plumage harmonized with the brilliant

colour of the flowers to perfection.

(3) The absence of scent is a feature of the most highly adapted

bird-flowers. ‘This dovetails as it were with the completely absent

or extremely ill-developed sense of smell in birds, especially in the

order Passeres.

(4) Their richness in honey production. The nectar which is rich

in carbohydrates, is highly nutritious and provides both meat and

drink to the birds. ‘Their visits to fowers are without doubt largely

with the object of quenching their thirst. The origin of the nectar-

eating habit is clearly suggested in the habit, commonly noticeable in

arboreal birds, of quenching their thirst from dew or rain-drops

PLATE I,

JOURN. BOMBAY NAT. HIST. Soc.

1. Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus). 2. Dhyal (Copsychus saularis).

3. Red-vented Bulbul (Molpastes cafer). 4. Striped Squirrel (Funambulus tristriatus).

ma Indica.

SOME POLLINATING AGENTS OF E7ythr

(Photos by Author.)

FLOWER-BIRDS AND BIRD-FLOWERS IN INDIA 575

collected on the foliage of trees. In the warmer regions of the globe

where there is often a scarcity of water in the hot-weather months,

the nectar of flowers constitutes a great boon to thirsty birds. It

will be seen from the following list that the flowering season of a

great many species closely corresponds with the season of drought i.e.

between the cold weather and the S.-W. monsoon.

(5) True bird-flowers may, as a rule, be recognized by the absence

of broad ‘rims’ or lobes which serve as an alighting place to visitors

in entomophilous flowers, but hinder the access of birds to the

nectar,

There are a great many flowers with structure and characteristics

intermediate between typical bird- and typical insect-flowers.

Among Indian species, for example, Amherstia nobilis, Potnciana

regia and Potnciana (Cesalpina) pulcherrima show adaptations for

ornithophily as well as for entomophily, and are visited both by birds

and by insects. There are many species of flowers which in their

native land are fertilized by insects as well as by birds, while even

these may be fertilized in one locality exclusively by birds and in

another exclusively by insects. In Natal, for example, according to

Scott-Elliot, the pollen of Musa is usually transferred by the Czn2yride,

and more rarely by bees, whereas in Mauritius on the contrary, bananas

are said to be pollinated by insects. While a great many flowers are

visited and doubtless also fertilized to some extent by birds (the

magnitude of whose services is on the whole incalculable), it is not

unlikely that in India at least the number of species dependent for

their pollination excluszvely upon birds is comparatively smali.

As regards the origin of ornithophilous flowers, one comes across

assertions in literature so often to the effect that these have evolved

from entomophilous forms that it would appear as though this were

an established fact. Schnarf(Z5), in particular, often refers to flowers

transitory between entomophilous and ornithophilous forms. Werth

(21) points out that, as long as statements of this kind are confined to

specific examples and not implied in a general way, one can

have nothing against them, and after discussing various species he

comes to the conclusion that although certain ornithophilous flowers

can be admitted to have evolved from entomophilous forms, in

others (€.¢: Some. /7ica. species) the process.can clearly be

demonstrated to have been the reverse. Fossils of ornithophilous

forms have been discovered dating back to a geological period where

flowers with as yet only the first entomophilous adaptations are met

with. Further, Werth mentions that among the Angiosperms,

wind-, insect- and bird-flowers, as well as well-established flower-

insects and flower-birds are all met with at the same time in the

lowest chalk stratum of the earth.

In our own day bird-flowers are distributed throughout the tropics

and sub-tropics of both hemispheres ; in other words the number of

ornithophilous flowers is greatest where representatives of the most

highly-organised flower-birds occur : the Humming-Birds ( 7voch lide)

and Sugar-Birds (Cerebide) in tropical America, the Wectariniide,

Diceide and Zosteropide in the tropics and sub-tropics of the

Old World, and the Meliphagide and Trichoglosside in the

Austraiian Region.

576 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

There has been a tendency to attribute the object of birds’ visits

to flowers solely or chiefly to a search after the attending insects, and

the importance of the honey has been unwarrantably belittled. As I

have pointed out elsewhere (J.B.NV.H/.S., vol. xxxv, pp. 145-46), there

seems no reason for doubting that the visits of specialized birds

to the flowers of their choice may be exclusively in quest of

the nectar. As mentioned before, flower-nectar is rich in carbo-

hydrates and provides excellent nutriment, and the fact that

Sun- and Humming-birds have been kept in captivity for weeks on

end onan exclusive diet of syrup, proves the comprehensiveness and

all-sufficiency of this class of food. ‘That birds may, in addition,

supplement their diet by any little insects that happen to be present

on the flowers, is of course self-understood. With a little practice in

the field, it is not difficult to determine whether a bird’s quest on a

flower is the nectar or the attending insects. The deliberate

and systematic probing of the bill deep into the corolla-tube for

nectar is a process quite distinct from the casual hunt for insect

visitors. For instance, no one could fail to differentiate between the

behaviour of an Iora on the flowers of the Coral Tree and that of a

Myna. The former visits the flowers mainly, if not entirely, for the

little insects, while the latter is a confirmed nectar-bibber.

Having indicated the chief peculiarities of the true bird-flowers, it

will not be out of place to mention some outstanding characteristics

of the typical flower-birds. I confine my remarks to our Indian

representatives, the pride of place amongst whom must unques-

tionably go to the Wectariniide (Sun-birds). On account of their

resplendent plumage, specialized bill and tongue, and their lively

and flower-haunting habits, this group has been called the Humming-

birds of the Old Worid. Among all the Passerine birds with a

honey diet, the Nectariniide (along with the WWeliphagide, Cerebide

and many of the Drepanidid@) possess the most highly organised

‘mouth-parts’. The billis long, slender, decurved and more or less

cylindrical. The edges of the tongue are rolled upwards and inwards

and meet to form a closed tube which functions

as a suctorial organ, and usually terminates

in a bifurcation (Fig. 1). The tongue, more-

over, is extensile and capable of being

projected much beyond the tip of the bill. I

once watched a Ledtocoma lotenita which

seemed to have along slender and wriggling

worm held endwise in its beak. The glasses

showed that this was the bird's tongue which

it shot out several times and as rapidly

withdrew, remarkably after the fashion of a

snake. The organ projected quite a third to

one-half the length of the bill beyond the tip

of the latter. All the members of this family

are furnished with tongues following this

characteristic pattern, and eminently adapted

for a diet of nectar from flowers.

The families next in importance in India as flower-frequenters are

the Zosterobide (White-eyes) and the Diceide (Flower-peckers)

Pac, oe

Tongue of Leptocoma

zeylonica.

FLOWER-BIRDS AND BIRD-FLOWERS IN 1NDIA 577

whose tongues show half-way stages between the normal general-

purpose pattern possessed by the majority of Passerine birds

with omnivorous diet, and the highly specialized suctorial organs of

the Nectariniide whose diet comprises for the most part of nectar.

The edges are only slightly curved in to form an open trough

or gutter. In Zosterops palpebrosa it terminates in bristles for

about 4 its length, divided into two

‘brushes’ (Fig. 2) while in Diceum

erythrorhynchum, the tip presents bifurcated

half-tubes. In the Thick-billed Flower-pecker

(Piprisoma agile), the tongue is triangular

and broad at the base, short and cartilaginous

except at the bifidtip. The curled edges |

are almost, if not entirely, absent and this

together with the stout finch-like bill makes

its possessor comparatively a casual visitor Fic. 2. Tongue of Z. pal-

to flowers. In both these families the 2¢070Sa (Nat. size about 12

tongue, as in the Vectariniide, is extensile. Ue MOE)

Besides these specialized families, it will be seen from my list of

bird-frequented flowers that there are a great many heterogeneous

species which, without being specially equipped, are nevertheless

regular nectar-seekers. In order to show at a glance the birds obser-

ved as habitués of flowers, I append a separate list at the end giving

the Orders, Families and Species of such. The lists are the result of

observations relating to the past three years during which I have

been able to pay somewhat more than passing attention to the subject

of Ornithophily, especially in Western India and the Bombay Deccan.

The records are principally based on direct observations in the field

through powerful glasses and although they furnish good

circumstantial evidence, it is clear that in a few instances only

(where the microscope has revealed pollen adhering to bill or

surrounding feathers—indicated by asterisks in the following lists)

are they of a sufficiently experimental nature to be considered imore

or less conclusive in their application.

cross-section

Way ©10ss-section

LIST OF FLOWERS OBSERVED TO BE REGULARLY FREQUENTED

BY BIRDS.

Order : MALVALES

Family : MALVACEZ

1. Bombax malabaricum, DC. (Coloured Plate, J. B. V. H.S., xxxiii

632).

Flowers crimson, large and numerous, growing in clusters on short

thick stalks towards the ends of the branches. They appear before

the new leaves, and the bareness of the tree at this period provides

excellent opportunities for the observation of bird-visitors.

Petals fleshy, bent back, 3-6” long. Stamens pink, flattened, more

than 60, united only at base to form five bundles, each containing

9-12. There is an additional inner bundle of 15 stamens of which

578 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

the 5 innermost are longest. The conical ovary tapers at the apex

to form a club-shaped style which exceeds the stamens in length and

ends in 5 slender processes, the stigmas. The anthers are long and

brown.

Flowering Season: January to March.

Distribution : Indigenous throughout India and Burma except in the most

arid tracts. Sub-Himalayas upto 3,500’ (cultivated at 6,000 in N.-W. Himalayas)

very common throughout the Bombay Presidency, Satpuras and all forest

districts of Madras Presidency. Also Ceylon, Yunan, Cochin-China, Tonkin,

Java, Sumatra, Queensland and North Australia.

Visitors : The flowers are visited by all the species of birds men-

tioned under Erythrina indica with the exception of ! 18, 21, 39 and

46 which have not come under my notice so far. In this part of the

country, the commonest visitors seen are Nos. 1*, 2*, 10%, 11*,

14*, 22%, 25%, 26*, 27%, 29%, 41*, 42, 43 and 44. I would, without

hesitation, assign the pride of place to No. 25, Pastor roseus L. In

an area where both Eyrythrina indica and this species are flowering,

practically side by side, it has invariably been my experience that

the Cotton Tree is by far the more patronized by this bird, while the

Babbler (Zurdoides somerviliez) exercises his preference in favour of

the Coral.

While the Bombax is in flower, the diet of the Rosy Pastor in

many parts of the country seems to consist more or less exclusively

of the nectar, a thick sticky sugary juice in the ‘cup’ at the

base of the filaments. It comes to the trees imbued with a

sense of ownership and launches the offensive against every

other visitor to the blossoms, often rushing 15 or 20 feet across from

the other side of the tree where it is feeding, todo so. Most small.

birds fly before the fury of its onslaught, often being driven from

branch to branch. Even the indomitable King Crow has to give

way. Alone inthe Mynas Acridotheres tristis and Atthiopsar fuscus

does the Pastor find its match. They, of all the feathered company,

pay scant heed to its demonstrations. It is common to see a Pastor

angrily drooping its wings and spreading its tail (flicking it sideways)

perched in a truculent manner shivering with rage and swearing its

heart out within a few inches of a completely unperturbed Myna busy

on the flowers. At times the chivvying gets beyond the Myna’s

power of endurance whereupon it goes for the Pastor causing it to

depart precipitately. After it has had its fill of the nectar, the

Pastor will sometimes occupy itself solely with playing ‘ Dog in the

Manger.’ It sits ona branch and utters its bellicose chzt, chit, chit

varied by occasional attempts at a screeching song. When thus

engaged, it usuaily takes shelter from the sun by getting into the

shade of some branch. From this vantage point it continually launches

sallies against Sunbirds and Striped Squirrels feeding from neigh-

bouring flowers, twitching its wings threateningly. The nectar

seems to act as a laxative and the bird excretes once in every

three minutes or so. It feeds from the flowers ail day long, but

especially in the mornings before 11 o’clock. After a spell of

assaults, angry chattering and ‘song,’ there are invariably little

1 Numerals refer to list of birds under Arythrina indica.

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FLOWER-BIRDS AND BIRD-FLOWERS [N [NDIA 579

pauses of silence when all the company suddenly becomes dumb and

motionless. The arrival of some new visitor soon puts an end tothe

truce however, and chasing and chattering are resumed once more.

Sunbirds appear to act as ‘honey guides,’ for as soon as one

is driven off a flower, the Pastor is sure to probe into the corolla

itself. For a photographer who has focussed his camera on a suitable

low-hanging bunch of flowers for a Pastor, there is nothing more

promising than the visit of a Sunbird. In nine cases out of ten the

Sunbird will promptly be replaced by the irate Pastor!

In a grove of Bombax trees in bloom near Kainat Village (Alibag

Taluka), there were two examples with flowers of a lemon-yellow

colour. It struck meas particularly strange at the tine, that although

there was continuous hustling and rivalry among the birds on the

normally coloured flowers, those of the yellow variety remained

practically unattended, save for an occasional Sunbird that had been

hunted off the crimson flowers. That the yellow flowers also

contained nectar was evident on examination, but what the precise

factor was that made them distasteful to the visitors I was unable to

ascertain. My impression further is that in due course (as a conse-

quence ?) when the pods made their appearance, a smaller number

was noticeable on these two trees than on their normal neighbours,

though I have no statistical evidence. I consider this point most

interesting and worthy of a proper investigation. The yellow variety

of Bombax malabaricum is certainly not common, and it would be

interesting to know if this is merely a temporary aberration brought

about by some physiological defect in the tree.

In additionto birds I have regularly found the Striped Squirrels

(Funambulus tristriatus and f. pennantt) on the flowers licking the

nectar and biting the petals. Troup observed Ratufa gigantea eating

the flower-buds in quantities, and even Martens (Martes flavigula)

visiting the flowers in search of nectar. It is probable that these

mammalian visitors also contribute towards the cross-pollination of

Bombax flowers.

[It is surprising that Knuth (7) mentions nothing regarding the

pollination of this species, although, as Porsch (24, Part I) points

out, Swinhoe recorded the visits of Czznyris rhizophore Sh. to these

flowers in the island of Hainan long ago. ]

2. Bombax insigne, Wall.

Flowers larger than in the preceding species, somewhat paler red

in colour. Often scariet or white. Stamens 400-600 arranged in

bundles, not so distinctly as in malabaricum. Style longer than

stamens, terminating in 5-lobed stigma.

Flowering Season: January to March. In the Kolaba district this year 193],

I noticed the flowers early in January, before malabaricum had commenced

to blossom.

Distribution : Burma, Pegu, Andamans. Common in Western Ghats from

the Konkan southwards ; also Deccan and Anamalai Hills.

Visztors ; Almost all the species of birds recorded under malabar?-

cum. Also Striped Squirrels.

580 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AITST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

3. Hibiscus Rosa-sinensis L.

Flowers: Large bright scarlet or crimson, 4-5” across, with a

projecting red column of stamens and pistil.

Flowering Season : Throughout the year.

Distribution : Said to be a native of China and Northern India (?) and to

have been in cultivation throughout Malaysia and Polynesia before Europeans

came east. Cultivated in gardens throughout India.

Visitors : The conspicuous flowers, dazzling in the sunlight are

beloved of the Sunbirds who visit them regularly. The commonest

visitors in the Kolaba District (N. Konkan) are Leptocoma asiatica and

L. zeylonica and sometimes also L. lolenta. At Panchgani (4,400 ft.)

in the Western Ghats, I have commonly observed Leptocoma minima

on the flowers, while at Mahableshwar (4,500 ft.) in more afforested

country, 4thopyga s. vigorsi is a constant visitor.

In my experience, to get at the nectar all these species bore tiny

holes with their bills at the base of the coroila, just above the calyx.

Such ‘short-cuts’ have been described by Tiwary (79, 20) in the

case of Sesbania granditlora and Tecoma radicans and by Porsch (22)

in the case of many flowers in Buitenzorg Gardens, Java, including a

Hibiscus of which he unfortunately does not mention the species.

According to Lewis Bonhote the Sugar Bird (Cereba bahamensis

Rchb.), also bores holes in the calyx of Hibiscus flowers in the Bahamas

to get at the honey. This habit obviously does not help to promote

cross-pollination, and I cannot conceive of these birds functioning as

important pollinating agents as has often been asserted by various

writers. I have, however, occasionally seen ZL. aszatica and L. zeylo-

nica hovering in front of an open flower to get at smallinsects within,

and it is possible that in so doing, some pollen may accidentally adhere

to the feathers and be transported to the stigma of another flower.

If such a thing does occur, it can, in my opinion, only be exceptional.

The plant has never been known to set seed in India (save for one

isolated record which does not say whether the seeds were fertile),

and Prof. N. K. Tiwary of the Benares University who has investiga-

ted its life history, informs me that this is due to some defect in its

gametes.

Neger (9) in a list of species whose ornithophilous adaptations are —

‘beyond dispute’ includes Alzbiscus Rosa-sinensis. Werth (22)

found the beautiful red flowers of this plant in Zanzibar to be visited

by the Sunbird (Cizzyris gutturalis) and considers it to be ornitho-

philous, while Porsch (J, pt. i, p. 221) states that the genus A/7bzscus

contains in its large-flowered species quite a series of highly

organized bird-flowers.

In view of the fact that all these authors take it for granted, more

or less, that the flowers of A. Rosa-sinensis are fertilized by birds, it

is presumable that in the countries to which they refer they have

ascertained the plant to produce fertile seed. This however is a point

on which confirmation is desirable.

Besides, though the flowers may occasionally be pollinated by

hovering sunbirds in the manner I have above described, if H. Rosa-

sinensis was indeed such a highly adapted bird-flower as Neger

believes it to be, we should certainly expect a diminution in the size

FLOWER-BIRDS AND BIRD-FLOWERS IN INDIA 581

of the petals or lobes which at present constitute a broad alighting

place for insects but are at the same time a distinct hindrance to

birds in legitimate access to the nectar.

The need of further observation and investigation is indicated

before we can accept the ornithophilous nature of the flowers of this

plant. In India certainly all the evidence is, if anything, opposed to

such a presuinption.

4. Thespesia populnea, Corr. (Coloured plate, JB.N.A.S.,

xxxiv, 274),

Evergreen tree 30-50 ft. high with heart-shaped pointed leaves

resembling those of the Peepal (/icus religiosa). Flowers single or

in pairs, 3-4” across. Pale lemon-yellow with deep maroon centre.

Finely crinkled petals set in cup-like calyx. The long style grows

through a tube decked with acluster of golden-headed stamens. Itis

crowned with a club formed of 5 close-set stigmas.

Flowering Season ; Throughout the year, particularly at the beginning of

the cold season.

Distribution : ‘ Tropical shores of Bengal, Ceylon and both Peninsulas.

Tropical Asia, the Pacific Islands and Africa’ (Hooker). Along the beach

and tidal forests from Konkan southwards. Coasts of Chittagong and Anda-

mans.

Visttors: I have regularly observed Leptocoma astatica and

L. zeylonica taking short-cuts to the nectar by boring with their bills

at the base of the yellow crepe-paper-like corolla, just above the

calyx. The birds frequently hover in front of an open flower for

attending insects (or pollen?) and may occasionally assist in trans-

porting ripe pollen in the manner referred to under the preceding

species, as the structure of the flowers and the position of the

essential organs iS very similar in both. ‘This plant produces seed

freely, but to what extent birds are responsible for the fertilization

of its flowers, needs to be investigated.

Family : STERCULIACEAR

5. Sterculia colorata, Roxb. (Coloured plate, J.B.N.AH.S., xxxv,

57),

A large tree, trunk erect, bark ashy, branches spreading. Flowers

in numerous short terminal panicles, tubular, orange- or reddish-

brown in colour. Calyx 3”, tube 4 times longer than the rounded

rather obtuse lobes, Bonny outside, pilose within. Style recurved ;

the stigma over-tops the stamens and protrudes beyond the lobes.

(Plate lV, 2).

Flowering Season : March to May. Tree leafless when in flower.

Distribution ; ‘ Eastern Bengal, Pegu, the Western Peninsula and Ceylon ’

(Hooker).

Visitors: On March 28, this year (1931) my attention was drawn

by Mr. C. McCann to a bare tree in flower near Bhandup (Salsette).

I observed a Sunbird (Leptocoma zeylonica) hopping about from one

cluster to another, probing into the tubular flowers with its bill.

While we watched, a Z. aszatica also arrived on a neighbouring tree

and started off on the same quest. An examination of the flowers,

about 1” long and hanging in clusters from the ends of the bare

982 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXbV

branchlets, showed that the ‘ rim’ is considerably reduced, and much

clear nectar is present within, at the base of the corolla tube. From

the position of the essential organs it is evident that the flowers are

well adapted for pollination by the Mectarinitde and the Diceide,

and there seems little doubt that these families play a considerable

part in this vital process. Since then I have had several opportunities

of confirming my observations, and have also foilowed through

glasses a Flower-pecker (D. erythrorhynchum) eating nectar from

these flowers.

Order: GERANIALES

Family : BURSERACE#

6. Garuga pinnata, Roxb.

A tree 30 to 40 feet. Flowers -25” long, yellow, in large pubes-

cent compound spreading panicles.

Flowering Season : February to May (Talbot).

Distribution : ‘ Throughout India, and from the Jumna eastwards to

Burma and southwards to the Nilgiris and Tenasserim ; ascending to 3,000 feet

in the Himalayas. Malayan Archipelago, Philippines ’ (Hooker).

Visitors: I have observed Zoslerops palpebrosa and Leptocoma

astatica on the flowers, and on one occasion (near the Tulsi Lake in

Salsette, March 3, 1929) a party of Rose-finches (Carpodacus erytnri-

nus roseatus) were seen feeding from them. A male shot from this

flock had pollen adhering to his forehead and upper breast, and

nectar dripped freely from the bill when the bird was held up by its

legs. It is very probable that besides the species noted, many others

also visit the flowers which are rich in honey production. It also

seems very likely that the birds assist in cross-pollination.

Order : SAPINDALES

Family : MORINGACE

7. Moringa oleifera, Lamk. The Horse-radish or Drumstick.

A small tree, bark corky, wood soft, root pungent. Flowers in

dense masses, creamy-white reminiscent of orange blossoms. Pedi-

celled, 1” in diameter, honey-scented.

Flowering Season : Various. In Konkan principally November-December

Hyderabad (Deccan) noted in March-April.

Distribution : Said to be a native of the forests of Western Himalayas and

Oudh. Cultivated elsewhere throughout India and in various tropical countries.

Visitors: Wherever a tree is in flower—in a garden, some old

village site or within the precincts of a populated village or hamlet, or

even in the busiest and most crowded part of Bombay City such as

Bhuleshwar or Pydhownie—it is invariably attended by the Sunbirds

Leptocoma astatica and zeylonica. In areas where other species of

this family are comimon, the flowers are doubtless visited by them

also.

Leptocoma asiatica and L. zeylonica may be seen on the flowers at

all hours of the day, commencing almost at dawn though commoner

and more noisy after the sun is well up—hopping from cluster to

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FLOWER-BIRDS AND BIRD-FLOWERS IN INDIA 583

cluster or darting from one tree to the next, hanging upside down and

cliaging to the branchlets in ail manner of acrobatic positions in order

to get at the nectar, here is much singing and display of vivacity,

and frequent mock-battles ensue between the individuais of different

pairs or species as one tries to oust the other from a specially coveted

flower cluster.

Besides the Sunbirds, the flowers in the Konkan are largely

attended by the butterflies Arzstolochie aristolochig (black and red) and

Delias eucharis (yellow and red) the former being by far the commoner.

These are generally absent in the early mornings, but largely in

evidence in the warmer parts of the day, especially on trees exposed

to the sunlight. The Avistolochig butterfly often makes a feint at a

Sunbird to dislodge him from a coveted flower-bunch and puts him

to flight, itself presently returning to reap the fruits of its victory !

Another insect visitor frequently seen on the Drumstick blossoms

is the humble-bee, Xylocopa (amethystina?) which doubtless also

assists in the cross-pollination of the flowers.

Although the structure and other characteristics of the Moringa

flowers do not conforni to the truly ornithophilous type, I think

there can be no doubt that Sunbirds play a considerable part in their

pollination in India.

Knuth mentions that the flowers have a great attraction for

Humming and Sugar-birds! in the regions where both bird and plant

occur together.

In the Bahamas the Sugar-Bird Cwreba bahamensis Rchb. is said to

be in constant attendance on the blossoms of a large, ail-year flower-

ing species of Moringa.

Order : ROSALES

Family : LEGUMINOS&

‘In this family’ according to H. Miller (8, p. 220) ‘ the essential

organs are freely exposed. The petals or the stamens, or both

together, attract insects’.

In India eight indigenous species of the genus Arythrina have been

observed, all with red flowers. Two more have been introduced, viz.,

E. Crista-galli, L. and E. Blakez, Hort.

8. Erythrina indica, Lamk. (Coloured plate /. B. VW. H..S., vol. xxxiii,

p. 624).

Bee tree with spreading branches. Leafless when in flower.

Flowers large, brilliant scarlet, arranged in racemes at tips of the

branches. Corolla composed of five petals: an erect cblong standard

which narrows at the base into aclaw, two small wing-petals and two

almost similar-sized keel petals of a distinctly darker hue. The wing

petals partially enclose the keel. The stamens protrude for alinost

their entire length ; they are united into a bundle at the base. Higher

up the tenth stamen is distinct and free. The margins of the carina

(keel) tightly overlap, and together with the closely-fitted standard form

* The Sugar-Birds (Cewreétdz) contain about 75 species divided into 11

genera, and are amongst the mest important pollinators of bird-flowers

in Tropical Central and South America and neighbouring islands.

984 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

a conical sac at the basal region which is full of nectar secreted by

the glands situated at the base of the gyncecium. The exudation

of nectar is profuse; I have obtained seven drops and more from a

single sac, and as the same flowers are visited by successive visitors,

it is evident that the supply is quickly replenished.

Flowering Season: February to May. In the Konkan by the middle of

April most trees nave finished flowering.

Distribution: ‘ Reported to be indigenous inland in deciduous forests of

Thana, the Konkan, N. Kanara and Malabar, and from the Sunderbans along

the coast through Arakan, Pegu, Tenasserim, the Andamans, Nicobars, Java,

Polynesia ’ (Blatter),

Visttors: One of the most familiar and gorgeous features of the

Indian countryside when in flower, the Erythrina becomes the ren-

dezvous of almost every species of arboreal birds of the surrounding

locality. Its branches rock and sway as the eager nectar-bibbers hop

from one flower-cluster to another throughout the livelong day, and

great noise and bustle prevails. Birds appear’ most busy between

sunrise and about 11-30. ‘There is usually a break from this hour to

about 3 p.m.—during the hottest part of the day, after which the

company gradually re-assembles. I have observed the following

species eating nectar from the flowers. Those marked with an

asterisk have been shot and ascertained by means of a tube

microscope to be carrying pollen on the feathers of their forehead

and/or throat.

1. Corvus macrorynchos*— Regular frequenter on the countryside.

2. Corvus splendens *— do. also within town iimits.

3. Dendrocitta rufa—Occasional.

4. Turdoides terricolor—Only once seen, but species uncommon

in areas to which my observations have been confined.

5. Turdotdes somervillez*—Perhaps the most common visitor.

Invariably present.

6, Chrysomnea sinensis*—Frequent.

7. Dumetia albigulare*—Not uncommon where tree is in suit-

able locality.

8. Chloropsis jerdont* —Both these are regular

9. xf aurttrons davidsoni* } attendants but not

common. ‘They are very jealous of other visitors, constantly attack-

ing and driving them off the flowers.

16. Molpastes cater*—Regular and very common.

11. Elathea jocosa*—Regular and very common.

12. MA githina tiphia—Only once definitely seen eating nectar.

Probably visits flowers more in search of attendant insects.

13. Pycnonotus luteolus*—Common.

14. Merula nigropileus*—Regular, but seems to perfer Bombax.

15. Copsychus saularis*—Males singing from nearby trees fre-

quently visit the flowers at intervals to have a sip of the nectar.

16. Dicrurus macrocercus*—Very common. Invariably present

on flowers singly or in pairs. Jealous and bellicose, attacking and

driving away other visitors from its proximity.

17. Leucoctrca pecloralis—Not seen probing into flowers. Proba-

bly attracted by attendant flies.

18. Tchitrea parvadisi—Seen only once. Probably in quest of flies.

FLOWER-BIRDS AND BIRD-FLOWERS IN INDIA 585

19. Muscicapula tickellieé ) —Frequently seen on the flower-laden

20. Hypothymts azurea ; branches, but not probing for

nectar. Like the other Flycatchers, insects are probably their

objective, and their importance as pollen-carriers can only be negli-

gible, if at all.

21. Lantus schach erythronotus—Not uncommon, but only once

seen probing into a flower. Probably after insects, or using leafless

tree as observation post.

22. Orthotomus sutoritus*—Comimon.

233 VIIA SOCLALLS = do.

24. Prinia tnornata— do.

25. Pastor roseus*—Frequent visitor, but far more partial to

Bombax flowers. Very impatient of rival feasters, often attacking

and driving them away.

26. <Acridotheres tristis* —Very common and regular. Arrives in

parties of 5 or 6, the individuals hopping methodically from one

flower-cluster to another, raising their beaks to swallow the

nectar. :

27. <éthiopsar fuscus*—Very common and regular where occur-

ring. A remarkable feature about this species is the tuft of feathers

at the base of the bill which functions as an efficient pollen-brush.

28. Temenuchus pagodarum* —Invariable visitor where occurring.

29. Sturnia malabarica*— Do. Go;

30. Orviolus xanthornus—Frequent, but not common.

outs e ortolus kundoo— do.

32. Ploceus philibpinus*—Commonly feeding on the nectar in

parties of from 5 to 30. Also present on the trees when the flowers

are in final stages of withering. ‘To all appearances they also feed

on the tender newiy-formed pods.

33. Passer domesticus—Where the tree is situated within town

limits or in or near a village, the flowers are commonly visited by

this species.

34. Gymnorts xanthocollis—Frequent.

35. UOvoloncha malabarica

36. i striata

37. Carpodacus erythrinus roseatus*— Not uncommon.

38. Psitttacula krameri*—Very regular in some localities. Its

habit of plucking off the flowers before reaching the honey, probably

minimizes its usefulness as a pollinating agent.

39, Eudynamis scolopaceus—Only twice seen eating the nectar,

when it was very shy. May be a more frequent visitor in out-of-the-

way Situations.

40. Loriculus vernalis—Occasionally seen in particular localities.

41. Leptocoma zeylonica*—Invariably present throughout the day.

ke asiatica— do. do. do.

43. 4 lotenta*—V ery common in some localities.

44. #thopyga siparaja vigorsi—Frequent in localities where it

occurs.

45. Zosterops palpebrosa—Not uncominon, Flocks work the

flowers thoroughly,

46. Brachypternus aurantius—I was greatly surprised when I first

saw this woodpecker eating the nectar, (24-4-31) but since then I

—Occasional.

986 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

have observed it several times. lIassured myself by means of field-

glasses that its quest was actually nectar.

[According Hermann Miller the large flowers of Cavolinea are

pollinated by woodpeckers. He remarks that ‘these birds may seek

in the flowers for insects as well as the honey, but certainly for the

latter, since when they peck oranges, as is frequently the case, they

can of course expect only sweet juice and not insects’ (Knuth, vol. i,

Dele

In A aioe to the birds mentioned, I have found everywhere that

the Striped Squirrels (Funambulus tristriatus and fF. pennanti or

palmarum?) are amongst the most regular frequenters of the Coral

tree in bloom. They move about from one flower-cluster to another,

biting into and sucking the nectar sacs. This quest often brings

them into clash with a number of the more determined avian

competitors such as the Drongo and the Rosy Pastor. Attimes they

hold their own, while at others are forced to beat a hasty retreat, tail

in air! Of several specimens shot, three examples showed pollen

sticking to the fur of the head and lower neck, from: which it is evident

that they must also assist in cross-pollination to some extent.

Porsch suggests that perhaps bats may also be responsible for

similar service to the Coral tree, but careful watching of several trees

on a number of occasions (at Kihim) till 10 p.m. failed to produce

any evidence in support of this. It is of course possible that further

observation in other localities may show his surmise to be correct.

9. Erythrina stricta, Roxb.

Flowers orange-scarlet in racemes at tips of branches, shorter than

in &. indica. Structure very similar to that in preceding species.

Flowering Season: January to May. In Salsette and the Konkan the

flowers appear somewhat later than in /. zudica ; the tree is leafless upto the

time of flowering.

Distribution : ‘ Assam, Manipur extending westward to Nepal, Chittagong,

Burma, Orissa; deciduous mixed forests of N. Kanara and the Konkan.’

(Blatter.)

Visitors: The majority of species mentioned under &. indica

doubtless visit these flowers likewise, as the trees grow in more or

less the same type of country and often side by side. Among those

noted by me in passing were Nos. 1, 5, 8, 10, 11, 14%, 16, 22, 26, 41,

42,43. A Merula nigropileus shot off the flowers at Tulsi Lake

(Salsette) had the forehead and upper breast clotted with nectar to

which much polien was adhering. There was also a quantity of

ioose dry pollen on the feathers.

10. Erythrina Crista-galli, Linn.

According to Delpino (8; p: 215), the. crimson™, Hower i1s

inverted, the ale are almost entirely aborted, and the carina forms a

sheath covering the column and expanded below into a large honey

receptacle. Since the stigma somewhat overtops the anthers, the

visitors, probably humming-birds, touch first the stigma and then the

1 Numerals refer to list of birds under &. indica.

FLOWER-BIRDS AND BIRD-FLOWERS IN INDIA 587

anthers and so effect cross-fertilization.’ In other words, the flowers

closely resemble those of the two preceding species in their structure.

Flowering Season : In Bombay, March-April.

_ Distribution: This plant is a native of Brazil whence it has been introduced

into gardens io this country.

Visitors: On a specimen in bloom in the Victoria Gardens,

Bombay, I have observed the two common species of Sunbird, Lep/o-

coma asiatica and L. zeylonica as frequent visitors, and Mr. D. S. Laud,

the Superintendent of the Gardens, informs me that he has also often

observed them on the flowers.

As regards seeding, Mr. Laud informs me that this year (March-

April 1931) although the tree flowered moderately, he was able to

secure only twelve seeds. Ten of these germinated and by 25th June,

the plants were about 18” high. I consider it worthy of investigation

why these flowers which appear in every way adapted for fertilization

by Sunbirds (and other species) should produce such a scanty crop

of seed. It will be seen from my notes further on, that there are

many other apparently well-adapted exotic bird-flowers which inspite

of the visits to them of suitable flower-birds, fail to produce seed in

this country.

Werth points out that the flowers of &. Crista-gallz can hardly be

described as not exclusively ornithophilous just because humble-bees

also occasionally help to pollinate them. Their colour and structure

do not correspond with other humbie-bee flowers, whereas they

closely agree with ornithophilous forms.

In the Buitenzorg Gardens, Java, Porsch (22) observed Czuzyris

pecioralis, A-thopyga stparaja, Buchanga longa Bp. =(Dicrurus macro-

cercus V.) and &. cinerea on .the flowers of Arythrina lithosperma,

Blume, which is largely cultivated in Java and grows wild in the

mountains of Eastern Java. Jlithosperma of Blume is a synonym for

EE. subumbrans, Merr. an indigenous Indian species found in Burma

in moist valleys near streams up to 3,000 feet. Also in Indo-China

and Malaya. It flowers in January and February, the racemes of red

flowers appearing with the leaves.

11. Butea frondosa, Konig. (Coloured Plate, /.B.V.AH.S., vol.

ROK OO).

An erect tree reaching 40-50 feet. Flowers grouped in threes

along a velvety, dark olive-green stalk. In great profusion in stiff

racemes about 6” long. Petals flaming orange with tinge of salmon

pink produced by covering of silky white down. Corolla 1:5”-2”.

5 petals ; the standard about 1” broad, two smaller wing petals and a

much curved, beak-shaped keel formed by the fusion of two petals.

Stamens practically enclosed within the keel. There are ten, of which

nine are united and one free. The curved style overtops the anthers

and is suitably placed for fertilization by birds. .

When in flower, the tree is either entirely leafless or has some leaves

on the lower branches. The flowers chiefly cover the upper portions.

Flowering Season : End of January to March. In dry seasons the flowers

appear somewhat earlier.

Distribution > ‘Common throughout the greater part of India and Burma ;

in the Himalayas upto 3,000 feet, in South India upto 4,000 feet. Rare or

absent in arid regions. Often gregarious.’ (Blatter.)

588 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Visitors : The flowers, which contain a large quantity of nectar,

are invariably attended by birds, and the rocking and swaying of the

branches as the visitors hop from one flower-cluster to another, gives

away their presence from afar. The following species have been

observed by me, though very probably a great many Suse visit the

flowers besides.

Corvus macrorhynchos*-—Regular and common.

5, shlendens*— Do. do.

Turdotdes somervillei— Do. do.

Acridotheres tristis*— Do. do.

LE: thiopsar tuscus— Do. do.

Sturnia malabarica--- Do. do.

Leptocoma astatica-— Do. do.

i. zeylonica— Do. aoe

_ [A related species, Butea superba, Roxb., a gigantic woody creeper

with a stem as thick as a.man’s leg, found in Central and South

India and Burma, will probably also be found to be ornithophilous.

So far, unfortunately, I have not had an opportunity of investigating

this species, but the structure of its gorgeous orange-scarlet flowers

which crowd the leafless branches between March and April, strongly

suggests the probability. ‘They are considerably larger than those of

Butea trondosa. |

12. Poinciana regia, Bojer. (Coloured Plate, .B.NV.A.S., vol. xxxiii,

p. 651),

Large deciduous tree 40-50 feet with spreading branches and very

handsome feathery leaves. Brilliant scarlet blossoms arranged in

immense racemes at the ends of the branches. Each flower is

composed of five petals of which four are scarlet while the fifth, the

standard petal, is slightly larger in size and much variegated with

yellow, white and red. They emerge from between five fleshy scarlet-

faced sepals which form the calyx. The ten long stamens surround a

slender green style which overtops them. The flowers measure

about 4” across.

As Werth has pointed out, the flowers show adaptations for

entomophily as well as for ornithophily, and are visited by both

birds and insects.

Flowering Season: The hot weather ; April-June.

Distribution: A native of Madagascar introduced into this country within

the last 100 years (Blatter). Common in gardens and as a roadside tree in

Western India.

Visitors: ‘The birds I have definitely observed probing into the

flowers for nectar are:

Leptocoma asialica

zeylonica

viet Winkler observed both fe and the next species, Poinciana

pulcherrima, to be visited by Sunbirds in the Kameroons, Ledien in

the Congo, and Knuth in Buitenzorg, Java.]. 2 3g :

4 FLOWER-BIRDS AND BIRD-FLOWERS IN INDIA 589

13. Poinciana (Cesalpina) pulcherrima, Linn.

A shrub or small tree. Flowers orange-scarlet or yellow, much

smaller than in vegéa and with very long and protruding stamens.

Flowering Season: In my experience, in the Konkan the tree is in flower

throughout the year, though more abundantly during the latter part of the

monsoon and the cold season.

Distribution: Universally cultivated through India, and elem here in the

tropics ; the native country is not clearly known. (Hooker.)

Visitors: The flowers are largely visited by Sunbirds. eftocoma

astatica and L. zeylonica may be almost invariably seen on them at ail

hours of the day. The nectar appears to form an imiportant item of

their dietary and in our garden at Kihim (last season), I observed that

a femaie L. zeylonica sitting on her eggs about 30 yards distant from

a Peacock-flower tree in bloom, usually made straight for the

flowers when a break in the monsoon showers induced her to leave

the nest for food. She was foliowed closely by her mate, and the

pair would hop about from flower to flower clinging to the

branches in every conceivable position and probing into the blossoms

with their bills. On these occasions the cock was particularly lively —

and attentive to the hen, and between sips was constantly bursting

- into little snatches of song to the accompaniment of nervous flicking's

of his wings, as if to hearten her in her desultory task of incubation.

The scene becaine particularly delightful to watch if the sun hap-

pened to peep out of the clouds and beam upon the dripping foliage

and the resplendent plumage of the male.

The Rose-ringed Parrakeet (Psz/tacula kramer ‘) is also a frequent

visitor to the flowers, but as it destroys them by biting through (and

also eats the pods), its services in pollination are doubtful. Owing

to the length of the protruding stamens and the position of the style,

it is however possible that those of surrounding flowers may come in

contact with its plumage while it is busy biting one, and thus effect

a limited amount of cross-pollination. .

The flowers are also visited by Xy/ocopa and various other insects,

and like P. segta they show adaptations both for bird and insect

fertilization.

Genus: BAUHINIA.

According to Hooker, this genus contains 37 Indian species

occurring in India including Burma, Malaya and Ceylon, with

flowers white, yellow, and variegated red and yellow. In the

open biossom, as in all papilionaceous flowers, the vexillum is

erect and acts as a sign-board for visitors—insects as well as birds.

The style is usually recurved at the tip and projects somewhat

beyond the anthers, making the flowers suitable for cross-pollination

by bird-visitors. , .

14. Bauhinia purpurea, Linn. |

Flowers sweet-scented, deep pink—sometimes white—in terminal

or axillary short-peduncled, few-flowered corymbs.. Petals 1:5” long

x °5” broad; oblanceolate, with a long claw. Fertile stamens 3-4;

filaments as long as the petals. | .

Flowering Season: September-November (Talbot).

590 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Distribution : Sub-Himalayan tract from the river Ravi eastwards, ascending

to 5,000 ft., Bengal, Burma, Central and Southern India. Cultivated throughout

the Presidency, also probably wild in the dry.forests of the Deccan and Konkan.

Visttors: The regular bird visitors observed by me, probing

into flowers for honey, are the Sunbirds Leptocoma asiatica and

L. zeylonica.

15. Bauhinia racemosa, Lam.

A small crooked bushy tree with drooping branches and bilobed

leaves. Flowers whitish-yellow, °5” long in lax racemes 3-6”,

Their structure is well-adapted for fertilization by birds.

Flowering Season: March-June (Talbot).

Distribution : Throughout the Bombay Presidency. From Punjab and Garh-

wal to Ceylon and Pegu. Also China, Malay Isles and Timor.

Visitors: Our two common species of Sunbird, ZL. aszatica and

L. zeylonica have been observed by me as regular visitors to the

flowers.

[Altogether the genus Bauhinia contains about 250 species

distributed over the tropics of both hemispheres. Three species

occur in Australia and F. J. Bernay mentions in a letter to

G. M. Mathews that Psztteuteles versicolor Bonap., one of the

Trichoglosside, feeds chiefly on the honey of Bauhinia flowers in

Richmond (N. Queensland). In the case of two American species,

Lindman has recorded visits to the flowers by Humming-Birds.

(77, pt. ti, p:. 190.)

16. Acacia arabica, Willd.

Prickly tree with spiny branches and feathery leaves. Flowers

bright yellow in giobose fasciculate heads, about °5” in diam. Stamens

free, indefinite, exserted. Style filiform; stigma minute.

|. Flowering Season: Rains, from June to October.

Distribution : Indigenous in N. Deccan including Berar and Khandesh ;

Rajputana, Gujerat and Sind. Several varieties.

Visitors : Among the birds regularly observed on the flowers are

the Sunbirds, Leptocoma astatica and L. zeylonica, and the Flower-

pecker Lice@um erythrorhynchum. Also occasionally githina

tiphia, but the latter probably in search of insects. In Sind, the

race brevirostris of L. asiatica is a regular frequenter of the flowers.

17. Sesbania grandifiora, Pers.

A short- lived, softwood tree, 20-30 ft. high. Corolla 3-4” deep

white (or in 4&schynomene coccinea L. more or less deeply nage

with red). The structure of the flowers. as in many of. the

Papilionate is well adapted for pollination by birds, and I have no

doubt that to a large extent they are ornithophilous.

Flowering Season « November to February.

Distribution: ‘Plains of the western peninsula (i.e. India proper); a

doubtful native. Mauritius to N. Australia, but often cultivated’ (Hooker).

FLOWER-BIRDS AND. BIRD-FLOWERS IN INDIA 591)

Visitors : I have observed the following species of birds feeding

from the flowers in the neighbourhood of Bombay and in the

Konkan:

Corvus splendens

Molpastes cater

filathea jocosa

Leptocoma astatica

<3 zeylonica

Acridotheres tristis

Psittacula krameri (Destroys flowers ; value doubtful)

With the Sunbirds, I have repeatedly found that they bore tiny

-holes with their bills at the base of the corolla to get at the nectar,

and the large number of flowers both on the ground and from the

tree that were examined, almost invariably showed these ‘ short-cut’

punctures. N. K. Tiwary has pointed out (29) that the Red-vented Bul-

bul, Rose-ringed Parrakeet and the Myna alsotake these short-cuts to

the nectar.

(The genus Sesbania Pers. contains about 24 species spread every-

where through the tropics and subtropics. Hooker mentions + as

occurring within Indian limits.)

18. Mucuna pruriens, DC. Hind. ‘Kawazj.’

An annual of wide-twining habit. Short-peduncled drooping

racemes 6” tol’ long, bearing 6-30 flowers. Corolla dark purple,

1:5” long ; keel curved.

Flowering Season: October-November (Talbot).

Distribution: ‘From Himalayas, in the plains, to Ceylon and Burma.

Cosmopolitan in the tropics. Often cultivated’ (Hooker).

Visitors: The Sunbirds Leptocoma astatica and L. zeylonica

regularly seen clinging upside down or sideways on to the flowers

and probing into them with their bills. From the structure of the

flowers, it appears very probable that these birds are instrumental

in their cross-pollination and therefore in the propagation of

this handsome-flowered, but pernicious, weed.

_ (Hooker gives 10 Indian species of the genus Mucuna, Adans.

including perennials as well as annuals. They all have large showy,

usually purple flowers which turn quite black when dry. The pods

are covered with brittle needle-like irritating hairs.)

Order: MYRTALES

Family: LYTHRACE

19. Woodfordia fruticosa, Kurz. Mahr. ‘ Dhaztz.’

A shrub with long spreading branches, brilliantly red with flowers

in the hot season. Flowers scarlet, tubular, about 1” long. The

‘rim’ (or lobes) is greatly reduced, offering no alighting place for

insects. The flowers contain a good supply of colourless and odour-

less honey, and the essential organs are favourably placed for polli-

nation by Sunbirds and Flowerpeckers.

Flowering Season: Hot weather, March to May,

592. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Distribution : ‘ Throughout India, common; ascending to 5,000 ft. but not

seen in the alluvial mud of Bengal, Baluchistan, Tropical Africa, Madagascar,

China’ (Hooker) ; also Japan, Sumatra and Java. In the Bombay Presidency,

the plant is common on the Deccan hills and in the Konkan, Bombay, Poona,

Khandesh, N. Kanara near the sea coast.

Visttors: I have noted the following species of birds paolme into

the flower-tubes for the nectar :

LEP iOloe astolica } Regular in the Kolaba District.

* zeylonica :

Leptocoma minima—(Partabgad Hill).

LEthopyga stpharaja vigorsi—Frequently at Godbunder (Salsette).

Diceun erythrorhynchum—Frequently on the hillsides at Salao

(Kolaba Dist).

For their visits the birds appear to prefer the morning hours upto

about 11-30 a.m. when the sun is shining brightly upon the flower-

laden shrubs. Ihave seen them, but less frequently in the afternoons

also.

{Ball has recorded constant attendance on these flowers by

Z~. astatica in Chota Nagpur. (6; vol. 1, p. 397).]

Family : COMBRETACEA

20. Calycopteris floribunda, Lamk,

A dense and diffuse shrub with drooping branches, 6-12 feet high,

often gregarious. Flowers sessile, yellowish-green in dense axillary

raceines, crowded towards the ends of the branches so-as to form

large panicles. The small flowers—each with a lanceolate bract —are

very like those of Zerminalia and scarcely larger ; they enlarge later

into winged fruit. They are almost entirely devoid of. smeil and

contain a quantity of clear honey. (Plate IV, 4). :

Flowering Season: March-April.

Distribution: On hot hills 500-2,500 feet; abundant throughout the

Deccan, and from Assam to Singapore.

Visitors: The following species have -been commonly and

regularly observed probing into the flowers, and doubtless assist in

their cross-pollination :

Leptocoma astatica

Leptocoma zeylonica

Prinia tnornata

Family : MyRTACEA

21. Careya arborea, Roxb. ;

A tree attaining 30-60 feet. Flowers sessile, large white and pink,

a few together crowded at ends of branches. ‘They are of the orni-

thophilous type named by Werth the ‘ Brush Type.’ (Plate IV, 3).

‘Flowering Season: March-April.

Distribution: Throughout India upto 4,000 feet: from the Himalayas to

Travancore and Tennaserim,. In Ceylon at moderate’eleyations,

PLATE IV.

JouURN. BOMBAY NAT. Hist. Soc.

1. Leptocoma asiatica on Moringa oleifera. 2. Flowers of Sterculia colorata.

3. Flowers of Caveya arborea. 4. Flowers of Calycopteris floribunda.

(Photo 1 by Author, 2, 3, 4 by C, McCann),

FLOWER-BIRDS AND BIRD-FLOWERS IN INDIA BiSys)

Vtsttors: ‘The following birds have been observed feeding regularly

from the flowers :

Acridotheres tristis

LE thiopsar fuscus

Pastor roseus

Leptocoma astatica

5 zeylonica.

{This tree belongs to a family which is large and well-represented

in the Tropics. It contains many genera and species which are well

known to be bird-poliinated. Among the species occurring in India

and recorded as ornithophilous by Werth may be mentioned Jambesa

vulgaris DC. (Eugenia jambos, Linn.) which, according to Brandis is

_ indigenous in Sikkim and Terai, and Barvingtonia racemosa ce ) com-

mon along the coasts in ental and elsewhere.

Among the best-known ornithophilous plants of this family how-

ever are the Eucalypti, of which numerous species have been

introduced into this country. One of these, Aucalyptus globulus,

Lab., which now flourishes on the Nilgiris has been recorded as being

‘visited by Sunbirds in South Africa (Marloth) and by Humming-Birds

in Chile (Johow), and although I have no definite information, there

seems no reason why birds should not act as pollinators in the areas

where it has become acclimatized in India also. According to

Swynnerton (Jour. Linn. Soc., London, Bot. 1906, p. 409) a Pyenonotus

also visits the flowers of EAucalyptus fictfolia introduced into South

Rhodesia (Porsch).

It is believed that the flowers of most of the moderate and large-

flowered species of this genus are more or less exclusively ornitho-

philous in the Australian Region which is their home. ]

Order : GENTIANALES

Family: ASCLEPIADACE

22. Calotropis procera, Br.

A shrub 6-15 feet bigh. Corolla pale purple, 4”-2” in diam., of a

wax-like structure, flowers in umbellate, axillary or terminal cymes.

Corolla-tube broadly campanulate ; lobes # the corolla.

- Flowering Season: Throughout the year.

Distribution : ‘ Western and Central India ascending to 3,5C€0 ft. from Sind

and the Punjab to Bihar and Bombay. Ava, Persia, Tropical Africa.’ (Hooker.)

I have also seen it at Panchgani in the Western Ghats (4,400 ft.) near the top of

Second Table-land.

Visitors: I have observed the Sunbirds, Leptocoma asiatica and

L. zeylonica on the curious waxen purple flowers so regularly, and in

so many different parts of the country (Sind, Hyderabad Deccan, the

neighbourhood of Poona, Cambay (Gujerat), Bombay City and

salsette, and at various places in the Konkan) probing into the

biossoms, that I cannot but consider it reasonable to suppose that

they must often carry the pollinia adhering to the feathers of the

forehead or throat to other flowers and promote cross-pollination.

As far as my observations go, the visits to the flowers are chiefly

confined to the early morning or forenoon hours when the sun is shin-

ing directly upon the plant. I have often noted that a particular plant

591 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

has its own particular individual visitor (or visitors), and that this

forms as it were his preserve from which other comers are jealously

excluded. Thus at Panwel (Kolaba Dist.),a plant growing close to

the Inspection Bungalow was the possession of a male Leptocoma

astatica in non-breeding attire whom I could recognize with

certainty by certain peculiarities in his plumage. During the three or

four days I occupied the bungalow, he alone visited the flowers of this

Calotropis regularly, especially during the hours I have indicated

above. While feeding, this Sunbird utters a double ‘ tweet-tweet.’

at intervals of a second or so, by which I was immediately apprised,

in whatever part of the bungalow I happened to be, that my friend

was on the flowers, and sure enough on every such occasion he was

there ! One morning on the bank ofthe river at Panwel, I found eight

individuals of this species on a single Calotropis plant which was

blossoming abundantly (30-1-31). They were hopping about merrily

from flower to flower probing into them with their bills, and often

clinging to the branches upside down in the quest. The plant grew

in a thoroughly exposed situation, as is its habit, and when the birds

were on it, it was exposed to the full blaze of the sun (10 o'clock).

In Sind, I have often found ZL. astatica brevirostris on Calotropis

flowers, at great distances in sandy wastes where there seemed little

else to attract the birds.

Among insects Xylocopa is a regular attendant on the flowers.

(C. gigantea, Br, will also no doubt be found to be visited by

Sunbirds. ) |

Order PERSONALES.

Family : SCROPHULARIACEA.

23. Russelia juncea, Zucc.

A tender shrubby plant with smooth, somewhat rush- like leaves,

noddy or pendulous at the top. The dazzling scarlet tubular flowers,

about 1” in length, have the rims or lobes greatly reduced, are

odourless and rich in nectar, and in all these respects appear eminent-

ly adapted for fertilization by Sunbirds.

Flowering Season: Practically throughout the year. (Kihim, October-

November Panchgani, May-June!)

Distribution : A native of Mexico and Central America. A common orna-

mental garden plant everywhere in India.

Visitors: The flowers are a great attraction to Sunbirds, which

visit them regularly in every garden. In Bombay City and North

Konkan (Kolaba District) LeStocoma asiatica and L. zeylonica have

been noted as the commonest visitors, and in Panchgani I have seen

L. minima in addition to these.

Porsch quotes Motley (Shelley ‘ Monograph of the Nectariniidee °)

who also constantly observed 3 or 4 Cinnzyris pectoralis Bp. on a plant

of this species outside his office window, hanging in all possible

positions on the branches and probing into the scarlet tubular flowers.

In spite of these seemingly suitable bird-visits, the plant has to be

propagated in this country entirely by layering and cuttings as for

some obscure reason it never produces seed. This is one of the

FLOWER-BIRDS AND BIRD-FLOWERS IN INDIA 595

many examples of introduced species which in spite of all apparent

facilities for cross-pollination fail to produce seed in the country

of their introduction.

Family : BIGNONIACEA,

24. Miiliagtonia hortensis, Linn. (Coloured Plate /.B.N.A.S., vol.

XxXiv, p. 85).

An erect tree upto 80 ft. high, lanceolate in outline, with drooping

branches. The fragrant flowers grow in large panicles at the ends of

the branchlets. Tiny bell-shaped calyx bears the slender tube-like

flowers, 2”-3” long x ;, ”, white with a faint green tinge. The

tube expands into the waxy white petals, sometimes flushed with

pink. The four petalsare oval, pointed at the apex and the largest of

them is deeply cleft. Four stamens crowned with yellow anthers.

The style protrudes well beyond the anthers.

Flowering Season: In Bombay, the Konkan, Hyderabad (Deccan) flowering

commences in October and continues till December. In other parts of India,

August-September.

Distribution : Believed to be indigenous in the tropical forests of Burma,

from Ava to Tenasserim and the Malay Peninsula. Cultivated in many parts

of India, and runs wild in many areas such as the Godaveri Valley, Central

India. Frequently planted along roadsides,

Visttors : ‘The. principal bird-visitors to the flowers noted in

Konkan, Bombay and Hyderabad are the Sunbirds Leptocoma astatica

and L. zeylonica which cling to the branchlets and probe methodically

into the corolla-tubes for the nectar.

In the evergreen forests of Tenasseriin (on the hills surrounding

the Mining Company’s dan at Kanbauk), I also observed a great many

Sunbirds probing into the flower-tubes. Owing to the height of the

trees and absence of binoculars, I was unfortunately unable to

determine the species.

Curiously enough, the tree does not produce fruit in Western India

or the Central Provinces.

(Since this paper went to press, I have had better opportunities of

observing the activities of the Sunbirds Leflocoma asiatica and L.

zeylonica on the flowers of this tree. I find that while it is true that

the birds occasionally probe into the tubes in the manner conducive

to cross-pollination, by far the more usual methcd adopted by them

is to get at the honey by boring short-cut holes with their bills at the

base of the corolla-tube just above the calyx.)

25. Spathodea campanulata, Beauv. (Coloured Plates" S BON: Se

WOl.exxxiy, p; 716:)

Handsome, erect evergreen trees (except in the drier areas where

leaves are shed for a few weeks) growing to 70 feet, with large

pinnate leaves and very showy scarlet, bell-shaped flowers, mostly

near the top. From its curving boat-shaped calyx, the flower

emerges as a short tube which abruptly expands into a wide bell

some 4” long. Lobes of flower oval and wavy-margined. Flower,

orange at base deepening into brilliant crimson further up. Inside

rich yellow, streaked with red. Four yellow exserted stamens tipped

96. JOURNAL; BOMBAY NATURAL FIST; SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

‘with pendant brown anthers. The nectary glands exude a profusion

-of nectar. 3

Flowering Season : In Bombay chiefly January-March, but also in the rains.

In Ceylon throughout the wet season.

Distribution : A native of tropical Africa. Introduced into Ceylon in 1873.

Grown in gardens in India and planted as a roadside tree along many of

Bombay’s thoroughfares, Lamington Road, Chowpati and elsewhere. -

Visttors: The conspicuous large scarlet flowers attract many

species of birds who may be seen probing into the ‘ bells’ to get atthe

abundant nectar at all hours of the day, but specially from the early

morning uptil 11-30 or so. Within City limits the birds usually seen

“on duty’ are Corvus splendens, Acridotheres tristis and the Sunbirds

Leptocoma zeylonica and L. astatica. On a magnificent specimen

flowering in the garden of Khan Bahadur Bhivandiwalla at Uran

(Kolaba Dist.) in January, I watched a company of birds feeding from

these flowers through binoculars for a considerable time. In addition

to the species already mentioned, there were in this assemblage Corvus

macrorhynchus, A%thtopsar tuscus, Molpastes cater and Elathéa jocosa.

. Through what agency the flowers are pollinated in their native

country I donot know, but it is clear that.in India birds play an impor-

tant part in their fertilization.

My doubts as to whether this tree produced fertile seed in India

were dispelled by Mr. D. S. Laud, the Superintendent of the Victoria

Gardens, Boinbay, who informs me that the roadside trees in Bombay

seed freely. These seeds are used for the propagation of plants on

sale at the Gardens and show a high percentage of germination. At

the Empress Gardens, Poona, also they collect their own Spathodea

seeds for propagation purposes. In the face of this it is interesting

to learn from the Curator, Government Botanical Gardens, Ootaca-

mund, that this tree produces only a very few fertile seeds at Burliar—

at an elevation of 2,500 feet in the Nilgiris—probably not more than

1 per cent. ;

[In- the Buitenzorg Gardens in Java, Porsch (12) observed

Sturnopastor jalla Horsf. and Pycnonotus aurigaster Vieill. quenching

their thirst from the nectar of Spathodea campanulata flowers. |

Family : ACANTHACEA.

26. Adhatoda vasica, Nees.

Usually a dense shrub, 4-8 ft. high, sometimes arborescent and .

reaching to 20 feet. Flowers white in dense axillary, peduncled

spikes near the ends of the branches. Corolla1:25” long; tube°5”

long, lower part cylindrical, inflated above. Filaments iong,

curved.

Flowering Season: Kolaba District, January.

Distribution: ‘India from the Punjab and Assam to Ceylon and Singapore,

common, frequently cultivated. Malaya and S.-E. Asia’ (Hooker). A

common hedge-plant throughout the Bombay Presidency from Gujerat to

North Kanara.

Visitors: I first observed the Sunbird Leptocoma zeylonica on some

shrubs forming a roadside hedge in a village near Mahad (Koiaba

District). Numbers of these birds were in constant attendance on the

FLOWER-BIRDS AND BIRD-FLOWERS IN INDIA ©. 597

flowers. Subsequently in other parts of the district, both this species

and L. astatica were invariably seen feeding on nectar from the flowers.

There is usually great rivalry between the two species, and even

between individuals of the same species and many mock-battles and

sorties ensue.

Order : LAMIALES.

Family : VERBENACEA,

27. Gmeliaa arborea, Linn.

An unarmed tree, sometimes attaining 60 [t., deciduous, flowering

with young leaves. Corolla brown-yellow ; upper lip shortly bifid,

longer than lower. The rim of the flower is greatly reduced, and

the position of the essential organs seems well adapted for bird-

pollination.

Flowering Season: March—April.

Distribution: ‘Throughout the Deccan Peninsula and Ceylon, frequently

extending to the foot of the N.-W. Himalayas, Chittagong, Malayan and

Philippine Islands’ (Hooker).

Visttors : On a tree flowering in the middle of March at Kihim

(Kolaba District), the Sunbirds Leptocoma asiatica and L. zeylonica

were constantly observed hopping from branch to branch, probing

into the tubular nectar-bearing flowers throughout the day.

28. Duranta Plumieri, Jacq.

Familiar ornamental shrubs planted in gardens and as hedges.

Bright heliotrope-coloured flowers in drooping bunches, succeeded by

orange-coloured berries of the size of a pea.

Flowering Season: Chiefly during the rains, simultaneously with the

appearance of the new leaves on the bare branches, cr soon after.

Distribution > A native of South America. Found in gardens all over India

and planted as roadside hedges.

Visitors: In the Kolaba District and in Bombay City and suburbs

Leptocoma asiatica and L. zeylonica have been observed as constant

visitors to the flowers, probing with their bills into the tubes for

nectar. In Panchgani Leptocoma minima has been noted as aregular

attendant besides. The corolla-tubes are short and the stamens

and style not sufficiently exserted to permit of their coming into

contact with the forehead feathers. Jf the birds

are instrumental in cross-pollination, which I

consider more than probable, the pollen must

be transported adhering to their bills of which

not more than 4 can be inserted into the

flower.

The pollen grains of Duranta under a

microscope appear thus: Fig. 3. Fic. 3.

Besides the Sunbirds, a number of insects have been noted on the

flowers, principally Xylocopa (amethystina ?) and bees (spp.?)

598 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Order: CURVEMBRYAE. |

Family NvyCTAGINACEA.

29. Bougaiavillea spectabilis, Willd.

A large, thorny, extensively climbing shrub. Flowers in profusion,

small pale yellow supported by large purple or magenta-coloured

bracts, in groups of three.

Flowering Season: Hot weather.

Distribution : A native of Brazil. Found in gardens all over India.

Visttors: The flowers are in regular and constant attendance by

Sunbirds of which I have noted (according to locality), the following

species carefully through glasses, probing with their biils deep into

the flower-tubes and sipping the nectar:

Leptocoma astatica

a zeylonica

re minima

tthopyga stparaja vigorst

_ Although the flowers appear in every way suitable for pollination

by Sunbirds, this climber also fails to produce seeds in this

country. What appears surprising is that Bougaznvillea lalerita, bear-

ing brick-red bracts, which is sometimes considered only a variety

of spectabilis, is reported by the Superintendent, Victoria Gardens,

Bombay, to produce seed.

Order : ACHLAMYDOSPOREAE.

Family : LORANTHACEZ.

(Tree Parasites.)

(The genus Loranthus contains, according to Hooker, altogether

some 350 species exclusively tropical and sub-tropical. He gives 58

species as occurring within Indian limits, besides 13 doubtful and

excluded. The flowers are classified by Werth (22) into the ornitho-

philous type which he names ‘ Explosive Flowers ,* and to which

many of the African Lorvanthi also belong.)

30. Loraathus longiflorus, Desr. Var. falcata. Kurz.

Corolla tubular, 1”—2” long, pink or yellowish-white. ;

Flowering Season: ‘Throughout the year, most abundantly in the cold

weather.

Distribution : Deccan Peninsula, Ceylon.

31. Loranthus langeniferus, Wight.

Corolla 1:5” long, tube dilated upwards, red below, green above,

anthers reddish; style red.

Flowering Season: April, May, June. (Talbot) September (Kihim!). -

Distribution : Hills of the Konkan.

32. Loranthus loniceroides, Linn.

Corolla 1-1:15” long; -tube funnel-shaped; pink: | anthers

orange.

Flowering Season: February to May (Talbot); June, July (Panchgani !).

Distribution : From the Konkan to Travancore, W. Ghats, Nilgiris, Ceylon,

FLOWER-BIRDS AND BIRD-FLOWERS 1N INDIA 599

33. Loranthus scurrula, L. var. cordifolia, Blatt.

Corolla greenish-yellow, about °5” long; filaments flattened,

crimson. |

- Flowering Season: November-February (Talbot) ; June, July (Panchgani!)

Distribution : Common throughout India, Ceylon, Malaya. Variety found

in the W. Ghats.

34. Loranthus obtusatus, Wall.

Corolla red outside, dark purple within.

Flowering Season: March to May and September.

Distribution: Konkan, W. Ghats, N. Kanara.

35. Loranthus cuneatus, Heyne.

Corolla tube slender, upto 1” long : greenish yellow outside, orange

akin Stigma red. Leaves small and ovate closely resembling

those of Oszris arborea, in appearance.

Flowering Season: November-December (Talbot); June, July, August

(Panchgani).

Distribution: W. Peninsula, Ceylon.

I have shown elsewhere? how admirably adapted the flowers of

Loranthus longiflorus, Desr. are for fertilization by the Nectariniide

and the Diceide. Their structure is such that the mature buds

wither and fall away without opening, unless and until external

pressure is exerted on their tips by the bills of the visitors which

alone can cause them to fling open. No insect can get at the

nectar contained in the corclla-tubes until the buds are opened. The

shape and size of the flower constitutes a perfect sheath for the bill of

the Sunbird, and the style which overtops the stamens is so placed

that it cannot but brush against the forehead of the probing visitor.

In the act of nectar-eating, the anthers carrying the ripe pollen lie

flat against the forehead feathers of the visiting bird thus smearing

them with a liberal coating of the golden dust which is subsequently

transferred to the proiruding stigma of the next flower visited. ~All

the Loranthus species above named possess the same spring or

‘explosive ’ mechanism in their buds, and consequently the agency

of the birds is indispensable for their pollination. Without their

intervention, it is obvious that the parasites would soon die out

completely.

I believe it is the conspicuous yellowish, reddish or coppery tinge

of the Loranthus leaves which plays the role of poster-signs, making

the clumps of the parasite stand out clearly from amidst the surroun-

ding foliage of the host, and thus helping to attract the attention of

foraging birds from a distance.

Visitors: The birds responsible for the fertilization of evan thts

flowers in the Konkan are:

Leptocoma astatica *

a zeylonica *

e lotenta *

Diceum erythrorhynchum *

LEsthopyga stparaja vigorst (in wooded country).

Wl DarlNe ILL be Se VOL XEXV)) Po i4o.,

600 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Eisewhere on the Ghats, Mahableshwar, Panchgani, etc., I have in

addition noted Leptocoma minima as a very common and regular

visitor to the flowers, and a White-eye (Zosterops palpebrosa) shot off a

clump of Loranthus scurrula in the act of springing the buds open

and probing for nectar, was found to have some of the characteristic

winged pollen grains adhering to its forehead feathers.

The only bird outside the typical nectar-eating families observed

on Loranthus flowers (scurrula) is Molpastes cater, several pairs of

which I have often watched through binoculars for prolonged periods,

hopping from one cluster to another parasiting on a Ficus retusa at

Panchgani, busily engaged in nipping the mature buds open and

probing into the corolla tubes for nectar. The tube in the species

named is slender but is slit down for more than half its length, thus

enabling the somewhat heavy bill of the bulbul to reach the honey.

On one or two of the birds there was clearly visible a whitish streak

running from the base of the bill over the forehead towards the

crown where the pollen was adhering. There was a Flowerpecker

feeding on another Loranthus scurrula clump on the same tree, and

I noticed that whenever he flitted across to the clump occupied by the

bulbuls, the latter immediately assailed him and drove him off. ©

A very remarkable case frequently quoted to show the correlation

‘between the geographical distribution of ornithophilous flowers and

of their particular pollinating agents, and the complete interdependence

between the two, is that of the Sunbird Crzzzyris osea and Loranthus

acacie Zucc. in Palestine. It is significant that the northern distribu-

tional boundary of the Wectariniide (extending from Senegambia to

Kordofan, Nubia, Abyssinia, Palestine, Baluchistan, Nepal, Sikkim,

Siam, Cochin-China and up to the Philippines) corresponds more or

less exactly with the northern limits of the best known ornithophilous

plants such as Musa, Loranthus, Hibiscus (?), Bombax, Erythrina,

Kigelia and perhaps also Rhododendron. The only region in Asia

above this line i.e. above 30° N.Lat., where a member of the /Vectari-

niide occurs is Palestine. Coane osea, the species in question, is

found as far north as the Genazareth Sea and perhaps farther. Its

principal distributional area however is in the neighbourhood of the

Dead Sea, where strangely enough is also found, transgressing its

usual bounds, a species of Loranthus, Z. acacia, Tee - The distribu-

tion of this plant as given by G. E. Post (Lora of Syria, Palestine and

Sinai, 1896), overlaps completely that of Ciz2yrzs osea and shows the

symbiotic relationship between the flower and the bird.

_ [According to Engler (Engler-Prantels Nat. Pflanzenfam. iii, 1,

p. 184) Loranthus acacie, Zucc. is found in Nubia, Palestine and

Aes It also occurs in Arabia (Hadramaut). Reichenow gives

the distribution of Cixnyrzs osea (Die Vogel, Handb. d. system.

Ornithologie, ii, 1914, p. 487) as Syria, Palestine and Arabia. Porsch

(14, pt. i, p. 234) states that in Palestine it is the oniy Sunbird and

ensures the pollination of the Loranthus. Hart (7) also remarks on

the occurrence together of Loranthus acacie Zucc. and Cinnyris osea

in the Sinai Peninsula, where the former parasites on tamarisk and

Zizyphus. He procured specimens of this Sunbird and found their

long bills covered with pollen of the tubular flowers for probing

which they are well. adapted, and surmises that the plant is dependent

FLOWER-BIRDS AND BIRD-FLOWERS IN INDIA 601

for the fertilization of its flowers on the visits of. this species.

Over other portions of the range of Loranthus acaci@ various other

Cinnyris spp. also act as pollinators]. .

Clear-cut instances of this kind of symbiosis between Humming-

birds and the bird-flowers they chietly frequent are well known, and

it has likewise been pointed out that the disappearance of the Honey-

eaters Anthornis melanura and Prosthemadera nove-zealandie in the

Auckland Islands (south of New Zealand) at the southernmost

extremity of tree-growth, would spell the speedy extinction of Metro-

sideros luctda and Dracophyllum longttolium whose flowers are depen-

dent for their fertilization exclusively on these species.

I feel confident that intensive study of the subject in India will

lead to much interesting knowledge concerning the connection

between flower-birds and the geographical distribution of bird-flowers.

Loranthus flowers with their bird-operated explosive mechanism and

their undoubted ornithophilous character might well afford a suitable

starting point for such an investigation.

Another interesting investigation which the subject of Ornithophily

opens up, and on which little or no work has been so far done in

India, is as regards the shape and structure of polien grains. It is

likely that a careful study may reveal special adaptations for ensuring

the adherence of the pollen of highly organised ornithophilous flowers

to the feathers of their bird-visitors. Thus, according to Stresemann

(17, p. 451), the pollen grains of Phrygilanthus and other ornithophilous

Loranthi in Santiago are equipped with tiny wing-like processes

which make it easier for them to cling between the barbules of the

bird-feather than it would be for round-shaped grains.

I have examined the pollen grains of Loranthus longittlorus, L,

scurrula and L. cuneatus microscopi-

cally and find this peculiarity to hold —

good in the case of these Indian.

species also. A diagram of their

structure is given here. (aig. 43). In

all three species they are identical “in

shape but in cuneatus they are about

one-third larger than in the other two.

The shape of the pollen grains has

obviously a direct connection with the

fact that all the three species are

highly adapted bird-flowers. I found

the pollen grains of ZL. longzttlorus to be indistinguishable trom those

of L. scurrula.

Fic. 4,

MONOCOTYLEDONES.

Order : CALYCINA.

Family: PatmMa.

36. Cocos nucifera, Linn. The Coconut. Palm. |

Flowers unisexual, male and female on the same spadix.

Flowering Season : Practically throughout the year.

Distribution: ‘Cultivated in the hot damp regions of Tadic eee: and

Ceylon, especially near the sea ; (indigenous in the eee: ae eal North

Andamans, Kurz). All tropical shores’ (Hooker),-

602 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Visitors: Ihave time and again observed both Leptocoma astatica

and L. zeylonica on the spadices of the flowers at most hours of the

day. At Kihimin December, two or three birds of the latter species

were watched on the same tree day after day early in the mornings,

just before sunrise, when the dew was yet so heavy that it dripped

from the leaves. That they were taking off the dew from the blossoms

I have no doubt, but whether they were instrumental in transferring

the pollen to the female flowers, it was not possible to ascertain.

Hume, Davidson and so many other observers in India have repeatedly

recorded these and other species of Sunbirds attending on the coco-

nut inflorescence, and it would be interesting to discover the true

significance of these visits.

Little is known about the pollination agencies of this palm, though

insects are believed to operate, and Hermann Miller (7, p. 562) on

the authority of Delpino also states that the flowers of Cocos are

anemophilous. )

The following is a list of some of the more familiar genera and

species of plants occurring in this country as indigenous or well-

established exotic species whose flowers have been referred to as

entirely, or in part, ornithophilous in the literature I have consulted

on the subject.

37. Ceiba pentandra, Gaertn. (= Ariodendron anfractuosum, DC.)

38. Bruguiera gymnorhiza, Lamk.

(I have often casually seen Diceum erythrorhynchum among the branches

of this mangrove in the tidal swamp at Rewas (Kolaba Dist.) but not noticed

it feeding from the flowers.)

39. Quamoclit coccinea, Moench ( = /fomcéa coccinea, Linn.)

40. Bryophyllum calycinum, Salisb.

41. Sophora, Linn.

(Hooker mentions about 10 Indian species. Flowers showy yellow or violet-

purple, racemed or panicled.)

42. Salvia, Linn.

(Many indigenous species, mostly Himalayan. I have frequently noticed

Sunbirds on the scarlet flowers of Salvia splendens, a familiar introduced

garden plant which has been recorded by W. Trelease (Amer. Natur. vol. xv,

pp. 265-69, 1881. Bot. Centralbl. No. 50, 1881), as Humming-bird-fertilized.

43. Lonicera, Linn.

(Many species in India).

44. Leonotis nepetefolia, Br.

45. Lobelia, Linn.

(Many indigenous species).

46. Canna indica, Linn.

(Sunbirds commonly seen on flowers).

47. Musa.

(Hooker gives three species: faradisiaca, Linn., fextilis, Nee., and °

sapientuim, Linn.)

48. Ambherstia nobilis, Wall.

FLOWER-BIRDS AND BIRD-FLOWERS ININDIA 603

49, Vitex pubescens, Vahl.

50. Lumnitzera coccinea, Wet. et Arnott.

51. Sonneratia acida, L. f.

52, Gloriosa superba, Linn.

53. Grevillea robusta, A. Cunn.

54. Eucalyptus globulus, Lab. and many others of this genus.

LIST OF BIRDS OBSERVED TO BE REGULAR FLOWER-

FREQUENTERS*

Order : Passeres

Family : CORVIDZ

1. Corvus macrorhynchus Lesson, 1*, 2, 8*, 9, 11*, 25.

Dig na Splendens Vieillyl* 2, 8", 11"; 175-25.

3. Dendrocitta rufa Latham, 1, 2, 8.

4, Crypsirina temia Daudin. (Observed by E. Henricks on red flowers of

cotton tree in Henzada Dist., Burma, Bombax malabaricum ? )

Family : TIMALIIDA

5. Zurdoides terricolor Hodgs 8,

6. - sontervillet Sykes, 1, 2, 8*, 9, 11.

7. Xiphorhamphus supercitiaris Blyth. (Meinertzhagen, Ibis 1927, p. 575,

notes that near Darjeeling, a pair used to visit a red cotton tree in bloom

and studiously probe the flowers.)

8. Dumetia alboguiaris Blyth, 1, 2, 8*.

9. Chrysomma sinensis Gmelin, 1, 2, 8*,

Sub-Family : LEIOTHRICINA:

10. &githina tiphia Linn., 8, 16,

1i. Chloropsis aurifrons Temm. and Laug. 8*.

12. Chloropsis jerdont Blyth, 8*, 9.

(As noted by Porsch, Chloropsis hasa feathery tip toits tongue. The

tongue is bifurcated at the tip into two sets of bristles which roll over each

other to form atube. Theentire length of the organ, moreover, is concave on

the upper side forming a channel. Observation and study is necessary to

determine the significance of this.)

Family : PYCNONOTIDZ

13. Microscelis psaroides ganeesa Sykes (Noted by Betts, .B.V.H.S.,

vol. xxxiv, p. 1027, on Erythrina flowers).

14. WMolpastes cafer Linn. 1*, 2, 8*,:9, 17, 25, 33.

Sue Zilotfea jocosa. Linn. 1*,.2,8*, 9; 17, 25.

16. Pycnonotus luteolus Lesson, 1, 2, 8*.

Family : TURDID

Sub-family : PHd2NICURINZ

17. Copsychus saularis Linn. 8*.

Sub-family : TURDINZ

18. Zurdus merula nigropileus Lafresnaye 1*, 2, 8, 9*.

Family : MUSCICAPIDA

19, Muscicapula tickellié Blyth, 8.

20. TZchitrea paradisi Linn. 8.

21. Hypothymis azurea Boddaert, 8.

22. Leucocirca pectoralis Jerdon, 8.

Family : LANIIDZ

23. Lanius schach erythronotus Vigors, 8

Family : DICcRURIDA

24. Dicrurus macrocercus Vieillot, 1, 2, 8*, 9.

25. ee caerulescens Linn. 1, 2.

Family : SyYLVIIDZ&

26. Orthotomus sutorius Pennant, 1*, 2, 8*, 9.

27. Prinia socialis Sykes, 1. 2, 8.

28, ; tnornata Sykes, 8, 20.

7 Numberts after species refer to foregoing list of plants.

604 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Family : ORIOLIDZ

29. Oriolus oriolus kundoo Sykes. 12585

30. », «anthornus Linn. 1, 2, 8,

Family : STURNIDZ

31. «Pastor roseus Iainn. I*, 2; 8*, 20.

32. Sturnia malabarica Gmelin, 1*, 2, 8*, 11.

33. Temenuchus pagodarum Gmelin, 1, 2, 8*.

347% Acridotheres (ristis Vanna 14,42, 8% 9, le li eleeco:

35. thivpsar fuscus Wagier 1*, 2, 8*, 11, 21, 25.

Family : PLOCEIDZ

36. Ploceus philippinus Linn, 1, 2, 8*.

37. Uroloncha malabarica Linn. 8.

38. ie striata Linn, 8.

Family : FRINGILLIDZ

Sub-family : FRINGILLINZ

39. Carpodacus erythrinus roseatus Blyth, 6, 8*.

40. Gymnoris xanthocollis Burton, 1, 2 8.

41. Passer domesticus Linn. 1, 2, 8.

Family : ZOSTEROPIDAz

42. Zosterops palbebrosa Temm. and Schlegel, 1, 2, 6, 8, 33*:

Family : NECTARINIID

Sub-family : NECTARINIINZE

43. &thopyga siparaja vigor si pyKes, de 2-3, 8,19; 29:5

44. Leptocoma lotenia Linn. 1, 2, 3, 8*, 9, 30*, 31,

45, 3 asiatica Latham, 1, 2, 3: 4, 5, 617100, 910s dl 12 ee Se.

155 LG aceh7% 18, 19, 20, oe 22,°23, 24, Ze, 26, 27,728, 29, 30*

O19.325 33,36, Ooo te.

46. Re minima Sykes, 3, 19, 23, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 42.

47, = zeylonica. Linn. 1%, 12,°3,°4; 0, 70"; Oy Os l2 Sa

163.17, 18, 495. 203-215 228-235 245525, 9262 eo coe o0

37, 32,33, 34; 35,) 305.42.

(The above family is represented in India by 5generaand 23 species with

numerous sub-species. They are distributed in almost every part of India,

Burma and Ceylon, and are the most important pollinators of flowers among

the birds.)

Family : DICHIDA

48. Diceum erythrorhynchum Lathan, 5, 16, 19, 30*, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35.

Order: Coraciifcrmes

Sub-Order: Picr

Family : PICID2

49. Brachypternus benghalensis Linn. 8.

Sub-Order : CUCULI

Family : CUCULIDZ

Sub-family : EUDYNAMINZ

50. Eudynamys scolopaceus Linn. 8.

Sub-Order : PSITTACI

Family : PSITTACIDZ

Sl. Psittacula krameri Scop, 1, 2, 8*, 13, 17.

52, Coryllis vernalis Sparrman, 8,

—

LITERATURE

J. Baker, E. C. Stuart: Fauna of British India—Birds. Second Edition

Vols. i-viii, London (1922-1930).

2. Blatter, E. and Millard, W.S.: Some Beautiful Indian Trees, Journal

of the Bombay Natural History

Society, Vols. xxxiii et seq.

3. Gardener, Leon: Ox the Tongue in Birds, Ibis (XII Series) Vol.

pp. 185-196 (April 1927).

4. Hart, H. C.: On the Botany of Sinai and South Palestine. Transactions

of the Royal Irish Academy. Vol. xxviii—Science. —

Dublin (July 1885). Biles &

15%

16.

ays

18.

19.

20.

21.

Seana hayes Se

FLOWER-BIRDS AND BIRD-FLOWERS IN INDIA 605

Hooker, J.D.: ae of British India, Vols. i-vii, London (1872-

897).

Hume, A. O.: Stray Feathers, Vols. i-xi.

Knuth, Paul: Handbook of Flower Pollination, Vols. i-iii. Translated

by J. R, Ainsworth Davis, M.a., Oxford (1906).

Miller, Hermann: The Fertilisation of Flowers. Translated and edited

by D’Arcy W. Thompson, B.A., London (1883).

Neger, Fr. W.: Biologie der Pflanzen, pp. 649-652. Stuttgart (1913).

Porsch, Otto: Blutenstinde als Vogelblumen, Oesterreichische botanis-

che Zeitschrift, pp. 125-149 (1923).

A Zukunttsautgaben der Vogelbluimentorschung aut Grund

neuesten Tatbestandes, Die Naturwissenschaften, Vol.

xii, part 47, pp. 1-21 (1924).

Vogelblumenstudien J, Jahrbticher fiir wissenschaftliche

Botanik, Vol. lxiii, pp. 553-706 (1924).

sp Die Bedrohung der Lebensgemeinschatt Blume und Vogel,

Bulentinul Facultatii de Stiinte din Cernduti, Vol. iii,

pp. 192-207 (1929).

Kritische Quellenstudien tiber Blumenbesuch durch Vogel,

Biologia Generalis, Part J, Vol. ii, pp. 217-240 (1926) ;

Part IZ, Vol. iii, pp. 171-206 (1927) ; Part ZI/, Vol. iii,

pp. 475-548 (1927); Part ZV, Vol. v, pp. 157-210 (1929) ;-

Part V, Vol. vi, pp. 133-246 (1930).

Schnarf, K.: Vergleichende Charakteristik der Vogelblumen, Jahres--

bericht des k.k. Staatsgymnasiums im Bezirke Wiens

uber das Schuljahr, 1912-13.

Singh, T.C.N.: A Note on the Pollination of Erythrina indica by

Birds, Jour. Bom. Nat. Hist. Society, Vol. xxxili,

pp. 460 et seq. (1928).

Stresemann, E.: Handbuch der Zoologie—Aves. Parts i-v, Berlin and

Leipzig (1927-1929).

Talbot W.A.: Forest Flora of the Bombay Presidency and Sind, 2 vols.

Poona (1909).

Tiwary, N. K.: A Note on a short-cut to the Honey in Sesbania grandt-

flora, Jour. Ind. Bot. Soc., Vol. v, pp. 121-123

(1926).

Re A Note on the Flowers of Tecoiia rvadicans, Jour. Ind,

Bot. Soc., Vol. viii, pp. 78-81 (1929).

Werth, E.: Kurzer Uberblick tiber die Gesamtfrage der Orntthophilte,

Botanische Jahrbtcher, Vol. liii, pp. 314-378 (1915).

MEASUREMENTS AND NOTES ON SOME LITTLE-KNOWN.

CEYLON MAMMALS.

Collected at West Haputale, Ohiya. (Altitude 6,000 feet.)

A. C. TUTEIN-NOLTHENIUS, F.Z.S.

(With I text-figure).

The following notes have been made while collecting small mammals for

Scientific purposes, in the country and jungles adjoining West Haputale estate.

The estate lies hidden in one of the deep valleys on the southern face of the

mountain range, some 1,000 feet below the Horton Plains, and so far very

little collecting of small mammals had been done.

The altitudes proper run from 4,000 feet to 6,000 feet and higher. The

average rainfall is about 110 inches, October to December being the wettest

months during the North-East monsoon. The 8.-W. is dry and very windy.

The jungles surrounding the north and east sides of the estate are for the

most part high and heavy virgin forest with its usual vegetation. Lower

down the patnas border the estate, while in the ravines and along the

boundaries much Paspalum grass is grown.

Nearly all trapping was done round and near the main bungalow, situated

at an elevation of 6,000 feet. Coconut was mostly used as bait, while various

shrews were trapped by using meat.

I have to thank Mr. W. W. A. Phillips, for having initiated me in this very

interesting study, and for all the help and advice he has so freely given me,

reading my notes and identifying specimen collected.

GENUS: RATTUS.

Rattus ohiensis. Phillips.

The Ceylon Bi-coloured Rat.

Collected and described by W. W. A. Phillips, F.z.s., in the Ceylon Journal

of Science, section B., vol. xv, part ii, p. 167.

Type.—An adult male, caught on December 1 1928, at West Haputale,

Ohiya, in the province of Uva, Ceylon.

The type is in the British Museum.

AMJzasurements of the type are—

Length of head and body see oO mam

Length of the tail ... saa OTE es

Hind foot ee alee a ee ee

Ear wee SPS ay AA) i

Description.—This very pretty animal is about the same size as the common

house rat but it is more slender in shape and much finer looking. The face is

long and pointed, the tail much longer than the head and body. Ears are

large and naked.

Fur short, very soft, rather woolly on the underparts. Feet are covered with

very fine fairly stiff hairs, small tufts of stiff hairs above the whitish claws.

- Whiskers are numerous and very long. Tail scaly and covered with minute

hairs.

Colour.—Upper parts of the head and all over the back, darkish slate grey

to black or blueish black. Underparts pure snow white, with a very sharp

dividing line where the darker fur meets the white, starting on the lower jaw

and running down tothe root of the tail. The snout is light biue-grey and

sometimes slightly pinkish. Whiskers black, intermixed with silvery ones.

NOTES ON SOME LITTLE-KNOWN CEYLON MAMMALS 607

Most noticeable is the coloration of the tail in all specimen. It is truly

bi-coloured, the exact upper half over the entire length of the tail, being

darkish dull black, the under half being pure white.

The type specimen showed only some pure white at the extreme tip of the

tail, but since then several specimen have been collected with a pure white

end to the tail, measuring from 25 to 30 mm. in length. I had an idea this

might be a sign of age, but most of those specimen, examined by Phillips,

proved to be adults.

Habits.—At the time Phillips collected the first single specimen, now known

as the Type, it was thought that the species which had never been seen before

in this neighbourhood, was uncommon, but later experience has proved that it

is by no means rare round here, between elevations of 5,000 to 6,000 feet.

Below 5,000 feet no specimen so far has been collected. Sometimes three or

four were brought in on one day, all trapped with coconut, near or in the

jungle surrounding the bungalow and gardens, a few were trapped between

the tea bushes, while one (No. 50) was caught actually in the bungalow.

Sexual differences.—Appear to be very slight, but the female averages

slightly smaller in size.

Identification.—This rat is very easily identified by the very noticeable,

typically bi-coloured tail, and the pure white underparts.

Parasites.—A few minute red ticks and very rarely a flea.

Feeding .—Stomach contents so far have only shown vegetable matter.

Remarks.—Nothing as yet is known about its breeding habits ; several males

in ‘rut’ have been collected but none of the seven females appeared to be

pregnant. All specimen given in my list were collected during May and July.

Phillips remarks that it would appear that this rat is allied to Aattus

niviventer, the White-bellied Rat of the Himalayas.

The species being new, I give acomple-list of all the different micas Urementst

Measurentents :

Coll. Head and : Hind

Number. body. Tail. foot. Ear. Sex,

28 161 182 33 22 a

29 146 180 34 25 2

34 142 185 33 22 of

3d 146 170 31 20 a

38 161 177 34 2 3

41 166 173 30 ZY a

42 140 176 31 21 a

44 142 166 32 19 a

45 149 178 32 21 rei

47 167 193 34 21 a

50 165 178 33 23 2

57 125 148 28 19 Q

Th 134 160 31 20 é

82 167 196 35 22 dé

108 162 187 33 22 a

109 149 170 33 21 dé

114 154 186 32 1622 a

116 140 185 34 2) a

121 175 191 33 21 a

122 164 190 35 22 a

124 137 162 30 21 fe)

125 140 173 30 20 ra

127 161 188 34 20 a

129 163 192 32 22 a

136 155 180 33 20 ee

137 140 168 31 20 a

140 146 180 32 20 J

141 eet 172 31 19 J

aE LAE ATI RR SN EAT UI STE ELE GL LIE ESE TEE LENE PLT NEED SRE LEER TIES EPITOME EG s a EIB CN IED BT EN

608 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Coll. Head and s

Number. body. eee

142 140 180 Sil 19 3

143 143 184 sy 20 3

145 140 172 31 20 3

-146 138 162 30 19 zs

154 125 163 32 20 res

159 141 189 32 20 3

166 “alas 178 31 21 2

167 155 185 31 20 &

174 144 191 32 21 ee

178 180 191 32 23 3

186 167 192 33 22 a

187 148 IIS) 32 22 Q

Average 33 males 150°39 179°87 32°24 20°72

Average 7 females 145°57 °° 170°00 31:28 ZAe28

GENUS: RATTUS.

Rattus rattus kelaarti

The Ceylon Highland or Kelaart’s Rat ; The Common Rat.

Rattus rattus kelaarti. Phillips. Ceylon Journal of Science, Sect. B.,

vol. xiv, part ii, p. 264.

I do not propose to describe in detail this common Ceylon up-country rat,

so well known to, and so very much disliked by every one who has had to

spend some time of his life in an up-country bungalow.

The damage this small, prolific rodent does, is well-known and truly amazing.

I have known it gnawing wooden picture frames hanging against the wall,

and silver mustard pots having been scratched by the sharp little teeth.

It seems to have a great liking for flowers left overnight in a room, specially

carnations which it tears into tiny little bits and leaving them all over the

place.

One particular old female here made it a habit to decorate her nest with

sraall objects which it carried or dragged every night from the mantelpiece,

going so far as to take away and use a box of gramophone needles, a

‘mushroomed ’’ rifle bullet, and a smallivory tortoise.

Phillips gives the average measurements for 9 males, as—

length of head and Bede Be eehe ol ssoy seay en's

length of tail fim eke Ono Wh a,

hind foot a aie een amoiles AY

ear Br we coe i SEE! 3

and the average measurements for 5 females, as—

length of head and ee a 14955 an.

length of tail tog wee ORA fen,

hind foot aes ae fe O04 Pe

ear Ra ey 0 es

The average Peau remente of specimen collected here, are—

head

and tail pay ear

body

~ 31 males bee el do270 168°00 30°09 LOW77

25 females .. 149°20 180°64 30°40 19°84

Parasites.—Several large fleas have been collected off these Kelaart’s rats

and will be examined and identified, as it is thought that some of these

parasites are peculiar to up-country districts.

NOTES ON SOME LITTLE-KNOWN CEYLON MAMMALS 609

GENUS : C@LOMYS.

Coelomys mayori. ‘Thomas.

Mayor’s Spiny Rat.

1915. Celomys mayort, Thomas. Journal B. N. H. Society, vol. xxiii,

p. 416.

The genus is peculiar to Ceylon. W.W.A. Phillips, Ceylon Journal of

Science, section B , vol. xiv, part 2, p. 275.

Type Locality.—Pattipola, Central Province, Ceylon. (Elevation 6,000 feet,

about 10 miles from here. a.c.t-n.) .

Specimen of this small jungle rat were collected for the first time by

Major W. E. Mayor, in 1915, at Pattipola, Ohiya, and on the Horton Plains,

elevations from 5,700 feet to 7,000 feet. It appears to be fairly common in the

jungles round here.

Phillips gives the measurements of one male, as—

length of head and body ae. LOZ onan.

length of tail an get OO

hind foot sete a dlee Oly ae

ear pe oe:

My averages for 20 males, mie a hindfoot measurement of 23°30 mm.

and a fair measurement for identification is 23 mm. for the hindfoot,

twenty-five out of thirty-two specimen measured show an exact 23 mm.

Identtfication.—The small size, half the size of a common Ceylon rat, the

very rough, harsh and spiny fur (hence its name of Spiny rat), and the

hindfoot measurement of 23 mm.

Fur.—Upper hairs or fur, distinctly rough and hard, numerous stiff and

longer ‘spines’ interplanted, underfur very soft and short wool. Fur on

underparts softer and short. Minute hairs on the feet. Tail scaly with minute

hairs. Whiskers numerous and fairly long. Ears naked.

Colour.—General colour of upper-parts darkish, reddish brown to black, the

spiny hairs sometimes silvery grey, more often quite black. The softer fur

. tipped reddish brown, giving a somewhat ‘speckled’ appearance to _ this

little animal. Feet grey, tail dusky with slightly lighter coloured underside.

Ears dusky to black. Underparts brownish grey.

There are said to be only two species of Coelomys in Ceylon, Coelomys mayori,

and Celomys bicolor, as the name of the latter implies, of a distinct coloration,

the underparts being pure white. :

C. bicolor, so far has been found only up to an elevation of some 3,000 feet,

while C. mayori is confined to the higher altitudes, but just lately a specimen

was collected here with distinctly pure white underparts ; most unfortunately it

(No. 54), could not be preserved.

In practically every specimen collected, the ears were covered with several,

small or quite large, warts of a dirty greyish colour.

Habits.—This small rat seems to be fond of living in high, damp jungle,

generally prowling about near the trunks or stumps of large or dead trees, or

near and under boulders and rocks where the vegetation is rank and damp.

All, so far, have been trapped with coconut, while stomach contents showed

tiny seeds and vegetable matter.

Parasites.—Every specimen swarms with numerous minute red or grey ticks.

Sexual differences.—None noted, probably the female is slightly smaller in

build. No outward signs of ‘‘ rut’’ were noted in any of the males taken.

Measurements :

Coll. Number. eenie. | Tail. | Hind foot. Ear. | Sex.

2 90 92 23 i Q

3 80 90 23 18 2

10 100 ~ 90 23 18 2

18 107 101 23 aly; 2

19 85 85 23 15 Q

610 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

SS ZS RSE SS ES nS SS

Coll. Number. ee and Tail. | Hind tome bare Sex,

20 100 82 23 17 ars

22 93 94 23 16 2

23 80 72 22 12 ©

35 102 101 22 17 9

43 100 85 23 18 3

46 88 93 23 17 eae |

49 87 112 25 18 oe noe

53 96 109 23 17 p teihaons A

54 99 89 23 18 Q

55 110 100 23 19 -,

56 95 90 23 14 3

60 101 99 23 16 Q

62 97 85 23 15 3g

63 105 99 24 17 Ban

8] 92 93 23 16 3

94 103 104 24 16 Creer

123 116 98 24 17 | so

126 105 88 23 18 Q ea

139 103 96 23 16 See

152 101 100 23 14 ae

153 94 102 23 16 Q

160 96 100 23 Cs hae,

164 94 98 23 18 sere

165 88 102 23 16 3 |

168 101 96 - 23 15 3

169 98 91 24 16 3

185 100 95 23 16 3

Average 20 males, 98°50 96°65 23°30 16°20

Average 12 females, 94°66 91°58 22°83 16°66

GENUS: GOLUNDA.

Golunda ellioti newera. Kelaart.

The Nuwara Eliya Bush-Rat.

. Golunda ellioti. The Indian Bush-Rat. Blanford, No. 299, p. 437.

Golunda ellitott newera. The Nuwara Eliya bush rat. Phillips, Ceylon

Journal of Science, section B., vol. xiv, part 2, p. 280.

Size.—Size of body about the same as asmall Common Ceylon rat, but of a

far heavier, more compact, square and clumsy build. Head short and rounded,

not pointed or like the snout of a common rat. The tail very short, thick and

stumpy, legs and feet short and small in comparison with the size of the body.

Ears small and hairy. A very distinct type and form of animal, very different to

the ordinary rat.

Fur.—Fine, fairly thick and long, intermixed with many long piles, specially

over the centre of the back and towards hinderpart ‘of body. Feet and ears are

covered with short thick hairs; tail scaly, with many short stiff hairs. Whis-

kers short, very fine and not numerous.

The skin is very tender, easily torn and extra care must be taken when

skinning and preserving these small mammals.

Specimens collected here, were all in very fine condition and showed layers of

thick, white, and very greasy fat when being skinned. They have a fairly

strong and quite peculiar smell, very different to any rat or mouse I have

handled. .

“NOTES ON SOME LITTLE-KNOWN CEYLON MAMMALS 611

Colour.—Upper parts darkish brown, intermingled with reddish-yellow, finely

speckled all over, which gives a very pretty appearance. The longer piles are

coal black. Underfur is soft and of a dirty blue-grey colour. The underparts

are a dirty grey, yellowish blue, and quite distinctive. Teeth are orange yellow.

Ldentification.—This bush rat is easily identified, (specially if once ‘ handled)

by the very short, thick tail, the squat clumsy and heavy, soft body. Even

when dead for some time, the body feels much softer to the hand than the fairly

hard, stiff body of a common rat.

Remarks.—At one time this rat seems to have been fairly numerous, and was

well-known:to the older generation of planters as the ‘ Coffee rat’, which did

considerable damage to the young coffee plants, buds and blossoms of the

coffee tree.

At the present time it does Hot seem common round here at all, while I much

doubt if many of the present-day planters have ever come across or seen this

one-time enemy and serious pest...

Personally I had never seen one here during the last thirteen years and was

most interested when at last some specimen of this pretty little animal were

collected, and duly identified for me by Phillips as the Nuwara Eliya bush-,

or Coffee-rat.

The seven specimens taken ‘here so far, were all trapped with coconut, one

being caught by the garden cooly, allin very high and long Paspalum grass

which borders the boundary of the high jungle near;the gardens, Thestomach

contents make me believe that they too have a great liking for the cabbages in

our vegetable garden.

They are said to often live in pairs, but I have been able to take only two

maies during the last two months. | ee Bo eel ERR Bdsm UE

Measurements -

Phillips gives the averages of 3 males, as—

length of head and Eh ae fo aloo. . Min,

length of tail ... - se ec lo -mm:

_ hind foot ai Set aoa ioe 2/- mam:

COLT ces ee Rear: ate .17°6 mm.

and the measurements for one female, as-—

length of head and body eS, sa pecta Olt, Stain.

length of tail ... ies ee -t,-3¢ 100%2 nm.

hind foot abe see sais See eeioee 2 ams

Gate fas: fe eee ae sere JOg™ allatiie

Measurements of specimen collected here, are—

a eae | ee | Be ee 1 oe

Mat ah 45 91 25 201. = Q

149 140g. <I = £80 27 20 5

179 133: 81 25 17 Q

182 Sig BU En road eae FS) BG 16 2

188 "138 100 25 ig © Q

+202 136 97 26 eis , d

oh 132 102 26 16 9

’ F

Average 2 males, 138°50 93°50 26°50 19 _

Average 5 females. 134°20 92°60 25°40 17:40

Parasites—a few very small red ticks.

612 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

GENUS: CROCIDURA.

Crocidura miya. sp.n. Phillips.

The Long-tailed Shrew.

Crocidura miya.—Phillips. Ceylon Journal of Science, Sect 8B., vol. xv,

Part.2, ps i13-

On June 19, 1931, I was fortunate in taking two specimen of a very

interesting shrew, which after careful study, J hoped and expected to be the

new and rare species of the long-tailed Ceylon shrew, Crocidura miya, which

later on was confirmed for me by Phillips to whom the two specimen, one

mounted and one in alcohol, were sent for identification.

Phillips gives the Type locality, as Moolgama village, near Galaha, in the

Central Province of Ceylon, altitude 3,000 feet.

Measurements of the Type, and adult female, are—

length of head and body axe Aa PAS ina) ont

length of tail ae bie aoe Soeey OO) AIeIN

hind foot a ea Soe paces! Omet htt,

ear ae eee ae ap < SOunnEa

. Measurements of the two specimen collected here, are—

Coll. Head and a Po 1st .

Number. body. a. | foot. Ear. Sex.

147 83 1 16 9 Q

148 81 94 16 S) 2

It is of interest to note, that the important hindfoot measurement in all three

specimen known so far, all females, is exactly 16 mm. in every case.

Nos. 147 and 148, were taken the same night, in a small ravine, at an

altitude of about 5, 500 feet, in traps baited with coconut, and were: at once

recognised as quite distinct to other mountain shrews often caught here, by

the much longer tail.

So far as is known, Crocidura miya appears to be the only Ceylon shrew

with a tail longer than the head and body measurement, a fact which makes it

easily distinguishable from other shrews.

General appearance is very like the ordinary Mountain shrew, but it would

seem to be a finer built little animal.

It is hoped in time to collect some more specimen of this interesting and

seemingly rare little shrew, and specially some male epecumen so as to make

.the-series complete.

GENUS : FEROCULUS.

Feroculus feroculus Kelaart.

Kelaart’s Long-clawed Shrew.

1850. Sorex feroculus.—Kelaart, J. R. A. S. (Ceylon) p. 325.

1851. Feroculus macropus.—Kelaart Prod. Faun. Zeyl., p. 32.

1891. Crocidura macropus.—Blanford. No. 119, page 237.

1928. Feroculus feroculus.—Phillips. C. J. of aS (section B), vol. xiv, part

Z; p- 298.

1929. —Feroculus feroculus.—Phillips. C J. of S. (section B), vol. xv, part 2,

D072

While writing these few notes on some little-known small mammals in

Ceylon, two more specimen of great interest were collected here, both being

fine representatives of the rare Ceylon Long-clawed Shrew.

They were taken in very nearly the same place, amongst some weeds and

‘ cheddy’ near the small ravine which waters the gardens here.

NOTES ON SOME LITTLE-KNOWN CEYLON MAMMALS 613

Both specimen were female, in splendid condition, and have been prepared.

Size.—Large, heavily built, much more robust than the common mountain

shrew. Well developed front feet with exceptionally long claws to the large

and vefty noticeable pads. Tail much shorter than head and body, clumsy

and not slender. Very small ears.

Fic. 1 a, Head and forefoot of Feroculus feroculus

6. Skull of same.

Colour.—Mole colour, grey-black, the underparts slightly lighter, with a very

pretty silvery gloss. Upper lip and chin much lighter, grey to light pink.

Front feet white, hind feet grey-pink. Tail dusky with a few minute white

hairs at the tip. Ears dirty grey. Claws white with a reddish mark or line,

underneath.

Fur,.—Very soft and close, like velvet. Several longer, very fine and soft

hairs interplanted, specially over the back and towards the tail. Tiny short

hairs very sparsely over the toes and feet. Tail covered with minute hairs,’

interplanted with several much longer hairs, black with silvery tips.

Distribution.—Kelaart caught several of these rare shrews at Nuwara Eliya

in 1850, but only one skin, with the skull missing, existed in the British

Museum, until Mr. W. E. Wait preserved a fine male specimen, found on the

Herton Plains in 1928.

The Genus, of which there is only one species, is entirely peculiar to Ceylon.

Measurements :

Head and : Hind ;

body. Tail. foot. Peli oat

ine ee) 10625 | 56:05 19-4 Tea Be ae

: |

Mr. Wait’s specimen

(in spirits) sb 118 72 20 10 a

Head and + Hind

Coll. Number. body. Tail. ee Ear. Sex.

214. (6-831) 118 73 20 10 2

218. (8-8-31) — 112 71 20 10 2

614. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

FRONT FOOT. LONGEST CLAW.

Mr. Wait’s specimen. 12 mm. 6 mm.

No. 214. 13 mm. 5 mm.

No. 218. 15 mm. 6 mm.

Weight of No. 218 was 14 ounces.

Parasites.—Both specimen taken here were found to have a few minute

red ticks.

Stomach contents.—Vegetable matter and what looked like tiny roots. Of

interest to note that No. 214 was trapped with coconut bait, while No, 218 was

taken with meat.

:e~ West Haputale. Ohyia. August 10, 1931.

(Illustration of head and fore-foot of Feroculus sete! sketched by Miss

Hannie Tutein-Nolthenius.) — ’

re!

SOME NOTES ON THE MONITORS.

-~ By Marcoytm A. SMITH.

(With a plate).

The living Monitors are inhabitants of the Old World, being

found in the warm parts of Southern Asia, Africa, the East Indian

Archipelago and the Australian region. The large size to which

they grow, their general configuration, and in particular the long,

slender, bifid tongue, which is retractile into a sheath at the base, as

in snakes, are sufficient to distinguish them at once from all other

lizards. They have nothing todo with the Iguanas as they are

sometimes called, and which do not occur in Asia at all.

The earliest Monitors are known from the Eocene and the bones

of fossil forms of somewhat later date and indistinguishable froin the

species of the present day except that they are larger, have been

described by Lydekker from the Siwalik Hills. Some thirty living

species are now known, six of which inhabit the Indian Empire.

A critical exaniination of the specimens in the British Museum

(Natural History), the Indian Museum and the Museum of the

Bombay Natural History Society which I have recently undertaken

has shewn that the distribution of several of the species as given by

Boulenger (Fauna Brit. Ind., pp. 160-6) needs correction. His key

also for their identification, although admirable when sufficient

material is available for comparison, is not so easy when an attempt

is made to apply it in the field. It is to be hoped that the new Key

given here, when utilized in conjunction with the descriptions given

by Boulenger, will enable this difficulty to be overcome.

KEY TO THE SPECIES.

A. Tail round or slightly compressed pos-

teriorly ; nostril an oblique slit, nearer to

the orbit than to the end of the snout ... griseus.

B. Tail compressed, with a low double-

toothed crest above.

(a) Nostril an oblique slit (sometimes

oval in the very young) nearer to

the orbit than to the end of the

snout.

1. Nostril not twice as near to orbit

as to end of snout ; nuchal scales

not larger than those on crown

of head.

Supraoculars not enlarged aa ve. =monttor,

Median supraoculars transversely en-

larged . nebulosus, -

2. Nostril twice as near to orbit as to

end of snout ; nuchal scales larger

than those on crown of head... dumerilit,

616 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

(6) Nostril nearer to the end of the

snout than to the orbit.

Nostril an oblique slit; nuchal scales

larger than those on crown of head.

snout convex sau es 4 phen LE UIESCOIS,

Nostril round or oval ; nuchal scales

smaller than those on crown of head ;

snout depressed .... ite ... . Salvator.

The distribution of the species is as follows :—

1. Varanus griseus. The Desert Monitor inhabits the desert

region of N.-W. India and westwards through southern Asia to the

Caspian Sea and North Africa. It appears to be not uncommon in

parts of Rajputana (Jodhpur, Thar, Pakar, Deesa) and has been

obtained as far east as Ambala, Agra, and Narsingarh in the extreme

north of the Central Provinces. The specimen in the Museuin of the

Bombay Natural History Society said to have come from Surat is

possibly not correctly labelled as regards its locality.

2. Vavranus monitor. The Common Indian, or Bengal, Monitor

occurs throughout the whole of India, Ceylon, Assam and the greater

part of Burma, extending south as far as Tharawaddy and the Hen-

zada district in Lat. 17-30° N. It appears to be equally at home in the

plains and in the hills up to 6,000 feet. V7. monitor is the correct

name for this species, usually called denzgalensis. It was first descri-

bed by Linnaeus in 1758, his description being based upon some

beautiful coloured figures in Seba’s Illustrations of Natural History.

The drawings are very accurate and there can be no doubt as to the,

identity of the species. Daudin’s bengalensis was not published until.

1802. (Plate, Figs. 1 & 2).

3. Varanus nebulosus. The Ciedded Monitor is found in southern’

Burma as far north as Ye (Lat. 15° N.); it is common in the forested

areas of northern Siam and extends south throughout the Malay

Peninsula. (Plate, Fig. 4).

4. V.dumerilit. A Malayan species which reaches Indian limits

only inthe extreme south of Tenasserim. It has been found in

Tavoy and is not uncommon along the coast of Mergui and on the

islands of the Mergui Archipelago.

5. Varanus tlavescens. The rarest of allthe Indian species, at a

few specimens being known in Museum collections. As its distri-

bution coincides with one of the most densely populated parts of

India, it may be that it is being gradually exterminated. I have

examined specimens from Ambala, Agra, Saran district, and

Goalbathan, Pakur and Midnapur in Bengal. (Plate, Fig. 3).

Nothing has been recorded of the habits of this species.

6. Varanis salvator, the Water Monitor. Its distribution within

Indian limits is unusual and interesting. It is found in Ceylon but

is absent from the whole of the Indian Peninsula except in eastern

Bengal and the eastern Himalayas. Its occurrence in these districts

is probably an extension of its Indo-Chinese range, for it is common

throughout Burma and the rest of the Indo-Chinese sub-region.

This marked discontinuity in distribution finds a parallel, as far as

reptiles are concerned, in Dvaco among the lizards, and Cylindrophis

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SOME NOTES ON THE MONITORS 617

among the snakes. The parallel however is generic only and not

specific. Draco dussumteri occursin southern India as far north as

Madras, D. maculatus and D. norvilli are found in Assam, the former

ranging over the whole of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula. Cylindrophis

maculatus inhabits Ceylon, C. rufus, Burma, Siam and the Malayan

subregion. (Plate, Fig. 5).

Mr. He. ©. smith, ina recent article in this’ Journal® (xxxiv,

pp. 367-73), has given much interesting information upon the habits

of the Burmese species. Of the habits of the species in India

nothing has been written.

All the Monitors are carnivorous and they are usually prepared to

devour animal food of any kind that they can overcome ; indeed, it is

astonishing considering the non-distensible nature of their jaws what

large prey they can swallow. Birds and their eggs, small mammals,

reptiles, fish, crustaceans and even large insects are all readily

devoured, and they are not averse to eating carrion. V. salvator,

when it lives on the coast, spends much of its time hunting along the

shore when the tide is out in search of crustaceans and molluscs.

With the exception of V. griseus all the Asiatic species are good

climbers and take readily to water. V. monitor and V. nebulosus are

both experts at climbing and can ascend the trunks of large trees

with surprising ease and rapidity, depending for their hold upon

their strong claws and the roughness of the bark. The two species

are very closely allied, V’. nebulosus being apparentiy the Malayan

representative of V. monitor, replacing it in southern Indo-China

and the Malay Peninsula. The habits of the two are alike. As far

as I am aware, they are the only two Asiatic species that are

systematically hunted for their flesh. The natives of Siam hunt

V. nebulosus with dogs in precisely the same manner as the Burmans

hunt V. monitor (H. C. Smith, p. 369). V. prastnus from New

Guinea is said to be entirely arboreal in its habits and its bright green

hue is no doubt a protective coloration, the result of environment.

V. salvator is more aquatic in its habits than the other species and

is thoroughly at home both in fresh and salt water. In the Gulf of

Siam I have seen it swimming between islands that were well overa

mile apart. V. dumeriliz no doubt also swims from isiand to island in

the Mergui Archipelago. V. gr7seus is said to dislike water. Whether

it drinks it or not I cannot say but in the desert country in which it

lives it must often have to go long periods without water. V. sal-

vator can be found on Islands where there is no fresh water except

that which is provided by the rain during the wet monsoon. ‘The

common African Monitor (V. xzloticus) is said to be able to remain

under water for one hour.

In disposition the Monitors are rather timid. When cornered, shee

have the habit of inflating the body with air and expelling it with a

loud and deep hiss, at the same time lashing furiously with the tail.

They seem in fact to rely far more upon the tail as a weapon of

offence than upon the teeth, though they are capable of giving a very

severe bite. Of their powerful claws with which they could inflict

considerable injuries they make no use.

Owing to the size to which the Monitors grow, the preservation of

Specimens-in the field; except very young ones, is not an easy

618 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

matter. Dried skins are not satisfactory. The best method that I

know of is to skin the creature, leaving the head, feet and end of the

tail untouched, and then preserve it in spirit (70 per cent) or formalin

(2 or 3 per cent).: A large skin, when carefully rolled up, can by

this means be accommodated in a comparatively small space. Care

should be taken, if formalin is used, to transfer the skin to alcohol as

soon as possible.

The type of Vavanus Merrem 1820 is Lacerta varia Shaw. The

Stellio of Laurenti 1768 however has no designated type, and as the

genus contains three species which are undoubtedly Monitors, one of

which might be selected later as the type, it is necessary to deal with

it if the name Varanus is to be preserved. In answer to a Jetter of

mine upon this point which I wrote to Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, of

the United States National Museum, he has sent me the following,

and with his permission I publish it here :—

‘Replying to your letter with regard to the type of S¢e//zo Laurenti,

I will simply quote from an old MS. of mine, which I think covers

the case. This MS., which was intended as a critical study of all the

genera in Laurenti’s book with type fixations and synonymies, has been

lying unfinished in my desk for. many years waiting for a chance

tocomplete it. The part covering the present case runs as follows :—

‘ Stell7o Laurenti includes eight nominal species, none of which can

be accepted as type ‘ solely upon the basis of the original publication ’

(Intern. Code, art. 30, I,a-d). As none of the eight spevies are exclud-

ed from consideration in determining the type (same art. II, e-d) and

as nobody apparently has selected as yet a type for Laurenti’s Sted/io

(in contradistinction to S¢e//zo Schneider, 1792, or Stel/zo Latreille,

1802) it seems that I am at liberty to designate the type (same

art. g). None of the Recommendations of the Code, appended to

art. 30, has any direct bearing on the peculiarities of this case.

‘The eight species named by Laurenti were all unknown to him

except from Seba's figures and descriptions. Of these there is no

difficulty in identifying Stellio saurus, S. salvator and S. salvaguardia

respectively as Varanus niloticus, V. salvator and V. monitor (= ben-

galensts) of authors. Authors likewise agree that Laurenti’s Szedlio

punctatus is a skink, viz. Linne’s Lacerta punctata= Eumeces

punctatus of Duméril and Bibron—Lygosoma punctatum of Boulenger.

‘If Laurenti’s Szed/7o were to be restricted to any of these species,

it would supplant either Vavanus or Eumeces or Lygosoma respect-

ively, as Sted/zo is the older name, a calamity to be prevented if

possible.

‘There remain four species, however, the identification of which is

more or less doubtful, viz.

Stellio saxatilis (Seba, II, 79, 4) |

Stellio tessellatus (Seba, I, 76, 2) ‘ Habitat in Virginia.’

Stellio viridis (Seba, I, 75, 2) ‘ Habitat in Virginia.’

Stellio thalassinus (Seba, I, 110, 4 and 5) ‘ Habitat in India

orientali.’

The first one Merrem (Syst. Amph. 1820, p. 52) renamed Agama

tetradactyla because it is distinguished by having four toes on fore-

feet ; the second and third he considered identical and renamed the

ss ee

SOME NOTES ON THE MONITORS 619

compound Lacerta longicauda ; the fourth one he referred to Varanus

dvacena (= Varanus niloticus) with a query.

‘No one has recognised the Agama or the Lacerta since. An

inspection of Seba’s figures shows that Merrem’s guesses were not

fortunate. In the first place, Nos. 2 and 3 cannot weli belong to the

same genus, as the former has smali head scales and a serrated upper

edge to the tail, and the latter has large head shields and no upper

tail edge. The former may be some Iguanoid, while the latter shows

a certain resemblance to 7upinambis teguixin. The fourth is almost

certainly not a Varanus, and while not showing any shieids on the

head might with greater probability be referred to Amefva. His

guess as to the first would seem to be nearer to the truth, especially

when one considers the wide limits of the genus Agama, as

he understood it, but the character insisted on in Seba’s description

as well as plainly shown in the figure, viz. only 4 fingers renders any

attempt at identification futile.

‘ Under these circumstances rather than to cause a wholesale mix-up

of names current for acentury, it seems the better policy to select as

the type one of the unidentifiable names, a procedure calculated to

lay the specter of Ste//éo becoming active again in herpetological

nomenclature. With this in view I designate Stel/io saxatilts

Laurenti the type of Ste//zo Laurenti, Syn. Rept., 1768, p. 56.’

I cannot agree with Dr. Stejneger and other authors that Laurenti’s

Stellio salvaquardia, based on Seba I, 101, represents Vavranzs

monitor. The position of the nostril alone, which is at the extreme

tip of the snout, is sufficient to justify this view. Lacerta dracena

Linneus, II, 1766, p. 360, referred by authors, with a query, to

V’. monttor = bengalensts, is in the same position, for it is based upon the

same figure in Seba’s ‘ Illustrations.’ On the other hand, Laurenti’s

Stellio thalassinus, based on Seba. IJ, 110, 4 and 5, might well stand

for Varanus monttor.

THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE SIMLA HILLS

G. W. V. DE RHE-PHILIPE, F.E.S.

Pact au

(Continued from page 429 of this Volume)

LYCAANIDZL

This family, which includes all the Blues, Coppers and Hairstreaks, is, as

might be expected, very well represented in the Simla Hills. The palearctic

element, which prevails in Kashmir and to the North-West, is here still very

strong ; but a number of Indo-Malayan forms are aiso to be found. Speaking

broadly, the species of the Lycenine group affect the open spaces—gardens,

meadows and grass-lands and are, for the most part, rather common and

much in evidence ; while the insects of the other groups keep to the forests and

wooded valleys and nullahs and have to be searched for.

152. Castalius rosimon rosimon. Pepriciie.

(Bine. 766; deN. 759-7bv. Hi4gdh):

This beautiful blue belongs rather to the plains of Southern, Central and

Eastern India than to the hills. It is not particularly common so far to the

north-west, but some may be found along the foot of the hills-at almost any

time of the year.

153. Tarucus theophrastus nara. Kollar.

(Bing. 762 ; deN. 752, 753; Ev. H15 (2) ).

Common in the plains and submontane tracts, less so in the hills. Anyone

looking out for blues is, however, sure to pick up several each year. Is more

often seen after the rains and flies in gardens and round meadow flowers.

154. Tarucus venosus. Moore.

(Bing. 763; deN. 7573: Ev J EUlos(3))):

Considerably rarer than the last, but taken occasionally in the valleys below ~

5,000 ft. I have it from the Sutlej] below Narkanda (September) and from the

valley below Kasumpti (October).

155. Euchrysops cnejus. Fabricius.

(Bing. 761 ; deN. 745-749 ; Ev. H16 (1) ).

Very common in the plains and the outer hills, less so in the inner hills

to about 8,500 ft. Flies summer and autumn and, like other species of the

group, is fond of fields and roadside hedges.

Euchrysops pandava pandava. Horsfield.

(Bing. 760 ; deN. 750 ; Ev. H16 (3) ).

Recorded from the Himalayas, but the Simla Hills seem to be rather beyond

its extreme westerly range. It is rare in the Mussoorie Dun where I have

taken only one or two, but may possibly extend along the lower hills into our

limits. I have noticed that it is fond of leguminous trees and shrubs.

TE PORPERELIES OF CHE SIMLA HILLS >= 63¢

156. Everes argiades diporides. Chapman.

(Bing: 735; deN. 716; Ev. H17 (1) ).

Probably more common than would appear from the number actually caught,

but it is a small inconspicuous insect which escapes notice. I have taken

a few, usually in meadows, in the autumn months between 6,500 and 9,000 ft.

*157. Everes dipora. Moore.

(Bing. /Jo-n eI. 710.. loveehil7 (2). )e

The recorded range is from ‘ Kashmir to Northern Burma’, but seems to be

very rare in the Western Himalayas and not common anywhere. I have. no

personal knowledge of its appearance anywhere west of Sikkim.

158. Lycenopsis (=Cyaniris) vardhana. Moore.

(Binge. 685; deN.. 675; Ev. E120) (2) ).

' Not uncommon in this district at elevations between 6,000 and 9,000 ft. and

the observant collector will usually secure all the specimens he needs. There

were one or two places about Mashobra, Mahasu and Kufri where I generally

found quite a number at some periods of the year. May and June are the best

months, but a few may also be seen after the rains. Likes wooded surroundings

as arule, and I have noticed that the Pierid, Gonepteryx zaneka, is often foun

in the same spots,

159. Lycanopsis albeceerulea. Moore.

(Bing. 689 ; deN. 678 ; Ev. H20 (6) ).

This species is here at its western limits and is distinctly rare in the Simla

Hills. My notes show only one taken on the road to Chail in October.

160. Lycenopsis puspa gisca. Fruhstorfer.

(Bing. 691 ; deN. 681 ; Ev. H20 (15) ).

This butterfly, which is so common. in most places within its range, is

comparatively rare in these hills. Is rather more likely to be found in the lower

valleys, but has been taken in Simla and as high up as Kufri and Fagu.

Summer and autumn. is

el. _ Lycaenopsis cardia dilecta. Moore. in a

(Bing. 701 ; deN. 689 ; Ev. H20 (18) ).

Like albocerulea, is here at the western limits of its range and is very rare.

I can record one specimen only, a worn male taken near Kufri village in

October. ;

162. Lycsenopsis huegelii huegelii. Moore.

(Bing. 704; deN..690 ; Ev. H20 (19) ).

No one who takes the least interest in the Simla butterflies can help noticing

this beautiul blue. It abounds at nearly all times from March right on to

December, flying about the gardens, roadside hedges and shrubs and the sunny

clearings in woods. I have seen it as low down as Dharmpore (3,000 ft.) and

have taken it at 12,000 ft. on the summit of Huttoo.

163. Lycanopsis argioius celestina. Kollar.

(Bing. 703 ; deN. 688 ; Ev. H20 (20) ).

Common from the spring to the late autumn and found very neariy evsry-

where except deep forest from 2,000 to 12,000 ft.

622 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

164. Lycena astrarche. Bergstrasser.

(Bing. 705 ; deN. (as szedon) 647 ; Ev. H23 (9) ).

Very plentiful from spring to autumn and to be seen even on warm days in

the winter months. Likes open, sunny places and flutters about gardens and

the low vegetation along the roads and in meadows.

165. Lycena galathea galathea. Blanchard.

(Bing. 716 ; deN. 665 ; Ev. H23 (15) ).

Common in Kashmir, but getting rarer towards the east and distinctly

uncommon here. It will be confined to the inner hills. I know of one or two

taken beyond Narkanda. Is mainly a spring and early summer butterfly.

*166. Lycsena pheretes lehana. Moore.

(Bing. 719; deN. 664 ; Ev. H23 (16) ).

A species of the high mountains of the interior. It is not likely to be found in

the Simla Hills much below 10,000 or 12,000 ft. and must therefore be looked

for on the ranges beyond Narkanda and Baghi.

* 167. Lyc@na eros ariana. Moore.

(Bing. 709; deN. 649; Ev. H24 (2) ).

I have not taken this myself within our area, but it is not uncommon

in Kulu and Laboul and is said to come down to 8,000 ft. in Kumaon so it

should certainly be found. I expect the best place to look for it would be in

the grass country round Matiana, Narkanda and Baghi in the early summer.

168. Chilades laius laius. Cramer.

(Bing. 728; deN. 672; Ev. H21 ).

A very common butterfly in the plains and fairly plentiful from spring to

autumn in the tracts at the foot of the hills wherever the lime trees grow.

Does not, to my knowledge, extend any distance into the hills.

“169. Zizera trochilus trochilus. Freyer.

(Bing.7/29 ; deN. 673+) Ev. H22.(1) 32

Is generally common in grass country in the plains and lower hills,

though it is usually overlooked owing to its very small size and insignificance.

I have not taken it inside our district but it is certain to be found in suitable

places round Kalka.

170. Zizera maha maha. Kollar.

(Bing. 721; deN. 694; Ev: H22 (2) ).

Very common in the plains and in the country bordering on the plains

throughout the year. Extends, though not quite so abundantly, into the hills

to at least 9,009 ft., especially in the autumn months. Flies weakly about sunny

gardens and grass slopes.

171. Zizera lysimon. Hubner.

172. Zizera gaika. Fabricius.

173. Zizera otis otis. Fabricius.

(Bing. 722-24; deN. 699, 702, 703; Ev. H22 (3 to 5) ).

All these three are really butterflies of the plains, but spread into the outer

hills and will be found round Kalka and probably as far as Dharmpore and

Solon. Rough grass country is the place to look for them.

ah Ide octet

THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE SIMLA HILLS 623

174. Syntarucus plinius. Fabricius.

(Bing. 764; deN. 758 ; Ev. H27).

Not uncommon before and after the rains but, like many of the less prominent

blues, often escapes notice. Flies about gardens and shrubs and bushes

in the open.

175. Catachrysops strabo. Fabricius.

(Bing. 759; deN. 743; Ev. H28 (1) ).

A plains insect and more or less common along the lower hills, but also

found occasionally in Simla and beyond up to nearly 10,000 ft. Spring

to autumn.

176. Lampides (=Polyommatus) beticus. Linnczus.

(Bins. 772; deN. 767 ;° Ev. 1129).

Common up to 10,000 ft., summer and autumn. The specimens found

in the hills do not seem to run to the same size as in the plains where it

literally swarms in the spring months.

*177. Nacaduba nora. Felder. (=ardates. Moore.)

(Bing. 746; deN. 730; Ev. H30 (14) ).

Nacaduba dubiosa indica. Evans.

(Eyv- 130) (45).,).

Nacaduba noreia hampsoni. DeNiceville.

(Bing. 743; deN. 732; Ev. H30 (16) ).

The Nacadubas are a difficult genus and Evans’ recent rearrangement has

meant some reshuffling of the names under which some species were listed by

the older authorities. ‘The three mentioned above are the only ones likely to

be found in our limits. DeNiceville records ardates from Poonch in Kashmir,

but I can find no other definite report of any of them having been taken quite

so far to the west. I have nora (or ardates) from the Kumaon and Garhwal

terais and hampsoni from the Mussoorie Dun, but these are the nearest

localities Ican vouch for. They may possibly turn up alone the foot of the

hills ; but will, in any case, be very rare.

Jamides bochus bochus, Cramer.

(imo sg/Ol; deNiasoos, dve7 Eo ()i)):

Jamides celeno celeno, Cramer.

(pinge: Zoo, GEN. 7357 bv. Hs (6): ).

Both these are continental and eastern Himalayan and, as far as I know,

there has yet been no definite record from the Simla Hills. Both are to be had

in the Mussoorie Dun and their appearance a little bit further west is a

possibility. They would only be found in damp, wooded places at the foot of

the hills.

178. Azanus ubaldus. Cramer.

(Binge (29 deN 107; Ev. H32°(1).).

179. Azanus uranus, Butler.

(Bing. 726; deN.-708; Ev. H32 (2) ).

_ Both these species are fairly common in the Punjab plains and extend a little

way into the outer hills, but are much scarcer. They will be found, usually in

the autumn months, around the babul trees in the jungle near Kalka,

624 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURALIST; SOCIETY. Vol Vey

*179. Azanus jesous gamra. Lederer.

(Bing. 727; deN. 709; Ev. H32 (4) ).

-A much rarer species of the genus and one I have not taken anywhere

in India. It is more a southern and western India insect, but deNiceville

records it from Ambala and there is just a chance it may be found with the

other two near Kalka.

180. Heodes (=Chrysophanus) pavana. Kollar.

(déeN 3879) Shv. 35761) 9),

‘Very common, spring to autumn, from 6,000 ft. to the inner ranges. It

may be seen every day in gardens, round road side vegetation and in sunny

meadows.

181. Heodes phleeas indicus. Evans.

Heodes phtlueas flavens. Ford.

These are two very slightly differentiated forms of the species- more

familiarly known to us as phlwas timeus. Cramer. Very common at all

times except the midwinter months, zuzdicus predominating in the outer

ranges and f/avens in the interior, though they overlap considerably.

*182. Heodes kasyapa. Moore.

(deN. 881; Ev. H35 (7) ).

This beautiful ‘ Copper’ is common in Kashmir, less so in Lahoul and Kulu,

and very much scarcer further east. Has been recorded by deNiceville as taken

‘on the Himalaya Tibet road near Simla’ and Evans extends its range to

Mussoorie. I have never taken it myself in the Simla limits nor heard of a

capture within recent years. On the analogy of its habits in Kashmir, it is

most likely to be found in the summer in open spaces in woods at elevations of

not less than 8,000 ft. and should be looked for in such surroundings in the

Matiana-Narkanda-Baghi country. .

183. Heliophorus (= Ilerda) sena. Kollar.

(deN.-883 ; Ey. H36 (1) ).

Very common spring to autumn. Flies round low vegetation by road sides

and in meadows and waste ground.

184. Heliophorus odaoda. Hewitson.

(deN. 885; as tamu ; (Ev. H36 (4) ).

Common in Kashmir and fairly so in Kumaon, but seems to be rare in the

intervening country. I have taken it on Summer Hill and in the Mahasu woods,

but saw very few in the course of all my butterfly collecting in Simla. I have

seen it only in the spring and summer.

185. Heliophorus androcles coruscans. Moore.

(deN. 887; Ev. H36 (5) ).

This beautiful insect, very aptly called the ‘Green Sapphire’ by Evans, is not

uncommon in the summer months, though it also flies, much less frequently,

after the rains. I found some of the nullahs on the north side of the Mahasu

ridge were good spots for this butterfly, but it also comes sometimes into

gardens.

*186. Strymon sassanides. Kollar.

(deN. 862; Ev. H39 (1) ).

Is said to be not rare but somehow I have never come across it. Its real

home is further to the north-west.

a od

THE -BULTERELIES: OF THE SIMLA HILLS 625

*187. Euaspa milionia. Hewitson.

(deN. 876; Ev. H41) )

Another not uncommon butterfly which, however, I was never able to find.

DeNiceville records it as single brooded and flying in May and June. I under-

stand it keeps to damp and shady surroundings where there is bush growth.

188. Theclaicana. Moore.

(deN. 871 ; Ev. H42 (1) }.

I have a male from Narkanda taken in August, and Col. Evans has caught it

on Kufri Hill, also, I believe, in the autumn. The late Col. Chaldecott took

several on the Jalauri Pass in August and September. Is not common any-

where.

189. Thecla bieti dohertyi. DeNiceville.

(de.N. 872 ; Ev. H42 (2). ).

Ranges ‘from Kulu to Garhwal’ but appears to be confined to the inner

hills. Col. Chaldecott took a few on the Jalauri Pass at 10,500 ft. in August.

This is the only definite record I have of its actual appearance in our

neighbourhood.

*190. Thecia ataxus ataxus. Doubleday.

(deN. 865 ; Ev. H42 (4) ).

Is said to occur from Murree to Kumaon, but is a very rare butterfly which I

have not come across.

191. Thecla birupa. Moore.

(deN. 870; Ev. H42 (12) ).

Simla is the western limit of the range of this species and, though fairly

common in Kumaon and the Mussorie hills, it is distinctly scarce in our area.

I have taken only one or two, flying round the small brown oaks on Kufri Hill

in June.

192. Thecta sylasyla. Kollar.

(deN. 869 ; Ev. H42 (14) ).

The only really common species of the genus in Simla and the neighbour-

hood. It will be found in nullahs and wherever there are oak trees, from 6,900

to 10,000 ft. Flies both before and after the rains.

193. Thecla ziha. DeNiceville.

(deN. 874 ; Ev. H42 (18) ).

Another very rare butterfly. I know of only one taken in Simla and I myself

have not seen it. All the records point to its being a summer butterfly.

194, Chaetoprocta odata. Hewitson.

(deN. 877; Ev. H43),

If you can hit upon one of the walnut trees which this little chap has taken

into favour, you will get as many as you want in an hour or two. It does not,

however, distribute itself generally over the country and is abundant only for

a very short season in June.

*195. Curetis acuta dentata. Moore.

(Bing. 774; deN. 858; Ev. H45 6) ).

This is an insect which has hitherto been looked on as a variety of the

changeable C, 6u/zs, Doubleday and Hewitson, but Evans has recently separa-

ted it as a distinct species. zlzs itself has been reported from Mussoorie, but

I do not think it is likely to be found as far west as Simla. DeNiceville has

626 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vel 2Ceu,

recorded dentfata from Mandi and it is certainly common in the Mussoorie Dun.

I can trace no definite record of its appearance in the intervening country,

but have no doubt it will be found in the lower hills and valleys.

196. Iraota timoleon timoleon. Stoll.

(deN. 775, 776 ; Ev. H46 (1) ).

deNiceville records this from Dalhousie and Dagshai and I got a dwarfed and

worn specimen one May on the Kasauli road above Kalka. It is always rarein

this part of India.

197. Arhopala (= Amblypodia) dodonza, Moore.

(deN. 817 ; Ev: H50 (S51) ).

198. Arhopalaramarama. Kollar.

(deN. 807 ; Ev. H50 (52) ).

These two, which have at various times been taken to be dimorphic forms or

as the male and female of the same species, are so similar in their habits and

haunts that they might well be dealt with together. Their respective specific

rank is now well established, but they have much in common and they are often,

in flight, mistaken for each other. Both are particularly addicted to wooded

nullahs where there is running water, and they frequently settle on damp

patches of ground and on the bushes round. They are usually common in such

surroundings ; but both, and especially yama, may also be found in oak woods

and flying into gardens. The best season is before the monsoon, dodon@a

usually appearing a trifle later than the other ; but they also fly, rather less

commonly, from August to October.

199. Arhopala ganesa ganesa. Moore.

(deN, 836 ; Ev. H50 (66) ),

Habits and seasons much the same as those of the last two species. Its

special haunts are damp, shaded nullahs in wooded country, but it may some-

times be taken round oak trees. May and June are the best months, but

individuals may cecasionally be seen till October.

*200. Surendra quercetorum quercetorum. Moore.

(deN. 778 ; Ev. H51 (1) ).

Evans gives the Dun as the westerly limit of the range of this butterfly. Itis

comparatively common there in low jungle along the foot of the hills. Though

there is no authentic record of its appearance further west, I shouid not be

surprised if it yet turns up in the very similar country round Kalka.

* 200. Apharitis lilacinus. Moore.

(deN. 907; Ev. H57 (3) ).

This is really a Central India butterfly, and I was very surprised to see that

Col. Evans mentioned Hardwar and Kasauli as places where it had been

taken. I include it in the list on his authority, but its appearance here must be

very exceptional.

201. Spindasis (=Aphneus) vulcanus vulcanus. Fabricius.

(deN. 903 ; Ev. H58 (1) ).

Mainly an insect of the plains, but will always be found, though never plenti-

fully, in the lower hills from Kalka to Dharmpore and Sabathu and, rarely,

even as high up as Simla and Mashobra. I have taken one or two specimens in

June. It keeps to open, sunny surroundings and flies about shrubs and low

trees.

THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE SIMLA HILLS 627

* 202. Spindasis ictis ictis. Hewitson.

(deN. 914; Ev. H58 (5) ).

I have not seen this in the Simla district. DeNiceville records it from Mandi

in the Western Himalayas and it should occur but must be very rare.

203. Spindasis elima uniformis. Moore.

(deN. 919 ; Ev. H58 (6) ).

Said to be not rare but I have only come across it once in our area when I

took a specimen on the eastern slopes of the Chail ridge in June. It is fairly

common between Mussoorie and Chakrata in the autumn and, since it extends

to Kashmir and Chitral, one would expect to pick it up more frequently here.

Like all the Spzudasis, it flies fast and settles unobtrusively and calls for a

quick eye for detection and capture.

* 204. Spindasis nepalicus nepalicus. Moore.

(deN. 923 as zaffra; Ev. H58 (8) ).

deNiceville has recorded this insect from Kulu in June and Mackinnon from

Mussoorie in May. It is rare and I have not seen it within the district.

Spindasis lohita. Horsfield.

(deN. 910 ; Ev. H58 (12) ).

DeNiceville refers to /ofzta as being found throughout the Himalayas, while

Evans states that the Himalayan local race, Aimalayanus, Moore, is to be found

only from Sikkim eastwards. I have taken one or two of the /ohzta group at

Ranibagh in Kumaon, but I doubt very much whether any will be found as far

to the west as Simla.

205. Pratapa (=Camena) icetas icetas. Hewitson.

(deN. 897 ; Ev. H61 (5) ).

A rarity throughout its range from Kashmir to Kumaon. DeNiceville mentions

captures on Tara Devi. Coming to more recent years, my notes record three

only—two on Summer Hill and one at S. Damiano, Mashobra. These three

were all in open spaces in woods between June and August.

Tajuria cippus cippus. Fabricius.

(deN. 931 as Jonginus ; Ev. H65 (6) ).

Tajuria is a genus which belongs rather to the Eastern Himalayas and

Malaya and cippus is the only one of its species at all likely to be found so far

west. It is stated to occur throughout the outer Himalayas, but I cannot trace

any authentic record of its appearance in the Simla Hills. I have taken it in

Kumaon and know of a capture near Saharanpore. It may turn up at lower

elevations in the District.

206. Horaga onyx onyx. Moore.

(deN. 960 ; Ev. H82 (1) ).

Kulu, Kangra and Dehra Dun are all mentioned as places where this butter-

fly has been taken, so it should occur in the intervening tracts. I have seen one

in acollection at Simla but the exact locality was not given. I have not myself

found it in this part of the country, and it is presumably very rare here.

* 207. Horaga viola. Moore.

(deN. 965; Ev. H82 (4) ).

A species which ranges from Kangra to Burma but is rare everywhere. I

have never found it in the Simla Hills and cannot trace any definite record of a

capture here,

628 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

208. Deudoryx epijarbas ancus, Fruhstorfer.

(deN. 986 ; Ev. H88 (1) .).

Not uncommon in June and July. Though strong and rapid fliers, they are

easy to catch as they are fond of coming into gardens and settling on flowers.

I took several in this way.

209. Virachola perse perse. Hewitson.

(deN. 1013; Ev. H89 (3) ).

Occurs from Kangra eastwards, but is very rare here near the westerly

limit of its range. One taken ‘somewhere near Kalka’ by a soldier collector

is the only actual case of capture in the district that I know of. It is elsewhere

fond of guava plantations, and these will be the best places to look forit. Will

not usually be found much above the 3,000 ft. level.

* 210. Rapala varuna grisea. Moore.

(deN. 999; Ev. H90 (10) ).

A rare butterfly. I have only taken it at low elevations in Kumaon, but there

is a record of a capture in Kangra and it should be found in the country

between.

* 211. Rapala melampus. ; Cramer.

(deN. 1006 ; Ev. H90 (15) ).

Occurs at low elevations from Murree eastwards, but is rare west of Mussoo-

rie. I have not taken it in the district.

212. Rapala nissa nissa. Kollar.

(deN, 1002 ; Ev. H90 (18) ).

Quite the most common Potceneatic of the genus in the Simla Hills. They

were sometimes to be taken in plenty dashing round and settling on low grow-

ing shrubs in some of the wooded nullahs behind Jakko and Mahasu in June

and July just before the rains. Occasionally come to the flowers in gardens.

I have not seen it below 6,000 ft. in the Simla Hills.

213. Rapala micans selira. Moore.

(deN. 990; Ev. H90 (19) ).

Not uncommon. May, between May and September, be picked up at any

time and anywhere except very bare country. Seems to be specially attracted

by wild indigo flowers. Does not appear to venture below 5,000 ft. and will

probably be found up to 10,000 ft.

* 214. Sinthusa chandrana chandrana. Moore.

(deN. 1017 ; Ev. H91 (2) ).

*215. Siathusa nasaka pallidior. Fruhstorfer.

(deN. 1015; Ev. H91 (3) ).

Both have been recorded from ‘ Kangra to Kumaon’ and as being rare. I

have not found any of the genus anywhere west of Sikkim. They appear to fly

only in the spring and summer and will probably not be found below 5,000 ft.

HESPERIDA

The Siinnc ae as a general rule, receive very little attention from the

ordinary collector. The butterflies of which the family is composed are, witha

few exceptions in the Indo-Malayan groups, small, dingy and. inconspicuous

REE RODE RIES: OF Title SIME A AILS 629

insects. Only a small proportion of the numerous species display any partiality

for open country or venture into gardens and habited places. Most of them

and all the finer species, avoid flying in the open and prefer to hide in wooded

ravines and forest clearings which are not easy of access. ‘Several species fly

only in the early mornings or in the dusk of twilight.

It is therefore not a matter for surprise that the family should be poorly

represented in most collections. Only in the Natural History museums and in

the larger specialist collections is it given the place it should have ; and even

these are often not as complete as their curators would wish.

It is possible that greater interest might have been stimulated had either

DeNiceville or Bingham been able to complete their works on the butterflies of

India. But neither ever reached the Hesperide ; and the few collectors who did

take notice of the skippers had to work under handicap. Watson’s Hesperide

Indice furnished descriptions, but it lacked a key and, in the light of our later

knowledge, was very incomplete. He later supplemented the book with a key

which appeared in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society in 1895;

and this, with the Revzszon of the Oriental Hesperide published by Elwes

and Edwards in the Transactions of the Zoological Society in 1897 provided the

means for diagnosing and recognising the various members of the family.

Unfortunately these and the notes and descriptions of genera and species which

appeared from time to time in the Journals of the Bombay N. H. Society and

in other scientific magazines and proceedings seldom reached the ordinary

collector.

We are in a better position now. Moore’s Lepidoptera Indica has been

completed though its expense puts it beyond the reach of most ; and Evans, in

his Jdentification of Indian Butterflies has, after much research, worked out

a comprehensive and up-to-date key which will be invaluable. A handbook

with descriptions of species is, however, still badly wanted ; and it is to be hoped

that the Fauna of /ndia series will soon be completed to meet the need.

The North-West of India—plains and hills—~is not a prolific Hesperid country.

Still Evans, whom I follow throughout in the list below, has been able to

specify thirty species as occurring in the stretch from Kangra to Mussoorie which

includes the Simla Hills. It is probable that some others, either of the Palearctic

type of the north and north-west or of the Indo-Malayan groups which extend

into Kumaon and Mussoorie, will yet be discovered in the Simla district.

Information as to the habits, seasons of appearance and particular localities

affected by species of a family which has been so neglected by the generality of

collectors is necessarily scanty. It is not as complete, as applicable to the

Simla district itself, as I would wish; but I am able to supplement it to some

extent by the analogy of the ways of the species or connected races in localities

where my opportunities for field observation have been greater. I am also

indebted to General Evans for some notes of his own experiences of the

Hesperide in the Simla Hills.

The references, other than those to Evans’ /dentification, are to Watson’s

Hesperide Indice or to Journals where detailed description of the butterfly

may be found.

216. MHasora alexis alexis. Fabricius.

(iv. inal (12). Evesp, Ind. 19);

Occurs in the plains and foothills, but is very local in its habits. A species of

low tree seems often to attract it and I have found it flitting round these in the

Punjab plains and once on the railway line just above Kalka. It usually appears

during or just after the rains and flies more freely in the evening than by day.

Bibasis sena sena. Moore.

(Ev. i. 3; Hesp. Ind. 17).

This species has a wide range throughout Eastern and Continental India and

along the Himalayas westward as far as Mussoorie. Though not yet recorded

from the Punjab, I should not be surprised if it is found by someone who has

opportunities for sedulously working the country along the foot of the hills,

630 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

217. Rhopalocampta benjaminii benjaminii. Guerin.

(By.4.. 53 Hesp. Ind. 33).

This beautiful skipper is fairly common in Sikkim and Assam but is distinctly

rare in the Central and Western Himalayas. It is possible that it is less a rarity

than it appears to be; but it is one of the species which seems to fly only in the

very early morning and therefore escapes notice. I have only taken one in the

Simla region. It was quite an unexpected find. Travelling up by the Railway

one June, the train halted in the early morning at Koti station ; aud, while it

waited, I saw a butterfly settle on some shrubs near. I had nonet, but managed

to knock it down with my hat; and was delighted to discover it was a male

‘benjaminit.’ I have taken it from early spring to autumn in the Khasi Hills.

218. Badamia exclamationis. Fabricius.

(Ey. I. 6%; Hesp: Ind; 1).

Generally common throughout India and extends into the hills to 7,000 ft. at

least, though it is rarer here. I have seen it in Simla. Occurs summer and

autumn, and flies very rapidly around low trees and hedges. The larva feeds

on a species of Bignonia.

*219. Celenorrhinus pulomaya. Moore.

(Ev.1. 16 (5); Hesp ind 485),.

Recorded from Kangra to the Naga Hills. I have never come across it

anywhere west of Sikkim, and Evans tells me he never took it in Simla.

220. Celenorrhinus levcocera leucocera. Kollar.

(Ev. 1. 16 (13) ; Hesp. Ind.,192),

Common in the east and central Himalayas, less sc in the western. It usually

keeps to shaded nullahs and forest glades during the day, but sometimes flies

into Simla gardens at dusk. I have only noticed it after the monsoon.

* 221. Celznorrhinus munda. Moore.

(Ev. I. 16 (15); Hesp. Ind. 194).

Said to be not rare from Murree eastwards. but neither Evans: nor I ever

took it in the Simla district and I have not seen it anywhere west of Kumaon.

Would have the same habits as the preceding; and, since it is superficially like

it, might easily be mistaken for /ewcocera if only seen in flight.

* 222. Achalarus bifasciatus casyapa. Moore.

(Ev. I. 18 (2); Hesp. Ind. 224).

A western Himalayan butterfly which is very rare everywhere in its range.

I have only a single specimen, taken in Mussoorie in July, as a result of many

years’ collecting. I found the eastern race, /i/iana, not very rare in Shillong

where it was much addicted to flying in the neighbourhood of waterfalls, in and

out of the spray.

Satarupa sambara dohertyi. Watson.

(Hy. 2. 19..2);2 esp aind. 430):

Though not yet recorded from anywhere west of Mussoorie, it is just possible

that it may be found very rarely in the Simla district. Its haunts would be near

wooded streams at low elevations.

Tagiades atticus khasiana. Moore.

(Dy. 1.920) (1) s aelesp. Indeal36).-

A wide spread species which is usually common where it occurs. Though

not yet reported from anywhere west of the Mussoorie Dun, a rare straggler or

two may possibly find its way into the similar country along the foot of the

Simla Hills,

cee ee see : , . F

Se Sones

Leek. _—

TES BOLI ERELIES OF THE SIMLA AILLS 631

* 223. Tagiades menaka. Moore.

(Ev. 1.20 (8) 3. Hesp. Ind. 141):

Found along the Himalayas from Kashmir to Burma and China, but is

common only in the east. I got a solitary specimen at 6,000 ft. below Dalhousie

and found it fairly plentiful at low elevations in Kumaon; but have never seen

it anywhere in the intervening tract. Evans notes it as ‘rather rare’ in the

Simla Hills; and it certainly needs a lot of looking for. It keeps to damp,

wooded glens, preferably near water; and its snow-white hindwings make it

conspicuous as it flashes about in these surroundings. It settles suddenly with

outspread wings on the underside of a leaf and, in doing so, disappears as if by

magic. I have taken it from spring to autumn where it is common.

It is worth while noting that, though the next svecies, 7. litigzosa litigiosa.

Mosch., is supposed to be restricted to the Eastern Himalayas, I have taken

typical specimens below Mussoorie and in Kumaon.

224. Coladenia dan fatih. Kollar,

(By.'1. 25 (2); Hesp.-Ind. 169).

Should not be rare but is very seldom seen. I have only one specimen from

the district—taken in the nullah near Barogh in August. It affects damp country

with plenty of undergrowth; and, like the last, flies quickly and settles

suddenly.

* 225. Sarangesa purendra. Moore.

(Evob., 20 (2)s* Elespr. ind, 71).

Has a range from Kangra to Kumaon and is said not to be rare. 1 have,

however, not found it common anywhere and neither Evans nor I ever got it in

the Simla district. ‘The few specimens I have secured in other districts have

always been before the monsoon in rather dry scrub country at the foot of the

Hills. Such a small greyish insect easily escapes notice.

226. Sarangesa dasahara dasahara. Moore.

(Ev.ch., 26,13); Hesp;, Ind. 72).

The races of dasahara are found all over India except the extreme north-west

and are generally common everywhere. I have only one from the Simla

region—taken at Kalka in May—but it is probably not uncommon in the outer

hilis and the plains adjoining. Being, like the last, very inconspicuous,

it wants looking for.

* 227. Odontoptilum angulata. Felder.

(Ey. fe, 31 (1) Hesp. indy 153).

Common from Kumaon eastwards but distinctly rare in the Western

Himalayas. I have not taken it in the Simla Hills, and Evans tells me he also

had not found it here. I have caught it at 5,000 ft. near Mussoorie, but it is

more likely to occur in the lower valleys round Kalka. Flies spring and

autumn.

Caprona ransonnettii potiphera. Hewitson.

(Ev. I. 32 (1); Hesp. Ind. 149),

Never actually recorded from these hills, but it has been noted from the

Punjab and J have taken it in the Mussoorie Dun, so that there is considerable

chance of its turning up in the country round Kalka.

228. Hesperia galba. Fabricius.

(By. To 34"( lr Hesp:-ind. 220:

I have not taken this myself anywhere in the Simla district, and Evans notes it

as ‘rare’. I have only taken it elsewhere in the plains and the country bordering

on them, so I fancy it is more likely to be found in the tracts round Kalka. It

flies both spring and autumn and affects open grass meadows,

632 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Though no other Hesperia has yet been recorded from the Simla iliss

I think it is more than probable that one or two of the palearctic species, such

as F[. alpina cashmirensis, Moore, which are found in Turkestan, Tibet

and Kashmir, will be discovered in the high interior country.

* 229. Aeromachus inachus stigmata. Moore.

(Ev. I. 58 (2); Hesp. Ind. 94).

Said to be found throughout the Himalayas from Murree eastwards. Ihave,

however, never found it anywhere west of Naini Tal, and Evans tells me he did

not get it in the Simla hills. It is not really common anywhere and seems to be

very rare in the western part of its range. Flies just before the monsoon in

Kumaon.

230, Suastus gremius gremius. Fabricius.

(Ev. I. 62 (1); Hesp. Ind. 66)

Common in many parts of the plains in India but does not seem to extend

much into the Punjab and is definitely rare in the North-Western Himalayas.

Ihave onlytaken a couple in Simla, both after the rains on flowers in my

garden.

231. Udaspes folus. Cramer.

(By. 1. 73.(1)> Hesp. Ind? 476)

A larger and rather more striking insect than most of the Northern

Hesperidae which does sometimes find its way into the ordinary collector’s bag.

It is not common in the hills andI have not seen it flying anywhere in the

Simla Hills myseif.- I once noticed one in a soldier’s eollection made around

Sabathu and it is probably more likely to be found in the lower country. It-is

not uncommon in the Oudh plains and in the outer hills in Kumaon, where

I have also taken it as high up as 7,000 ft. Flies by day and in the evening round

shrubs and moves very quickly so that a flash of white is all one sees.

232. Notocrypta feisthamelii alysos. Moore.

(Ev. I. 74 (4); Hesp. Ind. 177)

Another very rapid flier, darting from bush to bush, and terribly easy. to lose

sight of even after being glimpsed. It is to be found along the Himalayas from

Murree eastwards but. only. becomes. common from Kumaon. .I have -seen. it

only. twice in the district—once at Barogh and once near Shogi station on the

railway up. Flies summer and autumn. aE

_-Erionota thrax.thrax.. Linneeus. ~ -

(Ev... -76 (1) esp. Indie 155)..

-Has not. yet been tecorded from the district, but it is found from the

Mussoorie Dun. eastwards and there is just a chance it may appear in the

country at the foot of the hills. It is rare except in the extreme north-east and

Burma. ‘The place to look for it would be in plantain groves.

* 233. Hyarotis adrastus praba. Moore.

(Eyv..1. 824(1)% Hesp. Jind: 166):

Found from Kangra eastwards along the Himalayas, but is apparently

very..rare anywhere west of Kumaon. Neither Evans nor I ever got a

specimen in the-Simla Hills. Would,I think, be more. likely to be found

at low elevations. : tp es AS

Halpe moorei. Watson.

(Ev. I. 99 (26) ; Proc. Zool. Soc. 1893, p. 109).

he Halpes are a very large group of which one or more members are found

in néarly every part of India except, perhaps, -the extreme north-west. None

have yet been recorded from anywhere in the Punjab; but woore/ is one of the

most wide-spread and common species and has been found in the Mussoorie

hills. It may extend rarely into the Simla district.

THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE SIMLA HILLS 633

* 234. Actinor radians. Moore.

(Ev. I. 102; Hesp. Ind. 105).

This species has a range from Chitral-to Kumaon but is rare everywhere.

Neither Evans nor I got it in the district. The only specimens I have ever

taken were on a single occasion when I came across a small colony of them one-

March in a rocky nullah in the Sewalik Hills near Hardwar.

235. Taractroceradanna. Moore.

(Ev. I..105 (1) ; Hesp. Ind. 88).

A common but rather elusive little beggar. It is such a small and quick-

flying insect that it easily escapes the eye. I found it fairly plentiful on some

of the open grassy slopes of the hills round Mahasu and on the Chail road in

May and June, but never got it after the monsoon. It darts about the flowers

in the grass but settles frequently.

* 236. Taracttocera mzvius flaccus. Fabricius.

(Ev. FE. 105. (2); Hesp. Ind. 86).

' A butterfly of the plains found more or less generally over India. I have

never seen it in the Simla Hills but it will probably occur—though not commonly

—at lower elevations round Kalka.

237. Padraona dara dara. Kollar.

(Ev. I. 106 (7) ; Hesp. Ind. 78).

Another of the small, rapid-flying butterflies which escapes notice but is

probably more common than one might judge from the number found in a catch.

It darts about bushes and small trees in sunny surroundings and yoes to flowers

if there are any about. Flies May to October from 4,000 ft. upwards.

* 238. Telicota pythias bambusae. Moore.

(vale 103 (2)\s; Tdesp.. Ind. 75).

Though recorded as an all India butterfly, this-insect really belongs to the

plains and lower hills, and I have never found it.anywhere above 2,000 ft. or so.

Thave not caught it in the Simla district, but itmust occur around Kalka, » after

the rains being the most likely time.

Augiades. brahma. Moore.

(G3. rT. 109'(3)'; Hesp. Ind. 77).

Said to be not rare from Mussoorie eastwards and may possibly extend into

the fringes of the district.

“* 239. - Pamphila comma dimila, Moore.

(Ev: 1. (110): ;‘Hesp. Ind’, 228).

A paiearctic species which is found along the inner ranges of the Himalayas

from Chitral to Kumaon. I know of no actual record from the Simla district ;

but it will very probably be found in the higher hills of the interior in the Chini

neighbourhood.

240. Baoris sinensis sinensis. Mabille.

(Evol. WS (5) 3 Hesp. Ind. 38).

I have not taken this species in Simla myself, but Evans tells me it is not rare

especially around Mahasu. It isa quick-flying insect, and flits about flowering

shrubs in the open and is noticeable when present, so it should not ordinarily be

missed. Flies both summer and autumn elsewhere.

634 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

* 241. Baoris mathias mathias. Fabricius.

(Ev. I. 115 (6); Hesp. Ind. 35).

_ A very common insect of the plains. Neither Evans nor I got it in Simla but

it is certain to occur at lower elevations and should be looked for among the

shrubs and small trees which clothe the low hills near Kalka. It is on the wing

at all times except the very cold months.

242. Baoris discreta himalaya. Evans.

(Ev. I. 115 (20) ; Rev. Oriental Hesp. p. 282).

Though not usually rare where found, I have not seen many in the Simla

region. Like most of the other species of Baorés, it frequents shrubs and flowers

and flies most of the year. I fancy that anyone who keeps a sharp look-out for

butterflies of the genus wiil find it is more common than might be imagined.

243. Baoris guttatus guttatus. Bremer and Grey.

(Ey. 21528) 391 Hesp: tnd2ai):

Baoris guttatus bada. Moore.

Two very slightly differentiated races of the common guttatus, the former

_ being the hill variety found above about 2,000 ft. while dada keeps to the plains.

In Simla, guttatws does not seem to fly much before the rains, but is common

after. It flits like a little brown speck about and across gardens but often settles

on flowers and can easily be taken. Bada will probably be found round Kalka

and Ambala.

244. Baoris zelleri colaca. Moore.

(Ev. I. 115 (30); Hesp. Ind. 43).

Also common in the plains generally, but does not seem to extend much into

the hills. I have taken only one specimen in Simla, but it should be more

prolific in the country at the foot of hills. Its habits and seasons are like the

preceding species.

245. Baoris bevani bevani. Moore.

(Ev. I. 115 (31) ; Hesp. Ind. 44).

Also of similar habits and seasons, but far more frequently met with in the

hills. J got several in my garden in October one year.

* 246. Gegenes nostradamus. Fabricius.

(Byv..1. 1163 WHesp: Ind.39):

A common but, judging by the few one gets hold of, a very elusive little

butterfly. Neither Evans nor I ever caught any in and around Simla; but it

is found all over the Punjab plains and I have it from below Dalhousie and one

from Almora so that it will probably be found in the low valleys.

1 dup ei ae i ln aa

THE STUDY OF INDIAN BIRDS.

HucuH WHISTLER, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.

Part IX.

(With a plate and a text-figure.)

(Continued from page 324 of this volume.)

THE REPRODUCTION OF BIRDS.

The Bog:

There are many aspects to the study and interest of Birds and

their lives; but it is quite safe to say that by far the most popular is

that of their eggs. There is something peculiarly attractive about

an egg itself. It is so clean and neat an object. It is often surpri-

singly beautiful, even apart from the perfect setting of its nest. To

search for nests is to combine the pleasures of nature and of sport.

A day’s bird-nesting is a day spent in the open air. The careful

search and the patient watching necessary for more than a mere

occasional success brings one in touch with every aspect of nature.

Exercise and pleasure and interest are all combined. Whilst the

attainment of the specially coveted eggs may imply all the care and

skill, the extended expeditions and the actual dangers of which the

sportsmen’s trophies too are only the symboi and memento.

The egg appeals also to the orderly mind of the born collector. A

collection of eggs like a collection of stamps affords an outlet for all

his instincts of neatness and acquisition. He is abie to blow the egg

neatly, label it neatly and arrange it with loving care and precision.

The amassing of a large number is within the means of the most

moderate income. The infinite varieties found in a single species

provide an excuse alike for wholesale depredations and extreme

specialisation.

It is therefore eminently pardonable, to use Professor Newton’s

words, for the victims of this devotion to dignify their passion by the

learned name of ‘ Oology’, and to bespeak for it the claims of a

science. Though there can be little doubt that the study of Ooiogy

has not conferred benefits on scientific Ornithology at all com-

mensurate with the number of its votaries and the time which they

have spent on it.

However that may be, we are here concerned with the egg chiefly

as an item in the story of the reproduction of birds.

We have already seen that one of the characteristics which Birds

retain from their reptilian ancestry is the fact that they are oviparous,

that is, produce their young through the medium ofeggs. Theeggs

of many present-day reptiles are essentially the sarne as the eggs of

birds, though the majority of them have not attained to quite the

same degree of development in the formation of hard sheils. The

number of eggs laid in the clutch has with development decreased

amongst birds.

636 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISd. SOCIETY. WWols XCex/

Before describing the egg itself it is desirable to describe briefly

the reproductive organs of the parents and give a brief summary of

the development of the egg.

In both sexes of a bird the reproductive organs are situated against

the upper wall of the abdominal cavity at the anterior end of the

pelvis. This corresponds roughly to what in ourselves we should

describe as the small of the back or the region of the kidneys.

In both sexes the organs consist of paired germ-producing

glands and their efferent ducts, but it will be most convenient to

consider the sexes separately.

In the male the testes are a pair of whitish-yellow glands,

oval, globular or occasionally kidney-shaped or vermiform

which lie at the anterior end of the kidneys. Within each testis

there is a multitudinous multiplication of germ-cells from which the

spermatazoa pass into a convoluted body known as the epididymis

and thence into the main duct the vas deferens,1 a narrow tube

which extends along the inner wall of tne abdominal cavity to the

cloaca or vent. The ends of the two vasa deterentia are often

slightly dilated to form seminal vesicles, that is store-chambers for

the spermatazoa. The vas deferens is typically of a slightly zigzag

character.

These parts of the male reproductive system should be clear after

reference to the illustration (Fig 1). lt must be understood that,

except in the Ratitee and certain other forms such as the Coracide

and some of the ducks, the male bird has no penis. The end of the

cloaca has to act for it:

During the breeding season, these organs, which at other times are

very minute in size, become greatly enlarged. The testes in the

House-Sparrow (Passer domesticus), for instance, grows from the size

of a minute pin’s head to that of a ground-nut, temporarily even

displacing the usual arrangement of the intestine, liver and stomach.

The two testes are then often rather different in size, and also some-

times in shape. ‘The vasa deterentia, also increase considerably in

length, the extra length forming a closely convoluted mass round the

eitrance to the cloaca, causing it to protrude and in some dried skins

to assume a character and shape which lead to much misunder-

standing.

In the female bird a pair of ovaries are developed in the same

position as the testes of the male. With rare exceptions, however,

the right ovary dwindles and disappears at an early stage of growth.

The known exceptions are chiefly amongst the birds of prey and an

example of the presence of a double set of ovaries will be easily

found by any one who troubles to dissect the female of the Indian

Shikra (Astur badius). It is not known why the right ovary should

disappear in most species, or why it should be retained in the few

exceptions. It does not appear to function and even when it remains

the right oviduct remains quite vestigial.

The ovary consists of a mass of embryonic eggs, several hundred

in number which may be described as presenting the appearance of a

minute cluster of grapes.

1 Care must be taken to distinguish the vas deferens from the ureter which

lies parallel with it.

JOURN. BomBay Nat. Hist. Soc.

Seminal — — Semcnal

vesicle ;

Fig 4

MALE ORGANS oF

A BIRD.

(enlavged a lhe

Kidney { i Hy) Kidney

| if \ Funnel | moulk

of oviduch

Oviduct

Uvever

Rude menYavy

Oviduck

\ ,

a) End of Oviduck

Cloaca ov

Vewl.

Fig. z

FEMALE ORGANS

oF &

BiQAD.

(erlavged m We

breeding Season).

THE STUDY OF INDIAN BIRDS 637

The oviduct is a gut-like tube which passes from the neighbour-

hood of the ovary down to the left side of the cloaca. Its upper end

is wide and trumpet-shaped, free in structure but in position pressed

against the ovary. The lower end enters the cloaca close to its

external entrance. (Fig. 2).

As in the male the female organs increase tremendously in size

with the breeding season. The ovary which at other times may

appear to the naked eye as a mere indistinct film with no granular

structure becomes a big bunch of eggs in every stage of development

from a microscopic object to a full-grown ripe ovum with a large

amount of yolk. -So with the oviduct.. In the common Fowl,

according to Gadow, the oviduct is normally six or seven inches long

and scarcely a line wide; but at the time of laying eggs it becomes

more than two feet in length and nearly half an inch in width. Its

volume thus increases about 50 times, and this is an annual change

with all wild species.

It is clear from the fact that both male and female organs

lie dormant for part of the year and then exhibit a huge seasonal

enlargement ; that birds cannot indulge in coition and breed just when

the fancy takes them. ‘Their breeding is necessarily a seasonal

affair, dependant on the development of the organs which must arise

from either external or rhythmic stimulus. This stimulus, obscure

in origin though it may appear to be, acts so far as we know on

each sex separately.

If an observer in the Kashmir valley in spring makes a systematic

collection of a series of starlings (Sturnus v. humet) which have

returned there for breeding he will find that the males have the testes

fully developed at the time when the female ovaries only show a

slight enlargement.

At first thought one is inclined to think that this implies that

stimulus from the male awakens the female. It is not so however.

The male and female organs both awaken in response to a common

external stimulus. The male however develops the more quickly

because his function is required in the early stages of the eggs,

before they have enlarged enough to bring the ovary to its

maximum.

Being now, I hope, familiar on broad lines with the reproductive

organs of both sexes we can proceed to consider the process leading

up to the production of the perfect egg.

As any observer may see for himself the union of a pair of birds—

insemination as it should properiy be called—is a very brief affair, a

matter of seconds usually. The purpose is of course the transference

of the spermatazoa from the male to the female, but fertilization

cannot be said to have taken place until the spermatozoa meet the

ova themselves.

I am not competent to describe the minute and obscure processes

invoived in the reproduction of the young bird; but put briefly and

generally, it is something like this.

The ovum (the female germ) and the spermatozoom (the male

germ) each contain nuclear rods known as chromosomes. These

are the vehicles of the hereditary equipment of the bird and they are

set aside in the earliest stage of embryonic development, so that one

638 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

may almost say that the ‘hereditary formula’ which makes the bird

passes direct from generation to generation independent of the life

history of the individuals. (It 1s on this fact that ali the controversies

as to the inheritance of hereditary and acquired characteristics hang.)

In the ovum (while still in the ovary) and in the spermatozoon, these

chromosomes divide as part of their normal maturation, and fertiliza-

tion consists of the reunion of the chromosomes, half from the male

germ and half from the female germ, to form again the complete

unity which is then gradually clothed anew in a fleshly envelope, a

fresh unit or segment of the generations which are the vehicle for

the ‘hereditary formula’. The mother body no doubt provides

much of the raw material which forms the envelope, but it is clear

from the fact that each parent provides half the chromosomes, how

intimately and how subtly the young creature has exactly half its

essential self from each parent.

The spermatozoa of birds are not similar in appearance for all

species. They are of course exceedingly minute—it is said that

a hundred can swim about in a drop of fluid suspended by the head

of a pin—and they consist of three parts, a head, a centre and a long

tail. The head contains the chromosomes. ‘The centre contains

a minute body called the centrosome. ‘The tail is purely locomotive

in purpose.. Its moves drive the head. along. It is in the

nature of typical spermatozoa to move against a current. After

insemination the spermatozoa left by the male in the cloaca of the

female move, driven by their long tails, up the slight downward

current of secretion in the female oviduct until they meet the ova.

This may apparently be either in the mouth of the oviduct or in the

ovary itself.

To return for the moment to the question of the ova. With the

beginning of the breeding season the immature ova on the surface of

the ovary start to accumulate yolk, that is nutritive fatty material

which is brought to them by the blood and the lymph. ‘They start

irregularly so that many different sizes of immature eggs may be

seen in the ovary. ‘Then as an egg ripens it bursts from the capsule

in which it grew and is caught by the trumpet-shaped mouth of the

oviduct. At this stage either before, or generally after, the bursting

of the capsule the egg is fertilized by the spermatozoa. If fertiliza-

tion does not take place the egg may go through its normal develop-

ment and be laid, all to no purpose. Or undeveloped and unfertilized

eggs may be reabsorbed into the parent tissues and the ovary dwindles

again until the new season again ripens the ova.

When the spermatozoon reaches the ovum its head pierces the

envelope of the ovum and carries within it the chromosomes and

the centrosome. The locomotor tail, having accomplished its

purpose, is shed without as waste matter. The centrosome divides

and becomes the centres of great protoplasmic activity, in other

words become the stimulus to the growth of the embryo. The

chromosomes, half of the male complement, unite with the present

half of the female complement. ‘The total is once more complete

and the ‘ hereditary formula’ (as I have called it to express in one

both an idea and an entity) is fulfilled again ready to hand on through

the next generation. Once a spermatozoon has entered an ovum,

TILE SEU PY OF INDIAN BIRDS 639

the outer surface of the ovum changes in character so that it becomes

non-receptive tothe entry of fresh spermatozoa. If this change is

delayed, fresh spermatozoa may enter, and in some cases lead to the

birth of monstrosities, by disturbing the work of the original

centrosome.

We will now follow the history of the fertilized ovum. It burst

from its capsule, we have seen, because of the pressure exerted by

the continued accumulation of yolk and consequent increase in size.

Occasionally the liberated egg may miss the oviduct and fail into the

abdominal cavity. In that case it is usually reabsorbed by the

_ peritoneal surfaces, though occasionally, and doubtless only if the

bird is not in vigorous condition, a fatal disturbance is caused to the

system. Normally however the egg is caught up by the trumpet-

shaped mouth of the oviduct whose position with reference to the

ovary generally ensures success.

In the oviduct the ovuin or germ-cell becomes the egg as we know

it. It is not necessary here to describe the oviduct or its processes

in great detail. Suffice it to, say that as the ovum passes slowly

downwards, it is surrounded by various instalments of albumen (white

of egg): it is surrounded by a shell-membrane and a calcareous

shell ; the shell is usually stained with pigments before it is finally

set ; and the manner of the deposition of these pigments, that is the

markings of the perfect egg, afford some hint as to the order and

time when they are laid on to the shell. The fact that the egg

travels downwards with the broad end first explains why most eggs

have the majority of their markings at that end and why a cap ora

zone is so common a type of marking. Finally the perfect egg is

expelled from the oviduct and through the vent and is henceforth

separate from the body of the parent.

We are accustomed to attach a great deal of importance to the

actual laying of the egg, and naturally so. At this point the egg

appears in human ken. At this point it becomes of importance

to the human being, whether as a matter of food or of interest.

But strictly speaking, this stage is not of the same importance

to the embryo itself. We have got to hold to the idea of one

straight line of development starting with the maturation of

the ovum in the oviduct and leading through an infinity of phases to

the adult bird. The mysterious rhythm of life prepares the ovum

ready for this line of Gevelopment. The impetus to the start is

furnished by the spermatozoon. Without it the matured ovum fades

away again. With it the embryo unfolds like a plant froin the seed.

At the start it is housed in the ovary, then in the oviduct, then in the

shelled egg, then in the nest ; the finai stages to maturity are passed

as a complete bird. But we have to remember that the stage which

is passed by the embryo in the shelled egg is no whit the more

important to the embryo from the fact that its coffer then becomes,

from utilitarian or esthetic uses, of interest to the human being. To

emphasize this, we have only to remember the case of the snakes and

lizards. Some are oviparous and others viviparous, that is to say,

the egg case may break within or without the body of the parent.

Their whole clutch is often laid at one time, or at any rate in

batches,

640 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. “SOCIETY, Vol XO

_We attach a false importance to the egg, we are apt to consider it

as the starting point of the embryo, for one very good reason. At

this point nature usually applies the brake, and we witness the

restarting. ;

Each egg is laid after an interval of 24 hours on the average.

Occasionally the period is shorter. In some species the interval is

48 hours. The clutch of eggs is often quite large, say 12 or 14 eggs.

The growth of a young bird is in its early stages particularly rapid.

It is easy to see therefore that if each embryo continued its progress

unbroken the safety of part of the brood would be greatly endan-

gered. In cases of a large clutch—the long-tailed Tits of the

genus 4:g7tthalus for instance—some of: the eggs would -be still

unhatched whilst the young from the earlier eggs would be almost

ready to fly. The labour to the parents would be greatly increased

and either the oldest or the youngest members of the brood would

of certainty suffer and probably be lost.

Originally in the ancestrai bird no doubt there was no halt in the

development. The egg was laid ,in the herbage and rotting

vegetation of the steaming primeval world and the incubation of the

embryo proceeded unchecked by the transfer from the maternal body

to the outer world. The same thing continues to-day, as we have

seen, in the case of the Megapodes who immediately bury their

egg deep in the mound of sand and vegetation and so retain its

initial warmth.

The case of the Megapodes is however exceptional. The general

rule is for the egg to be laid in the open and so experience a definite

drop in temperature from the body heat of the mother. This drop

in temperature retards the development of the embryo, just as allthe

functions of a hybernating butterfly or dormouse remain in abeyance

during a fallin the temperature. If the drop is too low or too long

the embryo must perish. A few families such as the Owls (St77gzde)

and the Herons and Bitterns (A7dezd@) are accustomed to start to

incubate with the laying of the first egg. The result is that in these

cases there is no gap in the development of cach embryo. The

young in the nest are found in regular gradations of size, and

their habits are such that no particular injury is inflicted on the

broods, or trouble given to the parents by the different ages of

the young. In these forms the character of the food and the

comparative ease with which it is obtained, probably contributes to

success.

The vast majority of birds, however, pay little attention to the

nest or eggs until the clutch is complete. The newly-laid egg cools

to the air-temperature. The embryo becomes torpid and all

development is arrested. With the completion of the clutch the

parent starts to incubate eggs in which the embryonic development

has all been arrested at the same stage. The resulting nestlings

all hatch about the same time, are of the same apparent age, and

leave the nest about the saine time. When they fledge and leave

the vicinity of the nest, the parent is free to continue with them

and often remains with them for a considerable period.

It may be of interest to describe the structure of the newly-laid

egg (Fig. 3). Popularly we talk of the yolk, the white, the inner

TPE STODY OF INDIAN, BIRDS, 641

skin and the shell of anegg. These must be considered in greater

aetail,

Nuelevs ay

Gevminal disk.

YourwK

Cen bral Cove of

Rav shace Wh Ve y okk :

Chal

Chalazae ) Seok

WI eer |

SOE No rN E: ees / Velrallt we Memirvane

. dete eg ce

Albumen

— Shell memWanes

Fig. 1. Sketch of egg with shell removed.

The yolk consists of two different textures, known as‘ white yolk’

and ‘yellow yolk’ (though both of them are really yellow in colour).

The white yolk contains a higher percentage of water. Reference

to the figure will show that there is a central core of white yolk,

funnel-shaped, and surrounded by yeilow yolk in which there are

alternating layers of the white yoik. On the top of the disk of the

funnel core lies the nucleus or germinal disk of blastoderm out of

which the embryo is to be developed. It is to be remarked that the

yolk as a whole turns about within the egg so as to keep the

germinal disk uppermost, whichever side the egg is lying on, so that

it is nearest to the warmth of the incubating mother. This explains

why the good poultry-keeper turns daily the eggs which are being

kept for a setting, in order to insure that the yolk should retain its

mobility against the time of need. The yolk with the germinal disk

is contained within a vitelline membrane which is really the cell-wall

of the original ovum dilated to contain the addition of the yolk which

it received in the ovary.

The white or albumen is added in the oviduct. It consists

of alternating dense and watery layers which give it a spiral

arrangement. Some of the denser layers near the vitelline

membrane extend as twisted cords (chalazoe) towards the two poles

of the egg. They do not quite reach the outer layer of the white

though the chord at the pointed end ultimately becomes somewhat

superficially attached to the lining membrane of the shell. These

chalazce are elastic supports for the yolk and suspend it in position.

The complete egg thus constituted is enclosed in the shell-membrane

which consists of an inner and outer layer, both of which remain

permanently in close apposition over the greater part of the egg and

adhere to the shell. At the broad end they tend to separate

and develop an air-chamber between them. ‘This air-chamber does

642 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

not exist in a perfectly fresh egg but is produced and increases as the

bulk of albumen decreases by evaporation. This air-chamber

explains why an incubated egg floats. The shell is finally deposited

on the shell-membrane as a mamillary and porous layer, which in

most species has also an outer cuticular layer. This outer layer is

the most variable part of the shell and is responsible for the

differences of texture which we find duly chronicled in all descriptions

of eggs. It is apparently structureless; if it is poor in calcine salts

the egg is very smooth and shiny. If it is greatly infiltrated

with calcareous matter we get the rough and chalky eggs ofthe -

cormorants (Phalacrocorax) and Grebes (Podiceps). In some forms

it is entirely absent. This outer cuticle is spread over the entire

surface of the egg, extending unbroken over and into the pits (or

surface ends of the air-canals in the main shell) and therefore closing

them. When dry, the cuticle is permeable by air, when wet, im-

permeable. The poultry-keeper who uses ‘ water-glass’ to preserve

his eggs is therefore merely keeping out the air bya sterilized

layer of water and so arresting the ordinary process of decay.

The actual colour of the egg is produced by pigment-corpuscles,!

which may be deposited in various levels of the shell. The pigments are

deposited by the oviduct during the formation of the shell and cuticle

and they may be deposited according to species in any or every strata.

The colour in the innermost layer may not be visible until the blown

shell is held up to the light. As the colour and pattern of the egg

are deposited by secretions from the oviduct, it is not curious that

there is distinct resemblance between the eggs of one clutch and the

various Clutches laid by an individual bird. The poorly-marked and

pale egg so often found in a clutch is usually either the first egg

(before the pigment secretions are fully working) or the last (when

they are becoming exhausted).

I do not propose to discuss the varied colours of eggs in detail.

These my readers can supply from their owa experience. But it is

well perhaps to emphasize a few general points. Firstly, there is no

connection at all between the colour of a bird and of the egg which

it lays. Secondly, there is very little taxonomic significance in the

colours and patterns of eggs. Wemay attribute a certain type of

egg to a particular family and then find that such a description

might almost equally apply to the eggs of a totally different group.

I have already pointed out that it is probable that ali eggs are

derived from an original white or pigmentless egg similar to those

laid by some reptiles to-day ; and I think it is correct to consider that

with eggs and nestlings there is a great deal to be said for the theory

of protective colouration. With eggs it would have had two active

stimulants. First of all, as we have seen, a white egg is a most

conspicuous object in the open and colouration and markings must

undoubtedly tend to an increase of safety. Whilst at the same

time we must remember that light in excess is inimical to protoplasm.

Pigment in the shell must therefore also be of importance in protect-

ing the germinal disk from direct light.

* This subject has not yet been fully investigated and very little is really

known about it,

THE STUDY OF INDIAN BIRDS 643

It is customary to point to the fact that most hole-breeding species

lay white eggs as proof that the original egg was white. It is

certainly an indirect proof, but we must also remember that as much

development has gone to the making of the highly glazed eggs of the

Woodpeckers and Bee-eaters as to the protectively-coloured eggs of

the Nightjars and Sandgrouse. In such cases the need has perhaps

been conspicuousness, so that the parent bird entering the hole may

readily distinguish the eggs and so avoid accidents.

There are a few points of interest.

Abnormal eggs are common and they are most usual in domesti-

cated birds, especially fowls, where unsatisfactory conditions of food

and environment or over-production of eggs and consequent strain

affects the normal action ofthe oviduct. A ‘ soft-shelled’ egg is due

usually to lack of sufficient calcareous matter. A dwarf egg is due to

various causes. The ovum may have been liberated from the

ovary prematurely and so have not received its proper allowance of

yolk. There may be some pathological condition of the oviduct

which means that the dwarf egg is its Jast product. In other cases

a blob of albumen without an ovum, a blood clot or some foreign

body passes through the oviduct stimulating its functions and

resulting in the production of a miniature but functionless egg.

- Double- and very rarely triple-yolked eggs occur. A double-yolked

egg is due to the liberation of two ova into the oviduct from the

ovary without the usual interval between. Different varieties of

arrangement of such double-yolked eggs are due to the levels within

the oviduct at which the ova coincide. Triple-yoiked eggs are of

course similarly caused. Twins are known to have hatched from

double-yolked eggs. |

We may remark here on the explanation of the increase in the

comb of domesticated hens at the time of egg-laying, asa similar

phenomenon must occur in many wild birds. The increase of the

comb is due to a fatty infiltration of the central connective tissue

core of the comb. When this fat is decreased, the comb again

dwindles. At egg-laying periods the blood is charged with fatty

material which provides the yolk for the ova. The excess of this is

deposited in the comb and probably also has some connection with

the change of colour of the soft parts of many species during the

breeding season.

Mention must also be made of the unconscious power which many

birds undoubtedly have of regulating the number of eggs laid. Not

much is known about this but the common Wryneck (/yzx torguzlla)

which normally lays some 6 to 10 eggs has in England been induced

to lay upwards of 40 eggs. This is done by the simple method of

abstracting an egg fromthe nest daily during the laying period so

that the clutch isnever completed. These extra eggs would normally

never have been laid. We believe that the converse also obtains,

that eggs which normally would have been laid on a certain date are

delayed or even suppressed when the destruction of the nest, abnor-

mal weather or other circumstances render it desirable. The fact is

certainly well-known to the poultry-farmer. Runner-ducks at the full

height of daily laying immediately stop in response to some sudden

change in their surroundings.

644 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Connected with the egg is the so-called ‘incubation patch’ on

the parent birds.

The incubation patch is a bare patch of skin, often of considerable

extent, on the under surface of the incubating bird. It reaches its

greatest development in the female but is also found to alesser extent

in those males which share the work of incubation. One is apt

to think loosely that the patch is due to the attrition of the feathers

from contact with the eggs or that they are plucked off by the parent.

This however is not so. The patch often starts before the eggs are

actually laid and it is due to a local moult which is induced by

a physiological factor. This is a very definite transformation locally

of the skin and blood vessels. The blood vessels increase whilst the

skin becomes loose-meshed and watered from an absence of the fatty

layer and an escape of the blood serum from the vessels into

the tissues. The result is a local inflammation which concentrates

body heat on the eggs. In most species the patch is a single Jarge

central one, but in the Waders there are two lateral patches. It is

noteworthy that that aberrant Wader, the Crab-Plover (Dromas

ardeola) has these two lateral patches although it only lays a

single egg.

Journ., Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

10 11 12

Explanation of Plate.

Anal appendages of

1. Cocliccia fraseri seen from the left side.

2. Coeliccia poungy1, same view.

3. Coeliccia loogali, same view.

4. Coeliccia chromothorax, dorsal view.

5. Coveliccia loring@, dorsal view.

6. Coeltccia renifera, dorsal view.

7. Coeliccia poungyi dorsal view.

8. Coeliccia loogali, dorsal view.

9. Coeliccia chromothorax, seen from the left side.

10. Coeliccia renifera, seen from the left side.

11. Coeliceia didyma, seen from the left side.

12. Coeliccia fraseri, dorsal view.

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES

BY:

F. C. FRASER, LT.-COL., I.M.S., F.E.S.

Part XXXIX.

(With I plate and 1 text-figure.)

(Continued trom page 341 of Volume XXXV.)

Sub-family : PLATYCNEMINAE.

Forewing of Cueliccia membranipes (Ramb) to illustrate the venation of the

Platycneminae.

Dragonflies of smal! size, coloured black marked with blue or bright chrome

yellow, or red or chrome yellow marked with black, or black marked with red,

never metallic: resting with wings closed over dorsum; wings narrow, rounded at

apices, always hyaline; the nervure 4c situated about midway between the levels

of the two antenodal nervures or ratber nearer the level of the distal one: no

accessory basal postcostal nervures ever present: petiolation beginning at or

slightly distad the level of Ac ; the nervure Ad always present and continuous

with the nervure /A, which latter extends to the middle or beyond the middle of

wings ; Cvzz well developed and extending a short distance beyond the end of

IA; discoidal cell variable but always elongate, the distal end slightly

bevelled or squared, the costal side of discoidal cell shorter than or of the same

length as the posterior; sectors of arc arising from lower end of arc, divergent

from their origins; individual cells mostly four-sided; origin of Azv + v

variable in the genera and species, either arising before, at or more or less

distad the level of the oblique nervure descending from the node; pterostigma

diamond-shaped, rather longer than broad, usually braced ; no intercalated

sectors present except /A72,

Abdomen of moderate length, slender or moderately robust, falling well short

of twice the length of hindwing, the segments 8, 9, and 10 becoming progres-

sively shorter in all genera and species ; anal appendages of male showing great

‘variation both in the genera and individual species, but very homogeneous

in some of the geaera such as Coeltecta and Calicnemis. Vulvar scales

robust but not as conspicuous as in the Platystictine ; penile organ very varia-

ble but usually with the end curling up over the stem and more or less branched

at its termination.

Larvee known of only a few species and very variable ; breeding in streams

or swamps and usually in heavy virgin jungle.

Listribution.—Throughout the tropics of the Old World, and, for at least one

genus, the temperate zones of Europe and Asia. Within our limits, throughout

India, Ceylon and Burma, usually in montane and submontane tracts, but all

genera except Copera confined to N.-E. India and Burma. Platycnemts

however occurs sparingly in the North and North-west of India. Five genera

occur within our limits,

646 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Key to the Indian genera of Platycneizinae.

Costal side of discoidal cell at least one-fifth shorter

1 than the posterior, usually more than this coe 2s

: Costal and posterior sides of discoidal cell nearly equal

in length a ae ie% oo Copera.

9 The nervure 46 arising at the level of Ac Se Cueliccia,

; The nervure 4é arising proximad of the ievel of Ac. 3

( Four cells between the discoidal cell and the oblique

nervure descending from the node... e Indocnemis.

Boney Three cells between the discoidal cell and the obliqu

: nervure descending from the node... ae Calicnemis:

| Only two cells between the discoidal cell and th

L oblique nervure descending from the node aa Platycnemis,

Genus CoEliccia Kirby (1890).

Trichocnemts Selys, Sagra, Hist, Cuba, Ins. p. 464 (1857); Id. Bull. Acad.

Belg. (2). xvi. p. 195. (1863))5 sld.“"Mem. Cour xxviii

p. 114, (1886); Laid. Fascic. Malay. (Odonata) Part ii,

pp. 2-7 (1907).

Coeliccia Kirby, Cat. Odon. p. 128 (1890); Laid. Rec. Ind. Mus. vol. xiii,

pp. 322,325,331-333 (1916); Ris: (Suppl. “Ent. No. 1. pp.

60-62, (1912).

Zygopterous dragonflies of medium size and slender build with abdomen less

than twice the length of hindwings; coloured black marked with blue, yellow

or bright chrome yellow. Wings hyaline, moderately narrow, rounded at

apices, never falcate, with a moderately long petiole ; discoidal cell elongate,

costal side about four-fifths or slightly less than four-fifths the length of

posterior side, distal side at least half as long again as basal and very oblique

so that the cell is acutely pointed at its lower distal angle ; sectors of arc slightly

separate at origin, arising from lower end of arc, divergent from origin ; no

accessory basal postcostal nervure present ; the nervure 4c situated at a level

slightly nearer the distal antenodal nervure ; Aé always present and complete,

continued on as JA, which latter extends for nearly three-fourths the length of

wings ; petiolation beginning slightly proximal to Ac; Cuii extending a short

distance beyond the end of /A, 20 cells or more in Jength; Azv+v arising a

little proximal to level of node, 7/777 a little distad but the position of these two

latter very variable in species; pterostigma small, its sides nearly equal,

oblique and diamond-shaped, poorly braced ; cells of wings mainly quadrangu-

lar ; 2 or 3 cells between the discoidal cell and nervure descending from the node.

Head narrow; eyes smaller than in species of Platysticta ; occiput simple ;

prothorax with the posterior lobe rounded and simple in the male, notched or

armed with elongate spines in the female; abdomen cylindrical, slim, broad-

ened at extreme base and gradually broadening from segment 7 to the end, about

one-third longer than the wings ; anal appendages variable in the species but

inclined to be rather homogeneous, superiors usually broad at base, acute at

apex and furnished with an inner subapical spine, inferiors longer than superi-

ors, broad at base, abruptly tapered and subcylindrical, slightly sinuous,

subacute or acute at apex. Genitalia.—lamina narrowly but deeply cleft;

hamules broad quadrate plates meeting broadly across the genital pit; penis

with apical end curling strongly over stem of organ and with the end variable,

deeply cleft, bifid or branched ; lobe pyriform, short, with a shallow longitu-

dinal groove running its whole length; vulvar scales robust, stout, extending

slightly beyond end of abdomen.

Distribution.—N.E. India, Burma, Malaysia, Indo-China, Formosa, Philip-

pines, Sondaic Archipelago and Borneo. Only nine species found within Indian

limits, of which five occur in Assam, and the others in Burma. Genotype.—

C. membranipes (Ramb.).

Laidlaw has divided the genus up into three groups according to the relative

positions of Az7/+v and /Az7z to the subnode. In the lst group, /A7z2 arises at

the subnode, Aiv+v proximal to it; in the 2nd, A722 arises distal and Azv+v

proximal to it ;.in the 3rd, 7/772 arises distal to the subnode and Azz +v from it,

Most Indian species belong to the first and second groups.

LNDIAN DRAGONFLIES

647

Key to Indian species of genus Coeliccia.

( Dorsum of thorax wholly blue

Dorsum of thorax wholly golden yellow a

Dorsum of thorax with a single pair of oval

pale blue spots

Dorsum of thorax with two pairs of pale blue spots

Dorsum of thorax with a pair of antehumeral stripes

Dorsum of thorax pale blue for the lower half

and the basal two-thirds of segment 9 pale blue

C. poungyt Fras.

C. chromothorax

(Selys).

C, bimaculata Laid.

C. renitera (Selys).

C. didyma (Selys).

Lower pair of spots broad and branching into two

above; segment 10 blue marked broadly with

black ‘at apical border ; segment 9 wholly blue ;

segment 8 with its apical half blue ...

( Antehumeral stripes lying nearer the humeral suture

3 : thanimiddotsal carina’ ;.. 4,

"| Antehumeral stripes lying closely opposed | to the

{ middorsal carina G07 @Se7-2 eaics

( Posterior lobe of prothorax of female simple C. loogali Laid.

| Posterior lobe of prothorax of female pr olonged

4.+ and deeply and broadly notched, the corners of

| the notch prolonged into long recurved horns as

\ seen in profile... =

(

{ Lower pair of spots simple, pyriform ; segment 10

2.4

C. loringae Laid.

C. vacca Laid.

Coeliccia bimaculata Laid.

Coeliccia bimaculata Laid. Rec. Ind. Mus. vol.

(1914) ; Id. ibid. vol.

(1930);

Male. Abdomen 36mm. Hindwing 22 mm.

Head,—labium pale yellow ; labrum black ; anteclypeus, gene and the bases

of mandibles partly blue; postclypeus, frons and vertex black, the latter

traversed at the level of ocelli by a broken pale blue stripe ; occiput with pale

yellowish pyriform postocular spots.

Prothorax black, the sides palest blue or creamy white.

Thorax black on dorsum, palest blue laterally, the former with a pair of oval

pale blue spots lying in close apposition to the anterior half of the middorsal

carina ; a narrow oblique black stripe on each side bordering the mesepimeron

anteriorly ; beneath creamy white.

Legs palest yellow, femora with two black stripes, tibiz black on flexor

surface only, joints and cilia black.

Wings hyaline; pterostigma blackish brown. framed palely in brown, its

proximal border very oblique, covering 1 cell ; Azv+v arising proximal to the

subnode, /A7z7z at the subnode; 18 to 20 postnodal nervures in forewings, 17 to

18 in the hind.

Abdomen dark reddish brown on dorsum deepening to black at apical end

of segments and on dorsum of segment 2 and segments 7 ae 10. All segments

pale yellow laterally, this colour extending dorsalwards on 3 to 6 so as to form

paired spots.

Anal appendages creamy white; superiors triangular as seen from above,

deeply excavated within, the inner border ending in a minute black point.

Interiors slightly longer than superiors which are themselves slightly longer than

segment 10, slender, curling in at apices forcipate-like and also ending in a

minute black point at apex.

Penis with a prominent terminal lobe, the apex bifid and ending in a pair of

long whip-like processes.

Female. Abdomen 35mm. Hindwing 23 mm.

Very similar to the male but the blue replaced by creamy white except the

facial markings and lower half of eyes which are blue. Prothorax with black

posterior and anterior lobes, these two areas confluent by a fine middorsal black

line on middle lobe ; posterior lobe with the middle of hinder border prolonged

into a small tongue-like process on either side of which is aminute lobe. (This

lobe evenly convex along the hinder border in the male.)

Ville De Od Din XV15

inikseg va

Sly Pps 3505, SSO (1917,), 5

Id. MS

648 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Dorsal thoracic markings narrow stripes lying close to middorsal carina and

prolonged and narrowing as far as the antealar sinus very much asin C. fraserz.

Segment 8 of abdomen with its apical two-thirds palest yellow, or, in tenerals,

segments 8 to 10 entirely creamy white. Anal appendages and vulvar scales

pale yellow.

Distribution.—Several males and females from Tura, Garo Hills, Assam.

Type, an incomplete male in the Indian Museum, taken at an altitude of 1,500 ft.

June and July. Distinguished from other species by the two oval spots on

thoracic dorsum and by the pale undersurface of thorax.

Coeliccia vacca Laid Rec. Ind. Mus. MSS. (1931).

Female. (Male unknown) Abdomen 36mm. Hindwing 25 mm.

Head,—labium pale yellow, labrum black , anteclypeus, genz and bases of

mandibles pale blue, rest of head black with a chain of four small spots across

the ocellar space and a pyriform postocular spot on eack side of eceIpuc,

eyes black above, greenish for the lower half,

Prothorax with anterior and posterior lobes black, this dark area connected

by a broad median black stripe on middle lobe, the side es pale blue or yellow-

ish, posterior lobe prolonged back as a quadrate lobe, deeply and broadly

notched, the angles of the notch prolonged as two horns which are angulated

strougly forward, and, in profile, are shaped like the horns of an ox.

Thorax black on dorsum, pale blue lateraily and. beneath, the dorsum

marked with a narrow pale blue antehumeral stripe on each side which lies

nearer the humeral suture than the middorsal carina ;:on each side a narrow

oblique black stripe incomplete below, bordering metepimeron.

Legs creamy white, extensor surfaces of femora, the lower or distal half-of

anterior femora on flexor surface and the flexor surface of tibize black.

Wings hyaline , pterostigma black- bordered finely along costal border with

white, covering 1 cell, braced , 19 postnodal nervures in forewings, 17 in the

hind; Azv+v arising at subnode, /Aziz well after it.

Abdomen blackish brown on dorsum, yellowish laterally, the sides of

segment 8 broadly yellow, this colour extending up on to dorsum to meet

above and form a narrow apical annule ; basal half of segment 9 also yellow.

Anal appendages black, conical, short , vulvar scale black, robust.

Distribution.—Tura. Garo Hills, Assam. Only a single specimen of this

curious insect is known, the type, a female in the Indian Museum. Distin-

guished from all other species by the unique development of the posterior lobe

of prothorax.

_ Coeliccia renifera (Selys) (1886)

Trichocnemts renitera Selys, Mem. Cour. xxxviii, p. 119 (1886) , Laid, Fasc.

Malay. (Odonata) part ii, p. 2 (1907).

Trichocnemis didyma Selys, (C. renifera nec JT. didyma) Mem, Cour.

XxXxviii, pp. 118-119 (1886).

Coeliccia renifera Kirby, Cat. Odon. p. 128 (189)), Laid. Rec. Ind. Mus.

vol: xiii, pp. 322,.3325.333: (1917) ; Fras. Journ Bom.

Nat TIiSt 3S 06,, VOW XIX, pad 440923),

Male. Abdomen 33-47 mm. Hindwing 22-23 mm.

Head,—labium pale brown tipped with black , labrum and bases of mandi-

bles steely blue-black, anteclypeus and gene pale sky-blue, postclypeus

glossy black, vertex, occiput and beneath head velvety black, the former

marked with obscure small triangular spots, one between each outer ocellus

and the base of antenne ; a well-defined pale yellow transversely ova! spot on

each side of back of occiput, and a small yellow spot beneath head against the

eyes, the latter olive green below, black at summit.

Prothorax velvety black, unmarked ; posterior lobe rounded, simple.

Thorax velvety black marked with pale blue or pale greenish yellow—a

broad oval-oblong spot on each side the middorsal carina extending about

halfway up the dorsum, narrowly separated from each other by the black

carinal ridge; each side broadly coloured, the anterior two-thirds of the

mesepimeron except the part just beneath the roots of wings, and the whole of

the metepimeron, the whole area narrowly divided by the postero-lateral

suture which is finely black. Beneath entirely black. Soe

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES 649

Legs black on extensor surfaces of femora, and flexor surfaces of tibie,

opposite surfaces of these pale carneous or creamy white; coxe and trochan-

ters yellow anteriorly, black behind.

Wings hyaline ; pterostigma black, finely framed in pale brown and thick

black nervures, braced, covering about 1 cell ; 18 to 20 postnodal nervures in

forewings, 16 to 18 in the hind ; Azv+v arising a short distance proximad tc the

subnode (or in Simla specimens, at the node or a shade before it, and

sometimes in conjunction with J/Azzz), the latter arising at the subnode or

a shade distad to it.

Abdomen black, yellow beneath ; segment 1 with a small lateral pale yellow

spot ; segment 2 with its ventral border broadly pale blue or yellow (according

to age) ; segments 3 to6 with elongate subapical lateral creamy white or pale

bluish spets, remaining segments unmarked.

Anal appendages creamy white, superiors beneath, and inferiors at base

brownish black ; superiors about as long as segment 10, conical and rather

obtuse at apex as seen from above, cigar-shaped as seen from the side and with

a small median black ventral spine ; inferiors one-third as long again as

superiors, broad at base, then cylindrical and curled gently in, their apices

nearly meeting at the midline, sloping strongly up as seen from the side, apex.

obtusely rounded. Penis much broadened anteriorly and shallowly concave,

the apical portion curling strongly over, presenting a small dorsal spine within

the curve, and a small lappet-like lobe on either side just before the apex

bifurcates into short branches which turn directly out at right angles to the body

and end obtusely.

Female. Abdomen 42-46 mm. Hindwing 29-33 mm.

Differs in several respects from the male, the blue markings only present in

very adult specimens, and usually creamy yellow.

Head similar to the male in most respects, differing as follows,—the pale

markings of face pale greenish blue; the small triangular spot on vertex

replaced by a chain of six spots, one in the same situation as that of male and

connected narrowly with a second which extends out to the eye, lastly a third

rounded spot lying between the outer and medial ocelli on each side ; the spot

on the under side of head against the eyes very much larger and broadly

triangular.

Prothorax citron yellow with the whole of anterior lobe black, the middorsal

ridge rather broadly and the hinder border ; the posterior lobe vestigial, only

a lateral rudimentary process on each side.

‘Thorax black on dorsum nearly as far lateral as the anterolateral sinus and

marked with a pair of antehumeral narrow complete bluish green stripes ;

laterally pale blue, or yellow in subadults or tenerals, marked with a very fine

line on the postero-lateral suture ; beneath pale blue or yellow, unmarked.

Legs yellow, all tibia black on flexor surface ; anterior pair of femora with a

black stripe on front and back, confluent at distal end of limb ; hinder two pairs

with this marking much restricted, especially on the hind pair.

Wings as for male, palely enfumed in adults ; 20-21 postnodal nervures in

forewings, 18-19 in the hind ; pterostigma with the pale brown frame much

more in evidence; A7v+v more proximad the subnode, and J//777 always

arising distad of that nervure.

Abdomen blackish brown. black towards the end segments, marked beneath

and laterally, broadly with greenish blue changing to yellow on the end segments,

and laterally and subapically expanding into largish spots ; segment 8 with a

broad apical yellow or bluish-green annule covering nearly half. the segment ;

segment 9 nearly entirely pale blue or bluish-green, its base narrowly, and the

sides broadly black, the black of base prolonged apicad as two submedian

points. Occasionally the yellow annule on 8 narrowly interrupted on the

middorsal carina ; segment 10 brownish black, unmarked.

Anal appendages shorter than segment 10, conical, pointed, black ; vulvar

scales projecting beyond end of abdomen, very robust, bright yellow.

Distribution.— Upper Assam and Bengal, Sikkim and Simla States. The

author has specimens from Darjeeling, Bengal, collected in July; from

Pashoke, British Sikkim, collected in May, and from Gopaldhara, Assam,

collected in September. Also some specimens from Barog, Simla Hills,

5,400 ft. collected in August, these latter being very small and evidently similar

to the specimen described by Selys as from Darjeeling, and determined in error

as C. didyma. The single thoracic dorsal marking and the black underneath

650 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

of thorax are in themselves sufficient to distinguish the insect from C. didyma

which has two spots and a pale blue underside to thorax. These small Simla

specimens do not differ in the slightest, except for size, from the larger forms

from elsewhere. The single blue dorsal spot restricted to the lower half of the

thorax will serve to Getermine this insect.

Coeliccia didyma (Selys) (1863).

Trichocnemis didyma Selys. Bull. Acad. Belg. (2) xvi, p. 155 (1863) ; Id:

(C. rentfera nec didyma Mem. Cour. xxxviii, p. 118

(1886).

Coeliccia didyma Kirby, Cat. Odon. p. 128 (1890) ; Laid. Rec. Ind. Mus.

vol. xtii, pp. 322, 332 and 335° (1917) % Pras’ Jourz:

Bom. Nat. Fizst. ‘Soc., Vol. xxix, “p'.745' (1923); 7 aid

Rec. Ind. Mus. MS. (1931).

Male. Abdomen 40mm. Hindwing 26 mm.

Head labium yellow; labrum and postclypeus steely blue-black, bases of

mandibles, gene and anteclypeus pale sky blue, the former narrowly black at

base ; vertex and occiput velvety black, the former with a small triangular blue

spot on each side lying between the ocelli and antenne, the latter with a pyri-

form elongate pale yellow spot on each side ; beneath head broadly pale blue ;

eyes olive green below, black above.

Prothorax black with a large pale blue spot on each side the middle lobe and

the lower border narrowly ; posterior lobe simple rounded.

Thorax velvety black on dorsum marked with two pyriform elongate ante-

humeral spots on each side the middorsal carina, a lower larger spot extending

nearly halfway up the dorsum, pointed above, and an upper smaller spot

extending from the antealar sinus for about one-fourth the length of dorsum

and pointed below; laterally pale blue, the postero-lateral suture broadly mapped

out in black ; beneath palest blue, unmarked.

Wings hyaline ; pterostigma blackish framed finely in pale brown and thick

black nervures, braced, covering one and a half cells; 18 postnodal nervures

in forewings, 17 in the hind; Azv+v arising a short distance proximad the

subnode, and /Aiiz a similar distance distad that structure ; 4d, especially in

the forewings, arising a short distance distad the level of Ac.

Legs yellow, femora with a black stripe running the whole length of extensor

and flexor surfaces, more extensive on the former, where it is continued on to

the trochanters and coxe ; tibiz black on flexor surface.

Abdomen black on dorsum and sides, pale yellow beneath, the sides of

segment 1 broadly yellow, the lower part of sides of seginent 2 narrowly so; a

linear longitudinal streak of yellow on dorsum of the latter segment, not quite

extending to apical border ; segments 3 to 6 with small paired pale blue baso-

dorsal spots ; segments 7 and 8 entirely black save for a narrow border bluish

on the latter near the ventral surface ; segments 9 and 10 pale blue, but the basal

third of former with a broad annule of black.

Anal appendages livid or pale yellow, the base of superiors and the apices of

inferiors blackish; superiors slightly longer than segment 10, conical and

hollowed out within asseen from the dorsum, narrow at base, with a broad

ventral tooth, tipped with black, and the obtuse apex with a shallow dorsal

notch as seen from the side; in semi-profile view, a fine black spine seen near

the base within ; inferiors slightly longer than superiors, very sinucus as seen

from the side, the apex obtuse, rounded and curled slightly down and

markedly in.

Female unknown.

Distribution.—Described from a specimen from Kedah Peak, Simla States,

3,800 ft. taken by Capt. Cardew, 29-3-1928. ‘The type, in the Selysian collec-

tion is an incomplete male, with end of abdomen missing, locality Thibet.

Subsequently Selys described a small form of C. venzfera, from Darjeeling, as a

male of this species, giving the supposed and completed description of

C. didyma. The female still remains to be discovered. The species is easily

distinguished from al] others by the two pyriform dorsal thoracic spots, pale

blue in colour. C. loringe which is very closely related to it differs by the

“put, eee

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES . 651

lower of the two dorsal spots being broader and deeply bifid along its upper

border and also by the blue markings of abdomen extending well onto segment

8, instead of restricted to the apical half of 9 and segment 10.

Coeliccia loringae Laidlaw (1931).

Celiccia loringe Laid., Rec. Ind. Mus. MS (1931).

Male. Abdomen 42 mm. MHindwing 27 mm.

Head,-labium white: labrum and postclypeus glossy black : bases of mandi-

bles, genze and lateral part of frons and the anteclypeus pale sky-blue; rest of

head velvety black with a small oval spot obscurely blue on each side of vertex

between the lateral ocelli and bases of antennez, and an elongate pyriform post-

ocular spot pale yellow on each side of occiput ; beneath black, eyes bordered

irregular}y with pale blue; eyes olivaceous beneath and at sides, black above.

Prothorax velvety black with a broad border on each side confluent with an

elongate spot on the side of middle lobe, pale sky-blue: posterior lobe simple,

rounded.

Thorax velvety black on dorsum where are seen two large pale sky-blue

spots on each side, a smaller upper spot near the antealar sinus and upper part

of humeral suture, extending slightly less than one-third the length of dorsum,

and a large broad lower spot extending for the lower two-thirds of dorsum,

bordering the middorsal carina inwardly and with a tongue-like projection on

the outer side near the humeral suture, giving a bifid appearance to the spot:

laterally pale sky-blue with the postero-lateral suture narrowly outlined in

black ; beneath palest blue.

Legs white, extensor surfaces of all femora black, as also the distal end of

the flexor surface of hind pair ; tibia black on the flexor surface; tarsi entirely

black.

Wings hyaline; pterostigma blackish brown, paler at margins, covering one

to one and a half cells, strongly braced ; 19 to 20 postnodal cells to forewings,

19 in the hind; Azv+v and /JA772 arising together from the subnode, or /Azzz

slightly distad that nervure ; rarely Azu+v a shade proximad to the subnode.

Abdomen black marked with pale sky-blue as follows: segment 1 broadly

blue at the sides and more narrowly so at apex, the black dorsal spot just reach-

ing that border at a point; segment 2 broadly blue at the sides, and witha

narrow middorsal stripe extending for three-fourths the length of middorsal

carina; segment 3 with a narrow basal annule narrowly interrupted on the

middorsum, and a very broad subapical annule also narrowly interrupted on

the middorsal carina ; this annule confluent with the blue of sides and beneath ;

segments 4 to 6 very similar but the basal annules reduced to two small basal

spots which are gradually reduced in size towards sezgment6; segment 7

similar but the basal spots absent ; segment 8 with a broad blue apical annule

resting on apical border and covering about the apical half of segment, more

so subdorsally ; segment 9 entirely blue, whilst 10 is blue with a large trilobed

black spot on apical border, the middle lobe of spot extending to base of

segment,

Anal appendages pale creamy yellow, exactly similar in shape to those

of C. didyma, except for the basal spine of superiors which is absent. Penis

similar in shape to that of C. didyma, apex very broad and a little sinuous,

very shallowly excavate, curling up over stem of organ and deeply cleft into

two long slim branches whiich curl down and forwards and, at the extreme

apices, again backwards. A strong dorsal spine within the curling arch of

apex.

Female. Abdomen 41mm. Hindwing 27 mm.

Differs in several respects from the male; labrum bright ochre, its base

narrowly black; postclypeus black with a rounded yellow spot on each side ;

bases of mandibles and gene bright yellow; the isolated spots on vertex

replaced by a complete transverse stripe or witha slight interruption at the

middle of head, this stripe very sinuous and traversing vertex between the

ocelli; elongate spots behind eyes bright yellow; bordering of eyes beneath

yellow.

Prothorax black, broadly yellow at the sides and beneath, posterior lobe

reduced to a small median tongue-like projection directed straight back.

Thorax black marked with bright yellow as follows,—a very narrow ante,

humeral stripe on each side of dorsum and atiny upper humeral spot ; the sides

652 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

and beneath all yellow save for a narrow black oblique stripe mapping out the

postero-lateral suture.

Legs yellow, marked similarly to the male but tibiz are entirely yellow, as

also the trochanters and coxe ; tarsi black.

Wings similar to the male in most respects ; pterostigma reddish brown

between black nervures ; 19 to 20 postnodal nervures in forewings, 17 in the

hind; Azv+v slightly proximad the subnode; //777 at a greater distance

distad, but the two arising very close together as in the male

Abdomen black with a bright yellow stripe running the whole length of

sides; segment 3 with a pair of basal subdorsal spots confluent witb this

yellow stripe ; segment 1 broadly yellow, its dorsum with a broad triangular

black spot which reaches apical border at a point only ; segments 2 to 6 with

the niddorsal carina finely yellow ; segment 8 with nearly its apical half bright

ochreous but a small apical dorsal triangle of black with its apex bifid and

directed basad ; segments 9 and 10 wholly bright ochreous.

Anal appendages short, conical, pointed, bright ochreous as well as a

conical protuberance beneath and between them. Vulvar scales ochreous,

extending to end of abdomen:

Distribution.—Upper Burma. The type, in the author’s collection, is from

Gokteik, Upper Shan States; other specimens were taken at Maymyo, Upper

Shan States, Burma, during June and July. The species is only to be con-

founded with C. didyma from which however it is easily distinguished by the

shape of the lower dorsal thoracic spot, by the conspicuous subapical blue

annules on abdomen and by the blue markings at end of abdomen extending

onto segment 8 as well as the whole of segment 9. The origins of Azv+v and

[kRiii are also different and the nodal index is higher.

Coeliccia loogali Laidlaw (1931).

Coeliccia loogali Laid., Rec. Ind. Mus. MS. (1931).

Male. Abdomen 42-43 mm. Hindwing 28 mm.

Head,—labium pale yellow; labrum and postclypeus glossy black, the

latter with a small spot at each side pale sky-blue; bases of mandibles, genz

and outer part of frons pale sky-blue; rest of head black, the vertex with an

obscure triangular spot on each side lying between base of antennz and outer

ocelli, the occiput with a transversely elongate spot on each side behind eyes ;

beneath black broadly pale sky-blue against the eyes; eyes dark olivaceous

green at sides and beneath, black above.

Prothorax black with a broad pale sky-blue stripe on each side below ;

posterior lobe simple, rounded.

‘Thorax velvety black on dorsum to weil beyond level of humeral suture,

marked with a pair of antehumeral pale sky-blue narrow curved stripes with

the convexity facing outwards and extending the whole length of dorsum ; a

small upper humeral spot of the same colour, occasionally quite large, some-

times obsolete; laterally pale sky-blue with a small black spot on the upper

end of the postero-lateral suture and a similar spot below ; beneath pale sky-

blue.

Wings hyaline ; pterostigma blackish grey, in a lighter frame and thick black

nervures, braced, covering one and a half cells ; A7v+v arising well proximad

of the subnode, /A777 slightly after that structure or occasionally opposite it ;

19 to 23 postnodal nervures to forewings, 18 to 19 in the hind.

Legs pale yellow as well as trochanters and coxe, femora lined with black

on extensor surfaces, tibize black on flexor, tarsi black.

Abdomen black on dorsum, pale blue to yellow on lower part of sides

of segments 3 to 6, segment 1 broadly blue on the sides, segment 2 more so

than on the following segments ; remainder black.

Anal appendages deep black as for abdomen, the superiors tipped with

bright yellow at apex and another spot of yellow on apex of ventral spine ;

seen from above, conical with an inner ventral subapical robust spine, giving a

bifid appearance to the apex of appendage, on either side of which groove is

seen the strongly contrasted small yellow spots; inferiors one- fourth longer

than superiors which are about as long as segment 10, tapered, very sinuous and

with apical end turned strongly inward and down. Penis broadly dilated at

upex and rather deeply notched at centre, the end curling strongly over stem

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES 653

of organ and ending in two broad lobes which embrace the stem closely on

either side.

Female. Abdomen 40-41 mm. Hindwing 28 mm.

Differs in but few respects from the male, much less so than in other species

of the genus. Thelabrum broadly bordered with yellow in all but very old

specimens ; the outer spots on the postclypeus yellow and very small or almost

obsolete in adult specimens ; the blue of gene extending inwards across frons

to a greater degree ; a narrow zig-zag transverse stripe across vertex made up

of six small blue spots behind the antennz and linking up the ocelli in a

chain ; blue beneath head more extensive ; prothorax and thorax as for male

but the posterior lobe of former reduced to a tiny median point and a small

outer isolated lobe ; wings entirely similar to the male but palely enfumed in

adults. Abdomen similar to the male except the terminal three segments,—

segment 8 with a broad apical annule yellow covering slightly more than one-

third the length of segment and confluent below with a yellow border ; segment

9 dark reddish brown with the apical border yellow or ochreous gradually

vignetted off into the darker colour ; segment 10 very short, black.

Anal appendages black, conical, rather shorter than segment 10; vulvar

scales robust, yellow tipped with black beneath, extending a little beyond end

of abdomen.

Distribution.—Maymyo, Upper Shan States, Burma, during June and July.

A number of males and three females in the author’s collection. Type and

paratype to be deposited in the British Museum collection. The species is

easily distinguished from others by the curved blue antehumeral stripes on

dorsum of thorax, by the lateral blue spots on postclypeus, by the very black

abdomen of male, almost unmarked, especially the terminal segments, and by

the black anal appendages tipped with two small bright yellow spots. The

female is determined by the lateral spots on postclypeus and the broad

terminal yellow rings on segments 8 and 9 followed by a black unmarked

segment 10.

Coeliccia poungyi Fraser.

Coeliccia poungyt Fraser, Journ. Bom. Nat. Hist. Soc. vol. xxx. pp. 52 and

53 (1926).

Male. Abdomen 43-40 mm. Hindwing 23-25 mm.

Head,—labium black, white at base; labrum, bases of mandibles and lower

half of genz, ante- and post-clypeus glossy black ; upper half of genz palest

blue, this colour encroaching slightly on frons, which is black; vertex and

occiput matt black, the former with two oval spots with their bases on the

posterior ocelli and apex directed.towards the bases of antenne, the latter with

an elongate pyriform creamy yellow spot; beneath head black, narrowly

bluish against the eyes; eyes black above, olivaceous green at sides and

below.

Prothorax velvety black, the lower part of sides pale blue; posterior lobe

rounded, simple.

- Thorax velvety black in the humeral area, pale sky-blue on dorsum and

laterally from about the middle of mesepimeron. Dorsum almost entirely

blue, the middorsal carina finely black, as also the antealar sinus above, and

the small triangular area below in which the carinal ridge ends ; a small upper

humeral spot sometimes present; laterally the postero-lateral suture heavily

mapped out in black; beneath palest blue.

Legs black ; coxee and trochanters posteriorly pale blue.

Wings hyaline; pterostigma black or very dark brown, covering 1 cell,

braced ; 17-18 postnodal nervures in forewings, 16 in the hind ; Azv+v and JRi2z

often arising very close together, the former usually very slightly before the

subnode but occasionally at its level, the latter generally slightly after or rarely

at its level.

Abdomen black; segment 1 with the apical half of its sides pale blue,

extending up along the apical border and nearly confluent over dorsum ;

segment 2 with a narrow longitudinal stripe on each side at the ventral border,

also a natrow linear stripe along the middorsal carina, the latter pale creamy

white ; segment 3 with a pair of small subdorsal bluish spots at base and its

middorsal carina finely yellow, this latter continued for a short distance on to

segment 4; segments 9 and 10 bright chrome yellow.

654 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATORAL AIST. SOCIETY. Vol: 2X

Anal appendages bright yellow ; superiors as long as segment 10, narrow at

base, broadening at middie and again slightly tapered to apex which is bluntly

conical, asmall black- tipped ventral spine just beyond the middle and a smaller

short spine near the base, which is seen with difficulty; inferiors one-third

longer than superiors, broad at base, then ungulate and very sinuous, blunt and

rounded at apices which are curved slightly inwards. Penis differing broadly

from that of other species, very broad at apex which is a little sinuous, the end

curling over strongly and ending in three processes, a median tongue-shaped lobe

directed straight back over stem of organ, and two very thin, long, greatly

curled branches, which curve down like a watch-spring on each side of the

organ.

Female. Abdomen 40mm. Hindwing 26 mm.

Differs rather broadly from the male, the blue markings replaced by bright

ochre. Labium yellow; labrum bright yellow with two large black basal spot,

narrowly joined across the middle; bases of mandibles, gene and a large spot

on each side of postclypeus bright ocherous; the oval spots on vertex replaced

by a continuous transverse and very‘sinuous bright yellow stripe traversing

the vertex between the ocelli; elongate spots behind eyes bright yellow,

beneath eyes almost entirely bluish green.

Prothorax black, broadly yellow on the sides; posterior lobe almost obsolete,

a mere median vestige present.

‘Thorax black on dorsum to nearly as far as the antero-lateral suture, marked

with a narrow bright yellow antehumeral stripe on each side of dorsum ;

laterally and beneath yellow with a short vestige of a narrow black stripe on the

upper part of postero-lateral suture.

Legs yellow, posterior surfaces of femora and anterior of tibize black; tarsi

black.

Wings hyaline, pterostigma brownish black at centre framed in pale yellow

and thick black nervures ; 19 postnodal nervures to forewings, 17 in the hind ;

Aiv+v arising widely proximad the subnode, /Azzz in continuation of the

nervure descending from it or occasionally very slightly distad of it.

Abdomen black with a broad yellow stripe extending along its whole length,

more extensively so on segment 1; segment 8 with rather more than its apical

third bright ochreous, whilst segments 9 and 10 are entirely of this colour.

Anal appendages short, conical, pointed, yellow, as also aconical protuberance

beneath and between them.

Distribution.—Upper Shan States, Burma. ‘The type, a male in the British

Museum, is from Maymyo, paratype female and males in the author’s collection

Were taken during June and July.

The species is determined from others by the whole of dorsum of thorax pale

sky-blue, whilst the female differs by the whole of the under-surface of eyes

pale greenish blue and segments & to 10 yeliow, rather less than ie Jase two-

thirds of the former black, the apical border unmarked.

Coeliccia chromothorax (Selys) (1891).

Calicnemis chromothorax Selys, Ann. Mus, Civ. Genov. (2) x, pp. 70-71

(1891); Laid; Rec. Ind. Mus. vol. xiii, p. 327 (1917); Fras.; Journ.

Bon. Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. xxix, p..74 (1923).

Coeliccia chromothorax Uaid., Rec. Ind. Mus. MS. (1931).

Male. Abdomen 42-43 mm. Hindwing 26-29 mm.

Head,--labium yellow tipped with black; labrum, bases of mandibles, gene,

clypeus, vertex and occiput black, the vertex with a small oval yellow spot lying

between the posterior ocell1 and antenne on each side, the occiput with an

elongate transverse pale yellow stripe on each side of occiput behind eyes, and

a small point of yellow against the eyes beneath ; eyes black on top, olivaceous

laterally and beneath.

Prothorax black, sides of middle and anterior lobes broadly yellow ; posterior

lobe rounded, simple.

Thorax bright sulphur yellow on dorsum, the middorsal carina finely black,

as also the antealar sinus and the small triangular area below at end of carinal

ridge; the humeral area broadly velvety black as far as the antero-lateral

suture, and with a small yellow point above just behind the upper end of

humeral suture; laterally and beneath pale yellow with a narrow black stripe

mapping out the postero-lateral suture, but incomplete below.

INDIAN DRAGONFLIES 655

Legs yellow with extensor surfaces of femora, and flexor surfaces of tibize

black, as well as tarsi.

Wings hyaline, palely enfumed in adults; pterostigma black very finely

framed in yellow, covering rather less than 2 cells, braced; Azv+v very vari-

able in origin, often fused with //¢z7z, or arising well before, slightly before or

at the level of subnode; //7zz arising at or distad the subnode; 19-22 post-

nodal nervures in forewings, 18 to 22 in the hind. Origin of anal bridge

variable, arising at or a short distance proximad of Ac.

Abdomen black, the ventral border yellow as far as segment 6, broadly so on

segment 1 where it passes up on dorsum and is narrowly confluent at the apical

border ; segment 2 with its middorsal carina finely yellow, as also segments 3

and 4; a pair of small bright yellow baso-dorsal spots on segments 3 to 5, that

on 3 being confluent with the yellow on side; the apical border of segment 9

and the whole of segment 10 bright chrome yellow.

Anal appendages bright yellow ; superiors about as long as segment 10,

broad at base, broad and shallowly notched at apex asseenin profile, obtuse at

apex as seen from dorsum, a small spine tipped with black on the ventral inner

surface about middle of appendage; inferiors broad at base, ungulate and very

sinuous thereafter as far as apex which is rounded in profile, but curled strongly

in and acute as seen from above. Penis with very blunt apex, cupped and with

two very narrow branches springing from its middle which curl strongly back

to embrace stem of organ and then turn abruptly back at ends; a robust spine

on dorsum of stem lying within the arch of apex.

Female. Abdomen 40 mtn. Hindwing 28 mm.

Differs in several respects from the male, shorter and more robust; bases of

mandibles, genz, anteclypeus except for a small black spot on each side, and

the anterior border of frons very finely yellow; 2nd joint of antennae tipped

with yellow; oval spots on vertex replaced by a beaded transverse stripe

traversing the vertex between the ocelli; elongate spots behind eyes larger ;

eyes bordered narrowly with yellow beneath.

Prothorax very broadly yellow at sides; posterior lobe almost absent, merely

a small black lobe on each side, the broad notch between bright yellow.

Thorax black on dorsum marked with a narrow bright yellow antehumeral

stripe on each side which replaces the broad sulphur yellow fascia seen in the

male. Laterally similartothe male.

Legs and wings similar to the male; 20 to 21 postnodal nervures to fore-

wings, 19in the hind; Azv+v and /Azzz arising a little proximad and a little

distad of the subnode respectively; Ad arising at the level of Ac.

Abdomen black with a yellow stripe running along the whole length of the

ventral border; segment 1 entirely bright yellow save for a small dorsal basal

black spot ; segment 8 with a Jarge apical dorsal spot covering nearly its apical

half; segment 9 with a similar spot, but bifurcating into two lobes which run

slightly outwards and nearly as far as base of segment ; segment 10 black with

the dorsum yellow or more commonly, a small round spot on each side the

middorsal ridge at the middle of segment.

Anal appendages black, short, conical, pointed ; vulvar scales robust, not

extending quite to end of abdomen, yellow, blackish below.

Distribution.—Upper Burma; the type comes from Puepoli and is in the

Selysian collection. Occurs at Maymyo, Upper Burma from June to August.

Paratypes in the author’s, and British Museum collections. The male is easily

distinguished from all others of the genus by the whole of dorsum of thorax

bright sulphur yellow; not infrequently the anal bridge is found to arise

proximad the level of dc, thus differing from other species and approximating

to Calicnemis and /ndocnemis. The female is distinguished by the yellow

markings on the terminal abdominal segments which are very distinctive.

Coeliccia fraseri Laidlaw (1931).

Coeliccia fraserz Laid. Rec. Ind. Mus. MS. (1931).

Male. Abdomen 37 mm. Hindwing 23 mm.

Head,—labium pale yellow ; labrum dark brown bordered with paler brown ;

bases of mandibles, gene, anteclypeus and the lateral part of frons pale blue ;

vertex and occiput and beneath eyes matt black, the former with a pair of

round bluish spots lying in the triangle formed by the ocelli, and an oval spot

656 JOURNAL; BOMBAY, NATORAL AIST. SOCIL DY, Wola Aaa

on each side between the ocelli and base of antenne ; occiput with a vestigial

pale yellow oblong spot on each side behind the eyes ; the latter black above,

olivaceous on the sides and beneath.

Prothorax black, broadly blue or yellow laterally ; posterior lobe rounded,

simple.

Thorax black on dorsum as far lateral as the anterior half of the mesepi-

meron, marked by very narrow dorsal blue or yellow stripes which lie close to

and parallel with the middorsal carina, extending the whole length of dorsum.

Laterally and beneath paie blue with a narrow black stripe mapping out the

postero-lateral suture, incomplete below; a small spot, sometimes obsolete, on

the upper part of humeral suture.

Legs yellow, posterior surfaces of femora and the tarsi black. Wings

hyaline ; pterostigma. reddish brown framed in pale yellow and thick black

nervures, covering one and a half cells, braced; 16 to 17 postnodal nervures

to forewings, 15 in the hind; Azv+v arising at a variable distance proximad

to subnode ; /A7z7 arising at or a little beyond subnode.

Abdomen blackish brown on dorsum, bluish near base and yellow elsewhere

on the sides; segment 1 broadly blue or yellow laterally; segments 3 to 7

with small paired basal dorsal spots confluent with the yellow on sides and

beneath ; segments 7 to 9 black on dorsum; segment 10 black changing to

reddish brown and then broadly yellow on the side. Some specimens with the

apical border of segment 9 broadly pale yellow, the base black, this extending

as two dorsal points apicad ; segment 10 in the same specimens wholly pale

ellow.

Anal appendages pale yellow, inferiors black on dorsum and apices;

superiors narrow at base and hollowed out as seen from above, then broaden-

ing and club-shaped, very obtuse at apex and with two inner points or broad

spines at their middle; inferiors broad at base then tapered and ending in an

obtuse or rounded apex which is slightly curled in as seen from above.

Penis closely similar to that of C. chromothorax but the branches forming a

watch-spring spiral and not directed back at ends.

Female. Abdomen 33mm. Hindwing 24 min.

Closely similar to the male, far more so than is general within the genus ;

differs as follows, labrum golden yellow with a tiny black point at base in the .

middle line; blue of gence almost meeting across frons; spots on vertex

coalesced to form a complete slightly beaded stripe extending from eye to eye

between the ocelli.

Prothorax bright yellow, anterior and posterior lobes deep black, as also a

fine middorsal line on middle lobe; posterior lobe trilobate, projecting

markedly over front of thorax. Wings with pterostigma ochreous, the central

portion brownish; 17 to 18 postnodal nervures in forewings, 15 to 16 in the

hind ; Azw+vand /A7z2 variableas in themale. Abdomen similar but segment

8 with a broad apical yellow annule occupying one-third of its length ;

segment 9 variable, dark brown or obscurely marked with yellow on dorsum

and apical border ; segment 10 reddish brown as also anal appendages which

are short, conical pointed.

Vulvar scales moderately robust, yellow, the base and beneath black.

Distribution.—Khasia Hills, Assam. The type in the British Museum comes

from Shillong, 5,000 ft. The species is stated by Mr. T. Bainbrigge Fletcher

to be common in jungle near streams in June and July, extending into August.

Distinguished from other species by the parallel blue or yellow dorsal lines on

thorax lying in close apposition to the middorsal carina. The female bears the

same marking which will serve to determine it from the females of other

species from India. Only old adults have blue thoracic markings, and in veLy

old specimens, the dorsal stripes are completely obliterated.

(Zo be continued),

JOURN. BOMBAY NAT. HIST. Soc.

Dorsal view of Hemidactylus flaviviridis, Ruppel with a trifid tail.

«2

m\ ORL.

~~ —==-—Med br

Specimen B.

Puate I,

Dorsal view of Gecko verticillatus, Laurenti with a trifid tail produced artificially.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE TRIFID TAILS IN TWO SPECIMENS OF

HEMIDACTYLUS FLAVIVIRIDIS, RUPPEL, WITH A NOTE 2

ON THE ARTIFICIAL REGENERATION OF DOUBLE AND TRIPLE

CANES OF Tote OKTIANK” LIZARD, GACKO

VERTICLELATLOS, LAURENTI.

GaM=; DAS, Mi Ssc3

Research Scholar, Department of Zoology, Calcutta University,

Calcutta. .

(With 1 plate and a text-figure.)

INTRODUCTION.

Two specimens of ordinary house-lizards (Geckos), each with a trifid tail,

were caught—one from the students’ quarter, 35, Ballygunge Circular Road,

Ballygunge, Calcutta, by the author himself and the other from the Professors’

quarters situated within the compound of the same premises by Master Ajit

Kumar Sarkar. ‘The chief interest lies in the fact that under ordinary circum-

stances, the regenerated tail in Geckos is generally a straight continuation

(without any sign of segmentation on the surface, except for certain differences

in scaling) of the portion of the original tail left intact, whereas in the present

case each specimen bears two lateral accessory regenerated branches in addi-

tion to the median regenerated tail. From a careful study of the detailed

structure it was found that these two lateral branches of the tail differed

markedly from the median one, and also from the double and the triple tails

which were produced artificially in the laboratory by injuring either certain

portions of the vertebral column of the normal tail or the cartilaginous tube

of the regenerated tail of Gecko verticillatus.

Regeneration of tails in Geckos is not an uncommon feature, and has been

referred to by several authors, and the literature dealing with allied or nearly

related cases has been cited in the present communication.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION.

The description of the two specimens of Hemidactylus tlaviviridis, Ruppel,

each possessing a trifid tail, is as follows :

I. External Characters—Specimen A (Figs. 1 and 2).

(a) Measurements :

(ije Vent tromrsnout to The Vents os scscseses ores5 00), CHISe

(ii) Greatest breadth across the abdomen......... 95 cms:

(ie Wenothsof themea ds incase seevces parse a sade eraee. 2 Goris:

(iv Rb Geda tli Of HEN CAG 2: ca. cchesscscucsestacscicce-ssaes 1°63 cms.

The portion of the original tail left intact (Figs. 1 and 2; S,-S;), measured

2:3 cms. from the vent. This piece of the original tail, as seen externally, is

composed of five segments (S,-S;), each segment being marked by the

presence of four large conical scales except the basal segment (B.S... or S,),

where such scales are not represented. ‘Two of these large scales are lateral

in position, and are much more prominent than the two mid-dorsal ones. The

whole of the regenerated tail (Med. br.) measures 4°35 cms. in length from its

origin up toits tip. Ata distance of nearly 9 mm. from base of the regene-

rated tail there arise two small accessory lateral branches apparently from the

dorso-lateral walls of the regenerated tail itself. The latter is thus continued

as the median tail (Med. br.), though there is aslight indication of a groove on

7 Cf. ah roceedings Of the Indian Science Congress held at Nagpur in

1931. |

658 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATORAL GIST. SOGELY, Vole eo.

either side, both along the dorsal and the ventral sides, just behind the origin

of the two small lateral branches. ‘The grooves run from the lateral sides,

converging towards the antero-mesial direction. The right lateral branch

(R.L.b) measures 4°5 mm. in length, whereas the left one measures 3°5 mm.

The median branches of the tail (Med. br.) measures 3°45 cms. in length from

Fic. 1. Diagrammatic sketch of Hemidactylus flaviviridis, Ruppel, with a

trifid tail; Specimen A. a. Dorsal surface; 6. ventral aspect of the tail region

behind the origin of the lateraltails. The diameter of the common trunk of

the regenerated tail, i.e. of the common basal stump (C.R.T.), supporting the

lateral accessory as well as the median tails, inmediately in front of the two

lateral branches, is about 7 mms., whereas the diameter of the base of the

median branch lying just behind them is about 4°5 mm.

(b) Scaling:

As regards scaling there is a very marked difference between the original

portion (i.e. part of the normal tail left intact) and the regenerated portion of

the tail. In the former case the scaling on the dorsal surface is more regular,

and each segment as seen externally has four large conical scales as referred to

above, which are absent from the regenerated tail. The general covering of

scales (dorsal and lateral) over the region of the tail in front of the origin of

the two lateral accessory branches, i.e., both over the normal portion of the

tail as weil as over the common regenerated trunk, are small and very nearly

of the same pattern, while those over the three regenerated branches (i.e., the

two lateral branches and the median one) are slightly larger and dissimilar,

and are arranged irregularly, The mid-ventral row of large laterally elongated

TRIFID TAILS OF LIZARDS 659

scales (fig. 24; M.V.S.) prominently seen on the original tail, also extends

over the common regenerated trunk as well as over the median branch of the

regenerated portion of the tail, but here they are strikingly different in form

and shape; and the lateral branches, viz., the accessory tails, are devoid

of such large scales; in other words, the latter are covered over by small

scales only which are of the same pattern both on the dorsal and the ventral

sides.

As to the colouration, the three regenerated branches are slightly more

greyish in appearance than the rest of the tail.

SPECIMEN B. (PI. 1)

(a) Measurements :

(i) Length from snout to the vent..............cscesesees S°1 cms.

(ii) Greatest breadth across the abdomen............ 1:95 ems,

(iil), beneth of (he Reads... fc tse. vks esas Ri eetercinns acl! “ems,

(iv) Breadth: of the head........... ga vedeessaaempener cases 1°65 cms.

The portion of the origina] tail (Pl. 1, S,-S,) left intact measured 7°5 mm.

This portion of the original tail is really composed of two segments, and, as seen

externally, it is marked by a definite groove which separates the basal segment

(B.S.T. or S,) from the posterior one (S,)—both of these having no conical

scales : the absence of such scales from the posterior segment is an uncommon

feature, and is probably due to destruction caused by certain injuries over the

area bearing thesescales. Out of the three branches of the regenerated tail, the

median branch (Med. br.) is larger than the two lateral ones and measures 2°45

c.ms., whereas the right lateral branch (R.L.b.) measures 1:75 cms., and

the left one (l..L.b.) 1:7 cms. The two lateral accessory branches are

comparatively larger than these of the specimen A, but the median regenerated

tailis relatively smaller. The three branches of the regenerated tail arise

directly from the very end of the original tail left intact, and not from a

common regenerated trunk as in specimen A described above. A posterior

groove on either side is very well-marked (especially on the dorsal side), and

runs from just behind the base of each lateral tail towards the antero-mesial

direction as seen in specimen A, but the line of demarcation between the

original portion of the tail and the regenerated portion is very clearly marked

in this particular specimen (not so well differentiated in the former case), and

runs postero-mesially from the lateral sides to meet at a common point at

which the two posterior grooves (just mentioned) also unite. The diameter of

the common base (from which are given off the three branches) of the regene-

rated tail is 1°2 cms., whereas the base of the median branch, i.e. of the region

lying immediately behind the origin of thetwo lateral accessory branches,

measures °4 cm. across its diaineter.

(b) Scaling:

The dorsal scaling of the three regenerated branches differs from that of

the original tail in being irregular and larger in size, but the mid-ventral row

of laterally elongated scales are present on all the three branches, and are of

the same pattern. In this respect, viz., in the possession of the mid-ventral row

of scales on all the three regenerated branches of the tail, specimen B differs

very strikingly from specimen A.

It is a noteworthy fact that the scales of the regenerated (renewed) tail, or

of the accessory tails differ from those of the original (normai) tail in those

reptiles, which have the power of reproducing their tail, but according to

Boulenger (3) this view is erroneous, and ‘‘ in some cases, the aberrant scaling

of the reproduced tail is a reversion to an ancestral form.”’

The colouration of the regenerated tail is pretty nearly the same as in

specimen A.

HISTOLOGY.

Specimen A,

In the regenerated tail, as we know, a cartilaginous tube extends from the

very end of the portion of the original tail left intact, in continuation with the

last vertebra (i.e. the portion actually left over), up to the end of the regene-

rated tail. By section-cutting it is found that the two lateral accessory branches

660 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV-

bear no such cartilaginous tube as that seen in the median regenerated portion

in which it is continued straight backwards from its base, There is a fairly

well-developed groove encircling the cartilaginous tube, i.e., there is a distinct

constriction at the point from where the two lateral tails are given off. Serial

frontal sections also show that the cartilage cells at the constriction are com-

paratively much larger than those of the other parts, and arein a state of

proliferation, and they push their way inwards towards the central canal lodg-

ing the spinal cord. ‘There is also a connective tissue investment encircling the

tube, but this is interrupted at the constriction.

The histological condition of the central cartilaginous tube, viz., the

presence of a very distinct constriction as well as discontinuity of the connective

tissue sheath in the constricted area, suggests that probably the anterior portion

of the regenerated tail, i.e., the basal stumpy portion (Figs. 1 and2; C.R.T.)

is primarily regenerated from the sides of which are developed the two accessory

fleshy lobes (R.L.b. and L.L.b.), whereas the median part (Med. br.)

of the tail is secondarily regenerated—the fleshy lobes being probably formed

after the median part has sufficiently developed due to. certain injuries being

received over the common regenerated trunk near the junction of the two

portions of the regenerated tail.

The cartilaginous tube is devoid of any segmentation and perforation. It

tapers with the tail, and its lumen ends blindly at the tip.

Neural and heemal arches are wholly wanting in the area of regeneration.

Inside the lumen of the cartilaginous tube the following structures are

present :—

(a) The tapering part of the spinal cord in continuation with the cellular

lining of the canalis centralis, and practically having very few external nerve

fibres.

(6) A network of blood-vessels—the capillaries being irregularly disposed

here and there.

(d) The fatty layer is extremely thick, and consequently the musculature

is thin within the median regenerated tail, but the two lateral accessory branches

are mainly muscular Outs Owais with a limited number of adipose cells.

Specimen B:

As in specimen A the cartilaginous tube is one continuous piece, and forms

the central axis of the median regenerated tail only. The lateral branches are

devoid of any such structure ; that is to say, these are merely fleshy outgrowths,

without any hard supporting structure inside them. Further, in the absence

of any groove or constriction towards the anterior part of the cartilaginous tube

and in the presence of a continuous sheath of connective tissue, it is so very

characteristically different from the previous case already described.

It appears that in this case the whole of the newly added tat! is primarily

regenerated, and owing to injuries having been received towards its anterior

end, two fleshy lobes (Pl. 1; R.L.b. and L.L.b.) have thus developed later in

life. But the injuriesin this specimen had possibly also affected the mid-

ventral row of scales of the regenerated tail, which probably thus led to the

extension of these scales over the ventral sides of the lateral branches as well,

whilst it might be remarked that in specimen A the injuries had not gone

far enough to affect the mid-ventral row of scales, and consequently, the latter

was absent from the accessory lateral tails of that specimen.

GENERAL REMARKS.

To be brief, it may be said that the regeneration or the production of

double or triple tails in lizards (1, 2,4, 5,6) is by no means an uncommon

phenomenon under natural conditions. That might be due to certain

accidents, either to partial injuries to the muscular coat only, or to deeper

injuries affecting the muscular layers as well as one or more vertebrez of the

original tail.

Tornier (7) has been able to produce experimentally double and triple

tails in the case of Lacerta agilis with cartilaginous tubes forming the central

axes or supporting structures for the lateral outgrowths.

Woodland (8) has succeeded in producing an extra tail without any

cartilaginous tube entering into it in each of the four examples of Hemidactylus

TUPI D TAILS OF LIZARDS ; 661

flaviviridis, Rtippel. This accessory tail is, therefore, simply a muscular

outgrowth from the side of the original tail, or from that of the regenerated

tail.

From a series of well-graded experiments conducted on the caudal autotomy

of a less common lizard, Gecko verticillatus (pl. 3) in the laboratory by injuring

the tails in various ways, I have observed in nearly all cases (out of many double

and triple tails having been produced), that a lateral outgrowth or accessory

tail is produced from the normal, or from the regenerated tail without any

supporting skeletal structure when the injury is not sufficiently deep, i.e., when

it affects the muscular coat only. In such cases, the accessory regenerated

tails are merely elongated fleshy lobes, but if the wound is sufficiently deep, and

has affected either the vertebral column of the original tail, or the central

cartilaginous tube of the regenerated tail, then in all such cases, an accessory

cartilaginous tube? is also developed from the point of injury, and extends as a

supporting structure inside the accessory regenerated tail.

From the experimental results on the regeneration of tails in certain Lacerti-

lians obtained by Tornier (7), Woodland (8), myself and others, it clearly

follows that an accessory tail without a cartilaginous tube may not be an

unusual feature, and that in order to produce an accessory tail with a central

cartilaginous tube, the injury must be deep enough to reach the vertebral

column of the original tail, or the centrai cartilaginous tube of the regenerated

tail.

The three-tailed condition (or the trifid tails) of the two specimens of Afemz-

dactylus flaviviridis, each possessing, 7.é.,two accessory fleshy lobes without any

supporting skeleton, together with the median regenerated tail bearing a central

cartilaginous axis, is undoubtedly the outcome of injuries apparently received

twice due to certain unknown causes, firstly, to the deeper parts of the original

tail, affecting its vertebral column and severing it completely, and thus producing

a median regenerated tail, and, secondly, to the muscular part of the regenera-

ted tail thus produced on its both sides: under the latter circumstances two

accessory muscular lobes have developed.

Here I wish to express my indebtedness to Professor B. K. Das, D. Sc., for

his constant guidance, invaluable suggestions and kind criticisms. My thanks

are also due to Master Ajit Kumar Sarkar for the gift of the specimen.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE,

Fig. 1. Photograph of the dorsal view of Hemtdactylus flaviviridis, Ruppel,

with a trifid tail. Specimen B.

», 2 Photograph of the dorsal view of Gecko verticillatus, Laurenti, with

a triple tail produced artificially.

List OF ABBREVIATIONS USED.

Unsegmented base of the original tail.

Common regenerated trunk.

Left lateral branch or accessory lateral tail,

Median branch of the trifid tail.

Mid-ventral row of scales.

Right lateral branch or accessory lateral tail.

Segments of the portion of the original tail left intact.

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“oTwnkogn

nNARSECOW

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LITERATURE REFERENCES,

i> Bundiley,, HAH: ‘On a Specimen of Hemidactylus gleadovii, Murray,

with a Bifid Renewed Tail’.

Jour. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. ix, pp. 30-33,

1894-95.

2. Idem. ‘Some cases of Caudal abnormality in Mabuia carinata

and other Lizards’.

Jour. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. xi, pp. 680-89,

1897-98.

1Tornier (7) has shown that more than one cartilaginous tube may also

extend inside a single accessory tail, if two or more neighbouring vertebre be

injured,

662 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Val. XXXV

“ID - Gq SS

Boulenger, G. A. ‘On the Scaling of the Reproduced Tail in Lizards’.

Proc. Zool. Soc., London, pp. 351-53, 1888.

Gaddow, H. ‘Amphibia and Reptiles’. The Camb. Nat. Hist. Ser.

vol. viii, 1909.

Mason, F. ‘Burmah : Its People and Natural Productions or Notes

ete’., Vvol...1, 1869:

Morgan, T. H. ‘Regeneration’. New York, 1901.

‘Lorimer, G, ‘Uber experimentall erzeugte dreischwanzige Eidech-

sen und Doppelgliedmassen von Molchen ’,

Zool, Anz., XX, pp. 356-61, 1897.

Woodland, W. N. F.‘' Some observations on the Caudal Autotomy

and Regeneration in the Gecko (Hemidactylus

flaviviridis, Rtippel), with Notes on the Tails of

Sphenodon and Pygopus’.

Quart. Jour. Micros. Sct., vol. 65, part I, pp. 63-

100, 1920.

OBITUARY

MISS JOAN PROCTER

(From the ‘ Times’, September 21st, 1931.)

We regret to announce that Miss Joan Beauchamp Procter, pD.sc.,

F.L.S. F.Z.S., died yesterday after a prolonged period of illness at

the age of 34.

Miss Procter was born in London on August 5, 1897, the younger

daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Procter, grand-daughter of Thomas

Procter, of The Hoo, Great Gaddesdon, a Hertfordshire squire and of

William Brockbank, a weaithy Quaker iron merchant of Manchester,

a friend and patron of the pre-Raphaelite painters, anda proficient

amateur in botany and geology. Joan was fragile and delicate from

birth, and probably the only time in her life when she was physically

happy was during six months spent in Switzerland in her twelfth

year, when she gave herself up to botany, dancing and reckless

tobogganing. Her education at St. Paul’s School for Girls was much

interrupted by illness, but she was recognized as a student of

resolute will-power and brilliant ability. Her health made it

necessary to give up her intention of going to Cambridge, but an

opening congenial with her natural gifts presented itself.

From her earliest childhood she was devoted to all living creatures,

but specially to reptiles and amphibians. She knew the haunts

and the habits of all the British species, and had tamed and kept

most of them in homes of her own devising. Asa small child she

had rejected dolls for a large green Dalmatian lizard, which travelled

everywhere with her and sat at table beside her at meais. While

still a small school girl she had gone to Dr.G. A. Boulenger, Keeper

of Reptiles. and Fishes at the British Museum, to ask him some

question about the structure of a reptile, and he, recognizing that she

was a naturalist by disposition, had helped and encouraged her and

continued to take an interest in her. In 1917 when her Cambridge

ambition had to be given up, Dr. Boulenger invited her to assist him

at the Museum. From 1917 to 1920, she worked with him, and on

his retirement in 1920 until 1923, she was in entire charge of the col-

lections of Reptilia and Batrachia. During that time Miss Procter

acquired a wide knowledge of her subject, and was the author ofa

series of original papers which established her reputation in the

museums of the world. (She contributed various papers on the

Reptiles of Mesopotamia and Persia to the Journal of the Bombay

Natural History Society.)

In 1923 Dr. Chalmers Mitchell, the Secretary of the Zoological

Society, who knew her artistic and technical ability from the models

she had made for the show cases in the Natural History Museum,

and from the surgical splints she had made for one of the War

*Editor’s Note.

664 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

hospitals, invited her to assist Mr. E. G. Boulenger in designing and

constructing the rockwork and backgrounds in the New Aquarium, a

task which she accomplished with brilliant success. When the

Aquarium was completed Mr. Boulenger became its director, and the

council appointed Miss Procter to succeed him as Curator of Reptiles

and Amphibia. No appointment could have been more successful.

Through her acquaintance with those interested in reptiles in almost

every part of the world, Miss Procter rapidly increased the collection.

Her knowledge of the habits of her charges and her power of close

and sympathetic observation led to many improvements in their

health and comfort. She followed the work of the Society’s patho-

logists in the jost-mortens room, and was soon able to recognize the

earliest traces of diseases and to devise appropriate treatment. She

became an expert surgeon, excising tumours, dressing sores, and

cleaning out and plugging abscesses, and more than one distinguished

surgeon has watched her with amazement and admiration operating

on the mouth or the eye of a cobra or rattlesnake with apparatus of

her own devising.

The old Reptile House was unsatisfactory in many respects, and

when the Council of the Society found it financially possible to

construct a new one Miss Procter planned every detail from the

general lay-out to the drains, electrical heating, and decorative

backgrounds. ‘The architects, contractors, electricians and decorators

had a rough time until they realized that the positions of drain-plugs,

electric heaters in rocks, or shelves for the store of anti-venomous

sera had been fixed with a purpose and could not be changed without

consultation. The house when completed won universal admiration

from visitors, and its technical efficiency has set a new level in the

possibilities of keeping reptiles in captivity.

Physically Miss Procter was excessively fragile, and for many years

she seldom passed 24 hours without severe pain. A Series of severe

internal operations had prolonged her life, but had left her in a con-

dition which only a resolute will made less than complete invalidism.

From time to time, but with increasing frequency latierly, she had

prostrating illnesses, but when it was physically possible she went

daily to the Reptile House in an electric bath-chair, passing the

intervening periods in bed. At the worst she had daily reports by

telephone from the Reptile House to her bedroom, and daily visits

from her colleagues and subordinates. In between her bouts of

pain she was gay, witty, and thoughtful forevery one. All who knew

her personally were devoted to her, and those who knew her work

recognized her extreme ability. The best likeness of her was a

marble bust by G. Alexander exhibited in the Royal Academy this

year. It has been purchased for presentation to the Zoological

Society.

ee eee

REVIEWS.

1. SHORT HISTORY OF THE CEYLON GAMIE AND FAUNA PRE-

SERVATION SOCIETY.—By A. C. Tutein Nolthenius, F.z.s., 1894-1931.

In this ‘Short History of the Ceylon Game and Fauna Protection Society’,

compiled and edited by Mr. A. C. Tutein-Nolthenius, F.z.s., and covering the

period 1894 to 1931, we are given ‘ The Story of the Society’ which ‘ is that

of a long-sustained fight to gain from Government the indispensable protection

without which the Game and large Fauna of the Island would have been almost,

if not altogether, exterminated long before our time.’

The statistics and other information contained in this booklet of 64 pages

(with six illustrations) show very clearly that had it not been for the influence

of the Society and its Members, the sambur and spotted deer, and probably the

buffalo also, were doomed to extinction.

In a most interesting Report (1907) on ‘ The Wanton Destruction of Game in

Ceylon’ (which is reproduced in full) by Mr. Harry Storey—7 years Honorary

Secretary and 11 years, Chairman of the Society—figures are given which show

that during the eight years 1894 to 1901, there was a yearly slaughter of 65,883

spotted deer and 9,930 sambur ; and in 1902, Mr. Thos.. Farr calculated that for

the previous two years 69,328 stags ‘and I will not attempt to calculate the

number of hinds’ were killed.

‘It is the one great ambition of every adult male’ says Mr. Storey, ‘ to possess

a gun, and it may be taken for granted that nine out of every ten men in every

village in Ceylon, near which any sort or kind of bird or beast can be shot,

possess and use guns’. No restriction of any sort or kind is placed by

Government on the possession of firearms by anyone in Ceylon.

From this state of affairs in 1907, and other difficulties stated in the same

Report, it can be imagined that the Society had indeed an up-hill fight to get

anything done; and indeed counsels of despair almost prevailed in the year

-1912, for at a General Meeting held in April of that year ‘the closing down of

the Society altogether was considered’, Fortunate it was for the future of the

Wild Life of the Island that the Meeting was prevailed upon by the Chairman,

Lieut.-Col. Gordon Reeves ‘to carry on for two or three years more and

see how things went’. In that year Mr. Harry Storey was Honorary Secretary,

and for the following ten years he was Chairman ; so the Society struggled on.

The Yala Sanctuary was initiated in February 1899, and in 1901 it was

reported that deer had largely increased ; while in 1904 it was reported to

be an uuqualified success. In 1918 this Sanctuary was reported as ‘not

overcrowded ’, but in 1920 it was found necessary to take steps to thin out the

number of animals by driving some of them into the reserves: and in 1927 the

issue of special licenses for the purpose of thinning out the buffalo bulls and the

stags was sanctioned. ‘Thirty-seven bulls and 106 stags were shot.

From the history of the Yala Sanctuary, it is evident that such areas should

not be too long maintained, but should be thrown open and a fresh area

declared.

In 1910 there were two Sanctuaries aggregating 367 square miles (238,880

acres), and at the present time, there are three Sanctuaries which ageregate

275,000 acres.

In the matter of guns it is stated that in 1910 there were 47,407 weapons

licensed, the holders of which had but 523 licenses to shoot game. ‘ An utter

farce’ indeed, which still continues as in 1929, the weapons were 66,936 and the

game licenses only 836. es

Guns and rifles imported into Ceylon for the five years 1922~1927 numbered

20,491 (S. B. guns 16,294, D.B. guns 3,068, rifles 1,129) a yearly average of 3,415

imported weapons ; and with these came a yearly average of 14 million loaded

cartridges, Poor birds and beasts, they have indeed a hard struggle for

existence.

The remark of your reviewer on these figures is that as the people appear to

want weapons for purposes of display only (being adequately protected from

external enemeis by the British Government), the number of licensed weapons

might reasonably be reduced to—say—936 (100 more than the apparent sporting

requirements) and the remaining 66,000 unnecessary weapons called in. Why

not?

666 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Similar figures for India would be very interesting. It is notorious that crop

protection weapons are used for shooting in and out of season in neighbouring

and distant jungles, and but few shots are ever fired on the land of the license

holder. All the ‘ gun’ noise sufficient for keeping animals from the crops can

be made by means of the pole, pestle, and detonator method in use in the few

localities wiere the people do not possess firearms. But all this is by the way.

Despite all the efforts of the Society during 37 years we read that the

Wanderoo Monkey—of which a thumb-nail sketch is in the margin of the

booklet—and the Rock, or Giant Squirrel, are still unprotected ; and Ceylon

seems to have been unfortunate in its governors as regards Game Protection,

the only one who is favourably mentioned during all these struggling. years

being Sir Henry McCallum, G.c. M.G. etc., under whose auspices (1908), the

all important Dried Meat Ordinance became law. It was mainly due to the

untiring efforts of Mr. Harry Storey, ‘The Doyen of the Game Preservation

Society’, that this Ordinance, without which all else was of little avail, became

an accomplished fact. His portrait is the first in the book.

Following on this came the Game Ordinance (No. 1 of 1909) and, for the first

time since the institution of the Society the object it had been striving for,

viz., Protection—seemed likely to be attained.

But one thing remained—the proper enforcement of these Ordinances. That

is the whole crux of the matter. It is especially difficult without the active

co-operation of Government to enforce laws affecting animal life: witness the

Wild Birds and Animals Protection Act of India which is by all accounts pretty

well inoperative.

It has been recently urged in the public Press in India that unless action

is now taken in the matter of preservation of the larger fauna of the country, it

will soon be too late. That this is so those of us who are in a position to find

out by visiting forests in various parts of the land know only too well; but

without the active and continuous support of Government by means of suitable.

laws properly enforced all will be but useless endeavour. Probably at the present

time the answer of the Indian Government would be that of the Ceylon

Government in reply to urgent representations of the Society for effective

action in 1907 : ‘Our Game Laws are quite efficient, dwt we regret we have not

the power to enforce them !’

While the practically unlimited possession of arms in India continues, it is but

little that can be done except in the Reserved Forests of the Forest Department.

And if the policy of hindrance which seems to be gaining ground in one part of

one of the Provinces continues, then the animals of even the Reserved Forests

are doomed; for it can only be productive of good from every point of view

that the right sort of sportsmen be encouraged and afforded every

assistance to obtain shooting blocks. The more the shooting blocks are

occupied the greater is the check on the destruction of game.

Rinderpest is mentioned as having caused much loss among the buffalo,

sambur and pig, but the spotted deer were not atfected by the disease. It

would be interesting to have authoritative information as to whether this animal

has been similarly immune ir: India.

The History contains an extremely interesting article (1910) by Mr. Thos.

Farr on ‘ The Inflorescence of the Nilu (Stvobilanthes) ’ which will be of much

interest to dwellers on the Nilgiri Hills. With this article is reproduced

a portrait of Mr. Farr, a true sportsman and lover of wild life, who was for

some ten years the Honorary Secretary of the Society and did much in its early

days for the Preservation of Game in Ceylon.

Of Mr. G. M. Crabbe who was for some 17 years either Chairman or

Honorary Secretary, and is now a Life Member of the Society, and who was

one of the first to lay aside the rifle in favour of the camera, a portrait is given;

also ore of Mr. Henry Englebracht, ‘an irreconcilable Boer prisoner’ who

was in charge of, and did so much for the Yala Sanctuary during the years

1807-1928. In that last year he died and the grateful Society placed a

memorial on his grave at Hambanteta.

There is of course much that remains to be done, for in matters affecting the

protection of animal life, the work can never be even relaxed. That this is so is

clear from extracts given of a lengthy Memorandum sent to the Colonial

Secretary in January 1929 in which, among many matters, it was pointed out

that if the present rate of destruction of wild life is to continue a number of

useful and beautiful species will be exterminated, and that within a few years

REVIEWS 667

the animal and bird life in general will be seriously depleted ; that the Laws

relating to game protection, gun licenses, and provision of Sanctuaries sbould

be revised; and that a Government Department for the conservation and/or

control of game and wild life should be established immediately. And there

the matter rests, and, judging from past and present history, is likely to rest for

many a weary period of years.

Ceylon is a Buddhist country and one of the principal tenets of the Buddhist

religion is ‘ Kill not, lest ye slay the meanest thing upon the upward way’;

so perhaps the 66,000 unnecessary guns will be withdrawn, perhaps not.

Mr. Tutein-Nolthenius closes the History, which he has compiled with so

much labour, with a plea for establishment of a National Park; for, as he

points out, ‘A Reserve or Sanctuary is proclaimed by Government in the

Government Gazette, du/—in the same manner as it can be proclaimed it can

also be unproclaimed, and done away with entirely, either by the same or by

another Government. A National Park is Permanent for ever, Permanent by

legislation, vested in Public Trust, a National Public Property, a property to be

interested in and to be proud of’.

The thanks of the members of the Society, and of the public of Ceylon in

ger.eral, are due to the Compiler of this History who undertook the writing

of it as a labour of love in order to answer the question frequently asked

‘What does the Game and Fauna Protection Society do—what has it done in

the past?’

This he has amply shown, as also what is required in the future which can

be concisely described as Game and Wild Life Department; the withdrawal of

all unnecessary guns; the establishment of National Parks.

R. W. B.

2.. BUTTERFLIES OF LAHORE.—By D. R. Puri, Punjab University.

My attention has been drawn to a somewhat extraordinary paper on the

‘ Butterflies of Lahore’ published by the Department of Zoology of the Punjab

University. The author, Mr. D. R. Puri, appears to have made a collection of

butterflies in Lahore during the summer of 1925, many members of which he has

failed to identify correctly. The paper is a pretentious one, containing long

lists of unnecessary references and some elementary information regarding

mimicry and protective resemblance, which the author incorrectly imagines to

be original. A not inconsiderable expenditure has been incurred upon the

production of four coloured plates.

Of the 57 species listed the four following can, under no circumstances, apper-

tain to the fauna of Lahore: viz., Aforia soracte and Ypthima nareda,

Himalayan insects not occurring below 5,000 feet : Argynnis aglaia, a European

butterfly which only reaches the Indian Empire in Chitral and the countries

nearby, flying at over 6,000 feet : Araschnta levana, also a European butterfly,

which does not even occur in the near neighbourhood of the Indian Empire.

A number of the other species recorded are most unlikely to have been

obtained in Lahore and no serious collector could accept them without verifica-

tion by himself or by an accepted authority.

To collectors, who wish to know what butterflies can be obtained in Lahore,

reference is invited to a paper on the subject that appeared on page 136 of

vol. xxv of the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. The author,

Mr. G. W. de Rhe Philippe, 0.B.£., is a well-known collector, and his results

were based on four years’ collecting.

November 2, 1931 Ads ed ie

3. P.R. AWATI,B.A., D.LC.,1.E.S., and H.S. RAI, M.se.—Ostrea cucullata.

The Bombay Oyster., xi, 107, 51 figs. Lucknow, Methodist Publishing House,

1931. (Rs. 2-8).

The collection of the Indian Zoological Memoirs on Indian Animal Types

edited by Dr. K. N. Bahl and started by him with the extremely interesting study

on Pheretima has been enriched by a new Memoir on the Bombay Oyster.

Already the very idea of providing Indian students and workers with typical

collections, such as their colleagues in other countries enjoy, deserves every

encouragement; but we are glad to add that considering the work of Bahl, of

E.M. Thillayampalam (on Scoliodon) and this one of Awati and Rai, the

realization has been so far entirely successful and praiseworthy.

668 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

The work which occupies our attention is absolutely well done. It is thorough

and clear. It not only realizes its purpose, within the limits of the collection,

but it also hints at interesting problems which claim further treatment. This

is always the immediate result of direct observation and first-hand work: and

we should like to urge Messrs. Awati and Rai to let us have the benefit of their

studies on such interesting questions as the symbiosis or parasitism of Pinno-

theres, the organogenesis, and the sex changes, which have so much attracted

the attention of research workers in the case of European oyster, and other

physiological problems, which apparently in the mind of the authors would

have encumbered the clarity and fluency of the Monograph.

May we be allowed to remark that the branchial cavities should perhaps

better be called inhalant and exhalant chambers.

The book like the others of the collection is well presented and amply

illustrated.

And we are glad to see that, thanks to the painstaking efforts of Awati and

Rai our Ostrea cucullata is no louger a poor relative of the fortunate O. edulis.

G. P. de B.

4. W.O. JAMES, B.Sc., PH.D., D.Phil.—An Introduction to Plant Physiology.

i-viii--259. Oxford, at the Clarendon Press, 1931. Price 7 sh. 6d. net.

The author states in his Preface that the book is written for readers of senior

school or junior university status. His main intention was to give a balanced

account of the more elementary aspects of plant physiology. He has not

neglected recent research but has made use of it only as far as general prin-

ciples are concerned. Of controversial matter the student will find very little.

Instead he is given a sound general account of elementary physiology which is

apt to create a keen interest in the beginner. The treatment of the subject is

excellent. After a short and clear exposition of the point under treatment in

each chapter, the experimental work is set out in great detail. This is an

admirable feature of the book as everybody will admit who has experience of

students’ practical work and who knows how important are all those little hints

without which the experiment so often fails to be a success. At the same time

not many claims are made on the laboratory and no special apparatus of an

elaborate kind is generally required. The illustrations, which are mostly

original, are exceptionally good and clear.

Though the book is primarily concerned with things going on inside the

plants themselves, the author constantly draws attention to the ways in which

these happenings depend on circumstances outside, i.e., he always takes

environment into account. not making an artificial separation between internal

and external events.

E. B

5. A BOOK OF MAN-EATERS.—By Brigadier-General R. G. Burton.

284 pages, 17 illustrations. Published by Hutchinson & Co. Rs. 12-6-0.

In his introduction to this book the author explains that it is for the most

part arecord of the experiences of many sportsmen and others ; for it is not

possible for any one man to come into contact with more than a few man-kill-

ing carnivorous beasts. He also acknowledges his indebtedness for material

to the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, which he describes as a

mine of valuable information, which indeed it is.

While, as the author indicates, the book deals with men, beasts, and reptiles,

which kill and eat human beings, and perforce contains many thrilling and

some gruesome stories ; itis also designed to bea Natural History of Man-

Eaters, and in this respect some account is given of the distribution, habits,

and character of wild beasts and methods of hunting them. So, in the course

of development of the book, the reader is afforded considerable knowledge as

to the nature of particular animals and can from this appreciate why they taken

to preying on human beings.

In discussing the question of fear of manin wild animals the author con-

cludes that such fear, when present, is due to acquired experience. That is no

REVIEWS 669

doubt the case, for most wild creatures, when accustomed to seeing human

beings, allow a very approach. There is no such thingin Nature as instinctive

fear of human beings. —

Those readers of the book who have practical knowledge of wild beasts and

their ways will be interested in the remarks and observations on the question

of the power of scent in the Felide.

At page 98 it is remarked as to the power of scent of the lion and tiger that

further investigation is desirable. Sir Alfred Pease is quoted as being of

opinion that the Felide have not a ‘hound nose’ but a‘ winding nose’. No

doubt this view is correct. When in the Pidoung Game Sanctuary last year

the Game Warden showed the writer the place where he and the Chief Conser-

vator watched a tiger walking in the open at right angles to the wind which

was blowing from them. When he arrived at the place where the scent was

carried to him, he at once bounded away with a grunt of alarm, not even

looking to see where were the human beings whose presence was borne to him

on the breeze.

That was a clear case of the ability of a tiger to scent human beings at a

distance of about sixty yards. One knows that for panthers it is possible to sit

on the ground to watch over a kill without being detected ; but to do so for

tiger is not possible. One sportsman who thought otherwise was detected

by the tiger coming to his kill and was fortunate in recovering from the wounds

he received.

It is probable that the Felzde have sufficient ‘ winding nose’ to be able to

detect the presence of game for some little distance. What that distance is,

has yet to be ascertained.

The author is mistaken in supposing that the female panther which mauled

him was over nine stone in weight. It is not many male panthers which attain

that weight and probably not one female in ten thousand will exceed one

hundred pounds. Eighty pounds is the weight of a large female of the species.

As to hyaenas the author is not able to assert that these beasts will kill and

eat adult human beings; but cases do occur and the writer shot a female

hyaena in Central India which had killed and eaten two women and a boy of

twelve. She had cubs and was no doubt unable to find food for them.

Of wolves, much that is interesting is related, as also of wolf, children and

were-wolves. Of crocodiles, alligators, and sharks, there are gruesome

stories.

The book has a complete index. The name of a wandering tribe of gipsies

in India is given as ‘Brinjara’: ‘ Banjara’ is the pronunciation of the people,

and is the more correct spelling of the word.

The illustrations, most of them reproductions from photographs, are good.

The author’s style of writing is straight forward and easy, and the book will

find many readers,

R. W.B

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

I. THE OCCURRENCE OF THE FLYING-FOX

(PTEROPUS GIGANTEUS) IN THE PUNJAB.

I. Very numerous during the mango season throughout Gurdas-

pur District, Punjab.

2. Numerous while the guava trees were in fruit.

3. Few about in early September. Never seen after the 19th

September.

4. Noresting places discovered in the plains of Gurdaspur Dis-

trict, but Flying Foxes were gradually traced to Kotla, which is 30

miles from Pathankote on the Kangra Valley road. Gurdaspur is

23 miles from Pathankote. It therefore appears that these creatures

travel long distances daily.

GURDASPUR, C. BREADON,

26th October 1931. District Engineer.

There was some correspondence in the C7zvzl and Military Gazctle

a few months ago regarding the distribution of Flying Foxes in the

Punjab. Blanford in his Wammalia states that they are not known to

occur in the Punjab and that they are not found in the Himalayas

except at the base as a visitor from the plains. Presumably changed

conditions in the Punjab since Blanfords’ time, improvements in

irrigation and the extension of horticulture have provided conditions

which enabled the Flying Fox to establish itself in this Province.

Writing in this connection Lt.-Col. J. E. M. Boyd says: ‘‘ During

the past 20 years I have frequently seen them at Ferozepore, where

they come in when the fruit of the Pzpu/ is ripe and also at Pathan- ©

kote, Gurdaspur District. This year (1931) Flying Foxes have been

seen in large numbers flying round the fruit trees at the British

Military Hospital, Dalhousie.”’ Recently the Society received a speci-

men of a Flying Fox from Mr. A. E. Jones, Simla. It is an

example of the Nepal race P. giganteus leucocephalus. — EDS. |

II.—NUMBER OF CUBS IN A TIGER’S LITTER.

During December, 1930, Mr. Walter Draper of our Factory went

out in his car for a jaunt in the country. Being a very keen shikari,

he always takes his guns with him. About 30 miles out of

Jubbulpore, he came across a likely looking spot and descended to try

his luck with a view to securing some game birds for the ‘ pot’.

On leaving the car, he and his friend walked about a couple

of hundred yards from the main road, where they halted, and

while discussing the best pathway to take, they heard the un-

mistakable sound of a large animal treading on dried leaves.

The jungle here being pretty thick, it was difficult to get a clear

view of the country round about. On turning round in the direction

from which the sound originated, Mr. Draper caught a glimpse of the

head and shoulders of a tigress as she passed broadside on. Fol-

lowing up the direction she was making for, he noticed an opening

in the thick scrub, and realising she would soon come into view, he

rer St

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 671

awaited his opportunity, which took but a few seconds to material-

ise. He at once fired, knocking her completely out of action in the

one shot, the bullet having struck the base of her neck and lodged

itself in the ribs. The skin of the animal was not removed till four

hours after she was killed, when six cubs were taken out; all very

much alive and kicking. ‘They proved to be three maies and three

females, all perfect specimens in every detail including claws, etc.

All died within an hour of removal. Presumably they would have been

born within a few hours, and, had the proper measures been adopted

to rear them, I have every reason to believe they could have been

saved. It would be interesting to learn if any member has heard of

such another case, i.e., seven tigers in one shot. The measurement

of the skin is 10 feet 8 inches.

GUN CARRIAGE FACTORY, ARTHUR. AH. BERRIFE.

JUBBULPORE,

Lith SUlpCIGST:

[The Hon. J. W. Best also mentions a case of seven foetuses taken

from a tigress. Six, four and five have been noted, but two or three

appear to be the usual number.—Eds. |

III.—OCCURRENCE OF THE PANTHER IN THE

SIND DESERT

Some time back, I read in the Z7zmes of Jndia that a ¢tzger had been

killed by villagers in the neighbourhood of Umarkot in the Thar and

Parkar District of Sind. As it seemed obvious that a panther was

meant, I wrote to the Collector, Rao Bahadur Jagatsing, for details.

His reply confirms the fact that a panther was killed on or about 20th

February 1931 at a place near Chhor, 6 miles from Khekhrapir

railway station. ‘The villagers tackled the animal with hatchets and

two of them were mauled in the struggle. The Mukhtiarkar, who

furnished a graphic account of the incident to the Coilector, says the

animal measured ‘3 feet tall, 44 feet long and 33 feet in girth ’(?)

It is believed to have strayed in from the adjoining Jodhpur territory,

and, according to the report, had destroyed ‘two heads of bovine’ in

the Khipro taluka before it was killed.

The apnearance of a panther on the edge of the Sind Desert seems

an occurrence unusual enough to be worthy of being put on record.

ALIBAG, KOLABA DISTRICT, HAMID A. ALI,

2nd August, 1931. LO: S:

IV..—DO LIONS STILL EXIST IN PERSIA?

(From the /7ze/d)

There is a general belief that the lion is now extinct in Persia

and in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, one might, after

a space of a number of years, come to the reasonable conclusion

that such is the case.

In one of his books, Sir Percy Sykes somewhere mentions having

seen the carcase of a lion floating down the Karun River. That

must have been a number of years before the War. Also in

672° JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL EIS17. SOCIETY. Vol: oa

Amurath to Amurath, the late Miss Gertrude Bell mentions a pair of

live lions which she saw in Baghdad, and which had been caught in

the swamps of Amarah.

In the course of two prolonged motor journeys through Persia

during the past five years, the writer made numerous enquiries

without being able to obtain any definite information on the subject.

Those Persians who might have known something about it all

declared that they had never heard of a lion having been seen for

many years.

There was a reported case of the skin of a lion having been

brought into Barfarush by a native trapper. An Englishman who

saw the skin said it looked like that of a lioness, but he could not

be certain about it, and the skin was purchased as a curiosity by the

Soviet Consul.

Last year, however, fresh light was thrown on the subject by

another Englishman, an engineer on the railway construction work

in south-west Persia. According to this gentleman, a party of

American engineers had come out to inspect the work which at that

time was in progress in the wild and mountainous region around

Diziul. Some of the party strolled out one morning to look at the

line, and they came across a pair of full-grown lions. The animals

showed no fear, and the party being without any weapons beat a

retreat back to camp. The lions were not seen again.

The above would seem to be definite

evidence that lions do still exist in

Persia, and if one pair were seen, the

presumption is that there may be many

more in these wild hilly tracts of the

south-west of Persia.

RONALD SINCLAIR, F.R.G.s.

LONDON, S.W. 7.

V.—A USEFUL TYPE OF MACHAN.,.

(With a diagram.)

The accompanying sketch is of a

machan I have used with great success

for years. Its good qualities are: (1)

it can be put up very quickly by one

coolie, with hardly any noise; (2) the

shikari if dissatisfied with his post can

change to a higher or lower or more

open position by moving the ropes

which fasten the bag; (3) any move-

ments in the bag are noiseless. The

mouth of the bag should be constructed

with an iron or strong bamboo ring.

All the iron work should be covered

with sacking, lest the gun barrel, striking

the ring, sound a note of warning to any game that may be near.

MISCELEANEOCS NOTES. 673

In moving the bag, only one rope should be moved at a time.

The supporting ropes should be tested before being tied to the ring.

The wood flooring in the bag should be strong and covered with

sacking so as to silence any foot movements.

DyKE, ETHORPE CRESCENT, W. EORSY LE,

GERRARD’S Cross, BUCKS,

September 1, 1931.

VI.—DO WILD DOGS HUNT AND KILL BY NIGHT?

I believe that wild dogs do not usually hunt by night. They

may do so under stress of hunger or on nights when there is a good

moon. I aim of opinion that their powers of sight would be less

keen by night. Wild dogs follow deer calls but whether they do so

by night is a doubtful question. I should be glad to hear the views

of other sportsmen.

August 15, 1931. RAMANUJ OF SURGUJA.

VII.— THE MALAY BEAR.

(With a photo.)

In vol. xxxiv, No. 3, you publish an illustration of a Malay Bear

(Ursus malayanus). I

enclose another photo-

graph of one shot by a

sepoy of the 4th Assam

Rifles in the Manipur

State, about longitude

93°25 and Jatitude -25-77.

It was an old female, with

broken teeth. Unfortuna-

tely, I did not take the

measurements, but she

was certainly less than 44

feet long.

This bear is distributed

throughout the hills of the

State, but is not common.

During the seven years I

was on foreign service in

the State (1910-17), I paid

rewards for the destruction

OF = 1,389" @ bears,” and,

speaking from memory, I

should say that not more

than 1 per cent. of these

were of this species.

During the three years I

was in Nowgong (Assam),

which is slightly further west than the Manipur State, I ane came

across one Malay Bear. Some Mikirs brought in what they claimed

674. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NAIURAL AIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

to bea‘ black tiger,’ for the reward. ‘This proved to be a full-grown

' Malay Bear. But my classification of the animal as a bear was received

with polite derision by the Mikirs, who said that they were perfectly

familiar with the bear and that this was certainly not one. Their

familiarity with the bear is undoubted as there are few Mikir villages

which do not contain at least one unfortunate who has been mauled

by a bear. But their claim that it was a tiger was Jargely influenced

by the fact that the reward for a bear was only Rs. 5, whereas the

reward for a half-grown tiger was Rs. 12-8. They stoutiy refused to

be convinced, until the argument was closed by my Head Clerk, with

the words, ‘ The Sahib says it is a bear, so it is a bear.’

THE RESIDENCY, J.C AIGGiIns:

IMPHAL MANIPUR STATE, LCS:

Lh SUy eT OSL.

VIII—BLACK FOUR-HORNED ANTELOPE

(LETRACEROSSOUADRICORINTS:)

A melanistic example of the Four-horned Antelope was shot by

Maharaj Kumar Chandikeshwar Saran Singh Deo, second son of the

Maharaja of Surguja. The antelope had the colouring of an adult

Black Buck. It was shot 14 miles west from the capital town

Ambikapur at about twilight. There were evidently a pair and as

its little horn could not be distinguished in the bad light, it was fired

at and killed. Unfortunately it proved to be a female, but its mate

had the normal colouring of the species. I regret that I was unable

to secure a photo of this unique specimen.

RAMANUJ OF SURGUJA.

SURGUJA STATE,

CENTRAL PROVINCES.

IX.—ROGUE ELEPHANTS IN THE KHASI HILLS.

In the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, there are always one or-two solitary

‘rogue’ elephants and not long ago in the Jirang State there were

several of them. The local cultivators suffered heavily from the

unwelcome and repeated visits of these animals. About the close

of the last year two such dangerous ‘ rogues ' were proclaimed and one

of them was shot by me. This animal had lost its tail with the

exception of a short stump left to indicate its position. On its left

side alone, as it laid down dead, I counted some seventeen partially-

healed-up wounds, which swelled out about 14” to 2” from the body.

On opening out a few of them a thick and sticky matter came

out. These were no doubt the marks left on him of the shots dealt

by the cultivators during his visits to their cultivations. On the

re = a, : -

MISCELLANEOUS. NOTES 675

inner side of its right foreleg, there was a big abscess about a foot in

diameter with plenty of maggots in it. It is not understood as to

how it got that wound though undoubtedly it was the one which

nettled its temper most.

This animal during some months previous to its death had become

a perfect terror to the neighbourhood, chasing: people, robbing

paddy from the fields and barns in the Umsaw and other adjacent villa-

ges, and, on the evening previous to its death, went close to the village

of Mawlein where it attacked a ‘ Khuti-walla’s’ shed, drove out the

buffaloes and their keepers, and killed one calf by goring it with its

tusk. The rogue had a good drink of whey kept in a wooden barrel

and upset the barrel when it no longer wanted it. Then it went to

have a taste of giee kept in kerosine oil tins but finding it not to its

liking knocked down the tins and their contents and, before leaving

the place, pulled down the shed and trampled over it.

On the following day, I tracked this animal from the last scene of

his depredations and within a mile in the forest suddenly heard the

shrill alarm raised by it. By the time I knew whence the sound

proceeded; the big rogue was advancing towards me with the speed

of alocomotive engine. Knowing that elephants, though they havea

very keen sense of hearing and smell, have gota very poor eye-sight,

I stood still (my guides had already deserted me) until the animal

was only about 30 yards or so from me, then I moved towards its

right side, about ten yards from its direct line of advance. The animal

stopped for a moment when it reached the spot where he scented or

knew that I was, and during that short interval I put in one temple

shot which brought him right down and there ended the career of one

of the troublesome rogues of that locality.

The animal measured 10’ 8” from the shoulder and the circum-

ference of its fore foot was 5’ 34”. The length of the tusks was

5’ 4”, each; the girth at their thickest portion was 173” and both

tipped the scale at 96 Ibs.

SHILLONG, ASSAM, Le Le READE.

Lhe July 19S 1:

X._THE MIGRATION OF THE PARADISE FLYCATCHER

(TCHITREA PARADISI)

During the last two or three years a variety of articles in the

Journai have made it very clear that our present knowledge of the

migration of Indian birds is far from complete. The Bombay

Natural History Society’s ringing scheme has already done some-

thing, and will in the future undoubtedly do more, to increase our

knowledge. But the number of species on which ringing can be

practised is strictly limited, and some other method must also be

adopted if we are ever to have anything like a complete knowledge

of the movements of the smaller migrants.

In the past, observation on the migration of birds has largely been

observation at certain specially favoured points. Observation of

676. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATORALVAIST: SOCIETY, Vol. og,

this type has produced such books as Gatke’s ‘ Heligoland’, and

Eagle Clarke’s ‘ Studies in Bird Migration’. The information that

has been obtained in that way is very valuable, but there is another

method of approaching the subject which has the great advantage

that it begins with the assumption that the problems of migration

may differ considerably in different species. That method is to

collect all possible records of migration, species by species. An

illustration of that method is to be found in Mr. Hugh Whistler’s

article ‘The Migration of the Pied Crested Cuckoo (Clamator jaco-

binus)’. (J.B.N.ALS., vol. xxxiii, pp. 136 to 145).

The purposes of the present article are (1) to point out some

of the contradictory statements that have been made about the

migration of the Paradise Flycatcher (Zchitrea paradist); (2) to

record the small amount of information the writer has been able to

record on the subject from his own observation; and (3) to endea-

vour to interest members of the Society in helping by their observa-

tions to clear up the status of this very familiar bird.

All that the Aauna of British India (Second Edition) has to say

about the subject is—‘ The Paradise Flycatcher is a resident bird

wherever found, but moves about locally in parts of its habitat,

probably on account of food-conditions.’ (Fauna of British India:

Birds, vol. ii, p. 267). Similar statements are made in the ‘ Fauna’

about several other species, but, as no definition is given of the

difference between ‘ migration’ and ‘local movement’, they are not

very heipful.

In ‘ Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds’, (Second Edition, vol. ii,

pp. 22-26), it is stated that this species breeds ‘Throughout the

exterior ranges of the Himalayas up to an elevation of 5,500 feet: at

any rate from Nepal to Afghanistan’, also at Almora, Kotegurh, the

Sutlej Valley, Sooltanpoor, and the Valley of the Beas, and Kashmir

itis common.’ Other places where, according to the same book, the

species has been recorded as breeding, are the Doon, Terai, north-

ern portions of Rohilcund and Oudh, wooded portions of Jhansi,

Saugor, Nimar, Raipur,’ and ‘ doubtless other portions of the Central

Provinces’, also the Agrore Valley, Barreilly, Calcutta Botanical

Gardens, Delhi, Murree, Kashniir, Rajputana, Baroda, Mysore and

Ceylon.

Whistler states (‘Popular Handbook of Indian Birds’, pp. 99,

100) :—‘ Very little is known of the status and habits of this common

and widely-spread bird, but it is undoubtedly migratory to a large

extent. Inthe North-Western Himalayas and Salt Range, it is a

summer visitor, only arriving about March and April and departing

about September : while in most of the Punjab it is only a passage

migrant in those months. To Sind it is a scarce winter visitor ; while

in many localities it is undoubtedly a resident.’

Since the first and third of the above summaries are mutually

contradictory, and the second, which does not in the main deal with

inigration, certainly does not support the first, it will be well to

collect a number of observations on the bird in various districts.

Beginning from the north-west, Capt. R. H. Rattray, writing of

the species at Kohat, states :‘ This bird breeds here fairly plentifully ’.

JBN AA.S., VOlux, p. 628):

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 677

The following note on the status of the Paradise Flycatcher at

Peshawar occurs in vol. xxxii of the Journal (p. 750); ‘A few

breed in the Valley, as Briggs found a female feeding three young

in trees overhanging the Grand Trunk Road, eight miles east of

Peshawar on June 20, 1923. It is, however, a passage migrant in

spring and autumn. Briggs states that they pass through in large

numbers, but appear to stop only one day. That day fails, as far as

his observations go, between April 23 and 29 in the spring, and

between September 19 and 29 in the autumn. The race has not been

identified.’

In ‘Notes on the Birds of Thandiani’ (/.B.N.4.S., vol. xviii,

p. 290); Major: H.. A:-P Masrath states) {On July 9, l.saw a

female Paradise Flycatcher hawking dragonflies near the waterfalls

on the Sufed Pani stream above Kala Pani.’ In July 1921, I saw an

adult male of the species between the falls mentioned above and

Thandiani. It was the only occasion on which I saw the species in

that neighbourhood.

I have found the species breeding in considerable numbers near

Murree, chiefly about 5,000 feet. |

In Kashmir the Paradise Flycatcher is one of the most familiar

birds in the summer.

Whistler states (J.B.N.A.S., vol. xxviii, p. 997): ‘ Except for

an adult male seen on April 6, no Paradise Flycatcher was seen

until April 14. After that date the species was common about

Srinagar till my departure and I saw several about the road on my

downward journey.’

Referring also to Kashniir B. B. Osmasten states (/. B. NV. A. S.,

vol. xxxi, p. 988) that the species is common in the Vale of

Kashmir in summer, ascending the hills to about 6,000 feet; that it

arrives about the middle of April, leaves about the middle of October,

and breeds in May and June.

Whistler states that the species is common in the Kulu Valley up

to a height of about 5,000 ft. adding : ‘...of course only as a summer

visitor.’

Leaving the hills for the plains of the Punjab, we find that Dewar

states that the species ‘ visits the Punjab in great numbers in summer

for nesting purposes’; (Indian Birds, p. 124); and that ‘in Lahore

this species nests in considerable numbers along the well-wooded

banks of the Ravi.’

The following is a quotation from ‘A Contribution to the Orni-

thology of Delhi’ (/. B. WN. A. S., vol. xxxi, p. 268), by S. Basil-

Edwardes: ‘ Terpsiphone paradisi paradist (L)(The Indian Paradise

Fiycatcher). I did not see this species, and it had not arrived before

I left Delhi. (Eggs taken by Bingham. Seven nests on May 27,

and June 12.’)

F. Field, writing of the Gonda District, U. P., and referring to the

breeding of the species, says:—‘In forests and plains, but more

common in forests. May, June.’ (J.B.N.A.S., vol. xxviii, p. 757.)

In an article entitled ‘A Description of the Nests and Eggs of

the Common Birds occurring in the Plains of the United Provinces’,

(J.B. N. A. S., vol. xxix, p. 343), E. H. N. Gill states: ‘ During the

winter months this attractive bird occurs in most districts and is

678: JOURNAL; BOMBAY, NATURAL FIST. SOCLE TV WVol. OCW

frequently met with in gardens and groves adjoining human dwell-

ings. Unfortunately, the bulk seem to migrate in summer to the

Sub-Himalayan tracts, but a great many remain behind ard breed

sparingly throughout the piains. I have found eggs as regularly in

the Eastern as in the Western Districts.’

In the Ghazipur District of the U. P., the species appears to occur

as a passage migrant and a summer visitor. Perhaps a rains visitor

would be a better description, as they do not seem to be established

till the middle of June. In 1930 all seemed to have left by September

17, but on October 3 and 13, single birds were seen, and a pair on

October 17. This year (1931), fromthe middle of April till the middle

of June, occasional birds were seen, often witha gap of several days

when none were to be seen. Presumably these were passage

migrants, as I believe those seen in October last year were.

In ‘ Birds of an Indian Garden’ by T. Bainbridge Fletcher and

C. M. Inglis, (p. 60), the following note on the species in Bihar occurs:

Olin North-pihar sce. it arrives about the end of March and leaves at

the end of October, not being noticed during the cold weather. It is

fairly common locally in Bihar, but its distribution seems to be

rather erratic: for example, I have never seen one at Pusa.’

In the neighbourhood of Mhow (Central India), the Paradise

Flycatcher breeds in the Vindhya Hills, and occurs on the Malwa

Plateau as a passage migrant. Whether it is resident in the Vindhya

Hillis or only a summer visitor I am uncertain, but I did not observe

it there between October 12 and March 27.

Cunningham, in ‘Some Indian Friends and Acquaintances,’

(p. 123), says of this species :—‘ They are not very common inmates

of gardens about Calcutta, but stray specimens may be inet with at

almost every time of the year, and, at the beginning of summer, small

parties of them, apparently in quest of good sites for nests, often

visit quiet areas, such as those afforded by the more secluded parts

of the Botanic Gardens. Such parties include birds of both sexes,

some of the males being in all the splendour of fully developed trains

and mature black and white colouring, whilst others have trains of

chestnut or are still feathered like the females. At all other times of

the year.it is very rare to see any but short-tailed, chestnut and black

birds.

‘ Eha’ states (‘The Common Birds of Bombay ’, p. 77 ‘...... every-

body who has roamed about Matheran or Mahableshwar must be

familiar with it, but I dare say some will be surprised to hear that it

is a Bombay bird,......1 believe that the Paradise Flycatcher only

visits us for a short time during the cold season. I have never heard

of its nest being found on this island.’

Lastly, Mr. George Brown includes this species in a list of birds

seen on a trip from Pottuvil to Kumna, Ceylon, between April 10 and

21. (IBN GIES. VOL RX KdV ep. ClO MtD)

From the above extracts it would appear that, far from being

‘a resident bird wherever found’, (Fazza), it is mainly, if not entirely,

a migratory species. Its breeding area, however, does not seem to

have been very clearly defined so far, and its winter quarters seem

still more vague. In addition to thisthere are certain contradictions

amongst the statements quoted above. |

i apa

eo a

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 679

The species appears to breed through a large part of the Himalayas

at comparatively low levels. Presumably all these records refer to

the sub-species /eacogaster. South of the Himalayas they breed spar-

ingly inthe N.-W.F.P., but are recorded only near Lahore in the

Punjab. They have been recorded as breeding at Delhi, and are

regular breeders in the United Provinces. As it is recorded as a

summer visitor to parts of Bihar, it is fair to assume that it breeds

there. ‘Nests and eggs’ records it as having bred in the Botanical

Gardens, Calcutta, but Cunningham's references to the species appear

to point it out as mainly a passage migrant at Calcutta. Further

south it appears to breed in various parts of the hilly country of

Central India. It is also reported as breeding in Rajputana, Baroda

and Mysore.

Referring to the winter area of the species only two places are

mentioned—Sind and Bombay. Whether ‘Eha’s’ reference is

meant to apply only to Bombay or whether it also applies to

Mahableshwar and Matheran is uncertain. !

The only contradictory statements that need to be mentioned here

are those of Mr. Gill and myself. It would be interesting to know

to what districts of the U. P. the former is referring. In the

Ghazipur, Benares, and Azamgarh Districts, the Paradise Flycatcher

certainly does not occur in the winter, and I have been told by reli-

able observers that the same is true of the Fyzabad District. What

makes Mr. Gill’s statement more surprising is that he spent some

time in the Ghazipur District. Is it possible that in some years the

species winters in the United Provinces and that in other years it

does not ?

In any case, enough has probably been said to prove that our

present knowledge of the species is far from complete. If every

member of the Bombay Natural History Society would note the

status of the Paradise Flycatcher in his own area and send that infor-

mation to someone carpabie of dealing with it, more might be learned

of its movements. The same is true of many other familiar species,

but the Paradise Flycatcher is a good bird to begin on, because it is

so conspicuous that it cannot be overlooked. Unless someone better

qualified is prepared to undertake the task of collating such inform-

ation as may come to hand in that way, I am quite ready to do so

myself, and shall be grateful to anyone who will correspond with me

on the subject. One point to be noticed is that, although the distri-

bution of the Paradise Fiycatcher is given as the whole of India, there

seems to be a great paucity of information from the south. A second

point is that, although sub-specific identifications are useful, notes

are also useful where the sub-species is doubtful, and that sub-specific

identifications which are not supported by specimens are more likely

1 ‘Kha’s’ reference applies, we believe, to Bombay where the Paradise

Flycatcher has been observed occasionally during the cold weather. It has

been noted in Bandra, at the foot of Trombay and in the wooded portions of

Salsette during this time of the year. In Matheran and Mahableshwar, the

Paradise Flycatcher is common during the cold weather and less so during April,

May, though young birds have been observed during the hot season.—EDs.

680 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

to increase than to clear up the present vagueness of our knowledge

of the status of the species.

WESLEYAN MISSION, F. S. BRIGGS.

GHAZIPUR, U. P.,

Siily AGST

XI.—SEX DIFFERENCES IN THE MIGRATION OF THE

COMMON TEAL (NATTION CRECA)

It may interest you to know that while I was in Kashmir between

January and February, 1930, I shot a considerable number of Com-

mon Teal. All of them with one exception were drakes. I believe

that it has been noticed by other observers that the females of the

Common Teal are in a large majority in early winter and later their

places are taken almost entirely by drakes. This was certainly

borne out by my observation.

PORTLAND PARK, M. D. N. WYATT.

ALIPUR, CALCUETA:

July *ZO19357.

[Differences in migration behaviour related to sex and age have

frequently come under notice. Gatke from his observations of the

movements of birds at Heligoland held that adult males tended to be

later in migration than the females. His view seems to be supported

by the observations of Mr. Wyatt and others in reference to the

autumn migration of the Common Teal into India. The behaviour of

migrating birds must vary in different species and no genera] rule

can be laid down without further confirmation.—Ebs. |

XII.—NOTES ON THE NESTING HABITS OF THE

RED-VENTED BULBUL (MOLPASTES CAFER).

A pair of these birds built their nest and brought up three young

just opposite the front door of a friend of mine, in the heart of the

city. I. R. drew my attention to the nest, and we both watched the

parent birds for a considerable time feeding their young. One

interesting point resulted from our observations. It is a well-known

fact that the nests of birds are seldom soiled by the excreta of the

young. ‘This cleanliness is generally attributed to the fact that the

young either excrete in such a way so as to ‘ shoot’ the excrements

beyond the limits of the nest, a very common thing with the Birds

of Prey, for example, or, the parent birds are responsible for cleaning

the nest when leaving it after feeding the young. In the former

case the excreta of the young is usually in a very liquid state, but in

the latter the excreta is generally enveloped in a thin tenacious film

which is not easily punctured. This facilitates its removal from the

nest.

ee ee ee

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 681

To return to the birds under observation, we noticed that in this

case, at least, that each time the parents fed one of the young, they

would immediately go round to the nether end and wait for it to ex-

crete. It is well known that as soon as nestlings are fed, they excrete

immediately after. In the present instance it was observed that each

time the young excreted, the parent birds would take hold of the

excreta as it emerged and swallow it. ‘This procedure was repeated

each time the young were fed. Here arises a question. Why should

the parent birds swallow the excreta ? In domestic animals, such as

the dog and the cat, it is common knowledge that the mother eats

the afterbirth and other secretions at the time of birth and later on

cleans up both the excreta and the urine of the young. Isit possible

that in such cases the reason for such a habit serves only as a means

of keeping the nest or lair clean or, is it that there still remains in the

excretions of the young a certain amount of undigested nourishment

which helps also to nourish the parent? For at the time when

animals are burdened with young, they appear to have little time for

feeding themselves, being occupied the greater part of that time either

in protecting or feeding the young. In the case of birds it seems as

though the parents have little time to obtain a sufficient supply of

food for themselves when they are burdened with young. The

parent birds are seen going to and fro all day from the nest and one

wonders what time they have to feed themselves. They can only

bring one insect at a time, and young birds take a lot of feeding.

Therefore it does seem possible that the parents do derive a

certain amount of nourishment from the excreta of their young which

is in all probability only partially digested.

Another point of interest is that though the nest was in a most

exposed situation, these little birds were able to hold their own

against the crows that infested the locality. No crows were perinitted

to come within a certain distance of the nest. If they did they were

immediately attacked, the bulbuls’ rapid movements were too

much for the crows, forcing them to beat a hasty retreat. It seemed

strange that despite the great difference in size, the crows would not

make a stand to defend themselves but would only fly out of the

area. |

Bompay NATURAL History SociEtTy, C. McCANN, F.L.s.,

BomMBAY, Assistant Curator.

September 30, 1931.

XIIL—DOUBLE NESTS OF THE WEAVER BIRD

(PLOCEUS PHILIPPINUS).

(With a diagram).

In Miscellanea Zoologica Sumatrana, \vii, Mr. J. C. Van der Meer

Mohr in a note on the nesting habits of the Malay Weaver Finch

(Ploceus passerinus tntortunatus) describes examples of ‘ double nests ’

682. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL FIST. SOCIETY, Vol. SOV

of this bird secured by him in Sumatra. The writer illustrates three

types of these peculiar nests— ;

la ty

1. A new complete nest built under and closing the entrance to

the egg-chamber of an old nest, left over from the previous

season.

2. Two nests built and woven together side by side.

3. Is a variation of No. 1—four nests ‘storied’ one above the

other.

The note has drawn my attention to very similar nests built by the

Indian Weaver Bird (Ploceus philippinus). These nests were

collected at Indore and presented to the Society by Mr. Mears.

The figures on page 682 give an indication of their structure:

No. 1 illustrates three connected nests, a, 0, and c.

a and 6 are suspended froin the same palm leaf; a from its

extremity; 6 from about 1’ higher; ¢ from a neighbouring leaf.

a is an incomplete nest without its entrance tube, its egg chamber is

solidly interwoven with the entrance tube of 6, while its upper

portion is loosely attached. 6 is a complete nest. Its solid upper

portion measures 10”, the egg-chamber 7” and the entrance tube 16”.

cis acomplete nest with a short entrance tube. Its egg-chamber

and tube are closely woven to the entrance tube of 6 while the

attachment of its upper portion is rudimentary. It will be seen that

Nest No. 1, from Indore, corresponds to type 2 taken in Sumatra, Z.¢.,

two nests joined side by side.

Nest No. 2 follows type 1 from Sumatra, 7.e., a complete nest built

under and closing the entrance to an incomplete nest above it.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 683

Whether these nests were the work of the same cock or not, it is

impossible to say.

Mr. E. G. Herbert in his paper on the Nests and Eggs of Birds in

Central Siam (Journ. Siam Soc., Nat. Flist., vol.’ vi, 1923-1926),

which Mr. Van der Meer Mohr quotes, also refers to ‘double’ nests

of Weaver Birds observed by him—in this instance a new nest

built under an old one.

Mr. Cripps writing on the nesting of the Eastern Baya (Ploceus

megarhynchus), Hume's Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds, second

edition, vol. ii, p. 119) says: ‘I have on several occasions found

a second nest commenced from the bottom of the tube of the old one,

the upper nest being useless as the passage is closed up.’ This

peculiarity in the nest building of our Weaver Birds noted by many

observers may perhaps offer a clue to the origin of the great

communal nests of the Social Weaver Birds (Philetherus socicus) of

South Africa. These wonderful nests built of grass and twigs are

composed of numerous separate chambers for housing individual

families. ‘The birds do not occupy the same compartments every

year, but at the return of the breeding season build new nests under

the oid ones. Thus the aggregated mass increase in size and may

contain more than one or two hundred separate chambers. From

building separate nests these Weaver Birds may have passed to the

stage of joining a few nests together and in course of time was thus

evolved the present gigantic structure with its common roof and its

component cubicles for the housing of a few hundred families. The

material used, the site and the plan of construction adopted, the

circumstances and conditions under which these birds built their

nests and the effective protection they obtained being the factors

which directed and favoured the intenser development of the social

habit and the evolution of this particular type of nest architecture as the

one most beneficial tothe preservation and continuity of the species.

BoMBAY NATURAL HIsrory SocIETy. S..H. PRATER; c.m.z:s.

6 APOLLO STREET, Curator.

October 15, 1931.

XIV.—PLACE OF THE JAVA SPARROW (MUN/A

ORYZIVORA L.) IN THE INDIAN AVIFAUNA.

Munia oryzivora (Linn.) attracts notice more as a cage-bird than

one which, given its freedom, canthrive and readily acclimatise itself

in other than its native habitat. ‘The case of such liberated

individuals is not unknown in the annals of Indian ornithology. The

introduced species is looked uponas only an exotic form—an escape

from the cage. Half a century ago, Blyth mentioned the occurrence

of Munia oryzivora (Iinn.)inthe Mergui Province (Burma). Jerdon,

Hume and Oates found the bird common enough and nesting wild

near Madras. Legge recorded its acclimatisation in Ceylon. A

species which had to its credit a record of successes in introducing and

maintaining its hold in new situations and under varying circum-

stances in many parts of China, Japan, Siam, Cochin China, the

684 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Malay Archipelago, Mauritius, the Zanzibar Coast and other

localities, would naturally raise high hopes in the mind of Oates as

regards its rapid multiplication in the jungles of British Burma.

The problem arises what would zow be the status of Junta oryzivora

(Linn.) in relation to India’s native avifauna? Will the success of

its introduction or the extent at its present stage of its naturalisation

in this country warrant its inclusion in the permanent list of the Indian

avifauna? Oates who edited the first edition of /.&./. (Birds)

was merely content with an allusion to this bird in a foot-note.

Apparently it was premature then to take for granted its Indian

domicile. Almost half acentury has since gone by. From published

records during this period one finds hardly any light on its move-

ments. A new edition of /.&./. (Birds) has been called forth,

and in it, unhappily for AZunia oryzivora (Linn.), Mr. Stuart

Baker has not a word to say, nay, he has thought fit to delete even:

the former foot-note of Oates. Has the bird then lost its foothold

and failed completely in its effort to cope with Indian conditions ?

The bird ‘appears to be acclimatised near Madras’, writes

Mr. W. E. Wait in 1925 in his Manual of Birds of Ceylon, though

round Colombo it seems to him not quite as flourishing as in Legge’s

time. Very recently near Calcutta (10 miles to its north), I have

under observation a colony of these Munias whose favourite resort

is ashrubby situation composed of two or three trees embracing

each other and overhanging the paddy-stacks put up in the compound

of some villagers close to Agarpara railway station (Dist. 24-Parga-

nas). These have not only food within easy reach but also cover and

shelter from the hot sun and driving rain. Their hunting ground in

the early morning isthe surrounding paddy-fields (from which paddy

and straw have been removed), where flocks of considerable size will

descend and feed on fallen paddy. ‘Their chirrups are now inces-

santly heard and enliven the country-side. They feed here till about

8 o’clock when they retire to their cover and roost, returning towards

afternoon to search for paddy. Wary to a degree, they will, on the

least suspicion of danger, hurry away to disiant directions, some

sheltering themselves in tree-tops and some in thickets and impene-

trable reed-beds within jhecls. Once I found while a bird-catcher

spread his net to capture them, the birds on the paddy-fields would

keep clear of the trap. Frightened birds while seeking cover among

trees will so adjust themselves that one tries in vain to look for them

in the self-same tree into which they slip into complete oblivion.

Evidentiy these birds suffer little molestation from the local people,

for they will allow me to watchthem at close quarters. Great are their

chances of persecution, as they are much sought after as cage-birds

on account of their pretty colour and attractive qualities, and they

enjoy hardly any protection under the legislation of the country.

They are quite hardy birds and possessed, as they are, with powerful

beaks and no inconsiderable power of flight, apparently run little

risk of getting worsted in the struggle for existence. Sparrows

will dare not bully them. Rather both will tolerate each other,

roosting and feeding in each other’s company. I have not yet been

able to find out the nesting site of the Munias, but I suspect it lies

within the belt of almost impenetrable reeds not far off from their

£5 ei A SR ae

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 685

roosting place, The under-noted measurements are those of three

specimens which I could manage, with the aid of a bird-catcher, to

snare with bird-Jime :—

Locality. Date. Wing. Tail. Tarsus. Culmen.

Agarpara ... ...| 30—1—31 67 47 19 18 mm.

Do. a, ...| 31—1—31 66 46 185 17 mm.

Wome | 1-2—31 69 47 19 17 mm.

So little is known about Munia oryzivora (L.) introduced into

various parts of our country. There is no published record of its

occurrence in Bengal. Yet the bird has had some success in its

efforts to adjust itself to situations and circumstances unfamiliar to

it. Will not this success claim for it a place among India’s avifauna?

The problem, fascinating as it is, admits of solution by closer

observation and concerted effort of the ornithologists in this

country.

50, KAmLas Bosr STREET, SATVA CHURN LAW.

CALCUTTA,

July 29, 1931.

[In an issue of the Girl Guides’ Magazine, 1928, under Nature

Notes, there is a record of a pair of Java Sparrows nesting near

Poona. |

XV.—NOTE ON THE BREEDING OF THE INDIAN

MOORHEN (GALLINULA CHLOROPUS PARVIFRONS),

Sir;

In his article on the Indian Moorhen (Gadlinula chloropus parvt-

frons) inthe Journal, vol. xxxi, p. 542, Mr. Stuart Baker writes,

a propos of its nesting, ‘Hume seemed to think that they had two

broods in the year in the hills, laying first in May and again in the

latter half of July but other observers think they have only one set

of eggs in the season’. It may be of interest to know that Hume

was right, though a little out as to the times of laying. _

There is in my garden a large tank, nearly 100 yards squate, in

the middle of which is a small island, covered and surrounded by a

bed of reeds, on which are three or four trees growing. In the tank

are several broad belts of white lotus, and there is a certain quantity

of water weed of various kinds. The surroundings are quiet and the

tank is a sanctuary, which is visited by a number of water birds.

Major-General Sir James Johnstone, who was Political Agent fifty

years ago, has recorded that geese were to be seen there in his time,

and I have seen nine varieties of duck on the tank. Frequently one

or two pairs of Whistling Teal (Dendrocycna javanica) breed on the

island. :

686 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

For some years past a pair of moorhens have yearly brought up

afamily on the tank. Though I have sometimes noticed a late

brood, I have never actually seen two in a season, and always

thought that a late family denoted the failure of a first brood. But

this year I noticed the pair with two young ones (I subsequently saw

a third), nearly as large as mynas on May 7. ‘These young birds,

now practically as large as the parents, are still on the tank. The

day before yesterday I found the hen feeding on the lotus leaves near

the bank of the tank. She was very agitated when she saw me, and

ran over the leaves in the direction of the island, making the cali

which I have learnt to associate with the coilection of her young. I

watched, and saw three minute chicks, in black down, running over

the leaves after her. Eventually they took to the water and all

reached the shelter of the reeds.

Apart from young birds, I have never seen more than one pair of

moorhens on the tank: I know of no water within half a miie of

this tank where moorhens are to be found. I think there can be no

doubt that the same pair of moorhens have brought off two broods,

hatched (not laid) in late April and late July.

THE RESIDENCY, IMPHAL, Je CHIGGINS,s1-C:s:

MANIPUR STATE,

SUL 25, LOST:

[Subsequent to the receipt of the above note Mr. Higgins, in a letter

to the Society, says: ‘ In continuation of my letter of July 28, on the

subject of the Indian Moorhen (Gadlinula chloropus), | may say that

the second brood consisted of six, not three. JI have seen the chicks

several times, escorted sometimes by a parent, sometimes by one of

the first brood, running about on the lotus leaves.

‘On the 10th instant I saw one of the Whistling Teal (Dendrocycna

javanica) on the tank escorting three very small ducklings about the

lotus leaves.’—EDs. |

_XVI.—DESCRIPTION OF THE IMMATURE PLUMAGE OF

THE INDIAN PRATINCOLE OR SWALLOW PLOVER

(GLAREOLA M. MALDIVARUM).

We are greatly indebted to Mr. C. F. Jeffery, State Engineer,

Manipur, Assam, for the above mentioned specimen, a description

of which has not been recorded in the new Fauna of British India,

Birds. ©

Forehead, crown and nape dark brown, the feathers faintly edged

with buff; a well-defined supercilium creamy buff streaked with

brown; whole upper plumage except rump brown, the feathers edged

with buff forming crescents on the scapulars, wing coverts and lower

back. Rump pure white; tail feathers blackish brown with broad

white bases; tipped buff. First three primaries blackish brown ; the

remainder edged creamy white. Auxillaries and under-wing coverts

rusty red. Chin and throat white, the sides of the neck streaked

2uptshe Minets SRaa

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 687

with brown forming an irregular gorget on the upper breast. Lower

plumage white flanked grey. —

Bill and feet black.

BomBAy Nat. HIST. SOCIETY, V.S. LAPERSONNE, M.8.0.v.

APOLLO STREET, BOMBAY,

September 30, 1930.

XVII—EARLY ARRIVAL OF FANTAIL SNIPE

(GALLINAGO GALLINAGO) IN MANIPUR.

It may be of interest to record that I shot a Fantail Snipe (Gallinago

gailinago) this morning. The earliest date on which one is knownto

have been shot previously in Manipur is August 24. Including this

one, only 11 have been shot in August in the past 20 years.

Our earliest record for the Pintail Snipe (Gallinago stenura) is

August 2, 1930, when one was shot by Capt. G. F. Bulfield of the

216th Gurkha Rifles.

THE RESIDENCY, IMPHAL, JC; HIGGINS, 1-Cis.

MANIPUR STATE,

August 10, 1931.

XVIII.—THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE EASTERN GREY

DUCK (AWAS PUECILORYNCHA ZONORY NCHA).

I note Mr. Higgins’ remarks, in vol. xvvv, No. 2 of the Journal,

on a letter of mine about the first Indian record of the Eastern Grey

Duck (Anas pacilorhyncha zonorhyucha).

If he will turn to Mr. Stuart Baker’s Game Birds of India, Burma

and Ceylon, vol. i, ‘ Ducks and theiy Allies’, he will find that the birds

aot by Messrs. Moore and Mundy and others in Assam and Burma

(with the exception of the two zonorhyncha mentioned by me) etc.,

were the Burmese Grey Duck (Aas pecilorhyncha haringtont) a quite

different bird with a blue and not a green speculum. In the Fauna

of British India, 2nd edition, vol. vi, under ‘ Axas zonorhyncha’ is the

following note on distribution:—‘There is one specimen from Kentung,

Southern Shan States, in the British Museum collection, whilst

Harington also shot one at Taungyi, Burma, in December 1911.’

In vol. vili, p. 702, of the same work Stuart Baker writes: ‘ Inglis

obtained a typical specimen of this duck in Behar, an extraordinary

extension of its range.’ :

Musrum Hovusk, DARJEELING, CHAS. M. INGLIS,

October 30, 1931. H.Z.S,, 7.E.S., E.M.B.O.U;

XIX._THE STIFF-TAILED DUCK (ER/ISMATURA

LEUCOCEPHALA).

I was very interested in Captain Whitehead’s article on the Stiff-

‘Pail im yol. xxxv.

I relate the following as rather an unusual occurrence. Early this

June, during a furious dust storm, I noticed a solitary duck on the

688 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATORAL GIST. SOCIETY. Vole

reservoir that contains the Peshawar water-supply. As this is a

strange resting-place for duck in June, I was determined to identify

the intruder, so had it put up and shot it as it came round. It was

a Stiff-Tail.

BARA Form, (N.-W.F.P:), M.G. DE L’ISLE STURM,

August 4, 1931, Captain, Royal Army Medical Corps.

XX.—FLYING FROGS.

I was interested in the note entitled ‘A Flying Frog’ at page 220

of the Journal, vol. xxxv.

I first saw a very similar frog shortly after my arrival in Rangoon

at the end of 1930. It lived in our drawing room for many days,

being usually seen on the wall or side of a piece of furniture. It

appeared quite fearless of humans and jumped freely, giving the

impression of never looking before it leapt, but always arriving

safely at some unlooked for destination. At night it hid in a pigeon

hole of the writing table.

We left that particular house about that time so I do not know

what became of it.

Some weeks later when driving my car it showed symptoms of

serious misfiring. On opening the bonnet I found a‘ flying frog’

eripping the steering column and very near the distributor. I

removed him gently but firmly and the car ran perfectly, so I can

only presume it was causing a ‘ short’ somewhere.

A few days later, another, or possibly the same flying frog was

found in the porch of our new and present bungalow. As the car

always stands in the porch perhaps it was heading for the engine.

It was personally conducted by my driver among the shrubs and

plants of the front garden which it reached by a series of half-hearted

bounds.

Two days ago another such frog was discovered in a bathroom,

on the first floor, hiding behind a curtain. This was definitely a

smaller specimen with black mottled markings on its back and flanks,

and a distinctly more pointed snout than the illustration in your

Journal.

I took it downstairs and it disappeared. I have not seen these

frogs fly but should imagine they could glide some distance. I have

never seen them feed, but fancy their diet must be similar to that of

lizards, as they live the same kind ot life.

RANGOON, J.G. P. DRUMMOND,

September 18, 1931, Major.

XXI.—CASE OF RECOVERY FROM THE BITE OF A

PHOORSA (2GH7S (GARTNALPA):

- The patient passed over shellfish shingle in the compound to look

out for a ship at 4-45 a.m. at Marmagoa on Saturday, May 30.

Was bitten in the left foot as he returned to the house, but thought it

must have been a scorpion as snakes are not expected on the shingle.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 689

Sent a note at 6-30 a.m. asking for a doctor to be sent, meanwhile

painted the punctures with Iodine.

A mantra man was seen at 7 a.m. who stated that it was a bite by

the snake known as a Phoorsa, and commenced the usual treatment.

At 8 a.m. the doctor arrived and since the man was treating the

foot he agreed to let him carry on although he had brought an

injection of gold chloride. He left, and asked for a report in the

evening. The foot was now swelling considerably and turning

colour.

From the time of the bite up to9 a.m. the patient fainted, and

again several times nearly fainted. Was given brandy.

Another doctor came in the evening and as the leg was very much

swollen and discolored and the blood pressure low, he called in

another doctor. The mantra treatment continued with a last

application at 6-30 p.m.

The patient passed a bad night on Saturday and in the morning on

examination by the doctor the urine was thick and blood coloured,

the blood pressure worse and temperature sub-normal.

Sunday, June 1.—Passed a bad night. The leg was still swelling

and extending, dark blue patches appearing on different parts of the

body. The doctor applied leeches. The mantra treatment was

continued. There was excessive bleeding from the wounds. ‘The

patient passed a bad night. Condition low.

Monday, June 2.—More dark-blue coloured patches appeared on

the arms and body. The blood pressure was unsatisfactory, so

another doctor was summoned. At noon the patient was very low,

there was excessive bleeding from the wounds, also from the centres

of the patches, which had the appearance of the top of a pepper

castor. The surgeon from the Hospicio Hospital (Dr. Dias) at

Margoa was then called. Margoa is about 20 miles from Marmagoa.

He arrived at 3 p.m. and immediately cauterised the whole of the

flesh from the toe and well around the place of the bite with a blow

lamp and instrument. He injected a full dose of polyvalent anti-venine

as no other was available and removed the patient to the hospital 20

miles away, by car. On arrival the whole of the leg was placed in

cotton wool and douches of Mag. Sulph. lotion applied day and night

for about 10 days (anti-gangrene treatment) and a local lotion applied

tothe wound. Nothing but black coffee was given to the patient.

After four days the patient was allowed alittie milk. The leg re-acted

to the treatment, the patches on the body and the whole of the leg

faded somewhat. Another injection of anti-venine was given

on Tuesday and one on Wednesday, June 3, after which the whole

of the discolorations faded, those on the body fairly rapidly. Except

for afew hours after each of the injections, the temperature of the

patient was constantly sub-normal.

The leg slowly became reduced in size, the discolorations became

-less pronounced, the wounds steadily healed up and new flesh grew,

covering up the exposed bone. ‘The patient left for Bangalore on

June 21 and reported to Colonel McPherson, Surgeon Superintendent

of the Bowring Hospital. On arrival there, temperature was 97° and

condition low. Internal medicine was prescribed and the leg had to

-be kept at rest.. The patient has since recovered in general health,

690 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL FAST, SOCIETY, Vol: XXXV

but the final healing of the wound is slow, and the foot still discolours

on being subjected to pressure.

The gold chloride was not injected.

Bompay, W. T. E. HUFFAM.

September, 1931.

XXII.—TREATMENT OF SNAKE BITE

We have been interested in the treatment of the bites of the

American poisonous snakes and during the last four years, the death-

rate has decreased by about 100 a year. We attribute this success

to—

(1) Reduction ot the amount of venom absorbed by Mechanical

Suction, 20 minutes an hour, 15 hours.

(2) Neutralizing the venom in the circulation with anti-venine

(a polyvalent serum) in repeated doses until neurotoxic symptoms

disappear.

(3) > ei reat shocl

(4) Replace the biood destroyed by the venom by blood transfusion,

saline or glucose solutions intravenously and by protoblysis.

We have had remarkable success in serious cases by persistent

treatment. We have had cases live after the pulse stopped for many

hours—in the case of a soldier for 24 hours and a woman for 19

hours. We have had great success with Mechanical Suction in

rattlesnake bites and use a rubber bulb made by Fleck Headrick Co..,

521 North Alamo, San Antonio, Texas, in the field or an aspirator in

the hospital. See ‘ Mechanical Treatment of Rattle Snake Venom

Poisoning’ by Dudley Jackson, mM.p, and W. T. Harrison, Surgeon,

U. S. Public Health Service, in the Journal of the American Medical

Association, June 16, 1928 and 7veatment of Snake Bite by Dudley

Jackson, Southern Medical Journal, July 1929, and First Aid Treat-

ment for Snake Bite inthe Zexas State Journal of Medicine, July

1927. I also have articles in the same nuinbers.

THE STABLES, M. L. CRIMMINS,

NAROTON, CONN., U.S.A., Col., U.S. Army, Rei.

Dal AO BI STE

XXIII], SNAKES ON THE BARSI LIGHT RAILWAY

(DECCAN).

The Barsi Light Railway extends from Miraj in the south-western

corner of the Bombay Deccan to Latur in the northern part of Hydera-

bad, covering an area 203 miies long on the Deccan plateau between

the river Kistna in the south-west and the Godavari’s tributary, the

Manjra in the north-east. It is throughout a fairly uniform country

with an average altitude of 1,600 to 2,200 ft. With the exception of

a tract north-east of Miraj, between the stations Atbni Road and

soma

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 691

Jath Road, where bare rocky ridges and truncated hills rise above the

plains and a narrow strip of mountainous country between Pangri

and Yedsi made up of forest-ciad hills and deep ravines, the plateau

is only feebly undulated. The trap rock is mostly covered by

black cotton and murmad soils with here and there patches of red

soil. Trees are, as a rule, scarce though the dadu/ is common enough

and so are 27m trees along the roads. Stoney barren stretches and

cultivated fields of 7wav, cotton and groundnuts edged by the

ever-present Opuntia and occasional agaves and here and there a

sandy nala are the main features of the tracts covered by the railway—

At the sacred city of Pandharpur, where thousands of Mahrattas

congregate during the fairs to worship Vithoba, the Bhima is

crossed, and 40 miles further north-east near Mahisgaon, its

tributary the Sina. At Kurduvadi—the headquarters of the railway,

the Barsi Light and Great Indian Peninsula Railways intersect

while further north-east Barsi town with its important grain market

and spinning mills and Latur with its ginning and pressing factories

are given an outlet for their products through the Barsi Light

Railway.

In order to acquire a knowledge of the kinds of snakes present

along the railway and the relative proportion of poisonous species, a

bounty of 2 annas was paid for each specimen during a period of

about two years.

From August 19, 1929, to November 1, 1931, a total of 458

snakes belonging to 19 different species were received at the

Kurduvadi dispensary.

These are tabulated below giving a percentage of 15:7 of poison-

ous specimens (72 out of 458) ;—

Dipsadomorphus trigonatus ... ote OS

Lycodon aulicus ae ey aes |

Macropisthodon plumbicolor stan A

Coluber helena ~~ te vs. 40

Naia tripudians a Paredes deem oF)

Zamenis fasciolatus i Ets:

Eryx conicus aoe te cone Wee

Echis carinata aes ae ees

Typhlops braminus es ce eme sag

Coronella brachyura ae aoe lit)

Nerodia piscator ... is 10

Ptyas mucosus aed nee ae 9

Bungarus ceeruleus.,, 8

Oligodon arnensis ... ie ee 5

Ty phlopsiacutus:\... ne ie +

Eryx jaculus 3

Callophis trimaculatus 3

Oligodon taeniolatus aise 1 2

Vipera russelli orn ao a iL

Whereas a sufficiently representative number was received from

Kurduvadi, only scanty specimens were forthcoming from other

stations and from many of these none at all was obtained. It is

however likely that all the above species, with possibly one or two

692 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

exceptions, occur throughout the entire tract of land covered by the

Railway.

The distribution according to localities is given below, the stations

being ranged from LaATurR, the north-eastern terminus in the Nizam's

Dominions to MIRAJ in the Southern Maratha country :

— Latur—

Macropisthodon plumbicolor

Naia tripudians

bet pu

Hangul—

Dipsadomorphus trigonatus ... due

Macropisthodon plumbicolor

Naia tripudians

Oligodon arnensis

Oligodon teeniolatus

Owsa Road—

Dipsadomorphus trigonatus

Macropisthodon plumbicoior

Lycodon aulicus ...

Ptyas mucosus

Murud—

Dipsadomorphus trigonatus ...

Naia tripudians sat Res mete

Colober helena

Bungarus ceeruleus

Raise Road (Tadvala)—

Coluber helena a

Lycodon aulicus — ... aoe

MH Oo Me ron bi

r+ SO)

| ORG pe

Naia tripudians ae Rec ce 1

Barst Town—

Macropisthodon piumbicolor ,,, ie 1

Shendri—

Naia tripudians We ss Ee ea 2

Chink Hill—(and neighbouring viieeoy

Dipsadomorphus trigonatus ... sue it

Lycodon aulicus

Coluber helena

Echis carinata

Macropisthodon plumbicolor

Zamenis fasciolatus

Coronella brachyura

Naia tripudians

Ptyas mucosus

Typhlops braminus

Nerodia piscator ..:

Vipera russelli e

Re HHH lor ht Om OW

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

Kurduvadi—

Lycodon aulicus

Dipsadomorphus trigonatus

Naia tripudians ete

Coluber helena 5

Macropisthodon cael

Eryx conicus sie

Zamenis fasciolatus..

Echis carinata :

Typhlops braminus...

Coronella brachyura

Nerodia piscator

Ptyas mucosus

Typhlops acutus

Bungarus ceeruleus...

- Oligodon arnensis

Eryx jaculus

Callophis tr imaculatus

Oligodon téeniolatus

Padsali—

Ptyas mucosus

Modlimb—

Ashti—

Bungarus ceeruleus...

Dipsadomorphus trigonatus

Lycodon aulicus

Echis carinata

Typhlops braminus...

Naia tripudians

Bungarus ceeruleus ...

Pandharpur—-

Bohali—

Lycodon aulicus

Dipsadomorphus trigonatus

Macropisthodon plumbicolor

Oligodon arnensis ..

Nerodia piscator

Coluber helena

Naia tripudians

Ptyas mucosus

Bungarus ceeruleus ...

Eryx jaculus Se

Caliophis trimaculatus

Dipsadomorphus trigonatus

Macropisthodon plumbicolor

Coluber helena

Echis carinata ae ; ha

Zamenis fasciolatus an

Bungarus caruleus

md DOK LOB

Be Se ee 0 0 1 OO a eC CNS

mt pe DO DO BD

693

694 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Bamani— |

Dipsadomorphus trigonatus ... ae @

Lycodon aulicus~.... ie a 1

Wasud—

Dipsadomorphus trigonatus 1

Lycodon aulicus i i

Macropisthodon piumbicolor il

Coluber helena 1

Zamenis fasciolatus 1

Jath Road—

Bungarus ceeruleus ... ate ae it

Athnit Road—

Nerodia piscotor ... te een |

Miraj—

Dipsadomorphus trigonatus ... Cm it

Ptyas mucosus ce ea : 1

The seasonal distribution of the commonest species during the

two years’ period, August 19, 1929, to August 18, 1931, was found

to be the following. ‘The month in which the largest number of each

was observed being given in the table:

Dipsadomorphus trigonatus ...°' peptember a8

Lycodon aulicus a (October 16

Macropisthodon plumbicolor ss. October 14

Coluber helena .. september 9

Zamenis fasciolatus ... November 8

Naia tripudians ... November 7

Typhlops braminus sete |ietar9 6

Echis carinata a October 5

Eryx conicus ... May and January4 each

Coronella brachyura ... November 4

During the above-mentioned two years’ period, the monthly distri-

bution was the following :—

October—78;° September—70; November—59; June-—50;

July—35;. August—25; March—25; May—22; January—22;

December—21; February—18; April—9.

Ty phlops braminus, the Common Blind Snaké appeared on the

surface after heavy rains. ‘The largest measured 18 cm. body, its

tail was mutilated. The smallest 6°3 cm. body, 0:2 cm. tail; this

was captured in the middle of September. Small beetles were found

in the stomach.

Typhlops acutus, one was rescued by day from the beak of a

cock ; another was captured after dusk while crossing a road. The

largest measured 35:2 cm. body, 0:4 cm. tail; the smallest 23 cm.

body, 0:2 cm. tail.

Eryx jaculus, the Black Earth-Boa, a decidedly uncommon snake

along the Railway. The largest measured 89 cm. body, 10 cm. tail ;

the smallest 35 cm. body, 4:8 cm. tail; this was found end of Sep-

tem ber.

Eryx conicus, the Red Earth-Boa, was captured by day in most

instances, Sometimes in quarters, sheds and latrines. The largest

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 695

measured 7Z cm. body, 4 cm. tail ; the smallest 24:7 cm. body, 1'8cm.

tail ; this was brought in the third week of July. Rats were found

several times in the stomach. A specimen measuring 51°5 cm. body,

4cm. tail was captured in the compound of the Roman Catholic

Church at Kurduwadi in the act of crushing a full-grown striped

squirrel. Gastric and intestinal nematodes and cysticerci were found

in several instances.

Lycodon aulicus, the Common Wolf Snake, was chiefly found in

quarters and after dusk. The largest measured 64 cm. body,

13-6 cm. tail; the smallest 25 cm. body, 43 cm. tail. Pregnant

females were received in March, April and May. Lizards (Hemz-

‘dactylus leschenaulti, Calotes versicolor, Mabuia carinata) and small

rodents were the common findings in the stomach. Adult parasitic

helminths were sometimes seen, but stomach walls and mesentary

studded by cysticerci and nematodeora were almost constantly observ-

ed in full-grown specimens.

Coronella brachyura, this unobtrusive but handsome little snake

was found by day; the first specimen observed climbing on the wall

-of the dispensary. The largest measured 49 cm. body, 2°3 cm. tail;

the smallest found beginning of November ; 21:4 cm. body, 3:1 cm.

tail.

Oligodon arnensts, the Banded Kukri Snake, largest specimen 52

em, body, 7:8 cm. tail; smallest 29°5 cm. body, 6 cm. tail.

Oligodon tenitolatus, the Variegated Kukri Snake. Largest speci-

men 42:2 cm. body, 6°7 cm. tail; smallest 41 cm. body, 6 cm. tail.

Ptyas mucosus, the Common Rat-Snake, was found by day. The

two largest specimens measured 165 cm. body, 51:5 cm. taii and

163 cm. body, 66 cm. tail. The smallest received in the beginning

of November 57 cm. body, 21 cm. tail. An egg-bound female was

found in May. A few specimens were infested by ticks and gastric

nematodes. The dhaman does not seemto be a very common snake

along the Railway, nor does it attain the large size often observed

by the author in the United Provinces.

Zaments tasctolatus, the Fasciolated Rat-Snake, was constantly

found by day and often in open places. In one instance a large

specimen was captured in a poultry-yard. The largest and smallest

individuals measured 97 cm. body, 24 cm. tail and 29:3 cm. body,

3°5 cm. tail respectively. The latter was brought end of August.

Rats were commonly found in the stomach. Gastric nematodes and

intestinal cestodes were observed in a few cases.

Coluber helena, the Trinket Snake, was chiefly encountered by day

and near dwelling-places. The largest and smallest specimens seen

measured di4-cem, body, 2o-cmk tail and: 30:5 cm. body, 6:2 cm. tail

respectively. The latter found end of November. Egg-bound

females were brought in July; one contained eleven full sized eggs.

Rats, mice and other small rodents were found in the stomach.

Helminthic infestation was not observed in any case.

Macropisthodon plumbicolor, the Green Keelback, was captured

both by day and by night in grass and while crossing roads. The

largest measured 79:5 cm. body, 9°5 cm. tail; the smallest 15-5 cm.

body, 2°8 cm. tail (found in the third week of October). Pregnant

females were seen in March, April and May. Frogs and toads (Auto

696 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

melanostictus) were found in the stomach. Acanthocephala were

observed in a few specimens, but the majority were free from helmin-

thic infestations.

Dipsadomorphus trigonatus, the Common Indian Catsnake, was

found both by day and by night, commonly in gardens and around

quarters. The largest specimen measured 91cm. body, 16:5 cm.

tail ; the smallest 41°5 cm. body, 10 cm. tail. Pregnant females were

encountered in May, June and July; one of them containing 14 full

sized eggs. Inthe stomach the commonest contents were sinall birds,

chickens and eggs. Infestations with gastric nematodes and intesti-

nal cestodes were often seen. ,

Callophis trimaculatas, the Slender Coral Snake. This graceful

animal was found by day in the three instances and when captured

was seen playing its trick of raising the tail and hiding its head. It

never attempted to bite. The largest specimen measured 3:33 cm.

body, 2:6 cm. tail; the smallest 20:2 cm.. body, 1:9 cm. tail.

Bungarus ceruleus, the Common Krait appeared to be fairly uncom-

mon, only eight specimens being received. The largest measured

87:5 cm. body, 12°4cm. tail. The smailest 54:5 cm. body, 9:4 cm. tail.

Naia tripudians, the largest Cobra, a male, measured 149 cm. body,

28:3 cm. tail; the smallest, killed end of August, 27°5 cm. body, 5:3

cin. tail. In the stomach were found toads and small birds and in

one case another snake—a cobra measuring 44°8 cm. body, 8°8 cm.

tail, having swallowed a Lycodon aulicus measuring 45°5 cm. body, 9

cm. tail. A few specimens had gastric nematodes and acanthoce-

phali.. Old individuals were generally infested with ticks.

Vipera russellz, the Russell’s Viper, is the rarest snake in our

series, aS only one specimen was brought. This was killed by a

farmer in a cow-shed near a village about 2 miles from Chink Hill

station. It measured 133 cm. body, 24 cm. tail.

Echis carinata, the Saw-scaled Viper, was found by day and in

most cases brought alive to the dispensary. ‘The largest measured

40 cm. body, 3°8 cm. tail; the smallest, received beginning of Novem-

ber, 19 cm. body, 1°6 cm. tail. On opening the stomach centipedes

were found several times and once a lizard, a Hemidactylus. Some

individuals were infested by a few nematodes and cestodes.

During the period under review three cases of snake-bite inflicted by

poisonous snakes were brought to our notice, and only one of them

came totreatment.

At Pangri, a gangman was bitten on his right heel on June 6 at

8 p.m. by a snake described as being darkish and about 14 foot long.

The wound kept on bleeding continuously until:12 noon the follow-

ing day when it was incised and potassium permanganate rubbed into

it. The whole right lower limb was then found marked by swollen

purpuric patches, and blisters containing haemorrhagic serum deve-

loped later on the right foot. There were several vomitings and

diarrhoeic stools, but as these occurred after taking of a native

remedy by the gangman soon after the bite, it is not possible to say

whether they were due to the remedy or to the snake venom. The

patient recovered but it took over two months for the cedema to

disappear entirely. It is likely that this was a case of bite inflicted

by the Saw-scaled Viper (chs carinata).

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 697

At 3 o’clock inthe morning of August 8,a sweeper woman at

Barsi town sleeping on the floor suddenly woke up saying toher hus-

band that she had been bitten by arat. After five minutes she had

the sensation of needles and pins. over her whole body and she

experienced a great thirst. Her speech soon became stammering

and after 4 a.m. she could not utter a word. Frothy saliva came out

from her mouth. She was dead at 6 am. ‘There were two punc-

tured wounds below her right knee. No snake was seen. This

is likely to have been a case of cobra bite.

An oil engine driver at Jath Road station was bitten at about

10 p.m.on July 23 on the middle of his back while sleeping on the

floor of his quarters. He went for treatment to the temple of the vil-

lage 4 mile distant and was given a decoction of zz leaves which he

vomited. He then felt better and returned to his quarters at 11 p.m.

Shortly afterwards he said that his ‘lungs were getting dry’ and he

had difficulty to speak. He was then again taken to the temple

- where he was seen by the Station Master at about 10 a.m. the fol-

lowing morning. He could then neither speak nor move his limbs

according to the report of the Station Master. He expired at about

2 p.m. the same day. The snake in this case was killed and sent to

Kurduvadi for identification. It was a Bungarus ceruleus measur-

ing 74°5 cm. body and 12:2 cm. tail.

KURDUVADI, K. LINDBERG.

BARSI LIGHT Ry.,

November 1931.

XXIV. DESCRIPTION OF A NEW LYCANID BUTTERELY.

Lycaena (Formerly Heodes) irmae Sp. nov.

7 Specimens. Gyantse Tibet 13,000 feet. June.

& Above. Purple-brown.

F.W. A spot in the cell.

An elongated spot marking the disco-cellulars. Beyond this on the

disc, three dark spots in a straight line. Below this line and set

at an angle to it, two faint spots in interspaces 2 and 3.

A terminal dark band having a yellow centre at the tornal end.

This yellow streak gets fainter towards the apex and disappears

in interspace 3.

H. W. A dark line in the cell.

At the tornai angle, a very thin terminal line followed by a black

spot in each interspace, followed internally by a dark line of

lunules inside of which the purple gloss on the wing is slightly

brighter almost forming a purple sub-terminal line. All these

markings become fainter towards the apex.

Below.

F.W. Dull yellow.

The marks in the cell and on the disc more pronounced. Those in

the cell surrounded with white. The discal marks inwardly

margined with white.

A smoky black sub-marginal line with a few whitish scales down

the centre at its apical end. Next, a broad band of the ground

698 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

colour of the wing, getting fainter towards the apex. <A sub-

terminal line of elongated spots one in each interspace those in

2 and 3 the most pronounced.

H.W. Yellowish grey with the following black markings inwardly

bordered with white. A line of 3 ina straight line at the base

of the wing, the centre one being inthe cell. Another in the

cell with one below it in interspace 2. The disco-cellulars

marked as above but much more distinctly, continued at both

ends as an irregular iine pointing towards the tornus. Below

this a bowed line pointing towards the tornus. An irregular

Jine of four dots on the disc. A discal line of white lunules

bordered with dusky. A broad terminal yellowish band out-

wardly margined pale with a terminal dark line. In this band

are dark spots getting fainter towards the apex, those in inter-

spaces 1 and 3 are the most pronounced.

9 As the male but the forewing has a distinct coppery tinge and

the purple on both wings is more pronounced. |

The spots on the disc are also more defined than on the male and

form a curved line inwardly margined with purple. Outside is a

yellow line from the costa half way across the wing.

On the hind-wing there are a few faint dark markings inwardly

bordered with purple. - The tornal markings are more distinct

than in the male and there is a line of purple lunules inside of

the marginal markings. Underside as in the male but forewing

and the tornal markings on the hindwing are more yellow.

Cilia of all wings fringed with white. Antennae ringed black

and white; expanse 29 mm. to 34 mm. Types of # and ¢ in

the British Museum.

The nearest ally to this distinct species is Hodes /7 from which it

differs markedly in having no tail.

I have taken Hfeodes li on the Chinese Tibetan border at an

altitude of 11,000 feet about 600 miles east of the locality where

the present species was found.

Flies among low bushes on the open hillsides in the dry country

round by Gyantse, Tibet.

SATNA; C. INDIA, F. M. BAILEY,

October 1931. Vet =Cor

XXV.—DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS OF THE

BUTTERFLIES (4PPIAS LIBYTHEA LIBYTHEA

F. 3) AND (APPIAS ALBINA DARADA, Fa. 2.)

(With a diagrant.)

I venture to put forward this note on these two butterflies in the

hope that it may be of use to others who, like myself, may find it as

difficult as I did, to be sure of distinguishing between them.

Hannyngton, in his list of Coorg butterflies, says that A. /ibythea

intermingles with the other Afppzases on the western slopes. This

statement ied me to search diligently among the swarms of

A, albina SS which haunt the streams and woods. I had Evans’

descriptions of the two and consulted Bingham over and over again;

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 699

often I thought I had 4. /zbythea 3, and indeed frequently so labelled

my slips, but I was always rather doubtful, because at no time did I

see the very distinct 2. On the other hand, in the Bangalore

jungles where A. /zbythea undoubtedly occurs alongside A. albina,

I took @#@a& of the former which I wrongly labelled A. albina,

again doubting, because I took them on the same shrubs as I took

A. libythea &9.

Having now set and examined my catches and having seen the

collection of Col. Winckworth and that in the Natural ‘History

Museum at South Kensington, I see where my trouble arose, and

have noted a few definite characteristics of each, so that I feel sure

I should not again be in the quandary I was.

The only illustration I had of A. /ibythea f was that given in

Antrani’s Butterflies of India : it is evidently not the S. Indian race

that he represents. I turned to Bingham who says ‘ upperside

pure white, forewing, costa, apex and termen anteriorly very

narrowly shaded with dusky black scales, the black colour produced

very freely along the veins for a short distance ’ (W.S.F.). Again,

D.S.F. §% ‘Similar but narrow black markings on the forewing still

more restricted.’ Evans has—‘(% upf veins only dark at margin

and not inw aly edged by a dark band’.

I turned up‘ A. albina’, Evans has ‘ Apex F pointed and termen

straight. © upf blackish scaling at apex and base very narrow or

absent.’ Bingham says much the same with a little more detail.

The black scaling is continuous along the termen and not confined

to the ends of the veins and inwardly along them.

I suppose a beginner Goes not go into the more minute differences,

such as the colouring of the head, thorax, abdomen; and antennae ;

and in any case the differences are very slight, and variation seems

to be considerable. For myself I was troubled by A. libythea JJ,

taken in the dry season, on which the black scaling was indistin-

guishable from that of many intermediate types of 4. albina gf.

(These are represented in the collection at the Natural History Mus-

eum, South Kensington). On the other handa good many A. aldbina

dd (of the W. S. type) seemed very similar to the undoubted W.S.F.

of A. libythea J.

a. Appias libythea 3 6. Appias albina Z

15 7

700 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Mr. R. Winckworth very kindly pointed out to me the first two of

the following four obvious differences, which are constant, and have

made it possible to distinguish with certainty the one 6% from the

other.

1. A. albina 3: Upf: at the base the white scales have a

definitely and obviously pearly tint, which extends more or less over

half the wing. In 4. libythea Sf the white is uniformly matt.

2. As will be seen by a comparison of the diagrams of the wings

of the two butterflies (on page 699), there is considerable difference

in the venation, most obviously in the cell of hw. Note particularly

the difference in the way that vv 3, 4, 5 and 6 radiate from the cell

in each, and the difference in shape ot the two cells.

“Poe T he apex of fw of .4. albina is more pointed and produced

than that of A. libytkhea. Consequently the angle made by the termen

with the costa is in the former more acute than in the latter. (In

most oo" of A. albina, the termen, owing to a slight indentation at

v. 4, from v 5to v6, has the appearance of being slightly falcate.

Ay his does not happen in 4. libythea 3).

Again the tornus of A. albina J, both of fw and Aw, but more

pronouncedly of Aw, is sharper, more angular, than that of

A. libythea 3, which is clearly more rounded.

4. Antennae. (The difference here noted is best seen through a

magnifying glass.)

A. libythea. About one-third of the club above is rather brightly

ochraceous. ‘The underside of the club is ochraceous. The annula-

tion or speckling, brown and pale ochraceous, is much less distinct

than in A. albina. The general effect is brown, lighter than in the

latter. |

A. albina. Only the tip of the club is light ochraceous; the rest

is black above, as also beneath, except for three or four white spots.

‘The annulation of the stem is distinct, black and white, and the

general effect is much darker than in A. /zbythea.

BERKHAMSTED, : IA, YATES:

April 18, 1931.

XXVIL—DRY AND WET SEASON FORMS OF THE

BUTTERELY (PRIONERIS SIVA):

(With a plate.)

I have been reading Bingham’s description of this butterfly, and

conclude that he must have made it from dry season forms; at any

rate his description of.the ($1 appears to be that of a dry-season <.

But this irisect, which occurs almost abundantly in S. Coorg at

certain times (e.g. March-May and September-—October) and, so

far as my experience goes, is obtainable for ten months of the year,

goes through phases from extreme dry to extreme wet colouration ;

very much inthe manner that Pathysa antiphates natra does at the

same time. Thus the pale D.S.F. both of Prioneris stta and of

Pathysa antiphates naira, occurs in December, and the dark W.S.F.

in both cases comes in March-April, and betw een the two there are

transitional broods.

Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

Dry Season Form.

December 1928.

Intermediate Form.

3 31st Dec. 1928.

Wet Season Form.

¢& March 1928.

DRY AND WET SEASON ForMsS OF PvYioneris Sita.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 701

Bingham says ‘3 Upperside . . . the postdiscal markings of

the underside seen through faintly by transparency,’ these markings

include a ‘postdiscai black band’ on the hindwing. But in the

W.S.F. there is on the upperside also an almost continuous similar

black band, that divides the white of the interspaces 1 to 5; and the

black bands along the veins are much wider, so that the white

between them is further reduced; and along the outer third of the

‘veins the black thickens into triangular markings, and the white

between the postdiscal band and the margin becomes a series of

roughiy heart-shaped blobs. On the forewing also the black bands

along the veins are much wider in the W.S.F. than in the D.S.F.,

with a resulting diminution of the white areas in the interspaces.

And on the underside the black borders of the veins are correspon-

dingly thickened; as also are the ‘longitudinal black lines’ which

traverse the cell on the f.w. (3) and on the h.w. (2). Bingham notes

as a distinguishing mark of the @ that the cell of the forewing

(upperside) is ‘traversed by three slender longitudinal lines ’—

which are strongly marked below in both fiand &. Inthe very dark

W.S.F. 1, these lines occur above (not by transparency from

below) but not so strongly scaled as in the Q.

The difference between D.S.F. and W.S.F. will be clear if the two

photographs on the accompanying plate are compared.

Apart from the fact that the black markings on the wings of the 2

are generally broader than those on the wings ofthe ¢ (‘on the

upperside the veins of the hindwing as wellas of the fore being

black right up to the base’ (Bingham), the apex of the f.w. of the

Y is rounder and less produced and the termen is slightly falcate at

v 4.

BERKHAMSTED, ode, Aes VN EES.

July 7; 1931.

XXVII.—HOW ABUNDANT ARE LAND LEECHES?

After spending within three weeks of an entire year in India in

‘investigations on the life-histories and behaviour of the true land

leeches (Hemadtpsine), Iam forced to the conclusion that they are

less abundant than is generally believed. This is certainly true for

the times and places of my studies. In preparing the account of

these animals for the Fauna of British India, 1 read all available

published statements, corresponded with many naturalists and others,

and talked with returned visitors from India. From these various

sources I had constructed a picture in which land leeches were

figured as inhabiting infested areas in something like the order of

one to the square inch. Sucha picture seems justified by expres-

sions like ‘incredible profusion’, ‘on every grass blade and leaf’

and many similar used by the describers. On arriving in India I

found that my idea of the abundance of ieeches was about the same,

so far as favoured areas were concerned, as that held by experienced

residents.

. At first I was too busily occupied with: other observations on

these interesting animals to pay much attention to their mere

702 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. oOew.

numbers but as figures accumulated, it became apparent : first, that

their abundance nowhere approached what had been anticipated, and

second, that my first impression of numbers on any spot invariably

exceeded the actual number counted. I then began to search for

densely populated spots and visited all so reputed, within reach, of

which I could learn, only to suffer repeated disappointment.

Nowhere were they as abundant as I had been led to expect.

Incidentally to the investigation there accumulated some hundreds

of counts of the number of leeches actually taken or seen on a

measured square foot or yard or multiple thereof, precautions being

taken to standardize these counts and make them as accurate as

possible. The most thorough work was done on the four species

inhabiting the eastern Himalayas and extended throughout the

Darjeeling District and southern Sikkim from early September

to the middle of November 1930 and early April to the lst of

August 1931. Some of these figures for the common grass leech

(H. 2. montivindicis) are as follows: On small plots of ground

selected for their density of population, the two most populous

square feet yielded 20 and 18, followed by others on which were 14,

13, 12 and 9. The total number of land leeches counted on 67

square feet selected for maximum numbers was 376, an average of

5°5 per foot. On another grazing ground where leeches were

considered to be troublesome 120 square feet, about equally divided

between those selected for numbers and those taken at random,

yielded 213 or an average of 1:8 per square foot. Many other

similar counts were made and it must be remembered that these

were on what are considered to be heavily infested areas, to which

such descriptive terms as those quoted above have been applied.

Similar results were had on a smaller scale with other species.

Evidently the superlative language used in describing the abun-

dance of these Jeeches does not apply to my experience. I am

puzzled to know just where the discrepancy lies. Have I read into

the language of others a meaning not intended by the authors? Or

are the impressionistic estimates of the abundance of these animals

grossly exaggerated by reason of their unusual and conspicuous

appearance, great activity and avidity, and the repugnance commonly

felt towards them? Or was Iso unfortunate as to have made my

studies during a season- of minimum abundance? I am very

desirous of learning from those who have had much wider ex-

perience whether any marked annual fluctuation in numbers has

been observed, with what conditions the wax and wane are corre-

lated and whether the season of 1930 would be placed on a maximum

or minimum scale. Can any readers furnish figures based on

actual counts or really careful estimates of their numbers? How do

my figures agree with the experience of others? 3

University of Pennsylvania, U. S. A. J. PERCY MOORE.

PRINTED AT THE DIOCESAN PRESS, MADRAS, AND PUBLISHED BY SIR REGINALD SPENCE

FOR THE BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, BOMBAY

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CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXXV, No. 4

PAGE

‘THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE, By E. C. Stuart Baker,

CuaHee.7eSey Fal.S.) MoB.O.Us, 9H.F-A.O.U. Part XVII (With a

COL DUEABE PUTS Ver RIS DOES SOOPER OE OE EEE TEE LECCE EEE EEE 703

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY. Part XVIII.

By Rev. He blatter, S.J. PhabDs, F:biS., (Wh 4 plates and: 1- text-

LISULCE eas SLRS Hanon eae Ghias uh as RO dered “HOE

THE VERNAY SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF THE EASTERN GHATS (ORNITHO-

LOGICAL SECTION). -PartII. By H. Whistler, M.B.0.U., assisted by

AN Pap lore Gla Aiea WIE COAUs tames oie asieralcare wince le. Sete eie soe sleiiowinls cums s\cdeea conus eariees Pot

OxLp Deccan Days.—My TIGER-HUNTING JOURNAL IN 1899. © By Briga-

Geta Ge metals Gre SURO sccsr Spice ale cies dpb etuty ae ns ogo pls die etionseuaes sas 761

- THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA. Part I. ByR. I.

OCOC Ke pE ERE Saab iLL Ll CXL U2 LIES Mae ie he nistass vei on etuleds Oo os ukulele sew does Tid

SoME BEAUTIFUL INDIAN TREKS. Part IX. (With a coloured plate,

1 black and white plate and 2 text figures). By Rev. E. Blatter,

Se eel Dr sesseams Wee. Millard.) BZ Sis ciht ccc stant aed obec dsseees 824

THE SHELL-FISHERIES OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY—REPORT OF THE

BoMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY’S. SURVEY. By H.S. Rai,

IMESCHEN (ALTE OA DULLES, CNALL. LCLU-NLCULTES) Moteas ws ceinc< ous Se544s <i Secavessanios 826

Tie SLUDY OF INDIAN BIRDS.. Part. X. -By H. Whistler, ¥F.z.s.,

MERE RO MUBNNCHT, CLIRUNEC AL? UVC | ome aia estat Roe. PAU e ch coc asleedess Joseeeaw ors 848.

A New GENTIAN FROM N. WAZIRISTAN. By Rev. E. Blatter, $.J., Ph.D.,

Tol. Booae Looe geo CRE 11 Ge EIE Ie ONC Se EE ene ge en 861

On a COLLECTION OF CARABIDE FROM WAZIRISTAN. By H. E. Andrewes. 862

: J

FISHING FOR ‘RomBAy Duck’ (Harfodon nehereus). By S. B. Setna,

Mesces Bue. (Cantab.). CW7th Tl plateand 2LCXL-TILUTLCS)) coi iesevvsavess 867

NOTES ON THE FAUNA OF BRITISH [INDIAGS= Bir DS we,ols. LV, Veand Vi,

MENS rigs CUTS tere sete oP Ms aiclace Peres cto cu Natnwnalbcies « stee hens Roslanmas wiercticie.ca'way au notte aan se uate 873

aD) TUG © AON reteset eaten fe tremeiie's aaaieae t rvicak vs chee ounap ak Coden Sine me ee 874

OBLIPARY = Mic Ge Ryan. tats AO os. eee 879

PENA BPA 8) o6..25.t.de0 et aces be He ase CSE wee ue Wibis' nishsss Wiad pact ae eR WA 880:

REVIEWS :—

THE FAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA, INCLUDING CEYLON AND BURMA,

TREDUTLIG GHAI PNIOTA fon. ssi BeAr cic veduvenepeee ee na oaeeer Oe. cau cteetonss 881

A EEX DOOKSOE: bALEMEENTARY) ZOOLOGNM) ..5.52.¢s.ctellssdeeebnlasadel teed: 882:

BOTANISCHE VERSUCHE OHNE APPARATE .2....ccccccccsceccccveccecuceecceee 883.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES :—

Now Ace om Anialss, iby a. No G. Acharya, B-As, FvZ.S..ccccscess 884

Il.—Tiger killing Swamp Deer or Gond (Aucervus duvaucelli),

PACAP Carer HT CATSCY i. 6:- 5. <rcsonssensncdincsse eval. siidalaas 22 Soo

11 CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXXV, No. 4

111.—The Persian Panther (P. pardus saxicolor) in Baluchistan.

By R.I. Pocock, F.R.s

SF POH TSH COH eee eeeoeesee OF OHHOFEECErEZcretseneoereroes

F.Z.S

Cees weer eer er seeereceree eS Geese srereeceesces HOG correc eeet Ot eeer® coorsecaosees

V.—-An Albino Chital (4.775 a¥is). By G: Atkinsow..4.6...01..

VI.—Vitality of Bison mauled by a Tiger. By R.C. Morris, F.z.s.

VII.—Unerupted Tusks of Elephants. By R. C. Morris, F.z.s

VIII.—Game Preserves and Flashlight photography. By R. C.

Morris 3eZ-Se0 Osx ens. esd Gare hcbn saaba se ch acne aero Nees Ene vee

I1X.—Some Andaman Birds. By B. B. Osmaston, ¢.1.B. .........

X.—Notes on the Birds of Baluchistan. By Col. E. F. Norton.

XI.—Bulbuls in Calcutta and its suburbs. By N. B. Dutt.

XII.—Migration of Paradise Fly-catcher (7chkitrea paradist).

By Capt. Russ. BP. Bates 2“ iii..220.00: Zsaidetieaedns Pei ce ebiieeeenye te

XIiIl.—Nestling of the Indian Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis)

attacked ee Larvee of Parasitic spel ce C, McCann,

ELS; ene : tile

X1V.—Occurrence of the Nukta or Comb Duck oe

melanotus) in the Larkana District, Sind. By H. T.

Mambricks 1:G-S) “ecicssiwcceeotet a & canteen eee neee eee he een eee

XV.—Occurrence of the Bronze-capped or Falcated Teal (Hunetta

falcata) in Kutch. By Maharaj Kumar Shree Vijayarajji.

XVI.—Occurrence of the Bronze-capped or Falcated Teal (Hunetta

falcata) 1a Burma, By C.K. Milter: 2. .sc. 5. dccsectcaseaues

XVII.—Occurrence of the Goiden Eye (Glaucionetta can gke) | ip

the Champaran District. By A.C. Harman. alvsivae

XVIU.—Occurrence of the Smew (J/. aldellus) in Sind. By H. T.

Dam prick, WeCrSi — aswssa. saute ais pactoieane ies eereer ents aca.

XIX.—Comparative frejyuency of Fantail, Pintail and Jack Snipe

near Bangalore. By Capt. &. &.G. U. Searioht. ..s.c22.

XX.— Disease among Crows. By Samsar Chand Koul. ............

XXI.—Migration of Wild-Fowl. ‘The Society’s Bird-Ringing

SCHEME) © 2. nasiestcsamsa teense s on nce sategantae wae meene nce eheeuE EEE Eee

XXII.—Tucktoo versus Dhaman. By E. J. Curran, R.A.M.C..........

XXIII.—The Fat-tailed Lizard (Hudlepharis hardwickit). By J.N.

Onialiiaecsnst eeee Gihcibe es se bare o buaeice aos Garaminct rasan cies eee erat tntaate

XXIV.—Some Notes on Water Moaitors in the Garo Hills, Assam.

By Nees Pa aiy aCiS eee ccasees eee Seochadnee ae eielseleciostecisae

XXV.—Note on the Fasciolated Rat Snake (Zaznents fasciolatus).

By Lt.-Col. K.G. Gharpurey, 1.M.S. i.......0: eeswensaveerweet«

XXVI.—Cannibalism amongst Cobras. By A. D. Hickie. °..... sees

XXVII.—A Note 0n the Fishing Industry at Danda. By G. L. Came-

ron and Cy @Carzais CW al ia PU G1C) cm eee rere

XXVIUI.—The Giant Locust (Saga ephippigera). By Lt.-Col. J.

Ramsay Taiuish. ...... Re Re eat A re M TN ire aN E cals boats 0

PAGE

886

896

897

CONTENTS OF VOLOME XSXV, No. 4. iil

PAGE

XXIX.—Termite Fungi. By C. McCann, F.L.s. (Witha photograph). 909

XXX.—Note on Zesius chrysomallus Hub. By J. A. Yates. ......... 911

NOx — Butteriies of banore 2. By DOR. Parc —cexcisecnsscescccsetincs se We:

XXXII.—Mycalesis anapita, Moore. By O. C. Ollenbach, F.EsS.

(OL EIEOVCHE-UP DUNE acces <u sioncorah Soil vageiides legit waueseeey oi¢hesaenase oes

XXXII.—A Plantago new tothe Bombay Presidency. By Rev. E.

BIAttGES. SiMe anette nouns haainiveachawes: coo tae aden teniece cane 915

XXX1V.—Puccinia helianthi Schwr. Syd. A Rust Fungus on the

Sun Flower (Ffelizanthus annuus). By S. A. Parandekar,

MSC. AVG LILd QUO LI IIL) ean oie sai eda cos aine ea teWars cactewentaek 916

XXXV.—Cotyledonary vegetative reproduction in Mango (J/angifera

indica Linn.) By L. P. Khanna, M.sc., F.L.Ss. (With a

CEN SEI) an age iaant elise sglefeinegt eNO aM Ce hasel weet ee as SOUR be si eiauA Rennes 4 G7

PROCEEDINGS.

Annual Report of the Rombay Natural History Society for the

Veamencdine sist December ISH y WV iaasesceeser ar aecca.ce eve ocowcen cs suave 918

Balance Sheet and Statement of Accounts for 1931. oo. ee cee ccc eee eeeee 92 t

Journ. Bompay Nar. Hist. Soc.

JOHN BALE SONS & DANIELSSON, U"® LONDON

lapponica.

THE Bar-tTaiteD Gopwit %

Limosa lapponica

THe Currew 4%

Numenius arquata arquata.

JOURNAL

OF THE

Bombay Natural History Society.

HUmy. 1957; NOL. DOOR « No. 4.

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE.

iH CeoruART BAKER, Cil.B.; H-Z.55; -L:S.; MyB.OnUt, Eek. A.O.U.

VOR V.

THE WADERS AND OTHER SEMI-SPORTING BIRDS.

PARA, XV.

(With a coloured plate.)

(Continued from page 483 of this volume.)

FAMILY: SCOLOPACIDA:.

In this family, Lowe includes all those genera which, in the first

edition of the Avzfauna, were embraced in the two sub-families

Totanine and Scolopacinz, with the exception of the one genus

Rostratula, which I have removed from the latter sub-family and

elevated to a sub-order by itself,

In this family the diagnostic characters are the scutellated tarsus

and nasal groove which extends over more than half the length of

the upper mandible. |

The family is divided further into four sub-families, 7yingine,

Eroltine, Phalaropine and Scolopacine.

The last of these four families embraces the Snipes and Woodcock,

birds which have already been included in vol. ii of Game Birds.

In the other three sub-famiiies we find those numerous Waders,

smali and big, of which such vast numbers visit India and Burma

during the Winter. Many of these might well be included among

our Game Birds, for they are hard to approach, difficult to shoot and

good to eat; others may have no pretensions to be classed as

Game Birds, yet are of sufficient interest to deserve a brief

notice, sufficient to enable sportsmen to identify them if and

when shot.

Key to Sub-familtes.

A. Eyes and ear-orifices placed normally.

a. Toes with no fringe of lobed web:

(1) Toes partially webbed at the

base Seas ae . Lringine.

(11) Toes divided to the base Seni LEVOlLIN GG:

b. Toes with a fringe of lobed web. Phalaropine.

AUG = 0 1932

704 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

B. Eyes placed very far back in the head,

with the ear-orifice just below the

hinder edge of the orbit ... w. Colopacing.

SUB-FAMILY : TRINGINA.

The different genera in this sub-family agree in having a slender,

and often rather lengthened bill, well provided with nerves. Except

in Mumentus, in which the back of the tarsus is reticulated, the

tarsus is scutellated or transversely shielded both in front and behind.

There is a distinct Summer and Winter plumage and the sexes are

nearly always alike, except in the one genus Philomachus.

Key to Genera.

A. Bill long and curving downwards ... Mumentus.

B. Bill straight or curving = slighily up-

wards.

a. Builllonger than tail:

(1) Bill not broader at the end pi Let LOSE.

(ii) Bill broader at the end and pitted .... Lzznodromus.

b. Bill not longer than tail:

(i) Billnearly twice aslongastarsus ... Tevrekia.

(ii) Bill shorter than tarsus or not much

longer

(iii) Sexes alike:

a. Bill straight Sie Bn SE Eee

6. Bill curved upwards Be GLOLLIS:

(iv) Sexesnotalikein breeding season. Phzlomachus.

GENUS: NUMENIUS.

Numenius Brisson, ornith., 1, p. 48, v, p. 311 (1760).

Type by taut Mumentus numenius Brisson = Scolopax argquata Linn.

In this genus the bill is very long, slender and curved downwards

over the greater part of its length; the tip of the upper mandible is

blunt and projects beyond the lower mandibie; the nasal orifice

is linear and is placed in a groove which extends over about three-

quarters the length of the bill; the legs are rather long ; the tarsus

reticulated except on the lower half in front, where it is covered with

transverse scutellae; the hind toe is moderate in size, the claws

dilated and the toes webbed at the base; the wing is long and

pointed, the first primary longest and the inner secondaries very

long: sexes alike.

This genus contains the Whimbrels and Curlews, which are

spread over the greater part of the world.

Key to Species.

A, Crown streaked; wing over 260mm.... WV. arguata.

B, Crown brown with a pale median band ;

wing under 260 mm. ... sme LV ED RZOPUS.

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE 705

NUMENIUS ARQUATA.

Key to Subs pectes.

A. Lower parts broadly streaked; axillaries |

white with bold streaks of blackish. MN. a. arquata. .

B. Lower parts finely streaked; axillaries

pure white or finely streaked wiih

blackish ae ei ee LV ROTC AITS.

NUMENIUS ARQUATA ARQUATA.

The Curlew

Scolopax arguatas.— Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 145 (1758)

(Sweden).

Numenius arquata.—Blanf. and Oates, iv. p. 252 (fart). Fauna, B.L.,

Birds, Stuart Baker, vi, p. 200, 1919,

Vernacular Names. —Gour, Goungh, Barra Gulinda (Hind.)

Description.— Upper plumage blackish-brown, the feathers of the

head and neck with broad fulvous edges, paler and almost white on

the sides of the head; mantle with the pale edges browner and

assuming the shape of interrupted bars on the scapulars and inner

secondaries: wing-coverts with whitish edges which also become

similar bars on the greater coverts; a patch of feathers above and

below the eye white ; lower back and rump white, the centres of the

feathers with broad streaks and sometimes bars of blackish; these

vary greatly; in many the sides of the rump are pure white, the

black showing only as a tew black streaks, at the other extreme there

are birds with the whole of these parts closely barred and streaked

with blackish; upper tail-coverts and tail barred blackish and pale

brown, the former more black and white; primaries black with

white shafts and the inner webs barred with white, these bars

extending on the inner primaries to the outer webs also; chin

white; throat white with tiny black striz, gradualiy enlarging

towards the fore-neck ; neck and breast fulvous with broad black

central- streaks; flanks white with central streaks and _ cross-

bars of brown; abdomen, vent and under tail-coverts white with

narrow dark brown centres, always jess on the middie of the abdomen

and vent and sometimes absent; under tail-coverts with broader

dark centres; axillaries white with narrow black bars.

Colours of soft parts.—Iris brown; bill dark brown, the basal half

fleshy-brown colour; legs and feet pale-grey, fleshy-grey or bluish-

Oley.

Measurements.—Wing, 3 280 to Me mime, © 295 to 321 mm.) tai

106 to 121 mm.; tarsus 66 to 80 mm.; culmen <4 100 to 124 mm.,

9130 to 152mm. (Witherby.)

Young birds have the feathers of the upper parts edged with buff

and the upper tail-coverts and rump suffused with buff, whilst the

streaks on the breast and abdomen are narrower.

Nestling.—Above creamy-buff, the sides of neck and fore-neck

darker rufous-buff and the under surface buffy-white ; a broad central

706 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

streak of brown from forehead to nape; posterior crown freckled

black and buff; an eye-streak dark brown; a dark brown patch on

the hind-neck ; two lateral bands of dark brown down the back; two

patches of brown on the wings and two short blackish lines below

the dorsal lines. ne

Distribution.-—Northern and Central Europe, South to Dobrugea

etc. In Winter, South to Africa, Madagascar and North-West India

as far East as Delhi and as far South as Ceylon.

Nidtfication.— The Curlew breeds in Northern Europe from the end

of April to the end of May and in its more northern limits as late as

June, but I found eggs laid in the south of Lapland and in Northern

Finland in the third week of May when there was still snow in

drifts everywhere. They select a site anywhere in marshy land,

whether this is almost on the level of the seashore or on the

boggy crests of high hills. In England they are getting much

more common than they were and in Eastern Wales and the adjoining

counties they have even been known to breed in wheatfields and

similar situations. Normally, however, their home is in the

wilder countries and there is no bird whose nest is harder to find.

The nest itself is a hollow in amongst grass or weeds either scratched

out by the birds or a natural one, and this is almost invariably well

lined with weeds, grass or soft reeds. Occasionally a nest may be

found on dry sand hills some distance from any wet spot but asarule

this is only when the birds have been harried and driven from other

more favourite wet grounds. When not sitting himself, sometimes

the male bird keeps watch near the nest and gives the alarm to his

mate on the approach of danger but, even when he does not do this,

the sitting hen is so extraordinarily alert that itis very difficult to

approach within two or three hundred yards of the nest before she

leaves. When she does so she generally slinks quietiy along for

some distance before rising, so as not to give away the position of

her eggs or young. If however,one happens to come upon the

sitting hen suddenly, she lies very close and I have occasionally

been able to watch a bird from a distance of only a few yards

for some time before she has eventually made up her mind to -clear

out. The eggs are of course always four in number and are very

large for the size of the bird. In shape they are long pyriforins and

the ground coiour varies from a pale grey green toa rather dark

olive-grey or olive-brown, occasionally almost bright olive-green.

In most eggs the markings consist of small spots and blotches freely

scattered over the whole surface of the egg but nowhere very bold

or well-defined. A few eggs however have large handsome markings

which are most numerous at the larger end and spare elsewhere,

whilst a few others have the blotches intermixed with small twisted

lines and scriggles. One hundred eggs average 67:2 x 47:4 mm. ;

maxima 75°5 x_.55°0 mms; minima. 56:2 x. 77:0 mmveand 61-05 ~

#3°0 min.

Habits —The Common Curlew is a numerous visitor to North-

West India from whence it straggles down South as far as Ceylon

and East as far asthe United: Provinces. There have also been a

certain number cn record from considerably further east, as. from

Bengal and Assam, but I have seen no specimens thence and such

WHE GAME BIRDS OR THE INDIAN LMPIRE 707

records are probably all referable to the next race of Curlew.

Even in Sind and the Punjab many references to the Curlew must

realiy be to the eastern form, for Ticehurst says ‘Sind and Punjab

birds are typical /7xeatus (= orientalis) with almost unspotted

underwing and rump and pure white axillaries’ (Ibis 1924, p. 130).

With us in India the Curlew is a shy bird but not always unap-

proachable and a fair number are shot, especially when they are feeding

with other waders, but in its summer hom: and when breeding it is

one of the wildest birds imaginable and, long before one can get

within distance even for observation, it rises with its loud screaming

note and disappears. Its ordinary call is the well-known haunting

cry from which it takes its name, a wild but very sweet ‘ Cur-lew,

cur-lew.’ In addition to this, it has a musical note sounding rather

Jike ‘ What-what.' The Curlew is one of the birds which seem to

feed all night. Sometimes, when in Finland and Lapland, I have

been watching Nature by the midnight sun between the hours of

11-0 p.m. and 2-0 a.m.; a curious hush seems to come over everything

as if even the birds considered it time to rest in spite of the bright

daylight. Every now and then, however, this weird stillness would

be broken by the wail of the Curlew as it flew overhead from one

feeding place to another and, undoubiedly these birds continue to

feed all through the night. They eat almost any small living thing:

insects, reptiles, coleoptera, slugs, worms and grass-hoppers. ‘They

also at times eat seeds, berries and shoots of various plants and sea-

weed. Its flight is very powerful and swift and our Winter visitors

are certainly worthy of the status of game birds, for they are hard

to get near to shoot, difficult to bring down and excellent eating

when shot.

NUMENIUS ARQUATA ORIENTALIS.

The Eastern Curlew.

Numentus orientalis ——Brehm., Handb. Vogl. Deutsch., p. 610,

(1831) (East Indies).

Numenius arguatus.—Blanf. and Oates, iv, p. 252, (part)

Numentus arguata lineatus.—Stuart Baker. Fauna, B.I., Birds, vi,

op Us JESS)

Vernacular Names.—Goar, Goungh, Barra Gulinda (Hind.)

Choppa, Sada Kastachura (Beng.); Borinda (Sind).

Description.—Ditfers from the preceding bird in being lighter,

more fulvous, less brown above ; the lower parts are streaked with

much finer, paler streaks; the lower back and rump are often almost

unstreaked white and are never barred as in some specimens of

N. a. arguata; the axillaries are pure white or very lightly streaked

on the longest only.

Colours of sott parts, as in the typical form.

Measurements.--Wing, 3 280 to 297 mm. 2 300 to 314 mm.;

culmen (1 137 to 159 mm. (one Calcutta 167 mm.) 2 135 to 194 mm.

Distribution.—From Baikalia to Kirghis Steppes and West

Siberia. In Winter south to the whole of India, Burma, China,

Philippines, etc. In India it occurs on all the coasts commonly as

708. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

far south as Ceylon and also inland wherever there are large areas

of swamp and lake, extending to the extreme West in Sind and the

N.-E. Frontier Provinces and Punjab. It has been recorded also from

the Sudan, !

Nidttication.—Taczanzanowski describes the nests and eggs of the

Eastern Curlew as indistinguishable from those of the Western bird, nor

do they seemto differ in size. The only eggsin my own collection are

some taken by Smirnoff, who took many clutches at Krasnoyarsk and

Yenesei, which he attributed to the Common Curlew but which must

of course have belonged to the Eastern race. Hartert says that

this form of Curlew breeds throughout Dauria in the Eastern Baikal

district and West Siberia to Trans-Caspia and the Eastern Kirghiz

Steppe, whilst Witherby gives the limits of the Common Curlew

as the Russian Kirghiz Steppes. MNumenius cyanopus breeds much

further to the East, whilst the Slender-biiled Curlew also breeds in

Trans-Baikalia eastward but is a much smaller bird. It therefore

seems certain that Smirnoff’s eggs generally refer to our present

sub-species. According to Smirnoff the clutches, as one would

expect, are all of four eggs and were all deposited on the ground on

flat marshy land close to the Eastern banks of the Yenesei River, the

one set taken at Krasnoyarsk being of course considerably to the

West of this. All my eggs are rather dull and uninteresting speci-

mens, one set of four, however, being paler than the others. They

can all be exactly duplicated by eggs of the Western Curlew.

Sixteen eggs average 65:4 x 47-0 mm., maxima 73:2 x 48:5 and 70°6 x

50°1 mm., minima 62° x 44:6 and 63°6 x 41:9mm. The earliest were

taken on the 24th of May and the latest on the J6th of June. Judging —

by the way in which they are blown, they were all quite fresh but

Smirnoff says that he saw young birds at the end of June.

Habits.—In India, the Eastern Curlew may be found in some numbers

in the huge river deltas in the north of the Bay of Bengal whence it

extends in lessening numbers as far south as Ceylon. It is more of

a sea-coast than river bird during the cold weather but it may be found

also iniand in swamps and sandy banks of the larger rivers, whilst

I have twice shot it in Bengal in rice-fields when out snipe-shooting.

In Assam, it was not uncommon and, it is interesting to note, that its

migration route seemed to be from one range of mountains to

another and not along the course of the big rivers such as the

Brahmapootra until these debouch into the plains. Thus, when in

North Cachar on the higher mountain ranges running up to some

7,000 ft., I frequently heard these birds flying overhead at night,

following a direct north-to-south course, indicating that they had

come straight across the Brahmapootra from ranges to the north of

that river. When they first arrive, the birds are not wild, and I have

seen birds so tired that they allowed of approach within some

20 yards. Later on in the season they become much more wild and

are then difficult to approach. They occur with us either singly or

in very small parties not exceeding half a dozen, and they may be

seen feeding either in the swamps or standing idly on sandbanks in

the bigger rivers. As regards notes, flight, food, etc., I have been

able in no way to distinguish between the Western and Eastern

forms of Curlew,

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE 709

NUMENIUS PHAZOPUS.

Key to Subspecies.

. A. General colour paler; dark bars and

streaks less heavy ... —

B. General colour darker; dark bars and

streaks broader and more numerous... W.A. variegatus.

N.p. pheopus.

NUMENIUS PHAOPUS PHAOPUS.

The Whimbrel,

Scolopax pheopus.—Linn., Syst., Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 146 (1758)

(Sweden).

Numenius p. pheopus.-—Blanf. and Oates, iv, p. 253 (part). Stuart

Baker Pauna, bl, birds, vi, p. 205, 1929,

Vernacular Names.—Chota goungh, Chota gulinda. (Hind.)

Description.—Head dark brown, the feathers edged with whitish ;

on either side of the crown the white is obsolete and the dark

centres form two dark brown patches, leaving a median pale coronal

line and two supercilia pale brown like the forehead: a smail brown

patch in front of the eye; lores, sides of the head and whole neck

brown, each feather with broad whitish edges; upper plumage dark

rown with pale brown edges forming bars on the scapulars and inner

secondaries ; rump and upper tail-coverts white, marked with brown

in varying degree asin the Curlew; tail light brown banded with

black and the lateral feathers with white tips; lower parts white,

the neck, breast, flanks and under tail-coverts streaked with brown,

axillaries white with dark brown bars.

Colours of soft parts.—Iris hazel or dark brown; bill dark horny-

brown, fleshy-pink at the base of the lower mandible; legs and feet

greenish-grey.

Measurements.—Wing, 3 232 to 250 mm., 2 243 to 265 mm.; tail

87 to 299 mm. ; tarsus about 50 to 61 mm.; culmen, ¢1 76 to 86 mm.,

Sache Ke haw ro .

Young birds have the feathers of the: mantle notched and edged

with pinkish- buff and the rump suffused with the same; the feathers

of the lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts finely edged with

brown.

Nestling in down.— Like that of the Curlew but with central streak

of buff and two broad lateral streaks of brown on the crown from

the forehead to the nape.

Distribution.— Breeding Northern Europe, Iceland, Greenland to

Western Siberia. Southin Winter to Northern Africa and the eastern

coast as far as Madagascar; Arabia and North-West India.

Nidification.--All over the greater part of its breeding range,

which extends throughout Northern Europe to Western Siberia, the

Whimbrel breeds during the latter half of May and early June and

even in its northern haunts, where the snow lies on the ground

until the end of June, I have taken eggs hard set on the third of that

month and the local Lapps and Finns told me that they had often

taken their eggs in snow of some depth. In Northern Lapland they

0 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATORAL AIST SOCIETY, Vole Oeoa

are extraordinarily common and twenty or thirty pairs may be found

breeding cn a swamp, a couple of miles long by about a mile broad.

They are not nearly so shy as Curlew and with a liitle patience

the birds may be easily watched beck cn to their nests after they

have been once disturbed. This is indeed the easiest way to find

their nests, for although once found the eggs look very conspicuous,

they are very easy to miss. Most of the nests we found in Lapland

were mere scratchings in the ground on slightly raised, exposed,

comparatively dry ground in the favourite feeding swamps of that

country. Nonests were made, althoughin a few casesa certain

amount of dry grass end lichen seemed to have been accumulated in

the hollows. Most nests were placed in natural hollows in the

reindeer moss which, clear green grey and white asit was, agreed

extraordinarily wellin general tone with the colour of the eggs of

the Whimbrel. Occasionally the eggs may be laid in a scratching on

bare soil, and in these cases the eggs can generally be seen

at a distance of some yards away and are consequently easy to

find. The actions of the Whimbrel when returning to its nest

are well worth watching. When first disturbed, the bird gets

up and flies away to a considerable distance uttering a harsh

loud call but, if one sits down quietly close by, within a very few

moments the hen bird certainly, perhaps both birds, return, flying

round in circles which gradually decrease in size until one or

both birds alight within a couple of hundred yards of the nest.

From this point they casually approach their eggs, not in a direct

line, but in zigzag fashion, feeding as they come and every now and

then taking short flights which generaily bring them to a point

closer to their nest. Finally, having satisfied itself that there is no

danger, one of the pair walks quietly on to its nest and after arranging

the eggs to its satisfaction, sits down and begins tobrocd. Asarule

the other bird of the pair remains about a hundred yards away, appa-

rently feeding and taking no interest in what is going on but actually

keeping a keen lookout on everything around it. A hundred eggs

average 58:9 mm. XxX 41:3 mm.; maxima 65:i x 43:7 mm. and

97-0 X 44:0 mm.; minimaJj2°C x 41°0 mm. end S5:3 << 36°C) mami

The eggs are small editions of those of the Curlew but I have seen

a few varieties which are uncommon in those of that bird. One of

these types has a ground colour of quite bright green blue, hand-

somely marked with bold blotchings of black or blood-red, and a

second type is a pale greenish yellow with innumerable tiny specks

end spots of grey brown and chestnut brown. A third type which

is quite common in the Whimbrel’s egg, though so rare in that of

the Curlew, is one which has the markings all accumulated at the

bigger end of the egg, forming either a ring or a cap, whilst the rest

of the egg is almost immaculate.

According to the local Lapps, the male Whimbrel does the greater

part of the incubation though it is relieved at times by the female.

Later, when the young are advanced, the male seems to assume sole

charge and it is said that the female Whimbrel migrates south some

days in advance of the male, who remains behind to give the last

touch of education to their young, whom he then accompanies south.

The same is said to be the case with the Curlew and the Godwits,

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE 711

Habits.-—-The habits of the Whimbrel are so much like those of the

Curlew that it 1s difficult to add anything to the account of that bird.

It isa very common Winter visitor to the North-West and West

of India, occurring as far South as Ceylon. It is, like the Curlew, for

the most part a coastal bird, though it may be found as weil on the

larger swamps andrivers. In Sind Ticehurst says that the Whimbrel

arrive in the first week in August and from then on to the middle of

September, when it is very common on the coast. He says: ‘“ Their

arrival is looked for by the more ardent spo1itsmen at Karachi

since, as they flight to and from their feeding-grounds in the creeks,

they afford capital sport and are, moreover, excellent eating. By

early October the main body have departed; I have notes of small

lots up to 7th November, and occasionally in Winter. It seems

scarcer on Spring passage. I have noted it in the second week of

May, but quite a number over-Summer (as Butler also noted),

frequenting the mangrove creeks, where I have met with it ell

through June and July. At high water it may frequently be seen

perched up on the top of a mangrove bush, a habit Hume also noted

in the Andamans. I have seen it at the fresh-water swamp at

Karachi, and it occurs on the inland waters of the province during

its passage.”’

Birds shot in mid-June have commenced their complete moult ;

migrants newly arrived (aduits in August, young in September) had

not begun to moult. ‘These Sind birds are more spotted on the

lower back and rump than most western Europeen ones, but not so

much as in vaerizegatus.

The call is very like that of the Curlew but more prolonged and

trilling and I think it is a more noisy bird, but this may be merely

because where found, it is so very common, and therefore more in

evidence. When migrating, Witherby says that its presence 1's often

revealed by its clear, tittering cry of ‘ Tetty, tetty, tetty, tet.’ Its

food and flight are similar to those of the Curlew.

NUMENIUS PHAOPUS VARIEGATUS.

The Eastern Whimobrel.

Tantalus vartegatus.—Scop., Dei. Flor. et Faun., Insubr., fasc., ii

p. 92 (1786) (Luzon).

Numenius pheopus.—Blenf. and Oates, iv, p. 253 (part).

Numenius pheoceps variegatus.—Stuart Baker, Fauna B.1., Birds, vi,

p.- 204, 1929. ;

Vernacular Names.—None recorded.

Description. Differs from the preceding bird in being much darker

with more brown and less white; the lower back, rump and upper

tail-coverts are much more heavily barred with brown and the

striations on the lower plumage heavier; the flanks and under tail-

coverts are broadly barred with dark brown as well as streaked:

axillaries and under wing-coverts white profusely barred with dark

brown. .

Colours of soft parts as in the Whimbrel.

712. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATCORAL TIST.. SOGIZTY,(Vol, xa

Measurements.—Wing, & 231 to 239 mm., 2 227 to 239 mm.; tail

89 to 100 mm. ; tarsus 60 to 64 mm.; culmen, #77 to 84 mm., 2 83

to 90 mm.

Distribution.—Breeding East Siberia, migrating south in Winter

to China, the islands from the Celebes to Sumatra, Indo-Chinese

countries and Malay States, and casual in Burma. On the east it is

found as far as New Guinea, Australia and Tasmania.

Nidification.—There is nothing on record so far as I can ascertain,

and the only eggs I have seen were those taken by Smirnoff, one

clutch on the Yenesei, and two clutches, each of four eggs, somewhere

near Station Echo in Manchuria. In appearance they are in-

distinguishable from those of the Common Whimbrel, and they were

said to have bzen taken on swampy tundra and lake country in early

June.

Habits.—The Eastern Whimbrel is a common Winter visitor to the

Indo-Chinese countries and Burma and probably also to Assam and

Eastern Bengal, its occurrence having been noted merely as that of

the Common Whimbrel. I shot one bird of this race on a smail lake

in North Cachar in 1899, which had been in the company of two

others, and I sawa small flock in Lakhimpur in 1900 which would

not allow me within shot, as it was in the company of a particularly

wild flock of Golden Plover. In its general habits this bird differs in

no way from the Western form. Both Curlew and Whimbrel may be

considered really sporting birds, for they have all their attributes,

difficulty of approach, speed of flight and the third requisite, excellent

flesh for the table.

GENUS: LIMOSA,

Limosa Brisson, ‘Ornith., 1, p48, vy, p..201341 760).

Type by taut., Scolopax limosa Linn.

In this genus the bill is long and straight; both mandibles are

grooved, the linear nostrils baing placed near the base of the bill in

the upper groove; the tarsus is moderate in length, partly shielded

both in front and behind, the hind toe is well developed and there is a

web between the outer and middle toes but only a rudiment of one

between the middle and inner toe; the middle toe is dilated and

sometimes pectinate on the outer side; the wing is long and pointed

with the first primary longest, the tail is rather short and almost

even.

The genus is cosmopolitan, two species visiting India in the

cold weather.

Key to Species.

A. Base of tail white, terminal

half black Ape ee MA OHLOSAs

Tail barred black and white

over the whole of the

outer rectrices and most

of the central L. lapponica,

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE ANDIAN EMPIRE 713

LIMOSA LIMOSA.

Key to Subspecies.

A. Larger; wing 210 to 240

mm.; culmen 85 to 126

mm. Ca ee LILOSa.

Ba Smatllers wine 176 to 207

mm.: culmen 77 to 87

mm. .. L.4. melanurotdes.

LIMOSA LIMOSA LIMOSA,

The Black-tatled Godwtt.

Scolopax limosa Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., i, p. 147 (1758)

(Sweden).

Limosa belgica—Blanf. and Oates, iv, p. 254 (part).

Limosa limosa limosa.—Stuart Baker, Fauna B.I., Birds, vi, p. 205.

Vernacular names.—-Gudera, Gairiya, Jangral, khag (Hind.), JJal-

gujha (Nepal) ; Jaurvalt (Beng.); Gondu ulanka (Tel.).

Description —Breeding plumage. <A pale rufous supercilium from

the bill to the ear-coverts; forehead, crown and nape dark rufous

streaked with black ; lores rufous speckled with black ; chin and throat

whitish or pale rufous ; neck all round rich rufous; back, scapulars

and innermost secondaries blackish, broadly barred with pale rufous

and edged with white at the tips of the feathers; lower back

brownish-black; upper tail-coverts white with black tips; tail

blackish, white at the base, the white narrow on the central tail-

feathers, broad on the outer, ail the feathers tipped whitish; inner-

most wing-coverts blackish next the scapulars; median and greater

coverts grey-brown, bordered with white, forming a broad wing-bar

on the greater coverts ; primary coverts brownish-black, tipped with

white ; primaries dark brown, paler on the inner webs, with a wedge-

shaped indistinct white mark on the first primary, becoming white on

the succeeding primaries and at the same time restricted in extent

and forming a white base to the 4th, 5th and 6th primaries ; outer-

most secondaries blackish with white ‘bases and white tips; interme-

diate secondaries brown with narrow pale edges; breast rufous,

barred with black; abdomen and posterior flanks rufous, heavily

barred with black and with white bases and narrow white fringes ;

under tail-coverts white barred with black; axillaries and under

wing-coverts white.

Colours of soft parts.—Iris hazel or dark brown; bill dull orange-red

or dusky-orange, more red at the base and dusky at the tip ; legs and

feet greyish-green.

Measurements.—Wing, 3 210 to 226 mim., & 215 to 240 mm. ; tail

74 to 83 mm. ; tarsus 75 to 82 mm. ; culmen, ¢1 88 to 107 mm., 2 104

to 126mm. (Witherby.)

In Winter the upper parts are dark brown or blackish, each feather

edged with fulvous ; the neck more rufescent, with the dark centres

obsolete ; chin, throat and face pale fulvous, deepening in colour on

the fore- neck and tinged with rufous-grey, thence paling to white on

the abdomen and under tail-coverts,

“14 JOURNAL, BOMGLAY NATCORAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XOXV

Females are like the male but do not always assume so fully rufous

a summer plumage,

Nestling down of upper parts buffy or greyish- white, grizzled more

or less with brownish; crown and a line from the upper mandible

light brown ; a buff supercilium meeting behind the crown; a broken

brown dorsal line to the uropygium; under parts greyish-white.

Distributton.—Northern Europe from Iceland, Holland and South

Finland, Hungary and Russia to Western Asia probably as far East

as Lake Baikal. In Winter South to Africa and North-West India.

Common in India in the North-West and thence becoming scarcer

towards the South though it has occurred in Ceylon. ‘To the

East it has been obtained in the United Provinces ard Western

Bengal.

Niditication.—The Black-tailed Godwit breeds in Northern Europe

and Asia, probably as far East as the Baikal district, although its

exact limits are not yet known. In Russia, according to Witherby,

it breeds as far North as Lat. 60° but it also breeds South, probably

down to about Lat. 45°. It makes its nest in or round about

marshes and on the shores of lakes, whilst in Holland it is said also

to breed amongst the bushes and scrubby grass of the sandhills. The

favourite site, however, is undoubtedly the rank grass of swampy

muddy land round marshes ard the nest, asarule, is very well hidden

and difficult to find except by the watching of birds on to the nest.

The nests are said to be quite well made, pads of grass or blades of

rushes placed either in natural hollows, or in amongst the roots of

the grass. The eggs are almost invariably four in number and are

not unlike the eggs of the Whimbrel but are generally easily

recognised for, whereas the eggs of the Whimbrel are nearly always

more or less pegtop in shape, the eggs of the Godwits are longer,

narrower and less pointed, moreover most are duller and less boldly

marked than the eggs of the Whimbrel. The texture is perhaps

slightly less smooth and polished. At the same time unusually-shaped

eggs of either species may be met with, which are very difficult to

assign to one or the other. The ground colour may be anything froma

palish olive-ochre, olive-brown or olive-green to a rather dark shade

of the same, whilst the markings consist of very numerous small

blotches and freckles of duli umber-brown, ochre-brown or grey-

brown distributed almost equally over the whole surface and nearly

always rather dull and indistinct. Jourdain gives the measurements

of 100 eggs as follows. Average, 54:7 x 37-3 mm., maxina 59-8 x

37°8 and 53°3 x 40:7 mm., minima 48:5 x 37:7 mm.,and 55:0 x 34:0

mm.

They are early breeders and eggs may be found as early as the

middle of April and from then onwards throughout May over most

of its breeding area, whilst in Iceland the breeding season may be

taken as about a month later. As with the Curlew and Whimbrel,

so with the Godwit ; both sexes share in incubation and it is probable

that the male does the greater part. ‘Ihe period for which they sit

is said to be 24 days, whereas that of the Curlew is 30 days and that

of the Whimbrel 25 or 26 days. It is recorded also that the male

bird is the better parent of the two in feeding and looking after the

young.

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE 715

Habits.—-The Godwit arrives in the North of India about the first

week in October, leaving again during March and April but in North-

West India it is said to arrive sometimes as early as August. Inthe

North-West it may be seen in very large flocks but in the North-East

it will be seldom seen in flocks over a dozen, though I once saw a

flock in Nadia, Eastern Bengal, in which there must have been fully

a hundred birds. Whilst they may be found in any kind of marsh or

river, they seem to prefer the margins of swamps or lakes and

during the winter they are certainly much less sea-shore birds than

are Curlew and Whimbrel. It is just as sporting a bird as is

either of the two just mentioned ; as difficult to approach, as hard to

shoot when one has got within shooting distance, while it is equally

good to eat. One of the biggest bags I ever made in one shot was

as a youngster in Bengal when, after considerable time and trouble,

I succeeded in getting within a shot of a flock of these birds, my two

barrels gave me a net bag of seven Godwit, a great many cows and

the cow-keeper, a shot which had to be paid for to the tune of what

was to me then alarge sum in rupees, though there were no fatalities

other than among the Godwit.

The food of the Godwit is much the same as that of the Curlew

but Ticehurst found that those he shot in Sind had been feeding

entirely on crustaceans and on what was apparently a water beetle.

Before they leave us a great many birds have assumed their

summer plumage, either in part or in toto and, more especially in

Western India, a few birds linger within our area throughout the

summer. ‘Their cry isa musical trisyllabic whistle, sounding like

‘Whist, whit, twit,’ and it has a low single note, the oniy one we

hear in India, as it rises from the ground and when it again settles. .

LIMOSA LIMOSA MELANUROIDES.

The Eastern Black-tatled Godwtt.

Limosa melanuroides Gould, Birds of Australia, pt. xxxiv, vol. vi,

pl. 38, (Port Essington, Australia).

Limosa limosa melanuroides Stuart Baker, Fauna B.I., vi, p. 207, .

Vernacular Names.—None recorded. | a?

Descriplion.—Resembles the preceding race but differs in being

rather smaller with a shorter bill, In the breeding plumage the

colouring is perhaps a trifle richer, the rufous deeper and the dark

bars more black, less brown.

Colours ot soft parts as in the typical form. :

Measurements.—Wing, 3 176 to 197 mm., 4% 182 to 207 mm., tail 68

(OO mim, ; tansus 66 to 73 mm, } culmen, ¢! 77 to 95 mim., 273 to

87 mm.

Distribution.—Eastern Siberia to Japan. In Winter, south to

Eastern India, Burma, China, the Malay Archipelago and Australia.

Exactly where the two races merge into one another is not known

but probably somewhere about Lake Baikal. In Burma it is not

rare in Winter and it occurs in Calcutta and Eastern Bengal, whilst

numbers visit Assam yearly.

Nidification.— At present there is nothing recorded in regard to the

nidification of this bird but Smirnoff obtained eggs of a Godwit in

716 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Northern Manchuria which he believes to have been those of the

present species. In appearance they are indistinguishable from the

eggs of.the Bar-tailed Godwit but are even smaller than those of that

bird. Two clutches sent to me average only 52°38 x 36:1. mm. As

the bird itself is smaller than the Bar-tailed Godwit, the eggs are

probably correct. Both these clutches are now in my. collection and

are of a dull, almost unicolour type. They were said to have been

taken in swampy tundra on the 4th and 16th of June.

Habits.—This bird is quite common during the cold weather in

Eastern Bengal and Assam, where I have shot numbers for the pot.

It occurs as a rule in small flocks, generally half a dozen to 20 or 30

but, just after and just before migrating, it often collects in very large

flocks and I have seen some of these numbering as many as 200 and,

once, one of probably twice that number. Our first arrivals in Assam

generally appeared in early September, but the greater numbers not

until well on into October. By April the small flocks began to join

up and before the 15th of that month the last had disappeared, with

the exception of a few birds, probably non-breeding ones, which

might be seen in June and July and which probably did not migrate

at all to the northern breeding grounds. In Eastern Bengal it is

quite as common as in Assam and it is of course found throughout

Burma from the north to the extreme south of Tenasserim. How

far South it occurs in India I have been unable to trace. It certainly

occurs as far south as the Chilka lake in Orissa but south of that I

can find no record. It is quite a sporting bird in its shyness and

speed of flight and it is such an excelient bird for the table that it is

well worth while stalking. Its diet is probably mainly animal,

consisting of all kinds of insects, small mollusca and various small

worms which it obtains by probing in the deep mud with its long bill.

In Assam, however, several birds which I examined seemed to have

been feeding on grass seeds and a tiny black seed of a water plant

which was very plentiful in the swamps. The only cry I heard was

a very pleasant triple note, sounding Jike ‘Tir-ree-wee’ twice

repeated as the birds rise and occasionally as they wheel and circle

in the air. It is said aiso to have a single loud harsh call but this I

have not heard.

LIMOSA LAPPONICA LAPPONICA.

The Bar-tatiled Godwtt.

Scolopax lapponica Linn., Syst. Nat., 10th ed., 1, p. 147 (1758)

(West Europe).

Limosa lapponica.—Blanf. and Oates, iv, p. 256.

Limosa lapponica lapponica Stuart Baker, B.I., Birds, vi, p. 208,

1929. a . 3

Vernacular Names.—Satine as for L. /. limosa,

Description: Breeding plumage.—Crown and lores rufous with

black streaks; supercilium, sides of head, whole neck, breast and

under plumage rich rufous; feathers behind the eye and a line down

the hind-neck streaked with biack; mantle and inner secondaries

rufous with broad central streaks of black, these dividing the:rufous

on the inner secondaries into notches; lower back, rump and upper

‘THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE 717

tail-coverts white, more or less streaked with black, the iongest

coverts suffused with a little rufous; tail barred black and white

throughout, the central tail-feathers slightly suffused with rufous;

primaries black with white shafts and the Ist to 6th or 7th mottled

with white on the base of the inner webs, remaining primaries black

with narrow white internal edgings; cuter secondaries brown-grey

with white edges and a white inner streak following the contour of

the feather; axillaries and under wing-coverts white with black

streaks,

Colours of soft paris.—Iris brown; bill pinkish flesh-colour, the

terminal half horny-brown to almost black; legs and feet greenish-

grey to almost black.

Measurements.—Wing, < 202 to 216 mm., 2 211 to 227 mm.; tail

66 to 77 mm. ; tarsus 46 to 51 mm. ; culmen, ¢° 72 to 83 mm., 2 95 to

106 mm. (Witherby.)

in Winter the rufous disappears ; the upper parts are brown, each

feather edged with fulvous ; the wing-coverts are broadly edged with

pale fulvous ; chin and throat albescent ; fore-neck and breast fulvous-

brown, with a pinky tinge and faintly streaked with darker brown,

the streaks more distinct on the flanks; abdomen and under tail-

coverts white or fulvous-white ; the sides of the head pinkish-fulvous,

much streaked with dark brown.

Females are similar to the male but do not always assume’ so

complete a breeding plumage.

Young birds in the tirst autumn have the upper parts more marked

with buff spots, which also form notches on the inner secondaries.

Nestling like that of the previous species but less pink in general

tone and with the coronal and other dark marks better defined.

Distribution.—Breeding in Northern Europe from Lapland and

North-Hast Finland to the Yenesei in Asiatic Siberia and probably

as far East as the Taimyr Peninsula. In Winter it migrates south

to Africa and the Mekran coast, Sind and Cutch in North-West

India.

Niditication.— The Bar-tailed Godwit is a very early breeder when

one considers the climate in which it nests. Many birds lay as early

as the middie of May, when the swamps are still half-frozen and

snow still covers the ground in all directions. In Northern Lapland

they breed in the same swamps as the Whimbrel and many other

waders but whilst the Whimbrel lay their eggs absolutely in the open

on caked mud or reindeer moss, etc., the Godwit seems always

to select thin grass in which to make its nest and, though once found,

the eggs seem very conspicuous, they are toa slight extent concealed

by the surrounding grass and would certainly escape the notice of a

careless observer. This year, 1931, I have been fortunate enough to

be able to visit the Lapland breeding grounds of this Godwit, which

was really quite common in some of the swamps. As with all our

waders, it seemed to be very capricious in its choice of a breeding

site. 1] remember one day we visited no less than four swamps, each

of which to the human eye seemed exactly the same, vast stretches of

horrible quaking bog, dotted here and there with little hummocks and

small flats of comparatively dry ground. All round them stunted fir

ard birch grew fairly thickly, whilst the surface of the swamp itself was

718 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXX

more or less covered with water weeds, thin struggling grass and, in

places, thicker vegetation such as salix and kindred plants. In three

of these swamps bird life was conspicuous by its absence and not a

single Godwit was to be seen, yet inthe fourth, everywhere we went,

waders large and small were busy carrying on domestic duties and

among them were soine four or five pairs of Bar-tailed Godwiis, two

of whose nests we were fortunate enough to find. Both nests con-

tained four eggs but whilst in one the eggs were absolutely fresh, in

the second, the eggs were at least fifteen days incubated. This was

on the third of June; a bitter North-East wind was blowing and

driving dense masses of falling snow almost horizontally across the

landscape. In these out-of-the-way places we did not find the God-

wit very wild and the birds would return to their nests within a short

time of our putting them up; at the same time they were decidedly

wilder and much more wary than the Whimbrel and would try to

lure us from their nests by alighting in front of us, piping loudly and

then flitting offin the opposite direction to that in which their nest

lay. We were very much interested to find from the very large

series of eggs we were able to examine, that the oft-repeated asser-

tion that it is comparatively easy to distinguish between the eggs of

the Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwits, is not correct. In size the

eggs of the two birds overlap considerably, the texture is in no way

different, whilst the colour is a totally unreliable guide, as every range

of colour to be found inthe eggs of the Black-tailed Godwit is also

to be found in those of this species. On an average of course the

ege’s are very much smaller, that of 111 eggs being 53°4x 37°3 mm.

Habits —This Godwit is common on the coasts of Sind inthe cold

weather and of course also occurs on the Mekran Coast. Most birds

arrive in August and September, leaving again the following April

but, occasionally they come in much earlier and Ticehurst has

recorded them as early as the 22nd of July. He also notes that the

birds may be seen both singly and in small flocks in the grey non-

breeding dress but those which are purposing to migrate, have

mostly attained their semi or complete summer plumage. As with

others of the larger waders, the birds which stay the. summer

through are probably young of the previous year who are not

breeding, but it is remarkable that one bird obtained by ‘Tice-

hurst on the 20th of April was in full breeding plumage with the

exception that it had retained some traces of its juvenile colouration

in the tertiaries ; so, occasionally at all events, some birds do attain

this plumage the first year. ‘Ticehurst also records the fact—and this

is also endorsed by Eates and other observers—that the majority of

the birds on arrival in Sind are still in complete breeding plumage,

which they at once begin to moult for their winter attire. In India it

seems to be purely a bird of the coastal region, and it may be

found some way up the mouths of the larger rivers, especially

where these have brackish water and extensive mud banks. They

are extraordinarily shy, wild birds and very. difficult to approach, the

more so in that they invariably seem to keep to wide open spaces ;

moreover, they are generally to be found feeding and wandering

about in mud, generaliy of some depth and sometimes unpleasantly

treacherous... Their call isa pleasant low whistle, or, as Hume

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE 79

describes it—‘ a low piping note.’ Sometimes this is rapidiy repeated,

more especially if the bird is frightened, but as a rule it isa single

note, uttered as the bird rises and again as it descends. Their

courtship song is perhaps less musical than that of some of the

smaller waders, but it is quite sweet and soft, consisting of rapidly

uttered notes, not unlike their winter cry, but softer. The flight, of

course, differs in no way from that of the Black-tailed Godwit, whilst

its food appears to be the same. The birds examined by Hume had

fed chiefly ‘on tiny Shrimp-like things, smali mollusca, sand worms

and insects, but most of their stomachs contained matter that I took

to be minute acephale, or jelly fish. I found no vegetable matter

in any of their gizzards, and the flesh of two or three that we cooked,

hoping to find them as good as the other species, was by no means

well flavoured. It was not fishy, but it had a faint, froggy flavour,

and reminded me of that of eels caught in muddy broads and dykes

at home.”

My own experience of the Godwit as atable bird does not agree

with Hume’s description for I have invariably found them to be excel-

lent in every way, more like snipe than anything else and generally

very fat and tender.

GENUS: LIMNODROMUS.

Limunodromus Neuweid., Beitr. Naturg. Brazil, iv, Abst. 2, p. 716

(1833).

Type by mon., Wacroramphus griseus Ginelin.

In this genus the bill is like that of a Snipe, very long, straight

and slender, swollen towards the tip, where it is pitted; both mandi-

bles grooved at the sides from the base to the swoilen dertrum, which

has a grcove on the upper surface; the tarsus is shorter than the

wing and is scutellated in front, reticulated behind; the hind tce is

well developed and the anterior toes are joined by webs, that be-

tween the middle and outer being the larger ; the wing is long: and

pointed, the first primary longest, the second almost as long. The

breeding plumage is rufous, the non-breeding grey-brown, extremely

like the plumage of Limosa. Sexes alike. Of the two species

known, one is American and the other is from North-Eastern Asia.

LIMNODROMUS TACZANOWSKIUS.

The Snipe-btiled Godwtt.

Micropalama laczanowskia Verreaux, Rey. et. Mag. Zool. p. 206,

pl. xiv (1860) (Dauria).

Macroramphus semtpalmatus,—Blanf. and Oates, iv, p. 257.

Limnodromus tacznowskius, Stuart Baker, Fauna B.I., Birds, vi,

p. 210, 1929.

Vernacular Names.—None recorded.

Description: Breeding plumage.—Whole head, neck ard lower

plumage rufous; lores and a line through the eye so closely

tipped with black as to appear uniformly of that colour ; a line from

the forehead and crown closely streaked with black, leaving a rufous

line or supercilium on either side; hind-neck lightly streaked‘ with

720 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

black; mantle rufous, each feather broadly centred black, the

scapulars, inner secondaries and small coverts edged with grey ;

lower back and rump white with biack centres; upper tail-coverts

barred black and white, the longer suffused with rufous; tail barred

dark brown and white, the terminal bars blurred and broader ; least

wing-coverts dark brown; median and others grey-brown-edged with

white; quills brown with white shafts, along wedge-shaped white

patch on the inner webs of the first five and extending to both webs

on the others; outer secondaries grey-brown with broad white

edges; posterior flanks lightly barred with black; axillaries and

under wing-coverts white with a few dark brown bars.

Colours of soft parts.—Iris dark brown; bill black, paler and

plumbeous at the base; legs and feet dark plumbeous or brownish-

plac k,

Measurements.—Wing, 3 160 to 172 mm., 2 163 to 177 mm. ; tail

61 to 67 mim.; tarsus, 48 to 54 mm.; culmen, 77 to 87 mm.

In Winter the upper parts are dark, rather greyish-brown each

feather edged with white, most conspicuously so on the median and

greater coverts; the under plumage is white, the sides of the head,

chin, throat, neck, breast and flanks speckled with dark brown, the

specks becoming bars on the lower breast, flanks and under

tail-coverts.

Distribution.—The Snipe-billed Godwit breeds from West and

Central Siberia through Mongolia to Japan. It has been obtained by

Jerdon in Madras, by Blyth and Hume in Calcutta, by Oates in Pegu,

by McMaster at Rangoon, by Macdonald in Dibrugarh and by Wilson

in Shillong, in Assam, but doubtless it occurs far more often than it

is recognised and shot. Butler recorded it from the Malay States.

Nidttication.—The Snipe-billed Godwit breeds in Western Siberia,

where its nest and eggs were taken by Dr. Vaiizkamen in the

District of Barnaul. This is a Settlement of some size on the Ob

River at a latitude of about 53°40’. The two eggs referred to were

eventually obtained and given me by the late Dr. Paul Sushkin

and are now in my collection; they are like small eggs of the

Common Godwit, rather long pointed ovals in shape, with a pale

dull buff brown ground and fairly numerous specks and small

blotches of inky brown with a few faint underlying marks of neutral

tint. They measure 47°6 x 32°3 mm., and 48:4 « 33-1 mm.,, and were

taken on the 19th of June, 1918. I can find no other record of this

bird’s breeding, though Emile Smirnoff includes the eggs of this

Godwit amongst those said to be in his coliection,

Habits.— This wader has been found at odd times within our limits

over very widely spread areas, as already shown above under the

heading JDyzstributzon. As regards its habits in India, there is

absolutely nothing recorded. The bird shot by Wilson in Shillong

was in company with a few others on some small wet rice-fields at

an elevation of over 5,000 ft., but all the other birds recorded in India

have been obtained on the coast or on the muddy banks of the

estuaries of the larger rivers. Wilson’s birds were. probably migra-

ting, for on two other occasions I have seen this Godwit in Assam,

once in early September ona marsh, on which were an enormous

number of recently arrived snipe and other waders, with whom

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE 721

these birds had presumably come. We had shot over this swamp

the previous day and had not seen 50 snipe, yet the following day

when we shot the Godwit, snipe were present in many hundreds,

accompanied by a vast number of small waders of many kinds.

Two days later, practically the whole of them had left.

On the second occasion I saw them it was late April and ail the

waders were rapidly moving north towards their breeding grounds,

two or three Snipe-billed Godwits among them. On both the

occasions I saw these birds, they were walking about and feeding on

masses of floating seaweed, over which one could walk, although all

the time at some risk of our feet going through the floating weed inte

the deep water below. ‘The flight resembled that of the Bar-tailed

Godwit but was, I think, even swifter and certainly more direct.

As far as I can recollect, they uttered no note of any kind but other

waders were so numerous and so frequently calling that it would

have been easy to have missed hearing these birds had they called.

(To be continued.)

REVISION OF

THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY.

Hs BEATER RS i. eee eee

PART XVIII

(With 4 plates and 1 text-figure.)

(Continued trom page 495 of this volume).

ORCHIDACE

Ey BLATTER ,(S.d., PR. Ds, Rass: cece VLC CANIN, OR 6:

28. SACCOLABIUM Blume (not in Cooke).

Epiphytic herbs; stems leafy. Leaves long, linear, sometimes terete.

Flowers solitary or in simple or branched, few- to many-flowered racemes,

small or moderate sized. Sepals and petals free, spreading, recurved or

incurved. Lip spurred, 3-lobed, rarely entire, side lobes short, erect, midlobe

fleshy, spur saccate, naked within, or with calli on the front wall only. Column

short and broad; foot 0 or indistinct. Anther 1- or imperfectly 2-celled ;

pollinia 2, entire or 2-partite.

Species a few.—Indo-Malayan.

Saccolabium flabelliforme sf. 707. Blatter & McCann.

[ Affinis Saccolabio pulchello Fischer a quo tamen differt foltis latioribus

acutis minime bilobis, floribus multo matoribus, sepalis petalisque tlabelli-

formiter dispositis labio albo ad basim angulo profundo triangulari ftlavo

ornato, lobis labii lateralibus nullis.|

Description: A small plant; stem very short, arising from beneath the

leaves ; roots very long, flattened, bluish grey, clinging to branches of trees.

Leaves linear or linear-oblong, acute, flat, up to 12 cm. long and about 2-3 cm.

broad. Flowers sessile (i.e. ovary not stalked) in few- (usually 6-) flowered

racemes, 18 mm. wide by 12 mm. across; brac®s broadly ovate, 1mm. long

2mm. broad at base, thin, brown. Dorsal and iateral sepals and petals arranged

like a fan ; sepals and petals apple-green, sometimes with a rose-coloured dot ;

dorsal sepal oblong-obovate, slightly emarginate and apiculate, 9 by 4 mm. ;

lateral sepals spathulate-oblong, obtuse, slightly concave, 8 by3mm. Petals

resembling the lateral sepals, but slightly smaller, slightly concave, 7 by

27mm. Lip without side lobes, 3 mm. long, 8mm. broad, curved at its

extremity with the straight hinder margin as a base (the hinder margin being

made up by the straight front edge of the opening of the spur and a short free

portion on each side set onto the outside walls of the spur slightly below its

edge), slightly deflexed, outer edge minutely fimbriate, tip emarginate, pure

white, except the thickening of the spur which is greenish; there is a central

deep yellow triangie on base of lip, and the bottom of the spur is similarly

coloured, the yellow triangle of lip is bordered with rose-coloured dots and

short lines. Spur nearly hemispherical, slightly laterally compressed, with a

longitudinal, outwardly convex, inwardly concave thickening, iength and side

diameter 5 mm., the free lateral edges of the spur slightly ascending outwardly

from base to column, the free edge of the spur-cavity marked thinly with

purple-rose, and the interior bottom of spur dotted with similar coloured spots.

Column white, generally strongly suffused with deep rose, without foot, as

broad at base (2 mm.) as the front edge of spur where the lip commences, and

about as high as it is broad there, triangular in shape seen from the front,

the apex rather broadly rounded, the cap cval, pointed in front, convex

with depressed margins, yellow, anticous or inclined (it forms the top of

Prats I

an ah

Journ., Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

Del. C. McCann after Miss E. Bell.

nov.

Saccolabium flabelliforme Blatter and McCann, sp.

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 723

the column), slanting down towards opening of spur. Pollinia 2, orange-

yellow, oval, attached to a caudicle as long as the diameter of both together ;

gland oval, with a bifid tip which is always visible outside the cap lying on the

rostellum and which hides completely the stigmatic hollow. The front-opening

leading to the stigmatic hollow triangular owing to the flanged front-walls of

the column, Ovary in flower 8 mm. long.

Locality: WN. Kanara. Devimane Ghat (Sedgwick & Bell 6957! type) ;

Yellapur (T. R. Bell, from sketches, coloured plates and MS. notes) ; Sirsi, in

evergreen (Sedgwick 7078!) ; in forests (T. R. Bell 5424! 5413!).

Flowers: September 1915 (Yellapur) ; October 1914 (Sirsi).

29. NERVILIA Comm. ex Gaud.

(Under Pogonta in Cke. II, 706).

Terrestrial, tuberous, l-leaved. Leaf mostly appearing after the flowers,

broadly cordate to orbicular, plicate. Flowers solitary or few to many, race:

mose. Sepals and petals subequal, narrow. Lip inferior, adnate to the base

of the column, sessile or almost clawed, entire, 2-fid or 3-lobed, sometimes

sligntly saccate at the base. Column elongate, broadening upwards ; foot 0.

Anther substipitate ; pollinia 2, 2-fid, or 4, powdery ; caudicle and gland absent.

(ex Fischer).

Species 45.— Tropics of the Old World.

The Bombay species have been put under Pogonza Juss. by Cooke. Pogontza,

with its 40 species is, 2 Chinese-Japanese species excepted, a New World

genus.

Cooke mentions 2 species from the Presidency which when put under

Nervilia have to be called NV. plicata Schlechter and JV. carinata Schlechter,

To these we add 3species not known from the Presidency before and 4 new

ones.

Hook. f. in his F. B. I. vi, 119 refers to the difficulty he experienced in

analysing the species from Herbarium specimens and adds that ‘ all require

revision.’

We have had the advantage of exceptionally well-prepared specimens of

leaves and flowers of several species and, in addition, excellent drawings and

paintings by Miss E. Bell. Besides, Mr. T. R. Bell was kind enough to put

at our disposal his detailed descriptions which he had drawn up from live

specimens.

We feel confident, though we are not absolutely sure, that the new species are

all good cnes. Hooker’s descriptions are rather meagre and Wight’s illustra-

tions are not always perfect. But taking it for granted that the details given

by Hooker are correct, we are allowed to say that the species described below

are good. If, however, one or the other is not and if other botanists should

think that they should be combined with one of the older ones, our descriptions

will at least serve the purpose of furnishing many details which were not known

before.

As to the time of appearance of the leaf Hooker f. states (and Schlechter

and Fischer agree with him) that all the species of the genus Nervilia leaf

after flowering. This is not always the case.

I. Scape 1-flowered

1. Sepals and petals greenish white, soinetimes

with a rosy shade. Lip broadly saccate,

pinkish white ae re we 1. NV. tHonantha.

2. Sepals and petals light maroon-green on back,

dirty green inside. Lip very slightly

saccate at base; tube light apple-green,

midlobe white suffused with rose Ay

3. Sepals and petals greenish purple. Midlobe

of lip obovate, pink, mottled with purple... 3. MN. Hallbergiz.

4, Sepals and petals green. Midlobe of lip

rhombic-lanceolate-act:minate from a nar-

row hairy base; disk white mottled with

pink a sf Si we 4. N. Guliana.

II. Scape 2-flowered. Flowers 30-35 mm. diam.

. Lip pale pink Nee ae 2 ONE LV GOLLLOFG.

. NN. intundibulitoliia —

724 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY Vol. XXXV

III. Scape 2-3-flowered. Lip lilac with a green spot

at the base and a yellow line along the thicken-

ed part of the midrib... eee Ae NOUN BPLICOLa.

IV. Scape several-flowered. Flowers 14 mm. long,

green, except for lilac markings on lip eo NAS PL.

V. Scape many-flowered

1. Leaf 13- or more-ribbed 5a ode On VAS OA IG

2. Leaf 7-9-ribbed San me ise) Od NCQTINALA:

1. Nervilia monantha sf. mov. Blatter & McCann.

[Orchidacea appropinquans Nerviliam julianam Schlechter a qua distingut

potest folio generatim largiore, sessili vel subsessili, obtuso, multinervoso

(11-19), flore multo minore, sepalis petalisque linearibus albo-viridibus roseo-

nervosts labii forma distincta colore roseo-albo. Diftferta N. plicata Schlechter

folio viridi, flore unico, colore et forma labit,; a N. biflora Schlechter flore

semper unico, labio minime glabro, columna distincta. |

Description : Tuber subglobose, 25 by 15 mm. or less, depressed above and

below, giving off sparse little roots from surface all over, yellowish white,

generally 5-10 cm. underground. ‘Two or three stolons from stem between

tuber and origin of leaf. Leaf sessile or subsessile, lying flat on the ground

and appearing after the flowers, orbicular-cordate, obtuse, with a broad or

narrow sinus at base, 11-19-nerved, the size varying between 2 and 10 cm. diam.,

pure green throughout, upper surface velvety when first expanded, with short

fine glandular white hairs, glabrous below. Flowering-stem 7-10 cm. long,

fruiting-stem reaching 15-20 cm., very slender, always 1-flowered, light pink,

with usually 2 long, wide-mouthed acuminate sheaths, these shorter than the

internodes, lighter pink with 7 purplish nerves. Floral bract triangular,

subulate, short, not concave, longer than broad, generally 1-1'5 mm. in

length, whitish with a green shade, edges reddish. Flowers erect or suberect.

Sepals and petals similar to each other in shape and colour, linear-acute,

slightly narrower at base than in the middle, greenish white, sometimes with a

rosy shade, the nerves rose-coloured. Sepals 5-nerved, 17 by 3 mm., concave,

the midvein not particularly prominent on back. Petals hardly shorter, 3 mm.

broad, 3-nerved. Lip hardly saccate, 18 mm. long, the lower # tubular, 4mm.

broad in middle, about 2mm. at base, pinkish white, hiding the column, the

edges hardly conniving, widening from base upwards, the lower part afterwards

produced into a short deflexed terminal lobe which is very wrinkled both round

the margin as wellas longitudinally in the limb with the margin shortly fimbriate,

separated by a deeper cut from a broadish, fimbriate (not always), smaller,

2mm. long lobe on each side forming the end of the tubular part of the lip,

the throat of the tube stretching some way up each side lobe and some way

down the tube beset with white soft hairs; lip 7-nerved with other veins outside

the exterior ones, the 3 central nerves with a row of purple-pink tubular out-

growths which are simple at the beginning and become longer and branched

towards the distal end ; the nerves themselves purplish rose, the central nerve

light brownish. Column galbrous, stalk quite straight, the anther leaning

slightly forward ; stalk thickened to contain the stigma which is semi-elliptical,

longer than broad, somewhat pointed below, straight at top below anther ;

edges of anther fairly prominent, the back convex, very slightly keeled down

middle, the cap tilted forward a good deal, reaching far above the edges,

rather square in form, though longer than broad, sometimes broader across top

than at front, depressed down centre at top ; the anther-pockets occupying the

whole of the bottom which is here at right angles to the front face; the

pollinia attached behind, or rather lying with their bases towards the back,

these bases dark purple and globular, the pollina yellow; the pockets are

parallel and straight. Length of column 9 mm.; breadth of stalk nearly

1 mm.; breadth of anther a little less than 2 mm., the part of top of column

containing the stigma 2mm. Fruit spindle-shaped with 6 longitudinal ridges ;

these ridges broad, prominent and rounded in transverse section, 21 mm. by

7 mm., the beak 8 mm., thick and conical, with the withered lip showing as an

extra thin point beyond; it is pure green in colour as is also the beak,

generally deflexed.

The leaf appears above ground as a thick, short, spindle-shaped bud, covered

by a sheath, 25 by 8 mm., pointed. (Chiefly from T. R. Bell’s MS. notes

drawn up from live specimens).

Il sivig

a —a

‘aou ‘ds ‘uuegjoyy pur reretts| DYyUDUcUL DUAL N

Pg “A sy pun neg “YL 4aifo uuwpaW 0 “PA

"005 ‘9SIHT ‘Jen Avquiog ‘*uanor

-aou ‘ds ‘uuegoyy pure soyelq Dofyngspunfur vj1a1aN

9G "A ssyyy sayfo uunpoyy *D “Pd

4 yy

“YY,

‘Al

‘208 “ISIE ‘JUN Aequiog ‘’uanor

Tl Ftvig

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 725

Locality: N. Kanara: Yellapur (T. R. Bell 5428! type, 5428a! 5429

5434! 2522-2524!) ; Nagargali (Sedgwick 2635 !) ; Karwar (T. R. Bell 4071 !).—

Bell found this species very common in 1911 at the beginning of June after rain

round Yellapur in jungle, preferring apparently bamboo jungle where the

ground is covered with dead leaves. He found it also in the compound of

the D. F.O. bungalow under Pithecolobium trees. It is always found under

shade and generally comes up in groups.

Flowers: June 1911 (Yellapur).

_ 2, Nervilia infundibulifolia sf. zov. Blatter & McCann.

[Orchidacea similis aliqguomodo Nerviliae monanthae Blatter & McCann, sed

facile distinguitur folio infundibuliformt, paucinervoso (5-7-9) petiolato, sepalis

3-nervosts, petalis 1-nervosis, labit lobo medio integro pollinits albis.|

Descriplion: Tuber about 12 mm. in height, slightly flattened above and

below yellowish white, buried 3-8 cm. underground, covered sparsely with little

root-knobs. The stolons, if any, arise not from the tuber but from the stem

below the origin of the leaf. Leaf-bud spindle-shaped, 15 by 3 mm., pointed. Leaf

solitary, appearing after ripening of fruit, broadly cordate, funnel-shaped, about

3-4 cm. diam., margin crimped, irregularly and minutely dentate-crenulate, 5-7-

or rarely 9-nerved, the last pair generally thin, green with broad deep purple-

‘maroon streaks from base along the depressed nerves, broadening towards the

middle, narrowing again towards extremity but not reaching the margin, the

margin very finely brown-maroon. Petiole dark brown-maroon, embraced at

base by a 5-nerved, membranous, oblong-acuminate sheath which is light

brownish and has the nerves purplish, the petiole has as many prominent ridges

as the limb has nerves and the ridges are continuous with them. Flowering-

stem 7-11 cm. high, straight, consisting of 2 internodes ; upper sheath of scape

about 3 cm. long, linear-oblanceolate, acute, wide-mouthed, 5-nerved, with an

extra marginal one ; lower stem-sheath much shorter than the upper, stem and

sheath maroon-coloured. Flower 1, generally at a right angle to the axis or

slightly inclined. Floral bract generally 3mm. long, but may reacheven 7 mm.,

about 2 mm. in width, 3-nerved, acute or acuminate, concave, maroon-coloured,

the veins darker. Sepals and petals similar, linear-oblanceolate, acute, slightly

concave, light maroon-green on the back, dirty green inside, the nerves maroon-

red. Sepals 3-nerved, 13 mm. in length, 3 mm. broad where broadest. Petals

l-nerved, 12 mm. in length, 2 mm. broad where broadest. Ovary lowly 6-

keeled, each more prominent central keel being flanked on each side by a much

lower one, maroon-red, Lip very slightly saccate at base, tubular for half its

length or slightiy less, narrowest just above sac, thence increasing forwards, the

edges hardly connivent, parting to show anther slightly, ending on each side

ina triangular, rather blunt lobe which overreach in length the column and

anther, produced below into the midlobe which is in the same plane as tube,

broadly ovate, the margin nearly entire (shows signs of unevenness), the lateral

margins deflexed, the extremity rounded, the midvein somewhat broadly gib-

bous, especially towards the end, though not very prominent (roundly convex

in transverse section), beneath channelled along midvein, deeply and narrowly

so just before extremity. Length of lip 17 mm., breadth just above sac 2? mm.

(less across for the tube is higher than broad), at mouth 3 mm.; the side lobes

very slightly spreading, about 15 mm.; long, equilaterally triangular; the

midlobe 10 by 7 mm.,; the ovary about 4 mm., the pedicel 2 mm. Colour of

lip light apple-green for the tube, the side lobes lighter, the midlobe white

suffused all over with rose (with a maroon shade in it, medium light in

shade) in irregular lighter and darker patches or spots, the midvein for 2 of

its length and the margins narrowly white. Column straight, the anther, and

(stigma, i.e., the enlarged top balf) leaning back, the stalk half the total length,

flat in front, rounded behind, covered with short, soft, white hairs for half-its

length below the stigma on its flat front surface ; stigmatic cavity large, occupy-

ing nearly half the length of the whole, oval, longer than broad and slightly

narrower below than above; the cap occupying the whole top of column, hori-

zontal, the edges of the anther (top of column) only very slightly embracing it,

this cap being square when seen from above, concave transversely, straight

along front edge above stigma, higher behind than in front; the pockets

beneath straight, parallel, containing each one pollinium, lamellated, shaped

like a broad sign of exclamation. Column about 8 mm., the breadth of stalk 1

mm., of anther 2 mm.; the cap hides the whole top of column, Colour

726 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST SOGIETY Volk. S2Xey

of column light apple-green, of anther whitish, the cap just touched with ma-

roon along its front edge; there are sometimes a few fine longitudinal red

streaks on stalk and back of anther; the pollen masses are white. Fruit 6-

ribbed, the ribs wide with a more prominent central ridge, beaked with the

persistent floral envelope, the column, petals and sepals closely embracing it,

the withered end of lip generally protruding as a point from the tip of the beak

(the sepals and petals close round the column) completely forming an end cone

pointed at extremity. Capsule 11 by 5°5 mm., oblong-oval, the beak another

15 mm. (Chiefly from T. R. Bell’s M.S. notes and paintings by Miss E. Bell.)

Locality: N. Kanara: Yellapur (T. R. Bell).—Usually found in places

where there is a covering of dead leaves,

Flowers: June irl,

3. Nervilia Hallbergii sf. zov. : Blatter & McCann.

(Orchidacea referens Nerviliam julianam a qua differt labii lobis lateralibus

integris, lobo medio obovato et basi minime pubescenti necnon colore.|

Description: Tuber globose, warted. Leaf notseen. Flowering-stem about

10 cm. high, 1-flowered, consisting of 2 internodes, each with a long linear-

acuminate sheath, the upper larger. Flower nodding, bract minute. Sepals

and petals spreading, subequal, narrowly lanceolate, greenish purple ; midlobe

of lip obovate, rounded at tip, pink, mottled with purple, provided with a cen-

tral white, linear callus; lateral lobes falcate, whitish, folded round stalk of

column; no sac or spur. Column pink; anther loose in tube. Pollinia not

observed.

Locality: W. Ghats: Kuna near Khandala in jungle (Hailberg, photo-

graph and specimen in formaline at St. X. C., Bombay).

Flowers; June 191/.

4. Nervilia jusiana Schlechter in Engl. Jahrb. xiv (1911) 402.—Apipactis Juli-

ana Roxb. FI. Ind. iii (1832) 453.—Pogonia juliana Wall. Cat. 7399 ; Hook. f.

Bel. vis 119 3 Prim. fl) Ceylmiv 4225.

Description: Tubers globose, 12-25 mm. diam., white; stem 5-8 cm., white,

erect ; roots few, vermiform arising above the tuber; leaf solitary, developing

after the flowering of the scape, petioled, broadly ovate-cordate, acute, about

5cem. diam., membranous, plicate with 5-7 veins, radiating from the top of the

petiole, green or purplish beneath ; petiole short, with a few acute sheaths at

the base; scape 12-15 cm., with several convolute sheaths, the upper longest.

Flower solitary, shortly pedicelled, 2°5 cm. broad; bracts shorter than the

ovary. Sepals and petals narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, green; lip longer

than the sepals, side lobes small, narrow, falcate, oblong, toothed, white, termi-

nal rhombic-lanceolate-acuminate from a narrow hairy base, white, mottled

with pink ; disk pubescent between the lobes.

Locality; N. Kanara, in forests (Bell 5437 !).

Distribution: Assam, Sylhet, Lower Bengal, N. Kanara, Ceylon.

5. Nervilia biflora Schlechter in Engl. Jahrb. xiv (1911) 403; Fischer FI.

Madras pt. viii (1928) 1459; Hook. Ic. Pl.—Fogonia biflora Wight Ic. t.

1753. Hook: t-2b balk vi, ole

Nervilia biflora is very incompletely known. Apparently it has been found

only once, in the Wynaad jungles of the Madras Presidency. The leaf is not

known at all, and as to the floral details we have practically only Wight’s

illustration. We take our specimens from N. Kanara to be this species. They

agree in nearly all details with Wight’s and Hooker f.’s diagnosis, except

where Hooker f. says that the midlobe is crisped and that the sepals and

petals are white. Our sepals and petals are light brownish-yellowish with a

green shade.

In the meantime Mr. C. EK. C. Fischer of Kew Gardens has been kind enough

to compare our specimens with the type specimen in the Kew Herbarium. He

and Mr. Suinmerhayes who is in charge of the Orchids of the Herbarium are

agreed that our plant is Nervilia biflora. A description with drawings has

been published inthe Ic. Plant. As this work is accessible to few only, we

repeat the description in this place.

Description : A stout terrestrial plant. Tuber white with sparse little rootlet-

knobs, globose, 17 by 15 mm. ; portion of stem between tuber and base of leaf-

stalk very short, about 3-4 cm. Leaf ovate-cordate, acute or acuminate,

plicate, many-neryed, spread on the ground, shortly stalked or almost without

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 727

stalk, brown-maroon, hairy all over on the upper surface, about 8cm. long and

6 cm. broad. Flowering stem growing from the sinus of the leaf which lies

flat on the ground, 8-10 cm. long, lengthening after flowering to 15-23 cm.,

greenish white below, and where it is covered by sheaths, becoming, together

with ovary, brown-maroon with a green shade towards top; sheaths 2 in

number, corresponding to the internodes, about the length of the internodes,

linear-obovate-acuminate, 9-veined, soiled greenish white with a brownish

shade, the veins darker greenish ; internodes ribbed. Flowers 2, one above the

other, 30-35 mm. diam. Floral bracts variable in size, 3-6 mm. long, slightly

concave, more or less equilateral-triangular, usually entire, sometimes with

small teeth at apex, showing signs of longitudinal veins, colour of sheaths.

Sepals and petals spreading, similar, narrowly obdlanceolate-acute or acuminate,

light brownish-yellowish with a green shade. Sepals 27 mm. by 4mm., some-

what concave, midrib prominent on back, 7-nerved. Petals 23 mm. by 3 mm.,

5-nerved, outside nerves sometimes indistinct. Lip slightly saccate at base,

tubular for nearly 2 its length, embracing the column completely, narrowest

just above basal sac, then gradually widening, the edges closely conniving,

pressed against each other forming a keel, then separating gradually and

opening wide into the terminal lobe which is really the mouth of the tube

widened out obliquely, the contour rounded, very slightly einarginate at end,

the margins very shallowly and slightly dentate-crenulate, the midvein promi-

nent and swollen, impressed on the underside leaving the limb inflated on both

sides. Length of lip 18 mm., breadth in centre 5 mm., diameter of tube

at origin 2mm. When the lip is flattened out its shape is nearly elliptical with

2 very short insignificant side lobes at about 3 from the base. Colour of lip

rose piok, lighter at base and along conniving edges of tubular part, veined

darker from midvein outwards, the midvein somewhat broadly white. Column

erect, stalked, slightly broader than thick, somewhat concave down front,

curved twice, once forward at base, then backwards in upper part. The stalk.

widens just below anther to contain the concave, transversely elliptical

stigmatic surface which occupies about } of the stalk-length ; the anther above

it, about the same width, leaning slightly forwards, straight on its front edge,

convex behind with a slight keel down middle, the sides produced upwards

slightly higher than the cap which is situated in such a way that this convex

part of the column with the keel is visible from above behind it ; the cap rather

square, convex behind, depressed centrally towards front; pollinia-pockets

beneath slightly S-shaped, long, occupying 4 of the length ; pollinia lying with

their bases forwards, two in each pocket, longly oval, pressed against each

other in each pocket, composed of many lamellae ; colour of column whitish-

rose, the cap rose, red in front, the pollinia-pockets white, pollinia yellow,

Length of whole column including anther and cap 10 mm ; breadth of anther

2mm. No sign of hairson the column. Fruit spindle-shaped, 6-ribbed, the

ribs broad and low, winged along the prominent middle lines, 16 mm. long by

8 mm. broad (across the ribs), the beak of s2pals and petals another 18 mm.,

the withered lip showing as a thin point beyond again.

The leaf appears above ground asa very thin bud, about 17 by 4 mm. and

pointed ; after thickening rapidly it expands in a very short time.

Very often oniy one fruit develops on each stem. The plant is gregarious and

is nearly always found amongst dead leaves.

Locality: N. Kanara; Yeilapur, behind the forest Naka around the root of

a tree in jungle, amongst dead leaves (T. R. Bell 6065 ! 6066! ter) ; Tatwal, in

large dense jungle (T. R. Bell in MS.) ; Sirsi (T. R. Bell in MS.).

Flowers : May 1912 (Sirsi) ; May 1919 (Yellapur) ; July 1910 (Tatwal).

Fruit: July 1911 (Tatwal).

6. Nervilia plicata Schlechter in Engl. Jahrb. xiv (1911) 403; Fischer FI.

Madras pt. viii (1928) 1458.—Pogonia plicata Lindl. Gen. & Sp. Orchid.

(1840) ; Hook. f. F.B.I. vi, 119; King & Pantl. in Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Cale

ViltoUGLSUS)e2055 te doo ss coke. a1, 707 2. Prain Beng. Pl. 1625; Bruhl Orch.

Sikkim (1926) 157.—pizpact?s plicata Roxb. FI. Ind. iii (1832) 454.— Are-

thusa plicata Andr. Bot. Reg. t. 321.

Description : Cke. ii, 707.

Locality: Konkan: Malabar Hill in Bombay Island, Millard’s garden

(Millard 16723! in H. St. X. C.).—W. Ghats ; Khandala (Cooke!) ; Lonavla

728 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Flowers : June 1892 (Lonavla).

Distribution : Konkan, W. Ghats of Bombay Pres., Madras Pres.: Rampa

Hills. 1,500-2,000 ft. Mysore, Travancore, Sikkim, Bengal.

7. Nervilia hispida sf. xov. Blatter & McCann.

[Orchidacea vicina Nervilie Aragoane Gaud., necnon N. carinate Lindl.

a priore tamen diftert folio multo minore et dense hispido pilis minuttis albo-

tuberculato, scapo breviori, floribus minus numerosis et cum folio coetanets,

labio basi aliguantulum saccatv, colore viridi, ab altera tamen peticlis multo

longtoribus, folio hispido nervisque multis predito. |

Description : Tuber globose, whitish, covered with sparse rootlet-knobs,

20 mm. broad by 17 mm. high. Leaf appearing at the same time as the

flowers, broadly cordate, cuspidate, with a wide rounded sinus, thin in texture,

finely hispid because of a dense covering of extremely minute, white, tubercular

hairs, giving it a shagreened appearance, 4:5 cm. long by 5-3 cm. broad, 13-15

nerved from base, green, plicate between the nerves, margin entire, wavy, the

nerves maroon towards base; petiole 12cm. longfrom tuber, 11cm. above

ground, maroon-brown in colour, with a narrow smooth rounded channel down

the front, ribbed in continuation of nerves of blade. Scape including raceme

10-11 cm. high, 4-5 mm. thick, round, with many fine longitudinal ribs which

are not prominent, green with a maroon tinge, except axis of raceme, several-

flowered ; raceme about 5cm. long; internodes of scape 2, the lower slightly

shorter, the sheath to upper 25 mm. long, shortly pointed, about 11-nerved,

dirty light green with a brown shade. Bracts linear-oblong, acute, concave,

12-23 mm. lony by 1-5-3 mm. broad, with about 7 nerves, slightly oblique.

Flowers green, except for lilac markings on lip, 14 mm. long; pedicel 3 mm.

long, the wing-ridged ovary 3 mm. long. Sepals and petals apple-green,

Similar in shape, linear-oblanceolate, acute, 3-nerved, allsomewhat concave.

Sepals 16 by 5mm,; petals 15 by5mm. Lip very slightly saccate at base,

tubular for 10 mm., the rest, 4 mm., being the midlobe, semicircular in outline,

the apex mucronate owing to prolongation of midrib. The basal tubular

portion is 2°5 mm. just above sac, 4mm. at end where on each side is a short,

rounded side lobe, separated from the midlobe by ashallow rounded sinus ;

side lobes 1 mm. long, triangular-rounded. The midlobe has the margin

curled up allround and is thus cupular, has 3 nerves down the middle begin-

ning at base of lip, all 3 prominent beneath, the 2 side ones the more prominent

above ; outside the side ones are veins running from them to margin of midlobe

and tube; all these veins, except the middle length one are set with soft, white

fluff. Colour of lip apple-green, the midlobe having the space outside the

3 length-nerves lilac-coloured on the free exposed portion, the little veins from

the side length-nerves to margin being also lilacas far as some way up the tube ;

when not lilac all veins are darker green than the ground colour. Column

whitish light green, the cap lighter and gently tinged with rose, the tinge

darkest just at front border; it is nearly straight, clavate at top, flat in front,

rounded behind, quite smooth throughout except along the keel on the back of

the anther where there isa line of small white hairs; stigma shallow, trans-

verse-oval, straight across top below cap and occupying about ¢ of the whole

column length ; side walls of anther thin and produced slightly upwards free of

the cap, but not overreaching it and also out in front on each side of stigma ; half

the thickness of top of column is visible behind the cap ; the cap lies inclined

forward at 45°, is nearly square, slightly depressed down centre and produced

forward at front edge. Length of column 10 mm., breadth 1-5 mm., the stalk

being 6 mm of the total length; anther 2-5 mm. in width ; cap about as broad

as the stalk, i.e., 1-5 mm., but is, of course much thinner through; anther

pockets parallel, pollinia 2 in each pocket, shaped like a sign of exclamation,

each pair pressed together, lamellate, very light yellowin colour. Fruit fusi-

form with 6 ribs along the whole length.

The tuber is generally 7-10 cm. below the surface in open places under trees

as often as not, though also where there is a covering of leaves. The leaf and

scape start from the same point oftuber. Later stolons arise from the leaf-base

underground.

The leaf comes out at the time of flowering. It shows in the beginning asa

somewhat thin bud with a sheath 2-5 cm. long; sheath light maroon,

1l-nerved, obtusely pointed and generally with the margins, when showing,

thinly maroon. (From T, R. Bell’s MS.)

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 729

Locality: N. Kanara: Yellapur (T. R. Bell).

Flowers and fruit: 15th June 1911.

8. Nervilia Aragoana Gaud. in Freyc. Voy. Bot. 422, t. 36; Fischer FI.

Madras pt. viii (1928) 1459.—Pogonta flabelliformis Lindl. in Wall. Cat. 7400 ;

Gen. & Sp. Orchid. 415% in Journ. inn. Soc. ii, 40; Hook. f. F.B.1. vi, 121;

Duthie tm Ann. Roy. Bot. -Gard. ix, t. 125;. Haines Bot. .Bih. & Or. 1163.—

P. Nervilia Blume Mus. Bot. 1, 32. ay carinata Wight Ic. t. 1720.— Aplostellis

flabellitorm7s Ridley FI. Malay Pen. iv (1924) 203.

Description : ‘Tuber subzlobose, white, about 2-5 cm. diam. ; scape arising

from the top of the tuber. Leaf ovate-acuminate or orbicular, cordate at base,

10-14 cm. diam., with 18-20 stronger nerves and as many or more finer inter-

mediate ones ; petiole 15-28 cm. long. Flowers green, 18 mm. long, spreading

and drooping, up to 15. Sepals 15 mm. long, erect, connivent, laaceolate-

linear, acute. Petals 12 mm. long, similar, but with faintly brown nerves.

Lip very narrow, !2 mm. long, straight, neither saccate nor spurred, sometimes

slightly gibbous, side lobes embracing the column, white, brown-veined ;

midlobe white, flat, projecting beyond the side lobes, ovate, but not constricted

at base ; palate hairy with 3 green veins. Column 8 mm. long. Ovary very

short, 5 mm. long, winged. .

Locality: Konkan: Neral (Herb. St. X. C. 26509!).—N. Kanara:

Sampkhand, 1,600 ft. (Bell & Sedgwick 6966 !).

Leafing ; Aug. 1890 (Neral) ; Oct. 1919 (Sampkhand).

Distribution - Tropical Himalaya, from Garhwal 4,000-5,000 ft. eastwards,

Malay Peninsula, Konkan, N. Kanara, Madras Pres.: Rampa, Pulney Hills;

Travancore, Malaya, Siam.

9, Nervilia carinata Schlechter in Engl. Jahrb. xiv (1911) 404; Fischer F),

Madras pt. viii (1928) 1459.—Pogonia carinata Lindl. Gen & Sp. Orchid.

(1840) 414; Dalz & Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 270 ; Hook. f. F. B. I. VI, 121; Prain

Beng. Pl. 1026; Hook. f. in Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Cale. v, t. 94; Duthie in

Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Calc. ix, t. 124; Cke. ii, 707.—Apipactis carinata

Roxb. FI. Ind. iii (1832) 454 ; Grah. Cat. 205.—FPogonta flabelliformis Woodr.

in Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc. xii (1899) 519 (zon Lindl.).

Description: Cke. ii, 707. A better description in Duthie Fl. Upper Gang.

Pie it, pte ii LO2Z0) 217.

Locality : Konkan (Stocks).—W. Ghats; Lonavla (Herb St. X. C. 26508 !).

S. M7. Couniry : Near Dharwar (Law).—N. Kanara: Kulgi, 1,500 ft. (T.R

Bell 6088 !) ; without locality (T. R. Bell 4072 !).

Flowers: May 1919 (Kulgi) ; August 1891 (Lonavla).

Distribution: Sub- Himalayan tracts of Rohilkhand and N. Oudh, Kumaon,

Bengal, Burma, Bombay Pres., Mysore, Pulney Hills, Cochin.

30. EPrrroGumM Gmelin (not in Cke.).

Saprophytic, leafless, brownish, terrestrial herbs ; roots tuberous or coralloid;

stem erect, sheathed. Flowers laxly racemed. Sepals and petals su bequal,

narrow, free, erect or spreading. Lip sessile at the base of the column, broad,

entire or 3-lobed, spurred, disk with rows of papillae. Column short; foot 0.

Anther thick, dorsally 2-celled ; pollinia 2, each with a long, filiform caudicle :

gland small.

Species 5.—Old World.

Of this genus which was not known before to be represented in the Bombay

Pres., only the following species has been found in N. Kanara.

1. Epipogum nutans Reichb. f. in Bonpland. (1857) 36; Lindl. in Journ.

iniens0Ce i. 177: Benth, Hi Austral, vi, 3085. Hook.f. F.B.I) vi 124:

Trim. Fl. Ceyl. iv (1898) 222; King & Pantl. in Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard.

Cale. viii, t. 335; Fischer Fl. Madras pt. viii (1928) 1460; Brtthl Orchid.

Sikkim (1926) 148.—2Z. voseum Lindl. 1.c—Galera nutans Blume Bijdr. 415,

t. 3; Mus. Bot. II, 187; Orchid. Archip. Ind. 139, t. 52 e¢ 54E.—G. rosea

Blume Mus. Bot. ii, 188; Orchid. Archip. Ind. 139—FPodanthera pallida

Wight Ic. t. 1795.—Ceratopsis rosea Lindl. Gen. & Sp. Orchid. 383,—

Limodorum roseum Don Prodr. Fl. Nep. 20.

Description: Tuber underground, 5 cm. and more in length; stem 10-40

em. high; about 1 cm. thick at the base, gradually thinner upwards, with a

few bracts and ending in a 5-20 cm. long raceme ; flowers drooping, minus the

736. JOURNAL BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

ovary about 12 mm. long, white ; sepals and petals lanceolate-linear, connivent;

lip oblong, concave, without side lobes but with a short blunt point, with a few

reddish brown spots; spur half as long as the lip, somewhat bulbous: stem and

ovary pale ochre-coloured.

Locality: N. Kanara: Yellapur, 1,800 ft. (Bell 4068 !).

Flowers: June 1918.

Distribution: Tropical Himalaya, Nepal, Sikkim in hot valleys up to 4,000

ft., Khasia Mts. up to 6,900 ft,, N. Kanara, Madras Pres,: Coorg, Bolampatti

Hills at 4,590 ft., Anamalais, Pulneys at 5,000 ft,, Wynaad, Ceylon, W. Africa,

Java, Australia,

31. Tropipia Lindl. (not in Cke).

Terrestrial, glabrous, leafy herbs. Stem oftea branched, roots rigid. Leaves

sessile, membranous, subplicate ; petiolesheathing, Flowers small, in axillary

and terminal sessile or peduncled spikes; bracts coriaceous, often imbricate,

strongly nerved. Sepals connivent, lateral more or less connate, dorsal free.

Petals as long, or shorter, broad or narrow. Lip superior, sessile at the base of

the column, cyimbiform or produced into an obtuse spur, undivided, acute or

with a reflexed tip, disk with short or long intramarginal ridges on lamellae ;

column short or long ; rostellum long, erect, at length 2-fid; stigma anticous ;

anther erect, acute or acuminate, cells contiguous; pollinia 2, clavate, 2-cleft,

caudicle long or short, gland small. Capsule cylindric-oblone.

Species 12.—Indo-Malayan, Polynesian,

1. Tropidia Bellii sf. vov. Blatter & McCann.

| Pertinens at sectionem Cnemidie refert Tropidiam angulosamBlume sed

distinguitur foltis basi rotundatis vel tn vaginam decurrentibus, minime cordatis

bracteis haud dimidiam florum longitudinen attingentibus, sepalts lateralibus

subobtusis sub apice mucronatis, petalis quam sepalum dadorsale latioribus,

basalibus colunine apbpendicibus minimis obtusis. |

Description: Terrestrial, glabrous. Stem about 30 cm. high. Leaves

elliptic or broadly lanceolate acuminate, membranous, subplicate, 9-1l-nerved,

sheathing at base, up to15 by 7 cm., base rounded or tapering into the sheath.

Peduncle short, spike up to 5 cm. long, terminal, about 7-flowered. Bracts

about 12 mm. long, linear-subulate, scarcely half as long as the flower. Sepals

3-5-nerved ; lateral sepals connate, lanceolate, subobtuse, with a distinct mucro

below the tip ; dorsal sepal linear-lanceolate, free. Petals broader than dorsal

sepal, ovate-lanceolate, 3-5-nerved; lip superior, sessile at base of column,

produced into an obtuse spur. undivided, as long as the petals, obtuse, lateral

nerves lamellate below middle; basal columnar appendages very small, obtuse.

Anther erect, ceils contiguous; pollinia 2, clavate; gland minute. Fruit not

seen. ;

Locality: N. Kanara: Guddehalli, in evergreen forest, 1,500 ft., rainfall

150 in. (I. Ri Bell 2992! type, Merb. wt. X..C: 265021),

Flowers: Sept. 1917.

32. SPIRANTHES Rich. (Cke. ii, 707).

Terrestrial herbs ; roots fibrous or tuberous; stems erect, leafy, or the flower-

ing leafless. Leaves usually narrow. Flowers small, in erect, secund, often

twisted, many-flowered spikes. Sepals subequal, free, the lateral gibbous at

. the base, and inserted obliquely on the ovary, more or tess cohering with the

similar petals in au erect hood. Lip erect, sessile or clawed, entire or 3-lobed,

base concave, disk bearing calli or lamellae. Column short, terete, base often

decurrent on the ovary; foot 0. Anther erect, 2-celled; pollinia 2, 2-partite.

pendulous.

Species 180-200.—Cosmopolitan with the exception of the arctic and subarctic

zones ; chiefly in tropical America.

Cooke has 1 species: S. australis Lindl which has to be changed into

S. sinensis Ames.

Spiranthes sinensis Ames Orchid. II (1908) 53.—5S. australis Lindl, in Bot.

Reg. x (1824) sub t, 823; Dalz. &.Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 270; Wight-Te. t. 1724

(media fig. et dextra tantum) ; King & Pantl. in Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Caic.

viii (1898) t. 369; Hook. £. F.BAl, vi, 10257, Che. uy 707. -Neotiza sinensis

Pers... Syi.11, 91),

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 731

Description : Cke. ii, 707.

Distribution: Koakan, S.M. Country, N. Kanara, throughout India from the

Punjab and W. Tibet to Upper Assam and southwards to Ceylon and Chitta-

gong, up to 7,500 ft. in Sikkim and 7,900 ft. in the Nilgiris, Afghanistan, N.

Asia, China, Java, Australia, N. Zealand.

335, 2EHUXINE tind! (Cke it. 7/08).

Species about 35.—Tropical] Africa and Asia.

Cooke mentions 2 species from the Bombay Pres.: 2. sulcataand Z. longila-

6éris. Weretain them but change the first name into Z. stratewmatica.

1. Leaves linear, sessile oe 7 .. Ll. Z strateumatica.

Z. Leaves ovate, petiolate ee a ia oa UZ LOMLUUAOVES.

1. Zeuxine strateumatica Schlechter in Fedde Repert. Beih i (1911) 77;

Fischer Fl. Madras pt. viii (1928) 1456.—Z. sulcata Gen. & Sp. Orchid.

(SiO) asec Grit de. Ply Asigt tt. 340 7 Hook. i. BBL. Viy106. (éxele Z.

membranacea Lindl.); King Pantl. in Anr. Roy. Bot. Gard. Calc. viii

(SOS )LZSOirt. ole Crim. Bl. Ceyl, We Zio, Pram Beno,, Pi. 1029; Duthie an

Ann. Koy. Bot. Gard. Cale. ix Die, LOS, Ele Uppy Gane. Pics ptt, 21oM

Cke. Il, 7/08; Haines’ Bot. Bih. & Or. 1161; Brtthl Orchid. Sikkim 171.—Z.,

bracteata Wight fenv, pt. 1 (1852),16, t. 1724 o1s.—Z. brevifulza Wight Ic. 1.c. t.

1725.—Z. robusta Wightt Ic. t. 1726.—Plerygodium sulcatum Roxb. FI.

fod. ait (1837) 452.

Description: Cke. ii, 708.

Locality: Sind (Stocks 411).—Gujarat: Swampy ground on bank of Ambika

Nala, Waghai Dangs (T. R. Bell 5386!).—Deccan: Pashan near Poona

(Gammie!) ; Deccan hills ‘Herb. Econ. Bot. Poona!).—S.M/. Country: Near

the bank of astream, Gokak Falls, Belgaum Dist. (Sedgewick 5449 !); Dharwar

(Law).—-V. Kanara (Law).

Distribution: Abundant in grassy places throughout the greater portion of

India, ascending to about 5,000 ft. on the outer Himalayan ranges, Malay

Peninsula, Afghanistan, Ceylon, China, Japan, Java, Philippines.

2, Zeuxine longiiabris Benth. ia Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii (1883)

G00 Hook: ts BoB. vi, 1075 Erin. Pl. Ceyl. iV, 216; Prain, Beng. Pl: 1029’;

Cke. ii, 709 ; Fischer Fi. Madras pt. viii (1928) 1456.—Monochilus longilabre

Lind!. Gen. & Sp. Orchid. (1810) 487; Dalz. & Gibs. Bombay Fl. 271.—

WM aitine Wicht Ic. v, pt, Jaiss2) 19, 0.1728.

Description: Cke. ii, 709.—Flowers white or olive with lip white and colamn

orange.—The specimen from N, Kanara mentioned below was found

epiphytic. ian ' wie Merge ch, ay coe

_ Locality: Konkan (Law, Stocks).—N. Kanara: Aumod, on bole of big tree

in dénse jungle, 2,000 ft. (Sedgwick 3371!); Anmod (Talbot 1644!) ; Pala

(Talbot 3530 !). a

_ Distribution: Bangal, Assam, Konkan, N. Kanara, W. Ghats of Madras

Pres. from the low country to 4,009 ft., High Wavy Mts., Ceylon.

34, CHEIROSTYLIS GRIFF. (Cke. ii. 709).

Species 15.—Tropical Africa, Indo-Malaya, Australia.

Up to now 1 species was known from the Presidency ; we add a new one.

1. Lip with a spreading suborbicular deeply

2-lobed limb, lobessub 5-fid —... “1. C. flabellata.

2. Auiip with 2 large rounded somewhat incurv ed

side lobes ; midlobe shorter -e .. 2. C. kanarensis.

1. Cheirostylis flabellata WightIc. v, pt. 1 (1852) 16; Dalz. & Giks. Bomb

Hives lookin bb Lavi 1053 “irim. Fl. Céyl. iv, 2h; Ce. i, 709:

Fisher Fl. Madras pt. viii (1928) 1484.—Monochilus flabellaium Wight Ic. t.

Description: Cke. ii, 709.—The species of Cheirostylis are usually terres-

trial. T. R. Bell has found an epiphytic specimen at Amboli.

Locality? W. Ghats: Tinai Ghat (Gammie (15816!); Amboli Ghat

(I, R. Bell !)).—S. M. Country : Chorla Ghat (Dalzell & Gibson).—V. Kanara :

Kumpta-Sirsi road (Woodrow) ; Guddehalli (T. R. Bell 7842 !).

732 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST ASOCIET VAGVol exe Oa

Distribution: Bhutan Himalaya, Tenasserim, Bombay Pres., Nilgiris and

Pulneys at 6,000 ft. and upwards, Ceylon.

Chetrostylis kanarensis Blatter & McCann. sp. nov.

1. Fiower; 2. Sepals subtending the lip; 3. Dorsal sepal and adnate

petals; 4. Lip and Column; 5. Column; 6. Lip. 7a Attachment of

pollinia hanging from underside of the raised caps, quite free.

2. Cheirostylis kanarensis sf. mov. Blatter & McCann.

Orchidacea similis Ch, flabellatae a qua difftert scapo glabro, sepalis laterli-

bus fere semticircularibus, labio 3-lobato lobis lateralibus maguts.)

Description: A delicate saprophytic plant, only 5-7°5 cm. in height when

flowering, extremely fragile, reaching 30 cm. in fruit. Root an irregular-

shaped long tuber, lying horizontally about 7cm. below the surface, 25 by 7

mm.to7 by 3mm., sometimes 1, sometimes more tubers to one plant ; rootlets

given off just below attachment of scape. Bract scarious. Flowers usually 3,

racemose, ata right angleta thescape, 10 mm. long, 6 mm. wide between

tips of petals when spread out, pure white, light brownish in bud. Pedicels

up to6 mm. long, often, reaching 15cm.in fruit. Petals and sepals united

into an involucre for column and lip, the division between the strongly hooded

dorsal part, composed of dorsal sepal and petals and the lower part subtending

the lip composed of the 2 sepals, is deepest reaching § of the ovary down, the

division between the dorsal sepal and petals reaches 4 way down, that between

the sepals about 4 of the way; all the divisions are acute. Dorsal sepal linear-

oblong and minutely bifid, longest 9 by 2°5 mm.; petals 5 by 2 mm., similar

but slightly falcate, entire. Lateral sepals 5mm. long, nearly semicircular

with the junction along the straight edges, edges slightly crenulate, all 3-

veined, concave, the veins very prominent on the back, slightly saccate below

like Propax to allow of the lip-hinges being curved. Lip 5 by 4 min., with 2

large rounded side lobes, midlobe shorter, shortly rounded ; side lobes some-

what incurved. Lip attached to a prolongation of the column by a very

delicate curved hinge which allows it to assume the erect position it occupies

facing and embracing the column, parallel to the dorsal sepal, with a central

yellow, broad, furry ridge which is transversely very irregularly and deeply im-

pressed, not pinnately divided, leaving central axis entire. The column is white,

Journ., Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. Pirate IV

Del. C. McCann after T. R. Bell.

Cheirostylis kanarensis Blatter and McCann, sp. nov,

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 733

slightly curved forwards and has 2 large square expansions (appendages, nearly

parallel to each other, occupying the upper 3 or mote, one on each side of the

round stigmatic depression ; the dorsal part of the column produced very slight-

ly beyond the level of those appendages into a rounded semicircular plate

(rostellum) on the apex of which is fixed the cap by its edge, the cap being

otherwise free, overhanging the stigmatic depression. ‘othe underside of this

cap are hung the 2 bipartite pollinia looking like sausages in a row, allina

line between the appendages of the column. Pollinia greyish, powdery look-

ing, long-ovoid in shape. Ovary slightly twisted at base, 7 mm. long. Fruit

large for the flower, being 20 by 4 mm., ovoid in shape but with 1 flattened face,

the convex part of circumference having 2 of the 6 longitudinal somewhat

predominant ridges (triangular in section), the flattened portion only 1;

the apex bears the remains of the withered then cylindrical and brown flower,

supported on a basal ring forming the truncated end of fruit. The capsule

opens along the apex of the ridges and finally assumes, when completely open,

a more or less globose shape, remaining joined at apex and base. The colour

of the whole plant in fruit is light straw-yellow except the bracts and flowers

which are dark brown. (After detailed sketches and MS. notes of T. R.

Bell.)

Note: The tuber or tubers lie about 7 cm. underground in black soil under

the shade of trees in jungle generally on the edge of aclearing. The rootlets

arise just below the point of attachment of the stem and creep along close to

the surface of the ground or on it under decaying leaves. The flowers are fer-

tilized by a small very active hymenopter. ‘The buds are very close together,

nearly sessile, but as they get larger, the pedicels gradually lengthen until in

flower they reach quite 6 mm. in length. ‘This lengthening of the pedicels

continues after flowering and the thickness also increases, until the fruit is

ripe, sometimes reaching 15 cm. in length by 13 times the thickness of the

scape, pedicels of different lengths from 5-15 cm. being common on the same

plant. The ordinary number of flowers to one plant is 3, but there may be as

many as 5 buds, never more than 71 flower developing on any one day; the

bloom lasts only a day, expanding in the morning and every 24 hours a fresh

flower is produced.

Locality: N. Kanara: Tatwal(T.R. Bell).

Plowers - June i912,

35. PERISTYLUS Blume. (Cke. ii. 710).

Species about 80.—Warm regions of Old World.

Cooke has 5 species. We retain all and add 1 species, P. stenostachyus, not

known from the Presidency before, and add a new species: P. xanthochlorus.

-A. Leaves scattered or imbricate on the stem, not

clustered

I. Spur as long as the sepals or longer

1. Stem stout; Leaves many-nerved; spike

dense-flowered ; spurcurved at base... 1. P. xanthochlorus,

2. Stem slender; leaves 5-7-nerved; spike lax-

flowered ; spur straight 2. P. stenostachyus.

II. Spur much shorter than the sepals, globose .. 3,. Fi Spivalts,

B. Leaves clustered about the middle of the stem

I. Lip longer than the sepals, obtusely 3-fid,

lobes linear-oblong oF ae

II. Lip shorter than the sepals; petals white

III. Lip as along as the sepals; petals yellow

or yellowish green

1. Lateral sepals mucronate at the back below

apex ; spikes dense, 10-30 cm. long .. 6. P. goodyerotdes.

3. Lateral sepals not mucronate at the back

below apex; spikes lax, 5-7°5cm.long... 7. P. Lawitt.

1. Peristylus xanthochlorus sf. nov. Blatter & McCann.

Orchidacea similis Peristylo Richardiano Wight zecnon Pertstylo stenostachyo

Krz!. A priore ditfert scapo mtinore, foltis apiculatis et multinervosts, bractets

ovato-longe-acuminatis vel ovato-oblongis-acuminatis sepalis lateralibus line-

avibus falcatis subacutis vel obtusis, petalis ovato-oblongis aliguantulum

PS StOCckS?2.

P. plantagineus.

734 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

obliguts, labit lobis lateralibus linearibus, in statu sicco tota planta brunnea mini-

me nigrescente. A posteriore aulem distinguttur scapo crasso, folits multinervosts ,

bracteis multo largioribus floribus matoribus viridi-flavis nunguam albidis,

spica cylindrica dens amulli—(usgue 40-) flora, lavit lobis lateralibus lineartbus

obtusts sursum curvatis et retrorsum, calcare ad basim curvato tn tertia parte

supertore paullum incrassato et ad apicem angustwre.

Description: Tuber one. Stem 12-32 cm. high, stout, stiff, leafy, pale green.

Leaves few (4-5), scattered on the stem, pale greex or yellowish green, lanceo-

late or oblong-lanceolate, acute, apiculate, sheathing at base, many-nerved,

recurved in the upper part, up to 6 by 2cm., subplicate, succeeded by 1 or 2

bract-like leaves. Flowers greenish vellow, many (up to 40), subsecund or

scattered, never secund, forming a dense terminal cylindrical spike 5-16 cm.

long, usually as long as the flowerless part of the scape. Bracts not imbrica-

ting, the lower up to 15 by 4-5mm., shorter or longer than the flowers, ovate-

long-acuminate, or ovate-oblong-acuminate, cucullate, upper 7 by 3 mm.,

midrib prominent on back. Lateral sepals linear, falcate, subacute or obtuse,

pale green, 5 by 15 mm., obliquely ascending. Dorsal sepal pale green, oblong

or narrowly ovate-oblong, obtuse, 5 by 2 mm., 3-nerved, Petals greenish yellow,

membranous, ovate-oblong, slightly oblique, obtuse, 5 by 2mm. Lip feshy,

rigid, 5 mm. long. 10 mm, broad, 3-lobed; basal claw very wuarrow

and short with 2 rounded short auricles; side lobes 5 by 0°75 mm, tinear,

obtuse, spreading, curved upwards and backwards ; midlobe 2°5-3 mm. long,

narrowly triangular, obtuse, 1mm. broad at base, narrower at apex. Ovary

sessile, about 8 mm. long. Spur 6-7 mm. long, curved near the base, then

appressed to ovary, slightly thickened in the upper third, getting thinner again

at apex and obtuse, greenish white. Anther-tubes 0. Stigmatic processes large,

elongating, parallel. Pollinia granular; caudicle very slender, as long as the

pollinium. Gland very small. Rostellum short. Fruit 10 by 4 mm., sessile,

flattened towards the axis, narrowly conica], rounded at base, 6-ridged,

slightly twisted.

Locality : W. Ghats: Panchgani, Ist Tableland, in low grass (Blatter &

Halberg B1686! type, Blatter P81!, Sedgwick 7565! 7596 bis! 7930!) ;

Mahableshwar (Sedgwick 7622 bis! 7642!).

The Panchgani specimens are smaller throughout than those from Mahablesh-

war. Isit due to the much greater rainfall of the latter place, or to the scanty

soil on the Tableland of Panchgani ?

Flowers: September 1925 (Panchgani); October 1920 (Panchgani and

Manableshwar).

2. Peristylus stenostachyus Kraenzlin Orchid. Gen. & Sp.i, 502; Fischer

Fl. Madras pt. vili.(1928) 1474.—Habenaria stenostachya Benth. Fl. Hongk.

362; Hook. f. F.B.I. vi, .15¢.—A. peristyloides Wight Ic. t. 1702.—

Platanthera stenosta *ya Lindl. in Hook. Journ. Bot. vii (1855) 37.

Description: Plan, 10-50 cm. high, usually slender, with many small

sheaths above the leaves: Leaves confined to the lower half or two-thirds

of the stem, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, obtuse, acute or acuminate, 2°5-10

cm. long, 3-17 mm. broad. Spike narrow, 2°5-15 cm. long, lax- flowered ; flowers

small, about 8 mm. diam., erect, greenish yellow or white; bracts 6-8 mm.,

broadly ovate-lanceolate, finely acuminate. Sepals 4 mm. long, subequal,

concave, lateral linear, obtuse, suberect, at length spreading, nerve very

thick, produced into a point under the apex of the sepal. Petals triangular-

ovate or oblong, obtuse. Lip excavate at base, side lobes subulate, as long as

or slightly longer than the sepals, spreading, longer than the broader, obtuse

midlobe. Spur slender, straight, not thickened below. Anther minute, ceils

parallel, tubes 0. Pollinia short, grains large, caudicle and gland obscure.

Stigmatic processes clavate; rostellum erect, truncate, dentate; plicate;

concealing the glands of the pollinia. Ovary 6 mm. long.

Locality: W. Ghats: Castle Rock, oa open rocky ground on the hill side

1,600 ft. (Sedgwick 2779!).—N. Kanara. In forests (T. R. Bell 5409!) ;

Mundgod Road, rice fields (Talbot!); Tinai (Talbot 2508!); Yellapur, in

abandoned rice fields (Talbct!).

. Flowers: August 1917 (Castle Reck) ; August 1881 (Yellapur) ; September

1881 (Mundgod Rd.) ; September 1891 (Tinai). :

_ Distribution : Sikkim Himalaya, Khasia Hills, ‘Tenasserim, N. Kanara,

Bababudan and Pulney Hills, High Wavy Mountains.

REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 735

3. Peristylus spiralis A. Rich. in Ann. Sc. Nat. sér. 2, xv, 69, t. 2, B;

Wicht le: te 1696.7 Kracnzlin Orehid. Gen. & Sp. 1 (1898) 510; Cke. i1, 711;

Fischer Fl. Madras pt. viii (1928) 1474.—Hadéenarta torta Hook. f. F.B.I. vi.

(1830) 159; Trim. Fl, Ceyl. iv, 234.

Description: Cke. 1. c.

Locality: Bombay Pres. (Dalzell 14! in Herb.

Stocks).—W. Ghats: Tinai Ghat (Talbot 2508!).

Distribution: Bombay Pres., Bababudan and Nilgiri Hills, 5,000-7,500 ft.,

Travancore, Ceylon.

Calc.).— Konkan (Law,

4, Peristylus Stocksii Kraenzlin Orchid. Gen. & Sp. i (1898) 513; Cke. ii,

710; Fischer Fl. Madras pt. viii (1923) 1475.—Haébenaria Stocksit Hook. f.

F.B.I. vi. (1890) 158.

Description: Cke.1. c.

Locality: Konkan: Mulland, in dense forest (McCann!); Dronaghiri

(Stocks) ; Neral (Bhiva!); Ambenali (Blatter & McCann!).—W. Ghats:

Fitzgerald Ghat, 2 miles from Mahableshwar (McCann 3942 !).—S. AZ. Country ¢

Ramghat (Ritchie 1398).—N. Aanara: Sirsi, in evergreen forest (Sedgwick

& Bell 7004 !).

Flowers: July to August (ex Cooke).

Flowers and Frutt: October 1919 and 1930.

Distribution : Bombay Pres., Mysore.

5. Peristylus plantagineus, Lindl. Gen. & Sp. Orchid. (1835) 300; Wight

Ic. t. 921; Kraenzlin Orchid. Gen. & Sp.i (1898) 516; Cke. ii, 711; Fischer FI.

Madras pt. viii. (1928) 1475.—Peristylus elathus Dalz. & Gibs. in Kew Journ.

Bot. iii (1851) 344; Bomb. Fl. 270.—Habenaria Wightit Trim, Cat. Ceyl.

Pie (ISS) ill Hook. f..E.B.1..v1,(1090).162 5 Trim. Bl. Ceyl. iv, 232,

Description : Cke ii, 711.

Locality : Konkan: (Nimmo!) ; Malvan (Dalzell).— W. Ghats » Near Lonavla

(Kanitkar! Herb, Econ. Bot. Poona); Ramghat (Ritchie 1396); Londa

(Spooner!).—S. M4. Country: Devikot, Dharwar Dist., deciduous forests,

2,000 ft. (Sedgwick 3007!).—N. Kanara: Karwar (Talbot!); maritime scrubs

on rocks by the sea (Sedgwick & Bell 6783!) ; Guddehalli (Talbot 443!) ; on

edges of open spaces in jungle (T. R. Bell 7869 bis!) , in forests (T. R. Bell

5410!) ; forests of Nayayali, 2,000 ft., rainfall 80 in. (Sedgwick 2945!) ;

Yellapur, common in places (Talbot 551!). .

Flowers: August 1881 (Yellapur) ; August 1889 (Karwar) ; August 1883 and

1920 (Guddehalli); September 1883 (Yellapur); September 1919 (Dharwar

Dist.) ; October 1882 (Yellapur).

Fruit: September 1917 (Nayayali) ! October 1919 (Karwar).

Distribution : Central Provinces (Pachmari) ; Bombay Pres., Madras Pres, ;

Rampa Hills, Anamalais, 2,000-2,300 ft., Travancore, Malabar, Ceylon.

6. Peristylus goodyeroides Lindl. Gen. & Sp. Orchid. (1835) 299: Dalz.

& Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 270; Royle Ill. t. 87, f. 2; Cke. II, 712: Fischer

Fl. Madras pt. viii (1928) 1475.—Habenaria goodyeroides Don Prodr, 25;

Hook f. F.B.I. vi, 161; King & Pantl Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. viii, t. 430.

Description : Cke. 1. ¢.

Locality: Konkan (Nimmo, Dalzell).—W. Ghats: Castle Rock, 1,600 ft.

(Sedgwick 2806!).—N. Kanara: Devimane Ghat (Sedgwick & Bell 6942 !).

In bud: August 1917 (Castle Rock).

Distribution: Nepal, Sikkim, Khasia Hills, Naga Hills,

N. Kanara, W. Ghats of Bombay and Madras Pres., 2,000-4,000 ft.

7, Peristylus Lawii Wight Ic. v, pt. 1 (1852) 12, t. 1695; Dalz. & Gibs.

Bomb. Fl. 270; Kraenzl. Orchid. Gen. & Sp. i (1898) 510; Cke. Il,

712,—Habenaria Lawit Hook. f. F.B.I. vi (1890) 162; Prain Beng. PI. 1032 ;

Duthie in Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Cale. ix, pt. 2, 192, t. 143; Fl. Upp. Gang.

Peis, Prelit. (tO20)\e2e7.

Description : Cke. ii, 712.

Locality» Konkan: (Dalzell, Law); Neral (Bhiva!).—W. Ghats (Gibson!

Herb. Calc.).—S. M. Country: Belgaum (Law); near Dharwar (Law ex

Stocks 73).

Distribution: W. Himalaya, in Garhwal, Bengal, Bihar, C. Provinces, in the

Chanda Dist,, Bombay Pres.

Konkan,

736 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATORAL FIST. SOCIELT ViWVOl Cag:

36. PLATANTHERA Rich. (Cke. 11. 712).

Species about 80.—Throughout the N. temperate regions and in the

tropics of Asia and Africa, chiefly in the mountains.

1. Platanthera Susanne Lindl. Gen. & Sp. Orchid. (1835) 295; Dalz.

& Gibs. Bomb. F1:. 269; Wight de. t) 292005 (kracuzi SOrenid. «Gen.

& Sp. i (1898) 601; Cke. ii, 7135 .-Hischer Fl. Madras pt. viii (1928)

1475.—Habenuria Susanne R. Br. Prodr. (1810) 312; Hook. f. F.B.I. vi

(1890) 137; Prain Beng. PJ. 1030; Haines Bot. Bih.-®& Or. 1155; Duthie

in Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. ix, pt. 2, 178, 128.—Orchis Susanne Linn. Sp.

Pl. (1753) 939.—Orchis gigantea Don Prodr. 24.—Platanthera vobusta Lindl.

in Wall. Cat. no. 7036.

Description: Ckel.c.

Locality: Konkan: Matheran (Cooke!).—W. Ghats: Khandala (Stocks 7,

Blatter!, Hallberg!, Cooke!); Panchgani, above Khingar (McCann!) ;

Mahableshwar (Cooke, Blatter & McCann!, McCann!); Castle Rock

(Sedgwick 4482!, Gammie 15784!).—S. M7. Country: Belgaum (Ritchie

1395).—N. Kanara: Yellapur (Talbot 732; Herb. Calc., T. R. Bell 3121 !).

Distribution: Outer Himalayan range in Garhwal and Kumaon up to

6,000 ft., Sikkim, Khasia, Naga and Manipur Hills, Burma, Chota Nagpur,

Konkan, S.M. Country, N. Kanara, W. Ghats of Bombay and Madras Pres.,

1,600-7, 500 ft., China, Malay Archipelago.

( Zo be continued.)

THE VERNAY SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF THE

EASTERN GHATS.

(ORNITHOLOGICAL SECTION).

HuGu WHISTLER, M.B.0.U., ASSISTED BY N. B. KINNEAR, M.B.O.U.

ParTtT—II.

( Continued ag page 92 24 of this volume.)

Turdoides somerville malabaricus. (J erdon).

Specimens collected :—10 2 10-4-29, 25 ¢ 11-4-29, 35 ¢ 12-4-29, 56 2 15-4-29,

130, 135 ¢¢ 26-4-29 Kurumbapatti ; 246 S$ 18-5-29, 270-271 23-5-29 Shevaroy

Hills, 4,090 ft. ; 334 $ 5-6-29, 343 3 6-6-29, 392 2 76" 29, 359 ¢ 9-68-29, 381 3

11-6- 29, 399 0? juv. 13-6-29, 406 ¢ juv. 14-6-29 Chitteri range 2,000-3 000 ft.

57.2.2 21-7-29 Gingee ; 668 ¢ juv. 8-8-29, 681 2 12-8-29, 720 3 20-8-29, 737 3

23-8 -29, 738 ¢ juv. 29-8-29 Palkonda Hills, 1,000 ft. ; Es J me 30-8-29, 823 of

17-9-29 Koduru; 881 ¢ 5-10-29 Seschachalam Hiliss 2.000" -£t.:; 1,001-2 be

11-11-29 Nallamalai Hills, 2,000 ft.

Measurements—

: - Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

WES 21-24°5 101-107 100-109 33-36'5 mm,

3 fo juv. 21-23 95-99 99-104 33=33°3> 355

72 20°5-23 94-106 93-104 33°5-35'5 mm.

1 9 juv. Zo 94 88 33 mm.

This is the ordinary race of the Jungle Babbler throughout the greater part

of the Madras Presidency. The Survey met with it throughout the various

ranges from the Krishna River (Nallamalais, Seschachalam Hills, Palkonda

Hills, Shevaroys and Chettiri range) southwards to the Salem District. It

occurs up to a height of 4,000 ft., and also apparently in the neighbouring

plains, as a shy bird of the better afforested areas. It does not mix with the

White-headed Babbler. There is no information as to whether it occurs south-

wards from Salem to the extremity of the Peninsula, but from the fact that it is

common round the base of the Palni Hills and at the foot of the South

Travancore Hills we expect that it doesso. Inthe Palnis it occurs up to 4,500

ft. and Ferguson obtained a single bird at 4,000 ft. on the High Range in the

North of Travancore but curiously enough it is not recorded from the Nelliam-

pathis. Al] over the Nilgirisand the Wynaad itiscommon. ‘There is no record

from Coorg but it occurs in Malabar,

Turdoides somervillei terricolor (Blyth).

Specimens collected :—1,354 ¢ 8-2-30, 1,399 2 17-2-30 Anantagiri, 3,000 ft.

Measurements—

Bill. Wing, Tail. Tarsus.

3 24°5 102:5 ono: 34 mm.

23 96°5 Moult. 33°5 mm.

In the Madras Presidency this race of the commen Jungle Babbler is confined

to the north-east and even there it is by no means generally distributed.

Jerdon states that it occurs at Gumsoor (B. of I, ii, 59). The above two

Specimens were procured by La Personne in a silk cotton tree at Anantagiri

and he remarks that while it was nowhere common in the Vizagapatam

District it was not observed at all at Sankrametta.

Specimens collected by Blanford at Rajamundri, Ellore and Dumagudiam

are in the British Museum.

738 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

We have seen no evidence for the oft-repeated statement that the Jungle

Babbler is double-brooded. Ail races throughout India appear to breed chiefly

during the monsoon rains in June and July though many nests will be found

from March to August and odd ones are recorded in the winter months. There

may therefore easily be 6 months difference in the age of young birds, hatched

in the same generation, which is sufficient to account for the supposed two

broods and the apparent coincidence of the moult with the breeding season.

Both sexes share in incubation.

In identifying the survey series we have spent a great deal of time studying

the difficult question of the races of the Jungie Babbler and in consequence

would divide them as follows,

Turdoides somervillei sindianus (Ticehurst).

Crateropus terricolor sindianus Ticehurst, Bull. B.O.C. xl, 1920 (June),

p. 156---Karachi, Sindh.

N. W. India. The northern boundary is the Himalayan foothills from the

Jumna valley to near Rawalpindi, and the Salt Range. The western boundary

lies along the base of the frontier hills from Kohat District to Karachi. ‘The

southern boundary is ill defined from lack of specimens but this form occurs at

Delhi and Mount Aboo. Iu N. Rajputana it is rare and it is absent from the

deserts of Central and Western Rajputana. Not known to occur in Cutch.

Turdoides somervillei terricolor (Blyth).

Malacocercus terricolor Blyth, J.A.S.B., 1844 (after 17th Dec.), p. 367—Nepal.

N.-E. India. The northern boundary is the Himalayan foothills from the

Jumna valiey to Assam as far east as Dibruchar. he western boundary is a

line drawn roughly through Meerut, Agra, Saugar and S. E. Berar. The

eastern and southern boundary is formed by the Brahmaputra River and the

coast from the Ganges delta to the Godavary delta.

Turdoides somervillei malabaricus (Jerdon).

Malacocircus malabaricus Jerdon, Ill, Ind. Ornith., text to pl. 19, 1845

(March)— Malabar.

The rest of India, excluding the range of 7. s. somervillei and the mountains

of Southern Travancore,

(Notr.—All along the junction of the ranges of sindianus, terricolor and

malabaricus there is a good deal of intergrading so that individuals cannot be

satisfactorily assigned to either race).

Turdoides somervillei somervillei Sykes.

Timalia somerville: Sykes, P.Z.S., 1832 (July 31), p. 88—Bombay ghats.

Confined to a narrow strip of the western coast from about Bombay and

Matheran down to the southern part of the Kumta taluka of N. Kanara. In

thesé limits it is found both on the coastal plain and the Sahyadri range above

at all heights, but not on the plateau beyond.

The fact that somerville: is not a separate species but merely one of the races

of the Jungle Babble: has hitherto been obscured by faulty definitions of its

distribution. ‘The statement in the Vew Fauna that it occurs from Travancore

to Bombay along the west coast is apparently based only on wrong identifica-

tion of the ferruginous stained specimens of Zurvdoides s. polioplocamus,

obtained at Kolachal. In Kanara District it is true that both somerzillet and

malabaricus do occur, but whereas the former is confined to the coastal strip

down to the southern part of the Kumta taluka and through the Supapetta,

the latter bird is confined to tve forests above the ghats and does not descend

below them (James Davidson, J.B.N.H.S., xi, 655). As somervillei is the

oldest name it will stand for the species.

At first sight it appears curious that there is no definitive representative of

this species in Ceylon. The explanation is that Zurdoides striatus striatus

there really represents both the Jungle and White-headed Babblers and is,

strictly speaking, a connecting link between them.

Turdoides striatus polioplocamus Oberholser.

Turdoides striatus polioplocamus Oberholser, Proc. Biol. Soc., Washington,

xxxiii, 1920 (Dec.), p. 84—Gingee [ = Crateropus griseus, Fauna, ed. i.]

Specimens collected :—3 2 Y-4-29, 24 ¢ 11-4-29, 34 ¢ 12-4-29, 90 ¢ 19-4-29,

93 4, 97 2 20-4-29, 110 2 22-4-29, 131-134 ¢ 2 og 26-4-29 Kurumbapatti; 307 ¢

VERNAY, SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF EASTERN GHATS 239

2-6-29, 345 4% 6-6-29, 353 3 7-6-29, 356 2 7-6-29 Chitteri range 2,000 ft. ; 457 &

2}-6-29 Tirthmalai 1,000 ft.; 560 © ? 19-7-29 Gingee; 756 2 26-8-29 Palkonda Hills

500’ ; 846 2 28-9-29, 900 2 10-10-29, 603 ¢ 11-10-29, Seschachalam Hills 2,C00’ ;

954 2 1-11-29, Nallamalai range 2,000 ft.

Measurements—

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

ll¢ 20-22 94°5-109 95-107 32°5-35 mm.

eS 19-21°5 101°5-108 95-106 30°5-55 5;

In first year birds the wing and tail measurements are shorter as a rule than

in adults, but they are included in the above.

This Babbler bas a markedly southern distribution in the Peninsula of India

but itis by no means generally distributed. It is the common Babbler of the

Madras Presidency and mcst of its range falls within our limits. On the

eastern side, its northern boundary appears to be the Godavery valley where

Blanford obtained it 60 miles north of Ellore and as far up as Dumagudiam ;

whilst D’Abreu found it still higher at Kotari, south of Chanda. Jerdon’s

statement that it occurs up to the N. Circars (B. of I, ii, 60) does not include

that area itself where elsewhere (Madras Jour. Lit. Sci., 1839, p. 258) he stated

he had never seen it.

It is not uncommon at Secunderabad. From here it occurs all down the

line of the Eastern ghats (the Nallamalais, Seschachalam, Palkonda, Chettiri

Hills) and throughout the Carnatic as far as Salem District. How far it is

found south of Salem is unknown to us, but Captain Bates states that it does

not occur at allat Trichinopoly. It is, however, common in the extreme south

of Travancore about Cape Comorin, extending up the low lying country as far

as Anjango.

It is entirely absent from the hill ranges of Travancore and Cochin, the

Palnis, the Nilgiris, the Wynaad and Coorg. Although also absent or scarce,

so far as is known, in the greater part of Mysore we have seen a specimen from

Sivasamodrum (Wardlaw-Ramsay) and it is common round the south-west

border as between Muddur and Gandalupet (Davison) and Manzeerabad

(Macgregor). From here and Mangalore it extends up the west coast to the

Gaprabha River which, on this side, forms its boundary.

There has been a good deal of confusion as to the relationship of the Ceylon

Babbler (7urdordes striatus striatus) with the two Indian species the Jungle

Babbler (7. somervillet) and the White-headed Babbler and this has led to

statements that the Ceylon bird occurs in Travancore and the Nilgiris.

Now the White-headed Babbler is to be distinguished from the Jungle

Babbler by (1} the uniform pale, almost creamy white crown and nape, con-

trasting with the darker ear-coverts, (2) the smaller and shorter bill, (3) the

dark colour and squamation of the chin, throat and breast. In the White-

headed Babbler the feathers of these parts are very dark with pale circular

fringes, whereas in the Jungle Babbler these feathers are paler with darker

streaks down their edges, the differences being most marked on the breast,

(4) the richer buff of the abdomen, (5) the pale central streaks on the breast are

usually narrower, (6) the general colour of the body plumage is brown as

opposed to grey.

In many specimens of the White-headed Babbler, however, the ‘ White-head’

is not very distinct, either from immaturity or wear. In some specimens,

indeed, it is hardly paler than in the Jungle Babbler. Such specimens agree

closely with the Cinghalese bird as do often immature Jungle Babblers, and to

such birds are due the supposed occurrences of 7. s. strzatus in India. The

older writers evidently considered 7. s. strzatus as a form of ¢erricolor but we

entirely agree with Harington and Stuart-Baker in treating it as conspecific

with the White-headed Babbler. In our opinion the dark squamated breast is

far more important than the pale head as a specific character, whilst inter-

mediates are found in Hume’s specimens from Rameswaram Island. These

latter are always recorded as 7. s. striatus but we consider them intermediate in

character and definitely closer to the Indian race of the two.

No importance attaches to the ferruginous staining of the specimens in the

B. M. from Kolachal, commented. on by Hume in S. F., iv. 456. An albino

from Madras is recorded in S. F., ix, £07 ; a specimen in the Society’s collection

my Vellore (J.S. Battie) is largely white, except for the chin, throat and

tail, a

740 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

There is no association in life between the White-headed and Jungle

Babblers. Where their distribution coincides it will be found that the White-

headed Babbler largely relies on the presence of man to support him against

his stronger, more jungle-loving relative.

In this species, as in the last, the breeding season is poorly defined. Eggs

may be found in any month but the majority are laid from March to July.

Argya caudata caudata (Dumont).

Cossyphus caudatus Dumont, Dict. Sci. Nat., xxix (1823, December 27),

p. 268—India.

Specimen coilected :—456. 2 21-6-29 Tirthamalai 1,000 ft.

Measurements —

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

26 They) 101 28 mm.

This was apparently the only specimen of the Common Babbler met by the

Survey, and the species is clearly far less generally distributed that the sweep-

ing distribution given in the Vew Fuuna would lead one to believe.

For the Presidency we can only trace the following records. A specimen

obtained by Blanford near Ellore is in the British Museum and a pair from

S. Arcot district are in the Indian Museum. Fairbank found it plentiful at

the base of the Palni Hills. Although not found in Ceylon it occurs on

Rameswaram Island.

In the west of the Presidency it has only been recorded in Coorg (see Betts,

J.B.N.H.S., xxxiii, p. 543 who calls it uncommon there, but this record is

evidently erroneous and due to confusion with Argya subrufa) and at the base

of the Coonoor ghat where Hume saw three near the railway station (S. F.,

VOle ot oo0)e

It is noteworthy that although Argya caudata has two subspecies eclipes

(Trans-Salt Range Plateau) and Auftoni (Afghanistan, Baluchistan) in those

areas where Argya malcolmt does not occur, it agrees with that bird in having

developed no races in its very wide distribution in India proper.

Argya subrufa (Jerdon).

Timalia subrufa Jerdon, Madras Jour. Lit. Sci. x, 1839 (after Octcber),

p. 259—Manantoddy, Wynaad.

Not obtained by the Survey. The distribution given in the /auna is wrong.

The Rufous Babbler is found along the Western ghats from Talmet near

Mahableshwar (Fairbank) down to Malabar, the Wynaad, Coorg and the

Nilgiris, being rare to the north and commoner southwards. It does not

ascend to the plateau of the Nilgiris. It is also fairly common throughout

the Travancore Hills, though Kinloch does not record it in the Nelliampathis

and its occurrence in the Palnis rests on a female in the Indian Museum

obtained by W. Daly. Its easterly limits are not very clear but a specimen

marked ‘Mysore’ in the Hume collection and one marked ‘ Shevaroys’

(W. Daly) inthe Indian Museum catalogue suggest that it extends further

east than is usually recognised.

The breeding season is given in the Fawna as February and March but,

although Ferguson obtained a fully fledged young bird at Ponmudi, Travan-

core, in April (J.B.N.H.S., 202) Davidson in N. Kanara obtained their nests in

April and May and also during the rains (J.B.N.H.S., xi., 655).

Argya malcolmi (Sykes).

Timalia malcolmi Sykes, P.Z.S., 1832 (July 31), p. 88—Deccan [= Poona].

Specimens collected :—446 ¢ 449 2 19-6-29 Harur 1,000 ft.; 1069 2 9-12-29

1088-9 ¢ ¢ 11-12-29, 1091 O ?. 12-12-29, Cumbum Valley.

-Measurements—

Bill, Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

Sie 24° 5—25 115-20 129-140 35-36'5 mm.

On eto o8 110°5-118 128 35-36 mm.

The Large Grey Rabbler has asomewhat limited distribution in the Presi-

dency where it largely avoids the Eastern ghats, though Roscoe Allen found it

breeding at Horsleykonda (J.B.N.H.S., xviii, p. 906). The Survey obtained

four specimens in the Cumbum Valley, Kurnool, Jerdon met with it at

VERNAY SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF EASTERN GHATS 741

Nellore and on the slopes of the Shevaroys. At Harur and Tirthamalai

La Personne reports that it was common, though he did not meet with it in

other parts of the Salem district.

Further west it is found in the Nilgiris though there also it is local and not

common. William Davison and Miss Cockburn found it on the lower slopes

below Kotagherry and the former knew of an isolated flock as high as Ootaca-

mund. Terry’s record of meeting it once on the lower slopes of the Palnis

near Palni village (S.F., x. p. 475) remains the most southerly record.

It is not known to occur on the Western ghats or their seaboard. With this

exception, the bird is found northwards over the whole Peninsula to a western

boundary through Kathiawar and Rajputana (with possibly an isulated colony

in Sindh at Sehwan z7de Ibis. 1922, p. 541) to the Sutlej at Ferozepore and

Ludhiana. The eastern boundary runs from Kurnool through Chanda to

Allahabad, but Stuart Baker remarks (New Fauna I, p. 201) that he has received

it from Sirguja. This suggests that it is extending its range as Ball had no

record of it from Chota Nagpur. The northern boundary between Ludhiana

and Allahabad runs aicng the limit of the plains. In the whole of this wide

range it is most common and generally spread on the tablelands of the

Deccan. Otherwise it is but locally common, scarce in some localities and

missing from others equally suitable. This fact combined with the absence of

any races suggests that its present distribution is the result of a rapid spread in

comparatively recent times with the increase of cultivation.

The breeding season appears to be the same througout India, from March to

November though the majority of eggs are apparently laid in the rains in June

and July. As with other Babblers, however, the season is poorly cefined and

nests may be found in any month.

Pomatorhinus horsfieldii horsfieldii (Sykes).

Pomatorhinus horstieldit Sykes, P. Z. S., 1832 (July 31), p. 89,—‘ Dense

woods of the Ghats’ [=Mahableshwar!.

Specimens Collected :—122 ¢ 24-4--29, 140-142 ¢ 8 Q 27-4-29 Kurumbapatti ;

214 ¢ 218 & 135-29, 242 9 17-5-29 Shevaroy Hills 3,500-4,500 ft.; 639-

641 2 ¢ ¢ 2-8-29, 669 ¢ 9-8-29, 688 14-8-29 Palkonda Hills 500-1,000 ft. ;

991 9 9-11-29 Nallamallai range 2,00u ft., S. Kurnool; 1371-2 ¢@Q 11-2~-30,

1392-3 2 ¢ 16-2-30, 1760 9 3-5-30 Anantagiri 3,000 ft ; 1478 2 5-3-20, 1544

7% 15-3-30, 1603 2 26-3-30 Sankrametta 3000-3500 ft.

Measurements—

Bill Wing Tail Tarsus

Ges 29-33 89-100°5 94~—103 31-35 mm.

OS 30-33°5 90-98 91°5-98°5 30°5-34 _,,

The presence of the Southern Scimitar-Babbler in the Eastern ghats and

Orissa has been ignored by the New Fauna though the fact was long ago

recorded by Jerdon, confirmed by other writers and duly chronicled in the Old

Fauna, lt is as a matter of fact very common and widely spread on the

Eastern side of the Presidency.

In the Vizagapatam ghats, La Personne reports that the birds were fairly

generally distributed. {n early March their organs were slightiy enlarged.

‘They fed a great deal on the ground, he says, turning dead leaves over or

probing between the thick moss and the bark on trees, and they were also fre-

quent visitors to the flowers of the cotton tree. One was seen to stick its bill

into the ground and worry what appeared to be the hole of a trap door spider.

In Cuddapah district they were very common at Ballepalle in August and

then had apparently finished breeding, young being on the wing. A bird

labelled S. Arcot is in the Indian Museum. In Salem District, according to

La Personne, thisspecies was common practically everywhere both in jungle on

the plains and up to the highest points of the Shevaroys and Chettiti range.

There in May and June the birds were in pairs and their incessant calls could

be heard all day long. In the West of the Presidency another race occurs.

We are by no means satisfied that the above series of specimens represents

one form. The birds from the Vizagapatam area appear to have a more

clearly defined black edge to the white plastron and also larger beaks

31-33°5 mm., as compared with 29-31'5 mm. in the other speciirens from

south of the Godavery. ‘The correct treatment of the races of this species is a

matter of some difficulty. Thereis no difficulty in recognising a large pale

742 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

race with a long beak, P.#. odscurus, in the north-west of its range, ora

richly coloured race, P. #. travancoreensis, in the south-west of its range,

The bright ferruginous race P.h. melanurus of Ceylon is also very distinct.

But between obscurus and travancoreensis there is complete intergradation

through the whole of the Western ghats. Unfortunately, the typical race is

nothing more or less than the interrnediate between these two forms. The

historical accident that Sykes paid a visit to Mahableshwar prior to 1832 has been

crystallised by the law of priority and really prevents a scientific treatment of

this group. The situation often occurs but it is particularly glaring in the

case of the Southern Scimitar-Babbler. It is easily illustrated by the follow-

ing diagram which we makeas a result of our examination of a large number

of specimens from all parts of the bird’s range. The square represents the

Peninsula range of the bird, exclusive of Ceylon, set in terms of the compass.

obscurus subsp, ?

Grey colour. Black Olive brown colour.

edge to plastron. Black edge to plastron.

Long beak Long beak

horstteldi

Wi intermediate E

travancoreenstis subsp.

Olive brown colour, Olive brown colour.

Black edge to plastron : No black edge to

Short beak plastron, Short beak

If we had only to deal with the birds at the four corners there would be no

difficulty. As with Dendrociita vagabunda, we should recognise 4 races

grading into one another, not quite such good races as in vagabunda as the

range is not so extensive, but still recognisable. But with the present species

the typical form is an unstable intermediate whose distribution cannot be satis-

factorily defined. ‘The result is that apart from Mt. Aboo and the Sat-

puras on the north-west and the Nilgiris and Travancore ranges on the south-

west we cannot satisfactorily define the ranges or identity of any of the

western specimens, while on the east we cannot define either the northern or

the southern group in terms of the typical race, distinct though they are from

each other and from odscurus and travancoreensis. We shrink from naming

two more races. It will not be satisfactory to recognise 5 races when 50 per

cent of specimens cannot be assigned without hesitation to any of them. It is

not on the other hand satisfactory to recognise three races in the west and none

on the east, combining the two eastern forms with the typical race of the central

west. It is hardly satisfactory to combine one of the eastern races arbitrarily

with the typical form and to name the other, The situation is one which will

often occur in the study of subspecies under the present rules of priority of

nomenclature and will need eventually to be legislated for if nomenclature is

not to hamper science.

For the present therefore we leave our specimens under the typical race in

the faint hope that a difficult situation may be explained by further material

obtained by the Hyderabad Survey.

The juvenile plumage of this Scimitar Babbler is most interesting. Speci-

mens of both P. &. horsfieldii and P.h. obscurus are inthe British Museum.

That of the typical race differs from the adult as follows :—Crown uniform

dark olive brown without the black lateral streaks: upper plumage more

gvolden olive brown, especially on the wings and coverts; white feathers of the

lower throat with faint black tips: black edging to plastron replaced by bright

ferruginous and the remainder of the lower plumage washed and mottled with

1We cannot agree with the suggestion that there are two races in Ceylon,

VIGKIVAY SCLENTITIC SORVELY OF HASTERN GHATS “743

rufous. The juvenile of odscurus from Mt. Aboo is similar, but reflects the

difference of tint in the two races. It will be appreciated, therefore, that the

juvenile plumage of Peninsula birds approximates in colour to the adult of the

Cinghalese race.

Pomatorhinus horsfieldii travancoreensis Harington.

Pomatorhinus horsfieldi travancoreensis Harington, J. B. N. H. S., xxiii

1914 (Nov. 20), p. 333—Peermall [misprint for Peermade], Travancore.

Although its distribution lies out of the path of the Survey, this form of the

Southern Scimitar Babbler is one of the commonest and most widely distributed

birds of the Presidency. A specimen from the ‘ Malabar Coast’ is in the British

Museum. In Coorg, the Brahmagiris, many parts of the Wynaad, the Nilgiris,

the Nelliampathis and Painis and the hills of Travancore it is common and

generally distributed at all elevations. A specimen from the High Wavy

Mountains (Madura) is in the Society’s collection, An albinistic specimen

obtained at the Kalhatty Sigur ghat (Nilgiris) 5,500 ft. on 29th June was recorded

by Cole sHoR: Baker (S. 5b. No HGS. xxvii, 1135),

In this area the breeding season appears to be from January until May.

Dumetia hyperythra hyperythra (Franklin).

Timalia hyperythra, Franklin, P Z.S., 1831 (October 25), p. 118—Between

Calcutta and Benares and in the Vindhyan Hills between the latter place

and Gurra Mundela.

Specimens collected: —1525 2 12-3-30, 1§38-9. 9-4 14-3-30, 1592 2 24-3-39, 16534

3 4-30, 16542 4-4-30 Sankrametta 3,000 ft.-3,5U0 ft. ;

Measurements.—

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus,

Zc 14 55°5 62-64'°5 18°5-19 mm.

4° 13-14 §2° 5-55 58-63 18°5-19°5

The Survey met with the typical race only in the Vizagapatam District

where a series were collected at Sankrametta from 2,000ft. to 3,500ft, and others

were observed in the Padwa Valley.

With the exception of Blanford’s specimens in the British Museum, obtained

50 miles from Ellore (2 11-2-71) and near Rajamundri (2 3-4-71) these form the

only records for the Presidency.

The Survey has afforded us an opportunity of clearing up the pcsition with

regard to the Rufous and White-throated Babblers. These two birds have

hitherto been treated as separate species, on the ground that their distributions

overlap. We have collated all the published records and examined as many

specimens as possible, and have in consequence satisfied ourselves that there is

no overlapping of ranges. Certain errors in the early records have been quoted

from writer to writer and so obscured the real position.

The typical race is confinedto a large areain northern and central India.

The most north-westerly locality from which it has been recorded is Koteghar

near Simla. This record is based ona single skin in the Hume collection

labelled ‘ Koteghur’ without other details to authenticate it and it may be

accepted with some reserve, in view of our fairly extensive knowledge of this

area. ‘There are however three other skinsin the Hume collection taken in

18€8 and 1871 in the Kumaon Bhabar.

From the Kumaon Bhabar the species is common locally throughout the

centrai and eastern United Provinces (Lucknow, Cawnpore, Mirzapore, Rae

Bareli, Fatehpur and Allahabad (Gill. J.B.N. H.S., xxviii, 1073) to Chunar

near Benares) where Brooks found it. There is no record ofits being found in

Behar and in view of Steven’s later testimony we find great difficulty in

accepting the authenticity of the skin said to have been collected by Brooks at

Darjeeling on 26-5-79. Brooks himself does not refer to this specimen in his

Darjeeling notes (S. F., viii). From here the boundary runs down through

Orissa where Ball (S. F., vii. 213) records it at Maunbhum and Midnapore, as

well as in other districts south of that line.

From Lucknow and Cawnpore the north-eastern limits ofthe typical race

appear to run roughly through theline Jhansi, Sehore and Mhow to Seoni in

the Satpuras, that isalong the shore of the ancient Indian continent. From

the Satpuras the boundary line runs roughly across to Hyderabad city and the

valley of the Krishna, which at this point is clearly the southern limit of the

744. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

typical race. Throughout its range the distribution is somewhat patchy but

it occurs alike in the hills and plains.

The fact that the distribution of the Rufous Babbler is generally given as

extending to the Konkan and ‘Thana and Khandalla is due to early records

quoted by Barnes (and in more detail by Hume) on the authority of Mr.

Wenden. There is plenty of evidence, however, that albogularis is the form

in these localities and even Jerdon himself did not at one time discriminate

satisfactorily between the buff-throated and white-throated races.

The breeding season in this race is well defined throughout its range, being

in the monsoon from June to August. the majority of eggs being laid in July.

The white-throated race albogularis, on the other hand is confined toa

strip of country down western India and to the south of the Peninsula. A

single specimen from Sambhur 1]869 is in the Hume collection but in this

neighbourhood the bird must be very rare as it does not occur in Adam’s

original Sambhur list. It is however not uncommon at Mt. Aboo and Deesa

and from there extends through Baroda, Western Khandesh (Dhulia, Nundur-

bar, Khondabhari ghat), -Nasik and the whole range of the Sahyadris

(Khandalla, Mahableshwar) with their adjoining districts. Fairbank is

careful to emphasise that in this areaitis very definitelya bird of the ghats

and does not extend over into the Deccan (S.F., iv. 258). In the South

Konkan and Kanara it is scarce, though itis apparently commoner again in

Mysore. Here we are directly opposite to the southernmost limit of the typical

racein the valley of the Krishna and south of this line it suffices to say here

(for details will be found in the proper place) that albogularis is widely

distributed, though not universally, inthe rest of the Peninsula and Ceylon.

Dumetia hyperythra albogularis (Blyth).

Matacocerts (2?) albogularis Blyth, J.A.S.B., xvi, 1847, (after May), p. 453—

Taipoor Pass and near Jaulnah.

Specimens collected—37-39 ¢¢¢ 13-4-29, 49 4 14-4-29, 107 2 22 4-29, 137-8

ff 27-4-29, 156 gf 30-4-29 Kurumbapatti ; 254 Q 20-5-29, 256 Jf 21-5-29 Shevar oy

Hills 4,800 ft. , 327 ¢ 5-6-29, 408 ¢ 14- 6-29 Chettiri range 2,000-3,000 ft. ; 539 .

544-5, ¢ Q 17- 7-29 Gingee ; 648-9 9 ¢ 4-8-29, 671 Q 9-8-29, 684 Q 13- 8-29, 691 (7

14-8. 29, 692 So 15-8-29, 724 Q 21-8-29, 731 « 22-8-29, 742-3 3 24-8-29 Palkonda

Hills 1000 ft. ; 774-5 ‘ao 31- 8- 20, 826 6 2 18-9-29, Koduru : 933-4 ¢¢% 20-10-29

Seshachalam Hills 2,000 ft. ; 999 OAT 1-29) 1033-4 (22) 25-11-29 Nallamalai

range 2,000 ft.

Measurements (excluding the intermediate Nallamalai birds) —

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

21¢ 13-14°5 53- 61: 5 59--69 18°5-20'3 mm.

102 12°5-14 54-58 59°5-69 17-19 5mm.

D.h. albogularis differs from the typical race in being rather lighter and

brighter in tint of colouration, in having a well-defined white patch on the

chin and throat and the centre of the abdomen more or less white.

No significance attaches to the presence or absence of black shafts to the

feathers of the white gular patch or pale shafts to the feathers of the forehead,

except that the former are not found at all in the typical race.

Harington separated birds from Mt. Aboo, Deesa and the west coast down

to Mahableshwar as D.A. abuensis (J.B.N.H. se xxiii, 1915, 429—Mt. Aboo) as

having the rufous of the forehead deeper and more ‘extensive and the under

parts darker. This we do not accept. ‘The latter character certainly does not

hold while the former appears to be a matter of individual variation. It is

noteworthy that the Sambhur specimen agrees in every respect with topotypes

or even Ceylon birds. Two juveniles from Mt. Abcoare quite indistinguishable

from the juvenile of the typical form.

The Survey found the White-throated Babbler a very common bird. In

Salem district it was common everywhere both in the plains, forests or wherever

there were hedges or sparse jungle to provide the necessary cover. On the

Shevarcys and Chitteri range they were found up to 4,000 ft. At Gingee in

South Arcot, at Baliepalle Gulvalacheruv and the Palkonda Hills (1,000 ft.)

and Koduru in South Cuddapah and in the Seshachalam Hills (2,000 ft.) it was

equally common. It was recorded at Horsley Konda by Roscoe Allen (J.B.N.H.S.

xviii, 907). In the Nallamallai range (2,000 ft.) of S. Kurnool it was alsocommon

and the specimens from the last locality show definite intergradation with the

typical race whose range starts between the Krishna and Godavery rivers,

VERNAY SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF EASTERN GHATS 745

_As to the distribution of the White-throated Babbler in the rest of the

Presidency it is known to occur in the Palnis, it is common from 1,000 ft. to

3,000 ft. in the hills of Travancore, William Davison shot it at Neddivatum

6,500 ft. and Col. H. R. Baker at Segore 4,000 ft. in the Nilgiris and the former

found it in many places in the Wynaad.

The breeding season is apparently not so well defined as in the typical race,

but varies from the middle of April to the middle of October, irrespective of

locality.

Chrysomma sinensis sinensis (Gmelin).

Parus sinensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat. vol. i, Part ii (1789), p. 1012—China.

Specimens collected :—64 ¢ 16-4-29, 106 ¢ 22-4-29, 148 28-4-29, 193 4 %46-5-29,

Kurumbapatti: 656 4% 6-8-29, 718 ¢ 20 8-29, 739 ¢ 24-8-29 Palkonda Hills

1,000 ft.; 804 ¢ 11-9-29 Kodur 500 ft.; 932 ¢ 20-10-29 Seshachalam Hills 2,000 ft.;

1473 2 4-3- 30, 1493 2 7-3-30, 1520 i) I 3-30), 1552-2) 1623-30, 1574.2 20-3- 305,

1625-6 ¢ @ 30- 3: 30, 1655 Q 4-4-30, 1678 ¢ 12-4- 30 Sankrametta 3,000-3,560 ft,

Measurements—

Bill. Wing. ail, Tarsus.

ll ¢ 13°5-14:5 645-70 73°5-92°5 24-26'5 mm.

72 13°5 14:5 63-69 79-89°5 25-27 mm.

The Yellow-eyed Babbler must be very generally distributed in the Presidency

though there are very few details about it actually on record.

La Personne reports that it was quite common on the sparsely covered hill-

sides about Sankrametta, keeping in March and April in little parties of five

and six. In Cuddapah district (August to October) it was only seen in bushy

country outside the forest, where the birds were in pairs and very shy and wild,

evidently breeding. It was not noted in the Shevaroys or the plains below the

Chitteri hills but about Kurumbapatti it was found in small numbers in hedges

and sparse jungle.

On the west it seems to be much less common, doubtless because of the

humidity of that side. Hume thought he had seen a specimen from the

Wynaad (S.F., x. 373) and it certainly occurs in the Nilgiris as William

Davison shot a specimen about 6 miles from Ootacamund and Miss Cockburn

knew of it breeding at Kotagherry. Jerdon found it at Wulliar and also near

the base of the Shandee Mungalum hills (wherever they may be),

Throughout its range in India the Yellow-eyed Babbler breeds during tke

rains. Eggs may be found from May to October but the vast majority will be

found from the end of July tothe beginning of September. The post-nuptial

moult is therefore very late, and there isa correspondingly late partial spring

moult. This fact is of importance as it has obscured the change of length of

tail in summer and winter plumage, which the Yellow-eyed Babbler shares

with other birds of similar facies, e.g. Prinia and Suya. ‘The central pair of

tail feathers are moulted in spring and the summer pair are shorter than the

winter pair.

In our first report (J.B.N.H.S., xxxiv, p. 393) we mentioned that Ticehurst

and Stuart Baker differed in their treatment of this species but the difference

has since been removed by Stuart Baker’s later agreement (New Fauna, viii,

p. 44) in Ticehurst’s recognition of a pale race Aypoleucus of Franklin in the

dry north-west. Both agree that the birds of the rest of India agree with the

typical form. We do not quite understand what Mr. Stuart Baker considers

the type locality for szzenszs. In vol. I, p. 233 he gives Sina=China, but in

vol, viii, p. 45 he says that China is an error, without however specifying any

other locality. Asa matter of fact thereis no difficulty in accepting China es

the type locality. Latham (on whose description Gmelin’s name is based)

says that he described the bird from drawings in the possession of Captain

Broadley and that the bird came from China. ‘The species certainly occurs in

S.-W. China, e.g. Kwangtung, Kwangi and Yunnan (La Youche, 4vzds of

TEACHING. pts ty Pa 72).

We cannot however satisfy ourselves that the bird of the Eastern ghats and

India generally, exclusive of the range of hypoleucus, is the same as the

Chinese bird. There are only two Chinese specimens (Vaughan) in the British

Museum and of these the male (March) has a tail of 105 mms. La Touche

separated the Yunnan birds as Pyclorhis s. major on the ground of size, but

unfortunately he compares them with our Indian bird and not topotypes. We

746 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NAT ORAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vols Xe

suspect that Yunnan and Chinese birds will prove to be definitely larger than

South Indian specimens of which the great majority have tails below 90 mm.

Until however we are able to examine a reliahly sexed series from China we are

unable to settle the point. Allowance will also have to be made for the

seasonal change in length of tail. For the moment therefore we are compelled

to accept the usual identification of these southern birds as belonging to the

typical form.

Pellorneum ruficeps ruficeps, Swainson.

Pellornenm ruficeps Swainson, Fauna Boreal. Amer. 1832 (Febr.) p. 487—

India.

Specimens collected :—86 Q 19-4-29, 118-9 Q¢% 24-4-29, 183-4 9% 4-5-29

Kurumbapatti; 215. 13-5 29, .224 ¢..15-5-29, 24372 17-5-29) | 1275) 2023-5-29

Shevaroy Hills 3 500 ft.; 305 ¢ 2-6-29, 328 ¢ 5-6-29, 3t6-7 ¢¢ 8-6-29, 394 juv.

12-6-29, 420 4 15-6-29 Chitteri range 2,000 ft.; 630, 6°3, 635 $¢¢ 1-8-29, 650 ¢

4-8-29, 672 ¢ 10-8-29, 697 4 16-8-29, 711 2 19-8-29, 745 2 24 8-29, 747 4 25-8-29

Palkonda Hills 1,000 ft.; 1339-40 ¢Q 6-2-30, 1347 2 7-2-30, 1405 2 18-2-30, 1409

3% 19-2-30, 1485 2 6-3-30, 1768 ¢ 4-5-30 Anantagiri 3,000 ft.; 1,489 ¢ 6-3 30,

1609 © 26-3-36, 1617 ¢ 28-3-30 Sankrametta 3,000-3,500 ft.; 1,714a ¢ 21-4-30,

1724 Q 24-4-30 Jeypore Agency.

Measurements—

Bill. Wing. aa: Tarsus,

22 ¢ 17-20 68°5-77 61°5-70 25-28 mm.

149 16°5-19°5 66-73°5 57°5-69 25-27'5 mm.

This is another species of which the Indian distribution is far from properly

known. Itoccursin the whole of the ranges of Western India from Nandarbar

in Khandesh down to the hills of Travancore. It is fairly common in Pachmarhi

(Osmaston, J.B.N.H.S., xxviii, 454) and Thompson obtained it in Mundla

D strict in the centre of the Peninsula; while on the east side it is found in the

Rajmehal Hills (Ball, S.F., ii. 409), on Parisnath Hill (Brooks), in a patch of

country about Maunbhum and Dholbhum (Tickell and Beavan) whilst La

Personne found it common and widely spread in the hills of the Vizagapatam

District about 3,000-3,500 ft. South of this area, it is not recorded again until

we come to Horsleykonda (Roscoe Allen, J.B.N.H.S., xviii, 905) and the

Palkonda Hills where La Personne found it common at 1,000-2,000 ft. In Salem

District it appears to be common at all heights up to 4,500 ft. wherever thickets

supply the necessary cover and from herein addition to La Personne’s nutes

and specimens from Kurumbapatti, Shevaroys and Chitteri range, there are

specimens in the Indian Museum collected by Daly in the Shevaroys and

Beadnell’s notes on the breeding of the bird at Yercaud (J.B.N.H.S., xxix,

292). Whether it occurs on the tableland of the Deccan proper is unknown.

It is not uncommon in the Nilgiris, the Wynaad and the Brahmagiris and

in Coorg.

Throughout the wide range outlined above, except in the areas mentioned

under P. x. granti, the bird remains remarkably constant in size and

colouration though in the north-east about Orissa there is a tendency for the

colouration to grow slightly richer in tint but not sufficiently to warrant the

separation of a subspecies.

The breeding season is regular throughout India from Maich to June,

earlier in these limits in the east and south and laterin them in Pachmarhi

and the Bombay Presidency.

Pellorneum ruficeps granti, Harington.

Pellorneum ruficeps granti Harington, Bull. B.O.C., xxxiii, 1913 (Dec. 10),

p. 81,—Mynall, Travanccre.

This very richly coloured race is rare in collections and it appears also to be

rare in life in Travancore. Bourdillon (S.F., iv. 399) says that he only

procured one at 2,509 ft and Ferguson (J.B.N.H.S., xv, 258) says that he only

met two in January 1901 on the Cardamum Hills at 3,000 ft. A spotted Babbler

said to be common in the Nelliampathis (Kinloch, J.B.N.H.S., xxvii, 940)

and in the Palnis (Fairbank, S.F., v. 404) is presumably also of this race but no

specimens exist. The same applies to the records for Palmaner, Chittoor

District (Hasted) and Trichur (Jerdon).

VERNAY SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF EASTERN GHATS 747

Stuart Baker (New Fauna, vol.i, p. 240) extends the range of this race to the

Wynaad, Coorg and S.-W. Mysore thereby cutting off the typical race in the

Nilgiris from the rest of its habitat on the Western ghats proper. With this

we are unable to agree. The most that can be said is that some specimens

from the low jungles of Malabar, Coorg and the Wynaad are intermediate,

showing the intergrading of the two races. Birds from Mysore and the Nilgiris

certainly belong to the typical race.

The breeding season is not recorded.

Stachyridopsis rufifrons ambigua Harington.

Stachyridopsis rufifrons ambigua Harington, J.B.N.H.S., xxiii, 1915 (May),

p. 631—Gunjong, N. Cachar,

Specimens collected :—1504 2 9-3-30, 1595-97 ¢@ 24-3-30 Sankrametta

3500 ft.

Measurements—

Bill, Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

oO 15 §5°5 53 19:5 mms

Ze 14 By) 48°5-51

The above specimens represent the only record of the Red-fronted Babbler

in Peninsula India. I.a Personne’s note is as follows :—Not quite so common

as mtrornis and appears to inhabit higher altitudes ; specimens were secured

at 3,500 ft.-4,000 ft., always in thick forest in ravines. In habits they at times

resemble the fly-catchers, often catching their food on the wing, Extremely

shy birds. They do not move about in parties at this season (March-April).

Mixornis gularis rubricapilla (Tickell).

Motacilla rubicapilla Tickell, J.A.S.B., ii, 1833 (after November), p. 576—

Borabnum, in Manbhum.,

Specimens collected :—1606 2 26-3-30, 1618 ¢ 28-3-30, 1642 2 2-4-30, 1€62 ¢

--4-30 Sankrametta 3,000 ft. ; 1736 ¢ 27-4-30 Jeypore Agency 3,000 ft. ; 1766 9

945-30 Anantagiri 3,00’.

Measurements :— \

Bill, Wing. Tail. Tarsus,

Bey 15 59-62 53-57°5 18-18'5 mm.

32 14°5-15°5 §7-59°5 50 5-55 18°5-19 ,,

Previously unknown to occur in the Madras Presidency. Met with by the

Survey only within the Vizagapatam District. La Personne’s note is as

follows :—I found it quite common at Sankrametta 3,000 ft. where it was

breeding. Towards the latter end of April these birds were observed nest-

building, the material being taken from a fish-tail palm. The birds take hold

of astrand from the palm and then appear to drop earthwards, the weight of

their bodies stripping the strand from the outer-coverings of the palm, ‘They

move about in small parties keeping well under cover and are quite undistin-

guishable from Dumetza in their habits and movements.

Tne Yellow-breasted Babbler might have been expected to occur in Vizaga-

patam ; forit was first found in Borabhum and Dholbhum by Tickell and

later by Beaven on the banks of the R. Cossye. Chota Nagpore was included

in consequence in the distribution in the O/d Fauna though omitted again in

tre New Fauna (in spite of the fact that the type locality falls within the area).

Whilst further to the south-west it was discovered at Parasgaon in Bastar

State by D’Abreu (J.B.N.H.S., xxiii, 154).

Alcippe poioicephala poioicephala (Jerdon).

Trimalia potoicephala Jerd., Madr. Jour. Lit. Sci., xiii, 1844 (after April),

p. 169—Coonoor ghat, Nilgiris.

Tne range of this race of the Quaker-Babbier lies to the west of the area

covered by the Survey. It is fairly common in the Travancore Hills at 2,000 ft.

and upwards and is perhaps most numerous in the High Range. It is also

common in the Palnis but has not been recorded from the other ranges of this

group. In tne Nilgiris it is exceedingly common up to 6,000 ft, and thence

it extends into the Wynaad and Brahmagiris. Birds from the areas round

about Goa are intermediate in character.

748 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

The breeding season is from January to June. At Culputty, S. Wynaad,

Mr. Darling, Jnr., found a nest as late as October.

Alcippe poioicephala brucei Hume.

Alcip pe brucei Hume, J. A. S.B., xxxix 1870 (June 7), p. 122—Mahableshwar.

Specimens collected :—200-1 3d 11-5-29, 211-12 99 12-5-23, 226 9 15-5-29,

247 9 18-5-29 Shevaroys 3,500 ft. ; 428 2 16-6-29, Chitteri Hills 3,000ft. ; 1345-6

SQ 7-2- 30, 1356 59 ¢Q 9-2-30, 1362-65 OP 10-2- 30, 1775 3 5-5- 30 Anantagiri

3,000ft. ; - 1469 2 4-3-30, 1475 Q 5-3-30, 1512-3 O¢ 10°33 30, 1519 © 11-3-30, 1526

ft 12-3- 30 1532 @ 13-3 -30, 1557 2 17-3-30, 1569 ¢ 19-3-30, 1594 2 24-3-30, 1622 ¢

28-3-30, 1648 2 3-4-30, 1675 % 12-4-30 Sankrametta oF 500 ft. -3,800 ft.; 1713 ¢

21-4-30, 1735 2 27-4- 30, 1750 2 30-4-30 Jeypore Agency 3,000 ft.

Measurements—

Bill. Wing. ail: Tarsus.

12-2 15-17 69°5-77 64°5-70°5 21-24 mm.

SS 15-16'5 67-74 61°5-70°5 21234;

This race of Quaker-Babbler, not previously known to occur within the

Presidency, was found by La Personne in considerable numbers in the Shevaroys

and Chitteri ranges about 3,000ft.-4.000ft. and again on the summits of the hills

in the Vizagapatam District at about 2,500ft. to 5,000ft. In the latter direction

the bird must be fairly widely spread as D’Abreu (Jour. B.N.H.S., xxiii, 154.)

procured a specimen on January 22, at Parasgaon in Bastar State and Waltoa

procured it at Kutri, Daspaila, Orissa on February 4, 1902.

We cannot separate these birds in any way from those of the Western ghats

where the species occurs from the Goa frontierto W. Khandesh and Rajkote in

Kathiawar; whilst Hume’s Specimen in the B. M. from Parasnath Hill,

D’Abreu’s statement that it is in common in the Baihar Tehsil of the Balaghat

District and the fact that the bird is not uncommon at Pachmarhi (B.B. Osmas-

ton, J.B.N.H.S., xxviii, 454) suggest that the distribution is wider than is at

present known.

At Pachmarhi it breeds early in July according to Osmaston and eggs were

found in Khandesh on August 16.

Rhopocichla atriceps atriceps (Jerdon).

Brachypteryx atriceps Jerdon, Madr. Jour. Lit. Sci., vol. x, 1839 (October),

p. 250—Trichoor.

Rhopocichla atriceps bourdilloni (Hume).

Alcippe bourdilloni Hume, S. F., iv (1876 December), p. 485—Mynall,

Travancore,

Not met by the Survey.

The Black-headed Babbler is very common in Coorg andthe Wynaad, in the

Nilgiris up to about 5,500 ft., and in smaller numbers beyord our limits into

some part of Mysore and along the Western ghats at least as far as the neigh-

bourhood of Belgaum. Southwards there is some doubt as to its exact distri-

bution. There is a specimen inthe British Museum from the Palghat Hills,

and in the Nelliampathy Hills, according to Kinloch, it is very common. The

type locality Trichoor in Cochin State is close to the Nejliampathies.

South of this again throughout the hill ranges of Travancore and in the High

Wavy Mountains of Madura (where a specimen was collected by Mr. Prater) it

is saidto be replaced by a different race A. a. bourdilloni. This differs in

having the black cap replaced by brown and the under parts ferruginous.

We are by no means certain that this supposed race is not merely founded on

the juvenile plumage, If not it is curious that the division between the races

-should occur on the Cochin-Travancore border and not at the Palghat Gap.

Whilst Ferguson’s statement (J.B.N.H.S., xv, 260) that both forms occur

throughout the Travancore Hills, though atriceps is far less common, in any

case should prevent their being treated as geographical races, if different.

Unfortunately the series in the British Museum does not settle the point. The

characters by which one can generally recognise the young of Timaline birds

—a blunt broad first primary and ‘decomposed’ feathers, particulariy in the

under tail coverts—are found in both black-headed and brown-headed

specimens. Until therefore the question has been settled by careful obser-

vation and dissection in the field we do not like to upset the accepted division,

VERNAY SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF EASTERN GHATS 749

based on the fact that all specimens in the British Museum with black heads

come from the north of the range and all with brown heads from the south,

The Ceylon race #. a. nigrifrons is of course quite distinct.

Nests may be found practically throughout the year but the main breeding

season seems to be from March to July. The bird is semi-colonial in its

breeding habits.

A.githina tiphia humei Stuart-Baker.

Specimens collected :—i8-19 ¢ Imm. 9 11-4-29, 42 2 13-4-29, 77 2 18-4-296

99-101 ¢¢g 21-4-29, 189-190 gg 5-5-29 Kurumbapatti ; 287 ¢ 29-5-29, 314-1,

4ohL 322 ¢ 3-6-29, Chitteri range 2,000 ft. ; 440 ¢ 18-6-29 Harur 1,000 ft.; 440 ¢

Imm. 3-7~29, 508 9 4—7-29, 523 ¢ 6-7-29 Kalai ; 541-2 2 §:17-7-29, 546 J 18-7-29,

568 $ 20-7-29 Gingee ; 634 ¢ 1-8-29, 547 [¢] 4-8-29, 685 13--8-29, 689 ¢ 14-8-29,

709 9 juv. 29-8-29, 712 2 19-8-29 Palkonda Hills 5v0-1000 ft. ; 786 2 2-9-29 Kodur

500 ft. ; 853 ¢ 30 -9-29, 856 2 1-10-29, 919 2 14-10-29 Seshachalam Hills 2,000 it.

948 2 31-10-29, 993 [4] 9-11-29 Nallamallai Range 2,000 ft.; 1107 ¢ 14-12-29, 1134

$ 18-12-29 Cumbum Valley; 1321 ¢ 5~2-30, 1330 2 6-2-30, 1432 2 23--2-30,

1754 ¢ 2-5-30 Anantagiri 3,000 ft. ; 1565 ¢ 19-3-30, 1663 ¢ 5-4-30, 1674 ¢ Imm.

12-4-30 Sankrametta 3,030-3,500 ft. ; 1737 ¢% 28-4-30 Jey pore Agency 3,000 ft.

Measurements—

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

iach 16-19 61-69 44-51 18-20 mm.

3 ¢ Imin. 17°5-18°5 61-64 48-53 18°5-20 ,,

149 16-18°5 . 62-67 46°5-54 18-20 ~—C—=,,

The Iora is found practically throughout India except in those dry areas west

of a line drawn} roughly speaking, from the head of the Gulf of Cambay through

Mt. Aboo to Kangra. In the Madras Presidency it is apparently common

throughout the whole of the plairs and all but the highest peaks of the various

ghat ranges of the eastern side upto about 4,000 ft. In the south-west it seems to

be more definitely a bird of the plains as it avoids the Palni Hills and the

Travancore ranges south of the Palghat Gap. North of that gap it is again

found in the hills and is common in the lower slopes of the Nilgiris, upto 3,000

ft. and in the Wynaad and Coorg.

The identification of the huge series obtained by the Survey has only

confirmed the accuracy of Hume’s most able exposition in Stray Feathers

(S. F., v. pp. 434-41) of the facts regarding the variation of this bird through-

out India, except that with an additional number of specimens available for

examination we find that his supposed race in the Central Provinces is not as

clearly defined as he thought. ‘The facts are not in dispute, It only remains

to express them in terms of subspecies and trinomial noinenclature, and we find

ourselves unable to agree with the arrangement accepted in the New Fauna.

The study of this species is exceedingly dificult and nothing can be accom-

plished unless the general principles underlying the variations in plumage are

clearly understood in advance.

The juvenile plumage is, roughly speaking, similar to that of the female.

After the post-juvenal moult the sexes are alike and cannot be distinguished

from the adult female, which is alike in summer and winter plumage and lacks

any black on the body plumage or tail and has the black of the wing coverts

and quills much duller and grayer. Whether the young male normally

breeds in this female plumage is not very clear. Hume says (S. F., v. 430) that

it assumes the black tail in March and April but sometimes at any rate it breeds

in the female plumage and assumes the black tail and wings at the post-nuptial

moult about July. After the second autumn it certainly is not distinguishable

from the adult and then always has the black tail.

The adult male has a distinctive summer and winter plumage, the former

being assumed bya partial spring moult. The summer plumage in Ceylon

consists of the upper parts being deep almost unbroken black, except for tke

yellow rump, and the under parts are bright canary yellow. In extreme north-

western India on the other hand the upper parts in summer plumage are green

+ The tailis black in the adult male, summer and winter of .Z. ¢. Aumei in spite

of the statement to the contrary in the Mew Fauna, vol. i., p- 343, .

750 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

as in winter. In some specimens there is an occasional black feather or a faint

mottling with black on the upper parts. The lower parts are only slightly

brighter than in winter plumage. ‘The sammer plumage of the north, in other

words, agrees with the winter plumage of the south.

In winter plumage in Ceylon (and perhaps south-west India) there is a

certain amount of black on the upper plumage and this is never found in winter

plumage in the extreme north.

Be:ween the extremes as thus outlined there isa very gradual and general

transition throughout the Peninsula, only interrupted by individual variation

and an east to west intergradation in the centre of the Peninsula with

EE githina nigrolutea. The main breeding season is in the rains from June to

August but nests may be found from March to October, The result is rather

prolonged and irregular moulting dates which tend to obscure the recognition

of breeding and non-breeding plumages.,

The position of Marshall’s lora (4. nigrolutea) is very hard to understand.

In appearance and plumage stages it would seem to be merely another

subspecies of the Common lora. The striking contrast between the black

crowa and golden collar, the black tail of all known plumages (the juvenile

plumage is unknown), the amount of white on the wings and tail are merely

the perfection of features which are present in the races of ¢7fAzia. On the east

it evidently intergrades with ¢zphza for the variety mentioned by Hume on

p. 439 of his exposition and crystallised by Mr. Baker as his race humet is

nothing more or less than an intermediate between the two species. Yet on

the west migrolutea extends as a solid wedge between the green-backed hird of

the north-west and the black and yellow backed birds of southern India

generally, neither intergrading with them nor allowing intergradation between

them. Its range embraces Cutch, Guzerat, Western Khandesh, Eastern

Rajputana, the south-east Punjab and the south-west United Provinces,

extending eastwards to an extent not satisfactorily verified but apparently to

Chota Nagpur (Hazaribagh and Lohardugga). This range is largely com-

plementary to that of the forms of ¢7A/za but in one or two areas, e. g. western

Khandesh (S. F., x. 306) there seems little or no doubt that mzgrolutea and

liphia subsp. are found and breed in the same area. It seems almost as if

nigrolutea was really a subspecies of ¢zphia which towards itS western limits

has reached the status of a full species and as such is able in turn to invade the

distribution of another subspecies of the parent form. Possibly however, once

attention is directed to the problem, further observation will establish that the

overlapping is not so wide as the incomplete data available appears to

suggest, and that nigrolutea will finally be accepted asarace of ¢iphia. At

present however we are hardly justified in drawing this conclusion and do not

do so.

Mr. Baker’s arrangement isthis. Ceylonand South Travancore are assigned

to 42. t. multicolor. The whole of the rest of the range in India is assigned

to 4. t. tiphia, as well as Assam, Burma, the north of the Malay Peninsula,

western Siam and Annam. Out of that immense range, south central India is

reserved for 4. ¢. humet the intermediate.

There is an unsatisfactory want of proportion about this arrangement. It

separates the birds of north and south Travancore,—both of which are black

above in breeding plumage,—on a difference of tint which is certainly hard to

appreciate if it exists at all. It unites the bird of north Travancore, where the

black-backed summer and green-backed winter plumages are absolutely

different, with the bird of the extreme north-west where suinmer and winter

there is no change in the green backed plumage. Yet accepting these marked

differences as negligible it singles out a section of the intermediate chain

between them, at the point where there is also intergradation with nzgrolutea,

and separates it as a valid race. Surely thus the part becomes greater than

the whole.

The explanation is of course that Mr. Baker has merely accepted the

distinctions enumerated by Hume at their face value and given a name anda

subspecific value to them. One has only to examine extra material to realise

that the differences given by Hume are neither constant nor confined to that

particular area. ‘The golden collar of the male can be traced far further south

and west gradually dying out into the unbroken black of true multicolor ;

whilst the pale colour of the female appears throughout our Survey series all

the way down to Salem district. Luckily Mr. Baker has placed his type locality

VERNAY. SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BFASTERN GHATS. 751

as far south as Raipur so the name can be retained though the construction, we

placed on it is different.

We propose therefore to recognise the following races.

Agithina tiphia tiphia (L.).

Motacilla tiphia Linn, Syst. Nat. Ed., x. (1758), vol. i, p. 186,—Bengal,

restricted to the neighbourhood of Calcutta.

JS Summer and winter plumage norinally alike a rather dull dark green, the

black on the upper plumage in summer being obsolete (Punjab) confined to

faint traces of mottling or occasional black feathers (United Provinces)or patches

(Bengal). Lower plumage duller and greyerin winter and less bright yellow

in summer,

2 dullerand greyer than in 4. ¢. humez.

The Himalayan foothills and the adjacent plains from Gurdaspur to

northern Assam, the United Provinces, and Bengal extending into Burma.

ALgithina tiphia humei Stuart Baker.

Agithina tiphia humet Stuart Baker, Fauna, B. I. Birds (2nd ed.), vol. i,

July 1922 (= August 16, 1922), p. 342—Raipur, Central Provinces.

g in summer with black predominant in the upper plumage and often

considerable traces of a yellow collar on the hind neck.

¢ in winter plumage and @ a clearer and paler green than .&, (¢iphia

tiphia. :

The whole of India south of a line roughly from Mt. Aboo through Central

India to Orissa.

Agithina tiphia multicolor (Gmelin. )

Fringilla multicolor Gmelin, Syst. Nat , vol. i, part ii (1789), p. 924—Ceylon.

3 in sammer plumage is altogether a darker bird with the black of the upper

plumage more extensive and less broken by yellow bases ; the second wing-bar

is generally absent. Lower plumage very bright canary yellow.

3 in winter plumage a darker and duller green, in some specimens washed

with black producing a curious sooty appearance not found in the Indian

races.

Ceylon and Rameswaram island.

Chloropsis aurifrons davidsoni Stuart-Baker.

Chloropsis aurifrons davidsoni; Stuart Baker, Bull. B.O. C., xli. 1920,

(Oct.) p. 8—Malabar.*

Specimens collected .—227 ¢ 15-5-29 Shevaroy Hills 3,500 ft. ; 632 ¢ 1-8 -29

Palkonda Hills; 966 2 Imm. 3-11-29, 980-81 ¢, 2 Imm, 7-11-29, 1023

of 22-11-29 Nallamalai Hills 2,000 ft. ; 1355 ¢ 9-2-30, 1400-1403 99° 17-2-30, 1404

J 18-2-30 Anantagiri 3000 ft. .

Measurements—

Bill. Wing. Tail, Tarsus,

6 J 23-24'5 95-101'5 70-77 18°5-19°5 mm.

42 22°5-25 91°5-95 68-71 18-19 mm,

In identifying our specimens of the Malabar Chloropsis we immediately

noticed a distinction in size between the birds obtained in the Eastern ghats

and those from Ceylon and Travancore, The latter measure as follows :—

Bill. Wing. Tail.

6 ¢ Ceylon 22-25 91-94 65-70 mm,

4 % Travancore 23-24 86°5-93'5 65-66 __,,

3 2 Ceylon 23°5-24'5 87°5-88'5 5$°5-64 mm,

2 2 Travancore 22°5-23 87-88 64°5 mm.

There is thus no overlapping in size with our Survey series and it is evident

that a large and small race require recognition, in addition to the differently

coloured bird of N.-E, India. On the western side where the range is

continuous there is a gradual transition in size between the large and small

forms, but there is no difficulty in deciding that all birds from the Nilgiris

1 Nom. Nov. for Turdus malabaricus Gmelin, Syst. Nat., 1788, p. 837—

Malabar, pre-occupied. ;

752 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

northwards belong to the large form. The Palghat gap may therefore for

convenience be fixed as the boundary between the two forms, and we propose

to name the small southern form.

Chloropsis aurifrons insularis subsp. nov.

Type: ¢ 18-6-1878 Cotta, N. P., Ceylon (Hart Bros.) British Museum,

Reg. no.

Although the range of the Malabar chloropsis C. a. davidsoni is given in

the New Fauna as the ‘ West Coast ot India, Khandala to Ceylon’, it was

already known to occur in the Shevaroys, whence four specimens collected by

Daly are enumerated in Finn’s catalogue of the Indian Museum. It has

remained however for La Personne to extend its known range to the whole

length of the Eastern ghats as shown by the list of specimens. There is, how-

ever, some doubt as to the boundary between this and the typical race, as

although the latter occurs in Midnapur and Maunbhum there is nothing to

show which race occurs at Kalahandi (Ball) and Gumsoor (Jerdon).

In the west of the Presidency this Chloropsis is common in Malabar, Coorg,

the Wynaad and the Nilgiris up to 6,000 ft.

The female is wrongly described in the Mew Fauna. Asin the typical race

she agrees closely with the male and is only distinguishable by the smaller,

duller patch of orange on the forehead, the smaller blue carpal patch and the

slightly smaller size. In first winter plumage both sexes lack the orange

forehead, while the black gular patch and blue moustachial streaks are

replaced by pale green, though the premature moult of a few feathers usually

foreshadows the adult plumage.

The breeding season in the Presidency is unknown. Colonel Sparrow

informs us that about Eswantaraopett near Secunderabad nests may be found

from the end of June to the middle of August, but that most eggs will be found

in early July. In N. Kanara, on the other hand, James Davidson founda nest

with young at Sampkund (Sirsi Taluka) on February 18.

Chloropsis aurifrons insularis subsp. nov.

This small race is common in the hills of Travancore up to 4,009 ft. and also

apparently in the Nelliampathis. There is no record froin the Palnis.

The breeding season in this area is unknown but the ew Fauna records a

nest with two eggs in Ceylon on January 25.

Chloropsis jerdoni (Blyth).

Phyllornis jerdoni, Blyth, J.A.S.B., xiii 1844, (after December), p. 392

‘Goomsoor..

Specimens collected :—98 ¢ Imm., 20-4-29, 187 ¢ 5-5-29 Kurumbapatti ;

350 ¢ 7-6-29, 372 § 9-6-29, 438 J 17-6-29 Chitteri range 2,000 ft. ; 522 2 6-7-29

Kalai, Trichinopoly ; 832 2, 833 ¢19-9-29 Kodur, S. Cuddapah ; 967 ¢ 4-11-29

Nallamallai Range 2,000 ft. ; 1718 , 1719 2 23-4-30 Jeypore Agency 2,000 ft.

Measurements—

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

8 21°5-24 86-95 67-79 19-20°5 mm.

oe 21-22 84-84'5 68-71 18--18°5 mm.

Jerdon’s Chloropsis is very widely spread within the Presidency. Although

it is common in Chota Nagpur there is little definite evidence in support of

Jerdon’s statement that it is extremely common in the jungles of the Eastern

ghats (Ill. Ind. Orn.). Jerdon himself specifies Goomsoor as a locality

(Madras Jour. Lit. Soc., 1839, 247). Otherwise La Personne’s specimens

($@ April 23) from the Jeypore Agency 2,000 ft., from the Nallamalai range

2,000 ft. (¢ November 4) and from the Chitteri range 2,000 ft. (¢¢¢ June)

complete the known records for the Eastern ghats.

In the Carnatic, on the other hand, Jerdon considered the bird as rare, and

this agrees with the experience of the Survey. At Kodur, S. Cuddapah,

La Personne procured a pair on September 19, noting it as not plentiful, and

in Salem District he says that it was not common, isolated pairs being met with

over alarge area. A female was procured at Kalai, Trichinopoly.

In the west of the Presidency it is certainly more common though perhaps

less of a hill bird. Throughout Travancore it is a very common bird in the

low country at the foot of the hills but it does not ascend them (Ferguson

VERNAY SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF EASTERN GHATS — 753

J.B.N.H1.S., xv. 262). There are 4 specimens in the British Museum labelled

Anjango 7? in December 1872 as well as one of Fry’s ‘ Trivandrum’ specimens,

In the Palnis, Fairbank obtained a specimen (now in the British Museum) at

4,000 ft. (S.F., v. 406). Kinloch did not meet with this species in the

Nelliampathis but it is said to have been observed by Mr. W. A. Hasted at

Palmaner, Chittoor District (Baker & Inglis, Birds of S. India, p. 23).

Davison did not meet it in the Nilgiris but in the British Museum there are

specimens from Kullar (Wardlaw-Ramsay), Coonoor (Day) and the ‘ base of

the Nilgiris’ (Hume Coll.). In Malabar and doubtless S. Canara it seems to be

generally distributed though there are no records for Coorg and the Wynaad.

The seven specimens labelled ‘ Madras’ in the British Museum (Baber,

Elliot, Reeves) may be disregarded.

The general distribution of this species as given in the Fauna is correct.

Ceylon birds are not separable though they do not attain the maximum length

of Indian birds. The bird is strictly resident and the breeding season is a

poorly defined one from February to August without any particular difference

in any part of the wide range in India.

The juvenile plumage differs from that of the adult female in the absence of

the yellow wash on the forehead and in the fact that the green gular patch, the

yellow nimbus to it and the blue moustachial streak are all very indistinct and

shadowy, blending in with the green of the lower plumage. In first winter

plumage both sexes resemble the adult female (the moustachial streak being

present in spite of the statement to the contrary in the Mew Fauna) but in the

male the gular patch is soon flecked with black owing to the accidental moult

of odd feathers,

Microscelis psaroides ganeesa (Sykes).

Hy psipetes ganeesa Sykes, P.Z.S., 1832 (July 31), p. 86—Dense woods of the

ghats, [ = Mahableshwar].

Specimens collected :—206-208 ¢ 2? 12-5-29, 216 2 13-5-29, 219 O ? 14-5-29,

263 ¢ 21-5-29 Shevaroy Hills 3,500-4,800 fr.

Measurements—

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus:

Paved 27 118-119 99°5-102 16°5-18 mm.

a2 25-26°5 111-115°5 95-101 16°5-17 nm.

The Black Bulbul was only met with by the Survey on the Shevaroy Hills

where it was abundant and evidently breeding at about 4,500 ft. It had

already been recorded from this range by Daly, 4 of whose specimens are in

the Indian Museum. With the exception of this locality and McMaster’s

unlikely * record from Chikalda on the Gawilgurh Hills in Berar (J.4.S.2.,

1871, p. 211), this race is confined to the hill ranges of the Western ghats

from Matheran down to Cape Comorin, occurring normally at fairly high

elevations.

Within the Presidency it is recorded as follows. In Coorg, according to

Betts, it is decidedly uncommon as an occasional wanderer from higher

elevations. William Davison found it in the Brahmagiris, but the only

record for the Wynaad is a bird in the Bombay Society’s collection obtained at

Petcholi by J. P. Cook. In the Nilgiris, it is widely distributed and very

common on the higher parts from 6,000-8,000 ft., only occurring below

4,000 ft. as a scarce wanderer out of the breeding season. Kinloch “found it

very common in the Nelliampathis, and in the Palnis and the Travancore Hills

it is found at all elevations but is particularly common from 3 000 ft. up to the

highest peaks.

Although a resident throughout its range this race must indulge in consi-

derable local movement in the non-breeding season when large flocks collect.

Rhodes Morgan recorded how in July in the Bolumpatty Valley he saw them

1 This locality Aniango on many birds in the British Museum must be

regarded with caution. Ferguson (loc. cit., p. 264) explains that there used to

be several shikaris at Anjango who made a living by collecting and selling

birds from the hills. They never labelled them and always said they were

from Anjango.

2 It will be remembered that inexperienced eearnOeelets often confuse

Black Bulbuls and Drongos.

754. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

travelling in vast flights, numbering several thousands, flying westwards in the

direction of Travancore. Captain Betts states that they desert the western side

of the Nilgiris almost entirely during July and August when the S.-W. monscon

is at its height.

They pair about February and nests may be found from akout March until

the middle of June; but even during the breeding season the main flocks are

said not to break up entirely.

The small series from the Shevaroys cannot be separated from the birds of

the Western ghats. Birds from Ceylon however differ (as hinted by Hume

S. F., i. 438) in having a distinctly larger bill. ‘The bill iu Indian birds

measures for 22 -¢s 26-29, and 12 Qs 25-28'5 mm.; whereas in 16 birds from

Ceylon (sexing not satisfactory) the bill measures (once 26) 27°5 to 32 mms.

The wing is also slightly longer up to 128 mm, as compared with a maximum

~ in India of 124°5, Indian males usually being below 120 mm. and Ceylon birds

above 120 mm. in wing measurement.

This island race may appropriately be distinguished as :—

Microscelis psaroides humli subsp. nov.

Type ¢ 7-2-1892 Ceylon, Hume Collection, British Museum registered

No. 1886.9. 12 964:

Molpastes cafer cafer (Linnzcus),

Specimens collected :—50, 53 ¢ @ 14-4-29, 116 4 23-4-29 Kurumbapatti ; 248,

250 2 ¢ 19-5-29 Shevaroy Hills 4,500 ft. ; 486 ¢ 2-7-29 Trichinopoly 1,000 ft. ; 557

3 19-7-29 Gingee; 636 ¢1-8-29, 698 4 16-8-29 Palkonda Hills 1,000 ft. ; 792 ¢

4-9-29 Kodur 500 ft. ; 871 2 3-10-29, 908 2 12-10-29 Seshachalam Hills 2,000 ft.

Measurements.—

Bill. Wing. ‘Tail. Tarsus.

8 ¢ 17-19 91°5-97 77-81 21°5-23°5 mm.

4° 17-18 89-90 74°5-78 19"5—22°5-

With the exception of the birds from the area north of the river Godavery all

Red-vented Bulbuls found in the Presidency agree with the typical form of

Ceylon. The species is very generally and commonly distributed except in the

hill ranges where the distribution is not easy to define, In the Eastern ghats

it ascends as a rule to about 2,500-3,000 ft.

In the Nilgiris, too, itis a bird of lower elevations. William Davison states

that it is only occasionally found near Octacamund but that it begins to get

common just above Coonocr at about 5,000 ft. and is very common all down the

Eastern slopes. On the western side, according to Betts, it ismowhere very

common and does not ascend above 4,900’. Even at the foot of the slopes on

the Wynaad plateau it is not numerous anywhere south of Gudalur. From

Gudalur northwards it increases in numbers till it becomes a common species

on the Mysore plains. In Coorg it is not common.

In the Patnis, it is found up to the summits though much commoner on the

lower slopes. Yet inthe Nelliampathi Hills (Kinloch, J.B. N.H.S. xxvii, 940)

and in the Travancore Hills (Ferguson, J.B.N.H.S., xv, 263) it does not occur

at all. Davison considered that its absence might be connected with the

presence of evergreen jungle and this is probably true, But sett!ement and the

replacing of forest by cultivation and bush jungle must have also much to do

with its distribution.

There are few records published on the breeding of this race. About Madras,

according to Jerdon, it breeds from June to September. In the west however

it is said to breed in February and March in Travancore (Ferguson) and from

February to April in the Nilgiris (Cockburn).

A melanistic bird at Madras is recorded (J.B.N.H.S. ix, 224).

Molpastes cafer saturatus subsp. nov.

Specimens collected :—1375,1379 @g 12-2-30, 1424 9 22-2-30 Anantagiri

3,000 ft. ; 164692 2-4-30 1714 ¢ 21-4-30, Sankrametta 3,500 ft. ; 1720-19 ¢

23-4-30 Jeypore Agency ?,000 ft.

Measureinents—

Bill. Wing. ail. Tarsus. |

4A 18-19°5 89-97°5 79-89 21-22 mm.

See 17-18 84°5-93 75-83 22 mm.

VERNA SCIENISFIGC SORVEY OF EASTERN GHATS. 755

The Survey reported this bird to be very abundant in the Vizagapatam

District, both in the hills and plains, and in addition to the localities where the

above series was collected it was observed at Waltair and Vizianagram. Jerdon

recorded it from Gumsoor. There is no information about the breeding season

in this area.

The specimens obtained are certainly not the same as those obtained south of

the Godaveri river. They are intermediate between 17. c, cafer and M.c.

bengalensts resembling the former in their sharply defined cap and black

ear coverts and approaching the latter,in the darker tint of the body plumage

and thesmall area of white on the abdomen. This intermediate position

agrees with that of J7. c. pallidus inthe west of the Peninsula; both forms

mask the transition of the small southern bird with its sharply defined cap and

black ear coverts into the large northern birds with the cap grading into the

colour of the back andthe ear coverts brown and sharply contrasted. But

as these large northern birds obey the general rule and in the north-west are

pale (47. c¢. intermedius) and in the north-east dark (MZ. c. bengalensis) the

transitional stages are on the west paler than JV. ¢. cafer and on the east darker,

thereby being sharply contras‘ed infer se,

The easterao intermediate should also bear a name and as none of the names

in the Synonomy refer to it we propose the name JV/. ¢. saturatus.

Type. V. 1424 9 22-2-1930 Anantagiri. Deposited in British Museum.

We recognise the following Indian races :—

Molpastes cafer cafer ( Linn.)

Turdus cafer Linnezus, Syst. Nat. xii ed., vol. i (1766), p. 295—Cape of Good

Hope, (errore), Ceylon.

Small dark race ; cap sharply defined ; ear coverts black.

Measurements—

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

233 17-20 90°5-98'5 74-89 5 21-23 mm.

(e® 17-19°5 88-93 74°5-79 WSe5422 iin,

Ceylon northwards to about Bombay on the west, Nugpur in the centre

and Godavery valley on the east.

Molpastes cafer saturatus Kinnear and Whistler. subsp. nov.

Darker than W/.c. cafer ; less white on abdomen ; cap sharply defined ; ear

coverts black.

‘Measurements—

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

Af 18-19°5 89-97°5 79°89 21-22 mm.

32 17-18 84: 5-93 75-83 224s

R. Godavery north to Maunbhum, extending probably into parts of the

Central Provinces.

Molpastes cafer pallidus Stuart Baker.

M.hemorrhous pallida Stuart Baker, Bull. B.O.C., xxxviii, p. 15, 1917

(Dec.)—Deesa.,

Larger and pater than JZ. c. cafer with broader greyish white fringes to the

feathers ; cap sharply defined ; ear coverts black tinged with brown. |

Measurements—

Bill. Wing. Pail: Tarsus.

9¢ 19-21 94-101 82°5-95 22-25 mm.

82 17°5-19°5 87°5-95 78° 5-89 21-23. ,,

Ahmednagar and Khandesh through eastern Sindh and Rajputana to the

foot of the Salt Range, the central and southern Punjab.

Molpastes cafer intermedius (Blyth).

Pycnonotus intermedius Blyth, J.A.S.B., vol. xv (1846), p. 50—Upper

Provinces? Largest and palest race ; cap not sharply defined but grading into the

mantle ; ear coverts brown.

1 Notr.—This name is based on a MS. name of Lord A. Hay’s : See Jerdon

B. of I, vol. ii, p.95 which seems to imply that the specimen came from

Wazirabad, to which place the type locality may well be restricted.

756 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Largest and palest race; capnot sharply defined but grading into the

mantle ; ear-coverts brown.

Measurements—

Bill: Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

15g 19°5-22 100°5-110 93°5-103°5 | 23-26 mm.

102 18°5-20 90°5-102 84—96 22-25 mm.

N.-W.F.P., Trans-Salt range plateau, Sub-Himalayan ranges to Naini Tal

to the western United Provinces.

Molpastes cafer bengalensis (Blyth).

Pycnonotus bengalensis Blyth, J.A.S.B., vol. xiv, 1845;(after August), p. 566—

Bengal.

Large and very dark race; cap not sharply defined but grading into mantle

and lower back ; ear-coverts dark chocolate brown.

Measurements—

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

ike 21-23 101°5-106 90°5-99 23°5-25 5mm.

62 19-22 89°5-102 85-93 24—25 mm.

Himalayan foot hills from Nepal to Assam ; eastern United Provinces, Bihar

and eastern Bengal.

It is impossible to define the ranges of intermedius and bengalensis very

accurately in the United Provinces as they intergrade into each other, whilst

there is apparently an area of general intergrading of the races in Central

India and the Central Provinces, from which very few specimens are available.

Otocompsa! jocosa fuscicaudata Gould.

Otocompsa fuscicaudata Gould, P.Z.S., 1865, p. 664—Madras Presidency ;

now restricted to Nilgiris.

Specimens collected :—70, 72, 73 9¢¢ 17-4-29, 152 ¢ 29-4-29 Kurumbapatti ;

209 ¢ 12-5-29, 223 ¢ 14-5- 29, 244 3o 17-5-29, 253 &. 20-5-29 Shevaroy Hills

3,400-4,500 ft. ; 409 ¢ 14-6-29 Chitteri range a. 000 ft.

MMcacefemente=

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

8g 165-19 84°5-90 80-85 20-23 mm,

PO. 7 83 80 74) ee

It is unfortunate that by an oversight the Vew Faunu cites ‘ Madras’ instead

of the ‘ Madras Presidency ’ for the type locality of this Red-whiskered Bulbul.

The latter is correct both in Gould’s reference and in fact, for about Madras

city the form which occurs is Olocampsa 7. emeria. To prevent a recurrence

of this mistake we now restrict the type locality to the Nilgiris where it is

certainly one of the most abundant birds

On the eastern side of the Presidency there is no record of fusctcaudata north

of the Shevaroys and the Chitteri range where it was common at and above

3,000 ft. It is curious that although a small series was collected at Kurumba-

patti by La Personne he did not meet with it again anywhere below 3,000 ft.

and we have traced no record of it southwards between Salem District and

Rameswaram Island (Hume, S.F., iv. p. 458) or westwards until the Palnis

and Nilgiris are reached. In the western side of the Presidency, in contrast,

it is probably the most common and generally distributed of all birds, occur-

ring from sea-level up to 6,000 ft.

This race is very catholic in its breeding arrangements. Odd nests may be

found in any month of the year and some pairs certainly raise two or three

broods in succession. Along the Western coast the main breeding season is

chiefly from February till May, with a continuation into June and July. In

the Nilgiris the main season is from February to June, and again in September

after the South-West monsoon. In the Nelliampathis and Travancore the

birds are said to start even earlier, in November and December.

* We agree with Sclater (Ibis, 1930, p. 678) in not accepting the change (ew

Fauna, viii, p. 614) from Ofocompsa to Elathea.

VERNAY SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF EASTERN GHATS — 757

_ The range of this race is really very imperfectly known. It certainly

continues common along the Western coast as far as Khandesh and we presume

that the birds of the Central Provinces recorded as fuscicaudata at Pachmarhi

(McMaster, J.B.N.H.S, xxviii, p. 454), as jocosa at Chikalda (McMaster,

J.A.S.B., 1871, p. 212) and as fuscicaudata at Balaghat (D’Abreu,

J.B.N.H.S., xxi, p. 1165) are correctly attributed to it. In Rajputana, how-

ever, there is a very distinct pale race which we have already separated as

O.7. abuensts (Bull. B.O.C., cccliv, p. 40).

Otocompsa jocosa emeria (Linnzus).

Motacilla emeria Winneeus, Syst. Nat. x, ed. (1758), vol. i, p, 187—

Bengal.

Specimens collected :—553 2 18-7-29, 582 ¢ 22-7-29 Gingee; 628 ¢ 28-7-29,

629 2 27-7-29 Madras ; 667 2 juv. 8-8-29, 673 [¢] 10-8-29, 702 2 15-8-29 Pal-

konda Hills 1,000 ft. ; 1324 ¢ 5-2-30, 1380 2 12-2-30, 1388-9 4 2 14-2-30, 1420-1

2 gS 21-2-30, 1436 ¢ 23-2-30 Anantagiri 3,000 ft.; 1727, 1728A 2 g 24-4-30

Jeypore Agency 3,000 ft.

Measurements—

Bilt, Wing, Tail. Tarsus.

8 17-18'5 80-88 75-84 18-20°5 mm,

72 15°5-18°5 78-83'5 72-79 18°5-20°5 mm.

The distribution of this race of Red-whiskered Bulbul in the Presidency is

not yet fully known. Beyond Jerdon’s statement that it is tolerably common

in Goomsoor and the Northern Circars we can only say with certainty that the

Survey found it extremely common throughout the hill tracts of Vizagapatam,

keeping to the wooded parts and not descending below 2,500 ft. Here they

breed in the Lantana scrub which of late years has invaded these areas. The

Survey also found it common in the Palkonda Hills but rare on the Sesha-

chalam range.

Specimens collected at Madras and Gingee also belong to this race which

here attains its southern limit. It is noteworthy that the Survey specimens

from this southern area Palkonda—Madras show very little passage with

fuscicaudata. At most they are only very slightly smaller with the white tail

tips perhaps a trifle diminished. True intermediates do not appear to exist.

Throughout its whole range the Bengal Red-whiskered Bulbul breeds from

early March to late September but most birds lay from April to June and after

July nests are rare.

We do not feel at all sure that the Red-whiskered Bulbuls of the Duars of

the Eastern Himalayas can be kept with this race. They appear to be both

larger and more richly coloured but on the material available we do not feel

justified in separating them, more especially in view of the paucity of informa-

tion as to the distribution of this bird in Bengal territories.

Otocompsa flaviventris flaviventris (Tikell).

Vanga flaviventris Tickell, J. A.S. B., vol. ii, 1833 (after Nov.), p. 573

Dampara in Dholbhum. i i

Gpeciiens collected :—1407 4 18-2-30, 1759 ¢ 3-5-30, 1767 2 4-5-30 Ananta-

giri 3,000 ft. ; 1717 ¢ 23-4-30 Jeypore agency 2,000 ft.

Measurements—

Bill. Wing. Tail. Tarsus.

3¢ 15-16 90-92 84-88 15°5-17 mm,

1S 14-5 84 $1 16°5 mm.

These specimens constitute the only records of the Black-crested Yellow

Bulbul for the Madras Presidency and a slight extension of the distribution in

Chota Nagpur where it is known to occur in Dholbhum and Singhbhum

(Tickell), Kalahandi and Orissa S. of the Mahanadi (Ball) and Kutri, Daspalla,

also S. of the Mahanadi (Walton).

lole icterica (Strickland), 7

Criniger ? ictericus Strickland, Ann. Mag, Nat. Hist., vol., xiii (1844), p, 411

—East Indies ?>—Mahableshwar.

Strickland in his description stated that he believed the bird to have been

brought from the East Indies, but that he did not krow the precise habitat.

758 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

In the catalogue of the Strickland Collection, p. 98, the specimen is given as ‘a’

(Askew) 1839.’ The type locality has since been given by Stuart-Baker

Handlist, p. 43, as Mahableshwar and we accordingly so restrict it.

The distribution of the Yellow-browed Bulbul lies to the west of the Presi-

dency, cut of the path of the Survey.

In Travancore it is confined to the hill forests, occurring according to

Fergusoa from the foot of the hills to 2,000 ft. in the south, above this in

Pirmade and the Cardamum Hills and still higher in the High Range. In the

PaJnis it occurs from 3,000 ft. upwards. In the Nelliampathis it is extremely

common, -

~-In the Nilgiris it is found from the foot of the hills upto about 6,500 ft.

(W. Davison)? but is not found on the plateau. It extends through the

Wynaad and the Brahmagiris to Coorg where it is stillcommon. From here

it extends further north out of our boundaries up to Mahableshwar.

Throughout its range from Ceylon to Mahableshwar no races can be defined

of this species. .

Pycnonotus xantholaemus (Jerdon).

Brachypus xantholemus Jerdon, Madras Jour. Lit. Sci., xiii, 1844 Bas

November), p. 122—Eastern Ghats west of Nellore.

Specimen collected :—358 ¢ 7-6-29 Chettiri range 2,000 ft.

Measurements :—

Bill. Wing. Dail... jAvarsus,

1Z5 90: 86 20 mm.

We are unable to trace the records on which the Vew Fauna states that the

Yellow-throated Bulbul occurs in Mysore and Travancore. The only recorded

localities for this little-known species are the following :—

1. Bellary :—About twenty pairs observed in ae 1901 and c/2 incubated

eggs found on June 23 (Col. C. L. Wilson, J. B. N. H.S., XVIII, p. 907).

2. Horsleykonda:—Not uncommon in May 1508 and c/3 eggs found on

May 15 and c/2 eggs on May 20 (Roscoe Allen, J.B. N.H.S., xviii, p. 905).

A specimen, now in the British Museum, obtained with its eggs in May 1904 by

the Rev. H. H. Campbell. This is probably the locality in ‘ The Eastern

ghats west of Nellore’ where Jerdon obtained his type specimen.

3. Chettiri range 2, 000 ft.—As above. This was the only specimen obtained

but La Personne is under the impression that he overlooked others, confusing

them with P. duwteolus.

4. Sankaridrug, Salem District :—A specimen obtained on September 14

1902 by D. G. Hatchell is now in the Society’s Collection.

5. Anamallai Hills :—One obtained by William Davison, the only one seen

in two weeks, at 4,020 ft. almost as far north as 10° N. and considerably to the

west (Ibis., 1886, p. 146).

6. Three more specimens in the British Museum and one in the Indian

Museum are labelled ‘ Madras’ or ‘ Eastern ghats’ without precise localities.

The iris is said by Roscoe Allen to be brown and not bright red as recorded.

Pycnonotus gularis (Gould).

Brachypus gularis Gould, P. Z.S., 1835 (after November), p. 186—Tra-

vancore.

In Gould’s original description the type locality is given as ‘in India

orientale apud Travancore’, the wider sense of East Indies of course being

the correct translation.

The Ruby-throated Bulbul has a very limited distribution in western India

from N. Kanara southwards. Within the Presidency it is found in Coorg

(Betts, J.B.N.H.S., xxxiii, 544) and in the Wynaad (Davison S. F., x. 384), in

both of which areas it is by no means coiimon. In the Nilgiris, Betts only met

with them at the foot of the hills in the Ochterloney Valley (J.B.N.H.S., xxxiv,

1028). There are specimens in the British Museum from ‘ Malabar Coast ’ and

Calicut. One was seen in the Nelliampathis by Kinloch on 24th ‘ near the top

of the northern slopes (J. B.N. H.S., xxviii, 250). A female obtained by

W. Daly on Mt. Stewart in the Anamallais is in the Indian Museum. Fairbank

1 According to Betts (J. B. N. H. S., xxxiv, 1027) it does not occur above

about 4,500 ft.

VERNAY SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF EASTERN GHATS 759

obtained a single specimen at Vengayam Parry in 1867 in the Palnis, but was

never able to meet the bird there again (S. F. v, 405). In Travancore accord-

ing to Ferguson (J. B. N. H.S., xv, 264) it is not common but he found it in

open forest at the foot of the hills and also in thick forest about 2,000 ft , while

he mentions the Ghat road to Pirmade as the best locality for it.

Pycnonotus luteolus luteolus (Lesson).

Hematornis luteolus Lesson, Revue Zool., December 1840 (January 1841),

p. 354—India, Bombay.

Specimens collected :—11 2 Imm. 10-4-29, 79 @ 18-4-29, 165 Q 1-5-29

Kurumbapatti; 278 ¢ 24-5-29 Shevaroy Hills 4,000 ft.; 342 ¢ Imm. 6-6-29, 362

juv. 8-6-29 Chitteri range 2,000 ft. ; 501 ¢ Imm. 4-7-29 Kalai, Trichinopoly ; 543

3 17-7-29; 2 Imm. 19-7-29 Gingee ; 699 9 703 2 imm. 16-8-29 Palkonda Hills

1,000 fr. ; 860 [2] Imm. 1-10-29 Seshachalam Hills 2,000 ft. ; 1031 4 25-11-29

Nallamallai Hills 2,000 ft.

Measurements. —

Bill. Wing. Abautle Tarsus.

oe 18-20 86° 5—90°5 75-85 21°5-22°5

ig 18-19 82-85°5 74-82 20°5-22°5

Although no specimens were procured by the Survey north of the Nallamalais

the White-browed Bulbul, which is common in Orissa in a broad zone

described by Ball (S. F., iv. 235, v, 417), is found in Goomsoor and throughout

the Northern Circars according to Jerdon. From thence it extends all down

the eastern side of the Presidency, certainly as far as Trichinopoly. In the

central Carnatic, that is from Madras to Salem it is excessively abundant

occurring in every patch of jungle and every hedgerow. To use La Personne’s

expressive phrase, there is hardly a patch of 10 square yards without a

White-browed Bulbul in it, generally in the heart of the bushes. It occurs from

sea level up to 4,000 ft.

In the west of the Presidency it is less abundant, the more humid hills of this

area being apparently an obstacle toit, It does not ascend the Palnis though

it is common at their east base. In Travancore Ferguson only obtained two

specimens, in the low country near Cottayam in August 1893 (J. B. N. H.S.,

xv, 264), and there is another from Trivandrum in the British Museum,

obtained by Bourdillon on November 16, 1878. North of this I have only

records from Coimbatore (Jerdon), Malappuram (Sparrow Collection), Coonoor

(Wardlaw-Ramsay) and Wynaad (Hume S.F., x. 384) and it is evidently scarce

in this neighbourhood.

There is no information on record about the breeding season in most parts of

India. Betham found 2 clutches of eggs in June at Baroda (J.B.N.H.S., xi,

316) and D’Abreu states that it breeds in June at Kamptee. About Bombay it

breeds during the rains in July and August (Barnes), April to July (Stuart

Baker) and one egg September 14 (E. H. Aitken).

We can detect no variation in the wide range of this species in India but

agree with Stuart Baker (mew Fauna i, 417) that birds from Ceylon are

smaller, We measure a ‘series from India as follows :—

Bill. Wing, Tail.

16 ¢ 18-20°5 85-91 75-85 mm.

82 18-20 82-85'5 74-82 ,,

Whereas 7 birds from Ceylon (sexing indifferent but both sexes included)

measure :—

Bill. Wing. Tail.

18-19°5 77° 5-84 68-76°5

They are also slightly darker than Indian birds. We are of opinion that this

island race should be recognised and propose for it the name.

Pycnonotus luteolus insulae subsp. nov.

Type 2 84-28 Tellula, Ceylon (W. P. Lowe). Pritish Museum Reg.

No. 1928. 6. 25. 46.

Microtarsus poioicephalus (Jerdon).

Brachypus priocephalus Jerdon, Madras Jour, Lit. Sci. vol. x 1839 (after

October), p. 246—Peria Pass, Malabar.

760 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

The above spelling was corrected by the author to potoicephalus (IN. Ind.

Orni. pl. xxxi). Stuart Baker is in error in giving the type locality as

Travancore. Jerdon says clearly ‘I only once procured this species of Bulbul

in forest at foot of the Persia pass leading from Malabar to Wynaad.’ Persia

is evidently a misprint for Peria.

This is another Bulbul with a very limited distribution along the south-

western side of India from Belgaum to Travancore, where it is a bird of deep

and swampy jungles.

In Coorg the Grey-headed Bulbul is common (Betts, J.B.N.H.S., xxxiii, 544).

In the Wynaad it is fairly generally distributed and in some localities not

uncommon, such as Manantoddy and the Peria forests. In the Nilgiris it is

generally overlooked though William Davison procured a specimen near Coonoor

(S.F., x. 384) and Cardew found it not rare on some of the slopes about 4,000 ft.

(J.B.N.H.S., x, 147). In Malabar Jerdon gives Honore as a locality and

there is a specimen from Cannanore in the British Museum.

In Travancore it occurs about 2,000 ft. and Ferguson remarks that he only

met with it in one locality in the plains, Kuttyani, an exceptional place where

the old forest was still standing. Thelocality ‘ Anjango’ on the specimen in the

British Museum is doubted by Ferguson who remarks it is applied loosely to

specimens procured by the professional native skin collectors of that place on

their trips to the hills.

Salpornis spilonotus spilonotus (Franklin).

Certhia spilonota Franklin P.Z.S., 1830-31 (1831, Oct. 25), p. 121—Between

Calcutta and Benares and in the Vindhyan Hills between the latter place and

Guru Mundela.

The Spotted Grey Creeper is not a bird of alluvial plains and is more likely

to have been obtained in the second part of Franklin’s trip. We therefore

restrict the type locality to the Vindhyan Hills.

We can find no authority for the statement (Baker and Inglis, p. 31), that

this bird ‘ occurs rarely on the extreme north-west of Madras.’

If the records are collated and plotted on a map it will be found that the

mystery with which most writers surround this species is quite unnecessary. It

has already been divided into two races by Meinertzhagen (Bull. B.O C., xlvi,

1926, p. 83). S. 5s. rajputane is confined to the Aravallis and adjacent jungles

from Mt. Aboo up to Gurgaon. The typical race is far more widely spread.

Hume stated (S.F., iii. 462) that it occurs in the Sub-Himalayan forests. This

is correct but we know very little about the species in this area. Adams says

(S.F., i, 375) that he shot two from a party of six at Moteepur village, Baraitch

District in 1868. Hodgson had two specimens taken by himself or his collectors

in the Terai of Behar and one of these is still in the British Museum as well as

a specimen collected at Gonda by Pinwel.

The typical race also occurs across the centre of the Peninsula from the

Narbudda to Chota Nagpur extending southwards to Ahmednagar on the

west and Sironcha and the great forests of the Pranhita in the east. In these

forests and in the Satpuras it certainly cannot be regarded as rare.

(Zo be continued.)

OED DECCAN DAYS*.

MY TIGER-HUNTING JOURNAL IN 1899.

BRIGADIER-GENERAL R. G, BURTON;

On March 18, 1899, having two months’ leave, I left Jalna, trav-

elling in atruck on the Hyderabad-Godavery Railway, then under

construction, and next day reached Warora, the terminus of the

railway that now runs tbroughthe Chanda District. I was joined en

route by my brother E. B. B., and we drove on to Chanda in small

carts drawn by trotting bullocks. Next morning we rode eighteen

miles to Chandur, in the Nizam’s Dominions beyond the Wardha

river. It was in the neighbouring vlllages that the man-eating

panther described in Vol. IX of the Journal by the late Mr. Inverar-

ity, a fine sportsman, had committed its depredations five years

before. Our camp, which had been sent on ahead, was pitched on

the bank of a considerable watercourse which, with its tributaries,

drained the range of mountains running East and West, the water-

shed sloping northward to the Wardha and on the south to the

Godavery. The mountains just above the camp culminated in a

peak crowned by the great fort of Manikgarh, hoary with age and

at one time bristling with guns, but now abandoned to the wild

beasts. To the south stretched for many miles a tumbled mass of

jungle-clad hills, largely uninhabited but in the valleys containing

one or two considerable towns, such as Jangaon, as well as innumer-

able hamlets inhabited by aboriginal Gonds who formerly peopled

the whole of this part of India.

In the afternoon I tramped out seven miles up the main nullah to

Kosambi. Water and cover were plentiful. I found tracks of a

tiger and two tigresses, and with dry grass took the measurements

of their pugs for purposes of identification, in order to ascertain the

numbers of the tiger population. I picketed a number of heilas

(young buffaloes) and got back to camp at dusk, very footsore,

having covered well over 15 miles. Next day there was no kill and

we picketed out more heilas. In the afternoon we went out towards

the hills and saw a sambar stag, but did not get a shot. We were

following the sambar when a herd of spotted deer appeared and

saw us as wecrouched. They were all hinds; they came walking

out of the jungle towards us, the leader barking at intervals, and all

approaching within about thirty yards. When we moved on they

followed, barking, for some time. Some gazelle were also seen.

Again next day there was no kill. There was so much jungle

that it was difficult to locate animals; but we tied up more heilas,

making 11 in all. Next morning, March 24, three had been killed

1 The first article appeared in vol. xxxiii, No. 1, p. 26.

762 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

by different tigers. The nearest was by Manoli, about two miles

from camp; the next a mile and a half farther on up the main nullah,

and the third seven miles off at Kosambi. We beat in succession

from the first. Soon after the beat began I saw a tiger come up

behind trees in E.’s direction, but he suddenly turned back, and soon

afterwards he roared and E. saw him galloping across open ground

200 yards off. I thought he had gone, but the uproar of the beaters

on that side turned him back, and he came trotting up the nullah

straight towards me, looking very angry. I dropped him close by with

a broken back and finished him off with a couple more bullets.

Soon afterwards a spotted stag galloped along the bank of the

nullah 60 yards to my left, where I shot it dead ; it dropped from the

bank into a pool of water, where both its antlers fell off. This was

curious for they should not be ready for casting but should be just

mature. We went onto beat the next place, and late in the beat a

tigress walked out of the jungle in front of me, and stood broadside

on in the open for some time 40 yards off; then she dashed forward

between us with a roar; E. rolled her over with a shot in the neck,

and I finished her with one between the shoulders. It was now too

late to go on to Kosambi, and we returned to camp.

Next morning we took beaters and started for Kosambi at

7 o'clock. Here was a fine bamboo jungle with plenty of water and

dense cover. The tigress was roused with difficulty. Then she roared

on the left of the beat where she tried to break up hill but was turned

by a Gond with volleys of abuse and much whacking on his tree

with a stick. Soon afterwards she walked slowly out and turned her

flank to me about fifty yards off, and I shot her dead witha bullet

through the shoulder. She broke some of her teeth, biting the rock

close by in her dying agony. She was a young tigress, fat and in

good condition. Next morning, thinking we had killed all the local

tigers, we beat a hill above the camp, posting ourselves on the crest

and a bear was hounded from his lair and added to the bag when he

broke cover near E, Inthe evening we were just going out to shoot a

peacock for the pot, when a Briniara came to say that a tiger had

killed a cow lower down the nullah near Dhamangaon. It was

getting late, but we hurried to the place and got into trees over the

kill, which had not been eaten. We sat about an hour after the

moon rose, and then returned to the tent. In the morning I sent the

camp on 12 miles to Sondo, and went to look at the kill. The tiger

had returned to feed during the night, and had torn out an unborn

calf which lay beside the remains of the cow. Jackals and crows

were at work on the kill, sothe tiger, a very large one from the

pugs, was not close by. I tracked him toa pool where he had drunk

water and turned back. I ringed the whole cover, and found no

marks of egress, so we beat the place, but found no tiger. We left

him for future operations and rode off to Sondo, 15 miles or more,

having lost our way in an extensive forest. The measurements of

this tiger’s pugs corresponded with those of the tiger first killed. I

shot him on the return journey.

There used to be bison here, but they had all died from foot and

mouth disease. The camping ground under tamarind trees swarmed

with ticks. The country was bare and waterless. Next morning a

OLD DECCAN DAYS 763

kill was found about half a mile from camp in bamboo jungle where

all the grass had been burnt. The beat wasempty. Tigers were

in the habit of lying up among the rocks that formed the chief

feature of the ground, but the tigress had gone off up the bank of

the watercourse ; we followed for some distance, and decided that it

would be best to sit up over the kill as it was a moonlight night.

E. sat up, but the beast did not come back. ‘The country here not

being very promising, I sent the shikaris on to Ghat Jangaon, two

marches to the south, and on the 30th we marched 15 miles to Bimbara.

Shortly after leaving Lakarkot (two huts and a good well in the

jungle) we entered a mountain pass about a mile long. Here very

heavy rain came on, and it poured for hours, We got soaked and

arrived at Bimbara in a bedraggled condition, and put up in a house

kindly placed at our disposal by the Gond Raja Sakharam. The

village is a good-sized Raj-Gond one, better built than most, We

undressed and wrapped ourselves in blankets, and dried our clothes

at fires lighted in the house. Three carts got in at 7, having started

at 12 o’clock. The camels could not get through the pass; one

slipped and feil down the precipice and was killed, and the other

was lost. Carts were sent from Lakarkot and Bimbara, and the kit

was brought in; the missing camel was found next morning. We

left Bimbara at 9 in the morning, having had every assistance from

the Raja and his people.

We passed through Wakri, where a tiger was reported to be in

the vicinity, and rode on eight miles to Ghat Jangaon. Here there

were said to be several tigers not long since, but much rain had

fallen, reports were not satisfactory, and we found only old tracks of

one tiger. In the afternoon we went out across the river which

held running water, cn the banks were numerous peafowl and

junglefowl. In the jungle onthe far side we put up two sambar

stags, but did not see them ; also a chital stag which I missed with

a running shot, Next day we rode on to Jangaon, where I had

camped and shot three or four tigers two years before ; and where

the camp was joined by a good shikari, Mir Sahib, whom I knew.

I went to picket heilas at Samela, a few miles off, and E. went out

and shot two gazelle, There was no kill next day, and I tied up

more heilas as far as Paharibanda. Much of the cover in the neigh-

bourhood had been cut down since my last visit, On April 3,

there was a kill in Gadranghat near Samela, where I shot a very big

tiger in 1897. The cover was extensive and the beat difficult to

arrange. The beat had gone on for some time, and many peafowl

had come out, when a tigress broke from the cover in front of me

and was crossing the river, coming in my direction when a foolish

stop on my left began knocking on his tree, and turned the beast

across the stream again. Fortunately she was turned back by the

stops on the other side, acd came out to E. He shot her through

the body, and she disappeared in the cover. I knew there wasa

pair, and in about ten minutes the tiger came out and took the same

line as the tigress. Exactly the same thing happened; the same

stop turned him, but he was driven back again, and E. shot him; he

disappeared in the same bushes as the tigress. I got down from

the bank on which I was posted, and we walked up the tigers and

764 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

found them both dead. After the beat two Gonds came up from

Paharibanda and reported that a heila had been killed by a tiger

during the morning. This was six or seven miles off.

We beat the Paharibanda cover at noon next day. I had killed a

tiger here in 1897. Now atiger soon came out to E., who knocked

it over. It got up, spun round and round, and I fired a shot that

broke a hind leg ; I was about seventy yards off. It then scrambled

up a big ant-hill at the foot of a tree in which E. was sitting only

twelve feet from the ground, and the tiger was consequently now

quite close to him. It tried to get at him, and might have pulled

him down but for the broken leg. It seized the small charpoy,

generally used as a machan, but on this occasion left on the ground

below, and jumping about with it, bit and clawed it, growling

angrily. However E., who had some difficulty in reloading, put in

another shot, and the tiger died with the charpoy in its jaws.

Next day we sent the camp on some imiles to the south, to

Burjum, where there were tracks of a tiger all along the road. It

had lain down not far from one of my heilas during the night, but

had not killed, perhaps because the heila had not betrayed its

presence by any movement. The shikaris declared that this was

due to ‘jadu’, a spell having been cast over it, and they changed it

for another. This was wild country, with very dense jungle and

plentiful water; there were many chital, anda herd of bison was

said to be in the neighbourhood. There was a kill on April 7.

But the location of the tiger was misunderstood and the beat badly

arranged in consequence, guns and stops being too close to the kill.

The tiger, which had been lying in a pool of water, was disturbed

and went off with a rush and a roar before we were ready to begin

the beat, and we could not find him. He killed again that night, but

had left the carcass and gone off to a distance.

On April 9, I sent my men to Balanpur, and we marched 14

miles on the way, to Waodam, and next day 9 miles on to Balanpur,

We caught some small fish in a pool in the stream with fly.

There were tigers about here, where I killed three tigers on a

previous visit, but the rain had dispersed them and there were no

fresh tracks. Onthe llth there was a heavy thunderstorm ; these

storms came on every evening, and rain was falling in the moun-

tains. ‘This made it difficult to mark tigers down. They wandered

over the hills, whereas if the season had been normal, they would

doubtless have remained in the river beds, where cover and water

were plentiful. The weather was quite cool, as it had been since

we left Sondo. On the evening of 13th the moon was visible at

fitful intervals through the massed clouds; in the far distance flashes

of lightning proclaimed thunderstorms in several directions, but no

rain fell in camp.

Next morning a kill had taken place at Mohar, and we rode out to

the big banyan tree there. A new village was in course of construction.

The kill was a mile off on the ieft of the road. A tigress came out

early in the beat, going towards E., so J did not shoot it; then another

came along the bank of the nullah opposite to me, and I dropped

it dead in its tracks, about 80 yards off. A third tiger came and

turned down into the nullah below me. I shot it through the back,

OLD DECCAN DAYS 765

and it charged straight up the bank on the top of which I was sitting ;

roaring fiercely, it was some fifteen yards off when I rolled it over

with a bullet that went in at the neck and came out under the skin of

the rump. The first animal had gone off past E. without giving him

a shot, as it kept incover. These were two almost full-grown cubs,

a tiger and a tigress ; the mother had escaped. After the beat heavy

rain fell, the sky clouded over, and lightning was flashing among the

distant hills.

A panther prowled round the camp at night, disturbing us with its

erating cry. That night there was a kill ina branch nullah to the

south, opposite the great banyan tree. The buffalo was heard

bellowing and the attacking tiger roaring during the night. The

jungle was very thick bamboo, and the beat was arranged with diffi-

culty, as we had to beat an extensive hill side. Two tigers soon

made their appearance ; they came across my front some distance off,

seen at intervals through the bamboos, and were turned by a stop

towards E., who was out of sight on the bank of the main nullah.

The tigress galloped past him, and he could not get a clear shot and

missed her. The report turned the tiger back ; he crossed fifty yards

in front of me, executing a kind of gambado, jumping about and

roaring; I shot him through the shoulder, and he dashed back

towards the beaters. I stopped the beat by whistie signal and

walked after him, and found him dead against a clump of bamboos.

This made a bag of nine tigers in three weeks, a good average.

But for the rain we would probably have got the last three sooner.

Next day there were two kills, one in the bed of the main nullah by

yesterday’s tigress ; and one in the place where I shot the two, no

doubt by the one that escaped. We beat the former cover first. The

tigress sat still in very thick jungle until the beaters came close up,

and then broke back with a rush and a roar through the middle of

the crowd. It was fortunate that none were killed. She was

evidently angry after yesterday’s fracas. We then beat the other

place, but the beast was wary and had left during the night. Next

day we sent the shikaris on 30 miles to Utnur, where I shot three

tigers in 1897, and at midday | walked a long way over the hills.

About a mile from camp I put up a large sambar stag which was

lying in the grass among some trees, and shot him as he ran. He had

short but massive antlers.

Having coilected 24 men to carry the baggage, we left Balanpur at

6 a.m.on April 15 and climbed the ghaut to Kakarbardi in about

two hours. Here we were met by carts, on which we loaded the

baggage and then marched on 14 miles to Usegaon. The carts got

in at 4 o’clock, having been delayed in changing bullocks at every

village en route. We marched by a mountain path next morning and

reached Utnur at 9 a.m. Tigers had dispersed after the heavy rain,

and only old marks were to be found. There were here three fine

lakes, on the largest of which were a lot of whistling and cotton teal,

and I also saw a pack of common teal. The Shampur nullah, where

I shot two tigers on my last visit, had been cleared of jungle and

spolit, The village of Shampur was deserted. In the evening we

shot some teal; the sky then grew inky black, and there was thunder

and lightning in the surrounding mountains. At nine rain began to

766 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

fali and a steady downpour continued for some hours. The Gond

Raja, an old friend, and his son called this day, and we returned his

visit. He lived in a small house built amid the ruins of the old fort,

where his ancestors who once ruled the country had resided for many

generations. They had made the great dam which held inthe water

that formed the big lake, and giant banyan trees, the growth of

centuries, were now growing all along it.

Green grass growing a foot or inore in height every where showed

that much rain had fallen. I was told that before the rain bison

came nightly to feed in the rice-fields below the bund of the lake but

they were not now coming as there was plenty of grazing in the

jungle. We walked out through some fifteen miles of forest to the

south to look for bison; there was said to be a herd and a solitary

bull, but we found only old tracks and the jungle seemed to be

singularly destitute of game. We saw only achital hind. It rained

nearly all night, just like monsoon weather, most unusual at this

season. However next morning there was a kill in the Durgapet

nullah, but the tigress went out through the stops, and was viewed

only a couple of hundred yards off, going fast, tail in air. That

night a tremendous thunderstorm came on and flooded us out of our

tents. We moved into some deserted Hindu temples, of which there

were three, one built on granite columns, an excellent residence, In

front was a mosque in which my sepoys took up their abode. The

oldest inhabitant said that this also was once a Hindu temple, but the

Muhammadans had taken a cow and cut its throat there and so

desecrated the whole group of buildings. However, the two creeds

seemed now to be at peace, and the Raja’s ‘ prime minister’ was a

Mussalman. In a thicket close by I found the remains of a calf

killed by a panther which, I was told, had gone into a hut at Pangri

a few miles off where a woman, a child, and a dog were sleeping

alongside each other. The beast seized the child and dragged

it some distance before being driven off. There were tigers

about, and one was heard roaring on the 22nd, but they wan-

dered far in this cool weather when there was water every-

where. We fished several times in the lakes, and caught a

number of small fish of various kinds. One might spend a very

pleasant month at this place, fishing and shooting, especially if one

had a boat. There were large murrell and piran in the lakes

as well as many crocodiles, and there must be plenty of wildfowl

in the cold weather. One night a heila was killed by wild dogs in

the Durgapet nullah. We left Utnur on April 25, went up the

mountains and marched 28 miles to Dhobia, arriving at 9-30 p.m.

Next morning we went onto Ara, about 20 miles. There was no

village between the Gond hamlet of Dhobia and Kolari near Ara,

Tne whole country along the river between Ara and Nagalgunta was

deserted. It contained some fine jungle, but these great uninhabited

forests are not good for tigers, nor can beaters be obtained. There

was, however, some good ground near Dhobia, and the nullah running

down from that place to Keri Meri contained several tigers. On the

road beyond Dhobia we saw tracks of a tigress and cubs which had

passed by in the night. And farther on the way we found marks of

a tiger and a tigress and old tracks of a bull bison.

OLD DECCAN, DAYS 767

It was scorching hot on the way to Ara, where we arrived at three

o’clock, but the baggage did not come in until seven.

The road down the mountains below Dhobia was very bad, diffi-

cult for both carts and horses. Rain had fallen everywhere; the

ground was carpeted with long green grass, and nearly all the trees

had burst into foliage, giving the jungle the aspect it wears during

the rainy season, and all most unfavourable for the purposes of the

expedition. Next morning we went a long round and picketed heilas

in many good-looking spots. A cow had been killed a mile from

camp, but we saw from tracks that it was a panther’s kill. A villager

said there was a pool of waterin the hills. I went a few miles tothe

head of a deep ravine and found four-day-old marks of a big tiger

which had drunk at the pool and had lain down in the grass close by.

I tied up a heila. The jungle was very dense and mostly bamboo,

and all green after the heavy rainfall. On April 29, it was cool and

cloudy.

We discovered a wild Gond living with his two wives and children

in the jungle near Kolari, <A rupee and a tot of whisky were admin-

istered to and appreciated by him. ‘This Kanha was a veritable wild

man of the woods. He told me there were some bison in the neigh-

bourhood, and one solitary bull which he saw attacked by a tiger who

got the bull by the throat but was flung off and put to flizht. He

said that this tiger attended him when he was out hunting, and that

whenever he shot anything the tiger came straight to the sound of

the gun in order to try and get the game he killed.

On April 30, I got up at 4-30 and walked three miles to Kolari

where Kanha the wild Gond met me. Some miles farther on we

turned in towards the hills, at the foot of which were many tracks

of bison, including the solitary bull, but none less than three days old,

We climbed the hills and went along the top for some miles but saw

only four hornless sambar; one was lame, and apparently had a

broken ieg, which Kanha said was the result of one of his shots.

There was very dense and extensive jungle at the foot of the hills,

and the bison may have been in this, but Kanha declared they had

been frightened off the ground to a distant jungle by a tigress whose

tracks I saw on the road below. On reaching camp at midday, I

found news had come in from Samela, near Jangaon, where I had a

picket posted, that there had been a kill in the night. We started at

12-30 and rode ten miles to Samela. ‘The kill was half a mile up the

nullah from the place where we shot the two tigers on April 10,

and where I killed a very fine tiger two years before. This latter

had splashed through the water and climbed the bank at my feet

about ten yards off, and rushed into dense cover when shot through

the body. Following on spots of blood I found it dead about a hun-

dred yards on, stretched across a smali nullah.

We now arranged a beat down the main nullah, E. being posted

in the best spot where he had an extensive view. The tiger came

within a hundred yards of him and then turned up the bank. Fortu-

nately I had placed here my syce, a very reliable stop, who just

broke a stick, the crack of which was enough to turn the tiger down

again. It then stopped some time in long grass in front of E. until

the beaters approached, when it came on and he shotit. He wasatthe

re)

768 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

bottom of the nullah in a tree, and the smoke hung so that the tiger

could not be seen lying dead for some time, until the air cleared.

This was one of the few occasions on which I have known inconven-

ience caused by using black powder. We both shot with Holiand

‘500 Express rifles, taking five drams of powder and a 440-grain

bullet. The cover was very thick after the heavy rain. It was in

this nullah, I was told by Mir Sahib, that Colonel Ludlow, late Ins-

pector-General of the Nizam’s Police, had a shikari killed some years

before. ‘The colonel had knocked over the tiger and told no one to

go near it, as it was still alive. A Rohilla went upto it and was

fearfully mauled and died the same night.

On the way back we found tracks of a tiger on the road two imiles

from camp. ‘The day was very hot, and the weather showed signs of

improving, the wind having changed. ‘The tiger we had shot this day

was old and thin; he had no fat, and his jaw was furnished with long

yellow fangs, one of which was broken. At night when lying awake

I heard peafowl] calling; probably a tiger was on the prowl. In the

morning I was taken very ill, perhaps from eating fish caught in the

nullah. There was a kill near Indani, in a watercourse running from

the north, by the big tiger of Ara. The beat was an easy one, and

the tiger should have been killed without difficulty. But after the

stops had been posted, one of the shikaris, who often made mistakes,

went too close to the bank of the watercourse and disturbed the

tiger, which went off at once. That night the same tiger was prowl-

ing, and I could follow his track by listening to the call of the peafowl

taken up in one cover after another. ‘There were three kills, one in

the hills, one ten miles off at Samela, and one in the Nisani nullah,

seven miles off, by the Ara tiger.

We rode off to Samela, where the kill was close to the scene of the

last tiger’s death. But we beat all the neighbouring cover in vain.

[ heard a peafowl call at one point, and the tiger must have sneaked

off to some distant cover. I had got to Samela with difficulty,

having a bad attack of fever, which necessitated a halt of an hour on

the way. Next morning, May 3, we started at 9 o’clock to beat up

the Ara tiger at Nisani. J had a terrible attack of fever on the way,

but was supported on my horse by two men, and on arrival sat on the

steep bank of a wide nullah, while E. and the shikaris arranged the

beat. Soon after the beat began a fine tiger came through the

bamboos behind me; he had tried to break out, but had been turned

by Rajaram sepoy, and now, panting heavily, trotted close past

where I sat hidden by a clump of bamboos, and rushed down the

steep bank below; I knocked hiin over with a bullet that broke his

back, and finished him with another shot. This was one of the best

I have killed; he was very heavy and powerful, witha great ruff

round his head, 9 feet + inches in length. My measurements were

always taken between upright pegs at the nose and tail, and the

longest tiger I killed in the Deccan was 9 feet 8 inches long,

including 3 feet of tail; but the biggest skull of those killed this

season belonged to the 9-foot tiger shot on April 30.

It is a curious circumstance that the fever had passed off by the

time this beat was over, and I was able to ride six miles to look for

the tiger which had killed a heila in the hills. The beat was very

OLD DECCAN DAYS 769

difficult in extensive and intricate jungle and almost impracticable

ground ; the tigress went out to one side, and was not seen. Another

kill took place at Samela next day, but this was by the tiger we had

already hunted more than once, and he did not stay in the cover, so

we went ten miles and back to no purpose; I then withdrew my

picket from Jangaon. On the 6th we sent the shikaris on to Sondo

on the return journey, and in the evening went out up the Ara river,

where we saw only spotted deer and peafowl. ‘This was one of the

most beautiful watercourses I have seen, having great forest trees on

either side, the deep stream flowing between banks clad with

bamboos and carpeted with verdure.

Next morning we started at 4-30. Rain was again falling; we

marched 14 miles to Bimbara, and on May 8 to Sondo. MHere

there were no signs of tigers, and we moved camp next day to

Chandur. The Lakarkot pass, where our camel fell and was killed

as already related, was again flooded, and on the way to Chandur we

were drenched during a tremendous thunderstorm. ‘There was a

kill by a panther in the main nullah, and my shikaris saw a pack of

about 30 wild dogs in full pursuit of the panther which they had

driven from its kill. They had apparently denuded the jungle of

game. Inthe evening I saw a wild dog and pup at the remains of

the kill, and made a bad miss; the dog gave vent to a cry when

fired at.

On the morning of the 11th we walked eight miles up the nullah.

One of our heilas had been killed by wild dogs, but there were no

tracks of tigers. However, there was a kill beyond Kosambi, at the

head of the nullah, on the 13th. In the beat the tiger soon put in an

appearance, his presence being announced by the swearing of

monkeys in the trees. He tried to break out to my right, and was

only turned back after a great deal of noise by sepoy Rajaram and

other stops in the trees, in front of whom he remained quite five

minutes roaring fiercely at intervals. At iength Rajaram threw his

shoes at the tiger, which galloped out grunting angrily, straight

towards me. I shot him through the head and he plunged forward

sprawling for five yards, when a shot in the neck finished him. He

was a fine old tiger with a light-coloured coat, nine feet three inches

long. I cut off his head, which now hangs in my hall. This

finished the expedition. On May 17, I was back at Jalna, where I

was at once laid up for sixteen days with fever. In those days I

took no mosquito curtains in to camp. It was generally supposed

that mosquitoes sucked the fever out of one instead of pumping it in !

The bag of twelve tigers was not a bad one. But nine were killed

in the first three weeks, and none between April 15 and 30.

The unseasonable rains no doubt interfered with sport, making the

jungle spring up green and dense, and filling all the waterholes, thus

inducing all game to wander, and making it difficult to mark down

tigers. With normal weather the bag should no doubt have

amounted to eighteen or twenty, and, as it was, two or three tigers

which should have been shot were lost by bad luck or bad

management.

There is a certain amount of sameness “in an account of an

expedition of this nature. But it gives some idea of the sport to

770 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

be met with in those jungles south of the Wardha river which it was

never my fortune to visit again. It may be gathered that sport

can only be assured by hard work, and by constant vigilance;

and even then one is much at the mercy of stops and beaters.

Stops sometimes lose their heads, or misunderstand their directions,

however thoroughly these may have been impressed upon them.

But when all is said, the sportsman is greatly indebted to these

poor men who, for a mere pittance, cheerfully and willingly

undertake the great labour of beating in wild and _ intricate

jungle, unarmed and in considerable danger from the wild beasts

which they drive from their lairs. And now, more than thirty years

after, I recall them and my shikaris and other followers with

grateful remembrance and admiration.

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA.

RK; he: POCOCK;, FERS:

(Onotficial Assistant in the Zoological Department of

the British Museum.)

Part I.

(With 11 text-figures.)

EUROPEAN AND ASIATIC REPRESENTATIVES OF THE BROWN BEAR.

(Ursus arctos.)

INTRODUCTION.

The Structural characters of Bears.

The Bears or Ursid@e are a well-defined family of the Carnivora and

are generally so well known that only a brief introductory notice of

some of their structural characters is required to explain the meaning

of some of the terms employed in the description of the genera and

species.

They arelarge or medium-sized, heavily built, comparatively inact-

ive beasts with erect, rounded ears, relatively sinall eyes and a well-

developed area of naked skin, the rhznzarium, round the nostrils.

The rhinarium varies in different kinds of bears; but typically it is

like the corresponding organ in the Canide (Wolves, Jackals and

Foxes), and divides the upper lip by a narrow strip of skin, the

philtrum. The lips, however, differ from those of the Canidz, and

indeed from those of all other Carnivora, so far as is known, by

being loose and protrusible, owing to their edges in front being free

from the gum. Also the tactile vibrissee which are well-developed

on the muzzle, above the eyes and on the cheeks in all predatory

Carnivora, are short in the Bears or reduced to practically function-

less vestiges. The tail is quite short, serving the purpose merely of

an anal operculum; and the anal glands, which are iniportant and of

large size in most related Carnivora, like the weasels, badgers and

dogs, are absent or negligible in size. The external genitalia are

like those of the Canide, the prepuce being situated far in advance

of the scrotum and the penis provided with a long, stout bone.

The attitude of pairing is asin the Canidz; but the operation is not

followed by ‘tying’ as in that family.

I have compared the Bears more particularly with the Dogs

because the two families are known from fossil remains to be nearly

related and descended from the same stock. But unquestionably the

most marked external difference between them lies in the feet.

Dogs have short narrow paws with symmetrically paired or ‘ artio-

dactyle’ digits of which the 3rd and 4th are considerably longer than

772, JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

the 2nd and 5th. Inthe hind foot the heel is raised high off the

ground, the area between it and the main plantar pad is covered with

hair and the first digit is undeveloped. In the forefoot the first digit,

except in the African Hunting Dog (Lycaoz), is present but is always

small, a functionless vestige in fact and is set some little distance from

the second and is never in contact with the ground when the animal

is Standing or onthe move. ‘The dog is naturally a predatory hunter

and his feet are fashioned for running and leaping and have short,

strong claws which grip the ground. The gait is described as

‘digitigrade’, the body being supported on the plantar pad and the

digital pads of four toes. The feet of the Bears are entirely

different. They are short and broad, provided with five subequal

A. Underside of right fore foot of young Red Bear (Ursus arcies tsabellinus) ;

d digital pad; p plantar pad; ct external carpal pad; c’ internal

carpal pad.

P. The same of the hind foot. d and ~# as in A ; mf, metatarsal pad

(The hair clipped short to reveal pads.)

The paws of other genera of Bears will be figured in subsequent parts of

this paper.

digits, the pads of which are disposed in a lightly curved line in front

of the wide plantar ped, all of thein being in contact with the ground.

They are armed with long, powerful, curved claws, used for climbing,

digging and fighting, the claws of the forepaw, which are more

required for those purposes, being about twice as long as those of

the hind paw. When walking on all fours a Bear applies the digital

and plantar pads of the forefoot to the ground, just as a Dog does.

Usually the heel of the hind foot is slightly raised, but it is so close

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS, OF LUROPE AND ASIA . 773

to the ground that the animal looks as if he were walking ‘ flat-foot-

ed’. When clumsily galloping he appears, at times at least, to use

the entire sole of the hind foot for propulsion; and when standing

erect in bipedai fashion, an attitude easily assumed on account of the

freedom of the knee from the body, the whole sole, back to the heel,

is employed for support. For these reasons the gait of a Bear is

conventionally described as ‘plantigrade’. But that teri is some-

what misleading. It is not true of the forefoot and suggests a

greater difference than actually exists between the gait of a Bear and

of an ordinary digitigrade Carnivore.

The skulls of many youngish bears in dorsal profile are unmistaka-

bly like those of dogs, especially domesticated breeds with the

cranium vaulted. Structurally the most important difference lies in

the external bone of the ear which in the dog has a high, inflated

bulla and no appreciable tube to the orifice whereas in the bear the

bulla is flat or comparatively slightly inflated and is produced externally

in the adult into a long, bony tube with terminal orifice. The teeth,

however, of the two animals are profoundly different. Numerically

they are the same above and below, the dental formula on each

side being 73, ¢1, gmt, m3. The incisors (2) and canines (c) require

no special notice; but the premolars (fm) and the molars (#2),

together constituting the check-teeth, are modeiled on totally different

lines in compliance with the differences in diet of the animals. The

Canidz are predatory flesh-eaters, with typically carnivorous denti-

tion, the fourth premolar above andthe first molar below, called the

‘carnassials ’, being the largest teeth of the jaws, set far back at

the ‘point of greatest mechanical efficiency’ and provided with

high, compressed, blade-like cusps. The premolars infront of the

carnassials, except the first which is small, are tolerably large teeth

with compressed sharply-cusped, cutting crowns. The two molars

above and below at the back of the jaw are smaller than the

carnassials especially in the lower jaw, and comparatively flat

crowned, the last of the lower jaw being practically functionless,

while that of the upper jaw, although larger and functional, is much

smaller than the first molar which precedes it.

The cheek-teeth of the Bears, on the other hand, are essentially

adapted for the mastication of hard or fibrous vegetable substances,

like roots, grasses, nuts and fruits, although the diet consists also to

a great extent of soft fruits, honey, insects and flesh. None of the

teeth has cutting blades, and the ‘ carnassials’ are not differentiated

either by size or function. ‘The fourth upper premolar, correspond-

ing to the enlarged, trenchant carnassial of the dog or wolf, is a

comparatively smali tooth with two or three blunt cusps and two

roots only; and, as Miller pointed out, differs from that of all other

Carnivores, not only in being two-rooted but in being set forwards

in the jaw in front of the ante-orbital foramen on the muzzle, well in

advance of the ‘ point of greatest mechanical efficiency.’ The first

of the three lower molars, representing the lower ‘ carnassial’ of the

wolf, is, however, a large, long, broad tooth, with a low cuspidate

crown. This andthe two molars behind it and the two molars of

the upper jaw opposed to them, all having low, crushing, bluntly

cuspidate and tubercular crowns, are conspicuously the largest and

774 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol, XXXV

principal cheek-teeth, the first three premolars, above and below

being small and comparatively functionless, one or more of them

PIG. 72;

A. Side view of skull of European Brown Bear (Ursus arctos arctos) a to 6

total length ; a to c condylo-basal length ; 2.0. infra-orbital foramen.

B. ‘Teeth of right side of upper jaw of Red Bear (U. a. tsabelliuns). 7 inci-

sors ; €¢ canine ; a2 premolars ; 7 molars,

C. Teeth of left side of lower jaw of the same. Lettering as in B.

being frequently shed before old age supervenes. In the particulars

mentioned above, the dentition of the Bears is absolutely distinctive

of the family.

In addition to the Bears mentioned 1n this paper there are only two

well-marked existing genera of the family, namely the Polar bear of

the arctic and the so-called Spectacled bear (Tvremarctos ornatus) of

South America. Blanford, however, in his volume on The Mammals

of British India (p. 205) assigns to the Ursidz a beast, inhabiting

Moupin, which he cites as 4#luropus melanoleucus. This animal,

now known as A7zluropoda melanoleuca, is the so-called Parti-coloured

Bear or Giant Panda. ‘The latter titie is decidedly preferable

because the animal, although superficially resembling a small bear

in size and shape, differs so profoundly in dentition and other

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA 779

structural features that it must be excluded from the family and

associated rather with the true Panda, its resemblance to the bears

being a case of adaptive convergence.

THE DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERS AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE

EUROPEAN AND ASIATIC BLACK AND BROWN BEARS.

In his volume on 7he Mammals of British India, Blanford referred

the four species of Bears inhabiting that area to two genera: Ursus,

comprising the Brown Bear (U. arctus or arctos), the Himalayan

Black Bear (U. torquatus or thibetanus, as it is now called) and the

Malay Bear (U. malayanus), and Melursus, comprising the Sloth Bear

(M. ursinus). In this he followed the example of most of his pre-

decessors; and, like them, he attached great importance to the

absence of the two median upper incisor teeth in differentiating

Melursus from Ursus. ‘This classification is, however, open to the

criticisin that the evidence supplied by the skull and forefeet shows

A. Jaws of the Malayan Bear (Helarclos malayanus) showing the short

muzzle and the enormcus canines with consequent crowding of the

premolars.

B. The same of the Himalayan Black Bear (Selenarctos thibefanus) with

longer muzzle and nearly complete dentition.

C, The same of the Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus) with still longer muzzle

and complete, more primitive dentition, (The dotted line is a tangent

from the front edge of the orbit to the upper molar teeth.)

448 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATORAL HIST. SOCTE TVA Volo.

that the kinship between the Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus) and the

Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) is closer than the kinship between the

latter and the Malay Bear (Ursus malayanus). Horsfield, indeed,

perceiving that the characters of the Malay Bear were of generic

importance, had as early as 1824 separated it from Ursus as Helarctos.

These distinctions did not appeal to Blanford; but they are deep-

seated ; and the genus Aelavctos is admitted at the present time by

every zoologist familiar with the group. The Himalayan Black

Bear, as it is somewhat inappropriately called, also receives deserved

generic status under the name Se/enarctos, assigned to it in 1901 by

Heude, who distinguished it from Uvsuws by the already known

differences between the two in cranial characters. Being un-

acquainted with Heude’s work I proposed the name Arcticonus for

the same bear in 1917, separating it from Uvsus by a well-marked

difference in the structure of the forepaw which I pointed out in 1914.

Thus each of the four species described in Blanford’s volume is the

representative of a distinct genus. The distribution of the four

genera is interesting, Uvrszs is, or was, foundall over Europe, temper-

ate Asia and North America, mostly in forested districts to the south

of the area occupied by the Polar Bear (7a/larctos maritimus). Along

its southern limit in the Oid World it just overlaps everywhere the

range of Selenarctos which extends from Baluchistan through the

Himalayas and thence through China and the adjoining continental

islands at least as far north as Amurland. To the south of the range

of Selenarctos occurs Melursus in Peninsular India and Ceylon and

Flelurctos in Burma, Siam and thence southwards to Java and Borneo.

These two genera are the only Asiatic representatives of the family

which are exciusively Oriental in range.

By cranial, dental and external characters the four genera may be

readily defined.

The following is an analytical key, based on external features by

which properly preserved skins may be at once determined :—

a, Carpal area of the forefoot with. a single, cordate

external (ulnar) pad and at most a small internai

(radia!) pad or area of naked skin representing it.

Digital pads more closely united, sometimes completely

fused.

6. Carpal area thickly overgrown with long hair sur-

rounding the externa! pad and concealing the

internal ; area between the digital padsand plantar

pad on both feet overgrown with long hair ar:‘sing

typically from four interdigital mats. Rhinarium

with philtruam and without valvular nostrils:

muzzle hairy to the lips which are only moderately

protrus_ble ae eran P-S1USee

O°. Carpal-area and the area between the fused digital

pads and the plantar pad naked ; rhinarium with-

out philtrum and with valvular nostrils; lips

almost naked and highly protrusible ... .. Melursus.

a’. Carpal area of forefoot occupied by a sirgle large .

piriform pad, with ulnar and radia] elements obscurely

indicated, as wide as the plantar pad and nearly or

quite as long externally

c. Ears, as in. Ursus and Melursus, long expanded,

basally tubular and mobile and strengthened by

vertical cartilaginous ridges; rhinarium and lips

nearly as in Ursus ee aig ... Selenarctos.

LHE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND-ASIA 777

c’. Ears short, not expanded, not tubular basally,

hardly mobile and without vertical cartilaginous

ridges ; rhinarium and lips in a measure adap-

tively foreshadowing those of Melursus rien. ‘CLOLATCLOS.

Key to the genera based upon aduit skuils :—

a. The whole skull short and broad, its mastoid width

equal to the length of the palate + the mesopterygoid

fossa, or longer ; tympanic bulla convex, its width with

the auditory tube about equal to the length of the

upper cheek-teeth ; these teeth short but the canines

and incisors relatively very large, the basal length of

the upper canine at least as long as the last upper

MOlAE oss sae eee as rented CLOT CLOS:

6. Skull longer relatively to its width, its mastoid width

seldom exceeding the palate ; tympanic bulla flattened,

its width with the auditory tube much iess than the

area of the upper cheek-teeth ; canines and incisors

relatively smaller, basallength of upper canine, except

in Melursus, less than length of last upper molar.

a*, Median upper incisors present; palate flat or only

slightly concave between the cheek-teeth, which are

comparatively larze, so that the length of its post-

dental portion is much less than that of the last

three upper cheek-teeth ; anterior premolars re-

duced ; last upper molar larger than the first.

c. Jaws shortin comparison with the cranium proper;

cheek-teeth less strongly cusped and set farther

back so that the anterior edge of the last upper

molar is not in front of the antero irferior edge of

the orbit oe bs se .. Selenarctos.

c', Jaws longer in comparison with the cranium ;

cheek-teeth more strongly cusped and set more

forward so that the anterior edge of the last

upper molar is in front of the antero-inferior edge

of the orbit - 2 ~UTSUS,

6*, Median upper incisors absent ; palate markedly vaulted

between the cheek-teeth, which are set forwards

and reduced in size, so that the length of the post-

dental portion of the palate is not less than the

length of the last three upper cheek-teeth ; anterior

premolars less reduced ; last upper molar subequal

to first ... ase a ba ... Melursus.

Note on the Analytical Keys. ‘The key based upon external features has the

advantage of applying to cubs as well as to adult and old bears. This is not

true of the key based upon cranial features which alter greatly with age and

seem to continue to vary throughout the life of the individual. The skulls of

cubs of all species are much alike apart from minor differences; but there is no

difficulty in distinguishing the skulis of adults. Afelarctos and Melursus show

exceedingly well-marked features ; but Se/enarctos and Ursus are not sosharply

defined. As in the structure of the paws, so too in the skull and teeth,

Selenarctos unmistakably comes rearest to Helarctos and Ursus to Melursus.

Under the headings ‘a’ and ‘6’ of the second table the proportion between

the mastoid width and the median palatal length is used as a character. ‘The

difference is best marked in Helarctos, where the mastoid width greatly

exceeds the palate, and in J/e/ursus where it is much less. In Selenarctos and

Ursus the dimensions are on the average tolerably subequal; but in both genera

the mastoid width may surpass the palate. In the case of Se/enarctos this is due

to the shortness of the palate accompanying the shorter jaws of that genus. In

the case of Ursus it is due to excessive development of the mastoids which

occurs sometimes in very old animals.

778 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV-

Ginus Ursus, Linn.

Ursus, Linn, Syst. vat, ed. 0: p: 47,9758. Gaspar) eeviiilen Caz

Mamm. Western Europe, p. 285, 1912; Pocock, Proc. Zool. Soc.,

1914, p. 940.

Myrmarctos, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1865, p. 694.

Ursarctos + Melanarctos, Heude, Mém. Soc. Hist. Nat. Chin., IV,

pt. I, p: 48, 1898.

Mylarctos, Lonunberg, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1923, p. 85.

Speleus (Goldfiiss), Sowerby, Journ. Mamm. 1, pp. 224-232, 1920

It is needless to repeat here the generic diagnosis of Ursus given

in the tables printed above.

Notes on the synonymy. In Miller’s Catalogue, above quoted, he

cited Myrmarctos and Ursarctos as synonyms of Ursus but omitted

Melanarctos Heude proposed for the black Manchurian pear named

cavilrons. This is dealt with below under the race of Brown Bear

described as U/. arctos lasiotus. The two last names on the list were

i i

ayitnay

{

y {

Muy yap |

ray,

al BR Men pe bide vit

i ees ae

Fic. 4.

Base of ear of European Brown Bear (U. a. avctos) with hair removed.

The same cut open to show the ridger.

The rhinarium, or nose, of Grizzly Bear (U. a. ferox) from Montana.

Front view.

D. ‘The same from the side.

The ear and nose of other genera of bears will be figured in subsequent

parts of this paper. oS x

OW >

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND. ASIA 779

introduced since the publication of the Catalogue and reasons for

their dismissal must be given.

Mylarctos was proposed by Lonnberg for Ursus prutnosus, Blyth,

because he considered it differed from Ursus, typified by arc/os, in

the following particulars :—

1. (a) The digital pads of both fore and hind feet are fused

nearly to their distal ends so that the hairs from the

sides of the toes do not project downwards between

them.

(6) The hairs between the digital and plantar pads are

arranged in four interdigital patches or mats, leaving a

smooth, hairless strip of skin passing from the digital

pads to the plantar pads.

2. The teeth, especially the molars, are relatively and actually

much larger. This is demonstrated by several dimen-

sions taken from the two examples of pruznosus available

to him for examination and from others recorded by

Leche, as compared with dimensions of Swedish bears

and of one skull of the Mongolian bear (/aszotus).

My reasons for rejecting MWy/arctos are as follows :—

1. (a) An example of psuznosus, in the British Museum, from

the borders of Tibet and China (Capt. Nell Malcolm)

has the digital pads separated precisely as in typical

Ursus arctos.

(6) An example of Ursus arctos has the hairs on the space

between the digital and plantar pads disposed in patches

or mats exactly as described and figured by Loénnberg

as distinctive of M/ylarctos. | .

as The skull of an example of pruzvosus, from N.-E. Lhasa,

of approximately the same age as Lénnberg’s young

specimen from S.-W. Kansu, has relatively and aciually

much smaller teeth, the last lower molar being visibie

practically in its entirety in profile view and unconcealed

in its posterior portion by the ascending process of the

mandible. Moreover, the tables of tooth-measurements

published below show compiete intergradation in size

between the teeth of Avaznosus and those of other

races of Ursus, notably U. arctos lastotas and yesoensst.

In 1920 A. de C. Sowerby attempted a revision of the Bears of this

group inhabiting Eastern Asia, and admitted 1? ‘ species’ referable

to 2 genera, Ursus and Speleus, distinguished by the shape of the

forehead. Unfortunately, the author’s acquaintance with Bears and

the material at his disposal were alike small. The shape of the skull

varies profoundly withage, sex and in adult individuals of both sexes

fromthe same district and as a character is not even of specific

value; and as regards the 12 ‘ species’, Sowerby fell into the funda-

mental fallacy of assuming that Bears from the same locality are

alike in colour and cranial features. ‘The coat, in colour and other

characters, varies greatly according to the season and to a less extent

780 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

irrespective of season. These points will be dealt with under the

‘various headings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RACES OF Uysus arctos.

Ursus arctos, Linn.

Ursus arctos, Liann., Syst. Nat., ed. 10, I, p. 47, 1758, and of subse-

quent authors including Miller, Cat. Mamm. Western Europe,

pp. 285-297, 1912.

Distribution. Europe, North and Central Asia, N. America.

Following Lydekker, I regard all the bears, generally described as

‘browns’ and ‘grizzlies’, inhabiting Europe, Asia and North

America, as members of this species, some of the technically de-

scribed forms representing subspecies or local races.

THE EUROPEAN BROWN BRAR.

Ursus arctos arctos, Linn.

Locality of Type: Sweden.

Distribution : Europe; eastern range into Asia unknown.

In Miller’s volume, above quoted, more than a page is devoted to

the names given by authors to supposed species, races or varieties of

the European Brown Bear. It is needless to repeat all the names

with bibliographical references, but the following may be quoted to

indicate the seasonal, local or individual variations in colour, which

were regarded as of systematic significance. Some of the names,

too, were based on differences in skulls, due to age or sex.

Niger, Gmel., N. Europe; major, Nilss., S. Scandinavia ; mzzor,

Nilss., N,. ‘scandinavia; drunzneus, annulatus, argenteus, myrmeco-

phagus (=formicarius), Billb., N. Scandinavia; norvegicus, Fisch.,

aureus, Fitz., eversmannt, Gray, Norway ; polonicus, Gray, Poland,

badius, Schr., Bohemia; fuscus, Gmel., rufus, Borkh., alpinus, Fisch.;

Alps ; pyvenaicus, Fisch., pyreneus, F. Cuv., Asturias, Spain. The

bear of Barbary has been named crowthert,

Considering the wide range of this bear from north to south in

Europe, it is possible that more than one local race has been

developed. But the available material is insufficient to establish this

conclusion; and since the species has been killed out in all the settled

districts and is apparently very rare even where it still lingers, it is

improbable that skins and skulls will ever be procured to demon-

strate whether the Barbary, Pyrenean, Alpine or Bohemian brown

bears differ from the typical Scandinavian bear or not. Cabrera,

however, claimed that the Spanish bear differs from the typical

Swedish race in its black legs and the different proportions between

the length of the skull and the zygomatic width. (fauna Ilberica :

Mamm., p. 152, 1914.) The last-mentioned character, however, is too

variable with age to be trusted and the legs are deep brownish black

in the skin described below from Lake Ladoga, which from its distri-

bution should be typical U. a. arcios.

Comparatively recently, Altobello recorded the brown: bear from

Abruzzo and Molise in Italy, naming it Ursus arctos marsicanus

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA 781

(Fauna Abruzzo e Molise, Mamm., p. 15, 1921; Rend. Un. Zool.,

p. 32, fig. 1924; Anz. Ist. Technic., pp. 15-16, fig. 16, 1926). He

distinguished it from the typical form because a skull of it differed

from the unlocalised skull U. a. arc/os, selected for iilustration by

Miller, in having a shorter sagittal crest. But this character, being

in my opinion, a matter of age or individual development, has no

systematic value.

Of European bears referred to the typical race, there are only four

in the British Museum.

1, A mounted specimen from Sweden (Earl of Selkirk, 1840), in

new winter coat. General colour uniformly pale brown, the

tips of the hairs duli buff with a greyish glint in certain

lights ; the basal portions of the hairs and the underwool

dark brown but this tint only showing when the coat is

artificially disarranged. Legs deep brown. No trace of a

white collar. Claws black.

The mounted specimen is 34 ft. at the shoulder.

2. Flat skin from Bihar, Hungary in new winter coat. General

colour uniformly drab brown, the tips of the hairs showing

up vividly as whitish buff under reflected light, especially

on the head, neck and fore quarters. But on the back the

pallid tips of the hairs are less extensive and not so pale,

being scarcely in evidence on the shoulder-mat which is the

same dark brown hue as the basal parts of the hairs else-

where. The underwool greyish brown. The head is

greyish buff; the legs dark brown and glistening. A patch

of wholly white hair on the side of the neck showing trace

of acollar. Claws black. The hair on the back is about 34

inches, on the flanks 44 and on the mat and neck 5.

3. Skin from the Engadine in old thick and tufted winter coat.

Generai colour very grey, but mottled where the hair is

parted by tufting. The basal portion of the hairs darker

than in the preceding specimens, almost blackish brown, and

more strongly contrasted with the tips which are more ex-

tensively pallid and decidedly greyer, apparently bleached.

The underwool greyish brown. Legs darker than in

preceding specimens, the fore legs almost blackish brown.

The ventral surface pale brown, the hairs with grizzled tips.

Claws not so black, tinged with pale horn colour.

4. Lake Ladoga (Ivor Montagu, B. M. No. 29-5-24-1). Skin of

a subadult female in summer coat, with little, if any, under-

wool. Head golden brown. General colour greyish brown,

mottled where the hair is disarranged showing the dark

brown bases of the hairs on the back and the paler brown

bases on the flanks, the tint variable with the fall of the

light; the rump noticeably reddish brown. No white

collar. Legs rich blackish brown.

Skulls. In the following table are given the principal measure-

ments of the skulls in the British Museum, those of the cranium

being given in English inches, those of the teeth in millimetres. The

legends of the figures of the skull explain the terms applied to the

782 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

different regions. It may be added that since the total length of the

skull depends upon the development of the occipital crest, a muscular

ridge subject to variation, the condylo-basal length is a_ better

criterion of size. ‘These remarks apply to all the tables of cranial

dimensions published in this paper. Also, it must be explained, the

collective measurements of the last 3 upper cheek teeth (fm* + m1 +

m*) and of the last 4 lower cheek teeth (m, + 12, -+ m,-+m,) varies

in accordance with the curvature of the tooth-row. Intwo skulls, for

instance, in which the teeth are individually of the same length

respectively, the series, if straight in one skull, will be a little longer

than in another in which it is curved.

Skull in English inches.* Upper teeth Lower teeth

in millim. in millim.

a= — + —_____- St

| ‘

§ a io a eo

socality and § = | ee

pipeuacescm aia cso) sks ecrsilfesrciltvesh ee iene ithe |e

oe) Se| SU) sui sc | Se leo] 4s Ba) ss

B22 OS IN EIS E Sele Seis eo Sere

\ \

Sweden, old fo | 148) 13°38) 99 17 | 374 322 OSS sal Ay e7 on22< 15

Russia, subad 1145) 13'S! 7:6)/6°24) 3— >.) 7271375620)" 22125 16

Sweden, ad. @i3°8 | 12°97) 7 874s1G'3" fl Adages 65 |30* 16) - 75 23:13

- SVOUNS (PVF | ace |) dae ATS cee || ea RA SD ie Silene oles

Olonetz, Russiats| |

Olde ety 2: 1S ioe2 3 a 66 130 al fanlizzoels

Norway, young §|/12°6) 119) 7+|/5+ | 2:8) 2°8 2 (GAO an Zo x5

Lake Ladoga, |

supad, 2 WIZ i ell7 1e0./e 0-1 2°6.|, 2°85: 667181 x16) 7o4123 03

Norway, ue Bes eal 6°3 /4°6 271+ see 63: 129 <i6;° 68 122 x 12

Engadine, Oo cee WALO* 21982 1G, 254 ae 61 |29x17| 68 )21~« 12

Transylvania ad. Q|12:3/11:7| 7-4|54 | ... | 28 | 69 [34x 16} 75 |24x14

. ad. @| 12:1} 11:5] 6915 2:6 | 2:8) 68 [34x17] 77 |23x15

,, young TON Sal es OnO7 0 2 Sulaca G5. | SIX 18) a7 onl2 oe

rma ammeter mmmmaamaaaaaaaatama,

1 The measurements are taken as follows :—Total length from the edge of

the muzzle above the incisor teeth to the end of the sagittal crest ; condylo- basal

length from the same point to the posterior edge of the occipital condyle ;

zygomatic width across the zygomatic arches; mastoid width across the

mastoid processes ;inter-orbital width, the narrowest point between the orbits ;

maxillary width, the width of the muzzle just above the socket of the canine

teeth ; the last 3 upper and the last 4 lower teeth, their total length as situated in

the jaw; the last upper tooth and the penultimate lower tooth, their greatest

length and width.

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA 783

Lee OLS < @ ij. j

Sa as

: CD

ee a { =: oe

er) —-~--

—— =

Le | ao =,

Cpe OCA) Woes =

0.C.

mas.

m.pt.

HiGwo5.

Upper fig, Lower view of skull of European Brown Bear (after Miller). mAé.

mesopterygoid fossa ; 2yg. zygomatic arch; and 7 auditory bulla; mas.

mastoid process ; 0.¢. occipital condyle.

Lower fig. Upper view of the same. max. maxilla; zt. ord, inter-orbital area ;

w. waist ; Sag. sagittal crest ; 0.cs. oecipifal crest.

(These figures and fig. 2 show the points where measurements are

taken.)

784 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATUKAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

The first skull on this list, the largest in the collection of the

British Museum, is that of an old male (Earl of Selkirk, No. 218a),

with the teeth much worn. Its occipital crest is broken and its

—.

a ee

yee, r ee

Hic; 16;

Profile variation of the upper surface of the skull of the European Brown

Bear.

A. The old male skull from Sweden (Earl of Selkirk).

B. The adult male from Sweden (Lloyd).

C. The adult male from Olonetz, Russia (Lataste).

recorded total length has been inferred from analogy to be just under

15 ins. It has an unusuaily flat frontal profile, the brow being in no

way inflated by air-cells. The second on the list, a Russian skull, is

in the United States National Museum, and was measured by Miller

who, however, did not record the total length. This I have inferred

from the condylo-basal length. It is evidently a youngish skull as

attested by the narrowness of the zygomata and the open basi-

occipital suture mentioned by Miller. It would probably have reach-

ed or surpassed 15 ins. when full-grown. The longest Swedish

skulls measured by Loénnberg (Proc. Zool. Soc. pt.1, p. 94, 1923) were

from 144 to just under 15 ins. I can find no record of a skull of

Ursus arctos surpassing 15 ins., skulls from 14 to 15 ins. being large.

Miller’s Russian skull also has exceptionally large, probably unworn,

teeth. The total length of the last 3 upper cheek teeth of this skull,

recorded in the tabies is the sum of the 3teeth measured separately

by Miller. The third skull on the list is that of an adult male from

Sweden (Lioyd, No. 62. 3. 29. 7). It is considerably shorter and

narrower than the Earl of Selkirk’s, but wider than Miller’s Russian

skull, although not so long, and the teeth are much smaller; but the

fourth, a young, probably male, specimen, with the same history

(No. 62. 3. 29. 8), has considerably Jarger teeth, nearly as large as in

the Russian skull. The fitth skull from the Province of Olonetz

(Lataste Coll., No. 19. 7. 7. 3609), although unsexed and compara-

tively small, I regard as a male on account of its shape. It is

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA 785

noticeably ‘high-browed’ from the inflation of the frontals between

the post-orbital processes, with a marked concavity at the base of the

muzzle. Itdiffers most strikingly in this particular and in size from

the Earl of Selkirk’s Swedish skull; but the Swedish skull, No. 3 on

the list, is almost exactly intermediate between the two in both these.

particulars. ‘The sixth skull from Telemarken, Norway, preserved

in the Royal College of Surgeons Museum, is not mature, the cranial

sutures being unfused and the teeth, which are large, unworn.

The skulls of adult females I have seen are smaller, between 12

and 124 ins. long, and narrower everywhere. They also show no

inflation of the frontals and may be described as low-browed, the

dorsal profile sloping tolerably evenly from the highest point near the

middle of the crown to the end of the muzzle. The teeth, however,

are approximately as large as in the males. I have seen no quite

adult female skulls from Scandinavia; but there is one very nearly

full-grown from Lake Ladoga in Russia (Ivor Montagu, No. 29. 5.

24:1). A series of three from Transylvania does not differ from

it in any way suggesting that they may represent a distinct local

race.

From an examination of these and other skulls in the British

Museum I can find no reasons for the adoption, as indicating

subspecies, of any of the names that have been proposed for the

European bears. The individual variation in the size and shape of

the cranium and of the teeth in specimens from the same or nearly

adjoining districts is very striking and shows the untrustworthiness

of the characters that have been used by systematists for the

differentiation of the European bears into species and local races.}

Fic, 7.

Variation in the shape of the mesopterygoid fossa in the European Brown

Bear.

A. A youngish specimen from Bihar, Hungary.

B. An adult specimen from Transylvania.

2 Examination of the skulls of the bears of the Ursus arctos group enumera-

ted in this paper from Europe and Asia forces me to reject, without hesitation,

the conclusion that the closely related bears, ‘ grizzlies’ and others, of North

America are divisible into all the host of species and subspecies that have been

established on craniai and dental characters.

786 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Other characters are also subject to variation. As an instance I may

cite the mesopterygo'd fossa which may be either long and narrow

or short and wide, as shown in the subjoined sketch of this region in

skulis from Hungary and Transylvania, districts too near and too

similar in physical features to permit, in my opinion, the conclusion

that two different kinds of bears are concerned.

In conclusion I may repeat that the material in the British Museum

completely corroborates the statements of Miller and Lonnberg

regarding the variability of the skulls of the typical European race of

Ursus arcios. Lonnberg, indeed, criticising Soweiby’s views on this

point, wrote:—‘ We have... from the same tract of southern

Lapland skulls with a straight profile and others with the profile just

as concave as Heude’s figure of cavzfrons.’

THE SYRIAN BEAR.

Ursus arctos syrtacus, Hempr. and Ehrenb.

Ursus syriacus, Hemprich and Ehrenberg, Symb. Phys. I (unpaged)

pl. 1, 1828. Quoted by most subsequent authors

but apparently not accurately known to them.

U/ysus schnittet, Matschie, S22. Ges: Wat. 7+. Berlin, 1917, py 33.

Locality of type of syrvziacus: near the village of Bischerre,

Mt. Makmel, Lebanon.

- - i schmitzt: Mt. Hermon.

Hemprich and Ehrenberg described this bear as smaller than

U. arctos arctos and paler in colour. The typical specimen, killed in

July with the moult in progress, measured 3 ft. 8 ins. and was not

full-grown. Its colour was uniformly yellowish or greyish-white,

the tips of the hairs being white and their basal portions mostly

yellowish or pallid buff, but some of the hairs all white; the

coat mottled with ‘ fulvous’ owing to the basal portions of the hairs

and the very scanty underwool of that tint being displayed by the

shedding of the dead white tips in patches or by their disarrange-

ment. Near the claws the hairs greyish or ‘ palely fuscous’. The

claws varied with white and grey bands, those of the forepaw

19 ins. long, of the hind paw 1:3 ins. The naked skin of the

nose and lips greyish flesh-coloured, not black. Hairs generally

shortish, 4 ins. on the shoulder-mat, 2 to 3 ins. elsewhere.

Hemprich and Ehrenberg saw other skins of this bear and

said its colour may be al! ‘ fulvous’ or sometimes almost brown.

Ursus schmtizt, Matschie, was described as a‘ species’ distinct

from syrzacus because of certain supposed but, in any case

valueless differences in colour; and since Mt. Hermon is only a

short distance to the south of Mt. Lebanon, there are not, in

my Opinion, any good reasons for considering that schmztz? is even

racially distinct from sy7zacus.

A number of names have been given, principaliy by Russian

authors, to so-called races of bears from the Caucasus and Transcau-

casia. ‘These were based partly upon colour, partly upon cranial

variations and size of teeth. The results reached are hopelessly at

variance and, in my opinion, eminently unsound ; but owirg to the

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA — 787

scanty material at my disposal I am unable to disentangle the

confusion. The only contribution to the question I can make is an

epitome of the conclusions with my reasons for dissenting from them

resling upon such information as I possess regarding bears’ skulls in

general and upon the material at my disposal from Caucasia, Asia

Minor and Syria in particular

Ursus arctos var. meridionalis, Middendorff, Verhandl. Russ, Kars

Mineral, Gesellschaft. 1851, p. 80.

The name meridionalis was apparently used by Middendortf

originally as a comprehensive title for three southern brown bears,

pyrenaicus, syrtacus and isabellinus, but since he expressly mentioned

the Caucasus as its locality, probably because he had a skuil or

skulls from that part of Russia, and since subsequent authors have

restricted the name to Caucasian bears, I sce no reason to interfere

with that application of it.

Middendorff regarded this bear as distinct from the European

variety, which he called 2ormalzs, because the smallest skulls of it are

one-twelfth shorter than those of the typicalform. Hewas concerned

with cranial characters only and gave no information about the

colour of meridionalts.

Radde (Fauna und Flora des Caspt-Gebieles, p. 6, 1886) wrote of

meridtonalts as occurring not only in the district of Talysch on the

south-west coast of the Caspian but generaily throughout ‘Transcau-

casia. The colour is almost entirely pale, varying from light dirty

yellowish grey to fawn and reddish grey-brown, intergrading more

or less with that of syrzacus. In size the bears vary considerably.

It is important to note that Radde definitely applied the name

meridionalits to the pale bear of Transcaucasia which approaches

syriacus. Since he was apparently the first author to describe the

colour of this race, I abide by his decision.

Further evidence of the generally light hue of Caucasian bears

‘was supplied by Grevé (Vov. Act. Acad. Leop. 63, p. 225, 1895), who

wrote of pale specimens from that region exhibited in the Zoological

Gardens, Moscow. This author, like some of his predecessors and

successors, seems to have thought that two species of the Brown

Bear may live separate lives, without interbreeding, in the same

district. At all events he assigned the bears of Europe and northern

Asia to one ‘brown’ species Ursus arctos, including merzdionalis

from the Caucasus ; and the bears of south-western Asia to another

‘Grey’ species Ursus syriacus, which:inhabits the Caucasus, Trans-

caucasia, Asia Minor, Palestine and Mount Elburz and Shiraz in

Persia. But in view of Radde’s earlier application of meridionalis to

the pale Caucasian bear, Grevé’s ascription of it to the ‘ brown’ bear

cannot be entertained.

Amongst the synonynis of syvzacus Grevé cited ‘ caucastcus Schrank

[Schrenck]’, a name which seems to have no status. He said that

Gray regarded Middendorff's meridionalis and Schrank’s (sic)

caucasicus as races of arctos. Gray, it is true, admitted meridionalts

as a ‘ subvariety ’ of avctos (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 662; Cat. Carn.

Brit, Mus., p. 220, 1867); but he did not mention caucasicus. Troues-

sart, misled apparently by Grevé, also quoted ‘caucastcus, Schrenck’

(Cat. Mam, I, p. 241, 1897); but he gave no bibliographical reference

788. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATCRAL HIST. SOGLE LYSOL aXe

to it. I too have failed to trace it in Schrenck’s essay on Asiatic

bears (Reise Amurland, 1; Sdug., p. 7, 1858.)

As will be shown below, the name caucasicus was later resuscitated

by Smirnov without reference to its previous introduction by Grevé.

Between 1896 and 1914 Satunin discussed the bears of the Cau-

casian area with various changes of opinion. His first record was

the occurrence of three races, namely typical Ursus arctos, U. arctos

meridionalis and U’. arctos syriacus. He gave the name meridionalis

to ‘very pale coloured’ bears of Transcaucasia; but apparently

included syrzacus on the authority of Hemprich and Ehrenberg, whose

diagnosis he abridged, giving its distribution as Transcaucasia from

the Black to the Caspian Seas (Zool. Jahrb. Syst. 9, p. 292, 1896).

Subsequently he united these two under the name mmerzdionalis which

he described as ‘ for the most part very pale’, and excluded syrzacus

from the Transcaucasian fauna (Mitth. Kauk. Mus., 2, p. 287, 1905).

Later in the same volume (p. 374) he wrote: ‘the dark Transkauka-

sian and Persian bears I consider to be merzdionalis.’ This change

in the application of the name merzdionalis was, in my opinion, quite

unjustifiable in view of Radde’s ascription of the name meridionalis

to the pale Transcaucasian bear, as mentioned above.

Satunin’s next move in 1913 was to introduce the name

lasistanicus for the pale Transcaucasian bears (see Mitth. Kauk.

Mus., 8, p. 5, 1914). And in his last paper (Conspect. Mamm. Imp.

Ross. 1914, pp. 93-94), the two names meridionalis and lasistanicus

appear to symbolise the bears of this district of Asia. But daststant-

cus falls as a Synonym of smerzdionalis as defined by Radde.

The truth no doubt is that Caucasia is a transitional zone, so far

at least as the colour of its bears is concerned, between typical

U. arctos arcios and U. a. syriacus. Some years ago the Zoological

Gardens received from a donor, who brought them from the

‘Caucasus’, two young bears of the same age and size and very

likely cubs of the same litter. One was darkish brown and indistin-

guishabie from living specimens I have seen from northern Russia ;

the other was pale tawny like so-called ‘ Syrian’ bears.

Satunin’s conclusions were based upon a study of skins. His

Sticcessor, Smimov (Sull. W7us. Cause. 12, pp. 1092133, 1919),

worked at the skulls with the result that he came to different

conclusions and increased the number of named forms even to the

extent of introducing a quadrinominal title to express one case of

cranial variation. He admitted the following forms :—

(a) U. arctos arctos, from western Ciscaucasia.

(0) U7. a. Vat. caucasicus, Nov: (—U. 4a. meridionalis,, WHdde

U. a. arctos, Sat.), from the main chain of the Caucasus

and Borjom.

(2) U. a. meridionalis, Midd., from the median region of south

Europe, northern slopes of the main chain of the

Caucasus, western and _ south-eastern Transcaucasia,

N. Persia.

(e) U. a. laststanicus (=syrtacus, Sat.), from 8.-W. Transcauca-

sia, where it is most numerous, Lazistan and probably

almost everywhere in the habitat of merddionalis. . .

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA — 789

It is needless to reproduce the description of these supposedly

distinct forms of bears. They are based almost wholly upon

differences in the shapes of the skulls and the size of the teeth.

Smirnov fortunately published a series of photographs of the skulls

of all of them, except /aszstanicus. ‘These photographs, although

small and obscure, are sufficient to show the main features on which

he relied. The evidence that these skulls represent geographical or

environmental races amounts, in my opinion, to very little. From

what I have seen of the skulls of bears, I should say that they

represent stages of developinent that could be closely paralleled by

almost any good series of skuils of Ursus arctos from any country,

the differences between them being due partly to differences of age,

partly to use, greater or less, of the cranial muscles, partly to innate

individual variation. The skull assigned to U. a. arctos resembles

tolerably closely the adult male Swedish skull (Lloyd No. 62.3.29.7)

described above, but is very different from the flat-browed Swedish

skull presented by Lord Selkirk (No. 218a) and from the high-browed

skull from Olonetz. The one labelled dzzzzki is like the one labelled

U. a. arvctos but is not quite so hollowed in front of the brows and

has a lower sagittal crest. The type skull of caucasitcus, which is

indicated as a new race although the name was published years

previously by Grevé, is a massive high-browed skull recalling in

shape the skulls from Kamschatka described below under beringianus

and also the Olonetz skull of U. a. arctos. The skull identified as

mertdionalis looks like a young-adult skull which by the develop-

ment of the sagittal crest and a few more air-cells in its brow

would, when mature, have closely resembled the skull of caucaszcus.

The photographs are mostly too obscure to show the degree of

fusion of the cranial sutures; but in several cases, the two

frontal bones are disunited, a sure sign of incompleteness of deve-

lopment.

Ognev [Nature and Sport in Ukraine (transl. of Russian title),

pp. 4-5, 1924], who followed Smirnov, still further confused the

question by using dzzzzkz as a quadrinominal of U.. a. caucasicus and

lasistanicus aS a quadrinominal of U. a. mertdtonalis.

Ursus arctos smirnovt, Lonnberg (Sartryck ur Fauna och Flora

Populér Tidskritt for Biologi, pt. I, p. 28, 1925). This name

was given to the bear from the northern slopes of the main chain of

the Caucasus identified by Smirnov as meridzonal/s and represented

by the undeveloped male skull above referred to. As stated above,

I do not consider that any systematic importance should be attached

to the shape of this skull.

Ursus arctos persicus, Lonnberg (Sartryck ur Fauna och Flora

Populér Tidskr for Biolog?, pt. I, p. 28, 1925). The type

and only known example of this alleged race is the skull of a cub,

with a highly vaulted, convex crown, from Mazanderan, N.

Persia, south of the Caspian. It was described as new on account

of the large size of the teeth. The last three upper cheek-teeth

(pm * +m + m*) measure 735 mm., the last (m7?) being 37 by 194

mm. ; and the last four lower cheek-teeth (fm 4+ m, +m ,+m 3)

measure 82 mm. ‘These dimensions, both inthe upper and lower

jaw, exceeded by 7 mm. the corresponding teeth of a skull of syriacus

790 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

cited by Lénnberg in confirmation of the novelty of persicus. But

the value of the character is considerably lessened when the teeth

of persicus are compared with those of the Syrian bears, first and

second on my list, printed below, the difference being merely a

question of 54 mm. in the upper jaw and4 mm. in the lower jaw.

The differences, indeed, are less than those between the second and

third skulls on my list, both of which are ticketed ‘Syria.’ My table

moreover, of the skulls of European bears shows a difference of 6

mm. in the upper and lower jaws in the two Swedish specimens, the

third and fourth on the list; and the table of Kamschatkan skulls,

all of about the same age with tolerably similarly worn teeth, shows

a diltference of 12 mm. inthe upper and 11 in the lower teeth. It

may also be noticed that the size of the teeth in Aersicus agrees very

closely, individually and collectively, with the largest teeth of the

European brown bears recorded in my table.

As above stated, the immature skull of Jersicus is highly vaulted.

It slopes somewhat steeply backwards to the occiput from its highest

point well in front of the parieto-frontal suture and rather abruptly

and convexly over the forehead to the base of the muzzle above. In

this particular it differs noticeably from the immature skull from the

Trebizond district of Asia Minor recorded below. In this skull the

dorsal profile has its highest point farther back, approximately coin-

ciding with the parieto-frontai suture. From this point it slopes

steeply backwards to the occiput and inclines forwards at a gently

sinuous slope, almost uninterrupted in steepness, to the tip of the

nasals. This skull, indeed, looks as if it would have grown into

the ‘low-browed’ type, whereas the skull of persicus looks to be

potentially ‘high-browed ’, like caucasicus of Smirnov.

The only skin in the British Museum from S.-W. Asia, is that of

a young male from Sumela, 30 miles S. of Trebizond, 1,000-1,300

ft., Oct. 10th (A. Robert, B. M., No. 6.3.6:29). “Whe coat is tolerably,

thick, with moderately abundant underwool. The general colour of

the body, above and below, and of head is whitish grey, but more or

less mottled with darker hue when the hair is disturbed. On the

shoulder-mat and for a short distance in front and behind it the tips

are brownish and here the long hairs are blackish basally ; but low

down on the flanks the basal portion is brown. The underwood is

mostly pale brown, darker along the mid-line of the back. There is

no white collar. Muzzle brown, darker than head. Limbs pale

brown, becoming darker towards the paws. Claws black, slender

and unworn, on forepaw 1:7 in., on hind paw about 3? in. long.

Head and body, measured in the flesh, just over 34 ft., tail 14 in.

Hair about 3 in. long,

In its generally whitish-grey hue this bear closely resembles

Hemprich and Ehrenberg’s figure of syrzacus, but it differs from their

description of that race in the dark hue of the basal portion of the

hairs, the browner legs and mid-line of the back, the blackish grey

claws and the black nose and edges of the lips.

From its whitish-grey colour and its locality just to the south of

the eastern end of the Black Sea, I identify this bear as U. a. mert-

dionalts, following Radde’s application of that name to the pale bears

of Transcaucasia which Satunin subsequently called /aszstantcus ,; but

ZHE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA 791

the evidence that merzdionalis is racially distinct from sy7zacus is as

yet inconclusive.

The following are the principal cranial and dental measurements

of the skulls from Syria, Asia Minor and the Caucasus in the British |

Museum :—

Skull in English inches. Upper teeth Lower teeth

in millim, in millim.

HN Seen —-—-4A—--, a eee

. =

ny | |

4 | is

j 4 if Q e

Locality andsex =. |". 4 |g a a oe s

ae. (Ovi oS oi og — fa 5 fe 3

Sw al ag eg isu 4g/ay) awe les) es

(OR | OR] bs SH) gs SZ. | go cae) 6 oO

Ss | OS IN ees SS a eens) aS 2) 2

Syria = f immat.| 134/124] 75 611! 26] 3.4) 68 [34~48) 78 [23x14

7 Qad. | 124/110-7/ 68) 61] 2:7] 25168 |34x17) 78 24x15

i Qad. | 11-4] 10-4) 6-2-| 49] 23] 25] 62 [30x35] 72 |22x14

Smyma Qad. |120/11-2| 75| 59! 271 26] 65 |g1x17| 71 l21x24

Trebizond J cub. | 86} 8'4| 49 | 3-7] 2:0! 2:0] 68 [33x17 74 |23x14

Caucasus ¢ immat. 11°-4/10°8| 67] 49] 2-4] 2-4 | 65 34x17) 73 |23 x 14

| 41 (or

curve)

Caticasis,; NoSlope:) JIG) 10'S 1 G7 S91 1277" 12°6 64 |32x17| 72 |22x14

2 old. + | |

No two of these skulls are alike and none resembles precisely any

one of those figured by Smirnov. I can detect, moreover, no

character in shape or in cranial and dental measurements distinguish-

ing them collectively from the Swedish, Russian and Transylvanian

skulls above referred to U. arctos arctos. Brief notes on them, there-

fore, will suffice. The Syrian specimens (1010 J; 1010 g, 60.4.23.4 ;

1010 a, 52.3.2.7) came from the Zoological Society ; but there is no

proof that they were menagerie-reared. The first appears to be that

of amale. It is not fuli-sized and, ailowing for the age-difference,

closely resembles the Swedish male skull (Lloyd, 62.3.29.7). Like

the rest of the skulls it-is low-browed. The other two from Syria,

both adult, I take to be-females. The third has unusualiy small

teeth, like the skull from the Engadine, but their smallness is not

due to wear. The Smyrna skull (H. A. Wittall, No. 2.5.7.1) is fully

adult. The fifth on the list, belonging to the skin, above assigned

to meridionalis, from Sumela, 30 miles 8. of Trebizond (No.

6.3.6.29), is quite young. The sixth, collected by St. George Little-

dale and merely labelled Caucasus, I take to be the skull of a sub-

adult male. It has a highly vaulted cranium very like that of the

skull named persicus by Lonnberg and recalls skulls of similar age of

the Himalayan race- zsabellinus on the one hand and some skulls of

the European race on the other. The last on the list came from the

792 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

north-western slopes of the Caucasus (St. George Littledale, No.

87.12.22.1). It is an oldish female with scarce a trace even of facial

Fic. 8.

Profile variation of the upper surface of the skull of Brown Bears of Asia

Minor and the Caucasus.

A. Old female from the north-western slope of the Caucasus (Littledale).

B. Immature, probably male, specimen from the Caucasus (Littledale).

C. Young- -aduit male from Smyrna.

sutures and is indistinguishable from female skulls of U. a. arctos

from Transylvania.

The Brown Bear of Baluchistan. (Ursus gedrosianus.) A bear

which for geographical reasons must not be lost sight of in the

present connection is Ursus gedrosianus, described by Blanford from

an imperfect skin secured at Tump, 70 miles north of Gwadar on the

Mekran coast, Baluchistan. (Proc. As. Soc. Bengal, 1877, p. 204, and

Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 46, p. 317, 1877). According to Blanford, the

colour of this bear was dark rufous brown, like European examples

of Ursus arctos, with the shoulders and outer sides of the limbs darker

than the back, the muzzle whitish, the tip of the chin white and a

white semicircular collar on the breast but not produced in front of

the shoulder. The coat was thin, short and harsh, 14 ins. long on

the body and 24 ins. on the shoulder.

The rest of the story of this bear, of the subsequently received

specimens Blanford assigned to it!, which induced him to relegate

the name gedrosianus to the synonymy of the Himalayan Black bear

(Selenarctos thibetanus), on the supposition that he had been deceived

into describing it by the ‘ discoloration’ of the skin of the type, will

be told fully under the account of that species. It is, however, quite

clear from the description of this skin that, with the possible exception

of the breast-collar, the characters recorded, e.g. the colour and the

presence of the long hair on the shoulder, agree much more closely

1 Blanford’s material of this bear has disappeared. I wrote to the

Calcutta Museum to inquire for the skins and skulls but was told they are not

there.

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA 793

with those of the Brown bear (U. avctos) than of the Himalayan Black

bear. Finally I may add that Mr. C. E. Capito, formerly of the

Anglo-Persian Oil Co., informed me that he was well acquainted with

a small ‘brown’ bear, like the European animal, frequenting the

hills of southern Persia to the north of the Gulf, a habitat very similar

to ‘the arid districts of the Mekran coast’ whence the type of

gedrosianus came. Blanford candidly admitted that he was quite

unable to account for the occurrence of so essentially a woodland

species as ¢hzbefanus in such an unlikely locality.

Concluston. So far as I can judge from the material at my

disposal and from the accounts published by other authors, the bears

of Asia Minor and Syria merely differ from the typical Brown bear

of Europe in being on the average paler in colour, intermediate

specimens occurring in the Caucasus and perhaps in northern Persia.

THE SIBERIAN BROWN BEAR.

Ursus arctos collaris, Cuv. & Geoftr.

Ursus coliarts, Cuvier and Geoffroy St. Hilaire, Afzst. Nat. Mamma.

pt. 42, pl., 1824; Zadl. Gen. p. 3, no. 212, 1842.

Ursus arctos var. stbtricus, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p, 682;

id. Cat. Carn. Britt. Mus. 1869, p. 219. .

Ursus arctos jeniseensis, Ognev, Nature and Sport in Ukraine

(transl. of Russian title), p. 4, 1924.

Locality of type of collaris: Siberia.

. es stbiricus (if any): Siberia.

i “f jentseensts : Yenissei Prov., C. Siberia.

Judging from Cuvier’s illustration, the type of this bear when

figured, was carrying a long and apparently tufted winter coat. The

general colour of the head and body is yellowish brown, mottled

with darker streaks where the deep-tinted bases of the hairs and

underwool are shown, On the neck is a very broad whitish collar

which not only passes over the nape in front of the shoulder-mat but

apparently extends forwards to the back of the head. There is also

a pale stripe onthe flank behind the axilla and elbow of the fore-

leg. The legs are black and sharply contrasted with the brown body.

This bear has sometimes been united with U. arctos arctos, some-

times with U. a. beringianus, sometimes regarded as a distinct variety.

Provisionally, I give it racial status because it differs from all the

examples of those two subspecies I have seen or read about in the

great extent of the collar on the sides and nape of the neck, asso-

ciated with black legs. .

Its greatest interest perhaps lies in its resemblance to some exam-

ples of Aruinosus. The latter, as explained below, has black legs

contrasted with the paler flanks, dark under-hair and frequently a

pale area behind the axilla associated with a broad collar which may

extend over the nape in front of the withers although never so wide

on this area as in collaris. .

Gray seems to have projected the name szbzricus into ursine litera-

ture on the strength of his knowledge that the Brown bear occurs in

794 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Siberia. He did not apparently associate it with any definite speci-

men. ‘Trouessart, wrongly so far as I can ascertain, assigned the

name szbzricus to F. Cuvier, thinking apparently that that author had

so entitled the ‘ ours de Sibérie ’, which, in reality, he named collaris.

Gray did not assign the name to Cuvier or indicate that he nimself

was the first to introduce it and all that he said to give the name

systematic status was that the bear is ‘in all states and ages

brown’.

The suggestion made from geographical considerations, that jez7-

seensis May bea synonym of collarts is a mere guess on my part.

The sub-species was based upon what I consider to be valueless cra-

nial characters, and cannot be compared with collaris, the skull

of which is unknown.

THE KAMSCHATKAN BROWN BEAR.

Ursus arctos beringianus, Mid.

Ursus arctos var. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, Zool. Voy. ‘ Venus’ Atlas;

Pl. 4, 184-, text, p. 121, 1855.

Ursus arctos var. beringtana, Middendorff, Szbzr. Rezse, II, pt. 2,

p. 4, pl. 1 hes) 1—5,.1s53.

Ursus piscator, Pucheran, Rev. Mag. Zool. 1855, p. 392.

Ursus mandchuricus, Heude, Hist. Mat. Chin. 4, pp. 23-24, pl. 17,

figs. 1-1° 1898.

Ursus arctcs kolymensts, Ognev, Nature and Sport in Ukraine

(transl. of: Russian title), p. 6, 1924.

Locality. of type of beringianus: Great Shantar Island, Sea of

Okhotsk.

piscator: Petropaulovski, S. Kamschatka.

mandchuricus . Near Viadivostock in Man-

churia.

kolymensis: Kolyma, N.-W. of Sea of

Okhotsk.

Distribution: Manchuria northwards round the Sea of Okhotsk,

thence southwards into the Kamschatka Peninsula.

The first recorded example of this bear was a brown cub captured

at the southern extremity of Kamschatka, near Petropaulovski, and

brought alive to Paris, where it was seen, when 4 years old by G. St.

Hilaire and described as ‘very dark brown, paler on the muzzle and

throat, but deeper even black on the posterior part of the back, the

flanks, croup and limbs, the claws also being black and the collar

absent.’

Pucheran named this bear Ursus piscator without contributing

anything fresh to the information regarding it or giving reasons for

dissenting from Geoffroy’s view that it was a mere variety of the

conimon European Brown Bear.

Middendorff gave the name deringiana to two skulls, one of a very

old male from Great Shantar Island, the other of an apparently

adult female from the adjoining mainland of Uda Bay, on the Okhotsk

Sea, in Amurland,

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA 795

Fic. 9. J

Claw of forepaw of exampler of the Brown Bear (U7sus arc/os), referred

to in the text.

BOOW >

Of the type of U. a. shanorum. Captive specimen.

Of a typical Brown Bear (U. a. arcetos) from Lake Ladoga.

Of a Red Bear (U. a. isabellinus) from Gilgit.

Of a Tibetan Blue or Snow Bear (U. a. pruinosus) from Kansu.

Of the type of a Manchurian Black Bear (U. a. /asiotus) Captive

specimen.

Of a Kainschatkan Brown Bear (U. a. beringianus).

The British Museum has a couple of good skins, procured in

Kamschatka by St. George Littledale, and a fine series of skulls from

the same country, most of them received from the Museum in

St. Petersburg. It is the evidence supplied by this material that

induces me to believe the names der7ngzana and pzscator were given

to the same race of bear.

The skins show the following characters :—

A weil-preserved dressed skin (No. 0. 10.16.2) has the coat

exceedingly long, between 5 and 6 ins., with the underwool

mostly moulted. The colour is very varied, mottled

especially on the flanks owing to the natural disarrange-

ment of the loose coat displaying the darker basal and

lighter apical portions of the long hairs. Muzzle buff with

whitish sheen ; browner roundthe eyes. Hairs on cheeks,

neck and flanks with long greyish buff tips, the bases not

very dark, the general tint being greyish brown; but the

dorsal area, including the ‘ shoulder-mat’ and the fore

part of the back is darkish brown, the tips of the hairs

being only a shade paler than the rest, but on each side of

the ‘mat’ the tips are nearly white, thus emphasising the

796 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

dark hue of the ‘mat’. The legs from the elbows and

knees are brownish black and there is no white collar.

The claws are black, those of the forepaw 2:3 ins. long,

of the hind paw 1°3 in.

This skin evidently very nearly resembles the example

described by Geoffroy St. Hilaire, the type of jpzscator,

Pucheran.

2. A mounted specimen (No. 0. 10.16.1), possibly a little

faded, shorter, coarser and closer in the coat and much

paler and more uniformly buffish brown in hue, the paler

tips of the hairs everywhere concealing their darker bases,

which are especially darker on the back, hardly darker on

the flanks. The muzzle is buffish grey, there is a brown

rim round the eye but no white collar. The legs, apart

from the paws which are dark brown, are the same tint as

the flanks.

This bear, standing 34 ft. at the shoulder, is indistinguishable in

colour from the mounted Swedish example of U. arctos arctos standing

alongside it, except for the dark ring round the eye.

Further evidence that ‘brown’ is the prevalent colour of the

Kamschatkan bear was supplied by Noack who stated that skins he

had seen were pale coloured, like syrzacus (Zool. Anz. 1903, p. 643)

and by Lonnberg’s*description of some skins as ‘ brown, brownish-

grey or lighter’ (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1923, p. 93). Sowerby’s statement

that a number of skins he saw from Manchuria were ‘ brown’

induces me to add the name mandchuricus, given by Heude to a

Manchurian specimen, to the synonymy of beringianus rather than to

that of daszotus, since all the available evidence regarding J/aszotus

points to its being black.

The dimensions of some skulls assigned to: deringzanus are

as follows :—

Upper teeth Lower teeth

Skull in English inches. in millim. in millim.

SS ———A.— -— th

a | EE

bo OG |S

a es ; fo | AS

Locality and sex) = 77) >= qa gc | Sg es sie ee

Tan) Be |e | ar is) : a) ae eg te OO

8 a a rel head DT om ee rl 7 ovo nm O a) oO q ae)

O 08 io ey See ie is 8 ri Eo oe

BS 1O° IN fa |e =a | 4 ln ales

Shantar Isl., ad. ¢/ 16°8| 14°7| 10°8| ... B54) 8329 1 75 36 «20

Wssuni). “lady | 05-7 | 14-8) onee le age ase ee | ee

Kamschatka,

oldish ¢ | 16°6| 15 SB as, 4-1) 3°6! 84 |39x21) 92 |26x17

“5 vy | LS 4a 43) Soe) 28723 | 3253) 23°50 70 11395020) e 80120 x6

3 wy ot 144 113:8 | 88 on 322) 3-2) 7213619). Si 124. 15

' ff | 1471138) 9°38] 7°41 3-7] 3:51 74 oe 86 26x15

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA 797

Skull in English inches Upper teeth Lower teeth

in millim. in millim.

(i EI SSS

[wee | |

| bt |e c= |

Locality and sex _ Be pS es fa 5 | rar | pe

Sa ats | as SelOu] ~ jee) & SaaS

|S JEE/SE/2e 122] ¥ [a8] a8 les Bs

Sy iS a as Bee tee ae One

| SO oS aa lS =a | a Sam) kek

{ { \

Kamschatka, | | | |

aged §|15°5| 144) 97)| ...-| 3613°6+| 73 (84x19) 82 |24 14

young (?)f)13 [126] 71; 55] 27] ... | 73 |34x 19) 83 [25x14

Udd River, adult 2 | -... ee 68! ... | 28| 29 |

in | |

Kamschatka, | | |

oldish 2 | 13°5 12°6 | FO SO 3 3°1) 68 |33 x19) 78 |24 x 16

» young?) 12 11s) 69) 5:3 a | 71 [85x17] 78/2314

The dimensions of the skull from Shantar Island are taken from

Middendorff's figure of the type of deringtanus. It is an old skull

with the teeth a good deal worn. Similarly, the dimensions of the

skull from Ussuri in Manchuria are taken from Heude’s figure of the

type of mandchuricus. In both these cases the measurements are no

doubt only approximate; but in my opinion they supply no data

justifying the view that these bears are distinct from each other or

from the series from Kamschatka in the British Museum. The first

and considerably the largest of these is actually longer in condylo-

basal length than the type of deringtanus, but the latter skull exceeds

it a little in total length owing tothe growth of the occipital crest

with age. It is also considerably wider everywhere, especially

across the zygomata. These differences are also attributable to age.

The condylo-basal length of the type of mandchuricus, from Ussuri,

compared with its total length and zygomatic width, suggests

that it was not quite full-sized. Its measurements agree very closely

with those of the Kamschatka skulls. The first three of these were

received from the Petrograd Museum (No. 88. 2. 20.13.15). The

fourth came trom Lataste’s collection (No. 19. 7. 7. 36.10). The

fifth (No. 91. 12, 8. 13) was procured by Sir G. Baden Powell on the

Nalotchirk River. It is a very old skull with the teeth much worn

and broken. The sixth, also belonging to the Petrograd series (No.

88. 2. 20. 17), looks like the skull of a young male.

The measurements of the skull fromthe Udd River are taken from

Middendorff’s figure of a defective skull from that locality which he

assigned to deringianus. By analogy I have inferred the condylo-basal

length to be about 12-4 ins., slightly less than that of the oldish

female from Kamschatka (No. 88. 2. 20 .16), which is also wider and

no doubt oldex. The last on the list, a young female (No. 88. 2. 20.

18), like the oldish female, belongs to the Petrograd series.

The figures of of the skulls assigned, no doubt correctly in my

opinion, to deringianus by Heude and Courtois show them to be

798. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST: SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

immature, but the molar teeth of a young specimen agree very

closely in size with those of of the Kamschatka skulls in my

table..

As regards their shape, Middendorff’s figure of the typical

male skull of deringianus shows it to be ‘high-browed’. Sowerby

was apparently unacquainted with this figure, because he excluded

this bear from his spurious genus Sfel@us, a name _ resusci-

tated for the high-browed representatives of this group. He also

excluded from Sfe/eus the bear represented by the skull described by

Heude as mandchuricus. But Heude’s figure shows that the brow is

moderately elevated, quite as much as one would expect ina skull

shown by its dimensions to be not quite full-sized, as stated above.

I may add that the large size of the upper carnassial tooth, the ante-

penultimate of the series, upon which Heude relied as the main

character for mandchuricus, is an individually variable feature and

does not possess the systematic importance attached to it.

All the adult and old male skulls from Kamschatka in the British

Museum are ‘ high-browed ’, like the male of Ursus arctos arctos from

Olonetz in Russia, above referred to; but they vary very consider-

ably individually in this respect, no two being alike. The adult

female skull, on the contrary, is comparatively low-browed and is

indistinguishable in this particular from the female skull of beringia-

nus Middendorff from the Udd River.

Conclusion. I have nor seen a sufficient number of skins of

beringianus to determine whether this race differs from typical Ursus

arctos arctos in colour ; but the tables of cranial and dental measure-

ments of the two show that der7ngzanus has on the average a bigger

skull and bigger teeth. Since, moreover, all the adult male skulls of

beringtanus with which I am acquainted are ‘ high-browed,’ there is

some evidence that at all events a larger percentage of the skulls of

this sex exhibit that condition than is the case in the European race.

THE MANCHURIAN BLACK BEAR;

Ursus arctos lastotus, Gray.!

Ursus lasiotus, Gray, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3), 20, p. 301, 1867 ;

id. Cat. Carn. Brit. Mus., p. 223, 1869; Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc.

1867, p--8183; Eonnbére;, roc. Zool.Soc:, pt.1,\p.91, 1923.

Melanarctos cavitrons, Heude, A/zst. Nat. Chin. V, pt. 1, p. 1, pl. 1,

1901 ; Courtois, of. czt. pl. xix.

Speleus cavifrons and piscator, Sowerby, Journ. Mamm.1, No. 5,

DD» 200 232.1920,

Ursus cavitrons, Howell, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus, 75, p. 21, pls. 8

and 9 (skull), 1929.

1 I am unable to find evidence that the bears, to which the names cited in

the synonymy were given, are racially distinct from each other. There are, on

the contrary, many good reasons for considering them to be inseparable. But

since my personal acquaintance with them is limited to a few skins and skulls,

1 have divided the synonymy and the account of them geographically, dealing,

first, with the specimens recorded from the mainland, secondly, with those

from Japan.

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA 799

(?) Ursus arctos baikalensis, Ognev, Nature and Sport in Ukraine

(transl. of Russian title), p. 5, 1924.

Ursus ferox, Temminck, Fauna Japonica, p. 29, 1844 (not fevox of

Shaw).

Ursus arctos yeseensts, Lydekker, Proc. Zool, Soc. 1897, p. 422.

Ursus yesensis, Courtois, Wém. Hist. Nat. Chin. V, pp. 33-35,

1906; Sowerby, Journ. Mamm. I, p. 227, 1920.

Ursus melanarctos, Heude, Mém. Arst. Nat. Chin. IV, p. 17,

pis. vil & viii, 1898.

Speleus melanarctos, Sowerby, Journ. Mamm. I, p. 230, 1920.

Locality ot type of lasiotus: interior of Northern China.

cavitrons: Tsi-tsi-har, N.-W. Manchuria.

batkalensis: Province cf Irkutsk.

ferox, Temm: Yeso [sland, Japan.

yesensts: oF rE Rs

melanarclos: A - r

Mongolia, Manchuria, Yeso and the Kuriles.

d”) 2}

9 ”)

’)

Distribution:

SPECIMENS FROM MONGOLIA AND MANCHURIA.

There appear to be only five skins of this bear from these

countries preserved in Museums. Two of them are in the British

Museum.

1. The skin of the type ot /astotus. This bear was imported asa

living animal from the interior of Northern China on

September 14, 1867-and presented to the Zoological

Gardens where it died on June 29, 1893. In accordance

- with the date of death the coat is comparatively short and

coarse and the underwool is in full moult, some of it still

remaining attached to the bases of the longer hairs but much

of it has entirely disappeared. Apart from the muzzle

which is dark brown, the general. colour is jet black and

glossy all over, with brown reflections in certain lights and

brown in patches where the hairs are disturbed, so as to

display the brown underwool. ‘There is no trace of a white

collar, and the claws are black and strongly curved but

much worn by the concrete flooring of the cage. The hair

is about 25 or 3 ins. long.

2, ‘The second skin, which I assign to this race, also belonged to

an adult bear which was presented to the Zoological

Gardens by F. Ringer and was said to have come from the

coast of Eastern Siberia. It was identified by Sclater as

piscator and died in May 1918. Sowerby who saw this

specimen,.when dead, said that it reminded him very much

of a big black bear he shot in Kirin in N.-W. Manchuria and

identified as cavzfrons , but had softer hair. Although the

animal died in May, the coat shows, perhaps unexpectedly,

no sign of the moult. Possibly the moult was delayed by

failing vitality due to approaching death. However that

may be, the coat is long, soft and luxuriant, with abundance

890 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXYV

of brown underwool. The muzzle is rather paler brown

than in the type and there are some brown-tipped hairs on

the forehead and throat. Elsewhere the general colour is

mostly glossy black, but the hairs of the back are stippled

with short, almost golden tips which possibly accounts for

Sowerby’s misleading statement that the colour was dark

brown. ‘There are no pale tips to the hairs on the rump,

legs and under side. The underwool is paler than in the

type and mottles the blackness with brown patches when

the hair is parted. ‘The claws are as in the type. The hair

of the neck and back is between 5 and 6 ins. long, and on

the flanks as much as 84 ins.

3. Heude's specimen of cavzfrons from N.-W. Manchuria was also

black. Hence the generic name JJelanarctos he applied

to it.

4. Sowerby’s specimen, an adult male, from the I-mien-p’o

district of North Kirin in Manchuria, where he shot it on

October 8, is in the United States National Museum. He

described its colour as generally biack, merging into brown

on the muzzle and head, with a band of slightly lighter

colour on the shoulders, owing to the hairs being light

chestnut at their bases, indicating an evanescent collar.

The hair, he adds, is very coarse, with little underwool.

This bear, measured in the flesh, was: head and body 6 ft.

7 ins., tail 54 ins.

5. Lonnbereg’s specimen, undated, came from Northern Mongolia.

It is black with a brown muzzie and some brownish tint

on the forehead and shows on the sides of the neck a

faint chestnut-reddish lustre. The underwool is well

developed and dark brown and the claws are blackish horn-

coloured.

There is, I think, no doubt that the skins above described

represent the same race of bear, /aszotus, .which differs from bervin-

gianus in being mainly black instead of DEO No doubt the two

completely intererade.

I have provisionally assigned to this race the unidentifiable bear

described by Ognev as dazkalensis. As Howell observed ‘its type

locality is apparently the Irkutsk part of the Sajan Mountains, south

of Lake Baikal, close to the borders of Mongolia, about lat. 50° N.

Howell suggested that éazkalensis might prove to be synonymous

with the species he wrongly assigned to /ewconyx which is ia reality

pbruinosus. ‘The latter, so far as I ain aware, does not occur north of

Kansu, south of 40°N. lat. His suggestion on this head was due in

part to his erroneous belief, inspired apparently by Sowerby, that

the type-locality of /ewconyx is the Altai Range. This point is

further touched upon below under the synonymies of pruznosws and

rsabellinus.

The following are the dimensions of the skulls assigned to this

race. The skull of the type has not previously been measured or

described.

THE BLACK AND BROWN-BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA 801

“Skulls in English inches Upper teeth Lower teeth

in mm. in mm.

_ a Ba pe ae es a ee ee

=) no

= fee | 3 fel) See | rs ie)

ae oe Sl ae a | > fe)

5 § | 3 oO : fe ) io Pie iat

Locality and sex | — eat g |x re cE a Cha | hte mires

e = ao Od era! se) se ; sh | om

o Lome) eo) es oer ‘4 ae ae oj s}

+3 [3 on OL MN oO oO Ui n a | q

° oad bp | So | ges % ou @ 3s | oO

BNO oN ee Se ee) 4A 4

pate a | ;

N. W. Manchuria, ; |

ad. J 16 Shs 35 |

= . |

N. E. Asia Type . | |

Old Wo297 1494 Sali S' 727 Fo 137 Xx 1S 85 26x 17

North Mongolia

ad. J iad sen Oy ule tee: Orem oe ke io 35 x 18 84 25x16

N. W. Manchuria | | | |

ad. ¢ | 14: sa 13°83 7°84 eee 3 O38 | 68 30x16 71 25x14

| |

ra of | 14:2) JOO 3°8 3 ee |

The first skull on this list is the one recorded by Sowerby from

N. Kirin, in Manchuria. Unfortunately very few particulars were

supplied ; but so faras they go, the measurements are in very close

agreement, with those of the second on the list, the skull of the

menageric- -kept type of lasiotus. But the two skulls clearly dittier

in the shape of the brow. Sowerby’ S specimen, identified as cavi-

frons Heude, has the brow high, as.in adult males of beringianus,

with a marked concavity. where the forehead passes into the muzzle.

In the type of /aszofus, on.the contrary, there is no such hollow, that

area of the skull being inflated with air-cells and lightly convex

between the orbits, not. between the post-orbital processes behind.

Hence the brow .is not elevated. The third on the list is the

specimen, presumably aduit, recorded by Lénnberg as lastotus. This

also has a low brow, Lénnberg expressly saying ‘Our Mongolian

Bear shows acranial outline which at the forehead i is nearly straig ht.’

But his knowledge of Swedish brown bears prevented him attaching

importance to this point. The measurements of the fourth and fifth

specimens from N.-W. Manchuria are taken from figures of cavifrons

published by Heude and Courtois. The figures were probably taken

from the same specimen; but the dimensions do not exactly tally.

The fifth at all events is the type of cavifrons. Sowerby’ examined

this skull and decided that it represented the same race of bear as the

* Apparently tie ‘skull, assigned to Ursus cavifrons and figured ,by

Howell in 1929, is the one in question. According to the photograph of the

ventral view, said to be two-fifths natural size, the condylo-basal length of this

skull is 15°5 ins., which is difficult to reconcile with Sowerby’s record of the

total length as 16 ins. ; and the length of the last 3-upper cheek-teeth is over

87 mm. Since, moreover, Howell, gives the dimensions of the last.upper tooth

as 43x 21% mm., it is clear that the bear has. larger teeth than any knowa

European or Asiatic bear.

£02 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

much larger skull he procured at Kirin in Manchuria. Although the

differences are considerable, they are not greater than those between

adult male skulls of beriugianus from Kamschatka and I see no

reason for dissenting from Sowerby’s verdict.

It may be noticed that whereas all the skulls of adult males of

beringianus are ‘high-browed’, two out of the four known male

skulls of daszofus are ‘low-browed’. But the skull of the type of

/astotus, which, by the way, is exceptionajly wide across the mastoids

may have been affected by many years in captivity, although the

animal was apparently full-sized, if not absolutely mature, when

received. I suspect that the skull measured by Loénnberg had not

attained its final form.

Conclusion. So far as the available evidence goes, this bear is as

large as beringtanus and like it in cranial and dental characters,

but differs on the average at least in the prevalent biackness of its

hue. It is similarly darker than the European race and also larger.

SPECIMENS FROM YESO, JAPAN

Since Temminck’s account of this Japanese bear, which he

identified with one of the North American races, was ignored by

the later writers, who redescribed it under the names quoted in the

synonymy, it is important to reproduce his description, based

upon an examination of many skins possibly attesting great variation

in colour.

‘It inhabits the mountains of Yeso and Karafto (Saghalien) and is of

enormous size, the skins measuring 7 or 8 ft. long. The general

colour is dark brown, more rarely blackish (ozratre\, some indivi-

duals being paler on the head and forequarters and some showing

a yellowish band across the shoulders, resembling the variety from

Siberia known as the Collared bear (U. arctos collaris, Cuv.). Another

variety is more tawny (plus fauve) and is known to the natives as the

‘fiery bear’ (ours de fex) or the red bear (ours rouge). Temminck,

however, regarded varieties as due to differences of age and of colora-

tion of the pelage of one and the same animal.

Temminck may have bzen perfectly correct in regarding these

brown and black skins as belonging to the same race of bears.

In that case the view that yeseaenszs is distinct from beringtanus

and /aszotus and that these two are distinct from one another

would be difficult to maintain, as will be shown in what follows.

But I suspect Temnitnck’s information was based largely upon

skins observed in the market some of which may have been

imported to Japan from the mainland of Manchuria, where the bears

are at all events frequentiy ‘ brown’

~The only skin I have seen is that of a young < from Yeso exhibi-

ted in the Zoological Gardens from 1869 to 1871, which died in June

when just beginning to moult the winter coat, the underwool being

detached from the skin but still adherent to the long hairs. General

colour very dark brown owing to the combination of the greyishbuff

tips of the jiong hairs with their black basal portions. The

paler wash much more in evidence on the flanks than on the

LIHE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA _ 893

Shoulder-mat and the mid-line of the back, where the hairs are

almost entirely black. The newly erupting long hairs at the base

of the old ones almost entirely black. Legs jet black. No trace of

collar. Head lustrous brown on forehead, noticeably brown and

paler than the body ; the paler tint of the cheeks extending on to the

throat. A quantity of wholly tawny hair in the axilla, as in praznosus,

and the hairs of the ventral surface apically pallid, grizzled with

greyish yellow. Claws black, normal in shape and length.

The resemblance of this bear to some examples of pru7znosus in

colour, especially in the contrast between the paler head and the

darker body, the general blackness of the hairs on the body and legs,

the pale hue of the throat, chest and axilla, is unmistakable. But

there is no trace of the white collar, although judging from its

small size, the animal was only about half grown.

In the absence of the collar, the blackness of the limbs and

mostly black body-hair, it also recalls the Mongolian and Manchurian

Black bear (daszotus). But the recorded skins of the latter have the

head darker, not sharply contrasted with the body and scarcely a

trace of pale hair on the throat and none on the chest, axilla or

belly. We know, nevertheless, from MHeude’s description of

melanarctos that wholly black bears occur in Yeso; and Courtois has

an interesting note on a young bear, believed to be eight months

old, received alive in December from Hokkaido (Yeso), which was

tawny-yellow (fauve blond) in tint. But by October of the following

year, when it was killed, it had become noticeably darker, certain

parts being black. From the evidence of this cub and the half-grown

specimen in the British Museum, it seems probable that the Yeso

bear is brown when young and gradually gets black with age.

Sowerby maintained that there are two ‘ genera’ of bears of this

group in the Island of Yeso, namely, U/vsus yesensis of Lydekker

and Sfeleus melanarctos of Heude. To substantiate this opinion he

wrote :— ‘ As Lydekker distinctly states that his yeswns7s is a brown

pear, while Heude states equally emphatically that mclanarctos is

pure and deep black, it is obvious that the two forms are distinct.

The skull figured by Lydekker does not agree with the characters

of melanarctos, and is, in effect, that of a true brown bear. It has a

very convex cranial outline.’

There is, however, no evidence that Lydekker saw the skin I have

described above. At all events he did not refer to it; and in saying

that yeswns7s is a brown bear, he merely meant that it is a member

of the arctos-group, which is perfectly correct.

Admittedly the skin described above is not wholly black, but

there is so much black about it especially on the limbs and the newly

erupting coat, that I have no doubt, making allowance for individual

variation, it belongs to the same race as the ‘black’ bear from the

same island described by Heude. It seems to me to be in the

highest degree improbable that there are two distinct species or

even races of Ursus found in Yeso.

As regards the skull, the untenability of Sowerby’s view that the

elevation of the forehead is a generic character, has already been

demonstrated. Nevertheless anyone acquainted with bears’ skulls

Gan see at a glance that the skull of the type of yesewns7s (B.M,

$04 JOURNAL, BOULBAY NATURAL AIST, SOGEDY, Vol ey

No. 86.11.18.2), figured by Lydekker, is that of an immature animal.

Hence the convexity of the dorsal cranial outline. I am quite unable

to surmise why he chose that particular skull to illustrate when there

was a considerably older and larger male (B.M. No. 96,4.27.1)

available. But so it was. This older skull has not the convexity

of outline of Lydekker’s typical example. The slope of the back

of the crown is almost obliterated by the sagittal crest, the forehead

is not so rounded but is markedly more abruptly depressed in front

of the post-orbital processes. As the measurements show, this skull

belonged to a large bear with big teeth, the only peculiarity

about it being the narrowness across the zygomata. But this

I attribute to its being clearly a young-adult, the teeth being quite

unworn and most of its cranial sutures still unclosed. Its dimen-

sions agree very closely with those of the Northern Mongolian skull

assigned by Loénnberg to /aszofus, a race to which yesensis is clearly

closely allied even if it be not identical with it.

This view is confirmed by the figures of the skulls of the Yeso

bears published by Heude and Courtois. Heude, as shown in the

synonymy, described this bear as Ursus (Melanarctos) meianarctos.

The male skull hasa high rounded forehead, considerably higher

than in the largest specimen from Yeso in the British Museum. But

it is not distinguishable by any character that I consider to be of

systematic value from the skull of the maie Manchurian black bear

he described as Ursus (Aletanarctos) cavitrons, which Lonnberg has

shown to be in all probability /aszotus. Heude also figured the skull

of an adult femaie from Yeso, showing that it differs markedly from

that of the male in its low, flat brow. These two skulls, $1 and 9 of

Melanarctos, according to Sowerby, represent distinct genera.

Courtois published fresh figures of Heude’s specimens, and perceiv-

ing the immaturity of the type skull yeswzszs described and illustrated

by Lydekker, quite correctly, in my opinion, regarded JV/elanarctos

as a synonym of yeswnszs. It is not easy to square the exact dimen-

sions of the figures of the skulls and teeth of these bears published

by Heude and Courtois respectively. I cannot, however, find any

trustworthy evidence that the Yeso bear differs in cranial or dental

characters from the Manchurian bear /aszofus ; but my acquaintance

with actual skulls of /aszofus being restricted to the solitary type, from

a menagerie-reared animal, in the British Museum, I do not feel

justified in assuming that the two are sub-specifically. identical,

aithough I strongly suspect that they are.

Provisionally, I assign to yveswnsis the skull of a bear from Jelorop

Isl., Kuriles (C. Maries, 80.3.30.4) which unfortunately has no skin.

It is: fully adult and, I think, a female.: There is nothing in its

characters to forbid that identification. It 1s slightly larger but very

much the same shape as the old female skull from Kamschatka

-assigned to beringianus. Heude, it may be added, was informed of

the existence of a very large black bear in the Kurile Islands. (W/ém.

Hast WN al. Chia, Ns le LOL

~The following table gives some cranial and dental measurements

of the skulls of yesens7zs in the British Museum and of one figured by

Courtois. Also similar measurements of the skull .of the type of

shanorum.

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EVROPE AND ASIA _ . 805

Upper teeth Lower teeth

Skull in English inches

in mm. in mm.

(gre —-- — —— —_ -- —_ ..-- — — ——Ht —-— se

vw o 2S a Ci = = re

oD | n S a a o | x) 8

: qa mS wt F a oO a a Pas

Locality and sex 2 = ae B }Qa) 8B x Is) a a

= a op A ov ; Ls) aus) s rs

= = ay re geo aes S eo | =

S oS) on x bb Ss) ee % B. =

iS) oo & |Se e @ @ o

Be | O N | & [4 = eS ie es

Yesents

Veco sulbadec? exco 1525) 144d, Son G7 ooh SI 77 37x =A G7 27 lA

Meson Courteis) 4 > .ic2 |) JA G24) brs. 3°2| 80. \41% * 87 128 «17

Yeso. (Type) eae ge nS als 79 Oe eOr Le eS 3 TASS RAO S225 <9

Yeso. yg. (2) 2.107]... | ue | o | 2°2]24—] 68 133 x 17]

Jelorop, Kurile |

Islds. ad. (?) 2...) 139/ 13 | 83] 67] 31/3+ | 72 1385x19 79 \25x14

Shanorunt |

(?) Shan States, | |

young ¢ Geol Wor ad Su) bed 5°6 | 2°3| 2°9| 74 13618 84 |25x15

taken from his figure of the ventral surface which shows distinct

traces of the occipital suture, proving that the animal was

not an ‘old male’, as he described it. It was younger than the

first on the list, which accounts no doubt for its narrower zygomata.

Neither of these skulls is so old asthe male skulls of devin gzanus

from Kamschatka, There is, however, close agreement in their

dimensions, allowing for increase in width of the Yeso skulls, if they

had been a few years older. There is also no difference in the size

of the teeth.

THE SO-CALLED BURMESE BROWN BEAR.

Ursus arctos shanorum, Thomas.

Ursus arctos shanorum Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Adstr.) p. 17

March 20, 19065 “also: p, 231, fio. of

skull, 1906.

Alleged locality of type and only known specimen: The Shan

States, Upper Burma.

The type of this bear (B. M. No.6. 3.16.1) was sentto Thomas

from the Calcutta Museum by Nelson Annandale who received it

from Rutledge, a live-animal dealer, in whose possession it

had been for a short time. Judging from the length of its claws it

had been somewhere in captivity on boards for a _ considerabie

period. Rutledge told Annandale it came from the Shan States; but

no bears of the Ursus arctos group, so far as lam aware, have been

806 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY,-~ Vol,.XXXV

recorded from any locality near that part of tropical Asia; and since

dealers’ localities for their live-stock are frequently untrustworthy, I

find it impossible to accept the Shan States as the home of this bear

without further evidence.

The specimen, however, is remarkable in many ways and I cannot

affiliate it with any of the subspecies of Urszs arctos admitted in this

paper.

It is a young male. The head and muzzle are rather pale brown,

paler than the nape and ears, and on the posterior part of the nape

a median broad blackish brown band sets in and runs backwards

over the shoulder-mat down the middle line of the back, the hairs of

this band having small, reddish brown tips. On the flanks and

shoulder below the mat the tips of the hairs are grey. For this

reason and on account of the bases of the hairs on these areas being

rather paler brown, they are markedly lighter in tint than the dorsal

area. The underwoolis everywhere dirty grey, darker on the dorsal

area than elsewhere. is

The limbs are not darker than the body, the tips of the hairs on the

fore limb showing a reddish buff sheen. The chin is reddish brown,

the throat-hairs are whitish at the base with pale brown tips; the

hairs of the chest and abdomen are dusky brown with pallid tips.

From the tolerable abundance of underwool and the generallength and

condition of the coat the animal was probably in late autumn pelage.

‘he hairs on the shoulder mat are nearly 4 ins. long, on the sides of

the neck and flanks 3 ins. or more, on the back about 24 ins. and on

the fore leg, where they are unusually lon’, up to 4 ins.

The claws are black and remarkably long, those of the hind paw

being about 2 ins , and those on the torepaw as much as 3:7 ins.

They are much longer than the claws of any example of U. arctos I

have seen ; but Ihave a strong suspicion that the abnormality is not

natural and is due toa comparatively long period of captivity in cages

with boarded, not concrete floors.

The skull of shanorum has allthe sutures open and is quite young

as shown by its shape depicted in the figure published by Thomas,

who seems to have regarded it as approximately full-sized. It is

about the same age as the skull of the type of yeswnszs, but has the

teeth more worn. The teeth are nearly the same size as in the type

of yesensts , but the skull itself is considerably smaller, indicating a

smaller race of bear. It is remarkably narrow, narrower as compared

with its length than the skuli of any U.. arctos of corresponding age

I have seen. The frontals are peculiarly compressed towards the

summit and the inter-orbital width is markedly less than the width of

the maxilla at the root of the canines, an unusual feature in an a7cfos

skull of corresponding age. The sagittal crest is remarrably high

posteriorly for so young a bear, noticeably higher than in the type of

yesensts. The upper carnassial tooth is large, with a big inner lobe.

The size of this tooth may vary, however, individually in bears

irrespective of wear, as shown by the male and female skulls of

pruinosus from the same locality collected in W. Kansu by Fenwick

Owen (cf. 7zfra). The last molar of the lower jaw is unusually wide

and rounded posteriorly. Unfortunately, this bear had been in

captivity for an unknown period and it is impossible to say to what

THE.BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA _ 807

extent its cranial peculiarities may have been affected by that

condition.

Thomas compared this skull particularly with that of the type of

yesensts, thinking the likeness between them, due in reality to mutual

immaturity, indicated kinship. But the skull of shanorum is at least

as much like the skull of zsabellinus » and 7sabellinus occurs in the

Thian Shan. Possibly the locality of shanorum was Thian ‘ Shan’ and

not the ‘Shan’ States. However that may be, the bear cannot on the

evidence be associated with 7sabel/inus because of its differences in

dental and cranial characters and black claws.

THE BLUE BEAR OF TIBET.

Ursus arctos prutnosus, Blyth.

Jrysus pruinosus, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 22, p. 589, 1853:

Blaniord, Journ. As. Soc, Bengal, 46, pt. 2, p. 318, 1877: W,L.

Sclater, Cat. Mamm. Ind. Mus. pt. 2, p. 302, 1891; Lydekker,

Proc. Zool. Soc.. 1897, pp. 412-415 and 814; Leche in Sven

: Hedin’s Central Asia, 6, pt. 1, p. 4, 1904.

Mylarctos pruinosus, LOnnberg, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1922, p. 85.

_ Ursus lagomyiarius, Severtzow, Cat. Zool. Coll. Przewalski, p. 9,

L837:

Ursus pruinosus + U., lagomy tar ius + U. clarki oe part) + Spel@us

_leuconyx, Sowerby, Journ. Mamm. 1, pp. 225-226 and 232, 1920,

_. (Not typical clarki ,» not leuconyx Severtzow).

Ursus leuconyx, Howell, PHO, TS. Wat 11s.) 13,0, 22, pl, 10,

(skull) 1929 (not /eucony'x Severtzow).

Locality of type of pruznosus ; Lhasa in Tibet.

a lacomyiarius ; Kansu.

Dist ibution.—Western China (Kansu, Shensi) and Tibet.

The literature of this bear reveals surprising diversity of opinion

on its systematic status, the extremes being the view of W. L.

Sclater that it is the same race as the Red bear (/sade//inus) and the

view of Lénnberg that its characters entitle it to separation from the

rest of the Ursus arctos group as a distinct subgenus mylarctos,

Between these two are the views of others who give it specific rank.

In my opinion it is a local race of U. arcios. I have already given

my reasons for rejecting Lonnberg’s view of the subgeneric i imipor-

tance of the species, a view based upon the large size of the teeth

and the structure of the paws, both of which characters are extremely

~1 [ have failed to trace the name Jagomyzarius, Severtzow, in the biblio-

graphy of it given by Trouessart (Cat. Jlamm.1, p. 18). The first work, Fauna

of Turkestan, is the translation of the Russian title of the paper in which

Severtzow described Ursus leucony.x (=7satellinus), but rot lagomatarius, The

second reference is to Przewalski’s Aezse Mongol. In Vol. II, pp. 249-250, 1876,

of the English translation of this work by E. D. Morgan, Przewalski refers to the

bear in Kansu, but gives it no technical name. But in Severtzow’s Catalogue of

Przewalski’s collection in the St. Petersburg Museum, of which there is a copy

in the Li brary of the Zoological Society, the name appears; and since it is

marked ‘n. sp.’, it must be assumed that it was first published on that occasion

in 1887. Leche quotes it as a synonym of pruznosus and assigns it to Severtzow,

but without other reference to its source,

808 JOCRNAL, BOMBAY NAL ORALIAIST SOC RY Val aera

variable. The pear is certainly racially distinguishable from 7sabell7-

nus and from the races of U. arctos inhabiting more northern parts of

Asia; but it shows so many cross resemblances to some of then

that I find it impossible to mention a single distinctive character by

which it can be defined as a species.

I follow Leche in citing /agomyzarins Severtzow as a synonym of

prutnosus. If Leche’s statements regarding the variations in colour

and other characters of this bear had been known to Sowerby he

would possibly have held different views regarding it from those

expressed in his paper. His opinion of pruznosus was taken from

Lydekker’s account of the young and unusually grey specimen he

described and figured. Its immaturity accounts for its small size,

which Sowerby quoted as a specific character, and its greyness is no

doubt attributable to the bleaching of the tips of the hairs of its old

winter coat. These were the two features mentioned by Sowerby as

distinguishing Aruznosus from lagomyiarius. ‘The name clarki was

proposed by Sowerby for a bear from S.-W. Shensi which Heude

described as Selenarcios leuconyx. According to Sowerby this bear

belongs to the genus Uyvsus ; and since /euconyx was preoccupied for

another bear, so-named by Severtzow, Sowerby substituted clarki to

designate Heude’s species. But judging from Heude's figure of the

skull of Selenarctos leuconyx, the bear belongs to that genus and not

to Ursus.! Nevertheless under the heading Ursus clarki, known to

him only from the alleged typical skull of S. Jeuconyx, Sowerby

wrote: ‘ When I was in this locality, S.-W. Shensi, I made enquiries

concerning the form of the bear inhabiting these mountains, part of

the Ching Ling Range, and was told that it was whitish in colour

with some black about it... sa. 0. The species would seem to repre-

sent U. pruznosus in this region.’ This description agrees well with

the example of pruznosus from Lhasa figured by Lydekker.

With regard to Sdeleus leuconyx Sowerby and Ursus leuconyx

Howell, the bears from Kansu so-named were unquestionably

wrongly identified, /euconyx of Severtzow, from Thian Shan, being

the same as zsabe/linus Horsfield, as stated below.

I have seen five complete skins of this bear:

1. A skin picked up in 1928 at Lhasa, Tibet, by Sir Charles

Bell who kindly lent it toine. It is undated, but since it

agrees precisely, so far as can be judged, with the skin

originally named by Blyth, I shall describe it first. The

general colour is black just frosted with grey and very

variable according to the fall of the light, the pale tips

elusively disappearing at times, then leaping up with silvery

sheen as they catch the light when the skin is turned; but

the pale areas on the hairs are smali as compared with the

black. The snout buffy, the head brown with golden

reflections, the pale colour from the cheeks extending on to

the throat which is dirty white; there is a good deal of pale

hair also in the axilla and on the chest. A snow-white

collar 54 inches wide, interrupted in front of the shoulder

by an area 34 inches wide. The rump scarcely silvered;

1 My reasons for this belief will be given later under the genus Se/enarctos.

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA 809

the legs and belly black. Noclaws onthe skin. The hair

on the back measures about 3 inches, on the neck about 4

inches, on the flanks 34 inches. There is a good deal of

underwool, brownish black in hue.

There is no dace for this skin; but the condition and

length of the coat suggest October or November, later at all

events than the skin next described.

skin in summer coat, briefly described by R. Lydekker,

from the foot of Namoran Duran Pass between N.-E. Tibet

and Isaidam, September 22, 1896, Capt. Neill Malcolm.

(BoM. No, O.TLIS.1). Coat with the same elusive silvery

sheen as in the last, Sir Charles Bell’s skin, confusedly

clouded black and grey, with a rufous wash on the nape and

back, but the whole skin much paler owing to the dominance

of the grey over the black in the individual hairs of the

comparatively short coat. Snout greyish buff, head golden

brown, ears brown; throat, axilla and chest pale brownish

erey. The rump and legs are deep blackish brown, not so

black as in Sir Charles Beli’s skin, but darker brown than in

any example of U. arctos tsabellinus [have seen. ‘The white

collar, similarly interrupted above, is about 4+ inches wide.

The underwool is practically absent, the skin being easily

exposed by parting the hairs. The hairs on the back

measure about 12 inches, cn the flank 24 inches; the claws

are pale horn-coloured, just over 2 inches on the forefoot

and over linch on the hind foot. The skin measures

4 ft. 8 inches, but there is no skull whereby its age can be

estimated.

3&4. The skins of an oldish female and an immaiure male from

the Minshan Mountains, W. Kansu, generously presented to

the Museum by Capt. G. Fenwick Owen and mentioned by

F. Wallace in The Big Game of Central and Western China,

(iS) pp. 195-196 and. 295;

3 October. Face tawny brown; ears black with hair-tips

reddish buff; tips of hairs on forehead, crown and nape

golden red, duller on sides of head and cheeks, no black

visible on these areas uniess the hair is disarranged. On

the shouider-mat the tips are less bright, buffy-grey, with

the pale areas much less extensive than on the nape and

not concealing the black of the basal areas. Middle line of

back behind the mat like the head and with similar bright

Sheen; but on the flanks, loins and rump the pale tips are

less extensive and less bright and turn to greyish on the

upper part of the thigh. Belly dark brown, passing into red

on the breast. A compiete collar of wholly white hair

running up to the sides of the shoulder-mat aud passing in

front of it across the middle line, but here the hairs are

tinged with red at the base. For the rest the hairs are

everywhere black at the base and there is a comparatively

_ small amount of underwool. The hairs on the neck,

-Shoulder-mat and flanks are from 4 to 5 ins., on the back

from 3 to 4 ins.-The legs are black; the claws mostly pale

810 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

horn-coloured, but streaked more or less with dark grey;

the fore claws are nearly 24 ins. long, the hind about 13 ins.

This skin measures 5 ft. 5 ins. to the root of the tail.

§ October. Generally similar to the last, but with the breast

and mid-line of the belly quite white and with less red on

the back behind the shoulder-mat, the body here blacker,

especially over the loins and rump. The claws are darker

coloured, intermediate in tint between pale horn and

the normal wholly dark tint of typical U. avctos. Fore claws

much shorter, worn, only about 14 ins long.

These two skins agree closely with the specimens from Kansu

and Tibet described by Lénnberg. They have more red,

especially the 3 first described, than Capt. Neill Malcolm’s

skin. The female skin is interesting from having claws

intermediate in tint between the typical pale horn-colour of

most specimens of pruznosus and the dark claws of European

and northern Asiatic races cf U. arctos.

Under the name Uyvsus leuconyx, Howell recorded an immature

specimen of this bear from Taochow, Kansu. He detected the

resemblance of this young bear to one of Fenwick Owen’s specimens

photographed in the volume quoted above.

5. Skin in winter coat, described and figured by Lydekker, from

N.-E. of Lhasa, Tibet, presented by Capt. H. Bower (B. M.

No. 92.10.9.1). Coat very long, thick and tufted, general

colour mottied grey and black owing to the tufting and dis-

arrangement of the pallid outer part of the hair showing the

dark basal part. Outer part of all the hairs of the back and

flanks grey but with hardly a trace of the silvery sheen seen

in the summer coat; the inner part black; but the copious

underwool is brown, not black, quite grey brown on the

flanks. The shoulder-mat is large and almost wholly black,

flanked by white tipped hairs and preceded by a wide collar

which is complete dorsally. Snout whitish, top of head and

ears the same colour, grey, the ears not white and contrast-

ed as shown in Lydekker’s figure. Throat, axilla and

breast White. Rump not so speckled as flanks, darker;

paws and lower legs deep brownish-black. Hairs on

shoulder-mat and sides of neck 7 ins., on back 5 to 6 ins.

From the length, thickness and general condition of the coat,

I have no doubt this bear was killed shortly after emerging

from winter quarters. ‘The contrast between it and Sir C.

Bell's specimen in colour and texture of coat is very strik-

ing but both came from Lhasa. The skin described by

Blanford also came from Lhasa and there is no doubt that

his original identification of it as Aruznosus was correct,

although, in consultation with Lydekker, he later changed

his mind onthe point. This skin, like the type described

by Blyth, was brought from Lhasa to Darjeeling, and had

the hair felted and matted suggesting that it was nearing the

moult, It exhibited a hoary appearance owing to the

fulvous tips to the hairs. The hair on the back was 3 ins.

long, on the shoulder from 34 to 4 ins, From Blanford’s

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA 81)

description I am inclined to think the moult was well

advanced. This would account for the hair being consider-

ably shorter than in Capt. Bower’s specimen and also felted

and matted. It is evident too that Blanford’s specimen was

not nearly so greyish-white asthe other, which shows no

‘fulvous’ tinge in the pelage.

The head-skin of a specimen from Central Tibet, probably North

of Lhasa, brought in by native collectors ‘ from far beyond

any of the regions accessible to Europeans’ (H. J. Elwes,

B.M. No. 84. 3.5.1), is pale brown with a dark ring round

the eyes. On the forehead the short hairs are deep brown

at the base, pale at the tips; on the crown where the hair is

long the colour is deeper and the pale tips little in evidence ;

the ears are clothed with black hairs, without pale tips.

There are three good skulls of this race in the British Museum.

The two from Kansu presented by Fenwick Owen differ consider-

ably in shape.and in a variety of other particulars, due mostly no

doubt to age. ‘The female skull is that of an oldish animal, all the

cranial sutures being obliterated. Nevertheless the sagittal crest 1s

low and short, the forehead, although broad, is not inflated or

mesially depressed ; the profile of the nasals is slightly undulating,

with a shallow concavity in their posterior half, and the muzzle is

higher and shorter than in the male. The cusps of the teeth are a

good deal worn, but neither the width nor the length of the teeth

appears to have been affected. The teeth are ali smaller than in the

male skull, the most noticeable difference being in the upper

carnassial, the ante-penultimate tooth.. In the female this tooth

measures 16 by 13mm. Inthe Tijale it is not only longer but much

wider, measuring 18 by I6: 5 min., a very remarkable and instructive

instance of individual variation in the size of the teethin bears of the

same race.

The male skull has a smooth, rounded, slightly inflated forehead

with small post-orbital processes, but no frontal concavity ; the nasals

are evenly sloped, the muzzle is long and low and the sagittal crest

is scarcely developed. It may also be especially noted that the

anterior border of the ascending process of the mandible does

not conceal the posterior end of the last lower molar in profile view.

The skull of the specimen described by Lydekker from N.-E. of

Lhasa (Capt. H. Bower, B. M. No. 92.10.9.1) is a little younger and

considerably smaller than the last, but is similar in shape, allowing

for the difference in age, the eiuzale being even more depressed.

The teeth are much smaller, although equally unworn. A marked

difference lies in the mesopterygoid region. In the small Lhasa

skull the post-dental extension of the palate is very short, its median

length being about + its anterior width. Inthe larger Kansu skull

the median length is about § the anterior width. In the Lhasa skull

also the mesopterygoid fossa is markedly wider and rounded in

front. Itis quite clear from Lénnberg’s figure of his skull from S.-

W. Kansu that the post-dental palatine extension is short as in the

example from Lhasa, and not long as in Capt. Fenwick Owen's

specimen from Kansu; but its mesopterygoid fossa is more like that

of the latter. |

$12 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Fic. 10.

Teeth (nat. size) and skulls of Blue or Snow Bears (U. a. priuinosus.)

Jae

1D:

date

Last upper molar of right side of aduit female from Kansu.

The same of the young female from Lhasa.

Right upper carnassial (pm*) of young male from Kansu.

Tiie same of the old female from Kansu.

Side view of skull of the same.

The same of young male from Kansu.

The skull of the very old male figured by Leche differs from the

oldish female skull procured by Capt. Fenwick Owen in being flatter

along the crown owing mainly to the greater height of the sagittal

crest at its posterior end. The line of the nasals too is straighter,

without any uptilt anteriorly. Also the upper edge of the squamosal

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA 813

portion of the zygomatic arch, although more elevated and convex

than is usual in U,. avctos, is more rounded and less angled than in

the temale skull in which the exceptional height of the arch at this

point seems due to a special ossification attested by the suture

iitaes

The more important cranial and dental dimensions of this race, so

far as they are available, are recorded in the following table.

Skull in English inches, Upper teeth Lower teeth

in mm. in mm.

(eae —HA. ——--- amare, | tetas tee at ar as y

| | ° Oo |

| in v |

: | | & | ; | |

Locality or author ;}O |. se) fo fee A :

and sex =SigS)/E< |S So ere cara eta | ie Se

ES Ee GS 22/2/28 2s eels 24

lea fios|ee SESE /SElA2 Agelsei/as

(Leche) Baa act ase eskicae Were eine a meee emer ae

, eC era chs gee ame a ieeer| errr ca ears

i One bileeel a7 4a erkalbran ere iLace f° 87

Tibet (Lénnberg)g | 14 [132 87 163/28) ..| 79 39x21 88 |

Kansu( ,, ) |1b6/14/ 61] ... | 25 |... | 84 41x22 95 29x18

Owen) ¢1/ 13°6/ 13 | 7°3 | 6+ | ZeO 2. 83 |41x 22 92 |29«17

,, (Fenwick | | | |

Owen) @ 133) ../ 81)59 31/29 | 77 (39x20 86 27x17

| | | |

| |

. (Bower) 9 | 11°2| 10°7 | 5°9 | 4°6 Zao ie 4 7a |35 x 17 80 24x 14

( |

(Elwes) ‘od see i, is pee || ee) sis ran eete eee

Lhasa (Blanford) | ...] wc. | we | cee | cee | ee | cee |) x22] 8. [26x 16

| | | |

Conclusion. The general colour of this bear may be described as

blackish or black with the head and muzzle palish brown, a white

collar and the tips of more or fewer of the body-hairs varying, probably

seasonally, from reddish buff to greyish white, the last-mentioned

phrase having inspired the name ‘ biue bear of Tibet’! The race

seems nearly allied to the so-calied ‘ black-bears’ (daszotus + yesoensts)

of Manchuria and Japan, the resemblance, apart from the white

collar, between.Sir C. Bell’s Lhasa skin and the second of the two

skins of /aszotus from the Zoological Society, recorded above, being

unmistakable. ‘he claws of Aruznosus are, however, typically pale

horn-coloured instead of black. The table of cranial measurements

shows, moreover, that the skull of Aruzzosus is a little smaller and has

relatively, generally actually, larger teeth, although their individual

variation in size is considerable, as may be seen by comparing the

814 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV~

large upper and lower molars of Bower’s skull from N.-E. -of. Lhasa

with Fenwick Owen's male skull from Kansu. Certain resemblances

in colour and in the development of the collar between pruznosus and

the little-known co//arts were referred to above under the latter race.

‘THe: KASHMIR BROWN DEARG ies coeets oe

Ursus arctos tsabellinus, Horsf.

OrsuS isabellinus, Horsfield, 7y. Linn. Soc: Zool, Ws, p. 322; 1826 >

Adams, Pec.’ Zool. Soc. 1858, pp. 517; Gray, Prec. Zool. Soc.,

1864, p. 686; zd. Cat. Carn. Brit. Mus., p. 223, 1869; and of

most Indian sportsmen and naturalists.

Ursus arctus, Blanford, Wamm. Brit. India, p. 194, 1888.

Ursus arctos asabellinus, Lydekker, Proc. Zool. SS. 1897; p. 420.

Ursus leuconyx, Severtzow, Machr. Ges. Moscou, 8, p. 76. 1873;

trans. in Annu. Mag. Nat. Hist. (4), 18, p. 43, 1876 ; Noack, Zool.

Any., 1903, p. 642 (not feuconyx, Sowerby, 1920, and Howell,

1929, for which see under pruznosus).

Ursus pamtrensts, ea Nature and Sport in Ukratne Genk OL.

Russian title);-p. 5; 1924.

leuconyx - Thian Shan.

- pamtrensise The Pamirs. a

Distribution : From Thian Shan to the Western Hinata and

probably the Hindu Kush if the reddish brown bear recorded from

Afghanistan by Burnes (Cadoo/, p. 163) belongs here.

Since few systematists have had skulis and skins of this bear

wherewith to busy themselves creating out of it species or subspecies

on cranial and dental differences due to age, sex or individual varia-

tion or on seasonal differences in coloration, its synonymy is simple.

Diverse opinions have been held as to its status, many - authors

considering it probably identical with syrzacus.1 It is in my opinion

a definable and tolerably well-marked race of Ursus arctos, as Lydek-

ker maintained. It has not, however, been previously detected that

leuconyx of Severtzow is a synonym of Zsabellinus. Severtzow

clearly suspected that it might be; but not knowing the colour of the

claws of zsabellinus from Horsfield’s description, he separated his

specimens as /euconyx on account of the pallid hue of their claws.

These specimens came from the Thian Shan range, not from the

Altai as stated by Sowerby and, following him, by Howell. This

mistake by Sowerby, coupled with his unacquaintance with Severt-

zow’s description, led him to affiliate /euconyx with pruznosus and

wrongly to identify as /cuconyx Capt. Fenwick Owen’s Kansu bears,

described above. .

The description of pamrensis has little value; but since the

Pamirs lie geog graphically between the Thian Shan and the Himala-

yan Ranges, there is no reason to doubt that the bears of the Pamirs

are identical with those to the north and south.

”’

1 In Sportin Many Lands, p. 342, the ‘Old Shekarry’ described a beat

he shot in the Caucasus as belonging apparently to the same species as the hill

bear of Kashmir.

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA _ 815

The chief characteristics of the skins I have seen of this bear are

as follows !:—

A. Specimen from Thian Shan (St. George Litiledale, B.M. No

23-91).

1. Anadult undated skin, no doubt in new summer coat, the

hair generaily being shortish and the underwool scanty.

Colour tolerably uniformly brown, the hairs of the head

and body dark brown basally, darker on the back than on

the flanks, the tips of the hairs being paler, buffy brown

with distinct sheen. Throat, breast and legs dark brown,

the hairs without pale tips. Collar represented by a dirty

white patch on each side of the neck. Claws pale horn-

colour; on forepaw 2 ins., hind paw 1 in. long, with worn

tips. Hairs mostly about 2} ins. long, 3} ins. on the

shoulder-mat. Length of skin 5 ft. 5 ins.

This is the first record of the occurrence of zsabellinus in

Thian Shan. How much farther north in Central Asia

the race extends, is unknown; but neither the skin above

described nor the skulls measured in the table below, supply

any character by which they can be distinguished from

Himalayan specimens.

Severtzow’s description of this bear inthe Thian Shan, where

it occurs up to 10,000 ft., is good and interesting. The

general colour, he said, is reddish-brown with yellow-

tipped hairs and reddish-brown legs. But it varies locally.

In the high plains of Upper Narin the hair is tolerably light

basally, whitish terminally, the general tint being dirty

white, with light brown legs. In the forests above

Vernoe, from 3,000 to 6,000 ft., the general colour is

reddish-brown, with yellow-tipped hairs. At Karatau, from

2,000 to 3,000 ft., the tint is very pale yellowish, the ends

of the hairs being hardly lighter thanthe roots. But unless

all the skins he saw were the same date—and there is no

information on that point—some of the differences in colour

he pointed out may have been seasonal. None of his

specimens was apparently quite sodark as St. George

Littledale’s; and the variations in colour he described are

not nearly so marked as in the examples recorded below

from Gilgit, Kashmir, Kulu and Tehri Garwhal. Noack,

moreover, records that a specimen imported to Germany by

Hagenbeck was in April of one year, pale yellowish brown,

with a broad brown band on the neck and shoulders, but

when he saw it in the following year the hairs were tipped

with white.

1] gladly avail myself of this opportunity to express my indebtedness to

Col. C.S. Bower and to Lady Lowndes for the kind loan of the two skins from

Gilgit; and more particularly to Major G. Burrard, Col. C. H. Stockley and

Mr. H. Whistler for generously presenting to the Br tish Museum the skirs and

skulls of their specimens, upon learning from me how badly the national

collection was in need of accurately localised and dated skins of this bear, the

only representative of the ‘ brown’ bear that occurs in territory under British

jurisdiction.

816 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

B. Specimens from Gilgit.

2. Adult female shot in the Tuilail Valley off the Gilgit road,

April 15, 1905, by Col.C. EB. S:. Bower; p.s-0,, (who: kindly.

lent it to me for description.

The coat is long, rough and tufted, the hairs uniting in separate

bundles, the dark under-hair displayed between them so as

to give a mottled aspect to the pelage. General colour pale

greyish brown, almost dirty white under reflected light,

about 1 m. of the ends of the hairs on the back and flanks

greyish buff, browner on the shoulder-mat ; basal portion of

all the hairs and the underwool brown, deep on the back,

paler on the flanks and rump. Some white hairs on the

ears and a large patch of wholly white hairs on the sides of

the neck, three inches apart on the nape, forming a partial

collar. On the cheeks and throat, low down on the flanks

and limbs the hairs are brown, the coarse hairs onthe paws

having a golden sheen. The hairs on the shoulder-mat are

from 5 to 6 ins. long, elsewhere on the body about 4 or 43

inches. The claws are horn-coloured throughout, 2 ins.

long on the forepaw, 1:l inch onthe hind. The dressed

skin measures 4 ft. 11 ins.

3. <A cub, haif-grown, shot at the same time and place, and kindly

lent to me by Lady Lowndes. ‘This skin is much shabbier

than the last, the coat being more tufted and curly and

altogether redder, browner and less grey, the pallid tips to

the hairs being worn off all down the back displaying the

darker basal portion of the hair and the underwool which

are much paler and redder brown than in the adult. The

skin measures 3 ft. 11 ins. Whether the faded and shabby

look of this skin is natural or due to exposure to light and

the tread of feet, it is impossible to decide.

4. Bassin, Gilgit, May 28,1879. (Dr. J. Scully, B.M. No. 81.3.1.3.)

A young skin, 4 ft. 9 ins. long, in full moult and very shaggy.

The general colour much darker brown, both on the limbs

and elsewhere, than in the specimens shot on April 15 in

the Tilail Valley by Col. Bower, the shoulder-mat being

entirely dark brown as if composed of new hair with the

tips unfaded. The bcdy forthe most part patched with —

buffish grey showing an almost silvery sheen in certain

lights; but here and there the body hairs are all brown,

suggesting the breaking off and shedding of their greyish

tips. A white collar on the sides of the neck, its upper ends

separated by about 4ins. onthe nape. Belly, lower part

of legs and paws entirely brown. Claws pallid horn colour.

C. Specimens from Kashmir.

5. An old female from Matyol village on the Shingo Shigar

: River, 13,500 ft., S. of the Deosai Plateau. September 1,

1930, (Col.C. Ho Stockley,, "BM. No: 3122-274).

A long-coated, shaggy skin with a good deal of underwool,

general colour rusty brown mottled with dusky greyish

black owing to the exposure of the dark tinted under-hair.

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA 817

Muzzie and head pale buffy brown, the concealed basal

portion of the hairs of the head greyish black ; ears covered

with long hairs conspicuously white basally on the margin.

The long hairs at least of the neck, shoulders and back with

long reddish brown ends, blacker below, the extreme tips

in many places quite grey and showing up with almost

silvery sheen in certain lights. Rump and limbs darker

brown, the hairs more uniforinly tinted, those of the paws at

least without pale tips.. A conspicuous white collar on the

sides of the neck, its upper ends separated by an area of about

8 ins. on the nape. The long hairs varying a good deal in

length even on the same area, generally speaking about 4

or 5 ins. long. ‘Ihe underwool dark brownish on the back,

fading to grey on the flanks.

6. Skin of a specimen from the Donahung nuliah, Kistwar,

Kashmir, presented by Major Whatman to the Zoological

Gardens where it died in May 1918. (B.M. No. 19.2.14.1).

The coat is nowhere matted or tufted, but has thick under-

wool. The long hairs everywhere brown basally with paler

tips. On the shoulder-mat and forepart of the back the

bases are very deep brown, the extreme tips reddish buff;

elsewhere the bases not so dark and the tips are greyish

buff with a silver sheen, giving a generally grey aspect to

the skin. The underwool is dark brown on the shoulder-

mat, paler on the rest of the back and becoming a pale grey

on the flanks. Head and muzzle with greyish sheen.

Paws brown with golden-brown sheen. A very conspicuous

collar of wholly white hairs, its upper ends separated by

about 9 inches on the nape in front of the shoulder. The

hair on the neck is up to 4 inches long, on the shoulder-

mat up to 5 inches, on the back 34 inches, on the flank 5

inches,

7. Kashmir, without precise locality. Mounted skin of a young

specimen received from the Zoologicai Society (B.M. No. 52.

3.2.1). Coat long and thick. The hair all over is deep

brown at the base, with buffy grey tips, darker and not so

grey on the shoulder-mat and on the mid-line of the back

as on the flanks. |

D. Specimens from Kulu.

8. Skin of young male from the Solang nullah, 7,000 to 8,000 ft.

June 23rd, 1910, presented by Mr. H. Whistler (B.M. No. 29.

12.24.11). Coat exceedingly tufted and curly; general

colour golden brown, mottled with dark patches where the

dark brown bases of the hairs, which are sharply contrasted

with the paler buffy tips, are exposed by the shagginess of

coat, the contrast being specially noticeable on the forepart

of the back and as marked as in the Gilgit skin (No. 2),

but the tips of the hairs are not so grey. Tips of hairs on

muzzle and forehead nearly grey. Paws dark brown, with

grey sheen. Underwool abundant, paler brown than the

bases of the overlying hairs. No white collar. The hair

818 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

on the nape is 44 ins. long, on the shoulder-mat 4? ins.,

on the back 44 ins., on the fiank 54 ins.

On the label attached to this specimen is a note by Mr. Whistler

stating that, when shot, the bear was light golden yellow

along the back, browner underneath. A Black bear was

seen at the same time in the same nullah. The shooting of

this Red bear is described in Mr. Whistler’s book J the

High Himalayas, pp.185-192.

9. Skin of an old male from the Manali nullah, in Kulu, 10,500

feet, shot in May 1931 by Capt. D. G. Lowndes who kindly

presented it tothe British Museum. The coat is long, thick

and tufted, with abundant underwool, its shagginess giving

a mottled aspect to the general coloration. Hair on the

neck, shoulder and back about 34 inches long, on the flanks

up to 5 inches. General colour decidedly sepia, not reddish

brown, the tips of the hairs of the back brownish buff,

of the flanks, rump and thighs buffish grey, belly, fore leg

and lower half of hind leg uniformly dark brown. Under-

wool grey, darker on the back than on the flanks, collar

represented by a tolerably large area of wholly white

hairs on the sides of the neck. <A quantity of whitish hair

on the ears; muzzle fawn brown. Claws pale horn, almost

ivory-like in hue, on the forepaw up to 24 inches long, on

the hind about 14 inches. Length of skin stripped but

untanned and apparently unstretched, 5 feet 5 inches.

This skin, although obtained at approximately the same

time of the year and in the same district as Mr. Whistler’s

specimen, is very much darker and browner in hue, lacking

almost entirely the reddish tinge so conspicuous in that

and some other skins. It also differs in the presence of

the white collar. In general appearance it comes nearest

to the skin from Bassin, Gilgit, but is darker.

E. Specimen from Tehri Garwhal.

10. Skin of adult, but not quite full-sized male from the Dumdar

Valley, 10,700 feet, shot on May 31, 1910, by Major G.

Burrard (B.M. No. 31.1.6.3), Coat -in much the same

condition as in the Kulu specimen, long, thick, forming

long matted tufts and with abundant underwool. General

colour golden brown and mottled, but the tips of the hairs

rather richer coloured than in Whistiler’s skin, apparently less

faded, and the basal parts much paler brown so that the

contrast in tint between the tips and the basal parts is not

nearly so sharp even on the shoulders and forequarters,

although it is noticeable there, whereas on the hind

quarters, the hairs are tolerably uniformly pale throughout.

Head and muzzle more golden buff, less grey than in skin

No. 8. Paws not so deep brown and with a golden

sheen. No white collar. Claws asin the Kulu bear pale

horn colour, banded with dark grey. The hair is a little

shorter than in the Kulu specimen, measuring about

34 inches on the neck and shoulder-mat, 3 inches on the

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA _ 819

back and 44 inches on ‘the flank. Measured in the flesh

this bear, a nearly full-sized male, was 5 feet 4 inches

from the snout to the root of the tail and 2 feet 3 inches

at the withers.

F. Specimen from Nepal.

11. Horsfield’s typical example, said to be from the mountains of

Nepal, was an, undated, imperfect skin of a young specimen,

measuring 3 feet 10 inches. He described it as very pale

reddish brown with an obscure tint of dirty yellow or

isabelline, almost uniform everywhere. The hair of the

head, neck and shoulders was shaggy and curled; but on

the flanks and abdomen it was short. From this description

it may be inferred that the bear was killed in the spring or

early summer before the moult. In colour it seems to have

resembled tolerably closely Major Burrard’s skin from

Tehri Garwhal. So far as I am aware, this is the only

record of this bear from Nepal. Probably the specimen

was a traded skin from Tehri Garwhal or Kulu.

According to Adams, whose account inspired Blanford’s descrip-

tion of this bear, the colour varies much, from dirty brownish white

to dark brown, many old males being very dark brown, and is

always lighter in spring than autumn. In winter and spring the

coat is long, thick and shaggy; but towards autumn the underwool

disappears. Inthe autumn the white collar is conspicuous, whereas

in winter it is indistinct.

The skins above described do not altogether bear out this account,

which contains no word explaining the term ‘ red bear’ commonly

applied by sportsmen to this race. Judging from the skins I have

seen the term ‘ red’ is particularly applicable to the dead and tufted

winter coat, before the summer moult sets in, soon after the bear

emerges from winter quarters. Major Burrard’s skin from Tehri

Garwhal is a good illustration. Also Col. Stockley’s specimen,

killed at the beginning of September, has decidedly reddish tips to

the hairs on the back, shoulders and neck. Dr. Scully’s specimen

killed at the end of May in Gilgit is a brown bear with greyish buff

tips to the hairs, but no red. Capt. Lowndes’ specimen killed in

May in Kulu, is also a brown bear. Sharply contrasted with these is

the skin of the bear from Kistwar in Kashmir which, under reflected

light, looks silvery grey; and attached to a skull from Kashmir,

presented to the Museum by Lieut. Abbott, is a label describing the

bear itself as‘ white’. Probably it was very much the tint of the

Kistwar skin. From the skins above mentioned, this bear might be

truthfully described as ‘ grey’, ‘ red’ or ‘ brown’.

I cannot confirm Adams’s statement regarding the collar. It is

present in the Gilgit and one of the Kulu specimens in winter coat

killed in April and May; traceable, but not conspicuous, in the

Thian Shan specimen, evidently in new summer coat; very well

marked in the Kashmir specimen shot by Col. Stockley in September,

but not noticeable in Burrard’s Tehri Garwhal and Whistler’s Kulu

specimens shot in May and June respectively. In the case of the

European Brown bear the development of the collar has been

820 JOURNAL, BUMBAY NATURAL AIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV-

associated with age. It is said to be present at all events in many

cubs, but to disappear in mature and old specimens as a rule.

The foliowing table gives the measureinents of some skulls :—

Skull in English inches. Upper teeth Lower teeth

in millim. in millim. |

_— ce oat SS en ee ee

S To) 5

a r -. Q ©

Locality and sex | og |. | 8 |S. |e a i s

YY | OY Hep | eS oen= . =

BS by oOo; sy WwW MY wy & SS 4) Sy (opeo}

SP) 82 | he | Ss las) bs) 8s) BS |as| Bs

. ard — — 4 4 ()

SB 8)O Sie iS 2S bey Sista e ha oa

Thian Shan,

ad. f§/13 +) 121! 8 O19 29 259 66 |34x18} 78 |25x 16

2 Thian Shan,

ye. ¢@ | 10°6/ 10°3 |6°1—/4°3+| 2°34) 2:4 68 135 x17). 76°23 14

3 Kashmir, ad. g | 13°3| 12°3| 7-2 | 5:9 | 2:5 | 2:8 | 68 |34x19| 78 |24x15

4 ,,. old g| 13-2] 11'8| 7-8 | 6-2 | 2:8 | 2:8 | 71 [36x18| 77 [25x15

5 (?) Kashmir,

not ad... | 129.012) 7:7.) 63 de2s5 2 4) bose x 73 22

6 Kashmir, :

not ad. @ | 12:5) 41469 jcs'4 2-7 | 69 (35 x17} 74/2315

7 Washmir, old 4.1272) 11-3470 7 ae a8 64 |32 x16) 70 | 22x14

8 Tehri |

Garwhal, ¢/13 | 12 FS | O72 2279 E27 69-135 x 17) -77 | 2310

9 Kulu,

youne | 11:39 10771 (G71 4G 22-3 22 70 139 * 18) 77>) 24 «16

10 Tehri 7

Garwhal,

Old Cr )o 4 dal S| 10°94) 7-2 154227 a2 «. |30'* 15) 968 ).22 x42

11 Kashmir,

ad. 9 | 11:5! 10°6 -6°7 | 4°9 | 2°3 | 2:4 66 }33 x17) -73 1.22% 44

12 Kashmir,

oldish @ | 11:1 | 10°5| 6°7 | 4°B | 2°6 | 2°4 65 |34x16) 70 | 22x15

13 Kashmir,

ads 2510390) 10225) 16) 2 3) A 2S) a2 63 132 x16). 70 122: x43

14 Kashmir,

aged 2 | 10°7 | 10 69 | 5 ZO Ne 2+5 56 |30 x 15) 66 | 21x13

15 Kashmir, |

young 2 | 1071 4°99°5 1) S°624 44 2 27 65 35x16} 70 | 21x14

Through the courtesy of Mr. R. H. Burne, F.r.s., I have also

examined and measured three additional youngish skulls of zsadellz-

mus from Kashmir (Col. H. A. Smyth, R. A.) preserved in the Museum

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA 821

of the Royal College of Surgeons and one from Simla. Their

dimensions, both cranial and dental, are in close agreement with

those enumerated above.

By their cranial and dental measurements the two skulls from

Thian Shan, presented by St. George Littledale, bear out the

conclusion established by the skin, to which the adult skull belongs,

that zsabellinus extends as far north as that mountain range.

The # skull (3) from Kashmir (Lieut. Abbott No. 56.9.22.21) is just

adult ; but it is interesting to note that the jaws (maxilla) just above

the canine are noticeably wider than the interorbital width. No. 4

(St. George Littledale), although old judging from its muscular

development and the obliteration of its sutures, has exceptionally

large upper teeth. No. 5 is unlocalised but is inferred to have come

from Kashmir because it is ticketed Falconer (66.8.10.7), No. 6,

a skull like the last with the cranial sutures open, was presented by

Oldham (1010 f). No. 7 (St. George Littledale) is of peculiar

E. Z

Fic. 11,

Profile variation of upper surface of skull of the Kashmir Brown Bear (U. a.

tsabellinus).

A. Old female from Kashmir (Stockley).

B. Young adult female from Kashmir (Abbott)

C. Old male froin Kashmir (Littledale).

D. Old male from Kulu (Whistler).

E. Old male from Kashmir (Littledale).

interest. From its shape I have entered itasa,. It is old and

about the same age as No. 4, which it closely resembles in form, but

is considerably smaller and has the maxilla much wider than the

interorbital width, even more so than in No. 3. The teeth too are

822 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

exceptionally small, resembling those of the females. It may be a

large and unusually well-developed female skull. No. 8 is the skull

of the male from the Dumdar Valley, Tehri Garwhal, belonging to

the skin presented by Major G. Burrard (31.1.6.3). Its cranial

sutures are not quite closed, indicating incompletion of growth.

No. 9, a young male skull from Kulu, belongs to the skin presented

by Mr. Whistler (No. 29.12.24.1). No. 10 came from the Bheling

Valley, Tehri Garwhal, and was presented by Capt. E. Searight

(No. 30.11.1.1), It is very old with the teeth much worn. It is

labelled as a male ; but is small for that sex.

Of the female skulls, No. 11 was presented by St. George Little-

dale (No. 87.5.5.3). No. 12 by Lieut. Abbott (No. 56.9.22.20). This is

an old skull with worn teeth and is labelled ‘ white bear.’ It is the

skull figured by Lydekker, erroneously as that of a subadult animal,

to illustrate the characteristic shape of the cranium in zsabellinus (Proc.

Zool. Soc. 1897, p. 420). No. 13, from Kashmir, presented by

C. H. Donald is just adult. No. 14, a very old female skull, with the

teeth worn quite flat, was presented by Col. C. H. Stockley

(No. 31.2.2.1), and came from S. of the Deosai Plateau, 13,500 ft., in

Kashmir. No. 15 (1010 e) is a young skull with unworn teeth.

Conclusion. By its smaller skull and teeth, apart from differences

in colour, this race may be distinguished from pruznosus, lastotus +

yesoensts, Shanorum and beringianus. 'The skull too is smaller than

in arctos and syriacus, although the teeth are about the same actual

size. But the annexed figures of the dorsal profile of the skull of

tsabellinus exhibit a more pronounced curvature from the brow to the

occipital crest than is observable in the other races, the highest point

being typically near the middle of the crown, although the brow,

when inflated, is raised almost to that level. The curvature at its

greatest is, however, very similar to that of the young male skull

from the Caucasus (Fig. 8, B. ) and the male skull (Fig. 11, £.) from

Kashmir is not very different in curvature, as in the inflation of the

brow, from the skull of avctos from Olonetz (Fig. 6, C.).

There is no evidence that zsadellinus intergrades with the Tibetan

pruinosus, whose known range is considerably to the east. But its

occurrence in the Pamirs and Thian Shan, coupled with its apparently

nearer kinship with the European Brown bear, suggests first, that

it will be found to intergrade to the north of its present known range

with bears closely related to typical avctos and, second, that it

entered the North-Western Himalayas from the North by way of the

Thian Shan and Pamir ranges. With regard tothe distribution of this

bear in the Himalayas, Major G. Burrard! states that its western

boundary is the valley of Chitral and its eastern apparently the basin

of the Bhagirathi in Tehri Garwhal. It is found on both sides of

the great Himalayan Range and of its spurs, the Dhauladar and Pir

Panjal Ranges, but in the latter it does not extend farther to the

west than the Chenab River and inthe former it does not occur

immediately to the east of the Sutlej, nor between that river and the

Beas river, its western limit in the Dhauladhar being Bara Bangahal,

a basin at the head of the Ravi river.

1 Big Game Hunting in the Himalayas and Tibet, p. 209.

THE BLACK AND BROWN BEARS OF EUROPE AND ASIA — 823

A few weeks after the corrected proofs of this paper were posted

to Bombay, the British Museum received an interesting example of

the Kashmir Brown Bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus) made up as a rug

and kindly presented by Sir Richard Dane, k.C.1I.E. whose son shot

it near the Daudwar Nullah at the top end of the Kashmir Valley,

close to the foothills, but actually in the plain, at a height of not more

than 6,000 ft. It was ina field of Indian corn, half surrounded by

the houses of a small village, and must have come, Sir Richard

thinks, either from the Pir Panjal by the Konsa Nag Lake or from

Kishtwar,

It is unlike any of the skins described above in its general cream

ot buffy white colour, resembling at a glance a soiled Polar Bear.

No doubt the Kashmir Bear, referred to above, which was described

by Lieut. Abbott as a‘ white bear’, was like it. But the whiteness,

except on the muzzle, round the eyes, low down on the flanks, on the

belly and on a large patch on each side of the neck, representing the

collar, where the hairs are wholly white, is restricted to the terminal

13 inches or so of the hairs. Below that point they are rusty, turning

browner at the base, so that when the coat is disarranged the pelage

is mottled with darker patches. But the coat being comparatively

short, smooth, untuited and provided with little underwool, the dark

patches are not naturally displayed. The hairs on the shoulder-mat

and flanks are about 4 inches, on the back about 34 inches long.

The claws are pale horn coloured, those of the forepaw measuring

just under 24 inches and on the hind paw 14 inches long.

We now have complete evidence that the ‘ Isabelline bear ’ may

be white, silvery grey, red or brown, the range being from that of the

Polar Bear to that of the dark brown European Bear.

The skull is that of a young adult male of the typical

‘high browed’ type. It is larger than any entered in the table,

measuring 13°6 inches in total, and 12°6 inches in condylo-basal

length, with a zygomatic width of 7:7 inches. Its length is just

about equal to the largest for this race entered in Rowland Ward’s

Records for 1928. The teeth are average size.

(Zo be continued)

SOME BEAUTIFUL INDIAN TREES.

By E. BLATTER, S.J., Ph.D., F.L.S., and W. S. MILLARD, F.Zz.S.

Pare txX:

(With one coloured and one black and white plates and 2 diagrams.) —

(Continued trom page 529 of this volume.)

THE SCARLET CORDIA or ALOE-WOOD.

Popular Names : Sebesten Tree, Geiger Tree, Scarlet Cordia.

Cordia sebestena Linn. Sp. Pl. (1753) 190. (Boraginacez ; Borages).

(Named Cordia after Valerius Cordus, an early German botanist,

born 1515; Sebestena means having fruits like sebestens, and

sebestens is derived from the Persian Sapistan given to the fruit of

an allied species, which grows in the neighbourhood of the town

Sebesta.)

The genus contains about 230 tropical and sub-tropical species,

mostly American; some are vines, some herbaceous, some yield

drugs and others useful timbers and others again bear edible fruits.

The fruit of a common Indian species, Cordia myxa, is used in

medicine under the name of sebesten or sepistan, a term which as we

have indicated above, gave the specific name to the present species.

The tree is rendered conspicuous in gardens by its bunches or

clusters of beautiful orange-scarlet flowers which appear practically at

all seasons of the year.

Description; A tall evergreen shrub or small tree, growing from

15-30 feet in height.

The leaves’ grow

alternately on the

branches. They are

from 4-6” in length,

large, oval or elliptic

in shape and blunt at

the apex. The leaves

are’ rough to the

touch, being much

wrinkled, furrowed

above and _ heavily

ribbed below. Young

plants in fresh ver-

dent green leaf are

very handsome. The

showy orange-red

flowers appear in large

open clusters at the

ends of the branches.

The flower is funnel-shaped, its tubular portion is enclosed for half its

Journ. Bompay Nar. Hist. Soc. PLATE ys.

THE SCARLET CorDIA oR Aloe -woop

Cordia sebestena, Linn.

(about “2 nat. size)

Ng.

= ~

’

J .

- '

ope

: 7

“

od :

;

‘

: 2

f .

’

7 '

- . -

- >

‘

n =

©?

Fai '

a cal

: .

“

”

oo : 7

‘

(‘nwajzsaqas *O) SIpIOH yoTIVog oy4 JO SIOMOTT ‘Aequiog ‘sueprey suojsurydi gy 944 ul (vwazsagas ‘CQ) eer], VIPION yo]1v0g

‘TTTAX FLVIg ‘009 ‘LSI, ‘LVN AVaWOg ‘Nuno

SOME BEAUTIFUL INDIAN TREES 825

length in a heavily ribbed green calyx. Its petals are 6, rounded

and heavily wrinkled.

There are 5-12 stamens

crowned with dull yellow

elongate anthers which do

not protrude beyond the

mouth of the corolla. The

fruit is 14 by 2”. It is

pure white and enclosed

in a hazel-like husk formed

by the persistent calyx.

Flowering Season:

January—March. But the

tree will be found in bloom

throughout the year.

Gardening : Propagated

by cuttings of firm wood

and by seeds.

Native Country : Cuba.

(To be continued)

THE SHELL-FISHERIES OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY.

REPORT OF THE BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY

SOCIETY’S SURVEY.

HARDIT SINGH RAI, M.Sc.,

Royal Institute of Science, Bombay.

(With 5 plates and 2 text-figures.)

‘ Shell-fish’ as a source of food from the sea are only second in

importance to true fish. ‘Shell-fish’ are utilised in the maritime

provinces of India to an extent scarcely appreciated by most people.

Shell-fisheries are carried on along a considerable portion of the Bom-

bay coast, and in some places attain considerable proportions. In

general, the chief fisheries are located in the neighbourhood of large

towns and are carried on by the local fishermen for local markets.

I use the term ‘ Shell-fish’ in the wider ‘commercial’ sense, and

as such not only include true ‘ Shell-fish ’, (Molluscs) such as oysters,

clams, cockles, sea-mussels, and cuttle-fishes, etc. but also marketable

crustaceans such as prawns, crabs and lobsters.

During recent years, there has been a great advance in the

development of shell-fish industries in western countries, and

extensive industries have sprung up in all the maritime countries

of the World, such as Japan, Great Britain, France andthe United

States of America.

On the Bombay coast, the industry has been completely neglected

and undeveloped owing to the absence of any organised agency to

look after its interests. Yet there are great possibilities for the devel-

opment of Shell-fisheries in our waters,

There is an ever-increasing demand for oysters, lobsters, crabs,

clams, and prawns, but the supplies unfortunately are not equal to the

demand. The capital required for these fisheries is comparatively

small.

Bombay, with its lengthy coast line (over 1,300 miles) and its numer-

ous creeks and backwaters, known to produce excellent and

varied forms of shell-fishes, providing an annual yield estimated at 30

lakhs, offers a very attractive field for fishery enterprise. The econom-

ic and the academic value of none of these shell-fishes has yet been

realised, and nobody seems to have fully worked out the life history

of any of the important shell-fishes found along the Bombay coast.

Unfortunately, the public has not yet realised the great food value

of some of the shell-fishes. ‘ All shell-fish have the property of storing

great quantities of glycogen, or animal starch, and of fat, which

renders them in the highest degree nutritious, and they are, more-

over, rapid growing and prolific animals—capable of extensive

fishing which could be greatly increased by judicious farming ’.—

(C.M. Y onge, 19235)

THE SHELL-FISHERIES OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 827

One of the factors which has prevented the greater and more

general use of shell-fish as food among the higher classes is the

prevailing fear of diseases, such as enteric fever, or gastric poisoning

which may result from their consumption.

Greater attention should be paid to the outflow of sewage in

the vicinity of shell-fish beds than has hitherto been done in India.

Many shell-fish, especially oysters, clams, and mussels are liable

to bacterial contamination, and, if taken from a locality heavily laden

with sewage, especially when consumed raw, or lightly cooked, may

cause enteric fever and other grave disorders. In the present

report I have included certain measures which could be employed

to obviate such contamination.

Scope of Survey.—Early in 1930 the attention of the Bombay

Natural History Society was drawn by the present writer to the

desirability of making a general survey of the Shell-fisheries of the

Bombay Coast including Sind. In consequence of this representa-

tion, the Society deputed the author to carry out the proposed

investigation and to report on the existing conditions of the Shell-

fishing Industry on the Bombay Coast. The Society willingly agreed

to bear the entire expenses involved inthe inquiry. The Govern-

ment of Bombay gave their help by granting every possible facility

in the proposed investigation.

The main object of the survey was :—

(a) To discover the principal species which formed the basis of

the local Shell-fisheries.

(6) To study and report upon the economic conditions under

which these fisheries were being carried on and to suggest such

measures as might tend to their improvement.

brates for purposes of study and research.

The lines on which the work was to be carried out were briefly as

follows :—

Shell-fishes used as food, their food value and other purposes.

A survey of local conditions.

Physical conditions of the beds, habitat, etc.

Possible income, sale, transport, etc.

Fishing methods.

Sewage problems.

Possibilities of the industry.

Measures tending to the improvement of the industry.

It is my intention in the present report to deal mainly with the

economic aspects of the problem. Such scientific results as may

arise from the present investigation must be left aside until fuller

opportunity is forthcoming for a detailed study of the material now

made available. It is hoped, therefore, that the following reports,

dealing, as they do, with the economic conditions of the Shell-fisheries

of the Bombay Coast may prove of some value and I trust that such

recommendations as are made may heip in the economic develop-

ment of the industry and tend to the betterment of the fishing

population of the coast. .

‘he most suitable time to carry out the investigation would have

iS) Oa Se

828 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

been during the months of November, December, January and

February, which constitute the chief fishing season along the West

Coast. But my services were only available during the months of

March, April and May 1930. The survey was started on March 2,

1930, and about 3 months were spent in visiting the important

fishing centres to collect material and data necessary for the investi-

gation. ‘The time spent on tour, the localities visited, and Shell-fish

collected, are given in Appendix II.

No previous investigation of this nature dealing with the area to

be explored had been carried out and no information was available

to provide a basis of the work. There were no records to indicate

the species available at the different localities, the area of their distri-

bution or the season of their abundance. Moreover, the work had to

be carried out single-handed and the time and the funds at my

Gisposal did not permit of anything more than a general study of

existing conditions. But the material collected and the data obtained

are sufficient to enable me to make some contributions to our know-

ledge of these fisheries and to provide information which can be made

a basis for their improvement.

AREA SURVEYED.

Sind.—In the middle of March I went to Sind and visited the

following localities :—

1. Karachi Harbour 5. Piti Creek 9. Pitiani Creek

2. Manora Islands 6. Kharanji Creek 10. Dubba ,,

3. Maurypur 7. Khudi i Me Se hity ‘

4. Bram Haidri 8. Khanto a 12. Kajar 3

The Customs sailing yacht Mary Queen was very kindly placed

at my disposal by the Customs authorities, and I was also able to

benefit by the invaluable services of the Preventive officer who acted

as my guide. More than a week was spent in the creeks to acquire

first-hand knowledge of the physical and biological conditions

prevailing in the Sind creeks. I visited all the important places

where Shell-fisheries (Prawn and the Oyster fishing) are carried on

along the Sind Coast.

Bombay Coast.—For convenience, the Bombay Coast (excluding

Sind) may be divided into two regions (a) the Northern field, which

includes districts north of Bombay (zc. Surat, Palgarh, and Thana

districts). The (4) Southern field includes Colaba, Ratnagiri and

the Konkan districts.

The following localities were visited in the Northern field :-—

Cambay, Pardi, Arnala, Boisar, Bassein, Borivili, Varsova, Mahim,

and Thana. ‘The chief fishing centres in the North are Palgarh,

Arnala, Bassein, Varsova and Mahim and the chief fisheries carried

on are those of Prawn, Oyster, Crab and Lobster.

In the Southern field I visited the following localities :—

1. Rewas 5, Vizaydrug 9. Kodibag 13. Sanikatta

2. Alibag 6. Malwan 10. Ankola 14. Gokarn

3. Ratnagiri 7. Vengurla 11. Kumta 15. Harwada

4, Jaytapur 8. Karwar 12. Honavar 16. Moorba

THE SHELL-FISHERIES OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 829

SPECIES OF ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE.

Every creek and backwater bordering the coast of Sind has, to

a greater or less extent, a shell-fish industry. A very extensive and

profitable trade is carried on in Prawns, Crabs, Lobsters etc.. Sind is

famed for its edible oysters. In Karachi and up-country towns the

demand for oysters is so great that the supply is unable to meet it.

Sea mussels and cockles are also found in certain localities but they

are not commercially exploited. Other shell-fish which supplement the

industry are Placuna placenta (the Window-pane Oyster), Cuttle-fishes,

and Squids.

Tothe South of Bombay—Alibag, Ratnagiri, Jaytapur, Malwan,

Vengurla and Karwar comprise the main shell-fish-producing waters.

The chief products of the Shell-fish Industry of the South are the

edible oyster, clams, prawns, crabs and lobsters. Bombay possesses

a fine clam (Zapes, Meretrix) industry and produces over 4 million

pounds of clams each year. In addition to these, many other marine

molluscs are utilized, including the following :-—MWytzlus Solen, Venus,

Arca, Umbonium, Purpura, Natica, etc. The most important of the

Cephalopods are Loligo, and Sep7a, which are found all along the

coast in fairly large numbers. Crustaceans (prawns, crabs and

lobster) form the largest and the most valuable shell-fish along the

Bombay Coast.

Shore collection was made on all occasions from the different

localities visited. The collection made is large, and has been sorted

out, Jabelled and will be placed in the Society’s Museum. The most

important forms collected are the following :—

Ostrea (edible oysters), Placuna placenta (window-pane oyster),

Tapes, Meretrix (clams), Mytilus (sea-mussel), Cardium (sea-cockle),

Pecten (comb-shell), Arca, Dositna (cockles), Purpura, Umbonium

(whelks), Cypraea (cowries), Cephalopoda (squids, cuttle-fish, etc.),

prawns, crabs, etc.

I propose to divide the report in two parts. The first part will

deal withthe molluscan shell-fish and will include the following forms,

Clams, Oysters, and other minor shell-fishes (including Bivalves,

Gastropods and Cephalopods). The second part will deal with the

crustacean forms and will include the prawns, lobsters, and crabs.

In the following pages an attempt is made to bring to the notice

of the public and the Government, the great economic value of the

Bombay Shell-fisheries, and to show the present position and the

future prospects of the industry. Everything possible was done to

obtain reliable information and correct statistics, but for such a vast

field of inquiry some allowance must be made for errors.

I desire to express my great appreciation to the Bombay Natural

History Society of the honour done to me by entrusting me with

this enquiry.

My greatest indebtedness is due to Mr. S. H. Prater, ¢.m.z.s.,

M.L.Cc., Curator, Bombay Natural History Society, for his generous

assistance and advice in all matters pertaining to this inquiry and for

the great help he rendered in reading through the manuscript.

I wish to express my best thanks to Prof. P. R. Awati, I. E. S.,

of the Royal Institute of Science, Bombay, for his kind permission to

830 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

make a survey of the Shell-fish industry of Bombay and to work in

the Institute Laboratory. Moreover, I am grateful to him for the

keen interest he showed in this work.

Finally, I take this opportunity to thank the officers of the Salt

Revenue Department, and of the Revenue Department for the trouble

they took to assist in every possible way in the present inquiry and for

the help they have given at times by placing their personal knowledge

of the subject, at my disposal. JI would specially thank Mr. H. T.

Sorley, M.A., 1.¢.S., Collector of Salt Revenue, Bombay, and the

Collector of Customs, Karachi, for the great assistance I received

through their departmental officers in iny investigation.

BoMBAY CLAM INDUSTRY.

The Bombay Clam Industry is of great economic importance

due to the following facts: (1) Clams provide cheap and nourishing

food (2) they are sufficiently abundant, and form a source of

supply during the monsoon when fish is scarce and (3) clam-fishing

gives employment to a very large number of peopie who gather them

for the market.

‘Clams’ form a popular diet among the poor people living along

Bombay coast. ‘They are prized by the fishermen above all other

food molluscs except the oysters. They are chiefly used in curries,

especially during the monsoon when fish is scarce, and are much

valued because they are cheap and tasty. The usual retail rate

varies from 2-3 pies per pound in the Bombay markets and in the

mofussil a pie’s worth is sufficient to make a good curry for a

whole family. Though Clams have been used as food for ages, and

though commonly eaten by the poorer classes, they are not very

popular with the well-to-do Indians. The fishermen use these

sheil-fish all the year round.

Bombay clams.—Two important clams are found along the Bombay

coast.

(1) Tapes.

(2)..Meretrix.

1. Zapes. In commercial importance, the Zafes stands first

among thetrue shell-fish of the Bombay coast. It is a brackish-water

mollusc and has a wide distribution from Bombay to the South all

along the coast. There are very fewcreeks in the south where this

clam is not found. This is due to the excellent nature of the creeks

with their large stretches of clean sandy ground. Italso lives in

deeper waters (one to three fathoms) and in many localities often |

remains submerged under water. It is found in sand but as frequently

in areas where the sand is mixed with considerable quantities of mud.

The most favourable place for 7afes teds is a sandy bottom with a

little mud—too much of fine mud destroys them. They are readily

injured by high temperature. In most of the creeks where the beds

are exposed under low tide for a long time during the summer

months, they are killed in large numbers.

2. Meretrix. This clam has the same habitat as the Zajpes and is

generally found in the same beds. Its flesh has a fine flavour and is

PLATE I

Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

Journ.,

i Ce

1. Fishermen with ‘Clam net’ hauled out (Mahim).

3. Meretrix impudica.

Tapes pinguis.

1 ig 3 a

ee ee

erie

eset

fie

+ oe ‘

7 aS :

. ‘

: rae oe

}. co a

‘ ”

- whee w rh

7 : : vies .

+ OE te eh a oe

* . %

Y : , a howe

wo est ene “help PH oe Coy Td gH rita oF

a <

4 7 z ° : ” -

7 F a oe 7

. ef 1 , =

Praag : :

aK oa

: Se A 7 ac . - 7

os 5 5

. x en oe -

: : ‘oF wn oo

_ . : A

we a

A Pa an * .

ee 7 ‘

7 7 ap

2 : a : .

: a

an i

, “ * . .

7 7 x : : a

t «

7 *

_ ha iter ;

Am ae: ~

‘ R : ; 8

psy : ay ioe th

. . ‘a a

ae, . > ineae .

ae 7

nt . if ia 2s nF

od +

: ' x

19 eat

* -

’

‘ me

— 7 ’

a A ‘

7 ‘

THE SHELL-FISHERIES OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 831

nutritious. The shell isthick and massive. The average size in the

adult stage varies from 60 mm. to 70 mm. witha weight of about 4

ounces. There are many species of Meretrix found all along the coast,

two of which are very common, J/. zmpudica, and M. meretrtx.

Lite history :—The life history of the clam is very interesting. The

male and the female products, when ripe, are discharged in the

water where they unite. After fertilisation the larva passes through

the trochopore and veliger stages. The length of the swimming

period of the larva varies according to the temperature of the water.

In favourable weather conditions it takes 5-8 days for the

embryo to settle down. The tiny little clam attaches itself to shells,

pebbles, sand grains or sea weeds by means of a secretion from

the foot, which is known as the byssus. When the foot is

sufficiently developed, the clam burrows into the sand and remains

buried there for the rest of its life. It grows to the adult size in

about 2 years. The principal breeding season lasts from March to

to June; but, if weather conditions are favourable and the temperature

-high (above 82°F.), they breed all the year round, except during

the monsoon.

Distribution ot the clam beds :--Clams occur in large beds in many

localities along the Bombay coast. Bombay, Alibag, Ratnagiri,

Jaytapur and the North Kanara District possess the most important

clam fisheries. In some creeks, like Ratnagiri, Jaytapur and Kodi-

bag (Karwar), hundreds of acres of calm beds are exposed under the

low tide.

In North Kanara District, the beds are more numerous than else-

where and they are also very extensive in area. Zapes and MWeretrix

occur in such abundance in North Kanara that an important industry

nas arisen as a result of which a considerable number of hands are

always kept employed. The towns possessing important clam

fisheries in Kanara district are: Karwar, Kodibag creek, Ankola,

Moorka, Wadgoni creek, Mirgan, Harwada, Mudgian, and Sanikatta.

I estimate the area covered by clam beds at 350 acres in Kanara

district and about 300 acres in Ratnagiri district, and other minor

beds all along the coast may be putdown at 250 acres. Altogether,

there are not less than 900 acres of clam-bearing sands in the whole

Presidency.

To the north of Bombay there is practically no clam industry

because the shore is rocky and muddy and the grounds are not

suitable for the growth of clams. Along the Sind coast these shell-

fishes are absent so that there is no such industry along the Sind coast,

Value of yields:—The Kanara clam industry ranks first on the

Bombay coast and the annual production from the different beds may

be estimated above 2 million pounds. The Bombay markets are

supplied from the Mahim creek and other creeks to the south of

Bombay,the market depending chiefly on Alibag for its supply.

Very large quantities of clams are consumed in Bombay. The annual

consumption may be estimated to 190,000 pounds valued at Rs.

50,500. |

These clams were, ‘at one time, much more abundant along the

Bombay coast. Thirty to fifty years ago the southern creeks were full

and the beds crowded with them. With the increase in demand

832 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XX XV

from the larger towns along the coast and the mofussil and the con-

sequent ruthless exploitation of the clam beds, and with no State

control over the fisheries, the supply has steadily diminished and

clams are becoming scarcer and scarcer every year.

The crop varies from year to year, there are some good years and

some lean. From my inquiries among the fishermen I am led to

believe that poor yields may be due to excessive rainfall. When

the creeks are continuously flooded with fresh water brought by

the streams in the monsoons, the clam beds are affected to a large

extent since the shell-fish die on account of the greatly reduced

salinity of the water present over the beds. When the rains are

normal the beds produce fairly good harvest.

It is difficult to estimate the productiveness of these beds. One

naturally expects the official records to say something about them,

but no such information is available. On account of this, an exact

estimate of clams collected along the coast, is impossible. However,

at a general estimate, the total production of the Bombay coast may

be placed approximately at 4 million pounds and the approximate

value of the clam industry may be placed at Rs. 1,02,000.

Marketing :—The clams are generally marketed alive. They are

also sold with the shell removed. The shells are broken against

a stone and the meat is extracted with a push of the thumb, and

dropped into an earthen pot containing alittle of fresh water. Clam-

meat absorbs a large amount of water so that it increases in volume

by about a third of its original size. That is why the clams are

generally soaked in fresh water before being marketed. After

satisfying the local demands they are sent to the interior towns.

The commonest method employed for preserving clams for the

market is to boil them for about 20 minutes. This causes the

clams to gape. The meat isthen shaken out and dried, and in this

condition, forms a very delicious food, particularly during the

monsoon, when fish is not readily available. The other method

which is also very common, is inserting a sharp instrument, a

‘Clam Knife’, between the shells and pressing them aside, the soft

parts are then easily scooped out. The large clams are opened by

this method, while the smaller ones, which also form a part of the

catch are boiled and the stew or boiled water is used incurry. The

boiled meat does not smell and is eaten when dry. It is sold at the

rate of 5-6 annas a pound, while the dried meat is cooked or is used

in curry and is sold at annas 4-5 a pound.

By-products:— Large heaps of clam shells are met with all along the

coast wherever the clams are found in abundance. The shells are

sold to the lime burners, who burn them in kilns and produce a

e2ood quality of lime used extensively for whitewashing purposes.

Sewage problem :—Clams are much more liable to bacterial con-

tamination than any other Shell-fish. The oyster beds may be

established far from the shore where there is little danger from

contamination from the sewage. But clams are found chiefly in

backwaters and creeks, so that there is greater danger of their

contamination by polluted waters. The beds which were known

to produce good clams have become quite barren as a result of

sewage accumulations in the neighbourhood. The fishing grounds

ees

ae eae

mye ne nemo

Sins cet

pies ere

Journ.,

Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

Puate IL

2. ‘Tony’ full of ‘Clams’

yey

ING

6977

low tide at Jayatapur.

after fishing at Jayatapur.

Karwar.

Kodi-bag,

THE SHELL-FISHERIES OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY — $33

which have survived destruction in this way are those situated near

the middle of the creeks where the water is deeper, and the currents

more strong.

In Mahim Creek (Bombay) where the clams are gathered in large

quantities for the Bombay markets, the sewage conditions are even

worse. The sewage gutters from Bombay city open into the creek.

The clam beds which once produced excellent quantities of clams

are now destroyed by the soft odorous mud brought along with the

sewage. The conditions are so bad that there is every danger of

contamination of the beds. A large amount of clams which are

gathered and coilected from this foul creek are sent to the Bombay

markets.

Fishing Methods:—The fishing is generally done at low tide, when

alarge area of the beds is exposed. The work is done to a large

extent by women. Each woman on an average collects about

10-12 lbs. of shell-fish, worth about 3 annas, per day.

Two methods of digging clams are commonly employed on the

Bombay coast: (1) ‘ Dry Digging’, (2) * Wet Digging’,

1. ‘Dry Digging’ is carried on only when the waters have

receded and it lasts only for a few hours every day. The instrument

usually employed for digging consists of an iron prong with a wooden

handle attached to it. The clam-collectors however use all sorts of

diggers, such as cocoanut shells and iron levers at different places

along the coast.

2. ‘Wet Digging’ is employed when the clam beds are

covered by water even at low tide. A small boat and a ‘ Clam rake-

net’ are required for the purpose. The fishermen generally take

their boats into 4-5 feet deep water where they can use their

‘rake-nets’. The boats are anchored when, the fishing ground is

reached. The men wade into the water over the clam flats and

locate and dislodge the clams by groping with their feet. The

rake net is worked into the sand and mud, and then drawn up

with the catch. It is washed repeatedly to rid it of the sand and

mud till only the clams are leftin the net. These are emptied in the

boat, where they are sorted at leisure.

The structure of the ‘ rake-net ’ is very simple. The rake which

consists of a semi-circular wooden rim has a diameter of 14 feet.

The net with a mesh of about § inch is attached around the rim. A

long bainboo fixed across the it serves as a handle to work the net

into the sand and mud. In deeper waters clams are fished by

diving.

In some southern creeks (Belleykeri) a slightly different type of

rake-net is used. The rake is without the bamboo handle; instead,

a number of strings are attached to its rim bearing small wooden

floats. This type of net is generally used in deeper water. The

fishermen dive and fili up the net with clams along with the sand and,

coming up the surface, haul up the net.

Clam-farming :—No clam-farming is practised along our coasts

except that in certain localities ‘seed’ clams are collected from

different beds and planted in suitable tidal flats, where conditions are

very favourable for their growth. ‘There they usually grow to mar-

ketable size within a year or so. In Bombay (Mahim creek) the clam

834 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

beds are generally stocked with seed clams from different localities

(e.g. Alibag, etc.). The Mahim creek beds are very favourable to their

growth so that in a year or so the seed clams are ready for market.

Large quantities of clams estimated to amount to 250,000 pounds

per annum valued at Rs. 1,200, are sent from Alibag for Bombay

markets.

Sug gestions :—The reader may judge from the foregoing description

that the clam industry is very important from an economic point of

view. Clams provide food fora large number of people and, as such,

have a distinct value in the food market. However, for want of

scientific and iegislative control, the industry has been left

undeveloped ard allowed to deteriorate. Regulations for control

would go far to place the industry on a better footing, to reduce

wastage and needless destruction, and to extend the possibilities

of its development.

The following measures may be adopted :—

(a) Legislation. Laws against indiscriminate fishing.

1. Srze limit. A niinimuin size below which clams may not

be fished or marketed should be legally enforced and this inay apply

to Bombay and all districts south of Bombay. The minimum size

may be fixed at 14 inch in length. This would afford the clams a

chance of spawning atleast cnce before they were fished out for the

market. Such protection would save the clam beds from exhaustion.

Thus when the clams are under the proposed marketable size, clam

fishing would stop automatically. During this time the beds will be

left undisturbed and the clams will get time to grow and spawn, and

the fishing will again become abundaat.

2. (Close season. The fishing should be suspended during the

summer months (Marchto June), the main pericd of the spawning

season.

(6) Sctentific measures.

1. Further investigation is necessary into the life history,

the breeding seasons, time of maturity, rate and conditions of

erowth, enemies, food, etc. to provide preliminary data essential to

the institution of measures for increasing the clam supply.

2. Institution of cultural methods, and the adoption of clam

planting on barren and depleted grounds.

IGE

OvSTER INDUSTRY.

From time immemorial oysters have been considered a delicacy ; as

such they are highly prized. It has been proved by many experi-

ments that oyster flesh has a very high food value, as it contains

a very high percentage of glycogen and nitrogenous compounds.

The oyster is rich in Vitamins and Iodine; both, essential constitu-

ents of human diet. Few articles of food are more nourishing

than the edible oyster, but its chief merit lies in its being easily

digested. Another good point regarding it is that the oyster possesses

a great stimulative property, and acts as a tonic to the consumer.

Puate III

Journ., Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

BOMBAY OYSTER INDUSTRY

ant. aorle . oe cuale 5

Ventricle ...._.\

oe @ ~ feo

Post. aorta +.-.-- fief f

ia tea ata E.ef-- Pea

Rectum.-..f.-- am ... adductor muscle

QS f- ty as Pylorie coecuny

Caochatent.

ef,

internat Organs | (segt juvrts )

Jig. 2.—anatomy oF Ostrea gryphoides (ScH.)

THESHEELL-EISHURIES OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 835

Unfortunately the better class Indians do not make use of this

excellent food found along our coast, and only the Europeans

appreciate the oyster. The poor and lower class people living on the

shore also make use of this most valuable article of food.

Species of Economic value -—About 7 or 8 species of edible oyster

are found along the Bombay Coast: of these, the following three are

important from the economic point of view :—

(1) Ostrea gryphoides (Sch.).—Newton and Smith. (Pilate III.)

This is a large oyster growing to about 6-7 inches. The rate of

growth is very rapid. The oyster attains marketable size in 3 or 4

years. It is found in the muddy creeks, where it is restricted to the

low-tide area. It is sometimes found in fairly deep waters—up to

three or four fathoms. This oyster is valuable because it grows toa

large size (some oysters in my Sind collection are from 12 inches to 15

inches in length) and can be easily cultivated. It thrives in nearly

every estuary and backwater along our coast.

Distribution :—The chief centres where this oyster is found are:

Sind—Karachi harbour and Sind coast (Hub-river, Kharanji, Khudi,

Khai, Pitiani and Dubba creeks).

Bombay and Suburbs.—The location of the natural oyster beds

are :—Malad, ‘Boisar, Satputi Creeks, Palghar, Sanjam Kalve,

Dahisar, Navapur, and Mahim.

To the South of Bombay :—Alibag, Ratnagiri, Jaytapur, Malwan,

Venguria, Goa (Portuguese India), Karwar, Gangawali Tadri and

Honavar.

Other places where these oysters are found along the West Coast

are :—Cutch creeks, Okha Port, Dawaraka and Porebunder.

1 (2) Ostrea cucullata (Born.).—A rock oyster, found in clusters on

rocks exposed at half tides. It seldom exceeds three inches in

length. This oyster seems to be a slightly brackish-water form.

This species ranks next to O. gryphoides (Sch.) in commercial

importance. It has a very delicate flavour and is therefore highly

esteemed.

Distribution :—It is found along the rocky coasts in the high-tide

area. It has been collected from the rocks all along the Bombay

coast.

(3) Ostrea discotdea (Gould) or O. rivertans.—(Plate IV). This

is a flat large oyster, almost round in shape. ‘The external surface

is laminated and the lines of growth are conspicuous. The muscle scar

is oblong and has a dull white colour and stands out clearly from the

nacreous interior of the valves. Its shell is generally encrusted

with alge. It is more a deep-water form and grows to 6 inches in

Size.

Distribution :—It is found in the littoral zone at Karachi and

in the Sind Creeks, Dwarka (Kathiawar), Bombay (Mahim), Ratna-

giri and Jaytapur.

Other species of oysters which are not mentioned above are rare

and smaller in size. They may, however, be interesting from the

i Awat,.P. R. and Rat, H. §, (1931).

836 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

standpoint of the study of their Bionomics, but they are useless at

present for commercial purposes. ;

Karachi and Sind Coasts. Till the beginning of the present

century, the Sind creeks produced edible oysters in great abundance

and Karachi was known for the excellence of its oysters. The

oyster industry before 1894 was not under official supervision

and no customs dues were paid prior to this period. The trade in

edible oysters began in about 1885. First, the demand was purely

local and there was no difficulty in meeting it. The oysters were

mostly fished from Karachi backwaters (Maripur and Nawa Nar oyster

beds), where large beds existed before, and are now practically

non-existent.

The oyster beds in the Sind creeks were so rich ‘that till 1893

no difficulty was experienced in meeting the large and increasing

demand’.

The customs authorities estimated the annual yield of the Sind

beds during the fat years of the early nineties at 100,000 dozens. |

The moderate supply from the local beds was insufficient to meet

the increasing demand for oysters in the Punjab, N.-W. F. P.,

Baluchistan, which was made possible by the opening of the N.-W.

Railway which provided accelerated means of transport. The fisher-

men then directed their attention to beds inthe Kharanji and other

Sind creeks. At present the condition of these oyster beds is

far from good, because they have been depleted through overfishing

Statement showing the nuncber of oysters tmported into Karachi

from December 8, 1896 to June 29, 1908.

ane Indus Creeks. Sete | Hab-river. Cutch.

Dozens. Dozens. | Dozens. Dozens.

1896-97 . 9,000 1e oe 3,000

1897-98 17,150

1898-99 16,900 900 1,700

1899--1900 15,700 at 600 17,000

1900-1901 8,503 se 500 19,500

1901-1902 9,300 340 a 17,300

1902-1903 1,750 190 me | 21,000

1903-1904. Z 70 500 17,500

1904-1905 ee. 100 3,400 6,500

1905-1906 13,030. | a i 7,£00

1906-1907 4,930 | re oo 8,900

1907-1908 oe | 875 1,100 4,800

Journ., Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc Piatt IV

et et a moan ‘ = —

1. Ostrea discoidea (Gould). The right valve removed.

2. Ostrea discoidea (Gould).

THE SUIELELTISAERIES OF THH BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 837

Statement showing the number of oysters fished in Karachi

and tron the Sind Creeks.

SEI

ray

Year Dozens Royalty

7 ~~ Rs. A. P.

1OZi=22 7,635-1 636 7 6

1923-24 15, 288-6 1,051 13 6

1924-25 5,441-4 495 13 11

1925-26 | 3,519-2 502 1 8

(Closed)

1927-28 983 | 1/2080

1928-29 9,04939 | 1,086 8 6

1929-20 3,00/ | (Oo

ERE as eee, Ce, re ARE FEY NA I ER I IS IE

Oyster Season. 1929-30. Nov. 22, 1929 to February 19, 1930.

5 | i

wae « a = ; . : = ve

| gos | a | 8 | s&s | 2B] & |os| § | 8

|; Ao | 8B Es w = on CF Kes] xe!

| ote a) a = A, | Tl NM M4

Dozens ... 163 780 | 1,329 | 2844 536 | 334} 250 | 55 1Z5

Grand Total=3,857 Dozens. Royalty recovered=Rs. 799-9-6,

It is interesting to note that 21,000 dozen oysters were imported into

Karachi from Cutch creeks in the year 1902--03 but the trade

diminished later because the State authorities began to charge very

high taxes for the oyster exports form the Cutch State creeks to

British India, i.e. Karachi. At present there is practically no trade

with Cutch. During the last 30 years the oyster beds in Karachi

and Sind Creeks have been practically wiped out. The demand

for oysters has increased and the orders at Rs. 1-8, Rs. 2 per

dozen are even refused tor want of supply, but nothing has been

done so far to increase the supply for the markets.

Attempts have been made by the customs authorities at Bram

Hydri (Kharanji Creek) to breed oysters. But, so far, they have not

been successful for the following reasons :-——

1. Small extent of the naturai oyster beds, to supply the

Government groynes with spat.

2. Absence of any cultch in the creek.

3. Presence of soft mud which does not allowthe cultch to

remain clean and smothers the young spat when it settles down.

Bombay. To the south of Bombay the chief oyster-producing

centres are Ratnagiri, Jaytapur and Karwar. There are large natural

oyster beds all along the coast in the creeks and backwaters,

838 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL. HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

in Bombay and its neighbourhood, oysters are collected in large

numbers by the local fishermen from various natural oyster beds,

situated along the coast and transplanted to Mahim and Satpati

(Palghar) where they are cultivated ona large scale. The oysters are

also sent out to mofussil towns after satisfying Bombay demands.

There is a great demand for oysters in Bombay, and the oysters

are sent to the city from many of these coastal towns, but the trade

suffers because there is no regular and definite supply. Many

thousands of good oysters may be made available if some proper

distributing agency was formed in Bombay. The oysters from the

local creeks are large and good-flavoured. In the fair season the

oyster supply could be arranged regularly since the steamers ply

between Bombay and Goa, touching daily at some of the oyster-

producing coastal towns to the south of Bombay.

Thousands of shelled oysters are despatched to clubs, hotels and

private individuals in Bombay and outside. The local demand

varies from 1,000 to 2,000 dozens of oysters per month. Many more

thousand dozens would be sold if scientific methods were followed.

At present there is a suspicion among the public that enteric fevers

are caused by oysters. During the whole season 3,000 to 6,000

dozens are fished in Bombay and Salsette Islands. The price varies

from annas 8 to 12 per dozen. The total earning from all the oyster

farms in Bombay and Salsette Islands is approximately Rs. 2,0v0 to

3,000 per annum. As to the number of people employed in the

industry it is not easy to give exact. figures, since no licences are

issued to men engaged in the oyster industry. Approximately there

may be 5,000 to 7,000 people who are engaged in the oyster industry

all along the Bombay coast.

fishing Season. The oysters are fished from November to March

when they become plump and white and are in a good marketable

condition..

Fishing from the farms ceases between March and October as

oysters are not in demand in the off-season. Moreover they are not

fit for the market during the spawning season (March to May),

while they are in a poor condition, and their soft parts are watery

during the monsoon (June to October).

Methods of collection. The oyster farms are exposed at full low

tide. Oysters which are found below the low-tide mark are collected

by diving. The shells are removed from the beds by means of an

instrument locally called Kooda/l.

After collecting, the shells are opened by breaking them ard the

soft parts are scooped out by means of an ‘ Oyster Knife.’ They

are stored in an earthen pot containing sea water and their soft parts

are sold in the market. Sometimes, to save freight and ensure

proper icing, the soft parts of the oysters are packed in tins before

they are despatched.

By-products. The empty shells of oysters are used for ee

lime. They are crushed and put in akiln, where they are burnt.. The

burnt fragments are then powdered. This product is much valued

because it inakes an excellent lime for building purposes. The

empty shelis are rather cheap and are sold at the rate of four to six

annas a maund. Large quantities of oyster and clam shells are

THE SHELI-PFISHERIES OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENC) 839

exported from the southern creeks to the different towns along the

Bombay coast after satisfying the local demands. The following

statement will give some idea of the export of oyster shells to Goa.

Statement showing the yearly exports of Oyster shell to Goa fron

ge oe OE Latre a ue UES WA ‘om CIN tg 1920-21.

| é

' Quantity of Oyster

wee | shells exported REMARKS

Tons Cw) Or.

1915-16 1,043 10

1916-17 718 10

Note.—No imports of Chun-

a Sef oe a ram from Goa during the said

1918-19 1,434 7 ieee | Penod.

1919-20 1,037 10

1920-21 | 135

PRESENT METHOD OF OYSTER CULTURE

1. Oyster farms. None of the western methods of farming oysters

are employed inthis part of the country. It is not known definitely

when the oysters began to be farmed in the different creeks (Mahim,

Satpati, Palgarh, etc), There are many such farms round about

the Islands of Bombay and Salsette, but the Mahim and Satpati farms

seem to be the most prosperous. The oysters found there are large,

well-shaped, and in excellent condition. The area of the various

farms is small. All of them are well above the line of the low tide.

The ground. seiected for farming is hard. It is composed of clay

and sand covered over with a thin layer of mud.

The method employed at present at Mahim and other farms is as

follows :—

Young oysters, more or less an inch in diameter, are collected from

the open sea and other exposed places. They are then planted in

certain selected spots which are easily accessible in all tide conditions.

These transplanied oysters are generally cleaned once or twice a

month at the low tide and replanted in order to prevent mortality

from various enemies. Under these conditions they grow rapidly,

and within three or four years they measure about four to six inches

in diameter.

2. Cultch. No attempt has yet been made by fishermen on our

coast to employ a suitable cultch for rearing oysters. ‘The spats are

found on the natural cultch in the form of shells of oysters, dead or

living, or stray pieces of stones, bricks, tiles, etc. The putting out

of the cultch marks the highest stage yet attained in oyster culture,

and different methods of distributing culich are employed in

different countries. At Arachan (France), tiles covered with a thin

layer of lime mixed with sand are used as cultch, while in Japan,

bamboo sticks are employed for the same purpose. In India we can

840 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

as easily make use of mangrove branches and the shells of oysters

and other bivalves as cultch as they are cheap and easily obtain-

able wherever oyster beds are found.

CAUSES FOR THE DEPLETION OF THE OYSTER BEDS

(1) Immense harm has been done to the oyster beds by over-

fishing. In some cases, oyster beds which were known to produce

excellent oysters, have been destroyed completely. More oysters

are fished every year from the natural oyster beds than the oysters

produced from the farms. That is, the number of oysters fished in a

certain locality are more than the young ones annually produced in

that locality.

(2) Sometimes the oyster clumps are taken from these natural

beds, to some convenient place near the high-tide mark and the well-

grown specimens are separated over there; but the young oysters

removed from the beds, are never replaced on the natural beds or

transported to the farms, and die of exposure on the shore. There is

a great waste all along the coast because of this practice among the

ignorant fishermen.

(3) No close seasons are kept, that is the oysters are fished by

the poor fishermen all the year round.

THE OYSTER INDUSTRY IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES

During recent years the study of oysters and the oyster industry

have made a great advance in the western countries.

Europe and North America are the great homes of the oyster

industry. There are great oyster farms in France, Great Britain

nad Wis eis

The value of the world’s oyster crop of marketable oysters

in 1923 was estimated approximately as $20,000,000.

The production of England and Wales (in 1916) was 31 million

oysters (value £207,909). The total production of market oysters

in U.S.A. according to the statistics of U.S. Bureau of Fisheries was

17,176,163 bushels with a value of $12,618,135. France produced

oysters worth 27,000,000 francs in 1912.

The world’s Oyster production according to statistics from the’ British

Encyclopedia’ (1930) its as tollows :—

eS A a as

Na ae OO ee eer

Value

ieee Wear rs Guan

Uy Seas ae ee ... | 1925 |20,000,000 bushels... | $ 14,000,000

Canada ... eee i see 1926 2 255°", lS eho s078

England and Wales... ee LOO 15,857,900 ,, ee 2h. 150,757

Fal Estuary ... re ol 1926 2,500,000 ,, ae ae A 8,750

Japan: as, ie oa we | (1924 2,032,744 kwam __... |Yen 616,713

(Kwam = 8°27 pounds)

THE SHELL-FISHERIES OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 841

SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF THE OYSTER INDUSTRY

ON THE BOMBAY COAST.

In our country the oyster industry has been completely neglected

and there is a great field for its development, as little has been done

so far to take the full advantage of the rich harvest of the sea.

The natural oyster beds which extend over large tracts along

the coast with an approximate area of 2,000 acres could be easily

made to yield amuch higher revenue than under present condi-

tions. Those engaged inthe industry do not know the value of far-

ming oysters on scientific principles. The selection of the ground,

the specific gravity and the temperature of the sea water, the oyster

food in the locality, the necessary conditions for reproduction, their

life history habitat, tides, currents of water, the grounds and the time

and method of distributing the cultch, are ail subjects which require

investigation. Expenditure on such investigation would be amply

repaid by the greatly increased supply. The oyster is very prolific

for it produces millions of eggs in one season, but comparatively

small numbers reach maturity. On our coast all oyster beds are

above the lowest tide lines, and the oyster-farming can be developed

on our shores in a few localities. In the beginning there may be

failures, disappointments, but in the iong run scientific cultural

methods must succeed. The.annual production of marketable oysters

along the Bombay coast may be approximately 200,000 dozens with

a value of Rs. 50,000.

It is time that our energies were directed to the greater production

of the best and the cheapest food on our coast. It is possible, while

working on such scientific lines as may suit local conditions, to convert

the barren and unproductive shallow waters into rich and productive

Jands.

Ditficulties in applying ftoretgn methods of culture -—-Foreign

methods of oyster culture on our shore are not possible for the pre-

sent, for the following reasons.

1. Poor fishermen.—They cannot afford to employ the expensive

and complicated methods employed in western countries.

2. The fishermen are not educated, and are conservative by

nature. They will not readily practise these methods even if they

are demonstrated.

3. Moreover, no large profits are now expected from the

oyster trade, while they get good returns in other fisheries (our

waters are very rich in edible fishes).

Asa matter of fact, we can also produce fine, large oysters. There

are many factors which make oyster culture easier in our country

than any other country. The following few points may be

mentioned :—

(1) Rapid rate of growth of our oyster.

(2) Waters are less muddy.

(3) There are many very good creeks which are known for

the excellence of their oysters.

842 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATCRAL AIST SOCIL TY, Vole

(4) Cheap spat collectors (shells, etc.).

(5) Few natural enemies.

A few notes on oyster culture of a simple and practicai nature

miay, at this place appear opportune. They are included here with a

view to helping agencies or individuals who have tundeitaken or

propose to undertake oyster culture. ;

Before commeneing oyster culture, it is necessary to prove that

the waters are suitable for the proper setting of the brood, ard

that the conditions are fairly good for its development, growth, etc.

Oyster-tarming :—The following conditions are necessary for suc-

cessful breeding of oysters :—

(1) The ground must be sufficiently hard and clean for the

spat. Millions of eggs that are emitted by the oyster never come to

life at all, because the majority of them perish at the larval stage

when they try to settle down, and only those survive which settle

and lie on hard and clean surfaces.

(2) There should be no excessive variations in the salinity

of the water (such as may be caused by floods or rains). ‘The beds

should not be exposed to extremes of temperature.

(3) Sufficient food for the oysters should be availabie (i.e.,

diatoms, spores and other microscopic animals and plants).

(4) Some suitable spat collectors should be employed (tiies

covered with lime and sand, mangrove branches or shells, etc.) and

nurseries constructed for young oysters.

(5) The beds should be protected from organic and inorganic

enemies (star fishes, drilling molluscs, crabs, sand, mud, etc.).

(6) The tide conditions should be favourable (that is, the oyster

beds should be exposed for some time under very low tide for

cleaning and arranging the oysters on the beds).

(7) The young oysters and ‘Seed oysters’ should be saved from

mud and other sediment by keeping them in boxes or rakes a few

inches above the bottom of the bed. Simple and cheap boxes

with trays can be used with wire-netting at the bottom and at the

top, and these, if proper care is taken, will last for 10-15 years.

After one or two years when the oysters are a good size, they should

be removed to the oyster parks.

improvement of Natural beds, —Oyster-farming can never be very

extensive on the Boinbay Coast, as large suitable grounds for oyster

farms are not available. The natural oyster beds can however be

easily made to yield more revenue than under the present conditions.

In order to encourage the industry in the Bombay Presidency,

oyster-fishing in certain creeks and backwaters, which are now known

to yield an excellent quantity of oysters should be controlled, to prevent

overfishing. The Bombay Government should extend to other parts

‘its Section 37 of Land Revenue Code (Bombay Act V of 1879)

which exercises the rights of proprietorship over the oyster beds in

the Sind Creeks.’

The following steps might be taken to put the Bombay oyster

industry on a proper footing. It is interesting to note inthis connec-

tion that some of the recommendations here made, 7.e. (2), (3), (4), (7),

were introduced by Mr. Walke in 1920, to replace and regulate the

oyster beds at Tadri (Kanara district), which were said to have been

THE SHELL-FISHERIES OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 843

destroyed by the fishermen. A few precautionary measures were

adopted by the Superintendent of Fisheries to improve the oyster

beds, and a prohibition order was enforced for the protection of these

beds, but they were later cancelled, because the orders were not

actually observed. The copies of the correspondence bearing on the

subject of oyster beds in Tadri creek, and the operation and the

effects of the orders prohibiting the removal of the oysters from the

beds, with a detailed report from the Sirkarkun, Sanikatta are given

in Appendix III.—

Recommendations—

(1) Licensing of fishermen employed in oyster-fishing.

(2) Observing a close season every year (March to May) when

the oysters spawn.

(3) By enforcing a long close season for some years in certain

areas where natural beds have been badly depleted.

(4) Forbidding the fishing of oysters under three inches.

(5) Accurate information to the public regarding the edible

oyster, its food value and the distributing agencies, etc.

(6) A thorough survey of the oyster beds in different parts of

the Presidency.

(7) Introduction of artificial cultural methods where possible

(only the practical, simpler methods may be tried).

(8) Reclamation of depleted beds by artificial means :—

i.e. By restocking the old beds, i.e. by transplanting oysters.

(9) Oyster parks as reserves at some suitable localities.

(10) The fishing should be so arranged that the average

number of adult oysters should not fali below the oysters fished

or the oysters produced annually on the oyster beds. ‘ This it is not

a matter of extending the close period, it is the control of the beds

when open to fishing which is the essential to successful regulation.’

(Hornell).

(11) The establishment of one or two experimental oyster farms

along the coast where different methods of culture may be tested

under the supervision of a Superintendent with practical scientific

knowledge ot the subject.

(12) Preservation of certain creeks for experimental purposes,

as for example Jaytapur, Tardi, Satpati, Kalve and Navapur

creeks, which are known to produce excellent oysters affords a good

field for oyster culture for the following reasons :—

i. Extensive natural oyster beds are present in the creek,

ldrge area is available and can be increased if necessary.

ii. The bottom is hard and well suited for oyster cuiture.

A large clean surface is available for the spat.

ili. Oyster cultch is available in large quantities (Shell-fishes

i.e. Tapes, Meretrix, etc.) so that the bottom of the basin may be

reclaimed and made hard and firm by a covering of shells.

iv. Seed is abundant.

v. Abundance of food material in the creek (diatoms, algal

spores, etc.).

vi. Very few oyster enemies in the creek (star fishes, driiling

mollusca, etc.).

814 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

vii. The oysters found in the creek are large and the growth

is vigorous and they attain the marketable size in 2-3 years.

vili. The oyster beds are protected from the direct effects of

open sea.

ix. The majority of the natural oyster beds are covered at

half tide, and a large area in the creek is exposed during the spring

tides, so that the cultural operations can be carried on during the

ebb tide.

x. Sewage conditions are much better than in any other creek

along the coast.

MINOR SHELL-FISH INDUSTRIES.

In addition to the above-mentioned true shell-fishes which are fished

and consumed in large quantities, there are several other species

occurring along the Bombay coast, which are not found in very large

numbers to form a shell-fish industry, but the following forms are of

local interest and are fished for local markets.

(1) Mytilus (Sea-Mussel) (9) Pecten (Comb-shell).

(2) Cardium (Cockles). (10) Solen (Razor-shell).

(3) Arca an (11) Placuna (Window-pane Oyster).

(4) Venus ¥ (12) Purpura (Whelks).

(5) Dosina i: (13) Natica -

(6) Mactra * (14) Umbonium _,,

(7) Circe 55 (15) Cypreea (Cowries).

(8) Donax -

BIVALVES.

1. Mytilus (Sea-Mussel).—This mussel, which is found along out

coast, has a beautiful green colour. It is comparatively rare but

its flesh is highly esteemed and considered as a delicacy by the

fishermen. It grows from 5-6 inches in length and is found at

Karachi, Bombay, Ratnagiri and Karwar. These molluscs form an

excellent food but, as they are scarce and cannot be easily collected,

they are seldom brought for sale in the. market. They are a

brackish-water form and generally found where the tidal streams are

strong and water deep. ‘They attach themselves to rocks and stones

with a gelatinous secretion known as the byssus which is secreted by

the byssogenous gland situated in the foot. Being gregarious in habit,

they crowd in certain localities where they can be gathered in large

numbers. They are also found in oyster clumps. In the deep waters

Mytilus is collected by diving, and separated from the rocks by

means of an iron chisel. It is only fished during the fair season, and

at a very low tide.

2. Arca. (Cockles)—One never meets this form very often and

even then it occurs scattered on the shingle sandy flats. It occurs

at Bombay, Alibag, Ratnagiri and Jaytapur. In size it seldom

exceeds 5-6 cm. It attains marketable size in about two years.

The flesh is coloured due to the coloured blood in this lamelli-branch.

Journ., Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. Puate V

7d.

1. Purpura carnifera. 2. Umbonium vestiarium. 8. Natica ala papilionis.

4. Mytilus smaragadinus. 5. Dosina prostratus. 6. Arca imaequivalvis

(Burg.). 7. Pecten townsendi (Sow) [right], Cardium rugosum (bottom left),

Tellina edentula (top left).

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THE SHELL-FISHERIES OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 845

3. Cardium is found in Karachi harbour on the muddy flats and

is collected by the fishermen for their own use. It grows from 3-4

inches in length. :

4, Pecten (Comb-shell) is rarely found alive on our shore. It is

highly esteemed and considered as a delicacy by Europeans and is

caught in large numbers in Europe and U.S. A. Itis morea deep-

water form. Its shells are found washed ashore, but no regular heds

have been located along the Bombay coast. The shells collected from

some localities measure 6-7 inches.

5. Venus is a common cockle in Bombay and along the southern

creeks (Alibag, Ratnagiri and Jaytapur). It is found in fine sand,

even when mixed with mud. It is almost circular in form and has

a strong glossy white shell with fine concentric lines of growth.

Fully-grown specimens measure about 3-4 cm.

Solen sp. (Razor-shell) lives in sandy tidal flats and is found from 6

inches to 2 feet deep in the sand. Its habitat is near the lowest tide

mark, and it even extends into water which may be several

fathoms deep. It buries itself very quickly with the help of

its large and powerful muscular foot which is present at the anterior

end of the body. A full-grown specimen is 3-4 inches in length.

The semi-transparent shell is white, or yellowish white, in colour.

The valves of the shell are long and narrow and gape at both ends.

The empty shells are found on many sandy beaches washed ashore,

but the living enimal may be collected from Juhu (Bombay) and

Jaytapur. In Jaytapur they are dug out in fairly large numbers for

food purposes.

Placuna placenta (Window-pane Oyster) is found in hard mud in the

creeks and backwaters. It is a brackish-water form. When young the

valves of the shel] are thin and almost transparent and the soft parts of

the animal can be seen through it. Asthe animal grows old the valves

become thicker and translucent. ‘The shells are used as substitute

for glass panes; hence the name Window-pane Oyster. The shells

are also used for decorative purposes in gardens.

The pearls produced by this species are of inferior quality and low

in value, because they are small in size, poor in Justre and wanting

in hardness. Pearl-fishing along the Bombay coast is a minor

industry. These Pearl oysters are found in three localities in the

Karachi Harbour, on the Jamnagar Coast and in the Thana creek

(Bombay). None of these beds are extensive. The true Pearl oyster

(Margatitera sp.) is not found along the Bombay coast.

The Sind beds (Karachi Harbour) have been practically destroyed

due to overfishing. There is practically no pear! fishery along the

Sind coast now. The beds are under the control of the Customs

Department in Sind and they collect the royalty on the pearis fished

along the Sind coast.

‘The fishery in Sind is of comparatively recent origin. It was

discovered by the Mirs about 1836. Since the British Government

took possession of Sind, the fishing of the banks has been leased by

Government periodically for very variable amounts, ranging from

the comparatively high figure of Rs. 6,205 in 1849 to as low as

Rs, 617 per annum for a period of three years in 1904, a gradual

diminution of revenue due without doubt to overfishing and the

846 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

financial impossibility of maintaining a supervising establishment

adequate to enforce a proper regard for cultural safeguards’ (Hornell,

1509).

On the Jamnagar coast the Window-pane oysters are of good quality

and are fished in large numbers. The fishing is carried on under

the supervision and control of the Jamnagar Durbar.

A small bed of these oysters is found in Thana Creek at Musi (?)

but the fishery does not bring much revenue to the State.

Pearl oysters are found scattered in many other localities along the

coast. But no regular beds are found in any other place along the

Bombay coast. In Jaytapur they are collected by the poor shore-

dwellers and are eaten along with the other shell-fish. But the flesh

is not much liked because it is not so tasty.

GASTROPODS.

All the Gastropods found along the Bombay coast are of restricted

use and purely of local importance. None seem to be used as food

on a large scale and none of them are eaten on the Sind coast.

The following edible Gastropods are collected along the Bombay

coast for food.

1. Purpura (Rock Whelk). It is found to a small extent along the

Bombay and Konkan Coast, near the rocks and collected along with

other shell-fish and cooked along with the rest. Its meat is extracted

after being boiled forsome time. It measures about 50-60 mm. in

length.

2. Umbontum. Common at Malwan. During the months of

March, April and May large quantities of them are sent to the

markets. <A beautiful Gastropod with many bright colour bands on

the shells. Its size is very small, measuring about 10-12 mm. They

are boiled in fresh water and the meat is extracted with a needle.

‘The flesh which is very tasty is used either in curry or in soup.

3. Natica is another Gastropod which is collected in some

southern creeks for food. It is found in the sandy beds along

with the Zafes and Meretrix at Ratnagiri and Jaytapur creeks. It

measures about 20-25 mm. The shell has short spirais with beautiful

bright coloured spots. Its flesh 1s much liked by the fishermen and

generally used in curry.

CEPHALOPODA. (Cuitlefish & Squids).

Only two cephalopods (Lolégo and Sepia) are caught for food

from November to May. ‘They are sold in the market and have

considerable economic importance on the West Coast. Consider-

able quantities of these molluscs are sun-dried but they are mostly

sold fresh in the markets. They are highly esteemed by the Chinese and

the Japanese and are considered a marine delicacy. The two most

valuable and abundant forms are Loligo (squid) and the Sepia

(cuttle fish). They are caught along with the other edible fish by the

fishermen all along the coast.

1. The Common Squid (Lo/igo sp.). Squids are caught in large

numbers along Sind coast and are sent to the Karachi market.

They are also found in large numbers round about bombay and are

sent to the Bombay market. In Bombay the rates vary from annas

THE SHELL-FISHERIES OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY 847

1-2 a dozen.

Loligo sp.

ges there is less demand they are sun-dried and sold

eventually at about 2 annas a dozen.

2. Cuitle fish (Sepza sp.) The cuttle

fish is valuable for its shell which is

used in medicine as well as for polish-

ing wood. Cuttle fish shells are often

found washed ashore but not in such

abundance as to form a local industry.

In the adult condition they are usually

6-8 inches in length; they are liked

much as food by the fishermen and are

also used as bait. They are sold in

the local markets, but the supply is

not very regular.

The market

rate varies from

1-2 annas a

dozen.

Sepia Sp.

(To be continued)

THE STUDY OF INDIAN BIRDS.

HuGH WHISTLER, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.

PART X

(With 1 text-figure.)

(Continued trom page 644 of Vol. XX XV.)

MIGRATION.

In starting the last article of this series I am only too conscious of

the fact that it will be the most difficult of all to write. It is not only

that one may study migration for years and yet learn very little definite

about it. But in India, particularly, so little is known about the

subject that it is impossible to write for Indian readers merely on the

Indian aspects of the question. I can only write as an observer of

an enquiring turn of mind who wants to know something of the

subject ; and who therefore sets down his ideas and impressions on

paper in the hope of clarifying them and in the hope that the recital

may help others to some appreciation of the fascination and diffi-

culties of the subject. India should be one of the most interesting

countries in the worid to the student of migration. Yet this aspect

of its bird life has been so neglected that there is as yet no material

from which I can write on migration purely as it concerns India.

I shail therefore try to summarise in general form the main aspects

and principles of the subject—in their universal application—hoping

perhaps that the recital may be cf help to those who are in a position

to study their local application. If my paper will turn any of our

Indian naturalists to the study of migration, it will fulfil its purpose.

There are few aspects of Ornithology on which more has been

written than migration. Upto acertain point we know a great Geal

on the subject. We know which birds migrate, at what seasons they

come and go, what routes they follow and also a certain amount

about their behaviour while migrating. Yet our exact knowledge

stops at that point where the fundamental and most obvious questions

arise. Ask yourself what the primary questions should be. I

should answer and probably most of you would answer too—I want

to know why birds migrate and how they find their way. Yet it is

exactly these two questions which at present cannot be answered,

though a great deal has been written in the endeavour to provide an

answer. Answer these two questions and all our present exact

knowledge would fit in round the answers as a mere elaboration of

detail.

The starting point of most enquiries is usually definition. What

is this migration which we seek to understand? My dictionary defines

THE STUDY OF INDIAN BIRDS 849

migration as follows :—‘a change of abode: a removal from one coun-

try or climate to another ; a number removing together’ and it goes

on to define migratory animals as ‘animals that remove from one

region to another as the seasons change ’. Now these definitions do not

quite serve our purpose, as alittle reflection immediately shows. The

Historians tell us of the migrations of the human race and more

particularly of the mass movements of the Aryan stocks from an

origin in central Asia. The Economist and the Politician tell us of the

migration of Industry from north to south in England of to-day.

The naturalist tells us of the migrations of the Lemmings in Northern

Europe which end in wholesale destruction in the sea. The migra-

tions of the Sandgrouse into the British Isles are a theme of the country

chronicler. Yet all these movements are different from what

the ornithologist has in mind when he speaks of migration. For he

is thinking of a mass-movement which differs from those other mass-

movements, even of the Sandgrouse, in one essential characteristic.

Those movements may be huge and marked, yet they are irregular.

No one can foresee them or count on them. There is usually a

finality about them. ‘They are an inundation which overflows a

country. Its mark may be enduring or ephemeral but there is no

rhythm of recoil. Bird migration on the other hand is one of the

great rhythnis of the world, a seasonal ebb and flow which moves as

surely as the ebb and flow of the tides, the change of the seasons,

the passage of day and night. We can confidently foretell that a thou-

sand years hence the swaliows will be migrating with the seasons as

they were when the Prophet Jeremiah wrote ‘The Stork in the Heaven

knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the

Swallow observe the time of their coming’. Our definition must be

therefore more particular and run something like this :-—the seasonal

and rhythmic mass-movement of a ijarge contingent of a species

from its breeding ground to its winter quarters and back again.

Migration in this sense is largely confined to birds. A few species in

the other natural orders practise it, but in no other order 1s it so

general and marked.

It is not strange that froin a very early date man noticed the phe-

nomenon. Iam not well enough read in the Indian classics to know

whether it was remarked on by the early Indian writers, but most of

us know the earliest reference in the Bible. In the Book of Job we

read ‘Doth the Hawk fly by thy wisdom and stretch her wings

towards the south’. Homer and Hesiod mention the passage of the

cranes, and Anacreon welcomes the return of the swallow to Greece.

About 350 z.c. Aristotle actually discussed the question in a scientific

Spirit and it is evident that in these early days men appreciated the

existence of the phenomenon and its problems.

What is more strange is to realise that in Medizval Europe this

accurate, if not extensive, knowledge was lost and was ieplaced by

the most absurd theories. Even medizval man could not fail to

remark the presence or absence at certain seasons of common and

conspicuous birds. Yet his explanations were extraordinarily crude.

One theory was that the missing species retired to the moon ; another

suggested that birds changed their form. That the Turtle-Dove of

Summer became the Stock-Dove of winter, the Redstart became a

850 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Brambling was I suppose the application of the theory if it was not

even more fantastic in detail. But perhaps the most universally

believed suggestion was that the missing birds hibernated in hollow

trees and ponds.. The accompanying figure shows a picture ina

book by Olaus Magnus (Archbishop of Upsala about 1550) of

—_— TOO li —i =

—_—_—- lc Trl Tree i err —

2S <a

fishermen standing on the ice and drawing in a mixed catch of

swallows and fish. This belief lingered onto a surprisingly late date.

Even when men were prepared to believe that large birds did actually

migrate—and anyone who had witnessed the passage of cranes could

hardly refuse belief—they thought that small birds must travel on the

backs of the large ones as passengers.

However, we must leave the realm of ignorance and come to the

question of our present-day knowledge.

If any of my readers is now starting to study birds I would suggest

that his first need is to shed a popular delusion. People who are not

naturalists start with the idea that a bird is by reason of its posses-

sion of wings a very irresponsible and free creature. I think they

commonly picture it as here to-day, gone to-morrow, moving on

incessantly with no ties, except in the breeding season, sleeping

wherever the fortune of the day's wandering’s have taken it, This is

very far from the truth.

The avifauna of India, or any square mile of it, is never stationary.

Season by season and almost day by day it changes in response to

the stimulus of migration, climate and food supply, but this change

conceals an order and a staticness which is surprising. A bird is

really very regular and tied in its habits and movements though the

possession of wings and great mobility obscure the fact. A little

observation soon shows that this isso. If you take the trouble to

watch the birds within the immediate range of a short daily walk of

your bungalow you will notice that a particular shrike is always

haunting the same little clump of bushes. He has several favourite

perches, on one of which you generally see him. If you disturb him

he generally does much the same thing. If you chase him deliber-

ately away he retreats only within a certain radius of his favourite

spot. If you take the trouble to make sure that he leaves his little

territory altogether, you will find him back there next time you return.

dite ShODY OF TNDILAN BIRDS 851

If your observation becomes more intense, you will find that he sleeps

always in the same place and probably followsa very regular routine

in his habits and movements in his little territory. The same with

other birds. You realise that a particular bough is the favourite

perch of a Black Redstart or a Red-breasted Flycatcher. With increas-

ing interest and observation youlearn that the mixed hunting party

of warblers, creepers and tits which always seem to be on the travel

are really only pursuing a constant round which day after day you

will find them traversing. The Lugger Falcons on the church

tower, the vultures that brood obscenely on a clump of peepul trees

are really just as tied as the shrike and the flycatcher to their homes

and habits. The falcon is larger and swifter, so his hunting ground

is wider than the shrikes. The vulture may range ordinarily over a

hundred square miles for his occasional gorge. The only difference

between them all is that their territories and range vary according

to their circumstances, and some have their habits more readily in-

terfered with by the exigencies of their food supply. Circumstances

permitting, the bird is as much a creature of home as we ourselves.

Once we have grasped the conception of a bird as acreature of a

fixed home and habits, we are in a much better position to think of

itasa migrant. But there are many stages in between the two

states.

Biologists inform us that a new generation is always in wild

nature, so far as circumstances allow, started in the ancestral home

of the race. By this they mean that when the eel migrates from its

inland river tothe depths of the Atlantic to spawn, we must regard

the ancestral call of the ocean origin of the eel as being stronger

than its more modern adaptations to a fresh-water life. It is with

this biological rule in the back of our minds and also for practical

convenience that we usually consider a bird’s breeding territory as

its home. In considering migration we therefore start on the com-

mon ground (with all species and types of movement) of the

breeding territory as the starting point. This must be borne in mind

in the discussion that follows.

Now it is an axiom of all migrational studies that the breeding

ground of a migratory species is, as a general rule, in the colder and

therefore more northerly part of its complete distribution. Although

not of universal application, this rule is so general that all theses

on migration have necessarily to allow for that point in their expla-

nations and we shall have to return to it later. In the meantime, we

must consider the effect that migration has on the bird life and bird

distribution of any given area.

The most extreme case of migration which could concern us in

India and Ceylon would be that of species which nested within the

Arctic Circle in Northern Siberia and wintered in the Island of

Ceylon. This particular species would therefore obviously stand in

very different relationships to the countries in the whole of its range

from N. Siberia to Ceylon. In N. Siberia it will be a summer

visitor only ; but as this is its breeding ground or home a compara-

tively short residence of perhaps only three months of the whole

year will be sufficient to mark it for all Zoo-geographers as a

Palearctic species and as such it will be considered by them in all

852 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

estimations of the faunas of the other countries that it visits. Ina

comparison between the Fauna of Ceylon and the Malay countries,

for instance, it will be ruled out of the discussion as of little or no

importance. In Ceylon the bird will bea winter visitor only.

In the countries between N. Siberia and Ceylon our bird will

be a passage migrant, travelling through southwards in

autumn and returning northwards in spring. Should it travel

southwards by a westerly route and northwards by an

easterly route or vice versa, it will be a spring passage migrant in

one set of countries and an autumn passage migrant in another set.

The condition however remains that wherever it is on autumn passage

its direction will be ultimately north to south, and wherever it is

on spring passage its direction will be ultimately south to north,

however local conditions may temporarily obscure the point.

This is migration in its most extrenie and obvious form for, as is

usually stated, species which breed far to the north usually winter

far to the south. But as we leave the extremes the position becomes

more complicated. In the extreme north the summer visitor has

little option but to migrate. It is for him the only method, in most

cases, of answering the problem of winter. For one must never lose

sight of the fact that all life in northern latitudes has as one of its

major problems the question of conserving the species through the

rigours of winter. This problem presses more hardly, the smaller

and shorter-lived the species.

The short Siberian summer provides ideal conditions for most birds

to breed and rear the new generation. Food is abundant, tempera-

ture is satisfactory, space and freedom for wild life are illimitable.

With winter there is a most decisive change. In a dead world of

snow and ice the myriad birds of the summer must die—or leave ;

and having wings they leave.

Further south, however, with more temperate conditions, the issue

is not so clear-cut. There we find that migration takes on a fresh

attribute and we are confronted with the phase known as partial

migration, that is to say some members ofa species leave and the

remainder do not. Some individuals are resident, to express it

differently and others are only summer visitors. This in turn may

become still more complicated further south in the range of a species

where, in addition to some individuals of a species being resident and

others summer visitors, there may be others which are there as pass-

age migrants or even winter visitors from further north in the range.

It may be as well to take aconcrete example of this complicated

state of affairs, and this is well afforded by that well-known species

the Pied Bush-Chat (Saxicola caprata) in N.-W. India. Now in one

district of the Punjab it is easily possible for this bird to be a summer

visitor (as the majority undoubtedly are), a resident (as a small

number of individuals are), a winter visitor and a passage migrant

1 We may remark here in parenthesis that Ceylon being for all practical

purposes the most southerly land in this section of the world, has no summer

visiters. In other words all land birds breeding in Ceylon have to be

residents as there is noland southwards for them to migrate to, fulfilling the

condition of breeding in the north and wintering in the south of their

distribution,

Ee AOD VOL LINDY AING Bd ie) Sos

(as a certain number breed in Turkestan as summer visitors and pass

southwards across the Himalayas in winter). A casual and inaccurate

observer, especially if tied to that particular district and ignorant of

the work of other observers, might there easily fall into the mistake

of thinking the species a resident where in fact it fell into every class

of migrant.

I will emphasise therefore, by recapitulation, that the first point in

the study of migration is to realise that it must be considered always

in terms of the following divisions, to all of which a particular species

may belong in some phase of its movements as a migrant, viz.

(a) Summer visitor.

(6) Winter visitor.

(d) Partial migrant.

(e) Vagrant.

This last division refers only to individuals which become lost on

their migrations and turn out of their proper routes. It should

not be used aS a synonym merely for rarity on a normal passage

route.

Side by side with migration, in whatever aspect of those subdivisions

it may appear, we meet with another series of mass-movements

which may be easily mistaken for migration. ‘These movements are

of several types of which the following may be suggested as exam-

ples, viz.—

(a) Overflowing of a population which has for some reason

become overcrowded.

(6) Pursuit of a special and temporary food supply.

(ce) Response to certain weather conditions.

(zd) Local movements.

There is no need to elaborate examples of these movements, but it

is well known that the passage of a flight of locusts is followed by a

vast concourse of birds that feed on locusts; that early campaigns

were accompanied by the shifting of the vulture population ; and that

an excess or failure of the monsoons has a great effect on bird distri-

bution in India.

Movements of these types do not fulfil our primary definition of

migration in the specialised sense. Such movements are irregular,

There is no rhythm about them. They have not necessarily any

connection with breeding. But I think they must be borne in mind

by all who study migration as I think they help to throw light onthe

genesis of migration though this is not admitted by all writers.

The border line between true migration and these irregular mass-

movements is at any rate very ill-defined. Local movement, for

instance, is found in every shape and degree and at one end of the

scale it certainly merges into the definition of true migration, albeit

on a very small scale.

The simplest form of local movement can be iilustrated in the case

of the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). In the breeding season

this bird acts up to its name and chiefly frequents the houses in every

village, breeding in pairs in every suitable place. As soon as the

young are on the wing, which for the most part coincides with the

ripening of the autumn crops, sparrows leave the villages in great

854 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL GIST. SOCIETY, Vols XXXy

numbers and gather in flocksin the fields. Their movements are then

quite erratic and depend on a food supply of ripening grain. This

may entail extensive movement, in different directions in different

years. Local movement of this type also occurs commonly on a

very small scale, as when the Wren-Warbler (Przzza tnornata) moves

literally from field to field in response to the crops which give it

cover for its unobtrusive life. A plot of sugarcane may house a

hundred wren-warblers, which perforce have to move when that field

lies fallow after the cane is cut. Movements of this type readily tend

to become regular. Inso many district lists one reads statements to

this effect :—‘ This species is common in the station except during

the breeding season when it retires to the neighbouring jungles.’

A local movement has become standardised and, in fact though not

regular, satisfies our definition of migration.

We must not overlook, either, the definite seasonal movements

connected with the Himalayas (and other big ranges in other parts of

the world of course). Here we have alpine conditions conforming

to Arctic conditions, as they do in many other respects. ‘Throughout

the length and breadth of the Himalayas there is a vast area, roughly

speaking all altitudes above 8,000 ft. and below the region of

perpetual snow, which is similar to N. Siberia which we have spoken

of above. In summer it is a temperate zone, rich in plant and

insect life and able to support a huge population of birds. In

winter snow and frost cut off the greater part of this food supply and

a large proportion of the summer bird population could find no

living there. A number of the species definitely migrate and we speak

of them normally as migrants. There is however another baich of

species which are commonly spoken of as residents in the Himalayas,

though in actual fact their movements are almost as regular. The

Blue-fronted Redstart (Phenicurus trontalis) may serve as an example.

This bitd breeds in the upper zone of the forests and the lower zone

of the Alpine pastures, roughly speaking 10,000 ft. to 13,000 ft. in

altitude, under what in summer are most favourable conditions. In

this zone in winter it cannot find sufficient food; so as the autumn

frosts and snows begin, it gradually moves downhill before them,

its zone in winter therefore varying in proportion to that winter’s

climatic conditions. Asthe grip of winter again loosens, it moves

upwards and in due course finds its breeding zone habitable. The

degree of this movement is variable, but under its influence some

species in some years wander a considerable distance into the sub-

Himalayan plains. | |

Mention must also be made of another type of local movement

which helps to illustrate the strong hold which home association has

for a bird, and the readiness with which a bird comes under the

sway of rhythmic movement. It is particularly marked—or ai any

rate best observed—in the crow family. The common House Crow,

for instance, sleeps in vast colonies of many thousand individuals.

This dormitory is used by birds from a tremendous distance around.

For an hour or so before dusk great columns of crows converge from

all points of the compass, leaving again in similar columns before

sunrise. Now the distance that crows travel in this manner is very

great. A good account of this daily flight to a dormitory at Lahore

THE STUDY OF INDIAN. BIKDS 855

is given by the Rev. T. Bomford (/.8.N.4.S., xviii, 904) and he had

reason to think that the main columns came from well over 30 miles

away. In Kashmir I noticed similar columns of Jackdaws (Cervus

monedula) at Baramullah which were evidently travelling to the

dormitory in Srinagar.

Without devoting more space to these various types of movement,

I think enough has been said to suggest that there is plenty of reason

why many birds should migrate and there are plenty of factors in

their lives from which the habit of migration might easily develop.

But the difficulty is always to explain why migration in its complete

form should have become the compelling and regular force that it

undoubtedly is. While it is easy to see that the Blue-throat nesting

up in the wastes of N. Siberia must leave that country before the

approach of winter, it is not so easy to see why it must or does return

the following spring. India and Ceylon contain conditions of

country which suit its nesting requirements. They afford an ample

supply of food in all seasons of the year. Between the plains and

the highest Himalayas there isa range of temperature and climate

which somewhere or other must suit the species, yet the true migrant

is evidently in the grip of a compelling force. Conditions of food and

security, humidity and temperature may still be the same as those

that served it a few weeks before. They may serve for the breeding

needs of closely allied forms which stay behind. Yet, year afier year

with a regularity, sometimes almost to the day, the species leaves the

peace and plenty of the south and starts the dangerous and laborious

journey northwards. ‘That it should start at all seems strange, that

it ever arrives at the appointed place miraculous.

What is the nature of the stimulus that starts the bird off? Various

factors have been pressed into service by different writers, of which

food supply and temperature seem prima facie the most likely. But

all suggested factors are variable in their incidence while regularity

is a basic characteristic of migration. There is therefore much that

is attractive about Professor Rowan’s recent suggestion that the

explanation of the regular rhythm is to be found in day iengith.

Day length is now recognised as of vital importance to all creatures

whose activities are directly or indirectly influenced by sunlight.

Professor Rowan claims to have established that the reproductive

organs of a bird are directly affected by day length. By artificially

manipulating the amount of light to which a bird is exposed, the

interstitial tissue of the reproductive organs may be brought into

any desired stage of development. It can be advanced or retarded

as compared with other individuals of the species subject to

normal conditions. The hormone produced by this tissue controls

sexual behaviour and migration can therefore be considered as a

definite phase of reproduction, linked to it.

Professor Rowan’s experiments also produced valuable circum-

stantial evidence. On the one hand he kept migratory species under

normal conditions until winter and then released them after the

tissue changes were complete. These birds did not migrate as the

stimulus had then apparently passed. Other birds were kept until

mid-winter under artificial conditions of light sufficient to produce a

premature increase in the tissues, equivalent to that of the spring

856 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

season. ‘These birds when iiberated in mid-winter disappeared at

once and some of them were actually recorded as moving north-

wards, that is in the direction of the spring migration.

The explanation of migration suggested by these experiments is

then as follows. The rhythm of the waxing and waning of the year,

working through quantity of daylight hours, which control physical

activity, induces a corresponding rhythm in the reproductive system.

Under its urge in spring the migrant bird seeks out its ancestral

home to breed. The return journey is in the nature of reflex action,

the contrary swing of the pendulum. It is reinforced by the age-

long threat of natural selection that the bird which does not leave

will perish, a threat that is in the background for all that the condi-

tions of the moment hold no hint of urgency.

lf this explanation is accepted, one has still a difficulty about the

young birds. Do their undeveloped organs reflect the adult changes

and do they so connect up with the first revolution of the rhythm of

nature, involuntarily as they undergo their first post-juvenal moult ?

Are they influenced by mass suggestion, the uneasiness of the adult,

hordes around them? We know very little about the order of the

departure of old and young.

The second great question to answer is how birds find their way

on migration. Severai theories have attempted to answer this ques-

tion. One writer suggests that the birds travel by a series of land-

marks, known personally to all the older generations in the migrating

hosts. Another suggests a cumulative inheritance of the result of

experience, and many changes are rung on these suggestions.

The first point in any consideration of the question seems to be to

understand the conditions under which birds travel. These are best

viewed under four main headings :—

(a) In what manner do birds travel ?

(6) At what altitude do birds travel ?

(d) Does migration follow any defined routes ?

The first three of these questions are evidently concerned with

each other, as the height at which a bird flies, the pace at which it

travels and the manner it adopts will clearly differ not only according

to species but also to circumstances. Theoretically a bird travelling

between two points on the map may perform the journey in one of

two ways. It may start on the wing from one point and fly without

intermission direct to the other point ; or it may travel in a series of

laps. Should the first method be adopted a fast flight high in the

air would seem to be the obvious corollary. If it flies in a series of

laps these may theoretically vary from asmall series of high fast

flights, to a long series of daily journeys performed at ease and

combined with feeding. In actual fact there is probably complete

gradation between the two theoretical methods.

In India the Mongolian Sand-Plover (Charadrius mongolus) evi-

dently furnishes a good example of a bird which apparently migrates

trom its winter quarters to its breeding ground in one lap. Ticehurst

(/ézs, 1923, p. 658) has given an interesting account of this species

in its winter quarters on the mudflats of Karachi where it is the

commonest wader and delays so long in its departure that the

THE STUDY OF INDIAN BIRDS 857

courtship may be viewed on the Karachi sands. The organs also

reach full breeding size at Karachi a point unusual in migrants in

their winter quarters. ‘These birds breed on the high wastes of

Ladakh and Tibet. Yet, in spite of their abundance and the amount

of terrain apparently suitable for them in the great Indo-Gangetic

plain, they are unknown to occur anywhere between Karachi and

Ladakh. The inference is irresistible that they perform the journey

in one lap. They must fly high to escape observation and also to

cross the Himalayan ranges. They must fly fast to get through with

the journey.

At the other end of the scale some small Passerine birds

evidently travel very slowly, moving in waves that pass on day by

day and night by night. A good example of this type of movement

is afforded by the Tree-Pipit (Azthus trivialis) which swarms over the

Punjab during migration in flocks which will be found feeding every-

where and which on the outer slopes of the Himalayas I have seen

travelling up the hillsides in an irregular stream.

We shall probably not be far wrong in thinking that the height

at which a bird flies is connected with two points, the length of

the laps in which it ordinarily travels and the atmospheric and

climatic conditions of the particular day. Other things being equal,

large birds doubtless as a rule travel higher than small birds. That

birds sometimes travel low over the face of the sea, is easily verified

by all who travel in ships. The maximum height scientifically estab-

lished for a small bird on migration is 2,200 metres above the

nearest ground. There are however only a few records over 1,000

metres and comparatively few between 400 and 1,000 metres. The

great majority of migrants journey at an altitude below 400 metres.?

There has been much exaggeration as to the rate at which

migrants travel in direct flight. Estimates of 100 to 200 miles

an hour have even been provided for some species. Modern critical

work on this subject suggests that the average rate of travel of a

medium-sized migrant is much more likely to be inthe neighbour-

hood of 30 or 40 miles an hour.

It is difficult to give a short answer to the question whether

migration follows any particular route. Some writers, to use

Professor Newton’s caustic remark, attach an almost superstitious

importance to the phrase migration-route. They envisage a map

of the world on which is drawn a series of great routes from the

north to the south fed by a regular net-work of subsidiary tracks.

Their idea is roughly that the routes exist, due in their origin to river

systems, seas and mountains and that the migrants are drawn to

travel along them, just as the human traveller naturally follows the

road and rail system of his country. It seems however much more

probable that each migrant species goes its own particular way and

that a supposed migration route is only the coincidence of the ways

taken by a number of species. Too often only, as well, it marks

only the activities of a particular observer.

It seems obvious that if a particular species breeds in Turkestan

and winters in Africa, there must be some choice of routes

4 See F. von Lucanus, Dze Ratsel des Vogelzuges (1921).

858 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

between the two places and that one route possesses advantages

for that species over the others, while it is easy to understand that

one route may be better for the autumn journey southwards and

another for the return journey in spring. It is also easy to see that

the comparative advantages between the possible routes may vary

according to the requirements of the different species that require

to make the journey. But against factors like this, which seem to

tend to narrow the line of migration, one must set the fact that

migrants undoubtedly travel not in column but over a tremendously

wide front. Whilst one must also remember that the route of an

air-borne traveller is necessarily much less definite than that of a

traveller by land. This point has been very well brought out in a

book entitled 7hzs Bondage written by Commander Acland (1929),

which should be read by all who are interested in the subject.

Commander Acland is no ornithologist, but he is an airman who

wishes to make the students of migration familiar with the rules

of travel in that moving medium, the air.

For us the chief interest of the book lies in the insistence on the

difference between ground and air travel. If A and & are two places

one hundred miles apart on a direct route, the traveller by ground

knows in advance the exact mileage which he has to travel. It

remains the same for one journey or a dozen. ‘The traveller by air

has no such knowledge. Were he to fly from 4 to B in a vacuum

low above the earth he could say for certain that his journey would

take a hundred miles. But instead of ina vacuum he travels in a

moving medium, the air. His air mileage is therefore usually entirely

different from his ground mileageand also varies almost every time

he performs the journey, for he is at the mercy of those currents of air

which we caJl the wind. If he flies with the wind, his air mileage is

reduced ; if he flies against it, his air mileage is lengthened. If the

wind comes from one side or another his course becomes a segment

of a circle, greater or less according to the angle and velocity of the

wind ana the rate of his own speed. It therefore is easily possible

that in twenty journeys between 4 and & he may never actually fly

the same course in relation to the ground below. The greater the

distance between 4 and BZ, the greater possibility of variations in the

courses flown and the less chance that migrating birds can travel by

a series of usual landmarks. .

I do not see how, in the present state of our knowledge, we can

get away from the supposition that migrants travel to their destina-

tion under the influence of some directional sense which is roughly

speaking of the nature of the magnetic compass. Very often no

doubt the bird unconsciously follows a definite route with a definite

series of customary halting places on it just as the human caravan

across central Asia travels by a series of known stages. Under the

influence of the sexual impulse the bird would fain return to its home,

its breeding place. It starts on the journey. It makes for the old

established stages, each in turn, till it arrives at its destination. It

does not know why it is travelling. It is ignorant of its route or

why it goes by that particular route. It travels only by the compass

of the unknown sixth directional sense, following the route dictated

by the past history of its species in the growth of its migrations.

THE STUDY OF INDIAN BIRDS 859

This may seem fanciful but I see no reason why it should not be

correct. The rudiments or the remains of such a directional sense

are undoubtedly present in many human beings. I personally have

always felt in forest or in unknown country a sense of direction

euiding me roughly inthe way I wantedto go. This is a small

point but we have more definite evidence such as the classic case of

the Noddies and Sooty Terns of Bird Key. This is an island of the

Tortugas group which marks the northern limit of the inigrations of

these species. Breeding birds were caught on Bird Key and marked.

They were then taken in closed baskets by steamer to Galveston in

Texas more than 800 miles away over seas which the birds had

probably never traversed in their lives. Some returned in six days,

others took longer and some never returned at all. Further experi-

ments of a similar nature were made, varying ‘in detail, and in all of

them a satisfactory proportion of the birds returned to their nests.

The actual details of the experiments are worth study but there seems

no doubt that it was clearly proved that untrained birds could return

successfully from a distance of 800 to a 1,000 miles over the appa-

rently trackless sea. The supposition that they were guided by

some such sense as I have postulated, seems easier than any other

possible suggestion as to the manner of their return.

I should like to have ended this chapter by a brief account of the

chief directions in which the stream of migration travels over India

between the Himalayas and Ceylon. But the long and short of it is

that the material does not yet exist which would allow such an

account to be written. After collating all the records in India of a

great number of species and plotting the result on maps I havecome

to the conclusion that it is not yet possible to write an accurate

account of the movements of any of our Indian migrants. The

number of observers has been too small. The blank spaces on my

maps too often represent not the absence of the species but merely

only the absence of an observer. ‘There is one exception only. We

have a very fair knowledge of a stream of migration which passes

through the N.-W. Frontier Province, the Punjab and Sindh as it has

been recorded in numerous papers in the Journal of the Bombay Na-

tural History Society and the /ézs. This exists as anucleus which we

may hope, will be gradually extended by observations in other parts of

India. For it is already clear that each species has fairly defined

routes in India and they are worth investigation and record. In

Europe and Asia a great deal has been learnt during the present

century by the practice of ‘ringing’ birds. This system is very

simple in theory but depends in practice on the collaboration of a

large number of ‘ringers’ and on the general good will and interest of

the public. Success depends on the handling of as many individual

birds as possible, whether as adults or as young in the nest. A light

aluminium ring is placed on one leg of the bird. On it is engraved

an individual serial number and the address to which the recovery of

the ringed bird is to be intimated. A record is kept of all rings and

numbers of the species ringed and of the date and place where the

bird was ringed. The recovery of a bird bearing one of these rings

immediately supplies an isolated but authentic fact regarding the

movement of an individual bird. ‘To quote an instance from a recent

860 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Journal (vol. xxxv, p. 457), a Rosy Pastor (Pastor roseus) was

shot at Lahore, Punjab on 28 April 1926. It bore a ring number

27381 of the Royal Hungarian Institute of Ornithology which was

forwarded to the address given on the ring. It was established at

the bureau that this particular Pastor was ringed as a nestling in

N.-E. Hungary on 30 June 1925. The direct air distance between

these two places is 3,000 miles and we are at once in possession of

certain absolutely authentic facts—worth any amount of theories—

regarding the migration of the Rosy Pastor. As such recoveries

multiply, our knowledge increases. Certain very definite facts are

already beginning to emerge regarding the migrational movements

of the British Isles from the accumulation of these records, and now

that the practice of ringing is in full swing, the records grow in

number and so in value.

A NEW GENTIAN FROM N. WAZIRISTAN.

Ee DEATINR, oO, Pll. Da. babs.

Gentiana Lowndesii 1 Blatter, spec. nov.

[Gentianacea pertinens ud sectionem Pneumonanthe Neck. Caules simplice-

vel ramost internodits brevibus ad 25cm. longis ad ll cm. alti. Folia radt,

calia lineart-oblonga apice subobtusa, coriacea, ad4#cm. longa, 8 mm. lata

I-nervosa, Caulina wero lineart-subspathulata, apice acuta, basi connata tubum

brevem formantia. Flores usque ad 4 numerantes axillares et terminales, 1-2

pedicellalt in axillis supertoribus. Calycis tubus ad 1°5 cm. longus, non

carinatus ; lobi 5, subequales, lineares, acutt, 6-9 mm. longi. Corolla cyanea,

45 cm. longa, ad dentes ca. 2 cm. lata, plicis aucta tubo 3-3'5 cm.

longo, lobis 5 subcequalibus, usgue ad I cm. longis et bast 5-8 mm. latis,

triangulari-lanceolatts vel ovatis, acuminalis vel cuspidatis. Stamina 5, libera,

inclusa, in ftructu timmaturo persistentia, filamenta applanata, parte 2

infertore multo largtore ca. 2 mm. lata, Ovarium I-loculare, stylo brevissimo,

sligmatibus linearitbus demun rvevolutis 3-4 mm. longis. Capsula ad 3 cm.

longa, 5 mm. lata pedicello 1 cm. longo; semina non visa. |

Rootstock stout, perennial. Flowering stems simple or branched up to 11

cm. high. Internodes of stem short, up to 2.5 cm. long, purpiish. Radical

leaves forming a dense cluster, linear-oblong, leathery, up to 4 cm. long by 8

mm., subobtuse at the apex, l-nerved. Cauline leaves up to 3 cm. by 3-4 mim.,

linear-subspathulate, acute, glabrous, united at the base, forming a short tube

about 5-7 mm. long, Flowers up to 40n each plant, bell-shaped, terminal and

axillary, 1-2 stalked in the upper axils. Calyx-tube upto 1.5cm., not keeled.

Lobes 5, linear, acute, subequal, 6-9 mm. long, united up to end of tube by

scarious tissue. Corolla sky blue, 4°5 cm. long, 2 cm. broad ; tube 3-3°5 cm.

long. Lobes 5, subequal, up to 1 cm. long, 5-3 mm. broad at the base;

triangular-lanceolate or ovate, acuminate or cuspidate, folds between the lobes,

throat milky-white-dotted. Stamens 5, free, included, persistent in young fruit ;

filaments flattened throughout, lower 3 much broader measuring about 2 mm.

in diam., anthers large, 4mm. long. Ovary 1-celled ; style very short, stigmas

linear, curved outwards, crozier-shaped, 3-4 mm, long. Capsule up to 3 cm.

long, 5mm. broad, stalk about 1 cm. long. Seeds not seen.

Note: ‘This species is related to G. Kurroo Royle and G. decumbens Linn. f.

From the former it can be distinguished by the branched stem, the shape of the

corolla-lobes and the much largercapsule. It differs from G. decumbens by the

stem being branched, by the calyx-lobes not being very unequal, by the corolla-

lobes not being rounded and by the flowers being stalked.

Loc.: N. Waziristan: Alexandra Ridge, 7,800 ft. (Capt. D. G. Lowndes

No. 2430, type).—Flowered in October 1931. This species is found plentifully

on open hill-tops, 7,500-8,500 ft.

+ After Capt. D. G. Lowndes who found this plant.

ON A COLLECTION OF GROUND BEETLES (CARABIDAE) FROM

WAZIRISTAN.

H. E. ANDREWES.

In the spring of 1930 (March and April) an Excursion, organized by St.

Xavier’s College, Bombay, under the direction of the Rev. Dr. G. Palacios,

visited the little-known region of Waziristan. ‘The Carabidae found there were

sent, with other insects, to the British Museum, and I have been asked to give

some account of them. ‘Twenty-one species are included in the collection, and

all but one of these are referred to below; a solitary specimen of a Ledia,

unknown to me, is in such poor condition that I cannot deal with it here. Of

the remaining twenty species two are confined, so far as I am aware, to eastern

Central Asia, twelve are found in the Himalayan region of North India, and

six are new. An enumeration of the species follows, after which will be found

the descriptions of the new ones ; the type specimens of the latter will be placed

in the British Museum.

1. Calosoma maderae F. Syst. Ent. 1775, p. 237 var. auropunctatum Herbst

in Arch. Ins.—gesch. (Fuessly). v. 1784, p. 131 ; Andr. Faun, Brit. Ind. Carab.,

i. 1929, pp. 51 and 58.

1 Ex. Both the type-form and the variety are widely spread through the

palaearctic region ; the former has not yet been found in India, but the latter is

common in the North-West.

2. Scarites granulatus Andr. Faun. Brit. Ind. Carab. i. 1929. pp. 231 and

250;

1 Ex. I have previoulsy seen only two examples of this species, one

from Pusa, the other found in Bengal on the banks of the Brahmanutra River.

In the specimen from Waziristan the head is more coarsely striate than in the

type.

is Scarites limitaneus sp. n. (See p. 863).

4. Bembidion insidiosum Solsky in Fedchenko’s Reise in Turkestan ii. pt.

v. 1874, p. 130. Razmak.

1] Ex. I havenot seen the type, but the example agrees with a specimen

from Buchara in my collection ; the species is not at present known from India.

5. Bembidion waziristanum sp. n. (See p. 863).

6. Bembidion palaciosi sp. n. (See p. 864).

7. Tachys tetraspilus Solsky in Fedchenko’s Reise in Turkestan ii. pt. v.

1874, p. 114; Andr. Revision of the Oriental species of the genus 7achys, Ann.

Mus. Civ. Gen. li. 1925, pp. 404 and 433.

3 Ex. Found both in Central Asia and North India.

8. Chlaenius hamifer Chaud., Bull. Mosc. 1856. ii, p. 209.

1 Ex. Very common throughout South-East Asia.

9. Chlaenius lederi Reitt., Deutch. Ent. Zeitschr. 1888, p. 417.

1 Ex. <A Central Asian species not hitherto met with in India.

10. Chlaenius tenuelimbatus Ball., Bull. Mosc. 1870. ii, p. 326.

3 Ex. ‘The species is known from Central Asia and Kashmir.

ll. Licinus corustes sp.n. (See p. 864).

12. Acinopus laevigatus Mén., Cat. rais. 1832, p. 128.

1 Ex. A fairly common insect, met with in Central Asia, Persia, and

Kashmir.

13. Harpalus melaneus Bates, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1878, p. 714; id.,

Scientific Results of the Second Yarkand Mission, Col. 1891, p. 6, t. 1. f. 4.

Razmak, 1 Ex. Common throughout the western half of the Himalayan

tract. In the Waziristan example the puncturation of the prothorax is very

much reduced, but Dr. Schauberger informs me that he has in his collection

ON A COLLECTION OF CARABIDAE FROM WAZIRISTAN 863

specimens from the Chinese Province of Szechuen, in which this character isa

very variable one.

14. Harpalus confinalis sp. n. (see p. 865).

15. Amara (Letocnemis) himalaica Bates, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1878, p. 716,

id., Scientific Results of the Second Yarkand Mission, Col. 1891, p. 14.

Razmak, 4 Ex., varying somewhat in their characters, and mostly in poor

condition. Confined to the mountainous region of North-West India.

IG: “Sphodrus indus Chaud., Bull. Mose.- 1852-3; p.'67.

1 Ex. Found only in the mountains of North-West India.

17. Pheropsophus catotret Dej:, Spec. Gen. i. 1825, p. 301.

7 Ex. Common throughout India and in Ceylon, but much commoner

in the north than in the south.

18. Metabletus fuscomaculatus Motch., Ins. Sib. 1844, p. 59.

1 Ex., but a second fragmentary specimen probably belongs to the

same species. The numerous forms of this very variable species are widely

spread over the southern palaearctic area, extending from Madeira on the

west, through the Mediterranean region, to Central Asia and the Himalayas.

19. Metabletus ephippiger sp. n. (see p. 865).

20. Cymindis glabrella Bates, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1878, p. 719; id.,

Scientific results of the Second Yarkand Mission, Col. 1891, p. 20, t. 1. f. 17.

1 Ex., immature and crushed, but belonging apparently to this species,

which has been known hitherto from Kashmir only.

Scarites limtitaneus sp. n.

Length: 21-23 mm. Width : §°75-6'5 mm.

Hlead with the lateral truncature straight, the preocular angle hardly project-

ing laterally, frontal impressions shallow, surface moderately striate in front,

nearly smooth behind ; mandibles rather small, finely striate, median carina

strongly sinuate, left mandible with a wide basal tooth, right one with two teeth,

eyes flat, genae shorter than eyes, projecting as far laterally ; antennae reaching

hind angles of prothorax, joints 5to10 hardly longer than wide; mentum

rugose-striate, granulate at base, a median carina from apex of tocth to base, a

lateral carina on each side near margins of lobes. Prothorax about a fifth

wider than head and a fourth wider than long, base hardly produced, but with

an obtuse angle at each end of the median part, its sides nearly straight, front

angles each projecting forward as a small tooth, sides bisetose, curved near

front angles, thence gently contracted, with a well marked tooth at each hind

angle ; median line fine, front transverse impression deep at sides, subinter-

rupted at middle, vaguely crenulate, basal fovez just indicated and lightly

granulate. ilyvtra evidently dilated behind, their width increasing from 5°25

mm. at base to 6°25 mm. at apical third, where they are as wide as prothorax,

four-fifths longer than wide, base granulate, emarginate at middle, its sides

straight and rather strongly oblique, shoulders dentate ; striae lightly crenulate,

shallow at middle, much deeper at sides, especially near shoulders; intervals

flat, convex behind shoulders, where 6 and 7 are narrow and subcostate, 3 with

two pores near apex, granulation confined to interval 8 and marginal channel,

that often present along the sides of the striae obsolete ; surface smooth, apical

half dull, covered by an isodiametric microsculpture. Underside impunctate ;

metepisterna twice as long as wide; protibiae with 2 to 3 denticulations above

upper tooth ; mesotibiae with two equal spurs.

Allied to S. salinus Dej., butsmaller. Head similar, but with the antennal

joints shorter; prothorax relatively wider, its sides less parallel, sides of base

usually straighter; elytra evidently dilated behind (nearly parallel in salznus),

the striae much less impressed, with hardly a trace of granulation along their

sides, interval 8 not costate or coarsely granulate behind shoulder, the sides of

the basal border more oblique.

Waziristan (without exact locality), 5 Ex.

Bembidion waziristanum sp. n.

Length : 5°5-6 mm.

Black: upper side rather faintly aeneous, palpi ferruginous, first joint of

antennae, legs (except base of femora), and a vague apical spot on each

elytron dull red.

flead with single deep parallel furrows, extending to sides of clypeus, neck

wide, eyes rather flat, antennae rather thick, reaching basal third of elytra,

surface vaguely rugose between the furrows, with a few fine scattered

864 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol, XXXV

punctures behind. Pyrothorax convex, cordate, about a fourth wider than head

and as much wider than long, extremities equally contracted, sides rather

strongly rounded in front, sinuate a little before base, the marginal channel

widening a little on basal half, hind angles sharp and rectangular, with a well

developed carina ; median line and transverse impressions all moderately deep,

basal foveae deep, surface smooth, basal area firely and irregularly punctate.

£ilytra moderately convex, oval, a half wider than prothorax, three-fifths

longer than wide, border at base reaching stria 5; striae moderately deep and

very clearly punctate, much shallower, though visible, at sides and apex, 3 to 6

only disappearing just before apex, 2 shallow but visible near apex, 8 deep,

joining 9 at basal third, scutellary striole fairly long, apical stria moderately

deep, joining 7, the pore in the stria; intervals somewhat convex on disk,

otherwise flat, the two dorsal pores on the inner side of stria 3. Microsculpture

of elytra formed by fine strongly transverse meshes, none on prothorax or head,

except on labrum ard neck, where there are isodiametric meshes. Underside

impunctate . metasternal process bordered.

Allied to semtlotum Net., a little smaller and aeneous instead of blue. Head

with deeper furrows, surface smoother and less punctate, eyes flatter ;

prothorax wider, with wider lateral channels, surface less punctate; elytra less

contracted towards base, striae a little deeper with rather larger, clearer

punctures, microsculpture of elytra similar, but none visible even on sides or

base of prothorax.

Razmak, 6 Ex.

Bembidion palaciosi sp. n.

Length: 4°75 mm.

Piceous: head and prothorax blue; palpi, antennae, and legs flavous, elytra

each with two large ferruginous spots, nearly meeting at middle.

Flead with single deep parallel wide furrows, extending to clypeus, sub-

interrupted opposite clypeal suture, eyes prominent, antennae slender, surface

with a few scattered punctures behind. Pruthorax convex, cordate, only a

little wider than head, a fourth wider than long, extremities equally contracted,

sides strongly rounded in front, sinuate close to base, marginal channel very

narrow, hind angles sharp and rectangular, with a short carina; median: line

and transverse impressions all moderately marked, basal foveae small but fairly

deep, surface nearly smooth, basal area finely but clearly punctate. Alytra

moderately convex, ovate, about two-thirds wider than prothorax, three-fifths

longer than wide, widest behind middle, border at base reaching stria 5 ; striae

moderately deep and very clearly punctate, much shallower at sides and behind,

2 quite distinct to apex, 7 almost invisible, 8 deep, joining 9 at a fourth from

base, scutellary striole fairly long, apical stria rather short, joining 5, the pore

in the stria ; intervals somewhat convex on disk, flat elsewhere, the two dorsal

pores on stria 3. The microsculpture of the elytra is formed by very fine wide

meshes; the head and prothorax are without any on disk, but meshes are

visible on sides and base of prothorax, and also on the neck. Underside

impunctate ; metasternal process bordered.

Closely allied to the Central Asian abbreviatum—dilutipenne— persicum—

marginipenne group, but the elytra are more clearly and deeply punctate-striate

than in any of them. The elytra have exactly the pattern of pamirense Bates,

but the head and prothorax are blue; head with deeper frontal foveae, and

much more prominent eyes; prothorax a little wider, with. more strongly

rounded sides, the base punctate, but not rugose; elytra with rather deeper

striae, also slightly larger and deeper punctures.

~ Razmak, 4 Ex.

Licinus corustes sp. n.

Length: 9°5-10 mm. Width: 4-4°2 mm.

Black, rather dull, especially the elytra, apex. of palpi dull red.

Head short, flattened in front, the foveae rather shallow, substriate, labrum

only shghtly emarginate, but strongly asymmetrical, clypeus bisetose, deeply

emarginate, exposing the basal support of the labrum, which is not membran-

ous and which is separated from the labrum bya deep sulcus, a transverse

ridge in front of the clypeal suture, to which the curved emargination of the

clypeus is almost tangential, antennae thickly pubescent from and including

ON A COLLECTION OF CARABIDAE FROM WAZIRISTAN 865

joint 4, joint 1 as long as2+3, anda little thicker than the other joints, eyes

rather flat, surface finely and not very closely punctate. Prothorax cordate,

rather flat, a half wider than head, a fourth wider than long, extremities equally

contracted, moderately emarginate, sides bisetose, bordered, slightly but rather

widely explanate, rounded in front, straight behind, hind angles strongly rounded

and slightly reflexed; median line fine, becoming deeper and widening out

behind, but not reaching base, front transverse impression shallow, basal foveae

moderately deep, disk and front margin finely and sparsely punctate, surface

otherwise rather coarsely and closely punctate. /ytra oval, moderately convex,

a distinct emargination on each side before apex, striae fairly deep, and closely

punctate, a little shallower near apex, intervals moderately convex, rather

sparsely and irregularly punctate, the punctures more evident on the odd than on

the even ones, the marginal series larger, along the middle of interval 9, marginal

channel closely punctate. Microsculpture isodiametric, very distinct on the

elytra, hardly visible on the head or on the disk of prothorax. Sterna and sides

of venter at base finely punctate, the metepisterna and sides of metasternum

more strongly punctate. Metepisterna a half longer than wide ; both pro- and

meta-sternal processes bordered.

Smaller than astrabadensits Reitt., the head much smaller, the prothorax

much more contracted behind, the elytral striae deeper, and the intervals more

convex.

Razmak, 2 Ex. ¢ 9, unfortunately not in very good condition,

Harpalus continalis sp. n.

Length: 7°5-8 mm. Width: 3-3:2 mm.

Black, moderately shiny: palpi and joints 1 and 2 of antennae ferruginous,

rest of antennae fuscous, tarsi piceous.

Head convex, smooth, clypeal suture very fine, frontal foveae small, eyes not

prominent, antennae slender, reaching just beyond base of prothorax, tooth of

mentum very short and obtuse. Pyrothorax convex, subquadrate, very nearly a

half wider than head, and about as much wider than long, base bordered, much

wider than apex, sides unisetose, finely berdered, well rounded in front, nearly

straight behind, without trace of sinuation, hind angles right and slightly

rounded, median line very fine, transverse impressions vague, basal foveae small,

very lightly punctate, a few punctures extending to hind angles and lateral

channels, basal and apical areas rather uneven, middle of base slightly longitu-

dinally striate. Alytra convex, subovate, barely wider than prothorax, a little

more than a half longer than wide, shoulders with a rudimentary tooth, apex

moderately emarginate on each side striae impunctate, rather fine, though

clearly impressed, intervals nearly flat, 3 with a pore at apical fourth, 9 with a

series of small punctures in addition to the larger ones of the marginal series

bordering stria 8. Microsculpture isodiametric, barely visible on head and disk

of prothorax. Underside smooth, prosternal process glabrous, metepisterna a

half longer than wide, base of venter finely punctate and setulose, last 3

segments smooth, apical segment ¢ with two marginal setae on each side,

metafemora plurisetose.

About the same length as H. anatus Dufts., but wider, prothorax more

rounded in front, so that the front angles are less evident, a little contracted

behind (parallel in avxzus), elytra wider, similarly striate, the humeral tooth

rudimentary.

Waziristan (without exact locality), 4 Ex. ¢¢.

Metabletus ephippiger sp.n.

Length : 2°7 mm.

Flavous : prothorax and neck red, head, a deep median band on the elytra,

covering nearly a third of their surface, produced along suture to base in front,

and for a short distance behind, apex of elytra, and apex of venter piceous.

Head without any distinct frontal foveae, surface very distinctly but not closely

punctate, eyes rather flat, mentum with a short obtuse tooth, antennae submoni-

liform. Prothorax cordate, just wider than head, not quite a half wider than

long, base produced at middle, its sides oblique and emarginate, apex slightly

emarginate, front angles adjoining neck, sides bisetose, finely bordered, well

rounded in front, sinuate a little before base, the hind angles sharply rectangular

and a little reflexed ; median line and hind transverse impression moderately

deep, front transverse impression obsolete, basal foveae slight, surface, like that

of head, sparsely punctate. Alytra flat, gradually dilated behind and widest

866 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

not far from apex, four-fifths wider than prothorax, about a third longer than

wide, truncate behind, leaving the abdomen exposed ; striae so lightly impressed

as to be barely visible, though nevertheless containing microscopic punctures,

intervais flat, 3 with a minute pore at a third from apex, adjoining stria 3, a

large umbilicate pore on each side of scutellum; surface with a few almost

invisible scattered punctures. Microsculpture of prothorax and elytra formed

by very wide meshes, that of head isodiametric. The pectination of the claws

is very slight.

A little larger than J/. smyrmidon Frm., the prothorax red, the pale area on

the elytra more extensive, the head and prothorax conspicuously punctate, the

elytra with less evident striae.

Waziristan (without exact locality). 1 Ex.

FISHING FOR ‘BOMBAY DUCK’ (HARPODON NEHEREUS).

DESTRUCTIVE NETTING METHODS.

The Royal Institute of Science, Bombay.

(With 1 plate and 2 text figures.)

The object ot this paper is to place on record a few observations

regarding the trade in ‘Bombay duck’ or Bombils (AHarpodon

nehereus), the methods of their capture and the manner of their

disposal for commercial purposes. This paper is meant to be only

an outline of suggestions for the future development of this valuable

fishery. It is not a survey of the entire industry round Bombay, but

is confined to the data gathered at Colaba only, which, during the

monsoon is the main fishing centre for this fish. The first thing that

strikes the observer is the appalling waste of the fish and the reckless

and primitive methods used in fishing for them.

The paper deals with special reference to these two features, for

the present writer, who has personally accompanied the fishermen in

their operations, feels that the introduction of more modern methods

would enable the fishery to be put on a more organised basis. For

this reason it would be best to begin by referring to the existing

methods of obtaining the fish.

The peak period of the fishing season in Bombay (for ‘ Bombay

duck’) is from June to September, and at this time the inshore waters

are the haunts of innumerable kinds of fishes, both large and small,

and crustaceans.

The net employed to capture the fish is a device known as the bag

net, which in the vernacular (Marathi) of the fishermen is called the

dol. The bag, which is of heavy cotton netting, is conical in

shape, the base, which is the open end, being rectangular. The

leneth of the net from the rim of the base to the tapering closed end

is about 150 feet with a circumference at the mouth varying from 180 to

230 feet. The mesh of the net is not uniform throughout. At the

mouth, the net has large meshes, which are about four inches in

diameter. As the net tapers, the meshes beconie smaller in size and,

towards the end are so narrow that the escape of the tiniest fish is

rendered almost impossible. A peculiar feature of the mesking is

that with the inrush of the water the interstices get completely closed.

The net then resembles a hermetically closed cone. The pressure at

the tapering end is very great both as a result of the inrushing water

and the catch which is driven into it. In order to withstand this dual

pressure this portion of the net is double (consisting of one bag

enclosed within the other). Four menare usually required to operate~

868 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV |

the net, and when the sea is very stormy, the services of a fifth man

are at times requisitioned.

METHOD OF SETTING NRT.

The net is worked entirely by the tides. It is set in the water,

but in such a position as to face the incoming current. As the tide

starts to recede, the position of the net is reversed, the open end

now facing the shore. The object in both cases is for the fish to be

propelled into the net by the torce of the current,

SF ae. tt a-:

ET” A

QE LE

——_D

PGs:

A complete ‘‘dol’’ outfit. The dol as used, (a) for inshore fishing : (6) for

fishing in deeper waters ; (¢) the clever device known as ‘‘ khuda’’ referred to

in the text. :

In setting the net, the top ends of the mouth are fastened to large

buoys, which are permanently fixed by chains to huge rocks at the sea

bottom. Besides this, the centre of the. upper edge of the mouth is

secured to a temporary float, which prevents the top of the net

from sagging. ‘The lower edge of the net hangs freely, the pressure

of the rushing current keeping the mouth wide open. ‘The fish are

thus captured by being driven into the tapering or bag end, the

opening there being closed with a rope knotted round it. The rope

is long enough to enable the bag to rest on the sea floor. The

fishermen are present on the grounds during the fishing operations.

and usually take a location in proximity to the bag end. In order to

prevent the boats from being swept away from the scene of the

fishing operations, a rope is tied from the bow of the boat to one of

the fixed side buoys. This is the method followed in the case of the

inshore fishing. In deeper waters a similar course is followed

except that the place of the side buoys chained to the sea bottom is

Journ. Bomsay Nar. Hist. Soc.

A Bombay fisherman’s sail boat as employed in the

Bombay Duck fishery.

A boat come back to shore with a part of the day’s catch. During

the height of the fishing season many tons of fish were landed in

the course of a day.

FISHING FOR BOMBAY DUCK 869

taken by two long and stout palisades, each about 100 feet in length

and ten feet in diameter. These stakes are upright and formed

by binding a few tree trunks tili they are of the required length.

They are then driven about twenty-five feet deep into the sea floor

and the vertical sides of the net are attached to them. A buoy is

secured to the upper edge of the mouth, as in the case of the inshore

fishing, in order to prevent sagging. The time of fishing whether

inshore or in deeper waters, varies from day to day, depending onthe

tides.

DEVICE TO PROTECT CATCH.

The description of the dol would be incomplete without reference

to a clever device (known in Marathi as the ”Auda) of the fisher-

men to protect their catch from the depredations of sharks and

other larger fish which feed on smaller ones. The ravages of these

fish are not only confined to attacking the smaller fish, but also

extend to ripping open the net and thus affording a means of escape

to the catch, In order to safeguard themselves against this menace,

the fishermen have devised a semi-oval net whose purpose is to

prevent larger fish from entering the bag net. The upper side of

the khuda is secured to a rod, which by floating keeps the mouth

open. Its entire under surface is tied to the four corners of the

dorsal surface of the bag end of the do/. The large fish are trapped

in this and thus the fishermen derive a dual advantage inasmuch

as these nets protect their catch as well as prevent the possibility. of

damage to their nets, Moreover the fish trapped are a good source of

revenue as they also are sold for edible purposes.

The most serious drawback to this net is that it is non-selective in

action. All kinds of fish are gathered irrespective of their size or

commercial utility. The resultant wastage of this method is appal-

ling, the nets often taking very many more fish than are required to

supply the local demand for fresh fish. The method thus obviously

entails the destruction of thousands of ‘Bombay duck’ daily

which die long before they are rejected, for the fish are pressed to

the bottom of the bag where they are lumped into a huge mass,

They seldom recover and even if they do, they are thrown over-

board together with the dead specimens.

RUTHLESS DESTRUCTION OF CATCH.

This ruthless destruction lasts not only during the season, when

there is a demand for ‘Bombay duck’ but continues long after

pomfrets, prawns and other better varieties are in season and the

demand for ‘ Bombay duck’ has long ceased. As the close of the

monsoon approaches, there is a sharp falling off in the quantity of

the catch of these fish and inshore fishing is gradually dis-

continued until in October no one fishes for them. Moreover, even

during the peak period when there is a demand for them, none

but the largest individuals are taken. The smaller ones, which are

commercially useless, are cast overboard. Such a state of affairs

would not be tolerated in any of the countries of Europe and

TONS OF FISH

870 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

America, where the fishery laws lay down the different gear required

in fishing for various fishes and prescribe the standard gauge of

meshes for each of them.

In October the Bombay ducks decrease decidedly in abundance,

the inshore fishing season ceases by the middle of October and the

fishermen now venture further out into the deeper waters in pursuit

of pomfrets and other bigger fish. The usual fishing grounds are near

Khandairy about 25 miles away from Bombay. Here again, in

addition to the drift nets used for pomfrets, the dd/ is employed,

as itis more convenient and is a labour-saving device. It often

happens that besides other fish, the do/ takes in ‘ Bombay duck’

but these are usually discarded as there is no demand. Moreover

there is the risk of putrefaction as the fish is very delicate and the

boats have to make a tedious journey of 25 miles. Sometimes the

whole catch consisting of pomfrets, ‘Bombay duck’ and other fish

have to be thrown away when the boats are becalmed, as they

depend chiefly on wind and sail for their progress.

COLLECTION OF STATISTICS.

The statistics collected by the present writer during the current

year give but an inadequate idea of the relatively meagre quantity to

Bombay ducks that find their way into the market in proportion to

the huge amount captured annually.

40; AVERAGE MONTHLY CATCH

130 BOMBAY DUCKS :

120 oP

110]

{00F

790

49)

20}

fa) eae. ees | J wh cel Wen Sei or cake, eo

JUNE JULY AUGUST SEPT. OcT.

Ere, 2:

During the inshore fishing season at Bombay in 1931 (this year

the fishing season began on June 16 and ended somewhat later

than usual on about October 15), fifty boats owned by nineteen

FISHING FOR BOMBAY DUCK 871

individuals were engaged in fishing. The average catch per boat

per day was 12 baskets (all of an identical size), each having a con-

taining capacity of about 150 fish. The average catch per day of

each boat during the period referred to above, was computed by

adding up the daily catches of each boat made during that time. In

calculating the average, only those days on which there were any

catches, were taken into consideration. On some days the catch was

very poor, on others the fishermen did not go out, either on account

of repairs to nets or on account of holidays or the condition of the

sea. Some boats brought bigger catches than the others, because

they either used larger nets or employed more men. In order to

collect the statistics, the writer visited once daily, and sometimes

even twice, the landing site of the fish. In his absence, a man was

deputed to be on the spot and ascertain the catch as soon as it was

landed. The weight of the fish was calculated by determining witha

spring balance the number of fish that went to a pound and dividing

the entire number of fish by the number that made up a pound.

As soon as the fish were brought to the shore, they were sorted

out, the larger ones, which had a marketable value were retained,

while those, which were smaller in size or had been damaged in the

net were discarded. The fish were auctioned on the wharf and

fetched on anaverage eight annas per basket during June, July and

August. The value declined in September and the diminution in

price steadily continued with the approach of the end of the season

when the supply considerably exceeded the demand. ‘The fishermen

then contrive to secure fewer Bombay ducks from the fishing

grounds and this they do by opening the bag end and letting large

quantities of fish (mainly Bombay ducks) run out into the sea. De-

spite this drastic measure to curtail severely the supply, the number

of fish obtained was large and there were frequent occasions on

which baskets were disposed off at the rate of an anna each. These

prices, which the middlemen paid the fishermen, are thus very much

cheaper than those charged to the consumers. The consumers

hardly get the benefit of the low prices and owing to the indifferent

sales methods and lack of organisation, large quantities of fish are

not seldom destroyed. It is regrettable that such wasteful and

wanton ioss of fish should be tolerated. ‘This scandalous waste

could in a large measure be obviated by improving the method of

catching fish with the do/, the use of which under the present con-

ditions is an intolerable scandal and grave menace to the very

existence of the fish as well as to the fishing industry.

NEED OF PROTECTIVE MEASURES.

Every civilised country has its own fishery iaws and the facts set

forth above indicate the urgent need of introducing some protective

measures to safeguard our industry if not against depletion, at least

against the wastefulness and destruction of fish conseguent on the

above methods. It is an unfortunate fact that no fishing laws are

operative in Bombay waters, and there are no means of ascertaining

with any degree of accuracy the actual quantity of fish wasted.

872 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

It would be needless to raise the question of depletion and it would

not be scientific to take remedial steps before there are actual indi-

cations of depletion. ‘There are also no records showing the annual

catch of any fish. Without such information no definite statement

can be made. The writerhas no doubt that, notwithstanding this

ruthless destruction, quantities of fish several times the amount

referred to above, are available. The Bombay duck fishery is cap-

able of furnishing several times the amount mentioned in case a

demand should arise. The writer would therefore suggest that a

small business could be built up at Colaba by utilising such fish and

others unsuitable for the market for the manufacture of fish oil and

fish manure. This observation far from denying the prevalence,

along the coast, of the manufacture of fish manure, though the

method followed in this respect is crude or of drying Bombay ducks

for the off-season, is meant to call pointed attention to the need of

placing our Bombay duck industry on a scientific basis. The fish

manure would be of great benefit to the agriculturists. It is hardly

necessary to emphasise once more the pressing importance of modi-

fying the construction of the déa/ so as to give small-sized fish a

chance of escaping, by making the mesh conform to a standard gauge.

At the same time, intensive fishing withthe da/ over small areas—a

method very destructive to the fish and detrimental to the interests

of the fishermen—should be discontinued.

NOTES ON THE FAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA: BIRDS.

Vots. IV, V anpb VI. (New edition).

On page 468 ef seg. of vol. xxxii of this Journal, Dr. C. B. Ticehurst has

published some notes in The Fauna of British India, vols. iv, v and vi, and I have

been asked by some of my friends to reply to this review. Asa matter of fact

it appears to me that very little reply is necessary. Dr. Ticehurst has written

his notes in response to an ‘ wrgent demand’ by the Editors of the Journal and

at the request of other friends. ‘The first of these volumes was published early

in 1927, vol. v, in March 1928 and vol. vi, in March, 1929, and Dr. Ticehurst’s

‘urgent ’ notes were published on the 15th of July, 1930.* Asa matter of fact

my own vol. vii, published some four months earlier than this, contains

practically all the corrections shown to be necessary by Dr. Ticehurst, whilst

the corrections to the latter half of vol. vi, and the corrigenda and addenda to

the whole series were also in print at the time. Dr. Ticehurst very kindly

forwarded to me his notes written forthe Journal and I pointed cut to him

that with two exceptions the whole of these corrections were incorporated

in vol. vii, which had already appeared or were in print in preparation for

vol. viii. Dr. Ticehurst’s review, therefore, seems to have been entirely un-

necessary and for the most part is merely a repetition of the corrections

which had already appeared in vol. vii of my own work.

It is true that I have not drawn attention to the misprints which occur unless

these require to be pointed out because they might otherwise be misleading.

Misprints which are obvious I have left to the intelligence of my readers.

Misprints are bound to occur in any book or paper, however well written or

edited—indeed even in the article in which Dr. Ticehurst calls me to account

for my misprints, the same frequently occur.

Naturally, I much regret that it should have been necessary to publish in

vol. viii so long a list of corrigenda and addenda, far more numerous and

many of far more importance than any of those alluded to by Dr. Ticehurst,

but it must be remembered that Ornithology is a science which is progressing

and systematists and nomenclatorial experts are constantly finding facts in

relation to classification as well as mistakes in nomenclature which have to be

recognized and corrected. This is not a work of one man but of many and it

is only by very slow degrees that we can advance towards the perfection at

which we are all aiming.

In my preface to vol. iii, I have advised all the readers of Zhe Fauna of

British India carefully to correct the first six volumes with the help of the

eighth and so accustom themselves to the nomenclature accepted in the latter

as most up to date. I do not imagine for a moment that my nomenclature or

my classification is final but it will at least serve as a basis by which writers

can name their birds, more especially those writers who do not pretend to seek

further into the mysteries of modern nomenclature,

E. C. STUART BAKER.

UprpER NORWOOD,

November 1, 1930.

*We are afraid that the Editors of the Journal are responsible for the late

appearance of Dr. Ticehurst’s review and Mr. Baker’s reply. The review was

sent to the Society on the 8th November 1929 and was published in July 1930,

V0) XOX, No: 2:

The delay in publication was due to the fact that Dr. Ticehurst’s notes were

received when Vol. XXXIV, No. 1, published in March 1930 was already in the

press and publication was held up for the subsequent issue.—EDs.

EDITORIAL,

THE RETRENCHMENT OF THE SCIENTIFIC

SERVICES IN INDIA.

For some months past, as the members of the Bombay Natural

History Society are doubtless well aware, the Government of India

has had under consideration the question of the retrenchment of the

Government Scientific Services in India. The proposals of, and

the orders passed by, the Government up to the present time are of

such a drastic character that they have evoked strong protests from

civilised countries all over the world, both from individual scientists

of international reputation and from scientific and other learned

societies; and we feel that the Bombay Natural History Society

cannot allow these proposals to be put into effect without adding

its protest to the chorus that has already reached the Government.

That the present financial situation renders some curtailment of

expenditure on the part of Government necessary cannot be denied,

but it is essential to the future development and well-being of India

that such curtailment should be carried out only to such an extent

as is absolutely necessary, with due consideration of the needs

of the country, not only at the present time but also in the

future, and in a manner that will interfere to the least possible extent

with the responsibilities and the duties of these services. We

cannot but feel that up to the present time these qualifications have

not received adequate consideration at the hands of Government.

The extent and the method of application of the retrenchment to be

imposed on the scientific services was referred to a small body of

members of the Legislative Assembly, not one of whom, so far as

we are aware, can claim to be considered a scientist or to have any

first-hand knowledge of the various Surveys concerned and of the

work that they have done in the past, are doing now or, what is still

more important, what they could do for the development of the

country in the future. One result, and a most unfortunate one, of

the transfer of the Government of India from Calcutta to Delhi in

1912 has been to entail the isolation of the Government from any

contact with those who have devoted their whole life and energy to

the attainment of scientific knowledge and to the application of such

knowledge to economic problems, for the headquarters of all the

scientific Surveys, Topographical, Geological, Botanical and

Zoological, are and have for many years been in Calcutta; and for

some time past the Government has clearly betrayed a lack of know-

ledge of the work that the Surveys have done and a still greater lack

of appreciation of their importance to India.

In other civilised countries a great deal of work of scientific

importance, both theoretical and economic, is carried out by institu-

tions and individuals other than those employed at Government’s

expense ; but in India such a condition of affairs is not yet possible

EDITORIAL 875

to the extent demanded by the needs of the country. Scientific

education in this country is still in its infancy and hence the need of

Government support is all the greater; inthis connection one cannot

but contrast the present action taken by the Government of India

with that taken by the Government of Great Britain. In spite of the

urgent need of retrenchment in the latter country, a need that is as

great, if not greater, on financial grounds as that with which the

Government of India is faced, there has been no retrenchment what-

soever in the scientific personnel employed by the Government ;

schemes of future expansion have for the time being been dropped

but there has been no actual going back. One cannot but feel that

this is largeiy attributable to the fact that in Great Britain there is a

large body of scientific opinion with which the Government is in

close touch. Indeed, attached to the Government of Great Britain

and working under the Privy Council there is a Board of Industrial

and Scientific Research, part of whose functions it is to keep the

Government informed regarding scientific matters and to whom the

Government can turn for advice on any matter of scientific

importance: moreover, this Board being attached to the Privy

Council, is thereby removed from any question of political, as apart

trom financial, advisability or necessity.

In this country the Government of India in 1921 abolished the

only scientific advisory body that it possessed, namely the Board of

scientific Advice, and thus deliberately deprived itself of the only

source that it possessed of obtaining the advice of a body of scientific

men in its employ on scientific matters.

Some two years ago the Bombay Natural History Society was

consulted by the Government of Bombay regarding the desirability of

establishing a National Research Council for India; other bodies

throughout India, such as the Asiatic Society of Bengal and the

Indian Science Congress, were also consulted on the same matter, and

they unanimously urged the Government to create such a Council,

one of the functions of which would have been to advise the Govern-

ment on just such problems as they have nowto face. Unfortunately,

nothing has as yet been done in the matter; and inconsequence one

canrot but feel that the Government, deprived of the benefit of the

advice of any body of educated scientific opinion, has by its present

proposals definitely surrendered or isin grave danger of surrender-

ing the scientific needs of India to politics.

The question of the retrenchment of three of the scientific

Surveys of the Government, namely the Geological, Botanical and

Zoological Surveys, cannot be separated from the further question of

the adequate maintenance of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, since the

scientific staffs of the Natural History and Economic sections of the

Museum are provided entirely by these Surveys.

The proper maintenance of the Indian Museum is absolutely

essential to the future of India; at present it is one of her greatest

educational assets. Every research worker in India, in Geology,

Botany, or Zoology, would without hesitation offer his testimony to

the very great help that he has received from the Museum in his

work—help without which it would have been impossible for him

adequately to carry on. Furthermore, the priceless collections in the

876 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATORAL AUST SSOCIET YY, Volrmexeody,

Museum, both those displayed in the Public Galleries and those

contained in the Research Collections, which are open to inspection

and examination by every doza fide research student in the country,

cannot be neglected. In 1875 the Government of India, at the request

of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, created a national Museum for India

and made itself responsibie for the proper care and maintenance of

these collections ; and their responsibility is far greater now than it

was then, owing to the increased size of the collections and to the

vast amount of research work that has been carried out on them, the

result of which work has been to raise India to the scientific status

that she now holds among the civilised countries of the world. By

the present wholesale reduction in the scientific staff of the various

Surveys, the Government of India is deliberately ignoring the onus

that devolves on it in this matter, and is repudiating its responsibility

for the careful maintenance of these valuable collections that do not

belong to it.

As the Indianisation of the Surveys continues (a process that is

even now almost complete in the Zoologicai Survey, since the present

Director is the only European Officer), and the economic development

of India progresses, as it must progress if India is to retain her position

as a civilised nation, the need of fully trained Indians will be para-

mount; yet by their drastic reduction of their scientific personnel

the Government of India are deliberately depriving this country of

the officers whose knowledge will in the near future be all-important.

For some years past the Zoological Survey of India has associated

itself with all the zoological work that is being carried out in

India and has extended assistance and encouragement to all who are

interested in the subject, and especially to the zoological departments

of the various universities. With a far-sighted appreciation of the

needs of these teaching institutions, the zoological Survey has

recognised that unless the professors and lecturers of these univer-

sities are themselves engaged in research-work, they must of necessity

rapidly deteriorate into mere exponents of text-book statements, and

that it is only by his own research and by encouraging research-work

by his advanced students that a professor can stimulate the enthusiasm

of his students and rouse in them the desire to help to-contribute in

their turn a little to the sum total of our knowledge. Many of our

universities and colleges are indebted to the Zoological Survey

for the presentation of named specimens to their small teaching

museums or for the correct identification of animals submitted

to them for examination. The splendid library of the Survey

has with great generosity been placed at the service of all dona

fide research workers, and it is no exaggeration to say

that without this concession zoological research work in [ndia would

be so hampered that it would be impossible to attain or to maintain

such a standard as is now-a-days necessary. With a reduction in the

numbers of the gazetted staff of the Survey there must, of necessity,

go a serious diminution in the amount of research work published by

the Survey ; and this must in turn tend to jeopardise the maintenance

in an up-to-date condition of the library; since this depends to a very

large extent on exchanges with scientific and learned societies and

institutions all over the world. The Zoological Survey at the present

BHDITORIAL 877

time exchanges publications with some 300 such bodies, and this

number is steadily increasing. Only those who have had occasion to

consult the library can appreciate the value of this system at its true

worth ; but the Government of India would very quickly realise its

financial advantages if in the future it became necessary, owing to

the withdrawal of their exchanges by these other institutions, to

purchase their publications at the market price, instead of under the

present arrangement merely having to strike off the necessary

additional copies of the Record and Memorrs of the Indian Museum.

There are but few problems in Agriculture, Sanitation or Preven-

tive Medicine that do not include some probiem in Zoology, and

the result to India of the contemplated retrenchments in the Zoologi-

cal Survey, with the consequent deterioration of the library and the

curtailment of the staff, will produce an effect inthis country that may

be realised if one tries to envisage what the destruction of the Natural

History section of the British Museum would be to England.

That economies in the workings of the various Surveys can be

effected we do not doubt. One way in which such economy could

be brought about is by a greater degree of collaboration between the

various departments ; as an example we may cite the unnecessary

delay and expense that was entailed only a year or so ago by the

creation by the Agricultural Research Council of a special Locust

Research Survey, when an Imperial Economic Entomologist, with a

trained subordinate staff at Pusa, and a Zoological Survey of India

in Calcutta were already in existence.

In conclusion, if it be not too late, we would urge the Govern-

ment, before it takes any irrevocable action, to appoint a Committee

of scientific men in this country to go into the whole matter and

prepare a scheme of retrenchment, whereby adequate savings may be

attained without involving such serious steps as the wholesale

retrenchment of a scientific personnel which in the near future will be

absolutely indispensable to India’s progress, or the neglect of the

very valuable scientific collections for whose care and preservation

the Government of India made themselves responsible more than

fifty years ago.

SALE OF THE ORNITHOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS AT TRING.

While the prevailing depression has had its adverse effect. on

Scientific work 1n India its effect is equally apparent in England.

The famous Bird Collection at Tring is to go to America. Lord

Rothschild has been compelled to sell it to an American Museum.

Ornithologists throughout the Empire have learnt of his Lordship’s

decision with dismay. The passing of Tring is a loss not only to

British Ornithology but to European Ornithology and to Ornitholo-

gists the world over. While the bird collections at Tring were in no

way comparable to those at the British Museum, they formed a perfect

complement to the collection in London. They contained just those

specimens which the British Museum required to make its collection

complete. Tring is within easy reach of London, and London is where

Ornithologists must go if they are doing work of real importance.

The collections in both institutions were hence readily accessible to

878 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL EIST. SOCIETY, Vol. Oey

workers. The removal of the collection to a location so difficult and

expensive to reach cannot but prove a serious obstacle and Ornitho-

logists will now solely miss the facilities they so long enjoyed. Be-

sides a considerable part of this collection is concerned with European

Ornithology. Take for example the Brehm collection with its 371

types, and it is by workers in Palaearctic Birds that the loss will be

most keenly felt. They will be cut off by so many thousands of miles

from this one though highly important collection which is now to be

housed across the Atlantic. And though the Americans have acquired

the Tring Collection they will be still compelled to visit Europe to

consult the European collections if they are to do work of any real

value in European Ornithology.

It was always believed that this great collection would ultimately

become the property of the Nation and many of those who contri-

buted to it were very probably influenced by the consideration that

they were helping to build up a Nationai asset. It is undoubtedly

also for this reason that the British Museum refrained from entering

into competition with Lord Rothschild who is one of its Trustees.

There was aiways the most friendly rivalry, and co-operation

between the Government and the private museum.

The pity of it is that the whole transaction was shrouded in secrecy.

It has been pointed out, for reasons which have not been made public,

that neither His Majesty’s Government nor the Trustees of the British

Museum were approached in the matter. There is nothing to be

said about Lord Rothschild’s right to dispose of bis private collections

and one cannot but deplore the circumstances which compelled him

to take this decision, but it is difficult to discover reasons why

an offer was not first made to the Nation to acquire a collection

upon which it had reasonable claims before deciding on its sale to a

foreign country.

Rey. FATHER EE." BLATTER, -S.J-- PD. BAL.s.

Rev. Father E. Blatter, s.J., ph.p., Vice-President of the Society,

was the recipient for the year 1931 of the ‘ Johannes Brtthl Memorial

Medal.’ The announcement was made at the Annual Meeting of the

Asiatic Society of Bengal held on Monday Ist February 1932. The

award was made in recognition of his ‘Conspicuousiy Important

contributions to the knowledge of Asiatic Botany.’

Father Blatter requires no introduction to the readers of this

Journal. For more than 25 years we have continued to publish

many of his important contribution on Indian Botany and we hope

that we shall be privileged to do so for many years to come.

The Committee of this Society on behalf of its members takes this

welcome opportunity of congratulating Father Blatter on the honour

that he received for his labours in a branch of study which he has so

greatly adorned and of expressing their deep appreciation of the

manifoid service he has rendered this Society during his long

connection with it.

OBITUARY.

Mr. G. M. RYAN.

(From the London Times 12-1-1932).

Mr. George Michael Ryan, F.L.s., late of the Indian Forest

Service, who died at his residence in Ladbroke-gardens on Friday,

was widely known for the application of his scientific knowledge to

the improvement and preservation of old, historic trees in these

islands. He wasin the Indian Forest Service from 1883 to 1914,

mostly on conservancy work in the Bombay Presidency, and reached

the grade of deputy conservator in 1892. His researches and practi-

cal work on the preservation of old trees won the support of the

authorities of Kew, who referred to him inquirers from all parts of

the country. Among the trees on which he advised was the famous

old yew standing in Bookham churchyard, and the oak in Holmwood

Park, Keston, under which Wilberforce sat with Pitt when he decided

to bring in a Bill for the abolition of slavery in British plantations.

It was described in his diary as “an old oak.’ Last year Mr. Ryan

drew the attention of the Council for the Preservation of Rural

England to the neglected condition of the Queen’s Oak or Robin Hoods

Oak in Sherwood Forest, and wrote that the presence of a caretaker

was of little use so long as this ‘ historic monument’ was not

scientifically treated for the further preservation of its life. Mr. Ryan

was a generous-hearted man with many friends.

[Mr. Ryan was an old member of this Society. During his

residence in India, he contributed a number of notes to the Society’s

Journal mostly of Botanical interest. Among his contributions were

the papers on Wild Yams as famine foods and the Water-yielding

plants of the Thana Forests.-—Eps. ]

fo Nive gl elebyale Li;

(From the London Times 12-1-1932).

FRESHWATER EELS IN BRITISH INDIA.

For some 10 years now I have been collecting data regarding the

occurrence or absence of freshwater eels—of the genus Angzz//a—in

the freshwaters of the world, and we seem on the whole to have

cleared up this matter. Yet there are two regions where some

uncertainty still reigns, and curiously enough, British India is one of

them.

I have seen specimens of freshwater eels from the greater part of

India, from Burma to Bombay, but whether they occur north of

Bombay, and especially in the River Indus, I have not succeeded in

determining, neither through the available literature nor through

questions. Yet it would be astonishing, it seems to me, if there

were no information on this subject from one of the principal river

systems of the Old World.

The question is of considerable importance for the understanding

of the distribution of the freshwater eels which spawn in the Indian

Ocean. It would be of interest, therefore, if Indian zoologists or

others concerned with the fisheries there could take notice of the

question and discover whether freshwater eels of the genus Anguilla

are really present or wanting in the River Indus.

I amet:

JOHANNES SCHMIDT,

Carlsberg Laboratorium, Copenhagen,

Denmark.

REVIEWS:

THE FAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA, INCLUDING CEYLON AND

BURMA. REPTILIA AND AMPHIBIA. By Malcolm A. Smith. (Vol. I.

Loricata, Testudines. March, 1931: London). Published under the

authority of the Secretary of State for India in Council and edited by

Lieut.-Col. J. Stephenson, F.R.S.

The object of the ‘ Fauna of British India’ series is, and should be, the

advancement of knowledge concerning the animal population of the great

Indian Empire. In the past the average zoologist had an eye mainly for the

structural details of a long-dead specimen in a museum, but fortunately the

trend of research is gradually changing and the young biologist is seeking

more and more the knowledge of the living. At the request of the Editor,

Dr. Smith has included in the volume under review a general account of the

structural characters and habits of tre group, so far as possible, and in so

doing he has laid herpetologists and naturalists in general under a deep debt of

gratitude. The volume in its present form is not only useful to systematists,

but can be consulted by advanced students of Indian Universities, especially

of the Agra University where Reptilia is taught as a special subject for the

M. Sc. degree, as a text-book on the subject.

It is to be borne in mind, however, that ‘In the exact distribution of species,

in their individual variation, in habits, life-histories, in fact in bionomics

generally, a vast amount of investigation is still to be done.’ The work on the

bionomics of a group of animals can generally only be accomplished by those

in the field, and it is earnestly to be hoped that naturalists with a real love for

the living animal will supply the deficiency as they have so admirably done in

the past. Dr. Smith’s work as he states, shows by its omissions how much

still remains to be dore in this direction.

Great pains have been taken to make the volume useful even to a beginner.

A glossary of technical terms is included and a comprehensive bibliography is

given. In the introduction the author explains the generally accepted rules of

zoological nomenclature, and one is painfully reminded how by thetr strict

application some of the very familiar names have to be suppressed, and

practically unknown names substituted, before finality in nomenclature can be

reached. The introduction also contains a history of Indian Herpetology with

short biographical sketches of the prominent workers. The zoogeography of

Indian Reptiles and Amphibians is treated in a fascinating manner; and

suggestions are offered regarding the preservation of specimens. This

introductory account is evidently meant, though nowhere so stated by the

author, for all the four volumes which Dr. Smith intends to bring out in this

series on Reptilia and Amphibia (Volume II will be devoted to the Lizards,

Volume II! to the Snakes, and Volume IV to the Amphibia).

Dr. Smith’s work covers the Indian Empire and the Indo-Chinese Sub-region ;

the inclusion of the latter is justified by the author on zoogeographical grounds.

By this arrangement the new volumes of the ‘ Fauna’ will include a number of

species not treated by Boulenger in his volume on the ‘ Reptilia and Batrachia.’

Considering the fauna of the Indian Empire one finds that since 1890 only five

new species have been added. This bears out Dr. Smith’s remark that in this

group of animals no great field remains for a mere collector in search of new

species. In Boulenger’s volume 44 species of Chelonians were described, whereas

in the new volume there are only 43 from British India, in spite of the added

species. This shrinkage in the number of species is due to an examination of

large material, and a careful and detailed study of the types of species, whenever

available. Of the 57 species treated in Dr. Smith’s volume, 14 do not belong to

British India.

882 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

It is a snatter of considerable satisfaction that Dr. Smith’s volume is compre-

hensive and complete in itself, whereas information in Boulenger’s volume has

to be amplified by reference to his Catalogues of the British Museum.

The work is beautifully illustrated, but unfortunately Dr. Smith has omitted

to give the magnification of the figures in the text and in the plates, and, more-

over, some of the figures are crooked inthe text (fig. 38, for instance). It

would have been better if in the description of figures the names of the authors

of species had been repeated. A casual perusal of the volume has shown that

some page references in the synonymies are inaccurate, but in a work of this

magnitude such mistakes are apt to occur.

In reading this volume one feels that the author is writing from a first-hand

knowledge of the mode of life of the animals he has so admirably classified for

the ‘ Fauna.’ Dr. Smith is to be congratulated on this preduction. Herpeto-

logists and naturalists in genera! will look forward with keen interest to the

remaining three volumes in the ‘ Fauna’ series by the author of the work here

reviewed.

Dally. gels

A TEXT BOOK OF ELEMENTARY ZOOLOGY by Mr. Bonavis Bonnel,

M.A., xiii, 192 pp. illustrated. Second Edition, revised and enlarged,

Published by Kesari Printing Works, Madras, 1930, and sold by the

Christian Literature Society, Madras. Price Rs. 2.

The book, which is running its second edition, is primarily intended fcr the

use of the students of the Intermediate classes of the Madras University, but will

also be found useful not only by the Medical Students and the students of the

other South Indian Universities, but also by those elsewhere in India. Since

its appearance a few years back much useful information has been incorporated

by the author in order to free it from its originally much more limited scope and

application.

‘The first few chapters are devoted to general biological considerations. Then

follow the life histories of some 14 types treated in detail. A commendable

feature of these is that Indian types have been mostly described. This avoids

divorce, at one time a very common defect of the biological teaching in India,

between the types used for lecture purposes and those actually studied in the

practical class. Even where the former were imported the student learnt little

of their dzology « he merely looked at the dead animal and dissected it. This

incompatibility, inculcating as it did confusion of thought and ideas and sloven-

ly habits, is happily now disappearing. Theauthors who like the present one

are helping in this very necessary reorganisation are to be highly congratulatec.

The study of the types is begun with the Frog, a most convenient type, with

which to initiate a beginner into the study of Zoology. The author then takes

up Protozoa (Amceba and Paramoecium), and beginning the Metazoa with

Hydra and Obelia, takes the reader through Ceelenterates, Arthropoda, Mollusca,

Pisces and Aves to Mammalia. In the selection of types and their arrangement

although subjective considerations of the authors naturally play a large role, one

asks whether after all, on the principle of ‘from the known through the less

known to the unknown’ which is applicable with particular force to the teaching

of beginners, it would not have been a better arrangement to relegate the pro-

gressively less known types (and certainly of the smzcroscopic Protozoa) to

later chapters.

The last chapter is devoted to ‘ Classification, Evolution and Heredity.’

Although the treatment on the whole is less satisfactory both from the points of

view of the material and presentation, Evolution and Heredity are much more

satisfactorily treated than classification. The treatment of the latter is sure to

leave a good deal of vagueness in the mind of the student and stands in need of

much amplification and elucidation.

For the rest the language is simple and clear and the descriptions of the types

methodical. The diagrams though ample in number, leave much to be desired

in quality. Students, specially elementary students for whom the book is

intended, require not only clear and methodical descriptions, but also well

shaded, clear diagrams and realistic pictures.

There are a few printing mistakes in places.

INSKed:

REVIEWS 883

BOTANISCHE VERSUCHE OHNE APPARATE -—By Dr. Hans Molisch

emer. 0.0. Professor und Direktor des pflanzenphysiologischen Institutes

an der Universitat Wien. xii+ 200 with 62 figures. Gustav Tischer Jena, 1931.

The author of this highly engaging and instructive book is already a

renowned botanist and the writer of several standard botanical treatises, both

technical as well as popular. Heis also a keen and widely-travelled natura-

list, and, until recently, was the Professor and Director of the Plant-physiological

Institute at the University in Vienna. This latest, though one hopes by no

means the last, of his publications, therefore, comes to inherit all the rich

and varied experience, gained through wide travelling, close observation

and deep thought, on the various phenomena of plant-life. Besides these,

the reader also has the benefit of his mature experience as a teacher and

investigator.

The motto of the book is ‘The simpler the experiment, the finer it is.’

In keeping with this, most of the observations and experiments detailed in the

book, and the methods employed for their elucidation, are so simple that one

begins to wonder why these did not strike every one else. Indeed, in this con-

nection the author says in the preface that he has often asked three questions of

his students and colleagues :—-(1) Whether it is possible to hear the footsteps

of a housefly without the use of a microphone, an amplifier or other apparatus ?

(2) Whether it is possible to observe the Brownian movements with unaided

eyes? (3) Whether one can see the sun-light or lamp-light through wood

several centimeters thick ? The answer to the perplexed audience, the author

informs us, has always been ‘ No, it is not possible.’ Yet the book demon-

strates that not only these, but a large number of similar other apparently

perplexing phenomena, are possible.

In regard to this prevalent lack of observation and information, the author

notes, as others who have devoted thought to the question that it is the

modern tendency, which suffers from too great a stress being laid on details and

technique, at the sacrifice of the more general and obvious facts which. are

ignored, that is responsible for the undesirable state of affairs, The result is

that most students of Natural Science move through woods and fields more

or less blind-folded, as it were, and return from their excursions with much

poorer knowledge and experience.

One of the objects in writing this book, presumably, is to counteract this

growing tendency and to create a lively interest for natural phenomena in the

minds of the youth. It brings together a ricn harvest of facts culled carefully

from all aspects of plant-life and sosimply dealt with that they can he easily

investigated even while moving about, since little equipment is needed beyond

a needle, a blade of straw, a glass tube and a match-stick. In most cases even

these can be largely dispensed with. In fact, after reading through the book

one feels surprised with how little apparatus one can carry on botanical investi-

gations. J/tzs indeed the claim of the author that this is the first book ever

written, which demonstrates a large number of observations and experiments

without the use of complex or even simple apparatus.

In the book are dealt with all variety of subjects covering a large number of

phenomena. It is divided into five sections :—(1) Anatomical and Morpho-

logical, (2) Physical, (3) Chemical, (4) Physiological and (5) Miscellaneous.

Under these are treated a surprising mass of facts covering almost all aspects

of plant-life, personally investigated by the author himself.

The book is written in simple German so that it is easily comprehensible by

beginners and laymen. Aithough primarily meant for these, it would be

without doubt of very great utility also to serious students of botany and to

teachers, specialiy on excursions. Many of the experiments are new, or are

not described in other text-books. Where necessary, the text is illustrated by

clearly executed illustrations. Although the book has been written with parti-

cular reference to European conditions, the facts are so general and most of the

plants so common, or substituted without much trouble, that it can be easily

adapted to conditions in India and other countries. Besides, where difficulties

arise, it will well repay the effort to tackle and solve them. In view of this it is

unfortunate that such books are not yet available to readers whose knowledge

is confined only to English, but one hopes that this pioneer work of the

author will sooner or later be followed by similar works in that language

too.

Nie Keer.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.

I.—AGE OF ANIMALS.

In P. Z..S., pt. 1, 1931, there is a very interesting and ilimimating

article by Major S. S. Flower on ‘‘ The Duration ot Life in Vertebrate

Animals.” It, with its four predecessors, is the first complete account

of the duration of lite in vertebrate animals, based on actual

observations over a number of years.

I very recently came across a similar attempt in an old Sanskrit

work! whose author flourished in XIIIth century. The work

purpoits to be a text-book of Zoology discussing various matters,

both interesting and curious. ‘The author has attempted to describe

life histories of about fifty-four vertebrate animals. The method is

not scientific, as we understand the term; yet the work is valuable,

both as the first—and perhaps only—attempt of its kind in the whole

field of Sanskrit literature and as a collection of beliefs about

animals prevalent at that time. I will try—if the Editor of our Journal

allows me—to discuss some of the items inthe book in a future note.

For the present, I confine myself to presenting the age-data as given,

without attempting to criticise. I append alist of age-figures from

Major Flower for comparison.

ACCORDING TO

Animals

Hamsadeva Flower in P.Z.S.

AIII Century 1931

MamMMalLs

Monkeys ae be as Head 10. years 10-15 years

Taisers ses ae are aie 16 rr 15 Sets

Lions -: ee a cote 20 x3 13 +

Cats ee Mee oe ee 5 * 15 as

Hyzenas fg - ee sn 14 a 12 i

Dogs nis Bt see pt 10 i 10 ie

Wolves Sef a an ds 10 % t 12 ae

Jackals Be age a cae 10 ‘ 15 me

Bears oe eh os ee 14 ” 16 Re

Rats ae aoe ves sie eee) 2-3 -

Hares at Ac eas sak aoe 5 a

Elephants... ce ex ne 100 a, 50 RA

Horses aa ne es er 20 3 30 .

Asses wie an Be ‘ies 12 _ 20 h

Rhinoceroses nae ties sa 22 ae 25-30 =,

Cows - te ee ae 29 re 20-30)? <5,

Buffaloes ‘et ie bie ae 20 ay 25-30),

Goats ba cs set 10 a 10 -

Deer re o% ae as 9 ae S=10' te 5:

Camels an oe eis ae 30 6 30 Fa

Boars aed oie ote = 14 by 16 .

1 Mriga-Pakshi-Shastra; by Hamsadeva, a Jain Author of XIIIth Century

‘Trans, P.-N. Press, Kalahasti. 1327,

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 885

SPAN OF LIFE IN VERTEBRATES

ACCORDING TO

Animals

Hamsadeva Flower in P.Z.S.

XI Century 1931

BIRDS

Hornbills-( Garuda)... on ae 10. ‘years Zo years

Eagles re ee sae oe 8 e \ 15

Hawks ee ne aoe hs 10 55 =

Swans : . 7 is 14 o

Peacocks ; 6 . 10 7

Ruddy Geese 6 is 14 ie

(various sp. Wild

Geese.)

Cranes 4 ; 18 years

Crows 5 a 6 -

Owls ate 5 es 6 >

Kausika Birds 5 ces _ a

Parrots 5 ; 17 ua

Cuckoos 5 ‘ 7-14 fe

Pigeons 3 rr 1] rr

Blue Jays = a . 3 a —_— o

Sparrows aes ae a a a - — -

Cocks we Si oe ach Ze 4, — ~

Karetu Birds ae bie Peat - an — a

Herons ee re a oe: - - 19 .

Wagtails mee , Ms eof iy = _ iw

Plava Birds ... bbe idee Fe 5 - _ i.

5 other Birds veh aa Sid ” ., _ -

AHMEDABAD, HARI NARAYAN G. ACHARYA,

December 30, 1931. Bran E78:

[The periods relative to Birds are quoted by the Editors

from Major S.S. Flower’s series of papers on the Duration of Life

in Vertebrate animals. IV Birds. (P.Z.5., 1925. pp. 1365-1422),

as the paper in question was not available to the author. The

figures given for the birds are in the main relative to longevity

estimated from data relative to birds kept in captivity in the Zoologi-

cal Gardens at Giza, Egypt. Major Flower concludes from his study

of data collected from various sources that as far as present evidence

goes, no species of birds has a specific /ozgevity of over 30 years but

that many species have a potential longevity of over 30 years.

It is of interest to see from a comparison of the above tables that

the duration of life of various animals particularly in regard to

Mammals given by the. 13th century writer accords fairly well with

the conclusions arrived at centuries Jater. It would be very interest-

ing to read further excerpts from the book to which Mr. Acharya

refers.— EDs. ] |

II.—TIGER KILLING SWAMP DEER OR GOND

(RUCERVUS DUVAUCELL)D).

On the 10th March 1932, in ccmpany with Messrs. C. McCann

and G. Nogueira of the Bombay Naturel History Scciety

886 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

and others, we had the extraordinary luck to see a large

tiger kill a goxd or swamp deer just before noon in the Dhakka

Chat Kadir on the Sarda River “an ™ the “Phihibhit District

We had gone out for the day to a spot called Pasian, due north

of Allengunj Block, which is included in the Kishenpur Block

of the South Kheri Forest Division. At Pasian, there is a high bank

that overlooks the whole of the kadir. We arrived there just before

10 a.m., and had breakfast. After breakfast, we were sitting on the

edge of the high bank watching gond feeding in a swamp some 300

yards north of us. About 800 yards N.-W. of us was another

Swamp with a sandy strip on the west side of it. On this sand three

gond were seated, two: together and one further apart. While we

were watching them a tiger sprang from the high grass and the soli-

tary goud was seized, just as it entered the water, while the other two

dashed off, yelling. One of the two, a young stag, joined the group

near us. At the same timé a number of Paddy-birds which were

in the neighbourhood of the small swamp also rose and flew

off. This took place at 11.15 A.m. The tiger held the gond

down for some 15 minutes, partially in the water, and then

picked up his kill as a cat does a mouse, and carried it towards

the high grass. At 11.30 «4.m., before entering the grass he put it

down and then dragged it into the grass. We saw nothing more of

him till 1.5 p.m., when he came out of the grass followed presumably

by his mate, a fine tigress. They sat down on the sand, rolled about

and then played together, like two huge kittens. It was a magnifi-

cent sight. They were obviously very pleased with life after a good

meal. Ten minutes later, they retired into the grass to rest and did

not reappear again till 3.55 p.m., when they again played about on

the sand and sat about for 10 minutes, then disappeared into the

grass for another meal, I expect. Only the tiger drank and thata

little. This appears to agree with the observations of Best and

Stewart that they don’t always drink in the cold weather after a

meal. We left the spot at5 p.m. without seeing them again. All

this we watched through prismatic field-glasses. The gozd that were

within 300 yards of us never left the water all day and stood most

of the time gazing in the direction where their pal was killed. There

were six stags and three hinds. It was impossible to stalk the

tigers on foot owing tothe enormous height of the £hagar grass.

We had no elephant.

PeARTPUR, P2O%, L. D. W. HEARSEY,

Keri, U.P. Captain,

March 10, 1932. 2nd Lancers.

III—THE PERSIAN PANTHER (#. PARDUS SAXICOLOR)

IN BALUCHISTAN.

I am indebted to the Bombay Natural History Society for the

opportunity to examine the skin of a Persian panther obtained by

Lt. A. H. K. Sangster at Sambaza in Baluchistan, 4,500 ft., during

April 1931.

A description of this race of panther may be found in my paper in

the Journ., Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. 34 pp. 77-80, 1930, a specimnen

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 887

in winter coat from Pusht-i-Kuh in Southern Persia being illustrated

in pl, VI. Sangster’s skin, also in winter pelage, evidently

resembles very closely the Persian skin in colour and length of hair,

but the moult was not imminent and the hair shows no sign of

matting into tufts. The ground colour is very pale buffy grey on the

back and in the centres of the rosettes, but becomes paler on the

flanks and passes into pure white below. The rosettes, are every-

where biack, but their edges are somewhat ilJ-defined owing to the

length and looseness of the coat, the hairs of which are about 13 ins.

long on the back and tail, and upto 24 ins. on the belly. The flat skin

measures: head and body 3 ft. 10 ins., tail 2 ft. 6 ins., the small size

indicating a female or young male.

An interesting point connected with this skin is the discovery of

this race of panther in Baiuchistan, which brings it into the fauna of

British India. Hitherto the most eastern locality known for it was

Palan Kuh, Seistan, where Col. R. L. Kennion obtained a specimen

as recorded in my paper referred to above. Ccl. Kennion’s skin is a

little darker, with the coat somewhat shorter and a gcod deal tufted.

I should like to take this opportunity of expressing to Lt.

Sangster our great indebtedness to him for generously presenting

this beautiful skin to the British Museum, as soon as he heard from

me that there is no skin quite like it in the national collection and that

it would be an appreciated acquisition. Sportsmen, very naturally,

like to keep such trophies, as a rule, to be made up into rugs. Hence

it is only rarely that the skin of freshly killed leopards, tigers, bears

and whatnot, come into the Museum. Too often the national

collection, which is in need of such animals, has to wait until they

are dusty and faded, if not moth-eaten, from exposure. One of the

attributes of Lt. Sangster’s specimen is its absolute freshness.

Nat. Hist. MuSEvum, Ryle POCOCK:

S. KENSINGTON.

March 15, 1932.

1V.—USE OF ARTIFICIAL LIGHT IN PANTHER

SHOOTING:

i recently read a note, by Col. R. W. Burton in the /’e/d or

Game and Gun J think, on shooting panther on foot with the

aid of an electric torch.

Recently, while motoring down the Dhimbam Ghat (North Coim-

batore) at night, the headlights of the car showed up a panther squatting

on the roadside. ‘The panther aliowed the car to get within 30 yards

of it before moving across and down the bank below the road, and I

quietly brought the car to the spot where it had left the road.

Leaving the engine gently ticking over, I unscrewed my spotlight

(an ‘Auto-reelite’ with about 15 feet of wire attached), and quietly

approaching the edge of the road, and directing the beam down-

wards, immediately spotted the panther sitting up only about 3 yards

888 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATORAL AIST. SOCIETY, Volo Oey

off. The panther made no attempt to move while the light was on

it, merely wrinkling its muzzle in a series of rapid noiseless snarls.

After about a minute, I moved the light from side to side and the

panther slowly made off. About 20 minutes later, when nearing the

foot of the Ghat, the lights of the car showed up the eyes of what I

at first took to be another panther, but on approaching close, found

it to be a young tiger. Keeping the beam of the spotlight fixed on

the tiger | brought the car slowly to the edge of the road abreast

where the tiger was standing, quietly opened the door, unscrewed

the spotlight and stepped out on the grass bordering the road. The

tiger was complacently blinking in the glare of the spotlight and

allowed me to approach to the limit of the spotlight wire, I was then

about 15 yards from it, when it suddenly lowered its head quickly as

if to get under the ray of light. I was almost as quick in lowering

the beam, and raising it again as he threw his head up the next

moment; but I decided however that discretion was the better part

of valour: backing, I reached the car before I expected to and the

slight noise caused the tiger to bound away witha “wough’”’. I

had no weapon with me at the time which 1 did not regret, as the

experience with both the panther and the tiger was unique for me.

HONNAMETTI ESTATE, R. C. MORRIS, F.z.s.

ATTIKAN P. O. v/a

Mysore, 8. INDIA.

March 9, 1932.

V.—AN ALBINO CHITAL, (AX/S AX/S).

As it may be of interest to you I am enclosing two photographs

of an albino Chital doe shot lately by an Indian gentleman in the

Doon (?) it was brought to me as Soon as shot in the flesh. It is snow

white and only slightly coloured below the knees; the eyes and hoofs

were pink; in a bright light faint spots of a silky whiteness can be

seen. It has been mounted by us according to the measurements we

were able to take.

DEHRA DUN. G. ATKINSON.

November 20, 1931.

[The photos are unfortunately unsuitable for publication. Eds.].

VI.— VITALITY OF BISON MAULED BY A TIGER.

I enclose a photo of a rather remarkable bull bison shot recently

here by Capt. G. Tedcastle Colquhoun, I.A.S.C. The bull, a very

old solitary, was in many respects unlike any I Lave seen before,

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 889

One horn, as will be seen, was worn down to less than half its

original length, the bison had lost half his teeth and the remainder

were very worn down; the grey hair of the frontal ridge extended

lower than usual; round and between the eyes the colouring

was a dark golden brown; while other portions of the mask—

the muzzle, the cheeks, and the under part of the jaw were thickly

flecked with grey hair. The bull had a quite unusually developed

dewlap, which on examination was found to contain a quantity of

fluid. The bone of one hind leg had been bitten through by a tiger

just above the hock and was dangling uselessly, the wound being

foul; the other hind leg also carried wounds from a tiger’s attack,

as also, the animal’s neck and face. ‘The neck and shoulder on the

off side bore scars and callouses from the tiger’s mauling, and

portions of the bull’s face had been badly ripped and here the skin

was hard, hairless, and like dried leather. The spread measures

36” (taken from the tip of the short horn), and it must have been

quite 39” originally ; the girth at the base of the horns is 21”. The

good horn carries 9 corrugations, while the short one bears marks

of the tiger’s claws and possibly teeth. From the condition of the

animal’s broken leg and other wounds we judged that it had been

attacked two or three years previously and it is a mystery how it

was able to survive the attack with a broken hind leg and terribly

scarred as it had been, taking into consideration also its advanced

age. The poor brute must have suffered alot, which may possibly

have accounted for the grey hairs. That it had not died from

gangrene from its smashed leg is also extraordinary ; on the inner

side of the leg was a jagged hole through which could be seen a

portion of the broken bone and this had obviously prevented the

wound from healing up. The animal was very emaciated; altogether

its end was merciful.

HONNAMETTI ESTATE, k. C. MORRIS, £.z:s,

ATTIKAN, P.O.,

Via MYSORE,

5. INDIA.

March 19, 1932.

[The photo is insufficiently clear for reproduction.—EDs. |

VII. UNERUPTED TUSKS OF ELEPHANTS.

I write with reference to Sir Frank Colyer’s excellent article on

Abnormal Tusks of Elephants in the Society’s Journal of 15th

November 1930. Sir Frank Colyer, who was good enough to show me

his collection of abnormal tusks in the Museum of the Royal

College of Surgeons in August last year, must be regarded as

890 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATCORAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vole,

an authority on the subject, but with all due deference to his opinion

ve the unerupted tusks found on the tuskless side of elephants with

singie tusks, I still hold that thereis just a possibility that his views on

the matter may not be quite correct. In his opinion, these unerupted-

ivories are caused and developed by a natural process of reformation

on the original tusk having been torn out. This may possibly be so,

but I still hold to my theory to the effect that the unerupted tusk is

merely a malformed tusk, a freak of nature in fact, this abnormality

being still more pronounced in ‘ Mucknas’ which have no tusks. If

‘Mucknas’ were found to possess similar unerupted ivories, this

would rather tend to prove my theory to be correct. After ali, as

‘Mucknas’ exist, why should not there be single tuskers ?

I enclose a photo of an elephant szzws its face, rather a gruesome

spectacle but interesting in the fact that the bony sheath on which this

elephant’s single tusk rested can clearly be seen, whereas there is no

sign of it on the other side. If Sir Frank Colyer’s contention is

correct, there should surely be a similar bony sheath on the tuskless

side. Sir Frank wrote to me on 26th February 1931 as follows :—‘ Let

me see if I can make the matter clear. A growing tooth inthe jaw is

always surrounded by a layer of dense bone. When the tooth erupts

there is stilla dense layer of bone around the rovt. Ifthe hard pari of

the tusk is torn out and the wound does not go septic then the socket

fills at first with blood clot, this is replaced in time by bone, the layer

of hard bone disappearing except the portion covering the soft pulp.

The soft pulp is in time formed intoivory with alayer of bone around.

If the tusk is split so that a portion remains in the socket, suppuration

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 891

follows and the socket does not fill up and the iayer of hard bone

remains.’

HONNAMETTI ESTATE, R. C. MORRIS; F.z:.s.

ATTIKAN P.O.,

Via MYSORE,

S. INDIA.

February 18, 1932.

VITI.—GAME PRESERVES AND FLASHLIGHT

PHOTOGRAPHY.

I have recently been in camp with a big game photographer in an

area which may later be turned into a game preserve. I cannot

imagine anything more disturbing to game ina jungle than the flash

and explosion of flashlights, and when a dozen cameras are placed

abroad in the jungle at drinking pools, salt licks etc., the area is

pretty well cleared of game in a few days. The flashlight powder

is enclosed in a thin rubber bag, so forming a cartridge and intensify-

ing the explosion.

HONNAMETTI ESTATE, he Cel MOR RIS. nea.

ATTIKAN P.O.,

Via Mysore,

5. INDIA.

January 27, 1932.

IX._SOME ANDAMAN BIRDS.

According to the Fauna of British India, Birds, second edition

vol. II, I note that nothing is on record regarding the nidification

of either the Andaman Shama or Osmaston’s Bush Warbler. So I

write to supply the deficiency.

(1) The Andaman Shama. <Av¢ttactucla macroura albiventris.

This bird is common in all the densely forested portions of the

larger and smaller islands of this group. They specially frequent

ravines near water.. They have some fine loud, clear notes, as well

as some harsh ones. They are very noisy in March and April, and

almost at any time of the year they will answer any one who whistles

a few clear notes within ear shot. Suspecting that the birds occu-

pied clefts or holes in trees for nesting purposes, I had a number of

boxes inade—8” cubes—with a hole 3” in diameter on one side, and

fixed them against the trunks of trees about 4 or 5 feet from the

ground in dense forest wherever I heard a male Shama calling.

This was done early in March.

I visited the boxes periodically after this, but none were occupied

until May 21st when two contained nests ready for eggs. Inthe

892 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

next month, i.e. up to June 15, 9 of the 12 boxesI had put up had

nests with eggs, mostly 3, but one 4 and two with 2 eggs only.

The nests filled the bottom of the boxes. They were invariably

made of dry bamboo leaves, lined with black hair-like rhizomorph.

The eggs resemble those of the Indian Shama in colour. 12 eggs

gave the following measurements :—

Maximum ... 0:89" x 0:68”

Minimum ... 0:80" x 0:65"

Average 2 O85 x 0°66”

Subsequently, 3 nests of similar structure were found, one ina

cleft in a buttressed tree, 9’ from the ground and two others in holes

in old rotten stumps, 5’ up. I reared several of the young birds

from the nest and kept them loose in my garden on Chatham Island.

They were perfectly tame and fearless and fed from my hand. They

were very fond of small centipedes. The cocks were exceedingly

pugnacious. I utilized this trait in order to catch them when requir-

ed. It was only necessary to show them a small mirror when they

would instantly fling themselves against the glass and could be easily

caught in the hand.

- They copied tunes whistled to them with great accuracy. One

was specially clever at reproducing ‘Way down upon the Swanee

River.

(2) Osmaston’s Bush Warbler. Movornis palltdipes osmastont.

These birds are commion in dense undergrowth of high or secon-

dary forest and are never met with inthe open. They are adept

skulkers and though often heard, are rarely seen.

On May 19, 1907, while pushing through dense jungle near the top

of Mt. Harriet (1000’), I came on a Aovornis calling. I began to

search for a possible nest, when the parent bird began to give its

alarm call chick-chick. ‘This spurred me on to further endeavours

and shortly I was rewarded by discovering the nest within a foot of

the ground. It wasa deep cup-shaped structure—zof domed, but

compietely sheltered by the leaf of a ginger. The nest was support:

ed among the stems and leafstalks of the ginger-like plant and was

very difficult to locate, as nearly every ginger plant had a similar

accumulation of dead leaves near the base, which resembled a nest.

While examining the nest the parent bird came within 2 feet of

me, although, as a rule, it is almost impossible to get a sight of one

in the jungle.

The nest was composed of dry bamboo leaves very loosely put

together and was lined with fine flowering grass-heads.

The eggs, four in number, were quite fresh. They are moderate-

ly broad ovals, very glossy and of a bright chestnut colour. Mottled

all over, specially at the large end with a deeper shade of chestnut.

A second nest was brought to me on 10th July, containing 4 fresh

eggs of a similar colour. The second nest was lined with black

rhizomorph instead of grass :—

Eight eggs gave the following measurements.

Maximum Let OTOL Se Oe aoe

lst. nest. Minimum NO: 6 0 oO te

Average ce O08 5 0547

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 893

Maximun) en 69 O54

2nd. nest. Minimum pe OP647 X05 57

Average me w0-oon < 07584

The call of the bird is most characteristic and peculiar, of 3 or 4

notes only, loud for the size of the bird, and insistent.

116, BANBURY ROAD, B. B. OSMASTON, c.1.z.

OxFORD, ENGLAND.

January 10, 1932.

X.—NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF BALUCHISTAN.

27-8-31 to 1-9-31.—Nutcracker. (Vucitragasp.) Takler Suleiman and

Kaisar Garh range near Fort Sandeman, very common indeed in pine

forest though not previously recorded in Baluchistan. Apparently

the Kashmir variety, as its body is: markedly more white-spotted

than that of the bird with which I am very familiar in the Alps and

have met on the Thibet border.

Crows. (Corvus sp.)—Same time and place ; black crows were also

common and apparently not previously recorded in Baluchistan.

Turtle Doves. Sametime and place.—Several. I am uncertain which.

Back vinous-red heavily marked with black. No white collar on

neck that I could detect: tips of tail feathers apparently pale grey

and not white.

6-7-31.—Pheasant-tailed Jacana. (//)'drophastanus chirurgus)—Khush-

dil Khan reservoir ; only one previously recorded in Quetta district.

24-11-29.—Red-breasted Merganser. (Mergus serrator)—Khushdil

Khan reservoir. Female (shot and identified)—only once previously

recorded in Quetta district.

2-5-31.—Indian Spotted Owlet. (Athene bvama)—on ‘ maidan’ below

Murdar.

4-12-29.—Jackdaws. (Corvas monedula)—some in a flock of rooks.

Definitely no white collar. (I am familiar with ‘ collarzs ’’in Turkey.)

Choughs. Here the Szrds of Baluchistan appears to be astray.

The ‘bird of the highest hills’ is invariably the Yellow- billed or

Alpine Chough, a bird with which Iam very familiar in the Alps and

in Thibet. It is exceedingly common in both winter and summer at

high altitudes and I have watched hundreds of them when staiking

Markhor in the spring on Khangat, Takatu, Langlum and ail the

high mountains of Baiuchistan. The Red-billed Chough on the other

hand (asin Thibet) is the bird of the high plateaux. I have only

seen it once or twice in the summer (August) and then no higher

than 8,000 feet. It is a regular winter visitor to the Quetta plains

and valleys. :

16-2-29. 10-11-29.—Meadow Bunting (Amderzza cza)—Quetta—never

seen again in 3 years.

18-8-29.—Indian Red Munia (Amandava amandava)—Quetta—a small

flock.

15 and 30-12-29.—Asiatic Goldfinch. Carduelzs cantceps

3-4-30.—Spanish Sparrow. (Passer hispantolensis). Quetta. The

only one seen in 3 years though I was always on the look-out for it.

894 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATCORAL FUST.SOGILIY, Volo,

17-2-30. Blackbird. (Zurdus merula). Quetta. The only one seen

in 3 years. I think the birds recorded near Liarat must have been

the Himalayan Whistling Thrush.

House Martin. (Delzchon urbica) Definitely acommon bird on all the

high mountains round Quetta ail through the spring and summer. I

saw numbers of them when stalking and climbing on all the mountains

throughout my three years in Baluchistan.

21-8-29. Flamingos. (Phenicopterus ruber)\—Khushdil Khan reservoir.

5-4-29.—Pelicans. (Pelicanus sp.)—Khushdil Khan reservoir—big

flock—saw them on several other occasions.

12-2-30, 6-3-30, 19-4-31.—Blacksheaded Gull. (Larus ridibundus)

Khushdil Khan reservoir and Quetta Valley—About 10 % were in

breeding plumage (cf. Meinertzhagen).

15-10-30 and 16-10-31.—Cream-coloured Courser. (Cursorius cursor)

two or three on each occasion near Sayid Hamid on Quetta-Chaman

road.

QUETTA. E. F. NORTON,

January 4, 1932. Cor

[ The author in submitting the above notes indicated that they were

extracts from his field notes, accumulated during his stay in Quetta

in 1929, 1930 and 1931. His purpose in writing them was to put

down any points which differ from, or confirm doubtful points in, the

paper on the Birds of Baluchistan by Dr. Ticehurst. (Journal B.N.A.S.

vol. XXXI and XXXII.)—Eps.].

XI.—BULBULS IN CALCUTTA AND ITS SUBURBS.

Recently, public attention has been drawn in the columns of certain

influential journals to the regrettable fact that some of our well-

known and familiar birds are growing less and less abundant; and

that some species and varieties are actually threatened with extinc-

tion in spite of the existence of protective measures. In this

connection we would like to mention a class of universally-liked

birds, viz. the Bulbuls. Poets have sung rapturously of the bulbuis in

the past and bulbuls have not as yet lost their position as pets among

the rich and poor alike. It must not be forgotten that fifty years ago

a bulbul-fight was as popular a sport as a horse-race, and as

enthusiastically joined in py all ranks of men from the highest to the

lowest. But apart from other interests, historical or scientific, bulbuls

are very agreeable birds and the decrease in their numbers cannot

but detract from the charms of the country life. There are several

species of bulbuls in this country and their range of distribution is

very wide. We are however concerned here with those species only

that are found in or about Calcutta.

The Bengal Bulbul, MWZolpastes bengalensis is known popularly

as the kala or black buibui. In size it approaches the English

Red-backed Shrike. Although its colouring is sombre, it is consider-

ably relieved by the delicate grey and white of the edges of many of

its feathers. In suburban gardens and village shrubberies, the notes

of the Bengal Bulbul imitating the sound ‘hickory, dickory, dock’

may be heard only inthe season. They utter another cry, composed

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 895

of incessant chattering, when they scent danger. Muchas the black

bulbul is liked for its cheerful and nonchalant ways and kept as a

pet, it may be a very pugnacious bird at a moment's notice. In fact

it is this fighting propensity for which the bird is prized by the

lovers of the bulbul contests. The fighting bulbuls are carried about

on small crutched sticks or special perches made of valuable materials,

when the owner of the bird happens to be a rich man. Bulbuls are

essentially lovers of quiet places, but the insatiable curiosity of the

Bengal Bulbul sometimes induces it to visit towns and it is thus that

pairs of these birds are seen on the road-side trees of Calcutta.

The sight is however rare now. The diet of bulbuls consists mainly

of buds and fruits, especially the bright scarlet fruit of the ‘ Tela-

kucha’ (Cephalandra indica) which is common in the hedges of the

country-side. They are however not strict vegetarians, many bulbuls

being seen to frequent the edges of ponds and watercourses in

search of small insects and eggs of dragonflies. Bulbuls become

very active at the end of the winter season and their nest-building

Operations extend from the latter half of February to the early part

of June. The black bulbuls are not very particular about the choice

of sites of their nests, these being found close to the ground on small

shrubs as well as on the top of ilarge trees. Nor dothey care much

to build in secluded places. The Casuarzza needles, whenever

available, form the most preferable building material. The nests

are loosely made and display no special workmanship, except that

they are reinforced with spiders’ webs. The young birds newly

hatched out, characterised by their rusty tinted plumage, are seen

to accompany their parents for a few days. These young creatures are

easily alarmed by dead leaves, twigs etc. and require some time to be

accustomed to their surroundings.

The next member of the Bulbul family, in order of abundance, is

the Szfahz or military or Red-whiskered Bulbul, known scientifically

as Otocompsa emeria. It isa bird of more refined nature, both in

appearance and habits than its black relative. Although a bit

smaller in size than the Bengal Bulbul, the Red-whiskered Bulbul, so

called because of the bright scarlet tufts on the sides of its head,

is much the nicer-looking bird of the two, on account of its rich, brown

wings, clear white under-parts and the shining, black, peaked crown.

Their cheery and jubilant cries of ‘‘ Did you, Did you, Do it”? enliven

the garden. It is a remarkable fact that while SzJahz bulbuls are

common in the localities to the south-east of the Hoogly, they are

not very numerous, and even rare in some spots, on the opposite

bank. Tame and confiding by nature, Ofocompsas love the neigh-

bourhood of Man, coming into verandahs and porticoes and making

friends with caged birds, especially of their own kind. They go

about in pairs accompanied by their young, but never venture far

from their nests. Unlike the black bulbul, the red-whiskered one will

bestow much thought on the site of its nest, generally preferring sites

hidden away among dense masses of foliage. The nests are never

placed too high whether they are built on shrubs, climbers on walls

or large, potted plants. . The birds generally take a devious way in

entering or leaving their nests, obviously with the intention of perplex-

ingapreyingenemy. The nests of the S7Jafz bulbul are a little tidier

896 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

than those of the Bengal Bulbuls. In conformity with the gay

appearance of the birds, the small eggs laid by them are also

attractive-looking with their pinkish ground colouring decorated by

red and purple spots. Usually there are three such eggs laid at the

interval of a day, of which one is often abortive. The period of

incubation is about 13 days and the young birds come out in the open

in a week after being hatched.

Though not included in the Bulbul family (Pycnonotide), I

would like to mention the Gold-fronted Chloropsis (C. aurtfrons).

Jerdon calls it the Green Bulbul ; it is popularly known as the haryah

Bulbul. It is not quite so common asthe two former species, but this

may be partly accounted for by the fact that their protective colouring

effectively hides them from casual view. They fetch a comparatively

high price as pet birds, and their ways are alluring although they

tend to become greedy in captivity. But if they are greedy, they

are certainly refined gourmands, as is evidenced by the manner of

their eating. While a black or red-whiskered bulbul will break off

small pieces from a ripe plantain and swallow them at once, the

green bulbul will detach a large mass and keep it in its mouth,

softening it by working the mandibles and gradually sucking down

the juice. Green bulbuls have often been observed to congregate on

kadamba trees (Anthocephalus cadamba) at the time of the ripening

of the flower-buds. Apparently the balls of flowers are considered to

be dainty dishes.

It is a matter of pity that the parks and gardens of Calcutta and

its suburbs are not only now poor in bulbuls, but they are growing

poorer too in bird-population generally, which, it must be conceded,

is not desirable from at least the zesthetic, if not an economic, point

of view.

CALCUDDA.

January 30, 1932. NBS Duis

XIL.—MIGRATION OF PARADISE FLY-CATCHER—

(PCOHIT REA PARADIS? ):

In a note on the migration of the Paradise Fly-catcher, (Journ.,

B. N..H.S., Vol. XXXV. p. 675) | See thatthe, Key. Fo5.) briges

doubts the accuracy of E. H. N. Gill’s statement in regard to the

United Provinces, that ‘ During the winter months this attractive

bird occurs. in. most districts .°...°) Li. Gill includes” Bareily,

District in his statement, I too have reason to disagree with him.

I have now been in Bareilly since the end of September 1530.

I spend a considerable amount of my spare time wandering about

the district but so far I have never seen a Paradise Fly-catcher here

during the winter. My first record is that of an adult male seen

on April 8th. I was away in May and June,, but on my

return in early July, I saw these birds, usually in mango topes,

not infrequently in that month and August. The hot weather is

again upon us, but so far none have yet appeared. In other words,

in Bareilly District, the Paradise Fly-catcher appears to be with us

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 897

only in the summer, arriving about April and leaving in September.

I came to Bareilly from St. Thomas’ Mount, just outside Madras.

In that place, I find I have no summer records at ali, but many

references to occurrences in the winter months, the earliest being

October 7th. ;

[ have aiso a few records with regard to the hills of Southern

India. These are as follows :-—

Mercara (Coorg).—One record only, 17th April 1924. I was in

Coorg from !1th April to 16th May. F.N. Bates, however, in Votes

on the Birds of Coorg says, ‘ Resident but not coimmon.’

Kotagiri (Nilgiri Hills), which I have visited in the months of

April, May, June, and July. One record only, 7tn April 1925. ‘A

very pale-looking immature male.’

At Sigur at the foot of the Sigur ghat in the Nilgiri Hills, where

-I went for a week’s shooting, I recorded one on 3rd January 1922.

I was in the Palni Hills all April and May 1929, and saw no Paradise

Fly-catcher.

As regards other parts of India, I notice I never saw the Paradise

Fly-catcher at Pachmarhi in spite of being there from April 10th

to well on into August, but B. B. Osmaston includes it in his list of

Pachmarhi birds, remarking ‘ Rarely seen on the plateau. Common

in the more open low valleys where they breed.’

If it is true, as appears likely, that one race at any rate winters in

Southern India, and summers in Northern India, where is the

dividing line ?

In South Waziristan, by the way, I see that at Chagmalai, three

niles from Jandola, I recorded the following: 15th February 1921,

a female ; 3rd May 1921, a young male; 12th May 1921, two adult

males and a young male. These birds were evidently moving up

into the hills.

19, CANTONMENT, R. 8. P. BATES,

BAREILLY. Captain.

March 24, 1932.

XIII.—NESTLING OF THE INDIAN PIED KINGFISHER

(CERIDE KO DIS) Wi sCKED BY LEARY AY OF

Peo iC uN

On the 26th December 1931, I dug up a nest of this Pied Kingfisher

which was in the east bank of the Benas River at Abu Road. The

nest was about four feet deep. The entrance was a long narrow

tunnel about 4” in diameter terminated by the nest chamber. The

roof of the chamber was about 10” high at its highest point and

dome-shaped. ‘The floor was almost flat and on a level with the

entrance. The base of the chamber measured about a foot across.

In the nest were four fully fledged young, almost ready to leave the

nest. The chamber was extraordinarily clean and showed no signs

of excreta or remnants of food. However, the walls of the entrance

tunnel were besmeared on either side with white marks of excreta,

showing clearly that the parent birds were in the habit of cleaning

8988 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

the nest. When the nest chamber was reached, the young hissed

very softly from time to time,—much after the fashion of a snake—

this was occasionally also the case when the birds were handled

during captivity. After the first day of sulking, as is so common

with freshly captured birds, they ate quite freely.

A curious point arose when I first extracted these birds from their

nest. One of them was attacked by the larva of a Dipterous fly,

which had lodged itself in one of the nostrils. Unfortunately,

when extracting it I dropped it and lost it in the loose earth. I

searched the chamber to see if there were any on the floor, without

success. The fly had in all probability deposited its eggs on the

bird itself. This bird was marked and observed. It did not appear

to me as active as the others. A couple of days later it died. On

examination I could find no external cause of death. It appears to

me quite possible that this bird died due to the fact that it was

parasitised by the fly. However, this is an open question. I have

known several cases in which the young of birds have been para-

sitised by flies, but up to the present I have only observed this in

nests on trees and bushes which are easily accessible.

BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, C. McCANN, F.L:s.,

6, APOLLO STREET, BOMBAY. Assistant Curator.

January 12, 1932.

XIV.—OCCURRENCE OF THE NUKTA OR COMB DUCK

(SARKIDIORNIS MELANOTUS) IN THE LARKANA

DISTRICT, SIND.

A Nukta was shot at Drigh Dand, inthe Kambar Taluka, Larkana

District, Sind in November 1929. At the time, neither I nor my

party knew what a zara avis for those parts we had secured. I am

now sending you this note for purposes of record. When brought in,

the nen turned it over and passed it round, but the most experienced

shikaris could make nothing of it. I know that a few Nuktas have

been seen and shot in Lower Sind but I believe I am right in

assuming that this is the first recorded from Upper Sind, three whole

degrees of latitude north of the Badin and Sujawal District.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, H. T. LAMBRICK, ..c.s.

KARACHI.

March 23, 1932.

[Ticehurst in his Bzrds of Sind (Ibis. 1923, p. 443) gives a few

records of Nukta shot in Sind, all of them from the southern and

eastern portions of the province. Most of these were obtained in

the Sujawal District. The Sindhis call it Karo Hang (Black Goose).

There is a specimen in the Society’s collection shot at Umarkot on

26th December 1917.— Ens. ]

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 899

XV.—OCCURRENCE OF THE BRONZE-CAPPED OR

FALCATED TEAL (LUNETTA FALCATA) IN KUTCH.

Yesterday my nephew shot a duck which we could see at once,

was a new variety for Kutch.

We referred to two books viz. Indian Ducks and thetr Allies by

Stuart Baker and /udian Sporting Birds by Frank Finn. There is no

doubt to our mind that the bird is a Bronze-capped Teal. Still, to

make quite sure, we are sending the bird to you for further identifi-

cation.

Would you kindly confirm whether our identification is correct.

Captain Lester’s book Zhe Birds of Kutch makes no mention of

this duck.

It is all the more strange that in a famine year, when practically

there has been no migration of duck in Kutch, such a new variety

should occur.

THE PALACE, VIJAYARAJ JI.

BusJ-KuTCcH.

February 8, 1932.

XVI.—OCCURRENCE OF THE BRONZE-CAPPED OR

FALCATED TEAL (ZLUNETTA FALCATA) IN BURMA.

I send herewith leg and wing of what I take to be the Bronze-

capped or Falcated Teal Auzetta falcata. I have had this identified

by you before from Shwebo, Xmas 1919, from Katha last year but

always considered it a rarity. However this year I got 2 at Kyel-

lagany (Katha) a fortnight ago and 3 more yesterday evening. The

wing of the bird sent, being one of a bunch of 3 and my cook

assures me that his dissection showed it to be a male and the other

two, whose plumage was exactly alike, as females; however, his

evisceration was so vigorous that I wouldn’t like to swear toit. The

birds looked more like small Pintail than like female Gadwall: but I

had neither of these species in the bag to compare it with.

Maymyo, C.E. MILNER.

BURMA.

January 5, 1932.

[The birds obtained by Mr. Milner and H. H. Prince Vijayarajji of

Kutch were identified correctly by the respective authors of the above

notes. The Bronze-capped Teal ranges through Eastern Siberia,

Manchuria and Mongolia. In winter it is found throughout China,

Japan and the Indo-China countries, rarely in Burma and the Shan

States and even more rarely in India.—Eds. ]

XVII.—OCCURRENCE OF THE GOLDEN EYE

(GLAUCIONETTA CLANGULA) IN THE CHAMPARAN

DISTRICT,

I am sending under registered cover a duck skin for identification.

From description I think it may be a female Golden Eye (Glaucionetta

clangula). Would you kindly iet me know?

900 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

The bird was shot about 20 miles away from Bettiah-Rahvia jheel

on 10th.

RAJGHAT, A. C. HARMAN.

P, O. BETTIAH

CHAMPARAN.

January 12,1932.

[The bird sent by Mr. Harman was a male in eclipse plumage

which is similar to the plumage of the female. The colouring of the

wings is however retained and the pure white speculum serves to

distinguish the male in this phase of plumage.—Ebs.].

XVIII.—OCCURRENCE OF THE SMEW (4%. ALBELLUS)

IN SIND.

A Smew was shot by H. E. the Viceroy’s Party this year. It

was.a male and fell to‘Capt. M. G. 4D;-Chive, A. D:7@. atiune:

taluka Kambur, January 14th, 1932.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, H. t LAMBRICK. “ics.

KARACHI.

March 21, 1932.

[The Smew is not a common bird in Sind. It has been met with

on the marshes, lakes and on the Indus at Kashmor—odd flocks

appear occasionally in various parts of the country.—Ebs.].

XIX.—COMPARATIVE FREQUENCY OF FANTAIL,

PINTAIL AND JACK SNIPE NEAR BANGALORE.

It may be of interest to place on record the proportions of Fantail,

Pintail and Jack Snipe shot in the immediate neighbourhood of

Bangalore and examined by me during the seasons 25th November

1928 to 14th April 1929, and September 1929 and 16th March 1930.

1928-29 1929-30

Fantail tet 137 164

Pintail aay 204 156

Jack er 4 7

14, FizrLD COMPANY, E. E.G. L. SEARIGHT,

O.V.O. MADRAS SAPPERS Captain.

& MINERS, MANDALAY.

February 18, 1932.

XX.— DISEASE AMONG CROWS.

On August 3rd 1931, I wrote a letter to the Civil and Military

Gazette in regard to the disease which destroyed a large number of

crows (Corvus splendens). The disease has wrought havoc among

the crow population. ‘The House Crow is a common bird round

Srinagar. In winter we used to see flocks of these birds in and

around the houses in Srinagar. We sadly miss them now. Not

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ool

more than a few pairs are to be seen where scores used to hover

about.

C. M. S. HIGH SCHOOL, SAMSAR CHAND KOUL.

SRINAGAR, KASHMIR.

January 29, 1932.

[The disease to which the writer refers appears to have affected

the crows in various parts: of India last year. It was prevalent in

Bombay where numbers of crows were victims to it. The birds fell

from their perches and lying a while helpless on the ground, died.

The cause and nature of the disease was not discovered. Tests

made at the Haffkine Institute, Bombay, failed to discover the pre-

sence of bacteria of any sort. Death among crows from similar causes

was also reported from Madras, Mangalore and other towns in

Southern India. The mortality over the whole range of the country

must have been very high—but its effect on the crow population of

Bombay is imperceptible. In Kashmir, where the Sind House Crow

has managed to secure a foothold, the ravages of the disease in a

comparatively small colony has been presumably more noticeable.—

Eps. ].

XXI.—MIGRATION OF WILD-FOWL.

THE SOCIETY’S BIRD-RINGING SCHEME.

Since the publication of the last recoveries in Vol. XXXIV No. 4 of

the Journal the following recoveries of Ringed Birds have been

reported to us, the first by the Forest Technical Officer, Tomsk,

Siberia and the second by Mr. V. M. Ansari, Inspector of Salt

Revenue, Suigaim, N. Gujerat.

Place of | No.

Ringing. | |

{

ie : | Date of

Date. | Species. ses by. recovery.

Locality. 2

‘

| marks.

Dhar State. | 116/23-2-29 Teal ¢ | Maharani | 6-10-31) Near Vasuga- |

| of Dhar naR. Tomsk, |

| Series. | Siberia.

Manchar 789/11-2-31/Shoveller | R. B. Mac- | 5- 1-32 | Suigam, N. |

Lake | | @| Lachlan. | Gujarat.

| | |

March 15, 1932. Editors.

XXII.—TUCKTOO VERSUS DHAMAN.

(From the /7e/d, 16th January 1932).

Most people who have been in Burma are acquainted with the

‘Tuck Too’, a large greyish lizard with numerous pink spots dotted

all over the body. A frequenter of the vicinity of bungalows, he now

902 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL FISTS SOCIETY, Vol eee

and then—particularly at dusk—gives vent to the little slogan from

which he takes his name. At the end of each outburst he takes a

deep breath which is distinctly audible, and to finish up with, qualifies

his remarks with a long ‘ Ah’, asif of satisfaction. The number of

cries given is supposed to represent his age in years. Be that as it

may, the Burmese have a healthy respect for his tenacious capacity,

and avow that once he gets.a grip he never lets go, so they give the

gentleman a wide berth. Their belief is not unfounded, as will be

illustrated by the following anecdote.

A friend of mine was sitting in his bungalow one morning whena

scuffle on a rafter attracted his attention. On investigation he found

a‘ Tuck Too’ anda rat snake in mortal combat. It appears that

they approached each other along the beam in opposite directions and

disputed the right of way. The snake struck out hard at his agegres-

sor, but the redoubtable ‘Tuck Too’ was on his guard and dettly

‘fielded’ the snake’s upper jaw in his mouth. Not to be outdone,

the latter coiled himself round his opponent, and they both fell to the

ground—a distance of 10 ft. The fall, however, was not sufficient to

warrant a cessation of hostilities, and neither relaxed his grip to even

the slightest degree.

At this stage my friend sent them along to me. I saw thein about

three hours later and there were no signs of surrender on either side.

The ‘ Tuck Too’ held on doggedly with his eyes closed, whilst every

now and then the snake drew a deep breath and tightened his coils.

An attempt at this stage to interfere in the fight was resented, and

they both let go. The snake scurried off, leaving the plucky lizard

hors de combat. Had I not interfered I am convinced they would

both have succumbed. The snake was 3 ft. 6in. long, and his oppo-

nent 11 in. from tip of snout to tip of tail.

SHWEBO,

BuRMA. i. J CURRAN. ROA; Mee:

[The large House Gecko (Gecko verticillatus), known as the Tuck-

too or ‘ Tucktai’ because of its loud call, isa common inhabitant of

houses in Bengal, Burma and the Malay countries. Though lizards

form the customary food of many snakes, the tables are occasicn-

ally turned. Some of the larger lizards, like the monitors, and

the present species, which is the largest of Asiatic geckos, frequently

feed on snakes. In vol. xvii, p. 1017 of our Journal, Colonel Wail

gives an account of a fight between a Tucktoo and a 4’6” Dhaman

(Zamenis mucosus). ‘The Tucktoo was the aggressor and the Dhaman

bolted into a hole leaving a portion of its tail in the lizard’s mouth.

In the same issue there is a note by the same author on a fight

between a Tucktoo and a Golden Tree Snake (Chrysopelea ornata).

The fight was a desperate one; the lizard held the snake some inches

behind the neck in a vice-like grip. On being thrown into the sea the

combatants separated for a moment and then renewed the struggle in

the water.—EDs. |

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 603

XXITI.—THE FAT-TAILED LIZARD.

(EUBLEPHARIS HARDWICK).

I am sending to-day per registered parcei post a specimen of a

lizard found by me in the Sohelwa forests, Bahraich district, for

favour of identification.

The lizard was presumably hibernating inside the loose bark of a

dead Sal (Shorea robusta) tree and fell down when the bark was re-

moved. It hardly made any attempt to run away.

I saw this same kind of lizard once before (last year) in identical

circumstances but I have never seen one crawling about even in the

hot weather. The lizard therefore is either extremely rare or

extremely shy or nocturnal in its habits or lives ontop of high trees.

I purposely do not mention burrows in the ground because none

have been found in cuttings made for forest roads.

I shall feel obliged if you will kindly let me know its scientific

name.

You may do what you like with the specimen.

CAMP VIA SEMRA, J. N. ONIAL,

P. O. PACHPERWA, Range Forest Officer.

Dist. Gonna, U. P.

February 16, 1932.

[The lizard sent is an example of the Fat-tailed lizard (Aublepharts

hardwickit); a species closely connected to the geckos from which

it is distinguished externally by the possession of moveable eye-lids.

Two species occur in India. 4A. maculartus is found in the dry

regions ofthe Punjab, Sind, Gujerat and the Deccan. The present

species occurs in Central India, the United Provinces and Bengal.

Of the two, 4. maculartus appears to be more common ; it is more in

evidence perhaps because of the open nature of the country which it

lives in. It is entirely a ground lizard feeding on insects. <A

specimen lived in captivity in the Society’s rooms for about 11 years.

Nothing is known of the habits of 4. hardwickii, and Mr. Onial’s note

is therefore of interest. It is possible that this lizard hibernates, or

becomes sluggish during the cold weather. The Common Blood-

sucker (Calotes versicolor) displays the same habit.—EDs. ].

XXIV.—SOME NOTES ON WATER MONITORS IN THE

GARO HILLS, ASSAM.

Water monitors are fairly common in the rivers of the Garo Hills

especially in the Simsang or Someswari. Garos distinguish three

varieties which they call Aringga, Matphu and Phusil. Speaking

generally, they refer to all three as Arizgga. Though several young

monitors have been brought to me alive, I have never seen a full-

erown specimen in the Garo Hills. The only difference I couid

see in the specimens brought me was that the markings varied

Aringgas have very clearly defined yellow spots, while Watphu

904 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATCRAL AIST.ASOGIETY, Volo xX XOW

and Phusil had rather more clouded yellow markings, Matpbhu

and Phusz/ are said to be dangerous animals which drag men under

water and suck their blocd. Garos however tell me that all three

come into the fields to eat melons, cucumbers and the ears of paddy,

which does not fit in well with their alleged vampirish propensities.

Aring ga according to Garo legends is a kindly beast and the friend

of Man. I have heard many tales of people who are said to have

been killed by water monitors but have never yet found acase which

can be regarded as authentic. At Rongrenggiri, there is a deep

pool inthe Simsang River, said to be inhabited by these lizards and I

was told a long story about a woman, who wasdragged out of a boat,

as she was crossing the river with a party, returning home after

celebrating the Wangala feast in another village. Investigation

showed that most of the party were suffering from the effects of

too hearty celebrations and that the probability was that the

unfortunate lady had merely fallen into the river and been drowned.

During the two periods I was stationed in the Garo Hills, I have

heard quite a number of similar stories in all of which, however,

the case against the monitor proved to be based on the flimsiest

foundations. None the less, Garos are firmly convinced that water

monitors are most dangerous animals, and both fear and revere

them, regarding them as not far removed from water spirits. Carved

figures of Arizgvas are to be found on the Bachelor’s Houses of the

Atong and Ganching Garos and the Dawa clan of Garos is descended

from a man called Dawa who was a friend of the Aving ga.

The only full-grown water monitor that I have seen was in the

Kolodyne river in the Lushai Hills. It was sitting on a rock and

slid off into the water as my boat approached. Lushais do not fear

monitors nor have they any legends about them. This is possibly

because Lushais do not build their villages on the banks of the

rivers, while the Atong and Ganching Garos all live on the river

banks,

The legend of Dawa and the Arving ga is as follows:

Once upontime a young man called Dawacaught a little dvzzgga

which was feeding on the melon flowers in one of the village fields.

He put the little 4d7zzgga into a cage and gave it melons and other

fruits to eat. Meanwhile the parents of the little Aringga came to

visit their child in captivity every day. When Dawa saw these two

large Avinggas come to his house daily, he thought that they must

be the father and mother of his captive and, knowing that the home

of the Aringgas was the river, he became very afraid lest, when he

was in a boat or swimming in the river the Avinggas should take

vengeance on him or on his people because he had captured their

child. Dawa therefore decided to release the little Avingga but,

before doing so, in order to please its parents he placed earrings in

its ears and dressed it in a yellow coat. Then he made a solemn

promise to the Aringga never to catch any Monitors, again and

begged the Avingga on his part not to try to kill any man swimming

in the water provided that he cailed out ‘I am a son of Dawa.’

After this Dawa released the little Avizgga who became his friend

and used to carry Dawa across the water on his back. Since then

the Aringga has been the friend of man. To this day, Garos when

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 905

swimming in a river or crossing a river in a boat, cail out ‘lama

son of Dawa’, they also never try to kill Avinggas and, if a Garo

catches an Avingga, he puts rings in its ears and releases it.

Another story explains why carvings of Aringgas are tound on

Bachelor’s Houses (Nokpante).

Once upon a time two young men called Aning Krang Ratcha

and Chanang Gitting Pante built themselves a Bachelor’s House in

the Lower Regions and passed their time in it very pleasantly

drinking wine, playing drums and singing about oid times, One

day a mortal, called Demarachi Mande Jagitang who dwelt upon the

earth, heard the sounds of singing coming as it seemed from the

Lower Regions and tried to find out whence the sounds were

coming. When he listened carefully the sounds which at first had

seemed to come from below the earth, appeared to come from the sky

and when he thought the sounds were coming from the sky and

consequently listened in that direction, the sounds again seemed to

come from below the earth. At last a man called Katchipa

succeeded in pulling aside the screen separating the earth from the

Lower Regions and saw inside the earth a huge Bachelor’s House

from which came the sounds of singing and merriment. Katchipa

persuaded the people to build a similar bachelor’s house on earth

and taking with him Dingara, Radinga, Rinda and Sindato went to a

blacksmith who had learnt how to make davs and axes from Rohon

Pante the blacksmith of the Lower Regions. Having obtained all

the tools they required from Rohon Pante, they collected wood and

bamboos and thatching grass and built a Bachelor’s House. On the

cross beams of this first Bachelor’s House they carved figures of the

Aringga of the Lower Regions and of Sangkni of the deep waters,

a water snake. Menpa and Radinga painted these figures in colours

and since then Garos have always carved figures of Avingga and of

Sangkni on their Bachelor’s Houses.

COOMBE FISHACHE HOUSE N. E. PARRY.

IPPLEPEN, 8S. DEVON. |

December 4, 1931.

[Two species of monitor are known to occur in the area about which

Mr. Parry writes, the Common Monitor, [ Varanus monitor, (ben galensis

of Boulenger)] and the Water Monitor (V. salvator). The young of

both species are handsomely marked with more or less distinct ocelli

arranged in bands which disappear with age; though in the Water

Monitor, the yellowish markings on the belly and the lower flanks are

noticeable even in adult specimens—while the adult Common Monitor

is generally adrabgrey. InIndia, the young of the Common Monitor

is commonly believed to be deadly poisonous and with a few other,

equally harmless lizards, is associated with the mythical ‘ Bis Cobra’

which is said to poison people from a distance of many feet. None

of our Monitors is poisonous. Their jaws, armed with pointed

teeth, can inflict a painful bite, while the muscular tail vigorously lashed

out makes an effective weapon.—Eps.].

906 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AYST. SOCIETAG Vole

XXV.—NOTE ON THE FASCIOLATED RAT SNAKE

(LAMENTS FASCIOBAT TS).

(A correction.)

I wrote a note in vol. xxxiv, No. 4, of 2nd March 1931 of the

Bom. Nat. Hist. Soc. Journal on a specimen of the Snake, Zaments

fasciolatus, seen at Ahmednagar in January 1930. It was stated

therein that ‘ Boulenger, however, mentions that Zamenzs fastolatus

may grow to 8 ft. 5 ins.” This statement was made from some old

notes I had with me. On referring to Boulenger’s book in the

Society’s library I find this statement is incorrect. Boulenger states

it grows to only 34 ft. with a tail of 85 ins. So this specimen

of Zamenis fasiolatus killed at Ahmednagar, being 4 ft. 8 ins. long, is

a record one.

BOMBAY. K. G. GHARPUREY,

March 5, 1932. Er-Col.1.M.S:,

Civil Surgeon, Ahmednagar.

XXVI.—CANNIBALISM AMONGST COBRAS.

On the morning of February 3rd, a Cobra while in the process of

swallowing another snake was killed in my compound.

I took the enclosed snap-shots before and after the partially

swallowed snake was withdrawn, and muchto my surprise found

the partially swallowed snake to be one of the same species.

The length of the big snake was 4 ft. 9 inches.

The length of the small snake was 3 ft. 6 inches.

TRICHINOPOLY. ASD. ECE,

February 15, 1932.

[The snap-shots were insufficiently clear for reproduction.—EDs.].

XXVII.—A NOTE ON THE FISHING INDUSTRY AT

DANDA.

_ (With a plate.)

This village, with a population of about 400, is entirely dependent

for its existence on the fishing Industry. It is fortunate in having

an educated and able /Paiel in Mr. Motiram, to whom we are

indebted for much information and assistance. He is himself a

part-owner of a fishing boat.

There are three types of sailing craft in use at Danda, all of which

are constructed in Danda by boat-building carpenters who are

called in when a new boat is required.

The types of sailing craft in use, and the methods of fishing are:

1. Sailing dug-out canoes, fitted with outriggers ; costing from

Rs. 150 to Rs. 300 according to size. These boats are manned by

3men. They are not subject to the same restrictions as the larger

boats, and often go out amazing distances, remaining at sea for four

or five days. ‘The method employed is to trawl, only the more

valuable fish caught being kept.

Journ., Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.

ite

; \

i \

' ’

: 4

ie Aw dao’

a oe >

One of the large boats at Danda.

AMELIE

‘ eccaieiencen

la ES i

. ‘

eae —

ROL Ra vl

One of the Danda boats about to set cut for the fishing grounds.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 907

2. Boats costing from Rs. 400 to Rs. 600 each. These boats

carry acrew of 4 men and they fish at from 5 to 7 miles distance

from the shore, employing the stake method of fishing, described

later, or more commonly the floating net moored to buoys at the

ends, distended by the flow of the tide ; the net being put out at high

tide, and taken in with its catch just before the next slack water.

As opposed to the stake method the net does not reach the

bottom, being only 10 to 15 feet wide.

3. Boats costing from Rs. 800 to Rs. 1,000 each, manned by

9 men. Each boat has its own fishing ground and at the beginning

of the season, September or October, the ground is prepared by

driving into the bed of the sea 2 stakes, i.e. very smooth laminated

timber stakes, composed of carefully selected and spliced timber ;

care being taken that the finished stake has no projections to foul

the nets. Each stake is 60 to 70 feet long, 12 in. to 18in. in diameter,

pointed and heavily weighted at the bottom, with a grooved or slotted

top and also a slot at the bottom just above the sea bed, and costs

from Rs. 400 to Rs. 500. The stakes are driven or lowered into

position by the fishermen from between two boats about 60 to 70

feet apart.

The usual practice, is for each boat to have four stakes. The

stakes are left in position until May or June and then brought in for

the monsoon. The nets used are of the purse type, the mouth of

the net being attached to the stakes top and bottom, i.e., at the four

corners of the net by ropes.

After this preliminary description of the boats used and methods of

fishing, we will now describe an actual trip on one of the larger boats.

The following is an account of a trip with the fishermen in one of

the larger boats :—

On the 3rd of February we went for a trip with the fishermen of

Danda in one of their flat-bottom boats of the larger variety, with a

crew of nine men. We set out at 9 a.m. with a mild wind behind

us and reached our destination, some 12 iniles out at 1 p.m.

The tide was. on its way out so we waited till 5-30 p.m. when the

two nets carried were cast and attached to the stakes. At 11 p.m.

the nets were dragged up and we set sail for the village, reaching

it at 9am,

As soon as the boats set out, the men ate their food and settled

down to sleep until the spot where the stakes are placed was

reached. When the boat was fastened to one of the stakes, the sail

was lowered, the mast was laid alongside it on two Y-shaped pieces

of wood, and the men proceeded to mend their nets till 5-30 p.m.

when it was time to cast them. Each net is tied between two stakes,

and just at low or high water it is lowered into position (as the tide

runs in or out it drags the net in the direction in which it is going).

‘This done, the boat is placed directly over the net.

The men then ate their dinner and slept till 11 p.m., when they

drew in the net, roughly sorted the fish, repeated the performance

of casting their nets, extracted the fish from the opening at the

purse end, whichis normally tied up when fishing, and went to

sleep till 4 a.m. Then, awaking, they dragged in the net and headed

in the direction of the village.

908: JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATORALSAISTASOCIETY, Vol TOO

Immediately the boat arrived, the womenfolk came alongside in

small Dinghies and took the fish away in baskets.

The catch consisted of 7 Goals (Sczena) (large fish), about

1 dozen Pomfrets (Stromateus cinereus), 1 dozen Halwas (Stvomateus

niger), 100 Waghtis (Chirocentrus dorab) and 10 Baskets of fish of

various kinds.

Inthe estimation of the head fisherman, the value of this catch

was about 40 to 45 rupees, which was the average price realised

for a catch.

After the fish were taken away, the fisherman proceeded to dry

their nets, as, if this is not done, they rot due to the corrosive action

of the water; this is one of the reasons why they do not remain out

at sea for longer periods than 24 hours.

The smaller fish are cured at the village.

When we first arrived, we were impressed at the atnount of fish

being dried, and at first it was thought this was for commercial pur-

poses, but later we learned that this was done in order to provide

food for the families during the Monsoon months.

On an average there are about six owners to each of the larger

boats, some of whom fish themselves; others hire a crew. The

boats are not insured as, even if they capsize or get swamped, they

float.

BoMBAY. GORDON L. CAMERON,

February 16, 1932. Cog: (CURZAT.

XXVIII.—THE GIANT LOCUST (SAGA EPHIPPIGERA),

There is not a great deal known by people of Iraq about this

Giant Locust.

In Irag they are usually found as solitaries; even hatchings from

one egg-pocket do not keep together during the hopper stage.

The Inspector General of Agriculture has furnished me with the

following note which may be of interest to you:

‘Its life history so far as we know it, is as follows :—

Eges hatch in early April. The jarve go through an undeteriin-

ed number of moults, and finally become adult wingless locusts about

mid-May. They are omnivorous during their larval and adult life,

but seem to prefer the hoppers or the adult Moroccan locust as food.

Egg capsules are nearly always found near breeding grounds of

the Moroccan locust, and are always single pods inserted into the

ground by the side of a stem of ‘“‘Shok’’ or some other plant.

The immature hoppers show no tendency to swarm, but split up

as soon as hatched.

Egeg-laying occurs about June and after this the adults appear to

die off, and no further specimens are seen until the following April

when the eggs hatch again.

From the fact that this iocust is confined to those areas in which

the Moroccan Locust appears annually, and from the fact that egg-

pods are usually found on breeding grounds of that same locust, I

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 909

incline to the view that the Saga in this country may be

considered as a parasite of the Moroccan Locust.’

OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF J. RAMSAY TAINISH,

RAILWAYS, BAGDAD. Lt.-Col., Director of Railways, Traq.

January 9, 1932.

[ Lt.-Col. J. R. Tainish recently presented the Society with a speci-

men of this Giant Long-horned Grasshopper, and the above note isin

response to our enquiry for further information about this remarkable

looking insect. On dissection the insect proved to be laden with

eggs.---Eps.]. :

XXI[X.—TERMITE FUNGI.

(With a photograph).

It is a well-established fact that termites are in the habit of

growing fungi in specially prepared ‘Fungus Gardens’* but it is an

open question as to whether the termites at any time allow or

encourage the fungi to spore. As far as is known, the fungi grown

in termite nests are never allowed to fructify within the nest. If

this state of affairs was to continue year in and year out, it appears

to me that there would be a likelihood of the particular species of

fungus being exterminated in the course of time. The question is,

Do the termites do anything to avotd this? A vital question intimately

connected with their very existence.

Some years ago when collecting fungi for Professor S. R. Bose, of

the Carmichael Medical College, Calcutta, Icame across a termite

mound covered with a small fungus as is shown in the accompanying

910 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

photograph. Every portion of the outside of the mound, even isolated

cones, were covered with it. On examination of the mounds, it

appeared to me as though the termites themselves were responsible

for this luxuriant. growth of fungi. The bed on which the fungi

grew was to all appearances composed of the same material of

which their fungus gardens were constructed. This layer of

material was super-imposed over the reddish earth of which

the mounds were made. This is the first instance of this nature

I have seenin all the many years I have roamed the jungles of

Salsette Island.

The termite mound in question was at the time of this discovery

inhabited. On digging up part of the mound I found there were still

a few ‘Fungus Gardens’ within the nest, but it was hard to say, with

certainty, whether some of the large cavities were formerly occupied

by ‘Fungus Gardens’, and had now been emptied of their contents.

This observation was made during the monsoon. ‘The next year I

visited the same mound at about the corresponding time. There

was not a trace of fungi to be seen. The nest was still inhabited

and only the bare earth formed the outside of the mounds. Since that

time I kept an eye open for such instances but have not come across

anything of the kind. Now the question arises as to whether

the termites collect the spores and take them inside the nest once

more along with the humus on which the fungi grew? This of

course is an open question. The fungi grew so thickly on the

mounds that I have no doubt that the humus below them must have

been very abundantly covered with the spores, as the wind could not

have blown the lot away during this season, and in sucha spot. It

‘is hard to believe that the termites did this deliberately with a view

to replenishing their ‘Fungus Gardens’ but this casting of the old

‘garden’ material may have been brought about by the fact that it

was of no further use, being unfertile, and was cast in consequence.

Probably the mould contained sufficient fungus material to enable it

to fructify, after which it was once more of great value to the

termites. The termites finding this to be the case later on,

probably transported it back to the interior of the nest once more.

To credit the termites with such forethought would be out of the

question and this end was in all probability achieved accidentally. In

the first place the material was put on the outside of the nest in order

to consolidate it as is the wont of termites during the hours of dark-

ness, with earth from the interior, then later on finding that the

outside of the nest was covered with vegetable material, which is

valuable to them took it within once more. It is also a well-estab-

lished fact that termites keep the outside of the mounds clean and

finding that the outside of the mounds was covered with valuable

food material, took the fungi back into the nest.

BomBaAy NATuRAL History SOCIETY, C. Mc CANN, E.L.s.

6, APOLLO STREET, BOMBAY. Assistant Curator.

January 14, 1932.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 911

OC —_NOTE ON ZLSITOS GARY SOMALLOGS. UB.

Larva and Pupa—kIn my note on this butterfly in my list of ‘ The

Butterflies of Coorg,’ I made the dogmatic statement that this insect

has its larval and pupal stages in the nests of yellow tree-ants. On

further investigation I find that this statement requires modification.

Here I must express my indebtedness to Capt. N. D. Riley of the

British Museum and to Mr. G. M. Henry, Entomologist of the

Colombo Museum.

I based my statement on information given me concerning the

habits of the insect in Ceylon. Capt. Riley, however referred, me to

Ormiston, Buttertizes of Ceylon p. 69, and to Bell, /ournal, Bombay

Nat. Hist. Soc., xxvi, No. 2, p. 456. 1919. I quote the references :

1. ‘I have found the pupa on the stem of an Albtzzia moluccana.

The larve are always attended by the large red ant, and the perfect

insect may be looked for wherever these ants abound.’ (Ormiston).

2. ‘Eggs never laid on any tree that has not got red ants on it.

Larva is constantly wandering about from Jeafto leaf, and is extreme-

ly restless, a cannibal in its habits, as it will eat any of its kind that

emay be changing its skin or pupating. Pupation takes place on

leaves. The caterpillars make leaf-ceils or houses like those of the

genus Arhopala.’ (Beil).

I then wrote to Mr. G. M. Henry, who, I had been told, had ob-

tained perfect specimens by taking the pupz from the nests of the

red (or yellow, as I called it) ant. He very kindly gave me the

following information:

‘ The caterpillar, in Ceylon, feeds on the young leaves of various

trees, notably the cadju-nut (Azacardium occidentale) and is always

attended by red ants (Cicophylla smaragdina), but it does not neces-

sarily live in the nests of the ant—although I am inclined to think

that it returns to these when not feeding, etc. It does, however,

almost invariably, I believe, take refuge inside the ants’ nests for

pupation, and it was by searching these that I was able to obtain

pupze and so rear perfect specimens.’

‘ The nests of Gicophylla are generally made among mature leaves,

which do not suit the larva of Zeszws, and so I am doubtful whether

it customarily feeds inside the nests: but it certainly has no fear of

the ants and enters their nests with impunity.’

From these quotations the following facts and questions emerge :—

1. The larva is attended by red ants, among which it lives.

Whether it is looked after by the ants for the sake of a secretion in

honey glands, has to be investigated in the field. Also, is it to be

found in the nests ?

2. Are the Indian ants the sameas the Ceylon Cicophylla sma-

ragdina ? or do other species protect the larva of Zeszus? Thenests

are made among the mature leaves—I am doubtful however if, round

Bangalore, only mature leaves are used— of various trees and shrubs,

Albizzia moluccana, Anacardium occidentale, Eugenia jambolana,

mango, matti (Zerminalia tomentosa) etc.

3. The pupa has been found on the stem of A/lbzzzza moluccana,

in leaf houses similar to those of Arhopala (amblypodia), and in

912 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

Ceylon, almost invariably, inside the nests of the red ants. It would

appear to have no uniform place of pupation.

Seasonal variations.—I regularly visited one patch of jungle reserv-

ed for sandal, in the Koramangala Reserve Forest, 28miles from

Bangalore, for the sake of this insect. It was rare or did not occur

in many other patches of jungle that I visited, but in this patch, con-

sisting mostly of low and bushy growth, with few scattered trees, it

wasto be had, quite plentifully in some months, throughout the year.

From an examination of alarge number of specimens, there emerged

the fact that I have not seen noticed in books, that there are very

definite wet and dry season forms, with intermediate forms, and very

great individual variation, especially inthe colouring and distribution

of the bands and red spots below.

1. Dry season form. Approximately from January to early May.

The extreme D. S. F. occurs in the latter end of March and in April,

i.e., the driest period.

of Light coppery red : the violet gloss (vide Evans) scarcely visible ;

the fuscous border narrower than in W.S.F. Below much paler

grey than in W.S.F., spots very variable ; faint, often little or no red

visible, or red spots only at base fw and hw.

9 Above pale chalky blue ; borders brown. Below very variable

spots and viscal bands faint, often only just visible on whitish or

chalky ground. Red spots as on (either not apparent or only

at base. Often not more than one spot reddish.

2. Wet season form. Approximately June to December. Transi-

tional forms in May and November-December. But there is no fixity

about the changes, and the gradation from wet to dry and from dry

to wet goes on throughout the year. Darkest above and below from

about July to September.

co above deep coppery red; violet gloss distinct. Fuscous border

broader, especially at apex, than in D.S.F. Below, deeper grey

ground, in darkest forms with a reddishtinge. Markings all distinct

with dark enclosing edges. Red in spots variable ; in some cases up to

discal band; most distinct at base and across cell, but in some

cases limited to base of cell fw and hw.

2 Blue wzHfand wph much deeper than in D.S.F. almost electric

blue. Below not so dark as jas a rule or without the reddish tinge

but deeper grey than in D.S.F., with markings up to sub-marginal

band all clearly defined. Sometimes as in # red or reddish up to

discal bands. Sometimes red completely absent or present only in

spot at base.

Miscellaneous.

1. oo have only two tails. Q2 have three, one very short tail

above tornal spots, with two longer tails below.

2. One form of 9 has no blue above or only a faint trace of blue

on dark brown near base. This form I took in wet forest in Coorg,

and I notice that similar specimens in the British Museum come

from near Karwar, W. Kanara. Is this forma wet area form? In

the drier jungles of the Mysore plateau, I saw no 92 approaching

this form.

3. if are often quasi-gregarious in their flight. Half-a-dozen or

more will fly about one bush or branch, chasing each other. 29

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 913

seem to go about their business singly, and more sporadically on

bushes through the jungle.

BERKHAMSTED J. A. YATES.

Herts, ENGLAND.

february 2, 1932.

{Since writing the above, Mr. Henry has kindly written to me ;—

‘Your query whether the caterpillar is ‘‘ looked after by the ants for

the sake of a glandular secretion’’ may he answered in the affirmative,

as the ants may constantly be seen crawling on and about these

caterpillars and licking a dorsal gland.’ J.A.Y.].

XXXL. ‘BUTTERFLIES OF LAHORE,’

I have been favoured with an advance copy of Brigadier

W. H. Evans’s Note on my paper on the ‘ Butterflies of Lahore ’

(Bulletin of the Department of Zoology, Punjab University, Vol. I,

pp. 1-61, pl. I-IV, April, 1931). The note itself has since appeared

in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (Vol. XXXV,

No. 3, p. 667, 15th Feb. 1932). I have re-examined my specimens

in the light of his criticism, but can only confirm the names aiready

given in the paper.

Comparatively little work has been done on the butterflies of the

Punjab plains, and it should not, therefore, be surprising if some

forms of which there is no previous record from this region are

subsequently discovered.

Many species of butterflies are known to occur on the hills as well

as on the plains, whilst others are even cosmopolitan in distribution.

That Aporia soracte and Ypthima nareda are ‘ Himalayan insects not

occurring below 5,000 feet’ only means that the two species have

not previously keen recorded from the plains, but does not neces-

sarily preclude their occurrence at lower altitudes, As a matter of

fact the latter species has already been recorded by F. Hannyngton

to be ‘Common at 2,000-7,000 feet’ in the vicinity of Naini Tal

(Jour. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 1910, p. 136). Recent investigations

in America by means of aeroplanes show that an insect may be found

as high as 14,000 feet from its place of abode. Thus the cotton leaf-

worm moth (dlbama argillacea, Hb.) usually occurs upto 3,000 feet,

and the cotton flea-hopper (Psallus seriatus Rent.) upto 5,000 feet.

Such insects as leaf-hoppers occur upto 7,000 feet, and minute

parasitic flies, Aphids, etc., upto 14,000 feet (Year-book, U.S.A.,

Departmeat of Agriculture, 1931, pp. 320-323). A more intensive

work would probably show that there are several more species of

butterflies so far recorded only from the hills, which occur also on

the plains. Argynnis aglaia, which Brigadier Evans regards as

‘A European butterfly which only reaches the Indian Empire in

Chitral and the countries nearby, flying at over 6,000 feet’, is now

known to be comparable in distribution to species like Melitaea

didyma, a European butterfly, which has actually been recorded from

Chitral and the Punjab (Antram, ‘ Butterflies of India’, 1924, p. 201).

Nor is the occurrence of Avaschnia levana in India unparalleled,

since a single specimen of Argynnzs mata, a European species, has

been recorded from probably near Gilgit (Bingham, Fauna of British

India, Butterflies, Vol. I, 1905, p. 435). It may also be noted that I have

§i4 JOURNAL, BOMBAV NATCORAL HIST. SOCET Volk Xe

obtained in Lahore only one specimen of each of the four species,

which according to Brigadier Evans do not occur in that locality.

G. W. V. de Rhe-Philipe’s paper on ‘ Butterflies of Lahore’ was

published twelve years ago, and since then J/ycalesis perseus, Terias

venata, Catachrysops cnejus and Aphnaeus ictis have actually made

their appearance in Lahore, as was indeed predicted by that author.

In addition to these I have obtained specimens of several other

species hitherto unknown in that locality. Further, species which de

Rhe-Philipe regarded as rare in, Lahore, viz., Delias eucharts and

Euthalia garuda (of each of which only one specimen was obtained

by him) are now found to be common.

Under each species the more important references are given so as

to aid others, particularly beginners, who may undertake a serious

study of the butterflies of Lahore.

So far as I know, the cases of mimicry and protective colouration

mentioned in my paper have not been previously recorded.

The four coloured plates at the end of the paper should be helpful

to young collectors in identifying butterflies whose colouration has

great specific value.

The specimens that I have collected from Lahore and described in

my paper are kept in the Museum of the Department of Zoology,

Government College, Lahore, and are available for examination by

any serious worker.

GOVERNMENT COLLEGE, LAHORE. DORA ae Wink:

March 19th, 1932.

Brigadier W. H. Evans has written the following comment on

Mr. Puri’s note.

I have read Mr. D. N. Puri's Note dated the 19th March 1932 and

regret that I cannot modify my previous remarks, except to the

extent of admitting that an insect like YAthima nareda might be found

occasionally as low as 2,000 feet in the Himalayas, but it certainly is

not a butterfly of the plains of the Punjab.

As I have left India for good I shall be unable to visit Lahore to

see Mr. Puri’s collection, but I do not think that an inspection is

needed. It is always possible for a butterfly to be imported and

released anywhere, but, barring this eventuality, I can assert definitely

that Apsoria soracte, Ypthina nareda, Argynnis aglaia and Araschnia

/evana can no more be found in the wild state in Lahore than the

Kangaroo or the polar bear. Incidentally there is the question of

the foodplants: if Mr. Puri will look these up, he will find that they

do not occur in Lahore and a butterfly cannot exist away from its

foodplant.

Mr. Antram’s record of MWelitaea didyma from the Punjab is

certainly incorrect : the butterfly concerned is MWelztaea trivia.

The species quoted as having, ‘ made their appearance’ in Lahore or

which are ‘now found to be common’ have doubtless existed there

for centuries under much the same conditions. Butterflies are some-

times common one year and not to be seen in other years or they may

be commonin one small locality and absent elsewhere. The fact that

Mr. Rhe-Philipe missed certain species or found them rare is not a

matter for surprise nor an indication of their subsequent introduction.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES sks)

XXXIL—MYCALESIS ANAPITA, MOORE.

(With a text figure),

A gf and ¢ taken in the Tavoy District, Burma, by Mr. W. -L.

Palmer and presented to me. This

species has hitherto not been recorded

within Indian limits, though it occurs

in Siam ; Malay Peninsular; Borneo ;

Sumatra; Banga and Billiton. The ,

on upperside, is bright fulvous, heavily

shaded with black on margins of

forewings. “Lhe {is much duller,

as the fulvous portions are covered ca

with fuscous scales. Underside dull //7¢@/ests anapita (Moore) ¢.

fulvous ; the two discal fascia and sub-marginal bands, dull rufous,

The figure is by Miss Beryl Moses, of Dehra Dun. The was

identified for me by Brigadier W. H. Evans, C.1.8., D.S.o.

DEHRA Dun, U. P. O. C. OLLENBACH,

February 6, 1932. F. E. S,

XXXITI.—A PLANTAGO NEW TO THE BOMBAY

PRESIDENCY.

During a certain investigation of adulteration of seed in 1924, Mr.

G. B. Patwardhan of the Poona College of Agriculture found a Plan-

tagoin the Cumin crop (Cuminum cymitum Linn). The plant was

sent to me for identification. It turned out to be Plantago exigua

Murr. As Cooke does not mention it in his Flora of Bombay,

I append its synonymy and description.

Plantago exigua Murr. Comn. Gott. (1778) 94, t..5.—P. pumila

Linn. f. Suppl. 131; Boiss. Fl. Or. iv, 891.— FP. vosetana Poir. Dist.

Suppl. iv, 433.

A small annual glabrous herb. Stems slender from a decumbent

base, erect, flexuose, branched. Leaves subulate-capillary, elongate,

somewhat revolute, often hirsute at the base. Spikes ovoid or sub-

globose, few-flowered, minutely puberulous. Bracts from a large

base, subulate, the lower ones as long as the spike, the upper ones

longer than the calyx. Calyx-lobes oblong-ianceolate, slightly obtuse.

Corolla-lobes ovate-lanceolate, acute.

Hook. f. Gn Fl. Brit. Ind. II, 708) thinks this is a form of P. psyl-

lium Linn. or of P. stricta Shousb. P. psyllium, however, can be

distinguished by the linear-lanceolate to linear leaves and by the

acuininate, calyx-lobes ; P. stricta by the leaves being linear to lanceo-

late, and by the lanceolate to lanceolate-linear bracts. In addition,

the plant is minutely pruinose above and papillose hairy at the joints.

P. extgua is indigenous in Afghanistan and Egypt. If it is men-

tioned for N.-W. India this is due to the fact that Royle raised the

plant from seed bought in the bazaar.

PANCHGANI. E. BLATTER, s.5., ph.p,

VYarch 2, 1932.

916 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

College garden in June 1931.

three to four feet

XXXIV.—PUCCINIA HELIANTHI SCHWR. SYD:

A RUST FUNGUS ON THE SUN FLOWER.

(ABLIAN THOS ANNCCGS)

(With a diagram),

A few Sun flower (Helianthus annuus) seeds were sown in the

By August, the plants were about

in height. With this rate of growth it was

expected that in about two more months’ time these would be

about five to six feet in height, the stem terminating in a large

‘Swo

(Mae eee

me.

‘head’ inflorescence. But only

a few actually exceeded four feet.

Many began to wilt and dry

when they were hardly three feet.

Those which produced the ter-

minal and axilary ‘heads’ and

these too of a very small size,

finished their life-history by the

end of September and became

dried stumps by the end of

October.

That this had occurred owing

to the presence of a disease—a

rust fungus, was clear when a few

green leaves and the young

flower-heads were examined

carefully and found to be cover-

ed by brown sori, as seen in the

accompanying figure.!

Microscopic examination of

these sori showed that the disease

wasa rust fungus in its uredo and

teleuto stages.

On an inquiry

Puttamnta he lcanthe with the Impe-

ae rial Mycologist,

Pusa? it is learnt

that the rust is

tht Schwr. Syd.,

previously repor-

ted to occur on

Helianthus lica-

berrmmus.3

| HELIQNTHUS ANNUUS. Puccinia Helian-

* The dots on the leaf represent the sori.

? 1 am thankful tothe Imperial Mycologist, Pusa, for the help he gave to

Si se

° Ref. Sydow : Monographia Urediniarum, vol. i., p. 92.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 917

It can be said, therefore, that Puccinia Helianthi Schwr. Syd.,

occurs on Helianthus annuus as well, and that it probably results in

considerable damage to the host.

BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT Ss. A. PARANDEKAR,

RAJARAM COLLEGE, M.SC.

KOLHAPUR CITY.

March 2, 1932.

XXXV.—COTYLEDONARY VEGETATIVE REPRODUCTION

IN MANGO (VWANGIFERA [INDICA LINN.),.

(With a diagram.)

The germinating embryo was collected from the Royal Lakes,

Rangoon. It was growing

in a shady place. The

endocarp wasruptured and

part of the cotyledons

projected out. The whole

measured 750 mm. and

the projected portion was

35°0mm. Four embryonic

shoots were given off from

the part just near the

endocarp and one from the

extreme part of the

cotyledons. The tip shoot

had its own roots system

while the others did not

have any separate

systems.

Such a method of coty-

ledonary vegetative

reproduction in Mangi-

fera indica Linn. does not

appear to be very rare,

asa few others were col-

lected from other localities,

but the number of em-

bryonic shoots was

different—the described

one had the maximum

number,

0 cat ,

a, =

Von

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, - L. P. KHANNA, M.sc., F.L,S,

RANGOON. ue :

December 17, 1931,

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY

FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31st DECEMBER 1931.

ADMINISTRATION.

President.—H. E. Maj.-General The Right Hon’ble Sir Frederick Sykes,

PiC.C.C.1.B,iG.B-Es, KC: Big iCoeG.

Vice-Presidents.—H. H. The Maharao ‘of Cutch, G.C.S.1., G.c.1.E., Rev. E.

Blatter, S.J. Pi... ¥.0-S., ir. RD. Bellsc-S.1., Cee. es:

Executive Committee. —Right Rev. R. D. Acland, Bishop of Bombay, Mr.

H. D. Ash, Rev. Fr: J. F. Caius, s.J:, Col. Sit Frank Connor, Kt. p1S-0.,

¥F.R.C.S., 1.M.s., Mr. Alwyn Ezra, F.R.G.S., F.z.S., Mr. J. B. Greaves, Prof. V. N.

Hate, B.sc., Mr. J. G. Ridland, Major S. S. Sokhey, I.m.s., Lt.-Col. J. Taylor,

1.M.S., Mr. A. Forrington (Honorary Treasurer), Mr. P. M. D. Sanderson,

F.Z.S., and Sir Reginald Spence, Kt., M.L.C., F.Z.S. (Joint Honorary Secretaries),

Bombay.

Advisory Committee.—Dr. C. F. C. Beeson, D.Sc. M.A., I.F.S., Dehra Dun.

Mr. T,. R. Bell, c.1:2., 1.F’S. (Retd.), *Karwar.. Mr..C.2 BB. WonaldyiZ.s..

Dharmsala.- Lt.-Col. F. C. Fraser, 1.m.s., Coimbatore, Dr. F..H. Gravely,

p.sc., Madras. Mr. S. F. Hopwood, 1.F.Ss., Rangoon. Mr. C. M. Inglis. M.B.o.U.,

F.Z.S., Darjeeling. Mr. R. C. Morris, F.R.G.S., F.Z.S., Coimbatore. Major

E. G. Phythian Adams, F.z.S., Mysore. Dr. Baini Prashad, p.sc., Calcutta.

Lt.-Col, C. H. Stockley, 0.B.E., D.S.0., M.c., Meerut. Major W. B. Trevenen,

Jubbulpore.

Starf.—s. H. Prater, M.u.C., C.M.Z.S., (Cuvator), « C. McCann, 5.u.s and

V.S. La Personne, M.B.0.U. (Assistant Curators).

HONORARY SECRETARY’S REPORT.

~The Society’s Journal.—The Thirty-Fourth Volume of the Journal was

completed during the year under review and 2 parts of Volume XXXV were

issued.

Scientific papers.—Among the important papers on Mammals was Mr. R. I.

Pocock’s ‘ Study of the Pig-tailed Macaques (Mataca nemestrina)’ in which

the author revises the synonomy of the species and defines the races which he

considers distinguishable. In another paper onthe ‘ Scientific Results of the

Vernay Eastern Ghats Expedition (Mammals)’, Mr. Pocock deals with the

Bonnet Monkeys. Examination of the material collected during this Survey

and its comparison with material previously collected has brought to light some

new facts which necessitate a revision of the species occurring in Southern

India. The southern end eastern races of Grey Langurs are also dealt with in

this Report. When the author published his Monographic Revision of the

Indian Langurs in Volume XXXII of the Society’s Journal there were no speci-

mens from the south-eastern areas of the Peninsula to compare with the large

range of specimens obtained by the Mammal Survey in the central, western and

southern districts of India, The material obtained in the Eastern Ghats is

therefore of exceptional interest. It has brought to light new local races and

shown that some of the forms hitherto nominally recognised were based on

characters not deserving that recognition, ‘Two distinct local types of Grey

Langurs are now recognised from South India—a pale-limbed form (P. entellus

pallipes) from the Coromandel Coast and a darker Ceylon race (P. e thersites)

which occurs in Travancore. Examples of Grey Langurs from the Nilgiri Hills

are still required to decide to which of the two forms the Grey Langurs of this

hill range belorg, Members of the Society residing in this area could help in

deciding this point. The Monkeys collected during the Eastern Ghats Survey

aiso provided material for the study of the Long-tailed Macaques (4/7, radiata

and sznica) of South India and Ceylon. Ina further paper on this subject,

which also was published during the year, Mr, Pocock describes a new race

from Travancore and gives the distinctive characters of the different species of

Long-tailed Macaques from South India and Ceylon.

PROCEEDINGS AND ACCOUNTS Org

The late Mr. T. B. Fry contributed a paper on the proposed classifications

of the Smalier Indian Field Mice. The author was able to study a very

considerable range of specimens obtained by the Mammal Survey from

different parts of India, Burma and Ceylon. His purpose was to complete

Thomas’ Review of Indian Field Mice published in Volume XXII of our

Journal.

The late Mr. Fry was associated with the Society’s Mammal Survey almost

from its inception 20 years ago. On his retirement from the Indian Forest

Service he spent his days in the British Museum classifying and arranging the

enormous mass of material. Though his name was seldom associated with the

scientific papers which appeared in connection with the Survey, yet as a patient

collaborator and assistant to those great mammalogists, Thomas and

Wroughton, who are now no more, his was a great contribution to the progress

of Indian Mammalogy. His loss is felt deeply by the Society and the Mammal

Department of the British Museum both of which he served so well and so

faithfully.

Birds.—Messrs. Stanford and Ticehurst contiriued and completed their

joint report on the ‘ Birds of Prome’. ‘The paper was based on the material

collected by the first-named author in the Prome district. Two papers were

added to the long series of local lists of birds in the Oriental Region

which have appeared in our Journal. One was a contribution by The

Rev. F. S. Briggs on the ‘Birds of Mhow’ and the second on the

‘Birds of the north-west corner of Fars, Persia’, by C. E. Capito. Capt.

F. N. Bates contributed a paper on the ‘ Bulbuls of the Nilgiri Hills’. Of

considerable interest was Mr. Salim A. Ali’s admirable paper on the ‘ Nesting

Habits of the Bayas’, in which he records the results of his careful and

painstaking observations and brings to light interesting facts in connection

with the nidification and sexual relationship of this common and well-known

species.

Reptiles and Fishes.—Mr. J. J. Asana of the Gujarat College, Ahmedabad,

contributed an interesting study of the life history of the ‘Common Blood-

Sucker’ (Calotes versicolor). During the period under review we published

two reports by Mr. D. D. Mukerji of the Zoological Survey of India on ‘ Collec-

tions of Fishes made by two of our Members, Col. R. W. Burton and Mr. R. C.

Morris in the Bhawani River and in the streams of the Billigirirangan Hilis’. In

view of the forthcoming revision of Day’s volumes on Fishes in the Fauna of

British India series, members of the Society could help very materially in

collecting fishes from local streams particularly in hill areas. The Society

would gladly give all possible assistance in this connection.

Invertebrates.—Parts XXXVI, XXXVII and XXXVIII of ‘ Indian Dragonflies ’

by Major F. C. Fraser were published during the year. Other contributions

on insects include a paper on the ‘ Butterflies of Coorg’ by Mr. J. A. Yates

which supplements Hannyngton’s previous list of the butterflies of this

province, published in Volume XXIV of the Journal. Many butterflies

occurring in Coorg are equally common to Assam and Burma, and the presence

of these allied races in areas so far apart is perhaps as difficult to account for

as'the isolation of Paleartic species in the Nilgiris and Palni Hill ranges. A

paper on the ‘ Butterflies of the Simla Hills’ was contributed by Mr. G. W. V.

de Rhe Phillipe. In his note on ‘Indian Thysanoptera’, Mr. T. V. Ramakrishna

Ayyar, Madras Agricultural Department, supplements his Memoir on Indian

Thysanoptera which appeared in the Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture,

Vol. X, and describes 11 new species and one new genus. A paper on the

‘Net-veined Midges (Blepharocerid@)’ was contributed by Dr. S. L. Hora.

The Blepharoceride are of special interest to students of animal adaptations

and evolution and the object of the author’s note is to bring to the notice of

collectors the general form and habits of these interesting flies. Other

contributions on insects were ‘ Aspects of the Bionomics of the Lac Insects’

and a paper on the ‘ Locust Cicada (ZL. locusta)’ by C. McCann.

Botany.—Parts XIV, XV and XVI of the ‘ Revision of the Flora of the

Bombay Presidency ’’, by Rev. Fr. E, Blatter, S.J., were published during

the year. The families dealt with were the Sterculiacee, Aracee and Orchida-

cee. 'Yhe author in collaboration with Mr. McCann published a description of a

new species of Ceropegia from the Western Ghats, Further notes on the

‘Flowering of Bamboos’, supplementing his previous papers on the subject,

were also published by Father Blatter. |

920 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXXV

General.—We wete privileged to publish during the year two papers on the

‘¢ Problem of Evolution ’’, by Lt.-Col. R. Seymour Sewell, Director of the Zoo-

logical Survey of India, being his presidential addresses before the Eighteenth

Indian Science Congress and the annual meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society of

Bengal. The author in the first part of his paper deals with experimental modifi-

cations in the bodily structure of animals and shows how in the higher forms of

life, including man, a stage has been reached or is being rapidly reached in

which further evolution becomes impossible. In the second part of his paper

the author develops his theme and indicates the trend of evolution under natural

conditions, as expressed in the tendency of the animal to cut off itself and its off-

spring from the influence of changes in its environment and from just those

influences which were responsible for the origin and gradual development of

new forms and higher races. The author postulates that man has, orin the near

future will have, rendered himself so independent of his environment that this will

no longer be able to affect his physical characters and that if there is to be any

further evolution this must be the result of his own mental processes.

Economic.—Papers of economic interest published during the year were

notes on ‘ Rats damaging the crops in Southern India’ by P. N. Krishna Ayyar.

The author indicates the principal species concerned and suggests measures for

their control. Mr. Salim A. Ali contributed a paper on ‘ The Role of Sunbirds

and Flower-Peckers’ in the propagation of the tree parasite Loranthus longt-

florus’, a common parasite on Mango and other trees in Western India. The

author’s observations indicate that the life history of the parasite is so

inextricably linked with the existence of these birds that the parasite would die

out but for their intervention both as regards its propagation and distribution.

Papers on the ‘ Fish Supply of the West Coast of India’ were contributed bv

Sir Reginald Spence and S. H. Prater. The papers were in continuation of a

previous article on the subject published by the authors in Volume XXIX of

the Journal. The present articles deal with the economic aspect of the fisheries

of the West Coast and indicate the principal species of economic importance,

the deficiency of the supply and the means for its improvement. The authors

also advocate the necessity for the establishment of a Department of Fisheries

to investigate and to supply data essentia] to the commercial development of

local Fisheries. Under existing conditions, an important source of food supply

toa maritime population has been allowed to recede into comparative oblivion.

We would also refer to Dr. H. C. Mueller’s Note on ‘ Sea-Fishing on the

Bombay Coast’. Dr. Mueller concludes from his observation of local fishing

methods that the line of development should be the improvement of existing

methods, not the introduction of methods foreign to the local fisherman.

Fishing is now carried out mainly on the edge of the good fishing grounds

within the 25-fathom line. The fleet must be in a position to go further and

land their catches quicker. If they could continually fish from their boats and

make use of all four tides, the result would be rmany times that of to-day’s

fishing. ‘They could achieve all this if each village had a few boats fitted with

motors, not so much for fishing as for the transport of fish. The fishing area is

also circumscribed because of the prevailing method of anchoring boats to

permanent stakes. The anchoring of boats in deeper water by means of an

ordinary light anchor will be made possible for our fishermen if they have

motor-driven winches at their disposal for lifting the anchors out of the soft

mud.

Popular Articles.—Mr, Stuart Baker continued his serial on the ‘ Game

Birds of the Indian Empire’. The present series deals with the Wading Birds.

Three parts published during the year dealt with the Plovers and Lapwings. Pos-

sibly there is no country in the world in which the sportsman meets, as he does in

India, such an extraordinary wealth of birds which come so near the border line

of game birds, and theintention of the author is to help sportsmen to identify

the hundred and one birds which he may, by chance or design, bring to bag in the

course of a day’s shooting. Two further instalment of Mr. Whistler’s ‘ Study

of Indian Birds’ were published during the year. The present articles deal

very interestingly with the phases of reproduction and nidification in birds. Eight

parts of this serial have now been published and two further instalments will

appear and when completed the papers will form a very helpful and instructive

compendium to students of Indian Ornithology. Parts VI and VII of ‘ Beauti-

ful Indian Trees’ by the Rev. E. Blatter and Mr. W. S. Millard were issued

during the period under review, The authors deal with the Cassias which

FROCEE DINGS AND ACCOUNTS OPAL

include perhaps the most ornamental and beautiful trees in this country. We

should like also to refer to Lt.-Col. F. B. Scot’s very interesting and beautifully

jllustrated paper on ‘Indian Hawk-Moths’. The author’s object is to rouse

interest among our readers and to indicate the lines of study of these beautiful

insects, of which about 180 different species occur in the Indian Empire. The

paper concludes with notes on the breeding and collecting of Hawk-Moths.

We concluded during the year Lt.-Col. A. H. E. Mosse’s article on ‘ The

Panther as I have known him’. Other articles of interest to Big Game Hun-

ters were Mr. Morris’ article on‘ A Bag of Five Tigers’ and Col. Burton’s

‘Burmese Jungle’. We are as anxious as any member to provide articles

of popular interest in the Journal. But we have to depend on members them-

selves for contributions of this nature. There is an infinite variety of subjects

of Natural History interest which can be interpreted in readable form. ‘The

Editors of the Journal would he only too pleased to consider contributions

from readers of the Journal and assist whenever possible in their preparation.

We have again to thank the large number of members who contributed the

Miscellaneous Notes published at the end of each number. They form a very

readable feature of the Journal and offer an opportunity to every member to

add to the interest and usefulness of its pages.

Publications.—The Society issued during the year ‘ Bird Life in India’ by

Capt. Bates. The book contains a series of chapters on Birds and Bird Nesting

in various parts of India. It is beautifully illustrated with many charming

camera studies by the author. The price to members is Rs. 6-12-0.

Forthcoming Publications.—The first Edition of Col. Evans’ ‘ Identification

of Indian Butterflies’ having been rapidly sold out it was decided to issue a

second edition : this edition embodies all the changes and corrections necessary

and brings the nomenclature up to date and adds a great deal to what was

known of the distribution. The book contains 32 black and white plates and

will be ready for issue by the time this report is printed. Orders from members

are being registered.

EXPEDITIONS AND EXPLORATIONS.

The study of the bird collections made during the Vernay Expedition to

the Eastern Ghats very forcibly brought out the necessity for a survey of the

Hyderabad State. Its geographical position in the centre of the Peninsula

Region makes it a meeting ground of western and eastern races. Practically

no material for the study of the birds of this area is available in any

Museum collection. The prevailing financial stringency which has affected

Governments, Societies, and individuals alike, made it very difficult to find

funds to carry out asurveyof this area. This Society is therefore greatly

indebted to Mr. Salim A. Ali who offered to carry out this work mainly at his

own expense. Work in the field was commenced in November and collections

were made in various parts of the State. At the time of writing, Mr. Salim

A. Ali is still in the field where he is being assisted by Mr. Henricks of our

Bird Department. Our thanks and appreciation are due to Mr. Ali for his zeal

and generosity in carrying out this useful work.

Early in 1931, Mr. Henricks was sent to help Mr. Stanford tocarry out a

survey of the birds of the Henzada District, Burma, on lines similar to his

survey of the Prome Division. Mr. Henricks was in the field for two months

when disturbed conditions in the Province compelled his return to India.

PRINCE OF WALES’ MUSEUM.

Under existing conditions there is little hope that the Trustees of the

Museum will be able to give effect to their original plan of building a New

Natural History Wing of the Museum. Work inthe Natural History Section

was confined mainly to the improvement and development of the existing

galleries. The most important addition to the galleries is a magnificent

group illustrating a pair of tigers drinking at a forest stream. The scene of

the group is laid in the forests of the Naga Hills in Assam, where the material

was collected and studies for the backgrounds made during the recent

expedition undertaken on behalf of the American Museum of Natural History,

New York. The clumps of feathery bamboo, the moss-grown boulders

of the stream, the background of forest and the soft lighting effects, make

922 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATCORAL GUST. SOCIETY Vor woe

a very realistic and effective setting for the tigers. The animals were

presented to the Society by Lt.-Col. R. W. Burton and Mr. R. C. Morris.

During the year the Mammal Gallery was overhauled and re-arranged. All the

show cases were provided with painted backgrounds and the specimens arranged

and exhibited to greater advantage. A small group of Gibbons was completed

during the year.

Mr. F. V. Evans’ generosity enabled us to continue the preparation of

models of Marine Fishes of the West Coast. The models so far completed are

exhibited in five cases in the Fish Gallery and include most of the important

food fishes of Bombay. Mr. Evans has been one of the most generous bene-

factors of this Society and the Committee once again take the opportunity

of recording their thanks and appreciation.

We wish also to express our thanks to those members of the Society who

helped usin various fields of work. Our thanks are particularly due :—to

Messrs. Whistler and Kinnear for their work in connection with Ornithological

Reports of the Vernay Scientific Expedition which has made so great a contri-

bution to the progress of Indian Ornithology,— to Mr. Pocock for his important

papers on Indian mammals which have added to the standing and reputation

of our journal,—and to Mr. Stuart Baker, Father Blatter and Mr. W. S. Millard

who have helped so much to add to the interest of its pages.

SLAPE.

The Committee take this opportunity of placing on record their appreciation

of the work done by the Curator and his staff, both scientific and clerical.

EXPENDITURE AND RECEIPTS.

The total anticipated income of the Society for the year 1931 was

Rs. 40,490-15-0. Actual receipts amounted to Rs. 40,312-4-6 as compared with

Rs. 45,293-8-10 during 1930, showing a drop of Rs. 4,981-4-4. The drop in

revenue is due to reduced receipts under the following heads:

1930 1931

Life Membership we Rs. 3,500 0:0 Rs. 350: 0) 0

Annual Subscription eee ah COSAO Bate Sy eS OSON Giaelel:

Sales of Journals ore yh (apeOSe SUL i990 72" 177.36

MEMBERSHIP.

On the Ist of January 1931 we had 1,112 members on our rolls. Of this

number 1,047 paid their subscription. Approximately 5% did not pay.

Economic depression, increased taxation and retrenchment have had an

adverse effect on the activities of the Society and their influence is reflected in

the large number of resignations and a serious drop in the recruitment of new

members. In normal years there is an inevitable loss of membership through

retirements and transfer, but this is usually more than balanced by the number

of new members joining. In the last year 137 members resigned while the new

members amounted to 47, showing an adverse balance of 90.

A special appeal was issued at the end of last year to members asking for

their active co-operation in obtaining new members to make up for the loss that

had been sustained. We appeal once again to members for their active help

in this connection. The entrance fee has been reduced to Rs. 10 and the

annual] subscription may be paid now in two instalments.

RETRENCHMENT.

The loss in revenue has compelled us to economise in every way possi-

ble and we are now cutting down expenditure to the barest margin. Re-e

trenchmeut has been effected in the salaries of the staff and in other avenues.

It will be also necessary to introduce certain economies in the expenditure on

the Journal by issuing fewer coloured plates and limiting the number of its

pages. We have consistently endeavoured to maintain a high standard in the

Journal and to make it as attractive as possible. We have, we trust, limited

ourselves to such ecgnomies as will not in any way effect a reduction in this

standard,

PROCEEDINGS AND ACCOUNTS 923

PUBLICATIONS ACCOUNT.

Game Birds, Vols. land Il. The receipts during the year for sales of these

volumes amounted to Rs. 2,240-9-9. The total expenditure from the com-

mencement to date on these volumes was Rs. 65,520-10-8. The amount

realised so far is Rs. 60,109-7-11 ; leaving a balance of Rs. 5,411-2-9 still tobe

recovered. Volume III of this series was published during 1931. The

expenditure amounted to Rs. 7,407-15-11. The net amount realised so far

is Rs. 5,481-2-7, leaving a balance of Rs. 1,926-13-4 to be realised.

Bird Charts.—These Charts, illustrating 210 Indian Birds in colour, were

issued in 1931, at a total cost of Rs. 28,250—we have so far realised

Rs. 17,571-5-4 on sales. A thousand sets were ordered from our printers. This

number was based largely on orders previously received from schools and

educational institutions. Unfortunately, retrenchment by Provincial Govern-

ments in the grants to schools has prevented many of them from taking up so

far the charts which they had ordered from the Society.

These coloured illustrations of Indian Birds, made up in the form of charts,

fill a long-felt need. In their present format they are perhaps inconvenient for

individual use. It has been decided to issue a limited number of copies of

these pictures bound in book form. Members who would like to acquire copies

should register their orders with the Society.

REGINALD SPENCE,

22nd. March, 1932. Joint Hon. Secretary.

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