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JOURNAL

OF THE

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Alatural History Society,

No. 1] | BOMBAY. [Vol. VIII.

THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR,

By E. C. Stuart-BakeEr.

Part VY.

(With a Plate.)

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on

19th April, 1893).

HEMIXUS MACLELLANDI.

THe RUFOUS-BREASTED BULBUL.

Gates’ “By of B. B,” No. 72; Vol, 1, p. 171; Wypsipetes

maclelland:, Jerdon’s “B. of India,’ No. 447, Vol. IL, p. 79;

Hume ; “Nests and Eggs,” (2nd Ed.), Vol. I, p. 168; Oates’

“ Fauna of India,” Vol. I., p. 275.

Drscription.—Forehead, crown and back of head bright vandyke-brown,

the shafts being pale reddish-white give the head a streaky appearance.

Remainder of upper plumage, including wing-coverts and tertiaries, olive-green ;

brightest and sometimes inclining to yellow on the upper tail-coverts ; primaries

and secondaries brown edged with olive-green ; tail bright olive-green ; lores

and cheeks grey, or grey and white; ear-coverts, sides of neck, breast and

2 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIIi.

flanks chestnut ; belly albescent, more or less suffused with rufous ; chin and

upper throat white ; under tail-coverts favescent-rufous. Bull, upper mandible

dark blue-grey, culmen, tip and base of lower mandible dusky, remainder

fleshy-white ; legs dull yellowish to purplish-brown ; irides of various shades of

reds and, red-browns.

MMale—Length 9°5”; wing 4°4” ; tail 44" ; targus °75" ; bill at front ion

and from gape 12”,

Female—Length barely 9” ; both wing and tail as nearly as possible 4:2”,

the wing sometimes as much as 4°25” or even more.

Niprrication.—I have taken a considerable number of nests of this species,

all of which were of almost exactly the same description. They are placed. in

trees at heights varying from twenty to forty feet, more often nearer the former

than the latter, and in every instance the nest has been suspended from a fork of

a small branch. It is suspended much in the same manner as an Oriole’s, and

not like that of Hypszpetes and other bulbuls. ‘The main portion of the nest is

made of coarse grasses, bamboo leaves, soft bark in long shreds, and of other

suitable fibrous materials. Moss is never used, moss roots and fern roots very

seldom, except in the lining, which is sometimes composed of the latter.

The grass is so used as to pass under and through the base of the nest, and

is then brought inside and over the fork, round the nest again and over the

fork on the opposite side. This is carried out with all, or nearly all, the longer

materials, so that the nest assumes a rather bulky and, often, very untidy

appearance, It is, though, very strong, and it requires no inconsiderable force

to detach it from its support.

The lining is generally composed of rather fine grasses, more or less mixed

with fine, soft fern roots. In some nests it is composed almost entirely of the

last material, and in a few there is little or no lining of any sort whatsoever.

They are rather shallow, as a rule, but differ considerably in this respect. I

have taken nests of depths ranging from 1:2” only to over 2°9”. In breadth

they vary from 8°2” to. very nearly 5”.

The branch selected as a site for the nest is generally one towards the outer

part of the tree, and it is, therefore, often very difficult to obtain -without

cutting off a large portion of the branch.

The normal number of the eggs is three, four is quite exceptional, and two

very common.

The ground-colour is a very pale reddish-white or dead-white, and they are

spotted profusely throughout with dark brownish-red. Underlying these

marks are numerous tiny specks of pale inky, which, however, are not notice-

able until the egg is very closely looked into.

THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR 3

In a few eggs the general tone is rather brighter, and in these there is also

more of the ground-colour to be seen, but the typical egg is decidedly dull-

coloured.

Towards the large end the markings generally tend to form a cap or, less

often, a zone.

In shape they are typically a rather long regular oval; in a few eggs a little

compressed towards the small end. Abnormal specimens tend towards the

short broad oval or broad peg-top form.

The shell is smooth and fairly close in texture, but none of my eggs exhibit

any gless.

In size they vary more than any other bulbuls’ eges that I know. I have

them varying in length from ‘74” to 1:1” and in breadth from °58” to °71”.

The average size of 19 eges is °91” X °66”, or rather more both ways.

They are rather late breeders. June is the month in which most eggs will be

taken, and nearly as many in July. My earliest and latest dates are the 23rd.

May, 1890, and 22nd July, 1888, respectively. They, no doubt, lay well on into

August, but I have never been in their principal breeding haunts during

that month,

I have only once or twice observed this bulbul as low as 2,000 feet, even in

the cold weather, but it does sometimes descend into the Plains.

‘They are most common between three thousand and four thousand feet,

breeding chiefly at and above the latter height up to nearly 7,000 feet. I have

not personally observed it in flocks; and from the little that has been recorded

of its habits, it does not appear to be sociable during the cold weather as are

most bulbuls.

They keep much to the higher branches of tall trees, but do not hesitate to

descend lower, even to scrubby bushes when these are rendered attractive by

the plentitude of their berries. I have examined a good many birds, but have

neyer discovered any remains of insects, and I believe they are almost entirely,

if not quite, vegetable feeders.

It has a very pleasant call, and its many other and diversified notes are all,

more or less, agreeable, none that I have heard heing at all harsh in character.

It has also a full sweet song, consisting { .ee bars, which it constantly

repeats, but I have only heard this uttered during the breeding season. When

singing, it erects its crest, the feathers of which, though short, are full. The

lanceolate feathers of the chin and throat are often also puffed out, giving the

bird the appearance of having a most disproportionately large head.

Tt is not a shy bird, and I have frequently watched either a single bird or a

pair within less than twenty yards. They have not been at all disturbed by my

4. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIII.

appearance on such occasions, but continued to feed until I tried to approach still

nearer, when they would fly away for a short distance and recommence feeding.

The flight is rather quicker and straighter than most bulbuls’, but not as

strong as, though more level than, that of Hypsipetes.

It is nowhere very common, and is rather local in its habits. I have noticed

that where Psarisomus is to be found, there are nearly always a few of these

birds also. This species, however, keeps to the outskirts of the forest, and will

not be found in the interior. Its favourite resort is scattered trees, with an

undergrowth of grass (not bush). I have also seen it in thin scrub jungle, in

cultivation jhums, and yery often amongst the jungle of nullas which are

surrounded by open country.

MicRoPUS MELANOCEPHALUS,

THE BLACK-HEADED BULBUL.

Brachypodius melanocephalus, Hume’s Cat. No. 457 67s.; Hume

and Davison, 8. F., Vol. VI, p. 318; Micropus melanocephalus,

Osta," Brot BAB.” Vol. 1p. 181 3 a.,: * fauna of BS, 1 Bods

Vol. 1., p. 294,

DescrrpTion.— Whole head and throat, extending to the upper breast, black,

brilliantly glossed with blue and purple , remainder of upper plumage olive-green,

brighter on the rump and yellow on the upper tail-coverts ; breast and flanks

the same, shading into bright yellow on the belly and under tail-coverts.

Tail olive-green for half its length, then black and tipped yellow, narrowly on

the centre feathers and increasingly broadly on the others.

Primary-coverts dull black, very narrowly edged olive-green ; other coverts

wholly olive on the visible portions. Primaries and secondaries black, the first

almost imperceptibly, the latter broadly-edged olive-green; the tertiaries, with the

outer webs, all of this colour.

The feathers of the rump and upper tail-coverts are very dark grey at the

base and then black, the tips alone being broadly yellow, consequently the rump

nearly always looks as if barred with black, though, in a perfect specimen, in

which the rump feathers le properly, these black markings scarcely show at all.

Bill very dark plumbeous, nearly black ; irides pale blue, varying a little in

depth of colour, but never at all dark ; legs dark plumbeous, claws black, mouth

and gape bluish, tinged fleshy occasionally.

Length 6°8” to 7:1"; wing 3°2” to 3°35”; tail 3°3”; tarsus °5”; bill at

front ‘55” and from gape °8”.

Nivirication.—I have taken but one nest of this bird, and on this the male

bird. was trapped. The nest might easily haye been mistaken for one of the

THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR. 5

common Bengal bulbul (MJolpastes bengalensis). It was a good deal stouter,

however, than 8 out of 10 of the nests of that bird, and was also more neatly

and compactly made. Outwardly it was made of the tough brown stems of a

climbing plant, together with a few fine soft twigs, and one or two coarse pieces

of grass blades; inside these was a scanty, but neat, lining of fine grass-stems

and a single skeleton leaf. It was placed in the fork of a stout branch of a

thorny bush, some three feet from the ground. The surrounding country was

dense jungle, merely a little lighter and clearer in the immediate vicinity.

Heavy rain had fallen on the two days previous to my finding the nest, and

when taken, it was sopped through and through, but it still, when removed, held

well together, and was just as strong and compact as before when it again

dried.

The eggs were three in number, slightly incubated, and they, like the nest,

may also be matched by many eggs of either I. bengalensis or burmanicus.

The ground-colour is a pale fleshy-pink, and the markings consist of large and

small blotches and freckles of reddish and purplish-brown, the underlying

marks being a pale dull inky. Some of the primary blotches are very large

varying from *1” to nearly °3” in length and up to ‘17” in breadth.

The distribution of both blotches and freckles is fairly equal, and in two -

eggs very numerous over the whole surface. In the third egg the marks are

fewer in number, with the exception of the very pale secondary blotches. The

texture is just the same as in the eggs of Molpastes, but there is a very faint

gloss, 7

They measure 97" X *65”, ‘96” X °60” and °93”%°64”. In shape they are

long ovals, rather compressed towards the smaller end and slightly pointed.

The nest was taken on the 12th of May, 1891, at an elevation of about 1,600

feet.

This bird is by no means rare in North Cachar, but I think it must be

partially migratory in its habits, for some years it is quite plentiful, and during

others hardly a single bird can be obtained.

During the cold weather, and well on into May, it is found in large flocks in

company with the next species (if it is a good species), keeping, asa rule, to

scattered forest or light jungle of some kind, rarely being found in quite open

country, and very nearly as seldom in heavy forest. It appears to be most

common in valleys which are well wooded, but at the same time have frequent

open spaces at no great distance from one another, and the J. atinga Valley and.

the low hills surrounding the Tea Estates to the North-West of Cachar seem to

be their most favourite haunts, It never, during the cold weather, seems ta

descend to low bushes, keeping almost entirely to the higher trees and to the

6 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

tops of even such. Now and then, tempted by some unusually luxuriant

growth of fruit or berries, it may descend to the higher bushes ; but, generally,

they seem to withstand temptation, and I have seldom seen them lower down

than the tops of small saplings. ‘The very few birds I have come across

during the breeding season alter their habits greatly, and I have most often

seen them in thick bushes or undergrowth, sometimes in the interior of dense

forest, more seldom just on the outskirts of it. At this period, too, they

become very silent, though at other times their loud and musical chirp is con-

stantly being uttered. The ‘‘ melancholy double whistle,” mentioned by Davi-

son as being one of their notes, I do not think I have heard, but I once, during

a rainy afternoon in March, 1892, heard some bird giving vent to his sadness

in a leng, soft whistle, suddenly terminating in a lower key, and this note may

have been that of either 2. melanocephalus or IL. cinereiventris. It was more

like the rainy weather call of ygithina typlia than that of any other bird

I know, but it was far deeper and softer.

The bird appears to be almost entirely a fruit-eater, but that it is not al-

together so was proved by my finding two wood-lice in the stomach of one and

the remains of a small green grasshopper in another. White ants, of course,

these birds eat, but I know of no fruit or grain-eating bird that will not readily,

even greedily, eat those insects.

I have never come across this bird above 2,600 feet (about), but in Burma

it seems to ascend far higher.

Two of the birds of this species in my collection, as also two of the next,

I owe to Mr. H. A. Hole, of Jellalpur, and the notes he has sent me about the

birds agree with my own experiences.

MIcCROPUS CINEREIVENTRIS.

Tur GREY-BREASTED BULBUL.

Brachypodius cinereiventris, Hume’s Cat. No. 457; quat.; Hume

and Davison, 8. F., Vol. VII, p. 319; Micropus cinererewtris, Oates’

“B. of B. B.,” Vol. L., p. 295 ; ad., “ Fauna of B. I. Birds,” Vol. L., p.

295,

DEscRIPTION.—Breast and flanks pure erey, darker nearest the head and.

paler lower, where it gradually merges into the yellow of the belly and vent.

In some birds the grey extends over a great part of the abdomen, in others

only over the upper portion. ‘The interscapulary plumage generally, and the

hind neck always, the same colour as the upper breast.

THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR, 7

I can discover no other difference between this bird and the last. The

margins to the primaries seem to me to be much the same in both birds, I

know nothing in its habits, &c., to distinguish it from J. melanocephalus.

In 1891 I also took a nest containing three young which, unfortunately, were

merely naked squabs when found, and all died within two days; in spite of the

most anxious care being bestowed on them, The female which I trapped on

the nest was alone caught, and the male bird I never saw, so that I could not

say whether it was of this or the last species.

I have spent a good deal of time and trouble in trying to find evidence to

prove either that 27. melanocephalus and I. cinereiventris are one and the same

bird or that they are distinct.

In the first place, neither Mr. Hole nor I have ever seen a flock of either

kind unmixed with the other, and the only times I have taken either kind on

the nest, the pair to it was not obtained or even seen.

It is queer that all the specimens of J. melanocephalus in my collection should

be males, whereas all those of I. cinereiventris except one, should be females,

The one exception is a young male in imperfect plumage. One of my speci-

mens of IM. cinereiventris (given me by Mr, Hole) shows very narrow, obscure

margins of olive-green on the grey feathers behind the neck.

Again, one of the birds in Lord Tweedale’s collection is said by him to be

“ina stage of transition from yellow to grey.”

The amount of grey is not constant on the lower plumage, and on the

upper is sometimes entirely absent. Personally I believe the two birds to be

identical, but it would certainly seem that neither sex nor age can have any-

thing to do with the differences in coloration. In Lord Tweedale’s bird ‘the

change is from yellow to grey, whereas in mine, if it is changing, the reverse

would seem to be in process, Thus in the former bird it would appear that

age was destroying the power of secreting the yellow pigment, whereas in the

latter the assumption would be that the young bird had not developed the

power. I have had several collectors kind enough to give me the sexes of

their specimens and of the sexed birds. I have only heard of two male

MI. cinerewentris. and of but one female M. melanocephalus. The birds in the

Asiatic Museum are not sexed, Had sex, however, been the cause of the

difference in coloration, it would most certainly have been ascertained in the

fine collection in the British Museum, if not in those of private persons.

The nest I have above mentioned was exactly like that of the former species

already described, and was found in the same valley and on the following day.

It was in a bush placed at about two feet from the ground, and, as it was

surrounded by cane, was only got at with a good deal of difficulty,

8 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

CHLOROPSIS AURIFRONS.

Tur GoLp-FRONTED CHLOROPSIS.

Phylornis aurifrons, Jerdon’s “ B,I.,” Vol. IL, p. 99 ; Hume and

Davison, 8. F., Vol. VI., p. 826 ; Hume’s Cat., No. 465 ; 2d., 8. F.,

Vol. XL, p. 184 ; Chloropsis aurifrons, Oates’ “ B. of B. B.,” Vol. L,

p- 205 ;¢d. * Fauna B. 1.” Vol. L., p. 234.

Descrrerion.—Forehead and crown golden-orange; chin, cheeks

and extreme upper throat brilliant purplish-blue; remainder of throat,

ear-coverts, round the eye, lores, and a narrow line up to the top of the nostrils

black. An indistinct supercilium and a broad line surrounding the black

golden; a patch on the wing, consisting of nearly all the lesser coverts, bright

pale blue; edge of wing rather darker blue; inner and concealed part of

wing-feathers dark brown; lower aspect of tail lead-colour ; remainder of

plumage bright grass-green, lighter below and sometimes inclined to an

emerald tinge. ;

The female has the gold collar far less developed and often almost absent,

the blue of the throat mixed with black, and the colour of the crown less vivid.

The young bird in its first plumage has the head wholly green, a moustachial

streak of the same colour as the wing-patch in the adult ; chin and throat tinged

with the same. Primaries and secondaries edged with brilliant greenish-blue ;

tail suffused with the same, and with the under surface wholly pale dusky-blue,

A young bird in the Spring of the second year has the forehead golden; the

upper throat and chin green; the black of the lower throat mixed with green,

and with only two or three traces of the golden collar. The moustachial streak

is small, and the wing patch the same.

Bill black ; gape and base of lower mandible hommy ; mouth bluish ; irides

light to dark brown ; legs pale, clear to dark, dusky-plumbeous ; the younger

the bird, the brighter and clearer the colour.

Male—Length 7°5" to 7°8" ; wing 3°7” to 3°85” ; tail 2°7” to 2:9"; tarsus

°7" ; bill at front °7” and from gape 1”.

Female—7'2" to 75" ; wing 3°5" to 3°65" ; tail 2°4” to 2:6",

NIpIFICATION.—The nest is a rather shallow cup, varying in breadth from

about 3°5” to about 4” and in depth from about 1°3” to 1°8”, few nests being

more than 1°5”, It is made of very fine twigs, moss roots and the tendrils of

climbing plants, outwardly bound together, and also interwoven with grasses,

moss, cobwebs, and a material which appears to be the inner bark of some tree.

Some nests have no lining at all, but others are lined with fine grass-stems or,

less often, with fern and moss roots, One nest taken in 1887 was lined with

THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR. 9

the dead dry fronds of a species of fern moss, and another one had a number

of dead leaves mixed with the lining of grass-stems.

Most nests are placed in between two or more horizontal twigs in a semi-

pendant position, not like the nest of the genus Oriolus but more like the nests

of the genera Hemixus, Zypsipetes, &c., having little more than half the depth

of the nest below the supporting twigs. About one nest in three is placed in

an. upright fork, and in such cases they are rather less strongly built, and

fewer cobwebs are used for attachment purposes. As a rule, the nest is

very neat, but some few have the outer surface covered with scraps aoe

hanging on by a cobweb or two.

The eves appear to be of two fairly distinct types. In the most common the

ground varies from very pale cream to a reddish-cream, deep tinted egys being

exceptional. Most of the spots are very small, and in colour a dark reddish-

brown; intermingled with these are sometimes a few streaks and short irregular

lines of brown, so dark as to appear black unless closely looked into. The

second type of ege has the ground-colour a clear pale cream, and the whole

surface blotched and mottled with reddish and reddish-brown, and again with

others, beneath these, of pale purple and lavender.

These last eges show a strong resemblance to some badly-marked, dull-

coloured eggs of Criniger flaveolus. In shape they are a long, pointed oval, or a

long regular oval, hardly compressed at all towards the smaller end. The shell

is fairly close grained and smooth, but rather delicate. About two eggs in three

show a faint gloss. Fifteen eggs taken in North Cachar average °94” x °69”,

and vary in leneth between 86” and 1°1”, and in breadth between *62” and 69”.

They commence breeding in the end of May or beginning of June, and their

nests may be found throughout June and July up to nearly the end of August.

The earliest date I have recorded as having taken eggs is the 12th May, 1891,

and the latest the 16th of August, 1892, This bird is the most common

Chioropsis to be met with here, and is found in great numbers all the year

round, descending in the cold weather to the plains, and sometimes, if but

rarely, remaining there to breed, for in July, 1891, I had a nest sent to me

containing two eggs, undoubtedly belonging to a bird of this genus and, I think,

this species, which was taken at the foot of the hills to the north-west of

Cachar. As a general rule, they keep much to the higher trees, small saplings,

&c., in their quest for food ; but they do sometimes come down to low bushes,

even quite close to the ground, ‘They are nearly always to be seen in my

compound any time from November up to the end of March, or even later,

clambering about some tall shrubs which are covered during these months with

clusters of red flowers—the attraction for numerous insects of all kinds and

also for many other birds, besides those of this species. Unfortunately, this

10 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCTETY, Vol. VII,

bird is most dreadfully pugnacious and quarrelsome, and whilst feeding on

these bushes will allow no other bird to come near. I found out this trait

very soon after I first became acquainted with the bird. I was engaged in

watching a small party of Flower-peckers (Dicceum olivacewm) feeding on

a babul tree, when a green bulbul appeared on the scene and prompily

commenced chasing the unoffending small birds who, one by one, were forced

to take shelter in a densely foliaged tree close by. The same day a King-crow,

a bird usually so bumptious and aggressive, was badly hustled and punished by a

pair of C.aurifrons. This occurred some time between the 25th November and

the 5th December, so could not well have been the result of any grievance

which the bulbuls had against the shrike on nesting grounds. They do not

mind what kind of bird they bully, and if they can get nothing else to quarrel

with, will fight amongst themselves. ‘Twice have I picked up birds mortally

wounded in these fights. Once, as I was walking to Cutcherry, I noticed two of

these birds fighting in a cotton tree, and whilst I watched, one fell to the ground

dead. Another time I was out for a stroll with a planterand his nephew, when,

just in front, two of these birds fluttered fighting to the ground. One of my

companions at once rushed forward towards the birds, whereupon one flew away,

but the other, after a few convulsive movements, lay dead. On yet a third

occasion, one of my servants succeeded in catching two males by rushing forward.

and throwing his pwygree over them as they struggled in some grass, too

engrossed in their quarrel to notice his approach. On this occasion neither

bird was very badly wounded, though both of them showed signs of blood on

the shoulders and heads.

The only bird of its own size with which it does not care to compete is its

first cousin C. hardwichii, and rather than fight with this bird, it will even

leave a choice feeding-ground.

During the cold weather it assembles in fairly large flocks, generally num-

bering nearly a dozen individuals, though sometimes only three or four, and

very rarely they may be seen alone or in pairs. The separate members of the

flock are very independent, and they often wander some distance from one

another ; but, if driven away, they make off in the same direction, and keep up

an. intermittent conversation between themselves.

They seem to be almost entirely insectivorous, and of the birds which I have

examined, none contained seeds or other vegetable food in their stomachs, with

two exceptions.

These two had in them numerous small black seeds which had been taken

from the pods of a bean-like climbing plant, and when I carefully examined the

plant, I found that many of these pods, which had burst, were crowded with

THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR. 11

tiny blue beetles, so it is possible that the seeds may merely have been

swallowed by the birds, either by mistake for, or together with, the insects,

I was once watching some Bronzed Drongo-shrikes catching white ants, when

my attention was attracted by some other birds joining in the pursuit. At

first I could not make out what they were, but one of them uttered a note

which I recognised as being that of the genus Chloropsis, and on shooting

the bird which uttered it, I found it belonged to this species. They were making

swoops into the air from the top of a lofty tree, and before returning to their

perch, they seemed to seize two and even three ants, whereas all the other

bulbuls I have seen catching insects on the wing invariably perched after

making one attempt to capture, whether successful or not. I noticed also that

though the white ants were rising to our right and the birds were on our left,

yet they appeared to see and give chase to insects which had disappeared far

beyond the range of sight, either of myself or the more sharp-sighted Naga

who accompanied me.

The ordinary cry of this bird is, as many observers have already remarked,

a low sweet rippling note, very like the softened cry of a Drongo-shrike. Ithas,

however, a2 most wonderful range of notes, some like those of Molpastes and.

Otocompsa, and others harsh, loud and jarring ; avery common sound, uttered

more especially during the breeding season, is just like the plaintive little chirp

of a very young chicken which has lost the hen. This note, like most, seems

to be common to the whole genus.

The song is very pretty, but short and rather interrupted, and very inferior

to that of the next bird, though perhaps rather louder.

The flight is fairly quick and strong, and consists of long rises and dips

alternately. ‘They sometimes hover in front of a flower, exactly in the same

way as many of the sun-birds do, and the movements of their wings when thus:

engaged are incredibly rapid.

All the birds of this genus have a habit of spreading their tails whilst feeding,

very much in the manner of Siphia, or, still more, like Myiophoneustemminckit,

Tt is a very early rooster, retiring directly the sun sets, sometimes even

before this, and always before it becomes in the least dark.

Tt does not always roost on high trees, and Iam inclined to think that, more

often than not, it prefers high, thick bushes to any other place.

I have twice disturbed it from patches of sun-grass when coming home at

dusk, and I have known it stay during the night in a dense orange-tree in my

compound. It is, like the other members of the genus, a great mimic, and

when in captivity, soon learns to imitate sounds made near it,

12 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

CHLOROPSIS HARDWICEII.

THE ORANGH-BELLIED CHLOROPSIS.

Phyllornis hardwickii, Jerdon’s “B. of 1,” Vol. IL, p. 100;

Hume’s Cat., No. 460 ; Chloropsis hardwickii, Oates’ ““ B. of B. B.,”

Vol. I., p. 206 ; éd., “ Fauna of B. L., Birds,” Vol. I, p. 236.

Description.— Male.—Whole upper plumage, tertiaries and greater coverts

next the back rather bright green; the forehead, above the eye, down the neck

tinged strongly with yellow, lores, the ear-coverts and behind them on the

_ sides of the neck, dead black ; chin, throat and upper breast black, velvety im

appearance, and strongly glossed with deep purply-blue, moustachial streak

bright dark ultramarine. Tail above purply-blue, the inner webs dusky black ;

lesser wing-coverts verdigris-blue ; other coverts black, edged purple ; primaries

the same, secondaries black on the inner and green on the outer webs ; flanks

ereen ; remainder of lower plumage bright deep orange.

Female.—A moustachial streak bright pale cobalt; lesser wing-coveris

the same as in the male; primaries and secondaries brown, the former very

narrowly, the latter broadly, edged green ; remainder of wings and whole upper

plumage green ; flanks and sides of the abdomen and breast green; centre of

lower breast, abdomen and under tail-coverts orange.

Young birds in their first plumage are wholly green, there being only a faint

indication ef the blue on the lesser wing-coverts.

First a cobalt moustachial streak appears, then the orange belly, &c., im

patches, together with patches of black on the breast. As the black develops,

the lesser wing-coverts assume their proper colour, and the moustachial streak

deepens into the ultramarine blue of the adult, and, finally, the yellow on the

head appears in the autumn of the second year, with the bright deep tints

on the wing and tail.

Bill black ; irides vary considerably; in some they are almost a bright red-

brown, in others dull and almost black, and they range between these

extremes; lees, plumbeous-blue, brightest and clearest in the young, and dull

and dark in old birds.

Length 7°3” to 7°6”; tail °8” to 8:1”; wing 3°7” to 3:95”; tarsus “71”; bill

at front °67” and from gape *98".

The female seems to be but little smaller than the male, and I have measured

none under 7°25” and from that up to 7°5”, the wing varying from 3°6” to 3°75".

Nipiricatron.—There is practically no difference between the nests of this

bird and those of C. aurifrons, though two were rather deeper than any I have

seen of that bird, one measuring 1°8” and the other 2°05” in depth. They

build in just the same sort of places, but, generally, rather higher, and I have

seen no nest under about 25 fect from the ground, ;

THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR. 13

The few eggs I have seen could not possibly be distinguished from those of

the last bird. One clutch of two is of the blotched type, and five are of the

other. In my remarks on this bird in the Asian, by mistake I wrote “ the

blotched eggs number four in every five taken” it should have been number

only two to five of the other kind taken. Seven eggs average 91” x °67”; in

length they vary between *89” and 1:05”, and in breadth between *56” and ‘7”,

The largest egg is very much larger than any of the others, measuring

1:05” >¢ °7” whereas the next largest is only just °95” % °67”,

I have never seen this bird in as large flocks as those in which C. aurifrons

assembles, Asa rule, nob more than five or six are seen together, and often

they are found in pairs. They do not, either, descend as low as C. aurifrons does.

I have never heard of their being found quite in the plains, and only once or

twice have I met with them anywhere below some 600 feet. Although they

are very nearly entirely insectivorous, they are not altogether so, and in a caged

state accustom themselves to a wholly vegetable diet. I have seen them two or

three times, when wild, eating berries, and one I once shot in my compound

had its stomach full of oranges about the size of a No. 4 shot.

This bird and its mate lived in my compound, and did a good deal of damage

to the one orange tree they particularly fancied. At first I flattered myself that

they were destroying the red ants which infested the tree, but I soon discovered

my mistake and did my best to drive them away, finally having to shoot one,

that being the only way of ridding myself of their company. In captivity they

seem to thrive on plantains and similar food, though they are grateful for any

insects which may be offered to them, and more especially for any grasshoppers.

A great friend of mine in Silchar had one of these birds in a cage, which was a

most charming pet. It soon got to know that certain people gave it grass-

hoppers or other dainties, and would become most excited whenever they came

into the verandah, coming to the side of its cage and calling loudly to

attract their attention. When J last saw it, it was beginning to sing, but had

not come to its full powers, though it possessed, even then, a very sweet and

musical littlesong. This bird had a habit of turning complete somersaults from

off the top perch of its cage on to one of the lower ones, and this it would

do some half-dozen, or even more, times in rapid succession. ‘This trick,

however, is one which is common to the species—and, I believe, to the genus—

and. in a wild state they may occassionally be seen indulging in these acrobatic

feats. In turning these somersaults, the bird does not appear to apen its wing

in the least ; it suddenly turns round on its perch, and drops, with closed wings,

on to the place it desires to reach, either seizing something edible as it first

turns round, or else directly after arriving on the lower twig. _

14 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Voi, VIII.

It is not nearly so quarrelsome a bird as its cousin already described, but it

is quite as bold and plucky, and seems to be even a more finished fighter, for,

as I have mentioned before, C. aurifrons does not care about attacking this bird,

and gets the worst of it when he does.

The song is the fullest and most prolonged, as well as by far the sweetest, of

any bird of this genus, and it shares with the other members of it the wide

variety of notes and wonderful power of mimicry.

T have one female of this bird, which, however, is not an adult, which

measures as follows :—

Length °7”; tail 2°8”; wing 3°5”,

This is the bird whose measurements I gave in the Asian; but now, with

my greater experience of the species, I think that these figures are abnormally

small, or that the bird would have become slightly larger with increased age.

CHLOROPSIS CHLOROCEPHALA.

Tuer Burmese CHLOROPSIS.

Phyllornis chlorocephala, Hume’s Cat., No. 463, bis. 3 Chioropsis

chlorocephala, Oates’ “ B. of B. B.,” Vol. 1., p. 208 ; ¢d., “ Fauna of

B. L., Birds,” Vol. I, p. 237.

Desoriprion.—Lores, feathers under and in front of the eye, cheeks, chin

and throat, black ; forehead and a broad band from eye to eye passing round

and encircling the throat pale yellowish-green ; front of the crown above the

forehead and a broad streak passing over the eyes and ear-coverts pale green ;

a very short moustachial streak cobalt ; crown of the head and nape goiden-

green; back, rump, upper tail-coverts and scapulars deep green ; tail blue ;

primaries and their coverts black, edged with blue; secondaries black on the

inner, blue on the outer webs, and edged with green; tertiaries and inner-

coverts green tinged with blue; lesser coverts glistening smalt-blue; medium

and greater-coverts green, tinged with blue at the base, under plumage bright

green, tinged with yellow on the breast (Oates).

I have only seen one male of this species, and that in such bad condition

that I give Oates’ description.

' The female has no black on the head, these parts being bluish-green; the

moustachial streak is paler and less glistening, and the plumage generally is

duller.

Length °7"; tail 27”; wing 3°3”; tarsus "75"; bill from gape *9” (Oates).

T have only seen a single pair of these birds in North Cachar. They were shot

at Gunjong, in January, 1891, feeding on a very high cotton tree. I know of

nothing in their habits differing from those of the other members of the genus.

THE BULBULS OF NORTH CACHAR. 15

The male several times uttered a cry exactly like one of the lower notes of

the large Racket-tailed Drongo-shrike, and for some moments I thought that

it was one of these birds calling, nor did I find out my mistake, until I shot

the bird which uttered it and saw that there were no others in the tree.

CHLOROPSIS JERDONI.

JERDON 'S CHLOROPSIS.

Phyllornis jerdoni, Jerdon’s “ B. of I.,” Vol. IL., p. 97 ; Hume’s

Cat., No. 463 ; Chloropsis jerdoni, Oates’ “ Fauna of B. I., Birds,”

Wolk Wy p. 238); zd., Hume's “ Nests and Hegs,” Vol. I., p. loo

(2nd Hd.).

Description.— Hale.—Whole visible plumage, with the exceptions noted

below, bright grass-green, paler below and brightest on the head, rump, and

upper tail-coverts ; shoulder-patch, formed by the lesser wing-coverts, bright

smalt-blue, moustachial streak bright purplish-blue or ultramarine, chin and

throat, lores, and over the moustache, black surrounded by yellowish, com-

mencing from the forehead and continuing through the eyes downwards.

The female has no black, and the moustachial streak is paler and inclined to

greenish-blue.

The young are wholly green.

Nipirication.—If I confine my notes on this subject to those nests taken

in North Cachar, I can give practically no information beyond what is already

known, for, most undoubtedly, the bird is not an inhabitant of these hills, and

the few which have been seen are only the progeny of tame birds let loose.

As far as I can ascertain, the original birds, some three or four, were brought

up to Gunjong by some sepoys in, or about, the year 1883, and released when

the sepoys left the stockade. The first bird I ever saw was shot by Mr. Hughes,

of the Frontier Police, at Gunjong, and two more birds were obtained by me

that same year.

In 1886 I found a nest containing three eggs, and this is the only one I have

actually taken in North Cachar itself. It was just like those described as

belonging to C. aurifrons, and was built in a small tree quite close to the cotton

tree, on which the first bird was shot.

The whole of my eggs, including the three found in Gunjong, average

*91” X60", but I have only had a very small series pass through my hands, and

out of this series two pairs were abnormally large, the four eggs measuring

between *1” and 1:06” in length and ‘68” and °7” in. breadth,

Deducting these four eggs, the remaining nine average only °86” x °58”

even narrower than the dimensions given by Oates (vide “Nests and Eggs”).

16 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIIT.

A pair of eggs which I took in Nuddea has not been included in these

measurements.

Tn captivity this species also seems to be fed by natives principally on a

vegetable diet, and it appears to thrive on this; but I have noticed—it may be

only fancy—that birds fed thus are duller in colour than those fed on a meat or

insect diet. Such is certainly the case with O. hardwickii, the blue parts beng

duller and the green the same, and, moreover, tinged with blue, much as is the

case with caged green magpies (Cissa sinensis). The first bird of this species I

ever saw in captivity belonged to one of my servants, and I have never seen one

as tame since. As it was allowed to fly about without restraint, it naturally

gave free vent to its appetite for insects, and thus retained its proper coloration ;

but at the same time it by no means despised plantains, and when shut up,

as it sometimes was, ate them freely, I was told by the servants that this

bird caught and devoured wasps and hees, but could get none at the time to test

the truth of the assertion, and shortly afterwards the bird died a violent death.

This habit of catching wasps may have been copied from a tame Racket-tailed

Drongo (Dissemurus yaradiseus) which shared with it its semi-imprisonment.

It was remarkably noticeable how the small bulbul “bossed” its much larger

companion who, had he wished, could have easily killed him, As a rule, they

got on very well together, but the bulbul was very jealous and resented any

attention being shown to the shrike.

I am much afraid that this bird, like I/yiophoneus temminckit, has died out,

for, since 1890, I have not seen a single bird, of course, amongst the many

C. aurifrons that I am constantly seeing, it is quite possible that I may over-

look one or two birds of this species, and it is to be hoped that such may be

the case.

LES FORMICIDES DE L’EMPIRE DES INDES ET DE

CHY LAN.

Par Auguste Fort,

Professeur 4 1’ Université de Ziirich.

Part III.

gme Genre Potyracais, Shuck.

Tableau des ouvrieres des espéces de la faune de V Empire des Indes

et de Ceylan.

1. Yeux proéminents, perpendiculairement tronqués 4 leur face inférieure-

postérieure (comme la moitié d’un ceil), Hemioprica (Roger)... 2

Yeux arrondis, de forme ordinaire ...... jandocacone Snap Dbi Se goosonnoaostononebe 4.

Une fente verticale, profonde, étroite et sinueuse entre le mégonotum et le

métanotum. Thorax convexe, sans épines, non bordé. Glabre.

Hcaille bidentée ..... secesensceressescsesecsecsesessresls SCISSA (Roger).

Thorax sans fente, ni échancrure, convexe, avec deux longues épines au

pronotum. Poilues. Thorax bordé. Leaille bispineuse ...0......03

Luisante, faiblement chagrinée. Pubescence tres éparse, - Métanotum

AMET C MI OLUOMstevoseeceeenopepasecitccieasaslsnn ne s-eP, ACULEATA (Mayr).

Subopaque ou opaque; rugueuse-striée; abdomen densément coriacé-

ponctué. Une pubescence jaundtre formant toison, Métanotum

bidenté, bordé entre ses deux faces. i: 5 Mill.......c.sccccsees panini

P. PUBESCENS (Mayr).

Angles supérieurs, latéraux de l’écaille prolongés en lobe large,

bispineux, aliforme. L’épine anterieure est courte, dentiforme,

var : ALATISQUAMIS, nov. var.

4, Thorax fortement bordé latéralement dans toute sa longueur; ses cdtés

nN)

(3)

VETUlCAylUNewecis cian ee Geen caweeeiciee eeose POSCHHSHOTETESOSFOSSSEESFEOREOOSED eeeve000 ai)

Thorax non bordé, ou bien le métanotum seul est distinctement bordé ;

pronotum nullement Hordé ....c..sccccscescescneccsececnes Konponn doneenlia

5. Thorax armé de quatre larges épines; celles du pronotum sont les plus

courtes. L’écaille a deux longues épines qui embrassent l’abdomen

et deux dents entre deux. Abdomen bordé devant et 4 ses angles

antérieurs. Corps court et large. Li: 4°5 a 5°3 Mill.......... caveeces

P. JERDONII (Forel).

Thorax n’a que deux épines ou n’en a pas........ Saesericsendoad secsceeseeeesG

6. Pas d’épines au pronotum, qui n’a que deux angles oe ou moins arrondis

ou deux dents....... “DoDONDeEDE dos BECOADD ODE cares swsetiesesiciace arses eit |

Deux épines aigties au pronotum. Pasd’épines aumétanotum, tout au plus

deux petites dents et en général une aréte transyersale entre elles...12

18 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

7. Hcaille avec une épine impaire ou 1M COne aVl MINEU rereeesereeseresceerened

Toutes les dents ou épines de Pécaille sont paires..esesercersereccsoeseesee Ll

8. Hcaille nodiforme, avec un cone médian et deux angles latéraux. Prono-

tum avec deux angles. Le métanotum a deux cornes deprimées,

courbées en dedans, formant ensemble un croissant (quart de lume)

P. SELENE (Emery)

Heaille avec une longue Epine MEdIANE ...sceocscescseccserccncscecescsceverD

9. Heaille squamiforme, quoique, épaisse, trispmeuse. Les faces antérieure et

postérieure de ’épine médiane sont la simple continuation des faces

antérieure et postérieure de l’écaille. Tete carrée, & peine plus longue

que large, & peine plus large derri¢re que devant. Métanotum avec

deux fortes dents obtuses et verticales. Arétes frontales aussi

rapprochées derriére que devant, non divergentes. Dents de I’épistome

plus écartées que chez les P. frauenfeldi et thrinax*, i: 6 Mill.

D’tn jaune TOUSSAtTe ........sceecceseeroeceeseeL, SAIGONENSIS (Forel).

Ecaille nodiforme, aussi épaisse que large, ou peu s’en faut, avec une surface

supérieure convexe, au milieu de laquelle l’épine médiane est implantée.

Tete pluslongue que large et bien plus large derriére que devant...10

10. L: 8895 Mul. Arétes frontales comme chez la P. saigonensis. 'Téte

et thorax mats, densément réticulés-ponctués, sans rides. Dents du

métanotum aussi courtes ou plus courtes que celles du pronotum.

Dents latérales de Vécaille longues et pointues. Noire ; extrémité

des funicules et des tarses d’un jaune brun...P. FRAUENFELDI (Mayr).

L: Environ 8 Mill. Noire, avec le front, l’épistome les mandibules,

Vextrémité des funicules et celle des tarses d’un brun roussatre. Tete

et thorax ridés. Métanotum avec deux épines trés courtes, Hcaille

avec deux courtes épines latérales (WVaprés Smith) ....-.secsecccsees

P. TEXTOR (Smith).

I.; 4455 Mill, Arétes frontales divergeant en arri¢re ot elles sont

bien plus écartées que devant. 'Téte et thorax réticulés et longitudi-

nalement ridés, mats ou subopaques, épines métanotales assez longues,

subyerticales. D’un brun plus on moins chatain ou roussatre ......

P. THRINAX (Roger).

L: 5455 Mill. D’un brun roussitre. Ecaille avec deux dents

ou spinules latérales pointues.........race : P. THRINAX id. sp.

*La P. thrinar race: javana (Mayr) de Java alécaille 4 peu pres conformée

comme la P. saigonensis, mais les caractéres de la téte sont comme chez la P. thrinaz.

+ C’est avec doute que je place cette espéce sous le chiffre 10, car je ne l’ai pas vue.

Smith et Mayr ne disent pas si l’écaille est nodiforme et ne parlent pas de la forme de

la téte, les arétes frontales, &c.

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN,. 19

L: 445 Mill. D’un brun chatain, Ecaille au moins aussi épaisse,

sinon plus épaisse que large......... var: P, LANCEARIUS 0, var,

[L: 55 Mill. Ecaille plus mince, trispineuse, (épines subégales).

Dents du pronotum plus fortes. Java.,race : P. JAVANA(Mayr).]

11. Bord supérieur de I’écaille faiblement convexe, portant au milieu deux

dents pointues et a ses angles latéranx deux épines assez longues,

droites, dirigées en haut et en dehors. Téte et thorax fortement

ridés en long, et réticulés-ponctués, L: 6447 Mill...... SHBoRonAeE

P, HALIDAYI (Emery).

Bord supérieur de Vécaille fort convexe, armé de deux longues épines

medianes trés rapprochées l'une de J’autre et a peu pres verticales.

Les deux épines latérales sont situées plus bas que chez Vhalidayi et

sont en général un peu plus courtes que les médianes. Dents du méta-

notum plus aplaties et plus horizontales. Téte et thorax réticulés-

ponctués, avec de fines rides longitudinales moins apparentes. L :

5 2 7:3 Mill.......00.0 ....P, CLYPEATA (Mayr) [—1npica (Mayr). ]

,L: 75 Mill. Téte et thorax régulierement et tres distinctement

ridés longitudinalement............race : P. RASTRATA (Hmery).

Ecaille quadridentée, Dents du métanotum verticales. Subopaque, fine-

ment pubescente (pruineuse). Yeux sphériques. Abdomen réticulé-

ponctué, Tete et thorax ridés-ponctués. Noire, L: 5 Mill.

(Vapres Roger) .ccccccccssscoessseesseeeeeee-b, PUNCTILLATA (Roger).

12. Téte plus large derriére que devant. Robuste. Grossierement striée-

ridée, Hcaille avec quatre épines courtes, subégales. Noire. Poilue.

Eparsément pubescente. Arétes frontales divergentes. Thorax a

bord biincisé. L: 9 4 10 Mill......... »»6P, STRIATO-RUGOSA (Mayr).

Ecaille comme chez la précédente. L: 5546 Mill. Pruineuse. Ridée-

ponctuée, Une pubescence grisdtre sur le corps, jaunatre sur abdo-

men. Pilosité dressée presque nulle. Thorax fort convexe .o.........-

P. CONVEXA (Roger).

Ecaille armée en haut de deux longues épines verticales ou subverticales,

de coté de deux dents ou petites épines beaucoup plus courtes. Téte

aussi large ou plus large devant que derricre .eersseeeereersecoeees eeeld

13. Téte fortement rétrécie en arricre, 4 partir des yeux, sans autre bord

postérieur que V’articulation occipitale. La distance V’un ceil 4 langle

postérieur de la téte est aussi grande que celle d'un ceil 4 Pautre.

Opaque, réticulée-ponctuée; thorax et tebe en outre striés, Noire.

Pilosité noiratre, Faiblement pubescente. Thorax étroit, allongé, a

peine plus large devant que derritre. L. 9 & 10 Mill.........s00 wen

P. srRiaTa (Mayr).

20 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Téte pas ou a peine rétrécie derriere les yeux, avec un bord particulier,

distinct, en avant de l’articulation occipitale. Yeux bien plus éloignés

l'un de l’autre que des angles postérieurs de la téte. Plus robuste...14

14. Une pubescence plus ou moins grisatre, dorée ou argentée, formant un

duvet trés abondant et apparent, qui cache la sculpture, au moins

BUH AOC OMICTIY certs enatsiretelesuelsieieecess ce ves cecee since aeeivmce=tala vce cd

Une pubescence courte, espacée, ne cachant pas la sculpture et ne formant

pas de duvet apparent. 'Téte et thorax stries. Noire ......sescceec0016

15. Arétes frontales trés rapprochées l'une de l’autre, 4 peine distantes comme

4 ou 4 de leur longueur. Pronotum aussi large derriére que devant.

Epines latérales de Vécaille trés courtes et bimucronées. Pilosité

éparse. Pubescence plutot argentée ou faiblement dorée. Taille un

peu moins robuste que chez la P. mayri. 1: 8 & 9 Mill ............008

. P. PROXIMA (Roger).

Arétes frontales distantes de la moitié de leur longueur environs. Prono-

tum un peu élargi devant. Taille robuste et courte. Pubescence grise-

dorée, parfois plusgris 4tre ou un peu argentée. L:7°5 49 Mill...

P. MAYRI (Roger).

Pilosité abondante sur le corps et sur les pattes. Pubescence

dense et d’un gris doré. Arétes frontales tres distantes...race :

P. MAYRI, id. sp.

Pubescence grise et peu dense sur l’abdomen...var: PAUPERATA

(Emery).

Pilosité dressée trés éparse partout. Abdomen avec une pubes-

cence grise ne formant qu’un assez faible duvet. Abdomen

brun. Arétes frontales plus rapprochées que chez le type

race : P, INTERMEDIA (Forel),

Stature trapue et pubescence dorée dense de la P. mayri, i. sp.

Arétes frontales presque aussi rapprochées que chez la P.

prozima. Pilosité tres éparse, comme chez la P, intermedia...

var : PROXIMO-MAYRI, n. var.

16. Epines médianes de l’écaille courbées en arriére pres de leur extréemité et

plus rapprochées I’une de l’autre 4 leurs bases que des épines latér-

ales. Pas de pilosité dressée, sauf quelques poils roussatres au deux

extrémités du corps. Pubescence jaunatre tres courte, formant sur

Vabdomen un trés faible duvet pruineux. Abdomen subopaque, trés

finement réticulé. L: 849 Mill. Pas de dent médiane entre les

épines supérieures de l’écaille .....+.sseeeseeeeeeeek. YERBURYI, 0. Sp.

Epines médianes de V’écaille droites, bien plus éloignées Pune de lautre

que des épines latérales. Pilosité dressée abondante sur le corps, les

pattes et les antennes. Abdomen mat, ridé-ponctué ou strié.

Pubescence grise, plus éparse que chez la précédente. Une dent

médiane entre les épines supérieures de Vécaille. L:9 4 12 Mill.

P. SUMATRENSIS (Smith).

18,

19,

20.

21.

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 21

Epines supérieures de Vécaille de longueur médiocre ; dent

médiane forte, spiniforme. Métanotum sans dents distinctes.

Abdomen ridéponctué ............race : P. SUMATRENSIS, id. sp.

Hpines supérieures de I’écaille longues ; dent médiane tres faible

et obtuse, Métanotum avec deux fortes dents verticales.

Abdomen strié ..,.........02. wecwoerace : P, HAMULATA (Hmery).

Luisantes, lisses ou faiblement chagrinées. Thorax sans épines ou avec

deux dents ou épines plus ou moins caduques, gréles des leur base,

au métanotum seulement. Pas de pubescence.......cscccesoeeeeo-e 18,

Sculpture accentuée. Mates ou subopaques (sauf chez la P. laevigata).

"Thorax EPUMCUX sevseavercccreeres sceccrccercescesscceceoerssseescssscooe lds

Pronotum avec deux angles antérieurs aigus, dentiformes. lcaille a

peine quadridentée. Métanotum inerme. Noire; pattes rougeatres,

sauf les tarses. L: 5°5 & 6°2, Mill.......00..P. LAVISSIMA (Smith),

Abdomen et pattes d’un roux jaundtre. Antennes et devant de

Habe Le OUSSA LES idacceepacescesereteconices var : DICHROUS (Forel).

Pronotum avec ses angles antérieurs arrondis. Hcaille quadrispimeuse

(épines latérales courtes, épines médianes rapprochées). Noire ; pattes

brunatres ou rougedtres. L:5 a 6. Mill...P. RASTELLATA (Latreille).

Métanotum absolument inerme...... race : P. RASTELLATA, id. sp.

Metanotum armé de deux épines gréles, plus ou moins caduques,

aussi étroites 4 leur base que vers leur extrémité ...... coceccnodoac

race: P. LAVIOR (Roger),

Métanotum armé seulement de deux petites dents... var : DEBILIS

(Emery),

Mésonotum armé de deux fortes épines, recourbées en arricre ...00.00.20

Micsonoium imerme, Heaille bispinetise <......cuesescscscececcssccecnsenso22

Métanotum armé de deux fortes dents. Epines du pronotum fortement

courbées en dehors. LHcaille surmontée d’un pilier d’ou partent deux

longues épines médianes, d’abord verticales, paralléles et contigues,

puis divergentes et recourbées en dehors en cornes de chamois & leur

sommet. Thorax, sauf lesépines, base de l’écaille, devant du premier

segment abdominal d’un roux foncé ; le reste noiratre. Pubescence

peu dense. Li: 849 Mill .........ccvceeeeevesP, BELLICOSA (Smith),

Métanotum armé de deux tubercules dentiformes plus ou moins obtus,

souvent peu distincts. Epines du pronotum longues, recourbées 4 la

fois en dehors et en arriére. Taille plus grande ..........0. o0-.-00-21

Kcaille comme chez la P. Gellicosa. D’un roux vif. Téte, antennes,

tibias, tarses, articulations, extrémité des épines et moitié postérieur

de Vabdomen noiratres. Pubescence longue, abondante, jaunatre

Li: 9°5 & 10 Mill .....e00s..scceeeeseeseceeereeeeeb, BIHAMATA (Drury).

Les épines de l’écaille divergent dés le sommet du pilier d’ot elles

partent, comme les branches d’un Y. Abdomen irés large. Tubercules

22. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

du métanotum presque nuls. Enticrement noire, avec la base

de Técaille, et parfois une partie du thorax, d’un roux brunatre.

Pubescence plus grisatre que chez la P. bihamata. Li: 10411

IMG 2. seencacecissnconssacenssacceessccomcssecannrascnks YPSILON (Hmery).

22. Lisse et Iuisante. Noire. Angles antérieurs du thorax aigus. Métano-

tum avec deux longues épines divergentes, dirigées en arriére, ce qui

la distingue de la P. levior. Cuisses et hanches ferrugineuses.

Heaille avec deux longues épines embrassant Vabdomen. L: 5 4 6

Mill (apres Smith) ......000 serersecereseeveees- bP, LAVIGATA (Smith).

Corps, en partie du moins, avec une sculpture bien distincte, mat ou

SUDOPAGUC Jsccerscnvecscroevvarcaveccceeessseansors+s:,seessecccssccacasd4oe

23. Pronotum avec deux angles antérieurs aigus, subdentés. Deux épines

au métanotum. Lcaille avec deux épines dirigées en arriére et

embrassant abdomen. Sutures du thorax assez nettes. Subopaque ;

téte et thorax finement réticulés-ponctués. Abdomen réticulé.

Pilosité dressée nulle. Pubescence extrémement courte et tres

éparse. Noire, avec un treflet métallique bleuatre foncé, surtout

apparent au métathorax. Funicules et pattes, sauf les métatarses,

testacés, L: 4447 Mill.........P. HIPPOMANES (Smith). Race :

CEYLONENSIS™ (C. Emery).

Pronotum armé de deux EpiMes .....ccccseerscseccesencsescascecsonseeses seedy

24, Suture méso-métanotale distincte. caille simplement bispineuse.

Pilosité dressée 4 peu pres nulle. Métanotum ordinairement bordé...25

Suture méso-métanotale indistincte ou nulle. Souvent deux dents entre

les épines de l’écaille. Métanotum nullement bordé ..........0....31

25. D’un noir verdatre bronzé. Métanotum bordé. Beaucoup plus gréle que

la P. venus. Téte et thorax densément réticulés-ponctués; les

points ou réticulations fines sont plus ou moins disposés par groupes

de 5 ou 6, séparés les uns des autres par une maille réticulaire un peu

plus élevée, souvent peu distincte. Abdomen subopaque, assez

luisant, assez faiblement et trés finement ponctué-ridé transyersale-

ment. Tibias et scapes comprimés. L: 7 Mill...P. a:DIPUS, n. sp.

D’un noir brundtre mat; uniformément eb densément réticulées-ponc-

tuées. Abdomen parfois d’un brun roussatre, Tibias eb scapes

comprimes, ces derniers du moins vers l’extrémité ......seeeseeese-27

D’un bleu foncé, métallique en tout ou en partie. Deux longues épimes

au pronotum. Subopaques; abdomen Iluisant, finement chagrine.

* Je dois a mon ami M. C. Hmery la*connaissance des caractéres qui distinguent

cette race de Vhippomanes id. sp. C’est done sous son nom et avec sa signature que

je publie la diagnose de ce tableau.—A. Forel.

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN, 23

Face basale du métanotum subbordée. Epistome échancrée au milieude

son bord antérieur. Scapes, cuisses, ef tibias, comprimés. Dépourvues

de pilosité dressée eb de pubescence, Li: 8 a 9 Mill. ...............26

26. Téte rétrécie fortement derriere les yeux. Epines du métanotum plus

courtes que celles du pronotum, paralleles, dressées, Thorax étroit,

alloneé, finement rugueux transversalement, nullement convexe

dessus. Ecaille avec deux longues épines, trés écartées et trés diver-

gentes, courbées en arricre. Téte, prothorax et méso-thorax noirs...

P, CHALYBEA (Smith),

Téte non rétrécie derriére les yeux. Epines du métanotum extremement

fortes et extremement longues, longues comme plus de deux fois

Vintervalle de leurs bases, tres fortement divergentes, beaucoup plus

longues que les épines pronotales, dirigées en arriére et en haut.

Thorax plus robuste que chez la P. chalybea. Pronotum et méso-

notum un peu convexes. Hcaille comme chez la P. chalybea. 'Téte

et thorax réticulés-ponctués ou réticulés, et subopaques ou faiblement

luisants, sauf la face basale du métanotum qui est trés luisante et

faiblement chagrinée: En outre une ponctuation éparse, assez

effacée. D’un bleu métallique foncé, uniforme. Pattes et antennes

Cun noir bleuatre so.seorsseseeeecesocseserscersceeseseel. VENUS, I. SP.

27. ‘Tete considerablement rétrécie par lignes convergentes, presque droites,

derriére les yeux, sans bord postérieur distinct de Varticulation occipi-

tale; Vextrémité postérieure de la téte est aussi étroite que larticu-

lation occipitale. Antennes, pattes, et palpes tres longs et trés

‘gréles, Les palpes et les scapes dépassent en arri¢re la suture pro-

mésonotale. Corps tres étroit. Chaque article du funicule renflé &

son extrémité. Epines métanotales paralléles, de la longueur des

épines pronotales et des épines de Técaille; ces derniéres, assez

dressées et courbées en arriére. Métanotum nonbordé, Tout le corps

mat, densément réticulé-ponctué et glabre ou peu s’en faut. L: 7.

ET, coscos ccaccspeseebeondadeacesbaated spsgcéccococennd-eoles alROMiNIMIENL, 42, (fm,

Tete médiocrement rétrécie par lignes, plus ou moins convexes, derriére les

yeux, avec un bord postérieur plus ou moins distinct, ou indistinct,

mais toujours plus long que articulation occipitale 4 gon ex-

trémité postcrieure. Palpes et scapes n’atteignant ou ne dépassant pas

la suture pro-mésonotale. Métanotum bordé ou au moins subbordé..28

28. Dront et aretes frontales élevés, proéminents. Pas de dent sous l’extrémité

antérieure du 1° segment abdominal, Pubescence extraordinairement

courte et diluée, presque nulle. .Cdtés de la téte faiblement convexes

entre Poeil et le bord postérieur, Corps relativement robuste ou

médiocrement gréle, Abdomen souvent d’un brun roussitre .....29

DA JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

Front eb arétes frontales peu élevés, peu proéminents. Une dent lamelli-

forme sous V’extrémité antérieure du 1° segment abdominal. Une

pubescence grisitre, fort distincte, qui rend l’abdomen un peu

pruineux, sans former de duvet. Cotés de la téte derriere les yeux plus

fortement convexes que chez 28. Corps gréle, étroit, mais lesantennes

NE SONL Pas LONGUES ..--eeeeecaveeevenrcecesccvscescrsescossoreceseseceees DO

29, caille épaisse mais non cubique, surmontée de deux fortes et longues

épines divergentes, dirigées en haut, en arricre et en dehors, médio-

crement courbées en arriére, plus longues que les épines du métanotum.

Ces derniéres divergentes, légerement courbées en dehors, pas plus

longues que celles du pronotum; leur bord antérieur ne se continue

pas isa base en une arcte bordant la face basale du métanotum.

Cette derniére plane, faiblement subbordée. ‘Tibias postérieurs et

médians armés 4 leur bord interne de deux ou trois petits piquants

tres courts et trés obliques. Stature relativement robuste, presque

comme P. armata. UL: 10 Mill..........seseceoeeeek, ACHILLES, 0, SD.

Heaille cubique, avec un angle plus ou moins droit entre sa face antérieure

et sa face supérieure qui s’éleve dans sa moitié postérieure en bourre-

let, d’ot partent deux épines assez longues, dirigées en arriére, en

dehors et un peu en haut, assez fortement courbées en arriére. Face

basale du métanotum concave, en gouttiére longitudinale, bordée

d’une aréte qui se continue directement dans le bord antérieur des

épines. Ces dernicres trés longues, droites, & peine divergentes, plus

longues que celles du pronotum et de V’écaille. Tibias sans trace de

piquants, Stature moins robuste. L : 8 & 9 Mill sessecsesesssesceeees

P. ABDOMINALS (Smith) ; [= PHYLLOPHILA (Smith). |

30. Vertex bas, faiblement convexe, de méme que le front. Tibias armés

de piquants distincts 4 leur bord interne. Neeud du pédicule plus

long que large, avec les stigmates fort proéminents, Face basale du

métanotum bordée et concave de droite a gauche. Hpines du

métanotum et de l’écaille comme chez la P. abdominalis, mais les

premiéres encore plus longues, extrémement longues, pointues et plus

divergentes. Articles 1 4 4 du funicule trés distinctement €paissis

A leur extrémité, Téte 4 eine rétrécie derriére les yeux. Pronotum

un peu concave entre les dx épines, Li: 7°8 Mill........sceceeees

-P, murat (Smith) ? race: AJAX. n. st.

Vertex plus fortement convexe. ‘Tete fort distinctement rétrécie derriére

les yeux. ‘Tibias sans trace de piquants. Noeud du pédicule un peu

plus large que long, armé derriére de deux épines fort courtes,

dirigées presque horizontalement en arri¢re et en dehors, courbées

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 25

de fagon & embrasser un peu l’abdomen. Métanotum comme chez

Vespéce précédente, mais les arétes qui bordent la face basale sont

plus faibles et les épines un peu plus courtes et plus divergentes,

Articles 1 & 4 du funicule & peine épaissis a@ leur extrémité,

Pronotum faiblement convexe entre les deux épines. Tres voisine de

Vespéce précédente, mais L:: 5°5 Mill, et pubescence un peu plus

HC CCMUICCIMenaeeeebanis +s ecinidy- succes cevacecses<k BINGTAMEI. TN. Sp:

31. Pédicule comme chez la P. ypsilon, c. a, d. surmonté d’un pilier épais

et élevé qui porte deux longues épines, divergeant en Y, un peu

inclinges en arriére et recourbées en dehors 4 Vextrémité, comme les

cornes d’un chamois. ‘'Téte large derriére, nullement rétrécie derriére

Jes yeux. Pronotum et mésonotum fort convexes; métanotum trés

abaissé, surmonté de deux épines tres longues. Abdomen globuleux,

atténué devant, en dessus. Téte et abdomen lisses et Inisants. Thorax

et pédicule tres grossiérement réticulés-ponctués. 'Trés poilues.

Noire, avec les pattes, les funicules, et souvent V’abdomen d’un

roux plus ou moins brundire. L: 5°34 5°6, Mill....P. rurcata

(Smith)...

Téte distinctement rétrécie derriére les yeux, Hpines du méta-

notum plus courtes. Pilier du pédicule plus gréle et plus bas,

surmonté de deux épines, abaissées, trés divergentes, dirigées

en dehors et 4 peine en haut, courbées en arriere et embrassant

plus ou moins l’abdomen ; les épines de I’écaille ne sont re-

courbées que tout pres de leur extrémité ot elles forment un

petit crochet. Avant ce crochet trés atténué, elles sont com-

primées et larges. D’un roux jaundtre testacé. Téte (sans les

mandibules) et extrémité des épines noirdtres, Scapes bruns,

Li: 45 Mill......... soseccsseccesarassosveneeLaCO ; P, GRACILIOR, n. st,

___ Pédicule sans pilier ; ses épines nullement recourbées 4 l’extrémité......32

32. Hpines du métanotum longues, fortes, recourbées en dehors a leur extré-

mité, en forme de cornes de chamois. 'Téte sans tubercules, Epines

de l’écaille embrassant l’abdomen, deux dents verticales entre elles,

au sommet de I’écaille. Une petisse dorée sur l’abdomen et sous les

métatarses. Presque pas de poils dressés. Noire, mate. L: 8,

Mill setteereceeerarceessscessseseesageerseeseeesessesbs RUPICAPRA (Roger).

Epines du métanotum recourbées a dehors 4 leur extrémité, mais plus

faiblement, ne formant pas\.ie corne de chamois aussi accentué,

Deux gros tubercules proéminents sur la téte, 4 Vocciput, un derriéré

chaque ceil. Hcaille comme chez la P. rupicapra. Abdomen

presque subbordé et un peuavancé devant, en dessus. Mésonotum

presque plan de profil ; pronotum fortement convexe devant. Noire,

mate, finement reticulée-ponctucée ; thorax, téte et écaille en outre

26 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

erossiérement réticulés. Pilosité presque nulle. Pubescence tres

diluée. du: 6°8 47 Mill............secessseseesk. TUBERICEPS, D. Sp.

Epines du métanotum non recourbées en cornes de chamois, tout au plus

faiblement courbées en dehors vers leur extrémité, 'T’éte sans tuber-

CCA eclereicasices see scmcieidecectenesciros-m soso ssedeeeasceeecmensseace aoe

33. Téte et thorax grossiérement et profondément réticulés-ponctués ainsi

que l’écaille, finement ponctués au fond des mailles. Abdomen fine-

ment et densément réticulé-ponctué et mat. Pedicule subcubique,

bidenté 4 ses angles antérieurs supérieurs, surmonté derriére de deux

longues et fortes épimes divergentes, courbées en arricre. Epines

du pronotum et du métanotum longues et robustes ; lespace qui

separe leur bases un peu concave dune épine 4 lautre. Epistome

bidenté devant. Presque glabre. Mate ; noire ; abdomen souvent

d’un brun roussatre. L: 8 410 Mill......P. armava (Le Guillon).

Abdomen d’un roux clair. Pattes, antennes, thorax et pédicule

bruns, L: 7 Mill : seulement...,....0.00. -. Var : MINOR (Forel).

Tete et thorax avec de grossiéres réticulations qui sont faibles, plus ou

moins effacées ; du reste finement et densément réticulés-ponctués et

mats comme l’abdomen. Pronotum fort convexe devant. Hpines du

thorax assez courtes, surtout celles du pronotum. Celles du méta-

notum divergentes, courbées on dehors, caille et abdomen comme

chez la P. tubericeps, mais les épines, et surtout les dents supérieures

de l’écaille, sont plus courtes. Noire, mate ; pubescence tres courte

et extrémement diluée ; pilosite presque nulle, L : 4°8 45°8 Mill......

P. SIMPLEX (Mayr).

[—sPINIGERA (Mayr) ].

Réticulations de la téte et du thorax presque entic¢rement effacces.

4a, Ao Mallee tc ceccre poscanenoniacdagoconned var : OBSOLETA, n. var.

La téte, le thorax et Yabdomen n’ont guere qu'une sculpture fine.

Poilues on. pubescentes + 80804168 CO8OeTHOABESBCCeoeCE ©00000000 BO0000s00 Beco:

34, Les épies de I’écaille n’embrassent pas abdomen ; elles sont divergentes,

dirigées en haut et pas ou @ peine courbées en arricre. L’intervalle

de leurs bases n’a pas de dents. Hpines du métanotum paralleles, un

peu courbées en dedans, Pilosité dressée assez abondante sur le

corps et sur les pattes. Pubescence jaunatre, assez abondante, assez

erossicre eb contournée, laissant voir la sculpture dans ses intervalles.

Epines médiocres. Noire ; abdomen, pattes, antennes eb mandibules

dun rouge brunatre. L:6a6°5 Mill ......... P. BICOLOR (Smith).

Les épines de 1’écaille sont abaissées en arriére, divergentes, courbées en

dedans eb embrassent la base de abdomen, L’intervalle de leurs

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 27

bases a deux petites dents. Pilosité dressée presque nulle. Pubes-

cence serrée, formant un duvet argenté ou doré ...... cesserecceseres 35

35, Hpines du pronotum assez gréles ; épines du métanotum @ peine plus

longues qu’elles, assez dressées, divergentes et courbées en dehors

pres de leur extremité. Une impression transversale entre le pro-

notum et le mésonotum. L’écaille a trois dents entre la base de ses

épines ; l'une d’elles est médiane et située devant les deux autres,

Les tibias ont & leur bord interne quelques petits piquants. Pubes-

~ cence d’un gris doré. Hpistome avec un lobe antérieur. Quelques

rugosités plus grossi¢res sur la téte et le thorax, L: 4°57 Mill...

P. DIVES (Smith),

Epines du pronotum robustes. pines du métanotum bien plus longues

qu’elles, trés divergentes, bien moins dressées, robustes, pas ou 4 peine

courbées en dehors. Epines de lécaille plus longues; seulement

deux dents dans Pintervalle de leurs bases. Stature bien plus robuste.

Thorax plus large, bien plus convexe, sans impression transversale

Tibias sans trace de piquants ...... dai eeSecielse atecutsiee sopeccecoce 2030

36. Cotés du mésothorax renfiés. Noire, avec une pubescence d’un doré

| pale. Hpines de Vécaille plut6t gréles. Noire. Hperons testacés,

L: 4545 Mill. Waprés Smith) .....0..-seeceeeeeP. AFFINIS (Smith)

[vicina (Roger) }

Cotés du mésonotum non renflés. Pattes rougedtres. Epines de I’écaille

robustes. L:546 Mill........ cceeoaeeepoce ecoOSU cecoonceeenot cucce Poesy 4

37. Le pronotum et le mésonotum forment une bosse trés proéminente. Tout

Je corps convert d’une pubescence argentée trés dense. Robuste......

P. ARGENTEA (Mayr).

Le thorax est moins fortement convexe et l’est uniformément, d’avant en

arriére. Taille moinsrobuste. Pubescence moins dense, laissant voir

Ja sculpture sur la tete eb le thorax, d’un grisaétre moins argenté,

souvent en partie d’un doré pale sur l’abdomen. ‘Trés voisine de la

précédente ; peut-etre simple race.............0.+2.P. TIBIALIS (Smith),

Liste DES PotyracHis DE LINDE AVEC DESCRIPTION DES ESPE/CES

NOUVELLES, SYNONYMIE ET GEOGRAPHIE.

1. P. scissa (Roger).

Hemioptica scissa (Roger).

Ceylon (Major Yerbury, Roger).

6 :-—L: 57 4a 62 Mill. Entiérement noir. Ailes brunes. Valvules

génitales jaundtres, avec lextrémité de leurs prolongements d’un brun noiratre.

Assez finement chagriné et assez Inisant. Yeux allongés, assez comprimés

dans le sens transversal, mais non tronqués derriére.

23 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

2. P. aculeata (Mayr).

Ceylon (Major Yerbury) 8 Q @; Kanara (E. H. Aitken) 9 ; Travancore

(HI. Ferguson) 8.

9 :—L: 6°5 Mill, Comme l’ouvriére, mais les cuisses et les fémurs sont

noirs et les ailes teintées de brunatre. Pronotum avec deux courtes épines.

T’écaille a, au lieu d’épines, 4 ses angles supérieurs deux prolongements lamelli-

formes, comprimés, bituberculés a l’extrémité.. La pubescence grise est aussi

plus abondante sur le devant de la téte et sur le thorax, C’est peut-étre une

variété,

& :—L: 5°8 Mill. Teéte plus courte que chez la P. seissa. Yeux arrondis

non comprimés ni tronqués, Téte et thorax réticulés-ponctuds et subopaques,

Ecaille en noeud arrondi,

3. P. pubescens (Mayr).

Birmanie et Tenasserim (Fea).

var: dlatisquamis, 1, Var.

Birmanie (Major Bingham) (voir tableau).

4, P. jerdonii (Forel).

Ceylon (Major Yerbury) & @Q (voir Forel: Die Nester der Ameisen,

Ziirich, 1892, et le tableau ci-dessus). :

@ :—L: 57 4 6 Mill, Ailes teintées de brun, Nervures et tache

marginale foncées. Large, trapue; thorax déprimé en dessus. Hpines du

thorax un peu plus courtes que chez Pouvriére 4 laquelle elle est du reste

identique. ‘Le thorax est subbordé.

5. P. selene (Emery),

Tenasserim (ea).

6. P. saigonensis (Forel).

P. thrinax vax : saigonensis (Forel),

Saigon (par M. L, Lortet).

7. P. frauenfeldi (Mayr).

Ceylon (ma collection).

8. P. textor (Smith).

Malacca (d’aprés Smith).

9, P. thrinax (Roger).

Ceylon (Major Yerbury); Calcutta (G. A. J. AOHIEEY) 5 Travancore

(H. Ferguson) ; Kanara (T. R. D. Bell).

@ :—L: 6°8 47°5 Mill. Ailes jaunatres ou d’un jaune brunatre, a nervures

pales, Le pronotum n’a que deux angles obtus. Epines du métanotum plus

courtes que chez louvriére. Hcaille moins épaisse, moins cubique, avec l’épine

médiane plus courte et les épines latérales plus longues que chez ¥, ces

derniéres presque aussi longues que l’épine médiane, Du reste comme &.

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 29

f:—L: 5°7 46 Mill. Brunatre, varié de brun jaunatre; funicules plus

foncés, Chagriné, assez luisant. Pédicule avec un noeud plus ou moins dis-

tinctement bituberculé ou trituberculé au sommet.

var : lancearius n. var. (voir tableau) 8 ¢.

Trevandrum (H, Ferguson); Kanara (H. H. Aitken),

10. P. halidayi (Emery).

Tenasserim (Fea).

11. P. elypeata (Mayr).

Polyrachis indica (Mayr) (d’aprés Emery in litt):

Camponotus indicus (Forel).

Thana District (7. Gleadow); Kanara (IT. Bell); Pooree, Bengale (Tull

Walsh); Orissa (Jas. Taylor); Travancore (Ferguson) ; Ceylon (Mayr),

race: P, rastrata (Emery).

Polyrachis rastrata (Emery).

Tenasserim (Fea).

12. P. punctillata (Roger).

Ceylon (d’aprés Roger).

13. PP. striato-rugosa (Mayr).

Birmanie (d’apres Mayr).

14, P. convera (Roger).

Ceylon (d’aprés Roger),

15. P. striata (Mayr).

Singapore (Dr. Arthur Miller).

16. LP. proxima (Roger).

Birmanie (Major Bingham et Fea); Singapore (Dr. A. Miller),

17. 2. mayri (Roger).

Polyrachis relucens (Mayr) ; nec Latreille.

Ceylon (d’aprés Roger eb Major Yerbury); Kanara (E. H. Aitken); Siam

Frontier (Major Fulton); Birmanie (Major- Bingham); Tenasserim (Fea) ;

Darjeeling, prés de Sikkim (Christie) ; Travancore (H. 8. Ferguson),

var: pauperata (Emery).

Tenasserim (Fea),

race: P. intermedia (Forel).

Sibsagar, Assam (Wood-Mason),

var: prozimo-mayri n, var. (voir tableau).

Birmanie (Major Bingham).

18. P. yerburyi 0. sp.

Ceylon (Major Yerbury).

% :—Mandibules striées, mates, avec quelques points et 5 dents. Epistome

sans caréne, avec un lobe antérieur arrondi et convexe, non échancré. Dessous

30 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIiT.

de la téte bordé d’une aréte latérale faible. Front convexe et assez proéminent.

Arétes frontales plutot rapprochées. Scapes cylindriques. Tete plus longue

que large, 4 cotés convexes. Hpines du pronotum fortes et assez divergentes.

Pronotum et mésonotum plus larges que longs (chacun); face basale du

métanotum un peu plus longue que large, & peine plus large devant que derriere,

terminée derriére par une aréte transversale et par deux dents verticales trés

accentuées et comprimées dans le sens antéro-postérieur. Thorax biincisé,

bordé d@’une aréte vive un peu moins prolongée que chez la P. swmatrensis.

Ecaille épaisse 4 sa base et amincie vers le haut. pines latérales de l’écaille

plus fortes que chez la P. swmatrensis et surtout que chez la race P. hamulata.

Téte et thorax striés en long (striés-ridés sur les cotés du thorax et Je devant

de la téte), finement rugueux entre les stries, ce qui les rend mats ou soyeux.

Pédicule rugueux ; abdomen densément et trés finement réticulé. Sur la téte

et sur le thorax la pubescence est plus jaune (moins grise) que sur l’abdomen.

Entiérement noire, avec les palpes et le dernier article des tarses roussatres.

Pas de reflet métallique distinct (voir du reste le tableau), Stature bien moins

robuste que chez la P. pruinosa.

@ :—L: 10 Mill. Ailes brunatres avec les nervures et le pterostigma

foncés. Absolument semblable & % ; épmes aussi longues que chez elle et

disposées de méme. ‘Trés voisine de la P. pruimosa (Mayr) de Borneo dont

elle différe par la forme du métanotum et de lécaille.

19. LP. sumatrensis (Smith).

race: P. hamulata (Emery).

Birmanie (Major Bingham) ; Tenasserim (Fea) ; Sibsagar, Assam (Wood-

Mason).

La race swmatrensis id. sp. ne se trouve qu’a Sumatra,

20. BP. levissima (Smith).

Polyrachis globularia (Mayr).

Barrackpore (Rothney, Minchin) ; Birmanie (Major Bingham et Fea) ; Orissa

(Jas. Taylor) ; Calcutta (Wood-Mason) ; Bangkok (Sige).

var : dichrous (Forel).

Sibsagar, Assam (Wood-Mason).

21. P. rastellata (Laireille).

Polyrachis busiris (Smith).

Polyrachis euryalus (Smith),

Ceylon (Major Yerbury) ; Kanara (E. H. Aitken et T. Bell); Birmanie

(Major Bingham) ; South Konkan (R. C. Wroughton).

22. LP. bellicosa (Smith).

Singapore (Dr. A. Muller).

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 31

23. P. bihamata (Drury).

Formica affinis (Le Guillon ; nec Smith),

Birmanie (Major Bingham) ; Tavoy (Wood-Mason) ; Tenasserim (Fea),

24, P. ypsilon (Emery).

Ceylon (Tristschler) ; Malacca (regue du Dr. Emery).

25. PP. levigata (Smith).

Malacca (d’aprés Smith).

26. P. hippomanes (Smith).

Race: P. ceylonensis (Kmery).

M. Emery publiera plus tard le diagnostic de cette race qui differe de la vraie

P. hippomanes de Celebes.

27. P. chalybea (Smith).

Singapore (d’aprés Smith),

28. P. venus 0. sp.

Ataran Valley, Birmanie (Major Bingham),

% :—Téte au moins aussi large derriére que devant. Thorax plus large

devant que derriére (aussi large devant que derriere chez la P. chalybea.) Les

mandibules sont tres finement striées et éparsément ponctuées. Bord antérieur

de l’épistome avec une impression médiane, Hpistome sublobé devant. Une

marche d’escalier assez distincte du mésonotum 4 la face basale du métanotum.

Stature plus robuste que celle de la P. abdominalis (phyllophila), presque aussi

robuste que celle de la P. armata. Tout le corps est d’un magnifique bleu

foncé, métallique, rappellant celui des espéces bleues des coleopteres du genre

Meloe. La teimte du thorax et de la téte tire un peu sur le verdatre, tandis que

Je bleu de ’abdomen est pur (voir du reste le tableau).

Mes amis les Prof. G. Mayr et C. Emery m’ont indiqué les differences qui

existent entre la P. venus et la P. chalybea en la comparant A leurs types, ce

dont j’ai a les remercier ici.

29. P. edipus n. sp.

Ceylon (Major Yerbury).

%:—L: 7 Mill. Longueur d’un scape 2°6, d’un tibia postérieur 3°83 Mill,

Mandibules armées de 6 dents, finement striées, avec une ponctuation espacée.

Kpistome avec une faible caréne et un lobe antérieur trapéziforme, trés cout,

4 bord antérieur rectiligne eb suberénélé. Arétes frontales fort rapprochées.

Front proéminent, 'Téte assez arrondie derriére, d’un ceil 4 l’autre ; cdtés de

la téte & peine convexes devant les yeux. Dessous de la téte sans arétes latérales,

Thorax long et étroit, sans convexité dorsale, sauf le pronotum qui est

légerement convexe ; pronotum et mésonotum chacun beaucoup plus long

que large, Pronotum nullement subbordé ; mésonotum fortement subbordé,

32 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Face basale du métanotum 17 fois plus longue que large. Le dos du thorax

est & peine convexe d’avant en arriére. L’écaille est conformée tout a fait

comme chez la P. abdominalis (voir le tableau), aussi épaisse que large, mais

ses épines sont plus abaissées et embrassent un peu V’abdomen. Pubescence

d’un jaune grisdtre, courte, assez éparse partout, plus abondante sur Vabdomen

ot elle forme un léger duvet grisitre. L’abdomen a encore une ponctuation

espacée tres fine.

Tout le corps, les pattes et les antennes d’un verdatre bronzé, trés foncé,

en partie noiratre, ayant souvent des reflets d’un rouge cuivré (voir du reste le

tableau).

30. P. miillert n. sp.

Singapore (récoltée par le Dr. Arthur Miller auquel je la dédie).

%:—L: 7 Mill. Longueur d'un scape 3°2, d’un tibia postérieur 3°9 Mill.

Hpistome fortement caréné ; du reste l’épistome, arctes frontales et mandibules

conformés comme chez l4dipus. Front beaucoup plus proéminent et vertex

beaucoup moins convexe que chez la précédente. Thorax encore plus étroit et

plus alloneé que chez l_Adipus mais sans apparence de bordure nulle part. Une

légére échancrure entre le pronotum et le mésonotum, ce qui donne au dos du

thorax deux covexités tres faibles. Le mésonotum est deux fois aussi long que

large, la face basale du métanotum 24 fois aussi longue que large. Epines

métanotales légérement courbées en dedans (comme chez la P. bicolor), assez

eréles comme celles du pronotum. Lcaille haute, conique, avec deux épines

divergentes. Pubescence extrémement éparse. Scapes élargis eb déprimés vers

Vextrémité seulement. Noire ; abdomen en partie d’un rouge ferrugineux fonceé

(voir du reste le tableau).

31. P. achilles n. sp.

Birmanie (Major Bingham).

A part sa taille plus robuste, la forme de I’écaille, la face basale du meétano-

tum non bordée et ne continuant pas ses bords dans l’épine, enfin 4 part les

petits piquants des tibias, cette espece est identique a labdominalis (phyllophita)

dont elle n’est peut: tre qu’une race locale (voir le tableau).

32. P. abdominalis (Smith).

Polyrachis phyllophila (Smith).

Tenasserim (Kea). .

33. P. mutata (Smith) ?

Race : P. aaa n. st.

Birmanie (Major Bingham).

%:—L:7°8 Mill. Longueur d’un scape 2°6, d’un tibia postérieur 4°1 Mill.

Mandibules finement et densément strices, armées de 5 dents distinctes. Epis-

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 33

tome 4 peme subcaréné, briévement lobé devant, lareement et faiblement

échancré au milieu de son bord antérieur, Thorax allongé, étroit, sans con-

vexité dorsale c, 4. d : le mésonotum est concave d’avant en arriére, ce qui donne

une faible convexité 4 la région de la suture pro-mésonotale. Pronotum et

mésonotum chacun un peu plus long que large ; face basale du métanotum deux

fois aussi longue que large. Mésonotum fortement subbordé, pronotum nulle-

ment, pines du pronotum longues et divergentes. Abdomen ovale. Noire.

Abdomen d’un noir brunatre. Tibias trés comprimés (voir du reste Je tableau).

Tist-ce bien une race de la P. mutata (Smith) ? La description de Smith ne

suffit pas pour Je prouver, mais cela me parait probable. Smith en disant

“ entirely destitute of haix’’ aura negligé la pubescence, comme il le fait souvent

quand elle est faible. La. couleur ne concorde qu’’ moitié et les tibias ne sont

pas “ without spies.” Du reste la figure de Smith ne convient pas mal 4

notre type.

34. P. binghamit, n. sp.

Birmanie (Major Bingham).

Q :—L: 55 Mill. Longueur d’un scape 2:1, d’un tibia postérieur 2°5

Mill. Epistome sans apparence de carene, avec un lobe court, trapéziforme,

nullement échancré 4 son bord antérieur. Antennes faiblement mais visible-

ment renflées vers Vextrémité. Mésonotum légérement concave. 'Tibias moins

déprimés que chez la précédente. Voir du reste le tableau qui indique les

autres caractéres qui distinguent cette espece de la précédente.

La P. binghamiw est du reste extrémement voisine dela P. mutata race :

ajax, mais les caracteres indiqués (antennes, forme de la téte, écailles,*piquants,

tibias, dimensions, &c.) sont assez importants pour que je croie qu'il faille len

séparer spécifiquement.

35. P. furcata (Smith),

Sibsagar, Assam (Wood-Mason) ; Birmanie (Major Bingham); Tenasserim

(Fea). ©

Les exemplaires de ces diverses provenances ont l’abdomen noir, tandis que

le type de Smith (Birmanie) l’avait d’un roux testacé.

Race : P. gracilior n. st. (voir le tableau).

Trevandrum (H. Ferguson) ; Sibsagar, Assam (Wood-Mason),

36. P. rupicapra (Roger).

Ceylon (d’aprés Roger).

37. LP. tubericeps, 0. sp.

Barrackpore et Benares (Rothney).

% :—L: 6847 Mill. Voisine dela P. rupicapra et de la P. spinigera,

dont elle se distingue cependant du premier coup par le tubercule proéminent

situé de chaque cété de la téte, un peu en dessus de l’angle postérieur. Hpis-

tome subcaréné, avec un lobe court et étroit, subbidenté. Sculpture grossiére

beaucoup plus forte que chez la P. simplex. Tibias cylindriques, sans petits.

34 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

piquants. Les deux dents, entre les épines de Vécaille, sont tres pointues.

Epines métanotales fort distantes 4 leur base. La fine sculpture réticulée-

ponctuée est trés dense. Couleur absolument noire partout. Un peu plus

robuste que la P. simplex.

38. P. armata (Le Guillou).

Polyrachis pandarus (Smith).

Polyrachis defensus (Smith).

Birmanie (Major Bingham et Fea); Sibsagar, Assam (Wood-Mason),

Myingyan, Birmanie infériewre (B. Y. Watson).

var : minor (Forel).

Sibsagar, Assam (Wood-Mason).

39. P. simplex (Mayr).

Polyrachis spinigera (Mayr).

Poona District (R. Wroughton) ; Calcutta et Barrackpore (Rothney) ;

Mussoorie, N.-W. P. (Rothney); Thana District (F. Gleadow); Siwaliks,

N W. P. (H. M. Phipson); Birmanie (Major Bingham) ; Trincomali, Cey-

lon (Major Yerbury) ; Myingyan, Birmanie ipférieure (H. Y. Watson).

Certainement l’espéce la plus commune du genre en Inde.

@ :—L: 7 Mill. Ailes subhyalines, faiblement teintées de jaunatre.

Le pronotum n’a que deux dents triangulaires fort petites. Mésonotum et

scutellum avec une grossiére ponctuation espacée, en partie un peu effacée,

outre la dense ponctuation réticulaire. Sur la téte, le métathorax et le pro-

thorax, de grossitres ponctuations divisent la fine ponctuation réticulaire en

eroupes. Du reste comme §.

Var : obsoleta n. var.

Poona (R. Wroughton).

40. LP. bicolor (Smith).

Barrackpore (Rothney) ; Birmanie (Major Bingham).

41, P. dives (Smith).

Peeu Hills, Birmanie (Major Bingham) ; Tounghoo, Birmanie (EH. Y. Wat-

son); Ceylon (Major Yerbury); Bangkok (Sige); Hongkong (Dr. Ris) ;

Singapore (W’aprés Smith).

42. P. affinis (Smith ; nec Le Guillou).

Polyrachis vicina (Roger).

Birmanie (d’aprés Smith).

43. P. argentea (Mayr).

Kanara (EB. H. Aitken).

Variété & thorax un peu moins convexe et 4 stature un peu moins robuste

que les types de Manille que je dois & l’obligeance de mon ami le Prof. Emery.

9 :—L: 6'°5 Mill. Comme %, mais les épines plus courtes, Ailes brunatres,

a neryures bien marquées.

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 35

6 :—L:545°5 Mill. Pubescence plus grisitre eb moins dense, n’ayant

qu'un faible reflet argenté. eaille arrondie, ayant & peine deux angles latéraux

arrondis, D’un noir en partie un peu brunatre. Pattes d’un brun jaunatre.

Pas trace d’épines, Métanotum arrondi, Mandibules sans dents. Epistome

subcaréné, 'Téte aussi large que longue.

44, P. tibialis (Smith).

Barrackpore, prés Calcutta (Minchin) 9; Birmanie (Major Bingham),

M. HB. H. Aitken et M. Bell ont récolté & Kanara des exemplaires qu’il est

difficile & rapporter & la é/bialis ou & Vargentea, car ils forment assez le passage,

de sorte que je pense qu’on en viendra 4 considerer |’ aryenfea comme race de la

uubialis.

Dans le tableau jai été obligé de ne tenir compte que des espéces qui me

paraissaient assez nettement décrites pour pouvoir étre déterminées. Tl reste

plusieurs especes de PInde et de Ceylon qui sont indéchiffrables, ainsi que

Wautres dont la Q seule est décrite, ce qui ne permet pas de fixer leur identité,

ni leur position dans la systématique. Voici la liste de ce reste dont on ne sait

que faire :—

45. P. hasiata (Latreille).

Indes orientales.

ae agit-il de Inde continentale ? C’est peu probable, car c’est 4 Celebes qu’on

retrouvé plus tard cette espéce.

46. P. relucens (Latveille),

Ne se trouve probablement pas sur le continent Indien, ni 4 Ceylan.

47. P. sexspinosa (Latreille).

Ne se trouve probablement pas sur le continent Indien, ni 4 Palems

48, P. mdificans (Jerdon).

Indéchiffrable.

49. P. sylvicola (Jerdon),

Indéchiffrable.

50. P. lacteipennis (Smith).

2 Seule décrite.

51. WP. hector (Smith),

Tnsuffisament décrite.

52. P. piliventris (Smith).

53. P. flavicornis (Smith).

Insuffisament décrite.

54. P. modesta (Smith).

2 Seule décrite,

55. PP. carbonaria (Smith).

Indéchiffrable, .

56. P. nigra (Mayr).

2 Seule décrite,

36 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIIT.

57. PP. acasta (Smith).

D’apres Forel, Indian Ants, Part II. Je doute maintenant d’avoir eu la

veritable P. acasta sous les yeux. Je n’ai plus lexemplaire de Sibsagar sur

lequel j’ai fait cette détermination mais je soupconne qu'il s’agissait de la

P. tibialis. )

Les déterminations provisoires dont M. Wroughton s’est servi dans son travail

“ Our Ants” doivent subir quelques modifications,

La P. levior race : debilis de ce travail est la P. rastellata.

La P. chalybea est la P. venus.

Une partie des P. argentea (Barrackpore) sont la P. tidialis.

La P. indica est synonyme de clypeata.

La P. sumatrensis est la race : P. hamulata (Emery).

La P. sp. (40) est la P. tubericeps.

La P. spinigera (Mayr). Se trouve étre synonyme de la P. simplex (Mayr).

Les 9 récoltées par M. Wroughton m’ont améné 4 établir cette synonymie.

NIDS DES POLYRACHIS. .

Dans un travail récent sur les nids des fourmis (Die nester der Ameisen,

Zurich, 1892, Neujahrsblatt der Naturf : Gesellsch) : j’ai parlé des différentes

manieres dont les fourmis font leurs nids. Dans ‘“ Our Ants” M. Wroughton

a décrit divers nids de fourmis des Indes. I] a eu l’obligeance de m’en envoyer

un grand nombre.

Le nid des Polyrachis est unique en sont genre, et se distingue de celui de tous

les autres genres de fourmis, en ce qu’ il n’a qu'une seule cavité, tapissée de

soie, comme le nid d'une arraignée.

J’ai été frappé du fait que ces nids présentent évidemment des faits

de mimétisme qui servent 4 les rendre caches. Ils simulent souvent la

couleur des féuilles en partie séches (P. argentea) ou aspect d’une feuille tordue

par les galles d’autres insectes (P. scissa). Dans le nid de la P. argentea

que je viens de recevoir de M. Wroughton, on peut bien observer comment

les fourmis tapissent la feuille de soie pure, tandis qu’elles recouvrent la partie

libre du nid de débris végétaux grisatres, fixés ala surface extérieure des

tissus, de facon a donner 4 cette portion du nid, qui ferme l’aperture de la

feuille 4 demi ouverte, Vaspect grisatre de la portion desséchée d’une feuille en

partie morte. L’ouverture par laquelle sortent les fourmis est situeé 4 une place

cachée, la ot le tissus de soie touche la feuille.

Un nid de P. rastellata était situé entre deux feuilles et ainsi entiérement

caché.

_ Les Polyrachis ne paraissent pas tous faire des nids de soie filée ; c'est sur-

tout le fait des groupes armata et ammon. La P. mayri fait un nid en carton

qui rappelle celui des Dolichoderus et des Cremastogaster, et dont les matériaux

sont unis par une substance gluante, non filée, mais évidement sécrétée, comme

la soie, par les glandes mandibulaires des fourmis.

The illustrations for this paper (Plates K, LZ and M) will be issued in a

subsequent number of the Journal, as soon ag they arrive from England, The paper

is piiblished at once at the Special request of the author,—Zd, *

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES

FROM NORTH-EAST SUMATRA

COLLECTED BY HOFRATH Dr. L. MARTIN.*

By Lionet ve Nicr'vitiz, F. E.8., C. M. Z.8., &e.

‘ (With Plates K, L, and M.)

All the butterflies described below were obtained by Hofrath

Dr. L. Martin in North-East Sumatra, the rarer ones almost entirely

from the little-known Battak Mountains. Dr. Martin has already

enriched my collection with 265 species from Sumatra, and has sent me

a list giving the names of 324 species contained in his own collection.

All of these were collected within a comparatively small radius, so that

it may probably be safely assumed that when the whole island is

explored and thoroughly collected over, it will be found that fully 600

species inhabit it, of which perhaps 50 may be endemic. The only

papers of which I am aware written solely on the butterflies of Sumatra

are by Heer P. C. T. Snellen, and are as follows :—

I, “Tijdschrift voor Entomologie,” vol. xx, p. 65 (1877), enu-

merating 35 species.

I]. “Tijdschrift voor Entomologie,” vol. xxxiii, p. 215 (1890),

enumerating 48 species.

III. “ Midden-Sumatra, Lepidoptera” (1892), enumerating 104

species.

Family NYMPHALID Ai,

Subfamily Danamnz.

1, DANAIS (Caduga) TYTIOIDES, n. sp., Pl. K, Figs. 1, #; 2, 9.

Hasrrat : Battak Mountains, Sumatra.

EXPANSE: @, 3'2 to 3°5; Q, 4:0 inches,

Description : Matz, Upprrsrpe, forewing black, with the following pale

bluish hyaline markings :—the posterior half of the discoidal cell bearing

anteriorly and outwardly a fine black line ; two small oval costal spots divided

by the second subcostal nervule ; followed by a very short and narrow streak in

the subcostal interspace ; then another streak twice as broad and three times as

long as the one above it in the upper discoidal interspace ; an oval spot in the

lower discoidal interspace ; two nearly equal-sized spots in the upper median

interspace, the outer spot rectangular, the inner triangylar ; two similar Spots in

the lower median interspace, except that the inner spot of the two is twice as

large as the outer one; a very large streak occupies nearly the whole of the

* A short preliminary description of the new species described in this paper ap-

peared in vol. vii, page 555, of this Journal.

38 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. Vitt.

submedian interspace from its base to one-fourth from the margin; a narrow

streak in the sutural area fromthe base reaching to one-fourth from the outer

margin; a curved submarginal series of seven rounded spots; a few obscure

marginal dots towards the anal angle. Hindwing with the outer third

castaneous darkening to the margin, the rest of the wing pale hyaline bluish 5

the discoidal cell bears outwardly two narrow castaneous streaks ; two small

subapical round bluish spots divided by the second subcostal nervule; the usual

secondary sexual characters of the subgenus at the anal angle. UNDERSIDE,

Forewing marked as above, but the black ground-colour at the apex and outer

margin tinted with dull castaneous. Aindwing as above, but the outer margin

bears an anterior decreasing submarginal series of small round spots, and an

incomplete (not reaching the apex) marginal series of dots. FEMALE, differs from

the male only in its much broader wings, the outer margin of the forewing

slightly, instead of deeply, emarginate, the /indwing has the outer margin

rounder, less obliquely cut off, and the castaneous colouring much redder ;

the male secondary characters, of course, are absent.

Allied to, but quite distinct from, D. tytia, Gray, which occurs throughout

the Himalayas, Assam, Burma, with a slight variety in the Malay Peninsula.

Differs therefrom in its much smaller size, conspicuously narrower wings, the

male has the outer margin of the forewing much more deeply excavated, the

hindwing with the outer margin nearly straight instead of rounded, greatly cut

off obliquely ; in both sexes the forewing has the hyaline portion of the cell

less than half as wide, the streak in the subcostal interspace very small and

narrow ; the hindwing in the male deep dull castaneous instead of ferruginous.

Of the D. tytia group of the subgenus Caduga there are at present known,

besides that species, D. niphonica, Moore, from Japan and doubtfully from

Askold, North Formosa, and Chekiang, North China*; and D. loochooana,

Moore, from the Loo Choo Islands. The occurrence of a fourth species so far

south as Sumatra is very interesting.

D. tytioides is admirably mimicked by Hestina caroline, Snellen, an insular

modified race of the continental Indian Hestina nama, Doubleday.

Described from three males and three females, which show but slight indivi-

dual differences.

2, EUPLGIA (Narmada) MARTINI, n. sp., Pl. K, Figs. 3,¢5;4, 2.

Hasrrat : Battak Mountains, Sumatra,

EXpPanse: @, 3°9 to 4:1; Q, 4:1 inches,

* This species is entirely ignored by Mr. J, H. Leech in his “ Butterflies from China,

Japan, and Corea ;” he considers that the species occurring in those regions is D. tytia,

and records it from “ China common, is found all over Japan, and has been recorded

by Oberthiiz from the Isle of Askold.”’

NEW NORTH-EASTERN SUMATRA BUTTERFLIES. 39

Description: MALE, UPPERSIDE, both wings very deep and rich velvety

dead black. Forewing with a rninute costal white dot placed between the

first and second subcostal nervules; four subapical spots—the uppermost small

and oval placed between the fourth and fifth subcostal nervules, the second and

third much larger and oval placed in the subcostal and upper discoidal inter-

spaces, the fourth equal in size to the first placed in the lower discoidal

interspace. In two specimens there is a fifth smallest spot on the costa placed

between the third and fourth subcostal nervules. ‘This series of spots is placed

obliquely outwards and appears to run into and coalesce with the marginal series

at the eighth spot (counting from the apex),which latter series consists of fourteen

small spots, decreasing in size from the inner angle to the apex, placed in pairs

in the interspaces ; the two sexual brands as usual in the submedian interspace—

the upper short and narrow, the lower broad and twice as long as the upper.

Hindwing with the costal area broadly whitish, followed by a broad pale

castaneous area reaching to the middle of the discoidal cell, the abdominal area

fuscous, all the rest of the wing deep black as in the forewing ; a marginal series

of thirteen rounded spots, with an inner series of seven spots from the second

subcostal nervule to the submedian nervure. In two specimens these two serieg

of spots, instead of being quite distinct and well separated, completely coalesce

and form short streaks. UNDERSIDE, both wings olivaceous-fuscous, the marginal

series of spots as on the upperside. orewing with an additional small spot

at the lower outer end of the discoidal cell, two on the costa making a complete

series one in each interspace divided by the subcostal nervules, and two in

each median interspace ; the inner margin broadly shining fuscous. Hindwing

with two additional spots to the inner marginal series placed anteriorly, and a dot

in the second median interspace just beyond the end of the cell. Cilia of both

wings alternately black and white in equal proportions. Frmane. Upprrsrpe,

both wings very much paler than in the male, black, but not of a deep, rich,

velvety shade. orewing with three costal spots in a cluster: a complete

submarginal series of eight spots ; two small spots inthe median interspaces ;

the marginal series of spots as in the forewing, but rather larger. Hindwing

with the two marginal series of spots almost sitely coalesced into streaks ; only

anteriorly are they free. UNDERSIDE, both wings coloured as in the male,

Forewing as on the upperside, but the two spots in each of the median inter-

Spaces larger ; the inner margin broadly white; a short white streak in the

submedian interspace. Hindwing as on the upperside, but with an additional

spot at the outer end of the cell, and a complete series of five beyond the

cell—one in each interspace,

I know of no species with which this can be compared. The beautiful deep

velyety black of the male on the upperside is only matched, as far as I know,

40 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

by the same sex of. L. (Anadara) gamelia, Hubner, from Java. 'The coalescing

of the submarginal with the marginal series of spots on the forewing in the male

is, I believe, quite a unique character.

Described from four males and two females in my own collection ; several

others of both sexes are in that of Hofrath Dr. L. Martin, after whom I have

great pleastire in naming the species as a slight tribute to his entomological

knowledge, zeal, and enterprise in sending natives imto the mountains of

Sumatra to collect in spots inaccessible to Europeans.

Subfamily SaTyRmIvz.

3, LETHE DARENA, Felder, Pl. K, Fig. 7, ¢.

Debis darena, Felder, Reise Novara, Lep., vol. i, p. 498, n. 862, pl. lxviii,

figs. 4,5, female (1866).

Haprtat : Java (elder); Sumatra.

ExpansE: @, 2°8 to 3°1 inches.

Description: Mate. Uprersipe, forewing black, but the basal three-

fourths overlaid with long hair-like rich ferruginous scales ; an orange-coloured

spot on the costa beyond the end of the discoidal cell ; a round whitish spot att

the apex ; five marginal rich ferruginous spots one in each interspace from the

lower discoidal nervule to the inner margin, the series of spots gradually, but

regularly, approaching the outer margin of the wing—the posterior spot on the

margin at the anal angle, the anterior spot well removed from it. Hindwing

with the base fuscous, but so heavily overlaid with long ferruginous setze as to

almost entirely hide the ground-colour, the outer half of the wing rich

ferruginous free of long hairs ; a submarginal series of five almost blind round

black ocelli, the uppermost ocellus much the largest, the middle one quite small

in one specimen, but in two other specimens the three posterior spots are equal-

sized ; the second spot anteriorly second also in poimt of size ; two submarginal

closely approximated dark brown lines. Unpbmrstpn, both wings richly variegat-

ed, the ground-colour purplish-brown. orewing with a broad rich deep brown

bar across the discoidal cell at about its middle ; a still broader bar beyond ;

a chevron-shaped mark across the submedian interspace at the point where

the first median nervule originates, with its angle outwards ; a broad discal

irregular band immediately beyond the outer end of the cell, commencing on the

costa, ending in the middle of the submedian interspace ; a narrower, decreasing,

pale purplish-white band placed outwardly against the first band ; followed by

a large rich deep brown triangular area, its base on the costa, its apex in the

first median interspace ; two whitish apical spots ; posterior to which in the

discoidal interspaces are two perfect ocelli, the upper twice as large as the lower ;

two submarginal rich deep brown lines ending posteriorly about the first median

nervule, the inner line lunulated, the outer straight ; the submedian interspace

NEW NORTH-EASTERN SUMATRA BUTTERFLIES. At

outwardly beyond the chevron mark rich chrome-yellow, this colour outwardly

extending into the interspace on either side of the submedian one. Hindwing

with a broad discal rich deep brown band crossing the middle of the cell, widest

on the costa, dislocated and slightly shifted outwardly posterior to the cell,

fading away to nothing in the submedian interspace; a broad outer discal

irreoular similar band, anteriorly it curves round the large anterior ocellus and

throws out inwardly a spur placed on the lower disco-cellular nervule, ending

posteriorly on the submedian nervure ; a submarginal series of six perfect ocelli,

the anterior one much the largest, the fifth the next largest, the second, fourth

and sixth the next in size and equal-sized, the third the smallest, the sixth

bipupiled ; two submarginal limes—the inner one broad and deep red, the outer

“narrow and deep brown ; cilia pale yellow inwardly defined by a fine dark

thread. Antennce with the shaft red, the club black with a red tip.

Described from three male examples obtained in the Battak Mountains. The

Species was originally described from a female example. It is the most beauti-

ful species of the genus known to me, and is probably very rare, as out of some

thousands of Javan butterflies 1 have received, I have not found LZ. darena

amongst them,

Subfamily NyMPHALIN ZA.

4, TERINOS TEOS, n. sp., Pl. K, Figs. 5, ¢ ; 6, 9.

HaAsirat : Sumatra.

EXPANSH: @, 2°85; @, 2°90 inches.

Description : Mane. UPprrsipe, both wings rich shining purple, all the

veins more or less narrowly defined with reddish-ochreous. Forewing with the

usual velvety-black shining sexual patch occupying half the surface, commenc-

ing on the inner margin ab less than half the length of the margin from the base

and reaching the anal angle, reaching to the lower discoidal nervule, and extend-

ing on the disc along the first median nervule and submedian nervure, but never |

quite touching the discoidal cell; a similar black streak extends broadly along

both sides of the upper discoidal nervule. Hindwing with a large velvety-black

shining sexual patch at the apex, ending abruptly at the second subcostal ner-

vule ; the outer margin rather, and the abdominal margin very, broadly fuscous.

Cilia of the hindwing reddish-ochreous, of the forewing posteriorly reddish-

ochreous, anteriorly black. UNDERSIDE, both wings castaneous, crossed by

numerous more or less zigzag shining pale purple lines. Forewing with a

round white subapical spot. Aindwing with a discal series of five oval deep

castaneous spots, one in each interspace from the submedian to the upper sub-

costal, except the discoidal which lacks a spot, the middle spot the smallest.

FEMALE. UPPERSIDE, loth wings fuscous. Forewing with the basal area

extending just beyond the disco-cellular nervules rich shining purple ; a broad

discal somewhat obscure dark fuscous fascia outwardly touched with the purple

429 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCTETY, Vol. VIII.

colour; a submarginal narrow waved similar fascia, the outer margin, especially

at the apex, broadly dark fuscous. Hindewing with the base and a large discal

area rich shining purple, the latter area inwardly bounded by the false termina-

tion to the discoidal cell, anteriorly by the second subcostal nervule, posteriorly

by the first median nervule, outwardly not reaching the margin ; a waved,

rather broad, submarginal line. UNDERSIDE, both wings asin the male, but

the ground-colour and the shining pale purple lines all paler.

Nearest to 7’. robertsia, Butler, from the Malay Peninsula, from which it

differs conspicuously in both sexes in lacking the two white (sometimes tinted

with ochreous) spots on the upperside of the hindwing near the outer margin in

the upper median and discoidal interspaces ; and on the underside of the hind-

wing in having the marginal narrow slightly waved line, and the submarginal

highly waved broad line, pale purple throughout, in 7’. robertsia they are white.

Mr, A. RB. Wallace describes a “‘ Local form £&.” of T. robertsia from

Sumatra* thus :—“ Browner [than 7’. robertsia], with the blue portions more

violet, and the white posterior spots replaced by rufous.” In 7’. feos these spots

are barely traceable. “The [lower] disco-cellular [nervule of the forewing |

meets the median nervure at the origin of the second median nervule.” In the

four specimens of 7’. feos and eight of 7’. rebertsia before me as I write, I find

that the lower disco-cellular nervule of the forewing, though varying a hundred

per cent. in position, always meets the median nervure well before the origin of

the second median nervule, which agrees with Mr. Wallace’s remarks on the

neuration of the latter species, and would appear to separate his Local form JA.

and my 7’, teos from it. It is interesting to note that 7. atlita, Fabricius, and

T’, teos, de Nicéville, differ precisely in the same way, 7.¢., in the absence of the

white spots on the upperside of the hindwing, these spots being present in their

Malay Peninsula correlatives, T. teuthras, HiGwiteon and 7’, robertsia, Butler.

Described from three male specimens in my own and one female in the collec-

tion of Dr. L. Martin.

5, ATHYMA ASSA, n. sp., Pl. K, Fig. 8, @.

Hasirat : Battak Mountains, Sumatra.

Expanse: @, 2°3 inches.

Description: Mare. UpprrsipE, both wings black. Forewing with the

following milky-white markings :—a very narrow streak in the discoidal cell

extending beyond it but for a very short distance; three narrow subapical spots,

the middle one the largest ; a large oval spot in the first median interspace, a

quadrate one below it filling the interspace and indented at both sides, a small

elongated spot on the sutural area, these three spots outwardly marked with

pale blue; a discontinuous submarginal whitish line, broken in the upper

SV ik eat opi aI SS TU a eet ge ee eaten ACE Et

* Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1869, p. 8342. Heer P.C.T. Snellen also records 7. ro-

bertsié (sic) from Sumatra in Tijd. voor Ent., vol. xxxiii, p. 218 1889-90),

NEW NORTH-EASTERN SUMATRA BUTTERFLIES. 43

median interspace, beg there curved inwards towards the base of the

wing ; a very indistinct pale marginal line. Hindwing with a broad, out-

wardly-blue-edged, discal white band, commencing broadly at the costal

nervure, increasing in width to the submedian nervare, where it terminates; a

prominent but narrow submarginal band, divided into spots by the veins,

eradually increasing in width from the costa to the submedien nervure, where

it ends; a pale indistinct marginal line. UNDERSIDE, both wings reddish-

brown, all the white markings more prominent than above, and tinted with

shining bluish. Forewing has the three subapical spots joined to the submar-

ginal line ; an oval black spot in the submedian interspace, placed internally at

the base of the first median nervule ; a diffused blackish spot in the same

interspace between the large discal white spot and the submarginal line.

Hindwing with an. additional curved basal white streak, placed anterior to the

costal nervure; the abdominal margin broadly metallic greenish. Cita of

both wings black, bearing a white dot in the middle of each interspace. A ddo-

men at the base above with a broad bluish-white band.

Nearest to A. nivifera, Butler, from Nepal and Assam (sic, Butler), the Malay

Peninsula, Sumatra, Nias, and Borneo, Differs from Straits and Sumatran

Specimens in having the discoidal streak of the forewing narrower and much

shorter, the three subapical spots half as wide, the two posterior of the discal

spots narrower, thereby all combining to make the black ground-colour of the

wing of considerably greater extent. In the hindwing the discal band is broader,

and instead of ending anteriorly in a small round spot, it is continued uninter-

ruptedly and widely to the costal nervure. ‘The first subcostal nervule of the

hindwing on the upperside is black not prominently snow-white as it is in

A, nivifera. On the underside of both wings the ground-colour is reddish-brown

or castaneous, not hair-brown ; in the forewing the discoidal streak is longer

and quite undivided; there are no black streaks placed on the ground-colour

between the veins, on the hindwing the discal band is wider, especially so at

each end, and the series of rounded blackish spots between the discal and sub-

marginal bands in A, assa is larger, more diffused, and deep castaneous instead

of blackish. I have not seen A. nefte, Cramer, from Java, but that species is

probably distinct from A, assa to judge from Mr. Moore’s figures of it in Proc,

Zool, Soc. Lond., 1858, p. 13, n. 7, pl. 1, fig. 5, male and female. A. reta,

Moore, from Sumatra, is another closely allied species, but differs apparently

from A. assa in the forewing in having the terminal spot well separated from

the rest of the discoidal streak, in the presence of an additional spot in the

second median interspace, and in the hindwing in having the discal band

widest on the costa, narrowest on the abdominal margin, while in A, assa the

reverse is the case,

Described from two male specimens in my collection,

44 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, Vit.

Genus RUTHALIA, Htibner; subgenus NORA, nov.

Mats. Differs from the subgenus Felderia, Semper, in the FOREWING being

shorter, the apex acute, not truncate, the ower margin slightly, stead of

strongly, excavated below the apex, the mmner margin straight, not outwardly

bowed, all the subcostal nervules free, instead of the first anastomosing with the

costal nervure. HiNDWING very triangular, the anal angle forming the apex of

the triangle, instead of almost quadrate; a patch of shining glandular black

scales at the base of the costa occupying the base of the subcostal interspace,

anteriorly bounded by the costal nervure, posteriorly by the second subcostal

nervule, the “ male mark”’’ being almost similar to that in Felderia, but is not

perhaps quite so dense or conspicuous. Frmate. Formwine shaped much as

in the male, the apex not quite so acute ; the first subcostal nervule anastomosing

with the costal nervure as in both sexes of Felderia, Hinpwine broad,

quadrate, shaped as in Felderia. Type, the “ Adolias” kesava, Moore.

Hurwata (Vora) Krsava, Moore.

NEW NORTH-EASTERN SUMATRA BUTTERFLIES. 45

This subgenus will comprise the following species :—

Euthalia (Nora) kesava, Moore. ‘

discispilota, Moore. Probably one species.

rangoonensis, Swinhoe. }

ramada, Moore.

decorata, Butler.

a » bipunctata, Vollenhoven.

es! » _ salia, Moore.

Ee » erana, de Nicéville.

i » (2) laverna, Butler.

se » lavernalis, de Nicéville.

All these species I possess, except #. laverna and £. lavernalis. There are

probably other described species which should also be included in the list

which J have not seen. The subgenus is a very compact and natural one, all

the species being closely allied.

I give below a key to the subgenera which I would admit in the genus

Huthalia, 'To my mind there is something peculiar and distinctive in all Luthalias,

As far as is known, their transformations are similar, and in the field they have

the same habits. ‘They have a bold flight, settle with wings both closed and

open, the former more especially when alarmed. ‘They are particularly partial

to the juices of over-ripe fruit. I deprecate as much the splitting up this genus

into numerous genera as I do those of Danais, Huplea, Lethe, Mycalesis, Neptis,

Charaxes, Papilio, and others, At the same time, for classificatory purposes, it is

most convenient to institute subgenera for the various groups into which the

above-named and other large genera can be divided. If these subgenera be

raised to the rank of genera, at once all connection between them appears to be

lost, a Dophia becomes as good a genus as an Huthalia, this being very far from

the case, while Dophia, Huthalia and, say, Charazes are all genera of equal rank,

which misrepresents the facts, as Oharares is entirely distinct from the other

two, which latter are closely allied.

Key to the subgenera included’in the genus Huthalia.

A. Forewing with the discoidal cell closed.

a, Forewing, apex much produced.

1. DOPHLA, Moore, type £. evelina, Stoll,

b, Forewing, apex not produced, the outer margin slightly concave.

2, LEXIAS, Boisduval, type H. eropus, Linnzus,

B. Forewing with the discoidal cell open.

a, Male, hindwing, upperside with a glandular patch of black scales below

the costa,

46 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

a1. Male, forewing, apex produced, truncate, the outer margin deeply

excavated, first subcostal nervule anastomosed with the costal

nervure ; hindwing quadrate.

3. FELDERIA, Semper, type EL. phiegethon, Semper.

61. Male, forewing, apex not produced, acute, the outer margin not

deeply excavated, first subcostal nervule free from the costal

nervure ; hindwing triangular.

4. NORA, de Nicéville, type L. kesava, Moore.

b. Male, hindwing, upperside with no ‘‘ male-mark.”

a1. Palpi with third joint not slenderly produced, bristle-like.

a2. Hindwing triangular, anal angle produced.

5. EUTHALIA, Hibner, type L. lubentina, Cramer.

Aconthea, Horsfield, type EL. primaria, Horsfield,—E£. aconthea,

Cramer.

Adolias, Boisduval, type E. aconthea, Cramer.

Itanus, Doubleday, type EL. phemius, Doubleday and Hewitson.

62. Hindwing quadrate, anal angle rounded, not produced.

6. SYMPHADRA, Hiibner, type LE. thyelia, Fabricius,=L. nas,

_ Forster.

61. Palpi with third joint slenderly produced, bristle-like.

7. TANAECIA, Butler, type E. pulasara, Moore.

6. EUTHALIA (Nora) ERANA, n. sp., Pl. L, Figs. 1, ¢ ; 2, 9.

Hasrrat : Sumatra.

EXpansE : @, 2°83; 2, 2°7 inches.

Description : Mate. UPpprrsipe, loth wings dark brown. Forewing

with the usual black linear markings in and below the discoidal cell ; a whitish

brown-sullied discal lunular band, consisting of six portions, the two upper-

most the widest, the third subequal to the fifth, the fourth rather smaller than

the first and second, the sixth duplicated ; this band bears outwardly a fine

highly lanceolate white line, itself outwardly narrowly defined with black ; the

outer margin towards the anal angle paler than the rest of the wing. Hindwing

with the usual black markings in the cell ; a broad discal white band from

the costa where it is widest to the submedian nervure, bearing a prominent

highly lanceolate narrow black line, which anteriorly divides the band almost

equally, but posteriorly approaches the outer border of the band ; the outer

margin broadly from the anal angle, but decreasingly towards the apex of the

wing, blue, the posterior interspace green ; the three apical interspaces margi-

nally of the colour of the ground ; the abdominal margin ereenish-white.

UNDERSIDE, both wings rich ochreous, with the usual basal black markings.

Forewing with the discal band of the upperside but bluish-white, prominently

outwardly defined with black. Hindwing with an even discal bluish-white

NEW NORTH-EASTERN SUMATRA BUTTERFLIES. 47

band, outwardly defined with the Iunulated blackish line of the wpperside ;

the abdominal margin tinted with bronzy-greenish, FEMALE, UPPERSIDE,

both wings much paler than in the male, dull ochreous-brown ; with the discal

whitish band much as in the male, but with no outer blue band on the hind-

wing, UNDERSIDE, both wings almost precisely like the male, except that the

outer margins are tinted with opalescent-whitish,

Nearest to &. salia, Moore, from Java,* from which £. erana differs in the

male on the upperside of the forewing in the discal band not being “ margined,

outwardly with dull blue,” and on the hindwing in having the lanceolate black

line much more deeply zigzagged, the discal white band twice as broad. The

female differs on the upperside of the hindwing in having the discal white band

much less prominent, sullied with brownish instead of pure white, and con-

siderably narrower.

The species figured as H. laverna by Butler in his ‘“ Lepidoptera Exotica,”

p. 174, pl. lx, fig. 5, male (1874), from Borneo, appears to be another closely

allied species, differing at a glance from Z. erana, however, in the discal band. of

the hindwing on the upperside in the male being blue instead of white, and with

no blue region beyond. It is very close to &. decorata, Butler, but, as figured>

has the discal band of the forewing on the upperside anteriorly composed of a

double series of pure white highly angled lunales, while in Z. decorata the band

throughout is sullied with fuscous. As Mr. Butler has elected to consider the

female of his &., laverna from Penang and Malacca as the type of his species

(both sexes of which are described and figured by Mr. Distant in his

“ Rhopalocera Malayana’’), I propose to name the male figured by Mr. Butler,

Euthalia lavernalis, as it is at present unnamed.

E. erana is described from a single pair of specimens in my collection,

7. EUTHALIA (Tanaécia ?) ELONH, n. sp., Pl. L, Fig. 3, ¢.

Hasirat: Battak Mountains, Sumatra,

Expanse: ¢, 2°7 inches,

DESCRIPTION: MaLe, Upprrstps, both wings dark hair-brown or fuscous,

Forewing with the usual linear black markings in and beneath the discoidal

cell ; a discal very obscure pale band, to be seen only in some lights, broad on

the costa, rapidly diminishing in width to the third median nervule; the

anal angle bearmg three increasing metallic green spots divided from the

margin by a fine line of the ground-colour and from each other by the veins,

* Heer P. C. T. Snellen in Tijd. voor Ent., vol. xxxiii, p. 217 (1890), records

“ Adolias”’ salia from Sumatra, but the species here described was apparently not

recognized by him as a species distinct from JZ. salia.

48 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. Viti.

Hindwing with the usual linear black markings in the cell; a discal series of

six small obscure black spots, followed by a broad submarginal pure white band

crossed by the black veins, decreasing in width at either end, bounded anteriorly

and posteriorly by a narrow metallic green line, both lines increasing in width

towards the abdominal margin where they meet in a poit, the anterior line

through four interspaces divided from the broad submarginal white band by

narrow lunules of the ground-colour ; abdomthal margin broadly pale fuscous.

Cilia of both wings very narrow, white. UNDERSIDE, forewing reddish-brown ;

the discoidal black markings very prominent; a discal irregular lunulated black

band; a slightly curved submarginal series of six increasing round black spots ;

the apex and outer margin decreasingly pale violet. Hindwing pale violet, the —

outer margin fuscous; the white submarginal band as above, inwardly bounded

by a series of round black spots between the veins, the innermost spots linear,

recurved to the abdominal margin; followed by a series of four linear black

spots from the third median nervule to the submedian nervure; then an

angulate series of eight spots extending right across the disc of the wing, the

discoidal cell and the base marked with numerous black spots.

Nearest to Zanaécia nicéviller, Distant, from Perak, the type and two males

of which I am able to compare with 7’. elone, differing conspicuously on the

upperside of the forewing in having a very small metallic green area at the

anal angle instead of a large blue area, and on the hindwing in having a large

submarginal pure white band defined on both sides by metallic green, and not

reaching the outer margin, not bearing a series of black spots at its middle,

instead of a much broader blue band extending right up to the outer margin,

On the underside of the hindwing the black macular markings are very well

marked and prominent, much more so than in 7’. nicevillez, and the white band

is again a conspicuous differential character. 7. zichri, Butler, from Sarawak

(Borneo) and Malacca, appears to be another allied but quite distinct species.

Can the genus Zanaécia be retained as a full genus? As ab present under-

stood it contains a very heterogeneous collection of euthaliad butterflies ; but, as

Mr. Doherty has pointed out,* the one character by which I once thought it

could be separated from Huthalia, viz., by the anastomosis of the first subcostal

nervule with the costal nervure of the forewing, has been shown by him to be

utterly inconstant, even in the same species, and there appears to be, therefore,

no other generic character left, unless the slender bristle-like terminal joint to

the palpi be considered of sufficient generic significance, but, as far as my col-

lection goes, only 7’. pulasara, Moore, which is the type of Zenaécia, T. aruna,

Feder, and 7’. martigena, Weymer, possess this feature, all the other so-called

* Jour. A. 8. B., vol. lviii, pt. 2, p. 121 (1889).

NEW NORTH-EASTERN SUMATRA BUTTERFLIES. 49

Tanaéecias, including 7. nicévillei and 7. elone, have the palpi normal and as in

typical Hathalia. At best Tanaéecia can, I think, only be retained as a subgenus.

E. elone is described from a single specimen in Dr. L. Martin’s collection.

8. CYRESTIS (Chersonesia) CYANHE, n. sp., PL. L, Figs. 6, #; 7, 9.

Hasrrat : Battak Mountains, Sumatra.

EXPANse: @, 9, 1°65 inches.

DEscrIpTION : Mate. UPpPERSIDE, both wings rich deep orange. fore-

wing with a short black basal line ; two subbasal lines filled in with fuscous ;

the disco-cellular nervules enclosed by two exceedingly fine lines, the space

between them of the ground-colour, these two lines themselves enclosed in two

other lines filled in with fuscous ; a broad discal single line ; a pair of sub-

marginal lines enclosing two short lines, the anterior of these placed between

the discoidal nervules, the posterior between the second median nervule and

the submedian nervure; a marginal line—all these black lines almost

straight, and reaching from the costa to the inner margin. AMindwing with no

basal line ; the two following pairs of lines as in the forewing, but the outer

pair, instead of enclosing two fine disco-cellular lines, has a single line on its

inner edge ; the discal and submarginal lines as in the forewing, but the latter

yaiv enclosing a continuous broad black line, ending at the anal angle in two

detached spots ; a marginal diffused line, anda very fine anteciliary line.

UnpersipE, both wings as above, all the black markings very prominent, the

two basal pairs of lines not filled in with fuscous, the ground-colour a trifle paler

perhaps than on the upperside. FEMALE, much as in the male, but the wings

broader, the ground-colour very much paler, all the black markings less intense.

Nearest to C. risa, Doubleday and Hewitson, which occurs from Kumaon —

to Assam, in Burma, and again in Java, but not in the Malay Peninsula ;

differs therefrom in the male in its darker ground-colour, the two basal pairs

of lines on the upperside being filled in with fuscous, the discal single line

being much broader, and especially in the absence of all violet markings in the

space enclosed by the submarginal pair of lines, this being a very conspicuous

feature in C. risa. In the hindwing of C. cyanee these purple markings are

replaced by a broad black line ; also in C. risa there is always a more or less

conspicuous series of pale yellow triangular markings in both wings, but more

especially in the hindwing, placed internally to the inner of the two submar-

ginal lines, which is quite absent in C. cyanee.

Described from a single pair in my collection.

Family LEMONIIDA.

Subfamily NEMEOBIINZ.

9. ABISARAVAMDAS asp) Pl. i Bis. 10, (4.

Hasrrar: Battak Mountains, Sumatra.

EXPANSE;. ¢, 2°1 inches.

Description: Mane, UppreErsipe, loth wings dull hair-brown. Forewing

with two pale, almost straight, discal bands, extending from the costa to the

50 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIIT

inner angle, rather far apart en the costa, close together posteriorly, the inner

band twice as wide as the outer; a short obscure fine marginal white line

at the inner angle. Hindwing outwardly becoming pale brown; the outer

third of the wing pure white, but apically and anally of the brown ground- -

colour ; a small white spot at the apex, then two large jet-black spots divided

by, and bounded anteriorily and posteriorly by, the rich ochreous termina-

tions of the second subcostal, discoidal, and third median nervules, the anterior

black spot surrounded on three sides by a white line, the posterior spot

marked anteriorly and posteriorly by a white line; a rather large triangular

brown spot at the base of the tail; a very small brown spot in the first

median interspace; a duplicated jet-black spot divided only by the fold in the

submedian interspace ; a narrow black line at the anal angle along the margin,

with similar, but still narrower, decreasing black limes in the three anterior

interspaces ; a very narrow marginal black line ; tai white. Cilia of the

forewing brown, of the hindwing pure white. UNDERSIDE, both wings with

the ground-colour much paler than above, hoary at the base. Forewing with

the discal lines more prominent than on the upperside, pure white; the fine

white line at the inner angle more prominent. Aindwing marked much as

above, but the outer white area is seen to bear inwardly an almost continuous

brown line, it being broken only in the median interspaces, where it is

represented by two brown spots, and is recurved to the abdominal margin

above the anal angle.

In the ground-colour of the upperside, A. ata resembles A. neophron,

Hewitson, but the two whitish bands of the forewing ally it more nearly to

A, savitri, Felder, which also occurs in Sumatra. A. ata is abundantly

distinct from all its allies by the presence of the large outer white area on both

sides of the hindwing.

Described from two examples in my collection.

Family LYCASNID A.

10. YASODA PITANE, n. sp., Pl. L, Fig. 5, ¢.

Hasitat : Battak Mountains, Sumatra.

Expanse: @, 1°35 inches,

Description : Maur. UPpERsIpn, both wings rich orange-yellow. Fore-

wing with a very broad deep black outer border with its inner edge evenly

curved, the border broadest at the apex, nearly three millimeters broad at the

inner angle ; a minute black dot in the second median interspace ; the base of

the wing powdered with dusky. Aindwing with more than the outer half of

the wing deep black, this black area commencing very narrowly on the costa,

then broadly on the outer margin as far as the discoidal nervule, when it is

continued across the wing to the abdominal margin parallel with the costa ; the

NEW NORTH-EASTERN SUMATRA BUTTERFLIES. ol

“ male-mark ” defined by a thin orange line ; the base of the wing powdered

with dusky; éail black, UnpERsIDE, both wings brownish-orange, with the

usual annular fine macular markings. Hindiwing powdered with violet and

lack in the anal area.

Nearest to Y. pita, Horsfield, which I have from Sumatra and Java, differ-

ing therefrom in the broader outer black margin to the forewing, and especially

in. having more than half the area of the hindwing black, in the male of Y. pita

the outer margin alone is narrowly black, with a broad black streak along

the “ male-mark.”

Described from a single male in my collection.

Family PAPILIONID A.

Subfamily Prermvz.

11. DELIAS DANALA, n. sp., Pl. L, Fig. 9, 4.

Hapitat: Battak Mountains, Sumatra.

EXPANSE: &, 2°2 inches,

DesorieTion : Mate, UPpERsipE, both wings dead chalky white. ore-

wing with the costa as far as the subcostal nervure dusky ; the apex very

broadly (extending, in fact, almost to the outer end of the discoidal cell), but

rapidly decreasing to the anal angle, where it ends in a point, dusky, bearing

three indistinct whitish spots between the veins anterior to the third median

nervule. Hindwing with the outer margin posteriorly narrowly black, the

black colour extending inwardly slightly between the veins in a dusky powder-

ing. UNDERSIDE, forewing as above, but the veins outwardly, rather broadly,

defined with black ; there are also five subapical spots between the veins, of

which the uppermost on the costa is very small, the next the largest and pale

yellow, the three following decreasingly smaller and dusky white. Aindwing

clear yellow, all the veins narrowly black, the outer margin with a rather broad

blackish border, bearmg five lunular spots between the veins, of which the three

posterior ones are whitish, the two anterior yellow.

Nearest to D. singhapura, Wallace*, known to me by the figure and descrip-

tion only, from Singapore and Borneo, differs in its smaller size, that species being

3°12 inches in alar expanse, the forewing rounded, not conspicuously elongated,

and with the apex rounded, not highly pointed ; on the underside of the fore-

wing the veins—-especially the median nervure—are less broadly defined with

black, the marginal spots are smaller and only five, instead of six, in number ;

on the hindwing the outer black border is narrower, less deeply black, the spots

smaller, less distinct, entire, not divided by the internervular folds, five instead

of six in number, the uppermost one of D. singhapura in the upper subcostal

interspace being wholly wanting. Other allied species are D. agoranis, Grose

* Trans, Ent. Soc. Lond., third series, vol. iv, p. 353, n. 29, pl. vii, fig. 2, male (1867).

52 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Smith, Rhop. Ex., vol. i., Delias I, figs. 7, 8, male (1889), from the Siamese

frontier of Burma, and D. kuehni, Honrath, Berl. Ent. Zeitsch., vol. xxx,

p. 295, pl. vi, fig. 2, male (1886), from Bangkai Island, near Celebes.

Described from a single example in Dr. Martin’s collection.

12. DELIAS DERCETO, n. sp., Pl. L, Fig. 4, @.

Hasrrat: Battak Mountains, Sumatra.

EXPANSE: @, 3:0; @, 2°7 to 3°4 inches.

Descriprion: Mane. Uppersipn, both wings deep black. Forewing with

two white spots at the end of the discoidal cell defining the disco-cellular

nervules ; a submarginal series of seven oval whitish spots placed between the

veins. Hindwing bearing a large, anteriorly white powdered with dusky,

posteriorly pale primrose-yellow, area divided by the veins, occupying the outer

end of the cell, this area is bounded outwardly by a broad black border, which

at the anal angle dwindles away to nothing, UNDERSIDE, forewing with the

ground-colour black, but with a large area from the inner margin extending on

to the disc powdered with whitish ; the discoidal and submarginal spots as

above, but pure white, larger, and much more prominent. Hindwing with the

immediate base of the wing black; then a broad curved rich crimson area,

commencing on the costal nervure and ending on the abdominal margin,

crossed by the black veins, slightly sprinkled with black scales ; followed by a

rather narrow highly irregular black band ; the outer half of the wing pale

chrome-yellow, gradually darkening to a deeper chrome in the two posterior

interspaces, the veins crossing this area black, from the first median to the

second subcostal nervule gradually outwardly dilated and forming between those

veins a broad black border. FEMALE differs from the male only in the wings

being somewhat broader, forewing with the apex more rounded.

Apparently nearest to D. ninus, Wallace*, from Mount Ophir, Malacca,

Malay Peninsula, but unknown to me except by the original description and

figure, from which it differs in its larger size, both wings much broader, the

forewing on both sides less heavily marked, two discoidal and seven submar-

ginal spots only, no basal bluish patches whatever, the hindwing with no

crimson basal patch on the upperside ; on the underside the crimson patch and

the black band following it are twice as broad, thus reducing the chrome-yellow

area in the discoidal cell by half. It is even more closely allied to

D. crithoé, Boisduval, from Java, as identified by me, but may at once be

known by the crimson band on the hindwing below being twice as broad, and

with its outer edge evenly curved, instead. of straight, and no discal white patch

on the upperside of the forewing.

Described from one male and two females in my collection.

* Trans. Ent, Soc, Lond., third series, vol. iv, p, 347, n. 9, pl, vii, fig, 1, male 1867).

NEW NORTH-EASTERN SUMATRA BUTTERFLIES. 53

13. DELIAS DATAMES, n. sp., Pl. L, Fig. 8, @.

Hasirat: Battak Mountains, Sumatra.

EXPANSE: ¢, 2°83 inches,

DESCRIPTION: Mae. UPppErstpn, forewing dead chalky-white ; the costa

as far as the subcostal nervure, the apex very broadly reaching almost to the end

of the discoidal cell, and the outer margin decreasingly, black, bearing a series of

five prominent small round white spots, of which the fourth from the costa is

the smallest, the fifth the largest ; the disco-cellular nervules defined with black,

Hindwing white, but not of as pure a shade as in the forewing, the black

colour of the underside appearing to show through by transparency, especially

at the base of the wing, and broadly along the outer margin, where it may

almost be said that the wing has a broad outer diffused blackish border, more

intense anteriorly. UNDERSIDE, forewing with the inner margin broadly white,

eradually merging in the submedian interspace into the yellow colour of the

disc and base ; the black apical and outer marginal areas much as on the

upperside, bub extending narrowly into the outer end of the cell ; bearing six

submarginal spots, of which the two anterior ones are clear yellow, the rest

white ; there is also a second white spot in the lower discoidal interspace mid-

way between the submarginal spot and the lower disco-cellular nervule ; the

base and disc of the wing reaching anteriorly to the costal nervure clear yellow.

Hindwing dull bronzy-black throughout except a small streak of clear yellow

anterior to the costal nervure ; a submarginal series of six small clear yellow

spots placed between the veins, the one in the submedian interspace geminated,

This species is perhaps one of the most remarkable in the genus. On the

upperside it has somewhat the appearance of Huphina nama, Moore, which I

have also from the mountains of Sumatra, and for which it would certainly

pass without notice when flying. D. datames is very closely allied to D. momea,

Boisduval, from Java, the male differing from the same sex of that species in

the costa of the forewing being black up to the subcostal nervure instead of

white, the black apical area of greater extent and reaching the inner angle,

which it does not do in D. momea ; in the hindwing the black powdery outer

border is unmarked, in D. momea it bears three white spots placed one in each

interspace between the second median and second subcostal nervules ; on the

underside of the forewing the yellow coloration is of a deeper shade, and is

more extensive, in D, momea the white coloration of the inner margin extends

outwardly as far as the second median interspace, thus greatly reducing the

yellow area ; the two anterior spots of the submarginal series are yellow, in

D. momea they are white ; in the latter species there are three discal white

spots, in D, datames only one ; and in the hindwing there is no discal series of

54 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

streaks between the veins as there is in D. momea. I possess a single pair

only of D. momea.

Described from a single male example in Dr. Martin’s collection,

Subfamily PAPILIONINA.

14. PAPILIO (Dalchina) SARPEDON, Linnaeus, Pl L, Fig. 11, ¢.

P. sarpedon, Linneus, Syst. Nat. Ins., ed. x, p. 461, n. 14 (1758).

The very remarkable melanoid aberration or “ sport” of P. sarpedon figured was

obtained on the Battak Mountains of Sumatra by Dr. Martin’s Battak collectors,

The upperside of both wings is entirely black, save in the forewing the anterior

spob of the broad macular discal blue-green band of normal P. sarpedon, and in

the hindwing the four middle submarginal blue-green lunules of the series of six

of the typical form, are alone present. The markings of the underside similarly

differ, the broad discal blue-green band of both wings of the normal form

being reduced to the anterior spot of the forewing only, the submarginal lunules

of the hindwing as on the upperside, but all the crimson and deep black mark-

ings of the normal P. sarpedon are present.

This unique butterfly is in Dr, Martin’s collection.

15, PAPILIO (Pangerana) SYCORAX, Grose Smith, Pl. My Hic)

Papilio sycorax, Grose Smith, Ent, Month. Mag., vol. xxi, p. 247 (1885) ; id

Distant, Rhop., Malay., p. 468, n. 29, pl. xlu, fig. 10, female (1886); P. egertoni,

Distant, Ann, and Mag. Nat. Hist., fifth series, vol. xvil, p. 251 (1886).

Hasrtar: Perak, Malay Peninsula (Distant and collection de Niceville);

Sumatra (Grose Smith and collections Martin and de Nicéville).

Expanse: @, 6:0 inches. (My largest Q expands 7-0 inches).

Description: Mate. Uppmrsrpe, both wings very deep indigo-blue,

slightly glossed with a greenish tint in some lights. Forewing obscurely

streaked with greyish outwardly between the veins. Hindwing with the

abdominal margin broadly twice folded over above ; the outer margin broadly

dull olive-green, this area bearing anteriorly four rounded black spots, the ante-

riot spot coalescing with the indigo-blue ground-colour, the posterior spot hidden

beneath the fold ; a marginal series of five black spots. UNDERSIDE, both

wings deep black. Forewing with the discoidal cell, as well as all the other

interspaces, streaked with pale greenish-white. Hindiwing with the outer half

pale greenish-white, this area sharply defined, just reaching the cell at the

bifurcation of the third median and discoidal nervules, bearing inwardly five

oval black spots, the uppermost with its anterior end coalescing with the

eround-colour, and outwardly six round similar spots. ace posteriorly with

long black hairs, anteriorly these hairs are pale buff-yellow, as also is the thorax

anteriorly ; posteriorly the thorax, and the anterior third of the abdomen above

is black, the posterior two-thirds of the abdomen above is dull olive-green,

NEW NORTH-EASTERN SUMATRA BUTTERFLIES. 55

bearing on each side a series of four round black spots; thorax beneath and

anal valves black ; abdomen beneath bright chrome-yellow, the spiracles black.

It is a very remarkable fact that in certain groups of Papilios the females are

far more often met with than the males, This is especially noticeable in the

small group which contains P. sycorax, P. priapus, Boisduval, and P. hageni,

Rogenhofer, all of which are remarkable in having the face and anterior portion

of the thorax above pale buff-yellow. Even the Battaks have noticed this

curious feature, and call the butterfly “ white-head.” P. sycoraz, as Mr.

Grose Smith points out, is obviously close to P. priapus, from Java, but

having only three female specimens of the latter, | am unable to make a

comparison between the respective males of the two species. The females differ

chiefly in the outer area of the hindwing on both sides of P. sycorax being

greenish, in P. priapus buff-yellow.

Dr. Martin has only obtained three males of this fine species, two of which he

has generously presented to me, together with four females, Mr. J. Wray, Jr.,

has also sent me a female from the Perak Hills.

16. PAPILIO (Pangerana) HAGENI, Rogenhofer, Pl. M, Fig. 2, 9.

Papilio hageni, Rogenhofer, Verh. zool.-bot. Gesellsch. Wien, vol. xxxix, p.1

(1889).

Haprrat : Sumatra (Rogenhofer and collections Martin and de Niceville).

EXPANSE : Q, 6°0 inches.

DESCRIPTION ; FEMALE. UPPERSIDE, forewing sordid-white, semi-trans-

‘parent, the base, costa, apex and outer margin fuscous, all the veins broadly

marked with fuscous, the discoidal cell bearmg four longitudinal black streaks,

the interspaces beyond the cell also bearing a black streak each. Hindwing

shining black, the basal half tinted with dark olive-green ; the disc bears a large

white area crossed by the black veins and by four large oval black spots, the

anterior of these almost merged into the black ground-colour, the white area

anterior to these spots pure white, posterior to them sprinkled with black scales,

UNDERSIDE, forewing a little paler than above, similarly marked. Hindwing

with the ground-colour throughout deep black, the white area a little larger,

almost pure white throughout, the anterior oval black spot better defined,

anteriorly only coalescing with the ground-colour, Head in front and thorax

anteriorly pale buff-yellow, thorax and abdomen above black, thorax beneath

black, abdomen beneath rich crimson, cross-banded with black, and bearing on

each side a series of small black spots.

This very fine species is closely allied to P. priapus, Boisduval, and to

P. sycorax, Grose Smith, and has the face and thorax above anteriorly of the

same colour as in those species. Dr. Martin has given me the specimen figured ;

he has a male (still nondescript) and other females in his collection, but the

Species appears to be a very rare one,

56 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

Prats K.

Fie, 1. Danais (Caduga) tytioides, n. sp., &, p. 37.

oy) 2. ” 29 2, p. 37.

Weis; Bulan (icscnnata) Cane, n. sp. &, p. 38.

» 4 9 9 29 D) 2, p. 38.

» 9. TLerinos teos, n. sp.. &, p. 41.

” 6. 9 » £5). 41.

tiny ft Tahe darena, Felder, 6, p. 40.

» & Athyma assa, 0. sp., &, p. 42.

Prats L.

Fig. 1. Huthalia (Nora) erana, n. sp., 3, p. 46.

” 2. ry) ” 9 ep) 2, Pp. 46.

3 3 (Tanaécia 2) elone, n. sp., &, p. 47.

4, Delias derceto, n. sp., &, p. 52.

5. Yasoda pitane, n. sp., &, p. 50.

» 6. Cyrestis (Chersonesia) cyanee,n. sp.. &, p. 49.

7 39 99 99 99 g b) Pp: 49.

8. Delias datames, nu. sp., &, p. 53.

a. » adanala,n. sp. 6, p. 51.

» 10. Abisara ata, n. sp., do, p. 49.

» Ll. Papilio Dalchina) sarpedon, Linneus, 4, p. 54.

Pruate M.

Fig. 1. Papilio (Pangerana) sycorax, Grose Smith, &, p. 54.

rh ae a3 A hagent, Rogenhofer, 9, p. 55.

BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES, sutwe NATURAL

HISTORY NOTES FROM H. M. 1. M. SURVEY

STHAMER “INVESTIGATOR,” Commanver

R. F. HOSKYN, R.N., COMMANDING.

Series II, No. 5. By D. Prain.

(Continued from Vol. VIL., page 486.)

Incomplete.

NYOTAGINES.

122. IMlirabilis Jalapa Linn., Sp. Pl. 177; Roxb., Hort. Beng,

16; Watt, Dict., v., 258. The Marvel of Peru.

Akati ; cultivated, Meming ! Muinikoi ; cultivated, Pleming !

Native of America, but widely cultivated throughout tropical Asia on account

of the supposed. purgative properties of its root, and as a garden plant.

123. Beerhaavia repens Linn : Hook. f., Flor, Brit. Ind., iv, 709.

var. typica. Boerhaavia repens Linn., Sp. Pl., 3.

Akati ; Mleming! Améni Hume !

A weed of fields, waysides and wasteplaces, cosmopolitan in tropical and sub-

tropical countries. The more usual form of this species in India (var. pro-

cumbens Hook. f., Hor. Brit. Ind., iv, 709 ; Boerhaavia procumbens, Banks in

Roxb. Flor. Ind., i, 146) does not appear to occur in the Laccadives ; the

present form is that characteristic of the drier parts of India, of Beluchistan,

Arabia and North-East Africa.

var. diffusa Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv, 709. B. diffusa Linn.,

Sp. PL. 3.

Bitrapar ; on the shore, Hume / Anderut ; on the beach, Alcock ! Kadamum ;

Fleming ! Minikoi ; Hleming !

A littoral plant, cosmopolitan on tropical sea-shores, The sea-shore form

differs so markedly in appearance from the usual inland forms and agrees so well

with the description of var. diffusa Hook. f., that it might be convenient to

restrict the varietal name “‘ diffusa” to it alone. It does not, however, deserve

specific rank, for, as is pointed out in the Hora of British India, it is impossible

by their morphological characters to draw a line between the various forms.

Byen if recognised as a species, it could not be dealt with as 5. diffusa Linn.

since the probability is that Linneus based his descriptions, at least in part, on

the examination of inland specimens.

The ‘weed’ has probably been introduced unintentionally by man. The

“ shore” form very probably owes its introduction to the agency of sea-birds,

though it may have been introduced by ocean-currents.

58 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

124. WPisonia alba Spanoghe i Linnea, xv, 342; Hook. f., Flor.

Brit. Ind., iv, 711.

Bitrapar ; Fleming !

A littoral species confined, if Spanoghe’s species be really distinct from all the

Polynesian and Malayan ones, to the Andamans and Nicobars. ‘The species is

rare in the Andamans beach forests (Kurz), but it is plentiful on the shores of

Narcondam and on those of Batti Malv—one of the Nicobar group. The tree

is only known in India and Ceylon as acultivated species; but as it does

not occur on any of the other islands of the group, and as Bitrapar is an

uninhabited island, the presence of the species in the sea-coast jungle here must be:

independent of human interference. Its fruits may have been introduced by

birds, since the glutinous lines along their angles admirably adapt them for this

mode of dispersal ; but as the majority of the birds that visit Bitra must be

sea-fowl, it is much more likely that the species has been introduced by means of

ocean-currents. ‘Though not wild, it is frequently cultivated in Ceylon (¢.9., ab

Colombo) near the sea—indeed away from the sea it refuses to grow—and, if the

tree does not exist in Malaya, Ceylon, cultivated trees may be supposed to have

yielded the fruits that have reached the Laccadives. One point, however, against.

the species being confined, as an indigenous tree, to the Andamans is that the

species has been long cultivated in India and Ceylon, and. it is therefore extremely

unlikely that the plants originally introduced into India. came from that group:

of islands, with which, save for a short period in the end of the last century, there

was, till thirty years ago, practically no communication. It appears, indeed, as

Sir Joseph Hooker suggests, to be little more than a form of the Polynesian

Pisonia inermis Forst.

AMARANTACE.

125. Amerantus viridis Linn., Sp. Pl. (ed. 1), 1405 ; Roxb., Flor.

Tnd., ii, 605; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv, 720.

Minikoi ; Fleming !

A weed of waste places, cosmopolitan in the tropics.

126. Zrua lanata Juss. i Ann. Mus. xi, 131; Hook. f., Flor:

Brit. Ind., iv, 728. Achyranthes lanata Linn, Sp. Pl. 204; Roxb., Flor.

Ind., i, 676.

Bitrapar; Hume! Kalpéni; Alcock / Kadamum ; very common, Meming £

Akati ; Fleming / Minikoi ; common, Yleming !

A weed. of waste places and also, as here, a common littoral species throughout

tropical and subtropical Africa, the Mascarene Islands, Arabia and South-Hastern

Asia ; here almost without doubt a sea-introduced species,

127. fchyranthes aspera Linn: Hook. f., Flor. Brit, Ind., iv, 730.

var. typica. Achyranthes aspera Linn., Sp. Pl, 204; Roxb., Flor.

Ind.,; 1, 672,

BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 09

Minikoi ; Fleming !

A weed of waste places, cosmopolitian in the tropics.

var. porphyristachya Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., iv, 730. Achyranthes

porphyristachya, Wall., Cat. 6925.

Bitrapar; Hume! Bangéro; Hume! Kalpéni; Alcock! Kiltan ; Fleming !

Kadamum ; Fleming ! Akati ; Mleming ! Minikoi; Fleming !

A weedy climber common in the littoral zone of the Indian and Malayan

coasts ; also in the moist valleys of Sikkim, Chittagong, etc.

The common weed is only reported from Minikoi, from which island also

(and from most of the others) comes the usual littoral condition which in habit

simulates A. bidentata, Bl., but which has the fimbriate staminodes of A. aspera.

While A. aspera is undoubtedly a plant introduced unintentionally by man,

there is no doubt that here, as often elsewhere, A. porphyristachya is a sea-

introduced plant.

POLYGONACEZ,

128. Polygonum barbatum Linn., Sp. Pl., 362; Hook. f., Flor.

Brit. Ind., v., 37. P. rivulare Koenig in Roxb., Flor. Ind., ii, 290.

Kalpéni ; Alcock !

In wet places throughout tropical Asia and Africa.

PIPERACEZ:,

129, Presr Bertie Linn., Sp. Pl. 28; Roxb., Flor. Ind.,i, 158; Hook,

f., Flor. Brit. Ind., v, 85.

Akati ; Kilétn ; Kadamum ; Minikoi ; in all the islands cultivated and, as

is the custom generally in Southern India, trained round the trunks and over

the branches of the Agati (Sersbania grandiflora). ‘‘ This plant is an object of

great care” (Mleming). )

Native of Malaya, where, and in the hotter parts of India and Ceylon, it is

cultivated.

LAURINE,

130. Cassytha filiformis Linn., Sp. Pl. 35; Roxb., Flor. Ind., ii,

314; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., v, 188.

Kiltan ; on Wedelia scandens in the coast zone, Alcock! Kadamum ; on

Pleurostylia Wightit, Fleming !

A leafless parasite, common on sea-shores, cosmopolitan in the tropics.

131, Hfernandia peltata Meissn. in DC., Prodr., xv., pt. i, 263 ;

Hook.f., Flor. Brit. Ind., v, 188. Hernandia ovigera Gaertn., Fruct., 1., 193,

t. 40, f. 8; Roxb., Mor. Ind., iii, 577, nec Linn.

Korat Hume! Minikoi ; Fleming ! -

60 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

A littoral species extending from the Mascarene Islands and Eastern Africa

to Ceylon, the Andamans, Malaya, Australia and Polynesia; like Ochrosia

borbonica this does not occur on the coast of India, though it is found as far

north as Great Coco on the west and as Mergui on the east of the Andaman Sea.

Meissner (DC. Prodr., xv, pt. 1, 262—264) omits to quote, and the Hora of

British India (v, 188) does not cite Roxburgh’s account of Hernandia ovigera

(Flor. Ind., iii, 577-578), which his own diagnosis clearly shows to be a species

different from Hernandia ovigera Linn. (Aman, Ac., iv, 125), founded on

Rumf’s figure (Herb, Amboin., iii, 198, t. 123) of Arbor ovigera. Roxburgh

notes the discrepancies, and explains them by depreciating Rumf’s drawing.

In reality, however, Roxburgh’s description is a most vivid and accurate one,

made from living specimens, of the species named by Meissner (DC. Prodr., xv,

pt. i, 263) Hernandia peltata. Roxburgh cites Gaertner’s figure (Pract. 1, 193,

t. 40, f. 8) asa “ very accurate” delineation of the fruit of this tree—an exceed-

ingly just remark, which, however, Meissner has overlooked, for he quotes

Gaertner’s description and figure as referring to Linnaeus’ species, though they

differ very materially from both Rumf’s figure and Meissner’s own description

of the fruit of Hernandia ovigera,

Hernandia peltata, the species now under review, is a purely old-world plant

which has been treated by Linnaeus and, with the exceptions of Gaertner and

Roxburgh, by all botanists subsequent to Linnaeus till the appearance of

Meissner’s treatise (1864) as conspecific with the American Hernandia sonora ;

even now Sir J. D. Hooker (Flor. Brit. Ind., v, 189) suspects that 4. peltata

is no more than a variety of H. sonora. And the basis of the differentiation by

both Gaertner and Roxburgh of the present plant from H. sonora does not lie in

the differences between the two plants that Meissner has pointed out, but in the

fact that Linnaeus included under H. sonora not merely the American tree to

which Meissner would restrict that name, as well as the Ceylon tree which is

undoubtedly H. peltata, but also—though doubifully and with the remark “ sed

fructus alienus” (Amen. Ac., iv, 117)—the tree figured by Rumf (Herb. Amboin.,

ii, 257, t. $5) under the name Arbor regis. Believing, apparently, that Rumf’s

Arbor regis was, a8 Linnaeus thought, a Hernandia—a belief perhaps partly just—

but realising that it could scarcely be the tree he had before him, and seeing that

it agreed so thoroughly with the figure and description of H. ovigera given by

Gaertner, Roxburgh, not having in his possession specimens of the true #. ovigera,

followed Gaertner in bestowing that name on this species. This course was hardly

just to Rumf if Gaertner and Roxburgh believed Rumf’s figure to be correct,

hardly just to themselves if they had any grounds for supposing it to be erro-

neous, It now appears that Rumif’s figure is wonderfully reliable, for, besides his

* BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 61

figure from a tree in Amboina, there are before the writer Specimens of un-

doubtedly this species from Java (Zollinger n, 2861, which, however, Zollinger

hinself has identified with H. sonora) and specimens recently collected by the

officers of the “ Eyeria” in Christmas Island, where H. ovigera occurs

(Hemsl., Journ. Linn, Soc., xxv, 357) on the summit, elevation about 1,290 feet,

a rather remarkable fact, since, according to Rumf, it occurs, like the other

Hernandias, “ semper in arenoso solo circa litora.”*

As has been remarked, the belief of Linnaeus, and of Roxburgh that Rumf’s

Arbor regis is a Hernandia is probably partly justified, for it is possible, from his

account of the habitat of his tree—“ occurrit tam in litore inter leves ac humiles

“stlvas ”’ (quite the situation affected by Hernandia peltata) “ quam in montibus

“a altioribus silvis”’ (where to find H. peltata would be somewhat surprising) —

that Rumf has included two trees in his description. His figure, moreover, bears

out this, for some of the leaves are without, while others exhibit, a pair of glands

where the petiole joins the leaf. The figure as a whole, however, suggests at once,

as Lamarck (Hneye, Meth., iii, 128) a century ago pointed out, a Euphorbiaceous

plant, while Rumf’s description of the fruit is altogether suitable to that of a

Species of this order. The first authors to recognise Rumf’s Arbor regis,

however, were Teysmann and Binnendyk, who described it as Capellenia moluccana

(Nat. Tyds, Ned, Ind., xxix, 239), founding a new genus to accommodate it ; as,

however, Capellenia does not differ generically from Endospermum, the tree has

been re-described by Beccari as Endospermum moluccanum (Malesia, ii, 38) in his

treatise Peante Ospitatrici, where another species from New Guinea (Endospermum

Sormicarum Bece., Malesia, ii, 44, t. 2) is described, which shares with Rumf’s

tree the character of sheltering a species of ant in its hollowed stems and branches,

Teysmann and Binnendyk described their species from trees grown in the Botanic

Garden at Buitenzorg; Beccari does not mention the habitat of the N ew

Guinea species; in the Calcutta Herbarium there are, however, examples

of another closely related species, with the same hollow branches, collected. in

Sumatra by H. O. Forbes, which were obtained on the volcano of Kaba at 3,500

feet elevation, This fact, therefore, does not oppose, if it does not corroborate, the

surmise that Rumf under Arbor regis has included. two trees, one found only on,

SER es ee I LY NCE) ere 1 ened

* Two parallel instances known to the writer of littoral species ascending to a con-

siderable height are met with in N arcondam, where Morinda bracteata ascends to 2,300

feet and in Barren Island, where Zerminalia Catappa ascends 1,100 feet, The expla-

nation of all three cases is doubtless the same ; these “ littoral” species being amongst the

first to appear on the respective islands were able to spread unchecked from the shore to

the summit of their peaks, and the invasion of inland species has not subsequently

been sufficiently great to compel them to retire completely from the unusual localities

they had at first invaded,

62 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCTETY, Vol. VIII.

the coast. (Hernandia peltata) and one found inland and on the mountains

(Endospermum moluccanum).

EUPHORBIACES.

132. Euphorbia Atoto Forst., Prodr. n. 207; Hook. f., Flor.

Brit. Ind., v, 248.

Améni ; Hume!

A littoral species ; seashores of India, Malaya, N. Australia and Polynesia.

1388. Buphorbia hypericifolia Linn., Hort. Cliff. 198 ; Hook. f.,

Flor. Brit. Ind., v, 249. #. parviflora Linn., Syst. Veg. (ed.x), ii, 1047 ;

Roxb., Flor. Ind., ii, 472. .

Kadamum ; Fleming! Kiltan ; Fleming ! Minikoi ; Fleming /

A weed of waste places and fields, almost cosmopolitan ; not occurring in

Australia or in Polynesia.

134. Euphorbia pilulifera Linon., Ameen. Acad., ili, 114; Hook.

f., Flor. Brit. Ind., v, 250. &. hirta Linn. Ameen. Acad., iii, 114; Roxb.,

Flor. Ind., ii. 472.

Anderut ; Alcock! Kadamum ; Hume! Fleming! Kailtan ; Alcock ! Fleming !

Minikoi ; Fleming /

A weed. of cultivation, cosmopolitan in tropical and subtropical countries.

135. Euphorbia thymifolia Burm., Flor. Ind. 2; Roxb., Flor.

Ind., ii, 473 ; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., v, 252.

Minikoi ; Hleming !

A weed almost cosmopolitan in tropical countries, not found in Australia.

136. PHynianrHus Emepuica Linn., Sp. Pl. 982; Roxb., Flor. Ind., iii,

671 ; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., v, 289. The Amila.

Améni ; cultivated, Hume.

Distributed, wild or cultivated, throughout South-Eastern Asia; here an in-

tentionally introduced plant.

137, Phyllanthus maderaspatensis Linn., Sp. Pl. 982 ; Roxb.,

Flor. Ind., iii, 654 ; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., v, 292. P. obcordatus Willd.,

Enum. Hort. Berol., Suppl., 65 ; Roxb., Flor. Ind., iii, 656.

Améni ; Hume! Anderut ; Alcock ! Bitrapar ; Fleming! Kailtan ; Mleming !

Kadamum ; Mleming ! Minikoi ; leming !

A weed of dry places and fields throughont tropical Africa, Asia and Aus-

tralia, probably unintentionally introduced by man even into the island of

Bitra, which, though not inhabited, is regularly visited.

138. Phyllanthus Urinaria Linn., Sp. Pl. 982; Roxb., Flor.

Ind., ii, 660; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., v, 298.

Kalpéni ; Alcock ! Minikoi ; Fleming !

A cosmopolitan tropical weed.

BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 63

139, Phyllanthus Niruri Iinn., Sp. Pl. 981; Roxb., Flor. Ind.

ii, 659 ; Hook, f., Flor. Brit. Ind., v, 298.

Anderut ; Alcock ! Akati; Fleming! Kadamum ; Fleming! Kiltan :

Fleming ! Minikoi ; Fleming !

A weed of cultivation almost cosmopolitan in the tropics, not occurring in

Australia,

140, Phyllanthus rotundifolius Klem mm Willd, Sp. PL, iv,

584 ; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., v, 299.

Kiltan ; Fleming !

A weed of cultivation distributed throughout tropical Africa, Arabia,

Southern India and. Ceylon,

141, PHYLLANTHUS DISTICHUS Muell.-Arg. in DC., Prodr., xv, pt. ii,

413; Hook, f., Flor. Brit. Ind., v, 804. P. longifolius Jacq., Hort. Schoenb.,

ii, 36, f. 194 ; Roxb., Flor. Ind., iti, 672. Cicca disticha Linn., Mantiss. 124.

Minikoi ; cultivated, Fleming.

In gardens throughout Malaya, India and the Mascarene Islands,

142, Claoxylon Mercurialis Thwaites, Enum, 271; Hook. f.,

Flor. Brit. Ind., v, 412. TZragia Mercurialis Linn., Sp. Pl. (ed. ii) 1391

(in parte); Roxb., Flor, Ind., in, 576. Mercurialis alternifolia Desv. in

Lamk, Encyc. Meth., iv, 120. Acalypha Mercurialis A, Juss., Euphorb,

Tent. 46. Micrococca Mercurialis Benth. im Hook., Niger Flora 503.

Microstachys mercurialis Dalz. and Gibs., Bomb. Flor. 227.

Akati; Fleming! Bitrapar; Fleming! Kadamum ; Mleming! Kiltan ;

Fleming ! Minikoi ; Fleming !

A tropical weed distributed throughout Africa, Arabia and India ; there are

also specimens at Calcutta from the Malay Peninsula. JMercurialis alternifolia

Desy. is not the same plant as Mercurialis alternifolia Hochst., Un. It., which

is an Acalypha (A. Hochstetteri Ivell.-Arg.).

143. Acalypha indica Linn., Sp. Pl. 1003; Roxb., Flor. Ind.,

ii, 675; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., v., 416.

Akati; Fleming! Kadamum ; Mleming! Minikoi ; Meming !

A weed of cultivation common in tropical Africa and §.-E. Asia.

144. Acalypha fallax Muell.-Arg. i Linnea, xxxiv, 43 ; Hook,

f,, Flor. Brit. Ind., v, 416. A. indica Prain, Laccad, List. 7, nec Linn,

Anderut ; Alcock ! Akati ; Flenung ! Minikoi ; Fleming !

A weed of cultivation confined to South-Eastern Asia.

145. Ricrnus communis Linn., Sp. Pl. 1007; Roxb., Flor. Ind., iii,

689; Hook. f., Flor. Brit, Ind, v., 457. The Castor-oil Plant; vernac.

“ wndel ” (Robinson).

64 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Kiltaén ; cultivated, Hume, Fleming! Anderut; cultivated, Alcock. Kadamum;

Fleming! Améni; cultivated for its oil, Robinson. Bitrapar ; growing near

the centre of the island, Meming ! Minikoi ; cultivated and a very common

escape, Hleming !

A native of Africa, cultivated generally in the tropics for its oil, but

readily escaping and becoming naturalised, its presence in the uninhabited island.

of Bitra being an excellent instance of the readiness with which it runs wild. © It

is noteworthy that it was not present in Bitra when Mr, Hume visited . that

island in 1875.

URTICACE,

146. Ficus BENGALENSIS Linn., Hort. Cliff. 471,n. 4; King im Hook.

f., Flor. Brit. Ind., v, 499. #. indica Linn., Amoen, Acad, (ed. ili), i, 27, n.

6; Roxb., Flor. Ind., 11, 539. The Banyan.

Améni ; planted, Hwme. Kadamum ; four trees seen in the neighbourhood

of some deserted huts, from their arrangement in a row evidently planted,

Fleming. Minikoi ; planted, Fleming.

Planted generally throughout India, wild on the lower slopes of the Himalayas

and of the Deccan hills.

147, Ficus retusa Linn., Mantiss. 129; King im Hook. f., Flor.

Brit. Ind., v, 511. F. Benjamina Willd., Sp. Pl., iv, 1148 ; Roxb., Flor. Ind.,

iii, 550 nec Linn.

var. nitida King, Ficus, 50; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., v, 511.

F. mitida Thunbg, Ficus 14.

Minikoi ; Fleming !

A large tree common throughout Eastern and South-Eastern Asia and

extending to New Caledonia. Mr. Fleming does not note if the tree be planted

in Minikoi. It is possible that it may be, but as its figs are a favourite food

with many of the migratory fruit-pigeons, there is no reason why it should not

be a “ wild” bird-introduced species.

148. ARTocarPuS rncIsA Forst., Pl. Hscul. 23; Roxb., Flor. Ind., iti,

527; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., v, 5389 ; Watt, Dict.,i,330. The Bread-

Frut Tree.

Kiltén ; does not thrive well, Robinson; not much appreciated, Hume ;

Alcock. Améni; grows most luxuriantly, Robinson, Hume. Anderut ; culti-

vated largely, Alcock. Akati; only one tree, in a garden, Fleming ! Minikoi ;

cultivated, Mleming /

A native of Polynesia and Eastern Malaya, occasionally cultivated in the

hotter parts of India, ‘The Laccadive Archipelago must be near the northern

BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 65

limit of its successful cultivation, a fact that is corroborated by the evidence

given above of the want of success, and the small extent, of its cultivation in

important islands like Kiltén and. Akati.

149, ARTocaRPUS INTEGRIFOLIA Linn. f., Suppl. 412; Roxb., Flor.

TInd., ti, 522 ; Hook. f., Flor. Brit, Ind., v, 541 ; Watt, Dict.,i, 330. The

Jack-frut.

Anderut ; a stately-looking tree, with dark green foliage not unlike the

broad-leafed elm, Waod.

Dr. King, to whose attention the passage in Lieut. Wood’s paper has been

brought, suggests that the notice refers most probably to the Jack. 'The tree is

generally cultivated throughout the hotter parts of India and Indo-China and

throughout Malaya ; it is said by Beddome to be truly wild in the Western

Ghats above the Malabar Coast. That its cultivation should not have spread

in the Laccadives is not at all surprising; doubtless the islanders generally view

the Jack, as those of Kiltan, according to Mr. Hume (Stray Feathers, iv, 437),

regard the Bread-fruit : trees that are all very well in their way, but consider-

ing that, instead of fruiting all the year round like the coco-nut, they all flower

and fruit together, and their fruiting season lasts at the outside only two months

out of twelve, they are hardly worth the trouble of propagating.

150. Pouzolzia indica Gaud. : Wedd. 7m DC. Prodr., xvi, pt. i, 220 ;

Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., v, 581. Urtica suffruticosa Roxb., Flor. Ind., iii,

os4,

var. typica. P. indica Gaud. in Freycinet, Voy., Bot. 503.

Kalpéni ; Alcock! Kiltan ; Fleming ! Akati; Fleming } Kadamum ; Fleming !

Minikoi ; Fleming +

A weed of cultivation common throughout tropical and subtropical Eastern

and South-Eastern Asia.

var. alienata Wedd. in DC. Prodr., xvi, pt. i, 221. P. alienata Gand.

om Freycinet, Voy., Bot. 503,

Minikoi ; Mleming !

A common Indian form of the same weed.

REonocotyledones.

ScITAMINEZ.

151. Musa Saprentum Linn., Syst. Veg. (ed. x), ii, 1303; Roxb., Flor.

Ind., i, 663 ; Watt, Dict. v, 290. 'The Plantain.

Anderut ; cultivated, Wood, Améni; cultivated, Robinson. Kiltan ; cultivated,

Hume. Kadamum ; four plants seen near some deserted huts, evidently planted,

Fleming. Minikoi ; cultivated, Fleming.

66 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. Viii.

AMARYLLIDEZ.

152. Pancratium zeylanicum Linn., Sp, Pl. 290; Roxb., Flor.

Ind., ii, 124 ; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind., vi, 285.

Minikoi ; Fleming.

India, Ceylon, Malaya.

153, Agave vivipara Linn., Sp, Pl, 823, A. Cantula Roxb., Flor.

Ind., ii, 1€7 ; Watt, Dict., i, 148. The Bastard American Aloe,

Anderut ; cultivated, Alcock, Kiltan ; introduced from the mainland and

erows well, Meming.

A native of America, cultivated and naturalised in most warm countries,

TACCACEA,

154, TaccA PINNATIFIDA Forst., Plant. Escul. 59 ; Roxb., Flor. Ind., ii,

172. The South-Sea Taro ; vernac, “ teerny,” Robinson,

Anderut ; cultivated, Wood, Alcock. Chitlac ; cultivated, Robinson. Akati ;

cultivated, Fleming ! Minikoi ; cultivated, Mleming !

A littoral species common on South-Hastern Asiatic and Polynesian coasts,

but also extending inland either asa wild or cultivated species. Though a

very common species on the Andaman coasts, the plant is here only found as a

cultivated one.

DIOSCcOREACEZ,

155. Dioscorea bulbifera Linn., Sp. Pl. 1033. Wild Yam.

Minikoi ; Fleming !

A common species in a wild state throughout India, Indo-China, and Malaya;

possibly conspecific with the next. Mr. Fleming does not note if itisa

cultivated or a wild species. It is sometimes cultivated, and beth the root and

leaf-tubers are eaten. The latter are also in Ceylon used. as a fish-bait,

156. Droscorea sativa Linn., Sp. Pl. 1033; Watt, Dict., iii, 183, The

Garden Yom.

Améni ; cultivated, Robinson, Hume. Cultivated generally in the tropics,

native country unknown, There are no specimens either in Mr, Hume’s or

in Dr. Alcock’s collection, and it is, therefore, not impossible that it is not

D, sativa but D, bulbifera that is grown in Améni.

LILIACEZ.

157. Gloriosa superba Linn., Sp. Pl. 305 ; Roxb., Flor, Ind., ii, 148,

Anderut ; plentiful, Alcock /

Wild throughout South-Eastern Asia, but also often cultivated as an orna-

mental plant, and on account of the poisonous properties reputed to reside in its

BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 67

roots. It is not cultivated, however, in Anderut, and as it is a common littoral

species throughout the Andamans and Nicobars, it is here quite possibly a sea-

introduced species.

CoMMELYNE,

158. neilema ovalifolium Hook. f., ee C. B. Clarke im DC.

Monogr, Phan., iii, 218.

Minikoi ; Mleming !

A herbaceous weed of jungles and grassy places confined to Southern India.

159. Cyanotis cristata Roem. & Schult., Syst., vii, 1150. Comme-

tina cristata Linn., Sp. Pl. 42. Zradescantia imbricata Roxb., Flor. Ind.,

i, 120.

Kadamum ; Fleming ! Kiltén ; in grass along with Leucas aspera, Fleming !

Minikoi ; on ground and also epiphytic on Cocos nucifera, Fleming !

A weed of grassy places in the Mascarene Islands, India and Malaya.

PaLMEA,

160. ARrzca Catecnu Linn., Sp. Pl. 1189 ; Roxb., Flor. Ind., ii, 615 ;

Watt, Dict., i, 291. The Betel-nut Palm.

Améni; cultivated, Robinson, Hume. Anderut ; cultivated, Wood, Alcock.

Kiltan ; does not thrive, Robison. Minikoi ; cultivated, Fleming.

Cultivated in tropical countries. ,

161. Cocos nuciFERA Linn., Sp. Pl. 1188; Roxb., Flor. Ind., iti, 614.

The Coco-nut Palin.

Améni; Robinson, Hume. Anderut ; Wood, Alcock, Akati; Mleming.

Bangaro ; Hume. Bitrapar; Robinson, Hume, Chitlac ; of slow growth and

not productive, Robinson. Kadamum ; Robinson, Hume, Fleming. Kalpéni,

Alcock. Kiltan ; Robinson, Hume, Alcock, Fleming. Korati ; Hume, Minikoi ;

Hleming.

Lieut. Wood’s list gives the coco-nut as present on all the islands except

Kalpéni Féti and Akati Féti, which are mentioned as mere sand-banks, but the

send-banks of Pirmalla and Pittiand the coral islets on Cherbaniani and—if,

indeed, there are islets there—on Cheriapani reefs are quite devoid of vegetation,

and if visited at all by the islanders are visited for the purposes of fishing or ege-

collecting, not for coco-nuts and coir. Bitra, however, which is uninhabited ,has

coco-nuts and is visited on account of these by people from the northern islands,

The coco-nuts there, from their position as described by Robinson and Hume

and from the accounts of the people, are evidently only planted. Bangéro and

(apparently) Tangdro, two uninhabited islands on the Akati reef, have coco-nuts

clearly, from Hume’s account of the former, sea-introduced and not planted.

Whether there are coco-nuts on Suheli is not clear; according to Wood’s list,

68 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

they occur, but the people misinformed him concerning so many of the other

islands, that till there is direct evidence, the point must remain doubtful.

The question whether the appearance of the coco-nut in this archipelago

preceded that of man, or if the first settlers there did not rather take the

coco-nut with them, is one that it is somewhat difficult to answer. 'The species

is pretty certainly indigenous in the Malay countries and, perhaps, Polynesia,

and seems to have spread thence to India, the Mascarene Islands and

Africa. It occurs also in America, but the question—which has been seriously

discussed—as to whether it found its way to the New World from the Old or vice

versa, has not yet been satisfactorily answered. The introduction of the coco-

nut into Ceylon at all events has been in all probability a deliberate act, and, as

M. de Candolle reminds us (Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 435), at a period so

recent as to be almost historical. That the geographical extension of the tree is

largely due to human agency does not admit of question, but that it has been in

every place where it occurs intentionally introduced, it is neither possible nor

necessary to believe. Its fruits are highly capable of ocean-distribution and form

a constant feature of ocean-drifts on tropical shores, and it is one of the earliest

Species to appear on newly emerged coral or volcanic tropical islands,

Ag regards the Laccadives, if man did not first settle there on account of

coco-nut trees being already present, it is difficult to conceive what he went

there for ; the surface is not adequate, nor are the conditions favourable for

extensive cereal or pulse cultivation, and as for a certain period of the year

the people have to take their boats away from the islands to places of safety on the

Malabar Coast, it is clear that fishing could never have been a general or con-

stant industry among them. On the other hand, the coco-nut is in the strictest

sense a cultivated species on all the inhabited islands, and is a planted species

even in Bitra which, on account of its want of a water-supply, is only a visited

island ; and though in Bangdro it is not cultivated or planted, this island may

have only been stocked by nuts from Akati, the main island on the same atoll,

subsequently to a deliberate introduction of the species into Akati itself.

Still the state of affairs in Bangdro proves that the tree here can be,

at least locally, sea-dispersed ; and taking into account the uninvitine ap-

pearance that the islands must offer, were they destitute of coco-nuts, one cannot

but think it probable that the species reached the archipelago independently

of human agency and prior to human settlement, while the necessity for

constant renewal and, as the population increased, for planting to the greatest

advantage, has insured that now in all the inhabited islands none but cultivated

trees are to be found.

In most of the islands it is deemed necessary to raise the seedling coco-nuts

with care and attention till they are a year old, when they are transplanted and

BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 69

watered for a few weeks till they become firmly established. After this the

young trees are left entirely to themselves, and are neither watered nor manured ;

they come into bearing in Kiltan in from 8 to 10 years, and produce fruit so

vigorously and. plentifully that it is sometimes necessary to support the luxuriant

growth of nuts artificially *; in this island, moreover, the preliminary attention

to seedlings is not required.

In some of the other islands, as in Chitlac, where the soil is much poorer, the

trees do not come into bearing till they are 15 to 20 years old, each tree at best

producing only about 50 nuts per annum as against 80 to 85 nuts a year in

Kiltin, In Kadamum, too, backward though the cultivation in that island is,

the average per annum is about 80 nuts per tree; in Améni, where the

cultivation is almost as extensive asin Kiltsin, the average is only about 60

nuts a year from each tree. These figures are given. by Robinson, after care-

ful and prolonged enquiry, as representing the yield in 1844 and 1845; Hume

gives the average all over for the four British islands in 1875 at 80 nuts per

tree per annum}t—doubtless rather a high general estimate, though probably

representing the yield of what the people in any of the islands would themselves

consider a good tree. Robinson thinks that 60 to 70 nuts would be a pretty

fair general average for the whole of these islands, and this is likely to be nearer

the truth than the higher estimate. 'The islanders try to plant only /irst class

trees, and they aim at obtaining such as will come into full bearing in about

10 years, throwing out every month after that age is reached a fruiting-spike

bearing 15 to 20 nuts, and so yielding 180 to 250 nuts a year, and going on

bearing at this rate till they are 60 years old. They often do go on bearing, it

is said, till they are 70 or 80 years of age, and some are believed by the people

to be more than a century old, But a tree that produces a fruiting-spike every

month is quite a rarity ; 9 to 10 fruiting branches are all that can be hoped for

in twelve months, and from accidents and casualties among the nuts, 8 to 10

a Spike is a very high average of nuts. Indeed, it is only trees with an eastern

exposure and trees growing in the Aa in the centre of the islands that yield

so highly ; those with a south-westerly exposure or those on the drier parts of

the best islands yield as poorly as those of Chitlac, where the conditions, as a

whole, are unfavourable,

There is very little exportation of coco-nuts from the islands, much the

greater portion of the crop being required for home consumption. As, more-

over, the great product of the islands is coir, not coco-nuts, an immense propor-

tion. of the crop is gathered before the nuts are perfectly ripe and before the

kernel is in the best condition for yielding oil. If allowed to remain on the

* Robinson, Madras Journal, n. s, xiv, 24,

t ‘Stray Feathers,” iv, 410.

70 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

tree for twelve or thirteen months, which is the time required for perfect

ripening, the husk becomes hard and woody and the coir difficult to separate

from the woody particles, requiring longer soaking in its preparation, which

darkens its colour and spoils it for the market ; being harder and coarser, too,

it becomes, though not weaker than the best coir ought to be, much more diffi-

cult to twist. If, on the other hand, the nuts are gathered too soon, the coir

obtained, though excellent in colour and easy to manipulate, is too weak for

yarn, though quite good for minor purposes, such asa stuffing material for

ma xttresses.

The proper age of nuts for coir-making is ten months; at the end of the

tenth month they are cut and husked, the husks being thrown into soaking-pits,

where they are left for a year. These soaking-pits are simply holes in the sand

on the lagoon-shore of the various islands, in which the husks are buried and

covered over by heaps of coral-blocks to protect them from the ripple of the

waves. After twelve months’ soaking the husks are taken from the pits and the

coir is separated from the refuse of the husk by beating. If taken out earlier, it

is very difficult to rid the coir of impurities and woody particles; if left longer,

the fibre is found to be weakened. In Améni, where, as has been said, the

island occupies the whole lagoon-space, and there is, therefore, no protected

seashore suitable for coir-soaking, the husks have to be buried in pits dug

through the coral-crust within the body of the island. ‘The coir is here, there-

fore, soaked in fresh, instead of salt water, one result of which is that the Améni

coir is weaker than that produced in the other islands; this is, no doubt, the

result of the action of some of the products of decomposition in the water of

these tanks, A further effect of this method of soaking is a discolouration of the

fibre, for the water in the tanks never being changed becomes foul and dark-

coloured by the decaying vegetable matter, and imparts this tinge to the coir.

The two effects taken together, or perhaps rather the second, used by the buyer

as an index of the first, renders Améni coir a less marketable product than

the coir of the other islands and reduces it to the level of most of the coir

manufactured on the Malabar Coast itself, which is practically all made in this

way, protected seashores on which to bury the husks being exceedingly rare

except within the lagoons of coral islands.

In separating the coir after the beating by sticks to break up the adhesion and

remove impurities, the coir is hand-rubbed, chiefly by the women, to remove the

woody tissue between the fibres. It is then rolled into loose pads as thick as

one’s finger by the palms of the hands before being twisted into yarn, of which

two strands are made at once.*

* J. Shortt, F.L.8, ; Monograph of the Coco-nut-palm, p. 16, Madras, 1888.

BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 71

The yield of fibre is estimated by Robinson at one pound of coir from each

10 nuts, giving 35 fathoms of yam. He adds* that “2 Ibs. of such yarn,

“measuring from 70 to 75 fathoms, are made up into soodies, of which there are

“fourteen to a bundle, averaging about a maund of 28 Ibs. A Mangalore candy

“of 560 lbs, will, therefore, be the produce of 5,600 nuts, and should contain

“ about 20,000 fathoms of yarn.”

In contrast with this yield, Robinson mentions that it takes only three of the

large coarse coast nuts to yield a pound of coir, but that this coir will only

produce 22 fathoms. A ton of Laccadive coir will thus produce 80,000 fathoms

of yarn as against 50,000 yielded by a ton of Malabar coir,

By Mr. Robinson’s figures, it will take over 20,000 nuts (22,400) to yield a

ton of coir, which should produce 784,000 fathoms of yarn. Mr. Hume (Stray

Feathers, iv, 440) says it takes about 80,000 nuts to yield a ton of coir,

Tt is clear from what hag been written regarding the Laccadives that they

yield by far the best coir produced in India, and it will be equally evident from

what has been said here that their superiority lies altogether in the facilities for

Sea-soaking offered by their lagoons, Yet from all the information that a

consultation of the ordinary trade returns will yield, an enquirer into them

might, as Watt remarks,t conclude that the Laccadives export no coir, In trade

returns the Laccadive coir from British Islands is given along with that from

the Malabar Coast, and in European markets the best Malabar or Indian coir

is spoken of as Cochin coir. As a matter of fact, little coir comes from Cochin,

and it does not present any features peculiar to itself or Superior to those of coir

from other parts of Malabar. What the European merchant means by Cochin

coir is pretty certainly Laccadive coir. Even when the coir is known to be from

the Laccadives,some misunderstanding is produced by its being spoken of as Kiltan

coir or Améni coir. As a matter of fact, Kiltén coir has not quite the local

reputation of either Chitlac or Kadamum coir, whereas Améni coir is distinctly

inferior to that produced in any of the other British islands, The application of

the term Améni coir to the best qualities arises from two circumstances—the fact

that the island of Améni is one of the largest and often gives its name Amendivi

to the whole group, and that, till quite recently, the lower caste people of

Kadamum, where excellent coir is produced, were in some degree subject to

their higher caste neighbours of Améni, and were compelled to ship their

produce to the mainland in Améni boats,

Besides coir manufacture, a certain amount of coarse sugar (jaggery) manu-

facture is carried on, not at all extensively, however, in the British islands, since

* Robinson, Madras Journal, n. s., xiv, 16.

Tt Dict. Econom, Products of India, ii, 421.

72 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VILL.

the higher prices given for their coir render its manufacture more profitable

to the people. In the Cannanore Islands, where coir is under monopoly and the

Cannanore Raj gives much poorer prices for that article than the inhabitants of

the British islands obtain, large quantities of jaggery are produced both for

home consumption and for export to the people on the British islands, the

chief islands in which it is manufactured being, according to Robinson, those

of Anderut and Korati,

PANDANEZ.

162. Pandanus odoratissimus Linn. f., Suppl. 424; Roxb., Flor.

Ind., ii, 738 ; Balf. f., Jour. Linn. Soc., xvii, 54.

Bangaro ; abundant, Hume. Kadamum ; very abundant, Hume. Améni ;

Hume. Kiltan ; only a few plants, Hume. Kalpéni; Alcock. Minikoi ; Fe-

ming ! a regular sea-fence of this plant surrounds the island, Hamilton.

A littoral species extending from the Indian Coasts to Malaya, Australia

and Polynesia.

Tn the Laccadive Islands proper there is not, in densely peopled and carefully

planted islands like Kiltan, more than the merest remnant of a Pandanus sea-fence

left, though in uninhabited islands like Bangaro and in partially occupied ones

like Kadamum, it is well represented. But, curiously enough, it is quite absent

from the uninhabited island of Bitra, where also Cocos nucifera does not occur as

a littoral and sea-introduced species. In Minikoi, however, where the island is

fully occupied and carefully planted, the Pandanus sea-fence has been allowed to

remain as a belt all round the island. ‘This belt of jungle harbours an immense

number of rats (Mus rattus VAR. rufescens)*, which here, as in the other islands,

prove very destructive to the coco-nut crop. Captain Wentworth Hamilton,

Port Officer of Gopalpur, who commanded the 8. 8. ‘“ Martha Heathcote”

during a recent official visit to Minikoi, informed thewriterin 1889 that

the disturbances which led to the visit arose out of a Government order

to cut down this jungle and, by removing their shelter, to render possible

a systematic attempt to exterminate the rats. The populace objected most

strongly to the order, on the ground that this belt of jungle is the abode of

evil spirits that would be certain, were their domain invaded, to retaliate by

bringing misfortune on the island. Minikoi, as has been already said, though

Laccadive as to political connection, and as much Laccadive as Maldive as

to situation, has a Maldive population ; there is no evidence of superstition

So gross among the Mappila population of the other Laccadives; at all

events, they do not appear to have any scruples about clearing away the Pan-

danus belt.

* Hume, “ Stray Feathers,” iv, 433.

BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 73

AROIDEA.

163. Colocasia antiquorum Schott: Engler m DC., Monoer,

Phanerog., ii, 491.

var. typica. C. antiquorum Schott, Meletem. i, 18. <Arwm Colocasia

Linn., Sp. Pl. 965; Roxb., Flor. Ind., iii, 494. The Kachu or

Indian Taro.

Améni ; cultivated, Hume. Anderut ; cultivated, Alcock. Kalpéni ; both

cultivated and wild, Alcock! Kiltaén; wild, Mleming. Kadamum; wild,

Fleming. Akati ; wild, Fleming. Minikoi; wild, Fleming.

A native of India, cultivated in nearly all tropical and subtropical countries.

There is little doubt that this has been intentionally introduced ; it receives,

however, slight attention in any of the islands, and in nearly everyone of them

it has established itself as a weed.

CYPERACEZE,

164. Cyperus hyalinus Vahl, Enum, ii, 329; Clarke, Ind.

Cyperus 46.

Kadamum ; Fleming !

A very rare South Indian weed.

165. Cyperus polystachyus Rottb., Descr. et Ic. 39, t, 11, f.1;

Roxb., Flor. Ind., i, 193 ; Clarke, Ind, Cyperus 51.

Minikoi ; Fleming !

A cosmopolitan tropical and subtropical weed, especially in islands and on

sea-shores.

166. Cyperus compressus Linn., Sp. Pl. 46; Roxb., Flor. Ind.,

i, 194 ; Clarke, Ind. Cyperus 97.

Kalpéni ; Alcock /

A cosmopolitan tropical weed.

167, Cyperus pachyrrhizus Nees ex Boeck. im Linnea, xxxv,

545 ; Clarke, Ind. Cyperus 111.

Bitrapar ; Hume! Fleming! Kadamum ; Fleming! Bangaro ; Hume !

A littoral species, confined to the coasts of India, Mr. Clarke, however, in

a letter to the writer, in which he has kindly criticised the former Laccadive

List, states that in Dr, Trimen’s opinion the purely maritime C. pachyrrhizus

cannot be specifically distinguished from C. conglomeratus (Rotth., Descr. et

Tc,, 21, t. 15, £. 7 ; Clarke, Ind. Cyperus, 112), a plant occurring in the deserts

of North-East Africa and South-West Asia (Nubia, Arabia, Syria, Socotra,

Beluchistan).

168. Cyperus pennatus Lamk i Poir., Encyc, Meth., vii, 240 ;

Clarke, Ind, Cyperus 194,

74 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Anderut ; Alcock 1 Kalpéni ; Alcock ! Akati ; Fleming ! Minikoi ; Fleming !

A littoral and estuarine species, extending from the Mascarene Islands to

India, Malaya and North Australia.

169. Cyperus dubius Rottb., Descr. et Ic. 20, t. 4, f.5; Roxb.,

Flor. Ind., i, 189 ; Clarke, Ind. Cyperus 197.

Minikoi ; Mleming !

A littoral species, extending from Indo- China and Malaya to India, Ceylon,

the Mascarene Islands and the African Coast.

170. Kyllinga brevifolia Rottb., Descr. et Ic. 13, t. 4, f. 3.

Minikoi ; in the sward underneath the coat trees, Planing. !

Cosmopolitan in the tropics.

171. Fimbristylis diphylla Vahl. Enum., ii, 289. Scirpus

miliaceus Roxb., Flor. Ind., i, 227.

Kalpéni ; Alcock /

The solitary specimen is not a good one, and the identification is not absolute-

ly certain, ‘The plant is, however, not any of the other Cyperacec enumerated.

Common on seashores and in wet places throughout the tropics.

GRAMINEZ,

172. Panicum sanguinale Linn., Sp. Pl. 57.

var. ciliare. LP. ciliare Retz., Obs., iv, 16 ; Roxb., Flor. Ind., i., 293.

Akati ; dwarfed specimens, Fleming ! Minikoi ; very abundant, Fleming /

Cosmopolitan in the tropics ; the variety present here seems, however, confined

to the Eastern Hemisphere.

173. Oplismenus Burmanni Beauv., Agrost., 54. Panicum Bur-

manni Retz., Obs., tii, 10 ; Roxb., Flor. Ind., 1, 298.

Akati ; ieweny ! Kadamum ; Fleming! Kiltén; HMeming ! Minikoi ;

Fleming ! Everywhere abundant, as is the next species.

Cosmopolitan in tropical and subtropical countries.

174. Oplismenus compositus Roem. & Schult., Syst., ii, 484.

Panicum compositum Linn., Sp. Pl, 57. P. lanceolatum Roxb, Flor. Ind., i,

294.

Améni; Hume! Akati; Fleming ! Minikoi ; Fleming !

Widely distributed throughout the tropics of the old world.

175. Setaria verticillata Beauv., Agrost., 51. Panicum verticil-

latum Linn., Sp. Pl. (ed. ii) 82 ; Roxb., Flor. Ind, i, 301.

Améni ; a crop, vernac. “ badag,” Robinson. Bangaro ; Hume / Kadamum ;

Fleming ! Kiltén ; Fleming! If cultivated at the time of Mr. Robinson’s visit

(1844), apparently not cultivated when Mr, Hume was at the Laccadives (1875) ;

its presence in the uninhabited island of Bangéro indicates, moreover, that

BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 75

here, as elsewhere, the species is one that readily becomes established as a

weed.

Cosmopolitan in the tropics.

176. Thuarea sarmentosa Pers., Synops., i, 110.

Bangaro ; Hume! Kadamum ; Fleming! Minikoi ; Fleming !

A littoral species, extending from the shores of Polynesia to Malaya, the

Andamans and Nicobars, Ceylon (Thwaites 0. P. 2260), the Laccadives, and the

Mascarene Islands. As with a number of other littoral species exhibiting the

same distribution, this has not yet been collected on the coast of the Indian

mainland.

177. Spinifex squarrosus Linn., Mantiss., 300.

Bitrapar ; everywhere in huge patches inside the belt of Zpomea biloba,

Hume ! Minikoi ; Fleming !

A littoral species found on the Western Indian Coast from Canara (Thomson)

to Malabar (Aheede) and on the east from Puri (Clarke) and Gopalpur (Prain) to

Madras (Wight) and Ceylon (Thwaites). Besides extending to the Laccadives, it

occurs in Java (Kurz), Siam (Schomburgk), and China (Hance). But in the

Calcutta Herbarium there are no specimens from Burma, the Malay Peninsula,

the Andamans or the Nicobars. The headquarters of the genus is Australia,

where several species occur; and if this species has originally come from the

south-east to India, it has apparently only reached the western, not the eastern,

side of the Sea of Bengal, first perhaps reaching Ceylon, whence it has crept

northward along both the coasts of the Indian Peninsula. Why it should not

have become dispersed northward from Java, along the coasts of Sumatra, the

Nicobars and Andamans to Burma, it is difficult to conceive.

178. Oryza sativa Linn., Sp. Pl, 833; Roxb., Flor. Ind., ii, 200 ;

Watt, Dict., v, 498. The Rice crop.

Anderut ; a small quantity of rice is grown in the rainy season, not more

than 15 or 20 days’ consumption, Wood.

Generally cultivated throughout the tropics ; probably originally a native of

India, where it often occurs, as Roxburgh says he has himself seen it in the

Circars, in a truly wild state, that is, mot as an escape from cultivation. It

occurs thus, for example, in the Sunderbuns along with another species (Oryza

coarctata Roxb., Flor. Ind., ii, 206), which is perfectly distinct from O. sativa

in any of its forms, is never found anywhere else than in the Sunderbuns, and

of which no use whatever is made.

The notice by Lieut, Wood is the only intimation of the Laccadive islanders

cultivating the rice crop ; but though they do not apparently attempt to grow

it now, there is no reason to suppose that Wood was misinformed or mistaken.

For though Robinson does not mention rice as a crop in 1844-45—it will be

76 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIII.

noted that he did not visit Anderut then—he gives a circumstantial account of

the cultivation of certain millets and pulses in Améni and Kadamum, but says

that in Chitlac field-cultivation was then quite insignificant and that in Kiltan

it had given way altogether before the planting of coco-nut trees. Writing

thirty years later, Mr. Hume says* that “in former days a certain amount of

“ millets used to be grown in all the islands; now, even in Améni, little or

“none appears to be cultivated, and the people are wholly dependent for their

“ supplies on the mainland, whence they bring, not only rice, but tobacco and

“ salt, which, curiously enough, never seems to have been manufactured on the

*‘ islands, the people being allowed to get duty-free salt from Goa.”

In Anderut, judging from Dr. Alcock’s brief notice of the island, there

appears to be even to this day more cereal cultivation than in most of the other

islands ; still he does not speak of rice as being grown, and says that the staple

crop is ragi (Hleusine Coracana).

179. Saccharum oFFIoINARUM Linn., Sp. Pl 54; ney. Flor. Ind., i,

237.

Minikei ; cultivated, Mlemmyg.

Cultivated throughout the tropics.

180. Eschaemum ciliare Retz., Obs., vi, 36. JZ. tenellum Roxb.,

Flor. Ind., i, 323.

Kalpéni; Alcock! Akati; Fleming! Bitrapar; Mleming! Kadamum ;

Fleming ! Kiltan ; Fleming! Everywhere very plentiful.

Confined to China, India and Indo-China.

181. Ischaemum muticum Linn., Sp. Pl. 1049. JZ. repens, Roxb.,

Flor. Ind., i, 323.

Kalpéni ; Alcock ! Minikoi ; Fleming !

Extends from 8. E. Asia to Australia and Western Polynesia ; is very common

on the coast in the Andamans and Nicobars.

182. Andropogon contortus Linn., Sp. Pl. 1045; Roxb., Flor.

Ind., i, 253.

Kiltan ; Alcock ! Kadamum ; very plentiful, Fleming /

A common grass of dry places, cosmopolitan in the tropics.

183. ANDROPOGON MURICATUS Retz. Obs., ii, 48; Roxb., Flor. Ind., i,

265 ; Watt, Dict., i, 245. The Ahus-khus grass,

Kiltan ; a little clump found growing near the mosque, Meming !

Cosmopolitan in the tropics ; here probably introduced. Haeckel (DC., Monogr:

Phamerog., Vi., 542) identifies A. muricatus Retz. with A. squarrosus Linn, f., but

omits to cite Roxburgh’s description of the Khus-khus grass or to gay whether

* “Stray Feathers,” iv, 441.

BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 17

in his opinion A. squarrosus is, or is not, the Khus-khus. There can, of course,

be no possibility of doubt as to the grass intended by Roxburgh, though there

may be some as to the identity of Roxburgh’s plant with that of Retzius.

184, SorGHUM VULGARE Pers., Synops-, i, 101. Andropogon Sorghum

Roxb., Flor. Ind., i, 269. The Sorghum, vernac. “ Jowa.”

Améni ; cultivated, Robinson. Kadamum ; cultivated, Robinson. Minikoi ;

grows well, but very little cultivated, Fleming.

Cultivated throughout warm countries.

185. Apluda aristata Linn., Amoen. Acad., iv, 303; Roxb.,

Flor, Ind., i, 324.

Kadamum ; filling all the outskirts of the jungle, Home! Minikoi; very

abundant, Hleming !

In woods and hedges throughout South-Eastern Asia.

186. Cynodon Dactylon Pers., Synops.,i, 85. Panicum Dactylon

Linn., Sp. Pl. 58 ; Roxb., Flor. Ind., i, 289.

alpen: Alcock !

Cosmopolitan in the tropics. The plant from Bangaro, referred with clone to

this species by Mr. Hume (Stray Feathers, iv 452), is in reality Thuarea

sarmentosa.

187. HEleusine Zgyptiaca Pers., Synops. i, 82; Roxb., Flor.

Ind., i, 344.

Améni ; Hume! Kadamum ; Fleming !

A cosmopolitan tropical weed of cultivation.

188. ELEUSINE CoRACANA Gaertn., Fruct., i, 8, t. 1, f. 11; Roxb.,

Flor. Ind., i, 843 ; Watt, Dict., iii, 237. The Ragi crop; the Marua Millet.

Améni; Robinson. Anderut; Alcock. Kadamum ; Robinson. Kalpéni ;

Alcock ! Minikoi ; Fleming !

A field crop in India, Egypt and Japan.

189. EHleusine indica Gaertn., Fruct.,i, 8 ; Roxb., Flor. Ind., i, 345.

Minikoi ; Fleming !

A cosmopolitan tropical species, occurring as a weed in waste places and on

waysides,

190. Eragrostis plumosa Steud., Gram., i, 266. #. tenella Trin.

var. plumosa Trin., Act. Petrop, vi, i, 898. Poa slumosa Retz, Obs., iv, 20 ;

Roxb., Flor. Ind., i, 327. P. tenella Linn, VaR, Spreng., Syst. Veg.,

a BLS

VAR. typica,

Kalpéni ; Alcock ! Akati ; Fleming ! Kadamum ; Fleming ! Kultén ; Flem-

ing! Minikoi ; Fleming /

VAR, panculis fastiquatis,

78 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Akati; Fleming! Kadamum ; Fleming! Minikoi ; Fleming ! —

A common grass in Indian fields and waste places.

191. Lepturus repens R. Br., Prodr. Flor. Noy. Holl., i, 207.

Bangéro ; Hume! Bitrapar ; Fleming ! Minikoi ; Fleming /

A littoral species, extending from Polynesia and Australia fo Ceylon, the

Laccadives and the Mascarene Islands.

CRYPTOGAMIA.

LYCOPODIACEA.

192, Psilotum triquetrum Swartz, Syn. Fil, 117; Baker, Fern

Allies, 30.

Minikoi ; Fleming !

Cosmopolitan in the tropics.

FILICES.

193. Nephrodium molle Desv., Mem. Soc. Linn., vi, 258 ; Bedd.,

Ferns of Brit. Ind., 277. Polypodium parasiticum Linn., Sp. Pl. (ed. ii) 1551.

P. proliferum Roxb., Flor. Ind. (ed, Clarke), 752.

Anderut ; Alcock !

Cosmopolitan in the tropics.

194. IWephrolepis cordifolia Presl., Tent. Pterid. 79; Bedd.,

Ferns of Brit. Ind., 282. Polypodium cordifolium Linn., Sp. Pl. (ed. ii) 1549.

Anderut ; Alcock /

‘Cosmopolitan in the tropics.

CHARACEAK,

195. Chara sp., Alcock, Adm. Rep. Marine Survey, 1891-92, p. 10.

Akati ; in fresh-water tanks, Alcock.

Unfortunately, no specimens were collected. It is not at all improbable that

Zanichellia palustris (Naiadacece) may be found associated with Chara in this

place ; it often is in similar localities.

MUSCTI.

196. Calymperes Dozyanum Mitt. in Journ. Linn. Soc., iii,

Suppl. 42. ©. mollucense Dozy & Molk, Bryol. Jay., i, 47, t. 387, nec

Schwaegr.

Minikoi ; Alcock /

Extends from Samoa and the Admiralty Islands to the Philippines, Java, the

Andamans (Great Coco Island, where it is very plentiful), Ceylon, India (deste

Mitten /.c.) and Minikoi, where it is plentiful. It is the only moss reported

BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. » ie,

from the island ; Dr. Alcock, writing from the “ Investigator,” remarks .on the

presence of so much moss and fungus at Minikoi as compared with the other

islands, where there are hardly any fungi and there is apparently no moss, On

this point he adds :—“ But the island is near the equatorial belt of condensation.”

LICHENES.

(N. O. LicHENACEI.)

197. Physcia leucomela Michx, Flor. Bor. Am., ii, 356 ; Nyland.,

Synops. Lich., i, 414.

Minikoi ; on coco-nut trees, Alcock !

Cosmopolitan in tropical and temperate regions on tree trunks.

198. Physcia obscura Fries, Lich. Hur., 84; Nyland., Synops.

Lich., i, 427. Coe

Minikoi ; on coco-nut trees, Alcock !

Cosmopolitan on trees and rocks,

FUNGI.

(N. O. HyMENOMYCETES.)

199. Pleurotus cuneatus G. Massée, sp. mov. pileo carnosulo,

tenui, exacte laterali, flabelliformi postice in stipitem brevissimum producto,

glabro, albo ; lamellis decurrentibus, divergentibus, subconfertis, angustis, albis,

siccitate pallide ochraceis ; sporis ellipsoideis.

Minikoi ; on coco-nut trees, Alcock /

Nearest to Plewrotus scabrellus, Berk.

200. Pleurotus tenuissimus Jungh., Enum. Fung. Jay.

Minikoi ; on dead screw-pines, Alcock !

Java.

201. Schizophyllum commune Fries, Syst. Mycol., i, 330.

Kiltan ; on rotten branches of Ricinus communis, Fleming ! -

Cosmopolitan,

202. Polyporus sanguineus Fries, Epicris. 404,

Kadamum ; on decayed coco-nut stumps, Fleming! Minikoi; on dead

branches of screw-pine, Alcock /

Cosmopolitan in tropical and subtropical countries.

208. Polyporus igniarius Fries, Hymen. Eur., 559,

Minikoi ; Alcock /

Cosmopolitan, or nearly so.

204, Trametes Muelleri Berk., Jour. Linn, Soc., x, 320.

Minikoi ; Alcock /

Australia, Brazil.

80 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIII.

205. Hirneola polytricha Mont., Syllog. Gen. & Sp. Pl. Crypt., 181.

Minikoi ; “ from a wooden house-post,” Alcock /

Almost cosmopolitan in tropical and subtropical countries.

ALG Ai,

206. IWostoc verrucosum Vauch., Conf., 225.

Minikoi ; covering the ground in damp places, Alcock !

Cosmopolitan.

There are also some Marine Alege, at least in Minikoi on the reefs of the

weather-side of the island (Alcock, Adm. Rep., Marine Survey, 1891-92) ; of

these no specimens were collected.

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF THE FLORA.

The list given above includes 206 species, representing 156 genera and 61.

natural orders ; 191 of the species are Phanerogams and only 15 are Crypto-

gams, giving a proportion of flowering to flowerless plants of about thirteen to

one; the percentages are :—

Phanerogams, 93° °/, ;

Cryptogams, 7° °/).

Of the Phanerogams 150 are Dicots and 41 are Monocots, the proportion here

being nearly four to one ; the percentages are :—

Dicotyledons, 78°5 °/, 3

Monocotyledons, 21°5 °/,.

Only three vascular cryptogams have been found in the Archipelago, with

only one moss, while at least one species of Chara occurs ; two-thirds of the

Cryptogams obtained are Fungi or Lichens. It ought not to be concluded,

because one of Fungi enumerated has as yet been reported only from Minikoi

that it is truly endemic in that island ; in all probability it will yet be found to

occur elsewhere. ‘The Marine Algee mentioned above will in all probability be

found when they are at length collected to belong to some of the commoner

Indian Ocean forms.

A synoptic view of the Flora is given in the table which follows :—

———

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82 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCTETY, Vol. VIIT,

Of the 60 natural orders, 28 are represented by only one species ; 10 by two

species ; 7 by three species. The most extensively represented natural orders

are Leguminose (21 sp.) and Graminee (20 sp.); followed by Muphorbiacece

(14 sp.) and Composite (10 sp.) ; Malvacee (9 sp.), Rubiacee and Cyperacece

-(each 8 sp.) ; Convolvulacece and Fungi (Hymenomycetes) (cach 7 sp.) ; Rutacec,

Cucurlitacee and Solanacee (each 6 sp.) ; Acanthacea and Urtwacee (each

5 sp.) ; Verbenaceac (4 sp.).

The land-mark height of the islands of the group is usually about 60 feet ;

none of them exceed this. Deducting, therefore, the 12 to 15 feet of coral forma-

tion that composes the islands, we find that none of the trees in the group are

more than 45 to 50 feet high. ‘The tallest trees, and those that in all, the

inhabited islands, except Kadamum, form at the same time the bulk of the

vegetation, are the coco-nuts, which are cultivated ; the majority of the

remaining arboreal forms are also cultivated species, most of them being fruit-

trees like Anona: muricata, Artocarpus incisa, Mangifera indica, Tamarindus

indica, or trees like Moringa pterygosperma, with an immediate, or, like Sesbana

grandiflora, with an indirect economic interest. There are only five arboreal

species that are at all likely to be truly “ indigenous” in the accepted sense of

the term; four of these—the Thespesia, the Calophyllum, the Pisonia and.

Terminalia Catappa—are probably sea-introduced, the fifth (Ficus nitida) is

perhaps a bird-introduced species ; four, however, as it happens, are known to

be planted by the inhabitants at least in some of the islands, though three of

them are undoubtedly “‘ wild’’ as well as planted.

In the interior of the majority of the islands there is no true jungle, the whole

cultivable area being occupied by coco-nut groves with small patches of garden- -

land (Kat); on this account there is, as might be expected, only a flora of

tropical cultivated species, with the usual tropical weeds of cultivation and Indian

garden escapes reported from the centre or the islands, and with some common

Indian Ocean littoral species from the sea-fence that lines the shore. In the

interior of the smaller uninhabited islands, such as Bitra and Bangdro, a dense

jungle does, indeed, exist ; it is, however, composed of littoral species that have

spread inward from the beach on both sides of the island till the two sea-fences

have met and coalesced in the middle, In these islands the jungle is shrubby,

hardly even subarboreal. The only island where there are considerable tracts of

unoccupied ground, and where a true interior jungle exists, is Kadamum. Here

also the jungle is of the nature of “ scrub,” and though there are present in it

some quite characteristic inland forms, such as Pavetia, Pleurostylia and

Flacourtia, which are not reported from the other islands, these do not exclusively

compose the central jungle; characteristically “littoral” species, Premna, Morinda

and the like, enter largely into its formation.

BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 83

Only 47 species are woody, 20 of these being trees, 25 shrubs, and 2 climbers, Of

the 20 trees, 15 are cultivated species ; 4 of the remaining 5 are “littoral.” Of the

159 herbaceous species, 119 are herbs proper, 28 are climbers,and 12 are of the class

of ‘tree-herbs” or ‘ shrub-herbs” like JZusa or Carica end Agave or Calotropis.

From the nature of the group we are led to expect that none of the species are

really indigenous ; further, that the majority of the species must have been intro-

duced by man, and that next to human agency that of the sea has been most active.

Detailed examination confirms these anticipations, for we find that as many as

127 species (three-fifths of the whole flora) are species that have been introduced

by man. Of these, 52, or a fourth of the whole flora, are purely cultivated

plants ; 7 others that appear mostly in an apparently wild state are likewise cul-

tivated ; 4 that are cultivated occur occasionally as escapes. These figures refer

to plants grown for economic reasons, but there are 13 other species that are

“ oarden escapes’ in the more usual sense, being bright-flowered or sweet-smelling

' species originally grown deliberately. The remaining 64 species are mere weeds.

Of the balance, the larger moiety (41 species or one-fifth of the whole flora)

consists of “‘ littoral’? sea-introduced species; the remainder includes 9 marsh

or water species (a very small proportion of the flora) and 27 inland species.

The people of Minikoi cultivate 40 species as against 24 cultivated in Ameni,

18 in Anderut, 13 in Akati, 13 in Kiltén and11in Kadamum. The figures

for the other islands are not at all complete. Doubtless, for some of these they are

imperfect, but there is no reason to doubt that the numbers given are approxi-

mately true ; they place the islands in a series which accords very well with the

general accounts that have been given by those who have visited the islands, of

the relative wealth and comfort of the people.

The cultivation of most of the species is the direct result of the intercourse

of the people with the Indian mainland, perhaps the chief exception is their use

of the South Sea Islanders’ Taro (Tacca pinnatifida), Of the cultivated plants, 10

are originally American, 5 originally African, 2 originally Chinese, the rest either

Indian or Indo-Malayan ; the cultivation of nearly all the species is now, however,

cosmopolitan in the tropics.

The weeds, like the cultivated plants, are by no means evenly distributed

throughout the Archipelago. Of the whole 64 species, as many as 20 are reported

from only one island ; even if we allow for the possibility of a species having

been here and there overlooked, the proportion is very high. Without going

into too ereat detail, it may be noted that 8 of these weeds—one-eighth of the

weed-list-—are reported only from Minikoi ; more remarkable still, 31 species—

very nearly one-haif the ist—occur in one or other of Laccadives proper, but not

in Minikoi. The meaning of this is not very clear; it may be partly due to

there being no large waste area in Minikoi, as there is for instance in Kadamum;

perhaps, too, the people hold less intercourse with India than do those of the other

84 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

islands. That they do hold some may be surmised from the presence in

Minikoi of one species, Aneilema ovalifolium, which is found in India only, not

appearing even in Ceylon or in any of the other Laccadive Islands, It is, of

course, not impossible that this isa bird-introduced species, in which case its

peculiarly limited area of distribution is difficult to explain, As regards Kadamum,

the same remarks apply to the even more restricted Cyperus hyalinus ; perhaps,

however, this species may not be in South India so rare as we at present think.

So far as their general distribution goes, 26 (40 °/,) of the weeds are cosmo-

politan in the tropics—a few have not been reported from the Mascarene Islands,

though they occur in Africa itself ; other 10 are nearly cosmopolitan, being

present in both hemispheres—of these, 4 are absent from Polynesia, 2 from

Australia, 83 from Australia and Polynesia, and one, which is confined to

South-Hastern Asia and America, from Africa also. Altogether, therefore, 36

of these species, or 56 °/, of the weeds, occur in the tropics of both hemispheres,

Of the species absent from the new world, there are 2 which extend from the

Eastern Hemisphere to Polynesia, and 2 more that extend to Australia without

reaching Polynesia. As many as 11 species, or 17 °/, of the weeds, are come

mon to Africa and South-Eastern Asia ; but 4 of these are African only in the

sense that they occur as weeds, no doubt introduced from India, in Mauritius.

Of the whole, 13 species, or 20 °/, of the weeds, are confined to Asia ; all

of them occur in India, though it is noteworthy that no fewer than 9 of

them appear to be unknown in Ceylon ; this being so, we are not surprised to

find that 14 of them are unknown in Malay countries.

Considering next the species of the “ sylvestrian” class as opposed to those

introduced by human agency, we expect that as the islands appeared above

tea-level, they must first have afforded a footing for littoral species. Such

plants could scarcely in point of time be preceded even by species of the

wind-introduced class, while the conditions on the islands would be much

more favourable for sea-introduced than for wind-introduced ones. Introduction

by birds could only become active after species of the other classes had been

established and had rendered the islands sufficiently attractive and conspicuous

for birds to alight on them. We anticipate, therefore, that of the three kinds of

Species mentioned the littoral sea-introduced class should be comparatively

numerous, the other classes relatively scarce, This expectation is fully borne

out by the facts.

The coast-flora includes 41 unequivocally sea-introduced plants, and forms

a fifth, or 20 °/,, of the entire Flora. Of these 41 species, 12, or 29 °/, (nearly

a third), are cosmopolitan on tropical seashores. Of the remainder, 11 species, or

nearly 27 °/,, extend from Polynesia to these islands, no fewer than 9 of them

extending further west to Africa, or the Mascarene Islands, or both. There are

3 species that do not extend further east than to Australia and 18 that do not

BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES. 85

extend further than Malaya. On the other hand, 2 species (Laamea pinnatifida

and Cyperus pachyrhizus) find on the Laccadives and the adjacent Indian Coasts

their extreme eastmost extension; the Oyperus is a plant characteristic of the

western coasts of India and of Arabia, the Zaawnea occurs on the coasts of

Haste Africa—across the Arabian Sea—as well. With these two exceptions,

however, all of the littoral species occur on Malay Coasts, and it is significant of

the extent to which the sea-board flora is Malayan rather than Indian, When we

observe that though 39, or over 97 °/,, of them are found in Malaya, no fewer

than 8, or 20 °/,, of them are absent from the neighbouring Indian Coasts.

The islands come, therefore, more within the influence of those ocean-currents

that sweep up from the south-east from Malayan Seas than does the Indian

Coast ; their shores, therefore, have some of the species characteristic of nearly

every tropical coast from Fiji to the Seychelles that are wanting in India.

Of inland as opposed to littoral species those that are wind-introduced, as being

likely to appear earliest, are the first to be considered. These are Phanerogams

with seeds or fruits fitted for wind-carriage—of which there are here but two

unequivocal examples (7ylophora and Leptadenia)—and small spored Cryptogams,

of which there are 14, The two Phanerogams are species confined to South-

Eastern Asia ; of the Cryptogams, on the other hand, 10 are cosmopolitan in the

tropics ; one (Trametes Muelleri, which occurs likewise in Australia and in South

America) is nearly so ; another (Calymperes Dozyanum) oceurs throughout South-

Eastern Asia and in Polynesia ; only two are confined to South-Eastern Asia,

and of these one has, so far as is at present known, been found only in Minikoi,

Of the species introduced by birds, whether by being carried in pellets of mud

or otherwise attached to their feet or their feathers, or carried ag undigested

seeds in their crops, the flora affords very few examples.

Of the former subgroup, consisting of marsh weeds with small seeds or fruits,

there are but 9 unequivocal examples. They are, as a rule, widely distributed

Species ; here, for example, three occur in both hemispheres—two are found

throughout the tropics of the old world ; one extends from India to Polynesia.

Only one is confined to South-Eastern Asia, and of one—the Chara, whose

Specific identity is unknown—we cannot speak.

Of the second subgroup, species with soft fruits but resistent seeds, there are

only 8 clear examples. Their most notable feature as compared with the last is

their confined distribution. None are cosmopolitan, only one extends eastwards

as far as Polynesia, and this one (Ficus nitida) does not even in that direction

pass beyond New Caledonia ; at the same time only one (Datura fastuosa) ex-

tends to America, and though its introduction by birds is clearly possible,* it is, no

doubt, more usually introduced by man. While three Species extend to Austra-

lia and four to the Mascarene Islands or Africa, it is worthy of note that none of

* Prain, Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (1891), p. 171.

86 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

them occur both in Africa and in Australia. Indeed, one species, Pleurostylia

Wightit, exhibits the peculiarity of being restricted to Ceylon, Southern India,

the Island of Kadamum and Mauritius ; with this solitary exception, however,

all the species of this kind occur in Malaya, as well as in India and Ceylon.

Reviewing in tabular form the facts indicated in the preceding paragraphs,

we find the number and proportion of the species that have been certainly, or

possibly, or probably influenced by the various distributive agencies to be as

follows :—

TanrEe IV.—Modes of introduction of Laccadive Plants.

CERTAINLY. POSSIBLY. PROBABLY.

INTRODUCED BY

No. of Sp.} Per cent. f No. of Sp.| Per cent. | No. of Sp. | Per cent.

a ———————————————————————————

Sata, Lecophooceonenodorecenss 115 66, 139 68 °/o 129 63 2,

The Sea .......ssceerenseeree 35 IDS, 45 92 9/, AY 20 °/,

WAS. .cccrescrccecceveresoe 16 3 Oh, 18 9% 17 8 /,

Birdsieertesancassee Pererere 15 7 OL 21 10 %/, 19 9 °/.

ee ee

At the same time, omitting from consideration the cultivated species and

garden escapes, the majority of which are exotics, as well as the undetermined

Chara, the general distribution of the Laccadive Flora may be tabulated as

follows :—

Tanin V.—Synopsis of Distribution of Laccadive Species.

ss —————————————— El

Cultivated species, garden escapes, TUNAeterMiNEd SPECIES cooccerececoeccceeveceee OO 81:6°/,

Cosmopolitan in the tropics .....eecee Wee Sucenesececerecneseese Sates soasaes Seerevaectne MOL 25°1°/,

Almost so: present in both Hemispheres ........c--seereesecereeresee nodoanoanDoec co Gugie

Absent from Polynesia OnLy c.csccsscscseeeeceeercerees 4 mele

Absent from Australia OnLy ...c.s.seseecerreccenveeeee 2 We

Absent from Australia and Polynesia ......2-++0+00s 4 278

Absent from Africa, Australia, Polynesia ....... 2 ee

Confined toy Ok) WVGaeC | Geosoaaonodononndo oaCcHodODHGNBEOAOD ONO OSRORORGE Mannodacseanee Tdi 37°3°/5

In Africa, Asia, Australia, Polynesia dbecwasaieccses 13 63

Tn Africa, Asia, AUStralia ....ccreccccscercrsercsenseves 5 BOD

In Africa and ASia .eccoress AandoddoqonanconéenccnasacaoaD 19 Pe}

per a) |

In Asia, Australia, Polynesia .csccocssecvecsceecesves 74 2

In Asia, Australia ...... ApaacnacnodoonnEbogednocCoOco0OnS 2 1

In Asia, Polynesia ..scccccscceceseereenceees 1000000000056 2 1

Confined to S. E, Asiaccccccccereevcsecerevcescvvesscesces 32 15°5

ee aEEEEEIEEE gE ESEEEEESSnSSnSaES SSSR

TANASE erse ace ecaraas coucs Masanaesnenn ie) anemia

NOTES ON SPORT IN SOMALI LAND.

By C, G. Dopason, I.C.S.

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society

on 21st June 1893.)

I spent 10 weeks in Somali Land during the past cold season ; at this time of

year there is very little water in the country, almost all the nullahs being dry, and

water being obtainable only by digging deep down into the sandy beds of the

streams, and occasionally found in pools which are drying up. The Somalis are

nearly all to be found north of the range of hills which runs east and west

parallel to the coast line and at a distance of about 80 or 40 miles from it, The

high lying plateau to the south of these hills is almost devoid of human

habitation during the dry season ; the result is, that the lions, dependent as they

are, toa great extent, on the peoples’ sheep and camels for food, are generally

fairly close to the Somalis’ “ karias,” or temporary settlements. The antelope, on.

the other hand, are mostly further south far away from water, which they can do

without, and undisturbed by camels and cattle grazing and by the sight of man.

The maritime plain extends for about 30 miles inland up to the foot of the

high range of hills which runs east and west ; there is, at all events in the dry _

season, very little game to be seen between Berbera and the hills. I was told

that south of Bulhar, which lies to the west of Berbera, things are better in this

respect ; as far as my experience goes, the best country is to the south of the

range of hills on the plateau, which is, roughly speaking, about 4,000 feet above

the level of the sea. The ground here is good for tracking, consisting, due

south of Berbera, of loose red soil, free from stones; as one, however, marches

further west, the plateau becomes more undulating. The lower lands, which

contain the densest vegetation, are excellent for tracking over ; the higher lands,

which are mostly covered with a scanty growth of small thorny bushes, are freely

strewn with stones and pebbles, which in some parts areso numerous as to render

it absolutely impossible to follow an animal for a yard by his footprints,

88 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

The following is a list of the game animals to be found north of the “ Haud,”

or waterless tract of country which runs east and west across the high plateau :—

English name. Latin name. Somali name.

1 | Sand Antelope .........) Neotragus saltianis ...... Sagaro.

2 | Waller’s Gazelle ...... Gazella walleri ............ Gerenouk.

B | Ci pkopeseese0 conedaos. coe Oryx Weisaceensewscecerce sae Be’id.

4 | Soemmering’s Gazelle...] Gazella soemmeringil...... Awal.

G. spekii or naso and

5 | Cevellg sagccoads soacee a pelzelni. Dhero.

6 | Larger Kudu ......... Strepsiceros kudu ........| Godir.

Tin luesser IMIG secs sets -sinee Strepsiceros imberbis ...| Anderio or Arreh.

8 | Klpspringer ............ Nanotragus oreotragus ...| Alakud.

9 | Warthog .........00 .-.| Phacoccerus ethiopicus ...| Dophur.

uae ab hencescuecacic cece Felis pardus ...a- seeseseee| HHEYbelle,

TLL) ito cocosé sancoousaodasce IDES NEO) pacsetedqsoosee eee| Libah.

12) Wiesolae ia scosccnodanonds Elephas africanus ......--.| Marode.

13) | Wald Ass ......3... .....| Equus somalicus .........| Duber.

14 | Spotted Hyzxna ...... Hyena Crocuta....seso.ees Wariba,

15 | Striped Hyeena......... Hyzena striata ..coosssseee Lidda.

16 | Hartbeest ........0-0000. Bubalis swaynel ......0..| Syg.

Besides the above-mentioned animals, there are also to be found ostriches,

hares, 2 species of foxes, jackals, porcupines, and lynx. Of the 16 animals

in the above list, I succeeded in shooting specimens of each of the first eleven

kinds, besides seeing specimens of Nos. 12, 18 and 14.

I will now briefly describe such animals as I became acquainted with. I do

not propose going into detailed descriptions of colour of skin or shepe of horns,

Such @escriptions have already appeared in this Society’s Journal, No. 4, Vol. VI,

in the paper read by Mr. J. D. Inverarity in September, 1891, and I could add

but little, if anything, to them.

The commonest and most widely distributed of all the antelope is undoubtedly

the tiny sand antelope; he is to be seen close to Berbera among the small

scattered bushes which grow on the maritime plaim, and among the ravines at

the foot of the high range of hills which I have already spoken of as running

parallel to the coast-lie. He is also found on the plateau to the south of this

range and also in thehilly wild country in the far west. It seems to him to be quite

immaterial whether he lives in long grass, under the shade of bushes, or hidden

away among the aloe plants which are common in many parts of Somali Land.

This antelope is only about 12 inches in height, and though he affords pretty

shooting with a rook rifle, can best be secured with a shot gun and No. 4 shot ;

the pace with which he manages to dart in and out of the bushes is extraordi-

nary, and makes him anything but an easy object to hit. There appears to be

no difference in colour between the males and females, the general colour being

NOTES ON SPORT IN SOMALI LAND. 89

dark grey. The males are distinguishable from the females by having short

upright horns and a tuft of dark chestnut hair on the forehead, They are gener-

ally found in couples, and, like almost all the other antelope of Somali Land,

appear to be quite independent of water. The Somalis seldom eat it, saying that

they do not like the taste ; but to me it tasted very much like that of other

antelope. Somalis in talking to a European about this antelope call it the Dik-

Dik, believing this word to be English; it is not a Somali word, the word

used by the natives of the country being Sagaro. A peculiarity of the horns

of this antelope is, that when looked at from in front, the flat part or side is

seen better than if looked at from the side ; the horns, if looked at from behind,

present a rounded appearance.

Next to the sand antelope, the commonest antelope is Waller’s gazelle. I saw

these antelope in every kind of country, both near to and far from water ; they

are extremely shy and when once alarmed seldom give one a chance of getting

near them again. ‘The males are somewhat darker in colour and larger in body

than the females, and are easily to be distinguished from them by the fact that

the latter have no horns. The most striking peculiarity about this antelope is

the length of its neck ; the distance from between the horns to the top of the

shoulder-blades of a full grown buck which I measured was, to the best of my

recollection, about 24 inches. The other measurements which I took of this

particular animal were—

From nose to insertion of tail ... de ccc seen 4: lls) une

Height at shoulder er see s60 nos soe OG fie 4 amy

From point of elbow to heel... oe a5 ene patie Qame

These figures show that the animal is long and slightly built ; his long lees

and long neck are most useful to him in helping him to reach high up to the

“srcecs of trees. On several occasions I saw these antelope standing on their

hind legs, with their forefeet resting among the branches of a tree and them-

selves busy nibbling at the leaves, in exactly the same way that goats do ;

doubtless, nature has provided the long neck to assist them in this habit. The

largest herd of Waller's gazelle which I ever saw consisted of 11 animals ; as a

rule, a herd consists of about 6 or 7 animals. Between the horns on the top

of the head there is a triangular patch of brown hair, darker on the bucks than

on the does ; with age it turns greyish. The following are the measurements

of the 4 largest pairs of horns in my possession :—

Round upper : i : F Circumference

one ee base ee ee cae Tip to tip. ai ERE.

Inches. Inches. Inches. Inches.

1 154 124 23 oF

2 143 112 3 54

3 127 102 5 og

4 12 24 Oe 4 5

~The oryx is “probably the next most gener ally distributed of the antelopes ;

he is extremely shy, and I never saw one anywhere near human habitations,

90 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Until I had seen a considerable number, I was always unable to distinguish

between the sexes, the horns of the does being quite as long as those of the

bucks, and I consequently, shot some females, If one can, however, get to within

100 yards of a herd, which, by the bye, it is extremely difficult to do,

the heavier head and shoulders of the male enable one to pick him out

from among the females. The general appearance of this antelope is at first

sight somewhat disappointing ; his extremely heavy shoulders and high withers,

his broad muzzle, his manner of carrying his head low, the muzzle pointed

almost straight downwards when galloping, and his heavy lumbering action, take

away considerably from his game-like appearance. I exhibit a photograph which

gives a very fair idea of his appearance. Oryx are to be found in large herds ;

on several occasions I saw herds of between 20 or 30, and on one occasion

counted no less than 52 animals in one herd, This large herd was grazing in a

vast open plain. As far as the eye could reach, there was not a sign of a shrub or

bush of any kind—nothing but a sea of yellow grass. The oryx were extremely

wild, and there being absolutely no cover, it was impossible to get anywhere within

shot of them. I was greatly struck with the precision of the movements of this

large herd. Among bushes a herd of oryx, when disturbed, gallops away in a

dense throng, without any order or attempt to keep in line. On this open

plain, however, the herd grazed along, keeping an excellent line, the animals

all walking side by side; when disturbed, they galloped away, keeping

the same correct line, They wheeled to the right and left, with almost military

precision, and also, when turning to the right or left, travelled along in single file,

one behind the other, in perfect order. As a general rule, the horns of the females

are apt to be somewhat longer than those of the males, but less thick ; this will

be seen from the following measurements, which are those of some of the horns

in My possession :—

: Circumference

"1 F Circumf :

Length from base to tip. oat a pace 12 eae oboe

ar eeal 84 (right) and 31} (eft). 61 41

& )s 314 64 4

S38 514 6 34

4 pe 63 43

# (1 331 BL 33

3 3 3 i

oS 1

ie 8 3g

a es ES a a | ee

The two oldest males which I shot are those shown above as Nos. 1 and 4.

The horns of No. 4, though heavy and massive, are much blunted and worn

NOTES ON SPORT IN SOMALI LAND. 91

away at the points ; in the case of male No. 1, there is a considerable difference

between the length of the two horns. I found some difference in nearly every

pair of horns I secured. Somalis, I am told, ride down and spear oryx in the

rainy reason ; their grass-fed ponies have, I believe, no difficulty in overtaking

these antelopes. One day one of the Somalis with me pursued on a pony a herd

of oryx, one of which I had wounded and although the ground was stony and

the pony nota particularly good one, he soon managed to get up to and

ride alongside of the herd. The oryx are said to turn to bay at times

when thus: pursued, and I quite believe it, for on one occasion when 2 Somalis

with me ran up to cut the throat of an oryx which I had fired at and

Imocked down, the animal managed to spring to his feet and dash forwards

fora few yards at the two men—a proceeding which made them beat an

uncommonly hasty retreat. I had to put another bullet into this antelope

before the men could “ halal” him. I have recorded no measurements of the

height of oryx, but I consider him to be between 3 ft. 9 in. and 4 ft. at the

withers,

Like Waller’s gazelle and the oryx, Soemmering’s gazelle is also a desert

antelope, living far from water, and picking up in the dry season an apparently

precarious livelihood on stunted tufts of dried-up grass. I saw these antelopes

both in bush-covered country and on the vast open plain, which I have mentioned.

above as the place where I saw the large herd of oryx. Soemmering’s

gazelle generally go in herds, but I at times saw solitary bucks. The herds

contain, as a rule, about 20 members ; but on two or three occasions I saw much

larger numbers, a herd of probably not less than 70 animals being the largest

which I came across. This antelope is much easier to approach than any

other antelope in Somali Land, and, even when disturbed, will generally not

run far, but will allow one, time after time, to get within shot. Their behaviour

always reminded me strongly of Indian black buck. A herd will let you

approach to within, say, 200 yards, but will then begin to show signs of uneasi~

ness, gradually moving off, without, however, at once breaking into a gallop ;

if still followed, they will probably start away at a trot, but after going 200

or 800 yards, will again subside into a walk and go on grazing as if nothing

had occurred to alarm them. On one occasion ib was not until ] had fired 3

shots at a herd bagging 2 bucks that they made up their mind to go off

altogether. When galloping, they cover the ground at a tremendous pace,

but I never saw them indulge in the high bounds into the air which Indian

black buck are so fond of. The females have slightly annulated horns, of just

the same length as those of the males, but somewhat thinner; this fact

makes it sometimes very difficult to distinguish between the sexes, if the antelope

are standing at, say, 150 yards among bushes. The following are the

measurements of some of the best horns in my possession; I give the

92 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIII.

length, &c., of the does’, as well as of the bucks’ horns, for the sake of com-

parison :—

MIS Gl Mee i |) Tp ote ieee eames

Ga 13 163 33 3

Ei € 03 4

5 | 3 144 153 64 34

Wey 15h 173 3 53

8 j2 148 174 44 BE

43 4 162 4 5d

4 133 17 6 54

Of the above horns, the best pair (male No. 1) was picked up by me in the

jungle ; the rest I shot myself. The distance between the tips varies consider-

ably in different animals. In the case of one small buck which I shot, whose

horns were about 4 inches long, the tips actually overlapped each other. Not

only do the dimensions vary in different animals, but there is also a great

difference in shape. Out of seven pairs of bucks’ horns in my possession, the

tips of 4 point forwards and of 3 point backwards ; the does’ horns which I

have also point backwards.

There is some doubt as to whether Gaczella spehii (or naso) and Gazella

pelzelni are different species or not. There certainly appeared to me to be some

difference between the gazelle of the plain near Berbera and those of the high

plateau to the south ; all the gazelle which I saw on the plateau struck me as

having a dark stripe of brown, and sometimes almost black, hair along the side.

I do not remember ever seeing this stripe on the gazelle of the plain near

Berbera. Both the gazelle of the plain and those of the platean have loose skin

on the nose, but it is much more marked among the latter than among the

former. The first gazelle which I shot in Somali Land was about 15 miles from

Berbera. I looked for the loose pouch of skin on the nose said to be characteris-

tic of G. naso, and found that the skin was no doubt loose and could be pulled

up, but this characteristic was so very: slightly defined that I should not have

noticed it had I not looked for it. In the case of the next gazelle which I

shot, this time on the plateau, I at once caught sight of the pouch or flabby

loose skin which les wrinkled up on the top of the nose ; it was most marked.

I shot altogether 8 gazelles—4 on the plateau and 4 on the Berbera plain, and in

every case I noticed the above-mentioned differences ; besides the absence of the

dark stripe on its side, the skin of the gazelle of the maritime plain is, to my

mind, of distinctly lighter colour and more yellow than is the gazelle of the

plateau, the latter being much browner. Whether these differences are* suffici-

ent to justify a division of the animals into 2 different species is a question to be

decided by more learned naturalists than myself; as far as my experience

NOTES ON SPORT IN SOMALI LAND. 93

goes, there is no difference whatever between the horns of the 2 species. The

Somali gazelle closely resembles the Indian chinkara (@. bennett’) in behaviour

and general character ; it would be difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish

between the hours of the African and Indian species.

The larger kudu is not a desert antelope. He lives on steep hillsides, chiefly

among well-wooded ravines and in good shade. In character he always reminded

me of sambar, living in much the same style of country, and having the same

capacity of dashing at full speed through, what at first sight might appear, an

impenetrable thicket. He is seldom found very far from water, although he

does not drink daily. I believe that in South Africa these antelope can be

ridden down and killed off horse-back. This would be impossible in Somali Land

owing to the nature of the ground. The does have no horns and are of a pale

brown colour, the bucks being dark blue, very much like Indian nilgai in

colour. Both sexes have a ridge of hair along the spine and transverse white

stripes running down the sides. The stripes on the female are more numerous

than thoge on the male, but I cannot say exactly how many the females have.

The number of stripes on the males differs with different animals, I shot 2

males, one of which, a very old animal, had 7 stripes on each side, the other

having 6 stripes on one side and 5 on the other. The Somalis say that the number

of stripes diminishes with increasing years. This I do not believe. The old male

which I shot had lost large patches of hair all over his body and head, evidently

from old age ; but the remains of the 7 stripes on each side can easily be counted,

If any one of these had entirely disappeared, it would have been because all the

hair had gone, leaving the skin exposed to view, not because the hair had

changed colour. The number of white spots on the cheeks also varies in differ-

ent animals, some having 2, some 3 spots. ‘The Somalis say that young kudu

are born in April and May. ‘This is very likely correct, as I saw, at the end of

November, fawns which might have been 6 or 7 months old. The following are

the dimensions of the horns of the 2 larger kudu which I shot :—

Straight line from} Along the curve ray ti) a Circumference

base to tip. from base to tip. Pures round base.

3 5

1 362 A472 82 97

2 36 494 213 102

No. 1 was an older animal than No. 2 ; he measured 4 ft. 8 in. at the shoulder,

and 6 ft. 7 in. from the nose to the insertion of the tail,

The lesser kudu, like the larger kudu, is, I believe, seldom found far from

water, but, unlike him, does not live on hill-sides, He prefers dense milk bush

jungle and rough broken ground at the foot of the hills, He is not an easy animal

to shoot, owing to the thick cover in which he lives, enabling him at the first

sign of danger to put a bush or other shelter between himself and the sportsman,

§4 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

His beautiful marking makes him one of the most lovely of antelopes. The

females have no horns, and, as in the case of the larger kudu, are brown, whereas

the males are dark slate-colour. I shot 2 bucks, one having 9 white stripes on one

side and 10 on the other, the other having 13 on one side and 14 on the other,

These 2 antelope measured, respectively, 3 ft. 7 in. and 3 ft. 72 in. in height at

the shoulder. Lesser kudu seem extremely fond of aloes, a species of milk bush,

and a creeper with thick fleshy leaves. They are frequently seen in small herds.

The largest herd I saw consisted of 2 bucks and 5 does. The photograph which

T exhibit is that of a lesser kudu, wounded, but alive; it gives an idea of the

nature of the bushes among which he lives.

The klipspringer lives solely among the hills, and is generally found among

high boulders and rocks, His tiny little hoofs, which are very high, enable him

to secure a footing on what look like perfectly inaccessible rocky slopes, and the

manner in which he bounds from one boulder to another is astonishing. When

disturbed, he utters a loud hissing sound, which is at times apt to betray his

presence, for his brown colour blends wonderfully well with the rocks among

which he lives. The females have no horns, those of the males being short,

upright, and between 3 and 4 inches in length. The Somalis affect to despise the

flesh of this antelope ; to my taste, it is quite worth eating. Klipspringers are

seldom found alone. I always saw 2 or 3 together, and on one occasion saw 5

ina herd. The hair is most peculiar, being stiff and about an inch long, and

rather suggestive of a porcupine’s bristles on a small scale.

Of the warthog I can say very little, as I did not succeed in getting a boar.

I saw warthog on two occasions, and was at once struck by the almost total

absence of neck, the formidable-looking tusks, and the position of the tail, which

appears to be always carried pointed straight up in the air. ‘The colour of these

animals seemed to me to vary with the locality in which they were. Out on a

vast grass-covered plain, with little or no cover on it, these pigs looked quite

yellow, thus matching the dried-up grass ; in bush-covered land, with an under-

erowth of aloes, their colour was grey, like that of ordinary Indian pig. I shot

a sow, whose tusks looked quite as big as those of most boars in India. Very

little of the tusk is embedded in the gum, nearly the whole of it protruding.

The panther of Somali Land is exactly the same as the Indian animal, except

that the skin is somewhat paler in colour. ‘They appear to do a great deal of

damage among the sheep and goats of the Somalis, but, I believe, very seldom

kill ponies or donkeys. On two occasions a panther came close to my zeriba, but

he took no notice of the donkey which was tied outside. This particular panther,

which I afterwards shot, measured 4 ft. 1 in. from the nose to the insertion of

the tail, which was 2 ft. 8 in. long. An Indian panther, with a body 4 ft. 1 in.

in length, would have made short work of the donkey. I cannot help thinking

that the Somali panther is less powerful than his Indian brother. I shot three,

NOTES ON SPORT IN SOMALI LAND. 95

measuring, respectively, 4 ft. 1 in., 8 ft. 113 im., and 8 ft. 11 in., from nose to

the insertion of the tail (I leave out all mention of the measurement of the tails,

because the length of an animal’s tail has nothing whatever to do with his size

and strength). None of these were particularly small animals, but the fact that

they confine their attention to small animals, like sheep and goats, seems to show

that ponies and donkeys are too big for them.

The lion is, undoubtedly, the animal most in request among sportsmen in

Somali Land. Large numbers have been killed, and, before much longer, it will

be necessary to go very far inland for them. I did not see one until I had

travelled nearly 200 miles in one direction and another, and was about 100 miles

in a straight line from Berbera. ‘The lions depend very largely for food upon the

sheep, donkeys and camels belonging to the natives of the country ; they are,

consequently, generally to be found somewhere in the neighbourhood of the

Somali “ karias” or temporary settlements. They can be shot either by day, by

means of tracking and beating, or by night, the sportsman lying hidden in a

small thorn enclosure, with a live donkey or, better still, an animal that has been

recently killed by a lion, close by outside, and with a hole in the enclosure to

fire through. I never had a liking for night shooting, and though I tried it three

or four times in Somali Land, soon gave it up. All the sport I had with lions was

in the daytime. The country is mostly excellent for tracking, and, provided one

can find fresh tracks fairly early in the morning, there is every chance of, at all

events, seeing the animal before the evening. ‘The lions sometimes lie up during

the daytime in the cool shade of patches of long grass or of dense thickets of

bushes. When a lion is marked down in some such place as this, he can be

driven out by beaters or, if necessary, by means of fire. In the country in which

I was there were very few places to which one could point as being more likely

to hold a lion than others : the ground was covered with small bushes scattered

here and there, and a lon might lie up anywhere. The result was that, when

tracked up to, the lions, which were practically out in the open, constantly sprang

up before me and galloped off. They, however, never went far, and by dint of

constant tracking, it was generally possible to come up to them again and again

until by stalking and running forward a shot could be obtained. Such shots

are, however, apt to be fairly long. J found men mounted on ponies to be of

great assistance in this style of country. If the lion takes alarm and makes off,

the horsemen follow him and try to keep him in sight. By shouting they save

the trackers and sportsmen a great deal of trouble, as the latter merely have then

to follow the sound ; and if the country is at all open, the horsemen can generally

head the lion and either drive him back to the gun, or, what I found generally

to happen, the lon, finding that he cannot escape, lies down and lets you come

up and have a close shot at him. As compared with a tiger, I consider the lion

in no way physically inferior ; on the contrary, the lion’s hind-quarters appeared.

96 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

to me to be more in proportion to the rest of his body than is the case with the

tiger. ‘The difference between the pugs of a lion and those of a lioness is much

more marked than in the case of tigers ; that of the female is long and narrow,

that of the male is broader and more square. In the case of the tiger the same

rule applies, but it is, as far as my experience goes, much easier to be mistaken

as to the sex of the animals whose tracks one is looking at in India than in

Somali Land, All the lions I shot had a tuft of hair on the elbow. The mane

is disappointing, not being nearly so full as is seen on lions kept in zoological

gardens. A mane with hair 10 inches long, I should consider a very fine one.

At the end of the tail there is a tuft of black hair, If this were shaved off, a

small prickle of horny substance would be seen attached to the skin. This prickle

is less than 4 of an inch in length and is not sharp. The colour of lions varies

considerably ; most appear to be of a dark straw colour ; but some are occasion-

ally found very much darker, being in fact of a distinctly brownish-grey hue ;

the manes too vary in colour, some being pure yellow, others having a consider-

able quantity of brown or even black hair intermingled with the yellow ; the

brown and black hairs lie along the top of the shoulder-blades, and also stretch

downwards in front of the shoulder at right angles to this ridge.

I was fortunate enough to see a lioness kill an antelope in broad day-light, I had

tracked a lioness one afternoon till about 5 p.m., when the tracks went up on

to high-lying stony ground, such as I have already described, on which it was

impossible to follow them for a yard. I, however, walked on in the direction in

which they led, more with the idea of shooting anything that I might see than

with any thought of finding the lioness ; after going about half a mile over the

stones, I saw a herd of Soemmering’s gazelle, which I succeeded in getting

close to, firmg two shots at them ; the 2nd shot hit a buck lowdown on the

shoulder, knocking him over but not killing him ; the whole herd bolted, the

wounded animal struggling to his feet and limping slowly after the rest ; at this

moment a lioness, evidently the one I had been tracking, rushed out from behind

a small leafless bush about 30 yards from where I was and passing close by me

made for the wounded antelope, overtaking it. She rushed out from behind the

bush without uttering a scund and covered the ground at a great pace; although

she was not more than about 186 yards from me when she came up with the

antelope, it was not easy to see how she really killed it ; she seemed to rush right

over it and I saw her grip it with her jaws by the back of the neck, both

animals then sliding along the ground for some yards in a cloud of dust. I

next saw her shake the antelope violently, much as a terrier would do witha

rat and then lie down, apparently sucking the blood which poured from the

neck. Had I had the patience to wait a little longer I should no doubt have seen.

her either drag away the dead body or eat it on the spot, but I stopped all further

proceedings by firing and knocking her over. I afterwards examined the dead

NOTES ON SPORT IN SOMALI LAND. 97

body of the antelope ; the neck was not broken and the lioness had not used her

paws at all, the skin being free from claw marks ; life seemed to have been simply

shaken and crushed out of the antelope, and I do not wonder at it from the way

in which the lioness swung the bedy from side to side. It is curious that the

lioness apparently took no notice either of me or of the first shot which I fired ;

she must have been close by at the time and have heard the report, for the

2 shots were fired from almost exactly the same place and the interval of time

between them was certainly not more than a minute.

IT obtained two lion cubs from some Somalis who had found them in the

erass in the absence of their mother ; the men who found them said that their

eyes were not open when they first came across them ; I got them 3 days later,

their eyes being then open ; they were probably not more than a fortnight old

when they came into my possession ; they were at that time each about 20

inches long including the tail ; the hair of each cub was long and. fluffy, the

whole body was covered with black spots which were especially dense about the

head and along the top of the back ; the last 24 or 8 inches of the tail from the

end were marked by 2 or 3 black transversal stripes like a tiger’s, and there

were also 2 or 3 similar black bars across the back of the hind lees above the

hocks ; the cubs had no teeth whatever when I first got possession of them ; but

after a week the front teeth began to appear; I parted with the cubs abont

10 days later, 7. ¢., when they were about 4 or 5 weeks old; the front teeth

were then well forward, but there were as yet no signs of any but the small front

teeth ; the cubs grew about 3 inches in length during the 16 days they were

with me, besides increasing considerably in bulk and strength ; I fed them solely

on goat’s milk,

Of animals which I did not shoot, but saw, the largest was undoubtedly

the elephant. Not many years ago, elephants were fairly common in

the hills South of Berbera, but owing to having been constantly pursued

of late years by sportsmen, they have retreated far to the west ; those

I saw were about 160 miles south-west of Berbera; when I got close to

them, they turned out to be a cow and 8 young ones ; I accordingly left them

alone. I never came across a bull, not having sufficient time at my disposal to

stop long enough in the elephant country ; I saw the track of what I was told

was @ bull, in firm, damp sand ; the impression of the front feet was 18 inches

long by 14 inches wide, and of the hind feet 17 inches long by 11 or 12 inches

in width. The elephants appear to travel immense distances every night both to

and from water ; those I saw must have walked about 10 or 12 miles from the

water where they drank and from which I followed them, before I came up with

them ; it was then early in the afternoon and they showed no signs of stopping.

Considering the weight of an elephant, it is surprising how very trifling an im-

pression his feet leave on the ground ; on hard stony ground, there is practically

98 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIIt.

no imprint, the grass knocked away by his feet being practically the only indi-

cation of his having passed by ; on firm sandy soil the impression is clear but

not deep. ‘The elephants appear to feed largely on a particular kind of creeper

which is very common in Somali Land, and also on aloes, the broken pieces of

which lay strewn all along the path of those I followed. The country in which

I found these animals was hilly; the vegetation consisted of the usual low

thorny bushes and also of a high species of cactus to which I regret I am unable

to give a name; these cactus plants grow to a height of about 40 feet, the

branches shooting out from the trunk about 6 feet from the ground; they are

sometimes found in clumps covering several acres of ground ; their arching

branches afford dense shade, the gloom of which appears most popular with

the elephants, as I always found many signs of these animals having been

in such places ; the photograph, which I exhibit, gives some idea of what these

cactus groves are like, Somali ‘“ Midgans” (a low caste tribe of hunters) kill -

elephants with poisoned arrows.

Although I never shot a spotted hyena, I saw three and came on their tracks

almost every day ; they are most voracious animals and will eat almost anything ;

they do a considerable amount of damage among the Somali sheep and goats,

Somalis repeatedly assured me that 4 or 5 spotted hyenas would not hesitate to

make a joint attack on a lion and drive him off his prey, and that lons were

occasionally killed in such encounters ; this, if true, gives a high impression of

the hyznas’ strength and courage.

I twice saw wild donkeys but did not succeed in getting within 400 yards of

them on either occasion, Their colour struck me as being much lighter than

that of tame donkeys and in height they seemed to be higher; their action

when trotting gave them a very game-like appearance,

T one day saw an ostrich, but he was about a thousand yards away and I

could only make him out with the help of a telescope. The moment he saw me

he made off without giving me a chance. I saw 2 porcupines, exactly the same as

. the common Indian species ; a lynx which I saw was a young one, which a

Somali had caught ; he seemed to me to be just the same as the common species

in this country (Xelis caracal) ; the animal appears to be rare in Somali Land,

for the Somalis with me had no name for it. I noticed two kinds of foxes, one

with a black back and tail, the other quite brown; a jackal which I shot was very

handsomely marked with a broad black mark about 4 inches wide running down

the back from head to tail, the sides being yellowish-brown and the tail black.

I noticed two kinds of squirrels, one quite brown, which appears to live entirely

on the ground, bolting into holes when disturbed and apparently never taking to

* trees ; the other having a fringe of white hairs on either side of its tail ; a species

of field-rat with a long pointed snout about 2” or 23” lone was also common,

Hares, which are common, seem to be the same as in India,

(e2ae po.enposy 2 )

IGAMOND ‘pag Fey] (qxXoY). snucsrz4 srumong

AWANOEG S40 SLNYWkH SNONOSIOd SHL

“OPT UAlL SCutory*) © SOIT UALS TAYA/y i)2) ume fas DEEST

“Hae

OS IST FEN Guiog UuIMOP

4) 721g Peete Sa ©

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY.

Surczon-Masor K. R. Kintixer, LMS; F.LS.

PARE WV.

(With Plate G.)

(Contizued from Vol VII., page 493.)

CUCUMIS TRIGONUS.—(Aowl.).

(Natural Order—CucurRBITAcEs.)

A_A .

Maratui—KARIT. (@rr.)

The plant grows wild in the Konkan ; it is an annual, succulent,

scabrous creeper, trailing along the ground or over hedges for several

yards at a stretch.

Root.—Perennial ; trailing a good distance above ground some-

times, throwing out rootlets into the soil; reddish outside, green

inside ; juicy ; bitter.

Stum.—Succulent, quadrangular ; tendrils short, wavy, simple

lateral and formed of abortive stipules. Rarely bifurcated at apex.

Lzaves.—Alternate ; deeply palmately-lobed, cordate at base ;

lobes 5, rounded, repandly and sharply toothed ; margin crenulate ;

colour deep green. “ Lobes of leaves,” says Wight, “ very broadly ovate

and almost touching each other at their broadest part, sinus rounded.”

Roxburgh, however, states that the lobes are quite distinct, sinus

widening upward. These appear to me to be mere differences in

development due to local influences. PrrTioLEs } to 4 inch. The

size of leaves C. B. Clarke puts down as 1—2 inches in diameter

(Hooker’s Flora Br. Ind., Vol. II, p. 619), but I have seen the leayes

quite double that size if not more. Leaves and petioles “ scabrid, not

softly hairy, ” says Clarke, but the plant is both scabrous and covered

with soft hair throughout. The hair markedly white.

Fiowers.—Monecious, axillary, unisexual, peduncled.

Male flowers.—Crowded in axils of leayes, opening in succession,

1—14 inch in diameter.

Female flowers.—Solitary short-peduncled, 1—12 inch in diameter,

100 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

CaLyx of male and female flowers 5-toothed ; tubular-campanu-

late ; segments subulate, scarcely of the length of the tube ; calyx of

female flowers short.

Conorna of male and female flowers 5-parted ; petals entire,

scarcely united together or with the calyx ; those of the female flowers

being sessile besides. Nerves prominent from base to apex.

STamMENS,—5, triadelphous.

Finaments.— Inserted below the mouth of the calyx-tube.

ANTHERS.—LHxserted from the tube, free ; one, I-celled ; two,

2-celled ; cells conduplicate ; connective produced in a crest.

PIsTIL—

STYLE.—Short.

Stremas.—8, very thick, obtuse ; 2-lobed, velvety.

Ovary.—Inferior, adhering to the calyx-tube ; of 3 carpels,

densely hairy ; hair short, white, soft-silky. Placentas, 3 parietal.

Fruit.—A pepo ; fleshy internally, pale cream-coloured ; coriaceous

externally ; indehiscent ; oval, rounded at both ends or sometimes

flattened ; obtusely 3-angled, the depressions at the angles correspond-

ing to the union of the carpellary margins ; about 13" long, 1}" broad ;

often almost twice as large in Thana. The outer surface of the fruit

is not smooth as stated by Roxburgh, but tuberculate ; tubercles of

the size of asmall pin’s head; brown when old; irregularly scattered all

over the fruit, but principally over the mid-portion of it. Hach tubercle

is capped with a fine white soft hair. These tubercles are liable to be

detached by the gentlest touch as the fruit gets old; hence they are often

not observed when the older specimens of fruit are examined. But yet

their position can be distinctly noted on the epicarp by a depression

surrounded with raised circular yellow markings. The readiness with

which these tubercles get detached may possibly account for .

Roxburgh’s saying that the fruit is smooth. The epicarp is leathery,

zy inch thick ; striated ; strie 10, irregular, varying from light to

deep yellow colour. The fruit keeps for several months without shrink-

ing on account of its tough coriaceous exocarp or rind,

Srzp.—Sharp, ovate, compressed, not marginated, acute at hilum,

mostly smooth, enveloped in a juicy mucilaginous arillus of white colour.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 101

Number varying from 150—250. Hven a small fruit, one inch in

diameter all round, was found by me to contain as many as 120 seeds,

Tusta,—Coriaceous.

ALBUMEN.—None.

Eupryo.—Straight.

RapicLe.—Next to hilum.

CoryLepons.—Foliaceous, palmate-nerved.

REMARKS.

The synonyms of this plant have been variously given by

various Botanists. What principle they have followed it is difficult

to understand. In describing the Tribe Cucurbitee of the Natural

Order Cucurbitee—a tribe to which Wight and Arnott have consigned

the species we are now describing, viz., Cucumis trigonus, they very

rightly observe (vde their Prodromus Flora Ind., Vol. L, p. 841),

that the difficulties attendant upon the description of the species from

dried specimens are insurmountable. They admit, however, and very

rightly too, that they consider it ‘more prudent to follow Roxburgh

as closely as possible, as his opportunities of examining both seeds and

stamens must have been most ample,” as they really were, for his

descriptions appear asa general rule drawn up from fresh specimens—

a circumstance which must have given him greater facilities for

noticing the minuter details of the species he describes. The following

are the various synonyms of C. trigonus :—

_ C. madraspatanus Roxb. (Hooker’s Fl. Br. Ind., Vol. IL, p. 619).

(Wight and Arnott’s Prod. Flor. Ind., Vol. I, p. 342).

C. turbinatus, Roxb. (Hooker op. cit.)

C. melo, var. agrestis, Naud. (Hook. op. cit.)

C. pubescens., Willd. (Hook. op. cit.)

C. pseudo-colocynth, Royle. (Hook. op. cit.)

C. eriocarpus, Boiss. et Noé (Naudin Ann. des. Sc. Nat., 4 Series,

Vol. XI, pp. 1-87) ; (Hook. op. cit.)

Bryonia cullosa, Herb Rottler (Hook. op. cit.)

C. pyriformis, Roxb, (Naudin op. cit.)

C, villosus, Boiss, et Nog, (Naudin op. cit.)

102 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Why the plant is considered synonymous with C. madraspatanus

it is difficult to understand, especially as Roxburgh describes the latter

as a distinct plant, having the fruit no bigger than a partridge’s egg ;

whereas the size of the fruit of C. tragonus, Roxburgh puts down as

that of a pullet’s egg. Moreover the fruit of C. madraspatanus is

oval, downy, maculated, without any tendency to be three-sided.

The fruit of C. trzgonus, besides, is bitter and not edible, whereas that

of C. madraspatanus is said by Roxburgh to be much used in food by

the natives and much esteemed. The synonym C. pseudo-colocynth

appears to be used by Dalzell and Gibson on the authority of Royle,

The synonym C. pudescens (Willd.), as given by Clarke in Hooker’s

Flora of British India, is somewhat puzzling. Dalzell and Gibson

describe it in their Bombay Flora (p. 103) as a distinct species from

C. trigonus and add that it is cultivated in Sindh under the name of

“ Chiber”’ It is 1—1% inch long. This is “confusion worse con-

founded.” The fruit known as Chibid or Chiber, as Englishmen

would ordinarily pronounce it, is strictly speaking the genuine Cucu-

mis melo and is a much larger fruit than either Cucwmzs pubescens or

Cucumis trigonus. It is besides edible uncooked. It is seldom if

ever cooked. Again Dalzell and Gibson make C. madraspatanus and

C. turbinatus synonymous with C. pubescens, although Roxburgh

describes C. turbinatus as a distinct species with a turbinate fruit,

pyriform in shape, absolutely three-sided, with much larger flowers

than C. ¢rigonus. Note again another source of confusion, Dr, Lyon

ealls C. trigonus, Indrayan Bislumbhi, on the authority of the Phar-

macopeia of India, edited under the supervision of able Indian

Botanists. But Indrdyan is Citrullus colocynthis. In this I am

borne out by Dr. Dymock ; and Indrdéyan is a much more powerfully

drastic purgative, with a larger and much rounder fruit, of the size of

an ordinary orange or wood-apple. It may be noted, however, that

C. trigonus is occasionally used as a substitute for Colocynth to produce

purgation. To pass on to another writer;—Naudin most emphatically

says that C, trigonus is certainly the species which MM, Boissier and

Noé have described under the name of C. eriocarpus. Naudin adds

further that it will be necessary also to unite to this species the one

described by Baron Sir Ferdinand von Miieller under the name of

Cucurbita micrantha, an, Australian plant which is probably a species

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 103

of Cucumis and which appears to be analogous to the plant under

description (J. Mitra).

A still further confusion arises in the naming of the fruit known in

the Konkan as Takmak. Dr. Dymock calls it C. trigonus, var.

pubescens (vide Dr. Dymock’s Materia Medica of Western India,

2nd Hdition, p. 339). Dr. Dymock says Takmak is less bitter than

C. trigonus. As a matter of fact Takmak is not bitter at all, If any

thing, it is sweetish ; if not that, it is almost insipid. It is not there-

fore easy to find out why Takmak is considered to be a variety of

C. trigonus. The two plants appear to me to be quite distinct. Takmak

is edible and perfectly harmless. It is cooked asa vegetable. It can

be eaten even uncooked, though never much valued in any condition.

Wight and Arnott’s description of C. pubescens shows that the fruit of

it is no bigger than about 1 or 13 inch long ; whereas the fruit of

Takmak is often as large as a medium-sized pomelo or water-melon,

6 inches long and 9 inches sideways ; and it is glabrous, The fruit of

C. pubescens, on the other hand, as described by Willdenow, and

Wight and Arnott is oval and pubescent. It is doubtful therefore whether

Takmak could be called C. pubescens, or a variety of C. trigonus,

Kurz separates C. iregonus with soletary peduncles from C. pubes

cens with clustered peduncles and makes the latter a variety of Cucu~

mis melo, Linn, (vide Journal Asiatic Soc., 1877, Part II, page

103). I think Kurz is right in doing so. In every way Takmak is

more allied to C. melo than to C. trigonus. The only objection I

have to calling Takmak C. pubescens is that the size of C. pubescens

as described, namely, that of a partridge’s ege, is considerably smaller

than that of the smallest sized Yakmak. On the whole, it appears

necessary to write a fresh description of Takmak and rename it once

for all. The present name it has been given as a pubescent variety of

C. trigonus is morphologically inaccurate and unsatisfactory. The

plants marked by Indian Botanists as C. pubescens are said to have

been reduced to C. trigonus by Naudin in the Kew Herbarium.

It is here, I believe, that the initial source of inaccuracy lay. For

although that illustrious French Botanist can claim the credit of having

furnished us with an exhaustive monograph on the Cucurbitaceous

order, he has added to the confusion of synonyms in no small

degree,

104 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Voi.,VITI.

From the above remarks it will be amply apparent that there is a

considerable difficulty in confirming and finally establishing the syno-

nyms of C. trigonus, It seems to be absolutely necessary to remove

all this confusion by a fresh and exhaustive attempt at identifying the

plants and renaming them after a careful examination locally of every

species belonging to the Cucurbitaceous order. One thing must be

remembered particularly, with a view to obtain a thoroughly accurate

description. The Cucurbitaceous plants are extremely delicate, espe-

cially as regards their hairy appendages. They must therefere be

- examined én situ—in the places where they grow ; not certainly from

dried specimens, nor even from fresh specimens taken to a distance

and examined leisurely, perhaps long after the delicate hairs have

withered or fallen off, and thus destroyed the minuter distinguishing

marks so necessary for accurate identification.

As regards the root of C. trigonus Clarke (in Hooker’s Flora of

British India loc. cit.) remarks that from the perennial character of the

root of C. trigonus alone can it be distinguished from C. melo accord-

ing to Naudin, but, says Clarke, “the examples seen and cojlected in

India are almost invariably less than one year old.” (N. B.—The italics

are mine.—K. R. K.) Asa matter of fact, it is notso. I have seen

the plants growing wild in the jungles and hedges of Thana

and I have observed the same root throwing out fresh sprouts every —

rainy season for years together. The plant.dries up after the mon-

soons and the fruit may be gathered even in the hot weather follow

ing. The plant is so persistent that the fruit can be seen hanging on

the dry creeper even when every other part of the creeper withers

and dries up. The fact of the fruit remaining hanging fresh as ever

“even in the succeeding hot weather, is, I admit, no indication whatever

of the living condition of the root underground. But wait till the

next rainy season, and you will find a fresh plant from the old root,

from where the creeper of the former rainy season sprouted. The root

does not dry up, decay or die, even although the surrounding soil is

parched and cracked in the hot weather, with hardly any moisture

to nourish it. The perennial nature of the root, therefore, must be

considered undeniable, even under such adverse circumstances,

With regard to the flowering of C. trigonus Rheede observes (Hor-

tus Ind. Mal., Vol. VIUL, page 21) that the plant grows in jungles

THE POTSONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 105

around Cochen, flowering and fruiting throughout the year. I may

observe that in the Konkan, C. trzgonus flowers and fruits only in the

rains. It begins to dry up as soon as the cold weather sets in, and is

shrivelled and leafiess before the hot weather is on. The fruit, as I

have already said, remains hanging unshrivelled and’ unshrunken even

in the succeeding hot weather.

THE POISONOUS PROPERTIES,

Being a congener of Colocynth, one would naturally expect that

the juice of the bitter fruit of C. trigonus would be a purgative of

the irritant type, and so it is more or less. Dr. Lyon, however, states

in his Medical Jurisprudence (p. 199) that the plant possesses: another

poisonous property. He says that in 1883 a case was reported to the

Bombay Chemical Analyser’s office in which it was stated that this

plant had been administered for the purpose of procuring abortion.

In the Pharmacographia of India (Vol. IL., p.67) Dymock, Hooper,.

and Wardell note that they digested the dried fruit with 84 per cent, of

alcohol and concentrated the resulting tincture until most of the

alcohol had been expelled ; they then agitated the mixture with water

and petroleum ether. This solution, still containing some alcohol,

was heated on the water bath to get rid of the alcohol ; the remnant

then mixed with water and agitated with acetic ether containing

some acetic acid. This yielded a reddish brown extract, very bitter,

and partly soluble in boiling water. The insoluble residue was brittle

when cold and very bitter, and had the properties of a resin, which

would appear to correspond with the resin of Colocynth. The scientific

world owes a deep debt of gratitude to this trio of distinguished

pharmacologists for thus advancing our knowledge regarding the

active principles of Kdrit.

I need hardly enter here into a detailed description of the

poisonous properties of Colocynth. They are well known to every

student of the British Pharmacopecia. Suffice it to say that Colocynth

and its congeners are irritant drastic purgatives. These properties

were well known to the ancients, both Hastern and Western. I may

note, however, what has been observed by Dr. Schmeidberg of Strasberg

(wide Hlements of Pharmacology, Dixon. 1887, p. 109) with regard to

the relative therapeutic action of the crystalloids and colloids in Colo-

106 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIL.

eynth, and presumably in the allied species like Adrit, that crystalline.

soluble Colocynthin, when pure, does not, under all conditions, cause

diarrhoea ; hence it is apparent that the crystalline element needs the

presence of colloidal substances such as occur in Colocynth, for it to be

with certainty carried into the intestine to produce any irritant or

drastic effects. .

It will be perhaps easy to account for the abortifacient effects of

Kéarit if we remember how powerful irritants of the intestinal canal

and of the rectum especially affect the pelvic organs. Increased

peristalsis produced by intestinal irritants known as “ aperients”

means increased hyperzemia of the mucous membrane of the intestines.

This hypereemia extends to the neighbouring pelvic organs when

powerful irritants attack the lowermost part of the intestine. “ Thus in

gravid uterus,” says Schmeidberg, “‘contractions may be caused ending

in abortion and premature labour.” It has ever been held a golden

rule in pregnaney not to give acrid or powerful purgatives at any time

during pregnancy. ‘The abortifacient effect of Kdarit may be pre-

sumed, in the cases recorded, to be probably of a secondary nature,

although it is not so stated in the Bombay Chemical Analyser’s report,

there being no details of the case forthcoming in that report.

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE G.

1. Terminal branch of the plant with leaves, fruits, male and female

flowers, in the axils of leaves.

2. Section transversely through the middle of the fruit.

107

BOMBAY GRASSES.

By Dr, J. C. Laszoa, F.L.S.

PART VI.

(Continued from Vol. VIT., p. 390.)

HORDE.

Triticum, Linn,

T. vulgare, Linn.

Ver.—Gohun, Mar. and Hind.

Several varieties of this cereal are cultivated in this and in other presidencies, ~

These varieties are chiefly distinguished by the colour (white or red), hardness or

softness, translucency or opacity, the size of the grain, and by their being bearded

or unbearded. Generally speaking, wheat is grown in those parts of India

which are situated to the north of the river Tapti in Guzerat, Khandesh and

Deccan ; but rarely is it cultivated anywhere south of the Deccan. It is said

that the wheat cultivated on the high table-land of the Deccan and in Maha-

bleshwar has in a given bulk about + more weight than that raised on the plains.

Below the Ghats wheat does not grow, as the climate does not suit it.

For the benefit of those who have no access to the Atlas prepared by

Mr. E, C. Ozanne, Director, Iand Records and Agriculture, Bombay Presidency,

I copy here the following extract :—

“ Wheat.—A cognate species, Triticum speltum or spelt, is commercially and

agriculturally a variety of wheat. Bombay shows samples of almost every

variety in considerable areas, except the soft whites, which command high prices

in the English market. The hard wheats are prized on the Continent for

macaroni and some confections, Tull the English miller can make free use of

hard wheats, there is little prospect of increased exports of Bombay wheats to

England, though Bombay and Karachi will continue to export the soft wheats

of Sind and the Punjab and North-West Provinces. Experiment has clearly

proved that it is futile to attempt to grow soft wheats where the climate favours

the hard varieties, and as futile to substitute red for white or vice versa, for the

colour is due to soil and not to the action of the cultivator. As wheat is either

grown alone or with rows of safflower or strips and borderings of linseed, the

complaint of admixture of mustard and other impurities of this kind cannot

apply to Bombay. Safflower ripens after wheat, and linseed is easily separated

in the winnowing. The admixture of earth from the threshing floor can be

appreciably diminished if the higher price for clean wheat will pay the

cultivator to exercise more care ; but it cannot be eliminated till the practice of

pulling the crop is superseded by cutting it with a sickle or by machine.

108 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VITL.

The admixture of earth made by middlemen and merchants for the purposes

of trade will last till the speculative dealmgs of the Bombay wheat traders

are superseded by sales based, nob on sample for forward delivery, but on

the quality and condition of the wheat ag it reaches the home markets.

Even steam wheat threshing, which is being introduced, cannot under present

conditions produce a perfectly clean sample, for particles of earth of the

size and specific gravity of the wheat grain must remain, Still the percentage

of such impurities is greatly reduced, say, to under one per cent., while the

refraction allowed is 3 or 4 per cent. Steam threshing cheapens the preparation

for the market, sets free the plough cattle from a harmful process, and gives

the chance to the grower of a larger share of the profits, which now unneces-

sarily goes into the pockets of middlemen.”

In Bombay, as has been said, the wheats which are grown are not largely in

demand in England, and there is no prospect of a largely increased area. The

growth ef wheat is not as greatly influenced by the price as some suppose.

Wheat is a late sown crop, and its area depends on the area of suitable land left

available after cotton or the early cereals have been provided for. Where cotton

is an early crop, its area is made as large as the season will allow, and in other

places land fit for wheat is always sown with other crops when the early rainfall

gives prospect of their success. There are not extensive areas of land now

uncultivated fit for wheat cultivation, nor will the extension of railways in this

Presidency have as large an effect im encouraging the growth of wheat, aided by

brisk export demand, as some writers allege. ‘There is hope that the out-turn of

present areas will be increased, perhaps very greatly increased, by better culti-

vation and more liberal use of manure. But the manure must come from

outside in the shape of artificial manure, and the improvement in cultivation

must be first studied and then taught by experiment, without which no large

increase in yield can be expected.

The usual division into hard and soft white and hard and soft red applies to

the Bombay wheats. ‘The spelt variety is classed as a hard: red. It is import-

ant to specify clearly the areas in which each variety is successful.

Hard white is the dry crop wheat (hansia, &c.) of all Guzerat, except certain

parts of Ahmedabad ; and of the Deccan (wivla). It shares with hard red the

wheat tracts of Khandesh, while in that district hard white (ans?) is also

largely grown under canal, channel, and well irrigation. In the Deccan a very

fine variety of hard white (Jakshz) is grown in the elevated plateau of Parner

Taluka as a dry crop, and it is well known all over the Deccan and Bombay

Karnatak as the best irrigated variety, though its growth is circumscribed by

its great liability to rust; and in these provinces the result is, that spelt, which is

BOMBAY GRASSES. 109

practically rust-proof, is by far the most common of the irrigated wheats. The

dry-crop hard white hag everywhere an occasional and sometimes @ normal

tendency to become bellied (potha) or soft. In the finest wheat tracts of

Nasik and Ahmednagar the pivla wheat usually keeps its hardnegs and colour,

But with heavy rain in December the percentage of soft grains is very large,

and this tendency cannot by cultivation, care, or otherwise, be lessened. In

moister tracts, bordering on such localities as those named or elsewhere, the nor-

al condition of the hard white is a semi-softness, and the most characteristic

semi-soft white is the diud khdani, These names refer greatly to the consist-

ency and colour of the varieties, though their origin is presumed by some to be

the result of importation, which theory has little support.

Hard red wheat is the dry-crop wheat of the Bombay Karndtak, where dry

white wheat is unknown. The irrigated spelt common, as above shown, in the

Deccan and Karndtak is classed as a hard red. It has at times been in. extra-

ordinary demand on the Continent. It is a large cropper and a safe crop, but

these advantages are somewhat counterbalanced by the adherent glume which

necessitates pounding to separate it from the grain, as careful and severe as in

the case of rice. The hard red wheats of the Karnitak are the best of the

kind. Hard red is the largest grown dry variety in Khandesh and a large

crop in the south talukas of Ahmedabad in what is called the Bhal country (see

Ahmedabad Summary). Hard red is grown under irrigation in some parts of

Guzerat, practically the same as those which grow the soft red vajia to be

described, though perhaps the area of such hard red is larger than that of the

soft red and perhaps more extensive, penetrating further on all sides beyond the

limits of soft red. This variety~is not liked by millers, who assert that its

strength is diminished by irrigation.

Soft red is only largely grown in Ahmedabad and with lrigation. It is the

commonest irrigated wheat of that district and of parts of Broach and Kaira,

which are close to the southern talukas of Ahmedabad. It is called VA, U.0.,

garden wheat ; but it has been seen that the vajia is also an irrigated hard red.

Soft white is only grown in the Maval taluka of Poona. It may be occa-

Sionaily seen in parts of the Panch Mahals. Its area in Bombay is thus

exceedingly small, and it is not susceptible of increase. Soft white from the

Central Provinces and from Australia have been successfully grown on experi-

mental areas in Khandesh ; but though the out-turn after the second year is

very excellent, the change in consistency is enough to cause the merchant to

class it as a mixed hard and soft,

Wheat straw is a poor fodder, but it is in wheat tracts the chief food of the

cattle. As all the wheats of the Bombay Presidency out of Sind with which

110 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

province these crop notes do not deal are bearded wheats, and as the crop is

trodden out by cattle, the fodder must be broken very fine indeed to prevent the

awns sticking in the gullets of the cattle, ‘The bruising is well done by the

steam thresher, which largely separates the innutritious awns from the chaff.

Spelt straw is almost inedible by cattle.

Wheat is a rotation crop generally, but the red -dry wheat of the Bhal country

of Ahmedabad is always, andthe pivia of Nasik and Ahmednagar, is some-

times, grown continuously.

Wheat in this country is exceedingly liable to damage from weevil, especial-

ly if storage in Bombay is attempted. It is preserved with great skill in grain

pits, and it may be noticed that in Guzerat the preservation is improved by

throwing a handful of quicksilver into a large pit. Samples in airtight bottles

with quicksilver in very minute quantities can be kept sound for years. The

high specific eravity of the mercury makes separation very easy and complete.

As to the composition of wheat, the following extract is taken from Church’s

<“ Food Grains of India,” p. 93 :—

“The composition of wheat grain shows some variations, but they are

almost entirely limited to the relative proportions of starch and of nitrogenous

matters, although the mineral matters or ash, and indeed all the minor consti-

tuents of the grain, are, of course, not quite fixed in amount. Stillif a wet season

increases the percentage of ash, if a thin-skinned, well-developed sample contains

less fibre, and if a plump dark-coloured specimen has a larger proportion of

oil or fat, all such variations are quite unimportant in comparison with those

exhibited by the starch and albuminoids. The starch, always constituting as it

does something like two-thirds of the weight of the grain, does not show the

difference in go marked a manner as the albuminoids. If the latter amount to

18 to 20 per cent. instead of 13, the former constituent will not be reduced

(from 68) to less than 63 or 61 per cent.—a reduction which, in comparison

with the total amount present, is much less conspicuous than a rise from 13 to

20 in the nitrogenus compounds,”

Besides the general dryness of the grain of Indian wheat, which as imported

in bulk in this country and analyzed properly contains at least 2 per cent. less

moisture than average English wheat, the albuminoids are decidedly higher. I

have never yet met with an Indian wheat containing less than 10 per cent. of

albuminoids ; but a large number of samples of first rate English, Canadian and

Australian samples give numbers between 8 and 9. The average percentage of

albuminoids in the Indian examples yeb analyzed is about 13°5, but some

specimens haye been as low as 10°3 and some as high as 16°7.

BOMBAY GRASSES. 11

Much of the Indian wheat, whether white or red, has that translucent aspect

which generally indicates a high percentage of albuminoids.

In 1867 (“ Practice with Science,” i, pp. 101—111, 345—348) T pointed out

some of the chief relationships between the aspect, density, weight per bushel,

productiveness, and chemical composition of wheat grain, showing more parti-

cularly that the exclusion of small proportion of the lightest of the grains in a

seed corn tells very favourably upon the yield, and also that there is a very

intimate connection between the translucency or horny character of a grain and

a high percentage of aloumimoids, and, again, between the softness and opacity

of a grain and a high percentage of starch, Such differences in the composition

of wheat grain show themselves, not merely in different varieties of wheat, but

even in the same variety of wheat when it has been grown under different

conditions of climate or season. liven in the grains from a single ear similar

differences may be seen—analysis showing sometimes 3 or 4 per cent. more

albuminoids in some of such grains than in others. Often a single ear will be

partly horny and partly opaque and soft; in that case its composition will

correspond with its intermediate aspect. By examining the cut surface of a

grain which has been cut transversely with a sharp knife, a fair notion of its

richness or poverty in albuminoids may indeed be easily gained.

Average composition of Indian wheat—

In 100 parts. In 1 Ib.

Wraterincacacss Seucica senmasemenactse a lies). 2 0z. 0 gts.

Albuminoids ........- conoscencese BUS PAD eros OO) oe

SUBIRED — céooocasdas Sagsececonocsece ) (ste! LOG jt boa

Oi ea, Stato Oh ee Sal

JMG corenocee Acaecedacnecee morceo 9 PAR! On ESO a.

Wainy aati sitet ie Ba Get Sse) Ons arebt 9)

The nutrient ratio is here 1to 5:2 and nutrient value 84°6. It should be

added that the starch above-named contains a small quantity (about 2 per cent.)

of the sugar or sugars found in many cereals, but this may be regarded as nob

appreciably lowering the nutrient value of the 68°4 parts set down as “ starch.”

The ash of wheat, though not large in amount, is of great importance as a

source of mineral nutrient when this grain is used as human food, about 30

per cent, of it being potash and 45 per cent. phosphoric acid,

There is no record of this useful cereal having been found in a wild state.

It has been cultivated everywhere time out of mind. There are authors,

however, who think that it is the result of the cultivation of a Species of

yylops, which is now admitted to be a section of Triticum. Tb is stated by

Bentham and Hooker (Genera Plantarum, 1204) that iy, ylops is represented

112 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

by a few species, “ quarum 203 facile formas hibridas gignunt cum 7iticis

cultis eb a nonnullis pro typis primordiabilis Triticoram habentur.”

Some people in Poona confound with wheat grass a species of Andropogon

common in the Deccan named Andropogon triticeus, R. Br. (Heteropogon

insignis, Thw.). In external form of inflorescence they slightly resemble each

other.

OrRoPETIUM, T77in.

O. thomeium, Trin., Tund. 98; Kunth Suppl. T. 38, fig. V; Dalz. and

Gibs., Bomb., Flor. 800; Rattbeilia Thomai, Willd. Sp. I. 466 ; Roxb. Cor.

Pl, 133,

Culms many together, erect, one inch high. ligula small, membranous.

Leaves numerous, bifarious, subulate. Spike one inch long, terminal, solitary,

cylindrical, subulate. Spikelets one-flowered, hermaphrodite, sessile, imbricate

and immersed alternately like those of Rottbellia and Ophiurus in the excava-

tions of the rachis. Two outer glumes empty, the first or the lowest linear,

membranous ; the second boat-shaped, acute ; the third or the flowering glume

membranous, hyaline, shorter than the empty glumes.

This curious diminutive grass is confined to India, and said to grow on old

walls, My specimens are from Sind, where it is stated to be not uncommon.

It grows also in open ground in the plains of the Punjab ; also in Rajputana, in

Agra and Etawa.

Nothing is known about its uses. It is too small to be of any value as fodder.

Horprum, Linn. Gen.

AZ, vulgare, Linn, Beau. Agr. T. 21, Fig. I.

AT, hexastichon, Roxb, Fl. Ind. I., 358.

Ver.—Satiu, Jaw, Yaw, Jove, Godthi (Mar. and Hindi, Bombay), Jab,

Bengal (Watt.), Juba (Roxb.), Chak, Jawa, Shotak, Soa, Yangma Wo, Barley.

It is cultivated in various parts of the Presidency in Guzerat, Ahmedabad,

Kaira, and in the Deccan ; in the latter country chiefly as an offering to

gods, and in the north of Guzerat is used as food. It makes much better broth

than that made with pearl barley. The authors of the “Bombay Flora” state

that the brewing of beer from malted barley has keen tried in Meahableshwar,

Poona, and Karachi, but uniformly without success, the mean temperature being

too high during fermentation. Mr. Meakin prepares beer in Dapory, but it is

not ascertained whether the barley used was malted in this country.

There are two varieties cultivated in India, one the two-rowed (Z. distichon),

and the other the six-rowed (ZH. hexastichon). The latter is much cultivated in

Northern India and in most of the temperate parts of Hindustan during the

cold season, either alone or mixed with wheat, gram, linseed, mustard, &c.

BOMBAY GRASSES. 113

The following information is kindly furnished from the Office of the Director,

Land Records and Agriculture, Bombay Presidency :—

** In the Bombay Presidency barley is not a principal cereal. In 1889-90 the

total area under barley cultivation was only 35,800

ACRES ° A 0

Cit Ae ee 19,697 BCTeS, or about 0°3 per ein of whe total area,

I cee eee 6,558 ‘The details are shown in the margin. In the

Panch Mahals ........0+. 1,364 Presidency proper the principal barley cultivation

Ahmednagar ....ccccecee BBG p F 5

en ne Segoe . 1,174 38 seen in Ahmedabad and Kaira, where, owing to

Sholapores.<.pcscacssarais: 1,364 the fact that it is nob subject to the wheat blight, it

Satalaliessswarsceeasatvesces 5,245 thre a c Pal es 7

ace ee woes 8 favourite rain crop in the Gorat o light brown

Hyderabad ssessscccsecoee 5,935 tracts. It is generally an after-crop in garden rich

ShiKArpUr...ceccsrersereree 3,003 lands, or in soils too sandy and open for wheat,

We Ss Hirontiere.-ccdssnese 194

It is always irrigated and manured, The grain is

less appreciated than wheat, and the straw, which is

considered more nourishing than wheat straw, is chopped and given to cattle

with the husk. It is less important in the Deccan, where it is used chiefly in

the preparation of a ready-cooked food called Sdtuche pith, The grain is

parched, then ground and mixed with a small proportion of gram and wheat

flour, and flavoured with spices. The grain is also used in certain religious

ceremonies. The two-rowed naked barley (4. gymnodistichon) from the.

North-West Provinces and Oudh is being experimentally cultivated on the

Bhadgaon Farm with fair success.”

As to the composition, I copy here the following from Church’s “ Food

Grains of India” :—

“ Barley is sown and cultivated in the same way as wheat, but needs fewer

ploughings. It is often grown with wheat or pulse.

Composition of barley (husked)—

Thar and Parkar ..... 475

In 100 parts. In 1 Ib.

Water... noenironriarcagancopooos | ae Py Way 0) ash

AO WITONIOONGIS Gonchoree coomoonouoeD ILS 1 SO Siers

NHaRCHMakeenimeapetatcccctssrsetewosie, a0 UG are aM ites

Batiatesescncsncceiaesr esas Neucccwscas re rete Olle

Biioteleacdecuescecscssnsccsicsestesecs | 1200 Oar Lome.

JANSIOL sogbsorqaccascobod Metaslonscns Sipe Oe tae

The nutrient ratio is here 1 to 6°3, and the nutrient value 84:5.

The above analysis of a roughly-cleaned or husked sample of Indian barley

shows that it contains a higher percentage of albuminoids than average

European barleys. ‘This fact is confirmed by the examination of other Indian

samples, At the same time it must be recollected that it is inferior to Indian

wheat in this particular, just ag the hundreds of analyses which have now been

114 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII. .

made of European barley show that it likewise gives a lower average percentage

of albuminoids than European wheat. When barley is completely cleaned or

pearled, it loses a very large proportion of its albuminoids, so that European

pearl barley (barley yields but 38 per cent. of pearl barley) does not usually

show more than six or seven per cent. of albuminoids. The “ pearl dust” and

“fine dust’ separated in its preparation, and amounting together to 40

per cent. of the original grain, are, however, much richer, containing 12 or 14

per cent. of albuminoids. Indian pearl barley would, however, in all pro-

bability contain as much as ten per cent.

Barley, as it is prepared for human food in India, is generally considered to

be rather difficult of digestion. It is grown and eaten throughout the whole of

the Patna Division. With wheat it forms an important staple diet in the

Benares and surrounding divisions, The grain is usually cleaned by pounding

in wooden mortars and winnowings. ‘The grain is treated in one or other of

the following ways :—

(1) Ground into coarse meal and made into chapatti, either alone or

with wheat meal. In Tirhut a mixture is used of barley one part

and Indian corn three parts.

(2) Parched and ground into coarse flour called Stéttu; this is stirred up

with sufficient water to make a thick paste, to this a little salt is

added, and the preparation is eaten with garlic, onions or chillies,

This mixture, gencrally admixed with flour of gram or other seeds

or grains, forms the chief food of the larger part of the peasantry

of Shahabad. .

Barley alone, or even in admixtures, is generally thought to be rather difficult

of digestion, at least in the form in which the grain is prepared for food in

India. Barley mixed with horse gram forms an excellent food for horses, and

is known as “ adour.”

From an observation made in a preceding paragraph, it will have been

remarked. how very closely the pearl barley prepared in Europe approaches rice

in its nutrient ratio. The Indian cleaned barley is, as we have seen, much

richer in albuminoids. This arises from two causes, one of which is the

higher percentage of nitrogen naturally present in the average whole barley

grain as grown in India ; the other is the imperfect way in which the Indian

“barley is cleaned previous to use as food. Some room there is evidently for

improvements in the mode of carrying out the cleaning or pearling operation,

A recently invented Dutch process might be used. It produces a pearled grain

of larger size than that obtained by the usual operation. The pearled grain

attains a higher percentage ; its shape is nob spherical, but much resembles

BOMBAY GRASSES. 115

that of the whole grain, and it is richer than the ordinary sort in oil, mineral

matters and albuminoids.

‘ BAMBUSEA,

This tribe is represented in this Presidency by five or six species, I have

received flowering specimens of only three. Of the remaining my knowledge is

derived from books,

Bampusa, Schreber.

B. arundinacea, Retz., Roxb. Cor. Pl. t. 79 ; Fl. Ind. Il. 191; Dalz, and

Gibs., Bomb. Fl., 299 ; Bed. Fl. Sylv. t. 321.

Ver.—Vansa, Bans, Mandgay (Bombay), Man Venduru (Telugu).

Stem tall, up to 30 to 80 ft. high, green, shining densely cespitose in clumps

of 30 to 100, hollow-jointed, with numerous spinescent branches, Cavity small,

walls thick, Thorns double or triple, at the root of the branches ; when triple,

the middle one the largest ; all strong, sharp and sometimes curved (rarely absent).

Leaves sheathing, 2 to 8 in. long, 3 to 1 inch broad, short petioled lanceolate,

broader at the base, rounded at the apex, generally glabrous, the upper surface

and margins backwardly hispid, sometimes scattered short hairs on the under

surface. Sheaths coriaceous, 12 in. long, somewhat downy, with scattered

hairs on each side of the mouth. Spathe deciduous, 1 to 1% feet long, glaucous

inside, and terminating in a long point. Flowers appear at long intervals,

probably at the age of 30 years. During inflorescence, the stem with a few

scattered leaves ; the whole covered with numerous half-verticelled spikes ; each

verticel composed. of several sessile, glabrous, 6 to 12 flowered spikelets ; fertile

flowers 3 to 10 in each spikelet. Empty glumes 2 to 4; flowering glumes

3 to 10, the upper generally sterile or staminiferous, all thickened and mucronate,

glabrous, sometimes shorter than the palea, not ciliate at the edges. Palea often

longer ; edges fimbriate. Scales two, hyaline, fimbriate, Stamens 6, free at the

base ; anthers with an obtuse glabrous point. Ovary glabrous ; style slightly

enlarged at the base, soon deeply divided in 2 to 3 long plumose branches,

Caryopsis linear oblong, 4 inch long, enclosed in the flowering glume and palea,

This bamboo occurs in Belgaum, Khandeish, Dangs, at Sironcha on the

Godavery, Malabar and Canara; abundant throughout the Madras Presidency,

up to the elevation of 3,000 ft; at the base of the Satpura range ; Jubbulpore,

Bengal, and cultivated in the sub-Himalayan tract in the Punjab and elsewhere,

The culm which attains a height of 60 to 80 ft., or higher along the coast,

and a diameter of 6 to 8 in., is by far the most important of several species. It

supphes poles and rafters for building purposes, scaffolding, ladders, fencing,

trellis-work, fishing rods, window and door blinds, and in the manufacture of

chairs, sofas, baskets and winnowing fans, &c. The rhizome and young shoots

are made into preserves, pickles, and cooked with spices is made into relishing

dishes. Mr. Lettridge says that this and other species are capable of being

employed in the manufacture of paper. Long immersion of bamboos in water,

116 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

or, better still, in salt water, for 8 to 4 days, or in a solution of sulphate of iron

or lime water renders them more durable. Salt water is said to make them proof

against attacks of insects (Bostrichi and their larvee). i

This bamboo and several other species flower in about 30 to 52 years ; the culti-

vated, I believe, at shorter periods. When such an occurrence takes place, the

whole tract, extending over many miles, is in full flower. It sometimes happens,

however, that a few bamboos of a cluster flower in each year, when the flowermg

goes on every succeeding year with the other bamboos of the cluster. Both in

this species and in others the flowering is followed by the death of the stems,

so that, after seasons of general flowering, a whole district presents for some time

the spectacle of a large forest of dried up clumps (Bedd.). The product of the

flowering of the bamboos is a fruit called by the Indians rice or seed, which is

consumed by the poorer classes in lieu of common rice or other grain,

A very palatable bread is said to be made of the flour of the bamboo seed,

although its colour is somewhat dark. Diarrhoea and dysentery and even

fever are caused by the use of this diet. Indians believe that fever is severer

in those years in which the general flowering takes place. In the scarcity

of 1812 in Orissa, of 1864 in Kanara, and of 1866 in Malda, this rice formed

the principal article of food of the poor population of those districts ; hence,

perhaps, the belief entertained by some Government officials that the bamboo

only flowers in seasons of general scarcity. General Munro says that the rice of

B. arundinacea furnished in 1864 food for 50,000 persons in Kanara. In the

hollow of this and of some other bamboos there is a silicious substance named

Tabashir. This is at first in a rather liquid state, but in time becomes solid,

Tt is employed by the hakeems in the treatment of paralytical affections and as

a stimulant and aphrodisiac. The ashes of all bamboos are rich in silica,

Composition of bamboo grain (husked)—

In 100 parts, Tn Ib.

Water (tence spswocaaooadsccnagenaonna Ji) 1 oz. 332 qrs.

/ANTSVWATIITOY ES) Gag concdacuscoocseondoon LIES Il. Bets)

Starch PCertsseees Godden sGe0eeose0sg200 13°7 11 99 346 99

OU eee career tacks eclesaeeeceewe 06 (0) 99 42 99

ION ORS Gogadnobeansdedh diepeciiosiocsansse tr nkts O19 ae

Ash eocoe # peerceeocces @evcce Gee C008 Oe 12 0 9 64 9

The nutrient ratio is here 1 to 6°4, and the nutrient value 87. The food value

of bamboo grain, after the removal of the husk, is high ; its defects are due

to the low proportion of oil and of mineral matter. Of course, it cannot be

looked upon as a staple cereal, but as an occasional substitute for a deficient

rice or millet crop it has several times proved most serviceable, ‘The grain

of other kinds of bamboo is, in all probability, similar in composition to

that of B. arundinacea.

The bamboo described under the name of B. spinosa by Roxb. FI.

Ind, 11; Munro. Monograph 104; Bedd. Fi. Syly. 231, appears to be a

BOMBAY GRASSES. 117

variety of the last species, and differs from it in more solid culm, the triple

thorns, the central larger and often compound, and almost always present

throughout the whole plant, very strong and sharp ; leaves generally smaller,

often hairy on the lower surface ; a paler-coloured and more striated flower, panicle

smaller and more coriaceous spikelets and with fewer flowers. It is not men-

tioned in Dalz. and Gibs. Bombay Flora, nor in Graham’s Catalogue of Bombay

Plants.

B. vulgaris, Wendl., Munro, Monogr. Bomb. 106 ; Dalz. and Gibs. Bomb,

Fl, 299 ; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. Manual 233 ; Brand. Forest Fl. 568; B. thouarsii,

Kunt. I. 356 ; B. arundinacea, Aiton.

Ver.—Kulluk, or Bambu (Bomb.) ; Una gass (Ceylon).

Culm 29 to 50 ft. high, unarmed, green, yellow or mottled green and yellow ;

joints 4 to 6 in, diameter ; walls of the hollow stem thin, Branches green, striated

or sulcated. Sheaths hirsute above with dark hairs, Leaves thin, linear-

lanceolate, acute, 6 to 10 in, long, # to 13 in. broad, Flowering branches often

leaf bearing. Spikelets sessile, oblong-lanceolate, laterally subcompressed, 4 to 1 in,

long, glabrous, 4 to 12 flowered, distichous, appearing as bifid, fasciculate or on

long paniculate spikes. Empty glumes 2 ; flowering glumes ovate-lanceolate,

narrow at the base, mucronate and ciliate at the apex ; fimbriate keels of palea

appear at the top of the flowering glume. Lodicules transparent, thin. Anthers

with short hairs at the apex. Style long, filiform, hirsute, divided at the end

into 2 or 38 stigmas,

This species grows in Ceylon, where it is known as Una, Indian Archipelago,

tropical America, and the West Indies (Brandis, For. FI.), Cultivated in the

Western Deccan, Poona, Satara, Kholapore, Silhet, Cachar, Chittagong, and in

the Eastern Punjab, Those who go to Mahableshwar through the Satara Road

must have seen it planted along its margins,

For remarks on the uses of this species see notes appended to the description

of B. arundinacia.

B. arundo, Kiem, Nees, Linn. IX, 471; Stend. Synop. Pl. Gramin Ef.

329 ; Dalz. and Gibs. Bomb. FI, 299.

Culm thorny ; mouths of the sheaths naked ; leaves (floral) orate-lanceolate,

6 to 7 in. long, 4 to 5 lines broad, rounded at the base, shortly-petioled, smooth ;

spike terminal, ample, leafy, the branches spreading, simple or compound ;

spikelets an inch long, erect, approximated in threes, upper ones alternate, 6 to 8

flowered ; culm 8 to 9 ft. high. Native name ‘“ Chiwaree,” Onthe Ghats, Of

this walking sticks are sold at Mahableshwar.”

I have not seen this flower,

Oxytenanthera Stochsit, Munro, Monog. 130,

Mr. Beddome has copied from Munro the following description, see p. 233:—

“ Culms slender ; internodes 4 to 7 in. long, glabrous ; the nodes with few

branchlets ; leaves linear, lanceolate ; imneronato acute at the apex ; cordate

118 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VILI.

rotundate at the base, or attenuated into a flat petiole, 3 to 4 in. long by 4 to 6 lines

broad, hirsute or glabrous above, hirsute beneath ; primary veins 4 to 5 on each side,

inconspicuous ; sheath striated, often pubescent when young, glabrous in age ;

mouth fimbriate, inflorescence as in No, 1; verticels sometimes 14 inches in

- diameter, very dense, almost echinate ; spikelets about 6 lines long ; sterile, very

acute, glabrous, 4 to 5 flowered, the 2 lower florets unipaleaceous, shining on the

back, mucronate at the apex ; the 2 next bipaleaceous and fertile, the upper one

very short or obsolete, the lower palea membranaceous ; striato nervose subulate,

with a long spine at the apex ; margin glabrous ; the upper palea in the fourth

flower convex obtuse, in the third bicarinate obtuse, the keels fimbriate.

Stamens 6 monadelphous shortly mucronate or nearly obtuse or apiculate with

1 to 2 greenish hairs, Style 2 to 3 cleft at the apex ; ovary (young) hirsute at

the apex.’—Junro. Monogr., p. 180.

Konkan Ghats. I have not seen this ; its leaves are said to be exactly like

those of Dendrocalamus strictus ; it is distinguished from the last by the short

points to the anthers and its striated membranous lower palea.

I have received an imperfect flowering branch of a bamboo cultivated in

Cumpta. It approaches in part to O. monostygma of Beddome.

Dendrocalamus strictus. Nees, Munro. Monogt. Bom. 147; Bedd. Fl.

Sylv. t. 325; Brand. For. Fl. 569; Bambusa stricta, Roxb. Fl, Ind., U,

198; Dalz. and Gibs. Bomb, Fl. 299.

Ver.—Bas, Bans (North India), Bas, Udha (Dalz and Gibs.).

Culms straight, up to 30 to 40 ft. high, nearly solid, or with a very narrow

cavity, variously bent; branches often leafless, numerous, rigid or flexuose,

horizontal or spreading in all directions. Sheaths at the base of the branches

striated, coriaceous, very smooth and shining inside, 8 to 10 in, long, terminat-

ing into a long apex. Leaves shortly-petioled, lanceolate distichous, hairy

above and below, rounded at the base, variable in size, generally 3 to 9 in., ¢ to 1

inch broad. Spikelets spinescent, 3 to 9 lines long, in dense globular heads.

1 to 4 inch in diameter, arranged in long interrupted spikes. Empty glumes 2 to 6,

flowering glumes 2 to 3, acute or with a spimescent point. Palea of lower flower

sometimes 2-keeled. Keels ciliate of upper flower convex, glabrous. Stamens

6. Ovary stipitate hairy. Style long hirsute. Stigma plumose, entire.

Caryopsis ovoid 3 to 4 lines long, ovate, narrowed into the hairy style.

Indigenous and cultivated everywhere in this Presidency, common also in

Madras, up to 3,500 ft. in Bengal, Burma and Punjab. Absent from Sind.

In Ceylon it is found only in a cultivated form,

The three most important species are B. arundinacea, B. vulgaris, and Denr-

drocalamus strictus. The latter attains, as already stated, 20-40 ft., sometimes

in good soil 100 ft. All this growth is attained within a year, The stem dies

after flowering and ripening its seed. I have seen it in flower during the

months of December and January. Its stem is solid and elastic, and is used for

BOMBAY GRASSES. 119

making spear handles, baskets, roofing, and for all the purposes for which

SB, arundinacea is used, " y

CONCLUSION.—In these Papers I have described all the species of erasses

received from Guzerat, Deccan, Thana, Bassein, Dharwar and North Kanara,

No specimens were sent from Sawuntwary, Rutnagherry, Malvan, and from

Sind, A few which have been enumerated in my papers as belonging to the

latter “place were supplied tome by Mr, Woodrow, Professor of Botany and

Agriculture of the Poona College of Science. I have reasons to believe that

the lists from Guzerat and from other localities explored by me are far from

being complete. I have received lately specimens of —

Oplismenus undalitifolius, Roem et Schult. Syst.11,482; Trin, Sp. Gram. 6. 196,

Polytoca, Sp. Nova, from the Konkan, hitherto undescribed,

Pennisetum chenchroides, Rich in Pers. Syst.; Nees in Linnei VII, 277;

Kunth, Enumi, 162,

Trichelena tenerife, Libth. Fl. Greec. t. 53 (Saccharum) ; Trin. Sp. Gram.

t. 317. From Sind, given by Mr. Woodrow,

Latipes senegalensis, Kunth Gram. t, 42: Lapago viflora, Roxb. Fi.

Tnd. I, 281; Dalz. and Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 295. From Sind (by Mr. Woodrow),

In Mr, Graham’s Catalogue of the Bombay Plants, Domus is given as a locality

where this grass is found to grow.

Even in their present state, my papers must be considered as a useful con-

tribution to the Bombay Agristology, and will, I hope, be acceptable ag a euide

to those who may wish to enter into this field of study, which is not as yet

exhausted.

Persons who have never considered the subject are not aware of the diffi-

culties one has to encounter in an undertaking of this kind. I had to work,

as stated elsewhere, under great disadvantages ; but I went on with patience and

cheerfulness, because the work I had undertaken was a labour of love,

I reiterate here my heartfelt thanks to the Government of Bombay for their

Resolution recommending the Forest Officers to supply me with grasses of their

respective districts to assist me in my studies, and also to the officers themselves

for having willingly complied with the recommendation, of Government. My

thanks are also due to Mr, Campbell, Collector of Customs, for having first

drawn my attention to, and urging me as it were to undertake, this study of

Bombay Grasses, the description of which was incomplete and imperfect,

Before I finish this, I must mention that at the end of the description of the

species I have given, as far as possible, their uses as fodder oTasses,

120 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

“THE LOCUSTS OF BENGAL, MADRAS, ASSAM, AND BOMBAY.

By E. C. Cores.

(With one plate.)

A report has recently been issued on the subject of Acridiwm peregrinum,

which is par excellence the locust of North-Western India.t In gathering to-

gether the materials upon which this report was based, information was

obtained concerning other locusts which have from time to time proved

destructive in Bengal, Madras, Assam, and Bombay. The present report,

therefore, is intended to record what has been ascertained about these other

locusts. To complete the subject, ashort réswmé has been added of what is

known of the chief locusts that are found in other parts of the world.

The principal sources of information have been the reports and specimens

furnished by the Revenue and Agricultural Department of the Government of

India, and by the Agricultural Sections of the various Local Governments in

India, but reference has also been made to the more important papers published

in the United States, Algeria, and Europe, on the subject of locusts.

A short preliminary sketch of a portion of this paper was submitted in

November, 1889, since which date a good deal of fresh information has

accumulated.

The writer takes this opportunity to acknowledge the help which has been

most kindly afforded by Dr. Henri de Saussure in identifying species.

Locusts IN BENGAL,

In Bengal, it is chiefly in the comparatively dry country to the west that

locusts appear, though occasionally flights traverse the whole of Bengal and

even penetrate into Assam, These flights are composed of insects belonging

to different species, and there are at least three distinct sources from which

they come. In the first place, flights of Acridium peregrinum occasionally

penetrate from the North-West frontier into Bengal. This was the case both

in 1863 and 1890. An account of what is known of these flights is given in

the report on Acridium peregrinum. Secondly, flights occasionally penetrate

into Bengal from the highlands of Southern India, and in these cases they

probably belong to some of the various species which occasionally prove

destructive to crops in the Madras and Bombay Presidencies and in the

Central Provincest. This was probably the case with the flights of 1877 and

1878, notices of which are given below. ‘Thirdly, flights are believed occa-

* Reprinted from Indian Museum Notes with the permission of the Trustees.

f See Journal, Bombay Natural History Society, Vol. VI, page 242.

1 The chief of these species are said to be Acridiwm succinctum, Pachytylus cinerascens,

Acridium eruginosum, Acridium melanocorne, Tryxalis turrita, Hieroglyphus Surcifer ,

Caloptenus erubescens,; Caloptenus eruginosus, Cyrtacanthacris ranacea, Oxya furcifera, Eu-

prepocnemis bramina, Oxya velox, and Chrotogonus sp.

ynal, Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., Vol. VII}.

ACR DIUM eS UC CIN PUM INN,

ulrabotty. dal.

LOCUSTS OF BENGAL, MADRAS, ASSAM, & BOMBAY. 19%

sionally to arise locally?. This is probably what happened in 1881, when a

flight invaded the Manbhum District from hills in Hazaribagh. No informa-

tion has yet been obtained on the subject of the identity of these local

species ; they may, perhaps, in some cases have belonged to the species

Acridium suecinetum.

Whatever the origin of the flights, the injury done by them in Bengal has

never been very extensive, and no special measures have been adopted against

them. According to a report, dated 14th July, 1883, by Mr. W. H. Grimley,

low-class Mahomedans and Hindoos are said to store the locust, both for food

and also in order to extract an oil believed to be useful in the treatment of

gout and rheumatism, but upon the whole the pest is of no very great im-

portance.

The following is an abstract of the records of the invasions of locusts

other than Aeridiun peregrinum in Bengal :—-

In 1862 locusts visited Monghyr and did considerable damage to the crops

(Report, dated 26th June, 1890, by the Commissioner of Bhagulpore and the

Santhal Parganas). We have no clue to the identity of this locust, except that

in this, as in the following instances, the year was not one in which Acridium

peregrinum was prevalent in its regular breeding grounds in North-Western

India ; so it is pretty certain that the species was not Acridiwm peregrinum.

In 1865 locusts passed over Manbhum, without, however, doing serious

damage to the harvest (Hunter’s Gazetteer); they also appeared in this year in

Durbhunga (Mr. W. H. Grimley’s Report, dated 14th July, 1883).

In 1873 they are said to have passed over part of the Burdwan District

(Commissioner of Burdwan’s Report, dated 28th April, 1890), In 1877 they

visited Monghyr and did considerable damage to the crops (Commissioner of

Bhagulpore and the Santhal Parganas’ Report, dated 26th June, 1890); a

flight was also observed in this year in the neighbourhood of Patna (Mr. Scott’s

Note), and a specimen obtained from it on 1st July, 1877, by Mr. Scott has

recently been identified by Dr. Henri de Saussure as closely allied to the

Species Acridium succinctum. In 1878 locusts, which had probably strayed

from the flights then prevalent in the Madras Presidency, appeared in the

Patkour subdivision of the Santhal Parganas from the south, but did not

alight (Commissioner of Bhagulpore and the Santhal Parganas’ Report, dated

25th June, 1890). They also appoared in small numbers in Orissa, but did no

appreciable damage (Babu C. N. Ghose’s Report, dated 20th February, 1890),

and passed over Chumparan (Mr, W. H. Grimley’s Report, dated 14th July,

1883). In 1881 a flight of local origin appeared in Manbhum and did some

2 With regard to the origin of locusts in the Durbhunga District, the Commissioner of

Patna reported (16th July, 1890) that the swarms were said to come from the Darjeeling

Hills, though some authorities were of opinion that they breed in the large tract of grass

jungles that fringe the river Ganges, The supposed inability of these local species to cross

any large body of wateris noticed in this report.

122 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

slight injury. The following is an extract from a report, dated 14th July, 1883,

by Mr. W. H. Grimley on the subject :—

“The subdivisional officer of Gobindpore, in the district of Manbhum, reports that,

ic June, 1881, a swarm of locusts visited the subdivision, extending over an area about

ten by five miles, and about a quarter of a mile high. They are said to have emerged

partly from the Lagoo Pahar, and partly from the Faresnath hill,in the Hazaribagh

District. Considerable numbers alighted on the young dhan seedlings, Indian-corn and

gondlee, which has just sprouted, and destroyed them. Much damage is said to have

been caused by the insects, but they did not stay for more than four or five hours.”

The insects were “ about four inches long with heads and wings of a red colour. A

large number were destroyed by the people, and some were eaten up by the kites and

crows, also by low--caste aborigines, They are said to possess the favour of shrimps oF

lobsters.” :

Locusts In Mapras.

Both in 1889 and 1890 flights of Acridium peregrinum from North-Western

India penetrated into the Madras. Presidency, and did slight damage over

considerable areas ; generally speaking, however, the locusts, which occasionally

prove destructive to crops in Madras, are of more local origin. There does

not appear to be any one species -which is invariably complamed of, but in

years of drought numerous species, which are ordinarily present in smali

numbers, multiply so as to injure the crops, some of them, however, being

much more destructive than others. An account of what bas been ascertained

about the flights of Acridiwm peregrinum, which penetrated into the Madras

Presidency in 1889 and 1890, has been given in the report on that species.

The following is a summary of what is known of the other species of locusts

that have proved injurious in the Madras Presidency :—

In 1866, a: year of scarcity, locusts appeared in one of the villages of

the Chingleput District, in the Madras Presidency, and did some damage

(Mr, W. R. Robertson’s Report, dated 23rd April, 1883). No information

has been obtained as to the identity of this insect.

~ In 1878, the last year of the great South Indian famine, locusts imvaded the

whole of the Madras Presidency, not generally doing a great amount of injury,

though in some cases the injury was sufficient seriously to increase the distress

caused by the famine. The young locusts began to appear in January, and

were found in great numbers in different districts from that date on till

September and October, the earlier swarms being found in the west and south

of the Presidency, and the latter ones in the north and east. The winged

locusts were first observed in the end of March and beginning of April in the

south-west (Wynaad and Nilgiris), and they afterwards spread over the

Presidency to the east and north, not finally disappearing in the north-east

until about November and December. They were supposed, at the time,

to have originated locally in hills and waste lands in different parts of the

Presidency. The evidence, however, seems rather to point to the locusts

LOCUSTS OF BENGAL, MADRAS, ASSAM, & BOMBAY. 193

having started, in the early part of the year, from the Wynaad and Nilgiri

Hills, in the scuth-west, and thence to have werked their way, with the

prevailing wind, over the Presidency to the north and east, occasionally stop-

ping to feed or to deposit their eggs in the ground ; for it is otherwise difficult

to account for the fact of their appearing so much earlier in the south-west

than in the north-east. Little is known of the life-history of the insects, but

it may be noticed that locusts were observed pairing in the Salem District in

the latter part of June, and also that the young locusts, which were found in

the early part of May in the Udamalpet taluq, were supposed to be the off-

spring of the large flights of winged locusts which had appeared in the pre-

_ ceding February in the same talug. The connection between the autumn

broods of young locusts and those which appeared in the early part of the

year has not been made out satisfactorily.

Of the measures adopted against these locusts, the most successful seem to

have been :—the destruction of the swarms of young wingless locusts by

driving them into lines of burning straw ; the preventing of the flights of winged

locusts from settling in the fields by lighting fires, beating drums, and waving

branches and cloths in the air, as soon as a flight appeared ; and the driving

ef the winged locusts out of the fields, when they had already alighted, by

beating through the crops. itis said thatin cases where winged flights were

driven persistently through a number of villages, without being allowed to

settle, the locusts perished without doing injury. The above account of the

Madras locust invasion of 1878 is chiefly taken from the official reports pre-

served in the Proceedings of the Revenue and Agricultural Department of the

Government of India. With regard to the identity of the insects concerned

in the Madras locust invasion of 1878, nothing seems to have been ascertained

at the time of the invasion, though the insects were spoken of in one of the

reports as belonging to the species Locusta migratoria. This, however, may

pessibly have been due to the fact that the locust of Central Europe is often

referred to in old entomology books under this antiquated name; much

importance, therefore, cannot be attached to the indentification, and the only

clue which we possess lies in the specimens preserved in the collections of the

Central Museum, Madras, From this museum a set of specimens, which are

supposed to represent the Madras locust of 1878, have been kindly furnished

by Mr. Edgar Thurston, They have been identified by Dr. Henri de Saussure

and prove to comprise no less than six very distinct species, which are as

follows: (1) Acridiwm wruginosum, Burm., represented by five or six

specimens which vary a good deal in the arrangement of the wing markings,

(2) Acridium melanocorne, Serv., var., (3) Tryxalis turrita, Linn., (4) Meco-

poda sp., (5) Euprepocnemis sp., represented in each case by one or at most

two specimens, (6) a specimen, ina very poor state of preservation, which

belongs either to the species Puchytylus mégratorius or to Pachytylus

cinerascens.

124 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

In July, 1890, locusts were noticed in the Ganjam collectorate, the following

being the Collector’s report to the Revenue Board, Madras, on the subject :—

“1 have the honour to inform you that on the 24th instant I visited Purushottapur in

order to see whether anything could be done to destroy the locusts reported to be doing

s0 much mischief there.

“ T had two large ‘bag nets’ made of bamboo matting, 15 feet long, and hoped that

I might have been able to do something with them ; but am sorry to say that all

attempts ended in failure. I also attempted to drive the insects into trenches, but

without success. The reason for the failure is, that the insects, which are of four or

five different kinds, succeed in evading the net or the drive, the large ones by flying

away when approached, the smaller ones by dropping to the ground and clinging

there, so that nothing would remove them which would not at the same time root out

altogether the crop. The number of large brown insects which seem to be really

locusts is comparatively small, the great bulk are small brown and green grass-hoppers,

which are in myriads. A great deal of damage has undoubtedly been done. The pest

extends over about 10 square miles, chiefly in the Pubbakhandam mutah of the Berham-

pore taluk, Of one hundred and four villages (including Agraharams and Mokhasas)

in the mutah, fifty-five are more or less affected and ten have suffered seriously.

“ All the villages most affected are near the Dalibhillo Tampara, the embankment of

which breached in the floods of last year and has not yet been repaired, in consequence

of which a large expanse of ground, usually under water, has been lying dry. The

ryots report that the insects first made their appearance in the vicinity of the Tam-

para, and 1 think it probable that they were brought out in unusual quantities owing

to the unusual extent of dry ground there. Steps are being taken now to repair the

embankment, and I trust that next year the Tampara will not afford so convenient a

breeding ground, and that the insects will either not re-appear or do so in diminished

numbers.”

Specimens were forwarded to the Indian Museum and were found to con-

sist of (1) ten adults and eight larve of Pachytylus cinerascens*, (2) four

1 These specimens were identified by Dr. Henri de Saussure ; the species is so closely allied

to Pachytylus migratorius, which is the common migratory locust of Central Europe, that it

is very doubtful as to whether the two forms are separable. Koppen indeed (vide Zool

Record, 1872, page 398) considers that P. cinerascens is only a variety of P. migratorius, and

the specimens of the two forms in the Indian Museum (as determined by Henri de Saus-

sure) seem to point to this being the case. According to the synopsis given on page 119 of

Dr. Saussure’s Prodromus Gidipodiorum, in P. cinerascens the male is smaller than the female,

the punctation on the pronotum is somewhat coarse, the notch in the carina is well marked,

and the teeth on the posterior femora are large ; while in P. migratorius the male is much

the same size as the female, and the punctation on the pronotum, the notch on the carina, and

the teeth on the posterior femora are less marked. To these characteristics Mons. Frey

Gessner adds that the carina on the thorax of P. cinerascens is elevated into a well-marked

ridge, while that of P. migratorius is much less distinct. These characteristics, however, seem

in the absence of any well-marked geographical boundary between the areas in which the

two forms occur, to be of scarcely sufficient importance to justify their separation into two

species, this being especially the case, as Dr. Saussure writes, that the females of the two

forms are often almost indistinguishable.

LOCUSTS OF BENGAL, MADRAS, ASSAM, & BOMBAY. 195

specimens of T’rywalis turrita, Linn., (3) one specimen of Oxya velox, Burm.,

(4) one specimen of a species which is probably Epacromia dorsalis, Thumb, ,

(5) one larvee of a grass-hopper probably belonging to the genus Qidalus, Of

these the immature specimens are probably the “small brown and green

grass-hoppers,” alluded to by the Collector as present in myriads, while the

full-grown specimens of Pachytylus cinerascens are likely to have been the

“locusts” mentioned as present in comparatively small numbers, Now,

Pachytylus cinerascens is one of the chief migratory locusts of Europe, where

it sometimes does a great deal of damage. The insect is essentially an

inhabitant of the temperate zone, and this would make it appear probable

that its permanent breeding-ground lies somewhere in the Nilgiri or other

hills, whence it might easily be carried upon the south-west monsoon across

the Presidency. The presence of nearly full-grown larve shows that the

original flight must have remained in the district sufficiently long to have

laid their eggs, and for the eggs to have hatched, and for the larve to have

passed through most of the early stages, a process which probably occupied

some months, In the Palearctic zone P. cinerascens ig said to lay its eggs in

the autumn, the young hatching out in the following summer, but we are ag

yet entirely in the dark as to the habits which the insect acquires when it

passes out of a temperate climate into a tropical one.

Locusts 1n Assam,

Assam is not generally troubled by locusts, though in the cold weather of

1890-81 a stray flight of Acridium peregrinum from North-Western India

penetrated into it, In 1879 also both the autumn and winter crops in Now-

gong were reported by the Director of Agriculture to have been largely

destroyed by locusts, which were said to have come from the tall grass jungle

at the base of the Khasi and Mikir Hills, where they breed permanently.

Nothing is known of the identity of this locust, though it may possibly have

been the insect Phymateus miliaris, which was sent to the Indian Museum in

September, 1890, by General Collett, with the information that it was common

in the neighbourhood of Shillong. The following is taken from a report,

dated 15th February, 1883, by the Director of Agricultural in Assam :-—

“TI spent three weeks marching in the N owgong District, and visited most of the

district, except the hill tracts, The Kakotiphoring, or Paper grass-hopper, as the

locust is called, is very well known. It is said to attain a length of six to seven inches,

It breeds in the tall reed and grass jungle, especially in the jungle at tle foot of the

hills along the south of the district (the Khasia and Mikir Hills). Theitime of the

appearance of the insect is in the early spring, and it continues to feed till July.

“Local visitations of locusts are common enough, I found it generally stated that

they took place every two or three years, But one general invasion was well remem-

bered everywhere; the date was 1879 : it began early and ended late, soas to include

both mustard and rice in the area of devastation. The mustard ripens in January.

“The direction in which the locust swarms moved was somewhat different in

126 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

different places. Near the Khasia and Mikir Hills they seemed to come from the

south, i.¢., from the submontane jungle, In the Chapari Mahals, between the Kalang

and Brahmaputra, the direction of their course was eastwards. They seem to have

moved with great recularity from west to east along this tract, a distance of some 50

miles. The ryots, moved perhaps by rumours of the Afghan War, which had penetrat-

ed thus far, told one another that they came from Cabul. Their numbers were such

that the reeds and grass of the jungle were bowed.down by their weight when they

alighted, and they made a clean sweep of all the fields in their way. The Mikirs and

Lalungs eat locusts after parching them in the fire. Locusts can commonly be had

in the month of Bohag (April-May). The only remedy adopted against locusts is one

which the people appear to have invented for themselves. They sprinkle the

threatened crops with water in which salt has been dissolved, and in which onions

have been steeped. This remedy is said to have been effectual in 1879, after

some time probably the locust would have moved on in any case.”

Locusts IN THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY, EXCLUDING SIND.

In the autumn of 1890 flights of Acridium peregrinum from North-Western

ae India penerated into the Bombay Deccan and Kon-

kan, and did slight damage over considerable areas.

An account of these flights has been given in the report on Acridium peregri-

num, and we are now chiefly concerned with the locusts which invaded the

Presidency in 1882-83, though it should also be noticed that, according to

Hunter’s Gazetteer, locusts appeared in 1878 in Kolaba and damaged the cold

weather crops of 1878-79, nothing further, however, being recorded about

them. :

In 1882-83 locusts proved destructive throughout the whole of the Bombay

Deccan and Konkan, and though the identity of the insects concerned was not

altogether definitely ascertained, the history of the invasion was very com-

pletely recorded in numerous official reports. The sections, therefore, on the

history of the invasion and on the remedies adopted have been taken, much

of them verbatim, from the reports of the Bombay Government by Mr. J.

Nugent, as recorded in the Records of the Revenue and Agricultural Depart-

ment of the Government of India. ‘The section on the life-history of the

insect is from a report by Mr. Hatch, as reprinted in the Indian Forester,

Volume X.

In May and June, 1882, locusts were noticed in the south-west of the Presi-

dency (Dharwar and Kanara Collectorates), but they

pane history of the inva- ottracted little attention, as such swarms are annual

visitors of the JXanarese forests, and neither in

Kanara nor in Dharwar did they cause any material injury. With the setting

in of the south-west monsoon, however, they spread in flights over the Presi-

dency, to the north and north-east (Satara, Poona, Nasik, Ahmednagar, and

Khandesh), and early in the rains proceeded to lay their eggs and die. These

eggs hatched in the end of July, or beginning of August, and the young locusts

LOCUSTS OF BENGA L, MADRAS, ASSAM, & BOMBAY. 127

did a large amount of damage, over a wide area, through the months of

August and September. In the early part of October, with the setting in of

the north-east monsoon, the young locust, which had by this time acquired

wings, took flight and travelled with the prevailing wind in a south-westerly

direction, doing some injury in the Poona Collectorate as they passed. They

then struck the Western Ghats and spread slowly over the Konkan in Novem-

ber, and thence travelled into the Native State of Sawantwari and the Kanara

district, Durmg the remainder of the cold season and the hot weather (De-

cember, 1882, to the end of May, 1883) the flights clung to the line of the Ghats

occasionally venturing inland into Belgaum, Dharwar, the Kolhapur State, and

Satara, and devouring the spring crops in the coast districts, but ordinarily

returning to the vicinity of the hill ranges. With the commencement of the

south-west monsoon, however, in the latter part of May, 1883, the flights began

to move in a north-easterly direction, as they had done the preceding year,

but in larger numbers,

At the commencement of the rains they began to alight in vast numbers

over an immense tract of country comprising the six Deccan collectorates of

Sholapur, Poona, Khandesh, Ahmednagar, Satara, and Nasik, and also in the

three coast collectorates of Ratnagiri, Kolaba, and Thana. They deposited

their eggs and died, and early in August the young locusts hatched out in

countless numbers, but were apparently more backward and possessed of less

strength and stamina than were those of the preceding year. The unusually

heavy rainfall killed vast numbers of these in different parts of the country,

and elsewhere the insects seemed stunted and feeble, and grew but slowly.

They were destroyed in vast numbers by the vigorous measures initiated by the

officials, and were also said to be diseased and attacked by mites and nematode

parasites. As late as November, the mass of the young locusts appeared unable

to fly and made no general movement to the south-west, as they had done the

year before. The invasion was, in fact, at an-end, and though (according

to Hunter’s Gazetteer) swarms appeared in Sawantwari in 1883-84, no further

injury of a serious nature seems to have occurred,

The injury occasioned to the rain crops by the locusts was very considerable

over a great portion of the Deccan and Konkan both in 1882 and 1883. But

though some relief works were started, especially in the coast district, it was

found, at the end of the invasion, that the abundance of the cold weather

crops had compensated to so great an extent for the injury occasioned to the

rain crop, that no wide-spread injury had been occasioned.

he lifehictocwm Oe the Mr. Hatch describes the life-history of the locast,

locust. as observed in the Konkan, as follows! :—

“In the Konkan locusts coupled in great numbers between the 15th May and the

15th June, 1883, and died off naturally immediately after the eges had been deposited.

The eggs are deposited mostly in flat and gently sloping land of soft friable soil, rocky

* From his report, as reprinted in the Indian Forester, Vol. X, p. 425,

128 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

and sandy soil being avoided, and land which has been ploughed up, and the lee side

of banks, where the soil has accumulated, are mostly selected. The eggs are piled in

a small cylindrical hoie, parallel to its sides, and are attached to one another by

some cohesive siccable substance. Filling the mouth of the hole is a plug, consisting

of a soft fibrous substance, and below it the eggs, arranged as described, averaging 70

in each hole, The holes are from 1°5 to 2 inches in depth, and in a good locality four

might be found inaspan. They are not easily visible, but when one is found, others

are generally near it. Brushing off the loose dust and digging here and there faci-

litates search.

“The eggs themselves are of a dirty ochre colour, in length *2 to -8, and in diameter

*05 to 08 of an inch, rounded in section, with a slight curve, and tapering very

slightly towards the rounded ends. . . When fresh, the contents of the eggs are of

a dirty orange colour, liquid but slightly viscous, with a somewhat acrid taste. The

envelope apparently consists of two layers, the outer one coloured and tough, and the

inner one white and fragile. When broken, the eggs give off an odour like a broken

toot. As the eggs approach maturity, they assume a distinctly greenish hue, and the

young locust bursts the shell down the middle on issuing into life. I experimented

on some eggs by placing them in damp and very damp soil, but the water did not

affect the hatching.

“The young locusts appeared in myriads in my district (Chiplun taluka) between

Ist and 20th Auecust, so that the period the eggs required to hatch was a little more

than two months, say seventy days.

“ The young locusts vary somewhat in colour, most being a dullish light green, some

light green, but hardly verdant, and a few almost white and only tinged with green.

A few minutes after hatching they are strong enough to jump .. . . The

antennee are darksome and short, whilst on the thigh-cases small black spots, and on

the upper side of the abdomen a faint black line, are just visible. ;

“ The young locusts generally cast their slough for the first time about 15 days

after birth, and in their new skin the black line and spots become darker and the green

colour of a deeper hue. They now leave the grass land and seek the shelter of the

crops, and are in length -8 of an inch.

“© After another interval of 15 days they again cast their slough and enter on the

third stage. In this the black line becomes very intense, as also do the spots, which

lengthen and form the so-called ‘ Koranic verses —they do show a certain similitude to

some letters of the Arabic alphabet. They arenow 1-2 of aninch in length.

“They enter the 4th stage by casting their slough after another 15 days, ard

assume, including the antenne, a yellow colour, which, towards the end of the stage,

becomes pinkish-grey. The black line and the ‘ Koranic verses ’ are now very intense

in colour, and the insect attains the length of 1-6 of an inch.

“ A creat transformation is witnessed on entry into the 5th stage after 15 more

days. The female is now two inches long, whilst the male is somewhat less. The

colour of the head, prothorax, and abdomen is a grey or drab, speckled on the prothorax,

and darker along the upper side of the abdomen. The ringed antennz are deep

yellow, the eyes chestnut and striated, whilst for the first time appears an oblong

mark under each eye, indigo-green in colour, and bordered on each side by yellow.

The Arabic letters have now disappeared, whilst the spots on the thigh-cases are

LOCUSTS OF BENGAL, MADRAS, ASSAM, € BOMBAY. 129

obsolescent. The young wings, too, now first appear. At first very small, they grow

during the period of this stage—20 days. The contents of the wing-sprouts are at

first liquid, and the young wings may be seen forming within the semi-transparency.

When they are fully formed, the insect is of a dark brownish-grey colour, whilst on

the prothorax and elsewhere may be distinguished the colouring of the next stage.

“Tn its 6th and perfect stage the insect presents a brilliant appearance. The female

is now 8 inches, and the male 25 inches, in whole length, from head to tips of wings

which overlap the abdomen by °5 of an inch, and are rounded. On casting the slough

the wings dry and unfold, and the body of the insect, at first soft and moist, gradually

hardens in the sun. The antenne are °8 inch in length, and of a bright yellow colour ;

the head is a brownish-yellow, and the eyes, finely striated, are of a deep chestnut.

The prothorax is alternately banded with a bright yellow and a rich brown, parallel-

wise to the body, and the legs are of an ochreish hue. Along the upper rim of the

femur runs a deep brown stripe, and the knee-caps are of the same colour. The tibia,

tarsus, and foot are a bright ochre, and the first is armed with 8 black-tipped spurs on

the outside and 11 on the inside, while there area pair of spurs on each side of the

ankle-joint and on each side of the foot. The outer wings, or wing cases, have the

colours on the prothorax extended to them, and on the back they form a flat

surface, tapering to the extremity. They are strongly veined and finely reticulated,

and towards the extremities are irregularly brown marked. The inner wings, which

are expansive, are hardly coloured. The abdomen is a light brown, darker along the

ridge, and in the female there are four spiky processes at its extremity, the upper pair

curling up and the lower pair downwards. In the male the lower pair is replaced by

one spiky process, larger and stronger.

“The locust now packs with its kindred, and they form the swarms which ravage

the country. After a month or so they assume a red tinge, which gradually deepens

and continues until their death, which takes place after the sexual function has been

performed in May or June. The proportion of males to females appeared to me about

1in6.

“ The whole life of the insect, including the egg-period, is exactly one year.”

Various methods were employed in the Bombay Presidency in 1882-83 to

destroy the locusts, which were to a large extent kept

under by the energetic measures taken against them.

The Cyprus screen system! was found utterly inapplicable and had to be

abandoned. ‘The search for eggs also was not found successful as a means of

Remedclies.

1 The Cyprus screen system consists in erecting a long line of screens, each two to three

feet high, in front of an advancing swarm of young wingless locusts, pits being dug at inter-

vals, close to the screens and at right angles to them, on the side towards the advancing

swarm, the object being that the young locusts, on arriving at the screens, may turn to the

right and left, and thus pour into the pits, where they can be destroyed. The chief adyan-

tage of the screen system is, that it enables a series of pits, dug at intervals, to take the place

of the continuous trench that would otherwise be necessary to catch the whole of a swarm.

The material hitherto chiefly used for the screens has been cloth bound along the top with a

strip of slippery oil-cloth, about four inches wide, to prevent the locusts climbing over, but

smooth mat screens are likely to be cheaper for use in many parts of India. The pits are

usually furnished with overhanging zinc edges to preyent the locusts escaping.

130 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VILL.

destroying the pest. A plan was tried of marching lines of beaters, armed

with bundles of twigs, through the fields, beating the ground so as to crush

the young locust. This was to some extent successful in short grass, but could

not be made use of with growing crops. The plan of dragging country blankets

rapidly over a field where locusts were to be found, and squeezing up the cloth

every few yards to kill the insects which had been caught, was found useful

in bushy tracts, but required, for its successful working, a good deal of activity

and intelligence. The most successful method consisted in dragging over the

fields a capacious bag, five or six feet deep by eight or ten feet long and much

like a huge bolster case, but open at the side, instead of at theend. This was

held by two men, one at each end, and was run along over the grass or young

crops, to catch the locusts, which tumbled in, and, being unable to escape

could, from time to time, be killed by twisting up the bag. This was found

to be asimple and easy means of destroying the locusts, and the people took

to it readily all over the locust-affected area. Little or no injury was done to

the crops by the men working it, and millions of insects were killed.

With regard to the numbers destroyed during the locust invasion, the

Collector of Nasik reported the destruction in his collectorate alone of some

forty-five tons of locusts, which he estimated must have represented about a

thousand millions of individual locusts. Similarly in the Satara collectorate one

hundred and eighty tons were reported to have been destroyed by the local

officials. 'The numbers destroyed in these two collectorates were no doubt

greater than in most of the collectorates which suffered from the locusts, but

the figures give some idea of the extent of the invasion.

With regard to the identity of the locust of 1882-83, Dr. Macdonald in his

report in the Indian Forester, Vol. X, advanced the

supposition that the insect was Acridium peregrinum,

and this name was adopted in most of the official reports which subsequently

appeared. There seems, however, to be conclusive proof that the insect

belonged to some other species. In the reports, both of Lieutenant-Colonel

Swinhoe and of Lieutenant-Colonel Bradford, the locust of Rajputana, which

is undoubtedly Acridiwm peregrinum, is spoken of as distinct from the Bombay

locust of 1882-83. <Acridium peregrinum has been shown to be essentially the

inhabitant of sandy deserts, while the Bombay locust of 1882-83 originated in

the tropical forests of the Western Ghats. The habits also of the Bombay

locust of 1882-83 differed materially from those of Acridiwm peregrinum, in that

the young wingless larve of Acridium peregrinum can be readily driven into

traps, while those of the Bombay species entirely declined to be destroyed

in this manner. Again, specimens said to be “ locust’? were sent from the

Bombay Presidency in 1883 to the well-known entomologist Mr. F. Moore,

who identified them as belonging to no less than five species, namely :—Acri-

dium succinctum, Caloptenus erubescens, Caloptenus caliginosus, Cyrtacanthacres

ranacea, and Oxya furcifera; Acridium peregrinum being unrepresented—a

The identity of the locust.

LOCUSTS OF BENGAL, MADRAS, ASSAM, & BOMBAY. 131

circumstance which is not likely to have occurred if this had been the species

which was at that time swarming over the Presidency. Again at a meeting

of the Entomological Society of London, held on the 4th of April, 1883,

Mr. W. F. Kirby, of the British Museum, exhibited specimens of a locust which

he identified as Acridiwm succinctum, and which he had received from Mr. T.

Davidson, who stated that it was the species which had lately been destructive

in the Deccan and other parts of India. In the absence, therefore, of actual

specimens, which do not seem to have been preserved, it may be concluded

as most probable that while numerous species of Acrididw may have been

present in great numbers in the Bombay Presidency in 1882-83, the insect

chiefly responsible for the injury to the crops was Acridiwm succinctum, which,

therefore, would be the one spoken of by most of the observers who, from

their reporis, seem to have noticed but one kind of insect.

LOCUSTS IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD.

Many species of Orthoptera occasionally increase vastly in numbers, so as to

cause serious injury to agricultural crops; and there

are, in different parts of the world, certain species,

which are known distinctively as Locusts, and which possess this habit to a

remarkable degree, often migrating in swarms which devour the crops over

wide areas of country. Migratory locusts usually breed permanently in tracts

where the vegetation is sparse. In years when they increase excessively, they

descend in flights from their permanent breeding-grounds, upon cultivated

districts, where they destroy the crops, lay their eggs, and maintain themselves

fora limited period, but are unable to establish themselves permanently,

usually disappearing in the year following the invasion, to be succeeded, after

an interval of years, by fresh swarms from the permanent breeding-ground.

Generally speaking, the life circle of a locust extends through one year, in

which period it passes through its various stages of egg, young wingless larva,

active pupa, and winged adult which lays the eggs that areto produce the next

generation, the only recorded exception being Acridium peregrinum, which is

believed to pass through two generations in the year in India.

The eggs are laid in little agglutinated masses in holes which the female

bores with her ovipositor in the ground. In temperate climates the eggs are

usually laid by the end of the summer, and the parent locust dies before the

winter commences, the eggs remaining in the ground during the winter months,

and hatching out in the following spring. In sub-tropical countries, where

there is but little winter, the winged locusts live on through the cold season,

and do not die off until the following spring, when they deposit their eggs,

In thiscase the eggs hatch after lying in the ground for about a month. In both

temperate and sub-tropical regions alike, the young wingless locusts on emerg-

ing from the eggs in the spring or early summer feed voraciously and grow

rapidly for one or two months, during which period they mouli at intervals

finally developing wings and becoming adult. The adult locusts fly about in

General.

132 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

swarms, which settle from time to time and devour the crops. The damage

done by locusts is thus occasioned, first, by the young wingless insects, and

afterwards by the winged adults into which the young transform after a couple

of months of steady feeding.

The following are the chief species of locusts found in different parts of the

world other than India :-—

Pachytylus migratorius, the chief migratory locust of Europe, occurs espe-

cially in Hastern Europe and Southern Russia, also in Central Asia, Siberia,

North China, Japan, the Fiji Islands, New Zealand, North Australia, Mauritius,

Madeira, and possibly in South Africa, very little, however, being known about

its distribution in the Southern Hemisphere (McLachlan : article Locust, Eney-

clopedia Britannica). It may be looked upon as the chief locust of the tem-

perate zone, excluding America. An elaborate account of this species in South

Russia is given by Képpen (Hore Soc. Ent. Ross., iii, pp. 89—246 ; reviewed in

Zool, Record, 1867, p. 457). From eggs laid in the autumn the larvee hatch in

the spring (April and May), and moult four times before they become adult

larvze, band themselves together, and move in search of nutriment, feeding

chiefly on Gramine and doing a vast amount of damage. The imagos emerge

about July, copulate soon afterwards, and oviposition extends from August to

October. Each female copulates and oviposits about three times, at intervals

of about a month ; each time laying from 50 to 90 eggs, ina hole bored by

her horny ovipositor in the soil. This hole is about 13 inches deep and is lined

with frothy matter, which hardens into a case for the eggs. The eggs have

been found to withstand as low a temperature as 26° F. below zero. The dry

steppes constitute the chief haunts of the locust, which avoid damp places.

The females generally oviposit in solid virgin soil, and seldom visit ploughed

land for this purpose. Képpen is of opinion that the countries in which the

swarms are seen arealso, generally speaking, the countries of their origin.

Pachytylus cinerascens, Fabr., and Cidipoda tatarica, Motsch., which have

been described by different authors as distinct from P. migratorius, are consid-

ered by Képpen to be but varieties of one and the same species (Hore Soc.

Ent. Ross., iii, 1867). P. cinerascens is the form which has usually appeared in

England and Belgium, in the latter of which countries Képpen notices that it

probably breeds (Zool. Record, 1872, p. 398). It also occurs.in India.

Pachytylus pardalinus has been described as destructive in South Africa

(Trans. Soc. Afr. Phil. Soc., i, p. 193, 1880).

Pachytylus stridulus, Gidipoda vastator, Stauronotus vastator, and Pezotetti«

alpina have been noticed amongst other locusts as occasionally destructive in

Southern Russia, especially when associated with the common migratory species

Pachytylus migratorius and Caloptinus italicus of that region (K6ppen, Horz

Soc. Ent. Ross., iii, 1867).

Caloptenus spretus, the Rocky Mountain locust (see Reports of United States

Entomologists—Riley, Pachard and Thomas—Washington, 1877—79), caused

LOCUSTS OF BENGAL, MADRAS, ASSAM, &€ BOMBAY. 133

injury, between the years 1874 and 1877, estimated at 200 million dollars. It

breeds permanently only ina broad and comparatively barren region in the

north-west of America, whence the invading winged swarms swoop down upon

the fertile plains of the south and south-east, not appearing in the Mississipi

valley until the latter part of July or the beginning of August, when wheat,

barley and oats have generally reached perfection and been harvested. This,

it is reported, renders it possible to prevent serious injury by relying chiefly on

these crops when there is reason to fear incursions. On arrival the locusts

devour everything green to be found, until they deposit their eggs and die

in the autumn. From these eggs are produced in the spring, vast hordes of

young which devour everything green they can find, travelling along the

ground (not having yet acquired wings) from the fields they have exhausted

to fresh ground. They may be destroyed in vast numbers by systematic

rolling, collecting by hand, drawing bags over the field, &c., and their advance

may be prevented by digging ditches in front of them with a streak of tar at the

bottom, and also by driving them into heaps of straw to be then burnt, the trees

being protected by bands formed of poisonous or impenetrable substances,

When the larve are full-fed and acquire wings, they rise up, by this time fol-

lowed by hosts of insect parasites (Tachine, Ichneumonide, &c.), and, weakened

by disease, make their way more or less directly towards their permanent

breeding-grounds ; they perish by millions on the road, so that but few ever

reach their home in the high and barren north-west, where alone they are

able to propagate permanently. They leave (it is reported) a great part of the

country sufiiciently early to allow of corn of rapid growth being produced

after their departure, and succeeding swarms avoid the parasite-stricken dis-

tricts which their immediate predecessors have deserted. Hogs, poultry, and

all kinds of birds, besides various insects, destroy vast numbers of the locusts;

and as they can only exist permanently in the comparatively barren north-

west, it is supposed that when this breeding-ground is irrigated and settled

the locusts will gradually be exterminated.

Caloptenus italicus occurs on the Kuropean side of the Mediterranean (Italy,

Austria, &c.) ; it is also found in North Africa and South Russia (Verz, Zool.

Bot, Ges. Wien., xviii, p. 930 ; Bull. Ent. Ital., xiii, p. 210). It has been report-

ed as destructive.

Stauronotus cruciatus has proved injurious in Italy and Sicily (Bull, Ent.

Ital., xiii, p. 210). It also periodically invades Cyprus and the Troad (Proc.

Ent. Soc, Lond., 1881, pp. xiv & xxxviii ; also, Brown :—Report on the Locust

Campaign of 1885-86 in Cyprus).

In Cyprus the locust is indigenous to theisland. The young hatch ont

about the middle of March, and take about six weeks to become adult, when

they acquire wings, take flight, and soon afterwards copulate and oviposit,

The eggs are laid in uncultivated rocky ground, ploughed land and light soil

being avoided. Each egg-pod contains about 33 eggs. Some damage is done

134. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

by the winged swarms, which, however, generally disappear by about the

middle of June, the eggs remaining in the ground until about the following

March, when they hatch.

Serious loss is often occasioned by the locusts, and of late years a regular

warfare has been waged against them by the Government of the island. The

following was found to be the most satisfactory method of destroying them :

Cloth-screens, about three feet high and bound:at the top witha strip of oilcloth

to prevent the locusts from climbing over, were erected in front of the advance

of the young locusts, pits being dug at intervals close to the screens and at right

angles to them on the side towards the locust swarm, the edges of the pit

being protected by frames made of cloth and wood, with zinc edge arranged to

prevent the young locust from escaping from the pits. A swarm, on arriving

at the screen, was found invariably to turn right and left along it, apparently

endeavouring to go round it ; the young locusts thus poured in vast numbers

into the pits dug to receive them, and, being unable to escape, were destroyed

wholesale. In the case of the locust invasion of 1886, Brown reports (wide

official report presented to both Houses of Parliament by Her Majesty,

February, 1887) :—

“ There were very few places where the locusts were sufficiently dense to justify the

use of screens and traps, and they were in most cases destroyed by covering the

ground they occupied by a thin layer of dry brushwood or rubbish and setting fire to

it. By this means large areas were burned. Where the locusts were so sparsely

scattered, or the scarcity of brushwood rendered this method inapplicable, they were

destroyed by beating (an improved beater or locust-flap of leather, weighted with

lead, having been introduced by me this season). The weak point of these methods,

as compared with the screen and trap system, is that, although the locust may be

greatly reduced, it is practically impossible absolutely to exterminate them, whereas

our experience of 1883 and 1884 abundantly proved that when carefully worked it is

possible, by the continuous screen system then first introduced, to completely clear

large tracts of land where the locust swarms were most dense.”

Stauronotus moroccanus.—This insect, which is found in most of the countries

bordering on the Mediterranean, and which has also been reported from Bad-

ghis in Afghanistan, has of late (1887—89) proved very destructive to grain

crops in Eastern Algeria, where its increase has been favoured by drought.

Unlike Acridium peregrinum , which periodically invades Algeria from the south,

it breeds permanently on the sparsely vegetated hill ranges in Algeria itself

(Batna, M’lila, M’sila, Bordj, Rendir, &c.,)and thence descends in countless

numbers into the cultivated plains towards the shores of the Mediterranean.

The invading flights appear in the summer, and the females proceed, on arrival,

to deposit their eggs in holes about an inch deep, which they bore with their

ovipositors in the ground. About thirty or forty eggs are deposited in a mass

of mucilage in each hole. These eggs remain in the ground throughout the

autumn and winter, and hatch in the following spring (eggs laid in the end of

Juneand beginning of July, 1888, hatched in April, 1889). After hatching out,

LOCUSTS OF BENGAL, MADRAS, ASSAM, & BOMBAY. 135

the young locusts band themselves together and march through the country

devouring the crops. The loss occasioned in 1888 was estimated in the Con-

sular report at about a million sterling, In 1888 measures were taken upon a

large scale by the French Government for the destruction of the eggs, about

600,600 frances being said to have been expended in buying eggs, at the rate of

1 fr. 52 c. for two decalitres, from the Arabs. These measures, however,

proved insufficient, and were considered unsatisfactory, M. Kiinckel d'Hercu-

lais indeed showing that whereas a man can rarely collect as muchas 2°60 litres

of egg-cases, containing some 72,000 eggs, ina day, he can destroy about a

million young locusts by collecting them after they have emerged from the

eggs. In 1889, therefore, the Government introduced the Cyprus screen

system upon a considerable scale for the destruction of the young locust.

About 300 kilometres of screen were procured, and 100,000 people were em-

ployed in destroying the young locusts. These measures seem to have been

attended with considerable success, though definite information has not been

received as to what extent the country was cleared of the pest!.

Acridium peregrinum.—This is the chief locust of Northern Africa, Arabia,

Persia, Baluchistan, and North-Western India. It has been fully dealt with

in the report already issued.

Acridium paranense bas been described as the migratory locust of the Argen-

tine Republic, though some writers are of opinion that it may perhaps be the

same as Acridium peregrinum (vide McLachlan : Encyclop. Brit., article Locust),

1 The above account is chiefly drawn from (1) Reports I and II by Mons. J. Kiincke}

d’Herculais, dated May and August, 1888 ; (2) Diplomatic and Consular Report on Agri-

culture in Algeria, No. 469 ; (8) Papers which have appeared in the Zllustrated London News,

Le Mobacher published in Algiers, and Insect Life published in Washington,

136 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VILL.

REVIEW.

* Breast AND MAN In Inpta,

Tux first thing to consider is, whether this review ought to be written

for the Bombay Natural History Society’s Journal, or for that of the

chum Society,—the Anthropological. It is true, indeed, that Natural

History includes Anthropology ; but this is not a popular view of the

subject, and, therefore, hardly applicable to a “‘ popular sketch,” By

the way, how did Mr. John Lockwood Kipling know that his sketch

would be “ popular,” as it certainly is, before he published it? He had

a right to expect in Bombay and the Punjab a success d’estime and

his surname has been a good deal before the world of late ; and,

perhaps, that may have encouraged him, and the event and editions

have justified him, To return to the writer’s own choice, Mr. Kipling

and most of his public think that “ Natural History’ deals rather

with “ Beasts” than with Men. And he has, with conscious or

unconscious sarcasm, put his Beast first. So here goes.

We will take in hand his discourse of beasts, and leave that on men

mostly on one side, especially so much of the book as is composed of

newspaper articles and ballads by another hand. Like Dante and

Virgil “‘ We won’t discuss these, but glance at them and pass on.”

The introductory chapter is mostly full of explanations of Indian

character foreign to our somewhat limited view of the subject. But

two somewhat curious limitations in our author’s are revealed at p. 18,

where he says that “in a few generations we may hope for an Indian

student of Natural History. At present this splendid field is left

entirely to Huropean observers, who mostly look at nature along the

barrel of a gun. Which is a false perspective.” The full stop at

“gun, we may remark, is false punctuation ; but, perhaps, the

printer’s.

But in what world does Mr. Kipling live? Any monthin Bombay

we could show him a room full of Indian students of Natural History,

and as to the Europeans who “‘ look at nature along the barrel of a gun,”

many of them have taken that view of the tiger and the panther.

Whether their perspective was true or false, let the re-peopled villages

* “ Beast and Man in India, a popular sketch of Indian Animals in their relations

with the people’. By JohniLockwood Kipling, (.1.H. London, Macmillan & Co,

REVIEW. 137

of Khandeish (for instance) tell. Whether a sportsman can be a

naturalist or not, our own columns bear abundant witness here. And

as a matter of fact, there never was a sporting society less animated by

a mere love of slaughter, or more by a taste for observation and inquiry,

than that of Western India at this present moment. You will scarcely

find even a Griffin in the mofussil who would not be somewhat

ashamed to own to “shooting for the bag,” As a practice, pigeon-

shooting, indeed, belongs to another order of things. It is not “ look-

ing at nature” in any sense, but simply looking at a target,—unfortu-

nately alive,—which represents a fraction of a prize,—unfortunately a_

money-prize. But it seems to be fast falling off in public favour.

Indeed, there is little wonder in that the trapped birds generally

supplied to Indian Gymkhanas are poor fliers compared to the birds

bred for the trap in Europe. Bazaar-bred birds turn the shooting into

a farcical lottery for those who can make up their minds to shoot at

them. To others, of course, it is a tragedy. But those who do not

shoot trapped pigeons (including the present writer) are bound, in fair-

ness, to acknowledge that that exercise requires great skill in the use of

arms, and involves, when properly managed, no more cruelty than any

other method of killing birds.

Mr. Kipling’s first bird is “the parrakeet (Paleornis cupabius).”

But he only recognises one species out of three that he can hardly have

failed to see—the Alexandrine, plum-headed, and rose-ringed, which

are in every bazaar. The rose-ringed paroquet is our common Bombay

species, the most beautiful and stupid of the three. The plum-headed

is common enough on the Ghats and in deep jungles near them. It

is easily recognized on the wing by its light-tipped tail. The Alex-

andrine is apparently rarer in our province ; at least the present

writer has not seen it in the forest ; but its colouration is not such as

to identify it on the wing except from above. Wild parrots are not

often looked upon de haut en bas nor often shot for identification.

Dr. Jerdon established one habitat of this bird by such a chance as

killing a falcon which happened to have just caught the paroquet.

Only these three paroquéets are common in our bazaars as “ forest

produce ” of this Presidency, though other parrots, in great variety,

but small in number, are imported, and seem to be outside our present

purview.

138 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Mr. Kipling passes from the parrot to the weaver birds (Ploceus),

whose plumage he oddly describes as “of quaker-like simplicity.”

When did quakers wear yellow caps or yellow ribbons in their caps ?

From these, through a list of “song birds” so wide as to include

the hill-minah (Hulabes religzosa), he passes on to the fighting birds

and to the more important crow. About the first he has nothing

new to say, but has hit a new idea in Indian crow-life by allowing

“two hill-crows’” to steal and hide ice. “To the last,” he says

“‘the disappearance of the ice was a wonder.” And no wonder.

As regards kites, he says that Milwus govinda is commonly “ spoken

of by Europeans as the Brahminy kite.” But in our province this ~

misname is more commonly given to a Neophron—Pharaoh’s chicken.

The true Brahminy kite which Mr. Kipling correctly describes by that

name, and as “an eagle in miniature’ (he might have said a sea-

eagle in miniature if he had been a naturalist) is Halastur indus,

Our author’s dealings are with such creatures as are in close relation

with man. He does not, therefore, mention that really noble variety

or species of kite indicated by Hume’s name Milvus major.

Under head ‘‘ Cranes and Herons” (birds really very far apart) he

gives us a fact worth record, namely that the Adjutant Stork,

which is neither a crane nor a heron, has of late years ceased to

frequent Calcutta—probably better cleaned up than of yore by its

Municipality.

After some remarks about cocks and hens, rather anthropological

than ornithological, he passes on to the old legend of the Brahminy

duck or Ruddy Sheldrake, which we beg to give at more length for

his and others’ edification. A certain Brahmin’s wife eloped, and the

gods, at the outraged husband’s prayer, smote the lovers with the

curse of cowardice. They lost each other ata ford, and to this day

one cries to the other, “‘ Come over to me, Chakwi,” and is answered,

““ No, come over to me, Chakwa.” This, at least, is the tale of the

Tapti, on which they are common, and although by no means borne out

by observation, is not less so than Mr. Kipling’s more insipid version

of the legend.

Our author passes on to the peacock, which he describes, in

Gujarat and elsewhere, “as common as rooks in Hngland.” Peacocks

REVIEW. 139

abound in parts of Gujarat, but a rookery of peafowl remains to be

seen. Of pigeons he has little to say, and nothing so good, asa native

official said to the present writer in Rajputana many a year ago,

“ You mustn’t shoot pigeons here. It’s not that they are sacred, but

the Rajputs have a fellow-feeling for the bird, because it is ‘ bholo’

—just like themselves.”

To do our Rajput members justice, their affection for a bird which

habitually makes friends with man has a nobler root than the sarcastic

Brahmin would allow them, and is exactly the same as the English

love for house martins and the Dutchman’s attachment to his almost

sacred stork. It is below the dignity of a warlike and generous race

to wage or allow war on a bird that will nest under our eaves and in

our wells, and often wheels round, after a first shot, to expose itself to

a second, rather than lose sight of its nest. The “blue rock,” more-

over, is not much to swear by on the table.

Sir Walter Scott in “*St. Roman’s Well” notices the reasonable

- objection of Musalmans to the slaughter of doves in connection with

that of Hussein (or, as he says, Ali). But the Prophet’s own bird was

probably not a dove but a “blue rock” of the northern species ;

differing but slightly from ours. The legend of its flying out from the

cave wherein he lay in hiding is as probably true as any story of the

sort, and not in the least improbable. The present writer has seen the

like.

In this very pleasant way Mr. Kipling discourses of various fowls,

including, in his very unconventional ornithology, flying foxes. He

had a tame flying fox which escaped, and was beaten home again by

crows “‘ who had never seen such a creature before,’’ because, says he,

“ crows go to bed early;” and it would seem that, wherever this hap-

pened, the flying foxes are equally regular in their habits. In Western

India these moral ways have suffered much infraction ; and there is no

erow in the Konkan who has not seen many flying foxes on the wing.

One really good bit of bird folklore is rather spoiled by a misnomer

that can hardly be more than a slip of the pen. It is not the

sandpiper (as Mr. Kipling says, but surely does not think) who sleeps

supine with heels in air to avert the fall of Heaven. The “ Did ye

do it ?” (Lobivanellus goensis) is credited with this remarkable pre-

caution against the crack of Doom.

140 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

' Reason why.—The “Did ye do it” is of all shore fowls the

fussiest, and most given to informing every one of the ill-intentions

of every one else. May his father be roasted ; he has saved many

a duck from the shot gun, and many a crocodile from the rifle.

The sandpipers, on the other hand, are as modest in demeanour

as in plumage, much given to minding their own affairs, and so

little suspicious as to be too often converted into snipes upon the

unlearned shikari’s gamestick, We have seen them in dozens at

the Tanna Railway Station on a Sunday evening, and sorrowed for

them.

Mr. Kipling’s birds are followed by his monkeys, whereof he has

many good yarns. One is, that some Hindu evolutionists suppose the

English to be descended of Hanuman, or, as we call him in Western

India, Maruti (the monkey-god). All the ingenuity of the West can

invent no theory that is without parallel in Asiatic parable or paradox.

It is true that all Europe once believed that Englishmen had tails, and

Colonel Yule quotes authority to show that the King of Cyprus mor-

tally offended Richard Cceur de Lion by an offensive allusion to the

hero’s tail, which was then lashed to the effect of lashing the

impertinent princeling out of his island, and Richard made a Christ-

mas-box of it to a friend in right-royal fashion. The mythology of

the * missing link” would make a big book, and cannot be allowed more

of our limited space. The chapter has one or two delightful illustra~

tions that should be korrowed (with permission) by the man who writes

that big book. Mr. Kipling passes on to asses, but we have lately dealt

at length in these columns with the Zquide over the signature, alas !

of a vanished hand. Nor need we linger here over his two chapters of

““oves and boves,” except to notice the last paragraph of the cow Sura,

which relates how M. de Buffon got his name for Bos indicus, “ Zebu”

from a travelling showman. Mr. Kipling thinks “this fragment of a

French showman’s bonnement” to be indelibly branded on the poor

“bile ; but the truth is, that the word is fast passing out of anything

like zoology, and will probably soon disappear even from “ popular

science.”

It is very characteristic of our author that he excludes buffaloes from

the company of respectable Bovde to chum them upon pigs, of which

latter he justly remarks that “there is nothing to be ashamed of in the

REVIEW. 141

character and conduct of wild pigs,’ unless, indeed, it be an occasional

lapse into carrion diet.

All these beasts get in between the asses and the horses and mules,

which have over forty pages, full mostly of matter outside our

subject. After them come the elephants, of whom we get some good

stories. One is Colonel Lewin’s, who found the elephants’ ball-room

in some Indo-Chinese forest (but it was not a ball night), And a

very good characteristic one is that of a ship-load of elephants (in India

we sometimes do things on a largish scale), who found that by merely

keeping time they could turn a large steamer into a suitable rocking

chair. They very nearly managed to produce the very oddest

shipwreck on record. How would “Lloyd’s” hold that an ordinary

insurance policy covered perils of playful elephants ?

After Mr. Kipling’s elephants come his camels, and he makes just

remark upon the wide range of variety of these poor brutes, and

notes the rudimentary second hump of the dromedary recorded by

Signor Lombardini. One odd little illustration of his own observation

does not seem to have come in his way. If there is anything odious

and even dangerous to most hill or plain camels, it isslime. But

camels can be and are bred in marshes, and these grow up “ bog

trotters.” The present writer has seen such a camel carrying two men

at least five miles an hour across the Little Ran of Kachh, where

footmen painfully toiled along at little better than two, not without

an occasional fall,

The strangest thing about the camel is, that an animal so very

undomesticable hardly exists except in servitude, borne with exceed-

ing ill-grace. It may be guessed that the clumsiness and stupidity

of the original wild camel led to the extermination by the great carni-

yora of such camels as had not the aid of man in the struggle for

existence. As far as diet and clothing go the creature would seem

capable enough of survival.

“The camel,” say the men of Gujarat who understand him in his

quiddity, “ put a hump upon his back,” with a view to avoiding his

share of the mutual obligation, ‘ But then the man made his saddle.”

The application is to the sulky hopeless opposition met at every

clumsy turn by superior resource, which marks the struggle of civili-

sation with barbarism, and ends by the reduction of the savage into

142 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

some form of utility and respect for the bonds of society ; for, in

India, it does not end in his extinction. The imperceptible series of

degrees between the civilised man and the wild human animal

prevent such annihilations of the latter, as have been seen in the

great colonies, most speedy where the gulf between the two societies

was greatest.

Mr. Kipling’s chapter on “ Dogs, foxes, and jackals” is short, and

wolves, he says, are out of his line, and passes on to cats. Then he

has a chapter on animal calls ; but these are calls to, and not of,

animals, and the next is on “ Animal training” with a similar meaning.

He doesn’t think much of the art as practised in India, and goes on to

reptiles. |

And here, for the first time, we have to complain of what is dis-

tinctly a “ false perspective,” as he would say himself. The chapter is

headed with what he calls an “ Anglo-Indian Nursery Rhyme,” which

runs as follows :—

“ And death is in the garden

Awaiting till we pass,

For the krait is in the drain-pipe,

The cobra in the grass,”

Now there may be gardens in India where these things are ; but

even in such a garden of horrors, the snakes do not lie in wait for

the passing of children to bite them. As the child passed, the “ krait ”

would shrink further into his drain-pipe, and the cobra glide away

through his grass. And when was any Anglo-Indian nursery ever the

worse of either, that these morbid terrors should be admitted into it,

by any sensible mistress, to poison her children’s enjoyment of their

few times and places of outdoor play? If there isany place where the

Gruesome ought not to come, it 1s a nursery.

Nor is there much more in this chapter to call for remark from the

naturalist’s point of view. The next is upon “Animals in Indian Art,”

and is extremely valuable, as the work of a past master in his matter,

and then come on “ Beast fight,” to which, when brought about

by human backers, we object asasight or a subject. A good fair

natural duel in the wilderness is, indeed, a fine sight for the man

lucky enough to watch it, and capable of taking no unfair advan-

tage of the combatants.

REVIEW. 143

The present writer once stalked a black buck, to whom, just as

the stalk was drawing to a close, came another on battle bent. It

was a very pretty fencing match, and the spectator, lying flat with

uncocked rifle along the friendly bank of a rice field, could hear the

panting of the combatants and see their eyes flash. He had the

pleasure of seeing the matter end by the retreat of one champion,

sore, pummelled and exhausted, but not mangled. The victor seemed

to have had enough, and did not care to pursue, but walked off to

where the ladies had been when the fight began. They, however,

had long ago resented the intrusion of “strangers in the gallery,’ by

walking off,-so the buck sniffed at the ground where they had

stood, and presently seemed to “get their line” and trotted off

with little further attempt to puzzle it out, To the end he never saw

that he had a human neighbour.

There was a pleasure in watching that fight, but a battle of elephants

maring isas vulgar asa “dog-worry.” If there is any exception

to be made at all, it should be in favour of cock-fighting. The

natural man, however disciplined, has a secret joy in a cock-fight,

though he knows itis wrong. With the beast-fights, and with one

illustration of a doctrine of his own, we part with so pleasant a writer as

Mr. Kipling. He delights in remark upon the “ topsy-turveydom ”

of things oriental, as all great Western travellers in the Hast have

done since Herodotus compared the ways of Greeks and Egyptians.

But of all the “contraries,” in religion and nature, between

England and India, the most contrary is the Indian Daddy Longlegs

that does say his prayers, and is “ chucked” all the same,

144 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.

No, I.—THE HABITS OF THE COPPERSMITH.

Since Jerdon’s time it has been sometimes matter of doubt whether the

Coppersmith Barbet (Xantholema indica) climbs and taps like a woodpecker,

Some eighteen years ago I shot a Barbet which I saw so employed ona banyan

tree in the Thana District, but had no books with me then and lost the specimen.

Long afterwards at Rohe, with a fresh specimen and books before me, I made

sure of the species to my own satisfaction, and had ample opportunity of

watching these birds feeding in the large wild fig tree before the Travellers’

Bungalow at Poladpur, then in full fruit. But neither the Rohe specimen

nor the Poladpur birds tapped the tree. The former was singing when shot,

and the others were eating the fruit with very much the action of green

pigeons similarly employed.

On the 15th March, 1893, in the Thana District, I heard a tapping in an old

mango tree, less powerful than a woodpecker’s, and less like the roll of a drum

in rhythm. After a few minutes’ dodging around the tree, I was able to see the

Coppersmith climbing up a limb, in woodpecker fashion, only a few yards from

me. The green streaks on the breast were distinctly visible. Another,

probably its mate, had just flown out of the tree disturbed by my move-

ments, and was uttering the usual note on the next tree.

W. F. SENCLATR, 1.C.8.

THANA District, 12th March, 1893.

Since writing to you about the tapping and climbing habits of the Copper-

smith, I have again heard the same tapping in the same tree, and upon

examination and disturbance of the tree, found no bird in it but the Copper-

smith, who flew from the spot where the tapping seemed to be, and allowed

me to identify him at pretty close quarters with a powerful field glass.

Thave long had no doubt about the habit myself, and I think that I

have given evidence enough of it. But I am tempted to make another obsery-

ation which I should not have hazarded on my own account. Many of our

readers know Mr. Wallace’s theory that brilliance of colour is (or may be) a

result of high vitality in the animal, and especially in the organ. This Barbet

and some woodpeckers show very brilliant colour on the head and neck, which

must be highly vitalized for such an effort as their tammering on the trees.

Is there any other reason for this curious resemblance of their coloration ?

WTEETS:

Tana Disrrict, 15th March, 1893.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 145

No. I—WOLF HUNTING IN THE SOUTHERN MAHRATTA

COUNTRY.*

I have been tempted by the interesting account of your correspondent, Mr.

C. W. Waddington, on the subject of Wolf Hunting, published in Vol. VII

of this Journal, to recount a somewhat similar experience that I had last year.

My experience, however, differs in one important respect, which, of course,

considerably qualifies my pleasure in the recollection of it, and that is, whereas

“C. W. W.” was riding with a spear, I was riding (by an unlucky circumstance)

with a gun. As, however, my object in writing this is to show the staying

powers of a country-bred horse as against those of a full grown male wolf, and

as the point of my story is in no way affected by my having had a gun instead

of a spear, I hope it may still be of interest to your sporting readers,

im the month of February, last year, I was encamped in a remote village,

Ootgee, in the Jath District of the Southern Mahratta Country. I went to

this village, because I had heard that great annoyance was being caused in the

neighbourhood by wolves who carried off sheep and goats, and attacked

children, On the evening of my arrival I was told that a pair of large

wolves, male and female, with a couple of cubs, had taken up a position in a

“eave” (as it was called) within a mile or so of my camp, close to a thorough-

fare, and that the parents were in the habit of watching for passers-by and _ at-

tacking them. My informants persisted that the jungle was impenetrable and

riding an impossibility. In the morning I went to look at the place (taking

both a gun and a spear), and found it to be a very large babul plantation,

several hundred acres in area, thick in some places, but more or less rideable

in others, though not sufficiently so for there to be any hope of Spearing a

wolf ; and, moreover, it seemed impossible to imagine that any animal would

be foolish enough to leave such an extensive shelter and trust itself to the

open country outside. I, therefore, gave up all idea of spearing, and wander-

ed about with my gun, looking for the wolves; but not seeing anything of

them, I went back to camp, leaving men on the watch. At 12 o'clock one of

these men ran in to say the large male wolf was lying under a tree close to

where I had been in the morning. I immediately galloped off, taking, un-

luckily, only my gun with a few ball cartridges, and little thinking that I

should uever cease to regret not having taken a spear, I soon came on the

wolf, and, dismounting, I approached him for the shot ; but before I could get

within range, he moved off, first slowly, then faster, so I called out for my

horse and followed him, as well as I could, through the babul, keeping on the

inside of the circle in which he was going, and between him and the centre of

the cover, After a while I saw the open country before us, and so did the

wolf, for he stopped short, turned inwards towards me, and stood still, allow-

ing me to ride close up to him and fire. Isaw the bullet strike the ground,

and my horse at that moment, being a bit startled at the shot, reared straight

* This appeared in the J'imes of India on 22nd March, 1893,

146 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

up and faced the other way. When I was able to get him round again, the wolf

was still there, and snarling. I fired the second barrel, and again (my horse

being very unsteady) the bu!let.struck the ground; but to my intense satisfaction

it had the effect of determining the wolf to head for the open, and go away

over the most perfect country I have ever seen—light sandy soil, absolutely

flat, with only some small nullahs, and afew stones here and there—crops

down, and not a bush or anything else to obstruct the view.

The horse I was riding was a short-backed 14°1 country-bred, five years old,

and in the hardest possible condition, as he had been doing fifteen or twenty

miles a day for some time, So, with everything in my favour, I made up my

mind that, though I had the wrong weapon, I would try and compromise the

matter by not using the gun till I had arrived at as close quarters as would

have been necessary had I had a spear. Having headed for the open, the wolf

at first went a great pace, evidently thinking that I was going to do the same ;

but I had no such intention, for I was anxious to get him well away from the

cover, and, moreover, from what I saw of the country, there was no necessity

for hurry. I, therefore, went comparatively slowly, and ina couple of miles

he began to come back to me, and we strode along together, he at a comfort-

able lobbing canter, and £ at an ordinary staging pace, about nine or ten miles

an hour. This sort of thing lasted about half an hour, when we came to

a small group of babuls, into which the wolf for a moment disappeared, I at

once pulled up into a walk, and yelling at him as [I went slowly through, I

caught sight of him through the trees, going away at his best pace on the

further side, still in the same direction. ‘This gave my horse a breather which

the wolf did not get, so I calculated I had scored the first point, Then again

we settled down tothe same steady gallop for the next four or five miles

(150 yards separating us), when I saw the wolf was beginning to tire, and so

was my horse, and I wondered how it was going to end. All of a sudden the

wolf vanished, and on reaching the spot where I had last seen him I found

myself at the edge of a steep bank of the river (Boor), and there immediately

below me was the wolf's head emerging from the water, as he swam about

enjoying his bath. The opposite side of the river was fringed with oleander

bushes, which continued for some distance, and beyond again, about a mile or

two distant, I saw what seemed to me tobe another plantation. It was

obviously necessary, therefore, to get to the other side as quickly as possible,

and turn the wolf back, for I knew he could never get home again the ten

miles that I judged it to be. I got across the river lower down without being

noticed, reaching the other side while he was still in the stream, and was able

to give my horse another breather and let him have a few mouthfuls of water.

Thus I scored my second point, for the wolf in the meantime was tiring

himself with swimming about, Instinctively, as an old pig-sticker, I waited

for him to charge, as a good old boar would have done after his bath ; but he

came quietly out, gave himself a shake, and dived into the oleander bushes.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 147

I then trotted slowly up alongside the bushes for about half a mile, keeping

him in sight and preventing him from breaking on my side, till suddenly he

plunged across the water again, back up the bank, and headed away at a great

pace for our original starting point, My horse being comparatively fresh, I

soon got up to him again, and we went along together at the same steady pace

till we came near the group of babuls, where the first check had been ; but

instead of entering this he began to bear round to the right, and I saw he was

making for what looked like a large cover to our right front about a couple of

miles distant, and I knew I must “ride” him now or never, so for the first

time in the run I began to press him, It was astonishing with what ease he

got away from me at first, but he soon came back, and I could see he was done.

He had had three spurts and a swim, which had all been against him. My

horse had had no spurts, but two good breathers and some water. So he had

decidedly the advantage, as he proved by soon bringing me alongside, and then

it was I would have given all [ possessed for aspear. The wolf jinked, but

went on—a couple more rushes, a couple more jinks, till (both of us going

slower and slower) the wolf stopped and sat down on his haunches, got up and

went on, stopped again, and sat down altogether unable to go another yard.

I jumped off, slipped in a cartridge, and placing my gun up against his side

put an end to him within a quarter of a mile of the forest lands of Boorgee,

the shelter he had been making for. I felt a good deal of compunction in

deliberately shooting him after such a run, as somehow it did not seem con-

sistent ; but remembering that if I had had a spear I should have killed him a

mile sooner, and also remembering that he and his friends had never had any

compunction in destroying whatever they could get hold of, I thought it was

legitimate to use what weapon I had. The little horse was exhausted, but by

no means ‘‘dead beat,” anda few mouthfuls out of my saddle flask soon

revived him, and constitutionally he was none the worse the next day. The

wolf was a large male, in excellent coat and condition, and stood thirty-three

inches at the shoulder.

Now as regards the length and duration of the run. The start was about

two miles short of Hullee village. The turn at the river was opposite the

village of Madgeehal, and I deduct three miles for rounding the corner. The

finish was close to the forest lands of Boorgee, and about two miles from the

Boorgee village. By the map Hullee village to Madgeehal village is thirteen

miles ; Madgechal village to Boorgee village is twelve miles ; total twenty-five

miles. Deduct seven miles as above, and it makes the whole distance traversed

as nearly as can be estimated eighteen miles. It was 12-40 when I looked at

my watch shortly before seeing the wolf for the first time, and it must have

been nearly one o’clock when he broke away. It was 2-45 exactly when I

killed him. Taking the average pace throughout the run to have been nine or

ten miles an hour, I imagine my estimate of eighteen miles in 13 to 2 hours is

a fairly correct one, I must apologize for the length of this letter, but f have

148 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

gone into details on purpose to try and show that it is not impossible with an

exceptionally good country and lots of it, and a horse in hard condition with a

fair stride, for a single horseman to ride a wolf toa standstill.

J. W. WRAY, Major.

March, 1893.

No. I1].—THE BREEDING SEASON OF THE SARUS CRANE.

On the 15th ultimo I took three eggs of the Sarus (Grus antigone) ; two

from one nest were partly incubated, while the third, from another nest, was

fresh. On the 12th of this month I found two more eggs slightly incubated.

As a rule, these birds breed, in these parts, during the monsoon months—July,

August, and September—so I think the above fact is worth recording. I have

also taken this month two full clutches (4) of the Red-wattled Lapwing, quite

fresh.

H. BULKLEY.

KHARAGHORA, 16th April, 1893.

No. IV.—A BUTTERFLY ATTRACTED BY TOBACCO SMOKE.

Insects and their like are generaily supposed to dislike tobacco, but I have

met with a butterfly to-day which evidently enjoyed it. I was sitting in the

verandah, about 3 p.m., when one of the large black and white butterflies,

common here now, appeared and began flying about me, so I sat perfectly still

to watch him. He seemed to be attracted by the cheroot I was smoking, for

he fluttered about it and actually settled upon it three or four times, once on

the ash which dropped off under him. He settled on my forehead several

times, and once or twice on the arm of my chair onthe leeside, where he got

the smoke. He went off to the garden, but soon came back and repeated his

performance. This is so entirely different from the behaviour I should

expect ina butterfly, that I think the incident is worthy of record in our

Journal,

R. G. OXENHAM.

MATHERAN, April, 1893.

No. V—HABITS OF THE INDIAN ROBIN.

Every one is aware that our English robin has a tendency to build its nest

in all sorts of odd nooks and corners, and this peculiarity is shared to a great

extent by its Indian representative, the “ brown-backed robin” (Thamnobia

combazensis). At the present moment there is a nest containing young ones in

the Mess of the 22nd Bombay Infantry, which is placed in the fold of a curtain,

where it is looped up. The curtain separates the ante-room from the dining-

Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soe.

eS SS ea

Fig. 1. HEAD OF ORYX CALLOTIS. Fig. 2. HEAD OF JACKSON’S HARTEBEESTE (BUBALIS JACKSONI).-

Fig. 3. SKULL OF JACKSON’S HARTEBEESTE (BUBALIS JACKSONI).

Fig. 4. HEAD OF WHITE-BEARDED GNU (CONNOCH(TES ALBO-JUBATU). Fig. 5. SKULLOF WHITE-BEARDED GNU.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 149

room, and is constantly being pushed aside by persons passing in or out ; but

the bird soon got accustomed to these interruptions, and only moved when the

fold was opened to permit of a closer inspection.

A. NEWNHAM, 22nd Regt., Bombay Cavalry.

AUMEDABAD, 10th April, 1893.

No. VI.—NEW AFRICAN ANTELOPES.

T have had the good fortune to recognise three new species of African

animals under conditions that are noteworthy. Amongst the vast number of

heads and skins that come to me for preservation, particularly from Africa,

I frequently discover many points that-have not been noticed by the owners

of the specimens ; and now and then the discovery is of greater importance,

inasmuch as it leads to the recognition by experts of anew species. For

example, looking carefully over a collection of antelopes from Kilimanjaro and

Masailand, I found what appeared to me to be a new Species of Oryaz, and so

it proved to be; for though at first sight it resembled Oryx beisa, a comparison

showed many points of difference ; as will be seen in the annexed figure. The

long tufted ears, which suggested to its describer, Mr. Oldfield Thomas, the

specific name Ory callotis, are particularly noticeable. It differs, moreover,

from other species of Oryx in the general colour of the skin, which is much

browner than that of its congeners, particularly on the head. So far as ai

present known, this antelope is found only in Masailand and contiguous regions,

The example of which the head is now figured came from Kilimanjaro, and was

described by Mr. Oldfield Thomas, F.Z.S., at a meeting of the Zoological

Society in March last ; the type being now in the national collection at South

Kensington. I may add that this species has been several times shot in

Eastern Africa by sportsmen, among others by Sir John Willoughby, Sir

Robert Harvey, the late Hon. Guy Dawnay, Mr. H. C. V. Hunter, Mr. T. W. H.

Greenfield, Mr. E. Gedge, Mr. F. J. Jackson, Mr. Astor Chanler, Mr. R. P.

Carroll, Dr. Abbott, and Count Teleki. But having been hastily identified as

Oryx beisa, and so called for several years, its specific distinctness has until

recently escaped notice. During his last visit to London, the late Sir Victor

Brooke examined the specimen referred to with me, and our discussion was

adjourned to enable further comparison with more examples of Oryx beisa.

But before that could be effected, to the infinite regret of all naturalists and

sportsmen, his untimely death was announced. Thus the opinion of one of

the best authorities on deer and antelopes was lost.

A second species discovered in like manner is a hartebeeste which has been

named Bubalis gacksoni by Mr. Thomas. It was collected in Uganda by

Mr. F. J. Jackson, who directed my attention to it. In general form and

colour it is very like the South African Bubalis caama, figured in the Field,

June 6,1891. Its horns curve in much the same way, though not so sharply,

150 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

as will be seen on reference to the annexed cut. But its distinguishing features

are the uniform colour of the face; Bubalis caama has black face markings,

B, jacksoné none at all. In this respect the new species resembles Coke’s harte-

beeste, the head of which is figured by Sir John Willoughby in his volume on

“Bast Africa and its Big Game” (pl. 1, fig. 1), and which also has no face

markings. But a comparison of the two heads will show a considerable differ-

ence in the character of the horns. In Coke’s hartebeeste the horns diverge

laterally, in Jackson’s species their direction is vertical and backwards.

A third new form, perhaps only a variety, is a wildebeeste, or Gnu. Itis a

fine creature, closely allied to the South African brindled Gnu (Coxnochwtes

taurinus), but having the beard white, instead of dark brown.

It is commendable that in so short a space of time as six months so many

new forms should have been brought to light, it may be said, through the

enterprise of English sportsmen, to whom naturalists are so much indebted for

discoveries in Africa. How many other novelties have been lost for want of

proper identification it would be difficult to say ; but if sportsmen haying

trophies which they are unable to name would refer them to experts on their

return home, they would lessen the chances of being forestalled in the

discovery of new species. It is with the view of clearing up confusion in

regard to the species here figured that I venture to send you these notes for

publication.

ROWLAND WARD.

166, Piccadilly, London, W.

[The above appeared in the Jéeld last year, and is reprinted with the

permission of the author who has kindly supplied us with the accompanying

illustrations.—ED. ]

No. VII.—THE OCCURRENCE OF THE HYAINA IN

SOUTH TRAVANCORE.

I think the following fact is worth recording. My brother writes to me

from Quilon, forty miles north of this place :—

“ A female hyena has been shot at Pundalam, about 15 miles north of

Quilon. There is no doubt about it, as I have got the skim. Ialso examined

the old man who shot it, and took down his statement. A large number of

people saw the dead animal when it was brought to the Cutcherry for the

reward, for it was supposed to be a kind of cheetah,”

This is the first occurrence to my knowledge of the hyzna in Travancore.

H. S. FERGUSON.

TREVANDRUM, SouTH TRAVANCORE,

Vth April, 1893.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 151

No. VIII.—NOTES ON ARGYNNIS NIPHE, LINN AUS, A

NYMPHALID BUTTERFLY.

During this last cold weather (1892-93) I was very much surprised to see

females of Argynnis niphe, Linneus, in my garden at Bankipore, Behar.

I had never seen this butterfly here, though I had often caught it at Mussoorie

in the Western Himalayas. Mr. de Nicéville tells us that the food-plant of the

larvee is usually the wild violet. So far as I could find out, this does not

grow in Bankipore ; and I, therefore, tried shutting up a female in a cage with

a pot of garden violets, but she did not lay. Very soon after this, I picked

up a caterpillar which I found crawling on the ground ina bed of pansies.

Further search led to the discovery of others on the pansies. These

were allput ona growing pansy under a cage. The caterpillar is black,

with a broad orange band down the back, and has thorn-like black spines

projecting laterally. It keeps itself carefully concealed under the leaves,

but it feels the cold during the night ; and when the sun gets warm in the

morning, it leaves the plant, and takes a httle promenade on the ground, and

frequently lies basking in the sunshine. When it has got comfortably warmed

up, it returns to the food-plant with renewed vigour and a keen appetite.

This made it easy to find them, and saved one the trouble of hunting under

the leaves. Those in the cage behaved in the same way, and always left the

plant in the forenoon to lie on the ground and bask in the warm sunshine.

They are very good-natured caterpillars,and easy to move about ; they

have good appetites, and seem happy and contented with things as they are,

and donot sulk and mope, or spend their time rampaging about in a vain

endeavour to escape, as so many others do.

The butterflies seem to have preferred the pansies (Viola tricolor) to the

violets (Viola odorata), because the violets were in pots, whereas the pansies

were in the ground. I found that a female which refused to lay when caged

on a pot of pansies laid freely when caged over pansies planted out. She

walked about over the plant depositing anegg here and there, sometimes on the

leaf, sometimes under it. Occasionally she would flit from one place to

another. The eggs are cone-shaped, slightly flattened on the top, and when

first laid, are pure white. They gradually take a bluish-green tint.

I have also observed a female laying eggs in freedom. She kept partially

opening and shutting her wings while she walked along the ground. Then she

would get well into a plant, curl her body round the edge of a leaf, and de-

posit an egg on the under surface. Then she walked on the ground to another

plant, opening and shutting her wings the while ; she always laid under a leaf,

except when she laid on a half-opened one, and then she deposited the egg

well down and on the upperside. She laid only one egg on each leaf at one

time. On one occasion she went back and laid a second egg on a leaf—at some

distance from the first. After laying three or four eggs, she would refresh

herself with a sip of honey from the flowers, and then begin to lay again. She

152 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

showed no sign of fear, and on one occasion left the pansy and sat for some

time on my dress.

In going from one plant to another she sometimes dragged her body along

the ground as if in the act of laying, but deposited no eggs.

She sometimes curled her body round leaves of Phlox that were growing

among the pansies, but seemed to recoil from their rough surface, and left no

egg on them. ;

Most of the eggs were laid on the underside of the outer leaves, a few on

the stalk of the plant. I did a great deal of searching and reading in Mr. de

Nicéville’s invaluable book “ The Butterflies of India, Burmah and Ceylon,”

to find out what my caterpillars were, but in vain. Mr. A. Grahame Young’s

description of the larva of a Kulu specimen there given is as follows :—“ Larva.

Head and legs black, body black ; this colour, however, almost obscured by

the orange-tawny markings ; a broad orange-tawny dorsal stripe ; four straight

horizontal simple black spines on the head; spines on the pectoral segments

black ; on the abdominal segments pink, tipped with black; on the caudal

segments pink, faintly black tipped.’”’ Mine were all black, except the orange-

tawny dorsal stripe ; and all the spines were black.

Presently they went into pupz, suspending themselves by the tail from

the top of the cage. When the imago emerged, I was equally surprised and

delighted to find ita beautiful Argynnis niphe. Males and females emerged

in about equal numbers. One lusus nature, a male, had one wing as in the

ordinary male, and the other as in the ordinary female !

I expected to have a second brood from the eggs laid by the female caged

on the pansies, but the ants ate up every one. I cannot imagine how any-

thing can escape these little pests. I suppose that the first batch of eggs

escaped only by being laid when it was too cold for the ants to move about.

Shortly after the imago emerges, it exudes a few drops of a bright crimson

fluid. It is this fluid which has given rise in Hurope to the tales of “ showers

of blood.” Sometimes species of Vanessa and Pyrameis emerge as butterflies

in large numbers simultaneously, each butterfly deposits its drops of red fluid,

and hence the popular scare of a bloody shower !

I saw an imago on the wing to-day (9th April) ; but I have seen no second

brood of caterpillars.

The following is the biography of a beautiful specimen from the egg to

the killing-bottle :—

February 18th.—Put into a cage a pansy with one egg on it.

March 6th.—Larva emerged, made its first meal off the egg-shell, and then

proceeded to eat a tender shoot of the pansy. It changed its

skin on the night of the 12th, again on the 20th, and again on

the night of the 24th. It left the food-plant on the 27th. On

the 30th the larva suspended itself by its tail to the top of the

cage, and on the morning of the 31st I found it im chrysalis.

April Tth_—The imago emerged—a beautiful female.

Mrs. S. ROBSON.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 153

- 4

Norse spy Mr. pE NICEVILLE.

Argynnis nizhe in its various forms is one of the most interesting of

butterflies. Of all the species of the genus it has the widest geographical

range—from Abyssinia, throughout Southern Asia, to Australia. A more exact

list of localities where it is found may be of interest.

Africa—A byssinia.

Continental Asia—Throughout the Himalayas, Assam, Shan States, Northern

Burma, Punjab (Campbellpore and Rawal Pindi), North-Western

Provinces (Agra), Oudh, Western Bengal (Bankipore and Durbungha),

throughout Southern India (Bombay, Nilgiri and Pulni Hills, Trichino-

poly, Travancore), China (Omei-shan, Wa-shan, Moupin, Chia- -kou-ho,

Chia-ting-fu, Chang-yang, Ichang, Ningpo).

Ceylon.

Sumatra.

Java.

Formosa.

Japan.

Australia—Hunter River, Nerang River, Moreton Bay.

‘Mr. H. J. Elwes remarks that, except Argynnis hanningtoni, Elwes, from

Central Africa, A. niphe is the only species inthe whole genus which has a

tropical habitat. It may also be noted that though it appears to thrive in the

tropics, itis equally happy in temperate climates, where at one stage of its

existence, at any rate, it is annually exposed to severe frosts and snow.

Another most interesting feature is the fact of the great divergence usually

found in the coloration and markings of the opposite sexes. The male is not

strikingly different from other species of the genus Argynnis, but the female

with the apical half of the forewing on the upperside deep purple crossed by

a broad white band is an entirely unique animal. There is no doubt that this

distinctive type of coloration has been acquired by the female as a protection

against its enemies, as, on the wing, that sex passes very well for a Danais

(Limnas) chrysippus, Linnzus, which is a highly protected butterfly. In Java

the female has assumed a slightly different dress, the ground-color of the

upperside being considerably deeper and richer than the Indian form, the

butterfly mimicking Danais (Limnas) bataviana, Moore, which is a dark red

geographical race of D. chrysippus. This geographical race of A. niphe has

been named javanica by Monsieur C. Oberthiir.*

But the most wonderful feature of all with regard to A. niphe is the

occurrence in South India (Trichinopoly and the high range of bills in

Travancore) and in Australia (Hunter and Nerang Rivers and Moreton Bay)

of two geographical races which have females, to all intents and purposes,

similar to their respective males, the distinctive purple ground and white band

* Bull. Soc, Ent. France, sixth series, vol. ix, p. ccxxxv (1889),

154 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

of the forewing above having entirely disappeared! The two species (as they

have been called, though it is perhaps better to treat them as geographical

races) may be indistinguishable the one from the other. I have only seen the

Indian form, which has been named A. castetsi by Oberthtir,* the Australian

form being called A. inconstans by Butler.t It is highly probable that this

form represents the ancestral (atavistic) one of the species,and the typical

A. niphe a more recent development. Itisa matter for interesting speculation

why in all Asia the form found in a most limited area in extreme Southern

India should alone have remained unaltered, while the form occurring over

the immensely wide area enclosed between extreme Hastern Africa and

extreme Western Asia should have shown such great sexual divergence in

coloration and markings.

There are two other points which I may mention. One is the curious fact

that A. niphe does not exist apparently in Southern Burma and the Malay

Peninsula, though it is found to the north in Upper Burma and to the south

in Sumatra ; the other point is the presence in the males of both forms

(typical A. niphe and A. castetsi), occurring in Southern India, on the upperside

of the forewing of raised modified scales (androconia) along a portion of its

length of the first median nervule. This feature is, moreover, absent from

Ceylon specimens, which is again an extraordinary fact, Ceylon being so close

to India, divided from it only by a narrow shallow strait. I may also note that

were sufficient material available from South India, it would probably be

found that typical A. niphe and A. castetsi merge into one another, as I

possess female examples of the former from the Nilgiri Hills, which have the

purple area indistinct and the white bar narrow of the forewing on the

upperside, showing by the partial obsolescence of these especial features a

distinct approach to the ancestral form, as I am inclined to believe A. castetsé

and A. inconstans to be.

* Bull. Soc. Ent. France, sixth series, vol. ix, p. ccxxxy (1889); idem, id, E’tudes

d’ Ent., vol. xv, p. 9, pl. i, fig. 1, female (1891).

? d 7 }.

+ Cist, Ent., vol. i, p. 164, n. 36 (1873).

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 155

No, IX.—SMALL GAME SHOOTING IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

OF BOMBAY.

SEASON 1892-93,

The season of 1892-93 as regards small game sport within a radius of

forty miles of Bombay was a very poor one ; in fact, if a record had been kept

of previous seasons, I believe it would be found to be the poorest we have

had within the last ten years, The heaviest monsoon on record in Bombay

(126°75 inches) and the fair distribution of rain over other parts of Western

India had, I think, a good deal to do with the sport being so bad.

The snipe began to arrive towards the end of September, and one or two were

killed as early as the 17th of that month, but no decent bags were made before

the middle of October, when to all appearance a fairly good season for snipe

might have been expected, During the Diwali holidays (20th to 23rd October)

we had several thunderstorms with heavy rain, flooding the juggers which

had previously held snipe, scattering the birds over the country and driving a

good many away altogether, The rains continued until late in the season,

35°75 inches falling in September, 2°24 in October, and 1°80 in November,

so that the paddy was not cut until fully a month later than usual. This

was also against sport, as October and November are our two best months for

snipe. Jack snipe, if anything, were more abundant this season, judging from

the proportion in the bags of snipe recorded,

There was plenty of water everywhere up-country, and duck were con-

sequently anything but plentiful near Bombay and there is little inducement

for them to come and stay any length of time about Bombay, unless the tanks

up-country are low and the feeding poor.

Quail were conspicuous by their absence, and on juggers where forty to fifty

couple were killed in a day’s shooting during January and February, 1892.

The best bag made in the same months of 1893 was 8 couples for two guns,

and the total killed for this season did not exceed 60 head, chiefly of course

because sportsmen did not find it worth while going after them, the khubber

brought in being so poor. I myself, although shooting pretty regularly

throughout the season, only saw two quail which I shot, one on the 30th

October and the other on the 20th November, There being plenty of grass

and cover for quail up-country accounts for the scarcity down here, although

even in Guzerat the quail season was not so good as in former years.

Partridges and hares were much the same in number as last year, and little

need be said about them, as the sport is so poor and will decrease each season

as long as netting and snaring is allowed to be carried on around Bombay

during the whole year.

Golden plover also made a better show than in former seasons, and _ six to

seven couple picked up in a day’s snipe shooting was not exceptional.

Curlew were in fair numbers along the creeks, and early in the season were not

difficult to obtain, but later on they got very wily and were not easy to approach,

156 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

Of rare cold weather visitants shot or seen L have received no information.

I did not notice any myself,

As far as I can make out, there were twenty-eight sportsmen shooting this

season, and they were out 473 days. The amount of small game killed was

4.022 head, showing the poor total of 8°50 head per gun per diem. The two

largest bags, made of snipe in one day, by three guns, were 104 and 103 head in

November.

Small game killed during the season—

Full Snipe. Jack Snipe.

Septembev.......... WAS fle Gorunee ain cane ate

CCtOber,.....0.0.0--..0r-s 862 A‘)

IN ON CTAB eI He vaseste ater ce 1,184. 169

December,.........s00+0« 801 72

SANUALY.-.se-weereererece 386 49

JEG) OPERA ee acosonsonecse sa 30

Diack cosa dos cseeeecaase 120

Quailess. ces. Wealeeeanees 55

PANES ele seiate iar lewiestesiaten Se 10

JE RIANENS IBES. soodncondeocss 100

285+3,737 = Total...4,022 head.

I have to thank the sportsmen who have kept records of their bags and

who have kindly sent them tome, I only hope that more will do so in the

coming season. I shall be happy to send any one game books gratis for that

purpose if they will apply to me.

The season of 1892-93 is the first in which any sort of record has been

kept of game shot within a radius of forty miles of Bombay, and although from

inadequate infcrmation it can only be called “approximate,” still, if it is

kept up year after year, comparisons can ke made, and the causes shown

why one season is better or worse than another, This will be of interest both

to sportsmen and naturalists.

E, L. BARTON,

Bompay, 1s¢ June, 1893.

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE MEETING HELD ON 23rd FEBRUARY, 1893.

The usual monthly meeting of the members of this Society took place on Thursd wy

the 23rd February, 1893, Dr. D. MacDonald presiding.

NEW MEMBERS.

The following new members were elected :—

His Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria d'Esté

(Vienna), the Hon’ble Mr. A. C. Trevor (Bombay), Major C. B. Wilkieson (Bangalore),

Mr. A. W. Turner (Devacolum), Mr. John A. Douglas (Bombay), Mr. H. 8. Jacob

(Shohagpur), Mr. B. Bruce Foote (Baroda), Mr. A. Corrodi (Bombay), Mr. HE. H.

Hankin (Agra), Mr. Henry Rodgers, M.R.C.V.S. (Bombay), Mr. R. St. J. Walley,

M.R.C.V.S. (Bombay), Lieutenant-Colonel J. M. Hunter (Kathiawar), Mr. A. Conley

(Bombay), Lientenant H. H. Nurse (Ahmedabad), Mr. T. R. Lawrence (Bombay), Dr.

KE. H. Cooke, M.A., M.B. (Bhusawal), Surgeon-Major C. G. W. Lowdell (Poona, C. I.),

Lieutenant R. W. Burton (Raichore), Mr. G. Bildt (Bombay), Mr. G. Bower, B.C.S.

(Mirzapore), Mr. W. Fraser Biscoe (Secunderabad), Mr. W. D. Sheppard, C.S. (Kar-

war), His Highness the Maharajah of Kolhapore, and Lieutenant G. E. Bruce

(Rangoon).

LiFE MEMBERS, _ ;

The Honorary Secretary stated that the following members had availed themselves

of the new Rule and had compounded their subscriptions for life :—(1) H. H. the

Maharajah Scindia of Gwalior, (2) Mr. G. C. Whitworth, C.S., (3) Mr. K. R. Kama,

(4) Mr. D.J. Tata, (5) Mr. H. M. Phipson, (6) 4.1. H. the Archduke of Austria, (7)

Mr. Bomonjee D, Petit, (8) Major H. D. Olivier, R.E., (9) H. H. the Maharajah of

Kolhapore, (10) Major Gerald Martin, (11) Mr. J. M. Coode.

CONTRIBUTIONS DURING JANUARY,

The Honorary Secretary acknowledged having received the following contributions

since the last meeting :-—

a ae RRS ae ls ee

Contribution. Description, | Contributor.

Se eR ee at aa ae

1 Snake (alive) paotobe A seee»| Simotes russellii......,...ee. Mr. P. Benn.

1 Large Scorpion ..... Col. D. Robertson.

fe Sake onssecessceee eee Trimeresurusnamallensis ... Do

1 Short-nosed Fruit Bat ... Cynopterus marginatus......! Mr. W. George.

Snake) waccacseeece see Vipera russellit\ ...2) ssee..| Mir. Bee Elsworthy.

1 Red Spur Fowl

sssreeeeeeoe| Galloperdix spadiceus ......! Capt. P. L. Cox.

A number of Butterflies ...| From SiNGApoOre ...e02.+-++e.0e| Miss N. Prentice.

4 Golden Orioles ........... | Stuffed and mounted in

CASE cecvcese

Mr. C. Maries.

3 Eggs of the Ring-tailed

Fishing Kagle............| Haliactus leucoryphres......| Mr. M. D. Mackenzie.

2 Eggs of the Grey-backed

Sea Eagle s+-ssereeeeeeee] Haliactus leucogaster ...... Mr. E. A. Bulkley.

1 Indian Monitor (alive) ...} Varanus bengalensis ,........| Dr. D. A. d’Monte.

158 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VII.

Contribution. Description. Contributor.

4 Kegs of the Large tee

MOLANIE .cecescacesoeaeee ,.( Phalacrocorax carbo ......-..| Mr. H. Bulkley.

3. Hygs of the black-winged

JECINI® Gooancencngaadq9p6cHa906

TL SIMEIR® cosooqoonsodooadGus6ab06

1 Black-backed Goose

Curiously deformed feet of

IBIB YON, IBIIO Gaqdaeqaconododd g0

iL Ousae's Sim) ss s5oc60cd0080

AUB SIMAITE I dened cecovewe suaweceven

1 Trap-door Spider’s Nest ..

Skeleton of Lynx .........00.

Teratological Specimen ...

AGelirGleWessccsseteeses 65000000 20

UL JRSM cogssogacddee

1 Cobra

A large piece of crystal

iL (CON Socdnoonacn980d ca o.000

1 Skin of the Nilgiri Wild

(GHDENB | cogopoqoeonandacd600000¢

2 Snakes ssc.

ID IPIGANIEIS) codeoqcocesocea00000

Photographs cf Sambur......

.| From Zanzibar

Hvlanus cxeruleus coossreccce.

Vipera russellii ......-...0.00-

Sarcidornis melanonotus ...

Antilopa CerViCapTa ces...

Lutra vulgaris

Ly codon avlicus.......+....00

From Belgaum

Felis caracal

eeccr)essccectre

ecorccccoce ecovcree

Domestic £OWleccresccccsssccers

Trionyx leithii ...............

Platax teira

Naga tripudians .......0..+.

Deeccaccoveescccen

Naga tripudiads .occccscsee ga06

Hermitragus hylocrius

Tropidonotus piscator and

Oligodon subgriseus ......

From Lanowli

From Life

eco

eeocceararcvoevcercacee

.| Mr.

Do.

Capt. B. A. Cole.

Mr. HE. A. Bulkley.

Mrs, Gilbert.

Capt. Sutton Jones.

Mr. V. 8S. Simmonds.

Mr. R. C. Wroughton.

Surgeon-Captain B. Drake-

Brockman.

Do.

B. A. Gupta.

P. Messant.

C. H. Kane.

Isaac Benjamin.

P. J. Tonkin.

Mr.

Mr. A. W. Turner.

Mrs. Grattan Geary.

Do.

Mr. J. D. Inverarity.

MINOR CONTRIBUTIONS

Were also received from Mr. H.H.G. Dunlop, Mr. John Wallace, Mr. J. HB. Whiting,

Mrs. D. Robertson, Mr. R. Bruce Foote, Mr. 8. Melling, and Miss BH. Caddick.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIBRARY.

Life Histories of North American Birds (Bendire) ; in exchange.

List of the Batrachia in the Indian Museum (Sclater) ; presented by the Trustees

of the Indian Museum.

Proceedings of the Manchester Literary Society, Vol. II, No. 2; in exchange.

The Victorian Naturalist for November 1892 ; in exchange.

Scientific results of the second Yarkand Mission ; presented by the Government of

India.

The Canadian Entomologist, November, December, 1892, and January, 1893 ; in

exchange.

Le Monde des Plantes, No. 15 ; in exchange.

Proceedings of the Linnzan Society of New South Wales, Vol. VII, Part 25; in

exchange.

Actes de la Société Scientifique du Chili, Tome II ; in exchange.

Records of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. XXV, Part 4 ; in exchange.

PROCEEDINGS. 159

Journal of the Trinidad Field Naturalists’ Club, presented by Dr. Bevan Rakes,

Histoire Naturelle des Hymenopteres de Madagascar. Les Formicides, par Mons.

A. Forel ; presented by the Author,

The Indian Forester, Vol. XIX, No. 2 ; in exchange.

EXHIBITS.

Mr. C. G. Dodgson, C.S., exhibited some handsome skins of lions which he had

recently shot in Somali land.

JOURNAL No. 3, VOL. VII.

The Honorary Secretary stated that, owing to a mistake on the part of the pub-

lishers, a certain number of the Journals of No. 3, Vol. VII, had been sent out without

any plates. He hoped that members would examine their copies and return them to

him if they contained no illustrations.

ACCOUNTS FOR 1892.

Mr. Andrew Murray, the Honorary Treasurer, placed before the meeting the accounts

for the year ending 31st December, 1892, which showed a cash balance in favour of

the Society of Rs. 2,100-11-9. The accounts were duly passed, subject to the usual

audit, and a hearty vote of thanks was voted to Mr. Andrew Murray for the trouble

he had taken.

PAPERS READ.

The Honorary Secretary read extracts from the following papers:—(a@) The Plant

and its effects on Cattle, by Mr. Jaikrishna Indrajee; () Indian Breeds of Dogs, by

Mr, W. F. Sinclair, C.S.; (¢) Food of the Flying Fox, by Mr. W. F. Sinclair, C.S.; ()

Moonlight Shadows, by Mr. W. F. Sinelair, C.S. ; (¢) Note on Psilotum triquetrum,

by Dr. D. G. Dalgado; (/) Birds observed breeding in Kharaghora, by Mr. H.

Bulkley ; (gy) A Gazelle’s Food, by Lieutenant §. D. Vale, R.I.M.; (2) On the

Occurrence of the Spotted Grey Tree-Creeper at Ahmednugger, by Lieut. H. Ti,

Barnes, F.Z.5.; (/) Measurements of Black-bucks’ Horns, by Mr. B. W. Blood.; (/) A

Lynx attacking a Man, by Dr. H. HE. Drake-Brockman, F.Z.S.

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE MEETING HELD ON 19rH APRIL, 1893.

A meeting of the members of this Society took place on Wednesday, the 19th April,

1893, Dr. G, A. Maconachie presiding.

NEW MEMBERS.

The following gentlemen were elected members of the Society :—=

Mr. Richard Whately (Gcdra), Mr. C. W. Waddington (Rajkote), Lieutenant C. R.

M. Hutchinson (Bakloh), Mr. J. F, Snuggs (Hurdah), Mr. W. A. Wallinger (Surat),

Colonel H. Wylie, C.S.1. (Nepal), Dr. Popat Prabhulal Vaidya (Bombay), Surgeon-

Captain Baman Das Basu (Rajkote), Mr. Tribhovandas Kalliandas Gujjar (Baroda),

Dr. Eduljee Nusserwanjee (Bombay), and Mr. G. R. Lowndes (Bombay).

160 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

CONTRIBUTIONS.

Mr. H. M. Phipson, the Honorary Secretary, then acknowledged the following con-

tributions which had been received since the last meeting :—

CONTRIBUTIONS DURING MARCH.

Contribution.

A five-horned Sheep (alive).

Indian Monitor (alive)...

Lynx (alive) -secsersereeers

Bears (alive)

White-handed

(alive)

Large Kudu Skin sees...

Dik-dik Skin cccsocoeere. He

Gazelle Skin

Oryx Skin

Gazelle Skin

Snake

Shoveller

A Collection of Sea Fish ...

A Collection of 48 Birds’

Skins

Peete

eooresoe ececsce

@oeccotOorer vor

eocevovcacce

0 20cce cc 000 re. 000%

RSS ee

1 Hedgehog (alive) crerre..

A Collection of Precious

StOMES ceccecceecvcccere

1 Large Ant Nest esecosresse.

Bones of a Dodo

1 Booby ccecesceacee severeeerere

8 Panther Cubs «csrcccee.-. eve

2 Red Jungle Cocks’ Skins.

ecocksocoeee

5 Wild Cats’ SKinS cosse.

L Shieldrake ccccssccssccsceees

Various botanical specimens

1 Snake

1 Cobra

1 Hornbill’s Nest ....-.

1 Vampire Bat 336

1 Snake

pvocccoooreccss 000 ecooece

soo c0e

evcceccaotercoesoovecece®

NEAR RE WR ER Be eee

1 Tiger Cub....coscccccresceeeee

Geological Specimens

1 Indian Oriole (alive)-:-...

1 Snake (alive)

1 Grey Hornbill

1 Cobra...ccccccseocsccnesserorers

Geoveeccoece

.| Oryx beisa

.| Lycodon aulicus..

.| Lycodon travancoricus

| Ly codon avlicus..ccoscercercee

....| Oligodon subgriseus o-..++-.

| Coluber helena ..- co... e000.

.| Dendrophis pictus

Description.

From Arabia ....

Varanus bengalensis

Felis caracal

Melursus UFSINUS cvcrerecceee

escccceee a

scoccerce

ececccrececorancce

Hylobates lar ....sssssccecve..

Strepsiceros kudu .,

Neotragus saltianis

Gazella scemMe?Tringli ......

ene c0ewoeene COB ecacce

Gazella walleri .....c-ccccseve

Spatula dypeata ....

From Colombo

@voccoresccucce

HUErompNE © actaricseaskesiecsases

Erinaceus collaris

e@vcccecccecs

From Nasik ..ccoscocce.ssscveeee

From Rodriguez

Do.

Foetal specimens

Gallus ferrugineus corccerceee 6

Felis bengalensis ...

Felis OLMata.ccescccesescccers

Felis sp. (unidentified) ...

Tadorna COLPNUtA..cccccccrecce

FLOM GOdeccoecccesee

eceacce

eorrt-aoocce

evcccarcesce

Megaderma LyTa o...0-.-- eoe-n<

Silybura brevis .s-.ssecceewees

Silybura maculata ....-.eee-

Platyplectrurus sanguineus.

Trop. beddomii ...+.sceseee..-

| Trop. stolatus -osrsecccccoeeses

.| Trop. plumbicolor

Dipsas ceylonensis «..+0....+.

Dryophis mycterizans ......

Trim. anamallensis...c0 0...

Trim, MacLolePiS-cererceceeseee

Foetal specimen ...cccceeeeeees

From Australia ......scccsss0-

Oriolus KUNGOO ceerecevereoees

Trop. plumbicolor ........ce0.

Ocyceros DirOstTis .o0.+secere

Naga tripudians..........+-.

Contributor.

Mr. N. M. Patel.

Mr. P. J. Tomkins,

Capt. H. Parry.

Do.

Mr. H. P. Gallwey.

Mr. C. G. Dodgson, C. 8.

Do.

Mr. B. W. Blood.

Mr. EK. L. Barton.

Major W. G. Forbes.

'Mr. H.C. Stuart-Baker.

Mr. P. B. Foote.

Mr, F. Fischer.

Mr. H. M. Gibbs.

H. HE. Adml. Kennedy.

Do.

Mr. W. F. Sinclair, C.8.

Mr. F. 8, Bullock.

Capt. Thornhill.

Lt. G. Farquharson, R.H.

Mr. C. de Figueiredo.

Mr, 4. Francke.

...| Mr. EH, A. Cooke.

eee Cole We Scott:

Mr. W. B. Smith.

Mr. H. 8S. Ferguson

Travancore,

Do.

Mr, W. A. Wallinger.

Capt. Mortleman.

Dr. Douglas Bennett.

Dr. A. K. Stewart.

Major Fenton.

Dr. K. R. Kirtikar,

PROCEEDINGS, 161

Minor ContRIBUTIONS.—From Mr. H. ¥. Hatch, Col. C. E. Hussey, Mr. C. Hud-

son, Mr. John Grifiths, and Mr. H. EH. M. James, C.S.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIBRARY,

The Bombay Materia Medica (Khory), from Dr. M. D, Gama,

The Oriental Sporting Magazine from 1858 to 1879, from the Hon. Mr. A. F,

Beaufort.

Records of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. XX VI, Part I ; in exchange.

Memoires de la Socicté Zoologique de France pour 1892 ; in exchange.

DESIDERATA.,

The Honorary Secretary stated that he was anxious to obtain sketches or photo-

graphs of typical specimens of the different breeds of Indian dogs, such as the

Wanjari Hounds (Brinjaris), Thilari Hounds, Luts, Polygars, §c., for reproduction

in the Journal, and he hoped that members up-country would assist the Society in

this respect. He further stated that a series of coloured plates would appear in the

Journal, illustrative of the indigenous orchids of Western India. Good specimens in

flower were wanted, and should be sent by post, packed in cotton wool (up to Ist

June), to Mrs, Griffiths, Matheran, who had kindly offered to make the sketches.

PAPERS RHAD.

The following papers were then read, and a yote of thanks was passed to the

contributors :—(1) The Fauna and Flora of the Kachin Hills, by Capt. G. H. H.

Couchman; (2) The Poisonous Plants of Bombay, Part IV, by Surgeon-Major

K. R. Kirtikar ; (3) Miscellaneous Notes:—(@) A Bold Panther, by Captain

P. L. Cox; (0) Measurement of Sambur Horns, by Col. Kenneth Mackenzie ; (¢)

Ducks, by C. D. Lester; (@) The Giant Betel-nut Palm, by C. Hudson; (¢) The

Habits of the Coppersmith Barbet, by W. F. Sinclair, C.8S.; () The Breeding

Season of the Sarus Crane, by H. Bulkley; G) A Butterfly attracted by Tobacco

Smoke, by R. G. Oxenham.

Laan teats

RanlAd ©

Ar) $1

Ml Pc

WE Bae

Journ. Bombay Nat.Hist Soc, Plate A.

est

Mintern Bros. Chromo lith. London.

. STAPHIDIA CASTANEICEPS=:

The Chestnut-headed Staphidia

E.C.S Baker del.

JOURNAL

OF THE

Js) (GD) AB as as Oe

dlatural History Society,

Wo. 2.| BOMBAY. [Vol. VIII.

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR.

A CATALOGUE

OF THE PASSERIFORMES, CORACHFORMES, AND THE ORDER

PSITTACI OF THE SUB-CLASS CICONIIFORMES,

By E, ©. Stuart Baker,

(With Plate A.)

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society

on 6th September, 1893.)

The three orders aboyenamed include all of what are popularly known

as “small birds.” To take up the remaining orders of the Crconiiformes

and the other two sub-classes, Galliformes and Struthioformes,1 should

require to expend at least two years in thoroughly working up the heavy

bheel land running along the foot of the hills, the whole of which swarms

with water-birds all the year round, and in the cold season is visited,

in addition, by numerous migrants. To do this I have neither time nor

opportunity, and I therefore make known the results of six years’

work amongst the sub-classes mentioned, ina country teeming with

bird-life, thinking it better to do this than wait until I can give a

163 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

complete list of all the birds obtainable—a thing to be desired no doubt,

but which I may never accomplish.

Before commencing the catalogue itself, it may be advisable to give

a brief description of the country in which I have worked. North

Cachar in a small space gives as great a variety of country as most

places of more than fifty times its area. -To the whole of the south the

country is covered with ranges of rugged hills, the principal of which

is the Barail range. The mountains of this part are in height from 2,000

feet up to some 4,000 feet, or rather more, and the only valleys of any

importance are those of the Jetinga River inthe West and of the Jiri

and Jennam in the Hast ; these two latter running parallel with one

another for about forty miles almost due south, and finally meeting in the

plains of Cachar. As the centre of the sub-division is approached, more

especially in the centre and west, the hills become less rugged, and do not

run, with the exception of a few isolated peaks, above 2,500 to 3,000

feet. In the central east the Hungroom and Léré range towers above

all others. Hungroom stockade is some 5,400 feet high, and all round are

peaks 600 to 800 feet higher, whilst a few miles distant across the Jiri and

in Manipur territory are hills yet higher than these. Leaving Gunjong,

which is just about the centre of the district, and working due north,

the hills grow lower and lower until at the extremity of the sub-division

one comes to a quantity of low-lying ground, in part covered, during the

rains, with swamps and marshes overgrown with dense ekra and sun

grass, but principally bearing evergreen forest, more or less broken up

by patches of dry sun grass land and bamboo jungle. To the west and

north-west is a lovely country of rolling hills and plateaux—a country

consisting almost entirely of sun grass land, bearing a scattered growth

of oak-forest, intermixed here and there with a few pines, whilst in the

pockets and hollows the very thickest of forest, with close undergrowth,

grows unrestrained. Here also are one or two upland valleys, of which

the Umrang plateau is the chief, a great open space of gently undulating

ground, covered with grass and merely dotted with single trees or small

clumps growing on the higher parts: during the rains and even to a

certain extent at other periods the hollows contain either stagnant

water or slowly-running springs, some of which are brackish and entice

every kind of wild animal into their neighbourhood. At the lowest

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 164

part of this runs the Kopili, a largish stream, but full of rapids and

water-falls, rendering even the transport of timber impossible. Thus,

then, there is a country to meet the needs of almost every kind of bird ;

on the bigger rivers the bolder king-fishers and bee-eaters, many fly-

catchers, thrushes, fork-tails, &e., breed, whilst the densely-shaded

nullahs, in gloomy evergreen forest, afford shelter to the Great Indian

King-fisher and other shy, water-loving birds; in the marsh lands

running along the south all kinds of babblers, reed warbles, &c., have a

haunt after their own hearts, and such as require open dry grass country

have only to visit Umrang, the hot springs, or similar places. Hungrum

and its lofty peaks afford a home for the tits, rarer thrushes, and

babblers, who will not descend below 400 feet. Even the tree-creeper,

wryneck, and many wrens find this part sufficiently lofty to tempt

them to stay and breed ; whilst nuthatches abound in the evergreen

forest in the valleys of the two small streams Laisung and Mahor.

As regards classification, all I need say is that I have adopted that of

Oates as given in the volumes of the Avifauna in the Blanford Series ;

for though there are certain details with which I do not agree in this

work, still there is no system which pleases every one, and I do not

know of any existing classification which is better or, indeed, as good ;

whilst as regards making one for myself, I am utterly incapable of

doing so, and fortunately have not yet developed sufficient self-conceit

to attempt the task. One word I must say, and that is, that it seems

to me as if Oates, good and thorough ornithologist as he is, has

thought fit to create a sub-family (Liotrichine) merely as a sort of waste

land with a placard up, “ All rubbish may be shot here,” and in the

waste land he has shot whatever he did not know how to dispose of

otherwise. No argument on the formation of their bones will make me

believe that Cutia, digithina, Chloropsis, Melanochlora, Psaroglossa, and

Chalcoparia (Eulables too Oates suggests) should be massed together

as they are.

The only references I have made are to Oates’ work and to Hume’s

catalogue, and this latter, of course, includes Jerdon.

The notes I have given are for the most part very brief, and I have

only launched out into lengthy details in regard to birds about whose

nidification or habits nothing has yet been recorded, or about which J

165 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIII

think I have something new to tell. In one or two cases I have also

given brief notes as to measurements and descriptions, The principal

fact that will be noticed is the very large number of Burmese forms

given, and how they and the Indian forms come together. Again, in a

few cases, such as Hemipus obscurus and Crsticola cursitans, forms re-

appear here with apparently an immense extent of country intervening

between North Cachar and the place where they next appear.

Sub-Clas PASSERIFORMES.

Order PASSERS,

Family CoRvIpAE.

Sub-family Corvine.

(1) Corvus macrornyncnus.—The Jungle Crow.

Oates, No. 4; Hume, No. 660.

Common everywhere. Breeds in these hills principally in the latter

part of March and April. Wing averages here about 13:4", Bill 2-45".

(2) CoRVUS SPLENDENS.—Indian House Crow.

Oates, No. 7; Hume, No. 663.

Only occurs in the hills as a very rare straggler, and that only very

close to the plains.

(3) Uroorssa occrprratis.—The Red-billed Blue Magpie.

Oates, No. 12; Hume, No. 671.

I have only met with one specimen of this bird—a female caught

on the nest. This was obtained at Hungrum ata height of about

5,200 feet.

(4) CIssaA CHINENSIS.—The Green Magpie.

Oates, No. 14 ; Hume, No. 673.

Common from the plains up to about 4,000 feet. Often feeds on

high trees, especially during the cold season. Is occasionally found in

small parties, probably consisting of the parent birds and their last

brood. It seems possible that this bird may sometimes have two

broods in the year, for, though the majority of eggs are to be found in

April and early May, I have found them again breeding in the end

of July and August. In May, 1890, a nest containing three young

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 166

ones was found ina well-wooded ravine, and in August the same year

another nest was taken from the same tree containing four eggs,

They lay from four to five eggs.

(5) DmenprocitTa RuFA.—The Indian Tree Magpie.

Oates, No. 16 ; Hume, No. 675.

Rare in this district, being replaced by the next.

(6) D. numaLAYensis.—The Himalyan Tree Magpie.

Oates, No. 18; Hume, No. 676.

The common type in North Cachar.

(7) D. FRontaLIs.—The Black-browed Tree Magpie.

Oates, No. 19 ; Hume, No. 667.

_ This bird is by no means rare on the higher peaks, but does not appear

ever to descend below 3,000 feet, and very seldom below 4,000. _ In its

habits there is little to note that is different from the better known

species of the genus, but it is on the whole a less noisy bird. The

flocks number from 4 to 7 or 8, and I am inclined to believe consist

merely of the old birds and their last brood of young ones. The nest

is in most cases a very flimsy construction, in general shape and size

much like that of D. himalayensis, but perhaps even more flimsy and

smaller. The materials consist of fine elastic twigs, and the coarse

tendrils of some climbing plant ; occasionally the latter article is alone

used. There is seldom any lining, though I have once or twice seen

hair used, and now and then a little stout grass or fern roots may be

placed at the bottom of the nest. In size the nests average about

5" in diameter, the hollow being from one to two inches in depth. They

are often placed very low down and generally below 6 feet. One nest

taken at Hungrum was on a strong weed, in a fork about two and half

feet from the ground.

The eggs resemble those of the D. himalayensis, but are, as a rule,

more densely and boldly marked. The most common ground-colour is a

greenish-grey, and the markings consist of blotches of dark olive-green.

I have taken no eggs with the pale salmon tint, so common amongst

the eggs of D. rufa. They average rather smaller than the eges

of the other species, and are also comparatively a somewhat broader

oval ; 28 eggs averaged 1:10" * 84",

167 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII

The bill is black, legs almost quite black, sometimes with a dull

brown tinge. ‘The irides are crimson or crimson-brown.

Sub-Family Parine.

(8) Parus atriceps.—The Indian Grey Tit.

Oates, No. 31; Hume, No, 645.

Very rare here.

(9) P. monticoLa.—The Green-backed Tit.

Oates, No. 34; Alume, No. 644.

I obtained a single specimen of this bird at Guilong—about 4,000

feet elevation—in 1888.

(10) ANGITHALISCUS MANIPURENSIS.—Hume’s Red-headed Tit.

Oates, No. 36.

Not very rare towards the eastern part of the district. Those ob-

served by me were all feeding on high trees keeping in small parties

and uttering a constant, rather loud, chirp.

(11) Syivrearus mopEestus.—The Yellow-browed Tit.

Oates, No. 40 ; Hume, No. 682.

Recorded by Godwin-Austen from the Barail range. I have never

met with this bird.

(12) MacHLoLopHus sprtonotus.—The Black-spotted Yellow Tit.

Oates, No. 41 ; Hume, No. 649.

I fee only seen this bird in the scattered oak forests towards the

north-west of North Cachar, and even there it is by no means common.

Sub-Family Paradoxornithine.

(13) PARADOXORNIS FLAVIROSTRIS.—The Yellow-billed Crow Tit.

Oates, No. 51; Hume, No. 378.

The female differs from the male in having the chin and throat

suffused with earthy-brown.

This bird is not uncommon ata good many places about 3,000 ft.,

generally keeping to the valleys, where there is lots of sun grass or ekra

jungle. It frequents, however, almost any sort of jungle other than

deep forest. I have most often met with it in mixed grass and bamboos.

Throughout the cold weather it is found in flocks, sometimes number-

ing as many as a dozen individuals, but more often only about 7 or 8.

It isa very shy bird and very chary of taking to flight, but is a great

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 168

adept at concealing itself, so that one may often be within a few yards

of a party, their movements shown by the waving of the grasses, yet

never obtain a sight of one of them. When they imagine themselves

free from observance, they often mount to the tops of the reeds and now

and then take short flights into the air, much in the manner of some of

the Prinzas. This bird is undoubtedly in part a fruit-eater, for in the

stomach of one I examined there were a few seeds, which proved to be

the seed of a small plum-like berry, the fruit of a climbing plant, which

was very abundant at the place where the bird was shot. The nest is a

deep cup, very strongly and compactly made. The diamater across the

top is from 3°83" to 4", and in depth it is rather more than 2-5" to nearly

3”. Internally it measures about 2°5" across by 2” in depth. Now

and then the nest is shallow in shape, but such are very rare.

The materials are composed of shreds of grass, a few narrow strips of

bamboo leaves, occasionally a dead leaf or two, and still more rarely a

few very fine elastic twigs. The lining is always the same and consists

invariably of very fine pieces torn from the inner bark of ekra stems,

which are in colour a bright yellow. There appears to be but little at-

tempt at concealment. Ifthe nest is placed on a tree, it is generally fixed

toa small upright fork, some 6 to 10 feet from the ground, which is

almost devoid of foliage and, if placed in a bamboo clump, it is always

near the outside and often in a most conspicuous situation.

The most common type of egg has the general colour a very pale

greenish-white, and the markings consist of scanty spots varying in size

from minute freckles to large blotches, and in colour a pale umber or

olive-brown with other markings underlying them of a still paler shade

of the same colour. Here and there are also a few very short-twisted

lines of dark umber. In other eggs the markings are the same, but the

ground-colour has a brownish or yellowish tinge, and in a few the ground

is very nearly white.

One clutch of two eges in my collection is quite white with a few

very faint pinky or purply-brown specks at the larger end. With the

exception of this clutch, in none of my eges do the markings tend to

form a ring or cap, though they are very irregularly distributed over

the surface of the eggs. The eggs vary in number from two to

four ; I have found the former number hard set on three occasions.

The texture is fairly close, though chalky and fragile, and the surface

169 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

is smooth, in one or two cases showing a faint gloss. In shape the

eggs are fairly regular ovals, though less so than those of Seworhynchus.

They measure from °86” to ‘92" in length and in breadth from °63" to

‘68! ; the average of 11 eggs is *88" & °66”.

(14) P. qurraticottis.—Austen’s Crow Tit.

Oates, No. 52; Hume No. 373.

I had a bird of this species brought to me at Laisung. It was said

to have been killed from the same party as were two birds of the last

species which were brought to me at the same time.

(15) SurHora RuFIcEPSs.—The smaller Red-headed Crow Tit.

Oates, No. 58 ; Hume, No. 377.

Recorded by Godwin-Austen from Cachar,

(16) S, ATRISUPERCILIARIS.—The Black-browed Crow Tit.

Oates, No. 59.

A distinct ring of white feathers round the eye ; the feathers of the

lores and chin with prolonged black shafts. Maxilla fleshy, the culmen

and base a little darker and becoming bluish close to the forehead,

mandible pale fleshy, the gonys almost white, irides light, rather

bright brown, legs pale, clear bluish plumbeus, claws paler still,

length 5°85", wing 2°3", tail 3:9": bill at front -41” and from the

gape 46", tarsus °88". The first bird of this species that I ever saw was

one shot by one of my collectors, who, with one discharge, killed three

of these birds (two being lost by him afterwards), and a Scworhynchus

ruficeps. The birds were shot in rather heavy bamboo jungle, and

were part of a flock of some 16 to 20 birds, the Suthora being in the

majority. The bird from which the above details of description were

taken wasa male in beautiful condition. Its stomach contained a

mass of grasshoppers and a few small beetles. The bird was shot on

the 11th November, 1892.

Afterwards, during the cold weather, I obtained four more specimens ;

all were clambering about in grass or bamboos when shot, and, strange

to say, twice I saw them in company with Scworhynchus ruficeps, so it

would seem that these two birds are in the habit of keeping together

sometimes as well as are S. Se and Paradoxonis EEE

* Since writing the above I have taken the nest and egg of this Gr ow-tit. The fotn mer is

much like that of Sceorhynchus, but smaller, the egg, however, being totally different in

colour, this being a uniform bright pale blue,

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 170

(17) Scmoruyncnus RuFICEPS.—The Red-headed Crow Tit.

Oates, No. 60 ; Hume, No. 375.

The legs of all my birds have been of a dark slaty-blue ; the soles

paler and duskier.

This bird is by no means rare here. On the Hemeo peak, where it

was obtained by Godwin-Austen, and the surrounding peaks, Hungrum,

the Ninglo range, and Laisung it may constantly be met with, and it is

found, though less often, down to 2,000 feet, and sometimes even in

the plains at the foot of the hills. The description of the nest given

by Gammie would serve for nine-tenths of those found by myself,

though they average somewhat smaller than his. The lining is either

of strips of bamboo or ekra or of fine grasses, but whatever the material

may be, in colour it seems invariably to be a bright yellow.

The eggs vary from two to four in number, and are very much like

those of the Paradowxornis, already described, but are more profusely

marked, and there are generally a good many secondary markings of

very pale purple-grey or neutral tint. In shape they are a regular oval,

and the surface is not as smooth as in the eggs of P. rujiceps.

The shell is also less fragile. The average of 15 eggs is -8" by °62".

They breed from May to the beginning of August. As so little is

known of this bird, I reproduce here the notes which I sent to the

“ Asian” some years ago :—“ Their favourite haunts are thin bamboo

jungle, which they frequent in pairs or small parties of from four to six,

and in such eases I believe the flocks consist merely of the parent birds

and their last brood. Jerdon states that it does not shun observation, but

this remark does not agree with the results of my own experience.

True, as long as the observer is perfectly motionless and silent, the birds

hop about, clambering about the shrubs and creeping amongst the bam-

boos in their search for food, taking but little notice of him, but should

he move hand or foot, or open his mouth to speak, in a minute every bird

has disappeared, not by flying away, but by scrambling from branch to

branch, or at once hiding in dense thicket or the undergrowth and fallen

rubbish. When on trees it is very tit-like in its motions and spends

much of its time in clambering about the smaller twigs and branches,

sometimes hanging head downwards, and in this fashion proceeding

along the lower side of some thin bough. I have also observed it

171 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

amongst reeds and in long grass, where it moves about like the babblers,

taking short flights from reed to reed, alighting on the ground and

then climbing again to the summit of a reed before once more taking

flight. Once when Iwas camping in a jhum or cultivated clearing

on a hill-side, in which the rice was almost ready for reaping, a pair

of these birds used to come daily to feed, one or the other of them

constantly flying off to a clump of bamboos at the edge of the jhum,

where, on investigation, I found a nest containing four young birds

fully fledged and quite ready to fly and, before I left the camp, they

used to come with their parents into the rice field, where they were

fed on the spot by them. They seemed quite unable to assist them-

selves, and from what I could observe the duties of dry nurse were

divided between the old birds, each of them taking care of two young

ones. This was in October and unusually late for the young birds to be

still nestlings.

The principal sound I haye heard them utter is a note sounding like

chir chirrup repeated two or three times quickly. I have heard them

use this note when feeding only. The young birds, when being fed,

fluttered their wings and gave a prolonged chir-r-r.

Another cry, and one which seems to be common to this genus and

Paradoxornis, is exactly like the bleat of a kid, so much so that, when I

first heard it, I mistook it for that sound.

Their flight is level but weak and never long sustained, their feet

being their favourite means of locomotion. If they have to fly across

an open space, they alternately flutter their wings and then spread them

out and sail for a yard or two. When flying, their wings make a soft

whirr unlike that of any other bird I know.

They are chiefly insectivorous, but sometimes eat grain as well,

though both the rice and berries which I have taken once or twice

from their stomachs may have been swallowed together with the

insects which were adhering to them.”

(18) S. euLAris.—The Hoary-headed Crow Tit.

Oates, No. 61; Hume, No. 374.

Tn nidification, habits, and distribution closely similiar to the last bird.

26 egos average °78" by °58",

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 172

Family CRATEROPODIDA.

Sub-family Crateropodine.

(19) Dryonastes RUFICOLLIS.—The Rufous-necked Laughing

Thrush.

Oates, No. 62 ; Humé, No. 410.

Common up to about 3,000 feet, above which it is seldom met with.

(20) D. caruLtatus.—The Grey-sided Laughing Thrush.

Oates, No. 65 ; Hume, No. 408.

Fairly common towards the north-west of the district. All my eggs

are very pale blue-green.

(21) D. sannio.—The White-browed Laughing Thrush.

Oates, No. 67 ; Hume, No. 409.

I have only found this bird on the higher peaks towards Manipur,

and on only one is it at all common.

The nests are very much like those of D. rujicollcs, but are, as a rule,

rather more massive, in some cases measuring as much as 7” across the top

and about 4" in external depth. Internally they measure much the same,

about 3°2" x 2”, The lining is almost invariably of coarse roots and fern

stems, and I have never known any other material used for this pur-

pose. ‘The nests are generally placed in small saplings or high bushes

between 5 and 10 feet from the ground, but one was found ina

sapling about 20 feet high. The eggs are either two or three in

number. I have not taken any nests with four eggs, and have often

seen two eggs much incubated. They area beautiful soft blue-green in

colour, about the same shade as in the eggs of D. cerulatus, yet easily

distinguishable by their satiny appearance. The texture can be best

described by the word already used, sateny, and the surface is very

fine and close, displaying a slight. gloss, always more than in the

eges of JD. cerulatus and never as much as in those of D.

rujicollis, The texture is the same as in the eggs of Trochalopterum

virgatum and T. lineatum and of Statoctchla merulina, but can be dis-

tinguished from the former by their greater size, and generally from

the latter by their shape, which isa long oval, somewhat drawn out

towards the smaller end, which is rather blunt.

A series of twenty-four eggs average in size 1:19” ¥ ‘79", and range

in length from 1:12" to 1:26” and in breadth from *76" to 83".

173 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VII1.

This bird is found, as far as I know, only in the thickly-wooded

ravines which run down the sides of bamboo-covered mountains or

evergreen forests. I have never seen the bird during the cold season, so

cannot say whether it collects in flocks or not. It has a fine, loud,

double whistle. I have not heard it chattering like the other laughing

thrushes.

(22) D. GatBanus.—Austen’s Laughing Thrush.

Oates, No. 68 ; Hume, No. 409, Quat.

I have had two nests of this bird brought to me, together with one

of the birds which had been trapped on the nest, and they are therefore

most likely authentic. The nests were deep, massive cups composed

of bamboo leaves, creepers, tendrils, fine twigs and grass and were

lined with coarse fern roots and fern stems. In size they were

about, externally, 8°5” across by some 6” deep, internally about 4” by 4”.

Another nest much the same, but less massive, was shown to me as

belonging to this bird ; but it was apparently deserted, for, though

I waited a long time to watch for the parents, neither of them turned

up. All three nests were placed in tangles of wild raspberries and

other creepers. The normal number of eggs seems to be three,

and in appearance they are hardly to be distinguished from the eggs

of Garrulax lencolophus, which they closely resemble in colour (pure

white), shape and texture, but they have their surface less pitted and

they also average larger, viz., 1:22" by °93".

(23) GARRULAX LENCOLOPHUS.—The Himalyan White-crested

Laughing Thrush.

Oates, No. 69 ; Hume, No. 407.

Common everywhere.

(24) G. pecroraLis.—The Black-gorgeted Laughing Thrush.

Oates, No. 73 ; Hume, No. 418.

My eggs, a series of 100, average longer than Hume’s measure-

ments and at the same time are not so broad, being 1:2” by -83” as

against 1:07" by °85" in “ Nests and Hggs” (vol. I, p. 81). I have

some eggs quite as pale blue as the eggs of Dryonastes rujicollis, but

they are devoid of any gloss.

(25) G. MontLigzR.—The Necklaced Laughing Thrush.

Oates, No. 74; Hume, No. 412.

Common everywhere.

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 174

(26) G. guLarts.—The Macelelland’s Laughing-Thrush.

Oates, No. 74 ; Hume, No. 409, Ter.

This bird has already been recorded from Luckipur in Cachar.

I have found it fairly common to the east of the district at heights

over 3,500 ft., very rare below this and never below 2,000 ft.,

whereas Luckipur is in the plains and well away from the Hills.

The nest is atypical laughing thrush’s, much like that of G. monziliger,

but the bird seems to have a strong predilection for tendrils, and I

have seen nests composed entirely of this material and lined with the

usual black fern and moss roots.

The nest is placed at all heights from the ground up to about 20

feet, generally from 4 to6 feet. The eggs are either two or three in

number, and are, strange to say, of two types, either pure white or very

pale blue ; the same colour as the eggs of D. rujicollis. In shape they

are rather long ovals, often rather drawn out and pointed ; the shell is

very stout with a fine close texture and has a decided gloss, almost as

much as in the eggs of the Dryonastes just mentioned.

Twenty-eight eggs average 1°15” by *80" or rather less ; they vary in

length from 1:04” to 1:21” and in breadth from 76” to 84”, My series

of eggs originally embraced eggs of every shade from pure white to

decided blue, and with many eggs, when placed by themselves, it was

difficult to say whether they had any tinge of blue or not, nor was it

until they were placed beside really white eggs that the blue tint

showed.

(27) GaRRULAX ALBIGULARIS.—The White-throated Laughing-Thrush,

Oates, No. 76 ; Hume, No. 411.

Very rare everywhere.

(28) TaNTHOCINELA CINERACEA.—The Ashy Laughing-Thrush.

Oates, No. 79 ; Hume No, 418, Ter.

I shot two of these birds, both males, in June, 1890. The birds were

two of a largish flock which were scrambling about some brushwood

by the side of the road running over the Hengmai Peak at an elevation

of about 6,000 feet. This party of birds were chattering and calling to

one another just like a party of Garrulax leucolophus.

(29) I. nurreuLaris.—The Rufous-chinned Laughing-Thrush.

Oates, No. 80 ; Hume, No. 421.

Common above 4,000 feet. Often lays two eggs only. Breeds here

from April to June, seldom later.

175 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

(30) I. ausreni.—The Cachar Laughing-Ihrush.

Oates, No. 81; Hume, No. 417, Bis.

I note this bird simply on the strength of its name. I have not

either volume III or volume XI of Stray Feathers with me to refer te,

and do not know in what part of Cachar Godwin-Austen obtained it.

(31) TRocHALOPTERUM CHRYSOPTERUM.—The LHastern Yellow-

winged Laughing-Thrush.

Oates, No. 84 ; Hume No. 415, Bis.

The habits, nidification, and eggs of this bird are just the same as

those of 7’. phaenicium. The eggs average 1:1" by -76".

_ (82) T. pHaxicrtum.—The Crimson-winged Laughing-Thrush.

Oates, No. 92; Hume, No. 420.

Common everywhere.

(33) T. sguamatum.—The Blue-winged Laughing-Thrush.

Oates, No. 92; Lume, No. 420.

I have seen no birds here of the 7. melanurum type, all having

bronze tails, not black. I believe that eventually T. melanurum will

prove distinct from 7. squamatum.

Oates is undoubtedly right in what he says regarding the colour

of the lores in relation to the sex of this species, two females taken by

me on their nests in May, 1891, both had grey lores; a male shot the

same month had lores which might have been described as fulvous-

grey.

(34) T. vircatum.—The Manipur Streaked Laughing-Thrush.

Oates, No. 98 ; Hume, No, 425, Bis.

Is not very rare on the high peaks to the east of the district where

it breeds.

The nest is much like that of Ianthocinela, but is more stoutly built

and much deeper. The tendrils also, of which it is to a great extent

composed, are always much mixed with grasses, roots and fine bents,

and sometimes also with a few bamboo leaves, the last more especially

when it is built close to the ground. The lining is always of fern roots

and fern stalks with a few moss roots intermixed. Asa rule I have

found the nests either in thick high bushes or in small trees standing

amongst the same and built between four and eight feet from the

ground, but on more than one occasion I have taken it from a mass of

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 176

vegetation where it rested, practically, on the ground itself. It appears

to be a more compact and smaller nest than that built by its nearest ally,

T. lineatum (Hume’s “ Nests and Eggs,” 2nd edition, Vol. I, p. 65).

The eggs are the same in colour as those of that bird, 2. ¢., of a pale blue

green, rather brighter than the average run of Laughing Thrush’s eggs,

and having the peculiar satiny texture already referred to in describing

the eggs of S. merulina.

Highteen eggs, average 1” x73", which is almost exactly the same as

the average of the fifty-eight eges of T. lineatuwm measured by Oates.

(35) GRAMNOPTILA AUSTENI.—Austen’s Striated Laughing-Thrush,

Oates, No. 102.

I got two of these birds in 1887 on the Hengmai Peak, and at that

time wrongly identified them asa local variety of G. striata. They

were undoubtedly, however, of this species. The following year I got

another bird which, like the former two, was caught on its nest, and

this time the nest contained three eggs,

This, the only one of the three nests I examined, was exatly like

that described by Gammie in the second edition of Hume’s *' Nests and

Eggs” (Vol. I, p. 67), but was just one inch broader—that is to say, it

was 8°5" across at the widest part and was rather less than 6" deep ;

internally it was 5" in diamater and 2°3" deep, There were a good

many scraps of bracken fronds used in its construction, besides masses of

green moss, grasses and few tendrils. The lining was of moss roots

only. This nest was in a bush, well hidden and less than 5 feet from the

ground.

The eggs, which, alas have since been broken, were, as far as I

remember, exactly like a pair of eggs 1 have in my collection of

G. striata which were given to me by Mr. H. Edwin Barnes. They

measured 1:3" +93", 1:3"%°92" and 1:26"%°87". The third egg

was very remarkably smaller than the other two. There were no signs

of marks on them.

(36) STACTOCICHLA MERULINA.—The Spotted-breasted Laughing-Thrush.

Oates, No. 103 ; Hume, No. 418, Bis.

I never came across this bird until April, 1891, and during that

month I obtained at least a dozen and about the same number of nests

1477 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIII,

with eggs, most of the birds being caught with hair nooses on their nests,

These are bulky, rather shallow cups made of moss and moss roots, grass,

bamboo leayes, and fern and bracken fronds, the lining being generally

of fern and moss roots, sometimes of very fine twigs or tendrils. The

materials are generally fairly well put together, and the nest, when new,

is strong and compact, but, owing to the situation in which it is placed,

soon becomes damp and rotten. It averages some 7! across by about 4"

externally, the hollow being about 3°5", or rather more in diameter, and

seldom over 2" deep. It is invariably placed near the ground and often

almost, if not quite, on it. All the nests I saw were taken from ever-

green forest with an undergrowth of fern, bracken and brambles.

The eggs, three innumber, closely resemble those of G. moniliger, but

are broader on the whole and the surface is far more satiny, often

showing a fair amount of gloss. Thirty eggs average 1:14” x 81".

All my eggs were taken in April and May.

Thave only met with this bird in one place, namely, the valley of

the Laisung, at an elevation of about three to four thousand feet. The

birds kept principally to the evergreen forests, but were also noticed in

bamboo jungle on several occasions. At this place it is very common,

but I have not met with a single specimen elsewhere. It is a very shy

bird and, as Hume says, a terrible skulk.

(387) ARGYA EARLII.—The Striated Babbler.

Oates, No. 104; Hume, No. 489.

Only occurs as a strageler from the plains in the low-lying grass

lands on the borders of Nowgong.

(88) A. cAUDATA.—The Common Babbler.

Oates, No. 105; Hume, No. 488.

I have been told by a friend that this bird had been killed by him at

the foot of the North Cachar Hills, but I very much doubt whether it

was correctly identified.

(39) A. LonarrostRis.—The Small Rufous Babbler.

Oates, No. 109 ; Hume, No. 386.

(40) CratEropus canorus.—The Jungle Babbler.

Oates, No. 110 ; Hume, No. 434,

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR, 178

(41) PomMAToRHINUS scHISTICEPSs.—The Slaty-headed Scimitar Babbler.

Oates, No. 116 ; Hume, No. 402.

The common type below 3,000 feet. Often lays only three egos,

and sometimes only two.

(42) P. ottvaceus.—The Tenasserim Scimitar Babbler,

Oates No. 118; Hume, No. 403, Bis.

In 1888 I had a female of this species brought to me which had

been trapped in the nest.

(43) P. reERRUGINOSUS.—The Coral-billed Scimitar Babbler.

Oates, No. 122; Hume, No. 401.

The nests I have taken of this bird have been of the usual rough and

loose manufacture typical of the species and were not at all well made

like the one mentioned by Gammie (Hume’s “ Nests and Eggs,” vol. I,

p- 86), Most of those I have found were placed at the foot of bamboo

clumps and more or less buried amongst the dead leaves and rubbish

collected round them. As with the other Pomatorhini, this species

frequently lays only two eggs.

(44) P. pHAyRu.—Phayre’s Scimitar Babbler.

Oates, No. 124; Hume, No, 401, Bis.

This species is very common about 3,000 feet, but below that height

I have very seldom met with it. I have taken numerous nests,

and the distinctive feature of its nesting is that it more often than

not places its nest in a thick bush at a considerable height from the

ground. Its nest does not differ from that of P. schisticeps, being

the same bulky, globular affair made of bamboo leaves, etc., though

from its situation it is of necessity somewhat more firmly put together.

The average of a dozen eggs is 1°16"%°71". I once took a nest of

this bird from the top of a big bush about seven feet high, and, amongst

the roots, I also found a nest of P. ferruginosus, both nests containing

three eggs. Inthe same valley, that day, I also took nests of P.,

erythrogenys and P. schisticeps and two others of P. phayrii. Scimitar

babblers of all the species mentioned were very plentiful at this place

(the Laisung valley), and P. macclelland: was also met with,

(45) P. eRyTHROGENYS.—The Rusty-checked Scimitar Babbler.

Oates, No. 129; Hume, No. 405.

Not very rare, but very locally distributed, being fairly common in

one valley and not to be seen in the very next,

179 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VITI.

(46) P. maccLELLANDI.—Macclelland’s Scimitar Babbler.

Oates, No. 180; Hume, No. 404, Quat.

Godwin-Austen found this bird in the Barail Range, and I have met

with it on all the ranges between this and Manipur and the Naga Hills.

It is one of the commonest forms to the east, but I have never met with

it on the grass-covered hills tothe north and north-west, where P.

schisticeps, P. rujicollis, and P. ferruginosus are all very common.

The eggs measure 1:09" °76".

The nest is like that of P. erythrogenys, and is usually placed amongst

bamboo roots or the roots of some thick shrub growing on a bank.

(47) P. HypoLEUcUs.—The Arrakan Scimitar Babbler.

Oates, No. 131; Hume, Nos. 405, Bis and Ter.

This babbler does not appear to be rare at the foot of the Hills, but

does not ascend to any height.

(48) XIMPHORAMPHUS SUPERCILIARIS.—The Slender-billed Scimitar

Babbler.

Oates, No. 1388; Hume, No. 406.

A very rate bird. I have met with it barely half a dozen times in

as many years. It seems to keep almost entirely to bamboo jungle, and

during the cold weather collects in small, but noisy, parties. These

birds have a very follow-my-leader style of going along; if one bird

mounts a bush and then hops down again and climbs another, all the

party are sure, one by one, to do just the same. I think these are the

noisiest of all the scimitar babblers, their cries being like the softer notes

of the laughing thrushes, but rather deeper in tone. It is found well

up to 5,000 feet, and the lowest I have observed it was at about 2,400 feet.

It is an early breeder like others of the sub-family, and by the end of

April I fancy they,have nearly finished laying. |

Sub-family Tmeldine.

(49) TiweLEa PrLEATA.—The Red-capped Babbler.

Oates, No. 184; Hume, No. 396.

By no means common anywhere and very local in its distribution.

(50) GAMSORHYNCHUS RUFULUS.—The White-headed Shrike Babbler.

-Oates, No. 187; Hume, No. 384.

‘Oates says that probably the young do not assume the adult plumage

until they are about a year old. Asa matter of fact I believe that they

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. | -. 180

take two years before completing it. A young male which was killed in

August, 1890, and which was the father of four nearly fully-fledged nest~

lings, had but few signs of the adult plumage, and he must have been at

least 14 months old. The female had the adult plumage fully developed.

The nest of this bird was a large oval affair, much like that of the

Pomatorhinz, and was made of bamboo leaves lined with fern roots, narrow

strips of ekra bark and grass. It was placed about six feet high in a thick

clump of bamboos. I have never seen an egg of this bird, but the

natives assure me that it is very much like that of Trochalopterum

phenicium, but marked with a paler colour.

In its habits it is far more like the Crateropodine than the Timeline.

Tt collects in large flocks like most of the members of that family and

is also extremely noisy, uttering incessantly a variety of cries, all more

or less like the notes of Garrulax leucolophus, but less harsh, nor has it the

so-called laughing note of that bird ; though it has another equally fit

to be called a laugh. Nearly all the birds I have seen have been in

bamboo or thick grass jungle; indeed I can recall to mind no instance

of ever having seen them in any other. They are not shy birds, and

I have sometimes remained within easy shot of a party for nearly half

an hour, following them up as they made their way along the bamboo

tops, to all seeming causing them no anxiety or annoyance by my

proximity, though one would now and then mount a bamboo close to me

and loudly expostulate with me, not so much in fear as in contempt for

my curiosity. They are comparatively active on the wing also, far

more so than any other of the Zimelzne that I have closely observed,

and. altogether I am inclined to think that it will eventually have to be

placed with the Crateropdine rather than in its present position.

(51) Pyctoruts stneNsIs.—The Yellow-eyed Babbler.

Oates, No. 189; Hume, No. 385.

Common everywhere in suitable localities up to nearly 3,000 feet.

(52) PELLORANEUM MANDELLU.—Mandelli’s Spotted Babbler.

Oates, No. 142; Hume, No. 399, Bes.

The common form of Pelloraneum in these hills. Some time ago an

article appeared in the “ Asian”’ over my signature under the heading

P. ruficeps. The description and remarks, however, all applied to

this bird, and my notes must have got very much mixed up. So

181 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

little is known of these and the allied birds that I reproduce my

remarks here, as also those on the other members in their right place,

omitting only the descriptions of the birds themselves.

Nipirication.—lI think that I must take at least. two nests of this

bird to every one I find of all the other wren babblers collectively. Out

shooting I am constantly having my attention drawn by a little lark-

like bird gliding noiselessly out of some tuft of grass and almost

immediately after becoming invisible. Hven after the bird is seen

to quit, it often takes some time to find the nest, for it is generally

carefully concealed and more or less covered with fallen leaves, &c.

Occasionally, when I have not been able to mark the exact spot from

whence the bird has made off, I have been quite unable to find the

nest, and have had to await the return of the bird in order to obtain

the eggs. It is always placed on the ground, and amongst fully one

hundred nests taken in the last four years, I have never yet met with

‘the exception that proves the rule.’

“The situation most commonly chosen in which to place it is a a tuft

of coarse grass or a thick clump of rank weeds growing either in,

or close to, bamboo jungle. It is very remarkable how often

these birds select seemingly dangerous positions by the side of

some well-worn mithna, buffalo, or elephant track. On one occasion

(24th April, 1891) I was tracking up a wounded bull that I had

damaged the night before, and no less than four times did I disturb this

bird from one side or the other of the track. Each time I put them

up, a coolie, who was carrying my drinking water, looked for and found

the nest, and at the end of the tramp he gave me them with such eggs

as he had not managed to smash, All four nests were taken from

beside comparatively well-worn tracks. I have often taken nests from

amongst the masses of dead bamboo leaves collected at the foot of

bamboo clumps or even from the open ground, where it is fairly steep,

and dead vegetation and leaves lie thickly enough to afford protection.

Another favourite place is just at the edge of patches of sun grass, ekra,

or elephant grass. I do not think they ever build inside these patches

at any distance from the edge; personally I have never seen a nest

more than a foot or two inside. Low bushes in which the branches

come quite down to the ground, more especially such as are thorny,

sometimes conceal.a nest, but not one in ten will be taken from such

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR, — -. {82

positions. All nests are composed of the same materials, namely,

bamboo leaves alone, as far as the outer part is concerned, and, as

regards the inner part, fine grasses will be found to constitute the

greater portion, more or less mixed with slender moss roots, hair-like

fibres, and the extremely delicate tendrils of a wild flower that looks like

a yellow convolvulus. In shape the nest is generally a broad oval,

sometimes rather lengthened and egg-shaped ; it is placed either up-

right or slanting at an angle of nearly 45°. The entrance is about one-

third of the way down from the top, sometimes lower and rarely

almost level with the ground. It is often partially protected by the

loose leaves of the upper half of the nest hanging over and concealing

it, These cases appear, however, to be more the result of accident

than design, and the leaves are never artificially made to form a porch,

however rude.

“The nest is sometimes merely semi-domed, much like what I have

already described as being built by Stachyridopsis ruficeps. Very

rarely it is a deep cup, but even in these cases the depth of the interior

far exceeds the diameter. I once took a nest of this bird from a very

peculiar situation. I had killed a female bamboo rat which showed

signs of having young, and in looking for these, I commenced prodding

about in a pile of loose leaves and rubbish which had collected in the

open by the road-side. Pushing the stick through the centre of this,

I touched something which scuttled away on the ground. A closer

inspection showed me a nest buried nearly six inches deep amongst the

loose stuff, containing three eges which I easily recognized as belong-

ing to this bird. As usual it was very roughly and loosely built, not

being strong enough to stand removal. I have said above that I have

never seen a nest placed otherwise than on the ground, but I must

modify this statement, for as long ago as 1887 I took two nests which

were practically placed in the ground. Both nests were placed in

holes some eight imches deep in steep banks of nullahs running

through bamboo jungle ; both were semi-domed, and in both cases the

follows were completely filled up with loose bande leaves.

The full complement of eggs is three or four, either number being

about equally often laid. I have never seen five in a nest, nor have I

ever taken two only which showed any signs of incubation. The

ground-colour of the eggs is white, either pure or very faintly tinged

183 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

with greyish or greenish. Typically they are thickly stippled and

freckled with rufous-brown and purplish-brown, the latter marks being

sometimes almost black. They are most numerous towards the larger

end, where they occasionally form a ring or a cap.

“ Tn addition to these markings, there are in most eggs a few rather

larger underlying dots of pale lavender and pale dull purplish. In

the majority the first-mentioned marks strongly predominate, but in

a few these latter gave the prevailing tint to the eggs.

“In about one egg in five there are a very few large blotches of

one or two of the colours already mentioned. Ina few specimens the

prevailing colour of the markings is a ruddy brown or ruddy pink, and

these eggs are almost undistinguishable from those of some bulbuls.

On one occasion I had taken four bulbuls’ nests and one nest belong-

ing to this bird, and for some reason—I now forget what—had placed

all the eggs in the same box. On my return home it was with the

greatest difficulty I was able to distinguish between one clutch of

bulbuls’ eggs and the eggs of P. mandellii. I have about four clutches

in which the markings are more than usually dark and are very

minute. In three there isa very distinct broad ring round the top

of the larger end, within which are scattered a few brown and purple

spots ; in the fourth clutch the freckles form a small dark cap, many

of them coalescing, and all more or less indistinctly divided from one

another.

‘A solitary clutch in my possession has all four eggs marked with

rather light umber-brown, only here and there one of purple and

a few of raw sienna. Many eggs have the markings at the smaller

end rather lighter than those of the large end. In shape the eggs

are rather broad and very regular ovals, in many cases the difference

in size between the two ends being barely perceptible. Abnormal

specimens generally incline to the peg-top shape, a few being met

with rather longer and with the smaller end somewhat compressed.

The surface is very fine and close, and the greater number of eggs

have a slight but appreciable gloss ; in some this is absent, in others

rather highly developed. In proportion to the size of the egg the

shell is rather fragile. In the hundred and eighteen eggs which I

have measured the length only varies between °85" and :93”; the

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 184

difference in breadth is proportionately rather greater, the limits either

way being °63” and ‘71". The average of one hundred eggs is ‘90"

(almost) by °675",

“The earliest date on which I have obtained eggs was on the 4th

of April, 1891, on which date I took a nest with two fresh eggs.

The latest date noted is the 21st July 1888, when four hard-set egos

were taken. Of all my nests, one-half were taken between the 15th

April and the 25th May, one-third between the latter date and the

25th June, and the remaining one-sixth early in April or in the last

few days of June and the first few of July.

“This bird isso shy and unobstrusive that, in spite of its being so com-

mon, it is a most difficult matter to collect any materials for notes on

its habits. Its knack of getting out of sight in a moment is something

wonderful and has to be seen to be believed. When put up off its

nest, a bird is just seen to slope away for a foot or two, or perhaps a

yard or two, after which it is non est. I have used the word slope in-

tentionally, as 1 think it describes best the bird’s mode of progression ; it

cannot be said to be a hop, run, or flight, but seems to be a combination

of all three in which no one mode is visible. As regards its voice, the

only notes I have heard it utter have been the pleasant musical call

alluded to by Oates as being the common note of P. subochraceum,

and the chattering cries it constantly gives during the cold Season,

when the bird goes about in company with a few others. It also uses

this note when disturbed by an intruder,:such as a squirrel or another

bird, but it never, I believe, utters any cry when disturbed by a human

being or big animal, confining itself to performing the vanishing trick

with neatness and celerity. Jerdon mentions ‘a kind of crowing laugh’

as being amongst the sounds they make. This, like Rider Haggard’s

crabs, ‘they cannot do in my fiction,’ though, like the same crabs, it is

quite possible that they may ‘do’ so in reality, although I do not

happen to have heard them myself. It isa frequenter of low scrub

and brush jungle or of bamboo and grass jungle mixed, and does not

haunt the tops of high trees as so many wren babblers do in the cold

weather. It may often be seen feeding actually on the ground, and

this more especially when the birds are collected in flocks. At this

time they appear rather less shy, and the few observations I have been

able to make have nearly all been collected at this period of the year. I

185 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

have often been reminded by its actions of the common Bengal Babbler

(A, terricolor). One bird takes up the call started by another, and then

each bird repeats it until every member of the flock has notified his

exact whereabouts. They quarrel too occasionally, such an event be-

ing a matter of the most intense interest to each individual, who backs

his particular fancy much in the same way as other bipeds in England

back prize-fighters, that is, on the win, tie or wrangle system. They

often appear to be very undecided as to whether some article of food is

good enough to eat or not, and they contemplate it ina melancholy

way with their heads on one side, until another bird decides for them

by eating it himself, or else he seems to make up his mind to eat it and

risk the result. I have never examined the stomach of any birds and

can say nothing about their food. They are extremely active on their

legs, but their flight is feeble and they never seem to travel far on the

wing. They descend a long way into the plains, having been recorded

from the low lands of Sylhet, and I believe they remain there all the

year round. I have seen this bird and taken its nests up to 5,000 feet,

but it is most common about 2,500 feet. There is one place in parti-

cular in these hills, called The Hot Springs, where this bird is most nu-

merous. The country consists of open grass lands with sparse oak forest,

the pockets between the hills being filled with dense scrub jungle and

here and there patches of the small hill bamboo. As already mention-

ed, I once took four nests there in one day, and several times I found

two myself and had others brought to me.”

(53) P. miyus.—Sharp’s Spotted Babbler.

Oates, No. 148.

Sharp’s type bird was recorded from Cachar. I have never met

with it, ;

(54) P. ruricers.—The Spotted Babbler.

Oates, No. 144; Hume, No. 399.

This bird, hitherto supposed to be a purely southern form, re-appears

in North Cachar and is by no means uncommon. The first bird I obtained

was sent by me to Mr. Barnes, and was identified by him as being of

this species, and it was also, the same day I believe, identified by Mr.

Murray. Since then I have met with any number of birds, and Mr. H.

A. Hole has also obtained it in South Cachar, and has, I think, a specimen |

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR, 186

now in his collection. The remarks on nidification made on P. mandelli

would equally apply to this bird.

(55) P. patustreE.—The Marsh Spotted Babbler.

Oates, No. 146; Hume, No. 399 Quat.

A rare bird here, and, unlike the other members “of the genus, never

found to my knowledge outside grass land. I have never noticed it

near swamps or marshy land, as its name would seem to infer it should

be found.

The nests and eggs are undistinguishable from those of P. rujiceps or

P. mandelliz, but the latter are smaller, averaging about 87" by °64".

(56) P. 1anorum.—The Assam Babbler.

Oates, No. 148 ; Hume, No. 899 Ter A.

I reproduce in full my notes from the Aszan, which give all the infor-

mation I have collected concerning this little-known bird.

“ Nipirication.—The nests of this bird differ in one important re-

spect from those of the other members of the genus in that, as far as I

know, it is never found on the ground. It is of course of much the same

character, being either shaped like a very deep cup, one side being more

or less prolonged and sometimes bent over, or it is a perfectly globular-

shaped nest. The entrance is generally high up on one side about an inch

from the top, sometimes it is about the centre, and rarely quite low down-—

so low as to allow the eggs to be seen from some distance away when

the nest is not well concealed or when the covering branches have been

disturbed. The materials used may be of almost any kind of grass or

bamboo leaves, and it is lined only with grass. From its position it is

naturally rather more compactly built than the nest of those species

which build theirs on the ground, but it is also sometimes a good deal

neater than nests placed in a similiar position and of the same type. I

haye seen one or two which were made of very fine grasses which were

so neatly and strongly built that I at first sight mistook them for the

nests of the Himalayan Munia. The majority of the nests I have per-

sonally found were taken from the dense masses of twigs growing on

the lower parts of clumps of the small clump bamboo and were placed

at heights varying from two to four feet from the ground, rarely higher

than the last-mentioned height and, nearly equally as rarely, lower than

4 :

187 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VI11.

the first mentioned. A few nests were taken from tangles of creepers,

weeds, and brambles, and one or two from small thick patches of coarse

ekra, in these last cases bemg generally within a few inches of the

round. The earliest and latest dates I have recorded as having found

eggs are respectively the 29th of April, 1891 and 11th of July, 1890.

“ This bird, as far as I know, does not breed in these hills below

3,000 feet and is most common above 5,000 feet. I have never taken a

nest except towards the north and north-east of the sub-division, though

I have met with occasional birds elsewhere. In number the eggs are

generally three ; sometimes, though not often, four and, on one or two

occasions, I have taken two eggs only which showed signs of incuba-

tion to a greater or less extent. The most common type of egg has the

ground-colour rather a decided pale pink, the markings consisting

of freckles of a rather dark brownish-red, profusely scattered over the

whole surface of the shell, but even more numerous towards the larger

end, where they generally form either a ring or a badly-defined and

irregular cap. In some few cases the markings are equally numerous

everywhere, running into one another and occasionally forming small

blotches where two or more of the marks coalesce. A few clutches

that I have are much fainter in colour both as regards the markings

and ground-colour, and these eggs bear a striking resemblance

to the eggs of some of the bulbuls, such as Xanthivus or

Spizeaus. Again in others of my clutches the ground is a pure

white, so that the freckles appear to be more boldly and strongly

defined than in the pink eggs, although such is not really the case. In

a very few eggs, both of the white and pink types, the markings are

confined almost entirely to the larger end in the form of a ring or cap ;

such eggs are, however, so rare that they may be said to be abnormal.

“In shape the eggs vary but little, being of a rather regular oval,

very slightly, if at all, compressed towards the smaller end and always

blunt. Abnormal eggs only differ in being somewhat lengthened ovals,

and it is a «peculiar fact that the only two clutches I possess, in which

the markings are confined to the larger end, are also those which are the

most lengthened of all my eggs.

“ The shell is firm and close in texture and often shows a fair amount

of gloss, but for its size it is decidedly fragile. Eighty eggs that I have

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 188

measured varied in length between °72" and ‘90" and in breadth between

‘57 and *62", the average dimensions of the same number being ‘78!

by °60", From the above measurements it may be seen that the varia-

tions in length covered no less than *18" of an inch, whereas in breadth

they only covered ‘05 of aninch. Asa matter of fact very few egos

exceeded *82" in leneth, and only six eges exceeded 84, and again only

5 eggs are less than °75" in length, so that the variation in length, put-

ting on one side the eleven eggs, which were either abnormally long or

short, the remaining 69 eggs only ranged in length between 75" and °84".

I know of nothing practically of any interest to record concerning the

habits of this bird. Like all others of the genus, it is very shy and

retiring and gives but little chance of close observation ; it is a very

sient bird ; such notes as I have heard are very like the lower chuck-

ling notes of the genus Trochalopterum, but are very sweet and soft,

When disturbed it never makes any harsh noise, but evinces its distress

or fear in a low rippling note that conveys not the slightest sign of

anger, though perhaps to a certain extent it does show fear. I have

repeatedly had the bird leaye its nests when I was within a yard or so

and then

flutter about at a little distance in a palpable state of fear and

anxiety ; yet the only note it ever uttered was the one already

mentioned. It sometimes utters a clear low whistle, probably as a

of it—for, in spite of its shyness, itis a very close sitter

call for its mate ; this note is, however, very seldom made use of, for

T do not think I have heard it half-a-dozen times altogether in as

many years. ‘This species so far appears only to have been recorded

from the Naga Hills and from Dibrughur, but nothing is said as to

the elevation at which it has been obtained. Here I have neyer

noticed it below 2,400 feet even in the cold season, and it is most

common at Hungrum and the surrounding peaks at an elevation of

some five thousand feet upwards, where it is principally found

in thin brushwood and scrub jungle or in bamboo jungle whenever

there is such available. As the lower hills are reached and the

bamboo jungle becomes more plentiful, the bird seems to keep almost

entirely to it. It is found very plentifully towards the north and

north-east of these hills, and thence extends into Manipur and the

Naga Hills.”

189 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VILL.

(57) DryMocATAPHUS TICKELLI.—Tickel’s Babbler.

Oates, No. 151 ; Hume, No. 899 Tr.

Nipirrcation.—I have now taken fully a score of nests of this

bird, and I can therefore have no doubt as to the identity of the

owner, although, as will be seen, the eggs have not the slightest

resemblance to those which Bingham found and which he believed

to have belonged to this bird. On ten occasions 1 have trapped the

bird on the nest ; twice I have shot it as it flew out of it and once as

it rested on a branch of a bush above the nest. The nest is either

a globular concern or else a very deep cup with one side prolonged

and bent somewhat forward. Asarule it is made of bamboo leaves

and shreds of the softer parts of sun grass, but very often there are a

great many pieces of bracken and fern also interwoven with the

former materials. It is much like the usual type of nest of Pellor-

neum ruficeps, but is far more compact and therefore somewhat

smaller in external measurements, and also much neater, though

internally averaging about the same. Most nests are placed actually —

on the ground, either at the foot of a bamboo clump, a thick bush or a

mass of grass and weeds. Other nests are placed a foot or two above the

ground in tangles of creepers or wild raspberry bushes, the latter kind of

situation especially being a very favourite one. Most nests are very

well concealed, but such is not always the case, for on one occasion

I found a nest just by a pathway which led from my camp down toa

stream and which was used by some twenty people every day on their

way to and from the water. The nest was placed about eighteen

inches from the ground, in a mass of wild caladium plants and raspberry

creepers and, from one direction, was fully exposed to view. When I

first came to the camp the nest contained a single egg, and two days

afterwards, when another had been laid, the two were taken away, bul-

buls’ eggs being put in as substitutes in order that the bird should not

desert the nest. ‘Two more eggs were laid, and the bulbuls’ eggs were

taken out and thrown away. The bird was very shy at first and always

used to leave the nest before a sight could be got of it, but afterwards

she sat very close and would lie in ber nest and blink at me when I

stood barely three yards away. I regret to say that durmg my absence

for a short time from the camp some Naga boys trapped the bird and

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 190

stole the eggs, although I had ordered them not todoso. The eggs

seem to be either four or three in number, and I think I have taken as

many nests with the former as with the latter number. All my eggs are

alike in coloration and the character of the markings, the latter merely

differing slightly in amount. The ground-colour is a pale greenish-

grey, in some few eggs rather more decidedly green than in others, and

the markings consist of numerous freckles and irregular small blotches

of pale reddish-brown, numerous everywhere, but more so, as a

rule, towards the larger end, where in most eggs they form an ill-defined

cap or ring ; besides these brownish marks, there are other underlying

_ ones varying from the very palest bluish-grey to rather dark purplish-

grey. In general appearence the eggs are very like small, dull-

coloured specimens of the eggs of Copsychus saularis. In shape they

are broad, blunt ovals, very slightly smaller, as a rule, at one end than

at the other. ‘The shell is very fragile, but the texture is fine and close,

in one or two eggs showing the very faintest perceptible gloss, but in

most rather dull.

Twenty-four eggs average in size 81" & 51" and vary in length from

77" to 88", and in breadth from 58” to 66". The 29th of April, 1891, is

the earliest date I have recorded as having taken eggs, and the 27th of

June the previous year is the latest date.

Hitherto, with only two exceptions, I have only found it breeding

on the peaks round about Hungrum, all about 5,000 feet high and

some above 6,000. During the cold weather1 have noticed it now

and then very much lower down, occasionally as low as 2,500 feet.

It is a very timid bird, avoiding observation and interference, haunt-

ing low brushwood, bush jungle, bamboo and tree forest, or indeed

almost any kind of ground where there is plenty of undergrowth to

screen it, though the first-mentioned sort of place is that which it

chiefly frequents, and during the breeding season it is in such places

alone that there is any chance of finding it. I know but very little

of their habits ; all that one ever sees of the bird is a small brown

object squatting on the ground in front of one for a second or two

before it suddenly dives into the nearest patch of grass or other

shelter, when it at once becomes invisible. I have never seen the

bird fly aboye a few yards at atime; even those which I trapped

191 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCTETY, Vol. VIII,

and then released flew out of my hands on to the ground and began

to make off in long bounding hops, using every stone and turf on its

way to assist in its concealment. The only note I have heard it

utter is a soft rippling chir-chir, and this sound it seems to make use

of on all and every occasion—when calling to its mate, disturbed off

its nest, resisting being caught, or when quietly feeding.

(58) CoRyTHocIcHLA sTRIATA.—The Streaked Babbler,

Oates, No. 154.

Upper mandible dark brown, lower plumbeous, darkish at the base,

pale elsewhere, mouth creamy-slate colour. Irides dark red. During

the hot weather and rains this bird seems to keep to the higher peaks, .

descending lower during the cold season. It isa very rare bird, and

such a shy one also that it is impossible to find out much about its

habits. Like C. drevicauda, it never makes use of its wings unless

absolutely compelled, and itis so sharp and active on its legs that

these alone are generally sufficient to carry it out of sight before one

has even time to shoot at it. I have been very fortunate in obtaining

several of its nests and also in obtaining nests which had eggs in them.

All those 1 have taken (six) or had brought to me have been of the

same type, viz., very deep cups with one side prolonged and project-

ing over, making it almost a domed nest ; indeed in one or two cases

it might have been termed such. The materials consist principally

of dead leaves, a few fern fronds, or rarely a few scraps of grass.

These are bound together with fern roots and moss, and the lining is

composed merely of a few more dead leaves. All the materials used

are of a dark brown tint, and so far I do not think I have seen a single

light-coloured nest. The materials are fairly well put together, but

from their nature they stand but little handling and soon fall to

“pieces when once removed from the original position, They are

placed either at the root of a tree, below some log, or in a cluster of

plants ina hollow on some bank, and one was found at the foot of a

survey pillar wedged in between two of the stones which formed its

base. Wherever they are, I believe they are always placed actually

on the ground, not above it in bushes, &e.

The full complement of eggs seems to be four, but I have found a

nest containing three and another only two eggs showing signs of in-

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 192

cubation; also a nest in which I found two young ones only.

In shape my eggs are broad ovals, but little compressed at the

smaller end, which is very blunt. They are white, and the markings

consist of primary freckles and small spots varying in colour from pinky-

red to pinky-brown, none of a very deep shade ; besides which, there

are subordinate markings of pale pinkish-purple rather larger in size

than the primary specks. As arule the spots are very sparingly scat-

tered over the whole surface except at the larger end, where they are

fairly numerous. In none of my eggs is there any indication of a ring

at this end, but in some they form a very indistinct cap.

In length they vary between °78" and -83", and in breadth between

‘59" and 62"; the average of 14 eggs is ‘81" x -6!. They appear to

breed in May and June and the latter end of April.

(59) Turpinus ABBorTI.—A bbott’s Babbler.

Oates, No. 160 ; flume, No. 387.

Not rare in North Cachar, but, as far as I know, keeping entirely to

densely-wooded valleys at a low elevation. I have never observed it

over about 1,500 feet high.

ms (60) ALCIPPE NEPALENSIS.—The Nepal Babbler.

Oates, No. 163; Hume, No. 388.

Extremely common from 2,000 feet’up to the summit of the highest

peaks. The eggs of this bird vary most wonderfully, and I notice here

a few of the most marked varieties :-—

(1) Pure white, with most minute speckles of purply-pink, usually

forming a dense ring round the larger end ; sometimes practically con-

fined to this end, at other times fairly numerous all over.

(2) Much the same, but with a pinkish ground and the markings

somewhat larger, lighter, and even more numerous.

(3) The same, but with the markings of pale reddish-pink,

(4) Ground-colour pale to deep salmon and more or less covered with

blotches and clouds of pink and underlying marks of greyish, with here

and there a speck or short line of deep blood red. This type can be

almost matched by many egos of Pyctorhis sinensis.

(5) Ground-colour from pale pink to pure white with rather sparsely

scattered marks of deep purple, ranging from mere specks to largish dots

and lines. In this type the marks nearly always form a distinct ring or

Cap.

193 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

(6) In a few eggs the marks consist almost entirely of hair-like lines

intertwined with one another and forming a ring round the larger end,

some ‘15" broad. Fifty of my eggs average °69" x °54"; one hun-

dred of them vary in length between 61" * 78" and in breadth between

-4g!! x 61",

(61) ALCIPPE PHAYR (Vel PHACOCEPHALA).—The Burmese Babbler.

Oates, No. 165 ; Hume, No. 888 Bis.

I cannot with certainty assign the birds of this region either to the

Burmese or Southern Indian form. The typical bird of North Cachar

has either no sincipital stripe or only the very faintest indication of it ;

moreover the colour of the lower parts varies considerably in individuals

according to whether the plumage is abraded or not. As regards the

cap, there is seldom any trace of it in the birds of these parts.

Oates seems undecided ratheras to whether A. phayrii is a good

species, and personally I think the two forms, if they can even be called

such, should be combined under the name A. phacocephala.

(62) StTAcHYRIS NIGRICEPS,—The Black-throated Babbler.

Oates, No. 169 ; Hume, No. 391.

Very common from the level of the plains, where it remains to breed,

up to about 3,500 feet, above which it is less common, but is still met

with, even up to the highest peaks.

(63) 8. corvs#a.—The Golden Babbler.

Oates, No. 170 ; Hume, No. 394.

I have taken a great number of nests and eggs of this bird, which is

not uncommon in a few localities, though its distribution is very con-

fined. The majority of nests have been either completely domed or

else very nearly so, but on a few occasions I have also taken cup-shaped

nests, and the first year I obtained any, all I took were of this shape,

so that I began to think this species differed from the others of the

genus and did not build a domed nest. Since then, however, I have

found out my mistake. It is formed of bamboo leaves, either whole

or in strips, grasses, and, very rarely, a dried leaf or two, all loosely

wound together and lined with finer scraps of the same material or with

fine rootlets. On one occasion I found one lined partly with buffalo

hair.

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR, 194

Most of my nests were found actually on the ground and had become

very damp and dilapidated even before being taken. Some few were

in bushes or bamboo clumps, but never more than a foot or two from

the ground. The eggs are, of course, pure white. 40 egos average

62" & -46", whichis even smaller than Gammie’s clutch (lume : Nests

and Eggs, vol. I, p. 112), which surprised Oates so much by their

small size that he could hardly believe they belonged to the bird. My

smallest egg is 59" % -44". They do not vary yery much in size or

shape.

(64) S. assmmitis——The Allied Babbler.

Oates, No. 171 ; Hume, No. 394 Bis. .

Nipirication.—Precisely the same as with S. chrsyea. They lay,

as with that bird, from two to four eggs, three being the number most

often found. Fourteen eggs average 61" x -47". They have the

same glossy white surface with close hard texture as have the egos of

the last species.

(65) STACHYRIDOPSIS RUFICEPS.—The Red-headed Babbler,

Oates, No, 172 ; Hume, No. 393.

Fairly common everywhere, more especially to the north-west of

these hills, where I get many nests yearly. I have one very handsome

clutch of eggs of this species ; the ground is, of course, pearly white, as

are all others, and the markings consist of largish, boldly-defined

blotches of deep reddish-brow n, together with one or two of pale

purplish, forming a well-marked ring near the big end. A clutch

that contrasts very strongly with the last is one which is ver y feebly

marked with pale pinkish and greyish-pink. This last type, only

less feebly marked, is the one which is most common. Nearly all my

eggs are broad ovals, very little smaller at one end than at the other.

48 eggs average 63" X 52". They vary from 59" to -66” in length

and from *49” to °54" in breadth.

(66) S. RuFIFRoNS.—Hume’s Babbler.

Oates, No. 173 ; Hume, No. 393 Bis.

Drscriprion.—Differs from S. ruficeps in the following particulars :

The chestnut of the head only extends to the back of the crown, where

it merges into the olive-brown of the nape and back ; the lower parts

195 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

are more.a dull oily fulvous or fulvous-grey than oily yellow as in

SS. rujiceps, and the flanks and thighs are strongly tinged with brownish.

Immature birds have the chestnut crown duller, but in other respects

-are like the adult.

I cannot dascern the slightest difference between the sexes, but I

must own that I have seen very few specimens; indeed only five

females and six males in addition to one nest of fully-fledged young

which were able to fly.

Captain Bingham states (wde Oates) that the hen has the chestnut

of the head duller.

Bill slaty blue; irides reddish-brown ; legs yellowish-brown, very

pale. Length 4:4” to 4:5"; tail 1:9"; wing 2” or rather more ;

tarsus °7" ; bill at front ‘35", and from gape ‘55.!

The female is slightly smaller ; the three I have measured were 4:3!,

4:2", and 4:2" in length, tail 1:7", 1:8" ; wing 1:9" barely.

Nipirication.—I regret to say that I never noticed this bird till

1889, when I had a nest with a male brought tome. It was, as usual,

formed outwardly of grass and was lined with some light-coloured,

fibrous material mixed with the fine ends of grass. In shape it was

something like an egg placed on its large end, leaning slightly to one

side, and with the small end cut off. It was 5:7” in length and 4:2" in

breadth ; inside the diameter was 2'1".

In 1890 I took three nests ; of these, two were of the ordinary glo-

bular shape, and the third was as described above.

The nest taken in 1889 was built in amongst the roots of a bamboo

clump, two in between bamboos and the masses of twigs with which

they were covered, one at about 4 feet, the other at about 6 feet from

the ground. The fourth nest was taken from a bush, fairly thick and

well covered with leaves ; it was wedged in between several twigs, and

was quite screened from view until a careful search had been made. It

was rather less than two feet from the ground.

In shape, coloration and texture the eggs do not in any way differ

from those of S. rujiceps. In the ten eggs I have all are regular obtuse

ovals, there being no abnormal specimens. Strange to say, although the

bird itself is distinctly smaller than the last, the eggs on the contrary are

rather larger, those I have averaging 64” by -53!. They vary

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR,. 196

extremely little in size, in length between °62" and °66", and in breadth

from *50" to °55". I have nospecimens with bright reddish spots, all

being of the paler type.

The nests were taken on the following dates :—29th April, 1890,

female, three eggs quite fresh ; 19th May, 1890, female, four eggs

slightly incubated; 25th May, 1890, male, two eggs fresh. The

eggs of the second nest have not been included in the average given

above.

A nest with four fully-fledged young were brought to me on the 21st

of May, 1890. In habits I do not know of any trait that it exhibits

which is unlike S.rujiceps. It is much rarer and I think also more shy

in its habits. As I have only observed it during the breeding season,

it has always been in low scrub or bamboo jungle. At other times it is

sure to feed, like others of this genus, on trees,

(67) MixorNIs RUBRICAPILLUS.—The Yellow-breasted Babbler.

Oates, No. 176 ; Hume, No. 395.

This bird sometimes lays unspotted white eggs. Ihave once taken

a nest myself with such eggs, and on another occasion I took three

eggs,which were so faintly marked that it was difficult to make the specks

out at all. Another nest, with three white eggs, was also sent me in

1891 from Jellalpur by Mr. H. A. Hole. The hen-bird was also sent

with the eggs, and there could have been no mistake about their identity.

I have observed this bird feeding on the ground in the bamboo jungle,

and, though it is the only time I have seen it so feeding, it is sufficient

to prove that it does do so now and then. I have far more often noticed

it in bamboo jungle than in tree forest. It does not seem to ascend the

hills to any height, and I have not often met with it over two thousand

feet, it being most common quite at the foot of the mountains or on the

very low grass and bamboo-covered hills.

(68) ScH@NIPARUS MANDELLU.—Mandelli’s Tit Babbler.

Oates, No. 179 ; Hume, No. 622.

This handsome little bird is not uncommon in the east of the North

Cachar Hills, and what I have observed of its habits agrees with Hume’s

remarks on the subject. I have found about a dozen nests, all placed

on the ground, amongst the roots of herbaceous plants with the

exception of two, which were placed amongst ekra and were from

197 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

4 to 6 inches off the earth itself. The materials were principally

dead leaves, and the description I have already given of the nest

of Corythocichla striata would stand equally well for these ; but

they are on the whole, perhaps, rather more bulky. The full comple-

ment of eggs is, I think, four, but I have taken one or two nests with

only three eggs and one with only two, all of which showed signs of

- incubation. They are in appearance the same as the eggs of S. dubius

described by Davison (Hume’s Nest and Hggs, vol. I, p. 117). The

eround-colour is white with, in some eggs, a faint brownish or greenish

tinge, and they are marked much in the same manner as many eggs of

Pyctorhis sinensis, There are numerous clouds and smudges of pale

vandyke-brown, and a few coarse marks and irregular lines of a dark

shade of the same, beside which there are usually a good many secondary

marks of pale neutral tint confined chiefly to the larger end. The sur-

face is very fine and close, and the shell strong, often with a slight gloss.

In shape they differ from those described of S. dubzus, for they are very

regular ovals, the difference between the two ends being sometimes

hardly perceptible and seldom very distinct. Twenty eggs average

-83" x -61!. They breed in the latter end of April, May, and June.

(69) S. RUFIGULARIS.—The Red-throated Tit Babbler.

Oates, No. 180; Hume, No. 618 Bis.

I shot a male of this species in May, 1891, just on the borders of

Manipur.

(70) Srrriparus crixeREUS.—The Dusky-green Tit Babbler.

Oates, No. 181 ; Hume, No. 620.

Legs fleshy brown or reddish ; irides reddish-brown. A rare little

bird, which I have only found in the Laisung Valley and at Hungrum,

generally feeding in scrub jungle. Mr. Hole has also two or three

specimens in his collection which he obtained at the foot of the hills in

low brushwood. They go about in small parties and are very active ~

and quick, but are very shy, moving away at once at the sound of any-

body approaching them.

T have taken two nests, which were simply miniatures of those of

Scheniparus ; both were placed amongst the roots of thick plants, but not

actually on the ground itself. In one nest the three eggs were ready to

hatch ; in the other there were also three, butso hard set that it was with

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 198

difficulty I managed to save two out of them. The eggs bear no

resemblance in any one detail to those of S. dubsus ; they are white,

tinged with the palest dusky green, and are marked with tiny dots and

specks of brown and neutral tint, which form a very distinct ring at the

larger end, being very sparsely scattered over the rest of the surface.

Some of the marks are so dark as to appear almost black. In shape the

eges are rather long ovals, decidedly compressed towards the smaller

end, which is blunt. The surface is fine and close, and in one egg has

a faint gloss.

The two eggs measure ‘69” X °5” and:71" x °49”. The nests were

taken on the 29th April and the 5th May, 1891.

(71) Srrrrparus casTaNnctcers.—The Chestnut-headed Tit Babbler.

Oates, No. 182; Hume, No. 619.

Very rare. I have only met with it twice in six years.

(72) Lioparvus cHrys£uUs.—The Golden-breasted Tit Babbler.

I shot a typical hen of this species on the Jennam River in 1888,

(73) TURDINULUS ROBERTI.—Robert’s Babbler.

Oates, No. 186 ; Hume, No. 332 Bis.

A rather rare bird everywhere. I have seen a specimen shot in the

cold weather in the plains and have taken a good many specimens

myself in these hills.

(74) MyIoPHONEUS TEMMINCKI.—The Himalayan Whistling Thrush,

Oates, No. 187 ; Hume, No. 343.

Common everywhere near water. I have one clutch of eggs of

this bird marked «just like many of Geocichla citrina. The site

selected for the nest varies far more than would be thought from

Oates’ remarks on the subject. It is, however, always built near water,

most of them actually on the bank, but sometimes, where the ever-

green wood is moist, cool, and shady, it may be placed some hundred

yards away from the stream. A very favourite place isa hole in the

bank of some deep nullah running through evergreen forest, and it

was in such a position I took my first nest. It was placed in a

natural hollow formed by the massive and twisted roots of a large

tree, being perfectly concealed from view except from the bottom of

the nullah, and even thence visible only from exactly opposite. The

199 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIIT,

internal cup was large and deep, but externally there was no exact

shape, the nest being so formed as to fill up the whole lower portion

of the cavity, and the outer side was alone neatly finished off ; in this

the breadth was all but two inches, whilst the back wall must have

been fully five and the two sides nearly as much. The cup was

4:8" in diameter and 4:1” in depth. An immense amount of material

had been used, and as the moss was all wet and mixed with a great

deal of earth, the weight also was very great. The base, back, sides

and outer wall were composed outwardly entirely of moss with the

roots attached ; the root ends with the wet earth were placed down-

wards and inwards ; thus the visible portion of the nest was all bright

green moss ; inside this outer layer was another, about an inch thick,

of muddy fern and moss roots, and inside this again the true lining of

clean dead moss alone. Other nests I have taken from the banks

of rocky streams; they may be either placed in depressions in mossy

banks and be quite concealed from view by the waving bracken and

luxuriant moss ferns, or they may be in bare patches and resting on

ledges of rock visible to, though almost unobtainable by, every passer-

by ; sometimes, again, they are built in holes and hollows over a foot

deep. Once I took a nest from undera large slab of rock in a gloomy

ravine, over which the water was constantly running, falling with

a splash into a little pool some four feet below it, sprinkling the nest

and the young birds with the spray. . The damp, however, did not seen

to effect their spirits, for I found them out by the great chirping that

was being carried on between them, and it is evident that thrushes

do not suffer from rheumatism and colds. ‘

One nest I took in 1889 was built on a dead stump, up which was

growing a mass of creeping plants. The nest was completely hidden

by the overhanging leaves, and I should never have found it but for

the parent-bird flying off just as I passed. It was about 34 feet from

the ground and rested partly on the tangle of creeper stems and partly

on the stump. In shape it was a deep cup, broader at the base than

at the top ; this nest was lined with grass and had also a few leaves,

both in the inside and woven into the outer part as well. There was

also less earth than usual, and altogether it was a lighter-built nest than

are 19 out of 20. The walls at the top were about 1°3" thick and the

base about 3”,

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR, 200

Another nest which I found in March, 1890, was built under the

“chung” (raised bamboo floor) of a rest-house and was placed in

between three of the piles. The birds had only just commenced work,

and during the ten days that I occupied the house they kept on their

building operations, though making the very smallest modicum of exer-

tion to get it finished, for when I left it was still hardly half completed.

(75) M. nucEnt.—The Burmese Whistling Thrush.

Oates, No. 187; Hume, No. 343 Bis.

Only very rarely met with towards the extreme south-east. A bird

sent me by Mr. H. A Hole appears to a hybrid between WM. temminchi

and M. eugenit. There are but two spots on the wing coverts on one

side and none on the other, the bill is unusually large for MZ. temminch,

but has the black colour normally developed.

(76) M. Horsrrztpu.—The Malabar Whistling Thrush.

Oates, No. 187 ; Hume, No. 842.

Specimens of this bird are found only in the Jatinga Valley and are,

I believe (from information received a year ago), merely the descendants

of two pairs of Whistling Thrushes, which were brought up from

Travancore by a lady and released from captivity on her leaving the

district. I have seen none during the last two years, and they have,

I fear, died out.

(77) LaRVIvoRA BRUNNEA.—The Indian Blue Chat.

Oates, No. 191; Hume, No. 507.

Rare everywhere, but a permanent resident wherever found, except

in the lowest valleys. |

(78) DryMoicHaREs CRURALIS.—The White-browed Shortwing.

Oates, No. 197 ; Hume, No. 388.

Occurs from the level of the plains up to the -highest peaks, but does

not breed below 2,500 feet. My eggs all agree in description with

those of Hodgson and Mandelli, but the only three nests I have seen

were very deep cups made of moss, bound together with roots and a

few fine grasses and thickly lined with black fern roots, over which

were placed a layer or two of dead leaves.

(79) D. NEPALENSIS.—The Nepal Shortwing.

Oates, No. 198; Hume, No. 336.

By no means rare to the north-east on the higher peaks. My egos

vary a good deal in colour between rather bright olive-green and olive-

201 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

brown, some being more or less stippled and clouded with darker

shades of the same, the stipplings being so fine that the eggs appear

to be of one uniform colour.

(80) Testa CYANOVENTRIS.—The Slaty-bellied Short-wing.

Oates, No. 201 ; Hume, No. 328.

Fairly common at Hungrum and the higher peaks surrounding

that place, descending to the plains in the cold season. Ihave taken

some half dozen nests of this bird, and they agreed well with the de-

scription given by Hodgson (Hume’s Nests and Eggs, vol. I, p. 131),

but were much smaller, measuring only about 5" in diameter. My

eggs too are all of a long oval, often considerably pointed at the smaller

end. The markings, which are everywhere very numerous, vary

between light pinky-red to dark clear red, always very bright, what-

ever the tint; 16 eggs average °70" x -59".

Sub-family Sibune.

(81) LiopTILa ANNECTENS.-—Blyth’s Sibia.

Oates, No. 208 ; Hume, No. 613.

This is the form of sibéa most often met with in North Cachar, but

at the same time is far from common. Hitherto I have only met

with it to the east of the Guilong stockade down as far south as the

range of hills dividing the Jenam and Jiri Rivers. ‘

It breeds at Hungrum and the surrounding peaks above 5,000 feet,

seldom lower. ‘The nests I have seen have all been rather bulky deep

cups composed outwardly of moss and moss roots with perhaps one or

two scraps of grass or a leaf or two. The lining seems invariably to be in

two parts—the imnermost of fine fern and moss roots alone, the inter-

mediate portion between the true lining and the nest being of shreds of

grass more or less mixed with roots and herbaceous stems, the latter not

always present. Unlike its near allies, S. capistrata, L. pulchella, etc.,

this bird does not select very lofty situations for its nest.. Asa rule I have

taken them from the upper portions of saplings, the branch on which

they are placed being usually a slender one towards the outside of the

tree and therefore difficult of access. Little, if any, trouble is taken to

conceal them, and, even if not noticed at once, the excited movements of

the parent-birds are sure to attract attention. The tree selected is one:

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR, 202

in fairly thick or evergreen forest; never I think, one in open country,

The full complement of eggs is three, and less than this number I have

never taken showing signs of incubation.

In general appearance the eggs are hardly distinguishable from the

paler type of egg of Acténodura egertoni. The ground-colour is a bright,

pale green-blue, and the marks consist of pale reddish-brown lines and a

few blots, blotches and specks of the same. ‘The lmes are of consider-

able length, sometimes nearly $", or even more, and are very irregular

in shape. In most eggs there are also a few marks of purply-red,

consisting principally of well-defined dots and also a few blurred, half-

washed-out-looking blotches. In a few eggs there are less numerous

lines than there are spots and blotches, but the former are never alto-

gether absent and are usually the most numerous kind of marking.

Twelve eggs average ‘87" X °59", and they vary between °85" and

*89" in length, and between ‘58" and -61" in breadth. Some eggs are

not unlike weakly-marked specimens of the eggs of Mesia argentauris.

I know absolutely nothing concerning the habits of this bird beyond

the fact that it is not found much below 3,500 feet, and frequents fairly

thick evergreen forest.

(82) L. putcHELLA.—The Beautiful Sibia.

Oates, No. 210 ; Hume, No. 429 Ter.

Recorded from North Cachar by Godwin-Austen.

(83) AcTINODURA EGERTONI.—The Rufous Barwing.

Oates, No. 211 ; Hume, No. 427.

The middle tail feathers very distinctly barred ; fairly common.

between 4,000 and 5,000 feet and upwards ; rare below this height. It

is very local in its distribution. My eggs are of two types—one like those

obtained by Gammie and Mandelli and the other more like those of

Trochalopterum phenicium, the markings being far darker than in

those obtamed by the above collectors, mostly of a deep purply-

brown or blackish as regards the coarser lines and blotches, the

numerous hair-like lines being of a brighter shade, This latter type

is much less smudgy also than the other. Highteen eggs average

86" by 78". They vary very considerably in size, the largest measuring

93" & 74", and the smallest -82" x -64". Most of my eggs are broad

ovals.

203 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

(84) Ixops parLAENsis.—Austen Barwing.

Oates, No. 214; Hume, No. 428 Bis.

I got a single specimen of this bird at Shemkher on the borders of

the Naga Hills.

(85) STAPHIDIA CASTANEICEPS.—The Chestnut-headed.Staphidia.

Oates, No. 216 ; Hume, No. 624 Bis.

Forehead grey ; the feathers centred dark brown ; anterior crown

dark rufescent-brown ; remainder brighter rufescent, almost chestnut ;

nape grey ; upper back, scapulars, and upper tail-coverts greenish-grey

with pale shafts ; lower back and rump grey, obsoletely tipped greenish-

grey ; tail brown ; the third pair of feathers obsoletely tipped white, this

white gradually increasing in extent until on the outermost pair it is

about 5” deep; lores and a short supercilium white; ear-coverts

chestnut with white shafts ; chin, cheeks and lower plumage white,

more or less suffused with grey and toa less extent with fulvous ;

under tail-coverts brown, broadly tipped with white ; lesser and median

wing-coverts like the scapularies ; greater coverts and inner secondaries

a more decided brown and with white shafts ; other quills brown, very

narrowly edged with grey.

Bill rather light reddish ‘horny, gape and base of both mandibles

slightly purplish ; after death the whole bill becomes brownish horny ;

legs dull reddish or flesh-colour; claws dusky flesh-colour ; irides pale

hazel.

Male.—Length: 5°83"; wing 2°5" ; tail 2:3"; bill at front °31"; and

from gape ‘d1"; tarsus °55".

The females seem to be slightly smaller ; length barely over 5! ; wing

2:4"; tail 2°1"to 2:2"; bill at front ‘3" and from gape ‘5"; tarsus +63",

Nipirication.— Until 1891 I had only taken one nest of this bird

which contained eggs. It was found on the 11th July, 1890, and was

taken from a high bank running parallel with, and only a short distance

from, the road, where it was placed against, and partly under, a large

clod of earth lying amongst the thick roots of a laurel-like shrub.

The greater portion of the nest was composed of the very softest

shreds of sun grass and a few scraps of equally soft bark. The outer

side of the nest, where not touching the clod or roots, was more

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 204

massive and was wound round with the dead brown stems of some

jungle plant, fern roots, a few very fine tendrils and one or two small

leaves, all further strengthened by a few cobwebs. The lining is of

the same grass as the rest of the nest, with the addition of half-a-dozen

tiny feathers. In shape the nest is a compact little cup; the internal

dimensions are about 2°2” in diameter by rather over one inch in

depth ; externally the nest is about 1:6" in depth and in breadth

across the narrower way 3°8”, or across it, so as to include the outer

side, 4°4". The jungle in which it was found was composed of mixed

clump bamboos and trees, with a scanty undergrowth of bracken and

shrubs. In 1891 on the 20th April I found another nest which was

placed in a low road-side bank. The place was absolutely devoid of

all vegetation, and the nest could be seen from some ten paces

distant in both directions. As it was empty, it was not disturbed or

measured. On the 28rd I took another nest containing a single ege.

Tn this case also it was placed in a hole about a foot deep or rather

less, just below the top of a perpendicular mud wall by a pathway ;

there was no attempt at concealment, and the nest could not have

been overlooked. Of these two nests, one was found at about

2,300 feet elevation and the other at about 4,000 feet. The nests are

both like that already described, but there are no feathers in the

lining of either. The nest taken in 1890 was found quite close to

where the one on the 20th April was obtained. A third nest, found

on the 25th, was placed in exactly the same position as the others,

namely, in a hole in a bare road-side bank, but differed in being made

solely of grass and in being slightly smaller. The dimensions are

internally 2" in diameter by -9” in depth or rather less. Since the

last date I have taken more than a dozen nests, all of which were got

whilst marching from one camp to another, being placed in holes by

the road-side, and in shape, materials, etc., agreeing with those

already described.

The first-mentioned nest contained three eggs, perfectly fresh, in

colour a pure white rather profusely spotted and speckled with different

shades of brown, principally ofa rather light sienna ; here and there

are also a few minute blotches of a greyish colour, and in one

egg there is also a dark hair-like mark, about °2” long, on the

larger end. In one ege the markings tend to form an_ indis-

205 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

tinct ring ; in the other two they are most numerous at the extreme

end of the larger half. In all three eggs they are very sparsely

scattered towards the smaller end. -There is a very slight but appreci-

able gloss on the eggs; the texture is close and smooth and the shell

extremely fragile. In shape they are broad ovals and very obtuse.

They measure °65"” & °52”, -66" x 52", and -67" x 51". The single

ege in the second nest found in 1891 differs slightly from those found

in the previous year in being somewhat more darkly marked ; the size

is 68" XX °56".

The last described nest contained three eggs ; the ground-colour is the

same—pearly white—but the markings are more of a vandyke shade than

sienna as in the others. They are also more numerous, and there are

many smudgy indistinct streaks as well as blotches and speckles. The

secondary marks are entirely absent in this clutch. They measure

67" x -5", 68" & °5", 66" x °51". In addition to these I have 42

other eggs which, as far as the markings go, agree with one or other of

the descriptions given above ; but the ground-colour in four clutches

is of a very faint yet decided greenish tinge, and in one other clutch

it is slightly greyish. In many of the eggs the markings are very

equally distributed throughout and show no tendency to form either

ring or cap. Amongst the 49 eggs there is no variation in form and

but little in size. The average of 30 eggs is 67" X *52" or slightly

less.

Their breeding time seems to extend over a considerable period, for,

as may be seen by the dates given above, I have taken their eggs as

early as the 25th April and as late as the 11th July. Ialso found a

nest with fully-fledged young on the 29th of April. This pretty little

bird is found all over these hills above 2,000 feet ; rarely, I believe, be-

low that height. It is nowhere common, but may be most often

observed between 2,500 and 3,000 feet. It keeps much to the tops of

the taller shrubs and young saplings, neither ascending to the tops of

bigger trees nor frequenting the very low scrub. Throughout the cold

weather, up to April or May, it collects in small flocks, the members of

which always keep very close together. It is an extremely active little

bird, assuming all sorts of postures when engaged in clambering up

and down the branches in its search for food, and is most tit-like in

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR, 206

its actions when so employed. On the wing it is not nearly so strong,

and it seldom indulges ina flight of any length. It is notat alla

shy bird and may be watched from a distance of some twenty paces

without any fear of driving it away. Should it at last become

frightened, it will descend lower amongst the jungle and hastily make

its way deeper into it by flitting and scrambling from twig to twig and

branch to branch. Its ordinary note is a rather loud chir-chit, chir-

chit, repeated two or three times ; besides this it has a musical double

note that can almost be called a whistle. Neither of these sounds are

often uttered, and sometimes for several minutes together not a bird in

the flock will utter a single note. There is a species of small tree to be

found here, which is nearly always much infested with green Aphide ;

and where there are many of these trees about, a flock of these

birds may generally be met with, specimens that I have shot in such

places always being full of the insects. Another favourite food is the

larvee of the common locust. I have also on two occasions taken some

very hard black seeds from their stomachs, which are in size and

appearance very similiar to mustard seed, but are much harder,

(86) StvA cYANUROPTERA.—The Blue-winged Siva.

Oates, No. 221 ; Hume, No. 617.

During the breeding season this bird is only found on the very

highest peaks, descending to about 4,000 feet in the cold weather ;

more rarely as low even as 2,000. It is a common bird here.

(87) YuHINA NicRIMENTUM.—The Black-chinned Yuhina.

Oates, No. 225 ; Hume, No. 628.

I obtained this bird at Guilang this year, 18938, and also took its

nest. This is a pendant cradle-like structure made almost entirely of

moss-roots and attached to the moss or lichen on the under part of a

bough.

The eggs are pale greenish marked with specks of pale brown, and

Oates was quite correct in thinking they would prove not to be plain

white.

(88) ZosTEROPs PALEBROSA.—The Indian White-eye.

Oates, No. 228 ; Hume, No. 681.

Common to the west and north, meeting and being equally

common with the next species in the centre and almost entirely

replaced by it to the east and south.

207 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

(89) Z. simpLEx.—Swinhoe’s White-eye.

Oates, No. 228 ; Hume, No. 681 B-

The common form to the south and south-east. The numerous

nests and eggs I have taken differ in no way from those of Z. palebrosa,

nor does its habits call for any remark.

(90) Ixunvs ocorprtaLis.—The Chestnut-headed Ixulus.

Oates, No. 231 ; Hume, No. 624.

Very rare. I have seen only two specimens.

(91) I. Fiavicoti1s.—The Yellow-naped Ixulus.

Oates, No. 232 ; Hume, No. 623.

All my nests, with two doubtful exceptions, have been taken from

the ground. The eggs are, as Oates says, just like rather densely-

marked eggs of Hirundo rustica, but I think they are more brightly

marked on the whole.

(92) HuRPoRNIs XANTHOLEUCA.—The White-bellied Herpornis.

A yery rare bird in North Cachar. I have only seen it about

half a dozen times, and on these occasions it was always in small flocks,

and engaged in the busy pursuit of insects on the higher branches

of lofty trees. I have only observed it on the outskirts of tree-forest.

I do not remember ever hearing their notes, and they seem very silent

birds.

Sub-family Liotrichine.

(93) Liorarix LutEA.—The Red-billed Liothrix.

Oates, No. 235 ; Hume, No. 614.

Fairly common on some of the higher peaks.

(94) CuTta NEPALENSIS.—The Nepal Cutia.

Oates, No. 236 ; Hume, No. 612.

I have seen this bird during the cold weather, on two or three occa-

sions, towards the north-west of the district, haunting the tops of the

oak trees which are the principal timber in that part. The elevation

of the highest peaks in this direction is under three thousand feet.

(95) PETRUTHIUS ERYTHOPTERUS.—The Red-winged Shrike-Tit.

Oates, No. 237 ; Hume, No. 609.

Not uncommon at about 8,500 feet upwards, but seldom appears to

come down below this height. These birds are very shrike-like in all

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 208

their ways and manners, even more so than in their general ap-

pearance.

(96) P. meLAnotis.—The Chestnut-throated Shrike-Tit.

Oates, No. 239 ; Hume, No. 611.

A very rare bird here, only fouhd in the loftiest peaks round about

Hunerum, ranging from 5,500 feet upwards.

(97) AderrHina TyPHIA.—The Common Tora.

Oates, No. 248; Hume, Nos. 467-8.

A very common bird indeed. I may mention that all the eggs I

have ever seen of this species have been marked with grey more or

less tinged with brown, and sometimes also, but not often, one or two

small marks of reddish. I have never yet seen an egg marked only

with brown and reddish-brown, as described by Oates.

(98) CHLoROpsIS AURIFRONS.—The Gold-fronted Chloropsis.

Oates, No. 247; Hume, No. 465.

I shall make no remarks on this genus here, as I included it

amongst the bulbuls of North Cachar, on which birds I have written

an article which has appeared in the Bombay Society’s Journal.

(99) C. HaRpIwicKi1.—The Orange-bellied Chloropsis.

Oates, No. 249; Hume, No. 460.

(100) C. cunorocepHata.—The Burmese Chloropsis.

Oates, No. 250; Hume, No. 463 Bis.

(101) C. serpoxt.—Jerdon’s Chloropsis.

Oates, No. 252; Hume, No. 463.

; (102) Inenz pusLLa.—The Fairy Blue Bird.

Oates, No. 254; Hume, No. 469.

This bird does not appear to ascend the hilis of the north-east above

2,000 feet, and is most often met with very low down or actually in the

plains themselves. I have never noticed it in parties, nor have I ever

seen a single bird ; they seem always to keep in pairs. It breeds only,

I believe, in evergreen forest, and generally near some small stream or

other piece of water.

(103) MenanocHtora sULTANEA.—The Sultan Tit.

Oates, No. 255 ; Hume, No. 650.

This is another genus which, I think, has been taken from its former

position (amongst the Paring) without good cause, and has been

209 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

chucked in amongst the Liotrichine, because Oates was ata loss where

else to put it.

On the 17th May, 1890, I was fortunate enough to take a nest of this

bird. I was out at the time after gaur and was going through thinly-

scattered oak forest with an undergrowth of young sun grass. Whilst

resting for a few minutes under a tree, I noticed a male of this species

on a tree opposite carrying something in his mouth ; presently he flew

to a tree about a dozen paces away, and promptly disappeared into a

Jong crevice which ran down one of the main boughs. Sending a man

up to investigate, both male and female flew away, and to my delight

the man announced that there was a nest with seven eggs.

Both nest and eggs were brought down for my examination. The

former was a thick pad of very fine scraps of moss, compressed down

until it formed an almost solid mass, in depth about 4” and about the

same in diameter at the top, whence it gradually narrowed to a point

in shape the same as the hollow in which it was placed. The depression

in which the eggs were laid was about 3” in diameter by hardly #" deep,

and this was almost filled with soft cotton down.

The eggs are exactly like those of Maclolophus spilonotus, differing

only in size. The ground-colour is a chalky-white, and the whole sur-

face is thickly scattered with brownish-red spots of a bold character,

others underlying of a pinkish-grey and light neutral tint. The mark-

ings are more numerous towards the larger end, but do not form a cap

orring. Ihave eggs of Sitta frontalis very closely resembling these

eggs, but of course much smaller. Of the seven eggs, I only managed

to blow five as they were very hard set. From two eggs the young

were already emerging, and these I broke im trying to clean. Three

others were cleaned with a good deal of trouble, and two, which were

much less hard set than the others, were blown fairly easily. In shape

they are a broad regular oval, very little compressed towards the

smaller end. In size the five eggs average °76" > °6".

Another clutch of eggs was brought to me, which were said to belong

to this bird and were exactly like those already described, but were

much larger, measuring about °83" % ‘65". They were, however, so

damaged in addition to being hard set that it was impossible to pre-

serve them and difficult even to measure very correctly.

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR, 210

I have found this bird both in the evergreen forest of some of the

lower, warmer valleys, and also in the open oak forest to the north-

east of the district. In its habits and actions it is essentially tit-like,

but perhaps less active than the majority of these birds.

(104) Masta ARGENTAURIS.—The Silver-eared Mesia.

Oates, No. 257; Hume, No. 615.

Very common everywhere over 3,000 feet.

(105) Mita rerrmsetTa.—The Red-tailed Minla.

Oates, No. 258 ; Hume, No. 618.

I once met with a large flock of these birds hunting for insects on

the high bushes and small saplings beside a road at an elevation of some

4,000 feet. They did not seem to visit the higher trees at all, but kept

low down below 20 feet or so. They were not at all shy, and several

of them came again and again within a few feet of me, so that, though

T had no gun with which to obtain a specimen, I had not the slightest

difficulty in identifying them. They continued to flit along the sides

of the bushes in front of me for some two or three hundred yards,

uttering a continuous twittering chirp.

(106) PsaRoGLossA SPILOPTERA.—The Spotted-wing.

Oates, No. 261; Hume, No. 691.

This bird is common everywhere during the cold season, but appears

to retire to the hills from 3,000 feet upwards during the breeding

season.

Oates says that neither its structure, its habits, nor the colour of its

eggs show any affinities with the Sturnide. I should have described

its habits as being exactly the same as Sturnza malabarica, and its nest

as being undistinguishable from that of that bird—that is to say, it makes

a rough pad of straw, grasses and a few feathers in a natural hole in a

tree, Its egos are nearer to Oates’ Hulabetide than to the Sturnide.

It is curious that none of the modern ornithologists seem to have

mentioned one of the most distinctive characteristics of the male bird’s

plumage, wz., the remarkably lengthened plumes at the base of the

outer secondary quill feathers of the wing. For a distance of about °75"

to *90" from the base the plumes of the feathers are much lengthened

on the outer webs, forming a most distinct fluffy patch on this part of

the wing. ‘This feature is not present in the wing of the female,

7 3 }

911 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Some of the notes of this bird are peculiarly like the conversational

notes of Molpastes burmanicus, the Burmese Red-vented Bulbul. It

also has a loud clear whistle of the same style as, but softer and much

less loud than, the usual call of Hulabes intermedia, the Indian Grackle.

The females I have shot measure much smaller than the males.

The average of 8 females is as follows :—Length, 7” barely ; wing,

3:8" to 3:9" ; tail, 2:2" to 2:3".

Sub-Family Brachypodine.

(107) CrINigeR FLAVEOLUS.—The White-throated Bulbul.

Oates, No. 263 ; Hume, No. 451.

(108) Hypstperes psARoipEs.—The Himalayan Black Bulbul.

Oates, No. 269 ; Hume, No. 444.

(109) H. concotor.—The Burmese Black Bulbul.

Oates, No. 270 ; Hume, No. 448.

(110) Hemrxus riravaLa.—The Brown-eared Bulbul.

Oates, No. 272 ; Hume, No. 448.

(111) H. maccnetnanpi.—The Rufous-bellied Bulbul.

Oates, No. 275 ; Hume, No. 447.

(112) Atucurus srriatus.—The Striated Green Bulbul.

Oates, No. 277 ; Hume, No. 449.

(113) Motpastes BuRMANICUS.—The Burmese Red-vented Bulbul.

Oates, No. 279.

(114) M. pencaensis.—The Bengal Red-vented Bulbul.

Oates, No. 282 ; Hume, No. 461.

(115) Xanrarxus FLAVESCENS.—Blyth’s Bulbul.

Oates, No. 287 ; Hume, No. 452 Bis.

(116) Orocompsa EMERIA.—The Bengal Red-whiskered Bulbul.

Oates, No. 288 ; Hume, No. 460.

(117) O. ruaviventRis.—The Black-crested Yellow Bulbul.

Oates, No. 290 ; Hume, No. 456.

(118) Spizixus cantrrons.—The Finch-billed Bulbul.

Oates, No. 292 ; Hume, No. 453 Bis.

(119) loze virescens.—The Olive Bulbul.

Oates, No. 296 ; Hume, No. 452 Des.

(120) Microrus mELANocerHALUSs.—The Black-headed Bulbul.

Oates, No. 310 ; Hume, No. 457 Bis.

(121) M. crvzReiventris.—The Grey-bellied Bulbul.

Oates, No. 311 ; Hume, No. 457 Quat.

212

THE COMMON MARINE SHELLS OF THE BOMBAY

SHORE.

By A. ABERCROMBIE.

PART I,

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 6th Sept., 1893.)

In an article which appeared in the 7th Vol. of the 4th Series of

“Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and Philoso-

phical Society,” a catalogue of about 320 species of the Marine

Mollusca of Bombay is given; but local collectors not having all the

advantages of museums and good books of reference cannot make much

use of this article which is not descriptive, and the object of the present

paper will be to give some little account of the families and species

most common on our shore.

The descriptions attempted must necessarily be short, and they have

been made from as perfect and full-sized specimens as I have been able

to obtain. Collectors must be warned against attempting the identifi-

cation of worn and bleached specimens, and there is also often great

variation in the colour, shape, and size of different shells of the same

species, so that too much exactness of description must not be looked

for. Classification proper, of course, rests upon the animal and not

upon his shell ; but this part of the science is so intricate and so bristling

with hard scientific terms that I leave it and content myself with an

endeavour to deal with the shell alone. There are many shells all duly

named and classified, the animal of which has never been seen, so that

at least there is some excuse for the course Iam taking, and if it

simplifies the study to beginners, it may find some favour. But if we

set aside the question of anatomy, there is at least the live animal to

interest us ; but here again, I am afraid, I must fail you. When obser-

vation is possible, that is at low tides, the animal is always at rest, and

in confinement he does not thrive, at least not under the conditions that

I have been able to offer him. He seems also to be impressed with the

fact that his shell has been given him by nature for protection and to

screen him from observation, and he takes care to act up to this belief.

I kept various specimens alive for three to four months in a small tank ;

but what impressed me most about them was the surprising power they

213 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

exhibited of keeping on doing nothing ; for instance Planazis sulcatus

is a common little black shell, living on rocks at about 2 tide mark,

and he ought to be pretty hardy, considering the amount of heating he

can stand at one time of the year and drenching with fresh water at

another ; but in confinement I could make nothing of him. He would

not condescend to stop in my tank, notwithstanding daily supplies of

fresh salt water, syringings to aérate it, and surroundings in the shape

of slimy stones, such as must have been familiar to him. He pre-

ferred, however, an adjoining deal box, on which he had climbed, and

there he sat and brooded over his misfortunes till I returned him to

his element as hopeless.

The univalves are both vegetable feeders and carnivorous, and they

are armed witha long rasping tongue, composed of microscopically

minute calcareous teeth. This tongue, in the case of the carnivori, and,

as is thought by some authorities, with the aid of an acid they have the

power of secreting, enables them to bore holes in the shells of bivalves

and other members of their own species. An actual case of this boring

happened under my own observation—a specimen of Urosalpinz

contracta perforating the shell of Semele cordzformis (a bivalve) in about

twenty-four hours.

The Semeée had, as is the custom of most bivalves, embedded itself in

some sand provided in my tank for that purpose, and how Urosalpinex

got him on to the top of the sand I can only surmise ; but it was there

that the boring operation took place.

This custom of retreating into the sand is no absolute protection

to the bivalves from their enemies the univalves, as many of the latter

regularly burrow in search of them, which is attested by the large

quantity of bivalve shells found with a circular hole drilled through

them. The animals of the Natica family, four to five of which are very

common here, are specially adapted for this burrowing. They have a

large and powerful foot or gliding surface ; they are blind or nearly so,

and are provided in front of the head region with a sort of shield,

Their shell is light, very smooth and round, and so offers little or no

resistance to the pushings through the sand ; but Urosalpinex belongs to

a family differing widely from this description. Most members of it are

heavy shell-bearers, and their shells are rough and ridged, often with

varices or fringes, and they frequent, as a rule, rocks or:muddy stones,

THE COMMON MARINE SHELLS OF THE BOMBAY SHORE, 214

but apparently they are not above attacking the bivalves when they

come across their path. Now Semele cordiformis, as far as my obser-

vations go, is not one of the bivalves that burrow deeply into the sand,

and if, as I suspect, the shell was barely immersed, the univalve on

touching it whilst gliding along would easily prevent any further

burrowing. |

Any one who has attempted to remove or push aside the common

limpet knows what adhesive or suctional power the animal has in his

foot, and it must be this power that renders the bivalve helpless when

once caught. Jam unfortunately unable to give any account of the

actual process of the boring, as Urosalpins sat on the top of his prey and

performed all his offensive actions under cover of his shell ; but the

Semele was bored as stated and devoured, and those little scavengers—

the hermit crabs, of which I had several in my tank—soon scented what

was up and assisted at the feast.

Conchological books inform us that certain members of the snail

tribe are provided, like spiders, with a viscous thread, by which they can

let themselves down from the branches of trees, and it appears that some

marine shells can draw themselves up by a similar means. I was fortu-

nate enough to find a live specimen of, I believe, Scalaria consors, to which

was attached by a thread a small sort of anchor consisting of several

bits of shell agglutinated together. The shell is extremely light, and it

seems reasonable to suppose that the animal having secured its

anchorage would, or at any rate could, float in mid-ocean, and the shell

being a dull white would not be readily seen in such a position.

As Mr. Phipson is reprinting, with the accompanying illustration, the

descriptions by Mr. Melvill of twenty-five new species found here, I

have not considered it necessary to refer to any of them in this article,

THE UNIVALVES OR GASTEROPODA.

The order I follow is that given in the article on the Mollusca in the

Encyclopeedia Britannica.

Diviston I..—Shield shape or conical hollow shells with an oval base.

Divisrton II,.—Shells, the mouth of which is generally circular or

semi-circular and noé produced into a canal at the base.

Diviston I1I.—Shells, the mouth of which is produced into a canal

at the base. The mouth is sometimes a sort of canal in itself. When

915 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

the canal is not very obvious, there is a deep sinus or cut into the base

of the shell.

Division I.

In Division I. we have really only one common shell, the limpet

(Patella aster, Reeve), but a so-called key-hole limpet, with a small

hole at the apex of the shell (Fissurella lima, Sow.), is also to be found,

and under muddy stones there lives a little animal with a shield-shaped

shell (Scutum unguzs, Linn.)

Division II.

TROCHIDA.

There are a great many members of this family, several very common,

and they are best known by the nacreous (M. O. P.) construction of

their shells, which may generally be seen by an examination of the

mouth or by removing the outer or coloured layer of the shell.

Turbo elegans (Phil.).—A_ large shell having four to five whorls ;

whorls rounded and ridged spirally ; brown with green and yellow

shadings and mottlings ; mouth circular ; length, which I shall always

take as from apex to base, about 2 inches ; breadth at the widest part

of the last whorl, 14 inches.

The next three are all pyramidal in shape, the whorls being out-

wardly flattish.

Trochus radiatus (Gmelin) and Clanculus depictus (A. Ad.).—Both

very common, especially the former ; both are beaded, the beadings

forming spiral bands running round the shell. TZ. radzatus is much the

larger and easily recognised by the broad, red or maroon, irregular

stripes running down the shell. Between the stripes the colour is

greenish when alive, turning to yellow or whitish when dead. C.

depictus is yellow or grey, with similar but black stripes. I have found

some specimens a light yellow-grey colour, with no stripes. Others

uniformly dark grey, but black stripes are the rule.

Astralium stellatum (Gmelin).— Whorls sharply noduled at intervals

at the lower margin and diagonally striated ; colour, a dull yellow.

Huchelus indicus (A, Ad.).—A dull brown, smallish shell, very com-

mon ; whorls rounded with minute beadings, forming fine spiral lines ;

mouth circular.

THE COMMON MARINE SHELLS OF THE BOMBAY SHORE. 216

Rotella vestiaria (Lam.).—Is the little highly coloured shining shell,

so common on the sandy beach. It is often pink. The spire is depres-

sed, and in size it is smaller than a two-anna piece.

NERITIDA.

Smallish, thick, semi-oval shells ; mouth large, flat, and in shape

like a capital D ; columella or central pillar of shell broad, flat, and

sloping inwards.

Nerita oryzarum (Recluz).—Very common on half-tide rocks or under

stones ; colour white and black mottled and streaked, sometimes with

a tinge of rust; last whorl envelops nearly the whole shell and is

ridged ; shell polished.

Neritina crepiduiaria (Lam.).—Apex bent down towards mouth of

shell; colour white, with purple transverse bandings ; shell quite

smooth ; frequents muddy places on the harbour side of the shore.

IANTHINIDA,

Lanthina communis (Lam.).—Is a very fragile and beautiful shell,

The upper half of the whorls a delicate white purple; the under or

aperture side a deep purple. It is a floating shell, and only found

when washed up after stormy weather. It also, I am told, has been

procured in a very perfect state from fishermen’s nets.

CERITHIIDA.

Cerithium morus (Lam.) and Potamides (Tympanotonos) fluviatilis

(P. M.).—These two little shells live along with Planawis at three-

quarter tide mark, especially where there are muddy stones. The latter

seems to belie its name, at any rate as far as Bombay is concerned.

C. morus is a blackish, small and spiral shell, with sometimes a white

band ; spirally striated and heavily beaded, and regularity of shape

interrupted by varices or thickened ridges ; mouth—outer lip rounded

and thickened, causing the varix as the growth of the shell is continued

leaving the thickened part standing out; about }” to #" long,

P, fluviatilis is a slender pyramidal shell, about 3" to 1” long. Each

whorl has three rows of spiral beadings ; mouth produced and flattish

at the base ; last whorl often shows marked white and black spiral

bandings and is smooth.

TURRITELLIDA.

Turritella duplicata (am.) is a massive tapering shell, having ten

to fifteen or more whorls; easily known by two parallel ridges

217 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VILL.

running spirally round the centre of each whorl ; colour, rusty yellow.

A good specimen would be 5” to 6” long.

NATICID AL.

Shining, globular, thinnish shells, many of them of great beauty ;

last whorl envelops greater part of shell ; mouth large and somewhat

semi-circular or auriform. Shells are umbilicated, z.¢., the axis or

columella round which the whorls are formed is more or less hollow.

Natica didyma (Bolten) attains a good size, yellow or fawn-

coloured young shells and apex often with a leaden hue; easily known

by a chocolate-coloured callosity nearly covering in the umbilicus,

this callosity having a central groove running across it. I am indebted

to Mr. E. A. Smith, of the British Museum, for the information that

this shell is figured in Reeve’s Conchologia as Chemnitzi lamare-

kiana, petiveriana, and problematica.

Natica lineata (Lam.).—White, with irregular, slanting, closely set

stripes of reddish-brown colour running across the whorls of the

shell ; umbilical area pure white.

Natica maculosa (Liam.).—A smaller and very common shell, with

brown or purple spottings or streaks. When the shell is bleached these

spots become reddish.

Natica rufa (Born.).—A plain, yellow-brown shell with a distinct

band: of white running spirally round centre of whorl ; base very

white.

Mammilla zanzibarica (Recluz.).— A white, oblong, very thin shell,

with a faint central band of colour on last whorl ; mouth very large

and auriform ; umbilicus nearly covered in by a long purple or brown

recurvement of shell.

CAPULIDZ.

There is one specimen of this curious family which should be men-

tioned. It [Lrgea walshi (Herm.)] lives inside dead shells and adapts

itself in shape to its situation like the oysters. It is most often a flat,

white, oval shell, looking like a bivalve, but the inner side is porcella-

neous, and has a protruding lip, which forms a cavity and, no doubt,

serves to protect the vital parts of the animal.

PLANAXID anp LITTORINIDA.

The authority I am following does not seem to give the former

THE COMMON MARINE SHELLS OF THE BOMBAY SHORE, 218

family a place by itself, and as the only member of it lives alongside

the Littorinide I take them together.

Planazis sulcatus (Born.) has been already spoken of. The shell is

small, thick, dark, and smooth with light streakings, and is strongly

spirally grooved ; whorls 4 to 5; columella flattened, and outer lip of

mouth ridged inside.

Littorina ventricosa (Phil.) and L.malaccana (Phil.).—These are two

minute shells to be found living on the boulders of our shore, even

above the reach of all tides. L. ventricosa is Natica shaped, dull yellow

or grey, with incised lines running spirally round the shell.

L. malaccana is black or dark grey, and easily known by the double

row of white nodules round the centre of the whorls.

Division III,

STROMBIDA.

There is only one member of this family at all common, the Rostel-

laria curta (Sow). It is a long tapering shell of 5” to 6”, smooth and

shining ; colour yellow to brown ; outer lip of mouth flattened and

toothed, and a long pointed canal at the base.

DOLIDA.

Dolium maculatum (Lam.).—The largest and perhaps handsomest

shell we have, and sometimes bigger than a cricket ball. Last whorl

nearly envelops the whole shell, and mouth very large; colour white

with a touch of purple-grey ; raised bands encircling the shell with

brown interrupted blotches ; shell thin, polished, and somewhat trans-

parent,

TRITONIDA,

Ranella tuberculata (Brod.),—Common and easily known by the two

opposite varices or ridges running from apex to base, and giving the

shell a flattened appearance; whorls 7 to 8, spirally, tubercularly,

ridged ; mouth rounded and canal distinct; colour dull brown ;

when dead reddish-yellow and shining.

CYPRAID A.—Tuer Cowrexs,

The shape of these shells is so well known as to need no description.

All highly polished and rarely obtained as dead shells in a sufficiently

perfect state for identification,

219 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Cyprea arabica (Lam.).—About the size of a hen’s egg 5 easily

known by a sort of hieroglyphic writing over the back, interspersed

with white roundish blotchings.

Cyprea pallida (Gray).—Size of a sparrow’s egg ; light grey-green

ground, and finely speckled with brown dots, culminating frequently in

a dark blotch on the back.

Cyprea ocellata (Lam.) and Cyprwa lamarckti (Gray}.—The size

of a pigeon’s egg. Former rich yellow ground, and covered with

white spots, which are frequently pupilled like eyes. Latter greenish-

yellow ground with larger white spots without pupils, An offshoot

of this family, Ovula spelta (Linn.) is not very uncommon ; shell

smooth, white, shining, and somewhat bow-shaped ; aperture long,

narrow, and produced into a canal at both ends; length 1}" to 13”.

CONIDA\.—Tue Conzs.

Three varieties of this very large family are common here, and the

name describes their shape. The spire is very short or almost

immersed ; shell tapering with a long narrow mouth widest at the base,

The same species may vary much in colour and marking,

Conus monachus (L.)—The largest of the three ; ground-colour

brownish, frequently much clouded, especially towards the centre, with

gray-white streakings and blotches ; encircled with dark lines inter-

rupted in the clouded parts,

Conus mutabilis (Chem.) isa uniform yellow, dark or light, and

sometimes with encircling lines.

Conus lentiginosus (Reeve).—The smallest, sharp-pomted ; raised

spire ; white with burnt yellow zigzag streakings.

PLEUROTOMIDA.

These are shells with a tall spire and a fusiform (tapering at both

ends) shape. ‘They have also—which is peculiar to the family—a

notch in the outer lip of the mouth, near the body of the shell. There

are several varieties, but only four are common.

Pleurotoma javana (L.) or nodifera (am.),—A dark fawn-coloured

shell ; whorls angular and noduled at the angle, with whitish knobs ;

below the angle strongly spirally striated ; length, 2” to 3”.

Pleurotoma fulminata (Kiener).—Smooth, polished, white with rich

yellow markings. A sort of spiral band formed by the upper part of each

whorl overlapping its predecessor is a noticeable feature in the shell.

THE COMMON MARINE SHELLS OF THE BOMBAY SHORE, 220

Plewrotoma athinsonei (Smith), crenularis (am.).—Very common ;

whitish, rough, with strong tubercles in the centre of each whorl,

almost forming longitudinal ridges ; spirally striated. Young shells

often have a brown or grey tinge. Length, 14” to 2".

Pleurotoma amicta (Smith,) eincta (Lam.).—A white or dirty white

chalky-looking shell with an even spire and regular spiral ridges ;

length, 12” to 2”,

MURICIDA.

Murex adustus (Lam.).—A black, rather large shell, with large frill-

like varices, which get quickly worn down in the dead shell. Each

whorl has three of these varices running down the shell and raised

humps between them ; mouth, small, oval ; canal produced and almost

covered over ; general shape fusiform.

BUCCINID A.

This family and the last are very closely connected, and there are

many sub-divisions, which are not always placed under the same head

by Conchological authorities. Any general or leading description of

these shells is impossible.

The following are common shells on our sandy shores :—

Dipsaccus or Eburna spirata (uam.) (the ivory shell).—It has a

thick rough epidermis, beneath which the shell is quite smooth ; colour,

yellow with large blotches, and zigzag streaks of white or vice versa ;

whorls 7 to 8; upper edge sharp and sloping inwards, forming a sort

of spiral gutter; mouth porcellanous ; shape ovate ; spire rapidly

diminishing.

Nassa nodifera (Powis) and Nassa ornata (Kiener).—Both these

shells are polished and somewhat similar in shape, but the former is

much larger. It is of a grey-green or yellowish hue, with an indistinct

white band running round the last whorl ; whorls about 8, longitudi-

nally ridged and slightly noduled at the upper part; mouth rather

broad at the base and sinus large; length, 14”; breadth, 2",

NV. ornata is purple-brown with a very distinct white band round the

last whorl ; base also whitish ; longitudinal ridges stronger and shell

shorter and stouter ; length, 2” ; breadth, 4",

Cyllene fuscata (A. Ad.).—A beautiful little shell about 3" long, thick,

spire sharply pointed and beaded ; last whorl enveloping greater

221 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

part of shell ; smooth or slightly ridged longitudinally ; mouth nar-

row, oval, dark, and ridged inside ; outer lip thickened ; sinus deeply

cut back ; colour variable—whitish, grey tinged with yellow markings.

Bullia lineolata (Wood): -—A smooth, shining, thin tapering shell ;

whorls. 7 to 8, grooved towards.the base; colour yellow with grey

tinge, and more or less streaked with longitudinal brown lines ; mouth

- widest at the base, and sinus broad ; length, about #”, breadth, 2”.

We now come to the Purpuras, which live chiefly amongst the

boulders of our shore-at low tide,mark.

Purpura bufo (Lam.)—A thick, massive, large shell, generally en-

erusted with limey matter hiding marking and colour ; spire depressed,

last whorl enveloping the whole shell nearly, and generally with swollen

tubercles towards its centre ; mouth large and oval, with a narrow

but deep sinus at the base; shell coloured by encircling lines of

brown. In young shells the colour is a dull yellow with fine encir-

cling striations.

Purpura rudolfi (Lam.), persica (Linn.).—Also a large shell ;

colour light to dark brown with encircling striations and darker raised

bands, the upper ones being slightly noduled. The bands are blackish,

interrupted with white oblong spots; mouth very large; outer lip

serrate ; columella flattish and grooved towards the base. A good

specimen would be three inches long.

Purpura carinifera (Lam.).—Smaller than the last ; very common ;

colour light yellow to grey ; chiefly distinguishable by a double row of

sharp, upward-pointed tubercles round the upper and middle part of the

last whorl; fine cancellated striations ; mouth orange-coloured in-

side ; length, 12”; breadth, 12".

Purpura sacellum (Lam.)—Shell slightly fusiform. The upper

part of the last whorl and the spire bear a resemblance in outline to a

pagoda, This last whorl has rows of sharp scaly ridges. Colour yellow

to brown ; mouth, white ; length, 12".

Purpura tissot: (Petit).—A small shell }” to 2" long, with a tallish

spire, 4" to 5” broad encircling ridges on is el whorl with an inter-

mediate narrow ridge ; ridges slightly tubercled and sometimes dark

coloured,

(See Mr. Melvill’s description and figuring of Purpura blanford?.)

THE COMMON MARINE SHELLS OF THE BOMBAY SHORE, 222

Lritonidea (Cantharus) spiralis (Gray).—Shell has a rough epi-

dermis, beneath which it is smooth, white and with burnt markings ;

whorls about 7, strongly ribbed, 8 to 9 ribs on last whorl, 3 on upper

ones ; last whorl undulating, and looking-down on to the apex ; the

shell is hexagonal in outline ; mouth white and porcellanous.

Urosalpina contracta (Reeve).—Fusiform, thick, about 14” long and

" broad ; spire tall and spirally, closely striated ; old shell, often chalk-.

white ; young brown with dark bandings ; upper whorls prominently

tubercled, formed in the last into longitudinal ridges ; mouth oval and

canal distinct. .

Recinula (Sistrum) tuberculata (De-Blain).—A small but remarkably

massive shell ; easily known by the strong, dark, rounded tubercles

standing out of a greyish ground; mouth purple-tinged, strongly

toothed inside in the mature shell ; length, 2” ; breadth, ¥",

Columbella terpsichore (Iueathes).—A small shining slightly fusiform

shell ; white or light yellow ; longitudinally fluted ; ridges brown

coloured and shell figured with yellow markings ; mouth narrow ;

spire sharp ; length, }! to 8"; breadth, 4’,

OLIVIDA.

Oliva nebulosa (Lam.).—One of the commonest shells on our

sandy shore ; cylindrical ; sharp-pointed, shining, thick ; mouth, long

and narrow and widest at the base ; colour, whitish-yellow with

fading grey zigzag cloudings and a broad yellow encircling band

near the base of the shell ; length, 1" to 12”, When bleached, the

markings become reddish.

There are two other shells fairly common here, which, though belong-

ing to none of the families or divisions given, should be mentioned,

BULLIDA.

Haminea galba (Pease)—An extremely delicate little oval shell

transparent white or yellow ; aperture the full length of the last whorl,

and broadening into an oval at the base ; apex instead of being pointed

is indented,

SCAPHOPODA.

Dentalium longitrorsum (Reeve).—A long slightly curved cylinder

open at either end; shell white and shining ; length, generally

1" to 2" ; resembles in miniature an elephant’s tusk,

223 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY.

By SurcEon-Masor K,. R. Kirtikar, LM.S., F.L.S.

PART VI.

(With Plate #1.)

(Continued from page 106.)

TERMINALIA BELLERICA.—(Roatd.)

(Natural Order—ComBrETacE.)

MaratHI—BEHEDA ¥eagt,

A very large tree with rusty pubescence on young branchlets and

calyx ; attains a height of 60—100 feet; trunk tall, erect, regularly

shaped; branches spreading, forming a coppery-tinted bright, broad,

massive crown when young; bright green when old. Youngest

offshoots beautifully crimson.

Srmm.—‘ Bark 4 inch thick, dark grey, uneven, and tessellated by

broad longitudinal furrows crossed by short narrow transverse wrinkles,

the old bark exfoliating in dry corky scales. Wood lightly grey, or

yellowish, open and coarse grained, easily worked but not durable ; no

distinct heartwood.” —(Brandis.) The girth of the stem is 6—~10 feet,

at times 10—20 feet.

LeAves.—Uxstipulate, alternate, crowded about the extremities of

branches ; crenulate, pubescent ; when quite young, of a bright reddish

or copper colour, tinged with bright crimson ; older leaves bright green,

pale beneath ; broad elliptic or ovate elliptic, 3—8 inches long, 2—3

inches broad ; base often unequal ; the lower margin of the leaf tapering

as it approaches the petiole, and finally merges into the upper margin of

the petiole, leaving the petiole slightly grooved on the ventral aspect.

Apex of the leaf obtuse, retuse usually ; sometimes acuminate, especially

in the larger leaves ; margin of the leaf entire ; main lateral nerves

arcuate, prominent, 58 on either side of the midrib ; often reddish,

Prriote.—Roundish, longer than 4 length of the leaf. The tree

sheds its leaves from January to March.

FLowers.—Small ; male and hermaphrodite mixed on solitary

simple spikes which are sometimes erect, sometimes bent, sometimes

drooping ; spikes 3—6 inches long, arising from the axils of fresh

leaves just before or about the same time as the year’s tender leaves

shoot out. Sometimes the spikes shoot out from below the insertion

Journ. Bomb. Nat.Hist.Soc :

late

Isaac Benjamin del, Mintern Bros, Chromo lith. London.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY.

Terminal belerica Nat.Ord. Combretacese.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY, 224.

of the fresh leaf ; not unfrequently from either above or below the

cicatrix at the insertion of the previous year’s leaf. The flowers and

foliage appear about the commencement of the hot weather. They can

be seen in their full beauty in April and May. Roxburgh and Brandis

condemn the flowers as of a dirty grey or greenish-yellow colour, but

although they may be unattractive from a distance on account of their

diminutive size or entire absence of petals, and positively repulsive on

account of the offensive odour as they open, their bright yellow anthers

and the crimson streaks on the calyx, variegated with the soft down

inside and outside the calyx, as clearly seen even under an ordinary

magnifying glass, are by no means unattractive ; at any rate they are

not suggestive of any dirtiness in appearance. The offensive smell

resembles that of Sterculia fatida or of Sterculia guttata. Male

flowers are usually to be seen on the upper part of the spikes ; they

are sessile. The hermaphrodite flowers are chiefly confined to the

lower part of the spike. They have short pedicels. Bracts linear ;

very early caducous ; of a brownish colour ; not seen at the base of the

topmost flowers of the spikes. Sometimes two or three flowers arise

from the same point or base on the spike.

Catyx.—Deciduous ; free part of the calyx cup-shaped, cleft half

way into five triangular segments, woolly inside with long whitish-

crimson. hair ; the hair outside is short.

AdstivatioN—Valvate. Calyx-tube of the hermaphrodite flowers

above the ovary, with a campanulate mouth; segments of calyx

pointed slightly backwards, z.e., towards the dorsal surface.

JOROLLA.—Absent.

Stamens.—10,

FILAMENTS :—5 short, 5 long, arranged alternately, inserted

below the calyx-segments ; the larger ones twice the length

of the calyx. In the hermaphrodite flowers there is an

epigynous brownish disc between the stamens and pistil, densely

hairy. The upper part of the filaments curves over the top

part of the anther as it thins out into the connective,

AnTHERS.—Bright yellow, bold, slightly reniform with convexity

on its ventral surface ; consisting of two distinet loculi sepa-

rated. below, uniting at the connective ; bursting longitudinally,

The loculi are joined to the connective at their topmost part

on their dorsal surface,

225 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

PisTIL :—

Sryiu.—Slender, filiform, tapering atithe apex to half the size it

has near the ovary, projecting slightly beyond the filaments.

Strema.—Simple, a mere depression at the apex, turning brown

about the time the anthers burst and throw out their ample,

impalpable offensive-smelling pollen.

Ovary.—Inferior, coherent with the tube of the calyx, 1-celled,

always tomentose.

Ovu.E.—Pendulous from the apex of the cavity.

Frurr.—DeCandolle, Roxburgh, Wight and Arnott, Dymock, Lyon,

&e., all agree in calling the fruit a “ Drupe.” Clarke in Hooker’s

Flora of British India discards this name. A drupe, according to the

signification assigned to the term by modern Botanists, is morphologi-

cally a different fruit; and accustomed as I am to the arrangement

and terminology of Bentley as regards Fruits, I think that the fruit

of Terminalia bellerica being inferios cannot strictly be called a drupe,

which is a superior mono-carpellary fruit, that is to say, formed of a

single flower, the ovary of which is made up of a single carpel. Clarke

calls it drupaceous, and. that is a more accurate term for it, The fruit

is fleshy, indehiscent, 4+-—# inch in diameter, ovoid, grey or tan-

coloured, velvety when young, turning into reddish or deep buff-

colour as it matures, with five more or less distinct furrows # to 1

inch long. The skin becomes coriaceous as the fruit grows older ;

epicarp and mesocarp shrivel as the fruit dries up after it is detached

from the parent tree. The fruit ripens during the cold season, It is

so persistent that the fruit which ripened last cold weather can even

now be seen in the jungles in the middle of May on the trees just as

they are throwing out the fresh foliage and flower-stalks of the current

season.

Nout.—Thick and hard, rough, irregularly coarse-grained, varying

from $—# inch in length ; }—4 inch at its broadest part, which is

about the middle.

SrErpD.—One, which constitutes the kernel in the nut, The nut

yields a bland oil and is sweet to taste.

ALBUMEN.—None, says Clarke, as also Roxburgh.

CoryLEpons.—Conyolute ; creamy white colour.

Empryo.—Inyerse, spiral.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 226

REMARKS,

By far the most accurate description I have seen of this plant is

that given by Brandis (p. 222, Forest Flora of North-West and

Central India). I have therefore tried to follow him and Wight and

Arnott as much as possible in the description given above, and the

remarks that are to follow.

There is one thing striking about the venation of the leaves of the

tree. Half-way between the midrib and the margin of the leaf, the

main lateral nerves on either side of the midrib suddenly swell out

into longish irregular nodules, assume a deeper crimson tint and

develop more abundant hair. This is more marked on the older

green leaves than on the earliest tender crimson ones, So far as I

am aware this peculiarity has not been specially noted by any observer

before.

The observation of Roxburgh, that there are two opposite glands on

the upper side of the apex of the petiole and sometimes near the base,

is not borne out by the experience of Wight and Arnott and Brandis.

I have myself failed to find the glands Roxburgh speaks of, although

I have examined several specimens in the plains and hills of Thana,

and at Matheran, Clarke, in Hooker’s Flora of British India, in

referring to the supposed occurrence of glands on the leaves of

Terminalia bellerica, says that they are often on the petiole, or near

the base of the midizb beneath. (The italics are mine.—K. R, K.)

When Clarke speaks of glands on midrib, and on the under-surface

of the leaf, just near the apex of the petiole, he was evidently thinking

of or had before him the leaf of An (Terminalia tomentosa) instead of

the leaf of Behedé (Terminalia bellerica). I have a specimen of each

of these plants before me as I am writing this paper.

DeCandolle says that the petioles are glabrous. Roxburgh also says

the leaves are glabrous. It is not so. The whole organ is essentially

tomentose ; so is the flewer ; so is the fruit. An ordinary magni-

fying glass is enough ,to show the fine, white or buff coloured hairs or

down on the petiole, midrib, nerves and their minuter ramifications ;

on the upper and under-surfaces of the leaf, several weeks after the

foliage appears. As the leaf gets. older and assumes a brighter green,

the down on the leaf shrivels. It may then disappear and perhaps the

oldest and most mature leaves may appear glabrous. That is the only

5 .

227 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

way I can account for the statements of DeCandolle and Roxburgh. |

The down on the petioles is distinctly of a crimson or coppery tint.

Roxburgh further observes that “ the Natives do not use any part

of the fruit of Terminalia bellerica in medicine.” This remark

appears to be based on scanty information. As a matter of fact,

Beheda is one of the commonest articles used not only by learned

Himdu Vaidyas and native practitioners of all sorts, but also as an

ordinary domestic remedy. It is well known to the natives that

Triphala is a panacea for all kinds of ailments,

_ Lriphalé is a combination of three fruits, wz. :—

firdé—Terminalia chebula,

Beheda— Terminalia bellerica,

Awalé—Phyllanthus emblica,

vide p. 44, Ark-Prakash, vol. 3, Nighanta Ratnakar.

These are pounded together, and used in the shape of a powder,

decoction, or cold infusion, They are valuable for the large quantity

of tannin they contain. They are valuable as astringents when given

in combination, The mixture, however, acts as a laxative in children,

It is generally known to give tone to the intestinal canal. It must be

remembered that the part of the fruits used medicinally is the rind, not

the pulp, as is wrongly said, for there is no pulp strictly so-called on any

of these nuts covering the hard kernel. The kernel of the nut is never

used medicinally. It is eaten for its sweet taste, sometimes in large

quantities, as many as twenty-five being swallowed at a time without

harm. I have heard from several reliable sources that the kernel is

harmless. From other sources equally reliable I hear that if the

kernel is eaten in large quantities it acts as an intoxicant. But of

this more hereafter. Brandis says that the fruit of Behedd is a

favourite food of monkeys, deer, sheep, goats and cattle. The taste of

the rind of the fruit is astringent. The taste of the kernel is like that

of its congener Baddm (Terminalia catappa). There is no evidence

of the kernel of TT. catappa ever having produced intoxi-

cation, eat what quantity of it you like. It is the tannin in the

rind of the fruit that gives Behedd its commercial value in common

with its congener the Hirdd, as an important ingredient, largely used

in and out of India for dyeing cloth and leather and for tanning.

Beheda is also known in the Konkan by the name of Yelyé.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 228

An insipid gum of brown colour exudes from wounds in the bark of

fT. belleriea, in vermicular pieces, about the thickness of the

finger. “ It is hardly at all soluble,” says Dr. Dymock, “ in water,

in which it swells up and forms a bulky gelatinous mass.” Rox-

burgh’s statement, that the gum is soluble in water, is nearer the truth.

I have verified it myself and have just at this minute a specimen of

the gum in water, and I find it is as easily soluble as the ordinary gum

arabic, Dr. Dymock was not able to verify from personal observa-

tion the statement of Drury that the gum burns like a candle. From

my own experience I can say that it does burn and continues to burn

with a pale reddish flame, and with a spurt and a flash now and then,

swelling the whole mass out and leaving a charred residue. I have

tried the experiment just this minute on a fresh’ bit of gum obtained

from a bark wounded only yesterday, Perhaps Dr. Dymock’s speci-

men of gum was old and dry, and had got rid of its inflammable

material in the process of drying, as is but natural to suppose.

Wight and Arnott observe in their Prodromus that “the tree

known as Terminalia moluccana of Roxburgh and probably of Blume

(but not of Lamarck) is allied to T. bellerica. It has precisely the

same kind of fruit and male flowers, but the petioles are short, giving

quite a different aspect to the plant.” |

The flowers of 7. bellerica are of offensive odour as I have

already stated above. I have alluded to an incident at Thana regard-

ing this offensive odour in a Lecture on Indian Flowers I delivered

last year before the Sassoon Mechanics Institute of Bombay. Extracts

from this Lecture have already appeared in the last number of the

Society’s Journal wherein the incident is mentioned. I need not

therefore repeat it here.

THE POISONOUS PROPERTIES.

The kernel of the seed of Behedd is narcotic in its action. Dr,

Lyon refers in his Medical Jurisprudence (p. 222) to two sets of cases

of accidental poisoning by it. One set of cases he quotes from Dr.

Norman Chevers’ Medical Jurisprudence as recorded by Mr. C, EF.

Raddock, Sub-Assistant Surgeon of the Malwa Bheel Corps, wherein

three boys are mentioned as having suffered from poisonous symptoms

after eating some of the dry nuts. They all recovered however.

The symptoms in two of the boys were drowsiness, headache, sickness

229 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIII.

at stomach and free vomiting of a thick white frothy mucus. With

regard to the third boy, who was weakly and seven years old, the

symptoms were more severe. Briefly stated, they were as follows :—

Total insensibility ; heart’s action frequent and weak; legs cold, eyes

rather glistening, and pupils normal but fixed; jaw firmly closed.

This boy had eaten the largest quantity, it is said between 20 to 30

kernels, He is said to have played all day and night before going

to bed. He showed no symptoms of poisoning till the following

morning, when he was found insensible. Notice in these cases the

long time that it took for the poisonous symptoms to show themselves.

In the first two boys they did not appear till about eight hours after,

and in the third boy not even in twelve hours.

The other set of cases referred to by Dr. Lyon are from the

Bombay Chemical Analyser’s Report (1878-79, p. 14), in which a

woman and two children, one of whom was a weakly girl of eight or

nine years, were poisoned. Of these, the girl died and the two others

recovered. The symptoms were nausea and yomiting followed by

narcotism, Dr, Lyon observes that it is not known to what these

narcotic properties are due. In a collection of old Sanskrit obser-

vations on Indian drugs recently edited by Mr. R. 8. Lale under the

name of Guna Dosha-Prakdsh (1892, p. 185) the kernel of Behedd

is referred to as intoxicating. O’Shaughnessy seems to have heard of

this property.

From all accounts I have hitherto received, it appears probabie that

the eating of the kernel affects different individuals differently. In

some it produces intoxication ; in others it is harmless even in large

quantities. This reminds one of the effect of a variety of Arecha

catechu or Supdér2 nut, known as Méjri Supéri has on different

individuals, d/djr2 means “ intoxicating.” True to its name in some,

Majri Supéri unmistakably produces giddiness, nausea, hiccup ; where-

as in others it is perfectly harmless.

In the printed Proceedings of the Grant Medical College Society for

the year 1880 (ude Part No. 8, p. 71) there is an abstract of an

interesting paper recording a case of poisoning by the kernel of

Behedé seed, which occurred in the practice of Dr. Tribhuvandas

M. Shah, L.M., then Assistant Surgeon at Ahmedabad, now Chief

Medical Officer of Junagadh State. Dr, Tribhuyandas is one of the

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 230

most accomplished Medical Graduates of the Bombay University.

He is as careful a clinical observer as he is a skilful and facile

operator. I cannot, therefore, do better than give in full, with his

kind permission, the abstract of his notes as published by the Grant

College Medical Society :--“ A child, about five years of age, was

brought one morning into the Hospital in an insensible condition, the

parents stating that the child had eaten some of the kernels of the

nut the previous evening. The parents were dyers and used the nuts

for dyeing clothes black ; the pericarp was used by them while the

kernels were thrown away. The Natives are well aware of the

effects produced by the eating of the kernels, About half a pound

of the nuts will be eaten before they produce narcotic effect in an

adult ; the effect is not rapid but takes several hours before it is

exhibited. The child had apparently gone to bed all right and in the

morning was found quite insensible. When seen she was totally

unconscious, the pupils were of natural size, the cornea was insensible

to touch, breathing was stertorous, body of natural temperature, pulse

somewhat frequent, jaws partially locked.’’ Hmetics, stimulants and

other remedies were administered. The child, however, died of

convulsions within half an hour from the time they set in. A post

mortem examination was made two hours after death. Herein lies

the value of this paper. The stomach was found somewhat congested

and contained some greenish black grumous fluid ; the intestines and

all the other organs were found natural.

The question that strikes me is :—Is it that the symptoms of intoxi-

cation or narcotism may be due to small quantities of Hydrocyanic

acid developed in the kernel of some of the fruits of Behedd? I

leave the question to be solved by practical Pharmacologists and

Chemical Analysers.

Descriprion oF Puate H,

1. The tender branchlet of T. bellerica with flower-spikes in bud

and blossom.

2. The fruit of 7. bellerica on the previous year’s apical branchlet

3, A transverse section through the middle of the fruit. The

outermost brown line showing the downy epicarp ; the green layer

indicating the mesocarp which contains tannin, and which alone is

used medicinally ; the next yellowish layer represents the irregular

hard nut. The central white mass represents the kernel.

231 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIIT.

LIST OF BIRDS NOTED AT ADEN AND ITS VICINITY.

By Ligut. H. HE. Barnes, M.3.0.U., F.Z.8,

1, Gyps fulvus, Gm. ... Griffon Vulture.

2. Neophron percnopterus, Linn. ... Egyptian Vulture.

3. Falco peregrinus, Tunst. ... Peregrine Falcon.

4, Falco barbarus, Linn. .-» Barbary Falcon.

5. Tinnunculus alaudarius, Gm, ... Kestrel.

6. Accipiter nisus, Linn. .-. Huropean Sparrow Hawk.

7. Aquila chrysaétos, Linn. ... Golden Eagle.

8. Aquila imperialis, Bechst. .-. Imperial Eagle.

9. Pandion haliaétus, Linn. ... Osprey.

10. Haliaétus leucogaster, Gm. _... White-bellied Sea Hagle,

11. Melierax polyzonus, Rupp. _ ...

12. Milvus egyptius, Gm. ... Hgyptian Kite.

13, Hlanus coeruleus, Desf. ... Black-winged Kite,

14. Strix flammea, Linn. .. Barn Owl.

15. Carine, sp. ine. --. Owlet, sp.

16. Scops giu, Scop. ... European Scops Owl.

17. Hirundo rustica, Linn. ... Chimney Swallow.

18. Cotyle obsoleta, Cab. ... Pale Crag Martin.

19. Cypselus, sp. ine. ... Swift, Sp.

20. Caprimulgus, sp. ine. ... Goatsucker, sp.

21. Merops cyanophrys,Cab, et Heine Bee-eater, sp.

22. Merops persicus, Pall. ... Hgyptian Bee-eater,

23. Merops, sp. inc. ... Bee-eater, sp.

24, Coracias garrulus, Linn. . ... European Roller.

25. Coracias abyssinicus, Bodd. _... Long-tailed Roller.

26. Halcyon semi-cceruleus, Fors, ... Arabian King-fisher.

27. Cuculus canorus, Linn. .-» Cuckoo,

28. Coccystes, sp. inc. ... Crested Cuckoo,

29. Centropus, sp. inc. ... Coucal.

30, Nectarinia metallica, Licht. ... Arabian Sunbird,

31, Upupa epops, Linn. .». Hoopoe.

32. Lanius lahtora, Sykes. ... Grey Shrike.

35, Lanius nubicus, Licht. ... Nubian Shrike.

34, Lanius, sp. ine. ... Shrike, sp.

35, Hypocolius ampelinus, Bp. ... Grey Hypocolius.

36. Terpsiphone paradisi, Linn. ... Paradise Fly-catcher.

3%, Muscicapa grisola, Linn, ... Spotted Grey Fly-catcher,

38. Monticola cyanus, Linn. ... Blue Rockthrush,

39. Cercotrichas melanoptera, Hemp

and Ehr. ... Blue-winged Chat-thrush,

Turtur risorius, Linn.

BIRDS OF ADEN AND ITS VICINITY.

Argya, sp. ine.

Pycnonotus arsinoe, Hemp and

Ehr,

Pyenonotus xanthopygus, Hemp

.. Yellow-vented Bulbul.

..- Golden Oriole.

... Wheatear.

.. Chat.

.. Siberian Chat.

and Ehr.

Oriolus galbula, Linn.

Saxicola “cenanthe, Linn.

Saxicola stapazina, Vieill

Saxicola pleschanka, Lep.

Myrmecocichla melanura, Tem..

Ruticilla, sp. inc.

Prinia, sp. ine.

Phylloscopus, sp. inc.

Motacilla alba, Linn.

Motacilla feldegoi, Michah

Corvus culminatus, Sykes

Corvus corax, Linn.

Dilophus carunculatus, Gm.

Hstrelda rufibarba, Cab.

Nuroloncha, sp. inc.

Passer, sp. inc.

Pyrrhulauda melanauchan, C ab.

Alauda cristata, Linn.

Alcemon desertorum, Stan.

Mirafra, sp. inc.

Treron, sp. inc.

Columba livia, Bonn.

Turtur senegalensis, Linn.

fina capensis, Linn.

Pterocles exustus, Tem.

Pterocles lichtenstemi, Tem.

Caccabis chukar, J. E. Gray.

Coturnix communis, Bon.

Coturnix delegorguei, Deleg.

Turnix lepurana, Smith

Kupodotis arabs, Linn.

Houbara macqueeni, J. H. Gr..

Cursorius, sp. inc,

Squatarola helvetica, Linn.

Charadrius pluvialis, Linn.

232

. Babbler, sp.

. Hemprich’s Bulbul.

Black-tailed Rock-Chat.

... Redstart, sp.

.-, Warbler, sp.

..» Willow Warbler, sp.

... White Wagtail.

... Black-headed Wagtail.

.. Jungle Crow.

... Raven,

.. Wattled Starling, sp.

Hyphantornis galbula, Riipp. ...

Golden Weaver-Bird.

.. Red-shafted Wax-bill.

e Munia, sp.

.. Sparrow, sp.

Black-crowned Finch-Lark.

... Crested Lark.

.. Desert Lark,

..- Bush Lark, sp.

... Green Pigeon, sp.

... stock Dove.

.. Little Brown Dove.

... Ring Dove.

.-. Long-tailed Dove.

... Common Sand-Grouse.

.. Lichtenstein’s Sand-Grouse.

Caccabis melanocephala, Riipp...

Large Black-headed Chukor.

... Chukor Partridge.

Ammoperdix bonhami, Fraser...

Seesee Partridge.

... Common Quail.

.-- Quail, sp.

.. Button Quail, sp.

.. Arabian Bustard.

. Houbara Bustard.

... Courser, sp.

.». Grey Plover.

-» Golden Plover.

CEdicnemus scolopax, 8. G. Gm. Stone Curlew.

AXgialitis mongolica, Pall.

AXgialitis cantiana, Lath,

.. Pallas’ Shore Plover.

.» Kentish Plover.

238 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, vii,

83, 4

86,

ST *

89,

90,

91,

92,

. *

Strepsilas interpres, Linn,

Dromas ardeola, Payk.

Hoomatopus ostralogus, Linn,

Gallinago ovlestis, Preis)

‘Terekia cinerea, Guild,

Numenius arquata, Linn,

Numenius pheopus, Linn.

Tringa alpina, Lina,

Tringa minutia, Leisl.

Calidris arenaria, Linn,

Tringoides hypeleucas, Linn,

Helodromas oohropus, Linn,

Totanus catidris, bane.

Crex pratensis, Beohst,

Ardea cinerea, Linn,

Ardea alba, Linn,

Ardea, sp. inc,

Awtea asha, Sykes

Anteola podiceps, Bp.

Platalea loucoredia, Bico.

This, sp. ine,

Pheonicopterus resens, Linn,

Anas bosehas, Linn,

Querquedula erecea, Linn,

Querquedula cireia, Linn,

Podiceps nigricallis, Boehm,

Padiinus persicus, Hume.

Larus, sp, ine,

Taras ichthyadtus, Pall,

Lares branneicephalus, Jerd,

Lares ridibundus, Lina,

Larus hemprichi, Bp.

Sterna albigena, Reich.

Sterna minutia, Linn,

Sterna bergi, Ticht.

Sterna media, Horst

Sterna anastheta, Seap.

Sterna fuliginasa, Gn,

Phadton indicus, Hume.

Sula fiber, Tin.

Pelecanns onocrotalus, Linn,

Phalacrocorax, sp. Ine,

vv Curnstone,

wa Crab Plover.

ws Oyster-Cateher,

... Common Snipe.

. Avocet Sandpiper,

vos Carlow,

ves Whimbrel,

vv, Dulin,

.. Little Sting,

wa Sanderling.

.. Common Sandpiper,

.. Green Sandpiper.

wa Redshank,

.. Land Rail.

_.. Cemmorn Heron.

.. Large White Heron,

wv. Egret, sp.

ww Ashy Egret.

s+ Spoonbill,

va Tis, sp.

wa. Flamingo,

. Mallard.

.. Common Teal.

.. Blue-winged Teal.

ws. Black-necked Grebe,

.» Persian Shearwater,

... Black-baeked Gull, sp.

... Great Black-headed Gull.

.. Brown-headed Gull.

.. Laughing Gull.

.« Hemprich’s Gull,

a» White-cheeked Tern.

.. Little Tern,

ss Large Sea Tern.

ws Lesser Sea Tern.

.. Panayan Tern.

x. Sooty Tern.

.«. Indian Tropic Bird,

=. Booby. 4.

.. Ruropean Pelican.

... Brown Cormorant, sp.

JOURN: BOMBAY

NEW SPECIES OF MARINE SHELLS FROM BOMBAY ;

Drawn ¢ Litho: Govt Phototincs: Office Poona (693, ‘ a

234

DESCRIPTION OF TWENTY-FIVE NEW SPECIES OF

MARINE SHELLS FROM BOMBAY, COLLECTED BY

MR. ALEXANDER ABERCROMBIE.*

By James Cosmo MELVILL, M.A., F.L.S.

Mornrx (OcINEBRA) BOMBAYANUS, sp. nov. (PI. 1, f. 1.)

M. testa fusiformi, ochraceo-cinered, syvamata, apice acto, anfractibus

septem vel oclo, angulato-cestatis, ultimo anfractu varicibus octo, in

medio trinis angulorum ordinibus lrasversim succincto, apertura ovato-

oblonga, pallescente, labro intus denticulato, canali brevi.

Long. spec. typ. 31 mill.

Lat. 16 mill.

Hab. Bombay, common along the coast (A. Abercrombie, Herford,

W. T. Blanford) (in Mus. Brit.). Ratnagiri (A. Abercrombie),

Hyvidently a very abundant species, and in all probability extending

some way both North and South of Bombay. The largest of the many

specimens I have seen measures 35 millimetres longitudinally. It isa

very uniform species in all stages of its growth, and would appear to

have been confounded with M. luculentus (Reeve). Its nearest ally,

however, would seem to be WV. cristatus (Brocchi) from the Mediter-

ranean, from which, however, it is quite distinct. Some specimens are

pale yellow, with faint brown transverse fascia.

PLEUROTOMA (CLAVUS) PRAICLARA, sp. nov. (Pl. 1, f. 2.)

P. testé pyramidato-fusiform, percrassd, pallidé ochraced, anfracti-

bus septem vel octo, ad suturas valide impressis, longitudinaliter obliqué

pluricostatis, transversim regulariter lirates, apertura oblonga simplice,

labro exteriore in medio crassiusculo, canal brevissimd, margine colux

mellart obliqui-planato.

Long. 44 mill.

Ibe 1G

Hab. Bombay, up the coast (Abercrombie),

A large, conspicuous species, of which all the specimens before us are

somewhat worn : not sufficiently so, however, as to eftace the sculpture,

From P. atkinsoni (Smith), crenularis (am.), flavidula (Lam.) it is

quite distinct, beg more allied to the smaller sacra (Reeve) in my

opinion, and a member of the sub-genus Cluvus rather than Drillia,

* Reprinted from the Memoirs and Erocerdings of the Manchester inet and

Philosophical Society.

235 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

As Tryon, however, rightly observes, the subgenera allotted to the

larger Plewrotome are not always very well defined.

Purpura (STRAMONITA) BLANFORDI, sp, nov. (PI. 1, f. 8.)

P. test ovato-fusiformi, crassd, cinereo-curned, anfraciibus quinque,

longitudinaliter tubereulato-costatis, undique transversim regulariter et

arclé liratosulcatis, costis in medio conspicud unangulatis, ultimo anfractu

bind serie tuberculato, apertura ovatd, carned, lubro eatus biunguluto

intus denticuluto, margine columellari recto, semplice.

Long. 27 mill.

eta LS 25

Hab. Pombay and Ratnagiri (A. Abercrombie, Herford, and also

W. T. Blanford) (in Brit. Mus.), Kurrachee (Brit. Mus.), (Bl-njord).

This species would appear common upon the rocks of the West Coast

of India. We have seen specimens from Kurrachee, and believe the

small shell occurs in Ceylon.

‘he two specimens collected by Mr. Abercrombie, one of which is

figured, are the only ones I have seen quite perfect as regards comple-

tion of growth. In size it assimilates P. tdssot: (Pet.), with which, also

abundant on these shores, it has been confounded. It is easily to be

differentiated, since it does not possess the deep bisulcate transverse

grooving of P. tissoti, nor the revolving raised ridges with small

nodules equi-distant thereupon.

RictnuLa (SisTRUM) SUBNODULOSA, sp. nov. (Pl. 1, f. 6.)

R, testd turritd, fusiformi, solidd, apice acuto, anfractibus octo vel

novem, in medio angulatis, transversim syuamato-corrugatis ultimo an-

fractw bino ordine nodulogso, et infra, duobus minoribus ordinibus nodulo=

rum succincto, uperturd oblonga livida, labro extus anguluto, intus livido

denticuluto, margine columellari recto,

Hab. Bombay. (Abercrombie, Herford.)

Long. spec. typ. 20 mill.

Lat. 9°20 mill. .

Bearing a little resemblance to the West Indian &. nodulosa (C. B.

Adams), but the black rows of nodules stand out more prominently

upon a lighter ground, the interstices between which on the last whorl

-give a semblance of a fascia. The shell is also more elongate than R.

nodulosa, One of Mr. Herford’s specimens is larger than usual (23

mil].), the smallest with lip perfect, only 11 mill., but the essential

characters are preserved in each,

NEW SPECIES OF MARINE SHELLS, 236

RicinuLA (SISTRUM) KONKANENSIS, sp. nov. (Pl. 1, f. 5.)

R, testa pyramidato-fusiformi, solidd, livido cinered, apice attenuato,

acuto, anfractibus quingue-sex, longitudinaliter plicato-costatis, trans-

versim nigro-hodulosis, interstitis transversim squamulosis, apertura

ovata cinered, labro extus muriculato, intus denticulato, margine colu-

mellari recto.

Long. 29 mill.

Tata Loe

Hab. Bombay (Blanford, Abercrombie, Sc. ).

Not unfrequent, Has been hitherto confounded, judging from the

specimens in the National collection, with R. affinis and R. (Sistrum)

concatenata (Reeve).

RICINULA (SIsTRUM) XUTHEDRA, sp. nov. (Pl. 1, f. 4.)

R. testa fusiformi, solidd, leté flavida, anfractibus sex, longitudinaliter

costatis, costis ulbonodulosis, transversim inter costas t:nuiliratis,

aperturd albé, ovatd, labro intus denticulato, apud marginem columel-

larem trinoduloso.

Long. 15 mill.

cite Oke

Hub, Ratnagiri (A. Abercrombie).

A beautiful yellow-ochraceous species, with longitudinal white no-

duled ribs, mouth ovate, white, outer lip denticulated within, and two

or three nodules on the columellar margin. A form on the border-

land between Sistrum and Lingina. Four specimens,

ENGINA ZEA, sp. nov. (Pl. J, f. 7.)

EE. testa conico-pyramidal:, solidiuscula, apice acuto, anfractibus oct,

transversim nodulis nitidis variegatis arcte accinctis, interstitiis duplict

vel-triplict striatosulcatis, ultimo anfractu longitudinaliter costiplicato

in medio transversim albizonato, aperturé ovato-trigonali, ad basin an-

gusta, labro externo incrassato, variegato, intus liratv, et upud marginem

columellurem crassi-striato.

Long. 18 mill.

Watt: G- a0

Hab. Bombay (A, Abercrombie). There are also specimens in Mus,

Brit., collected by Mr, W. T. Blanford, ¥.n.s., from the same locality,

This species has apparently been confounded with Z. armillata

(Reeve), from which it differs both in form and marking. I have had

_ 237 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

specimens for more than twenty years lying unnamed in my collection

and there are others, likewise unnamed, in the British Museum.

_ It is a conical, sharp-pointed little shell, acutely broad in the middle

giving a quadrate appearance to its contour, becoming rapidly attenuate

at both ends. Round the centre of the last whorl runs a conspicuous

white median band, formed of white transverse nodules, the rest of the

surface of the shell being nodulous, and variegated brown and white.

The mouth is triangular-ovate, outer lip exteriorly variegated, inner

with small white ridges, and on the columellar margin are several raised

short white ridges.

The similarity to grains of maize (Zi#) suggested the trivial name.

CoLuMBELLA (MIrRELLA) FLAVILINEA, sp. nov. (PI. 1, f. 8.)

C. testa tenut, levi, anfractibus sex vel septem, ad suturas subcom-

pressis, transversim lineis angustis flavidis, hic tlic speciminibus quibus-

dam interruptis, in aliis continuts, conspicué decoratis ; apertura oblonga,

labro exteriore paullum angulato, intus stmplice, levi.

Long. 5 mill.

Lat, 2°50 ,,

Hab. Bombay (Abercrombie).

Not uncommon ; allied to C. marquesa (Gaskoin), of which one good

specimen was also found in shell sand from the same locality. The

shell is small, smooth, ornamented with painting of narrow, usually

continuous, but in some specimens interrupted, yellow lines. Several

examples. .

CoLUMBELLA (MITRELLA) EUTERPE, sp.nov. (PI. 1, f. 9.)

C. testa attenuata, fusiform, tenu, subpellucidd, levi, anfractibus

septem, infrd suturas ochraceoflammulates et albomaculatis, ultimo

anfractu in medio angusté albo-lineato infra arcté brevibus flammis

ochraceis decorato, apertura angusté oblonga, labro simplice.

Long. 6 mill.

Lat. 2°50 ,,

Hab. Bombay (Abercrombie).

A very few specimens, and those mostly imperfect, have occurred of

this little Mctrella. Its whorls, seven in number, and quite smooth,

are ornamented with flame-like zigzag markings at the sutures, and

extending over the whorls, also ornamented with opaque white marks

and blotches. In the last whorl there is a pale median transverse line

NEW SPECIES OF MARINE SHELLS. 238

caused by the cessation of the above-mentioned flammulate markings,

which recommence, however, below, towards the base, in many thin,

almost straight, yellow lines. Mouth simple, narrowly oblong,

MARGINELLA (GIBBERULA) MAZAGONICA, sp. nov. (PI. 1, f. 10.)

M., testa ovato-conicd, parva, subpellucida, levi, anfractibus quatuor,

apice obtuso, ultimo anfractu rapidé accrescente, apertura angustd, ob-

longa, labro exteriore intus denticulato, columelld, quadriplicata.

Long. 3 mill.

Tateiecaietes

Hab. Bombay. (A. Abercrombie). Very abundant.

A short stout conical little species, of ivory whiteness, and quite

smooth, lip denticulate within, and columellar four-plaited. Allied to

M. minuta (Pfr.) and M. lavalleana (D’Orb.), with neither of which

it seems exactly to correspond.

SoLARIuM (TORINIA) DELECTABILE, sp. nov. (PI. 1, f. 11.)

S. testa parva, profundé umbilicata, depresso conicd albescente, deli-

catuld, subpellucidd, anfractebus quatuor, gradatulis, ultimo rapidé acere-

scente, undique transversim arcté albo-gemmulatis, imterstitiis sub lente

obliquostriatis, circa umbilicum bino gemmularum ordine majorum, niten-

téum, diposito apertura tenut, labro simplice, fimbriato, subrotundo, apud

marginem columellarem reflexo.

Long. 2°50 mill.

Lat. 3 mill.

Hab, Bombay (Abercrombie).

Two or three specimens of an unusually lovely little semi-transparent

white species, occurring in shingle and shell sand from Bombay. The

form is depresso-conical, white beaded, wonderfully closely obliquely

striated at the interstices between the beading ; this is not distinguish-

able without a lens, ‘The umbilicus has two rows of beads around it,

one large with coarser gemmulz, very shining ; the other with smaller

and more delicate granulation. Mouth thin, round, fimbriate, reflexed

at the columellar margin.

[N.B.—Another species of Solarium (Torinia), probably new, oc-

curred with the above, allied to S. wrgatum (Hinds). This species is

white, very depressed, quadrate, with similar transverse raised beading ;

at the periphery the gemmule are larger and coarser, as also in the

last row nearest the umbilicus at the base. Mouth simple, quadrate,

239 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII

Apparently quite a young shell. I have provisionally named it

S. homalawis, but await further specimens before atitempting a full

description.

Long. 1 mill.

Lat. 2°50. ,,

Hab, Bombay |.

AMATHIS FILIA, sp, nov. (Pl. 1, f. 14.)

A, testé aciculato-fusiformi, albidd, turritd, semi-pellucente, nucleo apicis

vitreo, anfractibus septem, levibus, ad suturas gradatulis, impressis, infra

suturas interna lined plicarid circumambiente, apertura oblonga, labro

simplice, columella spiraliter uniplicata,

Long. 4 mill.

That, 1°20 ,,

Hab. Bombay (Abercrombie).

An attenuate shining white fusiform little species, allied to A. virgo

(Adams) from Japan ; the mouth is oblong, columella strong, spirally

plaited. The whorls are turreted, smooth, semi-pellucid, with the

internal plica showing through as a transverse clouded line just below

the sutures, Two or three specimens only.

OscILLA TORNATA, sp, nov. (Pl. 1, f. 12.)

[ Oscilla tornata, Arthur Adams MSS. inedit. ]

O. testd fusiform, albidd, anfractibus septem, apud suturas profundeé

canaliculatis, transversim tricostatis, costis binis infra suturas, parvo sul-

culo intercepto, tertid costa ab his a canalt profundd divisd, sicut apud

suturas, aperturd ovata, albida, subpellucente, labro eaterno sulculoso ,

extus et intus, columellari conspicué et recté uniplicato.

Long, 3°10 mill. (sp. majoris).

liataeelcd Oe we

Hab. Bombay (Abercrombie).

This wonderful little transversely sulcate and grooved species has

some external resemblance to Irawadia trochlearis (W. T. Blanford),

but can be at once distinguished by the plicate columella. There are

four or five described species of this genus, mostly of Mr. Arthur

Adams’ naming, from Japan. In the Pritish Museum is a specimen,

also from Japanese seas, with the name as above, entirely comparable

with our shell. He does not seem to have ever described it, as was,

NEW SPECIES OF MARINE SHELLS 240

unfortunately, often his practice in his later years, especially amongst

these smaller and critical genera. The consequence has been to still

further render unsolved and difficult the nomenclature of these extremely

beautiful but very microscopic genera and species.

In O. tornata the transverse ribs are three in number, two below the

deeply-channelled sutures, followed by a similar deep groove, and

then a third transverse costa, just above the suture of the next whorl.

Three specimens obtained in shell sand. Very rare.

PYRGULINA CALLISTA. sp. nov. (PI. 1, f. 18.)

P. testa delicatuld, subpellucidd, attenuato-fusiformi, anfractibus sep-

tem, ad suturas profundé angulato-canaliculatis, lonyitudinaliter-costis

regularibus subobligué decoratis, interstitizs Levibus, ultimo anfractu infrd

suturas transversim fortiter unilirato, ad dorsum bino lirarum ordine,

apertura ovato-oblongd, labro quadratulo, ad marginem columellarem —

uniplicato.

Long. 4 mill.

Lat, 1°10 ,,

Hab. Bombay (Abercrombie).

One of the most exquisite little shells, so far as sculpture is concern-

ed, that it is possible to imagine. ‘Ihe shell is seven-whorled, deeply

angularly channelled at the sutures, with raised transverse bordor at

either end of the whorl, the borders joined by slightly oblique lirz,

smooth at the interstices, the last whorl having a conspicuous angular

transverse border line, and at the back of the shell another parallel to

this, the lip is subquadrate, and the columellar margin with a very

conspicuous plait. ;

Two or three specimens in shell sand. Very rare.

RissoINA (ZEBINA) APPLANATA. sp. nov. (PI. 1, f. 16.)

R. testa albé, nitidd, sublevi, fusiformi, apice obtuso, anfractibus sea,

convexiusculis, longitudinaliter obscurissimé costulatis, aperturd ovatd,

abro paullum incrassato, stmplice.

Long. 5 mill.

Recrte, Ive

Hab, Bombay (Abercrombie).

A small smooth white species, allied, no doubt, to R, (Zebina) sublevi-

gata of Neyill from the Andaman Islands, but apparently differing in

241 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

being indistinctly longitudinally costulate, whilst the R. sublevigata is

virtually smooth.

Rie RIssoA .VERSOVERANA, sp. nov. (PI. 1, f. 15.)

R. testé parva, delicatuld, ovato-oblongd, semipellucente, anfractibus

sex, ventricosis, ad suturas impressis, longitudinaliter subobliqué costatis,

ad basem anfractis ultimi feré obliteratis, transversim tenualiratis, aper-

turd rotunda, labro tenut, simplice.

Long. 2 mill.

Lat. 1°20 ,,

Hab. Bombay (Abercrombie).

A small, very abundant species in shell sand that we cannot find has

‘been characterized or described. The longitudinal costee at the base of

the last whorl are in most specimens only faint or entirely obliterated.

ALVANIA MAHIMENSIS, sp. nov. (Pl. 1, f. 17.)

A, testa oblonga, solidd, corrugatd, apice obtuso, anfractibus quinque vel

sex, longitudinaliter costulatis, costes transversim cancellatis, infra suturas

et ad basin ultimi anfractis rubrocoloratis, aperturd ovali, labro planu-

lato, incrassato.

_ Long, 2°75 mill,

pate 1502).

_ Hab. Bombay Mina.

ook pretty species of Alvania, being lightly longitudinally ribbed, with

transverse cancellations. Below the sutures there is a red transverse

band, which also. shows near the base of the last whorl ; the lip is

roundish-oval, solid, somewhat incrassate and flattened. Several speci-

mens.

NATICINA POMATIELLA, sp. nov. (PI. 1, f. 18.)

N. testa angusté sed profundé umbilicatéd, elevato-conica, subpellucida,

albidé, feré levt, anfractibus quinque, ad suturas canaliculatés, obscure

transversim liratulis, apertura ovata, labro simplice, apud umbilicum

paullum reflexo.

Long. 17 mill.

ate eens,

Hab. Bombay (Abercrombie).

A curious species, and with the form of Amauropsis canaliculata

(Gould). It is narrowly but deeply umbilicated, and apparently

smooth and white, but undera lens the surface is seen to be very

NEW SPECIES OF MARINE SHELLS. 242

delicately transversely grooved. This may be more apparent in a fresh

specimen, ours being rather worn shells. At the sutures there is a deep

channel ; the mouth is simple, white within.

One or two specimens ; rare.

CERITHIOPSIS (SEILA) BANDORENSIS, sp. nov. (PI. 1, f. 19.)

C. test attenuata, brunned, solidd, anfracttbus duodecim, ad apicem

pallidis, transversim quadriliratis, liris rotundis paullum diversis, majori-

bus minoribus alternantibus, vel binis cequalibus, tertid minore, aperturd

rotunda, labro simplice, margine columellari recto.

Long. 7 mill. (sp. maj.).

Matin:

Hab. Bombay (Abercrombie).

A plain brown transversely round-ribbed species, a little like Tele-

scopium fuscum in miniature as regards sculpture, but not so broad

proportionately as that species, being uniformly attenuate. The apex

is whitish, whorls about 12, transverse ribs somewhat varying in size

about four in a whorl,

Rare. ‘Two specimens only.

CYCLOSSTREMA SOLARIFLLUM, sp. nov. (PI. 1, f. 20.)

C. testa minutd, albescente, tenui, depressd, profundé umbilicatd, an-

fractibus quatuor, ultimo rapide accrescente, undique transversim tenui-

livatis, infra suturas binis gemmularum ordinibus decoratis, et ad basin

circé umbilicum similt modo bigemmulatis, apertura rotundo-ovatd, labro

sémplice.

Long. 0°50 mill.

ltatear Ww oOR

Hab. Bombay (Abercrombie).

A very small shell, with some of the aspect of a small Torinia ; it

also, to some extent, resembles C. tate: (Angas), from 8, Australia,

but the double row of gemmules on the lirze below the sutures, and at

the base, around the umbilicus, distinguish it from that species.

Not uncommon in shell sand.

Surely Cyclosstrema is neuter, being instituted by the late Captain

Marryat, R.N., the famous novelist (who added the study of the

Mollusca to his many other accomplishments), in 1817, as derived from

xixdos aNd renux, It has been considered feminine by most writers

and authors, including Captain Marryat himself.

243 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIII.

SIPHONARIA BASSEINENSIS, sp. nov. (PI. 1, f. 21).

S. testé subconicd, oblonga, tenut, levi, nigrobrunned, biradiatd, intus

brunned, ad marginem radiata.

Long. 9 mill. (sp. majoris).

Tats Gay oe

Hab. Bombay (Abercrombie).

A small subconical plain smoothish brown species, with biradiate

flames round the margin. I had thought this, of which very

numerous examples occur in Mr. Abercrombie’s collections, must be a

young form of some perhaps well-known species, but I am assured this

is not the case, Mr. Abercrombie having had unusual facilities for

studying the growth of the species, so very abundant all round the

Bassein and Mahim coasts. Mr, Edgar Smith also concurs in this

view, that it is a mature species, and different from the many already

described, though it presents no very important salient features.

RATA ABERCROMBIEI, sp. nov. (Pl. 1, f. 25).

A. testé pertenut, hyalind, lacted, oblongo-ovatd, postice rostrata,

antice ovata, gibbosuld, concentrice confertim undatoplicatd, tumescente,

cordatad, wmbonibus parvis.

Long. 23 mill.

fiat. 30. ,, ‘)

Hab. Bombay (Abercrombie).

A most beautiful, delicate, white papyraceous shell, concentrically

closely wave-ribbed, belonging to a small genus which I do not find

has hitherto been recorded from the shores of Hindostan, though a

nearly allied species, &. graye (A. Adams), is reported from Borneo.

From this shell A. abercrombie: differs in its more close and regular

transverse plications, and the greater delicacy of the shell. It would

be interesting if, in years to come, an intermediate form between the

two were discovered on either the Eastern coast of India, or in the

Malay Peninsula ; it is more than likely other species of this genus,

hitherto so restricted, will reward the collector. The type, &. canali-

culata (Gray), is extremely common on the sandy sea coasts of South

Carolina, and another larger and coarser species, 2. californica (Sowb.),

is an inhabitant of the Western coasts of the United States. A. pul-

chella (Ad. and Reeve), a very small and delicate form, occurs in the

NEW SPECIES OF MARINE SHELLS, 244,

Eastern Islands, and a few other species have been described, but are

hardly known.

TELLINA KOLABANA, sp. nov. (Pl. 1, f. 28).

T. testd ovata, albescente, solidiusculd, convexd, latere postico valde

bicarinato, antico oblongo, transversim concentrice liratd, apud umbones

Sere lav, flavo tinctd, postice aspera, usque ad marginem ventralem.

Lat. 27 mill.

one. hae.

Hab. Bombay (Abererombie).

A somewhat thickened shell, as 7. balthica (L.) ; white, yellow, or

orange-tinted at the umboes, convex, distinctly posteriorly bicarinated,

the concentric lire becoming very rough and distinct at the posterior

angle.

Rare ; only one or two specimens.

TELLINA (MRA) LECHRIOGRAMMA, sp, nov. (Pl. 1, f. 22).

T. testa albidd solidrusculd, donaciforme, postice abbreviatd, subobliqua,

anticé elongata, undique concentricé tenui-lirata, nitida.

Long. 14 mill.

Neate vor Genres

Hab. Bombay (Abercrombie).

Apparently not uncommon, but mostly in imperfect condition, half

valves only. It is like 7. pygmea (Phil.) in shape, but of thicker

consistency, pure shining white, very finely concentrically lirate,

posteriorly abbreviate, anteriorly elongate, with some of the appearance

of a Mesodesma or Donacilla.

THRACIA SALSETTENSIS, sp. nov. (PI, 1, f. 24).

T. testa pertenuz, oblonga, alba, postice flexuoso-quadrata et subrostrata,

antice ovato-oblongd, valvd sinistrd subplanatd, dextrd convexa, valvis

ambabus, presertim sinistra, plicis concentmicis undanter suceinctis posticé

fere applanatés,

Long. 36 mill.

Piatti S20 es

Hab. Bombay (Abercrombie).

A remarkably delicate semi-trapezoid species, of which numerous

single valves were found, but no quite perfect specimen. The left

valve is almost flattened, with a broad longitudinal depression, inclining,

posteriorly, almost down the centre of the left valve from the umbo,

245 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

the right being convex. Posteriorly in both valves, the shell is

quadratorostrate, anteriorly oblong, the transverse wavy plicee running

concentrically show this species to belong to that section of the genus

of which at present there are only, including this new species, four

representatives known to me, wiz.: ZT. magnifica (Jonas), ZT. plicata

(Desh.), and T. granulosa (Ad. and Reeve), the former of them being

Californian, the latter Eastern species.

NV.B.—The types of all the abovementioned new species have been

deposited in the Mus. Brit., South Kensington.

REFERENCES TO PLATE.

. Murex (Ocinebra) bombayanus (Melv.).

. Pleurotoma (Clavus) preclara (Melv.).

. Purpura (Stramonita) blanfordi (Melv.).

. Ricinula (Sistrum) xuthedra (Melv.).

» ( x ) konkanensts (Melv.).

» ( 5 ) subnodulosa (Melv.).

. Engina zea (Melv.).

. Columbella (Mitrella) flavilinea (Melv.).

s ( 4, ) euterpe (Melv.).

. Marginella (Gibberula) mazagonica (Melv.).

. Solarium (Torinia) delectabile {(Melv.).

. Oscilla tornata (A. Adams. sp. inedit) (Melv.).

» Pyrgulina callista {Melv.).

. Amathis filia (Melv.).

. Rissoa versoverana (Melv.).

. Rissoina (Zebina) applanata (Melv.).

. Alvania mahimensis (Melv.)

. Naticina pomatiella (Mely.).

19, Cerithiopsis (Seila) bandorensis (Melv.).

20. Cyclosstrema solariellum (Melv.).

21. Siphonaria basseinensis (Melv.),

22. Tellina (Mera) lechriogramma (Melv.).

23. » kolabana (Mely.).

24, Thracia salsettensis (Melv.).

25, Reia abercrombie: (Mely).

BOOM ND NP & WHE

—

LS)

SS =

oO ON FE

246

REVIEW.

* Tar TRAVELS OF PIETRO DELLA VALLE IN Inpra.

Pietro DELLA VALLE, a noble Roman, travelled much in Asia in

the early sixteen hundreds and wrote log-letters to his friend Dr,

Mario Schipano, of which he published those relating to the Ottoman

Empire himself and his sons those about Persia and India,

The present volumes contain only the eight letters about India, and

induce one to hope that the Hakluyt Society will some day give

us the others; for these before us fully justify the high praise

bestowed on the author by no less authorities than Gibbon, Southey,

and (a more competent judge than either) Sir Henry Yule.

Tn this place we can only deal with his remarks upon Natural His-

tory, chiefly botany.

Della Valle sailed from Gombroon, near what we now call Bandar

Abbas, on the 19th January, 1628, aboard “ the ship called The Whale,”

commanded by Captain Nicholas Woodcock, whose consort, as be-

fitted, was called The Dolphin, Master Matthew Willis. Of these ships

and their commanders it may be noted that they were cheerful and

hospitable. Captain Woodcock had a pair of Persian greyhounds on

board, and sometimes, when becalmed near land, took them ashore

for sport.

He had ranged as wide as his totem-bird, having sailed to Green-

land, and Della Valle greatly praises him as a navigator. Woodcock

showed him a “ chart or draught of the whole straight of Ormuz made

by himself with the highest exactness,” including shoal soundings,

And he held every day at noon a navigation class of “ twenty or thirty

mariners ; masters, boys (? masters’ boys, which seems more likely),

young men, and of all sorts.” The italics are the Reviewer’s. Some of

our sea-faring members may perhaps add a manuscript note of deserved

admiration. Della Valle does not spare his, and contrasts the English

practice strongly with the childish selfishness of the Portuguese pilots who

made their art a mysterious monopoly. “ This,” says he, “is the reason

that their ships frequently miscarry,” and goes on to say worse of the

i aE a

* The Travels of Pietro Della Valle in India from the old English translation

of 1664, by G. Havers; in two volumes. Edited, witha life of the author, an intro-

duction and notes, by Edward Grey, late B.C.8., London, Hakluyt Society, 1892.

247 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

degenerate countrymen of Henry the Navigator. But he has already

taken us too far out of our own province.

On board The Whale, however, he saw one thing there and here

appropriate—a bit of a narwhal’s tusk—which the wandering Wood-

vock had dug up in Greenland ; and we learn, casually, that Wood-

cock’s employers stood out for over £2,000 sterling for the whole tusk ;

but were disappointed, and only got, in the end, about £1,200—

a good price, one would say now, for 100 such tusks.

On the 24th of January “ began to be seen in the sea abundance of

things which I (Della Valle) took to be snakes,” and which probably

were sea-snakes, although his shipmates and his Hditor would not

have it.

On the 4th February they sighted land “which the English call

Terra di San Giovanni,’’ that is, they called it then, as now, the High-

land of St. John. The Editor calls it a promontory, but it is a

mountain six miles inland. The forest on the top is still very jealously

preserved, lest the appearance of this important landmark be altered,

On the 10th February, they cast anchor “in sight of the port of

Surat,” that is, as the subsequent text clearly shows, in “Swally

Roads”’ off the mouth of the Tapti.

As in many other cases, so in that of Surat, travellers and navi-

gators used the name of marts far up shallow rivers or estuaries as

if they were at the mouths ; and hence has arisen much of the lament-

ation about the shoaling of Indian ports, which do not now, and

never did, float a large vessel fairly laden.

When our traveller got ashore, he and his friends in vain required

“coaches” to carry them to Surat, and he observes that “the oxen

which draw the same are fair, large, white, with two bunches like

those of some camels.” The Hditor says that “ two-humped oxen are

occasionally found.” But a better explanation is in Della Valle’s own

next sentence, where he says, ‘“‘'To the seaside came no coach.” The

sentence is a diary-entry made from hearsay before he had seen a —

Gujarat bullock.

After a day or two, he got “coaches” and went to Surat, where

every one made a welcome guest of him, What he did for them if

they called upon him at Rome on his return, some of us can conjecture

from experience.

REVIEW. 248

The first thing in our way that he saw there was “ a great and fair

tree, of that kind which 1 (Della Valle) saw in the sea coasts of

Persia, called there Lul, but here Ber.” Then follows a description of

a Banyan tree, and of a little temple of “ Parvete’” (Parwati) under-

neath it, Mr. Grey thinks that this was the famous “ Kabir Bar,”

but that is not near Surat but near Broach.

The tree Pietro had seen in Persia was probably the great Banyan

of Gombroon, but without his earlier letters we can only guess at

this, “Lul” or “Luli” is a Kolaba name for an imported Ficus

resembling /. bengalens?s in habit, but with paler and more acuminate

leaves and bright orange fruit. There are one or two fine specimens

on the Esplanade at Tanna, where the ways part for Calcutta and

Madras.

Our author’s next botanism is as good a description of ** Pan-

supari’ as any of us could give to-day, and a page or two further on

he describes ‘‘ Trees of this climate, namely, Ambe, or, as others speak,

Manghe, before described by me in my last letters from Persia, in

the maritime parts whereof I saw some trees of this kind.” Are

there Banyans and Mangoes in the hot coast-belt of Persia now ?

Again, he notes that there is no flax in India, and is taken up by his

Editor, because Linum usitatissinum is common, But the traveller

was right, for he was talking only of the fibre, which is not yet

used in India in spite of repeated experiments (quorum pars ego

magna fui), From Surat Della Valle went to Broach and did not see

the great Banyan tree, but did drink “ Tari, which is a liquor drawn

from the nut-trees of India ; whitish and a little troubled ; of taste

somewhat sourish and sweet too, not unpleasing to the palate * *

yet it Inebriates as wine doth if drunk immoderately.” If you do not

believe our traveller, ask the Commissioner of Customs or his

dear friend Mr, Dantra. He noted (not Mr. Dantra, but Pietro)

that in the neighbourhood was a mine of “ calcidoines and agates,”

of which most went to “ Cambaia,” as they do to-day.

Tken he marched North ‘“ to an arm of the sea, or, to speak better,

to the inmost part of the Gulph of Cambaia, directly where the River

Mahi falls into the sea, in which place the flux and reflux of the sea

is more impetuous and violent,” &., &e. ; and then follows as good

an account of the Bore of the Mahi and its fords as is in any modern

249 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIL,

work, and a correction of the contemporary geographers who would

empty the Indus into the Gulf of Cambay.

Passing the Mahi, Pietro got to Cambay, where his observations,

though accurate and interesting, were outside of our province.

Then he marched to Ahmedabad, and saw on the way, as he

would to-day, “ abundance of monkies ’’ and “high hedges of a plant

always green and unfruitful, not known in Europe, and having no

leaves (this was in March), but instead thereof covered with certain

long and slender branches, almost like ovr sparagus, but bigger,

harder and thicker, of a very lively green ; being broken they send

forth milk like that of immature figgs, which is very pernicious

to the flesh wherever it touches. The Editor very modestly says, “ Pro-

bably a species of Huphorbia.” Had he ridden in the Charotar, the

“Garden of Gujarat,’ where Della Valle saw the hedges, he would

have had no doubt about HKuphorbium veriifoléum, the “ prickly

milk-bush,” cultivated in those parts to a perfection that has twice

called for British Artillery to batter down the living walls of predatory

villages.

Our traveller saw many things worth note in Ahmedabad, but

chiefly in respect of “ Homo sapiens ” and without our present scope.

On his return he marched to Cambay by Barejri and Sojitra,

where he saw “ Batts as large as crows.’ It seems a little odd that

he had not noticed the “ Flying Foxes” before. The Editor on this

subject tells us that bat is derived from a (presumably Saxon or

Danish) verb “ blaka” =to flutter. At Cambay Della Valle again

observed the “bore” of the Gulf, and preserved a specimen of a

flower, “‘ very odoriferous, which they call Ciompd.” There is nothing

else to show which of all our “ Champas ” this was, but one would

suppose that it was the “ Hirwa Champa,” an Uvaria, because it

alone of them has no other merit than its scent. On the 7th of March

the Kafila again passed the Mahi with some danger from the bore,

which did not prevent Pietro from noticing many flamingoes ; “ and”

(says he) “I think they are those of whose beaks Mir Muhammad in

Spahan (Ispahan) makes bowrings for the kings.” The Editor has

missed the point of this observation by supposing the “ bowring ” to be

a part of the bow. It is, or rather was, a guard for the left thumb of the

archer against the stroke of the bowstring, and could very well be

REVIEW. 250

made of a flamingo’s “ upper jaw.” The Kafila got safe to Broach and

Surat without further adventure or observation in our way of

business.

On the 26th of March, Della Valle was at Daman ; and beginning

to be puzzled by the creeks of the Konkan, but “ Time and better

observations ”

enabled him afterwards to interpolate in his log-letter

avery good account of them. At Daman he “first tasted at the

(Jesuit) father rector’s table many strange Indian fruits * * and

mee * * brought into Hast India from

Brazil or New Spain, namely, Papaia, Casa or Cagiu, Giambo, Manga

or Amba and Ananas. This list apparently refers to both the Indian ~

and imported fruit, and the Editor rather unnecessarily remarks that

the mango is a native of India, and identifies the Giambo with

Eugenia jambolana, the common jambul tree of our forests and

roadsides.

others which * were

Della Valle’s previous remarks about the mango show that he

needed no correction about it, but his first tasting it in a Portuguese

convent at Daman on the 26th of March is very natural. Nowhere

north of that was he likely to get an eatable mango so early, if, indeed,

there was at that time a tolerable mango in all Gujarat, which may be

doubted. There are but few gardens there now that produce such.

The Giambo was probably a rose-apple (Z. jambos), for Della Valle

could not be expected to find the harsh sloes of &. jambolana even

“passably good.” The other three are all imported trees.

Touching at almost every port on the coast, including the modern

Bombay-Mahim, but not Bombay proper, our traveller got to Goa

on the 8th of April, having made no observation on the way that

can be noticed here, but a great many that would be very interesting

matter for a more general review.

Pietro Della Valle sailed from Goa on the 14th October, 1623, and

got out of the river the next evening, sailing south coastwise. At

“ Onor” he saw a spring which he calls “Ram tirt,’ and which is

probably to be seen there still. ‘‘ The water was hot, to wit not cold,”

and. “ within it are small fishes which use to bite such as come to swim

there, yet without doing hurt because they are small.” Little fishes in

many Indian waters do the like, to the great discomfort of an occa-

sional “ Griffin.”

251 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII

On the 31st October our traveller left “ Onor” (Honawar) and got

to “ Garsopa’”’ (Gersappa) along with a Portuguese Envoy bound for

the Court of “ Venktapa Naieka,” a chief then important thereabouts.

The country was, as usual at that season, looking its best, and “ this

journey was one of the most delightful passages that ever I (Della Valle)

made in my life.” Thenext day they “began to climb up a mountain

which the country people call Gat, and which divides the whole

length of this part of India.” They halted at a fort “sometimes

called Garicota, but now Govarada Naghar,” where the schoolmaster got

Della Valle to examine the school ; just what would probably happen

to him there to-day.

On the 4th they were ferried over the “river called Barenghi,”

which “they say is one of those which goes to Garsopa.” It is very

odd that no one seems to have told Della Valle anything about the

falls of Gersappa when he was so near them ; but his comrade, the

Portuguese Envoy, does not seem to have been a very welcome guest ;

and probably every one concerned wanted to keep the whole party as

much to the shortest way as possible. Under this day’s date our

traveller records “many trees of myrobalanes ;” and gives an unmis-

takable description of the emblic myrobalan. At least one would

have thought it unmistakable if the Editor had not suggested an-

other identification, The myrobalans, says Della Valle, were “such

as are brought into Italy, preserved in sugar. It hath leaves much like

that plant which produces gum Arabick, by me formerly described ”

(an African Acacia), “ different only in this, that in that of gum

Ayabick the branch, consisting of many leaves, is much less round or

oval, and seems one leaf made up of many long and narrow ones ; but

in this myrobalane tree the branch” (leaf) “is sufficiently long, and the

small leaves composing it in two rows on each side are somewhat

larger. Nor is the myrobalane tree prickly like that of gum Arabick.

The fruit is round, hard, of a yellowish green, smooth, shining, of

little pulp, and furrowed with six circular lines.”

On the 6th they got to Ikkeri, but Della Valle’s observations here

are chiefly outside our province. He mentions that ““Giacche” (Jack-

fruit) were presented to the envoy as “ a fruit very rare at this time”

(November) and brought from far distant places. In Western India

REVIEW. 252

the height of the Jack-fruit season is in May and June, but this

year the crop was late (1628).

Our traveller made two observations for the latitude and found it

at the second and best to be 18° 54’ 20”. The Editor gives it (from

the Gazetteer) as 14° 7 20". So Della Valle’s observation was not a

bad one for an amateur of the 17th century. He got tired of the

place before the Hnvoy’s business was completed, and left it on the

23rd November. He had procured by order “ a little book written in

the Canara language, * * * not of paper, which they seldom use, but

of palm leaves, (to wit) of that palm which the Portugals call Palmum

brama, 7, €., wild palm, and is of that sort which produces the Indian

nut, for such are those commonly found in India, where palms that

produce dates are very rare.” The whole passage is very true, but has

somewhat puzzled the Hditor, not accustomed, as some of us are, to

talk of “ brab trees.’ The Portuguese term “ Palmeira Brava” has

got slightly corrupted in text and note, but the plant meant is cer-

tainly Borassus flabelliformis, which does bear an edible Indian nut,

though not so large or good as a cocoa-nut.

On the 26th, Della Valle arrived at ‘“ Lower Barselor of the

Portugals,” and on the 27th he “ imbarqu’d” for Mangalor.

On the way they landed a‘ party on St. Mary’s Isles, still so

ealled, to take wild pigeons, “ wherewith we made a good supper.”

The Editor identifies these with the Primeira Rocks, but there seems

to be no reason for doubting the correctness of the traveller’s nomen-

clature, nor the persistence of so simple a name which is on

our Admiralty charts and sailing directions. CMieehs Coast of Hindus-

tan Pilot, 1891 ; page 163.)

Pietro Della Valle’s great object at Mangalor was to visit Banghel

and Olala, places now of no resort to globe-trotters, but important

in the Portuguese local politics of the day. The latter was famous,

indeed, for the spirit and wisdom of its ruler ; a lady whom he saw

in a very informal way, and by no means in full dress. “ In brief, her

aspect and habit represented rather a dirty kitchen wench or

laundress than a delicate and noble queen, whereupon I (Della Valle)

said within myself ‘ Behold, by whom are routed in India the armies

of the King of Spain, which in Europe is so great a matter.” He

“imagined,” however, that she had been handsome in her youth, and

2538 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

she was certainly very frank and civil to him. Her son, whom she

kept in tutelage, asked Pietro to pot-luck, which (as the dynasty was

Hindu) he had to take alone, and gives the menu :—“ Rice served on

a plantain-leaf, ‘very good butter melted’ (ghi), ‘and a quantity |

of a certain red herb called by the Portuguese Bredo (which yet is

the general appellation of all-sorts of herbs).”

The Editor. supposes this to have been the tomato, but it was more

probably a red amaranth, Several plants of this order are “ lal baji”

in Hindustani and “bredo ” to the Goanese at this day. There were

also pickled bamboo shoots and “several fruits ” undescribed. There

was not time to get up a good curry, but the traveller takes this oppor-

tunity to describe it very well. On the 19th he sailed from Mangalor

for Calicut and Cannanore and thence returned to Goa, without

adventure in our line, except that they had to anchor amongst

St. Mary’s Isles, “ whence some men that went ashore brought me

some jasmen of a very goodly scarlet colour, but for smell it had

little or none at all.”” The Editor supposes this to have been Bigno-

nia venusta ; and quotes the remark “ attributed to a late Financial

Member of Council,” that “ India is a place where everything

smells except the flowers!!” As for the flower, it was Izvora

bandhuka,* and as for the joke, its better known attribution is Ali

Baba’s, viz. to “some jack-ass.”’

After his return to Goa our traveller noted a Cannella

tree as any” and eXotic (pellegrino), which the Hditor identifies with

Canella Alba of the West Indies. It had a yellow flower “ used by the

country people instead of saffron” and the leaves had “a taste of

cinnamon and (were) pleasant to masticate.” He preserved some ;

“as also of the Arbor Tristo, with its odoriferous flowers ; which

blow every day and night and fall off at the approach of day,”—

our well-known Parijataka (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis), “ Moreover,

IT saw and observed in the Lake,” says he, “ two sorts of flowers, one

“as big a

® Now usually entered as 2. coccinea. The synonym dandhuka is used here as

more intelligible to many native members, The gardeners’ trivial name is

“ Bakawli,” but is shared with other plants, A bush with handsome bunches of

bright red flowers, not a true jasmine, though the flowers are sufficiently like

jasmine blossoms in shape to justify Pietro, Brandis, and Watt following him, call

this bush “ Flame of the Wood ;” but it is not a plant of the woods, rather of waste

places and hedges, Our “ Flame of the Forest” is Butea frondosa.

REVIEW. 254.

great, the other very small, both white with something of yellow

in the midst ; the lesser hath no green leaves on the stalk to be seen,

and the inner part of the white leaves’ (petals) “is full of thick and

long down. ‘The greater flower hath smooth, long and strait petals ;

and grows on a plant whose leaves are large and almost perfectly

round, floating on the surface of the water. Both these flowers have

a strange property ; in the night they are always closed,” &c., &e.

“ Hvidently two kinds of Lotus,” says the Hditor ; and both plants

are called lotus. He is less happy in identifying them as of genus

Nelumbium, for the round floating leaves are evidence that the larger

was Nymphea lotus, those of Nelumbium stand. above the water ; on

strong stalks well able to bear their weight.

The little flower is the “ Cotton-lotus,” Lmnanthemum indicum,

which is not a lily or lotus at all, but a gentian. Della Valle, we

think, was wrong in supposing that it closed at night ; probably

misinformed. However, he has in this, as in other cases, left to us

from the early sixteen hundreds a specific description recognizable

to-day. This is his last, as soon after writing it he sailed for Europe,

where, though he did not exactly “ live happily ever afterwards,” he

lived long enough to marry (being already a widower) and beget no

less than fourteen sons. One would be very glad indeed of a little

more of his correspondence.

THE MANAGEMENT OF ANIMALS IN THE CALCUTTA

ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.*

The project of establishing a Zoological Garden in Calcutta was mooted as

far back as 1842 by Dr. McClelland, the Curator of the Bengal Asiatic

Society's Museum, who formulated a plea for its foundation in the pages of

the “Calcutta Journal of Natural History” for that year. But this scheme,

as set forth in his article, did not attract any notice at the time. The subject

was again taken up by an anonymous writer, and discussed in the pages of the

* Calcutta Review ” for 1866 in an article entitled “The Indian Museum and

the Asiatic Society of Bengal.” In this article the writer advocated the estab-

lishment of a State-aided zoological collection in Calcutta, which would not only

serve the purposes of a place of recreation to the public, but also be a scienti-

fic institution where the habits and instincts of the brute creation might be

* A hand-book of the Management of Animals in Captivity in Lower Bengal by Ram Brama

caval, Super tend ent of the Zoological Gardens, Caleutta, Published at the Bengal Secretariat

ress, Price Rs, 5,

255 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

observed and recorded, and exotic animals acclimatised. No notice, appears

to have been taken, at the time, of this admirable proposal. In 1867

however, Dr. (now Sir) Joseph Fayrer, then President of the Asiatic Society

of Bengal, formulated a scheme: for the foundation of a Zoological Garden

in the British Indian metropolis, and his proposal seems to have met with a

favorable response from the Calcutta public, who promptly came forward

and raised a large amount of money by subscription ; but, as no suitable site

for the location of the institution could be found at that time, the scheme

was temporarily shelved. In 1873 Mr. Carl Louis Schwendler, electrician to

the Government of India, and a gentleman well-known for his ardent love of

natural history pursuits, again brought the subject forward and submitted a

scheme for establishing a public vivarium, and for acclimatising foreign

vertebrates in Calcutta, to the Bengal Government and the Council of the

Bengal Asiatic Society. A sub-committee, composed of the members of the

Asiatic Society of Bengal and of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society

of India, was formed to consider Mr, Schwendler’s proposal ; but, as in 1867,

the scheme was once again placed in abeyance, as no suitable site could be

found, Mr. Schwendler’s suggestions were again taken up for consideration

during the régime of Lord Northbrook; and Sir Richard Temple, then

Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, not only highly approved of the scheme, but

adopted it.

It was mainly through Sir Richard Temple’s liberal assistance and Mr.

Schwendler’s warm advocacy, indomitable perseverance and determination,

that the Calcutta Zoological Gardens became a fart accompli in 1875, The

Government of Bengal liberally granted two tracts of land, situated on the

sides of the Belvedere Road, south of the Zeerut Bridge, at Alipore, for the

location of the institution, and sanctioned an annual grant of Rs. 20,000 for

the purchase of animals and the maintenance of the gardens in a state of

efficiency, and also appointed an Honorary Committee of Management to admin-

ister the affairs of the institution. To the menagerie, then in a state of infancy,

Mr. Schwendler presented his private collection of animals, birds and reptiles,

and these formed the nucleus of the splendid display of indigenous and exotic

vertebrates which now adorns the Calcutta Zoological Gardens. It was on

the 1st January, 1876, that the first sod was turned by H. R. H. the Prince of

Wales, who was then in Calcutta ; and the Calcutta Zoological Gardens were

formally opened to the public on the 1st of May of the same year. Thus this

institution, which was established, as is stated in the original prospectus issued

in 1875, under the sanction of Government, for the purpose of developing and

displaying the zoological wealth of the country, and facilitating the acclima-

tisation, domestication, and breeding of animals, and improving the indi-

genous breed of cattle and farm-stock, has now been in existence for seventeen

years.

In the eyes of both God and civilised man, we owe a responsibility to the

dumb creatures whom we bring from their native wilds and place in durance

pla ©

REVIEW. 256

vile, in order to minister to our curiosity and instruction. It is our bounden

duty not only to supply them with food and shelter, but also to see that they

are provided with proper accommodation for comfort ; that they get the diet

which Nature has appointed for them, or, where that is difficult to procure,

the nearest approach to it possible, and that they have ample space for exer-

cise, and abundant air. The more complete the arrangements for their

comfort, the roomier and airier the place in which they are confined, the more

they are placed amidst surroundings resembling those of their native wilder-

nesses, the happier and healthier they will be, the longer they will live, and

the greater will be the amount of the amusement and instruction to be derived

from inspecting them and observing their habits and instincts,

Since the gardens were established, the Managing Committee of the institu-

tion have not only tried, as far as lay in their power and their financial

resources allowed, to discharge the duties above mentioned, but have also

attempted to carry out the objects set forth in the original prospectus with

more or less success. They have adopted and introduced the latest improve-

ments in menagerie-architecture, in order that the animals under their charge

may have commodious quarters, have called in the aid of medical science to

cure them of the ills that brute-flesh is heir to, and, as far as practicable,

have placed them amidst surroundings resembling those of their native haunts,

During the period of seventeen years during which the Calcutta Zoological

Gardens have been in existence, the Committee of Management has acquired

a great deal of experience in managing, in health and sickness, the various

animals, both indigenous and exotic, that have, from time to time, been exhi-

bited. The work under review embodies this experience, and sets forth the

methods by which dumb creatures in captivity should be treated in health and

sickness, and the best ways of providing them with comfortable accommoda-

tion and with the most suitable diet. The idea of writing the present work

was suggested by His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, in his Reso-

jution on the Report of the Honorary Committee for the Management of the

Calcutta Zoological Gardens for the year 1888-89, published in the Calcutta

Gazeite of the 9th October, 1889, wherein he gave expression to the following

opinion : “As the Zoological Gardens have now been in existence for 13 years

(since 1875-76), it is presumable that many events have taken place among

the large number of animals, birds, etc., exhibited from time to time, which

would be of interest to the scientific world and to persons interested in

zoology ; also, that considerable experience must have been gained in the

management of animals, birds, etc., in confinement, and their treatment in

sickness which would be of practical use to the managing bodies of other

zoological gardens and to individuals who have private collections, Sir

Steuart Bayley is strongly of opinion that it is incumbent on all persons who

keep animals in captivity to avoid, as far as possible, anything like cruelty

(such as want of space or air, proper food, or cleanliness) in their treatment,

257 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

and he recognises that the Zoological Gardens’ Managing Committee set an

excellent example in this respect, He would venture to suggest that from the

records of the Committee and the recollections of their able Superintendent

it would be possible for them to produce a hand-book, which might be of

great use to the numerous nobles and other persons who, ona smaller scale,

keep collections of animals or birds in captivity.”

A meeting of the Committee of Management was convened on the 2nd April,

1890, for the purpose of considering the suggestion embodied in the Lieutenant-

Governor’s Resolution ; and, as the result of its deliberations, it recommended

the appointment of a Sub-Committee for the purpose of giving effect to it.

A Sub-Committee was accordingly formed ; and, after mature consideration,

it drew up a plan for writing the suggested work. It is on the lines adopted

by the Sub-Committee that the present hand-book has accordingly been

prepared by Babu Ram Bramha Sanydl, the Superintendent of the Gardens,

under the supervision of Mr. C, E. Buckland, ¢.s., one of the members of the

Committee. For the purpose of writing this work, the author, as he informs us

in the preface, has had to prosecute a good deal of original research in the

shape of examining the collection of the vertebrata in the Indian Museum,

Calcutta, for the purpose of identifying the little-known forms.

The work consists of two parts, preceded by an admirably drawn up table

of contents, containing a list of all the species of animals that have been

exhibited in the Gardens up to the present time, classified under their re-

spective orders, families, genera, and species. The first part treats of the

mammalia, and the second of the aves, or birds, The reptilia, which would

have formed the third part of the present work, could not be included in it ;

for the author informs us that, “asa considerable portion of it was already

in type when we commenced the New Reptile House, we did not, after all,

think it worth while waiting longer to incorporate the reptiles in the present

edition.”

The work has been drawn up on an admirable and exhaustive plan, for

under the heading of each species of animal, its nomenclature, both scientific

and vernacular, and habitat are first given ; in the next place the length of its

life in captivity in the Gardens; then its treatment in health ; then its

treatment in sickness ; and, last of all, the observations made in the Gardens

on its habits and instincts, supplemented, in some cases, by a list of the

authorities who may be consulted for further information regarding it.

Under the heading of treatment in health, suggestions, based upon ex-

periences gained im the Gardens, as to the best way of housing, feeding, and

transporting animals in captivity, as well as remarks regarding their breeding in

the Calcutta Zoo, are given. With reference to housing animals in captivity, it

may be observed that the old idea of keeping captive wild animals in small

cramped cages and dens still prevails in this country among Indian chiefs and

nobles who maintain menageries on a miniature scale. Even in England, this

REVIEW, 258

idea, inherited from the Tower Menagerie and the various itinerant wild-beast

shows, prevailed, even in such an excellent and well managed institution as the

Zoological Society of London during its earlier years,

This practice of keeping animals in dark, narrow and ill-ventilated cages

remained in vogue in this country till May, 1876, when the Calcutta Zoological

Gardens were opened to the general public. Since then, the Indian public

have had ample opportunities for realising the inhumane character and the

unhealthy effects of the practice, by comparing the emaciated and sickly looks

of animals in private menageries with the sleek appearance and improved

health of the inmates of the Calcutta Gardens, due no doubt to the improved

method adopted by the Managing Committee of providing them with com-

modious, airy, and substantial buildings, suited to the habits of particular

groups of them. Among these may be mentioned the Gubboy House, with its

arched Leslie patent roof, plate-glass doors and fan-lights, for excluding

draught and cold and regulating the atmosphere, which has been found admi-

rably suited to the gibbons (Hylobates), other varieties of monkeys (Semno-

pithect and Cercopithect) and small and rare mammals of a delicate nature. The

Dumraon House is adapted to the requirements of hoolocks (Hylobates hoolock)

and monkeys peculiar to the Indo-Malayan fauna (Macaques). The Hzra

House, with its lofty roof and minarets and enclosed airing-grounds on the

east and the west sides, furnishes very comfortable accommodation to giraffes

(Camelopardalis giraffa), zebras (Zebra burchelli), and other equine animals.

Ii is needless to multiply examples ; suffice it to say that ali of them are built

on the latest approved principles, and are furnished in such a way as to

present their inmates, as far as practicable, with the surroundings of their

native wilds,

As regards food, the experience gained im the Calcutta Zoo shows that

wild animals in captivity thrive best if fed with articles of diet which Nature

usually supplies to them while living in a wild state. In cases where these are

difficult to procure, articles of similar character should be given them. A

monotonous round of the same articles of diet, it has been found, brings on

disease in menagerie animals. Changes from one sort of food to another

should be frequently resorted to, and the animals are found to preserve health

better when fed on varied diet each day than when fed with the same food

all the year round, Animals which prey upon small mammals and birds

should, in a state of captivity, be given small living birds, such as sparrows,

live fowls, pigeons, or mice, guinea pigs or rabbits, for them to kill and eat:

and this expedient has been found in the Zoological Gardens to be very

effective in sharpening their appetites and reviving their drooping spirits.

The larger carnivora often display an aversion to their ordinary diet; and

in such cases live kid, or fowls, and mutton are given. A sufficient quantity

of food and clear water should always be provided, as the carnivora possess

259 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol VIII.

the habits of drinking water after their meals. In the Alipore menagerie the

larger Felide are fed only once a day; and once a week they are either

starved or kept on half rations, and it has been uniformly found that this

system proves beneficial to their health. Small quantities of doob grass ought

to be given them almost daily, as it acts as an emetic, as also flower of sulphur

which acts as a tonic to almost all animals in captivity—the latter to be given

either in their food or in their drinking water. All the bears in the collec-

tion (with the exception of the Ursus maritimus) like sweets more or less,

sugarcane and biscuits being a favourite food with them. They are usually

fed on boiled rice, sugar, vegetables, fruits, eggs, bread, biscuits, and milk,

The Polar bear (U. maritimus) was given only 3 Ibs. of fat mutton in the

evening, with a change of fish and live pigeons occasionally. All the four

species of Asiatic rhinoceri in the Gardens, Rhinoceros unicornis, R. sondaicus,

R. lasiotis,* and R. sumatrensis, are fond of the leaves of the jack-fruit tree,

but these being costly and not always procurable, they are fed on leaves of

the gulher or doomoor (Ficus glomerata) and other species of figs; but the

experience gained in the Gardens is that it is better to restrict them to jack

and gulheras much as possible, supplemented by allowances of soaked gram

and bran, together with salt and small quantities of goor, or country treacle

occasionally. Both the species of tapirsf hitherto represented at Alipore,

Tapirus malayanus and T. roulini, feed on vegetable substances, such as leaves,

shoots, and roots, sweet potatoes, yams, bran, and boiled rice being occasionally

given to them, The Hquus burchelli and EL. onager thrive best on crushed food

consisting of grain, &c., hay, paddy, straw, and salt. The Bovide, especially

Bos frontalis, B. sondaicus and B. gaurus, are very fond of bamboo leaves ; but,

as they become reconciled to their captivity, they imbibe a taste for such

things as gram, bran, hay, &c., together with a few onions. Salt is very neces-

sary to them, and should be given daily, either mixed with gram or in small

lumps for licking, together with a large troughful of clear water. Other

members of the same family have been found to thrive best on grass and

grain, only the Wild Buffalo of the Celebes (Anoa depressicornis) being fond

of the green stalks of paddy plants. Of the antelopes, the Eland (Oreas

canna), the Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), the Beisas (Oryx beisa and

* It is doubtful whether Rhinoceros lasiotis can be called a distinct species. Mr. W, T.

Blanford is of opinion that the several points of distinction in the external appearance of the

rhinoceri from Chittagong and Majlacea, which led Mr. P. L. Sclater to create a distinct

species, /astotis, for the reception of the Chittagong form, are scarcely of any specific value.

He regards the two forms—one from Malacca (A. swmatrensis) and the other from Chittagong

(R. lasiotis)—as varieties only. He says that, though the most remarkable difference between

them is in the shape of the head, yet it is a variable one, as has been shown by Blyth. (Vide

The Fauna of India : Mammalia, p. 477.) The author of the work under review has, how-

ever, after a careful examination of both the Chittagong and Malayan species now living in

the Calcutta Zoo, noted the principal points of difference between the two, most of which are

found iy tally exactly with those observed by Sclater. (Vide page 182 of the work under

review.

+ A pair of American tapirs (Tapirus americanus, Gmal.) have been recently added to the

Calcutta Zoological Gardens. See Englishman of 6th June, 1892.

REVIEW. 260

O, leucoryx) thrive well on mixed food, consisting of gram, bran, Indian corn,

wheat, paddy, &c., supplemented by hay and green grass—the last to be given

sparingly. The gazelles (Gazella arabica, G. bennettir, and G'. grant), the other

Indian antelopes (Antelope cervicapra and Tetraceros quadricornis), and the

North African form (Alcephalus bubalis) are fed on gram, bran, grass in small

quantities, maize, paddy, wheat, &c., hay, onions and salt, the gazelles being

very fond ‘of babul leaves (Acacia arabica). The Persian Ibex (Capra

egagrus) and the Uryal (Ovis cycloceros) thrive better on various kind of leaves

and hay than on grain, and are extremely fond of rose-leavyes, Two to

three seers of grain (maize, gram, wheat, &c., with a pinch of salt twice daily,

supplemented by a few bundles of hay, constitute capital food for the giraffes

in the Calcutta Gardens. It has been found that here they much relish the

leaves of the Acacia arabica and the Zizyphus jujuba. Of the Cervide, the

Chevrotains (Cervulus muntjac and C. reevesi) and the various members of the

genera Cervus and Rangifer (Cervus canadensis, C, tevanus, C. duvaucelli,

C. aristotelis, C. equinus, C. porcinus, C. hippelaphus, C. moluccensis, C. axis, and

the reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), have been found to thrive best on grains, with

salt, and onions, taking care, at the same time, that the former be not newly-

harvested, but at least three months old. Both the living species of camels

which have been represented at Alipore were found to be fond of the leaves

of the various species of neem (Melia) and babul (Mimosa) and hay, a change

of crushed food being occasionaly given. The Suide in the gardens have

thriven well on grain, vegetables, and kitchen refuse, such as boiled meat, eggs,

&e. Finely minced raw meat and eggs with milk constitute a capital diet for

the Great Ant-eater (Myrmecophaga jubata). The two species of the genus

Phascolomys hitherto exhibited, namely, P. wombat and P. latifrons, feed on

grass and leaves—a small quantity of grain and sometimes biscuits being

given every morning, The kangaroos* (Macropus giganteus and M, rufus) and

the Wallabies (Halmaturus ualabatus and H, bennetti) are strictly vegetarian

feeders and forage for themselves, a small quantity of maize, wheat, and other

grains being generally allowed to them.

The orang-outang (Simia satyrus) has been found to thrive well on any one

of the following three different courses of diet, véz., (1) plantains, boiled rice,

biscuits, vegetables ; (2) soaked gram, milk, bread, fruits ; (3) plantains, raw

eggs, sugarcane, &c., fruit of the sweet potato. The other anthropoid apes in the

Gardens, viz., the hoolock and the gibbons (Hylobates hoolock, H. leucogenys,

H. lar, H. agilis, H. leuciseus, and H. syndactylus), have maintained very

good health when fed on boiled rice, soaked gram, various kinds of fruit, and

* Among the Marsupials, the unadorned-footed rock-kangaroo (Petrogale inornata) has

not been noticed in this work, though it was at one time exhibited in the Gardens. I remem-

ber having seen pretty specimens of this species in the Sonebursa House, some time in June

or July, 1892, Among the other omissions is the European badger (Males taxus, Bodd.),

which is also included in the collection at Alipore, and was, I believe, purchased at the sale

of the King of Oudh’s menagerie,

261 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VITI.

roots, bread, biscuits, eggs, and occasionally live sparrows and a few grass-

hoppers, making allowances for individual tastes. Excluding animal food of

all kinds whatever, the diet prescribed for the various species of Hylobates

and for the orang will do well for the Semmnopithecus entellus, with the addition

of a sufficient quantity of leaves, ‘The crested semnote (S. cristatus) and

Phayre’s leaf-monkey (S. phayri) live best on the diet prescribed for the

orang. The Assam langur (S. pileatus) is less fond of leaves than the other

Semnopithect. Several of them have exhibited a slight partiality for the leaves

of a species of Amaranthus (xatya sag), The proboscis (S. larvatus) and the

red-haired monkeys (S. rubicundus) like the green stalks of paddy and wheat

and young shoots of kalmi (Convolvulus reptens). Experience gained in the

Gardens has shown that the Cercopitheci—forms peculiar to the fauna of the

Ethiopian region—hitherto exhibited there, viz., Cercopithecus diana, C. cyno-

surus, C. callitricus, C. talapoin, C, nictitans, C. pluto, C. petaurista, C.

cephus, C. patas, C. mona, thrive well on the same kind of food as is ordinarily

given to the hoolocks, hanumans and other semnotes. The monkeys of the genus

Macacus are almost omnivorous : boiled rice, soaked gram, biscuits, pumpkins,

cucumber, brinjals, and other vegetables constitute their ordinary food. Eggs

are occasionally given to them as substitutes for the insects and spiders which,

in their wild state, they are accustomed to eat, besides fruits and vegetables,

minced meat being sometimes, but rarely, given. The Cynocephali,* or the

baboons (Cynocephalus hamadryas and C. porcarius),do well when fed on a

vegetable diet consisting of fruits, roots, grain, boiled rice, with a change of

egos and grasshoppers. The same diet as that on which the hoolock is fed has

been found to constitute capital food for the mandrill (C. mormon). The

lemurs (Lemur mongoz, L. varius, and L. flavifrons) feed on fruit, eggs,

bread, and milk.

The feeding of the birds, however, is not so expensive as that of the mam-

mals, for most of the articles of diet of which they are fond, such as maggots,

berries, &c., are to be had in abundance in the Gardens themselves. The prin-

cipal food of the majority of the birds are seeds, soft fleshed fruits, berries,

maggots, satoo, and, occasionally, minced meat made into pellets. Some of the

aquatic birds, ‘however, find their own food, such as fish, crustaceans, &c.,

from the tanks and jhils in the Gardens. Experience has shown that an early

meal, consisting of maize, barley, wheat, or other grain, pounded together with

a small quantity of egg-shell, green food later on, and grains and seeds anda

few grasshoppers or meal worms in the evening, forms a capital diet for the

* Another species of this genus, viz., the Guinea baboon (Cynocephalus sphinx, Linn.) has

been represented in the Gardens ; and I distinctly remember haying seen, in 1885,a speci-

men of it inthe Gubboy House, which was on deposit there. But I regret to find that this

animal has not been noticed in the present work. There are many other omissions, which

will be noticed in their respective places. A magnificent specimen of the drill (Cynocephalus

leucopheus, F, Cuy.) has also heen recently added to the collection—haying been acquired in

December last.

REVIEW. 262

Monauls (Lophophorus impeyanus and L. sclateri), the Gold and Amherst’s

pheasants (Thawmalea picta and Th. amherstiw), six species of the genus -

Phasianus, twelve species of the genus Huplocamus, and other members of the

order Galline, hitherto represented in the Gardens. The Tragopans (Cerior-

nis satyra, C.melanocephala, C.temminchi, C. caboti, and C. blythi) and both

the Indian and the Malayan species of the Polyplectrons, or the Peacock

pheasants, require the same treatment as regards food as the other pheasants,

except that the former are fonder of berries and fruits than of grain,

Of the order Caswarii, the three species of Cassowaries in the Gardens have

been found to thrive best on vegetables, fruits, and roots. In captivity the

Emu is fed on biscuits, bread, crushed food, and vegetables. The Ostrich

(Struthio camelus) and the Common Rhea (Rhea americana), belonging to the

order Struthiones, are both treated in the same: way as the Emu, only with the

difference that the former is given a pound of beef or mutton once a week

during the cold and the rainy seasons. Of the order Giralie, family Gruide,

seven species of Cranes (Grus) and the two species of Crowned Cranes (Bela-

rica pavonina and B. chrysopelargus) have been found to maintain very good

health when fed on grain of various kinds, soaked or dry, according to indi-

vidual taste, and vegetables, but some of them find a great deal of their own

food, such as frogs, lizards, shells, worms, &c., only the snow-wreath (Grus

leucogeranus) and the Crowned Cranes not being partial to this latter kind of

diet. Birds of the order Steganopodes (Cormorants, Snake-birds and Pelicans)

live well on fish, but, in captivity, they readily take to meat-diet, being fed at

Alipore on 3 to 1 seer of beef and fish. The various members of the orders

Anseres (Geese and Ducks), Gavide (Gulls) and Limicole (Snipes and Jacanas)

thrive best on grain, vegetables, and grass, supplemented a good deal by

aquatic insects, worms, larve, &c., and are also very fond of the tender shoots

of the kalmi (Convolvulus reptens) and tokapana (Pistia stratiotes), which are

given to them in large quantities. Of the birds of the order Platalea, the

Spoonbill (Platalea lewcorodia) is fed on prawns, small fish, and occasionally

minced meat. This food, it has been found, also forms excellent diet for the

Black-headed (Ibis melanocephalus), Glossy (Plegadis falcinellus), and Scarlet

Ibises (Hudocimus ruber). The Pelican Ibis (Tantalus leucocephalus) picks out

a great deal of its own food, such as crabs, frogs, and fish, by loosening, with

its right foot, the mud near the edges of the tanks. This latter habit is also

possessed by the Flamingo (Phenicopterus antiquorum), belonging to the order

Odontoglosse, which, ina state of captivity, feeds on bran and barley with

water. Birds of the order Herodiones (Herons, Storks, and Adjutants) thrive

well on fish and meat, but the Adjutants and the Black-necked Stork

(Xenorhynchus asiaticus) mainly live on the latter article.

The birds of prey, such as the Owls, Hagles, Falcons and Vultures (belong-

ing to the orders Striges and Accipitres), are all of them carnivorous, and, as a

263 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

rule, are fed on beef, frogs, fish, and live rats. Of the order Psittuci (Cocka-

toos, Parrots, Parrakeets, Lories, &c.), nine species of the genus Cacatua and

other birds of the allied genera, Liemetis, Microglossa, and Calopsitta, have been

found to maintain good health when fed on paddy, maize, gram, barley, hemp

seed, chillies, and vegetables, all of them being extremly fond of sugarcane ;

and this diet has also been found to answer well in the cases of the birds of

the genus Palgornis, only the red-headed (P. cynocephalus) and the red-

cheeked species (P. eryihrogenys) being fond of fruits, especially papaya

(Carica papaya). Wories of the genera Lorius, Hos, and Trichoglossus thrive

well on amixed diet of bread and milk, seeds, fruits and vegetables, with a

change of boiled eggs for birds of the last-mentioned genus only. Grain seeds

and vegetables, with crumbs of bread given occasionally, rock salt, and clean

water, constitute a capital diet for five species of the Broadtail Parrots

(Platycercus) and the New Zealand Parrakeet (Cyanoramphus nove-zealande).

Experience has shown that the same diet, only with the addition of fruits

and biscuits, is admirably suited to the physical requirements of the Macaws

(genus Ara), the Yellow-headed Conure (Conuwrus jendaya),and the three species

of Amazon Parrots (genus Chrysotis), all peculiar to the Neotropical region.

The truly African psittacine forms, viz., the Vasa parrots (Coracopsis vasa and

C. nigra) and the Grey Parrot (Psittacus erythacus) are fed like the Cockatoos.

Of the order Bucerotes, hornbills of the various genera Buceros, Dichoceros,

Anthracoceros, Ocyceros, Aceros, Rhytidoceros and Cranorrhinus, have been found

to thrive on a diet comprising boiled rice, minced meat, figs, berries, and other

fruits, with an occasional allowance of small birds and insects to sharpen their

appetites. Of the sub-order Zygodactyle, the Ariel (Ramphastos ariel) and

the Sulphur-breasted Toucans (R. carinatus) peculiar to the Neotropical

avifauna, hitherto exhibited in the Gardens, have been fed on fruits, crumbs of

bread, minced meat, and eggs.

Pigeons and doves of various genera and species are fed on various sorts of

grain, though, in captivity, they acquire an artificial taste for bread, biscuits,

and boiled rice.

Maize mixed with other grains, such as wheat, barley, and hemp-seed,

constitutes a capital diet for the larger pigeons, only the blood-breasted

(Phlogenas cruentata) and the Australian crested species (Ocyphaps lophotes)

being very fond of the moong pulse (Phaseolus mungo), other grains and fruits,

The soft-billed pigeons evince a partiality for satoo mixed with macerated

plantain. Other species, among them being the Wonga Wonga (Lencosarcia

picta), like hard stones of fruits, while the fruit-eating ones thrive well on

various figs and berries, such as those of the Peepul and the Banyan trees.

To promote their health, they should also be allowed greens, such as cabbage,

spinach, &c. Of the order Scansores, family Capitonide, Barbets of the

genera Megalema, Cyanops, and Xantholema, while in captivity, feed on

REVIEW. 264

satoo, plantains and other fruits and minced meat. Of the order Passeres,

family Alaudide, both the skylarks (Alauda arvensis and A. arborea) in the

Calcutta Zoo thrive excellently on seeds of various kinds, fruits, berries and

maggots, only the bush-larks (Mrafra assamica and M, caniéiilans) liking satoo,

fruits, insects and maggots. Of the family Sturnide (same order), Mynas of

various genera and species, generally speaking, do well when fed on satoo,

maggots, insects, fruits and grain of various kinds, making allowance for the

tastes of particular species. Of the family Hulabetide, the Grackles or Hiil-

Mynas (Hulabes religiosa and E. intermedia) require satoo, boiled rice, fruits,

bread and milk. Of the family Oriolide, the four species of Orioles in

the collection thrive excellently on satoo, insects, fruits, berries of the Ficus

religiosa, F. comosa and sweet Inga. Of the family Crateropodide, sub-family

Brachypodine, three species of Buibuls of the genus Molpastes, two of Oto-

composa, one each of Hypsipetes and Prcnonotus, do well on satoo paste,

prepared with ghi, fruits, insects and maggots, Laughing Thrushes of the

genera Dryonastes, Garrulax, Lanthocincla and Grammatoptila thrive when fed

On satoo, fruits, insects and worms, only the Dryonastes chinensis requiring

minced meat. Of the family Corvide, sub-family Corvine, order Passeres,

the various Magpies of the genera Pica, Urocissa and Cissa, and the Indian

tree-pies (Dendrocitta rufa, D. himalayensis, and D. frontalis) have been

found to thrive excellently on minced ‘eat, fruit, boiled rice, boiled eggs,

satoo and various kinds of insects, only the Green Magpie (Cissa chinensis) is

occasionally given live sparrows and other small birds, and the Tree-pies

various kinds of insects'to sharpen their appetites. Another useful feature

of these remarks is, that the approximate daily cost of feeding the large

animals and birds is given.

The breeding of animals is set forth in the original prospectus as one of the

objects for which the Calcutta Zoological Gardens were established. But the

Committee’s efforts to carry it out have been attended with but scant success,

though hopes were at one time entertained that all the denizens of the

Gardens would breed freely and multiply fast,so as to render it possible that

additional examples of each species might be available for exchange with

institutions of a similar kind, both in this country and elsewhere. The condi-

tions which are most favorable to the breeding of animals in captivity are

that they should be provided with (1) commodious quarters for their housing,

grazing and open-air exercise ; (2) the diet which they are accustomed to feed

upon in their wild state ; (3) that their quarters should be such as to suit their

respective habits and should represent the surroundings of their native wilds ;

(4) that, in the case of gregarious animals, a large number of both sexes, and,

in that of the Carnivora and other species, a pair, each consisting of a male

and a female, should be lodged together, so as to afford them opportunities for

seeking each other’s company. Experience has shown that the females of the

265 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

larger carnivorous animals naturally seek seclusion and retirement when enceinte

so that they may enjoy freedom from disturbance by others ; and the want of

proper accommodation to meet such emergencies has on several occasions been

keenly felt in the Gardens, In the same menagerie, it has been found that

some species of birds every year make attempts at constructing nests, but are

prevented from doing so by others which annoy them at this time. In some

cases they have even laid eggs, but could not incubate them, owing to the pre-

sence of other birds, which (not unfrequently) destroy them by breaking them.

Some species of mammals and birds are sure to breed in captivity, if left by

themselves in separate cages, and undisturbed by other species, Hence seclu-

sion is also very necessary to their successfully breeding in a state of captivity.

Though, in comparison with the existing private and other public menageries

throughout the country, the comforts and conveniences of wild animals in

captivity are studied and attended to with far more care and greater regularity

in the Calcutta Zoological Gardens, yet all the aforesaid conditions are not

fulfilled there to the same extent as they ought to be. No doubt some animals

breed and rear young ones successfully every year at Alipore, as will appear

from the tabular statements of such births published annually in the Manag-

ing Committee’s Reports ; but their number sinks into insignificance when

compared with the long lists of animals bred every year, which are appended

to the Annual Reports of the London Zoological Society and the. New

York Central Park Menagerie. The reason why so much success im this

direction has been achieved in the last two institutions is simply that the

inmates thereof enjoy far greater comfort and convenience than at Alipore,

for in London and New York far airier and roomier quarters, with extensive

enclosures affording opportunities for exercise in the open air and the display

of their natural habits, are allowed them than here.

Experience gained in the Calcutta Zoological Gardens has clearly shown

that only some of the mammals have every year successfully bred and reared

young ones there. Of the birds, all, except a few species, have failed to

propagate, Among the monkeys, the Hanuman (Semmnopitheus entellus), several

species of Macaques (Macacus rhesus, M. cynomolgus, and M., sinicus) of the

Indian and Malayan faunas, and the Malbrouck (Cercopithecus cynoswrus),

peculiar to the Hthiopic region, have successfully bred and cross-bred. The

Mongoose Lemurs (Lemur mongoz) have also bred here, the female producing

only one young ata birth. Of the Felide, the lions in the collection have

not been blessed with any offspring as yet, although the Committee have

provided suitable accommodation, likely to favour the happening of the

longed-for-event, by building a smaller and secluded den, as an annexe to their

cages in the Burdwan House, and hopes are entertained that their efforts in

this direction will ultimately be crowned with success. Tigers have thrice

bred, viz., in May, 1880, May, 1886, and April, 1889, The Leopard and the

Fishing-Cat (Ff. viverrina) are the only two other cats which have bred at

REVIEW. 266

Alipore, and the males of both species sometimes devour their young ones,

Of the Urside, the Himalayan bear (Ursus torquatus) has bred only once, when

the cub unfortunately proved a still-born one, Of the order Chiroptera, the

Indian Fruit Bats (Pteropus medius) have several times produced young

having only one ata birth. Of the Hystricide, only the Short-spined Porcu-

pines (Hystrix longicauda) have several times bred in the Gardens and reared

young ones successfully, though sometimes the young are eaten by their

male parents, Of the Dasyproctide, the Agoutis* Dasyprocta isthmica and D.

prymnolopha) and the Guinea-pig (Cavia porcellus) are very prolific and give

birth to several broods in a year, the former, however, sometimes eating their

young. Of the Rhinocerotide, a hybrid rhino calf was born at Alipore, of the

Rhinoceros lasiotis and R. sumatrensis, on the 30th January, 1889. Of the

Lapiride, female Malayan Tapirs ( Zapirus malayanus) have twice bred, viz,

in May, 1877 and October, 1883. Of the Bovide, the Gyals (Bos frontalis)

have cross-bred with the domestic cattle and produced fine hybrids, and the

Bantengs (B. sondaicus) have also bred. he Beisa antelopes (Oryxbeisa) have

twice reared young ones in the gardens. The gazelles, blackbucks (Antelope

cervicapra) and four-horned antelopes have also successfully bred at Alipore,

as also various species of deer belonging to the family Cervide. Of the

Lragulide, only the Indian Chevrotain (Tragulus memména) often produce

young ones in the gardens, the female generally producing two ata birth, Of

the order Marsupialia, only the Black Wallaby (Halmaturus ualabatus) have

on several occasions bred,

Among the birds, the Common Myna or Salik (Acridotheres irestis) breeds

freely in the gardens both in captivity and in a wild state, often utilising the

feathers cast by other birds in the construction of its nests. Of the order

Columbe, the Indian Blue-rock Pigeon (Columba intermedia) is a regular

breeder in the Alipore menagerie. One of the females of the Common Crown

Pigeon (Goura coronota) twice laid eggs, but could not incubate them,

The Nicobar Ground Pigeons (Calenas nicobarica) have twice bred in the

Gardens, laying a single egg on each occasion, The Emerald Doves (Chaleo-

phaps indica) have also succeeded in rearing broods. Of the order Psitiaci,

the great White-crested (Cacatua cristata), the Sulphur-crested (C. galerita and

C. sulphurea), and the long-billed cockatoos (Licmetis tenuérostris) have some-

times laid in the gardens, but none could be induced to hatch their eggs,

although on such occasions they were removed to secluded spots. The

Crested Ground (Calopsitta nove-hollande) and the Ring-necked Parrakeets

(Paleornis torquatus), a8 also a solitary female of a Purple-capped Lory (Lorius

domicella), have occasionally laid eggs, but never succeeded in hatching out

* Two additional species of this genus, v2z,, a pair each of the Golden Agouti (Dasyprocte

aguti, Linn.) and of the West Indian Agouti (L. cristata, Desm.) have been lately_added to

the collection, A pair of the Patagonian Cavi (Dolichotis patachonica, Shaw) have also been

acquired, Vide Englishman of Monday, the 6th June, 1892,

14:

267 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. WIE le

broods. The Undulated Grass Parrakeets (Melopsittacus undulatus) have only

once bred, when they succeeded in hatching two nestlings, Of the order

Anseres a pair of Spotted bill Ducks (Anas pecilorhyncha) bred during the

latter part of 1885. Of the order Fulicariw, the Purple Coots (Porphyrio

poliocephalus) have thrice bred at Alipore. Of the order Galline, the Black

(Rollulus niger) and the Grey Partridges (Caccabis chakar) in the collection

have frequently laid eggs, but would not hatch them. Some of the pheasants,

however, such as the Silver (Euplocamus nycthemerus), the Lineated (EZ. lineatus)

and Cuvier’s (EZ. cwviert), have bred and reared their young at Alipore. Both

the species of peafowls in the collection (Pavo cristatus and P. muticus) begin

laying in spring and continue doing so till the end of the raims. Of the order

Casuarii, the Emu (Dromeus nove-holland@) bred and reared young ones in

1885-86, Of the order Struthiones, only the Ustriches (Struthio camelus) have

repeatedly laid, but have not yet succeeded in hatching out young,

Animals are frequently imported from foreign countries to the Calcutta

Zoological Gardens, and it has been found that, owing to the narrowness

and dinginess of the cages in which they are confined during the voyage, to the

want of precautions in the matter of providing them with the food and drink

most suitable for them, and tothe absence of arrangements for protecting

them from draughts and cold during inclement weather, much injury is

done to their health during transit. When they arrive in the Gardens, they

are found to be either in a miserable condition or otherwise disabled. From

these injuries they never recover in spite of the most careful nurture, and

after pining for a few months, they die away. A notable instance of this

happened in the case of three Tapirs which were purchased at Singapore in

July, 1883, and shipped thence in battened cages with open tops; “two of

these animals arrived wounded and lame; during the voyage they made

frequent attempts to escape, by climbing over the sides and biting through

the wood-work of the cage. All Tapirs do not, of course, behave in the same

manner ; but the above facts indicate the kind of precaution necessary for

their transport.’ ‘Four specimens of the Blue-bearded Jay of Brazil (Cyano-

corax cyanopogon) were received in the Calcutta Gardens in November, 1888,

in the most miserable condition, and they never recovered from its ill-effects,

and finally died in a month or two after their arrival.

The Committee of the Calcutta Gardens have also instituted a system of

exchange with similar institutions both here and abroad, under which they

send away Indian animals to foreign gardens or societies, and obtain in return

others not exhibited before at Alipore. In “ packing’’ these animals for trans-

mission to foreign countries, the Committee have gained a good deal of

experience as to the best methods of doing so—as to what sort of cages

minister to the comfort of particular kinds of animals during the, journey. or

yoyage, what arrangements should be made for protecting their inmates. from

REVIEW. 268

extremes of heat and cold during transit, and so forth. Instruetiong based

on this experience are given in this work under the sub-heading ‘ Transport,”

for the guidance of the managers of other menageries, and of those who deal

in fer nature, and have often to export and import them. It is advised that

animals from the higher altitudes of the Himalayas should not he

brought down to the plains except during the cold season, even for the purpose

of sending them away to some other congenial climate. During a sea voyage,

animals peculiar to cold climates should, when passing warmer latitudes, be

placed near the ice-house of the Steamer, and the cages containing tropical

animals should, on approaching cold latitudes or during rough weather, be

kept near the engine-house, as severe cold kills them. Further, most elaborate

directions for the constructing and furnishing of transport-cages and selection

of animals to be exported are given,

Under the heading of “ Treatment in Sickness,” detailed information is given

in the work, regarding the various ailments from which animals in the Gardens

have been found to suffer, the treatment adopted, and the remedies adminis-

tered in each case, together with a short account of the results obtained,

The diseases from which lions in the Calcutta Gardens have been observed

to suffer are paralysis, congestion of the lungs, dysentery and diarrhea, In

cases of paralysis, anodines in the shape of camphor and Soap liniment are

freely rubbed over their limbs with a short mop, in order to alleviate their

sufferings, When the disease assumed serious proportions, strychnia in doses

of } grain was given morning and evening, but without effect, In a case of

pulmonary congestion, the chest was alternately poulticed and fomented, while

carbonate of ammonia and chloric ether, mixed with vinegar, were administer-

ed internally every two hours, but to no purpose, as the animal succumbed to

the disease. Festering wounds and injuries received accidentally or in

fighting have been observed to heal up on constantly injecting into the sore

parts a weak solution of corrosive sublimate with a garden syringe, Rheuma-

tism, adiposity, intestinal worms, ingrowing nails, epilepsy are some among the

various ailments that afflict tigers and leopards in the Gardens, Their liability

to rheumatism has been minimised by giving each of them a wooden platform

to sleep upon, Ingrown nails are removed by surgical operations, and a dose

or two of santonine has been found efficacious as a vermifuge. Dysentery

and diarrhoea have been found to afflict the other members of the Felide at

Alipore, as also the Hunting leopard (Cynelurus Jjubatus); only the Ocelot

(Felis pardalis) suffered from severe cold and pulmonary inflammation, Some

species of the Canide in the Gardens have been liable to attacks of paralysis,

diarrheea, fits or convulsions, and skin-disease, the later yielding to constant

washing of the body with carbolic Soap and tepid water and afterwards

painting it with a solution of phenyle. Bearsin the collection have been

found to suffer from diarrhcea, dysentery, hepatic disorders, convulsions,

ulcers, teething, and pulmonary inflammation, Ulcers yielded to the

269 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIII.

application, to the affected parts, of a solution of corrosive sublimate,

diarrhea and dysentery are got under by giving them various prepara-

tions of the bael fruit (.<2gle marmelos), Dover's powder and aromatic

powder of chalk. The Rhixoceri have been observed to suffer from tetanus,

pulmonary inflammation and tuberculosis of the lungs and liver. Obstruction

of the bowels and galloping consumption, respectively, were the causes of the

deaths of two Tapirs (Tepirus malayanus), The Scindian Wild Ass (Equus

onager) and Burchell’s Zebra (E. burchell’) have been observed to sutfer from

rhoumatism, brought on by the dampness of the floor of their habitation ; but

liability to it has been much diminished by providing them with wooden

platforms 18 inches high to stand upon. The former is also very much

troubled by sores and wounds, whichare got under by applying to them a

dressing composed of tar, soap, sulphur and carbolic acid. The Bovide

and three species of African antelopes (Orix bestia, O. leucoryx, and O, rea-

canna) are very liable to attacks of rinderpest, parasites and diarrhea, the

latter being cured by restricting the patients to a diet of bamboo leaves,

Inflammation of the lungs isa common ailment among gazelles during the

the rains and winter. They as well as the sheep and the goats in the Gardens

also frequently suffer from diarrhea, <A giraffe in the collection died, it was

surmised, of colic, or pulmonary inflammation. Experience has shown that

the various species of deer are liable to all the ailments which afflict other

members of the Ruminantia. The camels are subject to various kinds of

cutaneous affection abscess of the liver, paralysis, hernia, prolapsus ani, and

superficial ulcers ; the last can be got under only by the application of sulphur

dust to the skin, as it prevents insects from lodging within the hair. The

Marsupials in the Gardens have been found to suffer from paralysis of the

lower limbs, pulmonary inflammation, diarrhea and scrofula. Orang-outangs

(Siméa satyrus) in the collection are very liable to diarrhea, dysentery, bron-

chitis, pulmonary inflammation and paralysis. Various preparations of dael

and ipscacuanha have been found efficacious in checking diarrhoea and dysentery.

Bronchitis yields to the administration of 5 drops of ipecacuanha wine mixed

with honey or liquorice, the chest and the throat being alternately fomented

and rubbed over with ammonia liniment. The hoolocks and gibbons (Aylo-

bates), the semnotes (Semnopitheeus), and the macaques (Jacacus) suffer from

diarrhea, bronchitis and consumption. Bael overcomes diarrhoea, while in

bronchitis cases 10 grains of chlorate of potash in an ounce of simple syrup,

with fomentation and chicken soup, afford great relief to the patient. If

symptoms of consumption are discovered, the animal, if tame, should either

be allowed to run about during the day, especially when the weather is fine, or

otherwise should be removed from the monkey-house and confined in a spacious

and airy cage; and it should be given a teaspoonful of syrup of hypophosphate

of lime twice or thrice a day and a tea spoonful of glycerine with milk twice

daily. The African :monkeys® of the genus Cercopithecus are very liable to

REVIEW, 270

tuberculosis of the liver, flatulent colic, paralysis, and, occasionally, diarrhosa,

Flatulont colic has been found to yiold to the administration of a teaspoonful

of castor-oil with an equal quantity of honey, In cases of paralysis, the

animal is removed toa place free from draughts and cold and provided with

a blanket, while the affected parts are rubbed over with belladonna liniment

morning and evening,

Among the birds, the Cassowaries and the Emus have been observed to

suffer from pulmonary inflammation, bronchial catarrh, inflammation of the

entire mucous lining of the mouth, and diarrhoea, Ostriches suffer from

obscure diseases, of which the true natures have not yet been determined,

They have, however, been known to catch colds of winter nights, Birds of

the genera Lophophorus, Phasianus, Thaumalea, Kuploeamus, Gallus, Ceriornis,

Pavo, Polyplectronan argus, as well as the partridges in the collection, are

most subject to attacks of cold, catarrh, rheumatism, gape, opthalmic inflam -

mation, diarrhoea, tuberculosis of the lungs and liver, and leprosy tubercles,

Birds suffering from cold recover from it on being given a small quantity of

raw ginger with treacle, Cases of gape are treated either by the application,

with a feather, of spirits of turpentine to the wind-pipes of the affected birds,

which, in this state, teem with the offending parasites, or by fumigating them

with carbolic acid vapour, Opthalmic inflammation has been found to yield

to ablution of the eyes with alum water and subsequent painting of them with

caustic solution, Birds suffering from diarrhoea are given, by way of medicine,

afew drops of the tincture of opium with milk and egg food, and also a

little rum in their drinking water, The partrdiges also suffer from abnormal

and misshapen growths of beaks and nails. Almost. all the Pallases (Syr-

rhaptes paradoxus) and Thibetan Sand-grouses (S, tibetanus) in the gardens

died of hepatic or pulmonary affections. Birds of the orders Steganopodes,

Anseres, Gavide, and Limicole are subject to thread worms. induced by a

purely fish diet, invagination of the intestines, fungoid growths in the gullets,

tuberculosis of the lungs and liver, hepatic leprosy, and disease of the oil-

glands —the latter being removed by washing the affected glands with tepid

water, so as to cleanse them from the sticking dirt, and by keeping the sick

birds in a dry place, Cockatoos of the genera Cacatua, Liemetis, and Miero-

glossa are liable to attacks of diarrhoea, cold, and apoplexy brought on by

adiposity. In cases of cold, the birds are treated by giving them chlorate of

potash with liquorice and honey. Cold and pulmonary inflammation are com-

monly met with in parrakeets of the genus Palwornis, Birds belonging to the

Sub-family Lorune are most subject to fits, inflammation of the chest, and

diarrhea, The Trichoglossi, or Broadtails, often suffer from diarrhoea

and cold, Pulmonary inflammation, rheumatism, severe cold, worms and

diarrhoea are some of the ailments which are commonly met with among the

Hornbills, Diarrhoea and cold are treated by giving the suffering birds one

271 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

drachm of rum with 10 drops of the syrup of lactate ofiron. If difficulty

of breathing supervenes, 5 to 8 grs. of chlorate of potash in water internally

given relieves them instantly. The diseases from which birds of the order

Columbe suffer are cold, catarrh, diarrhoea, vertigo, rheumatism and other

obscure ailments, which frequently break out amongthem in an epidemic

form. The Shamas (Cittocincla macroura) are most liable to debility and

emaciation, bad moulting, and warty growths in the legs and feet, the latter

being removed by painting them with tincture of iodine. The Saliks (Acrido-

theres tristis), while young, suffer much from glandular swellings round the

aperture of the cloaca, The Picarine birds have been known to die suddenly

of apoplexy or rupture of some blood-vessel in all probabilty. Diarrhcea

also sometimes troubles them, but is got under by administering 15 drops of

ceastor-oil with 2 of the tincture of opium. The Laughing Thrushes of the

genera Dryonastes and Garrulax have been observed to suffer from diarrhea

and recover therefrom on being treated in the same way as the Picarine birds.

Chronic cold and overgrown beaks are also met with among them. The Gold-

fronted Chloropsis (Chloropsis aurifrons) is subject to a kind of horny fila-

mentous growth at the tip of the tongue. The Bhimraj (Dissemurus para-

diseus) suffers from bad moult. The Grackles (Eulabes) are subject to an

obscure form of eye disease, which is treated by washing the eyes with

sulphate of zine lotion twice daily and by keeping the birds in a warm place.

The young of these species also suffer from tumours or abscesses, which

appear to have a close connection with the growth of their watiles and lappets,

and generally show themselves during the period when these processes are in

course of development, They yield to an application of poultices composed of

burnt turmeric.

No portion of a work on zoology affords greater delight to the ordinary

lover of natural history than that which treats of the habits and instincts of

wild animals. As they are difficult of access in their wild state these habits

and instincts cannot be observed in their native haunts with the same degree

of facility as in vivaria. One of the main objects for which the Calcutia

Zoological Gardens were established is, the observation and recording of such

habits and instincts ; and it would appear from the present work that the Com-

mittee of Management have been in no way negligent in giving effect to this

portion of the prospectus of the institution. Most careful observations have

been made, and voluminous notes recorded, of the temper, propensities,

amusements and other occupations, moods,calls and other habits of the various

mammals and birds that have from time to time, been kept in the Gardens.

These notes have been utilised in the preparation of the work under review,

and it is upon the materials furnished by them that the exhaustive and

interesting remarks under the heading of “Observations on the habits of Animals”

have been based,

REVIEW. 272

The success of an institution like the Calcutta Zoological Gardens can be

judged of only by the number of species exhibited in it, the services it renders

to the advancement of zoological knowledge, and the measure of patronage

extended to it by the public. We can most confidently assert that the Com-

mittee’s efforts to develop the Gardens agreeably to the terms of the original

prospectus and their management of the animals in it have been eminently

successful. We are agreeably surprised to find that the work under review

contains notices of 10 orders, 46 families, 106 genera and 241 species of

mammals, and 24 orders, 52 families, 242 genera and 402 species of birds, +

that had been exhibited in the Gardens up to 1891. Considering that the

Gardens are only in the sixteenth year of their existence, they rival in

respect of the number of species many European and American institutions of

a similar kind, among which may be mentioned .the older establishment in

the London Regent’s Park, which, according to the first edition, published

in 1862, of the “ List of Vertebrates in the London Zoological Gardens,’ had

up to that year exhibited in them only 188 species of mammals and 409 of

birds,

The work has been admirably got up, printed and bound in the usually

excellent style of the Bengal Secretariat Press, and contains 351 large octavo

pages of closely printed matter. Its value has further been enhanced by the

addition of three excellent full-page photo-etchings, executed in the Survey of

India Offices, respectively delineating views of the Carnivora-house, the Deer-

sheds and the Water-fowl enclosure,

We are convinced from a perusal of the work that it would not only make

a capital hand-book, which would “be of great use to the numerous nobles

and other persons who on a smaller scale keep collections of animals or birds

in captivity,” but would also form an admirable text-book of zoology for those

of our schools and colleges in which natural history is taught,

SARAT CHANDRA MITRA, M.A, BL,

* Besides the omissions noted above, the following mammals, which have already been

exhibited in the Gardens, have not been included in the present work: the Black-crested

Ape of Celebes (Cynopithecus niger, Desm.) Egyptian Fox (Canis cerdo, Gmel.); the Markhor

(Capra falconeri, Hiigel), and a flying-squirrel from Burma, named Sciuropterus phayrei,

Blyth, which Dr, Blandford, in his work on Mammalia, in the Fauna of British India series,

page 367, has identified with Sciwropterus sargitta.

+ The undermentioned birds, though at one time exhibited in the collection, have been,

most probably through oversight, omitted from this work: Yellow Troupial (Xanthosomus

Aavus, Gmel,); the Himalayan Jay (Garrulus bispecularis) ; the Neck-lace throated Laughing-

thrush (Garrulaz moniliger) ; Pelecanus onocrotalus, Linn ; the Bahama Duck (Dajila baha-

mensis, Linn,) ; the Prionitwrus setarius of Celebes ; the Greater Bird of Paradise (Paradisea

apoda, Linn.); the Long-tailed Glossy Starling of West Africa (Lamprotornis aéneus, Linn.);

the Variegated Sheldrake of New Zealand (Tadorna variegata); the Little Brown Owl of Java

(Scops lemipiji), and the Carpophaga chalybura, Bp, of the Phillipine Islands,

973 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

NOTES ON INDIAN APHIDKS.*

By G. B. BUCKTON, F.R.S.

Bur little attention hitherto has been given to the tropical Aphides

of the old world. Any addition to our knowledge of the species which in-

habit British India doubtless will prove of interest, both as being connected

with scientific entomology and with agricultural economy.

Hitherto these Homoptera have been regarded as chiefly inhabiting the

temperate regions of the world, but there are reasons for believing that observ-

ation only is needed to prove the existence of diverse species which control

the vegetation which flourishes under the equator.

The Aplus which attacks the bamboo (Bambusa arundinacea) of Dehra Dun

hardly accords with any described European species or even genus, Amongst

many hundred specimens sent to me by Mr. Cotes, I was unable to find a single

winged individual—a circumstance which, for the present, prevents a complete

diagnosis of the species, since the wing venation is of high importance for

classical grouping. The characters of the bamboo Aphis, however, are

sufficiently distinct to justify,in my opinion, the erection of a new genus,

notwithstanding that the diagnosis at present can refer only to the apterous

viviparous female.

Genus Oregma (from ’opéyeiv to protrude), Buckton, Body globose. Vertex

conspicuous from the projection of two straight horn-like processes. Corni-

cles small and conical. Cauda inconspicuous, often tufted with numerous

sete. Rostrum exceedingly short and rising from between the first coxe.

Oregama bambuse, Buckton. Body globose, less soin the immature forms.

Corrugated and constricted into segments. Vertex with two cornua. Eyes

very small. Notum narrow. Rostrum very difficult to see, rising from the

underside of the thorax, much asin Coccus. Antenne about half the length

of the body, obscurely five-jointed and ending with a nail-like process as in

Lachnus. Legs short. Tarsi with two articulations. Colour greenish-brown,

more or less mottled with black. Many of the specimens preserved in weak

spirit were quite black.

Size 0°070 x 0-050 inch.

Clusters on the upper surfaces of the bamboo at Dehra covering the foliage

of the plants with its sooty-black excretion, thereby doing some injury.

The winged female and the (apterous ?) male are undescribed.

The general appearance of this insect may suggest some affinities both with

the genus Lachnus and the genus Chaztophorus ; but the small size of the

insect, the short legs, the peculiar front, and the position of the very short

rostrum will eliminate it from the first genus, whilst the non-tuberculose and

slightly hirsute characters of the abdomen, &c,, will separate it from the

latter.

* Reprinted from Indian Museum Notes with the permission of the Trustees.

THE LOCUST INVASION OF 1889—992.*

By E, ©. Cores.

In the early part of 1891 a report was issued on the subject of the migratory

locust, Acridium peregrinum, Oliv., which has recently

invaded India.t This report gave a Summary of the

information obtained up to the beginning of December, 1890. The notessince

collected on the subject of the invasion of Northern Africa, Persia, and

Turkish Arabia by the same insect appeared in Vol. III., No. 1, of these Notes,

where details are also given of what has been ascertained on the subject of

the parasites and natural enemies which attack it in India, In the present

report it is proposed to give a short sketch of the general features of the

invasion in India, together with such fresh information as has been obtained

on the subject of the habits of the insect and the methods adopted for deal-

ing with it,

The locusts were first noticed in June, 1889, when flights were reported

from Sind and Western Rajputana. These flights,

ae ofthe invasion no doubt, originated in the sand-hills of the desert,

where the insect is said to breed each year in larger

or smaller numbers. They began laying their eggs as usual in J une, when

the rains of the south-west monsoon broke. During the remainder of the

rainy season of 1889 the flights gradually spread throughout Eastern Rajpu-

tana, the Punjab, and Sind, egg-laying going on at intervals in various parts

of Rajputana and the Punjab. The young locusts, which were born from the

eggs laid in the beginning of the rains, acquired wings towards the latter part

of August. In the beginning of the cold weather, owing to the extensive

breeding which had taken place, the locusts seem to have become very numer-

ous in Rajputana and the Punjab, and in November and December flights

from these areas found their way throughout the North-West Provinces and

Central India, and penetrated even as far as the Vizagapatam, Kistna, and

Godavari Districts in the Madras Presidency. They were also reported from

British Baluchistan. During January and February, 1890, stray flights were

reported from various parts of India, but the cold seems to have told upon

them, and they were not very active. As the hot weather of 1890 approached,

however, and the soil, moistened by the winter rain, began to grow warm, the

locusts again became active and commenced egg-laying. Eggs were laid

throughout the north-western districts of the Punjab in March ; also in the

Shikarpur District of Sind in April. By June the young locusts hatched from

these eggs had acquired wings, and the flights spread in all directions, They

penetrated throughout the whole of the North-West Provinces, besides over-

* Reprinted from Indian Musewm Notes with the permission of the Trustees.

+ See Journal, Bombay Natural History Society, Vol. VI. » page 242,

Contents,

275 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

running Sind and Rajputana, and making their way into Kathiawar. Eggs

were laid towards the latter part of June, 1890, when the rains had well started,

throughout the whole of Western Rajputana and in the Gurgaon District of

the Punjab. The young locusts hatched out in countless numbers in July,

and in the case of Western Rajputana they were reported as doing much

damage in August. During August and September the flights that were still

wandering about laid more eggs in parts of the Punjab, About September

the young locusts that had been born in the beginning of the rains seem to

have acquired wings, and from September on through the cold weather of

1890-91 the flights spread in all directions in the most remarkable manner.

They made their way throughout Sind, the Punjab, and the North-West Pro-

vinces. ‘Vast flights also moved through Central India into the Central Pro-

vinces, and thence eastwards into Bengal and Assam, southwards through Berar

and Hyderabad into the Madras Presidency, and westwards into the Bombay

Deccan. The flights did a good deal of injury in the restricted areas where

they settled, but the people were so industrious in driving them off their crops

and the birds destroyed such large numbers that the damage inflicted was

small considering the vastness of the invasion. Through December, January,

and February flights were still reported from all parts of India, but the cold

and damp, combined with the relentless persecution of the birds and the people,

had thinned their numbers and reduced them to so miserable a state that they

were able to do little or no damage.

In March, 1891, some of the locusts obtained from the flight which passed

over Calcutta in November, 1890, began to lay eggs in their cages in the Indian

Museum, About the same time, owing, no doubt, to the increasing warmth

at the close of the winter rains, the flights in the Punjab became more’ active,

and egg-laying took place at first in the north-west of the Punjab and Sind

and afterwards in Baluchistan. In May the young locusts hatched from these

eggs became extremely numerous in the Punjab.

The rabi crops were generally too far advanced in growth to be much

damaged by them, but the extra rabi and the early sown kharif crops—especi-

ally cotton—suffered severely. The grass in some tracts was completely eaten

down, and almost every bush and tree was stripped of its leaves. Some idea

may be formed of the numbers in which the insects appeared from the fact

that railway trains were said to have often found it difficult to proceed, owing

to the rails being made slippery by the crushed bodies of the young locusts.

A regular warfare was waged against the insects, under the leadership of the

district officials, who organized the people for the purpose of collecting the eggs

and destroying the young locusts systematically. The military also rendered

useful service in destroying the swarms that invaded cantonments.

The method that was most generally adopted was that of driving the young

locusts into trenches, but the Cyprus screens described in the previous report

. the insects.

LOCUSTS. 276

were also used to a small extent, and useful work was done by driving the

young into heaps of straw and bushes which were then set on fire, In this

way many thousands of maunds of young locusts were destroyed, and the

actual crops were in many places protected. The numbers of the locusts,

however, that bred in waste places in the Punjab was so enormous that success

was only partial, and vast hordes became full grown and acquired wings,

Towards the latter part of May large flights of these young locusts began to

pass over Central India and the North-West Provinces into the Central Pro-

vinces and Bengal, at the same time penetrating into Kathiawar, During the

months of June, July,and August these flights seem to have flown about from

district to district, descending at intervals to devour the young kharif crops

and doing a good deal of damage over restricted areas, especially in Bengal.

They did not lay any eggs, however, and little was heard of them after

August, the supposition being that by this time they had been pretty com-

pletely destroyed by the birds and unfavourable climatic condition of the

damp regions into which they had penetrated.

The immediate result of the departure of these flights seems to have been

to clear the Punjab of locusts, but the insect was still prevalent in Sind and

Rajputana, and soon after the commencement of the rains of the south-west

monsoon flights began to be again reported from the Punjab. During the

rainy season of 1891 egg-laying went on as usual in Sind and Rajputana, while

in the Punjab eggs were reported in comparatively small numbers, at first from

the south-eastern districts and afterwards throughout the whole area, thus

pointing to the supposition that the eggs were laid by flights from Rajputana.

Breeding seems to have gone on at intervals throughout the rainy season of

1891, young locusts being still reported in the Punjab Salt Range in November,

But they were very much fewer than before, and the birds—especially the

Rosy-pastor (Pastor roseus)—destroyed them in vast numbers, The locusts

themselves also were so much parasitised and diseased that the work of the

people in destroying them was very much lightened, and by the close of the

year the pest seems to have been pretty completely wiped out.

In March, 1892, a fewlocustsagain appeared in Sind and the western frontier

of the Punjab and laid eggs in Dera Ismail Khan, while in May some stray

flights penetrated into the North-West Provinces and Bengal. Little damage,

however, has been reported, and the insects seem to have been too few to

cause any anxiety.

Tt will be remembered that the only important points in the life history

of the insect on which any serious doubts were indi-

cated in the previous report were upon the subject of

the number of generation in the year and the relation-

ship borne by the young locusts which hatch out in the spring to those which

hatch out in the autumn, An attempt bas since been made to setile these

Notes on the life history of

277 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

points by rearing the insect upon a considerable scale in large cages which

were specially constructed for the purpose in the Indian Museum, The cages

were placed under somewhat different conditions of sunlight and moisture, but

in each case the insects, though reared from the egg to the imago stage without

difficulty, died off before any ovipositing took place.

Considerable quantities of eggs were received from Rawalpindi and Pesha-

war in the spring of 1891. The first sets dried up without hatching in spite

of the attempts that were made to keep them moist by watering the earth in

which they were placed (1). Eggs received in the end of March, however,

hatched out freely, though a large proportion are believed to have been

destroyed by the parasitic flies that also emerged in large numbers (*). These

young locusts were reared through all their stages without difficulty, though

there was considerably greater mortality amongst them than had been the case

with the ones that were reared in the Museum the previous year, and this in

spite of the fact that the rearing cages were larger than before, and were kept

some in the Museum and others in the open air, with a view to testing the

conditions most favourable to the development of the insect. The young

locusts acquired wings by the middle of May, but died off so rapidly that there

was hardly any of them left by the end of the month. It was not possible,

therefore, to make any observations as to the time at which they would lay

their eggs. .

On the 19th June, 1891, Captain C.G. Parsons wrote from Kohat that up to

a few days previously locusts had been obtainable in the western portion of

the district in every phase of development from eggs to fully-winged insects.

He concluded that the process of egg-hatching had continued from the beginning

of April until the beginning of June in tracts of country where the difference in

elevation caused only a slight change of climate. We have seen that the locusts

that were hatched from the earlier batches of eggs acquired wings in May,

but there is evidence to show that these young locusts were not the parents

of the eggs found by Captain Parsons in the middle of June,and probably not

of any of the eggs laid during the rains. The flights which overran the North-

West Provinces and other parts of India during the rains of 1891 were com-

posed, as we have seen, of the young locusts in question. Large numbers of speci-

mens from these flights were sent to the Museum from various places, but the

numerous females that were dissected invariably had their ovaries far too un-

developed for egg-laying, It is clear, therefore, that these young locusts could

not have been the parents of the later broods of eggs. The case of the locusts

sent to the Museum from flights which visited Singbhoom in the end of June

(:) This would seem to indicate that breaking up the land to expose the eggs to the air

would be useful, provided it were done soon after the eggs were laid. Later on ploughing up

the land becomes almost useless as the eggs hatch out whether exposed to the air or not.

(?) Noticed more fully in No. I. of this volume, pages 84 and 35.

LOCUSTS. 278

and beginning of July has been recorded as a typical one. The first specimens

from this district were received in the Museum on the 30th June. The

females were found on dissection to have their ovaries in an altogether rudi-

mentary condition. On 7th July a number of living specimens were forwarded

from the same locality. These were carefully fed ina cage in the Museum,

and from time to time a specimen was dissected ; but up to the 7th of August,

when the last specimen died and was dissected, though the growth which had

taken place in the ova was very distinctly perceptible, yet there did not appear

to be the slightest probability of the insects being ready :to oviposit for a

long time to come, The impossibility of keeping the locusts in a healthy con-

dition in confinement renders the deductions drawn from caged specimens

necessarily unreliable. So far, however, as the evidence can be depended

upon, it goes to show that the later broods are not the offspring of the young

locusts hatched in the early part of the year. The question would be an easy

one to solve for any one who lived on the borders of the deserts of Western

Rajputana, where the insect is constantly to be found. All that would be

necessary would be to dissect the insects present from day to day, and to trace

the growth of the ovaries throughout the year. It may be suggested that the

matter is one that might reasonably be taken up by some of the medical

officers who are resident in the areas concerned.

With regard to the parentage of the eggs which are so often laid in the

Punjab towards the close of the winter rains, it has been ascertained that eggs

can be laid at this time by locusts which were themselves hatched in the pre-

ceding rains. Winged locusts from a flight which passed over Calcutta in

November, 1890, and which had almost certainly originated in eggs laid in

Rajputana in the previous rains, were kept in a cage in the Museum and

regularly fed. In the latter part of March, 1891, they began copulating, and

on the 26th March a number of eggs were laid. The earth in the cage had

been previously saturated with water, in imitation of the conditions that have

been shown to be favourable to egg-laying ; but the insects seemed to be too

sickly to dig holes in the ground and simply deposited them on the surface.

Some of the locusts lived on after laying their eggs through a great part of

April ; but by the 4th of May they were all found to have died, while the eggs

they had laid dried up and came to nothing. Very much the same experience

is detailed by Colonel Powlett, Resident, Western Rajputana States, who

writes in a report, dated 24th April, 1891, received from the Agent to the Goy-

ernor-General, Rajputana, through the Government of India :—

“* At and about Jodhpore most of the young brood of locusts appeared early in August,

When this brood got wings in September, I caught some hundreds and put them in cages

and had them regularly fed ; they died off, and by February there were less than twenty

left, but two pairs of these were observed to copulate. On the 24th and 25th February two

females laid eggs. They were not healthy masses of eggs, and the females did not succeed

in depositing them under the soil placed in the cages, nor have they hatched. But it is

279 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

evidently difficult to keep locusts healthy in cages, and the oviposits being poor is not

wondered at. It would appear, however, to be proved that the common locusts of Northern

India can copulate and lay eggs six or seven months after birth, and that in all probability

the eggs lately laid in the Punjab were those of insects hatched last August. The locusts

which copulated round Jodhpore last July were of a bright yellow ; the survivors of their

offspring, which were pink when put into the cages in September, were in February a dirty

purple colour, and to the best of my recollection that was the colour of the locusts the eggs

of which many years ago I helped to destroy during the month of March in the Punjab.”

The habitual disappearance of locusts throughout the greater portion of the

winter months in North-Western India is explained by the fact that they

require little or no food during this period, and probably hybernate in a dor-

mant condition. On 28th February, 1891, Mr. J. Cleghorn wrote that locusts

had been hybernating without food in a cage kept in his house in Peshin,

Baluchistan, since the 15th September, 1890, though he had found that similar

insects in the summer required to be fed constantly to keep them alive.

There is little to add to what has already been recorded upon the subject

of the methods adopted in fighting the locusts, but it

may be useful to notice what was actually done during

the year 1891 in carrying on the campaign in

different districts. The reports which have been received upon this subject

Measures adopted against

the locusts.

are very fragmentary, but the measures they describe are probably typical of

what went on over the greater portion of the areas invaded. (*)

Tn the cold weather of 1890-91 numbers of the winged locusts which swarmed

into the Rawalpindi District were killed in the early mornings, when they

were numb with cold, by the people; and as the spring of 1891 advanced, a

regular campaign was organized thfoughout the Punjab by the district officials

for the destruction of the young locusts,

In Dera Ismail Khan, a naib-tahsildar and kanungo, with six or seven chapra-

sis under them, were put in charge of each tappa, and lambardars and zilladars

were warned to render every assistance in their power. Five hundred rupees

were spent in rewards. The wells and water-courses were kept clean to avert

epidemic disease, but the people were very apathetic, and little impression

was made on the vast swarms which crowded into the district,

In Rawalpindi the district was divided into circles with an officer in charge

of each, whose main duty it was to look after the destruction of the locusts and

their eggs. All tahsil officials were employed in the work of destruction, and a

thousand rupees were spent from district funds. Millions of eggs and young

locusts were destroyed, but the impression made was small, as the insects laid

their eggs largely in the extensive and sparsely peopled Kala Chitta Range,

where it was most difficult to get at them,

(*) The following notices are mostly taken from a report by the Director of Land Records

and Agriculture, Punjab, supplemented by the information collected from crop and other

reports sent to the Museum.

LOCUSTS. 280

In Hazara some four hundred maunds of young locusts were destroyed in

April in the Mansahra Tahsil under the direction of the tahsildar,

In Peshawar the villagers were turned out at once whenever young locusts

showed themselves, and by the 20th April some ten thousand people were at

work. When the rabi harvest began the villagers were dismissed, and five

thousand hired labourers were employed until about the 3rd of May, when the

barley was half reaped and the ears of wheat were too hard to be attacked by

the young locusts. At a low estimate, over eighty millions of young locusts

were destroyed, the cost being about eight thousand rupees, The myriads of

locusts, however, which poured into the district from independent territory

made it impossible to deal at all completely with the invasion.

In Kohat orders were issued to turn out the people when the locusts

hatched, and the greatest exertions were made to deal with the pest. In the

Kohat station itself, Captain Parsons wrote that the chief invasion lasted

about ten days. During this time vast numbers of locusts were destroyed

each day, the quantity amounting on one occasion to six hundred maunds,

One rupee was paid for each maund weighed. Nearly all the undetained

inhabitants of the city laboured, and the troops and the boys of the large High

School assisted. The collection of the insects was very simple, as they could

be shaken off the trees by thousands into sheets held below. Four men could

collect a maund ina very short time. There were ten weighing stations

established, and the district funds were freely drawn upon. According toa

crop report published in June, 1891, numbers of young locusts in the Hangu

Tahsil of Kohat were also destroyed by firing the dwarf palms through which

they were crawling, while in the Barak ilaqua the destruction is noticed in the

same report of some three thousand maunds of young locusts,

In Jhelum the destruction of eggs began early in March. From five

hundred to six hundred maunds of eggs were destroyed in one tahsil. At first

one anna, and later half-an-anna,a seer was paid for the egos, while gur and

atta were distributed to the people engaged in destroying the young locusts,

Some Rs. 3,000 was noticed as spent from district funds in the early part of

the spring upon the.destruction of eggs and young locusts. But the Deputy

Commissioner states that the people were inclined to be apathetic, as, from the

dimensions of the plague, it seemed hopeless to cope with it,

In Shahpur the naib-tahsildar of Khushab was put in special charge, and

large numbers of young locusts were destroyed, though little real impression

was made upon the pest.

In Gujranwalla in March many of the winged locusts were killed in the

mornings and evenings when they were inactive, Every patwari, lambardar,

and policeman was made responsible for reporting at the tahsil whenever egos

were laid or young appeared. Land in which egos had been deposited, if not

under crop, was ploughed three or four times so as to expose them, Hggs

281 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Voi. VIT1.

also were collected in great numbers, the usual plan being to make each house

in a village furnish daily a “ tind” or well-pot full of eggs.

In Sialkot bands of villagers were organised to kill the young locusts. The

methods adopted were, driving them into trenches and burying them, and

surrounding them with a circle of men armed with branches, who gradually

drove them into straw which was then burnt.

An interesting account is given by Colonel Lance, the Officer Commanding

at Ferozepur, of the methods adopted in fighting the young locusts which in-

vaded that cantonment in May, 1891. Both British and native troops were

employed in the work, and Colonel Lance writes :—

‘“‘ Hach corps and detachment was given certain limits within which it was to work and to

do its best to destroy any swarms that came within them; corps, however, were employed

at other places that were heavily threatened, as required.

“ With the exception of one heavy swarm that came on the 17th Bengal Cavalry lines, the

swarms came on the south-west corner of the station, and on the south-east and north-east

as far as the cemetery, near the Sudder Bazar. Inthe Commissariat Transport lines they

were in countless numbers, and for days it seemed as if they would succeed in getting into

the station from that direction.

“The method principally adopted to destroy the locusts was by burning them with

dry grass. When swarming in trees or bushes this seems to be the only effective method.

When in open ground it is easy to drive them to lines or clumps of dry grass in which they

swarm, and which is lighted when the whole swarm has collected. The objection to this

method, however, is the enormous expenditure of grass, even when used economically

as was done when the men became experienced in the work. Large quantities of grass were

bought, but the Executive Engineer placed at my disposal a large quantity of old thatch

without which it would have been impossible to have,provided the quantity of grass required.

Kerosine was tried with the grass. It was used chiefly to burn the locusts out of trees

and bushes, but it was found after trial that in most cases the grass was nearly as effective

without kerosine, a great deal of which was required to produce any result,

“Tt was found that grass could be much economised by digging a small trench about

a foot deep and a foot wide, filling the bottom with a little grass and laying the same lightly

on the earth thrown upon the side opposite to that towards which the locusts were being

driven. A little more grass sprinkled round the trench after the swarm had been driven

into it, and set fire to, effectively secured the destruction of the swarm with but little

expenditure of grass.

“Pits were also dug into which the locusts were driven and then buried. This plan

is said to answer well when the insects are small, but when, as in the present case, they

are large and active, it is found that they could not be kept in the pits unless they were

dug very deep, and even then many succeeded in getting away.

“Thad the opportunity of trying the method said to have been used with great success

in Cyprus. Low canvas screens were made from condemned tents supplied from the arsenal ;

and strips of American cloth, over which the locusts cannot crawl, were sewn to their upper

edge. In front of these screens, which were set up in the path of the locusts, pits were dug,

round which an edging of tin was placed, up which the locusts could not crawl. Driven

against these screens the locusts either hopped into the pit themselves or were driven

in by men, who eventually surrounded them. 'The advantages of this plan are the extent

of ground that is covered, the comparatively few men that are required, and the completeness

IRIDESCENT COLOURS. 282

of the operation, as if the screens are sound and the drive conducted with skill and patience

scarcely any locusts can escape being driven into the pits, The tin rim obviates the necessity

of the pits being dug deep, 2 or at more 3 feet being sufficient. The rims used were 4 feet by

2 feet, an edging of 24 inches of tin on the ground surface round the pit, and the same width

on the inside edge of it.

“T recret that [knew of this plan too late to provide sufficient screens for general use}

I believe that this system will be found most efficacious, and feel confident that had we been

prepared with this apparatus, the work of destruction would have been carried on with less

trouble and with better results.”

In Jhang, according to a crop report issued in June, 1891, twenty thousand

maunds of locusts had up to that time been destroyed.

The above comprises all detailed information which has reached the Museum

on the subject of what was done in the Punjab in the Spring of 1891, but

numerous incidental notices have been received of the work of destruction

which seems to have gone on systematically in all districts where young

locusts hatched out.

With regard to what was done in Sind and Rajputana, where egg-laying

also went on, little fresh information has been obtained, but the people seem,

as usual, to have done what they could in the way of destroying the young

locusts by driving them into trenches.

In the case of the measures taken in districts that were only visited by

flights, no fresh information has been received, but the system which has proved

so successful of driving the insects off the crops is believed to have been

universally adopted by the cultivators.

Ki. C. Cores,

Deputy Superintendent,

Indian Museum, Calcutta.

Sth June, 1892.

ON IRIDESCENT COLOURS AND A METHOD OF EXAMINING

IRIDESCENT OBJECTS, BIRDS, INSECTS, MINERALS, &c., SO

AS TO ENSURE UNIFORMITY IN THEIR DESCRIPTION.

By ALEx. HODGKINSON, M.B., B.SC.”

ON taking a general survey of coloured objects, whether natural or artificial,

we become aware of the fact that whilst the colours of some remain unchanged

as regards tint, whatever their position in relation to the incident light, the

tint of others varies with every alteration in their relationship to such light

source. We thus see that, so far as their colours are concerned, all bodies may

be arranged in two groups according as their colours change or do not change

in tint as their angular relationship to the light varies, Nor is this classifica-

tion entirely an artificial one, since, as will shortly be seen, though this change

* This Paper appeared originally in the Memoirs and Proceedings of the’ Manchester

Literary and Philosophical Society, Vol. V, Part IT, ;

283 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIII.

in tint with variation in the light source is an essential difference, it is not the

only difference, even in the colour manifestations of the two groups, for it is

also characteristic of the nature of the colour-producing structure. It is to

the above-mentioned varying colours that we apply the term “ iridescent,” from

the resemblance they have in the sequence or play of colours to the tints of

the rainbow. The unvarying group of colours, having no equivalent term to

“ iridescence” to express the nature of their colour production, are spoken of

as “pigmentary,” or absorption colours. In naming examples of objects,

natural and artificial, grouped as above in accordance with the nature of their

colours, it is difficult to make a selection where all are so varied and charac-

teristic. I have preferred, therefore, to cite only such instances as I myself

possess, and am, therefore, able to show you. As examples of pigmentary

colours, I need only name one or two for the sake of comparison, since the

eolours of most objects ordinarily met with are pigmentary. Leaves, flowers,

dyes, birds, fish, insects, minerals, &c., exhibit these colours, some almost

entirely, and all, excepting fish, in far the majority of instances. Of objects

displaying iridescent colours we have also examples in the various divisions of

the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. Amongst birds the most striking

examples are found amongst the Humming Birds, Sun Birds, Birds of Para-

dise, &c. Insects, again, furnish numerous examples, more especially

amongst tropical species, though not, perhaps, proportionally in greater

numbers than amongst those belonging to our own more temperate regions.

The colours of fish are almost entirely iridescent, since their very whiteness, or

silvery sheen, is due to the admixture of the iridescent colours of innumerable

minute thin lamelle, too small to be seen individually with the naked eye, but

plainly perceptible under the microscope. In the vegetable kingdom irides-

cent colours are far more numerous than is ordinarily recognized, since the

surfaces of the cell-walls produce interference colours which are more or less

obscured by the pigmentary colours of leaves and coloured flowers, but may

be readily seen in the case of white flowers by the aid of a lens and sunlight.

Under these conditions each cell may be seen to sparkle with its own iridescent

colour, forming, by admixture of the interference tints of neighbouring cells,

the varying shades of white seen in numerous flowers which are devoid of

pigmentary colour, Mineral bodies displaying iridescent colours are also

numerous ; opals, sunstone, fire-marble, felspar, mica films, tarnish on various

metallic crystals, certain crystals of chlorate of potash, &c., are examples.

In describing the various natural objects for purposes of identification, or

mere description, no account can be considered complete which omits all re-

ference to their colours, and more especially is this the case where the colours

constitute such a striking feature, asin the case of iridescent bodies. In in-

numerable instances, more especially amongst birds and insects, their specific

names are taken from some conspicuous colour they possess. It thus becomes

evident that a correct description of the colours of bodies is of importance,

IRIDESCENT COLOURS. 284

and where these colours are of the pigmentary or unchanging kind, this is a

matter of no difficulty. How different, however, in the case of objects, the

colours of which not only vary with every change of position, but disappear

altogether, unless viewed with special relation to the light source, Nor can

it be wondered at that descriptions of these objects, even by observers of

undoubted repute, vary according to the different angles from which they

have been viewed, or are vague and profuse, owing to fruitless attempts to

describe their changing tints produced by every movement, The fact is, no

words can convey an adequate impression of the gorgeous effects produced by

most of such objects, whether birds, insects, or fish, when in motion in bril-

liant sunshine. Some notion of the difficulties to contend with in describing

the colours of humming birds, for example, may be gathered from the

remarks of Wallace in his work on “ Tropical Nature,” when speaking of

humming birds :—“ In some species they must be looked at from above, in

others from below ; in some from the front, in others from behind, in order to

catch the full glow of the metallic lustre ; hence, when the birds are seen in

their native haunts, the colours come and go and change with their motion, so

as to produce a startling and beautiful effect.” Most observers, in describing

the colours of iridescent bodies, do so by attempting to depict the varied

effects produced by casually changing the position of the object in relation to

the light, omitting to mention the exact sequence of the play of colours, or the

relation of these colours to the direction of the iridescent light, i.e., whethe

produced by perpendicular or oblique illumination, Here is a description of

the tufted neck humming bird, Zrochilus ornatus, taken haphazard from a

well-known work :—‘‘ The throat is of a fine green colour, variable in differ-

ent lights to a golden hue with a yellow or brown metallic lustre, and below

that the whole of the belly is a rich brown, glossed with green, and golden.”

Such descriptions as the above, which happen to be the first I met with in

seeking for an instance, are vague, and fail to give a definite idea of the

appearance of the object. But vagueness in the description of these objects

is not the only result of the changing character of their colours, As might be

expected, where such variation in appearance exists, the descriptions of differ-

ent authors are almost as variable as the colours, Few attempt descriptions

without acknowledging the hopelessness of the task, Thus J ardine, after

describing this humming bird, Chryslampis mosquitus, remarks : “It ig impos-

sible to convey by words the idea of these tints, and having mentioned those

substances to which they approach nearest, imagination must be left to con-

ceive the rest,” And I adduce this quotation as fairly expressing the feeling

of naturalists in reference to the description of iridescent objects general-

ly. Recognizing the admitted inability of observers to convey by description

an idea of the appearance of these iridescent objects, and having myself, for

many years, constantly experienced the same difficulty, I have been led to

adopt a method for the examination of such objects, which, whilst extremely

285 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIit.

simple and available in its application, yields unvarying results with different

observers—results, moreover, which admit of the simplest description.

Before describing this method, I may say that long experience in the

examination of iridescent objects has proved to me that, almost without

exception, the colours of natural iridescent objects are due to interference

produced by thin plates. In order, therefore, to render clear the principles

on which the method I propose is founded, I will briefly refer to certain

fundamental facts in connection with colour production by thin plates, and

for this purpose will select a thin film of mica, which, with light at

perpendicular incidence, appears red, iridescent red. If, now, this plate be

inclined so that the light falls on it at a more oblique angle, it is, of course,

reflected atthe same angle, and now appears orange, and if the plate be still

further inclined, the reflected light appears yellow, then yellowish-green,

green, and bluish-green ; and if the light were not too copiously reflected from

the first surface to allow of perceptible interference by further inclination of

the plate, all the colours of the spectrum in their proper sequence might be

observed. The same results, but much more vividly, may be seen in these

erystals of chlorate of potash. Thus we see that by rendering the incident

light more and more oblique, the reflected light changes from a lower toa

higher tint, that is, from the red towards the violet end of the spectrum, And

this is what occurs in the case of all iridescent bodies ; as the incident light

becomes more oblique, the colour changes to the tint above it in the spectral

order, so that, if we know what colour any such object appears when seen ata

certain angle, we can infer what colour it will change to on varying the

incidence. This beetle (Sagra purpurea), for instance, is red at perpendicular

incidence ; it will, therefore, appear orange-yellow and green when examined

by successively increased obliquity of light. And the same is true of all other

iridescent red objects. If the object at perpendicular incidence be green, as

in the case of this beetle (Buprestis), it will become blue and then violet as the

incidence is increased. We thus see that an iridescent object varies in colour

simply because it is examined by light incident, and therefore reflected, at

different angles. Thus, different observers see the same iridescent object of a

different colour, when they view it illuminated by light at a different angle of

incidence. If, however, the object is seen by all at the same angle of the

incident light, it will present the same colour ; and this is, in fact, what the

method I propose ensures, #.¢., that iridescent objects shall always be seen by

light at one and the same angle of incidence. The angle I select is one of 90°,

so that the incidence and reflection are normal or perpendicular to the reflect-

ing surface. By selecting this angle, all trouble of measuring angles is

avoided, since we know that the incidence is perpendicular when it coincides

with reflection. Now the reflected light may be made to coincide with the

incident light by reflecting it on to the object by means of a mirror, and so

adjusting the object that the light reflected from it passes to the eye through

IRIDESCENT COLOURS. 286

a perforation in the mirror. When examined in this way, iridescent objects

are marvellously altered in appearance, their changing colours are replaced by

one fixed tint, visible only in one position—a fact which serves at once to dis-

tinguish them from bodies coloured by absorption, which remain coloured,

whatever the relation to the incident light. Such methods of examining bodies

scarcely takes more time than by the eye alone. The mirror may be attached

to a spectacle frame so as to leave both hands free, such as the one I show, or

may be a simple hand mirror, For objects too small to be seen by the un-

aided eye, I have so arranged the microscope that light is made to pass down

the tube of the instrument, through the object glass on to the objects, and by

a Special arrangement, so adjusted the position of the object that the light is

reflected back again through the instrument to the eye. The method is thus

available for macroscopic as well as microscopic objects.

To illustrate the practical value of this plan of examination, I have here

a few objects exhibiting iridescent colours, which, by trial, will be found to

give the following results :—

The crest of this humming bird, Chrysolampis mosquitus, which, to the

unaided eye, appears resplendent with all shades of red, orange, yellow, or

green, according to the angle of the incidence light, appears, when examined by

the mirror, of one unvarying red tint, disappearing when the object is moved,

but absolutely unchanging in tint. Such an object, therefore, I should

describe as “iridescent red,” all else regarding its colour may be inferred.

Again, the breast, or gorget, of the same bird reflects all shades of orange,

yellow, or green to the eye alone ; with the mirror it is seen of a deep orange,

which, as before, is unchanged in tints by any variation in position. Such an

object I would describe as “ iridescent orange.’ The gorget of another

humming bird, Calliphlox amethystina, to the eye alone, appears crimson, orange,

yellow, or green ; with the mirror it is iridescent crimson only, spectroscopically

a red of the 2nd order. Amongst insects, instances of iridescent species are

numberless, the results of examination are just the same as in other iridescent

bodies. ‘This butterfly, Morpho, to the eye alone appears either greenish-blue,

blue, or violet, as its inclination to the light varies ; examined with the

mirror it appears green, and should be described as iridescent green, or iride-

scent bluish-green. This beetle, Poropleura bacca, appears any shade of red,

yellow, or green to the eye alone ; with the mirror only iridescent red, In

this extraordinary beetle, Chrysochroa fulminans, we have all the colours of

the spectrum in their natural sequence, beginning with red at the tip of the

wing case, and ending with violet higher up the elytron, These colours

vary in an indescribable manner when attentively examined at different angles

of incident light with the eye alone ; with the mirror the wing cases are seen

to be coloured successively from base to tip iridescent green, yellow, orange,

and red, and these tints remain unaltered by change of position of the object.

This piece of Haliotis shell exhibits indescribable changes of colour with every

287 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

movement, but the difficulty of description, though by no means removed, is

immeasurably lessened by the use of the mirror. And the same with this

specimen of iridescent iron ore ; its colours, which vary to the unaided eye,

remain unchanged when examined by the mirror, To simplify the description

of iridescent objects, therefore, I would advocate the above method, and

would describe the result of such examination by recording the colour

observed by aid of the mirror, and prefixing the term “ iridescent” to express

the changing properties of the colour. Bearing in mind the unvarying nature

of these changes, a far clearer idea may be formed of the appearance of these

objects than from any attempted description of what is admittedly mdescrib-

able, Time and space are also economised by the omission of lengthy

descriptions. The accuracy, and therefore the value, of any description of

colour, is always enhanced by mapping its spectrum ; more especially is this

true in the case of iridescent colours. This is easily done, and by applying

such map to a spectral chart, the order of the colour, and therefore its tint, is

apparent. In examining many objects, chiefly birds or insects, by means of

the mirror as above described, apparent exceptions are repeatedly met with

to the fact stated above that the colour is invariable in tint and disappears by

inclination of the body. Such instances are no real exceptions, but are due to

the reflecting plates being curved, or having pigmentary matter beneath them,

or an opalescent medium above them. In this way some of the most extra-

ordinary and beautiful colour effects, it seems possible to conceive, are produced.

Some of them I hope to bring before your notice on a future occasion.

In examining objects with the perforated mirror a single light is necessary.

The sun is of course the best, and the electric light probably almost as good.

I frequently employ the lime-light, but a good paraffin lamp may be used as a

substitute. Ordinary gas is unsuitable. The light should be placed in front

of the observer, its direct rays being prevented from falling on the objects by

means of a book or partition of some kind resting on the table, and of such a

height that the light can be seen above it. On placing the mirror to the eye

the light may be reflected from the mirror on to the object, and the latter

manipulated so as to reflect the ray back through the perforation in the mirror

to the eye, The incidence is thus known to be normal, and the colour

observed is the one to be recorded.

NOTES ON THE HABITS OF SOME LIVING SCORPIONS.

By R. I. Pocock,

THE literature which treats of the habits of living scorpions is not volu-

minous, but it labours under the disadvantages of being based largely upon

undetermined species, and of being often of questionable trustworthiness

with regard to the statements that are made, Even accounts that have been

given of late years of the same species of scorpion differ widely as to facts

SCORPIONS, 288

of no small importance. Mons, L. Becker, for instance, asserts that the senses

of hearing and seeing are highly developed in Prionurus australis, the

thick-tailed yellow scorpion of Algeria and Egypt ; Prof, Lankester, on the

contrary, declares exactly the opposite to be the case. Discrepancies such as

these and the deficiencies above mentioned show the need for fresh obser-

vations upon the subject, and no further excuse need be offered for publishing

the following notes upon the habits of some specimens of two Species of scor-

pions, Parabuthus capensis and Euscorpius carpathicus, which I was fortunate

enough to keep for some months in captivity.

For the specimens of Parabuthus I gladly take this opportunity of express-

ing my thanks to my friend, Mr. H. A. Spencer, of Cape Town, who kindly

collected them for me at Port Elizabeth while acting as medical officer on

board the Union Steam Ship Company’s S.S. “Mexican;” while for the Eyscor-

pius Iam indebted to the kindness of Dr, Gestro, of the Natural History

Museum at Genoa, This last genus of scorpion Prof, Lankester has also

written about ; many of my observations, therefore, merely confirm those of

this author. No description, however, has to my knowledge ever been

published upon the habits of any species of Parabuthus. This genus, how-

ever, belongs to the same family as Prionurus, and the behaviour of the two

in captivity seems to be very similar.

There is an abundance of evidence that scorpions are nocturnal, and mine

were no exception tothe rule. They would spend the daytime huddled

together in corners of their box or under pieces of wood ; at night they

would wander about, presumably in search of food. It was easy, however,

at any time during the day to rouse them from their sluggishness by applying

a little artificial warmth to the box. One end of the box containing the

Parabuthus was closed with a plate of perforated zinc. If this box was

placed in the fender at a distance of about a couple of feet from a moderate

fire, with the zinc end turned towards the grate, the scorpions would climh

upon the metal plate and baskin the warmth. But immediately the box

was brought near the bars of the grate they would all clamber or tumble from

their position with ludicrous haste. It must not be supposed, however, that

the amount of heat required to make them retreat was at all great. Asa

matter of fact warmth that I could without inconvenience bear for several

minutes upon my hand would throw these animals at once into a state of

the greatest consternation,

When walking both Parabuthus and Euscorpius carry the large pincers or

chelz well in advance of the head; these appendages thus fulfil the office of

antennz or feelers. In Parabuthus the body, however distended and heavy

with food, is raised high upon the legs exactly as Prof, Lankester has de-

seribed in Prionurus, and the tail is usually carried, curled in a vertical plane,

over the hinder part of the back. In Euscorpius, on the contrary, as has also

been pointed out by Prof, Lankester, the ventral surface of the body is

289 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIIT.

scarcely raised from the ground during progression, and the tail, which is

very slender and relatively much lighter than in Prionurus or Parabuthus

is dragged along, extended, and with aslight curl only at its hinder end.

This difference in the carriage of the tail depends possibly upon the differ-

ence in its size and weight. For it seems reasonable to suppose that the

heavy, robust tail of a Pwrabuthus or Prionurus is carried with less muscular

effort when curled over the back than when stretched out behind as is

Euscorpius.

When attempting to climb up the smooth sides of their box the Parabuthus

would raise themselves upon the extremity of the fifth segment of the tail, and

by keeping this organ perfectly rigid and in the same straight line as the body

they could maintain themselves ina nearly vertical position, thus reaching

considerably higher than if supported upon the hind legs alone.

The method of digging shallow pits or holes in sand, which Mons, Becker

and Prof. Lankester have described in the case of Prionurus, is also practised

by Parabuthus. Standing upon the first and fourth pairs of legs, and using

the tips of the chele and the end of the tail as additional props, with the

disengaged legs, a scorpion rapidly kicks the sand backwards between the

legs of the Jast pair, very muchasa rabbit or rat does when burrowing.

Then with the apparent intention of removing what would prove an obstacle

to its vision when crouching in the hole, it sweeps aside with its tail the heap

of sand that has been thrown up, until the area surrounding its lurking place

is tolerably level.

I never saw a Euscorpius digging in the sand. They were usually to be

found during the daytime under pieces of wood, to which they were nearly

always clinging belly uppermost. It is difficult to explain why this attitude

should be assumed. Many terricolous arthropods, however, have the same

habit, and I see no reason for thinking that in the case of Huscorpius it has

any connection with the copulation of these animals as Prof, Lankester

suggests.

All scorpions appear to be carnivorous, and there seems to be little doubt

that they live principally upon insects or other articulated animals. My

specimens of Euscorpius would eat blue-bottles and small flies, small cock-

roaches (E. germanicus), wood-lice, small spiders, and centipedes (Lithobius

and Geophilus). The Parabuthus were fed principally upon the common

house-cockroach and upon blue-bottles. Itis interesting to note in connec-

tion with this last fact that Prof. Lankester’s examples of Prionurus would

not eat this common cockroach, nor did they seem to care for blue-bottle

flies. This difference of instinct in the choice of food is remarkable, seeing

how similar these two scorpions are in other particulars, both of habit and

structure.

No one acquainted with the agility of a cockroach and the usual sluggish-

ness of a scorpion would think that the latter would often succeed in cap-

SCORPIONS. 290

turing the former. Yet in truth, when placed in the same box, the insect

seldom has a long lease of life, Its ultimate fate is always due to its ignorance

of the scorpion’s nature, and to the latter’s adroitness in seizing anything

that comes within reach. Wandering round the box, and exploring every

inch of its new quarters with its antennz, the cockroach soon discovers the

presence of the scorpion by touching it with the tips of these organs. The

scorpion’s sense of touch, however, is as delicate as the imsect’s, and the

latter’s antenne, or any part of it that happens to be near, is quickly seized

by the pincers of the scorpion, Should the latter be disinclined for food and

take no notice of the cockroachs first approach, the insect, continuing its

wanderings, will fearlessly creep over the scorpion, just as a rabbit will over

a python. Obviously this fearlessness must prove its destruction in the end,

if not immediately. By means of its agility and strength, a cockroach some-

times eludes the scorpion’s first clutch, and sometimes, but not often, breaks

away from the latter’s hold. Butit does not readily learn from its narrow

escape the advisability of giving its enemy a wide berth the next time they

meet.

Although usually trusting to their heels for escape, cockroaches occasion-

ally resort to a method of self-defence which is sufficiently curious to be

described. Advancing upon an adversary rear end foremost, and at the same

time wagging from side to side this region of the body, they deliver vigorous

backward kicks with their spinny hind-legs. ‘his novel and humiliating

mode of fighting, although not likely to prevail long against jaws and stings,

is sufficient, nevertheless, to gain sometimes for the insects a temporary

reprieve. I have indeed seen a fine female Madeira tarantula spider retreat

in discomfiture before a big cockroach of the same sex, which assaulted her

in the way described.

As soon as a cockroach is seized the use of thescorpion’s tail is seen; for

this organ is brought rapidly over the latter’s back, and the point of the

sting is thrust into the insect. The poison instilled into the wound thus

made, although not causing immediate death, has a paralysing effect upon

the muscles, and quickly deprives the insect of struggling powers, and con-

sequently of all chance of escape. If the insect, however, is a small one—one

in fact that can be easily held in the pincers and eaten without trouble while

alive—a scorpion does not always waste poison uponit. Thus I have seen a

Parabuthus seize a blue-bottle fly, transfer it straight to its mandibles, and

pick it to pieces with them when still kicking. Prof. Lankester only rarely

saw his scorpions feed. I was more fortunate and repeatedly watched the

operation, which is always performed exactly as this author has described.

An insect is literally picked to pieces by the small chelate mandibles, these

two jaws being thrust out and retracted alternately, first one and then the

other being used. The soft juices and tissues thus exposed are drawn into

291 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

the minute mouth by the sucking action of the stomach. It would seem,

however, that some hard chitinous pieces are also introduced into the alimen-

tary canal, for the entire exoskeleton of a cockroach is rarely, if ever, left

after the meal is finished.

Feeding is a slow process ; a good-sized cockroach will last a Parabuthus for

upwards of two hours or more. But although voracious eaters when the

chance presents itself, they are able to endure with impunity starvation of

several weeks’ duration. Unlike spiders, which are notoriously thirsty crea-

tures, scorpions never seem to need anything to drink. Atleast none of mine

were ever seen to touch water, although a supply of it was at first always kept

in their box.

With regard to the higher senses, the only one that seems to be highly deve-

loped is that of touch. Mons. lL. Becker declares that sight and hearing are

excessively developed ; but I cannot substantiate this statement in either

particular. With regard to hearing, my observations agree entirely with those

of Prof. Lankester, who could not detect the existence of any sense of this

nature. None of my scorpions ever gave the slightest response to any kind of

sound, although they were tried with tuning forks of varying tone and with

shouts of both high and low pitch. These animals, in fact, resemble the

hunting spiders in being apparently devoid of auditory organs. They further.

resemble them in the development of their visual powers, being able to see

a moving body, like a living cockroach, at a distance of only about three or

four inches, Even at a distance less than this they do not seem able to

distinguish form. Thus a specimen of Parabuthus, excited by the presence

of cockroaches in the box, was seen to rush at one of its fellows that crossed

its line of vision about two inches off, evidently not recognising by sight a

member of its own species, for directly the pincers came in contact with the

latter the mistake was discovered, the pugnacious attitude dropped, and no

further notice was taken. This last observation shows that more is learnt

from the sense of touch than from that of sight—an inference which is further

supported by the habit, above referred to, of carrying the pincers well in

front of the head as if to feel the way. There isno doubt that the external

organs of touch in scorpions are the hairs which thickly or sparingly cover

various parts of the body. The tail is often very thickly studded with sete,

and the poison vesicle always hassome uponit. Their use upon this latter

organ is very plainly seen during the act of stinging. For this act is not by

any means a random thrust delivered indiscriminately at any part of a cap-

tured insect, On the contrary, a scorpion generally feels carefully for a

soft spot, and then with an air of great deliberation delicately inserts its sting

into it. There can be little doubt that this care is taken that there may be

no risk of damaging the point of the sting against a substance too hard for it,

A reckless stab against the resisting chitinous exoskeleton of a beetle, for

instance, might easily chip this point, and thus deprive the scorpion of its

SCORPIONS. 292

most efficient weapon of attack and defence. The same care of this sting is

shown in the carriage of the tail, this organ being curled in sucha way that

the point cannot come into contact with any foreign bodies. Even when

teased with a piece of stick or irritated by being crawled upon by a cockcroach,

a scorpion is not often sufficiently provoked as to use the sting. The tail is

certainly used to knock aside the instrument or sweep off the insect, but the

sides or lower surface of the organ are employed, the vesicle being carefully

tucked down. Upon one occasion a Parabuthus was seen to killa cockroach

and retire to a corner to eat it in peace, beginning at the tail end. Presently

a smaller example of the same species coming along and finding the opposite

extremity of the insect disengaged, started feeding on its own account. So

quietly was the process carried on by the two, that not until nothing but a

few shreds remained did the larger discover the presence of its messmate.

Thereupon it quickly brought its tail into use, and by beating off its unwel-

come guest secured for itself the remains of the meal, But although the

provocation was great the defrauded one never attempted to use its sting to

punish the intruder.

In connection with the organs of touch, the pectine or ventral eons must

not be forgotten, Of the function of these appendages something is known,

though, no doubt, much remains to be learnt. Their situation near the gene-

rative aperture, their larger size in the males, and the modification of their

basal portion in the females of some species, e.g., Parabuthus, suggest that

they are tactile sexual organs of some importance, and Gaubert’s discovery

of the nervous terminations in the teeth is a satisfactory confirmation of this

supposition. But apart from sexual functions it is highly probable that they

are useful organs of touch in other relations of life, enabling their possessor

to learn the nature of the surface over which itis walking. In favour of

this view may be adduced the fact that these animals have been seen to touch

the ground with their combs. Moreover, it isa very noticeable circumstance

that scorpions which, like Huscorpius, creep along with their bellies close to

the ground, have very short combs ; while in others which, like Parabuthus,

stand high upon their legs, the combs are exceedingly long. I once noticed

a Parabuthus marching over a piece of a dead cockroach. When she had

half crossed it, instead of going straight ahead, as was expected, she halted

abruptly, backed a little, and, stooping down, started to devour the fragment.

From the height at which the body was being carried, Iam persuaded that

no portion of its lower surface, except the combs, could have come into

contact with the piece of food ; so there can be little doubt that its presence

was detected by means of the organs in question.

Creatures which, like snakes, are both carnivorous and venomous, and present

at the same time an appearance which is by no means reassuring, are always held

in bad repute by mankind in general, and suffer in accordance with the

principle laid down in the adage,“ Give adog a bad name and hang him,”

293 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

But amongst creatures of this description it is probable that scorpions qualify

for first place with respect to the number and enormity of the vices with

which they have been charged. Those that are most frequently alleged

against them are general ferocity, murder, cannibalism, infanticide, and

suicide, And yet, in spite of this serious charge-sheet, there isno doubt that

they are much-maligned animals. For in defence of the accusation of fero-

city I can say that I never saw a scorpion use its destructive weapons except

with the legitimate object of killing prey for purposes of nutrition, or asa

reasonable means of defence when molested. Naturally enough they will not

tolerate handling, but when allowed to crawl upon the hand they make no

attempt to sting it, and merely evince a desire to escape to surroundings more

natural and congenial than human skin. From the charges of cannibalism

and murder, however, these animals cannot be so easily cleared. For there is

an abundance of evidence that they do sometimes, when in captivity, both

kill and eat each other, Nevertheless, so far as my experience goes, members

of the same species do for the most part live together in perfect harmony.

Once only did I see a large Fuscorpius eating a small one. But since the

latter showed no signs of violence, there are no reasons for supposing that

it had died other than a natural death. Like many other animals, scorpions

may be made to fight by artificial means, and when roused to a high pitch of

excitement by too much heat, they will clutch and grab at each other with

the appearance of the greatest ferocity. But I never saw any evil result from

these tussels. The combatants always seemed to prefer to part company

without bloodshed.

As for the accusation of infanticide, it appears to be quite groundless. For

it is well known that a mother-scorpion protects her young by carrying them

about on her back until they are able to shift for themselves.

The question as to whether scorpions do or do not commit suicide by sting-

ing themselves to death, when placed in a circle of fire, or otherwise tortured

by that element, is one which has excited considerable amount of discussion.

The belief that they do do so, with the object of escaping from the pains of

burning, is of long standing, and probably has many adherents at the present

time. But the experiments of Mr. Bourne upon some Madras species have

shown (firstly) that the poison has no effect upon the scorpion that possesses

it, nor yet upona member of the same or of a closely allied species, and

(secondly) that these animals are easily and quickly killed by a moderately

warm temperature (50° C.). Moreover, when distressed by a too warm

atmosphere, or, according to Lankester, by chloroform vapour, these animals

have a habit of waving their tails in the air and of thrusting the sting for-

wards over the head, asif to punish some unseen enemy. And if the sun’s

rays be focussed with a lens upon the back of a scorpion, the animal imme-

diately brings its tail over,and attempts to remove with it the cause of

SCORPIONS. 294

irritation. So that the true account of at least some of the so-called cases of

suicide by scorpions seems to be this: the animals in reality have died from

the heat to which they were exposed, and the observers have erroneously

inferred that the thrusts of the tail were intended to putan end to the

animal’s sufferings. My own experiments are all in favour of this conclusion-

TL held a specimen of Ewscorpius in a corked test-tube over alow fire, As

soon as the air in the tube began to grow warm the animal, apparently in

great distress, struggled about the confined space for a few seconds, brandish-

ing its tail the while, then lapsed into insensibility. The glass of the tube

at this period was only slightly warm to my hand. Taken out of the tube and

placed near an open window, the animal quickly revived; hut it died the

third time the experiment was tried. On no occasion, however, did it attempt

to sting itself. I also experimented upon LEuscorpius and Parabuthus by

focussing the sun’s rays upon them, and by placing mustard upon the mem-

brane between the plates of the back. Both the species attempted to remove

the cause of irritation by scraping atthe burning spot with the sting of the

tail ; but they seemed particularly careful not to sting themselves,

There seems, however, to be sufficient evidence to prove that some scorpions

have been seen to sting themselves during the course of experiments of a

nature similar to those described above. One observer indeed mentions, in

the case of an Indian scorpion, that blood issued from the wound made by

the sting—a piece of corroborative detail which enhances the probability of

the accuracy of the observation. But itis @ priori improbable that the

scorpion has any intention of killing itself. It seems, however, not improbable

that a random blow meant for an unseen enemy might accidentally strike

and pierce the deliverer ; or that when the irritation is localised, asin the

cases of burning with a lens, acid, whisky,* or mustard, the scorpion, failing

to remove the substance by the ordinary means of scraping with the tail,

might thrust its sting into the spot affected, with the intention not of

killing itself, but of destroying the agent that is causing the pain, Or, indeed,

it is conceivable that the mental faculties are so deranged by torture and the

approach of death, that the scorpion does not recognise its own body by its

sense of touch, and stings it asit would sting any other object within reach

of its tail. Ifa blow inflicted in either of these ways were to pierce the brains

or were to seriously lacerate the great dorsal blood-vessel, it might, one can

Suppose, cause death of itself, independently of the burning,

So that if it be admitted that scorpions have sometimes killed themselves,

our verdict, it would seem, must be—accidental suicide, or suicide while of

unsound mind, (The above appeared in Nature, 1st June, 1893.)

* It is stated that in some parts of N. America scorpions sting themselves to death if a

drop or two of whisky be placed upon their backs; and that from this manifestation of their

dislike of alcohol, these animals are known to the natives as teetotallers,

295 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VII I

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.

No, 1—A DAY’S SPORT IN BERAR.

The following account of a day’s sport in Berar, some few years ago, when

game was more plentiful than it is now, may be of interest to some of the

readers of our Society’s Journal.

The writer’s duty, as a District Officer, led him one day to the neighbour-

hood of a deserted village—Dharur—situated on the banks of a mountain stream

which, coming down from the Satpurahs, sweeps the base of the hill on which

stands the fort of Naruallha, one of those forts taken in 1803 by Sir Arthur

Wellesley, subsequently Duke of Wellington, after he had defeated Scindiah

and the Bhansla at Assaye and Argaon and had captured Gawilghur. Dharur,

in fact, is only a few miles distant from the field of Argaon, and in the days I

am about to write of was just lovely in its solitude. Mixed jungle clothed

the small valley down which ran the stream on the banks of which the ruins

of the village stood, and for about 3 miles of its course both banks of this

stream were densely clothed with “Sendi,’ or the date palm, with here and

there small open patches of grass.

On the day of my arrival a “ kill” was reported by a herdsman who grazed

cattle in the vicinity. The marks on the ‘kill”—a large female buffalo—

indicated that one, if not two tigers had their home in the date palm. As it

was impossible for a single gun to command the jungle,a message sent in to

Ellichpur soon fetched out two friends— General (now Sir Harry) Lumsden

of Punjab Frontier fame, at the time commanding the Hyderabad Contin-

gent, and his Rrigade-Major, the late Colonel Hugh Watson. With them came

as escort officer Resaidar Beg Mahomed, a typical specimen of our splendid

irregular cavalry. After a careful reconnaissance, we selected a position on a

mound of earth at the foot of a big mohwa tree, which stood about the centre

of one of the larger aforesaid patches of grass in the centre of the Sendi-bund,

about two miles up stream. Here the General, Colonel Watson, Beg

Mahomed, and the writer stood shoulder to shoulder, with a servant behind

each carrying a spare rifle. Up the mohwa tree, in the shade of which we

gratefully stood, was posted a Shikari of Colonel Waitson’s as look-out. The

troopers of the escort were placed at intervals along either bank, outside the

denser jungle, as stops, falling in with the beat as it came along. The beat

itself, mainly composed of hill-men villagers, with a forest elephant in the

centre to give direction, formed line at the village, and, provided with tom-

toms, horns and rattles, started about noon. It was the 8th of March, and

the sun was tolerably hot. It seemed an age before anything showed up.

Presently, putting us on the qui vive, wellin advance of the approaching

beaters, came a hare or two; then some jungle cat; and finallv peafowl.

After all these had passed, there was another seemingly endless interval of

suspense—that interval during which, as all shikaris know, strung to the

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 296

highest pitch of expectancy and excitement, one hears and feels the beatings

of one’s own heart, just as a steamer quivers to the pulsations of its screw.

But the feeling passes away in a second, as the expected quarry comes into

view. In our case the view was five full-grown tigers “ mooning ” along close

together almost in line, unconscious that their way was barred by man.

“ Mooning ” is the only suitable expression, for they came along quite slowly,

heads down, with a bored expression of countenance, as if they felt the heat,

and thought the hustling of them by the beat behind most inconsiderate and

unkind,

When they first broke into view, about 30 to 35 yards separated us. It was

a beautiful and never-to-be-forgotten sight, but the position was in a way

critical, There was no time for counsel, but the General, without a moment’s

hesitation, whispered “ Take the big fellow,” expressing the necessity we each

had instinctively felt of concentrating, not scattering, our fire. “ Let them come

on” was Watson’s immediate reply. He probably felt that we required a

brief moment for selection. As a matter of fact, when the General spoke, the

tigers seemed much of a size, and it required some fineness of discrimination

to say on the spur of the moment which was the biggest. But the matter was

settled for us. Watson’s voice evidently reached foe as well as friend, for one

of the tigers stopped dead and looked up at us in a startled and surprised

fashion, Instinctively we all banged at her (her sex, of course, we only subse-

quently discovered), and then there was a sight for the gods. It is really

impossible accurately to describe, and it was all over in a second or two,

But as the sound of our rifles and the roar of the wounded tigress woke the

other four tigers up—so to speak—they just raised their heads, looked at us,

jumped on one side, and roared in concert. The untouched tigers were

evidently momentarily quite undecided what to do—whether to try and get

past us, or to face the din and row behind them, which had very appreciably

increased as the sound of our shots reached the beaters. While these tigers

were thus seemingly debating what to do, the female we had fired at made

a bound towards us as if to charge home ; but her heart failed her, and she

turned sharp to her left and to our right, making for the shelter of the jungle.

As she went across us, we gave her the contents of our second barrels, and she

fell out of sight into a small nallah. As she did so, the rest turned back in the

direction of the beaters. We reloaded rapidly, knowing they would soon be

headed and return, but this time prepared for us. Presently I saw a tiger

trying to sneak past to our left, and called out “ there goes one.” I raised my

rifle at the same time to indicate the direction to my companions, “ Fire if

you see him” shouted the General. Our voices had the effect of making this

tiger stop and take a good look at us; as she was doing so,I fired. She

instantly responded with a roar and charged straight down on tous, [I call

her “ she,” as subsequently we discovered that she too was a female, and a very

lively and determined female. I failed to stop her with my second barrel, and

it seemed to me that my three companions had emptied both theirs equally

297 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VILI.

ineffectively. At this critical moment, when she was within a few yards of

us—near enough for us to see her ears back, teeth showing, a savage gleam

in her eyes, and blood streaming down one fore shoulder,—when it

looked as if one of usin her next bound must be knocked over, our gun-

bearers from behind jumped up the mound on which we stood to hand

us our second rifles. In their excitement they shoved Resaidar Beg

Mahomed and the writer over the crest of the mound, and we, losing our

footing, slid down the mound in a sitting posture with our rifles in our hands.

For a moment it seemed as if one of us two must be seized, for the tigress

was now quite close to us; but in that moment Watson, who was a very

steady and cool shot, fired, hit her between the eyes, and in fact brained her.

Instead of continuing to come on, she spun round and round twice or thrice

and fell dead close in front of us, Had she come on, instead of spinning round,

some of us might, possibly would, have been clawed. While this little scene

was being enacted, the other three tigers had, it seems, come into view and again

turned back. But they could not face the row the beaters were making, and

again they turned towards us to force a passage through. One was passing to

our left, two to the right ; we fired at and wounded the former, and he dou-

bled back on the beaters. As he did so, the other two tigers faced the stop and

broke past us to the hills behind. We at once stopped and withdrew the

beaters and sent for the elephant to look the wounded tiger up. It would

have risked an accident to let the beaters come on with a wounded tiger in

their front, The elephant was a very unsteady one; if he saw a tiger, he

invariably charged it, and it was difficult to shoot off him. In such jungle, how-

ever, we had no choice but to mount him, and we went first to look up tiger

number one. As we approached the nallah, where the look-out indicated she

had fallen, we heard a growl, followed by a faint attempt ata charge; she

was put out of pain immediately. Number three gave us a lot of trouble.

He was a cowardly sneak, Nothing would draw him ; he kept retreating from

one thick and almost impenetrable patch of “ Sendi” to another, and dodged

about, till eventually he dodged us altogether ; and we had to return to camp

with two tigers only, which the General photographed. This ended for us a

very eventful day. As to excitement, the day has doubtless been often

matched in the annals of shikar of earlier times, but it is not readily to be

matched in these more prosaic days, which is my excuse for presenting an

account of it to the pages of the Society’s Journal. As to tiger number three,

subsequent information led me to believe that he died under a thick bush

while we were hustling him, As it was impossible to put in men on foot and

we had no dogs, and the elephant could not penetrate everywhere, we did not

nieoruunately know it in time.

- The place I speak of is no longer a home for tigers; the jungle has gives

place to fields with cover barely sufticient for a hare.

KENNETH MACKENZIE, CoLonet.

CHIKALDAH, BERAR, 28th April, 1893.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 298

No, II.—THE FLOWERING OF BAMBOOS,

Given an Indian witness wishing to tell the truth regarding what should be

within his knowledge, let him be without training in the ways of accurate

observation, failure is almost certain. In our law courts endless absurdities

arise from the initial question ‘‘ What is yourage?” Time has but little

value or meaning to the common villager. He has no fixed standard whereby

to measure it. He is quite as inaccurate in his estimate of distances, A

generation ago, in parts now almost within hearing of the railway whistle,

one might hear a cart journey described as of so many axles, meaning that

a prudent man, setting out on that adventure, would take so many spare axles

on his cart to provide against the ordinary contingencies of the way. To a

much later date a Bilaspur villager would naturally answer that his home lay

four chungis away, thereby indicating that, before beginning the march, he

ought to have rolled four cigarettes in the fresh leaf of the sal tree and have

fixed them in his pugree as provision for so long or so short a journey. If

pressed to be more definite, he would admit that his village was so many coss

away. “ But, my Peikoo, how long is youR coss?” “ Well, Sir, a coss is

everywhere the same; it always equals two dhabs,” “ Quite true, friend

Peikoo, but I am not quite sure that I am acquainted with the length of your

dhab ; how longisit?”’ ‘ A dhab, O Lord of Earth, isa dhab: the distance

at which a voice can be heard on a still night, that isa dhab.” ‘“ But, Peikoo,

suppose it be a mother-in-law’s voice.” ‘‘Then, O Personation of Virtue,

there will be a difference! The coss will be longer, ”

If Peikoo be so unsettled as to hear things of the visible world, how shall he

now give us assurance regarding his memories of years long gone by as to the

distant and silent foldings of the wings of time ?

Is there, then, any hope of determining, on native evidence, what is the life-

period of our mutual friend —the Katang bamboo? We may expect nothing

better than vague traditions of the last time when in any given locality the

Katang seeded. Such events are not recorded save by the pale-faced strangers

who are ever crazy after facts and figures, And they stay too short a time in

the country to see the seedling attain maturity and pass away in the course of

nature. Still these traditions are not without interest, ana they may corrobo-

rate or correct stray observations of those of our own people who have gone

before us,

The widest personal observation will convince no one, and trustworthy

evidence is not forthcoming. It isin the hope that others, while pardoning

my mistakes, will help towards solving this puzzle that I venture to accept a

kind invitation to put together the following rough notes on the flowering of

the Bambusa arundinacea, the most beautiful and one of the most useful of

the Bamboo family. At any rate I may hope to indicate directions in which

further enquiry promises success.

299 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIII.

My first recollection of the Katang bamboo is derived from Jubbulpore

when Sleeman’s Park was still the pride of the station. And the pride of the

Park lay in the luxuriance of its bamboos. Next, at the Nagpur Exhibition

at Christmas time, 1865, the finest poles of the Balaghat district were shown.

I can well remember their extraordinary length, but am too cautious to

hazard figures. Any one curious on this point had better hunt up an old cata-

_ logue of the exhibition or apply to Colonel Bloomfield—an excellent authority

on bamboos—who was the first Deputy Commissioner of the Balaghat district.

The extreme length of those poles was accounted for in this way: the

bamboo clumps grew on deep soil, ina moist valley, very close to one another ;

haying no room for lateral expansion, they could live only by growing very

tall.

There were at that time, namely at the end of 1865, one or two enormous

clumps of Katang in the Maharaj Bagh, the public garden at Nagpur, and on

its outskirts a great number of young ones, all apparently of the same age,

not more than about ten years, possibly less.

The Jubbulpore Exhibition was held at Christmas, 1866. I believe there

were no Balagh4t bamboos exhibited there, and for this reason, that meanwhile

there had been a general flowering of the Katang bamboos in the Upper

Weinganga Valley, that is, m the Bhandara and Balaghdt districts.

But on this point I have no personal knowledge; I have, at best, a faint

recollection of what I heard long ago. It may be that the seeding in the

Weinganga Valley did not occur till 1870.

The rainfall of 1868 was a disastrous failure in the old Saugor and

Narbadda territories, and this followed on poor harvests in 1867 and the Spring

of 1868, severe famine ensued. In May of 1869 I was transferred from

Nagpur to Jubbulpore. Passing Seoni, two or three miles of projected bamboo

avenue were met. Small clusters of roots had been divided off from the parent

clumps, and these roots with four or five feet of stem had been planted,

fenced, and well watered.

In Jubbulpore the rains of 1869 commenced very late, but were not parti-

cularly short in quantity. In the Spring of 1870 about four-fifths of the

bamboos in Sleeman’s Park and throughout the station burst into flower,

seeded, and died, The seed would have been all used as food but for the care

of the District Officers. Seed nurseries were formed, and a vast number of

young plants were reared, and the surplus distributed far and wide.

Early in 1881 I was a second time Deputy Commissioner of Narsinghpur,

living in the house which had once been that of Sir William Sleeman, uncle

of Colonel Sleeman, the last owner of the Park at Jubbulpore. In my com-

pound stood two superb clumps of the Bambusa arundinacea. These burst

into ower, seeded, and died in the hot weather of 1882. From their seed was

raised a considerable supply of young trees, which were distributed in great

part along the Great Indian Peninsula Line of Railway. It was, to the best

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 300

of my belief, in the same year that the remaining portion of the old clumps.

in Sleeman’s Park at Jubbulpore and the old bamboos of the Maharaj Bagh

at Nagpur seeded and died.

Possibly I am wrong about the Nagpur Katangs. I remember that in or

before 1879 the Forest Department, under the immediate care of Colonel

Doveton, began to cultivate these bamboos at Telin Kerry, two miles west

of Nagpur, for profit. The supply of Nagpur and Kamptee was aimed at.

Possibly the seeds for this interesting experiment came from the old bamboos

of the Maharaj Bagh.

I learn that the general seeding of the Katang bamboos at Dehra, in the

Doon, occurred in the Spring of 1882.

In the hot weather of 18851 visited the upper valley of the (Cuttack)

Mahanadi river and the Jeypore Zamindari of Madras. Returning by way

of Dhamiari and of Rajim (where the Pairi river falls into the Mahanadi),

I found a large number of bamboo clumps coming into seed. The Zamindars

and Government oificials promised to save all the spare seed for me, and this

they kindly did. 'Two sacks of well-ripened seed reached me at Ghazipur, and

thence it was distributed throughout India ; some was sent to Australia, to

Oyprus, to China, and even to Cornwall. The Secretary to the Agricul-

tural and Horticultural Society of India took the rest for their corresponding

societies. He also kindly brought to my notice writings of Sir William

Sleeman in the printed proceedings of some society, possibly of the Asiatic

Society,in which was noticed a general seeding of the bamboos at Dehra

Doon in or about the year 1832,

In 1886 I revisited Rajim to find that all the clumps had died off. Here

and there was to be seen an exceptional stalk, and a few attenuated and al-

most abortive shoots had sprung up from moribund roots. These were striv-

ing to flower and seed, _

This season I visited the Mallkna hills, about thirty-five miles south-east

of Rajim. Here also were dead clumps; around them young seedlings

struggling for life—the outcome of the seeding of 1885.

From several sources reports were heard that all the Katang bamboos in

that mass of Vindhyan sandstone hills from amid which the Jouk river

begins its northward course had seeded in the previous year (1885). This

mass of hills lies about thirty miles south-east of the Malkna hills, south

of an imaginary village named as Tarnot on the Government maps cf the

Chhattisgarh Feudatory States.

It was in this year (1886) that, with a well-known member of this society,

I saw the waters of the Udanti, a branch of the Tel, which again is an eastern

affluent of the Mahanadi. The Udanti rises on the western side of the

same mass of hills whence the Jouk runs northwards. The Udanti first

runs southwards, then turns to the east. We had occasion to visit the

favourite mud-bath of an old solitary bull buffalo on the banks of the

301 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Udanti, not a dozen miles from its source. This spring was in the centre of

alarge thicket of Katang bamboo, said to have all grown from the seed of an

isolated clump. I can only give a guess at the age of the young trees. My

own reconsidered impression is that the parent clump must have seeded after

1870, but before 1882. Ihope the friend who put an end to the bull's career

will be able to give a better estimate of the age of the young thicket.

In 1878 I saw the beautiful bamboos of the Indore Residency, I know

nothing of their history or pedigree, but imagine them to be of the same age

as the young clumps I saw at Nagpur in 1865.

In 1886 I saw a number of mature clumps at Gorukpur. These must now

be very near the end of their life-period.

In the Spring of the current year, 1893, we had bamboo clumps flowering

in the gardens of Queen’s College at Benares and in the Civil Lines at

Cawnpore. It is said (this is being verified) that the fine clumps at Dhariwal

in the valley of the Ravee near Gurdaspur in the Punjab seeded last year.

The building of Queen's College, Benares, dates from 1841—1843. It does

not follow that the gardens were laid out atthe same time. Indeed it is

believed that this was done by Mr. Griffiths, The present Principal,

Mr. Wright, believes, on parole evidence or tradition, that the bamboos now

seeding have been in the garden for forty-five years. But granting this,

it does not follow that they are only forty-five years old. They may be older.

They may have been transplanted forty-five years ago from a nursery, or they

may have been then raised from roots partitioned off from a clump of some

years’ growth.

Pass on to our native beliefs. First of all, to the Bambusa arundinacea

is attributed a life period of fifty to fifty-five years, Next, natives tell one that

its seeding is not gregarious ; on the contrary, that, however widely distri-

buted may be the progeny or the off-sets deriving from any one general

seeding, all the progeny and all the off-sets must flower, seed, and die simul-

taneously. Thirdly, they profess to believe that a general seeding coincides

with drought or with scarcity after drought.

It has been asserted that coincident with such scarcity will be found an

unusual abundance of the edible seeds of forest trees, such as of the Sal tree

(Shorea robusta), of the Nimar Anjan (Hardwickia binata), or the common

Shisham (Dalbergia latifolia), and the like, a provision of nature for such

a time of want. To this it has been objected that whereas coincidence attracts

attention, the opposite condition passes unnoticed. This is a theoretical objec-

tion of no great weight.

Beyond question the flowering of the common male bamboo is rightly

described as gregarious. Its life-period seems to be about fourteen years. On

the same hills I have seen large patches seeding in different years—in 1870 and

again in 1879,

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 302

In the year 1874 I passed through the Pandooah jungle between Maldah

and Dinagepore, in Lower Bengal, on so-called famine duty. Returning in

May, 1875, I found all the thick, thorny bamboos of that large tract—a variety

strongly resembling, but smaller than, the Katang—had lately seeded.

The general seeding at Jubbulpore in 1870 followed the Bundelkand famine.

T have heard mention of bamboos seeding at the time of the Madras famine,

but cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information.

I know of no noteworthy scarcity following on drought in or previous to

1882 or 1885 or 1893.

On the second topic of belief all the evidence I have to offer is this, In

Seoni strenuous efforts were made to raise an avenue by laying down off-sets

from old clumps taken from the nearest source of supply, the station of

Jubbulpore and Sleeman’s Park. I saw these full of promise in 1869. By

the following May they had prematurely budded from the stem and were

withering away with their abortive seeds.

Although there may be no more evidence available, it would be rash to

reject this native theory. Atany rate it is pretty and is not disproved,

I cannot now refer to Sir William Sleeman’s writings, but I cannot resist

a belief that some of the clumps in his park at Jubbulpore and those in his

garden at Narsinghpur came from the seeding in the Doon, about which he

wrote. That seeding was about 1832. Moreover, there was a general

seeding in the Doon in 1882. This gives an interval or life-period of fifty

years.

Some late enquiries in the Doon elicited the curious answer that between

two consecutive flowerings of this bamboo “a child will grow to be a man

and his son will reach manhood,’’ Nothing more definite could be learnt.

Were I an interviewer, no doubt the words of a conversation of about

1879 in the Bhandara or Balaghat district would be forthcoming. Though

they cannot be given, their substance is clearly remembered. Speaking of

another old man, my informant declared his friend to be old beyond com-

putation—a hundred years old or more, Well, if the sahib was not content

with that, surely it was enough to say that his friend had twice in his life-

time eaten the seed of the great bamboo. (ently pressed to try to fix the

earlier time, the old man at last gave a clear clue to it. He had often heard

his absent friend speak of having had to eat the seed of the Katang bamboo

in the year when the Raja, Appa Sahib Bhonsleh, lost his kingdom. “ All

the villages were burnt by the gods, who rose in rebellion for the king’s

sake, and but for the seeds and roots of the forest, people had died of

hunger,”

There is no valid reason for disbeliving this unpremeditated story. It

may then be concluded that there was a general seeding in the Upper Wein-

ganga Valley in 1818,and another between 1865 and 1870—an interval of

some fifty years.

303 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Further information might be obtained from the Deputy Commissioner

of Balaghat ; from the Secretary to the Horticultural Society at Nagpur ;

from Colonel Doveton, Conservator of Forests, C. P., who knows most about

their cultivation for profit ; and from Sir William Sleeman’s writings.

Colonel Doveton could correct me on many points.

T see that Mr. Gamble, Conservator of Forests, North-Western Provinces,

advises propagation by division of roots rather than from seed. If the

native theory that off-sets partake in the appointed life-period of the parent

clump be correct, this plan might lead to great disappointment.

And it rarely happens that a private person is willing to afford the cost

of propagation in this way, even if he can finda source of supply. It cost

close on a hundred rupees to start a dozen clumps (from seedlings brought

from Narsinghpur, C. P.) in the Cawnpore Memorial Gardens, although

the roots were obtained gratis.

For any one trying that plan of propagation it is recommended that the

roots to be removed be dug up before sunrise and the stems cut off about

four feet above the roots. All but the tops of the stems should then be

immersed in water in a shady place for a whole day. Pack in damp black

cotton soil or in damp moss for transport. Plant in thoroughly wetted

holes. The bamboo loves a gentle slope on all sides with good drainage. It

abhors stagnant water.

I have often enquired about the seeding of the large bamboo, which is

carefully cultivated in the eastern districts of the North-Western Provinces

and throughout Bengal, Apparently natives have no traditions of its ever

seeding, They say that it pines away and dies —‘t Udas hokar mar jata hai "—

if the human habitations it has sheltered become abandoned.

We have it on the authority of an old song that ‘“ Cats don’t know when

it’s half-past eight.” Are bamboos more intelligent ? Can they tell when

time is up ? Do they respond to the wants of humanity in times of drought

and scarcity? Do they obeya special and individual law of nature by

which they must flower and die ata particular age? Oris their life-period

as variable as his whose days are three score years and ten ?

G. JASPER NICHOLLS, I.C.8.

Orr ADEN, 6th May, 1893.

No. III.—JUNGLE NOTES.

T am sending you by rail a single horn of a, bison (Bos gaurus), which I picked

up in this district in March while in camp in the forest.

The remarkable point about it is that it has been broken off the skull, core

and all; and since I have never heard of such an instance, I thought it might

be worth while sending you the horn for inspection.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. B04

Tt was found in a small glade in the forest, but, owing to the rain we have

been having throughout the season, no tracks were traceable. At first I

thought some bison must have died, but, on searching all round, not a trace of

bones could be found, although the jungle was open. Moreover, on second

thoughts it seemed to me that, even if the bison had died, no animal would have

any object, granted that it had the strength, to tear the horn and core from the

skull. The horn and bone of the fracture were in good condition, only some-

what dirty, and the horn was quite unattacked by insects, which fact testified

clearly that the horn had come there since the last rainy season. Hence the

only conclusion I can arrive at is that two bulls in fighting got their horns

locked and thus one got broken off. This seems most probable, as I do not

think it could have been broken off in a charge without some damaging marks

on the horn being visible. It is just possible that the bull got his horn caught

in a tree and thus broke it, the skin around the-base of the horn supporting it

for a short time. The horn may then have been dropped anywhere, No tree

was noticeable near where this would have been possible. Also, if the horn

was so caught in the tree that the bison could not get free without breaking

the horn, it is unlikely that after breaking it he would be able to disentangle

it, and then the horn would have been found near the tree. So, on the whole,

the conclusion to be arrived at seems to me to be that it was broken off in

fighting with another bull. The strength required to do this must have been

enormous, and I certainly do not believe any other animal in these forests,

except a bison, would have sufficient strength. Anyhow, if a tiger had done it

(and even he would have had no object except ina fight), he must have left

Some marks of his claws or teeth on the horn. The horn is not large, only

measuring 24” in length (round the outer curve) and 131” girth at the base in

the dry state, which would mean about 14” when alive.

I shall be very interested to hear whether horns so torn off have been found

before and as to what cause you attribute the tearing off. Also as to whether

you think the bison could possibly have lived after thus losing his horn, If so,

I will be on the look-out for him,

The only other case that I have heard of in which a horn was thus com-

pletely torn otf was in the Chanda district. The late Mr, G. H. Foster,

Deputy Conservator of Forests, having wounded a buffalo (Bubalus arni,

Jerdon) from his elephant and thinking it dead, approached it on the elephant,

whereupon it charged. The elephant, not knowing what to make of this beast,

which had made a huge wound in his foreleg with its horn, wound his trunk

around the horn and tore it clean off core and all, Both elephant and buffalo

then bolted off in opposite directions, the mahout having lost his head com-

pletely, The buffalo was tracked up by two Gonds, who found it dead two or

three days after, no doubt partly from the effect of the bullet-wound and

partly from the shock of losing its horn.

305 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

On or about the 5th of February, at a small tank in the village forest about

a mile from the village of Thoyapar, in the Nagpur district, a large boar was

killed by a tiger ; such, however, was my information, and so on the 15th

I inspected the spot. The tank was to a great extent dried up, but the bed

was just moist enough to show tracks in an ideal manner.

This is the story the tracks distinctly related :—

A huge boar was feeding in the tank by grubbing up the roots of the

various aquatic plants, when a tiger stalked him along the edge of the tank,

The boar becoming suspicious, the tiger bounded towards him and was met

by the former a few yards from where he had been grubbing. Then ensued

a tremendous scuffle, and the tiger was evidently having a bad time of it, as

several handfuls of tiger hair scattered about testified to the boar having two

or three times charged home. At this point of the combat two other tigers

joined in from different directions, and of course this triple combination was

too much for the boar, who succumbed. The latter tigers were a tigress and a

nearly full-grown cub, called here a “ pata.”

This must have happened when day was breaking, for some villagers, passing

along the cart-track early, saw one tiger in the open. They raised a shout, and

the tiger disappeared. They then found the boar which the tigers had not

commenced to eat, and, having called some comrades, carried it off to the village.

This was apparently a very large boar, but unluckily the tushes were carried

off by a jackal or dog after having been set aside for me.

Later on, about the end of April, another boar was killed not more than ten

or twenty miles from there; this time apparently by a single tiger, but its tushes

only measured 7”.

About the end of February, along the Pench River, on the borders of Seoni

and Chindwara, there was a fight between two huge tigers. One killed the

other and, after having half eaten him himself, went off lame and bleeding,

evidently badly wounded, as was shown by his track on the sand. The tiger

killed and partly eaten was discovered by some fire-guards, who had no doubt

as to the fight from the condition of the ground where the battle took place.

The victorious tiger succumbed also a few days afterwards, but the skin was

nearly rotten when discovered, It is curious to know that tigers will eat each

other in a full-grown state, although it is well known that tigers greedily

devour young cubs when they can get the chance in the mother’s absence.

On tour in camp I was joined by two companions, who, only just out from

England, had never killed anything in the shape of big game, and so, knowing

of a place where a panther’s presence had frequently been reported to me,

I tied up a goat and gota kill on May 21st. My two companions sat up at

about 3-30 P.M., and on the panther turning up at sunset, it was killed.

On skinning her we found her milk glands greatly developed, and hence

suspected she must have cubs near. So on the morrow, having sent out five

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 306

Gonds to investigate, I was rejoiced at about 4 P.M. to hear them come in and

say they had found the cubs, whereupon we at once started to get them.

Coming on a small nala, a few feet broad, not more than a mile away from

where the panther had been shot, we were at once able to see that this was the

place where the panther had fed and exercised her young, and on looking

about carefully (of course we had it pointed out to us by the Gonds), we saw

a, small hole, not more than 5” in diameter, in the side of a white-ant hill on

the bank of the nala. In this were the cubs. It was interesting to see how

the panther had evidently been in the habit of hiding her cubs in this hole in

safety while she went out to shikar her food. The hole inside was very

small and not nearly large enough for the old panther to get into, but just

large enough to hold the two cubs, which were probably nearly a month old.

Tt was difficult to tell whether the panther had discovered this hole or

made it herself, but possibly there was some sort of hole there and she

enlarged it as required. There were claw marks on the ant-hill inside the

hole, but this might have been made in the ordinary quarrels of the cubs. We

had to cut the ant-hill away to enlarge the hole before getting the cubs out.

They were taken to camp andare still alive and well. The panther had evidently

been hard pressed for a place to put her young, and she must have been driven

to think of making a hole for the cubs—a thing she would never have done,

I imagine, had there been any rocky hills near.

P, H. CLUTTERBUCK,

A. C. of Forests,

NaGeur, 6th June, 1893.

No. IV.—THE JACKAL OR LION-PROVIDER.

I believe it has not been clearly demonstrated how the jackal came to be

called the lion or tiger provider. Few but the most credulous would believe

that the jackal isin the habit of seeking game for the larger animals and

taking them to where it can be found, &c. ; stili there must be Some reason for

assigning the name “lion-provider,” which is not a modern term, as it is

found in some of the oldest books on wild animals. The following coin-

cidence, which happened before my eyes, may perhaps serve to throw some

light on the mystery. Some time ago I happened to be in camp alongside

a small rocky hill with many caves, which, I was informed, contained a small

colony of hyenas. Partly to passa dull hour and partly to try and obtain a

good specimen, I made up my mind to sit up with my gun one evening.

There was a creek close by, and on the banks a small hamlet of fishermen ;

and knowing the hyzna’s partiality to fish, especially when a little stale, I

obtained a basket full, which had been caught the day previous, and placed

them in what I thought a good spot and sat up at sunset ona high rock

about 12 yards from them. After a little time I heard a rustling amongst the

307 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

leaves and undergrowth, and presently a jackal appeared and went straight

to the fish, looked at them and smelt them, and then sat down beside them.

After a few moments I heard another slight rustling in the same direction,

and the jackal, who was sitting by the fish, must also have heard it, for he

looked up and gave one slight bark, not unlike the faint call of a cheetul, and

almost immediately afterwards a second jackal appeared and joined him. The

two now stood by the fish, not attempting to eat any, but looking about them

in anxious expectation. After five or ten minutes they suddenly ran away

on one side to a distance of about ten yards, stopped, turned round and

looked in the direction of the fish, In about a quarter of a minute an hyena

appeared from a direction at right angles with the line taken by the jackals ;

he was walking straight to the fish, and on coming in view of the jackals, he

turned his head and glanced at them and at once proceeded to inspect the

food laid out for him. The jackals now ran up to the hyena and, on approach-

ing him, wriggled their bodies with their bellies close to the ground, much like

the attitude that a puppy often assumes when making up toa big dog. They

seemed to express delight at the arrival of the hyena, and so close did they

come to him that I think they must have rubbed themselves against his sides,

and here they remained whilst their lord and master, without taking any

notice of them, was selecting the most dainty of the fish, The jackals made

no attempt to even put their noses near the food. Darkness coming on

prevented my seeing any longer, so I carried out the object for which I sat

up. The jackals in this case may be said to have provided food for the

hyena, inasmuch as they did not eat it themselves, and their presence was

sufficient to keep smaller animals away. In the absence of any other reliable

theory, it seems probable that the term “lion-provider” has been applied to

the jackal from experiences similar to what I have related, the only difference

being that the lion has taken the part played in this instance by the hyena.

F. J. A. HILL.

12th June, 1893.

No. V—AN AGGRESSIVE COBRA.

On the 28th June last a number of the convicts of the Kolhapore Jail were

employed in cleaning up the compound of the State Hospital, and the sepoy

in charge, Husain Bux, sat, watching the party, on the flight of nine broad

stone steps which leads from the corner of the hospital compound up to the

quarters of Mr. McGill, the Darbar Veterinary Officer. It was about mid-day

and the sepoy was sitting at the end of one of the steps, half way up the

fight, with the entrance to Mr. McGill’s little garden above and rather

behind him to the left, when he felt a sharp smack, as from a flat object,

on his back. just above his waist-belt, and, as he says, thought at the moment

that some one had thrown something at him. Luckily, indeed, he did not

put his hand behind to feel what the object was, for on looking round under

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 308

his arm, without shifting his seat, he was horrified—and no wonder—to see a

large cobra on the same steps just behind him, with hood expanded and

ready to strike again.

Sidling off on to the ground, he shouted to his convicts, who with others

ran up and pursued the snake, which now ascended the steps into the garden

and took refuge behind some flower pots in Mr. McGill’s compound.

Calming down from his fright, Husain Bux was for leaving it alone, saying

that as Allah had spared him, so he would spare the snake, and no doubt,

though a Musalman, he had something of the Hindu superstitious belief

in the divinity of the cobra, and thought that such a peculiar visitation from

the God would bring him luck. So, too, thought many natives, and when

T talked over the occurrence afterwards with an old jail warder, he shook

his head ominously and said, “ He ought not to have killed that snake.’

However, killed the cobra was, and the men took it to Dr. G. Sinclair, who

found it to measure 4 ft.7in. ‘The snake, I fancy, must have been coming

down from the garden above, when it saw the sepoy sitting on the steps, and

that it should not have retreated or passed behind him, as there was plenty

of room for it to do unnoticed, is curious, and such an instance of a cobra,

when unalarmed, going out of its way to attack a man is perhaps worthy of

record.

S. M. FRASER, I. C. §.

KOLHAPORE.

No. VL—NOTES ON INDIAN DOGS.

In No. 4, Vol. VII, Mr, Sinclair discourses pleasantly on various ‘‘ pies” and

traces them up to the frontier. It may be interesting to supply a few notes

of other “ pies” met with in my wanderings.

In the villages lying at the foot of the Nari and Bolan Passes the dogs are

decidedly bigger and more ferocious than the usual ‘‘ pie,” but it is not till the

passes are entered that the “ Afghan mastiff,” so called, is met with. It need

hardly be said that the dog is not a mastiff, and really only resembles one

approximately in size and slightly in colour, Head, general build, coat are all

different. This is only an instance of “‘ heimweh ” which leads us to bestow

old familiar names on whatever reminds us of our Western home, This

“ Afghan mastiff ” stands as high asa large greyhound and is built generally

like the ordinary “ pie,” except that he is much heavier and more massive in

every measurement and does not possess a wasp waist. His main peculiarity is

his ruff, or “mane” as it is generally called. This ruff consists of deep thick

soft fur, nearly three inches long, and covers and protects the neck, chest, and

shoulders, The colour varies very little, being generally rufous. Like the wasp

and red ant, he is invariably in a bad temper, and it is advisable to have some

lethal weapon with one, as a threatening gesture is at once resented by action,

which is apt to result in discomfiture, My first introduction to this dog was

309 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

in the Nari Pass, It was brought about by my bull-dog, who had a difference

of opinion with one. The result was speedy and to us very unsatisfactory.

With my aid the Afghan made off eventually with his ruff, somewhat dis-

arranged ; my dog was lacerated with long deep cuts, and his mouth was very

unsatisfactorily filled with fur. An English bull-dog was never intended by

Providence to bite through three inches of fur before getting to flesh. The

Afghan dog is, very like his master, truculent, ferocious, and untrustworthy.

Still further north a very large and heavy dog is found standing nearly as big,

if I remember right, as a St. Bernard. The only one I saw was snow-white

with an enormous jowl and an array of glistering white which I shuddered at.

This dog was tethered by a cable to a walking six-foot Pathan, whom he

dragged about with perfect ease, without even going through the formality of

ascertaining his wishes.

The next breed I have on my list is found among the nomad fishing popula-

tion of the Irrawaddy delta, This dog lives on fish, and, like his master, is

almost amphibious. It looks something like an Irish terrier run to seed.

There are two breeds, differing only in size. Their colour is much greyer than

the usual “pie” fawn. ‘The dog’s body is covered with ragged tufts of hair,

which form on his face a most imposing moustache. The smaller breed re-

minds me irresistibly of a very mongrel terrier at home.

It may be noted in passing that a very large number of “ pies” in Burma are

either black or white.

On the Chin frontier a breed like a large HEsquimaux terrier is met with.

T have seen several which looked exactly like collies, bushy manes and all, till

one noticed the lightly curled-up tail. The colour varies greatly—black, black

and white, lemon and white, white, and tawny. The fur is long, soft, and

silky and very thick, nose and ears very pointed, the latter sometimes almost

buried in the fur. They are very good-tempered as a rule, but dreadful cow-

ards, and generally flee precipitate at the sight of a white face. TheShan dog

is very like this breed, but is much larger and heavier. The manes are not so

bushy, nor is his tail quite so curly.

A very interesting paper could be compiled on Indian dogs, and it is to be

hoped that some member with zoological knowledge will give us an authorita-

tive description of the various indigenous breeds. The differences among

them are very great, but yet to the English eye all seem stamped with the same

hall-mark, generally called ‘‘pie.” This may possibly be due to the fact, as

noted by Phil Robinson, that their ‘ food is rubbish,”

F, E. DEMPSTER.

RANGOON, 21sé June, 1893.

No. VII.—A FRIENDLY BULBUL.

The common bulbul is notoriously bold and friendly. Residents of the

Western India Club in 1890 will perhaps remember a nest being built on a

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, | 310

pair of iron bars supporting the weather-boards near the door leading out of

the bar lounge. It was within reach of every passer-by and not concealed by

any bush or creeper, The writer has a nest now near his front door and the

birds are even more confiding. It is built in a small croton within a couple of

feet of the door frame. Care was taken not to disturb the hen-bird while she

was sitting on her eggs, and the first advances were made when she had hatched

them out. A hand was brought close to her when she wag sitting in her nest

and bits of soaked gram offered. She did not seem to care for this food and

pecked viciously, but she would not leave her post, and there can be little

doubt she was bravely defending her chicks, Worms were offered to her and

she took them greedily, but still she seemed, by her pecking, to resent the intru-

sion into her home. Bread crumbs were then tried, and she took them without

hesitation. After she had been repeatedly fed in this way, she ceased all hos-

tile demontrations while she was on her nest, but if she happened to return

from an outing and found any one too near the nest, handling the protecting

croton leaves, she would charge boldly home. Once she even struck the

offending hand, and then made a rapid retreat and dodged into her nest from

the opposite side. She has hopped along the rim of the pot in which the

croton stands and taken food held out to her in the hand, She has so far only

shown such confidence in the immediate neighbourhood of her nest, but she

may be open to more general friendship. Some wretched vermin carried off

two of her chicks at night, but up to this evening there was still one gaping

mouth in the nest. The coch-bird has still his natural amount of shyness,

It was curious to watch the process of feeding the newly-hatched birds, The

hen rarely left the nest. The cock would come with a morsel in his bill and

she would clear out to let him administer it, but go no further away than a

rosebush which stands in a pot within 10 feet. The cock never stayed after

he had done this pretty domestic office, and directly he left, the hen would

return and take her family under her wings for another spell.

The exhibition is still on view, and a gentleman from Bombay went this

morning away hugely surprised and pleased with it.

H. T. OMMANNEY, I.C8.

PancH Manats, 10th July, 1893

No, VIII.—NOTES ON THE ECCENTRICITIES OF A DOG.

There are many still in Bombay who will remember “ Bodger,” for he had

a good many friends as well as enemies, the former chiefly bipeds, the latter

mostly quadrupeds, Bodger started in life, as many other dogs have done, born

of poor but honest parents (this is but Supposition, for I was never able +o

find out who or what his father or mother were and very little clue could be

gained by looking at Bodger),. I called him a bull-terrier, as that was the

nearest breed that he had any resemblance to, He was, however, a strong,

active, and fairly well-shaped dog, rather long in the legs and a tail go long

311 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

that when he was angry it would curl over until the point seemed to dig into

the centre of his back, His colour was white, or, to speak truly, a dirty white,

Bodger was about four years old when given to me by some friends on

Malabar Hill in 1878, Their reason for getting rid of him was that he raised

his voice too much during the night when tied up, and if allowed to be loose,

he used to retire to a neighbouring bungalow and pass the night on the sofas and

chairs. This led to remonstrances on the part of the tenants, who threatened

to shoot the dog if it is was found there again. Before accepting Bodger, I took

him out for a walk on trial. Very quickly he showed his fighting propensities by

attacking a dog half as large as himself and scoreda victory, He then met a cat,

which he killed in first-rate style. So Bodger became my property. When I say

“my property,” I mean I became his owner or master, at least as I understood

-it. But Bodger had quite a different opinion, and allowed no one to interfere

with his ways and doings. He certainly made my rooms in the Fort his home

when he was at home, and would at times take his meals there and allowed me to

have a little more influence over him than other people, but that was all.

Why he was named Bodger I could not find out, but it was a capital name, for

he looked it all over, so 1 let it remain, When Bodger came to reside with me

in the Fort, I contemplated keeping a dog-boy to look after him, but he soon

showed me that he could take care of himself without putting me to any extra

expense, and his habits at first were more or less methodical. In the early

morning he was generally missing ; during the day-time he would he under my

desk until the sun was off the street, when he would get up, shake himself, look

up at me, and then walk deliberately down to the Frere Fountain and wait

there for any strong dog that might turn up. In a short time there was a row,

and on looking out, Bodger was sure to be in the thick of it, After an hour or so

of this amusement he would come back (generally with marks about him showing

that he had not had it all his own way) to seeif Lor anybody else was going

for a ride, when he would accompany us, This went on for some time, until

one day he saw his old master going into the Bombay Club and followed him

only to be ejected. For several days he used to wait outside, watch his oppor-

tunity to sneak inside, and be driven out again at the run, Failing to get a

permanent footing in the Club, he took up with a gentleman, Mr, Arbuthnot,

the Collector of Bombay, in the Secretariat, and for nearly six weeks

went every afternoon about 4 o'clock and laid down under his desk and

remained about half an hour and then left. This gentleman never knew

until afterwards to whom the dog belonged, and told me that the dog

hardly ever took any notice of or attempted to follow him, simply stayed about

half an hour and then walked off. Bodger tried the same game at Wat-

son’s Hotel, but this did not last long, as the Volunteers took up his attention

and regularly every Saturday, when they turned out and Bodger heard the band

coming out of Church-gate Street, he went out and marched at their head until

it was all oyer. This led to some of the fellows in the office taking to painting

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 312

Bodger up, sometimes like a clown, or glueing a paper hat, with feathers, on his

head with B. V. R. printed on his ribs, for these special occasions, and many a

time Bodger was seen in all his glory, whilst the firing was going on, flying about

in front and having a good time. Later on the dog would go out to Colaba of

his own accord in the early morning to witness the rifle shooting and come back

again after it was over, He was very fond of the gun, and accompanied me on

several shooting trips, and would go the whole day if allowed. He was, however,

of not much use except to retrieving duck, and that he was very good at and sel-

dom lost one in rushes, He was, however, a little hard on them if they were only

wounded, but did not maul them when dead. One evening, coming back from

Thana, I put him loose in the guard’s van. He, however, got outat Bhandup

Station, and was not missed until I looked for him at Byculla. ‘The guard, not

seeing the dog in the van when he left Bhandup, thought I had taken him in the

carriage with me, I was living then at the Chummery, Mahaluxmi, and although

he had not been over the ground before, he turned up about 1 o'clock in the

morning. Bodger had a most retentive memory. He was always open to fight

any dog when set on, but when left to himself he took stock of his adversary and

seldom attacked unless he felt sure in his own mind that he would get the best

of it. At times his judgment was wrong and he accepted his punishment, but

he never forgot the dog or forgave the man to whom the dog belonged, and

whenever he met either, his whole attitude altered, the hair on his back stood

up, the point of his tail dug deeper into his spine, and he would growl and

walk past slowly, but never attempted t renew hostilities. Wehad many dogs

at the Chummery and he held his own until four of them attacked him at once,

and Bodger soon became the rope part in the tug-of-war, He, however, bided his

time, and when he got them later on separately he warmed them. Bodger also

had an aversion to being laughed at or made ridiculous. On one occasion,

when our tame black buck doe came in after dinner at the Chummery to have

a few scraps, | tied Bodger to the end of the rope attached to the buck and

told him to keep it in order, Two dogs commencing to quarrel frightened the

buck, who made for the door, capsized the boy coming in, and made off into the

compound, dragging poor old Bodger with him ; we gave chase and soon found

them brought to a standstill on either side of a tree, Bodger was released, but

for many days he would not come into the house or have anything to do with

any one in the Chummery. He was more hurt in mind than body, although

he turned more summersaults in that short time than any clown in a circus.

Bodger, or rather “Chevalier de Boze” as he was called for the occasion,

appeared once at the Gymkhana dog show—I forget in what class—but for

some time he was not recognised, asa mixture of burnt cork and beer had

been well rubbed into his skin, which had given him a beautiful iron grey

appearance, It is needless to say he did not take a prize, neither did he appear

to enter into the fun of the thing, as was shown by his sulking at the show

and not taking the slightest notice of those who had had a hand in changing his

313 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

colour, and he kept it up for days after he had assumed his dirty white ap-

pearance.

When I went home in 1880 Bodger saw me off, and remained for hours at

the Apollo Bunder after the steamer had left, and on my return, fourteen

months later, knew me at once, although I neither spoke nor took any

notice of him, and seemed very pleased to see me back. In August, 1882,

IT left for Ceylon. Up to this time Bodger had carried on his same old game

of going out and about just when and where the spirit moved him, He, how-

ever, completely altered his ways from the time he landed in Colombo. On board

he seemed very miserable at leaving Bombay, and although in good health, he

never seemed to recover his old spirits. He gave up all his quarrelsome ways,

and would never fight unless another dog commenced and would never leave

my side for a minute, night or day, up-country, where I was stationed. I had

several other dogs of sorts for hunting sambhur, muntjac, and hares, and he

would always join in, and seemed to like the sport, but even in the hottest

sun he would not remain long away from me, By this time I had got

to be very fond of the dog, and he was evidently very much attached to me,

and for hours would sit looking up in my face with such a beseeching expres-

sion, which seemed to say ‘“‘ take me back to Bombay,” and resembling so much

the dog in that picture called “Sympathy.” Bodger, except for the sad and weari-

some look, had nothing the matter with him, and although he had always

accompanied me shooting, I thought on one occasion I would leave him behind as

I expected it to be pretty hot in the low country. I patted him and said good-

bye, but he did not seem to understand my leaving him and tried hard to follow.

I, however, sent him back and he went to my bed-room and lay down. I was

only away a couple of days, and on arriving back at my bungalow, my friend,

who was living with me at the time, told me the sad news that Bodger, who had

hardly left my room whilst I was away, had died only two hours since. I was

very much cut up, and thoroughly believe, if it is possible for a dog to die of

a broken heart, that Bodger died in this way. Bodger was buried in my com-

pound at Haldamulla under a large mango tree, on which I carved in deep letters

—“ BopGER, obit 27th January, 1883.”

HE, L, BARTON,

BomBay, June, 1893.

No. IX.—DOWN A CHIN STREAM,

We had been on a frontier expedition in the Chin hills, and our souls were

sick of mule paths zig-zagging up and down uninteresting hills. One morning

therefore we decided to cut outa way for ourselves and plunge boldly from

our camp down to the little river 2,000 feet below and follow it up to our

next camp. The next day’s march by road was six miles ; we allowed twelve

by stream, and found that it was a good deal more. Climbing up the Chin

hills had been our hard lot from necessity ; this was our first trial at climbing

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 314

down, and there was not much to choose between them for difficulty. Facilis

descensus may apply to Avernus. I have not been there, but it ;is not true of

the Chin hills. Half past six one sunny morning in April found us all ready.

Guns, butterfly nets, and a few gut casts and flies were our impediments

which we made the pilgrim carry. . He deserves a word of description. Hadji

Mahomed Khan is one of those very tall solemn Pathans who seem veritable

descendants of the Wandering Jew in features and proclivities. He has per-

formed the Haj and is as good tempered and powerful as a St. Bernard pup.

He exacts homage from the Hindus by his size, and from the Mussulmans by

his piety.

Far below the waving sea of bamboos which clothe the hill side, we can

make out the belt of heavy timber marking the little hill stream we wish to

follow. The hill side is steep and covered with the dry slippery bamboo leaves.

Toboganning with wooden seats to our pants seems the best way of proceeding,

but it is too late to adopt that plan. After a few casts we decided to follow

down a small spur between two streams ; this decision was mainly arrived at by

our both sliding down the spur ina small avalanche of rubbish. On we went—

the slope getting steeper and steeper—till we had to hand ourselves down from

tree to tree and had finally to take to the little stream, which here consisted

of deep pools with miniature cafions and precipices, We sidled along their faces—

oh, how wet the water looked !—grasping ferns, roots, and bamboos. Here

and there we made impromptu bridges of nervously flexible bamboos, across

which we sidled with the want of grace of the amateur rope-dancer. Each

narrow shave was greeted with encouraging chuckles and inward disappoint-

ment. The nullah became more and more like a knife-gash in the hill side,

and at last we came to a narrow pass a hundred yards long with per-

pendicular sides, through which in two feet of water we splashed and

found ourselves at the foot of the hill in a little open glade.

The vegetation all round was so clean that, after going 50 yards on, we

could not distingush the path we had come down. We had been in deep

shade the whole way down, and the only butterflies we had seen were a few

Melanitis and one or two skippers. We disturbed one barking deer, and once

a loud whirring close by told us we had startled a pheasant. It was still early

when we started down the main stream. It was very beautiful, and a true

wild forest landscape, with the luxuriant profusion of growth which is so

hard to describe, but which tempts particularization. The charm of the early

morning was on everything. The sunlight danced on the pools and sent

emerald shafts of light through the little bosky dells. There were tall forest

trees clothed with moss and wearing buttonholes of brilliant orchids. Here

and there a fallen giant lay, partially propped up by his brethren and covered

‘with a hoary fringe of grey-beard moss. Hverywhere the bamboos rustled

and filled in the spaces left between the big trees with feathery fronds.

Gigantic creepers covered with blossoms tied the big trees together and spread

20 q

315 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

acres of net work, beneath which the tender ferns might grow. The little

stream wandered on in close touching curves round the cliffs and with

cheerful leaping over obstructions, and drinking in enjoyment at every grove

we followed. Here culling a tempting bunch of orchids, or casting a fly

over a ripple, there stopping to admire the exquisite effect of a bunch of maiden

hair ferns set off with caladiums and begonias. On we wandered, and as the

sun mounted higher, the butterflies came out and hurried past us in an endless

gorgeous procession. Charaues were there in half a dozen strong-bodied varieties.

Delicate Lycenid@ gleamed a moment in the hot sun, or formed a fairy ring

over some small pool, Ornithoptera pompeus, with his broad expanse and

yellow satin under-wings, sailed by proudly, and as a rule just out of reach.

Flitting in the shade a dusky Melanitis or an Yphthima would tempt us

to arm-reaching tripping rushes over the bamboo roots. Delias sailimg tempt-

ingly just over-head seemed to know our exact reach and keep beyond it.

While Enthalia, Lebadia and Lepidia Iomene outspread on the shining leaves

were missed over and over again. On we went, our cigarette box getting fuller

and fuller of paper envelopes and alas! also our gut-casts and flies disappear-

ing rapidly. The pilgrim followed us anxiously ; he objected to pilgrimages

whose route seemed so obscure, and during which he had to carry so much,

what he called, “cutchra.” However the sahibs are all mad, and there is but

one God, so he came on gloomy but mute. We then calculate that we allowed

for 12 miles, that it is now one o’clock, we have been travelling for over six

hours and must have covered 12 miles ; but there is no appearance of the next

camp. We are now showing signs of wear and tear ; we are both wet to the

waist as the only road is the bed of the stream. I have lost the sole off one of

my boots, and the pilgrim is rapidly losing his temper. We have a goodly stock

of butterflies, and the pilgrim is laden with orchids, but we have lost all our flies

and not one fish to show. We have seen nothing shootable and have nothing

eatable. Inward pangs remind us that it is a long time since ‘‘chota hazri;” and

the more remote our chance of satisfying the pangs become, the more we

remind each other that even “ bully” beef has its attractions, that under certain

conditions preserved potatoes can be eaten with relish and that whisky 1s no

despicable drink, and we are both Scots! As we go on, we begin to lose our

appreciation of the scenery; here and there we distinctly disparage hill and

stream ; we even mutter about this beastly country. As we get tired, tumbles

become frequent and are endured in gloomy silence and watched without

sympathy. The pilgrim disdains our companionship, and, though keeping

behind, declines to follow the route we affect. The stream has been getting

broader and deeper, and we have either to wade down it or scramble along

the rocky banks. Three o'clock comes and no signs of camp ; but instead a

heavy thunderstorm comes up suddenly and drenches us ; we huddle through

the worst of it in a small bat-lined cave, but are disturbed by the gloomy

pilgrim who tries to prove that the stream is rising. The pilgrim’s

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 316

spirits are now at so low an ebb that ours, out of sheer contrariety,

rise, and in chaffing him we try and forget we are tired, cold, hungry,

and wet. Thirsty we are not, but oh for something to take the edge off

the water! We ask the pilgrim when he thinks we shall get in—and what

ills are in store for us, and badger him till he takes refuge in a surly “‘ Khoda

Janta” and is thereafter unapproachable, We had before come up this stream

for about a mile from the camp, and we now tried hard to recognise the corner

which we had then reached. Again and again this rock or that tree seemed

familiar, but again and again we were disappointed. Four, five, six o’clock

still found us plodding on very tired, very wet, and excessively hungry. At

last we sighted the corner and, after a few minutes’ hesitating recognition, saw

high overhead the grass huts of the camp. We hurried on, and the pilgrim

smiled, Ten minutes later we were getting into dry clothes, and soon were

discussing our long-looked for bully beef, commissariat biscuits, and whisky,

and, needless to say, enjoyed them,

F, EK. DEMPSTER,

RANGOON, June 1893.

No, X.—A DOG KILLED BY A DABOTIA.

Mr. W. H. Traill, writing from Jhansi, Central India, states that on the 1st

July one of his dogs, a large terrier, was killed by a full-grown viper (Daboia

russelliz), Although bitten severely in four places, the dog appears to have

lived for about eight hours, when it died without convulsion, but with all the

symptoms of paralysis. The daboia was found to contain 40 fully-developed

young ones.

No, XI.—SOME SHOOTING NOTES.

In turning over the leaves of a shooting diary of recent date, I find some

odds and ends which I venture to transcribe, as I think that they may be of

interest to others,

Here is an extract from a letter from a friend in Somali Land, dated 25th

August, 1891 :—

“ T left Aden 10th Julyand went over to Zaila, where I found A. . . He

was not able to start fora week. Weset off 18th July ina boat 40 miles down

the coast, where we had sent on a tent, four camels,and guns, The main body

of our camp had gone up to the first wells at the foot of the hills some 60 miles

off. Our camp for the first two days was by some muddy wells in the sandy

maidan, and it was very hot. There were a lot of Wart Hogabout ; they used to

come to the water ;so we rodethem. A. . . was tooseedy todo much, but I

managed to stick three boars ; two of them had grand tushes quite twelve inches

or more ; they can go like blazes, and for pluck I never saw them equalled ;

every one charged false. Itouched them. . . It takesa fast beast to come up

317 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

to them ; they are so quick in getting to ground, We had a shocking long night

march after that, 40 miles, to our main camp. The want of water is the curse

of the country ; one has to march 20 to 40 miles often without water ; where

I am going to next week I shall have to send camels daily for water for the

camp ; my camp consists of three shikaris, eight camelmen, a syce, a cook, a

boy, a native policeman from Government, and a man to look after and drive

my donkeys for lion tie-ups. Ihave 16 camels, all of which I had to buy ; they

cost me between Rs. 600 and Rs.700. You see I have to carry rice and dates with

tins of ghee for all those men ; it is a very expensive trip ; I like what I have

seen of the natives very much ; they are a cheery sporting lot, but the greatest

liars I have ever met ; it is no use trying to get the truth out of them, We

hurried up to the hills as fast as we could. When we got on the first pass, we

got into quite a different climate—rain and two blankets at night. We were

very unfortunate in not getting any lions on our way up, but they are very

scarce there. We also just missed the main body of elephants as they passed up

to the Abyssinian hills, but we managed by good luck to shoot five ; three of

them were very fair bulls, but the last one we got was a grand beast and had

very good ivory for this country, 60 Ibs, the pair. I always took them behind

the shoulders ; they never go far with a big bullet behind the shoulders ; your

rifle (D.-B. 8-bore nominal by Greener, 12 to 14 dram E. F. B.) was just the

thing for them, butit is certainly a bit heavy to run with, and I had some cruel

runs after wounded ones; they are very hard to kill ; they will drop to the shot

but are up again in a twinkle. We killed every one we fired at except one .

T have seen them knocked over twice, and yet get up and go fora mile ; I gota

big koodoo on my way up, horns 36 inches. Lalso got two good Gazella walleri,

also some Oryx, and since A. . . left me I got three more elephants and a

fine lion. I have done nothing but march for the last fortnight across the foot

of the hills and must have come over 200 miles. Icould not go where I first

intended, as there was an intertribal row and the next hill tribe was in arms

because one of them had been shot by a policeman, and I have just heard that

the Sultan of the place, where I have been looking forward to getting some

sport, is also up in arms against the English,so Iam done all round

If I cannot get into Kansan, where I want to go, I have a bad chance of any

more lions . . . ‘The whole of the central part of the country has been so

shot over that there are no lions left . . . From what I see and hear they

are a great deal bolder than tigers, but not so quick, At every water you get

lots of guinea-fowl and partridge ; so I had some capital partridge shoots

round the camp of an evening—twenty brace in an hour, There are two

sorts. There are lots of florican and bustard, the latter smaller than the big

Indian ones. I could shoot any number of them.”

There is a popular delusion that a tiger once shot at from a machan is

frightened away and will never come back. Personally this has been my own

experience, but I will quote extracts from three letters, direct testimony

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 318

to the contrary. From these it will appear that if a tiger does not see or hear

the sportsman, he is not as alarmed as one would suppose,

Extract from letter from Lieut, Hardy, R.A. :—

“| )6. Isat up for him the next night, and my people coming back from

my machan first met a bear, which they drove off, and then the tiger himself,

At 8-30 out came a pack of wild dogs ; they stood for a long time under my

tree, so I had a good look at them. I was just debating about killing one,

when out came the tiger after them, and there was no end of arow. ‘The

moon was just going down, soI did not see him well enough to fire ; he

chased them all over the hill and then came back. I shot at him in the dark as

he was crossing some white sand, but he did not mind me ; he went for the kill,

and he and another tiger were round my iree all night, but I could not

see them.”

Extract from letter from Surg.-Major Wolseley, MS., dated 22nd February,

1890 :—

“ We got kubber that he had killed a fine wild hog and not eaten it, so off

we went. There sure enough was the pig ; his big head in a pulp, every bone

being broken, I did not think a tiger could have done it ; he had put big stones

over it to hide the body ; it was in a deep water course running down a gorge ;

some coolies had found it in the morning and pulled it from under the stones

As we could not pug him, I decided to situp .... Unfortunately I had

not come prepared for a sit up and had no white rag or anything except some

chalk .... He came about three-quarters of an hour after sunset, when

it was almost quite dark, TIexpected that he would be very coy when he

found the pig moved, but not a bit of it. He came bounding down to where

he had left it, and then he stopped for a minute, having a good look round to

see what had become of his pork. Then down he came and stood stock-still

within about five paces of the dead pig. I could only just make him out. I

put up my rifle two or three times, but could not get on him, The third time

I decided to chance it and fired in his direction. Where the bullet went I

never found out, except that it did not enter the tiger. Now for the most

extraordinary behaviour of this beast; he did not go off with a bound, but

walked up to where he had:at first stopped about sixty yards up the nullah

and stood still. I thought he must be wounded ; so, after a little while, I said

to my Shikari, “he is wounded.” No sooner were the words out of my mouth

than down he charged to within five yards of my tree, but I could not see him

properly; it was so dark and thick. He then quietly went off over the hill; it

was altogether bad luck, for had it been only the other side of the nullah, I

should have been able to see him and could have fired. Well, this tiger went up

to a tie-up of ours only two miles off and killed it and had his supper. I fired

two shots about ten minutes after he had left. These he must have heard,”

As regards the tiger concealing the pig like a dog burying a bone, this

seems a very peculiar proceeding, and certainly we have not known a similar

319 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIII:

case ; but if the tiger did not do so, who did? ‘The natives moreover, on

whose testimony it rests, could have no object in lying.

The last account I give is, I think, of the boldest tiger of all. My autho-

rity is Mr, Harriott, of the P, W. D.:—

“« .... Two nights after I had tied up, my men reported that a panther

had mauled one and had been close to my tents ; sol tied up a goat and made a

machan. About 7-30 I saw a hyena coming for my goat across a well-lighted

open piece of ground, As I did not intend to sacrifice my goat to a hyena, I

shot him and he dropped without a sound. I whistled to my boy at my tents,

which were near, and he and two other men started to come to me. (1 wanted

the hyzena removed, but I did not move myself or call out.) They had just

reached the edge of the nullah on the tent’s side (my machan was a little

distance on the other side) when I heard a rush, and the panther was on my

goat like a flash of lightning. He lay on his back for a few seconds with the

goat held up in the air by his mouth and paws till it was quite dead. Then

he stood up and I shot him. My men heard the report and the death growl

and fled back to the tents... . Two days after this occurred I was told

that another panther had molested one of my garas nearest to my tents,

goat and machan as before, except that this time it was about 150 yards

further off than the other one. I remained awake till 11 pm. and

then went to sleep. About midnight a rush woke me up, and I saw

a tiger sitting on his haunches with my goat in his mouth. I must

tell you that about 7-30 one of my kills got loose and came along the

cattle track to where the goat was tied up. Not understanding the

goat, he became frightened and began to move about in the ravine close by.

Thinking he would disturb my sport, I had him tied up among some bushes

to my left rear, To resume about the tiger. He evidently had not seen the

buffalo, I fired and missed. I could not see the foresight at all owing to the

sighting arrangement having come to grief, and as the tiger fled towards the

jungle, I fired a second shot and missed again. I loaded again, but had hardly

got the cartridges in when I saw him break cover again. He was bolting and

obviously making for the buffalo. I fired two more shots and missed both, He

bounded past between my machan and the buffalo to my rear, and I thought

he had gone. I sat perfectly still however. I could not make out how I had

missed, for it was a clear bright moonlight night and the tiger was within 30

paces of me every time I fired. However, I soon discovered that I had lost the

linen off the foresight and that I had doubtless been taking too much fore-

sight and firing over the beast. Fortunately I had a poultice on one of

my fingers, so I took it off and tied the rag on to the foresight, All this took

about five minutes, and then I again saw the tiger on the cattle track about

80 yards to my right looking at the goat and buffalo. He had gone right round

the back of my machan, and was evidently thinking the position over, and was

for a time undecided, for he advanced a few paces, then went back, and stood

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 320

behind a bush looking at the goat. At last he made up his mind and walked

straight along the cattle track towards the goat, at the same time keeping his

eye on the buffalo. He walked very slowly and deliberately, When he got

opposite my machan I dropped him with a bullet in his shoulder and gave him

a second as he lay. He did not make a sound, but lay perfectly still as if dead.

At first I thought of getting down and having him carried in, but fortunately

I changed my mind and decided to sleep where I was till morning. I had

just dozed off, when the tiger got up and went off before I could geta

shot in, Next morning I founda pool of blood where he lay ; he had laid down

frequently, but I never got him, and he died some eight days later in a cave.

My theory of the above incident is first that the tiger was very hungry, When

he had got back to ‘the jungle after the first two shots, which had doubtless

gone over him and not disturbed him except by the noise, he saw the buffalo,

put the noise down to it, and started to kill it, The second shots were high

too Lam sure,and no doubt put him quite off tackling the buffalo, and he

decided to keep well away from it and content himself with the goat,”

EB, F, BECHER,

Lonpon, 12th April, 1893.

No. XII.—NESTING OF THE CRAB-PLOVER.

I have posted to your address .a box containing an egg of the Crab-Plover

(Dromas ardeola) and an egg of the Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia);s0 I sup-

pose some account of the taking of these eggs, with a description of the nests,

&c., will be expected. I fear Iam not qualified to give a scientific description

or to offer any remarks of much value; still I trust they may be of

interest, and at any rate induce others as ignorant as myself of the technicali-

ties of the science of Natural History to follow my example and endeavour

to describe what they see without waiting for the knowledge that is only

obtained by study and experience.

On the 29th May, 1893, I landed on the Island of Sad-ad-din, a reef island

about five miles from the town of Zeila, on the Somali coast, and with my

friend, Captain E. R. Shopland, commenced to search the island for eggs, as we

had heard that great numbers of seagulls breed there every year. While

we were crossing the level and open plains, we saw atthe north-east end of

the island a sand-hill about half a mile long and raised above the level about

six or eight feet. This is one of the features of reef islands ; the wind and

sea throw up matted seaweed, which is covered with sand, then again more

seaweed and sand, till the coastline on the weather side is several feet higher

than the rest of the island. We saw on this hill a great number of white

birds and a number of seagulls with them, As we approached, we saw that

they were a species of plover, and from their consternation we knew they

must be breeding. The gulls all flew away and left the plovers to their

321 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

difficulties as we approached, When we reached the sand-hill, to our

disappointment we could find no trace of a nest. Yet the birds, some

hundreds of them, seemed greatly disturbed and kept flying round calling

loudly to their mates. While the flock was at some little distance, solitary

birds suddenly began to start up in the most unaccountable manner as the

little vegetation covering the sand-hill was far too low and scanty to have

hidden these white birds from view. We then found that they came from

holes in the ground. The mouths of these holes were, for the most part,

hidden under the overhanging and spreading vegetation, which looked like

heather, but was of course not heather. This part of the sand-hill presented the

appearance of a rabbit warren, and was tunnelled all over with holes about

seven or eight inches in diameter, which extended horizontally about six or

eight feet, The holes which were on the top of the sand-hill went down

vertically one or two feet, then turned at right angles in a horizontal direction.

The roof of these tunnels was formed by the matted seaweed covered with sand

and low-spreading vegetation. Underneath this matted seaweed the sand had

been scraped out by the birds. I think these holes must be used from year to

year, and only need a little cleaning out at the mouth or perhaps digging out

a few inches past the last year’s nest, for some were much longer than others.

Moreover, the holes were not large enough for the birds to stand up in, so that

the excavation must be a work of time, and I think it quite impossible that the

time occupied in one breeding season should suffice for this labour of love.

Although the sand under the matted seaweed is easily scooped out, we must,

I think, consider the absence of excavated sand outside the holes as seen ~

outside crab holes or even rabbit burrows. The birds have long straight

legs like waders, which must either be bent close up to the body while

the birds are at work tunnelling, or be stretched straight out behind

as they are during flight. The tunnelling in that case must be done with the

beak and wings alone, the legs being of no use whatever. This Ido not

think at all probable considering the horizontal length of the holes. We

did not open one less than four feet in length, and some went to six or

eight feet, and always in a straight line. Some of these tunnels entered the

hill from the sea-face side, but by far the larger number from the top or

from the landward side and at every conceivable angle. In many cases the

tunnels crossed each other, but they never curved except when the hole was on

the top of the hill,and then only close to the entrance from a vertical to a

horizontal direction. At the end of each tunnel one egg was found, which

appeared to me far too large for the size of the bird, and had it not been for

Captain Shopland’s knowledge of the habits of this bird and my having seen

the birds fly out from the hole, I should not have believed the egg could have

belonged to this bird. I should not have searched so far under the sand-hill

for a bird’s nest at all, more especially for that of a long-legged bird like the

érab-plover. Captain Shopland shot one of the birds tomake sure of its

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 322

identity. It had a strong black beak like a crow and feet like a plover. The

nesting season of this bird must be the middle and end of May, for out of

about three dozen eggs taken one-third were hard-set, one-third half-set, and

the rest quite fresh,

On the 30th May, 1893, we landed on Efat island, another reef island, about

seven miles from Zeila. Here I found two nests of the spoonbill (Platalea

leucorodia) with three eggs in each about half-set. The nests were close to-

gether and built of twigs and dry seaweed on the tops of the mangrove trees,

and were about five feet from the ground. There was nothing remarkable

about these nests. They were merely flat platforms of sticks on the top of

the mangrove trees and were only three or four feet apart. I found one of the

eggs of this bird laid on the sand on Sad-ad-din Island on the morning of 31st,

and it was quite fresh although far from any nest, but I suppose there is

nothing remarkable about this,

THOS. G. R. FINNY,

Commander, R. I. M.

ADEN, 4th June, 1893.

No. XII1.—THE “GLORIOSA SUPERBA,

In Dr, Kirtikar’s paper on poisonous plants in our April number he asks

for further observation of attacks of caterpillars on Gloriosa superba (p. 492).

The plant isa favourite of mine, and so characteristic of Tanna above

all other places where I have seen it that it might almost be taken asa

district badge.

I have often transplanted the bulbs in the rains, and always had the first

shoot after transplantation attacked by caterpillars of sizes and colours

assorted,

Tn the forests and hedges I never saw it so attacked. I suspect the reason

is that the gardeners cannot help giving it richer soil and more water than

it gets at home, producing a more succulent shoot,

W. F. SINCLAIR, 1.68,

TANNA, June, 1893.

XIV.—SIND AS A FIELD FOR THE NATURALIST,

Extracts from a lecture delivered at the Dayaram Jethmal College, Karachi,

on the 19th July, 1893, by H, FE, M. James, 1.0.8., Commissioner in Sind,

In the cold weather Sind is simply a paradise to the lover of birds, During

the winter of 1872-73, when I was a happy young Deputy Collector of Sehwan,

in a position of much greater freedom and more outdoor work than at present,

a great ornithologist, Mr. Allen Hume, visited Sind, and of all the valuable

series of papers which he published in his periodical “ Stray Feathers,” that on

the ornithology of Sind is the first in order and one of the first in value, By

323 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

merely marching through the country he discovered several new species and

added no less than 18 others to the avifauna of India. I had the honour of

giving him one of these, the European Golden Oriole, which I obtained in the

Liyari Gardens, the only specimen ever shot in India, No less than three rare

sand-grouse were procured: Lichtensteint (the pretty painted one which you

occasionally see in the hills) ; Coronatus, still rarer (of which Mr, Watson shot

the first pair right and left—I procured specimens on the Manchar Lake last

year); and Senegallus, the yellow-throated sand-grouse with the spotted female,

which is very common on the Manchar, and even extends into Gujerat. Later

on, other ornithologists like Mr, Scrope Doig in the Eastern Nara, Colonel

Butler of the 83rd Regiment, and Colonel LeMessurier, R.E., sent many con-

tributions from’ Sind. Mr. Doig rediscovered Blyth’s Passer pyrrhonotus, a

_small sparrow peculiar to Sind, which had been lost for about 50 years, since

Sir Alexander Burnes obtained a single specimen in his first journey through

Sind, and which the great naturalist Blyth recognised as a new and separate

species. But yet Gallinula burnesii, Sir Alexander Burnes’ water-hen, very

like the common one, but smaller and without the boss on the forehead, has

not yet been found, and I believe myself it is a doubtful species. Cercomela

melanura, the black-tailed wheat-ear (the wheat-ear of Sind has white feathers

at the base of its tail), has also not been found, though Sir Alexander Burnes

brought it from Sind, and asit occurs at Aden, it doubtless finds its way

into Mekran. Mr. Doig also discovered the nests and eggs of many birds

previously unknown to Indian ornithologists and some unknown to science,

Placed as Sind is, on a kind of dividing line between the peninsular of

Hindustan with its tropical forms and the temperate regions of Beluchistan

and Persia, it is a half-way house where vast numbers of rare birds meet. I

left Sind shortly after Mr, Hume, but I had the pleasure first of adding 10

more to his Sind list. Mr, Hume’s first list gave 280 birds. In 1877 the list

had grown to 334, which was converted into 335 in the same year by the addi-

tion of a wood-cock killed in the Liyari Gardens by Colonel Butler. General

Marston has, during a residence of 50 years, only known of 2 others, both of

which fell to his gun. In 1878 Mr. Doig and Colonel Butler added eight more,

and Mr, Murray added quite a long list, In 1879 the Sind list of birds stood

at 378 ascertained species and 13 doubtful ones. In 1881 Mr. Doig added

2 more, one of them being the famous Passer pyrrhonotus. Mr. Barnes added

another in 1882, thus making a grand total of 381 and 13 doubtful. Mr, Hume

prophesied that the number would reach 400, but unfortunately, just before

that goal was attained, he renounced ornithology.

Even about Karachi, I must tell you, most interesting birds are to be found,

I shot the second specimen ever killed in India, of a rare web-footed sandpiper

(Lobipes hyperboreus), in the harbour here, Colonel Butler, riding out to Clifton

one day, saw on the wet ground to the right a number of terns (those exquisite

french-grey-clad sea-swallows) wheeling about, and discovered the eggs of a

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 324

species which were (I believe) previously unknown, A very interesting and

rare bird frequents the sand-hills near Clifton, Alemon desertorum, or the

desert lark, usually only found in the wildest and most desolate tracts, a large

lark that most people would take for a plover, showing a white bar on its wing

when it rises, The very curious crab plover (Dromas ardeola) is found in the

harbour, In the cold weather many a treasure is lost by its being unrecog-

nised, or for want of some one to prepare the skins, A friend at Sukkur

last year shot the very rare Anser erythropus, the white-fronted goose, and—

ate it. Mr, Hume recorded three geese and fourteen ducks from Sind, but many

have been added since, Mr, Watson, the present Collector of Hyderabad, obtain-

ed three wild swans in 1878, the first adults of Cygnus olor killedin India, That

rare duck, the Smew, with pointed bill and rows of teeth, is more commonly

obtained in Sind than anywhere else in India. On the Manchar Lake you

obtain the great Sheldrake of Hurope. Mr. Hume was the first to note the

marbled teal as an Indian bird, It is common in Central Sind, I added the

larger whistling teal myself to the list, and my friend Mr, Hoare has recognised

the very rare scaup duck in the Delta, Sir Oliver St. John killed the stiff-

tailed duck in Kandahar, so it probably strays into Sind, Colonel Augustus

LeMessurier certainly killed one very rare duck, the lovely clucking teal, in

Sind, The common and jack snipe are common here, but the pin-tail snipe

is very rare, Isaw three and shot one specimen last year, and only one, I think,

had been shot in Sind before. Singularly enough, my shikari recognised it on

the wing as different from the common snipe, which, however, it too greatly

resembles for an ordinary sportsman to discriminate it, In Sind we find six

of the eight sand grouse met with in India, including the three rare ones

I mentioned and of which I have brought you specimens. And we are rich

in other game birds also, We have three bustards—the great bustard in the

desert, the ruffed bustard or talore, and the ‘leek’ or lesser floriken, which is

to be found at Gadap or even on the Moach plain. Colonel Wise and Mr.

Mulock once made a bag of 15 on the Hubb, We have the francolin or black

partridge in abundance, the common grey, the little secsee which gets up in

covies with a whirr, and the chukore is found on Daryaru. As for plovers,

curlews, and the like, their name is legion, The raptorial birds, which I should

have mentioned first, are very numerous, including the great lammergayer

and rare hawks, such as Falco babilonicus, Out at the Hubb you get the rare

Desert or Trumpeter bulfinch, and we have a bulbul, the white-eared, peculiar

to Sind and the Punjab, though it travels as far as Gujerat sometimes, The

greatest find ever made was, perhaps, by Mr. W. T. Blanford, who procured a

very rare African bird, Hypocolius ampelinus, on the Kirthar range,

In the highly important department of Mammals again there is work to be

done in Sind, The Mamh, an almost mythical animal when I was first in Sind,

has, it is true, been captured, and to our disappointment identified as a small

variety of the ordinary Himalayan black bear. But Mr, Murray, I believe,

325 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VILI.

discovered a new hare out at Malir, and to discover so large a mammal at the

end of the XIXth century is no small feat, Amongst the bats, rats, and mice

much remains to be done. I saw a rat not long ago that I feel certain is new,

for once on a time I had to study rats on account of the desolation caused in

Sind by a species of rodent, And in company with rats, Sind is rich in wild

cats. The tiger is nearly, if not quite, extinct in Sind, but the panther is

occasionally procured, These of course are well familiar to us all, but there

are also some magnificent varieties of wild cats in the forests, including the

lynx or shiagosh, General Marston and I once came upon a splendid specimen

in the hills that had been killed by a panther, Several smaller varieties of

Felis also exist which require identification. Of deer, the magnificent ‘“guin”

or swamp-deer, which Mr. Watson has seen in the north of the Rohri Division,

is almost, if not quite, extinct, but I believe that investigators might find the

rare Arabian Chikara or ravine deer, if they looked for it, out beyond the

Hubb. The hog deer is still common, but the black buck is absent except in

His Highness Mir Ali Murad’s preserves. The wild ass of Sind, of which we

have two fine specimens in the Zoological Gardens, is perhaps our best mammal,

Then we have the splendid Sind Ibex, peculiar to Sind and Mekran ; we have

the great Markhor on the hills to the north-west, and the Oorial or Gud.

No. XV.~SINGLE VALVE OF TRIDACNA SQUAMOSA, THE

GREAT SCALY CLAM, FROM TANNA CREEK,

This specimen was obtained by fishermen in the mouth of the Tanna Creek

during July, 1893, and exhibited on the 31st idem.

Tt is the first that I have got on this coast, and the species is unknown to

the fishermen ; but it is figured by Woodward as a Bombay Mollusc on the

authority of Chemnitz, In the Society’s interleaved copy of Woodward’s

Manual of the Mollusca, opposite the key tothe plate, there is a remark

of my own, suggesting that Chemnitz’s locality may have been the bazaar

rather than the harbour of Bombay. All the large clams have long been

imported in a casual way to Bombay, and used for ornamental or quasi orna-

mental purposes, This specimen, which is large, and much worn, may have

been lost from a boat on its way from Bombay to Tannu.

W. F. SINCLAIR, £.C.S.

TANNA, August, 1893.

No. XVI.—BIRDS OBSERVED BREEDING IN KHARAGHORA.

I write to record the finding of the Kentish Ringed Plover breeding here

in the Salt Works. I found two nests of this bird, each with three eggs, and

shot what I took to be the hen bird as it left its nest. I sent the skin to Lieut.

H. H. Barnes, at Ahmednagar, for identification, and he writes to me that it is

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 326

undoubtedly giaktis cantiana, I took these eggs on the 6th instant and

hope to find more nests later on.

T had previously taken, in the same place, numbers of clutches of the Stilt’s

egos, also of Saunder’s Little Tern. The latter, according to my experience,

invariably lay three eggs.

: H. BULKLEY.

KHARAGHORA, 12th August, 1893.

No, XVII—MOTHS ATTRACTED BY TOBACCO SMOKE.

I have read with interest Mr. Oxenham’s note on a butterfly attracted by to-

bacco smoke. I have noticed the same thing more than once. The smell of

tobacco itself is hateful, if not deadly, to most insects ; but the aroma of its

fumes has certainly an attraction for some naughty kinds of moths, The

smell of wine is much more generally attractive to both moths and butter-

flies, and I need not say that they do not always draw the line at smelling it,

When I have seen a moth perplexing itself to discover the source of the in-

toxicating fragrance, I have offered it a sip in a spoon, and the offer has been

most gratefully accepted. It is rather a curious thing that this taste, among

butterflies at least, is confined to certain genera, which we rarely or never

see at flowers, such as Huthalia, Kallima, Charaxes, and most of the Satyrine.

The Papilionine and Danaine, which are fond of flowers, will not be tempted

with liquor. Neither will the Nymphalid genera Hypolimnas and Junonia, nor

any of the Blues. But those butterflies which may be caught with sugar are

much attracted by the juice of certain trees exuding when the bark is cut, and

they often show a taste for grosser refreshment.

HK. H. AITKEN,

Karwar, 16th August, 1893.

No, XVIII—THE HABITS OF THE COPPERSMITH.

I have watched both the Common Coppersmith and other Barbets for many

years to settle to my own satisfaction the question which forms the subject of

a note from Mr, Sinclair in the last number of the Journal. Where doctors

differ those who occupy the room of the unlearned should speak with

diffidence, but if the real question at issue is the existence of some affinity in

habits between the Barbets and the Woodpeckers, I have no hesitation in

saying that I think Jerdon is right, Woodpeckers run up the trunks of trees,

tapping for the insects on which they feed. This the Coppersmith does not

- do, In fact it is scarcely an insect-feeder at all, I kept one in a cage for two

months and could not induce it to eat animal food in any form, It lived

entirely on fruit, chiefly plantains and dry dates, I recollect once seeing one

feeding on insects in a wild state, but it must have been an individual of

original mind, It was capturing flying Termites on the wing! The idea that

327 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

the Coppersmith does sometimes follow the avocation of a Woodpecker has

doubtless arisen from the fact that it nests in holes, which it excavates for

itself, When doing this, it works in precisely the same manner asa Wood-

pecker and with surprising vigour and perseverance, I remember a nest in my

garden at Matheran (not of the Coppersmith, but of the Green Barbet,

M. viridis) in which I heard the bird hammering fiercely long after dark, In

the pitchy darkness of its hole, which was several feet deep, I suppose it did

not know when evening came on. The entrance to the hole is commonly on

the underside of a branch, and of course when the bird is choosing a place, or

just beginning work, it will be found conducting itself quite after the fashion

of a Woodpecker. .

HE. H, AITKEN,

Karwar, 16th August, 1893,

No, XIX.—WHERE DO SWALLOWS SLEEP ?

Can any of the members of the Bombay Natural History Society tell me

where our Swallows sleep ? In the cold season most parts of India swarm with

Swallows, which perch in long rows on the telegraph wires, but not on trees, in

the day-time. They are not on the wires at night, and I very much doubt

their resorting to trees at that time. I think it likely that they sleep in com-

pany, like Bee-eaters ; but though Ihave often startled a company of Bee-

eaters from their roosting tree, I never startled a sleeping Swallow. At one

time I used to meet with large flights of Swallows circling over some flat-topped

rocky hills after dusk, very near the ground. They were not hawking insects,

but evidently wanting to alight, either on the ground or on the low Cajoo-nut

trees which grew on the hill. I watched them patiently several evenings, but

it was very dark, and if I went near enough to follow their movements, they

took fright at once and went off.

EK, H. AITKEN.

Karwar, 17th August, 1893.

No, XX.—ESCAPH OF BLACK SWANS.

Some years ago two Black Swans were imported from abroad by His High-

ness the Maharajah of Darbhungah, I saw the birds swimming near his palace,

and not very long afterwards several young black swans were also to be seen—

about nine of them if I remember right. As soon as the young birds were

able to fly, the swans rose from the water and flew away right across the

station in the direction of the Nepal Frontier, They have never returned, and

it would be interesting to know whether any sportsmen on the Nepal Frontier

have ever shot any of these birds.

A, GOODALL.,

SIMLA, August 20th, 1893.

328

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE MEETING HELD ON 2isr JUNE, 1893.

The usual monthly meeting of the members took place at the Society’s rooms on

Wednesday, the 21st June, 1893, Mr. M. C. Turner presiding.

NEW MEMBHRS.

The following gentlemen were duly elected members of the Society :—

Surgeon-Major J. Parker, M.D. (Bombay) ; Mr. R, A. Lamb, I.C.S, (Alibag) ;

Mr, Sambhu Nath Sukul (Benares) ; Mr, F. G. Brook-Fox, F.G.S. (Ganjam) ;

Mr, F, Kinsman (Mandalay) ; Mr. G. C. Minniken (Simla); Major J. Clibborn,

1.8.C, (Roorkee) ; Mr. Arthur Symthies (Dehra Dun) ; Mr. H. Charles Hill

(Naini Tal) ; Major-General C. F. Sharpe (Coonoor) ; Akbar Saheb Nizamud-

din Divakar (Kalyan) ; Mr. James B, W, Biddle (Karwar); Mr, C, H. Fawcett,

LC.S, (Satara); Mr, A, Kinloch (Rangoon); and Mr, ©, F., Gilbert, C.E.

(Burmah).

CONTRIBUTIONS DURING MAY.

Mr, H. M. Phipson then acknowledged receipt of the following contributions to the

Society’s collections since the last meeting :—

ae ee

Contribution,

8 Crocodiles’ Hggs......0. dod

1 Hartbeest’s head..... estas

3 Panther Cubs, foetal speci-

mens.

1 Cuck00.e....00 Goconaonnn0DCC00

A skull of a Dugong Recnail

on Coast of Cutch.

2 Panther Cubs (alive).....

BoarvLuskg crcesseseess Goacoo0ne

I Snakeeesess cess ooaosaccoooqead

Shells, Snakes and Scor-

pions.

1 Leopard’s Skin .......0....

5 Lizards (alive) ..

1 European Roller (alive).

Spur Fowl (alive) ......000.

1 Pair of Large Ku du u

Horns.

1 Pied Cuckoo (alive) ......

1 Scaly Ant Hater (alive)...

1 Black Ant’s Nest ...... tos

4 Painted Snipe (alive).. .

Eges of Crab Plover and

Spoon bill.

Hop Bind Sy Skis) eweaasdesersess

1 Pied Cuckoo (alive)......

1 Myna (alive)

2 Tortoises .

A number of Birds’ "ees ite

il [Deena Goceschaocoocecocccon

3) IBIS) aonocicooeadeacconsnonno66r

a eee—_u_o ee eeeeeee*"

Description.

Contributor.

Crocodilus palustris ».....0.

Bubalis SWAYDilccsccccessne ss,

Helis) PALAUS) cosesssesec0

.| Mr.

S. Tomlinson, ©.R.

Dr. H. F. Cleveland,

-..| Mr. C. W. Davies.

Cuculus canorus...............| Mr. H. Bulkley.

Halicore dugong .....0r0000- Dr. Ardeshir Dadabhai.

IG@INIS FORRUCIBIS GonocdoboHoSooKoSe Mr. H. E: Winter, C.S.

TQ xe BB ccno) ooncunonodoEONE Mr, F. A. Hill.

Liycodon aulicus ..........0. Capt. Churchward.

From Aden 2.00.00 S90008e0 000 Capt. EH, Shopland,

IG @lliis; TORERCIDIS) | SoansosocrHo00n00K

Sitana ponticeriana

Coracias carrularcryancesessesc

JMitoran VAIBPIG, Gdocoqeobaooconcoe

Strepsiceros kudw oes....06 soe

eeecce.ens

Coccystes jacobinus ...

Manis pentadactyla

From Matheran ......... O60

Rhyuchcea bengalensis......

From Somali Coast

Or0racene

Coccystes jacobinus doagepoo

From Africa

@eatveces = eesece

Ptyas mucogus

Megaderma lyta..........0000.

Major H. B. Thornhill.

Rev. F. Dreckmann, §.J.

Capt. Durant.

Mr. EH. R. Jardine.

Dr. H. F. Cleveland,

.| Mr. Wm. Mountain,

Mr. Daji A. Khare,

.| Dr. J. C. Lisboa.

Mrs. Pearson.

Capt T, G. Finny,

Capt A. Newnham.

-| Lord Colin Campbell.

Acridotheres tristis ....0c...

Mr. G. V. Evans.

Mr. J. H. Hale.

Vet.-Capt. Jas. Mills.

aiscdesis ceeooe| Hon. Mr. Justice Parsons,

Mr. W. George.

329 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

MINOR CONTRIBUTIONS.

From Mr. R. Thom, Miss Baird, Mr. N. 8. Symons, Mr, J. M. Coode, and Mr.

F, A, Little.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIBRARY.

Indian Moths, Vol. 1. (Hampson) ...... secveereeeee rom Mr. W. F. Sincilair, C.S.

Transactions of the Entomological Society of

HHondonPnorMl G02 hecsveseedsseseccseserreencevse--v ll Exchange,

A Hunter’s Wanderings in Africa, 3rd Edition

(SelOUS) ..c..sseeresreserereceeeeseree “pg90hoBODeObBqbGO0N0 Purchased,

Proceedings of the Zoological Society of

London, Part IV., 1892 ...... Mucrcecesscetorscteiteecsis From Mr, W. F, Sinclair, C:8.

Actes de la Societe Scientifique du Chili, Tome II.In exchange.

Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New

South Wales. Vol. VII, Part IV. ............... In exchange.

Pharmacographica Indica (Dymock, Warden,

and Hooper), Part VI. wosssersocce:cecsesestereessse cranes

PAPERS READ.

The following papers were then placed before the meeting, and extracts

from them were read and discussed :—1. Notes on Sport in Somali Land, by

C, G. Dodgson, 1.0.8, 2. Small Game Shooting in the neighbourhood of

Bombay, Season 1892-93, by HE. L. Barton. 3. Habits of the Indian Robin,

by Capt, A. Newnham. 4. Note on Argynnis niphe, a nymphalid butterfly,

by Mrs. S. Robson. 5. Note on same, by L. de Nicéville. 6, On the

occurrence of the Hyena in South Travancore, by H.S. Ferguson. 7. The

flowering of Bamboos, by G. Jasper Nicholls, 1.C:S.

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE MEETING HELD ON THE 31st JULY, 1893.

The usual monthly meeting of the members took place at the Society’s rooms on

Monday the 81st July, 1893, Brigade-Surgeon-Liutenant-Colonel G. A. Maconachie

presiding.

NEW MEMBERS.

The following gentlemen were duly elected members of the Society :—

Mr. J. Rivett-Carnac (Cachar) ; Mr. A. Bagshaw (Assam) ; Mr. E.G. Gahagan,

C.E. (Sind); Mr. Alexander M. Tod (Bombay) ; Mr. R. Kennedy (Bombay) ;

Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel H. Cook (Kamptee); Hon. Sec., Mhow Military

Library; Captain Chas. J. Melliss (Pishin); Mr. G. D. Marston, C,H. (Sholapore);

Mr. F. Ede, C.B. (Cachar) ; Major D. de Hoghton (Bombay).

ELECTION CANCELLED,

It was resolved that the election of Mr. Sambhu Nath Sukul of Benares

be cancelled,

PROCEEDINGS.

330

The Honorary Secretary then acknowledged receipt of the following con-

tributions to the Society’s Museum since the last meeting :—-

CONTRIBUTIONS DURING JULY.

Contribution. Description. Contributor,

1 Pair of horns of Clarke’s} Ammodorcas Clarkei......... Lt. H. EH. Barnes.

gazelle.

1 Snake (alive) ....... peacie0od Tropidonotus stolatus ...... Miss. M. Smith.

1 Lion cub (alive)......0cc0-..| From Somali Land.........0 Mr. EH. L. Cappel, I.C.8.

1 Spotted Owlet (alive) ...| Carine brama ............-+0006 Mr, Alex. Tod.

Shell of

Monalketrecesserdescecsceseete

1 Krait (alive)

12 large sand Lizards (alive)

UME TSbaccumeseaceansscecesesc cts

1 Wild Cat’s skin

40 young Vipers.....c.0. crac oad

1 Sea Snake (alive) .........

7 Kges of the blue-breasted

banded Rail.

2 Chameleons (alive) ......

1 Black Cobra (alive)

A collection of Butterflies...

3 Eggs of the Stilt. .....2....

1 Wild Cat’s skin

Tridacna squamosa found in

Tanna Creek.

eo] Ly codon aulicus..cccsccccsesee

Bungarus arcuatus ....c0s..

Uromastix hardwickii ......

Eupodotis edwardsii ....... oc

From Somali Land............

Wipera russellit, iiccescssece.

Hydrophis curta.-......c000+0«

Hypotenidia striata .........

Chameleon calcaratus «+...

Naga tripudians........ccsces

ROMIPASSATIN deesenclveciesisereies

Himantopus candidus

From Africa

Mr. W. F. Sinclair, 1.0.8.

Mr, F. Fischer.

Surgeon-Capt. C. M. Moore.

Capt. C. W. F. Whyte,

Mrs. N. C. Pearson.

Capt. C. J. Melliss.

Mr. W. H. Traill.

Mr. J. A. Douglas.

Mr. W. F. Sinclair, I.C.S.

Capt. H. F. Jacob.

Mr. P. R. Mehta.

Mr. W. Litchfield.

Mrs. N. C. Pearson.

Mr. A. H. Saklatwala.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIBRARY.

Perak Museum Notes, No. 1..... apoqoocdourcosondacondleen In Exchange,

The Hawks and Owls of the United States in their

relation to Agriculture

(iishen))ceecacdeseseeces we

Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London.

IPinrat IL @IE ES) eoocoonocaansabuadasccocoqounb oseode From Mr, W. F, Sinclair, I.C.8.

Transactions of the Zoological Society of London,

Vol, XIII., Part 6

Sind as a field for the Naturalist and Antiquarian

(H. HE. M, James

e eoeceneoesoeescceesessrcosseceeoe

Handbook of the Flora of Ceylon, Part I, with

Plates (Trimen)

Journal of the Marine Biological Association

Do.

From the Author,

Do.

In Exchange.

LAND AND FRESH-WATER SHELLS.

The Honorary Secretary made a special appeal on behalf of the Society’s

collection of Land and Fresh-water shells.

He stated that it was at this time

of the year that such shells were most easily procurable, and he trusted that

members in all parts of India would assist in increasing the Society’s

collection.

PAPERS READ,

The following papers were then read :—

Saute. he

A Day’s Sport in the Berars ; by Colonel Kenneth Mackenzie.

The Indian Snake-bird (Plotus melanogaster), his Works and Ways; by

W. F. Sinclair, I.C.8.

The Jackal, or Lion Provider ; F. J. A. Hill.

Nesting of the Crab-piover ; by Capt. T. G. R. Finny, R.I.M.

Jungle Notes; by P. H. Clutterbuck, A.C, Forests.

abi agcinaebins

Miantern Br

THRE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY.

Strychnos nux vomica.Nat Ord. Logamacece.

> Beryamun del

1. Transverse Section of Fruit. jz mat. size -

2. Flower, 3. See 4 Vertical Sectiow of Seed. Nok. svxe .

Nat. Svze.

JOURNAL

OF THE

a ie ES TAL TY.

dlatural History Society,

No. 3.] BOMBAY. [Vol. VII

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY.

By Surczon-Masor K. R. Kirtigar, 1.M.58., F.L.8.

PART VII.

(With Plate I.)

(Continued from page 230.)

STRYCHNOS NUX-VOMICA.—(Linz,)

(Natural Order—Logantace#, )

MARATHI—RACT 5 AIST.

A tree over 40 feet in height, with a straight thick trunk.

Root.—Thick and with a yellowish epidermis ; very bitter.

Stem.—Often 12 feet in circumference.

Brancuzs,—Dense, irregular, covered with a smooth ash-coloured

bark. Young shoots shining and deep green, often tinged with red ;

bark nodose, bitter, glabrous.

PEtioLE.—}—4 inch long ; deeply grooved.

STrPULES.—None, says Roxburgh in his “ Coromandel Plants.”

Between the opposite leaves there is a raised line, which is perhaps a

rudimentary interpetiolar stipule.

Leaves.—Glabrous on both sides, shining, opposite, entire, coria-

ceous, often decussate in an oblique manner, arising from stout nodes ;

ovate or rotundate, sometimes elliptically oblong ; 3—5 nerved ;

shortly acuminate or almost apiculate. 13 inches x 6 inches ; usually

3—5 inches long. Base obtuse, somewhat unequal.

PEDUNCLE.—}—2 inches.

332 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII

FiLowErs.—Many, small, greenish-white, appearing with young

leaves on short slender pedicels ; collected on small terminal pubescent

corymbose cymes 1—2 inches in diameter, at the end of the branch-

lets or on short axillary shoots ; pentamerous ; bisexual.

CaLyx.—5-parted ; persistent ; 4 or | the size of the corolla.

CoroLLa.—Valvate, hypogynous ; regular, tubular or funnel-shaped,

with a 5-lobed reflexed short limb. Tube } to 4 inch long, glabrous

at the throat, lobes valvate, about 2 inch long ; glabrous ; a few conical

hairs lower down the tube.

STAMENS.—95, epipetalous in the throat of the corolla tube, alternating

with the corolla segments.

FILAMENTS.—Scarcely any, or exceedingly short ; inserted over the

bottom of the division of the corolla.

ANTHERS.—Oblong, glabrous, half within the tube, half out.

StyLe.—Of the length of the corolla tube; glabrous; filiform.

Stiama.—Small or short ; undivided, capitate ; sometimes indis-

tinctly 2-lobed.

Ovary.—F ree ; 2-celled.

PLacentas.—Fleshy ; adnate to both sides of the dissepiment.

Fruir.—A berry, globose, smooth, indehiscent, with a fragile shell-

like rind, orange-sized and orange-coloured when mature ; filled with a

soft white jelly-like pulp, which is intensely bitter.

SEEDS,—immersed in the pulp,—2—5 in number ; 3 inch in diameter,

circular, discoid, shining, light grey, silky ; not reniform as Brandis

says, but having one surface convex, and the opposite correspondingly

concave, with a small foveola in the centre of each side.

ALBuUMEN,—white, horny or cartilaginous as Gaertener calls it.

Hupryo.—Very small, compared with the size of the seed; straight,

eccentric ; milk=white.

CotyLEpons.—Cordate, acuminate, tri-nerved, very thin.

RavicLE,—Clavate, very small, placed near the hilum.

REMARKS.

The wood is very hard and close-grained, white or grey, with

numerous medullary rays. One cubic foot weighs 52 pounds. It is

used for many purposes, such as ploughs, cart-wheels, cots, and fancy

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 333

cabinet work. The tree appears to be a native of Ceylon. My de-

scription is mainly drawn from the specimens obtained from the two

handsome trees growing at Bassein in the Salsette Island in a garden

near the ruins of the old Portuguese Fort.

Every part of the plant is exceedingly bitter, particularly the root.

The pulp of the fruit, says Roxburgh, “ seems perfectly innocent, as it is

eaten greedily by many sorts of birds.” Colonel Drury quotes this obser-

vation in his “ Useful Plants of India.’’ The root has the reputation

of curing intermittent fevers. Rheede says that when boiled and drunk,

it is purgative. The bark is used as an antidote for snake-bite.

Brandis says that the pulp in the fruit is orange-coloured. It is not so;

it is white. It is difficult to understand how such a careful observer

as Brandis says so. It is evidently a misprint or slip of the pen.

The seeds contain 0°28 to 0°50 per cent. of an alkaloid called Strych-

nia, mixed with another alkaloid Bructa, closely related to it.

Igasuric acid, similar to malzc acid, is associated with these alkaloids.

It is these alkaloids which render the plant poisonous.

The late Professor Sir Robert Christison says that the bark might be

advantageously substituted for the seed in the preparation of strychnia.

The tree flowers in the cold season. Kurz in his “Forest Flora of

British Burma,” (vol. II. pp. 166—167), says it flowers in April

and May. It may beso in Burma. The trees in Bassein flower in

January. The fruit is ready in the early part of the cold season.

Kurz says that the tree sheds leaves in the hot season. It is not

known to do so in Salsette.

Brandis says the seeds are flat. If it be so, it is quite exceptional.

The general form of the seed is correctly described by Gaertener when

he calls it convexo-concave.

Roxburgh observes in his “‘ Coromandel Plants ” that the shell cover-

ing the fruit is somewhat hard. It is not so when mature and dry. It

has the appearance of being so when the fruit is but half developed and

the pulp has not yet become jelly-like, but is dense and comparatively

drier. When, however, the fruit matures and the pulp is well formed

and becomes almost isolated from the shell, the thinness is apparent.

It is still more so when the fruit becomes dry ; the seed and the pulp

then lie loose in the cavity, and the shell easily cracks with a resinous

fracture when pressed between the fingers.

334 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIII

Hooker adds a very imporant note in the description of this plant

(Vide “ Flora of British India,” Vol. IV, p. 90), which is as follows :—

“ Bentham also reduces to the present species Sérychnos ligustrina

(Blume, Rumphius I, 68, ¢. 25), which does not differ by any

tangible character, but has smaller somewhat different-looking leaves.”

PorIsonous PROPERTIES.

Nux-Vomica is so well-known for its poisonous properties that it is

hardly necessary to do more in these pages than state them briefly.

Strychnia, the chief active principle of this plant, is one of the most

powerful poisons acting on the nervous and muscular systems. It

causes tetanus—that is to say, tonic contractions of all voluntary

muscles. These contractions are generally sudden and last from a few

seconds to many minutes. They follow each other in rapid succession.

In severe forms there is hardly any intermission. The whole body in

such cases becomes “rigid, immoveable, and hard as a board”

(Schmiedeberg).

The convulsions excited by this alkaloid originate in the spinal cord

probably by acting directly upon the motor-cells. The reflex irrita-

bility of the spinal cord, of the medulla oblongata, and of the brain

is excessively increased. This causes tetanus. When the brain and

medulla oblongata are in this state, the spasms get excited by the

slightest, often imperceptible, stimuli, which may meet the eye, the ear,

and particularly the organs of touch, so that they apparently come on

without a cause (Schmiedeberg).

Strychnia has been found in blood. It has a marked effect on

circulation. The blood pressure rises; there is arterial tension

during the appearance of the convulsions; the frequency of

the pulse becomes simultaneously slowed. This Mayer believes to

be due to vaso-motor spasm from increased irritability of the origins

of the vascular nerves and the cardiac inhibitory fibres of the vagus.

It must be remembered that the mind is perfectly clear in strychnia-

poisoning. Strychnia isa cumulative poison. It also diminishes the

process of oxidation in blood—that is to say, the amount of oxygen ab-

sorbed and of carbonic acid given out by blood are diminished (Harley).

Brucia is another alkaloid found in Nux-Vomica, but in smaller

quantity than strychnia. It possesses properties similar to strychnia,

but as a poison brucia is less active than strychnia.

335

THE COMMON MARINE SHELLS OF THE BOMBAY

SHORE.

By A. ABERCROMBIE,

leveled QU

(Continued from page 222.)

THE BIVALVES.

These shells have received a great variety of scientific names based

upon the peculiarities of animal formation which the various authorities

have considered best adapted for their own mode of classification, but

all are agreed that it is difficult to divide them into well-defined sub-

classes.

The authority which we are following places at least three-fourths

of the Bombay Bivalves, which he calls

LAMELLIBRANCHIATA,

under the head of Veneracea, but we shall endeavour to subdivide them

according to some other writers on more or less marked differences in

the shells themselves.

The bivalves have the power of attracting currents of water into

their shells, which they filter of all nutrimental or shell-producing

matter it may contain, and then pass out again.

Some of them accomplish this simply by slightly opening the valves

of their shells ; others are provided with siphons or fleshy tubes (either

one with two divisions or two separate ones) which they can protrude

in varying lengths from the mouths of their shells.

The opening and shutting of the shells is performed by certain

muscles, and the number and arrangement of these muscles, as shown by

the scars left on the interior, is our first help to the classification we

adopt. Next, the presence or absence of the aforesaid siphons is also

denoted by scars on the valves, but it is not always easy to detect these

Scars, especially if specimens are old and worn ; further we have the

interlocking teeth of the hinge of the shell, which are very variable and

are a distinct feature in some families ; and, lastly, the ligament holding

the two valves together is sometimes external, sometimes internal.

336 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

The bivalves have very limited powers of locomotion. The oyster

family, when first they come into existence, can swim about, but they

soon attach themselves to rocks or stones, and then become permanently

fixed. Other families, notably the mussels, spin what is called a byssus,

a horny or fibrous material which passes through an aperture in the

valves of the shell, and enables them to attach themselves more or less

firmly to rocks or stones, but by far the greatest proportion are simple

burrowers in sand, mud, or even stone.

This burrowing in sand or mud is effected by means of a fleshy lobe

or foot (it is often the shape of a foot), and the process may easily be

watched if a live shell be placed ina tank or basin upon some sand,

‘When a sufficient time has elapsed to calm the fears and suspicions of

the animal, it will protrude its foot from between the valves of the shell,

thrust it down into the sand, and then with a jerky motion the shell is

drawn vertically downwards a little ; and the process is repeated till it

has disappeared. The whole proceeding occupies only a very few

minutes, but some are much more rapid in their actions than others.

The depth the animal will burrow seems to depend upon the length

of its siphons ; these, when it is down, are protruded until their fringed

mouths lie exactly on the surface of the sand, and in this position they

are quite invisible until the currents of water they attract and repel

point to their presence.

The only instance of activity I have seen amongst the bivalves was

some young specimens of the family Meroé, which, after driving their

foot into the sand, jerked it out, causing their shells to shoot a distance

of a few inches through the water.

We now come to our classification :

Division I.—Shells with two muscular impressions or scars on the

inside of the valves at opposite sides and nearly equal in size.

Division IJ.—Shells with two unequal impressions ; but this

division will not be further considered in this paper, as the only

representatives of it are some specimens belonging to the well-

known mussel family, and they are very uncommon.

Division I1i.—Shells with one impression, or two or three close

together and centrally placed.

Before going further, it is necessary to note that the umbo is the

name given to the beak or commencement of growth of the shell, and

THE COMMON MARINE SHELLS OF THE BOMBAY SHORE, 337

the ventral border is the edge of the shell opposite the umbo and which

- constitutes the length of the shell. The breadth is, of course, a measure-

ment from the umbo to the ventral border in a straight line, and this

measurement also determines whether a valve is equilateral or not, 2.e.,

whether the umbo is centrally placed with regard to the shape of the

valve. When dimensions are given, they are of what I believe to be

full-sized specimens.

Unfortunately nearly all the common bivalves belong to Division I,

but two large subdivisions are fairly easily determined—the Integri-

pallia and the Stnupallia. Still regarding the inside of the shell, there

will be found running parallel to the ventral border a line or scar

formed by the muscular attachment of what is termed the mantle

of the animal to the shell. In cases where this line (the pallial line)

simply follows the outline of the shell between the two muscular scars,

it indicates that the animal has no siphons and belongs to the class

Integripallia. Where this line is inflected and forms a sinus or bay,

the animal has siphons—the Srnupallia.

Division I.

INTEGRIPALLIA.—Licgament Externat.

ARCACHA.

There are many species of this family, and it is easily recognised

by the long straight row of similar and comb-like teeth of the hinge.

Shells generally white and covered more or less with a rough

or bristly epidermis, also radiately ribbed from the umbo.

Arca inequivalvis (Brug.) is a large thick swollen shell with about

34 broad smooth ribs. Umboes curled over the broad ligamental area,

Length 24—38", breadth 2—22", depth of double shell 2”.

Arca bistrigata (Dunker) lives attached to rocks or stones by a

horny byssus coming out of the centre of the ventral border, and can

only be removed by the use of a considerable amount of force. It is

generally a rough dirty-looking shell often covered with limy matter

and a bristly epidermis. The shell is oblong, and the hinge line is very

long and straight.

Ribs numerous, slightly noduled and in pairs at the sides.

Size 2—22" X12".

338 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VITT,

Arca granosa (Lam.)—Shell nearly equilateral and strongly ribbed

with about 20 noduled ribs.

Kpidermis brown, thin, and scaly. Shell pure white.

_Sizerdle x ae

Arca japonica (Reeve).—Shell oblong, very inequilateral, shining

white, with 32 to 33 broad flat ribs.

Size 13” & 1”.

Area tenebrica (Reeve) isa small oval flattish shell with the hinge

line slightly curved. The ribs are close set and very numerous.

Size $” X 4", but I have one specimen #” X 3”.

Arca ae (Linn.) is the smallest of the family and very common

amongst shell shingle. White or yellow tinged, hump-backed and

somewhat squarely shaped, with the umbo curling over the ligamental

area. Radiate ribs numerous and somewhat beaded.

Size 3” x },

LUCINACHA.

We have two specimens of this family which are so widely different

in every respect that it is hard to believe they are correctly classified.

Cardita antiquata (Lam.) is one of our commonest shells. Very

massive, white beneath, with a yellow-brown epidermis, and with irre- -

gular burnt blotches or streaks scattered over the radiate ribs, Ribs

broad, and about 23 in number. Hinge remarkable for long ridge,

which fits into a corresponding groove.

Size 24” x 2".

Diplodonta indica (Desh.) is a very delicate white globular little

shell, smooth and shining, or very finely concentrically striated,

About the size of a small marble.*

CYPRINACEA.,

Cardium asaticum (Brug.)=coronatum (Speng.)—This is our re«

presentative of the cockle family, and the double shell viewed side-

ways gives a perfect outline of a heart. The ventral border is semi-

circular. Shell light yellow and deeply ridged, with 33 to 34 radiate

ribs, which are notched or lamellated towards the ventral border.

Hinge, central teeth small, but two sharp pointed prominent ones on

either side, widely separated from the others.

* N.B.—Dr. Fischer puts this shell under the Ungulinide.)

THE COMMON MARINE SHELLS OF THE BOMBAY SHORE. 339

SINUPALLIA.—Ineament Exrernat.

VENERACEA.

Cypricardia, bellicata (Reeve).—This is a smallish, dull, chalk-white

shell, shaped something like a bean, very inequilateral ; in fact the

umbo is quite at one side. It is smooth, but irregularly roughly

ridged or striated with the lines of growth. Hinge teeth one small

one on each valve, Sinus slight.

Size 12” %& 2",

We now come to seven shells which are much mixed up in sub-

classes, but which I shall endeavour to take together under some lead-

ing features.

They are all polished shining shells, thickish, with 2" sharp closely

set prominent teeth in the hinge, and are generally smooth and —

coloured,

Meretrix morphina (Lam.) is about the largest, very shining, thick

and smooth, and ofall colours, from pale buff to deep rich brown. Shell

somewhat triangularly cut and ventral border rounded. Umboes

nearly straight, making valve not far off being equilateral. Sinus very

slight.

Size 24” x 2”.

The shells figured in Reeve as Cytherea castanea, C. petechialis, and

C. impudica appear also to be this species.

Chione pinguis (Hind’s) is also very shining and smooth, but the shell

is much thinner and more swollen, especially towards the umboes.

Colour generally light or dark slate with concentric bands or wavy lines.

Shape ovalish, umboes curling away from the ligament side of the

shell, which side is produced or elongated. Sinus broad, deep, and

oval.

Size 2" x 123",

Chione radiata (Chem.)—-Similar in shape to the last, but more

oval, flatter, not so shining, and with irregular concentric striations,

Umboes straightish and not very prominent, i.e. they do not much

distort the general oval shape of the valve. Sinus deep and oval.

In colouring, this shell, as is the case with many of the bivalves,

defies description. Young specimens have a reddish tinge which

turns to brown or grey when older, and many are marbled or clouded

340 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

with angular dark grey colourings on a light ground, also frequently

radiately dark banded. The variations in colour and shape no doubt

account for its having received three names and being figured

in Reeve’s Conchologia as Tapes marmorata and T. orientalis. The

name of C. radiata is that applied to the adult specimens in the

British Museum. :

Size 12” & 12".

Tapes textriz (Chem).—-One of our commonest shells, elongated, oval,

very smooth and shining (old shells sometimes irregularly, concentri-

cally striated), and with very pronounced blackish zigzag or net-

shaped markings on a yellowish ground. Sinus rather small, not

pointed.

Size 18" x 4".

Meroe solandri (Gray) and M. effossa (Hanley).—These are two oval,

flattish, thick, very shining shells remarkable for a deep linear cut

or depression in the shell behind the umboes and in which the

ligament lies. Beaded on the inner edge of ventral border.

M. solandri is quite smooth and of a uniform cream to buff. Young

specimens are often prettily flame marked with yellow to brownish

colourings.

Sinus broad, not very deep.

Size 13" x 14".

M. effossa is concentrically lined or grooved, most clearly so towards

the linear cut spoken of. Nearly covered with flame or sharp

pointed wavy bands of yellow or light brown, often tinged with

purple.

Sinus as last.

Size 12” x 14".

Pullastra malabarica (Chem.).—This shell differs from the others

in being strongly concentrically ridged or furrowed ; umboes a good

deal curled ; ventral border rounded, and large specimens look about

as broad as they are long.

Colour yellowish with fine grey frecklings and frequently four

dark radiate bands of colour.

Sinus pel and broad, extending to middle of shell.

Size 24" x 22",

THE COMMON MARINE SHELLS OF THE BOMBAY SHORE. 341

Venus imbricata (Sow.) is a very small shell found in great

quantity amongst shingle. White, sometimes yellow or purple-tinged

towardsthe umbo, Radiately ribbed. Ribs about 13—19 and noduled.

Length 2” and nearly the same breadth,

Circe divaricata (Chem.).—Shell oblong, oval, flattish, thick, radiately

ridged, ridges diverging from umbo and centre line of shell, also

partially concentrically ridged, giving a beaded appearance in places.

Colour fulvous-white, mostly streaked or blotched with red brown.

Sinus inflection hardly noticeable.

Size 1)" & 12"

Dosinia or Artemis——There: are four species of this genus, all

more or less circular in shape and closely concentrically striated.

The umboes are pointed and curled, and stand out of the circular contour

more or less. Immediately under the umboes is a small heart-shaped

impression indented in the shell. Sinus large and pointed, extending

to middle of valve.

D. prostrata (Linn.) is a large flat fawn-coloured, shining shell,

Ntriations at sides run into converging ridges,

Diameter about 2", :

D. pubescens (Phil.).—White, sometimes faintly pink tinged ; finely

silkily striated. Most frequently found about the size of a 4-anna

piece, but grows to 14” diameter. ;

D. rustica (itomer) is a rough chalky-looking shell about the

size of a rupee. Striations fine and becoming ridged at the sides,

D. gibba (Adams) is about the same size as the last, but the umbo

is much produced, destroying the circular form, The shell, too, is

thinner and more swollen towards the umbo. ‘he heart-shaped

impression is comparatively Jarge and faint; pure white and finely

evenly striated,

Donax or Wedge-shells——We have three members of this genus,

Ligament short, and side of shell on which it lies (the posterior side)

truncated. Sinus deep, Shell inequilateral.

D. scortum (Linn.).—Easily known by the polished purple interior

_ and the sharply truncated side ending in a point at the ventral border,

Outwardly the shell is brownish-grey concentrically striated, forming

ridges towards anterior side. Shell also radiately striated, especially

on anterior side,

Size 2" x 1)”,

342 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

D. abbreviatus (Lam.) is a small, thick, very inequilateral shell

finely concentrically striated, varying in colour from pure white to

purple-brown. When coloured there is generally a light ray from umbo

to ventral border. Hinge-teeth, one prominent in one valve fitting bet-

ween two smaller ones in the other.

Size 1"* 8".

D. incarnatus (Chem.)=.D. dyson (Desh). —A pretty little whitish

shell often delicately tinged with yellow, pink or purple. Smooth and

shining, truncated end concentrically furrowed. Apex pointed and

straight, giving the shell an angular shape.

Size 4" 2", but found much larger than this at Ratnagiri.

pln des airata (Desh.)\—This shell, being the only true purple

bivalve I have found, will not need much description. It is thin,

oblong, somewhat transparent, generally partially covered with a

greenish epidermis, and with 2 light rays running from umbo to

ventral border in a slanting direction.

Length 12” x 2".

The Tellinas form a very numerous family generally taken by itself

and even much subdivided.

The Bombay specimens are thin flattish mequilateral shells generally

white, and the posterior side (7. ¢., the side with the ligament) is

truncated or more frequently plicated. |

Hinge-teeth insignificant, sometimes obsolete,

Sinus in all cases very large.

The following are all white.

T. sinuata (Spengler).—Large, very flat, oval, very silky, and

finely concentrically striated ; posterior side produced and slightly

flexuous,

Size 23” x 18".

T. capsoides (Lam.).—Also flat, chalky-white, slightly rough, and

clearly concentrically striated ; posterior side short, plicated, and trun-

cated ; anterior rounded and faintly radiately striated,

Size 13” x 12".

T. edentula (Spen.).—Large, thin ; umbu pointed, rather swollen and

angular ; inequilateral ; posteriorly strongly flexuous, anteriorly pro-

duced and oval ; smooth, shining, and striated with lines of growth, i)

Size 23" x 14”.

THE COMMON MARINE SHELLS OF THE BOMBAY SHORE, 343

Z. ala (Hanley).—The chief feature is the pointed and plicated

posteriorend. Anterior end rounded ; umbo pointed, but not much pro-

duced ; silkily minutely concentrically striated ; sometimes rusty-tinged

by the epidermis,

Size 14” < 2,

T. truncata (Tonas) is a very thin, pure white, perfectly smooth,

oval shell, very inequilateral; umbo pointed and angular, Posterior side

slightly flexuous.

Size 13" x 1".

T’. emarginata (Sow.).—An oblong, very highly polished, smooth

shell with concentric agate-like veins frequently pinkish towards the

umbo, or pink-rayed; posterior side sharply flexuous, forming sometimes

a sort of dip in the shell.

Size 12" 2".

EXTERNAL LIGAMENT SLIGHT OR WANTING.

Semele cordiformis (Sow.) is the name of a whity-pink, some-

what circular and thickish shell often pink-rayed and banded, espe-

cially towards the umbo. Both radiately and concentrically striated,

the former being particularly permanent towards the ventral border,

Sinus deep and broad,

Central teeth obsolete, a long internal ligament taking their place.

Lateral teeth two. About the size of a rupee,

The Mactras are chiefly known by the pecularity of the hinge-teeth,

In the centre is a more or less hollowed-out triangular or spoon-

shaped projection or pit which holds the internal ligament. Beside

this are sharp interlocking teeth, beyond which the hinge area is

more or less grooved laterally.

M. luzonica (Desh.) only occurs here as a small nearly equila-

teral and triangular shell, very shining, and finely concentrically

striated. Colour variable, but generally a grey purple towards the

umbo.

‘Size about 2” & 8" or smaller,

Cecella transversalis (Desh).— An oblong equilateral shell gene-

rally covered, all but the umbo, with a yellow-brown epidermis, beneath

which it is quite white,

Size 12” > 2”,

344 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Of the genus Standella there seem to be two species—S. capillacea

(Desh.) and S. pellucida (Chem.), but the hinge-teeth and ligament-

pit are so exactly alike in both cases that I am in some doubt,

from a recent examination of a number of specimens, as to

whether we have or have not two species. If we have, S. capillacea is

much the larger, rough, oval, and inequilateral, white or more often

tinged with rusty-yellow, rough, and irregularly concentrically

striated with lines of growth and fine wrinkled striations in a radiate

direction, especially towards the ventral border.

Size 33” x 23".

S. pellucida is much smaller, and the oval shape is more pointed.

Shell shining white and silkily, very finely, concentrically striated.

Radiate wrinklings not present,

Size 22" X 13".

MYACHA.

The Bombay specimens of this family are so widely different in

form that they must be taken separately,

Thracia salsettensis has been described and figured by Mr.

Melvill, and a copy of his diagram and pamphlet has been reproduced

in this journal.

Anatina labsata (Reeve) is an extremely fragile oblong some-

what swollen, pearly-looking shell ; semi-transparent; interior vitreous,

and with a single spoon-shaped projection to hold the internal ligament,

The shorter side of the shell is rostrated or slightly thrown back,

causing it to gape.

Solen truncatus (Sow.)—(The razor shell)—is very common ; the

double shell forms a long cylinder open at both ends, often covered

with a greenish epidermis. Shell tinged with rusty-pink often trans-

versely banded with this colour.

Length 3" to 7".

PHOLADACEA.

One species, Pholas baker: (Desh.), is certainly common, and I

believe these shells have been called angels’ wings, the imaginary

drawings of which they faintly resemble. A very elongated, pure

white, thin and brittle shell concentrically and radiately roughly ridged,

the ridges forming sharp points at the junction. At the umbo the shell

is curled over on itself, a very marked feature. Interior porcellanous.

Length about 3" x1".

THE COMMON MARINE SHELLS OF THE BOMBAY SHORE. 345

DIVISION III.

This comprises all the oysters, and I give the following extract from

the paper already mentioned :—

Ostrea crenulifera (Sow.)=plicata (Chem),

Ostrea bicolor (Hanley).

We give these names as most closely corresponding to the Bombay

specimens that have come under our notice, but this genus is so widely

distributed in all seas and the similarity of shell sculpture is so close,

whilst the shape is so varied, that it is impossible to speak with abso-

lute certainty.

O, lacerata (Hanley).—Found on stones at low tide, densely clustered

and arranged vertically.

Of the genus Anomia we have two species.

A. acheus (Gray).—A translucent, silky, copper-tinged (yellow to

red) shell with often a roughly wrinkled exterior and a very polished

metallic interior. The lower valve is flat and has a large circular or

oval hole extending to the middle of the valve through which the

byssus passes. The animal lives attached to rocks or stones, and, like

the oysters, adapts itself in the shape of its shell to its surroundings.

Muscular impressions central and so close together as often to make

one scar.

Hinge-teeth absent.

Size about 14" 14".

Placuna placenta (Linn.).—Circular, very flat and thin discs, often

as large as a saucer. Texture like mica or talc, smooth towards the

umbo, otherwise finely wrinkled with minute thread-like shining lines,

Young shells faintly pink-tinged ; old ones often blackened with mud,

otherwise they are white. In the interior at the umbo there are two

diverging ridges.

The Pectens.—These well known scallop (expanded fan-shaped) shells

are only represented here by one or at most two species. Umboeg

pointed and angular, and with wings or ears on either side; ventral

border semi-circular,

P. singaporinus (Sow.) has about 21 ribs, is whitish and generally

densely covered with transverse bandings or blotchings of dark brown

or rusty-red.

346

COLLECTING WAYS AND COLLECTING DAYS.

By Masor C. T. Bryenam, F.z.8., Morest Department, Burma.

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society, 1éth Nov., 1893.)

Collecting on the Kawkareik aed Myawaddy Road, :

I know of no forests in all this forest-bearing country of Tenasserim

so interesting as those lying in the Hast Salween sub-division of

the Salween—Ataran Forest Division.

Apart from the fact that from a forest point of view the Hast

Salween contains perhaps the most valuable forests in the province, the

whole country, from the configuration of the land and from the char-

acter of the vegetation covering it, forms the very happiest of hunting

grounds for a natural history collector. From north-west to south-

east right along the whole length of the sub-division runs the range

of the Dawnat mountains, covered for the greater part by dense

evergreen forests, and possessing peaks running to 4,000 and 5,000

feet.

One of these, Mulayit, has been made famous by the collections

made thereon by Mr. Limborg, the late Mr. W. Davison, and Signor

Fea. The Dawnat range forms the water-shed between the Thaungyin

river on the east and the Hlamgbwé and Haungdraw rivers on the

west. For the most part it is covered by unbroken forests, and its

wilder portions are only known to the wandering Karens ; no white

man has penetrated to their depths. Here and there rough pathways,

leading over high and rugged passes, cross the range, and being often

the only breaks for: miles in the dense forests are, at most times,

thronged with birds and insects. In all Tenasserim I do not know any

collecting ground so good as the road leading from Kawkareik, a large

village in the Haungdraw valley across the Taungjah pass (1,500 ft.)

to Myawaddy, a village on the Siamese frontier in the Thaungyin

valley. For some reason or another, possibly attracted by the dense

evergreen vegetation, many Malayan species, both of birds and insects,

originally recorded from the Malay Archipelago, Malacca, or from the

extreme south of Tenasserim, creep up along the Dawnat range

COLLECTING WAYS AND COLLECTING DAYS. 347

and have been procured by H., myself, or others on the Taungjah

pass.

Witness to this fact among birds, the black-and-red broad-bill

(Cymborhynchus macrorhynchus), the tufted tree-swift (Macropteryx

comatus), the greater red-billed malkoha (Rhamphococcyx eryihrog-

nathus), and many others: among butterflies I have taken the

eminently Malayan forms of Papilio butleri and Sithon nedymond,

not to speak of scores of others: and in the Hymenoptera it is

sufficient to mention as common Sphea tyrannica, Smith, originally

recorded by Wallace from the Celebes ; Ctenoplectra chalybia, also

from Malacca and the Celebes, Megachile atrata, from the Philippine

Islands, etc.

Years ago I was stationed at Kawkareik and knew the Taungjah pass

and road well. My best collections of birds and insects were made

along it and in the Thaungyin and Haungdraw valleys. Of late years

however, only when professional work has taken me there, have I

been able to revisit my old hunting grounds and collect during such

leisure as the ever-increasing duties that press on one now-a-days have

allowed me. Here is an account of one trip made along this road.

Leaving Maulmain by launch one day early in February, H. and I

got up to Kyundo, a little village on the bank of the Haungdraw

river, on the same day, early enough to proceed on to Kawkareik,

which is fifteen miles further in towards the foot of the hills. Leaving

our servants to load and bring on our baggage on carts, we started on

foot with a light empty cart and a fast pair of bullocks following close

behind in case we found the sun hot and decided to ride. We both

carried nets, and H., who had lately taken again to bird-collecting,

had a man behind carrying a gun.

The road for some miles from Kyundo is uninteresting, passing

between low-lying marshy ground and paddy fields over which it is

built with high embanked sides, pierced by bridges so as to allow of

outlets for the water in the floods of the monsoon. At about the fifth

mile, however, the road gets up among low forest-clad laterite hills,

and here our collecting began, the first prize being a fine adult

Poliornis teesa, an exceedingly rare bird in Tenasserim. H. spied it a

little distance off the road, seated high upon a dead tree (Dipterocarpus

348 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

tuberculatus), and aftera careful stalk managed to bring it down.

While H. went off after the hawk, I wandered in among the bushes ©

and undergrowth, keeping a sharp look-out for any good butterfly

or Hymenoptera. Butterflies were plentiful enough, but all of

common species. Fitting up suddenly and after a short jerky flight,

dropping close to the roots of some thick bush and becoming perfectly

invisible until put up again, were dozens of Melanitis zsmene, M. aswa,

and M. zitenius ; I caught specimens of all three in a couple of minutes.

Here were two or three Mycalesis mineus going with steadier flight and

settling higher up on the leaves of the bushes, while Terias, Ypthima,

and the delicate weak-flighted Leptosia xiphia were all to the fore.

Suddenly I sawa flash of blue, and a little bright Arhopala went

with a thump on to the underside of a leaf of a Yendike bush

(Dalbergia cultrata). A careful sweep of the net, and it is caught and

proves to be Acesina aberrans, de Nicéville, an Arhopala pure and simple,

but with rather unusual markings on the underside of the wings. The

bushes grew thick, and tramping about among them I disturb insects of

all kinds, among them a rather lively solitary wasp (Eumenes arcuata),

which gives me a good deal of trouble to get into the cyanide bottle.

By the time H. has recovered his bird and returned to the road, I have

at least a dozen butterflies in papers and three or four Hymenoptera

in the killing-bottle; and so it goes on, H. helping me with my

insect-collecting, while keeping a look-out for birds for himself, until

we get within a mile or so of Kawkareik ; then we get into the cart

and rattle in in time for a bath, and get dinner later on when our

servants and bageage turn up.

We stopped a day at Kawkareik, and the next morning started for the

Thaungyin valley. Carts had here to be abandoned and elephants taken

on. The next day what with getting our baggage straight and loading

the elephants, we did not get off till after 8 o’clock. The march was going

to be a short one, only to a camp at the foot of the hills, some five or six

miles off ; so our late start did not matter. Passing through the village,

which is long and straggling, we did not get into any collecting ground

until we had got clear of the Shan hamlet of Tadanku, which joins on to —

the east end of Kawkareik village. The morning was bright and the

sun already beginning to feel hot, so that we were glad to get past all

COLLECTING WAYS AND COLLECTING DAYS. 349

cultivation and clearings into the cool evergreen forest. The road or

pathway, for it is really only a bullock-track, tollows the bed of the

Kawkareik chaung, a regular little mountain torrent, shallow but swift,

which or its feeders are crossed by the road some twenty-five to

thirty times within a distance of four miles. A considerable trade

in live cattle brought from Siam has been carried on for years,

and this pathway, rough and rugged as it is, is well marked,

and forms a broad winding break in the forest. The hills rise

on either side of the road steep and densely crowded with vegeta-

tion, evergreen bushes with sharp recurved thorns, creepers of all

sizes and lengths, huge clumps of bamboo and giant forest trees, Thin-

gan (Hopea odorata), Kaungmoo (Parashorea stellata), Pyinma (Lager-

stremia flos-regine), and numbers of others are all jumbled together in

one matted mass through which it is impossible to penetrate any dis-

tance without free use of axe and dah, All wooded scenery has a

sameness that becomes, after a time, rather monotonous. But on this

road the abrupt turns and the distant views obtained of bare hill and

rocks between the lower wooded vistas are most striking. You as-

cend a height and look over a waving sea of green broken by the

winding road crossed here and there by the stream. The contrast of

the vivid green of the trees, with the brown-black and gleaming white

boulders in the torrent’s bed, and afar off a bare mountain side of rock

and grass is remarkable. The whole lit up by the morning sun forms

a rich mass of colour which has often held me breathless and silent.

At the first crossing we stopped and let the elephants with our

baggage get ahead, telling our servants to pitch our camp at Taung-

cheyin (lit. “the foot of the hill’’) and get our breakfast ready against

our arrival. In the mean time we looked about. The near bank of

the stream showed a wide expanse of damp sand, and on this, as the

sun got higher and warmed it, came butterflies, bees, wasps, and

Diptera in scores, sucking up the moisture. On one or two spots,

where some wayfarers—Burman, Shan, or Karen—had sat down

and eaten their meal of rice and na-pi (fermented fish-paste), a

whole crowd of waving wings made a bright patch of colour on

the yellow sand. It is very difficult to say whether butterflies

are attracted more by smell or by sight. In the course of my

collecting I have found an oyer-ripe jack fruit or papaya split

350 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

open and laid out on bare rocks or sand—a fair bait for the Papzleonde

and Lycenide, among butterflies and for all the solitary fossorial

wasps, and the Apide among the Hymenoptera, But then to bait

of this kind insects may be attracted as much by sight as by scent,

while there is not the ghost of a doubt that for all Lepzdoptera,

Hymenoptera, Diptera, &c., there is nothing to beat liquid ammonia*

spilt over patches of sand where the sun is shining hot ; and to this

there can be no question that the insects are attracted purely by

scent. For certain foul feeders, the genus Charazes among butter-

flies pre-eminently, a sure find is the droppings, so common on jungle

roads, of tiger, wild cat or dog. Again Huthalia and skippers and

many large fossorial Hymenoptera, Pompilide, Sphegide, &e., are often

found in numbers sucking the juice of jungle fruits shed and lying on

the ground in rotting masses. On the sand for some time our nets went

swooping out busily, and then H. suddenly said, “ By Jove, what's

that,” and looking up, saw three green birds flying on to a high tree

on the other side of the stream. For a moment I thought they were

parrots, but a second good look showed the beautiful cherry-pink putfed-

out feathers of the throat, and I recognized them as Nyctiornis amicta,

the “ red-bearded bee-eater” to use Oates’ name. This is a much

rarer species than the “ blue-bearded bee-eater” (Nyctiornis athertonz)

and found only in the heaviest forests ; whereas the latter species is not

unfrequently seen near clearings, and I have even shot one on a soli-

tary tree in the middle of a paddy field. The call of Nyctiornis

amicta is quite different from that of its congener, much coarser and

rougher. The bird breeds on these hills, and on two occasions I found

nest holes on this very road. Unfortunately the first time I was too

early ; the birds had just begun digging, and on the second occasion

I found the young already hatched out and feathered. They flew out

as I dug down into the nest. Both NV. atherton: and N. amucta,

notwithstanding their popular name of bee-eaters, live quite as much on

beetles as on bees. From the nest mentioned above I took out quite

a hatful of the legs, heads, and wing-cases of beetles. The nest, like

that of all bee-eaters, is simply a large bulbous chamber at the end of |

* Wor the precise manner in which this ammonia is poured on the ground see |

Hogarth’s plate of the “ Enraged Musician,”

_COLLECTING WAYS AND COLLECTING DAYS. 351 |

a seven or eight foot tunnel dug obliquely into the bank of a

stream, the side of a road or other cutting. I have no doubt that

the eggs of NV. amicta, like those of NV. athertonz, are globular and

glossy white.

H. and I stalked the birds very carefully, but succeeded in only getting

one. After putting this up we slowly wandered on, adding rapidly

to our collections. The profusion of bird and insect life was simply

marvellous. Among birds, bulbuls of many kinds were conspicuous,

Chloropss, Tole, Pycnonotus, Criniger, twittering, flitting and fighting

among the tree-tops. The beautiful male of the fairy-blue-bird (Irena

puella) with its glistening cobalt-blue wings was uttering its sharp

“ be quick,” *‘ be quick”, while from the lower bushes by the road-side

came the plaintive monotonous call of Turdinus abbotiz, and further in

from the depths the hoarse “Hoot,” “ Hoot” of a Pomatorhinus.

Every now and then too a trogon (Harpactes oreskios) with its bril-

liant colouring, or a party of that rare hornbill (Anorrhinus tickell2) fol~

lowing each other at intervals in single file and uttering their curious

cackling shout, would cross the road. Above all sounds, however,

from the hill sides rose the melancholy howlings of the black

gibbon (Hylobates lar). Butterflies abounded at every crossing of

the stream. Among them Huplwas with their biue-shot wings, mi-

micking Papzilios, difficult to distinguish from Euplea and Danais,

delicate whites Huphina, Terias, Hebomoia, strong-winged Charazes,

brilliant Arhopalas, and jerky-flighted brown skippers all swarmed to-

gether on the bare hot sands. Mixed up among the butterflies were

swarms of hymenopterous insects; of Megachile (leaf-cutter bees)

alone I caught eleven species, of Humenes (solitary wasps) four species,

and numerous species of Anthophora, Nomia, Ceratina, Halictus, and

Trigona. I collected too various Coleoptera and Diptera, which were

almost, if not quite, as abundantly represented as the other orders

of insects with which I am better acquainted. The jungle on either

side of the road is, as I have already stated, covered with dense ever-

green vegetation, and hunting about among the undergrowth, I was

overjoyed to chance on the whisker plant (Tacca levis) growing in

great numbers. I had always considered this plant as somewhat rare,

but here it was to be found literally in hundreds. It is a most curious

852 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

vegetable, as the old botanists would have said, with a leaf not unlike

that of the wild cardamom, and a most peculiar, almost weird-looking

flower, deep purplish-black in colour, with filaments fully three inches

long, formed into two great bunches which hang down on either side of

the corolla.

It was one o’clock before we got into camp, which was pitched in a

lovely spot right at the foot of the ascent of the pass over the moun-

tains, The tents were placed under the shade of what in India would

have been called a tope, of magnificent Pyinma trees (Lagerstremia

flos-regine).

After changing our wet clothes and swallowing a hasty breakfast,

I sat down to skin the birds I had collected, and to look over, arrange,

and put away my insects. H. said he would just have a look round

before he commenced skinning the specimens he had got and wan-

dered off with a gun. Presently I heard a shot and then another, and

then a long pause followed by frantic shouts for his net. One of H.’s

servants ran off with the net, and in about half an hour H. returned

triumphant. He had secured a lovely specimen of that most beautiful

of birds, Calyptomena viridis, and another equally beautiful specimen of

Rhamphococeyx erythrognathus, besides one broken and one perfect

specimen of that rare butterfly, Thawmantis pseudalzris.

This ended our collecting for that day, and it was nearly dark before

we had finished preparing and putting away all the objects we had

collected.

Next morning we started somewhat earlier than we had done

the previous day and climbed on for an hour without stopping to

collect much, as we wanted to get well ahead of the elephants.

By the time we had got the worst of the ascent over, the sun came

over the hill-top and butterflies and birds became more lively.

The road wound for the most part along the ridge of a long spur,

and the hill-side was in many places fearfully steep, but all covered

with dense ever-green jungle. In one place where the road, owing to

the broadening of the spur, opened out somewhat, H. and I sat down

on a fallen log and took a rest. A dead and half-rotten tree was in

front of us a little off the road, and our attention was attracted

to this by seeing what we both took for a woodpecker hammering

away, but rather gently and with little noise, at the top. Every now

COLLECTING WAYS AND COLLECTING DAYS. 353

and then the up-and-down motion of the head would stop and the bird

would shift its position a little. Thus moving round the trunk, it

_ at last came full into sight. To our astonishment we saw then it was a

barbet and, as we thought, the common Cyanops asiatica. To make

certain, however, H. brought it down with a reduced charge of No. 10

shot, and our delight may be imagined when it proved to be, not

C. asiatica, but the much rarer C. zcognita of Hume. Subsequently

I found this bird not uncommon on this Taungjah pass. Its note is

altogether indistinguishable from that of its near allies, Cyanops

asiatica and C.davisoni, if indeed these two latter are not one and

the same bird. The curious woodpecker-like action in hammering

at the bark of a tree I have not observed in any other species of

barbet.

Having strung up C. ecognita on the bird-stick, we proceeded on our

way, collecting as we went. At one very steep spot on the hill-side I got

into a flock of that curious shrike-thrush, Gampsorhynchus torquatus ;

they were flitting about on all sides uttering their curious grating note

and threading their way with incredible rapidity through the stems of

a thick clump of bamboos. The ground down which I had to climb

was like the side of a house, and after innumerable shots I only managed

to secure one specimen, but that was a beauty, scarcely damaged at all

by the shot. Collecting on steep hill-sides, whether the quarry is birds

or insects, is very trying work for the temper. 1 know nothing so good

or so bad, as the case may be viewed, for bringing out an eloquent, if

not elegant, flow of language. After I had recovered my bird and got

up to the road again, H. said I had uttered frightful anathemas,

However, the year before, on this very spot, he acknowledged he had

been quite as bad. He was going to the Thaungyin in May and was

collecting butterflies and other insects for me. Now this road in the

end of April and the beginning of May that year simply swarmed with

numbers of that magnificent morphine butterfly, Stictophthalma louisa.

He had caught some half dozen, but just at this spot, where I had now

got G. torquatus, there were some twenty or thirty Stctophthalmas

_ floating about up and down the hill,and H. found himself as busy as

he could possibly be for a few minutes trundling up and down the steep

hill-side and making himself very hot and wet. He had just struck at

a Stictophthalma that had disappeared with a whop into the centre of a

354 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

thick and alas! thorny bush, when buz-z-z there came flying down the

road at an astonishing pace a huge sand-wasp which H. recognized as a

prize, having seen one in my collection. It was Scola procer, which by

the way is rare in Tenasserim. He struck at it wildly and got it in,

but the end of the net was hitched up in the thorny bush and the

efforts of the Scolia to escape were terrific. McH., another forest

officer who happened to be with H. at the time, told me afterwards

that the sight of H. struggling with that ferocious Scolza in the

hitched-up net and endeavourmg to get the beast into a two-inch

cyanide killing-bottle, while he tried at the same time to keep his

own footing on the fearfully steep slope, was a thing he would never

forget. McH. declares so remarkable was the language used that on

the road at that spot for hours afterwards the air had a most

sulphurous and brimstonic smell about it. However the Scolia was

secured, which was the chief thing after all, and by H.’s kindness now

adorns my cabinet. Gampsorhynchus torquatus was discovered by

Davison in Northern Tenasserim, and I subsequently procured it on

this very road. It extends down southwards to as far at any rate

as Ye, where I came across it in the dense ever-green forests on the

Minla stream.

So far as i have had opportunities of observing the bird, it occurs

only in the heavy ever-green hill forests, never descending to the

plains. It is always in flocks, and works noisily through the jungle

exactly like garrulaz.

By the time we got to Taungjah (lt. valley) itself, where the road

descends from one ridge and ascends another, thesun was well up,

and in the open valley here birds and insects were all abroad in

numbers. We shot several specimens of a beautiful broad-bill (Psar-

somus dalhousie), which was going about in small flocks of six or

seven. It is one of the stupidest of birds. A flock will allow its

individual members to be shot down one after another without moving

from the tree they are perched on. We got here also specimens

of the coral-billed hill bulbul (Aypsipetes concolor), and two or three

of that plain plumaged minivet, Pericrocotus cantonensis. The species of

butterflies and other insects were much the same as those procured

yesterday, but I got a fine Papilio and two or three Arhopalus that I

had not met with below. On the ascent of the opposite ridge to

-COLLECTING WAYS AND COLLECTING DAYS. 355

Taungjah also I found parading about among the dead leaves on the

ground, and managed to catch with some difficulty, two magnificent

specimens of Salins intermedius, Smith, one of the fossorial hyme-

noptera of the family of the Pompilide.. On the top of the ridge

we came across a lovely snake of a bright green colour coiled

round, or rather on, the root of a tree, about a foot off the ground.

On these steep hill-sides the washing away of the soil under the

drenching rains often leaves the roots of trees entirely bare, giving

a rather curious appearance to the trees, which seem to be raised

above the ground on their roots. H. pushed the snake off gingerly

with a stick and, holding its vicious-looking flat head down, seized it

with finger and thumb behind the jaws. As he held it up, the

brute opened its mouth angrily and showed its two recurved fangs

clearly, which, asin all the viper family, were rather long. Suddenly

it gave a twist and a wriggle and, distinctly protruding its fangs,

jt managed to shake a minute drop of clear poison on to H.’s thumb.

Inever saw H. in such a hurry to drop anything: he flung the

snake from him, wiped his thumb on his coat and then with his hand-

kerchief, and sucked at it violently for at least a minute. However

there was no abrasion of the skin and no harm done. I don’t think

the snake itself was a very poisonous one; it was one of the many

forms of Trimeressurus gramineus, Shaw. This particular individual

had the tail cinnamon-red.

Further along, the road narrowed somewhat, and at one bend H.,

who was ahead, suddenly stopped and beckoned to me. I hurried up,

and he pointed out a magnificent butterfly seated with closed wings

on the under-side of a bamboo by the edge of the road, Its wings on

the underside were grayish brown marked on the hind wing with

faint ocelli. As I approached cautiously, it half opened and closed its

wings once or twice and then, spreading them suddenly to their full

extent, it soared and went down the hill-side with a dash that seemed

to annihilate space. A broad blue bar on the upper side of its wings

flashed in the sun, and J recognized it as Amathusia portheus, one of the

most beautiful of the Morphine found in Tenasserim. It was hopeless

following the creature, so we went on, and by 2 p.m. reached the

village of Thinganyinaung inthe valley of the Thaungyin, where we

were to camp that night. That evening we had enough to do to

396 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

get all the specimens we had procured on the march prepared and

put away, and then a bird or two had to be left over to be skinned

the next day. f

The third day’s march brought us to Myawaddy on the bank of the

Thaungyin river. The country between our camp at Thinganyinaung

at the east foot of the Dawnat range and Myawaddy was quite

different in character from anything we had passed over yet. The road

wound over a series of low hillocks with gravelly sandy soil, parched

and dry and covered with what the Burmans call “Indaing’’ jungle,

in which the chief trees are In (Dipterocarpus tuberculatus), Engyin

(Pentacme stamensis), Theya (Shorea obtusa), Yindike (Dalbergia

culirata), Kone pyinma (Lagerstremia macrocarpa), Bamhué (Careya

arborea), and Khabaung (Strychnos nua-vomica), with here and there a

clump of Myinwa (Dendrocalamus strictus), and a sparse undergrowth

of coarse thekké grass.

Just after striking and leaving camp, passing over some paddy fields,

we manage to secure a magnificent specimen of Rutherford’s crested

serpent-eagle (Spilornis rutherfordi), and further on, on the bank of a

tiny stream, the last water we should meet till we got close to Myawaddy,

IT had a busy five minutes with my net procuring specimens of

Euripus halitherses with its queer indented wings and prominent yellow

eyes ; of Apatura parysatis, a little velvetty-black butterfly allied to the

European purple emperor ; of Cyaniris, Castalins, and Rapala ; and a

great prize, Thaduka multicandata, a remarkable form among the

Lycenide, possessing three tails on the hind wing, and having the under-

side of the wings curiously mottled. Among the bees and wasps I took

a fine specimen of Vespa magnijica, a species which is not often found at

such a low elevation, and a few Megachile momia and sylocapa,

While I was at work with my net, H. went on, and I heard him fire

twice ; when I came up I found him placing a pair of that beautiful

little faleonet (Poliohierax insignis) on the bird-stick. Soon after this

we got into a flock of the white-cheeked jay (Garrulus lencotis), and on

a dead yindike tree (Dalbergia cultrata) I shot a specimen of that

lovely wood-pecker (Gecinus erythropygius). The call of this last bird

is a strange one for a wood-pecker, a sort of garrulous “ quitch-quatch,

quitch-quatch,” quite unlike the shrill ringing ery of the other Gecini.

Poliohicrax insignis, Garrulus lencotis, and Gecinus erythropygius are

_ COLLECTING WAYS AND COLLECTING DAYS. 357

all rare birds, being very locally distributed and occurring only in

“ Indaing,” the kind of forest we were passing through.

The progress of our march to-day was much less interrupted by stop-

pages to collect. The dry hot jungle we were passing through yielded

few things beyond what are mentioned above, and these, though all good

and rare, were limited in numbers. It was still early in the forenoon

when we got into the belt of teak and bamboo close to Myawaddy, and

here we found wood-peckers plentiful; several species were associated

together, andin company with numbers of Garrulaw belangeri, G. mont

liger, and G. pectoralis, and a few green jays (Cissa sinenses) were work-

ing in regular mobs through the forest. Of wood-peckers, beside Gecenus

erythropygius which we had already obtained, we got the large T'hripo-

naz feddent, a handsome black and white species, with, in the male, a

bright scarlet crest ; Blyth’s three-toed green wood-pecker (Gecinulus

viridis), Chrysophlegma flavinucha, and C. chlorolophus, Chrysocolaptes

strictus and Tiga javanensis with their shining golden backs, the quaint,

familiarly-tame and compact-built Hemicercus canente, and the pretty

little rufous piculet (Sasa ochracea). It wasa perfect paradise of wood-

peckers, and Iam sure we could have, if we had liked, got over a hun-

dred specimens in the two days we stopped at Myawaddy afterwards,

Myawaddy must once have been a considerable town. The remains of

huge earthwork fortifications lying half a mile or more on the west

and south attest to its former extent and importance. At present

it contains about a couple of hundred houses—most of them mere huts,

the usual three or four pagodas, kyaungs (monasteries), woots (image-

houses), and zayats (rest-houses).

Inone of these last we put up, and as it was getting on in the after-

_ noon (our collecting just outside Myawaddy having delayed us consid-

erably), we changed our clothes, scrambled through breakfast, and set

to work to prepare and put away our collections.

This ended our three days’ collecting for the time on the

Kawkareik and Myawaddy road.

358 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN HYMENOPTERA FROM

INDIA, BURMA, AND CEYLON.

By Masor C. T. Bincuam, F.z.s. (Forest Department, Burma).

The fossorial Hymenoptera belonging to the family of the Pompilide,

Leach, are some of the most difficult of insects to classify and group

into well-defined genera. One of the latest arrangements of them is

that by Herr Kohl of Vienna as laid down in his paper “ Die Guttun-

gen der Pompiliden” in Verh. der k. k. Zool. Bot. Ges. Wien, 1884.

Herr Kohl divides the Pompilide into 15 genera. Species belonging

to the following occur in the Indian region; Macromeris, Pel.,

Pseudagenia, Kohl, Ceropales, nibs Salius, Fabr., sec. Kohl, and Pee

pilus, Fabr., sec. Kohl,

Saleus is further subdivided into 4, and Pompilus into 18 groups,

or subgenera. Under the Salius groups are included in part species

belonging to the genera Salius, Fabr.; Priocnemis, Schioedte ; Hemi-

pepsis, Dahlbom ; Homonotus, Dahlbom ; Entypus, Dahlbom; Pallosoma,

Pel.; and Mygnimia, Smith. And under the Pompilus groups, in part,

species belonging to Pompilus, Fabr.; Aporus, Spin.; Episyron,

Schioedte ; Anoplius, Pel.; Evagethes, Pel.; Salius, Dahlbom ;

Homonotus, Dahlbom ; and Ferreola, Smith.

I give a translation of Kohl’s description of the five genera meh=

tioned above.

“I. GEN. MACROMERIS (Tab. II, Fig. 1).

“ Macromeris, Pel. Guer. Mag. Zool., pl. 29, 1831.

“Type: Macromeris splendida, Pel. ; Ibid, pl. 29, 1831.

A wide space between the lower rim of the orbits and the base of

the mandibles. The mesosternum in front of the coxee of the inter-

mediate legs, cone-shaped. Wings large, overlapping the abdomen,

The radial* cell of the front wing rounded at the apex ; three cubital

cells, the 2nd cubital cell trapezium-shaped, a little smaller than the

* Throughout this paper I have adopted, with one exception, the English equivalents of the

~ Latin terms used by Dahlbom (Hym. Eur,, I, plate) for the wing nervures and cells. The one

exception is that for Dahlbom’s “1st and 2nd Venula-transverso discoidal”” I have used the

terms “Ist and 2nd recurrent neryures ” as more familiar to English and American Hymenop-

terists.

I give (Pl. Il, Figs. 2 & 8) a diagram of the front and hind wing (Hymenoptera) with the

hames of the cella and neryures according to Dahlbom.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN HYMENOPTERA. 359

Ist or the 3rd; the third cubital cell also trapezium-shaped, widening

out a little towards the margin of the wing beyond the radial cell.

The first recurrent nervure terminates in the 2nd cubital cell before its

apex ; the 2nd recurrent nervure in the middle of the 3rd cubital cell.

The transverse-medial nervure is interstitial or strikes on the externo-

medial nervure before the apex of the 1st submedial (interno-medial,

Smith) cell. The Ist discoidal cell, as in the genera Pepsis, Notocyphus

and portions of Salus with a hyaline spot formed in the inner angle

through the upper concave discoidal line. The cubital nervure of the

hind wing coalesces with the transverse anal nervure (interstitial),

Legs, very long. Tibiee having neither spines nor hairs, Tibial

spur, short, The metatarsus of the posterior legs arched. Claws with

one stout tooth in the middle on their inferior edges. The 3rd

ventral segment without a transverse impressed line. In the male the

middle segment is short, shorter than the rest of the abdomen. Coxe,

trochanters and femora, especially of the anterior legs, thick, Femora

on the underside having a sharp denticulated edge.

“III, GEN. PSEUDAGENIA, nov. gen.

AcentA, Dhlb. (Non Schioedte), Hym. Hur., I, p. 454, 1845,

Pompilus, pt., Smith, Cat. Hym., P. HI, p. 118, 1855. Anoplius,

pt. Pel. Hym., HI, p. 440, 1845. Sphex, Evania, Ceropales, pt.;

Fabr., Pelpomus, Costa, Fauna del Regno di Napoli, 1859, p. 8. Pom=

prlidea.

Tyen: Agenia carbonaria, Scop. (punctum, Schioedte, Fabr.),

The characters of the maxillz resemble those of the genus Pogonius;

Dhlb, ‘The lower rim of the orbits reaches up to the base of the

mandibles. The antenne are at times, as in the genus Ceropales,

inserted ata distance from the clypeus, at times close to it. Mesono-

tum, transverse, short, Front wing with three cubital cells; the 3rd

cubital cell, trapezium-shaped or trapezoidal, much larger than the

2nd. The radial cell, long, lanceolate. The Ist discoidal cell termi-

nating in or a little after the middle of the 2nd cubital cell, the 2nd

discoidal cell in the middle of the 3rd cubital cell. The transverse

medial nervure unites with the Ist transverse-submedial nervure, or

| strikes on to the externo-medial nervure before the apex of the Ist

submedial cell. The cubital nervure of the hind wing is discharged at

or after the apex of the anal cell. Antenne and legs, long and slender;

360 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

The armature of the latter, in general, very weak or wanting. The

tibize of the posterior legs never serrated, bearing, at the most, short,

isolated spines. The tibial spur of the posterior legs not extending

beyond the middle of the metatarsus. Claws having a tooth in the

middle on their inferior edges. The species belonging to this genus

have a tendency to a lengthening of the 2nd segment of the abdomen.

The 8rd ventral segment bears a transverse impressed line, as in

Priocnemis, Pepsis, Agenia, &e. The middle segment convex, never

emarginate or bearing an impression. In the male, the clypeus is

evenly truncated, rounded, or neatly incised. In the female, the cly-

peus seldom has its anterior margin transversely truncated, more often

the centre is produced sharply.

XII. GEN. CEROPALES (Tab. II, Fig. 12).

CrRopaes, Latr., Prec, caract. Gen., MS., 1796, p. 123, 25, Gen,

Ceropales, pt., Fabr, Syst. Piez., p. 185, 31, Gen., 1804. Ceropales,

pt., Latr., Hist, Nat. Crust., et MS., t. XIII, p. 283, 1805. Evania,

pt., Fabr.

Ichneumon, pt., Oliv.; Pompilus, pt., Illig.

Typx : Ceropales maculata, Fabr., Syst. Piez., p. 185, Nr. 1, 1804.

Labrum produced below the clypeus. The eyes reaching up to or

approaching the base of the mandibles. The antennz in the female

only arched, their point of insertion lying, asa rule, at a moderate

distance from the clypeus. The posterior margin of the pronotum,

arched. The front wing with one lanceolate radial cell and three

cubital cells ; the 2nd cubital cell receives the 1st recurrent nervure

after the middle, the 2nd before or in the middle.* The transverse

medial nervure is interstitial. The cubital nervure of the hind wing

arises at some distance after the apex of the anal cell. Legs armed

only with minute spines, or altogether spineless.

The tarsal brush is absent from the anterior legs. Claws with one

bent tooth in the middle or at the apex on their inferior edges. The

middle segment is well proportioned, short and broad, never emargi-

nated. The drd ventral segment is without a transverse impressed line.

The sting-sheath in the female is produced.

* There is some error here inthe text. The following is, I believe, what was ins

tended—“ the 2nd cubital cell receives the Ist recurrent nervure after the middle; the 3rd

cubital cell, the 2nd recurrent nervure, before or in the middle.” Thisis borne out by the

diagram of the wing of ceropaled in the plate attached to Herr Kohl’s paper.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN HYMENOPTERA, 361

IV. GEN. SALIUS (Tab. II, Fig. 9).

Sattus, pt., Fabr., Syst. Piez., p. 124, Nr. 16,1804. Proenemis,

pt., Schioedte, Mon. Pomp. Kréyev, Tidsskr., I, 1837. Hemipepsis,

pt., Dhlb., Hym. Eur., I, p, 462, 25, Gen. et Tab. Syn. Gen. Pomp.,

1845. Homonotus, pt., Dhlb., bid, p. 441 (non p. 351), 18, Gen.,

1845. Entypus, pt., Dhib., dbid, p. 442, 19, Gen., 1845. Pallosoma,

pt., Pel., Hist. Nat., MS., ITI, p. 492, 4, Gen., 1875. Mygnimia, pt.,

Smith, Cat. Hym. Br. M., Pt. III, p. 181, 12, Gen., 1855.

Tyrxs : S. bicolor and S. punctatus, Fabr. (Syst. Peiz., p. 124, Nr.

1, and p. 125, Nr. 3).

Hyes reaching up to the base of the maxille. Pronotum of very

varying form and length, its posterior margin evenly transverse or

arched or angular ; in many of the males it is of unusual length

(Salius, Fabr., 1804; Homonotus, Dhlb., 1845 ; Entypus, Dhlb., 1845),

On the metathorax, on close examination, are visible two processes ;

they are placed at some distance from the base of the wing.

They are often rubbed off, for one notices the pretty little pointed

hollows in which they arise. Front wing with one lengthened

radial cell, very frequently lanceolate in form, seldom having the

apex rounded, Three cubital cells. The 2nd cubital. cell. receives

the 1st recurrent nervure before its apex, the 3rd cubital cell, the

2nd recurrent nervure nearly in the middle. The 3rd cubital cell

is trapezium-shaped or trapezoidal and somewhat larger than

the 2nd. The transverse medial nervure (of the front wing) arises

before the apex of the 1st submedial cell. The cubital nervure

of the hind wing at its origin is received seldom in mostly after

the apex of the anal cell, nearer the apical margin of the wings.

Legs long, especially the tibize and tarsi, Claws either bearing one

obtuse bent appendix as in the genus Notocyphus, in two portions

(Cyphonony«, Dhlb.), or armed with one, two, or more teeth (Hemi-

pepsts, Dhlb.), The tibize of the posterior legs angular, with in the

female toothed and serrated spines. Middle segment of diverse

lengths never posteriorly emarginated, in the males, with a lengthened

thorax, it is likewise lengthened ; in several species of the divisions

Hemupepsis and Cyphononyx, as in the species of Pepsis, there is an

obtuse tubercle close to the stigmata. The 3rd ventral segment has,

on or before the middle, a transverse impressed line.

362 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VII.

The genus Salus will here, as is indicated by the sketch of the

synonym given above, be taken in a wider sense than even Dahl-

bom’s genus Priocnemis. I hold that the variation in the form of the

claws on which was founded, for example, Dahlbom’s genera Cyphononya

and Hemipepsis can only be considered useful for the establishment

of groups of species all under one natural genus. Under Salzus then

the following groups can be made :-—

Ist Group (Subgen. Cyphononyz).

Claws furnished with one obtuse arched appendix on their inferior

edges, the length of which makes them appear to be double. The

middle segment with an obtuse tubercle always placed before the

stigmata. In the inner angle of the Ist discoidal cell a wing spot is

indicated, but never clearly engraved (Cyphonony#, Dhlb.)

np Group (Subgen. Priocnemis).

Claws with one tooth on their inferior edges. No wing-spot in the

inner angle of the Ist discoidal cell or at most only an indication of

such (Priocnemis, pt. Schioedte, Dhlb,, Schenck, Taschenb ; Priocnemis,

Thoms.).

3rp Group (Subgen. Hemipepsis).

Claws with two teeth on their inferior edges, The basal tooth is in

many species, especially in the males, rudimentary and undetermined

(in this approaching the genus Priocnemis). The inner angle of the

Ist discoidal cell as in Pepsis, Macromeris, and Notocyphus engraved

with a very dark wing-spot formed through the upper concave discoi-

dal line. Middle segment mostly with an obtuse tubercle placed close

before the stigmata as in the species of Pepsis (Hemépepsis, Dhlb.;

Pallosoma, Pel.; Mygnimia, Smith). |

4TH GROUP.

Claws with many teeth ; on the inferior edges of the claws close to

the strong curved apex spring a number of closely arranged cilia

which have their apices going backwards to the claw ends. For the -

rest the characters as in Hemipepsis. (Type : Hemipepsis heros, Gué-

rin, Voy. Abyss., Lefeb., VI, p. 35, 4, T. 7, Fig. 9, 9.)

XI. GEN. POMPILUS (Tab. II, Fig. 6).

Pompilus, pt., Fabr., Ent. Syst. Suppl., p. 246, 1798. Sphea, pt.,

Linn., Syst., Nat., 1, 941, 1766, Azorus, pt., Spin., MS., Sig., I, p. 34,

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN HYMENOPTERA. 363

1806. Episyron, pt., Schioedte, Monog. Pomp. Kroyer, Tidsskr. 1,

p. 831, 1837. Anoplius, pt., Pel. Hist. Nat. MS. Hym., II, p. 440,

1845. Lvagethes, pt., Pel., Lbed, p. 390, 1845. Salius, pt., Dhilb.,

Hym. Hur., I, p. 34, 18, Gen., 1845. Homonotus, pt., Dhlb., Hym.

Hur., I, p. 35 (non p. 441), 1845. Ferreola, pt., Smith, Cat. Hym.,

P. III, p. 167, 1885. |

Typxs : Pompilus viaticus, wrsus, Fabr., cocctneus, Fabr., etc.

The eyes reach, as a rule, up to the base of the mandibles; only m

very few cases are the cheeks developed. Forms of the clypeus, of

the prothorax, and of the middle segment of extraordinary diversity.

The front wing with one radial cell, which often approaches a tri-

angular form, rarely is it lanceolate. Three cubital cells; the Ist

exceeding in size the following ones ; the 2nd is a little larger than the

3rd or equal in size to it ; the 3rd quadrangular, or triangular, some-

times also triangular and petiolated. The Ist recurrent nervure

. discharges itself in the middle of the 2nd cubital cell or nearer the 2nd

transverse cubital nervure ; the 2nd recurrent nervure in the middle

of the 3rd cubital cell, or not far therefrom. The transverse medial

nervure (of the front wing), with a few unimportant exceptions,

springs somewhere before the apex of the Ist submedial cell, intersti-

tial, The cubital nervure (of the hind wing), in by far the greater

number of cases, springs at or after the apex of the anal cell (Homonotus,

Dhib., p. 85), sometimes also before it (as in the species of Ferreola).

Legs spined. The tarsi of the anterior legs are in the female often

furnished with pectinated spines. The tibise of the posterior legs

are cylindrical, not, as in the female of Salzus, angular, the spines

on them scattered, not serrated. The claws are toothed in the

middle of their inner angles, or like as in Salius, Subgen. Cyphononya,

and Notocyphus in two parts by reason of an obtuse appendix. ‘The

claw-brush is either present or wanting. Middle segment posteriorly

rounded, or vertically truncated, or impressed, or more frequently

emarginated ; its sculpturing is very diverse. The 3rd ventral segment

with few exceptions (as in species of Homonotus and Ferreola) not

bearing a transverse impressed mark.

Pompilus will be treated of here in the comprehensive sense in

which the genus is usually taken. Iam constrained to do this by the

_ fact, that characters which haye been pointed out as separating certain

364 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

genera from Pompilus, have not only in the genus Pompilus, as I

hold it, but throughout the Pompilide generally, proved, at the best,

mutable. Under these mutable characters may be reckoned the form

of the prothorax and middle segment, of the relative positions of the

transverse medial nervure, and the 1st submedial cell in the fore wing,

and of the cubital nervure and anal cell in the hind wing, and the

general armature of the legs and claws. Also the Pompilide with

two cubital cells, which have hitherto been known as species of the

genus Aporus, can, according to my ideas, be classed under the genus

Pompilus, in spite of a peculiar modification of the wing nervures,

which, after all, is unessential. The following is my division of the

species into natural groups :-—

ist Group (Pompzlus, Thoms.).

The transverse medial nervure of the fore wing and the cubital

nervure of the hind wing interstitial. Inferior edge of the claws

toothed (one-toothed). Claw-brush generally developed. The tarsi

of the anterior legs (in the female) with or without pectinated spines.

Pesterior margin of the pronotum angular.

2nD GRouP (Aporus, pt., Tab. IL, Fig. 7).

By the loss of the 2nd transverse cubital nervure, diverging from

the forms of the Ist group. In other respects resembling them.

3RD GROUP.

The transverse medial nervure of the front wing and the cubital ner-

vure of the hind wing interstitial. Inferior edges of the claws toothed.

Claw-brush wanting. The tarsal-brush (in the female), large. Posterior

margin of the pronotum arched. Antennze short and remarkably thick.

47TH GROUP.

The transverse medial nervure of the front wing springs in or before

the apex of the 1st submedial cell, the cubital nervure of the hind wing

after the apex of the anal cell. Claw toothed ; claw-brush wanting.

Tarsal-brush (in the female), large. Posterior margin of the pronotum,

generally arched, very seldom angular. Antenne short and extra-

ordinarily thick,

OTH GRouP (Aporus, pt.).

By the loss of the 2nd transverse cubital nervure diverging from the

forms of the 4th group. 1n other respects resembling them.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN HYMENOPTERA, 365

6TH GROUP.

The transverse medial nervure of the front wing interstitial. The

cubital nervure of the hind wing arising after the apex of the anal

cell. Claws toothed and possessing a claw-brush. The tarsal-brush (in

the female) developed. Also the labrum (in the female) of many of the

species is exerseted.

(tH GROUP.

The transverse medial nervure of the front wing interstitial, The

cubital nervure of the hind wing arising after the apex of the anal cell.

Claws toothed and possessing a claw-brush. Tarsal-brush (in the

female) wanting. The labrum (in the female) never much exerseted.

8TH GRouP (Aporus, pt.)

By the loss of the 2nd transverse cubital nervure diverging from

the forms of the 7th group. In other respects resembling them.

9TH GROUP.

The transverse medial nervure of the front wing and the cubital

nervure of the hind wing are interstitial. Claws furnished with a

curved obtuse appendix on their inferior edges, bifid. Claw-brush

present or wanting. Tarsal-brush (in the female) well developed.

10TH Group (Aporus, pt., Tab. II, Fig. 8.)

Fore wing with only two cubital cells. The transverse medial nervure

of the front wing interstitial, Cubital nervure of the hind wing

arising after the apex of the anal cell. Claws bifid. Claw-brush

wanting. Tarsal-brush developed. Antennz often incrassate. Posterior

margin of the pronotum angular. (This group, from the position of

the recurrent nervures and from the closing inwards of the 2nd

recurrent nervure, approaches the forms of Pompilus in which the 2nd

and 3rd transverse cubital nervures have by degrees become united to

form one single nervure. The facts can, I think, be accounted for as

follows. The cubital nervures originally began to come in contact on

approaching the radial cell, as, for example, in the individuals of

P. nigerrimus, and later little by little they anastomozed against the

cubital nervure in the direction of the radial nervure, until the enclosed

triangular 3rd cubital cell disappeared completely.) The pedigree of

this and of the following group may possibly he contained in the 12th

group.

366 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIL.

1lvH Grovp (Aporus, pt.)

Characters as in the 10th group ; only in the front wing by absorption

of the 2nd transverse cubital nervure one cubital cell is lost, and the

posterior margin of the pronotum is arched.

121TH Grou (Lpisyron, Schioedte).

The transverse medial nervure (of the front wing) interstitial.

The cubital nervure of the hind wing arising before the apex of the

anal cell. Claws in both sexes (in the male distinctly apparent) bifid,

without claw-brush. Tarsal-brush developed. Antennze in most of the

species thick (P. rujipes, Linn., albonotatus v. d. L.)

13TH GROUP

(Pomp. 6-maculatus, Spin ; venustus, Wesm ; fraterculus, Costa).

The transverse medial nervure of the front wing and the cubital

nervure of the hind wing interstitial. The 3rd cubital cell appendi-

culated. Claws toothed ; the claw joints furnished with a claw-brush.,

Tarsal-brush (in the female) developed. The middle segment prolonged

posteriorly into a conical tubercle on either side.

14TH Group (Aporus, pt.).

Differs from the Pompilus forms of the 13th group in that the

2nd and 3rd transverse cubital nervures anastomoze.

15TH GRouP

(Homonotus, Dhlb., p. 35 ; Salius sanguinolentus, Dhlb., p. 34).

The transverse medial nervure of the front wing interstitial. The

cubital nervure of the hind wing arising after the apex of the anal cell,

Head posteriorly more or less excavated. Prothorax and middle

segment lengthened ; the latter, as in the 13th and 14th groups, emar-

ginated, and produced on both sides into cone-shaped projections,

Claws with an obtuse appendix on their inner angles. Claw-brush

wanting. Tarsi of the anterior legs without ciliated spines. 3rd ventral

segment with or without a transverse impression.

16TH Group (Ferreola, pt., Smith).

The transverse medial nervure of the front wing and the cubital -

nervure ofthe hind wing interstitial. Claws toothed, seldom bifid ;

claw-brush developed or wanting. Tarsi of the anterior legs not

furnished with ciliated spines. Middle segment posteriorly vertically

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN HYMENOPTERA. 367

truncated, impressed, or emarginate, and the sides frequently provided

with an obtuse tooth or hook, 3rd ventral segment not bearing any

transverse impression, Abdomen towards the apex not compressed

laterally. |

17TH Group (Ferreola, pt., Smith).

The transverse medial nervure of the front wing interstitial. Cubital

nervure of the hind wing arising on the medial nervure before the

apex of the anal cell. Claws in two portions (bifid). Claw-brush

developed ; tarsi of the anterior legs with or without ciliated spines.

The eyes frequently not reaching the base of the mandibles. 3rd

ventral segment not bearing any transverse impression. The abdomen

compressed laterally. Middle segment as in the foregoing group.

18TH Group (Pedinaspés, Kohl.).

The transverse medial nervure (of the front wing) interstitial, or

arising well before the apex of the anal cell. Cubital nervure of the

hind wing frequently interstitial, in a few cases arising a little after the

apex of the anal cell. Claws toothed, very seldom bifid. The joints of

the tarsi of the anterior legs thick and without ciliated spines, 2nd, 3rd,

and 4th short. Head flat, clypeus generally vertically flat, seldom

forming a projecting plane. Pronotum of diverse forms not unfre-

quently of remarkable length (P. cubensis, Cr.), very commonly verti=

cally truncated in front. Middle segment rounded posteriorly, some-

times sloping at a sharp angle, or flatly impressed or even emarginate.

The abdomen, at least towards its apex, visibly compressed laterally

(Type: Pompilus operculatus, Klug.).

—— ee

The following is a list of some of the Pompilide, in my collection,

which I have been unable to identify or compare with already described

species, and I have come to the conclusion that they are as yet

undescribed.

1, MACROMERIS VIOLACHA, Pel.

Macromeris Vionacka, Pel., Hist, Nat. MS., Hym., ILI, p. 464.

Hasrrat : India, Burma, Tenasserim, and the Malay Archipelago.

The characters of the genus defined by Kohl are well marked in this

species, more especially the unarmed tibiz bearing neither spines nor

hairs, the cone-shaped posterior portion of the mesosternum, the

thickened coxze, trochanters, and femora, as also the sharp denticulated

inferior edge of the last.

368 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Voi. VIII,

This lovely species is fairly common in Tenasserim, and is one of the

few Pompilide I have noticed as occasionally coming into buildings

and houses in the jungle. Ina “ zayat” (rest-house) near the large

village of Kawkareick in the Haungdraw valley, I found its nest in the

latter end of May, and watched a female carrying a huge hairy spider

to it. The nest was in a crevice between one of the wooden posts and

the side walling of the rest-house. I was only passing by, and was

unfortunately pressed for time, and so Iam unable to record whether

the insect subsequently closed up the hole with earth.

2. PS9EUDAGENIA AEGINA, Smith.

PSEUDAGENIA GINA, Smith, Proc. Linn. Soc., IT, 94, 9.

Hasirat : Borneo (Sarawak), Tenasserim (Yunzalin valley, Ataran

valley).

I found this pretty and well-marked little species frequenting the

bushes and moving over the stones in a quick excited way in the dry

beds of streams in the hot weather,

The clypeus is oval, broader than long, and in the female produced

sharply to a point ; in the male it is transversely truncated anteriorly.

The face in front, the coxee of all the legs, and the abdomen are in

fresh specimens covered by a glistening sericeous pile in fine contrast

to the dull red of the thorax.

3. PSEUDAGHNIA ALARIS, Saussure.

AGENIA ALARIS, Sauss., Hym. d. Novara Reise, 52.

Hasirat: Ceylon, Tenasserim (Thaungyin valley).

Rare. I have only come across it on one occasion, when I caught some

five or six specimens in a deserted garden close to a village in the

Thaungyin valley. They were flying about and alightng every now

and then on the broad leaves of a species of cucumber.

4, PSEUDAGENIA BIPENNIS, Saussure.

AGENIA BIPENNIS, Sauss., Hym. d. Novara Reise, 52.

Hasirat : Ceylon, Tenasserim (Ataran valley).

Rare. I have one specimen, a male, which flew into my tent while

in camp one day in the Ataran valley.

5. PSEUDAGENIA TINCTA, Smith. PI. I, Fig. (nest).

Pompinus tinotus, Smith, Cat. Hym., MS., B. M., ITI, p. 146, 132.

Hasirat : India, Burma, Tenasserim.

This is the commonest of the genus Pseudagenia, and is generally dis-

tributed. I have specimens from all parts of Tenasserim, also from the

Pegu Yoma and from near Rangoon.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN HYMENOPTERA. 369

Mr. Cameron (Hym. Orient., p. 441) says he has failed to notice in

his specimens any green tinge about the head and thorax. In all the

specimens I have taken the fine silky pile on the head and thorax is

quite markedly of a beautiful greenish silvery hue.

I have more than once found the nest of this species. One nest I

found in July was made in the hollow end of a bamboo projecting from

the thatch of a ruined zayat or rest-house in the Domdami valley. A

reference to the figure (Pl. I, Fig. 1) will show that the nest consists

of a series of oval, thin, convex shells of clay, not unlike those made by

the different species of Humenes, only shallower, not so high, These

shells were filled with spiders (Epezra). It was a remarkable fact that

at least a dozen of the Pseudagenia were flying to and from the nest,

In about a quarter of an hour I had caught nine of them. To a

certain extent therefore this species, unlike any other member of

the family Pompilide known to me, nests in societies. A still

more remarkable fact was that among my captures I found not

only females, but males (known at a glance by the much shorter

abdomen and heavier and longer thorax in proportion). Half

an hour’s careful watching of the individuals left uncaught, however,

showed me that it was only the females that were busy making

the cells and collecting the spiders to provision them with. The males

simply flew around settling occasionally on the thatch of the zayat close

by. I took the nest cutting off the end of the bamboo. In November

four of the cells hatched out, one insect each, all females, The rest of

the cells have remained intact, not even yielding any parasite, such as

Stelis, which attaches itself to the genus Megachile, or Chrysis, which I

have seen attending Rhynchium and Eumenes. From the circumstance

that I have found Pseudagenia tincta making its nests in February and

March and again in July, I presume it is double-brooded.,

6. PSHUDAGENIA BLANDA, Guérin.

PomMPILUS BLANDUS, Guér., Voy. Coq:, ool., II, pt. 2, p. 260.

Hasirat : India, Malacca, Borneo to Flores, Burma, Tenasserim.

This species is almost equally common as the last. It comes into

houses and nests in the chinks and crevices in the wood walls, storing

its nests invariably with the smaller Lycosa or jumping spiders, I saw

a female one morning in the verandah of my house in Moulmein in hot

combat with a spider rather larger than what this Pseudagenia generally

370 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

attacks, The two creatures rolled and struggled one over the other for a

good five minutes, the spider dodging and biting and the Pseudagenia

trying vigorously to sting, and so render its opponent insensible. At

length the wasp managed to succeed, the spider lay helpless and

quivering. Then Mrs. Pseudagenia (for it was a female) paraded

round in a sort of triumph, flirting her head and antenn, and finally

picking up the spider between her fore and intermediate legs flew off

to a crevice at the corner of the ceiling. This species, I believe, has

also two broods during the year. I have found nests in January and

again in June.

7. PSEUDAGENIA HYPSIPYLA, n. sp.

Hasirat : Tenasserim.

Frmate : Length 16 m.m. ; expanse 28 m.m.

Mate : Unknown.

DEscriPTION’: ¢. Head black, covered with a fine, but not dense,

grey pile ; mandibles black, their tips castaneous ; clypeus transversely

oval, convex, its anterior margin rounded ; antennz black, a small

blunt tubercle above their base of insertion ; eyes distinctly converging

above, a shallow sulcation from the anterior ocellus to the base of the

antennee ; back of the head slightly emarginate. Thorax black, covered

with a thin silvery pile most dense on the sides of the metathorax ;

prothorax anteriorly arched, posteriorly sub-angular ; mesothorax short,

its posterior margin transverse, scutellum and proscutellum raised,

gibbous ; metathorax very slightly sloping, its sides rounded and

bulging, the dorsal surface rugose with fine transverse striations, and

bearing an indistinct longitudinally impressed central line not reaching

its apex ; wings yellowish hyaline, a dark fuscous fascia covering the

base of the radial cell, and passing through the 2nd and 3rd cubital

cells to the 3rd discoidal cell, nervures and tegule dark brown, the

transverse medial nervure of the front wing arises almost 2 m.m. before

the apex of the 1st submedial cell, and the cubital nervure of the hind

wing the same distance after the apex of the anal cell; legs black,

covered with cinereous pile, the femora of the posterior legs bright red,

their apex black, tibize and tarsi of the intermediate and posterior legs

with minute spines, claws toothed on their inferior edges. Abdomen

black with a thin sericeous grey pile, which has a tendency to

form submarginal bands on the segments, like in Tachytes and

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN HYMENOPTERA ; 37

Larrada, posterior margins of the segments narrowly testaceous, the

1st segment petiolated, the 2nd lengthened, the anal segment with a

few fuscous hairs at the apex, the whole abdomen perceptibly verti-

cally compressed.

This species I believe has been hitherto undescribed. In general

appearance it resembles P. tincta, from which, however, it can

be distinguished at a glance by the considerably larger and more

level metathorax, and from its having a fascia across the wings. It i

not P. bipennis, Saussure, which is a much smaller insect and has “ ore

clypet marginibus genis ano pedebusque 1, 2 antice luteis.’ Pseuda-

genia hypsipyla is rare, and I have hitherto only found it in thick

bamboo jungles. Like the rest of the species of the family it seems.

a restless creature of quick flight, often walking rapidly among fallen

leaves and hunting them over and under diligently.

8. CEROPALES ORNATA, Smith,

CEROPALES oRNATA, Smith, Cat. Aym., MS., B. M., III, p. 179.

Hapirat : India, Burma, Tenasserim.

It is rather remarkable that this is the only species of Ceropales 1

have come across in Burma. It is generally distributed but rare.

9, SALIUS FLAVUS, Fabriceus.

SPHEX FLAVA, Fabr., Ent. Syst., II, p. 217, 80. Drury, Ill. Exot.,

MS., III, t. 42, £. 4, 9.

PomPiLus FLAVus, Fabr., Syst, Piez., p. 197, 51. Pel. Hist, Nat,

Hym., II1., p. 430, 21,

Hurpersis riava, Dhlb., Aym. Kur., I, p. 128 and p. 462,

Hasirat : India, Burma, Tenasserim.

I am somewhat puzzled as to what the true Sphea flava of Fabriccus

is. The insect I identify as it, agrees best with Dahlbom’s description

of Hemipepsis flava. It is one of the commonest of the Pompilide,

and very much affects the grassy sides of roads, hunting about among the

tufts of grass and herbage, In May I found one digging vigorously

into the bank of the drain along the side of the high road between

Moulmein and Amherst. It had not dug far, and being disturbed by

my approach flew away, and did not return again, though I waited and

watched for nearly an hour,

10. SALIUS SEVERUS, Drury.

SPHEX sEVERUS, Drury, Ill. Exot, Hist,, 10, t. 42, £. 4,

Hasrrat : India (Drury, Smith), Burma, Tenasserim,

372 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. V1i1

T have compared specimens of a very large species, which is found

not unfrequently in thick bamboo jungle on the Pegu Yoma and

throughout Tenasserim, with Drury’s figure,and they are identical.

I once got stung by one of these insects on my thumb, and my whole

hand and my arm to the elbow were quite numb for a couple of hours.

11. SALIUS INTERMEDIUS, Smith.

MYG@NIMIA INTERMEDIA, Smith, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. IV,

Vol. XII (1873), p. 257.

Haprrat: N. India, Ceylon (Smith), Tenasserim.

A species which agrees well with Smith’s description of this insect

is not uncommon in April and May and again from September to

November on the Dawnat range in Tenasserim at from 1,000 feet to

5,000 feet elevation.

12. SALIUS AUDAX, Smith.

Myenmia AUDAX, Sm., Cat. Hym., MS., B. Mus., Pt, ITI, p. 182, 4.

Bingh., Jour. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc., Vol. V, p. 239.

Hasirat : Sylhet (Smith), Kumaon (Bingham), Tenasserim.

I have once met with this handsome species in Tenasserim on the

Taungjah pass (1,000 feet) on the Kawkareik and Myawaddy road

crossing the Dawnat range.

18. SALIUS HERCULES, Cameron.

SALIUS HERCULES, Cam. Hym. Orient. Mem. and Proc. Manchester

Lit. and Phil. Soc. 4th Ser., Vol. IV, Pt. III, p. 447.

Hasitat: Naga Hills (Cameron), Thaungyin Valley, Tenasserim,

Pegu Yoma.

This species must be rare. I have only twice come across it, both

times in dense forest on low hilly country.

14, SALIUS ELIZABETH A, n. sp., Pl. I, fig. 9.

Hasitat: Hills of Tenasserim.

FremaLe : Length 43 to 46 m.m., expanse 83 m. m.

Mate: Length 38 m.m., expanse 80 m. m.

Description: 9. Head clothed with dark golden pubescence ;

mandibles ferruginous-red, their tips black : labrum slightly produced ;

clypeus convex, twice as broad as high, its superior margin bisinuate,

the anterior transversely truncate ; antenne convolute, ferruginous-

red, a shallow sulcation around the base at their insertion, this sulcation

coloured brown and covered with scattered punctures ; eyes arched

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN HYMENOPTERA. 373

distinctly approaching at the vertex, front slightly concave and

having a short deep impressed line leading from the anterior

ocellus to the base of the antenne, the space between the two

posterior ocelli equal to the space between either and the nearest

orbit, but greater than that between them and the anterior ocellus; -

head posteriorly slightly hollowed out. Thorax ferruginous-red, the

pubescence on the pro- and mesothorax, the tegule, the scutellum,

proscutellum, coxee, trochanters, and the outside of the tibice and tarsi

rich glistening golden-ferruginous, the mesothorax and femora red-

dish without pubescence ; the pronotum square in front, the shoulders

projecting, its posterior margin arched ; the mesonotum slightly convex,

bearing a longitudinally impressed line on either side ; the metanotum

transversely striated, rounded, gently sloping to the apex, its sides

bulging, the side tubercles and stigmata well marked and prominent ;

the wings deep reddish-yellow, paling towards the margins, which are

broadly but very lightly infuscated, the nervures ferruginous ; the

transverse medial nervure of the front wing and the cubital nervure of

the hind wing both arise respectively well before the apex of the Ist

sub-medial cell in the one case and the apex of the anal cell in

the other case, the Ist recurrent nervure unites with the 2nd trans-

verse cubital nervure (interstitial), the latter being angled just

above the apex of the 2nd cubital cell ; the 2nd recurrent nervure is

received in the 3rd cubital cell at a point about 4rd the length of the

base from its inner angle ; a clear hyaline spot at the inner angle of

the Ist discoidal cell ; legs long, the tibice and tarsi of the intermediate

and posterior legs strongly spined, the former grooved with a serrated

angular edge, the claws toothed, abdomen black obscurely puniose,

the 3rd segment having a transverse impressed mark, the anal seg-

ment studded with a few fuscous hairs,

The ¢ resemblesthe 9, but is slighter and smaller ; the antennez are

arched slightly, not convolute, and subfusiform ; the legs are less spinous,

and the abdomen somewhat compressed. vertically.

This insect, though closely resembling S. aureosericea, Guérin, cannot

be that species, of which Guérin says: “ L’abdomen est d’un noir

obscur avec les deux derniers segments garnis d’un duvet doré.”

It is not uncommon here in the dense forests on the higher ranges

at from 1,000 to 4,000 ft. elevation, In May I chanced on one, a 9 ,

374 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

carrying a huge grasshopper clasped tightly between its forelegs. It

passed me flying fairly fast and pitched on the trunk of a large tree,

up the bole of which it proceeded to laboriously climb with its burden.

Two or three times, owing to the tree having a smooth bark, it slipped

- back, but finally, having got up about 25 ft., it disappeared into a hole

(apparently the deserted nest-hole of a oudepeoten Iam sorry the

tree was much too large to fell easily, or I should like to have got the

nest.

The figure in the plate, though perfectly correct in drawing, being

that of a 2, ought to show the antenne convolute, not arched. The

hyaline spot in the inner angle of the Ist discoidal cell has also been

omitted.

15. SALIUS INDICUS, Cameron, PI. I, fig. 10.

SALIUS INnDICUs, Cam. Hym. Orient. Mem. and Proc, Manchester

Lit. and Phil. Soc., 4th series, Vol. IV, pt. IIT, p. 448.

Haprrat: Tavoy (Cameron), Tenasserim generally.

This very beautiful species is common throughout the hill jungles

in Tenasserim from May to October. At first sight it somewhat

resembles, and might be mistaken for, S. leita, Smith, but apart from

the fact that in S.leta the whole head and the thorax anteriorly are

reddish-yellow, while in S. zndicus only the antennz are yellow, the rest

of the head and the thorax being entirely black, the two insects differ

in structure, S. ¢ndecus being stouter built and larger than one (for there

are two, wide infra) variety of S. leta,and longer and less compact than

the other variety.

I have hunted high and low, and have watched a Q of this species

for hours, without having yet chanced on its nest or seen what it

provisions it with.

16, SALIUS LASTA, Smith.

. Myenimia tava, Sm., Ann. and Hing. Nat. Hist., Ser. IV, Vol. XII,

p- 257 (1878).

Hasirat: Burma (Smith), Tenasserim.

It is remarkable that there seem to be two varieties of this | species

absolutely indistinguishable except in size, and in the arrangement of

the nervures of the hind wing. The large variety is perhaps the more

common and measures 2 2 22 to 24 mm. ¢ ¢ 17 to 21 mm. in

length. It isa much stouter, more robust insect than the other. The

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN HYMENOPTERA. 375

cubital nervure of the hind wing arises 2 m.m. before the apex of

the anal cell, The smaller variety is a slight elegant little insect

measuring 2 9 16to 18mm., ¢ ¢ 14 to 17 mm, (in this agreeing

with Si lta (vera) as described by Smith). The cubital nervure ofthe

hind wing springs exactly at the apex of the anal cell. I do not think

the two forms can be separated. |

17. SALIUS SAVISSIMA, Smith.

Myentm1a smvissiva, Sm., Ann, and Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. IV,

Vol. XII, p. 256 (1873).

Hasitat: India, Bombay Presidency (Smith), Tenasserim.

A species which for the present I identify as this occurs somewhat

unfrequently in May and June along the roads and in the open patches

of jungles on the Dawnat range. The Tenasserim insect differs from

the description and from a Bangalore specimen of this species in my

collection in having the coxe and trochanters yellow anteriorly,

instead of all black.

18. SALIUS CONVEXUS, Bingham.

PRIOCNEMIS coNVEXUS, Bingh., Jour. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc. V,

pe 237.

Hasitat: Ceylon, Tenasserim.

This species belongs to Kohl’s Hemipepsis, not Priocnemis group.

I described this species from Ceylon in 1890. Since I have found it

occur commonly in the more open and dry jungles in Tenasserim.

(Saliws—Priocnemis group.)

19. SALIUS MADRASPATANUS, Smith.

PomPILUS MADRASPATANUS, Sm., Cat. Hym. M. 8. B.M., Pt, 11T,

p. 144, 130.

Hapsitat : Madras, Nicobar Islands (Smith), Burma, Tenasserim.

This species is remarkably like Macromeris violacca ; it is common,

and I have found its nest in September, mere burrows in the wall of a

deserted dry well, which it had stored with small crickets.

20. SALIUS PEREGRINUS, Smith. |

PRIOCNEMIS PEREGRINUS, Sm., Tran, Ent. Soc., 1875, Part I, p. 37.

Hasrrat: India (Barrackpur), Sumatra, China (Hongkong), teste

(Smith), Burma, Tenasserim.

This isone ofthe very,commonest of the Pompilide in Tenasserim, and,

unlike S. madraspatanus, makes its nests in holes in trees, occasionally

376 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VITI.

in a bamboo, storing them with those soft-bodied spiders that live in the

rolled up margins of leaves. It is double-brooded ; I have found nests

in June and again in November.

21. SALIUS VERTICALIS, Smith, Pl. I, fig. 5.

PRIOCNEMIS VERTICALIS, Sm., Proce. Linn. Soe., II, 94, 6.

Hasrrat: Borneo, Malacca (Smith), Tenasserim.

This well-marked species is rare ; I have only twice met with

it, In September on a jungle road I found a Q carrying cock-

roaches to a hole in a tree. Subsequently in May I procured a @ on

the flowers of Acacia pennata. The ¢ has not previously been

described.

Length, @, 15 m.m., expanse 37 m.m.

Description: @, Head black, mandibles yellow, their tips black

clypeus and sides of the face as far as the vertex broadly yellow, the

back of the head, the vertex, and front, as far as the antenne, black,

with scattered black hairs, and in certain lights a thin golden pubes-

cence, a streak behind the eyes yellow, the latter arcuate, closer above

than below ; clypeus convex, transversely oval, its anterior margin

truncated ; antennz sub-fusiform, black, the scape with a spot of

yellow below. Thorax and abdomen black, the prothorax with a

broad band and the mesothorax with a square spot along their posterior

margins, and the scutellum and the proscutellum with a central spot

chrome-yellow ; the metathorax convex sloping abruptly towards the

apex, which latter is almost vertically truncated ; the scutellum and

post-scutellum gibbous cone-shaped, the dorsal surface of the meta-

thorax finely rugose, clothed with scanty fuscous pubescence, the false

stigmata and tubercles on the sides well-marked and prominent ; wings

golden yellow of a deeper tint than in the 9°, their tips and outer

margins broadly but lightly infuscated, the tegule and nervures dark

ferruginous-brown: in the fore wing the transverse medial nervure

springs well before the apex of the 1st submedial cell, the 1st recurrent

nervure is received in the 2nd cubital cell close to its apex, the 2nd

recurrent nervure in the 3rd cubital cell well before its middle: in the

hind wing the cubital nervure is interstitial, Legs long, slightly

spinose, the cox trochanters and femora black, the remainder of the

legs chrome-yellow, the claws black, abdomen somewhat vertically

compressed, the 2nd segment remarkably long.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN HYMENOPTERA. 377

The nest mentioned above, when I caught the 9, was unfinished,

but some seven or eight unfortunate cockroaches were stuffed tightly

in, and were all semi-unconscious but still living.

The markings on the head and thorax and the colour of the legs of

the @ depicted in the plate are shown of a reddish-yellow instead of

a clear chrome-yellow.

22. POMPILUS BRACATUS, Bingham.

PoMPILUS BRACATUS, Bingh., Jour. Bom. Nat. Hist. Soc., V, 236.

Haspitat: Burma, Tenasserim.

Since describing this species in 1890, I have found it common in

the more open forest along the foot of the Dawnat range in Tenasserim.

Tn coloration it curiously resembles Salius (Priocnemis) peregrinus,

Smith.

23. POMPILUS ANALIS, Fabricius.

SPHEX ANALIS, Fabr. Ent. Syst. II, 209, 42.

Hasitat: India generally, Burma, Tenasserim, Malacca, &.

This widely distributed species is one of those which often come into

houses hunting for the smaller Zycosa or wolf-spiders, with which it

stores its nests.

24, POMPILUS UNIFASCIATUS, Smith.

PomPILUS UNIFASCIATUS, Sm. Cat. Hym., MS., B. M., Pt. III, p.

145, 133.

Hasirat: Hast India, Sumatra, North China (Smith), Burma,

Tenasserim.

This common species is rather variable in colouring. The form got

in Pegu has the head and thorax reddish-yellow ; the Tenasserim form

has the same parts more or less variegated with black. One specimen

I procured on the Dawnat range is a most lovely insect, having the

yellow and black on the pro- and mesothorax sharply defined, and the

metathorax on its dorsal surface covered with rather long glistening

golden pubescense.

25. POMPILUS HONESTUS, Smith:

Powprius HONEstUs, Sm., Cat. Hym. Ins, B. M., Pt. III, p. (144,

129;

Hazitat : India, Burma, Tenasserim.

This species is rare ; 1 haye myself only procured two specimens,

378 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

26. POMPILUS CAMERONIL, n. sp., Pl. I, fig. 6.

F'@RREOLA FENESTRATA, Bingh. (non Smith), Jour. Bomb. Nat. Hist.

Soc., Vol. V, 239, 10. Cameron, Hym. Orient. Mem. and Proc. Man-

chester Lit. and Phil. Soc., Ser. IV, Vol. IV, Pt. IL, p. 460.

Hasitat: Burma, Tenasserim.

In 1890 I identified this species with Smith’s msect. Mr. Cameron

(loc. cit.) from the description recognized it asnew. I have since pro-

cured specimens of the true P. fenestrata, both from India and Burma,

and find on comparison that the red mesothorax in P. cameroni is a

constant and well marked difference. I have ventured to name

the species after Mr. Cameron.

27. POMPILUS ILUS, Bingham, PI. I, fig. 7.

FErREOLA FASCIATA, Bingh., Jour. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc., Vol. V,

p. 241,12.

Hasitat: Burma, Tenasserim.

T have ventured to re-name this species as I find the name /asczata

pre-occupied (Smith, Cat. Hym. Ins. B. M., Pt. IL, p. 169, 8).

This species seems always to occur in dense forests by streams,

In May I procured both ¢4 and 2 @ by the bank of a mountain

torrent on the Dawnat range at about 1,500 feet elevation.

The ¢ resembles the @ but is smaller (16 m.m., 2 23. m.m.); the

deep blue-black of the abdomen is duller, bemg only just visible in

certain lights, the wings are infuscated further towards the base, and

are longer in proportion than those of the 9.

The above 27 species are all the Pompilede from Tenasserim in my

tollection which I have been able to identify. I possess examples of

at least twice that number of species which I have not yet been able

to compare with descriptions and work out. .

Family SHHGID 4, Leach.

28. SPHEX REGALIS, Smith, Pl. I, fig. 11.

CHLORION REGALIS, Sm., Ann, Mag, Nat. Hist., Ser. [V, Vol. XII,

p. 291 (1878).

Hasitat: Afghanistan and Sind (Smith).

A beautiful specimen of this species was kindly sent tome by Mr,

Cumming of the Telegraph Department from Karachi. It is a

lovely insect, and I regret the plate does not give much idea of the gor-

geous purple tints of the wings, metathorax ahd abdomen, the rich

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN HYMENOPTERA. 379

colouring of which is in fine contrast with the dull brick red of the

head and anterior parts of the thorax.

29. SPHEX FULVO-HIRTA, Bingham. PI. I, fig. 8.

SPHEX FULVO-HIRTA, Bingh, Jour. Bomb, Nat. Hist. Soc., Vol. V,

p. 242, 14,

Hasirat : Ceylon.

I take this opportunity to figure the above species described by me

(loc. cit.) in 1890.

30. SPHEX MATA, n. sp.

Hasirat : Tenasserim.,

FEMALE : Length 16 m.m., expanse 26. m.m.

Mate: Length 16 m.m.,, expanse 29 m.m.

Description. Belongs to Cameron’s section IV. “ Tarsal claws with

two teeth (Sphez, sensu str.).”

Head black, opaque, finely punctured, covered with soft scattered

grey hairs, the clypeus and cheeks with silvery pubescence ; the

elypeus sub-triangular, slightly convex, its anterior margin transverse ;

mandibles black ; antennz arched, the scape short, the 2nd and 38rd

joints sub-equal ; the ocelli very small and inconspicuous, placed in a

curve on the vertex. Thorax black, finely punctured, covered with

thin grey pubescence, that on the proscutellum short, dense,

and silvery ; the mesothorax indented anteriorly in the centre;

the metathorax evenly rounded, the scutellum and _ proscutellum

not raised and the latter not indented in the middle as

in so many species. The wings hyaline, the anterior wings with a

fuscous cloud beyond the radial and 3rd cubital cells not coming

lower than level with the base of the laiter, the nervures ferruginous,

the tegule black and shining. Legs black, the apex of the tibie of

the posterior legs clothed with rich golden pubescence on the inner

side, Abdomen black, very finely punctured, the 2nd segment dark

blood red, the rest narrowly margined with testaceous brown.

The ¢ resembles the Q, but has larger wings and a more lengthened

petiole.

This well marked little species is very common at the beginning

of the rains on the flowers of Acacta pennata.

Family BEMBECID 4, Westwood.

This family, so far as I know, is represented by several species in

Burma and Tenasserim. Of these three have not as yet been described.

380 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VILL.

31, BEMBEX TREPANDA, Dahlbom.

BEMBEX TREPANDA, Dahlb., Hym. Eur., I, p. 181.

Hasirat : India (Dahlb.), Burma, Tenasserim.

Fairly common in the plains during the hot weather. Like others

of the family it is very often found frequenting flowers.

32. BHMBEX FOSSONUS, Smith.

BEMBEX FOSsONUS, Sm., Jour. As. Soc. Beng., Vol. XLVII (1878),

Pt. II, p. 168, 7. Bingh., Jour. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc., Vol. V, p. 243.

Hasirat : Burma, Tenasserim.

This species as mentioned by me (loc. cit.) is also common.

33. BEMBEX WESTONII, n. sp. Pl. I, fig. 1.

Hasitat : Salween Valley, Tenasserim. |

FEMALE: Length 22 m.m,, expanse 39 m.m.

Mate : Unknown.

Description: 9. Head black, mandibles yellow, their tips black,

labrum clypeus, and front as high nearly as the vertex of the

head, the cheeks and the scape of the antennz in front pale

wax yellow; two large spots at the base of the clypeus,

a spot above them between the insertion of the antenne, a

spot at the apex of the scape and the flagellum of the antennz

black, the top of the head and occiput clothed with fuscous

hairs, which are rather dense and long behind, the clypeus

convex semicircular above, its anterior margin almost transverse.

Thorax black, minutely and densely punctured, pubescent posteriorly ;

the prothorax with a broad yellow posterior margin ; the meso-

thorax slightly convex; the metathorax short, square, and poste-

riorly vertically truncated; the sides of the thorax varie-

gated with dark brick red, the pectus black ; the wings hyaline and

iridescent, tegulee and nervures dark brown ; legs yellow, the under

side of the coxee, trochanters, femora, tibiee and tarsi of the anterior

legs and the same parts except the tarsi of the intermediate and

posterior legs streaked with black, the anterior tarsi armed on the

outside with ciliated spines, the claws yellow, their tips black.

Abdomen black, finely punctured, pubescent, in certain lights it is seen

to be covered with very short rather sparse stiff black recumbent hairs ;

the 1st and 2nd segments bear a large yellow irregular macula on

either side, the following segments except the anal, with biarcuate central

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN HYMENOPTERA. 381

yellow bands ; the band on the 3rd segment is interrupted in the

centre on the dorsal surface, and the anal segment is black with a few

stiff black hairs studding the apex ; the macula on the anterior seg-

ments and the bands on the others are indistinctly stained with red

anteriorly.

This species was first procured and given to me by Mr. A. Weston,

Deputy Conservator of Forests, who informed me that he had found

its nest also. As the nesting habits of all the Gembecide seem alike,

and I myself found the species next described nesting, I have given all

the information I am possessed of below.

This species seems excessively rare; beyond the specimen kindly

given me by Mr. Weston and one in his collection I have seen no

others.

34. BEMBEX HESIONE, n. sp.

Hasirat: Maulmain, Thaungyin Valley, Tenasserim.

FemaLe: Length 24 m.m., expanse 37 m.m.

Matz: Unknown.

Description : 9. Head black, labrum yellow, mandibles yellow,

their tips black, the clypeus, the cheeks behind the eyes, the lower half

of the front, a heart-shaped spot on the forehead, and a line, not

reaching the vertex, on the inside of the orbits, yellow ; two irregular

spots at the base of the clypeus, a spot above them on the short carina

between the antenne, and the flagellum black; the scape in front and

at the base above yellow ; the ocelli almost aborted, placed on a sort of

raised platform between two shallow sulcations which run down on

either side of the front almost to the base of the antennez ; the vertex

and back of the head fringed with soft dark brown and the cheeks and

chin below with silky white hairs. Thorax black, finely punctured,

indistinctly pubescent, the posterior face of the metathorax, which is

vertically truncated, covered with a short scanty white down, protho-

rax yellow, the centre anteriorly and two spots on the shoulders black ;

the posterior margin of the mesothorax transverse ; the scutellum

and postscutellum have curved submarginal yellow bands, and the

metathorax a yellow streak extending from the anterior angles,

which widens out inwardly and nearly meets in the middle,

where it is divided bya fine impressed line. Posterior shoulders

of the metathorax produced and sharply angular, yellow, which

382 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIII,

colour extends on to the posterior face of the metathorax ; the sides of

the thorax variegated black and yellow, the pectus obscurely brownish

with lateral black macula, the brownish portion transversely striated.

The wings hyaline and iridescent, the tegulee and nervures dark brown.

The legs yellow, streaked with black on the coxee, trochanters, femora and

tibize above and below, tarsi and claws yellow, the former with ciliated

ferruginous spines, the latter with their tips black. Abdomen black

with a purple gloss, minutely and finely pitted, and seen in certain

lights to be covered by short rather sparse recumbent black hairs ;

the Ist segment with an elongated triangular macula on either side,

the 2nd to the 5th segments with biarcuate submarginal bands of the

same colour, the bands on the 2nd, 8rd, and 4th segments

have in the middle on either side an oblong black macula,

the anal segment and the whole ventral surface of the abdomen black.

All the segments, both above and below, are narrowly edged piceous.

The first time I came across this species was in September on a road

near Maulmain. She, for it turned out to bea ©, was flying with a

large blue-bottle fly tightly clasped between her forelegs. Watching

her carefully I saw her enter a burrow in the side of the ditch by the

road. Examining it 1 found the soil was sandy and the burrow not

deep, so.in order to get a view of the interior of the nest I began

gently to enlarge the entrance. As I removed the soil the Bembew flew

out and, after buzzing around for a few seconds, went off. The nest

hole was sunk obliquely into the ground, and was about 11 inches long

by about } inch in diameter, slightly larger or bulbous at the end. A

heap of dead blue-bottle flies in various stages of decay lay piled on

the floor of the nest, and one yellowish fleshy grub about rd of an

inch long struggled in and out among them battening on the half

putrid mass.

The smell was most offensive. While I was examining the nest

the @ returned with another blue-bottle. She came straight for

what had been the entrance, but puzzled apparently by the

change in its size, kept hovering about buzzing loudly. Finally she

alighted, walked to the end of the nest and deposited the fresh fly and,

after parading around for a few seconds, flew off, I then caught her

as I noticed she was different from the ordinary Bembex fossorius

which is the common species here. Mr. Weston had told me that the

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN HYMENOPTERA. 283

Bembex, whose nest he had found, was, at the time he chanced on it,

feeding its grub in the same way as I now observed this Bembex

doing, but as the proceeding was so opposed to all the previously

observed habits of the Fossores I felt inclined to think he had been

mistaken. Here, however, was strong confirmation of the fact. And

a wonderful fact it is that the Bembecide of all the fossorial

Hymenoptera should be the sole insects which, like the social bees, con-

tinually tend and feed their grubs after they are hatched. I do not

know whether the Bembecide in other countries have the same habit,

Judging from the following statements by Kirby and Packard, I

should say not invariably. ‘* These insects form their burrows in the

sand, scratching a hole with their fore-feet like a dog, as observed by

Sir S. 8. Saunders, in the Jonian islands, and lay up a store of Diptera

or Hymenoptera which they sometimes capture on the wing and

sometimes fairly stalk down; then they deposit their eggs and close

up the hole.” (Kirby, Text-book of Entomology, p. 123.)

“The female Bembex burrows in sand to a considerable depth

burying various species of Diptera (Syrphide, Muscide, &c.) and

depositing her eggs at the same time in company with them, upon

which the larvee when hatched subsist. When a sufficient store has

been collected the parent closes the mouth of the cell with earth.”

(Packard: Guide to the study of Insects, p. 164.) On the other

hand confirmation of the facts noticed by Mr. Weston and myself is

given by Professor Duncan in “ Transformations of Insects,” p. 239,

from which I extract the following :—

“The examples we have offered showing the habits of the fossorial

Hymenoptera have a certain sameness, for in every instance the female

builds the nest, fills each cell with victims for the future larva, lays an

ege close by them and shuts up the habitation, and then dies without

ever seeing its progeny.”

“ But M. Fabre, of Avignon, has described the habits of Bembex

vidua, which are certainly most remarkable and suggestive, and

probably very rare, in the history of the Hymenoptera. In this

species the female does not close up the cell, but penetrates into it

every day, carrying a fresh victim for the larva ; and it always chooses

a fly. Here is a case of a female insect caring for its larva which

it sees, and which it notices to eat and care for food, so that

384 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

the daily visit becomes a pleasure and a duty according to the

usual laws of maternity. Of course the larvee of this species

run great risks, for their cell remains unclosed, and carnivorous insects

may enter in and destroy them. Moreover the mother may be taken

and killed herself, and then as no food would be forthcoming they

would die from starvation. There is no doubt that the habits of this

species cast a light upon those of the insects which only provide one

store of provisions and then close their nests ; for it is not difficult to

imagine that if the egg of a former Bembex vidua, the predecessor of

all these, should not happen to have hatched at the second visit of

the mother, she would have closed the hole and left it uncared for, not _

seeing the use of troubling herself to no purpose.” .

35. BEMBEX OVANS, n. sp.

Hasirat: Tenasserim.

Fumate: Length 22 m.m., expanse 34 m.m.

Mate: Length 21 m.m., expanse 36 m.m.

Description: 9. Head black, back of the head, vertex, upper por-

tion of the face, cheeks and chin pubescent; labrum, mandibles, clypeus,

a triangular mark above the clypeus, and the scape of the antennz

chrome-yellow ; the tips of the mandibles, a spot on the scape, and the

flagellum of the antennz above black, the under side of the flagellum

and a broad streak behind the eyes not reaching the vertex fulvous, the

clypeus convex, broader than long, the anterior border deeply emargi-

nate in the centre, the sides vertical, a vertical short though well

marked raised carina between the base of the antennze. Thorax black,

finely pitted but shining, slightly pubescent, the pubescence on

the metathorax long and soft ; the prothorax, the scutellum and_ post

scutellum posteriorly margined with chrome-yellow, the metathorax

posteriorly truncated, the sides produced into obtuse tubercles, these

latter with a band above them running from the anterior angles of the

metathorax and nearly meeting in the centre chrome-yellow ; sides

of the thorax yellow, pectus black: wings hyaline, tegule yellow,

nervures ferruginous-brown; legs and feet: yellow, the cox, trochanters

and femora outwardly, and all the tibize on the underside, streaked with.

black, apical joint of the tarsi and claws ferruginous-brown. Abdomen

black, with, in certain lights, obscure purple reflections, finely but

sparsely pitted and covered with minute recumbent black hairs; the Ist

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN HYMENOPTERA. 385

to the 5th segments with submarginal bands of a glancous-yellow,

these bands anteriorly bisinuate, and on the Ist, 2nd and 3rd segments

interrupted in the middle, the anal segment black with an obscure

yellow sub-terminal and ferruginous terminal spot, below the.

abdomen is smooth and shining, with the posterior margins of the

segments narrowly piceous.

This @ resembles the 2 exactly, only on the under side of the Ist

abdominal segment there is an obtuse tubercle.

This pretty and well marked species is not uncommon along the

jungle paths in April and May. In the beginning of June I found

them swarming on the side of a road over a low hill in the vicinity of

Maulmain, and digging into a soft sandy bank just as I had seen

Bembex fossorius doing in Pegu.

Tribe DILOPTERA, Latr.

Family VESPIDA4, Steph.

36. ISCHNOGASTER RUFO-MACULATA, n, sp.

Hasirat : Tenasserim (Salween Valley, Tavoy).

Femate: Length 22 m.m., expanse 32 mm.

Mate: Unknown. ‘

Description : @. Head black, coarsely pitted, the sides of the face

as high as the base of the antennz and the sides of the clypeus blood

red, the mandibles black, clypeus pear-shaped, its centre sharply pro-

duced and bearing a short verticle raised carina; a spot in the emargina-

tion of the eyes yellow. Thorax rather pear-shaped, not so globular

as in some of the species, the pro- and mesothorax rugose, the scutel-

lum, post scutellum, and metathorax smooth and shining, a line on the

posterior margin of the prothorax interrupted in the middle, a spot

under the base of the wings, with a crescentic mark below that, a spot

at the angles of the scutellum, a line on the post scutellum, and two

spots one above the other on the posterior angles of the metathorax

blood red ; the scutellum gibbous cone-shaped, the metathorax

sloping steeply but regularly to the apex: wings brownish hyaline

with bronze iridescent reflections in certain lights, the nervures and

tegulze dark brown ; legs black, the tegule and tarsi of the anterior

legs in front, and a spot on the tibize of the intermediate and of the

coxe of the posterior legs blood red, the tibie of the posterior iegs

also clothed on the inside with a dense soft golden pubescence ; the

386 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIIi.

tibial spur on the intermediate and posterior legs double, the claws

toothed. Abdomen black, the petiole smooth and shining, having a

fulvous-red streak below and two yellow spots at the apex above,

the rest of the abdomen finely pitted, the Ist segment with two spots

at the base followed by two larger submarginal spots, and the 2nd

segment with a sub-basal band interrupted in the middle bright chrome-

yellow, the remainder of the segments above unmarked; on the ventral

surface the Ist segment has two oblong basal spots, and the 2nd seg-

ment two small round submarginal spots chrome-yellow.

This species belongs to the section of the genus which live in pairs,

building a large globular nest such as figured in my former paper in

this Journal.

Like all the species of the section it is rare, The type specimen

was kindly given me by Mr. Weston, Deputy Conservator of Forests,

and was taken high up on the Salween river. Subsequently I procur-

ed two others on the flowers of a wild species of Lantana in the 'layoy

district.

37, ISCHNOGASTER HAUXWELLIL, n, sp., Pl. I, fig. 4.

Hasitat: Tenasserim (Ataran and Ye Valleys),

FremaLe: Length 21 m.m., expanse 31 m.m.

Mate: Length 18 m.m., expanse 33 m.m.

Description: @. Head black, densely punctured, mandibles black,

elypeus and front as high as the base of the antenne yellow

with a streak of black, not reaching the apex of the clypeus, down the

centre; antennz black, clypeus triangular, its anterior margin in the

middle sharply produced. Thorax black, globular, somewhat laterally

compressed, the pro- and mesothorax coarsely punctured, the scutellum,

post scutellum and metathorax smooth and shining, a line on the

posterior margin of the prothorax not meeting in the centre, a spot

under the base of the wings, a crescentic spot below that, a spot at

the anterior angles of the scutellum, a line on the post scutellum and

an irregular mark shaped somewhat like a chess pawn on the posterior

angles of the metathorax chrome-yellow ; the wings hyaline iridescent,

the tegulee aud nervures brown; the legs black, a streak on the

under side of the femora, the tibiae and tarsi of the anterior legs,

the apex of the femora below and of the tibiz above of the inter-

mediate legs, two streaks on the coxze posteriorly and the apex of

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN HYMENOPTERA. 387

the femora below on the posterior legs, yellow ; claws black toothed,

the tibial spur of the intermediate legs double. Abdomen black

pruniose, two spots at the apex of the petiole, a spot on either side

at the base of the 2nd segment, a larger spot following it, a band

interrupted in the middle at the base of the 3rd segment, and two

sub-marginal spots below on the ventral side of the 2nd and 3rd seg-

ments yellow, the underside of the petiole has a ferruginous stain, and

the posterior margins of the 3rd to the apical segment are narrowly

testaceous.

The & closely resembles the @ but has the wings darker, of a

brownish bronzy tint, the thorax is more compressed and the antennze

not so thick,

This species I found not uncommon in February and March fre-

quenting the dry beds of streams and clearings made in the forest for

cultivation. I have named it after Mr. T. A. Hauxwell, Deputy

Conservator of Forests, who has been good enough to collect for me

at various times, and to whom my collection is indebted for many

beautiful specimens of rare and new species of Hymenoptera.

This species also belongs to the division which construct a globular

nest and live in pairs.

Family HUMENID44, Westwood.

38. RHYNCHIUM CUPREIPENNIS, n. sp., Pl. 1, fig. 3.

Hasirat : South Tenasserim.

Frmaze : Length 14 m.m., expanse 34 m.m.

Matz : Unknown.

Description: 2. Head black, very coarsely and densely punctured ;

mandibles long, pointed, dark castaneous-brown, their inner margins

deeply striated ; clypeus long, pear-shaped, yellow, with a large black

diamond-shaped spot in the centre, the anterior margin of the clypeus

ending in two sharp short teeth ; antennze dark orange-fulvous, a cordate

spot on the front, a spot in the emargination of the eyes, and a broad

- streak behind them and not meeting on the back of the head, yellow ;

thorax black, very coarsely punctured, the punctures running into

longitudinal striz above ; the post scutellum gibbous ; the metathorax

very short, emarginate posteriorly, the sides produced and sharply

angular, a marked and slightly raised carina runs vertically down the

posterior face of the metathorax ; wings cupreous-brown with rich

388 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

iridescent tints in certain lights ; the nervures and tegule black ; legs

black, the apex of the femora, the tibiee and tarsi above of the anterior

legs, and the apex of the femora and last joint of the tarsi of the

intermediate and posterior legs orange-fulvous ; claws black toothed

below, the inside of the tibize and tarsi of the posterior legs clothed

with a rich golden pubescence ; abdomen black, with obscure blue

tints in certain lights, coarsely pitted, the posterior margins of all

the segments smooth and shining, the 1st segment truncated ante-

riorly, the 2nd segment remarkably long and broad, nearly twice as

long as the rest 6f the abdomen.

I procured this insect in the Tavoy forests in October on the

flowers of a species of vetch growing near a village. It seems

rare as I have not since come across it in any of the forests in South

Tenasserim.

Family APIDE, Auct.

39. XYLOCAPA RUFESCENS, Smith. Pl. I, fig. 2.

XYLOCAPA RUFESCENS, Sm., Trans. Ent. Soc., 1874, Pt. Il, p.

271, 48.

Hasitat: India, Java (Smith), Burma, Tenasserim.

This handsome species occurs all over lower Burma and Tenasserim

up to 4,000 feet elevation. It is remarkable as being purely crepuscular

in habits. I have never seen one out in the day time. Like the rest

of the genus it affects flowers, and at Pegu in May and at Amherst

in December I have caught numbers coming to the flowers of

the Quésqualis creeper in the brief dark twilight of these regions.

It not uncommonly flies during the night on moonlight

nights, making a loud humming. I have found the nest which

is similar to that made by other species of the genus, and consists of

a series of round cells hollowed out in the end of a decaying log. The

egos seem to be laid at long intervals, as some of the cells of a nest I exe

amined contained a mass of pollen with one egg deposited on it, others

larvee, and others again the bee in almost all stages of development.

40, BOMBUS MONTIVAGUS, Smith. PI. I, fig. 12.

Bomsus MonTIvAGuS, Sm., Dex. News Spec. Hym. B. M., p. 181, 2.

Hasirat : Moolai (8,000—6,000 feet), (Smith) ; throughout Tenas-

serim at elevations of over 3,000 feet.

Journ. Bomb. Nat.Hist.Soc. 1893.

MAJOR C.T. BINGHAM.

Bi.Dos, del. West Newman chr Tah.

BURMESE, HYMENOPTERA. i

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN HYMENOPTERA. 389

This, one of the brightest coloured of the humble bees, I have found

fairly common at elevations over 3,000 feet. The type specimen was

from Moolai, a well-known peak in the Dawnat range.

The females procured by me are somewhat larger than the one

described by Smith. My specimens measure length 23 to 28 mm

(103 to 13 lines), expanse 47 m.m.

The workers are much smaller ; length 13 m.m., expanse 29 m.m.

They closely resemble the 9, the colours being perhaps a little duller.

I have found the nest. It was placed in a hollow under the roots

of a bamboo bush on the Taoo Plateau (4,000 feet), and resembled

exactly the nests of the humble bees that I had so often, as a boy,

taken at home in the deserted nests of field mice.

DESCRIPTION OF PLATES.

Prats I,

Fig 1. Bembex westonii, n. sp., 2, p. 380.

» 2. Aylocapa rufescens, Smith, 9, p. 388.

3. Rhynchium cuprewennis, 0. sp., 9, p. 387.

4, Ischnogaster hauawellu, n. sp., 9, p. 386.

5. Salius verticalis, Smith, Q, p. 376.

» 6. Pompilus cameron, Bingham, 2, p. 378.

7, Pompilus ius, Bingham, Q, p. 378.

8. Sphex fulvo-lurta, Bingham, ¢, p. 379.

9. Salius elizabethe, n. sp., 9, p. 372.

», 10. Salius indicus, Cameron, Q, p. 374.

», 11, Sphex regalis, Smith, Q, p. 378.

», 12. Bombus montivagus, Smith, 9, p. 388,

390 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIII,

PLATE IT,

Fig. 1. Nest of Pseudagena tincta,

Smith.

» 2. Diagram Hymenoptera, Front

wing,

a, Anterior margin,

b, Apical margin,

c. Posterior margin,

a, Costal nervure.

d, Post costal nervure.

e. Externo-medial nervure.

f, Anal nervure.

g, Radial nervure.

h, Cubital nervure.

i, Discoidal nervure.

m. Ist transverse cubital

nervure.

n, 2nd transverse cubital

nervure.

o. 3rd transverse cubital

nervure,

p. 1st recurrent nervure.

q. 2nd recurrent nervure,

u, Transverse medial ner-

vure,

v. 1st transverse submedial

nervure,

w. 2nd transverse submedial

nervure,

1, Stigma. |

2. Radial cell.

5, 6,7 & 8. Cubital cells,

9,10 & 11, Discoidal cells.

14, Apical cell,

15. Costal cell.

16. Medial cell,

17 & 18, Submedial cells,

20, Anal cell,

Fig, 3, Hind Wing.

NoukorwpPope me as Ff

Costal nervure and ante-

rior margin,

. Apex of wing.

Post costal nervure,

Medial nervure.

Anal nervure.

Radial nervure,

Cubital nervure.

Discoidal nervure,

Transverse anal nervure.

Transverse cubital nervure

Region stigma.

Costal cell,

Radial cell,

Medial cell,

Anal cell.

Cubital cell (incomplete),

Discoidal cell (incomplete)

Journ.Bomb Nat Hist.Soc.1893.

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Pi.

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MAJOR CTLBINGHAT

West Newman. ath

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391

NOTHS ON SAMBAR AND SAMBAR SHOOTING,

By J. D. INveErariry.

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 13th Nov., 1893.)

Deer-stalking in India is really not stalking at all; there is no

spying a beast from a distance, and no long approach to the animal

for the shot. Instead of the open moor, there are ravines and nullahs

thickly clothed with trees, long grass, and underwood, in which one

seldom can see deer at a greater distance than 200 yards. Usually

the shot immediately follows the first view of the stag. In fact, sambar-

stalking consists of simply wandering through the jungle until you

blunder on to something to shoot. Sometimes, I believe, by having

men out on the hill-tops by daylight they are able to mark where

a sambar lies up for the day and can take you to the spot, but I have

never tried this myself. The young sportsman, when he starts to shoot,

is so eager that he walks through the jungle at a terrific pace ; his .

legs tear through the grass and bushes, the boughs of the trees scrape

along his hat and clothes, the measured tramp of his feet canbe heard

afar, and his progress is attended with so much noise that it isa

wonder if he ever sees anything. Now if there is one thing absolutely

essential to success in shooting in an Indian jungle, it is to move about

quietly ; one’s pace should be slow, and where, from leaves or stones,

the noise of footsteps cannot be helped, the steps should be irregular

so as to make a noise as little like the usual tread of the human biped

as possible.

More shots are obtained by carefully working the ground than by

racing over a large extent of country. If one has been out for several

hours without seeing anything, one naturally gets a little slack, and

many a chance is lost by carelessness. But after all the whole charm

of sport consists in the fears and hopes born of previous failure and

success. Who would care to shoot if one did not sometimes make

a mess of it? As you stroll through the jungle there is plenty to occupy

your attention. In addition to sambar you may see cheetul, the four-

horned antelope, or nielgai, all of which are found in some parts of the

country on the same ground. Tracks of tiger and panther are found

in the streams and nullahs, though they themselves are seldom seen

when stalking.

392 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

In some jungles there are a good many burrows dug out by por-

cupines. They have onlya single hole. I only once saw a porcupine

out in the day-time, and that was early inthe morning. You generally

make a start soon after dawn and walk about till lla.m. Long before

that hour the deer have all lain down, and as it is supposed that there

is not so good a chance of coming across them in the middle of the

day, you stop till about 2 p.m. My own opinion is that, in this kind of

shooting, the middle of the day is as good a time as any other, as they

are bound to rise and bolt if you pass near where they lie; and, as I

said before, in samber-stalking, nine times out of ten, you simply

blunder on to the deer, but as both your men and yourself require

breakfast and some rest, the middle of the day is a convenient time

for the purpose. If one’s camp is near a river, one makes for the

waterside in the early morning, on the chance of finding a stag

feeding on the berries of the Ber (Z:zzyphus jujuba), a thorny bush

that grows on the river banks, and the bright orange berry of which is

a favourite food of beast and bird. At this early hour a chill mist is

rising from the water, and as one appears on the top of the bank,

a loud noise in the bushes makes one clutch the rifle ; but it is only a

peacock that sails with outstretched wings across the river, Rising from

a low level, he has not sufficient way on to carry him across 200

yards and he touches the water, but a few strokes of the wing lifts him,

and he lands on the opposite shore and scuttles up the bank. F locks

of screaming parroquets are feeding on the Ber berries, and, as one

proceeds, the peculiar whish of the green pigeon’s flight attract one’s

attention to a score of these beautiful birds as they fly out from a tree

in which you would never have seen them if they had sat still.

Numerous nullahs stretch away from the river to the hills, and the

best plan is to walk along the top of a nullah a few yards from it,

occasionally going to the edge. Deer lying in the nullah then don’t

see you until they hear you about opposite them. As you move along

a loud bark and rush below you announce sambar, and you just catch

sight for a moment ofa hide, and as they cross an open patch see a hind

and calf. Even if it had been a stag the chances are you would not have

got a shot. Many chances at stags are lost by not being able in the thick

jungle to see his head until just as he disappears. If fortune is favour-

able, you may get an easy shot as the sambar bolts up the opposite side

NOTES ON SAMBAR AND SAMBAR SHOOTING. 393

of the nullah, as he often stops just as he gets to the top for a moment,

and in any case the running shot is an easy one. This is the usual

way of settling them by disturbing them from their seats in some

thicket in a nullah, or you may find one in his form in the long grass

under the shed of a tree on more open ground ; here again you won’t

see him till he rises to fly. Sometimes you are aware of a stag stand-

ing looking at you perhaps not 50 yards off. He has either just jumped

up, or suddenly come on you as he was walking through the jungle.

As you raise your rifle he sometimes whips round and flies, but as often

as not he will stand to be shot.

Early in the morning and late in the afternoon you may come across

sambar on the move and have a kind of short stalk to get in on them.

If there are deer in the jungle, there will be many trees with the outer

bark rubbed off. Sambar are very fond of rubbing their horns against

trees long after the horns are hard and all the velvet has disappeared ;

they get the tree between the brow antler and beamand rub up and down

leaving along blaze on the tree. They seem to prefer the smoother

light-coloured trees for the purpose, such as the “‘saler”; the dark red

of the inner bark shows very conspicuously where the stag has been

rubbing. At the foot of the tree will be found quite a heap of bark

in shreds. If you look at a samber’s horns you will find in many cases

the beam for some inches above the brow antler polished quite smooth

from this habit. You will also not fail to observe in their forms small

heaps of fruit stones. The fruit is swallowed whole. The sambar drops

the stones out when he chews the cud ; they are chiefly the stones of the

Ber. If you disturb a sambar from his form you will find a fresh

heap of stones quite wet, which have just before been in his interior.

An old stag generally slips away quietly, a hind and young stag often

give a loud bark as they start off. If you see either stag or hind and its

ears are flapping, it has not seen you. As soon as they see you, their

large ears are brought forward at right angles to the head and remain

fixed so as to catch every sound. If you remain motionless they will

stare a long time. Directly you move they are away. Sambar do

not go in large herds. I think the most I have seen together are

8 or 9.

The stags, both old and young, are often found alone and also in

company of the hinds, In the hot weather the stags are generally

394 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

alone, though I once shot one out of a herd of four in the middle of May.

I do not believe that all stags shed their horns yearly. Most, no

doubt, have shed their horns by April or May ; but I have seen them

with their horns in May and June. I once saw two stags together,

one with soft horns, half grown, the other had his horns unshed. I

shot a stag sambar on one occasion that was in company of half a

dozen hinds of the swamp deer, and I have more than once seen one

or two stags in close proximity to bison.

Wild dogs are great enemies of sambar. I have twice seen them

in chase. The first time they pulled down a calf about 150 yards

from where I was. I heard a squealing and the loud barks of the

mother, who stood close to the scene of the tragedy. Thinking a tiger

had killed, I stalked up to the noise, and when close to, saw a yellow

mass that I took to be a tiger, and was just going to fire when to my

astonishment it split up into a dozen pieces and disappeared. I found

the calf with its entrails torn out and eaten, part of the rump was

eaten, and the eyes picked out—all in afew seconds. I hid myself

behind a tree and in about 20 minutes the pack of dogs returned ; they

passed me within 15 yards, in single file, a dozen in number, ten

paces between each dog. I, with difficulty, refrained from firing.

I was between them and the sambar, and they made a circuit and

came up to the carcass from the opposite direction. As the leading dog

reached the body, I could not wait any more. I fired and missed it, but

luckily got one with the second barrel as they bolted. It was a female,

and had the exact smell of a domestic dog. The second time I was

sitting on the banks of the Taptee having breakfast, when a hind

and calf rushed down the opposite bank into the stream, which

here was shallow and running pretty strong. On reaching the

middle she stood in the water with her calf under her body, and I saw

two wild dogs in pursuit stop at the water’s edge. They uttered loud

wailing howls, but the old hind and young one seemed quite comfort-

able, the little one with its tail up frisking about under and around

its mother. In a short time the dogs went away, and in about ten

minutes afterwards the hind and calf went back to the same side they

had come from and walked slowly off. You would have thought they

would not have gone back to the same side as the dogs were. On

the same day a couple of hours afterwards, two dogs, which I believe

NOTES ON SAMBAR AND SAMBAR SHOOTING. 395

must have been the same ones, ran a bull neilgai into the river opposite

my tent. I did not see it myself, but my butler informed me that they

tore its stomach open just as it reached the river. The neilgai swam

across, and sank when half way over, the dogs not following into the

water. The photograph gives a better idea of the look of a sambar

than any verbal description. They have, as will be seen, a fine coat of

coarse hair, which is specially long and thick on the neck. In the hot

weather, however, they lose a lot of hair and have a somewhat mangy

appearance.

The horns of the sambar have normally only three points on

each horn. Sometimes they throw out an extra tine or two, usually

in the upper fork. In most heads one horn is an inch or two longer

than the other. Anything over 38 inches I consider exceptionally

good : the longest I have shot myself measured 44 inches on the out-

side curve. Ten inches round the burr is good, though there are heads

alittle over 11 inches round the burr. Sometimes the inside upper tine

is the longest, sometimes the outer one, -though in the majority of my

heads the greatest length is in the inner tine. Some are of equal

length. The longest brow antler I have measured was from the burr

to point (outside measurement) 2 feet, which isa very unusual length ;

the next longest was 19 inches.

The most curious instance of abnormal horns was a stag I shot

that had no brow antler at all to his left horn, but instead a third horn,

a mere knot, but growing on a separate bony pedicle of its own

three-fourths of an inch from the main horn. The length of this

left horn was some inches less than the right one, which measured

36 inches, A very singular sambar horn picked up by me is figured

at p. 223 of Vol. I of this Society’s Journal.

The horns of the sambar of other parts of India are much smaller

than the horns carried by stags in the neighbourhood of the Nerbudda

and 'Taptee Rivers, Sambar are said by Jerdon to produce only one

young at a birth ; they sometimes have two, The females of this genus

have canine teeth in the upper jaw as well as the males,

396 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

LES FORMICIDES DE LEMPIRE DES INDES ET DE

CEYLAN.

Par Avucuste Forst,

Professeur & l’Université de Zirich.

Part IV.

Adjonction aua Genres Camponotus, Mayr., ei Pouyruacuis, Shuck.

25. Camponotus confucet, nov. Sp.

% Major :—L: 7, 3a, 8,5 mill. Taille robuste. Longueur d’un

scape 2, 0, d’un tibia postérieur 2, 3 mill. Téte longue de 2, 6, large

de 2, 5 mill. Mandibules assez luisantes, ponctuées, finement réti-

culées entre les points, courtes, épaisses, armées de 6 dents. ‘Téte en

trapeze, faiblement échancrée derriére, plus large derriére que

devant. Hpistome aplati un peu subcaréné derriére; sa portion

médiane est plus étroite devant que derriére et forme devant, au milieu,

un petit lobe arrondi qui a une forte impression au milieu. Arétes

frontales trés simueuses et tres divergentes ; aire frontale trés petite.

Sutures du thorax profondes. Le thorax a exactement la forme de

celui du C. foreli, Hm. : le profil est interrompu entre le mésonotum et

le métanotum. Ce dernier a une face basale courte, assez convexe,

presque aussi large que longue (plus longue chez le C. forelz). La face

déclive est abrupte et plus longue que la face basale dont elle est

séparée par un angle arrondi ou par une courbe trés rapide. LHecaille

épaisse, presque carrée, convexe devant, avec un bord supérieur

transversal, épais. ‘Tibias subcylindriques, sans piquants 4 leur bord

interne. NScapes légérement déprimés.

Téte et thorax densément réticulés—ponctués et mats. eaille,

abdomen et pattes finement réticulés et subopaques. Les 2/5

antérieurs de la téte ont en outre de gros points enfoncés piligeres

profonds et allongés, réguli¢rement espacés, qui donnent un aspect

raboteux aux joues et 4 l’épistome,

Pilosité dressée d’un jaune un peu brundtre, abondante, courte et

obtuse sur le devant de la téte, assez éparse, plus longue et plus pointue

sur le reste du corps, nulle sur les tibias et les scapes. Une pubescence

jaunatre abondante sur tout le corps, surtout sur l’abdomen, forme

Journal Bomb ay Natural Hist: Soc

eA INN ETN ene na

A.P. Cortez and (9 Lithos: Fort, Bombay.

MPIRE DES [yp

Tea!

SDA

ICID

LES For

ET DE CEYLA.

—netninpeihitad

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN, 397

partout, aussi sur les pattes et les scapes, un duvet d’un gris jaundtre

semblable a celui du C. rufoglaucus, mais moins fin et moins serré,

Entiérement noir, Une étroite lisiere jaunadtre aux segments abdo-

minaux. Hxtrémité des tarses, articulations et éperons d’un brun

roussdtre,

% Minor :—L:546 mill. Mandibules étroites, armées de 6 dents,

Epistome subcaréné, convexe, sublobé, sans impression médiane devant,

en forme de trapéze, beaucoup plus large devant que derriére. Téte

beaucoup plus large derriére que devant, non échancrée derriére, Les

scapes dépassent l’occiput de la moitié de leur longueur (ne le dépassent

pas chez la % major). Une profonde échancrure entre le mésonotum

et le métanotum ; ce dernier fort convexe, bien plus court que chez le

C. forelt. caille tres épaisse, aussi épaisse que sa hauteur antérieure

(avant la surface supérieure convexe-oblique).

Téte, thorax et pattes assez fortement reéticulés et subopaques.

Abdomen et écaille plus faiblement réticulés, luisants. Pas de gros

points espacés, ni de poils courts devant la téte.

Mandibules en partie d’un brun rougedtre. Pubescence plus diluée

que chez la 8 major. Du reste comme la 8 major.

Kanara (M. Wroughton).

Dans notre tableau analytique, cette espéce se place au chiffre 2,

comme groupe 4 part, entre les groupes 3 (varians et sericeus) et 4

(camelinus, etc.). Hlle se distingue du groupe 3 par ses mandibules de

6 articles et son métanotum arrondi, non-concave derriére, du groupe

4 par son corps trapu, ses mandibules, son épistome, ete.

21. Camponotus maculatus, r. taylort, Forel.

Var. albosparsus, noy. var. 8 major L. 7 47, 5 mill.; 8 min, 5,

546 mill. Thorax et pattes d’un brun roussitre. Abdomen noiratre

avec quatre taches d’un jaune blanchatre, une sur chacun des deux

premiers segments, et avec une grande tache de méme couleur au

milieu du dessousdes mémes segments. Les taches dorsales du premier

seoment confluent parfois.

Himalaya (M. Smythies), Une variété presque semblable, mais

plus claire, avec la téte roussdtre chez la 8 minor, les taches claires

de abdomen plus grandes, confluentes, a été récoltée sur le Pic

Victoria 4 Hong Kong par le Dr. Ris,

398 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

26. Camponotus binghamii, nov. sp.

% Minor :—L: 4, 7 mill. Mandibules subopaques, finement chagri-

nées, faiblement ponctuées, armées, de 5 dents seulement. Epistome

caréné, faiblement biéchancré, sans trace de lobe antérieur (bord

anterieur rectiligne), Arétes frontales assez longues, divergentes.

Téte subrectangulaire, 4 peine rétrécie derriére les yeux, A cdtés non

convexes, un peu comprimés, Yeux gros, situés au tiers postérieur.

Pronotum subdéprimé, distinctement bordé antérieurement et & ses

angles antérieurs, assez large. Métanotum comme chez le C. rufogluucus,

r. fee Him., mais la face basale n’est que trés faiblement concave.

Heaille épaisse, assez basse, obtuse en dessus. Tibias subcylindriques,

sans piquants. Scapes gréles et cylindriques.

Entiérement et dens¢ment réticulé-ponctué et subopaque on presque

mat, y-compris les pattes et les scapes.

Pilosité dress¢e, jaundtre, trés éparse, nulle sur les tibias et les scapes.

Pubescence jaundtre, assez longue et assez abondamment répandue

sur tout le corps, sur les pattes et sur les scapes, formant un léger duvet

grisdtre moins dense que chez le C. rufoglaucus, mais trés semblable,

sans cependant cacher la sculpture. Noir; pattes; funicules et

mandibules d’un brun rougedtre. Scapes d’un jaune roussitre vers la

base et bruns vers l’extrémité. Segments abdominaux étroitement

bordés de jaune roussatre.

Ataran Valley, Birmanie (M. le Major Bingham),

Au premier abord ou dirait un trés petit C. rufoglaucus. Mais en

réalité cette espéce est toute autre et se rattache au groupe C. retéculatus,

radiatus, niveosetosus, foraminosus, etc. Dans le tableau, elle se place

sous le chiffre 7, 4 cdté du C. reticulatus, dont elle se distingue par sa

pubescence, son pronotum bordé, sa face moins convexe, etc.

5. Camponotus auriventris (Emery).

Thaungyin Valley, Birmanie (Bingham).

58. Polyrhachis wroughtonii, nov. spec.

% :—Long: 4,044, 2 Mill. Larg.1,341,5 Mill.

Mandibules armées de 5 dents, Iuisantes, en partie lisses, avec une

fine ponctuation éparse. Epistome sans caréne, armé devant de

deux larges dents médianes divergentes, Téte, en trapéze, beaucoup

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 399

plus large derriére que devant, 4 bord postérieur assez droit. Yeux

situés vers les 2/5 postérieurs des cdtés de la téte. Arétes frontales trés

sinueuses, divergentes. Front peu convexe. Vertex fort convexe &

son passage a locciput. Deux arétes aigués au bord inférieur de la téte

qui est concave en dessous, entre deux. Thorax plus court que la téte

& peine plus long que la largeur antérieure du pronotum. Suture pro-

mésonotale située au milieu du thorax; suture méso-métanotale trés

peu distincte. Dos du thorax trés convexe. Les angles anterieurs du

pronotum forment deux épines ou dents extrémement larges, courtes et

trés obtuses, dont les cotés sont Ja continuation directe des bords

antérieur et latéraux du pronotum. Le bord antérieur du pronotum

est concave de l’extrémité d’un épine ou pointe 4 celle de Vautre.

Epines métanotales aussi longues que l’espace interspinal, trés distantes

trés divergentes, un peu courbées en arriére et en dehors. L/écaille,

est épaisse et biconvexe. lle a deux longues épines horizontales qui

embrassent la base de l’abdomen. Entre ces épines elle porte deux

petites dents obtuses, assez écartées. Abdomen trés court, trés large

faiblement subbordé devant. Scapes gréles, un peu épaissis 4 J’extré-

mité. Tibias atténuds 4 leur base.

Tout le corps, les pattes et les antennes entiérement et densément

réticulé-ponctué, mat ou peu s’en faut. La téte (sauf l’épistome) et le

thorax (sauf la face déclive du métanotum et une partie des cétés) sont

en outre grossiérement réticules.

Une fine pubescence jaunatre, trés courte et fort diluée est éparse

sur tout le corps, les pattés et les scapes. Pilosité dressée nulle, sauf

quelques poils épars vers la bouche et prés du cloaque.

Noire. Antennes, tarses et bord des mandibules d’un jaune

rougedtre. Tibias et cuisses d’un jaune testacé assez pile.

Hanches, genoux, base des métatarses, les deux extrémités des scapes

et la base du Ier article des funicules noiratres ou bruniatres.

Kanara (M. Wroughton),

Cette espéce est trés curieuse par sa forme écourtée et par sa couleur.

Hille se place dans le tableau sous le chiffre 33, & cdté des P. armata

et P. simplex, quoique tres différente de ces deux espéces.

59. Polyrhachis phipsoni, nov. spec.

%:—L.:4, 8 mill. Trés voisine de la P. furcata, Sm., dont ella

différe par les caractéres suivants :

400 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIT1,

Téte plus longue que large; scapes plus gréles. Hpistome sans

carene ; une aréte élevyée en lieu et place du sillon frontal. Thorax

moins convexe ; épines du métanotum plus courtes que chez la P. furcata

typique, mais plus longues que chez la race P. gracilior. Le noeud ou

pilier du pédicule est plus bas, beaucoup plus épais (presque aussi épais

que large), avec une surface supérieure inclinée d’avant en arriére et

terminée devant par une protubérance assez aigué. Les épines du

pilier sont presque horizontales, longues, embrassant un peu l’abdomen

(comme chez la P. gracilior), mais nullement recourbées a Vextrémité,

Un lobe longitudinal sous le pédicule (une dent chez la P. furcata),

Sculpture trés grossicrement réticulée, comme chez la P. furcata ; mais

cette sculpture s’étend aussi sur la moitié postérieure de la téte qui est

lisse, et luisante chez la P. furcata. Devant de la téte assez lisse,

éparsément ponctué. Abdomen lisse et Iuisant. Pilosité et pubescence

comme chez la P. furcata, mais abdomen est assez fortement pubescent

derriére, tandis que le thorax Vest 4 peine.

D’un rouge foncé. Scapes, abdomen et extrémité des épines noiratres;

tibias et tarses brunatres.

Yé Valley, Burmah (Major Bingham). Se place dans le tableau 4

edté de la P. furcata. ae

25. Polyrhachis levigata (Smith).

M. le major Bingham vient de découvrir cette espéce dans la Yé

Valley, en Birmanie. Llle correspond tout-a-fait & la description de

Smith. lle est noire luisante, avec l’abdomen, les hanches, et une

grande partie des cuisses d’un brun rougedatre. L/écaille est épaisse,

élevée, et a deux trés petites dents entre les deux épines. Corps tres

faiblement réticulé avec une ponctuation éparse trés effacée. Tibias

densément réticulés-ponctués et mats. Enti¢rement glabre. Prono-

tum avec deux angles dentiformes. Suture pro-mésonotale distincte ;

suture mésométanotale visible. Hpines métanotales longues, fortes,

assez peu divergentes.

Voisine dele P. heppomanes. Le tableau doit étre corrigé en ce sens

que le corps n’est pas absolument lisse, comme |’a prétendu Smith.

3™¢ Genre CicoPHyLLA (Smith).

i. smaragdina (Fab.)

Formica macra et zonata, Guérin.

Ce genre ne renferme en Inde qu’une espéce trés commune, lH,

smaragdina, Fab. (the red Ant) dont M. Aitken a si bien décrit les

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 401

moeurs dans ce journal. L’éspéce a les caractéres du genre. La Q,

grande et grosse, de couleur vert clair, a 13 & 16 mill. de long.

Le ¢@ est noir, gréle, beaucoup plus petit, long de 6 a6, 5 mill.

seulement. L/ouvriére est d’un rouge jaunatre et varie de 3,5 49,5

mill, M. André a décrit les plus petites ouvritres d’une forme

africaine trés voisine sous le nom de GY. brevinodis. Hlles ont toujours

le pédicule, les pattes et les antennes beaucoup plus courtes que les

grandes % relativement au corps. C’est le contraire des autres

fourmis. M. Wroughton m’a envoyé une fourmili¢re commencante

comprenant la mére fondatrice, 9 petites % de la plus petite sorte et

quelques nymphes. Le nid était filé dans Vinterstice d’une feuille,

comme celui d’une Polyrhachis, les nids de Gcophylla, tissés

d’une trame de soie blanche qui relie les feuilles des arbres, sont tres

considérables et bien connus dans les tropiques. L’ @cophylla

smaragdina est répandue dans toute l’Inde, de ’Himalaya 4 Ceylan

et de Bombay a Calcutta. Je l’ai méme recue de Dehra Dun, Nord-

ouest de l’ Himalaya, a 2300’ d’ élévation, par M. Wood-Mason.

4me Genre Myrmucocystus (Wesmael).

1, UM, wiaticus, Fab., xr. setepes, n. st.

La seule espéce de ce genre connue jusqu ici en Inde est une simple

race du MV. viaticus, Fab., de la faune méditerranéenne. lle vit sur-

tout dans les terrains secs, dans les steppes, court sur ses longues jambes

en relevant I’ abdomen et fait la chasse aux insectes. Hlle a la téte et le

thorax d’un rouge trés sombre, abdomen noir luisant et varie

de 7 418 millimetres de longueur. Les caractéres sont du reste ceux

du genre. J’ai recu cette espéce de Nusseerabad dans la Rajpootana

(M. Glardon), de Rai Bareli (M. Simpson) et de Pachmarhi, a 3558

pieds de hauteur, prés de Jubulpore, dans |’ Inde centrale (M. Schurr).

C’est un des représentants typiques de la faune paléarctique de

P Inde et je crois quil est limité au Nord-ouest et au centre de la

péninsule.

%. Différe du UV. waticus, i. sp., par sa taille un peu plus svelte, ses

pattes plus longues (les pattes postérieures sont de 14 3 millimétres

plus longues a grandeur égale du corps) et surtout par le caractere

suivant : les pattes sont couvertes sur toutes leurs faces de soies

couchées, épaisses, courtes, d’un noir brunatre ; la face interne des tibias

402 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

n’a que des piquants obliques et les soies de leurs autres faces sont

aussi longues et aussi épaisses que ces piquants. Chez tous les

M. viaticus, i. sp., de la faune méditerranéenne, de méme que chez les

M. altisquamis, M. niger et M. megalocola, les pattes n’ont qu'une

pubescence adjacente ordinaire, roussidtre, peu épaisse, non sétiforme,

tout & fait distincte des piquants roussdtres de la face interne des

tibias. Ces derniers sont dressés.

La couleur du JM, setzpes est la méme que celle des exemplaires du

M. viaticus i. sp. que jai récoltés dans les oasis 4 Gabés (Tunisie), et

que ceux qu’on regoit en général de la région du désert saharien. Un

exemplaire que j’ai recu d’Abyssinie (Harar) par M. Ilg est aussi le

viaticus, i. sp., etnon le M. setipes. Les exemplaires tout-d-fait typiques

d’Hspagne, de Hongrie, de Bulgarie, de Gréce, etc., sont d’un rouge

plus vif et ont le noeud souvent plus court et plus élevé. Leurs pattes

sont plus courtes que celles de la variété rouge trés foncé du désert

qu’on pourrait appeler M. desertorum, n. v. Ils sont par contre d’un

rouge bien moins vif que la race M. megalocola, sont bien plus grands

quelle et ont l’abdomen mat,

5me Genre Formica, L.

‘Toutes les especes de Hormica de ’Inde appartiennent 4 la faune paléarc-

tique de |’ Himalaya, du Nord-ouest eb du centre.

Tableau des ouvrieres des especes de la faune de V Hnynre des Indes.

1. Bord antérieur de I’épistome échancré au milieu. D’un rouge de sang,

un peu foncé. Front et vertex brundtres. Abdomen noiratre,

Pilosité trés éparse. Li: 6 49 Mill......... ‘eel, SANGUINEA (Lair).

Bord anteérieur de [épistome entier ........0.ccsceceseescarserconecs sonnce 2

9, Taille robuste; L. 44 9 mill, Aire frontale lisse et Iuisante. Tout

de corps, les patties et Jes scapes couverts d’une pilosité roussitre,

courte, abondante, obtuse et dressée. Couleur de la F’. sanguinea,

mais d’un rouge plus clair et plus Vif ..ccccccsscsceoees ee. H. RUFA, L.

r. TRUNCICOLA (Nyl).

Taille plus gréle ; L. 4, 5 & 7 Mill........c.seccecers--ceeseelk, FUSCA, L,

Aire frontale Inisante. Tout le corps d’un noir trés Inisant. Pattes,

antennes et mandibules d’un brun plus ou moins rougeatre ...--. ses

r, F. gagares (Latr).

Aire frontale mate. ‘Tout le corps beaucoup plus mat et finement

PUbescent »oc.ereseseaee cieatanebecnadasenasceceer Govecccccsenes seogecencscce O

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN, 403

3. Couleurde la /, gagutes, Pew de poils dressés ... R. F, FUSCA, 1, Sp., L.

D’un rouge jaunatre terne, ayec abdomen, le front, le vertex, l'extré-

mité des funicules et souvent le dos du thorax d’un brun plus ou

moins noiratre, Pilosité dressée un peu plus abondante............00

R. F. Rurmarers (Fab).

Variété intermédiaire entre les F. fusca eb F. rufibarbis ....... waco cements

V. FUSCO-RUFIBARBIS (Forel),

Liste des Formica de V Inde; synonymie et geographie,

| 1, F. sanguinea (Lair.)

Ff, dominula (Nyl.)

Lahoul, frontiére du Thibet (Major Sage). Identique aux individus

européens. Ravit les nymphes de la Formica fusca pour en faire des

esclaves,

2. F. rufa, L., st. truncicola (Nyl.)

=F simulata (Smith) ?

Lahoul, frontiére du Thibet (Major Sage). Identique aux individus

européens, Une @ de petite taille,

3. F. rusca, L.

Race , gagates (Latr.)

= F, picea (Nyl.)

= F, glabra (W. White).

= F. candida (Smith).

Lahoul, frontiére du Thibet (Major Sage). Thibet (par M.

Wroughton), Identique aux individus européens. § Yarkand

(Smith). La F. candida Smith est évidemment une F, gagates,

Race #7, fusca, i. sp., L.

= F, glebaria, Nyl.

Mussorie Hills (M. ‘Smythies), Pachmarhi pres de Jubulpore, Inde

centrale (M. Schurr), Indentique aux individus européens,

Race F. rufibarbis (Fab, )

= FP, cunicularia (Uatr.)

= F, obsoleta (Latr.)

—= Lf, stenoptera (Férst,)

= Ff fraterna et F, defensor (Smith ?)

Dharmsala (Major Sage). Lahoul, frontigre du Thibet (Major Sage),

Identique aux exemplaies européens. La F. fraterna (Smith) est

evidemment la #, rujibarbis. La F. defensor (Smith) est peut-étre la

Vari t suivante,

404 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Var. cLARA, Forel. Lahoul, fronticre du Thibet (Major Sage), Se

distingue par sa couleur d’un rouge jaunatre plus clair et plus vif,

ainsi que par son thorax sans tache brune.

Var. Formica fusco-rufibarbis, Forel.

Himalaya (M. Smythies). Dehra Dun (M. Smythies). Masuri,

6,000’, N. O, Himalaya (M. Wood-Mason). Forme intermédiaire

entre les races /. fusca et F. rufibarbis.

6me Genre Lasius, Fab.

Méme remarque que pour le genre /ormica.

I, L. niaEr, L.

Pas de longs poils épais, couchés, jaunes sur abdomen.

Race L. alienus, Forst.

Himalaya, 9,000’ de hauteur (M. Smythies). Q L. 2,7 4 3, 2 mill.

Pas de sillon frontal distinct. Brunatre, avec le thorax les antennes

et les pattes plus clairs, Scapes et pattes sans poils dressés. Comme

les petits exemplaires clairs d’Hurope.

Race LZ. brunneus (Latr.), var. himalayanus, nov. var.

Formica timida (Yoerst).

Himalaya (Smythies), 6,000! & 9,000’,

% -—L: 3,644,2 mill, Sillon frontal tres distinct. Beaucoup plus

large et plus robuste que le précédent. Plus robuste et plus grand que la

forme typique d’Europe. Pubescence un peu plus grossiére, comme chez le

L. alenus. D’un brun assez foncé, avec les joues, les mandibules, les scapes, la

base des funicules, les tarses, une partie du dessous de la téte et les articulations

des pattes d’un jaunatre sale plus ou moins rougedtre on brunatre (chez le

L. brunneus, i, st., la couleur est d’un rouge brunatre avec l’abdomen brun).

Var, Lasius alieno-bruuneus (Forel).

Himalaya (Smythies) ; 6,000’ & 9,000/.

S$ :-—L.:34 3,5 mill, Sillon frontal distinct. Stature de le Z. alienus,

D’un brun jaunatre pale, y compris l’abdomen ; pattes et antennes d’un jaune

& peine brundtre, Dans son catalogue, Dalla Torre identifie cette variété au

L, lasioides Emery. Je ne puis guére admettre cette synonymie, car le type du

L. lasioides que je possede a un sillon frontal bien moins distinct, ane couleur

plus foncée et une pilosite plus forte.

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN, 405

2, L. crinitus (Smith),

Cachmir (d’aprés Smith).

Q :—dJaune docre. L. 84 9 Mill, Ailes un pen enfumées, Abdomen

couvert de longs poils jaunes, couchés, épais 4 leur base, pointus a l’éxtrémité,

Pattes et antennes sans poils dressés.

La @ seule est connue.

que Genre PSEUDOLASIUS (Emery),*

I. P. familiaris (Smith),

Birmanie (d’aprés Emery).

8 Minor :—L.: 2,6 Mill. (2 10 Mill). Jaunatre ; yeux plus petits et

pubescence plus abondante que chez le P. breviceps.

8me Genre PRENOLEPIS (Mayr),

Les espéces de ce genre difficile se distinguent surtout par les valvules géni-

tales des @. Nous devrons donc y avoir égard autant que possible. Les &

sont souvent impossibles 4 distinguer les unes des autres, ce qui m’oblige a

laisser indéterminées un assez grand nombre de % et de recues sans les ¢

correspondants.

* Pseudolasius risii n. sp. % L. 2,44 3,3 Mill, Mandibules finement et densément’

striées, armées seulement de 4 dents; bord terminal trés-oblique. Téte échancrée derrigre

presque carrée, a peine plus longue que large. Palpes labiaux de deux articles ; palpes maxil-

laires de deux articles tres courts, Yeux situés vers le tiers antérieur dela téte, tout» fait

plats, composés seulement de 8 a 10 facettes mal formées. Hpistome voiité, court, presque

subcaréné; son bord antérieur a une faible échancrure médiane et une petite dent latérale

de chaque cété, pres de Varticulation mandibulaire. Scapes dépassant un peu l’occiput;

funicules assez epais. Thorax médiocrement échancré derriére le mésonotum ; face basale du

métanotum courte, arrondie. Hcaille inclinée en avant, assez épaisse, 2 bord supérieur

tranchant. Pattes assez courtes. .

Assez luisante, en partie subopaque. Tres faiblement réticulée, en partie lisse. Une tres

fine ponctuation piligere, surtout sur Ja téte. Face déclive du métanotum trés lisse et tres

luisante.

Abondamment couverte d’une pilosité dressée, fine, pointue, d’un jaune pale, aussi sur les

tibias et les scapes. Pubescence adjacente, jaunatre, assez abondante sur la téte, plus éparse

ailleurs.

D’un jaune pale. Tarses et mandibules d’un jaune brunatre. Les grands individus sont

d’un jaune plus foncé et ont l'abdomen jaune brunatre.

Gésier 4 sépales courtes et évasées.

G :—Li: 5,6 mill, Comme Vonvritre. Lesmandibules ont aussi4dents, Téte plus large

que longue, presque aussi large que le thorax. Ponctuation beaucoup plus forte et plus

abondante que chez l’ouvritre, ainsi que la pubescence qui forme un duvet jaunatre. Les

poils couchés forment des séries par convergence des poils qui s’appliquent les uns aux

autres & leur extrémité. D’un jaune plus ou moins rougsatre on brunatre. Dessus de l’abdo-

men (sauf le bord des segments), vertex et quelques taches sur le thorax brunatres.

Victoria Pic, Hong Kong (Dr. Ris). Cette curieuse espéce, bien distinct du P. familiaris,

se trouvera probablement en Inde plus tard.

406 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

Tableau des ouvrieres,

1, Corps allongé. Mésothorax avec un rétrécissement médian presque

cylindrique, comme chez le genre Acantholepis......PR, EMM, n. sp,t

Corps étroit et allongé. Pattes et antennes trés longues, Mésothorax

sans rétrécissement au milieu, Noire. Pattes, antennes et mandibules

brunatres. L, 2, 5 4 3 mill ..coccseeseeeeeoee PR, LONGICORNIS (Latr.)

Corps plutot court. Profil du thorax échancré, Mésothorax sans rétré-

cissement cylindrique. D’un brun plus ou moins foncé. Corps,

patties eb scapes avec des soies dressées obtuses, plus ou moins

SURMSSEY goncadacsoconobyaoaonnaqdgoeoN Dod cHaOdadanS a9 OsnADOEoAGASAcoMoONA SCN

2. I. 2,543 mill. D’un brun foncé ou noiratre. Pubescence abondante...3

L. 1, 8 a 2, 4 mill, D’un brun plus clair. Pubescence clair-semée,

Pyligs MiISanbes eases ents ceseineecetincee scnnccae anvyacnice lGcok cence Gueseeemennel

3. Téte large, aussi large que longue, en carré a cotés arrondis, Face basale

du métanotum longue comme la moitié de la face déclive. Poils

dressés des pattes et des scapes assez fins, Les scapes n’en out

qu’une ou deux rangées devant. Corps trapu, d’un brun foncé,

Mésonotum, patties, mandibules et antennes d’un brun rougeiatre...

PR, YERBURYI, 0. sp.

Téte ovale, beaucoup plus longue que large. Face basale du métanotum 4

peine plus courte que la face déclive, oils dressés des pattes et des

scapes grossiers, obtus, d’un brun foncé. Les scapes en ont au

moins deux rangées, Corps moins trapu, dun brun noiratre,

Mandibules d’un brun rougeatre; patties et antennes d’un brun

foc ...ccescecceeeeeeesER, BOURBONICA (Forel) r. BENGALENSIS, n. st.

+ Pr. emmae, n. sp O. L.323,8 mill. Mandibules ¢troites, lisses, Inisantes, armées

de 8 dents, % peine ponctuées. Téte ovale, un peu plus longue que large. Epistome échancr

au milieu de son bord antérieur. Scaps dépassant, l’occiput de la moitié de leur longueur.

Trois ocelles extrémement petits. Le mésothorax est ¢troit, allongé, et a au milieu un

étranglement colliforme court, mais trés distinct, plus court et moins fort que chez

Y Acantholepis frauenfeldi, mais bien plus fort que chez lA. capensis. Les deux stigmates

post mésonotaux sont tout & fait dorgaux et trés rapprochés. Les cétésdu métasternum

atteignent le dos du thorax. Profil dorsal du mésonotum presque rectligne, sauf les

stigmates qui proéminent. Métanotum tres élevé en bosse de chameau courte et abrupte,

Heaille épaisse, obtuse et arrondie au sommet. Pattes assez longues.

Lisse et luisante. Epistome, pattes et scapes un peu subopaques, tres finement réticulés,

Meésothorax et cétés du front trés fnement striés en long; métanotum tres finement et cir-

culairement strié. Les parties stri¢es sont moins luisantes. Une pilosité dressée, jaunatre,

eu fine, peu pointue, médiocrement abondante sur le corps, les pattes et les scapes. Pubes-

cence tres éparse, plus abondante sur les tibias et les scapes.

D’un jaune rougeatre assez vif. Téte d’un jaune brunatre. Abdomen, antennes et pattes

"un jaune testacé. Une bande transversale brune, assez étroite, sur chaque segment

abdominal].

Victoria Pic, Hong Kong (Dr. Ris). Se trouvera peut-¢tre plus tard en Inde.

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 407

4 lL. 242, 4 mill, Face basale du métanotum seulement un peu plus

courte que la face déclive, Pubescence encore assez répandue sur la

téte et sur Pabdomen. ‘Tete ovale, rectangulaire...PR. INDICA, n. sp,

L, 1,842 mill, Face basale du mctanotum tres courte et peu convexe,

beaucoup plus courte que la face déclive (de moitié environ), Pubes-

cence diluée partoub ....cccecceeseeeeeeoess+seeeeseeeR, TAYLORI, 0, Sp,

Tableau des méles.

1, Valvules génitales extérieures arrondies, sans appendice particulier,

Prolongement externe des valvules moyennes plus court que l’interne,

PR. LONGICORNIS (Litr.)

Valvules génitales extérieures munies d’un appendice & leur extrémité

supérieure. Prolongement externe des valvules moyennes au moins

AUISSIE LOM ON Cet MMECENICN < duncalsectsisebenosianan ssescrecs/ontcesics va seseenerenee,

2, Valvules génitales extérieures (a Vexclusion de l’appendice et des écailles)

(US IETEEES, CS WOMEIES poogocopsabas scredocs coodchecoopmoonb so ceboee codecs

Valvules génitales extérieures (a Vexclusion de Pappendice et des écailles)

OHS IMOMEMES Glle TEMES) pot oooocoucéocqecacednocionocousoonobnccepEse abesoec!

3. Valvules génitales extérieures tres courtes, trés larges, tronquées, noires,

fortement chitinisées. Appendice en crochet court et épais, & peine

plus long que la largeur de sa base. Pas de protubérance marquée &

leur autre extrémité. Hcailles fort grandes (fig, 3), Valvuleg

moyennes tres larges, courtes, épaisses, obtuses, fortement chitinisées

et couvertes de fortes dents noiratres a leur extrémité (voir Forel,

Fourmis de Madagascar, dans Grandidier, Pl, 3, Fig. 2a) sesccosecees

Pr, BOURBONICA (Forel.) r, BENGALENSIS, 0, sb,

Valvules génitales extérieures bien plus étroites, jaunatres, bien plus faible-

ment chitinisces, terminces en haut par un appendice courbé, trés long

et tres étroit, pointu 4 l’extrémité, en bas par une longue protubé-

rance en triangle équilatéral, Entre ’appendice et Ja protubérance,

une encoche longue et profonde (fig. 2). Les deux prolongements

des grandes valvules moyennes assez étroits, assez pointus 4 l’extré-

mité, avec un bord terminal tres oblique, couvert de denticulations

noiratres assez fortes. L’externe plus long que l’interne (Fig, 2).....

PR, TAYLORI, 0. sp,

4, Valvules génitales extérieures tres longues, noires, fortement chitinisées

(presque deux fois plus longues que larges, sans l’appendice), termi-

néees en haut par un appendice trés long (aussi long que la valvule),

trés ¢troit, 4 peine courbé, eb arrondi 4 Vextrémité qui est plus large

408 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

que sa base. En bas elles sont terminées par une protubérance en

triangle équilatéral, Entre la protubérance et l’appendice, une encoche

un peu moins profonde que chez la Pr. taylori, Valvules moyennes

petites, d’un brun noiratre, droites, sans bords terminaux, dentelés,

avec de fines denticulations sur la moitié périférique de leurs bords

opposes. Prolongement interne rectangulaire, allongé, tronqué a

angle droit 4 l’extrémité, de méme longueur que interne qui se

termine en courbe aigué ou en pointe arrondie, Les deux prolonge-

ments sont étroits (Fig, 1 eb 1a) ....eesese02..-PR, YERBURYI, 0, Sp,

Valvules génitales extérieures (sans Pappendice) moins de deux fois plus

longues que larges, jaundtres ou d’un jaune brunatre, faiblement

chitinisées ..... Stiognotconbod cogaouonosoades saoeoup os abaaGge B00 Soonhocecans0!3)

5, Valvules génitales petites, pales, Les extérieures rétrécies 4 l'extrémité

qui se termine en hant par un appendice étroit, droit et assez long,

en bas par un angle a peine protubérant. Prolongements des

valvules moyennes tres longs et trés étroits, équilongs, pointus,

Vinterne assez fortement denticulé, Vexterne n’ayant que quelques

denticules prés de l’extrémité, Valvules intérieures triangulaires

(Ue, 5, ES BID) Gop cnetosecaboace Be Bcrcenidaste cts PR, SMYTHIESII, n, sp.

Valvules génitales grandes. Les extérieures comme chez la Pr. smy-

thiesii, mais encore plus rétrécies & Pextrémité qui n’a en bas qu’un

petit angle en dessous de l’appendice, Ce dernier a de petites verrues

microscopiques vers son extrémité, Valvules moyennes tres grandes ;

leur prolongement externe trés long et trés pointu, interne beaucoup

plus court et obliquement tronqué a Vextrémité. Tous deux ont

de fortes dents noires sur la moitié périférique de leurs bords

opposés eb sont droits et étroits (Fig. 4, 4a). Valvules intérieures

ovales (Fig. 4b), soss. seescceesseeeeoees Seceseovssscoont R, INDICA, 0, SP,

ListE des especes du Genre PRENOLEPIS.

1. Pr. longicornis (Latr).

= Formica vagans (Jerdon).

= Tapinoma gracilescens (Nylander).

= Paratrechina currens (Motschulsky).

Trés commune dans l’Inde entiére, de ’ Himalaya (Dehra Dun) 4 Bombay,

& Calcutta et 4 Ceylan d’ou on la recoit & chaque envoi, Hspece

cosmopolite, transportée par les vaisseaux.

2. Pr. bourbonica (Forel), r. bengalensis, n. st.

Calcutta (Rothney) ; Birmanie (Bingham) ; Myingyan, Birmanie supe-

rieure (Watson),

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 409

% Differe de la forme typique de Vile de la Réunion par sa téte ovale

rectangulaire, plus étroite eb plus allongée, tres distinctement plus

longue que large (presque aussi large que longue et & bord postérieur

large et plus net chez le type), L’épistome est plus fortement

échancré chez la Pr. bourbonica typique que chez la r. Pr, bengalensis,

&@ Les valvules génitales extérieures sont plus courtes et plus larges que

chez le type ; leur extrémité inférieure n’est pas avancée en triangle

(Fig. 3); elle est bien moins développée.

A part ces petites différences, la forme indienne est sissemblable & celle

de la Réunion que je ne puis en faire qu’une race,

3. Pr. yerburyt, DOV. spec,

Ceylan (Yerbury) ; Coonoor (Daly),

& Plus large, plus trapue que la précédente, Mésonotum aussi

large que long. Hchancrure méso-métanotale plus profonde et plus étroite,

- Pilosité d’un bron moins foncé, Les poils des pattes et des scapes sout surtout

beaucoup plus fins, le pronotum et le mésonotum sont aussi plus convexes.

Voir du reste au tableau, Malgré tout, il n’est pas facile de la distinguer de la

Pr, bourbonica.

Q L, 4,244, 4 mill) Caracteres de louvriere, en particulier la pilosité,

et de toutes les 9 de Prenolepis qui sont presque impossibles a distinguer les

unes des autres. Tout le corps d’un brun foncé, Ailes fortement enfumées de

brunatre,

L. 2, 5 mill, Noiratre, assez luisant. arses eb anneaux fémoraux

~ testacés, Funicules et hanches bruns, Pattes, scapeset mandibules d’un brun

foncé, ainsi que les cotes du thorax. Teéte large, bien plus large derriere que

devant, Face basale du métanotum confondue avec la face declive, Thorax

plus large que chez la Pr. bourbonica, Ailes enfumées, Voir du reste le

tableau. (Fig. 1, 1a, 1b).

4, Pr. indica, nov. spec,

Poona (Wroughton) ; South Konkan (Wroughton); Ceylan (Yerbury),

Q :—Téte au moins aussi large devant que derriére, Téte et abdomen Wun

brun marron assez clair, Thorax d’un brun roussatre, Pattes et antennes dun

brun jaunatre, Pubescence assez variable, Regsemble beaucoup 4 la, Pr,

vividula, mais moins luisante et un peu plus pubescente que cette espece dont

elle ne differe du reste par aucun caractére saillant, Voir du reste Je tableau,

Q:—L: 5, 5 Mill. D’un brun foncé, Mandibules, tarses, hanches, articula-

tions et funicules rougeatres, Ailes faiblement enfumées de brunatre, Plug

grande que la Pr, yerburys @ ; les tibias eb les scapes n’ont que quelques poils

fins eb obliques.

410 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

6: L,:2,2 a2, 3 mill, 'Téte carrée, aussi large devant que derriere, Face

basale du métanotum oblique, beaucoup plus longue que la face déclive,

Abdomen brunatre ; tete et dessus du mésonotum d’un brun jaunatre ; tout le

reste d’un jaune testacé un peu rougedtre, Ailes comme chez la 9. Voir du

reste le tableau (fig. 4, 4a, 4b),

Les valvules génitales extérieures rétrécies 4 Vextrémité, le prolongement

interne tout différent des valvules moyennes (voir Forel, dans Grandidiere

Fourmis de Madagascar, Pl. II, fig. 9 et 9a), distinguent cebte espéce de la Pr,

viidula, sa voisine. Chez la Pr, vividula, @, le métanotum a deux faces dis-

tinctes, la basale horizontale, plus courte que la déclive,

5. Pr, taylort, nov. spec.

Orissa (Taylor).

% :—-Un peu plus petite que le Pr. indica, mais du reste & peu pres identique.

Echancrure méso-metanotale tres faible, Scapes légerement plus longs,

Couleur identique ou un peu plus pale, Pas de caractére nettement distinctif,

Q@:—L.: 3,544 mill, D’un brun foncé. Mandibules, antennes, pattes eb

ecaille d’un jaune rougedtre. Poils despattes et des scapes brundtres, assez

dressés, Heaille épaisse, tres inclinée.

d :—-I1, 8 4 1, 9 mill, Téte ovale, un peu plus loneue que large.

Face basale du métanotum assez horizontale, un peu plus longue que la face

déclive, Couleur comme chez le Pr. indica, @. Ailes comme chez la Q.

Valvules génitales extérieures tout 4 fait différentes de celles de le ¢ndlica.

Voir tableau et Fig, 2, 2a et 2b,

Malgré la difference des valvules génitales, cette espéce est trés voisine de

le Pr, indica Valigne (enxso.)

6. Pr. smythiesi, nov. spec,

Dehra Dun (Smythies),

% inconnue.

Q:—L,:444, 3 mill, Assez allongée, Téte plus large derriére que devant,

avec un large bord postérieur droit. Thorax un peu plus large que la téte,

moins déprimé que chez les especes précédentes, Face basale du métanotum

extrémement courte, presque nulle, mais la face déclive est distinctement

séparée delle et tronquée en talus oblique, lisse eb Inisant (chez toutes les

especes préecedentes, la face basale a une Jougueur fort appréciable ; chez la

Pr. longiornis elle passe par une conyexité a la face déclive), Hcaille épaisse,

basse eb tres inclinée. Abdomen étroit et allongé,

Subopaque, Pubescence fine et assez abondante (comme chezla Pr, longicornis),

Quelques poils dressés fins et assez obliques aux scapes et aux tibias. Abdomen

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 411

d’un brun foncé, sauf le bord roux jaunétre de ses segments, Pronotum,

dessus du mésonotum et dessus de la téte brunatres, Scutellum, tout le reste

du corps, patties eb antennes d’un jaune testacé 4 peine un peu roussi ou bruni.

Ailes subhyalines ; nervures d’un brun jaunidire.

$ :—L,: 1, 8 mill. Téte rectangulaire arrondie, plus longue que large. Le

metanotum ne forme qu’un talus sur lequel ou peut & peine distinguer une

face basale de la face déclive. Couleur comme chez le Pr. indica et le Pr. taylore.

Ailes comme chez la 9. Le thorax est un peu plus large que la téte ( plutot

plus étroit chez le Pr. indica), Le corps est plus court et plus trapu que chez

le Pr, indica (au contraire dela 2). Voir tableau et fig, 5, 5a et 5b.

Les Prenolepis de VInde, sauf la Pr. longicornis qui est cosmopolite, se ratta-

chent toutes, ou Je voit, par leurs valvules génitales, au type a appendice de la

Pr, vividula, Ce fait est intéressant, car toutes les espéces connues de PAméri-

que, de Vile de Madagascar (excepté la Réunion !), ainsi que Pespéce australienne

Se rapportent au type Pr. obscura-longicornis (voir Forel: Fourmis de Mada-

gascar, dans Grandidier, Vol, XX, Part 2, p, 80 4 95),

Je suis obligé de laisser indéterminées plusieurs Prenolepis 9 et 8 de

Ceylan et de diverses parties de Inde, parce que le ¢ n’a pas été pris et que

je ne puis suffisamment juger de leur valeur spécifique,

La Formica assimilis de Jerdon parait étre une Prenolepis, mais il est alsolu-

ment impossible de savoir laquelle. Tl en est de méme de la Paratrechina

vagabunda de Motschulsky.

gme Genre ACANTHOLEPIS (Mayr).

Tableau des ouvriéres,

Le mésothorax est rétréci au milieu en forme de col cylindrique, allongé

et étroit, Le prothorax et le métathorax forment chacun un fort

renflement aux deux extrémités de ce col....00ee+..A, FRAUENFELDI

(Mayr 1,)

Le mésothorax est échancré et its ou moins rétréci au milieu, mais sans

former de col allongé ni cylindrique, Les scapes ne dépassent pas

le bord postérieur de la téte de la moitié de leur longueur .......e0+0.2

la, A. fravenfeldi ; varietés: a: Les scapes dépassent le bord postérieur de

la tete des 3/5 de leur longueur, Meétanotum avec deux dents ou épines,

Kcaille erme, ‘Tete plutot ovale. En partie Inisante, en partie

subopaque (réticulée), Noire, avec les mandibules, les tarses, une

partie des antennes eb des tibias d’un jaune plus ou moins brundtre,

LSet She Qe ce sceaneieseeaeemetendeeme.: Vale AG INTEGRA, 0, var,

412 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Comme la précédente, mais l’écaille est bidentée ou biépineuse ; la téte et

le thorax sont tantot rougedatres, tantot en tout ou en partie noirs.

Téte plutét comme chez la var. A. sericea, élargie en arriére et un peu

déprimée, L, 2,748, 3 mill............... var, A, BIPARTITA (Sm.)

Les scapes ne dépassent le bord postérieur de la téte que de la moitie

de leur longueur, LEcaille bidentée, comme le métanotum.......-..-.6

L, 2,542, 8 mill, Tres Iuisante, presque lisse, ‘Thorax en général

rouge jaunatre. Téte, antennes et pattes plus ou moins bruns ou

jaunatres, Abdomen d’un brun noir, ‘Teéte ovale-rectangulaire, a

peine Glargie derriére ......+2.-.-...V. A, FRAUENFELDI, 1, sp, (Mayr.)

L. 3 4 3,5 mill, Téte plus déprimée, plus large, élargie derriére, |

. Enticrement subopaque, tres densément et tres finement reticulée,

en partie ridée, avec un éclat soyeux, D’un brun foncé; thorax

ordinairement rougeatre ; patties et antennes d’un brun jaunatre ......

v. A. SERICEA (Forel),

Luisante, noire. Taille robuste, large. Téte ovale, large, élargie

derricre, Pronotum faiblement convexe. Métanotum subopaque,

sculpté, avec deux prolongements latéraux larges, triangulaires et

obtus. Hcaille assez mince, avec deux courtes épines, Pédicule

nullement prolongé derriere Pécaille. Abdomen grand, assez allongé ,

Pilosité dressée, blanchatre, abondante sur le corps, nulle sur les

tibias et les scapes. Mandibules rouges, Articulations des pattes,

scapes eb tarses testacés, L. 2,8 43,2 mill ...A. CAPENSIS (Mayr.)

Comme la A, capensis, maisplus gréle; mésonotum plus rétréci; métanotum

simplement élargi et anguleux derriere. Lcaille faiblement échan-

crée, sans dents, Tres Iuisante partout, presque lisse et presque

glabre COs POeceerem 429% FECL GOSRCeDEHT De Beeoce lh gulee AG. SIMPLEX (Forel.)

Comme la A. capensis, mais plus gréle ; mésonotum plus rétréci. Téte

étroite, ovale, bien plus longue que large, Yeux situés au milieu des

cotés, Métanotum avec deux fortes dents trés obtuses, eaille

épaisse, bispimeuse, avec deux angles latéraux en dessous des épines.

Pilosité du corps pluslongue, plus abondante, tres fine et trés pointue,

Thorax et écaille d'un rouge jaundtre avec des taches brunatres sur

Je dos, Peutetre une race de la A, capensis, L, 2, 3 mill ....cccseove

A, MODESTA, Noy, sp,

Hntierement mate, densément réticuléesponctuée, sauf Vabdomen qui est

luisant, D’un roux ferrugineux. Abdomen noir ou d’un roux brun,

Taille plus gréle que chez la précédente, Scapes dépassant a peine

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN, 413,

d’un tiers de leur longueur le bord postérieur de la téte, Téte pres-

que carrée, a cotés un peu convexes, ‘Yeux situés au milieu deg

cotés de la téte (en arriére chez presque toutes les autres espéces),

Mandibules étroites, Epistome trés convexe au milieu, subcaréné,

Ocelles fort petits, mais distincts ; sillon frontal faible, Dos du pro-

notum presque plat, subbordé et subépaulé 4 ses angles antérieurs,

Suture pro-mésonotale fortement imprimée, Inisante. Métanotum

court ; ses cotés entiers forment deux fortes protubérances latérales

allongées, en forme de grandes dents triangulaires, relevées, pointues,

avec la pointe un peu courbée en arriére, Mésonotum étroit, Ecaille

plus €paisse que chez IA. capensis, surmontée de deux longues

épines étroites, droites eb pointues, Pilosité dressée courte, éparse,

obtuse, jaunatre, nulle sur les pattes et les antennes. Pubescence

trés éparse, Pédicule avec un prolongement cylindrique assez long

derriére l écaille, Abdomen court, L, 2, 2 mill...A. opaca (Forel).

Forme et caractéres généraux de la race typique, mais le mésonotun

est un peu moins étranglé eb le pronotum moins élargi devant, sans

épaules distinctes, Téte un peu moins courte. Abdomen plus mou ;

portion postérieure du pedicule un peu moins allongée, La longueur

est la méme, abdomen étant un peu plus grand et le reste plus

petit. L’abdomen est subopaque, fortement réticulé, D’un brun

noiratre ; une grande tache médiane sur le ler segment de ’abdomen,

Pextrémité des dents ou protubérances métanotales, les targes et les

articulations des pattes d’un jaune pale ; antennes et mandibules

dium jaune testacé. Pilosité dressée, d’un jaune pale, plus

abondante que chez la race typique, surtout sur Vabdomen. ....-.see.

. A, OPACA, 1, PULCHELLA (Forel),

LISTE DES ESPECES DU GENRE ACANTHOLEPTS.

1. A, frauenfeldi (Mayr).

var. A, Frauenfeldi, i. sp. (Mayr),

Barrackpore (Rothney) ; Cotes de la Méditerranée et Afrique Orientale,

var, A. sericea (Forel),

Poona (Wroughton) ; Mussoorie (Rothney); Oudh (Simpson), etc, C’est

évidement, avec la A, bipartita, la forme la plus répandue, dans I’Inde

occidentale au moins,

var. A. imtegra, nov. var,

Dharmsala, Himalaya (Sage) ; Mussoorie (Rothney); Pachmarhi, Inde

centrale (Schurr). Voir du reste le tableau,

414 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VII.

var. A. bipartita (Sm).

Dharmsala, Himalaya (Fulton); Calcutta (Rothney) ; Mt. Abu, Rajpootana

(Gleadow) ; Himalaya (Smythies); Syrie et Afrique du nord.

Cette variété passe par diverses formes aux trois précédentes, Je l'avais

d’abord confondue en partie avec l’A. fravenfeld@i, i. sp. (Wroughton :- Our

Ants) qui parait rare en Inde.

Les variétés A. bipartita et A. integra ont les antennes et les patties plus

longues que TA. frauenfeldi typique, ce qui les rapproche un peu de TA,

gracilicornis, Forel, d’Aden,

2. A. capensis (Mayr).

Poona (Wroughton) ; Mussoorie (Rothney) ; Himalaya (Smythies) ; Pach-

marhi, Inde centrale (Schurr); Ceylan (Simon); Afrique orientale et méridionale,

Cette espéce varie surtout par sa pilosité qui est parfois plus raide, plus grossiére

et plus blanchatre, parfois plus fine, plus poimtue et plus jaunatre, Les dents du

métanotum s’elargissent aussi parfois, de facon a comprendre les cotés entiers de

Vorgane, comme chez lA, opaca ; dans ce cas, le métanotum est plus court,

3. A, simplex (Forel),

Orissa (Taylor). Identique aux types d’Afrique, des Somalis.

4, A, modesta, nov. spec.

Mussoorie (Rothney). Voir Tableau.

5, A. opaca (Forel).

r, A, opaca (i. sp).

Kanara, Goa (Aitken), Voir Tableau.

r, A. pulchella (Forel).

Poona (Wroughton), Voir tableau,

Les formes du genre Acantholepis paraissent la plupart étre communes a

Inde et 4 l’ Afrique orientale, fait assez intéressant,

10™e Genre PLAGIOLEPIS (Mayr).

Tableau des ouvrieres.

1, Thorax gréle et allongé. Pattes et antennes tres longues et gréles, Hcaille

élevée, verticale, plus épaisse que large. Couleur jaunatre, en partie

jaune brundtre, L, 3, 5a, 4 mill,....seseeeeee PL, LONGIPES (Jerdon),

Thorax robuste. Pattes et antennes assez courtes. LHecaille plus large

qu’ épaisse, assez basse, inclinge en AVANt ...sccssseeeccseesseveceeeeres 2

2, L. 2,444, 6 mill, Segment intermédiaire enfoncé, long comme a peine

le tiers du mésonotum. Thorax fortement étranglé au milieu, Meé-

tanotum presque aussi large que le pronotum, Noire........seoe-.-aee

PL, ROTHNEYI, nov. spec.

L, 1,14 1,6 mill, Segment intermédiaire fort développé, a peme plu

court que le mésonotum, Thorax a peine éiranglé au milieu.........3

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN, A15

3. Noire; trapue. Metanotum presque aussi large que le pronotum, L. 4,

Jaunatre ou d’un jaune un peu rougeatre, varié de brunatre sur la téte et

Pabdomen, Moins trapue. Métanofum beaucoup plus étroit que le

pronotum, L, 1,141, 3 mill...............PL. EXIGUA, nov. spec.

4, Lisse, Iuisante, presque sans sculpture. Ponctuation piligére & peine

marquee. Hpistome trés convexe, sans caréne. Le segment inter-

médiaire plus court pue le mésonotum. Pubescence presque nullee,

Pilosité dressée jaune pale, courte, pointue, assez abondante sur tout:

le corps, les pattes et les antennes ......... PL. JERDONII nov. spec,

Devant de latéte (surtout le front et le vertex) trés finement strié en

long et subopaque. Le reste du corps, les pattes et les scapes lisses,

Iuisants, avec une ponctuation piligére espacée assez fort et

iréguliére, Hpisteme peu conveze, mais asses distinctement caréné.

Segment intermédiaire aussi long que le mésonotum. Pilosite

dressée presque nulle; seulement quelques poils brunatres, surtout

sur l'abdomen. Pubescence espacée, mais assez longue et trés

distincte, surtout sur l’abdomen, la téte, les scapes et les pattes ......

PL, ROGERI nov. spec.

LISTE DES ESPECES DU GENRE PLAGIOLEPIS,

1, Pl. longipes (Jerdon).

= Formica gracilipes (Smith).

=Plagiolepis gracilipes (Mayr).

Formica trifasciata (Smith).

Trés commune dans |’Inde entiére, 4 Ceylan eb en Birmanie, & T’excep-

tion, semble-t-il, du Nord-est deTInde, d’ou je ne I’ai pas recue. C’est

une espece de la faune indo-malaise. .

2. Pl. lothneyi, nov. spec.

Barrackpore (Rothney) ; Belgaum (Wroughton) ; Orissa (Taylor),

Q Major (voir tableau). Mandibules lisses, Iuisantes, ponctuées armées de

5 dents. Hpistome sans caréne distincte, convexe. Aire frontale, siilon frontal

et ocelles distincts. Téte au moins aussi large que longue, a cotés convexes, assez

rétrécie devant. Les deux stigmates post-mésonotaux proéminent doralemsent

au fond dela large et profonde échancrure néso-métanotale. Métanotum

fortement élargi d’avant en arricre. Sa face basale, plutot plus longue que la

face déclive, passe & cette derniére par une ligne transversale droite ; c’est 14

que le métanotum est le plus large. D’avant en arriéré, les deux faces du

métanotum passent de lune a lantre par une courbe trés arrondie. _Ecaille

416 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

épaisse, amincie eb atténuée au sommebt. Les scapes dépassent sensiblement

Vocciput.

Téte et pronotum abondamment ponctués, médiocrement luisants, Mégono-

tum, métanotum et écaille lisses eb trés Inisants, surtout le métanotum. Abdo-

men faiblement chagriné, plus ou moins Iuisant.

Pilosité dressée brunatre, courte, assez grossiere, éparse sur le corps, un peu

plus abondante sur l’abdomen, nulle ou presque nulle sur les scapes et les tibias,

Pubescence jaunatre, assez abondante sur l’abdomen, les scapes et les tibias

‘ou elle forme un léger duvet qui cache en partie la sculpture, médiocre

sur la téte, éparse ailleurs, nulle au milieu du métanotum,

D’un noir un peu brunatre. Mandibules, scapes, base des funicules et

tarses rougeatres, Le reste des pattes et des funicules, les hanches, le métas-

ternum d’un brun plus ou moins rougeatre ou noiratre,

%& minor. ‘Tete ovale, un peu plus longue que large, presque aussi ¢troite

derriére que devant, celles, sillon frontal et aire frontale peu distincts.

Sculpture et pubescence beaucoup plus faibles que chez la 8 major; tres

Iuisante ; pubescence tres éparse ; tete 4 peime poncbuce, Les parties rouge-

dtres chez la 6 major sont jaunatres ou d’un jaune rougeatre chez la minor,

Du reste comme la % major, mais plus gréle.

r, Pl, watsonii (nov. st.),

Birmanie (Watson) ; Bangkok (Sige),

Je n’ai pas mis cette race sur le tableau, pour ne pas le compliquer inutile-

ment, Hille se distingue de l’espéce typique par sa pilosité abondante sur le

corps, les tibias et les scapes, par Vabsence d’ocelles et de sillon frontal, méme

chez la § major, par son épistome, en partie du moins, assez distinctement caréné

par son épistome, en partie du moins, assez distinctement caréné, par sa pubescence,

sa sculpture et son échancrure méso-métanotale qui sont plus faibles, Du

reste identique.

3. Pl. jerdonii, nov. spec.

Poona (Wroughton),

% (Voir tablean). Trés semblable & la Pl. wygmeea, mais les yeux sont plus

grands et la couleurest plus foncée. Téte & peu pres carrée, un peu plus étroite

devant que derriére. Funicules un peu plus gréles que chez la Pl. pygmea. Le

thorax est plus court et plus robuste que chez Vespéce suivante, plus fortement

étranglé que chez la Pl. pygmea, Le métanotum est rapidement élargi d’avant

en arriére ; il ne forme guére qu’une seule surface dorsale faiblement convexe,

dont le point le plus large est aux deux stigmates qui forment comme ses

angles supérieurs, latéraux eb postérieurs. A partir des stigmates, le métanotum

ne s’élargit plus et a une courte déclivité un peu plus forte qu’avant.

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. AIT

D’un noir brundtre ou d’un brun noiratre. Scapes, premier article des

funicules, tarses, tibias, anneaux fémoraux et mandibules jaunitres ; le reste

des funicules et des pattes plus ou moins brunatre ou brun jaunatre, Leg

autres caracteres sont indiqués dans le tableau.

4, Pl, rogeri, nov. spec.

Kanara (Wroughton et Aitken), Confondue encore avec Ja Pl, jerdoni

dans le travail de M. Wroughton (Our Ants),

(Voir le, tableau), Un peu plus gréle que la précédente ; métanotum un

peu moins élargi, avec un peu plus de distinction entre une face basale et une

face déclive, du reste de méme forme, Téte un peu plus longue que large,

aussi large devant que derritre. “Yeux situés un peu plus en evant que chez la

Pl. jerdonw, au tiers antérieur des cotés de Ja téte. Front légérement

déprimé ou imprimé derrieré.

D’un noir plus foncé que la PI. jerdonit ; les parties jaunatres sont les mémes,

mais plus contrastantes. Funicules seulement un peu plus foncés vers l’extrémité,

La Plagiolepis madecassa, Forel, de Madagascar, ressemble beaucoup aux deux

précédentes, surtout ala Pl. roger’, mais son métanotum n’est pas élargi eb a

la forme de celui de la Pl. pygmca ; sa téte est luisante et nullement striée,

3. Pl, pissina (Roger).

Ceylan (d’apres Roger).

Ne connaissant pas cette espece insuffisamment décrite, je n’ai pu la mettre

dans la tableau. Est-ce une variété d’une des deux précédentes? Dans

ce cas, de laquelle? D’apres Roger, l’aire frontale est indistincte, abdomen

sans sculpture ni pubescence, |’épistome imprimé transversalement devant, Je

possede une % de Poona (M. Wroughton) qui correspondrait assez 4 la de-

scription de Roger, mais Vaire frontale est distincte, ’abdomen pubescent et

ponctué ; c’est une variété de la Pl. jerdonii avec la pubescence et la puosité

dela Pl. rogert. Dans le doute, je préfere donner deux noms nouveaux,

6, Pl. exigua, nov. spec.

Poona (Wroughton), Kanara (Aitken),

Cette espece, le liliputien du genre, se trouve aussi a Madagascar,

% (Voir tableau), Téte ovale, 4 cotés convexes, presque aussi large devant

que derriére ; yeux situés au tiers antérieur des cétés, Les Scapes atteignent

Vocciput sans le dépasser, tandis qu’ils le dépassent chez les especes précédentes,

Occiput faiblement et largement échancré. Thorax trés court. Une légere

échancrure entre le mésonotum et le ségment intermédiaire, Aucune

échancrure entre ce dernier et le métanotum, Le Segment intermédiaire est

aussi grand que le mésonotum, Métanotum conyexe ; 8a face basale courte;

418 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

sa face déclive bien plus longue. Le métanotum n’est pas ou est a peine élargi

d’avant en arriere, Abdomen grand. Epistome entier, convexe, sans caréne.

Articles 2 4 5 du funicule des antennes plus épais que longs. Pattes courtes,

Lisse et Iuisante, éparsément ponctuée, surtout sur la téte eb Vabdomen.

Pilosité dressée jaundtre, extrémement courte et tres éparse sur le corps, nulle

sur les scapes et les tibias. Pubescence jaundtre tres fine, réguli¢rement espacée,

surtout sur la téte, l’'abdomen, les scapes et les pattes, sans former aucun duvet.

Thorax, pattes, scapes, premier article des funicules, mandibules et pédicule

d’un jaune assez clair. Téte e reste des funicules d’un jaune brunatre, Abdomen

d’un brun jaunatre, avec une bande longitudinale, médiane, jaunatre, nuageuse,

plus ou moins distincte, qui interrompt au milieu le brun de chaque segment.

Q:—L.: 2,743 mill, Tres étroite. Abdomen tréslong. Caracteres de

Pouvricre, mais la pubescence est plus forte et plus abondante. La téte et le

thorax sont d’un jaune brunatre ou rougeatre. Abdomen enticrement brunatre

ou d’un bron jaunatre. Le thorax est fortement déprimé en dessus ; T’écaille

est tres basse et tres inclinee ; les ailes manquent.

11™¢ Genre Acropyea (Roger).

A. acutiventris (Roger).

= A. flava, Mayr.

Poona (Wroughton) ; Ceylan (Yerbury) ; Birmanie (Fea) ; Milu, Nicobares

(d’apres Mayr).

Tl m’est impossible de trouver une différence appréciable entre PA. flava,

Mayr et 1’A. acutiventris, Roger. I] ne s’agit évidemment que d’une synonymie.

Les ailes du ¢ et dela 2 sont légerement enfumées de brun noiratre,

Var. A. rubescens, nu. var. D’un jaune rougeatre, Tete et abdomen d’un

jaune brunatre chez Pouvriere ; tout le corps d’un jaune brunatre chez la 9.

Chez le @, la téte et le thorax sont d’un brun jaunatre, Pabdomen jaunatre. Les

ailes sont plus fortement enfumées de brun noiratre que chez le type dont le

corps est entierement jaune, La taille de lavar. A. rubescens est aussi un peu

plus grande ; son écaille est un peu plus élevée, plus mince et plus tranchante au

sommet ; la pilosité est encore un peu plus abondante.

Cette varieté a été récoltée a Beleaum par M. Wroughton, dans le Kanara

par M. Bell, et 4 Ceylan par M. Yerbury. Si Roger n’écrivait pas que la &

et la @ deson A. acutiventris sont jaunes, je croirais que cette variété est le

type de Roger, dont A, /lava, Mayr, serait alors une variété.

Genre Myrmoteras, nov. gen.

% Vessie a venin a coussineb, Aicuillon transformé. Orifice du cloaque

apical, fortement cilié, circulaire. alice du gésier trés raccourci. Les quatre

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 419

sépales divergent tres fortement et sont fortement chitinisées dés leur base, &

partir des valvules, Elles sont trés courtes et fortement recourbées 4 leur

extrémité, Ce gésier est différent de toutes les formes connues jusqu’ici et fait

probablement transition @ celui des Dolichoderides,

Antennes de 12 articles, Palpes maxillaires de 6, labiaux de 4 articles,

Mandibules insérées tres pres lune de Pautre, linéaires, droites, plus longues

que la téte, semblables a celles des Odontomachus ou plutot des Strumigenys du

groupes saliens et dentées de meme, Pas d’arétes frontales, Antennes insérées

trés en arriére du bord postérieur de l’épistome, dans une fossette articulaire

isolée, Aire frontale et sillon frontal distincts. Yeux énormes, allongés et

trés proéminents, comme ceux d’un @. ‘Trois gros ocelles, L’occiput a un

gros bourrelet en forme de v renversé qui le sépare de | articulation du prono-

tum, et dont le sommet est en haut. Ce bourrelet est séparé du reste de la téte

par une fente profonde, La téte est plus ou moins triangulaire (base du

triangle derriere, sommet devant). Le mésothorax a un fort étranglement

ceylindrique, colliforme, sur lequel les deux stigmates proéminent derriére comme

deux dents, Pédicule avec une écaille élevée et épaisse,

Q et @ inconnus,

M. binghami, nov. spec.

$ :—L.:4,7 mill. sans les mandibules, 6, 0 mill. avec les mandibules.

Toutes les & de meme grandeur. Caracteres du genre; entiérement lisse et

Ini sante ; thorax éparsement ponctué. Devant de la téte strié-ponctué en long.

D’un rouge brunatre ; abdemen d’un brun rougeatre, Pattes et antennes vréles,

d’un jaune rougeatre ; mandibules jaunatres, PPilosité dressée éparse, trés fine,

plus abondante sur les pattes et les antennes. Pubescence presque nulle.

Métanotum arrondi, T’éte presque aussi large que longue,

Les mandibules sont courbées 4 lextrémité qui est terminée par deux longues

dents qui ne renferment deux petites dans leur intervalle. Le bord interne

(confondu avec le bord terminal) a de plus 6 ou 7 dents étroites et pointues, de

plus en plus courtes, 4 mesure qu’ou s’approche de la base, et séparées les unes des

autres par de longs intervalles réguliers, Hpistome grand, arrondi, a peine plus

large que long, assez plat, avec une convexité médiane et le bord antérieur

concave. Portion articulaire des mandibules large et haute. Aire frontale

étroite, assez longue, pointue derriéere, Sillon frontal fortement imprimé,

prolongé jusqu’a l’ocelle antérieur, Articulation des antennes située tout pres

de l’ceil, presque aussi distante de lépistome que la longueur entiére de ce

dernier, articulation a en dedans un petit bord relevé, et derriére elle se trovve

une faible impression qui représente la fossette antennaire, Pas de fossette

420 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

clypéale. Les yeux occupent plus de la moitié des cétés de la téte. La téte est

élargie et tronquée derriére, A la base de Ja troncature, autour de l’articulation

avec le prothorax proémine le gros bourrelet qui est plus épais de cété qu’au

sommet et ne se prolonge pas sous la téte. Le pronotum a un assez long cou

devant, Sans le cou, il est plus large que long (subitement renflé derriére le

cou). Le mésothorax entier est colliforme, deux fois plus long que large.

Métanotum peu élevé, convexe ; face basale deux fois plus longue que la face

déclive. Pédicule allongé, surmonté au milieu d’une écaille haute, épaisse ver-

ticale, arrondie au sommet, tronquée devant, plus arrondie (subtronquée) derriere.

Antennes tres gréles; pattes longues; tibias plus épais que les cuisses,

Occiput, pronotum eb métanotum finement et éparsément ponctués. Devant de

la téte strié-ponctué, Quelques rides sur le mésonotum. J)u reste lisse et Iuisant.

Thaungyin valley, en Birmanie, récolté par M. le Major Bingham. et regu

par M. Wroughton.

Cette fourmi est une des formes les plus singuliéres de arbre myrmécologi-

que déja si riche en phénomenes morpho-biologiques. Au premier abord on

dirait un Anochetus tres aberrant. Mais un examen attentif eb l’anatomie

démontrent bientét qu’il s’agit d’un Camponotide tout-a-faib aberrant. Les

yeux énormes semblent indiquer une vie sur les arbres.

Le genre Myrmoteras wétant pas dans notre tableau des genres, il faut

Vintercaler au chiffre 1 comme suit :

Pas d’arétes frontales. Antennes inserées trés en arricre de I|’épistome,

Mandibules articulées tout prés une de l'autre, linéaires, paralleles

dentées, plus longues que la téte. Yeux énormes... .=:-..+0.+..GENRE

MYRMOTERAS, nov. gen.

EXPLICATION DES FIGURES.

Fig. 1 Prenolepis yerburyi, Forel, g valvules génitales extérieures.

9) ue 99 9? 99 29 99 moyennes,

Ae ee a DS a be < % intérieures,

sya ab taylore, HF 5. », extérieures,

39 28 2) 99 99 99 9? moyennes,

by) 2b 99 99 9) ; 99 99 intérieures.

se $5 bourbonica, Forel, v bengalensis, Forel, @ valvules

oénitales extérieures.

ny a a indica, ¥orel, g vatvules génitales extérieures.

” ae ” ” ”? ” ? moyennes,

as AP 5 Pe “ ¥ ,, intérieures.

pa it _ smythiesti, 4, os ss exterieures,

) 0? oie 29 ” oD) 99 moyennes.

OO 0» 5 . 2 » intérieures,

N. B.—Dans les figures 1a, 22,4 et 54,2 signifié “ prolongement interne,” et

e “ prolongement externe.”

421

NOTES ON SOME OF THE BUTTERFLIES OF

MATHERAN.

By J. A. Berna.

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 138th Nov. 1893.)

The accompanying lists are published in the hope that others will add

to the number of butterflies mentioned therein. It would be desirable

if a complete list with the correct names of all the butterflies occurring

on Matheran could be got together for the help of future lepidopterists.

Many of the names given in Dr. J. Y. Smith’s book on “ Matheran Hill:

its People, Plants, and Animals,” have of necessity undergone change,

since further investigation of species has been made, and they now

stand, as far as is known, corrected up to date. Some of the names I

have been unable to trace with the limited means at my disposal.

I spent a month at Matheran during April and May, 1892.

This was of course about the worst time of the year for observing

Natural History, but I was able to collect 34 species of butterflies and

observe 10 more. I collected chiefly in the woods about Charlotte Lake,

and, being a new-comer to the Hill (although I used to be taken up as a

child some 30 odd years ago), I was not aware of the best spots for

collecting. I was told, justas I was leaving, that probably the best place

was in the depression between Hart and Panorama Points, but I was

unable to visit this place. There is, I think, a tank there, and a nala

which generally holds water. It is in places like this that one can

expect to make the best captures. Most of the specimens I caught were

worn, and though I captured several Kallima horsfieldiz, none were in fit

condition to keep, andso I let them go. The chief thing that struck me

about the butterflies in Matheran was the quantity of Hesnercide to be

found almost everywhere resting on the ground in shady spots or under

leaves. You kick them up individually in scores, but the number of

species was very few. I made an excursion to the ‘‘ Rambagh,” and

another tothe “ Mar-rai” or Palm grove, but was disappointed. The

only capture worth mentioning was a Bibasis sena in the “ Mar-rai.”

The two places just mentioned are belts of forest below the cap of the

Hill. Another noticeable fact was the predilection that Celenorrhinus

ambareesa had for coming into the verandas of the houses and settling

422 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. ViI1.

on the walls, especially if the walls were dark. I was not very suc-

cessful in getting any butterflies to come to baits ; but I did capture a

very fine male Charazes imna in that manner. The captures made by

me have added 18 species to those mentioned in Dr. Smith’s book.

Some more are probably mentioned in the article on Matheran Hill

in the Bombay Gazetteer ; but, not being able to lay my hands on

a copy of this work, I am unable to give their names. Some one

on the Bombay side may possibly be able to add this information

through the medium of our Society’s Journal. At present only 78

species are noted in these lists; but there must be numerous other

species obtainable on the Hill, and itis hoped that some of the “ ducks ”’

of Bombay will add to them.

List of Butterflies mentioned in Dr. J. Y. Smith’s “ Matheran Hill :

its People, Plants, and Animals,” 1881, pp. 118—125 & 176—180.

1. Danais aglea. 31. Castalius rosimon.

2. Danais limniace. 32. Castalius roxus.

3. Danais chrysippus. 33. Iraota mecenas.

4, Danais genutia. 34, Aphneus lohita.

5. Danais careta, (?) 35. Zeltus etolus.

6. Mycalesis mineus, 86. Catopsilia hilaria,

7. Ypthima singala. 37. Catopsilia phillipina.

8 Ypthima philomela, 88. Catophaga paulina,

9. Melanitis leda. 89. Eronia valeria.

10. Melanitis ismene. 40, Hebomia glaucippe.

1. Ergolis ariadne. 41. Huphina albina.

12. Byblia ilithyia. 42, Huphina phryne.

13, Atella phalanta. 43, Belenois mesentina.

14, Precis tphita. 44, Terias hecabe.

15. Junonia lemonias. 45, Papilio polymnestor.

16. Junonia enone. 46. Papilio pammon.

17. Junonia orithyia. 47, Papilio polytes.

18, Neptis varmona. 48. Papilio agamemnon.

19. Hypolimnas bolina. 49. Papilio epius.

20. Hypolimnas misippus. 50. Papilio sarpedon,

21. Athyma perius. 51. Papilio hector.

22. Pyrameis indica, 52. Papilio deiophobus.

23. Cyrestis. 53, Papilio panope.

24, Kallima horsefieldi, 54, Papilio iswara.

25. Charazxes athamas. 55. Papilio dissimilis,

26. Poritia ? 56. Matapa aria.

27, Lampides clianus, 57. Chapra agna.

28. Catochrysops cnejus. 58, Sarangesa purendra.

29. Tarucus theophrastus, 59. Udaspes folus.

80. Tarucus plinius. 60. Hesperia gaiba.

NOTES ON SOME OF THE BUTTERFLIES OF MATHERAN. 423

List of Butterflies caught at Matheran in April and May, 1892, by

J. A. Betham.

1. Danais melanoides.

2. Danais limniace,

8. Danais genutia.

4, Euplea core.

5. Mycalesis perseus.

6. Lethe nilgheriensis,

7. Ypthima philomela.

& Melanitis ismene.

9. LErgolis ariadne.

10. Atella phalantha,

Il, Junonia almana, v. asterie.

12. Neptis varmona, v. eurymene.

13. Neptis ophiana.

14. Neptis jumbah,

15. Athyma perwus.

16. Charaxes imna.

Li. Abisara suffusa.

34.

Catochrysops cnejus.

Cyaniris puspa.

Castalius rosimon,

Tarucus plinius.

Deudorix epijarbas.

Terias cesiope.

Huphina phryne.

Delias eucharis.

Catopsilia catilla,

Leptosia xiphia.

Papilio polymnestor,

Badamia exclamationis.

Bibasis sena.

Parata chromus,

Sarangesa purendra.

Isoteinon nilgheriensis.

Celenorrhinus ambareesa.

List of Butterflies seen at Matheran in April and May, 1892.

35. Danais chrysippus.

386. Junonia lemonias.

37, Junonia enone,

38 Junonia orithyia.

39, Hypolimnas bolina.

40.

Hypolimnas misippus.

Kallima horsfieldiz.

Papilio polytes,

Chapra mathias.

Udaspes folus.

424 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.

No. I—“O PAO DA COBRA” OR SERPENT’S WOOD OF

THE PORTUGUESE.

“O Pao da Cobra” or Serpent’s Wood was in great request among Europeans

in India in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Everybody in those days

seems to have provided himself with an antidote to snake-bites. The impres-

sion of the number and extent of poisonous snakes in India then created has

not yet died away. ._Many in Hurope even now believe that a European in

India is never safe from a cobra-bite. But, as a matter of fact, I do not think

there are among Huropeans more deaths due to snake-bites than to polo-playing

or to steeple-chases, The impression is no doubt kept up by the immense

number of deaths, upwards of 21,000 per year or 1 in about 10,166, of the

population, that take place, due to this cause, among the natives, owing to

their habit of going about barefooted and of sleeping on ground-floors, In

this paper I wish to describe chiefly the three kinds of Serpent’s Wood men-

tioned in the ‘ Colloquios da India” by Dr. Garcia d’Orta, a work first

published in Goa in 1563, and soon afterwards translated into Latin and

various European languages. To judge from the descriptions given by the

author, it is really astonishing to see the immense knowledge he had gained of

the drugs not only of India, but even those of Persia and China. The three

kinds of Serpent’s Wood described by him are as follows :—

(1). “ The first one known as Rannetul in Ceylon is a shrub growing to the

height of two or three feet; it throws out few branches, that is four or five,

which are very thin. The root, which is the useful part, is thin like the

thinnest twig of a vine, and it is knotted, and always some portion of the root

is exposed, and if it is eaten away or torn in any part, it throws out fresh

roots, The fruit of this shrub is like that of the elder tree, but is red and

harder ; it grows in round clusters like those of the woodbine ; sare

the flowers are very red, and they grow in a round terminal cluster ; the leaf

is like that of a peach-tree, buta little darker in colour, The colour of the

root is between white and grey, and it is smooth to the touch although not

soft, and it is very bitter. This plant is to be found in many parts, also in

the tableland of Goa.” From this description many writers have identified

the plant with Ophiorrhiza Mungas, Linn., N. 0. Rubiacee, but it has to be

noted that its flowers are not very red, nor is it to be found in Goa or in the

South Konkan. The description, although not exact in every particular,

appears to meto refer more to Ranwolfia serpentina, Benth., N. O. Apocy-

nacee,& species common both to Ceylon and to Goa, The pedicles and

calyces of the flowers of this plant are of a bright red colour, and the root is

very bitter, while that of the Ophiorrhiza is said to have a taste like gentian.

The properties of Ranwolfia serpentina have not yet been thoroughly

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 425

investigated, There is a strong popular belief in the South Konkan

regarding its value as an antidote in.cobra poison, and it is much used

in dyspepsia, colic, cholera and fevers. Its present popular uses agree

quite closely with those given 330 years ago by Garcia d’Orta, who says, “ this

root is bruised and given by the natives in snake-bite in water, and we give it

in wine or some cordial water and it soon produces its effects ; it is also beaten

up with sandalwood and applied to the bitten part. . . . . The people of

this country use it in intestinal worms, in small-pox and measles, and in

cholera. It is also said to be very useful in chronic fevers,” The native name

of this plant in the South Konkan is Atki,* It is very common in the South

Konkan ; it flowers at the commencement of the rains and produces fruit in

August and September.

(2) “‘ There is in Ceylon another plant, which, when it grows alone, attains

the height of a pomegranate tree, but when it grows near a tree or in the

forest it becomes a creeper like the gourd plant and climbs over the highest

trees. . . . Its leavesare yellowish, very beautiful ; the bark is covered with

blunt spines, and it is whiteand thick. , . . . Thistrecissaid to grow in the

Island of Goa, but I have not seen it,” There i is hardly any doubt that this

description refers to Strychnos colubrina,t Linn., N.O. Loganiacew, Tt grows in

this Presidency on. Chorla Ghats to the east of Goa, and it is also a native of

Ceylon, Garcia d’Orta says that the wood, the bark and the root are the

parts used in snake-bites, but that the root is preferable. He had also some

cups made of the wood, similar most likely to the quassia cups of the

present day, and they were given to patients who were supposed to suffer

from chronic poisoning ; no doubt it was one of the ways of administering

small doses of strychnine, The wood of this plant is generally identified with

the true Lignum colubrinum, Even now it is held in high esteem by the

Portuguese. Walking-sticks made of it are supposed to drive away all

serpents! That this serpent’s Wood or its alkaloid strychnine is a valuable

medicine in the bites of some poisonous snakes has been clearly proved by some

Australian doctors, and evidence is forthcoming that it may be useful, if

properly administered, in some cases of cobra-bites. Bombay obtains its

supply of this wood from the Malabar Coast.

Strychnos Beddomei, Clarke (S. cal., Wl.), resembles closely the previous

species except in its corolla tube, which is larger. Itis a native of Ceylon

and Travancore. This plant probably furnishes a portion of the true Lignum

colubrinum.

Van Rheede in his “ Hortus Indicus Malabaricus,” Vol. WEIN op, 47,4. 8,

describes under the name of Modira carinam “ Pao de Cobra” or “ Pao de

Solor” of the Portuguese, a species of strychnos which has been named

* Athi is the common native name, at Mahableshwar, of Mesa indica,—Ed.

¢ There isany amount of it on Matheran below the cliffs, near “ Birdwood Walk,’

leading from Chauk Plateau to Little Chank Point,—Ed, :

426 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

S. Rheedii (S. Colubrina, Blume) by Clarke, who says: “It is only known from

Rheede’s figure, which may be incorrect as to flowers.” The species was

figured in 1688, and as yet has not been verified by any subsequent

observer. Its distinctive characters are: peduncles of flowers lateral ;

buds subglobose ; corolla tubes very short. Its full description, as given

by Rheede, is as follows: “ Modira carinam Lusitanis Pao de Cobra vel

Pao de Solor cum carinam (Strychnos nux vomica) in prima parti descripta in

omnibus pene convenit, sed hee arbor illa herba (shrub) cujus fructus corticze

dura viridi fusco, et pulpa interiori albicante ad maturi spadiceo ingrescentes

cum illi carinam miniate rubescant. Modira (hooks or tentacles) dicitur ob

similitudinem mystacum, modira enim mystax est, Natale solum est circa

Mangotti, Paroe et alia loca, semper fere vel florens vel frugens.” And in the

“ Flora of British India” it is described thus: “ Tendrils present ; branches

stout ; leaves elliptic acute 3-nerved, 34 by 13 in., base obtuse or rounded ;

petiole 4-4 in ; peduncles $ in, axillary ; lax 3-4 flowered ; corolla short-tubed

5-merous ; pedicels 4 to } in.; berry 24 in. diam., globose ; seeds many, 2 in.

diam., circular discoid.” I may mention that Roxburgh, writing in the early

part of this century. and probibly having in view this plant, says: “I am

inclined to think there is a species different from the third or scandent species

called colubrina (S. colubrina, Roxb.) as well as from the nua vomica tree, which

yields the real, or at least another sort of the Lignum colubrinum. The wood

of the root of this sort is esteemed by the Telinga Physicians an infallible

remedy for the bite of the naya (cobra) as well as that of every other

venomous snake, It is applied externally as well as given internally,” It

is worthy of note that Rheede, although he names his plant ‘‘ Pao de Cobra,”

still does not mention that it is used in snake-bite, Probably he takes it for

pranted that it is used in this way.

Mr. C. B. Clarke thinks that the previous species may be really Strychnos

cinnamomifolia, Vhwaites, S. colubrina, Wight, Ic. ¢. 434, Koxb., Fl. Ind., J, 578.

This plant grows in Ceylon, but not, as far as it has been verified, on the

Malabar Coast. Its fruits resemble those of the previous species. Roxburgh

cites Modira carinam of Rheede as a synonym of his S, colubrina, but the

flowers of his species are terminal, while those of Rheede’s, as already noticed,

are lateral or axillary. It is said that this plant also may yield a kind of

Lignum colubrinum.

The authors of the ‘“‘ Pharmacographia Indica ” state that a portion of Ser-

pent’s Wood may also be probably derived from S. laurina, Wall., a native

of Cachar, Pegu and Tenasserim.

Strychnos Nua Vomica, Linn., has also been styled S. colubrina by Wallich

and Wight, but it is the general opinion that the wood of this tree, which is

extremely common in the South Konkan,is not the true Serpent’s Wood,

although often substituted for it. It has been found by analysis that the bark

and wood of this tree do not show any traces of strychnine, while those of

“MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 427

S. colubrina contain it in large quantities. It would be interesting to examine

chemically the woods of all the species of Strychnos, and to see which of them

do contain strychnine, and those which contain it may be styled the true

Lignum colubrinum, because the value of the wood depends entirely, as far

as it is known, upon the presence of this alkaloid. There are about 60

species of Strychnos in the tropics, out of which 4 are natives of Bombay,

namely S. Colubrina, Linn ; S. Dalzellit, Clarke ; S Nuxw Vomica, Linn, ; and

S. Potatorwm, Linn,

(3) ‘ When the Viceroy D. Constatino went to Jafnapatam, which is an

Island near Ceylon, they brought him a present of some bundles of a wood

with its roots as a much-valued antidote in poisons. This root is aromatic

and it is thin, hard, and dark in colour, These roots are said to be very

common in the plains of Goa.” his root is, no doubt, that of the Indian

Birthwort, Aristolochia Indica, Linn., N. O. Aristolochiucee, a plant very

common in Goa, but not in other parts of the South Konkan. This root was

known in the 15th century as the “ Raiz da _ obra” orsnake-root. It is curious

that the name snake-root or serpentary was given in about 1636 to the root

of another species of the same genus, namely, A, Serpentina, Linn., a native

of Virginia, It was highly praised as a remedy for the bite of the rattle-snake

and of rabid dogs, he reputed properties of this plant are now quite dis-

regarded, The properties of the Indian Birthwort (sapus, Konk ; sapsund,

Mar.) are described by Rheede as follows : ‘‘ Dococtum hujus plant cum oleo

pro linimento adhibitus venenatum serpentum sanat morsum.” ‘he root still

enjoys a reputation in snake-bite among the country-folks in the South Kon-

kan, but its chief use is in the bowel complaints of children,

Before concluding I would make a historical note which may be of some

interest to the inhabitants of Bombay. Garcia d’Orta,in describing the Areca

or Supari Palm, says: “ A melhor (areca) é a de Mombaim, terra e ilha de que

Hl-Rei nosso senhor me fez mercé, aforada em fatiota,’ or that “ the best

supari is that of Mombaim, land and island which H, M. the King granted to

me by emphyteusis.’ From this extract it is evident, first, that Bombay or

Bombaim was sometimes known as Mombaim (the first letter being M and

not B)in 1563; secondly, that Bombay was famous in those days for its

areca ; and thirdly, that the Island, with some of the adjoining land, was the

sole property of Dr, Garcia d’Orta long before it was given in dowry to the

Infanta Catharina.

D. G. DALGADO, M.D.

SAVANTVADI, 2nd August, 1893,

No, I1.—THE NEST OF STEWART’S WREN-WARBLER.

I send herewith two nests, made one after the other by the same identical

pair of birds (Prinia stewarti), The materials are the same in both, but the

construction is different, In No, 1 the birds, having chosen a small narrow-

428 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

leaved plant to build im, simply laid the nest loosely between the twigs, with-

out any attempt at sewing. In No, 2, having selected a thick-leaved plant,

they have made a regular tailor-bird’s nest, using cotton freely to stitch the

nest to its supports and to make one of the leaves serve as a covering for it,

The birds deserted the first nest after two eggs had been laid. In nest No. 2

three eggs were laid and hatched out. Note also in No. 2 how the thick leaf

has begun to sprout from the punctures made for the stitches,

G. W. VIDAL, I.CS.

Poona, 4th September, 1893.

No. III.—THE GENUS PSILOTUM, Sw., IN INDIA.

A note in this Journal (vol, VII, p. 544) by Dr. Dalgado records the occurrence

of this genus in Savantvadi, This is by no means the first record for India,

even if it be the first for Bombay. The earliest publication of Indian

localities is in the Cat. of Plants dist., by the Hon'ble the E. I. Coy. (1828),

where it is recorded from Nepal, 8. India, Ava and Penang. Specimens from

all these places were distributed from the Company's Herbarium in that

year,

There are two species of the genus, and as the note referred to may induce

members to look for the one there described, it seems worth while to state

wherein the two differ, as in the search for one it is not impossible that both

may be discovered.

Both Psilota are plants with short wiry root-stocks emitting stems that are

simple below but copiously dichotomously branched upwards and that have

minute leaves laxly disposed throughout their length. In the axils of rudi-

mentary leaves (bracts), rather smaller than the leaves proper, are placed. all

along the branches, single, free, top-shaped spore-cases slightly hollowed

(umbilicate) at the apex. These spore-cases (sporangia) are three-lobed and

three-celled ; they split vertically down the centre of each lobe to permit the

escape of the oblong, somewhat curved, one-ribbed spores,

Seventeen different forms of Psilotum have been named and described, but

these arrange themselves into two groups and, within each group, pass into

one another by all sorts of intermediate forms. One of these groups has

three-cornered, the other has two-edged, branchlets ; the branchlets in this

second group are flattened out and have a distinct rib down the middle. In

the first group the spore-cases and the leaves are in three rows corresponding

‘to the angles, in the second group they are in two rows corresponding to the

edges, of the branchlets,

Some members of the first group have the angles so indistinctly marked

that the branches are practically round ; some members of the second group

have the branches so narrow that their two edges with the strong midrib,

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 429

already mentioned, render them practically three-cornered, But no mistake is

possible in either case as to the species to which the plant belongs, since one

has three, the other only two, rows of leaves and Spore-cases. The following

brief diagnosis will enable their easy determination :-—

Plant erect or suberect: branches triquetrous, many times

strictly branched: leaves in 3 rows; ultimate branches Psilotum triquetrum, Sw.

thr e-cornered, sometimes almost round, about 3!’ in dia.

Plant pendulous: bra’ ches senom Cl less frequently ard

Ss tal ly oe som cont

across

The erect fastigiate habit of the first, the hanging spreading habit of the

second generally sufficiently distinguish the two. P. triquetrum is usually

7-8 in. high, but dwarf specimens occur (13-3 in, being the greatest height of

Specimens obtained by the writer on Barren Island) ; on the other hand, it is

often 2-22 feet high,

The general distribution of P. triquetrum is wider than Dr. Dalvado’s note

would indicate. It is found in South America, Central America, M>xico, West

Indies, Florida, Africa, Madagascar, Seychelles, India, Indo-China, Laccadive

Islands, Ceylon, Andamans, Malaya, North Australia, Polynesia, from Fiji

to Sandwich Islands. P, complanatum is equaly widely distributed ‘hough itis

the least common of the two except in Malaya and apparently the Seychelles,

The Indo-Malayan distribution, as_ testified by specimens in the Calcutta

Herbarium, is given in full below :—

1, PsiLotum TRIQUETRUM, Sw.

Inp1a: Bengal ; Dacca, Clarke ! Barisal, Clarke ! Central India ; Pachmari,

Mrs. Morris! Duthie! Ceylon; centre of island, Thwaites !

Walker! Thomson! Watson! Laccadives ; Minikoi, Alcoch !

HIMALAYA: Kumaon, Thomson ! Nepal, Wallich !

INDO-CHINA : Assam; Sibsagar, Masters! Khasia Hills, Simons! Burma :

Taong Doung Mis., Wallich! Barren Island, Prain! Siam,

Finlayson |

MALAYA : Peninsula ; Penang, Wallich ! Malacca, Griffith! Maingay ' Perak,

Kunstler! Wray! Archipelago ; Java, King! Forbes!

2. PsILOTUM COMPLANATUM, Sw.

Mazaya: Peninsula; Penang, Wallich! Perak, Kunstler! Archipelago ;

Borneo, Lobb !

The plant referred to by Dr. Dalgado is therefore not very rare, but as it

happens to be mentioned, the writer wishes to invite members who may be

interested in the matter to look not only for P. triquetrum, but for the other

species as well. Both are found in the Mascarene Islands to the west, and

both also occur in Malaya and Polynesia to the east of India ; there is there-

fore no good reason why both should not be found, if carefully looked for,

in the Indian Peninsula as well,

430 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

The following notes taken from tickets attached to specimens in the

Calcutta Herbarium will throw some light on the habitat of the plants :—

PSILOTUM TRIQUETRUM, Sw.—‘ Gateway of old Fort, Malacca,” Maingay ;

‘interior of crater, Barren Island,” Prain; ‘‘ growing on stone

near the crater of Gunong Boddas Preanger, Java,” H. O. Forbes;

“srowing on temples, Sibsagar, Assam,” Wasters ; ‘‘ growing in a

hollow tree where some soil had accumulated, Perak,” Kunséler ;

“ad saxa rupesque, Mauritius” (no collector’s name),

PsILOTUM COMPLANATUM, Sw.—“ Growing under a fern on a, tree, Chan-

deriang river, Perak,’ Kunstler; “growing from seams of rock,

Chil-hua-hua, Mexico,” Pringle.

The largest of the living plants of P. triquetrum in the Royal Botanic

Garden were brought about 15 years ago by Dr. King, F.RS., OLE. from

Java, where he found them growing among the adventitious roots of a coco-

nut tree—exactly the situation in which Dr, Dalgado found his. But this does

not necessarily imply, as Dr. Dalgado suggests, that the plant is ‘ parasitic’:

its habit of growing at the tops of volcanoes—where there certainly is

nothing living to which it could attach itself—-on ruined temples and

forts, and in seams of rock, shows not only that is it not ‘parasitic ,’

but that it is not even necessarily ‘saprophytic.’ That it prefers a

situation where it can get plenty of decaying vegetable matter in which to

bury its roots is no doubt true, for the specimens from rocks and ruins are

stunted and dwarf, as compared with those from hollow trees. But this is only

in accordance with the general rule that plants grown in a ‘humus’, rich in

decaying vegetable matter, thrive better than those grown in thin, bare

rocky soil.

The treatment of the plants in cultivation is simple ; they thrive well when

grown as maiden-hair ferns are grown,

D, PRAIN.

HERBARIUM, CaLcurtTa, 7th June, 1893.

No. IV.—THE ASIATIC WILD ASS.

In the Field of April 22, under the heading of “The Asiatic Wild

Ass,” was published an account of the onager, or wild donkey of Kutch,

This article contains some statements which have, since the publication of

Captain Nutt’s article in the “ Oriental Sporting Magazine,” entitled “ pens

Hunting on the Runn of Kutch,” been disproved,

Mr, Blanford,in his “Fauna of British India,” states that there is no

instance on record of wild asses being run down by a single horseman, and

Mr. Tegetmeier also remarks that it is doubtful whether any onager has ever

been ridden down except in cases of mares heavy in foal, and also states that

even the young have only been captured by employing relays of horses.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 431

The above has been conclusively disproved by H. H. the Thakor of Morvi,

whose State, which is in Kathiawar, is situated close to the Runn of Kutch,

as the anager has been ridden down and secured on several occasions during a

period of three years, when riding them down was one of His Highness’s

favourite amusements, undertaken chiefly to disprove the exaggerated opinion

commonly held as regards their speed and endurance.

On one occasion a band of eight wild donkeys were ridden down and secured

on the east side of the Runn by a party of five riders, or, to be more exact, by

a party of three, as the riding was really done by H. H. the Thakor Sahib and

two of his riding boys. The riders averaged about 9 stones in weight, rode

the same horses from start to finish, and, kept together throughout the whole

of the chase.

As the above may not be considered a case of running them down by a

single horseman, perhaps the following instance may sutlice, wiz., that on

another occasion the Thakor Sahib and hisgtwo riding boys separated ; the

former succeeded in riding an onager down single-handed, and without change

of mount, while the two boys secured another,

The horses used in these rides were Walers, Arabs and country-breds, and

in one ride where a wild donkey was secured, a 13:3 Arab pony was used. The

fact may perhaps interest people that. the country-breds used were ordinary

Kathiawar cobs about 14°1, and in the case of the Walers and Arabs used, no

special selection was made of mounts, neither were the animals in special con-

dition for the rides. The above-mentioned facts will somewhat tend to discount

the exaggerated ideas held concerning the speed and endurance of the onager.

The rides which ended in captures usually lasted about three hours ; speed

varied from a walk to a spurting gallop ; the going was execrably bad, being

chiefly ground covered at high tide by the sea, and consisted for the most part

of mud. in which the horses sank fetlock deep, necessitating the greater por-

tion of the chase being done at a walk. The distances covered in the different

runs varied from twenty to twenty-five miles ;no horse ever died during a

chase or from the after effects.

Although the onager’s speed is greater than that of a tame donkey, an ordi-

nary 14:2 Arab can gallop them to a standstill, and the fact of the runs being

so long was due more to the going than to any special endurance on the part

of the wild asses. Practically, as regards endurance, they are as enduring as a

horse in non-galloping condition, though the asses when caught, could hardly

be called in galloping condition either.

One of the most striking points in connection with these rides is the endu-

‘rance shown by the horses used in capturing the wild asses; in fact, more

wonderful than the endurance of the asses who were on the ground they live

on, whereas neither food not water could be obtained for the horses, riders

even having to carry their own drinking water. On one occasion horses were

out without food or water from 7 a.m. one morning to 4 a.m, the next,

432 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Some twenty wild asses, big and small, were captured in these rides, When

captured, the wild asses were extremely vicious, bit and kicked, and it was

found necessary to rope them before they could be led: away. ‘The statement

that no varieties of the Asiatic wild ass have ever been domesticated would be

deprived of some of its effect, could your readers see the wild asses in the

paddocks at Morvi.

Though some of the captures remained excessively vicious, others became

quite tame, and were ridden and driven just like a tame donkey, The young

ones are as tame as dogs, and extremely fond of being fondled and played with.

Those in the paddock at Morvi were exceedingly inquisitive and had to be

kept back while a photograph was taken, as nothing would satisfy them until

they could sniff round the camera and see what the seemingly diabolical instru-

ment was.

A photograph, the only one of a batch of four taken, which turned out

passably (though the gentleman in the solah tope is meant to be a European),

is herewith sent in proof of what may be done with them and in it may be

observed the inquisitiveness of the animals,a youngster, in his eagerness to

find out what was going on, having come up behind and caused the syce on

the right to move his hand. The treatment undergone by the donkey, on

whose back a syce is seated, ought to be proof enough of her tameness, as her

tail was held, not to keep her quiet, but to show what could be done to her,

This particular donkey was ten months old when caught and frightfully wild;

she is now about two and a half years old.

The engraving in the Feld of April 22 is good with the exception of the

legs and feet which are made to look much too coarse, the legs and feet of the

wild ass being particularly clean, neat and well formed,

The same horses which were used to ride down the wild asses in the Runn

have been used to ride down wolves and black buck (Antelope bezoartica),

and if wished for, some particulars of these runs can be sent.

The information regarding the riding down of the wild asses on the Runn

of Kutch was given to the writer by a well-known Kathiawar sportsman, whose.

riding weight, however, prevented him from being with the leaders in the runs

when the onagers were captured.

J. L, HARRINGTON, Lisrvr.,

A. P. A., Kathiawar.

(The above appeared in the Field of 29th July, 1893.)

No. V.—SYMPTOMS OF SNAKE-BITE, THE RESULT OF FRIGHT.

Stories of recovery from apparently serious cases of snake-bite are reported

from time to time, which at first sight can only be explained by believing,

either that very little poison entered the wound, or that: an antidote has

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 433

really been discovered at last. Such a case occurred here a few weeks ago.

A boy, cutting grass close to my bungalow, was bitten on the instep by a snake

which was identified by myself and others as beyond doubt a krait, He con-

tinued his work for a time, but finding the pain increase, left the field and went

to the stables where his relations live. On hearing what had occurred, they held

a candle before his eyes and found that he saw five flames instead of one,

which natives take to be a sure sign of the giddiness which results from snake-

poison, Accordingly, they carried him off to a well-known“ Mantri,” or worker

of incantations, who lives close by, but before they arrived the boy was per-

fectly unconscious, and his teeth so firmly clenched that no medicine could be

poured down his throat. This was about an hour after the bite. Those present

thought the case hopeless, but after a time the ‘‘ Mantri” brought him round,

and he went away little the worse. ‘This was a curious instance, for there was

no doubt that the boy was bitten and his foot swollen, and further it was quite

certain that the snake which bit him was a deadly one, the krait, so that it was

natural to attribute the giddiness and collapse to the action of some portion

of venom, however minute.

Another case, however, which happened here a few days ago, suggest a

different explanation and mates it very probable that all the symptoms were

simply the result of fright, In this instance I was told that a boy of about 18,

while lying down, had been bitten on the head, and going at once to the spot I

found him vomiting and in a stupetied condition. A “ Mantri”’ had been sum-

moned, and after giving the patient some pounded root, was working away,

flitting him with his ‘ dhotar”’ and repeating the incantation.

I had sent for the dead snake, and seeing that it was fortunately of a harm-

less kind (Mr, Phipson, te whom it was forwarded, identified it as a young

“ Dhaman,” Zamenis mucosus), made the people assure the boy that he was in no

danger, but he was too dazed to understand, and soon, after vomiting again,

went off into a dead faint which lasted for more than twenty minutes. This

time he was perfectly unconscious, his hands and feet became cold, and had I

not known that the snake was a harmless one, I should certainly have thought

him in great danger. Of course, later on he recovered his senses, and was as

well as ever. Now, had it not happened fortunately that the snake was proved

to be of a non-venomous kind, this would have been a very pretty case of

apparent cure, and for an explanation we should have been kept to the choice,

according to our credulity, between believing in the powdered root, the incan-

tation, or that the amount of poison was very small, Such extreme effecis

from fright, so closely simulating genuine symptoms, are probably rare, but

the possibility of their occurrence puts a fresh ditticulty in the way of believ-

ing in the successful antidotes occasionally reported.

S. M. FRASER, LG.S.

KoLHarore, 9th September, 1893,

434 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

No. VI.—THE SNAKE-BIRD,

(Ploius melanogaster.)

This bird is what we in India calla “ Snake-bird,” because, when it swims

with the whole body under water, the long writhing neck and head remind one

of asnake, But another species in the warm regions of America has long

been called the “ Darter”; and this name is commonly used for the genus,

which is represented also in Africa and Australia. it was probably given on

account of the bird’s habit of sitting on trees over the water, and ‘‘ taking

a header’? when disturbed, or attracted by the sight of fish moving

below.

But there has long been an idea that the bird uses its long pointed beak asa —

“dari” or spear, and this is best illustrated by the following quotation from

Nature republished in the “Indian Annals and Magazine of Natural

Science” from which I have extracted it. I have not been able to compare it

with the original which seems to have been in the January number of Nature

for 1883,

_ “The Darter in its normal position sits erect upon a branch or stump over-

looking the water, When proceeding to ish, it dives head foremost into the

stream, and swimming entirely under water, transiixés its fnny prey with the

rapidity of lightning. HKmerging from the water with the fish speared upon

its long slender beak, the Darter chucks the tsh into the air, and catching it

head foremost with unerrmg aim, swallows it whole, This peculiar and

interesting mode of fish-catching may be witnessed every day when the Darters

in the Zoological Gardens are fed with their usual meal of small fishes,”

“The Darters usually exhibited in the Society's Gardens are of the South

American species (Plotus anhinga), which, it seems, is the most easily obtained

alive. But in 1878 an example of the African form, Le Vaillant’s Darter

(Plotus levaillant:), was received, and lived for some time in the Gardens,

where it exhibited the characteristic mode of feeding previously observed in

its American brother, In April last an example of a third species of this

genus—the Indian Darter (Ploius melanogaster, was obtained in exchange from

the Zoological Gardens of Calcutta, After living for many months in excel-

lent health this bird died suddenly on the 21st of December last, apparently

from a sudden shock produced by feeding too rapidly.”

Any one reading it as reprinted would think that the bird speared the fish on

its closed beak, as a regular thing. I have always doubted this; because the

beak is serrated inside on both jaws, like those of several other birds that seize

living fish, and I have observed that wild snake-birds seldom catch fish as big

even as herrings. The head and neck, indeed, are too small for the bird to

swallow large tish,though the gape is wider in life than it can be shown in this

dry and rigid specimen on our table, and the gullet is very elastic,so 1 watched

many wild birds, but never could see the spearing,

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 435

Ait last, when we had a snake-bird at the “ Zoo” in London, I consulted the

Superintendent, and took a wet day to watch the creature fed, The fish were

very small, minnows if I remember rightly. These were thrown into the tank

alive, and the bird “ darted ”’ after them from its perch on a “ duck’s ladder”

over the water, open-mouthed. In the same way it pursued them under water,

trying to seize them between its jaws and actually so seizing about 7 in 10, it

returned to the surface,with the fish held across the beak between the jaws, jerk-

ed it round in the usual way of fishing birds, and swallowed it head foremost.

But it sometimes happened that the bird, though failing to catch the fish

between its jaws, did actually impale it on one or other of them, about 2 in

10 on the upper jaw, and 1 in 10 on the lower. This was evidently almost a

failure, as, when a trapped pigeon is killed with the second barrel within the

line, it counts ; but the performance is not triumphant. The jerking round

of these transfixed fish into the proper position for swallowing was a longer

and more awkward job than with those properly seized, and was accompa-

nied by the most absurd expressive gestures of impatience and disgust. One

could feel that the bird wanted to swear.

It may be worth while to add that the tank was a good sized aquarium ad-

justed in the usual way, so that I, only a few feet from the bird, could see

him in an excellent light. There was no one present but one keeper and

myself ; so the observation was taken under most favourable circumstances.

There is much else to be said about the snake bird ; but the most of it

has been said by Jerdon (Birds of India, vol, II, p. 865) and others, and I

myself have written something about it in our journal,

One odd thing not yet said is that the wing bones sometimes contain what

looks and feels very like marrow—a rare thing in birds. It is to be wished

that some good authority could pronounce on this after dissection, and if we

could send home a few entire specimens in spirit it would be a good thing. I

have been trying to get one ; but the bird is not very common on the Tanna

rivers, though abundant in Kolaba and in Gujarat. It has probably been

more persecuted in the former district,

W. F. SINCLAIR, I.C.S.

TANNA,

No. VIIL—THE BREEDING OF THE GOURAMI,

Some ten years ago I undertook to superintend the operations for procuring

a supply of fish for the Ana Sagar Tank, a sheet of water covering about a

square mile, and situated in Rajputana. Previous to the operations the tank

contained only Chilwa, Singee, and a small species of Murrel ; I did not

mind the first two, but the existence of the Murrel, small though they were,

made it rather risky to introduce small fry.

436 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. Vil.

After reading up Mr. Thomas’ notes on stocking ponds, it was decided to

send down to him in Madras for a number of Gourami, and when these duly

arrived at the end of their long jouruey the first difficulty arose as to where to

put them,

An ornamental ime in the gardens was cleaned out and precautions taken

to keep out the Murrel, and the majority of the Gourami were put into this,

but as I was unwilling to lose sight of them altogether, I had an aquarium

made to hold about 15 gallons, and into this I put about a dozen fish,

Being new to aquarium management I made the usual mistakes, the result of

which was quickly apparent by the other small fish, which I had put in with

the Gourami, coming to the top and trying to prolong their lives by breathing

the uppermost layer of water.

I then noticed that the Gourami did not seem troubled much whether the

water was in good order or not; when it was all right they remained amongst

the weeds and never came to the top except in pursuit of a mosquito, and-

when it was foul they came up regularly at intervals for a mouthful of fresh

air, but never stayed there sucking at the upper layer. This discovery was a

great relief to my mind, asthe aquarium would practically be left to take

care of itself during my frequent absence in camp.

I must here note that the existence of the Murrel was not the sole reason

of my starting the aquarium; I had read in Mr. Thomas’ book that the

Gourami grows to 20lbs.,and that he is capable of “being cultivated in

earthen pots for the table.” Consequently I had Visions of half-a-dozen

chatties ranged round my office each containing a four or five-pound fish

destined to grace a future dinner party. Consequently again I anxiously

noted the growth of the fish and tried to see a decided increase in their bulk

after each absence in camp.

When they first arrived they were about au inch long, and had the large

head and eyes and thin body of all young fish. When I had had them about

two months they were perfectly formed and very handsome, but, alas, they

were only two inches long at the outside, and when [ had had them four

months it was disappointingly evident that they were not going to get beyond

this two inches. I had arranged a little ornamental rock-work at the bottom

of the aquarium and the centre-piece consisted of a curved stone resting on

two others and forming a kind of bridge.

One morning when I came as usual -to look at my fish I noticed that some

thing unusual had happened; all the fish but one had hidden themselves

amongst the weeds and the only visible fish was a truly terrifying spectacle,

He had turned a jet black and his red eyes, by contrast, shone like live

coals; his fins were all erect, and he was making furious charges at any of the

other fish which ventured to show their noses. Presently I espied another

black-looking fish quite motionless underneath the rock-work bridge, and

then I understood what was taking place. After chasing away all intruders

the male came down to the female under the bridge.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 437

Immediately after they separated the female emitted a stream of 15 or 20

eggs, and to my disgust the pair immediately set to work (apparently) to

gobble them up. One or two eggs which were caught in the eddies and carried

down amongst the rocks were immediately snapped up by the other fish which

were hanging around for this purpose. This took place several times and at

last I noticed that the pair paid frequent mysterious visits to the undersides of

the hollow stone, but there was nothing there that I could see.

The next morning these visits were explained and I then noticed the female

frequently rising to the surface and bringing down with her a mouthful of air

which she let go against the underside of the bridge until there was a large

silvery globule accumulated. The eggs had, it appeared, been plastered to the

underside of the rock and she was now supplying them with air.

Every now and then the globule would overflow and a large bubble would

rise to the top ; she however kept on bringing down more air with the idea,

I suppose, of keeping the supply fresh,

I have already mentioned that these fish seem capable of actually breathing

atmospheric air, but what the eggs should want with air, and compressed air

at that, I leave others better versed in fishlore to explain, The eggs could

hardly have been less safe had the parents put them on the top of a floating

leaf, as one or other had to remain constantly on guard to keep away the

other fish.

’ Another point struck me, which was the great self-denial exhibited by the

pair, and more especially by the male ; these eggs seemed to be regarded by the

other fish as great delicacies, and I could quite imagine a bad husband (and

I suppose there are such things amongst fish as amongst other animals)

bolting his mouthful of eggs and explaining the contretemps and excusing

himself on the grounds of a sudden inclination to cough.

I was very much disappointed when I received the impression that the pair

were destroying their own eggs, as it seemed to me that the Gourami, which

attains to a weight of 20lbs., showed a most wonderful adaptability to cir-

cumstances in coming to maturity at three or four pennyweighits, and I was

naturally anxious to prove that they were really mature in every sense of the

word, I had then to go into camp and leave the female still watching and

aerating her eggs. When I returned after a short absence the globule was

gone and all the fish were of the ordinary hue, and I searched in vain for any

fry. Very soon after another pair, or it might have been the same, took up

their quarters under the rock and went through the same process,

T am unable to remember how many times this happened, but one day I no-

ticed several tiny pairs of eyes looking at me through the glass ; behind these

eyes was.a gelatinous tail and what appeared to be a pendulous sac or stomach,

These were evidently very young Gourami, but I could only see them when

they came close to the glass as the Aquarium was very dark. Mr. Thomas

438 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIII.

had warned me that they could not stand much cold, and for this reason they

were kept permanently in my office as being rather warmer at night than the

verandah. These young fish did not appear to thrive, and as the cold season

approached they gradually disappeared until one only was visible, This one

eventually grew to about 2” in length, but was always very shadowy in appear-

ance and difficult to see at any distance from the glass. All the others got

sluggish and a few died, and as I was transferred during the cold weather, 1

returned the surviving ones into the lake.

The pond into which I had put the majority was emptied, but only a solitary

Murrel was found and no trace whatever of the Gourami. I have no doubt

that those put directly into the large lake also perished, but any way it dried

up completely a year or so ago, so there can be none there now. I reported

the results of my observations at the time to Mr. Thomas, and he started

a larger aquarium in order to check them, which I believe he was able to do

with satisfaction to himself, .

CHARLES F. GILBERT, M.1.¢.5.

No. VIIL—THE KOL-BHALU,

I have spelt the above name as it is pronounced, and as I have before seen

it spelt, but I am not at all sure that it is correct, I have never succeeded in

finding out what the name is derived from, and am ignorant as to what language

it is. I have heard it in G-uzerat, the Konkan, and Kanara, and pronounced, as

far as I could judge, exactly the same in all three Provinces,

The Kol-Bhalu is, I think, generally described by natives in the Bombay

Presidency as a jackal, either old and toothless, mad, or in attendance on a

tiger or some other large animal. I have also heard it positively asserted by

some villagers that it is an old and toothless jackal which has developed horns,

The idea that the animal is an old and toothless jackal has, im my experience,

the widest credence, and on examination of two Kol-Bhalus which I killed ait

different periods, whilst in the very act of uttering their peculiar weird-like

ery, may perhaps be worth recording as bearing out this theory. Both were

female jackals and bore the appearance of being extremely old, with short and

almost hairless tails. The elder of the two had only a little short hair in

patches on her body, and but one tooth in her head, a canine in the lower jaw

worn down level with the gum. The other had more hair, but it was very

short and of a dirty appearance, and in her mouth were five or six teeth much

broken and worn, I found nothing to indicate that either of them was mad,

nor did I kill them in places where there would be any likelihood of finding

any other animal more formidable than an hyena.

It seems possible that the peculiar cry which earns for the jackal the name

of Kol-Bhalu, may be caused by the absence of teeth, and to this cause I have

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 439

frequently heard it attributed by villagers. I have never observed the Kol-

Bhalu’s cry and the ordinary jackal’s cry uttered by the same animal,

On one occasion, in the evening whilst returning to my camp, I saw a jackal

at a short distance off, and having dogs with me I set them after him, but to

my astonishment the jackal made no great efforts to escape, but ran into a

small bush a few yards away, and as soon as the dogs came up, the Kol-Bhalu

cry was uttered ; the dogs stopped and after sniffing round the bush for a short

time came back to me, I never saw these dogs behave in this manner

before ; they had always been very keen in attacking jackals and had killed

many. J can form no reason why this jackal which, from the cry uttered,

must be called a Kol-Bhalu, was left in peace. Being pressed for time, I was

unable to go up to the bush and make investigations.

F, A, HILL,

BomBay, 30th September, 1893,

No, IX.—THE FLOWERING OF GRAMMATOPHYLLUM

BROMHEADII.

I am sending you a photograph of an enormous orchid, Grammatophyllum

bromheadit, which flowered during these rains in Rangoon, and as this is, I

believe, the first instance of its flowering in captivity to perfection, I think the

circumstance is worth recording, It has, I believe, flowered twice at Kew, but

on neither occasion was it successful. The habitat is Mergui and the plant

looks not unlike a sugar-cane, The owner of this plant, Mr. E, 8, Symes,

Secretary to the Chief Commissioner, has had it for three years, and it has

never shown any symptoms of flowering before. No special care was taken

with the plant this season, Mr, Symes describes the spike as 7 feet in length,

with from 60 to 70 flowers.

F, E. DEMPSTER,

RANGOON, October, 1893.

No. X.—NOTE ON THE THAMIN.

I have just come across Capt. St. John Richardson’s interesting note on this

animal, published in No. 2, Vol. VII of the Society’s Journal, und as his obser-

vations and conclusions regarding the Thamin in Lower Burma differ so essen-

tially from mine, made on the Chindwin, I should like to add a modest con-

tribution to what is known of this animal.

I do not quite understand how the “points ” on a Thamin head are to be

counted ; the horn is one continuous sweep from the point of the brow-antler

to the highest point of the horn, and this part is slightly palmated.

Small excrescences occur on all parts of the horn, very often two or three

on the brow antler itself, but there only appears to be one regular tine grow-

ing out of the main horn.

440 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

If these excrescences are to be counted as points, it will be very difficult to

distinguish where they end and the natural corrugations begin ; I have just

measured a horn which has certainly 11 and possibly 12 points on the left,

and 7 on the right, and I daresay, a very careful scrutiny might give a total

of 20 points for the pair,

For this reason and on account of the peculiar formation noticed above I

would suggest that all measurements be made right round outside the curve

from the tip of the brow antler to the extreme end of the main horn, that

points be not considered, and that this dimension together with the extreme

Span be regarded as all that is necessary.

I give below the measurements of three heads taken in this manner :—~

MEASUREMENT OF LOWER CHINDWIN THAMIN HORNS.

Right Horn tip to tip... Mee Bian Reon BO Orge ee cO0 leg raoe

Left Horn, do, “0 vee sae Boo” GPa 514 v sAGe

Greatest width across ... ia 260 Bo Pe aR St!

Circumference above skull ... sci POG SH See 5AM"

As regards the varying colour I do not feel at all sure that age only is the

eause of this, though it would be quite natural to expect to find very old stags

with darker coats than comparatively young ones,

In this district we have full-grown stags and does of a bright yellowish-

brown, much the same colour as the barking deer, and we have also the

Sambur-coloured stags and does.

All the villagers that I have ever consulted agree that there are certainly

two kinds, Thamin Wan (yellow), and Thamin Wet (pig), the latter term being

referable to the brown Thamin, and there seem to be three possible solutions

of the puzzle of the varying colour—

(1). Age only; in which case the herds would be mixed, all large stags

would be brown, and the cause of the change would be so evident that

villagers would scarcely fail to notice it.

I have seen some hundreds of yellow Thamin in herds, but on no single

occasion have I found a brown one with them. I have also shot a yellow stag

with a much better head than that of a brown one shot a short time

previously.

(2). Actual difference of species: this will be the only remaining solution

if (1) and (8) are erroneous,

(3). That the darker coat is only the winter coat.

I am led to believe that this may turn out to be the true explanation owing

to my failing to find brown Thamin during the hot season,

I have shot brown fawns, but only in the winter, and in a place where I was

unable to find a single brown deer during the hot season.

Captain Richardson mentions that “ the young are often spotted, but this

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 441

tinctly, and I have never shot one which was not. Further, the villagers declare

there is a third species, the Thamin Pyouktan (spotted) which is larger than

any of the others,

T never heard of Thamin in this district going into the hills, or even into

thick jungle; in the cold season they live amongst the long grass—spear grass

for choice—and thin jungle, and later they may be seen quite in the open

much the same as black buck. Just now they lie in the growing crops,

As regards the shedding of horns I saw many good heads up to August 15,

but could find none on the 25th, though I heard of some being seen much

later.

The span of head No.1 given by Captain Richardson (39}’) seems to me

unusually wide considering the length of the horn itself, and this is even more

marked in No. 7 where the two horns totalling about 54” diverge no less than

36”, The heads obtainable here are not nearly so flat as these.

There must be several members of the Society who have shot, or otherwise

come into the possession of, heads, and some more measurements of such

would prove of interest.

CHARLES F. GILBERT, m.1.c.z.

Monywa, 28th October, 1893.

P.8.—Since writing the above I have got a couple of so-called Thamin Wet,

one with the primary (or it may be secondary) scimitar-shaped horn, and one

with ten points,

Both had decided brown coats very different to the yellow of the Thamin

Wan, but neither of them approched blackness in the least degree.

Natives, here as well as in India, have a habit of saying what they believe

you wish them to say, and.it took a great deal of cross-examination before I

could obtain the admission that in the cold weather Thamin Wan were not

exactly plentiful, and in fact they could not say for certain that they had ever

seen them during that season, but I have now not the smallest doubt that the

Thamin Wet of the cold season develops into the Thaman Wan of the hot

weather, and further that the blackness has little to do with age, being merely

due to the full development of the winter coat,

I have noted the differences between the Wet and Wan as thicker horns and

longer hair for the former, and the former difference is at once explained by

the fact that before he sheds his winter coat, he has begun to rub the

corrugations off his horns,

T have one head with smooth horns which must have become so by constant

rubbing, as the corrugations are ducts through which the upper portions are

developed after the lower is formed.

On this subject the remark made by Captain Richardson that “ the horns aie

perfect in March ” is not quite clear ; I got a head last March, and though the

442 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VII1.

horns were good, they were rubbed to a certain extent, and it seems certain

that the horns are at their best directly the velvet comes off ; this date 1

should fix at the end of December or early in January.

I do not know if the stag “ bells” or makes any other sound during the

rutting season. I have never heard one, but the other morning I came on some

Thamin before daylight, and they made a sharp clucking noise not unlike

a pea-hen,

CHARLES F. GILBERT, M.1.¢.z.

lst December, 1893.

No. XI—A BRAVE WOMAN AND A COWARDLY TIGER.

The following account of a woman’s encounter with a tiger may interest

some readers of the Journal. The scene of the adventure was a jungle at

Deust, a village at the foot of the Amboli Ghat. At about 5 P.M. on the

7th July last,a young Mahrata woman named Parvatti was tending some

cattle, when suddenly a tiger made his appearance with the intention of mak-

ing his supper off one of the bullocks, as he had done more than once before

under similar circumstances. The woman, however, not wishing to lose one

of her precious cattle, very pluckily placed herself between it and the tiger ;

upon which the animal, resenting such interference, walked slowly forward

and seized the poor woman by the left shoulder, and crunched the upper part

of the arm bone into bits. Notwithstanding this, the brave woman gave the

animal several blows on the head with a bamboo she had in her right hand

which had the effect of making him let go; he then retired into the jungle

to seek his supper elsewhere, leaving the herd unmolested. The poor woman

was removed the next day to the nearest hospital, where she had to undergo

an amputation at the shoulder joint. She suffered a great deal from blood-

poisoning, but was quite well after two months. Asa reward for her great

pluck, and im consideration of her long and painful suffering, the State

authorities gave her a present of Rs. 50. The story, as related by the poor

and unsophisticated woman, bears every evidence of truth.

D. G. DALGADO, mp.

SAVANTVADI, 4th December, 1893.

No. XII.—ODD NOTES.

Has any one noticed how late the spotted-bill duck breeds? No doubt it is

recorded somewhere. I have now more than once shot their flappers as late

as the end of December ; in the N.-W. P. and in Mysore I have come across

them several times in November.

Quite recently, when on the march, I saw a harrier (I failed to identify him)

stoop on a quail who had just settled in a tussock of long grass. He missed

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 443

his mark, and the quail—a grey one—rose, and a pretty bit of aérial coursing

ensued. But to my surprise the quail had six to four the best of it and got

away by sheer speed. It upset all one’s theories of make and shape to see a

heavy-bodied, short, round-winged bird like this easily distance the lithe, long-

pointed, winged harrier in a fair run. One could only say “they run in all

shapes.”

I have several times, during the last few years, seen snipe on the ground.

On one occasion I found two on the edge of a dirty village pond, between 9

and 10 a.m., running about and pecking in the mud with sand-pipers, pond

herons, and other low company. I shot them both, and on examination they

proved to be fantails. Is this not rather against Hume’s account of their

habits ?

The snipe up here have contracted a perfectly pestiferous habit

of lying out in the middle of jhils on the rushes and weeds and coming

in to feed on the cut rice stubble, etc, after dusk, when you cannot

see to shoot them. The other day I’ walked up a likely bit of ground

on the edge of a jhil:and put up three birds only. Returning to camp

just before six, L crossed the same bit of rice field, and the birds got up

all round me in sixes and sevens. There were at least twenty couple of

them.

Thad an opportunity lately of seeing some wild cattle, or more properly

speaking, cattle whose progenitors ran wild. They imhabited a swampy

jungle, from the fastnesses of which they sallied forth morning and evening

to harry the adjacent fields. In colour the bulk of the herd were white or

grey, and far superior in size to anything one sees in the villages of the

N. W.P. I rode up to within 40 yards of a solitary bull and inspected him.

He was a remarkably fine animal, and would have passed for an unusually

good specimen of the wandering bull turned loose as a calf by some pious

Hindu but for one peculiarity. His general colour was grey, but over the

hump, shoulders, posterior portion of the neck, running down almost to the

edge of the dewlap, he had a jet black mantle, giving him a peculiar, not to

say weird, appearance. The same morning I came across a second bachelor,

a well-known budmash, who charged any one who approached him. He

was a really magnificent beast, and wore the same sombre mantle as the first.

I did not see the bull who led the herd, but the villagers reported him as

“‘burra jungi” and said he also had the same black marking. 1 should like to

know if others have noticed this curious black mantle in cattle that have

run wild. It is certainly unlike anything I have ever seen in domesticated

bovines.

I have several times, in the last few years, coursed and killed the desert

fox in the Meerut district, Speaking from memory, Jerdon notes its occurrence

in Hissar and near Amballa, but I have seen no record of any being found in

444 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Meerut.* He is far and away a gamer, speedier animal than his relative, the

ordinary fox. He may be readily distinguished by the white tip to his tail.

I put up a couple of Houbaras (tilur) some time ago about 25 miles from

Meerut, Surely this is far out of their usual range.

G. F. RAYMENT, Ver. Mas., C. V. D.

Camp FATEHGARH, 6th December 1893.

No. XIII.—THE BHAKHA PLANT (INDIGOFERA CORDIFOLIA)

AND ITS EFFECTS ON CATTLE.

At the recommendation of the Hon’ble Mr. Justice (now Councillor) H. M.

Birdwood and Mr. Chester Macnaghten, Principal of Rajkumar College, Rajkote,

I was appointed in the year 1886 Curator of Gardens and Forests in Porbandar

State, when Mr. F. S. P. Lely of the Indian Civil Service was Administrator.

Accordingly, in conjunction with the Revenue Mamlatdar, I had to attend to

the grazing of cattle. I had thus an opportunity of observing what kind of

grazing was available in particular places in the different seasons of the year,

and what effect it had on cattle throughout the State.

The grazing land of the State is divisible into three parts—namely, (a) the

land along and near the sea-coast, (6) the hilly tract, (¢) the plateaux and

cultivated areas lying between the coast and the hills.

These three areas afford different kinds of grazing. On the first area there

is very little grass if any, but there are various annual herbaceous plants

cropping up at different times. On the hills there are to be found many

species of the larger grasses, and on the intervening area, which is very largely

cultivated by the agricultural classes, there are different kinds of smaller

grasses which afford excellent fodder.

Before the introduction of the British administration into the State, the

Rabaries (professional graziers) used to feed their cattle at all times of the

year in any place they chose. The result of this practice was that the cattle

found their way into the cultivated areas of the villagers and spoilt the crops.

There were no restrictions as to public grazing grounds, nor any control over

the depredations thus caused on private cultivated grounds. The British Ad-

ministrator, having heard several complaints with regard to the losses thus

caused to private cultivators, issued orders setting aside the coastal area for the

express use of the Rabaries, where alone sheep and goats were to graze ; on the

hilly area cows and buffaloes were allowed to graze ; and the intervening area

was reserved for the cultivators and their own private cattle.

In the year 1888 it so happened that 20 or 25 days after the first fall of rain

several sheep grazing on the coastal area died suddenly of diarrhoea. The

Se ee ee ee a eee

* Blanford states that the Indert Desert Fox, Vulpes lewcopus, inhabits the dry and semi-

desert regions of Western India, Sind, Cutch, Rajputana, the Punjab, and the North-Western

Provinces as far east as Fatigarh —ED

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 445

graziers therefore applied for permission to remove their sheep to the hilly and

cultivated areas for two months, The permission was granted,

But the question with me was, why there were so many sudden deaths from

diarrhea among the sheep grazing on the coastal area, On inquiry the

Rabaries informed me of what they thought to be the cause of such sudden

mortality. They appeared to think that the diarrhea was due to the sheep

having eaten immature grass, and that the jinjvo-grass [(Gujrati e'«4))

Ischemum pilosum, Dalz., Bomb. Flo., page 305] growing around the culti-

vated areas and on the hilly tracts was harmless. If at all the sheep suffered

(but asa matter of reality they do not suffer from diarrhea after eating

Jinjvo-grass), that diarrhea was amenable to treatment.

This explanation of theirs for a time satisfied me, but at the same time I

was carrying on inquiries as to the real cause of the mortality. I discovered that

although several cows and buffaloes which happened to be grazing at that time

on the same coastal area had not suffered from diarrhea, the sheep had,

I thought therefore that there was some special reason why the sheep should

suffer, and that there was some special herb which caused the diarrhea among

the sheep. I therefore made out a list* of all the plants growing on the coastal

area. Among these plants I found that the Bhdakhd plant [(Gujrati envi)

Indigofera cordifolia, Heyne, Hooker’s Flo. Br. Ind., Vol. IT, page 93]

was the most predominant. I suspected that feeding on it was the cause of

diarrhea among the sheep. But as the rainy season was then over, I was

unable to make any further investigations in the matter. One fact, however,

was noticeable at this time—namely, that although the sheep and goats had

returned to the coastal area for grazing, they did not suffer from diarrhea.

A few days after, I heard of the sudden death of two healthy bullocks in a

village. Iwas told that they had fed freely on Bhdkhd. After three or four

days more a cow anda bullock belonging to a villager died after feeding on

Bhakhd. It appeared that these two animals had wandered from their master’s

yard and fed freely on Bhakha during the whole night and in consequence died

in the early morning after a copious drink of water with their abdomens tumid.

Tt is commonly believed by graziers and villagers that excessive feeding on the

Bhakhé plant is productive of death among horned cattle. They are therefore

not allowed to feed for any length of time on ground where the Bhdkhd plant

grows wild.

Having noticed that these deaths had occurred among the horned cattle after

the rains, I ordered that they should not be allowed to graze after the rains on

the coastal area wherever Bhakh&é grew. Thereupon several buffalo-graziers

and the men in charge of the State camels represented that the coastal

area was a proper feeding ground for their animals and that the Bhakha plant

did them no harm. On such representation I countermanded my orders and

allowed buffaloes and camels to graze on the coastal area. I could observe

no injurious effects following such grazing.

Tip is To BES oo, PRE Ree on ee

* This list I propose to place before the Society on some future occasion with my notes,

446 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VILE,

In the rainy season of 1889, when the first rain fell, I found that the Bhakha

plant had again shown ‘predominance over other newly-grown plants on the

coastal area. Being then quite young and not much raised above the ground,

the Bhakhé plant could not be got at by the horned cattle, as it was beyond the |

reach of their large mouths and thick lips. But it was within easy reach of the

smaller and thinner lips of sheep and goats; they therefore fed largely on it and

suffered in consequence. I therefore decided that it was the Bhakha plant

alone that caused the diarrhea among sheep.

I give below a description of the plant :—

Indigofera cordifolia (Heyne), Hooker’s Flo. Br. Ind., Vol. II., p. 93 ;

W. and A. Pro. Flo. Ind., Vol. I., p. 199 ; Dalz. and Gibs. Bomb. Flo., p. 58.

Gujrati—Bhikha, Darid (eu, 2a).

(Natural Order Leguminose).

Description. —A. diffuse annual plant covered all over with soft white hair

except corolla and seeds.

Root.—Long and tapering, sometimes slightly branched at the base and

giving off here and there a few minute fibres ; it is 3 to 8 inches long and as

thick as a crow-quill ; of a pale brown colour, and longitudinally fissured ; on

section it has a dull white resinous appearance.

Stems.— Suppressed. Branches radiating from a point immediately above

roots, which grow to the length of from six to eighteen inches, giving off

branchlets which are generally disposed of in secund. These branchlets give

off still smaller branchlets in secund, but in the opposite directions.

Leaves.—Simple, alternate, thickish, very shortly petioled, slightly cordate,

ovate, with a strong mucro, from # to 2 inches long ; soaked in water if dry,

they are dotted with pellucid glands ; the mid-ribs are only perceptible on the

under surfaces.

Stipules.—Minute and setaceous.

Flowers.—Racemes capituliform, sessile, flowers 4 to 8; calyx segments

setaceous and longer than the bright red corolla.

Pods.—t inch long, slightly curved and pointed with the remains of the

style, distinctly one to two seeded ; the valves are adorned inside with brownish-

red specks.

Seeds.—Small, ovate, of a brownish-red colour, pitted and minutely tubercled.

Remarks.—I present with these notes two dried specimens of Bhakha I have

in my collection. I attempted to collect a, fresh specimen of it near the Wode-

house bridge in Bombay, but I only found a dried plant as this is not the season

for collecting green samples of the plant. The plant grows in the rains and dries

up after the rains. The plant has been described in Hooker’s Flora of British

India, Wight and Arnott’s Prodromus Flore Indiz, and in Dalzell and Gibson’s

Bombay Flora. Dalzell and Gibson’s merely copies the description of Wight

and Arnott. Hooker’s description is short, but gives the measurements of the

different parts of the plant fairly well. I have supplemented the descriptions

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 447

of these well-known botanists by a few observations of my own, and it is to

be hoped that they will be of some help in the identification of this plant,

My thanks are due to Surgeon-Major K. R. Kirtikar for his having helped

me in putting my original Gujrati notes into the English form.

JAIKRISHNA INDRAJI,

Porebandar, Kathiawar.

No, XIV.—MEASUREMENT OF TIGER SKULLS.

It would be very interesting if such of our members as have,in their posses-

sion tigers’ skulls of considerable size would send the measurements of the

same to the Secretary of this Society, as I notice that in Rowland Ward’s

book on the Great Game of the World he places at the top of the list a

tiger’s skull, in his own collection, which measures 144” x 10”. These are

the exact measurements of the best specimen in our Society’s rooms.

stating that he had carefully measured a large tiger’s skull in the possession of

Col. T. W. Hogg, Deputy Commissioner at Saugor, C. P., which was exactly

148” x 108”, and that he himself had one which was 143” x 93”,

Sterndale speaks of ‘an enormous skull (Mammalia of India, page 165,)

which measured 153” x 103” and which he says was presented to the Calcutta

Museum by Mr. J. Shillingford of Purneah, but according to the Catalogue

of the Mammalia in the Indian: Museum, by Sclater, the largest specimen now in

the Museum measures 15” x 10:3” and is stated to have been presented by

‘Mr. Shillingford. ‘This is no doubt the same skull which Sterndale wrote of

in 1884, but it appears to have shrunk somewhat with age.

I need hardly say thai the measurements should be taken between uprights.

W.S. MILLARD.

BomBay, December, 1893.

No. XV.—FOOD OF THE WILD BOAR.

As very little has been written on the subject of the food of the Indian

Wild Boar (Sus cristatus), it is, 1 think, worth recording that, when I visited

Matheran Hill in August last during the south-west monsoon, I was told by the

jungle people (Thakors) that a large number of wild pigs came up on to the

hill every year during the rains in order to feed on the snails which are very

plentiful there at that time of the year. I verified this statement by carefully

examining all the pigs’ droppings IT came across and found that they con-

sisted almost entirely of snail shells. ;

J. M. MASON,

Custodian, Bo. Nat. Hist. Soc. Museum.

BomBay, November, 1893.

448 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE MEETING HELD ON 6TH SEPTEMBER, 1893.

The usual monthly meeting of the members of the Society was held on

Wednesday, the 6th September, 1893, Mr. J. Wallace, C.H., presiding.

NEW MEMBERS.

The following gentlemen were elected members of the Society :—

Mr. C. H. F. Binsteed (Secunderabad), Mr. P. Berry (Madras), Mr. J. EK.

Berkley (Secunderabad), Lieutenant T. E, Madden (Agra), Captain A. Fraser

(Secunderabad), Mr. H. 8. Elworthy (Bombay), Mr. Dayabhoy Jaduram

(Bombay), and Mr. Framjee R. Vikajee (Bombay).

CONTRIBUTIONS.

Mr. H. M. Phipson acknowledged the following contributions which had

been received since the previous meeting :—

Contribution. Description.

Contributor.

SR Se Se TE Naa De

1 Kingfisher ....0+++sseee esoares Alcedo bengalensis .......0+. 50

A Collection of Birds’ Hggs.. goc0a0000

9, PHOOLSAS «cereceoseeeeeeceseeeeee| Chis CaTiNata soaeee nano90n0Q000

2 Rain Quail (alive) ses... Coturnix coromandelica......

2 Rock Bush Quail (alive)...|Perdicula argondah.......-.0..

1 Short-toed Hagle ....0arcee0.|Circactus gallicus,....r.. soveces

1 Photograph of a Rampur

Hound .....-ece0e epd0000s22000 From JWAansi oc... cccecescccsese

1 Snake ..ceccerereeeeseeeeeereeee|COluber helena ......++« 5000000 00

5O Species of Birds’ Eggs ...|New to the Society’s collec-

LION occeccoccenscccvecersccccsoce

1 Sambhar horn ...ccecce eovece|OCTVUS UNICOLOL cve.c eoeeeenes

1 Large Centipede (alive) «. Scolopendra gigantea ...csocs.

TL Dhamanoecercececcccvecsccercee| LE LYAS MUCOSUS ecceescoceeerns ove

1 Wooden Caterpillar..cescce.|Hepialus VITESCEDS cssccrsecees

Echis carinata ...

1 PHOOTSA cocceccccss++s+conccse0e

9, Snakes ...ccccecccesee pon6a000d Trimeresures animalensis ...

1 Krait .....csccccccsccrcccevscces Bungarus ArCcUatus -crccccce...

2 Snakes ccccoee gacoedoudooboL00 Lycodon avlicus .....c--reee 60

1 Do. —evevee.ascenrccccecccecs Tropidonotus stolatus ...... ..

2 Do. eer cecceee odsa. doaddtess Onycocephalus acutus.......+.

2 Do. soosessacodene eHodeood| Collnorere MEN@ME, sadacqsqa20020000 :

3 Large Scorpions ..0... sce. Scorpio swammerdami ......

1 Large Sole sc..sescsesereseeeses Cynoglossus quinquelineatus

1 Green Pigeon (alive) ...... OSMOLTETON SPeeececsevcceesc.0e

2 Nests of Stewart’s Wren

Warbler cccorere F50000080 cooe| PTINIA SUCWATLL ... occceccsoseeve

Minor contributions from Mrs. Godfrey and Miss A. Prentice,

Mr, W. F. Sinclair, I.C.8.

Mr. C, Crommelin.

Col. MacRae.

Mr. D. Bennett.

Do.

Major L. Fenton.

Mr, W. H. Traill.

Mr, W. HE. Majer.

Mr. H.C. 8. Baker.

Mr. J. F. Snuggs.

Capt. Thorburn.

Mr. D. MacLaughlan

Slater.

Capt. Stewart (s.s. Ocea-

na).

Mr, J. A. Betham.

Do,

Mr. N. S. Symons.

Purchased.

Mr. G. Vidal, I.C.S.

PROCEEDINGS. 449

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIBRARY.

Les Formicides de Madagascar, par M. Forel ... : ; Presented by

the author.

Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. II, Part I, In exchange.

North American Fauna, No. 7 ... In exchange.

Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, Vol. XXV .-- Ln exchange.

Proceedings of the Linnxan Society of New South Wales,

Vol. VIII, Part I. a bog ieee -. «. Inexchange.

Index and Appendix to the Die maccanishiea radi (Dymock.)

Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, No. 2, 1893 ..» In exchange.

The Destructive Insects of Victoria, Pari Il... on .. In exchange.

Manual of the New Zealand Coleoptera od Peete) i imexchange:

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, Vol. IV, Part 2. In exchange.

PAPERS RHAD.

Mr. A. Abercrombie read extracts from a paper he had written for the

Society’s Journal on the Common Marine Shells of the Bombay Coast, and

illustrated his remarks with specimens from a collection made .by him in the

immediate vicinity of Bombay. This local collection consists of 320 distinct

species, all of which had been identified by Mr. Abercrombie with the assist-

ance of the authorities at the British Museum.

The following miscellaneous notes were also read :—

(a) Notes on Indian Dogs, F. E. Dempster ; (0) Shooting Notes, Major

E. F. Becher ; (c) Birds observed breeding in Kharagora, H. Bulkley ; (@)

The habits of the Coppersmith, HE. H. Aitken ; (¢) Where do Swallows sleep ?

K. H, Aitken.

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE MEETING HELD ON 13rm NOVEMBER, 1893.

A meeting of the members took place on Monday the 13th November,

at the Society’s room, Brigade-Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel G. A. Maconachie

presiding.

NEW MEMBERS,

The following gentlemen were duly elected members of the Society :—The

Honorary Secretary, Government Museum and Public Gardens (Trivandrum),

Mr. C. C. Philpott (Rangoon), Mr. C. D. Twopenny (Cashmere), Mr. H. C.

Ryland (Calcutta), Mr. E. Bryden (Cachar), the Honorary Secretary, Tenas-

serim Agri-Horticultural Society (Moulmein), Dr. C. C. Caleb (Lahore), Lieutes

nant B. Buchanan, R. A. (Bombay), Surgeon-Major Henry J. Barnes (Ahmed:

nagar), Mr. S. L. Batchelor, 1.0.8. (Bijapur), Mr. C. P. Fox, C. EH. (Bellary),

Mr. C. Greatheed (Tanna), Mr. BR. Giles, M. A. (Sukkur), Mr. A. Lancaster

(Betul), Captain W. D. Gunn, A. V.D. (Dum Dum), Mr. G. C. Sturrock, R. As

450 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. ule

(Quetta), Surgeon-Major EH. P. Frenchman (Bassein, Burma), Mr. W. F. Loftus-

Tottenham (Pegu), Mr. Charles W. A. Bruce (Upper Burma), Surgeon-Lieu-

tenant Colonel H. J. W. Barrow (Ahmednugger), Captain R. M. Poore (Mhow),

Mr. Naranjee Dwarkadas (Bombay), Mr. A. J. A. Jardine (Bassein, Burma).

The Honorary Secretary drew attention to the fact that according to Rule

IV the first annual subscription of members elected during the months of

October, November, and December shall be considered to extend to the 31st of

December in the following year.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MUSEUM.

_ Mr. H. Phipson, the Honorary Secretary, acknowledged having received the

following contributions since the last meeting :—

Contribution.

Description.

Contributor,

“1 Albino Dove cscccccseessrencre

2 Cobras (Alive) cscccocoescorce

1 Malabar Civet Cat (alive)

1 Snake . ccccoereeee

1 Daboiu.

Beetineas of Gold Qnesin ».

1 Cobra ..

Nest and Begs of ‘the “Tailor

Bird hed

Photographs inate.

Do.

1 Indian Pipistrelle...

1 Snake (alive)

2 Chameleons (alive) 998 00000

1 Scylla ... ....2. ccsecevarc:cceres

1 Cobra -vccce BOCES OSOINOCOROOS

1 Yellow-breasted ground

Thrush

A Number of Scorpions, Li-

ZALAS, GCreececo

1 Snake

1 Sea Snake. ......0...00 Racotons

2 Snakes

1 Snake...

3 Tortoises’ “Hess. soleil Beweaoase

1 Spotted Crake ..... aveesswnse

1 Red-headed Pochard

1 Large Blue Heron...... Specoc

1 Snake

2 Snakes

L Snake ceccoc-.. coves

J Kimefisher ....2.cescuc.- soocee

A Collection of Birds’ Eggs...

1 Cobra (alive)

12 Birds’ Higgs ..

eoocrdecoe

000000 -ce 0bGsee COCVCF COO

ececce

e@eo0eeceo

coceooosoauncecace

CO a

eee DCLG ELOMNGS ceeeseccseumcsts

Ua EromvAGenbeeenscesice

Turtur SULAtEDSIS ecccccece

Naga tripudians ......-0.s00.-.

Tropidonotus piscator .....

Daboia russellii......00. coe .see °

a HromiVinyiS OTC ecscsnesiescicae annosce

Naga tripudians ....

--/Orthotomus sutorius

000000 .u.

Rampur Hounds ....-cccovecsee

Shan) DOR evecceres coscesencc sss

Vesperugo abramus cecccs. caree

..|Tropidonotus punctulatus ...

Chameleo calcaratus

Hrom Aden <ccsescccesceos

Naga tripudians .

Pitta brachyUraeeccrcc...cs

eoageeerao o

Typhlops brahminus .ee......

Hydrophis nigrocinctus ..

Tropidonotus stolatus .........

ZAMINUS MUCOSUS..e... cecceee

Testudo elegans csccoccesscovce

Peyzana Mariietta.s-ccoccccssere

Hyun sulla eT Aleeatan aleelseateneeeia

ATCA CINETEA cecsececcevensceee

Gongylophis conicus ......

Tropidonotus plumbicolor ...

Crysopelea ornata ec. saesiess

Alcedo bengalensis .........0..

Rope VOIR, Tescdstooecaossoccicon

Naga tripudians ..sccccccccasee

From Rutnagherry ccesescse.:-

ViIVELTA CLVELHINA coo... cseccce0e

..--| bure.-Capt. M. Knages,

.|H. H. the Maharaja of

Kolhapore.

The Principal of the Grant

Medical College.

Mr. Wasey.

Surg.-Major H. Martin.

Mr, H.C. Tooth.

Col, D. Robertson.

Mr. H. Hepworth.

.»|H. H.the Rao Sahib of

Cuteh.

Mr. W. H. Traill.

-| Mr. 4. HE, Dempster.

Mr. W. F. Sinclair, C. 8.

Miss. A. Prentice.

.| Mr. James Kenyon,

Capt. H. Shopland.

Capt. f. T. C. Hughes.

Mr. E'. A. Little.

Capt. H. Shopland, KR. 1.M.

Major H. C. Harford.

-| Miss S$. Baird.

Dr.H. EH. Drake-Brockman.

Do. do.

Hon. W. T. O’Brien.

Do. do.

Mr. H. H. Aitken.

Do.

Miss A. Waller.

.| Capt. Finny, R. I. M,

My, A. Leslie.

Mr. J. H. Dickinson.

Pr ann

PROCEEDINGS. 451

Contribution, Description. Contributor.

1 Persian Gazelle (alive) ...|Gazella subgutturosa ......-..| Capt. Gimblett.

1 Yellow-breasted Ground |Pitta prachyUura cecccsescrcece -| Mr. Douglas Bennett,

Thrush (alive).

i (SNARE cogonccacna6n oadao00ce sooee/SIMOLES TUSSEL]IL .2c.ccsceseeeee Mr, A. C. Walker.

i} 1D®s ceaccoanocadosn0 59000000000 Tropidonotus piscator......... Surg.-Capt. Knaggs,

2 Snakes ............0+0.e-eeeeee(Ohersyurus etanulatus ......| Mr. H. W. Barrow.

1 Snake.......... eqnogooosnccacdd Tropidonotus stolatus......... Do.

1] [Spent IEE ocoooccboode. eecce| DTOMCEUS ITTOTALUS .eccecccccce Mr. P, Churchward.

il QIDIREN? coaccgeacananonen 2005000 Pandion hanetus ...2.4 20:00 .| Mr. H. Bulkley.

1 Golden - backed Wood-|Brachypternis aurantius...... Do.

pecker.

1 Crested Cuckoo 0.0. gooond0ee. Coccystes jacobinus .........00. Do.

I {Sarees Cscadaoadanoaocdneddedo Astur badius ...scccccrccccccees Jo Do.

1 Marsh Harrier ..........+e0- Circus KLUGINOSUS ....eeeeeeee Do.

1 Indian Night-Jar.......0....|Caprimulgus asiaticus......00.« Mrs. Pearson.

IL (SIM@IE coccadedqocacacadosacc0s00¢ Lycodon striatus ...........-.../ Mr. W. H. Traill.

1 Flying Fox (alive) ......... PteropUs MEIUS ....ecccc.eso0e Mr. H. James.

1 oie Water Hen|Hrythra phoenicura ......0« .-.-| Mr. P. HE. Myer.

alive).

1 Albino Jack Snipe ...... ...|Gallinage gallinula .......s02., Mr. C. H. B. Forbes.

A Number of Sea Shells ...../From Karachi ..... Qonn ace 000000 Mr. G. Elton.

A Collection of Sea Shells ...)From Madras ......,..06 3000000 Mr. P. Berry.

2 Daboias (alive) -+...... .. eoe|Daboia elegans...ccccccccocse-a- Mr. P. R. Mehta,

1 Snake Glive)..c...--.scecceee Silybura macrelepis..........+.| Mr. EH. W. Scott.

MINOR CONTRIBUTIONS FROM

Miss Ida Prager, Mr. Aston, Mr. Brandenburg, Mr. W. Jackson, Mr. J. Stiven,

Mr. G. de Bildt, Major W.P. Kennedy, Mr. V. Cabral, Mr. A. L. Pilleau,

and Mr. F. Chard.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIBRARY.

Field and Garden Crops of the N.-W. P. and

OETA UDC) Ge eA ce } From Bie dla To NGI

Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, \ From Mr. W. F. Sinclair,

ACLS leer ta cle TWIG ee ce cmnneeesassecc soc elaci<mcneese C.S.

The Prairie Ground Squirrels ..........0«sceccsess Beeeon From Mr, Vernon Bayley,

The Dictionary of Economic Products of India

(VG: Ween ae cea ae eee {rom Government:

PAPERS READ,

The following papers were then read :—

1, Notes on Sambar and Sambar Shooting, by J. D. Inverarity. 2,

Notes on some of the Butterflies of Matheran, by J. A. Betham. 3, Miscella-

neous Notes—(a) O Pao da Cobra, or ‘“‘ Serpent’s Wood,” by Dr. D. G.

Dalgado ; (+) The Nest of Stewart's Wren Warbler, by G. W. Vidal, I.C.S. :

of fright, by Mr. 8. M. Fraser, I.C.S. ; (¢) Ihe Breeding of the Gourami, by

Charles F. Gilbert, M.I.C.E, ; (/) The flowering of “ Grammatophyllum brom-

headii,” by F. E. Dempster.

y . r

die kira hea A

ie ; ces ites Wi)

rea ee Ades.) eC ik Sap Cea os og WE Bae fe

a :

Cpr ce eel ete pern=

MS creas Bs

Pwr teen &

Qonddere

per ens

CLEPOeEy (Pere Gee te LEAT TER CET G

Journ. Bombay Nat.Hist.Soc.Vol VIELIS9s3. Plate cd.

Mintern Bros. Chromo lth. Londen.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY.

Cerbera thevetia. Nat. Ord. Apocynacess.

1 Horizontal Section of Fruit 2. Vertucal Section of Fruit.

Ye 9 Vien Senet The KOEN

Isaac Benjamin del.

JOURNAL

OF THE

yin) A OY

dlatural History Society,

No. 4.] BOMBAY. [Vol. VIll.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY.

By Surcron-Masor K. R. KirtiKgar, 1..8., F.LS8.

PART VIII,

(With Plate J.)

(Continued from page 334.)

CERBERA THEVETIA—~( Willd.).

(Natural Order—ApocyNacE&.)

Maratui— fqaqost Huet,

Synonym, THevetiaA Nerurouia (Juss).—It is known in England

as the Hxile tree. In this country it is known as the Yellow Oleander.

A handsome, ornamental, ever-green, spreading shrub, 12—15 ft.

high. It may also be classed asa tree. Hvery part of it contains

abundantly a thick acrid milky juice. The pith of the young branches

is particularly rich in this juice.

STEM.—Rough, rugose, branching irregularly. Wood soft, whitish,

and bitter.

BrancHEs.—Rounded, often rising in clusters; sometimes springing

from the ground separately,

Bark.—1—2 lines in thickness. The fresh bark of young wood is

smooth, bright green, and covered by a thin grey rough epidermis.

The epidermis can be readily scraped off; abundant milky juice

escapes from the exposed green bark,

454 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

The wood becomes more compact as it grows older, and is then

brownish, occasionally streaked black here and there. The pith

becomes absorbed as the wood gets older, and leaves an irregular

central canal, often large enough to admit of a crow-quill. The bark

at this time has a brown suberous coating, much cracked here and

there.

Srrputes.—Absent; there are several glands in the axilla of the

leaf instead.

LEAVES.—Alternate, linear te narrow-linear ; 2—5 inches long, +

inch at the broadest part, glabrous, coriaceous, glossy ; usually veinless ;

in some, the primary veins which arise from the mid-rib are faintly

prominent ; acuminate at both ends, decurrent in a very short petiole,

or almost sessile ; margin revolute, entire.

FLOWERS.—Large, bright yellow, 2—3 inches long, streaked on

the dorsum, with lanceolate twisted greenish stripes from the tube to the

distal end of the corolla, terminating in a point. 3

INFLORESCENCE.—Terminal or lateral cymes. Peduncles much

shorter than the leaves, rounded, glabrous, about a line in thickness,

AistivaTion.—Contorto-imbricate, the twist being to the right.

CaLyx.—5-parted; sepals distinct and persistent ; lanceolate or ovate-

lanceolate ; glabrous, deep green externally, yellowish or light green

internally ; acuminate ; 4 the length of the corolla-tube, or about 3

lines long.

CoroLta.—Deciduous, falling off the day after the opening of

the flower ; glabrous externally throughout, and internally as far

‘as the throat of the tube, below which it is thickly covered with

fine white hairs. The tubular portion is darker yellow inside,

greener outside.

The form of the corolla is said to be hypocrateriform by De Candolle,

as also by Mr. A, Smith in his article on this plant in “ Lindley and

Moore’s Treasury of Botany.”’ But the tube in this flower is neither

long nor slender, nor is the limb, that is, the terminal lobes of the

corolla, flat, The form of the flower is more campanulate than

anything else. The corolla may be divided into three parts :—

(1) a tube about 3—3? inch long, widest at its insertion on the

calyx ; about 2 lines in diameter, narrowest at its mid-part, and

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY, 455°

contracted at the throat ; (2) beyond the throat is the bell-like

central portion, {—1 inch in length ; (8) from the distal part. of this

bell-like mid-portion five lobes twist in a spiral manner to the right,

%—1 inch in length. The tube is all but closed in above the anthers

by ovate acute-bilobate “scales ” at the throat. These “ scales” are

covered with soft white shining hairs. They leave just a small open-

ing enough to show the pointed apex of the stigma.

STAMENS.—5, alternating with the lobes of the corolla,

Ta ents SIU perceptible,

Anthers—2-celled, included within the tube by the “ scales”

mentioned above ; inserted on the throat of the tube ; erect,

introrse, subsessile, lanceolate ; enclosing the stigma at its base

by their inferior pointed extremities, almost adhering to the

stigma.

Pollen—Granular.

Pist1L—

Ovary—Superior, free, single ; 2-celled. The entire ovary is

surrounded by a bright yellow ring-like five-notched disk, the

notches alternating with the lobes of the calyx,

StyLe—Filiform, included ; each cell of the ovary sends up a

distinct thread which unites with its fellow about a line away

from the point of its exit from the cell.

Stiama—Conically capitate ; faintly 2-lobed; the apex of the

cone finely pointing at the distal end.

OvuLEs—2 in each ovary ; amphitropous; round, compressed

from base to apex ; equi-distant from the ovary.

FRUIT.-—Globose or ovately-globose, or half-orbicular ; truncated

at the apex ; smooth, glossy ; light green when immature, yellow ex-

ternally when mature ; slightly fleshy ; flesh white ; longest diameter

13—2 inches horizontally ; dilated at mid-portion transversely, with

a hard brown stone or putamen which contains the seed. The

putamen is of a peculiar triangular shape, resembling the “ cocked-

hat.” It is divided by a deep groove into two cells along the edge,

corresponding to the base of the triangle. ach cell is generally de-

scribed as having a distinct seed within it, but very often one of the

cells seems to remain undeveloped. In such cases the seed in such a

cell is abortive.

456 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

SEEDS.—Two, often only one, slightly winged near the situation

of the embryo ; pale yellow ; the tegmen of the seed is friable.

ALBUMEN.—Absent.

Hupryo.—Hrect, small, fleshy.

RADICLE.—Short, eccentric, cylindrical.

CoryLepons.-—Rotundate; convex externally, plane internal-

ly ; fleshy ; varying in size from a two-anna silver-piece to

a four-anna silver-piece. The substance of the cotyledons

is intensely bitter.

REMARKS.

The shrub is a native of South America and the West Indies. It

was introduced into England in 1735. It is not known when it was

introduced into this country and whether it came here direct from

its native soil or from England. It is, however, perfectly naturalized

in India in the different parts of the country. It has been figured and

described by Royle in his “ Illustrations of the Himalayan Plants ”

published in 1839. The flower is considered by some writers to have

a sickly odour. It has the faint odour of Neriwm oleander, which is by

no means disagreeable. But that is a mere matter of taste or opinion ;

and, as such, knows no definite law. The wood also, as has been already

observed, is credited by some writers of note, such as Lindley, with a

repulsive odour (“Veget. Kingdom,” p. 559, 1847). It does not possess

any such odour, so far as I can judge from the examination of several

specimens, fresh or dried, growing in Bombay, Thana, and Bandra,

where the plant is much appreciated asa garden beauty of hardy growth.

Kurz, describing the plant as it grows in Burma, gives its height

as from fifteen to twenty feet. It seldom grows as high as that on

this side of India. The length of the clear stem is given by him as

between six to ten feet, but very often here there appears to be no

clear stem, as fresh branches are given off, even when the stem is old

the branches keep sprouting out even downto the root, The flowering

time in England, as given by Loudon, is from January to July

(“Encyclopeedia of Plants,” p. 148, 1829). Kurz gives the flowering

time in Burma as between November and March, where the fruit is

ready in the cold season. The plant seems to flower and mature fruit on

this side of India at all times of the year. Here itis quite possible to see

a full-formed fruit,while fresh flowers are being thrown out in succession.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 457

The latest example in proof of this may be given from the specimens I

examined in January last in the Victoria Gardens, Bombay, through the

kindness of Mr. C. D. Mahaluxmeewalla,the well-informed and energetic

Superintendent of the Gardens. In one of these specimens on a single

branch, there was a mature fruit on one branchlet, on another a half-

developed fruit, on the third a full-blown flower. In the Bandra speci-

mens which I examined through the good offices of Mr. HE. M. Pratt,

LG.S., in July and August, 1892, and in January last, there were

flowers and fruits in all stages of development on one and the same tree.

The plant is said to require rich mould when grown as a stove-plant

in cold countries. In India it grows in red soil, as well as in sandy or

clayey soil. |

With regard to the question of stipules, Alph. De Candolle has the

following important observation in his monograph on the Apocynacee

in “ Annales des Se. Nat.” (8rd Series, Vol. I, Bot., pp. 285—263) :—

“In C. thevetia there are axillary fasciculated glands, that is to say,

accumulated in large numbers, between the stem and the petiole.

Considering their situation, number, and smallness, one cannot in

any way take these glands for stipules.” (J. Mittra.)

Dr. Norman Chevers says in his celebrated work on Indian Medical

Jurisprudence that the oil obtained by expression from the seed of

Cerbera thevetia is amber-coloured and slightly viscid, and that it is

recommended as a cathartic by natives; “but,” he adds on the

authority of Dr. Shortt, “it produces violent vomiting and hyper-

catharsis.” (Col. Drury observes in his “ Useful Plants of India ”’ that

the oil is of a bright yellow colour, but that its uses and properties

are yet undetermined. Dr. Dymock and his colleagues in their

“6 Pharmacographia Indica” (Vol. III, pp. 406—410), as our latest

authorities on the subject, say that the oil when pure is as inert as olive

oil. The oil, according to the researches of De Vrij, has an agreeable

mild taste like that of fresh almonds. DeVrij says that the oil is limpid

and almost colourless. The quantity that can be obtained by expression

is 835—41 per cent., and 57 per cent. with benzol.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES.

The plants of the order Apocynacee abound in milky juice con-

taining various acrid principles. The acrid principles isolated from

458 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Cerbera thevetia, according to the most recent researches, are known

as Thevetin and Theveresin. These active principles render the plant

highly dangerous. It must not, however, be supposed that all the

plants of the order Apocynacee are of such a nature. Owing to the

absence of one or other of the acrid principles, the milky juice of a

plant belonging to this order may be perfectly innocuous. Royle

mentions, on the authority of Lindley, a plant of this order which is

perfectly harmless. It is the milk-tree or Hya-hya of Demerara,

ealled by Mr. Arnott Tabernemontana utilis. Royle mentions other

harmless plants, such as the Melodinus monogynus, which isa native

of Northern and Eastern India, and the orange-like fruits of which

have a sweet edible pulp ; the Carissa edulis of Nubia ; and the

Cream fruit of Sierra Leone ; all these yield edible fruit. The

Willoughbia edulis growing in India and the Carissa carandas

growing wild all over the Thana ‘District, are instances of plants

bearing perfectly harmless fruit. There are, on the other hand, other

plants of the same order, such as Cerbera Manghas and Cerbera

Tanghin, which are highly dangerous. The seeds of Cerbera Manghas

are narcotic, The seeds of Cerbera Tanghin (the Tanghin tree of Mada-

gascar) are said to be so powerfully poisonous that a single seed may

be sufficient to destroy twenty persons (Royle).

The bark of the plant, administered internally, has been, since the

days of Lindley, considered to be a powerful febrifuge, 2 grains of it

only being considered to be equal to a dose of cinchona. It is used

in countries where it grows wild for poisoning fish.

I must not omit to mention here the observations of Mr. A, Smith

in the “Treasury of Botany,” which are as follows :—“Its fruit is regard-

ed as noxious, though, according to Dr. Seeman, a gentleman ate four of

them, when a boy, without injury.” Possibly this was due to idiosyn-

crasy, by virtue of which the boy’s constitution withstood the effects

of the poison, or that he ate the quantity of the fruit on a loaded

stomach, which possibly diluted the poisonous element to such an

extent as to render it inert. Again, we are told that it was the fruit

that was eaten. Weare not aware to what extent the fruit, i.e., the

pulpy part, contains the poisonous element, nor do we know that the

pulp is ever. used for extracting the poisonous principles. Perhaps

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 459

the poisonous principles exist in much less proportions in the fruit-pulp

than in the seeds, which latter is the part of the plant generally used

for the extraction of the active principles. We have clear instances

in recorded cases of how deleteriously the active principles of the plant

may sometimes act on certain individuals. It is the milk of the tree

that is considered highly venomous. Its bitter bark and leaves are

cathartic. |

Dr. Norman Chevers, on the authority of Dr. Waring, of unrivalled

therapeutic repute as regards Indian plants, observes in his Medical

Jurisprudence that the kernels of the plant are exceedingly bitter, I

know it by personal experience, for I have tasted them and found them

so to my disgust. “ They produce,” says Dr. Norman Chevers, “a slight

feeling of numbness, very slight indeed, in the tongue ;” but I did not

notice any heat whatsoever which Dr. Waring says is experienced.

From a case published by Dr. J. Balfour (‘‘ Madras Journ. of Lit.

and Se,” 1857, Vol. IIL, N.8., p. 140), it appears that the swallowing

of one kernel of the fruit produced acro-narcotic symptoms, similar to

those of aconite. In a case quoted by Dr. Chevers, as mentioned

to him by Babu Kannya Lall Dey, a case which occurred in the

practice of a physician whom the latter knew, it appears that on the

eating of a single seed, the following symptoms occurred :—In a short

time after swallowing, vomiting commenced, but there was no purging :

within half an hour the boy, who had swallowed it, was covered with

cold clammy sweat; the countenance was pale, and the eyes sunken

deeply, and within two hours he died convulsed.

Let us now consider the active principles of the plant under notice,

They are Thevetin and Theveresin. Dr. Dymock and his colleagues,

in their “ Pharmacographia Indica,” elaborately quote the experiments

of T. Husemann on the lower animals, such as frogs, dogs and rabbits,

Our concern is more with regard to man, and it will, therefore, be

more useful to summarize the researches of a leading Pharmacologist

like Schmiedeberg, so far as they could be determined on the mam-

malian genus Homo, with regard to the action of the poisonous group

to which Thevetin belongs.

Schmiedeberg classes Thevetin with the Digitaline Group. The

active principles of the various plants, classed under this group, act

460 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VII.

upon all sorts of animals in so uniform a manner that each of the

substances seems, as regards its individual action, a true copy of any one

of the others. The most important of this group is the one which

gives it its distinguishing name in pharmacology, namely, Digitalin,

which, together with Digitalein and Digitoxin, form the active princi-

ples of Foxglove. Next to these comes the active principle of Squills,

named Scillain. Next come Helleborin,the active principle of Hellebore,

and Oleandrin, otherwise called Nerein, to which the Common Oleander

owes its poisonous properties. Then there is Apocyanein. Finally,

belonging to this group are Adonis, the active principle of Adonis,

Vernalis and Convallamarin, the active principle of Convallaria

Majalias (Lilly of the Valley).

Scillain, Helleborin, Adonis, and Oleandrin or Nerein are not crys-

talline and are almost insoluble in water. Digitalin, Apocyanein and

Convallamarin are glucosides which form frothy solution with water

like Saponin, a glucoside contained in the bark of Quillaia of Chili

(Quillaia saponaria). Thevetin, Antiarin aud Strophanthin, belonging

to the Digitaline Group, are considered by Schmiedeberg as rarities.

The action of these active principles included in the digitaline group

consists almost exclusively in the fact that they alter ina peculiar

way the elasticity of the cardiac muscle without at first modifying

the contractility of it. There are three stages distinctly, from their

preliminary action to their most potent final effect :—(I)—Jn the first

stage, there is a rise of blood-pressure and consequent slowing of the

pulse, larger quantities of blood being thrown into the aorta and

thence into the arteries. This effect can be kept up by small doses

of the substances of this group. (II)—Jn the second stage, there is

continuous high blood-pressure with irregularity both in the action

of the heart and in the frequency of the pulse. (II1)—Jn the third

stage, there is sudden arrest of the action of the heart from the

paralysis of that organ as indicated by a rapid fall of the blood-pressure.

It is as such that Thevetin is supposed to act, especially producing

the phenomena characteristic of the second and third stages. The

subcutaneous injections of this substance, Schmiedeberg observes,

“‘cause phlegmonous inflammations more or less readily.” Closely

connected with this, is its action on the stomach and intestines which

causes gastric disturbance, diarrhoea and other symptoms, well known

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 461

to have been observed during the use of digitaline. The action of

Thevetin appears, from the recorded cases of poisoning, to be more

- vapid than in cases where digitalin is administered medicinally.

These views of Schmiedeberg are corroborated by Cerna. His

experiments show that Thevetin produces death by asphyxia and

cardiac paralysis. Applied to the skin, says he, it produces irritation

and a sensation of burning. It produces also convulsions of cerebral

and paralysis of spinal origin. It increases intestinal peristalsis, lowers

the temperature, and, locally applied, it increases salivation, and con-

tracts the pupils. Warden has confirmed the statement as to the pro-

duction of convulsions. (Dymock.)

As against what Schmiedeberg has said—namely, that Thevetin is

non-crystalline—De Vrij says that Thevetin is obtained at the rate of

four per cent. from the cake left after the oil is expressed from the seed.

It consists of a “beautiful white crystallized glucoside.” This question is

well worthy of the study and further research on the part of the Indian

pharmacologist. De Vrij was able to find Thevetin in the bark also of

Cerbera thevetia. Pure Thevetin, says Dr. Warden of Calcutta, is white

and crystalline (“ Pharma, Journal,” Vol. XIII, 3rd Series, p. 43),

Warden has discovered a second poisonous principle in the seeds of

Cerbera thevetia, to which he gives no name, but it is one which appears’

to him to possess greater activity than Thevetin. Pure Thevetin, he says

is only faintly bitter, whereas the newly discovered poisonous principle

is persistently bitter and non-crystalline. The latter was obtained by

precipitating the mother-liquor left after the crystallization of Thevetin

by aqueous tannic acid and decomposing the precipitate by lime,

In his work on Medical Jurisprudence, Dr. Lyon observes that in India

cases of poisoning by Cerbera thevetia in the human subject are seldom

met with. But Dr. K. L. Dey says that he has lately found it employed

in Bengal for homicidal purposes without raising any suspicion. Two

cases of homicidal poisoning came under his observation in the course

ofa month, Nine cases of cattle poisoning by the seeds of this plant

came under the observation of Dr. Lyon in 1886, Dr. Dumortier

records a, fatal case in a child three years old after swallowing one seed.

I may observe here that Dr. K. L. Dey considers the oil obtained

from the seeds of Cerbera thevetia to be a cardiac poison. He says that

“the acrid oil contained in the kernels is a powerful acro-narcotic

poison allied to Nux Vomica, and its effects as a poison are very rapid”

(Pharmaceutical Journal, Vol. XII, 3rd Series, p. 397).

462

CONTRIBUTION A LA CONNAISSANCE DES MUTILLES

DE LINDE.

Par HARNEST ANDRE’.

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society, 13th February, 1894.)

La petite collection de Mutilles qui fait objet du présent travail a

été recueillie dans diverses localités de la Présidence de Bombay par

Mr. R. C. Wroughton, Indian Forest Service, et par quelques-uns de

ses amis qui ont bien voulu, sur sa demande, joindre leurs recherches

aux siennes pour arriver 4 un resultat plus complet.

La totalité des espéces recueillies s’éléve 4 81, sur lesquelles 15 sont

nouvelles pour la science, ce qui donne une idée de Ja richesse de ses

regions priviligiées.

Pour faciliter la reconnaissance de ces insectes je commencerai par

résumer en un tableau synoptique les caractéres des 31 espéces que j’ai

pu étudier et qui toutes appartiennent au sexe femelle.

Puis je donnerai le catalogue raisonné des captures, avec les renseigne=

ments géographiques nécessaires et la description des espéces nouvelles.

Mais, avant d’entrer en matiére, je tiens a remercier ici Mr. Wrough-

ton de son extréme obligeance et 4 lui exprimer toute ma reconnais-

sance pour la générosité avec laquelle il m’a abondonné le fruit de ses

diverses explorations.

GRAY, 10 Juillet, 1893.

TABLEAU SYNOPTIQUE.

des Mutilles 9 comprises dans le present travail.

1, Thorax quadrangulaire, 4 cotés paralléles, rec-

tilignes ou légérement concaves ; abdomen

toujours sessile, sans étranglement entre

son premier et son second seements -s...... PEnbe aoeoaobbdgeods wea sacoo 2

Thorax allongé, sensiblement rétréci en arriere,

& cotés rarement rectiliones ; mais plus ou

MOINS en arc convexe, parfois dilatés en

dents ou tubercules. Abdomen tantot

sessile, tantot distinctement pétiolé ......ssesseeesreeee slelteleaiieceaaa set 24

2. Premier segment de l’abdomen sans tache dis-

tincte de pubescence claire, parfois cilié

de poils formant une bande peu fournie 4

Son Wore Moosvericul Wecescsueves+-;se-steeeseoeemaner™

1 CORDOC EHO DEOL ESCEE RCD 3

DES MUTILLES DE LINDE. 463

Premier segment de abdomen avec une tache

distincte, isolée, de pubescence blanche ou

JAUNC sores reece seer] qeansin ahlaida slew ner« see ceeesseeesovecessccessercesseeeee le

Second segment de l’abdomen pourvu d’une

bande de pubescence blanche ou jaune,

mais sans tache isolée .....2..-c02scecss00e ScGbBOOBOLEGCORHOOBOLe:. a iericae

Second segment de abdomen avec ou sans

bande, mais pourvu d’une ou plusieurs

taches isolées. (Parfois les taches sont plus

ou moins confluentes et simulent une

bande, mais on les reconnait toujours en ce

qu’elles n’atteignent pas le bord externe du

SETUMNCIII)) decdocbocuce cocnetboacboodeadabon culo ¢ Gbbnecéedasddeorsepoceoonas By

Taille tres aie fe a 3 mill.) ; sae seg-

ment avec une bande de poils blanchatres

4 son bord postérieur ; les segments sui-

vants presque glabres; tete et thorax

rouges, sansrevétement de pubescence dorée .+..0....-.JM, atomus, 0. Sp.

Taille grande (11 4 15 mill.); tete densement

revétue de pubescence d’un fauve doré ;

thorax rouge; second segment abdominal

avec une large bande de poils d’un fauve

doré 4 son bord postérieur; troisiéme

segment recouvert en entier de semblable

PUbescence ...ceresecereeere AN ea esceeee coessveoe lM, Kaucre (Cam.)

Partie antérieure du second segment some

nal avec une setlle tache MEdiaNe ss1e..ccesenssscerecevecsecccsevesesess O

Partie antérieure du second segment abdominal

HVECLOCUa tAGhCS lAberalenyodcadsssovenseecesecacaesasccssecsieetcesecvccce, Ll

Bord postérieur du second segment abdominal

soit simplement avec une bande, dilatée

OU non en son milieu, soit avec une tache

meédiane reliée 4 une bande apicale ...scccscscsscecssccseccceecvecsecs 7

Bord postérieur du second segment abdominal

portant une tache médiane, isolée, de

pubescence blanche, non reliée 4 une

Wane apicales sense seeceseccscenad-acncctenisastseshoechechoesarsessessscece 10)

Troisieme segment abdominal sans bande de

pubescence blanche Ov jaune rsecnervecerconcecteseceseesesccoesepecserces 8

464 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

10.

il.

12,

Troisieme segment abdominal avec une bande

de pubescence d’un blanc jaunatre ; second

Segment avec une tache basale et une

bande apicale de méme couleur ; téte

noire, thorax rouge, Long: 546 mill ............M. rufipes (Latr.)

Tache et bande du second segment abdominal

dun jaune d’or ; téte noire, thorax rouge.

Mong HS Mall eee. seciceteacen sacle selene bcoobdneb soce seceoee Mf, pulla, 0. Sp.

Tache et bande du second seement abdominal

d’un blanc Wargent ......... pido ECOOENDURB USUBOnGUoSdAn= ee4oo0 mcoco| 8)

Tete entierement noire, un peu plus large que

le thorax, luisante, peu densément ponc-

tuée ; thorax arrondi en arriere; segment

anal non strié en dessus. Long: 4 mill ......... MM. subglabra, 0. sp.

Front et vertex rouges; téte pas plus -large

que le thorax, fortement ponctuée-réti-

culée ; thorax verticalement tronqué en

arriére ; segment anal longitudinalement

strié en dessus. Long: 344 5 mill ............ MM. mgrigena, 0. sp.

Téte noire; thorax rouge, arrondi en arriére ;

une tache blanche au milieu du quatrieme

segment abdominal, Long : 5 mill ........... A, trimaculata (Cam.)

Téte et thorax rouges, ce dernier nettement

tronqué en arriére ; une tache blanche au

milieu du cinquieme segment abdominal.

Tong 6 a7 mall seseoeecn. owaceeluees ets cetaioe sel soceeel, ocellata (Sauss.)

Taches abdominales formées de pubescence

blanches <..c..asccacemetasweudninesiecaeshieuen pdewecisecdaddecescneektetmssilie

Taches abdominales formées de pubescence

Un) Tative) MOLE yp acesdeseeseeeaduciecseaicccscdes sac. scan nictee toe neseeee eed

Second segment abdominal avec seulement

deux taches sur sa moitié basale .......0.. slsenletepdeidehenastetencielenesl

Second segment abdominal avec deux taches

allongées pres de sa base et deux autres

arrondies 4 son bord apical ; deux taches

semblables se voient sur le troisiéme

segment, ce qui forme en tout six taches

sur deux rangées verticales. Tete noire,

dos du thorax rouge. Long: 14 4 15 mill.......J/, secmaculata (Swed.)

138.

14,

1d.

16.

18.

DES MUTILLES DE LINDE. 465

Premier segment abdominal longuement et

assez densément cilié de poils fauves; tout

le corps noir, sauf le dos du thorax qui est

ferrugineux ; second segment abdominal

avec deux taches blanches allongées, troi-

siéme segment avec deux taches carrées de

méme couleur, Long: 10 mill, .......s..0000. M. niveosignata, 1. sp.

Premier segment abdominal non cilié de poils

TATIVES cco caeace sen Bese eee te diitatiatss Seccbus Wsseccuccwsanabonsccacdmecccld

Bord postéro-supérieur du thorax armé d’une

rangée d’épines courtes, mais bien accen-

tuées. Teéte rouge ou noire, thorax rouge;

troisiéme eb quatrieme segments avec des

bandes blanchatres plus ou moins obso-

[ebeaneomory 5: aig) mail secerencscescace MM. pectinospinata (Magretti)

Bord postéro-supérieur du thorax inerme.......0.ssseeeseeee ppanoanacucnqoG[Le}

Vertex avec une tache médiane de pubescence

blanche ; téte noire, thorax rouge ; second

et troisicme segments avec chacun deux

taches de pubescence argentée. Long: 6 mill ......J/. kolabensis, n. sp.

Téte noire, sans tache blanche ; thorax rouge........ssessesees Saoecuaesens 16

Second, troisiéme, et quatrieme segments de

Yabdomen avec chacun deux taches de

pubescence blanche. Long: 5 4 9 mill............ I. hexaops (Sauss.)

Second segment abdominal avec deux taches

blanches ; troisiéme segment avec une

bande interrompue au milieu de semblable

pubescence, Long: 9 2 10 mill.......... -++e lf, vicina (Rad. et Sich.)

Second segment abdominal avec deux grandes

taches basales trés rapprochées et souvent

confluentes, Taille plus grande ........ BO CUCESCCUCCH CUB CHOC AL oe ik

Second segment abdominal avec deux taches

rondes, plus petites et non confluentes ; son

bord postérieur ainsi que le troisiéme

Segment sont ornés de larges bandes d’un

fauve-doré. Téte noire, revétue de pubes-

cence dorée ; thorax rouge. Long: 3 mill. ......J/, Lilliputiana, n, Sp.

Troisiéme, quatriéme, et cinquiéme segments

couverts d’une épaisse pubescence d’un

FELT S 10. Oh Be RUBBER URE Ce BoCEC CHE CCU OUC SRR SESE eR ET ee rE CERL EEE se paman rere)

466.

19),

20.

21,

22,

JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Cinquiémesegement abdominal non revétu d’une

Epaisse pubescence dorée ...secreeree Gonadcocsaonscosbancnooancogoncnsan 210)

Téte noire, recouverte de pubescence dorée ;

thorax rouge. Long: 7 4 12 mill..........scsscsseees IM, agnata, n. sp.

Tete et thorax rouges; tete non recouverte

de pubescence dorée. Long: 9 a

1134 rasill US) Bape spopopeeocenecoe sogaoansoosss Addnascatabos LT, nudiceps, 0. Sp.

Téte noire, recouverte de pubescence dorée ;

thorax rouge ; troisiéme et quatrieme seg-

ments de l’abdomen revétus d’une épaisse

pubescence d’un fauve-doré. Long: 8

3), 115/01 sda SoaeobenoopdhebdonosqsHddgonsasHo0Kodb0 M. wulchriceps (Cam.)

Téte rouge, sans pubescence dorée; thorax

HOVE socoososodansosapogsoabepodnaooNs Oe son osengoneensacos gqp900008800000 voedl

Troisiéme et quatriéme segments abdominaux

couverts de pubescence dorée; second

segment ventral sans dépressions ni saillies

bien accentuées, Long : 8 mill ........sccecceees I. erythrocera (Cam )

Troisiéme segment abdominal seul couvert de

pubescence dorée; second segment ventral

avec des dépressions et saillies trés

accentuées, en forme de cicatrice. Long:

INL wane Geosocsooosadddgoocoschsndpniosboe06 socneanece oA, Lua n. sp.

Tache du premier segment abdominal d’un

fauve doré; second et troisiéme segments

portant chacun une bande apicale, semi-

circulairement élargie au milieu, rétrécie

sur les cotés, de pubescence fauve. 'Téte

et thorax rouges. Long : 7 mill, ........006 IM. lunarifasciata, n. sp.

Tache du premier segment abdominal blanche;

second et troisicme segments portant

chacun, a leur bord apical, une tache

semicirculaire de pubescence blanche. Tete

Ch LaOtaK TOUTES ecencssenceaceeencenesceacacseet sacle seciieenaeaecaesacsese}

Téte quadrangulaire, distinctement plus large

que le thorax, 2 sculpture superficielle ;

thorax arrondi en arriére. Long : 4 a

GE mill iccveccescaencteasevcseusscoesce-sonsncsougacnsallt wil iceis) (\Smiltll):

DES MUTILLES DE L’INDE, 467

Téte de la largeur du thorax, plus grossiérement

gculptée; thorax brusquement tronqué en

arriére ; bord supérieur de la troncature

formant une aréte nette, denticulée. Long:

D Mill, .syrerseereceesseersaseerorscerorsseceesceresseoseaseol taylori, D. Sp,

24, Abdomen 4 couleur fonciére d’un bleu d’acier

ou d’un violet métallique. Téte et thorax

rouges ; une tache sur le pronotum, une

autre allongée 4 Ja base du second seement

abdominal, une troisiéme arrondie au

milieu de son bord apical, et parfois aussi

une tache médiane moins distincte sur

les quatriéme et cinquiéme segments, de

pubescence blanche. Long: 6 48 mill...............J0, regia (Smith),

Abdomen 4 couleur noire, rarement avec un

trés faible reflet bleudtre ........s.0. Suara aenaes A UN Oy

25. Thorax a bords latéraux simples ou légérement

crénelés, mais non élargis en un fort tuber-

cule dentiforme un peu avant leur milieu ...........0+0 stusbusisasacee 26

Thorax & bords latéraux élargis en un fort tuber-

cule dentiforme un peu avant leur milieu. ..........cesessosvescoerogeeeD

26, 'Téte et moitié antérieure du thorax trés densé-

ment revétues d’une pubescence d’un beau

jaune d’or pale-qui cache entiérement la

couleur rouge du tégument. Abdomen

pétiolé, son premier segment rouge, petit

et nodiforme, second segment avec une

tache basale et trois autres & son bord

apical, de pubescence blanche. Long :

Bg Ul] sssresserseessrseerer ecsseerecoreeeressorsnelll, auropalliata, 0. Sp.

Téte et thorax non revétus de pubescence

Gorcepaldomeny sessileescquscssasenncs sesesetentas eee nae eee OyT

27, Téte et thorax rouges ; abdomen noir avec un

trés faible reflet bleuftre; son premier

segment rouge, second segment avec une

petite tache au milieu de sa base, eb une

bande apicale parfois interrompue au

milieu de pubescence d’un blanc d’argent.

Moneys a) Ge milleeewersatese suse sesocronesceeeeee lf, poonaensis (Cam,)

468 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

Tout le corps noir, disque du thorax ferrugi-

neux, une tache sur le vertex, deux 4 la

base du second segment abdominal, deux

autres & son bord apical eb deux sur le

troisiéme segment, de pubescence blanche.

Long : 7 Mill ..ssccsecresreescnsceeecseers ceooveseoell, maculiceps, D, SP.

28. Abdomen distinctement pétiolé, son premier

segment nodiforme. Téte noire, marquée

d’une grande tache blanche ou jaunatre

SIDI PERNERe soos aoccoodecave= pdaodé connonducuoueonoocdrncaace ‘boousoadane BY

Abdomen non pétiolé, son premier segment

large et court. Téte rouge, sans PXCOS) Snooaoe bere are Saedosnaen eel

29, Les deux premiers tiers du second segment de

Yabdomen recouverts, ainsi que le disque

du thorax, de pubescence fauve ; une tache

sur le premier segment abdominal, trois

autres au bord apical du second segment

et une au milieu des quatriéme et cinqui-

éme segments, de pubescence blanchatre.

Long : 10 AL4 mill... -.200.--seseeeeeevees eseoel, argentipes (Smith),

Disque du thorax et premier segment de

Tabdomen seuls revétus de pubescence

fauve; une tache médiane 4 la base du

second segment abdominal, trois autres a

son bord apical et une derniére au milieu

du cinquiéme segment, de pubescence

d’un blanc jaunaire, Long: 12 & 15 mill. I, argenteo-maculata (Smith),

30. Téte et thorax d’un rouge sombre ; une bande

interrompue au bord apical du second

segment abdominal et une autre couvrant

tout le troisiéme segment, de pubescence

d’un jaune d'or. Long: 13 mill ....... wo, trichocondyla, 0, sp.

31, Téte eb thorax d’un rouge vif ; une tache

médiane surle premier segment abdominal,

une large bande deux fois échancrée a la

base du second, et deux -autres, plus

ou moins échancrées ou interrompues

au milieu, couvrant les troisiéme et

quatriéme segments, de pubescence d’un

fauve-doré, Long: 15 4 16 mill........... veces DL, pulchrina (Smith).

DES MUTILLES DE L’INDE. 469

CATALOGUE RAISONNE

DESCRIPTIONS DES Esprces NouveLLes.

1. Mutilla ruficeps (Sm.) [= rufiventris (Sm.) |

Mes exemplaires s’écartent de la description de Smith en ce

que le dessous de Vabdomen n’est ferrugineux qu’d lextrémité

et est brundtre sur le reste de sa surface. La téte, rouge chez

certains individus, se rembrunit chez d’autres, surtout sur les cétés,

de fagon 4 ne presenter de rouge que le vertex ou méme & devenir

enti¢rement brune.

Kanara et Kolaba (Mr. Wroughton).

2. Mutilla taylor, nov. sp.

Q@ :—Téte brune, front et vertex d’un rouge sombre, thorax ferrugi-

neux, scape des antennes, base du funicule, et pattes rougedtres, le

reste du funicule d’un brun noir, abdomen noir, une tache ovale au

milieu du premier segment, une tache semicirculaire 4 l’extrémité

du second et une autre plus petite a Vextrémité du troisiéme,

‘ formées de pubescence d’un blanc sale. Tout le corps et les pattes

hérissés de poils blanchatres; sur la téte ainsi que sur le dos du

thorax et de l’abdomen les poils sont bruns. ‘Téte arrondie, assez con-

vexe, un peu plus large que longue et & peine plus large que le thorax,

grossiérement ponctuée-réticuleé ; troisiéme article des antennes presque

deux fois aussi long que le quatriéme ; yeux grands ovales, un peu

plus longs que l’espace occupé derriére eux par le vertex. Thorax

rectangulaire, ses bords latéraux paralléles, irréguli¢rement denticulés ;

il est tronqué en arriére et muni, au bord supérieur de cette troncature,

de denticules spiniformes dont le médian est le plus allongé ; le dos du

thorax est assez fortement et densément ridé-ponctué, les mésopleures

sont 4 peu prés lisses, les métapleures sont luisantes et marquées de gros

points mediocrement serrés. Premier segment de l’abdomen large, peu

allongé, non séparé du second, par un étranglement; ce dernier assez

densément ponctué ; segment anal couvert de poils blanchatres qui en

cachent la sculpture. 'Tibias postérieurs armés de 4 & 5 épines ; épe-

rons pales. Long: 5 mill.

470 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

Ressemble a la M. rujiceps (Sm.) par la disposition des couleurs, mais,

chez M. rujiceps, la téte est plus quadrangulaire, moins convexe, dis-

tinctement plus large que le thorax ; sa surface est luisante avec une

ponctuation médiocre et assez éparse, les yeux sont plus petits, plus

éloignés de Vocciput, le thorax n’est pas brusquement tronqué en

arriére, sa face dorsale passe insensiblement 4 sa face déclive sans former

daréte nette et sans dents spiniformes au point de jonction ; enfin

les bords latéraux du thorax ne sont pas distinctement denticulés.

Orissa (Mr, James Taylor) un seul exemplaire.

3. Mutilla lunarifasciata, nov. sp.

@ :—Téte et thorax d’un rouge ferrugineux, scape des antennes d’un

rouge brun, funicule noiratre ; pattes d’un ferrugineux pale, sommet

des cuisses et des tibias noir. Abdomen noir, assez densément revétu

de pubescence noire ; premier segment avec une grande tache tri-

anguliare de pubescence d’un fauve-doré qui couvre presque toute sa

largeur et dont la pointe s’étend sur le segment suivant; second seg-

ment portant 4 son bord postérieur une bande de semblable pubescence,

trés étroite latéralement, trés élargie au milieu en forme de demi lune ;

troisiéme segment avec une bande semblable mais moins large, segment

anal avec Pextrémité couverte de poils d’un jaune pale luisant ; en des-

sous, les segments deux et trois sont ciliés de poils jaundtres. Quelques

soles brunes sont éparses sur le dessus du corps et d’autres

d’un jaune pale se voient sur sa face inférieure et ses cdtés ainsi

que sur les pattes ou elles sont plus abondantes, Téte assez convexe,

en rectangle arrondi, transverse, un peu plus large que le thorax,

densément ponctuée-réticulée ; troisieme article des antennes une fois et

demie aussi long que le quatriéme ; yeux de grandeur moyenne, ovales,

un peu moins longsque l’espace occupé derriére eux par le vertex.

Thorax peu allongé, quadrangulaire, 4 cdtés paralléles et trés faiblement

concaves en leur milieu, assez fortement ridé-ponctué sur le dos,

presque lisse et luisant sur les flancs, 4 exception des métapleures qui

sont superficiellement ponctuées-réticulées ; il est assez verticalement

tronqué en arriére avec quelques denticules au point de jonction

de ses faces dorsale et postérieure, le denticule médian étant assez

long et spiniforme. Abdomen ovale, peu rétréci en avant ; son premier

segment large et court sadapte réguli¢rement au segment suivant, sans

DES MUTILLES DE LINDE. 471

étranglement ; second segment densément et assez finement ponctud-

réticulé en dessus, uisant et éparsement pointillé en dessous ; segment

anal assez fortement ridé-ponctué 4 la base, trés finement chagriné

a Vextrémité, sans aire médiane distincte. Tibias avec de nombreuses

et fortes épines d’un rouge brun ; éperons pales. Long: 7 mill.

Kolaba (Mr. Wroughton) un seul exemplaire.

4. Mutilla rujipes (Latr.)

Les individus que je rapporte a cette espéce sont semblables sous

tous rapports aux exemplaires Huropéens et présentent comme eux les

mémes variations dans la couleur des pattes et des antennes qui passent

du rougeatre clair au brun noir foncé. M. Magretti (Ann. mus, civ.

de Genova, 1892, p. 214) a décrit une MW, tenasserimica qui, d’aprés lui,

se distingue de la Md. rujipes par la sculpture différente de la téte et du

thorax. Les exemplaires de Inde que je posséde ne présentent A cet

régard aucune difference avec ceux de l’Hurope, et je ne suis pas certain

de la validité de la MZ. tenasserimuca comme espéce distincte. J’ajoutera

enfin que le pygidium réguliérement et longitudinalement strié sépare

notre MW, rufipes de la M. ellipsifera (Gribodo) dont Paire pygidiale est

couverte de stries en ellipses concentriques.

5. Muitilla nigrigena, nov. sp.

2 :—Téte brune, rouge sur le front et le vertex ; thorax rouge ;

scape des antennes et pattes d’un brun rougedatre, funicule tantot brun

tantot rougedtre, Abdomen noir, revétu d’une pubescence noire;

second segment avec une petite tache arrondie, d’un blanc d’argent, a

sa base, et une autre plus grande et semicirculaire 4 son extrémité qui

est bordeé d’une mince frange de poils également d’un blanc d’argent ;

une tache incertaine et mal définie de poils de méme couleur s’observe

aussi au milieu des quatri¢me et cinquiéme segments. Dessus du corps

parsemé de poils noirs; en dessous et sur les cotés, ainsi que sur leg

pattes, se voit une éparse pilosité blanchdtre. Téte arrondie, de la lar-

geur du thorax, fortement et densément ponctuée-réticulée ; antennes

avec le troisiéme article seulement un peu plus long que le quatriéme ;

yeux grands, ovales, bien plus long que lespace occupé derriére eux

par le vertex. Thorax rectangulaire, a cdtés paralléles, verticalement

tronqueé en arriére avec le bord de la troncature légérement crénelé:

un peu avant ce bord se voit un onglet scutellaire peu saillant mais

472, JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

distinct. Le dos du thorax est grossi¢rement ponctué-réticulé, ses

flanes sont plus éparsement ponctucs. Premier segment de l’abdomen

court, s’adaptant exactement au segment suivant, sans étranglement ;

second segment longitudinalement ridé-ponctué ; segment anal longi-

tudinalement strié. Une caréne courte, assez saillante et un peu

bilobée en dessous du premier segment. ‘Tibias intermédiaires et posté-

rieurs avec de fortes épines rougedtres ; éperons pales. Long : 3

a5 mill.

Cette espéce ressemble 4 WM. montana (Panz) d’Hurope, mais en est

bien distincte par son front et son vertex rouges, par l’absence de bande

blanche sur le troisiéme segment et par les stries longitudinales de son

idium.

Sag Kanara (Mr. Wroughton).

6. Mutilla subglabra, nov. sp.

Q :—Téte noire, tubercules antennaires rouges, gros et tres saillants;

mandibules rougedtres avec l’extrémité noire ; antennes noires, sauf

l’extrémité du scape et le premier article du funicule qui sont rougeatres.

Thorax rouge ; pattes brunes, tarses testacés. Abdomen noir, presque

sans pubescence, avec un reflet légérement violacé ; second segment

marqué & sa base d’une petite tache ovale d’un blanc d’argent et 4 son

extrémité d’une bande étroite de méme couleur, fortement élargie au

milieu en triangle arrondi. Dessus du corps hérissé de poils noirs, plus

abondants sur la téte et le thorax, plus épars sur abdomen ; en des-

sous sur les cdtés et sur les pattes il existe une pilosité éparse, d’un

blanc jaunatre. ‘Téte arrondie, assez convexe, un peu plus large que

le thorax, fortement mais peu densément ponctuée, luisante. Antennes

courtes et épaisses, leur troisiéme article 4 peu prés de la longueur du

quatriéme. Yeux grands, ovales, plus longs que l’espace occupé derriére

eux par le vertex. Thorax assez étroit, 4 cotés paralléles, arrondi en

avant et en arriére, sa face postérieure oblique rejoignant la face dor-

sale par une surface arquée, sans aréte ; il est assez fortement ponctué-

réticulé sur le dos, presque lisse sur les flancs. Abdomen en ovale

allongé, assez rétréci en avant et plus encore en arriére; son premier

segment court et ¢troit, mais sadaptant réguli¢rement au segment

suivant, sans ¢tranglement ; second segment luisant, peu densément et

peu profondément ponctué ; segment anal non strié. Epines des tibias

brunes, éperons pales. Long: 4 mill,

DES MUTILLES DE L’INDE. 473

Ressemble a MU. nigrigena, mais s’en distingue par sa téte entiére-

ment noire, plus large que le thorax, moins fortement sculptée, par ses

tubercules antennaires saillants, par son thorax plus gréle, non tronqué

en arriére, mais -insensiblement arrondi, par son abdomen presque

glabre avec le segment anal non strié.

Kanara (Mr. Wroughton) un seul exemplaire.

7. Mutella atomus, NOV. Sp.

® :—-Téte, thorax, antennes et pattes ferrugineux, abdomen noir,

avec un reflet bleuatre, presque glabre ; second segment portant 4 son

bord postérieur une bande, élargie au milieu, de poils blanchatres trés

peu serrés et parfois peu distincts ; les autres segments avec une pubes-

cence de méme nature, trés clairsemée et ne formant pas de bandes

bien distinctes. Dessus de la téte, du thorax et de labdomen éparse-

ment hérissés de poils bruns ; cdtés et dessous du corps heérissés de

poils blanchatres ainsi que les pattes. Teéte arrondie, assez épaisse, & peu

prés de la largeur du thorax, éparsement ponctuée et luisante. Anten-

nes épaisses, leur troisiéme article seulement un peu plus’ long que le

quatriéme. Yeux assez petits, ovales, moins longs que la distance qui les

sépare du bord postérieur de locciput. Thorax un peu étranglé en son

milieu, sa déclivité postérieure oblique et rejoignant la face dorsale par

une surface arrondie, sans aréte ; il est & peu prés aussi large en avant

qu’en arriére, assez densément ponctué-réticulé sur le dos, la sculpture

plus effacée sur les flancs. Premier segment de l’abdomen court, peu

densément ponctué, aussi large que la base du segment suivant qui est

rétréci en avant et en arriére, éparsement ponctué et luisant ; les autres

segments sont trés finement pointillés et luisants ; segment anal non

strié, rougeatre a l’extrémité, Le premier segment porte en dessous

une caréne courte et assez saillante. Tibias avec quelques épines,

éperons pales. Long: 3 4 32 mill,

Kanara (Mr. Wroughton).

8. Mutilla pulla, nov. sp.

Q :—Teéte noire, tubercules antennaires peu saillants, épistome, man-

dibules, scape et premier article du funicule testacts ; sommet des man-

dibules et le reste du funicule bruns. Thorax ferrugineux, pattes

testacées, sommet des cuisses et des tibias rembrunis, Abdomen noir,

474 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. Vol. VIII.

peu densément revétu de pubescence noire; second segment portant

asa base une tache allongée, assez grande, de pubescence d’un jaune d’or

luisant et, 4 son extrémité, une bande de méme couleur, trés étroite

sur les cdtés, fortement et semicirculairement élargie au milieu. Vertex

revétu d’une pubescence dorée assez éparse. Quelques soles noires,

obliques, sur le dos du thorax et sur abdomen ; face déclive du méta-

thorax, dessous du corps et pattes parsemés de rares soies blanchatres.

Téte arrondié, assez convexe, un peu plus large que le thorax, fortement

mais peu densément ponctuée, assez luisante ; troisiéme article des

antennes un peu plus long que le quatriéme. Yeux grands, ovales,

plus longs que l’espace occupé derriére eux par le vertex. Thorax a

cotés paralléles, arrondi en avant et en arriére ; sa face postérieure

oblique, regagnant la face dorsale par une surface fortement arrondie,

sans limite distincte entre les deux faces ; il est fortement ponctué-

réticulé sur le dos, bien plus superficiellement et trés éparsement

ponctué sur les flancs qui sont presque lisses par places. Abdomen

en ovale allongé ; premier segment court et étroit, mais s’adaptant

réguliérement au segment suivant sans étranglement; second

segment peu denséement ponctué, luisant; segment anal lisse,

non strié. Tibias avec quelques épines testacées, éperons plus pales.

Long : 5 mill.

Par la forme générale et la disposition du dessin cette espéce

ressemble beaucoup a la MZ. subglabra, mais elle s’en distingue par ses

tubercules antennaires bien plus petits, par la couleur de ses antennes

et de ses pattes, ainsi que par la tache et la bande de son second seg-

ment qui sont plus developpées et d’un jaune d’or au lieu d’étre d’un

blanc d’argent.

Kanara (Mr. Wroughton) un seul exemplaire,

9. Mutilla ocellata (Saussure).

Kanara (Mr. Wroughton).

10. Mutilla trimaculata (Cameron).

Poona (Mr. Wroughton).

11. Mutilla hexaops (Saussure).

Cette espéce parait repandue dans la majeure partie de l’Inde et a

Ceylan. La couleur des pattes et des antennes est trés variable,

DES MUTILLES DE LINDE. 475

passant du rouge ferrugineux au brun noir, mais ces légéres différ-

ences ne peuvent constituer des caracteres spécifiques. J’en connais

des exemplaires de Pondichéry et de Gingi ; Mr. Wroughton me I’a

envoyée de Kanara et de Kolaba.

12. Mutilla pectinospinata (Magretti).

L’un des deux exemplaires que je posséde a la téte rouge comme

le thorax, mais ne se distingue pas d’ailleurs d’un autre exemplaire

a téte noire, conforme 4 la description de Magretti. Les troisiéme et

quatriéme segments portent des bandes de poils jaundtres trés peu

accentuées, non & cause du mauyais état des exemplaires, comme le

pense M. Magretti, mais par suite du peu de densité des poils qui les

forment.

Kanara, Poona (Mr. Wroughton).

13. Mutilla kolabensis, nov. sp.

d’argent sur le vertex ; antennes, mandibules et pattes d’un brun

noir. Thorax d’un rouge sombre sur son disque, d’un brun noir sur le

reste de sa surface, Abdomen noir, revétu d’une pubescence noire assez

abondante ; second segment orné, prés de sa base, de deux petites

taches ovales, assez distantes l'une de l’autre, d’un blane d’argent ;

troisiéme segment avec deux taches quadrangulaires situées respective-

ment au dessous de celles du second segment. Dessus de la téte,

du thorax et de l’abdomen hérissé de longues soies noires peu abon-

dantes ; cdtés et devant de la téte, dessous du corps et pattes avec une

pilosité blanche, fine et éparse. ‘Téte arrondie, assez épaisse, un peu

plus large que le thorax, grossiérement ponctuée-réticulée ; troisiéme

article des antennes une fois et demie aussi long que le quatriéme;

yeux médiocres, allongés, 4 peu prés aussi longs que l’espace occupé

derriére eux par le vertex. Thorax a cdtés paralléles ; son profil dorsal

assez conyexe, ses faces dorsale et postérieure réunies par une surface

largement arquée, sans limite précise; il est grossiérement réticulé-fossulé

en dessus, avec les propleures et les mésopleures presque lisses, et les

métapleures grossiérement et trés superficiellement rugueuses. Premier

segment abdominal médiocrement large, s’adaptant réguliérement au

segment suivant; second segment peu densément ponctué en dessus,

plus éparsement ponctué et luisant en dessous ; pygidium finement

ponctué. Wpines des tibias noiratres ; éperons pales. Long: 6 mill.

476 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

Voisine de M. aulica (Smith) mais les cdtés du thorax ne portent

pas de tache argentée, les pattes sont noires, les deux taches blanches

du second segment ne touchent pas sa base et le quatriéme segment est

dépourvu de taches.

Kolaba (Mr. Wroughton) un seul exemplaire.

14. Mutilla vicina (Rad. et Sich),

Dehra Dun (Mr. C. G. Rogers).

1d. Mutilla lilliputiana, nov. sp.

Q :—Téte noire, revétue de pubescence peu serrée d’un jaune d’or ;

scape des antennes, premier article du funicule et pattes d’un testacé

un peu rougedtre ; thorax ferrugineux. Abdomen noir, médiocrement

revétu de pubescence noire ; second segment portant, 4 sa base, deux

taches ovales assez grandes et, 4 son extrémité, une bande assez large

de pubescence fauve-doré ; le troisitéme segment est entiérement

couvert de pubescence semblable ; en dessous, les bords des segments

2, 3 et 4 sont décolorés et d’un jaune rougedtre. Le corps est hérissé

d’une pilosité éparse et noiratre en dessus, blanchdtre en dessous et

sur les pattes. Téte un peu plus large que le thorax en trapéze arrondi,

plus étroite en avant qu’en arriére, assez fortement ponctuée-réticulée ;

troisiéme article des antennes assez court, un peu plus long que le

quatriéme ; yeux grands, en ovale court, situés assez en arriére des

bords latéraux, bien plus longs que l’espace occupé derriére eux par le

vertex. Thorax quadrangulaire, 4 bords assez paralléles et trés

légérement sinueux, assez fortement ponctué réticulé sur le dos, presque

lisse sur les flancs qui sont un peu luisants ; il est obliquement

tronqué en arriére. Abdomen ovale, attenué en arriére ; son premier

segment assez étroit s’adapte réguliérement au segment suivant, sans

étranglement ; second segment couvert en dessus de gros points peu

serrés, plus éparsement ponctué et trés luisant en dessous ; segment

anal convexe, lisse et luisant, sans aire médiane. Tibias peu épineux,

éperons pales. Long: 3 mill.

Kolaba (Mr. Wroughton) un seul exemplaire.

16. Mautilla kauare (Cameron).

Les exemplaires que j’ai sous les yeux répondent a la description de

M. Cameron, sauf de petites divergences, Ainsi, l’abdomen ne porte

de veritables bandes d’un fauve-doré que sur le troisiéme segment et

DES MUTILLES DE LINDE. 477

au bord apical du second ; les quatriéme et cinquiéme segments sont

revétus de pubescence noire entremélée de quelques poils fauves ; le

segment anal est cilié de fauve sur les cOtés ainsi que le bord apical de

tous les segments ventraux. Le second segment ventral porte & la

base une courte caréne longitudinale. Wnfin, le thorax, légérement

en arc concave sur les cdtés, me semble de méme largeur en avant et

en arriére ; la suture méso-métanotale est Iégérement distincte et

montre en son milieu un onglet scutellaire peu saillant mais distinct.

Je-ne crois pas que ces particularités soient sufisantes pour caractériser

une espéce nouvelle, surtout en l’absence de confrontation directe avec

les exemplaires typiques de M. kauare.

Kanara (Mr. Wroughton).

17. Mutilla pulchriceps (Cameron),

Var. pulchricoma, nov. var.

Q :—S’écarte du type de Cameron par sa taille beaucoup plus

grande (15 mill), par les pattes et les antennes d’un brun noir, par le

scape et les deux premiers articles du funicule revétus de pubescence

fauve comme la téte, et par les flancs du thorax entiérement couverts

d’une pubescence fine et assez serrée, d’un jauned’or. Ces caractéres

ne me paraissent pas suffisants pour constituer une espéce distincte et

je la rattache comme variété a la WZ. pulchriceps.

Poona (Mr. Wroughton) un seul exemplaire.

18. Mutilla cicatricifera, nov. sp.

@ :—Téte et thorax d’un rouge ferrugineux, antennes et pattes

d’un ferrugineux plus pale. Abdomen noir, peu densément revétu

d'une pubescence noire ; second segment portant 4 sa base une large

bande triangulairement échancrée au milieu et paraissant formée de

la réunion de deux grandes taches transyersales de pubescence fauve-

doré luisant ; le sommet du méme segment est cilié de semblable

pubescence et une bande de méme nature et de méme couleur couvre

le troisieme segment ; les segments suivants sont seulement ciliés

de poils fauves en dessus et en dessous et le segment anal en est

plus abondamment pourvu. Quelques soies dressées, brundtres et

éparses, se voient sur le vertex, sur le dos du thorax et sur les deux

premiers segments abdominaux ; en dessous et sur les cOtts ainsi

478 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. ViTl.

que sur les pattes, la pilosite est plus abondante et d’un jaune d’or. Téte

arrondie, de la Jargeur du thorax, trés fortement ridée-réticulée ;

troisitme article des antennes presque deux fois aussi long que le qua-

triéme ; yeux petits, ovales, moins long que l’espace occupé derriére eux

par le vertex. Thorax court, quadrangulaire, 4 cotés paralléles, gros-

siérement ridé-réticulé ; mesopleures lisses et luisantes ; il est tronqué

verticalement en arriére, mais sans former d’aréte vive 4 la jonction de

ses faces dorsale et postérieure ; ses bords latéraux sont légérement

erenelés sur toute leur longueur et il n’existe pas d’onglet scutellaire

distinct. Abdomen ovale ; son premier segment, court et assez large,

sadapte réguli¢rement au segment suivant sans étranglement; en des-

sous il est muni d’une caréne ordinaire; second segment abdominal

marqué de fossettes allongées, profondes en avant, superficielles en

arriére, et dont les intervalles portent quelques points épars ; en des-

sous, ce méme segment, qui est irréguliérement ponctué, porte sur ses

deux tiers antérieurs une dépression quadrangulaire partagée par une

petite caréne longitudinale et limitée, en arriére et de chaque céte, par

des saillies tuberculeuses et caréniformes, irrégulieres comme les bords

d'une cicatrice ; segment anal tres superficiellement chagriné, non

strié. Tibias avec de fortes épines d’un brun rougedtre, éperous tes- ”

tacés. Long : 11 mill.

Cette espéce parait voisine de M. humbertiana (Sauss.), mais s’en

écarte par la disposition différente des: bandes abdominales et surtout par

les dépressions et saillies particuliéres de son second segment ventral.

Kanara (Mr. Wroughton) un seul exemplaire.

19. Mutilla erythrocera (Cameron).

Une femelle de Kolaba (Mr. Wroughton) s’accorde tout 4 fait avec

la description de Cameron, mais une autre de Kanara (Mr. Wrough-

ton) s’écarte du type par les taches du second segment abdominal qui

‘sont confluentes, par le bord postérieur de ce méme segment cilié de

poils dorés, par le quatrieme segment sans bande dorée mais seule-

ment cilié sur les cotés de méme que les suivants, et par la couleur

d’un jaune d’or et non d’un fauve-doré des taches et bandes abdomi-

nales. Malgré ces différences, la forme générale, la sculpture et les

proportions sont si exactement semblables & I. erythocera que je ne puis

considérer cet exemplaire que comme une vyariété.

DES MUTILLES DE LINDE. 479

20. Mutilla agnata, nov. sp.

Q :—Téte noire, couverte de pubescence d’un fauve-doré ; scape des

antennes, les deux premiers articles du funicule, les tubercules anten-

naires, les mandibules et les pattes ferrugineux, le reste du. funicule

brun, genoux et sommet des mandibules noirs. Thorax d’un rouge

ferrugineux. Abdomen noir, abondamment recouvert de pubescence

noire ; second segment portant asa base deux grandes taches, trés

rapprochées et parfois réunies, de pubescence fauve-doré, qui forment

une large bande peu ou pas interrompue et occupant la moitié

basale du segment; J’ extrémité de ce méme segment peut étre

concolore ou bordé d’une mince bande de pubescence fauve-doré ;

les segments 3, 4 et 5 sont entiérement recouverts de pubescence

de méme couleur et le segment anal est abondamment cilié sur

les cotés de longs poils fauves; en dessous les segments sont plus

ou moins ciliés de poils d’un fauve clair. Les pattes sont éparse-

ment hérissées de poils jaunes. Téte convexe, arrondie, de la largeur

du thorax, fortement ponctuée-réticulée ; tubercules antennaires gros

et arrondis ; troisiéme article des antennes deux fois aussi longs que

le quatriéme ; yeux trés grand, en ovale court, beaucoup plus longs

que l’espace occupé derriére eux par le vertex. Thorax quadrangu-

laire, 4 cdtés paralléles, fortement ponctué-réticulé sur le dos, presque

lisse sur les flancs qui sont comme dépolis et peu luisants ; il est presque

verticalement tronqué en arriére, mais arrondi au point de jonction de

ses faces dorsale et postérieure, avec un onglet scutellaire peu saillant

mais distinct. Abdomen ovale, son premier segment, court et médio-

crement large, s’adapte réguliérement au segment suivant sans étrangle-

ment; second segment assez fortement et peu densément ponctué

en dessus, trés luisant, et éparsement ponctué en dessous ; segment

anal assez plan, couvert en dessus de rides longitudinales sinueuses et

irreguliéres. ‘Tibias avec de fortes épines d’un rouge brun, éperons

pales. Long : 7412 mill. Ly)

Ressemble a 1M. soror (Sauss.) et 4 WM. nereis (Kohl.), mais la téte

est couverte de poils dorés et le cinquiéme segment abdominal porte

une bande dorée comme les deux précédents. Parait se rapprocher

aussi beaucoup de M, pulchriceps (Cameron), mais s’en écarte par son

thorax 4 bords latéraux rectilignes ou indistinctement concaves, par les

taches du second segment abdominal plus grandes et confluentes et par

la présence d’une bande dorée sur le cinquieme segment. ;

Kanara (Mr. Wroughton).

480 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

21, Mutilla nudiceps, nov. sp.

@ :—Ressemble extrémement a la précédente, mais la téte est rouge

comme le thorax, sans pubescence dorée, les yeux sont un peu moins

grands, le thorax est plus robuste, un peu plus large en arriére qu’en

avant, le premier segment abdominal est nu, non recouvert de pubes-

cence noire, éparsement ponctué et luisant, le pygidium est nettement,

fortement et longitudinalement strié sur toute sa surface, tandis que

chez M. agnata il est plus irréguli¢rement ridé. lle différe aussi de

M. soror et M. nereis par la téte rouge et par la présence d’une bande

dorée sur le cinquiéme segment. Long: 9 a 12 mill,

Poona, Kanara (Mr. Wroughton).

22. Mutilla sexmaculata (Sweder).

Jabalpur (Mr. J. A. Betham).

23. Mutilla niveosignata, nov. sp.

9 :—Téte, antennes et patties noires ; thorax noir, sauf la majeure

partie de sa face dorsale qui est d’un rouge ferrugineux et revétue

d’une pubescence trés éparse d’un fauve clair. Abdomen noir, dense-

ment revetu de pubescence noire; premier segment presque nu en

avant, cilié sur son bord postérieur de poils fauves formant une bande

peu fournie qui s’étend sur le segment suivant ; second segment avec

deux taches ovales, horizontales, de pubescence d’un blanc d’argent,

assez éloignées de son bord antérieur ; troisiéme segment avec deux

taches carrées de méme pubescence, plus larges que les précédentes en

dessous desquelles elles sont respectivement situées. Dessus du corps

hérissé de soies fauves ; une pilosite blanche en dessous et sur les pattes.

Téte arrondie, de la largeur du thorax, trés grossiérement ridée-réti-

culée; troisiéme article des antennes au moins deux fois aussi long qui

le quatriéme ; yeux ovales, de grandeur moyenne, 4 peu pres de la

méme longueur que l’espace occupé derriére eux par le vertex. Thorax

quadrangulaire, assez court, un peu plus large en arriére qu’en avant,

ses bords latéraux trés légérement concaves; il est verticalement

tronqué en arriére avec le bord supérieur de la troncature un peu ar-

-rondi ; sa face dorsale est grossiérement ridée-réticulée ainsi que ses

faces latérales, sauf les mésopleures qui sont lisses et luisantes et garnies

de pubescence blanche sur leur moitié inférieure. Abdomen ovale, son

premier segment large, s’adaptant réguliérement au segment suivant ;

DES MUTILLES DE L'INDE, 481

second segment grossi¢rement ridé-réticulé en dessus, plus faiblement

en dessous ou il est pourvu de trois carénes longitudinales, une médiane

raccourcie et deux latérales plus longues mais n’atteignant pas le bord

postérieur ; pygidium presque lisse, non strié. Hpines des tibias

brunes ; éperons pales. Long: 10 mill.

Cette espéce est trés voisine de MV. sewmaculata (Swed.) ; mais elle est

plus petite, son premier segment abdominal est frangé de poils fauves,

et le second ne porte que deux taches blanches au lieu de quatre.

Poona (Mr. Wroughton),

Orissa (Mr. James Taylor).

24. Mutilla maculeceps, nov. sp.

2 :—Teéte noire, avec une grande tache quadrangulaire sur le vertex

de pubescence d’un blanc d’argent ; scape des antennes et pattes d’un

brun noir, funicule et tarses rougedtres. Thorax d’un rouge sombre

sur son disque, noir sur le reste de sa surface; la partie rouge revétue

de pubescence peu serrée d’un jaune d’or, Abdomen noir, abondam-

ment revétu de pubescence noire, sauf sur son premier segment qui est

a peu prés glabre; second segment avec quatre taches de pubescence

argentée, les deux supérieures allongées dans le sens longitudinal,

obliquement divergentes en arriere, touchant la base du segment et

assez distante l’une de l’autre, les deux inferieures plus petites,

arrondies et situées au bord apical du segment ; troisiéme segment avec

deux taches de semblable pubescence, de méme grandeur que les précé-

dentes. les six taches de l’abdomen sont placées trois par trois sur

la méme ligne verticale. Dessus dela téte, du thorax et de abdomen

hérissé d’assez longues soies brunes ; le devant de la téte, le dessous du

corps et les pattes éparsement hérissés de poils blanes. Tete arrondie,

un peu plus large que le thorax, grossiérement ridée-reticulée, chaque

maille du réseau portant dans son intérieur un ou plusieurs gros points

enfoncés ; troisiéme article des antennes deux fois aussi long que le

quatriéme ; yeux grands, ovales, convexes, plus long que l’espace

occupé derriére eux par le vertex. Thorax allongé, un peu rétréci en

avant, plus rétréci en arriére, ses bords latéraux trés faiblement arqués

en dehors ; sa face postérieure oblique rejoint sa face dorsale par une

large courbe, sans former de limite précise entre les deux faces : il est

grossierement ridé-réticulé en dessus, mais sans gros points au fond des

482 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

mailles ; son flancs sont presque lisses et luisants, sauf les métapleures

qui portent de grosses rides superficielles. Abdomen ovale, rétréci en

avant et plus encore en arriére ; son premier segment, médiocrement

large, s’adapte au segment suivant sans ¢tranglement et est marqué de

gros points irréguliers et épars ; la sculpture du second segment est

indistincte par suite de I’épaisseur de la pubescence noire qui le re-

couvre ; en dessous il est éparsement ponctué, luisant et rouge sur la

plus grande partie de sa surface; pygidium éparsement ponctué ;

épines des tibias d’un brun noir, éperons pales. Long: 7 mill.

Par la disposition des taches de son abdomen, cette espéce se rap-

proche de UM. sexmaculata (Swed.), mais sa taille est beaucoup moindre

et la forme de son thorax est toute différente. lle parait aussi avoir

quelque analogie avec la I. aulica (Smith), mais son second segment

abdominal offre quatre taches blanches au lieu de deux, et le quatrieme

segment est sans tache; elle s’éloigne enfin de M. kolabensis par son

second segment marqué de quatre taches blanches et par la forme toute

differente de son thorax.

Poona (Mr. Wroughton), un seul exemplaire.

25. Mutilla regia (Smith).

Répond tout 4 fait 4 la description de Smith, mais les quatriéme et

cinquiéme segments, portent en leur milieu de petites taches mal definies

de pubescence blanchatre, qui ne sont pas mentionnées par Smith, pro-

bablement 4 cause de l’usure de ses exemplaires.

Kanara (Mr. Wroughton).

96. Mutilla poonaensis (Cameron),

Mes exemplaires se rapportent parfaitement 4 la description de Came-

ron, sauf que la bande blanche du sommet du second segment est trés

légérement interrompue au milieu.

Kanara (Mr. Wroughton).

Orissa (Mr. Jas, Taylor).

27. Mutilla auropalliata, nov. sp.

Q :—Téte, thorax, antennes, pattes et premier segment de l’abdomen

d’un rouge de sang ; dessus de la téte et des deux tiers antérieurs du

thorax couvert d’une épaisse pubescence d’un beau jaune d’or pale, lui-

sant, qui cache entiérement la couleur fonciére ; le reste de l’abdomen

DES MUTILLES DE L'INDE. 483

d’un rouge sombre sur la moitié du second segment et noir 4 partir de

cet endroit, mais il parait noir en entier par suite de I’épaisse pubes-

cence noire qui recouvre toute sa surface ; second segment orné de

quatre petites taches d’un blanc d’argent Iuisant, l'une médiane prés de

sa base et les trois autres placées transversalement prés de son bord

apical; téte et thorax hérissés de quelques longues soies noiritres

entremélées d’autres d’un jaune d’or; des soies noires, également

longues et plus abondantes se voient sur le dos de l’abdomen;

en dessous du corps les soies blanches prédominent et les pattes sont

elles-mémes hérissées de soies noires mélangées 4 d’autres d’un jaune

pale. Téte un peu plus large que longue, moins large que le thorax, a

sculpture cachée par la vestiture ; troisiéme article des antennes court,

& peine aussi long que le quatriéme ; yeux ovales, assez grands, plus

longs que l’espace occupé derriére eux par le vertex. Thorax court, peu

rétréci en avant, trés rétréci en arriére, ses bords latéraux en arc con-

vexe ou méme légérement anguleux a la partie la plus large de sa face

dorsale ; il est obliquement tronqué en arriére, mais le bord supérieur

de la troncature est arrondi et porte en son milieu un onglet scutellaire

peu saillant ; la sculpture, visible seulement dans la partie nue, offre

une réticulation grossiére ; ces flancs sont eux-mémes ridés-réticulés,

sauf les mésopleures qui sont lisses et luisantes. Abdomen pétiolé, son

premier segment nodiforme en arriére et beaucoup plus étroit que le

segment suivant dont il est séparé par un étranglement trés sensible ;

il est presque lisse en avant, grossi¢rement réticulé en arriére. Second

segment paraissant fossulé-réticulé en dessus, autant que permet d’en

juger son épaisse pubescence ; en dessous il est éparsement marqué de

grosses fossettes; pygidium finement et Jongitudinalement strié,

Epines des tibias brunes, éperons jaundtres. Long : 8} mill.

Cette remarquable espéce parait avoir été figurée par M. Cameron,

Plate I, fig. 13, de ses Hymenoptera Orientalis, Part IV, 1892, mais n’a

été ni nommeée ni décrite dans le texte.

Poona (Mr. Wroughton), un seul exemplaire.

28. Mutilla trichocondyla, nov. sp.

Q :—Teéte et thorax d’un rouge de sang foncé, scape des antennes et

pattes d’un brun rougeatré, funicule ferrugineux. Abdomen noir,

médiocrement revétu de poils noirs couchés; second segment orné i

484 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIL.

son extrémité d’une bande, légérement interrompue au milieu, de pubes-

cence d’un jaune d’or ; troisitme segment entitrement couvert de pubes-

cence semblable ; en dessous et sur les cdtés les segments 2 4 5 sont

abondamment ciliés de poils d’un jaune d’or, le segment anal en est

assez densément pourvu. De longues soies de méme couleur, insérées 4

la base du métathorax et du premier segment abdominal, donnent une

apparence trés hérissée 4 |’intervalle qui sépare le thorax de l’abdomen,

Le dessus de la téte, du thorax et des segments abdominaux, a l’excep-

tion du troisiéme et du dernier, est parsemé de soies noires et courtes ; les

pattes et les flancs du thorax sont hérissés de poils d’un jaune d’or- |

Téte aussi longue que large, un peu plus étroite que le thorax, trés

grossiérement ponctuée-réticulée ; troisiéme article des antennes environ

une fois et demie aussi long que le quatriéme; yeux médiocres, en

ovale court, 4 peu prés aussi long que l’espace occupé derriére eux par le

vertex. Thorax trapézoidal, plus large en avant qu’en arricére, dilate de

chaque cété, vers son tiers antérieur, en une forte dent mousse, en

arriére et 4 quelque distance de laquel se voit un tubercule arrondi beau-

coup moins saillant. Le métathorax est assez brusquement tronqué

en arriére, mais sans arréte distincte entre ses faces dorsale et posté-

rieure ; il est grossicrement ponctué-réticulé sur le dos, trés finement

chagriné sur les flancs, sauf dans les parties saillantes qui séparent les

pleures et qui sont assez grossiérement ponctuées. Abdomen en ovale

assez allongé; son premier segment assez court et un peu moins large

que le segment suivant auquel il ne s’adapte pas tout a fait réoulicre-

ment maisavec un leger ressaut ; second segment fortement fossulé-

réticulé en dessus, un peu plus superficiellement en dessous; segment

anal avec des élévations caréniformes 4 sa base, finement rugueux

2 Pextrémité. Tibias médiocrement épmeux, les épines ainsi que les

éperons d’un rougedtre pale. Long : 13 mill.

Kanara (Mr. Wroughton), un seul exemplaire.

29. Mutilla pulchrina (Smith).

Kanara (Mr. Wroughton),

30. Mutilla argentipes (Smith).

Kanara (Mr. Wroughton).

31. Mutilla argenteo-maculata (Smith),

Poona, Kanara (Mr. Wroughton).

Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., Vol, Vill. Plate A.

Behari Lal Das. Del. 8 Lith. Caleutta

SPALGIS “EPIWS: Westwoad, Fram S Giele.

Journ.

Bombay. Nat.

Hist. Soc., Vol. VIII.

SPALGIS S-SIGNATA, Holland, from W. Africa.

Plate

Wisi

485

THE LARVA AND PUPA OF SPALGIS EPIUS,

WESTWOOD.

By B. H. ArrKen.

(With Plates A and B.)

( Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 10th March 1894,)

Spalgis epius, Westwood, is a small butterfly of the family Lyce-

nid, not handsome or brightly coloured, but so curiously marked that

there is little difficulty in distinguishing it from all our other “ Blues,”

The upperside is brown, with a quadrangular whitish spot, or patch,

in the middle of the forewing. But when the butterfly is resting,

with wings closed, it is the underside we see, and this is of a clear

French-grey colour, covered with a tracery of very fine, dark, zig-zag

lines. In the centre of each wing there is a small, oval, whitish

spot, and the peculiarity of the butterfly’s appearance is completed by

the very short antenne and bright green eyes. The forewing of the

male is sharply pointed, that of the female more rounded. It is

found, I believe, throughout India, and, though not exactly a rare

butterfly, does not seem to be plentiful anywhere. Mr, Moore, in

his great book on the Lepidoptera of Ceylon, gave a figure of a curious

object, green and red, with long processes on its back, as the larva

of Spalgis epius, and said that it fed on Huphorbiacew. Afterwards Mr.

EK. EH. Green, of Ceylon, wrote to Mr. de Nicéville that he had reared

the larvae of Spalgis epius, or some butterfly indistinguishable from it, and

that they were carnivorous, feeding upon the white, fluffy, plant-

louse known to gardeners as the “ mealy bug.” Mr. de Nicéville pub-

lished Mr. Green’s observations in his book, and evidently leaned to

the view that he was right and Mr, Moore wrong ; but I had not seen

the passage when, in December, 1891, I saw a female Spalgis epius

flying suspiciously about a bush and thought it might be laying its

eggs. This led me to examine the plant, and almost at once I found

an unmistakeable lyczenid pupa. Then I instituted a regular search,

but not a larva could I find, nor any trace of one. The leaves of the

plant were nowhere eaten, and it was too much infested with “ mealy

bug ” to afford fresh, wholesome food to delicate insects. I had

almost given up the search when I noticed that some of the bugs were

enormously large. I brushed the white, woolly secretion off these, and

they were uncommonly like lycsenid larvee. They were of the wood-

louse form so common among the larve of that family, of a dark

486 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. Vill,

greenish-brown colour, with a few hairs scattered over the back, and

a fringe of bristles running along the side and round the front,

where the second segment conceals the head. With this fringe I

saw them shovel a quantity of the white stuff on to their backs and

clothe their nakedness after I had denuded them. Watching them

with a lens, I soon saw that they were feeding among the “ mealy

bugs.” They would pass over the larger individuals and bury their

heads in the downy covering of a little one, and though I could not

say I actually saw that they devoured it, I was quite satisfied that this

was what they did. So I secured a number and put them into a pill-

box, with a supply of their prey, and in a few days the prey had

disappeared and the larvee had become pupe. In a fortnight (exactly

twice the time required by the smaller Lycenide generally) fine

specimens of Syalgis epius emerged. I was very much surprised at

my discovery, for I did not then know that any butterfly larvee were

carnivorous, except when they indulged in cannibalism and ate each

other, as Lycenide often do. I wrote at once to Mr. de Nicéville, who

replied, drawing my attention to the passage in his book and saying

he was glad 1 had confirmed Mr. Green’s observations, I mention

all this to show that my observations were not biassed by any previous

notion of what my eyes ought to see. Afterwards Mr. de Nicéville

sent me a paper, published in ‘‘ Psyche,’ on Spalgis s-segnata, an

African species of the same genus, the larvee of which are also carnivo-

rous. The most remarkable thing in this paper was a figure of the

pupa, which, when magnified, exhibits a resemblance to the face of an

ape, or chimpansee, so striking and so detailed that it is more than

ludicrous, and deserves to be called mysterious. Unfortunately, when

I found my specimens, I was travelling in haste through a very wild

part of the country, so I put away the pup without examining them

closely, and I never saw another until last month (September), when Mr.

J. Davidson, 1.C.8., found two in Karwar. On examining them with

a lens, what was my astonishment to find a face totally different from

that presented by the African species, but even more life-like and

expressive. ars were wanting, but every other feature was there.

The abdominal portion of the pupa formed the forehead, two gleaming

black spots, exactly in the right place, made a most malignant pair of

eyes, the arched thorax was the nose, the effect of which was height-

ened by its being almost black at the muzzle, and the head, with its

attachment to the thorax, formed the chin and lips. No description

can convey any idea of the way in which the contour, features, and

THE LARVA AND PUPA OF SPALGIS EPIUS, WESTWOOD. 487

expression are worked out, and I am afraid that the plate will be re-

garded as overdone. To this I can only reply that it is underdone.

Drawing an object under a strong lens is difficult and the artist has

failed to bring out the peculiarly expressive moulding of the lips and

the malignant gleam of the eyes. In order to make it easier to

understand the figure, the pupa has been shown nearly life-size in two

positions. It is attached by the anal end to a leaf, usually, I think, on

the upperside, so rigidly that it remains in a position parallel to the

surface of the leaf. There is no band.

This almost perfect and yet wholly unaccountable representation of

animal physiognomy in the pupee of two allied butterflies should make

us cautious of explaining every fancied resemblance by “ protective

mimicry.” The likeness of the “* Leaf Butterfly” to a withered leaf and

of certain Phasmide to green leaves or sticks does undoubtedly often

save their lives, but in none of them does the likeness approach this

one, for which it seems impossible to suggest cause or reason. For

what advantage can it be to an object the size of a grain of wheat

that it looks just like a baboon? Verily we are not better than our

fathers. It is a lusus nature.

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

Plate A,

Fig. 1. Imago of Spalgis epius, Westwood, male, from South

India, natural size.

Fig. 2. Ditto, female.

3. Dorsal view of the pupa of the same, highly magnified.

» 4. Side view of ditto, slightly enlarged.

5. Dorsal view of ditto, slightly enlarged.

Plate B.

This plate, with some slight alterations only—z.e., a front or dorsal

view of the pupa of the natural size has been added, and the sides of the

imago have been reversed, the left-hand side now showing the upper-

side, the right-hand the underside—has been copied from the original

Plate IV of “ Psyche,” vol. VI (1892), p. 201, drawn by the

Rev. W. J. Holland, Ph.D.

Fig. 1. Imago of Spalgs s-signata, Holland, from West Africa.

2. Larva of ditto, dorsal view.

» 9. Dorsal view of the pupa of the same, highly magnified,

4, Side view of ditto, probably natural size.

» 9 Dorsal view of ditto, also probably natural size,

488

BOTANY OF THE LACCADIVES, sine NATURAL

HISTORY NOTES FROM H. M. I, M. SURVEY

STEAMER “INVESTIGATOR,” CommanpER

Rk, F. HOSKYN, R.N., COMMANDING.

Series II, No. 5. By D. Pram.

Additional Note.

Since this paper was published, the writer has learned that while it is true

that in Sir Wm. Robinson’s day the Southern Laccadive islands belonged to

the Cannanore 7aj, and though this arrangement was still in force at the time

of Mr, A, O. Hume’s visit in 1875, very shortly after this date they were,

owing to revenue arrears, placed directly under British rule,*

The name given in this paper to the excavated areas under cultivation is

wrong. Sir Wm. Robinson gives two names—the éot or kat, and the writer,

following what has become the more usual custom, has unfortunately employed

the latter only, But itis the word ¢ot, which is a form of the Malayalam

word for garden, that should alone be used; the word hat is aform of a

Malayalam word for forest or jungle and is altogether inapplicable, The

writer is indebted to Mr. Winterbotham, Collector of Tanjore, for kindly point-

ing out this error to him.

Mr. Winterbotham informs him also that on Suhelipar reef there is an

island, Suheli ; and that it has coco-nut .trees.t

In addition to the species enumerated in the list of plants should be inserted

after n. 163, 163b. ALOcASIA INDICA, Linn., which, as_ well as Colocasia

antiquorum, is cultivated in Kalpéni, and perhaps in some of the other islands,

* Tt is characteristic of the inexactness of the information contained in the Imperzal

Gazetteer of India that even its second edition (1886) makes no mention of this not un-

important fact,

What would happen were these arrears to be paid up, it is very hard to predict. The

inhabitants of the southern islands, after nearly twenty years’ experience of settled British

administration, declare that they willresist by force any attempt on the part of the Can-

nanore raj to re-impose on them a native domination.

{ It is not unlikely that, as in Bitrapar, these cocoenut trees have been planted. The

island has a particularly fine lagoon and is often visited for its nuts and coir; doubtless it

would be permanently inhabited were it not that, again exactly as in Bitrapar, when wells

are dug only brackish and undrinkable water is obtained. One of the special features of

Suheli is the presence of a large Banyan tree, clearly a planted species.

489

NOTES ON THE SYNONYMY OF SOME SPECIES

OF INDIAN PIERIN ZL.

By E. Y. Watson, Inpian Starr Corps.

(With Plates I and IT.)

WHILE on leave in England a year or so ago, I endeavoured to

name my collection of Pverine, and to ascertain the difference

between the numerous ‘‘ species” described, especially in the genera

Terias and Izias. From the descriptions alone it is absolutely impos-

sible to identify specimens, and I found that, even with the type

specimens before me, the question to which named form any particular

specimen was referable, was a matter of the greatest uncertainty. In

either of the above quoted genera for example, we see in the British

Museum collection a series of specimens arranged above each name,

the type specimen being frequently included; but on further examina-

tion of the series it is found that the specimens contained in it are not

absolutely identical the one with the other or with the type, and that

in many cases some of the specimens might equally well be arranged

under the succeeding series, or, in fact, under one several rows distant,

If we find this the case in the National Collection, which is arranged by

experts, how can the ordinary individual ever hope to name his collec-

tion? The true explanation of course is, that many of the so-called

“ species’ simply represent some of the numberless seasonal forms which

occur in Terias and Jxas, in which genera, especially in the dry-season

forms, it is almost impossible to obtain two specimens which agree with

one another in every minute particular, and it must be remembered that

the “‘ species ” in these genera have in the majority of cases been differ-

entiated on the minutest details. The result has been that when

collections arrive at the British Museum it has been found necessary

either to describe and name every individual or else to assign the

specimens to that form to which they bear the closest resemblance ;

since this latter alternative has been adopted in the majority of cases,

the natural consequence has been that, under each “ species,” number~

less links to other “ species” have been arranged, one series in some

cases running into four or five other series according to whether the

acquisitions are incorporated on the markings of the fore- or hindwing

or upper- or underside respectively, all of which are eminently variable,

490 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

However, my object was not so much to ascertain the species

to which my specimens belonged, as to find out which particular

names were referable to which particular forms of which

particular species, and as with the type specimens before me

it has been possible to ascertain what is impossible from de-

scriptions and figures alone, I have thought it would be some

assistance to working entomologists in India if I published the

conclusions arrived at. In cases where the type of any particular

species isnot in the National Collection, the identifications of the

British Museum have been accepted.

There is no group of butterflies which has been so hardly dealt

with by the species-maker as the Péerine, or in which so much in-

genuity has been wasted in the attempt to make species out of the

many seasonal varieties which occur in almost every genus. The

naming of these various forms is no doubt largely due to the fact that

individuals of most species occur in great numbers, and in any collec-

tion which arrives in England many of the slight varieties will be found

to occur, to the great delight of the worker-out of the said collection, who

immediately sits down and describes them wholesale. That the above

statement is very near the truth is borne out by the fact, that of fifteen

forms of what I consider to be Terias hecabe, Linneeus, which have been

described within the last ten years, no less than fourteen were described

from the dry plains of Western and North-Western India, from districts

where vegetation is comparatively sparse and the species of butterflies

much more limited in number than in the wet heavy forest districts of

North-Hastern India, or Burma, or even the hill-ranges of Southern

India, so that when a collection is sent home from the above-mentioned

plains districts, if the worker-out wishes to describe new species, he has

to fall back on the Pierine for his purpose, as the other families would

be represented only by well-known species presenting comparatively

little variation, while, on the other hand, a collection from a richer

district would afford new species from other families, and would not

therefore offer the same temptation to describe slight varieties. These

remarks though applying in greatest force to the Pierin@, where slight

varieties are innumerable, will also be found to apply in many other

cases, as for instance in the genera Catochrysops, Tarucus and Zizera

in the Lycenide.

SYNONYMY OF SOME SPECIES OF INDIAN PIERINZZ. 491

There seems to be some confusion in the minds of naturalists at

home as to what is meant by dry- and wet-seagon broods. Mr. Butler

speaks of them quite wrongly as Spring and Autumn broods, and seems

to be under the impression that there are only two broods annually, as

he considers that an instance of the eggs of typical Terias hecabe pro-

ducing typical T, hecabe proves that T. excavata or any other similar form

cannot be the dry-season form of T. hecabe. He is however working on a

wrong basis: 7’. hecabe has atleast four and probably more broods annu-

ally, of which those individuals which emerge during the rainy-season

would betypical 7. hecabe, but those which emerge during the dry-season

would be 7. excavata or some other dry-season form, while there is no

doubt that in some cases the eggs laid by one female would produce

more than one form, according to the state of the atmosphere shortly

before the emergence of each individual, which is the period at which

it would be chiefly affected. Also the descendants of the first of the

rainy-season broods would themselves be of the rainy-season form, and

similarly the descendants of the first of the dry-season broods would be

also of the dry-season form, and only the last of the wet- or dry-season

broods would produce forms differing from themselves. To put down

the broods of J. hecabe at four annually is a very moderate

estimate, it is in fact probable that in the warmer regions there may be

ten or even twelve broods a year, one brood following another without

any break and in rapid succession.

Another difficulty with which naturalists at home have to contend

is that in different parts of the Indian region the seasons vary to a

certain extent, so that it cannot be laid down as a fixed rule that

specimens captured in any particular month will belong to any par-

ticular form ; besides which allowance has to be made for breaks in the

rains or showers in the dry-season; roughly however the rainy-season may

be said to extend from the middle of May to the middle of November,

and the dry-season for the rest of the year, and it will be found that

the very large majority of the specimens obtained during these periods

will be wet- and dry-season forms respectively. It will be seen from

this how misleading are the terms Spring and Autumn forms, while

the terms hot- and cold-season forms are equally inappropriate. The

limitations given above are approximately those of the seasons in

Burma, but they are liable to vary a fortnight either way, while in

492 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

the hilly districts of that country the rains sometimes continue till

well into December. The same limitations would also apply fairly

well to the whole of Hastern and Southern India, but in the dry tracts

of the North-west the rains are of shorter duration and are less con-

tinuous ; consequently, rainy-season forms are scarce, and dry-season

ones are much more pronounced.

It must also be borne in mind that these seasonal races are not con-

fined to two clearly defined forms, 7.e., a rainy-season, and a dry-season

form, but that in most species there are not only two very distinct-looking

forms which represent the extremes of the two seasonal races,

and which prevail in the rainy and dry-seasons respectively, but

also numerous intermediates linking these extremes together, many of

these intermediates having received names. A further point to be

noticed is that these forms themselves vary according to the vegetation

and rainfall, so that the extreme of the rainy-season form from a dis-

trict where the rainfall is great and the vegetation dense is much more

pronounced than the extreme of the rainy-season form from a district

with slight rainfall and sparse vegetation ; and these differences are

even more marked in the dry-season forms ; while in all genera the

dry-season forms are asa rule smaller than the rainy-season forms.

It is therefore an extremely difficult matter for home naturalists to

work out correctly questions of seasonal variation, more especially as

it is their usual practice to ignore the observations of working col-

lectors who see the species in life and note the forms changing month

by month from one extreme to the other.

The question as to what forms should be granted specific rank is

one which is continually under dispute, and it is impossible to lay

down any hard or fast rule which could be applied to all families and

genera of butterflies, as in some genera we find absolutely fixed types

which are constant throughout their range, while in other genera the

- difficulty is to find two individuals which are absolutely identical.

The most obvious way out of the difficulty is to give sub-specific names

to forms which appear to be constant but nevertheless to be too closely

allied to some other form to be considered a distinct species, and this

practice has been adopted to a limited extent by Mr. Scudder in his

“ Butterflies of the Eastern United States,” and I consider it very pro-

bable that it will be found necessary hereafter to adopt some similar

SYNONYMUY OF SOME SPECIES OF INDIAN PIERIN Z&, 493

method with the Asiatic Pierine. In this paper, where a form appears

to be fairly constant in a fairly defined area, it has been treated as a

local race, reference being made to the species of which it is, in all

probability, a modification. But I think the practice of naming

seasonal forms cannot be too strongly deprecated, this being done fre-

quently without any reference to the other forms of the same species,

so that the study of the variation of species, which, I take it, is one

of the chief aims of entomology as a science, is not in any way fur-

thered, but is, on the contrary, rather retarded. Further, in groups,

such as the hecabe group of Terias, where it is extremely difficult to

find two individuals of the dry-season form absolutely identical in

markings, each specimen might be named and described as reasonably

as many of the so-called “ species.”

The extraordinary extent to which this splitting of species may be

carried is well exemplified in the arrangement of the collection at the

British Museum, a most noteworthy point being that though practi-

eally every named form of Terias and Izas is represented in the

collection, yet there are almost as many unnamed forms separated off as

distinct species and only awaiting a sufficiently bold describer to name

them. Yet in spite of these many “ species” I found, on trying to name

my collection, mostly from Burma and Southern India, and containing

several hundred specimens of Jaas and Terias, that though many

specimens could be matched approximately, yet a very large residue

could not be assigned to any (named or unnamed) species in th

British Museum collection, and consequently represented many “ new

species.” As my collection was obtained at all periods of the year,

and as every specimen is dated, I was able to work it out to my own

satisfaction, and totassign the different seasonal forms to the species to

which in my opinion they belong, and though of course I do not fora

moment anticipate that my conclusions will be accepted by the

describers, yet I do not think I shall be far wrong in saying

that there is hardly a single working entomologist in India who has

not arrived at similar conclusions.

As Mr. Butler is the custodian of the butterfly collection at the

British Museum and is therefore responsible for its arrangement as well

as for the naming of many of the seasonal forms, I trust that both he

and others will bear in mind that the Butler referred to is one of

494 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII

many years ago and not the present reformed character who has

relinquished butterflies in favour of moths, and whose views on variation

have in consequence undergone considerable modification. This

latter gentleman, while I was at home, treated me with the greatest

kindness and gave me much assistance, though we differed on many

points, and I should be the last to criticize his views from any personal

animosity, and only do so that something like order may be produced

from the chaos of the splitter. I consider the above remarks necessary,

as I noticed when at home that some entomologists seemed to consider

any criticism on their work, even when just, must have emanated from

personal animosity, though one would have thought their opinions

were published for the benefit of science in general, and that they

should therefore be grateful if any points on which they had gone

astray were put straight by others who had greater opportunities for

observation.

The genera of the Pzerine, which present the greatest variation and

with which alone it is proposed to deal in this paper, are Huphina,

Appias, Ixias, Tertas, and Teracolus. In the remaining genera of the

Pierine the species present for the most part comparatively little

variation, and the synonymy is consequently not so voluminous.

HUuPHINA.

In this genus seasonal variation is shown in the greater prominence

of all the dark markings on the upperside and in the much richer

coloration of the underside in the rainy-season forms, the general tone

of the underside in the dry-season forms being, in most species, of a

much greyer shade. The difference in size referred to above is also

very marked.

The numerous named forms in this genus, from the Indian region,

if local races be excluded,may be reduced to three species only, the

males of which may be compared as below :—

A,—Hindwing broadly orange towards the anal angle.

H. tea, Doubleday.

B.—Hindwing not orange towards the anal angle; a more or

less prominent spot in the upper median interspace of the

forewing on the upperside.

H, PHRYNE, Fabricius.

SYNONYMY OF SOME SPECIES OF INDIAN PIERINZ. 495

C.—Hindwing not orange towards the anal angle ; no black spot

in the upper median interspace of the forewing on the

upperside.

H. nama, Moore,

H., lea is a common species in Southern Burma and usually stands

under the name of H. amalia, Vollenhoven, as Burmese (and Malay)

specimens generally differ from typical 4. lea from Borneo in having

a narrower dark margin to the hindwing on the underside, and a

greater extent of yellow suffusion on the same wing, but Mr. de Nicéville

informs me that he finds these differences are not constant and that he

sees no point on which the males of H.lea and HA. amalia can be

separated, .

HI. phryne occurs typically throughout the whole of peninsular

India ; east of Calcutta it is replaced by a geographical race, H. dapha,

Moore, and in the Andamans by a second race, H. lichenosa, Moore.

The males of these three forms may be compared as below:—

A.—Spot in upper median interspace on upperside of forewing

clearly defined ; underside, hindwing yellow, the veins

fuscous.

H. PHRYNE, Fabricius.

B.—Spot in upper median interspace on upperside of forewing

clearly defined ; underside, hindwing white, the veins

fuscous.

H, papHa, Moore.

C.—Spot in upper median interspace on upperside of forewing

almost merged in marginal border ; underside, hindwing

almost entirely suffused with greenish-yellow, the veins con-

colorous.

H. ticHenosa, Moore.

The form which is referred to here as H. dapha stands under that

name in the British Museum, and the writer has not been able to

find out for certain under what name the local race should stand, but

probably HZ. nerissa, Fabricius, will be found to be the oldest name.

This form is very common throughout Burma and extends as far west

as Sikkim, being replaced by H. phryne in the rest of the Indian

region. It may be distinguished from typical H. phryne in all its

forms by the ground-colour of the underside being white (tinged with

greyish-ochreous in the dry-season form), whereas in H. phryne the

496 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

ground-colour is invariably some shade of yellow. The dry-season

form of H. phryne is the H. cassida of Fabricius, and is also the

HT. pallida of Swinhoe.

HT, lichenosa is a very well-marked local race from the Andamans.

AI, nama, with its dry-season form, H. amba, Wallace, occurs fairly

commonly throughout North-Hastern India and Burma, and also in

the Andamans, the race occurring there having been named

AM, andamana by Swinhoe, but the only difference between specimens of

HH, nama and H. andamana, Swinhoe, is the locality-label on the pin.

H, nama. is replaced in the Nilgiris by a good local race, H. remba,

Moore, the dry-season form of which is probably the “ species”

recently described by Col. Swinhoe as H. liguida. Seasonal forms of

Huphina from my collection are figured on Plate I, figures 1 to 12

and Plate II, figures 6 and 7. Figures 1 and 2 on Plate I are

from a pair of the extreme rainy-season form of H. dapha taken

in coité at Thayetmyo, Lower Burma, in August ; figures 3 and 4 are

from a pair of an intermediate seasonal form of H. dapha taken in

coitt at Pokoko, Upper Burma, in October ; figures 5 and 6 are from

a pair of the extreme dry-season form of H. dapha taken in coité

at Toungoo, Lower Burma, in January. Similarly figures 7 to 12,

represent males and females of the extreme rainy-season form, an inter-

mediate form, and the extreme dry-season form of A. phryne ; figures

@ and 8 from a pair taken 2m codéd at Berhampore, Ganjam, in July ;

figures 9 and 10 from a male taken at Madras on the 2nd April and a

female taken at Madras on the 31st March ; and figures 11 and 12

from a pair taken zn coztd at Berhampore, Ganjam, in February.

Figures 6 and 7 on Plate II show the underside of males of the rainy-

season and dry-season form respectively of A. nama, the former from

a specimen taken in the North Chin Hills, Upper Burma, in the ond

of April, and the latter from a specimen taken in the Yaw District,

Upper Burma, in December.

Other named forms of the genus, which are either not represented in

the national collection or are doubtfully identified, are A. amasene,

Cramer ; H. evagete, Cramer ; H. zeuxtppe, Cramer; H. hira, Moore ;

H. coronis, Cramer ; and H. copia, Wallace. Mr. de Nicéville informs

me that H. amasene was described from China, and that he fails to

recognise it as Indian ; that A. evagete represents a male of the richly-

SYNONYMY OF SOME SPECIES OF INDIAN PIERINZ. 497

coloured rains-form of H. phryne, that the figure of H. zeuaippe shows

a dry-season female of H. phryne, that H. hira represents the extreme

of the dry-season form of H. phryne from districts where vegetation

is scanty, that H. coronis is figured from the very darkest female

rains-form of H, phryne, and that H. copia is usually given as a

synonym of H. zeuxippe.

APPIAS.

This genus is usually divided into two sections, viz., Appias and

Catophaga, the latter differing from typical Appzas in the forewing being

more produced apically and the outer margin excavated below the apex

instead of straight, These seem to form two very natural sections, the two

Indian species of the first section being very closely allied, in fact merely

geographical representatives of one another, while they differ from the

species of Catophaga in being very numerous in individuals, and being

most abundant in comparatively arid tracts, while the species of Cato-

phaga appear to prefer denser jungle and being also much less numerous

in individuals are consequently not so well represented in collections,

Section APPIAs,

Seasonal variation is shown much as in Huphina, the rainy-season

forms being larger and more profusely marked than the dry-season ones;

the latter also having the ground-colour of the underside tinged with

ochreous instead of being pure white, A. lbythea, Fabricius, and

A, zelmira, Cramer, are the only two species which occur within

Indian limits, the latter being the Hastern representative of the former.

Both these species show considerable seasonal variation, and four of

the seasonal forms have been named by Colonel Swinhoe, three of them

in the “ Annals and Magazine of Natural History ” for 1890 (pages 358

et seq.) Ofthese four named forms, A. ares and A. retexta are

respectively the extremes of the dry- and wet-season forms of A, libythea,

the typical form of which is intermediate between the two. The other

two named forms, A. zvinii, and A. olferna, are respectively the

extreme of the dry-season form and an intermediate between the

two extreme forms of A. zelmira, which is itself the extreme of the

wet-season form,

A, zelmira is a species which shows the transition from the extreme

of one form to the extreme of the other more clearly than any other

species known to me, and it is by no means difficult to obtain a series

498 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. V1I1.

of males showing every stage from one extreme, with all the veins

on the underside of the hindwing broadly black, to the other extreme,

in which the whole hindwing is of a uniform, slightly ochreous tint,

the only marking being a few greyish scales across the end of the cell.

Five forms from my collection are figured on Plate II. Figure 1 from

a specimen taken at Pokoko, Upper Burma, in October ; figure 2 from

a specimen taken in the Upper Chindwin District, Upper Burma, in

May; figure 3 from a specimen taken at the same time and place ;

figure 4 from a specimen taken in the Yaw District, Upper Burma, in

January ; and figure 5 from a specimen taken at Toungoo, Lower

Burma, in January.

It is curious that Colonel Swinhoe has failed to recognise the fact

of the above forms being seasonal, for though he has never met with

A, zelmira in life, yet A. libythea is a common species in Western

India, where he has spent the best part of his life, and though the males

of the latter species do not vary to the same extent as do the males

of A. zelmira, yet the females show a complete transition from one

extreme to the other. Col. Swinhoe also states he has a long series of

all three species (i.e., A. libythea, A. ares and A. retexta), but makes no

mention of intermediates, though my experience is, that if a large

series be collected, month by month, there are very numerous

specimens which cannot definitely be assigned to any one particular

named form.

In nearly all its forms, the male of A. zelmira can be distinguished

from that of A, libythea by the black venation of the underside of the

hindwing as well as by the much larger extent and white spotting of

the apical patch on the forewing ; the dry-season forms, however, are

not so easily separated, as not only is the black venation of the under-

side entirely absent in A. zelmira, but the white spotting of the apical

patch on the forewing is also obsolescent ; however, the greater extent

of the apical patch in A. zelmira appears to be a good and constant

character, as in dry-season A. lebythea this apical patch is almost

entirely wanting.

The females are similarly easily enough separated in the rainy-season

forms, the female of A. zelmira being much more richly marked with

yellow and green on the underside of both wings, though these tints are

not entirely absent from the extreme rainy-season female of A, libythea

SYNONYMY OF SOME SPECIES OF INDIAN PIERINZ. 499

as stated by Swinhoe in his description of A. reteata, nor are the apical

white spots of the female of A. zelmira at all constant or invariably

present as implied by Swinhoe in his description above quoted. The

females of the dry-season forms of the two species approach each other

very closely, but even in these the underside of the female of A. zelmira

appears to be invariably more richly marked than that of A. libythea,

Section CATOPHAGA.

There are some fifteen named forms of Catophaga from the Indian

region in the national collection, which may be compared as below :-—

A. Male, upperside red.

C. aauBa, Wallace, In the B. M. from Manipur and Sylhet.

B. Male, upperside white ; underside, hindwing with no black mar-

ginal band.

a. Male, base of forewing broadly irrorated with bluish-grey.

a. No large black spot in upper median interspace in the male,

a®, Male, apical border of forewing black extending broadly

to outer angle, enclosing a curved series of well-

defined apical white spots. Underside, male, pale

yellow ; female, pearly-white.

C, warpi, Moore. In the B. M. from the Nilgiris,

b?, Male, apex of forewing irrorated with greyish, enclosing

a row of ill-defined whitish spots. Underside, male,

pale yellow ; female, pearly-white.

C. neomso, Boisduval. In the B. M. from the Nilgiris.

b', A large black spot in upper median interspace in the male.

C. aLopr, Wallace.

6. Male, base of forewing slightly or not at all irrorated with

bluish-grey.

a’, Male with a black spot in upper median interspace of the

forewing on the underside.

C. ROEPSTORFFII, Moore. In the B. M. from Camorta,

b', Male with no black spot in upper median interspace of the

forewing on the underside.

a*, Male, apex of forewing broadly irrorated with greyish,

enclosing no white spots. Underside, male and female,

hindwing and apex of forewing deep ochreous-yellow.

500 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

C. LANKAPURA, Moore. In the B. M. from Ceylon and the North-

West Provinces.

b?, Male, apex of forewing narrowly irrorated with greyish,

Underside, male, pale ochreous ; female, pearly-white,

a®, Male, grey apical patch of forewing, extending for a

short distance along costa. Female, bluish irrora-

tions at base of forewing on upperside extending up

to or beyond the forking of the lower median branch.

a*, Male, a few apical black spots on margin of hind-

C. DARADA, Felder.

wing. Female, white portion of forewing

extending across the end of the cell to the upper

discoidal nervule ; apical patch containing four

white spots (the uppermost one of the possible

five being absent), the two upper prominent,

the two lower minute. Underside, forewing

strongly suffused with orange-yellow from the

base to more than two-thirds the length of cell.

In the B. M. from Darjeeling.

b+, Male, upperside, hindwing unmarked at apex.

C, GALENA, Felder.

Female, white portion of forewing extending

across lower end of cell, only reaching the lower

discoidal nervule. Three apical white spots all

prominent (the uppermost and lowermost of the

possible five wanting). Underside, forewing

suffused with pale yellow from the base to the

first median branch.

In the B. M. from Ceylon.

6%, Male, greyish irroration at apex of forewing not extend-

ing along costa. Female, bluish irroration at base

of forewing on upperside not extending as far as

forking of lower median branch. White portion of

wing extending across the end of the cell to the

upper discoidal nervule. Three to five apical white

spots, the uppermost and lowermost always minute,

occasionally wanting, the other three always promi-

nent; faintly suffused with pale yellow at base of

forewing on underside.

SYNONYMY OF SOME SPECIES OF INDIAN PIERINA. 501

C. venusta, Moore, In the B. M. from Ceylon.

e%. Male, greyish irroration at apex of forewing very slight,

or entirely wanting. Female, grey irroration at

base of forewing on upperside extending to forking

of lower median branch. Five apical white spots,

the lowest alone being minute, the other four promi-

nent. Underside, forewing, strongly suffused with

lemon-yellow from the base to two-thirds the length

of the cell.

C. pauLina, Cramer. In the B. M. from Java, Penang, and Celebes.

C. Male, upperside white; underside, hindwing with a black

marginal band.

a. Male, upperside, hindwing, marginal band broad and diffused

inwardly, Female, the cell entirely or almost entirely

suffused with dark brown.

at, Male, underside, hindwing, subcostal vein black,

C. TAPROBANA, Moore (rainy-season form). In the B.M. from Ceylon.

C. apzRTA, Moore (dry-season form). In the B. M. from Ceylon.

C. LATIFASCIATA, Moore (dry-season form). In the B. M. from the

Nilgiris and Trevandrum.

bt, Male, underside; hindwing, subcostal vein concolorous with

rest of wing.

C. HIPPOIDES, Moore. In the B. M. from Manipur, Pegu, and

: Tenasserim.

6. Male, upperside hindwing marginal band narrow. Female,

the cell almost entirely white.

C. vacans, Moore. In the B. M. from Pegu and Modah (Irrawaddy).

C. EPIcaNA, Swinhoe. In the B. M. from Maldah,

Tam unable to say how C. epicena is supposed to differ from

C. vacans. In addition to the specimens in the collection at the Bri-

tish Museum, from the localities quoted above, there are in my collec-

tion specimens of C. wardi from the Nilgiris in June ; C. neombo from

the Nilgiris in January, and Mysore in November; C. alope from

Tenasserim in March ; C. lankapura from Madras in June ; C. darada

from Tenasserim in March, and the North Chin Hills, Burma, in June ;

C. galena from Madras in August; C. venusta from the Nilgiris in

October and January, Madras in July and August, and Tenasserim

502 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

in March; C. paulina from the South Chin Hills in May and the North

Chin Hills in the same month ; C. hippordes from Toungoo, Burma, in

March, and Tenasserim in January and February ; and C. vacans from

Toungoo, Burma, in January, February and March, from Myingyan,

Burma, in December, and from Mysore also in December.

The differences given above are in most cases of a very slight

nature, and though fairly constant in the specimens I have been able to

examine, it is most unlikely that they would be found to hold good in

a larger series. There can be little doubt that C. ward? and C. neombo

are forms of one and the same species, and it seems very probable

that C. darada, C. venusta, C. galena, C. paulina and probably

C. lankapura as well do not represent more than one species; C. alope

is according to Distant the male of C. lezs of Htibner and should stand

under that name.

Other named forms recorded from the Indian region are C. hippo,

Cramer, C. eleonora, Boisduyal, and C. nero, Fabricius.

IXIA.

In this genus seasonal variation is shown on the upperside by the

black markings being broader and more prominent, and on the

underside in the ocelli and other markings tending to become

obsolete in the rainy-season forms. In the dry-season forms the

marginal band on the upperside of the hindwing is frequently entirely

obsolete, while the markings on the underside are always mere or less

prominent. The tone of the underside in the dry-season forms of the

yellow group is also much more ochreous than in the wet-season

forms. The females of the yellow forms also further differ in the

coloration of the apical patch, which is deep orange in the dry-season

forms, but usually more or less tinged with yellow in the rainy-season

forms, being sometimes entirely yellow and even insome cases white.

Some thirty forms of Izias have been recorded from Indian limits

as distinct species, though the correctnumber probably does not exceed

four, if local races are excluded.

Mr. Butler (Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., March, 1888, p. 201), in

speaking of the species of Jaias in the collection of the British

Museum, says that a complete gradation can be traced from one extreme

to the other, ze, from J. reinwardti to I. depalpura, and his

SYNONYMY OF SOME SPECIES OF INDIAN PIERINAE. 503

inference is that the whole genus must be treated either as containing

one variable species, or else as containing numerous species differing

from one another only in very minute particulars. If his first state-

ment were literally correct, his inference would undoubtedly be so as

well; but, unfortunately, his statement is only correct with certain

limitations, .

The series in the British Museum collection commences with

I, reinwardta from Lombock, which is succeeded by three or four more.

island forms which run into J. venatriz from Moulmain. This species is

succeeded by J. kausala from Depalpur, and here we come to an

enormous gap, as there is no species linking I. venatrix to I. kausala,

which differ very widely, and undoubtedly represent two quite distinct

species. J. kausala is followed by the remainder of the forms of

yellow Jaias, and the series runs through J. pygmea, I. pyrene,

I. pyrenassa, I. watt, I. colaba, &c., ending with the pale yellow forms

I, citrina, I. verna and I. andamana, and there is no doubt that a very

fairly complete gradation can be shown from J. kausala to

I, andamana, and that all the forms included in the collection

between them represent one and the same species, though several

of the forms are sufficiently localized and defined to deserve naming.

After I. andamana there is another big jump to J. marianne,

and there is no connecting link between these two forms, which

undoubtedly belong to two distinct species. The remaining species

mentioned by Mr. Butler, wiz., I. meridionalis, I. agniverna, and

I. depalpura are nothing more than seasonal forms of J. marianne, so

that, at the time Mr. Butler wrote, the British Museum collection

contained three distinct species of vias from the Indian region

all quite distinct and not running into one another. Since that time

a fourth species, J. nola, has been discovered at Mahableshwar in the

Bombay Ghats.

The males of these four species may be compared as below :—

A,—Upperside yellow, apical orange patch of forewing occupying

more than half of cell.

I, VENATRIX, Wallace.

B.—Upperside yellow, apical orange patch of forewing not

occupying more than outer fifth of cell.

I, PYRENE, Linnzus,

504 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

C.—Upperside white, apical orange patch of forewing broad, ex-

tending into submedian interspace.

J. MARIANNE, Cramer.

D.— Upperside white, apical orange patch of forewing narrow, not

extending into submedian interspace.

I. noua, Swinhoe.

I, venatriz, of which there isasingle specimen in the British

Museum from Moulmain, has no near ally from the Indian region, but

is closely allied to several species from the Malay Archipelago. It is

more than probable, I think, that the recorded locality for this species

is incorrect, unless the specimen be a “ sport.”’

I, pyrene is very subject to both climatic and seasonal variation,

and many forms have been named. Of these some are fairly distinct,

and the males can be compared as below:—

A.—Forewing, upperside, yellow of ground-colour not entering

upper median interspace.

a.—Apical orange patch extending across whole breadth of cell.

I, eviepz, Drury.

b,—Apical orange patch entering cell both above and below

black spot on disco-cellulars.

a',—Upperside deep lemon-yellow.

I. PYRENE, Moore.

b}.—Upperside pale lemon-yellow.

I. crrgina, Moore.

c.—Apical orange patch entering cell only above black spot on

disco-cellulars.

ai.—Upperside, deep lemon-yellow.

I. pyrenassa, Wallace.

b!.—Upperside, pale lemon-yellow.

a’.—Apical patch orange-yellow.

I. vErNA, Druce.

62,—Apical patch orange-red.

I, anpAMANA, Moore.

B.—Forewing, upperside, yellow of ground-colour entering

upper median interspace and filling angle at origin of

second median branch.

I, cINGALENSIS, Moore.

SYNONYMY OF SOME SPECIES OF INDIAN PIERINZE. 505

Typical J. evippe is a very large form, in which the orange of the

apical patch enters largely into the cell and extends across its whole

breadth. This form appears to be confined to the north-east of the

Indian region, and is in the British Museum from Nepal, Darjeeling,

and Manipur. The figures of the dry- (fig. 28) and rainy-season

(fig. 27) forms on Plate II are taken from two specimens in my collec-

tion from Assam.

Typical I. pyrene differs from I. evippe in being smaller, and in the

orange apical patch on the forewing entering the cell both above and

below the black spot onthe disco-cellulars, but not, or hardly, entirely

surrounding the black spot.

I, moulmeznensis, Moore, only differs in the apical orange patch

entering the cell toa rather less extent below the black spot. Both

typical I. pyrene and typical J. moulmeinensis occur commonly

throughout Burma, but apparently do not extend west of Assam.

The two forms run into one another, and are not separable, The dry-

and rainy-season forms are figured on Plate II, figs. 28 and 25, the

former from a male taken in the Yaw District, Upper Burma, in

January, and the latter from amale taken in the same locality in

September.

I. pyrenassa is a form in which the apical orange patch only

extends into the cell above the black spot on the disco-cellulars ; this

is the common yellow Iwias which occurs throughout the Indian region

wherever yellow forms of Jxias are found (except in the Andamans

and Ceylon). It would, therefore, appear to be the parent form, other

yellow forms being local modifications of it. It has received numerous

names, having been called J. dharmsale, I. frequens, and I, watti by

Butler, J. colaba and I. alana by Swinhoe, and the extreme of the dry-

season form having been named I. pyymea by Moore. I am quite

unable to say how the first four of these forms are supposed to differ

from typical I. pyrenassa, but am quite certain if the specimens

arranged above each name in the National Collection were mixed

up and the labels removed, that no one would be able to re-

arrange them as they are now arranged. [. alana I have not seen,

but there is not the faintest doubt that it is a form of J. pyrenassa,

occurring ina more rainy time of year than J. colaba, with which it

is compared by its describer.

506 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIII.

I. pygmea, which represents the extreme of the dry-season form,

is only represented in the British Museum from North-western India

(October, November, December) ; but there are perfectly typical exam-

ples of it in my collection from several localities in Burma, taken in

January, besides numerous intermediates between typical I. pygmea

and typical I. pyrenassa.

I. pyrenassa is in the British Museum Collection from Dharmsala,

Bombay, Barrackpore, Darjeeling, Bengal, the Nilgiris, Campbellpore,

Attock and Kangra ; and in my collection, from Madras, the Nilgiris,

Mysore, Ganjam, and numerous localities in Burma. I have not found

this form so common in Burma as typical J. pyrene, and some specimens

are distinctly intermediate with J. moulmeinensis, having a few specks

of orange in the cell below the disco-cellular spot on one wing and

none on the other. These puzzling specimens apparently do not occur

out of Burma, where they show a distinct transition to I. moulmeinensis

and thus to I. pyrene and I. evippe.

The figures on Plate II represent a male of the rainy-season form

taken in Upper Tenasserim in May (fig. 21), a male of the ordinary

dry-season form taken in the Karen Hills, Burma, in December

(fig. 20), and a male of the extreme dry-season form, 2.¢., J. pygmca,

taken in the Yaw District, Upper Burma, in February (fig. 22).

This latter is the ordinary dry-season form in dry districts, where the

rainy-season form is, on the other hand, not so pronounced ; the specimen

figured is absolutely typical even in size, though, as has been pointed

out by Mr, Butler, the small size of this form is by no means constant,

I regret I took no notes about I. latifasciatus when at home, but it

represents the utmost extreme of the rainy-season form of either

I. pyrene or I. pyrenassa, probably the former.

I. citrina, which I am unable to distinguish from J. pallida, Moore,

is in the British Museum from Tenasserim and High Island, Mergui,

and in my collection from Tenasserim. It appears to be a pale form

of I. pyrene and is probably insular, its head-quarters being in the

Mergui Archipelago, while it straggles occasionally on to the adjacent

continent.

I. verna, which is in the British Museum from High Island, Mergui,

and is in my collection from Tenasserim, bears exactly the same rela-

tion to I. pyrenassa that J. citrina does to I. pyrene.

SYNONYUY OF SOME SPECIES OF INDIAN PIERINZE, 507

I, andamana, the dry-season form of which has recently* been named

I. lena by Swinhoe, can only be separated from J. verna by the redder

tinge of the apical patch on the forewing.

I, cingalensis is a very well-marked local race, and occurs commonly

in Southern India and Ceylon. It can be separated at once from all

other forms of yellow Jas by the greater extent of the basal yellow

of the forewing, which spreads into the upper median interspace ; the

British Museum has specimens of typical I. cingalensis from Ceylon

alone, and of the dry-season form [. kausala, Moore (which is in-

separable from I. jhoda, Swinhoe), only from the Bombay Presidency.

Both forms, however, occur in the utmost profusion throughout the

whole of Southern India, and I have numerous specimens from the

Nilgiris, Madras, and Ganjam ; some of these specimens are distinctly

intermediate to I. pyrenassa, but nothing approaching I. pyrene or

JI. evippe occurs in Southern India.

A form rather intermediate between the dry-season and wet-season

forms, but nearer the latter, is figured on Plate II (fig. 23) from a male

taken at Madras at the end of April, and the extreme of the dry-season

form (I. kausala) at fig. 24 from a male taken at Surada, Ganjam, in

January.

My conclusions on the pyrene group of Ixias are that, as far as the

Indian region is concerned, the parent form is represented by

I. pyrenassa, which occurs typically wherever yellow Jaias are found,

with the exception of the Andamans and Ceylon; that the forms

I. cingalensis, I. pyrene, and I. evippe are fairly well-marked local races,

not yet fully established; and that J. citrina, I. verna, and I. andamana

are paler island forms, the two former of which extend to the adjacent

mainland.

I. marianne of Cramer is the common white Jzias which occurs

throughout Southern and Western India. Typical J. marianne, which

has been re-named J. cwmballa by Swinhoe, represents the extreme of

the rainy-season form. The dry-season form has been named

I, agniverna by Moore, and re-named J. depalpura by Butler, An

intermediate form has been named J. meridionalis by Swinhoe. The

males of these three forms differ comparatively slightly ; in fact, males

of I. marianne and I. meridionalis are hardly distinguishable, The

* Ann. and Mag, of Nat. Hist., sixth series, Vol. V, p. 357, n. 7 (1890).

508 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

females, however, differ more conspicuously, though all the forms run

into one another.

The figures on Plate II represent a typical female of J. marianne

taken at Berhampore, Ganjam, in July (fig. 17), a typical female of

I. meridionalis taken in Mysore in November (fig. 18), and a typical

female of J. agniverna taken at Berhampore, Ganjam, in February

(fig. 19), all from specimens taken by myself.

I, nola has as yet only been recorded from Mahableshwar. It appears

to be a quite distinct species. Both seasonal forms are represented in

the collection at the British Museum. Other named forms of Jzias

recorded from the Indian region, which are either not named in the

British Museum, or about which I neglected to take notes, are I. bebryce,

Hiibner, J. anewibia, Hiibner, I. sesta, Fabricius, I. rhexia, Fabricius,

I, pirithous, Fabricius, I. meipona, Grose-Smith, J. birdi, Distant,

I. ganduca, Moore, I. familiaris, Butler, and I. satadra, Moore.

TERIAS.

The genus Terias has been more hardly dealt with than any other in

the matter of bad species, chiefly owing to the fact that seasonal variation

is very much developed in the species of the T. hecabe group, of which

there are twenty-two named forms in the collection at the British

Museum and almost as many unnamed ; how many of these will turn

out to be good species when they have been bred is rather doubtful,

but probably it will be found that not more than four species of this

group occur within Indian limits.

The Indian species of Terias fall naturally into four groups which

can be readily separated. The chief point of separation is the presence,

absence, or form of the glandular streak in the male—a point to

which attention was first drawn by Mr. de Nicéville in a paper on the

Butterflies of Calcutta, published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society

of Bengal for 1885. Apparently no mention of these characters has

been made by subsequent authors, though their presence or absence is

a point of great systematic importance.

The four groups referred to above may be compared as follows :—

A.—Male, with a greyish glandular streak on either side of

submedian nervure at base of forewing on underside. No

male-mark on hindwing. A reniform spot on disco-

cellulars of forewing on underside.

T. HECABE group.

SYNONYMY OF SOME SPECIES OF INDIAN PIERINZ. 509

B.—Male, with an oval patch of closely-set salmon-coloured scales

on underside of forewing below submedian nervure, and a

similarly coloured patch on upperside of hindwing below

costal nervure. A single spot on disco-cellulars of fore-

wing on underside.

T. LHTA group.

C.—No secondary sexual characters on wings of male. Underside

more or less irrorated with fuscous scales. Two small dots

on disco-cellulars of forewing on underside.

T. LIBYTHEA group.

D.—No secondary sexual characters on wings of male. Underside

absolutely fleckless. 7

T, HARINA group.

In the hecabe group of Terias seasonal variation is shown by the

greater breadth of the black markings on the upperside, and also by

the deeper shade of the yellow in the rainy-season forms, and by the

underside in the dry-season forms being more or less marked with

brown, especially towards the apex of the forewing.

The named forms of this group represented in the National Collection

may be compared as below :—

A. With three dark streaks or spots in cell on underside of

forewing in addition to the reniform spot on disco-

cellulars (7. selhetana).

a, Apex of forewing on underside more or less marked with

brown. (Dry-season forms.)

T. SILHETANA, Wallace.

T. uNIForMIs, Moore.

T. HELIOPHILA, Butler.

6. Apex of forewing on underside unmarked with brown,

(Rainy-season forms.)

T. mERGUIANA, Moore.

T. moore, Butler,

B. With never more than two streaks or spots in cell on underside

of forewing in addition to the reniform spot on disco-

cellulars (7. hecabe).

a. No apical brown patch on underside of forewing. (Rainy-

season forms. ) |

510 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

a’. Upperside, forewing, marginal band dilated into a large

square spot at outer angle.

T. HECABE, Linnzeus.

T. HECABEOIDES, Ménétriés,

T. NICOBARENSIS, Felder.

6’. Upperside, forewing, marginal band only slightly dilated

at outer angle.

T, TEMPLETON, Moore.

cl. Upperside, forewing, marginal band uniformly broad

throughout.

T. curtosa, Swinhoe.

6b. Apex of forewing on underside with a more or less strongly

pronounced brown patch. (Dry-season forms.)

a’. Upperside, forewing, marginal band sharply angled at

upper median branch, and dilated into a large square

spot at outer angle. |

a’. Upperside, hindwing, marginal band narrow.

T, ExcAVATA, Moore.

T. smmuLata, Moore.

6°, Upperside, hindwing, marginal band obsolete.

T. FRATERNA, Moore.

6:1. Upperside, forewing, marginal band not sharply angled

at upper median branch, and only slightly dilated at

outer angle.

a’, Upperside, hindwing, marginal band narrow.

T., SWINHOEI, Butler.

T. PATRUELIS, Moore.

6°, Upperside, hindwing, marginal band obsolete.

T. PURREEA, Moore.

c'. Upperside, forewing, marginal band uniformly narrow

from upper median to outer angle.

a?. Marginal band sharply angled on upper radial.

T. smmPLEX, Butler.

6?, Marginal band not sharply angled on upper radial.

T. FIMBRIATA, Wallace.

T. IRREGULARIS, Moore.

T. warcissus, Butler.

T, ASPHODELUS, Butler.

SYNONYMY OF SOME SPECIES OF INDIAN PIERINZ. 511

d'. Upperside, forewing, marginal band obsolete from lower

radial to outer angle, appearing only as dots at the

extremities of the nervules.

T. aprcatis, Moore.

The minor characteristics given above for separating the different

forms are taken almost entirely from the type specimens of the re-

spective “ species.” It is needless to say that the specimens arranged

under each name in the British Museum are not true to the type,

but show every gradation from one form to another, if one judges

by the characters taken above. These characters (the apical

marking on the underside of the forewing and the shape of the

marginal band of the forewing on the upperside) have been

taken as they are the ones on which the describers of the forms

have based their “ species,” but they are eminently variable and

unreliable, nor have I been able to find a single constant character

to separate the forms shown under Section B ; and until some constant

character is shown, these forms should, in my opinion, be all classed

under the name T. hecabe. .

The distinctions between Sections A and B may appear trivial, but

they appear to be absolutely constant. The three markings in the cell

of the forewing of 7. silhetana are all confined to the basal half of the

cell, and consist of a highly zigzag, somewhat 3-shaped, marking,

slightly nearer to the base than to the end of the cell, inside of which

is a somewhat similar but shorter streak, and at the extreme base

of the cell there is a small rounded spot. These three markings

are absolutely constant in JT. silhetanain all its forms,and of

the large number of this species which I have taken in copuld,

the males and females invariably presented the same markings

in the cell, while the apical markings differed from typical

T. silhetana to typical T. mergwana. In no form of T. hecabe

are there more than two markings in the cell, and in the extremes of

the wet-season form one or both are frequently absent, though

they appear to be invariably present in the dry-season forms, When

present, these markings consist of a streak inwardly concave, somewhat

variable in size and shape, situated in the same place as the 3-shaped

marking in 7. silhetana, and a second small spot, either linear or

rounded, similarly situated to the second streak in T. silhetana, while

512 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

the spot at the base of the cell is invariably wanting. I have taken

typical T. hecabe in copula with typical T. hecabeoides, T. excavata,

T. swinhoe, and T. purreea, but never with either T. silhetana or

T. merguana ; the circumstance of specimens of the dry- and rainy-

season being taken in copuld is accounted for by their having been

taken during a break in the rains, or else either at the commencement

or conclusion of the rainy-season, when both forms can be obtained on

the wing together.

To take all the named forms in detail :—

TL. uniformis differs from T. silhetana only in having a slightly more

prominent apical brown patch on the underside of the forewing, but

in pairs of T. stlhetana taken tn coité, where the male has been

typical T. selhetana the female has been typical 7. uniformis ; in fact

the brown patch invariably seems more developed in the female than

in the male.

T. mooret differs from T, merguiana only in having the marginal

band of forewing rather less dilated at the anal angle.

This species, 2. ¢., T. silhetana, occurs in Burma more commonly

than T. hecabe, and also occurs throughout Southern India though less

commonly than 7. hecabe. I have it in my collection from numerous

localities in Burma and 8. India, and also from Assam and Sikkim.

The dry-season form taken from October to February, and the wet-

season form from July to September, with a few odd ones at other

dates.

T. heliophila was originally described by Mr. Butler from three males,

“only one in good condition,” taken by Dr. Watt “ near Assam,” one of

these males is now in the British Museum and must be taken as the type

of the “species.” This male represents an intermediate seasonal form

of 7. silhetana, and is very closely matched by the specimen figured

here on Plate Il, fig. 9. This form was described in 1885, but in 1886

Mr. Butler apparently repented of his sexing of his type specimen

above referred to, as he in that year incorporated into the Museum

collection a male of TJ. excavata from Durbunga as male T. heliophila,

this specimen now standing in the British Museum as “ 7. heliophila,

male, type,’ the original Assam specimen, which is also a male,

standing as “ T. heliophila, female, type.” These two specimens are

the only ones which are arranged over the name 7, heliophila.

SYNONYMY OF SOME SPECIES OF INDIAN PIERINZ. 513

Mr. Butler’s oversight is due to the fact that his original

specimen like most other forms of TZ. silhetana is pale yellow,

and therefore rather similar to females of the hecabe group, while the

second specimen is of the usual darker yellow of 7. excavata, and,

as the apical markings on the underside of the two specimens

are very similar, they being the corresponding forms of two different

species, he was led to believe they were the same species. As these

apical markings on the underside are the distinctive characters on

which so many described forms have been based, and as it has not

been generally recognised that these markings are purely seasonal, no

doubt the mistake was a very natural one; it is, however, unfortunate

that he overlooked the sexual glandular streak on the underside of the

forewing, which is present in both specimens. It will therefore be

seen that the Durbunga specimen, which is not absolutely typical

T. excavata, has no name. Will Colonel Swinhoe oblige ?

The next three forms, 7. hecabe, T. hecabeoides, and T. nicobarensis,

are absolutely identical, and there is no doubt that if the specimens of

the three forms in the British Museum were mixed together no one

would be able to re-separate them as at present arranged,

T. iempletonii has the marginal band of the forewing rather less

dilated at the outer angle than in typical T. hecabe, but otherwise does

not differ from it.

T. curtosa, of which the type is the sole known specimen, appears

to be a “sport” of T. hecabe.

T. simulata is inseparable from T. eacavata, which is the ordinary

dry-season form of 7. hecabe.

T. fraterna differs in the marginal border to the hindwing being

obsolete, which is probably due to its dry habitat.

T. swinhoci, T. patruelis, and T. purreea are slight varieties of

T. excavata, and occur with it throughout its range. The first two are

inseparable the one from the other, and the third is hardly more

distinct.

Of the next five forms, T. irregularts is an exact synonym of

T. fimbriata, and T. asphodelus of T. narcissus, which is slightly

smaller than J. irregulars ; while T. simplex differs slightly in the

shape of the marginal band of the forewing. They are all almost

certainly only extremes of the dry-season form of 7. hecabe.

514 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

T. apicalis appears fairly distinct, it is represented in the British

Museum, as far as I remember, by two specimens only, both dry-season

forms. |

T. sari, Horsfield, is possibly a distinct species. Mr. Butler speaks

of it as ‘‘ purely Malayan,” but I took a perfectly typical specimen in

the Nilgirisin January. It occurs fairly commonly in Burma, and

seems very constant. The shape of the marginal band on the forewing

and the entirely brown apical patch on the underside are very distinc-

tive, but before the species can be considered established, some character

should be pointed out which is not found to vary in other species of

the genus, and the rainy-season form should also be designated.

Of T. kana, Moore, I have only seen two specimens, both from

Burma, and both rainy-season forms; this may turn out to be the

rainy-season form of 7. sar, although it does not agree with it at all

in the shape of the marginal band of the forewing.

Of the species referred to above I have examined the type specimens

of 7. mooret, T.templetonit, T. curtosa, T. heliophila, T. fraterna,

LT. swinhoer, T. purreea, T. excavata, T. irregularis, T. narcissus,

T. asphodelus, T. simplea, T. apicalis, and T. kana. Figs. 8 to 11

on Plate II represent the undersides of four seasonal forms of

T. silhetana ; figs. 8, 9,10 from three males taken at Thayetmyo, Lower

Burma, the first in August and the others in September, and fig. 11

from a male, taken in the Yaw District, Upper Burma, in December.

Figs. 12 to 16 represent the undersides of five seasonal forms of

T. hecabe ;:figs. 12 and 13 from two males taken at Thayetmyo in

August ; fig. 14 from a male taken in Mysore in October; fig. 15

from a male taken at Madras in March, and fig. 16 from a male taken

in the Yaw District in December.

The species of the 7. leta group may be compared as follows :—

A. Apex of forewing very acuminate, marginal band of forewing

extending scarcely beyond the lower median branch (7. lata).

a. Underside, hindwing reddish.

T. Lata, Boisduval,

6 Underside, hindwing flesh-coloured.

T. sacERi, Ménétriés.

c. Underside, hindwing yellow.

T. vacans, Wallace.

SYNONYMY OF SOME SPECIES OF INDIAN PIERINZA. 515

B, Apex of forewing less acuminate, marginal band of forewing

extending to outer angle (7. venata).

a. Marginal band of hindwing narrow.

T. veNATA, Moore,

T. namA, Moore.

T. patiitana, Moore.

6. Marginal band of hindwing broad.

T. crngata, Moore.

T. jegert has the underside more flesh-coloured than T. lata, of

whichiit is probably the dry-season form.

T. vagans, which is possibly wrongly identified in the British

Museum, has no reddish tinge on the underside, and is apparently

without the salmon-coloured patch on the upperside of the hindwing

in the male, though the similar patch on the underside of the fore-

wing is present.

Of the next four forms the British Museum possesses nine males of

T. venata, from Bombay, the Punjab, Mhow, and the N.-W. Hima-

layas ; one male and one female of 7. czngala, both from Ceylon ; two

males of 7’. rama from the Nilgiris ; and two females of T. pallitana

from Kutch. As identified in the British Museum, T. pallitana repre-

sents the ordinary female of 7. rama. T. venata is slightly smaller

than 7. rama, but does not appear to differ otherwise. 7. cingala

may represent a distinct species. It is not at all certain that the above

four forms are correctly identified in the British Museum.

The 7. libytheu group is represented in the British Museum by four

named forms, of which three are separable. They may be compared as

below :—

A. Marginal band of hindwing evenly broad throughout,

T. senna, Felder.

B. Marginal band of hindwing evenly narrow throughout.

T. prona, Horsfield.

C. Marginal band of hindwing broad at apex and narrow at

anal angle.

T. LipytHEA, Fabricius,

T. RUBELLA, Wallace.

T. senna is in the British Museum from the N.-W. Himalayas,

Mhow, and Camorta, and in my collection from the Nilgiris, Ganjam,

Madras, Mysore, and Burma.

516 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

T. drona isin the British Museum from Java only, and I have never

met with it in India or Burma, but it is recorded from Ceylon by

Moore, though probably the insect referred to by him is not the same

as that identified in the British Museum as 7. drona.

L. libythea, from which, as identified in the British Museum,

T. rubella is inseparable, is in the British Museum from Poona and

Sheemagar, Upper Burma, and im my collection from the Nilgiris,

Ganjam, Mysore, Tenasserim, and the Shan States. I am inclined to

believe that 7. libythea is the female of 7. senna.

The T. harina group is represented in India by one species alone,

which varies slightly seasonably in the breadth of the black margins of

both wings. The more heavily-marked or wet-season form has been

named 7’. formosa by Wallace.

Mr. Butler has given it as his opinion that the only true species is a

local race, but in this I do not see my way to agree with him, nor does

the British Museum collection arranged with his own hands bear him

out. For in it we see forms suchas 7. fimbriata, T. narcissus, and

T. asphodelus arranged as three distinct species, z.e., as three ‘‘ local

races ;” but specimens of these three ‘‘ local races’’ are all in the

British Museum from the one locality of Campbellpore, and the only

conclusion to which we can come is that the variation between the

three forms is due to the different local influences of three adjoining

compounds or gardens, a conclusion which is certainly justified by the

extent of the variation, but in spite of that I question very much

whether such is Mr. Butler’s contention. But if on the other hand we

conclude that these three forms are simply modifications of one species

due to slight atmospheric changes shortly before their emergence from

the pupa, in my opinion we should be much nearer the mark; as it

is evident to any one who has taken the trouble to catch numbers of

Terias from month to month that this genus is pre-eminently affected

by the state of the atmosphere. A similar reductio ad absurdum could

be made in the case of almost every “ species” of the 7. hecabe

group, many of the “ local races’ of which will be found together in

the same spot, while at the same time 7. excavata is in the British

Museum from Bombay and Pegu, 7. purreea from Kangra and

Kyoukmyoung in Burma, 7. patruelis from the North-West Himalayas

and Christmas Island, T. irregularis from Campbellpore and Assam,

SYNONYMY OF SOME SPECIES OF INDIAN PIERIN#AE. 517

T. hecabeoides from Mhow, N.-W. Himalayas, Cachar, Malacca,

and Australia, and Z. hecabe from Mhow, Campbellpore, Cachar, the

Andamans, the Nicobars, Formosa, China, Aru, and N.-W. Australia—

all rather extensive ranges for local races.

Other forms of Terias, which have been recorded from the Indian

region, but which were either not represented in the collection at the

British Museum or about which I neglected to take notes at the

time, are 7’. rotundularis, Moore, T. contubernalis, Moore, T. ander-

sonit, Moore, T’. citrina, Moore, T. sodalis, Moore, T. suava, Boisdu-

val, and 7. esiope, Ménétriés ; all these will almost certainly be found

to be merely forms of T. heeabe or T. silhetana.

TERACOLUS.

This genus may be divided into several well-marked groups or

sections, which are all more or less affected by seasonal variation, but in

different ways.

Section A.—Of moderate size ; upperside salmon-coloured, male with

_ a glandular patch of scales above submedian vein near base of forewing,

the inner margin of forewing prominently lobed.

Of this group there are eight named forms in the British Museum

collection, which probably represent at most two species ; but how far

the variation is seasonal and how far geographical I am unable to form

an opinion without more personal experience of the group, only three

forms of which I have met with, while the specimens in the British

Museum are for the most part undated.

The males of these eight forms may be compared as follows :—

A. Submarginal fuscous band of forewing not coalescing with

marginal band towards outer angle.

a. Upperside, forewing, costa not irrorated with greyish.

a’. Underside, hindwing, not dusted with brown ; mark-

ings faint and brownish.

T. raustus, Olivier. In the B. M. from Hurope,

Turkey, and Kandahar.

61, Underside, hindwing, densely irrorated with brown ;

markings prominent and reddish.

T. Faustinus, Felder. In the B. M. from

Campbellpore and Rawal Pindi.

518 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

c'. Underside, hindwing, not irrorated with brown ;

markings prominent and reddish,

T. ornreNs, Butler. In the B. M. from Kalka

(foot of W. Himalaya).

b. Upperside, forewing, costa strongly suffused with greyish

from base to apical markings.

T. soLARis, Butler. In the B. M. from Deesa.

B. Submarginal fuscous band of forewing coalescing with mar-

ginal band towards outer angle, thus forming an apical

patch enclesing spots of the ground-colour.

a. Apical fuscous patch not reaching outer angle.

T. Funvius, Wallace. In the B. M. from

Khandesh.

T. PALLISERI, Butler. In the B. M. from

Khandesh.

b. Apical fuscous patch continued to outer angle,

a’, With three spots of ground-colour in apical patch.

T. tripuncratus, Butler. In the B. M.

from Bombay and the Nilgiris,

6}. With more than three spots of the ground-colour

enclosed in apical patch.

T. sunya, Moore. In the B. M. from Ganjam.

T faustus, T. faustinus, T. oriens, and T. solaris grade into one

another, and are probably not separable; 7. rosaceus, Butler,

which is not represented in the British Museum, is apparently identical

with 7. oriens. As far as known the females of all the above forms

are similar to the males, but are of a deeper shade.

T. pallisert is slightly smaller and more suffused with red beneath

than 7. fulvius, but is otherwise identical. The distinction between

T. surya and T. tripunctatus is very slight, and is not true to locality.

I have specimens of typical 7. tripunctatus from Ganjam, and of

typical 7, surya from the Nilgiris, T, fulvius, which is in my collec-

tion from Southern India, is in my opinion the dry-season form of

TL. tripunctatus, and it is almost certain that 7. fulvius, T. palliserd,

TL’. tripunctatus, and T. swrya represent a single species. The females

of these four forms as far as known are white, sometimes slightly

tinged with salmon-colour towards the margin.

SYNONYMY OF SOME SPECIES OF INDIAN PIERINZ. 519

Section B.—Of small size. Upperside salmon-coloured ; male

with a patch of specialized black scales on upperside of hindwing

extending from subcostal vein to costal margin. No glandular patch

on forewing, but the inner margin slightly convex.

The described forms of this group may be compared as below :—

A. Upperside, forewing, submarginal spot in submedian inter-

space prominent and squared ; apical spots conspicuous.

a. Underside, forewing, base prominently suffused with

orange in both sexes.

T. cazats, Cramer. In the B. M. from Aden

and Kilimanjaro.

T, carnirer, Butler. In the B. M. from the

N.-W. Himalayas and Karachi.

6. Underside, forewing, base faintly suffused with orange in

male, more prominently so in female.

T. DyNAMENE, Klug. In the B. M. from

Aden, Somali, N. India, and Karachi.

ce. Underside, forewing, base not suffused with orange in

either sex.

T. cypraus, Fabricius. In the B. M. from

Bombay,

B. Upperside, forewing, submarginal spot in submedian inter-

space linear; apical spots comparatively inconspicuous ;

no orange suffusion on underside of forewing in either sex.

a. Male, hindwing, marginal band narrow, more or less

obsolete towards anal angle, and prominently spotted

with the ground-colour.

. - (In the B. M, from the

T. amatus, Fabricius, 47 beacons cing) Cline

T.. KENNEDII, Swinhoe

( mandel.

b. Male, hindwing, marginal band broad, continuous, almost

unspotted.

T, mopEstTus, Butler. In the B. M. from

Ceylon.

In this section there are at most two species, which will stand as

T. calais and TI, amatus respectively, Z. kennedii being identical with

and Z. modestus a good geographical race of the latter, while

T. dynamene and 1. cypreus are inconstant varieties of the former.

520 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

These two species are themselves not much better than geographical

races, J’. amatus being confined to Southern India, where it occurs com-

monly, and is replaced by 7. calais in the drier climate of Western and

North-Western India.

LT. kennedit, Swinhoe, does not appear to differ from TJ. amatus,

or 7’. carnifer from T. calais, The females of J. calais, T. amatus,

and J. dynamene are very similar to the males. The females of

T. modestus are either white or salmon-colour, while of 7. cyprus

there is only a single pair in the British Museum, the male being a

largish long-winged insect, and the female white.

Section C.—Similar to Section B but the male with a minute

glandular patch on upperside of forewing above the submedian nervure.

The only species of this section occurring within Indian limits is

T. protractus of Butler, which is in the British Museum from the

Punjab, Kutch, Campbellpore and the Hubb Biver (Biluchistan); there

are two well-marked seasonal forms which differ in the tone of the

underside, which in the dry-season form, obtained in November, is

pale reddish-yellow, and in the wet-season form, obtained in June,

July and August, is bright yellow.

There are two other closely allied species of this group in the British

Museum. 7% ocellatus from Somali and 7. phisadia, Godart, (T. arne

Kliig), from Senegal, Abyssinia and Aden.

Sectzon .—Of moderate size. Upperside, white or lemon-yellow

with broad black margins, that on the forewing spotted with white ;

the male with a minute glandular patch on the forewing exactly as

in Section C,

In this group there are at most two species, though there are many

named forms, The seasonal broods differ in the colour of the under-

side, which is reddish-buff in the dry-season form and yellow in the

wet-season form.

The two species may be compared as follows :—

A. Underside, forewing, the lowest of the three black spots near

the outer angle not extending below the submedian nervure.

T. VESTALIS, Butler.

T. Dusius, Swinhoe.

T. INTERMISsUS, Butler.

T. PEELUS, Swinhoe.

SYNONYMY OF SOME SPECIES OF INDIAN PIERINZ. 521

B, Underside, forewing, the lowest of the three black spots near

the outer angle extending to the inner margin.

T. PUELLARIS, Butler.

T. OCHREIPENNIS, Butler,

T. Rorus, Swinhoe.

Of the above forms, 7’. dubius is an exact synonym of 7’ vestalzs, and

LT. rorus of T. ochreipennis. T. vestalis and T. puellaris are wet-season

forms and T. intermissus and T. ochreipennis dry-season forms,

T. peelus isa lemon-yellow variety of the female of T. zntermissus.

Section E.—Of moderate size. Forewing with a crimson apical

patch. No glands on wings of male.

In the British Museum the following eight forms are separated :—

. DANAE, Fabricius. Ceylon, Coimbatore and Bombay.

SANGUINALIS, Butler, Ceylon and Khandesh.

. Dizus, Butler. ‘»)

. EBOREOIDES, Butler. |

IMMACULATUS, Swinhoe. ? Karachi,

. DULCIS, Butler.

. SUBROSEUS, Swinhoe. J

. TAPLINI, Swinhoe. Poona and Bombay.

The above undoubtedly represent only one species.

T, danaé is the rainy-season form in Southern India with a broad-

ish black margin to the hindwing, and is replaced in the dry-season

by T. sanguinalis, which differs in being slightly smaller, and in

having less black on the hindwing. 7. dirus, T. eboreoides and

T. immaculatus run one into the other and represent the extreme

of the dry-season form froma dry-climate, and as a rainy-season is

practically unknown in Sind, the heavily marked rainy-season form is

not found there. 7. dzrus, which is the most heavily marked form of

the three, is hardly separable from J. sanguinalis. T. dulcis is in-

separable from J. dérus in the male, but differs in the female in having

no discal spots on the upperside of the hindwing, an eminently vari-

able character, and in any long series of females, typical specimens of

T. dulcis would be obtained. T. taplint and TJ. subroseus are slight

varieties of 7. dirus, the underside in both being more or less suffused

with pink, 7. subroseus, differing from 7. tapline only in having a rather

narrower inner black margin to the apical patch, There are very few

EFRAHRHHAH

522 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

specimens of these last two forms in the British Museum, and like the

female T. dulcis, they consist of slight aberrations picked out of long

series, JZ’. éaplint, as might be expected, being as near to the

Southern 7. sanguinalis as to T. dirus. T. albertus of Swinhoe I

have not seen, but judging from the description it is only a form of

T. danaé. T. phenius of Butler originally described from Abyssinia

but since recorded from Karachi has been sunk by Swinhoe as a syno-

nym of J, dulcis (P. Z. S., 1884).

Section F.—Upperside white, with an orange apical patch. No

sexual glands on wings of male.

This group is represented in the Indian region by two species,

I. etrida and T. eucharis, the former of which has a well marked local

race (T’. limbatus), in Ceylon.

The three forms may be compared as below :—

A. Upperside, forewing, the fuscous inner border of apical

orange patch more or less obsolete.

T, EucHARIS, Fabricius,

T. PSEUDEVANTHE, Butler.

T. tirEa, Godart.

B. Upperside, forewing, the apical orange patch entirely sur-

rounded with dark brown.

a. Hindwing with a border of separated spots.

T. ETRIDA, Boisduval.

T. FARRINUS, Butler.

T. peRNoTATUS, Butler.

T. purus, Butler.

T. BruBURA, Butler.

b, Hindwing with a continuous border.

T. ummBatus, Butler.

Of the first species, 7. pseudevanthe is the wet-season form,

T. eucharis the dry-season form, and 7. titea intermediate. ‘This species

occurs throughout Western and Southern India, and in Ceylon.

The first four named forms of the second species are practically

inseparable ; 7. bimbura, which is im the British Museum only from

North-West India, differs in having a reddish-brown underside, but this

is a character which is found in specimens from Southern India and is

merely varietal, probably more or less seasonal.

T. etrida occurs commonly throughout Southern, Western and North-

Western India, and is replaced in Ceylon by the local race T. limbatus.

SYNONYMY OF SOME SPECIES OF INDIAN PIERINA. 523

T. casimirus of Butler, which I have not seen, appears from the de-

scription to be a form of T°. etrida; another named form probably

identical with T. etrida is the T. pallens of Moore,

Tn this genus I have received great assistance from Mr, Butler, who

has in many cases pointed out the characters on which several of the

forms were originally supposed to differ, and which have since been

found to be inconstant, and I think I am not far wrong in saying that

the views expressed above do not differ materially from those held

at the present time by Mr. Butler himself.

The conclusions arrived at in the foregoing paper may be sum-

marised as under, what I consider to be true species or well defined

local races being shown in ordinary type and numbered, while mere

varieties and synonyms are shown in italics,

Huruina,

1. H. uma,

2, H. PHRYNE, rainy-season form.

A, pallida, extreme of dry-season form of H. phryne.

FT, cassida, synonym of H. pallida.

FT, hira, synonym of H. pallida.

H, evagete, extreme of rainy-season form of H. phryne.

A, zeuxippe, dry-season form of H. phryne.

FT, copia, synonym of H, zeuxippe.

HZ, coronis, synonym of H. evagete.

3, H. papna, well defined local race of H. phryne.

[| H. nerissa, ? oldest name for H. dapha. |

4. H. ticHENosa, well defined local race of A. phryne,

5. H. nama, rainy-season form.

H, amba, dry-season form of H. nama.

Hl, andamana, synonym of H. nama,

6. H. REempa, well defined local race of H. nama.

H. liquida, ? dry-season form of H. remba.

APPIAS,

1, A. LiByTHEA, intermediate form.

A, ares, dry-season form. E

; xtremes,

A, rete«ta, rainy-season form.

2. A, ZELMIRA, rainy-season form.

A, irvinii, dry-season form.

A, olferna, intermediate form,

t Extremes,

524 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

10.

Ixtas.

J. VENATRIX,

I. pyRENE, local race of J. pyrenassa.

I, moulmeinensis, inconstant variety of I. pyrene.

I. crrrina, insular race of J. pyrene.

I. pallida, synonym of I, citrina.

I. nviprE, local race of I. pyrenassa.

I, PYRENASSA, parent form of this group.

I. dharmsale, >}

I. frequens, | synonyms of J. pyrenassa, ranging from the

L. watii, > extreme of the rainy-season form to the

I. colaba, normal dry-season form.

I. alana, J

I. pygmea, extreme dry-season form of I. pyrenassa.

I, VERNA, insular race of I. pyrenassa.

I, ANDAMANA, insular race of J. pyrenassa.

I, lena, dry-season form of I. andamana.

I. cINGALENSIS, local race of J. nyrenassa.

I. kausala, dry-season form of I. cingalensis.

T. jhoda, synonym of I. kausala.

J. MARIANNE, rainy-season en

Extremes.

I. agniverna, dry-season form.

I. depalpura, synonym of J. agniverna.

I. meridionalis, intermediate form.

I, NOLA.

TERIAS.

JT. SILHETANA, dry-season form.

T. uniformis, synonym of T. silhetana.

T. heliophila, synonym of T. silhetana, slightly intermediate.

T. merguiand, rainy-season form. ;

T. moore?, slight variety of T. merguiana.

T. HECABE, rainy-season form.

e Tonal ie 4 synonyms of T. hecabe.

T. nicobarensis,

T. templetonit, slight variety of T. hecabe.

T. curiosa, “sport” of T. hecabe.

T. excavata, dry-season form of 7’. hecabe.

SYNONYMY OF SOME SPECIES OF INDIAN PIERINE. 525

T. simulata, synonym of T. excavaia.

T. fraterna,

T. purreea, } slight varieties of T. excavata.

T. swinhoei,

T. patruelts, synonym of T. swinhoet.

P. simples, } varieties of the extreme dry-season form of T,

see nly ata, ¢ hecabe from districts with little rainfall.

T. narcissus, J

T. irregularis, synonym of T. Jimbriata.

T. asphodelus, synonym of T. narcissus.

T. APICALIS, dry-season form only )

known. | ‘These are possibly iden-

T. SARI, do. do. > tical with J. hecabe, but

T. KANA, rainy-season form only | are probably distinct.

known. J

T. LaTA.

T. jegeri, dry-season form of T’. lata.

T. VAGANS, identification doubtful.

T. VENATA. ‘>

T. rama, synonym of T. venata.

T. vallitana, synonym of T. venata. ‘ datas

Aes en ral i of 7. venata. | he identification of

ih Geri 7 these eight named forms

T. prona, doubtfully Indian. i doulen

T, LIBYTHEA, ? 9 of T. senna

T. rubella, synonym of T. libythea. J

T. HARINA-

T. formosa, rainy-season form of T. harina.

TERACOLUS,

T, FAUSTUS, )

T. faustinus, | forms running into one another and not sepa-

T. oriens, ‘ rable. Variation probably more climatic

T. rosaceus, | than seasonal.

T. solaris; °° J

T. FULVIUS, dry-season form.

T. pallisert, slight variety of T. fulvius.

T. tripunctatus, rainy-season form.

T. surya, inconstant variety inseparable from T. trpunctatus,

5296 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. Vill.

10.

11.

12.

T. CALAIS.

T. carnifer, synonym of 7. calais.

T. dynamene, )

T. cypreus, §

T. AMATUS.

T. kennedii, synonym of T. amatus.

T. moDESTUS, local race of TJ. amatus.

T. PROTRACTUS.

T. VESTALIS, rainy-season form.

T. dubius, synonym of T, vestalis.

T. intermissus, dry-season form.

T. peelus, inconstant variety of Q of T. intermissus.

T. PUELLARIS, rainy-season form.

T. rorus, synonym of 7. puellaris.

T. ochreipennis, dry-season form.

T. DANAE, rainy-season form.

T. sanguinalis, dry-season form from districts with normal rainfall.

T. dirus, 7} : j ;

®. Ghoxaien, orms from an exceptionally dry climate, all

T. immmaculatus) running into one another and not separable.

T.-dulcis, slight variety of 2 of T. dirus.

T, subroseus, 7}

T. taplint, ‘slight and inconstant varieties of T. dirus.

T. albertus, J

T. EUCHARIS, dry-season form.

T. titea, intermediate form.

T. pseudevanthe, rainy-season form.

T. ETRIDA.

TL. farrinus, }

T. pernotatus, psynonyms of T. etrida.

T. purus, J

T. bimbura, slight variety of T. etrida probably seasonal.

T. toBatus, local race of T. etrida.

Reckoning well defined local races as species, the number of

inconstant varieties of 7’. calazs.

Indian species in the above genera would be :—Huphina, 6 ; Appias,

2; Ixias, 10; Terias, 18; and Teracolus, 12. If on the other hand

local races are excluded, the number of species would be :—Huphina, 38 ;

Appias, 1 ; Ixas, 4; Terias, 12; and Teracolus, 10.

SYNONYMY OF SOME SPECIES OF INDIAN PIERINA. 527

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.*

Prats I,

Fig. 1. Huphina dapha, Moore,

9» 2 5 ” ”

9 3. 2? ? 29

4. 99 »? »?

3, extreme of rainy-season form.

ay ae ”?

é, intermediate form.

r) 2? 29

3, extreme of co ae form.

6. 2,

@. Huphina phryne, Fabricius, 3, extreme of rainy-season form.

99 0 99 29 92 Q; LI :

a Ds a A a 3, intermediate form.

» 10. » ” 2 é, ” ”

pea lell: = c 3 &, extreme of dry-season form.

9 12, » 0 9 ? 9 )

Prats II.

Fig 1. Appias zelmira, Cramer, ¢, extreme of rainy-season form..

» 2. . a5 M 33 intermediate form.

”? 3. ry) oy) 29 2 nia. 9

es P) ty) Y) ) 39 ”

nls a Pe S 6, extreme of dry-season form.

5,5 5. Huphina nama, Moore, 6, rainy-season form,

erm it as 3 $, dry-season form,

» 9 Terias silhetana, Wallace, 6, extreme of rainy-season form.

ce a ea 5 As é, intermediate form,

ty) 10. 2? yp) 2? ? 92 99

Sag Gl eas - mA 6, extreme of dry-season form.

» 12. ,, hecabe, Linneus, , extreme of rainy-season form.

ay WIG BE O)US) 5 # 6, intermediate form.

ny l4, y ” 2 ro) 29 ”

9 15. 3 ” ” ? 2 mE)

~ 16: 3) 6, extreme of dry-season form.

spits lige marianne, Cramer, @, extreme of rainy-season form.

ay USBI) a ss Fe 2, intermediate form.

es “i Ms ¥, extreme of dry-season form.

» 20. ,, pyrenassa, Wallace, ¢, ordinary dry-season form,

» 21. 4, 99 » ° 6, rainy-season form.

TORY Yea, 3 af ¢, extreme dry-season form.

» 23. ,, cingalensis, Moore, @, rainy-season form (rather

intermediate),

yy 2a oy é, dry-season form,

ay aa Ae pyrene, ; (moulmeinensis) Linneus, ¢, rainy-season form,

pase Obie atys ts 0 6, dry-season form.

ee aN eine Drury, 6, rainy-season form,

Sn Zee ua inet a , dry-season form,

* These nlatoas ies I, I, of Indian Pierine will be issued

with a subsequent number of the Journal.—Ep1tor.

528

DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SNAKE FOUND IN TRAVAN-

CORE, BY Mz, 8S. DIGHTON. PIRMAAD.

By G. A. Boutencer (Brit. Museum, Naturau History).

(With a Plate.)

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 18th Feb., 1894.)

DIPsAS DIGHTONI.

Anterior platine and mandibular teeth enlarged; eye shorter

than the snout. rostral broader than deep, just visible from above ;

internasals broader than long, shorter than the preefrontals ; frontal as

long as broad, as long as its distance from the end of the snout,

shorter than the parietals ; lonal longer than deep ; a single preeocular

reaching the upper surface of the head ; two postoculars : temporals

small, scale-like, 2 and 3 ; eight upper labials, third, fourth, and fifth

entering the eye; four lower labials in contact with the anterior

thin shields, which are as long as the posterior. Body strongly

compressed ; scales in 23 rows, not very oblique, the vertebral scales

scarcely enlarged on the anterior half of the body, longer than broad

on the posterior half. Ventrals 241; anal entire ; subcaudals 95,

Pale reddish-brown above, without any dark markings ; a series of

salmon-coloured blotches along the back; head pale brown, with

minute blackish dots ; lower parts yellowish, finely dotted with brown;

the outer ends of the ventrals salmon-pink.

Total length 1,100 millimetres (8 feet, 8 inches) ; tail 220 milli-

metres (84 inches).

I am indebted to Mr. H.S. Ferguson for a single example, a female,

of this fine new snake, which was obtained by Mr. 8. Dighton at

Pirmaad, at an altitude of 3,300 feet, in January, 1893.

Journ. Bombay Nat.Hist Soc.

Mintern Bros. del et hth. London.

DIPSAS DItGHTON1, Boulenger.

A new species of Tree Snake found uw N. Travancore,

by MP 5. Dightow.

529

“SMALL DERR.”

By W. F. Sincuarr, I.C.8.

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society, 13t:. Féruary, 1894.)

The phrase of my heading is familiar, and briei et

our notice cards. But of three animals before us to-ziglt, the first is

an antelope, the second an aberrant deer, and the third yeither,

lf one of us send out a shikari from Bombay to any jingle within

our horizon, his report of game will commonly include“ Ibkris.” He

he first, and

le(antelope—

Tetraceros quadricornts, This animal has really, in periectmale speci-

mens, two pairs of short hollow horns. Nothing else of théort is now

known above ground. The Giant Stvather:wm of the Indin tertiary

rocks seems to have had four horns, and to have had a co emporary

poor relation assigned to the very genus that we are now dd ing with.

Some American monsters seem to have had even three paitof horns,

But that sort of thing is out of fashion amongst modern \minants,

ough to suit

may mean one or other of two very different animals.

commonest in the lower and thinner forests, is the four-horne

which belongs to Mr. Wellis, of the Tanna Jail. His observabns,

and mine, of that herd will be of some use to us to-night. A ful-g

buck weighs three stone : a doe in good condition little less. The cdur

530 JOURNAL, BOUBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

isa dull dun-brown, something that of most Sambar. The hair is

long (for a Peninwlar Antelope), harsh and rather scanty. The under-

parts have « symewhat softer and shorter hair; pale-brown or

whitish, almcst white in some specimens. The dun and white colours

are curiously anl irregularly mixed upon the legs; and in perfect

specimens there are two white spots above the fetlock joints, forming

an almost conplite ring. The fetlock below these is black, as are

the coronet ind back of the pasterns, But these carry on each toe so

large a whit spot that a casual observer may easily suppose the whole

pastern whe. It is only in good specimens that these markings can

be fully decried or described. The colours, like the horns, seem to

be very vaiable, and not dependent on age nor on locality.

Many oyou may have noticed similar foot-markings on the Blue

Bull, andl shall have more to say about them later on.

The for-horned Antelope is not very polygamous nor gregarious.

Five or < is an unusually large herd. Four is a common number,

as the feale of a virtuous couple usually bears twins of the same sex

in the cd or early hot weather, and at six months’ notice. <A female

nursing Vins readily adopted an orphan fawn.

ThesAntelopes are tameable little beasts, and often petted by

natives But the bucks are sometimes dangerous. One at Tanna

wound«a woman severely, and a female nursing attacked a man

four o1ive times her weight.

Thedrop their “‘ fewmets” in a common place, like many other

forest uminants. Probably this habit is of much use to animals 50

little xregarious when the time comes for pairing. It lets each

knowaat there are others about ; and, amongst animals so keen of

scent;he tuck may well find, at such places, the means of following

up a litaty doe in season. There is no accident in nature.

Tt four-horned Antelope occurs in all our true Bombay forests,

exce thé densest highland thickets of the hills, where it is replaced

by 1e

whe coyered with “ babul kurans” (that is, Acacia plantations), as

far; L4m aware. But I have not been in those countries for some

yes. t is good meat, but dry ; wants to be well larded with mutton

fator pacon. It makes excellent “‘ hare soup,” as my cook says,

deribing the haunch further as bakri-ka “ leg-mutton.”

ext species. It is not known on any of our plains, even

SMALL DEER. 531

The second of our small deer is truly a deer, having solid bony

antlers, This is Cervulus aureus, the “ barking deer.” I have

chosen the two most descriptive of its names from amongst many

inappropriate or barbarous.

Tt is Cervulus, a little deer ; itis aureus, or golden (a very fine

chestnut in good specimens); and it does bark. just like a little dog,

The antlers are small and have but two points as a rule, though a

third, or even fourth, subordinate point may be occasionally met with,

The main “ beam” stands up straight from the burr for about three=

fifths of its length ; then curves lightly backward, and ends in one

point imperfectly hooked. At its base is a tiny brow-antler.

The burr rests upon a bony stalk, which in Indian specimens is

commonly as long as the antler, or longer. I have seen a Javan

collection in which the antlers were far finer than this ; but the species

are now considered identical. The animal is lower on its legs than the

four-horned Antelope, and perhaps a little less in weight ; but I

have no weights before me. Itis more thick-set, indeed, and puts

on more fat. The colour, as I have said above, isa fine chestnut ;

the lower parts white or whitish, especially under the tail, which

it has a way of cocking up in flight, as a rabbit does his “ fud,” and

probably for the same reason—as a “ danger signal.”

It is an inhabitant of the thickest thickets, such as are, with us,

chiefly on the higher hills ; and into these it dives, as a rabbit into

furze, when it finds itself driven out by force, or surprised at forage.

Another point in the colour is the presence, in this very different

animal, of foot-markings, very like those of our last beast and of

the Nilghai. I shall probably have more to say about this hereafter.

The barking deer is pretty monogamous, often solitary, and never

found in anything worth calling herds. I should say seldom four are

together. For, although its period of gestation is reported the same as

that of the four-horned Antelope (six months), it seems seldom to pro-

duce twins. It seems, too, to breed rather later in this region, as I

have found pregnant females well into the hot weather on the ghats.

There is one curious point about this deer, marking it off to any eye

from the true Cervide and associating it with our next (though very

different) beast. This is the presence in bucks of long, sharp, upper

canine teeth, capable of inflicting a very severe wound on a rival,

532 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

or (as I have knowi) on a dog, and therefore presumably upon a

jackal or wild cat. [he feeble recurved horns can hardly be looked

upon. as serious weapons.

Tt is good meat ahd, in the ghits, not so dry as our last beast,

or most of our other yenison. The evergreen thickets which it loves

give it more perenni:l green food than our other horned game get ;

and it probably browses more, and grazes less, than even the four-

horned Antelope, itself a browser for choice.

Both are habitually called “ bekad’’ and “ bekri’”? by natives,

and sometimes “ jungle sheep” by both natives and Huropeans.

I have mentioned already the curious foot-markings of these two very

different creatures and of the Blue Bull, not very closely related to either.

The reason of these has puzzled me long, until I found that I was

looking at the matter through the eyes of a man, and not of a beast—

wanting in sympathy in short.

Most wild animals when they find themselves in presence of foes or

prey, but suppose themselves unobserved, have the habit of standing

like statues for a short time, as, indeed, have the best human hunters.

In the ruminants we call this “ gaze”; in the Carnivora “ point” or

“set.” But the object is the same in both cases—to observe without

attracting attention by motion.

Now, during much of the tropical year the grasses and herbs of

the forest are dead and dry, perhaps burnt up by forest fires.

The bushes have a much more perennial foliage.

Therefore, the Carnivora, none of them animals of lofty stature,

and mostly given to crouching, more or less get a clearer view of the

legs of ruminants below the bushes than of their bodies behind, or

heads over them. We, indeed, commonly see the heads or bodies

first, but our point of view is different.

All old shikaris know how seldom a tiger or panther looks up if

men keep quiet in a tree, and that the eyesight of these creatures,

though good, is not unerring.

Now, if we suppose a ruminant animal standing “at gaze” in the

neighbourhood of a foraging panther, with the advantage of the wind,

and standing quite still (as he has commonly the sense to do until

he knows himself discovered), the advantage of the foot and leg

markings is clear; they break the outline of the leg and make it

more resemble a bush-stem with lichens, or a bamboo-stem with its

white foot-markings—signs of age and approaching decay, which

I have been to-day noting for the purpose of this paper.

SMALL DEER. 533

Above, the outline is again broken by the whitish under-parts,

always difficult to observe against light ; and higher up, the darker

body is lost amongst the foliage.

Not always will such protection avail the prey against the terrible

hunting power of the Carnivora, itself sharpened on the wheel of

natural selection. But if it avails five times in a hundred of such

occurrences, which is little to suppose, the race of ruminants con-

cerned is most likely to be continued by those members with motley

“ stockings,” other things being equal.

The lateral position of spots on the toes, and more nearly annular or

vertical disposition of those on or above the fetlock joint, we can

conceive to be not altogether unrelated to the present and past oste-

ology of those parts. It is a difficult question for an amateur natu-

ralist; but we do constantly see that certain colours and forms of colour

do hold their place over certain parts of the skeleton, even in such

variable domestic species as horses and dogs. No man ever saw a

horse with a blaze or star on the shoulder, nor an ass with a cross on

its belly and thighs.

Our third beast is the so-called ‘‘ mouse-deer’’— Tragulus memimna.

There is much confusion about its names. I adopt Mr. Blanford’s

assignment to the genus Tragulus, but suspect a printer’s error in

either his last book or Jerdon’s Mammals of India (the-reprint, p. 269),

where the spelling is consistently as I have given it. Mr. Blanford not

only spells “ Meminna” (with double x) himself, but quotes Jerdon

as doing so, giving the page above quoted, and each of them quotes

the same or other authorities as using his own spelling. These are not

here for me to examine.

As regards the trivial name, Jerdon and Blanford both call it

“‘mouse-deer,” the latter also giving the name “chevrotain,” a

good deal used by European writers. In some of our gazetteers it

has been called a “ hog-deer,” and identified with “ Cervus poreinus.”

I took some trouble to trace this error to its source; and the Presi-

dent’s special reference to the matter, when the substance of this paper

was spoken, induces me, preparing it fot the press, to go fully into it,

“ Hog-deer”’ is the Bengal name for Cervus porcinus, which is not a

“ small deer ” at all, the bucks often exceeding a hundredweight fresh

killed and untouched by the knife, except to cut their. throats.

This deer is not found in the Peninsular provinces of Bombay at all.

Tt is abundant in parts of Sind, But the Anglo-Sindian sportsmen

seldom call it ‘‘ hog-deer,” preferring the more elegant native

534 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. V1I1.

name “ Para.” One at least (if not more) of the last generation of

Bombay sportsmen had contracted the habit of calling our present

beast a “* hog-deer,”’ and so it spread to the early gazetteer lists. The

writers, turning up the name in Jerdon and identifying by name

and not by nature, added the Latin name he gives, viz., Ais porcinus,

and so the thing got into print.

On the mere merits, Cervus porcenus has less right to its not very

elegant trivial name than our beast. For there is nothing hoggish

about it, except a certain failure in the beauty of colour and form,

and poetry of motion, that distinguish its nearest ally, the spotted deer.

Now the mouse-deer has several very porcine points about him.

He is hornless ; he has (the male) tusks in the upper jaw, and his feet

are “pettitoes,” like a pig’s ; whereas those of Cervus porcinus are,

like those of all the horned ruminants, “‘cloots.”’

The difference is not very obvious at a glance ; and although many

of us have anatomised cow-heel and pettitoes, it has seldom been with

scientific intent. Opportunities of dissecting the foot of Tragulus

are not common, though we have a specimen in spirit in our collec-

tion. But if any one will take any text-book of natural history, or

Mr. Blanford’s own book (page 480), he will see the difference between

a pig’s foot and a deer’s plainly illustrated. ‘The figure and action of

Tragulus memimna are clumsy and ungraceful, and it squats on the

ground in a pig-like way. But it is not very much observed. Itisa

small animal, seldom exceeding two feet long or half a stone in

weight; the colour is olive-gray, almost green ; whitish below, and

along the sides it has the marks which naturalists call “ menillings ”’;

longitudinal rows of long whitish spots. These are almost continuous

stripes in young animals, but the chain gets broken up as they grow

older ; the oldest males seem to get almost reddish, especially about the

head, as may be seen by our fine mounted head on the table. It

haunts the thickest forests, and even holes in rocks, so that beaters,

without dogs, go over or past it. European sportsmen in such

places are apt to be reserving their fire for something better, and if

they espy it at all, or hear it move in the thicket, take it for a hare.

Natives, hunting with dogs, know a good deal more about it, and

know it well throughout the Ghats and the Konkan. The Maratha

name is “ Pisarwa,.” The female usually produces twins in the early

cold weather after a gestation of four or five months. It may be

presumed that the males fight with their tusks. The natives say that

it is well to handle a netted male carefully ; and this is likely.

535

THE NILGIRI GAME AND FISH PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION,

[Extracts from the Annual Report for the year ending 30th June, 1893.]

INCREASE OF GAME AND RESULTS OF PROTECTION.

Sambhur.—There is still a great scarcity of good stags, and such scarcity

must continue so long as license-holders and others butcher small brockets.

In the deer forests of Scotland, on Exmoor, in Germany, Newfoundland and

many other places, none but “ warrantable” stags are allowed to be shot. On

these hills, there is nothing whatever to restrain any one but his own feelings

of humanity and sport.

For the Mudumalai Forest, however, special rules have been published,

which prohibit the shooting of brockets. These rules have been in force from

ist July, 1892, and have worked satisfactorily.

Jbex.—The Association has to announce, with great regret, that the small

herd of 5 ibex which existed in Tarnad Burray has totally disappeared, and

the only buck left on Konabetiu was killed by a landslip last February. Ii is

to be hoped that one of the 2 kids born last year may be a buck; otherwise

this small herd of 7 (including the kids) must become extinct.

Elsewhere on the Kundahs and at Pakasuramalai the ibex are slowly

increasing. As already remarked, ibex are much preyed on by panthers, and

a small herd cannot make head against their depredations: a larger herd of 20

or 30 may continue to increase in spite of such losses.

Bison.—A few young bulls are still with the herds in the Mudumalai Forest.

Though there were 6 sportsmen shooting in these forests during the year and

every inch of the ground was gone over by them, only one black bull was

seen, The herds, too, have decreased in number since last year.

Spotied deer.—The wild dogs have done much damage to these deer during

the year. A pack of over 40 dogs appeared in the Sigur Forests and killed

deer every day for some months, when the pack suddenly broke up into twos

and threes. Nine dogs were found lying dead in the forests. Mr. Liebenrood

also reports that he found 3 wild dogs lying dead in the forests near Nella-

kotta. The presumption is that distemper or some other disease broke out in

the pack. Some such cause must operate in keeping wild dogs in check, or they

would rapidly increase and overrun the whole country.

Antelope.—These will increase, no doubt, in time with efficient protection.

There are 3 or 4 small herds of 5 or 6 in each in the Sigur forests.

Small Game.—Woodcock have been scarce. Hares fairly plentiful, except

in places where jackals are abundant. There is a satisfactory increase in

jungle-fowl in all the large sholas, but in the small sholas they are shot down

every season and have but a poor chance of breeding,

EXOTIC AND INTRODUCED GAME.

Chikore.—Single birds are occasionally seen, and a covey of 15 was reported

in the neighbourhood of Billikal.,

536 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Pheasants,—Those turned out in Lovedale are occasionally seen; others

have been seen in Governor's shola, Marliamund plantation, Tudor valley and

elsewhere. The birds have apparently scattered widely, as is their habit.

Of the 12 pheasants originally imported, there are 8 alive; also 3 chickens

hatched out. The eggs do not appear to be fertile in the hot climate of

Kartéri, and the chickens do not live long when hatched. Mr. G. Oakes, who

spent over a thousand rupees in importing pheasants from England at his own

expense, came to the same conclusion and removed his birds to Ootacamund,

where, to his great disappointment and the lasting regret of all sportsmen,

they were destroyed to a bird by a marauding jackal, which gained entrance

into the pen at night.

Rabbits.—The game-watcher reports that he occasionally sees rabbits, but

they have probably scattered and are not likely to increase very fast in such a

vermin-infested district as Kartéri.

Peafowl.—The Honorary Secretary has not relaxed his efforts to obtain

pardees to capture peafowl. After sending men over the Mysore District,

a gang was found, but they declined to enter the Government forests even

though offered an advance of Rs, 10, as they imagined it was only a ruse to

entice them away and put them in jail! The Forest Department hunted them

out of the forests before, and this is really the reason why it is so difficult to

get hold of them now. However,it is to be hoped that when the season

commences for capturing peafowl, the Association will be able to obtain the

agsistance of these men,

Partridges.—The Association is under great obligations to those gentlemen

who have, at their own expense, endeavoured to further sport and benefit the

district by the introduction of game and fish or who have assisted the Associa-

tion by donations for the furtherance of the same good objects.

Mr. H. P. Hodgson has been instrumental in introducing partridges at his

own expense at Kartéri, where they have bred successfully.

Guineafowl—The Honorary Secretary obtained 6 guineafowl, a peahen,

and 2 partridges at his own expense, which are doing well, The guineafowl

have increased to 13,

Mr, Naher of Kartéri has also introduced guineafow]l, and he is getting black

partridges from Northern India at his own expense.

In former years many sportsmen spent considerable sums of money in

introducing guineafowl, partridges, peafowl, Himalayan pheasants, &c., and

letting them loose ; but, as no protection was then afforded by the law, the

birds let loose were all either shot down or trapped within a few months.

IMPORTED AND INDIGENOUS FISH.

Trout.—The four large fish at Dodabetta were transferred to the Snowdon

troutponds. The two females spawned in February, but, as the male were in

milt in November, the ova could nctbe fertilised, 40,000 ova were obtained

NILGIRI GAME AND FISH PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION. 537

from Mr. Silk (Marquis of Exter’s Manager). They were put into the ice-

house and were, of course, at once frozen to death. The money spent and

trouble taken about the matter were wasted. A telegram was despatched to

Mr. Silk to send out 20,000 more ova, and, instead of sending them at once on

receipt of the telegram, Mr. Silk delayed a whole month and then sent out

the ova. They arrived on the 4th March, the hottest time of the year. The

high temperature of the water destroyed the fry as fast as they were hatched

out, and only 83 of the strongest survived. These were put into the frypond

at Snowdon and are now fine strong young fish 3” in length. Out of the fry,

10 were retained in the large hatching box ; of these, 6 survived and are quite

equal in size to the fry put out in the pond, All the fry have been daily fed

with sheep’s brains and chopped earth worms and young white ants,

Stockponds.—A. stockpond of 1,000 cubic yards capacity and a fry pond of

smaller dimensions have been excavated in Marliamund plantation, with two

silt pits, the whole surrounded with wire netting. The adjoining ground has

been tastefully laid out with flowers, ferns, &c., at a total cost of Rs, 279.

A site has been chosen on the banks of the Pykara river for a stock pond

for breeding fish, where a natural depression in the soil has lent itself to the

formation of an artificialdam. The surrounding soil has been excavated

to a depth of 3 feet, and the earth thus obtained thrown up across the neck

of the depression. The dam is 54 yardsin length by 51 feet in diameter,

with a puddlewall of clay 4 feet wide in the centre, The total length of the

pond is 95 yardsand the average width 30 yards, The depth varies from

12 feet near the dam to 3 feet near the upper end of the pond. The capacity

of the pond is 5,800 cubic yards. About 700 tons of granite have been collect-

ed for facing the dam, lining the calingula and building a wall round the

pond, The necessary iron standards, galvanised wire fencing, cement

and other necessary materials have been purchased. From 20 to 40 laborers

are daily employed by the contractor, and the work will probably be

finished by October. The pond will be capable of holding 500 trout, which,

in so limited a body of water, must necessarily be daily fed with chopped

crabs, earth worms, &c, Mahamed Cassim is in charge of the pond and, as he

lives within 50 yards of it and as he takes great interest in the work, may be

entrusted to look after the place properly. An artificial waterfall will be

constructed 12 feet high, the water (diverted from a neighbouring stream) will

fall on to a gravel redd, with a trapdoor 14 feet from the fall. The trout will

ascend the redd to spawn, when the door will be let down, the fish stripped

of their ova, which will be fertilised and then despatched to the hatching

boxes in Snowdon, which are most excellently situated for the purpose

and in charge of Mahamed Gouse, who has been taught and thoroughly

understands everything connected with the management of ova. He deserves

great credit for the manner in which he has supervised and carried out

the last experiments,

5388 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Trout turned out in the Pykara and other Rivers—The Association is

indebted to Mr. Marsh for the first successful attempt made to introduce trout

ova and hatch them out on these hills. Encouraged by the success :of Mr,

Marsh’s experiment (which cost him some Rs, 200 and much personal trouble)

the Association imported ova, which Mr. Edmiston kindly took charge of on

the voyage out and which proved a success. The fry were introduced into

the Emerald Valley Stream, the Pycara River, the Ootacamund Lake, Doda-

betta and Marliamund reservoirs, and Dr. Ross’s Lake.

Mr. Wapshare also went to considerable private expense, amounting to

several hundred rupees, in importing ova, which he placed in the Pykara River.

Mr. M. A. Lawson aided the Association with his personal assistance and a

donation, and the Association is not a little indebied to him for the successful

results attained. Trout have been seen in the Dodabetta reservoir, the

Emerald Valley Stream andthe Pykara River, but, unless the Association

systematically hatches out ova and turns the fry into the streams and

rivers, no real success can be hoped for, as all ova are devoured by the legions

of crabs infesting the rivers as soon as they are laid. Natural reproduction

is not therefore to be expected, but the fish kept in the Association ponds

must be annually stripped and the ova artificially hatched in boxes and the

fry turned out. Three men have already been well trained for the work.

The troutponds at Pykara will probably cost Rs, 1,200 when properly

completed, but this will be very cheap compared to the cost of similar work

executed at home.

Perch fry.—Mr. Silk has kindly promised to present the Association with

some perch fry, which Mr. H. P. Hodgson will probably bring out with him

on his return shortly.

Carnatic Carp, Tench, Mahseer, &éc.—Though the Honorary Secretary pro-

posed that some attention should be devoted to the introduction of valuable

indigenous fish, more especially Mahseer, the Committee did not sanction his

proposals. There is no doubt, however, that some of the reservoirs might be

stocked with Barilius bola (the Indian Trout), Barilius bakeri (Striped

Mountain Carp), Mahseer, Rosyperch, Labeos, Rohus, &c., instead of being, as

they are now, full of the worthless golden carp, which afford no sport and

are worthless for food on account of their numberless bones. The Honorary

Secretary (at his own expense) introduced during the year 28 Mahseer, 2

Mountain Carp, 1 Labeo, 24 Carnatic Carp and 16 common Barilius. All

these fish are doing well and promise to succeed, but the Barilius, which

were only caught last year, have already increased to about two or three

thousand, and the fry are now nearly full-grown. Some Mountain Carp were

obtained from the Kollimalais by the Honorary Secretary in 1872 and

successfully brought up to the hills, but an otter managed to get into the

pond where they were kept and destroyed them all. These and other

experiments connected with pisciculture cost the Honorary Secretary nearly

NILGIRI GAME AND FISH PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION. 539

Rs. 900, and Mr. Wapshare and other gentlemen have also spent money freely

on similar experiments, which on the whole have been sufficiently encourag-

ing to warrant further perseverance.

Enemies of jish—Horned owls, Water-snakes, Otters, Crabs, the larve of the

dragonfly and mildew (Suproligneus ferow) are the most deadly enemies to

fish on these hills, The owls hook the fish out with their talons when they

come into shallow water at night and are exceedingly destructive. The

Honorary Secretary trapped several owls that had become confirmed depreda-

tors with gins. No doubt the two male trout which died were injured by

owls seizing them. Water-snakes, fortunately, are not found above 6,000 feet,

but they swarm at a lower elevation, and it is impossible to keep fish in any

small pond if they once obtain entrance,

Twenty-eight Black spots, which the Honorary Secretary brought all the

way from Tellicherry, were eaten ina week by 5 snakes, all of which were

shot as they appeared. Hach snake had 2 or 3 fish init. They do not hesitate

to attack and kill fish of even half a pound in weight.

Otters kill large quantities of crabs and dragonfly larve, but very rarely

kill fish, unless they find them in a confined pond. Crabs and dragonfly larve

are so destructive to fish ova that itis hopeless to expect trout to increase

where these pests are abundant.

GENERAL REMARKS.

Other Societies —The Dehra Din Fishing Association has been very unfortu-

nate. After the expenditure of Rs. 900 and infinite trouble, only 4 fry out of

10,000 ova were put out into the Re Nadi. May they have greater success

next time !

In Ceylon the trout fry put out into the Newara Eliya streams seem to

have thriven, butdo not increase. These fish are of considerable size and

come into the runs to spawn on the gravel, when it is found necessary to have

guards put on to prevent them being netted and stolen. No trout fry has

been seen in the streams. This is doubtless due to the crabs devouring

the ova at night. If the fish are stripped and the fertilised ovaput into the

hatching boxes, those interested ought to have no reason for complaint.

Messrs. Crossley and MacTaggart on the Pulneys have collected Rs. 700

already, and are making active preparations to introduce trout into the pretty

lake at Kodaikanal, in which spirited endeavour all must heartily wish them

success.

540

ON A STAG, CERVUS THOROLDI, FROM TIBET, AND ON THE

MAMMALS OF THE TIBETAN PLATEAU.

By W. T. BuanForp, F.R.S.

(With a Plate.)

[From the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 2nd May, 1893.]

In the course of Captain Bower and Dr. W. G. Thorold’s adventurous

journey across the Tibetan plateau from west to east, two specimens of a stag

were shot by the latter at aspot about 200 miles N.H, of Lhassa 1. These

animals were killed in the snow amongst brushwood just above the forest, at

an elevation of about 13,500 feet above the sea. Of one individual a complete

skin, skull, and horns have been brought to England, and are now in the

Natural History Museum ; of the other, the head with the skin and horns has

been preserved and has been left by Dr, Thorold in London, so that I have

been able to examine both.

Last February I received a letter from Dr. Thorold, in which he asked me

to look at the specimens and let him know to what species I thought they

belonged, Some time before this I had heard from Mr. Oldfield ‘Thomas that

the complete specimen had been received by the Museum, but had been sent

away to be stuffed, I, however, saw the head which had been mounted, and

although I did not like to come to any decided conclusion without having an

opportunity of seeing the skin also, I was disposed to believe that the deer

was probably the same as that of an immature horn of which the name of

Cervus nariyanus was given by Hodgson in 1851, and was clearly identical with

the species, of which the head was described and figured by Mr. W. L. Sclater

in 1889 (J. A.S. B., lviti., pt, 2, p. 186, pl. xi.), and which was shown to be

allied to the Mantchurian C. dybowskiz.

For the last two months the skin has been in the hands of the taxidermists,

but I have at length, by permission of Dr. Gunther, been able to examine it ;

and I have now no hesitation in saying that I believe the stag obtained by

Dr. Thorold must be regarded as an additional peculiar species of the extra-

ordinarily specialized mammalian fauna inhabiting the Tibetan plateau, The

following are the principal characters :—

The animal is about the size of a Red Deer, C. elaphus, The height at the

shoulder must have been about 4 feet, that measurement on the body over the

curves to the withers having been recorded by Dr. Thorold as 4 ft. 5 in., and

the length from the insertion of the tail to the nose 6 ft. 13 in. The tail (with

hair probably) measured only 4 inches. Theearsare of moderate size and

pointed, and measure outside in the mounted skin 93 inches from the head.

The horns are distinguished at once by the want of the bez tine characteristic

of the Elaphine group and found in the other Tibetan stag, C. affints. There

are five points on each horn (except one, which has only 4),and there can be

+ T am indebted to Captain Bower for several of the details. The approximate position is

in lat, 31° 40’ N., and long 93° 30! E,

TE eS eee

Journal Bombay Nat ; Hist: Sec:.

ale

Cae ora

a ae

CERVUS THOROLD!

A NEW STAG FOUNO IN THIBET .

DESCRIBED BY M2 W.T BLANFOROD PZ.S./893.

CERVUS THOROLDI, FROM TIBET. 541

very little doubt that this is the number characteristic of the adult. The beam

is angularly bent at the insertion of the second tine (corresponding in position

to the tres tine of C. elaphus), and above this is gradually curved back and

presents the peculiarity that the upper four points and the upper part of the

beam are nearly in a flat plane. Another conspicuous character is that (except

in one horn which is slightly abnormal) the third tine exceeds all the others in

length. The corresponding tine (4th) is generally the longest in the Wapiti,

and the upper part of each horn in the present animal much resembles that of

C’. canadensis in shape.

Each horn measures round the curve outside 38 inches, none of the four

differing more than a quarter of an inch more or less, The girth above the

burr is 5:25. The following are the measurements of the different tines on one

horn in inches :—

Lowest or brow tine ... van aa seal.)

Ane (—ICTGs) Ni eeeest tile coel iiliceat Ue scetiiteevenr 10:20

ord coe vee oes Ses} \iitens woo ibe

4th see nee ee wee oe wwe «4

5th bool be ES SiMe eels VEE pure ek ee

The coloration of the skin is very uniform brown, minutely speckled,

scarcely paler on the lower parts, but much paler and ochreous-buff on the

small pygal disk which completely surrounds the tail, this latter being also pale

rufous throughout. Har whitish within. The muzzle, chin, and under surface

of lower jaw white, The hairs of the body are stiff, long, and very coarse,

and somewhat resemble those of the Musk-deer, being filled inside with a cellular

pithlike tissue and having very small roots.1_ The hair of the body is long,

dark brown, except at the base which is whitish, and at the tips which are buff.

The pale tips are wanting around the caudal disk, so that the latter appears to

be surrounded by a dark band. The hair along the spine is directed forward

from above the hips as far as the wither, where the anterior direction ceases

abruptly. This character is quite peculiar.

The muffle or rhinarium occupies the whole area between the nostrils, and

a rather narrower portion extends to the upper lip.

The skull presents a few peculiar characters, the most important of which

have been already noticed by Mr. W. L. Sclater. As awhole, the skull is short

when compared with other skulls of Elaphine Deer; the muzzle is especially

short, but broad. The hinder part of the skull is distinctly lower and flatter

than that of C. elaphus, the forehead continuing the line formed by the nasalg

and not curving upwards into a ridge between the horns. In this respect the

present specimen shows some resemblance to Rusine and Pseudaxine skulls,

but the evidence of affinity is small, The termination of the bony palate in

the middle above the opening of the posterior nares is between the last molars,

* I am indebted to Mr. E. Gerrard for calling my attention to the very peculiar structure

of the hair.

542 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCTETY, Vol. VIII.

’

whereas in all other deer of which I have examined the skull, the Openme ig

farther back.

But by far the most peculiar character, as already noticed by Mr. Sclater, is

the form of the nasals. These,a little way from the posterior termination,

are fully twice as broad as they are in front, each bearing on the outer side a

large rounded lobe-like expansion, so as to cover over the greater part of

the lachrymal vacuity, which is much narrower than in Hlaphine or

Rusine deer.

The following are measurements in inches :—

Basal length of skull, from anterior border of foramen magnum to

anterior end of premaxillaries .........0sssscsecerscersecnsceer ees Leconte tetets 13°4

Length from posterior border of occipital condyles to ditto............ 14°3

Breadth across posterior edges of orbits ......... Sospanurinncoancouacnccdonko. \ [EPG

Breadth across premaxillaries just above Canines ..err..eeee: Hecasoorany 28)

uength of Masal, bONeS sarc: .veenrsee. esau ceo.Fsc.cere, Seonenemeees MAS ieentoch MOSOD

Greatest breadth of nasals between Hee VACUIUIES! | sathececccosseo i nnO

Breadth of nasals in front at suture between maxillary daa pre-

TineR olen eraneecececbesdacauasbedshSaceodoad joosnonbeneaccbuos auboore bao ee sibeaseeeay 1°45

Length of row of upper molars and a cee aun ch Caeokt cae eae ceeene 4°3

Length of upper three molars alone ...........- Eg anc08! Ga98, CosonaRpaooNeCe 2°6

On the whole, I can see no very close affinity between this and any known

species of Cervus ; the present species approaches some forms of the Hlaphine

group quite as much as any other Cervine type, perhaps more. I can see no

evidence of Pseudasine affinity, such as the horns might perhaps suggest. On

the whole, the species is probably as near to C. cashmirianus and C. affinis

as to any other, though perfectly distinct from both.

As regards the name of the present species, some little difficulty arises. As

already mentioned, it is most probable that the horn to which the name Cervus

nariyanus was given by Hodgson (J. A. 8. B., xx., 1851, p. 292, pl. viii.) belonged

to a younger individual of the same species. This horn was said to have been

brought from Ladék ; it was 34 inches in length, and had four points, the two

lower being more than 4 inches apart, so there was no bez tine. Judging by

the figure,1 the horn was more massive than would be expected in a young

specimen of Thorold’s Stag. Mr. Hodgson remarked that “the Bhotiahs who

brought this horn say it belonged to a very young animal, and that the species,

which is proper to Gnari or Western Tibet, is larger than the Shou”’ (C. affinis).

The stag obtained by Dr. Thorold is considerably smaller than the Shou ;

there is, so far as is known, no stag in Western Tibet, C. cashmirianus being

limited to the Kashmir valley, at all events on the north and east of its range,

and, as is well known, young examples of C. elaphus, and I believe of the

1 The original specimen cannot be foundin the British Museum, though Mr. Oldfield

Thomas has searched for it. As no mention of itis to be found in the published catalogue

of Mr. Hodgson’s collections, it was perhaps not included in them.

CERVUS THOROLDI, FROM TIBET. 543

Wapiti also, frequently want the bez tine ; so that it is by no means impossible

that the Lad4k horn may have belonged to a young C, cashmirianus from Kash-

mir, to C. yarkandensis from Eastern Turkestan, or even to C. eustephanus (C.

canadensis, var.) from the Thian Shan, Laddk being connected with all these

regions by trade routes. ‘The Bhotiah story was probably pure fiction.

There is, moreover, one very strong reason for not using the name C. nari-

yanus for the present animal even if, as is highly probable, it was the species

that furnished the horn described and figured by Hodgson, The name was

taken from Nari, the Western (or rather perhaps the South-Western) province

of Tibet, often called Gnéri or Ndri-Khorsum, a tract, as represented on maps,

of no great breadth from north to south, but extending “long the north of the

Himalayas from the western extremity of Tibet proper near Rudok to between

long. 80° and 85° E. This region, part of which is known as Hundes, is on the

frontier of our own territory, and has been visited at several points by British

Sportsmen. If any stag inhabited the region, it is incredible that nothing

should have been heard of it ; moreover, the whole of the upper valleys of the

Sutlej and Yarots4npo or Brahmaputra, of which the area consists, is a barren,

treeless almost bushless waste, differing essentially from the country inhabited,

so far as is known, by any species of Cervus. I think it extremely improbable

that any stag inhabits Nari; and, under these circumstances, it is not desirable

to apply the name nariyanus to a'species which does not occur there.

Whilst Mr. Sclater pointed out the similarity of the head which had been

purchased in the Darjiling bazaa¥, and was described by him, to that of Cervus

dybowskii, he was careful to avoid identifying the two. It is clear that he

was perfectly right in supposing that the head, the skin of which was dried on,

had come from Tibet. Now that we have the whole skin and dimensions, it ig

evident that the species is distinct from C., dybowskii (P. Z. S. 1876, p. 123,

woodcut of head and horns, p. 124), which is a much smaller form, spotted at

all seasons, although the spots in winter are described as indistinct and con-

fined to the posterior part of the body. So far as is known, the horns in the

adult of C. dybowskiz only bear 4 points each, and the shape of the beam is

different, being more regularly curved.

As, therefore, the Tibetan species requires a name, I think it impossible to do

better than to call it Cervus thoroldi, after its discoverer. The following are the

principal characters :—

Cervus magnitudine ad C. elaphum proxime accedens ; fuscus, immaculatus,

area pygalt circum caudam porrecta pallide rufa ornatus ; pilis hirtis crassis

longiusculis, in medio dorso ab uropygio usque ad humeros antice versis,

indutus ; cornibus singulis valde curvatis, ramos ad quinque gerentibus ; ramo

secundo a primo vel basali multo distante, tertio longiusculo.

Plate XXXIV, represents the stuffed specimen in the British Museum, the

type of the species; the cut (p. 445) is taken from the head of the other

specimen, still belonging to Dr. Thorold.

544 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

About a year ago, when discussing the geological age of the Central Asiatic

highlands,? I had occasion to call attention to the remarkable specialization of

the mammalian fauna inhabiting the Tibetan plateau. The stag now described

adds another to the species peculiar to this tract of elevated country, and the

list of these mammals as amended may be of interest to zoologists.

therefore, added here.

MAMMALIA OF THE TIBETAN PLATEAU.

INSECTIVORA.

Crocidura aranea.

}Nectogale elegans,

CARNIVORA.

Felis manul,

F, lynx.

FF, uncia.

*Paradoxurus laniger.

Canis lupus, var. laniger.

Vulpes alopex, var. flavescens.

*V. ferrilatus,

Cyon deccanensis, var.

Mustela foina, var.

* Putorius larvatus,

*P, canigula,

P. alpinus, var, temon.

P. erminia,

* Meles leucura.

* 1M, albogularis ?

+luropus melanoleucus,

* Ursus pruinosus,

RODENTIA,

}Lupetaurus cinereus.

*Arctomys himalayanus,

*A Srobustus.

RoODENTIA—continued.

*Mus sublimis.

*Microtus (Arvicola) blythi.

*M, strauchi.

*M, (Eremiomys) preevalskii,

Siphneus fontanier?,

*Lagomys curzonie,

*D, rutilus,

*L, erythrotis.

*L. melanostomus.

*L. ladacensis,

*Lepus otostolus,

*L, hypsibius,

UNGULATA.

Equus hemionus, var, kiang,

*Bos grunniens,

*Ovis hodgsont.

O, vignei, var.

*0. nahura,

Capra sibirica,

tPantholops hodgsont.

{Budorcas taxicolor ?

*Gazella picticaudata,

* Cervus affinis,

*C, thoroldi,

Moschus moschiferus.

In this list * signifies a peculiar species, [| a peculiar genus ; that is, a species

or genus not known to exist out of Tibet.

This is a list of the mammals known to inhabit the plateau north of the

Himalayas and south of the Kuenlun, Altyn Tag, and Nanshan, at elevations

exceeding 12,000 feet. Many of the forms named only inhabit small portions

of the area, and whilst Bos grunniens, Ovis hodgsoni, Pantholops hodgsoni and

Gazella picticaudata, with several rodents, appear to be peculiar to the high

plateaus above 14,000 feet, the two species of Cervus are probably found in

brushwood at a rather lower elevation in the more broken regions of Hastern

Tibet, where the rainfall is heavier and the vegetation more abundant.

As was pointed out in the paper in the “ Geological Magazine,” there is,

so far as 1 am aware, no equally peculiar mammalian fauna to be found in any

continental area of equal extent, and fora parallel it is necessary to turn to

some island like Celebes, that has long been isolated from all surrounding lands,

1 Geological Magazine, April, 1892 (iii.), ix., p. 164;

545

DEEP SEA LIFE IN THE BAY OF BENGAL.

[Extracts from a paper read before the Microscopical Society of Calcutta, on

11th September, 1893, by Dr. A. W. Alcock.]

Tn a previous lecture, which I had the honour last year of delivering before

this Society, I gave an account of the physical geography of the sea basins and

seas of the Indian region, and of the various technical methods by which the

facts of marine physiography, or hydrography, have been elucidated. To-day

I have before me the much simpler task of exhibiting a few of the inhabitants

of these deep sea basins, of explaining some of the more obvious peculiarities

of their structure, and of offering a few suggestions as to the relations which

these peculiarities of structure bear to the peculiarities of the habitat in which

the animals are found.

Ti is hardly necessary for me to remind you that peculiarities in the form

of animals are largely the outcome of peculiarities in their environment or

habitat. We express this fact by saying that such or such an animal is exactly

adapted to its environment. In the case, for instance, of animals that live in

dark caves—such as the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky—we find that the eyes

are wanting, Here isa cray fish (Cambarus pellucidus) from the Mammoth

Cave: it has eye-stalks just like other cray fish, which proves that it is descend-

ed from a well-eyed form, but there are no eyes at the end of the eye-stalks,

Other species of Cambarus which do not live in the dark possess eyes. Now

why should Cambarus pellucidus have lost its eyes? Because eyes are no

longer necessary ; they have fallen into disuse. Being of no service to their

possessors they are not acted upon by natural selection, for in the dark an

animal with eyes has no better chance of surviving than an animal without

eyes, Furthermore, eyes are delicate organs and extremely liable to injury :

moreover they are large and vascular structures, and require a large amount

of blood. Now, so long as the eyes are highly useful to their possessor, it so

to speak “‘ pays” to protect them from injury, and to keep them supplied with

blood ; but when they become useless it is in the highest degree wasteful to

expend upon them the nourishment and care that might be much more ad-

vantageously bestowed upon some organ more useful to an animal living in

the dark,—such as an organ of smell or an organ of touch: under such con-

ditions we may expect an eyeless species to be gradually developed—such as

this Cambarus, and the blind fish and the blind amphibian, along with which

it lives. Cambarus, then, is an excellent and extreme illustration of the truth

of the fact, that peculiarities in the environment of an animal are largely

answerable for peculiarities in the structure of that animal.

Beside peculiarities in the inorganic environment there are other powerful

factors that influence the shapes and structure of animals, One of the prin-

cipal of these is the necessity for getting food to eat in the face of a multitude

of hostile competitors of the same and of other species.

946 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Another of the principal of these factors is the effort for preservation

of the type—in other words, the desire to win a mate and generate

offspring amid a crowd of competitors of the same species. If this

statement of the case seems somewhat unromantic, let me bring before

you some extreme illustrations in its .support. Here is a specimen of

a peculiar crustacean known as Sacculina, which, as you see, is a shapeless

mass of tissue firmly fixed to the tail of this crab, In its early larval stages,

Sacculina resembles not perhaps the crab, since the crab’s earlier larval stages

are somewhat different from those of other crustacea, but the prawn; so that

it has—for a crustacean—noble relatives and a high ancestry. Both Sacculina

and the prawn have at first the form of small free-swimming larve with a pair

of antennz, two pairs of biramous legs, a mouth, a single median eye, &c.,

known as Nauplius. Now the necessity for self-preservation has led Sacculina

to attach itself as a parasite to some other animal. Being a parasite and

entirely dependent on this other animal, or host, it no longer requires

organs of sense to see its prey or, escape its enemies ; it no longer wants legs

to swim about in search of prey, and its existence being assured as a parasite,

it loses all resemblance to its nobler relatives and becomes nothing but a large

stomach encapsuled, along with its reproductive organs, in a bag of skin,

- Sacculina then exhibits in an extreme degree the truth of the proposition, that

the form of an animal is very very largely determined by the manner in which

it gets its living.

Again, let this Gelasimus crab be a witness of the truth of the fact, that the

aim of preserving the type—in other words of winning a mate and leaving

offspring—has a great effect in shaping an animal. Here are two specimens of

Gelasimus annulipes—a male and a female. Now the females of this Gelasimus

are relatively scarce, while the males are relatively very numerous, so that it

is a difficult thing for the male Gelasimus to win a wife. To obtain a wife he

must fight with his fellows, and this necessity of existence has led to the

wonderful development of one of his chelipeds asa fighting weapon—a develop-

ment so extraordinary, as to make the animalarather ridiculous appendage.

to his own claw. That this claw is not otherwise necessary for existence is

proved by the fact that the female does not possess it,

In a nexus of animal life the necessity to get a living—i. ¢., the necessity to

eat—involves and implies a necessity to escape being eaten, and this necessity

to avoid falling a victim becomes a third factor of great importance in deter-

mining the forms of animals. Asan extreme illustration of the influence of

this third factor, let me show you this beautiful specimen of Oreophorus—a

small, timid, inoffensive crab which, for the purpose of concealment from its

enemies, has become so modified in form as to resemble a piece of eroded

coral shingle, rather than an animal.

To recapitulate then, we find one, or all, of four principal factors at work in

determining the peculiarities of form of animals—viz., (1) peculiarities in the

DEEP SEA LIFE IN THE BAY OF BENGAL. 547

inorganic environment ; (2) the necessity to kill and eat ; (3) the necessity to

avoid being killed’and eaten, and (4) the necessity to obtain a mate.

Before proceeding to consider the play of these four factors in the depths

of the sea, we must briefly explore these depths and discover the nature of the

first factor. Comparing the subaqueous surface of the sea bottom with the

subaérial surface of the dry land, we find a great contrast between the two,

The surface of the dry land is sculptured and diversified in multitudinous

ways by all those forces classed by geologists as ‘epigene—i.e., by rain, by

runnels and streams and rivers, by alternating periods of moisture and drought,

and of heat and cold, by ice, by winds, by movements of the sea itself, even

by plants. On the floor of the ocean none of those epigene forces are present,

and in consequence there is very little diversity of surface. We find, it is true,

great plains and great valleys and great mountain-chains—the Bay of Bengal

for instance is a vast plain nearly 1,000 miles in greatest breadth, broken only «

by the one long narrow mountain-chain, which at places rises above the surface

of the sea as the Andaman Islands—but everything is on a vast and monotonous

scale, without diversity because there are no sculpturing forces at work,

no inequalities of temperature, no alternating periods of heat and cold, no

winds, no movements of the water (for waves are quite superficial, and even

great currents, such as the Gulf Stream, do not extend to any great depth below

the surface), no plants.

Another great difference between the surface of the land and the bottom

of the depths of the ocean is that the bottom of the ocean is entirely screened

from the heat and light of the sun by the intervening mass of water. Every

one here is familiar with the fact that the intervention of clouds, which are

simply finely divided masses of water, between the sun and the earth’s surface

results in gloom and in a reduction of temperature, Now apply this familiar

phenomenon with thousandfold intensity to the bottom of the ocean, between

which and the sun there is interposed, not for a day or two a layer of cloud,

but for ever a volume of water often several miles thick. Even in 15 fathoms

depth, as seen by the water-glass on a fine sunshiny day, the light that reaches

the bottom is much subdued, giving more the appearance of moonlight than

of direct sunlight. Experiments by Messrs. Fol and Sarasin in the clear waters

of the Lake of Geneva, in winter time, proved that sunlight there does not

penetrate to a greater depth than 155 fathoms. They sunk photographic

plates, suspended from a buoy, to various depths by night, and left them

exposed all the following day, with the result that at about 155 fathoms the

plates were unaffected. In the open ocean, where there is absolutely no sedi-

ment, and in the tropics, where the sun’s light is fiercest, it is generally allowed

that no light whatever penetrates to a greater depth than 200 fathoms, Below

that depth all is eternally dark.

Not only is the sun’s light cut off. Weknow how clouds shield us from

the sun’s heat rays, and similarly at the bottom of the ocean the sun’s heat is

548 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

completely cut off by the overlying water. Even in the Bay of Bengal, ata

depth of 20 to 30 fathoms, there isa fall of temperature, compared with

the temperature at the surface, of 2° to 3°. At 200 fathoms in the Bay of

Bengal the thermometer would stand all the year round at about 55° Fahr.,

at 2,000 fathoms it stands all the year round at about 35° Fahr.

To get an idea, then, of what the ocean-bed is like, we must imagine great

plains, thousands of miles in extent, broken here and there by great valleys

with very gently sloping sides, and by great mountain chains rising here and

there into land. Minor inequalities of surface there are none, for the good

reason that none of those forces which wear and sculpture the surface of con-

tinents are in action. All is absolutely still, the darkness must be something

that we can hardly conceive, and the temperature is near the freezing point.

Plant life is of course absent, for plants can grow only in the presence of

sunlight, so that we must imagine these vast dark silent plains and valleys to

be absolutely bare. It is difficult to conceive that life can be found in the

midst of such desolation ; and yet the researches of the last 20 years have

proved that these cold, dark abysses teem with animal life, and are quite as

well inhabited as the warm tropical reefs. Another factor has to be consi-

dered. At the surface of the sea we are accustomed to the presence of the

Superincumbent atmosphere only, a pressure which amounts to 14:7 Ibs. on

every square inch of the surface of our bodies ; but water is infinitely heavier

than air, and the animals which live at the bottom of the sea are subjected to

the enormous pressure of the superincumbent ocean. Now,acolumn of water

33'7 feet high exercises the same pressure as the whole column of the atmos-

phere. Let us say in round numbers that a column of water 54 fathoms high

exercises the pressure of one atmosphere ; then a column of water 2,000

fathoms deep exercises a pressure of 363 atmospheres—a pressure that is of

363 times 14:7 Ibs, or in round numbers of 2 tons 8 cwt. That is to Say an

animal placed at a depth of 2,000 fathoms has to support a pressure of 2 tons

8 cwt. on every square inch of the surface of its body. We now know the

conditions under which animals live at the bottom of the ocean: (1) they are

subjected to an enormous pressure : (2) they are absolutely deprived of sun-

light ; (3) they live in a medium, the temperature of which is only slightly

above the freezing point; (4) as there are no plants for them to eat they are

carnivorous, and therefore highly rapacious.

At the outset of this lecture we realized the fact that the forms of animals

are profoundly modified by the direct action of the conditions of their in-

organic environment ; and by means of these specimens I propose to illustrate

some of the ways in which deep sea animals are modified by the peculiar cir-

cumstances of their inorganic environment. Here I hand you a specimen of

a deep sea fish, Tauredophidium heatii, Tauredophidium is closely allied to the

blind fish that inhabits the underground waters of the great Mammoth Cave of

Kentucky. You observe that it is quite blind. Underneath the skin, in the posi-

DEEP SEA LIFE IN THE BAY OF BENGAL. 549

tion where eyes ought to be, there are indeed the rudiments of eyes, showing

that it is descended from ancestors that had eyes, but it itself, living in dark-

ness, is quite blind ; it has no need foreyes, eyes would be liable to be injured,

and are therefore a disadvantage, and so they have been gradually eliminated

by natural selection. These crustaceans, Polycheles, Nophropeis, and Lyreidus,

are also blind. They have eye-stalks, like their close relatives the lobsters,

but the eye-stalks, like those of Cambarus, carry no eyes. It commonly hap-

pens that the absence of eyes is compensated by the development of organs

of touch—just as a blind man feels his way about witha stick. This beauti-

ful specimen of Bathypterozs illustrates this compensatory development : its

eyes are not quite lost, but they are quite rudimentary, and in compensation

the fin-rays are enormously prolonged, and are abundantly supplied with

nerves, On the other hand there may occur, and there actually does occur,

another line of development equally interesting, and perhaps even more wonder-

ful, Animals may become adapted to darkness by becoming blind—sur-

rendering at once, so to speak, to the irresistible force of their environment

like Tauredophidium, &c., &c. Other forms, however, when deprived of sun-

light, may meet the difficulty by manufacturing their own light, just as man

when deprived of sunlight by the daily rotation of the earth manufactures fire

sticks and candles. There is nothing really out of the way in animals thus

developing light by the combustion of their own tissues. The familiar fire-

fly is a daily illustration of this common physiological phenomenon. In the

fire-fly certain cells situated on a certain part of the abdomen undergo chemical

changes which result in phosphorescence—the albumen of these cells is burnt

or oxidized, it is converted into uric acid, and urates, with the evolution of

light, just as the muscles of other animals are burnt and converted into urates

and urea, &c., with the evolution of heat and mechanical motion. Again it is

well known to all voyagers by sea that most marine animals are at times

luminous. Now in certain deep sea animals living in constant darkness, this

luminosity is very highly developed. Cells in particular regions of the body

become aggregated to form glands, the secretion of which is brilliantly lumin-

ous. These fishes, Thawmastormias, Gonostoma, and Leptoderma, illustrate this,

as also do these crustaceans, Nephrops, Aristaeus, and Heterocarpus. In this case

the eyes, instead of aborting, are very singularly developed, being of enormous

size, like those of owls, to catch all the comparatively feeble light of their own

manufacture. These illustrations, then, must suffice to show some of the

modifications of structure imposed by the peculiar conditions of life at the

bottom of the ocean.

Let us next consider some of the modifications which follow from the

action of the law “ kill and eat,” a law which acts with peculiar rigour in the

depths of the sea, because there are no plants there, and carnivorism is a

universal rule. If there are no plants, how is the cycle of life carried on?

On dry land we know that plants are the great manufactures manufacturing

550 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

food for the consumption of animals—all animals either living directly on

vegetable food, or being dependent on it indirectly, as in the case

of the carnivora which eat the herbivora. Animals in turn furnish

carbonic acid to the plants for food, and when they die, are ultimately

converted into salts and gases which may serve as food for planis.

Thus we get a cycle, a constant succession, of changes of life ending

in death, and of death ending in life. But in the deep sea this series seems to

want a link, for we have no plants to manufacture food out of inorganic sub-

stances. The wanting link, however, is only apparently wanting. Whence

then the ultimate food supply? It is supposed that it all comes from the

surface. ‘The surface of the sea is crowded with organisms, both animal and

plant, and there appears to be an incessant rain of small food from the surface.

Great rivers also carry into the sea a large amount of water-logged matter that

finds its way to the bottom. On food derived from these sources, the smaller

and lowlier forms feed, and the larger and higher forms feed in turn on the

lowlier forms. This necessity for catching prey impresses a very distinct

mark upon many deep sea animals, which are horribly rapacious. This is best

seen in certain fishes which have the teeth enormously magnified, and the

mouth capable of even greater distention than that of a serpent. In this spe-

cimen of Thaumastomias, the lower jaw is practically a great rat-trap attached

to the head simply by a long elastic muscular band, and capable of being

turned completely over the head. In Ponerodon we have a somewhat similar

mouth with large hinged teeth : from the stomach of this specimen of Pone-

rodon I removed the remains of a fish weighing more than the Ponerodon itself,

the animal being a mere appendage of its own abdomen. In Polycheles, again,

observe the long chelipeds, and that all the “ feet” end in chele.

The third factor we may now consider is, that which covers the modifica-

tions due to the action of the law, “ avoid being killed and eaten.” “ Protec-

tive resemblances” for the purpose of deceiving enemies appear to be rare in

deep sea animals, and we can easily understand that it must be so, seeing that

there is no light. Coloration, which is so largely developed in land animals

for purposes of protective resemblance, cannot come within the scope of

natural selection where light is wanting. Hence deep sea animals are com-

monly sombrely and uniformly coloured in harmony with the uniform sombre

gloom of their habitat, deep black being common, and deep purple shading

off to red and pink.

The action of the fourth factor—sexual selection—appears also to be much

hampered by the want of light. However, our knowledge of the deep sea

fauna is not yet comprehensive enough to allow us to make any definite

statements on this subject. So far the only case of difference in form between

the male and female which has come to my notice, is in this :specimen :of a

male of Neobythites pterotus, which has the pectoral fin-rays much prolonged,

perhaps for the purpose of feeling for the female. At any rate, in the female

the rays are of the ordinary length.

551

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.

No, L—QUAILS BREEDING IN CAPTIVITY.

In June or July, 1891, I bought a large cage with 20 or 30 birds in it;

among them 3 bush-quail cocks: one died soon after. In August or Septem-

ber, 1891, I rescued a hen bush-quail from the hands of my cook, who was

about to slay her, and I put her into the cage. Soon afterwards she began to

lay, and up to this (January, 1894,) she cannot have laid less than 60 eggs, One

of the cocks died last November. At the beginning of December I puta “sod”

of grass into the cage; the hen almost immediately made a nest,—that is, she

pressed down a small circular portion of the grass,—and laid five eggs, I let

her sit. Three weeks afterwards I broke one of the eggs; there was a partly

developed chick in it, alive. A few days afterwards I broke another egg: con-

tents bad. Then, as I thought it best to make the bird cease from sitting, I

broke the other three eggs ; one was bad, but in the other two were fully-

formed chicks, dead. I believe that if the other (many) birds in the cage had

not disturbed the sitting quail, she would have hatched her egos.

R, P. BRUNTON,

15th January, 1894.

No. I11—SAUROMATUM GUTTATUM, SCHOTT.

In the “ Flora of British India,” Vol. IV, page 509, it is stated S. guttatum

is confined to N.-W. India, except Schott’s specimens should prove to be from

the Concan, of which there is no evidence.

A root collected at Tulsi near Bombay has flowered in the Botanical Garden

of this College during the last few days and proves to be this species, The

description in ‘‘ Flora of British India” is good, and the figure in Wight’s Icones

Plant., n. 800, is unmistakable.

G. MARSHALL WOODROW.

COLLEGE OF SCIENCE,

Poona, 28th January, 1894.

No. IJI.—NOTES ON CALLEREBIA NIRMALA, MOORE, A

SATYRID BUTTERFLY.

On the 5th of July, 1893, I caught at Mussoorie, a hill-station in the Western

Himalayas, a female example of Callerebia nirmala, Moore, which the same

day laid eight eggs on grass.

The eggs are pearly-white, irregularly globular, slightly flattened at the top

and bottom like an orange, and resemble seed-pearls both in colour and shape.

They are about the size of very fine grains of sago. They were laid on the

blades of grass, but fell off at once when the grass was touched. On the 16th

the eggs turned yellow and remained go till the 20th, when a slight dark mark

552 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

was visible on the top of the egg, in shape like a crescent. On the Qist this

mark had enlarged, and the head of the caterpillar was distinctly visible,

the rest of the ege being of a dirty pink shade,

July 22nd.—Five larves emerged by eating away the top of the shell. The

rest of the shell is left untouched. The larva, when newly hatched, is a little

over }” long, white, with a few fine white hairs or down. It resembles a flat

white maggot more than anything else. Head black, very large for the body,

heart-shaped. The body tapers a little towards the tail.

July 28th.—Larve nearly 3” long, of a blue-green colour, fading to yellowish

at the tail, The body is thicker at the head, and tapers regularly to the tail.

It is covered with minute white hairs. Scarcely perceptible lines of a brownish

tint extend from the head to the tail.

August 12th.—The body is very much thicker in the middle, tapering towards

the tail, The larve were now ’,” long, and very pretty. Head flat, rising to

two little points at the top. By degrees spots and lines made their appearance,

and on the 27th of August I described the nearly full-grown larva as follows:—

Length 3”; fusiform ; from the front the head looks like that of a cat with

ears erect, ‘The body tapers more from the middle to the tail than from the

middle towards the head, and terminates in two little pointed tails. Head and

body fawn-colour, with the following markings :—two ear-like projections on

the head, and a line on each side of the head, dark brown. Minute brown

lines forming a square on the face, A narrow dorsal dark brown stripe, much

darker from the middle of the body to the tails, bifurcated anally. The sides

are ornamented by five narrow yellowish-white lines, the two upper ones

undulating, the three lower ones straight. Two minute subdorsal dark brown

spines on the 3rd segment, two on the 4th, and one dorsal one on the 13th. An

irregular subdorsal series of dark brown spots, one on each of the 6th, 7th,

8th, and 9th segments, A narrow spiracular dark brown line, Legs, claspers,

and abdomen, fawn-colour. The whole body presents the appearance of a

piece of very finely woven repp. On the 31st of October I brought the larve

from Mussoorie, in the hills, to Bankipore, in the plains, and fed them on

various kinds of grass,

The larva, when full grown, is 1}” long. The markings are the same as )

described above, only more spread out,

December 24th.—One larva suspended itself by the tail, and remained in

that position for two days. I found it changed to a chrysalis on the morning

of the 27th. The chrysalis is brown, wing-cases paler and more of a reddish-

golden-brown. Shape, much the same as Lethe sidonis, Hewitson.

January 19th, 1894,—Butterfly emerged.

February 7th.—A second imago appeared to-day. These, like their parents,

are distinctly C. nrmala. It would appear, therefore, that this is a distinct

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 553

species, and not a seasonal form either of C. annada, Moore, of C. hybrida,

Butler, or of C. scanda, Kollar.

Mrs. 8. ROBSON.

BANKIPORE, 7th February, 1894.

Note By Mr. pe NICEVILLE,

Mrs, Robson is to be congratulated on her discovery for the first time of the

egg, larva, and pupa of a species of Callerebia. Until now no one had succeeded

in doing so. From her account of the life-history of C. nirmala, it is evident

that, like nearly all the temperate species of Satyrine, the species of Callerebia

occurring in the Himalayas are only single-brooded ; so with them there can be

no question of seasonal forms. It is further obvious that they hybernate in

the larva state, as, but for the fact that Mrs. Robson brought her living larve

in the autumn from the cold Himalayas to the hot plains and thus forced them

to premature perfection, there is no doubt that the butterflies, instead of

emerging from the pupa in February, would have done so in June, thus com-

pleting the full cycle of a year, the larve in a state of nature attaining their

full size and pupating in the spring after the winter hybernation.

No. IV.—PSAMUMOPHIS LONGIFRONS.

On page 406 of Vol. VII of our journal there is an interesting account of a

fine specimen of the above secured by Father Dreckmann, I am glad to be

able to present the society with a specimen new to the collection, The snake

was caught by myself in the Umargaon Taluka of Thanna, a few miles from

the coast and from the Damanganga River, in April, 1891. It was found in

grass on a dry and rocky little hill, and tried to escape by taking refuge in

the ground. It was very agile, and nearly succeeded. Father Dreckmann has

the credit of discovering the arboreal habits of this snake, but it is probably

as much at home on the ground. More information is needed, but in any

case it is most interesting that a snake of so desert a type as Psammophis

should be found in forest trees in the moist climate of Kalyan.

F, GLEADOW.

Poona, February, 1894.

No. V.—THE FLAMINGO BREEDING IN INDIA.

I send you a letter which I received some time ago from the Rao

Sahib of Cutch together with several eggs of the Flamingo (Phenicopterus

antiquorum).

BHUJ, 5th October, 1893.

My DEAR Mr, LESTER,

Thave caused a letter to be sent to Khadir to inquire the name of the spot where the

Flamingo’s eggs were found and shall let you know when an answer is received. In the

meantime I have looked up the letter which came with the eggs sent last year by the official

at Khadir, This letter is dated 28rd October, and I received with it about 20 eggs and two

recently hatched flamingoes, The eggs were easy to blow, as the young ones were not

formed inside, From this it seems safe to conclude that the flamingoes lay in September and

554 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

October. The letter further says that the men who picked up the eggs found numerous nests

in one place on the Runn.

Yours sincerely,

RAO KHENGARBJLI.

I think His Highness can claim to be the first who has discovered for certain

that Phenicopterus antiquorum does breed in India.

C.D. LESTER, Lievt.,

17th Bombay Infantry.

Curen, lst March, 1894.

No. VI.—MEASUREMENTS OF TIGERS’ SKULLS.

Referring to the note by Mr, W.S. Millard in the last number of the

Journal, I beg to send you the measurements of two tigers shot by me this

year in the Central Provinces. They were both carefully measured as they lay

on the ground before being skinned. Tiger No. 1 measured 9’ 10” from nose

to tip of tail ; length of tail 3’; the skull measures 133”x9i". Tiger No, 2

measured 9/ 103” from nose to tip of tail ; length of tail 3’ 33” ; the skull

measures 14” x 10".

H, F. CLEVELAND, Sure.-Cart.,

5th Bombay Light Infantry.

Bompay, 1st March, 1894.

No. VIL—MUSCULAR ACTION AFTER DEATH,

While dealing with a big cobra the other morning, the quiver of his dying

tail recalled to my mind an incident, connected with one of his race, that

occurred to me several years ago. The narrative may be of interest to mem-

bers of the Society, although the curious circumstance described is possible of

explanation as a mere accident.

I was out quail-shooting one morning with a friend at Dharwar when we put

up acobra. A charge of small shot failed to stop him, and he escaped to his

hole on the maidan and was nearly in when another shot stopped him, and

he lay with his tail outside the hole.

Wishing to examine him, we pulled gently and then firmly at that tail, but

could not stir him. Resolving to put on more power, we took a rumal from

one of the beaters and tied the tail to a stick and put on two men to pull.

The result was that the snake came in half, and with the jerk the tail portion

was unloosened from the stick and fell to the ground at a short distance from

the hole.

Then the marvel followed. This piece of tail, about two feet in length,

proceeded to act as if endowed with sense, It wriggled towards the hole, but,

missing it went a foot or two beyond. Then it stopped and, as if it knew

it had gone wrong, wriggled back again, and this time struck the hole and

went down it and disappeared.

I remember that we all stood aghast, and that my friend and I found little

encouragement to repeat our story in the station.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 555

I mentioned the incident in a letter home at the time, and in reply was in-

formed, on the authority of the Parish Clerk, that it was a well-known fact

that, if you cut an adder in two, the tail will follow the head.

Also I found something like it in Lucretius, but the poet describes the head

as going in search of the tail, and not the tail of the head,

The experiment is easy of repetition, but one does not often get the oppor-

tunity of pulling a lively snake in half, and there are obvious objections not

only on the score of cruelty.

Tt would be interesting if some of our naturalists have any lore on the gsub-

ject to communicate.

HK. J. EBDEN, I.CS.

Camp, AHMEDNAGAR DisTRICT,

1st March, 1894.

No. VIII.—FERTILIZATION OF THE VANILLA FLOWER

BY BEES.

“ Autrefois l’clevage des abeilles constituait une industrie importante ; Cuba

exportait alors de grandes quantités de miel dt de cire. Délaissé dans ce

derniéres années, ce genre d’exploitation, encouragé par les demandes croissantes

des consommateurs américains, reprend 4 nouveau et c’est par millions que se

chiffre exportation aux Htats-Unis.”

“Ce résultat en améne un autre. La reprise de l’apiculture 4 Cuba donne

une impulsion vigoureuse 4 la culture du vanillier, Duranta plumiere, la

fécondation artificielle devenant inutile, affirme-t-on, et les abeilles y suppléant.

On s’est souvent demandé comment il se fait, alors que des capitaux immenseg

sont engagés, en Chine et aux Indes, dans la culture du thé, que celle de la

vanille, bien autrement lucrative, quoique d’une consommation autrement

restreinte, attire si peu l’attention des planteurs. En gens pratiques, les

Américains ont compris les grands benélices qu’elle pouvait donner aux

Antilles, ott le sol et le climat sont des plus favorables 4 cette liane originaire

du Mexique.”

VII.—Le monde Antilien. II.—Cuba, Puerto-rico, par M. OC, de Varigny.

Revue des Deux Mondes, 1st January, 1894, p. 185.

For the benefit of members that do not happen to read French, I may say

that the pith of the passage quoted from the Revwe des Deux Mondes is as

follows :—

Formerly the Cubans, like other Vanilla cultivators in many tropical coun-

tries, had to fertilize their Vanilla flowers by hand, because the plant, an exotic

orchid, depends in its native country for fertilization on an insect that no one

had managed to induce to follow the plantiacross'seas,

556 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NA TURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VITI.

Now the Cuban bees, whether themselves indigenous, or, as is more proba-

ble, naturalized European bees, have learnt to do the fertilizing for their

masters, and given a great impulse to the cultivation, The other countries

which have been producing vanilla by artificial fertilization must, if this is

the case, either use bees too—or be undersold. —

W. F. SINCLAIR, 1.0.8,

TANNA, lst March, 1894.

No, IX.—THE BUTTERFLIES OF MATHERAN.

I notice in the last number of the Society’s Journal a list of the butterflies

of Matheran. It is some years since I have been there, and I do not remember

accurately all I have caught there. I, however, certainly have caught there

both Lethe europa, Fabricius, and Apatura camiba, Moore, These might, there-

fore, be added to the Matheran list.

J. DAVIDSON, I.C8,

Kanara District, 7th March, 1894,

No. X.—BREEDING SEASON OF THE SPOTTED-BILLED DUCK.

Vet.-Maj. G. F. Rayment «asks on p. 442 of the Society’s Journal (Vol.

VIII, No. 3) if any one has noticed how late the spotted-billed duck, Anas

Pecilorhyncha, breeds. I have shot flappers of this species in the Kod taluka

of the Dharwar district, about ten miles from the northern frontier of Mysore,

in the middle of November. They were very nearly full-grown; but the

remiges, or flight-feathers (quills), had not developed.

C. HUDSON, 1.C.8.

Camp BassEIN, 14th March, 1894.

No. XI.—COLD-WEATHER SHOOTING IN RAIPUR.

When I saw the Honorary Secretary in October last and told him that I was

going to pass the cold weather in camp in the Kaipur jungles, he said, “ You

will have lots to tell us for the Magazine ;” the result has not come up to the

anticipation ; in the first place I have have had to contend with much bad

luck and much fever. As I have been in camp, with the exception of about

fifteen days, in Raipur from the 1st November to the 1st March, I may consider

this period as the cold weather.

A correspondent in the Pioneer lately said that tigers jostled each other in

Raipur ; this is theory ; from the 7th November to the 20th December I had

garahs out in every direction ; I did not have a single kill from a tiger, and

only one from a panther ; I left my garahs down for several days, and I did

not shift camp very frequently, to show on what sort of lines I worked ;

lately a friend (whose camp was about 8 miles from mine) and myself had about

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 557

fifteen garahs out between us for three days and eleven for six days; the amount

of ground covered can be imagined ; result—one kill by a panther ; there

was no lack of fresh pugs, but in the cold weather a place where there are

fresh pugs is the most unlikely spot for a kill as a rule: Twice I should have

got acertain kill if it had not been for the obstinacy of my shikaris in this

matter : native shikaris have two articles of faith—one is that itis no use

tying up unless there are fresh pugs, and another that, if there is no blood, it is

a miss ; I am glad to say that I converted mine on both these points, I found

the greatest difficulty in getting information of village animals killed by tigers,

it was quite the exception for information to be volunteered. Isaw a full-

grown buffalo which had a narrow escape from a tiger, who must have sadly

miscalculated his spring, as the buffalo was clawed at the back of its hind

quarters, one very bad wound involving the anus: I am surprised at the tiger

attacking a full-grown buffalo, especially as the tiger (which I shot) was only

@ young one.

This tiger must at one time have had an encounter with a porcupine in which

the former did not have all the honours, for, on skinning him, I found pieces

of porcupine quill, some nearly three inches in length, in his foot, head and

body ; these had evidently been ina long time, as there was no trace of any

external wound, and the quills were very much discoloured and worn ; they

were between the inner layers of the skin,

Panthers I also found decidedly scarce ; one was the smallest one I have ever

seen and seemed all tail (I missed it sitting over the kill). I was surprised

at finding it on the kill when I went to inspect it between one and two o’clock

in the day. It was a long time before I could make myself understood when

I wished to enquire about panthers and chital, when neither tendwa or chital

was understood ; however I at last got hold of the difference, viz., Chitwa for the

former and Chita for the latter ; this, however, does not seem to work

everywhere,

There was a custom in the case of a tiger being shot which was new to me,

or at least which I do not remember, wiz., when the dead tiger was being

brought in, the women of the village used to put a rope across the road and

refuse to let it pass until they received backsheesh ; it would be interesting to

know when this originated ; I am afraid that they never get any thing out

of me.

There is a deal of latent pluck and folly combined about a native ; how

frequently do we hear of a herd driving off a tiger which has attacked one of

his cattle with no more formidable weapon than a stick ; a case occurred near

here only last week ; the tiger, however, resented the interference and made

for the man, who died of his wounds,

Bears were fairly numerous, I was having a beat fora tiger on one occasion ;

behind me was an open space about 300 yards across, then grass ; during the

beat two bears at different times came close to me; they both behaved in

558 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VI11,

exactly the same way, they would not face the little bit of open; they

went a little way on it, then back they came and sat down close to

me (to consider I suppose) ; there was jungle all round the open, so

they might have cut across, but they appeared not to be able to see

that there was, which no doubt was the case, on the other side of the open

their sanctuary. I shot a she-bear and her cub, which was nearly. as big

as his mother, but was still being suckled. Bears frequently take a lot of killing

on account of the difficulty in placing one’s shotin a massof fur ; I was rather

surprised at one I shot in the shoulder, breaking it, but not injuring any

internal organs, it was up on its hind legs facing me, it went off quick

enough, but did not go far before I heard it grizzling ; I went to the sound, about

200 yards, and found him lying down bemoaning his luck; he was off again as

soon as he saw me, but I knocked him over. My experience is that bears are

easily knocked over, but they very quickly recover sufficiently from a most

severe wound to get clear away.

I made two small excursions into the buffalo country and saw a fair

number, but did not bag a bull; I could not make out that there

was a bull in the small herds of six and under which I pursued; if |

there was a bull, he must have been quite young and with very smallhorns. A

buffalo which I killed was an object-lesson for those gentlemen who are

advocating small-bore rifles for big game ; I wounded it and had to follow up

in thick jungle with much foliage. I could never get a fair shoulder-shot, but

put four more bullets into its body without stopping it; my sixth shot at

the root of the tail brought it down, and I finished it with a ‘500 Express behind

the horns ; all the other six shots were from an 8 bore with 6 drams powder ;

if I had not made the lucky shot at the root of the tail, the buffalo might

have “‘eaten”’ more bullets ; all my shots were within less than 15 yards; I

kept coming on the buffalo amongst the thick foliage, and as it was off as soon

as it saw me, all my shots had to be snap, but, as I said before, they were all in

the body ; this shot behind the head I found a capital one for finishing off

wounded animals. I killed one of my garahs to putit out of its misery—it was

in an awful state—and a sambhur instantaneously with my Rook rifle with

this shot.

As regards deer, 1 was woefully disappointed ; I only saw one sambhur,

male or female, and very few chital ; of the latter I saw three stags, but with

very poor horns ; discounting the grass and the foliage, Tam sure they are

both remarkably scarce, I have beaten hills for the former, where the

natives said there were ‘‘ bahut, bahut,” without seeing anything ; I think the

cause of chital being scarce is the native shikari, as the part of Raipur I. have

been in (south of Sambalpur road) has many villages and much cultivation, so

they really have not a chance ; in fact in afew years to come Raipur will

be played out asa shooting ground. New villages are constantly being settled.

As an instance I will take Sankra on the Sambalpur road ; a very few years

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 559

back you could find buffalo within a mile of the dak bungalow I am told ; it

is necessary to go a good many miles now before you would see one ; I walked

one evening about four or five miles up the river, the Jonk Nadi, without

Seeing anything whatever except fresh clearings. I neither saw nor heard a

barking deer, I sawa few four-hornedantelope without horns—they are called

universally ‘“ Kotri”—a few nielghai, and that is all. This scarcity of deer

quite spoils the pleasure of a shooting expedition, as it is always pleasant to see

some life in the morning or evening walk : I nearly always was out in the early

morning and always in the evening, and as arule saw absolutely nothing ; in

fact latterly my shikar diary nearly daily contains the following entry :

“ Morning stroll, usual result ; evening walk, as usual.” My beats also were so

depiorably lifeless ; I have beaten lovely hills and jungle ; perhaps I might see

two or three peafowl, but generally not that, nor even a monkey ; not a single

jungle or spur foul did I ever see.

Of miscellaneous animals I was annoyed by wild dogs once or twice ; natives

call them “ Kog” (g hard) ; on one occasion I had kubber of a panther kill,so

rode out 6 or 7 miles to arrange about a machan being made, only to find out

that about ten or eleven o'clock a pack of wild dogs had come down the nullah

and eaten up every bit of the kill. Wild dogs seem to be later on the prowl

than other animals ; whether they turn out at a corresponding later hour in the

evening Ido not know, but I have come across them when every other

predatory animal would be ensconced for the day.

Porcupines I saw two in beats.

The universal pig, of course, was common enough. One evening sitting up

over a kill I was interested by their behaviour,they went all roundthe kill and

remained in its neighbourhood all the evening ; they apparently devoured the

droppings of the vultures, but never offered to touch the kill; one pig came

under my machan and evidently winded something as he sniffed about for

some considerable time, but appeared satisfied at last ; the panther did not come

to the kill, nor would this be accounted for by it not daring to face the pig, or

ought the panther to be master of the situation? I cannot imagine a cat-sized

panther, which I have referred to above, being able to frighten off a number of

full-grown pig ; at last, as it was too dark to see to shoot, 1 decided to give up,

but as a pig was under my machan and several close to it, I decided to try the

effects of the sound of a whistle to see if it would alarm them ; I had with me

what is known asa policeman’s whistle ; I blew this as hard as I could; not

one of the pig took the slightest notice, Ihave mentioned that the pig did

not touch the kill ; at another place I had a kill from a tiger (which I shot) ; the

next morning my shikari reported that pig had eaten up all the kill. Why

should they have done so in this case and taken no notice of the kill in the

other ?

Jackals, of course, were present in body and in voice ; as we know, they are

not usually of a particularly timid nature, and I was very much amused—ai

560 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIil.

least as much as one can be amused with one’s temperature about 104° F.—one

' evening sitting overa kill to see the scared way in which a jackal tried to snatch

a little meat from the kill ; however he unfortunately did not remain until

the panther came, which it did very shortly and gave me ashot, on which

I would stake my life, but I was so weak and shaky that I missed.

A common jungle cat (J. chaus) annoyed me at one camp ; why it should

have such confidence in man I cannot imagine ; in this case it was misplaced ; it

sat at the corner of my servants’ tent one nightand let me, without any stalking,

walk up and shoot it—range 5 yards.

When I was sitting up on one of the occasions above mentioned, an animal

which I take to be the long-tailed mongoose (H. jerdoni) with great circumspec-

tion came up to the kill, sitting up every now and then to have a look round ;

though it sniffed all round the carcass, yet it did not touch it; it, I fancy, smelt

our foot-steps and was afraid.

I yesterday found a musk-rat in my bath, but as this is Sambalpur, it cannot

count, At one of my camps a wolf was reported to have jogged slowly through

my camp ; I was out for my evening walk at the time, so did not myself see it.

I think that with the hyzna, of which I saw two, and the hare, of which I

came across about six, I have closed my list of quadrupeds.

As regards man himself, the country I was in was too civilized for jungle

tribes, such as Gonds and Bheels ; I came across one or two individuals who

were not cultivators, and that is all. The Huropeanized shikari is also develop-

ing; I even sawone of my shikaris—a well-known one to those who have

shot in these parts—walking about in the sun in December with an umbrella

of the bazaar type opened, in addition to being covered up more or less with

cast-off Europe clothes.

It must be remembered in cold weather shooting that in November, on

account of the rice harvest, there are difficulties in getting beaters together.

Again in the grass districts, in the latter half of February grass-cutting is going

on, which disturbs the whole place. The language of the country is Hindi.

I will now turn to the birds. I must first state that on account of more than

two years’ absence from the country my ornithology has grown rusty, and kil-

ling a bird merely for the sake of puttinga name to it is now rather repugnant

tome. Raipur is what is called a tank district ; do not imagine that this means

it resembles Guzerat ; on the contrary it means that water is very scarce and

that the inhabitants draw their water-supply from tanks; at one village I was

at, the water of the universal tank already stank ; what it will be like in the hot

weather can be imagined. In Raipur I did not shoot a single duck with the

exception of one teal; I saw a few duck on one tank; on suitable tanks there

are generally whistling teal and cotton teal. The flock of common teal, out

of which I shot one, were the only teal I saw. Snipe were exceedingly scarce ;

I am told it isa very bad year in this district for both duck and teal; I saw

two painted snipe and no jack, Her (Bosna, which is maidan) there are one

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 561

or two tanks with sufficient duck on to amuse one, but in no great quantities ;

nukta, red-crested pochard (/. rufina), and ganganey teal are what I have

bagged. )

Peacock in suitable places are in fair numbers. I have seen and shot a few

painted partridges and two florican ; there are no grey partridges. I was told

that there was no quail in the district, but the common quail at all events

this year is generally distributed ; Ihave also shot a rain quail or two, and some

small quail which I did not identify ; the crop of the country is rice ; when

that is cut, except here and there, where there is an odd patch or two of

irrigated cultivation, the fields remain bare ; so the only place to find quail is

in the grassy “ bands” between the rice fields. This is taken advantage of by

the native bird-catcher who walks along the “ bands” with a large oblong

net over his head, beating the grass as he goes along. As regards species of

water-birds which I saw, I could count them on my fingers, probably on one

hand ; even the common pied kingfisher was scarce. Hurrial are generally to

be found about villages, and the common grey hornbill, locally called danéis,

_ is not uncommon ; both make a welcome addition to the bill of fare. I saw

five wild pigeons near Bosna ; in fact it seems to me that I am better situated

as far as ornithology and entomology are concerned in Sambalpur than in

Raipur, but as I have seen so very little of the former, I can say nothing

for certain.

Before I came out I received a commission to catch pretty butterflies, but I

have seen none but the commonest kinds; but as none have English names and

my Indian nomenclature has lapsed, I can say no more,

I have mentioned before that the principal crop is rice; here and there,

however, there is a small crop of sugarcane of indifferent growth, some few

patches of miserable-looking castor oil, a field or two of wretched cotton and

gram, and a fair amount of bad “ till’ ; on the other hand the linseed does not

look at all bad, I was desirous of photographing some Indian crops as they

stood in the field. I have not seen anything worthy of exposing a plate on

(I do not allude to rice).

The jungles seem composed for the most part of various more or less useless

timber, principally saj. I have often, on the march through jungle, asked

my shikari the name and use of every sort of tree I passed, and the reply to

the latter query was in nearly every case “ Of no use.” My other botanical

observations were principally practical. Various villages have weekly their

market-days or bazaar-days; at most of them tomatoes, brinjals, a green

equivalent to spinach, onions, etc., can be obtained. A most important

discovery I made at Bosna (Sambalpur road) is that potatoes can be obtained

in quantity ; they are brought from Raipur. I find native tobacco—the dark

and mild sort—very good when smoked in a leaf-pipe after the native fashion ;

the light-coloured leaf is too strong.

562 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. Vill.

The only poisonous snake I saw was one very large cobra, which suddenly

appeared out of a white-ants’ nest at the foot of a tree, round which a number

of men were sitting ; luckily it was slain before any harm was done. It seems

strange to me that so many natives cannot discriminate between a harmless and

poisonous snake ; they seem to know as little about what must be an only too

common object as if they had never seen asnake before. Having now

descended from unavoidable and constantly regretted circumstances to the

status of a globe-troter, I have committed my three months’ experiences

to paper. I, however, have not investigated the drink question except when

my shikari has got drunk, nor the currency question except in one particular,

which is that, when you pay your beaters two annas each, this two annas

cannot be converted into food, drink, or raiment except at the rate of one anna

three pies ; in fact the current coin of the realm in Raipur and in most other

places is copper.

I was asked to notice any particular breed of dogs which I might come across,

but I have not seen anything except the ordinary “Pie.” By the way, what

is the meaning of “ Pie’? Ihave, however, been puzzling over the reason

that so many of them have tails curled round like a pug ora Chinese dog, &c,

I should have thought that, semi-wild creatures that they are, their tails would

droop. The colour of pies asa rule seems to be for the many yellow, for the

few black and tan. Isaw about three black ‘‘ Pies.” I came across a very good

black and tan dog of sporting proclivities, and evidently, from the sleekness

of his coat, well looked after, but still unmistakeably a pie.

. E. F. BECHER.

Bosna, March, 1894.

4 No. XII.—ANNELIDE REEFS.

Tam forwarding to youa couple of specimens of the Annelide Reefs of

Kelve Mahim in the Tanna District.

All along the west coast, north of the Waitarna River, the coarse debris

brought down by numerous local streams and torrents, with the sand of the

Arabian Sea, and the finer silts and sands washed out of the Gulf of Cambay,

are forming recent deposits over the (probably) Tertiary basalt, of very various

quality.

The muddy character of the water is probably unfavourable for the growth

of corals. But the place of these seems to some extent to be taken by tubi-

colous Annelides, probably of, or allied to, the genus Serpula, which are really

here reef builders, though not to be compared in degree with the masons of

the “ massive corals.”

The specimens forwarded will easily enable you to understand that their

productions are here used in construction and have even, in Portuguese times,

been used in fortification.

W. F. SINCLAIR, LCS.

TaNNA DistRIcT, March, 1894.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 563

No, XIJI.—STALKING SAMBAR.

In the interesting account of Sambar Shooting which Mr. Inverarity gives

in the last number of the Journal, he begins by stating that there is no deer-

stalking in India: but India is rather large and few sportsmen have shot on

all its hill ranges. I think it may interest some of your readers to know that

there is at least one place where stalking sambar may be had, and where a

good telescope is absolutely necessary. I refer to the Koondha range in the

Nilgiri district, some 20 miles west of Ootacamund. The height is about 6,500

feet, a perfect climate at times, with delightful scenery of open grassy hills,

with woods of rhododendron scattered here and there. Stag shooting is obtain-

able from November to April, but a license is required, which costs Rs. 30.

As the district shot over is comparatively small, large heads are now rare,

but I believe there are several other hill ranges south of the Nilgiris where

sambar can be obtained by stalking. I send you a photograph I took during

a recent shooting trip among the Koondhas, which I hope will give you and

Mr. Inverarity an idea of the country.

G. S. RODON, Masor,

The Royal Scots.

BELGAUM, 23rd March, 1894.

No. XIV.—WOLF CUBS.

I shall be glad to know whether the Indian wolf has ever been successfully

trained to hunt with dogs, in a “ bobbery ” pack, as I hope to try the experi-

ment before long.

Last month I came on the lair of a pair of wolves on the borders of the Runn

of Cutch, containing 5 cubs (2 males and 3 females). I removed three of the

cubs and left the others so as to tempt the parents back to their lair, hoping to

be able to run them down with my greyhounds in the morning, but when I

visited the place the next day before dawn, the old wolves had removed the two

young ones during the night and had left their lair.

The three cubs, which I had taken, were successfully suckled by means of a

village dog. Their foster-mother objected to them considerably at first, but

soon became very fond of them, and will not leave them now. They are

perfectly tame, come to call, and lick my hand, but they appear to be rather

stupid, although exceedingly keen and plucky. All my dogs have taken a great

fancy to the young wolves and play with them, but the wild parentage of the

little cubs is especially noticeable at meal time when they bolt their food in the

most ravenous manner imaginable. When they were only about three weeks

old, they showed their hunting instinct by flying at the throat of a tame Chin-

kara fawn. Should they become unmanageable and dangerous, I shall send

them to you for the Zoological Gardens in Bombay, but T still hope to train

them to hunt with my “bobbery pack.” They went out with me yesterday

with the terriers and followed very fairly.

G. B. O'DONNELL, Capiain.

MatiA, KATHIAWAR, 26th March, 1894.

564 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII,

No. XV.—HORNS AND SKULL MEASUREMENTS, &c.

I agree with Mr. Gilbert's remarks in your latest number of the journal that

it would be of great assistance if some of our members, who must be acquainted

with the Brow-Antlered Deer, would give us the benefit of some additional

notes on the subject. In reckoning the points on the heads of stags, it was the

custom, I believe, to count as a point anything on which a powder flask could

be hung, If Mr. Gilbert bears this in mind, I do not think he will find any

difficulty in determining the points of a ‘“‘Thamin’s” head any more than

of the heads of its consin, the Swamp Deer (Cervus duvauceli). The

Thamin’s head, with the exception of the peculiar direction of the Brow Antler,

is not unlike the head of the Swamp Deer—that is, they generally have a small

point on each brow antler and four or five “on top.” The beam at the top,

where it gives out a number of points, is sometimes thickened, as in the Swamp

Deer, but I think the horns are never palmated as is the case with the Fallow

Deer (Cervus dema) found in Persia. As regards the last paragraph but one in

Mr, Gilbert’s paper, 1 may mention that all the measurements quoted were

carefully made by myself,

With regard to Mr, Millard’s article on Tigers’ Skulls, there is or was in the

collection of the Society the skull of a tiger presented by Mr. Shillingford,

the measurements of which are precisely the same as Mr, Rowland Ward’s, w2.,

142/10", Mr, Cecil Gray in 1888 shot a tiger, I believe, over 10 feet; the

skull measurements were 1311” x94." : for comparison I will put one of my

own (a good-sized male 9’ 5”) 133” 93", and I think we may safely conclude

that a skull over 14” must have belonged to an animal longer than 10 feet.

The other day I was out stalking not far from here amongst some rocks. I

came across a Muntjac (Rib-faced Deer) quite freshly killed by a panther ;_ its

head and forequarters were mostly eaten, but what struck me as most singular

was that the hairs on the rest of the body had been licked clean off with his

tongue, just as if a razor had been used. It was quite easy to see where each

sweep of the tongue had gone, and there on the ground were the hairs exactly

as he had put them off histongue. This was new to me, for I never knew a

panther or tiger ever to take any trouble about hair on an animal, certainly

they do not seem to usually, in the case of a calf or buffalo; but I suppose

the long and somewhat erect hair was too much for this gentleman’s palate. I

picked up the other day a fine Swamp Deer’s head ; it has only ten points, but

it isa good head. It had lain in the jungle some years, and I was going to send

it to the collection in Bombay as an instance of deer eating their horns, for to

my eye the chisel-shaped marks of the teeth are conclusive. In the jungle,

however, I met an old friend (of about thirty years’ shikar experience) and he

pooh-poohed it, saying “ Oh, rats and squirrels, even our prickly friend

Hystri« leucwra.” It was a shock, but it was only too true ; the teeth-marks

bear a great resemblance to those of rodents,

W. ST. JOHN RICHARDSON, Caprain,

Torna, 23rd March, 1894,

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 565

No. XVI.—_THE RUSSELL’S VIPER.

I think it may be worth putting on record that on the 4th January, 1888,

two very large specimens (male and female) of the Daboia russellit were killed

in my garden at Cuddalore, North Arcot. The male measured 5’ 6” and the

female 5’3”, Again, at Vellore,in November, 1890, I killed a specimen of

the same snake in my verandah, which measured 5’ 6”,

F. G. BROOK-FOX,

Executive Engineer.

Muttan, 25th March, 1894.

[Dr. Giinther, in his “Reptiles of British India,” states that the Daboia attains

the length of 50”, and Mr. Boulenger in the “ Fauna of British India” gives

48” as a full measurement, but it is evident that both of these excellent autho-

rities have considerably understated the maximum length of this snake, We

have a specimen in the Bombay Natural History Society’s Collection killed at

Hurda in the Central Provinces by Mr. J. C. Anderson, which measured 62”.

—EDITOR.]

No. XVIIL—THE NUX-VOMICA TREE.

All lovers of Natural History will be grateful to “ Hha” for the many

valuable and interesting observations published from time to time in the

columns of the Times of India. In his latest article of March 23rd—* Leaves

from a Naturalist’s Scrap Book ”—he criticises Dr, Kirtikar’s paper, published

in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society on the nux-vomica tree,

or, by-the-bye, plant, for anything vegetable from a microscopic yeast cell toa

giant eucalypt is a plant in botanical language, but “ Eha” is a facetious writer,

and my correction is perhaps hardly apt. It is to be regretted that Dr, Kirti-

kar has not availed himself of the latest and most valuable literature on the

subject, especially as all the recent researches are summarized or noted ina

Bombay work, Pharmacographia Indica, by one of his distinguished confréres

of the I. M.S., and a past President of the Bombay Natural History Society,

the late Dr. William Dymock. I refer chiefly to the laborious researches of

Dunstan and Short, These writers, after describing the statements of leading

Indian botanical authorities as to the harmlessness of the pulp of the fruit, say

that these statements are rendered quite unintelligible by the experiments of

Fluckiger and Hanbury, who found both the fresh and inspissated pulp con-

tained strychnia. In view of these conflicting statements the following physio-

logical experiments were made by Dr. Ondaatje at the Hambaulota Hospital,

Ceylon :—

Experiment I.—The pulp of a large fruit mixed with about half an ounce of

water was given to a large cat. In five minutes tetanic convulsions set in, and

the animal died within ten minutes of the administration of the pulp.

Experiment II.—5-6 grammes of the fresh pulp mixed with half an ounce

of water was given to adog about two months old. After eight minutes

the posterior extremities became stiff, tetanic convulsions supervened, and the

dog died eighteen minutes after the administration of the pulp. In both these

cases the toxic action of the pulp was proved, the animals exhibiting the usual

symptoms of poisoning by strychnine. Post mortem and other details are given

in the paper, but it is not necessary to reproduce them here. As, however,

the pulp was stated to have no poisonous action on birds, further experiments

were made.

566 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIII.

Experiment I1I.—Some fresh pulp mixed with a little water was given to a

pigeon without any result.

Experiment IV.—The pulp given to a pigeon as in Experiment IIT

without any effect.

Experiment V.—0°3 gramme of the inspissated pulp was administered to a

frog and produced no effect. As the quantity of alkaloid contained in the

amount of inspissated pulp administered to the frog was extremely small, and

considering the fact that in the first pulp which was administered to pigeons

there would be still less owing to the large quantity of water present, Dr.

Ondaatje repeated the two last experiments, using larger and weighed quantities

of the pulp.

Experiment VI.—2°6 grammes of the inspissated pulp was dissolved in water

and given to a frog and no effect followed, but on administering twenty

grains more, convulsions speedily came on, commencing at the lower extre-

mities, and death resulted in forty minutes.

Experiment VII.—2°0 grammes of the inspissated pulp mixed with water

was given to a pigeon, Almost immediately after violent tetanic convulsions

set in, and the bird died in twelve minutes.

These experiments conclusively demonstrate the poisonous nature of the

pulp, and show that its action is mainly, if not entirely, due to the strychnia

which it contains. Birds can no doubt consume a certain quantity of the fresh

pulp with no fatal effects, for the proportion of strychnine present in the semi-

liquid mass is not large as subsequent analysis shows. ‘Obviously, if eaten

to more than this extent, fatal results will ensue. With regard to the action

of strychnine on monkeys, it appears that some Species possess immunity, while

others are susceptible to the poison, From some experiments undertaken

about twenty years ago and published in the Indian Medical Gazette, it seems

that the “lungoor” may be said to be proof against strychnia, that the ‘‘ pouch-

cheek” is susceptible, but not so readily as a human being, and thatthe popular

saying that a monkey will never eat anything that is poisonous is borne out by

the “lungoor ” readily eating and relishing the strychnia which produced no ill

effect upon him, whilst the “pouch-cheek” refused the same and fell a victim

to the poison, The story related by “ Hha” that two horses were killed by

eating the leaves is very likely correct. The leaves have been recently analysed

by my friend, Mr. David Hooper, Quinologist to the Government of Madras,

who found them to contain brucine ; hence they are poisonous. Horses and

cattle, possibly through long years of domestication, do not readily distinguish

between poisonous and non-poisonous plants. Horses are occasionally killed in

Europe by eating the leaves of the yew tree, which are poisonous, Dr. Kirtikar

writes: “ Brandis says that the pulp in the fruit is orange-coloured, It is not

so; it is white. It is difficult to understand how such a careful observer as

Brandis. says so. Ii is evidently a misprint or slip of the pen.” Dunstan

writes :—‘‘The fruit contains the seeds imbedded in a white gelutinous

pulp. . . . Theripe fruit has a deep orange colour”—and again in another

place—‘The pulp when fresh hasa very bitter taste and is white, but on

drying becomes dark brown.”

27th March, 1894. _J.G. PREBBLE,

(The above appeared in the Times of India on 2nd April, 1894.)

567

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE MEETING HELD ON 10rn JANUARY, 1894.

The usual monthly meeting of the members of this Society took place on

Wednesday, the 10th of January, Mr. G. W. Vidal, I.C.S., presiding.

NEW MEMBERS.

The following gentlemen were elected members of the Society :—

Mr. H. HE. Chappel (Calcutta), Mr. J. Harrington (Bikaneer), Mr. G. Battie

(Ganjam), Mr. R. HE. 8. Thomas (Calcutta), Mr. EH. Pemberton (Mormugoa),

Mr. Jugmohandas V. Bhaiseti (Bombay), Mr. C. M. Hodgson (Belgaum), Mr.

F. G. H, Anderson, I.C.S. (Dharwar), Mr. Jivaji Dinshaw Ghandy (Bombay),

Mr. Edward Comber (Bombay), Surgeon-Lieutenant C. E. Williams (Agra),

Mr. Charles M. Inglis (Cachar), Surgeon-Lieutenant P. P. Kilkelly and Captain

H. V. Biggs, R.H. (Secunderabad), the Secretary, Colombo Museum (Colombo),

Mr. G. R. Hong (Moulmein), Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel D. M. Martin

(Saugor), Rev. &. Leigh Lye (Bombay), Mr. H. Mainwaring ee) Mr. W.

Trood (Gitispore), and Mr, G. R. Duxbury (Tanna).

Mr. H. M. Phipson, the Honorary Secretary, acknowledged the following

contributions which had been received since the last meeting :—

CONTRIBUTIONS DURING DECEMBER,

Contribution. Description. Contributor,

1 Indian Oriol (alive).........;Oriolus kundoo ....s.se02,.,| Mr. Douglas Bennett.

A collection of Sea Shells,

from Kurrachee ...... sasstells FRM TUCO romesee keoee Capt: F. W. Townsend.

1 Common Yellow Bat ...... Nycticejus Kuh]i ..sssccesscones Mr, W. F. Sinclair, C.S.

4 Cobras...... Cccceasaceacsacsasce Naga tripudians ......+0... Mr. C, H. Kane,

A collection of 140 Birds’

SKIN SuenoMy NCMary Le eecealiM Al RW iioaeecesns Mr. F. J. R. Field.

1 Green Tree Snake @live)..|Dryophis mycterizans......... Mr. A. D. Stewart.

Up Horned: Owls esccessssacrse see Bubo bengalensis.......0cceeres Mr. W. Shipp.

1 Red-headed Merlin ......... Haleo Chiquera...c..c.sercseasee Mr. A, C. Walker.

AP COMA i cnccnsedaccvsccecesscas Naga tripudians ..ercceo.-.| Mr. H, 8. Symons,

A number of Corals, from

Arabian Gulf ........ssce00 Speer ace Dr. N. V. Gokhale,

1 Albino Snipe...... eoee(Gallinago gallinaria .se.sers. Capt. A. H. Hatch.

1 Smake sseesecoe.cecccreseeseeeses(LVCCCON AULICUS -caseesecoeeree Mr. F. Graham.

1 Bustard’s Hog .............-. Hupodotus edwardsii ......... Mr. H. Gibbs.

1 Dhaman (alive) ............ ZAWCDIS MUCOSUS....0c0sececvee Mr, W. Thacker.

1 Black-winged Kite (alive).|Hlanus coeruleus .....-....ee006 Mr, H. Bulkley.

1 Sind Hare Glive).......0c605 Lepus dayants.......cssccccese c Do.

EW SHANC ies osenctriccaccsescse teens as Dipsas trigonata ....0.ss0 Do.

1 Kingfisher (alive) _ Sostvaces Halcon eMyrensis ..ccocseeree Mr. J. ae Snuges,

1 Tanned Crocodile Skin .../Crocodilus Be el anecasoe

1 Pintall Duck.......ccssecee--|Dafila ACUtA seccee. -eseeee| Capt. A Nowuham.

1 Red-crested Pochard 56000 s Rio ay Tot aiewcecesecensees

1 Common Teal: .......c.--..2.|Querquedula CreCca......seseee De,

1 Koklass .....scccccccscsoeeeess-[Ducrasia Macrolopha sss. Do.

UECHeetiearcraccnccrs poesanneaennee Phasianus wallachi..........0. Do.

T Curlew wiicoccsesccan. coe esosee NUMENIUS ALQUATA sesceccnecee Do.

1 Shaheen Falcon .0.,..cccc00|/a1CO Peregrinator ..seeccocees Do.

568 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VIII.

Contributions. Description. Contributor.

1 Porcupine, Stuffed ......«./Diodon bystrix....«...00-.-+--| Mr. Esoofali Hiptoola,

2 Painted Snipe ...-c0...00 - |Rhynchea bengalensis oo0000 Hon. W. T. O’Brien.

AP Ble Wer omy) ccescceeseceress--|ATGES CIMNETCA | .cecstcecsssseccrs Do.

1 White-eyed Pochard ccocee{ HF ULISMIA NYLOCA secsceee ere ec .| Mr. N, 8S. Simons.

1 Purple Coot ..... Gonca0s0000e0 Porphyrio po ocepaalus Do.

1 Snake ...... sdeapdgbasseresssaces/LiViCOCOM aulliCus) meeiaemeeress| EEE Le ‘Gibbs.

1 Spotted Owlet . .|Carine brama ..... cecccecceecee| Mr. W. H. Major.

2 Long-tailed Tree. ” “Mice

(alive) .......ssceccccsseeee-.| VaNueleuria Cleracea os....... Mr. Page.

1 Albino Squirrel... (|Sciurus palmarum .........006 Mr. M. Meling.

4 Kegs of White Scavenger

Vulture .. ae -ee|Neophron ginginianus ss... Lieut. H. E. Barnes,

2 Hees of White-tailed | "Sea

Beedle oe eidador -.|Poliogetus ichthy2tus......... Do.

1 Starling (alive)... Benbeceets eooee/SCUIDUS VUIGATIS ....-2.sseceeee Mr. M. C. Turner.

2 Jedbos (alive) . .....sceeeee Alactaga indica ......... Scand Do.

The Bones of the great In-

dian Fin Whale...... vee---|Baloenoptera indica ...s0e...| Mr. W. F. Sinclair, C.S,

2 Fishing Cats (alive) ...... Felis viverrina......... saacdiDo0e Mr. T. 8. Brumby.

1 Civet Cat (alive) ............ Viverra civettina.. Mr. G. K. Wasey.

12 Snakes Clive)....00.......0 (Silybura macrolepis, Cylin-

drophis rufus ...c.cce So0bo06 Mr. C. E. Kane.

A Collection of Birds’ Skins,

from Mysore .........« Gabeel oe Jul k uN deieseiies Mr. P. H. Lee.

1 Snake socccecsecssceecee--.|allophis trimaculatus .....| Dr. K. RB. Kirtikar.

1 Leopard’s Skin 999900868 000006 Felis pardus .......-..sse00..-..| Mr. E. G. Farquharson,

R.E.

I Wigeon (alive)........sse0v- Mareca penelope ...............| Mr. B. G. Buchanan, R.A,

UPBIACK MIS csccceccccsessconsoes Inocotis papillosus .. ccccccooeee| Mr, A. C. Walker.

1 Snake es ecscecccsccsocsaccoceacee ..|Zamenis fasciatus cgasaoe a Mr. Cc. E. Kane.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIBRARY.

Illustrations of the Botany of the Himayalan Mountains and of the Flora

of Cashmere (Royle), from Colonel Kenneth Mackenzie.

Illustrations of the Forest Flora of the North-West Provinces and ‘Caintral

India (Brandis), from Colonel Kenneth Mackenzie.

Stray Sport, Vols. I and II (J. Moray Browne), from the author.

A number of back parts of the Society’s Journal, Major Selby, R.E.

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, Vol. V, in exchange.

PAPERS READ.

The following papers were then read:—(1) On new and little-known

Hymenoptera, from India, Burma, and Ceylon, by Major C. T. Bingham,

F.Z.S.; (2) The genus Psilotum Sw, in India, by Dr. D. Prain; (3) On

the Brow-antlered Deer or Thamin, by Charles F. Gilbert, C. E. ; ‘® Odd

Notes, by Vet.-Major G. F. Pomen, C.V.D.

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON 13TH FEBRUARY, 1894,

The annual general meeting of this Society took place on Tuesday, the 13th

February, Mr. G. W. Vidal, I.C.S., presiding.

PROCEEDINGS. 569

NEW MEMBERS.

The following gentlemen were duly elected members of the Society :—

Mr. D. Rutherford, C.E. (Sholapore)? Captain John Charles Watson

(Kathiawar), the Superintendent of the Government Central Museum (Calcutta),

Mr. Allen McF. Chalmers (Cachar), Mr. J. E. O’Conor, C.1.E. (Calcutta),

Mr. G. Jacob, 1.C.S. (Shikarpur), Mr. A. M. Caccia (Hoshungabad), the

Curator, Central Museum (Nagpore), Mr. G. Trevithick (Bombay), Mr. H. B.

Thurburn (Bombay), and the Superintendent, Government Central Museum

(Madras).

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MUSEUM.

Mr. H. M. Phipson acknowledged the following contributions to the

Society’s Museum since the last meeting :—

Contribution. Description. Contributor.

1 Antelope’s Head, mounted|Antilope cervicapra.ece....-e.| Mr. J. F. Snuggs.

TL COR ocoocccncccnccoosaeoneendS Naga tripudians .se.ccccs,..eee| Dr. T. 8S. Weir.

1 Sea Snake .....scccc00---coeee\Nhydrina valakadien ......) Mr. W. 8. Turnbull.

L Stake ....ceccccccces.-.ccccsoree(LiyCOGON AULICUS sceons...cee.s.| Mr. A, F. Ferguson.

1 Albino Sand-piper ......... Actitis SP. ccccsocecrserecseoroeeee| Major Mason.

Land shells, from Aden ...... cacsesses Capt. H. L. Shopland.

1 Smake ..ecoccec.esccevcceeeeeo(yHOphis malabaricus ......| Dr. F'. H. Davar.

AME HOOTHAN..-.. cree socccssccssone LCHiS CATINAtA ...esevec...000---| Mr. W. Thacker.

Fossil Bones, from Jubbul-

POTE seceee apeoruace Shee eene see sonst coos Mr. R. Dale.

A. Coppersmith’s Nest......0..|xanthosma hemacephala... Do.

2 Kites’ Hoos csscosccccsees cooe{Milvus GOVINdA ....ece00000--., Mr. W. George.

T Teal ..sseccvccsecccresceesss .-.(Querquedula crecca..... ......| Miss N. Otto.

29 Species of Bombay Fish.) = --- «ev ove Mr. A. Corrodi.

I DRAFTED soceoecoccog cococtesacte ZaMENiIS MUCOSUS...... 00000002, Mr. H. Godfrey.

il SIRES) Gosaagooooades severeeeee|ESAammophis longifrons >....| Mr. EF. Gleadow.

1 Parrot Fish ..... peaceeeares ../Letrodon reticularis ...-.....| Capt. Nantes.

1 Paradise Fly-Catcher......|Muscipeta paradisi ......+cee..| Mr, D, Campbell.

STC heanee scenes aboodancoe Dryophis pulverulentus...... Mr. J. Davidson, C.S.

1 Snake (alive) .........00000. Dipsas trigonata ...cc0c0.-0..| Mr. C. HE. G. Crawford,C.S.

1 Indian Pipistrelle ........./VespeTugo AbTAMUS eeoreccgeeee| Mr, J. A. Betham.

11 Srakes ceoe*esccsccccoreeveeces|ycodon aulicus, 2; Hryx Do.

johnii ; Tropidonotus stola-

tus ; Hchis carinata ; Naga

| tripudians, 2; Bungarus

arcuatus; Trimeresurus

anamalensis ; Dipsas

trigonata; Onychocephalus

acutus.

a EO EE

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIBRARY.

Indian Snakes, Part I (Chiplonker), from the author.

Indian Museum Notes, Vol. 2, No. 7, from Government,

Annals of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Calcutta, Vol. IV, from Dr. G. King,

Records of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. XX VI, Part IT, in exchange,

570 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, VIII.

EXHIBITS.

Mr. Gambier Bolton, F.R.G.S., exhibited some splendid photographs of

animals in the Zoological Society’s Gardens, London, and explained the process

by which they had been taken, The pictures, which measured 36” by 48”,

were greatly admired. Mr. N.S. Symons exhibited a beautifully-made net

used by Bengal trappers for catching snipe. It measured 120’ by 43’, but only

weighed 53 ozs.

THE ACCOUNTS FOR 1893.

Mr. E. M. Slater, the Honorary Treasurer, read a statement of the accounts

of the Society for the year ending 31st December, 1893, showing a balance

carried forward of Rs. 2,182, witha Reserve Fund of Rs. 2,000. It was

decided that the accounts be passed subject to the usual audit.

ALTERATION OF RULE No. 3.

It was resolved that Rule No. 3 be cancelled and that the following words be

substituted :—

‘“'The election of Members shall be vested in the Committee, subject to

such by-laws as they shall from time to time make. A majority of two-thirds

of those who vote shall be required to secure election.”

ELECTION OF OFFICE-BEARERS.

It was further resolved that the following be elected office-hearers for the

current year :—

PRESIDENT,

H, E. Lorp Hareis.

VICE-PRESIDENTS.

Dr. D. MacDonald, M.D., the Hon’ble Mr. H. M. Birdwood, and Dr. G. A.

Maconachie, M.D.

MANAGING COMMITTEE.

The Hon’ble Mr, H, M. Birdwood, Dr.G. A. Maconachie, Dr, D. MacDonald,

Mr. G. W. Vidal, C.S., Rev. F. Dreckmann, 8.J., Dr. T, 8. Weir, Dr. Kirtikar,

Turner, Col. W. 8. Bisset, R.E., Lieut. H. E. Barnes, Mr. J. OC. Anderson,

Mr, H. L. Barton, Mr. Reginald Gilbert, Mr. R. M. Branson, Mr. N. S.

Symons, Dr. J. C. Lisboa, Mr. E. M. Slater (ex officio), and Mr. H. M. Phipson

(ex officio),

SMALL DEER.

Mr. W. F. Sincair, 1.C.8., read an interesting paper on three small deer

found in the neighbourhood of Bombay, viz., the Four-horned Antelope

(Tetracerus quadricornis) ; the Rib-faced or Barking Deer (Cervulus muntjac) ;

and the Mouse Deer (Tragulus meminna), illustrating his remarks by means of

specimens from the Society’s Museums, An excellent photograph, taken by

Mr, J. D. Inverarity, of a specimen of the first-named species was also exhibited,

A NEW SNAKE.

The Honorary Secretary read a description, by Mr. G. A. Boulanger, of the

British Museum, of a new snake which had been found by Mr. 8. Dighton of

Piermaad, Travancore. The snake has been named Dipsas dightoni after its

discoverer.