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EDITORS,

91, Walkeshwar Road, Journal of the Bombay- Natural

Bombay 6 _ History Society-

CONTENTS OF VOLUME 57, NO. 1

PAGE

STUDIES ON THE REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER [Ploceus

Dhilippinus (L.)]. By John Hurrell Crook. (With one plate, one text-

figure, and three diagrammatic schemes). . ¥, re sf ox

VEGETATION OF KODAIKANAL IN SOUTH INDIA. I. SYSTEMATIC LIsT OF TREES,

SHRUBS, AND HERBS. By Raj Kumar Gupta de as pec 4d

FISHES FROM THE KASHMIR VALLEY. By E. G. Silas. (With two plates) .. 66

THE DIATOM FLORA OF THE BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS. By H. P. Gandhi.

(With 120 figures) ie ie be ye BAe ks:

CRITICAL NOTES ON THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE. II. Platanthera L.C.

RicH. & Peristylus BL. By H. Santapau and Z. Kapadia. (With four plates) 124

CONSTANCY TO HORTICULTURAL VARIETIES SHOWN BY BUTTERFLIES, AND ITS POS-

SIBLE EVOLUTIONARY SIGNIFICANCE. By Krishna Rao Dronamraju and

Helen Spurway .. ae m6 on Le .. 136

SYSTEMATICS AND ECOLOGY OF INDIAN PLANTS. I, ON THE RAINY SEASON

WEEDS OF GORAKHPUR. By D.N. Sen. (With a sketch map).. .. 144

ON SOME NEW SPECIES OF SPIDERS (ARACHNIDA) OF THE FAMILY THOMISIDAE

FROM INDIA. By B. K. Tikader. (With seven text-figures) = pilks

THE VEGETATION OF KANYAKUMARI DiIsTRICT (CAPE COMORIN). By C. A.

Lawrence. (Witha map) .. ae Or ae .. 184

SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE BIOLOGY OF Labidura riparia (PALLAS) (LABIDURIDAE,

DERMAPTERA) FROM POONA. By P. V. Joshi. (With two text-figures) 2 L9G

LEAVES AND TENDRILS AS AIDS FOR IDENTIFICATION OF CUCURBITS. By Priya-

darsan Sensarma. (With six plates) . 204

REVIEWS :

1. The Waterfowl of the World (S.A.) * Ne -. 208

2. My year with the Woodpeckers (S.A.) ie ai .. 209

3. A Handbook to the collections illustrating a Survey of the Animal

Kingdom (R.R.) oe a aa eA a. 210

4. Crocodiles and other people (H.A.) eS; is sell

5. The Wealth of India: A Dictionary of Indian Raw Materials and Indus-

trial Products. Raw Materials. Vol. V: H-K (D.E.R.) ot 2b

ii CONTENTS OF VOLUME 57, NO. 1—(contd.)

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES :

1. Possible function of the tiger’s whiskers. By Lt.-Col. M. M. Ismail (p. 213).

2. The present status of the Indian Lynx (Caracal caracal). By B. P. Srivastava

(p. 214). 3. Toddy Cat (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and Russell’s Viper (Vipera

russelli). By B. Subbiah Pillai (p. 215). 4. Bats as a storm signal? By Ishwar

Prakash (p. 216). 5. Occurrence of the Sea Cow, Halicore dugong (Erxl.), off the

Saurashtra coast. By S. B. Mani (p. 216). 6. Wild life problems. By M. A. Khan

(p. 218). 7. The Forest Wagtail, Motacilla indica (Gmelin), in Madras, Chingleput

District. By P. J. Sanjeeva Raj (p. 220). 8. The Adjutant Stork, Leptoptilos dubius

(Gmelin), a destroyer of locusts in Rajasthan. By Gurdas Singh and Charan Singh

(p. 221). 9. Additions to the birds of Coimbatore, south India. By Subbiah

Pillai (p. 222). 10. Bird migration in India. Recovery of ringed birds. By Editors

(p. 223). 11. Further additions to the birds of Kutch. By P. B. Shekar (p. 224).

12. Can snakes produce vocal sounds? By Humayun Abdulali (p. 225). 13. Dis-

tribution of the Skink, Riopa lineata (Gray). By V. K. Chari (p. 226). 14. A note

on the amphibians of Kutch. By P. W. Soman (p. 226). 15. Laelia adalia Swinhoe

(Laelia exclamationis Koll.) (Lymantriidae: Lepidoptera): A new pest of Guinea

Grass in south India (With a photograph). By B. Vasantharaj and K. R. Nagarajan

(p. 228). 16. Correct name of the Asiatic butterfly hitherto known as Danaus (or

Papilio) plexippus. By Editors (p. 230). 17. Occurrence of the Blue Mormon

(Papilio polymnestor Cramer) in Bombay. By D. E. Reuben (p. 231). 18. Addi-

tions to the butterflies of Bombay and Salsette. By Editors (p. 233). 19. The sub-

merged leaves of Nymphaea pubescens Willd. (With one plate). By J. J. Gaudet

(p. 234). 20. Brucea amarissima (Lour.) Merr.—A new record for south India (With

one plate). By N. C. Nair (p. 237). 21. The identity of the Entada plants from

Bombay. By H. Santapau (p. 238). 22. The main botanical gardens of the U.S.S.R.

(With a photo). By B. Kotelnikov (p. 240). 23. The Water Hyacinth—An appeal

for information. By J. B. S. Haldane (p. 243).

GLEANINGS. . sh 8 ae ne na .. 244

PLATE

JOURN. BomMBAY NAT. HIsT. Soc.

Initial ‘‘ wad’’

ht :

op rig

Arrival of prospecting female at helmet nest (lower). T

stage.

t pre-helmet stage nests.

ising a

Cocks advert

Salim Alu

Photos

JOURNAL

os ew ca

BOMBAY NATURAL

HISTORY SOCIETY

1960 APRIL Vol. 57 No. 1

Studies on the Reproductive Behaviour

of the Baya Weaver [Ploceus

Dhilippinus (L.)]

JOHN HURRELL CROOK

Ornithological Field Station, Madingley, Cambridge

(With one plate, one text-figure, and three diagrammatic schemes)

CONTENTS

PAGE

I. INTRODUCTION

1. Methods j athe =a Ai 22

2. The colony sites 3

3. Polygamy and numbers of te per tention) 5

II. TERRITORY

1. General ve Bee Pe aa 7/

2. Experimental compression of Prritonibs mn nee)

If{I. AGONISTIC AND TERRITORIAL BEHAVIOUR

1. Behaviour in flocks 14

2. Agonistic behaviour in Ptorial dence and courtship 15

3. Discussion of agonistic postures in pair formation 18

4. The occurrence of song 18

IV. Nest INVITATION, COURTSHIP, AND HAREM FOR ton

1. The pair formation process 19

2. Nest invitation and the early ane sequences 21

3. Nest acceptance and pair bond formation 23

4. Analysis of behaviour sequences during courtship with com-

parisons with other colonial weaver birds oh 26

V. THe MUTUAL BEHAVIOUR OF MALE AND FEMALE FOLLOWING PAIR res

MATION 39

VI. THE BEHAVIOUR OF JUVENILE BIRDS 35

VII. SUMMARY Bi,

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 39

REFERENCES

2: JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

I INTRODUCTION

The present paper is a continuation of studies on the biology of the

Indian weavers initiated by Dr. Salim Ali in 1930 and resumed in 1953

(Ali & Ambedkar 1956, 1957, Ambedkar 1958, in preparation). It is

also part of a programme of research on the ethology and social organisa-

tion of the Ploceinae started at the Ornithological Field Station of

the Department of Zoology, Madingley, Cambridge, in 1954. Observa-

tional methods used in West Africa in 1955 and 1956 have been employed

in India so that accounts of the behaviour of species in both the Ethiopian

and Oriental regions may be directly and precisely compared (See eos

1958, 1959, 1960, in press : a, b).

The Baya Weaver (Ploceus philippinus) is a polygamous species whose

life history and general behaviour have been well described (Ali 1930,

Ali and Ambedkar loc. cit.). In the Bombay and Poona areas it breeds

in the monsoon season siting its nest colonies typically either in tall palms,

usually over water, or in vegetation hanging over deep wells. Occasionally

small colonies may be found in trees without protection from water

but such sites are decidedly infrequent. The male establishes and de-

fends one or two nests, constructing them as far as the ‘ helmet stage ”!

(Ali 1930, Crook 1960) at which they are maintained until, following a

courtship involving much ‘nest advertisement display’ and mutual

antagonism, they are accepted by females. The male may have up to

three wives whom he acquires successively in a very short period. De-

tails of clutch size, hatching success, mortality, growth rate of young, and

fledgeling success have been studied in part (Ali & Ambedkar loc. cit.,

Ambedkar 1958) and the work remains in progress.

In this paper certain new observations made during the 1958 and 1959

seasons are described and, in particular, a detailed account is given of the

territorial and sexual behaviour of the species together with a brief analysis

of the data.

1 Methods

Detailed observations from hides, through 8x30 binoculars and a

x 20 telescope, were made at several wild nesting colonies around Poona,

particularly those at Hingane, Parbati Hill, and near the Agricultural

College. The changes in behaviour of the weavers are most rapid and in

en cat =

1 The terms referring to stages in nest construction have been used in previous

publications (Ali 1930, Ali and Ambedkar loc. cit., and Crook in press a). They

are (i) Wad—the first bunch of strands woven into a nest site, (ii) the Initial Ring—

the ring that develops from the wad, (iii) the Helmet Stage Nest—the roof flange pro-

jects both before and behind the initial ring from above, (iv) the Completed Egg

Chamber—egg chamber complete but no tube, (v) complete nest and lengthening

tube present.

2°V. C. Ambedkar reports a single case of 5 females to a male in 1959 at Poona.

REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER 3

order to obtain a high degree of accuracy an EMI field tape recorder was

used in making commentaries on the sequences of behaviour observed.

Such commentaries provide the basis for the quantitative data found in

the Schemes’ and described in the text. The recorder was also used in

taping the song and cries of the species which will be later analysed by

sound spectrograph at Cambridge and used in a comparative study of the

vocalisation of the sub-family. A number of simple experiments were

made in which nest positions etc. were modified in order that certain as-

pects of territorial behaviour might be revealed. The results of a pro-

gramme of nest mutilation experiments will be published separately.

2 Lhe colony sites

The types of site chosen by the birds for their breeding colonies are.

shown in Table I. Of 35 colonies 29 (1.e. 82.8%) were situated over water

and of these 23 (i.e. 65.7% of the total) were hanging either within wells

or in trees over them. Only 6 active.colonies and occasionally small

groups of adults and colonies of juveniles with unoccupied nests were

_ found away from water. In Kumaon several colonies in bhabar country

were also located in small thorny bushes without water near them but

in the terai most colonies were again hanging over pools or streams.

A fair amount of polemic has centred around the survival value of

the siting of weaver colonies over water. Very similar sites are used by

certain colonial species in Africa. Lack (1954) supports the argument

that ‘colonial nesting is possible only for species which are compara-

tively safe from nest predators, which otherwise would be attracted to

the spot’. The sites of avian breeding colonies are normally protective,

at least against crippling predation, and the case of cliff-dwelling sea birds

is particularly to point here. In the colonial weavers the chosen sites

normally appear to be protective either through association with tribal

villages (e.g. Ploceus cucullatus in West Africa), through breeding in dense

thorny bushes, e.g. the Quelea in Senegal, (Crook in press a), or through

siting over water. Actual observations of predators failing to obtain

their prey as a result of these factors are relatively few (Crook 1958,

1960) ; but the fact that there are such accounts does indicate that pre-

dators do attempt to enter the nests and that they do fail. The main

dangers to a Baya colony are crows (Corvus splendens, Ali 1956, and also

almost certainly Corvus macrorhynchos in the Poona area) which bore

holes in the nests and feed on eggs and young, and also the nocturnal tree

mouse, Vendeluria oleracea, which may destroy a brood and establish

its nest within that of the Bayas (Ali & Ambedkar 1956). However,

this species also builds nests and has young in old nests prior to the reoccu-

pation of the colony in spring so that its breeding is not dependent upon

a fresh nest. Against these dangers the Bayas have little protection,

1 For Schemes see pp. 42-44 below.

4 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

though the crows’ entry to the colony occasions great excitement and mild

mobbing. The Striped Squirrel (Funambulus palmarum and. F. pennanti),

certainly a potential predator of eggs, which inhabits the vegetation of

wells never climbs out on the dangerously fine twigs from which the Bayas

suspend their nests. V. C. Ambedkar (personal communication) has

a magnificent account of a snake which was observed on a Baya’s nest

TABLE [

Sites of breeding colonies of Ploceus philippinus in the Poona area 1958 and

1959.

Site No. of colonies Percentage of total number

| observed of colonies

Tall palms over water 2 5.70

Trees overhanging streams 3 8.55

Tree projecting from cliff 1 2.85

over stream

Trees over wells Gs 14.28

Vegetation hanging within 18 51.42

wells

Trees on steep bank away 1 2.85

from water

Trees/bushes not hear 3 8.55

water

Small tree in garden near 2 5.70

house

if TOTAL 35

hanging over the water and attempting to find an entrance. The snake

seemed to find difficulty in gripping the nest which contracted under pres-

sure. It edged its way down and tried to get in the tube. However, at

this point, it slipped and fell into the well. This provides good evidence

not only for the protective value of the siting but also of the nest form

itself. )

The Bayas are also extremely particular about the siting of the actual

nest. Fine down-hanging twigs are normally used and the resulting nest

is well separated from near-by prominences upon which predators might

perch while opening it. Further, all projections, such as leaves and leaf

bases on the supporting twig, are meticulously plucked off leaving the

whole support and the nest surface as bare as possible. This could be a

factor preventing predators, such as snakes, getting a grip on the support

or alternatively it may reduce the surface area thus lessening sway in

REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER 3)

winds. This latter point is, however, hardly relevant to nests within the

shelter of wells.

It thus appears that both the siting of whole colonies and of individual

nests are usually appreciably protective against potential predators.

Nevertheless the fact that 17.1% of all the colonies found did not appear

to be in a protective site is of obvious significance. Most of these cases

were found in the upland area near Karakwasla away from the river

valleys and where there are no wells or deep surface streams. It appears

then that, where protective sites are not available, the weavers can and do

breed without them. It is not known what effect this has on survival.

One may suppose that the type of site most common in any one area

represents a ‘ tradition’ of site selection in the Baya population brought

about by the selection of the most successful (i.e. most protective) sites

in the course of many generations.

Se olyedimy and numbers of mests per territory

The male Baya normally pairs with several females whom he

establishes successively in the helmet stage nests prepared for their in-

spection. Assuming that the ratio of males to their nests in the colonies

is taken from a representative sample of all adult birds, Ali & Ambedkar

(1956, 1957) have concluded that the tertiary sex ratio is therefore 1

male : 2 to 3 females. This ratio excludes the large population of males

in their first year which neither attain adult plumage nor breed successfully

till their second year. Females of the first year mate and breed success-

fully.

During Phases II and III of the breeding season in 1958 (see p. 21)

the numbers of females paired to a male were studied in relation to the

number of nests the male had built and was maintaining in a fresh condi-

tion at the time. The results are givenin Tables land III. The majority

of males were mated to a single female (53.6% of total territories exa-

mined), a fair number (34.1%) to two females, and very few birds (7.3 %)

to three females. Further, two territories were noted in Phase III in

which the males still hopefully maintained helmet stage nests which no

females had occupied. In no case did a male complete a nest that was

not occupied by a female. In 78% cases a helmet stage nest was main-

tained in addition to completed nests. The mean number of both com-

pleted nests and females per territory was 1.13 (15 territories and 17

females) at Hingane, 1.5 (16 territories and 24 females) at the Parbati

Hill area, and 1.8 (10 territories and 18 females) at the Agricultural

College. The mean for all the territories examined is 1.44, thus giving a

lower tertiary sex ratio in the breeding colonies than previously supposed.

The numbers of structures maintained by males in their territories irres-

pective of their stage of construction are given in Table IV.

6 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

TABLE II

Number of females per territory in three different colony groups in the Poona

area. (Total number of territories examined : 41)

Hingane erat Agricultural

colony colonies College Totals of

| (Tree over (Bushes colony territories

well) over wells) (Palm tree)

Territories unoccupied by 2 2

females

Territories occupied by 1 9 10 3 22

female

Territories occupied by 2 4 + 6 14

females

Territories occupied by 3 a D 1 3

females

Mean number of females 1.13 KS 1.8 1.44

per territory

TABLE III

The construction stages of nests maintained by males in territories occupied

by 1, 2, or 3 females respectively. (Number of territories examined: 41.

The numerals represent the number of territories of each nest composition.)

i Ne I I

| = odees

Parbati | Agricultural) , Total of

Hill College territories

colonies colony in each

category

Territories of differing nest

composition occupied by 1,

2, or 3 females

Unoccupied territories : |

1 Helmet stage nest only 2 D)

Territories occupied by a | |

single female : |

1 Helmet stage plus 1 8 | 10 1 19

complete nest

0 Helmet stage, 1 com- wae | Rf 1 1

plete

2 Helmet stages plus 1 1 Me 1 Ds

complete nest

Territories occupied by two

females :

1 Helmet stage plus 2 3 5 3 9

complete nests

2 Helmet stages plus 2 1 1 3 5

complete nests

Territories occupied by

three females :

0 Helmet stage nests, but a oe 1 1

three complete ones

1 Helmet stage nest plus | oh Z , oe | 2

three complete ones

REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER 7

TABLE ITV

The number of structures maintained by males in their territories irrespective

of their stages of construction. (Phases II and III of breeding)

Number of structures in territory Number of cases

From the above discussion we may note the following points :

i, While the actual tertiary sex ratio in the three colony areas studied

was only 1 male : 1.44 females, the males nevertheless normally

maintained an additional structure at the helmet stage ready

for any female that might accept it.

ii. The numbers of females and completed nests per territory appear

to differ in the three areas studied (Table II). In particular the

colony high in a palm tree had a greater mean number of fe-

males per territory than those established over wells. A

contingency test shows y? to be 9.23 for which p lies between °1

and *2. Although the differences are not thereby shown to be

significant this could be due to the numbers available for the

test being small. It is thus possible that a real difference does

exist. Such a difference could be due to the greater density

of potential nest sites on the palm leaves and birds packing

more nests into their restricted territories. Further figures’

from contrasting colony sites are required to test this idea.

iii. Polygamy in the Baya is based clearly upon the greater availabi-

lity of potent females compared with potent males in any one

season. The disproportionate sex ratio in the breeding colo-

nies is probably due to the failure of the males to breed in

their first year. However, since the sex ratio of fledgelings

has been shown to be slightly in favour of males, the question

oe remains open.

II. ‘TERRITORY

iG e-nie rad

The male Baya establishes his ownership of.a particular site by loud

song and aggressive behaviour (see p. 15) toall approaching birds. Healso

gives the nest advertisement display there (p. 22). Careful observations

mostly in the Hingane colony in 1958 revealed the following facts :

i. At least two males may build upon established nest sites up to the

helmet stage ; thus neighbours build upon each other’s nests

JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

during the earliest stage of construction. This was observed

only at the onset of breeding when the first nests were being

started. At this time the territorial aggressiveness of the male

is least marked and territories barely established.

ii. Defence of the site begins soon after the first stitches have been

made in any selected place. The founder soon becomes into-

lerant of other males visiting his nest and building upon it

and any attempt to do so may lead to a fight. Thereafter,

males approaching nests other than their own do so in sleeked

postures (strong tendency to flee) and usually make attempts

to steal material for their own nests. Two nest sites may be

established at once : usually they are close together, and the

male may thus construct two wads at the same time. Usually

one nest develops faster than the other and becomes the centre

of the territory.

iii. Two established nests of a male may be separated occasionally

by a great distance. Two cases were observed at Hingane in

which the two nests of a male were situated on opposite sides

of the well. The territories of these birds were thus in two

parts. In both cases the double territories were maintained

for a few days until one of the nests was abandoned and its

site no longer visited or defended.

iv. Experiments (see below) show that the spatial extent of a Baya

territory is compressible down to that of the nest (or the nests)

itself. Thus when nests were brought very close together, the

males would lunge at one another from them and show much

threat, but in no case was a nest abandoned and rarely did

ferocious fighting result. It is thus the nest itself rather than a

volume of space of certain size around it which is significant.

However, supplanting attacks are often made at neighbouring

males during establishment of the territories and threat occurs

at distances of between three and six feet approximately from

the nest site. The distance from the nest at which a male

refusés to retreat in the face of threat or attack is easily observed

and marks the inner limits of a boundary zone. The territories

are so packed that there is rarely any ‘no man’s land ’ between

them.

v. A further factor influences the size of territories. This is the

frequency of suitable sites in a given area. Thus over wells,

where the vegetation is sparse and the numbers of suitable

twigs few and scattered, the defended areas may be large, up

to several square feet. On the hanging leaves of tall palms,

however, every pinna of which offers a suitable site, nests are

frequently placed very close together and the territories are

REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER 9

much smaller as a result. It is thus partly the distribution of

suitable sites that determines the number and the size of the

territories within a given area. The males establish territories

including as much space around their nests as their neighbours

allow them.

2 PE aperimental compression, of territories

A number of simple experiments were made to determine the extent

of the defended area and changes in behaviour of the individuals con-

cerned under modified conditions. Nests of neighbouring males were

moved closer to one another and the behaviour before and after the move

was recorded.

Test I. Two neighbouring nests, A and B, originally two feet apart,

were wired together with approximately one inch between them. The

entrance remained in the same relative position throughout (see figure).

The nests were completed egg chambers but only A was certainly accepted

by a female.

For 15 minutes before the test the nests were watched closely and the

two males were present on their respective nests several times. No

aggressive encounter of any sort was observed between them. As soon

as the change was made the two males returned to their nests and at once

assumed mild threat postures (i.e. Tail depressed Threat). Bird B fixated

bird A intensely but kept the body of his nest between himself and his

opponent. Bird A maintained his threat posture and sat on a twig

above his nest with his back to B much of the time. Whenever A hopped

down to his nest, B hopped off his on to a twig, a little further from A

than before, and whenever B hopped to his nest, A retreated to a twig in

the same manner. Once when male A flew to his own nest, B supplanted

him and twice, when female A flew to nest A, both males attempted to

enter the nest (copulation attempt) after her but, after a brief supplant from

male A, B retired to his own nest. Most of the time the males sat near

their nests taking little note of each other. When male B was absent for

a time male A made shaping movements in the beginnings of the tube

on nest B and then, sitting on nest A, leaned out and pulled a small strand

off nest B.

At the end of the test the nests were restored to their original

positions.

Test II. The same two nests were wired together atthe same distance

but this time with their entrances close together. Male A pulled out the

wire so that the nests swung apart and the experiment had to be set up

again and left over night. Next morning A hopped about on both nests

but mainly on A. His female entered nest A and the male displayed

10 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (A)

there. On her emergence she entered nest B and male A thereupon sang

upon it and tried to enter it in a copulation attempt. The female titiva-

ted on both nests. Later, in the absence of male A another male, very

TEST, ait

sleeked, visited both nests twice. It was perhaps B but he was not

certainly present at the nests at all.

REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER 11

Note on Tests I and II The tests show that the territories were com-

pressible without fighting occurring between the owners. There was,

however, a very clear increase in threat, and the owners showed a strong

tendency to avoid one another. Neither bird would allow the other on

its nest which thus marked the limit of the compressibility of the territories.

Male A appeared dominant to B, this being enhanced perhaps by his

possession of a female which visited both nests in the absence of male B.

In Test II, after the entrances had been apposed, it appeared that male A

had taken over both nests and that, if B came at all, it was in the sleeked

posture of a trespassing bird. No bird other than A showed territorial

ownership at the two nests during Test II (see also Test IV).

Test III. Two neighbouring territories, again called A and B, were

chosen. Male A owned nests A (completed with tube and female) and

C (uncompleted helmet stage nest with no female). Male B owned nests

B (completed with tube and female), D (old completed, no female) and

E (abandoned helmet stage nest). In the test the nest B was slightly

tilted and wired so that its tube entrance opened into the defended area of

A only two inches from the tube of nest A (figure).

Before the change no interaction (beyond one case in which male

B attempted to follow female A into her nest and was supplanted by male

A) between the birds of the territories was observed. Immediately after

the change the following events were recorded :

1. Female B returned and hopped on to a twig, which had been

previously her last perch before flying up the tube of her nest.

She flicked wings and tail in obvious ‘ anxiety’ (intention

movement of flight) and repeatedly flew between the twig

and the top of her nest B. She never approached the tube

entrance of the nest... She then flew to old nest D and the

male B followed her there and gave a full advertisement

display (p. 22) upon it. Previously no female had visited this

nest. Male B then approached the displaced entrance but did

not enter.

2. Female B apparently: located her displaced nest entrance and

made two attempts to fly up into it. On both occasions male

A chased her off.

3. Male A wing quivered and gave pseudo-female solicitation to

female B as she hopped about anxiously on her nest (B).

4. Female A, on leaving nest A, entered nest B. Later she entered

Bin addition to her own nest several times. Male A greeted

her with wing quivering and pseudo-female solicitation at both

nest entrances.

5. Female B visited nests D and E: at D male B advertised but at

E he supplanted her. Later he advertised here as wellas giving

further supplants.

12 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

6. Female B made further attempts to enter nest B but once more

was supplanted by male A.

7. When male A was absent, female A was supplanted by male B on

trying to enter nest A. Later when she flew to her nest, male

B wing quivered and gave pseudo-female solicitation to her

while perched on nest C. The female took no notice but flew

into nest A.

8. When no other bird was present female B once arrived on the

top of her nest and then flew down and entered nest A.

After forty-five minutes the nest B was restored to its original

position. On returning, female B alighted on nest C and supplanted

female A nearit. Male B then alighted on nest B and sang ; where-

upon female B at once flew to nest B and entered it. From then

on the original behaviour of females A and B was restored, each

going to its appropriate nest. Once, however, female B supplanted

female A as the latter was going to nest A.

Note on Test III. The displacement of the nest entrance at the end of

a long tube into the centre of a neighbouring territory effectively prevented

both the male and the female owner from entering. The male was singu-

larly undisturbed by the change and no aggressive encounters between

him and his neighbour were recorded. The female, however, was much

disturbed and made several attempts to enter her nest by passing through

the neighbour’s territory. On each occasion she was driven out. During

her anxious hopping about the neighbouring male greeted her once with

wing quivering and solicitation as if she were hisownfemale. Inaddition,

she visited two abandoned nests of her own mate at which he resumed

typical ‘ Advertisement ’ and supplanting behaviour. In the absence of

male A from his territory, male B extended his into it and drove off the

former’s female. Female B could then enter her own nest ; instead she

actually entered that of the neighbouring female. On restoring the nest

to its original position, female B resumed her original behaviour. The

test showed that movement of the nest entrance disturbed the female only

and that her anxious wanderings produced the following responses from

the otherwise unconcerned males :

i. The neighbouring male showed defensive supplanting and court-

ship approaches identical with those with which he greeted his

own female.

ii. Her own male resumed advertisement display and courtship at

his more or less abandoned nest sites as soon as she began

visiting them.

ili. When the neighbouring male was absent the original owner

expanded his territory to cover the displacement of his nest

tube and in doing so supplanted the neighbouring female.

REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER 13

The return of the neighbouring male restored the defended

area to its original size. Thus so long as neighbouring males

are present, displacement of the nest entrances does not bring

about a change in the spatial relations of their territories.

Test IV. The following day a further experiment was carried out

using the same nest group as in Test III. Nests A and B were wired to-

gether so that their entrance tubes hung a foot apart instead of three feet.

Nest C was then moved to a position to the right of nest B thus bringing

it into B’s territory. The following occurred :

1. The two females both arrived on nest A on returning, and a fight

occurred. B took nest C for her own nest and hopped on it

several times until she found the B nest entrance tube and went

in. Female A showed repeated threat postures at female B.

2. Female A arrived on nest B. At once female B attacked and a

short fight followed before female A retired to her own nest.

3. Female B spent much time on nest C titivating it as if it were her

own nest.

4. Male B titivated on nest C and hopped about on it. Male A

took no notice.

5. Strong ‘ Tail depressed Threat’ postures were given by male A

when male B was in nest B. Otherwise only mild threat

posturing as normally seen between neighbours was observed.

When male B titivated on nest C male A fixated him but no

encounter developed.

Note on Test IV. The change in the positions of the nests and the

distance between them led to confused female behaviour when they re-

turned to their territories. Fights occurred whenever they alighted on

each other’s nests apparently in mistake. Female B took interest in nest

C formerly of A’s territory but now placed in nest B’s position relative

to the other nests. This nest was adopted by male B and male A did not

defend it. There was an increase in the frequency and strength of threat

posturing between the neighbouring males.

Tests V AND VI. In two other tests nests of two further territories

were brought close together. The original distances between the nests

were three feet ; after changing the nests they were at three inches and nine

inches in the two tests respectively.

Results :

1. Males showed an increase in the frequency and strength of

threatening in Test V.

2. In Test VI (during which the two males were never seen present at

the same time) the female whose nest had been moved the

most showed the greatest anxiety (e.g. wing flicking) calling

and hopping about agitatedly.

14 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

3. The nests were not returned to their original positions after the

tests. Aggression and anxious behaviour both disappeared

after a few hours and thereafter normal territorial behaviour

was recorded. |

Test VII. The young were removed from two nests and the be-

haviour of the returning females watched. Both became excessively

anxious and visited all neighbouring nests. As these were empty no

interactions with other birds occurred.

Summary of Tests :

The results of all these tests may be summarised as follows :

(1) If occupied nests are moved closer to one another during brood-

ing there is an increase in threatening behaviour between the neighbouring

males.

(2) If the entrance tube of an occupied nest is tilted so that it opens

within a neighbouring territory, the owner female is prevented from enter.

ing it by the neighbouring male. The male owner does not attempt to

defend the entrance tube of his nest when the neighbouring male hops on

it or the female enters it.

(3) If unoccupied nests are moved into a neighbouring territory or

placed near another male’s nest they change owners (Tests II and IV).

(4) Displacement of nests confuses the females who follow regular

routes and use certain landmarks in locating them. They become very

anxious showing wing flicking, calling, and visiting several neighbouring

nests. This results in fights between the various female nest owners.

Neighbouring males respond to the wanderings of females with supplan-

ting attacks or occasionally with sexual ‘greetings’ both of which the

females avoid. ,

(5) When unoccupied nests are kept with reduced distances between

them, the aggressive responses gradually fade until finally the interactions

between the two pairs do not differ from those of birds in territories in

which the nests have not been moved. The birds thus adapt themselves

quickly to a much reduced territory size.

(6) The defended area can be reduced to little more than the nest

itself. The arrival of strange or neighbouring birds on a nest is never

tolerated.

III. AGONISTIC AND TERRITORIAL BEHAVIOUR

hl: “Bie hav to. Soil ocikss

Baya weavers are ‘Distance’ species (Hediger 1950) and maintain an

‘individual distance’ when moving together in groups. Each individual

prevents another coming near it by aggressive or fleeing behaviour depend-

ing upon the relative dominance of the two birds in the encounter. In

caged groups stable ‘ peck right’ hierarchies are established but in wild

REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER 15

flocks it is unlikely that the group composition is sufficiently constant for

individuals to learn to recognise one another enough for this to occur.

The dominance shown by one bird to another in a wild flock is thus not

likely to be learnt in relation to the opponent. It is rather the expression

of the innate relative dominance of the two birds. The actual tolerance

distance around an individual within which another individual is never

permitted is small, being about two inches, depending on the mood of the

bird. It thus resembles distances estimated for other Weaver species in

aviaries in Cambridge and in Senegal (Crook 1958).

The typical threat posture, composed of components that are intention

movements of attack and escape, is the ‘ Head forward Threat ’ (Hinde

1953). Components indicating the tendency to attack are the crouched

posture, the head held low, forward, and often rather pulled back into

the shoulders, and sometimes a spread tail. Components showing a

tendency to flee are the sleeking of the body plumage and a turning

away from the opponent. The most frequent form of attack is the

‘Supplant ’? (Hinde 1952) in which a bird fixates another, often in the

Head forward Threat posture, and then flies directly at it and takes its

perch as it flees. If it does not flee, a short fight occurs. ‘ Supplants ’

are frequent at food sources, at another bird when it has some nesting

material, and in any competitive situation. Another aggressive move-

ment, the ‘ Lunge’, is a brisk reaching-out at the opponent as if to peck

it, accompanied by an aggressive chatter. It occurs often during ‘ in-

dividual distance ’ encounters on perches, the birds then separating out

and so increasing the distance between them. The ‘lunge’ may end

in a peck in which the opponent’s plumage is seized in the beak. This

often starts a fight.

Je Mciomisticebehaviomr-in territorial defence

and courtship

Once a male has established himself in a territory, his aggressive

postures are used. both in territorial defence and in the various encoun-

ters occurring outside the colony in flocks. The Head forward Threat

and the Lunge are now frequently associated with the loud wheezy song

which functions here in claiming ownership of the site and in warning

other males to keep away. At wads, initial rings, and early helmet

stage nests, the males threaten their neighbours primarily by supplant-

ing those that come close (about three feet from the nest in a palm tree

colony). Birds that hop near the borders of a defended area are treated

to a loud song and much ocular fixation, the owner advancing towards

them and eventually supplanting or relaxing depending on whether the

other bird retreats or not.

When the helmet stage of the nest is reached and most neighbours

know each other well, a further threat posture the ‘Tail depressed

16 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Threat’ appears. The components are: (i) Body plumage slightly

fluffed, (ii) head lowered, retracted into shoulders, (iii) tail very de-

pressed and spread, and (iv) song or aggressive chatter. Interpreta-

tions of the motivation of this posture have been published previously

(Crook, in press a and b). It arises in situations in which a sexually

motivated bird is also tending to respond to an intruder with both

attack and escape. It is most common in weaver species with small

territories such as the Quelea. In the Baya the posture appears most

commonly in courtship when the female has partially accepted the male’s

nest and the dominance-subordination relationship between the sexes

is changing in favour of the female. The male then begins to show a

tendency to flee from her as well as to attack her ; this is expressed by

the fluffing of the body feathers (i.e. thwarted escape found in many

submissive postures also). The lowered head drawn back into the

shoulders, the spread tail, and the calls are aggressive while the dep-

ression of the tail, especially frequent in aggression against the female

(see Table V), appears to express attack and sex together.

The exact contexts of 228 sequences of aggressive behaviour are shown

in Table V. A glance at the totals of sequences for each context shows

that the highest number (32.5% of the total) occurred when the male

attacked or threatened the female following nest invitation displays and

the female’s initial approaches to the nest. In these sequences the

male mostly lunged at the female (95% of the cases in the context) and

in the remaining cases he supplanted her. The greater number of lunges

over supplants is due to the close proximity of the birds at the nest

during the invitation sequences. In addition, the male is at the time

showing alternating tendencies to approach the female, either in a mount-

ing attempt or in an attack and to flee from her. Due to this conflict

situation the male’s lunge rarely develops into a full attack and few

supplants are seen for the same reason. In courtship, following accep-

tance of the nest, the behaviour is less confined to the nest and sup-

plants leading to sexual chases are more common than lunges. Large

numbers of aggressive sequences were also seen when males passed near

the territory (mostly supplants, 79% of cases in context, or a few Tail

depressed Threats always given to well-established neighbours, 21%)

and with females, during courtship sequences, when many Tail dep-

ressed Threats (37% of sequences in context) were seen in addition to

the many supplants (58%). The numbers of sequences in other con-

texts are also given in Table V.

Of the different types of aggressive response 91% of the lunges

occurred as the female approached an advertising male. The majority

of supplanting attacks was given against approaching males (33%) or

neighbouring males in display (26%) with a further high number occur-

ring during the courtship sequences (19%). Tail depressed Threat occur-

REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER "7

TABLE V

The occurrence of the three main types of aggressive behaviour of male

Ploceus philippinus in differing contexts in territorial defence and pair formation.

l EN RE

tate

Aggressive Responses

Lunge (i.e. .

Contexts Head forward Saoalantin Tail dep- Total of

Threat wita ae ne 8 ressed § sequences per

attempted — Threat context

peck) | |

Strange male at the nest ee | 9 Fi | 9

Neighbouring male in 2. DD 2 | 29

full display in nest ad- | |

vertisement ; no female

present

Neighbouring male in | im | 8 ee 8

full advertisement dis- |

play ; female near at- |

tacker’s nest

Another male passes 2 ee43 9 54

close by nest | (to -neigh-

| bouring

birds)

Attack on female during 67 ¥/ cae 14

nest invitation (i.e. fol- |

lowing her arrival after

the advertisement dis-

play)

Aitack on female during | 2 appro | 16 43

courtship | |

Strange male attacked | ie 8 | 1 8

while at a neighbour’s | |

nest

Aggressor attempts to = 3 oA | 3

rob material being car- |

ried by another male

Totals of sequences 13 128 27 | 228

red most commonly in courtship sequences (59% of cases observed).

_ Eight supplants were seen against strange males visiting nests belonging

to the neighbours of the defender. In this case the latter sallied forth

from his territory to defend a neighbour’s nest in his absence. It seems

that the sleeked appearance of male strangers encourages attack even

from a distance beyond the territory. In this way males sometimes

save the nests of their neighbours from robbers. Owners of nests at

18 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (i)

which a female was visiting sometimes attacked neighbouring males

who were advertising near by (8 cases). However, since the owners in

such contexts are primarily occupied with the female the number of

aggressive responses to near-by males is much less than when a group

of males displays together in the absence of a female (29 cases).

3. Discussion of agondstic.p os (umes. im spans i ome

mation

Supplants are shown by birds motivated by an unopposed attack

tendency. Lunges, when they develop into a pecking attack, may be

interpreted in the same way but in most cases the lunge does not reach

the target and the bird often withdraws. Lunging thus is usually part

of a posture or sequence in which attack and escape response

tendencies are in conflict. We have already seen that they may be

given to both males and to females. In the Tail depressed Threat

attack, escape, and sex tendencies are all activated. The majority of

these postures occur in response to the female in courtship sequences.

Nevertheless they also play an important role in territorial defence

against neighbouring males once the nests have been well established.

This is presumably because the posture has acquired value as a social

signal proclaiming ownership of a nest and territory during the course

of its evolution and ritualisation (further discussion in Crook, in

press b).

4. The occurrence yol sone

The loud wheezy song is heard in the following contexts :

(1) Given by several males in concert while resting in a group.

Often it occurs during bouts of preening or sitting drowsily

and well before breeding commences. Thus loud singing

may be heard in groups in day roosts in March and April.

The song is not orientated at any other individual nor does

the song posture reveal any component associated with

attack tendency.

(2) Males may sit in their territories and sing without orientation

to other individuals and without attack tendency present.

(3) Song may be given at males approaching or near the territory.

In these cases the posture includes threat components (e.g.

rump fluffing, tail spreading) and the bird faces the opponent.

(4) After giving a supplant the male may return to his territory

and sing.

(5) The males repeatedly sing to females after their arrival at the

REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER 19

nest. Such songs are given during the performance of

‘wings rigid’ posturing (p. 22) and in the post-courtship

phase after abortive threats. They are often given on the

exterior of the nest, the female being within.

In (1) and (2) there is no aggressive motivation apparent and no

reason to suppose its presence. Song increases as the breeding season

approaches though it appears to be present to some extent throughout

the dry season. Thus caged hand-reared juveniles sing when a few

weeks old though the song is not yet fully formed. Song is evidently

associated with sexual motivation and its repetition in choruses, in which

social facilitation plays a notable role, may possibly bring about a syn-

chronisation of the timing of maturation so that all birds are physio-

logically ripe when environmental stimuli elicit breeding. In (3) and

(4), however, song is occurring in aggressive contexts and functions in

announcing the ownership of a site and thus as a warning to neighbour-

ing males. In (5) too the context is aggressive though sexual motiva-

tion is usually apparent at the same time. It is unlikely, therefore, that

the song plays much part in attracting the female and, further, the voca-

lisation accompanying the advertisement display is totally different

(p. 22). Song is most marked, except in (1) and (3), where there is a

conflict between two or more tendencies and where the tendency to

attack is especially strong.

IV. Nest INVITATION, COURTSHIP, AND HAREM FORMATION

i Mehtcaapia in ef OL ma thom @ pt Oc e:S\s

In common with many other Ploceine species the pairing process of

the Baya falls under two headings: (i) nest invitation by ‘ advertise-

-ment’ display, and (ii) courtship. As soon as the nest reaches the

‘ring’ stage, the ‘ advertisement ’ displays are given upon them, although

usually not at the full intensity achieved later on helmet stage nests.

The display (see below) consists in a vigorous wing beating given while

hanging below the nest and clearly functions in attracting the female.

Courtship posturing follows the arrival of a female at a nest with which

she is already familiar following frequent previous visits. The male’s

initial hostility to her wanes ; he begins to court her, and she shows

sexual solicitation in return. Copulation eventually results. After

egg laying, throughout brooding and the rearing of the young, several

courtship postures are retained as part of the greeting ritual shown

mutually by the birds whenever they meet at the nest. These postures

may also lead to copulation even when the young of the pair are well

grown. ‘The courtship postures, in modified form, are found throughout

the entire occupation of the nest by the female and her family.

20 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Before describing the details of these behaviour patterns and

sequences, the changes in the mutual behaviour of male and female

in the territory at different periods in the annual life of the colony may

be summarised.

A. Preliminary breeding attempts (i.e. after the first early showers

of the monsoon)

i. Nest as a wad or ring. The male’s responses to the female’s

approach are at this stage primarily aggres-

sive. Advertisement displays may be given

as a result of social facilitation with the dis-

playing of other males on more advanced

nests near by ; they are never long sustained.

ii. Nest at helmet stage. Prolonged and excited advertisement dis-

plays follow the arrival of a female or group

of females in the colony. When the female

approaches and enters a nest, the owner

responds with courtship but copulation does

not yet occur nor does the female solicit.

The male frequently becomes very aggres-

sive towards the female as soon as she alights

on his nest, even though this may follow

several minutes of ardent invitation. The

nervous female flees at the slightest provo-

cation.

During these preliminary breeding attempts activity in the colonies

is only sustained for a few days. It then rapidly wanes and the place

becomes once more deserted until further showers of rain are accom-

panied by renewed activity.

B. Definitive breeding season.

As soon as definitive breeding starts the above activities are again

observed at wads, rings, and helmet stage nests. Now, however, the

nests are constructed beyond the helmet stage following their acceptance

by the female.

PHASE I

Nest as a completed egg Nests of this stage have been accepted by

chamber : the females and courtship occurs on and near

them at maximum intensity. Whenever the

females fly from the nests the males chase

them for considerable distances outside the

REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER Zi

colony and the females lead them back to

their nests. At the nests the females solicit

and the males copulate with them. The

females also frequently refuse to copulate

and attack the males instead. In such

sequences the males often give the pseudo-

female solicitation postures which form a

marked element in courtship. As a female

becomes established at a nest site advertis-

ing becomes rarer though it 1s maintained at

the fresh nests in the territory.

PHASE II

Eggs in the nest : Females visiting the nests for brooding are

greeted by the males with much wing quiver-

ing and often pseudo-female posturing.

Copulation can still occur.

PHASE III

Young in the nest: Greeting behaviour becomes less frequent

as the male remains in his territory for shor-

ter periods. He also often assists in feeding

-well-grown young.

PHASE IV

Young away from Both parents feed the young after they

colony : have left the nest. No courtship or greeting

postures have been seen between the sexes at

this time.

Teac ocinvitatlon mamd the. carly coutts hip

sequences

Females are not present in the colonies at their establishment. The

males busy themselves building, robbing each other’s nests of material,

supplanting one another and indulging in bouts of singing. The females

first appear either singly or in small groups flying swiftly into the colony,

hopping rapidly about the branches in very nervous sleeked postures,

and occasionally flying up to a nest or two giving them apparently a

brief inspection. The males with wads or rings usually react aggressively

to the females’ approach, threatening them and making short swift

supplanting attacks. Males with helmet stage nests react strongly to

the females’ arrival giving intense ‘ Advertisement displays’, hanging

below their nests, and a _ particular call. Between displays they

hop -about wing quivering intensely and repeatedly fly back to their

22 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

nests for further displays. The males advertise either with the female

present near the nest or when stimulated by the displaying of neighbour-

ing birds. Thus even if only one or two females have entered the colony

many of the males burst out in display immediately. Birds with wad

or ring nests usually only quiver the wings or sometimes continue their

building without responding to the females. The displays clearly attract

the females for they rarely approach nests earlier than the helmet stage,

and confine their attention especially to those upon which the males

display.

The Advertisement display has two main forms, the Wings beating

Display and the Wings rigid Display. Both displays are associated with

much wing quivering which frequently precedes a bout of display. The

Wings beating Display is given on the nest or on twigs near it. On the

nest the males usually perform upside down but on twigs the body is

normally upright. Wings beating Display is given during the female’s

approach and prior to her arrival but the Wings rigid Display is given

immediately she alights on the nest. One can thus observe a transition

from wing beating to the rigid posture on the arrival of the female.

The Wings beating Display has the following components :

(1) The bird hangs from the nest, usually positioned on the develop-

ing roof of the egg chamber. Frequently the line of the

back is inclined at an angle of 45° to the vertical, but often

the bird is completely upside down with the back horizon-

tal.

(2) The wings are fully spread and hang down below the back.

When the display is given in the ‘upright’ position the

wings are of course extended and raised above the body.

(3) In either case the wings are beaten at a speed of about 10 beats

per 1.8 seconds (Table VI) through an arc between approxi-

mately 45° and 135° to the dorso-ventral plane of the bird’s

body.

(4) The tail is slightly spread and either held in line with the back

or slightly depressed upwards against the fabric of the nest.

(5) The birds emit a continuous call rendered wheetu wheetu

wheetu or che weee che weee che weee in the field note-

books.

(6) The beak is often held down against the breast during display

or the bird may peer around after other birds.

On the female’s arrival the display changes to the Wings rigid Dis-

play through the successive development of the following components :

(1) The bird remains hanging on the nest in the same position.

(2) Wing beating ceases totally and the wings are held stiffly out

REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER 23

at the side of the body at between 45° and 90° to the dorso-

ventral plane of the body.

(3) The tail remains spread.

(4) The feathers of the crown are raised.

(5) The bird leans forward slightly towards the female, often

peering under the edge of the nest wall and sings loudly.

(6) As the bird leans forward with the crest raising, the wings are

usually synchronously relaxed to the side of the body, a

movement usually complete as the song begins.

During the initial approaches of the females the males’ responses

were closely observed on 154 occasions. During 50 of these the female

remained near the nest but did not approach it closely, while the male

merely quivered his partially extended wings. On 104 occasions the

females came exceedingly close to the nests and the males gave the Wings

beating Display often coupled with short flights down towards the

female where they perched on twigs and gave either wing quivering or

upright Wings beating Displays. In 74 cases the female alighted on

the nest and the male responded with the Wings Rigid posture, a song;

and often an attempt at pecking the female. A large number of these

sequences were tape recorded and are shown in Schemes A, B, and C.

While visiting the colony the female is sleeked and nervous, showing

a strong tendency to flee. She darts from one position to another, being

frequently supplanted by the males and chased by them. Finally she

alights in the nest of a displaying bird and, maintaining her very sleeked

plumage, makes shaping movements in the cavity. As soon as the male

threatens she flees.

a INNesteacceptance and!’ pair bond formation

The females clearly make a choice of the nest they are to occupy for

although at first they may visit several nests they soon concentrate their

attention on one nest only and no longer visit others. It is difficult to

gauge how far the female is affected by the male’s displaying in making

her choice of nests and how far it is the nest structure itself that counts.

The fact that females only accept nests that have reached the helmet

stage suggests that the structure itself plays the more important role

though it is likely that nest structure and the male’s performance taken

together combine in influencing the female. However, once a female

returns persistently to any given site the behaviour of the male under-

goes a change and courtship rather than advertisement becomes the chief

activity at the nest.

The change in behaviour occurs gradually. The original short

supplanting chases whereby the male drove the female from his territory

become more sustained and the male may pursue the female outside

24 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (A)

the colony. After these long chases he may at first return alone but

eventually the female, after leading the pursuing male in a long detour

up to several hundred yards around the colony, flies straight back into

TABLE VI

Wing beating speeds in the Advertisement Displays of Ploceus philippinus

(Stopwatch accurate to 0.1 second)

Sener PPS ARE ME INI MERI RE a A I TA

Time taken for ten wing beats in seconds | Number of cases observed

1.4 1

| 5

Nes | 4

1.6 | 3

| 7

jt) | 4

1.8 14

9 4@

2.0 12

22 2

| 2

2.3 | 0

@ This reading is due clearly to some subjective bias for reading 1.8 or 2.0 rather

than 1.9 on the stopwatch dial.

it and alights in the male’s nest. The chases lose their aggressive charac-

ter and become interwoven with other courtship activities, the moti-

vation of the chase becoming, at least in part, clearly sexual. The male

may now make attempts at mounting the female, attempts at which the

latter at first reacts aggressively, lunging or fiercely threatening the male.

The chases are interpreted as prolonged attempts at mounting. During

these sequences a change in the relative dominance of the two birds

occurs so that the male can no longer dislodge the female from his

nest so frequently. Thus whenever the male turns aggressive the female

often pecks back with such effect that he desists and sits discon-

solately near by until, as she flies off in her own time, he chases her.

In scheme A these later sequences are marked with an asterisk.

By this time the nest is nearly finished. The usual sequence of events

in the territory is summarised below :

(1) The female alights in the nest entrance. The male, who may

have given a few wing beating movements, usually sings

REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER 25

and then makes repeated attempts to enter his own nest.

Some of these attempts are highly aggressive but the majority

are attempts at copulation. The female refuses entry to

him and when she departs he chases her.

(2) Ultimately, however, the female responds to the male’s con-

stant advances with solicitation and, although in many cases

this turns again to threat as the male approaches, it ulti-

mately ends in a successful copulation.

(3) At this time the male’s sexual excitement is very evident.

Apart from occasional bouts. of aggressive behaviour, he is

constantly wing quivering and approaching the female in

short flights attempting to mount her. As the female is

usually positioned in the ring entrance of the nest most of

the attempted copulations occur there, but they also occur

on other parts of the nest or on twigs near by. If the nest

has a fully completed egg chamber and the start of a tube,

then the male attempts to mount the female as she is sitting

on the cross bar of the nest (the former perching position in

the base of the initial ring of the nest frame) within the base

of the tube. Such cases may be observed by tilting the

nests so that the observer can see up the tube. Many of

- these attempts fail as the female repeatedly turns on the

male and drives him off.

(4) Under intense sexual frustration (i.e. following repeated rejec-

tion of his advances) the male gives pseudo-female solici-

tation, thereby soliciting the female in exactly the same pos-

tures as those whereby she solicits him.

In these copulation sequences the behaviour is extremely variable.

The male’s wing quivering advances may be met with an immediate

crouching of the female and copulation may then follow immediately.

Usually, however, the female resists the male’s approaches with some

degree of aggression alternating this with spells of wing quivering in

concert with him. When the female solicits copulation normally follows

at once, but when the male solicits the female usually responds only

with wing quivering. She may also solicit, however, in which case

again copulation is the normal consequence. The process is highly

elaborate and the male by constant wooing provides the stimuli that

elicit the female’s sexual responses thereby suppressing her tendency to

attack. The female’s sexual behaviour (soliciting, etc.) elicits the male’s

responses and results in copulation.

Solicitation by the female has the following components :

(1) The body is deeply crouched and the breast especially lowered,

26 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

the feathering of the breast and body being often slightly

fluffed.

(2) The wings are drooped slightly but only a little spread.

The initial wing quivering that normally precedes solici-

tation gives way to extremely high speed tremoring most

noticeable at the wing tips.

(3) The tail is slightly raised and tremored in the vertical plane at

high speed.

(4) The head may be slightly tilted backwards and the beak thus

points upwards.

(5) Crown and nape slightly fluffed.

The components of the male’s pseudo-female solicitation are closely

similar to the above though the body is rarely so deeply crouched and

the head is less prominently tilted. In the male’s display wing quiver-

ing with fluffed body plumage changes to pseudo-female solicitation

by an increase in the speed of the wing movements with a marked de-

crease in their amplitude. At the same time the tail is slightly raised

and tremored at high speed. When giving this posture the male fre-

quently gives a special cry, a high pitched fi ti ti ti ti t t eeee which

also accompanies the act of copulatory mounting. Also when highly

excited the male may clipper his mandibles together producing rapid

little snipping sounds. This happens particularly when the male is

flitting after the female in the territory, much fluffed and wing quivering

and obviously highly motivated sexually.

When the male mounts the female prior to copulation she crouches

in solicitation and her tail often keeps up the high speed tremoring.

She then raises her beak and points it up vertically. The male then

lowers his cloaca to make contact with that of the female who raises her

rump and puts her tail to one side. The male utters the copulation call

and flutters his wings throughout. After copulation the pair usually

separate and the female is very prone to attack the male. Often,

however, she flies rapidly out of the colony leaving the male hopping

about often wing quivering. The female has been observed making

washing movements with the wings after a copulation.

4. Analysis of behaviour sequences during court-

ship with comparisons with other colonial

weaver birds

In Scheme A behaviour sequences recorded during nest invitation

are drawn to reveal the variety of responses that occur. In Scheme B

REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER 2].

and C sequences of male and female behaviour respectively are shown

during courtship and copulation. Nest invitation and courtship do,

of course, merge into one another but their separation in the Schemes is

justified because there is in fact a considerable and fairly abrupt change

in the behaviour of the birds as soon as the female comes repeatedly

to the nest and thereby demonstrates her acceptance of it. Nest in-

vitation displays thereafter become less frequent and intermingled with

a far greater frequency of courtship sequences. In addition, accep-

tance of the nest marks a major change in the male’s building activity.

The nest is at first rapidly constructed up to the helmet stage and then

maintained without further change of form until a female has accepted

it. Thereupon the male resumes construction at high speed completing

the nest chamber in time for the laying of the clutch. The tube is only

added during the laying and early brooding. The change in behaviour

was shown clearly on 12 August 1958 when a count of Wings beating

Displays during a set observation period gave 44 on helmet stage nests

but only 7 on nests with recently completed egg chambers.

An individual male may have several nests at one of which courtship

is in full swing while at another he may give Advertisement Displays.

Thus at any one time in different territories some males are advertising,

others courting, and others doing the former at one nest and the latter

at another. At the Hingane colony this mixture of behaviour persisted

from 6 August to 10 August 1958 approximately by which time most

females had commenced laying and the majority of nests had been

accepted. Throughout the whole life of the colony, however, there were

some males with helmet stage nests at which they continued to advertise

long after fresh females had ceased prospecting and while their other

nests contained well-grown young.

A. Nest Invitation

Sequences following 141 arrivals of females in the colony (Scheme A)

show that 94 (66.8%) were followed by Wings beating Displays by the

males at helmet stage nests, 16 (11.3%) by threat at helmet stages, 16

(11.2%) by vigorous supplants and chase by the male, and 14 (10%),

in which female approached wads or rings, by threat. The male thus

reacts with aggression more particularly at wads and rings. As soon

as the nest reaches the helmet stage he gives Advertisement Displays.

Thus from treating the female primarily as an intruder to his territory

the male begins responding to her in a manner that encourages her

approach (i.e. wing quivering and Wings beating Display).

The sleeked, dodging-about behaviour of the female clearly encour-

ages the supplanting attacks of the male ; yet it is clear from the start

28 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

that females are to some extent recognised as such. Thus the tremen-

dous excitement generated in the colony by the arrival of one or two

females demonstrates that the birds are in no way confused with other

males. Further the large amount of wing quivering occurring between

pursuits and while the male is not actually displaying is a well-known

component of sexual behaviour. The initial appearances of the female

near the nest thus elicit both aggressive and sexual responses from the

males. The females show a strong tendency to flee (constant crouching

in take-off postures, frequent wing flicking, and extreme sleeking of the

body plumage) yet in spite of this the tendency to approach the nests

and to examine them (undoubtedly an aspect of the sexual tendency

even though courtship wing quivering and solicitation is not at this time

observed) brings them repeatedly back to the colony.

The Wings beating Display is most complex. In two other colonial

weavers (Ploceus cucullatus and P. castaneofuscus/nigerrimus) in West

Africa homologous Advertisement Displays have been analysed and dis-

cussed at length (Crook, 1958, in press 5). The Baya’s display resembles

these closely and a full analysis of its motivation will not therefore be

given here. But the following points are made by way of expla-

nation and to show the differences in the nest invitation of these three

very similar species :

1. The Wings beating Display is a complex posture in which

components derived in evolution from sexual chasing (wings beating) and

song bowing (tail spreading and depression, beak against breast) threat

postures are combined into a partially ‘ ritualised’ static display given

on or near the nest.

2. The component composition of display shows that the male

is responding with attack, sex, and escape all at the same time. So long

as the stimulus situation provided by the movements of the female re-

mains relatively constant, the conflicting tendencies remain in the same

effective ratio to one another. They then appear in the typical inten-

sity, frequency, and form of display.

3. As soon as the female actually alights on the nest the male

P. philippinus gives the Wings Rigid posture. InP. cucullatus the same

thing occurs but it is followed immediately by ‘ dashing to and fro’

within the territory during which he makes frequent visits to the nest

where he bows to the female, sings to her, and may lunge at her. This

has been interpreted as an initial freezing of the display with the

tendencies to attack and to escape from the female effectively equal,

followed by alternating movements of attacks and escapes or threats at

the female at the nest. InP. castaneofuscus/nigerrimus the male usually

wing quivers or droops his wings before ‘dashing to and fro’, This

REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER 29

is interpreted as a strong sexual response in conflict with escape, there

being comparatively little attack motivation apparent. Contrasted

with these, the Baya’s display changes firstly to the Wings Rigid posture

and then passes immediately into a threatening song bow towards the

female. Of the components of the display the cessation of beating and

the rigidity of the wings represents the initial ‘freezing’ of wings

beating with the attack and escape tendencies in balance and cancelling

each other’s manifestation; the spread tail, occurring otherwise in

threat postures, indicates the presence of the tendency to attack ; the

raised crest, occurring otherwise in alarm, indicates the tendency to flee ;

the fixation of the female and the leaning forward are preparatory

movements of lunging and, together with the spread tail and the song,

reveal the tendency to attack ; the relaxation of the wings (component 6

on p. 23) indicates the absence of intention movements of flight.

4. All this indicates that the reaction of the Baya to the arrival

of the female is primarily aggressive but that the tendency to attack is

at first partially inhibited by the opposing tendency to flee. This in-

terpretation (for further discussion of the analysis of components in

these displays see Crook, in press 5) is supported strongly by the subse-

quent events in the behaviour sequences shown in Scheme A. Thus

following 74 Wings Rigid postures the male actually pecked into the

nest at the female 57 times and in all but 7 cases (3 in which the male

relaxed on the departure of the female and 4 in which the female threat-

ened him) he finally chased her from the nest as she fled. Only later

after much chasing (an activity that is less prominent in both the West

African species) do sexual responses appear at all clearly (Scheme B).

From this account we see that the differences between the displays

of the Baya and those of the two West African species are due to the

relatively more aggressive responses of the male to the first approaches

of the female. The female Baya also is a more aggressive creature than

the female of the other two species, and only after much threatening and

chasing do the birds become sufficiently accustomed to one another for

mutual sexual behaviour to become possible. The aggressive nature

of the female also accounts for the high incidence of pseudo-female

solicitations shown by the male Baya late in pair formation. The sexual

chase plays an important role in courtship. It develops out of sup-

planting attacks through the gradual appearance of sexual responses

and late in courtship the chases are inextricably part of the pairing pro-

cess, the female leading the male back to his nest where she often solicits

him. The Baya differs from P. cucullatus and P. castaneofuscus/niger-

rimus markedly in this respect and resembles other species [e.g. P.

benghalensis and P. manyar in India and P. (Xanthophilus) aurantius

in West Africa] in which sexual chasing plays a prominent role in court-

30 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

ship and nest invitation. Hinde (1953) discussing the sexual chasing

of the Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) and other birds suggests that it may

have a stimulating effect on the female. This is certainly so in the

Baya where the female returns to the nest after a chase and solicits

(Scheme C).

It has been suggested elsewhere (Crook, 1959, in press 5) that, in

the evolution of complex colonial life in certain weavers, highly motile

displays in both territorial defence and nest invitation have given place

to static posturings derived from the earlier movements. P. cucullatus

and, as recent work has shown (Ali & Crook 1960), P. megarhynchus,

in which territorial defence is conducted largely by immobile posturings

and in which the sex chase is virtually absent in courtship, are the most

advanced species in this respect so far observed. The Baya seems to

lie between these two, together with P. castaneofuscus/nigerrimus, on the

one hand and less colonial species on the other. The implications of

these comparisons will be developed further in a later publication, by

which time further species will have been studied.

B. Courtship

The behaviour sequences of the male and female during courtship

are summarised in Schemes B and C respectively and the wide variety

in the male’s responses clearly shown (headings A-G in the Scheme).

51% (24 out of 47 cases) of the sequences in Scheme B show the male

attacking or threatening (sequences passing via headings A, B and C)

while the remaining sequences (23), amounting to 49%, show sexual

motivation predominant. The relations between sequences under head-

ings C and D show that initial aggressive behaviour may change easily

to courtship at least for a time. Out of 23 cases in which court-

ship began well only 7 resulted in a successful copulation (30.5 %) though

a further 8 mounting attempts were made (34.7%) in which the female

fled. In a further five cases (21.7%) the female reacted aggressively to

the male’s approaches and in one case fled in the course of courtship.

In no case, where the sequence began with aggressive behaviour or in-

cluded it, did a mounting attempt occur. The same situation is shown

in the sequences of female behaviour, complementary to those of the

males, presented in Scheme C. An attack tendency thus precludes the

possibility of mating and, in a situation in which so much aggression is

shown by both sexes, the frequency of sequences in which both sexes

are sufficiently motivated sexually and reacting mutually without aggres-

sion is notably small.

The postures given by the birds in these sequences are mostly simple

when compared with those of nest invitation. They are likewise com-

REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER 31

posed of components representing the tendencies to behave sexually,

to attack, and to flee. Thus in the sequences under headings A to C in

Scheme B the tendencies to attack and to flee are seen in conflict. The

postures may later incorporate typical sexual components such as wing

quivering, and with a further increase in sexual motivation, change to

postures containing sexual components alone. Under the headings D

to G sequences occur in which the sexual tendency is in conflict with the

tendency to flee, though here again aggressive behaviour is recurrent.

The significance of most of the postures shown has been discussed else-

where (Crook, in press 5) so that only a summary of their interpre-

tations need be given here :

1. Wing quivering. Given by both sexes.

Motivation. It is normally associated with and precedes

sexual behaviour in many passerine birds (Hinde

1952, 1955-56, Marler 1956, Andrew 1957, Crook,

in press aand b). Some escape motivation is also

present. .

Derivation. It appears to be derived from the wing quiver-

ing of juvenile birds (Marler loc. cit.).

Function. It is often associated with submissive ‘ fluffed ’

postures and it appears to reduce the likelihood

of attack from birds approaching or approached

(e.g. as in courtship and in food solicitation by

juveniles to adults). It allows partners to ap-

proach one another closely prior to mounting.

2. Solicitation. Given by the female.

Motivation. Largely sexual though the crouching compon-

ent, an intention movement of flight, suggests the

tendency to escape (Marler, loc. cit.)

Derivation. Movements of copulation and preparatory

movements of flight.

Function. Invitation to the male to copulate.

3. Pseudo-female Given by the male during copulation sequen-

solicitation. ces and in the post-courtship period. It begins

with the first copulation attempts following the

acceptance of the nest by the female and thus

coincides with the shift in relative dominance in

her favour.

“Motivation. The sexual tendency is in conflict with a strong

tendency to escape. Thus it is not found early

32 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

in courtship when the male is dominant and highly

ageressive. It follows threat by the female and

when the male leads the female to the nest (Scheme

B, headings E and G).

Derivation. The posture consists of preparatory movements

of copulation and flight and evidently shares com-

mon causal factors with female solicitation (Hinde

1955-56, p. 15).

Function. Probably the same as wing quivering. It

appears also to elicit solicitation by the female.

The posture has been observed in many weavers

but rarely so frequently as in the Baya. The high

level of aggression shown by the female which

produces frequent thwarting of the male’s mount-

ing attempts is responsible.

V. THe MuTUAL BEHAVIOUR OF MALE AND FEMALE FOLLOWING PAIR

FORMATION

Once the pair bond is established and courtship over, the females and

males occupy themselves respectively with brooding and the courtship

of further prospecting females. In addition the male is zealous in

strengthening his nests, in lengthening the tubes, and in defending the

territory against the depredations of robbers. The male remains most

of his time in the territory, and thus established females frequently en-

counter him on their journey to and from their nests.

When the two birds meet, a number of alternative sequences may be

observed. These are set out in Table VII where the female’s behaviour

on entering the nest is matched against the male’s response. A glance

at the totals reveals that 36.6% (i.e. 37 of 101 cases) of females arrived

and flew to their nests without showing any particular posturing, 34.6%

solicited their mates, 14.9% wing quivered before entering, and 9.9%

solicited or wing quivered (35, 15, and 10 cases respectively) even though

their mates were at the time not present in the territory. A remaining

4% solicited neighbouring males in the absence of their own. Corres-

pondingly, of the males’ responses 33.8% were pseudo-female solici-

tations (30 times out of 91 cases)’, 20.1% wing quivering (19 times),

and 10.9% aggression (10 cases), 1.e. flying to the female at the nest and

singing loudly sometimes with lunge, or supplanting. 63.3% of the

* On one occasion a male was observed giving pseudo-female solicitation to a

male flying past, apparently a case of mistaken identity.

REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER 33

males’ pseudo-female solicitations were given to those females that flew

directly to their nests without posturing, merely perching a moment and

wing flicking (intention movement of flight) before darting up the tube

(19 of 30 cases in context), and 33.3% to females that were themselves

soliciting (10 cases). Females that wing quivered were solicited by the

male rarely and were usually met with wing quivering. Occasionally

other neighbouring males also joined in the wing quivering though with-

out approaching near enough to invite an attack from the owner (4

cases). The frequency with which wing quivering was met by the same

behaviour in response, and soliciting likewise with soliciting suggests

strongly that the male, if he responds, tends to show a similar behaviour

pattern to that of the female. However, the male often showed no res-

ponse at all (26.2% of total male responses) and especially to soliciting

females (45.7% of responses in context) ; yet only in 5 out of 37 cases

(i.e. 13.5%) did the male fail to react to a female flying directly to the

nest without posturing. Here it is noteworthy that of all the male’s

aggressive responses 60%, including all four observed supplants, were

made against females that showed neither wing quivering nor solicita-

tion on entering the territory.

It is thus clear that, in addition to aggressive responses, courtship

postures and solicitation persisted well after the period of their greatest

significance during pair formation. The male solicited established

females both when they solicited him and when they entered the territory

in a sleeked manner. A number of such encounters led to mounting

attempts and even to a few apparently fully competent copulations.

Some of these took place at a time when the females concerned were

actively engaged in feeding young. Both sexes are thus fully potent

sexually for a long time after the initial pair formation. Often the male

responds to his established female as if she were a prospecting newcomer

and especially so if she enters the territory without greeting him (Table

VII). Her sleeked posture and wing flicking then resembles the ner-

vous behaviour of a prospecting bird. Sometimes an established female

returning in this way is met with advertisement display on the latest

helmet stage nest thus suggesting that the male is responding primarily

to her posture and that her identity as an individual bird is indistinctly

known by him. In a few cases the established female actually responds

at once to the male’s invitation and visits the nest, pokes about in it,

is threatened by the male and so on, exactly in the manner of a freshly

arrived bird, and often with food in her beak for the young all the time.

Thus not only is the male liable to attack his female and invite her to a

fresh nest but the female may also respond with appropriate behaviour,

but in relation to her functional role at the time, certainly out of con-

text. All this again is set against the background of repeated threats by

the male. We have seen that females entering the territory without

34. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

TABLE VII

Tabular representation of behaviour sequences of females and males in terri-

tories during brooding and care of young in the nests. (The sequences

follow the arrival of the female in the territory. The numbers of male res-

ponses recorded are placed against the behaviour of the female on her

arrival.)

Female Male

so | 7 v one

2 2 2 is, © © S

ef Re) c 72) c & hen!

oO & © oO | oy | @o =)

a co OO oO | & So

= o a =< | $<

n <4 SiS eS Gj, vo c

j i 3 | a) OF |} 5 | 3:3 | ‘or

Behaviour of female on arrival s) = O25 | oe | oR | &

in colony 5) 2. n S| Os | OR | se

D a ED eo) om paca ss

72) heal amo oD o

Ge 2 a) os. | 7) tet!)

° € 3 a 2/8 q

° | c =

| | H fica.

Female flies to nest without pos-| Bi: Agee ee a Sau helt ne L927)

turing | | |

— |

Female approaches nest, wing 15 be 3 6 a eal 4

quivers to her mate | |

re ae es re ae are 77 een rr Te [aria cial Sia ch ia)

Female approaches nest solicit-| 35 a 16 Oy oe oawlO

ing her mate, often carrying | |

food for her young at same time!

Female approaches nest and soli- 4 note, Miven a! we ere Ee 4

cits a male other than her own

near her nest; own mate ab-

sent at time

Female in territory in absence of} 10

mate nevertheless shows wing

quivering or solicitation (7 are

soli-

cita-

tions)

TOTALS 101 4 24 19 6 30 8

posturing in some way to the male are most liable to be molested, either

aggressively or sexually. The wing quivering, however, functions as in

courtship and reduces the likelihood of a (sexual) attack. Thus the

female may usually pass quickly to the nest without the hindrance of the

male’s provocative solicitations. The male’s wing quivering in return

reveals the absence of aggression in his welcome. Thus the mutual

performance of this posture is of great utility, informing the female that

the male will not attack her and the male that she is neither an intruder

nor a prospecting female. The strength of the female’s tendency to wing

quiver or solicit on arrival is indicated by the frequency with which she

REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER 35

performs these patterns even when the male is absent from the territory.

In such cases neighbouring males may approach her in attempts at a

stolen copulation.

The similarity between these postures and those of late courtship

indicates that the same complex of conflicting tendencies is responsible

and that the relative dominance of the pair remains unchanged. The

persistence of the conflict is due to the continuing sexual potency of the

male after his initial courtship and his maintenance of a helmet stage

nest in readiness for a fresh mate throughout the whole breeding season.

It is thus a feature of the polygamous capacity of the male. It is note-

worthy here that the monogamous Quelea quelea does not show such

intensely sexual greeting behaviour after pair formation, the normal

procedure being limited to extensive mutual wing quivering. In other

polygamous species [e.g. P. cucullatus, P. (Xanthophilus) aurantius, and

P. megarhynchus] solicitation postures are similarly found in both male

and female postures in mutual greeting after pair formation. This

suggests that where solicitation and pseudo-solicitation are common in

courtship they appear also in the greeting behaviour. Thus the relative

strengths of the conflicting tendencies (attack, fear, sex) responsible for

the postures remain approximately the same both during and after actual

pair formation, so long as the male is sexually active in courtship and the

pair bond is maintained.

VI. THE BEHAVIOUR OF JUVENILE BIRDS

I Omelcavine the nest

Young Bayas are capable of full flight for some twenty to thirty yards

on leaving their nest on approximately the fifteenth day (see Ambedkar,

in preparation). Frequently during the examination of a nest the young

will fly out and flutter off in different directions into the undergrowth.

Sometimes, when disturbed, young birds fall into wells and drown.

This seems due to a premature departure and does not appear to be a

natural occurrence. In spite of attentive watching the natural departure

of the young was not observed and very little is known of the role played

by the parents at this time. However, one young was seen immediately

after its flight from the nest. On the return of the female she fluttered

over the young bird and then flew off calling into a near-by stand of

sugarcane. The young bird followed it there landing within a few feet

of it. The two birds were then lost to view in the dense foliage.

On leaving the colony the young birds scatter and go into dense

vegetation. The family does not clump together closely at all and only

single juveniles of this age have been seen. One young bird was seen

near the Hingane colony shortly after its first flight from the nest and

36 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol, 57 (1)

both parents were seen feeding it. It begged frequently with wing quiver-

ing and gave a shrill ‘location’ call. At greater distances from the

colony the young have also been seen sitting still for long periods (up

to twenty minutes at least in some cases) and the parents then come and

feed them at intervals. The young of one family can generally be located

in the same general area although the young are not perched together.

One family party was found in dense bushes with a distance of

ten to twenty yards separating the three young birds. As the female

flies in to feed the young she gives a special tchrrrrr which the young

birds answer by the ‘location’ call. As the young become older

they begin to flutter more frequently after the parents when they have

brought food. They thus begin to show a marked ‘ following reaction ’.

One such juvenile was seen pursuing a male as it flew into a tree. The

male fed it and flew off about the tree collecting insects. Every few

minutes the young would turn toward the parent and flutter towards it

landing as if in a supplant attack, exactly on its perch or just beside it.

The adult would then usually feed it. In this way the family maintains

a loose contact that becomes more effective as the young begin to fly

well.

It seems that the young enter flocks when their parents gradually

cease responding to their calls. They follow the parents increasingly

and gradually mix with other groups. This happens sometime after

the 30th day of life. Young birds were seen among adults in flocks,

often wing quivering at neighbours, and also among certain other mig-

ratory finches (e.g. Blackheaded Bunting, Emberiza melanocephala,

and Rosefinch, Carpodacus erythrinus) common in the Poona area in

autumn. When the flock flew off, however, the juveniles often stayed

behind not yet showing full social integration with it. Later several

juveniles were found together in a group feeding on cereal heads. It is

not therefore altogether clear how far the young first form flocks con-

sisting of their own age group alone and how far they integrate directly

with adults. Both evidently do occur.

The behaviour of the juveniles on leaving the nest may then be charac-

terised in three stages :

(1) Nest departure and flight from the colony during which the

family becomes well scattered.

(2) Sitting still for long periods with little attempt to follow parents.

(3) The following of parents soon develops and leads eventually

to the formation of family groups and to joining flocks.

This sequence differs greatly from that followed by juvenile Quelea

on leaving their nests in Africa. Quelea nests are situated in dense thorn

bushes and when the young leave them they scramble about the twigs

for several days without attempting a single flight. The dense thorns

REPRODUCTIVE .BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER 37

are a perfect protection and so long as the young birds remain among

them they cannot be taken by the various predators that wait beyond

it (Morel & Bourliére 1956). While moving about, these youngsters

show typical ‘contact’ behaviour cuddling together and even preening

each other (Crook, in press a). Both in the Quelea and in the Baya the

juveniles eventually join flocks in which ‘individual distance’ is main-

tained, but the behaviour prior to this differs markedly in the two species,

In each case the behaviour seems to provide maximum possible security

for the young. Thus for the Quelea the thorns are an effective protec-

tion and the young keep together. In the Baya scattering and sitting

still, in an environment which is itself in no way protective, seems to be

safer than any form of social grouping while the birds are incapable

of sustained flight.

2e rine hie: stir sta year

In the first monsoon young male Bayas are busy building nests in

sites quite separate from those of the adult birds. Nests of juveniles

occur in small groups or in isolation but never in the large clusters typical

of adult colonies. The young birds do not build very effectively for

often their nests are somewhat aberrant in form. At the structures

they sing and advertise but the nests are never accepted by females and

never finished. Occasionally young males fly into colonies of adults

and hop about the nests there in very sleeked nervous postures. They

are soon chased out by the adults present. The main burst of building

was seen at the onset of the monsoon, but a second outbreak occurred

in October when some second broods of adult Bayas were in the nest.

Thus juvenile Bayas were busy at fresh green nests in bushes projecting

above sugarcane stands at a time when most adults were flocking after

leaving their colonies. At this season the male juvenile weavers are a

dull grey colour with blackish beaks and can be distinguished from

post-breeding adults and from juveniles of the year.

VII. SUMMARY

1. The reproductive behaviour of the Baya Weaver (Ploceus philip-

pinus) was studied in the Poona area of western India in the monsoon

seasons of 1958 and 1959. The work continues studies by other authors

on the species in India and recent comparative work on weaver bird

behaviour in West Africa. |

2. Of 35 colonies studied 82.8% were situated over water and of

these 65.7% occurred either within wells or in trees over them. Only

six active colonies were found away from water. The survival value of

colony siting is discussed,

38 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

3. The tertiary sex ratio as determined in the breeding colonies was

1 male: 1.44 females. This excludes from consideration the non-

breeding population of males in their first year of life.

4. Each male builds enough nests for his females and usually main-

tains an extra ‘helmet stage nest” at which he will court any female

arriving late in the colony. The numbers of females per territory are

shown in Table II. In Table III the numbers of nests per territory and

their stages of construction are shown together with the number of

females in the territory.

5. The polygamy of the Baya appears to result from the greater

availability of females over males in any one breeding season. This is

partly due to the failure of males to breed in the first year. Other fac-

tors may be important however as the sex ratio of fledgelings is in favour

of the males.

6. Males defend small territories around their nest sites. While

at first more than one male may build on a nest, mutual hostility soon

develops and trespassing is met with aggressive behaviour, the dominant

bird at any one site becoming the owner. Occasionally a male may

build two nests at once and sometimes these may be in different parts of

the colony. Insuch cases one nest is eventually abandoned and the male’s

activity concentrated in one place. The size of the territories is influen-

ced by the frequency of suitable nesting sites in a given area.

7. Experimental modification of territories produced the follow-

ing results :

a. When occupied nests are moved closer together during brood-

ing an increase in threatening behaviour between neighbour-

ing males occurs.

b. If the entrance tube of an occupied nest is tilted so that it

opens within the territory of a neighbour, the female owner

of the nest cannot enter it nor does the male attempt to fight

either member of the pair into whose territory the entrance

has been moved. The female of the latter pair however

enters it without hesitation. The original owner female is

driven out when she attempts to reach her own nest entrance.

c. Unoccupied nests when moved into a neighbouring territory

or placed near another male’s nest change ownership.

d. Displacement of nests confuses the females who become very

anxious, showing much wing flickering, and visit neighbour-

ing nests. This causes fights between females. Neighbour-

ing males respond to the wanderings of the females with

supplanting attacks and occasionally with sexual * greetings ”

both of which the females avoid.

e. If occupied nests are kept with reduced distances between them

the aggressive responses of the males gradually fade and

REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER 39

finally the interactions between the members of the two pairs

do not differ from those in unchanged territories. The

birds thus adapt themselves quickly to a reduced territory

size. The defended area can in fact be reduced to little

more than the nest itself.

8. Territories are defended by supplanting attacks, lunges, and

Tail depressed Threat. Sequences of aggressive behaviour are analysed

and the frequencies of different types related to the contexts in which

they occur (see Table V). The occurrence of song is discussed.

9. The pairing process of the Baya occurs in two stages : nest invita-

tion by Advertisement Display and pair bond formation during courtship

which includes much sexual chasing. The details of the various displays

and other behaviour patterns shown are analysed with comparative re-

ference to the behaviour of other colonial Weavers. The observed

behaviour is shown to be due to motivational conflicts between tendencies

to respond to the female with sex, attack, and escape. The mutual

resolution of these conflicts leads to copulation and pair formation. The

detailed descriptive data are shown in Schemes A, B, and C which are

further analysed and discussed in the text.

10. Following pair formation, behaviour identical with that shown in

the final stages of courtship appears in the ‘ greeting ’ responses between

male and established female whenever they meet in their territory. These

may include actual courtship sequences and even copulations. The

relative strengths of the conflicting tendencies responsible for the postures

remain approximately the same after pair formation so long as the male is

sexually active in the courtship of fresh females and the earlier pair bonds

are maintained.

11. Juvenile birds scatter on leaving the nest and sit still for long

periods during which the parents come and feed them. As their flight

improves they begin to follow their parents and gradually form loose

family groups. These eventually join flocks of other juveniles or mixed

flocks of juveniles and adults.

12. In their first monsoon season juvenile males build nests in sites

separated from those of adult birds. The colonies of juveniles are small

and often isolated nests built by them are seen. Their nest building is

defective and females never accept their nests although they may visit

them. First year males in early autumn can be distinguished in the field

both from breeding females and the young of the year.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is a pleasure to acknowledge the assistance given me by numerous

persons throughout the course of these studies. Indeed they would not

have been possible without the kindly help I never failed to receive in

India, |

40 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Dr. Salim Ali, in particular, has taken a great personal interest in the

work at all stages and his detailed knowledge of the species has been a

great source of information and renewed initiative. The use of his ex-

tensive library whenever required was a kindness I especially appreciated.

It was largely due to Dr. Ali that my visit to India became possible and

without his help and advice it would have been most difficult to obtain

satisfactory results. The success of this endeavour is thus primarily due

to him.

Mr. Vijaykumar Ambedkar introduced me to the various colonies

around Poona and took part in the investigation at various stages. His

assistance in the field on many occasions and his willingness to act as an

interpreter helped me greatly at all times. He is at present continuing

to work on the breeding biology of the Baya in western India.

On my arrival in Poona Dr. Telford Work, Director of the Virus .

Research Centre, helped me greatly with certain administrative problems

and allowed me to construct aviaries in his garden. Through his assis-

tance I was able to make use of the V.R.C. facilities in numerous practical

respects and to benefit greatly, at a later stage, from the help and friend-

ship of his successor Dr. C. Anderson. Dr. Harold Trapido and Dr.

Raja Varma also took an interest in the work and were always ready with

suggestions and assistance. It was a pleasure to be associated with the

work of the V.R.C. on several occasions during my stay.

Mr. John Goatly, regional representative of the British Council in

Bombay, gave me much valuable information both before and during

my visit to India and did much to help me on several occasions.

I have been in constant correspondence with Dr. W. H. Thorpe,

F.R.S., and Dr. Robert Hinde, both of the Zoology Department, Cam-

bridge University. Their continuing advice and encouragement has been

of the greatest value. The work is part of a series of Weaver Bird studies

financed by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research,

London.

REFERENCES

Ali, Salim (1930) : The nesting habits

of the Baya (Ploceis philippinus).

J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 34 : 947-964.

(1956): Crows and Weaver

Birds—Ratiocination or what? ibid.

53 : 470-472.

——— & Ambedkar, V. C. (1956):

Notes on the Baya Weaver Bird, Ploceus

philippinus. ibid. 53: 381-389.

——— (1957): Further Notes on the

Baya Weaver Bird, Ploceus philippinus.

ibid. 54: 491-502.

Ali Salim & Crook, J. H. (1960):

Observations on Finn’s Baya (Ploceus

megarhynchus Hume) re-discovered in the

Kumaon Terai, 1959. ibid. 56 : 457-483.

Ambedkar, V. C. (1958): Notes on

the Baya: Breeding season 1957. ibid.

55 : 100-106.

Andrew, R. (1957): The aggressive

and. courtship behaviour of certain

Emberizidae. Behaviour 10 : 255-308.

Crook, J. H. (1958): Comparative

Ethology and Social Organisation of the

Weaver Birds. (Ph.D. Thesis). Cam-

bridge University Library.

REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA WEAVER 41

Crook, J. H. (1959) : Behaviour Study

and the classification of West African

Weaver Birds. Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond.,

170 Session, 1957-58, pt. 2 : 147-153.

———- (1960) : Nest Form and

Construction in West African Weaver

Birds. Jbis: 102(1): 1-25.

——— a: Studies on the Social Be-

haviour of Quelea q. quelea in French

West Africa. Behaviour (in press).

b: Comparative studies on the

reproductive behaviour of two colonial

Weaver bird species (Ploceus cucullatus

and P. castaneofuscus/nigerrimus ; sub-

family Ploceinae) in West Africa. Ibis

(in press).

Hediger, H. (1950): Wild Animals in

Captivity. London.

Hinde, R. A. (1952): The behaviour

of the Great Tit (Parus major) and other

related species. Behaviour supp. 2.

(1953): The conflict between

Drives in the Courtship and Copulation

of the Chaffinch. ibid. supp. 5: 1-31.

——— (1955-56): A comparative

study of the courtship of certain Finches

(Fringillidae) Ibis 97: 706-754, 98:

16-23.

Lack, D. (1954): The natural regu-

lation of Animal Numbers. Oxford.

Marler, P. (1956): Behaviour of the

Chaffinch, Fringilla coelebs. Behaviour

supp. 5.

Morel, G. & Bourliere, F. (1956):

Récherches écologiques sur les Quelea

q. quelea (L.) de la basse valée du Sénégal.

II La reproduction. Alauda 25. No. 2.

6-93,

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Vegetation of Kodaikanal in

South India

I. Systematic list of Trees, Shrubs, and Herbs

RAJ KUMAR GUPTA M.SC.

French Institute, Pondicherry

INTRODUCTION

Kodaikanal is a beautiful health resort in south India, situated on

the southern crest of the Palni plateau in Madurai district, and is visited

by numerous tourists, naturalists, and students every year. The height

of Kodaikanal is about 6900 ft. while the surrounding hills do not rise

beyond 7-8000 ft.

The name ‘ Kodaikanal’ is derived from the hanging woods situated

on the inner side of the basin, the top of which was previously a swamp

but was formed into a lake by banking up the stream in 1863. The

shape of the lake is like that of a starfish and is about 3 miles round when

measured along the level of the road on its margins.

Earlier noteworthy collections from the Palnis have been made by

Robert Wight, Lady Bourne, Sir Alfred Fyson, and Gamble. More

recently Fr. Pallithanam (1957) gave an account of some of his observa-

tions on the flora of Kodaikanal. The present paper gives an account

of the plants collected from the area during the author’s visit to this hill

station.

The floristic composition and status of the shola-grassland formation

have been discussed by the author in a separate communication. !

VEGETATION

The natural vegetation is of Southern Wet Temperate Forests

(Champion 1936) commonly called the sholas, which have suffered at

the hands of man to a great extent with the result that they are confined

to the folds of the hills and have practically vanished except at places

where they have been protected by the Forest Department. There are

vast stretches of grassland extending all over the area.

Certain exotic species, such as Acacia decurrens Willd., Acacia deal-

bata Link, Acacia melanoxylon R. Br., Eucalyptus citriodora Hook. fi

Eucalyptus filicifolia F. M. V., Eucalyptus globulus Labill., Pinus insignis

Dunel., Pinus roxburghii Sarg., have been planted so as to make the spot

attractive for tourists. As many as 35 species of Eucalyptus have been

1 Ecological Notes on the Vegetation of Kodaikanal. J. Ind. Bot. Soc. 39

(in press).

46 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

enumerated by Pallithanam (1957). Other exotic plants that have become

naturalised in the area are Cytisus scoparius Link, Ulex europaeus

Linn., Eupatorium glandulosum H.B. & K., etc. and are found as roadside

plants and in the grasslands.

The Bombay and the Tiger sholas have been preserved by the Forest

Department from cutting and lopping. Common plants met with in the

sholas are Eugenia calophyllifolia Wight, Eugenia arnottiana Wight,

Ternstroemia japonica Wight, Sideroxylon tomentosum Roxb., Meliosma

wightii Wall., Elaeocarpus tuberculatus Roxb., Symplocos spicata Roxb.,

Rhododendron nilagiricum Zenck. There are numerous shrubs, such as

Impatiens phoenicea Beddome, Mallotus albus Muell., Gaultheria fragran-

tissima Wall., Lobelia excelsa Lesch., Berberis tinctoria Lesch., that

cover the ground. There is heavy leaf litter and mould, which when

compressed with the hand may measure 3 to 4 inches.

In the grasslands common species present are Eragrostis nigra

Nees, Cymbopogon confertiflorus Stapf, Andropogon micranthus Kunth.,

Chrysopogon wightianus Nees, Brachypodium sylvaticum Beauv., etc.

These grasslands are invaded by a number of species from the

roadsides, such as Osbeckia wightiana Benth., Rhododendron nilagiricum

Zenck., Erigeron linifolius Willd., Rhodomyrtus tomentosa Wight. Other

roadside plants, such as Lycopodium cernuum Linn., Helichrysum brac-

teatum Andr., Crotalaria scabrella Wight & Arn., Alysicarpus rugosus DC.,

Dipsacus leschenaultiana Coult., Anaphalis beddomei Hook. f., Ageratum

conyzoides Linn., Artemisia nilagirica Pamp., Taraxacum officinale Linn.,

Wahlenbergia gracilis DC., Swertia corymbosa Wight, Cynoglossum

furcatum Wall., Verbascum thapsus Linn. are not uncommon in these

grasslands.

LIST OF THE PLANTS COLLECTED

The plants given in the following list have been collected from the

area and are preserved in the herbarium of the French Institute at Pondi-

cherry. The nomenclature followed is the one given by Fyson except

for some recent nomenclatural changes as given by Raizada (1958).

After the name of each plant, whenever possible, reference is given to

Fyson’s FLORA. Thus Naravelia zeylanica DC. (Fyson 1 : 4) means that

this plant is described in Fyson’s FLORA OF THE SOUTH INDIAN HILL

STATIONS Vol. 1, page 4. ° Plants marked with an asterisk have not been

described by Fyson.

Ranunculaceae

Naravelia zeylanica DC. (Fyson | : 4)

A climbing shrub with numerous white flowers in compound panicles.

Climber in sholas.

VEGETATION OF KODAIKANAL IN SOUTH INDIA 47

Ranunculus muricatus Linn. (Fyson | : 3)

A small herb with broad leaves and with conspicuous spines on

achenes. Flowers yellow. From Kodaikanal near a stream.

Ranunculus subpinnatus Wight & Arn. (Fyson | : 7)

An erect tufted herb with Jarge yellow flowers. Between 6000-7500

ft. Kodaikanal.

Magnoliaceae

Michelia champaca Linn. (Fyson 1: 11)

A tall tree with fragrant yellow flowers. Between 3000-5500 ft.

near Kodaikanal, occasionally found in gardens.

Berberidaceae

Berberis tinctoria Leschenault. (Fyson | : 15)

A shrub with yellow flowers in drooping racemes. The plant is

not similar to Berberis aristata found in the western Himalayas

Mahonia leschenaultii Takeda. (Fyson | : 16)

A big shrub with slender or stout branches. Sometimes almost a tree.

Flowers yellow in dense terminal racemes or spikes.

Nymphacaceae

Nymphaea stellata Willd. (Fyson 1 : 18)

An aquatic herb with blue flowers. The only species seen by me in

the Kodaikanal lake.

Cruciferae

*Lobularia maritima Desv.

A cultivated herb growing in the garden of La Providence.

*Cheiranthus cheiri Linn.

A cultivated herb grown for the flowers.

Violaceae

Viola partrinii DC. (Fyson 1 : 26)

A small herb with stout rootstock and white flowers. Common

in the open downs, in grasses in shady places ; also in the Himalayas.

48 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Bixaceae

*Cochlospermum gossypium DC.

A small tree with tomentose branchlets with a few golden yellow

flowers. Common on the roadsides in the lower hills.

Scolopia crenata Clos. (Fyson 1 : 28)

A tree with browny young branches and yellow flowers in racemes.

Common on the roadsides at lower levels.

Polygalaceae

Polygala javanica DC. (Fyson | : 34)

A small loosely-branched undershrub. Flowers with yellow wings

and pink keel. Common on Kodaikanal hills.

Polygala sibirica Linn. (Fyson 1 : 35)

A small herb with many stems and pinkish flowers in short racemes

from the axils of upper leaves. Very common on the cattle tracts in

grasses at 7000 ft.

Hypericaceae

Hypericum mysorense Heyne. (Fyson 1 : 46)

A shrub with four-angled wings and yellow flowers at the end of

branches solitary or in threes. Very common on the roadsides invading

grasslands on poor soils.

Ternstroemiaceae

Eurya japonica Thunb. (Fyson | : 53)

A big tree with straight stem. Flowers pale yellow, fragrant,

from the axils of fallen leaves. Common in the sholas, also found in

the western Himalayas.

Sterculiaceae

*Waltheria indica Linn.

A perennial villous herb with yellow flowers at 5000 ft. in Kodaikanal.

Elaeocarpaceae

*Elaeocarpus tuberculatus Roxb.

A tree with leaves glabrous above and hairy along the nerves

beneath. Flowers yellow, petals silky outside, in racemes. A common

tree of the sholas.

VEGETATION OF KODAIKANAL IN SOUTH INDIA_ 49

Elaeocarpus ferrugineus Wight. (Fyson 1 : 65)

A tree with brownish green foliage. Leaf like an inverted boat.

Flowers in racemes.. Common in the sholas at high levels.

Elaeocarpus oblongus Gaertner. (Fyson 1 : 65)

A middle-sized tree with white stem, twigs with conspicuous

lenticels. Flowers with white petals in racemes in the axils of fallen

leaves. Very common in the sholas near Kodaikanal at 6000 ft.

Geraniaceae

*Pelargonium zonale Ait.

A herb commonly cultivated for its flowers in gardens.

*Pelargonium graveolens L’Her.

A fragrant-leaved bushy plant, cultivated in gardens for its flowers.

Oxalis tetraphylla Cav. (Fyson 1 : 74)

Herb with four leaflets. Flowers pink or red on the upper side and

white on the lower. A common weed at 7000 ft.

Biophytum candolleanum Wight. (Fyson 1 : 77)

A small woody plant with yellow flowers. Common in shady

places at 6000 ft.

Impatiens phoenicea Cav. (Fyson 1 : 96)

A slender herb with dark green elliptic leaves and red flowers.

Common plant in the sholas.

Impatiens tomentosa Heyne. (Fyson 1: 88)

A branched herb with yellowish white flowers having magenta-coloured

wings spotted with dark purple near the crimson base. Quite common

on the downs at 7000 ft. | )

Rutaceae

Toddalia asiatica Lamk. (Fyson 1 : 100)

A. prickly shrub with white flowers in close axillary corymbose

panicles. Very common in the sholas extending down to the plains in

dry forests.

*Atalantia ceylanica Oliv. oe Sinien

A shrub, armed with prickly spines. iabeatiots notched. Flowers

shortly racemed. -Common in the lower hill near Kodaikanal. - --.--....

50 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Meliaceae

Toona ciliata Roem. Syn. Cedrela toona Roxb. (Fyson 1 : 105)

A handsoms tree with large pinnate leaves ; flowers white in axillary

branched panicles. A dominant tree of the low level sholas at 5000 ft.

below Kodaikanal. Also found in the Himalayas.

Aquefoliaceae

* Tlex malabarica Bedd. |

A large glabrous tree with narrowly elliptic oblong leaves. Male

flowers in shortly panicled umbellules. In the sholas at low level.

Celastraceae

Euonymus crenulatus Wall. (Fyson 1 : 110)

A small tree with yellowish green leaves and purplish brown flowers.

Quite common in the sholas.

Rhamnaceae

Zizyphus rugosa Lamk. (Fyson 1 : 117)

A large straggling shrub armed with solitary curved spines. Flowers

greenish yellow in long peduncled cymes on leafless branches. On

roadsides at 6500 ft.

Sapindaceae

Dodonaea viscosa Linn. (Fyson 1 : 128)

A shrub with lenticelled stem and flowers in terminal cymose

branches. In open places and edges of the sholas below Kodaikanal.

* Sapindus emarginatus Vahl.

A moderate-sized tree with pinnate leaves. Flowers white axillary

or terminal. Common near Kodaikanal in the low level sholas.

Anacardiaceae

*Buchanania angustifolia Roxb.

A tree with black brown bark, tesellated with deep irregular cracks.

Common in the forests of lower hills.

Sabiaceae

Meliosma wightii Planch. (Fyson 1 : 130)

A tree with dark green foliage and cream-coloured flowers in

branched panicles. Common tree in the sholas on Kodaikanal downs.

VEGETATION OF KODAIKANAL IN SOUTH INDIA 51

Meliosma microcarpa. (W. A.) Craib. Syn. Meliosma arnottiana Wight.

(Fyson 1 : 131)

A round-topped tree with dark green foliage with broad cream-

coloured bases of flowers. Common tree in the sholas at 5000 ft.

Leguminosae

Cytisus scoparius Link. (Fyson 1 : 138)

A herb with very dark green foliage and solitary yellow flowers in

the axils of the leaves. A very common herb on the roadsides invading

the grasslands.

Crotalaria fysonii Dunn. (Fyson 1: 144)

A small plant with large yellow flowers at the end of branches.

Common on the roadsides spreading over paths and cattle tracts.

Crotalaria scabrella Wight & Arn. (Fyson 1 : 141)

A small shrub with hard, stiff branches and yellow flowers. On

roadsides in long grass on the open downs.

Crotalaria semperflorens Vent. (Fyson 1 : 149)

A shrub with large ear-shaped stipules and yellow flowers in spikes.

Common on the roadsides and edges of the sholas above Kodaikanal.

*Alysicarpus rugosus DC.

An ascending herb with glabrous stem; leaflets 3. Flowers in

dense racemes. Pods 3-5 jointed.

Dumasia villosa DC. (Fyson | : 165)

A climber with 3-foliate leaves and yellow flowers in short racemes.

On the downs in sholas.

Trifolium repens Linn. (Fyson 1 : 153)

A herb with white flowers in heads. Cultivated for animal food,

here as an escape.

Mucuna hirsuta Wight & Arn. (Fyson 1 : 166)

A climbing herb with obliquely ovate leaves. Flowers reddish

purple. Fruit densely covered with hairs, having irritating properties.

Ulex europaeus Linn. (Fyson 1 : 136)

A thorny shrub with bright yellow flowers. Very common on the

roadsides, as an escape and spreading quickly.

Acacia melanoxylon R. Br. (Fyson 1 : 186)

A tree 50-75 ft. planted everywhere on the roadsides.

52 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Acacia decurrens Willd. (Fyson 1 : 186)

The plant is commonly planted everywhere near Kodaikanal.

Acacia dealbata Link. (Fyson 1 : 186)

A plant cultivated all around Kodaikanal.

Rosaceae

Rubus racemosus Roxb. (Fyson 1 : 195)

A shrub with branches and inflorescence covered with glandular

hairs. Flowers white. On the downs at Kodaikanal.

Rubus ellipticus Smith. (Fyson 1 : 193)

A shrub covered with white tomentum. Flowers yellow. In open

downs near Kodaikanal; also common in the Himalayas.

Fragaria indica Andr. (Fyson 1 : 197)

Herb with slender runners and yellow flowers. Common at Kodai-

kanal and in the Himalayas near water in shady place.

Myrtaceae

Baeckea virgata Anders. (Fyson 1: 216)

A loosely-branched shrub with flowers in the upper axils at Kodai-

kanal 7000 ft.

*Syzygium cumini (Linn.) Skeels. Syn. Eugenia jambolana (Fyson

1 : 222 under Syzygium jambolanum)

--A large spreading tree with numerous flowers in cymes. Common

tree of the sholas below Kodaikanal.

Eucalyptus globulus. Labill. (Fyson 1 : 217) |

A -tree cultivated extensively near Kodaikanal.

Eucalyptus citriodora Hook. (Fyson 1 : 217)

A tree with drooping branches and slender leaves. Cultivated near

Kodaikanal.

Eucalyptus filicifolia F.M.V. (Fyson 1 : 217)

A small tree with finely pointed leaves and red flowers. Cultivated

near Kodaikanal. |

Rhodomyrtus tomentosa Wight. (Fyson 1 : 218)

A round-topped shrub with green foliage and pink flowers in

cymose axillary corymbs.. Common on the roadsides and dry slopes.:

“VEGETATION OF KODAIKANAL IN SOUTH INDIA 53

Melastomaceae

Osbeckia wightiana Benth. (Fyson 1 : 226) |

A shrub with hairs on the branches. Flowers purple. Common on

the roadsides and downs up to 4000 ft.

Onagraceae

Fuchsia corymbiflora Ruiz & Pav. (Fyson 1 : 237)

A shrub cultivated in the gardens at Kodaikanal.

Passifloraceae

Passiflora leschenaultii DC. (Fyson 1 : 240)

A climber with semicircular leaves and white flowers. Common on

the shola trees.

Umbelliferae

Bupleurum distichophyllum Wight & Arn. (Fyson 1 : 251)

A herb with grass-like leaves and yellow flowers on open downs above

Kodaikanal. |

Bupleurum mucronatum Wight & Arn. (Fyson 1 : 250) |

A herb with linear-ohlong leaves and yellow flowers at 7000 ft. The

plant is different from B. falcatum found in the Himalayas.

| Heracleum sprengelianum Wight & Arn. (Fyson: 1 : 257)

A large herb with yellow flowers and elliptic mericarps. In the grass

on the downs. ?

Heracleum ceylanicum Gard. (Fyson 1 : 256)

Herb with longer than broad leaves and pure white flowers. In the

moist valleys.

ry Araliaceae

Schefflera racemosa Harms. (Fyson 1 : 260)

_ A medium-sized tree with 7-9 leaflets spreading star-like and white

flowers in axillary compound spikes. Common in the sholas.

Caprifoliaceae

Viburnum erubescens Wall. (Fyson 1 : 265)

A roadside shrub with white-barked branches and cream-coloured

flowers.

54 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Viburnum coriaceum Blume. (Fyson 1 : 263)

A small tree with lenticelled twigs and yellowish white flowers.

On the downs below and above Kodaikanal.

Rubiaceae

Oldenlandia stylosa O.Kze. (Fyson 1 : 272)

A shrub with flexuous branches and white flowers. In cool and

shady places near sholas.

Oldenlandia articularis Gamble (Fyson 1 : 272)

Shrub with narrow leaves and white flowers in terminal compact

cymes. In shady places on the downs.

Oldenlandia swertioides O.Kze. (Fyson 1 : 273)

A shrub with stiff ovate leaves and flowers in dense pubescent cymes.

Common on the downs above Kodaikanal.

*Anotis calycina Hook.f.

A small herb covered with soft hairs. Flowers white in terminal

cymes with a pair of leaves just below. In moist and shady places.

Anotis wightiana Wall. (Fyson 1 : 276)

A perennial herb clothed with soft curly hairs. Flowers white-blue,

shortly pedicelled ; at 6000 ft. at Kodaikanal.

Psychotria congesta Wight & Arn. (Fyson 1 : 287)

A glabrous shrub with oblanceolate leaves and white flowers in

terminal panicles. Common shrub in sholas, in downs.

Rubia cordifolia Linn. (Fyson 1 : 294)

A slender climbing herb. Flowers in axillary cymes on short axillary

branches. Common in thickets at Kodaikanal.

Galium asperifolium Wall. (Fyson 1 : 295)

A herb with rough and 4-angled stems climbing on bushes. Flowers

small. Above Kodaikanal on the downs.

Mussaenda hirsutissima Hutch. (Fyson 1 : 279)

A hairy shrub. Sepals white leaf-like. Corolla ornage-brown. Abun-

dant on lower slopes up to 6000 ft. |

Dipsaceae

Dipsacus leschenaultiana Coult. (Fyson 1 : 298)

A large herb. Stems hollow. Flowers whitish in heads. Above

Kodaikanal in downs. Flowers not seen. In the Himalayas another

species, Dipsacus inermis, is very common at the same altitude.

VEGETATION OF KODAIKANAL IN SOUTH INDIA 55

Compositae

‘Vernonia conyzoides DC. (Fyson 1 : 313)

A low herb usually unbranched till near flowering region. Heads

few in spreading corymbs. Below Kodaikanal near the sholas.

Vernonia monosis Benth. (Fyson 1 : 308)

A tree with densely tomentose young parts. Flowers mauve coloured.

In sholas at Kodaikanal at 7000 ft., commonly on the borders.

Vernonia saligna DC. (Fyson 1 : 312)

A herb with numerous heads in branched rounded cymes. Downs

just below Kodaikanal.

Anaphalis neelgerriana DC. (Fyson 1 : 334)

A herb, leaves bluish white coated with soft white cotton. Heads in

open corymbose panicles. Common on roadsides. There are several

other species of Anaphalis in the Himalayas, but not the ones in

Kodaikanal.

Anaphalis beddomei Hook. f. (Fyson 1 : 328)

A decumbent herb with branches curving upwards. Flower heads

in small corymbs on peduncles. Common on the downs at Kodai-

kanal.

Anaphalis leptophylla DC. (Fyson 1 : 333)

A herb with linear leaves. Heads pure white with yellow centre.

In damp and shady places near Kodaikanal.

Ageratum conyzoides Linn. (Fyson 1 : 315)

A hairy herb with light purple florets. Common on roadsides.

*Miyriactis wallichii DC.

A small herb with oblanceolate leaves and yellow heads. Near

Kodaikanal, common.

Conyza ambigua DC. (Fyson 1 : 322)

A herb with narrow linear leaves. Heads with pale florets. A com-

mon weed.

Bidens pilosa Linn. (Fyson 1 : 339)

Anerect herb with four-angled stem and three-foliate leaves. Flower-

ing portion forked cymosely, involucral bracts with scarious margins,

Ray florets yellow or white. A roadside weed.

Gnaphalium hypoleucun DC. (Fyson 1 : 334)

A herb with lanceolate leaves. Flowers golden coloured.

56 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

*Cnicus wallichii DC.

An erect herb with spine-toothed leaves, decurrent down the stem.

Florets purple, tubular, in terminal heads on short axillary, leafy

branches, forming a terminal corymbose panicle. -Near golf links. -

Moonia heterophylla Arn. (Fyson 1 : 337)

An annual herb. Flower-heads in irregular umbels. Ray florets white,

inner yellow. Common in sholas.

Artemisia nilagirica Pamp. .(Fyson 1 : 341) (=A.vulgaris Auct., non

Linn.)

Herbs with leaves white tomentose on under surface. All florets

fertile. Common in Kodaikanal downs in dense patches.

Artemisia parviflora Roxb. (Fyson 1 : 342)

A shrub-like herb with small heads and few florets. Common in

downs.

Taraxacum officinale Linn. (Fyson 1 : 356)

A herb with strong rootstock, florets yellow in solitary heads on

hollow scapes. A common weed at Kodaikanal and in the Himalayas

up to 10,000 ft.

Erigeron mucronatum DC. (Fyson 1: 320)

A herb with slender branches. Flower heads solitary, terminal, white

when young, pinkish when old. Kodaikanal, on roadsides.

Siegesbeckia orientalis Linn. (Fyson 1 : 338)

Pubescent herb. Heads terminal. Florets yellow.

Galinsoga parviflora Roxb. (Fyson 1 : 339)

An annual herb with small heads on slender stalks of unequal

length. Common in damp and shady places in sholas.

Campanulaceae

Wahlenbergia gracilis DC. (Fyson 1 : 361)

A perennial herb with linear lanceolate leaves and blue flowers.

Common in grass in open downs near and above Kodaikanal.

Lobeliaceae

Lobelia excelsa Lesch. (Fyson 1 : 359)

A tall herb. Flowers in dense purplish brown spikes. Near sholas

and roadsides, very common.

- VEGETATION OF KODAIKANAL IN SOUTH INDIA | 57

Vacciniaceae

Vaccinium nilgherense Wight. (Fyson 1 : 365)

A large shrub with narrow leaves, white flowers, and compressed

fruits. Common at Kodaikanal.

Ericaceae

Gaultheria fragrantissima Wall. (Fyson 1 : 366)

A shrub with snow-white flowers in axillary racemes. Very com-

mon at edges of sholas near Kodaikanal.

Rhododendron nilagiricum Zenck. (Fyson 1 : 368)

A small tree with rough elliptical leaves erect in bud. Flowers

crimson coloured. Very common, conspicuous by its red flowers like

the Rhododendron arboreum in the Himalayas.

Myrsinaceae

Maesa petrottetiana DC. (Fyson 1 : 373)

A shrub with lenticelled twiggy branches. Flowers in slender

racemes. Common plant of the sholas at low levels.

Styracaceae

Symplocos foliosa Wight. (Fyson 1 : 382)

A tree with lumpy foliage and white flowers in short axillary spikes.

In sholas near Kodaikanal.

Symplocos laurina (Retz.) Wali. ex G. Don. soit Beco spicata

Roxb. (Fyson 1 : 381)

A tree with thick glossy leaves and white yellow flowers in axillary

spikes. On downs above Kodaikanal.

Oleaceae

Olea glandulifera Wall. (Fyson 1 : 389)

A tree with grey and lenticelled branches. Flowers in regular

-decussately-branched panicles. In the sholas.

Ligustrum roxburghii C.B. Clarke. (Fyson 1 : 391)

A small tree with large acuminate leaves and creamy-white flowers

in axillary and terminal compound panicles. In low level sholas.

58 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Apocynaceae

*Vinca major Linn.

An erect herb with purplish flowers. On the walls on roadsides

at Kodaikanal.

Loganiaceae

*Buddleia asiatica Lour.

An erect shrub with lanceolate leaves and flowers in axillary and

terminal panicled cymes.

Gentianaceae

Exacum wightianum Arn. (Fyson 1 : 407)

A tall herb with violet blue flowers. In open downs near Kodai-

Kanal.

Swertia corymbosa Wight. (Fyson 1 : 410)

A small herb, flowers white with darker veins in umbel-like inflores-

cence. Very common in open downs.

Boraginaceae

Cynoglossum furcatum Wall. (Fyson 1 : 413)

A herb with lanceolate leaves and blue or pink flowers in spikes. In

the open downs.

Convolvulaceae

Argyreia nellygherrya Choisy. (Fyson 1 : 415)

A climber with silvery hairs on green parts. Flowers pale purple.

Kodaikanal at 5000 ft.

Solanaceae

Solanum nigrum Linn. (Fyson 1 : 419)

A small herb with white flowers and black fruits. Roadside weed in

damp and shady places.

*Solanum jasminoides Paxt.

A climbing shrub with white flowers, at 7000 ft.

Solanum laeve Dunal. (Fyson 1 : 419)

A small shrub with geniculate branches. Flowers white in axillary

branches.

VEGETATION OF KODAIKANAL IN SOUTH INDIA 59

*Cestrum fasciculatum Miers.

An elegant garden plant, 7000 ft.

Scrophulariaceae

Verbascum thapsus Linn. (Fyson 1 : 425)

A stout herb, with yellow flowers in densely woolly spikes. A weed

of waste places.

Digitalis purpurea Linn. (Fyson 1 : 429)

A herb with pink flowers in tall terminal spikes. Common in Kodai-

kanal as a garden escape.

Antirrhinum majus Linn.

Cultivated in the garden of La Providence for its flowers.

Acanthaceae

Strobilanthes kunthianus T. Anders. (Fyson 1 : 445)

A shrub with pale blue flowers in dense spikes, flowering only every

7-12 years. Common on open hillsides covering large areas.

Strobilanthes luridus Wight. (Fyson 1 : 451)

A straggling shrub with flowers in erect spikes on old branches with

broad bracts. In the sholas.

Rungia laeta Clarke. (Fyson 1 : 458)

A herb with terete stem. Flowers in axillary racemes.

Andrographis neesiana Wight. (Fyson 1 : 454)

Shrub with flowers in one-sided racemes in the axils of upper and

smaller bract-like leaves. On the downs.

*Blepharis maderaspatensis (Linn.) Heyne ex Roth. Syn. Blepharis

boerhaviaefolia Pers.

A prostrate herb with axillary spikes. Flowers pink. At Kodai-

kanal, at 6000 ft.

Verbenaceae

Lantana aculeata Linn. (Fyson 1 : 459)

A strongly scented shrub, with recurved prickles on the angles of

branches. Flowers orange, red, or pink. Naturalized and trouble-

some.

60 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

*Stachytarpheta indica Vahl. | =

A herb with flowers in long spikes. Corolla tubular pink. A garden

escape.

Clerodendrum serratum Moon. (Fyson 1:461 under Clerodendron

serratum Spreng.) |

A shrub; flowers blue with a conspicuously wide oblique mouth.

Common on the slopes near Kodaikanal.

*Verbena citriodora H. & B. & K. .

A cultivated shrub. In garden of La Providence.

Labiatae

Pogostemon speciosus Benth. (Fyson 1 : 472)

An undershrub with flowers in terminal spikes. In cool and shady

places on the outskirts of sholas.

Pogostemon heyneanus Benth. (Fyson 1 : 471) 7

An aromatic shrub with slender spike. Near Kodaikanal often culti-

vated.

Micromeria biflora Benth. (Fyson 1 : 474)

A small herb with pink purple flowers in small cymes in the axils of

the leaves. Common all over in grass.

Scutellaria violacea Heyme. (Fyson | : 476)

A herb with white flowers tinged with purple in spikes. Common in

moist and shady places.

*Salvia patens Cav.

A garden plant. Cultivated often for its flowers.

*Salvia farinacea Benth.

A garden plant. Cultivated for the flowers.

Leucas angularis Benth. (Fyson 1 : 480)

_ A straggling herb with few white flowers. Common on shrubs and

small trees. 2

Leucas suffruticosa Benth. (Fyson 1 : 480)

An undershrub; under surface of the leaves white. Flowers white.

Common in the grass of the downs.

Leucas hirta Spreng. (Fyson 1: 483.)

A herb with elliptic, obscurely-toothed leaves. Flowers white. -

VEGETATION OF KODAIKANAL IN SOUTH INDIA 61

Plantaginaceae

*Pjantago major Linn. |

_ A perennial herb with stout rootstock. Flowers in spikes. Cultivated

in gardens.

Amaranthaceae

Achyranthes bidentata Bl. (Fyson 1 : 487)

_ A herb similar to Achyranthes aspera but the bracteoles of the flowers

are reduced to spines. Common herb in the sholas.

Polygonaceae

Polygonum chinense Linn. (Fyson 1 : 493)

A shrub-like herb with white or pinkish flowers. Very common in

the rich cool soil.

Piperaceae

Piper brachystachyum Wall. (Fyson 1 : 499)

A small herb. Leaves elliptic, narrower than long, with 4 side-veins.

Male spikes slender. Female spikes smaller than male, about 4”, erect

in fruit. Common on the sholas near Kodaikanal.

Piper schmidtii Hook. f. (Fyson 1 : 500)

A small herb with ovate elliptic leaves. Flowers in male and female

spikes. Near Kodaikanal, common in sholas. Berry red or yellow.

Piper wightii Mig. (Fyson 1 : 500)

A herb with stout branches and broad leaves with 5-7 nerves near the

base. Spike stout, bracts with prominent sinuate margins. Below

Kodaikanal and in Bombay shola.

Lauraceae

Cinnamomum wightii Meissn. (Fyson 1 : 503)

A large tree with light green foliage. Flowers in open panicles.

Common tree of the sholas.

Litsea wightiana Wall. (Fyson 1 : 507)

A moderate tree with coriaceous leaves. Common in sholas.

Thymelaeaceae

*Lasiosiphon eriocephalus Decne.

_ Ashrub with slender twigs. Flowersin terminal heads, nearly

globular. In sholas at 6000 ft.

62 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Elaeagnaceae

Elaeagnus kologa Schlecht. (Fyson 1 : 511)

A straggling shrub, covered with silvery scales and with spiny branch-

lets at the angles of main bracts. Flowers in clusters of 4-5 in leaf axils.

Common in sholas.

Santalaceae

Osyris wightiana Wall. ex Wight Syn. Osyris arborea Wall. (Fyson

13522)

A shrub with angular and green branchlets. Fruit a yellow-orange

berry. In sholas and downs.

Euphorbiaceae

-Mallotus albus Muell. var. occidentalis Hook. f. (Fyson 1: 535)

An evergreen tree with young parts covered densely with tomentum.

Flowers in terminal panicles. Below Kodaikanal very common at

6500 ft.

*Bischoffia javanica Blume

A round-headed, glabrous tree with green flowers in panicles. Males

minute on slender pedicels, females on stout pedicels.

Euphorbia rothiana Spr. (Fyson 1 : 527)

A herb with narrow leaves, one-nerved. Flowering branches 3-5,

tufted once or twice. On margins of sholas in shady places on damp

soil.

Phyllanthus rheedii Wight. (Fyson 1 : 528)

An annual undershrub with slender reddish stem. Male flowers

2-3 at a node, females solitary. Common near Kodaikanal.

Urticaceae

Trema orientalis Bl. (Fyson 1 : 539)

A tree with ovate leaves, nerves joined by many cross veins, lower

surface white with silvery pubescence. On slopes below Kodaikanal.

Orchidaceae

Oberonia wightiana Lindl. (Fyson 1 : 562)

An epiphyte, pale yellowish green flowers. On shola trees at Kodai-

kanal.

VEGETATION OF KODAIKANAL IN SOUTH INDIA 63

Aerides ringens Fischer. (Fyson 1 : 579)

An epiphytic orchid with strongly grooved leaves often spotted brown.

Flowers in spikes. On shola trees.

Saccolabium filiforme Lindley. (Fyson 1 : 581)

Anepiphytic herb with slender green stem, stick-like leaves, and

yellow-brown flowers in drooping spikes. Frequent in sholas.

Spiranthes australis Lindley. (Fyson 1 : 583)

A small terrestrial orchid with flowers in dense spirals. Common in

grass all over the downs.

Liliaceae

Lilium neilgherrense Wight. (Fyson 1 : 611)

A peculiar herb with narrow lanceolate leaves and single, bell-shaped,

pendulous flower. Common in open downs.

Commelinaceae

Commelina clavata Clarke. (Fyson 1 : 615)

Herbs with slender stem. Flowers blue in small cymes sheathed in

a large heart-shaped bract. On downs below Kodaikanal.

Cyanotis pilosa Schultes. (Fyson 1 : 617)

Herbs with thick rootstock. Flowers in clusters. On slopes above

Kodaikanal.

Cyanotis arachnoidea Clarke. (Fyson 1 : 618)

Sprawling herbs, covered with white hairs. Flowers in terminal

cymes with a leaf or bract just below. In dry places above Kodaikanal.

Araceae

Arisaema leschenaultii Blume. (Fyson 1 : 623)

A herb with stem mottled with brownish purple marks. Spadix

straight not projecting beyond the mouth. Female spadix with hair-like

projections. On roadsides in cool and shady places.

Cyperaceae

Fimbristylis paupercula Boeck. (Fyson 1 : 639)

A herb with short rhizome and tufted stem. Spikelets in an irregular

umbel. Common on the dry slopes.

64 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Fimbristylis kingii Clarke. (Fyson 1 : 638)

A herb with short rhizome at 7000 ft. in Kodaikanal.

Carex baccans Nees. (Fyson 1 : 650)

A grass-like herb with stout rhizome and tall stem. Spikes 14-2”,

upper flower male, in large panicle. Utricle ribbed strongly. Shola at

7000 ft.

Graminaceae

Oplismenus compositus Beauv. (Fyson 1 : 659)

A weak-stemmed grass with thin flat leaves. Spikelets in short spikes.

Very common in the sholas.

Ischaemum ciliare Retz. (Fyson 1 : 664)

A coarse grass with elliptic, acute leaves. Flowering stem slender and

purplish upwards. Spikes two diverging. In Kodaikanal on the open

downs.

*Ischaemum aristatum Linn.

A perennial grass. At 7000 ft.

Chrysopogon wightianus Nees. (Fyson 1 : 666)

A grass with tufted stem, glumes red, anthers yellow. Awns long an

bent. In and near Kodaikanal.

Chrysopogon zeylanicus Th. (Fyson 1 : 667)

A grass with a stout rootstock. Leaves narrow, pubescent with

slender greenish branches. Near Kodaikanal on the downs.

Heteropogon contortus Beauv. (Fyson 1 : 668)

A grass with stem about 1 ft. densely tufted. Leaves rigid. Spikelets

terminal solitary. Abundant near Kodaikanal.

Cymbopogon confeltiflorus Stapf. (Fyson 1 : 669) -

_ A grass with 3-4 ft. stem. Glume of the sessile spikelet shallow. In

and around Kodaikanal. |

Anthistiria ciliata Linn. (Fyson 1 : 671)

A tall annual grass. Leaf blade ciliate near the base with hairs on

bulbous bases. On the downs above Kodaikanal.

Anthoxanthum odoratum Linn. (Fyson 1: 671) - . at

A sweet-scented grass with a rhizome. In the weds near - Kodai-

tee

VEGETATION OF KODAIKANAL IN SOUTH INDIA 65

Sporobolus indicus Br. (Fyson 1 : 672)

A grass with narrow leaves and long spike-like panicles, branches of

which are closely covered to the base with small spikelets and erect

close to the stem. Very common near Kodaikanal.

Avena aspera Munro. (Fyson | : 674)

A grass with flat leaves, stem purplish ending in a narrow panicle of

erect spikelets. Near Kodaikanal.

Bromus asper Murray. (Fyson 1 : 680)

A grass with slender stem 2-3 ft. Leaves slender.

near and below Kodaikanal.

In moist places

Brachypodium sylvaticum Beauv. (Fyson | : 681)

A perennial grass, stem 2-4 ft. Leaves narrow spike 2-6” nodding its

axis flattened. In the downs of Kodaikanal.

Coniferae

*Pinus roxburghii Sargent.

A large tree with thick and furrowed bark.

light green. Planted rarely in Kodaikanal.

Leaves triquetrous,

Eycopodiace ac

*Lycopodium cernuum Linn.

A small herb, very common on the roadsides at Kodaikanal.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author is deeply indebted to Prof. P. Legris for his valuable

suggestions and for excellent facilities provided during the author’s

tours; to Rev. Fr. H. Santapau for his criticism and perusal of the

manuscript ; and to Dr. G. S. Puri, Regional Botanist, Botanical Survey

of India, Poona, for his kind help and suggestions during the course of

the work.

REFERENCES

Champion, H. G. (1936) : A preli- Fyson, P. F. (1932): The Flora of

minary survey of the forest types of

India and Burma. Jnd. For. Rec. 1936

(N.S.) 1: 1-236

Fyson, P. F. (1915-21): The Flora of

Nilgiri and Palney Hill Tops (above

6500 ft.) and Kodaikanal. Madras. 3

vols.

South Indian Hill Stations. Madras. 2

vols.

Pallithanam, J. (1957) : Observations

on the flora of Kodaikanal. J. Bombay

nat. Hist. Soc. 54 : 835-844.

Raizada, M. B. (1958) : Name Changes

in Common Indian Plants. Ind. For. 84:

467-538.

Fishes from the Kashmir Valley’

Bie eae | _ Ki

E. G. Sivas :

Central Marine Fisheries Research Station, Mandapam Cate

(With two plates)

In March-April 1954 the late’ Dr. Sunder Lal Hora visited the

Kashmir Valley and/made an extensive collection of fishes, which on his

return to Calcutta he kindly passed on to me for study. As regards the

topography of the Kashmir Valley and its drainage, he wrote that the

Valley is ‘about eighty miles long, about twenty to twenty-five miles

broad, and on the average rising about 6000 ft. above sea-level. It is

flanked on almost all sides by snow-capped mountains. The Jhelum

River which originates in its south-eastern corner traverses its whole length

and is supplied by several spring-fed and snow-fed streams as well as by

“its all great water reservoirs, the most important of which are the Wular,

the Dal, and the. Manasbal lakes.’ (Hora ef al., 1955).

Up to now the most important treatise on the fishes of Kasi

is Heckel (1838) : FiscHeE Aus CASCHMIR, which contains descriptions of

sixteen species, all described as new to science. In 1844 Heckel published

‘ Fische Kaschmir’s’ in Von Huegel’s KASCHMIR UND DAS REICH DER

SEIK (Bd. 4, abth. 2, pp..351-384) with a few minor changes. McClelland

(1839) in the ‘Supplement’ to his monograph on Indian Cyprinidae

commented on Heckel’s species from Kashmir, which have also found

mention in volumes 15 and 16 of the HisToIRE NATURELLE DES POISSONS

(Valenciennes, 1840 & 1842). Since then notable contributions -con-

cerning the ichthyofauna of Kashmir have been those by Steindachner

(1866), Giinther (1868), Day (1876, 18784, 18785), Chaudhuri (1909),

Hora (1922a, 19226, 1934, 1936, 1939), Mukerji (1936), Misra (1949),

and Hora & Silas (1952 aand b). In addition, there are several references

to sport-fishing in Kashmir, of which Ross (1916) and Mitchell (1918)

deserve special mention. re

The examination of the fresh material as well as that already present

in the fish collection of the Zoological Survey of India has enabled me to

codify the nomenclature of the species described by Heckel (op. cit.), as

given in Table 1.

’ 2 Published with the permission of the Chief Research Officer, Central Marine

Fisheries Research Station, Mandapam Camp.

FISHES FROM THE KASHMIR VALLEY. 67

Misra (op. cit.) has shown that Heckel’s species Schizothorax plagios-

tomus and S. sinuatus were based on male and female specimens of the

same species respectively, and as such the specific name S. plagiostomus

(= Oreinus plagiostomus) which has priority is used. I have compared

a few specimens from the Kashmir Valiey referable to Varicorhinus

diplostomus Heckel (= Tylognathus valenciennesii Heckel) with Labeo

dero (Hamilton), which species also occurs in the Indo- Gangetic water-

sheds along the Himalayas and do not find sufficient difference between

them to justify the Kashmir specimens being considered specifically

distinct. Hence I consider them conspecific and have here used. the older

name, Labeo dero, to indicate them.

Hora (1939) gave an excellent account of the mahseer Barbus (Tor)

putitora (Hamilton) in the ‘ Game Fishes of India ’ series published 1 in the

Journal, and indicated the distribution of the species as ‘ all along the

Himalayas’. However, one significant omission is his non-inclusion of

Labeobarbus macrolepis Heckel in its synonymy. I take this oppor-

tunity to rectify this and at the same time support Hora’s contention that

infraspecific differentiation of the different species of mahseers must

await detailed scrutiny of good series of material from the different

watersheds along the range of distribution of the species.

Mukerji (1935) proposed a new subspecies Crossochilus latius

punjabensis to denote. the variety of C. Jatius from the Punjab and

Afghanistan. I have compared specimens of this variety of C. latius

from the Punjab with those from the Kashmir Valley referable to Barbus

diplochilus Heckel (= Varicorhinus barbatulus Heckel) and find that in all

diagnostic characters including the relatively smaller size at maturity

as well as the smaller size of the eyes (diameter 4.2 to 5 versus 3.6 to 3.7

in head length in the forma .typica) they are identical. This being the

case, I propose considering the older name diplochilus as valid to denote

the subspecies of C. /atius occurring in the Kashmir Valley and the

Punjab (Indus drainage), relegating C. /. punjabensis Mukerji to its syne:

nymy.. rae

Cobitis marmorata Heckel and C. vittata Heckel are at Ae te re-

ferable to the genus Noemacheilus van Hasselt, while Haig (1950) has

shown that Silurus lamgur Heckel is a synonym of Ompok. bimaculatus

(Bloch).

More than any other Indian species of fishes, I feel, that inter- sperifie

as well as inter- -generic hybridization in nature takes place to a greater

extent among the Schizothoracinae. The primary factors responsible

for this in the Kashmir Valley are the great abundance innumbers of each

species present, overlap in breeding time, and their spatial distribution

in the Valley. The collection contains specimens showing intergrading

characters attributable to hybrids,-the easily recognisable combinations

No.

10.

ihe

12.

13.

JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Heckel (1838)

Schizothorax plagiostomus

p. 16, pl. 1.

Schizothorax sinuatus

Di2iaw. 2:

Schizothorax curvifrons

DaZonD non

Schizothorax longipinnis

D275 Dle4.

Schizothorax niger

p.29;:pl.5.

Schizothorax nasus

p. 32, pl. 6.

Schizothorax hiigelii

p36; pled:

Schizothorax micropogon

p. 41, pl. 8, fig. 1.

Schizothorax planifrons

p. 44, pl. 8, fig. 2.

Schizothorax esocinus

p. 48, pl. 9.

Labeobarbus macrolepis

p. 60, pl. 10, fig. 2.

Barbus diplochilus

p. 63, pl. 10, fig. 1.

Varicorhinus

D:-67, Dinti.

Cobitis marmorata

p. 76, pl. 12, figs. 1 & 2.

Cobitis vittata

p. 80, pl. 12, figs. 3 & 4.

Silurus lamgur

p. 82, pl. 12, figs. 5 & 6.

diplostomus

Valenciennes

(XV, 1840 ; XVI, 1842)

Schizothorax plagios-

tomus

XVI, p. 213.

Schizothorax sinuatus

XVI, p. 214.

Schizothorax curvifrons

XVI, p. 216.

Schizothorax longipin-

nis

XVI, p. 216.

Schizothorax niger

XVI, p. 217.

Schizothorax nasus

XVI, p. 218.

Schizothorax hiigelii

XVI, p. 219.

Schizothorax — micro-

pogon

XVI, p. 220.

Schizothorax plani-

frons

XVI, p. 224.

Schizothorax esocinus

XVI, p. 221.

Labeobarbus ‘ macro-

lepis

XVI, p. 209.

Barbus diplochilus

XVI, p. 204.

Labeo diplostomus

XVI, p. 360.

Silurus lamgur

XV, p. ix.

TABLE

Heckel

(1844)

Schizothorax plagios-

tomus

Schizothorax sinuatus

Schizothorax curvifrons

Schizothorax longipin-

nis

Schizothorax niger

Schizothorax nasus

Schizothorax hiigelii

Schizothorax micro-

pogon

Schizothorax planifrons

Schizothorax esocinus

Labeobarbus

lepis

macro-

Tylognathus barbatulus

IV, p. 376.

Tylognathus _ valencien-

nesil

IV, p. 378.

Cobitis marmorata

IV, p. 380.

Cobitis vittata

IV, p. 382.

Silurus lamgur

Here se eee erreseaareaeceeacrec rence eecceeeeceececeeeee nee eS

FISHES FROM THE KASHMIR VALLEY

Giinther Day

(V, 1864; VII, 1868) (1878)

Oreinus plagiostomus Oreinus plagiostomus

VII, p. 160.

Oreinus sinuatus

VII, p. 161.

Schizothorax curvifrons

VII, p. 164.

Schizothorax longipinnis

VII, p. 166.

Schizothorax niger

VII, p. 164.

Schizothorax nasus

VII, p. 166.

Schizothorax hugelii

VII, p. 164.

Schizothorax micropogon

VII, p. 163.

Schizothorax planifrons

VII, p. 163.

Schizothorax esocinus

VII, p. 166.

Barbus macrolepis

VIL, p. 131.

Crossochilus barbatulus

VII, p. 72.

Labeo diplostomus

VII, p. 57.

Nemachilus marmoratus

Vilpe 356.

Nemachilus marmoratus

VII, p. 356.

Silurichthys lamgur

V, p. 36.

p. 530

Oreinus sinuatus

Ds 529; Dai Cxxiv,

fig. 4.

(species inquirendae)

De 5525

(species inquirendae)

pros.

(species inquirendae)

Dp; .531;

(species inquirendae)

p. 532.

(species inquirendae)

Pr o52;

(species inquirendae)

p. 532.

(species inquirendae)

p. 532:

Schizothorax esocinus

p. 533, pl. cxxiii, fig. 4.

Barbus tor (Hamilton)

p. 564, pl. cxxxvi,

figs 3 & plecxi, fis. 1.

Cirrhina latia (in part)

p. 548.

Labeo diplostomus

p. 540, pl. cxxix,

fig. 2.

Nemachilus marmoratus

p. 620, pl. clv, fig. 9

Nemachilus marmoratus

p. 620.

Callichrous pabda (Hamil-

ton), p. 479, pl.

cxi, figs. 2 & 3.

Present nomenclature

3 Oreinus plagiostomus

plagiostomus (Heckel)

QOreinus plagiostomus

plagiostomus (Heckel)

Schizothorax curvifrons

curvifrons Heckel

Schizothorax longipinnis

Heckel

Schizothorax curvifrons niger

Heckel

Schizothorax nasus Heckel

Schizothorax hugelii Heckel

Schizothorax micropogon

Heckel

Schizothorax planifrons

Heckel

Schizothorax esocinus

esocinus Heckel

Tor putitora Hamilton

Crossochilus latius diplo-

chilus (Heckel)

Labeo dero (Hamilton)

| Noemacheilus marmora-

tus (Heckel)

Noemacheilus vittatus

(Heckel)

Ompok bimaculatus

(Bloch)

10. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

being Schizothorax esocinus x Schizothorax sp., and Oreinus plagiostomus

x Schizothorax sp.

In the fish collection of the Zoological Survey of India hese 1S material

of three species, Schizothorax nobilis McClelland (Z.S.1. Reg. No. 6532,

and F. 5325/1), S. intermedius McClelland (Day’s coll. Reg. No. 791)

and “Lepidocephalichthys balgara (Hamilton) (Day’s coll. Reg. No. 2584),

all labelled as having been obtained from ‘ Kashmir’ or ‘ Kashmir lakes ’.

Since the exact localities are not clearly specified and as the present collec-

tion does not indicate their occurrence in the Valley, these species are

not included in the synopsis to the species known from the Valley given

at the end of this paper. So also several Indian species, namely-Chela

cachius Hamilton, Esomus danricus (Hamilton), Barilius vagra Hamilton,

Barilius--bendelisis (Hamilton), Aspidoparia morar (Hamilton), Puntius

sophore Hamilton, Puntius ticto Hamilton, Puntius sarana (Hamilton),

Labeo bata (Hamilton), Cirrhinus mrigala (Hamilton), Channa sp., Ambas-

sis sp., Mastacembelus armatus (Lacépéde), etc., occurring in the Jhelum

drainage below the Kashmir Valley and in the Jammu area, and species

such<-as ~Noemacheilus yarkendensis Day, N. ladacensis Giinther, N.

stoliczkae (Steindachner), etc., occurring in northern Kashmir beyond

the limits of the Kashmir Valley are not included in the synopsis.

The absence of any specimens of Barbus compressus Day in the collec-

tion also lends support to Mukerji’s contention (Mukerji; 1935) that the

type locality of this species is probably not Kashmir, but more likely

northern Burma and that the type specimen might have been inadvertently

placed in a bottle containing a specimen of Oreinus from.Kashmir. —

The two exotic or introduced species in the Valley are the American

Cyprinodont Gambusia affinis holbrookii Girard and the Brown Trout

Salmo trutta fario Linnaeus. The former is a recent introduction and

occurs profusely in certain places thereby indicating that it is well es-

tablished in the natural waters of the Valley. The Brown Trout attains

very large sizes in the cool waters of the Valley and there is one on record

which weighed 16 Ib. 1 oz. (Mitchell 1916). 7

The species, both indigenous as well as exotic, at present known from

the Kashmir Valley may be classified as follows :

“LIST OF SPECIES

Order... SALMONIFORMES

Family : : SALMONIDAE

Salmo trutta fario Linnaeus, —

Order : CACRRUN 9 DON gee

~ Family : POECILMIDAE

Gambusia affinis holbrookii Girard

. FISHES FROM THE KASHMIR VALLEY aie) (5:

Order: SILURIFORMES

Family : SISORIDAE

Glyptothorax kashmirensis Hora

_ Glyptosternum reticulatum McClelland

- .Family : SILURIDAE

Ompok bimaculatus (Bloch)

Order: CYPRINIFORMES

Family : CYPRINIDAE

Subfamily: Schizothoracinae

Oreinus plagiostomus plagiostomus (Heckel)

Ptychobarbus conirostris Steindachner

Diptychus maculatus Steindachner

Schizothorax progastus McClelland

Schizothorax nasus Heckel

Schizothorax planifrons Heckel

Schizothorax esocinus esocinus Heckel

Schizothorax hugelii Heckel

Schizothorax longipinnis Heckel

Schizothorax micropogon Heckel

Schizothorax curvifrons curvifrons Heckel

Schizothorax curvifrons niger Heckel

Subfamily: Garrinae

Crossochilus latius diplochilus (Heckel)

Subfamily: Cyprininae

Labeo dero (Hamilton)

‘Labeo dyocheilus (McClelland)

Tor putitora Hamilton

Family : CoBITIDAE

Subfamily: Botiinae

- Botia birdi Chaudhuri

Subfamily: Noemacheillinae

Noemacheilus rupicola (McClelland)

~ Noemacheilus gracilis Day

Noemacheilus vittatus (Heckel)

Noemacheilus kashmirensis Hora

Noemacheilus marmoratus (Heckel)

Noemacheilus yasinensis Alcock

- From the above list it is clear that the bulk of the indigenous fish

fauna of the Valley is composed of the Palaearctic element (of central.

72 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Asiatic origin) while those of Indian origin are O. bimaculatus, G. kash-

mirensis, C.l. diplochilus, L. dero, L. dyocheilus, T. putitora, B. birdi, and

N. rupicola. Of the latter, G. kashmirensis is endemic in the Kashmir

Valley, but its congeners are predominant in the Oriental Region. Six

species and one subspecies of Schizothorax (except S. progastus and

S. esocinus) and three species of the genus Noemacheilus, namely N.

vittatus, N. marmoratus, and N. kashmirensis appear to be endemic in

the Valley. On the whole, the high percentage of endemicity (about 42%)

of the fish fauna of the Valley is noteworthy.

The key below embraces all valid species described by Heckel (op.

cit.), those recorded by various authors from Kashmir Valley since that

date, and those present in the collection under study. Specimens ap-

proximating very close to Schizothorax progastus McClelland and Noe-

macheilus rupicola (McClelland) are present in the collection. I find

that the differences between Schizothorax curvifrons and S. niger are not

sufficiently distinct to justify their treatment as separate species and hence

the latter is treated here as a subspecies of S. curvifrons.

This account of the fishes of the Kashmir Valley will not be complete

without a reference to the fossil fishes known from the area. Hora (1937)

has described remains of Schizothoracinae (scales, one pharyngeal tooth,

pectoral spine, and skeleton of caudal region) referable to Schizothorax

or Oreinus [in all probability those of S. curvifrons, and O. sinuatus

(= O. plagiostoms)| from the Karewas beds of Kashmir.

Details on the ecology of most of the species dealt with in this paper

are embodied in an excellent article by G. Evelyn Hutchinson entitled

‘Ecological observation on the Fishes of Kashmir and Indian Tibet ’

(Ecol. Monogr. 9 : 145-182. 1939).

In conclusion I hope that this paper, wherein the nomenclature of

Heckel’s species (Heckel, op. cit.) is codified and a working ‘ Key’

is given for the identification of all the species known from the Kashmir

Valley, will stimulate greater interest in the study of the ichthyofauna of

this area. Racial studies of the Schizothoracinae, especially the impor-

tant species such as S. esocinus, S. curvifrons, O. plagiostomus, etc.,

are lacking. Investigations hitherto on natural hybrids between species

of the Schizothoracinae have been cursory, and detailed observations

on this aspect will be of interest. It is also hoped that this account will

aid in the preparation of a comprehensive work on the fishes of Kashmir.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My grateful thanks are due to the late Dr. Sunder Lal Hora for plac-

ing at my disposal his collection of Kashmir fishes for study and the facili-

ties given to me for working out the collection at the Zoological Survey

of India, Calcutta. I am also thankful to Dr. S. Jones, Chief Research

JOURN. BOMBAY NAT. HIST. Soc. PLATE 1

Outline drawings of Kashmir fishes showing diagnostic characters

For explanation see p. 73.

JOURN. BomBaAy NAT. HIsT. Soc. - Prats If

Sea

TS hee,

ply

MOE CLE Cee eal (GA,

“ St SAS : en UN

hg?

- ~,

Bes 9 OR ales CP | vi

15 er

Outline drawings of Kashmir fishes showing diagnostic characters

“For explanation see p. 73.

FISHES FROM THE KASHMIR VALLEY 73

Officer, Central Marine Fisheries Research Station, for giving me facili-

ties for working at this Station and completing this account.

Explanation to Plate I

Outline drawings of Kashmir fishes showing diagnostic characters

1. Tor putitora Hamilton; 2. Ventral view of anterior part of head of same;

3. Ventral view of anterior part of head of Noemacheilus showing disposition of three

pairs of barbels; 4. Noemacheilus kashmirensis Hora; 5. Noemacheilus rupicola

(McClelland) ; 6. Gambusia affinis holbrookii Girard, female; 7. Same, Male ;

8. Glyptothorax kashmirensis Hora, Male; 9. Same, Female; 10. Pectoral spine

ofsame; 11. Outer pectoral spine of Glyptosternum reticulatum McClelland showing

pinnate condition; 12. Thoracic adhesive disc of G. kashmirensis; 13. Ventral

view of G. reticulatum; 14. Ompok bimaculatus (Bloch); 15. The Brown Trout,

Salmo trutta fario Linnaeus.

(Figures 1, 4, 8,9 & 12 after Hora; 6 & 7 after Prashad & Hora; 14 after

Day; 11 & 13 after Hora & Silas)

Abbreviations : AD =Adipose dorsal fin; B=three pairs of barbels; IOR =Part

of anal fin modified into intromittent organ: LLI= Lateral line; MDL= Median

lobe of lower lip; OPS= Outermost pectoral spine which is soft and pinnate;

OS=Strong osseus dorsal spine; PS=Osseus and denticulated pectoral spine;

TD= Thoracic adhesive disc.

Explanation to Plate II |

Outline drawings of Kashmir fishes showing diagnostic characters

1. Schizothorax esocinus esocinus Heckel; 2. Oreinus plagiostomus plagiostomus

(Heckel), Male; 3. Head of female of same species; 4. Ventral view of anterior

part of head of same species; 5. Ptychobarbus conirostris Steindachner; 6. Ventral

view of head of same; 7. Diptychus maculatus Steindachner; 8. Ventral view

of head of same; 9. Ventral view of anterior part of head of Crossocheilus :

10. Crossocheilus latius diplochilus (Heckel) ; 11. Schizothorax progastus McClelland;

12. Region of anal fin and the vent in the Schizothoracinae showing disposition of

enlarged scales forming the ‘Anal sheath’; 13. Labeo dyocheilus (McClelland) ;

14. Head of same showing nature and disposition of tubercles; 15. Inner fold of

lower lip of same showing the transverse folds, each fold in turn being striated;

16. Head of Labeo dero (Hamilton); 17. Inner fold of lower lip of same showing

papillae. (Figures 1, 5-8, 11 & 13 after Day; 2, 3, & 10 after Misra; 14-17 after

Hora)

Abbreviations: AF=Anal fin; AS=Anal sheath of scales; FL=Inner fold

of lower lip; M=Mouth; LL=Lower lip; NS=Normal scales; PA=Papilla ;

SL = Scaleless area; SOS=Strongly osseus and serrated dorsal spine; TU=

Tubercles; UL=Upper lip joined to rostrum.

la.

1b.

2a.

2b.

3a.

3b.

4a.

4b.

Sa.

5b.

10a.

10D.

JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

KEY TO THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE ‘SPECIES ,

Body totally scaleless “ Ss ie ae ; 2

Body partly or wholly scaled (exception being certain species of the euly

Cobitidae) .. ioe s bs BR eke

Body laterally compressed ; barbels two pairs ; an adipose dorsal fin absent ; -

anal fin greatly elongate with 53 or more rays :

Ompok bimaculatus (Bloch) (Pl. I, fig. 14)

Body: depressed and ventrally flattened ; barbels four pairs; an adipose _

dorsal fin present ; anal fin short with not more than 6 branched rays .. 3

A longitudinally striated thoracic adhesive disc present; pectoral St

osseous and denticulated along its inner border

Glyptothorax kashmirensis Hora (P1. I, figs. 8, 9, 10 & 12)

A longitudinally striated thoracic adhesive disc absent ; pectoral spine weak —

and pinnate along its inner border

Glyptosternum reticulatum McClelland (PI. I, figs. 11 & 13)

Jaws with teeth . oa ig ee fe aie as

Jaws edentulous. . ie : : oO

Large fish with an adipose Ao fin some distance behind Bye dorsal fin ;

origin of rayed dorsal ahead of that of pelvic fin ; scales numerous An

120 or more along lateral line ; anal fin of male fike that of female; egg- . -

layer Salmo trutta fario Linnaeus (Pl. I, fig. 15)

Small minnow-like fish without an adipose dorsal fin ; origin of rayed dorsal

considerably behind that of pelvic fin ; scales few, not exceeding 35 along

mid-lateral line ; anal fin of male mike that of female, modified into

an intromittent organ ; live-bearer

Gambusia affinis holbrookii Girard (PL. I, figs. 2 & 7)

Barbels absent or when present one or two pairs only (Cyprinidae) eee

Barbels three or four pairs present (Cobitidae) 5 Ft 4 i DD

Vent and base of anal fin ensheathed by large imbricate or tiled scales —

(Schizothoracinae) Bs Sk fs ee ar, 18

Vent and base of anal fin not ensheathed by Gntncete or tiled scales - |

(Cyprininae) . As ae i Sat ehD

Margin of lower ne with an exposed horny covering ; Stet lip ee

reflected from jaw, papillated and with a free margin

. Oreinus plagiostomus plagiostomus (Heckel) (Pl. Tl, figs: 2: 3& 4)

Margin of lower jaw without an exposed horny covering ; lower-lip not re-. °

flected from jaw, nor papillated, nor with a free posterior margin =... 9

One pair of maxillary barbels ; pharyngeal teeth biserial sant Paton eal O

Two pairs of barbels, one pair rostral and one pair alata pharyngeal

teeth triserial uy ms 2 ie: _ 1"

Body completely covered with small scales; origin of dorsal fin almost. —

opposite that of pelvic fin ; pectoral fin separated from pelvic origin by

about half its length

Ptychobarbus conirostris Steindachner (Pl. II, figs. 5 & 6)

Body not completely covered with scales, they being present on upper two-

thirds of body, thoracic region and sides of caudal peduncle including the

scaly sheath from vent to base of anal fin ; origin of dorsal fin markedly

lla.

11d.

12a.

le.

13a.

135.

14a.

14b.

I5a.

155.

16a.

16.

17a.

17b.-

18a.

18).

19a

FISHES FROM THE KASHMIR VALLEY WS

ahead of that of pelvic fin ; pectoral fin separated from pelvic origin by a

distance equal to or more than its own length

Diptychus maculatus Steindachner (Pl. II, figs. 7 & 8)

Post-labial groove continuous

Schizothorax progastus McClelland (PI. II, fig. 11)

Post-labial groove interrupted in the middle oe a ee be?

Origin of dorsal fin distinctly nearer base of caudal than to tip of snout 13

Origin of dorsal midway between or nearer to tip of snout than to base of

caudal fin rhs a ae a a Es lakes

Snout pointed ; greatest height of body much more than five times in

standard length (5.5 to 7.0) ; blackish brown spots on upper half of body, -

base of dorsal, caudal, and inner sides of pectoral fins ; attaining large size

and weighing as much as 24 pounds

Schizothorax esocinus esocinus Heckel (Pl. Il, fig. 1)

Snout bluntly rounded ; greatest height of body five times or less in standard

length ; body devoid of blackish brown spots ; moderate size, weighing -

not more than 7 pounds ser a oh 2° 4

Barbels rudimentary ; diameter of eye 4.0 to 4.5 in head and 1.0 to 1.3 in _

snout length ; distance between origins of pelvic and anal fins contained

more than four times (4.25) in standard length

Schizothorax micropogon Heckel

Barbels well developed, atleast as long as diameter of eye; latter 5.0 to 5.5 |

in head length and about 1.5 in snout length ; distance between origins :

of pelvic and anal fins contained less than four times (about 3.75) in stand-

ard length Schizothorax planifrons Heckel

Largest scales of anal sheath as broad as or broader than diameter of eye ;

scales along lateral line about 120 Schizothorax hugelii BESO

Largest scale of anal sheath small, being not more than half diameter of eye

scales along lateral line 110 or less». ; Ea _ 26

Length of longest anal ray contained five times or less in standard length ;

diameter of eye contained less than five (4.5) in head length

Schizothorax longipinnis Heckel

Length of longest anal ray contained six or more timesin standard length :

diameter of eye contained more than five times in head length = 17

Dorsal fin short, its height contained:5.5 to 6.0 in standard length |

Schizothorax nasus Heckel

Dorsal fin moderately high, its height contained 4.75 to 5.0 in standard

length 4 5e a be at ew LS

Diameter of eye 5.0 to 5.5 in head length ; perforated scales along lateral

line 98 to 102, none larger than those on adjoining rows; edge of front gill -

cover oblique -. Schizothorax curvifrons curvifrons Heckel

Diameter of eye 6.0 to 7.0 in head length ; perforated scales along lateral

line 91 to 95, being slightly larger and elliptical than those on adjoining . ~

_ rows; edge of gill cover convex Schizothorax curvifrons niger Heckel

Upper lip separated from rostrum by a deep groove o, a ©20

19).

20a.

205.

2a.

21d.

22a.

22D:

23a.

23b.

24a.

245.

25a.

25D.

26a.

26b.

27a.

276.

28a.

28D.

JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Upper lip confluent with the skin of the rostrum

Crossocheilus latius diplochilus (Heckel) (PI. II, figs. 9 & 10)

Mouth terminal ; scales large, about 25 to 28 along lateral line ; lower lip

produced into a median lobe and post-labial groove continuous; eS

undivided dorsal ray strongly ossified

Tor putitora Hamilton (PI. I, figs. 1 & 2)

Mouth inferior ; scales smaller, about 41 to 45 along lateral line ; lower lip

not produced into a median lobe and post-labial groove interrupted in

the middle ; last undivided dorsal ray not strongly ossified .. ati) BEL

Dorsal with 9 or 19 branched rays ; inner surface of lower lip closely papil-

lated Labeo dero (Hamilton) (PI. I, figs. 16 & 17)

Dorsal with 11 branched rays ; inner surface of lower lip striated with trans-

verse folds Labeo dyocheilus (McClelland) (P1. I, figs. 13, 14 & 15)

Barbels four pairs; body greatly compressed and deep ; bifid backwardly

directed suborbital bony spine present in both sexes

Botia birdi Chaudhuri

Barbels three pairs ; body subcylindrical ; bifid backwardly directed suborbi-

tal spine absent Sf om Sa ie eos

Body with distinct dark vertical bands descending from back to ventral

side and alternating with lighter bands

Noemacheilus rupicola (McClelland) (Pl. I, fig. 5)

Body without dark vertical bands and alternating lighter bands DA

Pelvic fins fall short of vent by considerable distance

Noemacheilus gracilis Day

Pelvic fins reaching or surpassing vent se ay 8 325

Origin of dorsal fin midway between base of caudal and tip of snout 1, 26

Origin of dorsal nearer to base of caudal than to tip of snout a7 28

Lateral line incomplete consisting of only a few pores and not extending

beyond vertical from free end of pectoral fin

Noemacheilus vittatus (Heckel)

Lateral line complete or clearly defined up to vertical opposite posterior end

of anal base, being indistinct on the caudal peduncle (exception being fe-

male N. yasinensis in which L.1. is clear only up to above pelvic fin) .. 27

Pectoral as long as or slightly longer than head ; least height of caudal

peduncle about as broad as diameter of eye in specimens over 55 mm. in

standard length Noemacheilus yasinensis Alcock (Male)

Pectorals shorter than head length ; least height of caudal peduncle consi-

derably greater than diameter of eye in specimens over 55 mm. in

standard length Noemacheilus kashmirensis Hora (PI. I, fig. 4)

Snout and post orbital part of head of equal length ; anal fin separated

from caudal by a distance almost equal to its own length

Noemacheilus marmoratus (Heckel)

Snout shorter than post-orbital part of head ; anal fin separated from caudal

fin by a distance considerably lesser than its own length

Noemacheilus yasinensis Alcock (Female)

FISHES FROM THE KASHMIR VALLEY Ta

REFERENCES

Chaudhuri, B. L. (1909) : Description

of new species of Botia (B. birdi) and

Nemachilus (N. macmahoni). Rec. Ind.

Mus. 3 : 339-42.

Day, F. (1876): On the fishes of

Yarkand. Proc. Zool. Soc. London: 781-

807.

——— (1878a) : Scientific results of

the Second Yarkand Mission. Ichthyo-

logy. Calcutta. 1-25 with 5 pls.

——— (18785): The Fishes of India,

being a Natural History of the Fishes

known to inhabit the Seas and Fresh-

waters of India, Burma, and Ceylon.

Gunther, A. (1864 & 1868) : Catalogue

of Fishes of the British Museum. Vols.

5&7.

Heckel,

Caschmir.

——— (1844): Fische Kaschmir’s in

von Hugel’s: Kaschmir und das Reich

der Siek, Bd. 4, abth. 2 : 351-384.

Hora, S. L. (1922a) : Notes on fishes

in the Indian Museum HI. On fishes

belonging to the family Cobitidae from

high altitudes in Central Asia. Rec. Ind.

Mus. 24 : 63-83.

— -—— (19225) : Notes on fishes in the

Indian Museum IV. On fishes belong-

ing to the genus Botia (Cobitidae).

Ibid, 24 : 313-321.

——— (1934): The fish of Chitral.

Ibid. 36 : 279-319. |

(1936): Yale North

Expedition, Article XVIII.

Fishes, Part 1, Cobitidae.

Acad. Sci. 10 : 299-321.

——— (1937) : On fossil fish-remains

from the Karewas of Kashmir. Rec.

Geol. Surv. India 72 (2) : 178-187.

——— (1939): The Game Fishes of

India VIII. The Mahseers or the Large

scaled barbels of India I. The Putitor

Mahseer, Barbus (Tor) putitora (Hamil-

ton). J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 41 : 272-

285.

(1955): Fisheries of certain

tropical fishes in natural cold waters of

India. Ibid. 53 (1) : 138-140.

J. J. (1838): Fische aus

Indian

Report on

Mem. Conn.

Hora, S. L. & Silas, E. G. (1952a) :

Notes on Fishes in the Indian Museum.

XLVII. Revision of the Glyptosternoid

fishes of the family Sisoridae, with des-

cription of new genera and species. Rec.

Ind. Mus. 49 : 5-30.

——— (19526) : Evolution and distri-

bution of Glyptosternoid fishes of the

family Sisoridae (Order: Siluroidea).

Proc. Nat. Inst. Sci. India 18 (4) : 309-322.

Hora, S. L., Mulick, G. M., &

Khajuria, H. (1955): Some interesting

features of the aquatic fauna of the

Kashmir Valley. J. Bombay nat. Hist.

Soc. 53 (1) : 140-3.

McClelland, J. (1839) : Indian Cypri-

nidae. Asiat. Research. 19 (2) : 217-471.

Misra, K. S. (1949): A note on the

systematic position of two cyprinid

fishes of the genus Oreinus McClelland

from Kashmir. J. Zool. Soc. India

1 (3) : 39-40.

Mitchell, F. J. (1916) : Large Kashmir

Brown Trout, Salmo fario. J. Bombay

nat. Hist. Soc. 24 (2) : 371-372 (with one

photograph).

——— (1918): How trout were in-

troduced into Kashmir. Ibid. 26 (1):

295-299,

Mukerji, D. D. (1935): Report on

Burmese fishes collected by Lt.-Col.

R. W. Burton from the tributary streams

of the Mali Hka River of the Myit-

kyina District, (Upper Burma). Ibid.

37 (1) : 38-80.

——— (1936): Yale

Expedition, Article 18. Report on fishes,

part 2. Sisoridae and Cyprinidae.

Mem. Conn. Acad. Sci. 10 : 323-359.

Ross, E. J. (1939): Trout fishing in

Kashmir. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc.

41(2) : 437-442,

Steindachner, F. (1866): Zur Fisch

fauna Kaschmirs und der benachbarten

North Indian

Landerstriche. Verh. Zool-Bot. Ges.

Wein 16 : 784-796.

Valenciennes, A. (1840 & 1842):

Historie Naturelle des Poissons. Vols.

15 & 16.

The Diatom Flora of: the Bombay

and Salsette Islands

H. P. GANDHI

Bahauddin College, Junagadh, Saurastra

(With 120 figures)

INTRODUCTION

This account deals with the diatom genera, Pinnularia, Amphiprora,

Amphora, Cymbella, and Gomphonema, collected from the year 1945-

1949 onwards up to 1958 in the form of stray samples. It continues the

chain of first three papers jointly published by Mrs. E. A. Gonzalves and

myself (1952-54).

Since 1954 the author’s work on the diatom flora of the Bombay

and Salsette Islands has been disturbed by difficulties and circumstances

beyond his control. However, during this long period several other

collections were made at different times from the same and other localities

of the said region and were examined at different institutions on account

of the frequent transfers that the author suffered. With the further

observations some more diatoms were recorded, making this paper more

comprehensive. In this paper the distribution of individual diatoms in

the area is also indicated. Several illustrations are given of certain

species to suggest the form-change or variation exhibited by them. _

Further, the arrangement of diatoms is mostly done according to

Cleve-Euler’s (1951-55) monograph in consultation with that of Hustedt

(1930) and several other publications. The diatoms already recorded

in the Indian literature are merely listed here with some necessary notes

or remarks; the rest are fully described and illustrated. Of diatoms

that are considered to be new taxa, besides their Latin diagnoses, the

slide numbers are given in accordance with the International Code of

Botanical Nomenclature, Art. 35, 1956. All the material relating to

this paper is with the author in his own herbarium.

Again, to validate the new taxa published by the author in his

earlier paper on ° Freshwater Diatoms from Kolhapur and its immediate

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS 19

Environs,’ J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 55 (3) : 493-511, 1958, the following

slide numbers refer to those specific taxa, thus :

Navicula cuspidata Kiitz. f. brevirostrata f. nov. : Typus lectus a H. P.

Gandhi in lacu Rankala die 18-9-1954, et positus in herbario proprio

auctoris sub numero KOP-49, (slide).

Pinnularia kolhapurensis sp. nov. : Typus lectus a H. P. Gandhi in

~ lacu Rankala die 9-12-1954, et positus in herbario proprio auctoris

sub numero KOP-61, (slide). |

Gomphonema lacus-rankala sp. nov. : Typus lectus a H. P. Gandhi in

lacu Rankala die 9-12-1954, et positus in herbario proprio auctoris

sub numero KOP-63, (slide).

Gomphonema lacus-rankala v. robusta v. nov. : Typus lectus a H. P.

Gandhi in lacu Rankala die 9-12-1954, et positus in herbario

proprio auctoris sub numero KOP-64, (slide).

Gomphonema lacus-rankala vy. gracilis v. nov. : Typus lectus a H. P,

Gandhi in lacu Rankala die 9-12-1954, et positus in herbario

_ proprio auctoris sub numero KOP-65, (slide).

Gomphonema spicula sp. nov. : Typus lectus a H. P. Gandhi in lacu

Rankala dice 18-9-1954, et positus in herbario proprio auctoris

sub numero KOP-68, (slide).

Genus PINNULARIA Ehrenberg 1840

Section TENUISTRIATAE A. Berg.

‘|. Pinnularia appendiculata (Ag.) Cl. (Fig. 1)

Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 313, f. 10-11; Hustedt, 1924,

Naturw. Unters. Sarek. 3 (6) : 565, t. 20, f. 13 ; 1930, Bacil. 317, f. 570a ;

Skvortzow, B. W., 1938, Philipp. J. Sci. 66 : 169, pl. 2, f. 8 ; Tiffany &

Britton, 1952, Alg. Illinois 258, pl. 69, f. 796 ; Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55,

Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 18, f. 1004 a-d (=v. genuina A. Cl.).

Valves 44-56.5 « iong and 6-8.5 « broad, linear-lanceolate with weakly

constricted, produced subcuneate ends. Raphe thin and straight with

central pores unilaterally bent and terminal fissures slightly curved.

‘Axial area quite narrow, linear-lanceolate ; central area large, rhomboid,

reaching the sides. Striae 12-14 in 10 y, radial in the middle and conver-

gent at the ends. : .

This species agrees well with the type described by Hustedt and others,

in the outline, apices, central and axial areas and the nature of the striae.

The range of dimensions recorded here closely agree with those indicated

by Cleve-Euler, but appear to be larger than those given by Hustedt,

Tiffany & Britton, and Skvortzow. The number of striae per 10 j.are

less here than recorded by Hustedt and Tiffany & Britton but agree with

80 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

those recorded by Cleve-Euler and Skvortzow. It appears that the

number of striae per 10 suffer reduction in larger forms as may be seen

from the following table :

THB SE SRR RESORT AA LOS

Length | Breadth Striae per 10 u

Author !

po eee ee, ere a

Hustedt a ¥ 18-364 4-6/4 16-18

Skvortzow i a 354 Ry 12-13

Tiffany & Britton a 18-364 4-64 16-18

Cleve-Euler ; es 35-584 5-7 (12) 13-16

Local forms as a 44-56.5 4 6-8.5 4 12-14

Again, Berg describes a similar looking form as P. subcapitata Greg,

(Berg, Arkiv Bot. 1945, 32 A(1): 17, t. 5, f. 176) and Skvortzow as P.

gibba Ehr.. (Skvortzow, 1937, Philipp. J. Sci. 61: 278, pl. 5, f. 2), but

I am not inclined to refer the present specimens to either P. subcapitata

or P. gibba, which are obviously different species. In fact, Berg’s P.

subcapitata and Skvortzow’s P. gibba, appear closer to P. appendiculata

if Cleve-Euler’s record is considered, as given in the above table. In

any way I consider the present specimens to be P. appendiculata in light

of the data given above.

Habitat: Fresh water. Collected from Jogeshwari, Goregaon,

Andheri, and Dahisar ponds and pools, usually in a small number.

2. Pinnularia molaris Grun. (Fig. 2) |

Schmidt, 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 313, f. 18 ; Hustedt, 1924, Naturw.

Unters. Sarek. t. 20, f. 8; 1930, Bacil. 316, f. 568 ; Skvortzow, B. W.,

1937, Philipp. J. Sci. 62 : 337, pl. 11, f. 9 ; Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat.

Schwed. Finn.—IV, 18, 1005.

Valves 28-33 w long and 5.6-6.2 » broad, linear-lanceolate with sub-

cuneate rounded ends. Raphe thin and straight with curved terminal

fissures. Axial area quite narrow ; central area large, rhomboid, reach-

ing the sides. Striae 14-18 in 10 y, fine, radial in the middle and conver-

gent at the ends.

Habitat : Fresh water. Pools and streams at Borivli and Kanheri

caves and certain ponds at Andheri, Vile-Parle, Dahisar, and other places.

Usually collected as a stray form.

Section SUBVIRIDES A. Cl.

3. Pinnularia finlandica A. Cl. (Fig. 3)

Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 22, f. 1027.

Valves 50-57.5 « long and 10-11.2 » broad, linear with parallel sides

and rounded ends. Raphe thin and straight with central pores unila-

terally bent and terminal fissures curved. Axial area fairly wide about 1/4

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS Bi

the width of the valve, linear ; central area slightly dilated and somewhat

unilateral. Striae 10-11 in 10 4, coarse, slightly radial in the middle and

convergent towards the ends.

Habitat: Fresh water. Collected from ponds at Andheri and

Goregaon, and some pools at Jogeshwari and other places. Not common.

This species agrees well with the type except that it has slightly larger

dimensions.

Section NODOSAE A. Cl.

4, Pinnularia braunii (Grun.) Cl. (Fig. 4)

Hustedt, 1930, Bacil. 319, f. 577; Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat.

Schwed Finn.—IV, 24, f. 1020 a-c (=v. genuina A. Cl. et etiam v. marginata

A. Cl.); Schmidt, A. 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 45, f. 77-78 (=

Navicula brauniana Grun.) ; Van Heurck, 1896, Treat. Diat. 173, pl. 2,

f. 95 (= Nav. braunii Grun.).

Valves 43-50 long and 8.5-9.5 ~ broad, broadly lanceolate with

constricted, produced capitate ends. Raphe thin and straight with

central pores closely set and unilaterally bent and terminal fissures curved.

Axial area very wide, lanceolate ; central area very wide, rhomboid,

reaching the sides. Striae 10-12 in 10 yu, very coarse, radial in the middle

and convergent at the ends.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from several pools, ponds and

tanks in the area, usually in a small number or as a stray form.

5. Pinnularia polyonca (Bréb.) O. Mill. (Fig. 5)

Hustedt, 1930, Bacil. 319, f. 576; Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat.

Schwed. Finn.—IV, 24, f. 1021; Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat.

t. 45, f. 54-55 (= Navicula mesotyla (Pinn.) Ehr.) ; Van Heurck, 1896, °

Treat. Diat. 174, pl. 2, f. 99 (=Nav. polyonca Bréb.).

Valves 90-100 » long and 14-15.2 « broad, lanceolate with strongly

triundulate sides and strongly capitate-cuneate ends. Raphe thin and

straight with closely set central pores unilaterally bent and terminal

fissures curved. Axial area fairly wide, sublanceolate ; central area large

reaching the sides. Striae 8-10-12 in 10 y, coarse, radial in the middle

and strongly convergent at the ends and closer.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from pond at Andheri usually as

a stray form. Rare in the area.

Cleve-Euler refers Nav. mesotyla of Schmidt’s ‘ Atlas’ to P. polyonca

but N. mesotyla has rounded ends and therefore differs from P. polyonca

in this respect.

82 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (i)

6. Pinnularia acrosphaeria (Bréb.) W. Sm.

Habitat : Fresh water as well as somewhat brackish water. Widely

distributed in the area, mostly in marginal slime of pools, ponds, and

tanks. It was noted to be gregarious in ponds at Andheri and Goregaon.

7. Pinnularia acrosphaeria f. undulata Cl.

Habitat : Fresh water. Sometimes collected along with the species.

Not common in the locality.

8. Pinnularia acrosphaeria v. minor Cl. (Figs. 6-7)

Habitat : Fresh water as well as in somewhat brackish water. Widely

distributed in the area, but always recorded in a small number.

9. Pinnularia acrosphaeria v. sandvicensis A. S. (Figs. 8-9)

Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 43, f. 14-15, 18 ?

Valves 70-85 ,. long and 12.5-13 , broad, linear, strongly inflated in

the middle, ends broadly swollen and rounded. Raphe thin and straight

with central pores closely set and unilaterally bent and terminal fissures

curved. Axial area very wide, about 1/3 the width of the valve, linear with

fine scattered markings or puncta ; central area slightly formed. Striae

9-10 in 10 » coarse, weakly radial in the middle, at length perpendicular

to the middle line and weakly convergent at the ends.

Habitat : Fresh water. Streams at Borivli and Powai lake. Rare.

This diatom is distinguished on account of the strong inflations in the

middle and at the ends.

10. Pinnularia dolosa sp. nov. (Figs. 10-11)

Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 43, f. 17 (nomen nudum).

Valvae 60-90 « longae atque 13-15 « latae, lineares, tumidae in medio;

apicibus vix dilatatis ac late rotundatis. Raphe evoluta in zona hyalina,

ornata poris centralibus proxime positis et unilateraliter inclinatis,

fissuris terminalibus curvatis. Area axialis amplissima, circiter 1/3-1/2

latitudinis valvae, linearis et irregulariter subtiliter punctata ; area cen-

tralis paulum unilateraliter dilatata. Striae 9-11lin 10 uw, crassae, paululum

radiales in medio, tandem perpendiculares ad lineam mediam ac paulum

convergentes ad apices. Typus lectus a H. P. Gandhi ad Andheri die

1945-48, et positus in herbario proprio auctoris sub numero BOM-AND.—

43-45.

Valves 60-90 long and 13-15 broad, linear, tumid in the middle ;

ends scarcely dilated and broadly rounded. Raphe formed in the hyaline

zone with central pores closely set and unilaterally bent and terminal

fissures curved. Axial area very wide about 1/3-1/2 the width of the

valve, linear with fine irregularly disposed puncta ; central area slightly

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS 83

unilaterally dilated. Striae 9-11 in 10 yw, thick, weakly radial in the middle,

at length perpendicular to the middle line and at the ends convergent.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected as a common form in a pond at

Andheri. Seen as a constant form for a period of almost three years.

An illustration occurs in Schmidt’s ATLAS DIAT., without name, but

it has been remarked that it is somewhere intermediate between Navicula

(Pinnularia—Ehr. ?) macilenta and Navicula (Pinn.) acrosphaeria Bréb.,

‘ATLAS DiatT.’, t. 43, f. 9 and 16 respectively. From my continued

observation of this species, I find it to be related to P. acrosphaeria (Bréb.)

W. Sm. However, it differs from P. acrosphaeria in having non-dilated

apices, clear hyaline zone around the raphe, much wider axial area, and

the puncta in the axial area being much finer. It is therefore considered

to be a new species and placed near P. acrosphaeria, being related to it.

11. Pinnularia dolosa v. chariessa v. nov. (Fig. 12)

Valvae 117-120 longae atque 16-17 yu latae, sublanceolatae, tumidae

in medio ac apicibus rotundatae. Raphe, zona hyalina, atque area

axialis ut in typo. Area centralis ampla, ad latera perveniens. Striae

8-9 in 10 , crassae, paulum radiales in medio, tandem perpendiculares

ad lineam mediam ac paulum convergentes ad apices, ut in typo. Typus

lectus a H. P. Gandhi ad Andheri die 1946-48, et positus in herbario

proprio auctoris sub numero BOM-AND.—47.

Valves 117-120 w long and 16-17 « broad, sublanceolate, tumid in the

middle with rounded ends. Raphe, hyaline zone, and the axial area as

in the type. Central area large and extended to the sides. Striae 8-9

in 10 », thick, weakly radial in the middle and at the ends slightly conver-

gent as in the type.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from a pond at Andheri along with

the type but in a smaller number or as a stray form.

This diatom differs from the above type in being gracefully lanceolate.

Moreover, the central area is extended to the sides and the striae are more

widely set ; therefore they count less in number than in the type.

Section DISTANTES Cleve

12. Pinnularia ueno Skvortzow v. wadalensis v. nov. (Figs. 13-14)

Valvae 32-47.5 longae atque 10-11.7 ,« latae, lineares, marginibus

parallelis vel paululum concavis, apicibus cuneatis, late rotundato-

truncatis. Raphe crassa, poris centralibus unilateraliter inclinatis ac

fissuris terminalibus aliquantum curvatis. Area axialis modica, lineari-

lanceolata; area centralis ampla, rhomboidea ad latera pertingens.

Striae 6.5-8 in 10 , crassae, radiales in medio ac paulum convergentes

84 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (i)

in utroque apice. Typus lectus a H. P. Gandhi ad Wadala die 31-7-1945,

et positus in herbario proprio auctoris sub numero BOM-WAD.—-7.

Valves 32-47.5 » long and 10-11.7 » broad, linear with parallel or

weakly concave sides and cuneate, broadly truncate-rounded ends.

Raphe thick with central pores unilaterally bent and terminal fissures

slightly curved. Axial area moderate, linear-lanceolate ; central area

large, rhomboid, reaching the sides. Striae 6.5-8 in 10 y, thick, radial

in the middle and slightly convergent at the ends.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from pools and ponds at Wadala

as a frequent form during post-monsoon seasons. . Some stray specimens

also were recorded from Powai lake.

This diatom agrees very closely with P. ueno Skv. (Skvortzow, 1937,

Philipp. J. Sci. 61 : 44, pl. 7, f. 1), in the outline, arrangement of striae,

and other details. However, of the specimens collected here the dimen-

sions are much smaller. Moreover, the striae are fewer in number than

in P. ueno, hence it differs. Again, Foged has described a similar looking

form as P. microstauron (Ehr.) Cl. (Foged, N., 1955, Medd. om Gronland

127 : 59, pl. 11, f. 21), which is in fact very different from P. microstauron

(Ehr.) Cl. Iam not sure if it could be the same. However, I am inclined

to consider it with the present diatom, since it bears great likeness.

Further, I place the present diatom under ‘ Distantes’ group on account

of the robust and distantly set striae.

Section BREVISTRIATAE Cleve em.

13. Pinnularia brevicostata Cl. v. indica v. nov. (Fig. 15)

Valvae 90-95 yw longae atque 19.8-20.5 uw latae, lineari-ellipticae ac

apicibus rotundatis. Raphe tenuis vel crassa, ornata poris centralibus

distinctis, unilateraliter inclinata ac fissuris terminalibus paulum curva-

tis. Area axialis amplissima, circiter 1/3-1/2 latitudinis valvae,

sublanceolata ; area centralis obscura. Striae 5.5-6 in 10 u, crassissimae,

aliquantum radiales in medio atque in utroque apice convergentes.

Typus lectus a H. P. Gandhi in lacu Powai die 6-3-1945, et positus in

herbario proprio auctoris sub numero BOM-POW.—18.

Valves 90-95 w long and 19.8-20.5 « broad, linear-elliptical with

rounded ends. Raphe thin or thick with central pores distinct and

unilaterally bent and terminal fissures slightly curved. Axial area very

wide, about 1/3-1/2 the width of the valve, sublanceolate; central area

not obvious. Striae 5.5-6 in 10 u very coarse, slightly radial in the middle

and convergent at the ends.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Borivli streams and Powai

lake as a stray form.

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS 85

This diatom in its general features agrees well with P. brevicostata Cl.

(Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 37, f. 1045 a-b) (=

v. genuina A. Cl.) and its other varieties. However, the present specimens

differ from the type in having more uniformly convex sides, somewhat

smaller size, and coarser and therefore fewer striae. It is, therefore,

tentatively regarded as a new variety.

14. Pinnularia meisteri A. Cl. v. scandica A. Cl. (Fig. 16)

Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 40, f. 1050 b.

Valves 61-68 » long and 11-13 » broad, broadly linear, slightly swollen

in the middle with somewhat inflated rounded ends. Raphe thin and

straight with terminal fissures curved. Axial area narrow, linear ; central

area only slightly dilated. Striae about 12 in 10 p, coarse, slightly radial

in the middle and convergent at the ends.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from some pools and ponds at

Wadala, Goregaon, Vile-Parle, and streams at Borivli. Not common.

Section LUNULAE A. Cl.

15. Pinnularia stomatophora Grun. v. triundulata Font. (Fig. 17)

Hustedt, 1942, Int. Rev. Hydrobiol Hydrogr. 42 (1/3): 88, f. 168-170;

Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 41, f. 1053 d (= P.

stomatophoroides Mayer f. triundulata (Font.) A. Cl.).

Valves 115-118.8 » long and 13.7-14 » broad, sublinear, with triundu-

late sides and produced capitate rounded ends. Raphe slightly thick

and straight with bayonet-shaped terminal fissures. Axial area some-

what narrow, linear; central area without lunulae, large, rhomboid,

reaching the sides. Striae 10-12 in 10 p, coarse, strongly radial in the

middle and convergent at the ends.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli, Powai and

Tansa lakes, mostly as a stray form.

Some specimens of this diatom found in the collections, none showed

lunulae in the central area, which are supposed to be the characteristic

feature of the type. However, Hustedt illustrated a form (fig. 169) with-

out lunulate markings and in the remarks stated that a good deal of

variation seemed to occur in the species. Cleve-Euler has treated the

same as P. stomatophoroides Mayer f. triundulata (Font.) A. Cl., without

assigning any reasons as I believe. I do not favour Cleve-Euler’s

diagnosis, since P. stomatophoroides was established in 1940, much later

than P. stomatophora Grun. v. triundulata Font. 1917.

Further, the present diatom also agrees with P. gibba f. subundulata

Mayer (Hustedt, 1930, Bacil. 327, f. 601) in the outline, central and

axial areas, and the number of striae. However, I separate the same on

86 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 87 (1)

the basis of thicker raphe and bayonet-shaped terminal fissures taking

them as characteristic features of P. stomatophora. A more or less

similar diatom has been described by Skvortzow as P. platycephala (Ehr.)

Cl. v. hattoriana Skv. (Skvortzow, 1935, Philipp. J. Sci. 57 : 470, pl. 2,

f. 4; 1937, ibid. 61:41, pl. 6, f. 2), having bayonet-shaped terminal

fissures and triundulate sides. However, this diatom has not been well

understood, since Skvortzow illustrated the type somewhat differently

in the papers hitherto cited. Moreover, P. platycephala has terminal

fissures bent in opposite directions, and this feature being of diagnostic

importance for the type finds no appearance in the variety v. hottoriana

Sky.

Section PARALLELAE A. Cl.

16. Pinnularia episcopalis Cleve (Fig. 18)

Hustedt, 1924, Naturw. Unters. Sarek. 3 (6) : 569, t. 21, f. 1; 1930,

Bacil. 323, f. 592; Mulls; P1932, Siaroy. micrasc. (Soc: 521389, plas

f. 30; Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 47, f. 1063 c

(= v. elliptica A. Cl.).

Valves 108-112 » long and 24.6-25 p» broad, subelliptical with rounded

ends. Raphe thin, slightly bent with central pores large, somewhat

hook-like and terminal fissures oblique and slightly curved. Axial area

linear ; central area somewhat quadrate, reaching the sides. Striae 8-9

in 10 p, thick, closely set, radial in the middle and convergent at the ends.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Powai and Tansa lakes in a

smaller number. Stray specimens also were collected from some hill-

streams at Borivli.

17. Pinnularia platycephala (Ehr.) Cl. (Fig. 19)

Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 310, f. 6-8; Hustedt, 1930,

Bacil. 324, f. 593 ; Berg, 1945, Ark. Bot. 32 A (1): 15, t. 4, f. 155; Cleve-

Euler, A. 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 47, f. 1065 a-b. (= v. genuina

A.Cl.).

Valves 81-95 w long and 16.5-17.5 » broad, linear or sublinear, sides

distinctly triundulate, ends broadly capitate-rounded (two ends somewhat

differ in appearance). Raphe thin, not quite straight, with large central

pores and terminal fissures thick, sharply curved in the opposite directions.

Axial area somewhat narrow, linear; central area quadrate, somewhat

narrow while reaching the sides. Striae 9-11 in 10 yw, coarse, strongly

radial in the middle and convergent at the ends.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from ponds at Andheri, Dahisar,

and Goregaon, streams at Borivli, and Powai lake, It occurred in a

small number. Not common,

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS 37

Section DIVERGENTES Cleve em.

18. Pinnularia legumen Ebr. v. florentina (Grun.) Cl.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli, Powai and

Tansa lakes, usually in a small number.

19. Pinnularia scythica (Pant.) Gandhi, comb. nov. (Fig. 20)

Navicula scythica Pantocsek, Beitr. Kenn. foss. Bacl.—III, 81, t. 23,

f. 335, 1905 ; Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas-Diat. t. 45, f. 30? (= P.

decurrens Ehr.) ; t. 391, f. 9-10 (= P. krasskei Hust. v. ventricosa Hust.).

Valves 87.4-92 » long and 16.6 » broad, linear-lanceolate with uni-

formly convex sides and constricted, broadly produced rounded ends.

Raphe thin or somewhat thick with central pores distinct and terminal

fissures curved. Axial area about 1/5-1/4 the width of the valve, sub-

linear ; central area large and more or less elliptical. Striae 9-10 in 10 p,

thick, closely set, strongly radial in the middle and convergent at the ends.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Powai and Tansa lakes in

good number, and some stray specimens were recorded from a tank at

Bandra and some other larger ponds. Not quite common.

This agrees well with Pantocsek’s Nav. scythica Pant., which from the

illustration evidently appears to be Pinnularia on account of the smooth

costae. Here, therefore, Pantocsek’s Nav. scythica is emended. From

further survey of the literature, P. decurrens Ehr. (Schmidt’s ‘ Atlas ’

t. 45, f. 30) more or less compares here, except that it has more evident

lanceolate shape and less apparently constricted produced ends. Again,

in the ‘ Atlas’ P. krasskei Hust. v. ventricosa Hust. (t. 391, f. 9-10) is

illustrated, which very closely agrees with the present specimens as well

as with Pantocsek’s Nav. scythica in the outline, apices, central and

axial areas, and the number and arrangement of the striae. I, therefore,

consider ‘P. krasskei v. ventricosa Hust. identical with Nav. scythica

Pant., the latter needing emendment of its generic name, which I here-

with effect.

20. Pinnularia divergens W. Sm. (Fig. 21)

Hustedt, 1924, Naturw. Unters. Sarek. 3 (6) : 568, t. 22, f. 4; 1930,

Bacil. 323, f. 589 ; Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV,

51, f. 1071 a (= v. minor A. S.) ; Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t.

44, f. 42, (= Nav. divergens (Pinn.) W. Sm. f. minor. A. S.).

Valves 80-87.5 » long and 14.4-15 » broad, linear-lanceolate with

constricted, broadly produced, rounded ends. Raphe thin and some-

what undulate with central pores unilaterally bent and terminal fissures

thick and more or less bayonet-shaped. Axial area linear ; central area

large, rhomboid, reaching the sides with conical projections formed on

88 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (A)

the sides. Striae 9-11 in 10 p, thick, congested, strongly radial in the

middle and convergent at the ends.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Borivli streams, Powai and

Tansa lakes, as a less frequent form. It was usually found in brownish

masses of decaying vegetable matter lying on the margins.

21. Pinnularia divergens v. undulata Her. & Perag. (Fig. 22)

Hustedt, 1924, Naturw. Unters. Sarek. 3 (5) : 568, t. 22, f. 5; 1930,

Bacil. 323, f. 591 ; Skvortzow, B. W., 1938, Philipp. J. Sci. 66: 171, pl.

1, f. 28 ; Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 52, f. 1071 d.

Valves 68-75 » long and 13-13.5 p» broad, linear-lanceolate with dis-

tinctly triundulate sides and constricted, broadly produced rounded

ends. Striae 10in 10 yn. In all other features alike the above type.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Powai and Tansa lakes and

ponds at Andheri, Goregaon, and Vile-Parle. Not quite common.

22. Pinnularia divergens v. elliptica Grun. (Fig. 23)

Hustedt, 1924, Naturw. Unters. Sarek. 3 (6): t. 21, f. 1 ; 1930, Bacil.

323, f. 590 ;-Miulls, F. W., 1932, J. roy. microsc. Soc. 52,:389, pl. 1, 7. 14;

Clever-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 52, f. 1071 e.

Valves 68-90 » long and 15-18 p» broad, linear-elliptical with rounded

ends. Striae 8-10 in 10 yw. In all other details like the type described

above.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected as a common form from Andheri

and Goregaon ponds. Stray specimens were also collected from some

larger pools and streams at Borivli.

23. Pinnularia divergens v. capitata Mills (Fig. 24)

Mills, F. W.,1932, J. roy. micresc. Soc: 52 2389) pl. 2, i195.

Valves 65-81 » long and 12.8-14 » broad, linear-lanceolate with weakly

triundulate sides and constricted, broadly capitate rounded ends. Axial

area somewhat narrow, linear. Striae 10-12 in 10 ». In all other details

like the type described above.

_ Habitat: Fresh water. Collected from Powai, Vihar, and Tansa

lakes, inhabiting decaying mass of vegetable matter. Fairly common.

Isolated specimens also were recorded from a pond at Andheri.

This diatom agrees well with the specimen described by Mills, except

that the breadth here is much less. From the measurement of the illustra-

tion given by Mills it appears that some mistake has crept in, since thé

breadth givenin the text is 0.025 mm. whereas by measurement it comes out

to be 0.01566 mm. With the measured dimensions, therefore, my speci-

mens agree more or less quite well with those of Mills ; so I treat miy speci-

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS 89

mens. Moreover, some smaller specimens also have been recorded from

the present region.

Again, a reference is cited by Mills, which refers to Schmidt’s * Atlas’

t. 44, f. 12 (an illustration without name), to be P. divergens v. capitata.

I think this to be different, since Mills’s illustration clearly shows triundu-

late sides whereas in the ‘ Atlas’ that is not the case.

Further, Cleve-Euler described a diatom under a similar name, i.e.

P. divergens v. capitata n. v. (Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed.

Finn.—IV, 53, f. 1071 k), which befits P. divergens characteristics, but

greatly differs from Mills’s and present specimens. According to the

International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, one name for two different

specimens cannot hold good and at the same time rule of priority has to be

observed. Under the circumstances, therefore, Cleve-Euler’s specimen

needs a new name.

24. Pinnularia brebissonii (Kiitz.) Cl. (Fig. 25)

Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 53, f. 107la

(= v. genuina O. Miill.) ; Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 44, f.

17-19 (= Navicula brébissonii Kiitz.) ; Van Heurck, 1896, Treat. Diat.

171, pl. 2, f. 82 (= Nav. brébissonii Kiitz.) ; Pantocsek, J., 1905, Beitr. z.

Kenn. foss. Bacil. TM, 65, t. 19, f. 279 (= Nav. brebissonii v. fossilis

Pant.) ; Hustedt, 1930, Bacil. 321, f. 584 (= P. microstauron (Ehr.) Cl.

v. brébissonii (Kiitz.) Hust. ; Foged, N., 1949, Dansk Bot. Ark. 13 (6) :

30, II, f. 11 (= P. microstauron v. brébissonii) ; Surilj, A., 1954, Jugoslay

Akad. Znan. Umjet. 1954 : 141, f. 44 a-b (=P. microstauron v. brébissonii).

Valves 60 » long and 14.8 » broad, linear-elliptical to subelliptical

with subcuneate rounded ends. Raphe thin and straight with unilaterally

bent central pores and slightly curved terminal fissures. Axial area

fairly wide, linear-lanceolate ; central area large, rhomboid, reaching the

sides. Striae 10-11 in 10 pz, coarse, radial in the middle and convergent

at the ends.

Habitat: Fresh water. Collected from ponds at Andheri and

Goregaon, usuallyinasmallnumber. Stray specimens were also observed

in some of the samples from Powai lake.

The present species conforms well with illustrations given in the

‘ Atlas’ and by Pantocsek, Van Heurck, Foged, and Jurilj. However,

Foged and Jurilj show somewhat narrower axial area. Hustedt’s illus-

tration differs much more than in the works hitherto cited in as much as

that it has more linear outlines and somewhat distinctly cuneate ends.

It is possible to keep Hustedt’s specimen apart to be treated as variety

of the present species, which is being done by Cleve-Euler (v. acuta A. C1.)

90 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

25. Pinnularia brébissonii v. producta A. Cl. (Fig. 26)

Some larger specimens were recorded from the area than those found

from paddy and millet fields at Mugad. Moreover, the present specimens

have comparatively a fewer striae (dimensions 53-63 x 12-14 yp, str.

8.5-10 in 10 zg).

Habitat: Fresh water. Collected from several ponds, large pools

and tanks in the area. More frequently noted in a pond at Goregaon.

26. Pinnularia brébissonii v. producta f. biundulata (O. Miill.) A. Cl.

(Fig. 27)

The specimens recorded from the area are comparatively smaller

than those recorded from Mugad area (dimensions recorded here: 29-40

x 6.2-8 pw, str. 10-12 in 10 ,).

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from lakes, ponds, and tanks in

the area. Fairly distributed.

27. Pinnularia balatonis (Pant.) Gandhi, comb. nov. (Fig. 34)

Navicula balatonis Pantocsek, Res. Wiss. Erf. Balat. 2 (2): 33, t. 3,

f. 64, 1902 ; Skvortzow, B. W., 1928-32, Ceylon J. Sci. 11: 256, pl. 33,

f. 4 (= P. microstauron B brébissonii (Kiitz.) May. v. ceylonica Skv.) ;

Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 55, f. 1072 t. (=

P. brébissonii v. acuta A. Cl.).

Valves 46-51.3 » long and 10-12 » broad (in the middle 8-9 ,), linear

with concave sides and subcuneate rounded ends. Raphe thin and more

or less straight, terminal fissures curved. Axial area narrow, sublinear ;

central area large, rhomboid, reaching the sides. Striae 9-10 in 10 p,

coarse, radial in the middle and convergent at the ends, middle striae

gradually abbreviated.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli, Powai and

Vihar lakes. Not common.

This species agrees very closely with Pantocsek’s Nay. balatonis Pant.,

which is in fact a Pinnularia type as suggested by the illustration. Cleve-

Euler also probably considers it to be a Pinnularia as suggested by the

remark : ‘a plumper form than that of Hustedt’s P. microstauron v.

brébissonii (Kiitz.) Hust.’ I, therefore, merit the remarks of Cleve-Euler

and effect the emendment by recognising Nav. balatonis as Pinnularia

balatonis.

Further, I consider P. balatonis (Pant.) Gandhi to be a distinct species,

since I never found it in association of P. brébissonii (Ktitz.) Cl. Moreover,

its outline and the arrangement of striae appear to be different from

P. brébissonii, which can be appreciated only on close comparison. How-

ever, it may be remarked that it has a close affinity with P, brébissonii,

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS 91

Again from the literature it appears that Skvortzow described a form

from Ceylon which is almost identical with the present one, except that it

has slightly smaller range of dimensions (dimensions : 40-43 « 8.5 p, str.

12 in 10 pz). Likewise Cleve-Euler’s P. brébissonii v. acuta ‘fig. 1072 t’

agrees well here (dimensions : 37-43 x 8-10 uw. str. 13 in 10 »). Giving

little importance to these size differences, I herewith propose to refer

Skvortzow’s P. microstauron 8 brébissonii v. ceylonica Skv. and Cleve-

Euler’s P. brébissonii v. acuta ‘ fig. 1072 t only’ to P. balatonis (Pant.)

Gandhi, having range of dimensions : 37-51.3 x 8-13 y, striae 9-13 in 10

28. Pinnularia microstauron (Ehr.) Cl. (Figs. 28-29)

Habitat: Fresh water. Collected from various small and large

bodies of water in the region. It was usually found in rotting masses of

vegetable matter spread on the edges of pools. Common but never

found to be gregarious.

29. Pinnularia divergentissima (Grun.) Cl. (Fig. 30)

Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 45, f. 59-60? (without name) ;

t. 388, f. 23-24 ; Hustedt, 1930, Bacil. 320, 581 ; Berg, A., 1945, Ark. Bot.

32 A (1): 15, t. 4, f. 159 ; Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—

IV, 57, f. 1077 a-d (= v. genuina A. Cl.).

Valves 50-55.2 m long and 7.6 » broad, narrowly lanceolate with

broadly rounded capitate ends. Raphe thin and straight with central

pores slightly unilaterally bent and terminal fissures curved. Axial

area very narrow, linear ; central area large, rhomboid, reaching the sides.

Striae 11-13 in 10 yp, very strongly radial in the middle and convergent

at the ends, the angle formed between radial and convergent striae is

about 115°.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from ponds at Goregaon, Andheri,

Vile-Parle, and other places. Stray forms also were collected from Powai

lake and streams at Borivli. Not common.

30. Pinnularia termes Ehr. v. termitina (Ehr.) A. Cl. (Fig. 31)

Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 60, f. 1085 c;

Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 45, f. 64 (= Navicula termitina

Ehr.).

Valves 50-55 w long and 7.2 » broad, narrowly linear with distinctly

concave sides and strongly constricted, somewhat produced, broadly

capitate rounded ends. Raphe thin and straight with central pores uni-

laterally bent and terminal fissures curved. Axial area linear ; central

area wide, rhomboid, reaching the sides. Striae 10-12 » 10 ,, well

marked, radial in the middle and convergent at the ends,

oe JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Powai and Vihar lakes quite

frequently. Stray specimens also were collected from ponds at Andheri

and Goregaon and a tank at Bandra. Not common.

31. Pinnularia mesolepta Ehr. v. stauroneiformis Grun. (Fig. 32)

Hustedt, 1914, Arch. Hydrobiol. 10: 142, t. 1, f. 12; Skvortzow,

B. W., 1928, Philipp. J. Sci. 35 : 43, pl. 2, f. 20; Schmidt, A., 1874-1944,

Atlas Diat. t. 45, f. 71 (= Navicula mesolepta Ehr. v. stauroneiformis A.

S. ?).

Valves 57.6-60 » long and 9.10 » broad, linear with strongly triundulate

sides and somewhat narrowed, produced, broadly rounded capitate ends.

Raphe thin and straight with central pores unilaterally bent or not ;

terminal fissures curved. Axial area somewhat narrowly linear ; central

area large, quadrate, reaching the sides. Striae 9-10 in 10 p, coarse,

strongly radial in the middle and convergent at the ends.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from ponds at Goregaon, Dahisar,

Vile-Parle, Jogeshwari, streams at Borivli, tank at Bandra, and Powai

lake, mostly in a small number.

32. Pinnularla mesolepta v. indica v. nov. (Figs. 33, 35)

Valvae 38.7-50 p longae atque 8.2-8.8 yw latae, lineari-lanceolatae,

marginibus distincte triundulatis, apicibus leniter constrictis, elongato-

rotundatis. Raphe tenuis et recta, fissuris terminalibus curvatis. Area

axialis sublinearis; area centralis magna, rhomboidea, ad latera perveniens.

Striae circiter 9 in 10 p, crassae, radiales in medio ac in utroque apice

convergentes. Typus lectus a H. P. Gandhi ad Wadala die 31-7-1945, et

positus in herbario proprio auctoris sub numero BOM-WAD.—4.

Valves 38:7-50 p» long and 8.2-8.8 » broad linear-lanceolate with dis-

tinct triundulate sides and softly constricted, produced rounded ends.

Raphe thin and straight with terminal fissures curved. Axial area,

sublinear ; central area large, rhomboid, reaching the sides. Striae about

9 in 10 p, coarse, radial in the middle and convergent at the ends.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from pools and ponds at Wadala

as a frequent form.

This diatom agrees closely with P. mesolepta Ehr. and its forms and

varieties (Hustedt, 1930, Bacil. 319, f. 575 a-b ; Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55,

Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 60-61, f. 1087), in triundulate sides, raphe,

axial and central areas and the arrangement of striae. However, it

differs from them in having linear-lanceolate outline with softly constricted

produced ends. It is a more robust diatom than P. mesolepta f. angusta

Cl. (Hustedt, op. cit. f. 575 b=P. pulchra gstr. v. genuina A. Cl. Cleve-

Euler, op. cit. 27, f. 1025 d), since the length to breadth proportions

here are 4.7-5.7 : 1, in contrast to 7-8 : 1 as indicated by Hustedt, With

PLATE I

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VATA

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jJourRN. BomBay Nar. Hist. Soc.

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3 Pinnularia

te)

Pinnularia dolosa v.

is Grun

Pinnularia polyonca. (Br

acl TW“

minor Cl.;

Pinnularia dolosa sp. nov.;

nd Salsette Diatens

H.C andhi>=——

Pinaularia molar

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. Sm. Vv.

b.) W

10-11.

endiculata (Ag.) Cl

Pinnularia braunii (Grun.) Cl.;

S °

ANTM,

6-7. Pinnularia acrosphaeria (Br

dE)

pa e Sass « a nian

SUS ESE ™RG2

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> Py “rn 2 “8

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ey Sees ee ee

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2 SVs -SU

rg kRUSSAS

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ySHS RP SHER

MESS yarys

A See eS

SSqsss ns

co sm &

aS » V@ OG. me =

~ VoML'EO--S

fon Se) 7O

eee Padi = Wl) ° ~

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SFOS SRS

=> See

Se HS33

Reoas se ™

OHSS S

-> eRe WAS

a Segoe

as al =

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. 1. Pinnularia app

finlandica A.

phaeria v. sandvicensis A

chariessa Vv. nov.; 13

costata Cl. v.

Mull.

) Cl,

producia f. biundulata (O

32. Pinnularia mesolepia Ehr. v.

Pinnularia divergentissima (Grun

nov.

Pinnularia stomatophora Grun.

Pinnularia platycepha

divergens W.

v. elliptica Grun.; 24

(Kutz

JouRN. BomBay Nat. Hist. Soc. Piate Ii

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FIGURES 34-57

Fig. 34. Pinnularia balatonis (Pant.) Gandhi; 35. Pinnularia mesolepta v. indica V. nov.;

36. Pinnularia lundii Hust.; 37-39. Pinnularia interrupta W. Sm.; 40. Pinnularia subcapi-

tata Greg. v. hilseana (Jan.) O. Miill.; 41. Pinnularia graciloides Hust.; 42. Pinnularia

lacus-biwa Sky. f. minor f. nov.; 43. Pinnularia nakaii Skv. v. indica v.nov.; 44. Pinnula-

ria stauroptera (Rabh.) Cl. ? Grun.; 45. Pinnularia stauroptera v. clevei Meister f. hyalina

(Perag. & Hér.) A. Cl.; 46-47. Pinnularia gibba Ehr.; 48-49. Pinnularia simplex sp. nov.;

50. Pinnularia major (Kiitz.) Cl. v. sendaiensis Hust.; 51. Pinnularia hartleyana Grev. v. pul-

chella Mills.; 52. Pinnularia nipponica Skv.; 53. Pinnularia kiusiuensis Skv.; 54. Pinnula-

ria neglecta (Mayer) A. Berg.; 55. Pinnularia neglecta v. undulata v. nov.; 56. Pinnularia

pseudoluculenta sp. nov.; 57. Pinnularia streptoraphe Cleve.

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS 93

these differing features, therefore, the present specimens are tentatively

considered to be a new variety.

33. Pinnularia lundii Hust. (Fig. 36)

Hustedt, 1954, Arch. Hydrobiol. 48 (4) : 474, f. 61-63.

Valves 40-53.7 » long and 9.5-11.5 » broad, linear-lanceolate or linear-

elliptical with constricted, broadly capitate rounded ends. Raphe thin

and straight with central pores unilaterally bent and terminal fissures

curved. Axial area moderate, narrowly lanceolate ; central area wide,

reaching the sides. Striae 11-13 in 10 pw, coarse, radial in the middle and

convergent at the ends. |

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Borivli streams, Powai and

Vihar lakes, in good number ; elsewhere seen rather as a stray form.

A form in my earlier paper described as P. biceps Greg. v. amphicephala

(May.) A. Cl. (Gandhi, 1958, J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 55 : 498, f. 23), I

am not sure if it could be this species, since my Kolhapur form shows

slightly a different arrangement of the middle striae as a result of which

the central area appears to be much enlarged.

34. Pinnularia interrupta W. Sm. (Figs. 37-39)

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from various wet situations in the

region. It was found to be a variable species and the typical forms noted

from the region are herewith depicted. Quite common in the area.

35. Pinnularia subcapitata Greg. v. hilseana (Jan.) O. Miill. (Fig. 40)

Hustedt, 1930, Bacil. 317, f. 572; Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat.

Schwed. Finn.—IV, 65, 1090.n-r ; Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t.

45, f. 65 (=Navicula hilseana Janisch).

Valves 39-42 yw long and 6 yp» broad, narrow, linear with or without

indistinctly concave sides and constricted, produced subcapitate rounded

ends. Raphe thin and straight, terminal fissures curved. - Axial area

very narrow ; central area large, reaching the sides. Striae 11-13 in 10

#, radial in the middle and convergent at the ends.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Powai and Vihar lakes as a

common form. Isolated or stray specimens also were noted from streams

at Borivli.

36. Pinnularia graciloides Hust. (Fig. 41)

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Powai and Vihar lakes as a

common form and stray specimens were recorded from Borivli streams.

37. Pinnularia conica Gandhi

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from various ponds, large pools and

tanks. It occurred mostly in small number. Common.

94 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

38. Pinnularia lacus-biwa Skv. f. minor f. nov. (Fig. 42)

Valvae 54-56 » longae atque 12.4 pu latae, lanceolatae, apicibus cons-

trictis, capitato-cuneatis. Raphe crassa sed simplex, ornata poris ali-

quantum unilateraliter inclinatis, fissuris terminalibus curvatis. Area

axialis lanceolata; area centralis ampla, rhomboidea, ad latera perveniens.

Striae 8-9 in 10 p, crassae, radiales in medio ac convergentes ad apices.

Typus lectus a H. P. Gandhi in lacu Powai die 28-1-1945, et positus in

herbario proprio auctoris sub numero BOM-POW.—18.

Valves 54.56 p» long and 12.4 w broad, lanceolate with constricted

capitate-cuneate ends. Raphe thick but simple with central pores slightly

unilaterally inclined and terminal fissures curved. Axial area lanceolate ;

central area large, rhomboid, reaching the sides. Striae 8-9 in 10 p,

thick, radial in the middle and convergent at the ends.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli, Powai and

Vihar lakes. Rather rare, since only a few specimens were seen.

This diatom agrees well with P. lacus-biwa Skv. (Skvortzow, B. W..,

1937, Philipp. J. Sci. 61 : 280, pl. 6, f. 8) in the outline, raphe, axial and

central areas, and the arrangement of the striae. However, the present

specimens differ in being much smaller than the type. It is, therefore,

provisionally considered to be a new form.

39. Pinnularia nakaii Skv. v. indica v. nov. (Fig. 43)

Valvae 80-83.6 » longae atque 15.4 yw latae, lanceolatae, apicibus

aliquantum productis late cuneatis. Raphe crassa sed simplex et recta,

ornata poris centralibus unilateraliter inclinatis, fissuris terminalibus

curvatis. Area axialis ampla, lineari-lanceolata ; area centralis magna,

ad margines perveniens. Striae 7-8 in 10 », crassae, radiales in medio

atque in utroque apice convergentes. Typus lectus a H. P. Gandhi in

lacu Powai die 6-3-1945, et positus in herbario proprio auctoris sub numero

BOM-POW.—20.

Valves 80-83.6 » long and 15.4 » broad, lanceolate with slightly

produced, broadly cuneate ends. Raphe thick but simple and straight

with central pores unilaterally bent and terminal fissures curved. Axial

area fairly wide, linear-lanceolate ; central area large, reaching the sides.

Striae 7-8 in 10 pw, thick, radial in the middle and convergent at the ends.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Powai lake rather as a stray

diatom. |

This diatom agrees well with P. nakaii Skv.,as described by Skvortzow

(Skvortzow, B. W., 1937, Philipp. J. Sci. 61 : 280, pl. 8, f.4), in the out-

line, raphe, axial.and central areas, and the nature of striae and their

arrangement. However, the local specimens differ in being comparatively

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS 95

smaller, broader hence more lanceolate, and the ends are not marked to

be capitate. With these differences observed, it is therefore considered

to be a new variety.

Section TABELLARIAE Cleve

40. Pinnularia stauroptera (Rabh.) Cl. ? Grun. (Fig. 44)

Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed, Finn.—IV, 66, f. 1091 a-c

(=v. genuina Mayer); Hustedt, 1924, Naturw. Unters. Sarek. 3 (6):

569, t. 19, f. 9-10 (=P. stauroptera Grun.) ; 1930, Bacil. 327, f. 600 a-b

(=P. gibba Ehr.) ; Donkin, A. S., 1871-73, Brit. Diat. III, 70, pl. 12,

f. 3 (=Navicula tabellaria Ehr.) ; Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat.

t. 45, f. 50-51 (=N. gibba (Pinn.) Ehr.) ; Van Heurck, 1896, Treat. Diat.

172, pl. 2, f. 86 (=N. tabellaria Ehr.).

Valves 66-88.7 » long and 12.6-13 » broad, linear, inflated in the

middle with swollen rounded ends somewhat cuneate. Raphe thin and

straight with central pores approximate and unilaterally bent and ter-

minal fissures curved. Axial area very broad, linear-lanceolate ; central

area not quite defined. Striae about 10 in 10 p, coarse, radial in the

middle and convergent at the ends.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Borivli streams, Powai and

Vihar lakes, tank at Bandra, and as a stray form in several large bodies

of water in the region. Fairly distributed.

This species I have referred to P. stauroptera according to Cleve-

Euler, since from my some years of collections and observations I felt

it to be different from P. gibba Ehr., which is described in the follow-

ing. The references cited here all more or less point out the present

species and it appears that no two opinions are the same for it.

41. Pinnularia stauroptera v. clevei Meister f. hyalina (Perag. & Hér.)

A. Cl. (Fig. 45)

Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 57, f. 1091 f.

Valves 49-52 » long and 7.2 » broad, weakly silicified, linear-lan-

ceolate with weakly triundulate sides, middle inflation rather more

wide and prominent, ends very broad capitate-rounded-cuneate. Raphe

thin and straight with central pores unilaterally bent and terminal fis-

sures curved. Axial area fairly wide, linear or sublinear ; central area

large, rhomboid, reaching the sides. Striae about 10 in 10 », somewhat

delicate, radial in the middle and convergent at the ends.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from hilly streams at Chembur,

Borivli, and Powai lake, rather as a stray form.

96 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (i)

42. Pinnularia gibba Ehr. (Figs. 46-47)

Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 45, f. 45-47; Skvortzow,

B. W., 1937, Philipp. J. Sci. 61: 42, pl. 7, f. 2-3; Van Heurck, 1896,

Treat. Diat. 172, pl. 2, f. 88 (=Navicula gibba Ehr.); Pantocsek, J.,

1902, Res. Wiss. Erf. Balat. 2 (2) : 33, t. 3, f. 66 (=Nay. stauroptera

Grun. v. parva Grun.); Schoénfeldt, H., 1913, Bacil. 109, f. 235 (=P.

gibba W. Sm. ? Ehr.) ; Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—

IV, 57, f. 1091 bb (=P. stauroptera ?).

Valves 68-79 uw long and 11-12.6 » broad, linear-lanceolate with slight

but uniformly convex sides and at the extremities abruptly swollen,

broadly rounded ends. Raphe thin and straight with central pores

unilaterally bent and terminal fissures curved. Axial area narrowly

lanceolate ; central area very large, rhomboid, reaching the sides. Striae

8-9 rarely up to 10 in 10 pg, very coarse, radial in the middle and con-

vergent at the ends. ,

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Powai, Vihar, and Tansa

lakes as a frequent form but stray specimens were obtained from several

large bodies of water in the region.. Common.

Krishnamurthy has described a form under P. gibba Ehr. (Krishna-

murthy, V., 1954, J. Indian bot. Soc. 33 : 369, f. 43). This is shown to

be an arcuate type with clear longitudinal bands on the striae, which are

characteristically apparent only in ‘ Majores, Complexae, Vitreatae ’

groups. Moreover, it is shown to have complex or subcomplex raphe.

These features as given by Krishnamurthy for P. gibba appear to be

strange and unknown in the literature, particularly the one he has cited.

It seems that the said author has erroneously determined this as well as

several other diatoms of his paper.

43. Pinnularia simplex sp. nov. (Figs. 48-49)

Valvae 59-80 » longae atque 9-11.4 p latae, lineares, marginibus

concavis centrum inter et polos, apicibus late-rotundatis. Raphe

tenuis et recta, ornata poris centralibus aliquantum unilateraliter in-

clinatis ac fissuris terminalibus curvatis. Area axialis angusta, linearis ;

area centralis paulum dilatata. Striae 9-11 in 10 », aliquantum radiales

in medio ac in utroque apice convergentes. Typus lectus a H.P. Gandhi

ad Wadala die 31-7-1945, et positus in herbario proprio auctoris sub

numero BOM-WAD.—10.

Valves 59-80 » long and 9-11.4 w broad, linear with margins concave

in between the middle and the ends, ends broadly rounded. Raphe

thin and straight with central pores slightly unilaterally bent and ter-

minal fissures curved. Axial area narrow, linear ; central area slightly

widened. Striae 9-11 in 10 yn, slightly radial in the middle and con-

vergent at the ends.

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS 97

_ Habitat: Fresh water. Collected from pools and ponds at Wadala,

Goregaon, Jogeshwari, Andheri, and some other places. It occurred

usually in a small number. :

This diatom does not agree well with any of the similar looking

species of Pinnularia. It is, therefore, tentatively considered to be a

new species.

Section MAJORES Cleve

44. Pinnularia major (Kiitz.) Cl. v. sendaiensis Hust. (Fig. 50)

Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 387, f. 3.

Valves 201-207 » long and 26.2-27 » broad, linear, distinctly inflated

in the middle, sides parallel, ends swollen and subcuneate-rounded.

Raphe thick with central pores unilaterally bent and terminal fissures

somewhat obliquely curved. Axial area wide 1/4 to nearly 1/3 the width

of the valve, linear ; central area dilated. Striae 5-5.5 in 10 p, thick,

radial in the middle and convergent at the ends with fairly wide longi-

tudinal bands quite evident.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Powai lake rather in a small

number. Rare.

- This diatom agrees well with the type illustrated in the ‘ Atlas’, in

the outline, raphe, and striae. However, it appears to be somewhat

smaller and has rounded cuneate ends, hence it slightly differs. Skvort-

zow has described a form P. hustedtii Meister (Skvortzow, B. W., 1937,

Philipp. J. Sci. 61 : 43, pl. 8, f. 5) which is very much like the present

one in the outline, apices, raphe, striae, and other details. However,

P. hustedtii is a larger and slimmer form (221 x 17 yp, striae 9 in 10 p)

with more number of striae per 10 w, than is the case with the present

form. Again, the material of the present species is very scarce. It is

therefore difficult to remark in any way. Presently, I refer my specimen

to Hustedt’s P. major v. sendaiensis, of course provisionally, since the

striae number as also many other details approximate to it.

45. Pinnularia hartleyana Grev. v. pulchella Mills (Fig. 51)

Mills, F. W., 1932, J. roy. microsc. Soc. 52 : 390, pl. 2, f. 19-20.

Valves 149-160 » long and 18-21 y broad, linear, strongly inflated

in the middle, sides almost parallel, ends swollen and subrounded. Raphe

thick and straight with central pores conspicuous and unilaterally bent

and terminal fissures large comma-shaped. Axial area about 1/4-1/3

the width of the valve, linear ; central area large and reaching the sides.

Striae 8-9 in 10 p, thick, strongly radial in the middle and convergent

at the ends with faint longitudinal bands.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli, Powai

and Vihar lakes. Rather rare.

98 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

_ This diatom agrees well with the type described and illustrated a

Mills except that the local forms have smaller size.

46. Pinnularia nipponica Skvortzow (Fig. 52)

Skvortzow,. B. W., 1937, Philipp. J. Sci. 61:45, pl. 7, t. 12: 281

pl 3 f. oss plaeete ne

Valves 70-75 » long and 11.2-12 » broad, linear, sides concave in

the middle with constricted, broadly produced rounded ends. Raphe

thick, subcomplex with central pores unilaterally bent and terminal

fissures curved. Axial area linear or sublinear; central area large,

reaching the sides. Striae 8-10 in 10 yp, thick, radial in the middle and

convergent at the ends with longitudinal bands faintly visible.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from ponds and pools at Wadala

and Powai lake usually as a stray form. Rare.

Section COMPLEXAE Cleve

47. Pinnularia kiusiuensis Skvortzow (Fig. 53)

Skvortzow, B. W., 1937, Philipp. J. Sci. 62 : 206, pl. 3, f. 4.

Valves 72-75 p» long and 13.6 » broad, linear, slightly swollen in the

middle with swollen rounded ends. Raphe thick, more or less com-

plex with central pores unilaterally bent and terminal fissures thick and

curved. Axial area linear about 1/5 the width of the valve; central

area larg2 and unilaterally reaching the side. Striae 9-10 in 10 gz, thick,

slightly radial in the middle and convergent at the ends_ with longi-

tudinal bands somewhat narrow but distinct.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Powai and Vihar lakes in a

small number. Rare in the locality.

This sp2cies agrees well with the type described by Skvortzow, except

that the ends here are somewhat more rounded.

48. Pinnularia neglecta (Mayer) A. Berg (Fig. 54)

Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 80, f. 1112.

Valves 157.5-163 » long and 23-24 uw broad, linear, slightly inflated

in the middle with gradually swollen, weakly narrowed rounded ends.

Raphe thick and complex with central pores unilaterally bent and ter-

minal fissures thick, slightly obliquely large-comma-shaped. Axial

area fairly wide, about 1/4-1/3 the width of the valve ; central area

somewhat dilated and apparent. Striae 6-7 in 10 p, thick radial in the

middle and convergent at the ends with fairly broad, clear longitudinal

bands.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Powai and 1 Vihar lakes in

good numbers.

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS 99

49. Pinnularia neglecta v. undulata v. nov. (Fig. 55)

Valvae 137-140.2 » longae atque 21.6-22 p» latae, robustae, lineares,

ad margines triundulatae, apicibus constrictis, late elongato-rotundatis. |

Raphe crassa et complexa, ornata poris centralibus unilateraliter in-

clinatis, fissuris terminalibus curvatis. Area axialis 1/4-1/3 latitudinis

valvae, linearis ; area centralis aliquantum dilatata. Striae 6-7 in 10 yp,

crassae, radiales in medio ac convergentes in utroque apice, vittis longi-

tudinalibus distincte evolutis. Typus lectus a H. P. Gandhi in lacu

Powai die 6-3-1945, et positus in herbario proprio auctoris sub numero

BOM-POW.—#62.

Valves 137-140.2 » long and 21.6-22 yw broad, robust, linear with

triundulate sides and constricted, broadly produced rounded ends.

Raphe thick and complex with central pores unilaterally bent and ter-

minal fissures curved. Axial area 1/4-1/3 the width of the valve, linear ;

central area slightly dilated. Striae 6-7 in 10 p, thick, radial in the

middle and convergent at the ends with longitudinal bands distinct.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Powai lake and streams at

Borivli. Stray forms also were recorded from Vihar and Tansa lakes.

Rather rare. :

This diatom agrees well with P. neglecta (May) A. Berg, described

above, in all the features except that the valves are more robust with

distinct triundulate sides and constricted, broadly produced rounded

ends. It is, therefore, considered to be a new variety.

50. Pinnularia pseudoluculenta sp. nov. (Fig. 56)

Valvae 132-140 » longae atque 17.6-18 yw latae, anguste lineares,

marginibus concavis centrum inter et polos, apicibus gradatim tumidis

ac late rotundatis. Raphe crassa et complexa, ornata poris centralibus

unilateraliter inclinatis conspicuis, fissuris terminalibus oblique curvatis.

Area axialis circiter 1/3 latitudinis valvae, lineari-lanceolata ; area cen-

tralis fere dilatata vel quadrata. Striae 7-8 in 10 p, crassae, aliquantum

radiales in medio atque in utroque -apice convergentes, vittis tenuibus

sed distinctis. Typus lectus a H. P. Gandhi ad Borivli in rivulis die

1944, 10-8-1946, et positus in herbario proprio auctoris sub numero

BOM-BOR.—35.

“Valves 132-140 » long and 17.6-18 » broad, narrowly linear with

concave sides between the middle and the ends, ends gradually swollen

and broadly rounded. Raphe thick and complex with central pores

conspicuous and unilaterally bent and terminal fissures obliquely curved.

Axial area about 1/3 the width of the valve, linear-lanceolate ; central

area almost dilated to quadrate. Striae about 7-8 in 10 yg, thick, slightly

radial in the middle and convergent at the ends with bands narrow but

distinct.

100 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli, Powai.

and Vihar lakes, as a frequent form. Not common in the region.

This species resembles P. conspicua (A.S.) Cl., as illustrated by Mills

(Mills, F. W., 1932, J. roy. microsc. Soc. 52 : 390, pl. 2, f. 22), in the

outline and the arrangement of the striae. However, the present speci-

mens are much smaller and very sleek and have comparatively much

wider axial area ; hence they differ. Morever, in the reference cited by

Mills [Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 43, f. 10-11 (=Navicula

conspicua A. S.)] the illustrations appear to be very different from that

of Mills (Mills seems to recognise the fact) and the present forms ; hence

the comparison is difficult. Further, Cleve-Euler’s P. alandica A. Cl.

(Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 80, f. 1112 A) also

appears to be different as it has broader valves, produced-cuneately-

rounded apices, and fewer striae per 10 », although it has somewhat a

similar shape. Again, the present forms compare well with Navicula

luculenta A. S. which is in fact a Pinnularia type (Schmidt, A., op. cit.

t. 43, f. 12) in the outline, range of dimensions, and perhaps the striae.

However, the present specimens show much wider axial area, well defined

quadrate central area, comparatively shorter striae with narrow longi-

tudinal bands ; hence they differ. In the literature no other species are

known with which the satisfactory comparison could be made, hence the

present specimens are considered to be a new species. |

: .

Section VITREATAE A. Berg

51. Pinnularia streptoraphe Cleve (Fig. 57)

Hustedt, 1924, Naturw. Unters. Sarek. 3(6) : 572, t. 19, 8; 1930,

Bacil. 337, f. 620; Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV,

85, f. 1117 a-c (=v. genuina A. Cl.) ; Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat.

t. 42, f. 7 (=nomen nudum).

Valves 140-160 » long and 22.5-24 p» broad, linear with broadly

rounded ends. Raphe thick, very strongly complex and folded with

central pores prominent and unilaterally bent and terminal fissures thick

and obliquely comma-shaped. Axial area about 1/4 the width of the

valve, linear ; central area only slightly dilated. Striae 5-5.5, rarely 6

in 10 p, thick, radial in the middle and convergent at the ends with fairly

broad very conspicuous longitudinal bands.

Habitat : Fresh water. Borivli streams, Powai, Vihar, and Tansa

lakes. Fairly common.

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS -101

- Genus AMPHIPRORA Ehrenberg 1843, emend. Cleve 1891

52. Amphiprora alata Kitz. (Fig. 58)

Hustedt, 1930, Bacil. 340, f. 625; Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat.

Schwed. Finn.—V, 32, f. 1402 a-d (=v. genuina A. Cl.).

Frustules 48-59 » long and 21-23 » broad in the middle and 35-37 pu

at the broadest, strongly siliceous, torsive in the longitudinal plane,

‘oblong-elliptical, deeply constricted in the middle with rounded truncate

ends in the girdle view. Connecting zone with numerous longitudinal

plaits, broad and somewhat sigmoid. Keel sigmoid with undulate keel

projections. Striae 16-18 in 10 p, fine and punctuate.

Habitat : Brackish water. Collected from Mahim and Chembur

creeks in good numbers and as a common form.

53. Amphiprora lata Grev. v. angustior McCall (Fig. 59)

McCall, D., 1933, J. Linn. Soc: (Bot.) 49 : 268, 26.

Frustules 98-116 » long and 21.6-22 » broad in the middle and 30-

33.5 » at the broadest, weakly siliceous, oblong, constricted in the middle

with truncate rounded ends in the girdle view. Connecting zone with

numerous longitudinal plaits almost straight with about 22 fine striae

in 10. Keel broad, sigmoid with uniformly arcuate keel projections.

Striae about 13-14 in 10 yz, rather fine.

Habitat : Brackish water. Collected from Matin creek usually in

asmall number. Very stray specimens also were collected from Chembur

and Bhayandar creeks.

Genus AMPHORA Ehrenberg 1840

54. Amphora ovalis Kiitz. v. gracilis (Ehr.) Cl. (Fig. 60)

Van Heurck, 1896, Treat. Diat. 127, pl. 1, f. 16; Hustedt, 1930,

Bacil. 342 (=f. gracilis (Ehr.) Cl.) ; Cleve-Euler, A. 1951-55, Diat.

Schwed. Finn.—III, 91, f. 667 b; Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat.

t. 26, f. 108 (=A. ovalis Kiitz.).

Frustules 65-70 » long and 27-29.5 » broad, slender than the type,

elliptical with truncate ends in girdle view. Valves lunate with convex

dorsal side and concave ventral side with rounded ends. Raphe arcuate

with dorsally bent conspicuous central pores. Axial area very narrow :

central area large, quadrate, reaching the ventral side. Striae 12-13

in 10 p», coarsely punctuate, radial on the dorsal side but on the ventral

side radial in the middle and convergent at the ends. :

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from pools and ponds at Wadala,

Vile-Parle, Goregaon, and some other places. Usually collected in a

small number.

102. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

This diatom agrees well with the type described by Van Heurck and

others. The maximum length given by Cleve-Euler is 40 p, from which

the present specimens differ in being much larger. It also resembles

A. lioyca Ehr. (Cleve-Euler, op. cit. 90 f. 666 a-b (=v. typica A. Cl.),

but differs in not having clearly defined longitudinal hyaline bands.

55. Amphora oyalis Kitz. v. pediculus Kutz. |

Habitat : Fresh water. Widely distributed in the locality and some-

times abundant.

56. Amphora acutiuscula Ktitz. (Fig. 61)

Van Heurck, 1896, Treat. Diat. 134, pl. 1, f. 5; Cleve-Euler, A.,

1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—III, 98, f. 686 a-b; Schmidt, A., 1874-

1944, Atlas Diat. t. 26, f. 59 (=A. lineata Greg.) ; Foged, N., 1957,

Nat. Hist. Rennell Isl. 3 : 75, pl. 9, f. 5? (=A. sp.)

Frustules 32-38 » long and 15-16 » broad with abruptly constricted

produced truncate ends in girdle view. Valves semi-lanceolate, 7-8

broad, with straight ventral side and produced. somewhat capitate ends.

Raphe thin and straight rather delicate. Axial area very narrow.

Striae 14-18 in 10 p, radial, indistinctly punctuate and rudimentary on

the ventral side.

Habitat : Brackish water. Collected from Mahim and Chembur

creeks fairly frequently.

Genus CYMBELLA Agardh 1830

57. Cymbella turgida (Greg.) Cl.

Habitat : Fresh water. Widely distributed in the area but always

collected in smaller numbers. Common.

58. Cymbella ventricosa Kitz.

Habitat : Fresh water and wet soils. Common throughout the

region.

59. Cymbella gracilis (Rabh.) Cl. (Fig. 62)

Hustedt, 1930, Bacil. 359, f. 663; Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat.

Schwed. Finn.—IV, 129, f. 1184 a-b (=v. schmidtii A. Cl.) ; Schmidt,

A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 10, f. 36-37, 39-40 (=Encyonema gracile

Rabh.)

Valves 32.4-36 » long and 5.4- » broad, asymmetrical, narrow semi-

lanceolate with ventral side almost straight, ends acutely rounded some-

times slightly constricted and weakly bent on the ventral side. Raphe

thin and straight, strongly excentric and close to the ventral side. Axial

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS 103

area very narrow; central area very small. Striae 12-14 in 10 4g, fine

and slightly radial, ventral side striae marginal.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli, Powai

and Vihar lakes usually in good number.

This species agrees well with the type described Cleve-Euler and

others except that the ventral side sometimes noted to be slightly con-

cave as indicated by Cleve-Euler in f. 1184 a.

60. Cymbella yarrensis (A. S.) Cl. (Fig. 63)

Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 379, f. 21-22; t. 71, f. 16 (=

Encyonema ? yarrensis A. S.).

Valves 75-80 » long and 12.6-13 » broad, asymmetrical-lanceolate

with dorsal side more convex than the ventral one with acutely rounded

ends. Raphe thin and straight, clearly excentric with terminal fissures

dorsally directed. Axial area narrow very narrowly lanceolate ; central

area slightly widened. Striae 12-14 in 10 p, strongly radial in the middle

but less so towards the ends and somewhat closer. In some cases the

end striae tended to be probably perpendicular to the middle line.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli, Powai

and Vihar lakes. Only stray specimens were recorded.

This species agrees well with the type illustrated in the ‘ Atlas’, in

the outline, length-breadth proportions, raphe and strongly radial striae

in the middle. However, the end striae noted in the local forms are not

necessarily perpendicular to the middle line. I have referred these

specimens to the said species with some amount of hesitation, but these

definitely do not agree with any other similar-looking species.

61. Cymbella amphicephala Naeg.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli, pools at

Kanheri caves, Powai and Vihar lakes, usually as a common form.

62. Cymbella leptoceros (Ehr. ?) Grun. v. rostrata Hust. f. indica f. nov.

(Fig. 64)

Valvae 38-43 yw longae atque 12-12.5 » latae, asymmetricae, sub-

rhomboideae, latere dorsali valde convexo, ventrali aliquantum convexo,

apicibus constrictis ac elongato-rotundatis. Raphe crassa, arcuata,

leniter centrica, poris centralibus conspicuis, fissuris terminalibus ad

marginem dorsalem versus flexis. Area axialis sat ampla, anguste

lanceolata ; area centralis paululum dilatata. Striae 9-12 in 10 #, crasse

lineatae bis seriatae, ubique radiales ac in utroque apice proxime positae.

Typus lectus a H. P. Gandhi ad Borivli in rivulis die 10-8-1946, et poe

in herbario proprio auctoris sub numero BOM-BOR,—48, 3

104 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 37 (1)

Valves 38-43 p» long and 12-12.5 » broad, asymmetrical, subrhom-

boid, dorsal side strongly convex than the ventral side with constricted,

slightly produced rounded ends. Raphe thick, arcuate, somewhat

centric with central pores conspicuous and terminal fissures dorsally

bent. Axial area fairly wide and narrowly lanceolate ; central area very

slightly dilated. Striae 9-12 in 10 p», coarsely lineate in double rows,

throughout radial and at the ends closely set.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli oe Powai

lake in a small number.

This diatom. agrees well with Cymbella leptoceros (Ehr. ?) Grun. v.

rostrata Hust. (Hustedt. 1944, Arch. Hydrobiol. 39 : 132, f. 52-54) in

the outline, striae and other details. However, the present forms show

rather rhombic shape and less conspicuously produced rostrate ends.

It is, therefore, considered to be a new form.

63. Cymbella austriaca Grun. v. subrhomboidea (@strup) A. Cl.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli and

Kanheri caves. Fairly common.

64. Cymbella tumida (Bréb.) V. H. (Figs. 65-66)

Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 376, f. 4-7; t. 10, f. 28-30 (=

C. stomatophora Grun.) ; Van Heurck, 1896, Treat. Diat. 148, pl. 1, f.

42; Hustedt, 1930, Bacil. 366, f. 677; Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat.

Schwed. Finn.—IV, 166, f. 1255 a [=v. genuina (Grun.) A. Cl].

Valves 53-65 » long and 18-19.5 » broad, asymmetrical, boat-shaped,

strongly convex on the dorsal side, on ventral side straight, medially

gibbous, feebly concave or triundulate with strongly constricted, broadly

produced rounded-truncate ends. Raphe thick, arcuate, excentric

with distinct central pores and dorsally reflexed terminal fissures. Axial

area rather narrow, linear ; central area large roundish or subquadrate

with a luna on the dorsal side and a pore or elongated marking on the

ventral side. Striae 7.5-9 in the middle up to 11 in 10 » towards the

ends, clearly and coarsely punctate and radial throughout.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Powai, Vihar, and Tansa

lakes as a common and frequent form. A smaller number of forms

also were collected from Bandra tank and some other places. Not

widely distributed.

65. Cymbella powaiana sp. nov. (Fig. 67)

Valvae 57.6-60 » longae atque 18-19 p latae, asymmetricae, oximabil

formes, latere dorsali valde convexo, ventrali vero recto sed paululum

tumido ad medium, apicibus constrictis in dorso, distincte productis et

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS 105

subtruncatis. Raphe crassa, arcuata, leniter centrica, ornata poris

centralibus distinctis atque fissuris terminalibus ad marginem dorsalem

versus flexis. Area axialis sat ampla, linearis; area centralis ampla

subrotundata absque stigmatibus. Striae 7-8 in 10 p, crasse lineatae,

punctis circiter 18-20 in 10 », ubique radiales. Typus lectus a H. P.

Gandhi in lacu Powai die 6-3- 1945, et positus in herbario age auctoris

sub numero BOM-POW.—77.

jh Valves 57.6-60 uw long and 18-19 » broad, asymmetrical, boat-shaped,

dorsal side strongly convex, ventral side straight with a slight inflation

in the middle ; ends constricted on the dorsal side, distinctly produced

and subtruncate. Raphe thick, arcuate, nearly central with central

pores distinct and terminal fissures reflexed towards the dorsal side.

Axial area fairly wide, linear ; central area large somewhat roundish

without any stigmata. Striae 7-8 in 10 w, coarsely lineate with puncta

about 18-20 in 10 », throughout radial.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Powai lake along with the

above type in a small number. Stray specimens also were collected

from streams at Borivli and Vihar lake.

This species does not satisfactorily agree with any other similar look-

ing types in the literature, hence it is regarded as a new species.

66. Cymbella aspera (Ehr.) Cl.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli, Chembur

hills, Powai, Vihar and Tansa lakes, usually in good number, from among

the dead vegetable matter scattered around the borders. It was also

found to form slimy encrustations on stony or rocky substratum.

67. Cymbella bengalensis Grun.

Habitat : Fresh water. Mostly collected from the streams at Borivli

and Powai lake. Not common.

Genus GOMPHONEMA Agardh 1824

68. Gomphonema constrictum Ehr. v. capitata (Ehr.) Cl. (Fig. 68)

Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 247, f. 33; Hustedt, 1930,

Bacio) 1.7 15).. van meprck, 1896; Treat. Diat. 270, pl. 7, f 297 (=

G. constrictum v. capitatum Ehr.) ; Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed.

Finn.—IV, .173, f. 1261 e-f? [= G—v. capitatum (Ehr.) Cl. f. Be

May.].

Valves 47.5-50 » long and 12.5-13 » broad, “Grea clavate with Ful

constricted broadly produced subtruncate apex and attenuated rounded

base. Raphe thick and straight. Axial area-narrow, linear ; central.

106 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

area somewhat rhomboid, slightly unilateral with a stigma on the opposite

side. Striae 10-12 in 10 zp, fine but clearly punctate and slightly radial.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli and Powai

lake, in good number.

69. Gomphonema constrictum v. indica v. nov. (Fig. 69)

Valvae 45-47.5 « longae atque 12.5 » latae, clavatae, apice constricto,

late elongato-rotundato. Striae circiter 11-12 in 10 p, radiales atque

distincte punctatae. Caetera ut in typo. Typus lectus a H. P. Gandhi

in lacu Powai die 28-1-1945, et positus in herbario proprio auctoris sub

numero BOM-POW. —78.

Valves 45-47.5 » long and 12.5 » broad, clavate, apex constricted

broadly produced and rounded. Striae about 11-12 in 10 p, radial and

clearly punctate. In all other characters resembles the type.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli and Powai

lake, usually in a smaller number along with the type.

This diatom agrees well with above mentioned type in all characters

except that the apical part is rather short, distinctly constricted, broadly

produced and rounded. It is, therefore, considered as a new variety.

70. Gomphonema acuminatum Ehr. v. turris (Ehr.) Cl. (Figs. 70-71)

Valves 46-71.5 » long and 11-14.4 » broad and striae 9-10 to 12-13

in 10 p.

While going through the literature, there appears to be some difficulty

regarding the present species. The figure 70 very exactly agrees with

Hustedt’s G. acuminatum vy. turris (Hustedt, 1911, Abh. Nat. Ver. Bremen,

20 : 293, t. 3, f. 36) and in the said reference, Schmidt’s ‘ Atlas Diat.’

t. 239, f. 31-36, illustrations are considered to be identical. In fact, of

the ‘ Atlas’ t. 239, f. 32, 34 are rather more closely so, with the present

as well as that of Hustedt (1911, op. cit.).

Cleve-Euler, however, considered Hustedt’s (1911, op. cit.) specimens

to be G. montanum Schum. v. turriforme A. Cl. (Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55.

Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 182, f. 1276 a-b). The illustrations represented

by her actually correspond more or less well with Hustedt’s G. lanceolatum

Ehr. v. turris (Ehr. e. p.) Hust. (Hustedt, 1936, Arch. Hydrobiol., suppl.

14 : 166, t. 3, f. 23). Hustedt renamed his 1936 (op. cit.) forms as G.

lanceolatum f. turris (Ehr. e.p.) Hust. in his later work (Hustedt, 1938-

39; Arch. Hydrobiol., suppl., 15 : 437, t. 26, f. 8-11). If the illustrations

of these two papers were to be compared, they differ much among them-

selves. The Java (1938, op. cit.) forms appear to be more broadly clavate

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS 107

from the middle part upwards with broadly cuneate ends and in the smal-

ler forms therein the appearance goes as far as to suggest that G. augur

Ehr. is getting evolved. These forms more or less come closer to G.

acuminatum v. turris Ehr., ‘ Atlas’ t. 239, particularly the figures 31,

33, 35 except that the figs. in the ‘ Atlas ’ have rather more pointed apex.

But in any way all these are obviously dissimilar to present specimens as

well to the one illustrated by Hustedt (1911, op. cit.).

Cleve-Euler’s G. montannum v. suecicum Grun. (Cleve-Euler, op. cit.,

182, f. 1276 c) as well as of ‘ Atlas Diat.’ t. 239, f. 32, 34 (= G. acumi-

natum v. turris) and t. 240, f. 4 (regarded as intermediate form between

G. acuminatum and G. augur Ehr.) agree well here and with Hustedt’s

(1911, op. cit.).

Hustedt’s G. acuminatum v. turris (Ehr.) Cl. (Hustedt, 1930, Bacil.

372, f. 687) befits anywhere between G. acuminatum v. turris of the ‘Atlas’

and G. lanceolatum v./f. turris (Ehr. e.p.) Hust., is being referred by Cleve

Euler to G. montanum v. turriforme A. Cl. This form more or less corres-

ponds well with my illustration (fig. 71). It also corresponds to a certain

degree with ‘ Atlas’ t. 240, f. 18-20, particularly with f. 18 which is G.

acuminatum v. brasiliensis Ehr., and much more with Skvortzow’s G.

acuminatum v. turris (Skvortzow, B. W., 1935, Philipp. J. Sci., 57: pl.3,

fe 9193761) 51. pl. 12) 8 43.1938, 662356; pl.-1.\f.15 2). Skvortzow

recorded denser striae for some of his forms, particularly in forms collected

from Kizaki lake.

Looking at G. acuminatum Ehr. itself which isa highly variable species,

it may be assumed that G. acuminatum v. turris Ehr. is as well variable

under different climatic, topographical, and habitat conditions, and as a

result of that the same or different workers have given different illustra-

tions and sometimes the considerations.

Yet, with a good deal of uncertainty and far fetched considerations, I

presume the present diatoms to be G. acuminatum v. turris (Ehr.) Cl. a

poly-phasic type. The references hitherto mentioned, all probably go to

represent manifestations of the indicated type as has been suggested by

Geitler (1932) in the case of several Pennate diatoms, Hendey (1951)

in the case of Achnanthes longipes Ag., Lund (1945-46), and others. I

believe, nothing better than this could be thought of, at least for

the present. The two illustrations depicted here show the extremes that

have been recorded from among several specimens collected from different

localities in the region.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from several places in the region

usually in a small number,

108 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

71. Gomphonema augur Ehr. (Figs. 72-73) ©

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from several pools, ponds, and other

large bodies of water in the region. Quite common.

72. Gomphonema subapicatum Fritsch & Rich (Figs. 74-80)

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from several wet situations in the

Bombay and Salsette region. In certain ponds and tanks it was found

to be gregarious. Its distribution so far known in India : Punjab, whole

of South-Western Zone, and N. Gujarat.

Having collected and observed this species in varying quantity for

almost fifteen years from various parts of South-Western Zone of India

(an area comprised of approximately 900 miles long and 100 miles broad)

reaching up to parts of N. Gujarat, I am convinced that it is a distinct

species. Therefore, I appreciate the diagnosis given by Fritsch & Rich

(Fritsch, F. E. & Rich, F., 1929, Trans. roy. Soc. S. Afr. 18: 109, f.6

A-D). From this long tenure of work, I have found quite an amount of

structural and size variations in the species which perhaps does not appear

in the literature ; hence, I set it forth in the record by giving several illustra-

tions and a table of dimensions. The forma curta Frit. & Rich of the

said species is included within the type since I have observed all the

intergrading sizes and forms from the same and different localities

during different times.

Further, Hustedt has regarded such specimens of his Sunda-Expedi-

tion material as G. gracile Ehr. f. turris Hust. (Hustedt, 1938, Arch.

Hydrobiol., Suppl. 15 : 439, t. 28, f. 14-16), calling them as tropical devia-

tion of G. gracile. However, I consider them to be G. subapicatum, since

they are so very alike in all characters. Again, I have found this species

to be rather independent of G. gracile, frequent and sometimes gregarious.

Looking at its manifestations which I have recorded, it appears that it

has probably found its expression from G. acuminatum Ehr. and G.

augur Ehr. series rather than from G. gracile. This fact may be derived

from considering the apex and apicule, organisation of striae and their

punctate nature, raphe, central area, and as a rule the whole of the general

plan of the valve. It is assumed that the probable line of deviation might

have taken through G. acuminatun v. turris, like forms which I have

described earlier and my figures 70-71 perhaps bear the testimony of the

same.

I herewith give in the following table the range of dimensions

recorded by previous workers and here, thus :

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS 109

Fritsch & Rich (1929)

Abdul-Majeed (1935)

Hustedt (1938)

Gandhi (1956)

present forms

forms collected from

N. Gujarat area

| Length | Breadth | Striae per 10 «

$$ ee be) Sa

77-55 | 14-12 10-12

40-28 fu | 11-10 10-12 =f. curta

same range as given by Fritsch & Rich

99-48 bu

85.6

70 &

67 &

49.5 fe

44 pb

36 &

48-62

no dimensions given

15.6-12 yp

toed:

14.4 u

14.

0010.0. 0WNNN

ANADRUA

SDE E EEE

Sy A

10-12.5

(=G. gracile v. tur-

ris Hust.)

9-12

9-11

TS Gomphonema subapicatum v. okamurae (Sky.) emend. (Fig. 81)

— Skvortzow, B. W., 1937, Philipp. J. Sci. 62 : 209, pl. 4, f. 13 (= G.

augur Ehr. v. okamurae Skv.). 7

Valves 49-55 yu long and 13.7-14 » broad, lanceolate-clavate with broad

abruptly narrowed subapiculate apex and from the middle gradually

attenuated base. Central area with two stigmata.

p, radial and punctate.

Habitat : Fresh water.

Striae 9-11 in 10

In all other features like the above type.

Collected from streams at Borivli, Andheri,

Goregaon and Dahisar ponds, Powai and Vihar lakes, and other places.

_ It was recorded usually as a stray form with the species.

This diatom strongly agrees with G. subapicatum Frit. & Rich rather

than with G. augur Ehr. ; hence it is considered to be a variety of the for-

mer, and Skvortzow’s nomenclature is emended.

74, Gomphonema sphaerophorum Ehr.

Habitat : Fresh water.

the region of Bombay and Salsette.

Collected from several wet situations from

A common type.

75. Gomphonema subtile Ehr. v. malayensis Hust. (Fig. 82)

Hustedt, 1942, Int. Rev. Ges. Hydrobiol. Hydrogr. 42 (1/3): 119, f.

258-260.

~ Valves 45-50 p» long and 8.5-9 » broad, lanceolate-clavate with only

110 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

slightly produced, narrowly capitate rounded apex and gradually atte-

nuated base. Raphe thin and straight. Axial area narrow, linear ;

central area small, very slightly unilaterally expanded with an isolated

stigma on the other side. Striae 9-10 in 10 y, radial and coarsely lineate.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli, Powai and

Vihar lakes, ponds at Dahisar, Goregaon, and Andheri. Mostly recorded

as a stray form.

76. Gomphonema parvulum Kitz. (Figs. 83, 120)

Habitat : Fresh water and rarely somewhat brackish water. A widely

distributed diatom. Common.

The two illustrations given show much deviation among themselves

in the outline. The figure 120 is typical of the type and 83 is a variant

but it agrees well with Cleve-Euler’s fig. 1269 a, and Berg’s illustration

(Berg, A., 1953, Bot. Not. 1 : 63, f. 4).

77. Gomphonema parvulum vy. subellipticum Cl.

Habitat: Fresh water. Collected from several wet situations but

usually in small numbers along with the type.

78. Gomphonema parvulum v. micropus (Kiitz.) Cl.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from several pools, ponds, tanks,

and other wet situations. Fairly common.

79. Gomphonema parvulum v. lagenula (Grun.) Hust. (Fig. 110)

Hustedt, 1930, Bacil. 373 ; 1949, Expl. Parc. Nat.-Albert Miss. H.

Damas 1935-36, 8 : 119, t. 11, f. 8-10.

Valves 26-30.6 » long and 7.2 » broad, lanceolate-clavate with con-

stricted subcapitate apex and slightly produced base. Raphe thin and

straight. Axial area narrow, linear ; central area somewhat unilateral

with an isolated stigma on the opposite side. Striae about 14 in 10 pg,

radial.

Habitat . Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli and various

ponds, puddles, and pools in the region. It occurred usually with the

type but in small numbers. Fairly common.

80. Gomphonema angustatum (Kiitz.) Rabh. v. producta Grun. f. indica

f. nov. (Fig. 84)

Valvae 30-32 » longae atque 6.5 p latae, lineari-clavatae, apice cons-

tricto, breviter elongato et rotundato, basi constricta capitata. Raphe

tenuis et recta. Area axialis angusta ; area centralis parva ac unilatera-

liter dilatata, stigmate unico in latere opposito. Striae circiter 10-11

in 10 », aliquantum radiales atque indistincte punctate. Typus lectus a

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS {11

H. P. Gandhi ad Borivli in rivulis die 10-8-1946, et positus in herbario

proprio auctoris sub numero BOM-BOR. —97.

Valves 30-32 » long and 6.5 » broad, linear-clavate, apex constricted,

shortly produced and rounded ; base constricted and capitate. Raphe

thin and straight. Axial area narrow ; central area small and unilaterally

dilated with an isolated stigma on the opposite side. Striae about 10-11

in 10», slightly radial and indistinctly punctate.

Habitat: Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli and Kanheri

caves in a small number.

This diatom agrees with C. angustatum Kiitz. (Schmidt, A., 1874-1944

Atlas Diat. t. 234, f. 34-36) and G. angustatum (Kiitz.) Rabh. v. onic

Grun. (Hustedt, 1930, Bacil. 373, f. 693) in the outline, axial and central

areas, and the organisation of the striae. However, it differs in having

shortly produced apex and rather capitate base ; hence it is considered to

be a new form.

81. Gomphonema martini Fricke (Fig. 85)

Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 238, f. 22-25, particularly f.

24; Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 181, f. 1275

c-f (=v. genuinum A. Cl.).

Valves 80-97 » long and 14-16 » broad, narrowly lanceolate-clavate,

inflated in the middle with apex acutely cuneate and base gradually at-

tenuated. Raphe somewhat thick and straight. Axial area narrow,

linear ; central area fairly large, unilateral with an isolated stigma on the

opposite side. Striae about 7.5-10 in 10 #, middle 1-2 striae are abbre-

viated, radial and indistinctly punctate or lineolate.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli, Kanheri

caves, and Powai lake, usually in a small number.

This species agrees well with the type in all respects except that from

this locality larger specimens have been recorded.

82. Gomphonema montanum Schum. (Fig. 86)

- Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 182, f. 1276 1-n

(=v. genuinum Mayer) ; Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 238, f.

1-11, particularly f. 1, 2, 8 (=G. subclavatum Grun. v. montana Schum.) ;

Hustedt, 1930, Bacil. 375, f. 708 (=G. longiceps Ehr. v. montana (Schum.)

Cl. f. suecica Grun.).

Valves 38.7-50 p» long and 7-7.5 » broad, linear-clavate with undulate

sides, apex broadly produced-wedge-shaped and from the middle narrowed

gradually attenuated at the base. Raphe thick with part in the centre

slightly unilaterally inclined. Axial area narrow, linear ; central area

large, somewhat quadrate, unilaterally expanded with an isolated stigma

112 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (A)

on the opposite side. Striae 8-10 in 10 yg, slightly radial and indistinctly

punctate, 1-middle striae very short.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli, Kanheri

caves, and Powai lake, in a good number. Elsewhere in the locality

it occurred as a stray form.

83. Gomphonema montanum v. acuminatum Mayer (Figs. 100-101)

Valves 39.6-53 » long and 12.3-12.6 » broad, striae about 9-10 in 10 p.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli, Powai and

Vihar lakes. Stray specimens also were obtained from other larger bodies

of water.

Skvortzow has described almost identical forms as G. acuminatum

v. sinica Skv. (Skvortzow, B. W., 1935, Philipp. J. Sci. 57 : 474, pl. 3,

f. 10-11) from Poyang lake material, which I include here.

84. Gomphonema aequatoriale Hust. (Figs. 87, 102)

Hustedt, 1949, Expl. Parc Nat. Albert, Miss. H. Damas (1935-36), 8 :

119, t. 10, f. 6-8.

Valves 48.6-80 » long and 10.8-15 » broad, sublinear-clavate- with

broad subtruncate-rounded apex and gradually attenuated base, may be

sometimes concave. Raphe thick with central part slightly unilaterally

bent. Axial area moderately linear; central area large, somewhat

unilaterally expanded with an isolated stigma on the opposite side.

Striae 8-10 rarely up to 12 in 10 p, clearly lineate, radial and somewhat

closely set at the ends.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli, Kanheri

caves, Powai, Vihar, and Tansa lakes, rather frequent. Stray specimens

also were recorded from ponds at several places.

This species appears to be closely related to G. subclavatum Grun.

85. Gomphonema clavatoides sp. nov. (Figs. 88-89, 103)

Valvae 26.2-36 » longae atque 7.2-8.7 » latae, late clavatae, apice

plus minus late rotundato, basi gradatim attenuata vel raro subcapitata.

Raphe tenuis et recta. Area axialis angusta, sublinearis ; area centralis

plus minus ampla, unilateraliter dilatata, stigmate unico in latere opposito.

Striae 6-8 in 10 », crasse lineatae atque aliquantum radiales. Typus

lectus a H. P. Gandhi ad Borivli in rivulis die 10-8-1946, et ESI in

herbario auctoris sub numero BOM-BOR.—99-102.

Valves 26.2-36 » long and 7.2-8.7 » broad, broadly clavate with

more or less broadly rounded apex and gradually attenuated to rarely

subcapitate base. Raphe thin and straight. Axial area narrow, sub-

linear ; central area more or less large, unilaterally dilated with an isolated.

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS 113

stigma on the opposite side. Striae 6-8 in 10 p», coarsely lineate and

slightly radial.

Habitat: Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli, Powai

and Vihar lakes, in good number. It is also known from Kolhapur—

Rankala tank, and Katyani hills and Ahmedabad—Chandola lake.

This species does not agree with any of the similar looking forms in

the literature, hence it is considered to be a new species.

86. Gomphonema clavatoides v. valida v. nov. (Fig. 104)"

Valvae 37.8-40 » longae atque 6.4-6.5 «4 latae, lanceolato-clavatae,

apice acute cuneato, ad basim gradatim attenuatae. ‘Raphe aliquantum

crassa et recta. Striae 7-8 in 10 4, crasse lineatae atque aliquantum

tadiales. Caetera ut in typo. Typus lectus a H. P. Gandhi ad Borivli

in rivulis die 10-8-1946, et positus in herbario proprio auctoris sub

numero BOM-BOR.—102.

Valves 37.8-40 » long and 6.4-6.5 » broad, lanceolate-clavate with

acutely cuneate apex and gradually attenuated base. Raphe somewhat

thick and straight. Striae 7-8 in 10 w, coarsely lineate and slightly

radial. In all other characters like the type. .

' Habitat: Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli and

Powai lake along with the type, as stray specimens.

This diatom differs from the above type in having acutely cuneate

apex, slimmer valves and more attenuated base. It is therefore con-

sidered to be a new variety.

87. Gomphonema lanceolatum Ehr. (Figs. 105-107)

_ Habitat: Fresh water. Collected from several wet situations in

the region, as a common and frequent form.

_ Some of the forms recorded from Bombay and Salsette region were

found to be comparatively broader than the type described in the lite-

rature.

88. Gomphonema lanceolatum yv. insignis (Greg.) Cl.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli and

Powai and Vihar lakes as a common form, but elsewhere seen as scarce.

89. Gomphonema magnifica sp. nov. (Fig. 108)

~ Valvae 80-90 » longae atque 18-19.8 » latae, lanceolato-clavatae,

apicibus acute rotundatis, basi interdum concava. Raphe crassa et

recta. Area axialis angusta, linearis ; area centralis parva, aliquantum

unilateralis stigmate unico in latere opposito. Striae 6.5-8 in 10 pn,

paululum radiales, distincte punctatae, punctis circiter 13-15 in 10 pz,

114 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

singulae striae mediae remote evolutae. Typus lectus a H. P. Gandhi

ad Borivli in rivulis die 1944, 10-8-1946, et positus in herbario proprio

auctoris sub numero BOM-BOR.—106.

Valves 80-90 » long and 18-19.8 » broad, lanceolate-clavate with

acutely rounded apices, the base sometimes concave. Raphe thick and —

straight. Axial area narrow, linear; central area small, slightly uni-

lateral with an isolated stigma on the opposite side. Striae, 6.5-8 in

10 », very slightly radial, distinctly punctate, puncta about 13-15 in

10 », single middle striae distantly formed. |

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli and

Powai and Vihar lakes as a common form. From other bodies of water

it is recorded to be very stray. Yay

This species agrees with G. lanceolatum Ehr. in the outline, raphe, -

and punctate striae, but greatly differs in having much broader valves.

and larger size. Moreover, the striae are only slightly radial, very -

clearly punctate, and much fewer per 10 » than in G. lanceolatum. It

is therefore considered to be a different typ2, and as ‘it does not agree

with any other known species it is regarded as a new species. _ 4

90. Gomphonema magnifica v. rhomboida v. nov. (Fig. 109)

Valvae 79-85 » longae atque 19.8-20 » latae, rhomboideo-lanceolato-

clavatae, apicibus acute rotundatis, basi interdum paululum concava..

Striae 6.5-7 in 10 » vel rarius 8 in 10 yw, distincte punctatae. Caetera

ut in typo. Typus lectus a H. P. Gandhi ad Borivli in rivulis

die 10-8-1046, et positus in herbario proprio auctoris sub numero

BOM-BOR.—106.

Valves 70-85 » long and 19.8-20 » broad, rhomboid-lanceolate-:

clavate with acutely rounded ends, the base sometimes slightly concave.

Striae 6.5-7 to rarely 8 in 10 p, distinctly punctate. In all other charac-

ters like the type.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli and

Powai lake along with the type, usually in a small number.

This diatom differs from the type in having rhomboid-lanceolate-

clavate shape and more clearly marked punctate striae.

91. Gomphonema gracile Ehr. (Figs. 111-112)

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from several pools, ponds, tanks,

and other wet situations in the region. A common form.

_ The two illustrations given here suggest the range of variation that

was recorded among the forms collected from the area. The figure

112 corresponds well with Schmidt’s ‘ Atlas Diat.’ t. 236, f. 16, whereas

the other does with those given by Hustedt and Cleve-Euler.

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS 115

92. Gomphonema gracile v. naviculoides (W. Sm.) Grun. (Figs. 113-114)

Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 186, f. 1281 c;

Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 236, f. 18-19 (=G.—v. navi-

culacea W. Sm.).

Valves 49-70 » long and 8.5-10.8 » broad, almost isopolar, lanceo-

late-weakly-clavate, slightly bent with attenuated ends. Raphe thin

and straight, feebly excentric. Axial area narrow, linear-lanceolate :

central area roundish and somewhat unilaterally expanded with an

isolated stigma on the opposite side. Striae 12-16 in 10 p», radial and

indistinctly punctate.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from ponds at Andheri, Jogeshwari,

Goregaon, streams at Borivli, and Powai lake, usually in a small num-

ber along with the type. Fairly distributed.

93. Gomphonema gracile v. aurita A. Br. (Fig. 115)

- Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 236, f. 20-24 ; Cleve-Euler, A.,

1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 186, f. 1281 i (=G. —v. auritum

A. Br.).

Valves 56-59 » long and 9.2-9.6 » broad, lanceolate-clavate, some-

what rhomboid with acutely rounded ends. In living cells ends are

often provided with gelatinous apicules. Raphe thin and straight.

Axial area very narrow ; central area slightly unilaterally formed with

an isolated stigma on the opposite side. Striae 13-17 in 10 p, strongly

radial and more closely set towards the ends, one middle striae quite

distant than the rest.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Powai and Vihar lakes in

good number but elsewhere seen as very stray specimens.

94. Gomphonema gracile v. lanceolata (Kiitz.) Cl. (Fig. 116-117)

Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 236, f. 25-28, t. 237, f. 9-10

(=G.—v. lanceolata Kiitz.) ; Hustedt, 1938, Arch. Hydrobiol., Suppl.,

15 : 439, t. 28, f. 11-13 ; Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.

—IJV, 186, f. 1281 m-o (=G. —v. lanceolatum (Kiitz.) Cl. 2).

Valves 45-49 » long and 9-10 » broad, distinctly lanceolate-clavate

with more acutely rounded apex than the base, sometimes feebly con-

stricted and produced. Raphe coarse and straight. Axial area very

narrow ; central area small, slightly unilateral with an isolated stigma.

Striae 14-16 in 10 p, radial and indistinctly lineolate.

_ Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from several wet situations in the

region but usually in a small number along with the type.

The present diatoms differ from Cleve-Euler’s specimens in not

having clearly defined apiculate apex. Moreover, the outline here is

i16 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (i)

rather more lanceolate than clavate. Hustedt’s G. gracile v. lanceolata

(Kiitz.) Cl. (Hustedt, 1930, Bacil. 376, f. 703) differs in having more

drawnout apex. However, the present specimens very closely agree with

those illustrated in the * Atlas’ and recorded by Hustedt (1938).

95. Gomphonema gracile v. frickei v. nov. (Fig. 90)

Valvae 50-52 » longae atque 11-11.2 » latae, clavato-lanceolatae,

apice constricto, distincte apiculato, basi gradatim attenuata. Raphe

tenuis et recta. Area axialis angustissima ; area centralis aliquantum

unilateraliter dilatata, stigmate unico in latere opposito. Striae 8-12

in 10 », radiales atque indistincte punctatae. Typus lectus a H. P.

Gandhi in lacu Powai die 6-3-1945, et positus in herbario proprio auc-

toris sub numero BOM-POW.—60.

Valves 50-52 » long and 11-11.2 n% broad, clavate-lanceolate with

constricted distinctly apiculate apex and gradually attenuated base.

Raphe thin and straight. Axial area very narrow, central area slightly

unilaterally dilated with an isolated stigma on the opposite side. Striae

8-12 in 10 p, radial and indistinctly punctuate.

_ Habitat: Fresh water. Collected from Powai lake as a stray form.

This diatom more or less agrees well with “‘ G. gracile v.”, as given

in the ‘ Atlas Diat.’ t. 236, f. 31, in the outline and sharply pointed

apiculate apex. However, the present valves are clearly clavate, i.e.

the apex region is distinctly broad ; thus they differ. As the figure 31

on t. 236 of the ° Atlas’ has no complete name, it has been named here

and the present specimens are included under the same with the noted

differences.

96. Gomphonema gracile v. subcapitata v. nov. (Fig. OT).

Valvae 50-60 » longae atque 9-10 p» latae, lanceolato-clavatae, apice

constricto subcapitato, basi aliquantum concava, attenuato-rotundata.

Raphe tenuis et recta. Area axialis angustissima ; area centralis magna,

unilateraliter dilatata, stigmate unico in latere opposito. Striae 8-9

in medio ac 9-13 in 10 » in utroque apice, radiales atque indistincte

punctatae. Typus lectus a H. P. Gandhi ad Wadala die 31-7-1945,

et positus in herbario proprio auctoris sub numero BOM-WAD.—16.

Valves 50-60 » long and 9-10 » broad, lanceolate-clavate with con-

stricted subcapitate apex and slightly concave, gradually attenuated

rounded base. Raphe thin and straight. Axial area very narrow;

central area large, unilateral with an isolated stigma on the opposite

side. Striae 8-9 in the middle and 9-13 in 10 p, towards the ends, radial

and indistinctly punctate. ©

JourN. BomBay Nat. Hist. Soc. Pcata If

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Bombay and Salsette Dialome by H.P GandHi :—

FIGURES 58-99

Fig. 58. Amphiprora alata Kiitz.; 59. Amphiprora lata Grev. v. angustior McCail.; 60.

Amphora ovalis Kitz. v. gracilis (Ehr.) Cl.; 61. Amphora acutiuscula Kiitz.; 62. Cymbella

gracilis (Rabh.) Cl.; 63. Cymbella yarrensis (A.S.) Cl.; 64. Cymbella leptoceros (Ehr.?)

Grun. v. rostrata Hust. f. indicaf. nov.; 65-66. Cymbella tumida (Bréb.) V. H.; 67. Cym-

bella powaiana sp. nov.; 68. Gomphonema constrictum Ehr. v. capitata (Ehr.) Cl.; 69.

Gomphonema constrictum Vv. indica v.nov.; 70-71. Gomphonema acuminatum Ehr. v. turris

(Ehr.) Cl.; 72-73. Gomphonema augur Ehr.; 74-80. Gomphonema subapicatum Fritsch &

Rich; 81. Gomphonema subapicatum v. okamurae (Skv.) emend.; 82. Gomphonema subtile

Ehr. v. malayensis Hust.; 83. Gomphonema parvulum Kutz.; 84. Gomphonema angustatum

(Kiitz.) Rabh. v. producta Grun. f. indica f.nov.; 85. Gomphonema martini Fricke; 86.

Gomphonema montanum Schum.; 87. Gomphonema aequatoriale Hust.; 88-89. Gompho-

nema clavatoides sp. nov.; 90. Gomphonema gracile v. frickeiv.nov.; 91. Gomphonema

gracile v. subcapitata v.nov.; 92. Gomphonema spiculoides v. major v. nov.; 93. Gompho-

nema balatonis Pant.; 94. Gomphonema balatonis v. lanceolata v. nov.; 95. Gomphonema

sumatrense Fricke; 96. Gomphonema undulatum Hustedt; 97-98. Gomphonema tenuis sp.

nov.; 99, Gomphonema moniliforme sp. nov.

SPREE

SFA PE

JourN. BomBay Nat. Hist. Soc. PLate IV

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RELIES AEP TI CLS IEA IIS LIT CIDE MEET EI EI ELIE LAE EIEIO IT ICE

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Bombay and Salselte Bee

by AP Gandat,—

FIGURES _ 100-120

Fiz. 160-101. Gomphonema montanumy. acuminatum Mayer; 102. Gomphonema aequa-

toriale Hust:; 103. Gomphonema clavatoidessp.nov.; 104. Gomphonema clavatoides v. vali-

dav.nov.; 105-107. Gomphonema lanceolatum Ehr.; 108. Gomphonema magnifica sp.nov.;

109. Gomphonema magnifica v. rhomboides v. nov.; 110. Gomphonema parvulum v. lagenula

(Grun.) Hust.; 111-112. Gomphonema gracile Ehr.; 113-114. Gomphonema gracile v. navi-

culoides (W. Sm.) Grun.; 115. Gomphonema gracile v. aurita A. Br.; 116-117. Gompho-

nema gracile v. lanceolatum (Kiitz.) Cl.; 118. Gomphonema intricatum v. vibrio (Ehr.) Cl.;

119. Gomvhonema lingulatum Hust.; 120. Gomphonema parvulum Kutz.

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS 117

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from pools and ponds at Wadala

in a small number along with the type. It is also recorded from the

Jog falls.

This diatom agrees well with G. gracile Ehr. in the general outline,

range of dimensions, and the nature and arrangement of the striae.

However, the forms observed during different times always showed the

apex slightly constricted and subcapitate ; hence such specimens are

considered to be a new variety.

97. Gomphonema spiculoides Gandhi, nov. nom.

G. spicula Gandhi, J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 55 : 501, f. 28, 1958

(non G. spicula Manguin).

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from pools and ponds at Wadala,

ponds at Andheri, Goregaon, Vile-Parle, and streams at Borivli. Fairly

common.

I have to introduce here a new nomenclature for my G. spicula, since

my esteemed friend Dr. J. W. G. Lund informed me of the same name

existing in the literature. Unfortunately, I did not have the publication

in which the other G. spicula was described, nor could I avail the same

from any other source. Naturally, I approached Dr. Manguin who

so kindly furnished me with the full information regarding his G. spicula,

and I understand that my G. spicula is a different species altogether. I,

herewith, extend my grateful thanks to both these friends for furnishing

me with the valuable information.

98. Gomphonema spiculoides v. major v. nov. (Fig. 92)

Valvae 90-123 » longae atque 12.5-16 » latae, anguste lanceolato-

clavatae, aliquantum arcuatae, apice acutissimo, ad basim gradatim

attenuatae. Raphe crassa, parte centrali unilateraliter inclinata. Area

axialis angustissima ; area centralis unilateraliter dilatata, stigmate unico

in latere opposito. Striae 7-8 in medio ac 8-11 in 10 » in utroque apice,

radiales atque distincte punctatae, punctis 16-18 in 10 #. Typus lectus

a H. P. Gandhi ad Wadala die 31-7-1945, et positus in herbario proprio

auctoris sub numero BOM-WAD.—18.

Valves 90-123 » long and 12.5-16 » broad, narrowly lanceolate-

clavate, slightly arcuate, apex very acute, towards the base gradually

attenuated. Raphe thick with central part unilaterally bent. Axial

area very narrow ; central area unilaterally dilated with an isolated stigma

on the opposite side. Striae 7-8 in the middle and 8-11 in 10 » towards

the ends, radial and distinctly punctate, punctae about 16-18 in 10 p.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from ponds at Wadala in good

number, but stray specimens also were collected from ponds at Gore-

118 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

gaon, Andheri, Vile-Parle, and Borivli streams. Fairly distributed in

the region.

This diatom agrees well with G. spiculoides Gandhi, collected here

and from Kolhapur and Jog falls, in the shape, raphe, and the organi-

sation of the striae. However, these forms are very large with compara-

tively very few striae per 10 ». Unfortunately, I have so far not come

across any such intergrading specimens which might connect these

two extreme ranges of dimensions. I, therefore, regard the present

specimens to be a new variety of G. spiculoides, till the other intergrading

individuals are discovered. |

99. Gomphonema intricatum Kiitz.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from ponds at Goregaon, Dahi-

sar, Sion, streams at Borivli, and Powai, Vihar, and Tansa lakes. Fairly

~ common.

100. Gomphonema intricatum v. vibrio (Ehr.) Cl. (Fig. 118)

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from pools, ponds, and tanks

around Andheri, Goregaon, Vile-Parle, and other wet situations in the

region, usually in a small number.

101. Gomphonema balatonis Pant. (Fig. 93)

Pantocsek, J., 1902, Res. Wiss. Erf. Balat. 2 (2) : 64, t. 7, f. 164.

Valves 86-90 p» long and 12-12.6 » broad, narrowly lanceolate-clavate

with rounded ends without constrictions. Raphe thick and straight,

terminal fissures distinct. Axial area narrow, linear; central area

slightly unilaterally enlarged with an isolated stigma on the opposite

side. Striae 6-7 in 10 » inthe middle up to 8.5 towards the ends, slightly

radial, fine but clearly punctate, punctae about 13-15 in 10 gp.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Powai and Vihar lakes in

asmall number. It was also collected from Someshwar tank at Dharwar

as a stray form.

This species agrees well with the type described by Pantocsek, except

that the local forms were found to be somewhat of larger size. Cleve-

Euler regards the same as G. lanceolatum Eht. v. affine (Kiitz.) A. Cl.

(Cleve-Euler, A., 1951-55, Diat. Schwed. Finn.—IV, 185, f. 1280 g-p),

but the illustrations given do not agree well either with Pantocsek’s or

the present forms. Moreover, the striae do not appear to be very

closely set towards the apices as are being indicated by Cleve-Euler

(striae at the ends shown to be around 11-13 in 10 p»). I, therefore,

consider G. balatonis Pant. to be different from G. lanceolatum v. affine,

of Cleve-Euler.

Further, Hustedt has described a diatom as G. dubravicense Pant,

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS 119

(Hustedt. 1938, Arch. Hydrobiol., Suppl. 15 : 437, t. 28, f. 1) which

agrees with the present form in all respects except that it has two stigmas

in the central area. While referring to Pantocsek’s original paper

(Pantocsek, J., 1905, Beit. z. Kenn. foss. Bac.—III, 54, t. 20, f. 294,

296), illustrations given in the ‘Atlas Diat.’ t. 238, f. 32-34, and by

‘Cleve-Euler (Cleve-Euler, op. cit. IV, 190, f. 1286 a-b), it appears that

G. dubravicense Pant. is more or less tumid in the middle with axial and

central areas comparatively large and the central area has more than

two stigmas in one or more rows situated on one or both sides of the

central nodule. Evidently, Hustedt’s G. dubravicense seems to be

different from that of Pantocsek’s. However, [ am presently not quite

sure if it could be referable to G. balatonis or otherwise, since my own

material has been too little to allow more detailed study.

102. Gomphonema balatonis Pant. v. lanceolata v. nov. (Fig. 94)

Valvae 100-108 » longae atque 14-14.4 w latae, anguste lanceolato-

clavatae, apice acute cuneato, basi gradatim attenuata. Striae 6-8 in

10 », aliquantum radiales atque distincte punctatae. Caetera ut in

typo. Typus lectus a H. P. Gandhi in lacu Powai die 6-3-1945, et positus

in herbario proprio auctoris sub numero BOM-POW.—108.

Valves 100-108 » long and 14-14.4 » broad, narrowly lanceolate-

clavate with acutely cuneate apex and gradually attenuated base. Striae

6-8 in 10 », slightly radial and distinctly punctate. In all other charac-

ters like the type.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Powai lake along with the

type in a small number. A few specimens also were available from

streams at Borivli. A rare type.

This diatom differs from the type in having acutely cuneate apex

and somewhat more distinctly punctate striae. It also bears some

resemblance with G. hungaricum Pant. (Pantocsek, J., 1905, Beit. z.

Kenn. foss. Bac.—Ill, 54, t. 2, f. 28), but the present form differs in

having more narrowly cuneate apex and only a single shortened striae

in the middle part. However, it may be stated that further observations

are necessary regarding this diatom to draw any conclusions.

103. Gomphonema sumatrense Fricke (Fig. 95)

Schmidt, A., 1874-1944, Atlas Diat. t. 248, f. 2-3.

Valves 87.7-94 » long and 12-12.4 » broad, narrowly-lanceolate-

clavate with broadly rounded ends. Raphe thick and straight with part

in the central nodule transversely comma-shaped and terminal fissures

distinct, bayonet-shaped. Axial area narrowly lanceolate, gradually

widened in the middle to form a wide, more or less elliptical central area,

stigma formed on one side. Striae 7-8.5 in 10 p, coarsely lineate, radial,

lineations about 18-20 in 10 pz.

120 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from ponds at Goregaon, Andheri,

Vile-Parle, streams at Vajreshwari, Powai and Vihar lakes. It mostly

occurred as a stray form.

104. Gomphonema undulatum Hustedt (Fig. 96)

Hustedt, 1936, Arch. Hydrobiol., Suppl. 14: 166, t. 5, f. 34; 1938,

ibid., 15 : 441, t. 28, f. 2-8.

Valves 25-35 » long and 5.2-5.8 » broad, lanceolate-clavate with

sides between the middle and ends somewhat concave, apex more

broad than the base. Raphe coarse and clearly undulate with central

part unilaterally bent. Axial area very narrow; central area quite

large and unilateral with an isolated stigma on the opposite side. Striae

10-11 in 10 2, coarse, radial, indistinctly punctate and the middle striae

very much shortened.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli, Chembur

hills, Powai and Vihar lakes, usually in a small number.

105. Gomphonema tenuis sp. nov. (Figs. 97-98)

Valvae 30-37.5 » longae atque 6.4-7.4 » latae, clavato-lanceolatae,

apice acuto-cuneato, basi gradatim attenuata, late rotundata, aliquando

producta vel producto-subcapitata. Raphe tenuis et recta. Area

axialis angustissima ; area centralis magna, unilateraliter dilatata, stig-

mate unico in latere opposito. Striae 13-15 in 10 pz, radiales, subtiles,

media vero striae valde abbreviata. Typus lectus a H. P. Gandhi ad

Borivli in rivulis die 10-83-1946, et positus in herbario proprio auctoris

sub numero BOM-BOR.—107.

Valves 30-37.5 « long and 6.4-7.4 » broad, clavate-lanceolate with

acutely cuneate apex and gradually attenuated broadly rounded base,

base sometimes produced to produced-subcapitate. Raphe thin and

straight. Axial area very narrow ; central area large, unilaterally dilated

with an isolated stigma on the opposite side. Striae 13-15 in 10 up,

radial, quite fine and one middle striae much abbreviated.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli, Kanheri

caves, Powai lake, in a good number mixed up in vegetable dead matter.

It was also collected from Kolhapur-Katyani hill streams, and some

pools along roadsides.

This species does not agree with any of the known types of similar

shape ; hence it is considered to be a new species. |

106. Gomphonema moniliforme sp. nov. (Fig. 99) |

_Valvae 56-52 » longae atque 19-20 » latae, late clavatae, apice con-

stricto, producto-subtruncato, basi aliquantum concava ad latera ac

attenuata. Raphe crassa et recta, parte centrali unilateraliter inclinata

DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS 121

in nodulo centrali, fissuris terminalibus distinctis. Area axialis angusta,

linearis ; area centralis angusta, unilateraliter dilatata, stigmate unico

in latere opposito. Striae 7.5-8 in 10 », aliquantum radiales, crasse

punctatae, punctis circiter 11-13 in 10 ». Typus lectus a H. P. Gandhi

in lacu Powai die 6-3-1945, et positus in herbario proprio auctoris sub

numero BOM-POW.—110.

Valves 56-62 » long and 19-20 » broad, broadly-clavate, apex con-

stricted, produced-subtruncate ; base with slightly concave sides and

attenuated. Raphe thick with part in the central nodule unilaterally

bent and terminal fissures distinct. Axial area narrow, linear ; central

area narrow unilaterally dilated with an isolated stigma on the opposite

side. Striae 7.5-8 in 10 p, slightly radial, coarsely punctate and puncta

about 11-13 in 10 p.

Habitat - Fresh water. Collected from Powai lake in a small number.

This diatom is quite distinctive and does not agree with any other

type, hence it is considered to be a new species.

107. Gomphonema olivaceum (Lyngb.) Kutz.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from streams at Borivli, Powai,

Vihar, and Tansa lakes, and several other large bodies of water in region.

A common form.

108. Gomphonema lingulatum Hust. (Fig. 119)

Hustedt, 1927, Arch. Hydrobiol. 18 : 166, t. 5, f. 5; Skvortzow,

Be W937. Puilipp. J. Sci. Ole: 52, pl. 13; f.6-7.; 1937b; ‘ibid. 61-2

285, pl. 3, f. 13; Hustedt, 1938, Arch. Hydrobiol., Suppl. 15 : 443, t.

PES eA

Valves 30-42 » long and 10-12 » broad, clavate with shortly apiculate

apex and gradually attenuated base. Raphe thin and straight. Axial

area very broad; central area not defined. Stigma absent. Striae

14-15 in 10 p, radial, short and marginal.

Habitat : Fresh water. Collected from Powai and Vihar lakes in

a small number. cs

SUMMARY

This paper deals with the diatom genera Pinnularia, Amphiprora,

Amphora, Cymbella, and Gomphonema, collected from the year 1945

to 1958, from the region of Bombay and Salsette. Here, in all 108

diatoms are recorded of which 53 are new records for India and eight

species, twelve varieties, and three forms are considered to be new to

science,

122) JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author wishes to record his grateful thanks to Prof. (Mrs.) E. A.

Gonzalves for early suggestion of the problem, to Rev.

Father F.

Braganza and Rev. Father H. Santapau for correcting the Latin diag-

noses of the new diatoms described in this paper.

He is further indebted

to the latter for the information concerning valid publication of new

taxa.

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——-- (1956) : A contribution to our

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water Diatoms of Dharwar, ibid. 35:

194-209.

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— (1958b) : Fresh water Diatoms

from Kolhapur and its immediate

environs, J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 55

(3) : 493-511.

Geitler, L. (1932) : Der Formwechsel

der penneten Diatomeen (Kieselalgen).

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(1952-54) : A systematic account of the

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239-63 ; 33 : 338-50.

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riaceen aus der Wumme, Abdh. naturw.

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(1914): Bacillariales aus den

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biol. 19 : 1-65, 129-192.

(1924) : Die Bacillariaceen—

Vegetation des Sarekgebirges, in A.

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(1927) : Bacillariales aus dem

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(1930): Bacillariophyta Dia-

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(1938) : Systematische ‘und

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DIATOM FLORA OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS 123

tion, Arch. Hydrobiol., Suppl. 15:

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meen des indomalayischen Archipels

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———(1944): Diatomeen aus der

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82-174.

(1949): -Stisswasser-Diato-

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(1954) : Diatomeenflora der

Eifelmaare, Arch. Hydrobiol. 48(4) : 451-

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tation of Diatom from Ochrida Lake

in Jugoslavia, .Jugoslav Akad. Znan.

Umiet. 1954 : 99-190.

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Aribution to the Diatom flora of South

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ition: on soil Algae—I. The ecology,

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~ McCall, D. (1933) : Diatoms (recent

“and fossil) of the Tay District, J. Linn.

Soc. (Bot.) 49 : 219-308.

~ Mills, F. W. (1932) : Some Diatoms

from Warri, South Nigeria, J. roy.

-microse. Soc. §2 : 383-94.

Pantocsek, J. (1902): Die Bacilla-

ariet: des’ Balatonsees, Res. wissensch.

Pe Balat. 2(2) : 1-112.

-— (1905): Beitrage zur Kennt-

niss der fossilen Bacillarien- HI. Suss-

wasser Bacillarien, Pozsony, pp. 1-118.

Schmidt, A. (1874-1944): Atlas. der

Diatomaceen-Kunde, Taf, 1-460,

Leipzig.

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phyta (Diatomeae) in A. Pascher’s Die

Slisswasser-Flora von Deutschlands,

Osterreich und der Schweiz, H. 10,

Jena.

Skvortzow, B. W. (1930) : Notes on

Ceylon Diatoms—I. Ceylon J. Sci.

11 : 251-60.

——— (1935): Diatoms from

Poyang Lake, Hunan, China, Philipp. J.

Sci. 57 : 465-78.

——— (1937a): Diatoms from

Kizaki Lake, Honshu Island, Nippon.

ibid. 61 : 9-73.

——— (1937b) : Diatoms from Biwa

Lake, Honshu Island, Nippon. ibid.

61 : 253-96.

——— (1937c) : Diatoms from Ikeda

Lake, Satsuma Province, Kiusiu Island,

Nippon. ibid. 62 : 191-218.

——— (1937d): Diatoms from

Othan Gate of Baikal Lake, Siberia

ibid. 62): 293-377.

== lea), Dintoms | from "A

peaty bog in Lianchiho River Valley,

Eastern Siberia, ibid., 66 : 161-82.

a (1938b) : Diatoms from

Chengtu, Szechwan, Western China.

ibid. 66 : 479-96.

——-— (1938c): Diatoms from a

mountain bog, Kaolingtze, Pin-Chian-

Sheng Province, Manchoukuo. ibid.

66 : 161-82.

Tiffany, L. H. & Britton, M. E:

(1952): The Algae of Illinois, Univ.

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on the Diatomaceae (trans. by W. E.

Baxter), London,

’

Critical Notes on the Orchidaceae of

Bombay State |

Il, © PLATANTHERA 1..-C, RICH. & "PERISTY LUS BL.

H. SANTAPAU. S.J., F.N.I. AND Z, KAPADIA, PH.D,

(With four plates)

[Continued from Vol. 56 (2): 203] Anite

These two genera are treated in this paper together on account of

their close relationships. The genera Platanthera L. C. Rich. and

Peristylus Bl. are in fact so closely allied among themselves and with

the genus Habenaria that many of the older botanists treated the three

genera as one, Habenaria, the other plants being merely distinguished

as sections of the same genus. This is the case, for instance, in

Bentham and Hooker’s GENERA PLANTARUM and in Hooker’s FLORA OF

BRITISH INDIA. Modern authors are somewhat divided on the subject;

Holttum (1953) retains the whole group under Habenaria; on the other

hand, J. J. Smith (1905) and Summerhayes (1951) split the group into

distinct genera. Cooke in his FLORA OF THE PRESIDENCY OF BOMBAY,

and Blatter and McCann in their REVISION OF THE FLORA OF THE

BOMBAY PRESIDENCY keep Platanthera and Peristylus independent from

Habenaria. In the following pages we treat these two genera as closely

allied to but independent from Habenaria.

Our Bombay genera may be distinguished by the following key:

|. Flowers about 7.5 cm. across, greenish white;

stigmatic surfaces flat, almost confluent .. Platanthera

1. Flowers under 3 cm. across, white or yellow;

stigmatic surfaces not flat, and separate:

2. Ovary and capsule more or less erect, and

parallel to the peduncle, not spreading at

an angle to it; stigmatic surfaces in the

form of small swellings on the edge of

the lip Peristylus

~ 2. Ovary and capsule mele Spreng at an

angle to the peduncle; stigmatic lobes

standing out as stalked appendages ac Habenaria

NoTE: In the following pages, under the heading ‘Occurrence in

Bombay State’, we list plants from Bombay State as understood after

JouRN. BomBay Nat. HIstT. Soc. Pirate VII

Platanthera susanne Lindl.

Whole inflorescence of plant collected from Khandala and

grown in Bombay.

Photo: H. Santapau

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 135

Independence but prior to the Reorganisation of the States, that is to

say we include plants from N. Kanara districts that were formerly part

of Bombay State. With but few exceptions, the specimens mentioned

for the various parts of Bombay are preserved in Blatter Herbarium,

St. Xavier’s College, Bombay.

PLATANTHERA L. C. Rich.

PLATANTHERA L. C. Rich. in Mem. Mus. Paris 4: 48, 1818; Pfitzer

in Engler & Prantl, Natiirl. Pflanzenfam. 2 (6): 92, 1889 (excl. syn.

Peristylus Bl.); J. J. Smith in FJ. Buitenz. 6: 26, 1905; Slechter, Orchid.

62, 1927. Habenaria Benth. & Hook. Gen. Pl. 3: 624, 1863; Hook. f.

Fl. Brit. India 6: 131, 1890; Duthie in Ann. R. Bot. Gard. Calcutta

9 (2): 174, 1906; Holttum, Rev. Fl. Malaya 1: 79, 1953 (omnes pro

parte). Lysias Salisb. in Trans. Hortic. Soc. 1: 288, 1812, nom. nud.

(See Plates VII & VIII).

The generic name, Platanthera, is made up of two Greek words,

Platys=flat and Anthera=anthers. The genus is distributed in the

Northern Temperate Zone of the World, particularly in North

America; a few species occur in Europe and in tropical Asia.

Pfitzer has divided the genus Plaianthera into two sections, 1. Fili-

cornes, with a thin and long spur, and 2. Crassicornes, with a stout

and short spur. In accordance with Art. 22 of the Code, the first

section (that includes the type species) should be called Platanthera

sect. Platanthera. Our Bombay species belong to this first section.

_ Platanthera susannae (Linn.) Lindl. Gen. Sp. Orch. 295, 1835;

Wight, Icon. t. 920; Dalz. & Gibs. Bombay FI. 261, 1861; J. J. Smith

27, f. 9; Cooke 2: 713, 1907; Fischer in Gamble, Fl. Madras 1475,

1923; Blatt. & McCann in Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 36: 736,

1932; Santapau in Rec. Bot. Surv. India 16 (1): 305, 1953. Orchis

susannae Linn. Sp. Pl. 939, 1753; Lour. Fl. Coch. 522, 1790. Orchis

gigantea Smith, Exot. Bot. 2: 79, t. 100, 1805. Habenaria gigantea

D. Don, Prodr. Fl. Nepal. 24, 1825; Graham, Cat. Bombay Pl. 201,

1839. Habenaria susannae (Linn.) R. Brown ex Sprengel, Syst.

Veg. 3: 622, 1826; Hook. f. FI. Brit. India 6: 137, 1890; Prain, Bengal

Hl. -1030;-1903;- Duthie, toc: cit. 178, t.-128; &-Fl.-Upp:. Gang: Pl. 3:

222, 1920; Gammie in Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 21: t. 11, 1911:

Haines, Bot. Bihar Or. 1155, 1924; Merrill in Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc.

mse 121) 1935; Holttum’ 8?,f13:

Stout terrestrial herbs, 60-120 cm. high. Tubers 2, ellipsoid or

ovoid. Leaves 5-18X2-7 cm., ovate-cblong or oblong-lanceolate,

acute, often with a sharp black apex, entire, glabrous, deep green

126 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

above, paler beneath; sheaths veined, the veins decurrent from the

lamina; midnerve prominent beneath, with 8-10 fainter side-nerves;

margins faintly yellowish. /nflorescence terminal, in -2-6-flowered

racemes, 16-20 cm. long. Flowers 6X7.5 cm., white faintly tinged

with green, bracteate, shortly pedicellate, strongly perfumed, especially

when freshly opened. Bracts 6-10X1.5-2 cm., longer than and

ensheathing the ovary, oblong-lanceolate, subacuminate, often sharply

pointed, entire, several-nerved. Sepals unequal, white, faintly suffused

with green, entire, 5-nerved; dorsal sepal 4.63.4 cm., revolute on the

margins, subconcave, obovate-elliptic, obtuse; lateral sepals 4.4x1.8

cm., spreading lightly backwards, somewhat ascending, revolute on

the margins, obliquely subquadrately oblong, acute. Petals 3.4x0.4

cm., white, narrowly linear-oblong, cbliquely curving along the lower

margins to an acute apex. Lip 4.79 cm., white, fan-shaped in outline,

fimbriately dissected into 10-16 thin, narrow, often bipartite, 8-

26 X0.5-1 mm., narrowly linear-filiform segments; midlobe 3.80.9

cm., recurved at the margins, elliptic, slightly dilated beyond the middle.

obtuse. Spur 8-11.5 cm. long, about 3-5 mm. in diam., pale green;

obtuse; mouth broad. Column 7.1*1.2 mm., white, oblong, truncate-

retuse above. Anther cells 0.4 cm. long, curved, divergent; -pollinia. 2;

each 6X2 mm., yellow, narrowly falcate with a 6 mm.- long,- thin

caudicle and a small, shiny, ovate-elliptic gland. Stigmatic surfaces 2;

almost touching, 5X5 mm., just below the rostellum, white, squarely:

oblong with rounded ends, flat. Ovary 4.30.7 cm., strongly ribbed;

green with 4 yellowish ridges. Capsule 4.5X1.5 cm., ellipsoid, strongly

ribbed; beak 7 mm. long. 7

_ Flowering: September to October. Fruiting: October to December,

-, QOceurrence in Bombay State: Dancs: Waghai, Kapadia s.n.;

Susarda, Kapadia 711. KONKAN: Bombay, cultivated, Santapau 1578:

Kapadia 726; Matheran, Cooke. W. GHATS: Igatpuri, Kapadia s.n.;

Khandala, Blatter 25953; Santapau 775, 1101, 2672, 2818-2820, 5010,

11156; Kapadia 627-628; Lonavla, D. K. Patel. Deccan: Lohagad,

Blatter 27522; Dapoli, Acland 1173. N. Kanara: Belgaum, Ritchie;

Yellapur, Bell 3121; Castle Rock, Gammie, Sedgwick. ,

- Distribution in India: Most of the hilly parts of India from the

lower Himalayan ranges to the south of the country. World: India,

Burma, China, Java, and throughout Malaysia.

Critical Notes: In cultivated specimens the flowers have been

noted to appear somewhat earlier and to be larger than in wild speci-

mens. In the field this beautiful orchid grows usually. on sloping

ground at the edges of forest, usually in places rich in humus. The

plant suffers much persecution from humans, who find the flowers

JouRN, BomMBAY NAT, HIST. Soc. Piate VIII

> an

Lp ae

Le ttitifll tee

ee A ; : - , \

LE A OL gee hl ppp bette :

| ERA WER Mery Ieee Oe eee Wee |

@) ri rl 3 4b 5 cM

Platanthera susannae Lindi. Dissection of the calyx and corolla.

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 127

very attractive, and from wild pigs, who uproot many plants for the

sake of the apparently very tasty tubers.

In our floras the binomial Habenaria susannae is usually attributed

to R. Brown; but according to Merrill this is not correct, for Brown

did not make the actual combination as required by Art. 32, para-

graph 2 of the Code; Merrill gives the combination as H. susannae R.

Bre ex Sprengel, syst.; Vee. 3.53622,21826.

Cultivation: ‘This beautiful orchid does deserve a place in our

gardens, and it is one of the easiest plants to grow under artificial con-

ditions. In St. Xavier’s College garden a specimen has been kept

growing and flowering regularly for over 15 years. In the first instance

the plant was collected from Khandala, and planted in a flower-pot;

after flowering and fruiting, the plant was left in the flower-pot with-

out watering until the following season’s monsoon. Flowers are

showy, the largest among our Bombay wild orchids, and about -the

most sweetly and strongly scented among our wild flowers. The

photograph appearing at the beginning of this paper was taken from a

plant grown in Bombay from a Khandala specimen.

PERISTYLUS BL.

PERISTYLUS Bl. Bijdr. 404, t. 30, 1825; Endl. Gen. Pl. 209, 1837;

J. J. Smith, Fl. Buitenz. 6: 30, 1965; Cooke 710; Santapau in Rec.

Bot. Surv. India 16 (1): 305, 1953. Habenaria sect. Peristylus Bth. &

Hk. Gen. Pl. 3: 624, 1883; Hook. f. Fl. Brit. India 6: 131, 1890;

King & Pant. in Ann. R. Bot. Gard. Calcutta 8: 305, 1898; Duthie,

ibid. 9 (2): 174, 1906. Platanthera Pfitzer in Engl. & Prantl, New

einen tee 2 (6): 92, 1888 pro parte.

The generic name, Peristylus, is derived from the Greek words

Peri=around and Stylus=column, probably referring to the shape of

the column, which is in the form of a protuberance from the apical

portion of the ovary. In Bombay State the plants belonging to this

genus are among the least showy of our wild orchids; flowers are

usually in compact racemes or spikes, and individually they are small

and inconspicuous; the plants, however, are typical in their appearance

and in their. habitat, ie. the surroundings in which they grow.

Many modern orchidologists favour including Peristylus under

Habenaria Walld.; Pfitzer, loc. cit., separates it from Habenaria but

places it under Platanthera. We keep it separate from both, following

among others J. J. Smith, for the reason that Peristylus forms a

natural and clearly distinct group in ovr native orchids. There are

about 80 species of Peristylus distributed in the warmer regions of

the Old World. 3

128 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HiST. SOCIETY, Vol. 87 (i)

KEY TO THE SPECIES OF PERISTYLUS OF BOMBAY

1. Spur as long as or longer than sepals, linear,

subclavate :

2. Leaves sessile, narrowly lanceolate; lateral

sepals linear; lateral lobes of lip subulate, or

narrowly linear-oblong, spreading, about twice

as long as the midlobe; spur scarcely clavate

al apexuse: densus

2. Leaves tapered at base. ‘broadly Stns: altpiie:

lateral sepals broad; lobes of lip subequal,

linear oblong, rounded: spur inflated at apex . stocksii

1. Spur much shorter than sepals, saccate, globose:

~- 3, Leaves scattered or subimbricate on stem ae spiralis

- 3, Leaves clustered about middle of stem:

4. Petals white; lip shorter than the broad

- sepals, entire or scarcely 3-lobed, lobes

very small, entire, rounded hs plantagineus

4, Petals yellow or yellowish-green; lip about

as long as sepals, distinctly 3-fid:

5, Spikes dense; lateral sepals mucronate at

the back a little below apex a goodyeroides

5. Spikes lax; lateral sepals not mucronate . .. ee el Caen

1. Peristylus densus (Lindl.) Santapau & Kapadia, comb. nov.

Coeloglossum densum Lindl. Gen. Sp. Orch. 302, 1835. Gymnadenia

? tenuis Lindl. in Wall. Cat. n. 7057, 1832, nom. nud. Habenaria

peristyloides Wight, Icon. t. 1702, 1851. Platanthera stenostachya

Eindl. in Hook. J. Bot: 7: 37, 1855. Hadenaria stenostachya Benth.

Fl. Hongk. 362, 1861; Hook. f. Fl. Brit. India 6: 156. Peristylus

stenostachyus (Lindl.) Kranz. Orchid. Gen. Spec. 1: 502, 1898;

Fischer in Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 1474, 1928; Blatt. & McC. in

Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 35: 734, 1932. P. xanthochlorus Blatt.

& McC. loc: cit.-733, 1932. (See Plate EX, A-B)

Herbs 12-35 cm. tall. Tuber 1, small, globular. Leaves grouped

on the basal third of the stem, green or yellowish-green, sheathing,

2-7 X0.5-2 cm., lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate or linear lanceolate, acute

or obtuse, mucronulate, entire, minutely papillate; midnerve prominent

below with 3-5 lateral fainter nerves. Inflorescence in lax or dense

spikes 7-21 cm. long; peduncle slender, up to 3 mm. thick, short,

terete; bracts distantly or closely arranged, subopposite to imbricate,

lanceolate, entire, minutely papillate, subacuminate; the margins paler.

Flowers yellowish-white to greenish-yellow, subsecund, bracteate, sessile.

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 129

Bracts unequal, the lower equalling or slightly longer than the flowers,

the upper ones shorter, 7-15X3-5 mm., acute or acuminate. Sepals

pale greenish-yellow. obtuse; dorsal sepal 4-5 X2-3 mm., ovate-oblong,

concave, midnerve prominent on the back with a pair of fainter lateral

ones; lateral sepals 4-5 1-1.5 mm., narrowly linear, often sub-falcate,

I-nerved, margins incurved. Petals 3.5X1.5-2 mm., sub-oblique,

ovate-oblong, obtuse, erect, greenish-yellow. Lip shortly clawed, fleshy,

rigid, 3-lobed; claw very short, hollowed at the base; lateral lobes

3.5X5X0.5-1 mm., linear, subulate, spreading straight or upwards and

backwards, slightly narrower than the midlobe, acute or obtuse; midlobe

2-3X1-1.5 mm., narrowly oblong, straight, slightly tapering to the

obtuse apex. Spur 5-7 min. long. straight or slightly curved, very

slightly thickened towards the acute apex, shorter than the ovary,

greenish-white. Ovary 7 mm. long, curved, faintly ribbed. Capsule

10X4 mm., sessile, narrowly conical, 6-ridged.

Flowering: August to October.

Occurrence in Bombay State: W. GHATS: Panchgani Blatter &

Hallberg; Sedgewick 7596; Saldanha 1521; Mahableshwar, Sedgwick

7622. N. KANARA: Castle Rock, Sedgwick 2779; Mundgod, Talbot

s.n.; Tinai Ghat, Talbot 2508; Yellapur, Talbot.

Distribution in India: Sikkim Himalaya, Khasia Hills, W. Ghats,

N. Kanara, Bababudden and Pulney Hills, High Wavy Mountains.

World: India, Burma, China.

Critical Notes: We have examined Sedgwick 7596, collected from

the type locality of P. xanthochlorus Blatt. & McC., and also Sedgwick

7622, both specimens identified by Blatter himself as P. xanthochlorus,

and cited under this name in the REVISION. \In the absence of the

type, these specimens may serve to clarify the identity of the species.

There does not seem to be any definite and constant character by which

such specimens may be separated from P. densus. In our opinion

this is another case of variations induced by the conditions of the

habitat. Normally P. densus has laxer and longer spikes; but in open

rocky plateaux (as in Panchgani and Mahableshwar) plants are more

stunted, somewhat stouter, and shorter; the basic floral structure of

P. xanthochiorus is identical with that of P. densus.

Hooker f. op. cit. p. 157 adds the remark; ‘I have had difficulty in

choosing a specific name, for Bentham, in adopting stenostachya, over-

looked the older published one of tenuis. That of peristyloides may

be objected to from the plant being sectionally a Peristylus, though

Wight did not recognise it as such, and it is preoccupied by A. Richard

for an Abyssinian species. The earliest published name is, indeed,

tenuis, but this is a nomen nudum. We have not been able to examine

130 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

the types of Coeloglossum densum Lindl. and Peristylus stenostachyus

Kranz., but from the descriptions and from Hooker’s own admission

they are identical; this being the case, the oldest valid name is

Coeloglossum densum Lindl. and in consequence the correct binomial

in the genus Peristylus for the present plant is P. densus Sant. & Kapad.

2. Peristylus stocksii (Hook. f.) Kranz. Orchid. Gen. Spec. 1: 513,

1898; Cooke 710; Gammie in Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 21: 172,

1911; Fischer 1475; Blatt. & McC. 735; Santapau 305. Habenaria

stocksii Hook. f. Fl. Brit. India 6: 158, 1890; Haines, Bot. Bihar Or.

1159; 1924. (See “Plate 1X5 €-D)

Herbs 10-50 cm. high. Tubers 1-2, each 1.7-3X1.2-2 cm., oblong

or ellipsoidal. Stem slender, sheathed. Leaves 5-14xX2-4 cm.,

clustered about the middle or more or less scattered on the stem,

narrowed and sheathing at the base, obovate-elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate,

or lanceolate to oblong, acute or subacuminate; margins wavy,

yellowish, minutely papillate. Jnflorescence lax, of many-flowered

subsecund twisted spikes, 9-24 cm. long; peduncle 5-10 cm. long,

slender, with a few bracts which are scaly, ovate, acute, and 1|-nerved.

Flowers small, yellowish-green, sessile, bracteate. Bracts 1.20.3

cm., more or less equalling the ovary, ovate, acuminate, glabrous,

l-nerved. Sepals subequal, green, glabrous, 1-nerved, sub-fleshy;

dorsal sepal 3X2 mm., concave, forming a hood over the column with

the petals, elliptic-oblong; lateral sepals 2.5-3x1.5-2 mm., spreading,

obliquely oblong, obtuse. Petals 2.5X2 mm., green, sub-fleshy, sub-

obliquely ovate-oblong, obtuse or sub-retuse, entire, glabrous, 1-nerved.

Lip 3X4 mm., green, longer than the lateral sepals, 3-lobed, clawed;

claw 2 mm. broad, concave; lateral lobes 1.51 mm., narrower than

the midlobe, incurved, oblong, obtuse, entire; midlobe 1.61.5 mm.,

straight, oblong, obtuse, entire. Spur 6 mm. long, green, shorter than

the ovary, obtuse, inflated downwards. Column very small, green,

obtuse. Anther cells small, whitish-green, slightly divergent at the

base; pollinia yellowish, clavate, obovate-oblong with a short caudicle

and an exserted linear-elliptic gland; staminodes greenish-white, small,

glandular, auriculate-oblong. Ovary 8 mm. long, green, slightly curved,

ribbed.

Flowering: July to September. Fruiting: August to October.

Occurrence in Bombay State: DANGS: Waghai, Santapau 19210.

W. GHATS: Igatpuri, Kapadia 1383; Khandala, Santapau 773, 805,

2491, 2579, 4575-4576, 4672, 6883-6885, 9224-9225, 9248-9249; Irani

1167; Kapadia 557-559, 561; Lonavia, Kapadia 541, 545; Mahable-

shwar, Santapau 13208-13209; Kapadia 617-619, 2077-2080; Bhima-

shankar, Kapadia 1463. N. KANARA: Yellapur, Kapadia 2240. —

jourN. BomBay Nat. Hist. Soc. PLATE IX

fe) 1 cM

Peristylus densus Sant. & Kapad. Inflorescence (A) and dissection of calyx

and corolla(B). P. stocksii Kranz. Inflorescence (C) and dissection of calyx and

corolla (D).

JouRN. BomBay Nat. Hist. Soc. PLATE X

1-eM

Peristilus plantagineus Lindl. Inflorescence (A) and dissection of calyx and corolla (B).

P. lawii Wt. Inflorescence apex (C) and dissection of calyx and corolla (D).

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 31

Distribution in India: Parasnath Hill, Dangs, W. Ghats, N. Kanara

southwards to Mysore. World: Apparently endemic in India.

Critical Notes: ‘This is a common orchid in the undergrowth of

forests; together with P. lawii this is one of the commonest orchids

in such habitats. The structure of the spur at once distinguishes this

species from lawit.

3. Peristylus spiralis A. Rich. in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 2, 15: 69, t.

2 B, 1841; Wight, Icon. t. 1696, 1851; Cooke 711; Gammie 172;

Fischer 1474; Blatt. & McC. 735. Habenaria torta Hook. f. Fl. Brit.

India 6: 159, 1890.

We have seen no specimen of this plant in the field; there is none

in Blatter Herbarium. We give, therefore, a translation of the original

description of A. Richard’s, loc. cit.:

‘Stem slender, leafless for a foot from the base, laxly sheathed;

leaves elliptic-Janceolate, acute, sheathing at the base, passing into

bracts above, which are lanceolate, acute; flowers small, spicate,

bracteate; spikes subspiral; bracts lanceolate, acute, longer than the

flowers; sepals oval-oblong, obtuse; lip fleshy, trifid, saccate at the

base; lobes subequal, linear, obtuse . . . Stem bi-tuberculate, tubers

entire, ovoid-oblong, leaves narrow; flowers greenish-white .. .’

Occurrence in Bombay State: KONKAN: Law, Stocks. N.

KANARA: ‘Tinai Ghat, Talbot.

Distribution in India: Konkan, N. Kanara, Bababudden Hills,

Nilgiris up to 2100 m., Travancore. World: India, Ceylon.

4. Peristylus plantagineus Lindl. Gen. Sp. Orch. 300, 1835; Wight,

Icon. t. 921; Cooke 711; Gammie 173; Fischer 1475; Blatt. & McC.

735. Habenaria wightii Trimen, Cat. Ceyl. Pl. 91, 1885; Hook. f.

Fl. Brit. India 6: 162. (See Plate X, A-B)

Herbs 17-88 cm. tall. Tubers 2, oblong or ellipsoidal. Stem

robust, generally of a pinkish-brown hue, sheathed below the leaves;

sheaths broad widening at the mouth, somewhat funnel-shaped, acute,

the margins entire and minutely papillose, often pale yellowish-white.

Leaves 4-8, clustered about the middle of the stem, closely sheathing

at the base, sessile, brownish-green above, pale pink-brown beneath;

oblong, oblong-lanceolate to broadly elliptic or elliptic-ovate, acute,

7-23 X 2-9 cm.; margins yellowish, entire, minutely papillose; midnerve

prominent beneath with 5-7 faint lateral nerves. Inflorescence in

spikes 9-22 cm. long, erect, strict, densely and compactly many-

flowered, pale pinkish brown; peduncle 4-10 cm. long, terete, pale

brown, bracteate; bracts 1.5-20.4 cm., ovate-lanceolate, acuminate,

132 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

entire, minutely papillose, glabrous, dirty brownish-green with a

yellowish margin. Flowers sessile, bracteate, pinkish-brown. Bracts

unequal, the lower much longer than the ovary, the upper ones smaller,

9-14X2-3 mm., subulate, lanceolate-acuminate, pale brownish-green,

somewhat strongly l-nerved. Sepals subequal, dirty brown, very

minutely denticulate, glabrous, strongly 1-nerved; dorsal sepal 2-4.5 Xx

2.3 mm., concave, oblong-ovate; lateral sepals 2.5-5X1.5-25 mm.,

spreading, oblong, the margins incurved often overlapping. Petals

2.5-4X2-3 mm., white, subobliquely oblong-elliptic or rarely sub-

orbicular, obtuse, entire, glabrous, l-nerved, somewhat gland-dotted.

Lip 2-3.5X2-3.5 mm., smaller than the lateral sepals, white, faintly

gland-dotted, broadly ovate-oblong in outline, shortly 3-lobed; very

small, entire, obtuse; base of the lip subconcave; the lip 3-nerved, mid-

nerve running straight from the base to the apex, the 2 lateral ones

slightly sinuate, meeting a little below the apex to form a loop across

the midnerve. Column very short, pale green. Anther cells short,

sessile on the column, divergent at the base; pollinia 2, bipartite, clavate,

caudicles very small with a small, orbicular gland. Stigmatic lobes

short, stout, convex. Ovary 10X2 mm., stout, curved at the apex,

pale brown, ribbed.

Flowering: July to August. Fruiting: up to December. —

Occurrence in Bombay State: DANGS: Waghai, Santapau 19133,

19208-19211, 19999; Kapadia 691-693, 1429-1435; Subir, Santapau

19510. KONKAN: Nimmo Borivli, R. Fernandes 2314-2315; Herbert

2521; Malwan, Dalzell. W. GuHaAts: Lonavla, Kanitkar, Kapadia

544-545; Ram Ghat, Ritchie. N. KANARA: Londa, Spooner; Yellapur,

Talbot; Kapadia 2042, 2214-2223; Dandeli, Kapadia; Guddehalli,

Talbot; Bell 7869; Hallberg & McCann 34896; Kapadia 2131; Karwar,

Hallberg & McCann 34375, 35014.

Distribution in India: Madhya Pradesh, Dangs, Konkan, W. Ghats,

N. Kanara, Rampa Hills in Andhra, Annamalais, Malabar, Travancore.

World: India, Ceylon. |

Critical Notes: This species is typical of dense forests, but is

usually found only in clearings in the forest, along forest paths, etc.

Hooker f. has given P. elatus Dalz. as a synonym of this species; Alston

has kept it as a distinct and valid species but in the genus Habenaria

as H. elata (Dalz.) Alston in Trim. Handb. Fl. Ceyl. 6: 280, 1931.

Dalzell & Gibson in their BOMBAY FLORA mention that the lateral sepals

of P. elatus Dalz. are mucronate on the back; this is certainly not the

case with P. plantagineus Lindl.

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 133

5. Peristylus goodyeroides Lindl. Gen. Sp. Orch. 299, 1835; Dalz.

& Gibs. Bombay Fl. 300, 1861; J. J. Smith 32, t. 14; Fischer 1475;

Blatt. & McC. 735. Habenaria goodyeroides D. Don, Prodr. Fl. Nep.

25, 1825: Graham, Cat. 201, 1839: Hook. f. 161; King & Pantling 326,

t. 430; Duthie 192; Prain, Bengal Pl. 1039; Holttum 86. H. affinis D.

Don, op. cit. 25, 1825. Peristylus goodyeroides var. affinis Lindl.

op. cit. 300, 1835; Cooke 712; Gammie 173. Habenaria goodyeroides

var. affinis King & Pantl. op. cit. 327, t. 430 (bis), 1893.

Herbs 37 cm. tall. Leaves more or less clustered about the lower

third of the stem, sessile, hardly narrowed to the sheathing base, broadly

ovate-elliptic or elliptic, about 7-nerved, acute, 7-11x4-4.5 cm;

margins entire, yellowish, minutely papillose. Peduncle 10 cm. long,

terete, grooved, with a single bract, which is 30.6 cm., oblong-

lanceolate, acute, entire and minutely papillose. Spike erect, very lax,

14.5 cm. long. Flowers about 10 mm. long, sessile, bracteate. Bracts

lanceolate, acuminate, acicular, equal to or longer than the flowers,

entire, minutely papillose, 1-3-nerved, each 12-20X3-4 mm. Sepals

unequal; dorsal ovate-oblong, obtuse, entire, 3.5 x 1.5-1.75 mm.; lateral

ones 4X1.5 mm., obliquely obovate-oblong or oblong, concave,

l-nerved, mucronate a little below the apex, which is somewhat

incurved and acute. Petals trapezoidal-obovate, rounded, entire,

3X1.5 mm. Lip longer than the petals, 3-fid to below the middle,

3-4 mm. long; lateral lobes narrowly linear-oblong, obtuse, entire:

midlobe very slightly shorter than the side-lobes, obovate-oblong,

tapering to a blunt, subtruncate entire apex. Spur long, saccate, ovate-

globular, 1.5 mm. long. Ovary twisted, shallowly ribbed, sessile, 6-7

mm. long.

Flowering: August.

Occurrence in Bombay State: KONKAN: Nimmo, Dalzell. N.

KanaRA: Castle Rock, Sedgwick ex Blatt. & McC. Devimane Ghat,

Sedgwick & Bell ex Blatt. & McC.

Distribution in India: Dehra Dun, Sikkim, Khasia and Naga Hills,

Konkan, N. Kanara, W. Ghats of Bombay, and southwards. World:

India, Nepal, Ceylon, China, southwards to Malaysia.

Critical Notes: We have studied a specimen from Travancore

collected by Calder & Ramaswamy, very kindly loaned to us by the

Curator, National Herbarium, Calcutta. Our plant differs somewhat

from the typical forms described and illustrated by King & Pantling,

Duthie, and others, in that the spikes are very lax, and the floral bracts

are sharply acuminate and about twice as long as the entire flower.

Hooker f. op. cit. 166, considers H. affinis D. Don. a small state of

H. goodyeroides D. Don. King and Pantling reduce the former to a

134. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

variety of the latter. Cooke points out that it ds the var. affinis that

has been recorded from Bombay: on the other hand Blatter and

McCann do not distinguish the variety from the typical plant. After

carefully examining the descriptions and illustrations of these plants.

we have come to the conclusion that the so-called variety does not

deserve even varietal rank, and for this reason we have merged it with

the typical species.

6. Peristylus lawii Wight, Icon. 5: 12, t. 1695, 1851; Dalz. & Gibs.

270; Cooke 710; Gammie 174; Blatt. & McC. 735. Habenaria lawii

Hook. f. Fl. Brit. India 6: 162, 1890; Prain, Bengal Pl. 1032; Duthie

192, t. 143 & FI. Upp. Gang. Pl. 3: 227, 1920; Haines, Bot. Bihar Or.

1160. (See Plate X, C-D)

Herbs 15-45 cm. high. Tubers 1-2, oblong-obovate, somewhat

flattened. Stem terete, brownish-white, stout, sheathed; sheaths 2-3,

each 1.5-3 cm. in length, broud-mouthed, oblong. Leaves 3-5,

clustered about the middle of the stem, not reduced to bracts above,

sheathing at the base, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acute, entire,

minutely papillose, glabrous, grass-green above, pale dull green beneath,

3-13 2-4 cm. J/nflorescence in somewhat lax spikes, 8-18 cm. long;

peduncle ebracteate, terete, green, 4-7 cm. long. Flowers sessile, white

tinged with greenish-yellow. bracteate. Bracts lanceolate, acuminate

entire, shorter or longer than the flowers, l-nerved, 5X2 mm. Sepals

subequal, white; dorsal sepal ovate-oblong, obtuse or subretuse, entire,

l-nerved, concave, 3X2 mm.; lateral sepals oblong, obtuse, subconcave,

conduplicate, entire, glabrous, 1-nerved, 3.5X1.5 mm. Petals obovate

in outline, retuse. Lip 3-lobed about the middle, clawed, 3.5x2.5

mm.; claw slightly elongate, concave; lobes subequal, lateral ones about

1 mm. long, rounded, curved on the outer margins, subacute, slightly

longer than the straight obtuse midlobe. Spur small, scrotiform, 1 mm.

in diameter with a circular depression all round. Column very short,

greenish-white. Ovary pale green, ribbed, about 5 mm. long. Capsule

fusiform, turgid, ribbed, 1-1.5 cm. long; beak 3-5 mm. long.

Flowering: July. Fruiting: September.

~ Occurrence in Bombay State: DANGS: Waghai, Kapadia 1420.

KonkAN: NW. of Bhiwandi, Santapau 233/3; Hills SE. of Tansa Lake,

Santapau 15876; Badlapur, Kapadia 1291; Neral, Bhiva. N. Kanara:

Belgaum, Law; Dharwar, Law ex Stocks. |

Distribution in India: Dehra Dun, Garhwal, Bengal, Bihar,

Madhya Pradesh, Dangs, Konkan, W. Ghats, N. Kanara, Mysore.

World: Apparently’ endemic in India.

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 135

Critical Notes: This species has been found by us in fairly dense

undergrowth on sloping ground, on hilly parts of Bombay State. This

and P. stocksii are the only species that can be said to be common in

Bombay; the spur of the present species is typical.

REFERENCES

Blatter, E. & McCarn, C. (1932): Revi- Smith, J. J. (1905): Die Orchideen von

sion of the Flora of the Presidency of Java. (Vol. 6 of Flora von Buitenzorg)

Bombay. (Orchidaceae). J. Bcmbcy Leiden.

nat. Hist. Soc. 35 : 733-736. Summerhayes, V. S. (1951): Wild

Holttum, R. E. (1953): A Revised Orchids of Britain. Lcndon.

Flora of Malaya. Vol. 1: Orchids. Sin-

gapore.

Constancy to horticultural varieties

shown by butterflies, and its possible

evolutionary significance

KRISHNA RAO DRONAMRAJU AND HELEN SPURWAY

Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta-35

Since Aristotle it has been known that bees of a particular colony

showed a constancy to one species of flower until the local population

of this was exhausted of its nectar. Recent discussions (e.g. Ribbands

1953, Butler 1954) are agreed that a few workers of a hive scout for

adequate sources, and inform their comrades, who exploit these

sources to exhaustion before turning their attention to newly discovered

supplies. Mather (1947) has shown that in the genus Antirrhinum at

least, this constancy is species specific.

While working in a small experimental garden consisting of three

plants each of two colour varieties of the primarily South American

species Lantana camara L. Dronamraju (1958) observed that the

different varieties were preferentially visited by different species of

butterflies. The two varieties of Lantana are those which are over-

whelmingly preponderant among the feral population around Calcutta.

In one called pink the newly opened florets are white except for the

yellow honey guides, but the unopened buds and the ageing florets at

the periphery of the inflorescence are pink. In the other variety called

orange the buds and ageing florets are orange and the young florets

yellow. Both forms set seed, and the specimens in our garden were

collected as seedlings. It has so far proved impossible to cross these

two varieties, and Dr. E. K. Janaki Ammal tells us that it is probable

that they are of different ploidies. K.R.D. began watching the garden

again next spring and has now spent 46.75 hours all told attempting

to note all visits of all species of insects. Among these were 9 species

of Papilionoidea. We have also casually observed other species of

butterflies at other times and seasons, in other places, on the same

varieties, and on other varieties, (and perhaps species), of Lantana.

Table 1 shows the data collected for the six most frequent visitors

(Dronamraju 1960). The unit counted is the insertion of the proboscis

into a floret, from now on to be called a feed. The movements of

CONSTANCY TO HORTICULTURAL VARIETIES BY BUTTERFLIES 137

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138 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

normally feeding butterflies are sufficiently slow for these feeds to be

counted. Only in the counts of Baoris mathias is it believed that the

movements were so rapid that any large number of feeds were unnoted.

Such an underestimate would increase the significance of the preference

for pink shown by this butterfly. Smaller data on other species

showed statistically significant preferences, but because they were

collected during too short a period of time they may only record

individual preferences, or temporary constancies such as are known for

Apis mellifera, and were observed during this same series of observa-

tions for A. florea.

On the totals it is clear that 5 species have a distinct preference for

one colour variety rather than the other. The length of the periods

during which the observations were made, and in some species the use

of individuals which were sexually dimorphic, or marked by injury,

or paint, makes it clear that several.individuals of each species were

observed. We cannot assume that all these individuals either had

indistinguishable experiences, or alternatively were influenced by some

previously unsuspected social reaction to a variety first visited by one

individual. Therefore we think that these data make it most unlikely

that an individual butterfly of these species emerges from its pupa

indifferent to which colour of Lantana it feeds upon, and becomes con-

ditioned or imprinted by its own individual experience.

Danais chrysippus judged by the totals given in Table 1 has no

preference. However the data are highly heterogeneous. Statistical

estimation cannot be made because so many observation periods

included only one or two feeds.

Therefore we give (Table 2) the number of feeds during the two

hours when most visits of this species were recorded. Both were

between 8 and 9 a.m.

TABLE 2

Date Orange Pink

22-3-59 0 46

7-5-59 50 ql

Formally such counts resemble those that are obtained by watching

a colony of bees wisiting a mixed crop, but before we postulate that

Danais chrysippus has a social organisation, we will discuss our

observations on the first feeding behaviour of twelve individuals of

Papilio demoleus that emerged from their pupae in the laboratory.

This species is the only one of those observed of which we have

obtained larvae to experiment upon. Professor B. Rensch in a letter

CONSTANCY TO HORTICULTURAL VARIETIES BY BUTTERFLIES 139

to Professor J. B. §. Haldane commenting on Dronamraju’s paper of

1958 had suggested that these preferences might be due to the butter-

flies becoming imprinted to flowers of the colour of their first feed.

Therefore, because wild P. demoleus showed a significant but not

extreme preference for pink, we exposed ten of these twelve animals

to orange flowers alone, including holding them on to the inflorescences

if they did not alight voluntarily. After at least half an hour if they

did not feed, or after at least 40 fecds if they accepted orange, pink

was presented. The other two butterflies were offered a choice. One

(ot 4) always flew away when held on inflorescences of either

colour during the hour’s observation period, though he inserted his

proboscis once into an inflorescence. This was a pink inflorescence

on which he had been placed and on which he subsequently remained

unfeeding for 17 minutes, only leaving when disturbed. Next day he

was not offered a choice and refused orange for half an hour but then

accepted pink. The record of the other animal offered a choice (< 7)

is graphed in Fig. 2.

Any number from 4 to 40 inflorescences of one colour were offered

on cut stems, and care was taken to match the specimens of the two

colours in number and condition to human eyes. Also note was taken

as to whether the flowers were freshly gathered’, previously used that

day for butterfly feeding experiments, or the present mature flore‘s

had opened in the laboratory sheltered from any insect visits. We have

only tenuous evidence that our flowers were ever exhausted enough

for their interest to decrease for a butterfly.

At first the experiments were performed in a large room with

windows in three walls. One butterfly fed on orange and was im-

mediately eaten by a gecko; another refused orange for 2 hours and

40 minutes and then walked through a draining hole—and instead

of flying away fell from four storeys and was recovered (she was

marked) with a fractured costa! The third produced clear results

and was observed on 6 consecutive days. All other animals were

observed in a small wire and wood cage 2.11.52 cu. m. in volume.

Two people were necessary, one to observe (usually KRD) and

one to write (usually HS), mainly but not exclusively from dictation,

because the butterflies, being starved, fed more rapidly than free

animals. No sugar water had been given before the experiments to

be described.

Table 3 sums up our conclusions, and Figs. 1 and 2 graph two

experiments to demonstrate the behaviour which we categorise as ‘feeds

on orange; prefers pink’. In both the figures the horizontal axis

represents time, and there are four distinct vertical axes. The black

140 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

TABLE 3

Papilio demoleus

First feeds in captivity

Prefers Prefers ?

| Orange Pink

| |

Feeds on Orange... 5 | 3 1

Does NOT feed on

Orange i ae 4 MI

histograms represent separately the number of feeds on orange and

pink, and the white histograms the number of landings, i.e. the number

30 feeds on ORANGE

5 landings on ene) ' |

SO feeds on PINK

10 landings on PINK

12.10 12.20 12.30 12.40 12.50

Figs i

Papilio demoleus 923 feeding on Lantana camara 24-8-1959.

of times the butterfly alighted and stood on an inflorescence. We have

never seen a Papilio demoleus feed without landing, but these butter-

flies often land without feeding. The horizontal lines represent the

period of time when flowers of that colour were present. Pink was

CONSTANCY TO HORTICULTURAL VARIETIES BY BUTTERFLIES 141

only presented to Q 3 (Fig. 1) at 12.39 hours, after the animal had

fed upon orange; pink was removed from o 7 (Fig. 2) at 16.14 hours,

after it had been fed upon, and returned at 16.24; orange was present

throughout both experiments. In the experiment with 2 3 two vases

of both colours were presented and the histograms of landings are

div:ded into two paris to indicate when she flew from one vase to

another. When all four vases were presented they were arranged

alternately in a row so that a vase of another colour had to be flown

over with every change. In Fig. 1 the arrows indicate when the animal

530 feeds on ORANGE

10 landings on ORANGE

50 feeds on

PINK

10 landings on

PIN _ |

; irk eee eae eg el

16°10 16°20 16°30 16°40

Fig. 2;

Papilio demoleus 7 feeding on Lantana camara 28-8-1959.

was forcibly held on to the flowers. She always flew away when re-

leased. The dotted histograms represent feeds and landings uncounted

because the observers were occupied in introducing the vases of pink

flowers. It will be seen that both these animals did feed on

orange, but were reluctant to do so especially in the presence of

pink. The second supply of pink offered to co’ 7 consisted of only

142 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

four inflorescences which had been ardently fed upon (194 feeds)

five hours before. Nevertheless they held his attention from the four

orange to which he only had had access, and on which he had only

fed 36 times.

The series of experiments summarised in table 3 support the theory

that most individuals of P. demoleus emerge from their pupa with a

preference for feeding cn pink Lantana rather than orange and that

this is not altered by receiving their first food from orange flowers.

The three animals who continued to feed on orange after pink was

made available were a mother, one son, and one daughter. ‘The

father and another son and daughter were tested and preferred pink.

Thus a minority of P. demoleus prefer orange in the sense of behaving

thus in our experimental conditions. If this difference is genetically

determined it is a behavioural polymorphism, and a similar poly-

morphism present in Danais chrysippus would explain the observations

on wild animals in Table 2. A similar heterogeneity can be discerned

in the data on wild P. demoleus, but the individual observations are

too few for this to be demonstrated as significant.

We have been able to find only one previous recording of a similar

phenomenon. Eltringham (1933) observed specimens of Vanessa

urticae (an orange Nymphalid not unlike Precis almana) visiting a bed

of asters (Compositae) of which white, purple, and pink flowers were

in the approximate proportions 7:9:i2. However, out of 427 visits

47 were to white, 245 were to purple, and only 135 were to pink (from

discussion by Ford 1945 who gives more details). These observations

raised the question of whether the animals distinguished by colour

vision, and led to the establishment of the fact of colour vision in

butterflies (discussed by Ford Joc. cit.). However its relevance to

these flower preferences was not established, and the same question

must be asked about our own observations. Because a pink-preferring

butterfly does in our experiments feed on pink, white, and heliotrope

flowers of other nectar-bearing species, while ignoring nectar-bearing

crange and yellow flowers, we believe that these animals are reacting

to colour and not to some other stimuli correlated with it in these

Lantana stocks. However we do not want to stress this belief yet, as

the flowers presented were very heterogeneous in structure, and not

every species with pink flowers was visited.

Whatever the nature of the stimulus, such preferences will exert a

selection pressure on the plant population comparable to that exerted

by sexual selection in animals. A learnt preference will exert much

less selection; a bee changes its behaviour to accommodate, or to adapt

to, every change in the source of nectar. An instinctive preference

CONSTANCY TO HORTICULTURAL VARIETIES BY BUTTERFLIES 143

will either sterilize a new mutant because few or no pollinators visit

it; or preserve the phenotype because it is pollinated by animals who

rarely mix its pollen with that of the unchanged parental population,

i.e. whose behaviour favours homogamy. So if a new mutant is

recessive the butterflies’ behaviour will maintain homozygosity once a

few homozygotes have segregated in a population: if the mutant is a

dominant so that the first unusual phenotype is a heterozygote this

will be self-pollinated by the pollinators and so produce homozygotes

which will be maintained by the same behaviour. The two phenotypes

will be more or less isolated sexually, and thus have the possibility

to become further differentiated. In short is this an insect capacity

Which could make possible in a plant population the initiation of

sympatric speciation by a single gene mutation? Mayr (1947) con-

sidered and rejected the possibility of sexual isolation arising by a

mutation producing a change in a preference. The butterflies we have

described have established preferences and it is these which could

exercise selection pressure on any mutants that altered relevant stimuli.

REFERENCES

Butler, C. G. (1954): The world of

the honey bee. London. Collins.

Dronamraju, K. R. (1958) : The visits

of insects to different coloured flowers

of Lantana camaraL. Curr. Sci. 27:

452-453.

—_ ——— —

(1960) : Selective visits of

butterflies to flowers, a possible factor

in sympatric speciation. Nature, Lond.

186: 178. —

Eltringham, H. (1933) : The senses of

insects. London, Methuen.

Ford, E. B.(1945): Butterflies. London.

Collins.

Mather, K. (1947): Species crosses

in Antirrhinum I. Genetic isolation of the

species majus, glutinosum, and orantium.

Heredity 1: 175-186.

Mayr, E. (1947): Ecological factors

in speciation. Evolution 1: 263-283.

Ribbands, C. R. (1953) : The behaviour

and social life of honey bees. London.

Bee Research Association L.imited.

Systematics and Ecology of Indian

Plants: I—On the Rainy Season

Weeds of Gorakhpur

D. N. SEN

Department of Botany, St. Andrew’s College, Gorakhpur, U.P.

(With a sketch map)

INTRODUCTION

The author has tried in this paper to contribute towards the flora of

Gorakhpur on the lines suggested in the address by Santapau (1956).

The vegetation of many places has been commonly described in different

seasons, but such a study has rarely been undertaken during the rainy

season on account of inherent difficulties, and so the monsoon and

cold months of the year have often been left out completely.

In this paper an attempt has been made to present the rainy season

weeds of Gorakhpur. Among other difficulties during this season,

as mentioned by Santapau (1956), the pressing and the preservation of

plants is the main problem, because most of the plants collected during

moist weather become unsuitable for preservation as herbarium mate-

rials. Excursions were made whenever possible, and features of interest

connected with the phenology and ecology of these plants have been

noted. Some of the plants, though quite obvious by their presence

flower quite late in this season. Then there are plants which are present

throughout the year, but flower profusely during this season. Some

plants which do not strictly belong to this season have also been included

here because of their particular character. Their density of population in

certain localities has been recorded. The flowering time of plant species

has been indicated as precisely as possible. The time of seed germina-

tion of those plants which could be identified at the seedling stage has

also been recorded. The author was advised to include the medicinal

properties of the plants recorded here. In this connection no help

has been taken from published literature, but only information gathered

from local inhabitants has been made use of.

Hewetson (1951 & 1952) and Santapau (1956) have stressed the

necessity of a systematic plan in the study of the flora of a place, by

extending the scope of such studies beyond the usual practice. The

ON THE RAINY SEASON WEEDS OF GORAKHPUR ~ 145

mere enumeration of plants is not of much avail. The record of dis-

tribution, information about soils on which the plants flourish, altitude,

phenology, fruit setting, relative abundance and scarcity, and the asso-

ciations they form are very important, as also the various stages, namely

germination, vegetative growth, and finally the formation of seeds.

It is only in recent years that attention has been drawn to such a field

of study by a number of botanists. But apparently not many have

dealt with this subject matter from the ecological point of view, at least

in Uttar Pradesh. The earliest records in this field are those of Dudgeon

(1920) and Kanji Lal (1933), which do not deal particularly with the vege-

tation of Gorakhpur. There are records of a systematic study by Raizada

(1931, 1935, 1936, 1939) and Srivastava (1938). As to the ecological

and morphological aspects, Misra (1944, 1946) has included them in a

number of papers on the vegetation of Banaras. Recently Srivastava

(1955), Jain (1956), Gupta (1956), and Bhargava & Gupta (1958) have

contributed to the vegetation of different regions of Uttar Pradesh.

The last mentioned workers emphasize mainly the phenology of plants

in Naini Tal. |

A survey of the above mentioned literature shows that, except for

Misra, no work on the vegetation of the eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh

has so far been carried out. Very recently the author (Sen, 1959) has

made an ecological survey of the aquatic and swampy vegetation of

Gorakhpur. The main aim of the author is to give an account of differ-

ent aspects of vegetation in different seasons of the year from the ecolo-

gical point of view. The results will be communicated in a series of

papers. | |

SITUATION AND PHysI0-GEOGRAPHY

The district of Gorakhpur lies between the Nepal Terai in the north

and the Ghagra River in the south, which separates it from Azamgarh

district. The western boundary is the Basti district ; and on the east is

Deoria which was formerly part of Gorakhpur. The geographical limits

are 26°5’ and 27°29’ N. and 83°4’ and 84°26’ E. Owing to changes in

the courses of the rivers Ghagra and Rapti there has been a continual

change in the area.

The district has almost a uniform height of 270 feet above sea-level.

The plain slopes gently first to the south and then to the east, indicating

the general drainage of the country from NW. to NE. A remarkable

feature of its landscape is the total absence of marked topographical

features. The region comprises several low-lying areas irregular in

shape.and size, where owing to defective drainage, water accumulates

during the rainy season. There are large bodies of stagnant water locally

known as tals. These low-lying areas are depressions in the flood plains,

10 |

i446 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

which the rivers by flooding are trying to bring to the general level.

Many such areas are seen in the north of Gorakhpur city (see Sen, 1959).

The tract is completely devoid of any hill or conspicuously marked high

land.

MAHARAJ GANJ

ex CHILUA

-MAHESRA

DOMINGARH |

~ GORAKHPUR \

RAMGARH

° NARHI

Aiea AS

AMIARSS

BANSGAON

“AGRE tine

AZAMGARH

Map of Gorakhpur showing some localities

Floods have been a regular menace in the district of Gorakhpur.

The river Rapti is one of the largest Himalayan tributaries of the river

Ghagra. It flows in a south-easterly direction and drains a large basin.

The river Ghagra rises in Tibetan mountains ; like most Himalayan

rivers it first flows south and then takes an easterly turn. Gorakhpur,

ON THE RAINY SEASON WEEDS OF GORAKHPUR 147

being very close to the Nepal Himalayas and lying in the windward side

of the monsoon, gets more rain than other more southern districts ;

the latter through these two important rivers, the Ghagra and the Rapti,

very often suffer serious floods.

The district is part of the Gangetic plain. Its formation, therefore,

is of the same geological structure and history as the plains of Uttar

Pradesh. This plain has been continually filled with alluvial deposits

since the first uplift of the Himalayas. Attempts have been made to

ascertain the depth of the alluvial deposit, but no definite results have

been achieved.

CLIMATE

In the rainy season the average temperature of Gorakhpur is 29°C.,

which is a little lower than the average temperature of dry summer.

The difference may be due to the humidity.

TABLE

METEOROLOGICAL DATA OF GORAKHPUR—1959

| |

Temperature in Relative Humi-

es dity % _ | Average hue

_ Rain- | Wind Mean

Months ra ae, ll ae = as he LoL Speed Temp.

Mean | Mean | At08.30 At 17.30, ™™- | Kilom. | in ©

Max. Min. LS.T a Se P

Jan. 24.6 11.3 Si 56 31.0 DA | h7.91

Feb. 26.5 13.0 65 | 42 00.0 WA 19 75

Mar. | 34.4 17.9 46 | 23 Pipe) Daf 26.15

Apr. 39.2 23.8 44 26 34.3 6.0 | 31.50

May 41.3 25.4 50 2S 00.0 ee ee | 33.35

June 42.1 DTS 62 43 | 39.9 7.7 | 34.80

July 33.8 OSG 81 75 | c.197.9 7.08 | 2975

Aug. 31.7 AG 88 86 | ¢.535.7 Arte | 28090

Sep. 33.2 25.1 81 Tien) C2218 AT 29.15

Oct. 31.8 22.3 75 70 70.6 DAS 27805

Nov. 29.7 15.1 60 55 00.0 ite, 22-40

Dec. 24.1 12.6 80 71 00.3 2.0 08335).

In May and June there is low pressure in the Punjab near Multan.

The prevailing winds, therefore, become on-shore blowing from the sea

to the land. In the beginning, while summer temperatures are rising,

these sea winds move only a short distance from the Bay of Bengal.

As the temperature rises these winds penetrate into the interior and are

called the summer monsoon. The monsoon arrives in the month of -

June. The mean daily velocity varies between 7.0 and 7.7 kilometres

per hour in these months. ; |

Throughout the rainy season the monsoon winds are easterly. Their

i48 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

velocity decreases as the rainy months pass on ; and then the direction

of the wind changes, becoming ultimately from the east in the morning

and the west in the afternoon. |

The monthly relative humidity, as shown in the Table, indicates that

March and April are the driest months in Gorakhpur. With the advent

of the rainy season, the relative humidity increases considerably. It.

again goes down in October.

As a whole, Gorakhpur receives a heavier rainfall than any other

part of the province excepting the hilly tracts, the average being no less

than 94.5 mm. The Bay of Bengal branch of the south-west monsoon

is mainly responsible for the heavy rains ; the district being on the wind-

ward side receives much rainfall. Usually the strength of the monsoon

currents and the corresponding rainfall increase from June to July and

remain more or less steady till about the end of August. The rain is

unevenly distributed throughout the year. Nearly 78% of the total

rainfall of the year falls in the four months, July to October. Heavy

downpours lead to considerable runoff, which results in soil erosion.

The region north of Gorakhpur city, on account of defective drainage,

the presence of forests, and the heavy rainfall in the northern tract, usually

becomes marshy and moist. :

T 40

E 30 600 R.-

r 500 N

R 400 A

1 300 L

N I

C 10 200 N

E M.

N 100 M.

¥;

4 SNe AN ohape ey eS ge ie

Annual Temperature and Rainfall at Gorakhpur— 1958

BIOTIC FACTORS

- Among the biotic factors which influence the vegetation is the grazing

by cattle. In places monkeys destroy the tender vegetation. Man also

destroys much of the rainy season weeds, which grow quickly and, if

not cleared up, give a wild look to the whole area.

ON THE RAINY SEASON WEEDS OF GORAKHPUR 149

GENERAL ASPECT OF VEGETATION

‘With the arrival of the rainy season (June to July) green herbs appear

in every nook and corner. A vigorous and luxuriant growth of weeds

Starts with the first showers. The ephemeral vegetation consists mainly

of herbaceous annuals, the existence of which mainly depends upon

rain. After a week or two of rain, the ground is covered by plants

which belong strictly to the rainy season. Among them Cleome viscosa,

Gynandropsis gynandra, Ionidium suffruticosum, Dentella repens, Indi-

gofera sp., Cassia sp., Trienthema portulacastrum, Spermacoce hispida,

Heliotropium sp., Ipomoea pes-tigridis, Bonnaya sp., Murdannia nudi-

florum, Peperomia pellucida, Phyllanthus sp., Cyanotis sp., Commelina

nudiflora, Sesamum indicum, Fleurya interrupta, Pouzolzia indica, Evol-

volus alsinoides, etc. Others germinate and grow vegetatively till late

in the rainy season and then come into flower, like Urena lobata, Sida

sp., Triumfetta sp., Oldenlandia crystallina, Pergularia pallida, Ipomoea

sindica, Physalis minima, Vitis trifolia, Ruellia sp., Acalypha indica,

etc. There is a third category of weeds which germinate late in rainy

season ; they start flowering quite late and go on till about the middle

of the winter season. Such weeds include Oxalis corniculata, Tephrosia

purpurea, Peristrophe bicalyculata, Andrographis paniculata, Ageratum

conyzoides, Croton sparsiflorus, Scoparia dulcis, Adhatoda vasica, Ocimum

americanum, Alternanthera sessilis, Nicotiana plumbaginifolia, etc. There

is a fourth category of plants, which are more abundant in other seasons

of the year but may sprout and even flower at odd times during the

rainy season ; some plants in this category flower throughout the year

but do so more profusely in the rainy season. Such plants are Malvas-

trum coromandelianum, Tridax procumbens, FEvolvulus nummularis,

Solanum xanthocarpum, Achyranthes aspera, Tribulus terrestris, and others.

Some of the plants complete their life-cycle in a few weeks. Plants

first start drying out from the exposed habitats. Many plants in shaded

places last for quite a long time. Some of the plants disappear with

the departure of rain and the advent of the cold winter. Life without

water and moisture is difficult for them. This will be clear from the

periodicity chart at the end of this paper. The commonest and most

successful weeds belong to Amarantaceae, Tiliaceae, Malvaceae, Com-

positae, Capparidaceae, Leguminosae, Convolvulaceae, Acanthaceae,

Gramineae, and Commelinaceae.

CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY

In the present paper an attempt has been made to study the vegetation

of Gorakhpur in the rainy season from the ecological point of

view. Some advancement has been made in India during recent years on

floristic and vegetational studies but most parts are still in need of very

150 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

thorough exploration. It would not be wise to separate systematic botany

from ecological studies, and hence different observations have been in-

cluded here ; the phenology of each plant, its short life-cycle, relative

abundance, and distribution, as has been emphasized by Santapau (1956).

Keeping all this in mind, this study has been made, which in no way

claims to be complete. Even a small area may be too large for intensive

exploration. The grasses have not been included in this paper, otherwise

it would become very unwieldy. The author intends to make a separate

communication on the subject. The present paper mainly deals with

those weeds which come up soon after the first showers of the season ;

trees and shrubs are excluded, although many also come into flower

at this time of the year. 147 species representing 107 genera from 39

families have been recorded. Plants belonging to Malvaceae, Tiliaceae,

Leguminoseae, Rubiaceae, Compositae, Boraginaceae, Convolvulaceae,

Scrophulariaceae, Acanthaceae, Labitae, Amaranthaceae, Euphorbiaceae,

and Commelinaceae families are more common. Wherever possible

some medicinal uses of the plants have also been given.

Ecologically, the vegetation can be divided into: (1) those plants

which are strictly of the rainy season, i.e. they come up with the rains

and complete their life-cycle with the departure of the rains, like Gynan-

dropsis gynandra and Ionidium suffruticosum, etc. ; (2) those which grow

with the rains but complete their life-cycle after the rains are over, like

Physalis minima, Urena lobata, etc. ; and (3) those which germinate late

in the season and flower only in winter or so, like Peristrophe bicaly-

culata, Leonotis nepetaefolia, etc. Taking this division strictly into

account, a few plants can be excluded from this list, but as there is no

strict demarcation of changing seasons, so also the plants pass from one

flowering season to the other, depending mainly on the environmental

factors, which definitely affect them.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks are due to Prof. U. N. Chatterji of Gorakhpur University

for constant encouragement and constructive criticism in the pre-

paration of this paper ; to Prof. M. O. Varkey, Principal, St. Andrew’s

College, Gorakhpur, who very kindly passed on his field notes to the

author, and for the facilities provided ; to my colleague Prof. G. C.

Srivastava for many suggestions and identifications. The author is

thankful to Shri M. B. Raizada, Forest Botanist, F. R. I., Dehradun,

for kindly helping him in the identification of a few plants, and to the

Director, Meteorological Centre, for supplying the meteorological data.

He is indebted to his colleagues and many students for help given in this

study. Finally, he is extremely grateful to Rev. Fr. Santapau for kindly

ON THE RAINY SEASON WEEDS OF GORAKHPUR 15]

going through the manuscript of the paper, which is the outcome of his

most inspiring address.

LIST OF SPECIES

A list of weeds collected throughout the rainy season, with a brief

description, the locality where they were collected, their local names

(wherever possible), the time of seed germination, flowering, and fruit-

ing. Medicinal uses of some of the plants have also been listed.

The names are arranged according to Bentham and Hooker’s system,

as in Duthie’s FLORA. Local names are given after the scientific names

or synonyms.

CAPPARIDACEAE

1. _Cleome viscosa Linn. (Peela Hurhur)

A very common rainy season weed. It has an offensive odour.

Seeds germinate by middle of July, flowers up to September. Flowers

yellow. Plants remain stunted if dry spell prolongs.

2. Gynandropsis gynandra (Linn.) Merr. Syn. G. pentaphylla DC.

(Safaid Hurhur)

A common weed, but not as common as C. viscosa. Seeds germinate

with the first showers. It flowers by middle of August and is in fruit

generally by the end of the same month. Flowers white.

VIOLACEAE

3. Tonidium suffruticosum Ging. Syn. J. heterophyllum Vent.

Not common, only collected from Hui Park. Seeds germinate with

the early showers. It flowers from July to October. Flowers purplish

pink. Fruit setting starts quite early.

PORTULACACEAE

4. Portulaca oleracea Linn. (Kulfa)

A common plant collected from Ramgarh Tal side. It flowers and

fruits in July-August. Flowers yellow.

5. Portulaca quadrifida Linn.

It is a common weed in gardens and flower pots ; flowers in July-

August.

MALVACEAE

6. Abutilon indicum G. Don. (Kakahi)

A common, almost perennial, plant flowering abundantly during

the rains and up to December. Flowers yellow.

152. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

_. 7. Malvastrum coromandelinum Garcke; syn. M.. tricuspidatum

A. Gray. (Baryara) iti

Common ; collected from SAC (St. Andrew’s College) and Hui

Park, germinates in the rains, flowering quite early. Flowers yellow.

Roots are used as an aphrodisiac, powdered and mixed with sugar ;

Hindu women worship the plant because of this property.

8. Sida acuta Burm. f.

_ Not common, collected from Ramgarh Tal side under trees. Plants

quite stout, flowering in September. 3

9. Sida cordifolia Linn.

Common in Hui Park. Seeds germinate late in rainy season. Flowers

abundantly in October. Used for virility in man and stomach complaints.

10. Sida grewioides Guill.

Not common, collected from Hui Park. Leaves are small, orbicular,

and yellowish green. It flowers late in the season.

11. Sida veronicaefolia Lamk. Syn. S. humilis Willd.

Not common, trailing, sometimes very long. It flowers abundantly

in early September, produces fruit in September-October.

12. Urena lobata Linn.

Very common in Hui Park. Seeds germinate quite early, it flowers

profusely in September-October. Before flowering it looks very simi-

lar to Triumfettasp. Flowers pink.

13. Urena repanda Roxb. -

Common in SAC and Hui Park. Not so high as the previous species.

It flowers in September-October. Flowers whitish pink, mostly form-

ing clusters at the top.

TILIACEAE -

14. Corchorus aestuans Linn. Syn. C. acutangulus Lamk.

Common in SAC and Hui Park. Tallest and first to appear among

the species of this genus collected here. More common in moist and

shady places. It flowers August-October, forming 2-3 fruits about an

inch long in each axil.

15. Corchorus antichorus Roensch.

Not very common, collected from Hui Park. Plants small; leaves

less than an inch long; stems often prostrate with tortuous branches.

Plants grow quite late and flower in September-October. Flowers

yellow.

ON THE RAINY SEASON WEEDS OF GORAKHPUR 4)

16. Corchorus olitorius Linn.

Not common, collected from Hui Park. It flowers September-

October. Plants sometimes not much branched ; leaves 14 inch long.

17. Triumfetta bartramia Linn. ; syn. 7. rhomboidea Jacq.

Common in SAC and Hui Park. It is a large shrub-like annual with

polymorphous 3-lobed leaves. Seeds germinate by middle of July,

flowering starts together with fruiting by October. Fruits are hooked

and round.

18. Triumfetta rotundifolia Lamk.

Common in Hui Park. Seeds germinate by late July, flowers and

fruits in October-November. Smaller than the previous species. Fruits

hooked but pointed.

ZYGOPHYLLEAE

19. Tribulus terrestris Linn. (Gokhru)

A prostrate herb with yellow flowers, collected from Domingarh and

Aerodrome area. Not very common. Flowers and fruits in August.

Powdered seeds are used for mouth blisters.

OXALIDACEAE

20. Oxalis corniculata Linn. (Tinpattia)

Very common in moist and shady places, annual or perennial. It

flowers throughout the year, but more in rainy season.

21. Oxalis acetosella Linn. (Bari Tinpattia)

Rare, collected only from SAC. Larger than the previous species.

Leaves are all radical. Seeds germinate in July and plants flower in

August. Flowers purplish pink. Plants not very hairy. Not seen at

other times of the year like the previous species.

VITACEAE

_ 22. Vitis trifolia Linn. (Imirti)

A common climber at Ramgarh Tal side on the trees and in SAC.

It sprouts abundantly by middle of July, flowers and fruits in September-

November. Plants seem to sprout from a stout perennial rootstock.

| SAPINDACEAE

23. Cardiospermum halicacabum Linn.

A slender climbing plant with thin and light green leaves. Flowers

small and white. Common in Hui Park in early October, fruiting starts

late in winter. Fruits are characteristically triangular with bladder ee

wings,

154. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

PAPILIONACEAE

24. Abrus precatorius Linn. (Ratti)

A common hardy twiner. Abundant seedlings come up in July.

It flowers in August-September, and fruits during cold season. Seeds

are poisonous.

25. Aeschynomene aspera Linn.

A marshy tall herb, collected from Asuran. Basal part of stem

swollen and pith-like. It flowers abundantly late in the season. Flowers

yellow.

26. Alysicarpus monilifer DC.

Commonly collected from Hui Park. Stem and leaves covered with

hairs. Leaves simple. Flowers late in the season.

27. Alysicarpus rugosus DC.

A diffuse herb, common in Hui Park. Seeds germinate in July and

plants flower till September.

28. Argyrolobium roseum Jaub. & Spach.

Collected near University cross-roads. Plants 1-2 feet in height.

Seeds germinate late in the season. It flowers and fruits in November.

Flowers yellow with brown streaks on petals. Inflorescence up to 10

inches long, in racemes.

29. Clitoria ternata Linn.

A common twiner. Seeds germinate with the first showers. It

flowers profusely from August to October. Flowers blue.

30. Crotalaria medicaginea Lamk.

Collected from Hui Park only. Plants 1-14 feet in height and much

branched, silky hairy. Flowers in September-October, fruits late in

October. Pods round and 2-seeded.

31. Crotalaria prostrata Roxb.

Not common, collected from Hui Park. A late rainy season weed.

It flowers and fruits in November.

32, Desmodium gangeticum DC.

Very common in SAC and Hui Park. Seeds germinate by late

July. It flowers abundantly in September-October. Fruits set in

October-November. Flowers purplish pink and white.

33. Desmodium pulchellum Benth.

Not common ; shrub with downy branches. Flowers yellow,

ON THE RAINY SEASON WEEDS OF GORAKHPUR. 155

34. Desmodium triflorum DC.

Very common. Prostrate, especially in fields and lawns. Flowers

bright bluish purple. It continues to flower till late winter or even later.

35. Indigofera enneaphylla Linn.

Common. It flowers late in the season.

- 36. Indigofera hirsuta Linn.

A densely hairy plant, collected from Hui Park, 1-2 feet in height.

Seeds germinate in August. Flowering starts in first week of Septem-

er. Pink flowers crowded on racemes 2-3 inches long. Pods deflexed,

densely pubescent, 4-gonous.

37. Indigofera linifolia Retz.

A much branched spreading herb, with simple leaves. Collected

from Hui Park, not common. It flowers late in the season. Flowers

red.

38. Tephrosia purpurea Pers.

A perennial undershrub, collected only at Domingarh.. Sprouts

up with rains. Seeds may also germinate at this time. It flowers abun-

dantly in September and onwards. Flowers rose-coloured, in leaf-

apposed racemes. It sets fruit soon.

39. Uraria neglecta Prain.

Rare ; collected only from Kusmi Forest, 1-2 feet in height, with one

trifoliate leaf and racemose inflorescence. Flowers in July. Flowers

yellowish purple. Characteristic fruits in one-seeded joints folded over

one another.

40. Zornia diphylla Pers.

Not common, collected only from Hui Park. It has sub-erect slender

stem. Leaves of two leaflets. Seeds germinate in August and flowers

appear in September-October. Flowers yellow.

CAESALPINIACEAE

41. Cassia absus Linn.

Abundant in Hui Park only. Seeds germinate by middle of August.

Plants about one foot in height, start flowering by early September and

continue the whole month. Flowers are beautiful rose-red and not

yellow. Stamens mostly four, unequal in size, and not five as mentioned

in Duthie.

42, Cassia occidentalis Linn. (Bara Chakwad)

One of the commonest rainy season weeds on roadsides, Seeds

156 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

germinate with the first showers, but the growth is slower than C. tora.

Flowers in August-September. Flowers yellow. |

43. Cassia pumila Lamk.

A common procumbent plant in Hui Park, with leaves 1-2 inches

long, having 20-40 very small leaflets. Seeds germinate in August.

It flowers in September-October. Flowers yellow. Stalked gland of

petiole is characteristic.

-- 44, Cassia tora Linn.

One of the commonest of rainy season weeds. Seeds germinate

with the first rains. A number of seedlings grow close together. It starts

flowering in late August and continues till September. Flowers yellow

45. Mimosa pudica Linn. (Lajwanti)

Cultivated and wild in Hui Park. It flowers abundantly in August.

LYTHRACEAE

46. Ammannia baccifera Linn.

Very common on moist margins of Ramgarh and Narhi tals and many

other places. It flourishes well in swamps ; dry conditions are not con-

genial. It flowers mostly after rains and continues for a long period.

47. Ammannia pygmaea Kurz. |

Very similar to previous species but very small. It flowers in rainy

season, grows in dry situations also.

ONAGRACEAE

48. Jussiaea repens Linn.

Common in Ramgarh and Narhi tals, abundant at Asuran. Grows

floating in water, showing very characteristic white respiratory spongy

roots. Almost perennial, it grows on mud and even in dry land when

water recedes. It flowers late in the season, and continues up to January

and February. Flowers yellow.

49. Jussiaea suffruticosa Linn.

Not so common as J. repens collected from south margins of Ramgarh

Tal and other places. Almost a perennial herb, which flourishes in

water and shows spongy roots also. It flowers late in rainy season.

Flowers yellow.

50. Ludwigia parviflora Roxb.

_ Rare, collected only from Asuran. A prostrate herb which grows

near water. It flowers in December: Flowers small and yellow,

_ ON THE RAINY SEASON WEEDS OF GORAKHPUR 157

Sl. Trapa bispinosa Roxb. (Singhara)

_ An aquatic plant of economic importance which grows in seasonal

pools. Seedlings planted in July. Plants flower abundantly in August

and fruit in September-October.

CUCURBITACEAE

_ 32, Coccinia indica W. & A. Syn. Cephalandra indica Naud.-

(Kala Jeur, Kundru)

A common climber ; plants spread abundantly by late July, and pro-

fusely flower in August-September. They bear more male than female

flowers. Flowers white, fruits red when ripe. Leaves and roots are

crushed and used in diabetes.

53. Cucumis trigonus Roxb. (Ghurma)

A trailing plant collected from Kusmi Forest, with small yellow sta-

minate flowers. It flowers in August-September. Fruits with green

and white stripes, becoming yellow when ripe.

MOLLUGINACEAE

54. Trianthema portulacastrum Linn. Syn. 7. monogyna Linn.

Very common. Seeds germinate with the first showers. It flowers

abundantly from August to October, as long as conditions are wet.

55. Glinus lotoides Linn. Syn. Mollugo lotoides O. Kze. and M.

hirta Thunb.

Plants collected from drying ponds in low-lying areas after rains. A

hairy prostrate herb. Leaves opposite or whorled. It flowers late in

the season.

56. ©Mollugo stricta Linn.

Not common, collected from Kusmi Forest. It flowers by middle of

August till September. Fruiting starts quite early.

RUBIACEAE

57. Dentella repens Forst.

A prostrate slender herb, common near Ramgarh Tal and Domingarh

wayside ponds. Seeds germinate quite early in June-July. The plant is.

so small and insignificant that it can easily be overlooked. It flowers

abundantly by late July. Flowers small and white.

58. Oldenlandia crystallina Roxb.

Not very common; collected from Hui Park. Seeds germinate in late

July and flower by the end of August. It is smaller than O. dichotoma.

Flowers are small in pairs on long thin pedicels in the axils of leaves.

158 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (i)

59. Oldenlandia dichotoma Hook.

Very common in Hui Park and in SAC. It grows profusely in fields

by September-October, and flowers soon after. A much larger species.

60. Spermacoce hispida Linn. (Gidni)

A procumbent annual, collected from Kusmi Forest and Hui Park.

Plants are sufficiently big by late August, and flowering starts soon after.

Flowers are produced in axillary clusters. Not common. Flowers

purplish blue. Roots after powdering are applied on breast abcesses and

ulcers.

COMPOSITAE

61. Ageratum conyzoides Linn.

A very common, softly hairy annual; springs up in abundance soon

after rains in July-August: it is 6-16 inches in height. It flowers in

September. This plant flourishes well in shady and moist ground.

Flowers purplish white.

62. Bidens pilosa Linn.

Common, 10-20 inches in height, collected from Hui Park.

It flowers

in September-October.

63. Caesulia axillaris Roxb.

Not very common, collected by the side of a stream on way to Tilonia

Forest range. It flourishes in swamps, and flowers late in the season.

Flowers greyish white in the axils of long sessile leaves.

64. Chrysanthemum indicum DC.

A procumbent small diffuse herb. Heads are small. The plant

commonly grows on roadside shady places, and flowers late in the season.

Flowers yellow.

65. LEclipta prostrata Linn. Syn. E. alba Hassk., E. erecta Linn.

_ (Bhangraia)

An erect or prostrate herb, common, but abundant only in moist

soil. It flowers in rainy season and later. Flowers white. The leaves

are used for hair dye, and are an important ingredient in medicated oils.

Leaf extract is used in ear-ache and also in boils etc. Latex is used for

tattooing.

66.: Tridax procumbens Linn.

Common. Seen almost throughout the year, but more prominent

in the rainy season. It flowers late in the season and continues till winter.

Flowers light yellow.

ON THE RAINY SEASON WEEDS OF GORAKHPUR 159

67. Xanthium strumarium Linn. (Gokhroo)

Common all over for most of the year. Seedlings seen at Kusmi

Forest in the middle of August. In other places plants were collected in

flower and fruit. Not strictly a rainy season weed.

APOCYNACEAE

68. Ichnocarpus frutescens Br.

A large shrubby twiner, not very common. Flowering in August-

September for a comparatively short time.

69. Tabernaemontana coronaria Willd. Syn. Ervatamia_ coronaria

Stapf. (Chandni)

An ornamental shrub, become wild all over. It flowers in August

to October. Leaves are shining green, flowers white.

ASCLEPIDACEAE

70. Pergularia pallida Wt. & Arn.

A twining shrub, collected from SAC, climbing on hedges. It grows

in July and flowers abundantly with yellowish white coloured umbellate

cymes. Pollinia waxy with reddish brown translator. Not seen else-

where.

BORAGINACEAE

71. Heliotropium indicum Linn.

Hairy plants, common. Seeds germinate in May-June, and flower

soon after. Fruits are produced abundantly in July-August. Flowers

pale violet. Fruits characteristic with one-seeded pyrenes.

72. Heliotropium oyalifolium Forsk.

Erect, decumbent or prostrate, densely clothed with hairs; collected

from Domingarh and SAC. Seeds germinate very early ; fruiting abun-

dant in July. There are invariably 4 sepals in the specimens collected,

which is different from other records.

73. Heliotropium subulatum Hochst.

Erect, the largest in the genus : collected from Domingarh and SAC.

It grows on comparatively dry soil. Plants are seen very early in the

season and continue to flower after rainy season. A common plant.

74. Heliotropium supinum Linn.

Villous herbs, common on roadside in moist shady places. Seeds

germinate very early in June-July. The plant flowers and fruits by early

August. From a distance the plant looks very similar to Salvia plebeia.

160 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

75. Heliotropium strigosum Willd.

A small much-branched procumbent herb, growing stiundaudel in

rains in playground near SAC Hostel. Seeds germinate with the first

rains, the plant flowers profusely by the end of July. Flowers small and

white. Not common.

CONVOLVULACEAE

76. Evolvulus nummularis Linn.

Very common, much-branched creeping perennial herb in fields at

SAC, Domingarh, and other places, on comparatively dry and hard soil.

It sprouts with the first showers after hot summer, although the plant is

met with throughout the year. White small flowers are abundantly

produced from July to October. Flowering is withheld for the winter

months, and it appears again in April, but the plants do not look fresh.

77. Evolvulus alsinoides Linn.

A diffuse hairy herb, not common. It is a strict rainy season weed,

_ collected after rains in July from SAC and Hui Park. Seeds germinate

with early rains, and flower in August-September. Plants are not seen

late in the season. Flowers light blue on comparatively long pedicels.

78. Ipomoea aquatica Forsk. Syn. I. reptans Poir. (Karmua)

An aquatic or semi-aquatic herb, which flourishes on swampy and

moist margins of ponds etc. It flowers in late rainy season, and continues

flowering till the ground is completely dry. Plants are supposed to be

effective for stomach disorders.

79. Ipomoea pes-tigridis Linn.

Not very common. A small twining herb, collected only from Hui

Park. Seeds germinate late in August. Leaves and stem fulvous hairy.

It flowers in September-October and finishes soon after. Flowers

purplish.

80. Ipomoea sindica Stapf.

A late rainy season weed, collected only from Hui Park in guava

orchard twining over grasses etc. Stems many from the base, prostrate,

slender and hispid. Leaves hastate, up to 2 inches long. It flowers

in October-November, and finishes soon after. ;

81. Porana paniculata Roxb. (Safaid Bel)

A large climbing shrub, only recorded from Afaq Park. It does not

appear to be wild. It flowers in October-November, with numerous

small white flowers, arranged in large axillary, terminal drooping panicles.

ON THE RAINY SEASON WEEDS OF GORAKHPUR 161

SOLANACEAE

82. Datura fastuosa Linn. (Dhatura)

A wild form not very common, small and shrubby. It flowers late

in rainy season and afterwards. Seeds are used in asthma. Seeds

boiled in oil are used for gout ; they are also smoked for intoxication.

83. Datura stramonium Linn.

Annual. Seeds germinate in late July, collected from Domingarh.

It flowers late in the season till winter. Flowers white.

84. Nicotiana plumbaginifolia Viv. (Jungli Tamakhu)

Common in fields and SAC. Seeds germinate in early July. Leaves

radical and cauline, the latter lanceolate. Stems 6-12 inches in height,

It flowers abundantly from July to October, and then again in April.

Flowers purplish white. No mention of this plant in Duthie.

85. Physalis minima Linn. (Ban Makoi)

Common. Seeds germinate with the rains. Flowering starts by

August and continues till late in the season. Flowers yellowish white.

86. Solanum xanthocarpum Schrad & Wendl. (Bhakto1)

Not strictly a rainy season weed, but flourishes well in rains and starts

flowering. Collected from roadside near aerodrome in middle of July.

Flowers abundantly in December. Water, in which leaves are boiled,

is given for fever. Seeds, after keeping on red hot earthen pot, give out

fumes which are inhaled for carious teeth.

SCROPHULARIACEAE

87. Bonnaya brachiata Link & Otto.

Not common. Collected from moist and shaded spots near Ramgarh

Tal and SAC. Seeds germinate with the early showers. Plants 3-8

‘inches in height, leaves spinose-serrate and glabrous. It starts flowering

by the end of July and continues till the end of the season. Flowers

purple and white.

88. Bonnaya veronicaefolia Spreng.

A common decumbent herb collected from shaded spots in Hui

Park and SAC. Small plants, like the previous species. Seeds germinate

in August and flower during the whole rainy season and continue till

late winter in places. Leaves sub-entire or with distantly serrate margins.

Flowers purplish white.

89. Limnophila gratioloides R. Br.

Grows in water or in swamps; collected from Asuran. Plants

162. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL-HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

show heterophylly. Pinkish coloured flowers are produced abundantly

in September-October. It continues to flower and produce fruits till

late in the season. ee Sams oc giaa Gee 3. er

90. Mazus rugosus Lour.

Very common small glabrous annual with tufted stems ; at SAC and

other places. It grows late in the season, and flowers throughout winter.

Flowers purplish white.

91. Mboniera cuneifolia Mich.

From the records of Prof. M. O. Varkey, who collected it on

10-10-1946, but not recorded by the author.

92. Scoparia dulcis Linn.

Common. It does not seem to be a true plant of this season, possibly

the rootstock sprouts in rains. Flowers white.

LENTIBULARIACEAE

93. Utricularia flexuosa Vahl.

A yery common aquatic plant, which flourishes well in Asuran

Poklhra, Bitia ponds, and others. It starts flowering in early winter and

not in hot season as mentioned in Duthie. Flowers yellow.

94. Utricularia stellaris Linn.

Notcommon. Collected from a roadside pond on way to Domingarh.

Inflorescence is held up above the water by a whorl of 4 floats on the

peduncle, with yellow flowers. It flowers in early winter.

PEDALIACEAE

95. Martynia diandra Glox. (Bichhu, Kaua)

From the records of Prof. M. O. Varkey, who collected it on 27-9-1946.

Fruits characteristic with 2 hard curved spines. It flowers during and

after rains.

96. Sesamum indicum Linon. (Tilli)

An erect annual herb, common in Hui Park and many other places,

1-2 feet in height. It germinates in August and flowers in Sapte:

Flowers bilabiate and pinkish purple.

ACANTHACEAE

97. Adhatoda vasica Nees. Syn. Justicia adhatoda Linn. (Adhus)

Very common shrub. Rootstock sprouts..up in rains. It starts

flowering in. early. winter and continues- onwards. Flowers. large

ON THE RAINY SEASON WEEDS OF GORAKHPUR 163

and white. Leaves are made use of in ripening of fruits by covering the

latter with them. Leaves oil-smeared and warm are kept on wounds,

etc. .

98. Aechmanthera tomentosa Nees.

From the notes of Prof. M. O. Varkey who collected it on 28-8-1945,

and recorded that the plant is not hairy, as mentioned in Duthie, has no

bracteoles, and also ovary is not so hairy. Not recorded by the author.

99, Andrographis paniculata Nees. (Kalmegh, Kalpnath)

Common; grows and flowers late in the season by October

to December. Flowers pink. Leaf extract after boiling is used as blood

purifier.

100. Barleria strigosa Willd.

An unarmed shrub, cultivated and wild, not common as a weed.

Seeds germinate with late rains ; it flowers for a short period in early

winter. Flowers blue.

101. Hygrophila polysperma T. Anders.

Common near margins of ponds and ditches, collected from Domin-

garh and a number of other places. It flowers abundantly in September-

October and continues till winter season. Flowers pinkish white.

Stamens two, and not four as mentioned in Duthie.

102, Justicia procumbens Linn. Syn. J. diffusa Willd.

A diffuse much-branched herb; not very common, collected near

Rani ka Pokhra. Seeds germinate with rains, flowers in September-

October. Plants are not seen after November. Flowers purplish pink.

103. Peristrophe bicalyculata Nees.

Very common in waste land after rains. Stem characteristically

6-angled. It flowers late in the season and early winter. Flowers pink.

Crushed plants mixed with pepper are given in fever.

104. Ruellia patula Jacq. |

A small hoary pubescent plant, collected from Hui Park and Domin-

garth. Not common ; flourishes during the rains only. It flowers rather

sparsely in late August. Plants do not live very long.

105. Thunbergia grandiflora Roxb.

Not common, mostly cultivated. Plants come up with rains, flower

abundantly in September-October. Itis aclimber with large and showy

flowers. Flowers light blue. |

i64 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (i)

VERBENACEAE

106. Lippia nodiflora Rich. (Bukkam)

Common near water and other places. It flowers throughout, but

more so in July, with shining spikes of violet colour. Fruits are also

formed at the same time. Plants, especially leaves, after crushing are

applied on forehead for headache.

107. Verbena officinalis Linn.

An erect herb, collected from Ramgarh Tal side and Bitia. Spikes

are 4-6 inches long. It flowers late in July till August. Flowers lilac.

LABRTA TAR

108. Anisomeles indica O. Kze. Syn. A. ovata R. Br.

Plants 3-6 feet in height, densely pubescent ; collected from Hui

Park. This is more common towards the west of Gorakhpur on the sides

of railway line. It grows late in September, and flowers by October.

Plants form seeds and die off by middle of November.

109. Leucas cephalotes Spreng. (Gom)

- Plants appear by early August ; they are soft and hairy, the leaves

long and serrate. Inflorescence globose, about # inch in diameter. It

flowers by August-September. Flowers white. Crushed leaves are

put in the nostrils for cold and applied on forehead for headache.

110. Leucas lavandulaefolia Rees. Syn. L. linifolia Spreng.

Not common ; collected from Kusmi Forest ; about 1 foot in height.

Leaves linear lanceolate. It flowers in August-September. Flowers

white.

111. Leonurus sibiricus Linn.

Not common, collected near University cross roads. About 4 feet

in height, the plant flowers in early November. Flowers bluish pink.

112. Plectranthus coetsa Buch.-Ham.

From the records of Prof. M. O. Varkey who collected it on 27-9-1946,

but not recorded by the author.

113. Leonotis nepetaefolia R. Br.

Not very common ; collected from Hui Park. Seeds germinate by

early October. It flowers in November. Flowers yellowish orange.

Not recorded by Kanjilal.

114. Ocimum americanum Linn. Syn. O. canum Sims. (Tulsi)

Common, collected near University cross roads. Leaves | inch long,

ON THE RAINY SEASON WEEDS OF GORAKHPUR 165

gland-dotted on lower surface. It grows in October, flowers early

November.

NYCTAGINACEAE

115. Boerhavia diffusa Linn. (Gajphunna)

One of the commonest perennial weeds which flourishes in rains,

spreading and trailing on ground. It flowers by July to September.

Plants look. dull in winter, they flower again though not so profusely in

March-April. Flowers pink. Roots are boiled and given in fever.

AMARANTHACEAE

116. Achyranthes aspera Linn. (Chitchita)

Very common ; grows in August-September, and flowers late in the

season and onwards.

117. Alternanthera sessilis (Linn.) DC.

A prostrate herb, common near ponds and ditches. It produces

white and shining axillary heads. Plants grow in July and flower late in

the season.

118. Amaranthus polygamous Linn.

A rare plant, collected from Ramgarh Tal side. It grows with rains

and flowers in September.

119. Amaranthus spinosus Linn. (Jungli Chaulai)

A very common spiny annual. It grows with the early rains and

flowers soon after. It is bigger than A. viridis. A troublesome weed,

whose stem is often tinged with red.

120. Amaranthus viridis Linn. (Chaulai)

An erect much-branched annual 1-2 feet in height. Not so common

as the previous species. It grows with the rains and flowers soon after.

121. Gomphrena globosa Linn.

An annual herb, not common : collected only near Domigarh railway

station by the side of the rails. Inflorescence globose of white silky

heads. It flowers in September.

122. Nothosaerua brachiata Wight.

An erect slender herb, collected near Ramgarh Tal and Bitia side,

It is more common in wet places, It flowers in July-August.

166 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

POLYGONACEAE

123. Polygonum hydropiper Linn. (Pani Mirch)

An aquatic or semi-aquatic plant, collected from Ramgarh Tal side.

The stem is branched and swollen at nodes. It flowers in July. Flowers

pink.

124. Polygonum glabrum Willd.

An aquatic or semi-aquatic plant, common in Ramgarh Tal. In-

florescence 2-4 inches long. Flowers abundantly by late July till

September, opening of flowers is irregular. Flowers pink.

125. Antigonon leptopus Hook. et Arn.

Commonly cultivated in hedges, but becomes wild on roadsides.

It flowers abundantly in late rainy season. Flowers pinkish rose. Not

recorded by Duthie.

PIPERACEAE

126. Peperomia pellucida H.B.K.

A rare succulent annual, collected only from Hui Park. Seeds ger-

minate in August. Stems sometimes rooting at nodes. It flowers

abundantly at a young stage by August-September.

EUPHORBIACEAE

127. Acalypha indica Linn. (Fursh Buti)

An erect annual, common. Plants grow in July, and start flowering

in early August and continue later. Leaf extract is taken in cow’s

milk for strength.

128. Chrozophora rottleri A. Juss.

Very common near Bitia side, it grows in summer and flowers abun-

dantly in rainy season. Male flowers yellow.

129. Croton sparsiflorus Morong.

One of the commonest weeds on roadsides. Has a repulsive smell.

It grows throughout the year, but flourishes well in rainy and cold seasons.

Not recorded by Duthie.

130. Euphorbia hirta Linn. (Bari Dudhi)

A small prostrate herb with erect branches and opposite leaves.

Common, almost throughout the year. It flowers for a considerable

part of the year,

- ON THE RAINY SEASON WEEDS OF .GORAKHPUR..~ 167

131. Euphorbia thymifolia Linn. (Chhoti Dudhi)

Very common on gravel paths. Seeds germinate with the rains ;

plants change from a green to coppery hue, and flower for a long time in

the season. Leaf extract is given in mother’s milk to infants suffering

from dysentery.

132. Phyllanthus niruri Linn.

Grows very early in the rainy season, a true rainy season weed, very

common. Flowering starts by late July. Flowers are very small and

axillary.

133. Phyllanthus simplex Retz.

A glabrous herb, common in Hui Park. Plants appear quite early

in the season. Flowers are solitary on stout long pedicels, capsule rough

but not echinulate. It flowers in July-August and fruits set in soon after.

134. Phyllanthus urinaria Linn.

A common small weed, collected from Hui Park and SAC. Plants

look very similar to P. niruri, but they are smaller and dark green in

colour. It flowers in August-September. Fruits are faintly echinulate.

URTICACEAE

135. Cannabis sativa Linn. (Bhang)

Very common, mostly on southern side. It sprouts up abundantly

with rains, and grows till late winter. It flowers in early winter.

136. Fleurya interrupta Gaud. (Bichhu)

Rare ; collected only from SAC campus. It grows in August and

flowers soon after. It does not live very long.

137. Pouzolzia indica Gaud.

It has not been recorded except from SAC ; collected together with

Fleurya interrupta. Seeds germinate with the early rains, flower till

September. A rare plant.

ORCHIDACEAE

138. Vanda roxburghii R. Br.

Not very common, collected from Turra Nulla. It is an epiphyte,

and flowers by middle of August. Flowers yellowish cream.

SCITAMINACEAE

139. Globba sp.

Very common in Hui Park all along the boundary. It grows with

rains and-flowers. profusely in August. Flowers purplish red. It looks

like a canna,

168 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

DIOSCOREACEAE

140. Dioscorea sativa Linn.

A climbing plant, collected from Hui Park. It flowers late in August,

in drooping spikes. Not common.

PONTEDERIACEAE

141. Monochoria vaginalis Persl.

An aquatic plant ; flowers commonly in rainy season. It is common

in Ramgarh Tal.

COMMELINACEAE

142. Murdannia nudiflorum Linn. Syn. Aneilema nudiflorum R.Br.

A common slender weed, collected from Hui Park andSAC; grows by

early August. Leaves 1-2 inches long ; inflorescence is a panicle on a

scape. It flowers by late August and early September for a short time.

143. Commelina benghalensis Linn.

Common near moist margins of ditches and in low-lying areas. It

flowers abundantly during the rains.

144. Commelina nudiflora Linn.

Very common near bathrooms of SAC Hostel and Ramgarh Tal

side ; grows by early July. Plants are bigger in size than the previous

species, leaves broad and sessile. Flowering starts by early August and

continues till September. Flowers blue. Leaf extract is applied in

wasp stings. i

145. Cyanotis axillaris Schult.

Rare ; collected from Hui Park in shade. Leaves 2-3 inches long and

linear. Inflorescence axillary in helicoid cymes. Stamens have bearded

filaments, anthers are yellow.

146. Cyanotis cristata Schult.

Rare ; collected only from Domingarh near old buildings on a wall ;

looks very similar to Commelina sp. Flowers abundantly by the first

week of September for a short time ; stamens six with bearded fila-

ments.

NAIADACEAE

147. Aponogeton monostachyon Linn. f.

An aquatic plant collected from Domingarh in August-September,

when it flowers abundantly. White flowers emerge out of the water

surface,

ON THE RAINY SEASON WEEDS OF GORAKHPUR 169

_ INCIDENCE OF FREQUENCY ABUNDANCE REGARDING GROWTH AND

PHENOLOGY OF WEEDS DURING RAINY SEASON-—~1958

In the following chart the monthly incidence of frequency-abundance regarding

growth and phenology of rainy season weeds is given. The symbols used are: R-

rare (1-5); F-frequent (5-15) ; C-common (50-100) : A-abundant (100-200) : D-do-

minant (over 200). The numbers within brackets are the approximate numerical

values of the symbols for the localities from which the plants have been collected as

mentioned in the case of each plant. v and l are used as prefix for ‘ very ’ and ‘local’.

Plant species | July “Aug. Sept. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec.

1. Cleome viscosa Linn. D A A F a me

2. Gynandropsis gynandra_(Linn.) Merr.| 1A 1€ F F e :

3. lonidium suffruticosum Ging. Saliba VF C F ~ :

4. Portulaca oleracea Linn. eile avis vF F me Pe Se

5. P. quadrifida Linn.* ae te v es ic ce

6. Abutilon indicum G. Don aes F F CB F

7.. Malvastrum coromandelinum Garcke.| IF IF IF F F me

8. Sida acuta Burm. f. = is S 1F IF an

9. S. cordifolia Linn. 5 oe F G 1A A

10. S. grewioides Guill. Role ae F vF C F

11. S. veronicaefolia Lamk. ay es ie VF F one

12. Urena lobata Linn. a ae © (S 1A 1A C

13. U. repanda Roxb. = ee IF IC 1A F

14. Corchorus aestuans Linn. Seale C C C F

15. C. antichorus Roensch. F F F see

16. C. olitorius Linn. no Saar F F ae

17. Triumfetta bartramia Linn. Be ilies F C C F

18. T. rotundifolia Lamk. re be ae F F C vC

19. Tribulus terrestris Linn. oly CIR: IR a 7 “ih

20. Oxalis corniculata Linn. Hecabg |e IF IF IF 1F

21. O. acetosella Linn. an wea ee IC IR a

22. Vitis trifolia Linn. a IF IC IC ie IF

23. Cardiospermum halicacabum Linn.. ce oe IF IF) .) IF

24. Abrus precatorius Linn. oi eee 1F IF SAG eek a

25. Aeschynomene aspera Linn. Sage ms IF IF | IF IF

26. Alysicarpus monilifer DC. oho. |? Meee ae e IF | IF -

27. A. rugosus Linn. IR IF IC IRS We ae

28. Argyrolobium roseum Jaub & Spach. = 3 oy IR IF ae

29. Clitoria ternatea Linn. .. IF 1A lA 1F IF ms

30. Crotalaria medicaginea Lamk. dec inert lF IC 1A lF ae

31. C. prostrata Roxb. . x0 54 Re se 1F IF :

32. Desmodium gangeticum DC. eee C vA C Aes :

33. D. pulchellum Benth. .. ine * is IR IR is ee

34. D. triflorum DC. Pala ee A A Ast ei A

35. Indigofera enneaphylla Linn. es - x Eo hak F

36. I. hirsuta Linn. R C Can *

37. I. linifolia Retz. a ee: F C GC we

38. Tephrosia purpurea Pers. ee F C C F F

39. Uraria neglecta Prain. .. seal AR IR Be ie - “A

40. Zornia diphylla Pers. las IR IF IF ue _

41. Cassia absus Linn. As Me Ry C vC A se

42. C. occidentalis Linn. .. ..| VA D D vA &

43. C. pumila Lamk. ; = 7 IF IC 1A at

44. C. tora Linn. a ee! vC vC F as

45. Mimosa pudica Linn. .. eee 3 F C i ate a

46. Ammania baccifera Linn. cate & A A A C

170

JOURNAL, BOMBAY. NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

. A. pygmaea Kurz.

. Jussiaea repens Linn.

J. suffruticosa Linn.

. Ludwigia parviflora Roxb.

. Trapa bispinosa Roxb. ..

. Coccinia indica W. & A.

. Cucumis trigonus Roxb...

. Trianthema portulacastrum Linn.

. Glinus lotoides Linn.

. Mollugo stricta Linn.

. Dentella repens Forst. ..

. Oldenlandia crystallina Roxb.

. O. dichotoma Hook.

. Spermacoce hispida Linn.

. Ageratum conyzoides Linn.

. Bidens pilosa Linn.

. Caesulia axillaris Roxb.

. Chrysanthemum indicum DC.

. Eclipta prostrata Linn. .

. Tridax procumbens Linn.

. Xanthium strumarium Linn.

. Ichnocarpus frutescens Br. us

. Tabernaemontana coronaria Willd...

. Pergularia pallida W. & A.

. Heliotropium indicum Linn.

. A. ovalifolium Forsk.

. A. subulatum Hochst.

. A. supinum Linn.

. A. strigosum Willd.

. Evolvulus nummularius Linn.

. E. alsinoides Linn.

. Ipomoea aquatica Forsk.

. I. pes-tigridis Linn.

. I. sindica Stapf.

. Porana paniculata Roxb.

. Datura fastuosa Linn.

. D. stramonium Linn. ..

. Nicotiana plumbaginifolia Viv.

. Physalis minima Linn. on

. Solanum xanthocarpum Schr. et

Wendl.

. Bonnaya brachiata Link & Otto.

. B. veronicaefolia Spreng.

. Limnophila gratioloides R.Br.

. Mazus rugosus Lour. .

. Moniera cuneifolia Mich. *

. Scoparia dulcis Linn.

. Utricularia flexuosa Vahl.

. U. stellaris Linn. .

. Martynia diandra Glox.*

. Sesamum indicum Linn.

. Adhatoda vasica Nees. ..

. Aechmanthera tomentosa Nees.*

. Andrographis paniculata Nees.

. Barleria strigosa Willd. .. Bh

. Hygrophila polysperma T.Andets...

. Justicia procumbens Linn.

. Peristrophe bicalyculata Nees.

. Ruellia patula Jacq. bes

. Thunbergia grandiflora Roxb.

July Aug. Sept. Oct. | Nov. Dec

(@ C C C F F

F F F F F =

R F F R ae he

Se IR IR IR

C A A A F R

F Cc C C te

F F F R an

vC A A A vC

IF IF F F se

ma R R oe

G A vC Be

ss F vF as

: F ‘S vC F

- F C F a

c ve 1A 1A C C

sf F F -_

C A A A S (SC

C Cc C C F F

F F F F F F

te F Cc F A

7 F C F e

IR IR IF 1F ee

VF VF IF IF is

F F F F F

Cc ve vC C C F

C C vC C C C

1A | 1A 1A 1C we

A vA vA C F F

R F F R a8

F F F F F F

ie F VF F ne 4

, IC 1A ah

\e F F =f

bode F F oH

ve 1 Ie C VF af

Een vC C wg

IF 1F abs YS F vC

vC vC vC vF F

vC vC A vC vF F

IC, A 1A 1D 1A

is vC A

F F F F F

we : F C vC

an it IF IF

ee = ee

Be cot a! vF C F

Roe a (i F

cae R F C vC F

a ae vF C C

F C vC A vC vC

oe C C C a

R F C vC S F

F F F F ae

_ ON THE RAINY SEASON WEEDS OF GORAKHPUR 171

| |

Plant species July | Aug. | Sept. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec.

106. Lippia nodiflora Rich. C C C oe igen

107. Verbena officinalis Linn. (G Leal gi a oS

108. Anisomeles indica O.Kze. Se Be aed a C ‘© F

109. Leucas cephalotes Spreng. F Veo 6 F be -

110. L.lavandulaefolia Rees. R | Sa et 5: F He se

111. Leonurus sibiricus Linn. = fect i VF oh: i

112. Plectranthus coetsa Buch.-Ham.* Bs vee as es a

113. Leonotis nepetaefolia R.Br. a ita C C C

114. Ocimum americanum Linn. . fee SPE F F a

115. Boerhavia diffusa Linn. . . A D =§vA Cc F ae

116. Achyranthes aspera Linn. ls a Ree Ee VF Cc C

117. Alternanthera sessilis (Linn.) DC...) C Curh ee c CG C

118. Amaranthus polygamous Linn. R Re oR “i Rn ee

119. A. spinosus Linn. i vC y\ Elna D2 x G

120. A. viridis Linn. c Coa C Ae

121. Gomphrena globosa Linn. e R R i ee

122. Nothosaerua brachiata Wight. VF Cink, © bs st

123. Polygonum hydropiper Linn. VF VE is a me

124. P. glabrum Willd. Sha. Va Cro VF F A

125. Antigonon leptopus Hook et Arn...) .. RY de C vC

126. Peperomia pellucida H.B.K. i IF IC IF ae ne

127. Acalypha indica Linn. .. F Ree | vi Cc € VF

128. Chrozophora rottleri A.Juss. VF | ial eget Ap bie of

129. Croton sparsiflorus Morong. A Ae A A C C

130. Euphorbia hirta Linn. A Jes ed aw on A} vC F

131. E. thymifolia Linn. A BES vC vC Lt

132. Phyllanthus niruri Linn. C verve a Ce ot

133. P. simplex Retz. C vei vC re 2

134. P. urinaria Linn. ~ Sea hee © Cc arate

135. Cannabis sativa Linn. IF IF |} IF IF IF IF

136. Fleurya interrupta Gaud. IF ere le IF a

137. Pouzolzia indica Gaud. IF IC IC IF a

138. Vanda roxburghii R.Br. F C c F

139. Globba sp. he 1(@ IC: TE et

140. Discorea sativa Linn... ae F F ar |

141. Monochoria vaginalis Pers}. F jot duets F |

142. Murdannia nudiflorum Linn. Ae C vC F |

143. Commelina benghalensis Linn. F vF | vF F

144. C. nudiflora Linn. : vC A | A vC C

145. Cyanotis axillaris Schult. R R R ais

146. C. cristata Schult. Oe ee Celle

147. Aponogeton monostachyon Linn. f. IF IC | IF IR

REFERENCES

Arber, A.

Cambridge.

Bakshi, T. S. (1954) : The Vegetation

of Pilani & its neighbourhood. J.

Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 52: 484-514.

Bamber, C. J. (1915): Plants of the

Punjab. Simla.

Bhargava, K. S. & Gupta, R. K.

(1958) : Seasonal Material for a Flora of

Nainital. Agra Univ. Jour. Res. (Sc.)

7: 1-48.

Collet, H. (1921):

Calcutta & Simla.

Dudgeon, W. (1920): A contribution

(1920): Water Plants.

Flora Simlensis.

to the ecology of Upper Gangetic Plain.

Jour. Indian bot. Soc. 1: 296-324.

Duthie, J.F. (1905-15) : Flora of Upper

Gangetic Plain. Calcutta.

Fasset, J. F. (1940): A Manual of

Aquatic Plants. New York & London.

Gupta, R. K. (1956): Botanical Ex-

ploration in the Bhillangana Valley of

the erstwhile Tenri Garhwal State.

J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 53: 581-594.

Hewetson, C. E. (1952) : Systematics

and Ecology of Indian Plants or What can

we demand of a Modern Flora? J.

Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 56: 140-144,

172

Hooker, J. D. (1872-97): Flora of

British India. Vol. 1-7. London.

Jain, S. K. (1956): On a Botanical

Trip to Nainital. Indian For. 82 : 22-38.

Kanjilal, P. C. (1933) : A Forest Flora

for Pilibhit, Oudh, Gorakhpur, and

Bundelkhand. Allahabad.

Kenoyer, B. L. A. (1924) : Weed Manual

of Gwalior State & adjacent Parts of

India. Calcutta.

Misra, R. (1944): The Vegetation of

Rajghat Ravines. Jour. Ind. bot. Soc.

23 : 113-121.

(1946) : An ecological study of

the vegetation of the Benares Hindu

University grounds. Ibid. 25: 39-59.

——— (1946a) : A study in the ecology

of low-lying lands. Indian Ecol. 1:

27-46.

Mitra, J. N. (1958) : Flowering plants

of Eastern India. Vol. 1 Monocot.

Calcutta.

Mukherji, S. K. (1953) : Vegetation of

Delhi ‘Ridge’. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc.

51: 439-465.

Pattnaik, H. (1956) : Some useful weeds

in and around Cuttack. Ibid. 54: 140-

142.

Raizada, M. B. (1931) : Contribution to

Duthie’s Flora from the neighbourhood

5) Dehradun. Jour. Indian bot. Soc. 10:

(2).

(1935) : Recently introduced or

otherwise imperfectly known plants from

the Upper Gangetic Plain. Ibid. 14:

339-348 and (1936) 15 : 149-167.

(1939): New or noteworthy

plants from Upper Gangetic Plain.

Indian Forest Records 1 (5): 223-235

and Indian Forester 76 (1950): 489-497.

JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Santapau, H. (1947): Notes on the

Convolvulaceae of Bombay. J. Bombay

nat. Hist. Soc. 47: 337-355.

(1954): The genus Murdannia

in Bombay State. Ibid. 52: 658.

(1956) : The Botanical Explora-

on of India. Jour. Indian bot. Soc.

: 1-6.

(1957): Eclipta prostrata E.

erecta, or E. alba: Which is the correct

name? J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 54:

173-174.

(1957) : The Flora of Purandhar.

New Delhi.

Sen, D. N. (1959) : Ecological Studies

on Aquatic and Swampy Vegetation of

Gorakhpur. Agra Univ. Jour. Res. (Sc.)

8: 1-14.

Singh, K. P. (1950) : The Human and

Economic Geography of the Gorakhpur

district. (Unpublished M.A. thesis of

B.H.U.).

Srivastava, G. D. (1949): Flora of

Allahabad. University Studies Supple-

ment. Botany Section. 1: 1-20.

— & Tandon, R. K. (1951): A

study in the Autecology of Trapa

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21: B: 57-66.

Srivastava, J. G. (1955) : A note on the

Flora of Mirzapur (U.P.) J. Bombay

nat. Hist. Soc. 53: 152-153.

Tadulingam, C. & Venkatanarayana,

G. (1955) : A Handbook of some South

Indian Weeds. Madras.

Thakur, C. (1954): Weeds In Indian

Agriculture, Patna.

Weaver, J. E. & Clement, F. E. (1938) :

Plant Ecology, New York.

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Flowering Plants and Ferns. Cambridge.

On some new Species of Spiders

(Arachnida) of the Family Thomisidae

from India

B. K. TIKADER

(With seven text-jigures)

INTRODUCTION

Spiders of the family Thomisidae have received scant attention in

India. THE FAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA, ARACHNIDA (1900) contains no

reference to this family. Only Stoliczka (1869) and Dyal (1935)

described a few new species in the genus Thomisus.

While examining the material of spiders preserved in the Zoological

Survey of India, I came across several new species of Thomisid spiders,

some of which are described elsewhere. The present paper contains

descriptions of seven new species. The type specimens are deposited

in the Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta.

Xysticus minutus sp. nov. (Fig. 1)

General: Cephalothorax light brown; eyes black, clypeus white,

legs greenish, abdomen light brown. Total length 2.20 mm.; carapace

1.00 mm. long, 1.00 mm. wide; abdomen 1.30 mm. long, 1.20 mm. wide.

Cephalothorax as long as wide, spined, the sides with broad

longitudinal dark brown patches, a pair of long paler brown irregular

lines from the base of posterior median eyes, extending to the middie

of the thorax. Clypeus medium, margin with seven strong spines,

directed forward but the median directed upward. Eyes round, ringed

with dirty-white tubercles; ocular quad slightly wider than long, space

of the anterior median eyes a little wider than that of posterior; lateral

eyes larger; posterior median eyes smailer than anterior medians. Legs

spined, with brown transverse bands, tibiae 1 and II with two pairs of

ventral spines. The apex of tibiae I and II with broad dark brown

patches.

Abdomen oval, dorsum spined, slightly overlapping the posterior

region of cephalothorax, dorsal surface with dentated bands beautifully

coloured with admixture of white, dark brown, and red.

174 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Holotype: One female in spirit.

Type-locality: Dhakuria (Calcutta). Coll. B- K. Tikader, 1-4-1958.

This species is closely related to Xysticus ferox (Hentz) but differs

as follows: (i) sides of cephalothorax with longitudinal dark brown

Text-fig. 1. Xysticus minutus sp. nov.

(a) Dorsal view of whole body; (0) male pedipalp.

broad patches and a pair of long pale brown irregular lines from the

base of anterior median eyes to the middle of thorax, but in X. ferox

the cephalothorax is yellowish in the middle and reddish-brown on the

sides; (ii) Abdomen light brown, with dentated bands beautifully

coloured with admixture of white, dark brown, and red, but in X.

ferox abdomen brownish-grey above and smoky-white on the sides and

three pairs of transverse black bars on the dorsal side of the abdomen.

Synaema decorata sp. nov. (Fig. 2)

General: Cephalothorax green, ocular tubercles chalk-white, eyes

black; legs and abdomen green. Total length 3.40 mm.; carapace

1.40 mm. long, 1.40 mm. wide; abdomen 2.00 mm. long, 1.80 mm.

wide.

Cephalothorax as long as wide, eyes four pairs, lateral eyes larger,

posterior median eyes smaller than the anterior medians, except the

ON SOME NEW SPECIES OF SPIDERS FROM INDIA 175

"WLLL |

Text-fig. 2. Synaema decorata sp. nov.

(a) Dorsal yiew of whole body of female; (b) Dorsal view of whole body of

male ; (c) Male pedipalp.

posterior median eyes all ringed with chalk-white ocular tubercles,

lateral tubercles contiguous: ocular quad slightly wider than long, space

of anterior median eyes a little smaller than that of the posterior

median. Clypeus narrow, margin of clypeus bearing slender spines.

Legs I and II pairs longer than III and IV; tibia of I leg with four

pairs of ventral spines, bases of spines black, the first pair of spines

shortest.

Abdomen more or less elliptical, dorsoventrally flattened. Very

slightly overlapping the cephalothorax, four pairs of circular black spots

on the dorsum near the lateral margin, the posterior pair largest.

~ Holotype:. One female in spirit.

T ype-locality: Dhakuria (Calcutta). Coll. B. K. Tikader, 1-4-1958

i176 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (i)

This species resembles Synaema parvula (Hentz), but is separated

as follows: (i) Cephalothorax green but in S. parvula brownish

yellow; (ii) Four pairs of circular black spots on the dorsum near the

lateral margin, but in S. parvula no such black spots, only a broad

transverse black or brown band near the hind end of abdomen.

Tibellus elongatus sp. nov. (Fig. 3)

General: Cephalothorax pale-greenish, eyes black, legs pale-green.

Clypeus green, abdomen brownish. Total length 8.90 mm.; carapace

V2e8!

—

233

OM)

eee

oe?

33%

Fe.0%,

we? 5

erece?

——

‘COC Ce

'e ITP TL

33 PD é

bry eaee

e Oe

ere,

i ets

eer e's

ese?

CE eet

Text-fig. 3. Tibellus elongatus sp. nov.

(a) Dorsal view of whole body ; (b) Epigynum.

4.00 mm. long, 3.50 mm. wide; abdomen 5.00 mm. long, 2.80 mm.

wide.

- ON SOME NEW SPECIES OF SPIDERS FROM INDIA 177

Cephalothorax longer than wide, sparsely spined, sides about

4 portion with dark brown pigmented patches; clypeus medium, margin

of clypeus with eight spines directed forward. Anterior row of eyes

closer, recurved, anterior four eyes and posterior two median eyes

form a wide hexagonal area, posterior lateral eyes remote from other

eyes and the largest. Legs long, spined, bearing numerous black

pigmented dots, I and I! pairs of legs longer than the others, tibiae I

and II with three pairs of ventral spines in the apical three-fourths.

Abdomen long, cylindrical, spined, narrower behind, very slightly

overlapping the posterior region of cephalothorax, with a long median

black pigmented line from nearly the base of abdomen to tip, four

pairs of transverse pigmented lines from the median line to the lateral

margin, these four pairs almost parallel with each other. Epigyne as

bol lena Sh,

Holotype: One female in spirit.

Type-locality: Dhakuria (Calcutta). Coll. B. K. Tikader, 1-6-1958.

This species resembles Tibellus duttoni Keyserling, but is separated

as follows: (i) Cephalothorax with two lateral dark brown pigmented

patches, but in 7. duttoni with three longitudinal brown stripes; (ii)

Abdomen with a long median black pigmented line from base to tip

and four pairs of transverse pigmented lines from the median line to

the lateral margin, but in 7. duttoni with three longitudinal brown

stripes from base to tip of the abdomen. |

Thanatus dhakuricus sp. nov. (Fig. 4)

General: Cephalothorax pale greenish, eyes black, legs green,

clypeus concolorous with cephalothorax, abdomen green, with white

patches. Total length 3.20 mm.; carapace |1.20 mm. long, 1.10 mm.

wide; abdomen 2.00 mm. long, 1.50 mm. wide.

Cephalothorax broadest behind, narrowing in front, maximum width

slightly less than length, covered with small hairs, the sides about 1

portion tinted with very light yellowish and ornamented by irregular

dark pigmented patches, this area clothed with many small spines. Eyes

black, equal, eight in two rows both recurved but the posterior row

longer; both the rows form together a crescent-shaped area. Clypeus

long, margin of clypeus with four spines directed forward. Legs

relatively short and stout, spined and with dark brown pigmented dots.

Abdomen oval, clothed with pubescence; with white, irregular

shaped, granular patches; longitudinal brown lance-shaped band

anteriorly in the mid-dorsal, two longitudinal deep brown bands on

either side of the posterior end.

178 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Carat nee mele

Text-fig. 4. Thanatus dhakuricus sp. nov.

(a) Dorsal view of whole body.

Holotype: One female in spirit.

Type-locality: Dhakuria (Calcutta). Coll. B. K. Tikader, 1-5-1958.

This species resembles Thanatus lycosoides Emerton, but 1s

separated as follows: (i) Cephalothorax pale greenish, but in 7.

lycosoides cephalothorax reddish-yellow with median longitudinal,

brown band; (ii) Two longitudinal deep brown bands on either side

of the posterior end of abdomen, but in T. lycosoides with an undulat-

ing brown band on each side of the hind part of abdomen; (iii) Eyes

more or less equal in size, but in T. lycosoides the anterior median eyes

much smaller than the anterior lateral eyes.

Thomisus bulani sp. nov. (Fig. 5)

General: Cephalothorax greenish, ocular area whitish triangular,

with a transverse yellow patch between the posterior median eyes;

eyes black, clypeus green, legs also greenish, abdomen white. Total

length 5.00 mm.; carapace 2.50 mm. long, 2.30 mm. wide; abdomen

3.40 mm. long, 3.60 mm. wide.

ON SOME NEW SPECIES OF SPIDERS FROM INDIA 179

Cephalothorax high, as long as wide. Anterior median and anterior

lateral eyes more or less equal. Clypeus moderate, sub-rectangular.

Legs long and stout, I and II legs longer than others. Metatarsi of

Text-Fig. 5. Thomisus bulani sp. nov.

(a) Dorsal view of body ; (b) 1st leg.

I and II legs with five pairs of ventral spines, posterior legs without

spines; I pair of legs with three spines on each femur in front but

not arising from black pigmented spots.

Abdomen pentagonal, overlapping the posterior region of cephalo-

thorax in front, broadest just behind the middle, with three pairs of

reddish-brown spots on dorsal surface near the lateral border; the spots

arranged in longitudinal rows, the posterior pair of spots the largest;

four very minute reddish-brown spots present on the middle and some

times only two spots; posterior end with conspicuous transverse

muscular corrugations.

Holotype: One female in spirit.

Type-locality: Dhakuria (Calcutta). Coll. B. K. Tikader, 14-3-1958.

This species resembles 7. pugilis Stoliczka but is separated as

follows: (i) Black spots on the dorsal side of abdomen, no such spots

in T. pugilis; (i) Clypeus green, but in T. pugilis clypeus whitish like

ocular area; (iii) Three spines on the femur of Ist legs, but no such

spines in T. pugilis.

180 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Thomisus dhakuriensis sp. nov. (Fig. 6)

General: Cephalothorax brownish-green; ocular area yellowish-

brown, with small chalk-white patches; eyes black: clypeus green, with

dark brown in the middle; legs also greenish; abdomen chalk-white.

Total length 5.50 mm.; carapace 2.50 mm. long, 3.00 mm. wide;

abdomen 4.00 mm. long, 3.70 mm. wide. ‘si

Text-fig. 6. Thomisus dhakuriensis sp. nov.

- (a) Dorsal view of whole body ; (b) Ist leg.

Cephalothorax broadest posteriorly slightly narrowing in front,

maximum width slightly more than length. Eyes four pairs. Anterior

median eyes somewhat smaller than the anterior laterals; clypeus long,

subrectangular. J.egs long and stout, I and Ii legs longer than III

and IV legs; I leg with conspicuous black spots basally below on

femur, a narrow black spot subapically on tibia in front; with three

spines from black pigmented spots on each femur in front; II leg with

a black spot basally below on femur and a narrow black spot basally

in front on tibia, metatarsi of I and II legs with five pairs of ventral

spines, III and IV pairs of legs unspotted and without spines. |

Abdomen pentagonal, overlapping the posterior region of cephalo-

thorax in front, broadest just behind the middle, with four elliptical

ON SOME NEW SPECIES. OF SPIDERS FROM INDIA 181.

black spots laterally, two on each side, one near the broadest region

and the other near the anterior region. Three pairs of very dark brown

spots sublaterally on dorsal surface, black spots arranged in longi-

tudinal rows; posterior pair the largest; a single minute crescent-shaped

black spot medially at anterior margin, posterior end with conspicuous

transverse muscular corrugations.

Holotype: One female in spirit.

-Type-locality: Dhakuria (Calcutta). Coll. B. K. Tikader, 30-3-1958.

This species is very near JT. pugilis Stoliczka, with the type of

which it has been compared, but differs as below: (i) Cephalothorax

smaller than in 7. pugilis; (ii) Femora and tibiae of I and II legs with

conspicuous black spots; no such spots in TJ. pugilis; (ii) Abdomen

longer, dorsal and lateral sides bearing black spots; no such black

spots in T. pugilis.

Thomisus projectus sp. nov. (Fig. 7)

General: . Cephalothorax greenish; clypeus and abdomen chalky

white. Total length 6.80 mm.; carapace 3.80 mm. long, 3.40 mm.

wide; abdomen 4.00 mm. long, 4.10 mm. wide.

Cephalothorax pentagonal in shape, with a transverse yellow band

on the ocular area; narrowing slightly an front, maximum width

slightly less than length. Anterior median eyes slightly smaller than

anterior laterals. Clypeus long, subrectangular. Legs long and stout,

I and II longer than III and IV. I legs with a conspicuous incomplete

transverse black mark anteriorly above on femur, a narrow black spot

in front on patella, a small spot on the base, a large black spot sub-

apically on tibia in front and a faint brown patch on the tip of

metatarsus; I pair of legs with three spines above on femur; II legs

with a small black spot on patella and a black spot subapically on

tibia in front; metatarsi I and I] with six pairs of ventral spines; IIT

and IV pairs spotless and spineless.

Abdomen pentagonal slightly overlapping the posterior region of

cephalothorax in front, broadest at the middle, this portion tuber-

culating laterally and a black spot on the top of tubercle, a yellow

spot just inner side of black spot; posterior half of abdomen with

prominent transverse muscular corrugation. Epigyne as in Fig. 7.

Holotype: One female in spirit.

Type-locality: Habra c. 48 kilometres north-east of Calcutta.

Coll. B. K. Tikader, 7-9-1958.

This species is near to T. pugilis Stoliczka, with the type of which

it has been compared, but differs as follows: (i) I legs with con-

spicuous black spots, no such spots in TJ. pugilis; (ii) Abdomen

182 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (A)

broadest at the middle, this portion tuberculating laterally and a black

spot on the top and a yellow spot just inner side of black spot, but in

c 277 @ # @ cwec oc «

NRA

wey yiny is

\ i]

WS \ iby

Willy

SV}

, O'S mm. ,

Text-fig. 7. Thomisus projectus sp. nov.

(a) Dorsal view of whole body ; (b) Ist leg ; (c) Epigynum.

T. pugilis abdomen broadest at behind the middle and no such spots

and tubercle. }

SUMMARY.

Seven new species of spiders are described in this paper. All were

collected from West Bengal, six of them from a suburb of Calcutta.

ON SOME NEW SPECIES OF SPIDERS FROM INDIA

183

The new species belong to five genera distributed in the family

Thomisidae.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am thankful to Dr. M. L. Roonwal, Director, Zoological Survey

of India, for facilities for this work and to Dr. M. S. Mani, Deputy

Director, for guidance, and for going through the manuscript and

offering valuable suggestions.

REFERENCES

Comstock, J. H. eer

Book. New York. 534.

Dyal, Sukh, (1935): Spiders of Lahore.

Bull. Dept. Zool. Punjab Uni., Lahore 1:

119-252.

Locket, G. H. & Milladge, A. F. (1951):

British Spiders. Ray Society, London. 1 :

168-205.

Petrunkevitich, A. (1911): Index Cata-

The Spider

563.

logue of American Spiders. Bull. Amer.

Mus. Nat. Hist., New York. 29: 1-790.

Pocock, R. I. (1900): The Fauna of

British India, Arachnida, London, pp.

153-279.

Simon, E. (1864): Histoire naturelle

des araignes, Paris. 1: 949-1066.

Stoliczka, (1869): J. Asiatic Soc.

Bengal 38 : 201-299.

Thorell, T. (1895): Spiders of Burma,

London, pp. 1-404.

The Vegetation of

Kanyakumari District (Cape Comorin)

C. A. LAWRENCE

Botany Department, Government College, Trivandrum

(With a map)

SYNOPSIS

A floristic survey of Kanyakumari district has been made to

discover the ecological status of the plant communities and their

succession. The present paper shows that the interaction of various

factors, mainly the climatic ones, have made Kanyakumari to acquire,

on the north and northwest, the same type of succession and vegeta-

tion as are typical of the west coast and, on the south, the characteristic

xerophilous vegetation of the eastern districts of Madras State

especially ‘Tirunelveli. The preponderance of a rich hydrophyte flora

on the Nanjinad plain, which is fundamentally an arid zone, is probably

due to the biotic factor.

INTRODUCTION

The vegetation of Kanyakumari district, which was a part of the

erstwhile Travancore-Cochin State, is described in Rama Rao’s

FLOWERING PLANTS OF TRAVANCORE (1914) and in TRAVANCORE STATE

MANUAL (1940). But these descriptions are very meagre and do not

tell us about the ecology of the constituents. Therefore a floristic

survey of Kanyakumari district from an ecological standpoint was

made by the author in the period 1954-59.

SITUATION AND TOPOGRAPHY

Kanyakumari district, situated between latitude 8° 2’ and 8° 8’ N.

and longitude 70° 1’ and 70° 7’ E., has a total area of 1365 square

kilometres. It forms the southernmost district of Madras State and

the southern termination of the Indian peninsula. This district com-

prises four taluks, Thovala, Agasteeswaram, Kalkulam, and Vilavam-

THE VEGETATION OF KANYAKUMARI (CAPE COMORIN) | 185

code. On the north the Western Ghats form a natural boundary and

the mountain passes at Aramboly and Yedamally facilitate com-

munication with the rest of Madras State. On the northwest it is

bounded by Kerala. Three sides of this district are washed by the

sea—Gulf of Mannar on the southeast, the Indian Ocean on the south,

and the Arabian Sea on the west.

PE CHIPPARA

” RESERVOIR

MUT TUM

i)» /{/) / Hit

CANALS

DISTRICT BOUNDARY

STATE BOUNDARY Gy INDIAN OCEAN

Kanyakumari District

Topographically Kanyakumari district may be roughly divided into

three natural regions:

(1) The Coastal Region: Kanyakumari has 68 kilometres of sea-

coast. The soil is alluvial and very fertile. Many of the important

townships and the Colachel port are located on this strip. There is

186 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

no bay or gulf on the western shore. The coast is rocky at Cape

Comorin and Muttum. A chain of rocks locally known as Crocodile

Rock projects a few furlongs into the sea at Muttum point. A light-

house has been constructed here to give warning signals to passing

ships. There is a sea cliff at Colachel. The havoc done by sea erosion

is visible at several places along the coast. According to local

Tamil legend, there was land beyond Cape Comorin with a hill named

Kumaricode and a river known as Paruliyar. It is believed to have

been swallowed by the sea thousands of years ago.

(2) The Midland Region: This is full of hills and dales that

stretch slantingly from east to west, approximately 60 metres above

sea-level. The soil of this area is gravel mixed with pebbles. The

Trivandrum-Cape road runs along this strip touching Kuzhithurai,

Thuckalay, and Nagercoil. The presence of a large number of

perennial and ephemeral tanks and irrigation canals promotes a rich

hydrophyte vegetation.

(3) The Mountainous Region: The Mahendragiri hill ranges ex-

tending as a continuation of the Western Ghats with two. peaks,

Asambu hill (1524 metres) and Mahendragiri peak (1707 metres),

terminate on the south at Marunduvalmalai near Cape Comorin. In

many places branches of the hill ranges thrust forward into the

Midland Region east to west, enclosing fertile valleys. The rain-

bearing monsoon winds cannot give maximum rainfall because of the

low height of the Western Ghats towards the south. The sides of

the hills are rugged and precipitous.

The Palayar, the southernmost river of the Indian peninsula, takes

its source from Mahendragiri. While flowing through the Nanjinad

plain the waters are diverted fer irrigation all along its course of

37 kilometres until it falls into the Arabian Sea through Manarkudi lake,

the only backwater in this district. Besides this river there are two

others, the Valliyar and the Tamravarni.. The Valliyar starts from

the Velimalai hills and joins the Arabian Sea at Kadiapatnam estuary.

It is practically dry in summer, but flooded during the monsoon

season. Of all rivers only Tamravarni is wide and deep enough to

be navigable for about 27 kilometres. The waters of this river have

been stored by constructing two dams one at Pechippara and another

at Perinjani and are diverted into irrigation canals, to be distributed

among the paddy fields of Nanjinad. The Tamravarni empties itself

into the Arabian Sea at Tengapatanam where it forms a small delta.

THE VEGETATION OF KANYAKUMARI (CAPE COMORIN) _ 187

CLIMATE

Kanyakumari possesses a monsoon type of climate. The annual

rainfall varies at different stations along the west coast, progressively

increasing as we go from south to north, and ranges from about 89 cm.

at Cape Comorin to 254 cm. at Pechippara. The Southwest Monsoon

prevails over this district from June to September and the Northeast

Monsoon brings rain in October and November. The total rainfall,

though higher than that of Tirunelveli, is much lower than that of

Kerala even though the rains last for about six months. The annual

mean temperature is about 26° C. The cold season extends from

December to February and in the beginning of this season a dry land

breeze from Tirunelveli penetrates the Aramboly pass with great

velocity and enters this district. The highest temperatures have been

recorded in April. The temperature is lowest when the rainfall is

maximum, in the month of October.

The wind velocity is high at Cape Comorin and at higher elevations.

Even though the velocity is greater during the monsoon, cyclones are

rare. A cyclone of mild strength was observed in June 1958.

Minimum velocity is recorded in October during the reversal of the

wind system. Summer storms occur in April and May accompanied

by thunder showers. The hot wet climate favours a luxuriant vegeta-

tion.

VEGETATION

For convenience in study the district was taken up zone-wise:

1 The Mahendragiri Hill Ranges: The Mahendra-

giri hills are wholly forest-clad. The Southwest Monsoon being

stronger than the Northeast Monsoon, the western face of the hill

ranges gets more rain. This face is very steep and almost inaccessible

and the vegetation is very luxuriant. But along the paths and at

lower levels, the forests have been cleared. In these much-cut areas

there has been lot of erosion and rocks have got exposed. In between

these rocks grow trees with low gnarled trunks, smooth white bark,

and coriaceous leaves, such as Cinnamomum zeylanicum Nees,

Hopea parviflora Bedd., Nyctanthes arbor-tristis Linn., Lagerstroemia

lanceolata Wall., Eugenia jambolana Lam., Emblica officinalis Gaertn.,

and many others. The rest of the hill ranges contain vigorously grow-

ing trees, at lower levels deciduous monsoon forest plants mixed with

some xerophytes, and at higher levels, above 1000 metres, evergreen

rain-forest species mixed with deciduous ones.

188 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

In the deciduous forest region, the trees are tall, straight, and close

together, and the undergrowth is scanty. Huge lianes extend from tree

to tree. Mistletoes and epiphytic orchids and ferns grow on the

tree trunks. During the monsoon many bulbous and rhizomatous

plants are very common on the forest floor. All along the montane

region, up to an elevation of about 900 metres, Bambusa arundinacea

Willd. and QOchlandra travancorica Gamb. are abundant.

The tops of hills and the rugged precipitous slopes are covered

with deciduous trees especially Bombax malabaricum DC., Tectona

grandis Linn. f., Dalbergia latifolia Roxb., Schleichera trijuga Willd.,

Pterocarpus marsupium Roxb., Terminalia crenulata Roth., Hiptage

madablota Gaertn., and Ficus glomerata Roxb. The shrubs forming

the undergrowth are /xora coccinea L., Streblus asper Lour., Alangium

salvifolium (Linn. f.) Wang., Strychnos nuxvomica Linn., Helicteres

isora Linn., Hibiscus micranthus (Linn. f.), Calycopteris floribunda

Lamk., and Mussaenda frondosa L. Ichnocarpus frutescens R. Br.,

Abrus precatorius Linn., Smilax macrophylla Roxb., Cissampelos

pareira Linn., Gloriosa superba L., Zizyphus oenoplia Mill., and

Lantana camara L. var. aculeata L. are the chief climbers and

scramblers. The annually cleared areas near the dak bungalows and

along the paths are occupied by tall grasses, e.g. Heteropogon con-

tortus Roem., Pennisetum polystachyon Schltz., Sehima nervosum

Stapf., and Cynodon dactylon Pers. Among these grow Anisomeles

malabarica (Linn.) O. Ktz., Pseudarthria viscida W. & A., Tragia

involucrata Linn., and other erect annual dicots. Several species of

crustose, foliose, and fruticose lichens, and mosses occur as epiphytes

and lithophytes. Selaginella rupestris (L.) Spreny., Lycopodium spp.,

Adiantum caudatum Linn., Cheilanthes mysorensis Wall., Actinopteris

dichotoma Forsk., Lygodium flexuosum Sw., Nephrolepis spp., and

many other plants grow under the shade of trees and near the springs,

ponds, and streams. A large number of shrubs grow as chasmophytes

in the crevices of rocks filled with debris, such as Pavetta indica Linn.,

Indigofera enneaphylla Linn., Holarrhena antidysentriea (Linn.) Wall.

Triumfetta rhomboidea Jacq., Bryophyllum pinnatum Kurz., and

Sansevieria zeylanica Willd., mixed with Cymbopogon flexuosus

(Nees) Wats., and Phoenix humilis Royle. The herbs are Desmodium

pulchellum (Linn.) Benth., Polygala chinensis Linn., Blumea wightiana

DC., Aerva lanata (Linn.) Juss., Waltheria indica Linn., and some

grasses. There are also scramblers such as Calamus rotang L.,

Combretum decandrum Roxb., and Entada scandens Benth. At higher

elevations cashew and rubber plantations have been established in

THE VEGETATION OF KANYAKUMARI (CAPE COMORIN) _ 189

several places especially at the Balamore, Vaikundam, and Palazhi

estates.

Just a small bit of land is kept under cultivation by the hill tribe,

Kanikkars.

2. The Rivers and Canals: In the Anandan Canal

Thovala Channel and Puthanar Channel and its branches the water is

always turbid; as a consequence thereof very few plants can grow. The

same is the case with rivers during the monsoon. But in summer there

is very little water in Valliyar and Palayar so that pools and puddles

are formed here and there. Such spots harbour masses of Spirogyra,

and Oscillatoria. In shallow water, there also grow Eichornia

crassipes Solms., Pistia stratioides Linn., and Vallisneria spiralis

Linn. Sometimes masses of these are uprooted and are carried to

sheltered spots, where the growth continues.

Minne w Banks) obs. the «rivers, Lamravarnl;

Valliyar, and Palayar: The banks of these rivers aro

comparatively low and in several places bunds have been constructed

to prevent breaches during the monsoon floods. Along the bunds

grow several plants such as Pandanus odoratissimus Roxb., Saccharum

arundinaceum Retz., Melastoma malabathricum L., and sandbinding

sedges such as Cyperus arenarius Retz., Fimbristylis meliacea Vahl.,

and Bulbostylis barbata Kunth.

During the monsoon these banks are partially submerged, but they

are exposed by the middle of November when the flood water starts

receding. They remain damp for several months thereafter. Soon-

after the water has receded, Justicia procumbens Linn., Lippia nodiflora

Mich., Polygonum plebejum R. Br., Eclipta alba Hassk., Elephantopus

scaber L., Commelina benghalensis L., various sedges, and other

amphibious and wet meadow plants begin growing. By early summer

these planfs are dead and are replaced by dry meadow plants like

Argemone mexicana L., l[onidium suffruticosum Ging., Asteracantha

longifolia Nees., Clerodendron inerme Gaertn., and Croton sparsiflorus

Morr. .

On the silty banks of Tamravarni River, several trees flourish such

as Holigarna arnottiana Hk. f., Spondias mangifera Willd., Barring-

tonia racemosa Roxb., Sterculia foetida L., and Alstonia scholaris

R. Br., and they support many lianes, parasites, and epiphytes.

4. The Low-lying Lands: The annually inundated low

lands of Vilavancode and Kalkulam show a rich amphibious vegetation

during the rains consisting of various sedges and grasses like Ageratum

conyzoides L., Fimbristvlis miliacea Vahl., Panicum repens Linn., and

190 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1).

Aneilema nudiflorum R. Br. In summer most of the land is kept

fallow when amphibious annuals perish followed by a succession of

dry meadow plants, such as Sphaeranthus indicus L., Scoparia dulcis

L., Euphorbia hirta Linon., Phyllanthus niruri Linn., and Merremia

emarginata (Burm. f.) Hall. The small ditches along the roads hold

water during the rainy season and show Spirogyra, Nostoc, and other

algae, followed by ricefield flora later. Grasses such as Cynodon

dactylon (Linn.) Pers., Eragrostis coarctata Stapf., Iseilema laxum

Hack., and Cenchrus setigerus Vahl. are seen in early summer on the

sides of these ditches.

5 The Ruins.of the Houses, Dust) Meapseaamd

Building, Sites at Kuzhtvthural andy tbhuckalay.

The ruins of houses show a luxuriant growth of Chloris montana Roxb.,

Trianthema_ portulacastrum ., Portulaca oleracea Linn., Tridax

procumbens Linn. and Datura stramonium Linn. On the dilapidated

walls of the mandapams constructed long ago for the use of travellers

along the Cape Road grow Lantana camara Linn., Ficus benghalensis

Linn., Stachytarpheta indica Vahl., Pilea microphylla Liebm., and

Barleria prionitis L., and occasionally Lochnera rosea Reichb. and

Jasminum pubescens Willd.

The dust heaps and garbage dumps show a variety and luxuriance

which is unique. Most of the common weeds of the district are found

here, particularly Amaranthus spinosus Linn., Cleome viscosa Linn.,

Gynandropsis gynandra (Linn.) Briq., Argemone mexicana Linn.,

Achyranthes aspera Linn., Anisomeles ovata R. Br. and Euphorbia

heterophylla LL. Mixed with these weeds occur stray plants of

household use such as Brassica nigra Koch., Cucumis sativus L.,

Coriandrum sativum L., and Capsicum frutescens L., that reach there

along with sweepage. Ultimately Croton sparsiflorus Morr. domin-

ates.

6. The Purambokku Fallow Lands along the

Roads and Canals: These are dry meadows covered with

fodder grasses such as Vetiveria zizanioides Nash., Eleusine aegyptiaca

Desf., Cenchrus ciliaris Linn., and Chloris barbata Sw. Soon after

the rains many other plants appear among these, such as Ocimum

basilicum L., Crotalaria prostrata Roxb., Desmodium trifolium DC.,

Ruellia tuberosa ., Tephrosia purpurea Pers., Cassia siamea Lam..

and Cassia occidentalis Linn. Soon invasions of Eupatorium hetero-

phyllum DC. take place in such localities. In areas which are

protected from grazing there grow many perennial grasses such as

Heteropogon contortus Beauv., Chrysopogon montanus Trin., and

THE VEGETATION OF KANYAKUMARI (CAPE COMORIN) | 191

Panicum prostratum Lamk., along with many others listed above.

Among these grow Physalis minima L., Leucas aspera Linn,

Acanthospermum hispidum DC., and other erect annual dicot herbs,

giving a characteristic grassland population. A longer period of

protection results in the formation of a scrub jungle consisting of

species like Zizyphus jujuba Lamk., Morinda tinctoria Roxb.,

Pithecolobium duice (Roxb.) Benth., and Jatropha gossypifolia Linn.

Climbers like Cardiospermum halicacabum L., Melothria mader-

aspatana (Linn.) Cogn., Clitoria terneata L., and Pergularia doemia

(Forsk.) Blatt. grow on these trees during the rains and early summer.

The hedges of this area are composed of plants such as Euphorbia

antiquorum Linn., Euphorbia nivulia B.-Ham., Jatropha curcas Linn.,

Erythrina indica Lam., Moringa oleifera Lamk., Plumeria acutifolia

Poir., Thevetia. neriifolia Juss., and Adhatoda vasica Nees, which are

propagated vegetatively during the monsoon season.

i. Nagercoil town, the Mango Orchards, and

the Maidans: The building sites in Nagercoil present a different

flora. There are many plants of the scrub jungle, such as Gmelina

arborea Roxb., Aegle marmelos Correa, Feronia elephantum Correa,

Canthium angustifolium Roxb., and Cassia auriculata Linn., mixed

with herbs such as Sida carpinifolia . f., Polycarpea corymbosa

Lamk., Zornia diphylla Pers., Mimosa pudica L., Alysicarpus monilifer

DC., and climbers like Tylophora asthmatica W. & A., Asystasia

coromandeliana Nees, and Coccinia indica Wt. & Arn.

Due to severe soil erosion deep gulleys have been formed in many

parts of the town. Vegetation here is very sparse with only a few

drought resistant succulents such as Cissus quadrangularis Linn. and

Opuntia dillenii Haw., dotted here and there. But during the monsoon,

these are filled with water and then appear plants such as Borreria

hispida (Linn.) Schum., Aerva tomentosa Forsk., Digera alternifolia

Aschers., and Mollugo cerviana Ser. On the banks of the gulleys are

seen shrubs like. Anona squamosa Linn., Bauhinia purpurea L., Vitex

negundo Linn., Calotropis gigantea Ait., and Psidium guajava L.

The orchards show a mixed vegetation generally comprising

Mangifera indica L., Anacardium occidentale L., and Calophyllum

inophyllum L. intermingled with trees which supply green manure such

as Thespesia populnea Corr., Cassia fistula L., Azadirachta indica A.

Juss., and Poinciana elata L. Sometimes Yamarindus indica Linn.,

Ficus benghalensis L., and Borassus flabellifer L. grow among them.

The weeds growing sheltered under these trees consist chiefly of

Barleria noctifiora Linn., Acalypha indica (Linn.) Bedd., Tribulus

terrestris Linn., and Gomphrena decumbens Jacq.

192 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

The Municipal Maidan, S.L.B. Maidan, and other open grounds

in and around Nagercoil seem to be completely denuded and barren,

with stray plants of Aristida adscensionis Linn., Boerhavia diffusa

Linn., Cassia auriculata Linn., and Calotropis gigantea Ait. exhibiting

remarkable capacity for drought resistance.

8. Plants on the bunds) of Nanjimad Seaddy

Fields: There are sand-binders such as Cyperus arenarius Retz.,

Kyllingia cylindrica Nees., Panicum crus-galli L., Paspalum scrobi-

culatum Linn., and others which persist as perennials. But during the

irrigated periods and the rains many weeds grow on the bunds, like

Centella asiatica (Linn.) Urban, Monochoria vaginalis Presl., Marsilea

quadrifolia L., Biophytum sensitivum DC., and Saccharum spon-

taneum L., with clumps of Pandanus odoratissimus Roxb. here and

there. On bigger bunds grow Cocos nucifera Linn., Sesbania grandi-

flora Pers., and some annuals such as Phaseolus trilobatus Ait.,

Heliotropium indicum L., Eriocaulon sieboldianum Seib. & Zucc., and

Ilysanthes serratus Urb. Most of these annuals perish in summer.

9.-Vattakottai, Mudforts, and Cape Comorin:

This is a dry zone showing arid vegetation with the isolated

Marunduvalmalai hill rising above the piains. Vegetation on this hill

represents a typical scrub jungle (Lawrence, 1959). The gigantic hedge

of xerophytes stretching from Vattakottai to Anjugramam comprises

plants such as Acacia aribica Willd., and Acacia planifrons W. & A.

as co-dominants, associated with Dodonaea viscosa L., Phoenix

humilis Royle., Casuarina equisetifolia Linn., Aloe vera L., Agave

americana L., Alangium salvifolium Wang., Flacourtia sepiaria Roxb.,

and Euphorbia antiquorum Linn., and climbers like Asparagus

racemosus Willd., Cocculus hirsutus (Linn.) Diels., and Coccinia

indica Wt. & Arn. The scramblers are Capparis aphvlla Roxb.,

Todalia asiatica Lamk., and Acacia intsia Lamk.

Inside the dilapidated mudforts of the late Rama Varma Maharaja

flourish many plants like Parkinsonia aculeata L., Carissa congesta

Wight, Clerodendron inforiunatum Gaertn., Evolvulus alsinoides Linn.,

and Nerium odorum Soland.

At Cape Comorin Acacia arabica Willd. forms pure consociations

on several acres of sandy soil.

10. Reservoirs and Virrication! anise wine

aquatics such as Nymphaea stellata Willd., Nelumbium speciosum

Willd., Limnanthemum indicum (Linn.) Griseb., Jussiaea repens L.,

Ottelia alismoides (Linn.) Per., Neptunia oleracea Lour., and Ipomoea

THE VEGETATION OF KANYAKUMARI (CAPE COMORIN) — 193

aquatica Forsk. occur in most of the irrigated tanks. Kallarkulam,

Samanjankulam, and Putherikulam tanks show a luxuriant growth of

Trapa bispinosa Roxb. as dominant, and in reservoirs with rich humus

content Eichhornia crassipes Solms. abounds, choking the other aquatic

vegetation. Free floating forms such as Aydrilla verticillata Presl.,

Azolla pinnata R. Br., Pistia stratioites Linn., and Chara spp. are very

abundant in the huge reservoirs Vetkaikulam, Sundaikulam, and

Parakkaikulam, mixed with the other hydrophytes mentioned above.

Halophytes of this area include such plants as Alternanthera sessilis

(Linn.) R. Br., Limnophila heterophyila Benth., Centella asiatica (Linn.)

Urban, Aeschynomene aspera L., Polygonum glabrum Willd., and

Cyperus spp. During the unirrigated periods and in summer these are

succeeded by dry meadow plants such as Asteracantha longifolia

(Linn.) Nees, Biophyium sensitivum (Lion.) DC., Eclipta alba Hassk.,

and Ludwigegia parvifiora Roxb.

Insectivorous plants such as Drosera burmannii Vahl., Drosera

indica L., and Utricularia spp. ate very common on the brink of

water in Anandankulam tank near the Nagercoil T.B. Sanatorium, but

are submerged during the monsoon, when the water level rises.

ll. Plants on the Sea Coast: Between land and sea

there is about 150 metres of shore. This strip shows sand dune

vegetation. On the windward side of embryonic and adult sand dunes

grow Spinifex squarrosus L. and Ipomoea pes-caprae Roth. as co-

dominants. Also dotted on the sea-shore are deep-rooted herbs like

Launea pinnatifida Cass., Hydrophyllax maritima L., Scaeveola koenigii

Vahl, and sand-binding grasses.

The Kanyakumari sea-coast does not afford facilities for the

development of mangrove flora.

_ The rocks on the waterfront at Muttum and Cape Genoa sea-

shore harbour various marine algae such as Sargassum, Ulva, Entero-

morpha, Gracillaria, Dictyota, Corallina, and Chorenemorpha, which

are submerged during high tide.

12, Cultivated Lands: About 75 per cent of land in this

district is under cultivation. In the nunjai fields of Nanjinad, paddy

is cultivated twice a year, one crop being harvested in September and

the other in February. During summer, vegetables such as Abelmoschus

esculentus L., Solanum xanthocarpum Schrad. & Wendl., Solanum

melongena L., Trichosanthes anguina L.. Momordica charantia L..

Cucurbita. maxima Duch., and Cucumis sativus Linn. are grown in

some paddy fields and irrigated by constructing temporary wells close

by. Near the rivers and canals, plants such as Musa paradisiaca Li.

194 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Piper betel L., Colocasia antiquorum Schott, Amorphophallus cam-

panulatus Bl., and Maranta arundinacea L. are grown. At higher

elevations and on hill slopes Manihot utilissima Pohl. is cultivated,

and in some areas it is replaced by other tuber crops like Dioscorea

alata L. and Ipomoea batatas Lam. Many drought-resistant weeds

grow in such localities, e.g. Blainvillea latifolia DC., Sida humilis

Willd., Abutilon indicum Sweet, Oldenlandia paniculata L., Mollugo

oppositifolia Linn., and Curculigo orchioides Gaertn., mixed with

Lochnera pusilla K. Schum., Aerva lanata Juss., and Vernonia cinerea

Less., which spring up suddenly during the rainy season.

Near the villages and in house compounds are present mesophytes

such as Artocarpus integrifolia L., Artocarpus incisa L., Punica

granatum L., Terminalia catappa L., and also Averrhoa carambola L.,

Citrus medica L., Achras sapota L., Lawsonia enermis L., and Murraya

koenigii Spreng. Coconut and Palmyra palms form a prominent part

of the landscape all over the district.

CONCLUSION

The vegetation of Kanyakumari district stands in sharp contrast

to the other areas of Madras State. The northern half of the district

is characterised by different rock formations, so that the number

of species is definitely higher. The herbaceous vegetation is also

richer. The abundance of the flora is due to greater precipitation and

humidity. On the other hand, the southern part is primarily an arid

zone of sandy soil with trees having several xerophytic adaptations.

Umbrella top is exhibited by Acacia arabica Willd. Reduction of

leaf surface in Casuarina equisetifolia Forst., Euphorbia tirucalli L.,

and Capparis aphylla Roth., and succulent habit of Aloe vera L.,

Sansevieria zeylanica Willd., and Euphorbia antiquorum Linn. serve as

very effective measures for drought resistance. The physical geography

of this district presents variations that are vividly reflected on its flora,

so that two small ecological areas could be recognised, a region of

high rainfall on the north with luxuriant vegetation, and one of low

rainfall with scanty vegetation on the south, the tropophytic type and

the xerophytic type of vegetation respectively.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author is deeply indebted to Dr. T. C. N. Singh, D.Sc., F.B.S.,

Professor and Head of the Department of Botany, Annamalai Univer-

sity, for his valuable guidance and constant. encouragement. He is

THE VEGETATION OF KANYAKUMARI (CAPE COMORIN) — 195

grateful to the Systematic Botanist and Professor of Botany, Agri-

cultural College and Research Institute, Coimbatore, for the identifica-

tion of a number of specimens. The author also wishes to express

his thanks to the Principal, Scott Christian College, Nagercoil, for

various facilities provided, and to Dr. A. Abraham, M.A., M.Sc., Ph.D.,

Head of the Department of Botany, University College, Trivandrum,

for his keen interest in this work.

REFERENCES

Beddome, R. H. (1869-74): The Flora

Sylvatica for Southern India. Madras.

Biswas, K. & Calder, C. C. (1936):

Handbook of common Water and Marsh

Plants of India and Burma. New Delhi.

Bourdillon, T. F. (1908) : The Forest

Trees of Travancore. Trivandrum.

Fyson, P. F. (1932): The Flora of the

South Indian Hill Stations. Madras.

Gamble; J.-S. &&. Fischer, C. EB: C.

(1915-36): Flora of the Presidency of

Madras. London,

Lawrence, C. A. (1959) : Observations

on the Flora of Marunduvalmalai, Cape

Comorin. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc.

56 : 95-100.

Rama Rao, M. (1914): Flowering

Plants of Travancore. Trivandrum.

Ramaswami, M. S. (1914): A Botani-

cal Tour to the Tinnevelly Hills. Rec.

Bot, Surv. India 6: 105-171.

Rangachari, K. (1921): A Handbook

of South Indian grasses. Madras.

Santapau, H. (1956): The Botanical

ppiorenee of India. J. Indian Bot. Soc.

Srivastava, J. G. (1956): The Vegeta-

tion of Patna District, Bihar. J. Indian

Bot. Soc. 35: 391-401.

Tadulingam, C. & Venkatanarayana,G.

(1932): A Handbook of some South

Indian Weeds. Madras.

Velu Pillai, T. K. (1940) : Travancore

State Manual. Government Press, Tri-

vandrum.

Warming, E. (1925):

Plants. London.

Weaver, J. E. & Clements, F. E.

(1938): Plant Ecology. McGraw-Hill,

New York. |

Oecology of

Some Observations on the Biology of

Labidura riparia (Pallas) (Labiduridae,

Dermaptera) from Poona

P. V. JOSHI

Department of Zoology, Nowrosjee Wadia College, Poona

(With two text-figures)

ABSTRACT

The earwigs were collected under mercury-vapour lamps on a river-

side road (Fig. 1). They were reared in wooden cages as well as in

~<— Ke N«—=-

MEU Tan Ae SRN eine

D E

Sila ee Mery ia | ZZ.

LK A RIVES eS Or Das

ane

Fic. 1. Place of Collection

A. Sam)bhaji Bridge; B. Ferguson College Road; C. Prabhat Road; D. State

Transport Bus Stop; E. Karve Road Market; F. M. E. S. College;

+. Mercury Vapour Lamp. |

OBSERVATIONS ON THE BIOLOGY OF LABIDURA RIPARIA 197

glass jars to study their habits in nest building, feeding, mating,

Oviposition, maternal care, etc.

Various interesting observations are recorded and discussed.

INTRODUCTION

Little work seems to have been done on Dermaptera in India.

De Bormans (1888) gave an account of a collection made by Leonardo

Fea in Burma. Boliver (1897) described an extensive collection of

Orthoptera from Trichinopoly in which several species of earwigs were

recorded. Burr (1905, 1906, 1907) described some specimens from the

Indian Museum.

Ramamurthy (1955) studied wing venation of L. riparia (Pall.) and

Forficula quadrispinosa (Dohrn). Behura (1950) worked on the life-

history of Forficula auricularia and wrote a note on the earwig as food

of the little owl, Athene noctua vidalii Brehm, in Great Britain.

Cherian and Basheer (1950) found Eubrellia stali (family Forficulidae)

to be a pest of stored groundnuts.

An attempt was made to study the biology of earwigs under captivity

in Poona. Similar studies have been made by Pesotskaia (1927).

Weidner (1940), Schlinger et al. (1959) in other countries.

PLACE OF COLLECTION

The collection was made at Poona on a riverside road in a heavily

populated area. In the immediate vicinity of the river it is, however,

mostly open, and even in the residential areas there is plenty of

vegetation, consisting mainly of: (1) Acacia arabica Willd., (2)

Ricinus communis L., (3) Lantana camara L., (4) Musa paradisiaca

L., (5) Clerodendron siphonanthus R. Br.

The collection was made under nine mercury-vapour lamps. Each

lamp is of 125 watts at a mean distance of 46 metres (150 ft.).

METHOD OF COLLECTION

The earwigs were collected between 6.45 p.m. and 10.45 p.m. . They

were mostly found resting on the cement bases of the lamps. The

specimens were collected by hand picking during November-December

1958 and in June 1959. Large numbers of specimens were obtained

when the atmosphere was warm and humid. Earwigs were however

scarce after heavy showers and/or when the atmosphere was com-

paratively cooler,

198 -JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

While collecting the earwigs the following important observations

were made:

1. The earwigs were always resting quietly at the base of the

lamp pole on its cement support.

2. When disturbed, they tried to run away but never took to

wing.

3. It was observed that instead of going towards the light source

they remained at the base. The distance between the light source and

the base was about 6 metres (20 ft.).

4. In addition to L. riparia (Pall.) a few specimens of L.

bengalensis (Dohrn) were collected.

METHOD OF REARING

Specimens were reared in wooden cages, with wiremesh and having

moist soil at the bottom. Some specimens were isolated in glass jars,

containing moist soil at the bottom. This was done to observe their

nest building habits.

NEST BUILDING

Soon after confinement, the earwigs moved about in captivity and

set to work nest building. They worked hour after hour, without

caring either for their food or for their mate. The nest was nothing

but a gallery, carved in the moist soil. The general shape of the

gallery is tubular, (Fig. 2 A & B) but sometimes it varies in its pattern.

In a few cases the main galleries have lateral branches (Fig. 2 C).

Measurements of excavated galleries (Table I) were taken from actual

casts of galleries prepared by pouring freshly prepared paste of plaster

of Paris into them.

TABLE I

Height of | Length of | Length of | Breadth Angle Angle

ail gallery ee | of Ae ae

column. | pce b me | gallery entrance bend

2.6 cm. | 2.0 cm. | 12Ziem: | 0.7 cm. | 37° 131°

The earwigs mainly employed their mouthparts for nest building.

While digging the nest, the earwig frequently backed out of the gallery

OBSERVATIONS ON THE BIOLOGY OF LABIDURA RIPARIA 199

Fic. 2. Nests of Earwig

A,B, C. Longitudinal sections. D. Surface view.

ing of earwig; c. Soil particles; d. Side of glass jar.

a. Opening of gallery; 5. Lodg-

pushing the excavated soil particles against the sides of glass jars or to

one side of the opening. In some cases it was observed that the earwig

‘pressed the wet soil particles against the side of the glass jar so as to

200 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

cover it as completely as possible. Fore-legs were also used during

this process. |

1. The attempt at nest building was only successful when the soil

was moist. In dry soil the earwigs failed to build the nest. After

such failures they took shelter under green or dry leaves, or spent a

considerable time resting on the surface of the soil without any work.

Moisture in the soil seemed absolutely necessary for their life; without

it they became inactive and died.

2. Each and every individual, irrespective of sex, tried to build its

own nest. They never helped each other in doing so.

3. It was observed that a few earwigs tried to build their nests at the

sides of glass jars. (Fig. 2 D.)

FEEDING HABITS

In captivity, the earwigs were supplied with vegetable and animal

food but the latter was preferred. The food accepted or rejected is

_ summarised in Table iz. |

They were strongly attracted to soft bodied insects like nymphs of

cockroach, houseflies, and some arachnids such as spiders.

When living insects were supplied the earwigs seized them by means

of their strong forceps. On approaching the prey, the abdomen was

twisted with a quick movement and forceps were shot out to grab it.

The prey was eaten up from below or from the side. Soft specimens

were completely devoured but in case of hard insects the terga, the

sterna, the wings, and the Jegs were left behind.

When food supply was insufficient or if food was not supplied at

all, cannibalism was frequent. Even newly emerged nymphs were

eaten up by their mothers under similar circumstances.

COPULATION

Copulation in captivity took place at night at about 8-30 p.m. in

three cases and in one case soon after midday. In coitus the pair

remain tail to tail. The abdomen was twisted laterally, with left side

turned upwards. The forceps of the male face the left side of female,

which remains in her natural position. At the end of coitus the torsion

of the abdomen of male was gradually reduced.

The act of copulation lasts about 24 hours.

OVIPOSITION

The eggs were generally laid in the morning, at the bottom of the

gallery. When the nest is destroyed the eggs are laid on the surface

of the soil, At times the eggs are laid on the surface, the female briskly

OBSERVATIONS ON THE BIOLOGY OF LABIDURA RIPARIA 201

moving from one place to another depositing the eggs in groups at

various places. Afterwards, all the eggs are collected at one place

into a heap.

Vegetable Food

TABLE II

Foop oF EARWIGS

Type of |

Animal Food

—— eee

nape of | Rejected | aga Accepted Rejected

a food food food

offered | offered

Coriander Coriander Moths Moths

(leaves and (leaves and| (Euproctis (Euproctis

stems) stems) lunata) lunata)

Tomato Tomato Small cock- |Small cock-

(fruit) pieces | (fruit) pieces} roaches roaches |

(whole) (whole) |

Knolkohl Knolkohl Earwigs Earwigs

(leaves) (leaves) (whole) (whole) |

Bread | Bread Houseflies Houseflies

| (whole) (whole)

| ie Spiders Spiders

| (whole) (whole)

| Small Small grass- |

grasshop- hoppers

| pers (whole) |

| (whole) |

| Field cri- Field cri-

| ckets | ckets

(whole) (whole) |

5 Pentatomid Pentatomid

| bugs bugs

(whole) (whole)

| is Earth-worm | Earth-worm

| pieces pieces

| Snail pieces Snail pieces

~— il ETE SEVIK A r x ee eee cra Se Ser

The number of eggs laid varied; on the average each female laid

47 eggs.

MATERNAL CARE

The above observations are summarised in Table III.

Both the eggs and the nymphs are carefully guarded by the mother.

At intervals the female takes the eggs in her mouth one after the other

and licks them clean. This keeps the eggs clean and shiny.

202 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

It was observed that if the eggs are displaced and kept at different

places, the female again carries the eggs to one place and forms a

heap. When the eggs are not guarded by the female they cling

together, shrivel up, and perish. When the eggs were disturbed more

than once, they were neglected and in some cases devoured by the

female.

TABLE III

_ NUMBER OF EGGS LAID BY ONE FEMALE COLLECTED ON 23-11-1958

| Days between | Dateiot

Date of egg two successive Number of | i Be i of Incubation

laying egg laying eggs laid | oe ee period of egg

periods | | Sy

= = | ences = a i

3.12.1958 bi ac ke |

14.12.1958 11 50 22.12.1958 | 8

1. 1.1959 18 45 | 11. 1.1959 10

21. 1.1959 20 | 50. | Bb 1959" 10

3. 3.1959 13 | I |

26. 3.1959 23 I ” :

After emergence, the nymphs in the beginning were always with

their mother, but after two to three days they begin to wander here

and there, within close range of the mother. When they were disturbed

they ran to their mother and tried to hide underneath her body. If

the female noticed that the danger was beyond her capacity she tried

to take shelter in her nest with her young ones.

Another interesting thing about her vigilance was observed. While

watching her through glass jars it was noticed that the female was trying

to close up a gap through which one could see the eggs that had been

laid by her in the gallery. In a short time she filled up the

gap with the moist svil.

DISCUSSION

As stated above, Pesotskaia (1927), Weidner (1940), Schlinger et al.

(1959) have studied the biology of Labidura riparia (Pall.). The present

observations are in conformity with the observations of the above

authors in respect of feeding habits, mating, oviposition, etc., exeeP

in certain respects mentioned below:

OBSERVATIONS ON THE BIOLOGY OF LABIDURA RIPARIA 203

Pesotskaia (1927) states that the female takes each egg in her mouth

parts and covers it completely with liquid from glands, which protects

the egg from mould. I did not observe such a secretion. If

the eggs are not licked by the female or if they are neglected they

shrivel and disintegrate, showing thereby that the attendance of female

iS necessary.

Attempts were made to determine whether the galleries are made

at a fixed angle to the soil as stated by Pesotskaia (1927) and Weidner

(1940). It was found that this species of earwig constructs the galleries

at an angle to the surface which may vary between 44° to 55°. A

similar investigation was made with regard to the angle at the bent.

According to Pesotskaia it is between 115° to 130°. Present studies

have shown that it is between 125° to 136° or even more.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks are due to Prof. P. R. Damle, Principal, Nowrosjee Wadia

College, and Prof. S. G. Nadkarni, Zoology Department,

Nowrosjee Wadia College, for encouragement and facilities, and to

Shri D. R. Ranade, Lecturer in Zoology and Entomology, Poona

University, for his valuable guidance, and for going through the

manuscript.

REFERENCES

Behura, B. K. (1950): Noteon common

European earwig Forficula auricularia

Linn. (Dermaptera) as food of little

owl Athene noctua vidalii Brehm. Ann.

Mag. Nat. Aist., (12), 3, (33): 775-76.

— — —, (1950): Life history of Euro-

pean earwig Forficula auricularia Linn.

Nature, London 166 (4410) : 74.

Boliver, I. (1897): Les Ortoptere’s de

St. Joseph’s College ’a Trichinopoly, sud

del’ Inde. Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. 66: 282.

Bormans, A. De (1888): Viaggio di

Leonardo Fea in Birmaniae regioni vicine,

vii Dermaptere’s. Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen.

(2)6: 431.

Burr, M. (1905): Earwigs of the Indian

Museum with Descriptions of New spe-

cies. J. Proc. Asiat. Soc. Bengal

PON .S:) 1 (2)227-

— — —. (1906): A further note on

Earwigs (Dermaptera) in the Indian

Museum with the Description of New

species. J. Pruc. Asiat. Soc. Bengal

CN; S82) 221387.

Burr, M. (1907): A Third note on Ear-

wigs (Dermaptera) in the Indian Muse-

um with the Description of New species.

Rec. Ind. Mus. 1, 3, no. 15.

Cherian, M.C. & Basheer, M. (1940):

Bionomics of Eubrellia stali (Fam. Forfi-

culidee) a pest of ground nuts. Indian J.

Ent. 2 (2): 155-160.

Pesotskaia, E. (1927): Biology of Earwig

Forficula tomis and Labidura riparia. Bull.

Inst. Sci. Lesshaft. 12, 2: 51-62.

Ramamurthy, B. N. (1955): The wing

venation of Labidura riparia Pall.and For-

ficuia quadrispinosa Dohrn (Dermaptera)

Ind. Je. Ent. V7. (3) 2343.

Schlinger, E. I., Bosch van den, R., Die-

tric, E. J. (1959): Biological notes on the

Predaceous Earwig Labidura riparia Pall.

a Recent Immigrant to California (Der-

mapt-ra; Labiduridae). J. econ. Ent.

52 (2): 247-249.

Weidner, R. (1940): Vorkommen und

Lebensweise des Sandonrwurms Labidura

riparia Pall. Zool. Anz. 133 (9/10):

185-202.

Leaves and Tendrils as aids for

Identification of Cucurbits

PRIYADARSAN SENSARMA

G. C. Bose Biological Research Unit, Bangabasi College, Calcutta.

(With six plates)

INTRODUCTION

Usually plants are identified with the aid of floral characters. Some

attempts have been made to identify the cucurbits by the anatomical

characters of the stem (Ghosh, 1932) and of the petioles and midribs

(Yasuda, 1901, 1903 ; Chakrabarty, 1937). But the present author is

not aware of any attempt to identify the cucurbits with the aid of the

morphological characters of the leaves and tendrils though they exhibit

some interesting features with conspicuous differences ; this attempt

has been made from that point of view.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Materials of the following twenty-four species were collected from

different parts of Bengal and herbarium sheets were prepared in the

usual way : ,

SPECIES VERNACULAR NAME HABITAT

1. Benincasa hispida Cogn. | Chalkumra | Cultivated & wild

2. Bryonopsis laciniosa Naud. Mala | Wild

3. Citrullus colocynthis (Linn.) Schrad. | Makal Wild

4. Citrullus vulgaris Schrad. Tarmuj Cultivated

5. Coccinia indica (Naud.) Wight & Telakucha Wild

Arn.

6. Cucumis sativus Linn. Sasha Cultivated

7. Cucumis melo Linn. Futi Cultivated

8. Cucumis sp. X | Wild

9. Cucurbita maxima Duchesne Mithakumra | Cultivated

10. Gymnopetalum cochinchinense x Wild

Kurz. |

11. Lagenaria vulgaris Seringe. Lau | Cultivated

12. Luffa cylindrica (Lour.) Roem. Dhoondol Cultivated & wild

13. Luffa acutangula Roxb. Jhinga Cultivated

14. Luffa graveolens Roxb. x Wild

IDENTIFICATION OF CUCURBITS FROM LEAVES & TENDRILS 205

SPECIES VERNACULAR NAME HABITAT

15. Momordica charantia Linn. _ Uchchhe Cultivated

16. Momordica cochinchinensis Spreng. | Kakrol Cultivated

17. Momordica disica Roxb. _ Bankakrol Wild

18. Momordica sp. x Wild

19. Mukia maderaspatana Kurz. : Wild

20. Thladiantha calcarata Clarke : Wild

21. Trichosanthes anguina Linn. | Chichinea Cultivated

22. Trichosanthes cucumerina Linn. | Banchichinga | Wild

23. Trichosanthes dioica Roxb. _ Patol | Cultivated

24. Zanonia indica Linn. i. ok | Wild

Out of the eighteen genera available in Bengal (Prain, 1903) four-

teen have been collected. Some of these species are wild, some semi-

wild i.e. wild and cultivated at the same time, or cultivated but may

grow uncared for near human habitation, and some others are strictly

cultivated. The majority of the species grow during the rainy season,

but some grow in winter, or in spring, and two or three are perennial.

A close study of the materials collected from various places reveal

that a workable key for the identification of the species can be for-

mulated from the morphological features of the leaves and tendrils.

The descriptions of the leaves and tendrils have been omitted for the

sake of brevity as also because they are available in BENGAL PLANTS

(vol. i, Prain, 1903) and in THE FLORA OF BRITISH INDIA (vol. ii, Hooker,

1879).

KEY FOR IDENTIFICATION OF CUCURBITS?

A. Tendril simple

a. Leaf entire

b. Leaf ovate, deeply cordate at the base, denticulate,

Soitly, pubescent. +101. siweee. 2 OPT eye te Thladiantha

bb. Leaf slightly or deeply 5-angled

c. Angles of the leaf not very prominent, stem

SONG oH aMy ie. eros. hs 2 oes Cucumis

(i) Leaf somewhat orbicular, ovoid, dentate,

softly hairy, petiole small............ C. melo

(ii) Leaf slightly lobed, lobes acute hispidu-

lous:;*petiole dong. 25).e. 6.5.2.5 C. sativus

(iii) Leaf slightly angled, almost circular.... C. sp.

cc. Angles of the leaf prominent, stem hard, hair-

NOSSitr eetesieay We chacibca ehacs RCE naa ore css Coccinia

SUOMI A iets Sad Mo andi ceo me EE Dy. aoc: Mukia

: This key, prepared on the basis of the monpnelossd characters of tendrils and

leaves; is of practical value as an aid only.

206 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

aa. Leaf lobed or entire

b. Leaf 5-lobed, no hairs or very small hairs on the

leaf Dlade..3.0 5 Weicrae a.eehesaaeeien ct neket skeet Gymnopetalum

bb. Leaf lobed or entire, margin dentate, hairless or

With soft hair, stemian@ular idee cies oe Momordica

(i) Leaf deeply divided into 5-7 lobes....... M. charantia

(ii) Leaf divided to the middle or deep to the

base into 3 (rarely 5) ovate or oblong

LOBES ao rect ve ee eee ee M. cochinchinen-

sis

(iii) Leaf divided to the middle or deep to the

base into 3 (rarely 5) lobes, lobe-apices

acute, petiole channelled, glands pres-

ent on the lamellated outgrowth...... M. sp.

(iv) Leaf more or less entire with shallow

dentation 4:46 aake ss 6 vecetee aie he M. dioica

AA. Tendril bifid

a. Leaf entire ; tendril elongated, branching occurs at the

apical part, segments much smaller than the stalk.. Zanonia

aa. Leaf-lobed

b. Leaf deeply palmately lobed; branching of the

tendril occurs at the basal part, segments larger

than: the stalks. s-cees o< sd ced oeeahew ee Bryonopsis

bb. Leaf slightly 5-lobed, toothed, very hairy ; bran-

ching of the tendril occurs at the mid-point and

the segments are almost equal to the stalk.... Lagenaria

AAA. Tendril variable

a. Sumple toc three-fid 2c 226... i S.u ces ete ee Trichosanthes

(i) Leaf margin dentate, base cordate, leaf

ovate or oblong in shape............ T. dioica

(ii) Leaf margin entire or nearly so

* Leaf smaller, 5-angled ; generally 3-

fid- tendril. .e.5 eras ities T. cucumerina

** Leaf larger, more or less 5-lobed

(faintly ieee eae cae ee T. anguina

aa. Tendril 2-3 fid

b. Tendril 3-fid at the younger part, bifid at the older

region ; leaf reniform, cordate at the base,

slightly S-an@led cs oscar t pawsedes cts orto ers Benincasa

bb. Tendril segments equal or unequal, very small:

leaf deeply 3-7" lobed es. thse ae ee Citrullus

(i) Leaf hoarsely scabrid, deltoid in outline C. colocynthis

(ii) Leaf glabrous, deeply segmented, seg-

ments, pinnatifides 2.22 2. UE C. vulgaris .

JouRN. BomBay Nat. Hist. Soc. PLaTE I

‘i

Benincasa hispida Cogn.: Fig. 1A, leaf; Fig. 1Bi & 1Bii, tendrils. Bryonopsis

laciniosa Naud. : Fig. 2A, leaf ; Fig. 2B, tendril. Citrullus vulgaris Schrad. : Fig. 4A,

leaf ; ey tendril. Coccinia indica (Naud.) Wight & Arn.: ‘Fig. 5A, leaf; Fig.

5B, tendril.

JourN. BomBay Nat. Hist. Soc. PLATE {I

V8.

Citrullus colocynthis (Linn.) Schrad.: Fig. 3A, leaf; Fig. 3Bi & 3Bii, tendrils.

Cucumis sativus Linn. : Fig. 6A, leaf; Fig. 6B. tendril. Cucumis melo Linn. : Fig.

7A, leaf; Fig. 7B, tendril.

Journ. BomBay Nat. Hist. Soc. PLATE III

10e

Cucumis sp.: Fig. 8A, leaf; Fig. 8B, Tendril. Cucurbita maxima Duchesne:

Fig. 9A, leaf; Fig. 9B, tendril. Gymnopetalum cochinchinense Kurz.: Fig. 10A,

af; Fig. 10B, tendril. Lagenaria vulgaris Seringe : Fig. 11A, leaf ; Fig. 11B, tendril.

JOURN. BomBay Nat. Hist. Soc.

PLATE IV

Luffa cylindrica (Lour.) Roem.: Fig. 12A, leaf; Fig. 12Bi to 12Biii, tendrils.

Luffa acutangula Roxb. : Fig. 13A, leaf; Fig. 13Bi & 13Bii, tendrils. Luffa graveolens

Roxb.: Fig. 14A, leaf; Fig. 14Bi & 14Bii, tendrils.

Fig. 15A, leaf; Fig. 15B, tendril.

Momordica cochinchinensis Spreng.: Fig. 16A,

leaf; Fig. 16B, tendril.

Momordica charantia Linn. :

JouRN. BomBay Nat. HIsT. Suc, PLATE V

Momordica dioica Roxb.: Fig. 17A, leaf; Fig. 17B. tendril. Momordica sp. ;

Fig. 18A, leaf; Fig. 18B, tendril: Mukia maderaspatana Kurz.: Fig. 19A, leaf;

Fig. 19B, tendril. Thladiantha calcarata Clarke: Fig. 20A, leaf; Fig. 20B, tendril.

Trichosanthes cucumerina_Linn.: Fig. 22A. leaf.

JOURN. BOMBAY NAT. Hist, Soc, PLATE VI

24A 948

Trichosanthes anguina Linn.: Fig. 21A, leaf; Fic. 21B, tendril. Trichosanthes

cucumerina Linn.: Fig. 22B, tendrils. Trichosanthes dioica Roxb.: Fig. 23A, leaf ;

Fig. 23Bi & 23Bii, tendrils. Zanonia indica Linn.: Fig. 24A, leaf; Fig. 24B,

tendril.

IDENTIFICATION OF CUCURBITS FROM LEAVES & TENDRILS 207

aaa. Tendril 3-6 fid

@).8. e's 9: m) 0) (0) elie (0) .e) «0! 8) 0 0) 01.0: 6 @ 6; 8) 6) © (0) @) 6. (6\ ¢; ©) 6) -0) ‘6.

(i) Tendril generally unequally 6-fid; leaf

orbicular in outline, palmately 5-7

angled, scabrid on both surfaces...... L. acutanguta

(ii) Tendril generally unequally 3-5-fid ; leaf

orbicular or reniform in outline, pal-

mately > (rarely, lobed. 3-25 a..e L. cylindrica

(iii) Tendril generally unequally 3-6-fid ; leaf

reniform somewhat lobed, and always

toothed, scabrous above L. graveolens

oe ee we wo we woo

AAAA, Tendril 5-fid, segments all. unequal................0.058- Cucurbita

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The author submits that, though most of the species available in

Bengal have been considered, the present attempt is by no means com-

plete’ Of course, from this study it becomes evident that it may be

possible to build up a key for identification on the basis of the mor-

phological characters of the leaves and tendrils of cucurbits. It must

be clearly mentioned here that this key is important from the practical

point of view and only as an aid, and does not indicate any phylogenetic

relationship of the species.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author acknowledges his gratefulness to the late Prof. G. P.

Majumdar, Ph.pD. (Leeds), F.A.Sc., F.N.I., under whose guidance this

piece of work was being carried out. The author is also thankful to the

authorities of Bangabasi College who kindly allowed the facilities for

his work.

REFERENCES

1. Chakrabarty, H. L. (1937) : Physio-

logical anatomy of the leaves of Cucur- »

bitaceae. Philippine J. Sc. 63: 409-431.

2. Ghosh, E. N. (1932).: On the micro-

structure of the stems of Bengal Cucur-

bitaceae with reference to its value in

Taxonomy. J. Ind. Bot. Soc. 11 : 259-270.

3. Hooker, J. (1879): The Flora of

British India. Vol. 2.

4. Prain, D. (1903): Bengal Plants.

Vol. 1.

*5. Yasuda, A. (1901) : Comparative

anatomy of Cucurbitaceae. (in Japanese),

Bot. Mag. Tokyo. 15 : 88-91.

*6,. —-— — (1903) : Comparative ana-

tomy of Cucurbitaceae. J. Coll. Sc.

Imp. Uni. Tokyo 18 : 56.

* Not seen in original by author.

Reviews

l. THE WATERFOWL OF THE WORLD. By Jean Delacour.

Vol. Hil. Pp.. 270 (24.50 18.50 cm.). Twenty plates in colour by

Peter Scott; 46 distribution maps in text. London, 1959 (Country

Life Ltd.). £6-6-0 net.

This volume completes the survey of all the known species of

swans, geese and ducks found throughout the world, and brings to

conclusion a monumental achievement. The collaboration of two

such internationally recognised specialists in this group of birds has

proved completely fruitful from every point of view. Both Jean

Delacour and Peter Scott possess long and intimate experience of

practically all the species dealt with in these three volumes in capti-

vity, and with many in the wild state as well. They have successfully

bred in their aviaries some of the rarest members of the tribe, and

been able thereby to rescue—and even rehabilitate—several species

from the imminent extinction with which they were faced. Peter

Scott’s fame as a portrayer of the duck tribe is world-wide, and his

illustrations in colour of every member of it of both sexes, often in

breeding as well as eclipse plumage, and of their downy young, not

only lend charm and attractiveness to the volumes but are of the

greatest scientific usefulness. Many of the downy young, which in

various species often differ only in superficially insignificant colour

patterns were quite unknown until bred in the pens of the Wildfowl

Trust at Slimbridge. The plates, in effect, hall-mark the excellence

of Mr. Delacour’s erudite text.

The present volume deals with the five ‘tribes’ left over from the

previous two, namely the Eiders (Somateriini), Pochards (Aythyini),

Perching Ducks (Cairinini), the Scoters, Golden-eyes, and Mergansers

(Mergini) and the Stifftailed Ducks (Oxyurini). The classification is

mainly, as in previous volumes, that proposed by Delacour and Mayr

in 1945 for the family Anatidae which, with minor modifications, is

now widely accepted and adopted in scientific writings. The general

order of description remains as before: first Key to the Species with

a fairly full general description of each, then overall Distribution,

General Habits covering ecology, breeding behaviour, courtship dis-

play, food, etc., and finally observations on the species in Captivity.

This is followed by basic information in brief concerning each of its

subspecies individually, treated under the same general heads as for

REVIEWS 209

the species. The maps in the text for each species together with its

geographic races are of great help in giving a clear overall picture of

the distributions, but too much accuracy should perhaps not be looked

for from their small scale. On p. 47 the wintering range in India of

the Redcrested Pochard (Netta rufina) is shown as down to about the

20th parallel. Actually this duck is a regular visitor as far south as

Madras though less common than in N. India.

In spite of the somewhat deterrent cost of the volumes, the

intelligent sportsman, whose interest in his kills projects a little beyond

the dining table, will welcome this up-to-date authentic and well-

illustrated survey of a very popular group of game birds—the duck

tribe; so will the serious bird watcher and the scientific ornithologist.

For every good working library of natural history of course, THE

WATERFOWL OF THE WORLD is quite indispensable.

S.A.

2. MY YEAR WITH THE WOODPECKERS. By Heinz

Sielmann. Translated from the German by Sidney Lightman. Fore-

word by James Fisher. Pp. 139 (23X16 cm.). 4 coloured and 28

black and white plates. London, 1959. Barrie & Rockliff. Price 2is.

Heinz Sielmann’s fame as an investigator and photographer of

woodpeckers rocketed into world prominence after the exhibition of

his classic documentary film at one of the recent International

Ornithological Congresses. Since then the film, specially edited for the

Look television programme of the B.B.C., has been seen and admired

by millions of nature lovers. The book, based on this film, was

originally published in the German in 1958. It describes not only the

hidden home fife of several species of woodpeckers including the shy

Black Woodpecker, but also the ingenious techniques devised and

employed by Herr Sielmann which made the photography possible.

Woodpeckers nest in holes in tree trunks and boughs, often quite deep

down, and no one had as yet been able to cbserve what goes on within

an occupied nest, let alone filming the activities. Sielmann’s admirers

in English-speaking countries will welcome the eagerly awaited

realization of their wish to see an English translation, and a word of

praise is due to the translator for the facile manner in which he has

discharged ‘his task. ;

Photographing inside the ill-lit interior of a woodpecker nest-hole

was accomplished by means of infra-red rays, using special infra-red

210 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

film. This permitted exposures to be made in complete darkness

without causing any disturbance to the birds, but posed certain serious

disadvantages, particularly in close-up work, which the author’s

ingenuity had to overcome. The photography was actually done

through a pane of glass fitted in a window cut into the side of the

tree trunk opposite the entrance hole. To avoid frightening the birds

this had to be done bit by bit and with great circumspection during

the foraging absences of the parent birds. The pictures obtained are

unique, and reveal for the first time the internal economy of a wood-

pecker hole and the behaviour of the parents and young. Drumming

and other noises and calls were sound-recorded, timed, and analysed.

To supplement his photography at natural nests, the author hand-

reared a number of nestling woodpeckers and later released them in

a spacious aviary simulating as closely as possible the natural con-

ditions under which the birds lived. The almost magical sequences

in the film showing the exact manner in which the woodpecker employs

its wormlike extensile tongue (‘5 times as long as the beak’ in the

Green Woodpecker) to skewer out grubs of wood-boring beetles from

the winding pupal galleries, were filmed under these controlled condi-

tions. But they are in no way unnatural or ‘made-up’, and are

without doubt some of the most superb documentary cine-shots of a

bird ever made.

All in all this is a remarkable and beautifully illustrated book both

for the bird lover and scientific ornithologist, as well as for the nature

photographer. It lays bare in word and picture many of the hidden

secrets of a woodpecker’s family life and domestic economy, and

demonstrates how the seemingly impossible in nature photography can

be achieved by patience, perseverance, and ingenuity of technique,

backed by enthusiasm and a proper understanding of the ways and habits

of the subjects.

S.A.

3. A HANDBOOK TO THE COLLECTIONS ILLUSTRATING A SURVEY

OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. London County Council, Horniman

Museum and Library. Pp. 92 (18.5x12.0 cm.). 4 photo plates and

two line drawings. Third Edition, London, 1959. Price 2s. 6d.

This is a handbook to one of the sections of the Horniman Museum,

in Dulwich, London S.E., but it could as well stand on its own as an

introduction to the classification of the animal kingdom, or as a

summary of this to a student. In spite of having under 100 pages it

REVIEWS 211

combines completeness with clarity admirably. Very occasionally there

are statements like this: ‘In development the mollusc egg gives rise

typically to a trochosphere larva which turns into a veliger larva before

assuming the adult form.’ Without further explanation this can hardly

be very informative to the uninitiated. On the whole, however, the

reader’s attention is held and there is no temptation to skip paragraphs

as containing only non-essential detail. Very good value at 2s. 6d.

One would like to see the Museum—it must be as well planned as the

handbook. |

R.R.

4. CROCODILES AND OTHER PEOPLE. By Douglas

Lockwood. Pp. x+222 (21.5X14.5 cm.). Cassell, London, 1959.

Price 18s.

The author was for 10 years a newspaper correspondent in the

tropical northern territory of Australia and the book is an account of

some of his experiences. Though most of them are not of natural

history interest, the chapters on crecodiles and buffaloes contain some

interesting items.

The crocodile is Crocodilus porosus which is found in _ the

Sunderbans and other parts of eastern India. Some of the areas in

north Australia still hold, or at least did a few years ago, sufficient

numbers to warrant their being slaughtered for their skins. The native

attendants on the shikaris fed on crocodile flesh and it is said that

after a week on this diet they smelt worse than alcoholic.

The domestic buffalo was first introduced into Melville Island in

northern Australia and subsequently to the mainland, and it appears

to have multiplied in the manner in which several introduced species

have done in Australia. Their further spread has been prevented by

the boundaries of desert conditions about 400 miles east, west, and

south of Port Darwin, but within these limits their number is now

estimated at a million. Licences to kill 2000 animals per season were

issued and there are references to episodes which can only be termed

‘slaughter’. The author also refers in another place to 100 kangaroos

shot by spotlight in one night.

The reference to a 5 ft. crocodile jaw (which wou'ld make the animal

35 ft. long) leaves one uncertain of some of the figures, but it is

interesting to read of animals familiar to us.

H.A.

212 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

5. THE WEALTH OF INDIA: $A DICTIONARY OF INDIAN RAW

MATERIALS AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS. RAW MATERIALS. Vol. V:

H.-K. Pp. xxv+332-+xii (27.7X21.5 cm.). 16 plates and 169 text-

figures. New Delhi, 1959. Council of Scientific & Industrial Research.

Price ‘Rs. 30:

This volume of THE WEALTH OF INDIA series carries the list of

Indian raw materials from the letter H to the ietter K. . The list is

very comprehensive and particulars of the items described are given

in great detail; at the same time references are given to the authorities

where fuller information may be sought. An instance in point is the

section on Hevea brasiliensis (A.B.K.) Muell. Arg., the Caoutchouc Tree,

a native of South America which has been introduced on a commercial

scale into Kerala State for the production of rubber. Information is

given about the climate and other conditions suitable for its cultiva-

tion, the preparation of the land for it, the alternative modes of

propagation and their respective merits and demerits, various cultural

operations, diseases and pests affecting the plant, methods of tapping

it, processes leading up to the manufacture of raw rubber, the grading,

packing, and marketing of the product, and so on. This volume

includes an article on insects commencing with a general description

of their structure and development from the egg to the perfect insect,

their classification and distribution, their nuisance value as_ pests

or vectors of disease, methods of control, and in order to make the

picture complete a description of the insects which are beneficial as

pollinators or as predators or as pests of noxious weeds, animals, and

other insects. The book is illustrated with well-chosen and well-re-

produced pictures and drawings. With the subject matter treated so

elaborately the publication, which has already reached its fifth volume,

promises to be beyond the purse of the ordinary reader. It is a valu-

able book of reference which should be in every library. Having so

much to interest the general reader, it is to be hoped that the libraries

will keep it where it will catch the eyes of such readers and excite

their curiosity.

There are in the book passages which I would like to see omitted.

For instance, the authors tell us about a certain animal that, in the

Punjab, ‘the flesh is said to be pounded with ghee into an ointment

for application to chronic ulcers’ and that “exposure to fumes from the

burnt spines is believed to relieve pain due to haemorrhoids’. Is it

necessary to condemn these creatures to death by such statements un-

less these remedies have been tried and found to be efficacious?

D.E.R.

Miscellaneous Notes

1. POSSIBLE FUNCTION OF THE TIGER’S WHISKERS

It is a well known fact that the sense of smell of both the tiger

and the leopard is very poorly developed. I have seen plenty of

evidence for this in my own experience, and I do not think that any

experienced big game hunter or naturalist will dispute this. And yet

both these animals live by stalking and killing those animals (herb?-

vores) whose sense of smell is very strongly developed. The tiger

and the leopard therefore have learned over the course of centuries

that if they are to succeed in killing the animals they eat, they must

make due allowance for the latter’s sense of smell, ic. before the final

fatal assault they must approach their quarry from a down-wind

direction. Strangely enough a man-eating tiger or leopard will take

the same precaution when stalking a human being! Old habits and

instincts die hard. Now every hunter who has hunted bison and

buffalo on foot, or even tried to stalk chital or sambar, knows how

difficult it is very often inside the jungle to know or find out the

direction of the wind. How does a tiger or a leopard find this out

in a similar situation? They have the added difficulty of being much

Jower on the ground while stalking.

It is my belief that they do it with the aid of their very long

whiskers. These long filaments, which are as thin as human hair at

their tips—gradually thickening inwards till they become quite thick

and stiff at the roots—act like so many delicate antennae which

together constitute a very effective wind gauge. The slightest move-

ment of the fine tips is carried to the stiff roots and thence to the

sensory nerves of the upper lip. Could one think of any other biological

reason or use for these very peculiar and prominent whiskers in the

‘great cats’? I suppose the final test of the theory could be carried

out if one could cut off the whiskers of a tiger and then see if he

could make use of the wind in his oe ae eeu I have not been able

to do that!

56 A.P.O., M, M. ISMAIL,

January 12, 1960. Lt.-Col., iA

214. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

2. THE PRESENT STATUS OF THE INDIAN LYNX

(CARACAL CARACAL)

I have read with interest Sri N. N. Sen’s note on the Caracal or the

Indian lynx (Caracal caracal) published in the August 1959 issue of

your journal (56: 317). I saw and shot a caracal in_ the

Saharanpur Forest Division, Uttar Pradesh, in May 1955 under

somewhat interesting circumstances. I was staying in the Beribara

Forest Rest House and had gone out for an early morning ghoom on

an elephant. While we were going through scrub forest I saw a male

partridge scuttling some fifty yards ahead of the elephant across an

open bit of grassland. The partridge disappeared into a tuft of high

grass. Immediately afterwards I saw a lithe fawn-coloured body

spring into the air in a graceful arc. It looked too light-coloured and

elongated for a jackal and I took the elephant near the tuft of grass

to investigate what it was. On reaching there I found that the animal

had caught the hapless partridge and had already plucked almost all

the feathers from its breast. As the animal was neither a jackal nor

a wild cat I shot it in order to identify it. One shot with a .22 long

rifle cartridge at the base of the skull despatched it.

When we collected the animal I could see that it looked very much

like a lynx, pictures of which I had seen in various books. I brought

the carcase to the rest house and was able to identify it with the help

of a book on Indian animals. I also enquired from the local people

who said the animal was called sivah gosh, which means ‘black ears’.

This corresponded with the Hindustani name given for the Caracal in

the book of words, as also with the fact that the animal had a pair

of black and very pointed ears. The face and body were cat-like

but the tail was proportionately shorter and ended in a little pom-pom.

The colour of the body was light fawn and the undersides white. The

ears were much longer than in the felines and were pointed at the tips

which ended in thin plumes of one inch-long black hair. The size

of the body was about the same as a jackal’s, but it was lower and

therefore looked slightly more elongated. )

There is an interesting postscript to the tale. After collecting the

caracal I asked my orderly to collect the partridge, as I was not

averse to eating a partridge freshly killed by the caracal even though

it was the close season. To our surprise, when the orderly went

to pick it up the partridge got up and ran into the nearest bush,

looking for all the world like a young lady who is surprised without

any clothes on, and rushes headlong into the nearest cover! That is

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 215

the last we saw of that partridge. I still wonder if he grew a new

set of breast feathers. .

CONSERVATOR OF FORESTS,

TEHRI-GARHWAL CIRCLE, UTTAR PRADESH, B. P. SRIVASTAVA

DEHRADUN, U.P.

November 24, 1959.

3. TODDY CAT (PARADOXURUS HERMAPHRODITUS) AND

RUSSELL’S VIPER (VIPERA RUSSELLD

On the morning of 30-11-1959 while motoring through the forest

on the Mysore frontier road, I found on the roadside a toddy cat

and a large Russell’s viper lying dead just opposite each other. The

deaths were recent as rigor had not yet set in. The snake had been

bitten on the head, the neck, and the tail below the vent; the rest of

the body bore no teeth marks. The toddy cat had been bitten on the

head near the ear. Obviously they had been fighting with fatal

results to both. What is the reason for this jungle tragedy? Will the

Editors or any of my readers make a suggestion?

I know small birds and mammals are included in the menu of

these palm civets, but why did it tackle this stout, five-foot long

Russell’s viper, a most venomous antagonist? Vice versa could the

snake have taken the aggressive role? This appears improbable in

view of the fact that the palm civet was 3 feet 4 inches long and

weighed 6 lb., rather too big for the snake to swallow.

Probably they met suddenly and a fight ensued. The snake’s

venom acted quickly resulting in the death of its opponent on the

spot and the snake itself died there from the several bites on its head

and neck. Or the toddy cat having formerly successfully tackled

smaller and harmless snakes attacked and killed the Russell’s viper

and carried it to the roadside where it died in its turn.

15 PERUMALKOIL STREFT,

FoRT, COIMBATORE, B. SUBBIAH PILLAI

December 15, 1959.

216 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 37 (1)

4. BATS AS A STORM SIGNAL ?

The writer had a novel experience on the evening of 27 May 195°

Eight Indian Pigmy Pipistrelles, Pipistrellus mimus Wroughton, were

being observed in the Chandpole area in Jaipur City. At about

7.35 p.m. all the pipistreiles which were flying their characteristic flight

with quick jerks and descents disappeared; evidently they took shelter

in their roost, a small hole in the wall of a near-by house. I waited

for 10 minutes wondering about the reason for their disappearance.

At about 7.55 or 8.00 p.ni. Jaipur was struck by a high speed storm

which lasted for two hours and uprooted many trees.

On the evening of 28 May 1959 there was no sign of any storm

but the pipistrelles again disappeared at 7.40 p.m. It struck me now:

is the disappearance of the pipistrelles forecasting a storm? Im-

mediately I cautioned my family members against the possibility of

a storm and exactly at 8.05 p.m. Jaipur was struck by a devastating

storm which uprooted thousands of trees, blew away hundreds of tin

sheds, and killed many cattle.

On 30 May 1959 I got another opportunity of verifying that the

disappearance of the pipistrelles is an indication of storm. When the

pipistrelles disappeared this evening, | announced with confidence a

coming storm; at 8.10 p.m. we had a very fast-moving storm which

took many lives in addition to causing other destruction.

Can we not make use of the pipistrelle as an indicator of Loe

storms?

DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY,

MAHARAIA’S COLLEGE, ISHWAR PRAKASH

JAIPUR,

July 24, 1959.

5. OCCURRENCE OF THE SEA COW, HALICORE DUGONG

(ERXL.), OFF THE SAURASHTRA COAST

The landing of two sea cows at Bedi Bunder recently caused con-

siderable interest among the members of the public, leading to a

report in the press.

The first of these was sighted dead and floating in the sea near

the Kalyan lighthouse on the 17th July 1959 by a fisherman who cut

it up into four pieces and towed it to Bedi village, intending to

market its flesh. As it had no sale, it was thrown away. Only the

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 217

head with the fore-limbs and a piece of the abdomen were found two

days later.

A second specimen, a female 13’-4” in length and weighing a ton,

was landed on the 30th July by the same fisherman. This time,

however, it was retrieved intact by the staff of the Fisheries Depart-

ment. Attempts to preserve it were unsuccessful and only the skull

was ultimately recovered.

The head of the animal was truncate and covered with thick bristiy

hair. The mouth was ventral with very thick upper and bilobed lower

lips, both covered with hair. No teeth were visible, but hard

calcareous protrusions could be felt inside the lips. The eyes were

small and laterally placed. There were a pair of axial mammae

about 3” in diameter. The stomach contained some filamentous algae.

The underside of the animal was whitish grey, becoming darker

dorsally. |

The skull of one of the above specimens is preserved at the Bombay

Natural History Society.

Ellerman & Scott, in CHECKLIST OF PALAEARCTIC AND INDIAN

MAMMALS, record the distribution of the dugong as ‘seas of Protuguese

Fast Africa, Madagascar, Mafia Island (off Tanganyika), Kenya, the

Red Sea, coasts of Malabar, India, Ceylon, the Andaman Islands

and Mergui Archipelago, Riukiu Is., Formosa, Malaysian Seas,

Philippine Is., and Northern Australia.’

Blanford, in the FAUNA OF BRITISH INDIAN—MAMMALIA (p. 594),

records its occurrence on the coasts of the Indian Ocean in Africa and

India up to the 15th degree latitude.

This relation of the sea lions and seals is reputed to use its fore-

limbs as hands for conveying food to the mouth, and is said to carry

the young pressed to the breast with the flippers. This, together with

the pectoral position of the mammae, is said to account for the

mermaid legend.

A live dugong of 160 cm. length is reported to have been Kept in

the aquarium of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Station at

Mandapam Camp.

DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES,

TARAPOREVALA AQUARIUM, S. B. MANI

Bompay 2, |

December 23, 1959.

[These Saurashtra specimens extend the recorded distribution of the

Dugong in India to north of the 15th parallel. Bedi (Jamnagar) is

c. 22° 30’ N.—Eps.]

218 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

6. WILD LIFE PROBLEMS

Mr. Humayun Abdulali’s notes on Wild Life in the Journal of the

Bombay Natural History Society (Vol. 56 (2): August 1959) make sad

reading. The disillusioning thing is that it is not only in Madhya

Pradesh that these conditions prevail. They seem to be common

all over the sub-continent. =

I often wonder whether we are not fighting an almost impossible

battle in trying to protect the wild life of our country. I am a tea

planter and I live in the High Ranges of Kerala and I have had the

opportunity of studying this protection problem at close quarters. I

have come to certain conclusions and quote them for your perusal.

1. The vast majority of our people have never heard of the Indian

Board of Wild Life, do not know what it stands for, and have no idea

about the work it is doing. |

2. The vast majority of our people have yet to develop a genuine

interest in wild life. J mean sufficient interest to worry about its welfare.

It is highly idealistic to expect a man to treat the Great Indian

Bustard with respect when he does not know what the bird looks like,

has no appreciation of how it is being rapidly wiped out, and does

not understand why we wish to prevent its extermination. To the

miscreant his bustard is a goodly bird that will do well for the even-

ing’s pot. Similarly, I know of numerous cases of Junglefowl, Spurfowl

and Painted Bush Quail snared in traps in the tea and jungle in these

hills nearly all the year round. I have watched shot guns go after

these birds with the same degree of indiscrimination. I have seen

Rainbow Trout floating on our waters after being poisoned. I have

seen how a species of mountain goat has been nearly exterminated

in these hills. I have known of health-crazy parties going out to

slaughter our Black Monkeys for medicinal purposes. I have heard

that a flourishing trade in bison meat exists in the foothills of the High

Ranges. I was not surprised to read that Mr. and Mrs. T. H. Basset

were ‘horrified to see two figures carrying rifles’ in the Periyar Sanctuary.

This is typical of what goes on all the time.

3. It does not matter how many big names are associated with

our Wild Life Board. What is important is the influence it has in

successfully getting the State Governments to adopt and enforce its

resolutions.

4. One Wild Life Week a year is totally insufficient for our needs.

What we need is a Wild Life Century in our country.

5. The Wild Life Board and a Society like ours must make con-

certed attempts to educate our people about natural history. How

aera)

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 219

we can do this is best left to a subcommittee and to interested edu-

cationists. Personally, I think it calls for more emphasis on nature

study in our school curricula from the earliest stages.

6. Steps must be taken to see that poachers are really severely

punished. There is no point in passing resolutions and making laws

if they cannot be enforced.

In the final analysis it all depends on whether we, as a people,

want to save our wild life or not. If we do not there is very little

that Societies and individuals can do in the matter.

PERIAVURRAI ESTATE,

Munnar P.O., M. A. KHAN

KERALA STATE,

S. INDIA,

November 22, 1959.

[We fully agree with our correspondent that so far the Indian

Board for Wild Life has not been conspicuously effective in the pur-

pose for which it was constituted. Reports from all over the country

continue to confirm the fact that the wild life position is steadily

deteriorating; poaching and illicit misuse of crop protection guns,

and illegal practices of every kind are on the increase. The members

of the Board have stressed again and again, at each successive meet-

ing, that perhaps our most pressing need at the present time is publicity

and educating the public to realize that our wild life is a national asset.

As our correspondent points out, it is quite true that the vast

majority of people are unaware of the very existence of the Wild Life

Board and of the work it is intended to be doing. In a country where

literacy is as low as in ours, the only effective way of educating the

public on the problems of wild life and the need for its protection

would seem to be the movie film. Every successive meeting of the

Board has reiterated the urgent need for film documentaries on Indian

wild life for countrywide ‘plugging’ in cinemas in an earnest attempt

to awaken interest in the problem. Yet, today, eight years after the

formation of the Wild Life Board, we are not aware that any such

film has been produced by the Films Division. If such a film has

been produced the secret has been well kept. We have not heard

of any one having seen it. The Society has certainly never been

consulted about its making as one would reasonably have expected.

It is obvious that the high ups both in the Central and State govern-

ments are not seriously interested in the problem. Otherwise it is in-

conceivable that so little would be done about it.

It is a disheartening state of affairs and we can sympathize with

the pessimistic note struck in the last para above.—EDs.]

220 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

7. THE FOREST WAGTAIL, MOTACILLA INDICA (GMELIN),

IN MADRAS, CHINGLEPUT DISTRICT

The Forest Wagtail is an interesting winter visitor to Ceylon and

the Western Ghats, arriving by about October and leaving by about

March for its summer quarters in eastern Siberia, the hills of northern

China and Assam where it is supposed to breed. But since its records

on the eastern side of peninsular India are comparatively rare, it was

earlier conjectured that like many other east-Asiatic migrants, this also

reaches its winter quarters in western India, by way of the Andamans

rather than through the Eastern Ghats.

On the eastern side of the Peninsula, it is recorded by Ball (Stray

Feathers 7: 219) in the Godavari Valley; Jerdon saw it (Birds of India

2: 227) at Nellore, and Dewar (J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc.

16: 490) noticed it twice at Madras. However, it was not procured

by the Vernay Scientific Survey of the Eastern Ghats, though Salim

Ali noted (ibid. 36: 909) a pair at Munanur on the |2th October and one

at Farahabad on the 17th October 1931, both localities rather in the

interior of Andhra Pradesh (Hyderabad State). Fuller observed it

at Poondy near Madras on the 29th September 1956.

Recently for about 20 days, from the 19th September till the 7th

October 1959, I saw almost every day, about 7 or 8 of these Forest

Wagtails feeding singly scattered throughout the estate of the Madras

Christian College, Tambaram. This is about 16 miles south of

Madras, but only about 7 miles across to the east coast. The college

estate is about 300 acres of scrub jungle, continuous with the Vandalur

reserve forest, with clearings here and there only, for the college

buildings, playing fields and a number of forest footpaths.

These wagtails were usually seen in the cooler part of the evenings

or at cloudy parts of the day, always singly, busily running about

in shade, feeding across the footpaths, or sometimes in the wayside

grass, or even getting into the adjacent bushes pursuing their food.

They walk about a lot with a slight forward swing of the head, stopping

now and then to swing their tail and the whole hinder part of the body

sideways in a very characteristic manner. It is difficult to identify

them readily, but they are extremely unmindful of the passer-by,

so that one can safely approach them even to about ten feet and

observe them at leisure without much difficulty. When disturbed.

they fly off with a loud spink spink note to the nearest tree, coming

down almost at once and alighting elsewhere on the ground.

The Forest Wagtail was recorded for the first time at Tambaram

by Shri Gift Siromoney (VJ. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 56: 637). His

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 221

record doubtless refers to the same birds as mine which sojourned in

the locality for about 20 days. 19th September is probably the earliest

record of this east-Asiatic migrant in peninsular india. Moreover, it

may suggest that the Forest Wagtail regularly passes down the

eastern side of the Peninsula before reaching its winter quarters on the

west. More observations at the appropriate season are called for.

DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY,

MADRAS CHRISTIAN COLLEGE, P. J. SANJEEVA RAJ

TAMBARAM,

December 20, 1959.

8. THE ADJUTANT STORK, LEPTOPTILOS DUBIUS

(GMELIN), A DESTROYER OF LOCUSTS IN RAJASTHAN

The Adjutant Stork [Leptoptilos dubius (Gmelin)] appeared singly

as well as in large groups of about 2000 (sic) in the villages Rayanwall,

Thukrana, Freedsar, and Kardoo of Suratgarh tehsil of Sri Ganganagar

district on or about 14 August 1956. It was learnt from villagers over

60 years old that the visit of the Adjutant Stork (local name Nalia) to

this area was an uncommon feature. About four decades back some

birds of this species had appeared but not to the extent seen during

August 1956. The unusual appearance of the bird and in such vast

numbers was presumably due to large patches of concentrated breeding

of solitaries of the Desert Locust in a gross area of about 50 square

miles during July-August 1956, on which the birds were found preying.

During the same season concentrations of a number of grasshoppers of

various species also occurred at several places in the desert area of

Rajasthan. The birds were observed preying in the early morning on

the hoppers and fledglings of the Desert Locust, the Migratory Locust,

and the grasshoppers, which were inactive at that time. Peculiar

methods were adopted by this bird in preying on hoppers and adults.

It would run a few steps flapping its wings briskly to beat the bushes

of phog, Calligonum polygonoides Linn., and bauwli. Acacia jacque-

montii Benth., on which large congregations of the hoppers and

fledglings of the Desert Locust were noted to be resting in the morning.

Disturbed by the heavy and noisy flaps of the wings the insects jumped

down from their roosting places, when they were immediately attacked

with the wedge-shaped bill, picked up, and devoured. After taking a

heavy toll of various species of locusts and grasshoppers, the birds

222 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

were observed to rest during the afternoon, squatting on the ground

with the shanks extended well in front and the head drawn in between

the shoulders. In the evenings they became active again and resumed

feeding. Their food in this area appeared to be restricted mostly to

the various species of Acrididae. It was further observed that the

birds selected roosting places high up on the sand dunes which were

devoid of vegetation, but as these places were very near to the infested

area they usually remained localized here for three to four days. The

flocks disappeared on or about 21 August 1956.

Locust OUTPOST,

CHURU, GURDAS SINGH

RAJASTHAN, CHARAN SINGH

February 17, 1959.

9. ADDITIONS TO THE BIRDS OF COIMBATORE, SOUTH

INDIA

I have recently obtained some birds around Coimbatore which are

relatively rare in southern India and which may be worth recording.

Limosa limosa limosa (Linnaeus): The Blacktailed Godwit

On 18-10-59, my son shot a solitary bird which was in the company

of 5 or 6 Greenshanks, Glottis nebularia (Giinnerus) on the edge of

a tank about 18 miles from Coimbatore. He noted that though often

driven away by the Greenshanks it was reluctant to leave and kept

with them. This is the first time I have seen the bird here in my

experience extending over 40 years.

Demiegretta asha (Sykes): The Indian Reef Heron

One was shot on 19 November 1958.

Both the above birds have been examined and identified at the

Bombay Natural History Society.

15, PERUMALKOIL STREET,

Fort, COIMBATORE, S. INDIA, B. SUBBIAH PILLAI

November 6, 1959.

223

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224 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

ll. FURTHER ADDITIONS TO THE BIRDS OF KUTCH

The Bombay Natural History Society’s Bird Migration Study pro-

ject conducted by Dr. Salim Ali in the spring this year has added one

more species to the existing list of the birds of Kutch, and two more

specimens of a rare migrant to the bird collections of the Society. This

rare migrant is

Hypocolius ampelinus Bonaparte

@ collected on 22 March 1960

o collected on 23 March 1960

both at Kuar Bet, c. three miles from camp.

The diminishing daily catches prompted Dr. Salim Ali to issue

instructions to the field party on the night of the 20th to put up the

nets farther afield than was being done till then. One such operational

wing was put in charge of Dr. R. M. Naik of the Faculty of Science,

Baroda, (one of the participants in the field team) and myself, and was

located about 3 miles from the headquarters.

A beginning was made at this location on the 2!Ist, Bal the day

ended with the commoner birds being caught. On the 22nd at about

3.45 p.m. I found a bird, which I had neither seen earlier in the field

nor at the time could recall having seen a specimen of in the Society’s

collections, entangled in one of the nets. It was carefully taken out

and brought to camp where Dr. Salim Ali revealed its identity to us

as the female of Hypocolius ampelinus. The skin of this rare migrant

was prepared for the Society’s collection. While doing so its crop was

examined and found to contain about 20 berries of Salvadora persica.

Enthused by the previous day's catch of a rare migrant we fixed the

nets at the same spot on the 23rd. At about 3.30 p.m. another un-

recognizable bird was seen by me perching on a Salvadora bush-top

about 10 feet from one of the nets. It was busily feeding on its

berries. Dr. R. M. Naik and myself now took upon ourselves the

seemingly risky job of driving it into the nets, and getting it entangled.

Rounding the bush it had perched on we placed the bird between

ourselves on one side and the nets on the other. Scared by our presence

it flew in the direction opposite to us and got entangled in one of

the nets. When back at the headquarters with this specimen Dr.

Salim Ali told us that it was the male of Hypocolius ampelinus. Our

difficulty in placing this second bird either in the field or when in

hand was due to the fact that the female (a specimen of which we had

seen the previous day) differs from the male in the absence of the

black stripe from the lores, through the eye which widens to a broad

band on the nape. :

tee

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 225

Solitary vagrants of this migrant are recorded from West Pakistan,

Makran Coast, Khalat, Sind, Madhya Pradesh, and Bombay. In the

Society’s collections there are in all 15 specimens (10 oo and 5 @ Q)

of which only one has been taken in India. This is the one collected

by Dr. Sdélim Ali at Kihim, Kolaba District, Bombay on November 14,

1930, and reported in Vol. 34: 1061 of the Journal. The rest come

from the Middle East. The above two skins, now preserved in the

bird collections of the Society, bring the total of specimens of this

rare migrant collected on Indian soil to three.

BomBay NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY,

91, WALKESHWAR RoaD, P. B. SHEKAR,

BomBay 6, | Field Collector.

April 12, 1960.

[Another species added by the migration study field work to the

Kutch list is the Whitefronted Finch-Lark, Eremopterix nigriceps

affinis (Blyth). Two examples of this were taken in the nets, a third

collected and preserved, and several others observed. On Kuar Bet

this lark seemed to replace the commoner blackbellied species (e.g.

grisea) of the less desert portions of Kutch.—EDs.]

12 CAN SNAKES PRODUCE VOCAL SOUNDS?

In the Journal (85: 578) I referred to vocal noises made by the

Dhaman (Ptyas mucosus). Yesterday morning while shooting grey

quail not far from Bombay we put up a large Dhaman in a dry paddy

field. i

As it rapidly glided away I had to tread on its tail and touch it

with my gun barrels several times before it stopped and turned to

attack. Till then we were mostly on and along a 3-foot high bund

which perhaps prevented the snake from raising itself high enough

to strike. When at bay several inches of neck and body behind the

head were noticeably dilated and the snake uttered a very audible

aonh which at a few feet sounded like a low growl. Others in the party

who were 12 to 15 yards away also heard the noise, but Mr. Krishna

Talcherkar told me afterwards that it sounded mournful to him.

The snake was captured without any physical injury having been

inflicted upon it and there can now be little doubt that this species

when angry (?) can emit a noise.

Clifford H. Pope in THE REPTILE WORLD (1957): 138 writes: ‘Many

snakes produce an alarming effect as in the cobra by inflating as well

226 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

as flattening the body. Hissing is usually combined with these

processes. The bull snakes (Pituophis) of North America blow air

against a fleshy flap that rises just in front of the windpipe and thus

make a surprisingly loud sound.’

BoMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY,

91, WALKESHWAR RoaD, HUMAYUN ABDULALI

BOMBAY 6,

December 7, 1959.

13. DISTRIBUTION OF THE SKINK, RIOPA LINEATA (GRAY)

I recently received from Prof. R. V. Seshaiya, Director, Marine

Biological Station, Porto Novo, south India, three specimens of the

Fourtoed Skink, Riopa lineata (Gray), obtained at Annamalai Nagar,

Chidambaram District, Madras State, during 1955 when phenomenal

rains inundated the University buildings.

This species appears to have been recorded only from the Bombay

State between Poona and North Kanara (Smith, FAUNA, 1935), but

in the Society’s collection there are also some specimens obtained on

Salsette Island, Bombay. The Zoological Survey of India inform me

that they have specimen (?) from Madhya Pradesh.

Anyhow the above specimens appear to extend the known range

of this species very considerably.

NATURAL HISTORY SECTION,

PRINCE OF WALES MUSEUM, V. K. CHARI,

Bomsay |, Curator.

November 1, 1959.

14. A NOTE ON THE AMPHIBIANS OF KUTCH

All that is known of the meagre amphibian fauna of Kutch is from

specimens in the collection of the Bombay Natural History Society

and from the records given in FAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA, by Boulenger

(1890), VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY OF SIND, by J. A. Murray (1884), and

C. McCann’s list of amphibians of Kutch (1939, J. Bonibay nat. Hist.

Soc. 40: 425-427).

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 227

During a recent field trip (late September and early October 1959)

the following were collected by me:

ORDER BATRACHIA

Family RANIDAE

Rana cyanophlyctis Schneid.

Locality: Bhuj, in small pools of water and 3 in the residential

quarters at night. [A well of brackish water c. 5° across at Kuar Bet

on the borders of the Rann visited in March 1960 held large numbers

which covered the entire surface and crept into the crevices when

disturbed. The water was about 6 ft. below ground level.]

Rana tigrina Daud.

Locality: Bhuj and environiments.

Rana limnocharis Wiegm.

Locality: Bhuj, in small pools of water and 2 in the residential

quarters at night.

Rana breviceps Schneid.

Locality: Bhuj and environments. The specimen collected did not

have the tubercle at the tibiotarsal articulation found in some

specimens from south India [See J. L. Bhaduri & Mira Kripalani (1954):

J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 52 (2 & 3): 620-623].

Microhyla ornata Dum. & Bibr.

Locality: Bhuj, in small pools of water calling at night.

Family BUFON)DAE

Bufo andersonii Boulenger

Locality: Bhuj, all over the town on roads and in the residential,

quarters at night.

Of these species three (Rana _ limnocharis, Rana _ breviceps,

and Microhyla ornata) are additions to the comprehensive list publish-

ed by Mr. McCann. om

Bombay Natural History Society, P. W. SOMAN,

91, Walkeshwar Road, Junior Research Assistant.

Bombay 6.

March 30, 1960.

228 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL. HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (A)

15. LAELIA ADALIA SWINHOE (LAELIA EXCLAMATIONIS

KOLL.) (LYMANTRIIDAE: LEPIDOPTERA): A NEW.

PEST OF GUINEA GRASS IN SOUTH INDIA

(With a photograph)

INTRODUCTION

Guinea grass (Panicum maximum) is a perennial grass, which has

of late become extremely popular as a succulent and nutritious green

fodder, particularly for milch cattle. A few municipalities have

ventured to cultivate this grass, among which Madurai deserves special

mention. A small beginning appears to have been made during 1927

and the area has been gradually extended up to 128 acres at present,

ensuring a steady and uniform supply of this excellent fodder.

Recently, a hairy caterpillar Laelia .adalia Swinhoe (Laelia

exclamationis Koll.) was found to occur in large numbers and

devastate the crop. Hampson (1892) mentions of this species as

occurring in NW. Himalaya, Sikkim, and throughout India and

Ceylon, without details of either the actual distribution in the South

or the host plants. .

As this is the first record of the species occurring in a serious

form in south India, a short account on its incidence, life-history, etc.,

may be of some interest.

Laelia adalia Swinhoe (Laelia exclamationis Koll.)

Left: Male moth ; Right: Female moth. (About actual size)

THE PEST AND ITS SEASON OF INCIDENCE

The caterpillars appeared first in pest form at the Municipal

Sewage Farm, Madurai, during May 1950 and continued with unabated

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 7 229

virulence till July. A recrudescence of the pest was noted during

December 1952 and the incidence was protracted till February 1953.

The next outbreak was noted during November 1958, after a lapse

of five years. The severity of the damage was heavier than before

and continued till February 1959, there being three distinct and

successive waves of the caterpillars.

NATURE AND EXTENT OF DAMAGE

The caterpillar is a leaf feeder. It hides between the tillers in

the lower portion of the clump during the day and comes out late in the

evening or early in the morning to feed on the leaves. The damage

inflicted is terrific since the entire crop is defoliated.

The estimated loss of the crop in money value due to this pest

‘during 1952-53 has been computed to be about Rs. 12,000, and during

1958-59 about Rs. 15,000.

LIFE-HISTORY

The moth lays its whitish spherical eggs on the plants in groups

of 3 to 6. The caterpillar is fleshy and stout, with hairs all over its

body. The first five and the last abdominal segments are dark-coloured

and provided with dark tufts of hair on the dorsal side. Other

segments are yellowish, with brownish hairs. The head is small and

light brown. The full-grown caterpillar measures about 3 cm. in length.

Pupation takes place between the interspaces of the tillers in the lower

portions of the clumps, inside a dark brown oval cocoon of silk. The

moth is stout with plumose antennae. The wings are brown in colour,

with four spots in a line in the middle of the forewing (Photograph).

The life-cycle is completed in about a month.

ALTERNATIVE HOSTS

The pest was observed to feed only on guinea grass, though ex-

tensive areas of cereal crops like paddy, ragi, etc., were available

near by. It has been recorded as affecting Casuarina in Andhra State

by Perraju et al. (1959).

CONTROL MEASURES

The onslaught of the insect during 1950 was so sudden that no

control measures could be contemplated. During 1952-53, B.H.C. and

toxaphene were applied as 0.1°% sprays, but the results were not satis-

factory. As an alternative, the stubble was burnt in small blocks

and the crop was replanted in fresh areas.

During 1958-59, B.H.C. 10% dust was tried, but only the earlier

230 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

instars of the caterpillars were found susceptible. The grown-up

caterpillars were not affected and they pupated normally. Such pupae

were parasitised by the hymenopterous parasites, viz. Tetrasticus sp.

and Hockeria sp. to an appreciable degree.

The treatment of the pest with B.H.C. during earlier instars does

not seem to have affected the parasitation and development of these

endoparasites.

Guinea grass being a fodder crop, the insecticides had to be used

with due precautions and their application was meticulously stopped

four weeks before the cutting. By feeding the grass after this period

no deleterious effect was noticed on the cattle.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Our thanks are due to Sri E. V. Abraham, B.sc., Assistant Entomo-

logist, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Coimbatore, and

Mr. E. O. Pearson, M.A., Director, Commonwealth Institute of Ento-

mology, London, for having identified the pest and _ parasites

respectively. The generous help extended by Sri Kondaswamy

Naidu, Superintendent, Sewage Farm, Madurai, in conducting

the observations is also acknowledged. Our thanks are also due to

Sri M._ Basheer, B.sc. (Alig.), M.A. (Stan.), F.E.S.1., | Govern-

ment Entomologist and Associate Professor, Agricultural College,

Coimbatore, for his valuable guidance in preparing this note.

AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT, B. VASANTHARAJ, B.sc. (Ag.)

MADRAS, K. R. NAGARAJAN, B.sc. (Ag.)

REFERENCES

Hampson, G.F. (1892): Fauna of Perraju, ie ee re (1959): Andhra Agri.

British India, Moths 1: 442. Jour. 6 (4):

16. CORRECT NAME OF THE ASIATIC BUTTERFLY

HITHERTO KNOWN AS DANAUS (OR PAPILIO) PLEXIPPUS

There has been prolonged controversy as to whether the American

Monarch Butterfly or the Asiatic species known as the Common Tiger

had prior claim to the name Danaus plexippus (Linnaeus). Both these

species have passed under the same name for many years. Rev. E.

M. Shull recently sent us a copy of the letter received by him from

Dr. Charles L. Remington of the Department of Zoology, Yale

University, in which the latter points out that, on the basis of full

evidence, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature

has ruled (Opinion No. 282 published 1 October 1954) that the name

hitherto used for the Asiatic butterfly is in fact correctly applicable

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 231

only to the North American insect while the Asiatic species should

now stand as Danaus genutia (Cramer). Opinion 282 which gives

this ruling is a lengthy document and would be of little. interest to

most readers, but the above summary of its conclusion deserves note

for future guidance. Corbet & Pendlebury (1956, BUTTERFLIES OF THE

MALAY PENINSULA: 141-142) have already followed this ruling and

called the Asiatic species Danaus genutia (Cramer).

BOMBAY NATURAL History SOCIETY,

91, WALKESHWAR ROAD, EDITORS

BOMBAY 6, |

February 18, 1960.

17. OCCURRENCE OF THE BLUE MORMON (PAPILIO

POLYMNESTOR CRAMER) IN BOMBAY

Having recently seen the Blue Mormon (Papilio polymnestor) in

my garden on Pali Hill, I have searched old issues of the Society’s

journal for references to its occurrence in Bombay and its neighbour-

hood.

Writing at a time when Bombay had many more trees than it has

now and a much smaller human population Aitken (1887) confessed

that he was unable to understand the distribution of this butterfly.

He observed: ‘It is absolutely unknown in Bombay and I imagine

throughout the Konkan, but becomes one of the most familiar objects

as soon as we reach a level of 2000 feet. {I do not think it occurs in

the Deccan generally, but in Poona it frequents the old gardens in the

city. Again it abounds all along the Malabar Coast at the level of

the sea. Its chief season appears to be the latter half of the monsoon,

but a good many come out in March and some may be met with all

through the hot months.’ Commenting on this Bentham (1889) stated

that the butterfly was frequently seen at Dapoli, 70 miles distant from

Bombay. Aitken himself seems to have changed his opinion about

the non-occurrence of this butterfly in Bombay and wrote in 1903

(Aitken & Comber, 1903): ‘occasionally found even in Bombay’.

The next reference is by Best (Best, 1951, with notes by Alfrey): ‘One

seen on the 6th November near Tulsi. A very difficult butterfly to

catch’, on which Alfrey comments: ‘I record having seen a fine

female in the garden of “Silver End”, Strand Road, obviously travelling

from across the harbour’. In a supplementary note Best (1955) wrote:

‘Two more seen on the path between Tulsi Lake and Kanheri Caves.

This species must be very scarce on the island,’

232. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. Sie)

In view of this last observation of Best and the fact that there 1S

only one definite record of its occurrence in Bombay it may be of

interest that I have seen this butterfly twice in the last two months:

18 February 1960. 12.25 p.m. Flew across my garden in a south-

erly direction at a height of about 15 feet above the ground. Steady

unhurried flight. In good condition as far as I could see.

25 March 1960. 11.45 a.m. Flew across my garden in a northerly

direction at a Height of about 11 feet above the ground. Just before

passing out of the garden turned back in its track for a distance of

20 to 25 feet, and then turned again and proceeded in its original

direction. Steady unhurried pace. In good condition.

There is a further record from Mr. Basil W. Wirth, whose observa-

tions form the basis of a Miscellaneous Note at page 358 of Volume

56 of the Journal. In answer to an inquiry he very kindly sent me

a note dated 24 February 1960 which deserves to be reproduced in

full :

‘First and foremost I must say that I have never seen Papilio

polymnestor flying in any direction other than south—always north

to south! They were observed in the following order: |

September 1956. Three, all within two to three days of each othe

starting in the third week. All seen in ‘Wadia House’ garden (in Cuffe

Parade Extension) and all slightly ragged. |

25 September 1957. Colaba Road (near Pasta Lane). A perfect

insect.

9 October 1957. One seen in ‘Wadia House’ garden.

16 October 1957. Two seen in ‘Wadia House’ garden. Both

ragged. .

26 October 1957. Seen at Tulsi Lake one single specimen hover-

ing around, apparently not intending to go in any particular direction.

15 October 1958. One seen flying high over ‘Wadia House’ garden

on Cuffe Parade side. .

1959. None’ seen.

17 February 1960. Saw one at height of first floor in ‘Wadia House’

garden. A very ragged specimen.

Most of these were seen at heights between 20 and 30 feet from the

ground. All were seen after 11 a.m. but before 3.30 p.m.’

It would appear from these observations that P. polymnestor is not

as scarce in Bombay as was formeriy thought.

Wynter-Blyth (1957) says that Papilio polymnestor is commonest in

evergreen areas [see also Yates (1931, p. 1005) and Wynter-Blyth (1944,

p. 537)], and is not much found in the plains or in areas of low rain-

fall. It is probable therefore that the butterflies observed were merely

_ MISCELLANEOUS -NOTES 233

flying through, a conclusion. supported .by Mr. Alfrey’s observation- of

the P. polymnestor flying across the harbour. The uniformity of

direction noticed by Mr. Wirth and the annual appearance of. these

butterfiies in September and October suggest the possibility of a local

migration.

49, wee HILL,

BANDRA, BOMBAY 50,

April 13, 1960.

D. E. REUBEN

REFERENCES

Aitken, E. H. (1887): A list of the

Butterflies of the Bombay Presidency in

the Society’s Collection. With notes by

Mr. E. H. Aitken. J. Bombay. nat. Hist.

Soc. 2: 35-44.

— — — & Comber, E. (1903): A list

of the Butterflies of the Konkan. Ibid.

15 : 42-55.

Bentham, J. A. (1889) : Papilio polym-

nestor, P. dissimilis, and P. panope.

Ibid. 4:315-316.

Best, A. E. G. (and notes by Alfrey,

J. I.) (1951) : The Butterflies of Bombay

and Salsette. Ibid. 50: 331-339.

Best, A. E. G. (1955): Butterflies of

Bombay and Salsette—Additions. ibid.

53 3282-284.

Editors (1959) : Butterflies of Bombay

and Salsette—Further Additions. Ibid.

56: 358-359.

Wynter-Blyth, M. A. (1944):. The

Butterflies of the Nilgiris. Ibid. 44: 29 36-

549.

— — — (1957): Batterflies of the

Indian Region. Bombay.

Yates, J. A. (1931) : The Butterflies of

Coorg. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 34:

1003-1014.

18. ADDITIONS TO THE BUTTERFLIES OF

BOMBAY AND SALSETTE

Since 4th September 1959 a record is being maintained of the

butterflies entering the Society’s rooms at 91,

Malabar Hill,

east.

Walkeshwar Road,

which overlook Chowpati Bay and face south and

Up to the middle of January

1960, the list extended to

thirty different species including two which are an addition to the

lists of the butterflies of Bombay and Salsette published in J. Bombay

nai. Hist. Soc. 530: 331-9, 53: 282-4, 54: 215-6, and 56: 358-9. They

“Ate:

HESPERIIDAE

Baoris conjuncta (Herrick-Schaffer): The Conjoined Swift.

LYCAENIDAE

_Nacaduba nora (Felder): The Common Lineblue.

_ Nacaduba nora is also reported by our pee Mi. Basil

‘W. Wirth of 21 Colaba Chambers, Bornbay 5 , along with two other

15a

234. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Lycaenid additions, all taken by him at Colaba on 12 October 1959,

namely :

Nacaduba dubiosa (Semper): The Tailless Lineblue.

Nacaduba berée (Felder): The Opaque 6-Lineblue.

Bombay Natural History Society, EDITORS.

91, Walkeshwar Road,

BOMBAY 6,

February 11, 1960.

19. THE SUBMERGED LEAVES OF NYMPHAEA

PUBESCENS WILLD.

(With one plate)

Conard (1905) in his monograph on the genus Nymphaea has.

described the germinating tuber of N. lotus (L.) Willd. He states:

‘. . about three submerged leaves are first formed, varying greatly in

size according to the supply of nourishment. A summary of the

three leaves he describes could be given thus: first leaf—petiole 3.8 cm.

long, a filiform midrib 1.3 cm. long with minute protuberances on

either side at the base representing the lamina; second leaf—deltoid,

with rounded angles and broad, shallow, rounded sinus; third leaf—

broadly deltoid, with deeper sinus. In a diagram accompanying this

description (fig. 74, p. 195) the lamina of the first and second sub-

merged leaves of N. devoniensis Hort. are shown, but they resemble

the second and third leaves of his description of the previous species;

possibly Conard also meant these 2 leaves are the last and next to

last submerged leaves of this plant. He does not mention the leaves

of N. pubescens, but assumes that leaf development is the same for

the whole of his ‘Lotos group’.

d’Almeida and Mullan (1925) describe the sprouting of the tuber

of N. pubescens in this way: “The first leaves are linear or acicular;

then come the lanceolate, hastate and sagittate types successively ....

also: ‘The sagittate leaf is succeeded by the cordate and finally by

the mature, floating, orbicular leaf’. This description of the first

submerged leaves of this species is accompanied by a diagram (fig. 30.

p. 68) of a sprouting tuber (d’Almeida gives the exact size of the

tuber and its leaves in a later paper, see below). These authors also

offer a diagram of a seedling of the same species (fig. 35, p. 76)

showing a rosette of 12 ae! submerged leaves, but the exact

size of the leaves is not given. :

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 235

d’Almeida (1926) describes the ‘tubers’ of this species, which form

after November and December as the dry season approaches. They

are usually 6 cm. long and 3.5 cm. in diam., but they get smaller on

drying; also, they are ‘only the upper part of the rhizome’, and the

only leaves present are the scales which are left after the preceding

leaves have become reduced in size and form. Sprouting of these

‘tubers’ takes place at the beginning of the rainy season.

McCann (1935), in contrast, describes the ‘tubers’ for the same

species as ovoid and roundish and about 1-4 cm. long on short or long

stolons. ‘These ‘tubers’ are piodigee by the rhizome amid the roots

of young plants. ;

It is apparent that the mature form and size of the submerged

leaves of N. pubescens have received some attention, but information

is still lacking on the exact size and form of these leaves, particularly

those preceding the first formed floating leaves. In an attempt to

supply some of this information. young plants of N. pubescens were

collected from the village tank at Khandala. In this tank regeneration

of this species (locally called ‘kamal’) takes place in the shallow areas

where the smail, spherical ‘tubers’ (c. | cm. in diam. with a piece of

stolon attached, cf. authors mentioned above) and their young delicate

leaves are protected by the matted layers of grass, which occur in these

areas., Most of the young plants collected had between 2 and 4 sub-

ead leaves and between 2 and 3 floating leaves.

Three typical plants were selected and the last 2 submerged leaves

and the first 2 floating leaves were recorded to show the exact size

and form (A, B and C of Plate and Table). These submerged leaves

TABLE

Petiole length (in cm.) of some leaves of N. pubescens

Submerged leaves Floating leaves

1 2 |

PlantiAs <uok. 14,5 10.0 22.0 + 22.0 |

PlantB.': 9,5 6.0 9.0 | 18.5.

Plant C _ 12.5 12.5 | 24.0 | 18.7

are similar to some depicted in the sketch - the seedling by d’Almeida

and Mullan (see above). Another young plant was selected and 4 of

its 5 submerged leaves (laminae only) are shown here (D 1-4 of Plate}

simply to show some of the subtle changes in leaf form. This

236. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST.-SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

particular plant had no floating leaves, as yet, and the youngest

submerged leaf, though not shown, was similar to B2 although it was

much smaller.

Some variation exists here even anioiig ‘the 3 plants (A, B, and ©)

growing under the same environmental conditions, still it is evident

that the mature form is quite stable for the last 2 submerged léaves

and also for the first 2 floating leaves of this species.. In any case, these

submerged leaves are much larger than any reported by Conard (1905)

for any species in or out of the ‘Lotos group’. The only submerged

leaf recorded by him which approaches the size of the largest leaf

depicted here is a leaf of N. tuberosa Paine (not in the ‘Lotos group’),

which is the third submerged leaf from one. tuber (fig. -71, p. 190) and

represents either the last or the next to last submerged leaf of this

tuber. The lamina measures at its maximum length 6.5 cm. and at

its maximum width 5.0 cm., in contrast to my Al (next to last sub-

merged leaf) the lamina of which measures at its maximum length

its maximum width 5.0 cm., in contrast to my Al next to last sub-

merged leaf) which measures at its maximum length 9.0 cm. and at

its maximum width 5.5 cm. Sie S

Only 2 examples of the stipules Gael in pairs at the bas of each

leaf) are recorded in the Plate, since they vary little from leaf to leaf.

It may not be simply a coincidence that the largest submerged

leaves reported so far for any Nymphaea species are found on two tuber-

producing plants, but some points about the exact mode of tuber

production in N. pubescens, as indicated, are in doubt.

ST. XAVIER’S COLLEGE,

BOMBAY, | J. J. GAUDET

February 1, 1960.

REFERENCES

“Conard, H. S. (1905): The waterlilies. d’Almedia, J. F.’R. (1926): Some

A monograph of the genus Nymphaea. notes on the structure and life-history

Pub. 4. Carnegie Instit., Washington. of Nymphaea pubescens Willd. Journ.

- d’Almeida, J. F. R., & Mullan, D.P. Ind. Bot. Soc. 5 : 62-71.

(1925): Nephrolepis and Nymphaea. The McCann, C. (1935): Some observa-

Popuiar Book Depot, Bombay. (3rd Ed.,_ tions. on Nymphaea | pubescens Willd.

1937). J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 37: 895-901:

Journ. BomBay Nat. Hist. Soc.

Leaves of Nymphaea pubescens Willd.

Al-4, B1-4, C1-4 Laminae from 3 different plants (1 & 2 Laminae of last 2 sub-

merged leaves, 3 & 4 Laminae of first 2 floating leaves) ; D1-4 Laminae of the sub-

merged leaves of a single plant; A’ Stipules of leaf B2; B’ Stipules of leaf B3.

JourN. BoMBAY Nat. Hist. Soc.

Brucea amarissima (Lour.) Merr.

a. Branch with inflorescence; b,c, d. Multicellular, unicellular, and glandular hairs ;

e. L. S. of flower.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 23]

20. BRUCEA AMARISSIMA (LOUR.) MERR.—A NEW

RECORD FOR SOUTH INDIA

(With one plate)

Brucea is a pantropical genus of the family Simaroubaceae with

about six species, of which two, B. amarissima and B. mollis, are

reported from various parts of India; they are said to be common in

Assam, Tennaserim, Andaman. Islands, Singapore, Borneo, Sumatra,

Java, Philippine Islands, §. China, and Australia.

While on holiday in my native Perunnai, Changanacherri, Kerala

State, during the summer vacation of 1952, I observed a plant of

Brucea amarissima in flower in waste lands near the town club. Sub-

sequently I came across several plants in other places. These plants

were said to be wild or spontaneous, not cultivated. The bark and

seeds of the species are used in medicine, particularly in the treatment

of dysentery; for this reason the plant is well known in those parts

of Kerala. On the other hand none of the floras of south India

consulted mentioned the plant for the area. Cameron (1894), Rama

Rao (1914), Gamble (1915), Fyson (1915, 1932), Bourdillon (1937) have

been studied; none of them has reported the genus Brucea for south

India.

This absence of data on the plant prompted me to make an intense

search in various parts of Kerala; this note is based on my observa-

tions of the last seven years. I have found the plant growing wild

in a number of localities, such as Changanacherri, Thiruvalla,

Kanjirapally, Kottayam, etc., in hilly areas; it may be found in other

places. The plant does not seem to grow in the coastal areas; my

specimens have been examined or collected from the hills.

Brucea amarissima is a small tree, 5-8 m. high. . Leaves alternate,

imparipinnately compound, 30-45 cm. long; leaflets 7-13, lanceolate,

acuminate, serrate, 7-9X2-2.3 cm., the terminal one usually larger;

veins 10-12, more prominent and covered with yellow pubescence on

the lower surface. Inflorescence axillary, paniculate, of variable

length (7.5-35 cm.), densely yellow-pubescent. Flowers bisexual,

minute, in alternate distant cymes; pedicels 4-5 mm. long, thickened

in fruit, pubescent with unicellular, multicellular, or glandular hairs.

Calyx 4-partite, minute, 0.5-0.7 mm. long, valvate (I have not been

able to confirm Hooker’s statement that the sepals are imbricate),

rarely persisting in fruit. Corolla 4-partite, valvate, spathulate, 1.5-2

mm. long. Stamens 4, shorter than and alternating with the petals,

inserted beneath a very prominent disc. The lower portion of the

disc is four-lobed, the lobes opposite the petals, the upper portion is

238 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

cup-like and four-celled, each cell enclosing a carpel. Gynecium of

four free carpels; style very short, stigma reflexed. Drupes fleshy,

purplish black, ovoid, one-seeded; generally out of the four carpels,

only one or at most two develop into fruit. Seeds smooth, slightly

albuminous; seed coat thin, membranous. Embryo of two cotyledons,

which are fleshy. The floral axis continues above the level of the

carpels.

Flowers and Fruits: May-August.

The fruits are eaten by birds, and the latter thus help in the dis-

tribution of the species.

I am grateful to Messrs. O. J. Kuruvilla and M. D. Joseph of

St. Berckman’s College, Changanacherri, for the help rendered in the

preparation of this note.

BIRLA COLLEGE,

PILANI, N. C. NAIR

October 15, 1959.

REFERENCES

Bourdillon, T. F. (1837) : The Forest Fyson, P. F. (1932): The Flora of

Trees of Travancore. 2nd ed., Trivan- South Indian Hill Stations. Madras.

drum. Gamble, J. S. (1915): Flora of the

Cameron, J. (1894) : The Forest Trees Presidency of Madras. London.

of Mysore and Coorg. Bangalore. Hooker, J. D. (1875): Flora of British

Fyson, P. F. (1915): The Flora of the India. London.

Nilgiri and Pulney Hilltops. Madras. Rama Rao, M. (1914): Flowering

Plants of Travancore. Trivandrum.

21. THE IDENTITY OF THE ENTADA PLANTS FROM

BOMBAY

Th. Cooke, in his FLORA OF THE PRESIDENCY OF BOMBAY 1: 437,

1903, has listed a plant under the name Entada scandens Benth..,

locally known in various parts of Bombay under the name of Garbi

in Marathi. The nomenclature and synonymy of the plant is more

than ordinarily complicated. In my ‘Flora of Khandala on_ the

Western Ghats of India (in Rec. Bot. Surv. 16 (1): 94, 1953, I listed

the plant under the name Entada phaseoioides (Linn.) Merrill. A

recent paper by J. P. M. Brenan in Kew Bulletin (1955: 161 et seq.)

has caused me to re-examine all the sheets of the genus in Blatter

Herbarium, after which revision I came to the conclusion that all the

specimens from Khandala and other parts of the W. Ghats should be

called Entada pursaetha DC.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 239

To check this conclusion I had several specimens sent to the Royal

Botanic Garden, Kew, for examination by Mr. Brenan. The results

of this second examination were communicated to me by Mr. Brenan

in a private letter, in which among other things, he writes: “The

specimens of Entada which you mentioned in your letter of the 6th

March have arrived safely. I have now examined them and, as I

think we both expected, there seems no evidence at all against all of

them being Entada pursaetha DC,’

To help other Bombay botanists in the identification of their

specimens this note is being written.

Entada scandens Benth. was based on Mimosa scandens Linn.

(1763), ‘which as Johnston has shown in Sargentia (1949) was an

aggregate species, of which the most typical plant was that mentioned

by Rumphius in Herb. Amboin. 5: 5-8, t. 4, 1750, under the name

of Faba marina. The correct name for this plant is Entadd,

phaseoloides (Linn.) Merrill, 1914, based on Lens phaseoloides Linn.,

1754. Mimosa scandens Roxb. FI. Ind. 2: 554, 1832, from Sylhet

seems to be a different plant from M. scandens Linn., but its identity

is not yet clear.

Entada pursaetha DC. is given in the literature as being a plant

from Africa; however, Alston has listed it as the name of the species

ito be found in Ceylon; it is also the name of our plant in Bombay

State. The nomenclature of these two plants is the following:

(a) Entada phaseoloides (Linn.) Merr, in Philipp. Journ. Sci. 9:

86, 1914; Brenan in Kew Bulli. 1955: 164; (non Santapau, 1953).

Lens phaseoloides Linn. Herb. Amboin. 18, 1754. Mimosa scandens

Linn. Sp. Pl., ed. 2, 1501, 1763. Entada scandens (Linn.) Benth. in

Hook. Journ. Bot. 4: 332, 1841 (non Baker in Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind.

i: 287, nec Cooke).

The real E. phaseoloides Merr. comes from Amboina in the

Moluccas, and does not extend to India. E. scandens Benth. is

identical with phaseoloides, and does not extend to India, in spite of

the fact that the name has been used in most of our provincial floras.

This plant has 1-2, occasionally up to 3, pairs of leaflets; the pod is

straight or curved but not twisted; the inner layer of the pod has the

consistency of tough parchment.

(b) Entada pursaetha DC. Prodr. 2: 425, 1825 (excl. syn. nonnullis)

& Mem. Leg. 421, 1826; Brenan in Kew Bull. 1955: 164. Mimosa

entada Linn. Sp. Pl. 518, 1753. Entada rheedii Spreng. Syst. 2: 325,

1825. E. monostachya DC. Prodr. 2: 425, 1825. E. scandens Cooke,

Fl. Pres. Bombay 1: 437, 1903, (non Benth. 1841).

240 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

Three of these names, viz. pursaetha, rheedii, and monostachya,

all date from 1825, and there is no evidence to show that rheedii is

prior to the others; for this reason Brenan has selected E. pursaetha

DC. which in addition ‘can be well typified and which has been

adopted as the name of the common Ceylon plant by Alston, FI.

Ceylon, 6, 95 (1931) ... The distribution of E. pursaetha is very

wide, from West and East Africa eastwards to China, Guam, New

Guinea and northern Australia.’ (Brenan, loc. cit. 164.)

This plant is described as having 3-4, occasionally up to 5,

pairs of leaflets; the pods are straight or curved but not twisted; the

inner layer of the pod is thick, rigid, woody; the axis of the inflore-

scence is subglabrous to somewhat pubescent; the calyx is glabrous.

The identity of the Assam-Nepal! plant remains doubtful; Brenan

states in litt.: ‘it may be an extreme variant of E. pursactha itself,

but it would be unwise to come to a final verdict without more

evidence.’ ee

From the foregoing notes, it is clear that the plant which is com-

mon in Khandala and other parts of the Western Ghats is not Entada

scandens Benth. nor E. phaseoloides Merr., but it is Entada pursaetha

DC. It is now too late for me to take up this name for the 2nd

edition of my Flora of Khandala, which is expected to be out in the

near future; this is why this correction is published in this Journal.

It is with a deep sense of gratitude that I wish to acknowledge

the help received from Messrs. C. E. Hubbard and J. P. M. Brenan of

the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the identification of my speci-

mens of Entada from Bombay.

ST. XAVIER’S COLLEGE,

Bompay 1, H. SANTAPAU, S.J., F.LN.

November 24, 1959.

22. THE MAIN BOTANICAL GARDENS OF THE USSR.

(With a photo)

Moscow acquired a new and important scientific centre and at the

same time a splendid place where people can rest when the main

botanical gardens of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences were opened.

They occupy 360 hectares’ of land in a picturesque suburb of the

capital, in the natural conditions typical for the central zone of the

1 One hectare = 2°471 acres.—Eps.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 241.

U.S.S.R. Two-thirds of the territory are woodland: oak forest, birch

grove, pine wood, and mixed forest. Most of the trees are in their

prime, being from 70 to 80 years old, some of the oaks are 200

years old.

ase

Victoria cruziana in the Botanical Garden, Moscow.

The staff of the botanical gardens are doing important research

work and solving many problems of plant acclimatization. Scientists

select the most promising wild plants for cultivation and breed new

varieties useful. to the national economy or suitable for planting in

cities, villages, and health resorts.

Special care is devoted to the development of I. Michurin’s theories.

The great scientist's work in distant hybridization is continued with

successful results, both theoretical and practical. Crossing cultivated

plants with wild varieties has produced hybrids with greater biological

resistance and higher yields. .

The scientists who work in the gardens also conduct research in

biochemistry, the use of stimulants of plant growth, and other subjects.

The new botanical gardens are rapidly becoming popular with

Muscovites. Many visitors to the capital also come here, for the

gardens are included in the plan of excursions for tourists from all

242 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (1)

parts of the Soviet Union and foreign countries. The big collection

of plants from different parts of the U.S.S.R. and many other countries

is of great interest. It includes about 400,000 specimens of 11,000

different plants—-a really tremendous collection.

The exposition of U.S.S.R. flora occupies 25 hectares, showing

about 3000 plant species, or more than one-tenth of the plants grow-

ing in the U.S.S.R. and the most typical at that. Visitors to this

section can see plants from the Carpathians, the Ukrainian steppes,

the Crimea, the Caucasus, central Asia, Siberia and the Far East.

The Far Eastern flora is represented by 800 different plants, including

the Amur cork oak, the white walnut tree whose wood is used for

veneer, and the Korean cedar. Lianas hang from the branches of

trees and enormous ferns grow at their foot. Grass varieties are very

numerous, especially those that come from Sakhalin, including angelica,

wild rye, and many other species.

A garden where flowers bloom from the beginning of May until

late autumn grows at the edge of the oak wood. The first to blossom

are lilies-of-the-valley, growing among the roots of the oaks. They

are followed by narcissus, tulips, lilac, and peonies. Phlox of the most

varied colours are now in bloom and dahlias are beginning to open

up—autumn is approaching.

The botanical gardens have the biggest collection in the U.S.S.R. of

trees and shrubs growing in open ground. They come from different

parts of the world. Nine hundred species are distributed according,

to systematic features and are supposed to form one-third of the trees

and shrubs that can grow in the conditions of the Moscow district.

In the section of cultivated plants visitors can observe plant

evolution and see how, under man’s influence, plants were transformed

from wild species to the modern varieties of vegetables, fruit, and

industrial plants. Varieties bred by Michurin and his numerous

followers can be seen here.

The huge glass building standing in one of the glades is a con-

servatory housing a big collection of tropical and subtropical plants.

There are more than !0,0QQ specimens of plants from evergreen

forests, warm lakes and rivers, savannas and deserts. A temperature

and humidity similar to those of the natural environment of the plants

collected in the conservatory are maintained in every section.

The rich collections of the main botanical gardens of the U.S.S.R.

are open for everybody to see.

c/o U.S.S.R. EmBassy IN INpIA,

NEw DELHI. B. KOTELNIKOV

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 243

23. THE WATER HYACINTH-—AN APPEAL FOR

INFORMATION

May I enlist your help in the following matter? When I settled

down in West Bengal in 1957, I noted that the flowers of Eichhornia

crassipes, the water hyacinth, had one set of stamens longer than the

style, another set shorter. This suggested that the flowers are

trimorphically heterostylic, like those of Lythrum salicaria. That is

to say, we would expect also to find long-styled flowers, in which there

were two sets of stamens shorter than the style, and short-styled

flowers, in which there were two sets of stamens longer than the style,

as well as the common mid-styled form.

I found a long-styled plant in a swamp near Madras, and my

colleague Shri S. K. Roy has found another in a tank at Bangalore, but

the condition is clearly rare in India and is not represented in herbaria

which we have seen.

On the other hand the long-styled form is quite common both in

Singapore and on the mainland of Malaya, as Shri Roy observed in

1958.

I suggest that readers of the Journal might care to report to the

Bombay Natural History Society on the form of this plant in their

neighbourhood, the reports to be collated by the Society when enough

accumulate. I should personally be glad to hear of long-styled or

Short-styled flowers, since it may be possible to investigate their

genetics.

INDIAN STATISTICAL INSTITUTE,

BARRACKPORE TRUNK ROAD, J. B. S. HALDANE

CALCUTTA,

January 9, 1960.

Gleanings

Hypet WATER AND PLANT LIFE

Speaking of the Owen Falls Hydro-Electric Scheme in East Uganda,

Richard St. Barbe Baker (1954) says im SAHARA CHALLENGE [Lutter-

worth Press, London]: ‘As an ecologist I could not share this

enthusiasm. In what they are doing I saw certain disaster. Water that

comes through a turbine is physically different from when it went in.

In the process, electro-magnetic force, which keeps the trace elements

in motion in each molecule or electron, is given off, with the result that

those essential elements drop out; the water goes on its way deprived

of them and they are needed to promote fertility and the growth of

wholesome food. Also the vitality of the water is beaten out of it

and it becomes flat and sick and affects the whole course of the river

or valley through which it passes. I have witnessed this phenomenon

for myself in the U.S.A. where the much-vaunted Tennessee Valley

Project has reduced the stamina of vegetation, exposing plant life to

pests, nature’s method of eliminating sick plants and animals.’

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY V. M. PHILIP AT THE DIOCESAN FRESS

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EDITORS: SALIM ALI, AND H, SANTAPAU

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CONTENTS

' PAGE

STUDIES ON THE REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAYA elecee [ Ploceus |

Philippinus (L.)]}. By John Hurrell Crook se Ne Seg:

VEGETATION OF KODAIKANAL IN Sout INbIA. I. SYSTEMATIC List OF ‘Tress,

SHRUBS, AND HeErss. By Raj Kumar Gupta hy ah} Fia's 49

FIsHES FROM THE KasHMIR VALLEY. By E.G. Silas .. a pee 66

THE DIATOM FLORA OF THE BOMBAY AND SALSETTE ISLANDS. By H. P. Gandhi. : 78

CRITICAL NOTES ON THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE. II. Platanthera L. C.

Rico. & Peristylus BL. By H. Santapau and Z. Kapadia .. .. 124

CONSTANCY TO HORTICULTURAL VARIETIES SHOWN BY BUTTERFLIES, AND ITS POS-

SIBLE EVOLUTIONARY SIGNIFICANCE. By Krishna Kae Dronamraju and Helen

Spurway as €h a 5 4 ae 10)

SYSTEMATICS AND ECOLOGY OF INDIAN PLANTs. I. (ON THE RAINY SEASON WEEDS

OF GorRAKHPUR. By D. N. Sen <6 ne .. 144

CON SOME NEW SPECIES OF SPIDERS age ee OF THE FAMILY THOMISIDAE FROM

InpiA. By B. K,. Tikader .. ae ie ne, Fond Wik

THE VEGETATION OF KANYAKUMARI eric (CaPE Comorin). By C. A.

Lawrence iS St “ “ss 2 .. 184

SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE BIOLOGY OF Labidura riparia (PALLAS) (LABIDURIDAE,

DERMAPTERA) FROM POONA. By P. V. Joshi aie Bi .. 196

LEAVES AND TENDRILS AS AIDS FOR IDENTIFICATION OF CucuRBITS. By Priya-

darsan Sensarma 4 at BAT seek Ga .. 204

REVIEWS .. . a rage mS ss .. 208

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES oes “ | me te .. 243

GLEANINGS. . ee oe ® es ee of ee ee 244

Journal of the

Bombay Natural History Society

Vol. 37,,No. 2

Editors

H. SANTAPAU, s.J., & HUMAYUN ABDULALI

AUGUST 1960

Rs. 15

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EDITORS,

91, Walkeshwar Road, Journal of the Bombay Natural

Bombay 6. History Society.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME 57, NO. 2

PAGE

THE BREEDING OF THE GREY OR SPOTTEDBILLED PELICAN, Pelecanus philippensis

GMELIN. By E.P. Gee. (With four plates) a es a 249

CRITICAL NOTES ON THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE. III. THE GENUS

Oberonia LINDL. By H. Santapau and Z. Kapadia. (With five plates) .. 252

BUTTERFLIES OF THE PALNI HILLS: A COMPLEMENTARY LIST. By E. Ugarte and

L. Rodricks 54 oc os oY ae io 20

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL. By Biswamoy Biswas. (With a map) ore SSP eThs)

SOME USEFUL AND MEDICINAL PLANTS OF NAINI TAL IN THE KUMAON HIMALAYAS.

By Raj Kumar Gupta se a ot na .. 309

\VA CursorY ECOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE FLORA AND FAUNA OF THE HAZARIBAGH

NATIONAL PARK (BIHAR). By Jamal Ara. (With a map) ve Ratios 1245)

THE NESTING HABITS OF THE GOLDFINCH Carduelis carduelis (LINN.) & C. caniceps

Vicors. By R.S.P. Bates. (With a plate) a ne Riso

ASPECTS OF VEGETATION OF CHURCH ISLAND OFF TUTICORIN PoRT IN SOUTH INDIA.

By K.S. Srinivasan. (With one text map and three plates) Ae .. 348

A STUDY OF THE SEASONAL Foops OF THE BLACK FRANCOLIN [Francolinus fran-

colinus (LINNAEUS)], THE GREY FRANCOLIN [F. pondicerianus (GMELIN) ], AND

THE COMMON SANDGROUSE (Prerocles exustus TEMMINCK) IN INDIA AND

PAKISTAN. By Shamin A. Faruqi, Gardiner Bump, P. C. Nanda, and Glen

C. Christensen .. i 4! at os ae 354

NOTES ON SHIPWORMS FROM VISAKHAPATNAM HARBOUR. By R. Nagabhushanam.

(With four text-figures) an 33 ~ ae se 302

THE VEGETATION OF MARSHES, SWAMPS, AND RIVERSIDE IN KHANDWA DISTRICT

(MADHYA PRADESH). By J. K. Maheshwari oy Ae Reo

REVIEWS :

1. Insect Migration (R.R.) .. be oe 7 .. 388

2. The Mystery of the Flamingos (S.A.) a se .. 389

3. The Arkin our midst. The Story of the Introduced Animals of Britain :

Birds, Beasts, Reptiles, Amphibians, Fishes (R.R.) i ae ool

4. Some common Snakes and Lizards of Australia (H.A.) i Be ee

5. Bumblebees (R.R.) # ath i a 55393

ADDITIONS TO THE SOCIETY’S LIBRARY ae ies ae .. 395

i ‘CONTENTS OF VOLUME 57, NO. 2—(contd.)

PAGE

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES :—

1. In defence of the tiger. By Lt.-Col. M. M. Ismail (p. 398). 2. The Hispid

Hare, Caprolagus hispidus (Pearson) (With a photo). By Editors (p. 400). 3.

‘Tusks of Indian elephants’. By P. D. Stracey (p. 402). 4. Wild Life in some

areas of south India. By Leslie Brown (p. 403). 5. The Eastern Calandra Lark

(Melanocorypha bimaculata) in Kutch. By M. K. Himmatsinhji (p. 408). 6.

The Cinereous Vulture [Aegypius monachus (Linnaeus)|—An addition to the

birds of Kutch (With a plate). By Salim Ali (p. 408). 7. On the occurrence of

the Redheaded Merlin (Falco chiquera) in Kerala. By K. K. .Neelakantan

(p. 409). 8. The Buffbreasted Sandpiper, Tryngites subruficollis (Vieillot) : An

addition to the avifauna of India and Ceylon. By C. E. Norris (p. 411). 9.

‘Flamingo City’ re-visited : Nesting of the Rosy Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus

Linnaeus) in the Rann of Kutch (With a plate). By Salim Ali (p. 412). 10. In

search of the Pinkheaded Duck [ Rhodonessa caryophyllacea (Latham)]}. By Jamal

Ara (p. 415). 11. A Pinkheaded Duck [Rhodonessa caryophyllacea (Latham)]

at last? By K. L. Mehta (p. 417). 12. Bird netting and the weather : Some

experiences in Kutch, March 1960. By Daniel Mathew (p. 417). 13. Notes on

the Spinytailed Lizard, Uromastix hardwicki Gray. By Humayun Abdulali

(p. 421). 14. The Bull Frog (Rana tigrina) as a predator of poultry. By Edwin

Dharmaraju (p. 423). 15. Four new butterflies from Assam (With five

text-figures).. By Keith Cantlie and T. Norman (p. 424). 16. On the migration

of the swallowtail, Polydorus hector (Linnaeus) [Lepidoptera : Insecta], over

sea (With two text-figures). By E. G. Silas (p. 430). 17. Insect-bird associa- ~

tions with nests of large red ants [Oecophylla smaragdina (Fabricius)]. By

Humayun Abdulali (p. 435). 18. Two social wasps: Icaria variegata (Smith)

and Polistes stigma (Fabricius) (With four text-figures). By F. L. Wain (p. 436).

19. Rhynchosia sericea Span.: A new record for Bombay State. By G. L. Shah

and D. P. Panthaki (p. 440). «20. A note on the occurrence of Acanthospermum

hispidum DC. in Rajasthan (With a plate). By N. C. Nair and M. B. Deshpande

(p. 441). 21. On the nomenclature of Jasminum virgatum Kerr. By G. S.

Bhatnagar (p. 442). 22. Merremia tuberosa (L.) Rendle: An ideal creeper for

the plant-house (With a photograph). By D. Chatterjee (p. 443). 23. New plant

records from Gujarat. By A. R. Chavan and S. D. Sabnis (p. 446). 24.

Artocarpus heterophyllus Lamk. (With a plate). By H. Santapau (p. 447). 25.

An unusual inflorescence of Casuarixa equisetifolia Linn. (With a photograph).

By P. Prasanna Varma (p. 449). 26. Bamboo Fruits (With two plates). By

D. Chatterjee (p. 451). 27. New species of Cyanophyceae from Mysore State—I

(With two plates). By Ella A. Gonsalves and N. D. Kamat (p. 454). 28.

Corynomorpha prismatica J. Ag. from Okha: A new locality record for India

(With two plates). By K. S. Srinivasan (p. 456). 29. Observations on some

drift algae at Mahabalipuram Coast (With three plates). By K.S. Srinivasan

(p. 458).

GLEANINGS. .

NOTES AND NEWS

. 462

. 463

JOURNAL

OF THE

BOMBAY NATURAL

HISTORY SOCIETY

1960 AUGUST | Vol SD ty No. 2

The Breeding of the Grey or

Spottedbilled Pelican,

— Pelecanus philippensis Gmelin

E. P. GEE, M.A., C.M.Z.S.

(With four plates)

Where do pelicans breed in India? This is a question often asked,

but an answer never seems to be forthcoming. I have been asking,

forest officers, sportsmen, and others in north-east India for many

years now, but no-pelicanry seems to exist in these parts.

Pelicans are quite common in this sub-continent, especially the

Grey or Spottedbilled Pelican (Pelecanus philippensis Gmelin), and 1

have often seen them on the Brahmaputra and on jheels in Assam.

I remember seeing several hundreds on a jheel in Kaziranga in

December 1950, and there are usually a few dozen to be found in

that sanctuary. On the Manas and Beki rivers in north-west Assam

there always used to be about a hundred birds near the Bhutan

border, though as a matter of fact this cold weather only three were

to be seen.

It is an extraordinary fact that such a large and spectacular bird

as the pelican, justly famed for being able to hold more in its beak

than its belly can, should not be better known. In the last century

Blanford deplored that of late years no authentic account of pelicans

breeding in India had appeared, though Jerdon (writing in 1864) said

he had visited a pelicanry in the Carnatic ‘where the Pelicans have

(for ages I was told) built their rude nests, on rather low trees in

the midst of a village, and seemed to care little for the close and

constant proximity of human beings’.

246 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

Whistler stated in 1928 that there was no known breeding haunt

of the pelican in India. In Stuart Baker’s book (1929) he mentions

that ‘there was formerly a breeding place in Sylhet, possibly still

existing, where they did not begin to lay until July, when the floods

had commenced to rise’; and it would be interesting to know if this

pelicanry still exists in present-day East Pakistan.

Delving into the back numbers of the Journal of the Bombay

Natural History Society, 1 find (in Vol. 14, page 401) that at the end

of March 1890 a person named W. Howard Campbell found a large

number of Grey Pelicans breeding in. company with Painted Storks

in a secluded valley in the extrenie east of the Cuddapah District, in

what is now Andhra State: ‘The nests, of which there were séveral

hundreds, were on neem and tamarind trees in a small village called

Buchupalle. The people of the village were very much averse to

any interference with the nests. The birds trusted them and they

would not have them injured, they said.’ It is not known if this

small pelicanry still exists.

In June 1906 (in Vol. 17, page 806) C. E: Rhenius found a sniall

pelicanry in the village of Kundakolam in the extreme south of

Tinnevelly District, in Madras State. About twelve tamarind trees

contained nests with fully-fledged young birds. There were also

Painted Storks nesting there—the Pond Herons, Cattle Egrets, and

Night Herons had left: ‘The villagers looked on these birds as

semi-sacred and would not allow anyone to disturb or molest them,

so that they return to build there year after year, and have done so

for years past.’ In April 1944 (in Vol. 45, page 426) this very

pelicanry was visited by C. G. Webb-Peploe, who saw only ten nests

of pelicans with young birds in them (and also 200 nests of Painted

Stork and many of Night Heron and Little Egret). The headman

of the village protected them, he said, and the birds seemed to have

been nesting there for 60-70 yéars at least. There is no further news

of this diminutive colony of pelicans.

From all accounts pelicans breed in Ceylon in February and

March; but the largest pelicanry in this part of Asia, if not in the

whole world, is or was near Shwe-gyen on the Sittang River in Burma.

This huge pelicanry, described as being some twenty miles long by

five miles broad and as containing ‘millions’ of pelicans and Adjutant

Storks, was discoverd by Oates in 1877. The nests contained eggs

in November. Stuart Baker in 1929 reported that they still bred

there in their hundreds of thousands in company with Adjutants.

The area was again visited by Wickham in 1910 who found that

‘countless millions of birds still bred over a vast area’. According

Prate fi

JOURN. BOMBAY

Nesting activity on palmyra tree

Photos: E. P. Gee

JOURN. BomBaAy Nat. Hist. Soc. PLATE II

Nesting activity where babool and palmyra trees intermingle, showing adults

i 2: gictee, and very young chicks

Three incubating adults. Each nest contained two eggs. When excited, the birds

extend their pouches.

Photos: E. P. Gee

BREEDING OF THE GREY OR SPOTTEDBILLED PELICAN 247

to B. E. Smythies the birds were still there in 1935, but in 1946 ‘the

immense colonies which Oates found on the Sittang have disappeared’:

No recent news of this pelicanry has been received.

Now to return to India. In 1946 (Vol. 48, pages 656-666)

K. K. Neelakantan of Trivandrum commendably discovered a

pelicanry of considerable size near the Kollair Lake in West

Godavari District of what is now Andhra State. It was close to the

village of Aredu, and is reached by train on the main line from

Calcutta or Madras, the station Tadepallegudem being 15 miles away.

This same person made an official visit to the pelicanry in December

1959 on behalf of the Anchra Government, and was kind enough to

supply me with all the latest information about the place, where to

stay and so on.

Accordingly I visited the pelicanry in January of this year (1960),

and found a remarkable sight. Probably not less than 3000 pelicans

were nesting in an area of about two square miles of well-irrigated

paddy fields. The nests were mainly in palmyra trees, and sometimes

in babool or rain trees or coconut palms, which are planted along the

irrigation bunds. Sometimes there were as many as twelve to fifteen

nests in one tree, and often not far up from the ground. The

villagers protect them as much as they can—partly because of the

trust the visiting birds place in them, and partly because of the value

of the guano or droppings as a fertilizer for the crops.

The birds this year have shifted their breeding ground from Aredu.

There is a small colony of about 25 nests near Ganapavram, but the

large colony of about 1500 nests is near Kolamuru village, about

three miles from Aredu. When I was there from January 13th to

19th the small pelicanry contained half-grown young birds, while the

nests of the larger one had eggs or else very young chicks. It was

thus possible to see the breeding of this bird in all its stages.

I went there primarily for photography, both ciné and still, but

managed to find some time for observation of the habits of these

extraordinary birds. Although the pelican is a large and somewhat

ungainly-looking creature, once it has managed to become airborne

after much effort and flapping it flies very gracefully. With under-

carriage of legs and webbed feet up, head well back on the shoulders,

and large bill resting on the front of the neck it sails through the

air with apparently little effort.

I thought at the time that I had stumbled on something new

about the soaring of pelicans which is done regularly over the nest-

ing area. Every day I saw this “community soaring’ going on, usually

about 50-150 birds wheeling round and round on the thermal currents

248 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

in the same way as vultures do. They (probably the mates of the

brooding birds) would fiy from their nests and join the soaring at the

lowest level, and soon attain a great height, eventually becoming tiny

specks in the sky. I observed, however, on two days at about 2.30 to

3:30 p.m. that some pelicans left the ‘community soaring’ and went

in for ‘individual soaring’ at a great height, wheeling round and round

on their own. And then suddenly a bird would start to do aerobatics

—twisting, turning, and rolling in a most peculiar and comical way.

Out of sheer joi de vivre, 1 presume.

Most people know that the upper mandible of the pelican is long,

slightly boat-shaped, and ends in a nail or hook. The lower mandible

consists of two flexible arches which support a large elastic pouch.

This pendant and distensible pouch of naked membrane forms an

. ideal landing net when the birds are fishing. I noticed that whenever

the birds became excited in any way, the pouch was extended giving

the beak a thick triangular appearance.

Many people must have seen pelicans fishing: like cormorants

they do it together in a party, forming a line or semi-circle and

driving the fish into the shallows where they scoop them up in their

pouches. Talking about fish—how do pelicans choose a_ nesting

site? How do pelicanries come into existence, to which pelicans will

come from all parts of India and from which, after the breeding

season is over, they will return to their respective haunts in all parts

of India? The answer presumably is—fish supply. They must have

a place where they can catch sufficient fish to feed themselves and

their growing offspring. The amount of fish required to feed so many

pelicans must be very large indeed, amounting to several tons per

day.

From a cloth ‘hide’ fixed in a tree just above the level of some

of the nests, I was able to observe and photograph the intimate

family life of the pelicans in their home. The enjoyment derived

from being only a few feet away from wild birds while they have not

the faintest idea that you are there has to be experienced to be

believed. After a short absence due to the alarm caused by your

climbing into the ‘hide’, the huge birds return to their nests in twos

and threes, wings outstretched and undercarriage of legs and webbed

feet forward. Then the inevitable shufiling. and bickering of birds

breeding in a community. Then those with eggs settle down to

brood, while those with chicks start to feed them.

The eggs are a dirty white, and the chicks are born naked. Soon

a snow-white down covers their bodies, and this is gradually replaced

by sprouting feathers of a brownish grey. The bills of the young

JourRN. Bompay Nat. Hist. Soc. PLaTE III

One of the unfortunate youngsters which had fallen from its nest. It was strutting

up and down the ground below picking up what it could

Parent feeding very young chick, which is mostly inside the capacious pouch.

The bulge where the bill of the chick is pressed against the membrane of the

pouch can be plainly seen

Photos; E. P. Gee

JOURN. BomBay Nat. Hist. Soc. nd PLATE IV

A nest with parents and young on top of a babool

Photos: E. P. Gee

BREEDING OF THE GREY OR SPOTTEDBILLED PELICAN 249

birds are smallish—but the hooked nail and the pouch are there.

The bills develop very~ quickly.

The pelican is renowned for being extremely devoted to its young.

In heraldic and ecclesiastical symbols in England it used to be re-

presented as standing above its nest with its wings outstretched and

nourishing its young with its blood. It used to be described as ‘a

pelican in its piety’ (piety here having the classical meaning of filial

devotion). This legend that pelicans feed their young with their

blood probably arose from the fact that these birds, like cormorants

and darters, feed their young by regurgitating partly digested fish into

the tops of their pouches for the young to feed on.

Almost spellbound I watched how a parent bird with wonderful

tenderness and care nudges a youngster with the tip of its bill, and

then the chick stands up and thrusts its bill and neck far into the

parent’s pouch. In the case of a young chick the whole of the

youngster disappeared into the pouch, making the proverbial sword-

swallower’s act seem nothing at all. After one chick has had enough,

and the parent seems to be the sole judge of this, another chick is

gently nudged into feeding activity. If a previously fed chick tries

to get a second helping, it is carefully pushed aside by the fair- ~

minded parent—though I did see sometimes that two or three small

chicks all got into the parent’s capacious pouch at once!

In most trees the nests were contiguous, often looking like

strings of large beads. And the chicks, two or three in a nest, often

got mixed up with those of other nests. Once, while the parent birds

- were away due to my arrival at the tree, I got a boy to climb up and

sort out the chicks by their age groups, putting the tiny naked ones

together where they belonged and the larger ones in their nests and

so on. But in no time at all they began to stagger about like drunks

and got mixed up again. When the parent birds returned, I think

they managed to identify their own babies before feeding commenced.

One poor adult pelican seemed to have been unlucky in love, with

no mate or nest of its own, and always got pecked by its neighbours

before sitting down at the end of the branch on nothing at all...

Sometimes a chick lurches too far, and over it goes—down to the

ground. When this happens, the chick is completely ignored by the

otherwise devoted and ‘pious’ parents, which seem not to notice it

and make no effort to help or feed it. If it is a young chick it is

bound to perish either from starvation or from attack by a predator.

If it is a larger chick it struts up and down below the nests, picking

up what fish it can; and such a bird has a chance of surviving.

250 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

There were a few crows about, scavenging on what they could

find and possibly stealing eggs at times. The number of Brahminy

Kites was very great—these were living apparently on fish dropped

or vomited by the pelicans or spilt from feeding at the nests. Pariah

Kites were few in number. Both species of kites joined in the

‘community soaring’ of the pelicans.

The attitude of the local villagers to the pelicans was interesting.

Some of them said to me, through an interpreter, that it was wrong

to shoot or harm the pelicans which were visitors, coming every

November. They brought good health to their villages, said some of

them, and their excreta provided a good fertilizer for their fields.

Others said they did not disturb or harm the pelicans, as these birds

did no harm to them. One villager suspiciously thought that I was

taking the blood out of the pelicans, but when it was explained to

him that I was doing just the opposite he seemed to understand.

I was informed that small gangs of ‘low-caste men’ sometimes came

from Bhimavaram at night, and speared roosting pelicans with long

bamboo spears for selling to hotels. About a hundred birds, I was

told, had been killed this season so far (mid-January). It is to be

hoped that the State Government of Andhra will take appropriate

steps to prevent this sort of thing, by declaring the pelican a pro-

tected species (at least during the breeding season), or else by con-

stituting the pelicanry as a sanctuary or protected area.

Now for noises made by pelicans. When Oates visited the huge

pelicanry in Burma in 1877 he commented on the silence of the place.

His actual words were: ‘Notwithstanding the millions of birds which

breed in this forest, a most wonderful silence prevails. The pelican

seems to be perfectly mute, and the adjutants only bellow at intervals.

The only sound which is constantly heard, and after a time even this

sound passes unnoticed, is a sort of Aeolian harp caused by the

movement of the wings of innumerable birds high in the air.’

But in the Andhra colony the noise of the nesting pelicans could

be plainly heard a quarter of a mile away. And when standing

near the trees containing nests the noise was really loud: there were

the long-drawn moanings, harsh throaty gruntings, and sharp yap-

yaps like the yelping of a dog. Also every now and then a bird

would open wide ifs bill and give a series of loud claps—two, three,

or four claps were frequently heard. As evidence of the volume and

variety of pelican noises, I made a recording—and the tape-recorder,

like the camera, cannot lie. |

What of the future? It is most reassuring to know that the

villagers of those parts extend a sort of traditional welcome and pro-

BREEDING OF THE GREY OR SPOTTEDBILLED PELICAN 251

tection to the visiting pelicans. I wonder if villagers in other parts

of the country would do the same, should the pelicans have to move

from their present colony? ee

For if the Kollair Lake is the main source of their fish supply,

then the future of the present pelicanry is uncertain due to the fact

that this lake is being drained in an agricultural project. I was told

that in three or four years’ time the fake would practically cease to

be. So it seems that alternative nesting sites may possibly have to be

found by the birds in the years to come. Perhaps some of the new

sheets of water formed by the multi-purpose hydro-electric and

irrigation projects in fast developing India may eventually help pro-

vide the answer to this problem.

Critical Notes on the Orchidaceae

- Of Bombay State

Ill, THE GENUS OBERONIA LINDL.

; BY

H. SANTAPAU, S.J., F.N.I. AND Z. KAPADIA, PH.D.

(With five plates)

[Continued from Vol. 57 (1) : 135]

The generic name Oberonia seems to be derived from Oberon, the

King of Fairies, in reference to the strange and variable forms of the

plants of this genus. This is one of the more difficult among orchid

genera, mostly on account of the minute structure of the flowers. Iden-

tification of the genus is simple enough, for the plants are very distinct-

ive in their general appearance ; identification down to the species level

is rather difficult on account both of the very small size of the flowers

and of their annoying variability.

The genus Oberonia is common in most parts of the former Bombay

State, as it stood after Independence ; Oberonia is particularly common

from about Bombay latitude southwards to N. Kanara and beyond.

They are usually perennial herbs, but flower at various times in the year.

We do hope that these notes with the diagrams of some of the species

will be of help to other Bombay botanists.

OBERONIA Lindl.

OBERONIA Lindl. Gen. & Sp. Orch. Pl. 15, 1830, nom. cons. ; Endl.

Gen. Pl. 188, 1837 ; Lindl. Fol. Orchid. Oberon. 1852 ; Benth. & Hook.

f. Gen. Pl. 3: 494, 1883; Pfitz. in Engl. & Prantl. Pflanzenfam. 2 (6) :

131, 1888 ; Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. 5 : 675, 1898 ; King & Pantl. in Ann.

R. Bot. Gard. Calcutta 8 : 2, 1898 ; Duthie, ibid. 9 (2): 85, 1906; J. J.

Smith, Fl. Buitenz. 6 : 233, 1905 ; Schlecht. Orchid. 156, 1927 ; Holttum,

Rev. Fl. Malay. 1: 208, 1953. Jridorkis Thou. in Nouv. Bull. Soc.

Philom. Paris 1: 319, 1809. Jridorchis Thou. Hist. Pl. Orch. 1822;

O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 2 : 668, 1891. )

Erect or pendulous epiphytes. Stems usually dense and_ short,

océasionally long and slender. Leaves much laterally compressed, with

broad overlapping sheaths at the base, ensiform, fleshy, leathery. In-

florescence in terminal, dense, sub-cylindric racemes or spikes, which

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 253

continue to grow at the base after the middle part has matured ; the

uppermost flowers usually open first. Flowers up to 2 mm., often scar-

cely 1 mm. long, sessile or on a short stalk and bracteate ; the colour of

the flowers is usually inconspicuous, often greenish or greenish yellow.

Sepals free, nearly equal among themselves, erect or reflexed. Petals

usually narrower and shorter. Lip sessile, concave at the base, fimbriate,

entire or more or less 3-lobed. Column very short, footless ; clinan-

drium fairly prominent. Anther terminal, opercular, incumbent ;

pollinia 4, waxy, yellow, in pairs without caudicles, often attached by a

viscid substance at the apices. Capsules small, globose or shortly oblong,

ridged.

It may be interesting to put down here some general points on the

structure of the flowers. Hooker f, mentions that each bract supports

2 flowers ; in Bombay we have noted that each flower is supported by its

own individual bract, Some of the species are described as having seta-

ceous sepals and petals ; actually these setaceous structures are prominent

hyaline glands which may appear as setae especially in moist flowers

from dry herbarium specimens. ‘The tips of the sepals are often curved

inwards, and they then seem to be obtuse ; in fact they are sharply acute.

In the normal position of the lip the lateral lobes are usually more or

less folded over the column, and appear very small ; again careful obser-

vation will show that they are often fairly large ; but this can only be

seen when the fresh lip is properly spread out. A careful examination

of the structure of the lateral lobes is essential, since the separation of

species is often based on such a structure.

Type species : O. iridifolia (Roxb.) Lindl.

KEY TO THE SPECIES OF OBERONIA OF BOMBAY

1. Sepals similar; lateral lobes of lip not

encircling the column; midlobe of lip

usually straight :

2. Petals and lobes of lip deeply toothed :

3. Small plants ; lvs.to 4cm. long ; rachis

terete ; firs. orange, stalked ; sepals

& petals erect ; lip clearly 3-lobed,

the midlobe with broad oblong

lobules es i brachyphylla

3. Large plants ; Ivs. to 15. cm. long;

rachis flattened ; firs. golden yellow,

+ sessile ; sepals & petals reflexed ;

lip obscurely 3-lobed, midlobe 2-

lobulate . i e iridifolia

| var, denticulata

254 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

2. Petals & lobes of lip + entire :

4, Petals broad :

5. Spikes shorter than leaves; petals

and lip pubescent

5. Spikes much longer than fence

petals and lip glabrous : oe

6. Lobes of lip large; midlobe

about equal to side lobes

6. Lobes of lip very small or 0;

midlobe 4-5 times larger than

side ones :

7. Inflorescence rachis thickened

in fruit, with a few minute

scaly bracts ; firs. ++ embedd-

ed in rachis ; lip as broad as

long, not lobed, denticulate

7. Rachis not thickened in fruit,

with large serrulate bracts

at base; lip broader across

side lobes than across

midlobe, which is entire,

2-lobulate

7. Rachis not thickened in fruit

with a few or O minute

bracts ; midlobe broader than

lip across side lobes ; midlobe

divided at apex into 2 trun-

cate lobules

4. Petals, narrow, -E linear :

8. Lvs. thin; firs. long-pedicelled ; lateral

lobes of lip up to equal to midlobe, which

is divided at apex into 2 diverging lobules

8. Lvs. fleshy; firs. sessile; lateral lobes

longer than midlobe :

9. Lip longer than broad; lateral lobes

broad, wing-like; midlobe short +

quadrate, -++ 3-lobed at margin :

9. Lip oblong-orbicular ; apex 2-lobulate,

lobules orbicular se ae

9. Lip broadly 3-lobed; midlobe much

smaller than lateral cee

1. Sepals unequal ; lateral lobes of lip encircling the

column : midlobe of lip usually folded upwards ;

ensiformis

recurva

proudlockii

falconeri

verticillata

wightiana

platycaulon

brunoniana

— santapaui

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 255

10. Petals broad ovate ; lateral lobes of lip linear-

lanceolate, ascending as erect horns around

the column, slightly diverging at the tips or not bicornis

10. Petals narrow linear; lateral lobes of lip

elongated, filiform, + aristate meeting beyond

the column ue, ¥ a tenuis

ENUMERATION OF THE SPECIES OF OBERONIA OF BOMBAY STATE

1. Oberonia brachyphylla Blatt. & McC. in J. Bombay nat. Hist.

SOs s0022075 ts 2, 193) (See, Plate XIPA’=B*):

Small pendulous epiphytes. Leaves 0.6-4 x 0.3-1.4 cm. fleshy

or thin, ovate to oblong or lanceolate, straight or more commonly the

uppermost falcate. Scape adnate to the uppermost leaf, bracteate,

about 2-5 mm. long, terete. Inflorescence 0.8-7 cm. long, somewhat

decurved, dense or lax, many-flowered. Flowers about 2 mm. long,

orange or yellowish orange, more or less whorled, bracteate, with long

pedicels. Bracts shorter than the pedicels, lanceolate or ovate-lanceo-

late, acute or acuminate, irregularly erose, gland-dotted. Sepals about

0.75 x 0.5 mm., subequal, gland-dotted, acute-mucronulate, entire, erect ;

the dorsal one ovate-oblong, the laterals obliquely ovate-subacuminate.

Petals more or less equal to the sepals, oblong-obovate, narrowed to the

base, or even oblong-orbicular, obtuse, slightly retuse, irregularly den-

ticulate. Lip 1-1.25 mm., nearly twice the size of the sepals and petals,

somewhat quadrangular in outline, 3-lobed, 3-nerved, distinctly gland-

dotted ; lateral lobes broad, irregularly pectinate, the lip across the

lateral lobes about equal to or slightly broader than across the midlobe ;

midlobe 2-lobulate with a broad or narrow sinus in between the lobules,

the latter slightly divergent, oblong, irregularly denticulate or pectinate

at the apex or even all around. Ovary with pedicel about 1 mm. long.

Capsules up to 5 mm. long, ovoid or obovoid, long-pedicelled.

Flowering and Fruiting : March.

Occurrence in Bombay: Bell; Kapadia 1857, 2853-2857.

Distribution: Apparently endemic in N. Kanara.

Notes: Blatter & McCann described their species from detailed

illustrations prepared by T. R. Bell and Miss Bell ; these illustrations

were drawn directly from live specimens. As no type was designated

for the species, and further as there is no type material at all, we hereby

establish the specimen, Kapadia 2855, as the Neotype of O. brachyphylla

Blatt. & McC.

2. Oberonia iridifolia Lindl. var. denticulata Hook. f. FI. Brit. Ind.

5: 676, 1890; Fischer, Fl. Pres. Madr. 1406, 1928. O. denticulata

Wight, Icon. J Vres e625. isoleebindl.2.(See Plate: Xa).

256 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

Erect or occasionally pendulous epiphytes. Leaves 4-15 x 1.5-

2.5 cm., fleshy, broadly ensiform, ovate-oblong to oblong-lanceolate,

often subfalcate, acute to subacuminate. Scape 2-5 cm. long, bracteate

or ebracteate, flattened, 2-angled, somewhat twisted, often adnate to

the uppermost leaf particularly in young plants. Inflorescence 7-20 cm.

long, decurved or rarely straight, dense. . Flowers about 2 mm. across,

imbricating or in sub-verticils, golden yellow, bracteate, sessile. Bracts

2x 1mm., ovate to elliptic, acute, irregularly crenulate, convolute,

sheathing the sessile ovary. Sepals 1 x 0.75 mm., equal, broadly ovate-

rotund or suborbicular, acute-mucronulate, l-nerved. Petals1 x 0.6mm.,

ovate-elliptic, obtuse to rarely subretuse, irregularly jagged, 1-nerved.

Sepals and petals reflexed and resting on the ovary. Lip 1.5 x 2 mm.,

obscurely 3-lobed ; lateral lobes pectinately erose ; terminal lobe 2-

lobulate with an unequal broad sinus, the lobules dentate or more often

bidentate ; nerves of the lip 3, the lateral ones sinuous, the central one

straight. Column stout, broad, sessile, over 1 mm. in length. Anther

transversely oblong-orbicular with a small rounded apex, greenish-white,

Capsule sessile, broadly ovoid, 5 xX 2 mm.

Flowering : August to September. Fruiting : October to December.

Occurrence in Bombay State: KONKAN: Tansa, Santapau

16030 ; Kapadia 731, 1638. N. KANARA: Gundh, Bole 1497 ; Kapadia

17 PEAT 17.

This species has been recorded from Bombay State for the first time.

Distribution : O. iridifolia Lindl. is a very variable species and is

widely distributed all over India. The var. denticulata Hook. f. is res-

tricted to south India ; we have noted it in Bombay for the first time. —

Notes: We have examined the specimen Fischer 3509 labelled O.

brunoniana Wt. in 1920; the name was changed by Fischer himself to

O. lindleyana Wt. The plant, however, belongs to O. iridifolia var.

denticulata Hook. f.

In Wight’s description of O. denticulata there is no mention of the

erose nature of the petals; Wight’s Icon 1625 shows the petals to be

smoothly entire. We have observed the petals to be distinctly and

irregularly jagged.

3. Oberonia ensiformis (Sm. ex Rees) Lindl. Fol. Orchid. Oberon. 4,

1852 ; Hook. f. 679 ; Grant, Orch. Burma 29, 1895 ; King & Pantl. 9,

t. 9 ; Duthie 86 et Fl. Upp. Gang. Pl. 3 : 183, 1920 ; Briihl, Guide Orch.

Sikk. 37, 1926; Fischer 1405. Malaxis ensiformis Smith in Rees,

Cycl. 22 : n. 14, 1812 ; Reichb. f. in Walp. Ann. 6 : 212, 1861. Oberonia

trilobata Griff. Notul. 3: 273, 1851. O. acaulis Hook. Bot. Mag. t.

5056, 1858, (non. Griff. 1851). Iridorchis ensiformis O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen.

Pl. 2 : 669, 1891. (See Plate XIII).

Large pendulous epiphytes. Leaves 6-28 x 0.5-1.5 cm. fleshy,

JourRN. BoMBAY NAT. HIST. Soc. PLATE X]

A-B. Oberonia falconeri Hook. f.; A’-B’. O. brachyphylla Blatt. & McC,

A-A’. Whole plant ; B-B’. Sepals, petals, and lip.

jOURN. BomMBAY Nat. Hist. Soc. PLatEe XII

Oberonia iridifolia var. denticulata Hook. f.

A. Whole plant ; B. Sepals, petals, and lip.

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 257

ensiform, acuminate, falcate or straight, generally all curving in one

direction. Inflorescence much shorter than the leaves, 6-14 cm. long ;

peduncle fleshy, pale brown, terete, sparsely bracteate ; bracts lanceolate,

minute, pale yellow. Flowers about 2 mm. long, subsessile, bracteate;

in more or less clear verticils. Bracts longer, ovate-oblong, erose,

glabrous, completely sheathing the ovary, their apices acute and re-

curved. Sepals and petals reflexed on the ovary, gland-dotted, entire,

subacute. Sepals subequal, broadly ovate, glabrous. Petals ovate:

pubescent with blackish stiff bristles. Lip about twice as long as the

sepals or petals, 3-lobed, of a much darker colour, turning somewhat

black on drying ; lateral lobes fairly large, rounded, stiffly pubescent ;

the terminal lobe somewhat obreniform in outline, 2-lobulate, pubescent ~

with bristle-like black hairs, the lobules somewhat rounded, separated

by a wide subtruncate sinus ; the terminal lobe is separated from the

lateral ones by an oblong, completely glabrous mesochile, which has 2

blister-like projections on the sides. Ovary very shortly stalked, pale

yellowish, ridged. Capsule 4-6 x 2-3 mm., ovoid, strongly ribbed, sub-

sessile.

Fruiting : November onwards.

Occurrence in Bombay : N. KANARA Dandeli, Kapadia 1671-1672,

1682; Yellapur, V. Patel 1847 ; Kapadia 2350-2352; Kumbelli

Mines, about 17 miles from Supa, Kapadia 2662-2663.

This species is of fairly widespread occurrence in N. Kanara ; stran-

gely enough it has not been recorded for Bombay State by any of the

earlier workers. It constitutes a new record for this area. .

Distribution: India: Dehra Dun and up to 1000 m. on the adjacent

Himalayas, extending eastwards to Sikkim and Khasia Hills, southwards

to N. Kanara and the Nilgiris. World: India, Nepal.

Notes: This species is easily distinguished by its large ensiform leaves,

all of which usually curve in the same direction, and by the stout inflores-

cence, which,. however, is always much shorter than the leaves. It is

closely allied to O. ferruginea Parish ex Hook. f.; the latter has com-

pletely glabrous flowers.

4. Oberonia recurva Lindl. in Bot. Reg. misc. 8, 1839, et Fol. Orchid.

Oberon. 5, 1852 ; Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. FI. 260, 1861 ; Hook. f. Icon.

Pl. t. 1784 A, 1888, et Fl. Brit. Ind. 5 : 680, 1890 ; Gammie in J. Bombay

nat. Hist. Soc. 16: 564, 1905 ; Cooke, FI. Pres. Bomb. 2: 676, 1907;

Fischer 1406; Blatt. & McC. 257; Santapau in Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind.

16 (1): 288, 1953. Oberonia setifera Lindl. Fol. Orchid. Oberon. 3,

1852. Malaxis recurva et setifera (Lindl.) Reichb. f. in Walp. Ann. 6:

210, 212, 1861. Jridorchis recurva (Lindl.) O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl.

2: 669, 1891.

Pendulous epiphytes. Leaves 0.5-5 x 0.3-1.7 cm., ovate to lan-

258 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

ceolate, at times subfalcate (particularly the uppermost one), acute to

acuminate. Peduncles 0-1 cm. long, adnate to the uppermost leaf,

with minute hyaline subulate bracts. Racemes 1-11.5 cm. long, straight

or recurved, dense or rarely lax. Flowers 1.5-2 mm. across, imbricat-

ing, bracteate, pedicellate, pale orange to deep brick-red. Bracts 1-2

x 0.5 mm., shorter or slightly longer than the flowers, gland-dotted,

l-nerved, ovate-acuminate to subulate, subentire to erose, acuminate.

Sepals 0.5-0.75 mm. long, subequal, ovate, entire, more or less gland-

dotted, 1-nerved ; lateral sepals concave, very often mucronulate ; the

dorsal one subconvex, ovate-oblong, obtuse, at times subacute. Petals

0.5-0.75 mm. obovate-oblong or obovate-spathulate, truncate or trun-

cate-retuse or obtuse-retuse, subentire to erose, more or less gland-

dotted along the single midnerve. Lip deep red, usually of a much darker

colour than the petals and sepals, very variable in shape and size, 3-

lobed, 0.75-1 mm. long, equal to or nearly twice as long as the sepals

or petals, densely or very sparsely gland-dotted, with a small concave

disc just below the anther, 3-nerved. Lateral lobes of lip large, rounded,

rarely subtruncate, subentire, erose ; width of the lip across lateral lobes

+ equal to that across the midlobe ; midlobe 2-lobulate, obcordate-

oblong, subentire to erose ; apices of lobules acute to truncate or obtuse,

subentire or erose ; sinus between the lobules broad or narrow, with or

without a small apiculum in between. Column very small with a trans-

versely oblong stigmatic surface. Anther opercular, yellowish green.

Ovary with pedicel 0.75-1.5 mm. long. Capsule 2-5 x 2 mm., sub-

rotund to obovate-oblong ; pedicel 0.5 mm. long.

Flowering: November to February. Fruiting : December to July.

Occurrence in Bombay State: KONKAN: Law; Thana, cultivated,

Kapadia 1105. W. Guats: Kasara, Kapadia 902; Khandala,

D. K. Patel ; Santapau 233.4, 3622, 10788 ; C. Saldanha 1152 ; Kapadia

507, 529, 1062, 1834-1835; Lonavla, ~Gammie : Hallberg ; Kapadia

538, 1047, 1054; Mahableshwar, Cooke ; Santapau 11819, 11913 ;

Kapadia 500, 600-601, 983, 1928-1929; Mahableshwar-Pratap-

gad, Agharkar ;Pratap gad, Bole 1078. DeccAN: KoinaValley,

Kapadia 2906-2907. N. KANARA: Londa, Santapau 10854; Kum-

belli Mines, about 17 miles from Supa, Kapadia 2565-2567, 2675-

2677, 2764-2766; Yellapur, Kapadia 2868; Castle Rock, San-

tapau 17655, 17831, 17909 ; Kapadia 2814; Anmod, Kapadia 1914;

Dandeli, Kapadia .

Distribution: Konkan, W. Ghats, Deccan, N. Kanara, Travancore.

Notes: We have noticed this species epiphytic on Careya arborea

Roxb., Ficus sp., Carissa congesta Wt., Euphorbia neriifolia L., Randia

brandisii Gamble and Ixora brachiata Roxb. This species is very variable

in the shape and size of the various floral parts.

Blatter & McCann and Santapau cite King & Pantling in Ann. R.

JouRN. BomMBAY Nat. HIST. Soc. PLATE XIII

“\

ra) 1 2 mm

Oberonia ensiformis Lindl.

A. Whole plant ; B. Sepals and petals ; C, Lip.

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 259

Bot. Gard. Calcutta 8 : t. 9, for O. recurva Lindl. This plate is O. ensi-

formis Lindl., a totally different species ; O. recurva Lindl. has not been

recorded from Sikkim Himalayas.

5. Oberonia recurva Lindl. var. lingmalensis (Blatt. & McC.) Sant.

& Kapadia, stat. nov. O. lingmalensis Blatt. & McC. in J. Bombay nat.

Hist. Soc. 35 : 255, 1931.

After a very careful examination of a number of fresh plants collected

from the type locality and a sheet in Sedgwick herbarium, Sedgwick 4626,

identified by Blatter himself as Oberonia lingmalensis Blatt. & McC., we

have come to the conclusion that the latter is but an intermediate form

between O. verticillata Wt. and O. recurva Lindl. with greater affinities

to the latter.

The only constant distinguishing characters between the present

variety and O. recurva Lindl. are : (1) flowers in the variety have longer

pedicels, and are placed in distinct verticils, not imbricating ; (2) the

leaves in the variety are acute or acuminate. Often the lateral lobes of

the lip are only slightly smaller than those normally met with in O.

recurva Lindl., definitely not as minute as in O. verticillata Wt.; with the

latter species it can be compared only in the arrangement of the flowers.

We have, then, reduced the plants with narrower and more acuminate

leaves, and with verticillate or subverticillate, long-pedicelled flowers,

to a variety of O. recurva Lindl.

Flowering and Fruiting : September to February.

Occurrence in Bombay State: KONKAN: Thana, Bell. W. GHats:

Mahableshwar, Sedgwick 4626 ; Santapau 12519, 13169 ; Bole 409 .

Kapadia 956, 967, 1832, 2065. N. Kanara : Bell.

Distribution: Konkan, W. Ghats, N. Kanara.

6. Oberonia proudlockii King & Pantl. in Journ. As. Soc. Bengal

II, 66: 580, 1897; Fischer 1407. O. sedgwickii Blatt. & McC. in J.

Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 35 : 257, 1931.

Small pendulous epiphytes. Leaves 0.7-4 x 0.2-1.5 cm., very

variable in shape and thickness, oblong to elliptic, or ovate to lanceolate,

acute or rarely subacuminate, fleshy or rarely very thin. Scape 2-10 mm.

long, adnate to the uppermost leaf, with minute, hyaline ovate or ovate-

oblong bracts. Inflorescence 1-6 cm. long, straight or decurved ; rachis

fleshy, considerably thickened in fruit. Flowers 1.25 x 1-1.25 mm.,

somewhat laxly imbricate, more or less sunk in the fleshy rachis and

scarcely appearing out of the general outline, subsessile, bracteate.

Bracts 1 x 0.75 mm., pale yellowish green, slightly longer than the ovary

and completely sheathing it, ovate-oblong, irregularly serrulate, acute,

gland-dotted. Sepals 0.75 x 0.5 mm., subequal, 1-nerved, gland-dotted ;

the dorsal one ovate, acute or sub-obtuse ; the lateral obliquely broadly

ovate-acuminate, reflexed, lying at right angles to the dorsal sepal

260 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

below the lip. Petals slightly shorter than sepals, reflexed, faintly 1-

nerved, gland-dotted, entire or slightly erose, slightly dilated about the

middle, somewhat spathulate, acute or subobtuse. Lip 0.6-0.75 x 0.75-

1 mm:, broader than the sepals, entire, gland-dotted, obovate-orbicular

or quadrately-orbicular, erose or irregularly denticulate ; apex usually —

somewhat 2-lobulate with a broad or narrow sinus in between ; occasion-

ally the lobules not distinct. Disc of the lip orbicular, distinct, 3-nerved.

Column minute, yellow. Anther minute. Ovary together with the very

short pedicel 0.75 x 0.5 mm., broadly obovate, ribbed. Capsule 3 x

1.5 mm., obovoid-oblong, ribbed.

Flowering and Fruiting : March.

Occurrence in Bombay: N. KANARA: Anmod, Kapadia 1863,

1906, 1915; Castle Rock, Sedgwick ; Kapadia 2781, 2796-2797.

Distribution: N. Kanara, Nilgiris.

Notes: Our specimens have been collected from the type locality,

Castle Rock, of O. sedgwickii Blatt. & McC. The latter species seems to

be identical with O. proudlockii King & Pantling. It may be pointed out

that certain characters, which are very distinctive of this species, have

not been mentioned by Blatter & McCann such as (a) the considerably

thickened rachis in fruits, (b) the peculiar way of the flowers being sunk

in the fleshy rachis, (c) and the lip irregularly denticulate on the margin.

Blatter & McCann describe the petals for their species as linear ; King &

Pantling state they are ovate-lanceolate. A careful examination of a

number of flowers has shown that the petals in their reflexed position

appear narrowly linear, but actually on dissection they are broad, oblong,

slightly dilated about the middle.

We have found this species to be epiphytic on Careya arborea Roxb.

and Terminalia sp. in open deciduous forest.

7. Oberonia falconeri Hook. f. Icon. Pl. t. 1780, 1888, et Fl. Brit.

Ind. 5 : 678, 1890 ; Prain, Beng. PI. 1003, 1903 ; Gammie 564 ; Duthie 2,

t. 94, et Fl. Upp. Gang. Pl. 3 : 183, 1920 ; Cooke 676 ; Haines, Bot. Bih.

Or. 1164, 1924 ; Fischer 1406 ; Blatt. & McC. 256. Iridorchis falconeri

(Hook. f.) O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 2 : 669, 1891. (See Plate XI A-B),

Erect or pendulous epiphytes. Leaves 2-9 x 0.5 cm., coriaceous,

oblong-lanceolate, subfalcate, acute or subacuminate. Scape short,

covered by hyaline, subulate, irregularly serrulate bracts, more so at the

base. Inflorescence 2-14 cm. long, erect or curved, laxly many-flowered ;

rachis stout, strongly grooved, more so in fruit. Flowers spiral to sub-

verticillate, about 1.5 mm. across, greenish yellow, bracteate, shortly

pedicellate. Bracts 2.5-3.5 x 0.7-1 mm., hyaline, shorter or longer than

the flowers, sheathing round the ovary, oblong-lanceolate, subulate,

irregularly denticulate, glabrous, l-nerved. Sepals 1.25 x 0.75 mm.,

yellow, obtuse, entire, faintly 1-nerved, sparsely speckled with glands to-

JourN. Bompay Nat. Hist. Soc. PLATE XIV

A-B. Oberonia verticillata Wt. A’-B’. O. wightiana Lindl.

A-A’. Whole plant ; B-B’. Sepals, petals, and lip.

JouRN. BomsBay Nat. Hist. Soc. PLATE XV

A-B. Oberonia platycaulon Wt. A‘-B’. O. brunoniana Wt.

A-A’. Whole plant ; B-B’. Sepals, petals, and lip.

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 261

wards the apex ; the dorsal one oblong-ovate, slightly narrower than the

lateral ones ; the lateral sepals broadly ovate. Petals 1.2 x 0.5 mm.,

yellow, oblong-ovate, subfalcate, obtuse, entire, glabrous, 1-nerved,

sparsely gland-dotted. Lip 2 x 1.5 mm., greenish-yellow, obovate-

oblong or oblong in outline, 3-lobed ; the lateral lobes small, tooth-like,

rounded, truncate, rarely subretuse ; midlobe broad, about 4-5 times as

long as the lateral ones, oblong, faintly wavy on the margins, 2-lobulate

about a third from the apex ; lobules parallel or incurved towards each

other, subacute or obtuse, with a broad subtruncate sinus ; nerves of

the lip 3, the lateral ones sinuate, middle one straight, practically up to

the sinus. Column small, subquadrate, transversely oblong, yellow.

Anther white, broadly ovate, truncate at the apex, rarely subretuse.

Capsule 4 x 2 mm. obovoid, strongly ribbed, shortly stalked; pedicels

about 1 mm. long.

Flowering : September. Fruiting : October to December.

Occurrence in Bombay: DANGS: Waghai, Santapau 20103 ;

Kapadia 1161, 1439; Susarda, Kapadia 713. KONKAN: Law; Wood-

row; Thana, Ryan; Kalyan, Millard; Tansa, Kapadia 748.

N. KANARA: Alnawal-Dandeli, Kapadia 1654; Dandeli,

Kapadia 1668 ; Yellapur, Kapadia 1763, 1973, 2348-2349.

Distribution: India: Tropical Himalaya, Kumaon, Dehra Dun,

Bihar, Chota Nagpur, Dangs, Konkan, N. Kanara, Mysore hills at 1000

metres, Rampa Hills at 600 metres. Vizagapatam hills at 700 metres.

World : India, Nepal.

Note. This species can easily be distinguished by the strongly grooved

rachis ; this is covered by hyaline, subulate, irregularly serrulate, loosely

sheathing bracts at the base. Itis usually found in open forest, epiphytic

on Tectona grandis L.f., rarely on Terminalia sp.

8. Oberonia verticillata Wight, Icon. 5 (1): 3, t. 1626, 1851; Lindl,

3, (excl. aliq. var.) ; Hook. f. 678 ; Fyson, Fl. Nilg. Puln. Hill-Tops 383,

1915; Fischer 1406; Blatt. & McC. 255. Malaxis verticillata (Wt.)

Reichb. f. in Walp. Ann. 6: 211, 1861. Jridorchis verticillata (Wt.)

O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 2 : 669, 1891. Oberonia verticillata var. longi-

bracteata Blatt. & McC. in J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 35: 255, 1931.

O. spiralis Blatt. & McC. in J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 35: 256, 1931

(non Griff. 1851, nec Lindl. 1852). (See Plate XIV A-B).

Pendulous epiphytes. Leaves 3-20 x 0.7-1.5 cm., oblong, narrowly

ensiform, acuminate, fleshy. Peduncle about 3 cm. long, bracteate to

the base, not joined to the uppermost leaf. Inflorescence up to 25 cm.

long, falcately curved or nearly straight. Flowers in distinct verticils or

spirals (each whorl about 2-3 mm. apart), shortly pedicelled, bracteate,

yellow. Bracts 1.5-2 mm. long, slightly longer than the flowers or

equalling them, oblong, acute or with a short acumen, much erose or

262 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

subfimbriate, ensheathing the ovary and the pedicel, sparsely gland-

dotted. Sepals subequal; the dorsal one 0.75 x 0.75 mm., ovate-oblong,

obtuse, mucronulate, l-nerved, subconcave ; the lateral ones bigger,

1 mm. long, nearly as broad, broadly ovate, mucronate, concave, 1-

nerved. Petals slightly smaller than the lateral sepals, ovate, acute or

subobtuse, crenulate or subentire, l-nerved. Lip 1.75-2.25 mm. long,

nearly twice the length of sepals or petals, cuneate-obovate in outline,

3-nerved, sparsely gland-dotted, 3-lobed ; lateral lobes minute, ear-like,

(not absent, as stated by Blatter & McCann) ; width of lip across lateral

lobes less than half that across the midlobe ; midlobe cuneate-obovate,

crenulate, 2-lobulate towards the apex ; lobules broad, rounded or trun-

cate, dentate or erose at the apex, with usually a narrow sinus in between.

Column small. Anther opercular, yellowish. Ovary with the short

pedicel about 2 mm. long, greenish yellow.

Flowering : July to October. Fruiting : September onwards.

Occurrence in Bombay: N. KANARA: Yellapur, Kapadia 1991-

1992, 2259, 2886-2887 ; Sirsi, Hallberg & McCann 35059 ; Santapau

18649 ; Kapadia 2446-2448.

Distribution: India: N. Kanara, W. Ghats of S. India, Nilgiris,

Pulneys, Salem hills. World: Ceylon, India.

Notes : Our Yellapur specimens have floral bracts equal to or even

slightly longer than flowers ; this variation has been observed in the same

inflorescence, and is of frequent occurrence in the genus Oberonia. This

is why we have united var. longibracteata Blatt. & McC. with O. verti-

cillata Wt.

Careful examination of fresh specimens from Yellapur (type locality

of O. spiralis Blatt. & McC.) and Sirsi, has shown to us that in floral struc-

ture there is hardly any difference between O. spiralis Blatt. & McC. and

O. verticillata Wt. Some of the plants have flowers in spirals, others in

distinct verticils ; in a few specimens the flowers are arranged in distinct

spirals on the lower part of the rachis, while in the upper part they are in

pure uninterrupted whorls.

9. Oberonia wightiana Lindl. in Bot. Reg. misc. 9, 1839 ; Wight,

Icon. 5 (1) : 3, t. 1627, 1851 ; Lindl. 5; Hook. f. Icon. Pl. t. 1784 B, 1888,

et Fl. Brit. Ind. 5 : 683, 1890 ; Fyson 383 ; Fischer 1407 ; Blatt. & McC.

258. O. stachyoides A. Rich. in Ann. Sc. nat. (ser. 2) 15: 15, t. 1 A, 1841.

O. arnottiana Wight, Icon. 5 (1): 3, t. 1628, 1851; Blatt. & McC. 258.

Malaxis wightiana (Lindl.) O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 2: 669, 1891.

(See Plate XIV A’-B’).

Pendulous epiphytes. Leaves 4-9 x 0.7-1.5 cm., ensiform, often sub-

falcate, acute or acuminate, the uppermost often sub-subulate, thin, not

fleshy. Peduncle practically 0, joined to the uppermost leaf. JInflores-

cence up to 10 cm. long, slightly curved ; flowers in rather lax, subverti-

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 263

cillate racemes, pedicellate, bracteate. Pedicel with ovary about

2 mm. long. Bracts 1.5 x 0.75 mm., shorter than the pedicel, ovate-

acuminate, (acumen often rather long drawn out), subentire or erose,

gland-dotted. Sepals 1 x 0.75 mm., subequal, broadly ovate, gland-

dotted, entire ; the lateral ones sharply acute or mucronulate, concave ;

the dorsal sepal obtuse or subacute, not concave. Petals linear, shorter

than the sepals, acute, entire or very slightly erose, gland-dotted. Lip

1.75 mm. long, nearly twice as long as the sepals, 3-lobed with a small

concave disc ; nerves 3 starting from the disc and going up to the sinus ;

lateral lobes 0.75 x 0.5 mm., rounded, somewhat oblong-reniform,

subentire or erose, gland-dotted, more or less erect and enfolded over the

column ; width of lip across the lateral lobes larger than that across the

midlobe ; midlobe obcordate-oblong, 2-lobulate, sinus broad with or

without a very small mucro within, lobules diverging, rounded, erose

or denticulate. Column very small. Anther opercular, minute. Cap-

sules 5 x 3 mm., pedicelled, obovoid ; pedicels about 1 mm. long.

Flowering and Fruiting : March.

Occurrence in Bombay State: N. KANARA: Yellapur, Sedgwick ;

Haliyal, Sedgewick ; Anmod, Sedgwick, Kapadia 1872-1873.

Distribution : India: N. Kanara, Nilgiris, Pulneys. World: Ceylon,

India.

Notes : This species is usually found pendulous on Artocarpus trees.

As to the variations in the floral structure we quote Lindley (in Fol.

Orchid.) : ‘ Flowers pale green. This seems to vary more than usual in

the present genus, in the form of the lip, the front lobes of which are either

ligulate and denticulate at the point or entire ; or short and acute ; and

these differences seem to occur on the same or otherwise undistinguish-

able individuals. I can find nothing sufficient to separate my learned

friend Wight’s O. arnottiana, whose bracts appear exactly the same as

in O. wightiana and by no means furnished with long cilia, as is repre-

sented by his draughtsman ’.

10. Oberonia brunoniana Wight, Icon. 5 (1) : 3, t. 1622, 1851; Lindl.

2; Hook. f. 681 ; Grant, Orch. Burma 29, 1895 ; Cooke 677 ; Fischer

1406 ; Blatt. & McC. 257 (non t. 3, quae est O. ensiformis). Malaxis

brunoniana (Wt.) Reichb. f. in Walp. Ann. 6: 209, 1861. Jridorchis

brunoniana (Wt.) O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 2: 699, 1891. (See Plate XV

A’-B’).

Erect or pendulous epiphytes. Leaves 4-15 x 1-3.5 cm., very suc-

culent, obovate to linear-oblong, often subfalcate, acute, purplish-

brown to brown in colour, not green. Scape 1.5-3 cm. long, 2-angled,

usually furnished with a small leaf-like bract at its apex just below the

inflorescence. Spike 5-20 cm. long, 5-6 mm. broad, erect or recurved,

stiff ‘like a rat’s tail’ (Hooker f.). Flowers densely imbricate, ‘ olive-

264 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

brown in colour’ (Wight), bracteate, subsessile, a little less than 2 mm,

across. Bracts 1.5 x 1 mm., shorter than the flowers, oblong-ovate to

ovate, acute, irregularly denticulate, 1-nerved, sparsely gland-dotted.

Sepals 1 x 0.75 mm., subequal, gland-dotted, ovate, acute-mucronulate,

entire, glabrous, 1-nerved ; lateral sepals spreading, concave ; dorsal

sepal narrower. Petals 0.75 mm. long, shorter than the sepals, narrowly

linear, acute or subobtuse, entire, glabrous, sparsely gland-dotted, 1-

nerved. Lip 1.25 x 1.25 mm. quadrately-oblong, 3-lobed, densely gland-

dotted outside the large concave disc, the latter extending practically up

to the sinus ; lateral lobes of lip oblong, obtuse, irregularly crenulate,

longer than the midlobe ; midlobe 2-lobulate, lobules rounded, sub-

obclavate, irregularly crenulate, the sinus deep, wide, usually with a

minute mucro ; nerves 3, all within the disc. Column 0.5 x 0.5 mm.,

quadrate, with a transversely elliptical stigmatic surface. Anther small,

obovate, yellowish. Ovary with short pedicel 1 x 0.5 mm., inversely

flask-shaped, ribbed. Capsule 5 x 3 mm., ellipsoid on a very short

stalk. |

Flowering and Fruiting : February to March.

Occurrence in Bombay: N. KANARA: Bell; Kalanadi, Ritchie;

Anmod, Kapadia 1877-1879 ; Castle Rock, Kapadia 2813.

Distribution: N. Kanara, Nilgiris, Pulneys, Malabar, Travancore.

Notes: We have collected this species in both dense and open forest,

usually on Mangifera and Artocarpus trees ; the leaves of all the plants

are of a deep purplish brown or brown colour with no sign of green.

It is interesting to note that this species together with O. bicornis Lindl.

and O. tenuis Lindl. are the only species found by us with brown leaves.

11. Oberonia platycaulon Wight, Icon. 5 (1): 3, t. 1623, 1851; Lindl.

2 ; Hook. f. 628 ; Gammie 564 ; Cooke 677; Fischer 1407 ; Blatt. & McC.

257. Malaxis platycaulon (Wt.) Reichb. f. in Walp Ann. 6: 239, 1861.

Tridorchis platycaulon (Wt.) O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 2 : 699, 1891. (See

Plate XV A-B).

Leaves 2-8 x 1-2 cm., ensiform, fleshy, oblong-lanceolate, acute.

Scape arising from the central leaf, terete, bracteate. Spike 7 cm. long,

about 0.5 cm. broad, somewhat curved. Flowers 3.5 x 1.5-2 mm., sessile,

bracteate. Bracts 2 x 1.5 mm., oblong, ovate, acute, irregularly serrate,

completely sheathing the ovary. Sepals 2 x 1.25 mm., subequal, acute

or subobtuse, entire, 1-nerved, lying backwards along the ovary ; the

dorsal one ovate, the laterals ovate-oblong. Petals 2 x 0.5 mm., reflexed

along with the sepals, narrow-linear, subobtuse or acute, 1-nerved. Lip

with the lateral lobes folded inwards, parallel along the column, 4x 2 mm.

when spread out, 3-lobed ; lateral lobes very broad, wing-like, 1.75 x

1.5 mm., oblong-orbicular, entire, wavy, longer than the midlobe ; mid-

lobe somewhat quadrate, obscurely 3-lobed, truncate or rarely slightly

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 265

retuse on the outer margin; disc broadly oblong-orbicular, apiculate.

Column 1 x 0.5 mm., oblong-subclavate, with an elliptic-orbicular stig-

matic surface. Anther ovate, acute. Ovary 2 mm. long, sessile.

This species has been drawn and described from a specimen sent by

Miss Evelyn Bowden from Travancore.

Occurrence in Bombay: This species is not definitely known to

occur in the State. Hooker f. cites ‘ W. Ghats from the Konkan south-

wards’ ; Gammie lists it on the authority of Hooker f. ; Cooke has in-

cluded it as doubtful in the State ; Blatter & McCann include it again

on the authority of Hooker f. ; we have seen no specimens from Bombay.

Distribution: Konkan, W. Ghats (Mysore southwards). Nilgiris,

Pulneys, High Wavy Mountains.

12. Oberonia santapaui Kapadia, nom. nov. O. lindleyana Wight,

Icon. 5 (1): 3, t. 1624, 1851 (non Brongn. ex Duperr. 1834) ; Lindl. 2 ;

Hook. f. 681; Fischer 1406 ; Blatt. & McC. 258, t. 4. Malaxis lind-

leyana (Wt.) Reichb. f. in Walp. Ann. 6: 210, 1861. Iridorchis lind-

leyana (Wt.) O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 2: 669, 1891.

We have seen no specimens of this species, and therefore give Wight’s

original description: ‘ Leaves ensiform, short, very succulent, slightly

falcate ; stem compressed, spike drooping towards the apex, densely

covered with innumerable small sessile flowers : bracts ovate, somewhat

obtuse, sub-denticulate on the margin: sepals broad, ovate, obtuse

entire : petals narrow linear : lip broad cordate at the base, crenate, two-

lobed at the apex, with a minute tooth between ; all furnished with nume-

rous minute opaque glandular (?) dots. Flowers straw colour, lip

dull orange. Iyamally Hills near Coimbatore, flowering August and

September. The leaves of this species are very succulent, and with its

long drooping raceme afford good distinguishing marks, which are

amply confirmed by an examination of the flowers. This species is

remarkable on account of the opaque gland-like points scattered over

the flowers. The bract is represented too pointed in the figure. I dedi-

cate the species to the founder of the genus.’

Occurrence in Bombay: N. KANARA: In forests, Bell; Anmod

Sedgwick.

Distribution: N. Kanara, Nilgiris, Travancore hills.

Notes: Ind. Kew. lists a binomial Oberonia lindleyana A. Brongn.

in Duperr. Voy. Coq. Bot. 200, t. 40, f. a, 1834, (O. lindleyi on the figure).

The binominal O. lindleyana Wt. (1851) is, therefore, a later homonym

in the sense of the Code and must be rejected.

I name this species after Rev. Father H. Santapau under whose un-

failing guidance and tremendous enthusiasm the study of the Orchids of

Bombay has been undertaken. It is with the greatest pleasure that

I dedicate the species to one of India’s most distinguished botanists,

(Z. Kapadia), |

266 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

13. Oberonia bicornis Lindl. Gen. Sp. Orch. 16, 1830, et Fol. Orchid.

Oberon. 4 ; Hook. f. 682. Malaxis bicornis (Lindl.) Reichb. f. in Walp.

Ann. 6: 211, 1861. Jridorchis bicornis (Lindl.) O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen.

Pl. 2: 669, 1891. Oberonia umbonata Blatt. & McC. in J. Bombay nat.

Elst. 35:3-259, 1931° |

Pendulous brown epiphytes. Leaves 1-8 x 0.3-0.8 cm., brown or

mauve-brown, narrowly linear-oblong or linear-lanceolate, often falcate,

acute or acuminate, often surmounted with a bristle. Scape 2-10 cm.

long, brownish ; bracts 2 mm. long, sharp, bristle-like. Inflorescence

1.5-12 cm. long, straight or bent in the upper third. Flowers up to

2 mm. long in dense or lax verticils or subverticils, ochraceous-red, pedi-

cellate, bracteate. Bracts 0.66-2 mm. long, usually longer than the

flowers, lanceolate from a broad base, with a sharp, long acumen, or

oblong, sharply acuminate, bristle-pointed, hyaline, gland-dotted.

Sepals equal or subequal, pale ochraceous, 1-nerved, hyaline, gland-

dotted ; the dorsal one more or less equal to the lateral sepals, convex,

ovate or ovate-lanceolate or oblong-ovate, acute-mucronulate or obtuse

with a minute sharp acumen ; lateral sepals convex, ovate-orbicular,

mucronulate. Petals ochraceous, about equalling the lateral lobes of

the lip, oblong-subtriangular or linear-oblong or narrowly obspathulate,

subobtuse or acute, entire or very minutely serrulate, 1-nerved, hyaline,

gland-dotted. Lip deep red, 3-lobed ; the width across the lateral lobes

more or less equal to that across the midlobe ; lateral lobes erect, linear-

lanceolate, coriaceous, surrounding the column, slightly incurved to-

wards the apices ; midlobe of lip curving upwards along with the lateral

lobes in flower ; the basal margin obscurely 3-lobed ; apex straight or

pointing downwards, acute or obtuse-mucronulate. Column broad.

Anther brownish white, transversely oblong-orbicular, mucronulate.

Ovary with pedicel nearly 2 mm. long. Capsule 2.5 x 1.50 mm., pedi-

cellate, nearly spherical ; stalk 1.2 mm. long.

Flowering and Fruiting : October to November.

Occurrence in Bombay: N. KANARA: Siddhapurt, Kapadia 2389-

2395;Siddhapur to Sirsi, Hallberg & McCann 35177.

Distribution: India: Khasia Hills, N. Kanara. World: India,

Ceylon.

Notes: We found this species epiphytic on Memecylon sp.

After careful study of fresh flowers from Siddhapur (the type locality

of O. umbonata Blatt. & McC.) we conclude that the latter is identical

with O. bicornis Lindl. O. bicornis Lindl. is similar to O. tenuis. Lindl.,

from which it can be distinguished by the former having (1) petals which

are broadly ovate or obspathulate ; (2) lateral lobes of lip which are linear-

lanceolate, erect, not filiform and incurved ; (3) midlobe of lip which is

fleshy, cuneate, truncate or minutely apiculate, not broadly 3-lobed with

the ends much prolonged,

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 267

14. Oberonia tenuis Lindl. Fol. Orchid. Oberon. 3, 1852 ; Hook. f.

Icon. Pl. t. 1779 B, 1888, et FI. Brit. Ind. 5 : 682, 1890. Malaxis tenuis

(Lindl.) Reichb. f. in Walp. Ann. 6: 211, 1861. Jridorchis tenuis (Lind1.)

O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 2 : 669, 1891.

Pendulous brown epiphytes. Leaves 0.6-6 x 0.3-0.6 cm., brown,

linear or linear-lanceolate, subfalcate or ovate-oblong, acute or acumi-

nate, often bristle-pointed. Scape terete, yellowish brown, 2-5 cm. long,

with spreading, hyaline, subulate bracts. Inflorescence 1.5-12 cm. long,

squarrose, more or less straight. Flowers brownish red, bracteate.

Bracts oblong-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, subulate, acute or acumi-

nate, entire, gland-dotted. Sepals subequal, gland-dotted, concave ;

the dorsal sepal is narrow-lanceolate, at times ovate-lanceolate or ovate-

oblong, hardly bigger than the lateral sepals, acute or subacuminate ;

the lateral ones orbicular or orbicular-ovate, mucronulate. Petals

narrow, linear, acute or subobtuse, gland-dotted, faintly 1-nerved. Lip

-3-lobed ; lateral lobes erect, surrounding the column and meeting above

it, narrowly filiform, aristate, shorter than the petals ; midlobe dextrously

folded upwards along the lateral lobes, lunate, the tips much-prolonged,

acuminate ; the midlobe obscurely or not at all 3-lobed on the basal

margin. Column short. Ovary 1 mm. long, rarely slightly curved at

the base. Capsule brown, strongly ribbed, orbicular or oblong-orbi-

cular, with an equally long stalk.

Flowering and Fruiting : March.

Occurrence in Bombay: N. KANARA: Castle Rock, Kapadia

2821.

| Distribution: India: N. Kanara. This species has been recorded

for Bombay State and India for the first time ; up to now known only

from Ceylon. World: India, Ceylon.

Notes: Hooker f. describes the leaves as linear-oblong, the lip with

very small, hatchet-shaped midlobe and linear erect incurved sidelobes

that form a circle round the ovary. In our specimen the leaves are linear-

oblong, acuminate, often bristle-pointed, and the lateral lobes of the lip

form a circle round the column (and not round the ovary as stated by

Hooker f.) ; the midlobe is narrowly lunate with much-prolonged acumi-

nate tips.

15. Oberonia sp. Large pendulous epiphytes. Leaves thin, oblong-

lanceolate, up to 17 x 1.5 cm. Inflorescence arising directly from a

narrowly linear, leaf-like peduncle. Flowers long-pedicelled, minute,

densely imbricating, often in more or less distinct whorls. The flowers

are too old and decayed for careful analysis. |

Flowering : probably about September to October.

Occurrence in Bombay State: N. KANARA: Jog, V. Patel 1915 ;

Kapadia 2425-2427, |

268 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 37 (2)

Notes: This seems to be quite a distinct species, very unlike any of

those discussed above ; scarcity of materials prevents us from a definite

identification.

We found these plants to be fairly common along the way to the

ferry, from the Bombay side of Jog falls.

Imperfectly known Species

16. Oberonia bellii Blatt. & McC. in J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 35:

TSO d 195K.

This species was described and illustrated from Bell’s manuscript

notes ; no actual specimens were examined by the authors. We have

not been able to locate it in Bombay.

The following is Blatter & McCann’s original description :

‘Pertains to section Oberonia proper. Approaching Oberonia ver-

ticillata, but differing in the 8-grooved rachis, bracts lanceolate, imbri-

cate, slightly longer than the buds, flowers sessile, petals ovate-oblong,

lip oblong, midlobe bifid erose ligulate, segments obliquely truncate at

the apex. ;

‘ Scape together with raceme almost twice as long as longest leaf.

Leaves narrow, ensiform, falcate or subfalcate, acuminate, broad at

base, uptol10 x lcm. Rachis fairly stout with 8 grooves, and 8 rounded

ridges between the grooves. Buds globose, apiculate. Flowers sessile,

2 mm. long, verticillate, one flower on each ridge, the ridge of one node

being continued by a groove on the next. Internodes 2.5 mm. long.

Bracts 2 mm. long, lanceolate, acute, membranous, broadest in the

middle, fimbriate, slightly longer than the buds. Sepals ovate-acute,

subequal. Petals narrower than the sepals, erose ; side lobes very small,

rounded ; midlobe bifid with strap-shaped slightly divergent obliquely

truncate segments ; sinus 1/3 of the whole lobe. Ovary 1 mm. long.

Column merely a horse-shoe-shaped low wall, covered by a nearly cir-

cular, lowly convex, green, smooth little cap. Pollinia extremely minute,

orange-yellow, pear-shaped ; point of attachment short and pointed

(fixed to a minute surface at each end of horseshoe rim of column).

‘ The pollinia fall out when the flower is ready, the cap raising itself

for the purpose. The hollow in the form of the column is square.

(Bell).’

Flowering : March.

Occurrence in Bombay: N. KANARA: Yellapur, Bell.

Notes: ‘There seems to be hardly any difference between this species

and O. verticillata Wt., but absence of the type prevents us from attempt-

ing a definite identification.

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE

269

REFERENCES

Blatter, E. & McCann, C. (1931):

Revision of the Flora of the Bombay

Presidency. Part XVI. Orchidaceae. J.

Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 31: 254-275,

tt. 1-8. (Oberonia 254-259, tt. 1-4).

Brihl, P. (1926): A guide to the

orchids of Sikkim. Calcutta.

Duthie, J. F. (1906): The orchids of

the North-Western Himalaya. Ann. R.

Bot. Gard. Calcutta 9 (2): 81-211, tt. 94-

151.

Gammie, G. A. (1905): The orchids

of the Bombay Presidency. J. Bombay

nat. Hist. Soc. vols. 16-21; Oberonia

16: 514. 1905.

Grant, B. (1895): The Orchids of

Burma (including the Andaman Islands)

described. Rangoon.

King, G. & Pantling, R. (1898): The

orchids of the Sikkim Himalaya. Ann.

R. Bot. Gard. Calcutta 8: 1-342, tt. 1-

444 bis.

Butterflies of the Palni Hills:

a Complementary List

E. UGARTE, S.J. AND L. RODRICKS, S.J.

Sacred Heart College Museum, Shembaganur P.O., Madurai District

With a view to supplement the list of butterflies of the Palni Hills

made by Evans (1910), the authors explored the entire Palni range at

all elevations and at all seasons of the year over a period of ten years.

This paper gives a list of 54 new recordings made in the course of the

work.

Before we present our fresh data on the butterflies of the Palnis, a

few lines on these hills and on the significance of our list may prove

useful.

The Palnis (Madurai Dt., S. India) run parallel to and south of the

Nilgiris. About 70 miles (110 km.) long and of an average breadth of

some 15 miles (24 km.), they abut against the Western Ghats, rising

gradually east-west up to a high tableland of 8000 ft. (2400 m.), 30 miles

(48 km.) long, with Kodaikanal at 7000 ft. (2100 m.) The variety and

abundance of the butterfly fauna of these hills vary obviously with the

richness and kinds of vegetation. Without going into details about

the latter, we may note in general that while the northern and southern

slopes and valleys show great floral or forest luxuriance, the upper

plateau west of Kodaikanal consists mainly of grasslands interspersed

with some sholas. The eastern lower Palnis up to 4500 ft. (1400 m.) on

the other hand cover large cultivated areas of plantains, oranges, lemon,

coffee, cardamom, etc.

Taking this into account, we mention below a few places of parti-

cular interest to butterfly collectors :

(1) The Tope, 1000 ft., (300 m.) and Vengayaparai, 2300 ft. (700 m.)

at the 5th and 8th mile respectively of the ‘Old Coolie

Road’ from Peryakulam Town to Kodaikanal ;

(2) Thalayar Falls, 3000 ft. (900 m.), facing the 8th mile of the

Motor Road, which links Kodaikanal Hill Station to the

Kodaikanal Road-Peryakulam highway ;

(3) Perumal-Neutral Saddle, 5000 ft. (1515 m.), and Sacred Heart

College, Shembaganur, 6000 ft. (1820 m.), at the 23rd and

27th mile on the Motor Road respectively ;

BUTTERFLIES OF THE PALNI HILLS 271

(4) Palar Dam, 4000 ft. (1210 m.), on the 7th-12th mile of the

Coolie Path from Neutral Saddle to Palni Town ;

(5) Porandalar Valley, 3500 ft. (1160 m.), below Palanghi village ;

(6) Manalur, 3300 ft. (1000 m.), in the Lower Palnis ;

(7) Manjampatti-Tallungi 2200 ft. (670 m.), some 7 to 12 miles

(11km. to 19 km.) up the Amaravati Dam.

Since Evans listed the butterfly fauna of the Palnis in 1910, little has

been done as far as we are aware to confirm and complete his findings

in this region. The advisability of a fresh survey was suggested by his

own statement, in his article on the Palni Butterflies, that probably

‘another 100 species’ could easily be added to his recordings. It is

this which impelled us, as permanent residents of these hills, to start

working on our ‘ Complementary List’. As we were working on Evans’s

List of Palni Butterflies we have followed his nomenclature.

- Whereas Evans collected mainly at the Tope or around Kodaikanal

and this too for only 6 weeks (end of Aug. to early Oct.) supplementing

his findings from other reliable sources, we have tried to explore the

entire Palni Range, at all elevations and seasons of the year, over a

period of some 10 years. While covering all the Palnis, however, our

List lays a heavy emphasis on the Tope-Vengayaparai region ; for any

one familiar with these hills will agree that this region, as Evans has also

pointed out, still gives the best yield in both varieties and numbers of

‘butterflies.

Our study has been carried out mostly with the help of the clerical

(Jesuit) students of Sacred Heart College, Shembaganur. But we must

also gratefully mention the valuable collaboration of the boys of High-

-clerc School, Kodaikanal, and of Mr. Alan Sharman of Madras.

Thanks to these combined efforts, we have been able to gather over

250 kinds of Heterocera and 228 species of Rhopalocera. Taking only

the latter into account, we would like to note the following with refer-

ence to Evans (1910) :

(a) Our observations confirm 174 of Evans (1910) recordings ;

though occasionally with not a few divergent data regarding location,

elevation, and seasonal appearance of large numbers ; |

(b) We have not as yet recorded 17 of Evans’s listing in 1910.

Of these, three appear on all accounts to belong to the Palnis, namely

Telicota concinna, Telicota gola, and Castalius ananda. As for the re-

maining 14, recent taxonomic regroupings and modifications in nomen-

clature make it extremely difficult to say anything definite ;

may, to a large extent, be explained by the fact that the Palnis are not

quite the same today as Evans knew them 50 years ago. For with ruth-

less cutting down of forests, species once apparently abundant have

now become quite rare, not to say extinct ;

272 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

(d) In spite of this deforestation, our survey has given us 54 new

records, not as yet the 100 predicted by Evans! ‘They are listed

below, but it would be difficult in some cases to state exactly whether

we are dealing with permanent or only migratory forms of the Palnis.

LIST OF NEW RECORDS

HESPERIIDAE

1. Astycus pythias lanka Evans

Two at Vengayaparai in Sept.-Oct. One at the 7 mile of the Coolie

Road in July.

2. Baoris conjuncta narooa (Moore)

Several at all elevations.

3. Baoris guttatus bada (Moore)

Two at Palar Dam in Feb.

4. Bibasis sena (Moore)

Three at Vengayaparai, one at the Tope in Feb., one at the 74 mile

of the Coolie Road in Nov.

5. Caprona ransonnetti lanka Evans

Common at lower elevations all through the year, more abundant

at higher elevations in Feb.-Mar.

6. Caprona ransonnetti taylorii (de Nicéville)

At lower elevations all through the year, especially at Vengayaparai.

7. Daimio bhagava bhagava (Moore)

One at Porandalar Valley in July.

8. Gangara thyrsis thyrsis (Fabricius)

One taken by Highclerc students, one mile above the Palar Dam site

in May.

9. Hasora taminatus taminatus Hiibner

Not rare at Vengayaparai and at higher elevations in Aug.-Sept.

A few stray ones may be taken at higher elevations in Nov.

10. Ismene jaina fergussoni de Nicéville

One at Vengayaparai along the stream in Nov. One & caught and

another <\ seen by Mr. Sharman by the tope stream in March.

11. Matapa aria (Moore)

Not rare at higher elevations in July-Oct,

BUTTERFLIES OF THE PALNI HILLS 273

12. Padraona cato Evans

Common at Vengayaparai in Aug.-Sept.

LYCAENIDAE

13. Amblypodia amantes amantes Hewitson

Several along the stream from the Tope to Vengayaparai at all

seasons, chiefly Aug.-Feb.

14. Amblypodia centaurus pirama (Moore)

Less common than amantes, though found in the same locality.

A 2 was taken by Mr. Sharman at the Tope stream in May also, four

df and three 99 in July and many others both sexes seen.

15. Bindahara phocides moorei Frihstorfer

One of and one @ at the 75 mile of the Coolie Path along the stream

at Palar Dam in July. Two oo‘ were taken by Mr. Sharman at the

Tope stream in March ; also, one 2 seen at Vengayaparai in July. One

j' at milestone 5/2 of the Motor Road in July.

16. Charana jalindra (Horsfield)

One 6 at Shembaganur in Jan.

17. Deudoryx epijarbas (Moore)

Two oo taken at mile 6 and 73 of the Old Coolie Road, along the

stream, in Sept.

18. Everes parrhasius (Fabricius)

Common at all elevations all the year round.

19. Horaga onyx (Moore)

One in Sacred Heart College Museum, Shembaganur, but without

exact records as to its location and season.

20. Iraota timoleon arsaces Frihstorfer

Several #9’ and 22 were taken at 74 mile of the Old Coolie Road,

along the stream, in Sept. and May. Five 292 taken by Mr. Sharman

along the Tope stream in May ; also, one fi and three 2¢ in July and

several both sexes seen.

21. Nacaduba beroe gythion Frihstorfer

Two at Vengayaparai stream in Sept.

22. Nacaduba dubiosa indica Evans

Common along the stream from the Tope to Vengayaparai all

through the year.

274 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

23. Nacaduba helicon viola (Moore)

Three 39 and two 2° at Vengayaparai in Aug.-Sept. and Apr.-

June. One oat mile 5/2 of the Motor Road in July.

24. Nacaduba hermus nabo Friihstorfer

Two 69 p\and two 2 2 between the 22nd and 23rd mile of the Motor

Road in Oct.

25. Nacaduba kurava canaraica (Moore)

One and one & in the same location as nabo.

26. Pratapa deva deva (Moore)

One & in Shembaganur in Dec.

27. Rapala melampus (Cramer)

One o taken by Highclerc students at Kodaikanal in Feb.

28. Rapala schistacea (Moore)

Not rare at the Tope stream, the & being more common. Several

J fiand ¢ 9 were taken at mile 5/2 of the Motor Road in July.

29. Spindasis elima elima (Moore)

Two 6 9 taken by Mr. Sharman at the Tope in May.

Ce ee ee Oe

One ¢ in Sacred Heart College Museum, Shembaganur, but without

exact records as to its location and season.

31. Spindasis schistacea (Moore)

Some & Sat mile 5/2 (The Temple) of the Coolie Road in Sept. and

Feb. One taken in Shembaganur in Feb.

32. Tajuria cippus cippus (Fabricius)

Several 7 Hand & Yat the Tope stream in July. 3 were taken a few

months later too. :

33. Tajuria melastigma de Nicéville

One @ taken at the Tope by Mr. Sharman in May. One by us in

July.

34. Tarucus nara (Kollar)

One 3 and one 2 at Palar Dam in Oct.

35. Virachola isocrates (Fabricius)

One at Manalur in Jan. Two 292 at the Tope and Kodaikanal res-

pectively in Feb.

BUTTERFLIES OF THE PALNI HILLS 25

36. Zesius chrysomallus (Hibner)

Two 29 along the stream between the 5th and 6th mile of the Old

Coolie Road, in Jan.

37. Zizeeria trochilus putli (Kollar)

Common at all elevations all through the year.

NYMPHALIDAE

38. Biblia ilythia (Drury)

Given by Evans 1910 for the plains (Peryakulam). One was taken

in Shembaganur and another at the Tope in Sept.

39. Cethosia nietneri mahratta Moore

One ¢ at Vengayaparai in June.

40. Doleschallia bisaltide malabarica Frihstorfer

One at Shembaganur in Nov.

41, Euthalia evelina laudabilis Swinhoe

One & and one 2 at Vengayaparai and Thalayar Falls respectively,

in Sept.-Oct. One 9 at the Tope in July.

42. Euthalia lubentina arasada Frihstorfer

One (‘taken at Vengayaparai and another along the stream at mile

6 of the Old Coolie Road in Oct. ;One 2 seen at mile 19/3 of the

Motor Road in Oct.

43. Pantoporia selenophora kanara Evans

One 3 taken at Kodaikanal in Jan. and another at mile 20 of the

Motor Road in March. One & at Neutral Saddle in Sept.

44. Precis atlites (Linnaeus)

Several at Talungi in April.

PAPILIONIDAE

45. Chilasa clytia clytia (Linnaeus)

One co‘ at Neutral Saddle in May and another at Vengayaparai in

Oct.

46. Chilasa clytia dissimilis (Linnaeus)

One taken a mile and a half after Palar Dam in June and another

at mile 9 of the Old Coolie Road in Nov.

276 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

47. Papilio paris tamilana Moore

Several at Manalur in April. One was taken at Kodaikanal by the

students of Highclerc in Sept.

48. Pathysa nomius nomius (Esper)

Several at Manjampatti in April and at the foot of Thalayar Falls

in Oct.-Nov. A few were taken at the Tope in Oct. and Jan.

PIERIDAE

49. Appias lyncida latifasciata Moore

One ~ at the Tope in Dec. One 2 in Sacred Heart College

Museum, but without records as to its location and season.

50. Appias paulina wardii (Moore)

Two 3 and two £2 at the Tope and Shembaganur in March and

Nov. respectively. |

51. Catopsilia pomona (Fabricius)

Very common at all elevations all the year round. Abundant in

Kodaikanal in Dec.-Jan.

52. Catopsilia pomona var. catilla (Cramer)

Less common than the previous.

53. Huphina nadina remba (Moore)

One ¢ taken and another seen by Mr. Sharman at the Tope in May.

54. Terias andersoni ormistoni Watkins

Common at all elevations all through the year.

REFERENCES

Antram, B. (1924): Butterflies of Woodhouse, L. G. O. (1950) : Butterfly

India. Fauna of Ceylon. Colombo.

Evans, W. H. (1910): List of the Wynter-Blyth, M. A. (1944): The

butterflies of the Palni Hills. J. Bombay Butterflies of the Nilgiris. J. Bombay

nat. Hist. Soc. 20 (2) : 380-392. nat. Hist. Soc. 44 (4): 536-549; 45 (1):

— — — (1932): Identification of 47-61.

Indian Butterflies. Bombay. — — — (1957): Butterflies of the

Indian Region. Bombay.

[In addition to the new records from the Palnis mentioned above,

Mr. A. J. Sharman adds the following :

HESPERIIDAE

1. Tapena thwaitesi hampsoni Elwes & Edwards.

One along the Tope stream in July.

BUTTERFLIES OF THE PALNI HILLS 277

LYCAENIDAE

2. Pratapa cleobis (Godart)

One 9 in the Perumal Reserve Forest in May. [Fr. Ugarte also

reports that since the paper was submitted the authors caught one § of

this species at the Motor Road milestone 19 in October. ]

3. Amblypodia abseus Hewitson

Qne seen by the Tope stream in July.

—Eps.]

The Birds of Nepal

BISWAMOY BISWAS

Zoological Survey of India, Indian Museum, Calcutta

(With a map)

INTRODUCTION

Snug in the heart of the majestic grandeur of the Himalayas lies the

little kingdom of Nepal—the naturalists’ dreamland. The country

spreads over a length of some 800 kilometres covering parts of both the

western and the eastern Himalayas: The average breadth is merely

150 km: or so: Nevertheless, within this limited space one may travel

from the Oriental Region to the Palaearctic—from flat alluvial plains to

the highest points on earth, from hot steamy tropical valleys filled with

luxuriant and almost impenetrable rain forests to the treeless, eerie

wilderness of eternal snows, from bare rocky wastes to lush alpine

meadows with their celestial floral carpets, let alone the crags and cliffs

and other features which combine Nature’s tenderest beauties with her

most savage grandeur. Mountain-bound placid lakes, age-old untrod-

den glaciers, murmuring brooks, rippling rivulets, thundering water-

falls, tumultuous torrents winding through precipitous gorges of terrifying

aspect, and great rivers carrying enormous quantities of water and debris

to the plains present wide and complex differences in the landscape.

Such a country of diverse contrasts shelters, as may be expected, a uni-

que fauna, of which birds constitute the richest group both in number and

in variety of forms.

Here in Nepal the indomitable British Resident Brian Hodgson,

aptly called ‘ the father of Indian vertebrate zoology ’, laid the founda-

tion of the study of Indian vertebrates during the third decade of the

nineteenth century, making avifauna his first choice. Since then the birds

of Nepal continued to dominate the field of Indian ornithology until a

number of additional bird students appeared on the scene to spread

the focus to the less inaccessible parts of the country. The subsequent

history of the ornithology of Nepal has been briefly summarized by Ripley

(1950b) and by Rand & Fleming (1957).

In 1947, the present author who was then under training in Systematic

Zoology at the Zoological Survey of India, had the opportunity to spend

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THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 279

four months (March-June) in field work in Nepal, mainly ornithological

study and collecting. This project was undertaken in co-operation with

Dr. Walter Koelz, an American private collector of great experience.

Dr. Koelz spent a little over five months (from March till early August)

in Nepal. Those were the days when Nepal was still virtually closed to

foreigners, so that our area of operation had to be restricted to the strip of

country along the main road to Kathmandu from Raxaul tn north Bihar,

India, and to within 15 miles radius of Kathmandu. In spite of this

limitation and of the season (the very heavy Himalayan monsoon from

late May), the collection of birds made by the joint team totalled about

3500 specimens representing some 350 species and subspecies. —

The birds of Nepal have great significance for Indian ornithology,

mainly since this was the first area in the Indian Region to be explored

on a large scale, and it is the type locality of nearly 10% of currently

accepted forms of Indian birds.

In this paper the author has not only presented the data of the Koelz-

Biswas collection, but has also attempted to give a complete list of birds

known from Nepal so far, together with such information on the occur-

rence of each form as is available in the published literature. The species

and subspecies have been serially numbered, and arranged in taxonomic

sequence following Mayr & Amadon (1951), Biswas (1953), Mayr &

Greenway (1956), and Vaurie (1959a). Forms whose occurrence in

Nepal is doubtful, have not been given any serial number, but have been

recorded in square brackets at the appropriate places in the sequence.

Forms that were not found by the Koelz-Biswas team have been indi-

cated by asterisks preceding the serial numbers. Since the original

references to the various names are all available in standard books, they

have been left out generally. However, wherever discrepancies have

been noticed between the originals and those given in the standard litera-

ture, or whenever necessary for discussion, they have been retained.

It is proposed to include notes on the physiography, biotope, etc. of

our collecting areas, and on the zoogeography of Nepal in the last instal-

ment of this paper. For the present, however, the following explanation

of the physiographical expressions used in the paper is given:

PLAINS—comprising the southernmost strip of flat plains indistin-

guishable from the plains of northern India adjoining Nepal.

Heavily cultivated. Altitude up to about 150 m.

TARAI—comprising a belt north of the plains and consisting typically

of thick forest interspersed with a large number of slow rivers.

A great part of the tarai is cultivated at present. Altitude about

the same as the plains.

BHABAR—comprising the strip from the edge of the tarai up to the

Siwalik Hills. It is a heavily forested land (Sal forest zone of Hodg-

son and of Scully) sloping southward. Altitude c. 150-300 m.

280 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

DuN—consisting of the zone of east-west valleys situated between the

Siwaliks and the main Himalayan foothills. Heavily forested

and interspersed with cultivation near scattered villages. Altitude

c. 300-1370 m.

HIGHER RANGES—comprising the Himalayas proper. Heavily

forested up to about 2740 m., but with extensive terraced cultiva-

tion near human habitation. Altitude over 1370 m.

In central Nepal the ‘ higher ranges’ zone has been further subdivided

into :

(a) Markhu Valley—situated between the Mahabharat Range on

the south and the Chandragiri on the north,

(b) Chitlang Valley—situated immediately to the south of the

Chandragiri, and

Kathmandu is situated. This valley has also been sometimes

referred to simply as the Valley.

Various other places have been referred to according to the valleys in

which they are situated.

For the sake of convenience of reference in this paper, Nepal has also

been divided east-west into four areas (see Map), namely :

WESTERN—Consisting of the part of the country from its extreme

western border eastward up to long. 82°E.

WEST-CENTRAL—from long. 82°E. up to 84°E.

CENTRAL—from long. 84°E. up to 86°E.

EASTERN—from long. 86°E. to the extreme eastern edge of the

country.

For the spellings of various geographical names, Survey of India

maps have been generally followed.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am thankful to the Government of Nepal for permitting us to

make an ornithological collection there and for granting us all facilities in

that connexion. My thanks are also due to the Government of India for

bearing the major portion of the expenses of my study tour by awarding

me an Overseas Scholarship. To three American friends who prefer

to remain anonymous I am particularly indebted for providing me,

through the American Museum of Natural History, with a scholarship

that enabled me to carry on with my work during my last three months’

stay in the U.S.A.

The authorities of the British Museum (Natural History) and the

American Museum of Natural History, especially the staff of their ornitho-

logical departments, have been most helpful to me not only during the

period I worked there, but even today, and IJ hereby tender them my grate-

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 281

ful appreciation. My thanks are also due to Dr. Walter Koelz for

very kindly allowing me to work out his collection, and to the Bombay

Natural History Society for lending comparative study material whenever

it was needed.

I have been fortunate in receiving help in various ways from a large

number of persons, among whom I must mention Dr. Salim Ali, Dr.

Dean Amadon, Professor J. L. Bhaduri, Mr. H. G. Deignan, Mr.

J. Delacour, Mr. D. Goodwin, the late Capt. C. H. B. Grant, the late Dr.

S. L. Hora, Mr. J. D. Macdonald, Mr. Daniel Marien, the late Mr. P. N.

Mitra (who was my companion in Nepal), Mr. B. Roy, Mr. H. B. Usher,

and Dr. Charles Vaurie.

I would be failing in my duty if I did not express my debt of deep

gratitude to Professor Ernst Mayr who has not only rendered me constant

inspiring guidance throughout this work, but also spent many hours of

his extremely congested time in discussing various items, in reading

through the manuscript, and helping me in other ways.

A complete list of references will be given at the end of this paper.

Only a reference to some of the publications on Nepal ornithology cited

frequently in the following pages is considered of relevance at this stage :

Biswas, B. (1960a) : Zoological results

of the Daily Mail Himalayan expedi-

tion, 1954. Notes on some birds from

Khumbu, eastern Nepal. [MS.]|

Gray, J. E. (1863): Catalogue of the

specimens and drawings of mammals,

birds, reptiles, and fishes of Nepal and

Tibet, presented by B. H. Hodgson, Esq.,

to the British Museum (2nd ed.).

London.

——— & Gray, G. R. (1846): Cata-

logue of the specimens and drawings

of mammalia and birds of Nepal and

Thibet, presented by B. H. Hodgson,

Esq., to the British Museum. London.

Proud, D. (1949): Some notes on

birds of the Nepal Valley. J. Bombay

nat. Hist. Soc. 48 : 695-719.

— — — (1952a): Some birds seen

on the Gandak-Kosi watershed in March,

1951. ibid. 50 : 355-366.

— — — (1952b): Further notes on

the birds of the Nepal Valley. ibid.

50 : 667-670.

NOTE.

Proud, D. (1955): More notes on the

pugs of the Nepal Valley. ibid. 53:

Rand, A. L., & Fleming, R. L. (1957) :

rene from Nepal. Fieldiana, Zool., 41:

Ripley, S. D. (1950a): New birds

from Nepal and the Indian region. Proc.

biol. Soc. Wash. 63 : 101-108.

— — — (1950b): Birds from Nepal

1947-1949. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc.

49 : 355-417.

Scully, J. (14879): A contribution to

the ornithology of Nepal. Str. Feath.

8 : 204-365.

Smythies, B. E. (1948): Some birds

of the Gandak-Kosi watershed, includ-

ing the pilgrim trail to the sacred lake of

Gosainkund. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc.

47 : 432-442.

— — — (1950): More notes on the

birds of the Nepal Valley. ibid. 49:

513-518.

In the Systematic List that follows

1. Forms that were not found by the Koelz-Biswas team have been

indicated by asterisks preceding the serial numbers.

Forms whose occurrence in Nepal is doubtful have not been given

any serial number, but have been recorded in square brackets at the appropriate

places in the sequence.

. 3. All measurements are in millimetres. The wing and tail have been

measured in the standard way. Unless otherwise stated, the bill size refers to the

measurement in a straight line from the base of the bill on the skull to its tip.

Numerical frequencies of measurements occurring more than once are given in

parentheses.

282 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

SYSTEMATIC LIST OF BIRDS

Order PODICIPIFORMES

Family PODICIPEDIDAE

*1, Podiceps ruficollis capensis Salvadori. Indian Little Grebe.

The Indian Little Grebe was not found by us or by Rand & Fleming

(1957), but Scully (1879, p. 364) found it to be tolerably common in the

Nepal Valley between early September and mid-May, and Ripley (1950b,

p. 363) noted it in the lower tarai near the Indian border.

*2. Podiceps nigricollis nigricollis C. L. Brehm. Blacknecked Grebe.

The Blacknecked Grebe was reported for the first time from Nepal

by Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 48) who obtained a single specimen in

west-central Nepal (Pokhara). Since then it has not been recorded from

Nepal.

In view of the ruling on Opinion 406 (Opin. int. Com. zool. Nom.,

1956, 13 : 120) Brehm’s name Podiceps nigricollis, 1831, must be retained

for this species in preference to Hablizl’s Podiceps caspicus, 1783.

*3. Podiceps cristatus cristatus (Linnaeus). Great Crested Grebe.

We were unable to find the Great Crested Grebe in Nepal, neither

were Scully (1879) and Ripley (1950b), but Rand & Fleming (1957, p.

48) obtained three specimens in December and February in west-central

Nepal (Pokhara), the only ones from that country since Hodgson’s days,

Order PELECANIFORMES

Family PHALACROCORACIDAE

*4, Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis (Shaw). Large Cormorant.

The Large Cormorant was not seen by us in Nepal, or by Rand &

Fleming (1957), but Scully (1879, p. 364) reported it from Trisul Ganga

river, Nawakot district, central Nepal, in November, and Ripley (1950b,

p. 363) found it on Karnali River in the dun of western Nepal early in

January.

*5, Phalacrocorax niger (Vieillot). Little Cormorant.

Hodgson’s collection (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 149) provides the sole

record of the occurrence of the Little Cormorant in Nepal.

*6. Anhinga rufa melanogaster Pennant. Darter.

The Darter was not obtained by us, but Scully (1879, p. 364) found it

in the central bhabar in December, Ripley (1950b, p. 363) in small ponds

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 283

in the tarai, Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 48) in the western tarai in

November. Proud (1955, p. 72) once saw a storm-driven example soar-

ing over the Nepal Valley in April.

Family PELECANIDAE

oi ih Pelecanus philippensis philippensis Gmelin. Spottedbilled Pelican.

The only record of the pelican from Nepal is provided by Hodgson’s

collection (Gray & Gray, 1846, pp. 148-149).

Order FALCONIFORMES

Family ACCIPITRIDAE

**8, Elanus caeruleus caeruleus (Desfontaines). Blackwinged Kite.

The Blackwinged Kite was not found by us or by Scully (1879) in

Nepal. However, it was recorded by Ripley (1950b, p. 364) to be com-

mon in the tarai along the edges of forests, and by Rand & Fleming

(1957, p. 52) as common in the lowlands of eastern and western Nepal in

winter. Proud (1952b, p. 669) once saw it in the Nepal Valley in June,

Biswas (1960a) reports it from c. 1370 m. in Chautara district, central

Nepal, on January 31.

*9, Aviceda leuphotes (Dumont)!. Blackcrested Baza.

This baza was not found by us in Nepal, nor does it seem to have

been recorded from that country since Hodgson’s days.

10. Pernis ptilorhynchus ruficollis Lesson. Indian Crested Honey Buz-

zard.

TARAIL : Simra : 1 subad. ¢ (March 5). Dun: Hitaura : 2 2° (July 20, 26).

The Crested Honey Buzzard was seen by us only in the tarai and dun

of central Nepal, but Proud (1955, p. 71) found it to be common in the

Nepal Valley from November to March. She also observed it in west-

central Nepal. Scully (1879), Ripley (1950b), and Rand & Fleming

(1957) did not record it from Nepal.

One of my female specimens (July 20) has the head and nape almost

white with black shaft stripes, under plumage white with black shaft

stripes on chin and throat, black central streaks (rather black drops)

on breast and abdomen, fewer on the latter.

Measurements : 2 2° : Wing 408,—; tail 264, 270 ; bill 40 (2) ; culmen from the

edge of cere 22.5, 23.

One of the two specimens obtained by Shri Gobind Bahadur Gurung at

Bijaipur about 30 miles north of Biratnagar in eastern Nepal on 22 April 1959 for

Klavs Becker-Larsen of Copenhagen is in the Society’s collection.—Ebs, .

284 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

11. Milvus migrans govinda Sykes. Pariah Kite.

Although observed in the plains and tarai in March, no specimen of

the Pariah Kite was obtained by us in Nepal. Ripley (1950b) did not

find itin Nepal. Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 52) reported it from the

lowlands. Biswas (1960a) found it up to c. 1520 m. in eastern Nepal.

Some of Scully’s (1879, pp. 227-229) specimens of the species, entered

under three different names, undoubtedly represent this form. |

12. Milvus (migrans) lineatus (J. E. Gray). Large Indian Kite.

Dun : Hitaura: 1 9, 1 subad. unsexed (May 14, June 2). MAHABHARAT RANGE !

Chisapani Garhi: 1 2 (July 26). CsitLANG VALLEY: Chitlang: 1 subad. 2 (April

21). NEPAL VALLEY: Kathmandu: 1 ¢ (April 6).

The Large Indian Kite is a common bird in central Nepal from the

dun to the Valley. Lowndes (1955, p. 36) saw a pair at c. 3500 m. in

Manangbhot, central Nepal, in July, and Biswas (1960a) collected it at

c. 4260 m. and observed it once even at c. 5330 m. in Khumbu, eastern

Nepal, in May.

My male specimen from Kathmandu (April 6) had somewhat swol-

len testes, and the female from Hitaura (June 2) had a shrunken ovary,

The Chisapani Garhi specimen has an additional abnormal structure

on its bill, as has already been reported (Biswas, 1956).

Colours of soft parts : Iris dark brown, bill black with bluish slaty on base, cere

pale yellow with bluish slaty on base, legs and feet dull bluish white, claws black,

pads white.

Measurements : Cul f i

: ; ‘ ulmen from the

Wing Tail Bill edge of cere

1g: 490 315 39 30

299: 496, 498 3074. 39, 41 29, —

13. Haliastur indus indus (Boddaert). Brahminy Kite.

Dun: Hitaura: 1 subad. 2 (May 30).

During spring and summer, a few examples of the Brahminy Kite

were found by us in the dun usually near streams, but none in the Nepal

Valley. Scully (1879, p. 227) found it in the plains and tarai of central

Nepal as a resident bird, and in the Nepal Valley in March, August, and

September as a straggler. Proud (1949, p. 717), on the other hand, noted

it to be a late summer (August-September) visitor to the Valley. Rand

& Fleming (1957, p. 53) found it to be the common kite of the lowlands

in winter. Biswas (1960a) reported it from the Pilua Khola Valley,

eastern Nepal, at c. 1370 m,in June. Ripley (1950b) did not include it in

his list.

*14, Accipiter gentilis schvedowi (Menzbier). Goshawk.

After Hodgson’s collection the only record of the Goshawk from

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 285

Nepal is furnished by Scully (1879, p. 223) who did not obtain any speci-

men but found it to be a rare straggler to the Nepal Valley in winter,

15. Accipiter badius dussumieri (Temminck). Indian Shikra.

Dun: Hitaura: 3 ¢¢, 1 juv. ¢, 1 2 (May 30—June 16).

In central Nepal the Shikra appears to be fairly common in the dun,

but rather scarce in the Nepal Valley.

Measurements :

: : ‘ Culmen from. the

Wing Tail Bill edge of cere

3 od: 179, 180,183 134, 139, 140 20 (2), 21 12:5, 13; 13.5

ee 214 170 22 15

*16. Accipiter trivirgatus indicus (Hodgson). Northern Crested Goshawk

This goshawk was not obtained by us or by Scully (1879) in Nepal,

but Ripley (1950b, p. 365) collected a single example in the eastern tarai

in February, and Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 53) had a single specimen

from west-central Nepal in December.

17. Accipiter nisus nisosimilis (Tickell). Asiatic Sparrow-Hawk,

Dun : Bhimphedi: 1 ¢ (March 12). NEPAL VALLEY : Kathmandu : 1 2 (March 24),

This sparrow-hawk was seen by us on several occasions in March

chasing small birds in the outskirts of Kathmandu and about the villages

on the Bhimphedi-Thankot trail. Proud (1949, p. 718) found it as a

common winter visitor in the Nepal Valley, and Rand & Fleming (1957,

p. 53) occasionally saw it in the lower hills (c. 900-1370 m.) of west-central

Nepal during winter. Scully (1879) and Ripley (1950b) did not come

across it in Nepal.

The female specimen (March 24) had paired granular ovaries, as has

already been reported by Biswas (1960b), the largest ovum measuring

1.5 mm.

Colours of soft parts : Iris bright lemon yellow, cere greenish grey with yellowish

tinge on base, bill bluish slaty with black tip, legs and feet yellow, claws black, pads

yellow.

Measurements : a P

; , : ulmen from the

Wing Tail Bill edge of cere

iS: 215 154 20 12.5

Or: 245 182 24 15.5

*18. Accipiter nisus melaschistos Hume. Indian Sparrow-Hawk.

This sparrow-hawk was not obtained by us, or by Scully (1879) or

by Rand & Fleming (1957). Ripley (1950b, p. 365), however, collected

a specimen in eastern Nepal in February, and Biswas (1960a) found it in

spring and summer between c, 3960 and 4570 m, in Khumbu, eastern

Nepal.

286 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

19. Accipiter virgatus affinis Hodgson. Northern Besra Sparrow-Hawk.

CHITLANG VALLEY : Chitlang: 1 2 (June 28), NepAL VALLEY: Thankot: 1 2

(April 11).

The Northern Besra Sparrow-Hawk was seen by us on several occa-

sions in the Markhu and Chitlang valleys, but only a few were noticed in

the Nepal Valley, although Proud (1955, p. 71) recorded it to be modera-

tely common there throughout the year. Neither Scully (1879), nor

Ripley (1950b) found it in Nepal. Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 53), who

collected a single specimen at Kaski (? western Nepal) in December,

noted it to be uncommon.

Both my specimens had remains of birds in their stomachs.

Measurements : 2 92:: Wing 199, 206; tail 164, 167; bill 23, — ; culmen from

the edge of cere 15.5, —.

*20. Buteo rufinus rufinus (Cretzschmar). Longlegged Buzzard.

Although Scully (1879, p. 225) recorded the Longlegged Buzzard as

tolerably common in the plains, tarai, and Nepal Valley in winter, and

Proud (1949, p. 717) as common in the Valley from September to April,

it was not found in Nepal either by us or by Ripley (1950b) or by Rand

& Fleming (1957).

*21. Buteo hemilasius Temminck & Schlegel. Upland Buzzard.

This buzzard was not found by us, nor by Scully (1879) or by Rand

& Fleming (1957), but Ripley (1950b, p. 365) saw one at Thimi, Nepal

Valley, in December.

*22. Buteo buteo japonicus (Temminck & Schlegel). Common Buzzard.

The Common Buzzard was not obtained by us or by Ripley (1950b)

in Nepal. Scully (1879, p. 225) found it in the Nepal Valley in winter,

and Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 54) recorded it from western and west-

central Nepal (275 and 2440 m.) in winter.

23. Butastur teesa (Franklin). White-eyed Buzzard-Eagle.

Dun: Hitaura: 1 juv. unsexed (June 14).

The White-eyed Buzzard-Eagle was rarely seen by us in the tarai and

dun, and never in the Nepal Valley. Scully (1879) did not record it from

Nepal. Ripley (1950b, p. 365) obtained a single specimen in eastern

Nepal at c. 1520 m., and Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 54) occasionally

found it in eastern Nepal but rarely in western.

My specimen has the forehead, head, and nape rufous with dark brown

to black shaft stripes, back and mantle rufous brown, under-side rufous

brown with dark brown shaft stripes, but with no such stripe on the cheek

or chin.

Its stomach contained the feet of a gallinaceous bird and meat,

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 287

*24, Spizaétus nipalensis nipalensis (Hodgson). Hodgson’s Hawk-Eagle.

The only record of Hodgson’s Hawk-Eagle from Nepal since

Hodgson’s time appears to be that of Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 54)

who occasionally saw it in the foothills,

25. Spizaétus limnaeetus limnaeetus (Horsfield). Changeable Hawk-

Eagle.

Dun: Hitaura: 1 2 (July 4).

This hawk-eagle was noticed by us on a very few occasions during

spring and summer in the central dun. The above specimen appears to

be the only example collected in Nepal since Hodgson’s days. It had an

exhausted ovary.

Measurements: 1 2: Wing 433, tail 275 +, bill 46, culmen from the edge of

cere 34,

*26. Hieraaétus fasciatus fasciatus (Vicillot). Bonelli’s Eagle.

The last record of Bonelli’s Eagle from Nepal was made by Scully

(1879, p. 224) who did not find it to be very common in the Nepal Valley.

27. Aquila chrysaétos daphanea Severtzov. Central Asian Golden Eagle.

Post-Hodgsonian records of the Golden Eagle in Nepal appear to be

very few. Thus, Smythies (1950, p. 517) observed it once on Nagar Jong

(Nepal Valley) in December, where Proud (1955, p. 70) often found it

soaring in winter ; and Biswas (1960a) noted it on a few occasions in

eastern Nepal between c. 1830 and 3050 m. in winter, Besides, there is

a doubtful record from Manangbhot, central Nepal, by Lowndes (1955,

p. 36). No specimen of this eagle seems to have been collected in Nepal

during the past 100 years or more.

*28. Aquila heliaca heliaca Savigny. Imperial Eagle.

Since Hodgson left Nepal the only record of the occurrence of the

Imperial Eagle in that country appears to be that of Proud (1955, p. 71)

who often observed it in the Nepal Valley in January-February.

*29, Aquila rapax vindhiana Franklin. Tawny Eagle.

Hodgson’s (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 40) is the only record for this

eagle in Nepal.

*30. Aquila nipalensis nipalensis (Hodgson). Steppe Eagle.

Neither Ripley (1950b), nor Rand & Fleming (1957) or we found

the Steppe Eagle in Nepal. Scully (1879, p. 223) saw it only once in the

Nepal Valley, and Proud (1955, p. 71) has recorded it as fairly common

there in winter.

288 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 37 (2)

*31. Aquila clanga Pallas. Greater Spotted Eagle.

The only records of the Greater Spotted Eagle from Nepal are

Hodgson’s (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 40) and Rand & Fleming’s (1957,

p. 54). The last-named authors found it several times in the lowlands of

both western and eastern Nepal.

32. Ictinaétus malayensis perniger (Hodgson). Indian Black Eagle.

MarKHu VALLEY: Deorali: 2 ¢¢ (May 1). NEPAL VALLEY : Thankot: 1 ¢, 12

(March 23, 26).

The Black Eagle was not infrequently seen by us between Bhimphedi

and the Nepal Valley. Proud (1949, p. 717) found it throughout the

year over the ranges bordering the Nepal Valley, and Ripley (1950b, p.

365) saw it only in western Nepal at c. 1520 m. Biswas (1960a) observed

it on a few occasions in central Nepal in January and in eastern Nepal

in June. Neither Scully (1879), nor Rand & Fleming (1957) reported

it from Nepal.

The March specimens had breeding gonads. One of the Deorali

specimens had the remains of a bat in the stomach.

Measurements : ae ‘

: : . ulmen from the

Wing Tail Bill edge of cere

3°oG. 03, 5735 580 315, 319.7326 40, 41, 43 28.5, 29, 30.5

OF 600 350 46 32

It may be noted here that the measurements of the wing and tail as

given by Baker (1928, p. 83) for this form, are much too small.

According to Baker (op. cit., p. 82), the 5th primary from outside is

the longest in the genus Ictinaétus. This, however, is not true for my

specimens in which the longest primary is the 6th one from outside.

*33. Haliaeetus leucoryphus (Pallas). Pallas’s Fishing Eagle.

We did not come across Pallas’s Fishing Eagle in Nepal. Scully

(1879, p. 225) observed a few examples in the Nepal Valley generally

except during the winter months ; Ripley (1950b, p. 365) found it in the

western lowlands in winter ; and Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 54) encoun-

tered it in the lowlands of both western and eastern Nepal.

*34. Icthyophaga ichthyaetus (Horsfield). Greyheaded Fishing Eagle.

This fishing eagle has not been reported from Nepal since Hodgson’s

days.

35. Icthyophaga nana plumbea (Jerdon). Himalayan Greyheaded Fishing

Eagle.

Dun: Hitaura: 3 ¢¢, 1 2, 1 unsexed (May 17—June 3).

The Greyheaded Fishing Eagle was frequently seen by us in the dun,

particularly along the larger rivers, such as the Raptiand Samri. Biswas

(1960a) found it at c. 850 m. in central Nepal in January, and in eastern

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 289

Nepal at c. 3655 and 4420 m. in May. It was not reported from Nepal

by either Scully (1879), or Ripley (1950b), or Rand & Fleming (1957).

My female specimen (June 3) is very worn, with its tail moulting.

Colours of soft parts : Iris golden yellow, bill black, plumbeous on base and lower

mandible, cere slaty, legs and feet dull white with bluish tinge at ‘ knees’ and on the

digits, claws black, pads dirty white.

Measurements :

tye . ca Culmen from the

Wing Tail Bill edge of cere

33d: 426, 428, 441 215; 216" 228 43, 45 (2) 34 (2), 35

12: — —_ 45 34.5

1 unsexed : 467 238 48 36.5

The unsexed bird appears to be a female from size.

36. Torgos calvus (Scopoli). Black Vulture.

BHABAR : Amlekhganj: 1 ¢, 1 2 (August 4).

The Black Vulture is not uncommon in the Nepal Valley, being usually

found near burning ghats on rivers. It does not, however, appear com-

mon in the tarai, bhabar and dun as about Kathmandu.

It has been reported as a permanent resident in the Nepal Valley

(Scully, 1879, p. 217 ; Proud, 1949, p. 716), and as winter visitor to the

plains, tarai, duns, and the Markhu Valley (Scully, loc. cit.). Ripley

(1950b) did not find it in Nepal. Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 55) noted

it in the lowlands and foothills in winter. Biswas (1960a) reported it

from eastern Nepal at c. 1980 m. in early February and at c. 1520 m. in

June.

Measurements :

: A ; Culmen from the

Wing Tail Bill edge of cere

re 566 248 66+ 47 +

ro: 592 250 ea me

*37. Aegypius monachus (Linnaeus). Cinereous Vulture.

The Cinereous Vulture was not found by us in Nepal, nor did Ripley

(1950b) record it thence. Scully (1879, p. 217) noted it as scarce in the

‘Nepal Valley, and Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 55) found it in the eastern

Nepal foothills as an uncommon bird in winter.

*38. Gyps fulvus fulvescens Hume. Griffon Vulture.

Gyps fulvescens Hume, 1869, My Scrap Book 1: 15, 19. [Punjab, northern Rajas-

than and ‘ North-West Provinces’ (= Uttar Pradesh), north and west of Etawah =

Gurgaon, Punjab, according to Baker, 1928, p. 11.]

The only records of the Griffon Vulture from Nepal are Hodgson’s

(Gray & Gray, 1846, pp. 37-38) in the hills, and Scully’s (1879, p. 218)

in the Nepal Valley in winter.

290 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

39. Gyps himalayensis Hume. Himalayan Griffon.

Gyps himalayensis Hume, 1869, My Scrap Book 1: 12, 15. (Himalayas from

Kabul to Bhutan=Simla, according to Baker, 1922c, p. 583.)

The Himalayan Griffon was seen by us only once, and that was in

Kathmandu, Nepal Valley, in mid-March. Scully (1879, p. 218) found it

in small numbers in the Valley during winter ; Lowndes (1955, p. 36)

observed a pair in Manangbhot, central Nepal, in June-July; Rand &

Fleming (1957, p. 55) found it in the eastern Nepal foothills during winter ;

Biswas (1960a) reported it from Khumbu, eastern Nepal, at c. 3660 m.

in February. Ripley (1950b) does not mention it in his list.

40. Gyps indicus tenuirostris G. R. Gray. Himalayan Longbilled Vulture.

This vulture was seen by us on a few occasions only in the Nepal

Valley, mainly near villages. Scully (1879, p. 219) reported it to be tol-

erably common in the Valley where Smythies (1950, p. 517) and Ripley

(1950b, p. 366) also observed it. Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 55) found

it to be common in the western tarai in winter.

41. Gyps bengalensis (Gmelin). Whitebacked Vulture.

Dun : Hitaura: 1 2 (June 3).

This is the commonest vulture of the Nepal Valley and the dun.

Proud (1949, p. 716) observed that it became scarcer in the Valley

during the coldest months. Stevens (1925c, p. 874) recorded it from

the Mai Valley, eastern Nepal, at over 2440 m. in March.

My specimen had non-breeding gonad.

Measurements : 1 2: Wing 555, tail 238, tarsus 94, bill 62 [cf. Baker’s (1928, p.

19)‘ tarsus 108 to 124 mm. ; culmen 71 to 81 mm.’ evidently errors].

42. Neophron percnopterus ginginianus (Latham). Smaller Scavenger

Vulture.

BHABAR: Amlekhganj: 1 unsexed (June 8).

The Scavenger Vulture was seen by us in the plains, tarai, and bhabar.

Scully (1879) and Ripley (1950b) did not report it from Nepal.

My specimen has a light greyish wash all over.

Measurements : 1 unsexed: Wing 434, tail 210, bill 57 [cf. measurements given

by Baker (1928, p. 23) wing 443-482, tail 228-251, culmen 72-85].

*43. Gypaétus barbatus hemachalanus Hutton. Himalayan Lammer-

geler.

The Lammergeier or Bearded Vulture was not found by us or by

Rand & Fleming (1957). Nevertheless, it was observed in the Nepal

Valley once by Scully (1879, p. 221) in winter and occasionally by Proud

(1949, p. 716) ; in the northern central Nepal in the Gandak-Kosi water-

shed once in autumn by Smythies (1948, p. 442) and once in spring by

Proud (1952a, p. 366), and several pairs in Manangbhot during May-

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 291

September by Lowndes (1955, p. 36) ; once in winter in eastern Nepal

about Dhankuta by Ripley (1950b, p. 366), and several times in Solu-

Khumbu between February and May by Biswas (1960a).

*44, Circus cyaneus cyaneus (Linnaeus). Hen-Harrier.

We did not come across the Hen-Harrier in Nepal, nor did Ripley

(1950b) or Rand & Fleming (1957). Scully (1879, p. 226) recorded

it to be fairly common in the Nepal Valley during winter,’ but Proud

(1949, p. 717) found only a few specimens there during March- -April,

none in autumn or winter.

*45, Circus macrourus (S. G. Gmelin). Pale Harrier.

Neither Rand & Fleming (1957) nor we found the Pale Harrier in

Nepal, but Scully (1879, p. 226) recorded it in winter in the Nepal Valley

where Proud (1949, p. 717) also found it occasionally on passage in

spring, and Ripley (1950b, p. 366) reported it from eastern Nepal in

winter.

*46. Circus pygargus (Linnaeus). Montagu’s Harrier.

We were unable to find this harrier in Nepal, and so were Scully

(1879) and Ripley (1950b), but Proud (1949, p. 717) recorded it in the

Nepal Valley on passage in April and November, and Rand & Flem-

ing (1957, pp. 55-56) noted it as an uncommon bird in the eastern Nepal

tarai in winter.

*47, Circus melanoleucos (Pennant). Pied Harrier.

The Pied Harrier was not come across by us, but it has been reported

in winter from the plains and tarai of central Nepal by Scully (1879,

p. 226) and Ripley (1950b, p. 366), and from the tarai of eastern Nepal

by Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 56).

*48, Circus aeruginosus aeruginosus (Linnaeus). Marsh Harrier.

The Marsh Harrier was not found by Ripley (1950b) or by us. Scully

(1879, p. 226) reported it to be common during winter in the Nepal

Valley, central tarai, and plains ; Proud (1949, p. 717) noted it to be the

commonest harrier of the Nepal Valley in autumn and winter ; and

Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 56) observed it in the western and eastern

lowlands in winter.

*49, Circaétus gallicus (Gmelin). Short-toed Eagle.

Hodgson’s collection (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 41) furnishes the sole

record of this eagle from Nepal.

50. Spilornis cheela cheela (Latham). Crested Serpent Eagle.

Dun: Hitaura: 1 ¢, 19,1 subad. 2 (May 18, June 1, 18). NEPAL VALLEY:

Thankot: 1 @ (April 2).

292 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

In the Nepal Valley the Serpent Eagle was seen on several occasions

near the crests of the hills surrounding it—above Thankot, Godavari,

and Burhanilkantha. In the central dun, however, it was more common.

Scully (1879, p. 224) found it tolerably common in the Valley throughout

the year, but Proud (1949, p. 717) observed that it appears to leave that

area in winter.

The subadult female specimen (June 1) is very worn and just begin-

ning to moult. Its oviduct showed immature condition. The adult

female from Thankot (April 2) was laying.

The stomachs of the Hitaura specimens contained frogs.

Measurements : ; iP

; : : Culmen from the

Wing Tail Bill edge of cere

ee 477+ 300 46 32

299: 480+, 516 292+, 330 47, 47.5 35, 36

Family FALCONIDAE

51. Microhierax caerulescens caerulescens (Linnaeus). Himalayan

Falconet.

BHABAR : Amlekhganj: 1 ¢ (March 9), Dun: Hitaura, Kusumtar : 3 ¢2¢, 3 juv.

33, 1 2, 3 juv. 22 (May 19, June 2-19, July 12-28).

The Himalayan Falconet was found by us in the forests of the central

bhabar and dun only, and it did not appear to be particularly common

there. Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 57) also noted it to be an uncommon

bird, and Scully (1879) did not report it at all.

One of my adult male specimens (Hitaura, May 19) has the crown in

moulting condition. A female specimen on June 4 had an exhausted

ovary and a shrivelled oviduct.

The juvenile specimens taken July 12-13 have the forehead and super-

cilium chestnut, chin to abdomen white, and dirty yellow bill with black

on the anterior half of culmen. The juvenile specimens taken later have;

however, more black on bill. The stomachs of the juvenile specimens

had grasshoppers and dragonflies.

Measuremenis : . |

Wing Tail Culmen from the

edge of cere

4 od: 102 (3), 104 60, 62, 64, 65 10, 10.5 (2) 11

i es 109 65 11

*52. Falco cherrug milvipes Jerdon. Cherrug Falcon.

The Cherrug Falcon has so far been taken in Nepal only by Hodgson

(Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 43).

*53. Falco jugger J. E. Gray. Laggar Falcon.

The Laggar Falcon was not met with by us or by Ripley (1950b).

Scully (1879, p. 222), however, recorded it once in the Nepal Valley in

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 493

winter, and Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 57) also found it once (two speci-

mens) in the eastern lowlands in winter.

*54. Falco peregrinus calidus Latham. Peregrine Falcon.

The post-Hodgsonian records of the Peregrine Falcon in Nepal are

those of Scully’s (1879, p. 221) and Proud’s (1949, p. 716) both of whom

found it as a winter visitor in the Nepal Valley.

*55. Falco peregrinus peregrinator Sundevall. Shahin.

The only record of the Shahin from eee is Hodgson’s (Gray &

Gray, 1846, p. 44).

*56. Falco subbuteo subbuteo Linnaeus. Hobby.

Hodgson’s collection (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 44) provides the sole

record for the Hobby in Nepal.

*57. Falco severus severus Horsfield. Oriental Hobby.

Since Hodgson’s time the only specimen of the Oriental Hobby from

Nepal was taken by Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 57) who found it several

times in the western lowlands during winter. Proud (1949, p. 716)

describes it as a summer visitor in the Nepal Valley.

58. Falco chicquera chicquera Daudin. Redheaded Merlin.

TARAL: Simra: 1 ¢, | Q (March 4).

The Redheaded Merlin is not an uncommon bird in the Nepal Valley

or in the central tarai, but not many are seen in the dun of central Nepal.

It seems to prefer places not very far from villages. Ripley (1950b)

has not recorded it from Nepal.

It was breeding early in March.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Bill Culmen from the

edge of cere

Lee 206 134 22.5 14.5

Eo: 230 148 25 16

*59. Falco vespertinus amurensis Radde. Redlegged Falcon.

The only record of this falcon from Nepal is the single skin taken by

Hodgson (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 45), obviously on passage.

“60. Falco tinnunculus tinnunculus Linnaeus. European Kestrel.

The European Kestrel was not found by us or by Ripley (1950b).

Scully (1879, p. 223) reported it as a winter visitor in central Nepal

from the Nepal Valley down to the plains except the bhabar. Proud

(1949, p. 717) observed it as a winter visitor in the Valley. Rand &

Fleming (1957, p. 57) obtained it in winter between c. 275 and 2285 m.

both in western and in eastern Nepal. They, however, noted it to be

commoner in the east.

294 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

61. Falco tinnunculus interstinctus McClelland. Himalayan Kestrel.

CHITLANG VALLEY : Chitlang: 2 ¢¢ (April 26, 27).

The Himalayan Kestrel is not uncommon in the tarai and dun up

to the Nepal Valley in spring. Biswas (1960a) reported it from eastern

Nepal at c. 1525 m. in June.

Measurements : 2 $¢ : Wing 235, 252; tail 153, 169 ; bill 20, 21; culmen from

the edge of cere 14, 15.

Family PANDIONIDAE

*62. Pandion haliaetus haliaetus (Linnaeus). Osprey.

We were unable to find the Osprey in Nepal, so were Scully (1879)

and Ripley (1950b). However, Proud (1949, p. 716) observed it on and

off throughout the year in the Nepal Valley, and Rand & Fleming

(1957, p. 56) came across it occasionally in the lowlands in winter.

Order CICONTFORMES

Family ARDEIDAE

*63, Ardea insignis Hume. Great Whitebellied Heron.

Ardea insignis ‘Hodgson’ Hume, 1870, Str. Feath. 6: 470. (Sikkim tarai, Bhutan

duars) ex Ardea insignis Hodgson, 1844, nom. nud. Hume’s name is available, since

its citation as a synonym of Ardea nobilis Blyth and Ardea sumatrana Raffles are based

on misidentification.

The only record of the Great Whitebellied Heron from Nepal is

based on Hodgson’s collection (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 133).

*64, Ardea cinerea rectirostris Gould. Eastern Grey Heron.

Ardea rectirostris Gould, 1843, Proc. zool. Soc. Lond. (11) : 22. (New South Wales

‘ —India?’, according to Stone & Mathews, 1913, p. 142; restricted to India by :

Ripley, in press).

The Grey Heron was not obtained by us or by Scully (1879). Ripley

(1950b, p. 363) found it in the tarai during winter, and Rand & Flem-

ing (1957, pp. 48-49) who identified their specimens as A. c. cinerea

Linnaeus, came across it on a few occasions in the lowlands of western

and eastern Nepal between c. 275 and 915 m. in winter.

*65. Ardea purpurea manilensis Meyen. Eastern Purple Heron.

The Purple Heron was not met with by us or by Scully (1879).

Smythies (1950, p. 518) reported it from the Nepal Valley. Ripley

(1950b, p. 363) saw it in the tarai in winter, and Rand & Fleming

(1957, p. 48) found it on a few occasions only in the lowlands in winter.

I am unable to trace any breeding record from Nepal to support Ripley

(in press).

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 295

66. Butorides striatus chloriceps (Bonaparte). Indian Little Green

Heron.

Ardea chloriceps ‘Hodgs.’ Bonaparte, 1857, Consp. Gen. Av. 2 : 129. (Nepal,

restricted to Hitaura, Chisapani Garhi district, by Biswas, 1959a, p. 288.)

BHABAR : Amlekhganj: 1 ¢, 1 juv. 2 (March 10). DUN: Hitaura, Kusumtar :

3 dg, 2 subad. gg, 1 2 (May 17-31, June 14).

The Little Green Heron is found during spring and summer in small

numbers in the central bhabar and dun, usually perched on riverside

trees with dense foliage. It is generally found singly, but on several

occasions we observed it in pairs. Scully (1879) did not include it in

his list of Nepal birds. Ripley (1950b, p. 363) found it in eastern Nepal,

and Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 49) in western and west-central Nepal.

Remains of fishes and frogs were found in the stomachs of some of

my specimens.

It was breeding in May. A male taken on May 31 had much en-

larged testes, and a female had fully formed eggs on May 20.

The subadult males (May 26, June 14) still have some dark brown

streaks on chin.

Colours of soft parts: Iris yellow ; orbital skin green ; upper mandible black ;

lower mandible green on base, black along the edges, sides of basal and anterior

third, and pale dull yellowish green elsewhere ; legs and feet dull brownish yellow

with chrome yellow on the hinder aspects of legs; claws horny ; pads chrome yellow.

Measurements : Bill f

: . ill from posterior

Wing Tail edge of nostril

4d: 171, 181 (2), 183 60.5, 63, 65, 66 57.5, 60, 62 (2)

12: 182 64 61

Regarding the use of Bonaparte’s name for this bird, see Biswas

(loc: cit.).

67. Ardeola grayi (Sykes). Pond Heron.

Dun: Hitaura: 2 fg (May 19, June 5). NEPAL VALLEY : Thankot, Karmanasa

river (south of Patan): 2 ¢% (April 13, May 9).

The Pond Heron is common at suitable places from the plains of

central Nepal up to the Nepal Valley. Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 49)

reported it from western and west-central Nepal.

It was breeding in May. A male taken May 9 had fully developed

testes.

My breeding male specimens each has four long greyish white lan-

ceolate feathers on the anterior dorsal side of the neck, which have not

been mentioned by Baker (1929, p. 354). Moreover, all my breeding

male specimens have the occipital crests buff and not white as stated

by Baker (loc. cit.).

Colours of soft parts: Iris lemon yellow; orbital skin greenish yellow; bill

greenish yellow with blue on base, horny on the middle part of culmen, and black

on the top and sides of the anterior third; legs and feet dull green; claws pale

horny ; pads dingy yellowish white.

296 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

Measurements : 43% : Wing 218, 221, 226, 233 ; tail 75, 83, 85, 87; bill from the

posterior edge of nostril 56, 60, 62 (2).

68. Bubulcus ibis coromandus (Boddaert). Cattle Egret.

NEPAL VALLEY: Kathmandu, Harisidhi, Godavari: 5 ¢¢, 1 subad. ¢,3 929

(May 9-12, July 1).

The Cattle Egret is a common bird of central Nepal from the plains

up to the Nepal Valley. A large breeding colony was observed by us

in the Valley at Harisidhi on a Ficus tree in May. Rand & Fleming

(1957, p. 49) reported it from the eastern Nepal tarai.

My subadult specimen (Godavari, May 12) is completing a general

moult to attain the adult breeding dress, but without any trace of orange-

buff plumes from the interscapular region. Its gonads, moreover, were

small in size, the right one measuring 7 x 5 mm., and the left 105.5 mm.

(cf. measurements of breeding testes given below). All the adult birds

are in full breeding plumage, except two Kathmandu specimens (9, July

1) which have only traces of orange-buff here and there on the plumage.

Some of the July specimens are worn, but a male bird is particularly

so. Its wing and tail are very much worn, with the central rectrices

in moult.

The May 9 specimens from Harisidhi all had breeding gonads. The

male had the right testis measuring 22 x 12 mm., and the left 27x 13 mm.,

one of the females had a 30X19 mm., ovary with the largest ova 11.5

and 12 mm., the other female had a 17x 14 mm. ovary, the largest ovum

of which was 7 mm.

Measurements :

: i

= pee

3 OG 222 ee 90, 92, 93, 100,— 47.5, 52, 53 (2), 54

262,—

Ee 241, 242, 255 88, 91, 95 50 Ste

Since the habits and behaviour of the Cattle Egret are very different

from those of the Pond Heron, I am unable to agree with Bock (1956,

pp. 18, 36) in placing both of them in the genus Ardeola (see also Ripley,

in press).

*69. Egretta alba modesta (J. E. Gray). Eastern Large Egret.

The Large Egret was not found by us. Scully (1879, p. 360) recorded

it as a winter visitor to the Nepal Valley and Nawakot district (central

Nepal) but not in the plains, while Ripley (1950b, p. 363) found it in winter

only in the tarai and not higher, and Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 49)

noted it in the lowlands in winter.

*70. Egretta garzetta garzetta (Linnaeus). Little Egret.

We did not come across this egret in Nepal. Scully (1879, pp. 360-

361) found it to be a bird of the tarai, plains, and parts of the Nawakot

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 297

district, central Nepal, and saw only a few stray ones in the Nepal Valley

in autumn. Proud (1949, p. 719), on the other hand, records it as a

resident species of the Valley. Ripley (1950b, p. 363) took a single

-specimen in the Valley at Thankot in spring, and Rand & Fleming

(1957, pp. 49-50) found it between c. 275 and 915 m. in west-central Nepal

in winter.

*71. Egretta intermedia palleuca Deignan. Smaller Egret.

We were unable to find this egret in Nepal, and so were Hodgson,

and Rand & Fleming (1957). It was Scully (1879, p. 360) who first

reported the species from Nepal. He found it in the Nepal Valley bet-

ween September and December only, in the Nawakot district in

November, and in the plains and tarai in December. Ripley (1950b,

p. 363) observed it in winter in the tarai but not higher.

Regarding the use of Deignan’s name for this bird, see Ripley in press.

72. Nycticorax nycticorax nycticorax (Linnaeus). Night Heron.

Although Scully (1879, p. 361) and Proud (1949, p. 719) both record

the Night Heron as a very common resident bird of the Nepal Valley,

we observed it in spring and summer only on a few occasions on trees in

the neighbourhood of water. Ripley (1950b) and Rand & Fleming

(1957) do not report it from Nepal.

{Ixobrychus minutus minutus (Linnaeus). Little Bittern.

Nepal has been included within the range of this species in almost all

the standard works on Indian avifauna. Although it might possibly

occur there, I am unable to trace any authentic record to support it.]

*73, Ixobrychus sinensis (Gmelin). Yellow Bittern.

The occurrence of the Yellow Bittern in Nepal is known only from

Hodgson’s collection (Gray & Gray, 1846, pp. 134-135).

74. Ixobrychus cinnamomeus (Gmelin). Cinnamon Bittern.

Dun : Hitaura : 3 ¢,12 (June 19, July 28, August 1).

This appears to constitute the first record of the occurrence of the

Cinnamon Bittern in Nepal. It was found by us in summer only in the

dun of central Nepal. It occurs in small numbers in deep cover of reed

beds, especially in shady parts of dense forests.

- Measurements :

: : Bill from the posterior

Wing Tail edge of nostril

BSc lode lS 2 0054 44, 46, 48 45, 46, 47

SAL. 145 45 45

298 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 37 (2)

*75, Botaurus stellaris stellaris (Linnaeus). Bittern.

The Bittern is known from Nepal only through Hodgson’s collection

| (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 135).

Family THRESKIORNITHIDAE

*76. Threskiornis melanocephala (Latham). White Ibis.

The White Ibis was not found by us or by Scully (1879) or by Ripley

(1950b), but Rand & Fleming (1957, pp. 50-51) observed it occasionally

in the lowlands of eastern Nepal. Hodgson’s collection (Gray & Gray,

1846, p. 137) from the tarai is the only other record of this bird from Nepal.

77. Pseudibis papillosa papillosa (Temminck). Indian Black Ibis.

TARAI : Simra: 1 ¢ (March 5)... DuN: Hitaura: 1 ¢ (June 2).

The Black Ibis was met with by us sparsely near cultivated areas in the

central taraiand dun. Scully (1879) did not find it in Nepal, and Ripley

(1950b, p. 363) observed it but once at c. 150 m. in western Nepal ; never-

theless, Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 51) seem to have found it fairly

common in open fields of the western tarai.

Measurements : 2 6g: Wing 370, 392; tail 174, 185; bill from the anterior

edge of nostril 126, 132.5.

*78. Plegadis falcinellus falcinellus (Linnaeus). Glossy Ibis.

*79, Platalea leucorodia major Temminck & Schlegel. Spoonbill.

Hodgson’s collection (Gray & Gray, 1846, pp. 135-136) of the Glossy

Ibis and Spoonbill, the latter from the tarai, represent the only records

of these species from Nepal.

Family CICONIIDAE

*80. Ibis leucocephalus (Pennant). Painted Stork.

Hodgson’s (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 136) is the only record of the

Painted Stork from Nepal.

*81. Anastomus oscitans (Boddaert). Openbill.

The occurrence of the Openbill in Nepal is based solely on Ripley’s

(1950b, p. 364) record from the tarai.

82. Ciconia episcopus episcopus (Boddaert). Whitenecked Stork.

Dun: Hitaura: 1 ¢ (May 21).

The Whitenecked Stork was found by us only on a few occasions

around Hitaura in the central dun on the bank of the Rapti River in sum-

mer. Scully (1879, p. 360) reported it common in the Nepal Valley from

May to December and in the Nawakot district in November. Proud

(1949, p. 719) occasionally found it in the Valley throughout the year,

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 299

Ripley (1950b, p. 364) saw it in the tarai in winter as an uncommon bird,

but Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 50) record it as the commonest stork from

the plains up to c. 610 m. in western Nepal in winter.

Measurements : 1 8: Wing 507, tail 182, bill from the posterior edge of nostril

K39%

*83. Ciconia nigra (Linnaeus). Black Stork.

The Black Stork was not met with by us or by Ripley (1950b), but

Scully (1879, p. 359) recorded it to be common in the Nepal Valley and

Nawakot district from September to December, and Rand & Fleming

(1957, p. 50) occasionally found it in the eastern lowlands up to c. 915 m.

in winter.

*84. Xenorhynchus asiaticus asiaticus (Latham). Blacknecked Stork.

The only record of the Blacknecked Stork from Nepal since

Hodgson’s time is Ripley’s (1950b, p. 364). He found it in the tarai as

an uncommon bird. ‘

*85, Leptoptilos dubius (Gmelin). Adjutant.

The post-Hodgsonian records of the Adjutant from Nepal have been

‘made by Ripley (1950b, p. 364) who found it in the tarai but not as a

common bird, and by Biswas (1960a) who observed a pair in eastern

Nepal at c. 1525 m. in June. There is also a doubtful sight record by

Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 50) from the western lowlands.

*86. Leptoptilos javanicus (Horsfield). Lesser Adjutant.

The only authentic record of this adjutant from Nepal is due to Rand

& Fleming (1957, p. 50) who found it in the eastern lowlands in winter.

Order ANSERIFORMES

Family ANATIDAE

*87. Anser anser rubrirostris Swinhoe. Greylag Goose.

The only record of the occurrence of the Greylag Goose in Nepal is

based on Hodgson’s collection (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 144).

*88, Anser indicus (Latham). Barheaded Goose.

The post-Hodgsonian records of the Barheaded Goose from Nepal

are due to Ripley (1950b, p. 364) who saw it on the Karnali River, western

Nepal, in December, and Biswas (1960a) who observed a flock on passage

northward along the Dudh Kosi River, Khumbu, eastern Nepal, at over

3650 m. on April 5.

*89, Cygnus cygnus cygnus (Linnaeus). Whooper Swan.

Hodgson’s collection (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 144) represents the

only record of the Whooper Swan in Nepal.

300 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

*90. Dendrocygna javanica (Horsfield). Lesser Whistling Teal.

Scully (1879) did not find this whistling teal in Nepal, but Rand &

Fleming (1957, p. 51) recorded it, though not as a common bird, in the

eastern lowlands. There is also a doubtful sight record from the eastern

lowlands by Ripley (1950b, p. 364).

*91. Tadorna ferruginea (Pallas). Ruddy Sheld-duck, or Brahminy Duck.

Scully (1879, p. 362) found the Brahminy Duck in the Nepal Valley

from late September to mid-December and from mid-March to April,

in the Nawakot district in November, and in the central plains and tarai

in December. Ripley (1950b, p. 364) reported it in the western tarai in

December, and in the Valley in April. Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 51)

recorded it as very common in the lowlands during winter. Biswas

(1960a) found it preparing to breed.in small numbers on high altitude

lakes (c. 5030-5330 m.) of Khumbu, eastern Nepal, in May.

*92. Tadorna tadorna (Linnaeus). Common Sheld-duck.

Hodgson’s collection of the Common Sheld-duck furnishes the only

-record of the species from Nepal.

#93, Anas acuta Linnaeus. Pintail.

Scully (1879, p. 363) found it to be the commonest duck of the Nepal

Valley during winter, especially during September-November and March-

April. Ripley (1950b, p. 364) observed it in the Valley in winter. Rand

& Fleming (1957) do not report it from Nepal.

94. Anas crecca crecca Linnaeus. Common Teal.

The Common Teal was found by us in a tank in Kathmandu in mid-

March and early April, but no specimen was collected. It was recorded

as common in winter in the Nepal Valley by Scully (1879, p.°363), but

Proud (1949, p. 719) noted it on passage during August-October, and as

remaining in the Valley only for a short time. Ripley (1950b, p. 364)

reported it from both the Valley and eastern tarai (Kosi River) during

November-April. Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 52) found it the com-

monest teal in winter. 3

*95, Anas poecilorhyncha poecilorhyncha Forster. Spotbill Duck.

This duck is known from Nepal only through Hodgson’s collection

(Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 146).

*96. Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus. Mallard.

After Hodgson, only Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 51) have recorded

the Mallard from Nepal. They found it only once (four specimens)

on the Kali Gandak River at c. 2740 m., west-central Nepal, in November,

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 301

*97, Anas strepera strepera Linnaeus. Gadwall. |

Scully (1879, p. 362) found that the Gadwall did not remain in the

Nepal Valley throughout the winter, but that it was pretty common in

September-November and again in March-April. Ripley (1950b, p.

364) observed it both in the Valley and in eastern Nepal (Kosi River)

from November to April. Rand & Fleming (1957) did not find it in

Nepal.

*98, Anas penelope Linnaeus. Wigeon.

Both Scully (1879, p. 363) and Ripley (1950b, p. 364) observed the

Wigeon in the Nepal Valley during winter. Proud (1949, p. 719) saw a

single specimen (a male) there shot by local people in May. Lowndes

(1955, p. 37) came across a single male example in full breeding dress in

Manangbhot, central Nepal, in June. Biswas (1960a) found it in high

altitude lakes (c. 5030-5330 m.) of Khumbu, eastern Nepal, in May.

Rand & Fleming (1957) did not include this species in their list.

99. Anas querquedula Linnaeus. Garganey.

We observed the Garganey in a tank in Kathmandu, Nepal Valley,

in mid-March and early April. It was recorded from the Valley in winter

by Scully (1879, p. 363), Ripley (1950b, p. 364), and Proud (1955, p. 72);

the last-named author observed, however, that most were on passage in

September-October. Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 51) found it in the

eastern lowlands in winter.

*100. Anas clypeata Linnaeus. Shoveller.

Although Scully (1879, p. 362) noted the Shoveller as a winter visitor

to the Nepal Valley, being commonest on passage in October-November,

the species has not since been recorded from Nepal.

*101. Rhodonessa caryophyllacea (Latham). Pinkheaded Duck.

The Pinkheaded Duck has not been reported from Nepal after Hodg-

son. Incidentally, this species is said to be recently extinct or nearly

so, the last authentic record from the wild state having been made some

25 years ago. For a short history of this bird, see Ripley (1952a, pp.

903-904).

*102. Netta rufina (Pallas). Redcrested Pochard.

Ripley’s (1950b, p. 364) is the only post-Hodgsonian record of the

Redcrested Pochard from Nepal. He found it around the Nepal Valley

during November-April.

*103. Aythya ferina (Linnaeus). “Common Pochard.

The first record of the occurrence of the Common Pochard in Nepal

is to be credited to Proud (1949, p. 719) who found a single male specimen

302 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

in the Nepal Valley in January. Later, Ripley (1950b, p. 364) noticed

it around the Valley between November and April ; and Lowndes (1955,

p. 37) observed a small party with the males in breeding plumage, on

June 10, in Manangbhot, central Nepal. Rand & Fleming (1957),

did not find it in Nepal. :

‘It may be noted, however, that no specimen of this species has yet

been taken in Nepal.

*104. Aythya nyroca (Giildenstadt). White-eyed Pochard.

Scully’s (1879, p. 363) is the last record of this pochard from Nepal.

He found it in the Nepal Valley on passage and as a very common bird

around Bichiakoh, central bhabar, in December.

*105. Aythya fuligula (Linnaeus). Tufted Duck.

Scully (1879) did not find the Tufted Duck in Nepal, but Ripley

(1950b, p. 364) observed it in the Nepal Valley during November-April ;

Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 52) found it fairly common in the lowlands

in winter ; and Biswas (1960a) recorded it in May on high altitude lakes

(c. 5030-5330 m.) in Khumbu, eastern Nepal.

*106. Aythya marila marila (Linnaeus). Scaup.

I am unable to trace any post-Hodgsonian record of the Scaup in

Nepal.

*107. Nettapus coromandelianus coromandelianus (Gmelin). Cotton Teal.

After Hodgson’s collection, Rand & Fleming’s (1957, p. 52) is the

only record of the Cotton Teal in Nepal. They found it fairly common

in the tarai in winter.

*108. Mergus merganser orientalis Gould. Eastern Goosander.

Scully (1879, p. 364) observed it only on the Tadi river, Nawakot

district, central Nepal, in winter, and Ripley (1950b, p. 364) found it

common along the Karnali River, western Nepal, and in the dun, both in

winter.

Order GALLIFORMES

Family PHASIANIDAE

*109. Lerwa lerwa lerwa (Hodgson). Snow Partridge.

The Snow Partridge was not found either by us or by Scully (1879)

or Ripley (1950b), but Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 58) obtained speci-

mens in the Kali Gandak Valley (c. 4570-4875 m.), west-central Nepal,

in December. Smythies (1948, p. 442) observed it in the Gandak-Kosi

watershed (c. 3660 and 4875 m.), central Nepal, in autumn ; and Biswas

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 303

(1960a) reported it from Khumbu (c. 4420-5790 m.), eastern Nepal, in

February, March, and May.

*110. Tetraogallus tibetanus aquilonifer R. & A. Meinertzhagen. Sikkim

Snow Cock.

The first record of the Sikkim Snow Cock from Nepal was made by

Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 58) who obtained itin the Kali Gandak Valley

(c. 4875 m.) west-central Nepal, in winter. Biswas (1960a) found it

not uncommon between c. 4270 and 5330 m. in Khumbu, eastern Nepal,

from February to May.

*111. Tetraogallus himalayensis himalayensis G. R. Gray. Himalayan

Snow Cock.

Hodgson’s single specimen of this snow cock from the ‘ Snowy Re-

gions of Nepal’ (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 126) was listed as coming from

Kumaon by Ogilvie-Grant (1893, p. 107) without any apparent reason.

However, it was left to Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 59) to provide the

first indisputable record of its occurrence in Nepal. They found it

between c. 4875 and 5180 m. in the Kali Gandak Valley, west-central

Nepal, in winter.

*112. Alectoris graeca chukar (J. E. Gray). Chukor.

Perdix Chukar J. E. Gray, 1830, Illustr. Indian Zool. 1 (2): 54. (India=

Nepal, according to Baker, 1922e, p. 849, but=Srinagar, Dehra Dun district, Uttar

Pradesh, according to Hellmayr, 1929, p. 136. The latter seems more reasonable.)

We did not come across the Chukor in Nepal, nor did Ripley (1950b).

Scully (1879, pp. 348-349) noted it as common on certain parts of the

hills bordering the Nepal Valley (c. 1525-1825 m.) during March-October.

Lowndes (1955, p. 37) observed that it was plentiful in fields of Manang-

bhot, central Nepal, between c. 3050 and 3960 m. in summer. Rand &

Fleming (1957, p. 59) found it in west-central Nepal from c. 2745 to

2895 m. in winter.

113. Francolinus francolinus asiae Bonaparte. Indian Black Partridge.

Dun: Hitaura: 9 ¢@, 12 (May 15—June 23). NepaL VALLEY: Thankot :

2 é& (April 14).

The Black Partridge is not found to be a common bird of the Nepal

Valley, but is fairly abundant in the central dun in grassy patches near

rivers and in cultivated fields. In May-June its call could be heard in

all directions.

The Thankot specimens had much enlarged testes (26-28 mm. long),

and one of the Hitaura males (June 4) had the right testis measuring 20 x 13

mm., and the left, 26x 13 mm.

Remains of maggots were found in the stomach of a Thankot bird,

304. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

Colours of soft parts: Iris dark brown, bill black, legs and feet orange-

brown, claws horny, pads dingy white. i

Measurements :

iss 19

Wing : 150, 152,153," 195°C) 17, Sass 159°C) 147

ail: 78, 82, 83+, 85(3), 85+, 86(2), 86+, 88+ 80

Bill : 26:(3),« 26,5, 27 (6); 28,9229 26

The birds from central Nepal tend somewhat towards the eastern

race melanotus in having a little more black on the upper side than do

specimens from the western Himalaya. The spotting on the under-

side does not seem to be a good taxonomic character. While the wes-

tern Himalayan birds are generally with more spots than those from

the eastern Himalaya, this difference 1s appreciable only in a series and

only on an average ; and individual variation of this character in the

western birds is very great.

Eastern Nepal has been included within the range of the eastern sub-

species F. f. melanotus Hume by Baker (1928, p. 411), followed by Peters

(1934, p. 69) and Ripley (in press). Although it may possibly occur

there, I am unable to trace any authentic record.

*114. Francolinus pondicerianus interpositus Hartert. Northern Grey

Partridge.

The only post-Hodgsonian record of the Grey Partridge from Nepal

is due to Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 60). They found it in the west-

central taraiin February. Ripley’s (1950b, p. 366) specimen was actual-

ly taken in India across the south-western Nepali border.

*115. Francolinus gularis (Temminck). Swamp Partridge.

Rand & Fleming’s (1957, p. 60) is the only record of this partridge

from Nepal after Hodgson’s. They found it in the western tarai in winter.

*116. Perdix hodgsoniae hodgsoniae (Hodgson). Tibetan Partridge.

We did not find the Tibetan Partridge in Nepal, nor did Scully (1879),

or Ripley (1950b). Lowndes (1955, p. 37) recorded it from c. 4270 m.

in Manangbhot, central Nepa!, in July ; and Rand & Fleming (1957,

p. 60) from c. 3960-4420 m. in west-central Nepal in winter.

*117. Coturnix coturnix coturnix (Linnaeus). Common Quail.

The Common Quail was not met with by us or by Ripley (1950b)

in Nepal. Scully (1879, p. 350) reported it in October-December and

March-April from the Nepal Valley, in November from the Nawakot

district, and in December from the plains. Rand & Fleming (1957,

p. 60) found it in the western and west-central tarai in winter.

*118. Coturnix coromandelica (Gmelin). Blackbreasted, or Rain Quail,

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 305

*119. Coturnix chinensis chinensis (Linnaeus). Bluebreasted Quail.

*120. Perdicula asiatica (Latham) subsp.? Jungle Bush Quail.

The records of the occurrence of these three quails in Nepal are based

on Hodgson’s collection (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 128) only.

“121. Arborophila torqueola torqueola (Valenciennes). Common Hill

Partridge.

Although recorded from the hills round the Nepal Valley (Scully,

1879, p. 349; Smythies, 1950, p. 518; Proud, 1955, p. 71; Rand &

Fleming, 1957, p. 61), from west-central Nepal (Rand & Fleming,

loc. cit.), and from the Mai Valley, eastern Nepal (Stevens, 1925c, p. 889),

the Common Hill Partridge was not found by us or by Ripley (1950b).

122. Arborophila rufogularis rufogularis (Blyth). Rufousthroated Hill

Partridge.

Dun : Hitaura: 1 ¢, 1 chick in down (May 26, 27).

The Rufousthroated Hill Partridge was found by us once in the Nepal

Valley on Phulchauki Range above Godavari at c. 1980 m. early in May,

and on a very few occasions in the central dun in May-June.

Ripley (1950b, p. 367) noted it as a common bird in western Nepal at

c. 1525 m., but Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 61) ‘ seldom came across it in

western’ and west-central Nepal at c. 915-1825 m.

The chick in down has a broad reddish brown stripe on each side from

the forecrown passing above the eyes, including the sides of the crown,

to nape, the stripes of the two sides meeting anteriorly on the forecrown.

Its ear coverts and an indistinct collar are black, and the remainder of

the upper plumage chocolate brown. On the underside, it has the chin,

throat, and upper breast brownish cream, the breast and flanks chocolate

brown but paler than in the upper plumage, and the abdomen brownish

cream.

Measurements : 1 g: Wing 138, tail 53+, bill 23.

[Galloperdix spadicea spadicea (Gmelin). Red Spurfowl.

Although the Red Spurfowl has been mentioned as occurring in the

Nepal tarai (Murray, 1890, p. 547, followed by Baker, 1928, p. 358 ;

Peters, 1934, p. 106 ; and Ripley, in press), I am unable to trace any

definite record of its occurrence there. It is however, likely to be found

in the western Nepal tarai.] 7

*123. Ithaginis cruentus cruentus (Hardwicke). Nepal Blood Pheasant.

Scully (1879, p. 343) reported having seen only snared birds. Lowndes

(1955, p. 37) observed it at c. 3660 m. in Mananghbot, central Nepal, in

summer. Biswas (1960a) found it fairly common in Khumbu (c. 3660-

4270 m.), eastern Nepal, during February-May.

306 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

*124, Tragopan satyra (Linnaeus). Crimson Horned Pheasant.

Meleagris Satyra Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., 1: 157. (Bengal.)*

The Horned Pheasant was not found by us. Scully (1879, p. 343)

had specimens brought to him from the hills north of the Nepal Valley.

Ripley (1950b, p. 367) saw only feathers at c. 2740 m. in eastern Nepal

in winter. Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 61) found it in the Kali Gandak

Valley, west-central Nepal, at c. 2740 m. in winter. Biswas (1960a)

recorded it in the Dudh Kosi and Hongu Valleys, eastern Nepal, at

c. 2740-3050 m. in April and June.

Gray & Gray (1846, p. 125) listed also the Western Horned Pheasant,

Tragopan melanocephalus (J. E. Gray), among Hodgson’s collection from

Nepal. However, Ogilvie-Grant (1893, pp. 274-275) did not include

any specimen of that species from Nepal, nor has it ever been recorded

east of Kumaon.

*125. Pucrasia macrolopha nipalensis Gould. Nepal Koklas Pheasant.

The Koklas Pheasant was not found by us or by Ripley (1950b).

Scully (1879, p. 344) had specimens brought to him from western Nepal

‘not far from the snows’. Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 63) collected

specimens in the Kali Gandak Valley, west-central Nepal, at c. 2435-

2740 m. in winter.

*126. Lophophorus impejanus (Latham). Monal Pheasant.

We did not come across the Monal Pheasant in Nepal, nor did Ripley

(1950b). Scully’s (1879, p. 342) specimens were brought for him from

‘the interior of Nepal at higher elevations’. In northern-central Nepal,

it was found by Smythies (1948, p. 442) at c. 3350-4570 m. in autumn,

and by Proud (1952a, p. 366) at c. 3350-3660 m. in spring, both in the

Gandak-Kosi watershed ; and by Polunin (1955, p. 895) at c. 2740-

4880 m. in the Langtang Valley in summer. Rand & Fleming (1957,

p. 62) reported it from the Kali Gandak Valley, west-central Nepal, at

c. 2590 m. in December. Biswas (1960 a) found it in Khumbu, eastern

Nepal, at c. 3810-4270 m. during February-May.

127. Gallus gallus murghi Robinson & Kloss. Red Junglefowl.

TARAI: Simra: 2 92 (March 4,5). BHABAR : Amlekhganj: 1 ¢ (March 10).

Dun: Hitaura: 2 ¢¢, 1 juv. 3, 4 28, 1 subad. 9, 1 juv. 2 (May 12—June 5, 22).

The Red Junglefowl is common in the tarai, bhabar, and dun of

central Nepal.

1 Peters (1934, p. 109), followed by Ripley (in press), stated that the type lo-

cality Bengal was an error, because ‘ the drawing on which Edward’s plate was based

was probably made from a specimen from Nepal’. This assumption seems to me

to be too far fetched, especially because Nepal was almost ‘ terra incognita ’ in the 18th

century, while this bird has always occurred in the Darjeeling district of Bengal.

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 307

The subadult female specimen (Hitaura, May 12) is downy on the

chin and throat, and smaller in size, but otherwise similar to the adult.

_ The juvenile male and female specimens (Hitaura, June 22) are similar

in coloration, except that the male has the nape concolorous with the

crown, and has a few blackish feathers on the breast and abdomen.

Both of them have the chin and throat white. The male has no spur.

Measurements : =i ‘ :

: ; . ul from the anterior

Wing Tail edge of nostril

3 oS: 226+ , 227+, 231 300, 327,— 14, 15, 15+

6 2°: 192, 193 (2) 195 135+, 137,139, 13, 13.5 (2), 14 (3)

200, 202 144, —(2)

*128. Lophura leucomelana hamiltoni (J. E. Gray). Whitecrested Kali!

Pheasant. |

Phasianus hamiltoni J. E. Gray, 1829, in Griffith, Anim. Kingd. 8 (Aves, 3) :

27. (India=Simla, according to Baker, 1922e, p. 842.)*

The Whitecrested Kalij Pheasant was not found in Nepal by Scully

(1879) or Ripley (1950b), or by us. Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 63),

however, observed a flock in west-central Nepal at c. 915 m.

129. Lophura leucomelana leucomelana (Latham). Nepal Kalij Pheasant.

Dun: Hitaura: 1 3, 1 subad. g, 1 9 (May 21—June 2). MARKHU VALLEY :

Deorali: 1 ¢ (April 30). NepAL VALLEY: Thankot, crest of Chandragiri above

Thankot: 1 3, 1 subad. ¢ (April 3, 18).

This kalij is found fairly commonly both in the dun and the Nepal

Valley on the surrounding ranges. We usually saw it in the early morn-

ings and late afternoons when it came out in the open parts of the forests

to feed. It also appeared for feeding, irrespective of time of day, imme-

diately after showers during early monsoon when insects also came out

in great abundance. Biswas (1960a) observed a pair of this kalij a little

below 3660 m. in Khumbu, eastern Nepal, in May — the highest recorded

elevation for this bird.

The adult female specimen (Hitaura, May 21) has a small crest con-

sisting of only a few feathers, concolorous with the back, but pale (white)

shafted. The early June birds (1 ad. and 1 subad..) are very worn and

their body plumage is in moult.

April birds were breeding. One male (April 18) had the right testis

17x11 mm., and the left 16.5x9 mm.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Bill

260°: 230, 232 255+, 305 37,—

107s 208 208 35

1 There is no definite evidence to set aside Baker’s designation of the type locality,

which Kinnear (Peters, 1934, p. 112, followed by Ripley, in press) did on mere con-

jecture that ‘ the type probably came from Nepal’.

308 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

*130. Lophura leucomelana melanota (Hutton). Blackbacked Kalij

Pheasant.

The Blackbacked Kalij was first recorded for Nepal by Stevens (1925c,

p. 887) who found it in the Mai Valley, eastern Nepal. I have not been

able to trace any other report of its occurrence in Nepal.

*131. Catreus wallichii (Hardwicke). Cheer Pheasant.

The Cheer Pheasant was not found by us or by Ripley (1950b).

Scully (1879, p. 345) saw only snared birds from the hills north of the

Nepal Valley. Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 63) found it in the Kali

Gandak Valley, west-central Nepal, at c. 2130 m. in December.

132. Pavo cristatus Linnaeus. Indian Peafowl.

Dun : Hitaura: 1 ¢, 1 subad. ¢, 1 juv. ¢, 1 fledgling ¢, 1 fledgling 2 (June.

5-9, July 6).

The Peafowl is common in the central dun. It is usually found in

dense riverine jungles, tall grass jungles as well as in the cultivated land

close by. Scully (1879, p. 342) found it only in the central bhabar, and

Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 63) recorded it up to c. 305 m. only.

Curiously, it is not listed in Hodgson’s earlier collection from Nepal

(Gray & Gray, 1846), nor shown in Ripley’s (1950b) list.

Both my adult and subadult male specimens (June 7, 9) are worn and

have their body feathers moulting, the latter being a second year bird.

The adult female (June 6) is also worn and moulting. The juvenile

male (June 5) has the tail in moult, and the fledglings (July 6) are under-

going a general moult.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Bill Train —

ees 458 483 50 1600

1o: 3744 300 44 ae

Marien (1951) utilized the specimens under report here for his studies.

(To be continued)

Some useful and medicinal plants of

Naini Tal in the Kumaon Himalayas

RAJ KUMAR GUPTA

Government College, NainiTal, U.P.*

INTRODUCTION

Naini Tal, a beautiful health resort in the Kumaon Himalayas, is

situated at latitude 29°24’ north and longitude 79°28’ east, and is the

summer capital of Uttar Pradesh. Studies on the flora and vegetation

of this part have already been made by the author and published sepa-

rately (1958, 1959). While making floristic studies some interesting

observations on the medicinal and other uses of the plants of this area

were made by the author ; they are being described in these pages.

Plants from this area were collected in their flowering seasons and

are preserved in the herbarium of the Government College, at Naini Tal.

LIST OF THE PLANTS

Ranunculaceae

1. Thalictrum foliolosum DC.

Name : Barmat (Kumaon), Pilijari (Hindi). Habit : Perennial herb.

Flowers : White-purple, July.

Uses : The roots are used in collyrium, opthalmia, piles, and skin

diseases. E

2. Delphinium denudatum Wall.

Name: Judwar (Hindi). Habit: Annual herb. Flowers: Blue,

April-June.

Uses : The roots are used as a cure for cough and diseases of

blood.

3. Paeonia emodi Wall.

Name: Udsalap (Hindi). Habit: Perennial herb. Flowers: Blue,

April-June.

Uses : The tubers are used in uterine disorders. Infusion of the

flowers is used in diarrhoea.

* Present address: French Institute, Pondicherry.

310 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

Menispermaceae

4. Cissampelos pareira Linn.

Name: Harjori (Hindi). Habit : Climbing herb. Flowers: Green,

June-July.

Uses : The roots are used in affections of the bladder. The leaves

are used externally in sores and abcesses.

5. Berberis lycium Royle

Name: Chitra, Daruhaldi (Hindi), Kilmora (Kumaon). Habit:

Tall erect shrub. Flowers: Yellow, April.

Uses : The extract of the bark gives rasot which-is sold in the

market and is used as a cure for jaundice, diseases of the spleen,

intestines, and eye. Locally this extract mixed with rose-water

is used as a medicine in eye sores.

6. Berberis aristata DC.

Name: Kingora, Kilmora (Kumaon), Daruhaldi (Hindi). Habit :

Erect shrub. Flowers: Yellow, May-June.

Uses : The extract of the bark gives rasot and is used for the same

purpose as the other species.

Cruciferae

7. Capsella bursa-pastoris Medic.

Habit : Annual erect herb. Flowers : White, April-October.

Uses : The plant is used in diarrhoea and dropsy. It lowers the

blood pressure, and checks haemorrhage.

Violaceae

~ 8. Viola canescens Wall. |

Name : Thungtu (Kumaon), Banefsha (Hindi). Habit: Annual herb.

Flowers : Blue, April-November.

Uses : The flowers are sold in the market as gulbanefsha and are

used for curing fever, bronchitis, and asthma. The syrup of the

flowers is used in Yunani medicine for the same purposes. Oil

prepared from the plant is also used medicinally.

Poly calaceae

9. Polygala crotalarioides Buch.-Ham.

Habit : Perennial herb. Flowers: Purple, April-October.

Uses : The plant is used in catarrhal affections and is chewed to

expel phlegm from the throat and provoke coughing.

SOME USEFUL AND MEDICINAL PLANTS OF NAINI TAL 311i

Malvaceae

10. Malva rotundifolia Linn.

Name : Khubasi, Sonchala (Hindi). Habit : Annual herb. Flowers :

Pale lilac, July-October.

Uses : The leaves are used in dysentery and nephritic troubles, in

piles and skin diseases.

Geraniaceae

11. Geranium wallichianum Sweet

Name: Mamiran (Hindi). Habit : Perennial erect herb. Flowers:

Purple, July-September.

Uses : The rootstock of the plant is used in eye troubles and as a

cure for toothache. It is also used as a substitute for Coptis

teeta Wall.

12. Geranium nepalense Sweet

Name : Bhand (Kumaon). Habit : Perennial diffused herb. Flowers :

Pink, May-September. Ao

Uses : The herb is used for renal troubles.

13. Geranium lucidum Linn.

Habit : Annual diffused herb. Flowers : Pink, May-August.

Uses : The plant is used as a diuretic and astringent.

14. Oxalis acetosella Linn.

Name: Amrul, Chalmori (Kumaon). Habit: Perennial pubescent

herb. Flowers: Purple, June-July.

Uses : The herb is used as refrigerant and forms a drink, in fever.

The leaves are used as salad.

15. Oxalis corniculata Linn.

Name: Amélda, Tipatia (Kumaon). Habit: Annual procumbent

herb. Flowers: Yellow, April-November.

Uses: The plant is used as an appetiser, and in dysentery, diar-

rhoea, and fever. Fresh leaves in the form of a poultice are

applied to inflamed parts.

Rutaceae

16. Zanthoxylum alatum Roxb.

Name : Timru (Kumaon), Téjphal (Hindi). Habit: Prickly shrub.

Flower : Yellow, April-June.

312 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

Uses : The seeds are used in abdominal troubles, and in diseases

of eye, ear, and in leucoderma. Locally the seeds are used for

curing toothache and removing foul smell from the mouth. The

twigs form the tooth brush used locally.

17. Skimmia laureola Thunb.

Name: Nehar (Kumaon), Gurlpatta (Garhwal). Habit: Erect

shrub. Flowers: Yellow, April-May.

Uses : The leaves and flowers are aromatic and are used as in-

cense locally.

Celia sitipare care

18. Euonymus tingens Wall.

Name: Konkon (Kumaon), Bhambéli (Hindi, Garhwali). Habit :

Small tree. Flowers: Yellow, April-June.

Uses : The plant is a gastro-intestinal stimulant and increases the

flow of bile and other secretions. The bark is used in eye dis-

eases.

19. Rhamnus virgatus Roxb. syn. Rhamnus dahuricus Pall.

Name : Chédul (Kumaon), Chanda (Hindi). Habit : Spinous shrub.

Flowers : Green, April.

Uses : The fruits are emetic and purgative and are used in affec-

tions of the spleen.

Sapindaceae

20. Aesculus indica Coleb.

Name : Pangar (Kumaon). Habit: Tree. Flowers : White-yellow,

April-May.

Uses : The fruits are given to horses in colic, and are eaten in

times of scarcity. Oul from the seeds is used in rheumatism.

Anacardiaceae

21. Rhus chinensis Miller syn. Rhus semialata Murray

Name : Dhamili (Hindi). Habit : Small tree. Flowers : Pale yellow,

green, April-June.

Uses : The fruits are used in colic and diarrhoea.

Coriaraceae

22. Coriara nepalensis Wall.

Name: Makol (Kumaon), Masuri (Hindi). Habit : Glabrous shrub.

Flowers : Green, March-April.

Uses : The leaves are used as a purgative.

SOME USEFUL AND MEDICINAL PLANTS OF NAINI TAL 313

Leguminaceae

23. Crotalaria sericea Retz.

Name : Jhun-jhunia (Hindi). Habit : Silky pubescent shrub. Flowers:

Yellow, February-March.

Uses ; The plant is used for scabies.

24. Melilotus alba Lamk.

Name: Aspurk (Hindi). Habit: Annual herb. Flowers : White,

June-September.

Uses : The plant is used externally for fomentation in pain. hie

fruits are carminative and useful in leucoderma.

25. Desmodium tiliaefolium Don.

Name: Chamlai (Kumaon). Habit: Tall erect shrub. Flowers :

Pale lilac, July-October.

Uses : The root is used as a diuretic and in bilious complaints.

26. Moghania strobilifera (Linn.) St. Hil. ex Jacs. syn. Flemingia strobi-

lifera R.Br.

Name: Kasraut (Hindi). Habit: Spreading shrub. Flowers:

Red, August-October.

Uses : The roots are used to induce sleep and relieve pain with no

ill effect. The leaves are used as a vermifuge.

27. Lathyrus aphaca Linn.

Name: Jangli matar (Hindi). Habit: Annual herb. Flowers:

Yellow, April-May.

Uses : The seeds are used as green peas when young, but when ripe

are narcotic and produce headache.

Rosaceae

28. Prinsepia utilis Royle

Habit : Spinous shrub. Flowers : White, December-April.

Uses : The seeds are used locally to extract oil which is used for

application in rheumatism and pains from over-fatigue.

29. Geum urbanum Linn.

Habit : Perennial herb. Flowers: Yellow, May-July.

Uses : The herb is used in fevers, and is excellent cardiac sudorific

in chills,

314. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 37 (2)

30. Potentilla nepalensis Hook. f.

Name: Rattanjot (Hindi). Habit: Perennial herb. Flowers: Red,

April-September. 7

Uses : The ashes of the roots mixed with oil are used for curing

burns.

31. Potentilla fulgens Wall.

Name: Bajra-danti (Garhwali, Kumaon). Habit: Perennial herb.

Flowers : Yellow-orange, August-October.

Uses : The roots are said to strengthen gums and teeth.

32. Agrimonia eupatorium Linn.

Habit : Perennial herb. Flowers: Yellow, July-October.

Uses : The roots are astringent and are used in cough and diar-

thoea. The leaves are used as a vermifuge.

_ 33. Pyracantha crenulata (Don.) Roemer syn. Crataegus crenulata Roxb. |

Name : Ghingaru (Kumaon, Garhwal). Habit : Large spiny shrub.

Flowers : White, April-May.

Uses : The plant is not used medicinally, but the wood is valued

for making walking sticks.

34. Cotoneaster microphylla Wall.

Habit : Procumbent much-branched shrub. Flowers: White-pink,

April.

Uses : The stolons of this plant are astringent.

35. Fragaria nubicola Lindl. syn. Fragaria vesca auct. non Linn.

Habit : Perennial herb. Flowers: White, May.

Uses : The leaves are diuretic and are used in diarrhoea and affec-

tions of urinary organs. The fruit is astringent and diuretic.

36. Rosa brunonii Lindl. syn. Rosa moschata Mill.

Name : Kunja (Kumaon, Garhwal). Habit : Climbing prickly shrub.

Flowers : White, April.

Uses : The flowers are useful in diseases of the eye and can be used

like cultivated rose for all purposes.

Saxifragaceae

37. Bergenia ligulata (Wall.) Endl. syn. Saxifraga ligulata Wall.

Name: Silpharwa (Kumaon), Silphar, Pakhanbéd (Hindi). Habit :

Perennial shrub with stout rootstock. Flowers ; White-pink, April-May.

SOME USEFUL AND MEDICINAL PLANTS OF NAINI TAL — 315

Uses : The rhizome is a renowned remedy in fevers and for re-

moving gravel from the intestines and bladder. It can also be

used as diuretic, astringent, and in spleen enlargement, diseases

of liver, lungs, and chest.

Umbelliferae

38. Bupleurum falcatum Linn. ,

Habit : Perennial herb. Flowers: Yellow, July-August.

Uses : The roots are used in liver troubles and as a diaphoretic.

39. Hydrocotyle javanica Thunb.

Habit : Prostrate herb. Flowers : Yellow-green, July.

Uses : The plant is used in diseases of skin and blood.

40. Hedera nepalensis K. Koch syn. Hedera helix auct. non Linn.

Name: Banda (Kumaon), Mithiari (Jaunsar). Habit : Climbing

shrub. Flowers : Green, September-October.

Uses : The leaves are used for fomentation in glandular enlarge-

ment. Infusion of the berries is used in rheumatism.

Rubiaceae

41. Galium aparine Linn.

Habit : Trailing herb. Flowers: White-green, July-October.

Uses : The plant is diuretic, refrigerant, and alterative. It has

been reported to reduce arterial pressure to 50% in a dog without

slowing the pulse.

42. Galium rotundifolium Linn.

Habit : Trailing herb. Flowers : White-green, June-August.

Uses : The plant is used in sore throat and chest complaints.

43. Rubia cordifolia Linn. var. munjista Miquel syn. Rubia cordifolia

Linn. p. p.

Name: Manjith (Hindi). Habit: Climbing herb. Flowers: Red,

July-October.

Uses: The roots are useful in eye sores, liver complaints and

spleen enlargement. The plant is also used in rheumatism,

pleurisy, and other chest complaints.

Valerianaceae

44. Valeriana jatamansi Jones syn. Valeriana wallichii DC.

Name : Shumeo (Kumaon), Tagar (Hindi). Habit : Perennial herb.

Flowers : White-pink, March-May.

316 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

Uses : The roots are aromatic and used in diseases of eye, blood,

liver, spleen, and nervous system. Bath of valerian is useful in

rheumatism.

Compositae

45. Solidago virga-aurea Linn.

Habit: Annual herb. Flowers: Yellow-pink, August.

Uses : The dried plant is used in dropsy.

46. Gnaphalium luteo-album Linn.

Habit : Erect softly woolly herb. Flowers: Yellow, June-August.

Uses : The leaves of the plant are used as an astringent and vul-

nerary. The tomentum below the surface of the leaves is used

as tinder. ;

47. Siegesbeckia orientalis Linn.

Name : Litchkura (Hindi). Habit : Annual herb. Flowers : Yellow,

September-October. |

Uses : The plant is used in fevers, rheumatism, and renal colic.

Externally it is applied to ulcers and ringworms.

48. Bidens biternata (Lour.) Merr. & Sherff. syn. Bidens pilosa Linn. p. p.

Habit : Annual herb. Flowers: White-yellow, September-October.

Uses : The plant is used in eye diseases. The roots are used in

toothache.

49. Galinsoga parviflora Cav.

Habit : Annual herb. Flowers: White-yellow, January-December.

Uses: The plant is useful against nettle stings, when rubbed

against the body.

50. Gerbera lanuginosa Benth.

Habit : Annual herb. Flowers : Pink, March.

Uses : White cotton-like coating on the undersurface of the leaves

is used as tinder and for stanching wounds in times of emer-

gency in the forest.

51. Artemisia nilagirica (Clarke) Pamp. syn. Artemisia vulgaris auct.

non Linn.

Habit : Shrub-like herb. Flowers: Green-yellow, August-October.

Uses : The plant is used as a vermifuge. The leaves and flower

tops are used in asthma.

SOME USEFUL AND MEDICINAL PLANTS OF NAINI TAL — 317

52. Emilia sonchifolia DC.

Habit : Annual herb. Flowers: Purple, August-October.

Uses : The juice of the plant is considered as cooling as rose-water.

53. Taraxum officinale Wigg. —

Name: Dudhli (Garhwal). Habit: Perennial herb. Flowers:

Yellow, March-November.

Uses : The roots are used as diuretic and in complaints of the liver,

kidneys, and digestive organs.

54. Lactuca scariola Linn.

Name: Kahu (Hindi). Habit: Annual herb. Flowers: Yellow,

March-November.

Uses : The plant is used in bronchitis and asthma.

55. Sonchus arvensis Linn.

Name : Sadhi (Hindi). Habit: Succulent herb. Flowers: Yellow,

August-September.

Uses : The plant is used as a diuretic and in fevers.

56. Eclipta prostrata Linn. syn. Eclipta alba Hassk.

Name : Bhargra (Hindi). Habit Herb, roughly pubescent. Flowers :

August-September.

Uses : Plant is useful in hepatic and spleen troubles, externally it

is applied for diseases of the skin.

Biuicaceac

57. Lyonia ovalifolia (Wall.) Drude syn. Pieris ovalifolia D. Don.

Name: Ayar (Kumaon, Garhwal). Habit: Small tree. Flowers:

White, May-June.

Uses : The leaves are poisonous to goats and sheep and are used

to kill insects. Infusion of the plant is useful in skin diseases.

Myrsinaceae

58. Myrsine africana Linn.

Name: Ghani (Kumaon), Rikhdalmi (Garhwal). Habit: Small

shrub. Flowers: Green, March-May.

Uses: The fruits are sold in the market as baibharang and are used

as vermifuge and cathartic.

Sy ta Cie ac

59. Symplocos chinensis (Lour.) Druce. syn. Symplocos crataegoides

Buch.-Ham.

318 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

Name : Lodh (Kumaon). Habit: Small tree. Flowers: White,

April-June.

Uses : The leaves are used as an astringent in diarrhoea.

Oleaceae

60. Jasminum officinale Linn.

Name: Jai (Kumaon), Chambeli (Hindi). Habit: Shrub. Flowers :

White, May-July. 7

Uses : The flowers are used in diseases of heart, skin, and blood.

61. Jasminum grandiflorum Linn.

Name: Chambéli (Kumaon). Habit: Shrub. Flowers: White-

purple, May-September. ;

Uses : The juice of the leaves is used to soften corns between the

toes. Oil from the leaves is also used medicinally in skin diseases.

62. Jasminum humile Linn.

Name: Pilijai (Kumaon, Hindi). Habit: Shrub. Flowers: Yellow,

May-October.

Uses : The leaves are used for the same purposes as the other

species of jasmine.

63. Fraxinus floribunda Wall.

Name: Angu (Kumaon). Habit: Tree. Flowers: Green, April-

May.

Uses : The bark is used as a laxative and an astringent.

Asclepitadaceae

64. Cryptolepis buchanani Roem. & Schult.

Name: Dudhi-bél (Kumaon). Habit: Twining herb. Flowers:

Purple, April-June.

Uses : The plant is used for curing rickets of children.

Gentianaceae

65. Swertia chirata Buch.-Ham.

Name: Chirata (Kumaon, Hindi). Habit : Herb. Flowers : Yellow-

green, September-November.

Uses : The dried twigs are used as a remedy in malarial and other

fevers,

SOME USEFUL AND MEDICINAL PLANTS OF NAINI TAL 319

SO: a nae era €

66. Solanum nigrum Linn.

Name : Makoi (Hindi). Habit : Annual herb. Flowers : White, June-

October.

Uses : The leaves are used in diseases of the liver. Paste of the

green leaves is used in ringworm disease.

67. Solanum indicum Linn.

Name: Bhatkatya (Hindi). Habit: Shrub. Flowers: Blue, May-

October.

Uses : The juice of the leaves is given to stop vomiting.

68. Solanum xanthocarpum Schrad. & Wendl.

Name: Kataili, Satyanashi(Hindi). Habit: Diffused shrub. Flowers:

Blue, May-October.

Uses : The roots are used in cough, asthma, and catarrhal fevers.

Fumigation with the vapours of burning seeds is a cure for

toothache..

69. Nicandra physalodes Gaertn.

Habit : Annual herb. Flowers: Blue, July-September.

Uses : The plant is used as a diuretic.

70. Datura stramonium Linn.

Name: Dhatura (Kumaon). Habit: Annual herb. Flowers :

White, June-October.

Uses : The leaves are used as a cure for asthma. The seeds are

narcotic.

Scrophulariaceae

71. Verbascum thapsus Linn.

Name : Gidartambaku (Garhwal, Kumaon). Habit: Hairy annual

herb. Flowers: Yellow, May-September.

Uses : The dried leaves and flowers are smoked for curing asthma.

Labiatae

72. Origanum vulgare Linn. .

Name: Sahtra (Hindi). Habit: Annual herb. Flowers: Pink,

July-September.

Uses ; The leaves are used as a blood purifier,

320. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol, 57 (2)

73. Nepeta elliptica Royle

Name : Tukhammalanga (Hindi). Habit: Annual herb. Flowers:

Blue, July-September.

Uses : Infusion of seeds in cold water is useful in dysentery.

74. Ajuga bracteosa Wall.

Name: Rathpatha(Kumaon). Habit : Annual hairy herb. Flowers :

Blue, April-October.

Uses : The plant is anthelmintic and purgative and used in fever

and skin diseases.

Plantaginaceae

75. Plantago major Linn.

Name: Luhuriya (Hindi). Habit : Perennial herb. Flowers : Green,

July. ;

Uses : The seeds are laxative and used in dysentery. The roots

and leaves are used against intermittent fevers.

Amaranthaceae

76. Achyranthes bidentata BI.

Name: Chirchita (Kumaon), Apamarg (Hindi). Habit: Annual

herb. Flowers: Green-purple, May-October.

Uses : The plant is used as a diuretic in renal troubles. The ashes

of the plant are rich in potassium and are used in curing asthma

and cough.

Polygonaceae

77. Polygonum plebejum R.Br.

Name: Raniphul (Hindi). Habit: Annual herb. Flowers: Pink,

May-October.

Uses : The plant is used in pneumonia.

78. Fagopyrum cymosum Meissn.

Name: Banagal (Kumaon, Garhwal). Habit: Annual herb.

Flowers : White, July-September.

Uses : The grains of the plant are used in diarrhoea and in colic.

The leaves are used as a vegetable.

79. Rumex nepalense Spreng.

Name: Bhilmora (Kumaon). Habit: Annual herb. Flowers :

Green-red, May-October.

Uses: The leaves are used in colic.

SOME USEFUL AND MEDICINAL PLANTS OF NAINI TAL © 32i

kauwnacica.e

80. Cinnamomum tamala Nees

Name: Dalchini (Garhwal, Kumaon), Tejpat (Hindi). Habit :

Small tree. Flowers: White, February-May.

Uses : The bark and leaves are used as a condiment and medici-

nally in rheumatism and diarrhoea.

Elaeagnaceae

81. Elaeagnus umbellata Thunb.

Name : Geowain (Kumaon). Habit: Thorny shrub. Flowers:

White, April.

Uses : The flowers are used as an astringent and the seeds in pul-

monary affections.

82. Hippophae rhamnoides Linn. syn. Hippophaé salicifolia Don.

Servettez.

Name: Chu (Kumaon). Habit: Thorny shrub. Flowers : Orange,

June-July.

Uses : The fruits are used in pulmonary affections.

Loranthaceae

83. Viscum album Linn.

Name: Banbanda (Kumaon). Habit: Parasitic shrub. Flowers:

Green, March-May.

Uses : The berries are used in enlargement of liver and spleen.

Santalaceae

84. Osyris wightiana Wall. ex Wight. syn. Osyris arborea Wall.

Name: Bakarja (Kumaon). Habit: Shrub. Flowers: Yellow, August-

April.

Uses : Infusion of the leaves is used as powerful emetic.

Euphorbiaceae

85. Andrachne cordifolia Muell.-Arg.

Name: Bharti (Garhwal). Habit: Small shrub. Flowers : Green,

May-September.

‘Uses: The plant is poisonous afid kills cattle when browsed.

322. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

Wriveaceac

86. Cannabis sativa Linn.

Name : Bhangla (Garhwal, Kumaon), Bhang (Hindi). Habit: Annual

herb. Flowers: Green, July-August.

Uses : The leaves are intoxicating and the bark is used for hydro-

cele and other inflammations.

87. Urtica parviflora Roxb.

Name: Bitchu ghass (Kumaon, Garhwal). Habit: Annual herb.

Flowers : Green, July-August.

Uses : The plant is used as a diuretic in nephritic troubles. Young

leaves are made into a vegetable and taken as a cure for sciatica,

rheumatism, and heart trouble.

88. Girardinia heterophylla Dcne.

Name: Bitchu ghass (Kumaon). Habit: Annual herb. Flowers:

Green, February-April.

Uses : The leaves are astringent and are used as a remedy for scro-

fula.

Myricaceae

89. Myrica esculenta Ham. ex Don. syn. Myrica nagi Thunb.

Name: Kaiphal (Kumaon, Garhwal). Habit: Small tree.

Flowers : Green, October-December.

Uses : The bark is anthelmintic and used in cholera. The fruits

are edible.

Cupuliterae

90. Quercus incana Roxb.

Name: Ban, Banj (Kumaon, Garhwal). Habit: Tree. Flowers :

Green, April-July.

Uses : The acorns are astringent and diuretic, and are used in

asthma and diarrhoea.

Salicaceae

91. Populus ciliata Wall.

Name: Pahari-pipal (Kumaon, Garhwal). Habit: Tall tree.

Flowers : Green, February-April.

Uses : The bark is used as a blood purifier.

SOME USEFUL AND MEDICINAL PLANTS OF NAINI TAL 323

Orchidaceae

92. Satyrium nepalense D. Don.

Name: Salabmisri (Hindi). Habit: Terrestrial herb. Flowers:

Purple, July-August.

Uses : The pseudobulb of the plant is used as a tonic.

Scitaminaceae

93. Roscoea procera Rose.

Name: Sufedmusli (Hindi). Habit: Perennial herb. Flowers :

Purple, July-August.

Uses : The roots are tuberous and are used as a tonic and in dis-

eases of seminal debility.

94. Hedychium spicatum Buch.-Ham. var. acuminatum Wall.

Name: Kapur-kachri (Garhwal). Habit: Perennial herb. Flowers :

White-pink, July-August.

Uses: The rootstocks are used in asthma, bronchitis, and as

incense for burning.

Iridaceae

95. Iris nepalensis Don.

Habit : Perennial herb. Flowers: Lilac, April-June.

Uses : The roots are used as a diuretic.

96. Iris kumaonensis Wall. ex Don.

Habit : Perennial herb. Flowers: Lilac, June.

Uses : The roots and leaves of the plant are used in fevers.

Liltvace ae

97. Asparagus filicinus Buch.-Ham.

Name: Kaunta (Kumaon), Satawar (Hindi). Habit: Perennial

herb. Flowers : White, June.

Uses : The roots are tonic and used in chronic dysentery, dyspepsia,

and diarrhoea.

Commelinaceae

98. Commelina obliqua Buch.-Ham.

Name : Kanjura (Kumaon). Habit: Annual herb. Flowers : Blue,

July-August.

Uses: The roots are used in fever and bilious affections.

324. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

Filieates

99. Dryopteris filix-mas (Linn.) Schott. syn. Aspidium filix-mas Sw.

Uses: The plant is anthelmintic and is used to kill worms.

100. Adiantum venustum Don.

Uses: The fronds are emetic and are used as a decoction for chest

and pulmonary affections.

101. Botrychium ternatum Sw.

Uses: The plant is used in healing cuts and wounds.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author is deeply indebted to Prof. K. S. Bhargava, Head of

the Botany Department, Government College, Naini Tal, for his kind

help and encouragement.

REFERENCES

Atkinson, E. C. (1881): Memoirs Gupta, R. K. (1959): A preliminary

of the Economic Products of N.W. Survey of the Vegetation of Naini Tal.

Provinces of India, Allahabad. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sc. (In press).

Bhargava, K. S. & Gupta, R. K. Jain, S. K. (1956): On a Botanical

(1958): Seasonal Material for a Flora trip to Naini Tal. Indian For. 82 : 22-38.

of Naini Tal. Agra University Journal Watts, G. (1889-99): Dictionary of

of Research 7: 1-48. Economic Products of India.

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A Cursory Ecological Survey of

the Flora and Fauna of the

Hazaribagh National Park (Bihar)

JAMAL ARA

(With a map)

SYNOPSIS

An ecological survey of the Hazaribagh National Park in Bihar,

carried out in two attempts, one from December 12 to December 22,

1959, and the other from January 8 to January 16, 1960, revealed a

distinct correlation between forest types and the distribution of the

fauna, in respect of both the larger animals and the birds. The survey

was carried out by intensively sampling 20% of the area of the

National Park in which all the forest types were represented. ‘The

results show that the population of both animals and birds is low;

there being only some 60 species of birds and the larger mammals

totalling about 300 individuals. In addition the fauna is very shy,

and in spite of five years of protection has not shed its fear of man.

In the case of the Whitefaced Wagtail and the Blackheaded and

Rufousbacked Shrikes, the sub-species can be easily separated in the

field by sight alone. In these cases, therefore, trinomials have been

used without specimens actually having been collected.

1. GENERAL

The idea of creating a National Park in Bihar was first mooted

in December 1952, and the present site was tentatively suggested.

This site at first was not considered ideal and several alternative sites

were also explored. In the end, considering the factors of accessibility

and the presence of a reasonable number of wild life, the present

location was deemed to be the best. In 1953, therefore, a proposal

was submitted to the State Government and the matter was also

discussed at a meeting of the State Wild Life Board held in April

1954. In August 1954 the State Government issued an executive

326 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

order creating a sanctuary only, with the intention of eventually con-

verting it into a National Park after the policy in respect of National

Parks had been decided by the Indian Board for Wild Life. In the

same order Government sanctioned staff comprising one Assistant

Game Warden of the rank of a Forest Ranger and 10 Game Guards.

2 Foresters were also sanctioned at a later date. The Divisional

Forest Officer of the Hazaribagh Forest Division was appointed as

the Game Warden.

The policy in respect of National Parks was decided at the meet-

ing of the Indian Board for Wild Life held at Calcutta in

February 1955, and some time later the Board also circulated model

legislation for National Parks. But no action at all was taken in Bihar

in respect of this area. Even though in all official and non-official

descriptions it is called a National Park, the actual position is that.

it is only a sanctuary created by executive order. It appears that

not even the Forest Department have taken any steps to persuade

Government to convert it into a full-fledged National Park by enact-

ing legislation. Until that is done the legal position is rather

precarious.

Though the carrying of arms into the area is forbidden there is.

no legal sanction behind this order, and if anybody refuses to hand

over his arms the forest staff have no powers to enforce it. Again

shooting in self-defence is permitted by the law even inside sanctuaries

and it is a wonder that nobody has as yet taken advantage of this

lacuna. Another shortcoming is the lack of visible demarcation of

the limits of the Park at the spot. The boundary where it coincides

with natural features or roads etc. is clear, but elsewhere it is not

possible to find out where the limits are. I understand that, when

planned, the idea was to fence it all round with barbed wire so as

to limit ingress or egress to recognised gates, but this has not been

done so far. Whilst barriers have been erected on all the roads

leading into it from the National Highway, there is nothing to pre-

vent a poacher from entering on a jeep at places away from these

barriers.

2. LOCATION

The National Park is situated in the Hazaribagh district astride

the Patna-Ranchi National Highway, between 7 and 11 miles (11 and

18 km.) from Hazaribagh town proceeding towards the Grand Trunk

Road, which passes through Barhi, 22 miles (35 km.) north of

Hazaribagh and 248 miles (400 km.) west of Calcutta. It comprises

the old reserved forests of the Ramgarh Raj which were nationalised

ECOLOGICAL SURVEY OF HAZARIBAGH NATIONAL PARK 327

under the Bihar Land Reforms Act. These forests cover an area

of 77 square miles or 20,000 hectares approximately, and are com-

pletely free from any kind of right whatsoever. Though these were

reserved forests, yet the Ramgarh Raja had extensive shoots for him-

self, his guests, and British V.I.Ps. At a later date live tigers were

also trapped for sale. A tiger trap used in those days is still to be

seen, but is maintained merely as a curiosity. In the result, though

ordinary persons could not shoot in this area, yet heavy shikar by

the owner himself led to a steady depletion of the fauna. Also, poach-

ing by villagers was not very strictly controlled.

3. AMENITIES

After conversion into a sanctuary the Forest Department under-

took large scale construction work. Today there are about 40 miles

(64 km.) of motorable gravel roads traversing the entire area. There

are also 3 dams for storing water since there is a shortage of walter

in the hot weather. 10 Watch Towers strategically located provide

vantage points for observation. There are two Forest Rest Houses and

a 4-roomed Tourist Lodge. The rents are Rs. 6 per room per day in

the Forest Rest House and Rs. 4 in the Tourist Lodge. Though a

khansama is provided no foodstuffs are available with him. If,

however, the raw materials are supplied he can turn out a meal,

though the standard of cooking is not very high. Intending visitors

will be well advised to carry foodstuffs with them and not depend

on local supplies. The tariff of meals hung up in the Tourist Lodge

is completely misleading as not a single item mentioned on it can ever

be supplied by the khansama. Bed linen, mattresses, pillows,

mosquito nets, and towels are provided; visitors have to carry only

blankets.

4, ‘TOPOGRAPHY

The longest axis of the Park lies east and west and extends on

either side of the National Highway. The maximum length is 16

miles or 26 kilometres and the average is between 12 and 13 miles

(19 km. to 21 km.). The width varies considerably from a

maximum of 6 miles (9.5 km.) in the middle just west of the National

Highway to a minimum of 14 to 2 miles (2.4 to 3.2 km.) on both

the eastern and the western extremities. Inside the Park itself

there are few villages and none of them of any considerable

extent, but the southwestern part over an area of approximately 9 to

10 square miles (2300 to 2900 hectares) is honeycombed with them.

328 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2).

Apart from this area there are also tiny patches of cultivation else-

where, though none of them is more than an acre or two in extent.

On the whole it is comparatively free from the dangers of illicit

felling and poaching by villagers except on its fringes. In this con-

nection it may be mentioned that the Government did not accept the

proposal of the Forest Department to have a buffer zone 5 miles

(8 km.) wide all along the boundaries of the Park and declare it a

sanctuary.

The general slope lies from south to north, and both from the

east and the west to the middle, the National Highway running

through the trough of the area. The bench marks decrease from

1888 feet (575 m.) above sea-level at the boundary of the National

Park in the south to 1511 feet (460 m.) at the northern end. The

average Slope from the east to the National Highway is greater, fall-

ing from over 1990 feet (575 m.) in the extreme east to the level of

the Highway itself. West of the Highway the slope is not so marked

and the watershed lies at approximately 1900 feet (580 m.) some

2 to 3 miles (3.2 km. to 4.8 km.) west of the Highway. From here

the country slopes down to about 1750 feet (530 m.) and rises again

to about 1900 feet (580 m.) in the extreme west. The highest point

is a spot height 2086 feet (635 m.) above sea-level situated between

the villages of Gurudih and Nachle in the extreme west approximately

84 miles (13.6 km.) from the National Highway. i

The general direction of flow of almost all the streams is from

south to north and there are no streams penetrating the watershed

lying west of the National Highway. Two drainage basins lie on

either side of this watershed and they both flow south for quite some

distance before meeting at a gap on the northern boundary. East

of the Highway the area is not so well watered and there are only

two perennial streams which unite and give rise to the Tiger Falls

just short of the northern boundary about 2 furlongs (400 metres)

west of the Highway.

The underlying strata are mostly shales, which crumble and

weather easily but do not give rise to a rich soil. Shales in Bihar

are invariably associated with a poor site quality for Shorea robusta

and therefore, even at its peak, this area is not capable of any crop

better than good Quality III Sal. Correspondingly, at no time will it

be possible for this area to have many soft-fruited trees. Villagers

or contractors do not usually fell Ficus trees, but even today the

Park is very short of them. I could not see a single mango tree

throughout the area and there were very few Madhuca latifolia

ECOLOGICAL SURVEY OF HAZARIBAGH NATIONAL PARK = 329

(Mahua) trees as well. This may perhaps account for the compara-

tive paucity of bird species. The odd Ficus tree where it occurs

always attracts large mixed hunting parties. For example, a lone.

Ficus glomerata tree near the Forest Rest House was always teeming.

with barbets, bulbuls, parakeets, and others.

The area has not been sub-divided into blocks and compartments,

which renders locations extremely difficult to describe. The only fixed

points are the roads and watch towers, and using them as reference

points has not been found to be very satisfactory, but in the

circumstances is the only way available for the purpose.

5. ECOLOGY

The forest type is B-3 Dry Peninsular Sal according to the classi-

fication of Champion with the general conditions more xerophilous.

As a matter of fact there is a complete absence of evergreen species

and even along the streams no evergreen patches exist. Terminalia

trees are rather scarce and no Michelia champaca or Anthocephalus

cadamba, the usual moist associates of Sal, were seen.

The Sal crop itself is entirely in the pole stage and no trees of 4 feet

(1.21 m.) girth or above exist. The crop itself is remarkably uniform

in age and averages 30-40 years. It appears to be the result of heavy

selection fellings as there is no record of this area having been

subject to extensive shifting cultivation within the last 50 years. In

fact Hazaribagh district as a whole was never subject to shifting

cultivation in a large degree at any time. |

Due to the immature nature of the crop estimation of quality

classes proved difficult, but the northern aspects carry a good

Quality III crop whereas the southern aspects carry a poorer crop.

The usual associate of Quality I Sal, Clerodendrum infortunatum was

not seen at all.

The associates of Sal vary very widely, and even within a small

area showed remarkable changes. Thus on the road leading from

Watch Tower 4 to 5 the southern aspects had a very large proportion

of Boswellia serrata (Salai) forming at places practically pure patches.

Signs of heavy grazing in the past are provided by the presence of

Nyctanthes arbortristis (Harsinghar). The northern aspects on this

road have a large number of bushes of Flemingia chappar, indicative

of a good site quality for Sal. In this area too the stream banks

carry some Eugenia heyneana (Kat Jamun).

On the other hand along the Bahimar road the proportion of

Boswellia serrata is very low, even on the southern aspects.

330 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)-

Generally speaking the conditions are more tropophilous than on the

other road and Bauhinia vahlii is rather common, forming at places

a pure bushy undergrowth. |

The third road is the one leading from the Forest Rest House to

the National Highway. Here the forest is a blend of the other two

types described above, but on the whole tending towards xerophilous

conditions. Boswellia serrata is present in much smaller numbers

and there is an increase in the number of Acacia catechu (Khair)

trees. Elsewhere the A. catechu is very isolated but here it can

be found in small groups forming an association. Remarkably

enough, however, the only large stream flowing here carries large

numbers of E. hyneana both along the banks and on the islands.

The Sal appears to be in the stage of a precarious climax, the

condition being comparable to that obtaining in the Baresand Block

of the Palamau Forest Division though neither the flora nor the

fauna is as rich as in that block. Here also any large scale opening

of the canopy leads to a heavy invasion by Heteropogon contortus

(Spear grass), completely inhibiting Sal regeneration and smothering

any advance growth that is present. This is nowhere more evident

than on the view strips being cut along the roadsides, where the

fellings are almost in the nature of clear-fellings. The few Sal trees

that have been left in these clearings, probably to serve as seed-

bearers, are likely to suffer from excessive insolation whereas the

chances of their inducing Sal regeneration are precisely nil. How far

these fellings are ecologically desirable both for the flora and the

fauna is extremely debatable. Floristically they are definitely

introducing seral retrogression, and they do appear to have the effect

of driving wild life more into the interior due to a lack of cover.

Based on these observations the following ecological subtypes can

be distinguished :

TYPE A: A Shorea robusta-Boswellia serrata association confined

to southern aspects, with the B. serrata occurring in pure patches on

the drier and more exposed slopes. The shrubs here comprise

Nyctanthes arbortristis, Gardenia spp., Colebrookia oppositifolia. The

grass is invariably H. contortus. Large shrubs, and even small trees

of Flacourtia ramontchi are found in this type, particularly near the

tops of the ridges. The spines on it are persistent, and give evidence

of heavy fellings in the past.

SUB-TYPE Al: Occurring on the Bahimar Road. In this sub-

type the proportion of B. serrata is much reduced. Instead bamboos

(Dendrocalamus strictus?) and on the higher slopes and ridges

ECOLOGICAL SURVEY OF HAZARIBAGH NATIONAL PARK — 331

Diospyros spp. are found. There is not much difference in the

shrubby growth.

TYPE B: A Sal-Terminalia association occurring on the northern

slopes and vailey bottoms. In this type Sal of a superior quality is

found, and the undergrowth is sharply divided. On the Bahimar Road

there is a profusion of Bauhinia vahlii forming at places dense bushes

and Indigofera pulchella, an indicator of a good site for Sal. The com-

monest Terminalia was T. tomentosa though T. belerica and T.

chebula also occur as isolated trees. On the road from Watch Tower

4 to 5 the undergrowth is Flemingia chappar, and Bauhinia vahlii

does not occur in such profusion.

TYPE c: Along nuilahs and perennial streams. Some of the

streams have a growth of E. hyneana and its associate is usually

Saccharum narenga (in bloom). In the streams where EF. hyneana is

not found Saccharum spontaneum (?) and S. narenga occur.

A common feature of all types is the presence of H. contortus

in varying degrees. Where the canopy is open or has been opened

this grass has formed a dense impenetrable mat choking and

suppressing all other kinds of vegetation. Sal regeneration is usually

absent from all the types, and it is doubtful if any will be established

until the canopy is allowed to close and the H. contortus wiped out.

A dangerous sign is the stray occurrence of Lantana sp. bushes.

Since lantana also thrives where the canopy is open, a combination

of Lantana and H. contortus will eventually wipe out every other

kind of vegetation. This is all the more reason why fellings in this

area should be carried out with great caution so as to avoid permanent

gaps in the canopy. Even thinnings should not be heavier than

grades B/C. Another danger is that of forest fires. Dry JH.

contortus is as inflammable as tinder, and during the hot weather can

catch fire spontaneously. Whilst fire tracing of all view strips and

roadside areas is done annually by early burning, it is well known

that this is only poor insurance against hot weather fires. Early burn-

ing cannot be done beyond March, and after that there is enough

time available before the monsoon breaks for the spear grass to

grow up again. Forest fires in a National Park are disastrous from

every point of view, particularly for the fauna. It may even lead to

depletion by driving out the larger animals and ground game. It

must be mentioned that during the landlord’s ownership forest fires

were an annual occurrence in this area. How far the position has

improved, if at all, cannot be said as I could not gain access to the

fire records of the Forest Department.

332 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

All in all the evidence leads to the conclusion that the entire area

has been felled over in the past but not according to a properly

drawn up working plan or scheme. The growth that is seen now is.

probably second growth forest. The presence of Flacourtia ramontchi

in fair numbers confirms this conclusion because this tree is typical

of second growth forests recovering from past maltreatment.

6. SAMPLING METHODS

A preliminary reconnaisance of the area made it clear that the

best results would be obtained by intensively sampling a percentage

of the National Park rather than an overall survey through strips or

small sampling units distributed over the entire area. Accordingly an

area of more or less 15 square miles (4000 hectares) was selected at

random and intensively sampled, i. 20% of the total area.

All roads, stream beds, and foot-paths were gone over more than

once as also several cross country transects were run between well-

defined landmarks or from one road to another or from one foot-

path to another. Particular attention was paid to salt licks which

showed signs of being in use, as also frequented water holes and

drinking places as revealed by footprints and pug marks. Observations

were carried out after dark as well, but due to the intense cold these

had to be terminated by 9 p.m. After that hour it became physically

impossible to stay out of doors. There was a deposit of hoar frost

on several nights. |

Counting of animals was done both from those actually seen and

from footprints and pug marks. Duplication was avoided by not

recording footprints observed in the vicinity of any area where any

herd of animals had been actually seen. It must, however, be made

clear that duplication of numbers in a survey of this nature cannot

be eliminated completely, and some allowance has to be made for this

fact. No attempt at counting birds was made and in their case

information is given aS very common, common, frequent, rare, etc.

Of course, such birds of which only a few specimens were seen ©

have the number given against them.

7. DISTRIBUTION OF FAUNA BY FOREST TYPES

The maximum concentration of fauna within the area sampled

lies in the valley between the Bahimar Road and the opposite hills,

through the bottom of which runs an abandoned road. South of this

valley the concentration is good though less than within the valley

itself. This valley comprises Type B of the ecological sub-types

ECOLOGICAL SURVEY OF HAZARIBAGH NATIONAL PARK = 333

listed above. In this valley a herd of Spotted Deer (Axis axis).

Muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak) and a Tiger (Felis tigris) were observed.

Though no Sambar (Rusa unicolor) were actually seen yet one herd

was identified from its hoof-prints along water courses, as also from

damage caused at night to a plantation of Arhar (Cajanus indicus)

near the staff quarters. I estimate the numbers as spotted deer 10,

muntjac 4, tiger 1, and sambar about 6. This area contains the largest

numbers of Treepie (Dendrocitta vagabunda), Ring Dove (Streptopelia

decaocto), Whitebellied Drongo (Dicrurus caerulescens), and Roseringed

Parakeet (Psittacula krameri). The streams at the bottom of the

valley had a flock of Large Crowned Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus

occipitalis). 4 Crested Serpent Eagles (Haematornis cheela) circle it

mostly in their flights and rarely go outside.

In forest Type B on the road from Watch Tower 4 to 5 Nilgai

(Boselaphus tragocamelus) and Bison (Bibos gaurus) exist. The

bison number about 4, but~the nilgai appear isolated and could not

be counted with any degree of accuracy. This area has more Black

Partridges (Francolinus francolinus) than the other areas.

TYPE A: This type provides the richest bird life and the largest

mixed hunting parties. The pure B. serrata patches have a party of

Rufousbacked Shrike (Lanius schach nipalensis), Eastern Orphean

Warbler (Sylvia hortensis), Grey Shrike (Lanius excubitor), Redvented

Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer), Magpie Robin (Copsychus — saularis),

Whitebrowed Fantail Flycatcher (Rhipidura aureola), Redwhiskered

Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus), and the Large Crowned Willow Warbier

(Phylloscopus_ occipitalis). Spotted Deer (Axis axis) and Nilgai

(Boselaphus tragocamelus) are found in this type; as a matter of fact

since the forest is more open the number of spotted deer is larger,

and I place their numbers at about 20 in this area.

“In Type Al hares (Lepus ruficaudatus) and pigs (Sus cristatus)

occur in larger numbers than in the other type, otherwise it has no

special ecological significance.

TYPE C: On the artificial lake behind the dam the only pair of

Redwattled Lapwings (Lobivanellus indicus) and Common Sandpipers

(Actitis hypoleucos) were seen. These roost also in the same area.

The stream beds generally have a greater abundance of Wagtails

(Motacilla) and Warblers (Phylloscopus).

The road_leading from the Forest Rest House to the National

Highway has forests falling in types A and B, but the structure of

the fauna is rather unique. Along here the only specimens of

Crimsonbreasted Barbet (Megalaima haemacephala), Stone Chat

(Saxicola caprata), Verditer Flycatcher (Muscicapa thalassina), Blue

334. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

Rock Pigeon (Columba livia), Blackheaded Shrike (Lanius schach

tricolor) were seen. A couple of leopards (Panthera pardus) were

also observed in long grass along a stream bed. Leopards generally

are scarce in the National Park.

8. RESULTS

MAMMALS. The mammal population has been estimated by

multiplying the number found in the area sampled by 5; since

the sampling unit was 1/5th of the total area of the Park. In other

words the sampling intensity has been assumed to be 20%. Whilst no

mathematical justification can be given for this assumption, yet it was

the only basis on which the survey could be carried out. The results

are given below:

No. in

No. in |

sampling area | Remarks

Species Park

1. Common Langur

(Semnopithecus not seen not seen Reported by staff to be present

entellus) in large numbers near villages.

2. Tiger a 2 10 Staff estimate the number at

(Felis tigris) 1D.

3. Leopard An 2 10 Staff estimate the number at 9.

(Panthera pardus).

4. Mongoose

(Herpestes ce 4 20 —

edwardsii)

5. Jackal ; | not seen not seen Reported by staff as entering

(Canis aureus) | the villages.

6. Fox (Vulpes ie Frequent Frequent Numbers not estimated.

bengalensis)

7. Wild Dog a4 not seen not seen Reported by staff as visiting

(Cuon alpinus) sometimes.

8. Sloth Bear

. (Melursus is 6 30 Staff estimate the numbers

ursinus) atu 25:

9. Palm Squirrel

(Funambulus.. 2) 10 a,

pennanti)

10. Common Hare

(Lepus .. | very common very =

ruficaudatus) common

11. Bison ¥ 4 20 Appears to be an over esti-

(Bibos gaurus) mate. Probably there is only

one herd of 4.

ECOLOGICAL SURVEY OF HAZARIBAGH NATIONAL PARK —= 335

. No. in No. in

Species sampling area Park Remarks

12. Nilgai

(Boselaphus 2 3 15 —

tragocamelus)

13. Sambar ae 6 30 —

(Rusa unicolor)

14. Spotted Deer... 30 150 —

(Axis axis)

15. Muntjac

(Muntiacus a 4 20 _

muntjak)

16. Wild Boar ae common common —

(Sus cristatus)

A remarkable feature was the complete absence of the Primates.

Though the staff reported that the Langur was present in large

numbers, not even one was seen by me either in the area sampled or

outside. Probably the Lynx (Caracal caracal) was seen but as it dis-

appeared very quickly and did not allow me to get close enough, I

could not identify it with certainty. It has, however, been reported

as present by Mr. N. N. Sen, Chief Conservator of Forests, Rajasthan,

who saw a single specimen in December, 1957, vide J. Bombay nat.

Hist. Soc. (1959) 56 (2): 317.

All the animals are extremely shy and even after five years of

protection disappear on the slightest noise. Their fear of man has

not been overcome to the smallest extent, and they are as shy and wary

as in any forest area where animals are not specially protected. In this

connection I received reports that poaching by privileged persons has

not been completely stopped. Rather I learnt from a fairly reliable

source that a local potentate shot within the Park 6 Spotted Deer in

a single night, 2 of which were hinds.

BIRDS. The following birds were seen:

1. Night Heron, Nycticorax nycticorax—3. There was a

heronry near Watch Tower 5S.

2. Whitenecked Stork, Ciconia episcopus—1. Probably a

strageler.

3. Common Sandpiper, Actitis hypoleucos—2. Winter visitor.

4. Redwattled Lapwing, Lobivanellus indicus—2.

5. Black Partridge, Francolinus francolinus--Frequent.

336 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2) —

~ Red Junglefowl, Gallus gallus—Common, but very shy.

Peafowl, Pavo cristatus—1, but staff report it as frequent on

the western fringes of the Park. 7

Ring Dove, Streptopelia decaocto—-Very common.

Spotted Dove, Streptopelia chinensis—Infrequent.

Blue Rock Pigeon, Columba livia—4.

Crested Serpent Eagle, Haematornis cheela—4. =

Dusky Horned Owl, Bubo coromandus—Common.

Mottled Wood Owl, Strix ocellata—-l.

Common Indian Nightjar, Caprimulgus asiaticus—Common.

Whiterumped Spinetail, Jndicapus sylvaticus—A flock of

about 6. |

Whitebreasted Kingfisher, Halcyon smyrnensis—Frequent.

Common Kingfisher, Alcedo atthis—Frequent.

Green Bee-eater, Merops orientalis—4.

Indian Roller, Coracias benghalensis—one pair.

Roseringed Parakeet, Psittacula krameri—Very common.

Large Indian Parakeet, Psittacula eupatria—Frequent. —

Crimsonbreasted Barbet, Megalaima haemacephala--Com-

mon.

Green Barbet, Megalaima zeylanica—Frequent.

Goldenbacked Woodpecker, Dinopium benghalense—Com-

mon. :

Pigmy Woodpecker, Dendrcocopos nanus—Frequent.

Mahratta Woodpecker, Dendrocopos mahrattensis—Common.

Tickell’s Flowerpecker, Dicaeum erythrorhynchos—Frequent.

Purple Sunbird, Nectarinia asiatica—Very common.

Eastern Grey Wagtail, Motacilla caspica—Frequent. Winter

visitor.

Whitefaced Wagtail, Metacilla alba leucopsis—Frequent.

Winter visitor.

Common Swallow, Hirundo rustica—A flock of about 9.

Winter visitor.

Common Myna, Sturnus tristis—One pair, probably stragglers.

Golden Oriole, Oriolus oriolus (kundoo)—Frequent.

Jungle Wren Warbler, Prinia sylvatica--Common.

Large Crowned Willow Warbler, Phylloscopus occipitalis—

Frequent. Winter visitor.

Green Willow Warbler, Phylloscopus ihe iat elles

Winter visitor.

Eastern Orphean Warbler, Sylvia harenacioneas Winter

visitor. |

ECOLOGICAL SURVEY OF HAZARIBAGH NATIONAL PARK = 337

38. Tailor Bird, Orthotomus sutorius—Common.

39. -Whitebellied Drongo, Dicrurus caerulescens—Vetry common.

40. Black Drongo, Dicrurus macrocercus—Rarte. 3

41. Small Minivet, Pericrocotus cinnamomeus—Common.

42. Blackbacked Pied Shrike, Hemipus picatus—Frequent.

43. Rufousbacked Shrike, Lanius schach nipalensis—Frequent.

44. Blackheaded Shrike, Lanius schach tricolor—Frequent.

45.. Grey Shrike, Lanius excubitor—Frequent.

46. Whitebrowed Fantail Flycatcher, Rhipidura aureola—Com-

mon.

47. Verditer Flycatcher, Muscicapa thalassina—1. Winter visitor.

48. Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher, Muscicapa_tickelliaea—Common.

49. Redbreasted Flycatcher, Muscicapa parva—Common. Winter

visitor.

50. Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis—One pair.

51. Indian Robin, Saxicoloides fulicata—Common.

52. Stone Chat, Saxicola caprata—Frequent.

53. Redwhiskered Bulbul, Pycnonotus jocosus—-Rare.

54. Redvented Bulbul, Pycnonotus cafer—Very common.

55. Goldfronted Chloropsis, Chloropsis aurifrons—Common.

56. Common lora, Aegithina tiphia—Common.

57. Yelloweyed Babbler, Chrysomma_ sinensis—Common.

58. Jungle Babbler, Turdoides somervillei—Very common.

59. Treepie, Dendrocitta vagabunda—Very common.

60. Jungle Crow, Corvus macrorhynchos—Common.

The following mixed hunting party invariably gathered in a small

area between the Forest Rest House and the Tourist Lodge, both in

the morning and the evening. It almost seemed as if this party

assembled in the morning just before dispersing and again in the

evening just before roosting.

Treepies, Redvented Bulbuls, Jungle Babblers, Redbreasted

Flycatchers, Crimsonbreasted Barbets, Joras, Whitefaced Wagtails,

Eastern Grey Wagtails, Common and Whitebreasted Kingfishers,

Jungle Crows, Common Mynas, Tailor Birds, Goldfronted Chloropses,

Goldenbacked and Mahratta Woodpeckers, and Indian Robins. The

entire party had a strength of from 70 to 80 birds.

The above list shows that bird life is poorly represented. As

against only 60 species as many as 108 were recorded in the Kodarma'

Sanctuary lying only some 35 miles to the north. That too in a

survey that was very sketchy compared to the intensity of the present

one. The absence of game birds of all kinds, particularly Grey

Partridge, Spurfowl, and Quail, is noticeable. I saw only one peafowl

338 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

which is surprising. Even common birds like egrets, kites, hornbills,

and practically all the birds of prey are missing. Except for a pair

of Common Mynas, which too showed signs of having strayed in, no

members of the genus Sturnus were recorded. Even a very common

bird like the Pied Myna was absent.

The piace of the Black Drongo has been taken here by the

Whitebellied Drongo. I saw only 2 pairs of Black Drongos, whereas

the Whitebellied ones were very plentiful. Again the Spotted Dove

appears to have been supplanted by the Ring Dove. In spite of the

area being very well watered waders were absent.

9. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This survey was made possible by a handsome contribution from the

Bombay Natural History Society out of funds made available by the

Rockefeller Foundation. In addition I thank Mr. B. K. Sahay, Con-

servator of Forest, Northern Circle, Bihar, and his staff for very great

co-operation and help in the carrying out of this investigation and for

making my stay in the National Park a very pleasant experience.

Mr. Sami Ahmad, Forest Officer, very kindly identified the plants

and helped me with the ecology.

youypjor) ueAepeultpy{ Jo s8do pure SON

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Spses SUITe}ISINSse1 YOUYpfOL) uesdoiny syeuray

‘00S ‘ISIH ‘LVN AVAWOG ‘NU

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The Nesting Habits of the Goldfinch

Carduelis carduelis (Linn.) &

C. caniceps Vigors

R. S. P. BATES

(With a plate)

The Goldfinch, a truly delightful bird in every way, in dress, in

voice, and in habits, has a wide range over the greater part of Europe

and a good slice of Asia, inclusive of the frontier hills of West Pakistan

and thence in India along the western Himalayas to about Kumaon.

The genus is divided into two species, the typical carduelis and the

eastern caniceps, both subdivided into races of which the Himalayan

bird is the most easterly form of all.

On coming into close contact with Goldfinches here in England

after meeting their counterparts in Asia I find myself wondering what

lies behind this separation into two different species. One realises

that a vast range with its consequential differences in climatic and

other conditions is bound to result in the production of numbers of

somewhat differing forms, so that the Himalayan Goldfinch at one

extreme is almost bound to possess some striking difference from

the English bird, in this case the lack of any black about the face.

Nevertheless I find the ways of both species so strikingly similar,

inclusive of the choice of nesting site, the architecture of the nest

and the material, manner of its construction, incubation and feeding,

movements after nesting, the delightful call notes, joyous song, and

so on, that I find it difficult to believe that there really are two true

species. Indeed would not, I wonder, individuals picked up at

random from anywhere along this long line, whether belonging to

carduelis or caniceps, be perfectly happy to breed together? In short,

could not the whole lot belong in reality to but one species?! This

is of course probably nothing more than wishful thinking on my

part and I would not really presume to contradict the taxonomists,

1 In A SYNOPSIS OF BIRDS OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN by Prof. S. Dillon Ripley (in

press) both the British and the Himalayan Goldfinch are recognized as races

of Carduelis carduelis. Eps.

340 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

who with their access to large collections and far more literature than

I am ever likely to see, do not have to rely on a few impressions and

consequently have probably got the strongest of reasons for carving

up our palaearctic goldfinches. I could, I suppose, even be wrong

in crediting the different forms with identical ways, and therein lies

my whole object in putting this article on paper: someone may like

to pull my ideas to pieces and show up the error of my ways. My

contacts with the Indian bird on the north-west frontier of West

Pakistan and in Kashmir, though pretty frequent, admittedly have

always been of short duration, and I never had the chance of follow-

ing a pair of goldfinches right through their nesting cycle as I have

just done this summer in my garden in Surrey.

In the Vale of Kashmir the Himalayan Goldfinch is common

enough the year through, and in early spring plenty of nests are to

be found in a variety of situations. I have come upon them in

willows lining water channels, in fruit trees in the orchards, and of

course amongst the smaller branches of fir and pine trees, but I

believe the pine wood on the Takht-i-Suleiman, mentioned by almost

every ornithologist who has written about them, first dwindled and

then disappeared altogether some years ago. In the summer numbers

of goldfinches move up the side valleys to quite high elevations, many

of the young then produced probably being second broods, and it

was one of these higher elevation pairs which produced the most

striking nest I have ever seen. I found it on June 22nd at an

elevation of about 10,400 ft. between Bal Tal and the Zoji La Pass

into Ladakh. The site was typical, being about 3 ft. out and 15 ft.

from the ground on a horizontal branch of a small pine tree, and

the general construction was quite normal, a beautifully soft affair

containing the usual thick inner wad of felted vegetable down finished

off with a somewhat scant inner lining of hair. The outer materials

were perhaps a little unconventional for, to quote from my remarks

about this nest in my diary: ‘Two-thirds of it were exclusively of

Edelweiss and forget-me-nots quite fresh-flowering stems which I

suppose the bird had cut itself? Then came a thick layer of

dandelion down. Finally it was lined with horse-hair but inside on

the bottom was a further limited quantity of dandelion down .. .

On the way back from the Zoji La saw three pairs of goldfinches

on the ground near the same place. It does seem, by the way, that

where there is one pair nesting there may well be a number spread

over a very limited area.’ Later I wrote: ‘The eggs have a trans-

parent appearance unmarked and white when blown, but they are by

THE NESTING HABITS OF THE GOLDFINCH 341

no means as fragile as they look.’ I came upon one other unmarked

clutch in a nest near Nagmarg above the Wular Lake.

Shortly after returning to England in 1946 I had a couple of

sessions at a goldfinch’s nest in a hawthorn tree and watched, but

failed to photograph, the transference of predigested food from the

male to the sitting female; and noted too how a beautiful nest, neat;

soft and cosy-looking, became within a week of the young being

hatched, an offensive ring of droppings through lack of attempt

at nest sanitation. Nests noted since then were either in situations

unsuitable to deal with, or came to an untimely end thanks to the’

appalling increase in predators during and immediately following the

war; magpies, jays, and Grey Squirrels in the main, the latter more

fittingly called tree-rats, real horrors and not in the least lovable as

are India’s confiding little rascals, the Striped Palm Squirrels.

At last in the first week of July this year I found I had a goldfinch’s

nest only 9 ft. from the ground, hidden in a cup of small shoots near

the top of an apple tree in our own garden. We also had two others,

one of them hopelessly placed amongst the outer branches of a tall

Sweet Chestnut tree and the second in a cedar which I did not spot’

until too late and which was probably the earlier nest of the pair I

was now to deal with. Although I had of course heard and seen the

goldfinches moving about the orchard—tie bright plumage and mellow

call-notes incessantly indulged in saw to that—I had not realized that

this second nest was already in being. It contained, in fact, 2 eggs

and incubation seemed already to have commenced. Basically the

nest was constructed just like others I have come across, whether in

the Himalayas or in Britain. The outer parts contained one or two

thin twigs, but in general it seemed to be made of dry grass and soft’

weed stems, the inner felted cup being about one-third of an inch

thick made of some vegetable down khaki in colour. This was

rounded off with a final scanty lining of white hairs belonging to one

of our Cocker spaniels. An interesting point was that amongst them

was not one single hair from the Golden Cocker’s coat which would,

in fact, have matched the felt core instead of contrasting with it.

On the 7th I found a third egg had been deposited, but it is

in no way unusual for goldfinches, British goldfinches anyway, to

begin incubation before the deposition of the full clutch, which in

this case proved to be one of three eggs only.

The next few days were spent in getting the sitting bird thoroughly

used to traffic and © ter noises so that my wife and I could eventually

talk and move about directly below the nest without causing her the

least embarrassment. When I erected a pylon hide on a triangular

342 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

platform made by resting a couple of planks on a rung of a verticak

aluminium ladder with their other ends through the garage windows

she did not bother to leave the nest until I got on to the platform

to put up the hiding tent within 4 ft. of her. By the way the Bal Tal

bird was just as tame and returned to within 6 inches of the nest

while my head was still almost level with her.

Early on the morning of July 18th I found that two of the eggs

hatched, but it was some time in the afternoon of the 19th before the

third chick arrived. I replaced the dummy lens with the reflex

equipped with an 8-inch Cooke lens, and getting inside the hide let

off the focal plane shutter a few times to test the effect on the

sitting bird. She jumped once or twice at the snap of the falling

blind, but soon took no notice of it whatsoever. Unfortunately from

beginning to end the male reacted unfavourably every time the blind:

dropped, and usually made off like a scalded cat. He always did

leave with unexpected suddenness anyway, and never gave me a chance

of two exposures during any one visit.

I already have good photographs of an incubating female, so

wished to concentrate on the passing of food by the visiting male.

The female seldom leaves the nest except, I suspect, for the purpose

of drinking, being relieved of any such necessity by being fed by the

male by regurgitation. You see goldfinches are typical finches in

that they have strong, though in their case rather long, conical bills

specially adapted for crushing seeds. This does not mean that they

eat nothing else, but seeds do form by far the greater proportion of

their diet. Numbers of. finches however feed their youngsters, like so

many small birds do, on insects, but goldfinches and some others of

the family have got over the dangers of giving their chicks tummyache

through feeding hard seed to them by predigesting this type of food

and storing it up in their own crops to feed to the young in bulk.

This means of course that the nest need only be visited at infrequent

intervals, a practice which has its disadvantages as will in due course

be seen.

At 11 o’clock the male appeared on the rim of the nest and was

greeted by the sitting bird at once soliciting food with head thrown

back and bill well opened. He promptly sank his own bill well into

her throat, but I could at times see a stream of matter of the con-

sistency and colour of thick cream flowing into her gape. The flow

lasted an appreciable time with a slight raising and lowering of his

head which was why I could occasionally see the flow. The female

did not immediately pass on this gruel to the young ones but covered

them for another seven minutes. She then stood up and so far as

THE NESTING HABITS OF THE GOLDFINCH 343

I could tell fed her two offspring. Unfortunately the chicks were

so tiny that their heads did not come above the rim of the nest.

By the 20th it had become evident that the male’s visits were at

intervals of not less than half an hour, and that the female usually

passed on the food within from 5 to 10 minutes of a visit. On one

occasion, however, more than 40 minutes elapsed between visits..

This time the female fed the young twice, that is 5 minutes after his

visit and again half an hour later. It seems therefore that she can

retain the food in her crop at the right consistency for some time..

Once the female seemed to regurgitate a small seed which I could

see her holding in the tip of her bill before feeding it to one of the

chicks. On another occasion, but after the male had commenced to

supply the chicks direct, he produced what I am almost certain was:

a spider still with its legs intact.

The change over to direct feeding of the young by the male was.

most interesting and I was indeed lucky to be in the hide to witness

it. On the 21st before entering the hide I had snipped off one or

two leaves above the nest which were throwing awkward shadows.

In so doing I inadvertently dropped a tiny bit of debris into the

nest cup. The female returned almost as soon as I was comfortably

settled in and brooded the young for quarter of an hour. Then she-

stood up and for 5 minutes or so cleaned up the nest and attended’

to the young. The rim of the nest was still absolutely free

from excreta. She appeared indeed at this stage still to be swallow-

ing the faecal sacs. The chicks in any case were too small to be

able to eject excreta on to or over the rim. So here is a passing.

thought: how is the mother bird at one moment able to swallow

faeces yet very soon afterwards bring up food for the young?

I could see her nibbling something in the bottom of the nest

then she picked up my bit of debris and flew away with it. Shortly

afterwards the male flew in. Finding his mate absent he just stood’

on the edge of the nest looking rather non-plussed. Then the three:

chicks showed their open gapes dithering in the sunlight below him..

The spell was broken; he soon started to feed them but, his method

at once changed. No longer was it a rather deliberate process of

continual regurgitation. He fed them in strict rotation with quick

dabs of the bill into each open gape, repeating the round two or

three times. Halfway through this the female appeared on the back.

of the nest and at once solicited food for herself. He merely included

her in the rotationa! round, using the same dabbing motion for her as:

for the chicks. From then on both parents started to feed the growing

family though on one occasion the male arrived when his wife was:

344 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

brooding the chicks who now took up sufficient room in the cup to

necessitate her sitting rather perched up in the air. He fed her in

the old deliberate manner stretching well up to enable him to insert

his biil into her up-turried gape though there was a certain amount

of up and down movement involved. Unfortunately I waited a little

too long for a favourable moment to press the release and lost the

opportunity altogether. As the young grew, I expected the parents’

visits to increase in frequency but the minimum interval of half an hour

‘was maintained throughout. The fact that both parents were now

employed in food collection provided. I suppose, the necessary

increase in supply. There appeared to be no co-ordination between

the parents as to the spacing of their visits. At times both would

‘arrive almost together with much melodious calling to one another;

sometimes the intervals would be more or less evenly spaced. In

other words, the times of arrival were quite fortuitous. Both birds

had their fixed lines of approach, the female always directly on to

the back of the nest while the male flew in from another apple tree

ito my right but alighted on the left front side of the nest. I wonder

if this had anything to do with the youngsters’ choice in the location

of their latrine?

I have already said that the female kept the nest clean so long

as she was continuously brooding the callow young. She continued

to do so for two or three days after she had joined the male in food

collection. From the 25th, however, I began to notice that droppings

‘were commencing to soil that quarter of the rim to my right front

and no attempt was made by either parent to remove them—the male

never had taken an interest in nest sanitation anyway. What happens

appears to be this: anything falling inside the cup is removed by

the female, but as soon as the young are big and strong enough to

deposit the faeces beyond the inner cup itself, no matter how near

to it, they are ignored. By the 29th the young filled the whole cup

‘and when one wished to defecate there would be a general upheaval,

‘the chick concerned pushing its brethren around until it could raise

its tail end roughly in the right direction, that is towards my right

front. The droppings were ejected with a certain amount of force

(but never with sufficient vim to clear the nest altogether with the

result that by the time the young flew there was a sticky congealed

mass bulging out from the side of the nest in the most favoured spot

‘by a good inch, and the whole of that sector of the nest facing me

had become soiled in some measure.

On the 31st the male suddenly changed his line of approach—

possibly because his pet perch had become dirty and slippery—and

THE NESTING HABITS OF THE GOLDFINCH 345:

started to land on the extreme right front of the nest. This was a

nuisance so far as I was concerned as part of his body was shielded

from the lens by one or two leaves on an upward-growing spur

starting just below the nest. The young were now practically ready

to leave, the two first-hatched frequently indulging in vigorous wing-

whirring exercises. I felt I could get better photographs of this and

of the male on his new perch by removing the masking spur, so!

when my wife arrived to call me in for a meal I asked for her

secateurs. I thought that if I cut off this twig at its base below the

nest the young would not be able to see me and so would not take

alarm. All went well and the offending thing was nearly severed

when the secateurs went through the last bit of wood with an un-

fortunate click. To my horror the whole nestful ‘exploded’, the three

young taking off in different directions but fortunately all landing

safely in a plum tree and some bushes behind a herbaceous border.

Moral: do any gardening likely to be necessary before the young

become fear-conscious.

Fortunately there was still a chance of recording the fledglings’

plumage. In front of the house there is a lily-pond with a stone

bird-bath close beside it. I had noticed that another goldfinch

family consisting of the adults with one surviving juvenile visited

this bath very frequently so I at once moved the hide, placing it

on the narrow strip of grass between the pond and the wall and 7 ft.

from the bath. Therein I made a grave mistake; for a solid week

nothing came near that bath, not even the cheeky sparrows. Thinking

things over I concluded that the hide must be blocking the birds’

usual lines of approach and departure but it was not easy to put the

hide elsewhere. I could not place it to the north of the bath for

the light would have been all wrong. The only way out of the

dilemma was to put it right up against the wall so that most of the

tent was on top of the wall with its front pane! just far enough out

to allow me to lean back against the wall with the toes of my shoes

just peeping out, one leg of the camera tripod leading under my left

armpit on to the grass on the top of the wail into which it was firmly

pegged, the other two legs sticking out on either side of the front

panel just by my feet. My position in the hide was by no means:

uncomfortable—I had of course to stand all the time, but the wall

sloped back slightly so I could rest against it.

Birds are queer things! Although the hide was now closer to

the bath every bird in the garden appeared to be satisfied with the

change. The weather was hot and brilliant so bathing and drinking

became the order of the day with practically all species. If I had

346 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

been able to stay in the hide all day and every day my list of captures

would undoubtedly have been of considerable length. Alas, I had

other jobs to attend to at times, and food to get down me. My

annoyance can be imagined when in the middle of lunch the bath was

visited first by a pair of Yellow Buntings and immediately afterwards

‘by a nightingale with one of its fledglings. But I must not wander

at the moment from my main theme. Unfortunately the abortive week

turned the scales against me. A change was coming over the be-

haviour of the finches in general and the goldfinches in particular.

For one thing the harvest had begun and this was probably a con-

tributory factor to the change in the behaviour of many species as

well as the fact that no longer were so many of them tied to one

small area through having nests to think about. Of course I often

heard the goldfinches and greenfinches in the garden, but just as

often they went further afield and also jomed up into flocks with

other family parties. No longer did the goldfinch parents with one

juvenile appear so regularly and indeed their visits soon petered out

altogether. ‘To cut a long story short I never did get that juvenile

plumage photograph.

On one occasion I was in the tent the whole morning during

which I photographed Willow Warbler, Blue Tit, Robin, and cock

House Sparrow bathing, and in addition a whole family of green-

finches the members of which came a number of times, once with

an adult goldfinch, but at last I had to pack up. Pulling a polythene

bag over the camera I undid the press-studs down one side of the

tent and prepared to leave. To my utter confusion just as my

posterior was sticking out into the open air like the Rock of Gibraltar

emerging from the sea, with much twittering my whole goldfinch

family descended on to the rim of the bird bath. Needless to say I

made a frenzied effort to get back to cope with the situation but they

left as suddenly and joyfully as they had arrived just as I finished

focussing and picked up the shutter release! And so my last

opportunity ended in failure.

I learnt quite a lot of things from the bird bath attempts, one

being, as of course one might expect, that seed-eaters in general and

goldfinches and greenfinches in particular, and I might also add

crossbills, drink very frequently. Blackbirds drank hardly at all, the

moisture they required coming mainly from our fallen apples, and

only once did I see a Blackbird take a bath—they prefer to sun-bathe.

Song Thrushes too drink infrequently, probably getting their moisture

from snails and other soft food, but they bathe rather more frequently.

‘The cheeky sparrows in spite of their hoydenish ways seemed to love

THE NESTING HABITS OF THE GOLDFINCH 347

the water more than any other bird, both bathing and drinking at

very frequent intervals.

And now one last tip for bird-photographers. For more than

four weeks I left the camera, at times with a plate in position, in the

hide in all weathers—indeed sometimes the hide was flooded out.

Its sole protection night and day when I was absent was a polythene

bag pulled right over the lens, camera, and tilting-top, held together

underneath by a tight rubber band. I had no trouble from con-

densation either on the focussing screen or on the lens and found I

could be quite ready for action within a couple of minutes of getting

into the hide, only having to check up on the exposure, stop, and

focussing, to ensure that all was in order.

Aspects of Vegetation of Church

Island off Tuticorin Port in South India

K. S. SRINIVASAN

Curator, Indusirial Section, Indian Museum, Calcutta

(With one text map and three plates)

Tuticorin (8° 48’ N. & 78° 11’ E.) is an important sea-port in

Tinnevelly District (Madras) in south India. Off Tuticorin coast and

east of it in the Gulf of Manaar there are a few islands, the more

TUTICORIN

Map showing the situation of Church Island, off Tuticorin coast, S. India

popular among them being Hare Island, Church Island, and Koswari

Island (text map). Having had lately an opportunity of examining the

floristic features of Church Island in December 1957 during a deep-

sea marine algal collection trip to the Gulf of Manaar, I record here

VEGETATION OF CHURCH ISLAND 349”

the results of my observations on the flora of the island, as practically

no previous record is available on the same.

The island, the flora of which is described here, would appear

to be geologically a portion of the stretches of coral islands in the

Gulf of Manaar. Among the group of islands in the area, Hare

Island is perhaps the largest. It is about 4.83 km. away from

Tuticorin port and has about 58.85 hectares of land area. ‘There is:

a lighthouse at the northern extremity. This island is connected with

the mainland through a marshy tract, which during high tide is

submerged at Jeast in part. At other times communication is possible

along this tract, and the island can be reached from Tuticorin by the

land route which is about 11.26 km. long. The island is practically:

uninhabited except for the lighthouse personnel.

Church Island lies north of Hare Island and about 6.44 km. from:

the Tuticorin coast. When compared with Hare Island, it is much

smaller and deep ocean ‘channels separate it from the mainland and

from the other islands. The island is uninhabited except for

occasional visits of fishermen, fuel-gatherers, and coral stone cutters,

who come to this and other neighbouring islands.

Church Island is practically flat and is only a few feet above mean

sea-level with perceptibly no major undulations of sand dunes. The:

entire area of the island is practically covered with vegetation, though

of restricted types. As a result, the whole island appears green

throughout. Strangely enough, there are no trees of any appreciable

size on this island. The vegetation is, thus, mainly characterised by

low scrub or groups of shrubs and herbs, and small tussocks of.

grasses and sedges.

GENERAL ASPECT OF VEGETATION

At the foreshore and well above the high-tide mark, Sesuviunr

portulacastrum Linn. forms extensive patches of creeping succulents

with deep reddish colour in stems and older leaves. In places this

species forms a more or less pure community. In other areas..

Suaeda_ fruticosa Forsk. was met with along with Sesuvium,

in sandy places as low bushes together with Suaeda monoica Forsk.

A little to the interior and behind the Sesuvium-Suaeda belt,

Cyperus pachyrrhizus Nees appears as a tall plant with large flower

heads. Grasses and sedges were noted as most frequent from the

foreshore to the very centre of the island. Pycreus odoratus Urb.

was not uncommon just behind the belt of Cyperus pachyrrhizus

Nees. In more or less open situations and om substrate which is

-350 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

composed of broken shells, dead corals, and coarse-grained sand,

Sporobolus tremulus Kunth was noticed as wiry prostrate or spreading

plants with erect panicles. Nearer shore, on small mounds, Sporobolus

indicus R. Br. occupied large areas. Where the sand is more even and

‘shells and dead corals not in such abundance as to characterise the

-area, Bulbostylis barbata Kunth with its needle-like leaves and tufted

habit was most characteristic. This species was also noticed in

‘various other situations and all over the island. Spinifex littoreus

(Burm. f.) Merr. extends from the foreshore to the interior of the

island, but occurs only here and there as a minor formation. Like-

wise, [pomoea pes-caprae (Linn.) Sweet is seen in many places but

nowhere does it cover large areas to form pure or major formations.

In the midst of Spinifex littoreus (Burm. f.) Merr. and Ipomoea _ pes-

«caprae (Linn.) Sweet, Launaea sarmentosa (Willd.) Alston (= Launaea

pinnatifida Cass.) was fairly common. In places, some distance from

‘the foreshore and in association with Ipomoea pes-caprae (Linn.)

‘Sweet, Scaevola plumieri Vahl. forms low bushes. Here and there

in this belt, Dichanthium annulatum (Forsk.) Stapf was noticed as

a tall and stiff grass together with Cyperus arenarius Retz. The

latter extends also to the foreshore, where it occurs in larger numbers.

At other situations, a little into the interior of the island but not far

from the coast, Halopyrum mucronatum Stapf was observed growing

more or less prostrate with its somewhat rigid and stiff flowering axis

erect. In somewhat protected areas Scirpus affinis Roth. was noticed

on shingly ground. Sporobolus marginatus Hochst. ex A. Rich.

‘(=Sporobolus arabicus Boiss.) was also common here and there in

many areas. On sandy mounds and uneven undulations, not far

‘from the coast, Atriplex stocksii Boiss. was found forming more or

less open communities. In certain restricted places Arthrocnemum

indicum Mog. was also growing on sandy tracts and mounds.

More to the interior and towards the central portion of

the island the vegetation changes somewhat to low — scrub

sand bushes, with herbaceous species intermixed. ‘Towards the outer

limits of this beit, on shingly ground with hard shells and dead

-corals, Enicostemma_ verticillatum (Linn.) Engl. (=Enicostemma

littorale Bl.) is met with. Salvadora persica Linn. forms low and thin

thickets here and there. Oldenlandia umbellata Linn. is another

species found in many places in these parts of the island where the

‘soil is firm and hard. The middle or central portion of the island

‘was, to a very large extent, covered by Indigofera oblongifolia Forsk.,

forming a more or less pure stand or community in the island. The

“plants were stiff and low bushes so close together as to form thickets;

JouRN. BomMBaAy Nat. Hist. Soc. PLATE I

NW ATS

<< ‘

NS Gal

7 i'b) Se fey 2 WA

\\ <a Aa

See EN

ASS

Sax

Nor

——

‘al, 4

We,

)

—Si

At!

“LLNS

1. Bulbostylis barbata Kunth; 2. Enicostemma verticillatum (Linn.) Engl. ; 3. Atriplex stocksii Boiss. ;

4. Sporobolus indicus R.Br.; 5. Suaeda fruticosa Forsk.; 6. Halopyrum mucronatum Stapf.

JouRN. BomMBay Nat. HIstT. Soc. Piate Il

7. Cyperus pachyrrhizus Nees.; 8. Pycreus odoratus Urb.; 9. Sporobolus tremulus Kunth ; |

10. Scirpus affinis Roth. |

VEGETATION OF CHURCH ISLAND 351

under these Bulbostylis barbata Kunth was common. Indigofera

viscosa Lam. was also noticed with J. oblongifolia Forsk. Here and

there small Acacia plants were noticed. In shady situations seedlings

of Euphorbia sp., Acacia sp., Phaseolus trilobus Ait. were also noted.

Right in the centre of the island, and at the Indigofera oblongifolia

Forsk. belt, there were two or three open patches of ground wherein

Aloe barbadensis Mill. grew in numbers in almost pure formations;

most plants were flowering profusely, their flowering tops with several

scarlet flowers standing high above the general level of the vegetation

of the island. They could easily be detected even from a distance.

SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE WVWEGETATION

Absence of trees is characteristic of the island. The vegetation

in the island is of a very open type, owing evidently to human inter-

ference. Although Church Island is very near to Hare Island, which

again is not far off from the mainland, many of the species of Hare

Island have apparently not succeeded in establishing themselves in

Church Island so far. Thus, for example, Thespesia populnea Corr.,

Acacia planifrons W. & A., Zizyphus jujuba Lamk., Jatropha

glandulifera Roxb., Gloriosa superba Linn., Arthrocnemum fruticosum

var. glaucum Mogq., Cyperus aristatus Rottl., Chloris virgata Sw..,

Solanum xanthocarpum Sch. & Wendl. are conspicuously absent from

Church Island. Similarly Cassia auriculata Linn. and Cissus quad-

rangularis Linn., which were found growing over very extensive areas

in Hare Island, were not seen in Church Island. Likewise Mangrove

species have not set in in this island, obviously because the situations

favourable for mangrove vegetation are not yet present in the island.

It is interesting to note also that such conspicuous species as

Pandanus and Borassus, which are present in other islands in the

Gulf of Manaar, are not seen in Church Island.

Among the species now recorded from Church Island Sporobolus

marginatus Hochst. ex A. Rich. (=Sporobolus arabicus Boiss.)

Scirpus affinis Roth., Atriplex stocksii Boiss., and Suaeda fruticosa

Forsk. would seem not to have been reported so far from the east

coast of India, although their occurrence in the Punjab, Sind, and

western Peninsula is recorded by Hooker and Cooke in the FLORA OF

BRITISH INDIA and THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY respectively.

The occurrence of the species in Church Island is, thus, of con-

siderable distributional interest.

Similarly, though species like Sporobolus tremulus Kunth,

Pycreus odoratus Urb., Dichanthium annulatum (Forsk.) Stapf, are

352. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

reported by Gamble from the Madras Presidency and the eastern

peninsula of India, they are not reported by Cooke or Hooker in

their respective floras, which would seem to suggest a restricted.

distribution in the eastern parts of south India.

From the accompanying map (Plate III) which indicates.

the general distribution pattern of the species referred to

above within India, the following points would emerge.

Among the species with westerly distribution in India, Sporobolus

marginatus Hochst. ex A. Rich. (=Sporobolus arabicus Boiss.)

has perhaps the least range, being confined to Sind, Punjab,

and Baluchistan. Suwaeda fruticosa Forsk. has also a more or less

restricted distribution being confined to NW. India, W. Punjab, and

W. India. It is perhaps Scirpus affinis Roth. that has the greatest

range among the species, extending from Punjab in the west to

Assam in the east. Atriplex stocksii Boiss. and Scirpus affinis Roth.

show greater southerly distribution, extending to Hyderabad and

Deccan. Some of the species of the western parts of India have

their distribution extended to Arabia (Sporobolus marginatus Hochst.

ex A. Rich.), Africa, and westwards to America (Suaeda fruticosa

Forsk.), and to the Mediterranean (Suaeda fruticosa Forsk.). Scirpus

affinis Roth., however, shows an opposite tendency extending further

in the east to Burma, north China, and north Asia. It would seem

to suggest that migrations from these parts of these species into

north-east and west India in the past have not progressed much in

the wide distribution of these species within India, except that

Atriplex stocksii Boiss. and Suaeda fruticosa Forsk. have advanced

further south. Likewise, Sporobolus tremulus Kunth, which has its

distribution in Cambodia in the east, has advanced westwards to

India and is now found in upper India as well as in all districts in

Madras, except the west coast of India and the Ghats. Thus the

occurrence in Church Island of the species with the hitherto known

westerly distribution in America, Mediterranean, Africa, and Arabia,

and confined to western and north-western parts of India, and the

species known hitherto from the eastern Peninsula with the distri-

bution in the east in north Asia, Cambodia, etc. would seem to

suggest that, in this part of the Peninsula, there is perhaps a conver-

gence of the species native to the regions eastern and western relative

to India.

YJ a1VI1g

saldods ours Jo Ul9}}ed VONNgIISIp oy} SuIMOYsS dey]

SNINWIAL SNIOGOAOdS =A

SINIZIV SNdaIDS mmx

; USHIOLS XITdIaLV rV

NIYOIILN |

° VSODLNAF VAIVNS ~—@

-‘SALVNIDYYW SNTOEOXOdS amo

"20 ‘ISI ‘LVN Avawog ‘Nanos

VEGETATION OF CHURCH ISLAND 353

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author wishes to express his grateful appreciation to Rev.

Fr. H. Santapau, s.s., for his helpful suggestions and kind criticisms

of the paper.

CHECK LIST OF THE SPECIES

LEGUMINOSAE

Indigofera viscosa Lam.

I. oblongifolia Forsk.

Phaseolus trilobus Ait.

Acacia sp.

AIZOACEAE

Sesuvium portulacastrum Linn.

RUBIACEAE

Oldenlandia umbellata Linn.

COMPOSITAE

Launaea sarmentosa (Willd.) Alston.

GOODENIACEAE

Scaevola plumieri Vahl.

SALVADORACEAE

Salvadora persica Linn.

GENTIANACEAE

Enicostemma verticillatum (Linn.) Eng.

CONVOLVULACEAE

Ipomoea pes-caprae (Linn.) Sweet.

‘CCHENOPODIACEAE

Atriplex stocksii Boiss.

Arthrocremum indicum Mogq.

Suaeda monoica Forsk.

S. fruticosa Forsk.

EUPHORBIACEAE

Euphorbia sp.

LILIACEAE

Aloe harbadensis Mill.

‘CYPERACEAE

Pycreus odoratus Urb.

Cyperus pachyrrhizus Nees.

C. arenarius Retz.

Bulbostylis barbata Kunth.

Scirpus affinis Roth.

“GRAMINEAE

Spinifex littoreus (Burm. f.) Merr.

Dichanthium annulatum (Forsk.) Stapf.

Halopyrum mucronatum Stapf.

Sporobolus tremulus Kunth.

S. marginatus Hochst.ex A. Rich.

wS. indicus R. Br.

A Study of the Seasonal Foods

of the Black Francolin’ [Francolinus

francolinus (Linnaeus)], the Grey

Francolin’ [F. pondicerianus (Gmelin)],

and the Common Sandgrouse

(Pterocles exustus Temminck)

in India and Pakistan

SHAMIN A. FARUQI

Formerly Sind College, Karachi,

GARDINER BUMP

Research Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,

Washington D.C.,

P. C. NANDA

Desert Afforestation Research Centre, Jodhpur,

AND

GLEN C. CHRISTENSEN

Biologist, Nevada Fish and Game Commission, Nevada

The conservation and wise use of our natural resources is important

to everyone. The value of good soil, adequate water, and abundant.

forests to the country, although well known to the technical man, is just

beginning to be understood by a small part of the general public. Only

a handful of people appreciate the need for protecting and maintaining.

our birds and mammals, especially the species that provide hunting and.

are used for food.

No plan for making our renewable natural resources more productive

can succeed for long unless it is based on an adequate study of the factors.

that produce these resources. For example, with game species one must.

know not only how much hunting pressure they can take and still produce

a good crop of game the following year, but also where they live, what

they eat, how they are affected by floods and drought, and what are their

natural enemies. Only when one has reliable information on these and.

other factors, can a well-thought-out plan be developed.

1 The popular names in use in India and Pakistan for F. francolinus and F..

pondicerianus are Black Partridge and Grey Partridge respectively. In this paper

the authors have used the names Black Francolin and Grey Francolin in order to:

avoid confusion with certain other species existing in America and spoken of there:

as partridges.—EDs.

A STUDY OF SEASONAL FOODS OF BLACK FRANCOLIN 355:

It was with this in mind that the authors made a study of the food

habits of three species of game birds that are common in India and

Pakistan. Except for C. W. Mason, an entomologist, who in 1912.

reviewed the few references available and contributed an excellent list

of insects found in the crops of Black Francolin, very little definite in-

formation is available. The other authors, listed in the references,

either mention the food habits of the francolins and the sandgrouse in

general terms or list one or two specific species which are commonly

eaten. .

The data here presented are based on an examination of the crop:

contents of 23 Black Francolin [Francolinus francolinus (Linnaeus)],.

54 Grey Francolin [Francolinus pondicerianus (Gmelin)], and 47 Common

Sandgrouse (Prerocles exustus Temminck). These birds were collected

mostly in Sind (Pakistan) in 1956-57, and Rajasthan (India) in 1959-60,

during the spring, summer, fall, and winter months. Though additional.

crops are desirable it is felt that the records so far obtained indicate the

general food habits of the species involved and should be of beneficial

use to the wildlife manager. Our hope is that this paper will, even in a

modest way, stimulate additional studies which will lead towards a ba--

lanced game management programme for these species.

Since the collection of crops was made only as opportunity offered,.

the distribution of birds collected by seasons leaves room for further

investigation. The seasons utilized were chosen after consultation with

appropriate Government officials and local naturalists. In the areas.

concerned, spring and fall blend into summer and winter more quickly

than in more temperate climates. Plants reflect these changes. Accord--

ingly spring was designated as occurring between March 1-April 15 ;.

summer, April 16-September 15; fall, September 16-October 31; and.

winter, November 1-February 28. Based on this, the following is the-

distribution of birds collected by seasons :

Number collected by seasons

Species ee

Spring | . Summer Fall | Winter | Total

Black Francolin 5 8 1 9 23

Grey Francolin 0 28 7 19 54

Common Sand-

grouse 6 14 11 16 47

Since no adequate collection of the seeds of wild plants was available:

for reference it was necessary to check many of the identifications by

actually collecting the same seeds from wild plants in the countryside..

In some cases the seeds taken from the crops of the birds were planted

356 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

first in pots and identified only after the resulting plant had grown to

maturity. The identification of the insects eaten are given, in most cases,

- down to the order and family.

FOOD OF THE BLACK FRANCOLIN

All the Black Francolin examined were collected from Sind (West

Pakistan). The study indicates clearly that this species is omnivorous.

A total of 19 different genera of plants and 4 orders (including 12 species)

_of insects were found in the crops examined. In addition, one bird had

.eaten an earthworm, one a spider, two more had fed almost entirely on —

human excrement, and one, collected after a rainstorm, had swallowed an

inch and a half toad. Of the 23 birds examined two had consumed in-

sects only, 9 plants only, and 12 had eaten both.

Insects are eaten at all seasons of the year. Ants and beetles were

‘commonly found in the crops, although wasps and flies were also identi-

fied. One bird, collected in August, had eaten 21 ants, 1 earthworm, 4

unidentified larvae, about 500 small pink midges, and a spider.

Plants, however, make up the bulk of the food of the Black Francolin

throughout the year. Seeds of mustard (Brassica campestris), wild pea

(Lathyrus sativus), cultivated grain, and grass seed were most commonly

eaten. Parts of 20 different species of plants were identified which in-

cluded seeds, fruits, tubers, grains, leaves, and a small amount of roughage

in the form of twigs, husks, and dried grasses.

In winter the wild pea and the common mustard are favourite foods.

‘One bird shot in February had made a meal of 250 wild peas ; another,

_ of over 300 mustard seeds with some leaves from the same species.

In spring, with the harvesting of the winter grains underway, the birds

_often turn their attention to wasted wheat (Triticum vulgare), barley

‘(Hordeum sp.), and rice (Oryza sativa) whenever they are available, al-

though other seeds are by no means avoided. One bird, collected in

April, had scratched up and eaten 12 large tubers of a desert sedge

- (Cyperus arenarius) and others had fed largely on wild peas.

_ It is during the summer and fall, however, that the Black Francolin

- seeks out a great variety of plant foods. Most of those mentioned above

were commonly found in the crops examined, but the largest number of

- seeds and inflorescences were from four genera of grasses that ripened at

this time. One individual, collected in September, had a full crop of

1850 grass seeds representing four species, 250 seeds of Indian mallow

» {(Abutilon sp.), one seed of Rhynchosia sp., and five other seeds, still uniden-

tified. Another bird, shot in October, had consumed about 1000 seeds

_of Setaria verticillata and 54 seeds of three other grass species.

Table I gives the seasonal analysis of foods eaten.

1 Grasshoppers were commonly found in the crops of Black Francolin collected

by one of the authors in Iraq in 1951. Ticehurst, Buxton, & Cheesman (1922) record

- One crop that was crammed with the harmful locust Decticus albifrons.

A STUDY OF SEASONAL FOODS OF BLACK FRANCOLIN 357

TABLE [I

Foods eaten by the Black Francolin according to Season and number of Crops

in which each was found

Season

Food Parts eaten 7 |

P)e|_|s

BIAJEIB

PLANT

Abuiilon sp. .. | Indian Mallow Seeds 1

Brassica campestris . | Mustard Seeds 9)

Cephalandra indica . |a cucurbit Seeds 1

Cyperus arenarius .. | Flat Sedge Rhizome ~ 1

Dactyloctenium aegyptium a grass Seeds 1

Dactyloctenium scindicum..\a grass Inflorescence 1

Seeds 1 1

Echinochloa colonum . | Jungle Rice Peduncle 1

Seeds | Pa ae |

Eriochloa procera . |a wild millet Inflorescence 2

Hordeum sp. .. |a barley Seeds bo 33

Lathyrus sativus .. | Wild Pea Seeds 1 7

Lathyrus sp. ..|a pea Seeds 1

Launaea nudicaulis . |a compositae Inflorescence 1

Leaves l

Mukia scabrella . |a cucurbit Fruits 2

Seeds 2

Oryza sativa .. | Rice Seeds Sl Oe}

Panicum miliaceum . |Broom Corn

Millet Seeds 1

Pennisetum typhoideum .. | Bajra, a millet Seeds 1

Phaseolus mungo .. | Pulse Seeds I

Rhynchosia sp. .. |a legume Seeds 1

Setaria verticillata .. | Bristlegrass Seeds 1 1

Solanum nigrum .. | Black Nightshade | Fruit 1

Triticum vulgare . | Wheat Glumes 1

Leaves 1

Seeds PAS |

ANIMAL

Hymenoptera . |Small black ants | Whole 3

Medium black

ants Whole Del bas |

Large black ants | Whole 1 1

Red ants Whole 1 1

Wasp Whole 1

Diptera Fly Whole 1

ne Midge Whole 1

Coleoptera Small black

beetles Whole 1 1

_| Medium black

beetles Whole 1

Large black

beetles Whole 1 1

Striped beetle Whole 1

Brown beetle Whole Z

Araneae .. | Spider Whole 1

Pheretima sp. .. | Earthworm Piece 1 |

Bufo sp. .. | Toad Whole 1 |

MISCELLANEOUS |

Human excrement 2

Grit 1

358 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 87 (2)

FooD OF THE GREY FRANCOLIN

Of the 54 birds examined 38 were collected from western India and

16 from West Pakistan. Like the Black, the Grey Francolin is

omnivorous. Of the crops examined 23 contained only plant material,

one only insects, and in 30 both plant and animal items were found,

From these, 33 species of plants and 7 orders of insects were identified.

Miscellaneous items eaten included fragments of coal, baked bricks, grit,

and snail shells. Animal material, other than insects, was limited to a

few solifugids and spiders. :

A great variety of weed seeds with some cultivated grain made up p the

bulk of the plant food. Members of the grass family are also well re-

presented. Seeds were the prominent form of the plant food eaten.

The variety and quantity of food taken is surprising. For example,

one crop collected in upper Sind on February 26 contained 1 wheat seed

(Triticum vulgare), 1 of wild melon (Citrullus colocynthis), 1500 of Dactylo-

ctenium scindicum, 2000 of jungle rice (Echinochloa colonum), 4 of Abutilon

sp., 5 of cockscomb (Celosia sp.), 1 unidentified seed, 1 green leaf, 1 large

black beetle, 1 small beetle, and 2 termites. Another crop collected in

Rajasthan in July contained green grass blades, hundreds of termite

larvae (white ants), 6 cutworms, 18 tenebrionids, 3 carabids, 8 hydro-

phillids, 3 weevils, and grit.

Insect food was taken abundantly in “the summer with the Ge Fran-

colin showing a high preference for ants and termites. Interestingly

enough beetles, some of which were of large size, comprised a substantial

portion of the diet. In winter, where mustard is available, it is a

favourite food.

The analysis of foods eaten in summer, fall, and winter is presented in

Table II. No birds were collected in the short period represented by

spring.

TABLE II

Foods eaten by the Grey Francolin according to Season and number of Crops

in 1 which each v was found

Season

Foods Parts eaten wae ne

Blt ge aes

| g = &

nN | Ly >

PLANT

Abutilon sp. .. | Indian Mallow Seeds 1 2

Acacia sp. x Seeds 4

Brassica campestris .. | Mustard Flower buds 153

Flowers 2

Pods 1

Seeds 2

Leaves 40

* Capparis aphylla ae : a Seeds 9 4

Celosia sp. .. | Cockscomb Seeds 4

Cephalandra indica .e{acucurbit _ erult skin

eeds

A STUDY OF SEASONAL FOODS OF BLACK FRANCOLIN

Food

Citrullus colocynthis

Cyperus rotundus ;

Dactyloctenium aegyptium

Dactyloctenium — scindicum

Echinochloa colonum

Eragrostis minor

Eriochloa procera

Farsettia jacquemontii

Gynandropsis gynandra

Indigofera sp.

Lathyrus sativus

Launaea nudicaulis

Mukia scabrella

Panicum antidotale

Panicum turgidum

Pennisetum typhoideum

a grass

. | Jungle Rice

.. | a lovegrass

.. |a wild millet

. | a cruciferae

.. | Indigo

. | Wild Pea

. |a compositae

. |a cucurbit

. | Panicgrass

.. | Panicgrass

. | Bajra, a millet

Phaseolus aconitifolius . | Pulse

Phaseolus radiatus . | Pulse

Rhynchosia sp. ..|a legume

Scirpus sp. . | Bullrush

Setaria verticillata .. | Bristlegrass

Solanum nigrum .. | Black Nightshade

Sorghum sp. .. | Sorghum

Tephrosia purpurea . |a legume

Tribulus sp. rs

Triticum vulgare . | wheat

Zizyphus sp. .. | Jujube

Unidentified . | Grass

ANIMAL

Hymenoptera .. | Ants

Isoptera . | Termites—adult

~ and larvae

Coleoptera - | Beetles

Scarabidae -- 1a beetle

Tenebrionidae ..|a beetle

- Hydrophyllidae . | a beetle

Carabidae .. |a beetle

Elateridae .. | Click beetles

Buprestidae -. | a beetle

Curculionidae . | Weevils

Lepidoptera : hee 2

Noctuidae .. |Cutworms

Orthoptera . | Grasshoppers,

Crickets

Homoptera ». | Bugs

Diptera . | Flies

Solifugae ay

Araneae - | Spiders

MISCELLANEOUS

Grit

Snail shells

Coal

Baked brick

Parts eaten

. | Wild Watermelon| Seeds

. | Flat Sedge

Rhizome

Seeds

Spikelets

Seeds

Flower buds

Pods

Seeds

Seeds 4a 4

Seeds <¢

Seeds *e@

Inflorescence

Leaves

Fruit skin

Seeds

Rhizome

Seeds

Fruit

Seeds

Fruit

Blades

Whole

Pieces

Whole

Pieces

me NO me OjCORmRNN QO am Re me m= KO

oo a)

ol NO One) Ww Re = On

m= \O

Season

pom femet ped

359

mea Wed Ne Wh N p=

m= NW hee

NNN Ph

360 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

FooD OF THE COMMON SANDGROUSE

Seven of the Common Sandgrouse examined were collected within

40 miles of Karachi (West Pakistan) and 40 were from western India,

mostly from about Jodhpur, Delhi, and Poona. This sample indicates

that the food habits of this species are much different from those of the

francolins previously examined. No insects were found, the diet, ap-

parently, being restricted almost entirely to seeds.2 Interestingly enough

the majority of the seeds eaten, were leguminous, and those species most

abundantly taken (the Jndigoferae) are extremely small seeds. In contrast

to the francolins which take some cultivated grains and seeds of weeds

often associated with agriculture, the sandgrouse prefers the seeds of

wild plants. Thus the bird is in no way dependent upon agriculture and

can therefore inhabit the more arid regions of India and Pakistan. The

sandgrouse does not entirely ignore cultivated grains, however, as is

shown by the presence of several cultivated seeds (Phaseolus and Cyamo-

psis) in minor quantities. The Tephrosiae which offer a fair-sized seed

in contrast to the minute Jndigoferae are also one of the favourite foods.*

Substantial quantities of seeds are consumed as can be seen by the

following examples. In the crop of one bird, collected on March 12

near Karachi (Pakistan), there were about 5600 seeds of Indigofera cordi-

folia, 51 seeds of Tephrosia tenuis, 89 of Indigofera uniflora, and 9 of

Indigofera anabaptista. The crop of another bird, collected on February

8 at Sambhar Lake, Rajasthan (India), contained about 10,000 seeds of

Indigofera linifolia, 350 of Crotalaria sp., 1 of Tephrosia strigosa, 2 of

Panicum sp., 1200 of Gynandropsis gynandra, 1 of Tephrosia purpurea, 5

of Phaseolus radiatus, and slightly over 100 seeds of species as yet uniden-

tified.

The analysis of the foods eaten in the spring, summer, fall, and winter

is presented in Table III.

RELATION OF THESE SPECIES TO AGRICULTURE

In considering the food eaten by any wild bird or mammal one of the

duestions frequently raised is its effect on agriculture. Misconceptions

on this point are common and many game mammals and some birds are

often killed in the mistaken notion (or the excuse) that they seriously

damage farm crops. |

1 The authors gratefully acknowledge the considerable assistance of Fr. Joé

Rodrigues in collecting sandgrouse for examination from the country east of Poona,

his work being carried out with the aid of funds received by him from the Bombay

Nes History Society out of a grant received by the Society from the Rockefeller

Fund.

2 Hume & Marshall (1880) found two insects in the crop of Common Sandgrouse.

* Jerdon (1864) records the Common Sandgrouse as feeding on various hard seeds

especially those of various Alysicarpi, Desmodium. Hume & Marshall (1880) say that

“no small seeds seem to come amiss’ ; Baker (1921) mentions ‘ hard seeds and grain’ ;

and an anonymous author refers to the seeds of the common thistle as a favourite

food.

A STUDY OF SEASONAL FOODS OF BLACK FRANCOLIN 361

TABLE II

Foods eaten by the Common Sandgrouse according to Season and number of

Crops in which each was found

a ee A AEE ET EE SS CE ESD

Foods as

| | Pee Season

PLANT

Alysicarpus sp. 4

Amaranthus sp. . | Amaranth

Crotalaria sp. Rattlewort

Cyamopsis psoralioides ..

Desmodium sp. . | Beggarweed

Euphorbia sp. Spurge

- Gynandropsis gynandra

Heliotropium strigosum

ka heliotrope

Indigofera anabaptista ..|anindigo

Indigofera cordifolia .. | an indigo

Indigofera enneaphylla _.. | an indigo

Indigofera linifolia .. | an indigo

Indigofera uniflora .. | an indigo

Panicum antidotale .. | Panicgrass

Panicum sp. .. | Panicgrass

Panicum turgidum .. | Panicgrass

Phaseolus aconitifolius .. | Pulse

Phaseolus radiatus 2. Pp Eulse

Tephrosia purpurea . |a legume

Tephrosia sp. . |a legume

Tephrosia strigosa

Tephrosia tenuis .. | Hoary Pea

Unidentified . | Grass

MISCELLANEOUS . | Grit

Parts eaten [| Pm =

BH: |p Orie aaenilcs

2ig@iais

a, | | oe :

Sila

Seeds 2 3° iS

Seeds 1

Seeds 1 6

Seeds 2

Seeds 3

Seeds 1

Seeds 3)

Seeds 2 6 7; 4

Seeds 1 3

Seeds 27/55 1 1

Seeds Dee

Seeds Za ee 8|-9

Seeds 1 4 6

Seeds

Seeds 5)

Seeds 1

Seeds 4

Seeds Arles Gols 3° 126

Seeds 1

Seeds 5 | 10

Seeds D 2

Blades 2 1

Pieces BUST FOO

- None of the three species here considered normally falls in this

category. Farmers, generally, are glad to have or are indifferent to the

presence of francolin and sandgrouse on their lands.

Their good judg-

ment in this respect is amply borne out by the results of this study. These

birds do very little, if any, damage to farm crops and the good, in terms of

weed seeds and insects consumed by them, is not to be overlooked. From

the food habits as well as the sporting point of view they are among the

most desirable game birds resident on the Indian subcontinent.

REFERENCES

Baker, S. (1920): The Game Birds of

India, Burma, and Ceylon—Francolinus.

J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 27 : 206.

— — (1921): The Game Birds of

India, Burma, and Ceylon—Snipe, Bus-

tards, and Sandgrouse. 2 : 302-303.

Hume, A. O. & Marshall, C. H. T.

(1880): The Game Birds of India,

Burma, and Ceylon. 2.

Husain, M. F., & Bhalla, H. R. (1939):

Some Birds of Lyallpur and their Food.

J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 39 : 841.

eon: T. C. (1864): Birds of India :

Mason, C. W. (1912): The Food of

Birds in India. Mem. Dept. Agr., India,

mie Inst., Pusa, Ent. Ser, 3: 223, 242-

Ticehurst , C. B., Buxton, P. A., &

Cheesman, R. E. (1922): The Birds of

Mesopotamia. J. Bombay nat. Hist.

Soc. 28: 954, : are 8)

Notes on Shipworms from

Visakhapatnam Harbour’

R. NAGABHUSHANAM |

-. Department of Zoology, Tulane University, New Orleans, U.S.A.—

(With four text-figures)

In the course of a detailed study of the Teredinidae of Visakhapatnam

harbour, the author (1955) was able to describe thirteen species belong-

ing to the genera Teredo and Bankia. Though Teredines have been exten-

sively studied in various countries, our knowledge of the tropical forms

is very meagre. From Cochin harbour, Erlanson (1936) noted the occur-

rence of five species. Nair (1954, 1955a, and 1955b) reported seventeen

species of shipworms from the Madras coast. Roonwal (1954) recorded

the occurrence of Bactronophorus thoracites from the Sunderbans.

Palekar & Bal (1955) described four species of Teredo and three species of

Bankia from Bombay harbour. Nair & Gurumani (1956, 1957) described

a new species of Teredo from south India.

The present communication deals with ten more shipworms collected

from Visakhapatnam harbour. Out of these, five species are the first

records from Indian waters. In the treatment of the species the classifi-

cation given by Bartsch (1922) and Roch (1953, 1955) was followed.

Collections of specimens were made in the Visakhapatnam harbour

waters during the years 1953-57 from timber jetties, catamaran logs used

for fishing, and standard test boards of deal wood of various convenient

SiZes.

All drawings were made with the aid of the camera lucida.

SYSTEMATIC TREATMENT OF THE GROUP

Genus Teredo Linnaeus

Subgenus TEREDO Linn

1. Teredo (Teredo) bensoni Edmondson

Subgenus COELOTEREDO Bartsch

2. Teredo (Coeloteredo) singaporeana Roch

_ . 1 Formed part of the thesis for the D.Sc. Degree of Andhra University. Con-

tribution from the Zoology Department, Andhra University, Waltair.

NOTES ON SHIPWORMS FROM VISAKHAPATNAM HARBOUR _ 363

Subgenus DACTYLOTEREDO Roch

3. Teredo (Dactyloteredo) juttingae Roch

Subgenus LyroDus Gould

4. Teredo (Lyrodus) milleri Dall, Bartsch, & Rehder

5. Teredo (Lyrodus) malaccana Roch

Genus Bankia Gray

Subgenus LILIOBANKIA Clench & Turner

6. Bankia (Liliobankia) campanellata Moll & Roch

Subgenus BANKIELLA Bartsch

7. Bankia (Bankiella) carinata Gray

Subgenus PLUMULELLA Clench & Turner

8. Bankia (Plumulella) thielei Roch

9. Bankia (Plumulella) lineata Nair

Genus Nausitora Wright

10, Nausitora dunlopei Wright

Genus Teredo Linnaeus

_ 1758. Teredo Linnaeus, in Syst. Nat., ed. 10, p. 651.

1922. Teredo Bartsch, in Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. 122: p.17. -

Pallets are either paddle- or spoon- shaped. They may be distally

cupped or not.

toi Subgenus TEREDO Linn.

' - 1758. Teredo Linn., in Syst. Nat., ed. 10, p. 651.

1922. Teredo Bartsch, in Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. 122: p. 17.

Pallets paddle-shaped with the blade cupped distally terminating

laterally in sharp points.

Teredo (Teredo) bensoni Edmondson

1946. Teredo (Teredo) bensoni Edmondson, in Occas. Papers B.P.

Mus. 18: p. 213.

Pallets paddle-shaped with stout, curved stalk ; blade short, broad and

its basal portion gradually merges into the stalk. The distal portion of

the blade excavated deeply on the outer surface, inner surface is smooth.

Dark brown periostracum covers the blade nearly to its base.

Measurements: Pallets: total length 4.2 mm., out of which

3.5 mm. belongs to the stalk.

Distribution: Honolulu harbour; very rare in Visakhapat-

nam harbour, |

364. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

Teredo (Teredo) bensoni

Fig. 1a; Outer view of pallet x 13; Fig. 1b: Inner view of pallet x 13.

Subgenus COELOTEREDO Bartsch

1953. Coeloteredo Bartsch, in Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 36: p. 99.

In this subgenus the blade of the pallet forms a hollow cone ; that is,

the outer portion is convex while the inner portion of the blade is almost

flat.

Teredo (Coeloteredo) singaporeana Roch

1935. Teredo (Coeloteredo) singaporeana Roch, in Roch & Moll

Sitz. Ber. Akad. Wien. Wiss. Math. Natw. KI. Abt. 1. 144: p. 266.

Teredo (Coeloteredo) singaporeana

Fig. 2a: Pallet outer view x12; Fig. 2b: Pallet inner view x 12.

Pallets with decidedly cup-shaped depression at the distal end. The

distal portion is covered with a dark epidermis, which terminates in the

form of two lateral horns, Stalk is shorter than the blade and is very

stout at the base,

NOTES ON SHIPWORMS FROM VISAKHAPATNAM HARBOUR 365

Measurements: Length of stalk 1.3 mm., length of blade

1.7 mm,

Distribution: Singapore, Sumatra, Madagascar, East Africa,

Malacca ; rarely found in Visakhapatnam harbour,

Subgenus DACTYLOTEREDO Roch

1941. Dactyloteredo Roch, in Moll Sitz. Ber. Ges. Natforsch. Freunde

10: p. 193.

1952. Dactyloteredo Roch, in Moll Inst. Frang. Afrique Noire

Catalogue 8: p. 83.

Pallets are oblong and leaf-shaped and provided with more or less

nail-like depression on the outer side of the distal end of the blade,

Teredo (Dactyloteredo) juttingae Roch

1955. Teredo (Dactyloteredo) juttingae Roch, in Zool. Meded. 34;

p: 135:

Pallets with a blade which is shaped like a finger-nail but it is, however,

comparatively smaller in area and does not extend up to the two side

walls of the pallet. On the inner side, the blade is concave and smooth

and shows a rib running through its centre very much as if the stalk por-

tion extended towards the tip through the pallet. The stalk is very short

and stout.

Measurements: Pallets: length of the blade 8 mm. ; length

of the stalk 1.5 mm.

Distribution: Sumatra, Philippines, Samoa ; fairly common

species in Visakhapatnam harbour and confined to the regions of higher

salinities in the harbour area. It was also collected from Kakinada.

Subgenus LyRoDus Gould

1870. Lyrodus Gould, in Invert. Mass. p. 33.

In this subgenus the terminal portion is not cupped, but ends in two

lateral forks, covered with a periostracum.

Teredo (Lyrodus) milleri Dall, Bartsch, & Rehder

1924. Teredo affinis Miller, in Univ. Calif. Pub. Zool. 26: p. 148.

1938. Teredo (Cornuteredo) milleri Dall, Bartsch, & Rehder, in

B.P. Mus. Bull. 153: p. 210.

1942. Teredo (Cornuteredo) milleri Edmondson, in Occas. Papers

B.P. Mus. 17 (10): p. 114.

1955. Teredo (Lyrodus) milleri Roch, in Riv. Biol. Colon. 13.

Pallets with slender stalk ; blade consisting of a short, urn-shaped,

calcareous base, surmounted by a dark brown periostracum which { is

typically two poms,

366 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

3a 34

Teredo (Lyrodus) milleri

Fig. 3a : Outer view of pallet x17; Fig. 3b: Inner view of pallet x17.

Measurements: Pallets: total length 1.4 mm. ; stalk 0.8 mm.

Distribution: Hawaii; very rare in Visakhapatnam harbour.

Remarks: Only ten young immature specimens were collected

from the test boards at Naval base in Visakhapatnam harbour,

Teredo (Lyrodus) malaccana Roch

1935. Teredo (Lyrodus) malaccana Roch, in Sitz. Ber. Akad. Wiss.

Wien. Math. Natw. KI. Abt. I. 144: p. 269-270. ;

1955. Teredo (Lyrodus) malaccana Roch, in Zool. Meded. 34: p.

136-139.

Teredo (Lyrodus) malaccana

Fig. 4: Pallet, inner view x 10.

Pallets slender and typically of Lyrodus shape ; blade covered by dark

brown periostracum which occupies greater portion of calcareous blade

and is not produced into distinct lateral forks.

Measurements: Pallets: total length 4.1 mm.; length of

stalk 2.2 mm.

Distribution: Malaya, Indonesia, very few forms collected

from the Visakhapatnam harbour, a] tah

NOTES ON SHIPWORMS FROM VISAKHAPATNAM HARBOUR _ 367

Genus Bankia Gray

1840. Bankia Gray, in Synop. Brit. Mus. Ed. 42: p. 154,

1922. Bankia Bartsch, in Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus. 122: p. 7.

The pallets consisting of a series of cone-in-cone structures which

give them the appearance of the ear of wheat,

Subgenus LILIOBANKIA Clench & Turner

1946. Liliobankia Clench & Turner, in Johnsonia 2: p. 17,

Pallets have a moderately wide and smooth margin of periostracum

which is produced laterally to form wide, blunt awns. The embryonic

cones are not crowded at the tip of the pallet but are distally spaced.

Bankia (Liliobankia) campanellata Moll & Roch

1931. Bankia (Liliobankia) campanellata Moll & Roch, in Proc.

Malac. Soc. Lond. 19: p. 215.

1955. Bankia (Liliobankia) campanellata Roch, in Zool. Meded.

- 34: p. 140.

Pallets consisting of a series of widely spaced cones; calcareous

portion of each cone funnel-shaped ; periostracal margin of the outer

surface slightly U-shaped and smooth while the inner margin is flat ;

laterally the periostracum is produced into wide, blunt awns which are

curved upwards.

Measurements: Pallets: total length 30 mm., of which 15

mm. go to form the stalk.

Distribution: Malaya Archipelago, Sumatra ; most common

species of Bankia in Visakhapatnam harbour.

Subgenus BANKIELLA Bartsch

1921. Bankiella Bartsch, in Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 34: 26.

_ Pallets consisting of a series of cone-in-cone elements covered by a

thin membrane which is neither fimbriated nor denticulated at the free

margin, but entire.

Bankia (Bankiella) carinata Gray

1827. Bankia carinata Gray, in Phil. Mag. 2: p. 411.

1954. Bankia (Bankiella) indica Nair, in Rec. Ind. Mus. 52, (2-4):

p. 393-396.

1955. Bankia (Bankiella) carinata Roch, in Zool. Meded. 34: p. 139.

Pallets with cone-in-cone type joints which are funnel-shaped ; the

blade consists of well-spaced cups, the rims of which are covered by brown

periostracum ; the outer side of the blade is convex and the inner side

flat,

368 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Val. 57 (2)

Measurements; Pallet length 9.5 mm, ; length of stalk 5.0

mm. )

Distribution: Indonesia, Malacca ; in India this species was

previously recorded from Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras ; very rare in

Visakhapatnam harbour,

Subgenus PLUMULELLA Clench & Turner

1946. Plumulella Clench & Turner, in Johnsonia 2: p. 24.

Pallets have long serrated awns. The periostracal margins on both

the inner and outer surfaces of each cone are finely to coarsely serrated.

Bankia (Plumulella) thielei Roch

1935. Bankia (Plumulella) thielei Roch, in Roch & Moll Sitz. Ber.

Akad. Wiss. Wien. Math, Natur. Abt. I. 144: p. 275.

1955. Bankia (Plumulella) thielei Roch, in Riv. Biol. Colon. 13.

Pallets consisting of closely-spaced cones ; the periostracal margin

of the outer and inner surfaces is coarsely-serrated ; stalk is approximately

of equal size as the blade of the pallet.

Measurements: Pallets: total length 11 mm., of which 5.8

mm. go to form the stalk.

Distribution: Madagascar; only two pallets were collected

once at entrance channel in Visakhapatnam harbour.

Bankia (Plumulella) lineata Nair

1955. Bankia (Neobankia) lineata Nair, in J. Madras Uniy.25: p. 109.

This species was first described by Nair (1955) and included under the

subgenus Neobankia ; but according to the classification given by Clench

and Turner (1946) for the genus Bankia, it belongs to the subgenus

Plumulella, as the pallets possess long serrated awns.

Pallets feather-shaped with a cylindrical stalk ; the blade consists of

distinct cone-in-cone structures, the lateral borders of which are drawn

out into slender awns ; the inner margin of each cone forms a slender cup

while the outer margin is deeply concave.

Measurements: Pallet length 9.2 mm.; length of stalk 4.0

mm. |

Distribution: Madras; only few pallets were collected from

naval base in Visakhapatnam harbour.

Genus Nausitora Wright

1864. Nausitora Wright, in Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. 24: p. 456.

Pallets consisting of a series of cone-in-cone elements which are not

entirely free at their distal ends, but fused on the exterior surface,

NOTES ON SHIPWORMS FROM VISAKHAPATNAM HARBOUR 369

Nausitora dunlopei Wright

1864. Nausitora dunlopei Wright, in Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond, 24:

p. 451.

Pallets with a cylindrical stalk which is curved and tapers to a fine

sharp point ; the outer surface of the blade is convex and roughly im-

bricated ; on the inside the blade shows a series of transverse laminae.

Measurements: Pallets: length of blade 8 mm.; length of

“stalk 5 mm.

Distribution: Australian waters; rare in Visakhapatnam

harbour, also recorded from Madras and Hooglee River.

SUMMARY

The present survey extends our knowledge of shipworms from Visakha-

patnam harbour over previous records by listing ten more species. Of

these five species Teredo (Teredo) bensoni, Teredo (Coeloteredo) singa-

poreana, Teredo (Lyrodus) milleri, Teredo (Lyrodus) malaccana, and

Bankia (Plumulella) thielei are recorded for the first time from Indian

waters. }

Teredo (Dactyloteredo) juttingae and Bankia (Liliobankia) campanellata

are of very common occurrence in Visakhapatnam harbour.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author is grateful to Prof. P. N. Ganapati for his guidance.

Thanks are also due to Dr. F. Roch for kindly examining the shipworms |

and to Dr. C. H. Edmondson for sending some of the shipworms from

Hawaii for comparison with the local forms. This work was carried out

with the funds provided by the Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun,

specially obtained from various sources for the execution of the scheme

for the protection of timber against attack by marine organisms.

REFERENCES

Bartsch, P. (1922) : A monograph of the

American shipworms. Bull.U.S. Nat. Mus:

122 : 1-48. Plates 1-37.

Edmondson, C. H. (1942): Teredi-

nidae of Hawaii. B. P. Bishop Mus. Occ.

Papers 17 (10) : 97-150.

Erlanson, E. W. (1936): A_ prelimi-

nary survey of Marine Boring organisms

in Cochin Harbour. Curr. Sci. 4(7):

726-732.

Nagabhushanam, R. (1955): A sys-

tematic account of the molluscan wood-

borers of Visakhapatnam harbour. Rec:

Ind. Mus. 53 (1 & 2): 1-11.

Nair, N. B. (1954): Shipworms from

India. 1. Report on Ten species of

shipworms from Madras Coast. ibid.

52 (2-4) : 387-414.

— —, (1955a): Shipworms of India.

Seven more Shipworms from South India.

ibid. 52 (1 & 2): 261-278.

— —, (1955b): On a new species of

shipworm of the subgenus Neobankia

from Madras. J. Madras Univ. 25: 109-

113.

370

Nair, N. B. (1957) : The shipworms of

South India with a note on the breeding

season of Bankia indica Nair. J. Bombay

nat. Hist. Soc. 54(2) : 344-357.

Nair, N. B. & Gurumani, O. N. (1956):

A new shipworm from Tondi, South

India (Teredo tondiensis). Curr. Sci. 25:

361-362.

— —, (1957): Timber-boring molluscs

of the Indian coast. 1. Report on a collec-

tion from Tondi and Adirampatnam,

East Coast. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc.

54 (3) : 663-673.

Palekar, V. C. & Bal, D. V. (1955):

Marine Organisms injurious to sub-

merged timber in the Bombay Harbour

ibid. 53 (2) : 201-204.

JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

Roch, F. (1955a) : Die holz- und stein-

zerstorenden Tiore der afrikanischen

Kustengowasser. Riv. Biol. Coloniale

1371

— —, (1955b): Die Terediniden Ost-

und Westindiens der Hollandischen

Museumssammlung zu Amsterdam und

Leiden. Zool. Medek. — Rijksmus.

Natural. Hist. Leiden 34: 125-151.

Roonwal, M. L. (1954): The marine

borer Bactronophorus thoracites (Gould)

(Mollusca, Eulamollibranchiata, Tere-

dinidae), as a pest of living trees in the

mangrove forests of the Sundarbans,

Bengal, India. Proc. Zool. Soc. Bengal

72 9t-105." Seve,

The Vegetation of Marshes, Swamps,

and Riverside in Khandwa District

(Madhya. Pradesh)

J. K. MAHESHWARI, PH.D.

Department of Botany, S. N. College, Khandwa, M.P.*

INTRODUCTION

Although floristic and ecological studies on other types of Indian

vegetation have been pursued in our country, the vegetation of rivers,

marshes, and swamps has not received enough attention. This type of

vegetation is of great botanical interest, and investigations carried out in

England and America have yielded useful and significant results on the

floristic composition, ecology, distribution, and phenology of this in-

teresting group of plants (see Arber, 1920 ; Fassett, 1940 ; Muenscher,

1944). On Indian hydrophytes, except for the works of Dudgeon (1920),

Saxton (1924), Biswas & Calder (1937), Misra (1940), and Mirashi (1954,

1957, 1958), there seems to be very little work done on the aquatic and

marsh flora, and particularly there is no record of any ecological or

floristic work on the aquatic and marsh plants of new Madhya Pradesh.

In fact, the systematic study of the flora in this State has received very

scant attention. There are exhaustive floras for Bihar, Madras, Bombay,

and Uttar Pradesh. There is none for Madhya Pradesh (see Hewetson,

1951), and only partial check-lists have been prepared by Hole (1906),

Biscoe (1910), Graham (1911, 1913), Witt (1911, 1916), Haines (1916),

and Tiwari (1954, 1955).

It was, therefore, thought proper to make a detailed floristic survey

of the aquatic and marsh vegetation of the various parts of Madhya

Pradesh. A beginning has been made with the study of the hygrophilous

vegetation of Khandwa district.

The present work is based on a number of excursions made by me at

various seasons during the years 1958 and 1959, and is confined mainly

to the angiospermic flora of the district.

1 Present Address: Central National Herbarium, Botanical Survey of India,

Indian. Botanic Garden, Howrah.

372, JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 37 (2)

GEOGRAPHY, CLIMATE, AND FOREST VEGETATION

The Khandwa plateau is situated between 21° 50’-22° 25’ N. and

75° 57'-77° 13’ E. in the Narbadda Division of Madhya Pradesh. . It

is bounded on the north by the old Indore State, on the west by Indore

and the Khandesh district of Bombay, on the south by Khandesh,

Amraoti, and Akola districts of the new Bombay State, and on the east

by the Hoshangabad and Betul districts. The fertile valleys of the Abna

and Sukta rivers lie in the southern part of the Khandwa district. The

main range of the Satpuras crosses the district in the southern part, with

a width of about eleven miles and rather low elevation, from which a

few peaks including that of Asirgarh rise conspicuously. The Khandwa

plain has an elevation of about 850 ft. (260 m.) above sea-level.

The Khandwa climate is somewhat cooler than that of Nagpur in

the summer and has practically the same temperature during the rains.

The cold weather, though not bracing, is distinctly pleasant and lasts

from the beginning of November to the middle of March. The hot

winds usually begin about the middle of April and blow steadily from

directions between north-west and west. Table I gives the climatic

data on rainfall and temperature for the years 1950 to 1957. The maxi-

mum rainfall for the years given in Table I occurred in 1955, with

44.2 inches or 1121.7 mm., the minimum in 1953 with 15.9 inches or 403

mm. ; the average for these years is 31.9 inches or 812.6 mm., of which

more than three-fourths falls between June and October. January is the

coldest month of the year. In this month, the mean maximum and mean

minimum temperatures are lowest being 29.4° C. and 10.7° C. respec-

tively. The highest maximum temperature of 43.2° C. was recorded

in the month of May 1954. The data on relative humidity were not avai-

lable, as there is no recording station in the area surveyed by me. How-

ever, the area is one of the driest in the State and is characterized by

low relative humidity. ~

TABLE 1

CLIMATOLOGICAL DATA FOR 1950-1957 1

Year Annual Rainfall Maximum temp. Minimum teriip. |

in mm. in degrees C. in degrees C.

1950 1092.7 41.8 | 11.7

1951 765.8 42.0 8.8

1952 721.6 42.5 11.0

1953 403.0 41.9 10.1

1954 767.0 43.2 115

1955 1121.7 41.9 10.8

1956 1064.0 40.9 11.0

1957 564.9 41.0 12.0

* The data were supplied by the District Statistical Office, Nimar, M.P.

MARSH, SWAMP, & RIVERSIDE VEGETATION OF KHANDWA _ 373

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF VEGETATION

The common habitats of the aquatic and marsh species in’ this area

are a number of natural and artificial tanks and ‘ kunds’ (Rameshwar,

Suraj, Padma, and Bhim Kunds), the rivers Abna, Sukta, and Bham and

their tributaries, irrigation channels, temporary ponds, and puddles.

The Abna and Sukta rivers flow in the southern part of the Khandwa

district and maintain a rich, hydrophytic flora. The plants, to name

some of them, Ottelia alismoides Pers., Vallisneria spiralis L., Hydrilla

verticillata Royle, Ceratophyllum demersum L., Potamogeton perfoliatus

L., P. indicus Roxb., P. pectinatus L., Zannichella palustris L., Naias

minor All., Nymphoides cristatum Ktze., Lemna paucicostata Hegelm.,

Marsilea quadrifolia Linn., Hygrorhiza aristata Nees, Ipomoea aquatica

Forsk., Rottboellia exaltata L., Hemarthria compressa R. Br., [schaemum

rugosum Salisb., Saccharum spontaneum L., Scirpus tuberosus Desf.,

S. erectus Poir., Cyperus alopecuroides Rottb., C. pygmaeus Rottb., C.

difformis L., Fimbristylis complanata Link, F. dichotoma Vahl, Bacopa

monnieri Penn., Phyla nodiflora Greene, Eclipta prostrata L., Exacum

pedunculatum L., Canscora diffusa R. Br., Enicostemma verticillatum

Engl., Hoppea dichotoma Willd., Polygonum plebejum R. Br., P. glabrum

Willd., and P. hydropiper L., mainly constitute the vegetation of Abna

and Sukta rivers and their embankments.

In the neighbourhood of temporary ponds, puddles, and ditches, a

rich marsh flora is recognizable. The common species are: Justicia

quinqueangularis var. peploides C.B.Cl., Hoppea dichotoma Willd.,

Marsilea quadrifolia L., Asteracantha longifolia Nees, Ammannia bacci-

fera subsp. baccifera Cuf., Caesulia axillaris Roxb., Ageratum conyzoides

L., Xanthium strumarium L., Eclipta prostrata L., Polygonum plebejum

R.Br., Ludwigia parviflora Roxb., Alysicarpus bupleurifolius DC., Ses-

bania bispinosa F. &. R., Bacopa monnieri Penn., Sopubia delphinifolia

G. Don, Heliotropium strigosum Willd., Ipomoea aquatica Forsk., Alter-

nanthera sessilis R.Br., Euphorbia hypericifolia L., Phyllanthus maderas-

patensis L., Commelina benghalensis L., C. hasskarlii Cl., Lemna pauci-

costata Hegelm., Wolffia sp., Scirpus roylei Park., Scleria tessellata Willd.,

Fimbristylis dichotoma Vahl, Cyperus iria L., C. compressus L., Andro-

pogon pumilus Roxb., Brachiaria eruciformis Griseb., Eriochloa procera

Hubb., Paspalum distichum L., Paspalidium flavidum A. Camus, and

Echinochloa colona Link. However, plants like Justicia quinqueangularis

var. peploides C.B.Cl., Caesulia axillaris Roxb., Xanthium strumarium

L., Bacopa monnieri Penn., Alternanthera sessilis R.Br., Commelina

hasskarlii Cl., Lemna paucicostata Hegelm., Wolffia sp., and Andropogon

pumilus Roxb. occur in pure stands, and the following communities are

characteristic of the marsh flora of Khandwa :

(1) Caesulia axillaris community.

(2) Asteracantha-Caesulia community.

374. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL. HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

(3) Justicia-Caesulia-Alternanthera community.

(4) Xanthium strumarium community.

(5) Andropogon pumilus community.

(6) Coix-Scleria community.

ECOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION

The hydrophytes of Khandwa can be classified into the following six

life-forms on the basis of their contacts with soil, water, and air :

(1) Free-floating hydrophytes. These are in contact with water and

air only. They are represented by algae like Spirogyra, ferns like Azolla

pinnata R.Br., and angiosperms like Lemna paucicostata Hegelm., Wolffia,

Trapa bispinosa Roxb., Hygrorhiza aristata Nees, and Pistia stratiotes

L., Ipomoea aquatica Forsk., an amphibious herb, grows only in shallow

water forming a dense network of branches.

(2) Suspended hydrophytes. These are rootless, submerged hydro-

phytes that are in contact with water only, e.g. Ceratophyllum demersum

L. This species grows in shallow waters, often forming a pure associa-

tion.

(3) Attached submerged hydrophytes. These are, entirely or for

the most part, in contact with soil and water only. In some of these,

e.g. Naias minor All., even the flowers are completely submerged. Others,

like Hydrilla verticillata Royle, Vallisneria spiralis L., Potamogeton

crispus L., and P. perfoliatus L., have their vegetative shoots under water,

but the flowers are raised to or slightly above the surface of water. These

species occur in pure stands, forming tangled masses of vegetation.

(4) Attached hydrophytes with floating leaves. These are in contact

with soil, water as wellas air. Here are included species like Potamogeton

indicus Roxb., Nymphoides cristatum Ktze., and Ottelia alismoides Pers.,

which are either heterophyllous or possess only the floating leaves.

(5) Emergent, amphibious hydrophytes. The root, the lower part

of the stem and, in some cases, even the lower leaves of these hydrophytes

are usually submerged under water. Sesbania bispinosa F. & R., Scirpus

tuberosus Desf., Cyperus alopecuroides Rottb., Hemarthria compressa

R.Br., and Ischaemum rugosum Salisb. are some of the characteristic

species of this group. |

(6) Wet-land hydrophytes. These are rooted to the soil that is

usually saturated with water, at least in the early part of their life. Here

are included a large number of species of the Khandwa flora. Ammannia

baccifera subsp. baccifera Cuf., Caesulia axillaris Roxb., Eclipta pros-

trata L., Hoppea dichotoma Willd., Heliotropium strigosum Willd., Bacopa

monnieri Penn., Justicia quinqueangularis var. peploides Cl., Asteracantha

longifolia Nees, Phyla nodiflora Gr., Alternanthera sessilis R.Br., Poly-

gonum plebejum R.Br., Commelina benghalensis L., C. hasskarlii C1.,

MARSH, SWAMP, & RIVERSIDE VEGETATION OF KHANDWA_ 375

Cyperus pygmaeus Rottb., C. difformis L., Scleria tessellata Willd., Fim-

bristylis dichotoma Vahl, and Andropogon pumilus Roxb., are some of the

characteristic species of this class of hydrophytes. Some of them con-

tinue to thrive even after the substratum has considerably dried up.

TAXONOMIC DATA

The aquatic and marsh vegetation of Khandwa comprises a rich and

varied assemblage of vascular hydrophytes, besides a large number of

algal forms including species of Chara and Nitella, which are usually

found in association with the higher aquatic plants. On the basis of the

author’s own collections, the following taxonomic data are presented for

the vascular hydrophytes of Khandwa:

Phylum Class Families Genera | Species

ee 7 es

PTERIDOPHYTA | Hydropteridineae 2 Z 2

ANGIOSPERMAE 1. Dicotyledones 20 42 48

| 2. Monocotyledones 9 35 47

ENUMERATION OF SPECIES

I PIERIDOPHYTA

1. Marsilea quadrifolia L. An aquatic, amphibious herb. Common

throughout in shallow water in ditches, moist banks of ponds,

rivers, and marshy places.

2. Azolla pinnata R.Br. A free-floating aquatic plant. Common in

Abna, Sukta, and Bham rivers, often associated with Lemna

and Wolffia.

Il ANGIOSPERMAE

DICOTYLEDONES

CRUCIFERAE

3. Rorippa indica (DC.) Hochreut. An erect, glabrous or hairy

annual. Flowers yellow. Found in marshes and swamps near

ponds and puddles.

Local name: Khubkalan.

Flowers and Fruits : Dec.-July.

376

JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

PORTULACACEAE

4. Portulaca oleracea Linn. A prostrate or ascending, succulent,

glabrous herb. Flowers yellow. Common in marshes and

swamps.

Local name: Nonia; Golia.

Flowers and Fruits: Major part of the year.

TILIACEAE

. Corchorus olitorius Linn. An erect, shrubby plant. Flowers

yellow. Common along the margins of rivers and in marshes.

Local name : Sanp-ki-patti.

Flowers and Fruits : Sept.-Nov.

. Corchorus fascicularis Lam. An erect, much-branched, glabrous

herb. Flowers yellow. Common along the margins of ponds,

puddles and ditches.

Flowers and Fruits : Sept.-Dec.

PAPILIONACEAE

. Sesbania bispinosa (Jacq.) Fawc. & Rend. An erect, weak-stem-

med shrub. Flowers yellow. Common along canal banks in

marshes.

Local name: Chichida ; Jangli imli ; Dhandhan ; Silabhri.

Flowers and Fruits: Sept.-Nov.

. Desmodium triflorum DC. A gregarious, trailing herb. Flowers

pink or purplish. Occurs along the banks of rivers and canals.

Flowers and Fruits : During rains and early winter.

. Alysicarpus bupleurifolius DC. A diffuse or ascending herb.

Flowers pink. Common along canal banks.

Local name : Sewra ; Gahun-khad.

Flowers and Fruits : Aug.-Oct.

LYTHRACEAE

. Ammannia baccifera L. subsp. baccifera Cuf. in Bull. Jard. Bot.

Brux. Suppl. 29 (fase. 3): 607, 1959. An erect, glabrous herb.

Flowers in condensed, axillary racemes or clusters. Capsules

red when ripe. Common in marshes and along canal banks,

often associated with sedges.

Flowers and Fruits : Sept.-Jan.

11. Rotala tenuis (Wt.) Koehne. A moisture-loving, tufted, elegant

herb. Flowers rosy pink. Common on wet cliffs and rocky

surfaces along the banks of Abna River.

Flowers and Fruits : Oct.-Feb.

MARSH, SWAMP, & RIVERSIDE VEGETATION OF KHANDWA #3717

ONAGRACEAE

12. Ludwigia parviflora Roxb. An erect, glabrous herb. Flowers

yellow. Common along the banks of temporary ponds and

puddles.

Flowers and. Fruits : Aug.-Oct.

HYDROCARYACEAE

13. Trapa bispinosa Roxb. An aquatic herb. Flowers white. Culti-

vated in ponds for its edible fruit which is eaten raw or cooked.

Local name: Singhara.

Flowers : Sept.-Oct. Fruits : Sept.-Dec.

COMPOSITAE

14. Gnaphalium luteo-album L. subsp. pallidum (Lamk.) Maheshwari,

comb. nov. |

Gnaphalium pallidum Lamk. Dict. 2: 750, 1790; Wall Cat.

2953, 1828, nomen ; DC. Prod. 6: 230, 1837.

Gnaphalium orixense Roxb. in Hort. Beng. 101, 1814, nomen ;

Blind. 3: 425, 1832.

Gnaphalium luteo-album L. var. < C. B. Clarke in Comp. Ind.

114, 1876.

Gnaphalium luteo-album L. var. pallidum Hook. f. in FI. Brit.

Ind. 3: 288, 1881 ; Hochreut. in Candollea 5: 313, 1934.

This plant is listed in our floras under the name of Gnaphalium luteo-

album L. var. pallidum Hook. f. Recently, Koster (in Blumea 4: 484,

1941), following C. B. Clarke (loc. cit.) and Hochreutiner (loc. cit.),

has shown that there are two subspecific entities under G. Juteo-album L.

The above new combination is proposed for the plant which is found

throughout the Gangetic plains and in central India. It also occurs in

west Java, Australia, New Guinea, Philippines, Indo-China, Madagascar,

Mauritius, Africa, and Europe.

The differences between the two subspecies are as follows :

Involucral bracts citrine to golden

yellow ; capitula 3-3.5 mm. long; a

montane plant, rare on the plains.... G. luteo-album

ssp. affine Kost.

Involucral bracts pale to dark brown

or reddish brown; capitula 3.5-

4.5 mm. long; common on the plains. G. luteo-album

ssp. pallidum Mahesh.

An erect, annual, woolly herb. Leaves 2.5-5 x 0.5-1 cm., lanceolate

to oblong-spathulate, white-woolly on both surfaces. Capitula 3.5-

4,5 mm. long, shining, in terminal and axillary corymbs or fascicles,

378

JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

heterogamous. Involucral scales pale to dark brown or reddish brown,

oblong, obtuse. Common along the banks of rivers and near temporary

ponds.

13:

16.

hur

18.

19:

20.

Flowers and Fruits : Cold and early summer seasons.

Gnaphalium indicum L. An erect or bent, white-woolly, poly-

morphic herb. Heads pale brown. Found along the banks of

Abna and Sukta rivers in moist, sandy soils.

Flowers and Fruits : Dec.-April.

Ageratum conyzoides L. An erect, hairy, annual herb. Heads

white, fragrant. Common along the banks of Abna River and

other irrigation channels.

Flowers and Fruits : Oct.-June.

Caesulia axillaris Roxb. A prostrate or suberect, marshy herb.

Florets whitish. Common in marshy places near temporary

ponds, forming either pure or mixed communities ; in the latter

case associated with Asteracantha longifolia Nees, Alternanthera

sessilis R. Br., and Justicia quinqueangularis var. peploides Cl.

Flowers and Fruits : Oct.-April.

Xanthium strumarium L. A scabrous, erect, tall herb or under-

shrub. Common in the seasonal marshes of temporary ponds ;

often gregarious. The leaves are eaten by goats.

Local name : Ghokhru ; Bhatoi ; Kateya.

Flowers and Fruits : Sept.-Nov. ; April.

Eclipta prostrata L. An erect or prostrate, rough annual. Heads

white. Common in marshes, swamps, and riversides.

Local name: Jangli suraj-mukhi.

Flowers and Fruits : Throughout the year.

GENTIANACEAE

Hoppea dichotoma Willd. A small, glabrous annual. Flowers

pale yellow. Common in marshes, swamps, and along the banks

of Abna River ; often gregarious.

Flowers and Fruits : Oct.-Feb.

Exacum pedunculatum L. An erect, slender herb. Flowers

pinkish violet or violet. Occurs along the banks of rivers and

irrigation canals.

Flowers and Fruits : Oct.-Feb.

Canscora diffusa R.Br. A slender, elegant herb. Flowers rosy

pink. Common on way to Jeswadi, in marshes and swamps

along the banks of Abna and Sukta rivers.

~ Flowers and Fruits : Oct.-April.

23%

24.

29:

26.

Wy.

29:

30.

MARSH, SWAMP, & RIVERSIDE VEGETATION OF KHANDWA_ 379

Enicostemma yerticillatum Engl. An erect or procumbent, glab-

rous herb. Flowers white. Common along the banks of Abna

River as well as in shallow marshes.

Flowers and Fruits : Sept.-May.

Nymphoides cristatum O.Ktze. An aquatic, floating herb. Flowers

white. Found near the margins of Abna River and its tribu-

taries. Also grown in freshwater ponds and tanks.

Flowers : Summer and rainy seasons.

BORAGINACEAE

Heliotropium strigosum Willd. A prostrate or procumbent herb.

Flowers white. Common along the banks of canals and tem-

porary ponds.

Flowers and Fruits : During and after rains.

CONVOLVULACEAE

Ipomoea aquatica Forsk. An aquatic, trailing, amphibious herb.

Flowers pale rosy. Common in ponds, canals, ditches, and

muddy ground.

Local name: Kalmisag.

Flowers and Fruits : Oct.-May.

Merremia emarginata Hal. f. A prostrate, creeping herb. Flowers

yellow. Common along the banks of Abna, Sukta, and Bham

rivers.

Flowers and Fruits : Sept.-Nov.

SCROPHULARIACEAE

Bacopa monnieri Penn. A semi-aquatic or marshy, prostrate herb.

Flowers bluish purplish or violet. Common in marshy or wet

places near canals, ponds, and lakes ; often growing profusely

and dominating the ground vegetation.

Flowers: Aug.-Oct. Fruits : Nov.-Feb.

Sopubia delphinifolia G. Don. A tall, erect herb, elegant when in

full bloom. Flowers rose-coloured or light purple. Common

in marshes and ditches of low-lying areas.

Flowers and Fruits : Rainy and cold seasons.

Verbascum chinense Sant. (Verbascum coromandelianum O.K. :

Celsia coromandeliana Vahl). An erect, pubescent annual.

Flowers yellow. Common along the banks of Abna, Sukta, and

Bham rivers.

Flowers and Fruits : Cold and summer seasons,

380 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

31. Stemodia viscosa Roxb. An erect, aromatic, viscid herb. Flowers

violet. Common in swamps and along the banks of canals

and rivers.

Flowers and Fruits : Cold and summer seasons.

32. Veronica anagallis-aquatica 1. An erect, succulent herb. Flowers

pale purple or white. Occurs in moist situations along the

banks of canals and rivers.

Flowers and Fruits : Feb.-June.

33. Sutera dissecta Walp. A diffuse or suberect, glandular annual.

Flowers white. Common along the banks of canals and dit-

ches.

Flowers and Fruits : Cold season.

GESNERIACEAE

34. Didymocarpus pygmaea C.B.Cl. A small, delicate, pubescent

herb. Rare ; found along the banks of Abna and Sukta rivers

on wet rocks.

ACANTHACEAE

35. Rungia repens Nees. A spreading or procumbent herb. Flowers

violet or pinkish. Common in small patches near river banks.

Flowers and Fruits : Oct.-Jan.

36. Justicia diffusa Willd. An erect herb. Flowers pink or pale

purple. Common throughout in marshes as well as along the

banks of rivers and canals.

Flowers and Fruits : Aug.-Oct.

37. Justicia quinqueangularis var. peploides C.B.Cl. A prostrate or

ascending herb. Flowers rose-coloured. Common in marshes

or wet places near canals, ponds, and lakes.

Flowers and Fruits : Oct.-Apr.

38. Asteracantha longifolia Nees. An erect, hispid, stout herb.

Flowers bright blue to bluish purple. Gregarious along the

banks of fresh or stagnant water ditches and swamps.

Local name : Untkatara.

Flowers and Fruits : Oct.-Feb.

39. Hygrophila serpyllum T. Anders. A procumbent, glabrous herb.

Occurs in marshes near Shankar Ghat.

Flowers : Cold season.

40.

4].

42.

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

MARSH, SWAMP, & RIVERSIDE VEGETATION OF KHANDWA_ 381

VERBENACEAE

Phyla nodiflora (L.) Greene. A creeping herb. Flowers pale

pink. Gregarious in marshes as well as along the banks of

Abna River.

Local name : Bakanbuti.

Flowers and Fruits : April-Aug.

LABIATAE

Salvia plebeia R.Br. An erect, deep-rooted annual. Flowers

bluish white. Common along the banks of Abna River and

irrigation channels.

Flowers and Fruits : Winter and summer seasons.

AMARANTHACEAE

Alternanthera sessilis R.Br. A prostrate, spreading, polymorphic

herb. Flowers white. Common in damp places along the

borders of ponds and tanks, or grows as an aquatic in ponds

and canals with shallow water.

Local name: Bhaji ; Narhi-ki-bam.

Flowers and Fruits : During and after rains.

POLYGONACEAE

Polygonum plebejum R.Br. A_ prostrate, diffusely-branched

herb. Flowers rosy. Common in damp places along the bor-

ders of ponds, tanks, and canals.

Local name: Machechi.

Flowers and Fruits : Cold and summer seasons.

Polygonum glabrum Willd. An erect or decumbent, stout annual.

Flowers pink. Found in marshes and along canal banks.

Local name : Nali.

Flowers and Fruits : Sept.-March.

Polygonum hydropiper L. A _ glabrous, robust herb. Flowers

pink. Occurs in marshes and along canal banks.

Flowers and Fruits : Oct.-March.

Polygonum barbatum L. An erect, glabrous annual. Flowers

white. Rare along the banks of rivers.

Local name : Jalbahar.

Flowers and Fruits : Aug.-May.

Rumex dentatus L. An erect, glabrous annual. Flowers green,

Uncommon. Near canal banks,

48.

49.

50:

Sie

53:

54.

35.

JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

Local name: Jangli palak.

Flowers and Fruits: Jan.-June.

EUPHORBIACEAE

Euphorbia hypericifolia L. An erect or decumbent herb. Com-

mon along canal banks as well as in marshes.

Flowers and Fruits : July-Oct.

Phyllanthus maderaspatensis L. A glabrous herb. Common in

marshes of temporary ponds and on black cotton soil.

Local name : Hazarmani.

Flowers : Aug.-Oct.

CERATOPHYLLACEAE

Ceratophyllum demersum L. A submerged, rootless aquatic.

Common in the still water of ponds, ditches, and canals.

Flowers and Fruits : After rains.

MONOCOTYLEDONES

HYDROCHARITACEAE

Hydrilla verticillata Royle. A submerged, freshwater herb. Com-

mon and abundant in still or slowly running water of ponds,

ditches, and canals.

Flowers : Sept.-Nov.

Vallisneria spiralis L. A submerged, tufted, dioecious perennial.

Common in the bottom of ponds, ditches, and canals.

Flowers and Fruits : Aug.-Oct.

Ottelia alismoides Pers. A succulent, flaccid herb. Flowers

white. Common in tanks and slow-running waters.

Flowers : Oct.-Feb.

COMMELINACEAE

Commelina benghalensis L. A diffuse or straggling herb with

dimorphic flowers. Common in marshes and along canal banks.

The leaves are used as a vegetable.

Local name: Kan-kawwa.

Flowers and Fruits : June-Nov.

Commelina hasskarlii Cl. A glabrous or pubescent herb. Flowers

blue. Gregarious in marshes near temporary ponds and ditches,

Local name : Gahun-kenya.

Flowers and Fruits : Sept.-Noy,

MARSH, SWAMP, & RIVERSIDE VEGETATION OF KHANDWA __ 383

56;

Si.

60.

61.

62.

63.

64.

65.

Cyanotis axillaris Schult. f. A trailing or erect herb. Flowers

pale violet. Occurs along canal banks in moist situations.

Flowers and Fruits : Oct.-Dec.

ARACEAE

Pistia stratiotes L. A floating herb. Common in tanks and jheels.

Flowers : July-Nov.

LEMNACEAE

Lemna paucicostata Hegelm. Common throughout in canals,

ponds, puddles, and stagnant water collected near waste places.

Local name : Chowpatti.

Flowers : After rains.

Wolffia sp. Common throughout in ponds, puddles, and stagnant

water ponds and canals, either growing alone and forming a

green felt or associated with Lemna and Azolla.

Flowers: After rainy season.

POTAMOGETONACEAE

Potamogeton indicus Roxb. A floating or marshy, aquatic herb.

Common in Abna, Sukta, and Bham rivers.

Flowers: Cold season. Fruits: Hot season.

Potamogeton perfoliatus L. A stout, submerged, aquatic herb.

Common near Bhim Kund, along the margins of Abna River.

Flowers : Dec.-Feb.

Potamogeton crispus L. A slender, submerged, aquatic herb.

Common in shallow, temporary water ponds, and canals of Abna

and Sukta rivers.

Flowers and Fruits: Cold and hot seasons.

Potamogeton pectinatus L. A filiform, grass-like, aquatic herb.

Common in the canals of Abna, Sukta, and Bham rivers.

Flowers and Fruits : Cold and hot seasons.

NAIADACEAE

Naias minor All. A small, aquatic herb. Common in still,

fresh water of ponds and rivers.

Flowers : Dec.-Feb.

ZANNICHELLIACEAE

Zannichellia palustris L. Common in quiet or slowly running

water of Abna, Sukta, and Bham rivers, and ponds,

Flowers and Fruits ; Oct.-Feb.

384

66. Cyperus alopecuroides Rottb. An erect, stout, marshy sedge.

67.

68.

69.

Hae

74,

HD:

JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

CYPERACEAE

Common along the banks of rivers and ponds.

Flowers and Fruits : Aug.-Jan.

Cyperus pygmaeus Rottb. A very tufted, prostrate or erect herb.

Common in marshes and beds of Abna River.

Flowers and Fruits : Oct.-July.

Cyperus iria L. Common in marshy lands and ditches.

Flowers and Fruits : Aug.-Apr.

Cyperus compressus L. Common in marshes and along the banks

of streams.

Local name : Dhongli.

Flowers and Fruits: June-Oct.

Cyperus difformis L. An erect, tufted herb. Common along the

banks of Abna River.

Flowers and Fruits: After rains.

Fimbristylis dichotoma Vahl. A tufted annual. Common in

marshes and along the banks of rivers. The fresh roots emit a

fragrant smell. :

Flowers and Fruits : Feb.-June.

Fimbristylis complanata Link. Common in marshes and swamps.

Flowers and Fruits : Oct.-Feb.

Scirpus roylei Parker (Scirpus quinquefarius Buch.-Ham.). An

erect, tufted sedge. Common in marshes near canals and streams.

Flowers and Fruits : Sept.-Dec.

Scirpus erectus Poir. Common along the banks of Abna, Sukta,

and Bham rivers, often growing on wet rocks.

Flowers and Fruits : Late winter and summer seasons.

Scirpus tuberosus Desf. in FI. Atl. 1 : 50, 1798-1800; Beetle in

Amer. Jour. Bot. 29: 84, 1942. (Scirpus maritimus Linn.,

pro parte). This plant is listed in our floras under the name

of Scirpus maritimus Linn. Recently Beetle (loc. cit.) has shown

that true S. maritimus Linn. is a European plant, found occasion-

ally in Asia, and it includes two specific entities. The correct

name for the Asiatic species is, therefore, Scirpus tuberosus

Desf. (loc. cit.). For a complete synonymy of this plant, see

Beetle (op. cit.).

An erect, variable sedge, 30-100 cm. high, with creeping rhizomes

76.

Wilke

tec

deh

80.

81.

SZ:

So)

84.

MARSH, SWAMP, & RIVERSIDE VEGETATION OF KHANDWA_ 385

and woody tubers. Stems trigonous. Umbels simple or com-

pound. Spikelets 3-8 or solitary on each ray, dark brown.

Bristles present. Nuts plano-convex, polished. Common along

the banks of Abna, Sukta and Bham rivers, forming dense

patches in Chhoti Nadi. The sedge is amphibious as it occurs

either in water or on marshy soil.

Flowers and Fruits : Oct.-July.

Scleria tessellata Willd. Common in marshes and along canals.

Flowers and Fruits : Sept.-Dec.

GRAMINEAE

Saccharum spontaneum L. Common near canals, ponds, and

marshy places.

Local name: Kans.

Flowers and Fruits : Sept.-Dec.

Imperata cylindrica Beauv. Common near ponds and canals of

Abna River, often becoming abundant and dominating the

vegetation.

Flowers and Fruits : June-Oct.

Hemarthria compressa R.Br. A hygrophilous, perennial grass.

- Occurs in marshes and along the banks of Abna River.

Flowers and Fruits : June-Sept.

Paspalum distichum L. Common along the banks of Abna River

and near ponds and puddles.

Flowers and Fruits : June-Sept.

Paspalidium flavidum A. Camus. Common along canal banks and

ponds. A good fodder grass.

Local name : Kel-chara.

Flowers and Fruits: May-Oct.

Echinochloa colonum Link. Very common in ditches.

Local name : Saonria.

Flowers and Fruits : June-Oct.

Echinochloa crus-galli Beauv. Common along irrigation channels

and margins of ponds.

Local name : Panad ghas.

Flowers and Fruits: July-Nov.

Leptochloa panicea Ohwi. A slender, annual grass. Common

near canals and ponds.

Flowers and Fruits : June-Sept.

386

85.

86.

87.

88.

89.

90.

Zilke

22.

95:

94.

95:

JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

Eriochloa procera Hubb. Common near canals, ponds, and

ditches. :

Flowers and Fruits: Aug.-Dec.

Setaria tomentosa Kunth. Common near canals, ponds, and

ditches.

Local name : Chich-larha.

Flowers and Fruits: Aug.-Oct.

Cynodon dactylon Pers. Common and abundant in marshes and

swamps.

Local name : Dub.

Flowers : Throughout the year.

Aristida depressa Retz. Common near banks of Abna River,

forming dense tufts in local patches.

Local name : Sukli.

Flowers and Fruits : July-Oct.

Sorghum halepense Pers. A perennial, tall grass. Found sporadi-

cally along the banks of canals. The culms are used as pens for

writing purposes.

Local name : Baru.

Flowers and Fruits: Sept.-Feb.

Andropogon pumilus Roxb. A small, copper-coloured grass.

Gregarious in marshes and swamps.

Flowers and Fruits : Oct.-Feb.

Apluda mutica L. A small grass with delicate culms. Occurs

in moist situations near canals, ponds, and puddles.

Local name: Phulria ; Phuli.

Flowers and Fruits : Sept.-Nov.

Brachiaria eruciformis Griseb. A very weak grass. Common in

marshes, and swamps.

Local name : Sirput.

Flowers and Fruits: Sept.-Nov.

Coix lachryma-jobi L. A tall, densely tufted grass. Gregarious

along watercourses, irrigation channels, and ditches.

Local name: Panad ; Barru.

Flowers: Sept.-Dec. Fruits: Feb.-April.

Dinebra retroflexa Panz. A small, trailing grass. Common along

the banks of Abna River.

Flowers : Sept.-Nov.

Rottboellia exaltata L. Common in marshes, swamps, and along

the banks of rivers.

Flowers : Aug.-Nov.

MARSH, SWAMP, & RIVERSIDE VEGETATION OF KHANDWA_ 387

96. Ischaemum rugosum Salisb. Common along the banks of marshes

and canals.

Local name : Badawar.

Flowers : Oct.-Feb. —

97. Hygrorhiza aristata Nees.

A floating grass.

Common in still

or slow running water of Abna River.

Flowers :

Cold and summer seasons.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am grateful to Rev. Fr. H. Santapau, s.J.,

F.N.I., for kindly going

through the manuscript and suggesting improvements.

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I. INSECT MIGRATION. By C. B. Williams. Pp. xiti+235

(21.5 14.5 cm.). 11 coloured plates, 22 photographs in black and

white, and 49 maps and diagrams. The New Naturalist series.

Collins, London, 1958. Price 30s. net.

In 1938 Dr. Williams wrote an article on Butterfly Migration in

India (J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 40: 439-457) which summarised the

existing records, hoping thereby to stimulate collectors’ interest in the

subject and to get further observations from them. His own interest

was aroused much earlier, in 1916, when in British Guiana he

happened upon a migration of Phoebis statira. Since then he has

not only observed himself, but has with a few enthusiastic helpers

collected a vast body of information scattered through the literature.

Migration is now regarded as a much more generalised phenomenon

than was previously realised. In this book Dr. Williams discusses

butterfly migration in relation to those of other insects and to those

of vertebrates, and gives the reader some idea of the magnitude of the

problems involved.

The New Naturalist series is primarily concerned with British

natural history, but to quote the dust jacket °. . . INSECT MIGRATION

deals with the subject on an international basis, with Britain . . . as

the natural peg on which a biological problem belonging to the whole

world can be hung’.

Insect migration is more difficult to tackle by direct means than

is bird migration. Several attempts have been made to mark migrat-

ing butterflies but, in every case, of thousands marked only one or

two have been recovered, and those fairly close to the point of release.

The only exception to this was in 1952, when Urquhart in Canada

marked Monarch Butterflies (Danaus plexippus) and recovered 2

individuals from 450 and 480 miles to the south. Only once has the

start of a migration been observed-—-that of the Painted Lady (Vanessa

cardui). In 1869 Sketcherley observed vast numbers emerging from

their chrysalids in the desert by the Red Sea. They dried theiz wings,

and flew eastwards towards the sea. The production of locust swarms

is better understood. It has been shown that the migratory form is

produced when intense breeding leads to overcrowding of young

hoppers. But even here there is ambiguity, because it has been

shown that the solitary form can also migrate over some hundreds of

miles.

REVIEWS 389

Insects have been shown to be capable of some incredible feats—

for example the tiny moth Plutella maculipennis, barely half an inch

across, flies over the North Sea to Britain from Europe. Spectacular

flights involving many thousand individuals and continuing for days

on end are known in many parts of the world. Sometimes they have

become part of local folklore. Our Luploea core migrates regularly

along the coast at Ratnagiri, and the local inhabitants have come to

regard it as the forerunner of the monsoon.

The problems raised are many and various. For example the

question arises of how butterflies navigate. If they do so by the

position of the sun, do they compensate for the shift in its position

during the day? ‘The instinct to go in a straight line is so strong

that butterflies on migration will rise and fly over an obstacle

rather than go round it. Wind does not affect the direction of flight—

the insects shift the axes of their bodies to compensate for the drift,

and continue to fly in the same direction as before. One could go

on quoting from this fascinating book for a long time. All collectors

should read it; they have a real opportunity to make a contribution to

the subject.

R.R.

2. THE MYSTERY OF THE FLAMINGOS. By Leslie Brown.

Pp. 116 (1421.5 cm.). 23 photographic plates, 2 maps, 1 diagrain.

Country Life, London, 1959. 25s. net.

In recent years the name of Leslie Brown has become a byword

for East African flamingo lore. Those who have had the privilege

of seeing his magnificent colour film of African flamingos, or read

his account of the breeding of the Greater Flamingo in Kenya (/dis,

1958) need no introduction to his competence as a field naturalist.

For several years he has dedicated himself with exemplary zeal, and

one may even say exemplary foolhardiness, to the study of flamingos

in order to unravel some of the puzzling problems connected with

these large and spectacular birds.

The brackish soda lakes of the Great Rift Valley of East Africa

—Nakuru, Hannington, Natron, Elementeita, and others—have long

been known as the home of the Lesser Flamingo (Phoeniconaias

minor) and traveller after traveller has extolled the breath-taking

spectacle of its gigantic concentrations. But owing to the extremely

inhospitable and difficult nature of the terrain no serious exploration

or study of the birds had been undertaken until 1953 when Leslie

390 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

Brown, an officer of the Kenya Agricultural Department, appeared

on the scene. While these African lakes were known to be the

principal breeding grounds of the Lesser Flamingo, it was only within

recent years that the Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) was

also reported to breed there on a limited scale. It is to the author’s

credit that by an unremitting onslaught of reconnaissances by land

and air he contrived to visit and acquaint himself not only with

practically all the haunts and breeding places of both the African

flamingos, but also to discover intimate details of their life

histories which had hitherto remained hidden. That in the process

he more than once nearly lost his life in unenviable circumstances,

and taught himself to fly an aeroplane so that he could probe into |

the remotest fastnesses of the birds, are incidentals in the remarkable,

story which the book tells.

The discovery of large breeding colonies of the Greater Flamingo

—one of about 5000 pairs—-at Lake Elmenteita, on rocky islands and

without the orthodox mud-cone nests, is significant for us in India.

Observations in the Great Rann of Kutch had indicated that in years

of drought, or when the water Jevel and other natural conditions are

inappropriate, breeding of flamingos does not take place here at all.

The birds, after concentrating at the traditional site, disperse again.

Since there is no other known breeding place in India, it was con-

jectured that the birds either skipped a lean year, or years, completely,

or that they betook themselves to some alternative area outside the

country for the purpose. Although there are some known breeding

places nearer home (e.g. Ab-i-istadeh in Afghanistan, and in the

Persian Gulf and Iraq) these are not large enough to accommodate

the enormous rebound from the Rann of Kutch. The Camargue and

southern Spain had been postulated, but they seemed too distant for

a Jast-minute makeshift. The hypothesis of alternative breeding

grounds now derives some support from the discovery of these large

nesting colonies on the East African lakes, and our birds may well

migrate there to breed at times when conditions in the Rann are un-

favourable. However, this is all mere speculation which can only

be tested by a large scale marking of the birds on their breeding

grounds in a manner that would enable their recognition at a distance,

without the necessity of recapture. In spite of the swarms of non-

flying young available in the more populous nesting colonies, those

with any experience will admit that marking the chicks is a less simple

affair than it would appear! ;

The detailed observations on the ecology and various life phases

of the flamingos—some original, others amplifications of what was.

REVIEWS 391

imperfectly known before—are important contributions to scientific

ornithology in general, and to flamingo lore in particular. They

cover every aspect of the birds’ life-history—food, feeding habits,

breeding cycle including courtship and mating behaviour, and others.

The observations are doubly valuable for the comparisons they

afford between the Lesser and the Greater Flamingo, so similar in

outward appearance and general habitat, yet each with its own special

food and feeding habits and morphological adaptations which permit

such vast numbers of both to subsist side by side without competing

for the food supply.

In his previous books, BIRDS AND I (1946) and EAGLES (1955) Brown

had given ample proof of being a first class field ornithologist and

an expert bird photographer. The present volume sustains and

enhances that reputation. The photographs of both the Greater and

the Lesser Flamingo are without doubt the finest the reviewer has seen,

and are truly admirable in their purposefulness as_ illustrations

besides. This is a book that no bird lover should miss.

S.A.

3. THE ARK IN OUR MIDST. The Story of the Introduced

Animals of Britain: Birds, Beasts, Reptiles, Amphibians, Fishes.

By R. S. R. Fitter. Pp. 320 (20x13 cm.). 18 plates (16 of photo-

graphs and 2 of drawings). Collins, London, 1959. Price 18s.

Ten years of research have gone into the preparation of THE ARK

IN OUR MIDST, the first book which covers all known attempts to

introduce new animals into Britain and to extend the range of

indigenous species. In 1860 Frank Buckland brought together a

group of enthusiasts under the grandiose title of ‘The Society for the

Acclimatisation of Animals, Birds, Fishes, Insects and Vegetables

within the United Kingdom’. But introductions were being made

long before this. These were mainly by sporting land-owners who

restocked their estates with foreign deer, game birds, and game fishes.

However, there have been many attempts made simply to enrich the

local fauna with attractive alien species—-the American robin (Turdus

migratorius), and the green tree-frog (Hyla arborea) for example.

Most attempts have ended in failure, and it is not difficult to see

why. Climate, lack of suitable breeding places, competition from

established species, predators, all combine against an introduced

species. Considerable perseverance is sometimes needed before

success is achieved. For instance, Waterton decided in 1841 that the

392 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

Little Owl (Athene noctua) would be useful as a destroyer of snails

and other vermin. Accordingly, he bought a dozen in Rome. Of

these five survived shipwreck and other hazards to reach England,

but they did not establish themselves. In 1876 there was another

unsuccessful attempt by Lord Kimberley. Over the next ten years or

so, many Little Owls were released in various places, and by the end

of the century they were breeding in four counties, and by 1950 had

begun to spread to Scotland.

Little Owls encountered much prejudice as suspected game-chick

killers, although they were shown to feed mainly on insects, mice, and

small song-birds. All introductions have not been so innocuous,

however. Ironically enough, great pains were taken to introduce the

rabbit (Oryclolagus cuniculus) into Scotland, where it rapidly became

a pest. Some of the most successful aliens have been accidental

introductions. The house mouse (Mus musculus) originated in

southern Russia, and seems to have followed the spread of agricultural

civilisation. It reached Britain by the route Iran-Iraq-Syria-Palestine-

N. Africa-Mediterranean, and probably arrived in a shipload of grain,

or in a traveller’s baggage. More recently another harmful alien, the

musk rat (Ondatra zibethica) escaped from fur farms and rapidly

established itself. Fortunately prompt action by the authorities

resulted in extermination.

To facilitate the recognition of the fascinating strangers whose

fortunes are described by Mr. Fitter, one could wish for more illustra-

tions like those of deer and pheasants in the two plates of drawings.

RER:

4. SOME COMMON SNAKES AND LIZARDS OF AUSTRALIA.

By David R. McPhee. Pp. 125 (13X10 cm.). 51 illustrations.

- Brisbane, 1959. Jacaranda Press. Price 12s. 6d.

This little booklet deals with 25 each of the lizards and snakes

of Australia. Some of the genera in both the groups are common to

India, but the lizards including the Knobtailed and Leaftailed

Geckos, the Bearded and Frilled Lizards with large frills round the

neck, and the famous Agamid (Moloch horridus) with large and

grotesque spines scattered all over the head and upper parts appear

to be more curious and varied than those found with us. Each form

is illustrated by a photograph and, while all of them are not very

satisfactory, the accompanying text is in most cases sufficient tc

permit a layman to identify the animal.

REVIEWS , 393

A general note on lizards and snakes precedes each section, but

it is nowhere stated how many kinds of snakes or lizards are known

in Australia. It would be useful to inform and warn beginners that

this is not a complete list and that many more kinds may be en-

countered.

As in India, many curious beliefs and fallacies exist regarding

reptiles. The author states (p. 68) that it is anatomically impossible

for a snake to suck milk from a cow but, in recent correspondence, a

retired officer of the Indian Forest Service claims to have personally

seen it done. Again, American scientists are said to have experi-

mentally revealed (p. 66) that a fast moving snake at top speed does

not exceed 34 miles per hour. The author believes that some

Australian snakes can travel faster, and we have no doubt that.

a man would have to trot, if not run, to keep up with a fast travelling

Indian dhaman on level ground.

This kind of book is badly needed in India. Very little is known

about the lives and habits of the 300 kinds of lizards and the almost

equal number of snakes found in India, and the gaps in our knowledge

can only be filled by more people giving the subject their attention.

Once a person is familiar with even the more common species he will

notice differences among the others and will enquire more closely and

intelligently into their identity and habits whenever an opportunity

arises.

H.A.

5. BUMBLEBEES. By John B. Free and Colin G. Butler.

Pp. 208 (21X14 cm.). 1 colour illustration, 24 plates in black and

white, and 3 figures. The New Naturalist series. Collins, London,

19595". Price: 25s.

The value of honeybees as plant pollinators is well known. It is

less generally known that bumblebees are sometimes more effective.

pollinators. The pollinating value of a single bumblebee is equal to

that of several honeybees, since bumblebees not only work faster,

but for longer, and in worse weather. Self-sterile species of plants

are more likely to be pollinated by bumblebees because of their habit

of visiting only a few flowers on one plant before flying on to the

next. One such self-sterile plant, Red Clover, is of considerable

economic importance. It was because of their value in pollinating

the Red Clover crop that bumblebees were introduced into Australia

and New Zealand, where they are not indigenous.

394. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

Bumblebees live in colonies whose social organisation is halfway

between the solitary bees and the highly evolved honeybee colonies.

Bumblebee colonies are annual, at least in the temperate zone. The old

queen, workers, and males die off at the approach of winter, and only

young mated queens survive to form new colonies in the spring.

Very little is known about what happens to bumblebee colonies in

the tropics. Observations made in Mexico seem to indicate that colony

growth can take place all through the year, although brood produc-

tion is greatly reduced during the dry season. Unlike the queen

honeybee, who is little more than an egg-laying machine, the queen

bumblebee is physically similar to her workers apart from being

larger, and she carries out many tasks throughout her life, such as

building eggcells, incubating and feeding brood, as well as laying

eggs.

Bumblebees do not seem to have developed any form of com-

munication to compare with the elaborate dance language of honey-

bees. When a bumblebee out foraging discovers a rich source of

nectar she may return to it again and again, but she does not bring

back companions. A great deal is known about what attracts

individual bees to flowers. Kugler demonstrated that sight was more

important than scent when a bumblebee is flying towards a flower. He

did this by covering a plant with a tall glass cylinder, open at the

top. Approaching bees flew not to the top of the cylinder, where

they could smell the fiowers, but to the middle, where they could see

them. However scent is important, since bees can be trained to

models having a _ particular scent. Bumblebees sometimes also

recognise the general form of a plant. Bees working Houndstongue,

which has small inconspicuous flowers, will sometimes fly to a plant

having no flowers. On the other hand bees visiting Foxgloves, whose

flowers are large and conspicuous, do not fly to flowerless plants.

Apparently they have learnt to react to the flowers and not to the

form of the plant.

Another respect in which bumblebees and honeybees differ is in

their mating behaviour. Male bumblebees fly from their nests when

between two and four days old and do not return. In some species

they hover round the entrances of nests of their own species and

pounce on young queens as they emerge. The males of other species

establish routes for themselves which they scent-mark every day, and

fly round them waiting for young queens to cross their paths. One

male was observed to complete his circuit seventy-seven times in a

day.

The monograph ends with two appendices by Ian H. H. Yarrow.

REVIEWS 395

One is an introduction to the collection and maintenance of bumblebee

colonies. The other is a simplified key to the identification of British

bumblebees. All books of this kind should include information of

this type if they are intended to act as intellectual apéritifs rather

than nightcaps. :

R.R.

ADDITIONS TO THE SOCIETY’S LIBRARY

The following books have been added to the Society’s Library

since August 1959:

Alcock, A. A NATURALIST IN INDIAN SEAS. John Murray, London,

1902. :

Blough, G. O. THE INSECT PARADE. Row, Peterson and Co.,

Evanston, Illinois, 1957.

Boulenger, G. A. THE FAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA: Reptilia and

Batrachia. Taylor and Francis, London, 1890. (Presented by

Humayun Abdulali)

Thomas, Henry Sullivan. FISHING IN INpIA (ii ed. Edited by W. S.

Burke). Thacker, Spink & Co., Calcutta, 1927.

SCHOOLS AND THE COUNTRYSIDE. Ministry of Education Pamphlet

No. 35. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London, 1958.

(Presented by Col. R. W. Burton)

Clark, J. B. PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL TABLES. Oliver and

Boyd, Edinburgh, 1959.

Darwin, C. THE VOYAGE OF THE ‘BEAGLE’ Dec. 27, 1831-Oct. 2,

1836 (Edited by P. L. Parker). The Amalgamated Press,

London, 1905.

Day, F. THE FISHES OF INDIA. Vol. | (Text); Vol. 2 (Plates);

William Dawson & Sons Ltd., London, 1958.

Delacour, J. THE WATERFOWL OF THE WoRLD. Vol. 3. Country

Life Limited, London, 1959. (Review copy)

Finn, F. Brad BEHAVIOUR. Hutchinson & Co., London.

Finn, F. THE WATERFOWL OF INDIA AND AsiIA. Thacker, Spink

& Co., Calcutta, 1921. (Presented by D. E. Reuben)

Futehally, L. and Ali, Salim. ApBoutT INDIAN BirDs. Blackie &

Son (India) Ltd., Bombay, 1959.

Graham, S. A. PRINCIPLES OF FOREST. ENTOMOLOGY. McGraw-

Hill Publications, Michigan, 1939.

Haig-Brown, R. JL. PANTHER. Collins, London, 1946.

396

JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

Macan, T. T. A GUIDE TO FRESHWATER INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS.

Longmans, Green, & Co. Ltd., London, 1959. (Review copy)

Macdonald, J. D. INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG ORNITHOLOGISTS:

Bird Biology. Museum Press, London, 1959.

Mayr, E. BIRDS OF THE SOUTHWEST PaciFic. The Macmillan

Company, New York, 1945.

Nicholson, E. M. Birps AND MEN. Collins, London, 1951.

Peile, H. D. A GUIDE TO COLLECTING BUTTERFLIES OF INDIA.

Staples Press Ltd., London, 1937.

Parker, B. M. ANIMAL TRAVELS. Row, Peterson & Co., Evanston,

Illinois, 1956.

Parker, B. M. DEPENDENT PLANTS. Row, Peterson & Co.,

Evanston, Illinois, 1957.

Parker, B. M. INSECT FRIENDS AND ENEMIES. Row, Peterson &

Co., Evanston, Illinois, 1956.

Parker, B. M. and Emerson, A. E. INSECT SOCIETIES. Row,

Peterson & Co., Evanston, Illinois, 1955.

Parker, B. M. INSECTS AND THEIR Ways. Row, Peterson & Co.,

Evanston, Illinois, 1957.

Parker, B. M. LIFE THROUGH THE AGES. Row, Peterson & Co.,

Evanston, Illinois, 1956.

Parker, B. M. Livinc Tuines. Row, Peterson & Co., Evanston,

Illinois, 1958.

Parker, B. M. and Frank, O. D. PLANT FACTORIES. Row, Peterson

& Co., Evanston, [linois, 1958.

Parker, B. M. and Podendorf, I. THE PLANT WorLD. Row,

Peterson & Co., Evanston, Illinois, 1957.

Parker, B. M. SAVING OuR WILDLIFE. Row, Peterson & Co.,

Evanston, Illinois, 1957.

Parker, B. M. Srx-LEGGED NEIGHBORS. Row, Peterson & Co.,

Evanston, Illinois, 1956.

Parker, B. M. Tosps AND FrRocs. Row, Peterson & Co.,

Evanston, Illinois, 1957.

Parker, B. M. TREES. Row, Peterson & Co., Evanston, Hlinois,

1957.

Rao, P. S. G. ELEPHANT-CATCHING: Ancient and Modern.

Mysore Govt. Press, Mysore, 1931.

Roe, A. and Simpson, G. G. BEHAVIOUR AND EVOLUTION. Yale

University Press, New Haven, 1958. eae: by Dr. W. S.

Pringle)

Shebbeare, E. O. SOONDAR Mouse Victor Gollancz Ltd., London,

1958.

ADDITIONS TO THE SOCIETY’S LIBRARY 397

Turner, J. E. C. MAN-EATERS AND MEmMorIES. Robert Hale,

London, 1959.

Williams, G. E. A HANDBOOK TO THE COLLECTIONS ILLUSTRATING

A SURVEY OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. London County Council,

London, 1959. (Review copy)

Williams, C. B. INSECT MIGRATION. Collins, London, 1958.

Miscellaneous Notes

1. IN DEFENCE OF THE TIGER

A few days ago I read in one of the daily newspapers that in the

Damini forests of Chhattisgarh region ‘three tigers were bagged in

five minutes’. This may be considered a remarkable and even a

commendable feat by some, but I feel constrained to write a few

words in defence of this grand animal whose disappearance from our

forests will be a sad thing for our country—and disappear he will

unless public opinion comes to his rescue.

The tiger has been an unfortunate victim of persecution for many

years, particularly so since the advent of the powerful modern cordite

rifle, the jeep, and the spot-light. In his natural dominion—the un-

disturbed forests away from human habitation—-he is not a dangerous

animal, and he causes much less harm or damage to man and his

property than is generally supposed. It is only when man destroys

his local and natural food supply, the wild pig and the various kinds

of deer, that the ‘Lord of the Jungle’ is forced to quit his normal

habitat and habits and takes to killing domestic cattle which graze

near and sometimes in the outer fringe of the jungle. Much more

rarely, after being wounded by man or for some other specific reason,

he may become first a mankiller and then a maneater-—but this is

extremely rare when counted against the many tigers living a normal

and natural life deep inside the jungle.

In the incident mentioned above three tigers met their death one

after the other in a beat at the hands of a ‘shikari’. One of the

three animals was mentioned as having been 8 ft. 8 in. in length. Since

the measurements of the other two were not given, I presume that

they were smaller. The average size of a full-grown male tiger is

between 9 ft. and 9 ft. 6 in., and the tigress is about a foot smaller.

These lengths would be from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail

as measured ‘between pegs’, as against the more common and less

definite way of measuring ‘round the curves’ which gives results a

few inches more than the ‘between pegs’ measurement. My second

guess, therefore, in respect of the incident under reference is that the

animal measuring 8 ft. 8 in. was a tigress.

Unlike the lion, the male tiger, except in the mating season, does

not remain with the tigress or the cubs. As a matter of fact as soon

as the cubs are born the tigress will resent the presence of their

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 399

father, and the latter also is then no longer interested in his family.

It follows, therefore, that outside the mating season, whenever two

or more tigers are seen together they are usually, if not invariably,

a tigress and her cubs. The cubs remain with their mother for as

long as they are not able to fend for themselves, this period of

dependence lasts till they are about two years old. My third guess

about the episode is that the other two tigers killed were cubs of

under two years of age.

The tigress does not produce a litter every year as is commonly

supposed. Because the cubs remain with her for about two years,

she has her babies usually every third year, for as long as she is

young enough to have them. [ am speaking of tigers in the jungle

and not of zoo tigers where owing to artificial conditions the natural

routine is upset. The cubs require about five years to attain full

maturity and size, the first two years of which are spent under the

care and protection of their mother. A two-year-old tiger in respect

of behaviour and appetite would be much like a boy of twelve or thirteen.

I remember when I was of that age I was almost perpetually hungry.

I would say that the “teens period of a tiger’s life is when he is

between two and four years old. A hungry tiger is much more

hungry than a hungry boy, and therefore during this period it is

difficult for a tigress to provide enough food for herself as well as

for her ever-hungry children. As soon as the cubs are capable of

making independent kills and fending for themselves they separate

from their mother and from each other, or if they are lazy and not

exerting themselves enough, after a period of maternal patience and

spoon-feeding, they are chased away by the exasperated mother.

Now, the point of all this is that if cubs are found with their mother

they are probably under two years old. At this age they are so

entirely dependent on their mother that, if she is killed, they would

not desert her immediately. In their bewilderment and confusion

they will remain in the vicinity of their dead mother and get killed

themselves, if the ‘shikari’ shows no compassion. I feel this is what

happened in the incident under reference.

To say nothing of killing immature cubs, I would say that one

should, as far as possible, abstain from killing the female of any

species—including the tiger. This is not for any medieval notions

of ‘chivalry’ about the female sex, but because that is the most effective

way of exterminating a species. |

What goes to the credit of a big game hunter is not the mere

number of tigers or any other animals that he has bagged in his

career aS a sportsman, in one year, in one trip, or ‘in five minutes’;

400 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

what matters is the discrimination and the sense of fair play which

he shows in selecting what he shoots—and more important than that,

the manner in which he shoots his big game.

I have said above that the normal jungle-dwelling tiger does no

harm to man in any way but helps to maintain the balance of life

in the jungle. He kills only when he is hungry because it was the

will of God that he shall live in this manner. When tigers take to

the slaughter of domestic animals, and even to the quite unnatural

diet of human flesh, the fault almost invariably lies with man in one

way or another—and in rare exceptions is due to some accident or

sheer old age resulting in the tiger’s inability to procure his natural

food.

Not so long ago I had the memorable experience of watching

for a long time a tigress and her few-months-old cub feeding on a

dead bullock. Particularly amusing and delightful to watch were the

antics of the young cub who had a bigger appetite than his mother

but not her ability and strength for tearing off chunks of meat from

the carcass. Unlike the unfortunate three which were killed in five

minutes, these two are still alive, I hope, somewhere on the borders

of Bhutan, adding to the wealth and charm of those beautiful jungles.

I can do no better than repeat the words of Jim Corbett, that great

hunter and lover of wild animals: ‘A tiger is a large-hearted

gentleman with boundless courage and when he is exterminated—as

exterminated he will be unless public opinion rallies to his support—

India will be the poorer by having lost the finest of her fauna.’

1, J. & K. MILiTi,

c/o 56, A.P.O., M. M. ISMAIL,

April 10, 1960. Lt.-Col.

2. THE HISPID HARE, CAPROLAGUS HISPIDUS (PEARSON)

(With a photo)

Jerdon, Sterndale, and Blanford all refer to the occurrence of

the Hispid Hare (Caprolagus hispidus) in the terai from Gorakhpur

to Assam extending south to Dacca. It weighed about 54 lb. and

Hodgson was informed by the: Mechis that its food consisted

chiefly of roots and bark of trees. E. B. Baker (1887) in SPoRT IN

BENGAL said that it was ‘unfit for the table and not worth shooting

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 401

except as a curiosity; nor does it give the greyhounds the chance of

a course, slicking as it does to thick coverts’.

Hispid Hare, Caprolagus fispidus

Jerdon said that it frequented jungly places along coarse bamboos

etc., shunning observation, and that its flesh was white like a rabbit’s.

Sterndale added that it burrowed like a rabbit, but according to

Hodgson was not gregarious, living in pairs. He did not know if

the young were born blind and naked.

Simson (1886) in LETTERS ON SPORT IN EASTERN BENGAL referred

to the skin tearing very easily and his failure therefore to preserve

a single skin. ,

Though we have specimens in our collection obtained by J. C. H.

Mitchell in Assam, date unknown, and from north Kheri, U.P., by

L. D. W. Hearsey on 16-3-1926 and C. H. Stockley on 30-1-1930, this

animal was not obtained by the Bombay Natural History Society’s

Mammal Survey and it is generally held in the same category of

rareness as the Pigmy Hog and the Pinkheaded Duck. Inglis.

Travers, O’Donel and Shebbeare in ‘A Tentative List of the Verte-

brates of Jalpaiguri District, Bengal’ (J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 26: 825)

said it was ‘not so common as formerly owing to the decrease in grass

jungle in the district’. It may therefore be interesting to note that

in the course of recent correspondence Dinesh Pratap Singh, Raja of

Kasmanda, mentions that his late father shot one in 1938 in the North

Kheri Forest Division on the Kheri, U.P.-Nepal border. Another was

402 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

shot in March 1951 in Bellrien Forest range in North Kheri Forest

Division near the Bela Parsua Rest House when beating through

grass bordering a small lake with a line of elephants. A photograph

of the first animal mounted by Van Ingen & Van Ingen is reproduced.

It must be mentioned, however, that Pearson’s original description

said that ‘the ears were short not projecting beyond the fur’ and it

is therefore not quite certain how closely the photograph resembles the

live animal.

BomBay NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY,

91, WALKESHWAR RoOapD, EDITORS

BomBayY 6,

July 14, 1960.

3. ‘TUSKS OF INDIAN ELEPHANTS’

With reference to my letter of Aprii 4, 1956 (J. Bombay nat. Hist.

Soc. 53: 690-1) on the subject of big tusks, 1 have since heard from

the Raja of Talcher. The measurements of his tusks (No. 2), shown

by me in the statement of big tusks, should stand corrected as

follows:

Length outside Greatest | .

No. curve circumference | Weight

8. far 26” 1 md. 19 sr. = 120 |b.

) (8’ 6”) (92 Ib.)

Sian awn tf md. 16 sro = 114ib.

(8’ 6”) 19” (92 Ib.)

The weights of the large Assam pair (No. 1) should be shown

as 101 Ib. each (91 Ib. 13 ch.).

Thus, the record for girth and weight goes to the Raja of Talcher,

while the record for length goes to the Assam pair.

NEw Forest P. O.,

DEHRA Dun, P. D. STRACEY

May 14, 1960.

_ [The figures earlier recorded are menioned in parentheses.—EDs.]

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 403

4. WILD LIFE IN SOME AREAS OF SOUTH INDIA

Humayun Abdulali’s rather depressing accounts of wild life in

Madhya Pradesh have prompted me to submit a short note on what

I have seen of game in areas near the Nilgiri and Biligirirangan hills

in Madras State in two recent visits to India, in January and February

1958, and at the same time in 1960.

I had not been in India between 1931 and 1958, and in my

boyhood I had little knowledge of the game in these areas other

than the fact that I used often to see sambar when walking about on

the downs near Octacarnund, and I once saw a tiger in a shola five

miles trom Ooty. In both 1958 and 1960 I was given the most

depressing account of the status of game animals in both these areas

by people who should have known. I was told that game had been

decimated since Independence, largely by the efforts of poachers

armed with guns, licensed ostensibly for crop protection: but in

practice used for shooting without authority in reserved forests. In

1958 game was stated to exist but in much reduced numbers, while

in 1960 I was informed that the Bandipur jungles, once so famous,

had been shot out although they were supposed to be a sanctuary.

The general consensus of opinion in both years was that ‘the sambar

and chital won’t last long’.

In 1958 I spent a week in the jungles round Mavanhulla in the

Nilgiri area, and another ten days in the Biligiris. At Mavanhulla I

saw every possible species of game animal I could see except a tiger,

and the basic stock of game appeared to be satisfactory; not

a day passed without seeing a minimum of fifty chital and ten sambar,

with other species such as gaur and jungle sheep’ in smaller numbers.

Five bears, a panther, and a wild elephant completed the list.

There was a tiger in the area, which I disturbed, but did not see

as he left the thicket in which I had located him literally on my

heels. I was told by one of the officers there that the adjacent

Mudumallai wild life sanctuary contained at least 1000 chital, 306

gaur, and twenty tigers, and at the time this seemed quite possible in

view of the numbers of game actually seen in a much smaller area

near by. In the Biligiris there was much less game to be seen than

in the Mavanhulla area, but there appeared to be a fair head of gaur

and sambar, while we located the haunts of at least three separate

tigers. It may only have been a travesty of former abundance, but

* The Barking Deer, Muntiacus muntjak (iimennann) is commonly known by

this name in southern India.—Eps.

404 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

the game was certainly not eliminated. In the Nilgiris, on the high

plateau sambar were few, but I saw without difficulty a herd of 16

Nilgiri Tahr.

In 1960 I made actual counts of the game I saw and related these

to the ecology of the area and to the total area which I could claim

to have covered. The latter was estimated by noting the number of

miles walked and the mean visibility on both sides, so that the sample

covered a strip of country; where larger areas were overlooked from

the top of a hill area was reckoned from a l-inch survey map

and added in. The results are presented in the table below:

Taneie Area Density

Area Chital | Sambar Gaur hee sampled in| per sq.

Sacer sq. miles mile

Mavanhulla ne 105 22 10 1 3.2 26

N. Coimbatore .. 14 5 2 He (5) 4.8

The Mavanhulla area is largely fairly open Anogeissus-

Heteropogon grass woodland with thickets of Lantana and Acacia in

gullies, bamboo on river banks, and a good deal of Zizyphus on the

fruits of which bears were feeding. Since I kept out of the thicker

cover it is certain that I did not see all the game there was, and the

figure for density of large herbivores per square mile should probably

be rather higher. There were in addition at least five hundred head

of buffaloes and cattle grazing in the area. The game stock appeared

to be about the same as, or slightly higher than, in 1958, and is

certainly very satisfactory. At any rate I can think of no area in

Africa with so many human beings in it which would carry anything

like this stock of game. The carrying capacity of the area was

probably inherently higher than in similar savannah in Africa because

of relatively abundant and well-distributed water supplies; no animal

would have had to go more than two miles to get water and most

not more than one mile. Taking the domestic animals into account,

and equating the smaller herbivores at three chital per stock unit, the

total stocking works out at about one stock unit per 44 acres—which

I should judge as near the maximum that such country could hold

without danger of overgrazing (which was occurring in some areas

near cattle sheds).

On the evidence of tracks, there were at least two tigers in this

small area, one an old male, the other also a male but young. The

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 405

old male had the reputation of killing domestic stock and not return-

ing to his kills. There were also reports of panthers, droppings of

bears, one of which I saw, and an odd elephant.

The North Coimbatore area comprised parts of the Saevhntungatans

and Tallamalai forest ranges, the former closed to shooting but

apparently carrying no more game than the latter. The whole area

was said to be ‘poached out’. The country was hilly, chiefly covered

with Anogeissus-Cymbopogon grass woodland, with denser forest and

bamboo in river valleys, and here and there, on poorly drained soils,

close-cropped maidans studded with Zizyphus trees. Although the

cover was thicker and the actual bulk of herbage greater per unit

area than in Mavanhulla, the great majority of the grass was

Cymbopogon, a species most unpalatable except when very young

after a burn. It was not anything like such a good game habitat

naturally as the Mavanhulla area, but nevertheless I formed the con-

clusion that it ought to have carried more than it did since there

were areas of palatable grass quite untouched. I saw not a single

mature stag of either sambar or chital in the area, and there were

no young calves in the small herds of chital I saw. There were a

good many elephants in the area but only one was seen. Again there

were probably more game animals than I actually saw owing to the

dense cover and the prevalence of patches of forest. ‘There were also

herds of cattle and buffaloes, which were probably aggravating the

fire problem in these forests by eating down the palatable grasses

and so permitting the increasing dominance of the Cymbopogon, thus

creating a splendid medium for fierce and destructive grass fires.

I saw one tiger in this area. I watched it walk along a path at

about ten in the morning from the top of a hill, and had it in view

for a quarter of an hour. It behaved precisely like a dog on a round

of lamp-posts, sniffing the boles of trees carefully, and sometimes

urinating with its tail curled over its back. It was a large male and

appeared very well nourished. The range officer, Tallamallai, told me

that tigers were not shot by local shikaris, but that poachers made

serious inroads into the deer population; this agreed with my own

observations.

These figures were of course only collected over a short period.

and the game may migrate from place to place in both the areas

concerned. Possibly I met an unusual concentration at Mavanhulla,

and it certainly appeared that more gaur would be found in the North

Coimbatore areas at other times of the year (there were old tracks of

larger herds). However, I believe that the figures given represent

406 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

_ something like the relative carrying capacity of the two areas; a note-

worthy feature is the abundance of barking deer in Cymbupogon

grassland. |

Elsewhere in South India I saw few game animals, despite walking

about a good deal in potentially good game country. On Anaimudi,

the highest peak of the High Range I saw twenty tahr in 3 herds, and

in passing I would say that it seems strange that this animal, which

does not appear to be confined to cliffs or even rocky country, is not

very much more numerous than it is. On the Palni Hills, for instance,

there appears to be a very large area of habitat suitable for it, but I

saw none.

In the Mavanhulla area the first suggestion that was made to me

by a shikari that I engaged was that I should go out and shoot a

tiger in the lights of my car. The Nilgiri Game Association’s report

remarks, however, that night shooting from cars is on the decrease

in the areas they control. Certainly there is no evidence of wholesale

butchery and I did not hear a shot while I was there. The Associa-

tion is to be congratulated on the head of game it has managed to

maintain, at least in the areas I visited. .

On the wider question of wild life preservation in India generally,

it appears that there are 109 million acres’ of reserved forest in

India, and a further 255 million acres not available for cultivation.

Some of the latter will be roads, tanks, villages, and small patches of

waste land, but it must also include large areas of hillsides not at

present reserved, and which are unsuitable for cultivation. Suppos-

ing that a proportion of this area could become game habitat, it seems

possible that there might be 200 million acres of possible game ground,

which at even the Tallamallai density would support over 1,500,000

large herbivores, and at 10 to the square mile over 3 million. Data

must exist, or could be gathered which would enable an assessment

of the total potential game population on an ecological basis to be

made, which could serve as a target figure to be achieved in any

future conservation programme.

A basic stock of game-seems to exist even in areas which are

said to be very heavily poached—shot out in fact by local account;

in fact these areas are less denuded of game than many areas of

Africa where game was abundant some 20 years ago. The position

is similar to that reached in the United States where through un-

controlled hunting the game animals reached a very low ebb. | Severe

11 acre = 0.41 hectares.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 407

restrictions on hunting built up the stocks again until in several states.

there are now too many deer for the range to carry in winter, and.

the problem is to get enough shot each year. At any rate it is.

inescapable arithmetic that the potential game stock of India will.

stand only a certain kill each year, and that the existing stock will

stand only a far smaller kill at present. If restrictions are not placed

on shooting at present there will be no game for future generations.

to shoot.

India has at least one priceless advantage, that there is a religious.

objection to killing on the part of a large proportion of the people..

If either of the areas 1 visited were inhabited by African tribes I

would wager there would not by now be a single game animal left

alive. With this in favour I would agree with Humayun Abdulali

that there should be no reason why India’s game stock should not be

built up again and to do so would be in accordance with sound forest

management. One appreciates that the control of poaching with guns

’ supposed to be for the protection of crops is a difficult problem, but

at least India does not have the poisoned arrow to contend with,.

carried by every able-bodied male among hundreds of thousands all

over Africa. The right of a peasant to protect his crops against

marauding game must be admitted, but there is no reason why he:

should not be required to keep his gun permanently on his farm or

person. This nettle will have to be grasped if the remaining stock

of India’s game is to be preserved and built up again, and the shikari

who hunts for sport will have to be restricted to the potential kill in

any area.

The tourist who visits India may wish to see the Taj Mahal, or he:

may wish to shoot a tiger; in either case he will have paid several

hundred pounds to reach India before he begins, and will be inclined

to take the attitude that he is certainly entitled to get what he came:

for. The unscrupulous will undoubtedly kill their tiger in the light

of a tractor’s headlight if given the chance, but experience in Kenya

is that sportsmen from overseas are prepared to submit to restrictions

on what they may kill if they can see that these restrictions.

are imposed in the interests of preserving a stock of game for future:

generations. If, on the other hand, he pays for a licence and other

expenses and hears unlicensed guns banging off all round he may

be expected to feel resentful, and determine to get his tiger by hook

or by crook. Licences should probably be for individual animals, on

a ticket system, returnable if the animal is not shot. I myself have

been glad to pay the small licence fees required for hunting in the:

408 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

Nilgiri area and elsewhere in the knowledge that I have thereby been

contributing in the only way possible towards the survival of Indian

wild life.

KAREN,

KENYA COLONY, LESLIE BROWN

April 27, 1960.

5. THE EASTERN CALANDRA LARK (WELANOCORYPHA

BIMACULATA) IN KUTCH

On 5 February 1960 I went to Bada (near Mandvi) and on the

mudflats there I saw several flocks of larks which looked distinctly

larger and quite different from the Short-toed Lark (Calandrella

-rachydactyla) which come in large numbers to Kutch in winter. On

‘closer inspection with the help of field glasses I was certain that

I had once again come across a bird which had not yet been recorded

in Kutch. After this a specimen was shot by M. K. Shivbhadrasinhji

of Bhavnagar, who was with me that day, and on closer examination

Jater I found that it was the Eastern Calandra Lark (Melanocorypha

bimaculata). This lark is said to spend the winter months in the

Punjab, U. P., Rajasthan, Sind, etc., and therefore it is likely to stray

into Kutch also, but somehow it seems to have escaped the notice of

bird watchers.

BHUJ,

KUTCH, | M. K. HIMMATSINHSJ1

March 31, 1960.

[The specimen was sent to the Society and its identification as

M. bimaculata has been confirmed. The condition was not good

enough for racial discrimination, but it presumably belonged to

torquata Blyth, the breeding population of Baluchistan.—EDs.] _. 8G.

6. THE CINEREOUS VULTURE [AEGYPIUS MONACHUS

~ <LINNAEUS)}—AN ADDITION TO THE BIRDS OF KUTCH

(With a plate)

On 9 March 1960, while motoring through the Banni, I observed-a

solitary Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus) among a gathering

of other vultures.

JOURN. BomBAy NAT. Hist. Soc.

A Cinereous Vulture (Aegyptus monachus) among Indian Griffon( ?) and

Whitebacked Vultures

Another rare visitor to Kutch. A raven (Corvus corax laurencet) among vultures

at a carcase

Photos ; Charles Ho

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 409:

Subsequently, on 19 March 1960 while photographing vultures at

an animal carcase on Kuar Bet off Pachham, Mr. Charles Ho:

obtained an excellent picture of a solitary Cinereous Vulture amongst

a gathering of Whitebacked and Longbilled (possibly also some

Fulvous) Vultures and a pair of ravens (Corvus corax). Mr. Ho

remarked on the enormous size and dark coloration of this bird, and.

on the deference shown to it by the other feasters. The raven in the -

bottom picture, according to Mr. Ho, was definitely not the brown-

necked species, therefore doubtless C. c. laurencei which has been

collected in Kutch before.

33, Pati HILL,

BANDRA, | SALIM ALI

BOMBAY 50,

April 25, 1960.

[This large vulture is found in south Europe, northern Africa, and

eastwards through south-west and south-central Asia to India and

China. It breeds in Baluchistan and possibly along the Himalayas to.

Cachar in Assam. In winter it descends into the Punjab, Sind, and

other parts of northern India, the southernmost record being from:

Mitli in Kaira District, about 40 miles south of Ahmedabad (J.

Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 50: 945-6).—EDs.]

7. ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE REDHEADED

MERLIN (FALCO CHIQUERA) IN KERALA

Though in popular bird books there are vague general remarks:

implying that the Redheaded Merlin (Falco chiqguera) might be met

with all over south India, Whistler (1936) questions the occurrence of the.

Species in the then Presidency of Madras. He states: ‘Dewar includes

the Redheaded Merlin in his Madras list, but as iie makes no comment

on the fact and there is no other record for the Presidency, I think

it wiser not to admit the species to the Presidency list until further

evidence is forthcoming.’

Koelz (1947) records a male taken at Cudappah on March 20.

This appears to be the only definite record for the south.

The facts given below show that the bird not only occurs im

Kerala State, but might even be found breeding here.

I saw the Redheaded Merlin first at Kavasseri (Palghat Dist.).

On 4 June 1950, late in the evening two Merlins came flying from

the jungle across a river, and alighted on a palmyra tree. Their

410 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

incessant bickering and the fact that finally one was chased away by

the other suggested that they were not a mated pair. I made no

attempt to judge their sexes, but noted that (i) only one of them had

a prominent moustachial streak, (ii) it had also a more reddish head

than the other, and (iti) only one of the birds uttered call-notes: a

continual firiririri-tiriririri. In the light of later experience, I guess

that the one which uttered the call-notes was a fully-fledged young

bird which the other, presumably a parent, was trying to shake off.

A single, silent Redheaded Merlin was found at the same spot on

18 May 1951, again in the evening.

On 30 April 1958, I took up residence at Chittur-Cochin, 15

miles ENE. of Kavasseri. On 22 May 1958, I found three Redheaded

Merlins on a palmyra tree beside the river in terrain almost identical

with that where the birds were seen at Kavasseri. Time 18.30 hrs.

At 11.00 hrs. on the next day they were not found at the place,

but at 13.30 hrs. all three were there. Judging by the absence of

barring on the breast and the middle of the underparts as well as by

their constant calling and wing-quivering when perched, I decided that

two were young ones. The other bird of the party had breast and

the rest of the underparts closely barred in grey, and was constantly

chivvying kites and Serpent Eagles which passed that way. It was

undoubtedly a parent bird.

That evening I watched them again from 17.00 hrs. for half an

hour. One of the juveniles had disappeared. The two that were there

repeatedly swooped at Commen Mynas feeding on the meadow between

the trees and the river, but the mynas just scattered and none was

‘caught.

Once the two falcons pursued a Whitebreasted Kingfisher. The

kingfisher fell flop into the shallow stream in the river. Every time

it attempted to escape, the falcons swooped forcing the kingfisher

back into the water. After half-a-dozen tries at the victim, the

falcons moved off and the kingfisher escaped.

On the 24th at 18.15 hrs. there were only two falcons at the place.

None was found at 18.30 hrs. on the 25th. On the 28th at 17.00 hrs.

there were two. On the 30th only one at 17.30 hrs. On the 4th of

June at 18.30 hrs. one was present.

‘Having decided to obtain a skin for confirmation of my identifica-

tion, I went to their haunts on 8 June with a friend who had agreed

to shoot one of the birds for me. At 18.00 hrs. a single falcon came

flying with a small bird in its talons and, alighting on a palmyra

frond, began feeding. My friend shot the bird just as it had finished

eating. The skin was sent to the Bombay Natural History Society,

- MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 411

and Dr. Sdlim Ali confirmed my identification. Sri Humayun

Abdulali wrote: ‘From the size and colour the specimen appears to

be a female in immature plumage’.

The Redheaded Merlin was seen again in the same area later on.

Details are given below: |

11th June 1958—One seen flying over at 11:00 hrs.

the; Se sees sae suc LO 40) MES:

12th April 1959—Two feevine a Brahminy Kite at 18°30 hrs.

13th, =; » —One ,, a 35 a 18°15 hrs.

14th ~. » One eating a small bird on palmyra tree, 18°00 hrs.

My thanks are due to Sri M. Srinathan Nair, Cochin Nair Bank,

Chittur, for having shot one of the falcons for me, and to Sri M. K.

Prasad, then Lecturer in Botany, Govt. College, Chittur, for having

prepared the skin.

GOVERNMENT COLLEGE,

CHITTUR-COCHIN, K. K. NEELAKANTAN

April 15, 1960.

REFERENCES

Koslz, W. (1947): Notes on a collec- Whistler, H. (1936): The Vernay

tion of birds from Madras Presidency. Scientific Survey of the Eastern Ghats.

J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 47 2141. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 38 :419.

[The Virus Research Centre at Poona have in their collection a

male and a female Falco chiquera obtained by B. S. Lamba at Palivada

in Krishna District, Andhra State on 17th November 1956.—Eps.]

8. THE BUFFBREASTED SANDPIPER, TRYNGITES

SUBRUFICOLLIS (VIEILLOT): AN ADDITION TO THE

AVIFAUNA OF INDIA AND CEYLON

A specimen collected by Dr. T. S. U. De Zylva on 5 March 1960

at Kalametiya Lagoon was forwarded to me for identification. My

identification has been confirmed by the Senior Scientific Officer in

the Bird Room at the British Museum (Natural History), London.

Sex, unfortunately, unknown.

Kalametiya Lagoon, situated on the southern coast of Ceylon. is

bordered by a grass plain on the eastern side which is cropped low

by cattle and buffalo. Dr. De Zylva states the bird was seen by

itself on this grass plain reminding him of a Golden Plover; on making

a closer inspection through binoculars he realised it to be something

412 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

new and out of the ordinary. This is the first record of this species.

from Ceylon, which adds a new bird to the list of our avifauna.

The HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS gives its distribution as:

. ‘N.W. Nearctic region—breeds on arctic coasts of N. America from

N. Alaska to N. Mackenzie. (No proof of breeding in E. Asia)

Migrates through N. and Central America to S. America (Argentina.

and Uruguay; noted on migration N. E. Siberia). Casual in Japan,

W. Indies, Bermuda, and accidental in France, Switzerland, Heligoland.,.

Red Sea, and possibly Turkey.

Nineteen specimens have been recorded from the British Isles,.

mostly in September, but one in May, one July, one August, one

October.’

It has no subspecies. It can be distinguished by pink-buff under

parts and by the inner webs of the primaries and secondaries being,

freckled with black, and short, slender, black bill; the head is notice-

ably rounded.

Dr. De Zylva is to be congratulated on his keen observation thus:

making this most interesting find possible.

PINGARAWA,

NAMUNUKULA. C. E. NORRIS,

CEYLON, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U..

April 14, 1960.

9, “FLAMINGO CITY’ RE-VISITED: NESTING OF THE

ROSY PELICAN (PELECANUS ONOCROTALUS LINNAEUS)

IN THE RANN OF KUTCH!

(With a plate)

Owing to the abnormally heavy rainfall in Kutch during the SW.

monsoon of 1959 (in some areas over 60” against the annual average

of about 15”) the Great Rann was inordinately flooded in March

1960. ‘The marginal area along the base of the rocky range of hills.

running E.-W., known as Kala Dongar, over which it is possible in

normal years to go by jeep from Kotda to Nir was still partially

submerged by 20 March, oer too wet and treacherous even for jeep

traffic. Therefore, in order to reach Nir, the base for Flamingo City,

it was necessary to travel camelback from Kakrao Police Outpost near —

Kuran village—-a distance of about 14 miles (3 hours)—over rough

stony ground cross-country along the lower contours of Kala Dongar.

During more or less the entire camel journey the edge of the Rann

JouRN. BomBay Nat. Hist. Soc.

Rosy Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus), adults and chicks, in pelicanry in the Rann

of Kutch

Rosy Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus) chicks in pelicanry in the Rann of Kutch

with flamingos in the background

Photos : Sdlim Ah

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 413:

remained in sight, and from time to time there could be seen in the.

shallow brine jostling masses, looking like flat mud islets, of thousands

of mixed waders—Common and Dusky Redshanks (Tringa totanus

and T. fuscus), Ruff & Reeve (Philomachus pugnax), Dunlins (Calidris

alpinus), stints (Calidris temminckii and C. minutus), sandpipers (Tringa

nebularia, T. stagnatilis, I. ochropus, T. glareola, T. hypoleucos),.

Stilts (Himantopus himantopus), Little Ring Plovers (Charadrius

dubius), and perhaps also others too far off to identify, but certainly

with a sprinkling of Turnstones (4renaria interpres) amongst them.

At Nir there was also a considerable concourse of White Storks.

(Ciconia ciconia)-—one flock of 300-400-—a species I had not met with

in such large numbers in Kutch before, and about 50 spoonbills

(Platalea leucorodia). ‘There were also present large numbers of a

species of gull which, owing to the distance, could not be satisfactorily

identified. In size they were between the Blackheaded and _ the

Herring Gull—-silvery grey above, white below with darkish shading

to underside of the wing near the tip (primaries) rather as in the

blackheaded species. There was no black visibie in the head while.

the bill and legs appeared to be black without any glint of red even

in good light. With them there were the similarly coloured but un--

mistakable Gullbilled Terns (Gelocheiidon_nilotica).

On the morning of 21 March accompanied by Charles Ho, we:

started on camels for Flamingo City about 8 miles NE. of Nir under

the guidance of the erstwhile Flamingo Warden, Jamal Nathoo..

The entire intervening distance was now one vast expanse of water

from ankle to knee deep, stretching on three sides to the featureless.

horizon. With the perilous swaying and slithering of the camels on

the treacherous bottom mud, the ride was scarcely conducive to:

physical comfort or mental relaxation, and one had the curious feel--

ing of suddenly being transported from the ship of the desert to a-

ship on the ocean! A heavy cross-wind whipped up the surface into

angry little wavelets and, in the absence of any landmarks to steer

by, all this gave the disturbing illusion of our animals being constantly

drifted away from a straight course. Under these conditions it took:

us a full 4 hours to reach Flamingo City.

The ‘City’ itself was situated in its traditional site, now an ex--

tensive pancake-flat sun-baked mud island only a few inches above’

the level of the surrounding water. The area actually occupied by

the nest mounds has expanded considerably since my last visit in

1957, and its broadest and most thickly populated part now stretches

for quite half or three-quarters of a mile. The number of flamingos

here was greater than I have ever known before. The impression,.

-414 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

which I noted down on the spot, was that there were at least twice

as many birds as estimated by me in April 1945, therefore (including

adults and juveniles) something of the order of a million individuals.

However, owing to pressure of time no sample counts were possible

-as on the previous occasion, and this guess possibly means little more

than that there was indeed a truly fantastic concentration of birds.

The nesting was now at its peak and in all stages, from birds sitting

on more or less fresh eggs, through new hatchlings, grey downy

runners of two or three progressive age groups, to even a few lanky

flying youngsters in the brown juvenile plumage.

A new and unprecedented feature was the presence within and for

several miles around Flamingo City of vast numbers of Eastern White

-or Rosy Pelicans (Pelecanus onocrotalus)—Kutchchi Pen—dotted

about in herds or rafts of varying sizes, estimated as aggregating

3000-4000 birds. Several hundred pairs of these were nesting in

-certain sections along the periphery of the occupied flamingo colony,

in what may be called its deserted suburbs, among the bases of old

worn-down stumps of the nest mounds. The nests consisted of from

a skimpy to a fairly substantial bed of large white feathers (the birds’

-own and flamingos’). They were close together, roughly one to a

square yard, and contained mostly 2 eggs or young each, but in some

vcases 3 and occasionally 4. The eggs were ivory white with a smooth

gloss and not chalky-textured like flamingo eggs, though of about the

“same size, only broader. Twenty-five eggs averaged 95.56 61.65 mm.

Maximum 10363 and 162X66.5 mm.; minimum 87X60 mm. and

“05-X5) mim. .

14 eggs from the Persian Gulf (F-B.I., 1 -ed. 6: 273, averaged

88.3 57.5 mm. Maximum 94.1 <60.0 mm.; minimum 83.1 X 58.0 mm.

cand 89.0 55.0 mm.

Unlike the tree-nesting Spottedbilled Pelican whose nestlings are

rcovered with snow-white down, the nestlings of the Rann _ pelicans

wore a funereal livery of dull scoty black. When newly hatched the

young is naked, rather glossy skinned dark flesh-coloured. In _ the

slightly older chicks (at 3 or 4 days?) the skin turns blackish, and the

chick becomes blacker when the feather papillae begin to show and

the down and quills sprout. The bill, bill-pouch, and legs are all

funereal black. The larger squabs are enormously fat and ugly; when

approached they tend to herd together and waddle away with an un-

‘steady, ungainly gait. Little dumps of cast-up fish, each of astonish-

‘ing quantity, soon lay dotted about the nests as the young disgorged

‘them in fright on our approach. Some of these fish were fully 10”

‘long and must have -easily weighed 4 Ib.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES — 415

This is the first record of the Rosy Pelican breeding within Indian

limits where it has hitherto been considered a winter visitor only.

As far as I am aware its nearest known breeding place is, or was,

Bubyan Island at the head of the Persian Gulf where [a Personne.

collecting for Sir Percy Cox, found a colony in 1922 (J. Bombay nat.

Hist. Soc. 31: 109). But it is curious that although this colony con-

tained downy chicks at the time no mention of their colour is made.

Likewise there is no description of the downy young in any of the

better known literature I have consulted in spite of the fact that it is

so startlingly different from its parents and from similar chicks of the

Spottedbilled species.

The discovery of the Rosy Pelican breeding in the Great Rann of

Kutch again points up to the many surprises that await a proper

biological exploration of this unique and truly fantastic salt desert.

It will be remembered that my visit to Flamingo City in 1945 pro-

duced the first record of an avocet breeding colony on Indian soil.

Although agitated avocets were present in small numbers in March

this year also, and probably breeding, no definite evidence of this

was procured.

33, Pau Hitr,

BANDRA,

BomBay 50,

April 15, 1960.

SALIM ALI

10. IN SEARCH OF THE PINKHEADED DUCK

[RHODONESSA CARYOPHYLLACEA (LATHAM)]

I have just returned from a tour of north Bihar where I had gone

in search of the Pinkheaded Duck. Having failed to locate the

“Patraha Katla’’ anywhere in the Bhagalpur district in spite of ex-

tensive enquiries, and finding a place called Pathraha shown on the

1” topographical map of Purnea district, I made my way to Forbesganj

in the extreme north of the district. Pathraha, which lies some seven

miles west of Forbesganj and is approachable only by bullock cart,

proved disappointing. All the chaurs and jheels have been reclaimed

for cultivation, and I could not find a single habitat which even re-

motely resembled that of the Pinkheaded Duck.

Mr. Frank B. Simson mentions in [bis, 1884, p. 271 the area in the

south of the Purnea district lying between the Kosi and Ganga rivers

! Where an anonymous writer in the defunct Asian Sporting Newspaper had found

it breeding in July 1880.

416 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

as a favoured locality for this bird. He particularly mentions the:

Purnea Trunk Road, and a travellers’ bungalow on it. The map:

showed the area lying between Karhagola Road railway station and

the Ganga River as full of jheels and chaurs. Karhagola Road lies

on the Purnea Trunk Road, and there is a travellers’ bungalow there.

Unfortunately the bulk of this area too has been reclaimed for

cultivation, and Mr. Simson’s description of ‘pools of deep water

abounding in wild fowl and crocodiles’ reads like an after-dinner

story. I found only two chaurs, the Chapri and the Drona, each

nearly 10-12 acres in extent, lying past Uchla village. some 14 miles

south of Karhagola Road railway station. The Drona chaur was.

practically devoid of vegetation, but the Chapri chaur had water

hyacinth, lotuses, and dry grass. Both are located in the midst of

cultivated fields, and neither looked in the least suitable as a place

for the Pinkheaded Duck. Though I could not find the duck, I found

some interesting water birds. Of particular interest was a colony of

River Terns breeding, and there were 9 young ones playing or flying

on the banks of the Drona chaur. They appeared to be in almost

exclusive occupation of the chaur. I have not seen such a big colony

even on the river Ganga. The other interesting bird was the

Spurwinged Plover, which probably breeds there.

I showed the pictures given in the /llustrated Weekly of India

(28th July 1957) with Mr. Salim Ali’s article to a number of villagers.

and they all unhesitatingly pointed out the Redcrested Pochard or lal

sir as visiting the chaurs in large numbers with other ducks during

the cold weather. They also told me that both these chaurs were

extensively shot over during the winter, and only some 15 days before

my visit a party had bagged about 20. They proved more accurate

observers than a ‘sportsman’, who told me that ‘these migratory birds

go back to their nesting places by the end of March’ on being

questioned about the Pinkheaded Duck, and was obviously referring

to the Redcrested Pochard. Nawab Chaudhri Nazirul Hassan, a

great shikari of north Bihar, however, mentioned that he had shot a

pair of Pinkheaded ducks with Mr. Atkins many, many years ago, but

had not seen any since then. One more locality in Darbhanga will be

investigated by me next cold weather, since the last record of this

duck is from this area in June, 1935.

4, EUROPEAN BACHELORS’ (QUARTERS,

DorRANDA, P.O. HINOo, JAMAL ARA

RANCHI,

April 29, 1960.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 417

[We are informed by Mr. D. E. Reuben, I.c.s. (Retd.) that a pair

‘shot by Nawab Chaudhri Nazirul Hassan and T. Atkins at Bakhtiarpur

(Monghyr Dist.) on 11 March 1924 are exhibited in the Patna

Museum.—EDs. |

11. A PINKHEADED DUCK [RHODONESSA

CARYOPHYLLACEA (LATHAM)] AT LAST?

This is to inform you that, on 28 and 29 February 1960, I along

‘with a friend Shri Grehawal, an Engineer in the Western Command,

‘Simla, saw a solitary Pinkheaded Duck in a local tank in ‘Kunihar

State’ situated about 40 miles south of Simla.

We tried to take a coloured photograph but, owing to the abundance

of reeds and lack of a proper hide, we were unsuccessful in taking the ©

picture. My Wildlife Guard told us that this drake was in the tank

for the last two months or so along with Mallard and Common Teal.

SIMLA 4, | K. L. MEHTA,

March 23, 1960. Deputy Game Warden, Himachal Pradesh

[It will be recalled that the last definite record of this species in

a wild state goes back to 1935 when a trapped bird was brought to

the late Mr. C. M. Inglis, in the Darbhanga Dist., Bihar.—EDbs.]

12. BIRD NETTING AND THE WEATHER: SOME

EXPERIENCES IN KUTCH, MARCH 1960

Clouds loomed ominously in the Kuar Bet sky as the first net was

being installed. This was only a foretaste of the unpredictable spell

of weather that confronted the Migration Study Team during the three

‘weeks of the project. There were three dust-storms, one rainfall, and

on three successive nights the thermometer recorded 40°, 42°, and

52° F. respectively.

How and to what extent did this abnormal weather affect the flow

of migration? The answer is difficult, but a look at the collection

Statistics vis-a-vis the weather-chart is suggestive.

Below, the daily collection of three migratory species, namely

Lesser Whitethroat (Sylvia curruca blythi), Orphean Warbler (Sylvia

hortensis), and Rosy Pastor (Pastor roseus) are plotted on a graph with

dates on the other axis. Readings of temperature (maximum and

minimum) and relative humidity are also plotted likewise.

418 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

The collection period can be divided into two parts based on

weather conditions: |

1. From the 10th to the 18th of March. During this period the

bird curves are on the ascendant. The Whitethroat curve reaches a

peak on the 17th (13 birds). A day later the maximum numbers of

Rosy Pastors and Orphean Warblers are trapped (9 and 12 res-

pectively). The average temperature readings for this period are

maximum 88.8 and milimum 66.6 Fahrenheit. The average relative

humidity reads 64.5%. The minimum temperature is never below

60% F; ,

Two days stand out for record collection. They are: (1) 17-3-60

Max. 80°, Min. 58°, R.H. 64.5%. Number of birds collected 109.

(2) 18-3-60 Max. 87°, Min. 66°, R.H. 49%. Number of birds 106.

During these 9 days 42 Whitethroats (70% of total collection of

this species), 35 Orphean Warblers (57.3%) and 43 Rosy Pastors.

(71.4%) are recorded. This period also accounts for 69% of the total

collection made during the entire project. |

2. From the 19th to the 28th of March. The first day shows a

marked fall in collection (21 birds) due to high winds that had sprung

up in the night. There are temporary revivals on 20th and 22nd, after

which the bird curves decline again following freakish weather.

NUMBER OF BIRDS COLLECTED

2 SYLVIA HORTENS'S

5 PASTOR ROSEUS

SYLVIA CURRUCA BLYTHI

) |

0 Was ES |

itl 12 13 14 198-16 17 18-19 20. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28%

Graph showing the collection o. three migratory species, Orphean Warbler,

Rosy Pastor, and Lesser Whitethroat, at Kuar Bet, Kutch, 10-28 March 1960.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 419°

The weather chart shows big fluctuations from average readings.

during this period. The record shows:

Date Max. Temp. Min. Temp. R.H.% DS cae

19.3.1960 77 63 79 21

20.3.1960 88 50 86 55

21.3.1960 72 58 63 18

22.3.1960 70 40 79 60

23.3.1960 69 42 86 39

The only exception is the capture of 7 Orphean Warblers on the:

27th. In the course of these 10 days 18 Whitethroats, 26 Orphean.

Warblers, and 17 Rosy Pastors are recorded.

Another significant factor in the capture of birds was the flowering

of Capparis aphylla. In the first half of the spring migration project.

these richly coloured and nectar-laden flowers were in full bloom,.

presenting a sure attraction for migrant species like Rosy Pastor and.

many of the warblers. Nets were erected between adjacent bushes—

very often two nets were placed at an angle—so that the birds got.

entangled while crossing from one bush to another. This plan.

Relative Humidity

4~ (Percentage 90

[REE

TMEAN MAX: TEMPERATURE 78°

| v

_ TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)

10 0h 12 13 04 «15 06 I7 «Ws 19 20 2b 22 23 2 25 26 27 28

Graph showing the record of air temperature at Kuar Bet, Kutch, 10 to 28:

March 1960.

-420 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

fetched handsome results when the flowers were in full bloom (10th

to 19th of March). But once they started withering (from the 19th

onward) the number of birds caught in these nets began to fall

_Steeply. ae

Recapture ‘ol Bandeo Birds

Out of a total of three hundred and twenty migrant birds: ringed

in the course of the present migration study 31 were recaptured on

-Kuar Bet between 10-3-60 and 28-3-60.

A Bluethroat (Erithacus svecica), banded on the 15th of March, was

recaptured on the 28th. This is the longest period of stay of a

‘migrant bird on the present record and suggests that the bird had

‘probably overwintered here and was not on the move. Similarly, a

‘Thickbilled Warbler (Phragamaticola aédon), banded on 10-3-60, and

‘the only one of its kind to be ringed, was caught again on the 22nd.

The following are particulars of some of the other migrants re-

‘captured :

Date of Date of

Ring No. Name of Bird | ringing recapture

Al652 ~ -Acrocephalus stentoreus 11.3.60 23.3.60

-A1826 Acrocephalus stentoreus 15.3.60 18.3.60

A1838 Acrocephalus stentoreus 15.3.60 18.3.60

A1810 Acrocephalus-‘dumetorum 15.3.60 22.3.60

A1808 Acrocephalus dumetorum 15.3.60 20.3.60

-A1815 Acrocephalus dumetorum 15.3.60 16.3.60

A1763 Sylvia hortensis 13.3.60 23.3.60

.A1981 Sylvia hortensis 17.3.60 25.3.60

A1657 Sylvia curruca blythi 11.3.60 19.3.60

A1901 Sylvia curruca blythi 16.3.60 25.3.60

-A1619 Sylvia curruca blythi 10.3.60 ~ 15.3.60

A1929 Sylvia curruca blythi 17.3.60 18.3.60

A1934 Sylvia curruca blythi 17.3.60 18.3.60

.A2153 Hippolais caligata rama 22.3.60 28.3.60

A1664 Hippolais caligata rama 11.3.60 12.3.60

B 599 Pastor roseus 13.3.60 15.3.69

A1902 | Phoenicurus ochruros 16.3.60 27.3.60

-A1977 Phoenicurus ochruros 17.3.60 - |--20.3.60

A1958 Phoenicurus ochruros 17.3.60 18.3.60

A1841 Erithacus svecica 15.3.60 28.3.60

-A1706 Erithacus svecica 12.3.60 15.3.60

A1770 Muscicapa parva 14.3.60 23.3.60

_A1833 | Muscicapa parva 15.3.60 18.3.60

AB190 Upupa epops 18.3.60 26.3.60

A1724 — Jynx torquilla 13.3.60 20.3.60

A1753. «| --« Synx torquilla 13.3.60 19.3.60

AB194 ' Jynx torquilla 18.3.60 22.3.60

A1799 Jynx torquilla 14.3.60 16.3.60

AB044 Jynx torquilla 11.3.60 12.3.60

_. A House Sparrow, ringed on Kuar Bet on the 18th, was recaptured

von the 25th at Vad vali vai near Kotda. This involved a straight line

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 421

distance of about four miles across a bare arm of the Rann, suggesting

that the birds fly such long distances to forage.

BoMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY,

91, WALKESHWAR RoaD, DANIEL MATHEW

BomBay 6,

April 15, 1960.

13. NOTES ON THE SPINYTAILED LIZARD, UROMASTIX

HARDWICKI GRAY

In the latter half of February 1959 I had the opportunity of visit-

ing the Banni on the borders of the Rann of Kutch. The ‘Sanda’ or

Spinytailed Lizard (Uromastix hardwicki Gray) was common and there

were large colonies on the outskirts of villages. The Banni is flooded

during the rains and the villagers and the lizards form colonies on

islands where alone they can survive.

They appeared to be very watchful and as our jeep approached

would scuttle away into their holes, often 20 to 30 yards away. Their

movements were too fast even to make an attempt at catching them

by placing one’s feet on their holes as is said to be done by boys in

the Salt Ranges (Hora, Rec. Ind. Mus. 25: 369-376).

At Dhorda we stopped for lunch and met a local inhabitant who

offered to secure some. We went out to shoot spotted sandgrouse and

when we came back after two hours, he had a bag full of lizards.

When placed on the ground, however, they refused to run and a

closer examination showed that they all had their backbones broken

just behind the neck; we were informed that they would live for

over a week and require no attention! These were put into spirit and

we went out again to catch some more.

In the heat of the afternoon most of them had entered their holes

but the method of their capture was very simple. The hunter was

armed with two hard sticks, one about three-quarters inch diameter

and four feet long and the other a little thicker, half its length, and

pointed at one end. Having examined the entrance from which he

could tell if the animal was within or not, he would quickly push

in the longer stick as far as it would go, wedging the lizard against

the wall. Then squatting near the hole and holding the big stick down

with his toes, he used the shorter stick, as a pick-axe holding it

between both his hands. Between 12 inches and 18 inches he would

reach the tunnel and then grab the animal with his bare hands. It

422 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 87 (2)

was quite harmless and never made the slightest attempt at biting.

though it would thrash sideways with its tail, the spines on which were

quite formidable. 7

Differences in colour were noticed in the field and the villager said

that it was possible to tell the males by their longer tails. ‘Though

I could not then check upon the difference, I have subsequently sexed

and measured the specimens with the assistance of Mr. V. K. Chari of

the Prince of Wales Museum with the following results:

Sex Total length Head & body Tail Percentage of tail

to head & body

Q 392 mm. 224 mm. 168 mm. U5)

Q 396 mm. 226 mm. 170 mm. Wes)

2 370 mm. 220 mm. 150 mm. 68

é 403 mm. 225 mm. 178 mm. 79

3 Se 248 mm. 125 mm. (dam-

aged) se

3 369 mm. 196 mm. 173 mm. 88

ret 489 mm. 269 mm. 220 mm. 81.7

‘of 415 mm. 223 mm. 192 mm. 86

? (alive) 340 mm. 200 mm. 140 mm. 70 (2 ?)

? (alive) 441 mm. 240 mm. 201 mm. 83 (3?)

It will be noticed that in the females the tails range from 68-75%

of the length of the head and body while in the males they are

79-88%, i.e. appreciably longer. After preservation in formalin the

males were darker in colour than the females, which also appeared to

have paler spots on the chin. These differences were, however, not

visible on the two live specimens which from the proportions of their

tails (83% and 70%) appeared to be of different sexes.

The tails of 1 male (79%) and 2 females (69 & 70%) from Thar &

Parkar and Lahore in the Society’s collections are within these limits.

What the villager told me and the conclusion pointed at by the

above-mentioned measurements are confirmed by E. Home Purves

(J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 23: 780-784) in his notes on this species

in the Punjab. He refers to ‘certain low class Indians who eat this

lizard and hunt it systematically’, and observes that they can dis-

tinguish beween the male and female by the length, shape, and size

of the tail and in no case were they found to err. No details however

are mentioned of these differences.

The proportionate shortness of the tails of female lizards and

snakes does not appear to have been often referred to in Indian

literature, but is apparently in agreement with facts observed elsewhere

and it may be worthwhile checking for our many and varied forms.

Oliver, in THE NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICAN AMPHIBIANS AND

REPTILES: 277, says: ‘In reptiles, males frequently have relatively

longer tails than females, but this is usually not under hormonal

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 423

control, for at birth males already have proportionately longer tails’.

The two live specimens had the iris reddish orange. The females

all had 12-20 eggs in each ovary, the largest about 5 mm. in diameter.

The males showed enlarged testes varying between 17X12 mm. and

24x14 mm., all after shrinkage in formalin. Yellow fat bodies were

present near the gonads in all of both sexes. The species is diurnal and

herbivorous and the stomachs held remains of vegetation, mostly

grasses. 3

Smith (FAUNA, p. 245) indicates an average size of 305 mm. for

this species and refers to their attaining a total length of 350 mm.

He also refers to a 450 mm. individual from Karachi as unusually

large. The male from Thar & Parkar which had enlarged testes

measured 388 mm. and the two females 296 and 238 mm. In the

present series, the males averaged 415 mm. (369-489 mm.) and the

females 375 mm. (340-396 mm.).

All the specimens captured were measured and it is significant that

no small ones were obtained. Is the Kutch population larger in size?

BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY,

91, WALKESHWAR ROAD, HUMAYUN ABDULALI

BOMBAY 6,

October 16, 1959.

[The Society’s bird migration camp on Kuar Bet on the borders of

the Rann in March 1960 was partly under a large Acacia tree which

held a nest of a Tawny Eagle, Aquila rapax, containing an almost

fully fledged young one. The nest was littered with the remains of

tails and backbones of the Spiny-tailed Lizard, Uromastix hardwicki,

which appeared to be the staple food at least of the young. A pair

brought in by P. W. Soman, Junior Research Assistant, were cast as

exhibits for the Natural History Section of the Prince of Wales

Museum, Bombay. The male with a total length of 333 mm. had

his tail 80% of the head and the body and the female (292 mm.)

70% .-—EDSs.]

14. THE BULL FROG (RANA TIGRINA) AS A PREDATOR

OF POULTRY

During our annual family gathering for Christmas in Pithapuram

(East Godavary District, Andhra Pradesh) this year, we were not

served with fowl as frequently as in previous years. On enquiry my

mother explained that most of the chicks reared during the year

were lost and it must be the work of kites or thieves.

424 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 37 (2)

My two daughters and I decided that the thief must be caught.

Our prize Rhode Island Red hen, with her brood of 15 chicks hardly

10 days old, was going about briskly with the chicks running hither

and thither. We hid near a small bush in our compound and waited

for the thief. An hour passed by but there was no sign either of

kite or thief. The chicks were evidently thirsty and so was their mother.

They proceeded towards a small forsaken pool in the compound.

While we watched from the bush, presto, a chick disappeared and

then, equally suddenly, another. We ran towards the pool and the

sight was really ghastly. Two bull frogs (Rana tigrina) had each a

chick in its mouth firmly grasped with their forelegs. Within the

twinkling of an eye the victims were swallowed. At last the thief

had been caught.

RESEARCH DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY, .

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, EDWIN DHARMARAJU

BAPATLA,

May 2, 1960.

15. FOUR NEW BUTTERFLIES FROM ASSAM

(With five text-figures)

LYCAENIDAE

1. Spalgis baiongus sp. nov. This species is described from a male

and a female taken by Norman in thick forest in the plains of Sibsagar

District. The 2 was taken on 4 July 1954 in the Nambar Reserve and

the on 5 April 1956 near the old Mokukchang road. Mr. G. E. Tite

of the Tring staff of the British Museum (Natural History) has recently

found a further two specimens in the Museum collection, a & collected

by Tytler at Ghaspani in the Naga Hills anda # collected by Ferrar on

Great Nicobar. Unfortunately the identity of the latter specimen cannot

be determined with certainty since it lacks an abdomen.

DESCRIPTION

do’ and 2. Antennae and palpi resemble those of Spalgis epeus

Westwood.

Upper side: Both wings uniform brown with no trace of white

at the end of the cell.

Under side: Both wings have rows of slender curved brown

strigae similar to but much more irregular than those of epeus.

- MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 425

The strigae are outwardly lined with whitish ; inwardly each shades

into a brown area, thus giving the effect of a spot and making the

wing look blotched and glazed. The submarginal area of both

wings is diffusely whitish (particularly the upper half of the termen

of the fore wing), and as the basal area is also pale the central

darker area stands out in contrast. Both in detail and in general

appearance the under side is quite distinct from that of epeus

epeus Westwood, epeus nubilus Moore, and epeus titius Frihs-

torfer, whose ground colour is either clear grey or clear brown.

Length of fore wing from base to apex: i 7mm.,29mm. The

apex of the fore wing is much less pointed than that of epeus.

Genitalia : Norman dissected his gin Assam, showing that the

clasp differed in important respects from that of epeus. Un-

fortunately this dissection was subsequently lost, but two drawings

made by Norman in 1956 correspond exactly with the genitalia

1. 2.

1. S. baiongus: aedeagus and clasps ; 2. S. epeus: aedeagus and clasps.

of Tytler’s Ghaspani specimen, which Tite very kindly dissected.

The figure shows the aedeagus (but not the uncus) and the clasps

of baiongus and epeus. Considerable difficulty was experienced

with the morphology of the various processes until Mr. J. V.

Pearman, a colleague of Tite, succeeded in the difficult task of

separating the central process of epeus into two halves, thus prov-

ing that it is two styles and is not an annellus, although wrapped

round the aedeagus. Baiongus has, therefore, styles as well as

an annellus, while epeus has styles but no annellus. The aedeagus

and the shape of the distal portion of the clasp also differ in the

two species.

Of the specimens taken by Norman the @ has_been presented to the

426 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

British Museum (Natural History) and the will be presented to the

Zoological Survey of India.

2. Celastrina vipia sp. nov. This species is described from a single

male taken by Norman at Jhakama (5400 feet) in the Naga Hills on 2

May 1950. There is reason to think that it also occurs in north Burma.

DESCRIPTION

&. Upper side: Fore wing. Pale blue of a shade like dilectus

Moore from Burma, slightly darker than Assam specimens of

dilectus. On the disc there is no trace of white nor of paler blue.

The black border a thread, expanding to 14 mm. at the apex.

Hind wing. Pale blue, with white streaks in spaces 4, 5, and 6

and sparse white powdering in spaces 2 and.3. A bar is visible

at the end of the cell. This facies differs from dilectus. In dilectus,

when the white patch on the disc upper fore is obsolete, there is a

patch of paler blue on the disc, sometimes only faintly discernible.

Exceptions exist ; one o from Burma and some oof the subspecies

of dilectus from China and SE. Asia have no trace of paler blue

on the disc upper fore, but these lack the conspicuous white streaks

on the hind wing seen in vipia.

Under side: Fore wing. The markings are brown, faint, and

delicate, and conform to the usual Celastrina (e.g. cardia) pattern.

The strigae are comparatively long, stretching across the in-

terspaces. The discal band enters space 1b. The discal spot in

space 4 is at an angle of 45 degrees pointing to the spot in space 6.

Submarginal lunules present. Hind wing. Markings similar in

type to those on the fore wing except that the three basal spots are

black. No spot at base of 1b. Discal spots in 5,6, and 7 are not

in line, that in 6 being shifted in. Submarginal lunules present.

Size and venation: Fore wing. 12 mm. from base to apex.

Veins 11 and 12 straight and separate.

Cilia: Chequered at the ends of veins.

Genitalia: Mr. N. Bennett of the British Museum staff very

kindly dissected the genitalia in 1952 and prepared the slide from

which the figure has been drawn. The figure illustrates the un-

cus and inside of the left clasp. The general pattern resembles

argiolus jynteana De N. but the lower broad portion of the clasp

differs, lacking the sharp triangular projection so noticeable in

jynteana. The sharp projection on each side of the uncus ends in

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 427

a straight point whereas the somewhat similar projection of jyn-

teana curves inward like the beak of a bird of prey. The genitalia

of dilectus are quite different. No genitalia matching this dissec-

tion are discernible amongst Chapman’s (1909) or Toxopeus’s

ot ie

3. C. vipia: uncus ; 4. C. vipia: medial aspect of left clasp.

(1927-28) figures, nor among those shown or referred to by Corbet

& Pendlebury (1956), nor on the British Museum slides or in the

authors’ own dissections.

In appearance and small size vipia is nearest to ceyx clothales Frihs-

torfer from Sumatra, but the genitalia are very different.

The specimen has been presented to the British Museum (Natural

History), where it has been lodged since 1951.

3. Celastrina howarthi sp. nov. This species is described from a

single male taken by Norman on 23 March 1958 at the edge of thick

forest in the plains of Sibsagar District, near Amgoorie Tea Estate.

DESCRIPTION

d Upper side: Violaceous blue, iridescent in certain lights, with

a white discal patch on both fore and hind wings. The black

terminal border of the fore wing expands gradually and evenly

from the tornus to 2 mm. at the apex. There is no black border

to the costa of the fore wing. In this respect it differs from puspa

gisca Frith. which otherwise it resembles above though it is very

different below.

Under side: Fore wing. The strigae of the discal band are small,

delicate and faint, and do not enter space 1b. The strigae in 3

and 4 both point to that in space 6. The subterminal markings

428 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL UIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

are a row of faint lunules and an outward row of five strongly

marked linear strigae from space 2. Hind wing. No basal spot

in spaces 1 b and 7.

Size and venation: Forewing. 16mm. Veins 11 and 12straight

and separate.

Genitalia: Mr. T.G. Howarth of the British Museum very kindly

made the dissection. The uncus and inside of the right clasp are

5. C. howarthi: uncus and medial aspect of right clasp. The triangular process

at the distal end, dorsal side, of the clasp actually projects at right angles to the clasp.

shown in our figure ; the small triangle at the apex of the clasp,

on the edge towards the uncus, is an attempt to show a triangular

tip curled in at right angles to the clasp, seen clearly in alcohol.

Though clasps of this general shape with serrations and projections

from the tip towards the uncus are found in the figures of Chapman,

Corbet, and Toxopeus, we have not seen any exactly like it.

Generally speaking, one may say that howarthi resembles puspa or

albisdisca on the upper side although below it is very different, while the

under side (but not the upper side) resembles corythus corythus from

Sumatra and catreus from Java. It may also be distinguished from

these four species by the genitalia.

HESPERIIDAE

4. Plastingia tavoyana titei ssp. nov. The new subspecies is des-

cribed from a single male taken by Norman on 27 April 1954 at Moreh,

at plains level in the Kabaw Valley of SE. Manipur. One other speci-

_ men, presumed to have been of this species, was seen on the same day.

The clasps of this specimen and the ring spots on the under side of

the hind wing show it to be a tavoyana, but there are certain differences

_ MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 429

from the typical form. On the upper side of the fore wing the yellow is

bright instead of the dark ochreous of typical tavoyana, and the yellow

streaks along the costa and dorsum are somewhat wider ; on the hind

wing the yellow discal area extends further distally, the yellow scales

are thicker over the lower part of the cell to the base and the hyaline spot

is more elongated. On the under side the ground colour is the bright

yellow of noemi instead of the much darker shade of typical tavoyana.

The spots in the cell and in spaces 6 and 7 are ring spots. The irregular

linear spots in spaces 2 and 3 are on the distal edge of large faint ovoid

rings, just as in tavoyana, but in this Assam specimen the ovoid rings

are obsolescent and discernible only with difficulty.

No example of tavoyana has previously been taken north or west of

the Karen Hills. The differences are sufficient to give subspecific rank

to this specimen. Tavoyana Evans will now become tavoyana tavoyana

Evans. [Both tavoyana Evans and noemi De N. are dealt with by

Evans (1949). ]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is a pleasure to acknowledge our gratitude to the authorities of

the British Museum (Natural History) who have allowed us to examine

the specimens in their care ; and particularly to Mr. T. G. Howarth,

Mr.G. E. Tite, Mr. N. Bennett, and Mr. J. V. Pearman, who have made

the dissections and who have made their time and advice so freely avail-

able to us. Two of the names we have used will, we hope, reflect our

gratitude in a more permanent form. Celastrina vipia has been named

after Mr. Vipikhieya Angami, who has captured such a wealth of material

for us. The name baiongus is derived from the Khasi word meaning

‘ dark-coloured ’.

SELENG T. E.,

SELENG HAT P.O.,

Upper ASSAM,

April 16, 1960.

KEITH CANTLIE,

C.LE., I.C.S. (RETD.)

T. NORMAN

REFERENCES

Corbet, A. S., & Pendlebury, H. M.

(1956): The Butterflies of the Malay

Peninsula, London.

Corbet, A. S.: Figures in Corbet’s

articles detailed in the bibliography con-

tained in reference above.

Chapman, T. A. (1909): Proc. zool.

Soc. Lond. August 1909: 419 seqq.

Fvans, W. H. (1949): A Catalogue

of the Hesperiidae from Europe, Asia and

Australia in the British Museum (Natural

History).

Toxopeus, L. J. (1927-28):

Tijd.

voor Ent. 1xx and 1xxi.

430 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

16. ON THE MIGRATION OF THE SWALLOWTAIL,

POLYDORUS HECTOR (LINNAEUS) [LEPIDOPTERA:

INSECTA], OVER SEA’

(With two text-figures)

Reviewing our existing knowledge of butterfly migrations,

Williams (1950) has drawn attention to the need for more precise -

information from different parts of the world regarding this aspect of

insect life. Since the preponderance of existing records pertain to

overland migrations, instances of migratory movements over the sea

are of special interest.

Williams (1927) cited the few instances on record of the swallow-

tail, Polydorus hector (Linnaeus), one of the commonest butterflies of

our plains, undertaking migratory flights overland, and also crossing

over the sea between India and Ceylon. Instances of the latter type

pertain to sight records or captures made very near the coast with

one exception, namely von Frauenfeld’s (1867) capture of six

individuals aboard S. S. Novara, about 200 miles off Ceylon, on the

way to St. Paul. Unfortunately most records are lacking in detail

regarding the direction of flight, the prevailing weather conditions,

etc. However, on the data available, Williams (1930: 46) con-

cluded that Polydorus hector ‘passes from India to Ceylon, or vice

versa with some regularity in February, March, and April’. _

From about the beginning of October, P. hector abounds around

Mandapam and at any one time of the day several may be seen

flitting about the Drumstick Tree (Moringa pterygosperma Linnaeus)

for which plant, so common on the campus of this Research Station,

it shows particular preference, and on one of which I have seen

several hundreds roosting on successive nights. To a certain extent,

the occurrence of this butterfly also coincides with the commence-

ment of the NE. monsoon. On several occasions in October 1959

I observed regular flights of P. hector from the mainland in the

direction of the chain of coral islands lying off the Ramnad coast in

the Gulf of Mannar (Text-fig. 1). Subsequently I was able to make

more detailed observations on five days while out at sea in this area

and these are summarised below:

5 November 1959. Time: 09.00 to 11.30 hours. Place: half-

a-mile out at sea between CMFRS? and Vedalai. Several P. hector

1 Published with the permission of the Chief Research Officer, Central Marine

Fisheries Research Station, Mandapam Camp.

2 Central Marine Fisheries Research Station.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 431

were seen migrating from the mainland towards Manauli and

adjacent islands; flight thin and diffuse (4 to 6 noticeable at a

time); course steady without any deviations; flight 3 to 6 metres

above sea-level. None seen approaching mainland. Weather: sky

Text-fig. 1. Map showing part of the Ramnad Coast and the adjacent islands

in the Gulf of Mannar.

overcast, calm, with hardly any breeze. Temp.: max. 29° C.; min.

26° C. Humidity 909,°.

6 December 1959. Time: 09.15 to 11.30 hours. Place: same

as on 5-11-59. Migration of P. hector from mainland :to islands,

numerically more than on previous occasion, 36 being counted

within 3 minutes. Flight steady, low, not more than 2 to 3 metres

above water level. Weather: sky slightly overcast; steady breeze

from mainland. Temp. max. 29° C.

21 January 1960. Time: 09.30 to 11.30 and 14.30 to 17.15 hours.

Place: to and fro between CMFRS and Pudumadam about 12

miles SW. along Ramnad Coast. Weather: Sky slightly overcast in

the morning, clear in the afternoon, Temp.: max. 29° C., min.

24° C. Humidity 90%.

Numerous P. hector were seen migrating from Manauli and Hare

Islands towards the mainland between 09.30 and 11.30 hours. From

the boat travelling at a speed of 6 knots, 67 butterflies were counted

in a period of five minutes. One apparently completely exhausted

> Data regarding temperature and humidity pertain to Pamban as given in the

Regional Daily Weather Reports of the Regional Meteorological Centre, Madras.

432 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

alighted on the water with wings spread out within five metres of

the boat, but was seen in a few seconds to take off, its flight at

first being a bit erratic, but when last seen it was flying vigorously

towards the mainland which was about a mile away from the place

of observation. None seen flying more than three metres above

water level, while most kept very close to’ the water on account

of the fairly strong head wind. The fact that none of the butter-

flies was encountered while travelling opposite the gaps between the

islands strongly suggests that they cross in a more or less straight

line course from the islands to the parts of the mainland just

opposite. During this period of observation. not a single individual!

was seen flying from the mainland to the islands.

On the return trip from Pudumadam to CMFRS between 14.30

and 17.15 hours none was seen in flight crossing over to the main-

land or vice versa.

29 January 1960. Time: 17.45 hours. Place: about 34 miles

from the mainland towards Manauli Island. Weather: strong wind

blowing from the mainland and choppy seas. Temp. max. 29° C.,

min. 25° C. Humidity 80%. One dead P. hector was seen float-

ing. None seen in flight between mainland and Manauli Island

between 16.45 and 18.00 hours.

31 January 1960. Time: 12.00 hours. Place: 2 miles from

Manauli Island towards mainland. Weather: Sea relatively calm;

steady breeze blowing from the mainland. Temp. max. 29° C., min.

25° C. Humidity 85%. Three P. hector were seen almost at the

same time, all flying about 2 metres above water and heading

towards Manauli Island. None seen crossing in the opposite

direction. |

From about the last week of January these butterflies appeared to

be much fewer in numbers in the campus area and on two trips made

to Pudumadam on 6 and 11 February none was seen in flight over

the sea. After a few weeks’ absence, on my return to Mandapam in

the last week of March, I found that they had almost completely dis-

appeared from the scene

The above observations and the many reports I have received from

my co-workers going out on regular fish and plankton collections

point definitely to a migratory movement of the swallowtail north to

south, from the mainland to the chain of islands mentioned above,

and at certain periods vice versa. A few noteworthy features are:

1. The migration is thin and diffuse with generally 5 or 6

individuals visible to the observer at a time.

2. The steady and non-deviating pattern of flight.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 433

3. When there is a strong head or tail wind, the butterflies keep

as close to the water as possible.

4. When on sea, the direction of flight of a single individual is

typical of the direction of the whole flight at a particular time.

5. The to and fro flights between the mainland and the islands

may be indicative of ‘return’ flights.

6. It appears likely that, when exhausted in flight, they alight on

the water for shorter or longer periods as seen in one instance or

21-1-'60.

7. The peak activity appears to be from November to about the

middle of January. However, it is not known whether this would change

from year to year, for Williams (1930) records February, March, and.

April as the months during which migratory flights of this species

between India and Ceylon and vice versa take place.

1959 | 1960

; is 7} 6 ao | - 5

elelelelelelsléig¢lelels

MonrTHS SS s/2/2|8/3/2|ala\2 =

MAINLAND | | | | i {

OVER THE SEA { i ‘ ve | ?

ISLANDS V |v I, | V

Text-fig. 2.

(Arrows indicate direction of flights in the different months)

8. Not once did I see P. hector being preyed upon when in flight

over the sea. This is quite unlike what Evershed (1912) found for

this species on its overland migrations especially when migrating

across Palni Hills, south India, when it is specially liable to attack

by birds.

9. All migratory flights over the sea were observed during the

earlier half of the day and hardly any after 14.00 hours.

The voluntary nature of these flights and the purposeful manner

in which they are carried out would amaze any observer. We do

not know why this or for that matter many other species voluntarily

migrate over sea and our knowledge about migratory movements is

incomplete on several scores, such as the periods when these migratory

flights are undertaken, the size of migratory movements, whether in

this case the chain of islands act as only a stepping stone for the

colonisation of areas beyond and vice versa, whether those that under-

take the flights are surplus populations from overpopulated areas, the

434 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

relationship between migration and breeding area, whether the return

flights are undertaken by the same individuals, whether there is any

difference between the migrants and non-migrants in this species, the

size, age, and maturity of migrants, the sex ratio of the migrants,

their survival rate, whether at any time more than one species is

involved in these migratory flights, whether they resort to nocturnal

migratory flights, the influence of weather conditions on the pattern

of migration, etc. I hope that this note will create an urge in some

of our readers to observe and try to unravel the mysteries of this

aspect of butterfly life, which is as fascinating as the study of other

animal migrations.

CENTRAL MARINE FISHERIES RESEARCH

STATION, E. G. SILAS

MARINE FISHERIES P.O.,

MANDAPAM CAMP,

March 31, 1960.

REFERENCES

Evershed, J. (1912): Butterfly Migra-

Hen in Relation to Mimicry. Nature 89 :

Von Frauenfeld, G. R. (1867): Das

Insektenleben zur See. Verh. Zool. Bot.

Ges. Wien. 17: 425-464 (not seen in

original).

Williams, C. B. (1927): A Study of

Butterfly migration in South India.

Trans. Ent. Soc. London 75: 1-33.

——(1930): The Migration of Butter-

flies. Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh.

——(1950): Butterfly migrations. New

Biology 9 : 58-75.

[Dr. C. B. Williams asked for information about insect migration

in a paper published in this journal in 1938 (J. Bombay nat. Hist.

Soc. 40: 439-457. The migration of butterflies in India,) and the

request is repeated in his book on insect migration, a review of which

appears elsewhere in this issue. The particulars required are briefly

indicated by the headings of the standard form in which he files

details of the records received: year, month, date and time of day,

locality, direction of flight, direction and strength of wind, numbers

seen, number captured and where they are kept, sex, condition

(fresh, worn), notes (extent of flight, speed, pairing, egg-laying, etc.),

present and past weather conditions (temperature, rain, sun, cloud,

thunder, barometer, etc.), height above the ground/sea, name and

address of observer, name of species, other species in the flight (name

and number), identified by. All information should be put down at .

the time of the observation or as soon thereafter as possible. Speci-

mens should be captured and sent in; as many as fifty is not too much

and some of them should be preserved in spirit for examination for

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 435

fat reserve and state of development of the eggs. Specimens are of

value even if they are not in perfect condition. If the flight lasts

over several days observations should be made as to the earliest and

latest hours of activity and attempts should be made to discover what

the insects do at night—-Eps.]

17. INSECT-BIRD ASSOCIATIONS WITH NESTS OF LARGE

RED ANTS [OECOPHYLLA SMARAGDINA (FABRICIUS)|

Charles Barrett & A. N. Burns (1951) in BUTTERFLIES OF AUSTRALIA

AND NEW GUINEA (N. H. Seward Pty. Ltd., 457 Bourke Street,

Melbourne) refer to the moth butterfly (Liphyra brassolis major)

laying eggs singly on twigs and leaves of trees bearing nests of the

green tree-ant (Oecophylla smaragdina)—they refer, presumably, to

O. smaragdina var. virescens, which occurs in Australia. When

freshly emerged the butterfly has numbers of special dehiscible scales,

which prevent the true scales from being injured by the ants whilst

the butterfly is crawling through and out of the nest when emerging.

The larvae feed on the larvae of the tree ant, the body juices of

which are sucked up; they are enemies of the ants, whereas all other

Lycaenid larvae which live in association with ants are their friends,

because they supply them with a sweet exudation from glands on the

posterior portion of their bodies. A more detailed report of this is

said to be contained in an article, ‘The Green Tree-ants’ by Frederick

P. Dodd, published in the Victorian Naturalist (September 1928).

In addition to the Rufous Woodpecker (Micropternus) which lays

its eggs within the nest of the red Crematogaster ants, I have seen

nests of different species of sunbirds (Lepfocoma spp.) hanging very

close to the green Jeaf-nests of the large red ant (Oecophylla

smaragdina). Unfortunately, the actual distances were not recorded

nor any of them kept under observation, but my impression that they

were too close to be due to accidental circumstances is shared by my

brother Shumoon who has done a fair amount of bird-nesting around

Bombay.

It is also true that few of the mango trees around Bombay are

free from these red ants and bird-nesters have all been well bitten

while climbing to examine nests of drongos, doves, tree-pies, etc., etc.

Surely, some form of armistice must prevail; otherwise, it appears

impossible that any of such nests would survive.

It is well known that doves, munias, and such other ‘harmless’ birds

often build their nests touching those of kites, eagles, and other birds

436 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

of prey. I do not remember having read of the eggs or young

being taken, and such nesting is definitely under armistic terms.

c/o Faiz & Co.,

ABDUL REHMAN STREET, HUMAYUN ABDULALI

BOMBAY 3,

February 27, 1960.

18. TWO SOCIAL WASPS: ICARIA VARIEGATA (SMITH)

AND POLISTES STIGMA (FABRICIUS)

Icaria variegata (Smith) is a small reddish brown wasp about 7 mm.

long with yellow markings, warning colours adopted by most of its re-

latives. It has the usual ‘wasp waist’, a long stalk with a smaller,

then a larger bulge. The yellow is in two spots at the base

and a band at the end of the large bulge, with marks on the thorax.

It has the habit of drawing in the end segments of the abdomen into

the large bell-shaped second segment.

ai Tow eters

, +8

wohts 6h elves

Fig. 1. Jcaria variegata 2 ; Fig. 2. Nest of Icaria variegata.

The nest is placed in the open, without any attempt at conceal-

ment, hanging from the underside of a leaf, or in some sheltered

position. It is made of a papery substance, formed by the wasp

itself by chewing up wood and mixing it with saliva. It consists

simply of three or four irregular lines of cells, upside down, hanging

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 7 437

from one end. More are added on at tne far end as the colony

grows.

As is well known in the case of honey bees, the colony cannot

be moved short distances. I have tried on several occasions moving

a nest about 100 yards, but without success. The wasps on leaving

the nest in its new position, find themselves in familiar surroundings.

They know well the way ‘home’, ic. to the original site, and there

they return looking in vain for the departed nest. If, however, the

nest is moved far enough, the wasps find themselves in a strange

country. ‘They hover round the nest learning its new position, to

which they will return as they see no familiar landmarks to lead them

to their original ‘home’.

I moved a colony successfully from a distance of about two miles

on 25 March 1957. There were at that date about 23 cells, 5 being

capped over and containing pupae, 6 or 7 deep uncapped, some of

which contained larvae or eggs, and another 10 or 11 begun or

damaged. There were 7 wasps on the nest.

On watching carefully it seemed that two kept constantly on the

nest, and that one kept chasing the other, as if to drive it away.

To make observation easier, | marked these two on the thorax with

a dab of blue and green paint respectively. I have read of a queen

wasp (Polistes) taking possession of another colony (Yoshikawa, K:

Insects sociaux 2: 255) and I wondered whether this is what may

have been taking place here. It is difficult to distinguish the queen,

as there is no difference in the markings and only 2 or 3 mm. difference

in length. The blue queen was seen to go for a short flight of a

minute or two on two occasions. Eventually on 13 April she drove

off the green queen and was left in possession.

The workers are often off the nest. On their return the queens

get very excited. As the worker arrives, a queen makes a fierce rush

at it, climbs on its head, often standing on the eyes (a proceeding

which seems to cause no inconvenience to the worker) and curls

round so as to put her mouth to the worker’s mouth. A drop of

transparent fluid then passes from the worker to the queen and her

hunger is appeased for the moment. On one occasion I saw a worker

feed both queens in succession.

If possible the worker will avoid the queen and go to one of the

larvae. A caressing movement of the antennae causes the larva to

put its head to the mouth of the cell, and the worker then feeds

it, in the same way as it feeds the queen, with a drop of fluid. I

could see ne difference, using a lens, between the feeding of the larva

and the queen. On some occasions it seemed as if a queen would

get a drop of fluid from one of the larvae.

iL3)

438 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

When about to pupate, the larva caps over its cell by itself. In

the instance I watched, the green queen stood over it for a long time

apparently watching, but not helping at all. At 11 a.m. the larva

was weaving a loose mesh of silk which it seemed to press together

later. At 12.15 it was still working, the silk fairly thick, but with

a hole remaining in the centre. By 1.30 the entire cell was capped.

The eggs are white and oblong, and are attached to the base of the

cell. The larvae look pinkish at one stage, but white when full

grown with a dark head.

In a colony which I was keeping in March 1960, I noted that

the newly-emerged wasps seemed to have black eyes, which gradually

became light and mottled in appearance as in the older wasps. While

the eyes are black, they do not seem to leave the nest. I also noticed

one morning two or three very small insects emerging from a hole

in the top of the nest. They seemed to have torn the hole from

inside one of the cells. The wasps were much excited: one had

caught an insect and was chewing it up with the mandibles. The

insects were black, about 2 mm. long, and may have been parasitic

wasps or flies.

In contrast to Icaria, Polistes stigma (Fabricius) has no ‘stalk’, the

abdomen being close to the thorax, though of course with the ‘wasp

waist’. It is also reddish with yellow markings on the thorax and a

broad band of yellow on the abdomen. The worker measures about

10 mm.

It builds a circular nest, consisting of a bunch of cells, mouth

downwards, attached by a stalk to the underside of a roof or arch

in a sheltered position. When the cell is capped the silk continues

the wall of the cell, making it almost twice as long as when uncapped.

The white silk of the cap contrasts with the greyish paper of which

the cell is made.

On 2 February 1960 I picked up a nest which had been broken

off from its position and was lying on the ground. The wasps, of

course, had flown away. However, the nest contained capped cells,

larvae, and eggs, so I hung it up by wire in an observation box. The

next day 3 pupae hatched out. As there were no workers or queen,

Xi wondered how to feed these wasps. I tried with a drop of sugar

water on a needle, and I thought once or twice some was taken, but

could not be sure. The following day, one of them solved the pro-

blem by pulling out a well-grown larva from a cell and proceeding

to eat it, holding it in its forelegs. It was soon joined by another,

and the two soon finished off their meal.

On 6 February 1960 several more wasps emerged, together with

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 439

two flies like large house flies, evidently parasitic on this wasp. They

did not rest on the nest, but remained on twigs near by, drying their

wings before flying off. By 19 February there were 19 wasps on

the nest, of which at least 5 were males. I could see 8 eggs and

rot aw tees

PSB gh¥es

Fig. 3. Polistes stigma 9 ; Fig. 4. Nest of Polistes stigma

3 larvae. The feeding process was much the same as in Icaria.

These wasps seem often to preen each other, gently scraping with

the mandibles on the clypeus especially, the eyes, and the thorax.

Curious behaviour noted on several occasions was when one of the

workers seized a male by the base of the antenna and held it for a

considerable time, the male now and then making feeble attempts

to escape.

The workers, which are imperfectly formed females, are not

capable of being fertilised. Nevertheless on occasion they will lay

eggs. As is well known in the case of honey bees these unfertilised

eggs develop into males. In the Polistes nest there was no queen,

but the workers laid a considerable number of eggs, white ovals,

glued to the side, not the base of the cells. The experiment did not

last long enough to know if or into what these eggs would develop.

The colony seemed lethargic, and not many individuals were out

440 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

foraging. I noticed several wasps devouring one of the larvae. The

numbers dwindled until on 29 February only 11 remained, and that

afternoon they all left the nest, none remaining in the evening. On

that date there were 34 eggs and 9 larvae in very early stages. The

two following days two wasps were seen to return to the nest for a

time, one even feeding the other on one occasion, but after 2 March

the nest remained completely deserted.

‘St. JOHN’s Mission House,

POONA, Be.” WAIN; <S:s.5E.

March 29, 1960.

19. RHYNCHOSIA SERICEA SPAN.: A NEW RECORD FOR

BOMBAY STATE

Rhynchosia sericea Span. in Linnaea 15: 195, 1841; FBI. 2:

225; Duthie, Fl. Upper Gang. Plain 1: 222, 1903. Dolichos

tomentosus Roth, Nov. Pl. Sp. 345, 1821; DC. Prodr. 2: 401, 1825;

Wt. & Arn. Prodr. 1: 248, 1834. Rhynchosia tomentosa Kurz in

JASB 43: 186, 1874 (non Hook. & Arn. 1835).

A large woody twiner, reaching 3-6 m. high; stems much branched,

younger parts clothed with soft, short, greyish brown, glandular hairs,

older ones nearly glabrous; internodes 4.5-15 (12.5) cm. long, often

twisted. Leaves alternate, trifoliate; rachis 4-11 (8) cm. long, densely

hairy; leaflets 4-17 X1.7-6-13 (107.3) cm., softly pubescent on both

surfaces, densely beneath; terminal leaflet largest, ovate or ovate-

rhomboid, equal-sided, lateral ones obliquely ovate; apex acute or

slightly acuminate; base rounded, truncate or subcordate; stipules

0.5-1.5 (1) cm. long, persistent, broadly ovate or lanceojate, acuminate,

hairy on the margins; stipels 0.2-0.4 cm. long, filiform, persistent.

Racemes 4-20 (13) cm. long, compact, simple or branched, axillary;

floral-axis villous, terete. Flowers 10-25, subpedicellate, bracteate:

pedicels about 0.2 cm. long, pubescent, reflexed in fruit; bracts about

0.5 cm. long, ciliate, caducous. Calyx 0.6-0.8 cm. long, persistent,

rufous-pubescent, campanulate, of five unequal teeth; tube about

0.4 cm. long. Corolla yellowish brown, purple tinged; standard

about 1.41.1 cm., wedge-shaped, with two distinct callosities before

tapering at the base into a short claw; wings 1 X0.3 cm., ovate-linear,

spurred; keel 1.30.3 cm. Stamens about 1.3 cm. long, mon-

adelphous. Ovary densely whitish-tomentose with a filiform style.

Pods 2-3-seeded, 2-3%X0.5-0.8 (2.50.6) cm., straight or falcate,

compressed, with a long apiculation, densely-pubescent, villous on the

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 441

margins with spreading white or pale brown hairs; seeds 2, estrophio-

late, about 0.4 cm. across, nearly orbicular, dark brown. |

This plant is not recorded in our floras. From the available data,

it occurs in Poona, Bombay, Salsette, and southern Gujarat. The

plant is neither common nor abundant.

Flowers: September-November. Fruits: _September-December.

Herbarium specimens examined: Santapau 12048 (Poona) and

19427, 20019-23, 20274-20275 (Dangs Forest); Panthaki 2235-37 &

2408 (Dangs Forest); Shah 7510-11 (Malad); Shenoy 4759-61

(Mumbra).

World distribution: India and Malaya.

Critical notes: In general appearance and habit this plant re-

sembles Rhynchosia bracteata Bth.; the latter, according to Cooke, is

very rare. The following are the differences between the two:

R. sericea: Stems clothed with glandular, greyish brown hairs;

stipules persistent, broadly ovate or lanceolate; leaflets 4-17 x 1.6-13

cm.; corolla about 1.4 cm. long.

R. bracteata: Stems not glandular-pubescent; stipules minute,

caducous; leaflets 5.8-11.6 cm. long and broad; corolla about 1.2 cm.

long.

ST. XAVIER’S COLLEGE,

Bompsay 1, G. L. SHAH, M.Sc.

April 15, 1960. D. P. PANTHAKI, M:sc.

20. A NOTE ON THE OCCURRENCE OF ACANTHOSPERMUM

HISPIDUM DC. IN RAJASTHAN

(With a_ plate)

Acanthospermum hispidum (Compositae) a native of S. America

made its appearance recently and established itself very well in several

parts of India. The plant has been observed by us for the first time

in Pilani in the vicinity of Birla College, in September 1955. Now

this plant is very well established in several localities in Pilani and

its neighbouring places. No reference to this plant is made in any of

the standard works, which we have consulted, on the plants of the

Indo-Gangetic plain and Rajasthan, and a complete description of the

species is not available in any of the Indian floras. Therefore, the

present note is called for. |

A. hispidum: Annual herbaceous weed; stem 30-45 cm. long,

dichotomously branched, terete, hairy, hairs slightly stiff; leaves

442 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

simple, opposite, sessile, lamina with three prominent .veins, obovate

or nearly so, gradually narrowing towards the base, 3.2-4.7X2-3 cm.,

hairy on both surfaces, margins, serrate; heads in the forks of stem,

solitary, radiating, about 5-6 mm. across, heterogamous, involucre 5-7

in number; flowers yellow, peripheral female flowers 7, very rarely

5, corolla strap-shaped, sometimes persistent disc florets minute 10-15,

functionally male with abortive ovaries, corolla tubular, five-toothed;

stigma papillose; cypsela 5 mm., compressed, bristly with two

horn-like spines at the top, pappus absent.

Flowers and Fruits: August-November.

Ecological notes. The plant is not abundant nor common. It is

generally found in waste places, roadsides, and open plain ground,

often in association with Tephrosia purpurea Pers. Pure stands are

rarely met with. Not eaten by livestock. Fruits distributed by sheep

and cattle.

DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY,

BIRLA COLLEGE, N. C. NAIR

PILANI, M. B. DESHPANDE

November 4, 1959.

21. ON THE NOMENCLATURE OF JASMINUM

VIRGATUM KERR.

INDEX KEWENSIS (1947) lists Jasminum virgatum Kerr. (1938)

from Siam (now Thailand) and J. virgatum Knobl. (1936) from

Tanganyika. Evidently the same name has been used for two plants

from widely separated localities which, from their respective

descriptions, appear quite different from each other.

According to Art. 64 (2) of the Jnternational Code of Botanical

Nomenclature (ed. 1956) J. virgatum Kerr. must be rejected, it being

a later homonym of J. virgatum Knobl. In 1952. Turrill & Milne-

Redhead reduced J. virgeatum Knobl. to the synonymy of J.

siolzeanum Knobl.; even so the later homonym must be rejected in

accordance with the second paragraph of Art. 64 (2).

As far as I am aware, J. virgatum Kerr. has neither been renamed

nor been merged in the synonymy of any other species. I, there-

fore, rename Jasminum virgatum Kerr. (in Kew Bull. 1938: 31-32)

as Jasminum kerrii nom. nov. The type of the species is Kerr 8580

in Kew Herbarium.

NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS,

LUCKNOW, G, S. BHATNAGAR

June 22, 1959,

JourRN. BomBay Nat. HIST. SOc.

Acanthospermum hispidum DC.

1. Entire plant; 2. Fruit.

Yay

ay ed od re Pee M,

Al Sten ASOT

OM ced pag ‘

Laat xe bi bs

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 443

22. MERREMIA TUBEROSA (L.) RENDLE: AN IDEAL

CREEPER FOR THE PLANT-HOUSE

(With a photograph)

Many of our ornamental palms, crotons, begonias, gesnerias, and

other plants suffer heavy casualties in India during the hot and dry

months of summer. The practice commonly followed for their pro-

tection is to construct a plant house with wooden or iron poles with

wire-netted covering all round and to allow some kind of creeper to

srow on them. The ornamental plants are kept inside such plant

houses. If the heat is too much and the piants still suffer, additional

shade is created by putting a thin layer of straw or Kans grass on

the roof and these are kept in position by tying them on the wire

netting and keeping them flat with the help of split bamboos. The

creepers commonly used for shade on these plant houses are the

Sandwich Island Creeper (Antigonon leptcpus), the Golden Shower

(Pyrostegia venusta), the Railway Creeper (Ipomoea palmata), the

Bridal Creeper (Porana paniculata) and the Rangoon Creeper

(Quisqualis indica). Some other creepers and twiners are also used

for the same purpose, such as Bignonia unguis-cati, Derris scandens,

Ipomoea _ hederacea, Jasminum pubescens, Passiflora coerulea, etc.

All these creepers, when fully grown, have their good and bad

points. Some are found to be slow growing, others do not spread

rapidly and remain somewhat thin. Others are not hardy enough to

withstand the strong sun, while some are considered too leafy.

Therefore garden lovers and particularly those in charge of such plant-

houses are constantly on the look-out for better and more desirable

creepers. One such creeper which is considered very good from a

number of points of view appears to be the plant commonly known

as Ipomoea tuberosa of the family Convolvulaceae. The plant

was originally a native of the West Indies and South America and

is now found naturalised in many tropical countries like tropical

Africa, the Mascarene Islands, India, Ceylon, and Malaysia. Many

years ago it was introduced into India but its great value was apparently

not fully appreciated.

Although the plant was not expected to occur in cold countries like

England, it is interesting to note that for a long time its seeds and

fruits were regularly found on the shores of the Orkney Islands and

the Hebrides situated on the north of Great Britain. The occurrence

of these seeds so many hundred miles away from the West Indies

remained a mystery for a long time and towards the end of the last

century it was Sloane who established that the seeds and fruits must

444. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

have reached these is!ands by the effective floating device of the fruits

and by the action of the Gulf Stream. In 1872, Hemsley identified

the seeds and fruits as those of Ipomoea tuberosa. An admirable

account of the distribution of these seeds has been given by Guppy

Gio): .

The plant appears to have been introduced in India by the Botanic

Garden at Calcutta about the year 1840 and has been mentioned in

the list of plants found growing in the Garden in 1843. It

is a vigorous climber and is grown from seeds which are hard and

black. It is a perennial and develops a large underground tuber.

The leaves are deep green in colour and almost palmate and the

flowers are slightly fragrant and golden yellow. They are usually

borne singly or in twos on axillary flower stalks (see photo).

Merremia tuberosa (L.) Rendle: an ideal creeper for the plant-house

The plant has been mentioned by Cooke as a cultivated plant in

Bombay and was also described by Woodrow in his book on

gardening in India in 1899. Apparently the species lost favour in

the years that followed, as it has not been mentioned in Bor &

Raizada’s admirable book on Indian climbers and shrubs. Being

an exotic climber, it was also not expected to occur in the

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 445

interior of Bombay State and therefore was not listed by Santapau

in his work on the Khandala flora. Santapau (1947) has however

discussed the nomenclature of this plant in his paper dealing with

the Convolvulaceae of Bombay. In Calcutta, the plant also lost its

popularity for many years as it was not noticed in private and other

gardens and the plant or plants which once existed at the Botanic

Garden were destroyed. It was therefore necessary to reintroduce the

plant in the Indian Botanic Garden, Calcutta, and this has been done

recently with seeds secured through the courtesy of Shri M. §%.

Sivaraman, I.c.S., Adviser to the Planning Commission, New Delhi.

At present two such plants are growing vigorously inside the garden

and producing flowers and seeds. ‘The creeper is found to be almost

ideal for the plant house and it helps in reducing the inside tempera-

ture of the plant house by 5 to 10 degrees. Small quantities of seeds

are available for distribution. The correct name and synonymy of

the plant is given below:

Merremia tuberosa (L.) Rendle in This.-Dyer, Fl. Trop. Afr.

4 (2): 104 (1905); Van Oostroom in Blumea 3: 325 (1939);

Santapau in J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 47: 345 (1947).

Ipomoea tuberosa Linn. in Sp. Pl.: 160 (1753); Cooke in Fl. Bomb.

ZS la(i905):

Convolvulus tuberosus Spreng. Syst. 1: 591 (1825).

Operculina tuberosa Meissn. in Mart. FI. Bras. 7: 212 (1869).

INDIAN BOTANIC GARDEN,

BOTANIC GARDEN P.O.,

CALCUTTA,

April 19, 1960.

D. CHATTERJEE,

Superintendent

REFERENCES

Azores. William Norgate Co., Henrietta

Anonymous (1843): General Cata-

Street, London.

logue of plants in Honourable Com-

pany’s Botanic Garden, Calcutta. Journ.

Agri. Hort. Soc. India 2 (2): 517, 577.

Bor, N. L. & Raizada, M. B. (1954):

Some beautiful Indian climbers and

shrubs. Bombay Natural History

Society, Bombay.

Cooke, T. (1905): Flora of. the

Bombay Presidency 2: 251.

Guppy, H. B. (1917): Plants, seeds

and currents in the West Indies and

Hemsley, W. B. (1872): A drift seed

(Ipomoea tuberosa L.). Ann. Bot. 6: 369.

Santapau, H. (1947): Notes on the

Convolvulaceae of Bombay. J. Bombay

nat. Hist. Soc. 47: 337-358.

— — — (1953): Flora of Khandala.

Rec. Bot. Surv. India 16: 189-195.

Woodrow, G. M. (1899): Gardening

in India. Thacker & Co, Ltd., Bombay.

446 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

23. NEW PLANT RECORDS FROM GUJARAT

1. Nicotiana plumbaginifolia Viv. (Solanaceae).

During one of our local botanical excursions, we came across a

few plants of N. plumbaginifolia Viv., which were found occupying

the banks of a water stream in the most shaded and undisturbed

portions of the Navlakhi area in the L.V. Palace compound. The

plant was first thought to be an escape of some cultivated species of

Nicotiana. Later on the same plants were also collected from a few

places on the banks of the River Vishwamitri. This plant has a

restricted area of distribution.

The genus Nicotiana is represented by three species in India, out

of which N. tabacum Linn. and N. rustica Linn. are cultivated forms

exhibiting very little tendency to spread as weeds. According to

Hooker (in F.B.I.), the third species, viz. N. plumbaginifolia Viv.

is ‘an introduced weed commonly found in Bengal and is the only

species of Nicotiana which has established itself in India’. Kashyap

(1924) remarks that the plant is quite common near Lahore. Raizada

(1931) reports that it is ‘completely established as a weed of

waste places round about Dehra’. Pattnaik (1956) has included it

in his list of the useful weeds in and around Cuttack, which means

that the plant is fairly common there. Cooke (1908) does not mention

it in THE FLORA OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY. Santapau (1948) does not

record any wild species of Nicotiana in his notes on the Solanaceae

of Bombay. The plant, a native of Mexico and West Indies, is a

medium-sized erect herb with narrow, linear, pinkish white flowers

in lax racemes. The leaves are either oblong or elliptic with a narrow

base.

No wild species of Nicotiana has been recorded by any of the

previous workers on the flora of Gujarat and, as far as the authors

are aware, the plant mentioned above is a new record for Gujarat

or possibly for the whole of Bombay State.

2. Eleocharis fistulosa Link. (Cyperaceae).

The plant was first collected from a pond on the outskirts of

Baroda city and was growing as an amphibious hydrophyte in

association with Cyperus esculentus and Eleocharis plantaginea, from

which it could not be easily distinguished. It has been observed that

the plant has not vet spread much and has a localized area of dis-

tribution.

Out of the eight species of the genus Eleocharis reported from the

Bombay Presidency, only three species, viz. E. plantaginea R. Br., E,

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 447

atropurpurea Kunth., and E. capitata R. Br., are reported to occur

in Gujarat. E. fistulosa Link., which is hitherto recorded from a few

places in W. Ghats. Southern Mahratta Country, and North Kanara,

is for the first time recorded from Gujarat.

E. fistulosa Link. is a stout, stoloniferous sedge with a solitary,

terminal spikelet as in most of the species of the genus Eleocharis.

The stem is triquetrous (unlike E. plantaginea) and is of a pale green

colour. The plant was found profusely flowering in the months of

August and September.

Thanks are due to the Director, Sibpur Botanic Gardens, Calcutta,

and Shri M. B. Raizada, Officer-in-charge, Botany Section, Forest

Research Institute, Dehra Dun, for the confirmation of the identifica-

tion of the plants.

DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY, |

M.S. UNIVERSITY OF BARODA, A. R. CHAVAN

BARODA, , S. D. SABNIS

November 12, 1959.

[Nicotiana plumbaginifolia Viv. is a garden plant commonly

cultivated in gardens in most parts of India; from such gardens it has

escaped and become naturalized particularly in the eastern parts of

the country. This is the first time the plant has been mentioned as

growing wild in Bombay; it has been known as a garden plant for a

long time.—EDs.]

24. ARTOCARPUS HETEROPHYLLUS LAMK.

(With a plate)

This tree is often listed in our popular floras under the names of

A. integrifolius or A. integra. Miss F. M. Jarrett of Arnold

Arboretum and Kew Herbarium has recently published a revision of

Artocarpus, from which I extract the following data on the nomencla-

ture of our plants:

(a) Artocarpus heteraphyllus Lamk. Encycl. 3: 210, 1789; Jarrett

in Journ. Arn. Arbor. 40: 334, 1959. A. integrifolia Linn. f. var. b.

heterophylla Pers. Syn. Pl. 2: 531, 1807. A. integrifolia auct. mult.:

non Linn. f. A. integer mult. auct. non Merrill, sensu Merrill, Interpr.

Rumph. Herb. Amb. 190, 1917.

This is the commoner species of the genus in western India: it

is quite different from the following.

448 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

(b) Artocarpus integer (Thunb.) Merrill, Interpr. Rumph. Herb.

Amb. 190, 1917; Jarrett, loc. cit. 329. Rademachia integra Thunb.

in Vet. Akad. Hand]. Stockholm 37: 254, 1776. Artocarpus integri-

folia Linn. f. Suppl. 411, 1781, nomen illegit.

These two plants have often been confused in the literature: the

differences between the two species are given by Jarrett in her key,

pp. 135-136, as follows:

“Twigs and peduncles usually pilose from

patent, rufous hairs, c. 3 mm. long; base

of leaf abrupt, intercostals to c. 10, in-

florescence without a basal annulus ... A. integer

‘Twigs and peduncles glabrous, base of

Jeaf decurrent, intercostals c. 10-14; in-

fiorescence with a basal annulus formed —

by the enlargement of the top of the

peduncle into a narrow flange ... A. heterophyllus’

The geographical distribution of these two trees is the following:

A. integer is apparently indigenous in evergreen forests 1500 to 4000

ft. in Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, Mollucas, and New Guinea; it is

cultivated throughout Malaysia and the Philippines. A. heterophyllus

is ‘possibly indigenous in evergreen forests from 1500 to 4000 ft. on

Western Ghats of India; becoming naturalized sparingly in evergreen

and semi-evergreen forest and tolerant of the dry season; cultivated

throughout the tropics. (Jarrett, op. cit. p. 336.)

According to the information available to me, these trees are

monoecious, i.e. male and female flowers are found on the same tree,

but the sexes are separate on different receptacles or inflorescences.

Recently I have had occasion to examine several trees of A. hefero-

phyllus cultivated in St. Xavier’s Villa, Khandala, on the Western

Ghats of India. One tree called my attention strongly; it was loaded

with small ‘fruits’, some of which were collected and examined in

detail. The results of this examination showed a peculiarity that has

apparently been missed in our floras; the results are embodied in

the plate that accompanies this short note. Some of the ‘fruits’ were

in fact male inflorescences (fig. A in plate), consisting of very

numerous male flowers, the anthers of the stamens being clearly

visible to the naked eye. Other ‘fruits’ consisted of female flowers,

the styles and stigmas being quite clear. But a third group of such

‘fruits’ consisted of female flowers below near the base,. and male

flowers above (see fig. B in plate), the part of the female flowers

bulged considerably, as may be seen in the illustration. The tree

under examination had about 20 female inflorescences or developing

JOURN. BomBay Nat. HIstT. Soc.

PRY

Artocarpus heterophyllus

ie. / erage

a ae ee

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 449

‘fruits’, some of which were already 20X12 cm. in size; at or near

the ends of the branches all the inflorescences were male; scattered

on the trunk and branches were 6 mixed inflorescences of the type

shown in the fig. B in the diagram. Material was collected and is

now preserved in Blatter Herbarium with reference numbers Santapau

23356-23357, Khandala 20 February, 1960.

This is the tree Known in English as the Jack Fruit Tree, in local

Marathi Phanas. It is the species of Artocarpus commonly cultivated

along some of the Bombay streets and in local gardens. The ‘fruit’

is edible and attains sizes of up to 45x30 cm., though much larger

sizes are occasionally seen in the local markets.

ST. XAVIER’S COLLEGE,

BomBay, : H. SANTAPAU

March 2, 1960.

25. AN UNUSUAL INFLORESCENCE OF CASUARINA

EQUISETIFOLIA LINN.!

(With a photograph)

An unusal inflorescence of Casuarina equisetifolia Linn. was

collected from the Central Marine Fisheries Research Station campus

on 12 November 1958. The inflorescence is striking in the fact. that,

here, the female flowers were seen at the ends of branchlets instead of

short lateral branches (See photograph). On a closer examination, it

was found that these abnormal inflorescences consisted of both male

and female flowers in a ‘catkin’, the male flowers were lower and

the ‘catkin’ terminated in female flowers. The groups of male and

female flowers were normal and the female flowers in the ‘catkins’

were mostly fertilised with mature seeds.

It is interesting to note that such a condition of the inflorescence

would suggest the possibility that in the case of the Casuarinales,

one could expect shoots with staminate and pistillate ‘catkin’ inflores-

cences or shoots with androgynous ‘catkin’ inflorescences. Such a

condition is indicated in the case of Myrica gale by Davey & Gibson

(1917). Thus it is possible, from the structure of inflorescence, to

1 Published with the permission of the Chief Research Officer, Central Marine

Fisheries Research Station.

450 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 37 (3)

consider the Casuarinales as taking an early off-shoot in phylogeny

from the Juglandales, rather than a separate line of evolution as indi-

cated by Rendle (1956).

CENTRAL MARINE FISHERIES

RESEARCH STATION,

MaRINE FISHERIES P.O., | P. PRASANNA VARMA

MANDAPAM CAMP, S. INDIA,

February 6, 1960.

REFERENCES

Davey, A. J. & Gibson, C. M. (1917): Rendle A. B. (1956): The Classification

New Phytologist 16 : 147. of flowering plants vol. 2.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 451

26. BAMBOO FRUITS

(With two. plates)

A considerable amount of public interest was caused recently by

the publication of a newspaper report that a large number of bamboo

clumps in the Mizo Hills (formerly known as the Lushai Hills) of

Assam are producing large numbers of peculiar fruit. The clumps

later dried up and the whole area was infested by rats, which evidently

came to consume the kernels of the fruit. Exaggerated reports also

appeared in the press stating that rats had multiplied in large number

and that many of the fruit were being sold in the market at a high

price. The fruiting of bamboo being of very rare occurrence, it was

considered by old villagers as an ill-omen, and as a fore-runner of

famine in the country.

Similar reports of flowering of a bamboo, commonly called the

mooli bamboo, came from North Bengal. Mr. R. I. Macalpine of

the India Tea Association, Nagrakata, informed the author that a

large plantation of bamboo in Ranicherra Tea Estate on the main

road from Siliguri to Mal had flowered and fruited. In forest areas

of Moraghat Range under the Jalpaiguri Forest Division, the mooli

bamboo plantation at Rehti had also been reported to have flowered.

It was further verbally reported by some forest officers that a few

clumps of mooli bamboo near Bamanpokhri Reserve Forest, about

twelve miles north-west of Siliguri, had also flowered.

It is, however, known that many species of bamboos are mono-

carpic, ic. they produce flowers and fruit only once in their life-

time, and that the plants die after the production of flowers and fruit.

The flowering is simultaneous and takes place in almost all the

clumps over a wide area. The mooli bamboo is botanically known

as Melocanna bambusoides Trin., and is distributed over north

Bengal, Assam, East Pakistan, and Burma. The bamboo is. thin-

walled but, in view of certain desirable qualities, it is considered an

important bamboo for building purposes. According to Gamble (1896)

about 16 million pieces of this bamboo used to be exported annually

from East Pakistan to the Gangetic delta area for building purposes.

The usual flowering cycle is 30 to 35 years but this requires further

study and confirmation. The years of flowering as given by Gamble

(1896), Brandis (1907), (1960) and C.C.F. (W.B.) are as follows:

(i) 1863-1866; (i) 1892-1893; (ii) 1900-1902; (iv) 1933; (v) 1960

(the present flowering).

According to Pearson (1920), the mooli bamboo flowered over a large

area in Cachar district of Assam during 1910-1912.

452 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

The flowering and fruiting of mooli bamboo is an interesting

phenomenon as this bamboo is known to produce the largest size

of fruit among bamboos. The only other genus of bamboo which

produces conspicuous but smaller fruit is Ochlandra, which is commonly

found in south India and Ceylon. In view of the rare phenomenon

of flowering and fruiting of the mooli bamboo at intervals of 30 to

35 years, it was decided to visit the clumps at Bamanpokhri Forest.

One visit was made by the author on 30th May 1960, in company

with Mr. T. K. Mitra of West Bengal Forest Service and Mr. S. N.

Singh Deo, M.A. Some fruit collected from the first visit were

shown to Dr. M. M. Das, Deputy Minister, Government of India

(Ministry of Scientific Research & Cultural Affairs), who happened

to be in Darjeeling at that time. As Dr. Das took keen interest and

expressed a desire to examine the fruiting clumps. personally, a second

visit to the spot was arranged on the 4th June 1960, and the

author accompanied Dr. Das again to the spot in the forest.

It was indeed a wonderful sight for a botanist to see the bamboo

clumps with large numbers of drooping fruit. As many botanists

are not familiar with bamboos in fruit, the first impression was

that the fruit belonged to some creepers which might have

twined round the bamboos. On closer examination, however, this ©

illusion vanished. The fruits are green or greenish yellow and apple-

or pear-like in general appearance with a tapering and _ pointed

end. Unlike the normal fruit of the grass family, the young fruit

of this bamboo contain a liquid endosperm, while the endosperm in

the mature fruit is fleshy with a cavity in the middle. Both the

liquid and the fleshy endosperm are comparable with the liquid and

the fleshy endosperm of green and ripe coconuts. The kernel in mature

fruits is creamy-white, oval, and edible. A study of the development

of the embryo of this bamboo and its nature and differences if any, from

the normal embryo of other members of the grass family wouid

be interesting...

It is rather unfortunate that these monocarpic bamboos die after

the production of flowers and fruit. No detailed study regarding the

causes (climatic, edaphic, florigenic, or genetic) of this flowering has

been done, and it appears that such studies would be of great value.

In our present state of knowledge the information, that the bamboo

would flower at the end of its 30th or 35th year of life appears

to be of some advantage. This bamboo is cultivated on plantation

scale as it is an important source of paper pulp. In the first place,

the extraction of the bamboo from the plantation may be so planned

that the major part is extracted much ahead of the anticipated time

"ROA ML IW pue ‘yw’ TW ‘09d Ysulg ‘N °S “JIN

WIND COquIR sy) WO SuISULY sINIJ Jo Jaysn[o we SMOYS °7 “SLY cee ea sae, saeue eee ee ante paneer ee

oe 5 > ages

‘00$ ‘LSIE] ‘LVN AvaWwog ‘Nanos

JourN. BomBAy Nat. Hist. Soc.

mparison of size

Fig. 4. Fruits showing germination of the young plant

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 453

of flowering and fruiting. In the second place, uniform growth would

be assured when new plantations are planted by using the fruits as

propagating material. Thirdly, due to the advantage of easy transport

of these fruits, new plantations could be raised in distant places and

even outside the country by transporting the fruits by air, if necessary.

On examination of the fruiting culms, it was found that the

fruits hang with their pointed ends downwards and, with siight

breeze or wind, the fruits drop and the pointed ends strike the soft

and. moist soil first and thus fix the fruits to the ground.

The atmosphere at the time of fruit drop being highly humid, it

was noticed that all the fruits germinated simultaneously. The

germination was so quick that it was even suspected that some fruits

must have germinated while stili on the tree. On careful examination,

however, no viviparous fruits were noticed but the occurrence of this

phenomenon cannot be altogether ruled out as stated by Gamble.

I have not been able to locate any good published photo-

graph of this bamboo in fruit. The drawings given by Gamble (1896)

and Brandis (1907) do net convey a clear idea of the manner in which

the fruits are heid on the culm. Only one photograph of the sterile

bamboo clumps has been published earlier by Pearson (1920). A number

of photographs of the fruiting culms, frui‘s, and germinating fruits

were taken on the spot by the author. Some of these photographs,

probably the first few, showing clearly the fruits hanging on actual

growing plants, are published along with this note.

INDIAN BOTANIC GARDEN,

BOTANIC GARDEN P. O., D. CHATTERJEE

CALCUTTA,

-July 6, 1960.

REFERENCES

1. C. C. F. (W. B.) (1960): Indian 682. Archibald Constable & Co. Ltd.

Forester 86 : 381. London, W.C.

2. Gamble, J. S. (1896): Ann. Roy. 4. Pearson, R. S. (1920) : Indian Fores-

Bot. Gard. Calcutta 7: 119. ter 46: 613 et tab. 25.

3. Brandis, D. (1907): Indian Trees:

meld

bho

454. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

27. NEW SPECIES OF CYANOPHYCEAE FROM

MYSORE STATE—I

(With two plates)

In this paper three new species of the Cyanophyceae, one of

Calothrix and two of Cylindrospermum, are described. These have been

collected from areas which, prior to the reorganization of the States,

were included in Bombay State, and now come within Mysore State.

1. Calothrix santapaui' sp. nov. (Plate 1, Figs. 1 and 2)

Filaments single, straight or curved, sometimes branched. Sheath

firm, hyaline to yellow-brown, distinctly stratified ; in the basal region

20-25 » broad ; in the middle of the filament tumid and 30-40 » broad ;

basal part of the filament surrounded by a thick layer of refractive

mucilage. Trichomes without constrictions at joints and tapering into a

long hair which comes out of the sheath at right angles to it in the upper

part of the filament. Cells shorter than broad or as long as broad ; in

the basal portion, 5.1-6.4 » broad, 3.2-6.4 » long; long cylindrical in the

region of the hair and 2 » broad. Heterocysts basal, singie, spherical to

ellipsoidal, 5.8-6.4 « broad, 5.8-7.2 » long. Akinetes one to three in a

tow, separated by disintegrated cells, cylindrical, 6.4-9.7 » broad, 12-24

u long ; outer wall of the akinetes smooth and hyaline.

In a mucilaginous mass with other algae at Castle Rock on 2nd

November 1951. Collected by N. D. Kamat and kept in the personal

collection of the senior author. No. M 15.

Filamenta singula, recta vel curvata, nonnumquam ramosa _ vel

furcata. Vagina firma, hyalina vel luteo-brunnea, distincte stratis

diversis notata, in regione basali 20-25 w lata, ad medium tumescens

30-40 yw ; filamenti basis circumdata corio denso mucilaginoso refractivo.

Trichomata non constricta ad septa, fastigata in appendicem longam,

quae ad partes superiores filamenti emergit e vagina efformans angulum

rectum. Cellulae longitudine minores quam latitudine vel aeque longae

ac latae ; cellulae basales 5.1-6.4 » latae, 3.2-6.4 » longae, in regione

appendicis elongato-cylindricae, 2 » latae. Heterocysta basalia, singula,

sphaerica vel ellipsoidea, 5.8-6.4 » lata, 5.8-7.2 » longa. Akinetes 1-3

in serie, separati inter se cellulis corruptis, cylindrici, 6.4-9.7 » lati,

12-24 w longi, parietibus exterioribus levibus et hyalinis.

Typus lectus in massa mucilaginosa algarum ad Castle Rock a

N. D. Kamat die 2 novembris anni 1951 et positus in herbario auctoris

senioris sub numero M. 15,

1 Named after Rev. Fr. H. Santapau, the well-known botanist of India.

JourN. BomBay Nat. Hist. Soc. PLATE I

Figs. land 2. Calothrix santapaui sp. nov.

.. rm—refractive mucilage

Figs. land2. 1280

‘

inv

PLATE II

JourN. BOMBAY NAT. HIST. SOc.

<—

ile sp. nov.

Cylindrospermum grac

Figs. 3-

ndrospermum echinulatum sp. nov.

b |

ids)

iS)

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 455

The only species with which this species agrees in respect of the

stratified sheath, cylindrical akinetes, and unconstricted cells is C. sand-

wicensis (Nordst.) Schmidle (Geitler, 1932); but its cells and akinetes

are much longer than those of C. sandwicensis, while the tumid sheath

in the middle of the filament makes it distinctive. The akinetes in this

alga may be one to three. When more than one, they occur in a series

alternating with dead cells.

2. Cylindrospermum gracile sp. nov. (Plate 2, Figs. 3-6)

Plant-mass mucilaginous, blue-green. Trichomes loosely entangled,

with constrictions at the joints. Cells cylindrical, rarely quadrate,

3.2-3.8 « in diameter, 3.8-6.4 4 long. Heterocysts ellipsoidal, rarely

cylindrical, 3.8-5 » in diameter, 5-12.3 » long. Akinetes single, ellip-

soidal, 12.5-15 » in diameter, 20-30 » long, with fine, hair-like processes,

3.2-4.5 pw long.

Attached to blades of grass in a small pond at Devarayi on 15th

October 1951. Collected by N. D. Kamat and kept in the personal

collection of the senior author. No. M 16.

Plantae massa mucilaginosa, caeruleo-viridis. Trichomata laxe inter-

texta, constricta ad septa. Cellulae cylindricae, raro quadratae,

3.2-3.8 » diam., 3.8-6.4 w longae. Heterocysta ellipsoidea, raro cylindri-

ca, 3.8-5 » diam., 5-12.3 » longa. Akinetes singuli, ellipsoidei, 12.5-15

p diam., 20-30 » longi, ornati processibus tenuibus capilli similibus

3.2-4.5 p longis.

Typus lectus affixus foliorum laminis graminum in lacuna parva ad

Devarayi die 15 octobris anni 1951 a N. D. Kamat, et positus in herbario

auctoris senioris sub numero M. 16.

This species is distinguished from all the known species of

Cylindrospermum by the hair-like processes on its akinetes.

3. Cylindrospermum echinulatum sp. nov. (Plate 2, Figs. 7-9)

Plant-mass mucilaginous, light blue-green. Trichomes loosely

entangled, with constrictions at the joints. Cells quadrate to cylindri-

cal, 2.5-2.8 (-3.2) » in diameter, 3.2-5.2 » long. Heterocysts ellipsoidal,

rarely quadrate, 3.2-4.5 » in diameter, 5-7.7 » long, mostly present at

both ends of the trichomes. Akinetes single, cylindrical, 9-11 » in

diameter, 16-22 » long, outer wall yellow-brown, ornamented with fine

slightly curved spines, 1.5-2.5 pw long.

Free-floating in a puddle at Londa on 14th March 1952. Collected by

N. D. Kamat and kept in the personal collection of the senior author.

No. M 17.

Plantae massa mucilaginosa, pallide caeruleo-viridis. Trichomata

laxe intertexta, constricta ad septa. Cellulae quadratae vel cylindricae,

diametientes 2.5-2.8 (-3.2) w, 3.2-5.2 « longae. Heterocysta ellipsoidea,

456 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AIST, SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

raro quadrata, 3.2-4.5 «4 diam., 5-7.7 » longa, ut plurimum insidentia

utrique apici trichomatum. Akinetes singuli, cylindrici, diametientes

9-11 p, 16-22 yw longi, parietibus exterioribus luteo-brunneis, ornati

spinis sparse curvatis 1.5-2.5 mw longis.

Typus lectus libere natans in lacuna ad Londa die 14 martii anni

1952, a N. D. Kamat et positus in herbario auctoris senioris sub

numero M 17.

This alga resembles Cylindrospermum trichotospermum Fremy (Geitler,

1932) and Cylindrospermum gorakhporense Singh (Singh, 1939) in pos-

sessing delicate needle-shaped projections, but the akinetes here are

cylindrical and not ellipsoidal as in Cylindrospermum trichotospermum

and Cylindrospermum gorakhporense. Moreover this is a much smaller

form.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors sincerely thank Rev. Fr. H. Santapau for rendering into

Latin the diagnoses of the new types.

INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, ELLA A. GONSALVES,

Bomsay, 1, N. D. KAMAT.

February 12, 1960.

REFERENCES

Geitler, L. (1932) : Cyanophyceae. In Singh, R. N. (1939) : The Myxophyceae

L. Rabenhorst’s Kryptogamenflora von of the United Provinces, India, IV. Proc.

Deutschland, Osterrich und der Schweiz, Ind. Acad. Sci. 9 : 63-68.

14, Leipzig,

28. CORYNOMORPHA PRISMATICA J. AG. FROM OKHA:

A NEW LOCALITY RECORD FOR INDIA

(With two plates) |

The genus Corynomorpha, till recently recognised under the family

Grateloupiaceae in Cryptonemiales, consisted of but two species of

little Known red algae, viz. Corynomorpha prismatica J. Ag. and

C. clavata Harvey. Balakrishnan (1958, 1959), however, created a

new family Corynomorphaceaz with a single genus, Corynomorpha,

and with type species C. prismatica, based on the nature of the re-

productive structures in the alga which were found by him to be

variant from those met generally in Cryptonemiales.

The species C. prismatica (Acrotylus prismaticus J. Ag.) was

earlier known from the coast of Hindustan, S. India (Agardh, 1851,

p. 193). It was also reported by Boergesen (1937) from Cape

JOURN. BoMBAy NAT. Hist. Soc. PLATE I

Fig. 1. General aspect of the Rocky Coast at Cape Comorin, S. India

Fig. 2. Huge rocks far out at sea where Corynomorpha grows luxuriantly

JOURN. BOMBAY NAT. HIST. Soc. PLATE II

ee eee ee a TE errr A = a eee |

= ae eee = Sia capent —

Fig. 4. Rock-pools and channels in the inter-tidal regions, at the sides of

some of which Corynomorpha flourishes

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 457

Comorin in south India, on materials collected by Prof. Iyengar from

that area. The author has collected this alga quite frequently from

Cape Comorin with Prof. lyengar or independently. At Cape Comorin,

it grows attached to some of the huge Archean-gneiss rocks in the

open sea which are exposed to direct and violent surf-action (Figs. 1,

2). The alga is generally at the sides of submerged portions of rocks

well below the surface level of the water. In these areas; a sort

of a vertical zonation of algal growth can be noticed. At compara-

tively higher levels Caulerpa racemosa (Forsk.) W.v.B. and C. peltata

Lamour are seen. Below this, Botryocladia leptopoda (J. Ag.)

Kylin comes up; further below Corynomorpha prismatica is found

marking perhaps the lowest limit of algal growth in these vertical

series. Below the C. prismatica level usually it is either barren or

colonised by a few animal communities.

At Cape Comorin C. prismatica is at its best and most luxuriant

srowth at the sides of a huge rock seen far out at sea (Fig. 2).

This rock can be reached by means of country catamarans, though

with some difficulty and with a certain amount of risk. From the

writer’s personal experiences and observations, this rock shows ex-

tensive growths of C. prismatica; the plants themselves are more

tough, sturdy, and deeper in colour and larger than those found

elsewhere nearer shore. The alga is invariably found heavily loaded

with the epiphytic red-alga Leveillea jungermannioides (Mert et

Hering) Harv.

Apart from the locality mentioned above, the writer has collected

C. prismatica from Okha Port in Saurashtra, in the northern part of

the Arabian Sea. From this area, it is reported here for the first time.

In this locality, the alga was, however, found in quite a different

situation from that met with at Cape Comorin. The alga grew

luxuriantly at the inter-tidal belt, and well above the low-water mark.

Here the coast is gently sloping towards the sea and more or less

flat with undulations of the hard rocky substrata composed of Deccan

Traps and Tertiary formations (Figs. 3, 4). This area is further

characterised by long and narrow crevices with very shallow channels

and rock-pools, which are heavily silted by very fine smooth white

sand and mud. At low tide, the entire area becomes exposed, with

absolutely calm rock-pools and narrow channels with about a foot or

a little more of clear water in them. At the sides and on the vertical

faces of such pools and narrow channels, Corynomorpha_prismatica

was found well above the water level, but sufficiently protected from

direct insolation; it was associated with Caulerpa_ scalpelliformis

(R. Br.) W.v.B. and C. peltata. Compared to the Cape Comorin alga,

144

458

JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

the Okha form was less robust and lighter in colour, being purple-red

with a tinge of yellowish brown.

INDUSTRIAL SECTION,

INDIAN MUSEUM,

CALCUTTA,

February 23, 1960.

K. S. SRINIVASAN,

Curator.

REFERENCES

Agardh, J. G. 1851. Species genera

et ordines algarum. Lund, 2: 1-351.

Balakrishnan, M.S. 1958. On the Red

Alga Corynomorpha prismatica. Curr.

Sci. 27: 307-309.

——1959. Reproduction in some

Indian Red Algae and their Taxonomy.

Symposium on Algology, ICAR &

UNESCO. New Delhi, 1959 (un-pub-

lished).

Boergesen, F. 1937. Contributions to

a South Indian Marine Algal Flora-II.

Journ. Ind, Bot. Soc. 16: 311-357.

De Toni, J. B. 1924. Sylloge Algarum,

Padua. 6 : 550.

Harvey, W. H. 1853. Nereis Boreali-

Americana, 2, Rhodospermeae. Smith-

son. Contrib. to Knowledge 5 (5): 1-258.

Weber van Bosse, A. 1921. Liste des

Algues du Siboga. Siboga-Expeditie

Monograph, Leiden, 49 b., 2 Rhodophy-

ceae, 187-310.

29. OBSERVATIONS ON SOME DRIFT ALGAE

AT MAHABALIPURAM COAST

(With three plates)

The present account is based on observations and collections

made in the field by the author at Mahabalipuram coast, about 56 km. ~

south of Madras, during a study of the ecology and seasonal succes-

sion of the marine algae of the locality covering a period from October

1944 to September 1945.

Reports on algal drifts on Indian coasts are extremely few,

although some records are seen wherein a particular species of alga

is mentioned as having been collected from a locality to which it

would appear to be alien. Edgar Thurston collected Sphacelaria

tribuloides Menegh. growing on an old battered and indeterminable

stem of a fucaceous plant cast ashore on the beach at Madras

(Boergesen 1938: 209). From the same locality he collected

Halymenia dilatata Zan. (Boergesen 1938: 214) and Avrainvillea

erecta (Berkeley) A. & E. S. Gepp (Gepp 1911: 29). Rangachary

collected from the same beach Scinaia bengalica Boergs. (Boergesen

1938: 209). Grunow (1915, 1916) has referred to some species of

Sargassum from Tranquebar in south India, based on the collections

made by Koenig and Klein and on the materials present in the herbaria

of Rottler and Rudolph. Krishnamurthy (1954: 176) has, however,

JOURN. BomBay Nat. Hist. Soc.

SARS .

the sea, opposite the

ROR

Fig. 2. Groyne-wall in front. of Shore-Temple

Photos: By courtesy of the Archaeological Survey of India, S. Circle

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 459

referred to some marine algae as Sargassum, Turbinaria, Hormophysa.

and Ulva reticulata from Pamban and Tuticorin, being stranded at the

Madras beach in the salt marshes at the mouth of River Adyar. A

careful examination of the coasts from where the algae mentioned

above have been collected would readily show that the particular

habitat associated with these algae is not present at these coasts. In

fact, these algae do not grow in the localities referred to.

The greater part of the coast at Mahabalipuram is sandy. In the

immediate vicinity of the Shore-Temple and opposite to it, a few

rocks are seen, some of which are quite large and project a little into

the sea (Fig. 1). To protect the Shore-Temple from sea erosion, huge

boulders are piled up to some distance from and on either side of

the Shore-Temple. In front, a sea-groyne is also constructed

(Fig. 2) to ensure additional protection. The natural rocks, the

artificial groyne-wall, and the embankments of large boulders afford

very good substrata for a variety of algae to grow and flourish on

this coast and at various seasons of the year.

Even though the coast harbours a number of marine algae, the

forms which are cast ashore at different seasons are very few and

practically insignificant. Among the plants of the coast that may be

seen stranded at different times may be mentioned species of Ulva,

Enteromorpha, Cladophora, Chaetomorpha antennina (Bory) Kutz.

[=Chaetomorpha media (Ag.) Kutz.] and Grateloupia filicina (Wulf.)

Ag.

Apart from the species mentioned above, during the early part of

October 1944, the author made a good collection of various other

species from the beach at Mahabalipuram, Edayur, (another sea-shore

village south of Mahabalipuram), and beyond, the stretch of coast thus

extending a little over 8 km. (5 miles). For the most part, the coast

along this beach is practically sandy. At Edayur a few rocks are

seen, but the algal vegetation on them was extremely poor, with only

a few forms of Chlorophyceae as Ulva, Enteromorpha, and Chaeto-

morpha.

The collection of algae stranded at the Mahabalipuram coast

‘comprised several bits of brown sea-weeds as Sargassum (at least about

three species), Turbinaria, Cystophyllum muricatum (Turn.) J. Ag.,

Hormophysa triquetra (L.) Kutz., a single specimen of this very rare

alga attached to a coralline fragment, and Hypnea musiformis (Wulf.)

Lamour attached to Turbinaria. Besides these sea-weeds, and

entwined by Sargassum clumps, a few specimens of the hypocotyl of

collected from the beach. In some places the algae were found

thrown up high on the shore to a distance» Gf ° 9 to 12

460 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (2)

metres from the water’s edge at low tide. In some cases, the speci-

mens were found lying on the beach completely exposed and, in other

cases, partially or completely buried under tiny sand mounds formed

through wind action. Most of the specimens were found in quite

fresh condition.

It was, however, in the month of October 1944 that comparatively

more numerous specimens were found stranded on the shore. In

November, the number was much less and only stray bits of two or

three species of Sargassum and a few bits of Cystophyllum muricatum

and Turbinaria were found, this time all the stranded specimens

occurring on the beach north of Shore-Temple. In December, how-

ever, the number was at its lowest, with only two or three bits of

Sargassum and a single bit of Turbinaria, even though the sea was

very rough, and there was heavy rain for a number of days con-

tinuously, conditions which can be regarded as favourable for many

algae to get stranded. In the months following December, none of

the species mentioned above was found stranded on the beach.

It is significant to mention here that species of Sargassum,

Turbinaria, Cystophyllum, Hormophysa, Rhizophora, and Ceriops do

not at all grow at Mahabalipuram or in the neighbouring areas.

These specimens, therefore, must possibly have come from a

distant shore. The nearest possible source would appear to

be Krusadai and the neighbouring islands in the Gulf of Manaar,

which islands lie, as the crow flies, about 400 km. (250 miles) south

of Mahabalipuram (Fig. 3). The following evidence would seem to

lend much support to this view:

1. ‘The species of Sargassum, Cystophyllum, Turbinaria, and

Hormophysa collected at Mahabalipuram coast have their repre-

sentatives flourishing well at Krusadai and the neighbouring islands

at the reef and in the lagoons.

2. The coral bit to which Hormophysa was found attached

would lend support to the origin of these algae from a coralline

region which is met with at Krusadai and other islands in the Gulf

of Manaar.

3. Hormophysa triquetra, which is an extremely rare alga of

our country, is seen only at the Krusadai Island along the Bay

of Bengal coast, even though coralline substrata and lagoons, which

form the characteristic habitat of this alga, are found in other

neighbouring places and islands in the Gulf of Manaar, off

Tuticorin coast.

4. The hypocotyl specimens of Rhizophora and Ceriops would

further confirm that all these specimens must have come from

JouRN. BomMBAY Nat. Hist. Soc. Plate IT

30 40 MILES

(7 Pagodas)

KRU SADAI aN.

SHIN am

TUTICORIN

GULF OF MANAAR

Fig. 3. Map showing Krusadai and other islands and Mahabalipuram

JourN. BomMBAy Nat. Hist. Soc. . Plate III

@ me

Fig. 4. Diagram showing wind directions and frequencies during October-

December 1944

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 461

Krusadai Island, where in the region of coral islands in the Gulf of

Manaar these mangroves are found.

The ocean currents and the direction of wind (Fig. 4) would seem

to have contributed much towards the drift of these algae and other

specimens from Krusadai in the Gulf of Manaar, ultimately casting a

portion of them on the Mahabalipuram coast. It would be very

interesting to know the extent of such drifts along our coasts and

to what distant shores the plant materials are carried by Nature’s

processes.

In the light of the evidence now before us, the collections made

by Thurston, Rangachary, and others from Madras (Boergesen 1938;

Gepp 1911) and Tranquebar (Grunow 1915, 1916) would be

intelligible. The genus Avrainvillea, a rare green-alga of our coasts,

inhabits shallow lagoons and intertidal belts with coralline and mud

substrata. It is found at the coraliine beds at Krusadai and Hare

Islands in the Gulf of Manaar. Similarly Scinaia bengalica is found

growing on coral rocks at the reefs at Krusadai and the neighbouring

areas. ‘These species must, therefore. have come from these localities

and been cast on the Madras beach. As regards the _ several

species of Sargassum reported by Grunow from Tranquebar, it may

be stated that Tranquebar with a purely sandy coast does not show

any situation at all favourable for the growth of these forms. They,

also, must have come from some distant shore and been stranded

at Tranquebar beach.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Grateful acknowledgements are due to Rev. Fr. H. Santapau, s.J.,

for his kind criticism and help in the preparation of this paper.

INDUSTRIAL SECTION,

INDIAN MUSEUM,

CALCUTTA,

March 10, 1960.

K. S. SRINIVASAN,

Curator

REFERENCES

Boergesen, F. (1938) : Contributions to

a South Indian Marine Algal Flora—III,

Journ. Ind. Bot. Soc. 17 (4): 205-242.

Gepp, A. & E. S. (1911) : The Codia-

ceae of the Siboga Expedition. Siboga-

Expeditie Monogr., Leyden, : 1-145.

Grunow, A. (1915): Additamenta ad

cognitionem Sargassorum. Ver. der K.K.

Zool. Bot. Gessl. in Wien 45 5329-448,

Salem ae VIG): ibid. 46 3 1-48.) 1362

185.

Krishnamurthy, V. (1954): Ecology

and Seasonal Succession of the Alga.

Flora ofa Salt Marsh at Madras. Jour,

Madras Univ. B, 24 (2) : 161-178,

Gleanings

A Female Mowsli?

The following extract from TIGER LADY: Adventures in the

Indian Jungle, by Olive Smythies, published by William Heinemann

Ltd., London (1953), is reproduced with the permission of the author

and publishers:

Page 21: ‘One day my husband came into the bungalow looking

very excited. It appeared that a Forest guard had brought in a girl,

about eleven years old, who had been found in a not very distant

forest where she had been actually brought up by a bear—a sort of

female Mowgli, who had lived as an animal all her life! The bear

had been killed by villagers, who had seen this strange being wander-

ing about near by. They had promptly captured and found to their

astonishment that it was a human being, a girl. She walked on all

fours and grunted like a bear. She was very savage, too, snapping

and snarling at anyone who came near her. “She’s been taken to

the hospital, where shell be fed on fruits and roots and carefully

looked after”, Evelyn told me. “I doubt if it will do any good,

though.”

‘He was right. We often went too see her, and tried to make

friends, but it was no use. She never became any tamer, and after

a few months she pined away and died. This was the only authentic

case of a jungle child I ever heard of in all my years in India.’

[The author informs us that this was some time between 1913-

1916 and the child was kept at the Ramsay Hospital, Naini

Tal.—EDs.]

Notes and News

SEVENTH COMMONWEALTH ENTOMOLOGICAL CONFERENCE

The Seventh Commonwealth Entomological Conference was held

in London from 6 to i5 July 1960. Nearly 50 delegates from most

of the countries of the Commonwealth attended. India was represented

by Dr. M. L. Roonwal, Director, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta,

who also presided over one of the sessions, on ‘Recent investigations

on timber boring beetles’.

The subjects discussed at the Conference were as follows: (i)

Recent developments in insecticides for crop protection, (11) Problems

in the use of insecticides, (iii) Hazards and precautions associated

with the use of pesticides, (iv) Research on stored products pests

and their control, (v) Biological control of insects and weeds, (vi)

Insect attack in relation to the physical characters and physiological

state of the plant, (vii) Recent investigations on timber-boring beetles,

(viii) Termite control in afforestation projects and constructional

timbers, (ix) The utilization of pathogenic organisms in the control

of insect pests, (x) Recent advances and current trends in the study

and control of tsetse flies and trypanosomiasis, (xi) Developments in

the study and dispersal of insecticides, (xii) Recent research on locusts

and their control, (xiii) Developments in the study of plant viruses

and their vectors and their bearing on control measures, and (xiv) The

link between research work and its application in the field of plant

protection.

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY V. M. PHILIP AT THE DIOCESAN FRESS

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EDITORS: H. SANTAPAU & HUMAYUN ABDULALi

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CONTENTS

PAGE

THE BREEDING OF THE GREY OR SPOTTEDBILLED PELICAN, Pelecanus philippensis

GMELIN. By E. P. Gee ae ys ite, oe -» RAD

CRITICAL NOTES ON THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE. III. THE GENUS

Oberonia LINDL. By H. Santapau and Z. Kapadia: K, eae

BUTTERFLIES OF THE PALNI HILLS : A COMPLEMENTARY List. By E. Ugarte and

L. Rodricks ne "ah 4 ae Cm Pome |

THE Birps OF NEPAL. By Biswamoy Biswas .. oe a 4 4276

SOME USEFUL AND MEDICINAL PLANTS OF NAINI TAL IN THE KUMAON HIMALAYAS.

By Raj Kumar Gupta E ¥ af up .. 309

A Cursory ECOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE FLORA AND FAUNA OF THE HAZARIBAGH

NATIONAL PARK (BIHAR). By Jamal Ara oe Lf .. 320

THE NESTING HaBiTs OF THE GOLDFINCH Carduelis carduelis (LINN.) & C. caniceps

Vicors. By R.S.P. Bates .. “ve “1 Ks .. 250

ASPECTS OF VEGETATION OF CHURCH ISLAND OFF TUTICORIN PorRT IN SOUTH INDIA.

By K. S. Srinivasan at a an if .. 348

A STUDY OF THE SEASONAL FOODS OF THE BLACK FRANCOLIN [ Francolinus francoli-

nus (LINNAEUS)], THE GREY FRANCOLIN [F. pondicerianus (GMELIN)], AND THE

COMMON SANDGROUSE (Pterocles exustus TEMMINCK) IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN.

By Shamin A. Faruqi, Gardiner Bump, P. C. Nanda, and Glen C. Christensen 354

NoTEs ON SHIPWORMS FROM VISAKHAPATNAM Harsour. By R. Nagabhushanam 362 _ |

THE VEGETATION OF MARSHES, SWAMPS, AND RIVERSIDE IN KHANDWA DistTRICT

(MADHYA PRADESH). By J. K. Maheshwari . = o. Sat

REVIEWS .-. - 34 on 3 be .. 388 ;

ADDITIONS TO THE SOCIETY’S LIBRARY a Es va so: |

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES a a i mi 308. |

GLEANINGS ee oe oe .. aie .. 462 |

Notes AND NEWS... ash a i 463

Journal of the

Bombay Natural History Society |

506.54

BTA

Vol. 57; No. 3

Editors

H. SANTAPAU, s.1., & HUMAYUN ABDULALI

DECEMBER 1960

Rs. 15

NOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS

Contributors of scientific articles are requested to assist the

editors by observing the following instructions:

1. Papers which have at the same time been offered for publica-

tion to other journals or periodicals, or have already been published

elsewhere, should not be submitted.

2. The MS. should be typed (double spacing) on one side of a

sheet only, and the sheets properly numbered.

3. All scientific names to be printed in italics should be under-

fined. Both in zoological and in botanical references only the initial |

letter of the genus is capitalized. The specific and subspecific names

always begin with a small letter even if they refer to a person or a

place, e.g. Anthus hodgsoni hodgsoni or Streptopelia chinensis suratensis

or Dimeria blatteri. :

4. Trinomials referring to subspecies should only be used where

identification has been authentically established by comparison of

specimens actually collected. In all other cases, or where identification

is based merely on sight, binomials should be used.

5. Photographs for reproduction must be clear and show good

contrast. Prints must be of a size not smaller than 8.20X5.60 cm.

(No. 2 Brownie) and on glossy glazed paper.

6. Text-figures, line drawings, and maps should be in Indian ink,

preferably on Bristol board.

7. References to literature should be placed at the end of the

paper, alphabetically arranged under author’s name with the abridged

titles of journals or periodicals underlined (italics), and titles of books

not underlined (roman type), thus:

Banerji, M. L. (1958): Botanical Exploration in East Nepal.

J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 55 (2) : 243-268.

Prater, S. H. (1948): The Book of Indian Animals, Bombay.

Titles of papers should not be underlined.

8. Reference to literature in the text should be made by quoting

the author’s name and year of publication, thus: (Banerji, 1958).

9. Synopsis: Each scientific paper should be accompanied by

a concise, clearly written synopsis, normally not exceeding 200 words.

10. Reprints: Authors are supplied 25 reprints of their articles

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of the manuscript. They will be charged for at cost plus postage

and packing.

EpDIToRS,

91, Walkeshwar Road, Journal of the Bombay Natural

Bombay 6 History Society.

——

CONTENTS OF VOLUME 57, NO. 3

PAGE

A VISIT TO THE FLAMINGOS IN THE GREAT RANN OF KurTcH. By Shivrajkumar

of Jasdan, R. M. Naik, ph.p., and K. S. Lavkumar of Jasdan. (With three

plates) i . 465

FERNS OF NAINITAL. By D.S. Loyal and S.C. Verma (With one map) .. 479

CRITICAL NOTES ON THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE. IV. THE GENUS

Dendrobium Sw. By H. Santapau, S.J., F.N.I., and Z. Kapadia, Ph.p.

(With ten plates) .. a ae ae ‘i 1,408

ANALYSIS OF THE PROTEINS OF EGG-WHITE AS AN AID TO THE CLASSIFICATION OF

Birps. By D. B. Peakall, M.sc.,Ph.D., M.B.0.U. (With one text-figure) .. 511

Tue Birps oF NEPAL. Part 2. By Biswamoy Biswas .. Si 516

REVISION OF INDIAN SPIDERS OF THE GENUS Cyrtarachne (Argiopidae : Arachnida).

By B. K. Tikader. (With five text-figures) Ae He so, 047,

THYSANOPTERA FROM THE NILGIRI AND KODAIKANAL HILLS (SOUTH INDIA). By

T. N. Ananthakrishnan. (With six figures) oe a i S57

A. SYSTEMATIC AND ECOLOGICAL ACCOUNT OF THE CYANOPHYCEAE OF HOSHIARPUR

By P. C. Vasishta (With twelve figures) .. ie wd 45, 19

Tue Genus Veronica LINN. OF EASTERN INDIA. By Narendra Mohan Dutta.

(With a plate) as ais St ae = 22590

REPORT ON THE STATUS OF THE BROWANTLERED DEER OF MANIPUR (INDIA). By

E. P. Gee, M.A.,C.M.Z.S. (With 3 plates and 3 maps).. ay wet 597

\ Some Notes ON SANCTUARIES AND WILD LIFE IN SOUTH INDIA (1959). By O. H. .

de St. Croix a an es te eee .. 618

OBITUARIES :

S.P.Agharkar .. 7. se ee #. +2 635

C. H. Donald ze oa a be &3 .. 636

Stanley Henry Prater (With a plate) — rv. 5. So 1657

REVIEWS :

1. Born Free. By J. Adamson. (I.R.) .. ee me .. 643

2. Common Malayan Birds. By M. W. F. Tweedie. (S.A.).. ». 643

3. Bulletin of Entomology, No. 1. (Published by the Department of

Zoology, Loyola College, Madras). (R.R.) .. LS .. 644

4. Butterflies of Formosa in Colour. By T.Shirozu. (T. Ikawa) -. 644

5. Common Malayan Butterflies. By R. Morrell. | (RERE I <3 ~. 645

6. Dragonflies. By P. S. Corbet, C. Longfield, and N. W. Moore. (R.R.) 646

7. Comparative Breeding Behaviour of four Species of North American

Herons. By A. J. Meyerriecks. (J.H.C.) .. a a) 648

8. The Lonely Tiger. By H. Allen. (D.J.P.) ne = .. 649

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES :

1. Jungle Dogs kill Sambar doe. By G. V. R. Frend (p. 652). 2. How

many young does a Chital have? By Editors (p. 653). 3. Indian Wild Boar

(Sus scrofa cristatus Wagner) feeding on Boerhavia diffusa Linn. By R. S.

Dharmakumarsinhji (p. 654). 4. Further Wild Life notes from Madhya Pradesh

—A Rejoinder. By Editors (p. 655). 5..Colour aberration in the Whitecheeked

Bulbul [Pycnonotus leucogenys leucotis (Gould)}. By Salim Ali (p. 658). 6.

Where do Leaf Warblers (Phylloscopi) sleep? By N. G. Pillai (p. 659). 7. A

new race of Finn’s Baya, Ploceus megarhynchus Hume. By Humayun Abdulali

(p. 659). 8. The Blackbacked Woodpecker, Chrysocolaptes festivus (Boddaert),

in Ganjam, Orissa. By K. M. Kirkpatrick (p. 662). 9. The Imperial Green

Pigeon, Muscadivora aenea (Linnaeus), on salt-licks in Orissa. By K. M. Kirk-

patrick (p. 662). 10. On the eggs of the Great Indian Bustard [Choriotis nigri-

ceps (Vigors)] (With a photograph). By R. S. Dharmakumarsinhji (p. 663). 11.

Association between different species of Turnicidae. By K. M. Kirkpatrick -

(p. 665). 12. Marsh Sandpipers (Tringa stagnatalis) colliding against telephone

wires. By R.S. Dharmakumarsinhji (p. 666). 13. The Christmas Island Frigate-

bird, Fregata andrewsi Mathews, in Indian waters—A correction. By Humayun

Abdulali (p. 667). 14. Occurrence of the Least Frigate-bird [Fregata ariel (G.R..

Gray)] in Bombay. By Humayun Abdulali (p. 668). 15. A note on the Com-

mon Monitor, Varanus monitor Linn. By P. L. Misra (p. 669). 16. Obser-

vations on the Red Earth Boa or Russell’s Earth-snake [Eryx conicus (Schneider)].

By K. G. Adiyodi (p. 671). 17. Mating behaviour of the beetle Hydrophilus oliva-

ceus Fabricius. By S.'N. Mathur (p. 672). 18. Migrational flights of the Com-

mon Indian Crow butterfly [Euploea core (Cramer)]. By D.E. Reuben (p. 673).

19. Plusia (Phytometra) ni Hb. (Noctuidae) as a pest of Cabbage Brassica olera-

cea in south India. By B. Vasantharaj David (p. 679). 20. Syngamia abrup-

talis Walker (Pyralidae—Lepidoptera): A new pest of Mentha viridis L. in

south India. By A. Abdul Kareem, S. Jayaraj, and P. P. Vasudeva Menon

(p. 681). 21. A new species of the genus Craspedoxantha Bezzi, 1913, from India

(Diptera : Trypetidae) (With a plate). By Md. Zaka-ur-Rab (p. 683). 22. Un-

usual nest-site of the Social Spider, Stegodyphus sarasinorum Karsch (With

a plate). By G. J. Phanuel (p. 686). 23. An unusual method of curing scor-

pion stings. By Humayun Abdulali (p. 688). 24. A new species of mollusc,

Gulella rambhaensis, from Rambha in Orissa (Gastropoda: Family Streptaxi-

dae) (With one text-figure). By H.C. Ray (p. 690). 25. Ectoproctan-Coelente-

rate association: An example of unpurposeful inquilinism? By N. Krishna

Pillai (p. 693). 26. The correct name of Cassia glauca and its varieties. By D.

Chatterjee (p. 695). 27. Cucumis setosus Cogn.—A new record for Bombay

(With one plate). By A. R. Chavan and G. M. Oza (p. 699). 28. Phyllody of

the gynoecium and androecium in Ylang-Ylang Tree, Cananga odorata Hook.

(With a plate). By K. V. Marathe and B. S. Navalkar (p. 700).. 29. Black

colour in flowers : Is there such a colour in nature? By H. Santapau (p. 701).

30. Food from grass minus the cow. By R. W. Burton (p. 702) .

GLEANINGS..

NOTES AND NEWS

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY FOR THE YEAR

1959-60

STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS OF THE BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING ..

-. 704

. 707

. 708

. 713

alg

JOURNAL

OF THE

BOMBAY NATURAL

HISTORY SOCIETY

1960 DECEMBER Vol. 57 No. 3

A Visit to the Flamingos in the

Great Rann of Kutch

SHIVRAJKUMAR OF JASDAN,

R. M. NAIK, PH.D.,

AND

K. S. LAVKUMAR OF JASDAN

(With three plates)

On 16 April 1960 the three of us and P. W. Soman of the Bombay

Natural History Society assembled in the Modern Hotel at Bhuj.

‘A sight for the Gods’ Dr. Salim Ali had written to us describing

Flamingo City which he had visited on 21 March 1960 from the bird-

ringing camp at Kuar Bet and, excited by what he said, we were

about to set off hoping to share in the pleasure and to seize the

privileged opportunity of witnessing the spectacle. However there

was deep down amidst all the enthusiasm, a mild doubt which was

ever so lightly perceptible in all our minds. Had not McCann said

that the Rann dries up pretty fast when it does start doing so? He

had found that the water receded many miles each day, forcing the

breeding flamingos to evacuate their nests, some even containing

hard-set eggs and newly hatched young, while countless chicks in the

running stage fall out by the wayside unable to keep up with the

rapidly retreating waters and lie as mute testimony to the disasters

which strike breeding populations in nature. Suppose, we asked each

other, that such a catastrophe had happened? Would we merely be

witnesses to one of. Nature’s cruel acts of profligacy? Another

alternative, the voice of doubt softly whispered: ‘What if the birds

have hatched out their eggs and taken their broods into deeper

water?’

466 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

However, these unpleasant thoughts were not allowed to choke

our enthusiasm, for the bus seats for Khavda had to be reserved for

the next morning, essential stores had to be purchased, and as a

couple of us discovered that we lacked sunglasses to protect our eyes

against the glare of the Rann we had to set about acquiring these.

We therefore spent a busy afternoon in the picturesque and tortuous

bazaars of Bhuj behind the thick medieval walls.

17 April 1960. The following morning we left for Khavda. The

bus, a new one, was not over-crowded as most State Transport buses

are. We had front seats, and the morning was pleasantly cool with

a fresh breeze coming from the north. We travelled fast and soon

the sandstone hills of Kutch were left behind, and the level country

of the Banni’s edge began. At first there were dense shrubberies of

Salvadora and tamarisk which later thinned out and gave way to

the flat featureless expanse of the true Banni. The Grey Partridge

was plentiful and scuttled into cover, Common Babblers chattered

among the shrubberies, and chattering flocks of Rosy Pastors migrat-

ing northward flew overhead. Redvented Bulbuls were common

and White-eared Bulbuls were seen in increasing numbers. The

latter seem to be very partial to Salvadora, and it is worthy of note

that in near-by Saurashtra this pretty little bulbul is totally absent

from large tracts of the interior, and is found chiefly around the

coastal flats where the Salvadora also appears. Can it be merely a

coincidence that the requirements of the bird and the plant are

similar, or does the plant have an ecological influence on the bird?’

The Banni itself is a flat featureless expanse, a limitless plain of

blue-green vegetation. The plants are short bushes with highly

xerophytic characters; their fleshy leaves store large amounts of water,

and are avidly cropped by camels. The Banni is a remarkable

phenomenon; the plain lies but a few feet above sea-level, and is

so lacking in gradient that the rain-water lies in a shallow sheet over

it slowly draining into the sea, or just evaporating into the dry air.

The disappearance of the water is followed by a parching dessication

during the hot season, and the soil is encrusted by salt; tall dust

devils race across the expanses and mirages shimmer, tantalising and

cool, in every direction. This is stock-rearing country, famous for

its fine herds of large-horned cattle and camels. |

For the first time the large Franklin’s Crested Lark appeared,

several female Pale Harriers and a Marsh Harrier went gliding

north, hunting as they went. We were all on the look-out for the

+ This association has been noted near Bombay also. See J. Bombay nat. Hist.

Soc. 39 : 101.—Eps.

A VISIT TO THE FLAMINGOS IN THE GREAT RANN 467

splendid Desert Larks but saw none; instead, we saw a few Redwinged

Bush Larks in patches of grass and Prosopis, and isolated pairs of

Ashycrowned Finch Larks feeding beside the road. Some of the

trenches on both sides of the road still contained watery mud choked

with frogs and provided ample sustenance to flocks of Lesser Egrets,

Small Egrets, Pond Herons, and solitary Large Egrets.

In the centre of the Banni is an extensive oasis of large shady

Acacias casting deep pools of shade, cool and restful after the sun-

drenched Banni. The grass was refreshingly green. Large herds of

cattle and buffaloes stood around under the trees, attended by Cattle

Egrets. The inhabitants are Jhads, a cattle-herding tribe. They are

well-built people and, though they are Muslims, their women go

around unveiled and appear to enjoy a status equal to the men.

Leaving Brindiala, as this oasis is called, and proceeding again into

the dazzling brightness of the Banni, we passed a couple of small

herds of Chinkara, which do not seem to be at all as plentiful as

claimed; nor did we come across any Black Buck or other game, big

or small. Undoubtedly the Banni no longer enjoys its former status of

a small game paradise, and is certainly not behind the times in this

respect compared with the rest of India; man’s predation is greater

and more effective than is believed outside Kutch.

The commonest animal of the Banni was the Spinytailed Lizard,

Uromastix hardwicki, sunning itself on the baked sand. Its per-

formance of suddenly vanishing after a short spurt was intriguing

until one realised that the disappearing trick was done down its

burrow. These lizards are undoubtedly the chief provender of the

large numbers of passing birds of prey during the autumn and spring

migrations. Certain nomadic tribes of the area consider that this

lizard’s flesh has strong aphrodisiac properties and regard it as a

valuable delicacy. ... And so in time for an early’ lunch in

Khavda.

At Khavda, arrangements had been made for our stay at the

police chowky. It was in a way like a home-coming, as we had

been here in the summer of 1956, unsuccessfully on a similar errand.

and were then as now hospitably accommodated by the local officials.

Things had changed little in the intervening years and, except for a

block of new orderly quarters in the large enclosure, everything was

as it had been then—time might well have stood still for the period.

As some high dignitaries were on a routine inspection, we saw little

of the officials who had been making arrangements for guides and

baggage animals to take us to Nir. The chief guide Jamal Nathu

was nowhere in town, and there was no news of him. ‘He might

468 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

arrive this evening’, they all said. Camels were also not available for

hire readily. It was very depressing and it seemed that after all we

were stranded. The doy all of a sudden lost its charm, and we

dejectedly prepared for lunch and then to await developments in the

afternoon. Just then someone said Jamal had arrived and sure

enough there he was standing in the doorway, a thin dark man dressed

in the manner of his people. Spirits revived and lunch was forsaken

to get all information out of him. He was optimistic, as there was

still plenty of water in the Rann, and large numbers of flamingos

fed along its edges. They had no young with them, and so it was

obvious that the birds were still at the colony site and had not

moved off; the camels and ponies had also arrived and were grazing

on the turf of the village tank, so we could leave for Nir the first

thing next morning. The well-cooked lunch, a tribute to the long

catering arm of the Modern Hotel, and a short siesta were followed

by an afternoon of baggage sorting. In the cool of the evening we

went for a stroll to see our pack animals, and to record what birds

were around. In addition to the usual birds one sees around any

village tank in Kutch, we saw a Wryneck, a little Green Heron, and

a pair of Laggar Falcons.

18 April 1960. The sturdiest camel was loaded with all the

baggage, three others and two ponies were to be used for riding.

At 7.50 a.m. the cavalcade started across Pachham towards the north-

west end of the Island where the spurs of Kala Dongar subside into

soft undulations and finally give way to the flat expanse of the Rann.

The entire way is well covered by scrub, and there is little cultiva-

tion. Cattle-rearing is the chief occupation, and there are signs of

considerable overgrazing. The little cultivation done is of a per-

functory nature and depends entirely on the vagaries of the monsoon

rains. Much of the land is deeply eroded. The thickets however

were well populated by Grey Partridge, Rain Quail, Purple Sunbirds,

Redvented Bulbuls, White-eared Bulbuls, Rufousfronted Wren-Warblers,

Franklin’s Wren-Warblers, Common Babblers, Tailor Birds, Common

Mynas, Brahminy Mynas, Redwinged Bush Larks, Ring and Little

Brown Doves, and Roseringed Parakeets. Common Sandgrouse were

noted flighting in pairs and small parties. The heavens overhead

were quartered by King Vultures, Whitebacked Vultures, Longbilled

Vultures, and white Scavenger Vultures accompanied by a few

Griffons. Tawny Eagles were also seen soaring in loose pairs, while

in the shady Banyan over the well at Wadvala, known as Wad-vali

Wavy, a pair of Redheaded Merlin had three young in the nest. A

pair of Laggar Falcons and a Peregrine were also recorded. At

A VISIT TO THE FLAMINGOS IN THE GREAT RANN 469

Kakrao where we spent the heat of the day under a densely shaded

small tree, we heard and later saw a Raven. It was there on our

return.

From Kakrao we rode north. After descending the last low ridge we

came to the Rann, and then turned east along its edge. On our

right the great escarpment of Kala Dongar rose steeply—great beet-

ling crags covered by thick tangled scrub and grass, still showing

green. Birds were plentiful, and their songs were carried in a dis-

embodied symphony from high overhead. Indian Robins were very

plentiful with Baybacked Shrikes (many in juvenile plumage) and

pairs of Brown Rock Chats.

Where the slopes eased to form narrow flat areas between the

perpendicular of the Kala Dongar and the horizontal.of the Rann,

the subsoil water was sweet, and herds of cattle were pastured, their

tingling bells bringing to mind the high pastures of the Himaiayas.

On our left stretched the Rann—startlingly flat and immense;

first a white encrustment of salt shining in the sun, then wet mud

dark brown and rich, and beyond this the blue water, rivalling the sky

overhead and stretching to the horizon where it shimmered into the

sky, and it was difficult to discern where one ended and the other

began. Here was a region where desert and water had become one

in essence, vast and limitless, a land of silence, ruled by the wind

and the sun, a home of dancing mirages, a region forbidding yet

fascinating in the starkness of its elemental harshness. Yet it was

awe-inspiring to see on this cruel stage life playing its part in the

great flocks of pink flamingos feeding in the shallows, flying in skeins

low over the water or writhing high above the mirages and merging

into their unreality like ethereal beings, frail phantoms epitomising

life, fragile yet all-conquering. A little further we came across packed

flocks of Blackwinged Stilts, Stints, Rufts and Reeves, Marsh

Sandpipers, Whimbrel, Sand Plovers, and some Blacktailed Godwits.

Gullbilled Terns, Blackheaded Gulls, and Brownheaded Gulls flew

buoyantly over the water. Tired but happy, we rode along slowly,

drinking in the sights of this improbable land. Here was grandeur

and beauty rivalled by few other creations of Nature.

We made Nir late in the evening as the setting sun cast a warm

glow on the wonderful landscape. The mirages subsided and far out

on the northern horizon we saw lines of pink and white, which Jamal

said were Flamingo City. The birds were. still breeding. A

memorable day had ended well, and tired and happy we lay under

the brilliant stars, worn out but contented.

19 April 1960. The pink light of dawn rekindled the scene. In the

470 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

direction of Flamingo City masses of pink would blaze up and resolve

into long undulating lines of flamingos flying south to the water off

Kunaria or to the west to feed on the edges of the Rann where we

had already seen the vast flocks on our way to Nir.

With thrilled anticipation we broke camp, loaded the animals and

after watering them, set off for the colony. The direction was north-

east of Nir, and traversing a dense stand of tall Calotropis sp. alive

with sunbirds and bulbuls, skirting a green pool of fresh water over

which hovered and wheeled terns and gulls, we came to the edge

of the Rann and, crossing a short expanse of wet and slippery mud

in crossing which the camels fared ignominiously, we entered the

water. Throughout the whole distance, some seven miles in a

straight line, the water was from a few inches to a foot and a half

deep, clear, and with.a few shoals of varieties of small fish many of

which were dead, floating belly upwards, and well preserved in the

concentrated brine.

Flamingos fed singly and in small groups in all directions, while

lines of birds flew by in wavering ribbons between the blue sky and

the blue water sparkling in the morning light. Flocks of Gullbilled

Terns and Blackheaded Gulls flew around and over us. Tight flocks

of Marsh Sandpipers fed busily in the shallows and large numbers

of Ruffs and Reeves, Redshanks, Sand Plovers, and Stints flew fast

and low towards the north. A small group of Whitewinged Black

Terns also went over.

The camels, so sure-footed and aloof on dry land, were in a

hopeless condition, floundering in the wet mud; in water they fared

slightly better but their pace was agonisingly slow. On_ several

occasions they almost landed the riders and the baggage in the water.

Had such an unfortunate accident occurred, the entire expedition

would have been in a pretty mess indeed. The horses soon out-

Stripped the camels and were lost in the distant haze, leaving a long

black trail in the water and mud for the cumbersome ‘ships of the

desert’ to follow as best as they could. For the horsemen the ride

was a pleasant experience as they watched the birds and moved with

safety and speed across the watery miles. but for those on camels the

morning soon lost its sparkle and, as the haze and mirages shortened

the horizons around them, the heat of the sun overhead and the

glare of the water below induced a state of torpor, livened only by

occasional clouds of pink as flamingos far beyond the curtain of

mirages rose before the horses, or a numbed limb shot a complaint

through the already strained spine. The hours slipped by, and yet

we seemed to be in the same place, as in a dream. It was as if we

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A VISIT TO THE FLAMINGOS IN THE GREAT RANN 471

had become one with timeless space, and everything had reached a

standstill in eternity. It was therefore with some effort that it

dawned on us that we had arrived. In the distance could be seen

ranks of white birds. A clump of black forms making their way

grotesquely across some dry sand turned out to be pelican fiedglings

in their black down, and the larger forms were the ponies and the

rest of the party. It was all still unreal, as we came on to dry salt-

encrusted sand. Getting off the camels, we walked the rest of the

distance to ease our cramped legs. The sight of the flamingos was

beyond belief. The fabulous birds were atop their mound-like

nests, some standing and others sitting, their graceful necks curved

over their backs. Every now and then, heads would rise high and

pink wings would open and flash in display and the soft murmuring

from the tending birds rose incessantly like distant surf on rocks.

Behind the peaceful congregation of sitting birds there were in the

water, now several hundred yards from the colony, rank upon rank

of birds feeding with young in tightly packed rafts among their feet—a

sight indeed worthy of the gods! There we sat in the blazing sun with

the amazing spectacle spread before us. Years of longing had at

last come true and, in a dreamlike comprehension, we scanned the

great expanses of baked mud, the clustered mounds of mud nests

rising from them, and the graceful pink forms poised above.

At long last we bestirred ourselves, pitched the tent for shelter

_ from the sun, and assembled the photographic hide, and then we lay

down for the afternoon. The birds were content on their nests,

while files of incoming birds were met by outgoing birds, and ripples

of fire would spread and subside as birds rose, stretched their wings,

and settled down again. We flattered ourselves as about to achieve

a long cherished hope. The birds were there, albeit fewer than those

seen by the earlier party, but their numbers were still in the thousands,

and above all they were ridiculously tame, or so they seemed, and

took not the least interest in our tent and ourselves, though we loomed

conspicuous on the flat and limitless Rann. Before sundown that

day, things were to turn out differently, and a well-planned expedition

was to fail on account of over-familiarity induced by the birds’ own

tameness. This showed us forcefully how no chances can be taken

when working with wild creatures.

At 2.00 p.m. some 200 Rosy Pelicans appeared overhead. They

circled around, at first high and then, in successive spirals, lower and

lower, providing a magnificent display as in formation they grace-

fully rode the air currents revealing a mastery over the art of flight.

In this manner they soared effortlessly for a couple of hours, and it

472 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

was obvious that they had not taken kindly to our presence so close

to their nesting ground. They finally departed, flying south from

whence they had come. A few of them however circled round and

landed to the north in the water. Their gawky black chicks were

all in a huddle among the old flamingo nests on the southern side

of the ‘City’, sheltering as best they could from the fierce heat of

noon. Soon after, the baggage men and animals left us to our

lonely vigil in the boundless spaces with the wind and the birds.

_ When the sun dropped to the western horizon and the heat abated,

we went on our various tasks of examining the deserted section of

the colony, looking over the pelican nests in which there were still

many nests intact with feather lining and two eggs, deserted by the

parents when the major breeding was over, and trying to capture some

newly hatched flamingos for their vomit for analysis by the

Society. The capturing of the young flamingos was ill-advised and

should have been attempted on the very last day, as this greatly dis-

turbed the sitting birds and they now coupled us and our manitesta-

tions with predators. The tent and all movement, which till now had

caused them no concern, were now suspect. They became suspicious

and it was clear that there would be a risk in attempting close range

photography near the colony and, so as not to disturb the birds any

further, all operations in the vicinity of the colony were stopped. The

fact that the majority of the birds had left with their chicks and

made for the water, which had receded from the site, must have

greatly weakened the attachment of these late breeders, and any

intrusion now would surely snap the slender thread of emotion hold-

ing the dwindling group of breeders together and cause them to desert.

Unhappily we called it a day and decided to move our camp the

next morning and watch the birds from afar. The counting of the

occupied nests was to be done just prior to our departure; photography

and data collection was not to be done, for fear of frightening the

birds.

20 April 1960. Before sunrise the camp was shifted to the far end

of the mudflat about 2000 paces from the colony. It was a back-

breaking task. Under canvas, we prepared to pass the day watching

and observing whatever little we could from the distance. The sun

rapidly mounted in the heavens; the heat was intense, and the

mirages sprang up around us obscuring the flamingos and their colony

from view. Some Desert Larks arrived to hunt for insects among the

cracks in the mud, and then flew off. Lost amidst the unusual

surroundings, a Ring Dove alighted for a short while, while a Wryneck

A VISIT TO THE FLAMINGOS IN THE GREAT RANN 473

pretended that bits of driftwood were tree-trunks. A male Blue-

headed Wagtail also paid a short visit. Flocks of Ruffs and Reeves

hurtled past, and isolated groups of Stints twittered by. At noon

Jamal arrived on his white pony with fresh water and curds. We had

lunch off tinned fruits, and lay back as the formations of pelicans

came soaring over from the south. They finally settled among the

deserted flamingo nests close to their chicks, who came over to be

fed; the actual process could not be seen clearly on account of the

mirages. After Jamal departed for Nir we stroiled across to the

northern edge of the mud flat to watch the great masses of feeding

birds with their chicks. Great masses of flamingos stretched along

the horizon half a mile out in the water, with tightly packed clusters

of dark chicks among their feet. These were in all stages of develop-

ment from very small white-downed birds to brown-feathered birds

several months old. The birds extended across 40° of horizon.

We were thrilled to see a flock of 77 Lesser Flamingos in vivid

plumage. They later flew off into the setting sun. Lines of the

larger birds flew to and fro, going to.and coming from the distant

feeding grounds in an unending cavalcade. The sound made by the

feeding birds was a constant roar like that of distant waves. The

evening was a gorgeous one. At sundown, the pelicans were still

with their young, clouds of midges flew over the tent, and in the

deepening dusk flamingos passed low above us to the colony like

the ephemeral forms of apasaras.

21 April 1960. The pelicans had spent the night with their young,

many of which had been led away into the water to the north. Soon

after dawn the adults left. We all went over to the colony to count

the occupied nests and to do what little was possible for the cause

of science. This had to be done as rapidly as possible so as not to

disturb the birds for too long. No catching of young was to be done.

Very soon we were back in camp, making ready to leave immediately

the camels arrived.

The transport arrived at noon and they fetched with them an

ever-welcome refreshment of curds. Two of us took the ponies and

rode out into the water to have a closer look at the feeding adults

and their chicks. The huge population of flamingos was amazing and

the young were conservatively estimated at not less than half a

million. Undoubtedly, this year’s breeding has been the most

successful ever. The abundance of water in the Rann so late in

summer augurs well for the hordes of young reaching maturity.

Late that night we arrived at Nir. A strong westerly wind had

driven the water away from large parts of the track but Jamal assured

474 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

us that as there was ample water on the east of Pachham there was no

possibility of the birds being left dry even if the wind were to persist

for several days. Thus ended a memorable experience, and despite

the failure of our primary purpose of photographing the birds at

close range, great experience had been gained. Notwithstanding

the severe physical hardships endured, the next season’s visit is looked

forward to with keenness.

OBSERVATIONS

Only a portion of the breeding flamingos, reported by Dr. Salim

Ali [J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 57 (2): 412-4] were still on the

nest site. Approximately 2000 nests were still occupied. The water

had receded a couple of hundred yards from the colony. The

majority of the tenanted nests had obviously been constructed after

the water had receded and were very low and composed of flaked

pieces of mud, whereas the older nests were all tall and well-

constructed or well-fashioned, and were made of smooth plastered

mud. These nests were however built on the remains of the older

nests, whereas some of the nests in occupation were of the taller type

and suggested that they had been built earlier and must have been

used twice and even thrice in the same season. It naturally is not

possible to say whether the same pair were rearing supplementary

broods, or whether newcomers had taken over after the original owner

had vacated.

Six separate groups of nests were in habitation, but even the

largest group was very insignificant beside the now vacated colonies.

The largest occupied colony had an area of 1436 sq. yards, whereas

the smallest was 30 sq. yards in area. In the largest colony still in

use, a sample count yielded 3300 nests, of which only 1600 contained

eggs, and there were 9000 eggs lying outside in heaps or smashed.

Large quantities of eggs lay half buried in the mud and were not

included in the count. This shows an enormous wastage of eggs,

either accidentally rolled off the nests by the parents, or rolled off by

predatory Neophrons. In another colony of 300 nests 30 were

occupied and there were 340 eggs on the ground. However, it should

be noted that the number of eggs on the ground was much less in

other colonies, and in the large colonies which were unoccupied at

the time of our visit the number of eggs on the ground was very

much lower and even insignificant. Of course, Neophrons may have

destroyed and eaten up many of these eggs in the unoccupied colonies.

The clutch was usually of one egg, though several nests contained

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A VISIT TO THE FLAMINGOS IN THE GREAT RANN 475

two. One egg was freakishly small measuring 41x32 mm. and

weighing 17 gm.

The colony site has most certainly been in occupation since about

November judging by the brown plumaged juveniles among the other

chicks. The latest brood had only just commenced to _ hatch.

Several eggs were piping and their sound was audible at a distance.

The surprising fact is that these eggs and the very young chicks can

withstand the severe extremes of temperature experienced on the

Rann. We were struck by the intense dessicating heat during the

day and the comparatively cool nights which followed. In the water,

the wind, which was at all times very strong, must have proved a

formidable factor for the smaller chicks. The enormous rafts of

young in the shallow water always had a few adults with them,

the proportion being 1 adult to 50 young and even one adult to 100

and more young. It was observed that these adults flew to water

in the south for feeding and there were regular flights in the morning

and evening. Why these birds had to fly so far to feed when there

must have been araple food near by remains a mystery. Probably

the other feeding grounds were richer than these, though these sup-

ported hundreds of thousands of young in a very small area of a few

square miles. The organic content of the mud in the water where

the young were feeding was 5%. This included plenty of minute

organisms in the water, easily seen when held up in a glass against

the light.

Predation: During favourable years death by natural factors

does not seem to be very significant and the number of dessicated

remains of chicks of all ages was very small and, in addition to

systematic predation by two or three pairs of Neophrons on unguarded

nests and isolated chicks, the greatest loss is obviously by the parents

accidentally rolling their eggs off the nests, which is proved by the

masses of eggs lying around in the mud. In the Great Rann preda-

tion is apparently of small consequence, as the only predators present

regularly were the Scavenger Vultures, but these can hardly account for

more than a small fraction of the eggs and chicks which are reared.

Man does not seem to enter into the picture, as the colony is so

isolated. It has however been reported that some of the villagers

on the edges of the Rann do capture chicks in the running stage when

the birds scatter to feed in the shallows fringing Pachham. But this

can have little effect on the numbers of birds. Loss of life is mainly

caused by natural catastrophes, as reported by McCann.

Nests: Nests varied considerably in size from one colony to

476 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

another, but were remarkably uniform in each colony. It was

obvious that nests, built when the water stood over the site, were

taller and well constructed. They were more closely situated and

the tops of these were from 9 to 12 inches apart. A tall nest was

23 inches high, 15 inches across at the top, and 26 inches wide at

the base. The other nests were not very much smaller than this in

the older colonies. Around the colonies were deep troughs made by

the birds dredging mud for their construction work. The newer

nests were smaller in comparison and were never more than a foot

and a half tall. Mostly they were less than a foot. Neither were

they as dense. The nest density varied from 130 nests per 100 sq.

yards to 200 nests per 100 sq. yards in the older colonies.

Pelicans: The Rosy Pelicans which have been nesting along-

side the Flamingos are a ‘first’ for the country, and Dr. Salim Ali

found them with eggs and newly hatched squabs. He had estimated

3000 adults busy at the operations. By the time of our visit the

actual nesting had been completed, and only 200 large and ungainly

young pelicans and many deserted feather-lined nests remained. The

majority of the young had already been led away into the water

among the flamingos, where they patiently awaited their parents,

floating serenely among the wind-whipped waves. The remaining

juveniles were ail about the same age, very ungainly, and misshapen.

They were covered with a dense black down, and only in a few of

the oldest had the primaries emerged and two white bands of feathers

showed on the crown. All had well-developed subcutaneous air-

sacs. They spent the entire day among the old and deserted flamingo

nests, huddling together for protection from the heat of the sun and

the cool wind at night. They could walk well, though some of the

smallest were still a little wobbly on their legs. When approached

close, they turned to face the assailant and snapped viciously with

their still weak bills. During the hottest part of the day they kept

cool by a continual gular fluttering.

The fact that the squabs at this stage are voluntarily left by the

parents, for such long periods in the blazing heat is highly significant.

Bartholomew & Dawson (Ecology 35: 466-472, 1954) pointed out

how the behavioural responses of the adult Brown Pelican P.

occidentalis californicus depend upon the temperature regulatory

ability of the young. According to them the mechanism of tem-

perature regulation is poorly developed in the naked newly-hatched

pelicans and, for this reason, they are largely dependent on their parents

for protection from the elements; adults are very attentive to their

newly-hatched offspring and show a marked reluctance to leave them,

A VISIT TO THE FLAMINGOS IN THE GREAT RANN 477

and will remain at their stations even when approached to within

10 to 15 yards. With the increase in homothermy in their nestlings,

the adults show a progressive decrease in attentiveness, and the

behaviour of the Rosy Pelicans suggests that the temperature regulat-

ing capacity of these young was perfected. That they were also able

to withstand hunger for prolonged periods was also apparent from

the fact that they endured a 48-hour fast without any unfavourable

reactions during the first days of our camping at the colony.

Heaps of semi-digested fish were noted around the colony and

had been regurgitated by the parents'. A heap of average size

contained 1 to 2 lbs. of fish. These were from an inch to two

inches long. Some of them were coliected by Soman and have been

identified as Cyprinodon dispar.

It would be interesting to know what were the factors that led to

these pelicans favouring the Rann for breeding this season, and

whether they will do the same next year if the present monsoon

rains prove as abundant as those of last year. |

Miscellaneous: Insect life, represented by midges’ flying

over the nests and our camp, earwigs scuttling under the cracking

mud, and beetles (? spp.), was plentiful. Numerous spiders stretched

their webs between the flamingo nests. A hornet and a butterfly were

seen but could not be collected. The enigma arises as to how the

non-flying members of the insect community arrived here. especially

as there are miles and miles of water separating the flamingo-flat

from the nearest land.

CONCLUSION

Here for the ornithologists of India is a _ challenging pro-

blem. The study of the factors controlling the largest congregation

of Large Flamingos in the world would be revealing. Unfortunately,

the breeding cycle of this bird in the Great Rann is very

erratic, and depends on the vagaries of the monsoon rains so

characteristic of these parts. In addition, the colony is relatively

inaccessible, and can only be reached after a long and arduous

journey, during which human endurance is subjected to the severest

test, and what ornithologists have done up to date is a mere collection

of fragmentary evidence during their occasional visits, unhappily

only too brief. A study of the Rann would therefore be inter-

1 Dr. Salim Ali states that these lumps of fish were disgorged by the young. See

_ J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 57: 414.—Epbs.

2 Specimens collected have been identified as Fungus Gnats (Sciara_ militaris).

478 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

esting and needs a greater endeavour than that of the past.

Prolonged stay on the site and a detailed study of the conditions of

water are necessary. Smali groups of birdmen could man a station

at Nir and observations could be continued over the entire breeding

period. This would necessitate organisation on a level which pre-

cludes the individual efforts of stray amateurs. The effort would

most certainly add a tremendous contribution towards the under-

standing of bird behaviour and their movements and provide a

landmark in the science of ornithology. It is hoped that in the not

distant future Indian ornithologists will accept the challenge, and a

detailed project of studies such as envisaged above will be undertaken.

Ferns of Nainital

D. S. LOYAL AND S. C. VERMA

Department of Botany, Panjab University, Chandigarh

(With one map)

The present account of Nainital ferns is the result of an extension

of cyto-morphological and cyto-taxonomical studies already carried

out by the authors in the Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalayas from 1954

to 1958. A perusal of the literature on Indian ferns indicates that, besides

Clarke (1880), Beddome (1863, 1892), and Hope’s (1899-1903) excellent

contributions dealing with the fern flora over vast areas, some later

workers (Strachey, 1906; Blatter & d’Almeida, 1922; Mehra, 1939 ;

Stewart, 1945, 1951 ; Raizada, 1954, and Alston & Bonner, 1956) have

made intensive studies in comparatively restricted areas. It is needless

to stress the importance of local fern floras of this sort. Such accounts

are desirable for almost all the important and accessible regions in the

Himalayas, particularly due to the revived interest in fern cyto-taxonomy.

Apart from this there have recently been serious changes in nomen-

clature and most of the names employed in the various previous reports

are no longer valid. Hence it is imperative that the new fern floras

whether local or pertaining to larger areas should apply recent nomen-

clature. These are likely to be of great help to future collectors, espe-

cially those interested in the cyto-taxonomic aspect. It is with this

idea in mind that the present investigation was undertaken by the authors.

The present paper contains a list of the species collected primarily by

the authors, together with their ecological notes. Other species that have

not been observed by the authors but were reported earlier by Strachey

(1906) from Nainital have been incorporated with a view to complete

the list. These will be searched for in later visits.

The hill station was visited during July-August 1959. The alti-

- tudinal range covered is from 1700 ft. (518 m.) at Kathgodam (railway

terminus) to 8569 ft. (2612 m.), the height of Cheena Peak. The present

collection has been limited to Nainital proper and its neighbouring

localities. Round about Nainital there are seven lakes including Nain

Tal ; out of these four, namely Naini Tal, Bhim Tal, Saria Tal, and

Khurpa Tal, were visited. The various mountain sides searched for

ferns are shown in the map on p. 480.

480 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

N Cheena Peak (8569 ft.)

re Fe

Snow View or Laria Kanta

O (8100 ft.) ) 8144 ft.)

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Map showing the area searched for ferns

The recent system of Copeland’s (1947) classification has been followed

for the sake of convenience. The most recent nomenclature has been

used, following Ching (1936, 1938), Copeland (1947), and Holttum

(1949, 1954). It may be pointed out that Nainital proper is rather poor

in fern flora so far as the number of species is concerned, though from

the entire region of Kumaon Strachey (1906) has catalogued many more

species. However, prolificity of certain species is well marked. For

instance, Onychium contiguum (Wall.) Hope and Athyrium schimperi

Moug. in certain areas cover the entire aspect of several hillocks, and

amongst the epiphytes Araiostegia pseudocystopteris (Kze.) Copel. and

Pleopeltis kashyapii (Mehra) Alston & Bonner are among the exceedingly

common species.

CLIMATE

Nainital proper (29° 23’ N. and 79° 30’ E.) is situated in the outer

ranges of the north-western Himalayas and receives an average rainfall

of 98 inches (249 cm.) annually. The chief amount (70 in.=178 cm.)

falls during the principal rainy months (from June to October). It is

during this period that almost all the ferns bear new fronds and the

FERNS OF NAINITAL 481

fern vegetation is at its best. By about the end of the rainy season the

spores are mature for dispersal. The average temperature is 58° F.

(14.5° C.) during August and September. This is followed by a dry period

beginning from October when the temperature falls down to 45°F.

(7° C.). The winter is marked by the resting period of ferns, especially

the epiphytic ones at Nainital level and above.

The soil in these mountains is comparatively loose and rich in clay

covered over by humus layers in the forests. Limestone rocks are

occasionally observed which are inhabited by several xerophytic species.

ECOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS

The difficulty of classifying the vegetation type of the monsoon forests

has been experienced by many previous workers. This seems parti-

cularly true of ferns, since a large number of species here show great

altitudinal range and occupy diverse habitats. In such cases, therefore,

no hard and fast line of demarcation is feasible. In view of this diffi-

culty the various species have been classified on the basis of their ecolo-

gical habitat.

Forest Floor Ferns

The forests around Nainital are mainly made up of Quercus dilatata

Lindl., Q. lanuginosa Don, and Rhododendron arboreum Smith. Some

of the other trees that were observed were Acer oblongum Wall., Viburnum

cotinifolium Don, Betula alnoides Buch.-Ham., Carpinus viminea Wall.,

and Ficus clavata Wall. (at Bhimtal). These forests are fairly thick, and

the requisite amount of moisture is available for the ground-growing as

well as the epiphytic vegetation. The lofty trees provide shade and pre-

vent rapid air movement to a considerable extent. The soil is rendered

rich in humus. Under these conditions, a large number of species have

been found to grow and thus these forests symbolize the climax fern vege-

tation of the area. In strong contrast to this, fewer species find favour

in the pine and cedar forests. The commonest species recorded above

4000 ft. (1219 m.) altitude are :

Pteris cretica L.

Dryopteris odontoloma (Moote) C. Chr.

Polystichum squarrosum Don

Athyrium schimperi Moug.

Besides, Dryopteris marginata (Wall.) Christ and Polystichum acule-

atum Sw. are less frequent. Forest margins and the roadsides are densely

inhabited by Cheilanthes dalhousie Hk. and Asplenium alternans Wall.

Wherever open situations occur, Onychium contiguum (Wall.) Hope

482 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

forms beautiful beds and appears to be the only dominant species in

such areas. Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn needs special mention.

This species occurs as a weed over extensive usually open areas through-

out the Himalayas between 4000 and 8000 ft. (1219 to 2438 m.). How-

ever, at Nainital it could only be located at some distance below the

Laria Kanta peak (8000 ft.—2438 m.). Some of the open and exposed

rocks on the road to Cheena Peak are colonized by Gymnopteris vestita

(Wali.) C. Chr., popularly known to European botanists as the Mouse-

ear Fern. Phymatodes oxyloba (Wall.) Presl. covers the shaded aspects

of the entire rocks or boulders lying in the open between 6000 and 7000 ft.

(1828 to 2133 m.). This fern is more of a lithophyte than of the forest

floor. In contrast, however, Adiantum venustum Don has an aptitude

for extreme shade and moisture and has been collected in plenty in

the forests above 6000 ft. (1828 m.).

The roadside and the forest floor aspect at lower elevations (2000 to

4000 ft.=610 to 1219 m.) is somewhat different. The entire masonry

work as well as the open forest paths are extensively colonized

by Adiantum incisum Forsk. In contrast to this, Adiantum lunulatum’

Burm. requires very moist and shaded but somewhat open aspects. The

forest floor at lower elevations has a smaller variety of ferns. Amongst

the commonest are :

Dryopteris cochleata (Don.) C. Chr.

Cyclosorus dentatus (Forsk.) Ching

Pteris vittata L.

Lygodium flexuosum Sw.

Another prominent species of this area is Hypodematium crenatum

(Forsk.) Kuhn which is very partial to limestones and grows in the cre-

vices of these rocks. The drier aspects on the roadsides are inhabited

by Cheilanthes farinosa Kaulf. whereas Tectaria macrodonta (Fee) C.

Chr. abounds in deep shaded and moist habitats.

Ravine Ferns

In general there are very few true ravines round about Nainital.

Along Nainital-Bhowali Road several ravines were located which were

almost devoid of direct sunlight. In contrast to the general forest floor

atmosphere and open places, ravines are far more humid. They provide

a congenial atmosphere for the hygrophytic ferns to flourish. Most of

these ferns are large-sized with more or less herbaceous foliage. The

1This is usually referred to as Adiantum philippense L. in recent nomenclature.

The nomenclatural change adopted hére will be discussed separately by the junior

author.

— = ee ~

FERNS OF NAINITAL 483

commonest species that occur on the gravelly soil along the water channels

are :

Thelypteris erubescens (Wall.) Ching

T. repens (Hope) Ching

T. brunnea (Wall.) Ching

Diplazium polypodioides (Mett.) BI.

Many boulders in these localities have a thick velvety covering of

mosses which provide an excellent substratum for the humicoles notably

Araiostegia pseudocystopteris, Adiantum venustum, Asplenium varians, and.

Microsorium membranaceum (Don) Ching. The common inhabitant

of the ravines at lower altitudes (2000 to 4000 ft.=610 to 1219 m.) is

Cyclosorus dentatus.

Epiphytes

While rambling in these forests it is interesting to note that epiphytic

vegetation is rather poor in this part of the Himalayas, in strong contrast

to comparable altitudes in the Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalayas, where

the number of epiphytes is extremely large. As one proceeds westwards

the epiphytic vegetation is still meagre as is evident from the recent report

of Schelpe (1954) from Kulu. The rainfall in the Himalayas decreases

from east to west (Darjeeling, 121.7 in.=309 cm. ; Nainital, 97.4 in.

==247 cm. ; Mussoorie, 80 in.=203 cm.; and Kulu, 43 in.=109 cm.)

and this seems to be the probable reason for the paucity of epiphytic

vegetation in this part of the Himalayas. The most dominant epiphytes

around Nainital are : ‘

Araiostegia pseudocystopteris (Kze.) Copel.

Goniophlebium microrhizoma Clarke »

Pleopeltis kashyapii (Mehra) Alston & Bonner

P. linearis Thunb.

The only species exclusive to Nainital which has not been observed

in other parts of the Himalayas is Drynaria mollis Bedd. It is a common

epiphyte around Nainital above 7500 ft. (2286 m.). Loxogramme involuta

Don is rather less frequent. At lower altitudes (1000 to 3000 ft.—305

to 914 m.) Pyrrosia flocculosa (Don) Ching is an exceedingly common

epiphyte in addition to Pleopeltis linearis.

LIST OF SPECIES

Order OPHIOGLOSSALES

OPHIOGLOSSACEAE

1. Ophioglossum vulgatum L. Collected by Prof. P. N. Mehra in

1949 from Sat Tal but not collected by the authors within the area investi-

gated ; apparently rare.

484 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

2. Botrychium lanuginosum Wall. Grows in patches on wayside

rocks and gravelly soil on the road to Land’s End and Khurpa Tal.

Most of the specimens have their sterile pinnae becoming soriferous.

3. B. ternatum Sw. Collected by Prof. P. N. Mehra in 1949 from

Laria Kanta side and also reported by Strachey (1. c.) from Nainital. Not

observed by the authors.

Order FILICALES

SCHIZEACEAE

4. Lygodium flexuosum Sw. A common wayside scrambler near

Bhujia Ghat (Kathgodam) and climbs on adjacent shrubs by the help

of its stiff and wiry rachises.

PTERIDACEAE

5. Dennstaedtia scabra (Wall.) Moore. Reported by Strachey

(J.c.) under Dicksonia from Nainital (alt. 6500 ft.=1981 m.) but not

observed by the authors.

6. Pteridium aquilinum var. wightianum (Ag.) Tryon. Observed

only in one locality below Laria Kanta (alt. 8000 ft.=2438 m.).

7. Pteris vittata L. One of the commonest rock-dwellers through-

out the Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalayas, mostly associated with

Onychium siliculosum (Desv.) C. Chr. and Pityrogramma calomelanos

(L.) Link. At Nainital, however, it ranges up to 6000 ft. (1829 m.) and

flourishes, even in moist and shaded situations inside the forests or even

in the ravines. :

8. P. quadriaurita Retz. Not uncommon in the forest on way to

Laria Kanta (alt. 7000 ft.=2133 m.).

9. P. cretica L. The species can be identified in the field on the

basis of marked difference in the size of its vegetative and fertile fronds.

The pinnae of the vegetative ones are broader than the fertile ones with

spinulose barren margins. Very common.

10. Cheilanthes dalhousie Hook. This is a common species around

Nainital. The fronds are generally devoid of powder on the under sur-

face.

11. C. farinosa Kaulf. Common all along the roadside from Bhowali

to Bhim Tal on exposed rocks.

FERNS OF NAINITAL 485

12. C.subrufa Desv. Only a single specimen was collected at Bhujia

Ghat along the roadside ; apparently rare.

13. Cheilanthes sp. Intermediate between C. albomarginata and

C. farinosa in frond characters. Densely scaly with dense white powder

underneath. Very common from Bhowali to Bhim Tal.

14. C. albomarginata Clarke. A common fern around Nainital and

Bhowali.

15. Gymnopteris vestita (Wall.) C. Chr. Collected only once on way

to Cheena Peak, growing on an open rocky cliff. The species can be

recognized by its dense covering of soft, silvery hairs which turn brown

on ageing.

16. Adiantum capillus-veneris L. The species has a great altitudinal

range from Nainital level, down to the plains. In the plains of the Panjab

it grows on shaded and moist walls in wells and streamlets. It was

collected from the roadside along the Mall (Nainital) as well as at Saria

Tal. Plants are rather small in size and more dark.

17. A. incisum Forsk. Exceedingly common between 2000 and 4000 ft.

(610 to 1219 m.) forming extensive matting on masonry work and on

rocks by the presence of apical buds. In the Indian literature on ferns,

it has been considered as A. caudatum L., but it differs from true A.

caudatum in colour, general appearance, texture, and degree of cutting of

the pinnae, in having smooth apices of the sterile pinnae and larger sori,

and in not having its veins raised and prominent. Collected from Bhim

Tal and Bhujia Ghat.

18. <A. lunulatum Burm. Restricted to 2000 to 4000 ft. (610 to 1219

m.) alt. Collected from several mesophytic localities such as Mehra

Gaon, Bhim Tal, and Bhujia Ghat.

19. A. venustum Don. Excellent specimens were gathered on way to

Laria Kanta and Tiffin Top ; requires very humid situations.

DAVALLIACEAE

20. Araiostegia pseudocystopteris (Kze.) Copel. One of the com-

monest epiphytes in all the localities at Nainital level.

21. Nephrolepis volubilis J. Sm. Reported by Strachey (l.c.) at

6700 ft. (2042 m.) alt. but not seen by the authors.

ASPIDIACEAE

22. Wypodematium crenatum (Forsk.) Kuhn. A common xerophyte

of limestone rocks; generally observed at low altitude (2000 to 5000 ft.

=610 to 1524 m.).

486 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

23. Polystichum squarrosum (Don) Fee. A fairly common species

growing along the roadsides as well as in comparatively drier forests

around Nainital.

24. P. aculeatum Sw. It occurs under the same habitat as the former

species but is comparatively less common; collected on way to .Cheena

Peak. ,

25. P. obliquum (Don) Moore. Collected by Strachey (1. c.) at 6900

ft. (2103 m.) alt. but not seen by the authors.

26. Cyrtomium falcatum Sw. (Copeland, 1947, under Phanerophe

lebia). Reported by Strachey under Aspidium, at 7000 to 8500 ft. (2134

to 2590 m.) alt. Not observed by the authors; apparently rare.

27. Dryopteris odontoloma (Moore) C. Chr. A fairly common forest

fern met with in mesophytic localities. Apparently rare eastwards. It

is significant to note that in Darjeeling it inhabits only the masonry work

along the roadsides and was never observed on the forest floor.

28. WD. marginata (Wall.) Christ. This is another conspicuous species

of the genus growing along with the former but can be differentiated

by its large size and often tripinnate fronds.

29. D. chrysocoma (Christ) C. Chr. Common in mesophytic locali-

ties and known to early botanists as D. schimperiana, the type of which is

from Abyssinia. In view of several morphological differences, Ching

(1938) retains the present name for the Himalayan plant.

30. D. cochleata (Christ) C. Chr. It is the only species of the genus

restricted to low altitudes (2000 to 3000 ft.=610 to 914 m.); also differs

from other species of the area in having dimorphic fronds, the fertile ones

being highly contracted. Fruits in September onwards.

31. Tectaria macrodonta (Fee) C. Chr. Grows on gravelly soil

between 2000 and 4000 ft. (610 to 1219 m.) alt. Common near Bhim Tal

and Bhujia Ghat.

32. Thelypteris repens (Hope) Ching. A common ravine fern. The

fronds are characterized by the presence of unicellular needle-like hairs

on both the surfaces. Nainital-Bhowali Road.

33. T. erubescens (Wall.) Ching. Grows in the same habitat as the

T. repens ; differs from it in having exindusiate sori. Nainital-Bhowali

Road.

34. T. brunnea (Wall.) Ching. The species is characterized by

FERNS OF NAINITAL 487

ex-indusiate sori which are slightly elongated along the veinlets. Collect-

ed only from one spot along Nainital-Bhowali Road.

35. T. sub-villosa (Moore) Ching. Reported by Strachey (l.c.)

under Polypodium auriculatum ; not observed by the authors, apparently

rare in the area.

36. T. xylodes (Kze.) Ching. Collected by Strachey from Almora

and Nainital at an altitude of 5000 to 7000 ft. (1524 to 2133 m.); not col-

lected by the authors.

37. Cyclosorus dentatus (Forsk.) Ching. Common in ravines des-

cending down to the plains. Collected from Bhowali-Bhim Tal Road and

Bhujia Ghat.

38. Athyrium schimperi Moug. Common in the forest towards Land’s

End. The species has a thin extensively creeping rhizome.

39. A. falcatum?. A small-sized species occupying moist but

comparatively open localities on Bhowali-Bhim Tal Road and Bhujia

Ghat.

40. A. tenuifrens Moore. Not observed by the authors, but collected

by Strachey at 4000 to 7000 ft. (1219 to 2133 m.) altitude.

41. A. rupicola (Hope) C. Chr. Reported by Strachey ; not collected

by the authors in the area investigated.

42. A. pectinatum Wall. Grows in open places at low altitudes.

Frequently observed on way to Bhowali.

43. A. oxyphyllum Hook. Not collected by the authors in the area

investigated.

44, A. longifolium Don. Not collected by the authors; apparently

rare.

45. Diplazium polypodioides Bl. An inhabitant of moist habitat of

ravines. Collected once from a ravine along Nainital-Bhowali Road.

46. D. japonicum (Thunb.) Bedd. Collected by Strachey but not

seen by the authors; apparently rare.

ASPLENIACEAE

47. Asplenium varians (Wall.) Hk. et Grev. An inhabitant of moist

boulders on way to Lari Kanta (alt. 7500 ft.=2286 m.) and Land’s End.

1 Tdentification provisional.

488 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

48. A. unilaterale Lamk. Rare in the area.

49. <A. alternans Wall. Exceedingly common on rocks and roadsides

between 4000 and 6000 ft. (1219 to 1829 m.) altitude. Collected from

Nainital, Bhim Tal, Bhowali, and Dogaon.

50. A. exiguum Bedd. Reported by Strachey from Nainital.

POLYPODIACEAE

51. Goniophlebium microrhizoma Clarke. A very common epiphyte

at Nainital level.

52. Polypodium lachnopus Wall. A common epiphyte as well as on

rocks ; generallyan associate of Goniophlebium microrhizoma. The fronds

are covered with scales which are similar to those on the rhizome. In

certain well-protected localities the fronds may attain a length of 2 to

3 ft. (61 to 91 cm.).

53. Pleopeltis kashyapii (Mehra) Alston & Bonner. An exceedingly

common epiphyte at Nainital level and extends farther east.

54. P. linearis Thunb. Grows between 4000 and 6000 ft. (1219 to

1829 m.) alt. as a lithophyte and flourishes equally well as an epiphyte.

Collected from Khurpa Tal.

55. Lepisorus excavatus var. scolopendrium (Ham.) Ching. It is a

common epiphyte around Nainital; under shaded conditions it extends

its rhizome horizontally beyond the trunk to expose its foliage fully, while

the long wiry roots are directed back towards the moss-laden trunks for

the absorption of water.

56. Pyrrosia flocculosa (Don) Ching. Most common epiphyte at

low altitudes in several localities such as Bhim Tal, Dogaon, and Bhujia

Ghat.

57. Pyrrosia sp. Grows in association with P. flocculosa but strongly

differs in having more narrow, linear lanceolate and hairy fronds. On

older leaves the hairs are generally brown in colour.

58. Microsorium membranaceum (Don) Ching. A common fern

between 5000 and 7000 ft. (1524 to 2134 m.) growing on moist rocks.

59. Phymatodes oxyloba (Roxb.) Ching. It is an important litho-

phyte of the area. Collected on way to Bhowali, where it was found

covering the entire aspect of a big boulder. The plants vary in size from

4 to 8 in. (10 to 20 cm.) in length.

FERNS OF NAINITAL 489

60. Drynaria mollis Bedd. A common epiphyte on oak trees at

7000 to 9000 ft. (2134 to 2743 m.). Dimorphic fronds and the creeping

rhizome round the tree trunks are the outstanding characters. Collec--

ted from Cheena Peak and Laria Kanta.

61. Loxogramme involuta Don. Collected only in one locality as

an epiphyte on way to Cheena Peak. Not common.

SUMMARY

The present account on the ferns of Nainital has been incidental to

the authors’ cyto-taxonomic investigations in some Himalayan fern species

complexes. During a short visit to Nainital in July 1959, 47 species were

gathered from various habitats. The foregoing list of species also in-

cludes fourteen species that have not been found by the authors in Nainital

but were reported to occur in Nainital by Strachey (1906). It may be

pointed out that Strachey has mentioned only 24 species for Nainital.

On the findings up-to-date, therefore, 61 species of ferns occur in Nainital.

These have been arranged according to Copeland’s system of classifica-

tion.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are deeply indebted to Prof. P. N. Mehra, D.SC., F.N.I.,

and Mr. R. S. Chopra for encouragement and keen interest. They are

grateful to Rev. Fr. H. Santapau for kindly going through the manu-

script and to Prof. R. C. Ching for the adequate literature and help in

identification.

REFERENCES

Alston, A. H. G. & Bonner, C. E. B.

(1956) : Résultats des expéditions scienti-

fiques genevoises au Nepal en 1952 et

1954 (Partie botanique) - 5 Pteridophyta.

Candollea 15:193-220.

neighbouring regions. Bull. Fan. Mem.

Inst. Biol. 6 (5).

(1938): A revision of the Chinese

and Sikkim Himalayan Dryopteris with

reference to some species from neighbour-

Beddome, R. H. (1863): Ferns of ingregions. Bull. Fan. Mem. Inst. Biol.,

Southern India. Gantz Brothers, Biol. Ser.,8 (6).

Madras. Clarke, C. B. (1880): A review of the

— (1892): Handbook to the Ferns

of British India, Ceylon and Malaya

Peninsula (With Supplement). Thacker

Spink and Co., Calcutta.

Blatter, E. & d’Almeida, J. F. (1922) :

The Ferns of Bombay. D.B. Taraporevala

Sons & Co., Bombay.

Ching, R. C. (1936): A revision of the

Chinese and Sikkim Himalayan Dryop-

teris with reference to some species from

ferns of Northern India. Trans. Linn.

Soc. If. 1:425-611.

Copeland, E. B. (1947): Genera Fili-

cum. Chronica Botanica. Waltham

Mass., U.S.A.

Holttum, R. E. (1949): The classi-

fication of ferns. Biol. Rev. 24:267-296.

—— (1954): Flora of Malaya. Vol.

2. The Ferns, Singapore.

490 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Hope, C. W. (1899-1903): Ferns of

North-Western India. J. Bombay nat.

Hist. Soc. 12-15.

Mehra, P. N. (1939): Ferns of Mus-

soorie. University Punjab Publications,

Lahore.

Raizada, M. B. (1954): A botanical

visit to Mt. Abu. Indian Forester 80:

207-218.

Schelpe, E. A., C.L.E. (1954) : Ecolo-

gical observations on Pteridophyta in the

Kangra Himalayas. Amer. Fern. Jour.

44 (2):49-65.

Stewart, R. R. (1945): The ferns of

Kashmir. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club. 72 (4):

399-426.

(1951): The ferns of Pahlgam,

te Jour. Ind. Bot. Soc. 30:137-

142.

Strachey, R. (1906) : Catalogue of the

plants of Kumaon and of the adjacent

portions of Garhwal and Tibet. Re-

vised and supplemented by J. F. Duthie.

Lovell Reeve and Co., Ltd., London.

Critical Notes on the Orchidaceae

| of Bombay State

IV. THE GENUS DENDROBIUM SW.

H. SANTAPAU, S.J., F.N.I. AND Z. KAPADIA, PH.D.

(With ten plates)

[Continued from Vol. 57 (2) : 269]

DENDROBIUM Sw.

The generic name Dendrobium is derived from the Greek words

* dendron’=tree, and ‘bios’=life, in allusion to the epiphytic habit of

the species.

DENDROBIUM Sw. in Nov. Act. Soc. Sc. Upsal. 6:82, 1799, nom.

cons.; Endl. Gen. Pl. 192, 1837 ; Lindl. in Bot. Reg. 46, 1844, et in Journ.

Linn. Soc. 3: 1, 1858 ; Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Pl. 3 : 498, 1883 ; Pfitz.

in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenf. 2 (6): 172, 1889 ; Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind.

5: 710, 1890; King & Pantl. in Ann. R. Bot. Gard. Calcutta 8: 38,

1898 ; Duthie, ibid. 9 (2): 84, 1906; J. J. Smith, Fl. Buitenz. 6: 306,

1905 ; Kranzl. in Pflanzen. 45 : 25, 1910 ; Schlecht. Orchid. 246, 1927 ;

Holttum, Rev. Fl. Malaya 1: 258, 1953. Oeceraia Lour. Fl. Coch. 518,

1790. Callista Lour. Fl. Coch. 519, 1790; O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI.

2: 652, 1891 ; Kranzl. 313. Desmotrichum Bl. Bijdr. 329, 1825 (non-

Kuetz. 1845) ; Kranzl. 343.

Perennial epiphytes. Rhizomes short or long, simple or branching,

with pseudobulbs. Pseudobulbs simple, uni- or multi-nodal, from

sheathing cataphylls, which, when old and dry, appear as fibrous threads

at the nodes. Leaves deciduous or persistent, either 1 or 2 at the top of

the pseudobulb or many and bifarious throughout the stem. Flowers

solitary, in fascicles or in racemes, axillary, or from the scarious clusters

of bracts at the apex of the pseudobulb. Sepals subequal, spreading,

erect or connivent ; lateral sepals more or less connivent on the foot of

the column forming a mentum ; rarely mentum absent. Petals equalling

the dorsal sepal or larger, free. Lip articulate with the foot of

the column, or rarely connate, entire or 3-lobed. Column free, short,

the anterior part with a large depression, occupied by the stigma, an-

terior side arms short, entire or bilobed ; foot long or short, or rarely

492 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

absent, more or less hollowed on the front, nectariferous at the base ;

rostellum small, transversely lamellate. Anther subglobose or conical,

anterior part retuse or toothed, 2-celled, the stalk short subulate or

filiform ; pollinia 4, in pairs, subequal, the external ones slightly smaller.

Capsules ovoid or obovoid.

In a broad sense Schlechter has estimated the total number of species

to be in the neighbourhood of 900. This genus occurs almost exclusi-

vely in the Old World. It is distributed from India and Ceylon to

southern China and Japan, southwards through Malaysia far into the

Pacific and to Australia and New Zealand.

This very large and polymorphic genus has been variously divided

into subgenera and sections by various authors. Krdnzlin in his monu-

mental monograph of the genus divides it into 10 subgenera. All our

Bombay species (except one) are included under the first subgenus

Eudendrobium ; D. lawianum Lindl. goes with peloric forms under Aclinia.

Most modern authors divide the genus into sections ; we follow them.

However for D. lawianum Lindl. we follow Lindley in reinstating the

section Aclinia. The name of the section containing the type species,

D. crumenatum Sw. (sect. Eudendrobium) must be changed to Dendro-

bium sect. Dendrobium, according to the Art. 22 of the Code.

Type species: D. crumenatum Sw.

KEY TO THE SPECIES OF DENDROBIUM OF BOMBAY

1. Rhizome distinct, creeping ; leaf 1, from

top of pseudobulb ; flowers 1 or 2 borne

on the top of the pseudobulb ae macraei

1. Rhizome not distinct; leaves several,

bifarious ; flowers many in racemes or

in pairs, rarely solitary :

2. Stems usually tufted forming small

ovoid pseudobulb, rarely elongate ;

flowers in slender racemes, rarely

solitary :

3. Stems long, much branched; lip

undivided or obscurely 3-lobed .. herbaceum

3. Stems simple, often reduced to

small pseudobulb ; lip distinctly 3-

lobed :

4. Small plants with crowded, ovoid

pseudobulbs ; petals not broader

than dorsal sepal : |

5. Leaves fleshy, coriaceous ;

peduncles very short, some-

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 493

what thick ; racemes arising

almost directly from apex

of pseudobulb ; midlobe of

lip acute ie a peguanum

5. Leaves thin, membranous ;

peduncles 4-5 cm. long, fili-

form, slender; midlobe of

lip rounded, obtuse or retuse :

6. Lip pink with deep red-

purple veins, irregularly

crenulate, broader across

lateral lobes than the

midlobe ; midlobe small

irregularly crenulate, trun-

cate or subretuse of microbulbon

6. Lip pale yellow or yellow-

ish-green, + suffused

with pink, equal to or

narrower than midlobe ;

midlobe of lip suborbi-

cular, with 2 rows of stiff,

glandular hairs on margin,

rounded or subemarginate mabelae

4. Larger plants with elongate

pseudobulbs (rarely uninodal) ;

petals much broader than the

dorsal sepal :

5. Flowers cream-coloured, about

1.5 cm. across; lip about

Simm: long, ‘the disc

with pale green hairs all

round ; midlobe of lip some-

what quadrate-rounded a ovatuin

5. Flowers pure white, or tinged

with pink, or often strongly

rosy-pink, about 2.5-4 cm.

across ; lip 23-30 mm. long,

the disc with pale yellow

hairs at its base and apex

only ; midlobe of lip broadly

ovate, or ovate-oblong or

rarely subflabellate £, barbatulum

2. Stems elongate, clavate or nodose ;

494. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

flowers in lateral pairs or fascicles,

rarely solitary :

3. Flowers zygomorphic; mentum

distinct ; column with a distinct

foot :

4. Flowers pale cream-yellow, lip

with red or purple nerves ; men-

tum about half as long as

dorsal sepal or longer ; lip entire

or hardly lobed, minutely

serrate, fimbriate, hairy e. macrostachyum

4. Flowers pale watery-green, lip

pale yellowish on the inside ;

mentum less than half the length

of dorsal sepal; lip 3-lobed ;

lateral lobes broad, obovate-

oblong rounded, ascending ;

midlobe deflexed and contracted

inwards at the base slightly

ciliate © 3: igh ie aqueum

4. Flowers white or suffused with

pale rose, lip with a yellow patch

at the base; mentum very

small; lip subentire, obscurely

3-lobed ; lateral lobes small

forming a small pouch at the

base; midlobe spreading, ob-

long-round, puberulous og crepidatum

3. Flowers subregular ; mentum absent ;

column without a foot a “I lawianum

ENUMERATION OF THE SPECIES OF DENDROBIUM OF BOMBAY STATE

1. Dendrobium macraei Lindl. Gen. Sp. Orch. 75, 1830, et in Journ.

Linn. Soc. 3:6, 1859; Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. FI. 260, 1861 ; Hook. f.

714, (partim) ; Grant, Orch. Burma 104, 1895, (partim) ; King & Pantl.

61, t. 86; Gammie in Journ. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 16: 566,

1905 ; Cooke, Fl. Pres. Bomb. 2 : 680, 1807 ; Brithl, Guide Orch. Sikk.

66, 1926; V. Narayanaswami in Journ. Ind. Bot. Soc. 25: 215, 1946.

D. nodosum Dalz. in Hook. Journ. Bot. 4 : 292, 1852. D. rabani Lindl.

in Journ. Linn. Soc. 3:7, 1858. D. pardalinum Reichb. f. in Gard.

Chron. 11 : 230, 1885. Callista macraei (Lindl.) O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen.

Pl. 2: 655, 1891. (See Plate XVI)

Stems long, creeping, annulate, profusely branching; branches

polynodal, more or less trigonous or terete, smooth, shining, yellowish-

JOURN. BoMBAY Nat. Hist. Soc. PLATE XVI

Dendrobium macraei Lindl.

A. Whole plant ; B. Perianth segments.

Journ. BomBay NAT. Hist. Soc. PLaTe XVII

Dendrobium herbaceum Lindl.

A. Leafy plant ;B. Flowering plant; C. Perianth segments.

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 495

brown, ending in pseudobulbs. Pseudobulbs 2-8 <0.5-2 cm., linear-

oblong, fusiform, green or yellow, terete or compressed, and sulcate

when dry. Leaf 4-10x1-2.5 cm., solitary, sessile, very coriaceous,

1-nerved, ovate-lanceolate or oblong-elliptic, acute, obtuse or rarely sub-

retuse. Flowers one or rarely two, lasting for less than a day, from the

axil of the leaf, on a stalk 6-7 mm. long, which is sheathed at the base

with several scarious bracts. Floral bracts at the base of the ovary

about 3 mm. long, oblong-lanceolate. Ovary with the short pedicel

5-6 mm. long, subclavate, pale yellow, ridged, separated from the stalk

by the bract. Sepals 12 x 4 mm., white, very slightly suffused with

pink and yellow, ovate or ovate-oblong, acute, faintly 5-nerved ; men-

tum blunt, slightly retuse, at right angles to the ovary, about 4 mm.

long, pale creamy-yellow with a few reddish spots at the back towards

the apex. Petals equalling or slightly shorter and narrower than the

sepals, similar to the latter, faintly 3-nerved. Lip obovate in outline,

about 13 mm. long, white speckled with red on both the surfaces,

3-lobed ; lateral lobes 10-11 x 2 mm. erect, narrowly oblong, obtuse ;

the 2-winged apex separated from the lateral lobes by 1-2 mm. long

subplicate claw, the wings erect in the flower, about 1 cm. across, oblong-

elliptic, truncate or rounded at the apex ; the 2 lamellae reddish, along

the centre to the end of the lateral lobes, much plicate. Column 2 x

1.5 mm., oblong, yellowish white, irregularly serrulate on top (i.e. margin

of the clinandrium). Stigmatic surface broad, oblong-orbicular, mar-

gined with red. Anther small, pale yellowish white.

Leaves : persistent throughout the year. Flowering : July to August.

Occurrence in Bombay State: W. GHATS: Mahableshwar,

Cooke; Koina Valley, Cooke; Birdwood; Ramghat, Dal-

zell & Gibson. N. KANARA: Joida Kumbelli Mines,

about 12-15 miles from Supa, Kapadia 2575-2827; Sampkhand,

Woodrow; Castle Rock, Kapadia 2824-2827; Gundh

Anshi, Pirson; Siddhapur, V. Patel 1849; Kapadia 2362-

2364; Anmod, Kapadia.

Distribution : India: Sikkim, Khasia Hills, W. Ghats of Bombay

State and S. India, N. Kanara. World: Ceylon, India, and Burma.

Notes: At Anmod in N. Kanara, this species is locally known as

* Ruttun-purush ’ and is much valued in the local market, where it is

sold for a high price ; this plant is extensively used by the local popula-

tion for making a much-valued * Halwa’ (sweet preparation).

This species has been included by Kr&anzlin, Fischer (FI. Pres. Madr.

1412, 1928), and Blatter & McCann (in Journ. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc.

35: 265, 1931) under the genus Desmotrichum Bl. and has been con-

sidered to be synonymous with Desmotrichum fimbriatum Bl. V.

496 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Narayanaswami has elaborately discussed the problem and has con-

clusively shown that : ‘(1) Desmotrichum Bl. may perhaps be retained

as a sectional name for a very limited group of Dendrobia, consisting

usually of a primary creeping stem with several polynodal branches,

each branch ending in a monophyllous pseudobulb and with a solitary

axillary flower, but it is preferable to sink it under Dendrobium. (2)

Dendrobium of Swartz is a sufficiently comprehensive genus and also

embraces the species described under Desmotrichum Bl. There is not

much difference to distinguish the latter generically from the former.

This view has been accepted by Blume himself, and Desmotrichum has

been included by him under Dendrobium. (3) Dendrobium macraei

Lindl. is the valid name for the widely distributed Ceylon species and

includes under it and is conspecific with Den. nodosum, Den. rabani,

Den. pardalinum. It is entirely different from Des. fimbriatum Bl. (4)

Den. plicatile Lindl. is the earliest valid name for Des. fimbriatum BI.

and is conspecific with Den. flabellum Reichb. f., Den. kunstleri Hook. f.,

Den. binnendijkii Reichb. f., and Den. fimbriatum Lindl. (5) Confusion

in synonymy originated in the FI. Brit. Ind., wherein under Den. macraei

Lindl. the following were included, namely Des. fimbriatum Bl., Den.

flabellum and Den. binnendijkii Reichb. f. (6) In the Pflanzenreich

3 separate species of Desmotrichum were created from the species men-

tioned in (4) above, to one of which Den. macraei Lindl. was reduced.

(7) In the Indian floras, published subsequent to the Fl. Brit. Ind. the

changes introduced in Pflanzenreich, were adopted apparently without

scrutiny.’

2. Dendrobium herbaceum Lindl. Bot. Misc. 69, 1840, et Misc. 58,

1844 ; Hook. f. 719; Prain, Beng. Pl. 1006, 1903 ; Gammie 17: 32,

1906 ; Cooke 682 ; Kranzl. 72 ; Haines, Bot. Bih. Or. 1173, 1922 ; Fischer,

FI. Pres. Madr. 1416, 1928 ; Blatt. & McC. in Journ. Bombay nat. Hist.

Soc. 35: 263, 1931. D. ramosissimum Wight, Icon. 5 (1): 6, t. 1648,

1851 ; Dalz. & Gibs. 261. (See Plate XVII)

Large, pendulous or erect epiphytic herbs. Pseudobulbs 30-90 cm.

long, much branched, 7-15 mm. thick, thin at the base, thickening up-

wards ; primary ones naked ; internodes 3.5 cm. long, deep purple-brown,

or brown, or brown-yellow, shining and polished, deeply ridged and

furrowed ; lateral branches leafy or not at the time of flowering, green

or yellowish green, sheathed. Leaves 3-11 x 0.4-1.3 cm., sessile, sheathing

at the base, caducous, alternate, distichous, linear-oblong or linear-

lanceolate, acute or subobtuse, entire, glabrous. Inflorescence appearing

after leaf-fall, short, 2-5-flowered, terminal. Peduncles 7-15 mm. long,

brownish green, slender, glabrous, sheathed at the base ; sheaths very

small, membranous, oblong, subacute, entire, translucent, glabrous.

Flowers 7X10 mm., greenish white, pedicellate, bracteate. Bracts 3x1

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 497

mm., persistent, membranous, translucent, semi-amplexicaul, brownish

white, ovate-oblong or oblong, acute or subobtuse, entire, glabrous,

l-nerved. Pedicels with ovary 12 mm. long, about 0.5 mm. in diam.,

pale green, glabrous. Sepals greenish white, oblong-lanceolate, sub-

acute, with a minute mucro just below the apex, entire, glabrous, 3-5-

nerved ; dorsal sepal 7 x 2.5 mm. ; lateral ones 7 x 2.5 mm., 4 mm. broad

at the base, subfalcate, connate along the foot, forming the mentum ;

mentum 3-4 mm. long, broadly funnel-shaped, rounded, enclosing the

lip at the base. Petals 6x2 mm., greenish white, linear or linear-oblong,

acute, entire, glabrous, 3-5-nerved. Lip 52.5 mm., greenish white,

curved at the base, oblong-ovate in general outline, constricted some-

what below the middle, entire, 3-5-nerved, obscurely 3-lobed ; the lateral

lobes narrow, obsolete, slightly turned upwards along the margins ;

terminal lobe ovate or ovate-triangular, obtuse. Column 1x1 mm.,

greenish white, the lateral arms produced above into broad subentire

obtuse wings, which completely cover the anther at the back except for

a narrow linear-oblong space ; from the base of the opening a short,

filiform process is given out to which the back of the anther is attached ;

foot 2-3 mm. long, pale green, curved, obtuse. Anther white, 1.25x

1 mm., oblong-suborbicular, retuse. Stigmatic surface green, rounded,

deep-seated in the column; rostellum white, narrowly transversely-

oblong. Capsule 1.80.4 cm., narrowly fusiform, broad at the apex,

sharply tapering at the base into a long pedicel, brownish green, some-

what 3-angled with yellowish ribs.

Leaves: June to September. Flowering: September to October.

Fruiting: November to April.

Occurrence in Bombay State: KONKAN: Dalzell & Gibson;

Bombay, cultivated, Kapadia 1623-1628. W. GHATS: Maha-

bleshwar, Woodrow; Cooke; Acland; Kapadia 599, 1925;

Santapau 23440. DeccAN: Manched-—Bhimashankar,

Kapadia 1451-1456. N. KANARA: Anmod, Sedgwick.

Distribution: Parasnath, Bengal, Godavari district, Konkan, W.

Ghats of Bombay, Mysore and Madras States from 600 to 1200 metres.

Notes: Gammie mentions that this species flowers in the hot

weather ; this seems to be very unusual, and we have found it in flower

only in the_latter part of the monsoon.

3. Dendrobium peguanum Lindl. in Journ. Linn. Soc. 3: 19, 1859.

D. pygmaeum Lindl. Gen. Sp. Orch. 85, 1830, et Bot. Reg. misc. 62,

1844 ; Hook. f. 717; Grant 116; King & Pantl. 43, t. 58 ; Kranzl. 83 ;

Haines 1173; Brithl 55 (non Smith ex Rees, 1808; nec A. Cunn. ex

Hook. 1836).. Callista pygmaea (Lindl.) O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 2:

655, 1891. Dendrobium microbulbon Blatt. & McC. in Journ. Bombay

nat. Hist. Soc. 35 : 262, (partim) f. 7, 1931, (non A. Rich. 1845). Ge

Plate aa

498 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Pseudobulbs 1-6 cm. long, ovoid-conical to oblong-ovoid, stout, up

to 2 cm. in diam., usually 2-4-noded, sheathed, pale green or yellowish

green ; sheaths membranous with prominent veins. Leaves 2-4, coria-

ceous, 2.5-5 x 0.6-2 cm., sessile, broadly elliptic or elliptic-oblong,

subacute or obtuse, l-nerved. Racemes 1-5, almost directly arising from

the apical part of the pseudobulb, with a few scarious, sheathing bracts

at the base, 1-many-flowered, up to 7 cm. long. Flowers about 12 mm.

long, shortly pedicellate, bracteate, faintly perfumed. Bracts 5 mm.

long, dry, membranous, persistent, narrowly linear-lanceolate, entire,

I-nerved. Ovary with pedicel about 6-7 mm. long, curved, pale green

or purplish. Sepals 8 x 2-2.5 mm., pale green or faintly suffused with

pink, oblong, slightly dilated in the middle, sharply acute, entire, 3-

nerved ; mentum 4-4.5 mm. long, narrowly conical, curved, subacute.

Petals 8 mm. long, white, faintly 3-nerved, subacute, obspathulate, 2

mm. broad a little behind the apex, tapering to 4 x 1 mm. claw. Lip

8 mm. long, pale green ; midlobe suffused with amethyst or purplish,

3-lobed, with a small, 1-2 mm. long claw, obovate-deltoid in outline ;

lateral lobes erect, more or less connivent over the column, 5 x 1-1.5

mm., narrow, with a straight grooved disc in between continuing from

the claw up to the midlobe, veins faint ; midlobe 2-2.5 x 2 mm., slightly

decurved, more or less orbicular or broadly triangular in outline, acute

(often appearing retuse in pressed specimens), the margins crenulate,

curving upwards. Column 3 x 2 mm., narrowly oblong, white ; foot 3

mm. long, conical, the base with a small pouch. Anther 1.25 x 1.25

mm., pale amethyst, its anterior lip minutely pectinate ; pollinia 1 mm.

long, golden-brown. Capsules about 7 x 4-5 mm., deep chocolate-

brown, ribbed, on a very short pedicel.

Leaves: June to October. Flowering: October to December.

Fruiting : December to March.

Occurrence in Bombay State: Dancs: Pimpri, Kapadia

1600-1601; Ahwa, Kapadia. KONKAN: Thana, _ cultivated,

Kapadia 1104; Atgaon-Tansa, Kapadia 1724-726, 1635-1636.

W. GHATS: Kasara-Igatpuri, Kapadia 1375. N. KANARA:

Dandeli, Kapadia 1665; Dharwar, Sedgwick 3788.

The plant has been recorded for the first time from Bombay State.

Distribution: India: Sikkim Himalaya, Jaspur, Dangs, Konkan,

W. Ghats and N. Kanara. World: India and Burma.

Notes: We have usually found this species epiphytic on Tectona

grandis L. f.

This species is similar to D. microbulbon A. Rich. and may be con-

fused with it. However, it can easily be distinguished by its broader,

coriaceous leaves and the smaller, compact, dense racemes arising almost

directly from the apical part of the pseudobulb. Blatter & McCann

seem to have mixed up the two species, as evidenced by their fig. 7, and

JOURN. BOMBAY NAT. Hist. Soc. PLATE XVIII

VA 0" J 2,

»)

pa Ee 3

Dendrobium peguanum Lindl. °

A. Flowering plant; B. Leafy plant; C. Perianth segments,

JourN. BoMBAY Nat. HIST. Soc. PLATE XIX

Dendrobium microbulbon A. Rich.

A. Leafy plant ; B, Flowering plant,

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 499

also by the citation of Sedgwick 3788 under D. microbulbon A. Rich. ;

aay plant clearly belongs to D. peguanum Lindl. (=D. pygmaeum

indl.).

This species goes under the name of D. pygmaeum Lindl. in our

Indian floras, with D. peguanum Lindl. asa synonym. But D. pygmaeum

Lindl. (1830) is a later homonym of D. pygmaeum Smith (1808) ; the

correct name for the plant is, therefore, D. peguanum Lindl.

4. Dendrobium microbulbon A. Rich. in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 2, 15:

19, t. 8, 1841 ; Lindl. in Bot. Reg. 61, 1844, et Journ. Linn. Soc. 3: 19,

1859 ; Dalz. & Gibs. 26! ; Hook. f. 716 ; Gammie 16 : 567, 1905 ; Cooke

681; Kranzlin 29, f. 3 T.; Fischer 1415; Blatt. & McC. 261 (partim,

non f. 7). D. humile Wight, Icon. 5 (1): 5, t. 1643, 1851. D. crispum

Dalz. in Hook. Journ. Bot. 4: 111, 1852. Callista microbulbon (A.

Rich.) O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 2 : 255, 1891. (See Plate XIX)

Small epiphytes... Pseudobulbs 1-2 * 1 cm., crowded, mauve-brown,

leafless at the time of flowering and covered with a network of fibres

formed by the decayed membranous sheaths, conical, 1-3-jointed. Leaves

caducous, appearing in the monsoon before the flowers, rarely with

them; 2-14 x 0.3-1.3 cm., sessile, sheathing at the base, thin, linear-

lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, acute, entire, 1l-nerved. Inflorescence

in racemes 1.5-10 cm. long, erect, 1-3 arising from the terminal portion

of the pseudobulb ; peduncles 1-6 cm. long, purplish brown, slender

with a few oblong, acute, membranous pale brown sheaths. Flowers

10-12 x 7-8 mm., faintly perfumed, pedicellate. Bracts 2-3 =x 1 mm.

scaly, membranous, light brown, semi-amplexicaul, ovate-lanceolate,

acute, entire, glabrous, l-nerved. Pedicel with ovary 7-10 mm. long,

pale brownish green, glabrous, faintly grooved above. Sepals white,

entire, glabrous ; midnerve prominent, lateral pair faint ; dorsal sepal

4-6 xX 2 mm., slightly shorter than the petals, erect, linear-lanceolate,

rarely somewhat dilated a little beyond the middle, subacute ; lateral

sepals 5-7 x 3-4 mm., spreading, broad at the base to form the men-

tum, falcate, acute or subacute, somewhat recurved ; mentum 6 x 4 mm.,

broadly infundibuliform at the mouth, narrowed to a fine, slightly up-

turned purplish apex, white flushed with purple downwards. Petals

8 x 1.5 mm., white, spathulate or oblanceolate, subacute or obtuse,

entire, glabrous, faintly 3-nerved. Lip 4 x 5-5.5 mm., fused for about

1-2 mm. to the apex of the foot, curved, clawed. 3-lobed ; claw narrow,

2 mm. long, pale mauve ; lateral lobes 5 x 1 mm., erect, more or less

parallel with the column, linear, acute, entire, pale purplish green with

many purple nerves on the inside ; midlobe 2 x 4 mm., white flushed

with pink-purple with a few deeper-coloured nerves, transversely oblong-

orbicular, truncate or slightly retuse at the apex, margins irregularly

denticulate ; disc narrow, pale green, with 3 green parallel nerves, ter-

$00 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

minated by a slightly widened, free, 2-lobed callus. Column2 x 1.5mm.,

pale mauve-green, produced below into a 6 mm. long, pale purple,

shallowly grooved foot ; lateral arms white, acute. Anther very small,

pink-purple, suborbicular ; pollinia 4, waxy, linear, yellow. Stigmatic

surface pale green lined with purple-brown. Capsules 10 x 6 mm..

ovoid ; pedicels 3-5 mm. long, slender.

Leaves: July to October. Flowering: December to January.

Fruiting: January to May.

Occurrence in Bombay State: KONKAN: Stocks; Thana, Bell.

W. GHATS: Kasara—Igatpuri, Kapadia 1374; Khandala,

Santapau 253.30, 1037, 1439, 2452, 4363, 4600, 4740-4742, 5049 ; Kapadia

524, 1096-1097, 1235 ; Lonavla, Kapadia 536; Mahableshwar,

Cooke ; Sedgwick ; Ezekiel; Millard; Chibber; J. Fernandez; San-

tapau 13134 ; Kapadia 596, 2057. DECCAN: Purandhar, Santapau

11456; Kapadia; Bhimashankar, Kapadia 1447. N. KANARA:

Amboli Ghat, Bell.

Distribution: Konkan, W. Ghats, Deccan, N. Kanara, Nilgiris,

Anamalais.

5. Dendrobium mabelae Gammie in Journ. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc.

16: 567, 1905; Cooke 681; Kranzl. 80; Blatt. & McC. 262. (See

Plate XX) |

Perennial, erect epiphytes. Pseudobulbs 1-4 x 0.7-2 cm., yellowish

green, ovoid-conical, 1-4-noded, clothed with membranous sheaths,

which on drying leave a network of fibres. Leaves 2-4, alternate, dis-

tichous, subcoriaceous, sessile, sheathing at the base and forming a short

pseudostem above the pseudobulb, 3-8 x 0.4-0.8 cm., oblong or oblong-

lanceolate, obtuse, entire, glabrous. Inflorescence 1-3 per plant, 5-12 cm.

long. Peduncle slender, green, terete, straight or zigzag above, with

1-3 membranous, convolute, oblong, acute bracts. Flowers 1.5 x

i cm., brown or brownish green, convolute, membranous, oblong, acute,

entire, often serrulate above, glabrous, l-nerved. Pedicel with ovary

8 mm. long, greenish white, slender, curved. Sepals subequal, white,

entire, mucronulate, glabrous, 3-nerved, 8 X 3 mm.; dorsal sepal broad,

oblong-lanceolate ; lateral sepals 6 mm.; broad at the base, spreading,

sub-falcate, adnate along the foot, partially enclosing the lip to form an.

obovate, obtuse or subretuse, somewhat curved, 5 mm. long mentum.

Petals 8 xX 2.5 mm., white, linear-spathulate, mucronulate, glabrous,

faintly 3-nerved. Lip 9 mm. long, obovate-suborbicular in outline,

shallowly 3-lobed, curved ; lateral lobes 1 mm. long, white with faint,

brownish red veins on the inside, or narrow, obtuse ; midlobe 3 x 6 mm.

yellowish green or pure pale yellow, orbicular, emarginate, fringed with

2 rows of irregularly arranged, greenish white or yellow thick hairs ;

disc yellowish green, extending as far as or a little beyond the lateral

JOURN. BOMBAY Nat. Hist. Soc. PrATE: Xx

Dendrobium mabelae Gammie

JOURN. BoMBAY NatT. HIST. Soc.

PLATE MXP

[age

Dendrobium ovatum Kranzl.

A. Leafy plant ; B. Flowering plant ; C. Perianth segments.

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE i 501

lobes, with a free channelled bilobed ridge. Column 2 « 2 mm., greenish

white ; foot 5 x 2 mm., obovate, obtuse or subretuse, yellowish on the

outside, greenish white on the inside with pale red-brown short streaks.

Anther 2-celled, yellowish green, oblong-orbicular, mobile on a thin

process given out from the middle of the distal margin of the clinan-

drium ; pollinia 4, waxy, yellow, in pairs, oblong. Stigmatic surface

pale-green, round, slightly broader than long. Capsules 2.5 « 0.7 cm.,

stalked, ovoid, ribbed ; pedicels 5 mm. long.

Leaves: June to October. Flowering: July to September, Decem-

ber. Fruiting: October to April.

Occurrence in Bombay State: W. GHATS: Igatpuri, Kapadia

1388; Panchgani, Kapadia 2046; Mahableshwar, Santapau

13165, 13227; J. Fernandez; Kapadia 597-598, 995, 1938, 2062. N.

KANARA: Belgaum Ghats, Gammie; Londa, Bhiva; Tinai

Ghat, Sedgwick ; Gammie; Anmod, Sedgwick 3370 ; Kapadia 1871,

1907; Castle Rock, Bhiva; Gammie ; Sedgwick ; Santapau 17606 ;

Kapadia 2800-2802.

Distribution: W. Ghats, N. Kanara, apparently endemic.

Notes: There seem to be 2 distinct forms. All the plants of the

northern region of the W. Ghats (Igatpuri, Panchgani and Mahablesh-

war) begin to flower by the end of July and continue till September ; in

the southern parts of the State (Castle Rock, Anmod) flowers do not

appear till about the third week of December. Flowers of N. Kanara

plants are slightly smaller, appearing without the leaves, and are pure

white with a yellow lip. Except for these, we find no other differences in

the flower structure to keep them apart.

6. Dendrobium ovatum (Willd.) Kranzl. in Pflanzenr. 45: 71, 1910;

Fischer 1416 ; Blatt. & McC. 262. Cymbidium ovatum Willd. Sp. Pl. 4:

101, 1805 ; Graham, Cat. Bomb. Pl. 203, 1839. Dendrobium chlorops

Lindl. in Bot. Reg. misc. 44, 1844; Dalz. & Gibs. 261 ; Bot. Mag. t. 5918,

1871 ; Hook. f. 719; Gammie 568, t. 1, 1905; Cooke 682. D. bar-

batulum Wight, Icon. 3 (2): 10, t. 910, 1844-1845 (non Lindl. 1830).

(See Plate XXI) _

Pseudobulbs up to 50 cm. long, more or less uniformly mauve-brown,

leafless at the time of flowering ; internodes one to many, 2-3.5 cm. long,

longitudinally ribbed, the nodes slightly swollen. Leaves caducous,

alternate, membranous, sheathing at the base, 5-11 x 1.2-3 cm., ellip-

tic-oblong or oblong-lanceolate, acute, entire, glabrous, many-nerved.

Inflorescence in racemes from the apical part of the pseudobulb, often

up to 9, coming into flower at intervals ; peduncles with sheathing bracts

at the base; racemes about 3-15 cm. long, several-flowered, subpen- |

dulous. Flowers about 1.4-1.8 cm. across, cream-yellow (or pale nan-

kin-coloured, according to Lindley) with pale green centres, pedicellate,

502 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

bracteate. Bracts 2-3 mm. long, membranous, scarious, oblong, acute,

sheathing. Pedicel with ovary about 17 mm. long, pale brown. Sepals

7-10 x 3-4 mm., pale creamy yellow, ovate-oblong, obtuse or mucro-

nulate, entire, spreading, faintly 3-nerved, glabrous; dorsal sepal

more tapered towards the apex; mentum 3-4 mm. long, pale green,

more or less keel-shaped. Petals 7-9 x 5-6 mm. pale creamy yellow,

obovate-oblong, suddenly widened just behind the minutely mucro-

nulate apex, faintly 5-nerved, entire, glabrous. Lip 7-8 mm. long, pale

creamy yellow, slightly clawed at the base, 3-lobed ; lateral lobes 4 x

2 mm. oblong, obtuse, erect and connivent over the column ; midlobe

4 x 3 mm., quadrate-oblong, rounded, subtruncate or subretuse at the

apex, curved downwards from the lateral lobes, glabrous ; disc with a

callus, subretuse, surrounded all over by pale green, soft hairs. Column

about 2-3 mm. long, with a foot which is broad, tapering downwards,

somewhat conical, curved, 3-5 mm. long. Anther about 1.5-2 mm.

long, conical, obtuse, apiculate in front, yellowish. Stigmatic surface

obovoid. Capsules about 18 xX 8 mm. oblong-ovoid, purple, ribbed ;

stalk 10 mm. long.

Leaves: June to September. Flowering: September to January.

Fruiting ; February to March.

Occurrence in Bombay: KONKAN: Salsette, Hallberg; Tulsi

Lake, McCann; Bassein, Ryan; Badlapur, Kapadia 1952;

Thana, Bell; Kapadia 1103; Tansa, Santapau 15399; Kapadia

1634;Pen-Campoli, Gammie;Khardi, Ryan;Wada range

Ryan; Matheran, Birdwood. W.GHATS: K as ar a, Kapadia,

894-896; Kasara—Igatpuri, Kapadia 1369; Khandala,

Blatter & Hallberg; Mahableshwar, Cooke; Phonda Ghat,

Ritchie. N. KANARA: Gundh, Kapadia 896; Belgaum, Kapadia ;

Ramanguli, J. Fernandez 2061; Gersoppa, J. Fernandez ;

Yellapur, Kapadia 2037-2038; Ankola Belikeri, Kapadia

2169-2174; Karwar, Blatt. Herb. 233.19.

Distribution: Konkan, W. Ghats, N. Kanara, southwards along to

S. India.

Notes: We have noted this species epiphytic on: Tectona grandis

L. f., Salmalia malabarica Sch. & Endl., Erythrina suberosa Roxb., Areca

trees in a plantation in N. Kanara, Mangifera indica L. It is usually

found in open deciduous forests.

7. Dendrobium barbatulum Lindl. Gen. Sp. Orch. 84, 1830; Dalz.

& Gibs. 261 ; Bot. Mag. t. 5918 (non t. 5444) ; Hook. f. 719 ; Gammie

17 : 31, t. 2. 1906 ; Cooke 682 ; Fischer 1416 ; Blatt. & McC. 262. (See

Plate XXII)

Pseudobulbs 1.5-32 cm. long, leafless at the time of flowering, one-

to several-noded, tapering at the apex; nodes 1.5-2.5 cm. long, pur-

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 503

plish brown, about 0.5-1 cm. thick with longitudinal whitish striations.

Leaves 4.5-13 x 1.5-3.5 cm., alternate, distichous, sheathing at the base,

lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, acute, entire. Inflorescence terminal or

lateral ; racemes 1-27-flowered, up to 25 cm. in length, erect ; peduncles

1.5-8 cm. long, pale greenish brown, slender, about 1 mm. in diam.,

sheathed with pale brown membranous sheaths at the base. Flowers

2.5-4 x 2.5-4.5 cm., pedicellate, pure white, to white deeply flushed with

pink-lilac. Bracts 3 x 1.5 mm., broadly ovate, subacuminate, pale

brown, scarious, 3-5-nerved. Pedicel with ovary 1.8 cm. long, pale

yellowish, somewhat pink flushed. Sepals and petals white, or white

flushed with pink-lilac, spreading, somewhat recurved, acute, entire ;

dorsal sepal 1.5-2.6 < 0.3-0.6 cm. oblong-lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate,

3-5-nerved ; lateral ones 1.7-2.7 x 0.4-0.6 cm., oblong-lanceolate, 3-5-

nerved, prolonged downwards at the base to form the mentum ; men-

tum 0.8-1 <x 0.5 cm., broadly conical, obtuse, pale yellow, straight or

slightly incurved. Petals 1.6-2.7 x 0.6-1.3 cm., obovate-lanceolate to

oblanceolate, acute, tapering to the base, entire, 3-nerved. Lip 1.9-

3 cm. long, 3-lobed ; lateral lobes 7-14 x 2.5-4 mm., more or less conni-

vent upwards to enclose the column in a somewhat cylindrical, 9-15 mm.

long tube-like structure, obliquely ovate-oblong, subacute, pale creamy

yellow, rarely tinged with green to deep pink flushed with mauve, with

red-brown veins on the inside ; midlobe 1.3-2 x 0.8-1.7 cm., white, or

white flushed with pink-lilac with several deeper-coloured veins, broadly

ovate or ovate-oblong or subflabellate, acute, mucronulate or rounded-

obtuse, entire. Disc on the lip creamy, grooved, obtuse or subemar-

ginate, with yellow hairs at its base and apex. Column 3 x 2 mm.,

stout, short, lateral arms shortly toothed ; clinandrium prolonged into

a small outgrowth from the back wall ; foot 6-8 x 3-4 mm., obovate,

broadly hollowed with a small, 3-4 mm. long, pouch-like nectary.

Anther 1.5 * 1.5 mm., ovate-oblong, pale yellow ; pollinia 2 pairs, waxy,

yellowish green, linear. Stigmatic surface broadly obovate-orbicular,

creamy white. Capsules 2.2 * 1.2 cm., elliptic, pedicels 11 mm. long,

somewhat curved, subclavate and with a broad beak 5 mm. long ; cap-

sule greenish purple with 3 broad and 3 narrow bands.

Leaves: June to October. Flowering: January to May. Fruit-

ing: March to July.

Occurrence in Bombay State: DANGS: Ahwa, Kapadia 1596-

1599. KHANDESH : Hallberg. KONKAN: Stocks; Law; Thana, Bell;

Kanitkar; Kanheri Caves, McCann; Chiplun, McCann:

Ratnagiri, Kanitkar. W. GHATS: Kasara, McCann; Igat-

puri, McCann; Khandala, Hallberg; Blatter; McCann: San-

tapau 233.6, 233.29, 838, 1675-1676, 2223, 3613-3614, 4362, 4878, 6124,

8644-8645, 8768, 8788, 9179, 9965, 10787, 10951, 12261; Herbert :

Kapadia 493, 511, 1063, 1091, 1093, 1176-1177, 1836-1842, 1942, 2317,

504. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Lonavila, D.,.K.- Patel; McCann:* Kapadia: Pa ne ie ain,

J. Fernandez; McCann; Panchgani-Mahableshwar, Blatter &

Hallberg; Mahabl eshwar, Cooke ; Ezekiel 30321; Acland 1175;

Santapau 12482; Kapadia 1919-1922, 2058-2059. DECCAN: Puran-

dhar, Santapau 11457; Dapoli, Acland 1176 ; Kanitkar ; Bhima-

shankar, Kapadia 1448; Radhanagar, Kolhapur, Acland.

1174; Koina nagar, Koina Valley, Kapadia 2878-2879. N.

KANARA: Tinai Ghat, Sedgwick; Anmod, Kapadia 1876;

Castle Rock, Kapadia 2773, 2794-2795, 2828-2829, 2878-2879, 2937.

Distribution: Dangs, Khandesh, Konkan, W. Ghats of Bombay

State and S. India, Deccan, N. Kanara, Travancore.

Notes: This species is epiphytic on a number of different trees and

shrubs: Terminalia sp., Syzygium sp., Heterophragma quadriloculare

Schum., Carissa congesta Wt., Hymenodictyon sp., Sapium insigne Benth.,

Mangifera indica “., Salmalia malabarica Sch. & Endl., Vitex negundo

L., Tectona grandis L. f., Ixora brachiata Roxb., ete.

Some of the localities where this orchid is common and abundant

are : Khandala, Mahableshwar and Koina nagar.

It may be of interest to point out that Rolfe (in Gard. Chron. 11:

298, 1892) described Dendrobium barbatulochlorops, a natural hybrid

between D. barbatulum Lindl. and D. ovatum Kranzl. (=D. chlorops

Lindl.), which combines the characters of the 2 species. ‘ Briefly it may

be described as D. barbatulum, a little modified in shape, with the crest

and side lobes of the lip of D. chlorops. Good specimens from both the

parent species from the same collection enable these characters to be

easily traced.” (R. A. Rolfe, loc. cit.).

8. Dendrobium macrostachyum Lindl. Gen. Sp. Orch. 78, 1830, et

in Bot. Reg. t. 1865, misc. 60, 1844 ; Wight, Icon. t. 1647, 1851 ; Hook.

f. 735; Prain 1007; Gammie 17: 32, 1906; Cooke 683; Kranzl. 59 ;

Haines 1174; Fischer 1416; Blatt. & McC. 263. Callista macro-

stachya QO. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 2: 255, 1891. Dendrobium gamblei

King & Pantling in Journ. As. Soc. Bengal II, 66: 584, 1897 ; Duthie

99, t. 99 et Fl. Upp. Gang. Pl. 3: 188, 1920; Kranzl. 59. (See Plate

XXIII) :

Pendulous epiphytes. Pseudobulbs leafless at the time of flowering,

slender, 7-50 cm. long, more or less uniform, internodes 2-2.8 cm. long,

3-5 mm. thick, slightly swollen at the nodes, purplish brown with whitish

longitudinal streaks. Leaves alternate, distichous, somewhat coria-

ceous, on drying becoming membranous, pale olive green, completely

and closely sheathing the node below, 2-9 x 0.3-2.5 cm., narrowly lan-

ceolate, oblong-lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, acute, entire, usually

with 3-5 fairly prominent nerves. Inflorescence solitary or in cymes ;

at first usually 3 buds are produced in basipetal succession, indicating

JOURN. BomBAY Nat. Hist. Soc. : PLATE XXII

Dendrobium barbatulum (Lindl.

A. Leafy plant ; B. Flowering plant ; C. Perianth segments,

Journ. Bompay Nat. Hist. Soc. PLATE XXIU |

Dendrobium macrostachyum Lindl.

A. Leafy plant ; B. Flowering plant ; C. Perianth segments.

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 505

a distinct dichasial cyme ; out of which generally | or 2, rarely all the

3, mature. Peduncles 2-3 mm. long, terete, thin, brown, sheathed.

Flowers 2.5 x 2 cm., at first pale green, turning creamy yellow with

age, faintly perfumed on opening, pedicellate. Bracts 2-3 x 1 mm.,

persistent, membranous, ovate, pale brown, l-nerved. Pedicel with

ovary 1.5-1.8 cm. long, curved, pale green above, tinged mauve below.

Sepals and petals 1.5-1.7 < 0.6-0.8 cm., similar, not much spreading,

creamy yellow, somewhat brittle, acute, entire, glabrous, faintly 5-

nerved ; lateral sepals oblong-lanceolate, connivent below with the

foot forming the mentum; mentum 7 x 3-4 mm., infundibuliform,

obtuse, straight or slightly curved. Petals obovate or oblanceolate,

tapered to the base. Lip pale green or creamy yellow with brownish

red slightly inflated nerves on the inside, obscurely 3-lobed with a 3-5 mm.

long claw; lateral lobes almost completely enveloping the column,

obscure ; midlobe circular, half opening. The lip 25 x 15 mm., quad-

rately oblong or broadly subpanduriform in outline, only a shallow

depression about the middle on the margin indicates the separation of

the lateral lobes from the midlobe, obtuse ; margins minutely fimbriate,

the apical half of the lip puberulous ; disc creamy yellow 3-nerved.

Column 3 X 3 mm., greenish yellow, the lateral arms somewhat pro-

duced, acute ; foot 8 mm. long with a small nectarial depression at the

base. Anther 2 x 2 mm., white, somewhat faintly pitted ; pollinia 4,

each 1.5 x 0.5 mm. waxy, yellow, oblong. Stigmatic surface ovoid,

pale green. Capsules 3.5-4 x 0.6 cm., narrowly spindle-shaped, beaked ;

pedicels 1.5 cm. long.

Leaves: May to November. Flowering: May to June. Fruit-

ing: May to December.

Occurrence in Bombay State: KONKAN: Southern parts, Dalzell.

W. GHATS: Koina Valley, below Mahableshwar, Cooke. N.

KANARA: Belgaum Ghats, Gammie; Sampkhand, Aall-

berg & McCann 34192; Sirsi, Blatt. Herb. 34385; Santapau 18505,

18680; SirsiSiddhapur, Kapadia 2444; Siddhapur, V.

Patel 1852 ; Kapadia 2375-2378 ; Jog, Santapau 18616; Bhagwati,

Kapadia _ 1754-1700; Yellapur, Sedgwick; Bell; Kapadia 1771,

1969, 2000.

Distribution : India : Madhya Pradesh, Konkan, W. Ghats of Bombay

State and S. India, Deccan, N. Kanara, Travancore. World: India,

Ceylon.

Notes: The differences between D. gamblei King & Pantl. and D.

macrostachyum Lindl. seem to be slender. King & Pantling in their

original description differentiate their D. gamblei from D. macrostachyum

Lindl. in the following way : in the latter species “... the margins of

thie lip are slightly erose, not deeply fimbriate-serrate as in this ; the disc

is naked in that, or has only a few scattered hairs ; the nectary and anther

506 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

are entire in D. macrostachyum, and the flowers which are sweet-scented

are in racemes’’. Duthie points out that D. macrostachyum differs from

D. gamblei in the much-branched peduncles, the lip convolute at the

base only and not ciliolate on the margins, and the leaves being mem-

branous. Krdanzlin distinguishes D. gamblei principally by the disc of

the-lip being villous and the margins fimbriate (not serrate).

Lindley describes D. macrostachyum “...floribus ternatis, race-

mum spurium formantibus, ...labello cucullato venoso ; limbo ovato

obtuse ciliato intus pubescente”’. Prain describes the lip of D. macro-

stachyum Lindl. as fringed. Blatter & McCann remark from Bell’s

MSS notes: ‘midlobe of lip embraces the whole column’. After a

careful examination of abundant fresh material, we have found that the

hairiness of the lip and the disc and also the degree of serration of the

margin of the lip varies. Lindley himself mentions the lip of D. macro-

stachyum to be ciliate and pubescent.

From these considerations, we consider the differences between the

2 species not to be sufficient for keeping them apart. It may be pointed

out that Fischer makes no mention of D. gamblei King & Pantl., in spite

of the fact that the type locality for that species happens to be the Nilgiris.

Wight’s Icon no. 1647 does not seem to be very accurate.

9. Dendrobium aqueum Lindl. in Bot. Reg. misc. 6, t. 54, 1843;

Hook. in Bot. Mag. t. 54, 1843; Hook. f. 739; Kranzl. 52 ; Fischer

1411; Blatt. & McC. 264. D. album Wight, Icon. 5 (1): 6, t. 1645,

1851. Callista aquea (Lindl.) O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 2: 654, 1891.

(See Plate XXIV)

Pendulous, rarely erect epiphytes. Pseudobulbs 15-45 cm. long, thin

at the base, gradually thickening upwards ; internodes 2-2.5 x 0.7-

1.8 cm., the middle ones thickest, greyish brown, sheathed ; sheaths

longitudinally striated, widening upwards. Leaves alternate, distichous,

falling off just after flowering, 7-14 x 2-5 cm., sessile, oblong or oblong-

elliptic or ovate-lanceolate, acute, entire, glabrous, 8-10-nerved. In-

florescence consists of fascicles of 2-3 flowers produced from the upper

portion of each node along the distal half of the current season’s pseudo-

bulb. Peduncles hardly visible. Bracts 2-4, very small, membranous,

imbricating at the base of the flowers, oblong or ovate-oblong, acute,

entire, glabrous, translucent, l-nerved. Flowers 3.5 x 2.8-3 cm., pedi-

cellate, bracteate. Pedicel with ovary 2.7 cm. long, about 2 mm. in

diameter, cylindrical, greenish white. Sepals white suffused with green,

apiculate, entire, glabrous, 3-nerved ; lateral sepals 2 x 1.5 cm., ovate-

triangular, subfalcate ; dorsal sepal 2.4 x 1.2 cm., broadly ovate.

Mentum 11 X 6 mm., oblong, slightly funnel-shaped, obtuse. Pefals

2.3 x 1.2 em., spreading, white suffused with green, obovate-oblong

or obovate, obtuse, slightly apiculate, entire, glabrous, 3-nerved. Lip

PLATE XXV

JouRN. Bompay Nat. Hist. Soc.

um Lindl.

Dendrobium lawian

A. Flowering plant ; B. Leafy plant: C. Perianth segments.

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE ; 507

2.2 x 2 cm., 3-lobed, whitish green, pale yellow on the inside, sub-

rhomboid, ascending from the base to the middle, then deflexed, trian-

gular-round in front; lateral lobes 6-7 mm. broad, obovate-oblong,

rounded, entire, erect, connivent upwards, enclosing the column ; mid-

lobe 10 x 10 mm., contracted inwards at the base, oblong-cuneate,

acute, ciliolate ; disc 4 mm. broad, yellow, puberulous, extending up to

the midlobe. Column 4-5 x 7 mm., stout, greenish white ; the arms

projecting upwards and forwards, partially covering the anther in front .

foot 10 x 5 mm., stout, oblong, obtuse, curved, with a small, basal,

pouch-like nectary. Anther greenish white, ovate-conical ; pollinia 4,

yellow, oblong, subfalcate. Stigmatic surface truncate, oblong, small,

pale green. Ovary 6 X 4.5 mm., pale greenish white, ribbed. Cap-

sules 4 xX 1.8-2 cm., obovate-pyriform, with 6 strong ridges 2.4 mm.

deep, greyish green ; pedicels 1 cm. long, 2 mm. in diam., curved.

Leaves: June to October. Flowering: September to October.

Fruiting : December to May.

Occurrence in Bombay : . KONKAN : Stocks ex Kranzlin. W.GuHATs :

Mahableshwar, Santapau 12559 ; Kapadia 968, 1918, 1933-1935,

DeccAN: Manched-BhimashankKar, Kapadia 1449.

Distribution: Konkan, W. Ghats of Bombay and S. India, Deccan.

Notes: The specific name aqueum refers to the pale watery green

flowers.

Lindley mentions that the species is “‘a native of Bombay, whence

it was imported by Messrs. Loddiges.”’ Cooke and Blatter & McCann

mention that the plant is often cultivated but has not been seen wild.

We have found it to be fairly common at Mahableshwar.

10. Dendrobium crepidatum Lindl. in Paxton, Fl. Gard. 1: 63, f.

45, 1850-1851, et nov. ed. 1 : 53, f. 40, 1882 ; Bot. Mag. tt. 4993, 5011;

Hook. f. 740 ; Grant 78 ; King & Pantl. 48, t. 66 ; Prain 1007 ; Gammie

17 : 33, 1906 ; Cooke 683 ; Kranzl. 39 ; Haines 1175 ; Briihl 59 ; Blatt.

& McC. 263, f. 7. Callista crepidata (Lindl.) O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 2:

645, 1891.

Pendulous epiphytes. Pseudobulbs greenish yellow, 8-20 cm. long,

narrow at the base, thickening upwards, about 0.6-2 cm. thick ; inter-

nodes about 2 cm. long, longitudinally striated, the nodes somewhat

thickened. Leaves 4-11 x 0.5-1.5 cm., membranous, sheathing, oblong-

lanceolate, acute, entire, glabrous, many-nerved. Flowers in pairs from

the nodes of the apical parts of the pseudobulbs, pedicellate. Bracts

minute, dry, scarious. Pedicel with ovary 23-28 mm. long, straight or

slightly curved. Sepals about 15 x 6-7 mm., oblong, obtuse or mucro-

nulate, fleshy, entire, 5-nerved ; mentum 2-4 mm. long, shortly quad-

rate-rounded. Petals 15 x 7 mm., broadly oblong, spreading, wavy,

abruptly tapered at the very base, obtuse, 5-nerved. Lip 17 x 11-13 mm.,

508 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

hardly lobed, oblong-orbicular in outline, with a narrow, 3-4 mm. long

claw ; basal portion erect, more or less connivent round the column,

forming a hollow at the base ; apical half spreading, wavy or slightly

crimped, puberulous, rounded or shallowly emarginate at the apex.

Column 3-4 mm. long, oblong with curved foot about 4 mm. long. Anther

conical-oblong. Flowers are said to be white tipped with pink, the base

of lip deep yellow.

Occurrence in Bombay State: KONKAN: Law, Stocks; Ven-

gurla, Dalzell. W. Gaats: Lonavla, Gammie;Mahablesh-

war hills, Cooke. DECCAN: Koina nagar, Koina Valley,

Kapadia 2872-2874. 7 |

Distribution: India: Sikkim, Assam, Khasia Hills, Bihar and

Orissa, Deccan. Kranzlin mentions Malabar, but Fischer does not

include the species in the FLORA OF THE PRESIDENCY OF MADRAS. World:

India, Burma.

Notes: We have not been able to collect flowering specimens of

this species. The details of the flowers have been studied from speci-

mens in the Herbarium of the Botanical Survey of India (Western

Circle) with the kind permission of the Regional Botanist.

Haines has taken his description from Pantling. Plants from Chota

Nagpur differ in the flowers being 3.2 cm. in diam. and pink with buff

at the base of the lip. This seems to be D. Jawianum Lindl. and not D.

crepidatum Lindl.

11. Dendrobium lawianum Lindl. in Journ. Linn. Soc. 3: 10, 1859

(lawanum) ; Dalz. & Gibs. 261; Kranzl. 297. Dendrochilum roseum

Dalz. in Hook. Kew Journ. 4: 291, 1852. Dendrobium crepidatum

Lindl. var. avita Gammie in Journ. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 17 : 33, 1906.

Callista lawiana (Lindl.) O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 2: 655, 1891. (See

Plate XXV)

Pendulous epiphytes. Pseudobulbs 5-25 cm. long, leafless at the

time of flowering, usually all curving in one direction, rarely straight,

tapering at both ends; internodes 2 cm. long, 1.2 cm. thick at the

nodes, clavate, green ; generally completely enclosed in a scarious, many-

nerved sheath which arises at a node and extends to about the middle of

the next internode ; tip of the sheath about 1 cm. broad, broadly emar-

ginate; rarely the pseudobulbs are completely without sheaths, yellowish

green. Leaves 4.5-10.5x0.5-1.7 cm., distichous, sessile, sheathing at the

base, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acute, entire, with usually 5 pro-

minent nerves and several faint ones. Flowers subregular, shallowly

cup-shaped, from the nodes in pairs or solitary ; mentum absent. Pedicel

with ovary 2.5-3.5 cm. long, white flushed with pink-purple near the

flower, terete. Bracts minute, 2-5 mm. long, pale brownish, scarious.

Sepals and petals waxy, white flushed with rose-purple towards the

Seale.

THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE 509

apex. Sepals 12-15 » 6-8 mm., broadly oblong, subobtuse, mucronate,

the margins meeting a little above the apex, entire, faintly 5-nerved.

Petals 12-15 x 6.5-10 mm., broadly ovate-oblong, entire, obtuse or

slightly retuse, faintly 5-nerved. Lip 12-17 x 8-10 mm., broadly ovate-

oblong, broader than the petals, obtuse or retuse, slightly clawed at the

base, waxy, similar in coloration to the sepals and petals, the rose-purple

flush somewhat deeper. Column 2.25 x 2.5 mm., stout, white with 2

purple or white processes at the base, behind which there is a deep cavity

(probably a nectary) ; the sides with 2 minute purple or white horns ;

clinandrium broad-quadrate, the back margin with a central, 1 mm.

long, apiculum to which the anther is attached. Stigmatic surface

quadrate just below the clinandrium, glutinous, generally self-pollinated.

Anther 3 x 2.5 mm., oblong, suborbicular, flat on top with a central

transverse band, 2-celled, white flushed with rose-purple ; pollinia 2

pairs, 1.5 mm. long, waxy, golden-yellow, without caudicle or glandular-

viscid appendage. Capsules 2 x 1 cm., ovoid, pale-green, ribbed, sur-

mounted by the hardened pale brown column, pedicellate ; pedicels

2.5-3 cm. long, clavate, green.

Leaves: May to October. Flowering: March. Fruiting: April

onwards.

Occurrence in Bombay State: KONKAN: Law; Bombay, culti-

vated, Kapadia 1389. W. Guats: Sahyadree Hills Dalzell.

N. KAnARA: Yellapur, Kapadia 1988; Kumbelli Mines,

about 17 miles from Supa, Kapadia 2579-2580, 2725-2726; Castle

Rock, McCann 13768 ; Kapadia 2834, 2843-2850; Anmod, Sedg-

wick 3319 ; Kapadia 1868, 1892-1895; Siddhapur, V. Patel 1851;

Kapadia 2370-2371 ; Jo g, Santapau 18603 ; Kapadia 1846 (coll. Pirson).

Distribution: Chota Nagpur (?), Konkan, W. Ghats, N. Kanara.

Notes: We have collected abundant fresh material from the type

locality (Castle Rock) of D. actinomorphum Blatt. & Hallb. and from

other places in N. Kanara. The type specimen of D. actinomorphum

(McCann 13768) is preserved in formalin in St. Xavier’s College, and

has been available for study. We have come to the conclusion that

D. actinomorphum Blatt. & Hallb. and D. lawianum Lindl. are identical

and that this species is quite distinct from D. crepidatum Lindl. though

externally somewhat similar. It has been included under the latter

species by most authors. Kranzlin has included D. lawianum Lindl. as

a synonym of D. crepidatum Lindl. on page 39 ; but then, he also des-

cribes D. Jawianum Lindl. as a distinct species under the heading ‘ Den-

drobia adhuc solummodo in statu pelorioideo nota’ on page 297.

This species is quite common all over N. Kanara and may have been

easily mistaken for D. crepidatum Lindl., from which it can be easily

distinguished by the lip, which is similar to the sepals and petals with

510 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

no trace of pubescence and by the yellow coloration at the base of the

lip ; the column is also characteristic in shape and is without a foot.

D. lawianum Lindl. does not seem to be a mere accidental variation, for

it is found to be distributed all over N. Kanara, and may probably occur

in Chota Nagpur. The characteristic structure of the column at once

distinguishes it from all other Dendrobia ; but absence of foot and men-

tum, with the almost regular flowers throws considerable doubt as to

the correctness of including it in Dendrobium. Its general habit, how-

ever, is that of a normal Dendrobium and we think it best to retain it in

the genus, though in an independent section.

The earlier specific epithet roseum of Dalzell cannot be-used for this

species on account of D. roseum Sw. (1805).

Analysis of the Proteins of Egg-white

as an aid to the Classification of Birds

D. B. PEAKALL, M.Sc., FH.D., M.B.O.U.

(With one text-figure)

Proteins are complex organic compounds and are present in all

living things. Their importance is indicated by the fact that both

enzymes and genes are proteins. Proteins are also found in muscle,

feathers, internal organs, etc., and form the principal components of

blood. ‘There are a vast number of different proteins and every

species has a different protein structure. The differences and simi-

larities are exploited in the use of protein analysis for classification.

In order to see the use of protein analysis as an aid to classifica-

tion in perspective it is perhaps worthwhile to consider briefly the

ideas and difficulties of classification. Classification is an attempt

to map out evolutionary history. Unfortunately the fossil record of

avian history is very poor. The major evolution of birds occurred

in the Cretaceous period, and virtually no avian fossils have been

found belonging to this period. There are the early fossil birds, the

Archaeopteryx, which show that different parts evolve at different

rates since the feathers were avian but the rest largely reptilian

(de Beer, 1954). But, in general, fossil records have been of little

aid in classification.

The Darwinian concept was that evolution proceeded from the

lower to the higher, that is to say from the simpler to the more

complex. It is now considered that this rule is not invariable, in any

case it is difficult to know what is primitive and what is advanced.

Many, one might almost say all, taxonomic characters have been

used. It is difficult to know which characters are of major im-

portance, that is, have generic value, and which are easily modified

by external conditions. This is one of the great difficulties of

classification, to distinguish between those characters which are

similar because of recent descent from a common ancestor and those

which are similar because of changes caused by adaptation to a

common environment, even though they have had a quite distinct

evolutionary history. For a fuller account of these problems the

reader is referred to a recent review by Mayr (1959).

512. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Besides what we may call classical methods, several others have

been suggested. All have some value, and all their limitations.

The study of parasites has been suggested (Clay, 1951). Parasites

evolve together with their hosts and, being simpler animals, may have

changed less. However, transfer is possible (Mayr, 1957) and the

method must be used with caution.

Behaviour is being used to an increasing extent in the study of

evolution (Lorenz, 1958; Cullen, 1959; Tinbergen, 1959). It seems

that behaviour characters are as conservative as: taxonomic char-

cters, although care must be taken to distinguish between true

differences in behaviour and those caused by the local environment.

The relationship of protein analysis to classification has been

known for some time. Nuttall (1901) used the analysis of blood

serum to examine the zoological classification of many animals.

These early investigations, although interesting. were too crude to

give any significant results. There have been more recent investi-

gations, but serology has not been widely used in avian systematics.

Immunological studies show that each species has its _ specific

antigens’. The studies of Irwin and co-workers [for example Irwin

(1953)] have given information on the classification of the doves

(Columbidae).

The most convenient source of proteins is egg-white, which con-

sists mainly of water and proteins. The specific nature of the

proteins in egg-white was first shown by immunological studies

(Landsteiner & van der Scheer, 1940), but the use of electrophoresis

has given a more convenient and reliable method. This method was

first used in classification studies by McCabe & Deutsch (1952) and.

since then Sibley, using a much improved apparatus, has obtained

greater accuracy and has examined the electrophoretic pattern of a

large number of species. Sibley (1960) gives a full account of this

work and considers in detail the validity of this method and the

results obtained to date.

The formidabie-looklng word electrophoresis (from Gr. phoros to

bear, electro by electricity) is to bear or carry something by electricity.

In more scientific terms it is the transportation of charged bodies in

an electrical field. Thus. if proteins are placed in an electrical field

they will migrate because they have an electrical charge. Because of

the different size of the molecules and the differing electrical charge,

different proteins move at different speeds and thus a separation is

achieved. The usual method is to place a few drops of protein on a

1 Substances which stimulate the formation of antibodies.—Ebs.

EGG-WHITE AS AN AID TO BIRD CLASSIFICATION 215

strip of wet filter paper, across which an electrical field is placed. This

field is of high voltage but of low current. After the proteins have

been under the influence of this field for some hours, the strip of

paper is dried and then dyed. This dye reacts with the protein to give

a coloured compound which enables the position of the colourless

proteins to be seen. The amount of protein present in the various

bands can be determined by the optical density, the blackness, of the

paper strip. Machines are available that translate the optical density of

paper into a curve of optical density plotted against the distance that

the protein has been moved by the electrical field.

The figure below shows a drawing of a dyed filter paper strip

and the optical density curve obtained from it. The curve shown

above was obtained by Spofford and is of a Redtailed Buzzard (Buteo

jamaicensis) which is found in North America and is similar to the

Dyed Filter

Paper Strip

Optical

Density

| Distance

Start aT

Desert Buzzard (B. desertorum). It is in the classification of the

hawks that we are especially interested. We should be most grateful

for any egg-white specimens of this family.

The use of protein analysis in determining the classification of

birds can best be shown by a few examples.

One interesting problem in classification is posed by the flamingos

(Phoenicopteridae). Are these spectacular birds related to the ducks

(Anatidae) as their webbed feet, bill structure, and swimming habits

suggest but have evolved long legs, or are they more Closely related

to the storks (Ciconiidae) but have evolved some duck-like characters

514. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

because of their environment? The analysis of egg-white protein

Supports the view that the flamingos are more closely related to the

storks than to the ducks.

Another case that illustrates the fact that protein structure

changes only slowly is in the Brown Hawk of Australia. Apparently,

because there are no true buzzards in Australia, this species has

altered its feeding habits from those of a typical falcon and now

resembles those of the slow-moving buzzard. The species has been

considered by some to belong to the true falcons and has been called

Falco berigora, whilst others have placed it in a separate genus and

named it Jferacidae berigora. When I first saw this species, in

Tasmania, I thought that it was a buzzard both by stance and hunt-

ing, although the wings were more pointed than in the buzzards. The

analysis of the egg-white proteins indicates that the Brown Hawk is

very closely related to the five other species of the Falco that have

been examined. ‘Thus the separate genus for this species is probably

not justified. This example shows that the protein composition

changes only slowly; here more slowly than some external features.

This conservative nature of proteins increases their value in systematics.

Many other problems remain. Is the strange Secretary Bird

(Sagittarius serpentarius) that stalks the’ plains of Africa really a

hawk? Does the Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) really deserve a separate

family? If not, what is it closely related to? There are many

other problems. One of the great difficulties of this work is

obtaining samples from all parts of the world. It is essential to

examine this problem on a world-wide basis. We should therefore

be grateful for samples of egg-white, not only of hawks but of any

species.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE COLLECTION OF EGG-WHITE

If the egg-shell is not required for oological purposes, a large

piece of the sheil is removed and the egg-white can be tipped into

a small container. It is important that the egg-white is not con-

taminated with yolk. If the egg shell is required for an oological —

collection the shell is drilled as usual. While blowing the egg the

contents are collected in small portions and those contaminated with

yolk are thrown away, the rest put into the collecting vessel.

Egg-white has only a limited life at normal temperatures and it

is necessary either to keep the samples refrigerated or to send them

off within a few days. It is requested that the samples are sent air-

mail; postage will be refunded.

EGG-WHITE AS AN AID TO BIRD CLASSIFICATION S15

It is possible to make a satisfactory analysis on a small sample,

ie. the contents of one small egg. However if the species is

abundant, it is useful to have the contents of several eggs, as a more

detailed analysis can then be made.

The egg-white can be sent in any clean, convenient vessel, but

anyone who thinks that he may be able to help is asked to write to

Dr. Walter Spofford, Upstate Medical Center, 766 Irving Avenue,

Syracuse, 10, New York, U.S.A., and a collecting kit will be sent.’

It is important that the eggs are identified with certainty, and

that every sample is clearly labelled.

SUMMARY

Protein analysis is considered to be a useful addition to the

characters used in determining the classification of birds. The

- method of analysis is briefly described and some account is given

of the results already obtained. It is hoped that members of the

Society will aid this work by sending in specimens of egg-white

protein. Details of how this should be done are given at the end

of the article.

REFERENCES

birds as indicated by their egg-white pro-

tein. Auk 69: 1-18.

Mayr, E. (1957): Evolutionary as-

de Beer, G. (1954) : Archaeopteryx

lithographica. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.)

London.

Clay, T. (1951): The mallophaga and

relationships within the Falconiformes.

Ibis 93 : 628.

Cullen, J. M. (1959): Behaviour as

a help in taxonomy. Systematics Assoc.

Publ. 3. ;

Irwin, M. R. (1953) : Evolutionary

patterns of antigens of the blood cor-

puscles in Columbidae. Evolution 9:

261-279. ji

Landsteiner, K. & van der Scheer, J.

(1940) : On cross-reactions of egg albu-

min sera. J. Exp. Med. 71 : 445-454.

Lorenz, K. (1958): The evolution of

behaviour. Sci. Americ. 199 : 67-83.

McCabe, R. A. & Deutsch, H. F.

(1952): The relationships of certain

* Some kit has already been received by the Bombay Natural History

pects of host specificity among parasites

of vertebrates. First Symposium on

host specificity among parasites of Ver-

tebrates, Neuchatel, 1957: 7-14, Inst.

Zool. Univ. Neuchatel.

— — (1959): Trends in avian

tematics. Jbis 101 : 293-302.

Nuttall, G. H. F. (1901): The bio-

logical test for blood in relation to zoo-

logical classification. Proc. Roy. Soc.

London 69 : 150-153.

Sibley, C. G. (1960): The electro-

phoretic patterns of avian egg-white pro-

tein as taxonomic characters. Jbis 102:

215-284.

Tinbergen, N. (1959): Behaviour,

systematics, and natural selection. Jbis

101 : 318-330.

Sys-

Society

and the Honorary Secretary will be glad to distribute it among those interested.—-

EDs.

The Birds of Nepal

PART Z

BISWAMOY BISWAS

Zoological Survey of India, Indian Museum, Calcutta

[Continued from Vol. 57 (2):308]

Order GRUIFORMES

Family GRUIDAE

*133, Grus grus lilfordi Sharpe. Common Crane.

The Common Crane was not found by us in Nepal. Hodgson’s

earlier collection did not contain any specimen (Gray & Gray, 1846),

but his later collection presented to the British Museum after he left

Nepal had this species included (Gray, 1863, p. 71). Sharpe (1894,

p. 254) listed four Hodgson specimens from Nepal. Scully (1879, p. 352)

observed it in the central tarai and dun in winter, and noted that it

passed over the Nepal Valley on migration without alighting there.

Ripley (1950b, p. 368) saw.it in the western lowlands in winter. Rand

& Fleming (1957, p. 64) made a doubtful sight record.

*134. Grus antigone antigone (Linnaeus). Sarus Crane.

We did not find the Sarus Crane in Nepal. It was not included in

Hodgson’s first lot of specimens (Gray & Gray, 1846), but was men-

tioned in his later collection (Gray, 1863, p. 71). Sharpe (1894, p. 264)

listed a single Hodgson skin. Scully (1879, p. 352) found it common in

the central tarai. Ripley (1950b, p. 368) and Rand & Fleming (1957,

p. 64) met with it in the western lowlands in winter.

*135. Anthropoides virgo (Linnaeus). Demoiselle Crane.

We were unable to find the Demoiselle Crane in Nepal. Scully (1879,

p. 352) observed that it was common in the central tarai and dun in

winter, and that it passed over the Valley on migration, occasionally

alighting there for a short while. Ripley (1950b, p. 368) found it as a

visitor in the Valley in mid-winter and early spring. Rand & Fleming

(1957, p. 64) made a doubtful sight record. |

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL SiG)

Family OTIDIDAE

*136. Ardeotis nigriceps (Vigors). Great Indian Bustard.

The Great Indian Bustard has been recorded from Nepal only through

Hodgson’s specimen (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 130), which was not, how-

ever, included in Sharpe’s (1894, pp. 327-328) list.

*137. Eupodotis bengalensis bengalensis (Gmelin). Bengal Florican.

*138. Eupodotis indica (J. F. Miller)... Likh or Lesser Florican.

Both the floricans are known from Nepal only through Hodgson’s

specimens (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 130).

Family RALLIDAE

*139, Rallus eurizonoides amauroptera (Jerdon). Banded Crake.

Hodgson’s collection (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 143) appears to pro-

vide the only record of the occurrence of the Banded Crake in Nepal.

*140, Porzana pusilla pusilla (Pallas). Baillon’s Crake.

The last record of Baillon’s Crake from Nepal seems to be Scully’s

(1879, pp. 358-359) who found it in the Valley from July to December.

*141. Porzana fusca bakeri Hartert. Ruddy Crake.

There does not appear to be any post-Hodgsonian record of the

Ruddy Crake from Nepal.

*142,. Porzana bicolor Walden. Elwes’s Crake.

Sharpe (1894, p. 114) listed one of Hodgson’s specimens under this

species, and that forms its sole record from Nepal.

143. Amaurornis akool akool (Sykes). Brown Crake.

Dun : Hitaura: 1 ¢ (June 7).

The single specimen of the Brown Crake was obtained from a small

stream in a dense patch of forest at Hitaura.

It was not included in the earlier catalogue of Hodgson’s collection

(Gray & Gray, 1846), but the later one (Gray, 1863, p. 75) mentioned

it from Nepal (one specimen, see also Sharpe, 1894, p. 156). Neither

Scully (1879), nor Ripley (1950b) reported it thence, though Rand

& Fleming (1957, p. 64) occasionally found it in the duns and lowlands.

My specimen is in worn plumage.

Measurements: 1 6: Wing 125+; tail 56+; bill 33.

144. Amaurornis phoenicurus chinensis (Boddaert). Chinese White-

breasted Waterhen.

BHABAR : Amlekhganj: 1 3,1 2 (March 9, May 12). Dun: Hitaura: 3 ¢¢,

12 (May 12-30, June 23).

518 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

The Whitebreasted Waterhen is not an uncommon bird in the central

bhabar and dun on rivers, particularly in dense reed-beds.

Neither Scully (1879) nor Ripley (1950b) recorded it from Nepal.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Bill

43¢: 167, 169, 171, 177 72, 74; 75° (@) 40, 42, 42.5, —

2 99% 154, 157 66, 67 + 353536

The bill in this species has been measured from the posterior edge of

the shield to the tip of the bill.

*145. Gallinula chloropus indica Blyth. Indian Moorhen.

We did not come across the Indian Moorhen, nor did Scully (1879),

or Ripley (1950b). Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 64), however, found it

common in the swamps of the lowlands.

*146. Porphyrio porphyrio poliocephalus (Latham). Purple Moorhen.

The Purple Moorhen has not been reported from Nepal after Hodg-

son’s collection.

*147. Fulica atra atra Linnaeus. Coot.

Neither Ripley (1950b) nor we came across the Coot in Nepal. How-

ever, Scully (1879, p. 358) found it as a winter visitor to the Nepal Valley

in small numbers ; Proud (1949, p. 718) saw it only once (a pair) in the

Valley in January ; and Rand & Fleming (1957, pp. 64-65) had specimens

brought for them from c. 915 m. and c. 2745 m. in west-central Nepal

in November.

Family TURNICIDAE

*148, Turnix sylvatica dussumier (Temminck). Little Bustard-Quail.

Hodgson’s collection (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 129) furnishes the only

record of the Little Bustard-Quail from Nepal.

149. Turnix tanki tanki Blyth. Indian Button Quail.

Turnix tanki Blyth, 1843, J. Asiat. Soc. Beng. 12:180. (No locality=Bengal,

based on drawing by Buchanan-Hamilton, hereby restricted to northern suburbs of

Calcutta.)

Dun : Hitaura: 3 92 (May 14, 24, July 1).

The Indian Button Quail is rather scarce in central Nepal, having

been met with by us only on a few occasions in scrub and in cultivated

fields in the dun.

Scully (1879), Ripley (1950b), and Rand & Fleming (1957) do not

include it in their lists.

Measurements: 322: Wing 85, 88 (2) ; tail 33, — (2); bill 14, 15 (2).

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 519

150. Turnix suscitator plumbipes (Hodgson). Himalayan Bustard-

Quail.

BHABAR : Amlekhganj: 1 ¢ (March 9). DUuN: Bhimphedi: 1 4 (May 10).

The Himalayan Bustard-Quail does not appear to be common in

Nepal. Although Scully (1879, p. 350) recorded a single example from

the Nepal Valley, subsequent workers failed to find it there. Ripley

(1950b, p. 368) reported it only from the eastern tarai in winter, and

Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 63) from c. 1065 m. in western Nepal in the

same season.

Measurements: 2 3: Wing 86, 92; tail 30+, 34; bill 14, 14.5,

Order CHARADRIITFORMES

Family JACANIDAE

*151. Hydrophasianus chirurgus (Scopoli). Pheasant-tailed Jacana.

Hodgson’s collection provides the only record of the Pheasant-tailed

Jacana from Nepal.

*152. Metopidius indicus (Latham). Bronzewinged Jacana.

Rand & Fleming’s (1957, p. 65) is the only post-Hodgsonian record

of this jagana from Nepal. They found it common throughout the

taral.

Family BURHINIDAE

153. Burhinus oedicnemus indicus (Salvadori). Indian Stone Plover.

BHABAR : Amlekhganj: 1 ¢ (March 9). Dun: Hitaura: 1 ¢ (May 24).

We found the Stone Plover on a few occasions on the sandy or shingle

beds of the larger rivers in the bhabar and dun of central Nepal.

Scully (1879) did not record it from Nepal. Ripley (1950b, p. 369)

found it in the western tarai in winter. Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 68)

reported it from the central dun in April. Proud (1955, p. 72), on the.

other hand, came across it in the Nepal Valley once on August 28.

Measurements: 2 6g: Wing 214, 217; tail 110+, 112+ ; bill 42, 43.

*154. Burhinus recurvirostris (Cuvier). Great Stone Plover.

There has been no report of the occurrence of this stone plover in

Nepal after Hodgson’s (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 131).

_ Family HAEMATOPODIDAE

*155. Haematopus ostralegus osculans Swinhoe. Eastern Oystercatcher.

The occurrence of the Oystercatcher in Nepal is known only from

Hodgson’s collection (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 133).

520 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Family CHARADRIIDAE

Subfamily CHARADRIINAE

I agree with Bock (1958, pp. 57-59) in synonymizing Hoplopterus

Bonaparte, Lobivanellus G. R. Gray, Chettusia Bonaparte, Lobipluvia

Bonaparte, and Microsarcops Sharpe with the genus Vanellus Brisson.

*156. Vanellus leucurus (Lichtenstein). Whitetailed Lapwing.

The first and only record of the occurrence of the Whitetailed Lapwing

in Nepal is to be credited to Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 65) who found

it on two occasions in the lowlands of western Nepal in winter.

*157. Vanellus vanellus (Linnaeus). Lapwing or Peewit.

Hodgson’s collection provides the sole record of the occurrence

of the peewit in Nepal.

158. Vanellus indicus indicus (Boddaert). Indian Redwattled Lapwing.

TARAI : Simra : 1 ¢ (March 6). BHABAR : Amlekhganj : 1 ¢ (March 9). Dun:

Hitaura: 1 3, 1 juv. ¢, 2 QY, 1 juv. 2 (June 4, 23, July 15).

The Redwattled Lapwing is common on the streams, paddy fields, etc.

of the central tarai, bhabar, and dun. It also occurs in small numbers

in the Nepal Valley where it has been reported to be resident (Scully,

1879, p. 352 ; Proud, 1949, p. 718). Ripley (1950b, p. 368) recorded it

from the tarai in winter, and Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 65) found it up

to c. 1065 m. in winter.

The adult specimens taken in June and July are worn.

The juvenile female specimen (June 4) is very young. It has the

crown with rufous edged feathers, mantle and scapulars barred with pale

rufous brown, and the chin and throat white. The juvenile male (June

23) is a little larger. It is similar in coloration to the juvenile female, but

has the crown dark brown.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Bill

3.00% 218, 232, 234 110, 116+, 119 37.5,' 39; 40

2 O08 DHL ey Peps 107+, 112+ 3512)

159. Vanellus duvaucelii (Lesson). Indian Spurwinged Plover.

BHABAR:: Amlekhganj: 2 ¢¢ (March 6, 9). DuN: Hitaura: 1 ¢,2 92 (May

25, 26, June 19).

The Spurwinged Plover is quite a common bird in Nepal, occurring

on the rivers of the bhabar and dun, especially on their shingle beds.

We did not find it in the Nepal Valley, although Scully (1879, p. 352)

recorded it as fairly common there during summer. Rand & Fleming

(1957, pp. 65-66) noted it as common in western and west-central Nepal

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 521

from the tarai up to c. 915 m. in winter. Biswas (1960a) found it on the

banks of Arun River, eastern Nepal, at c.670 m.in June. Ripley (1950b)

failed to come across it in Nepal.

My June specimen is worn.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Bill

SCO. 194, 196, 204 89, 92, 97 3541307 (2)

272%: 193, 202 88, 90 33.5, —

Some authors, such as Ripley (in press)’ prefer to treat duvaucelii

as a subspecies of V. spinosus, with which I do not agree.

*160. Vanellus malabaricus (Boddaert). Yellow-wattled Lapwing.

The only post-Hodgsonian record of the Yellow-wattled Lapwing

from Nepal is due to Proud (1949, p. 718) who occasionally found it

in the Valley during monsoon.

*161. Pluvialis squatarola (Linnaeus). Grey Plover.

The occurrence of the Grey Plover in Nepal is based only on

Hodgson’s collection (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 131).

*162. Pluvialis dominica fulva (Gmelin). Eastern Golden Plover.

The last record of the Golden Plover in Nepal was Scully’s (1879, p.

351) who found it in the Valley on passage in September-October.

*163. Charadrius leschenaultii leschenaultii Lesson. Large Sand Plover.

Hodgson’s collection (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 132) furnishes the sole

record of the Large Sand Plover from Nepal.

164. Charadrius dubius jerdoni (Legge). Jerdon’s Little Ringed Plover.

NEPAL VALLEY : Thankot, Kathmandu: 2 ¢¢, 2 £@ (April 12, 25).

We found the Little Ringed Plover not uncommonly in the Nepal

Valley from about the beginning of April. It occurred on rivers and

streams in pairs or in loose parties. Ripley (1950b) did not record it

from Nepal.

A male and a female taken on April 25 had somewhat enlarged

gonads. The testes measured 5 x 4 (right) and 7 x 4 (left), and the ovary,

66, the largest ovum being 3.25 mm. in diameter.

Colours of soft parts : Tris dark brown; eyelids bright yellow; bill black with the

base of the upper mandible and the basal third of the lower mandible yellow; legs and

feet dull greyish olive; claws black; pads fleshy.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Bill

DSB 107, 109 SS ans 16, 17

2 Or: 105, 111 54, 60 16, 17

* References to Ripley (in press) in parts 1 and 2 of this series and in the parts

to follow are based on the galley proofs of A SYNOPSIS OF THE BIRDS OF INDIA AND

PAKISTAN, Which the author had the privilege of seeing. The text as finally published

may, of course, differ from the galley proofs.

522 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

*165. Charadrius alexandrinus alexandrinus Linnaeus. Kentish Plover.

Although not mentioned in either edition of catalogues of Hodgson’s

collections (Gray & Gray, 1846; Gray, 1863), three specimens of the

Kentish Plover from Nepal presented by Hodgson were listed by Sharpe

(1896, p. 281). Later, only Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 66) have reported

it from Nepal (eastern tarai) in winter.

*166. Charadrius placidus J. E. & G. R. Gray. Longbilled Ringed

Plover.

The last record of this plover from Nepal was by Scully (1879, p. 351)

who found it as an uncommon bird in Nawakot district, central Nepal,

in November.

*167.. Charadrius mongolus atrifrons Wagler. Lesser Sand Plover.

The only Nepali record of this Sand Plover is in Hodgson’s collection

(Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 133).

Subfamily SCOLOPACINAE

*168. Numenius phaeopus ? variegatus (Scopoli). Eastern Whimbrel.

The Whimbrel has not been reported from Nepal after Hodgson’s

collection.

*169. Numenius arquata orientalis C. L. Brehm. Eastern Curlew.

The post-Hodgsonian records of the Curlew in Nepal are Scully’s

(1879, p. 356) who found it as a rare visitor to the Valley where Proud

(1949, p. 718) observed it only once (August); and Biswas’s (1960a)

who reported hearing it on the Khumbu glacier, eastern Nepal, at c.

5790 m. in May.

*170. Limosa limosa limosa (Linnaeus). Blacktailed Godwit.

Scully’s (1879, p. 356) is the only record of the Blacktailed Godwit

from Nepal since Hodgson’s days.

*171. Tringa erythropus (Pallas). Spotted or Dusky Redshank.

There seem to be only two records of this redshank from Nepal.

The first one was by Hodgson (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 139), and the last,

by Ripley (1950b, p. 368) who found it between December and February

both in western (Karnali river) and in eastern (Kosi river) Nepal.

*172. Tringa totanus eurhinus (Oberholser). Eastern Redshank.

The only post-Hodgsonian record of the Eastern Redshank is due to

Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 66) who took a specimen at Pokhara (c. 915

m.), west-central Nepal, in December.

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 523

*173. Tringa nebularia (Gunnerus). Greenshank. |

Scully (1879, p. 358) noted it as fairly common from September

through winter in central Nepal (plains and tarai, Nawakot district,

Nepal Valley). Proud (1955, p. 72) observed it common in the Nepal

Valley only on autumn migration (August-September). Ripley (1950b,

p. 368), and Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 66) found it in both the western

and eastern lowlands in winter.

174. Tringa ochropus Linnaeus. Green Sandpiper.

NEPAL VALLEY : Kathmandu (Bagmati and Bishnumati rivers), Thankot :

233, 1, 1 unsexed (March 19, April 14, 28).

The Green Sandpiper was found by us in small numbers on the rivers

of the Nepal Valley during late March and April. It would appear that

its numbers had already dwindled by mid-March. By the end of April,

the majority had left for the breeding quarters.

Lowndes (1955, p. 37) noted it singly on several occasions at Bagra,

Marsiyandi Valley, central Nepal, in July.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Bill

2825 140, 145 Sp hapy AQ n= 5

Leo: 139 Bil 40

1 unsexed : 145 == 61 42.5

*175. Tringa glareola Linnaeus. Wood Sandpiper.

The post-Hodgsonian records of the Wood Sandpiper from Nepal

consist of Proud’s (1955, p. 72) who found it common in the Nepal

Valley on passage in autumn and spring, and Rand & Fleming’s (1957,

p. 67) who noted it occasionally in the lowlands of both west-central and

eastern Nepal during winter.

176. Actitis hypoleucos hypoleucos (Linnaeus). Common Sandpiper.

NEPAL VALLEY : Kathmandu, Thankot : 2 29 (April 12, 25).

The Common Sandpiper is fairly common on the rivers of the Nepal

Valley in spring. It is generally found singly along the edges of water.

Ripley (1950b, p. 368) and Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 67) found it in

the western and eastern lowlands in winter ; and Biswas (1960a) recorded

it at c. 855 m. in Chautara district, central Nepal, on January 27.

My April 12 specimen has the wings in moult.

The specimen taken on April 25 had somewhat enlarged ovary, with

the ova of the size of mustard seeds, the largest one being 2 mm.

Colours of soft parts: Iris dark brown; bill greenish horny, with almost black

anterior third and very pale sides of the middle part of the lower mandible ; legs and

feet dull greenish grey ; claws horny ; pads dull greenish grey.

Measurements: 2 9292: Wing 116, —; tail 54, 60; bill 28, 30.

524. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

177. Gallinago solitaria solitaria Hodgson. Solitary Snipe.

CHITLANG VALLEY : Chitlang : 1 2 (April 19).

This was the only specimen of the Solitary Snipe found by us in Nepal.

However, Scully (1879, p. 354) noted it to be not uncommon in the Valley

from October to March, and Stevens (1925c, p. 892) found it on Singalila

Range, eastern Nepal, at c. 3050 m. in January. Neither Ripley (1950b),

nor Rand & Fleming (1957) record it from Nepal.

Measurements: 1 2: Wing 167; tail 72; bill 83.

*178. Gallinago nemoricola Hodgson. Wood Snipe.

The Wood Snipe was not found by us, or by Rand & Fleming (1957)

in Nepal. Scully (1879, p. 353) noted it to be rare in the Nepal Valley,

having seen it there only twice in winter. Mr. Kilbourne, as reported

by Ripley (1950b, p. 368), found it in the Valley in small numbers.

*179. Gallinago stenura (Bonaparte). Pintail Snipe.

We did not come across the Pintail Snipe in Nepal, nor did Rand &

Fleming (1957). Scully (1879, p. 354), and Proud (1949, p. 718), however,

reported it on passage in the Nepal Valley where many birds stay on for

the winter.

*180. Gallinago gallinago gallinago (Linnaeus). Fantail Snipe.

Neither Rand & Fleming (1957) nor we found this snipe in Nepal.

Scully (1879, pp. 355-356) and Proud (1949, p. 718) both noted it mainly

on passage in the Nepal Valley, although many birds stay on there for the

winter. Scully further observed that it was much less common than the

Pintail Snipe. Ripley (1950b, p. 368) reports that Mr. Kilbourne, on

the other hand, found the Fantail to be the commonest of the snipes

in the Valley.

*181. Gallinago minima (Briinnich). Jack Snipe.

We were unable to find the Jack Snipe in Nepal, neither were Rand &

Fleming (1957). Scully (1879, p. 356) observed it mainly on passage in

the Nepal Valley where many examples spent the winter, and in

the Nawakot district in November. Proud (1949, p. 718), however,

describes it as a scarce passage migrant in the Valley where a few probably

spend the winter.

182. Scolopax rusticola rusticola Linnaeus. Woodcock.

NEPAL VALLEY : Thankot: 1 9 (April 6).

We found the Woodcock rather rare in central Nepal during spring

and summer. This specimen was taken in a small swampy patch in the

forest off Thankot.

Scully (1879, p. 353) reported that the Woodcock left the Valley at

the end of February, and Proud (1949, p. 718) found it as a scarce winter

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL p25

visitor there. Ripley (1950b, p. 368) saw and trapped it in eastern Nepal

at c. 2745 m. in winter. Lowndes (1955, p. 37) observed it ‘roding’ on

May 25 at c. 1980 m. in the Marsiyandi Valley, central Nepal. Rand &

Fleming (1957, p. 67) obtained specimens in the Nepal Valley in January,

and in eastern Nepal at c. 2895 m. in December. Biswas (1960a) saw it

‘roding * on a few occasions in Khumbu, eastern Nepal, at c. 3655 m.

early in April.

Measurements: 12: Wing 182; tail 76; bill —.

Resuscitation of Hodgson’s name Scolopax indicus, 1837 (type locality

Nepal) by Koelz (1954, p. 32) for the birds breeding ‘throughout the

Himalayas and to the east ’ does not seem to be justified.

183. Calidris minutus (Leisler). Little Stint.

NEPAL VALLEY : Kathmandu: 1 2 (April 25).

This solitary specimen of the Little Stint was found in a flock

of Temminck’s Stint on Bagmati river. It was not reported from Nepal

by Scully (1879), or Ripley (1950b), or Rand & Fleming (1957).

The wings of the specimen are in moult. The outermost primaries

are still growing, but the other remiges have already moulted.

The specimen had a slightly swollen ovary with finely granular ova.

Colours of soft parts: Iris dark brown; bill dark horny with greenish tinge on

base ; legs and feet very deep greenish horny ; claws horny ; pads greenish grey.

Measurements: 192: Wing —; tail 39 ; bill —.

Gladkov (1957, pp. 195-203) has shown that Calidris minuta and C.

ruficollis are two separate species.

184. Calidris temminckii (Leisler). Temminck’s Stint.

NEPAL VALLEY : Kathmandu : 2 ¢¢, 3 92 (March 23, April 25).

Temminck’s Stint is quite common in spring on the sandy banks

and islands of Bagmati river in the vicinity of Kathmandu. In March

and early April it was observed in flocks of a dozen birds or so in the

morning, but later in the day and in the afternoon they moved away

elsewhere. During the second week of April the flocks were found to be

just beginning to break up into pairs.

Ripley (1950b) did not find it in Nepal. Rand & Fleming (1957, pp.

67-68) noted it in the western and eastern lowlands in winter.

Two of my specimens (1 <, 1 2) taken on March 23, have the rectrices

in moult.

The March 23 specimens had the gonads but slightly enlarged (testes

21.5 each, ovary 5.54, finely granular), and the April 25 specimens

had them more enlarged, the ovaries having coarsely granular ova.

Colours of soft parts: In March: Iris dark brown; bill black with pale horny on

base of the upper mandible and pale yellowish brown on base of the lower mandible;

legs and feet yellowish brown; claws black; pads yellowish brown.

In April: Iris dark brown; bill black with greenish to

526 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol: 57 (3)

dark greenish horny on basal half of the upper mandible and olive on basal third

of the lower mandible ; legs and feet olive to yellowish olive ; claws black ; pads olive

brown.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Bill

Diese 95%5; 97 51.5, — 18, 20

3) S40" 95, 101 (2) 49°35; 51 20; 20:5 (2)

*185. Calidris alpinus (Linnaeus) ? subspecies. Dunlin.

Hodgson’s collection (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 140) provides the sole

record of the occurrence of the Dunlin in Nepal.

*186. Philomachus pugnax (Linnaeus). Ruff and Reeve.

We did not come across the Ruff and Reeve in Nepal, nor did Ripley

-(1950b) or Rand & Fleming (1957). Scully (1879, p. 357), and Proud

(1955, p. 72) recorded this species in the Nepal Valley on passage in

autumn.

Subfamily RECURVIROSTRINAE

*187. Himantopus himantopus himantopus (Linnaeus). Blackwinged

Stilt.

*188. Recurvirostra avosetta Linnaeus. Avocet.

The only records of the Blackwinged Stilt and the Avocet from Nepal

are based on Hodgson’s collection (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 138).

Subfamily IBIDORHYNCHINAE

*189. Ibidorhyncha struthersii Vigors. Ibisbill.

We did not find the Ibisbill in Nepal, nor did Scully (1879). Ripley

(1950b, p. 368) observed it in the eastern tarai (Chatra) in February.

Polunin (1955, p. 896) reported it from the Langtang Valley, central Nepal,

from June to September. Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 68) found it at c.

760 m. in west-central Nepal in February. Biswas (1960a) observed it

at c. 855 m. on Sun Kosi river at poe Chautara district, central

Nepal, in late January.

Subfamily ROSTRATULINAE

*190. Rostratula benghalensis benghalensis (Linnaeus). Painted Snipe.

Hodgson found it in the hills and plains of Nepal in winter (Gray

& Gray, 1846, p. 140). It has not since been reported from that country.

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL Spy

Family GLAREOLIDAE

~*191. Cursorius coromandelicus (Gmelin). Indian Courser.

After Hodgson’s record (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 131), the Indian

Courser has been reported from Nepal only by Rand & Fleming (1957,

p. 68) from the western tarai (once).

*192. Glareola pratincola maldivarum J. R. Forster. Large Indian

Pratincole or Swallow-Plover.

The occurrence of the Large Indian Pratincole in Nepal is known only

from Hodgson’s collection (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 131).

*193. Glareola lactea Temminck. Small Indian Pratincole or Sand

Plover.

- The post-Hodgsonian records of this pratincole from Nepal

are Ripley’s (1950b, p. 369) who saw it in the eastern tarai (Kosi river)

in February, and Rand & Fleming’s (1957, p. 68) who found it in the

central dun at c. 760 m. in April.

Family LARIDAE

*194, Larus ichthyaetus Pallas. Great Blackheaded Gull.

The first and the only record of the Great Blackheaded Gull in Nepal

has been provided by Rand & Fleming (1957, pp. 68-69) who occasionally

found it along the larger rivers of the tarai in winter.

*195. Larus brunnicephalus Jerdon. Brownheaded Gull.

Hodgson’s single specimen (Salvin, 1896, p. 218) forms the sole record

of the Brownheaded Gull from Nepal.

*196. Larus ridibundus Linnaeus. Blackheaded Gull.

Salvin (1896, p. 215) listed a single Hodgson skin of the Blackheaded

Gull from Nepal in the British Museum ; but in Gray & Gray’s catalogue

(1846, p. 148) of Hodgson’s collection, this species was mixed up with

L. brunnicephalus. The only other record from Nepal has been made

by. Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 69) who occasionally found it on the rivers

of the lowlands in winter. -

*197, Sterna aurantia J. E. Gray. Indian River Tern.

Neither Ripley (1950b), nor we came across the Indian River Tern in

Nepal, but Scully (1879, p. 364) found it in the Nepal Valley on passage

in early winter and early summer ; Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 69) recorded

it as acommon bird of the lowlands in winter ; and Biswas (1960a) found

it on Arun river, eastern Nepal, at c. 670 m. in June.

528 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

*198. Sterna hirundo tibetana Saunders. Tibetan Tern.

The only record of the Tibetan Tern from Nepal has been furnished

by Proud (1955, p. 72) who found it in the Nepal Valley on autumnal

migration when it sometimes remained there for a day or two.

*199,. Sterna acuticauda J. E. Gray. Blackbellied Tern.

Although the Blackbellied Tern was not listed in Gray & Gray’s

(1846) catalogue, a single skin from Nepal, presented by Hodgson, is

included in Salvin’s (1896, p. 45) catalogue. The two other records from

Nepal are Rand & Fleming’s (1957, p. 69) who found it fairly common in

the tarai during winter, and Biswas’s (1960a) who noted it on Arun and

Sabhaya rivers, eastern Nepal, at c. 670-760 m. in June.

Order COLUMBIFORMES

Family PTEROCLIDAE

*200. Pterocles exustus erlangeri (Neumann). Common Sandgrouse.

*201. Pterocles indicus indicus (Gmelin). Painted Sandgrouse.

Both these sandgrouse are known from Nepal only through Hodgson’s

collection (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 129).

*202. Pterocles orientalis orientalis (Linnaeus). Imperial Sandgrouse.

Hodgson’s single specimen (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 129; Ogilvie-

Grant, 1893, p. 21), obviously a stray bird, forms the sole record of the

Imperial Sandgrouse in Nepal.

Family COLUMBIDAE

203. Treron apicauda apicauda Blyth. Pintailed Green Pigeon.

Treron apicauda ‘Hodgson’ Blyth, 1845, J. Asiat. Soc. Beng. 14 : 854.

(‘ Southeastern Himalaya and hill ranges of Assam, common at Darjeeling’, hereby

restricted to Darjiling, West Bengal.)

Dun: Hitaura: 3 ¢¢, 1 2, 1 juv. 2 (May 12—June 2).

The Pintailed Green Pigeon appears rather scarce in Nepal. We

found it in small numbers only in the central dun. It was observed

partial to forests on hills and tall trees with dense foliage. Ours

appears to be the only post-Hodgsonian record of this species from Nepal.

The juvenile female specimen has the feathers of the back with greyish

centres, and its central rectrices are not so narrow as those of the adult.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Rhamphotheca

3 Sch: 164+, 176, 177 182, —, 184 10, 10.5 (2)

JW See 166 174+ 10

The tail measurements of males as given by Baker (1928, p. 199) appear too large.

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 529

The nominate subspecies intergrades with Jaotinus in Assam

(Margherita, Khasi Hills, Cachar) and north-western Burma (Chindwin,

Myitkina).

204. ‘Treron sphenura sphenura (Vigors). Wedgetailed Green Pigeon.

Vinago sphenura Vigors, 1831, (1832), Proc. zool. Soc. Lond. (1):173. (Hima-

layas = Darjiling, according to Baker, 1922e, p. 832.)

Dun : Hitaura, Bhimphedi: 4 ¢¢, 322 (March 13, May 5-19, June 1). Cuxit-

LANG VALLEY : Chitlang : 4¢¢, 322 (April 8-27).

The Wedgetailed Green Pigeon is a common bird of central Nepal

from the Nepal Valley down to the dun. Ripley (1950b, p. 369) found

it in eastern Nepal in winter, and Biswas (1960a) in summer, although

Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 69) noted it to be absent in the hills of both

western and eastern Nepal in winter. Lowndes (1955, p. 36) reported

it to be common in Manangbhot, central Nepal, at c. 2440 m. in August.

Measurements :

8 bd oe

Wing: 176, 180, 181, 182 (2), 187, PIL, 17231073, 075, 176) 179

188, —

Tail: 126+, 129, 130 (2), 134, 135, 124 (3), 125, 126,—

140, 145

Rhamphotheca : 9.5(2), 10(3), 11, —(@) 9 (3), 9.5,—(2)

*205. .Treron curvirostra nipalensis (Hodgson). Thickbilled Green

Pigeon.

This green pigeon was not found in Nepal by Scully (1879) or Ripley

(1950b) or by us. Polunin (1955, p. 895) obtained it in summer at c.

2745 m. in the Langtang Valley, central Nepal, and Rand & Fleming

(1955, pp. 69-70) reported it as an uncommon bird in the central low-

lands in April.

*206. Treron pompadora conoyeri Rand & Fleming. Conover’s Green

Pigeon.

Rand & Fleming (1953, p. 201 ; 1957, p. 70), who discovered. this

race, are the first to report the occurrence of this species in Nepal. They

found it in winter in flocks of 4-15 in heavy forest in the tarai of west-

central Nepal.

*207. Treron bicincta bicincta (Jerdon). Orangebreasted Green Pigeon.

The earlier collection of Hodgson (Gray & Gray, 1846) did not

contain this green pigeon, but his later collection which contained birds

from Nepal as well as from other places, included this species (Gray,

1863, p. 66). The first definite Nepali record of the species is owed to

Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 70) who occasionally found it in winter in

the west-central lowlands.

530 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

208. Treron phoenicoptera phoenicopiera (Latham). Bengal Green

Pigeon. 7

Dun : Hitaura: 7 6g, ljuv. ¢ (June 7, 16-19; July 14-29).

The Bengal Green Pigeon is common in the central dun particularly

on fruit-bearing Ficus trees. Ripley (1950b, p. 369), and Rand &

Fleming (1957, p. 70) found it in lower elevations of western and west-

central Nepal, respectively.

_ The juvenile specimen (<) has brown primaries.

One of my adult males (June 7) had somewhat enlarged testes, the

right one measuring 11.5 x 5.5 mm., and the left, 9.5 x 6 mm.

Measurements: 733: Wing 190, 192, 194, 196, 198, 200 (2) ; tail 112, 113, 115,

119, 120, 122 (2) ; rhamphotheca 12, 13 (2), 13+, 13.5, —(2).

[Ducula aenea sylvatica (Tickell). Green Imperial Pigeon.

Baker (1928, p. 208) included Nepal within the range of the Green

Imperial Pigeon, presumably based on a specimen in the British Museum

(ex Salvin-Godman Collection) which doubtfully came from Nepal

(Salvadori, 1893, p. 193). Baker’s action has, however, been followed

by Peters (1937, p. 46) and Ripley (in press). Although the possibility

of its occurrence in Nepal cannot be denied, I am unable to trace any

authentic report to that effect. ]

*209. Ducula badia insignis Hodgson. Imperial Pigeon.

The Imperial Pigeon has not been reported from Nepal since

Hodgson’s days.

*210. Columba leuconota leuconota Vigors. Snow Pigeon.

Neither Ripley (1950b), nor Rand & Fleming (1957) or we found the

Snow Pigeon in Nepal. Scully (1879, p. 340) reported it from ‘ the upper

northern regions of Nepal’. Smythies (1948, p. 442) found it in autumn

at c. 4570 m. in the Gandak-Kosi watershed, central Nepal. Polunin

(1955, p. 895) noted it to be quite common in summer above forest zone

up to c. 4875 m. or more in the Langtang Valley, central Nepal. He

further reported of a flock that remained all August at c. 3350 m.

Lowndes (1955, p. 36) found it in summer to be very common between

c. 3350 m. and 4725 m. and less common higher up in the Manangbhot

area, central Nepal. Biswas (1960a) observed it at c. 2285-3050 m. in

February and later up to April between c. 3655 and 4875 m. in Khumbu,

eastern Nepal.

211. Columba livia intermedia Strickland. Indian Blue Rock Pigeon.

Dun: Hitaura: 1 ¢ (May 28). NEPAL VALLEY: Kathmandu, Thankot :

2 33d, 2 SP (March 21-27).

The Blue Rock Pigeon is commonly found in flocks from the central

dun up to the Nepal Valley, in and around villages and towns, as well

as about cultivated fields.

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 531

Lowndes (1955, p. 36) reported it to be common in summer at c.

3050-3960 m. in Manangbhot, central Nepal, and Rand & Fleming

(1957, pp. 70-71) at c. 915 m. and c. 2805 m. in winter in west-central

Nepal.

My female specimen from Kathmandu (March 21) had granular ovary.

This specimen still has some amount of juvenile plumage. There is much

brown on wing coverts and breast, very little metallic purple and green,

not very dark black bands on secondaries, browner primaries, and lower

breast and abdomen ashy with a few brown feathers. There is no sign

of moult. , |

The male specimen from Hitaura (May 28) has well-developed testes,

measuring 14 x 7.5 mm. (right).

Measurements: °

Wing Tail Rhamphotheca

31GS%: 192205221, 22:1 111, 114, 117 10, 10.5, 11.5

De QOr; 213, 216 102, 105 10, 10.5

*212. Columba palumbus casiotis (Bonaparte). Wood Pigeon.

Although Nepal falls within the range.of the Wood Pigeon, it has not

been included in any of the lists of Nepal birds, nor has it been observed

by us. Salvadori (1893, p. 303), however, mentioned one specimen

from that country, presented by Hodgson to the British Museum.

213. Columba arquatrix hodgsonii Vigors. Speckled Wood Pigeon.

Columba Hodgsonii Vigors, 1832, Proc. zool. Soc. Lond. (2):16. (Himalayas=

Nepal, according to Baker, 1922e, p. 834.)

NEPAL VALLEY : Thankot: 1 ¢ (April 4).

The Speckled Wood Pigeon did not appear to be a common bird in

central Nepal. A pair was seen by us once in the forest at Thankot in

April, and a small flock at Godavari in May.

Scully (1879, p. 339) noted it to be a winter visitor (December to

February) to the foot of the hills round the Nepal Valley where it was

common at certain places. Ripley (1950b, p. 369) found it only in the

Valley and only in April-May, thus corresponding with our observation.

Lowndes (1955, p. 36) saw several birds in summer at c. 3050 m. in

Manangbhot, and Proud (1955, p. 71) found it common in the Nepal

Valley. Rand & Fleming (1957) did not come across it.

Measurements: 1 g : Wing 228 ; tail 150 ; rhamphotheca 10.

Recently, Goodwin (1959, p. 14) suggests that C. arquatrix and C.

hodgsonii should be treated as two distinct species.

214. Columba pulchricollis Blyth. Ashy Wood Pigeon.

Dun : Bhimphedi: 1 ¢ (May 10).

The Ashy Wood Pigeon does not appear to be a common bird in

Nepal. It was seen by us only on a few occasions on the Mahabharat

Range in dense forests.

532 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Ripley (1950b, pp. 369-370) found it not uncommon in the heavily

wooded parts of the Nepal Valley. He also recorded it from eastern

Nepal. Proud (1955, p. 71) found it scarce in the Valley. Rand &

Fleming (1957, p. 71) reported it only from the heavily wooded regions

of west-central Nepal. Scully (1879) did not include it in his list.

Measurements: 1 3: Wing 210; tail 126 ; rhamphotheca 10.

215. Macropygia unchall tusalia (Blyth). Bartailed Cuckoo-Dove.

Dun: Hitaura: 1 ¢ (May 15). NEPAL VALLEY : Thankot: 1 2 (March 26).

The Bartailed Cuckoo-Dove was found by us in small numbers in

the Nepal Valley in forests at the base of the Chandragiri near Thankot,

and of the Phulchauki Danda about Godavari during March-May. It

was observed again in the central dun around Hitaura in May-June.

Ripley (1950b, p. 370) recorded it from the Chandragiri Pass above

Thankot, and in eastern Nepal at c. 2440 m. Neither Scully (1879),

nor Rand & Fleming (1957) found it in Nepal.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Rhamphotheca

1 ¢g: 203 202 a

Ihe 194 187 ; 1

216. Streptopelia orientalis meena (Sykes). Western Rufous Turtle

Dove.

217. Streptopelia orientalis agricola (Tickell). Eastern Rufous Turtle

Dove.

BHABAR : Amlekhganj: 1 ¢ (March 10). Dun: Hitaura: 1, 1 juv. ¢ (June

9, 15). CHITLANG VALLEY: Chitlang, 2 92 (April 17). NEPAL VALLEY : Thankot:

6 b%, 2 G2 (March 20—April 4).

The Rufous Turtle Dove is a common bird in central Nepal. It is,

however, not so common in the bhabar in spring and the dun in summer

as it is in the Nepal Valley during March-May. It is usually found in

the opener parts of forests, sometimes about villages.

Scully (1879, p. 341) found it throughout the year in the Valley where

Proud (1949, p. 718), however, notes it only as a summer visitor (mid-

March onwards). Lowndes (1955, p. 36) found it up to c. 3960 m.

during summer in Manangbhot, central Nepal. In eastern Nepal,

Ripley (1950b, p. 370) found it in the Arun watershed in winter from

c. 305 to 2590 m. Biswas (1960a) recorded it in April-May between

c. 3050 and 3960 m. in Khumbu and in June at c. 1525 m. in the Arun

watershed. It would appear that the highest altitudinal limits of meena

and agricola should be raised from the usually accepted c. 2745 m.

(Ripley, in press) to c. 3960 m.

Most of my March and April specimens were breeding. -

The juvenile male bird (June 15) is in very worn plumage.

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 535:

Measurements :

8 bd ae need

Wing: 180 (2), 182, 187, 188, 193, 197 (2) 185, 187, 190, 195

Pails) 122 (2), 1255129, 135, 136; 138; 140 123, 126, 130 (2)

Rhamphotheca : 8 (4), 8.5, 9, — (2) §; 1 8:57(2), 9

From an examination of breeding examples, it appears that S. o.

meena intergrades with agricola in central Nepal. One may find there

all gradations from true meena to true agricola, especially with regard

to the colour of the under tail coverts, contrary to Rand & Fleming’s

(1957, p. 71) conjecture (see also Scully, 1879, p. 341). The position,

of course, is not quite so easy or clear when all birds are taken into con-

sideration, for, as has been rightly suspected by Rand & Fleming, mig-

rants, particularly early comers and late goers, complicate the picture

considerably. However, so far as breeding populations in Nepal are

concerned, I think the following working arrangement should prove

satisfactory :

Western and west-central Nepal : S. 0. meena

Central Nepal : S. 0. meena a agricola

Eastern Nepal: S. 0. agricola

It may incidentally be noted that my casual study based mainly on

the materials of the American Museum of Natural History and the

British Museum as presented above, is in fair agreement with Roonwal’s

(1941, p. 331) observation based on the Indian Museum material.

Both Ripley and Rand & Fleming identified their breeding specimens

from the Nepal Valley as meena. Their few examples, like some of mine

and Scully’s and Bailey’s (at the British Museum), must be towards the

meena-side of intergradation. The taxonomy of the species S. orien-

talis poses an intriguing problem, especially in its Indian populations,

which only a thorough revisional study can solve.

218. Streptopelia decaocto decaocto (Frivaldszky). Indian Ring Dove.

CHITLANG VALLEY : Chitlang: 1 ¢, 1 2 (April 27).

The Ring Dove was not met with by us in the Nepal Valley where

Proud (1955, p. 71) found it, though not normally, at the end of the

monsoon in flocks feeding on paddy. However, we came across a few

about cultivated fields in the Chitlang Valley, and scarcely in the central

dun. All other workers reported this species only from the plains to the

duns.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Rhamphotheca

1g: 72 134 —

Oe 171 130 2

Compared with the populations from Iran and Afghanistan, the

Indian birds are a trifle darker, with a little more grey on the lower

plumage.

534 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HGHIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

219. Streptopelia tranquebarica humilis (Temminck). Eastern Red

Turtle Dove.

Dun: Hitaura : 534, 1 juv. ¢, 3 22 (May 21, June 15-23, July 10-12).

The Red Turtle Dove is not an uncommon bird in the duns of central

Nepal during summer. It usually occurs in pairs or in small loose

parties, feeding in the forest clearings, such as cut-up patches, forest

paths, etc.

Scully (1879, p. 342) found it common in the central bhabar and dun

in winter. Proud (1949, p. 718) noted it as a summer visitor, though

not very common, in the Nepal Valley. Ripley (1950b) and Rand &

Fleming (1957) did not record it from Nepal.

Most of my June and July specimens are worn, a few very much so.

A male bird (June 15) has moulting upper tail coverts and central tail

feathers, while a female (June 20) has only the upper tail coverts in moult.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Rhamphotheca

Dh siepe 136 (2), 140 (2), 141 86+, 89+, 90, —(2) 7, 7.5, 8, — (2)

3729): 136 (2), 141 83+, 87, — 7, 8.5, —

I agree with Whistler & Kinnear (1936, p. 680) in not recognizing

Bonaparte’s murvensis (==Hartert’s murmensis), since the birds from

Nepal differ very little, if at all, from those of Assam and Burma. How-

ever, there appears to be scope for further detailed study of the western

and southern Indian populations, especially of their breeding ranges

and movements during the non-breeding season. It may be mentioned

in this connexion that in southern India where the type locality of the

nominate subspecies lies, two distinct forms occur. Thus, of the four

southern specimens I have examined (two from Mysore and two from

Coimbatore), three are very close to Sikkim-Assam birds, that is humilis,

while the fourth one matches well with Panjab-Uttar Pradesh birds.

But this specimen could as well be a migrant from the north, it being

taken on December 17.

Standard works on Indian ornithology, such as those of Baker (1928,

p. 251), Peters (1937, p. 97), and Ripley (in press), have all mentioned

‘western Nepal’ within the range of the nominate subspecies. Although

the western Nepali birds may possibly belong to that subspecies, I am

unable to trace any reported collection of actual specimen of the species

from that part of the country.

220. Streptopelia chinensis suratensis (Gmelin). Indian Spotted Dove.

BuHaBaR : Amlekhganj: 1 3, 1 2 (March 9, 10). DuN: Hitaura, Paharé Ghat :

3 $$, 1 9, 2 juv. 22 (May 25-28, June 10-13). NepaL VALLEY : Kathmandu and its

suburbs, Thankot : 6 ¢¢, 1 subad. ¢, 8 92, (March 20-April 23).

The Spotted Dove is one of the commonest birds of central Nepal

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 305

from the bhabar up to the Nepal Valley, particularly in and around fields

of paddy and pulses.

One of my adult female specimens (Kathmandu, March 24) has a

. few faint blackish bars on the breast, abdomen, flanks and under tail

coverts. The subadult male specimen (Thankot, Apri! 2) has the under-

side brownish vinous and its wing coverts are edged with rufous.

The subadult male has the upper tail coverts, a female (Kathmandu,

March 20) both the rump and upper tail coverts, anda male (Hitaura,

June 22) the central rectrices, in moult.

Colours of soft parts: Iris pinkish red; orbital skin and edges of eyelids pink; bill

black; legs and feet dull purplish red; claws dark horny; pads white.

All the adult examples taken between March and June had breeding

gonads.

Measurements: 11 33: Wing 135, 137, 138, 142 (3), 143, 144, 146, 151, — ; tail

131, 136 (4), 137+, 138, 143, 144, 148, 150; rhamphotheca 7.5 (2), 8 (4), 8.5 (2), 9,

—(2).

10 99 : Wing 133, 135, 136, 138.5, 139, 140, 141 (2), 143, 145 ;

tail 125, 130, 131, 132, 134 (2), 135, 139, 140, 141; rhamphotheca 7.5 (3), 8 (5), 8.5, —.

221. Chalcophaps indica indica (Linnaeus). Indian Emerald Dove.

BHABAR : Amlekhganj: 1 ¢ (March 10). DuN: Hitaura: 5 gg, 2 22 (May

12-29).

The Emerald Dove is not uncommon in the forests of the bhabar and

dun of central Nepal. Scully (1879) did not report it from Nepal.

One of my female specimens (May 12) has chestnut central rectrices.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Rhamphotheca

6 od: 148, 149, 151, 152, 153, 156 92 (2), 93, 94, 95,99 9 (3), 9.5, — 2)

Ze: 140, 144 87, 89 8, 8.5

Order PSITTACIFORMES

Family PsITTACIDAE

222. Psittacula eupatria nipalensis (Hodgson). Large Indian Parakeet.

TaRAL: Simra: 1 § (March 5). BHABAR : Amlekhganj: 1 4, 1 9 (March 10).

The Large Indian Parakeet occurs in small numbers in the forests of

the tarai and bhabar of central Nepal. Although Scully (1879, p. 240)

reported it from the dun, we failed to find any there. Ripley (1950b,

p. 371) and Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 72) recorded it from the lowlands

of western and west-central Nepal.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Culmen from cere

DSS 224, 234 345+, — SPs y/

HO): fl) 295+ 34

536. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

223. Psittacula krameri borealis (Neumann). Northern Indian Rose-

ringed Parakeet.

TARAL: Simra: 1 ¢, 1 Q(March4,5). BHaBar: Amlekhganj: 1 ¢, 2 99

(March 10, June 8).

The Roseringed Parakeet is common in the tarai and bhabar in light

forests and near villages.

The June specimens (1 <, 1 2) had non-breeding gonads.

Colours of soft parts: Iris pale yellow; upper mandible coral red with black tip;

lower mandible black on anterior third and mixed black and red or dusky red pos-

teriorly; legs and feet greenish slaty; claws black; pads greenish grey.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Culmen from cere

ES eeB i773 : 243, — 24 (2)

SE OOe: 165, 169, 174 222+, — (2) 22, 23.524

224. Psittacula alexandri fasciata (P. L. S. Miler). Indian Red-

breasted Parakeet.

Psittacus fasciatus P.L.S. Miller, 1776, Vollstadiges Natursyst., Suppl., : 74.

(Pondicherry, South India, error, fixed at Arakan, Burma, by Ticehurst, 1933, p. 934,

but see discussion below.)

BHABAR : Amlekhganj: 1 ¢, 2 99 (March 10). Dun: Hitaura 2 ¢¢, 1 juv. 2

(May 19, June 16, July 14). <

The Redbreasted Parakeet was found by us in the forests of

the bhabar and dun of central Nepal in flocks of about a dozen or more.

Scully (1879, p. 244) recorded it from the Nepal Valley in August-

October, where subsequent workers failed to find it. Rand & Fleming

(1957, p. 73) found it in west-central Nepal between c. 1220 and 1525 m.

in winter. It is not included in Ripley’s (1950b) list.

The juvenile female specimen (July 14) is green all over, and is evi-

dently a bird of the year.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Culmen from cere

SaSCu: 168, 169, 171 151+, 1744+, — 24, 25520.

WALES 164, 165 150, — 24 (2)

The type locality of Psittacus fasciatus as given by Muller, namely

Pondicherry, was evidently an error, and Ticehurst (loc. cit.) fixed it as

Arakan. Méiiller’s description of the species was based on Daubenton’s

Planches enluminees, p\. 517, which was published in 1770. The speci-

men(s) on which the plate was based, was collected probably before

1762 (Stresemann, 1952, p. 502). Now, Arakan was practically

unknown to Europeans even in 1776, so that unless it can be proved

beyond any reasonable doubt that the original specimen(s) did actually

come from Arakan, it seems reasonable to attach no importance to

Ticehurst’s arbitrary fixation of the type locality. It may be pointed

out here that Chandernagore in Bengal was in French possession during

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL Sou,

those days and earlier, and it certainly was not very difficult for a French

naturalist or collector stationed there to obtain specimens from the

Himalayan foothills and duars in northern Bengal. The other possibi-

lity is that the original specimen(s) did not come from India or Upper

Burma at all, but from some other area within the range of the species,

visited by early French collectors. |

225. Psittacula cyanocephala bengalensis (Forster). Northern Indian

Blossomheaded Parakeet.

BHABAR : Amlekhganj: 2 ¢¢, 1 2 (March 10). Dun: Hitaura: 1 4, 3 juv.

itd 1 juv. 2 (May 28, 30, June 7, 26, July 23).

The Blossomheaded Parakeet was found by us in the forests of only

the bhabar and dun of central Nepal.

Although Scully (1879, p. 242) did not find it in the Nepal Valley

‘except probably as a mere straggler’, Proud (1949, p. 715) noted it

to be moderately common on the hills round the Valley. It was not

found there by Ripley (1950b, p. 371) who reported it from eastern Nepal

from the tarai up to c. 1830 m., nor by Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 73)

who found it only in the lowlands of west-central and eastern Nepal.

The juvenile specimens are all birds of the year. Of them, two males

May 30, July 23) and a female (June 7) are in the first stage plumage.

The other male specimen (May 28) is moulting from the first to the second

Stage.

The adult male bird from Hitaura (June 26) is very worn.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Culmen from cere

BNGiOn: 141, 143, 144+ 207, — (2) 18.5, 19 (2)

| aes 138 200 18

Rand & Fleming (1957, pp. 73-74) suggest synonymizing rosa and

bengalensis with cyanocephala, with which I am unable to agree.

Nepal has been included within the range of the allied species

Psittacula roseata Biswas (rosa or bengalensis of authors, not of Boddaert

or Forster, respectively) by Baker (1927, p. 206), presumably on the basis

of Salvadori’s (1891, pp. 454-455) identification of Hodgson’s specimens.

However, such of those specimens as could be traced are all worn

examples of Ps. cyanocephala.

226. Psittacula himalayana (Lesson). Slatyheaded Parakeet.

BHABAR:: Amlekhganj: 2 3% (March 8, 9). DuN: Hitaura: 1 ¢ (May 24).

NEPAL VALLEY : Thankot: 1 ¢, 1 juv. ¢ (April 4, 14).

The Slatyheaded Parakeet is found in small flocks in light forests of

central Nepal. It does not appear to be common anywhere.

Scully (1879, p. 243) reported it only from the Nepal Valley between

December and April. Proud (1949, p. 715) also noted it in the Nepal

538 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Valley, and on the lower hills around. Ripley (1950b, p. 371) found it

only once and that was in western Nepal at c. 1525 m. in December.

Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 74) recorded it from c. 1370-2135 m. in west-

central and central Nepal in winter. We found it, as mentioned above,

between c. 245 and 1525 m. in central Nepal in March-May.

Incidentally, the lowest altitude for this bird has been given by Ripley

(in press) as c. 610 m.

The juvenile specimen (April 14) is green all over, and is very worn.

The adult bird from Hitaura (¢', May 24) is also worn.

Measurements: 4 8¢ : Wing 158+, 160, 165, 168 ; tail —, 223, 224, 243 ; culmen

from cere 21(2), 21.5, 23.

I agree with Husain (1959, p. 249) in treating Ps. himalayana as a

species distinct from Ps. finschi (Hume).

*227. Loriculus vernalis vernalis (Sparrman). Indian Lorikeet.

Although the standard works on Indian avifauna, e.g. Baker (1927,

p. 217), Peters (1937, p. 256), and Ripley (in press) do not include Nepal

within the range of this species, Hodgson presented two skins from the

‘Tarai of Nepal’ to the British Museum (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 113).

It has not since been reported from Nepal, however.

Order CUCULIFORMES

Family CUCULIDAE

228. Clamator coromandus (Linnaeus). Redwinged Crested Cuckoo.

Dun: Hitaura: 5 ¢3, 3 22 (May 12-June 5).

The Redwinged Crested Cuckoo is fairly common in the dun during

summer in dense as well as light forests, sometimes even in thorny under-

growths and bushes. It is rather noisy, and occurs singly or in loose

parties of three or four.

We were not able to locate it in the Nepal Valley where Scully (1879,

p. 257) who noticed it at Godavari in May, thought it bred. Neither

Ripley (1950b), nor Rand & Fleming (1957) recorded it from Nepal.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Bill

S166: 160.5, 162, 163, 165.5, 238, 243+, 251,— (2) 31.5, 32 (2), 33, 33.5

166

2) SSE: 164, 165, 168 240+, 248+, 258 32 (2), 34

229. Clamator jacobinus serratus (Sparrman). Pied Crested Cuckoo.

Dun: Hitaura: 1 ¢, 1 2 (June 21, 23).

The Pied Crested Cuckoo appears to be rather scarce in central Nepal.

We came across only a few individuals in the forests at Hitaura in the

dun. Scully (1879), Ripley (1950b) and Rand & Fleming (1957) failed

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 539

to find it in Nepal ; and Proud (1949, p. 714) saw it only once at Kath-

mandu, Nepal Valley, in April.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Bill

ees 148 170 28

| Os 143 150-+ 26.5

230. Cuculus sparverioides sparverioides Vigors. Large Hawk-Cuckoo.

CHANDRAGIRI: above Thankot, above Chitlang, on the crest :3 ¢¢ (April 6-22),

Also one specimen without exact locality, date and sex.

The Large Hawk-Cuckoo is frequently heard from about the begin-

ning of April on the ranges surrounding the Nepal Valley at c. 1675 m.

upwards. It is also found on the Mahabharat Range in May. No-

where, however, is it seen easily owing to the thick cover it selects. It

has also been recorded in winter at c. 1830 m. in west-central Nepal by

Rand & Fleming (1957, p. 74), and at c. 1525 m. in eastern Nepal in June

by Biswas (1960a). Ripley (1950b) did not include it in his list.

One of my specimens (April 22) had the testes slightly enlarged,

measuring 5 x 3.5 (right) and 6 x 4 (left) mm.

Colours of soft parts: Iris orange-yellow ; edges of eyelids lemon yellow ; upper

mandible dark horny, paler on the tip ; lower mandible greenish slaty, dusky on the

sides of anterior half and on the tip; gape dull lemon yellow ; legs and feet lemon

yellow ; claws pale horny with yellowish tinge ; pads dirty lemon yellow.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Bill

3 od: 213), 227228 202, 205, — 28, 29, —

1 unsexed : 225 — 30

231. Cuculus varius varius Vahl. Common Hawk-Cuckoo.

Dun: Hitaura: 3 ¢¢, 2 29, 1 juv. 2 (May 19-28, June 6, 21).

This hawk-cuckoo is heard only sometimes in the Nepal Valley

during April-May, but is fairly common during summer in the bhabar

and dun. It is noticed around villages and the edges of forests.

It was reported breeding in small numbers in the Valley by Scully

1879, p. 256) who noted it there from February onwards. Proud (1949,

p.714) recorded it to be scarce there. Ripley (1950b, p. 371) found it in

the central plains (Birganj) in winter, and Rand & Fleming (1957, p.

75) in the lowlands in the same season.

The juvenile female specimen (June 21) has rufous bars next to black

on tail, ill-defined rufous barrings on the upper side, and a rufous wash

on the underside, heavily streaked with blackish brown.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Bill

3 og: 205, 206, 213 174, 180, 188 28, 30, 31

Di? 206, 207 177--, 179+ 29 (2)

540 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Regarding Hodgson’s collection of C. varius, see note under the next

form.

*232. Cuculus fugax nisicolor Blyth. Hodgson’s Hawk-Cuckoo.

Hodgson’s collection (Gray & Gray, 1846, p. 120 ; Gray, 1863, p. 66)

provides the sole record of this hawk-cuckoo from Nepal. Gray &

Gray, and Gray both listed Hodgson’s specimens of this form and those

of C. varius together. However, Shelley (1891, pp. 235, 238) gave four

specimens of varius and two of nisicolor presented by Hodgson from

Nepal.

233. Cuculus micropterus micropterus Gould. Indian Cuckoo.

Dun: Bhimphedi: 1 ¢, 1 2 (May 6, 10). MARKHU VALLEY : Deorali: 2 ¢¢

(May 1). CHITLANG VALLEY: Chitlang: 1 ¢ (April 16). NEPAL VALLEY : Pashu-

patinath : 1 ¢ (April 28).

The Indian Cuckoo is common from the Markhu Valley to the Nepal

Valley in April and May. In the upper parts of the central dun it is

rather scarce in early May. We did not find it later in the bhabar and

dun.

Scully (1879) did not report it from Nepal. Biswas (1960a) found it

in the Arun watershed, eastern Nepal, at c. 1525 m. in June.

One of my male specimens (Deorali, May 1) still has traces of rufous

on the upper parts.

In the male bird from the Nepal Valley, the testes had just commenced

maturing.

Colours of soft parts: Iris reddish brown; edges of eyelids yellow; upper mandible

dark horny with yellow on the base and gape; lower mandible pale grey with yellow

on the base and dark horny on the tip; legs and feet yellow; claws dark horny; pads

white.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Bill

aretoie 192, 195, 201, 204, 207. = 151, 159, 195+, 160,— 30, 31, 32 (2),—

eo: 207 161+ 30

See note under C. p. poliocephalus (p. 543) regarding Hodgson’s col-

lection of C. micropterus.

234. Cuculus canorus telephonus Heine. Asiatic Cuckoo.

Dun : Hitaura: 2 g¢ (June 12, 21). MARKHU VALLEY: Deorali: 1 ¢ (April

CHITLANG VALLEY: Chitlang: 1 3, 1 Q (April 16, July 2). NEPAL VALLEy :

Sheopuri Range off Burhanilkantha, Patan, Thankot : 4 3,1 2 (April 12, May 2, 17).

The Asiatic Cuckoo is a common bird from the Mahabharat Range

to the Nepal Valley during April-May. In the Valley it is found com-

mon in the central woods as also on the hills borderingit. In the central

dun, however, it is quite scarce in May-June. The two specimens col-

lected there by us in June might probably be late-comers from the winter

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 541

quarters, or else breeding there, but no record of the condition of their

gonads was unfortunately kept.

Stevens (1925b, p. 679) reported it from the Mai Valley, eastern

Nepal, at c. 2745 m. Ripley (1950b) did not mention this species in

his list. Polunin (1955, p. 895) occasionally heard it in the oak forests

of the Langtang Valley, central Nepal, during June. Lowndes (1955,

p. 35) found it plentiful and breeding at c. 3655-3960 m. in Manangbhot,

central Nepal, during June-August. Biswas (1960a) found it common in

eastern Nepal between c. 1220 and 2745 m. in June, but less common

above up to c. 4265 m. in May.

One of my male specimens (May 2) has the throat feathers in moult.

The same specimen and another male (May 17) had the gonads just

commenced swelling.

Colours of soft parts: Iris and edges of eyelids chrome yellow ; bill dark horny

with yellow on the base and gape, and light grey with yellowish wash on the middle

part of the lower mandible ; legs and feet yellow ; claws light grey ; pads white.

Measurements :

Bites oy

Wing : 211; 215 (2), 223; 225, 226, 232, 243 ZATS223

Tail : —, 165, 167, 168, 172, 175, 183 (2) 163, 165

Bill : 26.5, 28 (2), 28.5, 29, — (3) Zise(2)

[cf. $2 wing 220-227 ; tail 155-178, as given by Baker (1927, p. 137).]

This subspecies seems to be ill-defined indeed.

235. Cuculus saturatus saturatus Blyth. Himalayan Cuckoo.

Dun : Hitaura, Bhimphedi: 1 ¢, 1 juv. 4, 1 2 (May 10, June 15, 17). MARKHU

VALLEY : Deorali; 1 ¢, 1 juv. 2 (April 29, May 1). CHITLANG VALLEy : Chitlang :

1 ¢ (April 20). NEPAL VALLEY : Thankot, top of Chandragiri Range above Thankot,

Godavari, Phulchauki Danda above Godavari: 9 ¢¢, 1 nestling 3, 1 hepatic 2 (March

29, April 4-16, May 10-12).

On the hills surrounding the Nepal Valley and on the Chitlang side

of the Chandragiri, the Himalayan Cuckoo is very common from about

the middle of April. Its characteristic four-noted sonorous call could

be heard almost any time of the day, and even on moonlit nights. It is

seldom seen below c. 1525 m.

The central dun birds taken in May and June might probably repre-

sent late-comers from the winter quarters. :

It was not found in Nepal by Ripley (1950b). Biswas (1960a) re-

ported it to be common between c. 1525 and 3050 m. in eastern Nepal in

June.

Two of my males and the hepatic female, taken April 15, 16, May 12,

had slightly enlarged gonads, the female having its largest ova measuring

4 and 6 mm.

The nestling (Godavari, May 10) was collected on the ground while it

was being pecked at by four Redbilled Blue Magpies, apparently stolen

$42 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

from its foster-parent’s care. It had severe injuries on the head (part of

the brain was exposed), eyes and abdomen. It died soon after it was

rescued from its predators.

One of the adult males (Hitaura, June 17) is in very worn plumage,

except the central rectrices which are moulting.

HEPATIC FEMALE: Chin, throat and upper breast pale rufous with

blackish brown bars, sides of the throat and of upper breast chestnut

and blackish brown bars ; lower breast to under tail coverts white with

blackish brown bars, with a slight rufous tinge on the vent and under tail

coverts.

JUVENILE : Male, June 15.—General coloration dark grey-brown with

white bars on the upper side, chin and throat.

| Female, April 29.—Rufous with blackish brown bars all

over.

NESTLING : Upper plumage and chin to breast blackish brown, with

narrow white edges to feathers ; abdomen and vent faint fulvous heavily

barred with broad bands of blackish brown ; primaries barred on the

outer webs with rufous. Remiges and under wing coverts growing.

Rectrices not yet developed.

Colours of soft parts: ADULT MALE: Iris reddish brown; edges of

eyelids yellow; upper mandible dark horny with pale yellow on the base, and

greenish horny patches in front of nostrils (absent in one specimen) ; lower mandi-

ble pale greenish horny with yellow on the base, and dark horny on the edges of

the anterior half and tip; gape yellow (once orange-yellow) ; legs and feet yellow

(legs once yellowish horny) ; claws horny with yetew on the tips (once fleshy) ;

pads white.

HEPATIC FEMALE : Iris brownish yellow ; upper mandible dark horny, a little

paler on the base, yellowish white patches in front of nostrils, and yellow on the

sides below nostrils ; lower mandible horny with darker tip, and yellow on the base

and sides of the proximal third ; legs and feet wax yellow; claws horny with yellow

on the tips of the outer and inner ones. Eyelids, gape and pads as in adult male.

NESTLING : Iris dark brownish grey; bill black; legs fleshy; feet yellowish

fleshy ; claws fleshy ; pads yellowish fleshy.

Measurements :

12 3d 1 I ehepye

Wing: 179-+, 182, 183, 184, 185 (2), 186, 187 (2), 188, 192 (2) 186 180

Tail: 144, 145, 146+, 148, 149, 151+, 155, 156 (2),—(3) 159 147

Bill : 27; 27.5,°28 G), 29; 30; — G) 230" Dit

[cf. measurements given by Baker (1927, p. 141) : f2 : wing 208-226; tail 151-176.]

Regarding Hodgson’s collection of the Himalayan Cuckoo, see note

under C. p. poliocephalus (below).

236. Cuculus poliocephalus poliocephalus Latham. Small Cuckoo.

MARKHU VALLEY : Deorali: 2 ¢¢ (April 28, 30). NEPAL VALLEY : Thankot :

1 2 (July 25). ,

The Small Cuckoo was seen by us only on a few occasions in deep

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 543

gorges on the Chandragiri and Mahabharat ranges. It appears to be a

very shy bird.

Scully (1879) did not find it in Nepal, nor was it reported thence by

Rand & Fleming (1957). Stevens (1925b, p. 679) recorded it from the

Mai Valley, eastern Nepal at c. 2135 m.in May. Ripley (1950b, p. 371)

found a single specimen in the Nepal Valley in mid-April, where Proud

(1955, p. 69) noted it as common between c. 1525 and 2135 m. in April.

My female specimen still has traces of chestnut bars on the head and

nape.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Bill

233: 1155; 155-5 130, 132 DA

i. 149 128 23.5

In listing Hodgson’s collection of cuckoos, Gray & Gray (1846, pp.

119-120) and Gray (1863, p. 65) made a curious mixture of C. microp-

terus, C. saturatus, and C. poliocephalus. However, from a reference to

Shelley (1891, pp. 243-244, 254, 257) we find that Hodgson presented 5

specimens of C. micropterus, 11 of C. saturatus, and 6 of C. poliocephalus

to the British Museum.

237. Cuculus sonnerati sonnerati Latham. Indian Banded Bay Cuckoo.

Dun : Hitaura: 1 ¢ (May 26). ;

We came across the Banded Bay Cuckoo in Nepal once, when the

specimen was collected.

Gray & Gray (1846) and Gray (1863) did not mention any specimen of

this species in the Hodgson collection, but Shelley (1891, p. 264) listed two

examples presented by Hodgson. This cuckoo was not reported from

Nepal by Scully (1879), Ripley (1950b) or Rand & Fleming (1957).

Measurements: 1 &: Wing 118; tail 114+; bill 25.

238. Cuculus passerinus Vahl. Indian Plaintive Cuckoo.

MARKHU VALLEY : Kulikhani : 1 ¢ (April 27). CHITLANG VALLEY : Chitlang:

2 $f (uly 2). |

The Indian Plaintive Cuckoo is scarce in Nepal. It occurs

near villages between the Mahabharat and Chandragiri ranges.

After Hodgson’s collection, ours appears to be the only record of this

species from Nepal.

The Chitlang specimens had remains of caterpillars in their stomachs.

Measurements: 3 $f: Wing 116, 118, 120; tail 113, 114, 115 ; bill 22, 23 (2).

Biswas (1951b) has shown that the greybellied C. passerinus and the

rufousbellied C. querulus should be treated as distinct species.

*239,. Chrysococcyx maculatus (Gmelin). Emerald Cuckoo.

The only post-Hodgsonian record of the Emerald Cuckoo from Nepal

is Proud’s (1955, p. 69), who once saw a small party in Kathmandu,

Nepal Valley, on September 7.

544. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

240. Surniculus lugubris dicruroides (Hodgson). Indian Drongo-Cuckoo.

Dun : Hitaura, Paharé Ghat, Bhimphedi: 8 33, 422 (May 5-26, June 1-19,

July 20). NEPAL VALLEY : Godavari, Thankot: 4 ¢¢ (April 13, May 10-20).

The Drongo-Cuckoo is a common bird in the wooded parts of the

Nepal Valley, the bases of the hills surrounding it, and in the duns. it

is usually found in the clearings and edges of forests.

Scully (1879) did not report it from Nepal, and Rand & Fleming (1957,

p. 75) found it only in the lowlands.

The July specimen had caterpillars in its stomach.

The April specimens had non-breeding gonads. By May swelling

of the gonads had already commenced (right testes measured 3.75-5 x

2-3 mm. and the left, 5-6 x 3-4), and in June the birds were in breeding

condition. A male on June 14 had 106 (right) and 127.5 (left)

mm. testes ; a female on June 11 had a 10 mm. ovum, and another fe-

male was laying on June 19,—it had an oviducal egg heavily spotted

purplish around ends.

Colours of soft parts: Iris dark brown (once reddish brown) ; bill black ; legs and

feet bluish slaty ; claws horny ; pads white.

Measurements :

12-3 Apesas

Wing : 138 (2), 141, 142 (2), 144, 144+, 145, 145.5, 139+, 143.5, 144,

146, 147, 148 145.5

Tail: 130+, 132, 133, 137, 138, 139 (2), 140, 128, — (3)

141, 142,— (2)

Bill: 24. 25: (2); 25.5, 26 4); 26752) 2) 25, 26 (2), —

(cf. tail length ¢Q : 106-133, according to Baker (1927, p. 165).]

241. Eudynamys scolopacea scolopacea (Linnaeus). Indian Koel.

NEPAL VALLEY: Pashupatinath, Thankot: 3 ¢¢, 2 29 (March 30, April 14,

28, May 20).

The Koel is common about villages of the Nepal Valley during

spring and summer. It is, however, not found on the hills surrounding

the Valley. Biswas (1960a) reported it from the Arun watershed, eastern

Nepal, at c. 915-1525 m. in June.

One of my male specimens (May 20, breeding) has all the primary

coverts and the outermost primary tipped white, and the four outermost

secondaries narrowly fringed with white. An examination of adult male

specimens available to me from all over India shows that white is present

in about 13.5 per cent specimens in varying degrees on all or some wing

coverts, wing feathers, upper tail coverts, tail feathers, and even feathers

of the neck, breast and abdomen, the tips of rectrices frequently being

very pale rufous instead of white. The birds with white-tipped feathers

have all been taken in the months of February, May, September, October,

THE BIRDS OF NEPAL 545

and November. Reference to available literature does not give me any

idea of the significance of these spots.

On April 28 a female specimen had quite a large ovary, measuring

23 x 25, with the largest ova 13 and 11 mm., while a male taken May 20,

had a 10.5<7.5 mm. right testis.

Colours of soft parts: Iris crimson ; bill greenish horny but without greenish on

the base, around nostrils and tip of upper mandible (in one specimen, however, it was

dark horny on the basal half, horny on culmen and greenish horny on the anterior

half) ; legs and feet plumbeous ; claws dark horny ; pads white.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Bill

3u8Gh: 199, 202, 205 186, 189, 205 32 (2), 33.5

73 IB 188, 192 181+, 189 3255.53

242. Taccocua tristis tristis (Lesson). Himalayan Greenbilled Malkoha.

TARAI: Simra: 1 2 (March 5). BHABAR: Amlekhganj: 3 99 (March 9, 10).

Dun : Hitaura, Paharé Ghat, Bhimphedi: 4 ¢¢, 1 juv. ¢, 1 fledgling %, 6 92 (March

13, May 8—June 20, July 12). NEPAL VALLEY: Thankot: 1 4, 1 2 (April 8, 9).

The Greenbilled Malkoha is relatively a rare bird in the Nepal Valley,

but in the bhabar and dun of central Nepal, it is very common in the

forests, both in the dense parts and in the thorny bushes.

The coloration of the fledgling male (June 1) is similar to that of adult,

birds. The tail is proportionately very small. The juvenile male (July

12) has the tail about half-grown.

A female was laying on May 24, while another on June 10 had the

ovary not fully enlarged, its largest ovum being only 5 mm. Likewise

a male on June 12 had the testes measuring only 63.5 (right)

and 7x4 (left) mm.

Many of the specimens are worn, some very much so. Two female

specimens (March 9 and June 10) have the central rectrices still growing,

while other rectrices are fresh. Another female (June 12) has the rec-

trices and under tail coverts in moult. Tail moult in this species is

found to be centripetal.

Colours of soft parts : ADULT: Iris brown (once crimson); orbital skin deep crim-

son; bill dark green with red on the base and around nostrils (once paler green on

anterior two-thirds); legs and feet greenish slaty (once without green on feet); claws

horny; pads white.

FLEDGLING : Iris brown, orbital skin dark brown; upper mandible slaty horny ;

lower mandible greenish horny ; legs and feet pale plumbeous; claws dark horny;

pads white.

Measurements :

5 Ae I 22

Wing: 168, 168+, 170 (2), 171 164, —, 167+ (2), 169, 170(2), 170+, 17],

Miz, 1713

Tail : — (4), 385 — (6), 345, 390, 404, 405+, 415

Bill : 36 (2), 36.5 (2), 37 3616)2 36.5, 37°65

546 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

243. Taccocua leschenaulti infuscata Blyth. Hill Sirkeer Cuckoo.

BuHABAR : Amlekhganj: 1 ¢ (March 7). Dun: Hitaura: 1 ¢, 1 2 (May 19).

The Sirkeer Cuckoo did not appear to us as a common bird in Nepal.

It has not so far been reported from the Valley, but we came across it

a few times in the central bhabar and dun, usually in scrub jungles.

The female specimen (May 19) had an enlarged ovary with the largest

ovum about 6 mm. in diameter.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Bill

2 oo: 156, 157 a6 33 (2)

il Ss 158 230+ 34

244. Centropus sinensis sinensis (Stephens). Common Crow-Pheasant.

Dun : Hitaura: 4 ¢¢, 1 juv. g, 1 2 (May 23, June 12-19).

During May and June the characteristic resonant call of the Crow-

Pheasant is frequently heard in the central dun, but due to the presence

of very thick undergrowth and its skulking habits, it is not so commonly

seen.

Ours appears to be the only post-Hodgsonian record of this species

from Nepal.

The juvenile male specimen (June 19) corresponds very closely to

Baker’s (1927, p. 190) description of young birds, except that my speci-

men has the vent downy.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Bill

43d: 193, 200, 208, 210 222+, 246, —, 254 38, 39.5, 40, 41

1cOF: 207 232 + 39

A comparison of the measurements of correctly sexed specimens from

northern India and southern China with those from southern Assam,

Burma, Siam, and Indo-China, reveals that individual variation in size

is indeed very great in each population, so that Hume’s intermedius

from ‘Dhoon [=Dehra Dun], Dacca and Thayetmyo’ can hardly be

recognized.

245. Centropus toulou bengalensis (Gmelin). Lesser Crow-Pheasant.

Dun : Hitaura: 5 ¢¢, 522 (May 30, June 13-20, July 28).

The Lesser Crow-Pheasant is not uncommon in the central dun. It

occurs in grass and scrub forests.

I am unable to find any record save ours for this species from Nepal

since Hodgson’s days. 3

One of the testes of a July specimen measured 14 mm. long.

Measurements :

Wing Tail Bill

aEetatis 137+, 141, 143, 144, 163, 165, 181+, — (2) 25, 26, 27(2), —

148

sp SA 161+, 163+, 164, 180+, 200, — (3) 28, 29, 29.5, 30.5, —

166+, 169

(To be continued)

Revision of Indian Spiders of the

genus C'yrtarachne

(Argiopidae : Arachnida)

B. K. TIKADER

(With five text-figures)

INTRODUCTION

The Oriental spiders of the genus Cyrtarachne were first described

by Thorell (1895). Pocock (1900) recorded two known species of

the genus and described one new species.

Two known and three new species in the collections of the

Zoological Survey of India are described in this paper.

Family ARGIOPIDAE

Genus Cyrtarachne Thorell

(Type: Cyrtogaster grubei Keyserling, 1864)

1868. Cyrtarachne, Thorell, EUG. RESA. ZOOL. ARACH. p. 10.

1895. Cyrtarachne, Simon, HIST. NAT. ARAIGN. 1, p. 880.

1895. Cyrtarachne Thorell, SPIDERS OF BURMA, p. 201.

1900. Cyrtarachne, Pocock, FAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA, ARACHNIDA p. 228.

This genus was erected by Thorell to include Cyrtogaster grubei

Keyserling, 1364. The name Cyrtogaster being preoccupied in

Keyserling, Thorell proposed Cyrtarachne in the year 1868. He has

given a detailed diagnosis in his book SPIDERS OF BURMA.

Characters. Catapace unarmed, convex, median eyes not very

prominent, the ocular quadrangle generally slightly wider than long,

laterals contiguous. Abdomen large, wider than long, integument

leathery, strongly overlapping the posterior region of cephalothorax

in front. Chelicerae subapically with outer row of large teeth,

which differ in size and inner row of variable number of smaller

teeth.

548 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Distribution. Mediterranean, Ethiopian, Oriental, and Australian

Regions.

KEY TO INDIAN SPECIES

1. Abdomen pointed behind

Abdomen not pointed behind

2. Abdomen with black patch below, vulva fae

gular C. inaequalis

Abdomen with no black paiee below, sala ann a

short narrow tubercle C. raniceps

3. Abdomen chocolate colour, with iihiite match

antero-laterally, vulva kidney-shaped . C. bengalensis sp. nov.

Abdomen yellowish with all sigilla encircled By

black patch, vulva almost rounded at the base

provided with two blunt tubercles ; C. gravelyi sp. nov.

Abdomen light yellowish grey, armed above an

symmetrically placed tooth-like tubercles. Vulva

rounded at the base but apically triangular .. C. biswamoyi sp. nov.

LIST OF SPECIES

Cyrtarachne inaequalis Thorell

1895. Cyrtarachne inaequalis Thorell, SPIDERS OF BURMA, London. p. 201.

(Type-locality : Tounghoo, Burma.) -

1900. Cyrtarachne inaequalis, Pocock, FAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA, ARACHNIDA

p. 229.

Material. 299, from Botanical Garden, Sibpur, Dist. Howrah,

West Bengal. Coll. B. K. Tikader, 11-11-1956; 29 9, from Muki,

Dist. Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh. Coll. B. K. Tikader, 9-10-1957.

General. Cephalothorax ochre-yellow, abdomen yellowish, legs

brownish. Total length 10.50 mm.; carapace 3.50 mm. long,

3.20 mm. wide; abdomen 9.10 mm. long, 11.00 mm. wide.

Cephalothorax. Relatively broader in front, slightly longer than

wide. The area of four median eyes slightly elevated. Clypeus

narrow. Chelicerae subapically with outer row of 3 large teeth and

inner row first and third teeth large and rest smaller. Text-fig. 1, c.

Sternum heart-shaped. Legs stout, clothed with hairs.

Abdomen. Triangular, strongly overlapping the posterior region

of cephalothorax in front; wider than long, anterior lateral surface

bulging out into a smooth conical prominence and furnished with a dark

brown patch. Ventral surface of the abdomen black behind the

epigastric fold. Epigyne triangular at the base but apically pointed.

Text-fig. 1, b.

REVISION OF INDIAN SPIDERS OF THE GENUS CYRTARACHNE 549

Text-fig. 1. Cyrtarachne inaequalis Thorell

(a) Dorsal view of whole body; (b) Epigyne; (c) Chelicera

Distribution. Burma: Tounghoo and Tharrawaddy.

India: West Bengal: Balaghat Dist., Madhya

Pradesh.

550 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Cyrtarachne raniceps Pocock

1900. Cyrtarachne raniceps Pocock, FAUNA OF BRITISH INDIA, ARACHNIDA

p. 229. (Type-locality : Ceylon.)

Material. 1 9, with cocoon from Habra c. 48 kilometres north-east

of Calcutta, West Bengal. Coll. B. K. Tikader, 7-9-1958.

General. Cephalothorax and abdomen ochre-yellowish brown,

legs greenish. Total length 9.30 mm.; carapace 2.50 mm. long,

2.00 mm. wide; abdomen 9.00 mm. long, 11.70 mm. wide.

Cephalothorax. Relatively broader in front, slightly longer than

wide. Median eyes more or less equal in size and laterals slightly

smaller than medians; ocular quad as long as wide. Clypeus narrow.

Chelicerae subapically with outer row of 3 large teeth and inner row

first tooth large and rest smaller. Text-fig. 2, c. Sternum_heart-

shaped. Legs stout, clothed with hairs.

Abdomen. Wider than long, triangular, strongly overlapping the

posterior region of cephalothorax in front; broadest in its anterior

half, where it bulges out laterally into a large smooth conical pro-

minence, the lateral prominences amber or deep brown at the tip,

partially surrounded at the base by dark brown and pale lines.

Ventral side of abdomen more yellowish than dorsal. Epigyne with

scape in the form of a short narrow tubercle. Text-fig. 2, b.

Distribution. Ceylon.

India: West Bengal.

Cyrtarachne bengalensis sp. nov.

Material. 299, from Botanical Garden, Sibpur, Dist. Howrah,

West Bengal. Coll. B. K. Tikader, 11-11-1956.

General. Cephalothorax and legs chocolate in colour, abdomen

slightly paler than cephalothorax. Total length 7.20 mm.; carapace

2.00 mm. long, 1.20 mm. wide; abdomen 6.00 mm. long, 8.00 mm.

wide.

Cephalothorax. Relatively broader in front, slightly longer than

wide. Ocular quad square, lateral eyes slightly smaller than medians.

Clypeus narrow. Chelicerae subapically with outer row of three large

teeth and inner row of three small teeth. Text-fig. 3, c. Sternum

heart-shaped, pointed behind. Legs short, clothed with hairs.

Abdomen. Moderately rounded posteriorly, strongly overlapping

the posterior region of cephalothorax in front, wider than long,

anterior lateral surface slightly bulging out into a smooth prominence

and furnished with a white patch. Epigyne broad elongated at the

base but apically kidney-shaped. Text-fig.. 3, b.

REVISION OF INDIAN SPIDERS OF THE GENUS CYRTARACHNE 551

Text-fig. 2. Cyrtarachne raniceps Pocock

(a) Dorsal view of whole body; (b) Epigyne; (c) Chelicera

Holotype. One female in spirit in the National Zoological

Collections, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta.

This species resembles Cyrtarachne cingulata Thorell, but is

552. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

we,

“ULULC.O

Text-fig. 3. Cyrtarachne bengalensis sp. nov.

(a) Dorsal view of whole body; (b) Epigyne; (c) Chelicera

separated as follows: (i) Abdomen pale chocolate-coloured, moder-

ately rounded posteriorly and anterior lateral extremities with a white

patch but in C. cingulata abdomen black, widely rounded posteriorly

and with a broad yellow ring narrowly interrupted below round its

lateral extremities.

REVISION OF INDIAN SPIDERS OF THE GENUS CYRTARACHNE = 553

Cyrtarachne gravelyi sp. nov.

Material. 1°, from Pashok, Darjeeling District, West Bengal.

Coll. F. H. Gravely, 26-5-1916.

General. Cephalothorax and legs iight yellowish, abdomen ochre-

yellow. Total length 6.00 mm.; carapace 1.60 mm. long, 1.50 mm.

wide; abdomen 5.00 mm. long, 7.30 mm. wide.

Text-fig. 4. Cyrtarachne gravelyi sp. nov.

(a) Dorsal view of whole body; (b) Epigyne; (c) Chelicera

Cephalothorax. Relatively broader in front, slightly longer than

wide. Cephalic region high, median eyes more or less equal in size

and ocular quad as long as wide, lateral eyes small and contiguous. |

Chelicerae subapically with outer row of three large teeth and inner

554 JOURNAL, BOMBAY. NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

row first two teeth large and rest smaller. Text-fig. 4, c. Clypeus

narrow. Sternum heart-shaped. Legs short and stout, clothed with

hairs.

Abdomen. Large, nearly twice as broad as long, widely rounded

posteriorly; strongly overlapping the posterior region of cephalothorax

in front. All sigilla encircled by black patches. Ventral surface of

abdomen deep brown behind the epigastric fold. Epigyne more or

less rounded at the base provided with two blunt tubercles. Text-

fig. 4, b.

Holotype. One female in spirit in the National Zoological

Collections, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta.

This species is closely related to C. cingulata Thorell, but differs

as follows: (i) Abdomen ochre-yellow, all sigilla encircled by black

patches but in C. cingulata abdomen black, all sigilla encircled by white

patches and with a broad yellow ring narrowly interrupted below

round its lateral extremities.

Cyrtarachne biswamoyi sp. nov. ?

Material. 69 2, from Muki, District Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh.

Coll. B. K. Tikader, 9-10-1957.

General. Cephalothorax and legs yellowish, abdomen light

yellowish grey. ‘Total length 6.20 mm.; carapace 2.60 mm. long,

2.00 mm. wide; abdomen 5.00 mm. long, 8.90 mm. wide.

Cephalothorax. Relatively broad in front, slightly longer than

wide, scantily clothed with hairs. Median eyes more or less equal in

size and ocular quad slightly longer than wide, laterals small and

contiguous. Chelicerae subapically with outer row of three large teeth

and inner row two median teeth. Text-fig. 5, c. Clypeus narrow.

Sternum heart-shaped. Legs short and stout, clothed with hairs.

Abdomen. Large, armed above with a few symmetrically placed

tooth-like tubercles, nearly twice as broad as long, widely rounded

posteriorly; strongly overlapping the posterior region of cephalothorax

in front. Almost all sigilla yellow in centre and encircled by black

patch. Epigyne more or less rounded at the base but apically

triangular. Text-fig. 5, b. |

Holotype. One female in spirit in the National Zoological

Collections, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta.

This species is closely related to C. cingulata Thorell, but differs

*T have pleasure in naming this after Dr. Biswamoy Biswas, Ornithologist,

Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta.

REVISION OF INDIAN SPIDERS OF THE GENUS CYRTARACHNE 555

Text-fig. 5. Cyrtarachne biswamoyi sp. nov.

(a) Dorsal view of whole body; (b) Epigyne; (c) Chelicera

as follows: (i) Abdomen light yellowish grey, sigilla yellow in centre

and encircled by black patch but in C. cingulata abdomen black, sigilla

black in centre and encircled by white patch. (ii) Abdomen armed

above with a few symmetrically placed tooth-like tubercles but in C.

cingulata abdomen rounded and smooth.

556 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

SUMMARY

Three new and two known species of Indian spiders of the genus

Cyrtarachne, family Argiopidae are described in this paper. All

species were collected from West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, India.

All the type specimens are in the Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am grateful to Dr. M. L. Roonwal, Director, Zoological Survey

of India, for facilities. My thanks are also due to Dr. M. S. Mani,

Deputy Director, for guidance and going through the manuscript.

REFERENCES

Pocock, R.I. (1900): The Fauna of Thorell, T. (1868) : Eug. Resa, Zool.

British India, Arachnida, London, Arach. p. 10.

pp. 228-229. — — — (1895): Spiders of Burma,

Simon, E. (1895) : Hist. Nat. Araign. London, pp. 201-207.

Paris, 1: 880.

Thysanoptera from the Nilgiri and

Kodaikanal Hills (South India)

T. N. ANANTHAKRISHNAN

Department of Zoology, Loyola College, Madras

(With six figures)

The Nilgiri and Kodaikanal hill ranges of south India constitute

a favourable collecting ground for Thysanoptera in view of their rich

vegetation, both natural and introduced. Aid given by the Sir Dorabji

Tata Memorial Trust through the Bombay Natural History Society

enabled the author to make a survey of the Thysanoptera of this area, the

results of which form the basis of this paper. Apart from the discovery

of a new genus Aroidothrips, some of the rarer genera as Bolacothrips

Priesner, Apterygothrips Priesner, and Stictothrips Hood were recorded,

their corresponding species being new. In addition, Ramaswamiahiella

kallarensis sp. nov. and Dolichothrips (Dolicholepta) rambhutanae sp.

nov. are described and records new to the Indian region, such as

Haplothrips euphorbiae Priesner and Sericothrips occipitalis Hood, are

included.

Several species of horticultural importance causing severe damage

to the flowers of such plants as carnations, gladiolus, orchids, iris, asters,

hollyhocks, and a host of others listed below, mostly introduced into our

mainland and thriving generally at high altitudes in extensive and well-

maintained gardens, have been recorded during the course of the present

study. The role played by thrips in causing serious economic losses to

horticulturists is a recognised fact abroad, but no record exists in India

of the intensity of thrips infestation on ornamental plants. Besides the

presence of casual visitors and others of minor importance as pests, the

following species deserve special mention as proving destructive to flowers

or having sufficient potentialities of becoming serious pests: Thrips

tabaci Lindeman on carnations, Thrips florum Schmutz, Thrips mela-

neurus Bagnall, and Thrips palmi Karny on different species of roses,

Thrips nilgiriensis Ramakrishna on orchids, Taeniothrips simplex Morrison

on gladiolus, Haplothrips gowdeyii (Franklin) and Trybomiella ramakrishnai

Karny on hollyhocks, canna, etc. No information is available on thrips

infesting glass houses in India ; attempts to collect them from the few

558 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

glass houses at Ootacamund proved futile, the only species obtained

being Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis (Bouche) from flowers of begonia.

LIST OF SPECIES RECORDED

Suborder TEREBRANTIA Haliday

Sericothrips graminis Ananthakrishnan

Sericothrips occipitalis Hood

Aptinothrips rufus (Gmelin)

Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood

Anaphothrips (Neophysopus) flavicinctus (Karny) —

Exothrips madrasensis Ananthakrishnan

Ramakrishnothrips jonnaphila (Ramakrishna)

Ramakrishnothrips cardamomi (Ramakrishna)

Frankliniella sulphurea Schmutz

Taeniothrips distalis Karny

Taeniothrips simplex (Morrison)

Aroidothrips longistylus gen. et sp. nov.

Bolacothrips bicolor sp. nov.

Ramaswamiahiella kallarensis sp. nov.

Thrips florum Schmutz

Thrips tabaci Lindeman

Thrips parvus Schmutz

Thrips apicatus Priesner

Thrips nilgiriensis Ramakrishna

Thrips bambusae Shumsher

Thrips melaneurus Bagnall

Thrips palmi Karny

Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis Bouche

Helionothrips kadaliphila (Ramk. & Marg.)

Caliothrips indicus (Bagnall)

Suborder TUBULIFERA Haliday

Stictothrips fimbriata (Ananthakrishnan)

Hoplothrips indicus sp. nov.

Bamboosiella bicoloripes Ananthakrishnan

Haplothrips (Trybomiella) ramakrishnai Karny

Haplothrips gowdeyii (Franklin)

Haplothrips euphorbiae Priesner

Xylaplothrips pictipes Bagnall

Dolichothrips (Dolicholepta) rambhutanae sp. nov.

Praepodothrips indicus Priesner & Seshadri

_ Praepodothrips priesneri Ananthakrishnan

THYSANOPTERA FROM NILGIRI AND KODAIKANAL HILLS 559

Praepodothrips cymbopogoni Ananthakrishnan

Apterygothrips pini sp. nov.

Gynaikothrips karnyi Bagnall

Gynaikothrips interlocatus Karny

Cercothrips tibialis Zimmerman

Sericothrips graminis Ananthakrishnan

1956. Sericothrips graminis Ananthakrishnan, T. N. in Zool. Anz.

156: 31-33.

NILGIRIS : Coonoor, Sims Park 5500’, 2 females on grass, 10-5-1959.

A typical grass inhabiting bicolorous species with abdominal segments

I-V yellow and VI-X dark grey-brown. Longitudinal vein of forewing

with 24 bristles.

Sericothrips occipitalis Hood

1917. Sericothrips occipitalis Hood, J. D. in Bull. Brook. Ent. Soc.

12 (2) : 32-34.

NILGIRIS : Burliar Fruit Research Station 2500’, 8 females and 4

males on leaves of Pueraria phaseoloides, 8-5-1959.

This species is a new record to India and is allied to S. graminis

Ananthakrishnan, with 3 abdominal segments predominantly yellow.

Foreangles of pronotum produced acutely and reticulations on occiput

and pronotal area outside plate, distinctly net-like.

Aptinothrips rufus (Gmelin)

1788. Thrips rufa Gmelin, Caroli Linn. Syst. Nat. : 2224.

1836. Aptinothrips rufa Haliday, A. H. in Ent. Mag. 3.

1902. Aptinothrips rufa Hinds, H. E. in Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 26.

1935a. Aptinothrips rufus Speyer, E. R. in Trans. R. Ent. Soc. Lond.

8 : 483-508.

Niveiris : Pomological Station, Coonoor 5500’, 6 females on grass,

10-5-1959.

Though this is a typical grass-infesting form common throughout

Europe, U.S.A., Egypt, Chile, etc., it has not so far been recorded from

India on grasses as far as the available literature shows. However,

Aptinothrips rufus var. connaticornis Bagnall has been recorded from

Darjeeling in tea flowers.

560 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood

1919. Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood, J. D. in Insec. Inscit. Menstr.

7: 90-91.

1932. Scirtothrips dorsalis Ramakrishna, T. V. in Agr. Livestk. Ind.

2 (4) : 393-394.

NILairIis : Kallar Fruit Research Station 1500’, 6 females on flowers

of wood apple, 8-5-1959.

Anaphothrips (Neophysopus) flavicinctus (Karny)

1912. Euthrips flavicinctus Karny, H. H. in Marcellia 11 : 115.

1913. Neophysopus medioflavus Schmutz in Sitz. Akad. Wiss. Wien.

112: 1017:

1919. Euthrips citricinctus Bagnall, R. S. in A. M.N. H. (9) 4: 270.

1925. Anaphothrips flavicinctus Karny, H. H. in Ark. Zool. 17: 17.

1928. Anaphothrips (Euthrips) citricinctus Ramakrishna, T. V. in

Mem. Dept. Agr. Ind., Ent. ser., (7) 10 : 269.

NILGIRIs : Coonoor Pomological Station 5500’, numerous females

on grass, 10-5-1959. KODAIKANAL : Shembaganur, Sacred Heart College

5000’, numerous females on grass, 5-6-1959.

One of the commonest species of grass-inhabiting thrips, this species

exhibits alary polymorphism, with macropterous, brachypterous, and

apterous individuals. Only 4 brachypterous and 2 apterous females

were collected, the rest being macropterous.

Exothrips madrasensis Ananthakrishnan

1956. Exothrips madrasensis Ananthakrishnan, T. N. in Zool. Anz.

157 : 130-132.

NILGIRIS : Coonoor Pomological Station 5500’, 2 females on grass,

10-5-1959.

Ramakrishnothrips jonnaphila (Ramakrishna)

1928. Taeniothrips jonnaphila Ramakrishna in Mem. Dep. Agri.

Ind., Ent. ser., (7) 10 : 256-258.

1940. Physothrips jonnaphila Ramakrishna, Cat. Ind. Insects, pt. 25:

2A.

1942. Ramakrishnothrips jonnaphila Shumsher in Indian J. Ent. 4 (2):

6-7.

1945. Ramakrishnothrips jonnaphila Shumsher, ibid. 7: 154.

ee eee ee ee

THYSANOPTERA FROM NILGIRI AND KODAIKANAL HILLS 561

KODAIKANAL : Perumalmalai Hills 5500’, numerous males and fe-

males on leaf-sheaths of Sorghum and wild cane, 5-5-1959.

The above species is distinguished from R. cardamomi (Ramakrishna)

by the absence of a comb on the VIII abdominal segment, costa of fore-

wing with 24-28 bristles and lower vein with 13-14 bristles.

Ramakrishnothrips cardamomi (Ramakrishna)

1935. Taeniothrips cardamomi Ramakrishna in Bull. Ent. Res. 26:

35-38.

1942. Ramakrishnothrips cardamomi Shumsher in Indian J. Ent. 4

2) : 6-7.

1945. Ramakrishnothrips cardamomi Shumsher, ibid. 7 : 154.

Nixairis : Burliar Fruit Research Station 2500’, numerous males and

females on leaf-sheaths and leaves of cardamom, 8-5-1959. KODAIKANAL:

Numerous males and females inside leaf-sheaths of Cannaceae, Bryant’s

Park, 4-6-1959.

This species is characterised by the presence of a comb on the VIII

abdominal segment, costa of forewing with 14 or 15 bristles and lower

vein with 5 bristles.

Frankliniella sulphurea Schmutz

1913. Frankliniella sulphurea Schmutz in Sitz. Akad. Wiss. Wien.

112 : 1019.

KODAIKANAL : Bryant’s Park 6500’, numerous females on Chrysan-

themum flowers and flowers of Hibiscus, 4-6-1959.

This is one of the commonest flower-infesting thrips having a very

wide distribution and extremely polyphagous habit.

Taeniothrips distalis Karny

1913. Taeniothrips distalis Karny, H. H. in Archiv. F. Naturgeschi-

ehite 7122:

1916. Taeniothrips distalis Bagnall, R. S. in A. M. N. H. (8) 17: 218.

NILGIRIs : Ootacamund, Raj Bhavan Gardens 7000’, 2 females on

Papilionaceous flowers, 11-5-1959.

Taeniothrips simplex (Morrison)

1930. Physothrips simplex Morrison, G. D. in Bull. Ent. Res. 21

(1) : 12-13.

562 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

1938. Taeniothrips simplex Bailey, S. F. in Univ. Calif. Col. Agri.

Expt. Sta. 346 : 50-52.

NILGIRIs : Raj Bhavan Gardens 7000’, several females on Gladiolus

flowers and leaves, 11-5-1959. KoODAIKANAL: Shembaganur, Sacred

Heart College Gardens 5000’, numerous females on Gladiolus flowers

and leaves; Mt. St. Mary’s 7500’, numerous females on Gladiolus flowers,

5-6-1959.

The Gladiolus thrips is a cosmopolitan form known from widely

separated countries of the world and presumably introduced into India

with corms, in view of their ability to reproduce on their surface. Unlike

Thrips tabaci, this has a very limited host range and of the several plants

examined its presence was recorded only from Gladiolus primarily and

on carnations and iris occasionally. That this is assuming major pest

proportions is evident from the fact that in several Gladiolus plants badly

damaged flower buds were observed which failed to open. In the other-

wise red or purple petals of the flowers, bleached areas or irregular

silvery patches appeared due to the feeding of the adults and larvae in

considerable numbers.

Genus AROIDOTHRIPS gen. nov.

Body slender. Head wider than long, transversely reticulate at base ;

eyes large, occupying # head length. Antenna 8-jointed, long and thin,

3.7 times head length ; joint 2 of style 24 to 3 times as long as joint 1 ;

sense cones on 3 and 4 forked, long and stout ; antennal joints densely

setose. Mouth cone short and blunt, maxillary palp 3-jointed. Pro-

thoracic bristles very well developed, outer postangulars much longer

than inner; anteroangulars shorter than anteromarginals. Wings

present, normal ; bristles and veins well developed, the lower vein with

a continuous series. Lateral portions of abdominal tergites without net

sculpture. Apex of abdomen not tubiform or unusually narrowed.

This new genus is closely allied to Ayyaria Karny and Diarthrothrips

Williams but differs from them in the 3-jointed maxillary palpi, the nature

of the antennal style and the sense cones.

Aroidothrips longistylus sp. nov.

Macropterous female :

General colour yellow with plenty of grey areas. Antennal joints

uniform grey, sense cones pale. Head and thorax yellowish grey ;

pterothorax dark yellow mesad, greyish yellow at sides; abdominal

segments II-VIII at anterior margins with bands of light grey pigments

and with little red pigment mesad ; anterior and posterior borders of

THYSANOPTERA FROM NILGIRI AND KODAIKANAL HILLS 563

prothorax with red pigment. Forewings uniform grey-brown ; bristles

not hyaline, dark.

Head wider than long, 147 pw across eyes, 126 » at base and 105z long

(Fig. 1A). Eyes large, 70 » long and equally wide. Cheeks with weak

setae and head at base with transverse striae. Antenna very characteristic

(Fig. la), 3.7 times head length, with a long, fine style, the terminal joint

of which is 24 to 3 times as long as joint | ; joint 4 long and bottle-like ;

sense cones on 3 and 4 forked, long and stout, that on 3, 54 » long and

22 » between arms, that on 4, 64 » long and 18 » between arms; antennal

joints : length (width) in p : 26-32 (29), 35-38 (29), 61 (26-29), 87-90 (26),

55-58 (19), 58-67 (18), 10 (6), 25-29 (4); setae on antennal joints very well

developed, long and pointed, measuring 48-58 , long and disposed as

in the figure. Mouth cone short and blunt ; maxillary palp 3-jointed, 45 p

long, individual joints measuring 19, 10, and 16m long respectively.

Prothorax 126 » long, 140 » wide at anterior margin and 168 » across

posterior margin. Prothoracic bristles very well developed ; antero-

angulars shorter, 32» long, anteromarginals 51 » long; outer and inner

postangulars 19 » and 58 pw long respectively ; lateral margins on scale

with smaller bristles, 19-22 w long.

Forewings 700 » long, 70 » wide at base, 42 mw at middle and 35 p» tip.

Chaetotaxy : costa, 24 ; upper vein, 6 at base and | at tip ; lower vein,

11 in a row. Wing bristles well developed ; costal bristles 51 p long ;

basal lower vein bristles 48 » long, distal one 67 p long ; fringes 252 p long.

Abdomen at base uniformly wide, 210 » ; abdominal tergites devoid

of lateral polygonal reticulations ; bristles of IX : outer 78, middle 102,

and inner 112 p long ; bristles of X : inner 99, outer 67 p» long.

Total body length 1.4 mm.

KODAIKANAL: Bryant’s Park 7000’, 2 females on Arum lily (Richardia

sp.) flowers, 6-6-1959.

Genus BOLACOTHRIPS Uzel

1895. Bolacothrips Uzel, H. in Mon. Ord. Thys. : 212.

This genus is being recorded for the first time in India and is

characterised by the slender body, simple sense cones, 7-jointed antenna,

2 pairs of postocellar bristles and posterior prothoracic angles with a pair

of bristles of about equal length.

Bolacothrips bicolor sp. nov.

Macropterous female :

Body bicolorous ; head and thorax yellow, with a greyish tinge ;

antennae and abdomen brown. Wings pale at basal third, dark brown at

middle, and pale brown at apex.

564. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Head 112 » long from fore margin of eyes, about as wide across eyes.

Eyes well developed, postoculars 60 2 long, pointed. Antenna 7-jointed

(Fig. 2), joints 3-7 measuring length (width) in p : 45 (19), 45 (22), 38 (19),

49 (19), 16 (10). Sense cones on 3 and 4 simple. Mouth cone broadly

rounded, 96 » long, 80 » wide at base, reaching beyond the middle of

the prosternum. Maxillary palp 3-jointed, 38 » long, individual joints

measuring 13, 10, and 16 » long respectively.

Prothorax 168 » long with numerous well-developed bristles on scale.

Anteromarginals 48 » long ; outer postangulars 83 », inner 80 p» long.

Pterothorax 280 » long and 224 p» wide. Forewings 714 » long, 64 p

wide at base, 48 at middle, and 35 at tip. Chaetotaxy: costa 22 ; upper

vein, 6 at base and 1+1-+1 beyond base ; lower vein 10 in a row.

Abdomen broad at base distinctly narrow at apex. Bristles of IX:

outer 128, middle 196, and inner 64 » long. Bristles of X: outer 90

and inner 105 p long.

Total body length 1.4 mm.

KODAIKANAL: Bryant’s Park 7000’, 1 female on Agapanthus flowers,

6-6-1959.

This is the only bicolorous species of Bolacothrips and hence easily

distinguishable from the other species, B. jordani Uzel, B. orientalis

Priesner, and B. africanus Faure.

‘ Genus RAMASWAMIAHIELLA Karny

1926. Ramaswamiahiella Karny, H.H. in Mem. Dept. Agr. Ind., Ent.

ser., (6) 9: 208.

The genus Ramaswamiahiella is distinctly separated ftom the genus

Thrips by the posterior margin of the sternites possessing at least 6 pairs

of bristles.

Ramaswamiahiella kallarensis sp. nov.

Macropterous female :

General colour yellowish grey.

Antennal joint 1 pale, 2 dark grey, 3-7 yellowish grey. Wings pale

greyish infumate ; abdomen uniform greyish brown.

Head wider than long, 126 » wide and 84 » long. Eyes large, 56 p

long and 42 » wide. Antenna nearly 2.7 times head length ; antennal

joiats length (width) in p : 22 (26), 32 (22), 35 (19), 38 (19), 35 (16), 45

(16), 13 (6).

Prothorax 140 p» wide across anterior margin 154 » wide at posterior

margin ; outer and inner postangular prothoracic setae 32 and 38 p» long

respectively. Pterothorax as long as wide, 210 yp long. Wings 750 p

THYSANOPTERA FROM NILGIRI AND KODAIKANAL HILLS _ 565

long, 70 » wide at base ; chaetotaxy : costa 27 ; upper vein 34-3; lower vein

16 in a row.

Abdominal segments broad at base gradually narrowed at apex.

Bristles of IX : outer 64, middle 83, and inner 73 » long. Bristles of X :

inner 73 and outer 76 p» long.

Total body length 1.162 mm.

NILGiris : Kallar Fruit Research Station 1500’, 1 female on flowers

of wood-apple among females of Scirtothrips dorsalis, 8-5-1959.

The present species differs from the only hitherto known species

subnudula Karny by the larger size of the body and the difference in

the chaetotaxy of the wings, particularly in the upper and lower veins.

R. subnudula is a minute form measuring 0.75 to 0.95 mm.

Thrips florum Schmutz

1913. Thrips florum Schmutz in Sitz. Akad. Wiss. Wien. 122 : 1003.

1942. Thrips florum Karny, H.H. in Arkiv. Zool. 17 : 15.

1934. Thrips florum Priesner, H.in Natur. Tidschr. Neder. Inde. 94: 261.

1940. Thrips flor'um Ramk. & Marg. in Cat. Ind. Insects, pt. 25 : 21-

22. |

NILGIRIS : Ootacamund, Raj Bhavan Gardens 7000’, several males

and females on different species of roses, Anemothecum, Hibiscus flowers,

and numerous other flowers of ornamental value (vide infra), and knol-

kohl leaves, cabbage leaves, etc., 11-5-1959. KODAIKANAL : Shembaganur,

Sacred Heart College Gardens 5500’, numerous females in flowers of

Agapanthus, Antirrhinum, Hibiscus, Crotalaria, etc.; Mt. St. Mary’s

7500’, in flowers of Iris, Anemothecum, Antirrhinum, Geranium, Verbena,

and different species of roses.

Thrips parvus Schmutz

1913. Thrips parvus Schmutz in Sitz. Akad. Wiss. Wien. 122 : 1004.

1926. Thrips parvus Karny, H. H. in Mem. Dep. Agri. Ind., Ent. ser.,

6: 199.

1934. Thrips florum Priesner, H. in Natur. Tidschr. Neder. Ind.

94 (3) : 268-269.

NILGiIRIs: Burliar Fruit Research Station 2500’, 2 females on Bauhinia

flowers, 8-5-1959.

This species is closely related to Thrips florum differing from it in the

3rd antennal joint being shorter than the 6th and the upper vein of fore-

wing with 2 distal bristles while in 7. florum the 3rd antennal joint is as

long as 6 and upper vein has 3 distal setae,

566 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Thrips apicatus Priesner

1934, Thrips apicatus Priesner, H. in Natur. Tidschr. Neder. Ind.

94 (3) : 264.

NILGiRIs: Ootacamund, Raj Bhavan Gardens 7000’, female on knol-

kohl leaves, 11-5-1959. KODAIKANAL ; Shembaganur, Sacred Heart

College 5500’, numerous females on Acacia podalyriaefolia flowers,

5-6-1959.

This species has been hitherto known only from a single picale

collected on Acacia from Guntur and described by Priesner.

Thrips tabaci Lindeman

1888. Thrips tabaci Lindeman in Die Schadl. Ins. Tabac, 15.

1902. Thrips tabaci Hinds, W. E. in Proc. U.S. Nat. Museum 26:

178-194.

1932. Thrips tabaci Ramakrishna, T. V. in Agr. & Livestk. Ind. 2 (4) :

394-395. ,

NILGIRIs : Ootacamund, Raj Bhavan Gardens 7000’, numerous

males and females on carnations, 11-5-1959. KODAIKANAL: Mt. St.

Mary’s 7500’, on carnations numerous males and females; also on

Verbena venosa, Rosa bankia, Osbeckia, Agapanthus, Iris, etc., 5-6-1959.

This species has a very wide distribution and is extremely polyphagous.

The damage wrought by them to carnations in India has hitherto been

unnoticed in spite of the attention it has received as the most harmful

injurer in Europe, Britain, and the United States. The damage is evident

from the numerous pale and blotched areas on the otherwise continuous

beds of red and pink flowers. The flowers become dry and wrinkled and

fade owing to heavy infestation. The early signs are the blotching of

petals becoming white or silvery and subsequently turning light grey and

finally brown. All the parts of the flowers were found to be attacked and

several adults and larvae were observed inside each flower.

Thrips nilgiriensis Ramakrishna

1928. Thrips nilgiriensis Ramakrishna, T. V. in Mem. Dep. Agri.

Ind., Ent. ser., (7) 10 : 262-263.

1940. Thrips nilgiriensis Ramakrishna, T. V. & Margabandhu, V.

in Cat. Ind. Insects, pt. 25: 23.

NILGIRIs : Ootacamund, Raj Bhavan Gardens 7000’, numerous fe-

males and males in flowers of broad beans (Fabia vulgaris) and flowers

of peaches, plums, etc, 11-5-1959. KODATKANAL : Shembaganur, Sacred

THYSANOPTERA FROM NILGIRI AND KODAIKANAL HILLS 567

Heart College 5500’, numerous females in orchid flowers, Habenaria,

Cypripedium, and Dendrobium gratiosissimum. Mt. St. Mary’s 7500’,

on carnations, Avocado inflorescence, Poppy flowers, and Goodlaea

flowers, 5-6-1959.

Though an attempt to find the orchid thrips Chaetanaphothrips

orchidii Moulton proved unsuccessful, the existence in fairly good

numbers of Thrips nilgiriensis and Haplothrips gowdeyii (Franklin) on

orchids of different kinds was recorded. T. nilgiriensis, from what can be

inferred from its host range, seems to be gaining importance as one of the

efficient injurers of flowers, especially at altitudes, since so far as known

to the author their abundance in the plains is totally negligible. They are

yellow forms having close resemblance to Thrips palmi Karny from which

they are distinguished by the difference in the number of costal bristles,

which even if considered to be within the normal range of variations,

could be still separated by the position of the four setae on the IX tergite

which are equidistant from each other in palmi while in nilgiriensis the

two median setae are twice as wide apart as the lateral one from them.

Thrips bambusae Shumsher

1945. Thrips bambusae Shumsher Singh in Indian J. Ent. 7: 182-184.

NILairis : Raj Bhavan Gardens 7000’, numerous males and females

on bamboo spindles, 11-5-1959 ; Coonoor, Sims Park 5500’, numerous

males and females on bamboo spindles, 10-5-1959. KODAIKANAL :

Shembaganur, Sacred Heart College 5500’, numerous males and females

on bamboo spindles, 5-6-1959.

Thrips melaneurus Bagnall

1926. Thrips melaneurus Bagnall, R. S. in A. M. N. H. (9) 17: 11.

1928. Thrips melaneurus Ramakrishna, T. V. in Mem. Dep. Agri.

Ind., Ent. ser., (7) 10: 262.

NILGIRIS : Ootacamund, Raj Bhavan Gardens 7000’, numerous

females on Rosa bankia, 11-5-1959. KODAIKANAL: Mt. St. Mary’s

7500’, numerous females and males on different species of rose.

This is a common species of thrips often found in the company of

Thrips florum inhabiting rose flowers.

Thrips palmi Karny

1925. Thrips palmi Karny, H. H. in Bull. Deli. Proef. st. 23 : 10.

1926. Thrips palmi Karny, H. H. in Mem. Dep. Agri. Ind., Ent. ser.,

(6) 9: 199.

1947. Thrips palmi Shumsher Singh in Indian J. Ent. 7 : 171.

568 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

NILGIRIs : Ootacamund, Raj Bhavan Gardens 7000’, numerous

females on flowers of Lathyrus, 11-5-1959.

Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis Bouche

1833. Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis Bouche in Nat. Schadl. Garten

Ins. : 206.

1902. Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis Hinds, W. E. in Proc. U.S. Nat.

Mus. 26 : 168-169. |

1940. Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis Ramakrishna, T. V. & Marga-

bandhu, V. in Cat. Ind. Insects pt. 25 : 11-12.

NILGiRIs: Ootacamund, Botanical Gardens 7000’, 2 females on grass,

11-5-1959 ; Coonoor, Pomological Station 5500’, 5 females on grass,

10-5-1959. KODAIKANAL: Bryant’s Park 7000’, numerous females

on young pine needles, 6-6-1959.

Helionothrips kadaliphila (Ramakrishna & Margabandhu)

1931. Heliothrips kadaliphila Ramakrishna, T. V. & Margabandhu, V.

in J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 34 (4) : 1033.

1936. Helionothrips kadaliphila Priesner, H. in Proc. R. Ent. Soc.

London (B) 5: 208.

NILGiRIs : Kallar Fruit Research Station 1500’, numerous females and

males on plantain leaves ; Burliar Fruit Research Station 2500’, numerous

females and males on Colocasia leaves, 8-5-1959.

Caliothrips indicus (Bagnall)

1913. Heliothrips indicus Bagnall, R. S. in A. M. N. H. (8) 12: 291.

1934. Heliothrips indicus Ramakrishna, T. V. in Agr. & Livestk. Ind. 2

(4) : 397. ;

1940. Heliothrips indicus Ramakrishna, T. V. & Margabandhu, V.

in Cat. Ind. Insects pt. 25 : 12.

1947. Hercothrips indicus Shumsher Singh in Indian J. Ent. 7: 175.

NILGirIs : Coonoor Pomological Research Station, 5500’, 6 females

on grass, 10-5-1959.

Suborder TUBULIFERA Haliday

Genus STICTOTHRIPS Hood

1924. Stictothrips Hood, J. D. in Psyche : 295.

Stictothrips fimbriata (Ananthakrishnan)

1953. Thilakothrips fimbriata Ananthakrishnan, T. N. in Proc. R.

Ent. Soc, Lond. (B) 22 (3-4): 33-34,

THYSANOPTERA FROM NILGIRI AND KODAIKANAL HILLS 569

NILGIRIS : Coonoor Pomological Station 5500’, | female on grass,

10-5-1959.

Genus HOPLOTHRIPS Serville

1843. Serville in Hist. Nat. Ins. Hem. : 640.

1949. Priesner, H. in Bull. Soc. Fouad Ier. Entom. 33 : 86.

1957. Stannard, L. J. in Ill. Biol. Mon. (25) : 70-71.

~The genus Hoplothrips is characterised by the head distinctly longer

than broad, fore femora not or slightly enlarged, mouth cone long, sides

straight, at least attaining mesosternum and the terminal antennal joints

not forming a unit. This genus has hitherto been unrepresented in India.

All the same, according to Stannard (1957), the genus Hoplothrips is

synonymous with Phlaeothrips Haliday. However, pending further

discussions, the genus is retained as such here.

Hoplothrips indicus sp. nov.

Macropterous female :

General body colour brownish yellow; head, thorax, all femora

except at apex, abdominal segments IV-X and antennal joints 5-8, brown;

antennal joints 2 and 3, all tibia, tarsi, and apex of femora yellow ; joint

1, abdominal segments II and III yellow, shaded with brown.

Head 238 p» long, 196 » across eyes, 182 » across cheeks, and 168 at

base, distinctly constricted at base (Fig. 3 A). Eyes 70 » long, 75 » wide

at middle. Postoculars dilated, well developed, 64 » long, placed 16 pu

from cheeks. Ocelli placed forward, posterior ocelli beyond middle line

of eyes, median ocellus at vertex not very much over-hanging. Median

ocellus 19 yw in diameter, placed 13 » from posterior ocelli, 29 » apart

and 16 w indiameter. Antenna 8-jointed, joints 5, 6, and 7 pedicellate

(Fig. 3 a) ; sense cones long and well developed ; 3!+1; 41+1; 5141; 6141;

antennal joints length (width) in p : 48 (38), 64 (32), 80 (32), 83 (35), 69

(32), 64 (32), 54 (29), 32 (18). Mouth cone very long reaching just

beyond the base of the prosternum, 224 yp long.

Prothorax 224 uw long at middle, as wide at anterior margin, and 223 pu

at base inclusive of coxae. Prothoracic bristles moderately long, dilated.

Anteroangulars 43 p» ; postangulars 58 » ; epimerals 64 » long. Fore

femora moderately enlarged, 112 » wide at middle, foretarsus with a

triangular tooth, 16 » long and 13 » wide at base. Wings reaching VI

abdominal segment, not constricted at middle.

Abdomen broad at base, uniformly wide across segments II-V, 448 1 ;

segment VIII 322 » wide, IX 154 » wide; bristles of [X outer ones long

and fine, inner short and infundibuliform, 65 » long. Tube 140 yu long,

570 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

84 w wide at base, 56 at middle and 42 at tip. Anal setae as long as tube.

Total body length 2.240 mm.

NILGIRIS : Coonoor Pomological Station 5500’, female on Lantana

flowers, 10-5-1959.

Bamboosiella bicoloripes Ananthakrishnan

1957. Bamboosiella bicoloripes Ananthakrishnan, T. N. in Ent. News

68 (3) : 65-68.

The discovery of more males and females of this species from bamboo

spindles adds considerably to our knowledge of the range of variations

of this form noted particularly for its long and thin sense cones and short

mouth cone with short stylets confined only to the mouth cone.

Macropterous female :

Head 238-294 » long from front margin of eyes, 196-210 » wide

across eyes, 203 across cheeks, and 182 at base. Posterior cheek bristle

19» long. Eyes 98-126 » long, 56-84 » wide at middle. Median ocellus

19 » in diameter placed 22 » from posterior ocelli, 22 1 in diameter and

32 » apart. Postoculars 64-77 » long, placed 29-32 » from cheeks and

22-26 » from posterior margin of eyes. Antennal joints length (width)

in p: 35-38 (35-38), 51-58 (26-32), 77-83 (26-32), 83-93 (36-32), 70-83

(26-32), 58-70 (26-29), 45-54 (22), 32-35 (13).

Prothorax 168-210 » long, 168-238 » wide at anterior margin, and 350 p

at base. Prothoracic setae: anteroangulars 32-45 » ; midlaterals 35-

48 » ; postangulars 56 p ; epimerals 58-64 yw long. Pterothorax 294-350 pu

long and 378 mw side. Forewings 812-910 » long ; basal wing bristles,

38 p, 45-48 w, and 64-78 p» long.

Bristles of abdominal segment IX : outer 173, middle 167, and inner

143 » long. Tube 168 » long. Total body length 1.862 to 2.492 mm.

Macropterous male :

Head, length 217-252 », 154-182 » wide across eyes, and 168 at base.

Eyes 91-98 » long and 70 » wide. Median ocellus 19 » in diameter, placed

26 » from posterior ocelli, 19 » in diameter and 26 » apart. Postoculars

54-67 » long placed 16 » from cheeks and 22 » from eye margin. Antennal

joints length (width) in p : 26-29 (32), 48-51 (32), 70-77 (29-32), 75-78

(29-32), 63-70 (22-26), 48-51 (22), 45 (19), 32 (13).

Prothorax 168-182 » long at middle, 182-210 » wide anteriorly, and

280-308 » at posterior margin inclusive of coxae. Anteroangulars

29-32 ; epimerals 51-57 » long. Forewings 770-810 » long. Bristles

of IX : outer 141-144 and inner 160-172 » long. Tube 140 p» long.

Nivoiris : Kallar 1500’, 5 females and 3 males on bamboo spindles,

9-5-1959.

JourRN. BompBay Nat. Hist. Soc.

Fig, 1. Aroidothrips longistylus sp. n. x 110: 1A.Head and prothorax of female;

la, Antenna of female. Fig. 2. Bolacothrips bicolor sp.n. x 110: Antennal joints 3-7

of female. Fig. 3. Hoplothrips indicus sp. n. x 110: 3A. Head, prothorax, and

forelegs of female; 3a. Antenna of female.

JOURN. BOMBAY Nat. Hist. Soc.

Fig. 4. Apterygothrips pini sp.n. x 110: 4A. Antenna of female; 4B. Foreleg of

female. Fig. 5. Marginal leaf gall of pepper, formed by Gynaikothrips karnyi Bagnall. Fig. 6.

Gynaikothrips karnyi Bagnall x 110: 6A. Head of female; 6a Antenna of female; 6b.

Prothoracic chaetotaxy (one half).

THYSANOPTERA FROM NILGIRI AND KODAIKANAL HILLS — 571

Haplothrips (Trybomiella) ramakrishnai Karny

1926. Haplothrips ramakrishnai Karny, H. H. in Mem. Dept. Agri.

Ind., Ent. ser., 9 (6) : 218.

1928. Haplothrips ramakrishnai Ramakrishna, T. V. in ibid. (7): 10

292:

1931. Haplothrips ramakrishnai Ramakrishna, T. V. & Marga-

bandhu, V. in J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 34 (4): 1038.

1933. Haplothrips ramakrishnai Priesner, H. in Rec. Ind. Mus. 25:

361.

1957. Haplothrips (Trybomiella) ramakrishnai Ananthakrishnan, T.N.

in Zool. Anz. 159 : 100-101.

KODAIKANAL : 6000’, several males and females on flowers of

Ageratum conizoides, a very common roadside plant. Mt. St. Mary’s

7500’, 10 females and 6 males in flowers of Hollyhock ; 4 females and 2

males of Gerbera inflorescence, 5-6-1959. Bryant’s Park 7000’, numerous

males and females on Canna leaves, 5-6-1959.

It is of interest to note that only two species of Trybomiella are known

from India, T. ramakrishnai and T. apicalis Priesner. T. apicalisis atypical

grass-infesting form pale yellowish brown to golden brown in colour and

head 1.2-1.3 times as long as wide, while ramakrishnai has not been re-

corded from grasses and is pale chestnut brown in colour with head as

long as wide. Though T. tirumalraoi Ramk. & Marg. has been described

from a single male, closer examination will reveal that it is a possible

synonym of ramakrishnai.

Haplothrips gowdeyii (Franklin)

1908. Anthothrips gowdeyii Franklin, H. J. in Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus.

33 : 724.

1910. Anthothrips gowdeyii Bagnall, R. S. H. in Thysanoptera-Fauna

Hawaiiensis 3 : 669-701.

1931. Haplothrips gowdeyii Priesner, H. in Bull. Soc. Roy. Ent.

Egypt : 261.

1933. Haplothrips gowdeyii Priesner, H. in Rec. Ind. Mus. 35 : 354.

1937. Haplothrips gowdeyii Sakimura, K. in Proc. Haw. Ent. Soc. 9

(3) : 422.

The occurrence of this thrips in considerable numbers on a variety

of plants, in particular on orchids and hollyhocks, and the damage

it causes to the latter in particular are an addition to our knowledge of

the bionomics of this form in India, especially when the only hitherto

available data in our country is its record on Solanum leaves. It can

be ranked as one of the commonest Tubulifera in our country and when

one realises its world-wide distribution, having a very wide host range,

572 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

being extremely common in flowers of different kinds, it is difficult to

imagine that its role as a major horticultural pest has been overlooked.

Its importance lies inits polyphagous nature, feeding on flowers and leaves,

its relative population density, and its ability to breed on most of the

plants it infests. Several individuals were found in groups, feeding around

the base of the ovary inside the hollyhocks. The infestation proved to be

severe in the bud condition.

KoDAIKANAE : Mt. St. Mary’s 7500’, hollyhock flowers, numerous

males and females, 5-6-1959. Bryant’s Park 7000’, numerous individuals

on leaves of Canna and grass, 5-6-1959.

Haplothrips euphorbiae Priesner

1931. Haplothrips euphorbiae Priesner, H. in Miscellanea Zoologica

Sumatrana 58: 1-4.

NILGIRIS: Kallar 1500’, several males and females collected on leaves

of Euphorbia hirta, 8-5-1959.

This species is a new record to India and is responsible for the malfor-

mation of the leaves and in extreme cases the leaves become severely

damaged.

Xylaplothrips pictipes (Bagnall)

1919. Haplothrips pictipes Bagnall, R. S. in A. M. N. H. (9) 3: 273.

1925. Haplothrips pictipes Ramakrishna, T. V. in J. Bombay nat. Hist.

Soc. 30: 868.

1928. Haplothrips pictipes Ramakrishna, T. V. in Mem. Dept. Agr.

Ind., Ents ser.5.(7) 10 2292:

1933. Haplothrips pictipes Priesner, H. in Rec. Ind. Mus. 25 (3) : 351.

1938. Xylaplothrips pictipes Crawford, J. C. in Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash.

40 (2) : 42.

Nixairis : Kallar Fruit Research Station 1500’, 4 males and 5 females

on cashew inflorescence, 8-5-1959.

Xylaplothrips Priesner has delicate, slender body form and the females

of pictipes in this collection range between 1.204-1.498 mm. in length and

the males from 1.064-1.115 mm. X. pictipes (Bagnall) is distinguished

from X. nayari Ananthakrishnan by the presence of the foretarsal tooth

in both the sexes.

Dolichothrips (Dolicholepta) rambhutanae sp. nov.

Macropterous female :

General colour brown ; all tarsi, foretibia except at patel antennal

joints 2-7 yellow ; rest of body brown. Wings colourless,

THYSANOPTERA FROM NILGIRI AND KODAIKANAL HILLS 573°

Head, 210-224 » long, 168 » wide across eyes and 154 at base, dis-

tinctly constricted at base and 1.3 times as long as wide across cheeks.

Eyes 98 » long and 70 » wide. Ocelli well developed, median ocellus

overhanging vertex, 16 » in diameter, placed 19 » from posterior ocelli

22 » apart and 16 » indiameter. Postoculars 48 yw long and blunt at tip.

Antennal joints length (width) in p : 29-32 (32), 48-51 (32), 61-64 (29-32),

64-70 (32), 54-58 (29), 48-51 (26), 45-48 (22), 26 (13). Mouth cone 182 p

long, 126 » wide at base, 56 at middle, and 28 p at tip, sides biconcave

and tip reaching the base of prosternum. Maxillary palpi 64 » long and

labial palpi 19 p» long.

Prothorax 182-210 » long at middle, 162-168 » wide across anterior

margin, and 266-308 » wide at base inclusive of coxae.® Prothoracic

bristles, short and dilated at tip. Anteroangulars 26 », postangulars

32 #, epimerals 38 w long. Forefemora 84 » wide at middle, foretarsus

with a small, inconspicuous tooth.

Pterothorax 350 » long and 336 » wide at middle. Wings clear, con-

stricted at middle, reaching VII abdominal segment with 8 duplicate

cilia. Bristles on scales 42, 38, and 51 ym long respectively.

Abdomen broad at base, 322 « wide, 280 » wide across segment IV,

266, 224, and 112 p» wide across segments VII, VIII, and IX. All the 3

bristles of segment IX subequal, 150 » long. Tube 168 yu long, 70, 56,

and 42 » wide at base, middle, and apex respectively ; anal setae long and

fine, longer than tube, 210 p long.

Total body length 1.904-2.324 mm.

Macropterous male :

Head 224 » long, 154 » wide across cheeks, and 133 » wide at base.

Eyes 84 » long and 63 » wide. Postoculars 48 » long. Median ocellus

13 » in diameter, placed 16 » from posterior ocelli, 16 » in diameter and

29 » apart. Antennal joints length (width) in p : 22 (29), 45 (26), 67

(29), 67 (29), 58 (26), 54 (22), 48 (16), 29 (10). Mouth cone 98 p» wide at

base and 28 p» wide at tip.

Prothorax 196 » long at middle, 140 » wide at anterior margin, and

280 » wide at posterior margin. Anteroangulars 19 yw, postangulars 43,

and epimerals 35 » long. Forefemora 84 p» wide at middle with foretarsal

tooth slightly more developed than in the female.

Pterothorax 294 » wide and 308 » long at middle. Wing scale bristles

43, 38, and 51 » long respectively.

Abdomen long and thin, 224, 182, 126, and 98 » wide at base, at middle,

and across VIII and IX abdominal segments respectively. Bristles of [X

subequal, 128 » long. Tube 168 » long, 56 » wide at base ; anal setae

224 p» long.

NILairis : Kallar Fruit Research Station 1500’, 13 females and 3

males on inflorescence of Rambhutan, 9-5-1959.

574. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Praepodothrips indicus Priesner & Seshadri

1952. Praepodothrips indicus Priesner, H. & Seshadri, A.R. in Ind.

Jour. Agri. Res. 22 (2) : 408-409. |

KODAIKANAL : Perumalmalai Hills 5000’, 4 females from sheaths of

wild grass, 4-6-1959. NILGIRIS: Coonoor Pomological Station 5500’,

one female on perennial rye grass, 10-5-1959.

A typical grass-inhabiting form, this species is represented only in

India and shows a distinct tendency towards oedymerism.

Praepodothrips priesneri Ananthakrishnan

1955. Praepodothrips priesneri Ananthakrishnan, T. N. in A.M. N.H.

12 (3) : 608.

NiLairis: Coonoor, Sim’s Park 5500’, 2 females on bamboo spindles,

10-5-1959.

This is a typical bamboo leaf and sheath infesting form, purely mono-

phagous whether it be on the plains or hills.

Praepodothrips cymbopogoni Ananthakrishnan

1957. Praepodothrips cymbapogoni [sic| Ananthakrishnan, T. N.

in Zool. Anz. 157 : 136-138.

NILGIRIS : Coonoor Pomological Station 5500’, several females and

males inside the leafsheath of lemon grass, Cymbopogon citratus,

10-5-1959.

It is of interest to note that, of the three species of Praepodothrips,

priesneri and cymbopogoni are monophagous while indicus has been seen

to feed on different kinds of grasses.

Genus APTERYGOTHRIPS Priesner

1933. Priesner, H. in Bull. Soc. Roy. Ent. Egypte : 1-3.

Body very small, wings and ocelli absent. Joint 3 of antenna

short, broad at apex. Prothorax broader and shorter than head.

Pterothorax narrower than prothorax including coxae. Forefemora

little enlarged in the male, without teeth ; foretarsi with a distinct tooth

in both the sexes, shape as in Karnyothrips. Tube very short, conical.

Apterygothrips pini sp. nov.

Female : |

General body colour brown with yellow pigment. Antennal joints

1-2, 7-8 more brownish yellow ; joints 3-6 yellowish brown. Tube

THYSANOPTERA FROM NILGIRI AND KODAIKANAL HILLS 575

except at apex yellow. Body with scattered red pigment. Abdominal

segments with more of yellow suffused with brown.

Head 147-154 » long from eye margin, 140 » wide across eyes, and 140-

147 » wide across cheeks. Eyes 48 » long, 45 » wide at middle,being 51

# wide at interocular region. Postoculars 35-38 yu long, slightly dilated

at apex. Antenna 8-jointed (Fig. 4A), joint 3 short, with a pedicel

and with one small sense cone. Antennal joints length (width) in p:

32 (29), 45 (29), 35-38 (22), 38-43 (29), 43 (26), 38-41 (26), 43 (22), 26-29

(13). § Mouth cone 98 » long reaching just the hind margin of the pro-

sternum, blunt.

Prothorax 140 » long at middle, shorter than head, 168 » wide across

anterior margin, and 224 » at base inclusive of coxae. Prothoracic

bristles short, dilated at tip. Anteroangulars 16 » ; postangulars 29 ;

epimerals 38 and coxals 19 » long. Pterothorax 168 yw long, 172 p» wide.

Forefemora moderately enlarged, 70 » wide, foretarsus with small tooth

(Fig. 4B).

Abdomen 224 » wide at base, 308 » wide across segments V and VI,

140 across VIII, and 126 across [X segment. Setae on IX short and fine ;

outer 35-48, middle 26-32, and inner 48-60 » long. Tube 83-90 » long,

60 » wide at base, 43 at middle, and 32 at tip ; anal setae 80 » long.

Total body length 1.26-1.41 mm.

Male :

General colour as in the female, more brownish. Head, thorax, and

legs darker brown, as also antennal joints 3-6.

- Head 140 p» long, 126 » wide across eyes. Eyes 45-48 » long and as

wide. Postangulars 29 » long. Antennal joints, length (width) in pz:

29 (26), 44 (26), 38 (22), 43 (26), 43 (26), 35 (22), the last two joints

missing. Prothorax 126 » wide at anterior margin, 196 at posterior

margin, and 140 » long at middle. Prothoracic bristles : anteroangulars

16 » long; postangulars 29 ; epimerals 35; coxals 19 » long. Fore-

femora not enlarged, 56 » wide at middle, foretarsi with a small tooth.

Abdomen at base 196 » wide, 98 » across segment IX. Setae of IX:

outer 45, middle 26, inner 51 » long. Tube 86 u long, 54 » wide at base,

38 at middle, 29 at tip.

Total body length 1.218 mm.

KODAIKANAL : Bryant’s Park 7000’, 3 females and 2 males on pine

needles, 4-6-1959.

Only four species of this genus have hitherto been known, haloxyli

Priesner, Juteus Faure, carolinae Faure, and flavus Faure. A. pini is

very closely allied to A. haloxyli but is easily distinguishable by the

difference in the chaetotaxy of the body and in the dilated pronotal

bristles. |

576 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Gynaikothrips karnyi Bagnall

1914. Gynaikothrips karnyi Bagnall, R. S. in A. M. N. H. 13 : 23-31.

1952. Gynaikothrips karnyi Ananthakrishnan, T. N. in Indian J. Ent.

14: 201.

Except for a casual reference to the record of 2 females by Anantha-

krishnan (1952) nothing has been known about this interesting gall mak-

ing thrips from India. The original reference to this species by Bagnall

from leaf galls on pepper (Fig. 5) from Ceylon does not comply with

modern concepts, particularly in the absence of any mention of the

prothoracic chaetotaxy (Fig. 6b) especially the postangulars and the

epimerals. Further, no mention is made of the sex described and, from

a comparison of the several individuals at the disposal of the author,

what Bagnall described appears to be a male, since the range of

body length of the males in the author’s collection tallies with that of

Bagnall’s specimen.

Macropterous female :

Total body length 2.59-2.80 mm. Head, length 280-308 y», width

across cheeks 210-224 p». Postoculars 89-96 yw. Eyes, length 112 yp,

width 84 p. Antennal joints, length (width) p : 48-54 (48), 64-70 (35-38),

83-93 (32), 77-86 (38), 74-80 (35), 74-83 (32-35), 64-67 (29), 45-48 (16).

Prothorax, length 196 p, width at anterior margin 280 yp, at posterior

margin 448 ». Prothoracic bristles: anteroangulars 42-48 jw; antero-

marginals 58-64 » ; midlateral 109 » ; postangulars 147-153 y» ; epimeral

128-144 p long.

Pterothorax, length 448 » ; width at base 462 p» ; at middle 490 p.

Forewings, length 952-1008 pw, 98-126 » wide at base, 84-98 p» at middle,

and 70-84 p» at tip. Tube 210-232 yw long.

Male :

Total body length 1.92-2.18 mm. Head, length 266-280 y» ; width

196-203 ». Postoculars 77-90 u. Antennal joints, length (width) p :

48-52 (43), 58-61 (32), 77-80 (32), 67-70 (32-35), 70-73 (32), 70 (29-32),

60 (26), 43 (13).

Prothorax, length 154 »; width at anterior margin 238 p, at posterior

margin 350 ». Prothoracic bristles ; anteroangulars 35-38 », antero-

marginals 45-48 » ; midlaterals 86-92 ». Postangulars 144 p» ; epimerals

128-134 ». Pterothorax, length 350 », width 378 p. Forewings length |

994 1; 84, 70, and 70 « wide at base, middle and tip. Tube length 172 yp.

Nixoiris : Kallar 1400’, Burliar 2500’, numerous males and females

from marginal leaf galls of pepper.

THYSANOPTERA FROM NILGIRI AND KODAIKANAL HILLS 577

Gynaikothrips interlocatus Karny

1926. Gynaikothrips interlocatus, Karny, H. H. in Mem. Dept. Agr.

Ind., Ent. ser., (6) 9 : 237-238.

Niairis : Burliar 2500’, female on leaf of wild plant, 8-5-1959.

Cercothrips tibialis (Bagnall)

1921. Gynaikothrips tibialis Bagnall, R. S. in A. M. N. H. 7 (9):

264-265.

1926. Gynaikothrips tibialis Karny, H. H. in Mem. Dept. Agr. Ind.,

Ent. sem. 9 23239.

1934. Cercothrips tibialis Ramakrishna, T. V. in Rec. Ind. Mus. 36:

498.

NILGIRIS : Kallar 1400’, numerous males and females on Ficus

bengalensis, 8-5-1959.

LIST OF SPECIES OF THRIPS COMMON ON SOME OF THE ORNAMENTAL PLANTS OF

OOTACAMUND AND KODAIKANAL HILLS

Host Plant Name of Species

Agapanthus Thrips tabaci Lind.

Thrips florum Schmutz

Frankliniella sulphurea Schmutz

Anemothecum Thrips melaneurus Bagnall

Thrips florum Schmutz

Antirrhinum Thrips florum Schmutz

Canna Haplothrips (Trybomiella) ramakrishnai Karny

Haplothrips gowdeyii (Franklin)

Coreopsis Haplothrips (Trybomiella) ramakrishnai Karny

Thrips tabaci Lind.

Carnations Thrips tabaci Lind.

Taeniothrips simplex (Motrison)

Frankliniella sulphurea Schmutz

Coelogyne Haplothrips gowdeyii (Franklin)

Cymbidium bicolor Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis Bouche

Haplothrips gowdeyii (Franklin)

Delphinium Thrips tabaci Lind.

Thrips florum Schmutz

Dendrobium sp. Haplothrips gowdeyii (Franklin)

Fabia vulgaris Thrips nilgiriensis Ramakrishna

Geranium

Gladiolus

Goodlaea

Habenaria

Hollyhock

Iris

Lathyrus sp.

Limonium

Osbeckia

Phlox sp.

Richardia sp.

Rosa bankia

Rosa leschenaultii

Rosa multiflora

Salvia sp.

Saponaria

Verbena venosa

578 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3).

Thrips florum Schmutz

Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis Bouche

Taeniothrips simplex (Motrison)

Xylaplothrips pictipes Bagnall

Thrips nilgiriensis Ramakrishna

Haplothrips gowdeyii (Franklin)

Haplothrips (Trybomiella) ramakrishnai Karny

Thrips tabaci Lind.

Thrips florum Schmutz

Frankliniella sulphurea Schmutz

Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis Bouche

Taeniothrips simplex (Morrison)

Thrips nilgiriensis Ramakrishna

Thrips florum Schmutz

Thrips tabaci Lind.

Thrips florum Schmutz

Haplothrips gowdeyii (Franklin)

Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis Bouche

Thrips florum Schmutz

Thrips tabaci Lind.

Thrips melaneurus Bagnall

Thrips florum Schmutz

Thrips palmi Karny

Thrips florum Schmutz

Thrips tabaci Lind.

Thrips florum Schmutz

Thrips tabaci Lind.

Thrips florum Schmutz

Thrips tabaci Lind.

A Systematic and Ecological account

of the Cyanophyceae of Hoshiarpur

P. C. VASISHTA

Department of Botany, Government College, Hoshiarpur

(With twelve figures)

The study of blue-green algae has been quite neglected in the Panjab

as very few workers have ventured to study the cyanophycean flora of this

region. Ghose (1919, 1923) was the pioneer worker who made an

extensive study of the blue-green algae of Lahore (now in Pakistan)

and Simla. After Ghose, Randhawa (1936) contributed to our

knowledge of this group. Gupta (1950) has also contributed to the -

algal flora of Khajar-Chamba State. Apart from the publications of

these authors no other work on the Cyanophyceae of the Panjab has

appeared.

With a view to explore the cyanophycean flora of the Panjab the author

started making extensive collections of these forms from district

Hoshiarpur and its vicinity in the year 1958. Since then a systematic

study of the material collected is being made and the author is now in a

position to publish accounts of the material collected. The present

paper incorporates descriptions and records of the blue-green algae

from a part of the collection of the author. Future papers in this series

will include systematic accounts of further instalments of Cyanophyceae

from Hoshiarpur. Further collections are still being made and some

of the material has revealed new and very interesting species.

District Hoshiarpur is situated between the rivers Sutle} and Beas

and contains a chain of ponds and choes. The choes are seasonal tor-

rential streams which sweep down the plains during the rainy season and

have a large number of chhambs or swamps situated by their sides. These

chhambs are annually replenished by the water of the choes. In addition

there are a large number of tanks and water reservoirs which afford

unique opportunities for algal collection. The large number of tem-

porary and semi-permanent ponds and ditches, situated by the sides of

the railway track and the roads, contain an immense wealth of algae dur-

ing and a little after the monsoons.

Hoshiarpur is a sub-mountainous district of the Jullundhur division

comprising so much of the Siwalik Range as lies between latitude 32° 5’

580 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

and 30° 58’ north, and longitude 76° 41’ and 75° 31’ east. Its elevation is

about 1050 feet (320 m.) above sea-level. The average rainfall is 36”

(914 mm.) of which 30” (762 mm.) are recorded in the months of July

to September and the remaining 6” (152 mm.) in the winter months.

The hottest months are May and June, with a mean maximum tempera-

ture of 106° F. (41° C.). The mean minimum temperature is 40°F. (4.4°

C.) in the months of December and January.

The Cyanophyceae can be collected throughout the year but they

are met with in great abundance during the months of September to April.

They are at their height of vegetative activity from September to February.

Specimens collected from February to April show an extensive spore

formation. Some forms like Nodularia spumigena Mertens, Aulosira

fertilissima var. tenuis Rao, Gloeotrichia raciborskii Wol., Cylindros-

permum musicola Kitz., and C. alatosporum Fritsch have been observed

in sporulation during the months of November and December.

With regard to habitat, the Hoshiarpur Cyanophyceae described

herein may be easily separated into the following ecological groups :

I. AQuaTic FORMS: This includes forms that are encountered

strictly in water. The aquatic forms fall into two distinct habitat

groups :

(i) FLOWING WATERS: Cyanophyceae growing in such habitats

are always attached to the substratum, to which they stick by secreting

a cement-like material. Nostoc verrucosum Vauch. forms extensive

olive-coloured strata on the rocky beds of rapidly flowing streams.

(ii) STAGNANT WATERS: To this category belong a large number of

Cyanophyceae that can be discussed under the following sub-headings :

(a) Planktonic or free-floating forms: These include a large num-

ber of tiny unicellular and colonial forms, and filamentous Cyanophyceae

that may float on the surface of water in the form of mucilaginous, gela-

tinous, papery, or woolly strata.

Microcystis aeruginosa Kitz. forms the so-called ‘water bloom’

of dull green colour in quiet waters of most of the permanent and

semi-permanent ponds. Since it occurs in considerable numbers

and occupies the whole surface of water, it may be grouped under

the Baltic type of algal plankton. Aphanothece microscopica Nag. was

found forming smal! sub-globose or amorphous colonies floating on the

surface of the water in a permanent pond and can be classified under the

Caledonian type of algal plankton. The above two species have their

colonial masses flattened and this gives sufficient buoyancy to keep them

afloat. .

Anabaena mehrai sp. nov. and Cylindrospermum distinctum sp. nov.

are free-floating in ponds and ditches ; although these species possess

single trichomes, the presence of gas vacuoles affords them the necessary

buoyancy to keep them afloat.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE CYANOPHYCEAE OF HOSHIARPUR 581

Lyngbya spiralis Geitler is free-floating mixed with other algae.

Cylindrospermum musicola Kitz. occurs in the form of flocculent free-

floating masses of mucilaginous consistency and is usually mixed with

other algae.

Aulosira prolifica Bharad., Anabaena oscillarioides var. crassa vat.

nov., and A. iyengarii var. tenuis Rao form gelatinous free-floating

masses near the banks of ponds and other natural water reservoirs.

(b) Benthic forms: These are blue-green algae growing fixed to

the bottom of ponds, lakes, and streams, or attached to vegetation or

other objects in the water. Lyngbya gardneri Geitler forms yellowish

green tufts at the bottom of many ponds ; this species is attached to the

substratum by means of a lower or a basal cell which becomes basally

flattened and discoid. Lyngbya perelegans Lemm. forms an abundant

blue-green microscopic vegetation on soil at the bottom of ponds ; it

has no special organs of attachment and forms prostrate or semi-erect

masses of filaments which can easily be swept from one place to another

by even a slight disturbance in the water.

Oscillatoria claricentrosa forma bigranulata Rao grows along walls

of pukka tanks and is mixed with other species of the same genus.

Nostoc linckia Born. has also been encountered from the sides of a pukka

drain. |

Anabaena vaginicola Fritsch et Rich. usually grows attached to other

submerged water plants.

II. AMPHIBIOUS FORMS: There are a number of species that are

abundant and thrive both on moist soil (sub-aerial habitat) and in stag-

nant waters (aquatic habitat). Such forms may be recorded as amphi-

bious blue-green algae. Cylindrospermum musicola Kiitz., C. alatos-

porum Fritsch, and Nostoc ellipsosporum Rabenh. can easily be referred

to this group, and may be treated as amphibious blue-green algae that

show a tendency towards sub-aerial habitat.

III. AERIAL FORMS: Cyanophyceae included under this heading

grow mainly upon the bark and leaves of trees, and upon stones and

walls. Lyngbya palmarum Brihl et Biswas has been found in abun-

dance on trunks of palm trees. During the rainy season it forms an

extensive, dark-coloured growth, but during the dry months of the year

the colour of the thallus becomes yellowish or pale green. A substantial

number of the species of Scytonema grow on the pukka walls of houses

and on rocks.

TV. SUB-AERIAL FORMS: The blue-green algae referred to this group

grow mainly upon moist soil in patches. Cylindrospermum musicola

Kiitz., C. alatosporum Fritsch, Nostoc ellipsosporum Rabenh., and Lyngbya

allorgei Frémy are some of the common forms that can be found growing

on moist soils. Several species of Phormidium, Microcoleus, Scytonema,

and Tolypothrix can be included under this heading. Species of Phor-

582 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

midium form yellowish brown to blue-green strata that sometimes cover

extensive areas. Species of Scytonema grow in black patches on moist

soil.

The present paper records 25 species belonging to ten genera. Two

new species and one new variety have been described. Anabaena vagini-

cola Fritsch et Rich. has been reported for the first time from India.

SYSTEMATIC ENUMERATION OF THE SPECIES OBSERVED

Order CHROOCOCCALES Wettstein

Family CHROOCOCCACEAE Nageli

MICROCYSTIS Kitzing

1. Microcystis aeruginosa Kutz. Tab. Phycol. 1:8, pl. 8, fig. 1,

1846; Geitler in Rabenh. Kryptogam. Europa 14: 136; fig. 59d,

1930-32 ; Crow in New Phytol. 22: pl. 1, fig. ‘a, 1923 ; Frémy, Myxo.

Afr. Equat. Franc. 18, fig. 15, 1929; Tilden, Minnesota Algae 1: pl.

2, figs. 21 & 22, 1910 ; Frémy, Cyano. Cotes Eur. 10, pl. 1, fig. 6, 1933.

Clathrocystis aeruginosa (Kiitz.) Henfry, J. Roy. micr. Soc. 53: pl. 4,

figs. 28-36, 1856 ; Forti in De Toni, Syll. Alg. 5: 94, 1907. Anacystis

cyanea (Kiitz.) Drout & Daily, Rev. Coccoid Myxophy. 36, 1956, pro

parte, incl. var. major (Wittr.) Smith, et al. vars. & formis M. aeruginosae.

Gell! idiameter—3:8-5.7°_ i.

Habitat : Forming a dirty green scum on the surface of quiet stag-

nant water of permanent and semi-permanent ponds, Hoshiarpur.

GLOEOTHECE Nag.

2. Gloeothece rupestris (Lyngb.) Bornet in Mem. Soc. Sci. Nat.

Math. Cherbourg 28 : 177, 1892 ; Forti 5 : 63, 1907 ; Frémy 52, fig. 61,

1929 ; Geitler 221, 1932.

Lat. cell without envelope=3.6-6 yp, lat. cell with envelope=7.6-

13.6 p; long. cell=6.8-15.3 p ; diam. colony=23-42.5 p.

Habitat: On moist soil, Hoshiarpur.

APHANOTHECE Nag.

3. Aphanothece microscopica Nag. Gatt. Einzell. Algen 59, pl. 1 H,

1849 ; Forti 5: 83, 1907 ; Frémy 28, fig. 30, 1929 ; Geitler 172, fig. 79,

1932.

Lat. cell=4-5.1 yp; long. cell=6.1-8.5 p.

Habitat: Free-floating in a permanent pond at village Nasrala,

Hoshiarpur, | |

JouRN. BomBAy Nat. Hist. Soc.

Cylindrospermum distinctum sp. nov.: Fig. 1. Trichome with two terminal

heterocysts one at each end ; Figs. 2 & 3. Trichomes with akinetes, Anabaena vaginicola

Fritsch et Rich.: Fig. 4. A filament with two trichomes. Anabaeng oscillarioides var.

crassa var. nov.: Fig. 5. A portion of the trichome with end cell; Figs. 6 & 7.

Sporiferous portions of the trichome. Anabaena mehrai sp. nov.: Fig. 8. A young

trichome with attenuated ends ; Fig. 9. Portion of an irregularly curved trichome ; Fig.

10. Portion of a trichome with rounded end cell; Fig. 11. Part of a trichome showing

Only one spore situated one side of the heterocyst; Fig. 12. Portion of a sporiferous

trichome showing one spore on either side of the heterocyst.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE CYANOPHYCEAE OF HOSHIARPUR 583

Order NOSTOCALES Geitler

Family NosTocaAcgaE Kiitzing

Subfamily ANABAENOIDEAE Born. et Flah.

CYLINDROSPERMUM Kiitzing

4. Cylindrospermum alatosporum Fritsch in Ann. South Afr. Mus.

9 : 587, fig. 37, d, h, 1918 ; Geitler 817, fig. 521, 1932.

Lat. cell=3.4-4.2 »; long. cell=3.4-5.1 y ; lat. heterocyst=—5.1-

5.9 p, long. heterocyst=5.9-8.5 yw; lat. spore with outer wall=8.5-11.9

p, long. spore=20.4-28.9 p.

Habitat: Forming dark blue-green mucilaginous growth on moist

soil by the side of a water-course at village Purhiran, Hoshiarpur.

5. Cylindrospermum musicola Kiitz. ex Born. et Flah. in Kiitzing,

- Phyc. Germ. 173, 1845 ; Tab. Phycol. 1 : 53, pl. 98, fig. 1, 1849 ; Bornet

et Flahault, Rev. Nostoc. Hétéroc. 254, 1888; Forti 5: 477, 1907;

Frémy 376, fig. 313, 1929 ; Geitler 822, fig. 520 d, 1932.

var. longispora Dixit in Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. B 3: 100, fig. 3

A, B, 1936.

Lat. cell=3-4 mw; long. cell=3.8-7.6 »; lat. heterocyst=4.7-5.7 p;

long. heterocyst=5.7-9.6 p ; lat. spore=5.7-11.5 »; long. spore=13.1-

30.6 p. |

Habitat: In stagnant water of a roadside ditch; on moist soil,

Hoshiarpur.

6. Cylindrospermum distinctum sp. nov. (Figs. 1-3).

Trichomes single, straight, rarely curved, blue-green, with distinct

constrictions at the septa ; cells spherical to barrel-shaped, as long as

broad, pseudovacuoles present ; heterocysts spherical ; akinetes elli-

psoidal, always present contiguous to the heterocysts, outer wall hyaline.

Trichomata singula, recta, raro curvata, caeruleo-viridia, constricta

ad septa ; cellulae sphaericae vel doliiformes, aeque longae ac latae,

pseudovacuola adsunt; heterocysta sphaerica; akinetes ellipsoidei,

semper adsunt contigui heterocystis ; parietibus exterioribus hyalinis.

Typus positus in P. U. College, Hoshiarpur, sub numero Vasishta 4328.

Lat. trichome=3.7-5.7 p ; long. cell=3.7-5.7 » ; diameter hetero-

cyst=7.5 p ; lat. spore=7.5-10.5 yw ; long. spore=11.2-16.7 yp.

Habitat: Free-floating in the stagnant water of a pond, Phagwara

Road, Hoshiarpur, 25.2.60.

This species comes close to Cylindrospermum indicum Rao in possess-

ing (a) free-floating trichomes that occur singly, and (b) ellipsoidal

spores ; but differs in (a) the shape and dimensions of cells, (b) presence

584 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

of pseudovacuoles in the cells, (c) broader heterocysts, and (d) spores

without a special outer membrane and smaller in dimensions.

This species stands distinct from all the existing species of the genus

in possessing free-floating trichomes that occur singly and do not form

a plant mass or thallus and in possessing cells that are packed with

pseudovacuoles. :

The type specimen is deposited (in the form of camera lucida

drawings) in the herbarium of Punjab University College, Hoshiarpur,

Vasishta 4328.

NOSTOC Vaucher

7. Nostoc punctiforme (Kitz.) Hariot, Journ. Bot. 5: 31, 1891;

Forti 388, 1907 ; Frémy 331, fig. 274, 1929 ; Geitler 834, 1932. Nostoc

hederulae Meneghini in Kutzing, Sp. Alg. 287, 1849; Born. et Flah.,

op. cit. 189, 1888.

Lat. cell=3-4 p; long. cell=3-6 yw ; diameter heterocyst=4.5-6 p ;

lat. spore=4.6-6.5 p ; long. spore=4.6-8 yp.

Habitat: In culture of crop field soil from village Purhiran,

Hoshiarpur.

8. Nostoc linckia (Roth.) Bornet ex Born. et Flah. in Bornet

et Thuret, Not. Algol. II, 86, pl. 18, figs. 1-12, 1880; Born. et Flah.

192, 1888 ; Frémy 332, fig. 276, 1929 ; Geitler 838, fig. 5286, 1932.

Lat. cell=3.8-5.7 ~; long. cell=3.8-5.7 » ; diameter heterocyst=

7.6 p ; lat. spore=6-7.6 pw ; long. spore=7.6-8 p.

Habitat : On the sides of a pukka drain, District Board, Hoshiarpur.

9. Nostoc verrucosum Vaucher ex Born. et Flah. in Vaucher, Hist.

Conf. Eau Douce 225, pl. 16, fig. 3, 1803; Born. et Flah. 216, 1888 ;

Forti 5: 419, 1907; Frémy 350, fig. 290, 1929; Geitler 854, figs, 43,

542 et 543, 1932.

Lat. cell=3.8-4 p ; long. cell=3-3.8 p ; lat. heterocyst=5.7-7.6 pg ;

long. heterocyst=6-8.5 p ; lat. spore=4.7-5.7 w ; long. spore=5.7-7.6 p.

Habitat: On the rocky bed of a stream at Bharwain, Hoshiarpur.

10. Nostoc ellipsosporum (Desm.) Rabenh., Fl. Eur. Alg. 2: 169,

1865 ; Bornet et Thuret 2: 94, pl. 27, figs. 7-11, 1880; Born. et Flah.

198, 1888 ; Geitler 841, fig. 533, 1932.

Lat. cell=3.8-4 pw ; long. cell=4-11.5 p ; lat. heterocyst=4-7.6 p ;

long. heterocyst=7.6-11.5 pw ; lat. spore=5.7-7.6 w ; long. spore=8.5-

12 vee

Habitat : On the moist soil of a crop field ; in stagnant water of a

roadside ditch, Hoshiarpur,

AN ACCOUNT OF THE CYANOPHYCEAE OF HOSHIARPUR 585

ANABAENA Bory

11. Anabaena vaginicola Fritsch et Rich. in Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Afr.

18:87, 1929. Anabaenothrix vaginicola (Fritsch et Rich.) Ghose et

Randhawa in Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. B 3: 407, 1936. (Fig. 4).

Trichomes single or many in a common mucilaginous sheath, more

or less parallel, attached to other plants ; sheath diffluent, colourless,

with a rough outline ; trichomes straight or slightly bent, shining blue-

green, constricted at the joints ; cells sub-quadrate, sometimes cylindri-

cal, contents blue-green and granular ; apical cell conical with pointed

apex; heterocysts cylindrical or barrel-shaped, slightly flattened at the

apices, sometimes become crushed by the pressure of the developing

spores, occurring at irregular intervals ; spores short cylindrical or ob-

long, ends flattened or rounded, contiguous with the heterocysts, often

two to four in series, wall hyaline, smooth.

Lat. filament with one trichome=7.5-11.2 »; lat. filament with two

trichomes=15 yp ; filament with more than two trichomes up to 21 yp

broad; lat. trichome=4-5.6 »; long. cell=3.7-4.6 p; lat. heterocyst=

4.6-5.6 » ; long. heterocyst=4.6-8 pm ; lat. spore=7.5-11.2 4; long. spore

== SSeS) jee

Habitat: Attached to submerged plants in a roadside pond,

Phagwara Road, Hoshiarpur.

12. Anabaena iyengarii Bharad. in Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. B 2: 105,

fig. 6 H-K, 1935. var. tenuis Rao in Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. B 6: 361,

fig. 5 A-C, 1937 b.

Lat. cell=3.7-4.6 ww; long. cell=3.7-7.5 mp; lat. heterocyst—4.6-

7.5p3 long. heterocyst=6.6-7.5 m ; lat. spore=6.6-11.2 yw; long. spore=

10.5-22.5 p.

Habitat: Ina pond on Phagwara Road, Hoshiarpur.

13. Anabaena oscillarioides Bory in Born. et Flah. 233, 1888 ; Geitler

886, fig. 567 e, 1932.

var. crassa var. nov. (Figs. 5-7).

Plant mass soft, mucilaginous, blue-green ; trichomes straight, or

curved, constricted at septa, blue-green ; end cell with rounded apices ;

cells barrel-shaped, as long as broad or slightly shorter or longer than

broad, contents granular ; heterocysts spherical, rarely slightly barrel-

shaped, intercalary ; akinete on both sides of the heterocyst, sin gle or in

series, cylindrical.

Planta mollis, mucilaginosa, caeruleo-viridis ; trichomata recta vel

curvata, constricta ad septa, caeruleo-viridia; cellulae terminales

apicibus rotundatis ornatae ; cellulae doliiformes, aeque longae ac latae,

vel paulo breviores vel longiores, contentis granularibus ; heterocysta

sphaerica, raro paulo doliiformia, intercalaria ; akinetes efformati ad

586 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY; Vol. 57 (3)

utrumgue latus heterocysti, singuli vel seriati, cylindrici. Typus positus

in P.U. College, Hoshiarpur, sub numero Vasishta 1.

Lat. trichome=5.6-7.5 yw (usually 6.6 p); long. cell=3.7-8 p; lat.

heterocyst=7.5-11.2 »; long. heterocyst=7.5-11.2 #5 lat. spore=7.5-

11.2 p ; long. spore=15-33.7 pw (rarely 37.4 yp).

Habitat: In the stagnant water of a roadside pond, phen Road,

Hoshiarpur, 15-1-1960.

This variety resembles the type in possessing (a) trichomes with

rounded end cells, (b) shape of cells and heterocysts, (c) shape of spores,

and (d) spores are up to three or three and half times as long as broad ;

but differs in possessing (a) broader cells, (b) broader heterocysts, and

This variety differs from var. angustus Bharadwaja in possessing (a)

broader trichomes and broader heterocysts, (b) heterocysts spherical and

not ellipsoidal, and (c) broader spores that are smaller in length and are

not surrounded by any special mucilaginous sheath.

The type of the variety is deposited in the herbarium of Panjab

University College, Herbarium, Vasishta 1.

14. Anabaena mehrai sp. nov. (Figs. 8-12).

Trichome single, curved or straight, mucilaginous sheath absent,

constricted at the joints ; end cell with rounded apices ; cells spherical

or slightly barrel-shaped, as long as broad, or slightly shorter than broad,

contents blue-green, pseudovacuoles present ; heterocysts intercalary,

spherical ; akinetes usually spherical, rarely oval, always contiguous to

the heterocysts, outer wall yellow-brown in colour.

Trichomata singularia, curvata vel recta, vagina mucilaginosa nulla,

constricta ad septa; cellulae terminales apicibus rotundatis ornatae ;

cellulae sphaericae vel tenuiter doliiformes, aeque longae ac latae vel

paulo breviores, contentis caeruleo-viridibus, pseudovacuola adsunt ;

heterocysta intercalaria, sphaerica ; akinetes vulgo sphaerici raro ovati,

semper contigui heterocystis, parietibus exterioribus luteo-brunneis.

Typus positus in P.U. College, Hoshiarpur, sub numero Vasishta 4329.

- Lat. cell=6.5-8 »; long. cell=5.6-7.5 p; lat. cell at the apex=5.1

p ; diameter heterocyst=7.5-11.2 p ; diameter spore=9.3-15 yp.

Habitat: Planktonic in a _ roadside pond, Phagwara_ Road,

Hoshiarpur, 29-9-1958.

The present species resembles Anabaena spiroides Klebhan and A.

werneri Briinn in possessing pseudovacuoles in the cells, but differs

from the former in not possessing spirally coiled trichomes, in the absence

of a broad mucilage sheath around the trichomes, in broader heterocysts

and in the spores being always contiguous to the heterocyst. It differs

from A. werneri in that the akinetes are not variable in position but are

always present next to the heterocyst. The present species also differs

AN ACCOUNT OF THE CYANOPHYCEAE OF HOSHIARPUR 587

from A. planktonica Briinn in not possessing a broad mucilage sheath

around the trichomes and in the greater diameter of the cells and hetero-

cysts. This form approaches A. sphaerica, A. fertilissima, A. gelatinicola,

A. anomala, and A. randhawae in possessing spherical heterocysts but

differs from all these species in possessing pseudovacuoles in the cells

and from individual species in several respects.

The present form may, therefore, be regarded as a new species of

Anabaena and the author takes great pleasure in naming it after Dr. P.N.

Mehra, D.Sc., F.N.I., Professor of Botany, Panjab University, and one

of the distinguished botanists of India.

The type specimen is deposited (in the form of camera lucida drawings)

in the herbarium of Panjab University College, Hoshiarpur, Vasishta 4329,

Subfamily AULOSIRAE Born. et Flah.

AULOSIRA Kirchner

15. Aulosira prolifica Bharadwaja in Ann. Bot. Lond. 47: 131, figs.

55,05, 195374.

Lat. filam.=5-7.5 w; crass. vag. outer=1.87 », crass. vag. inner=

1 «3; lat. cell=3.4-4.5 » ; long. cell=6-15 « (rarely 22.2 ~); lat. heterocyst

=4,5-8 wu ; long. heterocyst=7.5-12 (-18) pw.

Habitat: Forming a blue-green to pale-brownish scum floating on

the surface of stagnant water of a semi-permanent pond, Phagwara Road,

Hoshiarpur.

The filaments in the Hoshiarpur alga are broader than the type.

NODULARIA Mertens

16. Nodularia spumigena Mertens ex Bornet et Flahault in Rev.

Nostoc. Héteroc. 245, 1888 ; Geitler 866, fig. 554 b, c, 1932.

Lat. filament=8.5-11.9 w; lat. trichome=8-10.2 1; long. cell=3.7

ju; lat. heterocyst—9.5-12.5 w; long. heterocyst=5.8-8 « ; lat. spore=:

11-11.25 « ; long. spore=7.5-8.5 p.

Habitat: Ina semi-permanent pond on Phagwara Road, Hoshiar-

pur. It occurs mixed with other algae.

In specimens collected from Hoshiarpur, occasional occurrence of

terminal heterocysts has been noticed. The filaments are usually curved

and even coiled in an irregular manner. It has also been observed that

two daughter cells of a recently divided cell become converted into two

terminal heterocysts which break apart resulting in the formation of

two filaments each with a terminal heterocyst.

588. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Family OSCILLATORIACEAE Kirchner

OSCILLATORIA Vaucher

17. Oscillatoria subbrevis Schmidle in Bot. Jahrb. 30: 243, pl. 4,

fig. 7, 1901 ; Geitler 949, fig. 601 b, 1932.

Lat. “trichome—6.8-8:5" 4y- @lomearcenl—lnd=y.o) ay.

Habitat: On moist soil, Hoshiarpur.

18. Oscillatoria chlorina Kiitz. ex Gomont, Mon. Oscill. 233, 1892 ;

Geitler 951, fig. 611 c, 1932. Oscillatoria tenuis Ag. var. chlorina (Kitz.)

Playf. Biol. Richmond River 132, pl. 6, fig. 10, 1914.

Lat. trichome=3.4-4.2 uw; long. cell=3.4-8.5 yp.

Habitat: On moist soil; in stagnant water of a temporary pond,

Hoshiarpur.

19. QOscillatoria claricentrosa Gardner in Mem. N.Y. Bot. Gard.

7 237, pl.28, fig. 72, 1927 : Geitler oii tes olonc, 1932:

forma bigranulata Rao in Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. B 6 : 367, fig. 7

c, 1937 b. |

Lat. trichome=2-3 p ; long. cell=4-10 p.

Habitat: Sides of a water tank, Panjab University College, Hoshiar-

pur.

LYNGBYA Ag.

20. Lyngbya spiralis Geitler, Kryptog. 1042, fig. 659, 1932.

Lat. filament=5.1-6.8 »; lat. trichome=4.5-5.1 yp ; long. cell=1.7-

2.5 pw; crass. vag.=0.3-0.8 p.

Habitat: Along with other algae in a permanent pond near rail-

way crossing at village Nasrala, Hoshiarpur.

21. Lyngbya martensiana Menegh. ex Gomont, Mon. Oscill. 145,

fig, 17, ple 3, 1892 :Geitler 1064, fie 6 76) 1932

Lat. filament=13.4-15.3 yw; lat. trichome=10.2-11.5 » long. cell=2.5-

3.4 3 Chass-avaee— 1-7 oi.

Habitat: In a roadside pond, Phagwara Road, Hoshiarpur.

22. Lyngbya allorgei Frémy 189, fig. 156, 1929 ; Geitler 1059, fig. 671,

1932. |

Lat. filament=5.1-5.9 » ; crass. vag.=0.85 p» ; lat. trichome=3.4-4.2

i long. scell— 512529 air,

Habitat: On moist soil in flower pots, mixed with Hormidium

flaccidum, Panjab University College, Hoshiarpur.

23. Lyngbya gardneri Geitler 1037, 1932. L. erecta Setchell et Gard-

nerin Proc. Acad. Sci., 4th ser., 122,°1930, (non ZL. erecta Setchell

et Gardner, 1927).

AN ACCOUNT OF THE CYANOPHYCEAE OF HOSHIARPUR 589

Lat. filament=1.7-2.5 y»; lat. trichome=1.3-1.7 »; long. cell=3.4-

6.8 »; long. filament=1-2 mm.

Habitat: On soil at the bottom of a pond at Hoshiarpur.

It forms yellowish green masses attached to the soil at the bottom

of ponds. The basal cell becomes slightly flattened at its lower end and

serves as an attaching organ.

24. Lyngbya perelegans Lemm. in Abh. nat. ver. Bremen 16: 355,

1899, et 18: 153, pl. 11, figs. 13-14, 1904 ; Kryptog. Mark Brand. 3:

138, 1910 ; Geitler 1056, fig. 66 a-c, 1932.

Lat. filament=1.7-2.5 pz ; lat. trichome=1.5-2 p» ; long. cell=2.5-3.4 p.

A single granule is present on either side of the septa.

Habitat: On the bottom mud of a pond at Hoshiarpur.

25. Lyngbya palmarum (Mertens) Bruhl et Biswas in Jour. Dept.

Sci. Calcutta Univ. 11, pl. 4, fig. 14, 1923. Scytonema palmarum Martens

in Proc. Asiatic Soc. Bengal 39: 11, 1870.

Eat. filament=7.6-8.5 »; lat. trichome=6.8 »; long. cell=5.1-8:5

ft, crass. vag.=0.85-1 yp.

Habitat: On the bark of a palm tree in Panjab University College,

Hoshiarpur.

It forms dark-coloured extensive and densely tomentose thallus on the

trunks of palm trees. During dry months the thallus becomes pale green

to pale yellow.

SYNOPSIS

A detailed account of the ecology and systematics of some of the blue-

green algae of district Hoshiarpur has been given in this paper. This

district affords unique opportunities of algal collections from aquatic,

sub-aerial, and aerial habitats, and has been correctly noted by Dr.

M.S. Randhawa as an ‘ algologist’s paradise ’.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The present work has been carried out in the Department of Botany,

Panjab University College, Hoshiarpur, and the author is grateful to Prof.

Hukam Chand Nabh, Head of the Botany Department, for giving him

all the available facilities. To Shri B. R. Vasishta, Head of the

Botany Department, M. M. Degree College, Modinagar, the author is

grateful for going through the manuscript and suggesting useful changes.

The Genus Veronica Linn. of Eastern

India

NARENDRA MOHAN DUTTA

Department of Botany, City College, Calcutta

(With a plate)

The genus Veronica of the family Scrophulariaceae has altogether

250 species, which are mostly distributed in the temperate countries of

the world and are sometimes alpine. Of these, 35 species are found in

India, out of which only 18 species were described by Hooker in his

FLORA OF BRITISH INDIA 4 (1885), and the remaining 17 species were later

reported by Pennell.

Only 9 species are found in this samt of India, and are mostly dis-

tributed on the hills of Assam, Sikkim, and Bhutan. In the present

paper, these 9 species, viz. V. capitata Royle ex Benth., V. lanuginosa

Benth. ex Hook., V. ciliata Fisch., V. javanica Blume, V. cana Wall.,

V. anagallis Linn., V. deltigera Wall., V. himalensis D. Don, and V. hede-

raefolia Linn. are described and a specific key is given for their easy

identification. The species V. hederaefolia Linn., which was previously

reported from Kashmir, has been discovered in Sikkim.

Another variety, V. anagallis Linn. var. montioides Boiss., is also

described here. This variety, reported formerly from W. Tibet and

Afghanistan, has been found further east in the Sangpo-Valley on the

Assam-Tibet frontier.

This work is part of a study on Scrophulariaceae of eastern India

which the author is.carrying on at present. In connection with the

present study he received a grant for field work from the Bombay Natural

History Society, from funds made available by the Rockefeller Foun-

dation. He takes this opportunity to express his sincere thanks to the

authorities for this generous help. —

Veronica Linn. Sp. Pl. 9, 1753.

Perennial or annual herbs, shrubs or rarely trees. Leaves simple,

opposite, rarely upper alternate, exstipulate. Inflorescence racemose

or solitary. lowers pedicellate or sessile, bisexual, complete, irregular,

hypogynous, usually bracteate, white, blue or purple. Calyx 4-5-par-

tite, united at the base, imbricate. Corolla 4-5-partite, gamopetalous,

ng Oe Oe ee ee ee ee

THE GENUS VERONICA LINN. OF EASTERN INDIA 591

rotate or salver-shaped ; lobes unequal, obtuse, entire ; lateral broader,

outer in bud ; imbricate. Stamens 2, epipetalous, attached to the upper

lobe, exserted, anther-cells parallel or divergent. Ovary: carpels 2,

syncarpous, 2-celled, superior ; style filiform; stigma subcapitate or

bilobed ; ovules many in each cell; placentation axile. Fruit a cap-

sule, compressed or turgid, 2-grooved. Seeds many or few, various in

shape, sometimes winged.

KEY TO SPECIES

A. Flowers in racemes

B. Flowers sessile or subsessile

C. Capsule broadly obcordate, laterally flat-

tened es a es capitata

CC. Capsule ovoid or oblong, slightly laterally

compressed

D. Leaves orbicular or broadly ovate,

woolly, very close and covering the

stem re ae a lanuginosa

DD. Leaves ovate or oblong, pube-

scent, not close and covering the

stem Mei fi ae ciliata

BB. Flowers pedicellate

C. Leaves petiolate

D. Annual. Capsule broadly obcordate. . javanica

DD. Perennial. Capsule truncated “fa cana

CC. Leaves usually sessile

D. Stem succulent as m anagallis

DD. Stem not succulent

E. Leaves usually 1-4 cm. long. In-

florescence short-peduncled .. deltigera

EE. Leaves usually 4-9 cm. long.

Inflorescence long-peduncled himalensis

AA. Flowers solitary hs ee vi hederaefolia

1. Veronica capitata Royle ex Benth. Scroph. Ind. 45, 1835.

Herb. Stem short, suberect, pubescent. Leaves sessile or shortly

petiolate, opposite, largest pair often uppermost, ovate or shortly oblong,

obtuse or acute, crenate-serrate or subentire, usually pubescent, rarely

glabrous, base rounded, 1-4 cm. long, 0.8-2 cm. wide. Inflorescence

terminal, villous, in umbels or heads. Flowers sessile or subsessile, white

or blue, small. Calyx: sepals 4-5, gamosepalous, spathulate-oblong,

obtuse, 0.3 cm. long. Corolla: petals 4-5, gamopetalous, white-blue,

0.5 cm. long. Stamens 2; filaments filiform. Ovary ciliate ; style

592 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

simple, stigma bilobed. fruit a capsule, ciliate, broadly obcordate,

0.4cm.in diameter. Seeds elliptic, flattened.

Koteh-ya-my (4650 m.), Aug. 1888, Dr. King’s collector ; Pey-King-la,

July 1887, Dr. King’s collector ; Tumbok (3700 m.), 10th Oct. 1870,

No. 129i15D; Teesta Valley above Tangu (4080 m.), 6th July 1903,

FE. Younghusband ; Kambajong, Sept. 1903, D. Prain ; Yakla (4330 m.),

18th Oct. C. B. Clarke 10142 ; Mt. Singhulalah (3700 m.), 3rd June 1892,

G. A. Gammie 61 ; Teumtong (3400 m.), May 1885, Dr. King’s collector.

2. Veronica lanuginosa Benth. ex Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. 4 : 293, 1885.

Herb. Stem densely woolly, 5-7 cm. long. Leaves sessile, opposite,

orbicular or upper broadly ovate, obtuse or subacute, entire, woolly,

very close and covering the stem, 0.4-1.2 cm. long, 0.4-1.2 cm. wide.

Inflorescence terminal, in woolly heads. Flowers sessile, small, bracteate,

deep blue in colour. Calyx : sepals 4, gamosepalous, oblong, subacute,

0.3 cm. long, persistent. Corolla: petals 4, gamopetalous, spathulate,

upper orbicular, larger and broader than the others, + 0.6 cm. long.

Stamens 2; filaments short. Ovary elliptic; style + 0.4 cm. long ;

stigma bilobed. Fruit a capsule, elliptic notched, pubescent, equalling

the sepals. Seeds plano-convex, oblong.

Rangsa, Llovok (4800 m.) 28th July 1909, Smith & Cave 2023 ; Nakula,

28th July 1903, F. E. Younghusband 223 ; Thang Chung la (4900 m.), 15th

July 1909, Smith & Cave 1476.

3. Veronica ciliata Fisch. in Mem. Soc. Nat. Mosc. 3: 56, 1812. V.

alpina George, Reise 1: 195, 1775. V. macrocarpa Turez. ex Steud.

Nom. (ed. 2) 2: 758, 1841. Bartsia mollis Turez. ex Herd. in Bull. Soc.

Nat. Mosc. 58: 1. 397, 1883.

Erect herb. Stem stiff, hoary-pubescent, 10-30 cm. long. Leaves

sessile, opposite, ovate or oblong, obtuse or acute entire, serrate or

crenulate, pubescent, 0.8-4 cm. long, 0.5-1.5 cm. wide. Inflorescence

of terminal hirsute heads. Flowers sessile, bracteate ; bracts equalling

the calyx. Calyx: sepals 4, gamosepalous, oblong, obtuse, pubescent,

+ 0.5 cm. long. Corolla: petals 4-5, gamopetalous, small, broad,

reddish blue, + 0.6 cm. long. Stamens 2, included; anther cells 2,

parallel, obtuse. Ovary ovoid ; style filiform ; stigma bilobed. Fruit

a capsule, ovoid-oblong, notched. Seeds orbicular, plano-convex, com-

pressed.

Thangu (4270 m.), Sept. 1909, Lepcha collector 2914; Sikkim (3400-

4270 m.), J. D. Hooker ; Llovok (4420 m.), Ist Aug. 1909, Smith & Cave

1841 ; Nakuchu (4950 m.), 4th Aug. 1909, Smith & Cave 1994 ; Lungma

chu (4950 m.), 6th Aug. 1909, Smith & Cave 2239; Naku La, 29th

July 1903, F. E. Younghusband 232 ; Momay Samdong, Lachung (4950

m.), 17th Aug. 1892, G. A. Gammie 851; Kung-met, 3rd Aug. 1884,

Dungboo 301.

JOURN. BOMBAY Nat. Hist. Soc.

}

A. Veronica cana Wall. var. robusta x 1; B. Flower x!14; C. Flower dissected open: (i) Corolla

with epipetalous stamens x 2; (ii) Pistil with calyx x 2; D. Fruit with bract x 24.

di)

THE GENUS VERONICA LINN. OF EASTERN INDIA 593

4. Veronica javanica Blume, Bid. 742, 1826. V. maddeni Edgew. ex

Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. 4 : 296, 1885.

Annual herb. Stem much branched, spreading from the root,

ascending, 15-45 cm. long, pubescent. Leaves petiolate, petiole 0.3-

0.8 cm. long, rarely sessile, ovate, sub-cordate or truncate, obtuse,

crenate-serrate, base rounded, pubescent. Inflorescence in axillary ra-

cemes. Flowers pedicellate (pedicels + 3 mm. long), blue or white, 5

mm. in diameter, bracteate ; bracts longer than pedicels. Calyx : sepals

4, linear-oblong, obtuse, + 3 mm. long. Corolla: petals 4, + 5 mm.

long. Stamens 2; anthers basifixed. Ovary pubescent. Fruit a

capsule, cordate, narrowed to the base, 3 mm. in diameter. Seeds

elliptic, biconvex.

Great Nanget Valley, S. Kurz ; Banquet Valley (1525 m.), May 1862,

T. Anderson 272A ; Phedong (900 m.), 13th May 1876, C. B. Clarke

27918B ; Shillong (1525 m.), 16th May 1885, C. B. Clarke 38184E; Dib-

rooghur (900 m.), Sth April 1885, C. B. Clarke 37741A; Talap-

Lakhmipur, 23rd March 1894, G. A. Gammie 188 ; Kabo, 10th March

1912, IJ. H. Burkill 36796 ; Dumpep-Khasia hills (1925 m.), 30th May

1911, J. A. Burkill & S. C. Banerjee 34250.

5. Veronica cana Wall. [Cat. 401 1828] ex Benth. Scroph. Ind. 45, 1835;

DC. Prodr. 10: 475, 1846; Fl. Brit. Ind. 4: 295, 1885.

Perennial herb. Stem 15-30 cm. long, ascending, usually slender,

pubescent, villous or glabrous. Leaves petiolate (petioles 0.2-1.5 cm.

long) opposite, ovate or ovate-cordate, obtuse or sub-acute, crenate or

serrate, pubescent or glabrous, 1-4 cm. long, 0.7-2.4 cm. wide. Inflo-

rescence a raceme, axillary or terminal. Flowers pedicellate (pedicels

equalling or shorter than the calyx), bracteate ; bracts small, linear, shorter

than the calyx. Calyx: sepals 4, united just at the base, unequal, linear-

oblong, obtuse, -- 3 mm. long. Corolla: petals 4, gamopetalous, lateral

outer in bud, upper and lower usually narrowest, + 5 mm. long, imbricate,

white or blue. Stamens exserted ; filaments filiform, + 3 mm. long ;

anthers cordate, obtuse, less than 0.5 mm. long, basifixed. Ovary oval ;

style filiform, ++ 2-8 mm. long, persistent. Fruit a capsule, truncate,

glabrous or ciliate, + 6mm.indiameter. Seeds flat, ovate-oblong, thin.

Lachumy, July 1879, King’s collector ; Bhutan (1500 m.), Ist June

1906, J. C. White ; Zemu valley (3340 m.), 10th July 1909, Smith & Cave

416; Lamtang to Tangu (3070 m.), Ist July 1909, F. E. Younghusband

T 23 ; Buckeem (2400 m.), 12th Oct. 1875, C. B. Clarke 2529, 25293A ;

Tongir (4000 m.), 15th Oct. 1875, C. B. Clarke 25835 C; Tankra Mt.

(3070 m.), 5th August 1892, G. A. Gammie 622 ; Latong swamps (2150

m.), May 1885, King’s collector ; Sikkim, R. Seshagiri Rao 595.

(a) Veronica cana Wall. var. robusta Prain in Journ. As. Soc. Bengal

20 : 20, 1903. (see Plate)

594. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

This variety differs from V. cana proper in the following points : (i)

robust habit, (ii) denser tomentum, (iii) larger leaves, (iv) sepals lanceo-

late and acute, and (v) anthers hastate and larger.

Perennial herb. Stem erect, robust, up to 50 cm. long, ‘omentase or

hispid. Leaves petiolate (petioles 1-2 cm. long), opposite, ovate or ovate-

oblong, sub-acute, serrate, tomentose, 3-5.5 cm. long, 1.5-3.3 cm. wide.

Inflorescence a raceme, axillary or terminal. Flowers pedicellate, brac-

teate, bracts equalling the calyx. Calyx: sepals 4, united at the base,

lanceolate, acute, hairy, 4 mm. long. Corolla: petals 4, gamopetalous,

imbricate, 5 mm. long. Stamens epipetalous ; filaments filiform,

3 mm. long ; anthers hastate, basifixed, -+ 1 mm. long. Ovary 2-celled ;

style terminal, + 2-10 mm. long, persistent ; stigma bilobed. Fruit

a capsule, truncate. Seeds + 1 mm. long, flat, ovate-oblong, thin with

two dark swelling points, one at the centre and another at the base.

~ Tangloo (300 m.), Aug. 1887, King’s collector, Lectotype in Herb.

Cal:-; Sikkim, 15th Oct. 1868, S. Kurz; Kallipola, June 1887, King’s.

collector ; Kallipokri, June 1887, King’s collector; North of Tonglu

(2800 m.), 19th May 1909, J. H. Burkill 32007. . Liga

6. Veronica anagallis Linn. Sp. Pl. 12, 1753 ; Benth. in DC. Prodr. 10:

467, 1846; Reichle, Ic. Fl. Germ. t. 1762, 1862; Boiss. Fl. Orient-

4: 473; 1879: Fl. Brit. Ind.” 427 293;°1885 > Beng: PE =2" 775." 190s:

V. acutifolia Gilib. Exercit. 1 : 119, 1792. V. aquatica S. F. Gray, Wat.

Arr. Brit. Pl. 2: 306, 1821. V. ambigua Luce, Topog. Nachr. Oesel 4,

1823. V. undulata Wall. Cat. 406, 1828. Cordia amplexicaulis. Dulac,

Fl. Haute Pyr. 387, 1867. Beccabunga anagallis Fourr. in Ann. Soc.

Linn. Lyon. (N.s.) 17: 128, 1869.

According to Pennell this species should be written as V. rabaltts

aquatica Linn.

Perennial succulent herb, erect or decumbent: Stems usually gla-

brous, rarely pubescent, hollow, 15-50 cm. long. Leaves sessile, rarely

shortly petioled, lanceolate, oblong-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acute or

obtuse, entire or serrate, base usually auriculate rarely cordate, glabrous,

2-11- cm. long. 0.3-3 cm. wide. Inflorescence axillary, many-flowered

raceme. Flowers pedicellate, bracteate (bracts conspicuous), white or

pink, small, 4-6 mm. in diam. Calyx: sepals 4, polysepalous, ovate,

sub-acute, 2-4mm.long. Corolla : petals 4 , gamopetalous, rotate, lateral

outermost, broadly elliptic 0.25-0.3 cm. long, upper lobe broadly ovate;

0.25-cm: long, white or pink. Stamens exserted ; anthers obtuse. - Ovary

round. Fruit a capsule, compressed, orbicular or orbicular-oblong

notched, glabrous, 0.2-0.25 cm. Our: Seeds ovoid or ep eee BEDE,

rugulose. ses

-~-Kung-met, 3rd aah, 1884, ‘pine 300 ; 1 Dong dong, 10th. ‘July

1906, J. C. White ; Kamikha, March 1893, King’s: collector; “Goalpara-

THE GENUS VERONICA LINN. OF EASTERN INDIA 595

(90 m.), 5th March 1886, C. B. Clarke 43175A ; Maldah, 29th April

1874, C. B. Clarke 26264 ; Lakhimpur (Libru river banks), 29th March

1915, H. G. Carter 41139.

(a) Veronica anagallis Linn. var. montioides Boiss. Fl. Orient. 4 : 437,

1879 ; Fl. Brit. Ind. 4 : 293, 1885. V. pusilla Benth. in DC. Prodr. 10:

468, 1846.

Dwarf, slender herb. Stems often simple. Leaves sessile, opposite,

acute, sub-acute or obtuse, entire or serrate, 0.2-1 cm. long, 1-5 mm.

wide. Inflorescence in racemes, few-flowered.

Sangopo Valley (Brahmapootra), July 1904, H. J. Walton.

7. Veronica deltigera Wall. [Cat. 402, 1828] ex Benth. Scroph. Ind. 45,

1835 ; Benth. in DC. Prodr. 10 : 475, 1846 ; Fl. Brit. Ind. 4: 292, 1885.

V. lanosa Benth. Scroph. Ind. 45, 1835. V. rupestris Aitch. & Remsel in

Journ. Linn. Soc. 19 : 180, t. 25, 1882.

Perennial herb. Stems many from the root, rigid, slender, sub-

simple, ascending, pubescent, with prominent nodes. Leaves sessile,

opposite, ovate, ovate-oblong or oblong-lanceolate, serrate, base-rounded

or acute, glabrous, 1-4 cm. long, 3-15 mm. wide. Inflorescence terminal

or axillary inshort peduncled, pubescent racemes. Flowers pedicellate, blue,

bracteate ; bracts often leaf-like, upper oblong, 1-2 cm. in diam. Calyx :

sepals 4, gamosepalous, linear-oblong, sub-acute, 0.2-0.4 cm. long.

Corolla 4- or 5-lobed, lobes broad, -- 6 mm. long. Stamens : filaments

short ; anthers basifixed. Ovary: style filiform, 3-6 mm.:long ; stigma

sub-capitate. Fruit a capsule, oblong-ovoid, obtuse, -- 4 mm. long,

equalling or shorter than the calyx. Seeds minute, irregularly suborbi-

cular, plano-convex, much flattened. 7

. Gopian-Than, Aug. 1821, in Herb. Cal.

8. Veronica himalensis D. Don, Prodr. FI. Nep. 92, 1825 ; Benth. in DC.

Prodr. 10: 467, 1846; FI. Brit. Ind. 4 : 292, 1885. V. grandiflora Wall.

Cat. 403, 1828.

Herbs. Stem stout, erect, glabrous, 30-60 cm. long. Leaves sessile,

in distant pairs, lower opposite, upper rarely alternate, ovate-lanceolate,

all coarsely irregularly serrate, acute, 4-9 cm. long, 1-3 cm. wide, base

rounded or auriculate ; nerves beneath pubescent. Inflorescence in erect

racemes, axillary, towards the apex of the branches ; peduncles long.

Flowers pedicellate (pedicels about equalling the calyx), bracteate (bracts

5-8 mm. long, linear-oblong), blue. Calyx: sepals 4-5, united at the

base, oblong, acute, hairy, 6 mm. long. Corolla: petals 4, oblong,

large, 8 mm. long. Stamens alternate with petals ; anthers sagittate.

Ovary : style filiform, 6-9 mm. long ; stigma subcapitate. Fruit a capsule,

ovoid, acute, -- 7 mm. long. Seeds minute, irregularly suborbicular,

plano-convex, flattened.

596 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Chakung chu (3400-3700 m.), 30th July 1910, W. W. Smith 3969 ;

Ninghil (4000 m.), 7th Aug. 1910, W. W. Smith 4123; Zemu valley

(3700 m.), 11th July 1909, Smith & Cave 1214 ; Gararang pasture, Sept.

1901, Prain’s collector 189; Bogtop, Oct. 1908, Ribu ; Damkerka

(3700 m.), Aug. 1888, King’s collector ; Dothes, July 1879, Dungboo.

9. Veronica hederaefolia Linn. Sp. Pl. 13, 1753; Benth. in DC. Prodr.

10 : 490, 1846 ; Boiss. Fl. Orient. 4 : 468, 1879 ; Fl. Brit. Ind. 4: 294,

1885. V. cymbalarifolia J. F. Gmel. Enum. Tubing. 6, 1772. V. lappago

Schrank, Baier Fl. I : 218, 1789 ; V. umbrosa Reichb. ex Schult. Mant 1:

Add. 11. 229 in syn. 1822; Cochlidiospermum hederaefolium Opiz.

Seznam 31, 1852. C. lappago Opiz. in Lotoz. 4: 158, 1854. Pocilla

hederaefolia Fourr. in Ann. Soc. Linn. Lyon, N.S. 17 : 129, 1869.

Herb. Stems prostrate, hairy or glabrous; branches numerous.

Leaves petiolate (petioles 0.3-1 cm. long), orbicular-ovate, 5-7-lobed

(lobes rounded), alternate or opposite pubescent or glabrous, 0.5-2

cm. long, 0.8-2.5 cm. wide. Inflorescence solitary. Flowers pedicellate

(pedicels 1-2.5 cm. long), axillary, bracteate. Calyx: sepals 4 or 5,

membranous, cordate, acuminate, ciliate, exceeding the corolla,

persistent. Corolla: petals 4 or 5, pale blue, + 6mm. diam. Stamens:

anthers oblong. Ovary: style filiform; stigma subcapitate. Fruit

a capsule, globose ; cells 1- or 2-seeded. Seeds large, rugose, subglo-

bose, with a deep pit on the inner face, black.

Sikkim, R. Seshagiri Rao 326.

REFERENCES

Bentham, G. (1835) : Scrophulari- A Bibliography of Eastern Asiatic Botany.

neae Indicae. Massachussets.

Blatter, E., & Hallberg, F. (1918): Pennell, F. W. (1943) : The Scroph-

New Indian Scrophulariaceae and some

notes on the same order. J. Bombay

nat. Hist. Soc. 25 : 427-28.

Chatterjee, D. & Bhardwaja, R. C.

(1955) : Review of the Scrophulariaceae

of the upper Gangetic Plain and adjoin-

ing areas. Bull. Bot. Soc. Bengal 9:

147-49.

Li, Hui-Lin. (1950): Taxonomy and

Phytogeography of the Scrophulariaceae

of Mount Omei. Taiwania 1: 155-168.

Merrill, E.D. & Walker, E.H. (1938) :

ulariaceae of Western Himalayas. Acad.

Me Sci. Philadelphia, Monogr. No. 5:

70-91.

Prain, D. (1903): Some additional

Scrophularianeae. Nov. Ind. xx. Journ.

Asiat. Soc. Bengal (N.s.) 2, 72: 11-23.

Santapau, H. (1950): Notes on the

Scrophulariaceae of Bombay. J.

Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 49 : 25-49,

Yamazaki, T. (1953): Critical notes

on some Scrophulariaceae in Indo-

China. Journ. Jap. Bot. 28, No. 2.

Report on the status of the Brow-

antlered Deer of Manipur (India):

October-November 1959 and March 1960

E. P. GEE, M.A., C.M.Z.S.

(With 3 plates and 3 maps)

(Communicated by the Survival Service Commission of the

International Union for the Conservation of Nature and

Natural Resources)

CONTENTS

PAGE

I. INTRODUCTION : oe a oot

II. GENERAL REVIEW AND Sraenvitiee OF acre ue ; on 99

III. History OF THE BROWANTLERED DEER AREA IN NiaMepae .. 601

IV. GEOGRAPHY AND ECOLOGY __... . % .. 602

V. ADMINISTRATIVE AND POLITICAL .. te ae .. 606

VI. GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE SURVEY .. 608

VII. Status, DISTRIBUTION, AND FUTURE OF THE BROWANTLERED DEER

IN MANIPUR a ves AA ae a0 OL2

VIII. RECOMMENDATIONS ae eu, a ms A OLS

IX. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .. x ss eh .. 616

X. GLOSSARY OF LOCAL TERMS ie “ is .. 616

REFERENCES is ae ee ne A Oly

I INTRODUCTION

This report deals with Cervus eldi eldi McClelland, 1842, the

Manipur (India) subspecies of a very beautiful deer which is only

found in the south-western portion of the Logtak Lake in Manipur—

a State of the Indian Union. In recent vears it has become very rare,

and for its preservation it became evident that more information

about its numbers, habits, habitat, and so on was needed. This

survey, sponsored by the International Union for the Conservation

of Nature and approved of by the Indian Board for Wild Life,

attempts to supply the required information, and makes recommenda-

tions for ensuring the continued survival of this subspecies.

The three sub-species of this deer may be briefly enumerated as

follows:

(i) The Manipur subspecies, Cervus eldi eldi McClelland, 1842:

Now found only in one small 10-square-mile (26 sq. km.) portion of the

598 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

valley area of Manipur State in India. Locally known as sangai or

shangai; and not as sangnai or sangrai as stated by Lydekker-and

certain subsequent writers. The stags commence shedding their antlers

late in June, and new antlers are in velvet till November when they

become full size. In December they become clear of velvet and hard,

and remain so till early June. The rutting season is at its height in

February and March, and the fawns are born in October and

November. Fuller descriptions of its habitat and habits are given

later in this report.

(ii) The Burma subspecies, Cervus eldi thamin (Thomas), 1918:

Found in Upper and Lower Burma, and also possibly in parts of -

Thailand. Locally known as thamin or thameng. In 1955 U. Tun —

Yin made a compilation of reports received from Forest Officers, and

concluded that there were then 3000—3500 thamin in the Union of

Burma; and L. M. Talbot, who visited Burma in 1955, gave an

estimate of 2500-—3000. But subsequent reports from Burma indicate

that the number may now be considerably less. For, although the

thamin was declared by the Government of the Union of Burma in

1956 to be a ‘completely protected species’, it is feared that a great

deal of illicit shooting is still going on.

(iii) The Thailand subspecies, Cervus eldi siamensis Lydekker,

1915: Found in Thailand and Viet Nam (and possibly in Cambodia,

Laos, Viet Minh, and Hainan). Known in Thailand as_ la-ong

la-mang, or la-mang for short (a big stag with good antlers is usually

called la-ong, and a young stag or hind /a-mang). In Cambodia it

is known as la-miang. Formerly it abounded on the open plains and

in the deciduous forests of Thailand, but now it is reliably reported

by Dr. Boonsong Lekagul én litteris (May 1960) that it is on the verge

of being lost. Only a few herds of four or five head are to be seen

at Nang Rong in the north-east and at Chieng Karn in the north,

and it is doubtful if these can be saved from extinction unless the

Thai Government can take quick and effective steps to protect them.

The stags of the Browantlered Deer, or Eld’s Deer, are described

as standing about four feet (1.22 m.) high at the shoulder, and

weighing from 210 Ib. (95 kg.) to 245 lb. (111 kg.). The hinds are

smaller. The maximum length of the antlers is 42 in. (107 cm.).

The coat of the stags is rather coarse, and they develop a mane.

There is a seasonal change in their coloration, from brown in the

winter to chestnut in the summer. The young are spotted; and traces

of spots can be seen in adults, even after several years.

This deer is readily distinguished from all other species of deer

by the peculiar form of the antlers. These are set in the head at

REPORT ON THE BROWANTLERED DEER OF MANIPUR 599

right angles to the pedicle, and the curve of the brow tines is con-

tinuous with that of the beams. The antlers of opposite sides are

unsymmetrical when compared with one another. The beams are

unbranched for some distance, much curved, and finally forked. In

older stags the .forward bend makes a distinct angle in the beam,

while in young stags the curve is more continuous, like a prostrate

letter C. The antlers of the Thailand subspecies are generally, if not

always, palmated terminally.

The pasterns of the Manipur subspecies are hairless, hard, and

horny, specially adapted for moving about on swampy ground and

for preventing it from sinking through the surface mat of reeds and

grasses. The pasterns of the Burma and Thailand subspecies, which

live in dry undulating country, are hairy.

Il. GENERAL REVIEW AND SUMMARY OF REPORT

Although this Manipur subspecies of Browantlered Deer has been

officially protected, since 1934 by the Manipur State Durbar and since

1954 by the Government of Manipur, it is probably true to say that

it owes its existence more to the fact that (1) Manipuris are vegetarian

in diet, and (2) the animal lives not in an ordinary swamp, but in

a floating swamp which is almost impenetrable to human beings at

most times of the year.

Hitherto, most of the information about the habits and habitat

of this deer has been given, incidentally for the most part, by

sportsmen who have tried to track and shoot stags. No attempt

appears ever to have been made by a biologist or a naturalist to

study the deer and its unusual habitat of floating humus, or phumdi,

on which grow tall reeds and grasses, often up to 15 feet (4.6 m.)

in height.

The Manipur Administration has very commendably protected

the deer and created a 103 square mile (27.8 sq. km.) sanctuary called

Keibul Lamjao for its preservation. This sanctuary requires the

fullest protective measures, and recommendations to this end are

given in section VIII. After two visits to this sanctuary, in October-

November 1959 and in March 1960, I estimate that approximately

100 of this Browantlered Deer now exist in Manipur.

It is considered that here is a good case for the preservation of

rare and endangered animals by humanely capturing some of them

and keeping them in a good zoological park or garden. It is ex-

tremely difficult, in fact almost impossible, to see or observe this

deer in its natural habitat; and as it may have formerly existed in

600 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

~ Pru?

e Cue OO é Brohmoputrd

@ Shillong

comms caw Oe 9 mew og es 0D,

PAK! S TAN

rami

ees

, ie Lraipura \

( ee |

) \

REFERENCES

International boundary

state boundary. 0.1),

Scale: finch equals 95 miles approx.

undulating grassy areas near the foothills (as the Burma and Thailand

subspecies now do), and as it is known to thrive and breed in

captivity, it seems only reasonable that a few of them should be

captured by the government department in charge of them, and

kept under zoological park conditions.

As such they would not only be preserved and their numbers

increased, but also they would be available for scientific observation.

REPORT ON THE BROWANTLERED DEER OF MANIPUR 601

and be an attraction to the people of Manipur as well as to visitors

from outside and tourists from abroad.

Ill. HIstToRY OF THE BROWANTLERED DEER AREA IN MANIPUR

Before India became independent, Manipur was a princely state

under its Maharaja, with a British Political Agent or Resident in

charge of external and foreign affairs. The Maharaja had full charge

of internal affairs, and was responsible for law and order. His 500

State troops were called in by him to assist the State police if a

serious disturbance arose. If a disturbance could not be quelled by

these, the last resort was the battalion of Assam Rifles under the

control of the British Political Agent. A rebellion occurred in 1891.

The nearest British garrison station was Kohima in the Naga Hills,

and the road connecting Assam, Kohima, and Imphal in Manipur

was opened in 1896.

During World War II nearly the whole of Manipur State, except

the area round Imphal town and airfield, was occupied by Japanese

troops from 1943-45. Later on the invading forces were driven back

into Burma.

On India’s achievement of independence in 1947 Manipur became

a Class C State of the Indian Union with a legislative assembly.

This was dissolved in 1948 and replaced by Chief Commissioner’s

rule under the Centre (New Delhi). Since the Reorganisation of States

in 1957, Manipur has been a Territory of the Indian Union (like

Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, and Delhi) with the Chief Commissioner

in charge of the Manipur Administration, who is responsible to

New Delhi. There is a Manipur Advisory Committee consisting of

the Chief Commissioner, three members from Manipur of the Lok

Sabha, and the chairman of the Territorial Council. The latter

Council is elected from the people of Manipur and has control of

education (except colleges) and of roads, except the national highway

from Mao to Moreh, which is under the Manipur Administration.

Since May 1960 there has been some political agitation in the State

for the reconstitution of a legislative assembly in place of control

from the Centre.

As for the sangai, prior to 1891 they were recorded (Alban

Wilson, 1924) as having been ‘preserved by order of the royal family,

and any man who was proved to have killed one had his hand

chopped off, but after we took over the affairs of the State the deer

were allowed to take their chance, and the Mahommedans who lived

in the vicinity were not long in waking up to the fact. They used

602 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

to mount their buffalo, armed with spears, ride quietly up to the

deer, surround them in the heavy grass, and then stick them . ...

Luckily a sporting Political Agent finally issued orders to preserve

this rare beast from indiscriminate slaughter .. .’

Protection given to the sangai is also referred to by ‘HS. Wood

(1934): ‘The various political officers of Manipur recognising. the

paucity, and probable extinction, of this animal, have Oe very

strict hunting rules, and the number of heads is limited . ;

In 1934 by order of the Manipur State Durbar it was sures

that no further permits be issued for shooting these deer until further

orders, as this animal was in danger of extinction.

In December 1951 the Government of Manipur informed the

writer of this Report that “enquiries have been made by the Forest

Department and it has been found that this deer has become totally

extinct and no alive specimen is now available . .. In view of

what is stated above there is no need to establish a Wild Life

Sanctuary at present. Accordingly the writer informed the Inter-

national Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources

that this subspecies had been reported as extinct. But he as well

as Lt.-Col. R. W. Burton and Shri P. D. Stracey (then Senior

Conservator of Forests, Assam) continued their efforts to obtain

further information and to protect the deer in the event of their being

found.

Subsequently it was found that the deer did actually exist, and

in October 1953 the whole of the Logtak Lake area was closed to

shooting and declared a sanctuary by the Government of Manipur in

order to protect it. Later on it was pointed out that it was un-

necessary to close the whole of the lake to shooting as this deprived

many bona fide sportsmen of their legitimate goose- and duck-shoot-

ing, and consequently in July 1954 the Logtak was opened to shoot-

ing-—except the southern portion where the deer existed, which was

made into a sanctuary of approximately 20 square miles (52 sq. km.)

in extent. The area became reduced and in 1959 this Keibul Lamjao

Sanctuary was surveyed and officially reported as being about 103

square miles (27.8 sq. km.).

IV. GEOGRAPHY AND ECOLOGY

Manipur, now a territory of the Indian Union, lies between Burma

and the north-eastern portion of India, and consists of a valley area,

which is surrounded by a hills area, between 23° 47’ and 25° 41’

north latitude and 93° 6° and 94° 48’ east longitude. The broad

REPORT ON THE BROWANTLERED DEER OF MANIPUR 603

open valley is about 750 square miles (1942 sq. km.) in extent, and

about 2500 feet (762 m.) above sea-level; and a peculiar feature of

this plain is the existence of many small hillocks dotted over the

whole area. The hills area is about 7500 square miles (19425 sq. km.)

in extent, rises up to some 10,000 feet (3048 m.), and consists of

ranges of hills mostly running north and south.

The six large streams, as well as numerous small ones, which drain

from the hills into the central plain, all combine to flow out again

southwards through a narrow gorge into the Chindwin River in

Burma. Consequently the southern portion of the valley contains a

number of lakes and marshes, with variations in their conformation

owing to changing flood levels and growths of reeds, grasses, and

floating water weeds.

The Logtak is the largest of the lakes, and is over 25 square miles

(64.75 sq. km.) in extent. Smaller lakes or jheels are dotted about,

some of which dry up in the dry season either completely or with

just a few pools of water remaining. A large part of the valley

area is under a few inches of water during the rainy season, April

to mid-October, and rice is extensively cultivated. The vailey is not

‘one huge swamp’ as reported by Lydekker.

From figures given by D. B. Deb (1960) for Imphal, which is only

20 or so miles (c. 32 km.) from Keibul Lamyjao Sanctuary, the

average annual rainfall is 122 cm., and the mean daily humidity is

highest in August with 81% and lowest in March with 49%. The

maximum temperature is 34.44° and the minimum 1.66° Centigrade.

Frost is common in the valley during December and January.

Keibul Lamjao Sanctuary consists of roughly 10 square miles

(26 sq. km.) of ‘swamp’. I have purposely enclosed the word

swamp in inverted commas, because it must be explained at the

outset that this is no ordinary swamp. It is a floating swamp. Tall

reeds and grasses and other plants grow on a mat of dead or decaying

vegetation; and this mat actually floats on the lake with approxi-

mately 1/5 of it above the surface of the water and 4/5 of it below.

The extraordinary thing is that no sportsmen, naturalists, or other

writers have recorded this fact before. Lt. Eld (1841) described the

area inhabited by the deer as follows: ‘Its favourite haunts are the

low grass and swamps round the edge of the Logtak (lake)...

A. H. D. Barron (1911) mentions swamp. Lt.-Col. Alban Wilson

(1924) refers to the area as a ‘sea of grass’. Lt.-Col. C. H. Stockley

(1928) describes it as ‘grassy swamps’, and goes on to say that ‘poles

are carried by which the shikari may ascend to spy, having stuck the

end into the soft surface’. Even J, C. Higgins (1934), a naturalist of

604 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

repute, wrote of this deer as being found in ‘the swamps and bogs in

the south of the Manipur Valley, and nowhere else in the State .. .’

Lt.-Col. H. S. Wood (1934) was a little nearer the mark when he

referred to the floating islands of the Logtak Lake. He described

this deer’s habitat on the southern shore of the Logtak Lake as ‘a

huge morass consisting of dense reeds, grass, and water, and covered

with algae and weeds ... huge bog . . . here also were numerous

floating islands, and during heavy floods I have found the deer leave

them for comparatively dry ground at the bases of the low hills

skirting the morass on the west.’

No one appears to have realized that the habitat of this deer near

the shore of the Logtak Lake consists of what the Manipuris call

phumdi. Phum or phumdi is a mat of organic matter in which

reeds and grasses grow, often up to 15 feet (4.5 m.) or more. It is

subdivided into phumdi arupa (sinking) and phumdi ataoba (float-

ing). There is a seven-foot-long implement called phumlen thangol

for cutting phumdi when a canal or passage is made. As mentioned

before, phumdi floats on the water, with about 1/5 of it above the

surface and 4/5 of it below. Phumdi varies in thickness from 6

inches (15 cm.) to about 5 feet (1.5 m.), and where it is thick a man

can walk though he will sink to his knees or further in the soft mat.

Should he accidentally tread on the mat where it is thin, he will go

right through it into the water beneath.

Floating islands, floating bogs, or floating swamps are found, I

understand, in Burma, the U.S.A. (at Minnesota), and in Britain

(some peat bogs). Only the most enthusiastic of sportsmen went after

this deer. To quote again from Lt.-Col. H. S. Wood: ‘When

stationed in Manipur from 1891 to 1898, I had exceptional oppor-

tunities of observing and hunting this deer . . . no other animal could

exist in such swamps ... The action of this deer is very peculiar.

Instead of bounding with fore- and hind-feet coming on to the ground

at the-same time, it seems to be proceeding on its hind legs, the body

being held almost vertical. This action prevents it from sinking in

the quagmire ... My method of hunting the Manipur stag was

by stalking in this stuff, and if anyone wishes to attempt it, let him

prepare himself for frequent duckings. It is very strenuous work

and a torment owing to mosquitoes ... My major, whom I took

out one day, gave it up in the first few hundred yards after many

cursings.’ 3

A sportsman friend of mine who went after these deer in 1950

wrote to me as follows: ‘From the point of view of making this

a sanctuary in which visitors could see these animals I think it would

JouRN. BomBAy Nat. Hist. Soc. PLATE I

KE(BUL

LAMJAO

SANCTUARY

The Sanctuary as seen from the hill west of Bishenpur. Part of the Logtak Lake

can be seen at the left of the picture

Lisesesnentessmensponepumcumppanysnpty Vespranpeuypeimpeccrrcrcererisie tt

Shed and contrivance for driving away wild pigs from rice fields

Photos ; E. P. Gee

JouRN. BomBay Nat. Hist. Soc. PLATE II

Hind and fawn Brow-antlered Deer photographed in Keibul Lamjao Sanctuary,

March 1960

Photos : E. P. Gee

REPORT ON THE BROWANTLERED DEER OF MANIPUR 605

be a failure . . . it is terrible going, very deep swamps and one

has to jump from hillock to hillock across deep ruts. If one should

be unfortunate to fall in such a rut one goes in up to one’s waist!

Again I can only repeat the difficulties of stalking these beasts.

The going is shocking and they lie up in the most inaccessible places,

often surrounded by bogs through which a man cannot pass.’

In places where the phumdi (of the ataoba or floating type) is non-

existent, a reed locally known as ishing kombong (Saccharum

latifolium) grows on the bed. of the lake in the sinking phumdi

(phumdi arupa), and approximately 5% of the area of the sanctuary

consists of this. It is caten by the deer and by domestic buffalo.

The reeds and grasses which grow on the floating phumdi are as

follows :

tou Phragmites karka 45% of the sanctuary.

singut (not yet identified) 257%

khoimum Saccharum munja Sos

ishing kombong Saccharum latifolium 5%

pulai Alpinia allughas 56

singnang Saccharum procerum 2%

Miscellaneous a5

There is no water hyacinth in the sanctuary area, except a very

small amount near the edge. Presumably it cannot compete with

the thick reeds and grasses which are listed above. The average

thickness of the phumdi in the sanctuary area in October is about

3 to 4 feet (90 to 120 cm.), with about 4 to 5 feet (120 to 150 cm.)

of water underneath. In time of floods this 4 to 5 feet (120 to 150

cm.) average would become 5 to 6 feet (150 to 180 cm.); while in

March at the driest time of the year it would be 2 to 3 feet (60 to

90 cm.) or even less, and in very shallow places the phumdi would

then be resting on the ground.

The small hilly area included in the sanctuary to the south-west

is mostly denuded of vegetation by overgrazing by village cattle. To

this high ground the deer sometimes move in times of very heavy

rain which takes time to seep through the phumdi. As soon as this

surface flooding of the phumdi has disappeared, due to the phumdi

eventually floating again on the surface of the lake, the deer return.

Wild Pig and a few Hog Deer share this floating sanctuary with

the Browantlered Deer. I was informed that Wild Dog do not and

cannot exist in this area, but that occasionally a Leopard has been

observed in it. Of bird life, only the smaller reed-dwelling species

were observed. Larger wading and swimming birds appeared to be

non-existent, as there are no open patches of water in the sanctuary.

606 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

There are villages all along the western and southern boundaries

of the sanctuary, with large numbers of buffalo and cattle and with

extensive rice cultivation. Cattle cannot enter the phumdi, but

domestic buffaloes graze over about two and a half square miles

(6.5 sq. km.) of the sanctuary. A strip of waste land along the

western side of the sanctuary has been encroached on and cultivated,

and a narrow wedge of approximately 60 acres (24 hectares) right

inside the sanctuary has been cultivated by these villagers. Fishing

from approximately 1000 narrow dug-out boats is done throughout

the sanctuary area, along the narrow tracks where the phumdi is very

thin or non-existent. From the end of the forest road to the edge

of the sanctuary, to the hillock named Chinjao Hill on which the

observation hut has been built, a canal has been cut through the

5 feet (152 cm.) thick phumdi. This canal is 15 feet (4.6 m.) wide,

and 2800 feet (850 m.) long, and cost over Rs. 6000 (£450) to cut.

V. ADMINISTRATIVE AND POLITICAL

In the Manipur Administration, which is under the Chief Com-

missioner, the Secretary (Miscellaneous) has charge of the Forest

Department. The Head of this Forest Department is the Chief

Forest Officer, and the Keibul Lamjao Sanctuary has been placed

under the Range Officer, Moirang, since January Ist 1959. The

Forest Staff in charge of the sanctuary at the time of my two visits

consisted of one Forester, one Forest Guard, and one Game Chaprassi.

In the last census the population of Manipur was given as

(approximately) 600,000, of which 200,000 were in the hills area, and

400,000 in the valley area. Of these 400,000 in the plain, 200.000

were in Imphal town itself and 200,000 out in the villages. Since

then the above populations have probably increased by 50% owing

to natural increase and the influx into Manipur of displaced persons,

Nepalis, and others. It will be seen, therefore, that the valley area

is very thickly populated, and all the available land is under rice

cultivation.

The Keibul Lamjao Sanctuary itself is flanked on the north-west,

west, and southern sides by Thanga, Keibul, Kumbi, and other

villages, the inhabitants of which are fortunately Manipuris who are

vegetarian in diet and therefore do not hunt or kill the deer. To

the north-east of the sanctuary however, there are the four Mussulman

villages of Uchiwa, Mayang Imphal, Turen Ahaubi, and Samusang,

whose inhabitants would (if given the chance) hunt and kill the deer.

I was informed that no guns were possessed by any of the villagers.

Three offence cases, I was told, of ‘encroachment in the sanctuary

REPORT ON THE BROWANTLERED DEER OF MANIPUR 607

and of shooting animals’ were detected and dealt with in 1955-56,

and none in the subsequent years.

- The fishing rights in the sanctuary area are auctioned annually;

and were sold during the current year for Rs. 3000 (£225). Reed

cutting of tou, singut, and singnang, mainly on the eastern side of

the sanctuary, was sold in two lots for Rs. 800 (£60) and Rs. 700

(£52/10). Fishing in small dug-outs in the sanctuary probably does

not unduly disturb the deer, and may be regarded as a_ long-

established ‘right’ of the local inhabitants with which it would be

inadvisable to interfere.

Similarly reed-cutting is a local economic necessity and has been

done since time immemorial, as the reeds are used for the building

of walls'of houses and as firewood; and the cutting and burning of

reeds results in fresh growth, which is palatable to the deer.

Incidentally, I found during my March visit that burning off of the

reeds and grasses was only partially successful—unless they had

previously been cut and left in situ. Cutting followed by removal

of reeds and grasses would probably not facilitate burning, but would

none the less produce new shoots.

Regarding the narrow strip of waste land along the western edge

of the sanctuary, amounting to about one square mile (2.6 sq. km.)

in extent, I was told that the villagers were claiming it and cultivat-

ing it, and that there had been some dispute between the Forest

Department who wished to include it in the sanctuary and_ the

Revenue Department who considered that it should be opened

up for cultivation. I understand that-it will now be difficult, if not

impossible, to prevent ‘cultivation here. There is a thin wedge of

rice cultivation right in the centre of the sanctuary, amounting to

some 50-60 acres, which should be stopped if possible.

I found that the local people, even educated persons, knew very

little about deer and other wild life. The Mahommedan shikaris,

who have for generations accompanied the sportsmen who have

come here for goose-, duck- (and deer-) shooting, are the only people

who have a working knowledge of ‘game’ animals and _ birds.

When I asked what were the reactions of the local villagers to the

creation of the sanctuary, I was told that those people who were

cultivating the strip of waste land along the western edge and the

central thin wedge inside the sanctuary objected. Otherwise there

were no adverse reactions except from those whose rice fields were

-raided by wild pigs from the sanctuary. The owners of the domestic

buffaloes which grazed within the boundaries of the sanctuary would

also probably protest if deprived of this facility.

608 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 87 (3)

VI. GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE SURVEY

First of all, a permit to visit Manipur was obtained—a formality

obligatory on all who are not Indian nationals, mainly because of the

Naga Hills being a ‘disturbed’ area. The fullest co-operation of the

Forest Department had previously been offered to me by the Chief

Forest Officer. On October 21st, at the end of the monsoon, I

motored in my Land Rover (with trailer) to Imphal, via Kaziranga,

Garyampani, Dimapur, Kohima, and Mao. From Dimapur to

Kohima it was obligatory to travel in the daily armed military

convoy, as the road to Manipur runs through the Naga Hills. One

day was spent in Imphal in order to contact the Chief Forest Officer,

and the Deputy Commissioner (who is Chairman of the Wild Life

Board there). The nights of the 26th and 28th to 3lst were spent

at Moirang, which is 26 miles (41.8 km.) from Imphal and 4 miles

(6 km.) from Keibul Lamjao Sanctuary—the object of my tour.

It was fine, sunny weather. The rice in the fields was still green,

and the road to the sanctuary muddy after the monsoon rains. We

saw many small sheds (/ousang) in the fields for driving away wild

pigs. At the end of the forest road to the sanctuary, a boat met

us and took us along the canal through the phumdi. Numerous

light brown mosquitoes and two leeches failed to discourage me.

On arrival at the observation tower on the 150 feet (45.7 m.) high

hillock known as Chingjao Hill, I found that a good view was

obtainable of the sanctuary, which looked like a sea of reeds and,

grasses. |

As it had taken us two hours to reach this spot, partly by Land

Rover and partly on foot, and as it was only from this observation

tower on the hillock that there was a chance of seeing anything, I

decided to remain there all that day and for the night, in order

to avail myself of evening and early morning opportunities of seeing

deer. There were protests from the Forest Staff and villagers, about

danger from wild pigs, about discomfort from mosquitoes, and

above all about the existence of evil spirits at that place at night.

These did not deter me, and I sent back for the necessary bedding

and food. |

Several wild: pigs were seen during the day; and very early in the

following morning one of the men accompanying me had a close view

of a stag and a hind, and later another hind, near the canal. After-

wards, on being shown the antlers of a Hog Deer and of a Brow-

antlered Deer, he unhesitatingly indicated that it was the latter that

he had seen. In another direction I myself saw three light-coloured

REPORT ON THE BROWANTLERED DEER OF MANIPUR 609

@ Khaidem

Buri bazar @

YN _ FS; Bishenpur

Map No.2

References

Sanctuary boundary

Area of water

Scale 1 =Amiles

hinds in the distance which were almost certainly Browantlered

Deer.

The following days were spent in collecting information from the

Forest Staff and from the local villagers. I visited Kumbi village on

the south side of the sanctuary, and also the hill above Bishenpur for

a view of the whole Logtak Lake area.

610 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. $7 (3)

On November Ist I returned to Imphal, and showed six films of

Indian wild life in a big hall, to which the Chief Commissioner and

many other officials came. Then a trip along the national highway

southwards to Moreh on the Burma border to see the country there.

From near Tengnoupal the views of the Imphal valley to the north

and Burma to the south were magnificent. Then I motored

through the Naga Hills along the same route I had come, and returned

to Shillong on November 8th.

My main impression of the sanctuary was that it was a most

impenetrable place. Even in a large boat while travelling along the

wide canal, we were bitten by mosquitoes and leeches; how much

more difficult and uncomfortable would it have been to see the

sanctuary by inching one’s way in a tiny two-man unstable dug-out

boat through the thick sea_of grasses and reeds growing up to some

15 feet (4.6 m.) in height, with only a very remote chance of obtain-

ing even a fleeting glimpse of a deer? When I referred to this

difficulty, the reply was that March, not October, was the best time

to visit the sanctuary, when some of the grasses and reeds had been

burnt off and the water level lower.

So I decided to visit the sanctuary again in mid-March, the driest

time of the year in these parts... The Chief Forest Officer agreed to

try and conduct some kind of census of the deer when I arrived, and

we discussed ways and means of doing this.

This time I decided to motor along a new road in the Khasi Hills

to Cachar, and from there to fly over the mountains into the Imphal

plain and thus save time. After a day and a half at Imphal, I

motored along the new road right up to the canal in the sanctuary,

and the boat was poled along to the observation hill just as the sun

was rising.

I was surprised to find that the level of the lake had only sunk

about 2 feet (61 cm.) since last October, and that there was still a

great deal of water everywhere—and the phumdi still floating on it.

Some patches of reeds and grasses had been burnt off by the Forest

Staff without previous cutting, and were only partially burnt. Some

other patches had been cut and then burnt off, more thoroughly. New

shoots were appearing everywhere, and the places where ishing

kombong grew in the bed of the lake (and not on the phumdi) were

bright green with new growth. But, seen as a whole from the

cbservation hill, the sanctuary still appeared to be a sea of reeds

and grasses, with only small areas of open ‘ground’. There was still

a very great deal of cover for wild life, and hopes of doing a census

of the deer rapidly faded away.

REPORT ON THE BROWANTLERED DEER OF MANIPUR 611

Carefully searching the area with binoculars, I saw a stag and

hind Browantiered Deer about 4 a mile (800 m.) away, in the grass.

In another place two half-grown fawns were playing, almost

dancing round in circles, while their mothers grazed near by—

unmistakably Browantlered Deer.

Twenty Manipuri viilagers had been arranged to drive selected areas

for conducting a census. These I decided to send out so that they

could form a line and drive a representative area of about a quarter

of a square mile (650 sq. m.) towards the hillock. I remained on

the hillock with binoculars to observe results, as from the ground

nothing can be seen except the grass immediately in front. The men

denuded themselves of all clothing up to the hips, and set off—many

of them with sticks to probe the phumdi for softer places in order

to avoid a ducking. Soon they were all splashing their way through

the black ooze which came well above the knees.

Out of this area came 4 Browantlered Deer, hinds and fawns,

and 10 pigs. Two hours had passed by, and the men were not at

all in favour of doing any more such drives in such heavy going.

On the basis of this very limited investigation, I arrived at the

following conclusion: The total area of the sanctuary was 10.75 sq.

miles (27.8 sq. km.). Deduct from this the area grazed by domestic

buffalo 2.50 sq. miles (6.5 sq. km.), the area of waste land and rice

land under cultivation 1.00 sq. mile (2.6 sq. km.) and the hill area

.25 sq. miles (650 sq. m.), and then 7 sq. miles (19 sq. km.) remained.

At the rate of 16 deer per sq. mile (2.6 sq. km.), the total would be

112 Browantlered Deer in the sanctuary, say 100. Similarly 280,

or say 300, wild pig also exist here.

The Indian Swamp Deer, Cervus duvauceli, does not exist and has

never existed in Manipur. Barking Deer, Muntiacus muntjak, are

found in the hilly, forested places. As for Hog Deer, Axis porcinus

none were actually seen on my two visits to Keibul Lamjao Sanctuary.

But evidence of their existence in the sanctuary is as follows: They

are reported by Alban Wilson (1924) and Higgins (1934); a buck was

killed shortly before my second visit at the edge of the sanctuary,

and the head and antlers seen by the Range Officer; a head with

antlers which had been found in the sanctuary was shown to me at

the Beat Office of the sanctuary; and a pair of shed antlers said to

have been found in the sanctuary was shown to me in Keibul village.

Possibly some 25 Hog Deer exist in the sanctuary.

The Forest Staff in charge of the sanctuary and under the Range

Officer of Moirang at the time of my first visit were as follows:

1 Forester (3 months there), 1 Forest Guard (10 years there), | Game

612 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Chaprassi (3 months there). At my second visit, the first two of the

above personnel had been changed, and I found: 1 Forester (17 days

there), 1 Forest Guard (14 months there), | Game Chaprassi (73

months there). None of them appeared to have much knowledge ot

the sanctuary or of wild life.

VII. Status, DISTRIBUTION, AND FUTURE OF THE BROWANTLERED

DEER IN MANIPUR

FORMER AND PRESENT STATUS

Information about the former range, distribution, and numbers of

this deer in Manipur has to be searched for in the accounts given by

sportsmen. In 1841 Lt. Eld wrote: ‘It is gregarious in its habits, and

after the annual grass burning, I have frequently seen herds of two

or three hundred’. Lt.-Col. H. S. Wood, who was there from

1891-1898, recorded: ‘Many years ago it was found in all the

marshes of Manipur, but it was mercilessly hunted and trapped by

the Mohammedan Manipuris, called Panguns, till we took over the

State, when the Political Officer stopped all trapping . . . The

Manipuri Deer is full of curiosity. The Manipuri name is ‘Sangai’

or ‘the animal that looks at you’, and exactly describes him...

These deer are found in herds of six or seven, usually all does, the

stag generally concealing himself very cleverly in the rushes and

reeds . . . The Mohammedans kill them from dug-outs during

floods, or spear them mounted on buffaloes. They also trap them

by an ingenious method.’ A. H. D. Barron in 1911 wrote of this

deer that it ‘. . . keeps absolutely to the swamps, except perhaps

during the rutting season, when he may be met in the long grass at

the foot of the hills.’

J. C. Higgins (1934) stated: ‘In the swamps it is fairly common,

but, although nominally preserved by law, its numbers have decreased

in late years, owing te the attentions of wild dogs and poachers.

In times of high flood the wretched animals are driven out of their

haunts to isolated pieces of high ground, where the neighbouring

Nagas and Muhammadans take heavy toll, regardless of sex, age,

close season or the rules directing the taking out of licences to hunt

them.’ I investigated the occurrence of wild dogs during my visits

to this place, and was informed that these predators are now non-

existent in the area concerned.

G. B. Eastmure has informed me in a letter that he was in this

area in March 1947 and said: ‘My experience of the Browantlered

JouRN. BomBay Nat. HIstT. Soc. PLATE III

The Manipur subspecies photographed in the Alipore Zoo, Calcutta, in

January 1960

Photos: E. P. Gee

REPORT ON THE BROWANTLERED DEER OF MANIPUR 613

Deer is slight, but I did spend four days out after a stag. In this

time I saw several in twos and threes and two herds of about seven

to eight beasts. The magnificent stag was seen through the glasses.’

In 1951 these deer were reported as extinct, and then in 1952-53

were ‘re-discovered’.

I estimate that there are about 100 of these deer in existence today,

confined to the area of the Keibul Lamjao Sanctuary, plus the stag,

hind, and fawn in the Calcutta Zoo. I also consider that it is

possible that this species may have formerly ranged over a larger area,

including grassy undulating land at the foot of the hills, before being

driven by increasing population and extending agriculture on to the

phumdi of the Logtak Lake, which may after all be its present habitat

by necessity and not of original choice.

FUTURE OF THE SUBSPECIES

In addition to being protected by law, this deer is protected by the

impenetrability of its habitat and by the fact that most of the

surrounding villagers are vegetarian Manipuris. In actual fact, its

survival during the past 20 years had been due more to the last two

factors than to any legislation. There is welcome evidence, however,

that the present Manipur Administration is keenly interested in

preserving the species; and the authorities deserve praise for steps

already taken in creating and developing Keibul Lamjao Sanctuary.

The new Public Works Department and Forest roads have made the

sanctuary accessible by car. There are plans for re-afforestation of

the small hills at the south-west corner of the sanctuary, and to

construct a bungalow there for visitors.

In view of the fact that visitors have very little hape of seeing

the deer in the sanctuary owing to its impenetrable phumdi con-

ditions, there is a proposal to make an enclosure consisting partly of

phumdi grassy area and partly of high ground grassy area near the

site of the proposed bungalow (see Map 3). It is also proposed to

re-afforest some of these over-grazed areas with Salix tetrasperma, a

tree which is indigenous to these parts.

The above appears to be an excellent idea, especially as Brow-

antlered Deer are known to do well in captivity. But it is

questionable whether it would be in the best interests to have the

enclosure at this place at the edge of the sanctuary, or to have it

nearer _Imphal—or even in the town of Imphal itself, in the form of

a small zoological park,

614. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

With this latter view in mind, I accompanied the Chief Forest

Officer to inspect two possible sites: One at Lamphelpat three miles

from Imphal appeared unsuitable; but another possible site in Imphal

near the D.M. College and next to the Imperial War Graves Cemetery

on the main road from the airfield seemed to be a good one, as it

consists of undulating grassland with some trees for shade. A third

possible site, near Bishenpur where a botanical garden is proposed

to be made, was also discussed.

Here it may be mentioned that Browantlered Deer have done

well in captivity in various parts of the world. At Woburn Abbey,

for example, the Duke of Bedford (1949) found that the species

‘does quite well in confinement and with care could be preserved .. .

Although several fawns were bred at different times, the herd received

insufficient care and attention and was much reduced by 1914, when

the war sealed its fate.’

In the Regent’s Park Zoological Garden of London, four fawns of

Browantlered Deer were born during the years 1922-25.

In the Vincennes Zoological Garden of Paris a pair of the Thailand

subspecies, Cervus eldi siamensis, obtained in 1937 multiplied to

eleven by June 1954 when I saw them. They were in very good

condition and were a very beautiful and gracefui exhibit. Spots were

still just visible on some of the adult animals. M. Nouvel informed

me that the young are usually born in October and November, and

that the period of gestation is 239 to 256 days. Maximum age

recorded is 13 years. Stags commence to grow their antlers in

August, and are in hard horn in December and shed their antlers

in July. They mate in February. At the time of this report (July

1960) these deer in this zoo were 10 in number (2 stags. 5 hinds, and

3 fawns).

In the Rangoon Zoo, a pair of the Burma subspecies, Cervus eldi

thamin, was presented in 1947 and by 1955 had increased to nine.

In May 1960 there were ten of this subspecies still in this zoo.

In the Alipore Zoological Garden, Calcutta, deer believed to be

of the Cervus eldi eldi subspecies did very well, and many fawns were

born, in the years before World War II. In 1956 a pair of young

animals was captured in Manipur and sent to this zoo, where fawns

were born in October of 1958 and 1959.

It appears that stags of this deer, owing to the long brow-tine,

are particularly susceptible to injuries—especially in the head. There

have been several cases of this in the Rangoon Zoo. Even in the

wild state this is the case, and Lt.-Col. Stockley (1928) wrote:

*, . . the stags are most pugnacious, many being found blind of an

Wanna mi a eepah CUR bapenan eastdae = Seek ihe seated fee ky ey ew he tpece Peer eee ee 7

JOURN. BOMBAY NAT. Hist. Soc.

THANGA VILLAGE

KEIBUL HILL

GY a KEIBUL LAMJAO SANCTUARY

ga emrar ancien hl

Pewee acre

oe a ce |

Wiwce

“e

Crary

fe,

eo,

Bistare

KEIREN PHABI

VILLAGE

(proposed bas

bungalow) <7

see Si HILL

Map No. 3

REFERENCES

SANCTUARY BOUNDARY ns eme came

GRAZING BY BUFFALOES GIS {II

ROADS, (.w.D.); (FoREST) ——— =

NONGMAI KHONG

VILLAGE

ITHAL VILLAGE ° Sw,

REPORT ON THE BROWANTLERED DEER OF MANIPUR 615

eye when shot. This is probably due to the position of the brow-

tine. I once shot a stag which was entirely blind in both eyes.’

VIil. RECOMMENDATIONS (see Map _ 3)

The following recommendations are made:

(1) That the Keibul Lamjao Sanctuary be strictly protected as the

only remaining habitat of the very rare Manipur subspecies of the

Browantlered Deer. The following measures in particular are

advised :

(a) Rice cultivation in the centre of the sanctuary should be

prohibited.

(b) The question of the waste land on the western side of the

sanctuary, at present unlawfully occupied by villagers, should be

settled in the best interests of the sanctuary, and so as not to

antagonise the local villagers.

cannot be prohibited, should be restricted as much as_ possible.

The possibility of excising some of these grazing areas from the

sanctuary. area could be considered.

(d) Fishing and cutting of reeds in the sanctuary, if an

established right and not preventable, should be carefully watched

so that there will be a minimum of danger and disturbance to the

deer.

(e) The numbers of wild pig should be reduced, when they raid

the neighbouring rice crops.

(2) That the Forest Staff in charge of the sanctuary should be as

permanent as possible, and under an officer of a rank not less than

Deputy Ranger.

(3) That an ecological study be made of the deer in its unusual

phumdi \,abitat. |;

(4) That, owing to the extreme difficulty of seeing the deer in the

sanctuary, a few animals be humanely captured (departmentally)

and kept in a suitably located enclosure. This measure should assist

in preserving the animal, in increasing its numbers, in enabling

scientific study, and in providing an attractive exhibit for visitors.

(5) That the Game Rules, published in 1958 as ‘Preservation of

Wild Life in Reserved Forests and other parts of Manipur’, be revised

and brought up to date.

(6) That steps be taken to ensure education and publicity in wild

life and nature conservation, in order to arouse consciousness among’

the people of the cultural and economic value of wild life.

616 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

IX. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Finally, I must offer my thanks to those officials and non-officials

without whose interest and help my survey would not have been

possible. The Chief Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner

both showed keen interest in the subject of preserving the Brow-

antlered Deer, and both attended when I showed some cine films of

Indian and African wild life. Mr. Goweahari Singh, Secretary

(Miscellaneous) to the Manipur Administration, showed great interest

in what I was doing, and paid a visit to Moirang in order to discuss

sanctuary and preservation matters with me. Mr. S. Gambhir Singh,

Chairman of the Imphal Municipality, was extremely kind and

hospitable on every occasion I met him at the Manipur Hotel.

In particular I want to offer my thanks and appreciation to Raj

Kumar Bijoychandra Singh, Chief Forest Officer of Manipur, who

from the very start made all arrangements for my visits and assisted

me with information and practical help in the way of transport and

men to accompany me. To his subordinate officers—Rangers, Foresters

and others—I also owe a debt of gratitude for all help rendered.

X. GLOSSARY OF LOCAL TERMS

Beat: (1) in forests, a sub-division of a Range, or (2) in shooting,

a patch of jungle which is beaten for game, or (3) the actual beating

of the forest for driving.

bil, bheel: small shailow lake (in northern India): see jheel.

chaprassi: a messenger or other such servant.

ching: hill.

huithou: wild dog.

ishing kombong: tall grass in water in sanctuary.

jheel: small shallow lake (in India): see bil, bheel.

kharsa: hog deer.

khoimum: tall reed grass with white tuft.

khunou: new village.

lamoak: pig.

loo: basket trap for fishing put down through holes in phumdi.

loukon: group of paddy fields.

Jousang: small shed in paddy fields, for driving away pig.

mahai: an area (of forest etc.) leased out to contractors for com-

mercial exploitation.

maril: course, way.

monsoon: annual rainy season,

REPORT ON THE BROWANTLERED DEER OF MANIPUR 617

pat: lake.

phumlen thangol: implement 7 feet long for cutting phum (di).

phum, phumdi: mat of organic matter, humus, in which reeds and

grasses grow. (P. arupa sinking type, P. ataoba floating type.)

pulai: a plant (pigs eat it).

Range: a sub-division of a Forest Division, which contains a

number of Beats.

Range Officer, Ranger: the Forest Officer in charge of a Range.

(Deputy Ranger is next in status.)

sangai, shangai: Manipur subspecies of the Browantlered Deer,

Cervus eldi eldi McClelland, 1842.

shabeng: goral.

shajan: sambar.

shaji macha: barking deer (lit. small deer).

shamu: elephant.

shikar: shooting, sport.

shikari: a sportsman who shoots, or a tracker for sportsmen.

singnang: grass in sanctuary.

singut: tall reed with brown tuft (cut and used).

thamin, thameng: Burmese for the Burma subspecies of the Brow-

antlered Deer, Cervus eldi thamin (Thomas) 1918.

tou: tall reed (taller than singut) with brown tuft (cut and used).

turen: river.

REFERENCES

Barron, A. H. D. (1912) : A Deformed

Thamin Stag (Cervus eldii). J. Bombay

nat. Hist. Soc. 21 (2): 654-5.

Bedford, Duke of (1949) : The Years

of Transition. London.

Deb, D. B. (1960) : Forest Type Studies

in Manipur. Indian Forester 86 (2):

94-111.

Eld, Lt. Percy (1841) : Further notice

of a Nondescript species of Deer indi-

cated in the 4th Number of the Cal.

Jour. Nat. Hist. extracted from a letter

of Lieut. Eld, Assistant to the Commis-

sioner of Assam dated 2Ist May, 1841,

with a drawing of the Horns, plate xii.

Calcutta Jour. Nat. Hist. 2: 415-7.

Gee, E. P. (1955) : The Brow-antlered

Deer, Cervus eldi McClelland. J. Bombay

nat. Hist. Soc. 52 (4) : 917-9.

(1958) : Four Rare Indian Animals.

Oryx 4(6): 353-8.

Higgins, J. C. (1934) : The Game Birds

and Animals of the Manipur State with

Notes on their Numbers, Migration and

Habits. J. FBombay nat. Hist. Soc,

37 (@) : 307;

Lydekker, R. (1924): The Game

Animals of India, Burma, Malaya and

Tibet. London.

Nouvel, J. (1951): Note sur la re-

production du Cerf d’Eld (Rucervus eldi

Guthrie) au Parc Zoologique du Bois de

Vincennes. Bull. Mus. His. nat. Paris (2)

22 : 682-3

Stockley, C. H. (1928): Big Game

Shooting in the Indian Empire. Bombay,

Calcutta, Madras.

Talbot, L. M. (1960): A Look at

Threatened Species Oryx 5 (4 & 5):

147-326.

Tun Yin, U. (1956): The Brow-ant-

lered Deer or Thamin (Panolia eldi thamin

Thomas) in the Union of Burma (1955).

J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 53 (3) : 460-3.

Ward, Rowland (1928): Records of

Big Game. London.

Wilson, Alban (1924): Sport and

Service in Assam and Elsewhere. London.

Wood, H. S. (1934) : Shikar Memories,

London,

Some Notes on Sanctuaries and Wild

Life in South India (1959)

O. H. DE ST. CROIX

Anyone now (January 1959) revisiting the Nilgiris after a lapse of

15 or 20 years cannot but be struck by the transformation that is over-

taking the whole scene, particularly on the plateau itself. During

and since the last war, there has been a steady increase in the area

of land brought under vegetable cultivation, with its accompanying

unsightliness. Natural forest cover is giving way to extensive tea,

wattle, and eucalyptus plantation, and there is nothing uglier in the

whole field of silviculture than eucalyptus farming as practised in

the Nilgiris. Most important of all is the dam construction, both

in hand and prospective. This in a few years’ time will transform

the higher parts of the plateau into a lake district, submerging many

of the valleys formerly noted for their natural scenic beauty. The

catchment areas of some of these reservoirs have already been very

extensively afforested, also with wattle and eucalyptus. Thus, far

and wide the characteristic and traditional Nilgiri scenery of down-

land and shola will soon have disappeared. Perhaps it will only be

visible in the unspoilt natural state in the most inaccessible places

and in those localities where special ‘steps have been taken for its

preservation. It is understood that some such steps have been taken

to preserve the Wenlock Down area, the views over most of which

are still refreshingly natural. But it is sad to find that there is already

some infringement on what used to be one of the finest examples

of a typical Nilgiri landscape, namely the view from the terrace

of the Ooty Golf Club. Here the expanse of rolling downs and

sholas spread, with scarcely a human habitation visible, as far as

the eye could see on either hand, and receded into a distant back-

ground of higher peaks fading range after range in _ perspective.

On a fine evening, with the setting sun breaking in slanting golden

shafts through a scattered ceiling of cloud to throw a patchwork

of light and shade over all, this was a view of unforgettable beauty.

Now the squares cf bare earth and red-tiled roofs, which denote the

advent of vegetable cultivation, have started to creep in from both

SANCTUARIES AND WILD LIFE IN SOUTH INDIA 619

sides of the picture and the gaunt outlines of mutilated eucalyptus

trees have begun to introduce the usual disfigurement. It is a pity,

because this characteristic Nilgiri scenery, and this particular view in

itself, was a great attraction to the visitors on whom Ooty thrives.

One cannot help wondering whether, if most of it is destroyed, the

inhabitants of Ooty and the Nilgiris will not have lost more than

they have gained by destroying it. Also, is it really necessary to

destroy most of it?

However, some developments of this sort are only to be expected

as a result of the relentless pressure of expanding population from

down below. Without doubt, they are for the greater part in the

widest interests of the nation and, as such, one can only take excep-

tion to certain details of their implementation. The fact has to be

faced that, in a few years’ time, the aspect of the Nilgiri plateau or

a very large part of it will be transformed. It will then be largely

a region of chequered cultivation, man-made plantations, and artificial

lakes, surrounded by afforested hills. Much of it will be opened up

for the first time by a network of newly constructed motor roads

with their accompanying infusion of ‘civilisation’. So in due course

any remaining tracts of natural scenery will probably be regarded as

museum pieces.

Whether most of these changes will be for the good or not

scenically is a matter of taste and opinion. Certainly, they will

make for an interesting study in ecology which should well repay any

research put into it. For when the hand of man is busy altering the

face of the earth so intensively it is bound to have a pronounced

impact sooner or later on the local fauna. Existing species may find

the new conditions uncongenial and dwindle in numbers, or possibly

even change their habits: species not at present represented may find

the conditions to their liking and move in. There may even be scope

for interesting (but one hopes cautious) experiments in the introduc-

tion of new species, particularly fish. All this should provide an

absorbing and rewarding study in about 5 to 10 years from now and

thereafter.

Meanwhile it is pertinent to take note of the current position of

wild life on the Nilgiri plateau. It is a region which by its very

nature cannot ever have supported the larger mammals in any real

numbers; evidently, also, their numbers have always fluctuated con-

siderably with the seasons and the local conditions. However that

may be, the expansion of the human population and of the cultivated

area has undoubtedly reduced the natural stock to a pitifully low

level today. From all sides one hears that the existing protection

620 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

laws have failed signally to check the inroads of poaching. It is

arguable that they have also failed to afford the necessary protection

through legitimately controlled shooting or fishing. To this there is

one exception in the case of the Nilgiri Tahr (Hemitra us hylocrius)

the protection of which appears to have been a notable success. But,

in fairness, it must be conceded that both its habits and its habitat

lend themselves to artificial protection; for it is an animal well

able to look after itself, with natural haunts so far removed from

human habitation as not to infringe on cultivated land and to attract

the attention of only the most ardent shikari. Apart from the one

case it cannot be denied that the present status of the larger and more

interesting mammals is an extremely dismal one. What of the

future? Unless there is a radical improvement in the efficacy of the

protection laws and the efficiency of their enforcement, there seems

little hope of improvement. It will be a great pity if something

sweeping and imaginative is not done in the direction and done soon.

For, to balance the spread of cultivation and the clearance of sholas,

the extensive afforestation already referred to should eventually pro-

vide an over-all increase in the area of cover available for the larger

animals. Whether all this artificial growth will be suitable to the

needs of the native fauna can only be determined in the course of

time and assessed by expert observation. If results are favourable

the usual clash with the interests of agriculture and of stock farming

will certainly arise. But to a great extent the newly afforested areas

are fairly remote from cultivation and it should be possible, with

properly framed and enforced laws and _ intelligent administra-

tion, to strike a happy balance between the requirements of the

naturalist and the sportsman and those of the farmer.

As regards birds, here again the plateau is a region which does

not freely support the larger species. But it is, or could be, a

most interesting field for the observation of a large number of the

smaller ones, varied and augmented as they are from time to time

by local and long-distance migration. At the present time there is

one species above all which forces itself on the attention of the

visitor, namely the Jungle Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos). It iS sO

noticeably abundant as virtually to replace the common House Crow

(Corvus splendens) of the plains, both as a scavenger in the urban

areas and as a forager in the country. From the ornithological point

of view this is a sinister fact; for there can surely be no species so

destructive to other and useful birds in the nesting season. One

cannot help wondering at the beneficial effect on the useful bird

SANCTUARIES AND WILD LIFE IN SOUTH INDIA 621

population of the Nilgiris that would result from a drastic control of

the Jungle Crow and all his works.

Of game birds, both the variety and numbers are strictly limited.

Despite the presence of much and widely dispersed bog land, the

occurrence of snipe (Capella gailinago) cannot be described as more

than occasional, at least as the snipe population is reckoned in other

parts of India. Where there has been inundation on a large scale,

waterfowl of all kinds are conspicuous by their almost total absence.

From this it can only be concluded that there is something lacking,

so far as birds are concerned in the water-borne food supply of the

Nilgiris. So the prospect of the creation of a number of new lakes

does not appear to hold out any promise for the future in this

- direction. The real target for the small game shikari in the Nilgiris

is the Grey Junglefowl (Gallus sonneratii), which is both resident and

locally migrant, and Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola), entirely a long-

distance migrant. The changing conditions are hardly likely to

favour the latter~since the clearance of sholas will restrict the haunts

suitable to their highly specialized needs and the increased incidence

of human disturbance is likely to discourage them. For Grey

Junglefowl, on the other hand, the spread of afforestation may

possibly be beneficial. But, under the most favourable conditions,

the status of both species can hardly in the nature of things become

one of abundance. In addition to coping with their natural enemies

they cannot be expected to stand up to concentrated and unrestrained

shooting. Hence, unless intelligently-framed protection laws are

effectively administered, they are bound to suffer even further

depletion.

The present sadly depleted status of these game birds is sufficient

evidence of the ineffectiveness of the existing laws and their ad-

ministration. To the visitor these appear to consist of more fees

to be paid and rules to be read than there are game birds to be

pursued, while the means for enforcing all these regulations properly

are very far from being apparent. To this day the writer, who

scrupulously observed all the rules on his one and only fruitless

outing, has not received back the deposit paid about a year ago as a

guarantee for observing them. There may still be worthwhile sport

for the local resident who has access to private land and who knows

his way about intimately and the pitfalls to be avoided. But it is

not a form of sport to be recommended for the visitor as things

stand at present.

What the Nilgiri game laws lack in efficiency they try to make

up for in comprehensiveness. But even if there did exist the where-

622 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

withal to enforce all these rules and regulations it is doubtful

whether they would be effective. This is because they lack proper

provision for controlling the frequency with which an area

of land is shot over or a stretch of water fished. , For the type of

shooting and fishing with which the laws are entered this is surely

an absolutely essential requirement. At present there is apparently

nothing to prevent a stretch of trout water which has been showing

good results from being fished all day and every day by any number

of rods indefinitely. This is undoubtedly a major cause of the trout

fishing standard in most of the Nilgiri streams having sunk to its

present abysmal depths. The same would apply to the junglefowl

shooting.

If the country were to be divided into shooting blocks and the

trout streams into fishing beats, and permits issued accordingly in line

with the needs of conservation, it should be possible with adequate

administration to exercise complete control of frequency on public

lands and waters. This is a system which has worked very success-

fully for shooting in the reserved forests of the former Central

Provinces and Bombay Presidency and for trout fishing in Kashmir,

and there seems no reason why it should not be equally successful in

the Nilgiris.

*k *k * *k

When the main Mysore Road leaves the rolling, open downland

of the Nilgiri plateau it starts the descent by curving and undulating

through an area of thick, low-growing natural forest. It then emerges

suddenly on the very edge of the mountain range to disclose a

startling panorama over a drop of some three thousand feet with

a horizon scores of miles ahead and on either side. This view on

a clear day must have few equals in India, or anywhere else for that

matter. At this point the Nilgiri Range descends, with a few rocky

outcrops, almost sheer to the Mysore plain below. From its foot

there spreads out an uneven green carpet of thick forest as far as the

eye can see, to a backdrop of jagged peaks hazy in the far distance.

Clinging to the escarpment’s edge the motor road proceeds in

serpentine fashion along the gentle gradients afforded by a _ well-

planned alignment, through patches of forest and cool coffee planta-

tions, until it suddenly unfolds into the straggling village of Gudalur.

From there it pursues a comparatively straight and level course, but

now through stands of the most luxuriant forest. At first massed

clumps of giant bamboos overtop the road, their outlines plumed and

feathery. These soon give way to thick tangles of vegetation presided

over by towering evergreen trees partially exciuding the light and

SANCTUARIES AND WILD LIFE IN SOUTH INDIA 623

imparting rather a sombre atmosphere to the scene. A _ cloistered

silence prevails and there are few signs of life. All this betokens

heavy rainfall and an abundance of retained moisture. But presently,

as the climatic influence of the mountains recedes, a lighter, more

open, and partially deciduous forest supervenes. Here at this time

of day the only evidence of wild life is provided by frequent parties

of langur monkeys (Presbytis entellus), feeding confidently. along

the roadside. But it does not require much imagination to realise

that this whole tract of forest is an ideal habitat for almost the whole

range of India’s big game. In fact one is actually passing through

the areas reserved by both the Mysore and Madras Governments for

their wild life sanctuaries. The immediate objective is the rest-

house provided by the Mysore Government for viewing its sanctuary

of Bandipur.

BANDIPUR

The group of rest houses at Bandipur is ideally situated for their

purpose, since although they lie within sight of the main road, only

a few minutes’ transportation takes the visitors into the heart of the

forest. For transport the choice lies between a motor vehicle and

elephant back. To have the best chance of seeing what one has come

to see in the limited time available it is as well to try to cover as

much ground as possible at the most likely times of day, namely early

morning and late evening. So the choice inevitably falls on motor

transport and instructions are given accordingly. Punctually, when

the sun is well down towards the horizon, the vehicle presents itself.

But it is very different from what was expected, being nothing other

than an ordinary and rather elderly, light, commercial truck. It also

carries an unexpectedly large crew, whose duties in relation to the

job in hand are by no means clear. However, the expedition starts

with a roar and a jerk and without much undue delay. Almost

at once all traces of civilisation are left behind and the fruits of

conservation in the shape of a plentiful stock of peafowl and jungle-

fowl become apparent. But it also becomes apparent that the springs

of the transport vehicle, if indeed there are any, have become well

flattened out by violent use and abuse. The way lies over rough

forest tracks which, though comfortabie enough for a well-sprung

passenger car, cause the truck, driven at some speed, to buck and

sway like a launch in a choppy sea. Furthermore, the seating accom-

modation, which consists of hard, backless benches placed unsecured

in the body of the vehicle, shows itself ill-suited for the purpose by

624. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

bouncing and sliding about uncontrollably. Presently, the first herd

of Chital (Axis axis) comes into view. There is much excited, but

commendably silent, pointing by the crew. The brakes are jammed

on firmly, causing the passengers and their, benches to concertina

quite indiscriminately against the driver’s cab. The chital seem quite

used to this sort of thing and continue grazing unconcernedly under

the leadership of a finely antlered stag, their sleek dappled beautifully

proportioned forms well shown up by the last rays of a setting sun.

But this enchanting scene is quickly obscured by the truck’s own

cloud of dust catching up with it on a following breeze. So the

expedition proceeds, bumping and rattling as before.

For the most part the forest is light and open, with many of

the deciduous trees bare, thickened here and there by clumps of

bamboo, and interspersed with grassy glades. There are occasional

pools of water, on almost every one of which a pair of Spotbill Duck

(Anas poecilorhyncha) is to be seen, thus showing how conservation

of this kind can help preserve some of the larger indigenous game

birds as well. But as a whole this tract of forest becomes too dry,

soon after the monsoon is spent, to support the Elephant (Elephas

maximus) and Bison (Bos gaurus) which every visitor comes to see

and they have moved elsewhere for better grazing. Yet, as the truck

winds over the many miles of track with which the Bandipur

Sanctuary is provided, it is clear that a very satisfactory number of

Chital (Axis axis) and Sambar (Cervus unicolor) is maintained. Also,

their tameness is a tribute to the efficiency with which the work of

conservation has been carried out.

Next morning, after a Spartan night spent on wooden plank beds,

each as hard as a sacrificial slab, the expedition is repeated. The

results are very much the same so far as the viewing of animals is

concerned. But what is lacking in the variety of wild life is com-

pensated to a great extent by the charm of the scenery. At this

time of day the forest is lightly ciad in early morning mist. This

vanishes as the sun gains in power to reveal the wildness of the

surroundings in a soft glowing light and the full grandeur of the

Nilgiri Range rising abrupt and clear-cut from the horizon only a

score or so of miles away.

For this excursion the visitors, their posteriors by now well

chastened by the continuous impact of the unyielding benches, prefer

to stand most of the day. With little on which to grip, this is not

only a severe test of one’s balancing powers, but involves the risk

of being suddenly swept off by an overhanging branch or catapulted

into the surrounding forest by an unexpected heave of the truck.

SANCTUARIES AND WILD LIFE IN SOUTH INDIA 625

After a time, with the magic of early morning dispelled by the

harsh light of day, this sort of progress begins to pall. A distant

view of the rest house is quite welcome, especiaily as breakfast is

known to be waiting there. Then, as if by way of a parting present,

the forest with almost its last opportunity reveals a superb, lone

sambar stag. Hearing the approaching noises it had paused frozen

in its tracks to investigate. It stood stock still in a small glade only

a stone’s throw away, gazing back over its shoulder with its ears

pricked forward in curiosity and its muzzle upraised as if to ease the

burden of the thick, branching antlers. Soon it sensed the presence

of humans and melted almost imperceptibly into the forest back-

ground, leaving behind a memorable impression on the minds of its

viewers. The latter, though stimulated by this wonderful sight,

disembarked a few minutes later with some relief. By now, they

had that well-churned-up feeling which one usually associates with

a session on one of those mechanical horses to be found in a ship’s

gymnasium.

MUDUMALAI

The next objective is the Mudumalai Sanctuary maintained by

the Madras State, whose boundary marches with Bandipur only a few

miles down the main roads on the way back to Gudalur. Although

much the larger of the two in area, Mudumalai is apparently not well

served by motorable tracks. So an evening excursion on elephant

back is arranged. Incidentally, the camp of the Forest Department's

working elephants is one of the most interesting sights in this area

and, being located by the side of the main road, is easily accessible.

But on this occasion all its occupants were still out on the day’s

work except one large, rather somnoient female with a very young

and frisky calf at heel. There is not time to do more than strike

up a passing acquaintance with these two since the riding elephant

is already kneeling ready to receive its passengers at the rendezvous

just up the road. In a very short time the party is mounted and away

in the thick of the forest. And then the main advantage of an

elephant ride over motor transport is at once apparent. For the way

is now right off the beaten track, through the densest forest, up and

down steep inclines and across unbridged watercourses. A steady,

unhurried pace is kept up throughout regardless of the terrain.

Being nearer the treetops there is ample time and opportunity for

observing the smaller forest inhabitants such as birds and butterflies

and also several giant squirrels whose habitat is only a little above

626 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

eye level by this means of transport. The forest here is of a very

different type to that at Bandipur. There is an abundance of lush

grazing, a preponderance of evergreen trees, patches of dense under-

growth, frequent clumps of gigantic bamboos, and a sufficiency of

water—in fact everything, seemingly, that sai go to attract and

support a good stock of elephant and bison. But, unfortunately,

although there are many recent traces of the former, not one

of either species is encountered in the limited compass of an elephant

ride during the two hours or so before sunset. Such a brief ex-

cursion must always be chancy of results. Yet, even if nothing in

the way of big game is to be seen, a ride on elephant back can never

be really dull if one takes an interest in the behaviour of the mount,

itself as it makes a bee-line through every obstacle the forest can

present. For an elephant moves its massive bulk with such fully

articulated precision as to be fascinating to watch. The result is a

smooth, silent, deliberate progress which gives the impression of

every movement being carefully calculated, of perfect control over

immense power, and of a capacity for almost unlimited endurance.

There can be little doubt that the elephant is one of nature’s most

efficient products as well as one of her largest.

This one fills in the time and his stomach by nonchalantly pluck-

ing titbits from right and left without checking in his stride and

stuffing them into his mouth, to be consumed voluminously as he

continues on his way. Thus he makes a good meal without

incurring the displeasure of his mahout, and finishes much more

contented than his rather disappointed passengers, when the caval-

cade returns to the starting point just as darkness falls.

After seemg these two sanctuaries a thoughtful visitor cannot

help raising the question of how far they have been successful in

achieving the objects for which they were instituted. What in fact

are the main objects? There is first and foremost the object of

pure preservation and in this it can be said at once that consider-

able success has been achieved. But almost equally important is

the object of enabling the wild life thus preserved to be viewed and

studied with reasonable facility and comfort by visitors, particularly

foreign visitors, by which term I mean ordinary visitors and not

those coming on a V.I.P. basis. For this purpose it seems fair to

say that current arrangements do not go nearly far enough. In fact

it appears that a golden opportunity is being missed to enlarge on

this, and the following is intended as a constructive commentary from

a foreign visitor’s point of view.

In the first place there is the question of the way in which the

SANCTUARIES AND WILD LIFE IN SOUTH INDIA 627

sanctuaries themseives are at present constituted. It is understood

that the Bandipur Sanctuary is only between 20 and 30 square miles

(52 and 78 sq. km.) in extent. One hears that shooting is still

allowed in its immediate neighbourhood and, on very special

occasions, even the sauctuary itself. If this is so it seems a great

pity and is difficult to understand. But even more surprising is the

fact that the Mudumalai Sanctuary, although immediately adjacent

to and part of the very same forest tract, is operated as a completely

separate concern. This is because the entirely artificial political

boundary between Mysore and Madras States happens to run through

this forest area and each State apparently has to control its own

sanctuary. Surely in a matter like this local political outlooks can

be stretched to a broader national view, and an amalgamation effected

into one centrally adiministered whole. It would of course vastly

enhance the value of the whole project if in doing so the total area

of the unified sanctuary could be suitably increased to about 300

sq. miles (780 sq. km.).

Then there is the question of the actual viewing facilities for

visitors. Most of them are likely to have only a short time avail-

able. In such circumstances the best chance of seeing something

worthwhile is by covering as much ground as possible during the

most promising times of the day, which add up to a very few hours

in all. This makes motor transport essential and presupposes that

the whole sanctuary area is covered by an adequate network of

motorable tracks. And there seems no reason why this should

necessarily involve extreme discomfort. A freight truck can by no

stretch of the imagination be held suitable for the purpose, parti-

cularly if special seating fitments are not provided. The noise alone

that it makes goes a long way to defeat its purpose. The com-

moner animals, more accustomed to the presence of man, have

evidently got used to it. But this may account for the fact that tiger

and panther are so seldom seen by visitors. With their extremely

acute hearing they can detect one of these approaching excursions

from a great distance and make themselves temporarily invisible

with the utmost ease. A jeep-type vehicle is surely the most

suitable for this sort of work and two or three of them at the outside

would cover all present needs. Also there seems no real reason

why visitors so willing should not be allowed to take out their own

cars if escorted. At the samie time it should be remembered that in

the world of Indian fauna the greater activity happens at night.

By far the best way of viewing nocturnally is by construction of an

elevated observation post over a water-hole on the lines of Tree Tops

628 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

in Kenya. It need not be unduly elaborate, but in this forest would

certainly have to be insect-proof. All this should not be taken to

suggest that excursions on elephant back should be eliminated.

They should certainly be retained, as a supplementary means of

transport for those with more time at their disposal, or who are

more interested in a close and leisurely study of the smaller forms

of forest life, or who are intent on photography. Since in any case

the Forest Department’s working elephants are maintained here, this

should not be difficult to arrange. Another aspect of this whole

matter concerns the best means for ensuring that animals are

attracted pernianently to the sanctuary enclave in sufficient numbers

and remain there as evenly spread as possible over the entire area.

For at present there tends to be a distinct local migration in the dry

season to follow the best grazing. The most likely means for deal-

ing with this problem would appear to be the formation of more water-

holes, the provision of artificial salt licks, and even suitable planting,

if and where possible, in the drier zone of the sanctuary.

Finally there is the question of accommodation for visitors. At

present this is about the most unsatisfactory feature of all. To

begin with, application has to be made to a separate authority, each

at a different place, for each sanctuary, with the added annoyance

more often than not of dilatoriness in reply. As for the accom-

modation itself, at Bandipur it consists of three separate units at some

distance from each other in a large cleared area. The largest of

these is understood to be the former State shooting lodge, a portion

of which still seems to be reserved for official purposes. That part

of it which is available to the public is more suitable as accommoda-

tion for large family or other such parties than for casual visitors.

The second unit of accommodation, the Forest Rest House, while

well built, well situated, and clean, seems designed primarily to house

Officials on tour and is far from convenient for a number of visitors

arriving in ones or twos and strangers to each other. The third unit,

again situated at some distance from the other two, was at that time

not yet ready for occupation. So far as could be seen it comes

much nearer to actual needs in that a row of small bed rooms, each

with a bathroom and a verandah, is provided.

But what should really be provided for a requirement like this

is a compact arrangement of buildings on the hostel system, with a

number of small double suites attached to a central lounge, dining

room and kitchen. This would give not only the most suitable but

also the most economically administered accommodation. At

present even basic food requirements such as rice, vegetables, eggs,

SANCTUARIES AND WILD LIFE IN SOUTH INDIA 629

and milk are very difficult to obtain. If the supply of these could

be organised, it would save visitors the inconvenience of bringing

perishable foodstuffs as well as tinned stores. _

At Mudumalai, a new rest house has recently been completed.

the design of which is much more suited to the needs of the case

and it is well situated to command a wonderful view over the forest

towards the Nilgiri Range. But the number of rooms available

seems inadequate, if the requirements of touring officials have also to

be taken into account, in addition to those of visitors.

There is one more point on this subject of accommodation, a

small one admittedly, but worth mentioning in the general context.

Surely the interiors of rest houses in a wild life sanctuary are not

suitable places for a display of trophies of the chase or of V.I.P.’s

on shikar posed in front of their latest victims. Here more appro-

priately is an opportunity to display, suitably enlarged, some of the

wonderful photos that have been taken of the living wild life to be

found in this forest. In addition to their aesthetic value they would

serve to promote the cause of conservation and also help uninitiated

visitors to identify the various species which they are likely to see.

When it is time to leave this attractive and largely unspoilt forest,

the return journey to the Nilgiri Hills is started with some re-

luctance. As the road climbs back to the plateau there is again

revealed that wonderful panorama over the treetops just left behind.

The visitor with an enquiring mind cannot help but feel that he has

been shown only a part of what there really is to see. His dis-

appointment is perhaps tempered by the hope that surely the authorities

may in the not very distant future develop the full potential of this

most interesting region as both a show place and field of research

for the naturalist. In so doing they will reveal the true value of a

fine national asset and there will be an immeasurable gain to all

concerned if they do.

PERIYAR

The long established and now widely known Periyar Game

Sanctuary is remotely situated from most of the more usually fre-

qguented centres of population. Perhaps this is as well and may

account for a good deal of its attraction. But when someone

genuinely interested really wants to see it, the journey thither re-

presents something of a problem for those not actually resident in

the far south. However, for the intending visitor from the Nilgiris

there is a very direct and scarcely known route which is of some

630 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

interest in itself. This lies from the foot of the Mettupalayam Ghat

straight across the intervening plain to a locality where the foothills

of the Annamalais and the High Range converge. From there a

little used and rather neglected road starts to climb, at first graduaily,

then steeply, but always tortuously, into the hills. Very soon the -

asphalt surface, cultivation and other signs of a settled area are

left behind. For several miles, the way is through a zone of scanty

rainfall with resulting ragged scrub-jungle and scraggy deciduous

forest. At times the road clings giddily and without a parapet to

the sides of precipitous slopes with a drop of many hundreds of

feet on one side. Quite suddenly, it straightens out somewhat into

more fertile and well-favoured valleys and the first tea plantations

appear. Finally another steep climb up and over, debouching into

scenery reminiscent of Scotland, brings the traveller after many

winding miles to Munnar, the capital of the tea industry in the High

Range. From there onward, the road leads through scenery of an

entirely different character. Once the orderly green ocean of tea

has been left behind, it plunges into a jumble of low hills and thick

tangled forest, long stretches of which have been adapted to

cardamom plantation. This is real elephant country. In some ways

it would be the most interesting part of the whole trip if only the

condition of the road gave the opportunity to enjoy the surroundings.

As things are, it is quite a relief to reach Thekkady, the nearest

inhabited place to the sanctuary.

The hostel on the Periyar Lake is self-contained in that advance

booking can be accepted on the spot, comfortable and fully-equipped

accommodation is available, and full feeding arrangements are pro-

vided. There is thus a vast improvement over the Madras/Mysore

organisation in this respect alone. It is situated on the very edge

of the lake which forms the core of the sanctuary and within a few

minutes of arrival a launch trip is booked for the same evening. It

merely remains to fill in the intervening time with rest and refresh-

ment.

It is only a hundred yards (90 metres) or so from the hostel down

to the landing stage. When the launch pushes off, the surrounding

scene is flushed with mellow evening sunlight, most stimulating to

the anticipation of prospects ahead. One does not have to go very

far to realise why this is such an admirable place for viewing wild

life. For when a dam was thrown across the Periyar River it formed

not one vast expanse of open water, but a series of long channels

reaching up narrow valleys through the surrounding hills.

The result is that a boat is seldom more than a hundred yards or

SANCTUARIES AND WILD LIFE IN SOUTH INDIA 631

so from the shore on either side and anything near the water's edge

is clearly visible to the naked eye. In places, towering, untouched

forest comes to within a few yards of the lake with rich grazing along

the verge. Elsewhere grassy slopes of varying steepness rise to a

few hundred feet, their folds and gullies thickly wooded. The water

channels wind and bend, so that it is frequently possible to get

surprise views by coming round a corner suddenly without being

seen. It is hard to imagine a more convenient arrangement for

observation and all from the comfort of a launch. In these respects

the Periyar Sanctuary must surely be unique.

. But on this particular evening there is not much to be seen.

Especially there is a strange absence of birds, and of water birds

there are scarcely any visible at all. As the voyage gets well away

from the inhabited end of the lake, sambar appear regularly, some-

times in numbers, grazing high up in the open. They seem to favour

the extensive patches of burnt grass, presumably attracted by the

lush new sproutings, but incidentally making themselves almost

invisible against the dark background. The single master stag seen

was lying down on one of these burnt patches and could only be

spotted for certain by careful focussing with the binoculars.

A sharp turn leads to the dam itself, and the only sizeable

expanse of open water. On the far side steep grass-covered slopes

lead up to the highest peaks that border the lake. There is a large

rock-like object protruding from the grass far up above the water

here. Is it a rock or not? The binoculars seem to confirm that it

is. But there is something unusual about it and further scrutiny by

eye convinces that there has been some sort of movement. Again

the binoculars are brought to bear and there is no mistake about it

this time. It is an elephant all right—a flapping ear gives it away.

It is standing knee-deep in grass, surrounded by such an abundance

of food that it scarcely needs to move in gathering its evening meal.

Now that the outline is familiar a second one is spotted, lower down

and browsing at the edge of a thicket. The launch is stopped and

for several minutes the party watch intently and unobserved. Then

the dipping of the sun below the horizon warns us that it is time to

go and the launch is turned homewards. The light is too poor now

to see much but a glimpse is caught of a lone bull bison at the

water's edge. He is very much alert and fades into the forest with

an ease that is astonishing for so large an animal. Further on, there

is a simultaneous though distant view of a herd of bison cows with

calves and a large sounder of pig, all within sight of the Travancore

Slate Lodge. It is dark when the landing stage is regained,

632 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Very early next morning the trip is repeated. It is half light

when a start is made and ragged wisps of mist still cling to the

higher parts of the forest; most of the peaks are shrouded in cloud.

Over all there is calm and silence, broken only ‘by the hoarse purring

of the launch’s engine. Ten minutes or-so pass uneventfully and

then, as if by arrangement, out of the forest just ahead and close to

the shore, steps a magnificent bull bison. He is facing the other way,

so has not seen, and somehow has not heard, the intruders. The

driver has the sense to stop the engine at once and the launch glides

silently under its own momentum almost level with the object in

view. At a range of about 50 yards (45 metres) every detail of the

bison can be observed, his huge, hunched shoulders and shapely

hindquarters, the powerful muscles rippling under his sleek, chocolate-

coloured hide, the smart white socks and twitching tail. Presently

something prompts him to turn his head giving a view of the massive,

curling horns. A brief pause and gaze, dilated nostrils, and then, not

satisfied with what is to be seen, he is gone as silently and suddenly

as he appeared. The party resume their voyage exhilarated and

fully confident that this morning their luck is well and truly in. Yet.

although they cruise around far and wide for an hour or so nothing

further of any sort is seen. So a course is set straight back to the

hostel with all thoughts on the breakfast waiting there to the

exclusion of everything else. Then, as often happens on _ such

occasions, the sight for which they have been hoping and searching

unexpectedly presents itself. In passing a Jong narrow inlet 3

elephants are spotted disporting themselves on the open shore. The

helm is put hard over, speed is reduced, and the stalk begins. But

the elephants have heard them and take speedy evasive action. To

make up for this the launch comes suddenly on a party of cows

with very young calves, all hitherto unseen on the opposite bank.

These stand nervously huddled together in long grass, with upcurled

trunks searching the air like some sort of radar equipment, and their

offspring shielded by their bodies. The visitors are watching this

interesting family scene when something much more exciting comes

into view. At the head of the inlet on a wide grassy level, well

away from the surrounding trees, stands a giant solitary tusker.

Except for a gentle swaying of his trunk he stands quite motionless

as if meditating on a full stomach and wondering what to do next.

Against the background of sweeping grassland and wild forest, with

distant cloud-capped peaks where the morning sun is just breaking

through in downward-slanting beams of light. there is something

primeval about this scene which stirs the imagination, The visitors

SANCTUARIES AND WILD LIFE IN SOUTH INDIA 633

watch enthralled until their departure can no longer be delayed,

leaving the tusker to his thoughts.

What are the reflections on a visit like this to Periyar? The

facilities provided for visitors go a long way to meeting justifiable

requirements. At the hostel the accommodation, service, and food

set quite a satisfactory standard. Nevertheless, the sleeping accom-

modation at present available could with definite advantage be

supplemented by additional single and double rooms, which need not

be large. There should not then be undue congestion with the

arrival of sizeable parties in addition to the usual casual visitors. But is

it necessary to have the windows of the hostel so heavily protected

with thick, vertical, iron bars? In the larger rooms they give one

the impression of being caged and in the smaller ones of being

confined in a prison cell. The compound is already guarded by a

special ditch sufficient to keep out most animals and it is understood

that the additional window protection is to guard nervous visitors

from over-inquisitive and perhaps hungry carnivora! If they really

must be so protected there are several kinds of window guards on

the market in artistically wrought designs which would be equally

effective. Then again, although the hostel is well situated on a

promontory overlooking the lake, it is completely screened by trees

from an exceptionally beautiful outlook. This could surely be

improved by judicious felling and clearance without in any way

spoiling the scenery as a whole. Certainly the attractions of the

hostel would be immensely increased thereby.

While the transport arrangements for viewing are as efficient and

comfortable as one could reasonably wish, there would be a great

improvement if the launch engines were to be fitted with silencers.

This would much enhance the prospects of seeing the more wary

animals, particularly the carnivora. At present too much depends

on the driver’s promptness and commonsense in switching off or

throttling back when something comes into sight.

Finally, how efficient is the organisation for ensuring the actual

protection of the wild life in the forest surrounding the lake? The

visitor does not usually set foot on shore so it is impossible to see

for one’s self. If it is as efficient as the arrangements for protecting

the visitors in the hostel, well and good. Yet there are disquieting

rumours of rampant poaching. Certainly the behaviour of many

of the animals seen, especially the bigger ones, indicated anything

but confidence in human beings. Although on this particular visit

almost everything was seen that one could reasonably hope to see

634 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

in so short a time, reports from other visitors give the impression

that this may have been due to pure luck. This should not be in a

sanctuary with so perfect a setting and with such admirable facilities

for viewing. One can only hope that the. authorities concerned are

fully alive to the need for the strictest, most efficient, and compre-

hensive enforcement of protection over the whole area. Otherwise

what is, in its. way, undoubtedly a national asset of the very greatest,

and possibly unique, value will in a short time just wither at the

roots,

Obituaries

S. P. AGHARKAR

The world of Science in India, and of Botany in particular, suffered

a great loss early in September 1960 by the death at Poona of Dr. S. P.

Agharkar at the age of 76.

Dr. Agharkar obtained the B.A. degree with Biology from the

Elphinstone College, Bombay, and was placed in the first class. He

also had the distinction of being awarded the Wordsworth Prize in

English. Subsequently, he went to Germany, where he had the privilege

of working under the famous botanist Prof. Engler. He obtained the

Ph.D. degree with credit, but the outbreak of World War I prevented

his return to India. On the termination of hostilities, he came home

and was appointed Professor of Biology in the Elphinstone College.

It is interesting to note that his earlier work was concerned with zoo-

logical problems, which included the discovery of the first freshwater

medusoid in India, Limnocnida indica Annandale.

Dr. Agharkar was appointed Bose Professor of Botany in the

Presidency College, University of Calcutta, where he worked for 25

years till his retirement in 1941. In recognition of his services to science,

the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal awarded him the Indian Science

Congress Medal in 1944.

Dr. Agharkar was a man of varied interests. He has held the offices

of President and Vice-President of the Indian Botanical Society. He

was the General Secretary of the Indian Science Congress Association

for several years, and enjoyed the unique distinction of being the Presi-

dent of the Botany Section of the Indian Science Congress twice. He

was Vice-President of the National Institute of Sciences for a num-

ber of years, a member of the High Altitude Commission appointed by

the Government of India for the investigation of flora, a member of the

Managing Committee of the Indian Central Jute Committee, President

of the Indian Ecological Society, etc. His accurate knowledge of the

laws and by-laws of various bodies and institutions, and of constitu-

tional rules, enabled him to render great service to all the bodies with

which he was associated.

After his retirement from the Calcutta University, he settled at

Poona, where he founded the Maharashtra Association for the Culti-

vation of Science on the lines of the Bengal Association for the Culti-

636 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

vation of Science. This Association has been tackling a number of pro-

blems relating to rice, fibre-yielding plants, mangoes, betel-nuts, bananas,

etc., under schemes sponsored by the Central and State Governments.

One of Dr. Agharkar’s magnanimous gestures) was the donation of his

personal collection of rare books to the library of the Calcutta Univer-

sity, and of important books on Botany worth Rs. 60,000 to the Maha-

rashtra Association for the Cultivation of Science. He joined the

Bombay Natural History Society in 1908 and, though the membership

lapsed during his detention in Germany, he rejoined in 1948 and served

actively on the Executive Committee from 1954 until his death.

Dr. Agharkar was one of the most amiable of men, and his ever-

present smile was an assurance of the joy with which help and advice

were given to all who approached him. His dynamic personality will

be missed by all scientists and particularly by botanists. By his death

the country has lost a profound scholar, an indefatigable worker, and

one of its prominent scientists.

B. S. NAVALKAR

C. H. DONALD

We are sorry to have to record the recent death of Mr. Charles

Hilliard Donald at Dornoch, Scotland.

Born in India in 1873, Mr. Donald belonged to a family which has

had a long association with this country. He was educated at Bishop

Cotton’s School in Simla and George Watson’s College, Edinburgh.

On his return to India he joined the Sutlej Forest Company of which

he became the managing partner.

He joined the Society in 1896 and was actively associated with the

first attempts at the preservation of wild life and fisheries in the Punjab

and travelled widely in the Himalayas. In his younger days he was

a keen falconer, and was perhaps the first person to have tamed and

trained a golden eagle. His main interest was the study of the birds

of prey and he contributed several valuable papers on this subject to

the Society’s journal—the last on ‘ The Flight of Eagles’ in the special

fiftieth volume.

He retired in 1932 but stayed in India till 1947. In 1945 he was

elected an honorary life member of the Society in recognition of 50

years of keen and valued association with the Society.

In addition to his work on the birds of prey, he was also the author

of a book on the training of gun-dogs, which hobby he continued after

his retirement in England—his chocolate-coloured Labradors being

wonderful examples of his patient training.

OBITUARIES 637

With his death we lose one of the oldest members of the Society

and another link with the British residents who have done so much for

the study of natural history in India.

We extend our heartfelt sympathies to Mrs. Donald.

EDITORS

STANLEY HENRY PRATER

(With a plate)

Stanley Henry Prater, whose name was almost synonymous with

the Bombay Natural History Society for nearly a quarter of a century

prior to his retirement from its curatorship in 1948, died in London on

12th October 1960 at the age of 70, after a long and crippling illness. He

was born on 12th March 1890 in the Nilgiris (south India), the son of

William Prater, a coffee planter. He was entered at an early age in

St Mary’s High School, Bombay, then conducted by Jesuit fathers of

the German mission. From his early years most of his school holidays

were spent at Khandala in the Western Ghats, and it was but natural

that the first sparks of the boy’s interest in natural history should be

kindled by such surroundings. They were fanned into a steady flame

by the sympathetic encouragement he received from the fathers, some of

whom were distinguished naturalists. The main influences on his future

career were those of Frs. Dreckmann (snakes), Assmuth (termites),

and Blatter (plants). Them he always remembered and spoke of in

later life with great reverence and affection.

Prater joined the Society’s service in 1907, first working under the

guidance of E. Comber, and later as assistant to the Society’s first stipen-

diary curator N. B. Kinnear, afterwards to become Sir Norman and

Director of the British Museum (Natural History). In 1923, Prater

was appointed Curator of the Society and of the Natural History Section

of the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, Bombay. This posi-

tion he held with marked distinction till his retirement in 1948 owing to

his election to the Indian Constituent Assembly in New Delhi as a repre-

sentative of the Anglo-Indian community, and the wholetime attention to

politics and the frequent absences from Bombay that this would entail. To

qualify him for the charge of a really first class natural history museum,

worthy of the First City in India and of the Bombay Natural History

Society, Prater was deputed by a far-sighted Board of Trustees in 1923 to

the United Kingdom to learn the art of modern taxidermy in the studios

of the well-known taxidermist L. C. Harwood. In 1927, he was again

sent abroad, this time to the foremost museums in the United Kingdom

and America, to pick up the techniques of modern natural history museum

exhibition—the preparation of habitat groups or dioramas which, starting

638 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

in Germany, had reached perfection in the United States, particularly

in the American Museum of Natural History, New York, and what was

then the Field Museum of Chicago. The fruits of his skill and aptitude

are evidenced by the artistically designed galleries of the Natural History

Section of the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay, and the superb group

exhibits, acclaimed to be the finest in the East.

This era of the Society, between the years 1923 and 1937, during

which the new natural history wing was conceived, designed, erected,

and opened to the public, was one of outstanding progress owing to

the dynamic combination of two dedicated and far-sighted personalities,

Sir Reginald Spence as Honorary Secretary of the Society and Chair-

man of the Board of Trustees of the Prince of Wales Museum, and

S. H. Prater as his able and versatile executive. The Natural History

Section is indeed a standing monument to Prater’s genius. Not only

the best use of his training abroad, but the gift he possessed for passing

on the full benefit of his knowledge and experience to his co-workers

and staff, and his tact and ability to extract whole-hearted co-operation

from them, enabled him to achieve the highest results. He was for-

tunate in having an exceptionally competent and dextrous lieutenant

in Charles McCann, who readily lapped up the imported techniques,

adapted them to local conditions, and put them into masterly execution

in the museum’s galleries. |

For the last 27 years of his service, Prater was the executive editor

of the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. The high stan-

dard which the Journal attained during this period earned it international

recognition as the foremost natural history journal in Asia. He was a

voracious and discriminating reader, particularly of natural history

books, in his early years. Reading, writing, painting and plaster modell-

ing were his favourite hobbies during his retirement. The skill and

discernment with which he would browse through heavy scientific lite-

rature, and the facile manner in which he would then connect up and

expound disjointed facts, culled from many sources, and produce har-

mony from them were enviable. So was his rare capacity for picking

out the essentials of anything he read, sorting out and assimilating com-

plicated scientific data, and clothing the substance in simple, jargon-

free language for the layman. He was blessed with a remarkably reten-

tive memory, and could usually lay his hands on anything he had read

on a subject, may be years before, without hesitation or fumbling. Prater

excelled in the art of compilation ; he wrote in a readable, easy, and

often humorous style, was a good illustrator with pen-and-ink or brush,

and a frequent and welcome contributor of popular natural history

articles to numerous Journals and magazines. The bibliography of his

principal contributions in the Journal, given below, conveys some idea

of the wide range of his interests and versatility. The realization of

JourN. BomsBay Nat. HIsT. Soc.

Stanley Henry Prater

OBITUARIES — 639

the crying need for wild life preservation in India was brought home to

the public and to the government largely by his able exposition in the

introduction*to the admirable series on Wild Life Preservation in India

which he initiated in the Journal in 1935, and by his constant ‘ plugging ’

of the problem through numerous well-informed editorials in the Journals

and newspaper articles, before and since.

The familiarity he acquired with the Society’s natural history

collections during his long stewardship gave him a wonderful all-round

grasp of Indian animals. Though his own leanings were more parti-

cularly towards mammals, birds, and snakes, he was quite at home

with almost all other groups and could not only name straightaway

practically any specimen brought in by members, even of the less com-

mon animals, but usually also give their distribution and habits. His

intimate connection with mammals during the Society’s Mammal Survey

between 1911 and 1923, both as field collector and while handling the

specimens as they came in from the field, or back from the British Museum

after identification, gave him a particularly good knowledge of mammals.

This, no doubt, accounts largely for the authenticity and success of his

THE BOOK OF INDIAN ANIMALS published by the Society in 1948. During

the mammal survey field work he suffered a serious accident which might

well have cost him his life. A gun went off when picked up by the

trigger by his local assistant and blew away a large part of his thigh.

The injury, though it healed remarkably, incapacitated him for further

strenuous field work, and from this time on his activities remained chiefly

intra-mural.

Sir Reginald Spence first initiated him into politics so that

he might be of service to his Anglo-Indian and Domiciled European

community, then in need of able leadership. Prater took up his new

avocation with his customary conscientiousness and gusto. The well-

informed manner in which he handled all legislative problems, particularly

educational, and participated in debates, whether concerning his own com-

munity or the public at large, made his opinions respected in govern-

ment as well as opposition circles, and he was drafted on numerous

important committees including the Provincial Franchise Committee

and the Greaves Committee on Education. For 17 successive years

he was the President of the Bombay Presidency Branch of the Anglo-

Indian and Domiciled European Association, which he ably represented

in the Bombay Legislative Council before Independence.

Among his other public activities, he was a member of the Provincial

Board of Education, and of the Managing Committee of St. George’s

Hospital, Bombay, and a Justice of the Peace. In 1943 he was

awarded the O.B.E. for meritorious services in various fields. His good

standing and friendliness with persons of every shade of opinion, political

and otherwise, and the confidence he commanded with the ruling party

640 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

in the Legislative Council, were an asset to the Society from which it

profited in many indirect ways.

Prater was, in truth, a remarkable man—capable, versatile, sociable,

ambitious, and a striver after perfection as his many handiworks clearly

show. :

As friend, companion, and colleague, he was good natured and

tolerant, and possessed of a keen sense of humour which never left him

even in his last bedridden years. His sociable disposition and consi-

derateness for his dependants and subordinates endeared him to all who

came in contact with him. He will enjoy an honoured place in

the Society’s annals as one of its most stalwart and capable builders.

Appended isa list of the more important of Prater’s contributions

to the Society’s Journal. His only book THE BOOK OF INDIAN ANIMALS

illustrated by himself, is out of print, but a second edition is in prepara-

tion. Besides these, he wrote the section on the fauna in Percival

Landon’s NEPAL published in 1928.

S.A.

MAMMALS

1. Notes on Wroughton’s Free-tailed Bat (Otomops wroughtoni).

22 : 788.

2. Note on a stranded Great Indian Fin Whale (Balaenoptera

indica) at Ratnagiri. 23 : 576.

3. Progress of the Mammal Survey. 26 : 656, 1036.

4. An old time buffalo hunt. 27 : 627.

5. Record Panther Skull (F. pardus). 27 : 933.

6. The Tsaine. 28: 786.

7. The Slow Loris (Nycticebus coucang). 30: 215.

8. Measurements and weight of a Malay Tapir. 31 : 522.

9. The Dugong or Sea-cow (Halicore dugong). 33: 84.

10. On the occurrence of tigers on the islands of Bombay

and Salsette. 33 : 973.

11. Tiger or Panther? Mr. Limouzin’s specimen. 34 : 547.

12. The Wild Animals of the Indian Empire. Part I. Introduction,

Distribution of mammals, and Ungulates or Hoofed animals (part). ~

36, Suppl., pp. 1-39. Part II. Ungulates or Hoofed animals (contd.).

36, Suppl., pp. 59-96. Part III. Carnivora or Beasts of prey. 37,

Suppl., pp. 112-161.

13. Description of a Blue Bear (Ursus arctos pruinosus) from Tibet.

38 : 610.

14. Black Tigers. 39: 381.

15. The Striped Hyaena as a Man-eater. 39 : 388.

16. Panther with abnormal feet. 40: 321.

OBITUARIES 641

17. Additional notes on the Asiatic Two-horned Rhinoceros. 40:

618.

18. Number of tigers shot in reserved forest in India and Burma

during the year 1937-38. 41: 881.

19. Breeding habits of Swamp Deer (Rucervus duvaucelli) in Assam.

45 : 415.

BIRDS

20. The Arabian Ostrich. 27 : 602.

21. Notes on two young Indian Hornbills. 28 : 550. :

22. The occurrence of the Whiteheaded Black Bulbul (Hypsipetes

leucocephalus) within Indian limits. 29 : 559.

23. On the occurrence of Pallas’s Sandgrouse within Indian limits.

ONY: 522:

24. The occurrence of the Giant Heron (Ardea goliath) in the Khulna

District, Bengal. 31 : 523.

25. Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus indus) swimming. 31 : 526.

26. Occurrence of the Christmas Island Frigate-Bird (Fregata

andrewsi) on the West Coast of India. 33: 445.

27. The migration of the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia). 35: 459.

28. Double nests of the Weaver Bird (Ploceus philippinus). 35: 681.

29. The Lesser Florican (Sypheotides indica) in the Konkan.

38 : 191.

30. The Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis Linn.) in Sind. 38:

831.

31. The Snipebilled Godwit [Limnodromus taczanowskii (Verr.)]

in Orissa. 40: 332.

32. The Indian Black Eagle (I[ctinaetus malayensis perniger Hodgs.)

in Salsette. 41 : 899.

33. The occurrence of the Yellowbilled Flowerpecker (Pachyglossa

melanoxantha Hodgs.) at Almora, U.P. 42: 187.

REPTILES

34. Notes on some interesting snakes recently presented to this

Society. 26 : 683.

35. Occurrence of Theobald’s Kukri Snake (Simotes theobaldi)

mm Assam, 275.175,

36. Food of the Fat-tailed Lizard (Eublepharis macularis). 28: 811.

37. Snakes of Bombay Island and Salsette. 30: 151.

38. Large brood of eggs of the Checkered Water Snake (Nerodia

PISCALOL). ~32.. 225.

642 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

39. Note on a Formosan Viper (Trimeresurus macrosquamatus)

from the NE. Frontier. 33: 998.

40. The Social Life of Snakes. 36+.469.

41. Occurrence of Dipsadomorphus multimaculata in Assam. 38:

201.

MISCELLANEOUS

42. , On some unusual contributions to the Society’s Museum. 27:

966. |

43. Notes on a visit to certain museums in Great Britain. 29 : 456.

44. Principles and extent of the educational service rendered to the

schools by museums in America. 32: 169.

45. Modern museum methods—Part I, 32 : 532 ; Part II, 32: 762;

Part III, 33 : 149.

46. The Social Life of Ants. 34: 269.

47. Behaviour of the Red Tree Ant (Gécophylla smaragdina). 36:

280.

48. The Fish Supply of the West Coast of India—Part I, 34: 973 ;

Part II, 35:77. (Jointly with Spence, Sir Reginald).

49. Ona large Sawfish (Prestis perrotteti Mull. & Henle). 41 : 435.

50. The Whale-Shark (Rhineodon typus Smith) in Indian coastal

waters, with notes on its wanderings in other areas. 42: 255.

Reviews

I. BORN FREE: A LIONESS OF TWO WoRLDS. By Joy Adam-

son. Pp. 156 (24x17 cm.). 9 coloured and 104 black and white

photographs and 1 map. London, 1960. Collins & Harvill Press.

Price: 25s;

The story of a pet—and what a pet! A lioness, reared with the li-

berty allowed to a poodle or a peke. Neither fully tame nor fully wild,

reared by human fosterparents on a game reserve in Kenya, Elsa presents

a fascinating study. Joy Adamson, in her account of Elsa’s growth to

maturity and subsequent release, provides answers—frequently surprising

ones—to all these questions : what are her reactions to her fosterparents,

to her own kind and other animals, to life on her own? Astonishing

as it is, the account gives no impression of fabrication or exaggeration.

It is as sincere as it is straightforward. Lucid, direct, yet charming,

the style of writing is simple. Which contributes to its width of appeal—

to the natural historian, to the scientist, and to animal lovers of all ages.

The highlight of the book is the series of photographs, more

fascinating, more convincing, and more astounding than mere words

could ever be.

IR.

2. COMMON MALAYAN BIRDS. By M. W. F. Tweedie.

Pp. 69 (21.5015 cm.). 20 coloured plates ; 7 figures in text by A.

Fraser-Brunner. London, 1960. Longmans. Malayan Nature Hand-

books. Price 12s. 6d. net.

This is a most attractive and handy little booklet. It is admirably

designed for the beginner in bird study, as well as for the visiting orni-

thologist, and tells them in brief all they will wish to know about the

hundred or so of the commoner birds likely to be encountered in Malayan

towns and in the inhabited countryside ; how to recognize them, and

something about their habits, nesting, calls, etc. A short introduction

touches upon general topics, such as migration, the use of scientific

names, andso on. Eighty species are illustrated in colour, in some cases

showing both male and female, and there are 7 useful black and white

sketches in the text besides. |

This happy combination of author and artist, and the excellence of

the printing, both coloured plates and text, is something of which every

644. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

one concerned in the publication can be justly proud. If the other

volumes of the Malayan Nature Handbooks are going to be as good as

this, the series will indeed be an enviable one. It should go a long way

to awakening that interest in Nature among the young which is so sadly

lacking in most eastern countries.

S.A.

3. BULLETIN OF ENTOMOLOGY, No. 1. Pp. 1-41 (24x

17 cm.). Madras, 1960. The Department of Zoology, Loyola College.

We already have an entomological journal—the Indian Journal of

Entomology. In addition papers on entomology appear in many other

journals of a more general nature, including the Journal of the Bombay

Natural History Society. The appearance of another entomological

journal is therefore an indication that the output of papers on the subject

has now increased to a point when existing journals cannot cope with

them.

The first number has some distinguished contributors. Dr. M. L.

Roonwal and Dr. B. P. Uvarov have both written appreciations of the

work of Dr. Y. Ramachandra Rao, to whom this first issue has been

dedicated. Dr. Rao published his first paper in 1910, and has continued

publishing steadily to the present time. His outstanding contributions

to locust research are known to every student of entomology. Dr. W. D.

Hincks of the Manchester Museum has sent in a description of a new

species of Diplatys, a primitive and particularly interesting Dermap-

teran. He remarks on how little is known about the life-history and

ecology of the genus. Unfortunately this is true of almost any group

one could mention, apart from a few of economic importance. Of the

other eight articles in this issue four are on taxonomy, three on biono-

mics, one on control, and one on the coagulation of haemolymph in a

cockroach.

One hopes that the editors will keep the standard of future issues

high. It is a great temptation for authors to use a new publication for

articles which they do not consider good enough for established journals.

R.R.

4. BUTTERFLIES OF FORMOSA IN COLOUR. By Takashi

Shirozu. Pp. 481 (25.518 cm.). Seventy-six plates in colour. 163

distribution maps and 316 other text-figures. Osaka, 1960. Hoikusha.

Price $15.

REVIEWS 645

This fascinating book is the product of twenty years of study by the

author, Dr. T. Shirozu. Covering as it does a large number of species

- which are to be found in India, the book is of great interest to biologists

and collectors in this country and, inspite of the text being in Japanese,

they will derive help from the book by reason of its use of scientific

names printed in the Roman character, its beautiful coloured illustra-

tions, and its numerous maps showing the distribution of the species

described. The illustrations are numbered in Arabic numerals corres-

ponding to the numbering of the accompanying descriptions. In a

separate synonymic list are set out in Roman character the butterflies

described in the text. There is also an index in Roman character of the

generic, specific, and racial names. It is therefore very simple to find the

description, illustration, and distribution map of any butterfly that the

reader happens to be interested in. Reference is equally simple for

the reader who makes the illustrations his basis for identifying butter-

flies. Some idea of the profuseness with which the book is illustrated

can be gathered from the fact that there are 997 coloured pictures of the

366 butterflies dealt with. Both sexes are illustrated wherever neces-

sary. There are, besides, numerous large-scale drawings, clear and care-

fully executed, of the genital organs accompanied by detailed explanations

in the text ; of course, except for the specialist who already knows some-

thing of the subject, these are of use only to a reader acquainted with

Japanese. The author and the publisher are to be congratulated on the

superb quality of the coloured illustrations, which reproduce the natural

colour and even the texture with remarkable exactness.

T. IKAWA

5. COMMON MALAYAN BUTTERFLIES. By R. Morrell.

Illustrated by A. H. Burvill. Pp. 64 (21.5 14.5 cm.). 20 colour plates.

6 figures in black and white. London, 1960. Longmans. Malayan

Nature Handbooks. Price 12s. 6d. net.

This beautifully produced handbook is designed as an introduction

to Malayan butterflies for beginners and newcomers. There is no key,

but almost every butterfly dealt with is illustrated and the quality of the

illustrations makes detailed description unnecessary. In 58 pages of

text the author has included notes on breeding habits, when known, and

other points of interest for over a hundred species. Among the most

interesting are the Brownies (Miletus spp.), colonies of which haunt parti-

cular trees and bushes for years. The caterpillars of one species are

known to feed on aphids, and the author suggests that the colonies of

butterflies form round colonies of aphids,

646 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Hypolimnas bolina bolina, the Great Egg-Fly, a species common in

India, is an interesting example of mimicry. The male is a striking

insect, black with bold white-centred spots, while the females mimic

Danaus chrysippus. In the nineteenth century there was a race incom-

moda, in which the females were black with sub-marginal white spots,

not resembling D. chrysippus. By the end of the century the species

became rare and finally extinct. After thirty years the species reappeared

and re-established itself, but this time the females are mainly pale-brown

mimics of D. chrysippus, although black females resembling the older form

are also taken. It is noteworthy that in India the H. bolina female

mimics Euploea core, the Common Indian Crow, and it is the H. misippus

female that is a mimic of D. chrysippus.

Instructions to would-be collectors include advice on how to keep

one’s collection free from mould and insect damage, very necessary

advice in a hot, humid climate.

R.R.

6. DRAGONFLIES. By Philip S. Corbet, Cynthia Longfield,

and N. W. Moore. Pp. 260 (21.515 cm.). 53 colour plates, 16 photo-

graphs in black and white, 200 maps and diagrams. Key to larvae by

A. E. Gardner. London, 1960. Collins. The New Naturalist. Price 42s.

The New Naturalist series has long since exploded two popular

myths : one that the scientific expert is an erudite, inarticulate eccentric,

totally incapable of conveying his enthusiasms, and the other that natural

history is an inexact descriptive science. True to the tradition of the

series, DRAGONFLIES is guaranteed to make an enthusiastic odonatist of

any reader, and the beautiful colour plates will convince anyone, who

did not know it already, that dragonflies are among the most beautiful

of insects. They are also a very ancient group, with a fossil ancestry

which goes back to the Carboniferous period. These early dragonflies

were recognizably like their present-day descendants, but giants by

comparison with them. One species, Meganeura monyi, had a wing span

of twenty-seven inches. They must have occupied an ecological niche

taken up by birds and bats today.

In the tropics dragonflies fly, and breed, right through the year.

In the temperate zones, however, winter brings the flying season to an

end, and dragonflies have developed methods by which they survive

winter temperatures as eggs or larvae, and emerge as adults only when

more favourable conditions return. Dragonfly life-histories in the tem-

perate zones fall into three categories, each employing a different type of

seasonal regulation. In the first group, the ‘univoltine summer species’,

REVIEWS 647

the eggs are the resistant, diapause, or resting stage. The larvae, which

are susceptible to low temperatures, only hatch in spring, complete their

development in two to five months, and emerge as adults in summer.

They lay diapause eggs before winter, thus completing the cycle. The

second group, ‘semivoltine summer species’, overwinter as larvae.

Development continues during winter, but full-grown larvae cannot

emerge as adults until the temperature rises above a threshold value.

This results in the accumulation of full-grown larvae during winter, which

emerge as adults as soon as summer temperatures reach the required level.

The third and most specialised group are the ‘spring species’. Here the

fully grown larva undergoes diapause, and as soon as spring temperatures

become suitable there is a mass emergence of adults. These lay eggs,

larvae from which will survive the next winter. However, larvae which

develop more quickly than their fellows and complete their growth before

the beginning of June emerge immediately, the same year as they were

hatched. Whether a larva will emerge at once, or go into diapause and

emerge next spring, is determined in a very precise way. Larvae respond

to critical differences in day length, and after the beginning of June,

when the daily increase in day length falls below two minutes, they react

by going into diapause. Dr. Corbet suggests that the type of life-cycle

found in the tropics is the primitive one, and those in the temperate zones

represent successively more efficient ways of colonising colder latitudes.

This opens up fascinating fields for speculation. Other insects in the

temperate zones show life-cycles superficially similar to that of some

dragonflies, for example the biting midge Culicoides impunctatus. An

emergence peak in early summer is followed by another a little later on.

Will further investigation reveal similar mechanisms in other groups

besides dragonflies ?

A mass emergence of dragonflies must be impressive. It usually

takes place at night. Overcrowding causes heavy mortality, for larvae

crawl on top of each other, preventing those underneath from emerging.

Birds kill off many of the newly emerged adults in the morning. The

remainder make their maiden flight at dawn and, for the first few days of

adult life, fly away from water. This response ensures that dispersal

takes place. This is important because dragonflies, like birds, show terri-

torial behaviour. Dr. N. W. Moore describes an experiment in which

he released dragonflies at intervals over an artificial pond, and returned

to count numbers. The number remained more or less constant over

the water, the newcomers apparently being driven away.

One cannot end a review of this book without mentioning the excel-

lent appendixes, of which the editors are justly proud. They cover

every kind of information the new odonatist could possibly need, includ-

ing a note to the effect that radioactive tracers cannot be used to tag

dragonfly larvae since they are cannibalistic. R.R.

648 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

7. COMPARATIVE BREEDING BEHAVIOUR OF FOUR

SPECIES OF NORTH AMERICAN HERONS. By Andrew J.

Meyerriecks. Pp. 158. 15 plates_and many figures. Cambridge, Mas-

sachusetts, 1960. Nuttal Ornithological Club.

In the last decade the ornithologist has been treated to a spectacular

increase in the literature of his science particularly that concerned with

bird behaviour. This is largely the harvest of seeds sown well before

the last war by Konrad Lorenz in Germany and developed by Nikko

Tinbergen, at first in Holland and later in Oxford. Comparative studies

have had a leading role to play and recently a spate of works on many

families, Gulls, Finches, Estrildines, and Weavers have been appearing,

mostly in the periodical literature. To the European ‘ ethologists ’

it is thus gratifying to find that their observational approaches have now

crossed the Atlantic and are bearing fruit in the U.S.A.

Dr. Meyerriecks’s study is the second of a series of publications spon-

sored by the Nuttal Ornithological Club, of which Professor Ernst Mayr

is the President. The intention of the series is to get into print impor-

tant studies considered too large for the periodicals and not yet suitable

for publication as books. One of the problems of behaviour work is the

great detail of description required and this is always bulky when it comes

to presentation. The club is thus performing an invaluable service to

all behaviour students wishing to keep abreast of new knowledge in a

rapidly expanding field. .

The work consists of a detailed description of the behaviour of the

Green Heron, Butorides virescens. Maintenance activities, locomotion,

feeding, care of the body surface, escape responses, migration, agonistic

and courtship behaviour are all treated in turn and the data compared

with three other species, Ardea herodias, Dichromanassa rufescens, and

Leucophoyx thula, which however have not been studied in such detail.

The writing is fluid, eminently readable, and excellent photographs and

figures assist the reader. The use of complex ‘ethograms’ for the

presentation of raw data is however a pity. The number of repeat ob-

servations is too small, sometimes only a single behaviour sequence being

represented, to merit illustration in large schemata. The ‘ethograms’

given would be better compressed into a line of text. Schemata of this,

and indeed any, type are only justified if they represent a useful generali-

sation from a mass of observational data which is helpful to the reader.

The provision of summaries would also be a help, for in such works the

reader wishes to skim to certain points of interest and then refer to the

necessary detail, rather than wade in detail to find the interesting points.

In the final discussion one misses consideration of the survival value

of the different behaviour patterns described and their functional role in

species ecology. One would like to know for example what differences

REVIEWS 649

in feeding niches go with the exceptionally interesting variety of feeding

patterns, especially those shown by rufescens. The family is said to be

particularly interesting on account of the differing degrees of sociality, |

from solitary feeding and breeding to gregarious colonial life, shown by

the different species, but little attention is given to the actual spatial

organisation of the populations in the environment and their relations

to the exploitation of food. Nor is the degree and type of protection

from predators afforded by the colony sites discussed. Adaptations in

these respects may well play a major role in influencing other behaviour

patterns, such as those occurring in displays.

This is however to expect too much perhaps. Excited by Dr.

Meyerriecks’s excellent data and capacity to interest, the reader inevitably

starts asking questions that evidently lie beyond the scope of the present

descriptive account. The excellent production, hard covers and cloth,

perhaps lulls one into thinking one has a book in one’s hands when the

work is in fact a large paper. We must trust that Dr. Meyerriecks will

be able to extend his work to other heron species and produce for us a

monograph on the behaviour of these interesting birds.

)EEC.

85. WHE LONELY NIGER. By, Hugh: Allen. “Pp: 191) Q1.5x

14cm.). London, 1960. Faber and Faber. Price 18s. net.

An interesting preface tells how the author and his sister, torn from

their moorings by the war, decided to settle in India. Drawn to the

forests of Madhya Pradesh, where he had hunted in his spells of war-

time leave, he bought a large estate in one of the wildest parts of the

Province. Largely owing to marauding wild animals, the agricultural

venture did not meet with the expected success, but it raised, instead, a

successful crop of shikar stories. Many of them have already appeared

in well-known magazines, both in Britain and in the United States, and

with adaptations have been included in this book. There are fourteen

short self-contained stories but, as all the episodes recounted take place

within a few miles of the author’s adopted home, the book acquires a sort

of unity and, half-way through, the reader gains the familiarity with the

country and terrain so essential for even a vicarious enjoyment of shikar.

The reader who loves an engrossing tale will be fascinated and thrilled

by the stories and, once started, will find it difficult to lay the book down.

A hardened minority, however, who have some experience of the Indian

jungle, may be nagged by a small questioning voice asking: ‘ Are the

stories probable?’. The usual shikar-story theme—going after the

animal and outwitting it or being outwitted oneself—is, in this book,

650 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

invariably enlivened and enriched by a variety of subsidiary incidents.

Thus, a Russell’s Viper intrudes,upon the privacy of a melée between the

author and a wild boar in its_death throes. Again, just as a hungry

impatient tiger is approaching the kill, with a ‘ growling grunt of pleasure’,

‘a high pitched shriek suddenly screams out of the night’ to thicken the

plot and the reader’s blood. The probability of fish and wild life stories

will always be open to question and, the better the story, the louder the

questioning voice. However, I recommend the book even to the ques-

tioning sort of reader, for it is exceptionally well written.

The author knows the jungle and its animals. What is better, he

feels the jungle and its ways, and has the rare capacity of conveying his

sensations to his reader—the feel of being alone in the dark, the mount-

ing tension of stalking or waiting for a dangerous animal, the sudden

fear and the slow fatigue. A natural talent for telling a story appears

to have been improved and polished till considerable literary ability is

evident in the outstandingly good ones. Flexibility in style and the

use of words to match the mood and action bring the stories to life. For

instance, consider this lyric passage : ‘ The black clouds were now scud-

ding away in the wake of the grumbling storm. As they went they un-

veiled a star-studded sky, set with a silver moon.’ Contrast it with this

savage description : ‘....the first bullet slams him to the grass with his

legs kicking in the air. A moment later he is a snarling blur of thresh-

ing yellow fury as he tries to rise.’

Some of the stories read in isolation may give the impression that all

is well with India’s wild life, especially in isolated places like the author’s

adopted home, Mandikhera. This impression is most effectively correc-

ted by the story, ‘The Lonely Tiger’, which gives the book its title.

It vividly tells the sad tale of our beautiful fauna being wiped out

from even the best of our jungles. Indiscriminately licensed muzzle

loaders, booming through summer nights maim and murder every

animal that comes to water. The revolting jeep-shikari blazes buck-

shot at every eye that shines in his blinding headlights. And above

all, the apathy of the administration to enforce the law has brought

desolation to India’s forests. Better than volumes of official reports

this story reveals the bitter tragedy of our age-old faunal heritage, which

is a trust for the future, being squandered with the reckless haste of

a criminal bankrupt.

Finally, I am prompted to comment on Indian shikar literature in

general. Post-war books on the subject have produced a spate of dan-

gerous tigers and panthers, mostly man-eaters ; and this, during a period

that has seen a catastrophic decline in the numbers of our wild animals.

The reading public’s appetite for man-eaters seems to grow by what it

feeds upon, and I feel sure that the author’s outstanding literary ability

REVIEWS 651

will induce his publishers to ask for more man-eaters. Unfortunately,

a time is fast approaching when any sort of shootable animal will be

difficult to come across in this country. I humbly suggest that the only

way open for a writer on wild life to utilize his talent is to frankly write

his book in the form of a shikar romance and cast his story in the happier

days of long ago.

D. J. P.

Miscellaneous Notes

I. JUNGLE DOGS KILL SAMBAR DOE

At 8.15 one morning, when I was fishing on the Badra River in

Mysore State accompanied by a moplah acting as ‘gillie’, we saw at

about 200 yards downstream a full-grown sambar doe drinking on

the opposite bank of the river. After drinking a short while she

retreated out of view into the jungle. A quarter of an hour later

our attention was attracted by a commotion from that direction. ,

My first impression was that a tigress with cubs was running along

the far bed of the river half hidden by grass etc., but I soon saw

it was the sambar doe with jungle dogs chasing her and making

that queer hysterical yapping-cackling noise they make when close

to their quarry. Almost at once she turned into the water and made

slowly downstream at a halting walk for some 50 yards and about

15 yards from the bank. When’ she was about chest deep in the

water, which was flowing at a moderate pace, one dog got in front

of her and another on top of a rock between her and the bank as if

to see that she did not make for land. The sambar then made what

I like to think was a ‘bell’ of defiance and, whilst she was

stationary, the dog in the water made a frontal attack. I was too

far off to see what occurred in detail, but I saw the sambar’s head

and the dog disappear completely underwater. When her head

reappeared she put it right up and gave a bellow of pain. After a

short interval the dog, still in front, came in to the attack

and again her head and the dog disappeared underwater and, when

her head came out, the bellow of pain was repeated. The sambar

then turned towards the bank and, after a slow halting step or two,

bumped into a rock which was plainly visible. From this I

conjecture that ihe dog had punctured her eyes and blinded her.

I realised that the end was near, so started to walk down to get

opposite the tragedy. By the time I arrived, she was dead and two

dogs were attempting to drag her out of the water. As the bank

was about a foot above the level of the water, they were unable to

do so and only her head was out of the water on dry ground. I

then left to do more fishing. On my return, I could see that the

dogs, now gone, had only been able to clean up the head, which

showed a white skull and nothing more. I am not sure how many

dogs there were, but certainly not more than three (one of them

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 653

lame), and definitely only one tackled her in the water.

The river was too deep for us to cross over and drive the dogs

off, and our yells and abuse shouted in our best Kannada (Kanarese)

were of no avail! Eventually, some locals were informed and took

the carcass.

The reason I mistook the sambar for a tigress in the first instance

was because she was running very low in a crouched position, either

because she was blown or because a dog that I could not see was

hanging on to her.

HOSKHAN ESTATE,

MALANDUR P.O., G. V. R. FREND

CHIKMAGALUR DISTRICT,

September 30, 1960.

2. HOW MANY YOUNG DOES A CHITAL HAVE?

In THE BOOK OF INDIAN ANIMALS the late Mr. Prater wrote:

‘chital are prolific breeders; one to three fawns are born at a time—

two being the commoner number’. This statement was tested on a

reference by Dr. William Graf, Professor of Zoology, San Jose State

College, San Jose, ‘California, U.S.A., whose experience with chital

in Hawaii is that there is no record of twin fawns, either in captivity

or observed in the wild, and the examination of many pregnant

does has not yielded a multiple foetus. ‘The standard writers, like

Jerdon, Sterndale, and Blanford, do not make specific mention of

the number of young. Enquiries from persons likely to know have

given the following results:

I. R, S. Dharmakumarsinhji of Bhavnagar, who has _ ex-

perience of chital in semi-domesticated conditions, has not seen more

than one fawn at a time.

2. The Wild Life Club, Forest Research Institute and Colleges,

New Forest, Dehra Dun, started a deer park in May 1958 with four

chital. Since then 7 fawns have been born. There has been no

case of more than one fawn at a time.

3. Mr. Krishna Talcherkar remembers seeing one foetus in a

doe shot in Indore State. :

4. The Municipal Gardens in Bombay have had _ several

births in their garden every year. An examination of their records

for 30 years (which include 97 since 1946) reveals no instance of

more than one young at a time.

654 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 87 (3)

5. Mr. Hugh Allen of Mendikhera Estate, P. O. Matkuli,

Piparia (Madhya Pradesh) reports that within the last ten years

21 wounded hinds, which had wandered into the estate and had to

be shot, were pregnant; of them none had more than one foetus.

Also, neither he nor Col. S. A. H. Granville of Pachmarhi, in their

considerable experience, has ever observed more than one fawn with

a hind.

Mr. Prater’s statement is probably based on the authority of

Dunbar Brander who wrote in THE WILD ANIMALS OF CENTRAL INDIA:

‘one to three are born at a time, but two is the commoner number’.

In the light of these facts, it may be necessary to make an

amendment in THE BOOK OF INDIAN ANIMALS.

91, WALKESHWAR ROAD, EDITORS

BOMBAY 6,

November 7, 1960.

3. INDIAN WILD BOAR (SUS SCROFA CRISTATUS

WAGNER) FEEDING ON BOERHAVIA DIFFUSA LINN.

During the monsoon rains a prolific weed grows rampant in open

country and scrub in the Saurashtra peninsula and in other parts of

western India including the Deccan. This weed was_ kindly

identified as Boerhavia diffusa by Shri K. Satyanarayana, M.Sc., of the

Samaldas College, Bhavnagar.

While observing the feeding habits of wild boar over many years,

I have noticed them rooting at particular spots and after a brief

effort eat something and move on, and then again stop to do the

same. In this way open grass plots in stony ground would be

neatly ploughed in bits. Subsequent examination of such

plots revealed that the wild boar had removed the damp soil

to the depth of 4” to 6” at the base of the plant and with the aid

of its snout removed the earth and laid bare the tap root which in

most cases had been completely eaten. At every rooting, it was this

plant that had been attacked and no other; and the stem, leaves, and

flowers were left untouched on the surface. The preference of the

wild boar for the succulent roots of Boerhavia diffusa was very

noticeable in open stony ground covered with soil and grass of the

‘moram’ type. This selective feeding of wild boar was seen at

various places as far as 100 miles (c. 160 km.) apart. The vernacular

names of the plant are Ghetuli, Punarnava, Sant, Sathodi, Thikri,

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 655

and Vakhakhaparo. In English, it is known as Hog Weed, Pig Weed,

and Spreading Hog Weed. It is of much interest to find that the

name corresponds with the feeding habit of the wild boar, but it is

unlikely that the weed is named on account of the wild pig feeding,

on it. The weed often grows in abundance and close together on

the surface as it spreads, though the roots are fairly far apart.

The wild boar do not exterminate the plant but often return to

the same ground for feeding on it. Is it possible that wild boar

feed on the root for a specific urge or for taste or as a natural food?

Boerhavia diffusa appears to be a useful medicinal plant and

both the herb and the roots are made use of for different ailments.

In what way the root benefits the wild boar is not known, but as a

medicine to man, the herb has a wide use, e.g. infusion, diuretic,

jaxative, stomachic diaphoretic, anthelmintic, and for diseases such as

Bright’s disease, dropsy, oedema, anemia, jaundice, cough, pleurisy,

asthma, gonorrhoea, and for inflammation of the spleen, liver, heart,

eye, and for ulcers. A poultice is also used for extracting guinea

worm. It is also said to be effective for snake bite. The white

flower form of this species is also found and is the more valuable

for medicinal purposes.

Dit BAHAR,

BHAVNAGAR, R. S. DHARMAKUMARSINHSJI

August 15, 1960.

4. FURTHER WILD LIFE NOTES FROM MADHYA

PRADESH-—A REJOINDER

In the August 1959 number Mr. Humayun Abdulali contributed

a miscellaneous note about methods of shooting and conservation

of wild life in Madhya Pradesh (J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 56:

321-323). Mr. Vidya Charan Shukla, M.P., in a letter to the Society,

raised strong. objections to certain statements therein and some

correspondence was exchanged with Mr. Abdulali thereafter. Mr.

Shukla wrote to the Editors requesting that his letter be published

and it was thought that certain points from Mr. Abdulali’s replies

should also be reproduced. As, however, personal elements had

crept into the correspondence, the Editors decided to publish a com-

prehensive editorial note embodying as objectively as possible both

points of view. Pending publication, however, Mr. Abdulali is now

a Joint Editor of the Journal, and the Editors considered that in

656. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

fairness to Mr. Shukla his objections should be reproduced in his

own words without any comments thereon omitting only passages in

the nature of personal criticism. Mr. Shukla writes:

‘In miscellaneous note No. 6 of Vol. 56, No. 2 of the Journal,

Shri Humayun Abdulali has made certain statements which are grossly

misleading and erroneous. As a _ person closely connected with

hunting and matters pertaining to wild life, I consider it my duty

to correct such untrue reports.

‘LT am the “Managing Director of one of the leading shikar

agencies in the country” who drove Shri Abdulali to Supkhar in

Balaghat district to join the party of Americans who had invited him.

‘We discussed wild-life and hunting, it being the topic of our

mutual interest, and naturally came to the subject of illicit shooting.

Shri Abdulali complained of shooting at night from jeeps with

particular reference to our staff. I explained him that when a tiger

or a panther is wily and the hunters fail to shoot it in a sit-up

or beat and happen across it on a night-drive, when out looking for

vermin, shooting of which is allowed at nights from jeep, they step

down with a spot-light from the jeep, to hunt it and the jeep is

driven away.

‘There was no mention of spot-lights being connected to the

battery of the jeep and the connecting wire being rolled all along the

road or the jeep being backed the prescribed distance of 100 yards

in the dark. The spot-lights used at such times have self-contained

batteries and the jeep is reversed or turned according to the space

available.

‘The entire purpose behind restricting shooting at night from jeeps

is to give a sporting chance to the animals and the method used by

our hunters on such occasions affords more chances and advantages

to the animals than they get in beats or sit-ups which are universally

accepted methods of sport. .

‘From the way, the shooting of bear and wild boar at night has

been described in the note, it will lead one to think that it was

illegal. Both these animals are classed as ‘vermin’ and their shoot-

ing is permitted at night from jeeps. Apart from the legal aspects

of the night shooting of these animals, their shooting whenever one

gets a chance is moraily just and warranted. In the forests, 95% of

mauling instances are by bears who without any provocation attack

the villagers when they go to jungles to seek their livelihood. Wild

pig is the greatest destroyer of crops. If the wild-life preservation

is considered rationally on the basis of practical experiences

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 657

and circumstances as they exist, the number of such vermins

will never be allowed to grow uncontrolled under the protection of

game laws to the extent of being detrimental to “man and food”.

‘Another thing Shri Abdulali has put in my mouth during my

conversation with him. From the way he has reported, it implies

that we had been breaking laws in the past. What I told him was

that in the earlier years of our business, our hunters did unwittingiy

shoot a few animais in violation of game laws; but the redeeming

factor was that the matter was immediately brought to the notice

of the forest authorities and due punishment was met for the same.

I had taken the trouble to impress that such instances were due to

inexperience of our staff and now we have gained more experience,

the cases of game law violation are rare.

“The note poses a question whether it is a wise policy to “sell”

the remains of our wild-life in the temptation of earning a few more

doliars. A critical study of the problem of wild-life preservation

at first hand will show that the real menace to our wild-life is from

poaching by our own people over which neither any control is being

exercised nor is being desired; and not from hunting by foreigners

who without exception shoot only on valid permits and _ strictly

restricted number Ji animals allowed to them. A complete watch on

their shooting is always kept.

‘The wild-life preservation will never assume the importance it

deserves unless it shows immediate economic benefits and shikar-

tourism from abroad gives a certain economic value to our well-

stocked forests. Mr. Abdulali himseif admits the well-stocking of

our forests when he says that the party, whose guest he was, shot

its quota in 10 days; but did they in any way exceed the game limit

allowed to them? How are they or other foreign hunters guilty of

destroying wild-life if they shoot within the limits allowed to them

which is set by the Forest Department after a survey of the wild-life

population? No country in the world has stopped sport-hunting to

protect its common run of wild-life for the obvious reason that

essentially the hunters who particularly understand the wild-life

preservation problem have its interest in their hearts.’

BomMBay NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY,

91, WALKESHWAR ROAD, | EDITORS

BomBayY 6,

November 1, 1960.

658 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

5. COLOUR ABERRATION IN THE WHITECHEEKED

BULBUL [PYCNONOTUS LEUCOGENYS LEUCOTIS

(GOULD)]

During the field work in the Bombay Natural History Society’s

Bird Migration Study Project on Kuar Bet (Great Rann of Kutch)

in March 1960, two aberrant examples of the Whitecheeked Bulbul

(Pycnonotus leucogenys leucotis) were taken in the nets. Both were

young females. The over-all effect of their plumage is a uniform pale

sandy, or isabelline. ‘They differ from normal birds—abundant on

the island—chiefly in the following particulars: Forehead, crown,

nape, and hindneck sandy brown, concolorous with the back; in

one the feathers of the crown are edged darker. Chin and throat

like head. Ear-coverts silky off-white. Underparts from lower

throat to vent paler sandy brown than back. Tail somewhat darker

than back, all feathers tipped with whitish and largely cross-rayed.

The skins were sent to Prof. Erwin Stresemann, Berlin, for

opinion. He writes:

“Your two curious skins have just arrived. I consider them to

be a “pallelogical” aberration of Pycnonotus |. leucotis. Both are

still in juvenile plumage. They are deficient in black melanins (the

so-called “eumelanin”) while the brownish melanins (“phaeome-

lanin”) seem rather unchanged, which is also true for the carotenoid

colouring of the under tail-coverts. The barring (cross bars)

developed not only on the tail feathers but also faintly to be seen

on the primaries, may (or may not) indicate that these two specimens

suffered periodic starvation in the nestling stage. I know of similar

cases in Acrocephalus, Sylvia, etc. In former days one would have

been glad to make these birds types of a brand new species. But,

unfortunately, they do not deserve such an honour! Nevertheless,

they are of considerable interest.’

The arid, semi-desert area of Kutch in western India seems to

favour the development of this kind of heterochrosis which Prof.

Stresemann calls pallelogical, as well as albinism—total or partial.

Instances have been frequently recorded in back numbers of the

Journal, involving not only birds but also insects and mammals.

The aberrant bird species recorded include Bush Quail (Perdicula

asiatica or P. argoondah ?), Common Babbler (Turdoides caudatus),

Redvented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer), Comb Duck (Sarkidiornis

melanotos), and Great Indian Bustard (Choriotis nigriceps).

33, PALI HILt, ,

BANDRA, BomBay 50, SALIM ALI

October 29, 1960.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 659

6. WHERE DO LEAF WARBLERS (PHYLLOSCOPi) SLEEP?

I noticed the other day how the Phylloscopi spent their nights

when wintering in these parts. They seem to roost singly under the

fronds of papaya trees (Carica papaya) for preference. I had

observed one bird regularly settling for the night in this manner some

years ago at Trivandrum. Now I have noticed the same thing

happening here also. There is a papaya tree near my gate which

one Phylloscopus (with a yellow supercilium and yellowish wing

band, and calling tsit-chew) is visiting every evening to roost in. I

believe it must be the same bird as it comes every evening just

before sundown and makes its bed under the same leaf.

STATE MUSEUM AND ZOO,

TRICHUR, N. G. PILLAI

KERALA, ,

December 23, 1959.

[The Phylloscopus above could be either the Greenish Leaf

Warbler (P. trochiloides nitidus) or the Largebilled (P. magnirostris),

both of which broadly answer to the description. The former is the

commoner of the two in the low country of Kerala.—EDs.]

7. A NEW RACE OF FINN’S BAYA, PLOCEUS

MEGARHYNCHUS HUME

In 1954 VJ. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 52 : 599-601) I compared a

series of Finn’s Bayas (Ploceus megarhynchus Hume, 1869) obtained

in captivity and said to be from the Himalayan foothills in Kumaon

in western Uttar Pradesh, with specimens collected in a wild state

in the Bhutan Duars and in Assam. Though the differences appeared

to be of subspecific value, I did not name them, as one group

consisted entirely of cage birds whose origin could not be deter-

mined with certainty.

Last year Drs. Sdlim Ali and J. H. Crook revisited the Ramput

and Haldwani districts of Kumaon (U.P.) and discovered large

numbers of Ploceus megarhynchus breeding in that area (J. Bombay

nat. Hist. Soc. 36 : 457-483). The specimens which they brought

back agreed with the cage birds, and a comparison with six more

specimens collected by Koelz from Agia near Goalpara in Assam

(very kindly lent by the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan)

660 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

prompts me to reiterate the differences between the typical form of

the west and those obtained in the east:

COLLECTED EASTERN MALES COLLECTED

AND 20TH BETWEEN 2ND MAY AND 8TH JUNE

(6 SPECIMENS)

WESTERN MALES

BETWEEN 9TH MAY

AUGUST (9 SPECIMENS)

(a) The yellow forehead extends over

18-26 mm., averaging 20 mm., in length,

26-29 mm., averaging 27 mm.

This difference may have been accentuated to some extent_by the method of

preparation involving stretching or telescoping of the skin.

(b) The yellow on the head is richer (6) The colour of the head is a purer

than that on the breast and matches that yellow.

of Ploceus philippinus.

Two first year birds (?) have their heads

brownish and washed with yellow as in

females.

of yellow on the rump to a varying upper tail-coverts yellow (Michigan

extent. Some have exceptionally large Museum 147925 dated 8th June), but

patches extending from the lower back others including specimens marked

to the tips of the upper tail-coverts. In

one wild bird there is a suggestion of

‘Nesting’ (2nd May) show very, slight

or no trace of yellow.

this being continuous with the yellow of

the head (BNHS 20172).

(d) The yellow on the under-parts

extends from the chin to the vent and

includes the thighs and the under tail-

coverts. This is noticeable in_ the

colour plate accompanying Finn’s des-

cription of P. rutledgii, Ibis, 1903, p. 32.

None in breeding plumage shows any

white on the belly.

(d) In none does‘the yellow extend to

the under -tail-coverts, which are white.

and in four the lower belly is also white.

WESTERN FEMALES COLLECTED EASTERN FEMALES COLLECTED ON

ON 15TH JANUARY, LOTH JULY, 6TH 25TH MAY (2 SPECIMENS)

AND 81TH AUGUST, 12TH SEPTEMBER.

AND 8Tii OCTOBER (6 SPECIMENS)

(a) In the two females collected by

O’Donel on the 25th May in one the

yellow is restricted to the chin and upper

breast, while in the other it goes down

«to the abdomen, but does not extend

eto the lower belly and the under tail-

~ coverts. This was the bird available to

Whistler and termed a ‘particularly

vigorous female of Ploceus burmanicus.

(a) All are yellow from chin to under

tail-coverts though paler than in the male

and of varying intensity.

These differences, which in general were accepted by Drs. Salim

Ali and B. Biswas who have examined the material, are, I think,

sufficient to warrant a separation, and i hereby name the BNHS

specimen No. 6933 (male) collected by O’Donel in the Bhutan Duars

on 25th May 1912 as the type of

Ploceus megarhynchus salimalii subsp. nov.

in recognition of the interest Dr. Salim Ali has always shown in this

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 661

elusive species, which interest really induced me to examine the cage

birds and enquire into their plumages.

Drs. Salim Ali and J. H. Crook have drawn attention to the

extraordinary nesting habits of the western subspecies, namely that

it builds nests high up in trees with entrances at the side rather than

hanging nests as do the other weaver birds in India. Stuart Baker

in NIDIFICATION 3:4 says that O’Donel in his letters to him

stated that he ‘had discovered the colony in a vast area of grass more

or less intermixed with scrub and the nests were untidy balls of grass

strips far more like the nests of Ploceus manyar than those of

philippinus, and that none of them had tubular entrances. The nests

were larger than those of manyar and were fixed to the stems of

the grass, generally several of .these, loosely and carelessly put

together with no lining. The colony consisted of at least 20 birds

but seems to have been rather scattered.’

Several of the specimens collected by Koelz are marked ‘Nesting’

but it has not been possible to ascertain if the nests were in grass

or in trees. O’Donel’s note however seems to be fairly specific

that the nests were attached to grass, and though there is no evidence

that O’Donel found either eggs or young in the nests, he appears to

have examined completed nests. Considering that the type referred

to above is in what appears to be full breeding plumage, it is unlikely

that he was referrmg to the doodling nests in grass mentioned by

Drs. Salim Ali and Crook. Also, having once found such nests

he could hardly have overlooked the very conspicuous clusters in the

trees. If this difference in nesting habits is confirmed it would be

an exceedingly interesting variation in habits between geographical

races.

Another interesting point which requires clarification is the

significance of the prominent brown collar across the upper breast.

completely visible only in one cage bird dated 20th August but traces

of which are visible in all the males in yellow—apparently it dis-

appears in off plumage. Dr. Salim Ali failed to see any individuals

with such complete collars and the data available suggest that this

occurs either sporadically in a few individuals or is acquired after

breeding. Traces of these spots and bands are visible in females of

both groups.

The eastern male dated 31st March has a tiny patch of yellow on

the forehead and another on the chin. The label is marked ‘Testes

5 mm.’. A female dated 30th March is very similar, except that it

has no yellow other than a very faint suggestion on the chin} ~ These

662 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL GIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

two are otherwise in off plumage, with no yellow, and very similar

to each other.

Dr. Sdélim Ali was informed that this species bred twice a year,

in July and again in September.

Much work still remains to be done on the races of this very

interesting species.

BomBay NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY,

91, WALKESHWAR RoaD, HUMAYUN ABDULALI

BOMBAY 6,

October 27, 1960.

8. THE BLACKBACKED WOODPECKER, CHRYSOCOLAPTES

FESTIVUS (BODDAERT), IN GANJAM, ORISSA

During the summer of 1947, a pair of Blackbacked Woodpeckers

[Chrysocolaptes festivus (Boddaert)] aroused interest by their con-

tinual loud rattling laugh as they chased each other up the boles

of tall trees standing on a flat streamside plain in dense moist

deciduous forest in Coupe No. 1 Baliguda Reserve Forest, nearest

village Durgapunga, 18 miles from Muniguda railway station on

the Raipur-Vaisakhapatanam line. A search finally discovered their

nest. situated 30 feet (c. 9 m.) above the ground in the trunk of a

semi-decayed Shorea robusta, marked for felling. growing in shady

forest of the same snecies of tree along the banks of a small stream.

The voung were allowed to fly—only two young emerged—-before

we felled the tree.

GUDUR (NELLORE),

S. INDIA, | K. M. KIRKPATRICK

October 31, 1960.

[The few nesting records from Kanara (Davidson), Nilgiris

(Howard Campbell), and Travancore (Stewart) refer to one egg only.

though in Ceylon (subsp. tantus Ripley) Wait says they lay one to.

three eggs.—EDs.]

9. THE IMPERIAL GRFEN PIGEON. MUSCADIVORA

AENEA (LINNAEUS), ON SALT-LICKS IN ORISSA

The forest country between Durgapunga in Baliguda, Ganjam.

and Panjama, in northern Jeypore Samasthanam, Orissa, is a poor

stag-headed Moist Deciduous Champion type 3/B, growing over a

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 663

whitish chalky soil. Streams in the area carrying this mineral

suspended in their waters are slightly saline; too much drinking

direct from such streams causes the bowels to purge, and constant

drinking results in fissure-tongue. However, animals visit stream

banks to lick this mineral deposit and, watching over such licks, I

have noticed that the Imperial Green Pigeon [Muscadivora aenea

(Linnaeus)] is a constant visitor, flying down to the ground to pick

the crumbs of soil thrcwn up by the scrapings of larger deer and

Gaur. The only other Columbidae noticed on such licks is

Chalcophaps indica, the Emeraldwinged Dove, though in this latter

case I cannot say whether the birds were picking at the mineral or

at the animal droppings scattered about for seeds and termites.

GUDUR (NELLORE),

S. INDIA, K. M. KIRKPATRICK

October 31, 1960.

10. ON THE EGGS OF THE GREAT INDIAN BUSTARD

[CHORIOTIS NIGRICEPS (VIGORS)]

(With a_ photograph)

It has been repeatedly stated that the Great Indian Bustard

[Choriotis nigriceps (Vigors)] lays only one egg. The largest

collection of the eggs of this bustard was made by Khan

Nizam-oo-din Khan; according to Stuart Baker, it was ‘really

wonderful’? and contained many types. The next ornithologist

who collected a large number of the eggs was Harrington Bulkley.

Both these expert collectors strongly emphasize that the species

lays only one egg. ‘Harrington Bulkley once found two eggs

actually together, within a few inches, but even these he

believes to have been laid by two birds’ (Baker, E. C. Stuart, 1935:

332). Earlier on the same page Stuart Baker writes: “Only one

egg is laid, and when two are found close together they are almost

certainly the produce of two birds. Once the Khan found two eggs

together but one was on one side of a tuft of lemon-grass and the

second on the other side, while in two other cases two eggs were

found just a yard or so apart. Again, in 1921 in GAME BIRDS OF

INDIA, BURMA, AND CEYLON 2: 170, Stuart Baker writes: ‘Khan

Nizam-ud-din has taken more than a hundred of these eggs with his

own hand, and he never found two eggs side by side, Where, as

664 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

not unfrequently happens, two are within a yard or two of each other,

he believes that they belong to different birds, and that this is a fact

he has in one or two cases proved by snaring both females.’

In my long experience with bustards, which, as regards seeing

the eggs, is not, however, anywhere near that of former collectors,

I had never, until recently, found a nest with two eggs. Hence there

seems to be no doubt that, ordinarily, one egg is laid and, when two

eggs are found near each other, they are probably eggs laid by two

separate hens.

Two eggs of Great Indian Bustard

And yet, it is not right to be dogmatic on this point. Stuart

Baker (1921) writes on page 172: ‘undoubtedly, the number normally

laid is only one, and the exception to this rule is of the rarest. I

have, however, in my collection one pair of eggs which are said to

be from the same bird, but even here I must record the fact that

they were found about a foot apart, in the same small beaten-down

patch in a field of lemon grass. The eggs are of the rich brown

variety, and are so exactly like one another in every detail that it

seems probable that they are a pair... No mention is given of the

size of the eggs but it appears almost likely that the clutch was the

outcome of a single female. The Yuvraj Saheb of Jasdan saw a

nest, containing two eggs lying close to each other, and showed it

to Sir Cyril Hancock, a former Resident of the Western India States,

who was paying a visit to the area.

My recent experience confirms this. Last year, while closely

studying the species, my shikari found a nest with two eggs (see

photograph). In the grassland vid in which the nest was found

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 665

another hen bustard was already brooding a single egg, not two

hundred yards away. Subsequently, I flushed the hen off the nest in

which the two eggs had been laid, and kept the bird under observa-

tion from a hide. In this case, the two eggs were next to each

other, not even an inch apart and their size also indicated that they

were a true pair. This is, therefore, I feel an authentic case where

one hen had laid two eggs.

I took careful measurements of the pair and they were as follows:

7153.5 mm. and 70X52 mm. It is interesting to find that one of

these eggs is slightly smaller in width than the minimum width

recorded, which is 53.5 mm. (Baker, 1935 : 333): In shape and colour

the pair of eggs were almost alike, somewhat resembling those of the

lesser florican. One egg was a pale sea-green; the other was slightly

drab and had a few rusty markings. Both had very few, or hardly

any, pimples.

Jerdon (1864 : 610) writes:

tb)

‘The female lays one or two eggs

On what grounds he mentions two eggs is rather obscure.

However, a conclusion can now be drawn that the Great Indian

Bustard does lay two eggs but does so very rarely.

Dit BAHAR,

BHAVNAGAR,

Ausust 9, 1960.

R. S. DHARMAKUMARSINHII

REFERENCES

Baker, E. C. Stuart. (1921): The Dharmakumarsinhji, R. S. (1957):

Game-Birds of India, Burma and Ceylon

2. London.

——— (1929): The Fauna of British

India, Birds 6. London.

(1935): The Nidification of

Birds of the Indian Empire 4. London.

Ecological study of the Great Indian

Bustard. J. Zool. Soc. India 9(2).

Hume, Allan, & Marshall, C. H. T.

(1897): The Game Birds of India,

Burma, and Ceylon 1. Calcutta.

Jerdon, T. C. (1864): The Birds of

Dharmakumarsinhji, R. S. (1955):

Birds of Saurashtra. Bombay.

India 3. Calcutta.

11. ASSOCIATION BETWEEN DIFFERENT SPECIES

OF TURNICIDAE

On Sunday, 9 October 1960, whilst on my way to the big swamp

near Chintavaram on the Gudur-Yerur Road, I stopped in scrub-

jungle to catch a young Turnix dussumieri, the Little Button-Quail.

apparently the last of its brood, that legged it off the road behind

the parent to take cover in weeds beneath a thorny shrub, from where

we caught it by hand. The little mite took captivity well, settling

666 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

down to consume, for its ping-pong-ball-size, an enormous quantity

of termite larvae.

On Tuesday, 11 October 1960, a friend sent me a basket of eight

Turnix suscitator, the Bustard-Quail, comprising seven females and

a solitary male. The male was rescued from the kitchen-knife and

put into a cage next to the baby 7. dussumieri. The baby at once

began to struggle frantically to get through the wires to join the

larger bird until, nervous that it might damage itself, we

put it into the same cage. It ran ‘peep’-ing loudly to the

T. suscitator, who accepted it beneath its breast without demur, and

the two now live together as father and adopted son quite happily,

the elder bird breaking the ceils of the termite houses given them

and allowing the younger to come forward and feed freely. At

night, the baby 7. dussumieri nestles beneath the embracing feathers

of T. suscitator to sleep, and at no time has the elder bird attempted

to drive the baby away.

This is interesting as quails are usually nasty-tempered little birds.

The other interesting feature is the quantity of termites and

termite larvae that they consume, showing a marked preference for

these to seeds and other small soft-bodied insects. Surely they must

constitute an important controlling factor over these damaging

insects?

GUDUR (NELLOREB),

S. INDIA, K. M. KIRKPATRICK

October 13, 1960.

MARSH SANDPIPERS (TRINGA STAGNATALITS)

COLLIDING AGAINST TELEPHONE WIRES

On the morning of 22 December 1958, when I was driving along

the new jetty road to the port of Bhavnagar, a three-mile stretch of

road passing through salt pans with telephone posts and wires along

the side, I saw three birds out of a large flock of Marsh Sandpipers

(Tringa stagnatalis), which flew across in front of me, drop suddenly

like stones, as if shot in the air. Amazed, I stopped, got down from

the car, and went over to the side where I found the ill-fated birds,

one of which was still fluttering in its death throes. One by one I

picked them up, and saw that two had their necks neatly cut and

were bleeding from the throat and gape, and the third had both its

wings cut. Immediately. I reaiised the cause of the accident, the

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 667

telephone wires. On the following morning, driving past the same

place, I found a dozen birds, all Marsh Sandpipers, lying on the side

of the road freshly killed, and a Brahminy Kite gliding over the road

and picking up a dead bird. I then carefully observed the to-and-fro

feeding flights of the Marsh Sandpipers which passed close past the

telephone wires and watched their sudden swerving up or down to

avoid them. The real fact was that a flock of T. stagnatalis feeding

on one side of the road in shallow saline water a few inches deep.

served as a decoy, thus attracting other feeding flocks of the same

species to join them. The in-coming flock would fly low across the

road, often followed by another in quick succession, and in this process

some birds collided against the wires and were killed. I have often

driven along the same road and watched the feeding flights of other

shore birds but have not found any dead by the roadside, although

I once saw a winged flamingo and also a spoonbill.

Dit BAHAR,

BHAVANAGAR, R. S. DHARMAKUMARSINHSJI

August 16, 1960.

[Telegraph wires in certain places take a heavy toll of birds,

particularly those which move in flocks. At Bharatpur in Rajasthan,

we were informed that during the cold weather, people patrolled the

line of telegraph posts along the famous duck jheels to pick up one

or more duck every day.—EDs.]

13. THE CHRISTMAS ISLAND FRIGATE-BIRD,

FREGATA ANDREWSI MATHEWS, IN INDIAN

WATERS—A CORRECTION

I recently had occasion to re-examine the frigate-bird in the

Society’s collection obtained by L. A. Lampard at Quilon, Kerala,

and recorded as Fregata andrewsi Mathews in J. Bombay nat. Hist.

Soc. (1929) 33: 445. This was repeated by Whistler & Kinnear [J.

Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. (1937) 39: 450] and Salim Ali (1953) in THE

BIRDS OF TRAVANCORE AND COCHIN. The latter included therewith

a young specimen obtained by Ferguson near Trivandrum and

originally noted as Fregata ariel. The identity of the latter cannot

now be checked upon, but the specimen in Bombay is completely

black with the wpper plumage glossed with green and the lesser

wing-coverts brown. The primaries are moulting and several having

dropped off, the two wings are of different sizes, the larger being

668 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

only 524 mm. The tail is 410 mm., and the exposed culmen 96 mm.

(gape 129 mm.), making it Fregata minor. This leaves no authentic

record of F. andrewsi from Indian limits, and records from Ceylon

have also been determined as in error for F. minor [Gibson-Hiil,

Spolia Zeylanica (1953) 27 : 95-96}. |

Fregata minor has been recorded independently from Bombay

by Commodore R. M. T. Taylor, Mr. C. McCann, and Dr. Sdlim Ali

in June and early July [J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. (1953) 51 : 939},

and referred to as the Lesser Frigate-bird. It may be worth mention-

ing that, in spite of the name minor, this is not the smallest frigate-

bird and Alexander [THE BIRDS OF THE OCEAN (1955) p. 168], Whistler

(Avifaunal Survey of Ceylon. Spolia Zeylanica (1944) 23 (3 & 4):

288] and Henry [GUIDE TO THE BIRDS OF CEYLON (1955): 367] all

refer to it as the Great Frigate-bird, restricting the term Lesser or

Small to Fregata ariel!

BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY,

91, WALKESHWAR RoapD, HUMAYUN ABDULALI

BOMBAY 6,

October 3, 1960.

14. OCCURRENCE OF THE LEAST FRIGATE-BIRD

[FREGATA ARIEL (G.R. GRAY)] IN BOMBAY

In July 1960 a frigate-bird was shot with a .177 airgun by

Mr. Kevin Miranda at Land’s End, Bandra, near the sea-shore, and

sent to St. Xavier’s High School, where it is preserved. It was flying.

just above the water with a fish about 6 in. long in its beak. The

bird is all black, the feathers of the head and upper parts have a

metallic green sheen, and taper to points. The under parts are

duller with two white patches on either side of the belly extending ~

to the under wing-coverts.

The wing measures 520 mm., the tail 325 mm., and the bill from

the feathers 82 mm. (96 mm. from gape).

The colour and measurements agree with those of a male Small

Frigate-bird, Fregata ariel (G. R. Gray), and this would appear to be

the first record of this species from India though it had been noted

from the Maldives and Ceylon. In the Journal (1904) 16: 13

Ferguson wrote of a young bird being taken at Perumathoray, about

10 miles from Trivandrum, but Sdélim Ali (1953) in THE BIRDS OF

TRAVANCORE AND COCHIN has referred to this as Fregata andrewsi.

In the absence of the specimen and the fact that only two species

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 669

were recognized in Ferguson’s time, this record must now be written

off as uncertain.

BomBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY,

91, WALKESHWAR ROAD, HUMAYUN ABDULALI

BoMBAY 6,

October 3, 1960.

15. A NOTE ON THE COMMON MONITOR, VARANUS

MONITOR LIiNN.

Several reports on monitors have been published in the Journal

of the Bombay Natural History Society. Without making any

reference to or comment upon previous records, the writer wishes to

record his own observations.

Breedine scason, ) ete, eihe® breeding season of the

Common Monitor, Varanus monitor Linn., in Uttar Pradesh, as

observed by the writer in Lucknow and Gorakhpur, extends from the

middle of April to the end of July. The number of eggs laid by

the females of this species varies from 8 to 19 (as was apparent from

the collection of eggs on five occasions). ‘The size of the eggs varied

from 47X36 mm. to 55X44 mm., the average size of 50 eggs being

49X38 mm. The weight of the eggs varied from 9.3 gm. to 14.5 gm.,

the average weight of 25 eggs, sorted at random, being 11.4 gm.

On one occasion, the eggs were collected from beneath thick

vegetation in a ruined and neglected building, about five miles (8 km.)

from the Lucknow University. However, this seems to be unusual

because this lizard normally digs a hole in the ground, deposits its

eggs in the hole, and covers the eggs with the dug-up earth and

other débris in such a way that it is difficult to spot them.

All efforts to get freshly hatched young ones from the eggs

under laboratory conditions, for infection experiments, proved futile.

During the course of his investigations on the incidence of

opalinid (Protozoa) infections in the preserved specimens of the

various species of monitors in the collections of the Zoological Survey

of India, the writer came across two female gravid specimens of

Varanus monitor which were collected from Bikaner State (Rajasthan)

on the Sth April 1957. The specimen Reg. No. 20739 measured

54.1 cm. in length, and the other, Reg. No. 20740, measured 35.2 cm.

(both measurements are inclusive of the tails). The former

670 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Specimen was found to contain 17 eggs, the latter 9 eggs, a result

which accords with the assertion of Smith (THE BRITISH AMPHIBIANS

AND REPTILES, 1954, p. 169) about British lizards that the number of

the eggs produced at one time increases with the age and size of

the female. The eggs were more or less fully mature: thus, it seems

that the breeding season of Varanus monitor begins in Rajasthan

sometime earlier than April.

Diet, habits, etc. As regards the diet of Varanus monitor,

all sorts of seizable prey has been included in its menu. However,

the writer from his observations on this lizard in the field, and from

the examination of the gut-contents of a large number of specimens

[as also of the gut-contents of several specimens of V. flavescens

(Gray), V. griseus (Daudin), and V. nebulosus (Gray)], feels con-

vinced that these imostly terrestrial monitors feed primarily on large

insects (beetles, grasshoppers, roaches, etc.), and small lizards and

snakes. Birds and their eggs, small rodents, and other animals are

only occasionally preyed upon. They are, no doubt, fond of rats

and mice, but in view of their diurnal habits the monitors do not

frequently come across these rodents, which are mostly active during

the night. Further, the Common Monitor as well as the other

terrestrial species mentioned above do not seem to have a liking for

an amphibian diet: they probably prey upon frogs and toads in nature,

as a last resort only. Vogel [REPTILE LIFE. ‘Translated by Margot

Schierl (1958): 32] has justifiably remarked that very few of the

monitors will look twice at a frog. The situation in captivity is

different, and an anuran diet will not be rejected.

Varanus monitor seems to be a very hardy animal in respect of

withstanding starvation. During the course of his researches at the

Lucknow University, the writer managed to keep some specimens of

this lizard starving for over seven months in captivity.

In the plains, the Common Monitor hardly digs a burrow for

itself; it mostly occupies the burrows of rodents, or hides itself in

thick vegetation or neglected buildings; it takes to ponds and pools

but rarely. The writer has never seen young ones of Varanus

monitor taking to trees; adults, when cornered, readily climb up a

tree; also sometimes for the sake of eggs and chicks of birds.

RESEARCH LABORATORY,

ZOOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA,

CALCUTTA,

March 19, 1960.

P. L. MiSRA

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 671

16. OBSERVATIONS ON THE RED EARTH BOA OR

RUSSELL’S EARTH-SNAKE [ERYX CONICUS (SCHNEIDER)]

I had opportunities to observe, in nature and in captivity, some.

of the habits of the Red Earth Boa, or Russell’s Earth-snake [Eryx

conicus (Schneider)], known in Malayalam as mannuli (burrower)

with reference to its burrowing mode of life. It is also called

mannutheeni (sand-eater) because of its reputed sand-eating habit, a

belief which has no factual basis.

E. conicus spends the whole day buried in small crevices or holes

in the ground. I once collected a specimen from a burrow nearly

11 feet (45 cm.) below the surface in loose sandy soil. It is

nocturnal in its habits and moves out at night in search of prey

consisting of mice, field rats, toads, small lizards, and birds, which

it kills by constriction. It cannot endure long periods of starvation.

The dark brown patches on the back of E. conicus are bordered

by luminous white margins, which would obviously be more dis-

cernible to other nocturnal animals than the blotches. This probably

helps it in securing its prey.

The visual power of E. conicus is as good as that of any other

snake, and when underground and unable to see in the darkness it

can perceive even the smallest sound vibrations made on the ground.

It will remain buried for hours on end in captivity with only the

snout and the eyes exposed, retreating into the sand and burying

itself completely at the slightest disturbance. It can remain under-

ground for nearly an hour at a stretch. Unlike the common land

snakes, E. conicus does not protrude and retract its tongue repeatedly;

it does so only when it is subjected to considerable physical irrita-

tion. This indicates that the tongue is not used much in the way

of a sense organ.

E. conicus shuns bright sunlight, and recedes into the dark corner

of a partially illuminated cage. I have, however, seen it occasionally

basking in dim sunlight. Burrowing in sand is usually a matter of

a few minutes, and in consequence E. conicus is more at home in

sandy soil. It is nevertheless not quite rare elsewhere. While

burrowing the body is thrown into lateral folds; the burrowing is

initiated by the head, and is doubtless facilitated by the scooping

action of the lateral folds and the slightly prehensile tail.

In captivity E. conicus is gentle and well-disposed, becoming

active only when artificially irritated or at night or during the capture

of prey. The body is ordinarily cylindrical. Under provocation it

assumes the threat posture and the body becomes dilated, turgid,

672 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

and plano-convex in shape; one row of outer scales on each side is

pressed on the ground, distending the costals and making the lateral

spots stand out more vividly. With the lateral spots completing the

gaps in the picture the resemblance to the Russell’s Viper [Vipera

russellit russellii (Shaw)] becomes very strong, earning it the name

of payyanamandali (from payyana, the vernacular name of a plant

the leaf-scars of which bear a peculiar resemblance to the spots of

E. conicus, and mandali, viper). The flattened lower surface helps

it to get a better grip of the ground. One specimen, which remained

with me for some time in captivity, used to press its flanks to the

ground along the whole length of its body. The mechanism

involved in this dilation of the body is under investigation. Another

threat posture takes the form of throwing the body suddenly into

coils under which it hides its head.

DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY,

ST. JOSEPH’S COLLEGE, K. G. ADIYODI.

DEVAGIRI, CALICUT 4,

March 28, 1960.

17. MATING BEHAVIOUR OF THE BEETLE HYDROPHILUS

OLIVACEUS FABRICIUS

Hydrophilus olivaceus Fabricius belongs to the family Hydro-

philidae, order Coleoptera. It is found in the local ponds and comes

to light in large numbers. Some of these adults were collected and

put in small water tanks and their mating behaviour was studied by

the author in the laboratory. One pair was isolated in a glass tank.

Externally there is not much difference between male and female

beetles except that the males are generally smaller than females.

The male rides over the female holding the elytra at the sides by

its forelegs, mid- and hind-legs free and the mouth parts rubbing the

groove between prothorax and mesothorax. During mating, the

female swims while the male keeps on riding over her. The union

is effected by the full extension of the aedeagus by the male which

touches the female genitals. The female does not protrude its

genitals as in somie orthopteran insects and makes no copulatory

movements. The male succeeds in inserting the aedeagus in the

female genitals only after many unsuccessful attempts. At the time

of complete union of the two genital armatures, the female does not

move but remains stationary. The full union hardly lasts even forty

seconds. After mating the male comes up at the surface to take

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 673

air and very soon returns to the female to. mate again. A cracking

sound is made by the male when he approaches the female. The

sound produced is very feeble and is audible to the human ear

at a distance of about one foot only. The female does not chase

the male for copulation. It has been observed that the male

keeps on riding over the female for hours if the female comes to the

water surface quite often. At intervals the frequency of mating is

once for every minute and is continued for many days even without

any food.

DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY,

BIRLA COLLEGE, S. N. MATHUR

PILANI, RAJASTHAN,

August 30, 1960.

18. MIGRATIONAL FLIGHTS OF THE COMMON

INDIAN CROW BUTTERFLY [EUPLOEA CORE (CRAMER)]

In this note I record two migrational flights of the Common

Indian Crow butterfly [Euploea core (Cramer)] through Bombay, one

in a northerly direction seen on 20 June 1960, the second in a

southerly direction seen on 23 July 1960.

Since January 1960 I am observing the movements of certain

species of butterflies, including FE. core, in my garden on Pali Hill.

I watch from a window on the first floor. Observations are confined

to the patch of garden directly in front of the window, measuring

roughly 50 ft. by 55 ft. (c. 15 by 16 m.). On the north the area

under observation is cut off from the adjoining compound by a dense

line of mango trees, a 4 ft. (c. 1 m.) high rubble wali, and low

bushes. On the west runs a municipal road, about four feet (c. 1 m.)

below the level of the garden. Further west, across the road, there

slopes down for about 60 yards (c. 55 m.) a piece of waste land

surrounded by mango trees with a few mango trees scattered over it,

largely stripped of their Jeaves and smaller branches by foraging goat-

herds and fuel-hunters. On the south the garden extends about 70 ft.

(c. 21 m.) more and is separated from the garden next door by a

brick wall and a line of trees of various kinds. On the east of the

observation area is my house, which extends about 30 ft. (c. 9 m.)

further south. Observation is done in watches of 15-minute duration

scattered throughout the day.

674. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

From the beginning of March, the population of E. core was low.

In fact, in April I saw only three E. core in 97 watches. and in May

none at all in 73 watches. In 25 watches from the Ist to the 19th

June, I saw only one butterfly at all resembling E. core but could

not identify it with certainty. The first sign of a change came. in

the morning of 20 June when I noticed one E. core flying slowly

round in the garden settling on the flowers. Then in my 11.45 to

-12.00 watch I observed two E. core both flying north, at a height of

about 20 ft. (c. 6 m.) above the ground. This was foilowed by

19 E. core in the 12.05-12.20 watch, all flying north at heights vary-

ing from 15 to 30 ft. (c. 5 to 9 m.) above the ground. From my

“post of observation I could see a similar flight taking place over

the waste land beyond the road. The butterflies flew steadily and

slowly forward at about 6 to 7 miles (c. 10 to 11 km.) per hour.

They seemed to take no interest in their surroundings or in each

other, except for three over my garden which flew round and round

each other for a little while at the same time moving forward slowly

to the north. At 13.00 hours, after lunch, I went into the garden.

There was no flight in progress and only one E. core was to be seen

flying slowly from flower to flower in the garden. I went to the

waste land across the road and to a more open piece of land further

_ down, but observed no E, core in either place. In my next watch,

from 13.40 to 13.55 hours there were 4 E. core, 3 flying high and

steadily north like those previously observed and one flying low

and moving slowly about in the garden.

At the time of these observations there was a slight breeze blow-

- ing from the west. The temperature in the shade was about 30.5° C.

Rain-clouds covered the sky; the sun showed through in the first

watch but was obscured throughout the other two watcnes. There

was no rain. :

On the 21st and on subsequent days I continued my watch in the

garden and kept a look-out for E. core while moving about in

Bombay. I saw a few E. core flitting about at a low height; there

was nothing resembling a migratory flight. This position continued

till the 23rd July, when there was a sudden increase in numbers.

The main flight this time was from noxth to south, but it was not

as purposeful and uniform as on the previous occasion; also, the

butterflies flew more slowly, about 4 to 5 miles (c. 6 to 8 km.) an

hour, and after coming over the line of mango trees along the

northern boundary of my garden they came down lower than on the

Ist June, some of them to about 10 ft. (c. 3 m.) height. My

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 675

observations on this day can most conveniently be Bien in tabular

form (Table I).

TABLE I

; Sun

. No. seen and direction of flight

Time of ; showing | obscured

OQUSCRY AONE See ae es ee Re ee ;

S | N | SE | SW | Mi | E | F min. min.

11.40-11.55 13 — 2: — — — DD 6 9

12.15-12.30 3 2 — = 1 1 3 0 15

13.45-14.00 — 1 =< 1 — — 3 15 0

eons See ea, oe De | 15 0

Total .. | 19 | 3 | 2 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 36 24

Note: In the column headed F are shown butterflies whieh flitted about in

the garden.

It will be seen that of the butterflies observed 10 flitted about

without flying in any definite direction. Of the rest 19 flew south,

3 north, 2 south-east, | south-west, 1 west, and | east. I did not

notice any flight over the waste land across the road on the west.

Between 12.30 and 13.45 hours I visited the open land to the. east

of my house; there was no flight in progress and only 2 E. core

were to be seen, flitting about from plant to plant.

| The 23rd July was a cloudy day, with no rain, still ne the

first three watches and a westerly breeze in the fourth watch. ‘The

sun was obscured for the greater part of the first watch and the whole

of the second watch, and shone throughout the third and fourth

watches. The temperature in the shade was about 32.5° C. during

these four watches.

On the 24th July, 1 E. core was flitting about in the garden at

7.33 a.m. and in six watches later in the day only 2 E. core were

seen, both flitting about in the garden. Heavy rain interrupted

watching from the 25th to the 27th. In the rest of July and in

August, the numbers of E. core seen were low. In September

numbers increased. Table If summarises the changes in population

from January to September.

; It will be seen that between the two inerations observed ee me,

and immediately before and after them, the population of. E. core

676 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

TABLE II

lod el laa J ;

3 2 $ g : June | uly | Aug. | Sept

els | =| 8) 2 is |

GaSe esac SPS

No. |

seen Ate S3 | 10 1293") OLl 0 29125 13 4 37 6 4 33

No. of a

watches | 61 | 124] 114 | 97 te 25 3 |20 ap fees S| 56 48

in my area of observation was small and was not sensibly increased,

and in my movements in the city of Bombay I saw very few E. core.

So it seems likely that Bombay merely lies on the line of migration,

outward and return.

Looking through old issues of the Society’s journal I find that

the northward migration of E. core has been observed several times.

Aitken (1897, 1901) saw it in at least eleven separate years and

reported two specific instances. The earlier report, sent from

Ratnagiri, relates to a migration which began on 7 June 1897, but

it is not clear at what place the migration was witnessed. The

second migration was observed by him from the Esplanade in Bombay

on 22 July 1900. The usual date for the northward migration is in the

beginning of June according to him, but in 1900 the migration occurred:

later under peculiar weather conditions. His experience was that the

migration continues through one day and sometimes goes on for a

second day. The northward migration seen by Miss A. Ghose in

Bombay on [3 June 1937 is described as having lasted for only two

hours, but must have been on a vast scale as her estimate of the

insects that passed through in that time was 30,000 (Williams, 1938,

appendix). Of the return journey I can find only one previous re-

port (Aitken, 1898). It was observed over Bombay in July 1898,

first noticed on the 26th at 4 p.m., resumed in the early morning on

the 27th, and continued till ‘the afternoon at least’. The migrations

seen by me were on a much smaller scale than those formerly reported,

both ‘as to duration and as to the number of insects seen. But they

pose the same questions as were put by Aitken long ago: where do

the butterflies come from? where do they go? Do the same

insects perform the return journey or the immediately following

generation as Aitken guessed? why do they migrate? and so on.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 677

Davidson & Aitken (1890) report that in June 1889 in Karwar

E. core was seen in great numbers which ‘almost amounted to a

plague’, it disappeared in July, and was found again from August

onwards. Apart from Ajtken’s report from Ratnagiri, I have

ascertained from some residents of Ratnagiri that the phenomenon

of migration is well known in that district. These facts suggest the

possibility that Kanara and its neighbourhood are the starting place

of the outward migration and the destination of the return migration,

and that the route lies along or near the western sea-coast of India.

Observations in this area may be fruitful of results.

Aitken (1897) mentions that the villagers connect the northern

migration with the approach of the monsoon. In this connection

his observation of July 1898, published under the heading ‘Butterflies

as weather prophets’, is interesting. The weather conditions in that

year were very gloomy. There was no storm in May, not even

distant thunder and lightning. Apart from heavy but irregular rain

for about a week, there was very little rain in June. After squally

weather on the 12th June and for a few days thereafter the weather

set fine and, to the despair of everybody, there appeared to be no pro-

spect of more rain. In these circumstances, when Aitken on seeing

the migration on the 22nd July told a friend: ‘It is all right—the

monsoon is coming in three days’, he was ridiculed. But his prophecy

came true. On the very next evening there was a heavy shower of

rain, there were thunderstorms on the next four evenings, and the

monsoon ‘broke regularly’ on the 28th and continued satisfactorily

thereafter. Aitken’s conjecture is that the butterflies fly north to

escape ‘the heavy rain with which the monsoon opens on the southern

coast’ (Aitken, 1898). Examination of the figures. of rainfall in 1897

and 1937 as recorded at the Colaba observatory gives the. following

results. In 1897, when the migration was observed on the 7th June,

the rain started on the 6th and continued steadily to the end of the

month with only four days on which there was no rain. In 1937,

when the migration occurred on the 13th June, rain started on the

12th June and continued to the end of the month without a break

of a single day. Apparently, therefore, there is some connection

between the northward migration and the onset of the monsoon. But

in 1960, ignoring a few scattered showers in May and the first light

rainfall in June, the monsoon began about the 13th June, that is to

say about a week before the northward migration. It does not

necessarily follow that the belief of the villagers is mistaken, for

Bombay is merely on the route of the migration; to attempt an answer

678 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

to the question we want to know the weather conditions at the

start and at the turn of the migration.

The migration appears to be comparatively limited in its extent,

and regular in its occurrence. The metallic gold (sometimes silver)

chrysalis of the butterfly, the distinctive marking and shape of its

wings, and its leisurely flight make it easy to identify and to observe.

It therefore provides an excellent opportunity for probing into the

motive causes of insect migration, a problem that is still imperfectly

understood. The first requisite is to ascertain the starting and turn-

ing points of the seasonal movements, and the routes followed on

the outward and the return journey, together with relevant details

about dates and local weather conditions. Every scrap of informa-

tion will help; observers willing to take part in collecting material

should address their reports to the Society. Details of the points

on which information is desired are set out in the Editorial Note

appended to Miscellaneous Note No. 16 at page 430 of the Society’s

Journal Volume 57, No. 2.

To assist those who may desire to help in collecting material

it will be useful to complete the analysis of the reports which I

have found in the literature consulted.

October appears to be a month in which E. core may be expected

to be on the move. Prall (1898) reports that on 21 October 1897

he saw a procession of E. core ‘passing down the harbour’ (? going)

south) at Mody Bunder in Bombay. ‘Many hundreds’ must have

passed in the hour during which he was watching. Andrewes (1909)

reports that on 18 October 1908 in Ouchterlony Valley in the

Nilgiris he saw E. core ‘by thousands’ floating high over the treetops

of the dense forest, all without exception going west. This went on

for the four hours that he was there. Three days later, on the

21st, hardly an Euploea was to be seen. Wall (1921) on 28 October

1921 witnessed an eastward flight at sea during a voyage from

Karachi to Bombay. The flight went on all day and was particularly

thick opposite Madiapur on the Kathiawar coast, about 5 to 6 miles

(c. 8 to 9 km.) from land. Several species were seen, and among

those identified was one ‘Euploea, probably core’. As the nearest

land to the west is some hundreds of miles distant he conjectured

that the butterflies were “blown out to sea by a strong current and

driven back by a reverse current’.

Other observations are a flight to the south-east on 28 March

i909 witnessed by J. Evershed at Kodaikanal in south India

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 679

(Williams, 1938, at p. 445), and one to the east in July 1922 witnessed

by Tulloch at Deolali (Williams, 1938, at p. 449). My observations

showed rises in February and September, but no mass movement.

49, Pati HILL,

BANDRA, BomBay 50, D. E, REUBEN

October 29, 1960.

REFERENCES

Aitken, E. H. (1897): The migra- Notes on the larvae and pupae of some

tion of butterflies. J. Bombay nat. of the butterflies of the Bombay Presi-

Hist. Soc. 11 : 336-7. dency. ibid. 5 : 260-78.

| (1898) : Migration of Buploea Prall, S. E. (1898) : Speed of flight

core. ibid. 12 : 229-30. in butterflies. ibid. 11 : 533

(1901) : Butterflies as peaihen Wally Be (@921):: Butterflies at sea.

prophets. ibid. 13 : 540-1. ibid. 28 : 293.

Andrewes, H. N. (1909): Migration Williams, C. B. (1938): The migra-

of butterflies. ibid, 19 ; 271. tion of butterflies in India. ibid. 40:

Davidson, J. & Aitken, Ee (1890): 439-57.

19. PLUSIA (PHYTOMETRA) NI HB. (NOCTUIDAE) AS

A PEST OF CABBAGE, BRASSICA OLERACEA, IN

SOUTH INDIA

For the past few years a green semilooper, Plusia ni Hb., -has .

been found to inflict serious damage on the crop of cabbage

(Brassica oleracea) in Madurai district. Since the insect has been

noted for the first time in south India as a serious pest on cabbage,

a crop which is grown on a commercial scale on the hills and in the

plains, a short account of it is given in this paper.

DISTRIBUTION. Hampson (1894) has given San Domingo, Europe,

St. Vincent (Cape Verde Is.), Aden, Japan, China, and north-west

India as its distribution. Fletcher has stated that it occurs through-

out India, but the records of its cccurrence extend only to Pusa,

Lahore, Surat, Kumbharia (Bombay), United Provinces, Gujarat

(Fletcher, 1921), and Dehra Dun (Gardner, 1947).

It is of interest to note that Fletcher (1921) has recorded a few

species of the genus Plusia (Phytometra) as occurring on cabbage in

N. India; they are Plusia ni Hb. in Surat and Kumbharia (Bombay),

P. chalcytes Fb. in Kumbharia (Bombay), P. orichalcea Fb. in Poona,

Nagpur, Pusa, etc., and P. signata Fb. in Bihar, but he is doubtful

about the correct identification of the last named species.

FOOD PLANTS. Larvae of Plusia ni Hb. were noted on cauli-

flower in Pusa and Lahore, on cabbage in Surat and Kumbharia

680 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

(Bombay), on opium poppy in United Provinces and Gujarat, and on

safflower, nettle, and Solanum (Fletcher, 1921). In the insect

collections at the Agricultural College and Research Institute,

Coimbatore, it is seen that a few specimens have been collected on

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) at Coimbatore by R. N. Chari in 1923.

Gardner (1947) has noted the larvae on Antirrhinum, cabbage. and

tomato in Dehra Dun. The insect has now been noted to be a

severe pest of cabbage in Madurai district (Madras State), and it has

not been observed to feed on any other plant in this locality.

NATURE OF DAMAGE AND SEASONAL OCCURRENCE. During the last

41 years this insect has been found to appear regularly from

September to April on cabbage in Periyakulam, parts. of

Tirumangalam, Nilakottai, and Dindigul taluks of Madurai district,

where cabbage is grown on a commercial scale in about 2000 acres

(c. 800 hectares). The caterpillars appear both in the nursery and

on the planted crop, and eat away the leaves leaving only the veins

and midribs. In severe cases the crop had to be ploughed in. The

damage is marked when the caterpillars attack the crop at the time

of formation of heads. About 30-60% of the yield is affected.

Since the insect has assumed serious proportions in this area and

the other common pests of this crop are not known to cause such

"severe damage it is considered to be of major economic importance

for cabbage.

LIFE-HISTORY. The female moth lays greenish white, spherical,

sculptured eggs singly on the undersurface of the leaves. The

caterpillar is slender and attenuated anteriorly and moves as a

semilooper. It feeds gregariously on the leaves and when full-grown

measures about one-and-a-half inches (c. 38 mm.) in length and is

green in colour with light wavy white lines and a broader lateral

stripe. It pupates on the undersurface of the leavés in a thin trans-

parent silken cocoon.

The moth is stout, brown in colour, with light wavy markings and

with a more slender Y-mark on the forewings.

NATURAL ENEMIES. So far no parasites or predators have been

noted on this insect in this locality.

CONTROL. The widespread attack by this pest made the culti-

vators try control with chemicals. In the early years, the cultivators

either dusted with 5% DDT or sprayed with 0.25% DDT. In course

of time as this did not give satisfactory results the cultivators tried

spraying Endrex 20 E.C. at 1 oz. (c. 28 gr.) in 64 gallons (c. 28 litres)

of water and parathion 0.025% [Folidol 1 oz. (c. 28 gr.) in 124

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 681

gallons (c:. 56 litres) of water]. As these chemicals control the pest

and the plant lice as well, these methods are widely followed by

the cultivators.. They have been advised to handle the chemicals

with care as they are poisonous and to stop the application a month

before the harvest of the crop to eliminate residue hazards. An

insecticidal trial with a view to control the pest effectively without

any residual effect, as it is a vegetable crop, is worth pursuing.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. My thanks are due to Dr. M. G. Ramdoss

Menon, Ph.D., Systematic Entomologist, New Delhi, for permitting

me to study the collections at the Indian Agricultural Research

Institute, New Delhi, and to the Director, Commonwealth Institute

of Entomology, London, for identifying the insect. ‘Thanks are also

due to Dr. S. Kanakaraj David, ph.p., Reader in Entomology, and to

Sri K. R. Nagarajan, B.Sc. (Ag.), Crop & Plant Protection Officer,

(Entomology), Coimbatore, for their kind help and valuable sugges-

tions in the preparation of this note, and to Sri R. Subbiah Pillai,

B.Sc. (Ag.), District Agricultural Officer, Madurai, for encouragement

and facilities given in making the observations.

POST-GRADUATE TRAINING CENTRE,

COIMBATORE-3, B. VASANTHARAJ DAVID

August 2, 1960.

REFERENCES

Gardner, J. C. M. (1947): Trans. List of Indian Crop Pests. Pusa Bulle-

R. ent. Soc. London 98 : 59-89. tin 100 : 40-43.

Fletcher, T. B. (1921): Annotated Hampson, G. F. (1894): The Fauna

of British India, Moths 2 : 570.

20. SYNGAMIA ABRUPTALIS WALKER (PYRALIDAE—

LEPIDOPTERA): A NEW PEST OF MENTHA VIRIDIS L.

IN SOUTH INDIA

INTRODUCTION

Mentha viridis 1.. (Labiatae) (Tam. Podina) is a small perennial

herb commonly grown in kitchen gardens and used for seasoning

many culinary preparations. The thick, fleshy leaves are used for

making chutneys, for flavouring soups, salads, etc. It has a

medicinal value and has been used for curing hysteria and some

infantile troubles. So far no insect has been noted as doing any

marked damage to the plant. Recently, however, the caterpillars of

682. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

the moth Syngamia abruptalis Walker were observed causing the

withering of the plants on a large scale in the orchard attached to

the Agricultural College and Research Institute, Coimbatore. Since

it is recorded here for the first time, the observations made are given

below. | .

PREVIOUS RECORDS

Lefroy (1909) noted the insect on Ocimum sanctum L. (Tam.

Thulasi). It has, however, not appeared in any large proportions on

this plant. No further information is available on this insect from

India. Shroff (1919) mentioned it as ‘not a serious pest’ on the

leaves of mint, in Burma. According to Zacker (1913) it is a leaf-

feeding pest of cotton, in Africa. |

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INSECT

The caterpillar folds the leaf in a characteristic way and feeds

inside. The edges of the leaf are brought together and folded along

the midrib in the longitudinal axis. The edges are united by silk

filaments, and the doubled leaf is seen as a flat one. Many leaves

in the terminal shoot are also loosely webbed with stray strands of

silk. The caterpillar rests near the midrib with its head pointing

towards the stem, and scrapes the parenchyma in the inner portion

of the folded leaf, leaving the lower epidermal portion intact. It

attacks 2 or 3 leaves in the same branch before it attains full growth.

The folded skeletonised leaves gradually wither away. Consequently,

the branch where it has been feeding dies. Two or three caterpillars

have been noticed on different leaves in the same branch.

The fully-grown caterpillar measures 22 mm. in length. The

head capsule is lignt yellow to light brown in colour. The body is

pale green in the young stage, but turns yellowish later. Black spots

with hairs are present on the dorso-lateral aspect in the thoracic and

the first 8 abdominal segments. There are also short hairs arising

singly in other portions of the body. On disturbance the caterpillars

move quickly in jerks and hang on silken threads. Just before

pupation red patches are developed around the dark spots on the

body.

Pupation takes place inside the leaf-fold in a white cocoon made

of a few strands of silk. The pupa is brown, about 8.5 mm. in

length, and is attached to the leaf by the anal end.

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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 683

The moth is orange-brown, with the forewing crossed by a black

curved antimedial line and irregularly undulated postmedial line,

which curves below and touches a black streak. The hind wing is

crossed by two medial blackish wavy lines and a marginal line in

black. Outer borders of the wings are darkest in colour. The fore

legs are whitish with black bands. The wing expanse is 6/10-

7 / NO eer 5-17 mm.)

ECONOMIC STATUS

The insect appeared in large numbers on a bed of mint in the

orchard and completely damaged the crop in one month. It occurred

in May and June by which time all the plants had been affected.

It thus seems to be a serious pest of the crop.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors are thankful to Dr. S. Kanakaraj David, Reader in

Entomology, Post-Graduate Training Centre, Coimbatore, for having

given valuable suggestions in preparing this paper.

POST-GRADUATE TRAINING CENTRE, A. ABDUL KAREEM

COIMBATORE-3, S. JAYARAJ

July 7, 1960. P. P. VASUDEVA MENON

REFERENCES

Lefroy, Maxwell (1909): Indian In- Zacker, F. (1913): ‘ African Cotton

sect Life : 517. Pests.” Arbeit. K. biol. Anst. Land-

Shroff, K. D. (1919): List of the und Forstwirts Chaft, Berlin, 1x, No. 1,

pests of the stored products, spices and 1913, pp. 121-230.

drugs, in Burma. Proc. III Ent. Meet-

ing, Pusa, 2 : 762-3.

21. A NEW SPECIES OF THE GENUS CRASPEDOXANTHA

BEZZI, 1913, FROM INDIA (DIPTERA: TRYPETIDAE)

(With a_ plate)

The genus Craspedoxantha was first erected by Bezzi in 1913

with Craspedoxantha ociopunctata as the type. The description of

the genus was based upon a single female specimen from the Dawna

Hills (Lower Burma), collected in 1908. This species was sub-

sequently recorded from Bangalore (Senior-White 1922) and from

Delhi (Bhatia 1939) and I am glad to be able to describe a new

‘Species.

684. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Craspedoxantha indica sp. nov..

MALE. General coloration of the body cream-yellow; length of

body 4.13 mm.; wing 4.62 mm. long, 1.47 mm. broad, 3.14 times

as long as broad. |

Head. Length, width, and height of the head, 0.86 mm., 1.44

mm., and 1.19 mm. respectively; frons slightly convex, 0.57 mm.

long, 0.75 mm. wide, 1.2 times as long as the maximum width of

either eye; face concave; eyes scarlet-red, sharply contrasting with

the cream-yellow colour of the head; each eye in profile 0.92 mm.

high and 0.48 mm. wide, 1.9 times as high as wide; third antennal

segment with its ventral side gently curving towards the dorsal apex;

length of second segment 0.19 mm., length of third segment 0.29 mm.,

the third segment 1.5 times longer than the second; the antennal

segments concolorous with the head, arista brown and 0.38 mm.

long; proboscis capitate; maxillary palpi moderately broad with a

few very fine yellow bristles; premental plate (theca) concolorous

with the proboscis which is cream-yellow; ocellars yellow; lower

orbitals three, yellow: wpper orbitals two, yellow; inner verticals

yellow; outer verticals yellow; postocellars pale, scale-like; post-

verticals pale, scale-like; postorbitals (occipital row) consisting of

approximately ten, pale scale-like, small bristles; genals yellow.

Thorax. Dorsum of thorax light reddish yellow and covered with

very short white hairs; the notopleural calli, the humeral calli, the

pleurae, and the scutellum cream-yellow; mesosterna and metasterna

reddish yellow; prosternum cream-yellow; scutellum 0.42 mm. long,

0.81 mm. wide, the apical half of the scutellum bearing small, dark

brown hairs; two pairs of black spots forming a square in the middle of

the dorsum of thorax behind the suture and bearing the dorsocentral

and prescutellar bristles; one black spot just postero-ventral to the

presutural bristle; one black spot ventral to the anterior supra-alar

bristle; one black spot posterior to the first posterior supra-alar

bristle, situated between the latter and the basal angle of the

scutellum; one black spot just postero-dorsal to the wing-base; a

pair of black, coalesced spots at the antero-mesal aspect of the

mesosternum; legs cream-yellow; fore femora underneath with a

longitudinal row of seven strong yellow bristles, dorsally with two

longitudinal rows of moderately developed bristles; hind femora with

four asymmetrically placed yellow bristles on the dorsal side near

the end; hind tibiae with a comb-like row of stout, yellow bristles

situated longitudinally on the dorsal side and pointing anteriorly;

scapulars with no definite number; humerals pale; anterior noto-

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 685

pleurals pale; posterior notopleurals pale; presuturals pale;

dorsocentrals pale, situated slightly anteriorly to the anterior supra-

lars and longitudinaliy in line with the prescutellars; anterior

supra-alars pale; posterior supra-alars two pale; mesopleural.

pteropleural, and sternopleural pale, one each; scutellars four. pale;

wings with all the veins, except the second brown-yellow; second

vein creamy-white; first vein bristly; third vein bare, but with a

few (approximately four) bristles at the base; costal bristles

two, one of them being comparatively smaller; wing pattern as shown

in the figure.

Abdomen. Colour of abdomen cream-yellow, the terga being

slightly darker; first tergum abundantly clothed with short white

hairs, the rest of terga with dark brown hairs, which are stouter along

the lateral margins; pregenital part of the abdomen 1.69 mm. long,

1.67 mm. wide, 0.67 mm. wide at the base; fifth tergum 0.57 mm.

long, equal to the preceding two terga in length; the genital segments

also cream-yellow, except the black teeth of the outer claspers; a

black spot on each antero-lateral angle of terga 3 to 5, the spot on

tergum 3 being more or less concealed by the preceding tergum, the spots

on terga 4 and 5 being partly so; a black spot on anterior margin of

terga 3 and 4 close to the mid-longitudinal line of the abdomen,

the spots on tergum 3 being more or less concealed by the tergum

preceding, those on the tergum 4 are partly so; a moderately broad

black border along the anterior margin of tergum 5, bluntly

interrupted in the middle and tapering laterally towards the black

spot at the antero-lateral angle of tergum 5; a black spot on postero-

lateral angle of tergum 5 bearing a bristle; surstyli not bifid or lobate;

the genital ring with a hood-like structure in its anterior one-third;

flutella pronged; the details of the genital structures and the aedeagus

as shown in the figures.

FEMALE: Unknown.

HOLOTYPE: One male, in personal collection (ZR 1), collected

while sitting on the leaves of Xanthium strumarium (Compositae),

4.7.1959,

HOST: Unknown.

LOCALITY: University Campus, Aligarh, India.

DISCUSSION

This species resembles Craspedoxantha octopunctata Bezzi in its

8 black spots on the thorax, and in the wing pattern, but it differs

in the following characters:

1. 12 black spots on the abdomen (besides a black border along

“

686 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

the anterior margin of _the fifth tergum); in the genotype the

abdomen. is uniformly reddish yellow. | 2

2. The thorax is light reddish yellow and not dark ferruginous.

3. The scutellum is cream-yellow and not dark ferruginous.

4. The occiput is pale without any grey pollen.

5. There are two upper orbitals instead of one (in this connection

a re-examination of the genotype is highly desirable which un-

_ fortunately is not available). ES:

6. The 2nd vein is creamy-white and not yellow.

7. A double longitudinal row of bristles on the dorsal side of the

fore femora.

8. Four asymmetrically placed bristles on the dorsal side of the

hind femora near the end.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author takes this opportunity to express his grateful thanks

to Prof. M. B. Mirza for providing ali facilities in his department,

and to Dr. S. M. Alam for his interest and encouragement.

DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY,

ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY, MD. ZAKA-UR-RAB

ALIGARH,

August 4, 1960.

REFERENCE

Bezzi, M. (1913): Indian Trypa- the Indian Museum. Mem. Indian Mus.,

neids (Fruit-flies) in the collection of Calcutta 3: 156-157.

22. UNUSUAL NEST-SITE OF THE SOCIAL SPIDER,

STEGODYPHUS SARASINORUM KARSCH

(With a_ plate)

The nest of the Social Spider, Stegodyphus sarasinorum Karsch

(Family Erisidae), is a familiar sight in the scrub jungles of Tambaram.

The nests are usually constructed on shrubs and trees with a pre-

ference for those with thorns and for rough-stemmed plants, like

Grewia (Tiliaceae) and Atalantia (Rutaceae), and more rarely on the

prickly pear plant as observed by Jambunathan (1905) and Savory

(1928). a

An unusual nest building site was noticed by me on the barbed

wire fencing of a compound about a mile north of Tambaram. Here

we ee — oes #08 ~~

- af = 4 we s z aga

' )

4 : 4 : a ” . ’ re wm oe

JOURN. BOMBAY NaT. HIstT. Soc.

Nests of the Social Spider, Stegodyphus sarasinorum Karsch.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 687

the nests were 65 in number, of which about 50 were inhabited and

the rest deserted. The nests were built round the crossing of the

barbed wires, and the houses had a compact laterally compressed

triangular shape, with an average thickness of 20 to 25 mm. and

the edges almost touching each other.

Although the barbed wire fencing extended to over 300 yards

(c. 275 m.) all the nests were close together and built on adjacent

wire crossings. The house was in the centre with several openings

all round, but the net-like expansion with sticky threads covered. the

intervening space between ihe wires.

Each nest was inhabited by about 40 individuals on an average,

with more males than females. The maies were smaller (6. mm.)

than the females (8 to 9 mm.). Both the sexes were of ashy grey

colour resembling the surroundings, i.e. the colour of the nest. They

were found to be more active just before dusk and at night. When

an ant was thrown on the nest several of them came out to drag it in.

The study of the exoskeletal remains of insects found in the nest

could be a study by itself and would give a clue to the insect fauna

in that locality. Remains of Chrysomelid beetles, dung-rollers,

water beetles, termites, plant bugs, noctuid moths, and flying anis are

among the more common ones, and some of their exoskeletons are

preserved almost entire, making identification easy.

The month of March seems to be a period of prosperity and breed-

ing for these spiders. In every nest were found 5 to 9 egg-cases.

Each egg-case, a circular disc of fine silk and 4.5 mm. in diameter,

was left stuck to the inner wall of the house. These were invariably

guarded by females, who took up a threatening attitude when dis-

turbed. Some nests had newly hatched young, which were also

guarded in a similar way by the females. _ | ;

These observations were made while going round on the survey

of the Arachnida of Tambaram and its environs, which was

undertaken with a grant for field work from the Bombay Natural

History Society.

DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY, »

MADRAS CHRISTIAN COLLEGE, G. J. PHANUEL

TAMBARAM, CHINGLEPUT DIST.,

July 9, 1960.

REFERENCES

Tarainaaihan: N.S, (1905): The habits sonian Misc. Coll, 47, No. 1573, : 365-

and life history of a Social Spider,

Stegodyphus sarasinorum Karsch. Smith- Savory, Theodore H. (1928): The

| Biology of Spiders. London.

688 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

[C. E. C. Fischer in a note on this species (J. Bombay nat. Hist.

Soc. 18 : 207) stated that he had no evidence of these spiders attack-

ing any insects struggling in the web and believed that they either

allowed the trapped insects to die or waited till it was quite helpless.

with starvation.—Eps.]

23. AN UNUSUAL METHOD OF CURING SCORPION

| STINGS

My attention has been drawn to a note in The Times of the 13th

June 1960 (late London air edition) entitled “An Indian Painkiller’.

When the correspondent, probably an ex-I.C.S. man, was sitting

with one Agarwal, a Dy. Magistrate in Saharanpur, he was stung by

a brown wasp. Agarwal offered to cure him with a none too clean

steel-bladed paper-knife and the correspondent hesitatingly agreed.

With the knife point held flat under his forefinger, Agarwal criss-

crossed slowly and steadily the area of the sting, firmly scratching

but never breaking the surface. Each time he was careful to ensure

that the knife point crossed the exact point of entry of the sting and

with each stroke the correspondent felt relieved. After a dozen

passes or so, the pain had virtually disappeared. Subsequently, the

correspondent used this cure successfully for scorpion and wasp stings.

He also mentions an instance when his treatment was interrupted by

a Sub-inspector of Police who, by similar methods, ‘put back’ the

pain! This was however removed a few minutes later in the same

fashion and one is left with the impression that the pain could be

‘switched’ on and off! — |

This reminds me of a similar experience.

About 30 years ago a cousin F. H. B. Tyabji started farming near

Ahmednagar in the Bombay-Deccan. The area was a wilderness and

very little medical attention was then available. Under these cir-

cumstances my cousin, with a bottle of iodine and a _ few

standard mixtures, soon became the local doctor. Among the many

complaints of various kinds which were brought to him, he found

that scorpion sting was a constant occurrence. About this time, he

was informed that certain signs accompanied by verses from the

Koran would cure the pain and he decided to give it a trial.

A rectangle was to be drawn complete with diagonals and a

triangle at the top, without. lifting the instrument off the skin, the

Arabic lines being recited throughout the performance.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 689

The response was instantaneous and amazing. At the first

performance the pain was said to have dropped for an appreciable

distance and, if repeated two or three times, disappeared completely.

A person literally writhing with pain would turn up at the farm to

be treated and return happy and cured within a few minutes.

Tyabji’s fame spread far and wide and victims crowded to him for

the ‘miraculous’ cure. With more experience he noticed that the

designs did not have to be very carefully drawn and that he could

skip portions of the prayer. Later, he would merely make passes

with his hands and omit the recitations, but the cure worked just the

same. I understand that he treated hundreds of cases and failures

to relieve pain were very rare.

This is not all and I have an experience of my own to relate

which occurred in 1948, at Chikalda. Returning from a morning's

walk, I found the khansama in great agony, having been stung on

the hand by a scorpion and the pain having gone up to his shoulder.

On the table lay a scalpel, which I had been using for skinning birds.

I picked it up and seized the victim’s arm. Fearing, perhaps, some

sort of amputation, the khansama shrank from me, but I merely

made some passes over his shoulder, barely touching the skin. My

inquiry regarding the efficacy of the cure was met by a blank

stare, but I repeated my actions and was told that the pain had

dropped to the elbow. A few more passes had the man completely

cured, except for slight discomfort at the initial puncture. My wife

was present and I do not know which of us three was the most sur-

prised at what had happened.

I have not had another opportunity to try out this cure, but am

surprised that it is not better known and has not been more closely

investigated by the medical profession. I have no explanation to

offer.

BomBay NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY,

91, WALKESHWAR ROAD, HUMAYUN ABDULALI

BoMBAY 6,

August 1, 1960..

[Fr. H. Santapau, Joint Editor, writes:

‘The late Rev. J. F. Caius, Vice-President and member of the

editorial board of the Bombay Natural History Society, jointly | with

Dr. M. S. Mhaskar published a lengthy paper on ‘Notes on Indian

Scorpions’ in the Indian Med. Res. Mem. 24: 1-102, 1932. In the

preparation of the paper, the authors studied a very large number

of herbal preparations commonly. used. in India in .the treatment of

1%)

690 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

scorpion sting. Of these preparations Caius and Mbhaskar write:

‘None of the Indian Plant Remedies popularly used in the treatment

of scorpion sting has been found to have any preventive, antidotal,

or therapeutic effect’.

‘I asked Fr. Caius what then could be done for scorpion stings.

His answer confirmed the facts mentioned by Shri H. Abdulali in the

preceding note. The most acute pain is felt in the nerve ganglia in

the upper arm or upper leg. Fr. Caius informed me that, using a

needle or even a pointed pencil, one should make a series of

scratches (without cutting the skin) beginning from the point of

greatest pain; from there the scratches are to be repeated about every

inch downwards to the tip of the fingers or of the .toes. The

scratching of the skin distracts the attention of the sufferer, so that

by the time the last scratch has been made near the tip of the arm

or leg, the pain has disappeared.

‘In my personal experience I have found that alcohol or methylated

spirit, ammonia, or even kerosene oil applied to the hand or foot

and allowed to evaporate may produce the same pain-killing effects.

‘One thing should be kept in mind when stung by a scorpion.

‘Scorpion sting is very rarely fatal; and thus scorpions are no more

dangerous to human beings than bees or wasps.’ (Caius & Mhaskar,

p. 98). Some of the deaths recorded in the past as due to scorpion

sting are in all probability mostly due to the vivid imagination of

the sufferer. The maximum amount of venom found by Caius and

Mhaskar in the common Indian scorpion, Buthus tamulus, was only

5.3 mg.; if the toxicity of the venom in relation to body weight was

the same for man as for the very susceptible English rabbit, the

total quantity mentioned above would not be lethal for a greater

body-weight than 2.6 kg. Scorpion venom should then not be lethal

to man, children not excepted’—Eps.]

24. A NEW SPECIES OF MOLLUSC, GULELLA

RAMBHAENSIS, FROM RAMBHA iN ORISSA (GASTROPODA:

FAMILY STREPTAXIDAEB)'

(With one text-figure)

Gulella (Huttonella) rambhaensis sp. nov.

Material:- One broken land shell found along with other speci-

mens in debris lying on the beach of Rambha Bay of the Chilka

* Communicated by the Director, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 691

Lake, Ganjam District, Orissa, about 0.4 km. west of Rambha Dak

Bungalow and 4.8 metres above the water margin.

Though the spire is only partly broken, other essential parts which

remained intact, such as bodywhorl, penultimate whorl, peristome

and armature of the mouth, show the characteristic features of the

genus Gulella Pteiffer (1856). Besides, further study reveals such

remarkable features as are seldom met with in any known species

of this genus. Hence, I propose for it the new name rambhaensis.

Diagnosis: Shell tiny, fragile, perforate, cylindrically-turreted,

dextral, smooth, polished but not shining, white (but it seems that

the colour was pale cream when fresh), devoid of costulations; spire

partly broken, but much narrower than in G. bicolor and its var.

barkudensis; whorls only 4 (the rest, possibly 3 or 4, being entirely

lost with the broken upper part of the shell), slightly convex, body-

whorl adnate as in the above two (i.e. closely connected with the

penultimate whorl, though not free), larger and produced outwards,

greater in width than in length, distinctly carinate at the base—the

carina ending a little before the extremity marked with 2 or 3

vertical lines of growth; sutures impressed and crenulate—crenula-

tions appearing more prominent and bead-like on the ventral side of

the last suture, but gradually diminishing in size while passing round

the dorsum of the bodywhorl along the carina, and ultimately

terminating with it at the base; peristome white, thickened, expanded.

continuous, reflected, rounded at the base somewhat as in var.

barkudensis, truncated above, outer margin more regularly curved

and expanded in the absence of external fosset, and hence extending

even beyond the general outline of the body of the shell itself; parietal

lamina prominent and looking somewhat like the upper part of

the human ear, and ascending just above the last suture only; actual

orifice trilobed—the largest lobe median and lying on the columellar

side, in between the parietal tooth above and the basal tooth at the

left corner below, with the other two on the outer side, the smallest

lobe lying above at the upper angle and the intermediate lobe at the

lower angle in between the median outer marginal tooth (or palatal

tooth) and the basal tooth; parietal and palatal teeth appearing more

or less equally strong, basal tooth smaller and less strong than both,

but columellar plica smallest of all, deep-seated, somewhat depressed

and lying just behind the largest lobe on the throat of the columella;

_ umbilicus only slit-like and concealed from view by the expanded

peristome and hence should be carefully seen from a profile view.

692. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Shell of Gulella (Huttonella) rambhaensis sp. nov., from Rambha, Orissa

(a) Dorsal view; (b) Ventral view.

Measurements:

(i) Length of the broken shell tae 3 23.2) Gian

(ii) Diameter of the broken shell (round the

penultimate whorl) be oes, 13) man:

(iii) Length of the bodywhorl oe ee: na

(iv) Diameter of the bodywhorl = ee ly TE,

(v) Length of the peristome ae ee LO Tama:

(vi) Diameter of the peristome oe ... LO mm.

(vii) Length of the actual orifice a f°0:8) sia

(viii) Diameter of the actual orifice ey 0.5 mm.

Type specimen: Holotype. Regd. No. M_ 16593/2, Zoological

Survey of India, Calcutta.

Type locality: Beach of Rambha Bay of the Chilka Lake at

Rambha, Ganjam District, Orissa. Coll. Dr. H. C. Ray. 6-1-55.

Remarks: The new species, G. (H.) rambhaensis, may be closely

allied to G. bicolor (Hutton, 1834), the most widely distributed land

snail originally known from Mirzapur, U.P., and its var. barkudensis

(Annandale & Prashad, 1920) from the Barkuda Island in- Chilka

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 693

Lake, Orissa, but differs markedly from both in having the shell

perforate and its spire much narrower, bodywhorl slightly more pro-

duced outwards and carinate at the base, crenulations more prominent

and bead-like on the ventral side of the last suture and continued

even to the base along the carina, peristome continuous and its outer

margin regularly curved and more extended outwards in the absence

of external fosset. For further details about G. bicolor, the papers

of Benthem Jutting (1950) and Blanford & Godwin-Austen (1908) may

be consulted.

ZOOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA,

34, CHITTARANJAN AVENUE,

CALCUTTA-12,

September 14, 1960.

H. C. RAY.

M.Sc., D.Phil., F.Z.S.1.

REFERENCES

Annandale, N. & Prashad, B. (1920):

Rec. Ind. Mus. 19(5): 189-191 (E.

bicolor), 191-194 (var. barkudensis).

Benthem Jutting, W. S. S. (1950):

Treubia 20 : 504-505.

Blanford, W. T. & Godwin-Austen,

(Testacellidae and Zonitidae): 19-21.

Hutton, -T, (1834): J.° As. - Soc.

Bengal, 3 ..86-93 (Pupa_ bicolor).

Pfeiffer,’ L. (1856) Malakoxzool.

Blatt. 2: 173 (Gulella), 174 (Huttonella

and species bicolor).

H. H. (1908): Fauna Brit. Ind., Moll.

25. ECTOPROCTAN-COELENTERATE ASSOCIATION :

AN EXAMPLE OF UNPURPOSEFUL INQUILINISM?

While examining a catch of fishes for parasites I came across a

specimen of the crustacean cymothoid isopod, Nerocila trivittata

Bleeker, attached to the dorsal side of the fish Oftolithus argenteus.

The posterior part of the body of the parasite appeared to be covered

with foreign matter which, on repeated washing, did not peel off.

Consequently the specimen was examined under the microscope.

What looked like dirt turned out to be an encrustation of the

coelenterate hydroid, Clytia gracilis, with a close matting of an

ectoproctan, amidst the horizontal stolons.

As observed by Dales (Geological Society of America, Mem. 67,

p. 391, 1951) interpretation of commensalic associations is peculiarly

susceptible to anthropomorphic bias, particularly because of the

difficulty of applying experimental methods to determine the degree

of dependence of the commensals. Hence exceptions, like the present,

have importance.

Associations between animals and plants or between animals of

widely different groups are described, often casually, as mutualism

(symbiosis), commensalism, and inquilinism. Many sedentary animals,

694 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

particularly hydroids and polyzoans, are epizoic on, ie. they live

attached to, other animals or plants, but are not parasites on them.

There are records of hydroids growing on other coelenterates,

polychaetes, decapods, molluscs, and fishes (Dales, op. cit.). The

present record adds another, quite an unconventional one, to the list

of hosts. To my knowledge a parasitic isopod has not previously

been known as the host of a commensalic hydroid or ectoproctan.

But the parasitic copepod, Surcotretes scopeli, has been recorded

harbouring the hydroid, JIchthyocodium _ sarcotretis (Jungerson,

Vidensk. Meddel. naturh. Foren. Vol. 64, 1911). Hence, it is inter-

esting to speculate on the origin of the association.

Many of these associations have their origin in the crowded

condition of the littoral and sublittoral zones. Also, in muddy or

sandy areas the only hard objects available to sedentary animals are

other animals. Here competition is mainly for living space, to secure

a foothold. Epizoics get attached, at random, to any solid sub-

stratum, motile or sedentary. Hence, all associations, even the most

specific ones, must have originated quite accidentally. Specificity is

the result of natural selection. f

Nerocila has a short free-swimming existence during its male

phase, but soon contacts a suitable host and metamorphoses into a

female. As the fish in question is neither littoral nor sublittoral in

the strict sense, the association must have started in the pelagic

environment. It is well known that larvae of most sedentary

organisms have a definite larval period, at the end of which they

must settle or perish. In the present case the hydroid larva, compelled

by necessity settled on the isopod. It has to be admitted that the

isopod host is certainly more suitable than a sedentary animal or an

inanimate object, as the hydroid would certainly benefit by the

movement of the fish host and also get the advantage of a sedentary

life. Obviously the ectoproctan is the latest guest, for usually

nothing settles over a live ectoproctan colony. It is likely that the

encrusting hydrorhizae of the coelenterate provided the necessary

purchase for the polyzoan.

The present discovery shows that any hard surface is utilised by

the larvae of sedentary organisms and the choice is solely dependent

on the exigencies of circumstances. The present example should be

classed as fortuitous association or ‘unpurposeful inquilinism’.

MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY,

TRIVANDRUM, N. KRISHNA PILLAT |

July 19, 1960,

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 695

26. THE CORRECT NAME OF CASSIA GLAUCA AND

ITS VARIETIES

The plant, commonly known in India as Cassia glauca, is a shrub

or a small tree with attractive yellow or orange flowers. This plant

drew the attention of some of the pioneer botanists who worked on

Indian plants in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Rheede

(1686) described this plant under the name Wellia-tagera and gave

two good illustrations. Burman (1768) described the plant and named

it Cassia surattensis. The plant was described as having eight pairs

of leaflets with obtuse apices and bright orange-coloured flowers.

The description of the plant was based on a specimen from Garzin’s

herbarium and probably for this reason no reference to Rheede’s

Wellia-tagera was given. A few years later, Lamarck (1789) des-

cribed the plant as Cassia glauca, and Vahl (1794) named it Cassia

arborescens. Both Lamarck and Vahl have referred to Rheede’s

description and plate. Burman’s name, Cassia surattensis, being,

earlier and conspecific with Cassia glauca and Cassia arborescens,

must be accepted as the valid name for this plant. Bentham (1871),

in his revision of the genus Cassia, agreed that all these names refer

to the same species, but somehow he accepted the name Cassia

glauca. Merrill (1923), however, indicated that the name Cassia

surattensis should receive priority over Cassia glauca. In recent

publications of Raizada & MHingorani (1954), the name Cassia

surattensis has been accepted.

It would have been unnecessary to prepare this note if there was

unanimity of opinion on the lines suggested above. But unfortuna-

tely, it is not so. Bailey (1949) considered that Cassia planisiliqua,

which was published much earlier by Linnaeus himself, should be

the valid name of this plant. He supported this with two earlier

publications by Grisebach (1864) and by Britton & Rose (1930).

The latter authors not only considered Cassia glauca the same as

Cassia planisiliqua, but further decided to place the plant under a

newly created genus which they named Psilorhegma and the plant

was named Psilorhegma planisiliqua (Linn.) Britt. & Rose. The new

genus was apparently created in view of such characters as ten

perfect stamens in flowers, flat pods, and glanduliferous leaves. It

was however felt that in general appearance the plant agrees very

well with Cassia and the creation of the new genus (and thereby

removing the plant from the genus Cassia) is a step which is rather

696 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 37 (3)

artificial. As a matter of fact, Bailey (1949) has correctly restored

Psilorhegma back to Cassia, which should be its natural and rightful

place.

After a study of the available literature, it is clear that the name

Cassia planisiliqua as accepted by Bailey cannot be considered for

this plant. According to Bentham (1871), who examined the speci-

men of Cassia planisiliqua at the Linnean Herbarium and the original

plates of Plumier on which the description was mainly based, the

name Cassia planisiliqua is to be regarded as a nomen confusum.

The Linnean diagnosis of the species given in his SPECIES PLANTARUM

refers to Cassia occidentalis. The plate referred to by Linnaeus (ie.

Plumier ed. Burm. t. 77) is unfortunately a mixture of two or three

species and does not refer at all to any known species of Cassia.

According to Bentham: ‘The Jeaves are those of Cassia fistula, the

flowers quite unintelligible, the fruit more like that of section fistula

than of any other, described as flat, whence the name, but figured

as nearly terete and filled with a series of unintelligible circles

described as ossicles or seeds, but more likely to be the transverse

septa of the fistula section as they overlap each other. The whole

species must, therefore, be passed over as an inexplicable puzzle.

founded on the diagnosis of one species, with the representation of

another, cooked up by an inaccurate artist, and encumbered by the

description of the fruit of a third species. The plant representing

C. planisiliqua in the Linnean Herbarium is C. siamea, which is

certainly not the one from which he took his diagnosis.’

It would, therefore, be clear that the evidence against accepting

the name Cassia planisiliqua is overwhelming and this name has to

be rejected from our consideration. We have, therefore, to accept

the next validly published name, Cassia surattensis Burm. f., as the

name for this plant. The species has two well-marked varieties, 1.e.

(i) var. surrattensis and (ii) var. suffruticosa. These two varieties

were considered by some as distinct species. Bentham (1871, p. 555),

on the other hand, found it difficult to separate the Indian collection

into two distinct varieties. He has, however, admitted the existence

of two ‘types’ as he said: ‘The Australian specimens belong to the

suffruticosa type; they are much more variable than the Indian ones,

but not in the direction of the large glauca type. From an examina-

tion of herbarium specimens, these two ‘types’ are clearly dis-

tinguishable and should be considered as two varieties. Important

points of difference between the two varieties are the presence of

more numerous and smaller leaflets and strongly unequal petals in

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 697

var. suffruticosa. The nomenclature and descriptions of these

varieties with their distribution are as follows:

(i) Cassia surattensis Burm. f. var. surattensis. Cassia

surattensis Burm. f. Fl. Ind. 97 (1768). C. glauca Lam. Encycl. 1: 647

(1789). C. arborescens Vahl (non Mill.) Symb. Bot. 3: 56 (1794).

C. discolor Desv. Journ. Bot. 3: 73 (1814). C. sulphurea DC. Prodr.

2: 495 (1825). Senna arborescens Roxb. Fl. Ind. 2: 345 (1832).

A small tree 5 to 6.5 m.; young branches minutely pubescent

becoming glabrous later; stipules subulate, acuminate, 1 cm. long;

petiole 2 to 5.5 cm. long, glabrescent; rachis thinly pubescent or

glabrous, with 2 or 3 short, stout, clavate glands in between

lower pairs of leaflets (one gland between each lower pair);

leaves equally pinnate, 15 to 22 cm. Jong; leaflets 4 to 6 pairs,

elliptic or oblong-elliptic, ovate, entire, subacute, pinnate-reticulate

veined, almost glabrous, glaucous beneath, 5-10 cm. long, 2.5-4 cm.

wide; peduncles axillary, 6 to 10 cm. long; pedicels 2-3 cm.

long; flowers corymbose, sepals ovate or elliptic, rounded, unequal,

8 to 10 mm.; petals 5, subequal, spreading, broadly ovate-obtuse,

2 to 3 cm. long, bright yellow-orange; stamens 10, anthers all equal

and fertile, two with longer filaments; pods flat, straight, drooping,

glabrous, 10 to 17 cm. long, 1.5 cm. wide, margin raised; seeds

biseriate 20 to 30, oval, testa dark brown.

Distribution: India, Burma, Ceylon, Malaya, southern China,

Formosa, Sumatra, tropical Australia. Cultivated also in many

countries.

(ii) Cassia surattensis Burm. f. var. suffruticosa (Koen. ex Roth)

Chatterjee comb. nov. C. speciosa Roxb. Hort. Beng. 31 (1814)

nomen. C. suffruticosa Koen. ex Roth, Nov. Pl. Sp. 213 (1821); Koen.

ex Roth in DC. Prodr. 2: 496 (1825); W. & A. Prod. 289

(1834); Benth. Fl. Austral. 2: 285 (1864). C. horsfieldii Mig. FI.

Ind. Bat. 1: 99 (1855). Senna speciosa Roxb. Fl. Ind. 2: 347 (1832).

Cassia acclinis F. Muell. Fragm. 4: 13 (1864). C. glauca Lam. var.

suffruticosa (Koen.) Baker in Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. 2: 265 (1878).

Psilorhegma_ suffruticosa (Koen.) Britton in North Am. Fl. 23: 255

(1930).

Cassia fastigiata Vahl (Symb. Bot. 3. 57, 1794) excl. descr.

‘glandulis inter omnia paria’ probably belongs here as indicated by

Wight and Arnott (Prod. 290, 1834) and Prain (J. As. Soc. Bengal

66: 477, 1897).

The varietal name Cassia glauca Lam. var. suffruticosa (Koen.)

Baker (Hook, f, Fl. Brit. Ind, 2: 265, 1878) appears to be wrongly

698 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

ascribed to Prain in Gamble’s Flora of Madras (403, 1919) instead

of to Baker.

It may be of interest to note that Fischer (Kew Bull. 1932: 56)

examined Koenig’s specimens from India now kept at the Lund

Herbarium but did not find any specimen of Cassia surattensis or

Cassia glauca.

A tall shrub or a small tree; young branches adpressedly

pubescent, older twigs glabrous; stipules subulate, 1 cm. long; petioles

2 to 3 cm. long, glabrescent; rachis thinly pubescent with 2 or 3,

erect, clavate glands, located on the lower part of rachis (one gland

in between each pair of leaflets); leaflets 6 to 10 pairs, obovate

oblong, obtuse or rounded, finely pinnate-reticulate, 2 to 4.5 cm.

long, 1 to 1.5 cm. wide, upper surface glabrous, lower glaucous

minutely pubescent; peduncles axillary, 2 to 6 cm. long; inflorescence

corymbose; pedicels about 2 cm. long; sepals 7 mm., elliptic; petals

1.5 to 2 cm. long, distinctly unequal; stamens 10, all equal and

perfect, lower two on longer filaments; pods 6 to 10 cm. long, 8 to

{2 mm. wide, glabrescent, margin raised.

Distribution: India, Burma, Malaya, Java, Australia.

in many countries.

Cultivated

INDIAN BOTANIC GARDEN,

CALCUTTA,

August 19, 1960.

D. CHATTERJEE

REFERENCES

Bailey, L. H. (1949): Manual of

Cultivated Plants. Macmillan Co.,

New York.

Bentham, G. (1871): In Trans. Linn.

Soc. London 27 : 503-91.

Britton, N. L. & Rose, J. N. (1930):

In North American Flora 23: 255. New

York Botanic Garden, New York.

Burman, N.

97. Amsterdam.

Grisebach, A. H. R. (1864): Flora

of the British West Indian Islands, 208.,

Lovell Reeve & Co., Henrietta Street,

London.

(1768): Flora Indica,

Eamarck. 2J> sBer A:

clopedie de botanique. Paris.

Merrill, E. D. (1923): Enumer.

Philip. Fl. Pl. 2 : 265.

Raizada, M. B. & Hingorani, G. R.

(1954): A list of plants grown in the

Arboretum & Botanic Garden of the

Forest Research Institute, New Forest,

(1789) : Ency-

Dehra Dun. Govt. of India Press,

Calcutta.

Rheede, H. van, (1686): Hortus

Malabaricus 6: 17,*tab.9 & 10. Amster-

dam.

Vahl, M. (1794) : Symbolae Botanica

3:56. Hauniae. .

Li iesliress

wy ne

”

yn °g f YOURIg BUIIOMOT “VY

"UZ0D SNsojas stunanD

‘90$ “ISI ‘EVN AvaWog ‘Nanos

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 699

27. CUCUMIS SETOSUS COGN.-A NEW RECORD

FOR BOMBAY

(With one plate)

In our exploration of Pavagadh Hill, 46.6 km. NE. of Baroda,

we have come across a cucurbit which is not described in our common

floras. Chakravarty (1959) in his recent monograph on the Indian

Cucurbitaceae describes this plant. A few notes on the distribution

of the same are interesting.

Cucumis setosus Cogn. in DC. Monog. Phan. 3: 491. 1881;

Chakravarty, Mon. Ind. Cucur. 106, f. 44, A-D & f. 45, map SI, 1959.

A slender climber, monoecious. Stem furrowed, clothed with minute

coarse hairs. Tendrils slender. Leaves 2-2.4X2.1-2.6 cm., mem-

branous, deltoid, feeling roughish to the touch, acute, minutely

dentate, 3-lobed, 5-nerved, petiole 6-9 mm. long. Flowers small.

solitary, yellowish. Calyx tube campanulate, hairy. Corolla

glabrous. Ovary globose, oblong; covered with short soft hairs.

Fruit setose (covered with bristles).

Flowering and Fruiting: 26th September 1959. |

Records from India: (a) Chakravarty lists two specimens for

India. ‘In Eastern India (Ritchie 321 Herb. Edin.); without precise

locality, probably peninsular India (Witt, no. 191 A. 5-D,25/10/12

Herb. Cal.) (b) The specimen referred to in the present note was

collected by the junior author from Pavagadh, in the forest at an

altitude of 461 m. on 26-9-1959, and is preserved in the Herbarium,

Department of Botany, M.S. University of Baroda.

Index Kewensis gives India as the home of this plant. Chakra-

varty, loc. cit., mentions only two sheets so far available. Of these

two sheets, the one of Ritchie is from eastern India and that of

Witt is probably from peninsular India without any further details.

The plant seems to be endemic in S. India; it has not been

recorded from Bombay. It is, therefore, a new record.

DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY,

M.S. UNIVERSITY OF BARODA, ‘A. R. CHAVAN

BARODA, G. M. OZA

July 25, 1960.

700 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

28. PHYLLODY OF THE GYNOECIUM AND ANDROECIUM

IN YLANG-YLANG TREE, CANANGA ODORATA HOOK.

(With a_ plate)

An interesting occurrence of phyllody of the gynoecitum and

part of the androecium was observed. in some flowers of Cananga

odorata Hook. from the Victoria Gardens, Bombay, in June 1960.

Some of the flowers were normal, showing the typical flower of

Annonaceae; in some flowers small leaf-like structures were observed

in place of the usual free carpels. Both types of flower were collected

from the same plant, which appeared to be quite healthy.

Normal as well as abnormal flowers have a calyx consisting of

three sepals, which are green, broad, and gamosepalous. The

number of petals in the corolla varies in different flowers; smaller

flowers have six petals; in larger flowers the number varies from 6 to

12, the more frequent numbers being 7, 8, 9, or 10. The outer petals

are bigger, somewhat linear, with an irregularly wavy margin. The

petals appear to be folded or twisted, especially in the upper half.

The androecium consists of niore than 100 stamens arranged in

5-6 concentric rows on a very slightly elevated, somewhat flat,

thalamus. In many flowers it was observed that one or two

stamens of the outermost whorl had been transformed into small

leaf-like structures. The odd number of petals found in the flowers

may be due to one or more of such transformed petaloid stamens being

added to the original six segments of the corolla. In such stamens

it seems to be the prolonged connective which has been transformed

into a leafy structure.

The gynoecium of the normal flower consists of six carpels in which

the ovaries and the styles are free, but the stigmas are loosely

connected with each other. In abnormal flowers, however, these

free carpels have been transformed into leafy. structures of varying

sizes. Ovules are not developed in. these carpels.

Such transformations of the stamens and carpels are common in

plants, especially in the Leguminosae. Cooper has _ reported

transformation of carpels and stamens in Crotalaria striata DC.;

Trivedi & Nigum have reported similar transformation of the

stamens in Bauhinia acuminata L.; T. C. N. Singh has recorded

phyllody in Trifolium alexandrinum L., in which some petals,

stamens, and gynoecium have been transformed into leaves of various

SiZes,

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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 701

Recently Mahajan has reported petaloidy of stamens in

Hedychium coronarium Koenig. Similarly Jayaweera has men-

tioned petaloid stamens in Syzygium malacense Merr. & Perr. From

these records it will be noted that phyllody of stamens seems to be

more common than phyllody of carpels. The present note is

written with the intention of recording phyllody of carpels in Cananga

odorata Hook., which has so far not been previously mentioned.

The fact that this transformation of carpels into leafy structures

occurs only in a few flowers in a given plant seems clearly to sup-

port the theory that flowers and all their parts are but modified

foliage leaves; the facts noted in Cananga seem to be but a reversion

to ancestral type.

Here we wish to express our gratitude to Rev. H. Santapau, S.J.,

I.N.I., Director of the Biology Section, St. Xavier’s College, Bombay.

for critically going through this note and for his suggestions.

BOTANY DEPARTMENT,

INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, (SMT.) K. V. MARATHE

Bomsay 1, B. S. NAVALKAR

August 23, 1960.

REFERENCES

Bailey, L. M. (1949): Manual of Mahajan, M. K. (1957): Sci. &

Cultivated Plants. Macmillan Co. Cult. 22(8) : 452-454.

Cooper, R. E. (1938) : Journ. Univ. Masters, M. T. (1869): Vegetable

Bombay 6 : 57-61. Teratology. Ray Soc. Publ., London.

Jayaweera, D. M.A. (1957): Journ. Singh, T. C. N. (1930): Journ.

Linn. Soc. London (Bot.) 55(362) : 721- Indian Bot. Soc. 11 : 250.

128: Trivedi, B.S. & Nigam, P. N.(1952):

Sci. & Cult. 17(10) : 438.

29. BLACK COLOUR IN FLOWERS: IS THERE SUCH

A COLOUR IN NATURE?

In popular literature one often finds references to the black

colour of flowers; a correspondent writing in The Indian Express of

December 2, 1959, mentions that the flowers of the common gram,

Cicer arietinum, ‘grow in four different colours: red, white, yellow,

blue or black’.

Sir Robert Robinson (in Endeavour 1: 92, 1942) lists the chief

groups of vegetable pigments as (a) green chlorophyll and _ its

analogues; (b) yellow and orange caritinoids; (c) miscellaneous

pigments such as are found in fungi; (d) yellow anthoxanthins and

702 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

orange, red, magenta, violet, and blue anthocyanins. Nowhere in

the scientific literature is there any mention of black colour for

flowers; there may be, and in fact there are in India, a number of

plants that turn black on drying; but there is no such thing as a

black-coloured flower in the fresh condition.

We have in Bombay several flowers, wild or cultivated, that may

have such a deep brown colour as to appear black; such is the case, e.g. |

in Iphigenia indica of our hills, or some of the cultivated Pansies.

The flowers are very deep brown when fresh; none of them is truly

black.

Among the parasites of the group of Striga (fam. Scrophulariaceae)

and other parasites, and in e.g. /xora nigricans, the whole plant

becomes black when fully dry. Our tea leaves, or the common

tobacco leaves, out of which many of the ‘stronger’ cigars are made,

also turn black; but this is due to faulty drying, that is to say, to

fermentation in the process of drying. Botany students often find

that their green specimens turn more or less deep black, when

sufficient care has not been taken during the drying of the specimens.

In a word, there is no black flower as far as my knowledge goes;

there may be such deep brown as to appear black at first sight;

there may also be real black colour due to faulty dehydration of

some specimens; or there may be an over-all black colour in the

case of dry parasitic plants. This is as far as black colour goes in

plants.

ST. XAVIER’S COLLEGE,

BOMBAY, H. SANTAPAU, S.J., F.N.1.

December 2, 1959.

30. FOOD FROM GRASS MINUS THE COW

Under the above title, the Daily Telegraph and Morning Post of

London of May 18, 1959, reports on what has been termed a

‘mechanical cow’, a machine that extracts proteins from grasses and

other green plants. It is well known that proteins are essential for

human beings and further that a large part of the population of India

suffers from malnutrition, especially from protein deficiency. In

other parts of the world sutticient proteins can be obtained from meat,

fish, eggs, and milk products; but most of these products are either

absent from the diet of the average Indian or at least are supplied

in much too small quantities to satisfy the needs of the human body.

Y tdiet

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 703

Proteins found in grass can to a very small extent be extracted

by the cow; experimentally it has been found that only about 5%

of the proteins in grass are actually extracted by cows. Such

proteins are made available to us in meat and milk. But in the

present condition of food shortages, it is almost criminal to allow

95% of the proteins in grass to go waste.

The ‘mechanical cow’ has been set up at Rothamsted Experi-

mental Station; the machine is able to extract at least 50% of the

proteins in grass. The Science Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph

writes on the working of the machine: ‘When I saw it this week

it was consuming rye. From a normal elevator this was fed into a

chopping machine. The chopped rye then entered a press and the

juice was squeezed out of it. This juice, which contains the bulk

of the protein and hardly any of the celluiose, is then treated with

steam: the object being to precipitate the protein. When the protein

is precipitated, or made solid, it only requires a filtering process to

retain the protein and let all the unwanted juice pass through.

Within a very few minutes the ‘cow’ has produced solid, cake-like

protein from green leaves and, what is more important, has collected

at least 50 per cent of the protein in the leaves. Moreover, both

the juice-less rye choppings and also the waste juice from the filters

are still good feeding stuff for animals.’

This is certainly. an interesting development. India can ill

afford to waste any fodder; under the best conditions, according

to the statement made a few years ago by the Director, Animal

Husbandry Dept., Govt. of India, the country has enough fodder for

scarcely one half of its cattle, if the latter is to be fed properly. The

new method does not reduce the quantity of fodder available for

cattle, but makes better use of the same.

¢/O LLoyps BANK LTD.,

39, PICCADILLY, R. W. BURTON

LONDON W. 1, Iet-Col:,. 1.An (Retde)

December 2, 1959.

Gleanings

Longevity an IWild «Birds

The following records of longevity in birds reproduced from page

214 of The Ring, Vol. 22, February 1960, may be of interest :

Numenius arquata—Curlew: Ringed as a pullet on 4-7-1926 in

Sweden, recovered on 25-1-58 in Great Britain, age 31 years 6

months 21 days.

Milvus milvus—Kite : Ringed as a pullet on 19-6-30 in Switzerland,

recovered on 15-3-1956 in France, age 25 years 8 months 24 days.

Locusts “as 2a WDeliemac

‘For the first time since we had arrived in the Tassili we saw some

flights of locusts. The insects were not very numerous, but they re-

joiced the hearts of our Tuareg, who at break of dawn set out to catch

the creatures on the trees where they had alighted. It was manna from

heaven, for one and all the inhabitants of the Sahara, whether they be

Arab, Tuareg or ‘ Moor’, enjoy a meal of fried locusts.

‘Matal and Agaoued, who had gone off to see the donkeys grazing,

brought back one morning a sackful of locusts which they at once threw

living upon hot cinders. A locust, at least to our French palates, is

not really what you call a titbit, but for men who are always hungry

and whose usual fare is lizards and small rodents, locusts make a very

acceptable meal. When a locust is fried or grilled its legs are pulled

off (for these are set with prickles), and as much of the wings as has

not been consumed by the fire is removed. The head is wrenched off

at the same time and the digestive tube extracted for this is quite uneat-

able on account of the green matter it contains. The rest of the insect

is then munched much in the way that we eat shrimps. Sometimes the

Tuareg reduce the grilled locusts to powder and place it in skin sacked

(mezwed) so that it can be eaten, with the addition of water or milk,

when the men are travelling.

‘I myself rather like locusts and at times have eaten nothing else for

weeks, but I am free to admit that the taste is not to everyone’s liking.

It seems, however, that the really smart thing to do now in the Ourgla

oasis—where the oil-men forgather—is to serve grilled locusts (at five

francs apiece !) with the apéritifs. Maybe a rather expensive bit of

snobbery, but one that certainly does provide plenty of local colour.

GLEANINGS 705

* All the members of the team wanted, of course, to sample the locust.

Each one of them gave his opinion. Michel Brézillon thought they

tasted like cardboard. Vila compared them with nuts. Lajoux said

they reminded him of grass. I maintained they had a savour of shrimps,

while Guichard made a grimace and spat out the insect after a vain

attempt to swallow it. For him, it was for all the world like excrement.’

Henri Lhote : THE SEARCH FOR THE TASSILI FRESCOES: THE STORY

OF THE PREHISTORIC ROCK-PAINTINGS OF THE SAHARA. Translated

from the French by Alan Houghton Brodrick. (Hutchinson

of London, 1959)

A New Method of Insect Control

Over the last few years many attempts at insect control have been

made in India by the use of DDT and other chemical poisons. Malaria

has been eliminated over large areas but many other insects besides mos-

quitoes have been destroyed at the same time and the consequent ecolo-

gical changes may lead to untoward results which were not foreseen.

Interest will therefore be felt, not only in India but all over the world,

in a revolutionary method of insect control, which has given success-

ful results in the United States. The screw-worm fly (Callitroga homini-

vorax) is found in large areas of the southern states of the Union. The

adults lay eggs in open wounds in large and small mammals and the

maggots produce conditions which attract more flies and eggs, finally

leading to the death of the infected animal unless treated by man.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Florida Livestock

Experimental Board raised millions of screw-worm flies under factory

conditions, where they were fed on horse and whale meat and then ren-

dered sexually sterile by gamma rays from a Cobalt-60 source. These

flies when sexually mature were released over the insect-infested areas

(70,000 sq. miles) in Florida from aeroplanes. The behaviour of both

males and females was unchanged but the effect upon the population of

screw-worm flies was greater than anticipated. Within a year after the

initiation of the programme the insect was eradicated, and ‘ not a single

screw-worm fly has been seen in the southeastern U.S. for almost two

years’. This method has many advantages over the usual control

technique. It is effective only on the species concerned. The insects

do not acquire immunity to sterile matings as they do to insecticides.

In addition to this, when poison is used, it becomes less efficient as the

population declines and is left in isolated pockets ; the few survivors

can then again build up the population in geometric progression. The

sterile male increases the overall effectiveness of the attack and becomes

more effective on a restricted population.

706 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

Any problem of this kind requires a large amount of preliminary

work as well as co-ordinated working at a later stage, but the results

are so effective that this method of insect control is superior to any other

method of insect control devised so far.

Our information is derived from an excellent article on the eradica-

tion of the screw-worm fly by Edward F. Knipling at pages 54-61 of

Scientific American for October 1960.

Notes and News

The Thirteenth International Ornithological Congress will be held

at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, U.S.A., from 17 to 21 June

1962. The President is Professor Ernst Mayr.

The International Ornithological Congresses are scientific meetings

which have been held at intervals since 1884. Since 1926 a four-year

cycle has been maintained except for a twelve-year interruption caused

by World War II. The previous Congresses have been held in conti-

nental Europe and England.

Persons wishing to receive further announcements, and membership

application forms for the Thirteenth International Ornithological Con-

gress should send their names and permanent mailing address to the

Secretary-General, Professor C. G. Sibley, Fernow Hall, Cornell Univer-

sity, Ithaca, New York, U.S.A., before 1 February 1962.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY

SOCIETY FOR THE YEAR 1959-60

President

SHRI SRI PRAKASA, Governor of Bombay

Vice-Presidents

Major-General Sir Sahib Singh Sokhey, 1.m.s.

Rev. Fr. H. Santapau, s.J.

Dr. Salim Ali

Executive Committee

Prof. S. P. Agharkar, M.A., Ph.D., F.L.S., F.N.I.

DroD; VoBaly Msc. Php:

Mr. R. E. Hawkins

Dr. C. V. Kulkarni, M.sc., Ph.p.

Mr. D. N. Marshall

Mr. D. J. Panday

Mr. D. E. Reuben, 1.c:s. (Retd:)

Mrs. Barbara J. Tufty

Mr. Humayun Abdulali (Hon. Secretary)

Mr. Surendr Lall (Hon. Treasurer)

Advisory Committee

Mr. H. G. Acharya, F.R.E.S. ae .. Ahmedabad

Mr. F. C. Badhwar, 0.B.E. .. y .. Calcutta

Mr: G; V. Bedekar. 1-C'S =. Aurangabad

Sir Chintaman Deshmukh, Kt., C.1.E., I.C.S. (Retd.). New Delhi

Rev. Fr. Dr. J. B. Freeman, M.A., L.T., Ph.D., D.D... Mysore

Mr. E. P. Gee, M.A., C.M.Z.S. a .. Shillong

Dr. Baini Prasad, D.Sc., F.N.1. .. Dehra Dun

Dr. M. L. Roonwal, M.sc., Ph.D., F.N.L, F.Z.S.1. .. Calcutta

Mr Ps De Stracey, IES. ee . Dehra Dun

Lt.-Gen. Sir H. Williams, C.B., C.B.E., M.LC.E., M.I.E. Roorkee

List of members of the Executive and Advisory Committee elected

for the year 1960:

President

SHRI SRI PRAKASA, Governor of Bombay

PROCEEDINGS AND ACCOUNTS, 1959-60 709

Vice-Presidents

Major-General Sir Sahib Singh Sokhey, I.M.s.

Rev. Fr. H. Santapau, S.J.

Executive Committee

Dr. D. V. Bal, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Mr. G. V. Bedekar, I.c.s.

R. 8. Dharmakumarsinhji

Mr. R. E. Hawkins

Dr. C. V. Kulkarni, M.sc., Ph.D.

Mr. D. N. Marshall

Mr. K. J. Nanavatty, IP.

Mr. D. J. Panday

Mr. D. E. Reuben, I.c.s. (Retd.)

‘Dr. H. Trapido, M.D.

Mr. Humayun Abdulali (Hon. Secretary)

Mr. Surendr Lall (Hon. Treasurer)

Advisory Committee

Mr. H. G. Acharya, F.R.E.S. i .. Ahmedabad

Mr. F. C. Badhwar, O.B.E. .. ef .«: Calcutta

Sir Chintaman Deshmukh, Kt., C.1.E., I.c.s. (Retd.) New Delhi

Rev. Fr. Dr. J. B. Freeman, M.A., L.T., Ph.D., D.D. Mysore

Mr. E. P. Gee, M.A., C.M.Z.S. 8 .. Shillong

Dr. Baini Prashad, D.Sc., F.N.I. nS .. Dehra Dun

Mr. P. D. Stracey, I.F.S. Pe .. Dehra Dun

Dr. M. L. Roonwal, M.Sc., Ph.D., F.N.L., F.Z.S.1. .. Calcutta

Lt.-Gen. Sir H. Williams, C.B., C.B.E., M.I.C.E., M.LE. Roorkee

HONORARY SECRETARY’S REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1959-60

At the last Annual General Meeting held on 31st August 1959 I

presented a supplementary report up to that date. Except for the

references to the Journal and the revenue account, this report deals with

the period of one year since then.

ILE, SO CLrELY S’ FO URNAE

Volume 56 of the Journal, publication of which was completed in

the year under report, contained. 34 articles and 84 miscellaneous notes.

We have to express concern that it is becoming more and more difficult

to obtain material relating to matters of natural history.

GENERAL

The negotiations with the Central Government regarding a block

grant for the construction of a building for the Society in the Prince of

Wales Museum grounds in Bombay have not yet been finalized. Plans

710 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

have, however, been prepared. The building when completed will have

over 14,000 sq. ft. of floor space including a lecture room (1160 sq. ft.),

rooms for reference collections (6615 sq. ft.), and a laboratory and work

room (1160 sq. ft.). The plans and estimates have been forwarded to

the Ministry of Scientific Research & Cultural Affairs, and it is hoped

to finalise negotiations and commence building at an early date.

The funds made available by the Rockefeller Foundation, referred

to in the supplementary report last year, have been usefully expended.

In addition to a second bird-banding project in Kutch, 18 grants to the

extent of about Rs. 5700 were made for various problems, botanical

and zoological ; some of the results will be published in our journal in

due course.

The first bird migration camp in Kutch referred to in the last report

was supplemented by a small grant from the World Health Organiza-

tion. This made it possible to obtain the advice and assistance of Dr. A.

Schifferli, Director of the Swiss Migration Centre at Sempach, who

visited India particularly to assist in the field. A second camp was estab-

lished at Kuar Bet on the borders of the Rann of Kutch for the spring ~

migration. Subsequent to this the World Health Organization have

made a grant of $ 8000.00 to continue this work with a view to investi-

gating the relationship between the movements of birds and the spread

of virus diseases.

In my last report I referred to the indexing of the books in our lib-

rary. This work has now been completed, and a grant from the Govern-

ment of Maharashtra has enabled us to purchase a sufficient number of

cabinets to hold all our books. 201 new books have been added to the

library during 1959 and the current year up to 31st August. These in-

clude 74 purchased, 114 presented, and 13 received for review.

Over the same period about 500 birds and 100 reptiles and amphibians

have been added to our collections. They include, among birds, the

type of a newly described race, Dumetia hyperythra navarroi, several

Finn’s Bayas (Ploceus megarhynchus) whose re-discovery in the wild

I referred to in my last report, and a pair of Godwin-Austen’s Hornbills

[Ptilolaemus tickelli austeni (Jerdon)]. The identified reptiles include

specimens of the little known species Barkudia insularis of Annandale

from Waltair, and Platyurus platyurus from Nepal, and the amphibians

Rana afghana, tadpoles of Megalophrys sp. from Nepal, Bufo andersoni

from Kutch, and B. latastii from Kashmir, which are all new additions

to our collection. Other rarities and interesting specimens will no doubt

be discovered when the collections have been more fully worked out.

With the funds made available by the State Government, orders

have been placed for steel cabinets to house the birds and mammals in

our collection. It is hoped that when these come in and the specimens

PROCEEDINGS AND ACCOUNTS, 1959-60 711

are suitably transferred to them, the large collections will be more easily

accessible and more work will be done thereon.

During the year, Dr. (Miss) Rachel Reuben delivered an interesting

talk on ‘ Insects and Weather ’ and Mr. Leslie Brown showed acoloured

movie film accompanied by a talk on ‘ Eagles’.

wep ccA Tr LON Ss

Unfortunately, we have not been able to make much progress with

the new editions of the Animal and Bird books. Work has been held

up mainly by financial difficulties and we are negotiating with the Ministry

of Scientific Research & Cultural Affairs for a grant in this connection.

The text and pictures of both the books are ready and it is hoped that the

negotiations will be completed shortly and that it will be possible to have

them ready at an early date. Dr. Dillon Ripley’s A SYNOPSIS OF THE

BIRDS OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN is in the last stages of printing and we hope

to publish it in a couple of months.

NATURE EDUCATION

The Nature Education Scheme, financed by the Government of

Bombay, is now in its 12th year. Tours of the Natural History Section

of the Prince of Wales Museum and special talks on natural history

subjects with the aid of exhibited and other specimens, films, and some

living animals were continued. Over 4500 children were lectured to.

Nine field-trips were arranged for members of Nature Study Clubs

in schools, to different places in the island of Salsette and one to Nirmal

Lake near Bassein. The trips are followed by meetings (44 held this year)

at schools to help children to collect and preserve specimens and to

discuss topics of natural history interest. |

Two field-trips for teachers were arranged, one led by Fr. H. Santapau,

s.J., to Tansa Lake to study the plants, and the other covering geology

by Dr. R. N. Sukheshwala to Elephanta Island.

The fourth booklet OUR MONSOON PLANTS in the series ‘ Glimpses

of Nature’ was published. Though these booklets are available

in English, Hindi, Marathi, and Gujarati and are very much appreciated

by educationists, their sale is comparatively poor, and the stock in hand

renders difficult the publication of additional numbers. The fifth,

OUR ANIMALS, is almost ready and should be soon available.

A meeting of children to celebrate Wild Life Week was held on 7th

October 1959, and some films were shown.

REVENUE ACCOUNT

In the last report I referred to a total membership of 1255 as at the

end of 1958 and stated that 274 members had either not paid their subs-

criptions or could not be traced. Efforts were made to ascertain their

whereabouts and, in the absence of any response, we had to remove

712. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 57 (3)

from the membership rolls the names of 328 members at the end of 1959,

including 38 who resigned and 11 who died during the year. With the

addition of 88 new members the register as at the end of 1959 showed a

total membership of 1058. Efforts are being made to enrol more new

members by the distribution of a brochure depicting the history and

activities of the Society, which we have been able to produce with the

funds made available by the grant received from the Rockefeller Founda-

tion.

During the year under review the income of the Society rose to Rs.

57,657.40 as against Rs. 47,374.00 in the previous year. This was mainly

due to a grant of Rs. 8000.00 having been received from the Govern-

ment of India. During the year the Society ran out of stock of two of

its most popular publications and this resulted in a drop in income from

this source by approximately Rs. 2010.72 which we were largely able to —

make up from other sources of revenue.

The operations of the Society during 1959 showed a deficit of Rs.

2221.00 as against Rs. 11,448.00 in 1958. A promised recovery of

Rs. 3155.00 from the Prince of Wales Museum in respect of half the

salary of the Acting Curator, referred to in the last report, has now been

made and has been adjusted towards last year’s deficit of Rs. 11,448.00

thus reducing the deficit for that year to Rs. 8293.00. Had it been

possible to secure the Government of India grant of Rs. 8000.00 in res-

pect of 1958, the deficit would have been reduced to Rs. 293.00 only

and attempts are still being made to secure this grant.

Expenses during the year amounted to Rs. 59,878.89, an increase of

Rs. 1056.75 over the previous year. The increase is chiefly attributable

to the cost of shifting the reference collection from the Museum to our

premises and travelling expenses paid for interviewing candidates for

the post of Curator, both non-recurring items of expenditure.

Of course, the appointment of a Curator will mean an additional

expenditure of approximately Rs. 10,000.00 in 1961 but the Executive

Committee is actively considering ways and means of increasing the

Society’s income to meet this expense.

STAFF

The Committee wishes to record its appreciation of the willing co-

operation of the entire staff in the activities of the Society.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Committee’s thanks are due to Mr. J. L. Bernard who continues

to look after the Society’s interests in the United Kingdom.

713

1959-60

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719

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE

BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY HELD IN THE

DURBAR (TOWN) HALL, BOMBAY, ON WEDNESDAY,

12TH OCTOBER 1960, AT 6 P.M., WITH REV. FR. H.

SANTAPAU, s.3., IN THE CHAIR

1. The Honorary Secretary’s Report for the years 1959-60, having

been circulated among members prior to the meeting, was taken as read,

and was adopted.

2. The Balance Sheet and Statement of Accounts presented by the

Honorary Treasurer were approved.

3. The Chairman referred to the recent death of Dr. S. P. Agharkar

who was a member of the Society for many years and served on the

Executive Committee from 1954 to the date of his death.

A resolution of condolence, to be conveyed to Mrs. S. P.

Agharkar, was adopted with all members standing.

4. Dr. Salim Ali then delivered a talk illustrated by a film on the

Bird Migration Studies which are being carried out with funds made

available by the World Health Organisation and in collaboration with the

Virus Research Centre, Poona. The talk and the film were greatly

appreciated.

5. The meeting terminated with a vote of thanks to Dr. Salim Ali

for his talk, to the Asiatic Society for the loan of the premises, and to the

Chairman of the meeting.

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY V. M. PHILIP AT THE DIOCESAN PRESS

18 CHURCH ROAD, VEPERY, MADRAS——5-1-1961. C4964

EDITORS: H. SANTAPAU & HUMAYUN ABDULALI

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THE SOCIETY’S PUBLICATIONS

Mammals

The Book of Indian Animals, by S.H. Prater. With many coloured and monochrome

plates. 2nd (revised) edition. (In preparation)

Birds

Game Birds of India, by E.C. Stuart Baker. Vol. III. Pheasants, Ist Edition. Rs. 20

(Price to Members Rs. 15)

The Book of Indian Birds, by Salim Ali. With 64 coloured and many monochrome

plates, 6th edition, revised and enlarged. (Jn preparation)

Fishes

Circumventing the Mahseer and Other Sporting Fish in India and Burma, by A. St. J.

Macdonald. With coloured and monochrome plates. Rs. 15

(Price to Members Rs. 12)

Snakes

Identification of Poisonous Snakes. Wall chart in English, Gujarati, and Marathi.

Rs. 10

(Price to Members Rs. 8)

Miscellaneous

Some Beautiful Indian Trees, by Blatterand Millard. With many coloured and

’ monochrome plates. 2nd edition. Revised by W. T. Stearn. Rs. 20

(Price to Members Rs. 16)

Some Beautiful Indian Climbers and Shrubs, by Bor and Raizada. With many coloured

and monochrome plates. Rs. 22

(Price to Members Rs. 17.50)

Butterflies of the Indian Region, by M. A. Wynter-Blyth. With 27 coloured and 45

monochrome plates. Rs. 28

(Price to Members Rs. 22.50)

Indian Molluscs, by James Hornell. With 2 coloured and many monochrome plates,

and text figures. Rs. 6

(Price to Members Rs. 4.50)

Glimpses of Nature Series Booklets :

1. Our Birps I (with 8 coloured plates) in English, Gujarati, Hindi, and Marathi.

80 nP

Kannada 62 nP

2. Our Birps II (with 8 coloured plates) in English, Gujarati, Hindi, and Marathi.

62 nP

3. Our BEAUTIFUL TREES (with 8 coloured plates) in English, Gujarati, Hindi, and

Marathi. 6

4, Our Monsoon PLANTS (with 8 coloured plates) in English, Gujarati, Hindi,

and Marathi. $0 nP

5. Our ANIMALS (with 8 coloured plates) in English. (Jn preparation)

Back numbers of the Society’s Journal. Rates on application.

Obtainable from:

The Honorary Secretary,

Bombay Natural History Society,

91, Walkeshwar Road, Bombay 6.

Agents in England :

Messrs. Wheldon & Wesley Ltd.,

Lytton Lodge, Codicote, Nr. Hitchin,

Herts. , England.

The Society ill piston accept back numbers of the Journal, particularly

numbers prior to Vol. 45, from members who may not wish to preserve them.

TERMS OF MEMBERSHIP

Life Members pay an entrance fee of Rs. 5 and a life membership fee of Rs. 500.

Ordinary Members pay an entrance fee of Rs. 5 and an annual subscription of Rs. 30.

The subscription of members elected in October, November, and December covers

the period from the date of their election to the end of the following year.

MEMBERS RESIDING OUTSIDE INDIA

The terms are the same for members living outside India. Such members should

pay their subscriptions by means of orders on their Bankers to pay the amount of the

subscription, plus postage—in all Rs. 32.50—to the Society in Bombay on the Ist

January in each year. If this cannot be done, then the sum of £2-10-0 should be paid

annually to the Society’s London bankers—The National & Grindlays Bank Ltd.,

26 Bishopsgate Street, London, E.C. 2

CONTENTS

A VISIT TO THE FLAMINGOS IN THE GREAT RANN OF KuTcH. By Shivrajkumar of

Jasdan, R. M. Naik, Ph.D., and K.S. Lavkumar of Jasdan_.... -. 465

FERNS OF NAINITAL. By D. S. Loyal and S. C. Verma .. as ay 479

CRITICAL NOTES ON THE ORCHIDACEAE OF BOMBAY STATE. IV. THE GENUS

Dendrobium Sw. By H. Santapau, s.J., F.N.1., and Z. Kapadia, Ph.p. .. 491

ANALYSIS OF THE PROTEINS OF EGG-WHITE AS AN AID TO THE CLASSIFICATION OF

Birps. By D. B. Peakall, M.sc., Ph.D., M.B.O.U. .. A ae) a

Tue Birps OF NEPAL. Part 2. By Biswamoy Biswas .. ate “»-S6-

REVISION OF INDIAN SPIDERS OF THE GENUS Cyrtarachne (Argiopidae : Arachnida).

By B. K. Tikader a: a. iz f .. 547

THYSANOPTERA FROM THE NILGIRI AND KODAIKANAL HiLts (SouTH INDIA). By

T. N. Ananthakrishnan ae 54 a4 ih 2) SST

A SYSTEMATIC AND ECOLOGICAL ACCOUNT OF THE CYANOPHYCEAE OF HOSHIAR-

puR. By P. C. Vasishta ie a ae - S79

Tue Genus Veronica LINN. OF EASTERN INDIA. By Narendra Mohan Dutta .. 599

REPORT ON THE STATUS OF THE BROWANTLERED DEER OF MANIPUR (INDIA). By

E. P. Gee, M.A., G.M.Z.S. os Bh of oe . D7

SoME NOTES ON SANCTUARIES AND WILD LiFE IN SOUTH INDIA (1959). By O. H.

de St. Croix se a ae i a .. 618

OBITUARIES : vs ie is . Si .. 635

REVIEWS : aS me aA a0 he .. 643

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ve of 2K oe oe OSL

GLEANINGS ip be BY ni of: .. 701

NOTES AND NEWS "e et ie i * .. 707

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY FOR THE YEAR

1959-60 ia 55 vs % ey ee 708 —

STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS OF THE BOMBAY NATURAL HIsTORY SOCIETY s onnelis

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING a pees ww, T19