Bombay Ratual Histoy Soiety.

OF FIGH-BEARERS, LIFE MEMBERS,

HONORARY CORRESPONDING MEMBERS, AND MEMBERS

ON 1st AUGUST, 1895.

LIST OF OFFICE-BEARERS.

adresident.

H, E. the Right Honorable Lorp SANDHURST.

Vice-Aresidents,

The Hon’ble Mr. H. M. Birdwood, M.a., LL.M. (Cantab.).

Brig.-Surg.-Lt.-Col. G. A. Maconachie, M.D., C.M.

Dr. D. MacDonald, M.D., B.sc., C.M.

Bon. Secretary.

Mr. H. M. Phipson, ¢.M.z.s.

Hon. Creasurer.

Mr. A, Abercrombie.

Ghitor.

Mr. H. M. Phipson, 0.M.z.8.

atlanaging Committee.

The Hon. Mr. H. M. Birdwood. Col. W.S. S. Bisset, R.E.

Brig.-Surg.-Lt.-Col. G. A. Maco- | Mr. L, de Nicéville, ¥.E.S., C.M.Z.8.

nachie. Lieut. A. J. Peile, B.A.

Dr. D. MacDonald. Mr. E. L. Barton.

The Hon. Mr. G. W. Vidal, 1.c.s. | Mr. Reginald Gilbert.

Rev. F. Dreckmann, 8.1. Mr, R. M. Branson.

Surg.-Lit.-Col. T. 8. Weir. Mr. N. 8. Symons.

Surg.-Major K. R. Kirtikar, r.s.u. | Dr. J. C. Lisboa.

Mr. J. D. Inverarity. Mr, R. C. Wroughton.

Mr. W.S. Millard.

Mr. A. Abercrombie, ex-officio.

Mr. H. M. Phipson, C.M.z.8., ex-officzo,

ist Section.—(Mammals and Birds.)

President—Mr. J. D. eit

Secretary—....

Ond. Section.- _ (Reptiles and Fishes.)

President—The Hon. Mr. G. W. Vidal, 1.c.s.

Secretary—Mr. H. M. Phipson, C.MLZ.8.

drd Section.—(Insects.)

President—Mr. L, de Nicéville, F.z.8,, C.M.Z.S.

Secretary—Mr. E. H. Aitken.

Ath Section.—( Other Invertebrates.)

President—Brig.-Surg.-Lt.-Col. G. A. Maconachie, M.D., ¢.M.

Secretary—Mr. J. C. Anderson.

5th Section.—( Botany. )

President—The Hon. Mr. H. M. Birdwood, m.a., LL.M. (Cantab.).

Secretary—Surgeon-Major K, R. Kirtikar, r.s.m. (France), M.2.C.8,

Qyr +«

Hombay Satuyal oe Society,

LIST OF MEMBERS.

Lirzt Memesrs.

Austria, H. I. H. the Archduke Franz Ferdinand eee

Baroda, The Curator, Baroda State Museum .. Baroda.

Barton, E. L. . ... Bombay.

Bhownagar, H. HL the Mahara Takhising (. G.8.1.) of Bhownagar.

Bikaneer, H. H. the Maharaja of . 5p .. Bikaneer.

Caccia, A. M.. a ce as Hos an caine

Cama, Dr. Manoel Dea at ee ... Bombay.

Cama, K. R. ... ths wee oe: ..» Bombay.

Coode, J. M. ... ms A sa ..-Oalcutta.

Cursetji, C. M... oh Bek ... Bombay.

Cutch, H. H. the Rao eaten Ole be ae ~=«Cutch.,

Dawson, W. H. (i.cs8.) .. we oe ...Rangoon.

Dwarkadas, Naranji oss rea See ... Bombay.

Hyam, Judah ... eee ssa ie ...Poona.

Inverarity, J. D. ah bs ..- Bombay.

Kolhapur, H. H. ie Maharaja anh, et ... Kolhapur.

Lamb, R. A. (1.c.8.) ee ast oe ...Alibag.

Tong. Ge has... sabe Ace ...Maulmain.

Martin, Lieut.-Col. Goad, set rs ... Hurope.

Nayvanagar, H. H. Maharaja Jam Saheb of ... ... Rajkote.

Olivier, Lt.-Col. H. D. (.z.) ae iy ... Bombay.

Petit, Bomanji Dinshaw... oh se ... Bombay.

Phipson, H. M. (c.m.z.s.) ahs ai ... Bombay.

Poncins, Baron Edmond de BE Wee ... Hurope.

Seindia, H. H. the Maharaja tae _ ...Gwalior.

sinclair, W. FH. (.c.s.)- 22 Ma aa ... Hurope.

Symons, N.S.... ase Ken ue ... Bombay.

Tata, Dorabji J. Bee See a ... Bombay.

Tejpal, Goverdhundas Goculdas_... ee ..-Bombay.

Ulwar, H. H. the ee Jey ae Olivine ... Ulwar.

Unwalla, J. N. ee ... Bhownagar.

Viccaji, Framji R. pe as wae ... Bombay.

Watson, Capt. BE. Y.... weg oh ... Belgaum.

Whitworth, G. C. (1.c.8.) sat Mai ... Khandeish.

Yerbury, Col. J. W. ... af seedy lib sise ae eee

LIST OF MEMBERS. lil

Honorary CorRESPONDING. MEMBERS.

Forel, Professeur Auguste .». Lurope.

Heeckerenez, Le Baron Von .. .. Java.

Kerkhoven, H. J. »-. Java.

Maries, Chas. ... Gwalior.

Nairne, Rey. A. K. a: .-- Bombay.

Nicéville, L. de (F..S., C.M.Z.S. ) ... Calcuita.

Oates, E. W. Sha 1 ... Burma.

MEMBERS.

Abdoolabhoy Rahimbhoy ... bandora.

Abercrombie, A. ... Bombay.

Acworth, H. A. (1c. 3.) ...Bombay.

Adams, eas |... ...Dharwar.

Aga Khan, His Highness ... Bombay.

ne Sheikh Mahomed ... Mahboobnagar.

Aitken, H. H. ; ... Hurope.

Alcock, J. B. Gc. s.) ... Hurope.

Alexander, Major F. G. ...oatara.

Allum, H. F. wee ... Bombay.

Almon, W. ... bombay.

Ameerudin Tyabjee... ...Bombay.

Anderson, F. G. H. (1. C.S.) ... Dharwar.

Anderson, Capt. H. kh. F. ... Bombay.

Anderson, J.C... ... Muro pe. ,

Anderson, Major W. R. ...Rawal Pindi.

Andersonn, M. a ...Calcutta.

Ansell, H. T. at .-. Bombay.

Anthony, EEE OY. con ... fort Stedman.

Appleton, A. F. (a4.v.D.) ... urope.

Armstrong, Surg.-Major J. ... ... Hyderabad.

Arnott, Brig.-Surg.-Lieut.-Col. J. ee ... Hurope.

Ashburner, Khan Bahadoor eee dis ... Bombay.

Ashby, Capt. J.S. ..-Rajkote.

Atterbury, J. H. . ... Bombay.

Austria, H. I. A. the ‘Archduke Franz Ferdinand

(Life Member) .. Hurope.

Babajee Gopal ak .». bombay.

Baddeley, Col. P. F. M. ... Cawnpore.

Bagshaw, A. ...silchar, Assam.

Bailward, Major A. ic. (R.A one ..- Deesa.

Bainbridge, Brig.-Surg.-Lieut.-Col. Gu ... Karachi.

Baines, J. A. (1.6.8. .. Hurope.

Bajana, H. H. Prince J oravarkhani of... ...Dajana.

Baker, E. C. Stuart... - ..-Cachar.

Baker, R. T.

... Hurope.

1V LIST OF MEMBERS,

Balfe, Major E.

Bamford, C. F.

Banajee, ’Nanabhoy ‘Muncherjee IN,

Banks, Brig.-Surg.-Lieut.-Col. 8.

Bapty, James R.

Barclay, Major __...

Barker, Surg.-Lieut.-Col. F’. C.

Barnes, Surg.-Major Hy. J. .

Member)

Baroda, H. H. the Gackwar of

Barrow, Surg.-Lieut.-Col. H. J. W.

Barrow, H. W. up

Barton, E. L. ae Member) .

Batchelor, 8. L. (1.c.s. 3

Batliwalla, Dr. HL

Battie, J. S.

Baumbach, R.

Bayley, Hon’ble Mr. Justice ..

Bayley, V. B. F. ... Sb

Beadon, Lieut. W. .

Beardmore, HK. B.

Beaufort, A. F. ay

Beaumont, T. L. F.

Becher, Major E. F.

Bell, T. R. D.

Benjamin, Isaac

Bennett, Douglas

Benson, Miss (1.D.) ...

Benson, J. J. B. (G.z.)

Sa J. H. ;

Berry, P

Betham, G. K.

Betham, J. A. a

Betham, Capt. R. M.

Betham, VPA GES He

evans). hey ee. ee

Bhagwandas Nurrotumdas _ ...

Bhatavadekar, Dr. Bhalchandra Krishna

Bhownagar, H. H. the Maharaja ae of

.-- bhownagar.

... Hurope.

... Karwar.

...Secunderabad.

(c.c.s.1.) (Life Member)

Bicknell, H.

Biddle, J ames B. W.

Biggs, Capt. H. V. (R.2.)

Bignell, R.

Bikaneer, H. H, the Ma saraja of (Life Member)

Bildt, G. de a

Bingham, Col. C. T.

.. simila,

...Cachar.

.». Bombay.

... Bombay.

.-- Bombay.

... Hurope.

... Bombay.

... Ahmednagar.

Baroda, The Curator, eh ‘State Museum (Life

-». Baroda.

...baroda.

.-. Hurope.

... Bombay.

-.- Bombay.

... Bijapur.

..- Dadar.

...Ganjam.

.-. Bombay.

.- Hurope.

... Bombay.

... Kohat, Punjab.

... Hurope.

... Bombay.

... Karachi,

... Hurope.

...Canaras

... Bombay.

--. Hurope.

...ecunderabad.

... Madras,

...- Dharwar.

... Dinapur.

-. Ahmednagar.

...Alibag.

... Hurope.

...Bombay.

-.Bombay.

Suri.

i Bikaneer,

-»» Bombay.

... Hurope.

LIST OF MEMBERS.

Binsteed, C. H. F.

Birdwood, Hon'ble Mr. H. M.

Biscoe, Capt. see A

Biscoe, W. Fraser ...

Bisset, Lieut.-Col. W. 8. (Bat, Ch)

Blackwell, Gara es.

Blackwell, lel

Bland, T. i 50

Blanford, W. T. (pr. 8)

Blathwayt, Mrs. G.

Boileau, Lieut. C, C.

Bomanjee, K. R. eee)

Bonner, T. W.

Bonus, A. R. (1.0.8)

Booth, R. B. (¢.£.) ..

Bourdillon, Tok, (¥.1.s.)

Bowen, Rev. H. J. ...

Bowen, J.C. G....

Bower, Geo. eee:

Bowie, Col. M ;

Brand, J.

Brandenburg, John...

Branson, R. M.

Brendon, C. R.

Brockman, Surg Capt EL. E, Drake

Brodie, N. 8S

Bromley, H. bbc

Brooke, Miss Ada ...

Brooke, Miss Agnes E.

Brown, Surg.-Capt. E. H.

Brown, J. W.

Browne, Capt. C. iE. (R. )

Browne, Rev. EH. «..

Bruce, Chas. W. A..

Bruce, Lieut. George E.

Brunton, R. P. _ ...

Brydon, BE.

Buchanan, J.G...

Buchanan, Lieut. B. (BeA.)

Bulkley, H. A. oe

Bulkley, H.

Burder, H. C. ss

Burdon, Richard Ww.

Burn, Lieut. J. M. Ce)

Burne, Mrs.

Butcher, Ta EG, B, 5

yrne, “3

Bythell, Capt. W.d . (BE)

...secunderabad.

..-Foona.

... Hurope.

.-. Hurope.

... Calcutta.

»-»Lavoy, Burma.

»«. Bombay.

... Bombay.

...Lurope.

... Hurope.

...Cachar.

..- Dhulia.

...gatpuri.

.-. Dharwar.

... Rajkote.

..- Quilon.

... Belgaum.

... Hurope.

.-.Lurope.

..- Raipur.

... Kalyan.

.-- Hurope.

.-. Bombay.

..Castle Rock.

... Muttra.

... Madras,

... Bombay.

.. Jamnagar,

...Hurope.

... Lurope.

... Europe.

.-. Ahmednagar.

... Burma.

.-. Dagshai.

-.-Bombay.

...Cachar.

.--Calcutta.

... Lurope.

...tatnagiri.

... Kharaghora,

.. Lurope.

.-- Raichur,

.-. Mussoorie.

---Hurope.

Munmar,

f -Bombay.

»».Elurda,' C; P,

vi LIST OF MEMBERS.

Caccia, A. M. (Life Member) .. wee ..-.-Hoshungabad, C.P.

Cadell, P. R. (1.c.s.) ..-Shikarpur.

Calcutta, Hon. Secretary, Zoological Gardens... Calcutta,

Caleb, DE yeni... ne ... Lahore.

Cama, K. R. (Life Member) . ... Bombay.

Cama, Dr. Maneckjee D. (hit Member). ... Bombay.

Cameron, W. L. (¢.£.) ... Bombay.

Campbell, HE. W. ... a op .. Europe.

Campbell, Capt. F. J. B. bt “ ,.. urope.

Campbell, John (c.z.) ie Su ... Bombay.

Campbell, J. M. (i.c.s.) ee oe ...Bombay.

Candy, R. E. (1.C.8.) Ae aM .-. Hurope.

Cane, Rev. A. “G. on es ... Hurope.

Cappel, H. L. (10.8) Bi Poa .». Thana.

Capper, Lieut, A. 8. ae ah ... Goona.

Cardew, A. G. G.c. » ae ie ...Ootacamund.

Carew, Capt. Gay eee aes si ... how.

Carrington, Col. Bi. ae Ne ...Poona.

Carroll, H. B. (c.n.) ee ais ...Bombay.

Cates, Surg. -Col. W. E. bs ase ... Hurope.

Chalmers, Allen McF’. ay Bes .--Cachar, .

Chalmers, H. ma as, ... Huropes

Channer, Surg. “Major Oc He: a ...Belgaum.

Chapman, E. J. B... Be ah ... Orissa.

Chappel, H. HK. ... uk He ...Calcutta.

Charles, F. L. (1.c.s.) ce sas ... Ahmednagar.

Chichgar, Hormusjee M._.... ba .»- Bombay.

Chico, J. R. (c.E.) . eee 2-- ... Baroda.

Childe, Surg.-Capt. (Dus ano ib: ...Bombay.

Chinoy, Fazulbhai M. 6 oe ... Bombay.

Chitty, C. W. ei se .--Bornbay.

Chuckesbutty, Ae G. aC C8) ee ea .». Bombay.

Clabby, J. H. bie ves) ene Baroyrant, O01.

Clark, Capt. A. C. — ey ... Bombay.

Clark, Je (GSa)ii een be oon Ue) Gee aches

Clements, Hi. (1.6.8.) ike rel .»»lhana.

Cleveland, C. R. (1.¢.8.) “iss a ... Nagpur.

Cleveland, Surg.-Capt. H. F.... i ... Deesa.

Clifton, C. N. (¢.E.) t, a ... Hurope.

Close, E. P. bas che ... Hurope.

Clowes, Major P. fe ae vet ... Hurope.

Clutterbuck, P. H. (#.z.s.) _ ... ii ..- Chindwara.

Collie, Surg.-Major Me Aa te ..- Bombay.

Collins, Major G. A. ae ae ...sirdarpore, C. I.

Collister, J. Gs .. Europe.

Colombo, The eae Colombo Museum .--Colombo.

Comber, Edward... es He ..-Bombay.

Conder, H. see oh ee ... Aurope.

LIST OF MEMBERS.

Conley, Andrew...

Coode, J. M. (Life Member)

Cook, Surg.-Col. H.

Cooke, Dr. E. H.

Cooke, Lieut. A. St. John

Cooke, Dr, Theodore

Cooper, A. li aes

Cooper, ©. P.

Corrodi, A.

Cotton, Geo.

Wovyertan, J. Gs...

Cowas]i Dady Limjee

ox, Capt, HV." .

Cox, Capt b.oZ

Crawford, leslie...

Grawley-Boevey, A. W. (oo)

Crofts, Surg. hae) i Me ce

Crump, L. C. (1.¢.s.)

Cuffe, T. W. Ah

_ Cumberley, N. R.

Curjel, H.

Curreembhoy Ebrahim

Currey, HE. 8.

Cursetji, C. M. (Life Member)

Cutch, H. H. the Rao Saheb of (Life Member)

Dadarkar, Dr. Bhawanishankar B.

Dadina, Dr. SER R.

Dalal, D. M. ue

Dalby, C. J.

Dalgado, Dr. D. qe.

Dallaporta, J. N.

Daly, W. Mahon ..

Damania, Surg.-Major P. Nie

Davidson, J. (L.0s8.)

Davies, C. A. W. ...

Davies, H. 8. (C.#.) ..

Dawson, W. H. (1.¢. s.) (Life Member)

Deane, Dr. A. H. ...

Deane, ELS EY (esn:)

DeCourcy, W. B. ...

Dempster, F. H.

Denso, Max

Deshmukh, Dr. Moreshwar Gopal ay

Dharampore, H. H. Prince Baldeoji of

Dhargalkar, Dr. Luxumon

Dimmock, Surg.-Major H. P.

Divakar, Akbar Saheb Nizamudin

...- Bombay.

...Caleutta,

... Kamptee.

.-. Bhosawal.

.. Jalna.

...Hurope.

...shillong.

... Hurope.

... Bombay.

...Bombay.

... Bombay.

... Meerut.

.». Hurope.

... Bombay.

,.. Hurope.

...Gwalior.

.-. Ratnagiri.

.-. Bombay.

... Amraoti.

... Hurope.

...Bombay.

... Murope.

...Bombay.

...Bhuj, Cutch.

...-Dadar.

... Kalyan.

... Bombay.

... Hurope.

... Sawantwady.

... Bombay.

-»- Yercaud,

... Bombay.

... Karwar.

..-Basim, Berars.

.-. Ghadechi.

..- Rangoon,

... Bombay.

...Hurope.

..-Chalsa.

...Calcutta.

... Bombay.

..- Bombay.

... harampur.

... Bombay.

--e Bhiwandi.

vii LIST OF MEMBERS,

Dixon, R. M.

Dobbs, Major G. C.

Dodgson, C. G. (1.¢.8.)

Doig, Sai: (. EB.) -

Donovan, Surg. -Capt. C.

Dormer, Lord :

Douglas, Mrs. Chas.

Douglas, John A.

Doveton, Col. J. C.

Dreckmann, Rev. F. (8.J. )

Drury, Surg.-Major M. O’C. .

Du Boulay, ide (1.0.8, v

Dudgeon, G.

Duigan, Sines

Dumayne, F. G.

Dunlop, H. H. MG

Dunn, G. W. O

Duthie, J. F.

Duxbury, G. h.

Dwane, H. H.

Wbden, EH. J. (1.0.8.)

Hide, F. (0..) iy

Edgelow, BF.

Edulji Dinshaw

EKdulji Nusserwanji, Dr.

Hdwards, Lieut. R. M.

Heerton, C. F.

Khlers, B.

Helliott, A.

Elliott, C.F.

Elsworthy, Be Elo War

Hnthoven, R. E. (1.¢.s.)

Hsmail Jan Mahomed, Dr.

Hunson, H. J. (¢.8.)

Hivans, Vet.-Capt. G. H.

Hivatt, C. B. :

Fagan, Lieut. A, N. D.

Fairbank, Rev. 8. B.

Fairclough, J.

Farquharson, Lieut. E. G. (va)

Fawcett, C. H. (1.0.8.)

Fenton, Major L. L.

Ferguson, H. S, (#.z.8.,, PLS.)

Fernander, ORR Seats ae

Fernandez, ain.

Field, Frank

... Bombay.

... Poona,

.-- Khandeish,

.-. Karachi,

..-Liddim, Burma.

... Hurope.

... Bombay.

... Hurope.

.--Bombay.

... Kamptee.

.».Dhulia,

...Saili Hat,

... Bombay.

... Hurope.

... Bombay.

... Simla.

.. Nasik.

.. Secunderabad.

... Ahmednagar.

...Cachar.

... Bombay.

»» Karachi.

.-- Bombay.

... Benares.

... Hurope.

... Yeotmal, Berars.

.. Quetta.

...Bombay.

...- Bombay.

...Bombay-

... Vizianagram.

... Rangoon,

... Hurope.

...Raichur.

ee Madura.

..- Bombay.

...Hllichpur.

.. Thana.

...Rajkote.

wee Lrivandrum.

... Hurope.

.-surat,

... Gaya.

LIST OF MEMBERS,

Finny, Capt. T. G. R.

Fleming, W.N._...

Fletcher, F, H..

Fletcher, W. M.

Flower, F. M.

Flower, Lieut. 8. S._

Foote, R. Bruce

Forbes, A. W.

Forbes, C. H. B,

Forbes, J.D.

Forbes-Sempill, The Hon’ble R. A.

... Bombay.

... Hurope.

..- Lellicherry.

... Hurope.

.». Hurope.

...Penang,

,.. Mysore.

... secunderabad,

.. Lurope,

...J ubbulpur.

...bombay.

Forel, Professeur Auguste Co Conesps, Member). Europe.

Forrest, Ese Vs) nap ... urope.

Foulkes, R, nes ..- Yercaud,

Fowler, F, D. ans -o. urope.

Fox, C, E. ee ... Hurope.

Hox Cb, Casey .,. ... Bellary.

Fox, F. G. Brook (0.3.) .. Hur ope.

Francke, A, MP ... bombay.

Fraser, Capt. A, ... ... Secunderabad.

Fraser, Lieut. H. A. D. (B.£. i .-. Mussoorie.

Fraser, S. M. (1.c.8.) ... Hurope.

French, Surg. -Capt. G. B...

Frenchman, Surg.-Major H, P.

Frost, C. E. (1.0.8.) - fe

Fry, t. B. aes

Fuller, J. B. (1.0.8., “C.1.E.) ; yes

Fulton, Hon’ble Mr, Justice E. M. (L.C.8

Fulton, Major R. ice

Furdoonji Jamsetji ..

Gaddum, F.

Gahagan, E. G. (co. BE.)

Gajjar, Tribhuyvandas Calliandas

Gama, Dr. J, A. Da F

Gamble, J.S. (F.L8. 2

Gaye, W. C.

Gayer, G. W.

Gell, H. G.

George, Cie,

puendy, Jiwajee Dinshaw

Gibbs, H. M.

Gibbs, RB. T.

Gilbert, Reg. is ips

Gilbert, C. EF. Qn. OE. E) ae Ba

Giles, E. ... me ue

Giles, R. 4.

Eee Surg. -Major Gi Ees,

.--Naini Tal,

...Dassein, Burma.

... Hurope.

... Nagpur, C.P.

...Hurope.

.»- Dharansala,

... Bombay,

... Hurope.

... Hyderabad (Sind).

... Baroda,

... Bombay.

..-Dehra Dun.

... Secunderabad,

.. Sambulpur, C.P.

... bombay.

...wecunderabad.

.-- Bombay.

o-- Kaira,

... Waltair.

...bombay.

... Europe.

...LLyderabad.

on LUrope.

..outna,

x LIST OF MEMBERS.

Giro, C. G.

Girvin, Surg.- Capt. a

Glazebrooke, INESeeee

Gleadow, F. sik

Godwin-Austin, H....

Goldsmids Wee) «2...

Goldthorpe, Lieut. F. H.

Gompertz, Rev. F. W.

Gompertz, R.

Gonsalves, Dr. J. F.

Gostling, David

Greene, Col. es C.

Graham, W. D

Grant, Surg Capt, 1 D. St. J...

Gray, ‘Cecil. sie

Gray, Chas.

Gray, Brig.- -Surg-Lit. -Col. Wellington...

Greany, Surg. -Major H.

Greany, Surg. -Lieut.-Col. J. P.

Greatheed, C. uF

Greaves, John

Green, Surg. -Capt. IS)

Griffiths, John bad

Gunn, Vet.-Capt. W. D.

Gwyn, Capt. A 590

Hamilton, Capt. A. R. Cole ...

Hankin, E. H. “i HS

Hanson, C. O.

Hare, A. J. B. Ms

Hargrave, H. J.B. (cx.

Harington, Surg.-Major V.

Hart, G. H. R.

Harvey, WoboG@e s.)

Haslope, Rev. L. M.

Hatch, Capt. A. E. ...

Hatch, H. F. « ee

Hatch, Surg.-Major W. K.

Hatherell, Capt. W. G.

Haughton, Samuel (1.c.s.)

Hauxwell, T. A.

Heath, R. H.

.. Hurope.

... Poona.

...Bombay.

.--Poona.

..- Hllichpur.

... Bijapur.

... Hdwardesabad.

.Sitapur, Oudh.

... Hurope.

...Bandora.

... Bombay.

.. Hurope.

... Karachi

...- Lahore.

...Dombay.

... Coonoor.

... Lurope.

...Raichur.

.-- Belgaum.

... hana.

.». Dombay.

... Hurope.

...Hurope.

...Dum Dum.

.-. Calcutta,

.. Hurope.

SyolsDier,

...Chunda.

.. Jalpaiguri.

..-Bombay.

,.. Dikanir.

...Calcutta.

..- Bombay.

...Poona.

i -Hyderabad (Sind).

.. .Rajkote.

.»» Bombay.

...Bombay.

.-Maulmain.

.. Beaware

Heeckerenez, LeBaron Von(Hon. Compe Member). Java.

Henderson, Surg.-Capt. R. S. F.

Henderson, Surg.-Major W. G. H.

Herbert, Surg.-Capt. H. we

Hibbert, Capt. HE. ...

Hibbert, Col. J.

..-Weesa.

..-Hyderabad (Sind).

- Bombay.

...Mount Abu.

-- LUrope.

LIST OF MEMBERS,

Hickman, R. St. J....

Hight, Mrs. Le

Hill, F. J. A.

Hill, H. Charles

Hodgson, Ce Mawes.

Hoghton, Major D. de

Hole, H. A. a

Holland, W. J.

Hore, Lt.-Col. W. :

Hornidge, 8. (0.5.) ..

Howlett, Col. A. (1.8.¢.)

Howse, G. E.

Hudson, C. W. M. (1.0.8.)

Hunter, ips CV

Hunter, Lt.-Col. J. M.

Hunter, Capt. W. H.

Hurkisondas Nurrotamdas

Hussey, Col. C. EH. ses

Hutchinson, Lieut. CG. R. M.. ae

Hutchinson, Sey ee ane §

Hyam, Judah (Life Member) ...

Indore, H. H. the Maharaja Holkar of ..

Inglis, Chas. M....

Inverarity, J. D. (Life Member)

Israel, Shalom Bapujee

Jackson, Col, F. H....

goon (Cn (Uncles ae

J acob, lale Se

James, H. E. M.(1. Os. )

Jamieson, A. ee

Jardine, A, J. A,

Jardine, James

Jardine, Mrs. John..

Jayakar, Surg.-Lt. al, he Sis aes

Jeejeebhoy, Sir Jamsetjee oe ) ose

Jenkins, J. L. (i.¢.8.) oe

Jenkins, R. A, ... ue

Jennings, Capt. A...

John, H. H.

J ohnson, J. BR. Kirby

Johnson, 8. M._...

Johnston, Andrew ae

Jones, Surg.-Capt. F. W. C...

Jones, Lieut. M. D. Goring ..

J uemohundas V, Bhaisett

... Oachare

.»- Nasik.

oe Karwar.

...Naini Tal,

...Delgaum.

-..Khandalla.

...silchar,

... Khandeish.,

... Hurope.

... Ahmednagar,

.-» Mandalay.

.-. Bombay.

...Bandora.

... Hurope.

.--Rajkote.

...Nagpur.

,-. Bombay.

oe Lurope.

...Dakloh.

.--Bombay.

... Poona.

...[ndore.

...Oachar.

.-- Dombay.

...Murud, Janjira.

..-Lalanpur.

... Belgaum.

...Munmar.

...Calcutta.

... Ootacamund.

»-- Burma.

... Hurope.

_-- Muscat.

... Bombay.

... Murope.

.«. Bombay.

... Hurope.

... Cawnpore.

---Coorg.

... Mhow, C. 1,

... Mhow.

.. Bombay.

xi LIST OF MEMBERS,

Kaliandas Keshayvdas

Kané, Dr. Sadashive W.

Kantak, Dr. Shantaram V.

Kay, Dr. W.

Kazi Sahabudin, Khan Bahadur ag LE. )

Keatinge, G. (1.0.8.)

Kearns, A. 8. es

Keary, “Major H. D, see

Kemball, H. V. (c.£.) ee

Kennedy, Major W. P.

Kennedy, H. H. Rear-Admiral W. R. .

Kennedy, R. Bg 6m

Kenyon, James

Ker, L. B.

Kerkhoven, EK. J. (Hon. Correspe, Member)

Keys, H. W.

Khan, Muncherji een

Khareghat, M. P. (1.¢.s.)

Kilkelly, Surg.-Lt. P. P.

King, Alfred ao

Kinloch, A. M.

Kinsman, F.

Kirtikar, Surg. -Major KR

Knight, D.

koe H. H. the Maharaja of (Life Monten)

Kunwar Kushal Pal Sinh_..

Lamb, R. A. (1.¢. s) (Life ai

Tancaster, A.

Landon, H. J. (10s. )

ane hy ue

Lang, Walter :

Langley, Brig.-Surg. H. H.

Latham, Hon’ble Mr. F. L. ...

Lathi, H. H. the Thakore Sahib of

La Touche, Major-General

, lia Touche, ©) B: ...

Lawder, Dr. E. J.

Lawley, Major the Hon’ble R. T.

Leask, J....

Lee, Lieut, A, W. H.

Lee, P. Henry K.

Lees, John

Lees, R. C,

Lee-Warner, W ecu C S,, C.8.1. )

Lely, F. 8. P. (Los )

Leslie, A. K. Hee

Lester, Lt. C. D.

Leville, Rey. H.

..- bombay.

... Bombay.

... bombay.

-». Poona.

...Dharwar.

... Madras,

...Durma,

.. Sukkur,

... Nandod.

... Hurope.

.. Hurope.

..- Karachi.

... Bombay.

«oJ AVA.

..-Dhulia.

... Bombay.

... Broach.

... Bombay.

--- Bombay.

-«.hangoon.

... Mandalay.

..- Lhana.

...luticorin.

.-- Kolhapur.

.. Narki.

..-Alibag.

...Raipur, C. P.

.-. Poona.

... Hurope.

...Bombay.

... Hurope.

.. Lathi.

...Hurope.

...Rutlam,

... Hyderabad.

... Madras.

... bombay.

... Bellary.

... Mysore.

..- Cachar.

..-Bombay.

... Bangalore.

... Wurope.

.-- Bombay.

.-.Outch.

.- LHurope.

LIST OF MEMBERS,

Thewies Tats A ee

Lewis, Rey. Goldwyer

Light, Capt. BR. E.)...

Lindesay, Major E. .

Lingard, Dr. Alfred.

Lisboa, Dr. J. C.

Litchfield, BE.

Little, #. "A.

Little, Hon’ble Mr. T. D. (c)

Littledale, Professor H.

Loam, Mathew

Loch, Col. W. W.

Logan, R, (10.8. We,

Long, iM

Long, G. R. (Life Member

Lord, din ee

Lovell, ID GKCs ANB

Low, C. IDEM CCH!) Nae

Lowdell, Surg. tae C. G. Ww.

Thema a, G. R.

Lowrie, i EK.

Luard, B. S.

acne. The Curator & Sec., ierorm cial Museum: a

.e S100,

... Bombay.

.» Daroda.

Luxumonrao J pBEoInatH, Dewan Bahadur

Lye, Rev. 8. L. sia

Lynch, C. B. Us

Lynn, G. R. (GE.) ..

Macaulay, Capt. K....

Macaulay, R. H...

Macaulay, NS US oe

MacCartie, Surg. oe iH

MacDonald, Dr. D..

MacDonald, J. ee

Macfarlane, ‘Si os

Mackenzie, J. Muir C. CE) y

Mackenzie, Col, K... oe

Mackenzie, M. D. ...

Mackenzie, Hon’ble Mr. T. D. Gas) .

Mackinnon, bee! \ . HLSo)) Pees

Maclean, Jas.

Macleod, N. C. asa

Macnaghten, Chester

Maconachie, Brig.-Surg.-Lt, £651, G. AL

Macpherson, Major T. R. M.. i

Mactaggart, H. B. ... ot

Madden, Lieut. T. EB.

Madras, The Supt., Govt. Central Museum

Mahaluxmiwalla, K. D. “s

Xi}

..- Lrimulgherry.

... Bombay.

...Bhuj, Cutch.

...dabalpur.

... Hurope.

.-- Bombay.

...Dehra Dun.

... Bombay.

... Baroda.

...Ganjam, Madras.

.»» Bhurtpur.

.. Europe.

...urope.

... Maulmain.

surat.

...Colombo.

... Khandwa.

...Nasik,

.-. Bombay.

,..Chunda, ©. P.

... Bombay.

.Lucknow.

... Bombay.

...Bombay.

..- Bombay.

... bombay.

... Mangalore.

... Hurope.

-». Hyderabad, Deccan.

... Lurope.

... Hurope.

... Mussoorie.

... Bombay.

...Rajkote.

... Lurope,

.. Murope.

... Hurope.

.. AgTa.

... Madras.

... bombay.

XIV

Mainwaring, H.

Mair, A.

Malling, Surg. -Major C.

Maneckshaw, Doctor D.

Manser, Surg~-Major R.

Mant, R. N,

Maries, Chas, (Hon. Correspe. Member).

Marston, G. D. (c.E.)

Marten, James

Martin, Surg.-Lt. -Col, D. N. .

Martin, pees -Col. Gerald Cite )

Mason, Geo. H

Masson, D. Be

McCabe, R. B. 3 C. 8.)

McCann, W. H

McClelland, W.S. (at. 1.0.E. )

McCorkell, G. (1.0.8)

McIntosh, Tey (1.G:8.)

McKenzie, PO at

McLaren, Mrs. G. ...

McMullen, Dr. G. C.

McNeil, J. ED)

Mead, Capt. H. R.

Mead, Ire de

Meade, Major M. a

Mehta, P. R.

Mercer, Frank ae

Meredith, Richard ...

Messent, P. G. ane

Meyer, Surg. -Capt. C. H. ee

Meyer, O. te a

Middleton, Tee ae

uae W.S.

Miller, E

Millett, G. P.

Mills, Vet. -Major Jas.

Minniken, G. G. ae 5

Modi, Bomanji Edulji

Modi, Jivanji Hamel

Monie, ; A

Monk, Capt. P. ne

Monks, Surg. ee Gh

Monod, E. C. 4

Monro, A. V. aa

Monté, Dr. A. de ...

Monté, Rev. Dr. B. de

Moos, Dr. Framroz A.

Morgan, Vet.-Capt. J. W.

LIST OF MEMBERS,

... Bijapur.

.-- Bombay.

... Madras.

... Bombay.

... Hurope.

...Hurope.

... Gwalior.

...Sholapur.

...Raipur, O. P.

...saugor, C, P.

... Hurope.

... urope.

.-- Lahore.

... Kamrup, Assam.

...- Bombay.

... Hurope.

... Ahmedabad.

... Hurope.

... Bombay.

..- Bombay.

... Kotri.

...N, Canara,

..- Ahmedabad.

... Ahmedabad.

... Hurope.

»--urat.

... Mandalay.

... Hurope.

... Bombay.

... Baroda.

... Hurope.

...Hurope.

... hana.

.-. Bombay.

..- Kilba, od Simla.

... Kaira.

... Bombay.

...Bombay.

... Hurope.

.-. Mahableshwar.

... Hurope.

>». Lahore.

...Bandora.

..- Bombay..

... Lhana.

... Ahmednagar.

LIST OF MEMBERS,

Morris, A. W. ee

aa D.

Morris, Lieut. D. 0.

Micra. Surg.-Lieut. J. P.

Moscardi, EB. H. (1.0.8.) _-

Moulani Sheikh Habibud Din (a 8.)

Moultrie, J. HE. ..

Moulvi Syed Ali Belgrami

Muir, Frank

Muller, Professor O. V.

Murray, Andrew

Murray, W.

Mure, J. 8.

Nagpur, The Curator, Central Museum..

Nairne, Rev. A. K. (Hon. Correspg. Member) }

Naranji Dwarkadas (Life Member)

Navanagar, H. H. Maharaja Jam Saheb of

Nawab Mahomed cal Khan Bahadur..

Newborn, C.

Newman, Surg.-Col. ie

Newnham, Capt. A. (F.z.8.) ..-

Nicéville, L. de (Hon. Correspg . Member)

Nicholls, G. Jasper (1.C.8.) :

Nicholson, HE. F....

Nicholson, Capt. J. S.

Nurse, Lieut, H. H.

Nutt, Col. H. L.

Oates, H. W. (Hon. Soneiee: ee.

O’Brien, Hon’ble W. T.

O’ Callaghan, I.

O’Connell, J.

O’Conor, Tae (c.1.8.)

Oldham, Ihe be

Olivier, Lt.-Col. H. D. (R.E.) Git Member)

Ollivant, Sir H. C. K.

Ommanney, D. G.

Ommanney, H. T. (1.0.8.) 8.

Ommanney, J. L.

Opiumwalla, Dorab E.

Ormiston, Geo. EH. oe

Orr, J. P, As

O'Shea, F, Bernard..

Osman, C. W. at

Osmaston, B. os

... Yercaud.

... Bombay.

...Buldana.

... Madras.

.». Karwar.

... Hyderabad.

... Ngathaing gyaung,

Lower Burma.

... Hyderabad.

...Jhansi.

... Bombay.

... Lahore.

... Nagpur.

... Poona.

... Bombay.

...Rajkote,

.Buldana, Berars.

... Bombay.

... Pachmarhi.

.. .watara.

...Oalcutta,

.-. Moradabad.

...Bombay.

oo Natal

... Hurope.

...sawantwady.

... Mandalay.

... Karachi.

... Bombay.

... bombay.

... Calcutta.

...Kamptee, C. P.

... Bombay.

... Karachi.

... Ahmednagar.

...Hurope.

... shwegyin, Burma.

... Bombay. .

»-- Hurope.

.».-Foona.

.-- Calcutta.

... Lurope.

...Chakrata,

XVI LIST OF MEMBERS.

Osmaston, L. 8.

Owen, R. R.

Owen, W.S.

Ozanne, E. C. (1.c.8. 0)

Palliser, H. G. (0.z.)

Pandurang Gopal, Dr.

Parker, Surg.-Major J.

Parmenides, Joha ...

Parry, Capt. Daal (Ga5N5))

Parsons, Hon. Mr. Justice

Pawalla, Jamsetji C.

Pearse, Surg.-Capt. A.

Pearson, Mrs. H. C

Pease, H. T.

Pechey-Phipson, Mrs. a D.) i

Peddie, M. G.

Peet, A. W.

Peile, Lieut. A. J. (R.A.)

Pemberton, H, 8. ...

Penny, L.

Ponta Major R. 0.

Penton, John B.

Pestonji Jivani

Peters, Surg.- Lt. Lean Qiers

Petit, Bomanji Dinshaw (Life Member) .

Phillips, Mrs.

Philpott, C. C. ss

Phipson, H. M. (c.m.z.s

Pilcher, Lieut. A. J. (8

Pinhey, Capt. A. F.

Plinston, G. C. ae

Pollen, Dr. John (.c.s.)

)

Poncins, Baron Edmond de (Life Member)

Poore, Capt. R.M..

Porebunder, H. H. Prince Kumar Shri Bhao_

Singjee of aes

Prain, Surg.-Capt. D.

Prall, "Surg. -Capt. S. E.

Pratt, B. M. nes:

Preston, F. J.

Prior, Capt. H. M. .

Prior, Capt. W.

Proctor, H. E. sea

Pyrke, Capt. R. D....

Bricks. Surg. Se We ee

Quin, H. O. (1.0.8.) ..

) (Life Member) Bs

R.E cee coe

...P 00nd.

... Hurope.

.. Lurope.

.-.Poona.

...Delgaum.

...Bombay.

...Dombay.

.. Europe.

... Hurope.

.-- Bombay.

... Bombay.

...Darjiling.

... Dhaynder.

...urope.

... Bombay.

...Nowgong.

... Vizagapatam.

..- Bombay.

... Marmagao.

-» Bombay..

.-. Juetta.

...Hurope.

...LLyderabad..

...Bijapur.

... Bombay.

... Assam.

... Jurope.

... Bombay.

...Poona.

... Ulwar.

... Bombay.

...Godhra.

...Porebunder.

...Caleutta.

_.. Karwar.

..- Bandra.

... Sholapur.

...Calcutta.

... Lucknow.

... Bombay.

... Hurope.

»-. Hurope.

..- Ahmedabad.

LIST OF MEMBERS.

Rahimtoola Khairaz

Raikes, H. B.

Raja Murli Manohur, “‘Bahadoor

Rajpipla State, The Administrator of the

Rand, W. ©. G.c.s.) a im

Rattry, Lieut. H. C.

Rayment, Vet.-Major G. J.

Readymoney, N. J.

Reddie, F. A.

Reeve, R.

Reid, G. B. (1.¢. St:

Renton, Lieut. C. e

Reynolds, P.. (CE) -.

Richardson, Cecil ...

Richardson, ar W. Si. J ohn

Rippon, Capt. G ee

Ritchie, A. M.

Rivett-Carnac, J.

Rivett-Carnac, L.

Robb, Surg. sMagor John (M.D. )

Roberts, R.

Roberts, T. L. ues

Robertson, B. (1.0.8. 2

Robertson, Col. D.

Robinson, Mrs. a

Robinson, Lieut. G. ?. uae

Rodon, Major G. 8.

Rogers, C. G.

Rogers, Henry (a. R.O.V.8. )

Rogers, Thos.

Roorkee, The Principal, Thomason College

Rose, F. ...

Russell, bP:

Rustomjee, H. J.

Rutherford, D.

Ryland, E. C.

Ryrie, J. M.

Sada, Monsieur A.

Sage, Lieut.-Col. C. UN.

Sandhurst, H. H. Lord

Sansom, E. E.

Saone, G. Prier De...

Sassoon, Mrs. S. D...

Savile, P. B.

Scindia, H. H. the Maharaja (hit Member

Scott, Lieut. E. W. W.

Scott, M. Hz, (1.0.8) te

... Bombay.

.-. Bombay.

. «Hyderabad.

...Nandod.

. watara.

a hansi.

,..Rawal Pind.

... Bombay.

...Bombay.

»+« Dombay.

... Ahmedabad.

...J ulna.

... Hurope.

...Bombay.

..-Calcutta.

... Meiktila.

»»- Luropes

...Cachar.

... Bombay.

... urope.

.. ecunderabad.

-- Bombay.

Dikhandwe: i

.»eGrwalior.

... Lurope.

..eRawal Pindi.

..belgaum.

_..Dehra Dun.

..» bombay.

... Bombay.

.» Lurki.

...Jubbulpur.

...bombay.

... Karachi.

-» -LUrope.

»-s Calcutta.

.-- bombay.

...Pondicherry.

... Dharamsala.

ee F00na.

.. Hongkong.

... Bombay.

...Grwalior.

,. wecunderabad.

19 Liurope.

XVil LIST OF MEMBERS.

Seal, Dr. CO. E. he

Selby, Col. H. O. (2:z.)

Servai, Cursetji N. ...

Servai, Rustom F. ...

Sewell, R. A. D.

Shopland, Capt. E. R.

Sims, R. Proctor... das

Ninelair, W. F. (1.¢.s.) (Life Member)

Sladen, J. (L.cs.) ... sed

Slater, D. McLauchlan

Slater, H. M. oe

Slater, J. Sanders ...

Sly, F. G. (z.c.s.)

Smales, Chas. B.

Smetham, E.R...

Smith, Capt. S.C. ...

Smith, Capt. Stanley

Smith, Mrs. Yorke ...

Smyth, R. Bateman...

Smythies, Arthur

Snuggs, J. F. see a

Spalding, C.S. ... see

Spence, L. H. gee ita

Spencer, F. A. re

Spurrell, Capt. R. J.

Squire, W. W. (c.z.)

Squires, Mrs. R. A.

Stanton, W.0. ..

Starling, The Hon’ble Mr. Justice M. H.

Stewart, R. B. (1.0.s.)

Stiven, J. ... Ax

Storey, Thos. H. ... wet

Street, Surg.-Major A. W. F.

Sturrock, G. C. (R.A.) :

Summers, Thos...

Sutherland, W. ve ie

Swan, H. H. wh ve

... Haligan].

.-. Bombay.

-». Bombay.

.-. Bombay.

.. Hurope.

... Bombay.

.-.Coonoor.

.--Bombay.

...olrsi, Kanara.

...Jubbulpur.

-+» Bombay.

... Karachi.

»»»Oachar.

»-. Poona,

»- LUrope.

»es Bombay,

-«. BDhownagar,

... Bhownagar.

.-. Hurope.

.. Shewan, Karachi.

.-. Bombay.

.-. Hurope.

.-. Bombay.

... Hoshungabad.

.-.Magwe, Burma.

--- Bombay.

.-- Hurope.

...Hurope.

... Hurope.

-».Dehra Dun.

...Harda, C.P.

... Bhownagar.

... Kaira.

.-- Hurope.

... Nagpur.

-«. bombay.

... Hurope.

»-. Rangoon.

..- Bombay.

.. Malegaon.

... bombay.

...OQodeypur.

... Hurope.

.-.- Roorkee.

... Hyderabad.

.-. Nagpur, C. P.

-«eDombay.

LIST OF MEMBERS. xix

Swinhoe, Col. C.... var ee ... Hurope.

Syers, Capt. H.C. ... wee We 9 ..- Hurope.

Sykes, C. M. ee i Eee .».-Mandvi, Cutch.

Symington, J. H. ... bi a ..- Bombay.

Symons, H. S. os ee = .«.- bombay.

Symons, J. L. a »»s Bombay.

Symons, N. 8. (Life Member) oe .». Bombay.

Talyarkhan, Maneckshaw J. ... Sa .». Bombay.

Tanner, Lieut. C. O. O. sas .»»Hyderabad (Sind.)

Tata, Dorabji J. (Life Member) ee ..Bombay.

Tata, Jamsetji N. (J.P.) an iloatier.

Taylor, James H. ... ee es .». Khorda, Orissa.

Taylor, W. C. ... Khorda, Orissa.

Tejpal, Goverdhundas Goculdas (Life Member) ... Bombay.

Temulji B. Nariman, Dr. ..Bombay.

Tenasserim Agei- Horticultural Society, “The Hon.

Secretary of the ... se .-- Maulmain.

Terry, G. W. Se ue ee .. Lurope.

Thacker, W. wes vas ...Bombay.

Thatcher, Capt. J. F.C, 30 500 ... Nusseerabad.

Thomas, R. H. 8S. «.. ee bee ...Calcutta.

Thomason, R. M. ... ae Be ... Rutlam.

Thompson, H. N. (F.z.8.) ... y ...Monywa, Burma.

Thompson, P. ee = ... Hurope.

Thompson, R. H. E ane oe .. Jubbulpur.

Thomson, Mrs. H. I. P. a8 Sot ... Bombay.

Thomson, Capt, D. B. pee a ... Poona.

ihorburn, HB... eee Abe ... Hurope.

Tod, Alex. M. ae oa ‘Magt ... Bombay.

Tod, ee. te a3 ee ..-Poona.

Tomlinson, S.0( CE)... aes fe ... Dombay.

Tooth, E. safe nee abe ... Bombay.

Topham, B.D. ae a ... Bijapur.

Tottenhan, W. F. 10 ae He ...begu,

Townsend, Gig.) ,.. us ss ... Bombay.

Trail, John e a aoe ,«-Lurope.

Traill, W. iH. oA ai Jhansi, C, P.

Trapmann, A. G. (c.E.) seh se ... Rangoon.

Travers, C. H. on ...Ganjam.

Tribhuvandas Motichund Shah, Dea he ...Junagad.

Trevithick, R. L. (a.M.1.¢.8.) .. Bee spear

Trevor, Hon’ble Mr. A.C. ... fan .» Poona,

Trewby, Miss Lilian M.D.) ... ..Amraoti.

Trivandrum, Hon. Sec., Government Museum and

Public Gardens... Sah sae -- Lriyandrum.

Trood, W. ate um st ,..Sirispur.

Troup, INSEE bai se ae ee ...Kumaon,

2:4 LIST OF MEMBERS.

Tudball, Chas. (0.5. )

Tudball, W. (1.6.8.) 00

Tufnell, Capt. H. R. oo

Turner, Mires Une os ate

Turner, A. W. oe :

Turner, M. C.

Twopenny, ©. D.

Uloth, H. W.

... Shillong.

... Bareilly, N.-W. P.

»»- Hurope.

... Bombay.

...Hurope.

-«. Calcutta,

.--Shrinagar, Kash-

mir,

e»» Bombay.

Ulwar, H. H. Maharaja Jey Singh of (hit Hee ena

Unwalla, J. N. (Life Member)...

Vaidya, Dr. Poput Prabhuram

Vaidya, Vishwanath Prabhuram

Vanderzee, J. H. ..,

Vandravandas Purshotumdas .

Vaughan, Surg. -Capt. J. C. S.

Vidal, Hon’ble Mr. G. W. (1.0.8.)

Viccaji, Framji R. (Life ea

Vincent, Lieut. F, L.

Virji J hina Raval, Dr.

Wade-Brown, Surg.-Capt. F. J.

Wadia, Hon’ble Mr. ae N. He LB )

Waddington, C. W.

Walker, A. CG. 20

Wallace, John (c. B.)

“Wallace, ids db de

Wallace, L. A.

Wallinger, W. A.

Wapshare, H.

Ward, Lieut. C. H.

Ward, T. J.

Wasey, G. K.

Waterfield, Lieut. B. G S. ey

Watson, Capt. K. Y. (Life Member)

Watson, Capt. John C.

Webb, Wm.

Weir, "Sure. -Lieut.-Col. Se

eS are Capt. H. ef

Welter, F

Wenden, H. (c. mes

Westall, J,

Westmacott, Col. R..

Whateley, Richard ..

Whitin, F. D. eas

White, G. Gilbert ..

White, W. H. (c.z.)

.. Dhownagar.

... Bombay.

... Wllichpur.

... bombay.

... Lahore.

... Poona.

... bombay.

-- Lurope.

... bombay.

.-» Bombay.

»-- Bombay.

... Rajkote,

...Bombay.

»«e Bombay.

.-. Bombay.

... Hurope.

»» surat.

.-, Qotacamund.

.. Hurope.

... Bombay.

... Marmagoa.

... Mianwali, Punjab.

.-- belgaum.

..-Dhari, Kathiawar.

.-. bombay.

..- Bombay.

... Poona.

-oSJurope.

.-. bombay.

...Hurope.

...Poona.

--- Bombay.

.. Singbhoon.

...Nagpur, C. P.

...Morvi, Kathiawar.

LIST OF MEMBERS.

Whiting, J. H. (¢.z.)

Whitworth, G. C. (1.c.s.) (ite Member...

re Capt C. W. F.

Wild, A

Wilkieson, ae ©. B.

Williams, ‘Sur ¢.-Lieut. C. By

Williams, Capt. F. T.

Willis, R. A. oe

Wilmot, J. Eardley...

Wilson, ‘A RB, tes

Wilson, W. G.

Wimbridge, E.

Wintour, Rev. G. Fitzgerald...

Wise, H. 58. see

Wodehouse, Lt. F. W.

Wolff, W. H. (c.£ a

Wolf-Murray, O. Tans val

Wood, W. G.

Woodburn, A. F. (1. c. '8.)

Woodrow, W. R. ...

Wray, Major W.

Wright, Fred.

Wright, H. C. sec

Wroughion, BR. C.

Wylie, Col. H. (c, 1)

Wylie, R

Yeld, Surg.-Major H.

Yeo, Tica W.

Yerbury, Col. J. W. Cit Member

Young, A. P

Young, John

Young, W. E.

Younghusband, A. D. ie ©. Se

Yule, “Col, J. H. a

... Poona.

... Khandeish.

.. Bhuj.

... Darjeeling.

... Hurope.

...Dehra Ismail Khan.

...Kalewa, Burma.

-«. bombay.

...Naini Tal.

.»- Denares.

...bombay.

...Lndore, C, I.

..- Huropeé.

...Aden.

... Hurope.

...Waltair, Vizaga-

patam.

... Naini Tal.

.». Hyderabad (Sind).

... Lurope.

... Porebunder.

... Hllichpur.

.-. bombay.

... Bombay.

... Nepal.

... Hurope.

...Lurope.

... Bombay.

... Hurope.

.. Lurope.

...Rangoon, Burma,

.»» Karachi.

.»-Raipur, C. P.

»». Peshawar.

XXIll

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‘ALHIOOS AUMOLSIH IVYNLVN AVEAWNOE

CONTENTS OF VOLUME IX.

PAGE

List oF OFFIcH-BEARERS i

List oF MEMBERS AN nee ili

STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR 1894 . XXiil

Tae Brrps or NortH Oacwar. Part II, (With Plate B.) By H.C,

Stuart Baker, F.Z.S. >.< a 200 ee ne ie aes

Man-gatinc Pantruers. By J. D. Inverarity ...

On a Spucrmen or Hemidactylus gleadovi, MURRAY, WITH A BIFID

RENEWED TAIL. (With Plates A and B.) By H. H. ae

M.A., St. Jonn’s College, Cambridge

Some Inpran SranKine anp SHoorine. (With a Plate.) By A. M.

Markham, 1.¢.8., F.z.8. ‘‘ Rohilla” ... S08 se ce

Tue Potsonous Pants or Bompay. Part IX. (With Plate K.)

Surgeon-Major K. R. Kirtikar, 1.8, F.LS., Acting Professor

of Botany, Grant Medical College ... See oa os aaa

Wounpep Tigers, &C.—How SHOULD THEY BE KILLED ? By

Reginald Gilbert... Bi 5 ass mc

Tae Foop of THE Rosy Pastor or Jowart Brrap (Pastor roseus,

Linn.) By E. C. Cotes, ree ia ae Indian Museum,

Calcutta aAR be és ee ue

Tue Curroor Borer. By E. C. Cotes, Oe Duty ae Indian

Museum, Calcutta ... an ae Nes

A BoranrcaL Tour in Kasumir, 1892. _ J. FP. ike B.A,, F.LS.

Mosqurrons. By J. Alston Moffat, London, Ont.

Description or a New Spectres or Sminthus vrrom Kasauir. By

Oldfield Thomas... desl vs ) ovec’ La seetMenenessg) ves eseni ral sass

MisceLLANEous NorEs—

1.—Nua Vomica ..- 53 Ne tee ae aoe aes

2.—Strange Behaviour of a Panither ake ae a So

3.—The Spotted-billed Duck «6. sss awe

XX VI CONTENTS.

PAGE

4.—The Destructiveness of Bandicoot Rats PbS ae HPI

5.—The Pisa Tree and the Indian Willow... ee me ton GD)

6.—A Stranded Dolphin ... site san a ae Sa LOO

7.—A Tiger eating a Bear .. an oa eck 50: te, LOH

8.—Food of the White-eyed Buzzard A ee noe aoe OM

9.—The Strychnine Tree ... ee ae one wed je ee OD

10.—The Poisonous Plants of Bombay... ncn dco .-. 105

11.—South African Snakes... eae se es Be es 1OG

12,—Eupodotis edwards... 500 h e 55 -. 107

13.—A Panther smoked to Death in a Chane se sie shop veame LAM

14,—Muscular Action after Death ... we ane ne nee

CORRESPONDENCE aoe st ae oe Se ae fon lle

PROCEEDINGS — ase ace Se ae aes se oe . 109

THe Brrps or NortH Cacwar. Part IID. ee Plate C.) n

E. C,. Stuart Baker, 7.2.8. ... oe ane oak 5 aLikit

THe Poisonous PLuants oF Bompay, Part X. ae Plates L and

Supplementary L.) By Surgeon-Major K. R. Kirtikar, 11s,,

F.1.S., Acting Professor of Botany, Grant Medical College ... ~. 147

MuLE-BREEDING. By Veterinary-Major G. J. R. Rayment, late dot

Civil Veterinary Dept., N.-W. P. and Oudh Bae antl

A Nore on Birps rrom Centra Inpra in Barnes’s HANDBOOK. By

W. T. Blanford =“ bee one oe a aad wee LOD

Notes ON THE NIDIFICATION OF CERTAIN BIRDS, THE NESTS OF WHICH

HAVE NOT BEEN PREVIOUSLY RECORDED FROM INDIA. By B. B.

Osmaston ... ae ee ae aes as Ba ee l90

THE FouR-HORNED ANTELOPE (Tetracerus quadricornis), (With Plate B.)

By J. D. Inverarity ... ee en 158 a 50 eee 193

Review. BUTTERFLIES FROM CHINA, JAPAN AND COREA... a 194

A BoranicaL Tour in Sixxim. By G. A. Gammie ... ash eo LOM

EXTRACTS FRoM aN Account oF TouRS ALONG THE MALABAR Coast.

By Edgar Thurston, ¢.M.Z.5.... eats sat eae ave aoe DL

MisceLLANEous Nores—

1.—Hybrid Francolins ... “a she ae wo. 228

2.—Nesting of the Brown eee st “Ae ae =. 228

3.—Notes as to how Tigers kill... ais ser as a. 224

4.—A Curious Instance of Melanism ns ae See tae ee

CONTENTS. xxvii

PAGE

5.—Measurements of Tigers’ Skulls ... boy ded ine vee 225

6.—Sambhur Horns eaten by Porcupines ... we = vee 225

7.—Cannibal Dragon Flies ... oo ae ies a eaee

8.—A Bison Calf. (With a Plate) ... ae ae ae ses) 226

9.—Hggs of the Bustard ... oo: sa Sse oo vee 228

10.—A Black Buck with one Horn ... wee Bi ee as. 228

11.—Deposits made by White Ants ... ise ue Bea aa. (228

12.—The Musk-Rat and its Young ... ae aise ue Soe PAY)

13.—A Tiger killing a Bear ... he a ae ase 55 2)

14.—The Barking Deer (Cervulus muntijac) ... on ve Ey SIDS |

PROCEEDINGS = «s. sat ae aN sles ee 508 eos 201

THE Porsowous Prants oF Bompay. Part XI, (With Plates M and

Supplementary M.) By Surgeon-Major K. R. Kirtikar, 1.0.s,, F.1.s.,

Civil Surgeon, Thana a3 cee ae ve Sis Be

On New anp LitTLe-KNowWN BUTTERFLIES FROM THE INDO-MALAYAN

Recion. (With Plates N, O, P, and Q.) he Lionel de Nicéville,

F.E.S., C.M.Z.8., &C, -- soe coe 500 aa wes 209

THe OorraL. (With a Plate.) By J.D. ae ee 3: mee Oe

An ADDITION TO THE OpHipIAN Fauna or Inpra. © (Zarbophis

rhinopoma, Buanr.) By G. A. Boulenger, F.z.8s. aoe so OE

Norms oN THE THAMIN oR Brow-anriuRED Deer (Cervus eldit).

(With a Plate.) By Vet.-Capt. G. H. Evans ue cise ce O20

MiscELLANEOUS NoTES—

1.—Food of the Bull-Frog ... Sc Bae uae We os B34

2.—Muscular Action after Death ... Ae ihe ee seal OOD

3.—The Effect of Music on Animals et be sat 505. SO)

4 —A New Gazelle. (With a Woodcut) ... se see eooG

5.—A Bird eating a Butterfly ats ve se OO’

6.—Life-history of Rapala schistacea, Moore, a aed pares » 307

7.—Life-history of Athyma opalina, Kollar, a nymphaline Butterfly. 338

8.—Life-history of Camena cleobis, Godart, a lyceenid Butterfly ... 339

9,—Life-history of Kallima snachus, Boisduval, a nymphaline

Butterfly. (With a Wocdcut) cere nee es So CL,

10.—The Power of Mimicry in Canaries... a Le Pee Bue}

11.—Measurements of Tigers’ Skulls ... See ae ee con BIE

XXYVll1 CONTENTS.

PAGH

Tue Porsonous Puants or Bompay. Part XII. (With Plate N.) By

Surgeon-Major K. Rk. Kirtikar, 1s. Fu.8., Civil Surgeon,

Thana a wie uu es op eee oe sop BL

On New anp LitrTLe-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES FROM THE Inpo-MALAYAN

Recion. (With Plates N, O, P, and By Lionel de Nicéville,

BVELS., C.MLZS8., &C. «0 ee 566 S00 soe vee 366

A Key 10 THE ASIATIC GENERA OF THE Hesperiide. By Captain

E. Y. Watson, Indian Staff Corps, F.E.S., F.Z.S. ees tae see. ala

On THE SPECIES OF Galeodide InnaprriInc INDIA AND CEYLON.

(With Plates A and B.) By R. I. Pocock of the British Museum... 488

Les FoRMICIDES DE L’EMPIRE DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN, Part VY.

By Auguste Forel, Professeur a l Université de Zurich .... eae

CottectIneg Ways and Connecting Days. II.—Tan Limestone

Rooxs. By Colonel C. T. Bingham, Forest Dept., Burma aoe As

THE CHEETUL oR SporTeD DEER. (With Plates A, B,and C.) By

J. D. Inverarity «.. ee a AS 46 asa we» 481

MisceLLaNEous Nores—

1.—The Identification of Birds... ae : a See RIG

2.—On the Occurrence of Gerardia prevostiana in Botte ... 486

3.—The Spurs of the Red Spurfowl... Sete aie se wo. 487

4,—The Southern Indian Harrier Hagle ... ee soe soa HOT

5,—Periodical Flowering of Strobilanthes kunthianus bie mo a

6.—On the Size of Mango Trees... hod aoe SS: ee AOS

7.—The Birds of the Bombay Presidency ... 209 oh wee 488

8.—The Occurrence of the Dugong in the Indian Seas... Soy Zhi)

9.—A Tiger killing a Panther a5 ae aus ae she AYO

10.—The Food of Python molurus. (With a Plate) 55 won 49

11.—Hemidesmus and Holarrhena antidysenterica ... ce ao Ol

12.—Muscular Action after Death ... at set) (ee .» 493

13.—F ish leaving the Water... eee te ns art wee 494

14,—The Edible-nest Swift ... oth ae bes wwe 495

15.—Description of the Larva of Papilio cloanthus, Weston oo 497

16,—Life-history of Papilio glycerion, Westwood... até wee 497

17.—Cutting a Tiger’s Claws... 505 es sa ee we 498

18.—The Food of the Krait ... 3S ae one ek wo. 499

19.—Food of the Bull-Wrom c.0)¢G-n) 9 level) > --cty een 0

PROCEEDINGS see ae HES ven +6 ue son te een OL

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.

VOLUME I=.

PAGE

AITKEN, H.H.; The Hdible-nest Swift 495

-—-—— ; Food of the Bull-

TOR cae 500 obec 200 eee 000

ANONYMOUS; Review. Butterflies

from China, Japan and Corea.

By John Henry Leech, B. A.,

PLS. FZS., HES. Se. «20

BAKER, E. C. STUART, F.Z.5; Zhe

Birds of North Cachar. Parts II

and ITI (With Plates Band C) 1, 111

Berry, P.; A Curious Instance of

Melanie 206 290 «oe 224

BINGHAM, COLONEL C. T., Forest

194

Dept., Syne ; Collecting Ways

and Collecting Days. II—The

Limestone Rocks - 473

Biscoz, W. F.;A Tiger billing a

Panther Bs

BLANFORD, W.T.; 4 Note on Birds

from Central India in Barnes's

Handbook

BOULENGER, G. A., PRS. ; ae ie

dition to the antiien aun of

India (TYarbophis ea

Blanf.) car se. B20

BRINDLEY, H. H., M.A., St. bee

Coilege, Coed On a Speci-

men of Hemidactylus gleadovii,

a bifid renewed

eo ee eco

Murray, with

tail. (With Plates A & B)

Buck, H.C., 1.0.8.; Zhe Spotted-

billed Wen ces sae OT

BULKLEY, H. ; ae of the Bite 228 }

CAMPBELL, T.J.; A Viger eating a

Bear wo ope C90 cor - 101

CHANNER, SURGEON-MAJoR O.;

The food of Python molurus.

(With a Plate) one oy» 491

CLUTTERBUCK, P. H., Assistant

Conservator of Forests ; Sambhur

Horns eaten by Porcupines

— ; The Musk-

rat and its Young ...

a3 A MGR

killing a Bear 36

= The Bae k-

ing Deer (Cervulus eas

CornisH, C.K.; The Hiffect of Music

on Animals ... as 206 200

CORRESPONDENCE . eco

30 |

Corszs, H. C., Offg. Deputy Sauer

tendent, Indian Museum, Cal-

cutta; The Food of the Rosy

Pastor or Jowar. Bird (Pastor

roseus, Linn.) ae o0c nee

es Hig

———

Cheroot Borer wee

DALY, WM. MAHON ; The es

Indian Harrier Hagle

—; Periodical

Flowering of Strobilanthes kun-

thianus one

DAVIDSON, J.; The “Birds of the

Bombay Presidency

Dixon, Rh. M. ; On the Size of Mango

| Trees coe ooC

| DUDGEON, G.C.;

Life history of

Kallima inachus, Boisduval, a

nymphaline butterfly. (With a

Woodcut) ... es sels

-; A Bird eating a

Butterfly soe eee

DutHiz, J. F., BA, F.LS.; A

Botanical Tour in Kashmir, 189200

ooo @e0

PAGE

» 225

coo GOO

. 487

«. 487

eo. 488

488

342

xoxox

PAGE

Evans, Vet.-Capr. G. H.; Wotes

on the Thamin or Brow-antlered

Deer (Cervus eldii). (With a Plate) 326

Frereuson, H. §., F. L. §., Hon.

Secretary, Govt. Public Gardens,

Trevandrum ; Cutting a Tigers

Claws oon aoe 406 coo 498

FoREL, AUGUSTE, PROFESSEUR A

L'UNIVERSITE DE ZURICH; Les

Formicides de Vempire des Indes

et de Ceylan. Part Vo... soe 4D3

Gammuiz, G. A.; A Botanical Tour

in Sikkim oe S08 oie soa)

GILBERT, REGINALD; Wounded

Tigers, §¢.—How should they be

killed ? 580 S00 59 Sao (Hl

pees ; A Panther

smoked to Death in a Cave oe

Giuapow, F.; Zhe Poisonous Plants

of Bombay ve 200 one eo» L105

GostLine, D., E.S.A.; Muscular

Action after Death 200 oes 493

———.__—__—— ; Note on

Capt. L. H. Parry's Note on Mus-

cular Action after Death... ww. 494

= ; Fish leav-

ing the water see toe eee

INVERARITY, J. D.; Man-eating

Panthers oe 26e ooo co6 2)

— ; The Four-

horned Antelope, Tetracerus qua-

dricornis. (With Plate B) eos

— The Oorial.

(Witha Plate) o. «. +. 322

eee . ; The Cheetul

or Spotted Deer. (With Plates A,

B, & C) ong oe ae .- 481

KIRTIKAR, SURGEON-MaJor K. R.,

ILM.S., F.L.S., Acting Bagteese

of Botany, Granh Medical College,

and Civil Surgeon, Thana; Zhe

Poisonous Plants of Bombay.

Parts IX, X, XI, and XII.

(With Plates K, L, and Supple-

mentary L, M,and Supplementary

Mand N) .. «#2, 147, 235, 346

107

494

ee ;

Note on Hemidesmus ace oe. 498

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.

PAGE

MACKENZIE, COLONEL KENNETH ;

Food of the White-eyed Buzzard.. 101

MARKHAM, A. M., I.CS., F.ZS.,

ROHILLA™” ; Some Indian Stalk-

ing and Shooting. (With a Plate). 34

MILLETT, G.P. ; Strange Behaviour

of a Panther Bric 200 on) SHB

MoFFAT, J. ALSTON, London, One

Mosquitoes x. 500 aco") oon tH

MuRRAY, HueH, Divisional Forest

Officer ; Measurements of Tigers’

Skulls .. so0 mee »- 226, 343

NICEVILLE, LIONEL DE, F.H.S.,

C.M.Z.8., ge.; On new and

little-known Butterflies from the

Indo-Malayan Region. (With

Plates N, O, P & Q) 259, 366

-_—— ; Note

on the Life history of Camena.

cleobis, Godart, a ne butter-

HO 600 See ane oo. DAD

OatEs, EUGENE W. ; The “Tdentif.-

cation of Birds ... oa ... 486

OsMASTON, B. B. ; Notes onthe Nidi-

fieation of panini Birds, the Nests

of which have not been previously

recorded in India «. : --. 190

Parry, Capt. L.H., R.A.; Musecu-

lar Action after Death . 336

PEREIRA, M.C.; Hemidesmus ... 49]

—-————; Holarrhena anti-

dysenterica .. Ee

PHIPsoN, H. sa On the beeen TENCE

of Gerardia RA in

Bombay aoe

Pocock, R. I, of the British

Museum ; Onthe Species of Galeo-

didee inhabiting India and Ceylon.

(With PlatesA & B) © . 438

PREBBLE, J.G.; The Pisa Tree and

the Indian Willow... coe soa BD

PROCEEDINGS... 109, 231, 501

RAYMENT, VETERINARY-MAJOR —

G. J. RB. late Supdt. Civil

Veterinary Dept., N.-W. P. and

Oudh ; Mule-breeding ... oon! lee

RAYMENT, VETERINARY-MAJOR

G. M.; Hupodotis edwardsii ... 107

- 486

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS,

PAGE

ROBERTS., RICHARD; Cannibal

Dragon Flies soc cb ... 225

Ropson, Mrs. S.; Life-history of

Rapala schistacea, Moore, a

lycenia butterfly eee wee BOT

—_——_——— ; Lifehistory of

Athyma opalina, Kollar, a nym-

phaline butterfly an. te oo. BB

; Life history of

Camena cleobis, Godart, a

lycenid butterfly ... ove eee BOD

—— ; Description of

the larva of Papilio cloanthus,

Westwood ... cee coc 000 497

; Life history of

Papilio glycerion, Westwood wo 497

Ropon, Mayor G. §&., Royal

Scots; A Bison Calf. (With a

Plate) coe soe os oe. 226

SEWELL, J., District. Supt. of

Police ; A Black Buck with One

LL0rN, «20 aoe soc one vee 228

SHARPE, GENERAL C. F.; Deposits

made by White Ants ace ... 228

—_—_ — ; The Spurs

of the Red Spurfowl 208 ceo 487

SHELLY, LizvT. BERTRAM A. G.,

——~

R.E. ; ame of the Bronn

Ply- OUTED see one eee 229

SINCLAIR, W. F, L.C.8.; Nux-vomica 95

—————; The De-

structiveness of Bandicoot Rats... 97

XXX1

PAGE

SincLarR, W. F., 1.C.8., 4 Strand-

ed Dolphin ... ee oo» 100

Squire, W. W.; The Pater of Mim-

icry in Canaries a2. “on . 343

THOMAS, OLDFIELD ; Description of

a new species of Sminthus from

Kashmir «+. ont one oe 98

THURSTON, HpGAR, C.M.Z.S., Su-

perintendent, Madras Gareriment

Museum ; Hatracts from an Ac-

count of Towrs along the Malabar

Coast act cee ae sng Paley

Occurrence of the Dugong nthe

Indian Seas oe coe 200 oon 489

TRAILL, W. H.; Zhe Food of the

Krditis, one sve oa ea) 2s)S)

VIDAL, G. W. I.0.8.; Hybrid

Francolins “ cee soe 220

WARD, ROWLAND ; “a New Gazelle

(With a Woodcut)... see 006

Watson, Carr. EH. Y., Indian Staff

Corps, F.E.S., F.Z.8.; A Key to the

Asiatic Genera of the Hesperiide 411

WHIFFIN, J. Dunpas ; Food of the

Bullfrog =. onc coc oe Bot

WRIGHT, FRED.; Notes as to how

Tigers Rill a. aa oo vee 224

WrovuGcuHton, R. C.; South African

Snakes cue onc ane soe 106

DSR: OF BAe S:

VOLUME IX.

To face

page

The Ashy Wren-Warbler, Prinia soctalis, Plate Bw. sx Speman ste 1

Hemidactylus gleadovit, Murray, with a bifid renewed tail, Plates A andB ... 30

Typical horns of the Sambar ... eve see toe as 500 005 we «Ok

* Amorhophallus campanulatus, Nas. Ord. Aroide@, PlateK ... ave see 2

The Tibet Ruby-throat, Calliope tschebaiewi, Plate C see soe 66 we Lil

Moringa pterygosperma, Nat. Ord. Moringee, Plates L and Supplementary L. 147

The four-horned Antelope, Tetracerus quadricornis, Plate B ... eae noo UGB

Calf of Indian Bison, Bos gawrws ... cAc a3 = “00 roe ee 226

Semecarpus anacardium, Linn., Nat. Ord. Anacardiacee, Plates M and Sup-

plementary M... ose ooo coe soe see see coe sce one ADD

Indo-Malayan Butterflies, Plates N,O,PandQ ... ene oC bac coe SLY

The Urial, or Sha, Ovis vignet... ene coc oan a6 ses coe won 322

The Thamin or Brow-antlered Deer, Cervus eldi + ... one one ds eve O26

Woodcut, Gazella lodert eee ron soe noc eee exe «00 ewe 330

» Section of Larva of Kallima inachus, Boisduval even cae vee 342

Plumbago rosea, Linn., Nat. Ord. Plumbaginee, Plate N... eas 208 vee 345

Indian Galeodide, Plates A andB ... “0 see) \lean le )teneiayeemiess wee 452

The Chital, or Spotted Deer, Cervus avis ... on ove ee = oe 481

Interlocked horns of the Cheetal or Spotted Deer, Plate B "0 bow coe 482

Abnormal horns of Cheetal or Spotted Deer, Plate C oon soe a0% vee 484

A Langit in the coils ofa Python ... ove eee soc has one «» 491

* Amorphophallus in text. fT Cervus eldii in text.

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JOURNAL

OF THE

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Aatural History Society,

Vol. IX.] BOMBAY. [No. 1.

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR.

(BAR Tt,

By EH. C. Sruart Baxer.

(With Plate B.)

(Continued from Vol. VIII, page 211.)

Family Sittide.

(122) Srrra HIMALAYENSIS.—The White-tailed Nuthatch.

Oates, No. 315; Hume, No, 248.

Only to be found, as a rule, on the highest peaks, but I once had

a nest of this bird brought to me at Gunjong itself, which was taken

at an elevation of little over 2,300 feet. At the time I could not

identify it, but I afterwards took another nest containing four young

and an addled egg, and by the help of this I was able to ascertain

the identity of the others. These eggs differ from those of any other

nuthatch’s I know of in that, instead of being a glossy pure white

as one would have expected, they have a faint, very faint, creamy tinge

about them. In my eggs the spots, which consist of small, irregular,

pale reddish blotches, are almost confined to the larger end. —

The five eggs average *74" x60",

2 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

(128) Srrra CINNAMOMEOVENTRIS.—The Cinnamon-bellied Nuthatch.

| Oates, No. 316 ; Hume, No. 251.

This is the most common type of Nuthatch in the North Cachar

Hills, but so little seems to be known of its nidification that I reproduce ©

the few notes 1 have collected on the subject.

The first nest I ever took of this bird was foundin April, 1888,

on some date between the 15th and 20th. It consisted merely of

a few skeleton leaves and one or two feathers, being just sufficient

to fill up the bottom of the hole in which it was placed. This

was a natural hollow in a branch of a tree at a height of about twenty

feet from the ground, and the entrance to it, which had been originally

about four inches by three, had been reduced to a neat circular hole

of rather less than two inches diameter by means of earthwork built

all round the edge by the birds. The material seemed to be stiff

clay and some semi-transparent stuff that looked like tree-gum. The

nest contained five young. Another nest, which was found on the

8rd May, was quite different; the hole in which it was placed

had been formerly the property of a barbet and was small enough as it

was, so there was no earthwork at the entrance ; the nest itself was

composed of moss and feathers and was rather compact and deep. It

contained four eggs, which were all broken by the boy who was sent

up to take them.

In 1889 I only found one nest, in which were four eggs, rather

hard set. The nest was made entirely of dead leaves, and was placed

at the bottom of a deep crevice in the trunk of a small dead tree;

the long natural orifice had been completely filled up for some 18

inches, only leaving a hole at the top just big enough for the bird

to squeeze through.

In 1891 I found two nests—one empty and one with two eggs ;

both were made of leaves and a little moss. In the empty one no

earthwork had been made about the entrance, though the nest

seemed to be completed ; in the other the rim of the hole, which was

naturally small, was neatly smoothed and finished off with clay.

The situation of the tree in which the nest is placed is usually one

standing in thin forest, but one nest was taken from a dead stump

by the road-side, and another was found in a tree, in a clearance,

which had been killed by ringing. The usual complement of eggs

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR, 3

appears to be four. In shape they are a rather long oval, but slightly

pointed. The texture is close and hard, and the surface smooth

and highly glossed. The most common type seems to be a pure

white egg with rather numerous, small spots of dull, dark red. In

some eggs these spots are merely tiny specks, in others they are

almost large enough to be called blotches, and in the last mentioned

nest the eggs were quite boldly marked with rather light reddish.

The average of the only six eggs I have measured is -70"*56", and

they differ from one another very little in either size or shape,

(124) S. naGAENsIs.—Austen’s Nuthatch.

Oates, No. 818 ; Hume, No. 248 Ter.

I got a male of this species in May, 1891, at Hungrum. I also had

a shot at the female, but, most unfortunately, I missed and, though

I followed it up a long way, failed to get another shot, and so missed

gétting a female, as yet undescribed.

(125) S. rormosa.—The Beautiful Nuthatch.

Oates, No, 824; Hume, No. 252.

Oates records this as having been killed at Asalu in the Khasia Hills,

Ihave made careful enquiries, but can find no trace of any place

of this name in the Khasia and Jaintea Hills district, and I think the

place referred to may be Asalu, the old head-quarters of the North

Cachar Hills.

(126) S, rrontTaLis.—The Velvet-fronted Blue Nuthatch.

Oates, No. 325 ; Hume, No, 2538.

Common up to about 4,000 feet. This species does not appear ever

to lessen the size of the entrance to its nest hole with clay. On the

other hand I have known them enlarge portions of cracks in order

to effect an entrance into a desirable hollow.:

Family Dicruride.

(127) Dicrurus annectEens.—The Crow-billed Drongo.

Oates, No, 326; Hume, No. 279.

In April and May,1891, I found this bird breeding very freely in these

hills. The nest is much like that of D. ater, but is smaller and even

more flimsy, yet neater, than that bird’s. Half a dozen nests average

under 4” in internal diameter, and out of 20 nests I don’t think I have

seen any over 4:5". The materials are chiefly very fine elastic twigs

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

and coarse grasses bound together with cobwebs and almost completely

covered outwardly with scraps of rough brown moss and lichen. I

only found them breeding at places over 4,000 feet. The eggs are

typical Drongo’s eggs, and cannot be distinguished from many speci-

mens of D. ater or D. longicaudatus. None of my eggs have a white

ground, and the majority are rather a warm salmon or creamy pink.

One or two clutches are marked almost entirely with dark reddish-

brown, these blotches forming a very well-defined ring about the larger

end and scanty elsewhere. A few marks of pale lavender and neutral

tint are also to be seen if the eggs are closely examined. In most

egos these latter marks predominate over the darker ones, but the

majority of eggs are but thinly marked with either. Twenty-five

eggs average 94" x°74", and they vary between °88" and 1:02” in length

and between *7" and 81" in breadth.

Three appear to be the usual number of eggs laid, but I have taken

two eggs only more than once which showed signs of incubation,

(128) D. arur.—The Black Drongo.

Oates, No. 827; Hume, No. 278.

Common everywhere, more especially below 2,500 feet.

(129) D. Loneicaupatus.—The Indian Ashy Drongo.

Oates, No. 328; Hume, No. 280.

(130) D. civzraczous.—The Grey Drongo.

Oates No. 3338.

Length 11:3"; wing 5:6"; tail 6°4"; bill at front *8" waa from gape

1:2”; tarsus °7". :

The above measurements represent the average bird of these parts ;

some few are slightly Jarger, others smaller.

Nipirication.—The nest is not, I think, to be distinguished by

general appearance from that of D. ater or D. longicaudatus. Two

nests now before me are both made of fine but strong grass-stems inter-

nally, and outside these are wound stems of plants, coarser grasses and

a few slender and soft twigs. These are almost completely covered

with lichen and cobwebs except at the bottom. Taking into con-.

sideration the dozen or so nests that I have seen, | should say they are

less tidy than those made by the other members of this genus, the

inner part—it cannot be called lining—often protruding ever and

beyond the lichen and cobwebs.

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 5

~The nests average in size about 4°6” x 1° cs externally, and about

3 8” & 1:2" or less internally.

They are generally, but not always, placed ata considerable height

from the ground, and the site selected by the birds is usually a fork,

either upright or horizontal, towards the summit or outermost branches

of the tree. It seems always to be very strongly attached to the sup-

porting twigs, these often being entirely covered in with the materials

or, at other times, very firmly wound round and about with the

tenacious yellow webs of the large black and yellow spider. ;

_ The eggs, as far as I have as yet been able to ascertain, are of two

types—firstly, pinkish in ground-colour with rather numerous spots

and blotches of red and reddish-brown. These spots are nearly always

confined principally to the larger end, where they sometimes form a

ring or undefined cap. In the second type the ground-colour varies

from white to extremely pale cream, and the markings consist of

blotches of deep purply-brown and others of the same colour, but

much paler, looking as if they had been half washed out. In all my

egos of this type the blotches form a scattered ring about the

larger half. .

The full number of eggs appears to be three. I have only taken

two nests with four eggs, and in several of these, which contained three

only, there were distinct signs of incubation having commenced.

Twenty-six eggs vary in length from *93" to °98” and in breadth from

“7" to *74", the average being *96" by °72". All my nests containing

eggs have been taken between the 12th April and 30th May. I have

only found it breeding between three and five thousand five hundred

feet, but it is common in the cold weather at much lower elevations and

extends into the plains of Cachar, etc. I know nothing in its habits

different from those of the common drongos. Its note i is extremely soft

and sweet, and its song the same.. .

(131) CHapria auNEA.—The Bronzed Drongo. |

Oates, No. 384 ; Hume, No. 282.

The nest is a small, very neat cup; outwardly the principal materials

are short, broad pieces of grass, bamboo leaves, and shreds of tan-

coloured bark; these are bound together with a strip of the same bark

and secured with masses of cobweb and lichen ; the interior is generally

made of the ends of fine flowering grasses fat which the seeds have

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

been stripped. One nest I have is, with the exception of the interior, _

entirely composed of tiny scraps of shavings, these having been col-

lected from near my bungalow, where some sawyers had been at work

cutting posts. The nest is quite white, except where covered with grey

cobwebs ; the inner part is much as usual. There is never any lining

to the nest, but invariably the finest pieces of grass are placed inner-

most.

Most nests are placed in a semi-pendant position between the bifure

cating branches of some small fork ; at other times they are placed in

an upright position, but these latter only number about one in five.

Most of those I have taken were found on slender branches at some

height, between 15 and 20 feet, from the ground, but I have seen a

nest not 5 feet from it, and others again over 40 feet up and quite

inaccessible.

The dimensions of one nest are : external breadth, 4:2", depth 1°8";

internal breadth 2°8", depth 1:6." Generally speaking, they are very

strongly and compactly made, but a few nests are rather flimsy in

appearance, and the base can almost be seen through.

The eggs are either three or four in number. I have never seen

more than four eggs or young, and have never taken less than three

eggs which showed any signs of incubation. In coloration they

remind one at once of the eggs of Terpsiphone paradiseus ; indeed, but

for their greater size, I have seen many that could not be distinguished

from those of that bird or of J. afinis. In ground-colour they are a

pale fawn or cream, and they are marked at the larger end with indis-

tinct spots of a darker shade of the same colour. In some specimens

there are also underlying spots of grey or faint neutral tint and a few

of a rather darker purplish ; these are either distributed over the larger

half of the egg or tend to form a zone or cap at that end. They differ

as a rule very considerably from the eggs of the other members of this

sub-family both in coloration and shape, but I have one clutch of eggs

which are exact miniatures of the paler type of egg of D. ater. As

regards shape, they are typically a fairly long oval, but little pointed. |

The shell is smooth and fragile, exhibits no gloss, and is very porous.

The average size of all my eggs is 78" ¥ 59’. The greatest length is

"80" and the greatest breadth 60”; the least both ways is respectively

°73! and °56"; the next smallest egg to that is°77" ¥ °57". The earliest

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. q

date at which I have taken a nest with eggs was the 3rd of April, 1892,

and they breed generally during that month and May, and sometimes

in early June. This little drongo is exceedingly common everywhere,

perhaps even more so than Dicrurus ater and D. longicaudatus. It

descends to the plains over a great part of India and may be found up

to 5,000 feet. During the cold season great numbers are always to

be seen together, though one can hardly say that they keep in flocks,

as each bird appears to act quite independently of the rest. They are

very bold birds and seem to fear neither hawk, owl, nor crow, tackling

any such which may make their appearance, driving them away from

where they wish to feed.

(132) Curppia HoTTENTOTA.—The Hair-crested Drongo,

Oates, No. 335; Hume, No. 286.

A most remarkable ooligical occurrence once came under my expe=

rience in connection with one of these birds. In the latter end of

April, 1891, 1 discovered a nest of this bird in a small sapling, and by

getting on a bank above the nullah in which the tree grew I could see

into the nest, in which there were two eggs. Wishing to get the bird,

a man who was with me set a noose of fine thread over the nest and

we came away. The next morning I sent the native to the nest, but

as the bird was not caught, he reset the noose and returned, and at

about noon again went to inspect it, this time returning with the bird,

and the nest ; the latter contained, to my astonishment, four eggs, but

I concluded that one must have been laid directly after we left the

nest and the other just before the man visited it in the morning. On

examining the bird I found yet another egg quite ready to be deposit-

ed, and it would certainly have been laid within six hours. Thus

altogether three eggs would have been laid between 10 a.m. one day

and about 6 p.m. the next. The fourth egg must have been laid

at about 5 A.M. in the morning. The five eggs were all quite perfect,

and there was nothing abnormal either in their appearance or their

contents.

The eggs vary in ground-colour from an extremely faint to a rather

warm creamy-pink ; it is never quite white, and never, I think, as dark

as the darkest eggs of D. ater or D. longicaudatus. In some eggs the

colour is rather a livid pink. The markings consist of small irregular

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

blotches. and freckles; the primary ones are generally a pale rufous

pink, whilst the secondary are either pale lavender or pale dull purplish.

In some eggs the primary, in others the secondary, markings predomi-

nate, and the eggs take their general tint from the most numerous,

In a few eggs the rufous marks are quite absent, and in some others

they are inclined to a brownish tinge. The majority of the eggs have

the spots, of both colours, sparingly scattered over the whole surface

rather more numerously towards the larger end. In only a few eggs

do the spots tend to form a ring, and then always quite at the end of

the larger half and not one-third of the way down the egg. I have

one or two clutches of eggs which in general appearance are quite

dark rufescent-pink, the freckles being very numerous and close together.

Another clutch in my collection is quite the opposite ; the primary

marks are obsolete and over the ground-colour, which is very pale ; there

are merely a few rather large blotches of pale purplish, and here and

there a dot of brownish-red.

Many clutches are very much like eggs of Lanius lahtora as far as

coloration is concerned, and others again are somewhat like eggs of

Dendrocitta frontalis.

In shape they are rather long or ordinary oval—considerably com-

pressed towards the small end, the actual end itself however being

generally rather blunt. The eggs, as a rule, have no gloss, but a few

of the darker-tinted ones have it just sufficiently to be perceptible if the

egg is turned from side to side. These eggs-are, however, in a very

small minority. The texture is coarser than is the case with the eggs

of ‘any other of the Dicruride, and the shell is fairly strong. In 1891

thirty-eight eggs were taken, and these and twelve more in the years

1887 and 1888 average 1:17” by °85". The greatest length amongst

that number is 1°24” and the greatest breadth °88" ; the least both ways

is 1:09" and °78".

(133) Brinea REMIFER.—The Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo.

Oates, No. 339 ; Hume, No, 283.

The majority of the eggs I possess of this species have a very dark

ground-colour, and, typically, they are far darker eggs than those of any

other of the Dicruride. The bird is very common here from the level

of the plains up to about three thousand feet, being most plentiful in

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR, : 9

the lower valleys, where three or four of these birds may often be seen

hawking for insects in company.

(134) Drssemurus paRADisHUS.—The Larger Racket-tailed Drongo.

Oates, No. 340; Hume, No. 285.

Fairly common up to about 3,000 feet, above which height it is but

rarely met with.

Family Certhide.

(135) CERTHIA NEPALENSIS.—The Nepal Tree-creeper.

Oates, No. 343; Hume, No. 244.

This, the only oe that I have met with in North Cachar, is

confined to the very highest peaks to the east of the district.

A nest taken on the 16th May, 1890, was built inside a slip of bark

which had been partly stripped from a tree and was projecting out-

wards; it was on a rather large tree, and the nest was fully 25 feet from

the ground. Attention was first attracted by the birds whilst they

were building it; every morning and evening they were seen to be

haunting a large tree quite close to my camp, and often pieces of moss,

etc., were noticed in their bills ; yet for two days I failed to find the

nest, so quick and active were the birds and so cautious about visiting

it whilst they were being watched. Before leaving the place a man

was sent up the tree to bring down the nest and eggs, of which latter

there were three. The nest was not in the least like that described by

Hume (“ Nest and Eggs,” Vol. I, p. 221) as belonging to Salpornis

spilonota. It consisted entirely of moss and was a mere rough pad

- fitting in to the hollow where the bark met the bole of the tree,

The eggs are white, and they are boldly, but not very thickly, spotted

with light reddish, the spots being most numerous towards the larger

end, at the extremity of which they form a fairly distinct ring. They

measure 99” X °45", -60" & °47", and °60"” & °46”. The texture is

fine and close but glossless, and the shell is strong for the size of the

(1386) SpHENocIcHLA ROBERTI.—Robert’s Wedge-billed Wren.

Oates, No. 350 ; Hume, No. 383 Ter.

Discovered by Mr. Robert on the Hemeo Peak in N orth, Cachar,

I have never come across it,

10 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

(137) Evacnura HAPLONOTA.—The Plain Brown Wren.

A separate article on this bird, with a plate, appeared in the third

number of the Journal for 1892; so it is needless to add anything here.

(138) UnoctcHna LoncicaAupATA.—The Long-tailed Wren.

Oates, No. 354 ; Hume, No. 332. .

I had a specimen of this bird brought to me by a Naga in 1888,

which he had caught ina snare. This was ata place called Guilong

and at an elevation of about 4,000 feet.

(189) Pnozpyea squamata.—The Scaly-breasted Wren.

Oates, No. 356 ; Hume, No. 329.

A rare bird here, the next species being the common type.

(140) Pyozpyea pusitLaA.—The Brown Wren.

Oates, No. 357 ; Hume, No. 330.

This is the commonest type of wren in the North Cachar Hills, but

it is extremely locally distributed. A few birds may be met with at

Guilong, and it is found thence along all the higher hills for some 12

miles in a direct line south-east, after which it is no longer met with.

In its habits it differs in no way from P. squamata, being the same

restless, energetic little bird, equally shy and skulking and equally

loth to leave the piece of jungle in which it is hiding. The favourite

haunts are masses of brambles, raspberry bushes and scrub, interspersed

with moss-covered trees, and if there are afew fallen trees about, so

much the better.

The first nest I found of this bird was a lovely little ball of bright

green moss wedged in amongst a mass of brilliant yellow orchids which

were growing on a large, mossy tree. It was placed just above a ©

broken branch about 5 feet from the ground almost level with my

eyes, yet so beautifully was it concealed that, standing as I was within

a yard of it, I could not see it until nearly all the over-hanging orchids

had been cut away. Another nest was placed against a fallen tree in

amongst the luxuriant moss which hung from it in long festoons.

Altogether I have taken about ten nests, and these have all been either

built against the trunks of living trees or against fallen logs. Where

these were covered with moss, the nest was always made of that

particular kind of moss and well hidden amongst the same, where there

was no moss, and this was the exception, they were usually placed in,

or under, a clump of orchids, tree-fern, or other plant.

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 11

The nests, which are rather small for the size of the bird, average

some 43" in diameter, being almost perfect spheres ; the entrances are

about an inch across and generally rather more vertically. All the

nests I have seen have had no other materials than moss used in their

construction, the roots alone forming the lining and, as a rule, the

brightest and freshest moss being outside. The earliest date on which

T have taken a nest was the 4th of May, but they must commence

breeding in the middle of April, as in early May I got some half-

fledged young ones. They continue to breed until about the middle of

June.

The eggs differ in no way from the P. squamata. They are pure

white, and in shape broad regular ovals. The surface is fine and

smooth, but quite glossless, and the shell is very fragile.

Twenty-one eggs average 72" x °55",and they vary in length

between *70" and °75", and in breadth between °52" and °58",

Four is, I think, the full complement of eggs, but I have seen

three, and once two, eggs showing signs of incubation. —

Family Sylvide.

(141) Locusrzta certHEA.—Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler.

Oates, No. 360 ; Hume No. 421.

T observed this bird, and shot two specimens, in July, 1891, about

the rice-fields and swampy patches of grass and ekra on the Umrung

Plateau at about 1,200 to 1,500 feet. An examination of the birds

proved that they were breeding, but a most careful search produced no

nests.

(142) AcRocEPHALUS STERTOREUS.—The Indian Reed Warbler.

Oates, No. 363 ; Hume, No. 515.

Not uncommon in the grass lands at the foot of the hills.

(143) A. pumzToruM.—Blyth’s Reed Warbler.

Oates, No. 366 ; Hume, No. 516,

_ Mr. H. A. Hole found these birds fairly common along the foot of

the hills, haunting ekra and sun-grass.

(144) Tripura LUTCIVENTRIS.—The Brown Bush-Warbler.

Oates, No. 372; Hume, No. 522.

I got a single specimen of this bird in May, 1890, shooting it whilst

it was flitting about in a patch of ekra on the Umrung plain.

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

(145) Orraoromus surotus.—The Indian Tailor-bird.

Oates, No. 374 ; Hume, No. 530.

Common up to 3,500 feet, not above.

(146) O. arrigvLaRis.—The Black-necked Tailer-bird.

Oates, No. 875 ; Hume, No. 5380 Bis.

[have seen about a dozen specimens of this bird, the ,. majority

females trapped on the nest. It does not appear to ascend above

2,500 feet, and nearly all my birds were obtained in the Jatinga

valley, nowhere over 1,500 or 1,600 feet.

The female, when the feathers of the neck become abraded, shows a

certain amount of black on the throat, and the black bases of the feathers

can always be seen if turned back with the finger. All the egos I

have seen have been like the pale reddish blotched type of eggs of

O. sutorius, but they average smaller, *67" x :44" barely, and they

seem to be decidedly more fragile. Dimensions of male in summer :

length 5°3" ; tail 2°4"; wing 1:8"; tarsus °8" ; bill from gape °65”.

(147) CisticoLa TyTLERI.—The Yellow-headed Fan-tailed Warbler.

Oates, No. 879 ; Hume, No, 541.

This little bird is common all over the grass plateau and grass-

covered hills to the north and north-west, the only place 1 have not

found it in being a large open plain close to the hot springs, where

I found the next bird alone. Two kinds of nests are built by this

warbler ; that most commonly to be met with is a small purse about

34” long by about 24”, or rather more across. It is of the most flimsy

construction, and is made of the flowering ends of fine grasses, the

tips generally inwards. The commonest situation is a tuft of coarse

grass, to the stems of one or more of which it is attached, the blades

being brought down and incorporated with the nest. The opening

is either quite close to, or at the very top of, the nest. The second

form of nest is built against a broad leaf of some sort growing quite

close to the ground, the leaf of a very common species of ground

orchid being the one generally chosen. The leaf is not sewn together

in any way, but the nest is merely fastened to it like a watch-pocket,

and so shallow and flimsy is it that it seems as if it were impossible it

could support a brood of young.

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR., 13

They appear to be early breeders, April and May being the chief

breeding months, though I have taken eggs as late as the 4th July

in 1891. The eggs are very beautiful, pale bright blue, blotched

boldly with light brown or reddish-brown, or sometimes with deep

purply-black ; in the former case the markings are rather large

irregular blotches ; in the latter, generally, small spots and specks

only. The surface is very mooth, close and glossy, and the shell is

stout for so small an egg. Highteen eggs average 57" & °46”, and

range between *55" and °6" in length and between °45" and 48" in

breadth,

This little bird has a most remarkable cry compounded of two

distinct sounds. The first is a prolonged plaintive note sounding like

chee-e-e-ah, and the second, uttered after a distinct interval, is a

beautiful bell-like note. A peculiar thing, too, is the fact that, where-

as it is always easy to fix the locality of the first sound, it is next to

impossible to locate the second even approximately correctly. I was

for a long time under the impression that the notes, though both

uttered by this species, were made by different birds, but a male bird

caught on the nest was brought to me in a small wicker cage and

whilst in my hut repeatedly uttered both sounds, and I noticed then

that the bell-like note seemed sometimes to come from under my

table, where the bird was lying, and sometimes from right away out-

side the hut.

The female seems seldom to-utter the second note. This genus is,

I think, stronger on the wing than any other warbler | know. Their

flight is very quick and very level as well, and, when disturbed, they

will fly a long way atatime. I do not think this bird sits on its eggs

_ at all during the day unless it is raining. I spent several days in 1891

_ hunting for nests, and all which I obtained when the day was fine

were found by accident, for the birds were never noticed on the

nests, not one being found through the bird being disturbed from it:

On one day, when it was raining, however, the only two nests I

obtained were both found by noticing the bird fy away. She did

not leave the grass from close to the nest, but crept out of it through —

the grass for a couple of yards before taking wing, and then, when

once she did fly, she went right away out of sight, instead of keeping

close by and showing any anxiety as to the fate of her property.

14 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

(148) CisticoLa vorrrans—The Golden-headed Fan-tailed Warbler.

Oates, No. 380.

T came across a number of warblers, which were most undoubtedly

of this species, in a broad open plain south of the hot springs. I have

got specimens of this bird every year, since 1888, from this place, but

have met with them nowhere else. I have been able to distinguish

no difference in their note between this and the last species.

(149) CisticoLa cursitans.—The Rufous Fan-tailed Warbler.

Oates, No. 381; Hume, No. 531.

T have found this bird breeding on the grassy summit of a hill over

4,000 feet high.

(150) Frankiinia GRAcILIS—Franklin’s Wren-Warbler.

Oates, No. 382 ; Hume, No. 5836—8—536 Ter.

Common everywhere up to nearly 5,000 feet, but above this I have

not met with it. I mention here merely the different types of eggs

I have met with, as its nidification generally is far too well known to

callfor remark: 1, plain white ; 2, white, densely covered everywhere

with minute specks of red ; 3, do. with brownish, the marks forming a

very distinct ring ; 4, plain blue; 5, do. profusely speckled with red-

dish all over ; 6, do. with numerous very faint tan marks, making the

egg look like a miniature of those of Ochromela nigrorufa, the Black

and Orange Fly-catcher ; 7, blue, boldly speckled with black ; 8,

blue, blotched, with reddish all over. Besides there is every interme-

diate form, and an endless series can be made of these eggs.

I have noticed that at the beginning of the season plain white or

plain blue eggs are far more numerous in proportion to the others than

they are later on, as may be shown by the following table kept during

1891. April was the first month in which an account was kept, and it

was continued until September, after which I temporarily left the

sub-division.

Plain blue. § Plain white. Others.

isos e wes eat peel u 27

Maye ce ce ees 6 67

June... soe pes a 2 84

Siullvn eee wat ee 6 Bea 98

August ... eos aa 3 2 92

September os EDIE aes 76

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 15

It is also a curious fact that the plain-coloured eggs average much

larger than the others. Thus fifty plain blue eggs average 65" X °44";

12 white average 63" X43" and 200 spotted eggs average 59" x°41",

They breed practically all the year round, but I have never taken a

nest either in December or January. On the 14th February, 1892,

I was given a nest containing four eggs almost ready to hatch, and

during the middle of November, 1891, I came across a nest containing

a single fresh egg.

(151) F. rurescens.—Beavan’s Wren-Warbler.

Oates, No. 883 ; Hume, Nos. 5385 Bis, 536 Bis, 588 Bis.

Very common indeed up to about 8,500 feet, not, 1 think, ascending

much above that.

The nest is undistinguishable from that of the last bird and the

egos also are much the same, but I have never taken any resembling

either of the two commonest types of F. gractlis—that is to say, either

white or blue with innumerable freckles of reddish all over. The

markings in this bird’s egg are also less numerous, and in nine cases

out of ten form a distinct ring towards the larger end. I have rarely

taken unspotted blue eggs and only once a clutch of pure white ones,

(152) F. covmrercapiia.—Hodgson’s Wren-Warbler.

Oates, No. 385 ; Hume, No. 537.

Very rare indeed. I have taken five nests which were quite undis-

tinguishable from those of F. gracilis and the eggs were all a pure

skim-milk blue, rather lighter in shade than those of F. gracilis and

also less glossy. In shape they are rather broad, regular ovals, one or

two being rather lengthened. My last specimen was taken in July

1890, and since then I have seen no others. Ten eggs average

BO" 4.2",

(153) GRAMINICOLA BENGALENSIS.—The Large Grass- Warbler.

Oates, No. 388 ; Hume, No. 542.

Recorded from Cachar, but I have not yet obtained a specimen.

(154) Muegaturvs patustris.—The Striated Marsh-Warbler.

Oates, No. 389 ; Hume, No. 440.

_ Not uncommon in the grass Jands running along the foot of the

hills,

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

>) ACANTHOPTILA NEPALENSIS.—Lhe Spiny Warbler.

Oates, No. 891 ; Hume, No. 431.

I found this bird frequenting the ekra and sun-grass growing along

the banks of the Kopili, where it enters the Assam Valley.

(156) CHaToRNIS LocUSTELLOIDES.—The Bristled Grass-Warbler.

Oates, No. 392 ; Hume, No. 441.

A single specimen, a female, was brought to me with a nest and

three smashed eggs in June, 1891, at the hot springs. This is the

only bird of the species I have ever obtained, though the Mikir (who

brought the nest) assured me that they were fairly common.

(157) Anunpinax acpon.—The Thick-billed Warbler.

Oates, No. 393 ; Hume, No. 518.

Recorded from Cachar. I have never met with it.

(158) PHYLLOSEOPUS AFFINIS.—Tickell’s Willow-Warbler.

Oates, No. 405 ; Hume, No. 561.

One of the most common willow-warblers to be found during the

cold weather in North Cachar.

(159) P. rristis.—The Brown Willow- Warbler.

Oates, No. 407 ; Hume, No. 554.

Most commonly found from December to the end of March, but

never anything but rare.

(160) P. msptcus.—The Olivaceus Willow- Warbler.

Oates, No. 408 ; Hume, No. 562.

A very rare visitor. I have met with but one specimen.

(161) P. ruscatus.—The Dusky Willow-Warbler.

Oates, No. 410 ; Hume, No. 555.

A rare bird. Some years I have not noticed it at all.

(162) P. putcHer.—The Orange-barred Willow-Warbler.

Oates, No. 414 ; Hume, No. 568.

(163) P. prorecuLus.—Pallas’s Willow- Warbler.

Oates, No. 415 ; Hume, No. 560.

This bird is very common during the cold weather, and some few

birds remain in these hills all the year round, for, in 1888,1 took a

pest containing three eggs. The nest is exactly like those described

by Captain Cock (in Hume’s “ Nests and Eggs,” vol. I, pp. 260-1),

namely, globular shaped, made of moss and very thickly lined with

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. aly

soft small feathers. The nest I took was placed next the trunk of a

tree and just between two large branches which grew above and below

it. There was no lichen on this nest, but there were a few scraps

of pine bark fastened here and there by means of cobwebs. The eggs

were 2 dull white marked with reddish-brown, in two eggs the

markings consisting of fairly numerous spots, in the third of nothing

but very large blotches, one or two being nearly °2" across.

(164) P. supERcILIosus.—The Crowned Willow-Warbler.

Oates, No. 417 ; Hume, No. 565.

A common winter visitant.

(165) P. manpEutit.—Mandelli’s Willow-Warbler.

Oates, No. 419.

In 1889 I had a nest of this bird brought to me, which at the time

I believed to belong to P. superciliosus, as I mistook the parent birds,

which were caught on the nest, for that species. The nest was an oval

ball, composed entirely of moss and lined with a little grass and very

fine roots. The diameter lengthways was about 6:5" by about 5°57

across. It was said to have been wedged in between some stones

on a steep mossy bank. It contained three fresh eggs, white with

rather numerous freckles and small spots of rather bright reddish

scattered all over the surface, and in one egg forming a distinct ring

at the larger extremity. The shell is close and fine and the surface

shows a slight gloss. They measure ‘61% °43”; 6"x°427; *6"x°43",

This nest was taken on a peak above Hungrum and in scrub forest.

I unfortunately did not note down the date on which it was taken, but

I remember it was during the last few days of March.

(166) AcanTHOPNEUSTE NITIDUS.—The Green Willow-Warbler.

Oates, No. 421; Hume, No. 559.

An occasional winter visitant.

(167) A. virmanus.—The Greenish Willow- Warbler.

Oates, No. 42; Hume, No. 560.

On the same peak as that on which the nest of P. mandellid was

taken I myself found a nest of A. vridanus. The upper part of the

road running over this peak is extremely stony and the bank is often

merely a mass of stones with large hollows here and there between

them. Whilst on the march, in July, 1891, I observed a small bird fly

out of one of these hollows, and on looking into it found a large loose

globular nest made of moss and dead leaves, and lined with white goat’s

18 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

hair. It was of very irregular construction, but roughly speaking it

was about 8" in height by about 5°5" in breadth. It contained three

pure white eggs with very fragile shells, which were glossless and of

rather a chalky texture. I shot the male bird which returned to the

nest within about ten minutes after I found it, so that there was no

mistake as to their identity ; they measure °58"x°44", 57" <°42", and

"58" °41". In shape they are broad, rather regular ovals.

This is the only occasion on which I have seen the bird uayiee in

the cold season, when it is fairly common.

(168) A. LucuBRIs.—The Dull Green Willow-Warbler.

Oates, No. 426 ; Hume, No. 558.

A common winter visitant.

(169) A. cornonatus.—Temminck’s Crowned Willow-Warbler.

Oates, No. 427; Hume, No. 563 Bis.

IT saw one specimen, a female, ‘of this bird in January, 1891.

(170) A. occrrrratis.—The Large Crowned Willow-Warbler,

Oates, No. 428 ; Hume, No. 5638.

Oates mentions this bird as having been found in North Cachar, but

I have not yet met with it.

(171) A. TRocHILorDEs.—Blyth’s Crowned Willow- Warbler.

Oates, No. 429; Hume, Nos. 564 and 564 Bis.

I have seen this bird once or twice in North Cachar, and once had a —

nest brought to me which was said to belong to this bird, but I rather

doubt ifit was. In shape the nest was a roughly-formed globular affair,

made of moss, and it was said to have been taken from amongst the roots

ofa tree. It contained three eggs; white, rather sparsely speckled

with dull reddish, rather more numerous towards the larger end. The

surface is slightly glossy and is stouter than in most eggs of the birds of

this genus. They measure ‘59”%°45", °58"%°45", and °60"%°45".

(172) CryproLopHa arFints.—The Allied Fly-catcher Warbler.

Oates, No. 481 ; Hume, No. 576.

A rare bird here, but probably less so really than appears to be the

case, as it keeps much to the interior of evergreen forest and thus

escapes observation.

(178) C. purKku.—The Black Crowned Fly-catcher Warbler.

Oates, No. 433 ; Hume, No. 569.

This bird is not uncommon here during the cold weather, but on the

commencement of the rains most of the birds seem to remove else-

where, as I have very seldom met with it after April.

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 19

(174) C. xantHoscHista.—Hodgson’s Grey-headed Fly-catcher

Warbler.

Oates, No, 454 ; Hume, No. 569.

It is somewhat doubtful if the form found here is the true wanthos-

chasta, as it averages far smaller than the Western form. My birds

seldom reach 4" in total length and average only some 3'9". The

tail averages about 1°6", and the wing 2:05", Besides this the colouring

differs in one or two minor details,

I have on several occasions taken the nest, and have found it always

to be made of moss and lined with exquisitely soft vegetable down.

With one exception, all my nests were globular in shape, and they

were placed either on steep banks or else against the trunk of a tree,

The exception referred to was a lovely little cup-shaped nest, wedged

into a stout fork of a dead branch lying on the ground. The fork

was covered with white lichen, but none of this had been used in the

construction of the nest, though, as this was lined with the usual white

down, it was by no means at all conspicuous.

I have only observed this bird in the hot weather and rains well to

the east of the district, but in the cold weather it wanders over most of

the hills down to as low as some 2,000 feet.

Twenty-four eggs average *56” X°46" and vary hardly at all in size.

They are all in shape broad ovals, somewhat compressed and pointed

towards the small end.

(175) C. szERDoNI.—Brook’s Grey-headed Fly-catcher Warbler.

Oates, No. 435 ; Hume, No. 572.

The commonest form here is that which I have already noted as

C. zxanthoschista, but I have seen a few birds whose very dark

heads were quite sufficient to separate them at once from that species.

It haunts the same places, and has exactly the same habits, as'that bird.

I have not taken its nest.

(176) C. pottogenys.—The Grey-checked Fly-catcher Warbler.

Oates, No. 486 ; Hume, No. 575.

I have seen but one pair of these birds, both of which I shot as they

were hopping about near their nest. This was a most beautiful little

affair exactly like that described by Gammie as belonging to Pnoe

pyga albiventris. The moss on the tree was very long, hanging

down in lengthy festoons and tangles, and this moss, as it grew, was

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

worked into a small nest in which was placed a lining of moss roots.

Outside the moss hung down over it, perfectly screening it from view,

and there was no opening but merely the natural one between the

moss-fronds and the tree-trunk. Had not the bird flown out, when

I was only a few feet away from the tree, I do not think I could have

ever found it.

It contained three eggs, white like all eggs of the genus Crypto-

lopha, but more glossy than the eggs of any other species that [ have

seen. In shape they are like those of C. wanthoschista, and they mea-

sure '62"°49", °63"°5", and °59"« 49".

(177) C. cAsTANEICEPS.—The Chestnut-headed Fly-catcher Warbler.

Oates, No. 437 ; Hume, No. 578.

This little bird is not by any means rare to the east of the anne

though it seems to be confined to a very small area. In the Laisung

Valley I took several nests, all of just the same description as those of

C, xanthoschista. In texture and shape, the eggs are also precisely.

similar, but are, of course, much smaller, measuring only °53” x °4".

It has a wonderfully pretty little song, which it constantly utters

during the breeding season and generally in close proximity to the nest.

(178) C. contator.—Tickell’s Fly-catcher Warbler.

Oates, No. 438 ; Hume, No. 576 Bis.

I have seen a specimen of ihe bird said to have been got in pO

Cachar ; personally I have never met with it.

(177) ABRORNIS SUPERCILIARIS.—The Yellow-bellied

Fly-catcher Warbler.

Oates, No. 440 ; Hume, No. 574, No. 577 Bis.

This is by far the commonest fly-catcher warbler to be found in

these hills, and is fairly common from the level of the plains up to the

highest peaks.

The song is short, but very sweet and clear, and the bird is very fond

of uttering it. This, more than any other species of Abrornis or Cryp-

tolopha, takes its prey on the wing just like the fly-catchers, and I

have often watched it for some half hour or so, alternately fluttering

into the air and capturing some insect and then sitting on a twig and

singing his cheerful little song.

All the eggs I have seen were blotched with reddish, thickly scat-

tered everywhere and forming a deep-coloured cap at the larger end.

Fifteen eggs measure ‘57"” x °43”. In shape they resemble the eggs

of the last species, occasionally being somewhat longer in proportion.

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR, 21

(180) A. ALBIGULARIs.—The White-throated Fly-catcher Warbler.

Oates, No. 442-; Hume, No. 577.

Fairly common in the valleys towards the east, but rather rare else-

where.

I have been very unlucky in not being able to get good clutches of

the eggs of this species, though I have repeatedly obtained nests, either

empty or containing young. The few eggs I have are of two distinct

types. The first has a pinkish ground-colour, in some rather a deep

pink, freckled all over with bright dark red, in a few cases the

freckles being rather larger and giving a mottled appearance to the

egg. These eggs are in coloration just like those of Tesea cyanzentris.

The second type has the ground-colour pale yellowish, and the freckles

are of yellowish-brown only.

Mandelli’s nest was made of bamboo leaves and grass ; all mine were

made principally of moss and moss-roots, though one or two had a few

bamboo leaves intermixed. The bamboos in which they were built

were usually small ones, not much over 2" in diameter, and seldom, if

ever, over 3’. My eggs, eleven in number, average ‘53"X°43".

None are as long as Mandelli’s four eggs. The song is similar to that

of the last bird, but is weaker and less often used.

(181) Neornis FLAVOLIVASCENS.—The Aberrant Warbler.

Oates, No. 446 ; Hume, No. 552.

A very rare bird here. I have come across it only three times.

(182) Horornis rortipes.—The Strong-footed Bush-Warbler.

Oates, No. 448 ; Hume, Nos. 526 and 552 Bis.

Fairly common on the higher ranges, not descending much below

2,800 feet in the breeding season and most often found over 4,000 feet.

(183) H,. patiipus.—The Pale Bush-Warbler.

Oates, No. 450 ; Hume, No. 527 Bis.

I obtained a bird which I believed to belong to this species in 1887,

but I did not preserve it, and I am now rather doubtful as to its

identity. |

(184) H. patiiprprs.—Blanford’s Bush-Warbler.

Oates, No. 451 ; Hume, No. 527 Quat.

This species seems to be confined entirely to the highest peaks to the

north-east of the district, but on these it is not very rare.

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

The nests, of which I have taken three, are exactly like those of

H. fortipes—that is to say, it is shaped like an egg with the small end

cut off. It differs from the nest of that bird, tee in not having

nearly so many feathers in the lining and ait in being rather bulkier.

_ The eggs are the same in shape as those of H. fortzpes, but in colour

I think they are somewhat deeper and they are also a purer chocolate,

none of my eggs having the reddish tinge which is generally present

in eggs of that species. The eggs, of which I have five, average

7 lx Nay

(185) H. masor.—The Large Bush-Warbler,

Oates, No. 452; Hume, No. 529.

Bill pale yellowish-brown, the culmen and tip darker, irides beet

legs reddish-fleshy. This bird is very rare here and, as far as I know

at present, entirely confined to the highest peaks about Hungrum.

The only three birds I have seen were all trapped on their nests.

These (the nests) are very deep cups made of fine grasses and a few

bamboo leaves and the inner part entirely of shreds of fine grass; in

two nests there was a thick lining of feathers just as in the nests of

H. fortipes, but in the third there were not half a dozen feathers

altogether. One nest contained three eggs, of which one was unfor-

tunately broken, and the remaining two contained two each. Five

eggs are like those described as belonging to H. pallidipes, but are

even darker ; the third clutch, on the other hand, is quite as bright as

most eggs of H. fortipes, and probably a full series of each species of

this genus would show that they all range equally from the lightest

to the darkest shades.

All eggs of this genus become mildewed very easily, beimg in this

respect much like the red eggs of some of the Primas.

(186) H. cawrurtens.— The Large Bush-Warbler.

Oates, No. 453.

A single specimen recorded by Hume from Lakhipur in Cachar.

(187) PHyLtercaTEs coronatTUS.—The Golden-headed Warbler.

Oates, No. 454 ; Hume, No. 581.

Irides tan-brown. I obtained several specimens of this bird m

1887 and 1888, but since then I do not think I have seen three.

The nests which I haye had brought to me, on which the parent birds

were said to have been trapped, were a sort of link between the nests

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR, i 23

of Orthotomus and Franklinia on the one hand and of Cistzcola on

the other, for, though they are not completely enclosed in one or more

leaves as is the case with the former, they are yet firmer and more

bulky than are the latter. Asarule, the leaf, which is usually the

semi-pendant one of a khydia, or kindred plant, about half encloses the

’ nest forming the back-wall and also a partial support to the side-walls,

It differs also from all allied nests that I know of in having a distinct

lining of vegetable down.

I have seen very little of this bird in a state of nature, but this little

certainly leads me to the same conclusion as Oates has arrived at,

namely, that the bird is more nearly allied to Cryptolopha than to

Orthotomus. ts eggs, however, show a nearer affinity to the latter

genus. They are much like very pale, scantily-marked specimens of

the eggs of O. sutorius, and I have one or two clutches of this bird

which match them very well. They average °56" & °45", and in shape

are broad, very regular’ ovals.

(188) Suva crricuRA.—The Brown Hill-Warbler.

Oates, No. 458 ; Hume, Nos. 547, 548, and 549 Quat.

Common everywhere in suitable localities.

S. ATROGULARIS.—The Black-throated Hill-Warbler.

Oates, No. 459; Hume, No. 549.

Tam somewhat doubtful about this species, as I have no skins to, refer

to, nor have I ever been able to compare the bird with an authenticated

skin. The birds which I imagined to have been of this species were both

darker and duller on the upper plumage than the neat species ; in many

the supercalium ts quite absent, and in the others. most indistinct. On

the other hand the black of the breast does not descend as low as it should

do in a typical 8. atrogularis.

(189) S. xHastana.—Austen’s Hill-Warbler.

Oates, No. 460 ; Hume, No. 549 Bias.

The species is very common on all the higher ranges, but I have not

found it below about 3,000 feet. The eggs are of three distinct types.

In one the ground-colour is pure white, and in another a pale bluish

or greenish. In both these types the markings consist of strongly

defined spots and specks of brownish-red, which in nine cases out of

ten form a ring or cap towards the larger end and are sparsely scatter-

ed elsewhere ; but in a few eggs the markings are very dense every-

24 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX,

where, and they are then generally rather paler and more blotchy than

in the other eggs. The third type is similar to the commonest type

of egg of S. crinigera—that is to say, it has a pale yellowish flesh-

coloured ground, and the markings, which are of a pale reddish, are

freckles and blotches rather than well defined spots.

One hundred eggs average *65" X *47" and range between *57" x +66"

and in breadth between *45" x ‘51”. In shape they are broad, regular

ovals, and abnormal shaped eggs are very rare. The texture is fine

and close, and some eggs show a slight gloss.

(190) Pruyta Fraviventris.—The Yellow-bellied Wren- Warbler.

Oates, No. 463 ; Hume, No. 582. a

The following details as to plumage are not noted by Oates :—

Lores dark greyish-ashy.

.The tail is always barred in summer, the final bar being broader

and more strongly developed. JIrides reddish-tan or pure tan,

In the female the lower mandible seems to be always paler in colour.

I can find nothing to show that the white eyebrow is a seasonal

ornament. Some birds possessing this were shot in the height of the

breeding season, and others which were obtained in December and

January had it just as distinctly marked.

T have found this bird up to 4,000 feet, and have taken its nest at this

elevation.

(191) P. socratis.—The ce Wren-Warbler.

Oates, No. 464; Hume, Nos. 584, 585, and 5385 Bis.

Common here up to 38,000 feet, above which I have not met with

it. Irides tan-coloured. ‘Tail obsoletely barred. I have never yet

met with a nest of this bird built in a leaf like that of Orthotomus.

(192) P. ryornata.—The Indian Wren- Warbler.

Oates, No. 466 ; Hume, Nos. 548, 543 Bis, and 544,

Common up to about 3,000 feet.

(193) P. puanrorp1—The Burmese Wren-Warbler.

Oates, No. 468 ; Hume, No. 543 ter. and 544 quat.

A few wren-warblers occur here which are nearer this species than

the last, but they appear to run into one another very much and will,

I expect, be eventually both placed under the same name. As regards

the bill remaining brown in summer, females of the last species do not

attain the black bill.

MAN-EATING PANTHERS.

By J. D. Inverariry,

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 10th July, 1894.)

In the hot weather of 1894, 1 was shooting in the northern part

of the Hyderabad country, and spent a great deal of my time in trying

to secure a man-eating panther that I was informed had already killed

21 people. From what afterwards occurred I believe there must

have been two panthers addicted to man-eating, but at first I thought

there was only one. I arrived ata village called Tutra on April 25th.

Here several persons had been killed, and I was told that the panther was

in the habit of sneaking into the villages at night and seizing some one

asleep by the throat. There were several villages he had killed in, occu-

pying, roughly speaking, a diameter of seven miles. I had not long to

wait for a kill, as on the morning of April 27th news was brought of a

man killed in the village of Karwa, two miles off, the previous night.

I rode there at once, and found the corpse of a fine big man, with the

holes made by the panther’s teeth in his throat and claw-marks on the

chest and legs. This village consisted of about a dozen huts. The man

had been lying asleep on a cot, his wife on another cot by his side, in

the small open space in front of his hut enclosed by a thorn fence.

The hut was the centre one of the village. I found the tracks of the

panther; he had crossed the fields, gone up the village pathway, entered

by the gate which had not been properly closed, and sprung on the

man as he lay asleep. He had been frightened off by the shouts

of the villagers. He bolted back up the path he had come and made

across the fields to the jungles where I lost his tracks. The general

character of the jungle, in the neighbourhood of the villages frequented

by the panther, was flat, intersected at long distances by shallow nullahs,

A great portion of the jungle was bare, other portions had grass about

waist-high—a most unpromising place to find a panther in, as he-

might be in any of the grass patches over an area of miles, On this

oceasion I tried a couple of beats in the nullahs near the village

without success. Subsequently I used to walk the grass patches, but

it was like looking for a needle ina bundle of hay. The panther

tracks were not found by me in the nullahs, I believe it must have

usually lain up in the flat jungle somewhere in the grass,

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

That night, z.e., of the 27th April, he was wandering close to my

tents most of the night, and was seen by several of my people. On

the night of the-28th April he killed a man at a village called Chandur

about two miles from my camp. I did not see this body. He was

frightened off the man and visited my camp later in the night and

came close up to the tents, but before I could get round to the spot

he had moved off and I did not see him. Shortly afterwards I heard

shouting in the village and learnt he had caught a dog and carried it

off. I then moved camp to Chandur. The next I heard of the brute

was that, on the night of the 30th April, he had killed a boy aged 7

years (the son of the Bania who was supplying my camp) at the village

of Nanda about four miles off. The boy was sleeping on the same cot

as a man, in the open space in front of a hut, which was the outside one

of the village. The head of the cot was against the otla of the hut and

the boy was the furthest from the road. The panther came on to the

otla, passed the man and seized the boy and went clear off with him.

The body was not found and must have been entirely eaten. Nothing

was heard of the panther till the night of May 4th, when he appeared

close to my tent at Chandur. I hada lamp put out in the field,

twenty yards off, and sat on a camp-stool hoping he would come

. between me and the light, for, as there was no moon, I could not see.

He, however, went to the village and killed a calf. On the night of

May 6th he killed a woman at the village of Nimni seven miles away.

IT moved camp on the 7th to Nanda, where he was expected to turn

up soon, and he did not disappoint expectations, as, at 11 p.m. on

the night of May 9th, I heard an uproar at a house in the village 80

yards from my tent. As I always had my rifle and lamp ready, I was

at the spot in a couple of minutes and saw the track left by a

body being dragged down the village road. Followed by a number

of villagers all shouting at the top of their voices I ran along

the trail, and in 50 yards came to a large patch of blood where

the panther had evidently dropped the body; he had taken it

on again; a few yards more the road cleared the houses and

took a sharp turn to the left into a field, and, soon after turning

the corner, we ran on to the body. The panther could only just have

left, as there was no blood when I first arrived and in a few minutes a

large pool formed. I at first thoughé it was a gray-haired woman, but

MAN-EATING PANTHERS. | 27

it turned out to be a girl of about 16 years; the hair being full of

dust looked gray by the lamp-light. She was dead ; the body lay on

the back, the legs straight out, the head resting on the right cheek, the

right arm, adorned with two iron bangles, was bent as if it had been

thrown up towards the neck, the left arm lay along the side. There

was a cut, an inch long, on the chin, and the fatal teeth-marks in the

throat. As we looked, the blood poured from a hole in the neck just

behind the lobe of the right ear and made a large pool of black blood

on the ground ; the jugular vein had been opened. If we had gone

quietly there would have been a good chance of a shot, as the panther

was evidently very reluctant to leave its victim. But, of course, one

cannot prevent the shouting, as the panther might be frightened away

by the noise before he had killed, though I believe that death

must be immediate. I noticed the expression of the face was

quite calm and ordinary in this instance, as well as in the case of

the man killed at Karwa. I tracked the panther for some dis-

tance further by lamp-light down the road and across the fields,

and in this direction it was at least half a mile to the jungle, though

there were patches of jungle scattered in the fields. He had gone

at a walk when leaving the girl and was walking as far as I

tracked. I then suggested that the relatives should retire home

and leave the body where it lay, for me to sit near it in case

the panther returned, which I think he would have done, but

they declined to accede to this sensible proposition and insisted on

sitting round the corpse, with a number of sympathizing friends making

a great noise, The tracks were those of a large male panther. He

had dragged the body 100 yards. The girl, | think, must have been

at least seven stone weight. When the teeth are in the wounds no

blood flows, as I found none on the trail, except the large patch where

he had dropped it. Any blood that flows is probably drunk. This

girl was lying with seyen other people all close together on the.

ground, in the open space in frontof the hut. She was nearest the

road, The panther entered by a gap between the corner of the hut

and the thorn fence and then had the girl’s throat within his reach.

The girl was buried in the morning, and in the evening I sat, close to

the place where we found her, for five hours till the moon set, staring

at the road in case the panther should come up it. Talso had two

28 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

policemen stationed at two other sides of the village with guns on the

look out, but the panther did not return. Six days then passed and

nothing happened except that on two nights the panther was said to

have been seen, but as I could not find any tracks in the morning I do

not think he was there. On the afternoon of May 15th, I moved my

camp back to Chandur, and that evening, at 8 p.m., a large male

panther was caught in a pit-fall at the entrance to the village of Nanda,

close to the spot where he had dropped the girl on the 9th, The bait

was a goat. He was shot in the trap by a police sepoy.

The man-eater was now supposed to be finished, but at 4 a.m. that

very night, at the same village (Nanda), a panther seized a sleeping

police sepoy. He was lying on his right side with his left arm over his

head, so the panther did not get a good grip at his neck and it was

frightened off. The police sepoy walked to my camp and was there by

daylight. I found he had a shallow wound on the jaw, another, not

more than half an inch deep, on the neck below the left ear, and a

good sized hole, more than an inch deep, in the back of the arm

close to the armpit, and a slight scratch on the back. He seemed all

right. 1 washed the wounds out with a weak solution of carbolie acid,

and as I hada probe, I have no doubt I got to the bottom of the

wounds. ‘That day he kept well, though a lot of thin watery blood oozed

from the wounds, The next morning his cheek and neck were very

much swollen ; the hole in the arm looked all right. I dressed his

wounds again and had them well fomented with hot water. At night he

breathed with difficulty and died at midnight—44 hours after being

wounded—lI presume of blood poisoning. That night, at 9 p.m.,a panther

appeared close to my tents and was fired at, but missed by a police

sepoy, and the panther again came on the night of May 18th near my

tent. While I was sitting in front of my tent at 2 a.m. looking out for it,

four cheetul crossed the field and stood within 60 yards of me. The

male panther killed was 6 ft. 6 in. long, and Lat first thought we had got ©

an innocent panther, but as no further kill took place after that night, I

believe he was the right one, and that the one that seized the police

sepoy was a female that accompanied him. 1, however, never noticed

more than one track at the scene of a kill. At any rate, between the

26th April and 9th May, there were five kills—then the male panther

was killed on May 15th, and afterwards, on same night, a man seized by

MAN-EATING PANTHERS. 29

a panther at the same village, and after that no more kills. I think the

solution of the puzzle must be that the male usually, if not always, did

the killing, I cannot be certain that the second one was a female,

but judging from the size of the holes in the police sepoy, I think it is

likely. The two being atthe same place the same night looks as if

they had been a pair. In the 26 cases previous to that of the police

sepoy, all were killed at once. The police sepoy was the only one

seized in a clumsy way. I stopped in that part of the country for

eleven more days and nothing more happened, and it was reported to

me also that down to 6th June there had been no further disaster.

In none of the cases, except that of the Bania boy, did the panther get

away with the body, so that there was very little eating done. Be-

sides the occasions I have mentioned that the panther came to my

camp, there were several nights he was alleged to have been seen, but

I do not count any night when his tracks could not be found in the

morning. The panther fired at by the police sepoy on May 17th was

certainly missed. The place was a field several hundred yards from

jungle, and if it had been hit, blood must have been found. Moreover,

it came again on the night of May 18th. I allude to this so as to

exclude the possibility of it being thought that the second panther

might have been hit, and died, I am afraid it is still at large. The

slain panther had a perfect set of teeth and skin in good order and no

reason is apparent why it should have taken to evil habits, All the

kills were at night, of persons asleep and there had been no case, as far

as I could ascertain, of a person up and about being attacked either

by day or night.

30 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

ON A SPECIMEN OF HEMIDACTYLUS GLEADOVII,

MURRAY, WITH A BIFID RENEWED TAIL.

By H. H. Brinpizy, M.A., Sr. Jonn’s Cottucn, CamBringE.

(With two Plates.)

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 10th July, 1894.)

The subject of this communication is the abnormal condition of the

jail of a specimen of the house gecko, Hemidactylus gleadovt. The

animal was sent tome by Mr. H. M. Phipson with a request that I

would write a note on it for the Journal of the Bombay Natural His-

tory Society. Wor its identification I am indebted to Mr. G. A.

Boulenger of the British Museum. ;

The general appearance of the animal is shewn in the drawings of

the ventral surface, Plate A, figs. land 2. The tail becomes bifid a short

distance behind the cloaca, and terminates in a short branch, which is

straight and lies almost in the long axis of the body, and in a longer

branch, which commences as an outgrowth on the right-hand side, and

gradually bends round towards the middle line. Whether this bent

condition was permanent during life is uncertain, as the animal had

been in spirit some time before I received it, and I do not know its

previous history.

The chief dimensions are-—

Length, snout to cloaca a8 vee ees caso) Gls

» Cloaca to fork of bifurcation ... ©... COMMAS ELS AT

» tork to tip of long branch of tail “se wees {tere tines

” » ” 9 short ”? 29 son vee (19 2”?

Width, long branch ... 255 “06 ‘5 tapering to ‘07 ,,

short ,, 3 D ae ”

The short branch narrows suddenly at 1°4 cm. from the fork, after

which it tapers regularly. The other external features of the three

parts of the tail are as follows :-—

SCALING.

Section.

Undivided proximal Rounded, depressed.| Small smooth scales.) A median series of

part. Several longitudinal] transversely dilated

| | series of large point-| scutes.

| ed keeled tubercles. |

| Dorsal and lateral, | Ventral.

| Transversely dilated

| scutes.

Small smooth scales ;

Long branch (taper-/ Oval, flattened ven-

i no tubercles.

ing), trally.

Short branch (rela- Rounded, flattened) Small smooth scales ;| Small smooth scales.

tively blunt). | ventrally. no tubercles.

Journ.Bombay Nat.Hist.Soc. Vol. IX. WN,

M.P Parker del. Mintern. Bros. ith. London.

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Journ. Bombay Nat.Hist.Soc

Manterm Bros. hth. London.

HH. Brindley del.

ON A SPECIMEN OF HEMIDACTYLUS GLEADOVILI. 31

The scaling of the undivided proximal part, which for brevity will

henceforward be spoken of as the stump, is normal to this species of

Hemidactylus! ; while that of the ventral surface of the short branch

and of the dorsal surface and sides of both branches of the new crowth

differs from the normal scaling. Now it is known that in the case of

certain lizards which have the power of renewing the tail after acci-

dental loss, the scaling of the new growth differs from the normal.2

The probability that the bifid portion of the tail in the present case

is a new growth was, therefore, suggested by the characters of the

Scaling, and an examination of the internal structure left no doubt

on the point. It has long been known that the structure of the

renewed tail of a lizard differs remarkably from that of the congenital

tail,? and the subject has been recently exhaustively investigated by

Fraisse,* whose work includes an account of the renewed tail of

Hemidactylus frenatus. The chief structural peculiarities of the

renewed tail were constant in the several genera he examined and may

be epitomised as follows :—

(a) The vertebral column is not renewed as such, but from the

point of fracture an unsegmented, imperforate, and usually

somewhat irregular cartilaginous tube grows out in direct

continuation of the neural arches. This tube tapers with

the tail, and its lumen ends blindly near the tip.

(6) The spinal cord is not renewed, but the lumen of the

cartilage tube contains a core of connective tissue with

large blood vessels, which is continuous with the spinal

cord of the stump. In reality this core is a tube with

thick walls, as it contains a central lumen lined by a

single layer of columnar epithelial cells. This lumen is

continuous with that of the central canal of the spinal cord.

infiltration of the spinal nerve roots from above the

point of fracture,

(d) The caudal artery and vein of the stump grow into the

renewed portion and give off branches within it.

* Boulenger,G, A. Fauna of British India, Reptilia and Batrachia, 1890, p. 87,

* Boulenger, G. A. On the scaling of the reproduced tail of Lizards, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1888,

p. 351,

* Dugés, A. Mémoire sur les espéces indigenes du genre Lacerta, Ann. des Sciences

_ Naturelles, 1829, vol. XVI, p. 837.

* Fraisse, P. Die Regeneration von Geweben und Organen beiden Wirbelthieren, be-

sonders Amphibien und Reptilien. Cassel, 1885,

32 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Voi. 1X.

In the present case the internal structure of the tail was examined

by means of serial transverse sections cut through the stump, and both

branches of the new growth, and longitudinal sections through the region

of the bifurcation. The features thus revealed are illustrated on Plate

B, figs. 3 to 6. It will be seen that the structure of the stump is that

of a normal tail, while each branch presents all the characters of a re-

newed tail as described by Fraisse. _ It is, therefore, unnecessary to give

a detailed account of the histology. The considerable degree of irre-

gularity of structure and the excentric positions of the cartilage tube

and of the central canal within it are more probably results of the dis-

turbing factor of the whole new growth being double than of its elabo-

ration under the changing circumstances of the active life of the

animal; for it would appear from Fraisse’s figures and from several

cases of renewed tails in other genera which I have examined that the

new growth is usually a symmetrical structure. It should be observed,

however, that in the present case there is a considerable degree of

asymmetry in the stump, a condition which, if it existed before the tail

was broken, may possibly have exercised some determining influence

on the form taken by the new growth ; though, on the other hand, it

is possible that the unusual nature of the latter brought about disturb-

ances in the nutrition of the stump.

Many instances of caudal duplicity in lizards have been recorded,

and it has often been suggested that an explanation of this condition

is to be found in a second tail having grown out from an injured place.

It is quite possible that some cases have originated in this way, and in

the Cambridge University Museum there is an example of Trogonophis

wiegmanni (Amphisbenide) possessing what is apparently the stump of

a second tail growing out laterally near the tip of the normal tail. In

the present case, however, as shown in Fig. 6, the cartilage tube is

bifid from its commencement from the neural arches of the stump,

leaving no doubt that the whole of the new growth was elaborated at

one time. It is at present not possible to offer an explanation of this

kind of duplicity, especially in the absence of experimental evidence.

In conclusion a word may be said as to the difference between the

scaling of the two branches of the tail. It appears that, so far as the

epidermis is concerned, the median ventral line of the stump did not

divide with the tail, but continued along the long branch only, while

the short branch, though situated actually in the long axis of the

body, was treated as a lateral part and received the small scales normal

to the sides of a congenital tail, Strictly, therefore, the duplicity

has not involved the epidermis. A case which has possibly some

ON A SPECIMEN OF HEMIDACTYLUS GLEADOVI. 33

bearing on the above is furnished by a specimen of Lygosoma telfairi

(Scincide) in the Cambridge Museum, in which the tail is bifid in its

distal portion. Though it has not been dissected, there is little doubt

that the bifid portion isa new growth. Seen from the dorsal surface,

the longer (left) branch of the tail is continued in the long axis of the

body,-and bears the short (right) branch as a lateral outgrowth. The

normal tail of this species is covered ventrally by broad transverse

scutes, and elsewhere by small scales. In this abnormal example the

row of ventral scutes leaves the median ventral line of the tail and

passes gradually on to the right side and consequently towards the

short branch of the extremity. At the bifurcation the broad scutes

cease, the whole of the bifid portion being covered by small and quite

regular scales. The dorsal scales of the stump, on the other hand,

become lateral on the left-hand side as they approach the bifurcation,

and there become continuous with the rows of scales on the left side

of the long (left) branch of the extremity. Hence, so far as the

epidermis is concerned, the left side of the longer branch of the new

growth represents the dorsal surface of the animal, while the right side

of the shorter branch represents the ventral surface. It is noteworthy

that in this instance, as in that of Hemidactylus, there is a departure

from the normal condition in the undivided portion of the tail, which

is not a renewed structure.

It is probable that duplicity of the renewed tail is not very un-

common among certain genera of lizards, and I have lately received

a specimen of Anolis grahami (Iguanide) with a renewed tail which |

bears two symmetrically developed dwarf tails on its sides, so that

the new growth has a trifid appearance. It is desirable that all such

cases should receive careful examination, as the matter has a direct

bearing on the problem of symmetrical growth.

List of Figures.

Plate A, Fig. 1.—Hemidactylus gleadovii, ventral surface, nat. size X 14.

at DAW) ii Do. do. do. of tail, nat. size X 3.

, B_,, 3.—Transverse section through proximal portion of tail.

i PON) Sa Do. do. short branch of tail.

theses es Wa Be Do. do. long branch of tail.

» » » 6.—Longitudinal section through bifurcation of tail, Nat.

size X 10.

P. Proximal portion. L. Long branch. S. Short branch.

N.B.—Figures 3 to 6 are somewhat diagrammatic, The shrunken condition

of the spinal cord and connective tissue cores is no doubt a result of the pre-

paration for section cutting. In life they would fill the lumens of the neural

canal and cartilage tubes respectively.

34 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

SOME INDIAN STALKING AND SHOOTING.

By A. M. Marxnam, L.C.8., F.Z.8.

“ ROHILLA.”

(With a Plate.)

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 10th July, 1894.)

I am emboldened by reading the pleasant and sportsmanlike paper

of my friend (by correspondence) Mr. Inverarity, as true as it is

graphic, on sambar shooting, to send for the Journal of the Bombay

Natural History Society a few notes of my own. |

I have had a good deal of sambar, spotted deer, and other stalking in

different submontane forests in the N.-W. P., in the Himalayas of

outer Kumaon, in the spurs of the Kaimur and Vindhya ranges, and in

the Sivalik hills east of the Ganges.

I think that the best stalk I ever had was in a small tract of

preserved forest in the Native State of Chirkhdri on the left bank of

the Ken river. I was given a day’s shooting therein, with permission

to shoot three stags, through the kindness of the then Political Officer

of Bundelkhand, who is now the Harl of Lauderdale. My camp was

on the right bank of the Ken in the Banda District, of which I was

then the Collector. Under the guidance of a local shikar?, who proy-

ed of no great use, I crossed the river before sunrise on a lovely

morning in February. J well remember that, just as Mr. Inverarity

describes, | had my heart sent bounding, and my rifle thrown quickly

into position, by a row in the bushes on the bank and the pyrotechnic

exit therefrom of a gorgeous peacock as I arrived. The forest came

close down to the lovely stream, which was rushing in a great hurry,

and with prodigious fuss, through a narrow boulder-strewn channel,

about 60 yards wide, which took some crossing. I was younger in

those days, and did not mind the wade through the clear cold water to

commence my day on, a proceeding which was not without the

danger of being carried off my legs by the swift, and in places deep,

current. The jungle in the preserve was of a diversified contour.

There were numerous more or less lofty little hills, some separate, and

some in connected groups; all covered with forest, growing amid

jumbled blocks of trap (?) rock of every size and shape. Lying be-

tween these hills were open glades of grass with scattered groups of

trees ; and there were many deep and craggy ravines, bush-and-tree

a a —~ +. s

= ag Pak ie ae

| Sd ae Tee

TYPICAL HORNS oF THE SAMBAR.

4 NOL From (hikhary, know? as the Samear’

; , I From Bignor.know 0 the Man ees

. I From Ramgarh, known as the Jai . “ hi

SOME INDIAN STALKING AND SHOOTING, 35

clad from bottom to brink, running down to the river. It wasa

lovely little bit of sporting country. On the sand on the edge of the

river were the fresh tracks of a leopard and a hyena and innumerable

spoor of deer. As I went forward among the low bush near the

bank I put up numbers cf peafowl and the painted spur-fowl (Gallo-

perdi« lunalatus), which were allowed to go their ways, though they

offered tempting shots. (I poached a morning soon after, wishing to

get some of the latter birds, but I did not see one !) I had not gone

a quarter of a mile, and the sun had not yet risen, before I spied a

splendid old sambar silhouetted against the sky on a rocky point of

one of the nearer hills, I waited while he and his harem of three ~

hinds moved round the point, and then ran round below, hoping to get

a shot. I soon sighted him again and fired at him as he stood

against a background of black rock. I had over-estimated the dis-

tance I suppose, for 1 saw the splash of the bullet on the rock just

above the withers of the stag. I was afraid that my precipitancy had

lost him, but he seemed so grand a quarry that I determined to follow

him. It was a most arduous stalk ; the hills were very steep, and the

rocks, sharp ledges, creepers, and undergrowth made advance very

difficult and slow. Twice again that forenoon I sighted the stag, but

he, or rather his hinds, and a young stag who had joined the family

party, were very wary, and I did not get a shot. Soon after noon I

called a halt, in a secluded nook under a big rock, and attacked my

tiffin basket. The pop of a soda-water cork (it was long before the

days of Codd) resulted in a thunderous rush below me to the right,

not fifty yards off. Before I got hold of my rifle it was too late, and

I was only in time to see my noble friend disappearing into some

dense jungle with his splendid horns laid nearly flat on his back. I

ought to have examined the little grassy dell, in which the deer had

evidently lain up, before taking my ease. The shzkarz counselled

giving him up, and insisted that that stag would not let himself be

approached again. However I was not going to throw up the sponge

yet, and after a longish siesta, started on the trail again. Twice that

afternoon did I spot that stag, but he gave me no chance. I sent the

shikart to a coign of vantage to watch, and went on alone. The sun

was within an hour of setting when, cautiously rounding a rocky point

near the top of one of the hills, my eyes were delighted by seeing

36 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

him once more, standing uneasily at gaze, about 80 yards off down

hill, The raising of the rifle caught his eye, and he was off. I put

in practice a dodge which I have often found efficacious. I chose a

well-marked opening between two rocks ahead, on the other side of

which I calculated from his direction that he must soon pass, and I

covered that opening carefully. As his form appeared, I pulled and

heard the welcome and unmistakable thud. He kept on, now quite

out of sight, but very soon a crash and a sound of struggling and of

flying stones told me he was mine. Joyously I scrambled down to

find him dying with the little -450 Henry bullet in the centre of his

shoulder. Another through the heart put him out of pain. When

the shikart arrived we cached the stag, to be recovered next day.

The head proved not so fine as it had appeared in life (they hardly

ever do I think), but it is considerably over the average for these parts.

The horns are nearly symmetrical—left 382", right 38”; the spread

between the points of the outer (shorter) tines is 34”, and that from

outside to outside of the beam, at the point of widest spread, is 372”.

The brow antlers are 153” ; the circumference of the beam, from above

the brow antlers all the way up to the spring of the tines, is 6", and

at the latter point it is 8”. Below the brow antlers the circumference

is 82", and that of the burr is 10".

The shikar¢ said that from his point of vantage he had viewed

a fair stag into a ravine hard by. I sent the shikar to walk up

the bed of the ravine from the river and took up my post to

command the upper end and flanks of the cover. Two stags raced

out, and I had a good clear shot, and dropped the finer of the

two like a shot hare. His impetus turned him over twice, and un-

fortunately the right horn, catching on a ledge of protruding rock,

was smashed to bits. The head was so much poorer than the one

I had just got that I was easily consoled. While standing over

him I heard loud cries from the shikart, which brought me to

the bank of the ravine above him, to find him treed by a huge

boar, who was furiously ripping at the trunk of the rather small tree

in which the man had taken refuge. I speedily released the shékard

from his precarious perch by slaying the boar. It was said to be a

well-known brute, who had been a terror to the frequenters of the

forest and had killed a man not long before, and it was reported had

eaten km. By this time the short February day was deepening into

SOME INDIAN STALKING AND SHOOTING. 37

dusk, and I returned well pleased to my camp. Both stags were

brought in next morning.

On the slopes of the Riwa plateau to the N. and N.-W. of the

Allahabad District and in the Kirwi sub-division of the Banda District

are numerous sambar. I have never stalked them there with any

success. It is impossible to move without sound on bamboo and other -

leaves, over loose stones, at an angle of 45° and steeper. I have in

such country, on the few occasions on which I had the chance, had

the animals driven. ‘The hill-side invariably ends above in a_perpendi-

cular escarpment of trap rock, inaccessible except by rifts which

occur at differing intervals. This is locally known as the arr?. The

slope is driven parallel to this arrd, and everything on it makes sooner

or later for a pathway which the animals of countless ages have worn

along the base of the escarpment, The guns are ambushed in a line

on the slope at right angles to the arrd, their posts being determined

by lot.. That commanding the pathway under the escarpment is of

course the best, and is usually posted so as to command also one of the

practicable rifts leading up to safety in the forest on the plateau above.

The other posts are as a rule likely to shew sport only in proportion as

they are nearest to the uppermost one. One never knows what

animal may turn up in these beats. Tiger, panther, bear, sambar, pig,

blue bull, or spotted deer (the latter more rarely)—all are represented

there. Ifa tiger is known or suspected to be in the jungle, the posts,

or at least the upper ones, are in carefully-made machans in trees,

cunningly hidden at the last moment with green boughs. The upper-

most post is not invariably the best as far at least as tiger is concerned ;

and the unerring, but to all appearance unreasonable, selection of

another post for their line of advance by successive tigers, is one of

those jungle incidents which no fellow can understand. In a certain

now well-known beat, which I may say that I discovered, a tiger or

two are killed every year; and the beast ¢nvarzably comes to one

particular post, the third from the top, with nothing whatever to

indicate the reason of his preference for that line. For sambar in this

jungle the very greatest caution is necessary. It is perfectly marvel-

lous with what complete silence so heavy a beast, with his spreading

head, will make his way, in front of the line of beaters, through dense

cover and over broken rocks. The sportsman may have sat for an

hour, with exemplary patience, silent, motionless and noiseless at his

post. A big sambar may have come up close without the gun having

had the faintest inkling of it, and may have been standing, suspiciously

38 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

sniffing the air, and listening with his huge ears, making up his

mind for a further advance when the beaters should approach too

near. Should the sportsman, under such circumstances, seeing the

beaters close up, and imagining that all is over, move even an eyelid,

the wary beast is off with a plunge and a crash, either back through

the line of beaters, or down hill to turn their flank, sometimes giving

the occupants of the less-sought-for posts below a chance of a shot.

Another moment or two of motionless silence, and the occupant of the

post at the arr? would have had an easy shot at the huge deer as he

walked delicately, like Agag, along the well-known path, or quietly

scrambled up the rocky defile to the top. All the other animals come

along with much less concern or concealment ; only the sambar stag

is thus cautious. In such a beat the pea-fowl, spur-fowl and such like

always lead the way ; next come the wild sow and her litter, and

perhaps a rattling porcupine; a shuffling bear may give you a chance if

you are for him ; a blue bull, or a rare spotted deer, may come next ;

but the wily sportsman will do well to let the line come right up to

his post before he dares to breath aloud, if his aim be the lordly sambar.

The bears of these parts are the common Indian sloth bear

(U. labiatus), and their coats are so open and coarse that they yield but

poor trophies, They do such a lot of damage, however, and are so

dangerous to the people who have to frequent these forests, that asa

rule it is right never to spare one. In my experience the people fear

a bear here much more than a tiger.

In the outer Himalayas the stalking is much easier than in the

Vindhyas or Kaimurs, The undergrowth is more manageable and

less diffused, and the pine needles make a noiseless carpet. The sambar

is here locally known as Jarao. The head is of a different shape and

make from that of the Central India sambar ; more rugose, heavier

and more massive in proportion to the length ; but the antlers are not

so long nor so graceful. They sometimes shew ‘sports’ on top. It is

many years since I had any sambar stalking in the interior of these

hills, but my recollection is that the Jarao are not nearly so wary there

as their congeners are in the Kaimur and Vindhya hills. In the foot-

hills of the Himalayas the Jarao are very numerous, and I have stalked

and shot four stags before breakfast, within five or six miles of my

camp at the outer foot of the mountains. I once shot a Sardo

(Nemorhedus bubalinus) in the same hills—a rare beast. In the sdl

and other forests lying in the submontane plains below the N.-W. P.

Himalayas the sambar is locally known as Maha, i.c., big, great.

SOME INDIAN STALKING AND SHOOTING. 39

Stalking is here practically unworkable. The grass is high and rank ;

where there is undergrowth it is dense, and the large dry leaves of the

sal and other Latzfolia and the myriad dry twigs among them make a

noiseless approach quite impossible. I have usually shot these forests

from a howdah ; but I have occasionally, in a suitable tract, got down

and successfully stalked both chital and sambar. They are fairly

numerous, the former particularly, and not very wild. The closing of

the forests to all deer shooting after the end of February has

materially increased their numbers, while it has made them less

wary. The heads of the submontane forest sambar differ both

from those of the Central Indian and the Himalayan varieties.

They are shorter in the horn, but spread much more, and are more

massive than even a Jarao head of the same size. On the whole the

Maha yields the handsomest trophy of the three, taking one thing

with another. The accompanying rough sketches were made from

three somewhat typical heads of the varieties of sambar of which I

have written. The Maha head, with all its points polished like ivory

for some six inches from the tips, is ‘a handsome trophy. That head

had certainly been for more than one year carried proudly through the

forest. I agree with Mr. Inverarity in holding that the sambar, and

I think the chital also, does not, at any rate after he attains full

growth, shed his antlers annually. If they did so, with such numbers

of them in the forest, one would pick up cast horns more frequently.

The process of shedding is very irregular in all deer up here. I have

seen chital, sambar and para (hogdeer) in hard horn and in every

stage of velvet during one and the same shoot. You will see more

velvet at Christmas than you will in May ; but you will see hard horn

at Christmas and velvet in May.

Cuon rutilans is as great a foe to the deer—and to the sportsman—

here as he is on the Taptee. Ifa pack takes up its quarters in a

jungle, everything leaves it, except the pig. Sus scropha has a fine

contempt for every other animal! That reminds me of a funny thing

I once saw. We were beating across some sal forest with a line of

elephants and emerged upon a small circular opening, in the centre

of which was a muddy depression, with some water still remaining

in the middle. A large sounder of pig had been wallowing in the

mud and had, on our appearance, retreated into the forest on the

opposite side, One small half-grown boar remained in the open,

40 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX,

He faced the line of elephants, and began to go through the most

laughable antics, by way of challenge. He stamped and champed

his tushes ; he danced and pranced and curvetted in our faces for all

the world as if he were an Irishman at Donnybrook fair with a coat

to be trod on. The Mahauts urged us to shoot him, saying that he

was mad, and that he would injure an elephant ; but we refused to

slay the little champion at a disadvantage. Finally, seeing that we

had no fight in us, he slowly and gravely trotted after the rest.

I once had a sambar hind driven through my camp near Kirwi

by a pack of wild dogs at dawn. My people turned the dogs and

saved the deer. By the time I was awake and alive to the conditions,

it was too late to slay any of the pack. They had gone. I never

spare them when the rare chance offers. I once got a right and left

with No. 4 into a pack, as it crossed a jungle road in Indian file, and

bagged a dog and a bitch. They were in fine coat as it was in the

cold weather ; red as an English fox, with a dark stripe down the

back, anda fine brush, which was black, except towards the root,

where it was of the body-colour. The jungle natives are full of

stories as to the deadly pertinacity of their attack. They say that

a pack will kill a tiger ina few days by never letting him rest or

eat or drink, and by timing their simultaneous onslaught when the

royal beast is worn out. One jungle story which I have heard

gravely told is quoted by Jerdon (Mammals, p. 147) from Brian

Hodgson. It is to the effect that the pack will sprinkle their

peculiarly acrid urine upon the low leaves and stalks of under-growth,

and then, by combined action, drive a tiger into this cover. The

urine temporarily blinds their victim, and they set upon him with

impunity. They are the scourge of any jungle they enter.

T had the other day the pleasure of perusing the Game Book of that

good all-round sportsman, the Maharaja of Kuch Bihar. It contains

the measurements of 133 tigers. They are distinguished into male

and female, but I think it is evident that some females haye been

erroneously entered in the column for males. It is certain that there

are several cubs included in the latter. The average length of 99

tigers in the male column is 9! 43" Deducting nine animals from

this list which were evidently females or cubs, the average length of

90 male tigers is 9' 58”. The largest are two of 10’ 25", noted in

Rowland Ward’s ‘Measurements of Great Game.” The largest I

- SOME INDIAN STALKING AND SHOOTING. AL

have myself shot, or seen shot, out of over 200, was 10’ 2". The

average of the Maharaja’s 34 tigressesis 8’ 7". The largest was 9' 34".

My largest tigress was 9’ 2". Some other measurements are given

in the Kuch Bihar Game Book. The average girth of 34 big males

was 502”, the average biceps of 32 was 26”, the average fore-arm of

52 was 182" ; and the average weight of 14 was 469 lbs. The follow-

ing are the measurements of one of the heaviest (though not the

longest—he was 9! 93") tigers I ever shot :—

Height at shoulder... 2 see 405 ins,

Length of body so Ah wen Orth. 11530,

7s of tail ... “5 oo Eee oper eine Fs

Girth behind shoulders on 356 AOE ait

» Of fore-arm below elbow ... 21 is

» of head round cheeks tee 36 :

Length of cleaned skull between

perpendiculars = aoe aa 14 *

Breadth of cleaned skull between

perpendiculars esis om 10

Girth round the zygomatic a ae QI,

I wish I had kept the measurements of my big 10’ 2" tiger. Eheu

fugaces! It isa long time ago.

Since jotting down the above notes, I have had the luck to kill my

longest tiger, and I think also the heaviest I have ever shot or seen.

The following are his measurements :—

Length of body... pee ss: at beeil Mo dae

aA of tail ... ae oes hod wee 3) 23"

Total ves 10’ 4”

—

. Girth behind shoulder... oo cco 50 52”

», Of fore-arm below elbow ub soc 2a”

oy) Ob head, ... vs Soe 39”

Height at shoulder between porpendicnlists 42”

Length of cleaned skull over all between per-

pendiculars ... 143”

Width of cleaned sitll ouitide inaaunne

arch between perpendiculars bie oc 102”

Depth of cleaned skull on a horizontal surface Gay

I had practically a right and left at a pair. The tigress came first

and was knocked over. Then the tiger appeared with a roar and got

his right fore-arm broken. He charged, and while he was being

polished off, the tigress, most unfortunately, managed to get away into

heavy grass of great extent, and we could not find her.

42 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, 1X,

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY,

By Surceon-Masor K. R. Kirrixar, LM.s., F.LS8.,

Acting Professor of Botany, Grant Medical College.

PART IX.

(With Plate K.)

(Continued from Vol. VIII, page 461.)

AMORPHOPHALLUS CAMPANULATUS—(Blume).

(Natural Order—ARoIpE&, )

MARATHI—€t.

An annual, tuberous, herbaceous, seedless plant, flowering before

leafing. It has no nectaries.

SynonyM—Arum CAMPANULATUM (Roxb.)

Tuper.—Larger in size than the adult human head ; sometimes

three times as large in the cultivated variety ; smaller than the adult

human head usually in the wild variety ; spheroid, with concentric

tuberculate rings on the upper surface, where on the central part there

is a shallow concavity or depression, often a slight circular prominence

round the scape, corresponding to the attachment of the petiole of the

previous year. After the leaf has completed the maturation of the

new tuber, it separates, petiole and all, from this depression or promi-

nence which is from 1} to 2 inches in diameter and has at its central part,

a mammilla marking the spot whence the flower-stalk of the future

year shoots forth in the succeeding hot weather.

The substance of the tuber is hard, solid, fleshy ; externally pale

blackish; internaily white, pale pink, or deep brown; on section

discharging drops of acrid, clear, shining, gummy mucus, which turns

brown on standing ; the tuber is studded with numerous rootlets. The

general appearance of the tuber presents a marked convexity on the

lower surface, and a slight concavity on the upper surface ; sometimes

the upper surface is almost flat.

N.B.—Properly speaking, the underground stem we have named

as Tuber here on the authority of Hooker is a Corm.

Roottets.—Long, filiform, whitish, denser near the scape, beyond

which they are thicker, often of the size of a goose-quill, arising here

and there in large numbers from small bubils or tubercles from all

parts of the main tuber. Such is the habit of the tuber that if by any

process of arrest of development, such as rotting, the entire formation

SSSPIONT PAO FEN TS UTE PIM Onis BST PE QMO SEY

we AN@ SS! SOS ENiv alia S MON GIS) @ ce ener

UOPUST UP] Ouromyzg ‘sosg wre pAyy jep urureftteg sees

7 eTeTg : ree a . : 20G {SIH YEN Quod uamop

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY, 43

of the tuber is interfered with, we find a number of small tubers of vary

ing size and form instead of a whole spheroidal tuber. These small

tubers are generally united ; sometimes detached. Whether united

or detached, however, each one of these small tubers may produce a

separate plant if placed under favourable circumstances, such as soft soil

and proper manure. From such detached tubers, generally, there is no

flower-stalk thrown out before the leaf makes its appearance in the

succeeding rainy season. Thus, from sucha large disorganized tuber of

the previous year, I have been able to obtain in my garden several small

but healthy plants, each springing from a partially separated or entirely

disjointed bulbil. It seems to me that when tubers are small, flower-

stalks very seldom spring forth.

Tae Petiotz.—lI call it the petiole, for there is, as a general rule,

only one given out by a properly formed tuber. There may be two or

even more, but they are the result of improper development of the

tuber as noted above, 7.¢., where there are several bulbils of large size.

The rule is, one well-formed tuber, one scape, one petiole and leaf,

_ Another petiole or many more petioles may shoot forth from

darge or small bulbils. But this is a distinct deformity in the

plant. The petiole of a fairly well-developed plant is radical ;

rough or warty externally ; slightly sheathing near its attachment to

the tuber, between the margins of which is a space for the mammilla

of the future year’s flower-stalk, varying in length (or rather in

height) from 14 to 2} feet ; sometimes in the cultivated variety, as

grown in my garden, as much as 4 feet. In the wild variety it is

hardly ever more than 2 feet. In thickness it is usually 21 to 4 inches

in diameter, cylindrical, softly fleshy, succulent. Colour varying

from light to deep green, mottled with irregularly-shaped whitish,

_pale bluish spots ; the petiole, dividing into three parts, radiately

diverges in a horizontal manner. The divisions are dichotomous,

pinnatisected, with a deep channel on their ventral aspect, roundish

on their dorsal aspect, slightly scabrous. There are membranaceous

wings along the sides of the decurrent bases of the segments of the

leaf. These segments are lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, the margin

entire, parallel veined, pale green and entirely glabrous.

Scare.—Solitary, 2 to 4 inches long, cylindrical, greenish, mottled

with white spots, very thickly verrucose, invested below with two or

44 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

three imbricated scales or bracts which are linear-lanceolate, tough,

fleshy, rose-coloured, mottled with green or purple spots.

SpaTHE.—Is technically called “ marescent,” ¢.e., not actually falling

off before the spadix is perfected, but withering long before that time.

In size very large; ovate ; 1 to 1} ft. long; very broad ; erect;

acuminate; below, of fleshy substance, infundibular, convolute ; above,

membranaceous, campanulate, patulous, with undulate curled margins.

The convoluted part in its greatest circumference is about a foot and a

half ; externally, speckled with pale yellowish-greenish patches and

bright green dots ; internally, at the base it is purple with very thick

fleshy warts, which are thickest and deepest coloured’ near the scape,

and which become paler coloured and less dense as they approach

the mid-part of the infundibular portion. The mid-part is con-

spicuously greenish-yellowish, without any warts. The colour of the

undulate marginal portion is purplish or dark purple ; that on the under

or external surface is dull; that on the upper or internal surface is

bright.

SpPapix.—Projecting distinctly beyond the spathe; erect, thick,

club-shaped, almost half-way from below cylindrical and pistil-bearing ;

thence upward it is pear-shaped and thick, bearing anthers ; above this

part lies the apex (appendage or club) expanding in a globosely conoid

irregularly formed mass when young, which becomes fungating and

sinuously lobed as it matures. ‘The texture internally is spongy, fibrous, ©

lacunose ; externally corrugated, brownish dark purple, resembling

soft leather with minute warts or projections alternating in regular

order with shallow depressions between. As the conoidal apex matures

into the more corrugated. mass of sinuous small lobules they emit an

intolerably offensive odour of putrid flesh, inviting hordes of blue-bottles

and other large flies which cover the whole mass with their eggs ; and

the subsequent maggots, which thickly beset it for the next four or five

days, render the flower stalk as disgusting to the eye and nose as carrion.

I have already referred to this fact in my lecture on Indian Flowers

delivered before the Sassoon Mechanics Institute, Bombay, extracts

from which have already appeared in one of the previous numbers of

this Journal (Vol. wii, Part 4, pp. 527, 528—1892).

FLowrrs.— Unisexual ; the males on the middle third of spadix,

immediately below the appendage ; the females on the lower third or

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY, 45

basal part of the spadix. Perianth absent. Male and female flowers

contiguous, 2.¢., having no neuters between.

Mate FLowErs— |

Stamens.—Numerous ; dense.

Anthers.—2-celled, sessile, close-packed, consequently compressedly

cylindrical ; rounded at the top ; straw-coloured ; glabrous.

Connective.—Longitudinal, fleshy, separating the two loculi. Hach

loculus perforated at its apex for the discharge of the pollen

by a central pore, whichis at first semi-lunar, then gradually

dilating to assume a roundish form.

Pollen. —Globose ; lemon-yellow, or almost orange-coloured.

FemaLe FLOwERS—

Pistils—Numerous ; not so close-packed as the stamens, but some-

what loosely and spirally arranged ; the topmost scarcely sepa-

rated from the anthers by any clear space.

Stigma.—Trilobed, often bilobed ; all on the same level ; much

thickened and expanded. There is a deep depression between

each lobe ; slightly papillose. Cream-coloured or yellowish.

Style-—Many times longer than the ovary. Crimson or purplish.

4 to 2 inch long ; deciduous.

Ovary.—2-, rarely 3-celled, with only one ovule ; purple or deep

crimson ; broad and dwarf; globose or somewhat cubical ;

fleshy glabrous.

Ovules.—Attached to the inner angle of the carpel at its base ;

ascending, obovoid, anatropous.

Fruit.—Not yet known to have ever developed.

REMARKS.

The above description is mainly based on Blume’s as embodied in

Rumphia (vol. I, p. 139), and that of Roxburgh and of Sir Joseph

Hooker, in the Coromandel Plants (vol. II, p. 70), and Flora of

British India (vol. VI, p. 513), respectively. I have added, however,

what I know personally regarding this very interesting species of the

Aroid family. The propagation of this plant takes place by means of

its tubers. It is hardly necessary, therefore, for the ovule to develop

into seed. The main tuber or each small bulbil or tuber of the

previous year serves as the parent of the future plant. The flower-

stalk seldom, if ever, appears in young bulbils or even in tubers half as

46 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, IX.

big as the adult human head. 1 have come across several tubers of

even larger sizes where the flower-stalk has not appeared, but in due

season only the petiole has sprouted out. Blume observes that the

scape is almost twice as thick as the petiole. In my experience it is

quite the reverse, but this may be merely a local peculiarity.

With regard to the size of the spathe sprouting from very large-

sized tubers, I have this to observe. In tubers weighing from 30 to 40

lbs., the spathe assumes an enormous size, and its terminal convolute

portion and crimpled margin measure several feet in circumference.

I have now before me a large tuber which, when fresh removed from

the ground, weighed fully 40 lbs. The convolute portion of the spathe

thrown out by this tuber measured 8 ft. in circumference ; the height

of the spathe was near 24 ft.; the diameter of the middle campanulate

portion was 1 foot ; the broadest part of the appendage was nearly

of the same diameter ; the diameter of the staminal part was nine

inches, whereas that of the pistil-bearing part was six inches. This

shows to what an enormous size the tuber and the flower-stalk may

develop under cultivation, In the uncultivated or wild variety, which

goes under the name of Ran-Suran or Jangli-Suran, the plant is not

known to develop to such a size. The wild variety in every part of it

is altogether a much smaller plant.

It must be noted here that the wild or uncultivated variety of

Amorphophallus campanulatus is entirely different from the tuber of

Amorphophallus sylvaticus* (Kunth), which is also locally named

Jangli-Suran, and described by Dr. Dymock under that name in the

Pharmaceutical Journal (p. 172, vol. vii, 3rd Series). Dr. Dymock

was well aware of this fact at the time he first described this plant, for

he has since repeated his remarks in his later works,—viz., ‘“ The Vege-

table Materia Medica of Western India” and “The Pharmacographia

Indica ”’—that ‘it is probable the two plants are distinct,” for he adds

that ‘it is probable the roots of the wild Amorphophallus campanulatus

form a part of the commercial article known as Madanmast, which is

the tuberous root of Amorphophallus sylvaticus peeled, cut into slices

and strung upon a string.”

* SyNoyNMS.—(1) Synantherias sylvatica (Schott.)—Hooker’s Flora Br. Ind.,

part XIX, page 617: (Il) Arwm silvaticwm (Warden and Pedler’s article on the

nature of the toxic principle of the Arvidee—Journal As. Soc., Bengal, vol. LVII,

part 2, No. 1.)

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 47

I now proceed to state what the old Sanskrit writers have said

regarding the varieties of Amorphophallus campanulatus.

Madanpal, in his Nighant (Pushpa-Varga, Shlokas 83 to 86), says

that there are two varieties of Suran : the tuber of the one is round and

well shaped, that of the other is irregular in form. ‘The former is the

better of the two ; the latter is known as Rén-Suran and has also the

epithet of Vajrakand. This epithet, as applied here, means that the

tuber of this variety is as irritating as Vajra, which is a synonym of

Kush or Darbha, a kind of grass described by Linneeus as Poa

cynosuroides (Eragrostis cynosuroides, Rom. et Sch. according to

modern nomenclature). Now, it is well known that the blades of this

grass, which is very commonly used in the religious ceremonies of the

Hindus, are covered with long stiff hairs, especially at their margins ;

these hairs produce an unpleasant, pricking sensation on the skin

of persons whose tactile sense is acute. The pricking sensation

produced on the mucous membrane of the mouth, throat, and tongue of

those who eat the tuber of the wild variety of Suran is very much like

that of Darbh grass on a sensitive human skin. The epithet of

Vajrakand as given to Ran-Suran would therefore seem to be appro-

priate. I have so far dilated on this point as I find Dr. Dymock gives

“Thunderbolt” as the English equivalent of Vajrakand (Pharmaco-

graphia Indica, vol. II, p. 547). Vajra does mean in Sanskrit

thunderbolt ; but if Dr. Dymock’s English rendering is to be accepted,

one cannot find any connection between the term thunderbolt and the

shape or properties of the tuber of Ran-Suran, unless it is meant

to convey that its poisonous quality is as suddenly destructive as the

thunderbolt.

Narhar Pandit, in his Raj-Nighant, another standard Sanskrit work,

also mentions two varieties :—(1) Suran ; (2) Sit or Swet Suran, which

is the white variety.

Dhanvantari Nighant, another old Sanskrit work, mentions only one

variety of Suran. It is probably the cultivated form, as the author °

does not make any reference to the wild variety.

Bhay Misra, another standard writer, in his celebrated work Bhav

Prakash (p. 150, Bombay Jagadishwar Press Hdition, 1888), speaks of

only one variety. From its description it appears to be the cultivated

form, as no mention is made of the wild tuber.

48 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Voi. IX.

Let me now proceed to notice a few points worthy of special

remarks in the writings of European botanists who have studied the

plant under notice. Wight, in his Icones Plantarum Ind. Orient.

(vol. III), gives two plates, numbered 782 and 785. The former illus-

trates a gigantic flower- stalk with its enclosing spathe, and the latter

depicts the tuber, leaf, and flower-stalk. He says that he depicts the

gigantic flower-stalk, as he finds no reference to a flower of such

size in Roxburgh’s work. Botanists have to be thankful to Wight for

this illustration, as it serves to persons like myself of a younger

generation to emphasize what he observed in his days, by adding my

own humble testimony that his picture illustrates but a gigantic,

well-developed inflorescence of one and the same species as given in

his plate No. 785. This I have been able to observe for a number

of years in the flower-stalks thrown out by large tubers weighing

30 to 40 lbs. The larger the tuber, the more gigantic the flower. By

some unfortunate mistake, however (evidently that of the printer’s devil),

Wight’s descriptions of his plates 782 and 785 are transposed in the

letter-press given at the beginning of the third volume of his Icones,

which at first sight is confusing to one who has not had the opportunity

of watching the growth of gigantic flower-stalks from very large-sized

tubers, The result is that even a learned and veteran botanist like

Sir Joseph Hooker, in quoting Wight in his “Flora of British India”

(vide page 518, part XIX), is obliged to put a query against Wight’s

plate 782.* From my own observation, however, I am able to say—

and I say it with profound respect for Sir Joseph Hooker—that Wight’s

plate No. 782 represents an exceptionally large flower-stalk, obtained

under cultivation of a large tuber of the very same plant depicted

by Wight in his plate No. 785 of the same work. Jf hereby I am

able to satisfy Sir Joseph Hooker, I shall have done some service

to Dr. Wight, however humble, in having tried to remove a

doubt as regards the accuracy of his observations—a doubt which, ~

I admit, must necessarily arise in the minds of careful investi-

gators of the stamp of Sir Joseph Hooker wholly and solely from the

unfortunate transposition of Dr, Wight’s description of his plates.

* T address the remarks to Sir Joseph Hooker, although I know from his note at

p- 490, part XIX of his Flora of British India that the Descriptions of the Indian

Species of the Aroid Family are drawn up for his work by Mr. N. H. Brown.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 49

It is not clear what Dr. Wight means, in the letter-press alluded to

above, by saying that the flowers are “sessile with respect to the

surface of the ground,” for be it noted that there is a distinct scape

whether the tuber is underground or aboveground at the time the

spathe sprouts out. The spathe gives cover to the spadix on which,

from below upward, are the three distinct parts, viz. : I, the pistil-bear-

ing, and II, staminiferous portions, and above them, III, the lobulated

deep purple appendage. Blume supports me in this statement, for in

his Rumphia (voi. I, p. 141, 1835), he describes a distinct scape which

shoots forth from the tuber aboveground (the italics are mine—K.R.K.)

before the rains, when the tuber is entirely destitute of its large solitary

leaf or smaller solitary leaves from its superimposed bubils.

Paxton, in his Botanical Dictionary (revised by Hereman, 1868),

says that Amorphophallus campanulatus is anative of Ceylon. I may

add that it is a native of Western India as well, especially of the

Konkan.

With regard to the action of light on the flower-stalk of this plant, I

may be permitted to observe as follows :—When the spadix sprouts out

in a room where the direct rays of the sun do not reach, the purple

colour is very poorly developed, it is very faint. A marked difference

is noticed inthe depth of the colour directly such a pale growing

flower-stalk, with its tuber, is bodily removed from a dark room to one

where it can enjoy the direct rays of an Indian sun. The pale purple

is at once changed into a deep bright purple which might shame the

Tyrian purple of ancient note.

Some botanists say that the plant is perennial. It is a mistake to —

suppose that either the plant or the tuber is perennial. It appears to

be strictly an annual plant. The following is its life-history so far as

I have observed it during the last ten years, ifnot more. Given a tuber

of the previous year, which matures here between October and Novem-

ber ; in March or April, or even as late as the end of May, the flower-

stalk appears; this takes about 2 month to develop and throw out the

pollen ; ovulation, or fruit-forming, seldom, if ever, takes place in this

part of India ; the spathe, the spadix and the male and female flowers

then gradually wither away; the peduncle shrivels just before the

rains, and as it is bodily falling off from the tuber, the leaf-bud of the

future year’s plant sprouts out not very far from the base of the

50 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCTETY, Vol. 1X.

shrunken flower-stalk, All this may happen aboveground, should the

tubers be preserved in a store-room ; or if they be underground, the

flower-stalk makes its appearance aboveground and goes through the

same process of development. At the beginning of the rains the

tubers have to be put into the ground. The softer the ground the

better is the chance of obtaining a big uniformly well-developed tuber

at the end of the rains. With the rains the plant grows quickly,

waving its tripartite solitary leaf three or four feet above ground. The

chief nourishment of the leaf is the starchy matter of the old tuber;

as this is absorbed by the petiole and carried upward into the farthest

ramifications of the leaflet, the old tuber vanishes. The leaf when

mature begins about the middle of the rains to replace its old used-up

tuber by the gradual formation of a new one. This new tuber is ready

about the end of the rains, or the beginning of the cold weather. That

this new tuber is a totally different individual from the old one is

proved by the fact that where, by some error in the proper performance

of the function of the leaf, v7z., that of using up the old starch and

reforming a fresh quantity, the leafy expansion does not use up the

whole tuber of the previous year, the new tuber that is formed can be

seen as quite a separate individual superimposed on the old half-used-up

tuber in the same way as we find corms placed one upon the other—

the new above the old—in the natural order Iridacee. As soon as the

growth of the tuber is completed, or rather as soon as the power of

starch-formation in the leafy expansion is exhausted and the process

is at an end, the leaf and petiole begin to turn yellow shortly after the

rains, shrivel and dry up, and ultimately get bodily detached from the

new tuber, leaving a scar in the form of a depression or prominence,

from the central part of which the flower-stalk of the future plant

springs forth, Such is the life-history of this interesting plant.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES.

The cultivated variety of Suran has for a long time been used by

the natives of this country for culinary purposes, although it is not

free from acridity even after boiling. The acrid principles are to a

very large extent got rid of by soaking in water the cut pieces of the

tuber intended for culinary use. Hven then the tuber does not cease

to be irritating to the mucous membrane of the mouth, throat, and

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 51

tongue. Some may ask why a tuber which is one of the recognized

vegetables of the Indian kitchen and one of the most palatable of them

when properly salted, spiced, and cooked (boiled or fried in ghee or

butter), should be classed under the poisonous plants of Bombay. My

reply is, the wild and the cultivated tubers are so difficult to distinguish,

and the wild variety is so vilely irritating to the digestive tract, and

even the cultivated variety is so frequently productive of irritation in

the mouth, throat, and tongue, that it is safer to look upon the plant

with suspicion even in its highly cultivated forms. For, although

cultivation does to a very large extent reduce the acrid principles to

a minimum, they can never be said to be altogether absent from the

tubers, and cases have been met with where a sensitive throat has

considerably suffered from irritation for some time after partaking of a

dish of the cut pieces of even a cultivated tuber of Suran. Some

throats may not suffer at all; others may suffer more or less. It is

safe to be forewarned.

The poisonous properties of Suran were not unknown to the old

Sanskrit writers of repute. Both the varieties mentioned in Madan-

pal’s Nighant are said to be productive of itching (Sanskrit—Kandu).

The same property is attributed to the two varieties mentioned in the

Raj Nighant of Narhar Pandit. No reference, however, is made to

any irritant or poisonous property in the single variety mentioned in

the Dhanvantari Nighant, probably because, as I have already observed,

the writer was describing a cultivated variety in which the itching or

irritant property is invariably less marked. The single variety men-

tioned in Bhav Prakash, however, is distinctly noted as being possessed

of irritant property. So far, as regards what is known from ancient

indigenous writers regarding the obnoxious nature of the plant.

Let us now see what the researches of Huropean and Native experts

have done in Hurope and India to settle the question of the poisonous

properties of the Aroid family in general, and the Suran species in

particular, I must refer the reader at this stage to the elaborate and

valuable investigations of Dr. Warden and Mr. Pedler of Calcutta, as

embodied in their article already referred to, as a contribution to the

Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. They say that from the

brief resumé given by them of the Arums found in India, a belief in

the toxic properties of certain species would appear to be pretty

52 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

generally entertained. Dr. Murrell’s remarks as published by him in

the British Medical Journal (May 7th, 1881), and referred to by

Warden and Pedler regarding Arwm maculatum (Cuckoo-pint) were not

the first to point out the poisonous nature of some species of the Arum

family. Sowerby and Johnson describe the plant, in their work entitled

the British Poisonous Plants published so far back as 1861, as possessed

of a powerful acrid principle. They note that in two or three cases

leaves eaten by children produced disastrous effects. The fact that the

root also of Arum maculatum possesses acrid properties when bitten

was not unknown. to them. Miss Annie Pratt had also referred to

them in her illustrated pamphlet on the British Poisonous Plants long

before the researches of Murrell or Warden and Pedler. Arum

maculatum appears to be the only British representative of the Aroid

family. In India we have several species developing tubers possessed

of similar, more or less acrid properties. Nine of these have been

stated by Warden and Pedler to be distinctly poisonous.

Sowerby and Johnson observe that “ the poisonous qualities of Arum

maculatum are wholly dissipated by heat and the plant then becomes

highly nutritious.” They further add that the roots of various foreign

species are employed as food after being macerated in water, baked

and reduced to powder. I cannot say that in every case the acridity of

even the cultivated varieties of Suran entirely disappears on boiling.

T know of no instance where in this country Suran is ever reduced

to powder or baked before use. It is invariably used after boiling in

ghee or butter, or mixed with molasses.

Guy and Ferrier, in their Forensic Medicine, make an important

observation which is worth noting here. They say that the juice of

Arum maculatum, when applied to the tongue, causes darting pain as if

it were pierced with sharp needles. The same sensation is noticed by

some after eating Suran even when well boiled. The sharp needle-like

ends of the crystals (technically called raphides) found in the cellular

tissue of Suran, and more fully described hereafter, whatever their

chemical nature, would seem to account for their irritant property.

Professor Christison observes in his work on Poisons (p. 602) that he

knows from personal observation that when the roots are distilled with

water neither the distilled water nor the residue possesses acridity.

The fact that the distilled water possesses no acridity would point to the

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 53

erystalline raphides being insoluble in water ; the residue possessing

no acridity would point to the fact that the acicular raphides under the

action of heat so change their form as not to be very sharply pointed

and capable of entering the mucous surface of the mouth, tongue, and

throat, and in consequence become inert. This remark of Professor

Christison’s is very important, inasmuch as we find that, if pieces of

the tuber of Suran are eaten after boiling them well, they may at

times be rendered free from severe poisonous effects, even although

there may be a slight irritation of the throat, mouth, or tongue. Some

persons may not feel this at all. Professor Christison quotes an

observation made by Reinsch, which, although it refers to Arum macu=

latum, may well be applied to Suran, viz., that, though the powder

of the root may not be acrid to taste, it yet produces severe burning

of the throat not long after swallowing it. Woodman and Tidy say

that, in addition to the symptoms just mentioned, Arum maculatum is

known to produce dilated pupils, insensibility, and coma. They refer

to a case recorded by Dr. Stube (Zancet, 13th April, 1872), in which

a man took aleaf to get rid of tapeworms. He suffered “from

immediate pain and pricking sensation in the mouth downwards ;

the tongue became swollen, and there was salivation and vomiting.”

Profuse salivation has been noted by Dr. Dymock as occurring in

a congener—Synantherias Sylvatica, Schott (vide Pharm. Ind.,

vol. III, p. 547). The case mentioned by Dr. Frayer (Br. Med. Journ.,

22nd January, 1861,) is even more characteristic, as there was a

spasmodic action of all the muscles of the body, bloody froth at the

mouth, dilatation of the pupils, very feeble action of the heart, and rigid

closure of the jaw. These severe symptoms have never been known

in the case of Suran, although it is quite possible they might develop,

the nature of the irritant being identical. In another case, recorded by

Dr. Frayer, of poisoning by Arum maculatum, there was burning pain

in the mouth and lips, torpor in three hours, followed by complete

prostration in six hours, with delirium, asphyxia and death in nine

hours (Warden and Pedler). Inacase recorded by Dr. Alliott (Br.

Med, Journ., 23rd April, 1881), there was vomiting and severe purging.

This is not known to have occurred in any case of Suran-poisoning.

Beck, in his Medical Jurisprudence (p. 949, ed. 1836), refers to a

member of the Aroid family mentioned by Hooker in his Exotic Flora,

54 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

the poisonous properties of which are very similar to those of Amor-

phophallus campanulatus. It is the Caladium sanguineum, Vent,

of the West Indies, where it is called Dumb-cane from the fact that

its virulent juice, when applied to the tongue, causes a swelling which

deprives the sufferer of the power of speech. Woodman and Tidy

think that this species contains a large amount of prussic acid, as two

drams of the juice have proved fatal in a few hours. Beck mentions

another similar Aroid, the Caladiwm arborescens, alsoa native of the

West Indies, which, on the authority of Merat, he says, is so caustic that

occasionally the lips of Negroes are wetted with it as a punishment

for slight misdemeanors. The poisonous action of both these Caladiums

is narcotico-acrid. The action of several other plants of the Aroid

family mentioned by Beck, such as Arum maculatum, L., Arum dra-

cunculus, L., Arum dracontium, L., and Arum triphyllum, L., is that of

an irritant poison. They are all acrid, and said to be dangerous. Beck

quotes from Orfila’s Toxicology (vol. II, p. 83) a case related by

Bulliard, which is as follows :—‘“ Three children ate of the leaves of

Arum maculatum. They were seized with horrible convulsions, and

with two of them all assistance was unavailing, as they could not be

made to swallow anything. They died—one at the expiration of twelve

days, and another at the expiration of sixteen. The third was saved

with difficulty. Its tongue was greatly swelled, and hence deglutition

was painful and difficult.”

Arum fornicatun (Syn. for Alocasia fornicata), the Bish Kachoo of

Bengal, isan equally poisonous member of the Aroid family. Warden ~

and Pedler refer to a case noted by the Chemical Examiner of Bengal

in which the tubers of this species produced symptoms of irritant

poisoning. In the experiments they made with some tubers locally

known as Bish Kachoo, which were sent to them by the Civil Surgeon

of Dibrugarh, and which Dr. King thought were most probably those

of a species of Alocasia or Colocasia, they arrived at conclusions of

which the following isasummary. ‘They think that the active princi-

ple is non-volatile, as there was a complete absence of any irritative

action on the olfactory organs or conjunctivoree, though there was con-

siderable irritation of the hands while handling the tubers during their

experiments. A minute fragment of the tuber applied to the tongue

caused in a very short time acute lancinating pain, which continued for

a considerable period. In their experiments with a viscid alcoholic .

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 55

extract obtained from exhausting the powder of air-dried tubers with

hot 60 O.P. alcohol, and driving off the alcohol by the heat of a

water-bath, they found that the extract was without the least action

on the tongue. An extract obtained with cold alcohol in which the

alcohol had been driven off by spontaneous evaporation similarly pro-

duced no action on the tongue. A glycerin and an ethereal extract

likewise yielded negative results. The effect of distilling fresh tubers

with water was that the distillate had no acrid taste; it contained

traces of prussic acid. The tubers left in the retort after distillation

were, however, still physiologically active, indicating that the active

principle was not dissipated by mere boiling with water. Warden and

Pedler here observe that natives using arum for culinary purposes fre-

quently add an acid vegetable or fruit, such as tamarind, to get rid of

the acrid principle. This fact is well known in Western India ; large

quantities of tamarind are used in cooking the leaves of Colocasia

Antiquorum (the common Alz of Bombay) to keep down its acrid taste.

In writing in a previous number of this Journal (vol. VII, p. 315), on

the irritant action of Pythonium Waltichianum (Shewla), another mem-

ber of the Aroid family, I have already referred to the use of the fruit

of Bilimbi (Averrhoa bilimbi) as an effectual and necessary adjunct in

the culinary preparations of the flower-stalks of Shewla.

Warden and Pedler observe, as already noted above, that they have

no reason to doubt that the Arums as a class contain a toxic principle.

They say that “while drying the tubers without artificial heat. depriy-

ed them practically of all activity; exposing them to the temperature of

boiling water for at least half an hour, at the most only very slightly

diminished their activity.” They note that in the American variety

of Arum maculatum D.8. Jones has proved the presence of a volatile

acrid principle besides starch, sugar, -gum, albumen, resin, fat and

extractives. They also say that Bird believes in the existence of

a volatile alkaloid in it. I find that Taylor also says that

the irritant properties of Arwm maculatum depend on a volatile

principle, as they are lost on desiccation or distillation with

water (Poisons, p. 510, ed. 1848). Enz, in 1858, is said to have

obtained Saponin from it. Now, it is well known from the researches

of Schmiedeberg that the Saponins are amorphous or crystalline

glucosides. They are found widely distributed in the vegetable king-

dom, and are all, with but few exceptions, very soluble in water and

56 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

render it frothy. Their action is related to that of Hmetine. Injected

into the blood, they cause paralysis of the central nervous system.

& Small doses cause symptoms in man closely resembling the nauseant

stage of emesis—that is,a raw feeling in the throat, tendency to

cough, and increased secretion of mucus” (Hlements of Pharmacology,

p. 68). According to Lauder Brunton Saponin produces anzesthesia,

and even both sensory and motor paralysis, if applied locally (Phar-

macology Therap. and Mat, Med., p. 836, ed. 1885). It may, therefore,

be presumed that it is questionable if Saponin is at all to be found

in the species of the Aroid family we have been referring to. Paralysis

has very seldom, if ever, been noted in cases of arum-poisoning ;

whereas, instead of there being anesthesia, there is positive itching

and hyperzesthesia.

But to return once more to the researches of Warden and Pedler.

Their analysis of the ash of the tubers of Bish Kachoo indicated the

presence of a large amount of potassium and magnesium; calcium

was also present, but not sodium. The acids found were carbonic,

phosphoric, and hydrochloric with traces of sulphuric. They also

obtained marked quantities of potassic nitrate from the dried tubers. _

They add that the examination of the ash failed to afford them any

clue to the physiological action of the fresh tubers. Their micro-

scopical examination of a section of the tuber revealed mumerous

bundles of needle-shaped crystals. Similar crystals were also found

in the leaves and stems. These crystals were insoluble in cold acetio

acid, but easily soluble in cold dilute nitric or hydrochloric acid ;

caustic potash was without action. Crystalline bundles were visible

in sections of boiled tubers, examined cold. Warden and Pedler come

to the conclusion that. these are crystals of oxalate of lime, and that

the physiological symptoms caused by Arums are due purely to the

mechanical irritation which they cause. “ Bearing in mind the action

of the re-agents on calcic oxalate,” they say, ‘‘the reason why mere

boiling the tubers in water failed to deprive them of their activity is

explained by the insolubility of oxalate of lime in water.” Again,

the action of dilute acetic acid even at a temperature of 100° C. in

slightly lessening the activity of the tubers is due to the very slight

solubility of oxalate of lime in that acid. And, lastly, the complete

loss of all physiological action when the tubers were treated with

dilute nitric or hydrochloric acid is evidently due to the ready solu-

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 57

bility of calcic oxalate in these mineral acids. This was verified in

every instance under the microscope. Warden and Pedler found that,

on drying, the tubers practically lost the whole of their physiological

activity. “Clearly,” they say, “there could have been no loss of

oxalate of lime on desiccation ;” and asa matter of fact they found

as many crystals under the microscope in the dried arum as in the

fresh tubers. They admit however that this is an anomaly and explain

it as follows :—“ In the fresh condition of the tubers, the bundles of

crystals of oxalate of lime are cone-shaped more or less, the sharp

points covering a wide area and forming the base, but in the

drying of the tubers the needles appear to arrange themselves more

or less parallel to one another, and the sharp points thus cover a small

area, And thus, instead of each crystal acting as a separate source

of irritation and penetrating the tissues, the bundles act as a whole.”

In the Pharmacographia Indica (vol. III, p. 547) needle-shaped .

erystals are mentioned by Dr. Dymock as forming the contents of

the cells composing the parenchyma of the fruit and seed of Synan-

therias sylvatica, Schott.

The mechanical theory of irritation by the pointed ends of the

crystals, say Warden and Pedler, has been independently adopted by

Herr Stahl of Jena. They admit, however, that, in addition to local

irritation, viz., of the tongue, throat, and mouth, there are other and

graver symptoms produced by the ingestion of arum-tubers and leaves,

such as convulsions, dilated pupils, insensibility and coma, and that

the occurrence of these symptoms cannot be explained by the mecha-

nical theory. They look upon these symptoms as the result of the

action of the calcic oxalate crystals on the stomach. They say that the

stomach at first suffers from mechanical irritation by the crystals ; the

secretion of the gastric juice thereby diminishes or ceases entirely ;

free hydrochloric acid of the gastric juice is, in consequence, not

available for dissolving the calcic oxalate crystals ; the crystals thus

may pass on to the intestinal canal ; once in the intestines, they may

induce convulsions, dilated pupils, and coma by mechanical irritation

in the same manner as intestinal worms.

Believing that the irritation caused by the tubers of Suran is due

to the mechanical action of the needle-shaped crystals found in their

cells in close-packed bundles, I have thus freely and fully reproduced,

although in the form of a summary, the exhaustive researches of

Warden and Pedler. The importance of their results will be amply

58 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

apparent from what I now proceed to record for the first time, as the

result of a careful examination of the tubers of the wild and cultivated

varieties of Amorphophallus campanulatus by another careful in-

vestigator hailing from this side of India. If the naming of the

needle-shaped crystals is different in the following note, it will, I hope,

be considered, not that I reject the results of Warden and Pedler and

accept those embodied in the observations which follow, but that I

wish it to be clearly understood that, although the remarks of Warden

and Pedler may apply to the Arums generally, the crystals found in

Suran may not be calcic oxalates, but calcic sulphates and carbonates.

At my request, Dr. Nasarvanji Fakirji Surveyor, M.D., B.SC., M.A.,

M.RB.C.P., a distinguished Graduate of the Bombay University, whose

special training under renowned scientific workers in London, and

whose marked ability and aptitude for microscopical and clinical

investigation add a value of no ordinary kind to his remarks, has

recently examined pieces of the wild and cultivated varieties of

Amorphophallus campanulatus. The results of his observations are

embodied in the following note which he has kindly communicated to

me :—“ The chief points of interest about their microscopical and

chemical differences are as follows :—

“The wild variety shows two forms of crystals, while the cultivated

variety shows only one form. I shall first describe those crystals

which are found in both the varieties and then those found in the wild

variety only. Those found in the former I shall call the whzte crystals ;

while those found in the latter or wild variety only will be

described as brown crystals. The white crystals are about 120, * in

length and 3, in thickness. They are acicular and glistening and

have a double contour. They are sharp-pointed at either extremity and

always straight. They appear to be rigid ; more numerous in the older

parts, while they are almost absent from the youngest part (e.g., leaf-bud).

They are insoluble in cold water ; slightly soluble in boiling water.

Acetic acid dissolves them with evolution of gas (CO, probably).

‘On incinerating a thin film of the juice on a slide, these crystals

were found to be fractured in numerous places, while many appeared

to be either transversely striated or granular. This was due perhaps

to the fact that the water of crystallization was driven out by the

heat. These crystals were found to be scattered about, not collected in

definite bundles. They were probably carbonate of calcium.

* iw as a Millimetre.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY, 59

“The brown variety was only found, as bas been already remarked,

in the wild Amorphophallus, These crystals were very fine ; about one-

third the size of the first. They were also acicular, but did not show

a double contour. They were found in the cells arranged in sheaves,

and were distinctly brown when viewed in a mass. On adding a

drop of water to the juice of the tuber, these cells swelled up and

discharged the crystals. When examined singly, the crystals appear-

ed to be very thin and somewhat curved. The brown tinge was

still noticeable. The length of each crystal is 50,, and thickness

under 44. The crystals are sparingly soluble in warm water,

freely in boiling water, so that a piece of the wild variety, on being

reduced to pulp and boiled with distilled water, was almost deprived

of the crystals, while the white crystals were still seen. By filtering

the hot water, brown erystals were obtained from the filtrate by

evaporation. Is ita fact that the wild variety can be eaten, if well

boiled, especially with salt ?

“ On incinerating the piece just as described above, I found that these

crystals were not altered in the slightest manner, thus proving that

they too were inorganic in nature and that they were not oxalates.

“ Acetic acid dissolved them without evolution of gas. These were

probably sulphate of calcium crystals ; however, 1 am not certain

of that. I examined pieces of both the varieties for other salts

after charring and incinerating them. This method showed insoluble

and soluble carbonates, soluble sulphates and traces of chlorides.

““ Of course, sulphate of calcium, being a poisonous salt, must have

something to do with the properties of the wild variety ; however, it is

perhaps not the only cause ; a glucoside or-an alkaloid may be present

too. As I have neither the means nor the time at my disposal, I am

not able to settle that point.

‘The important facts, however, are that the brown crystals are

only present, as far as I know, in the wild variety, and that they are

soluble in boiling water and weak acids without evolving any gas like

the white crystals. These are very delicate, and appear in places to be

slightly bent ; while the white crystals are rigid, straight, and thicker.”

Tam very thankful to Dr. Nasarvanji for these remarks. They

will serve as an important guide, incomplete though they are,

in understanding the poisonous nature of the plant. With regard

to his query whether “the wild variety can be eaten, if well

60 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, 1X,

boiled, especially with salt,” I may say that the wild variety can be

rendered partially (for I cannot say entirely) innocuous when well boiled

with or without salt, but more so when boiled with acid fruits and

vegetables. Generally the wild variety is not made use of for culinary,

but only for medicinal purposes under the name of Madan-Mast

as already observed. The wild variety is used as food in exceptionally

hard times such asa famine. In the Dekkan famine of 1877-78 the

leaf and tuber of the wild variety were used as food in the Khandeish

District, probably not without boiling nor without the addition of salt.

I say probably, because the wild tuber is very acrid, and under no

circumstances can it be solely used without intense irritation of the

mouth, throat, and tongue. In the cultivated plant too, there is some-

times a good deal of acridity, which, though not noticeable at the time

of eating, is distinctly recognized shortly after eating. It even irritates

the skin of the finger-tips as it is bemg cut by delicate female hands

for culinary purposes in Hindu homes. Of this there is no doubt.

Much of this acridity of the cultivated variety is got rid of by boiling.

The slight persistent acridity would seem to be due to the presence of

the stiffer and bolder white crystals which Dr. Nasarvanji pointedly

observes are present even when the pulp of the wild variety is boiled

with distilled water and the brown crystals are completely dissolved.

It is to be hoped that Dr. Nasarvanji may some day be able to

complete his investigation of the tubers of Suran, or that some

qualified chemical analyst may take the matter up and ascertain

the exact nature of the needle-shaped crystals. That they act

mechanically there is not the least doubt ; guided by the researches

of Warden and Pedler, this can be the only conclusion one can arrive

at. In my own practice | have seen cases of distinct irritation of

the throat, mouth, and tongue after the use of boiled Suran. In the

practice of Dr. Sakharam Arjun and Dr. Vinayak Govind Gidh,

swelling of the tongue and salivation were noticed in addition.

Notanda et Corrigenda in Plate K.

Gi) For Amorhophallus campanulatus read Amorphophallus campanulatus

(Blume).

re A, Flower

(ii) For sand Babs

(iii) Note that B is a vertical section of the spadix and spathe. The

spathe is fully seen at the right of the reader, and only partially at the left,

it being cut horizontally a little below where the pistilliferous portion of the

Spadix terminates,

(iv) The two bodies at the lower corner to the right of the reader are the

female parts of the flower stalk twice magnified.

read Inflorescence and tuber,

WOUNDED TIGERS, &—HOW SHOULD THEY

BE KILLED?

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 10th July, 1894.)

The occurrence of so many accidents out shikarring this hot season

has induced me to write a paper on the above subject, in the hope that

it may be of use to those who have little experience of big game

shooting in India, and who may find themselves under the necessity

of following up a wounded beast on foot. My experience of shooting

in India extends over 17 years. I know that there are many of our

members whose experience is greater than mine and whose opinions

on this subject are entitled to greater weight. To these I would say,

please continue the discussion and give us the benefit of your

experience,

My remarks are intended only to apply to wounded tigers, panthers,

and bears. On this side of India, it is almost impossible to get the use

of an elephant, and nearly all big game shikarries are compelled to.

follow up wounded animals on foot. So that, unless one is prepared to

shoot without an elephant, no big shooting is obtainable.

On two occasions—once in Rewah and once in the Hyderabad State—

I had the use of an elephant. I never would go out shikarring without

one if I could possibly help it. I know nothing grander than follow-

ing up a wounded tiger on a good staunch elephant. From a position

of perfect safety you are able to behold all the grandeur of the charge

of an infuriated tiger, and to have all the fun of the sport without the

danger of it, or, to quote the immortal Mr. Jorrocks, “all the spirit

of war with only five per cent. of its dangers.” ‘To those, therefore,

who can obtain an elephant, I say never follow up a wounded beast

without getting into the howdah.

The weapons of the tiger and the panther are not only their teeth.

The sharp retractile claws, which they fix into the man attacked, render

their victims almost powerless. The blow, too, which the tiger can

give with his fore-paws will almost brain a man. A wounded panther,

which I lately shot on the top of one of my men, made a large hole

with his claws in the man’s chest to the lungs. This man was bitten

and clawed all over as well and died in a few hours, but the wound in

the chest through to the lungs was the worst. This panther never

62 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

left the man from the time he was seized till I shot it, and when I

arrived on the scene (some 3 minutes or so after he was seized), the

panther was worrying and shaking the man like a dog does a rat.

The Indian bear, too (Melursus ursenus), can do terrible mischief with

his claws. I have understood that they always try and tear the flesh off

a man’s face and shoulders with their claws ; at any rate, in the only

instance I have seen a man attacked by a bear, the bear tore one of

the man’s cheeks off besides clawing and biting him in other places so

badly that the man died in a few hours. I have often had beaters

knocked down or clawed in the beat by unwounded tigers and

panthers when breaking back, but I have never seen a man seriously

injured by an unwounded beast.

The question is, when the beast is wounded what should be done ?

Some may say leave him alone, but if this is done the next innocent

native wood-cutter or herdsman who should be so unfortunate as to

come near the beast will get killed. Ineed only mention asan example

the case of my friend, the late Mr. G. L. Gibson, of the Bombay

Forest Service. He wounded a tiger in Khandesh, but darkness

coming on he had to leave it. Next morning he went out after it, and,

close to the place where he left the tiger the previous night, he

came across the body of a native boy who had been tending cattle

and had just been killed by this wounded tiger. Whilst examining

the boy, or shortly afterwards—I forget which—the tiger rushed out,

seized Mr. Gibson, and from the wounds received he died. The plan

Ihave always adopted in following up a wounded beast is to get as

many beaters as I can and form them into a solid body, then place

myself with the other guns in the front rank, having my spare

rifle-bearer close behind me. The whole body then move slowly

forward. It is necessary to move slowly and carefully, and occasion-

ally to turn round to see that the men arenot straggling. Hvery now

and then I make the beaters throw stones forward into the thickest

jungle and I encourage them to make a noise. The wounded tiger

or panther more often than otherwise reveals his presence by

growling. Ihave known, however, a wounded tiger which allowed

me to get within eight yards of him in Karveé reeds without growling.

I discovered his position there by hearing his heavy breathing caused

by a lung wound and by the movement of the reeds. My theory

WOUNDED TIGERS, &c. 63

is, that a wounded beast will not charge home into a solid body of

men. He may commence his charge, and if any of the men were

to rush out in terror from the main body, it is probable the animal

might seize him, but I think if all stand firm he will not come on.

Native beaters seem to be great believers in this theory. I have

often known them, when a tiger breaks back or roars near them,

gather together in a mass and shout for the purpose of keeping the

beast off them. It may be said that one ought not to allow the

beaters to run any risk as they are unarmed, To this I would reply,

the beast must be killed, and if the sportsman goes in the front rank

I see no objection. It would not be right to force beaters against

their will to join in a following up, but in my experience I have

always found a large portion of the native beaters very plucky, and

often recklessly brave, requiring restraint and frequent words of

warning, Here I am tempted to say words in praise of native

shikarrees and jungle men. In this class I do not include the

Bombay professional native shikarry. How often have I seen them

unarmed do the bravest of deeds, which it would be brave even

for a man armed with the best modern weapons to undertake. —

In following up especially, when I have had few men with me I have

also adopted the plan of moving from tree to tree and then sending

up aman to the top of the tree to spy around. I once wounded

a tiger, which got in very high reeds; when we got within 40 yards

of him he commenced to growl, I moved near a tree and sent a man

up who reported he could see him. I climbed to the very topmost

bough and from that postion I could just see him and was able to

kill him. In hilly ground I always work from above, so as to have

the advantage of being on higher ground when the charge comes.

There can be no question I think that a wounded tiger, panther or

bear will charge home in the face of both barrels discharged point

blank into him. He will make good his charge against one or two

men, but not, as I said before, against a mass. Often, too, a wounded

beast will commence a charge, but draw back when he sees his

adversary facing him like a rock showing no fear, He will then

swerve off. The soul-stirrmg growl he makes whilst charging

is, no doubt, made for the purpose of causing fear, and in many

instances the bravest of men quail when suddenly hearing it. In

64 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

the late unhappy accident to Colonel Hutchinson, the Revd. H. Jenkins

Bowen informs me the tiger charged from a distance of 30 yards,

four guns in a line, but separated by an interval of two or three yards,

Seven barrels were discharged into this tiger whilst he was charging—

one by Colonel Hutchinson as the tiger was about to strike Mr, Bowen

with his claws, and another barrel by Mr. Bowen, at a distance of

three feet from the muzzle of his rifle, when the tiger was actually

seizing or had seized Colonel Hutchinson ; but in spite of this the

tiger not only shook and mauled his victim, but carried him off

some ten yards before he was killed. In this case the beaters were

not with the guns: Mr. Bowen informs me he sent back all the

beaters, thinking the occasion to be one in which no beaters were

required. This, however, must have been an exceptionally fiendish

tiger.

To those who shoot alone, of course, the danger of following up

is greater, as it is impossible fora man, who has heen seized by a

beast, to fire his rifle. I have done a great deal of my shooting

alone, but in following up, 1 have generally been able to get a sepoy,

. or some one who knows, at any rate, how to aim and fire a gun,

to accompany me. Sucha man may be very useful at a pinch

and his services should be always requisitioned. A shikarry, who

carried my second rifle and who just knew how to load and fire

from what I taught him, saved me from a mauling once; and on

another occasion one nearly blew my brains out ata very ticklish

moment ; but “this is another story,’ as Rudyard Kipling would say.

I think everybody should go tiger-shooting with a companion, but

of course this cannot always be, and my advice is to avail yourself

of the services of some one who can fire a gun for you, even if that

some one has but a little knowledge of the use of firearms. I

often think the danger of following up a wounded beast is a little

over-rated. Most sportsmen speak and write as though every wounded

beast charged at once and never shrank from turning in his presence.

My experience is that wounded tigers, panthers, and bears are often

arrant cowards and curs. It is only the exceptional ones that are

brave enough to make good their charge, and I do not think young

sportsmen should be discouraged from following up on foot when

every care and precaution possible is taken. Every now and then

WOUNDED TIGERS, é&e. 65

the sportsman must expect to come across a fiend, and then, of course,

he must be prepared to fight in real earnest.

Now a word as to bears. These are the most foolish of animals.

Wound a bear and he commences to fight with his companion if he has

one. His brain-power is very deficient. After he has been marked

down, walk up to his lair and wake him up. He takes five minutes before

he even knows he is awake. When wounded, he will generally show

fight, and I think he should be attacked in the same way as the tiger.

After firing at him, if he still continues his charge, I recommend the

sportsman to throw his sun-topee at him and then bolt. By an acci.

dent I found outa wounded bear would stop and claw up a topee

instead of pursuing his enemy. I once, in thick jungle on the ghauts,

fought a wounded bear nearly allday. On the first occasion I got

quite close to him and in a second he charged out at me, I fired

both barrels point blank into him and tured and fled. After going but

a short distance—the bear following me—a branch knocked off my pith

topee. To my surprise the bear stopped, seized my topee and smashed

it to smithereens and chewed one end of it in his rage. I loaded up

and went back. He charged in the same way and I fired right and

left into him, but he was too sick to come on and ran back.

I am aware this paper lays me open to the charge of egotism,

This I cannot help. The nature of the paper requires it, and I hope

my fellow members will pardon me and overlook it,

REGINALD GILBERT.

ADDITIONAL NOTE,

Since the above paper was read, a friend has drawn my attention to Rice’s

book on tiger-shooting in India, This book, which is now very difficult to get,

was published in 1857, and I see the author holds exactly the same opinions as

Ido, At page 57, after alluding to forming up the party, he says : “The whole

“ party in a compact body keep close together, move at a snail’s pace, yell with

“their utmost power, and create what really is a most infernal din, No tiger

“‘ will face such a mass of men and noise as this. They sometimes charge down

“ within even a few yards, but then invariably turn off, mostly getting well

“‘ peppered or are shot dead in the attempt. With this system there is perfect

“safety to every one, no matter how dense the jungle may be.” It may be

noted the author gives his party’s bag in Rajputana for one year at 68 tigers

killed and 30 wounded, 3 panthers killed and 4 wounded. Bears killed 25,

wounded 26. Oh, ye gods!

R, GILBERT.

66 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX,

THE FOOD OF THE ROSY PASTOR OR JOWARI BIRD

(PASTOR ROSEUS, LINN.)

By E. C. Cores,

Offg. Deputy Supt., Indian Museum, Calcutta,

[ Reprinted from Museum Notes, Vol. III, No. 1.|

A very interesting series of reports on the subject of the destruction caused

amongst locusts of the species Acridium peregrinum, Oliv., in the Punjab, by

the Rosy pastor (Pastor roseus, Linn.), which is known as the Sanch, Tilia, or

Jowari bird, have been furnished by the Secretary to the Government of

India in the Revenue and Agricultural Department. Reports also that have

been furnished through the Director of Land Records and Agriculture in

Bombay show that the same bird has long been noticed as very effectual in

destroying locusts in Sind. The species to which the bird belongs has been

determined by Mr. W. L. Sclater from specimens received from Bannu,

Kohat, and Gujranwala, forwarded to the Museum by the Director of Land

Records and Agriculture, Punjab, through whom also most of the reports

have been procured. In view of the great effect which the bird undoubtedly

has in keeping the locusts in check, it has been suggested in several quarters

that it might be a good thing to take measures to have it protected by legisla-

tion, It seems very doubtful, however, to what extent any such measures

would be useful in the end, in view of the great injury which the bird is said

to do to grain crops in India.

The following account of Pastor roseus, Linn. (the rose-coloured Starling or

Rosy pastor) is taken from Jerdon’s Birds of India, Volume II, page 333 :—

“Tt usually makes its appearance in the Deccan and Carnatic about November, associating

in vast flocks, and committing great devastations on the grain fields, more specially on those

of the cholum or jowaree (Andropogon sorghus), whence its familiar name in the south. Mr.

Elliot, in his manuscript notes quoted in my catalogue, says: ‘Is very voracious and injurious

to the crops of white jowaree,’ in the fields of which the farmer is obliged to station numerous

watchers, who, with slings and a long rope or thong, which they crack dexterously, making a

loud report, endeavour to drive the depredators away. The moment the sun appears above

the horizon they are on the wing, and at the same instant shouts, cries, and the cracking of

the long whips resound from every side, The Tilliaers, however, are so active that if they

are able to alight on the stalks for an instant, they can pick Out several grains. About 9 or 10

o’clock A.M. the exertions of the watchmen cease, and the Tilliaers do not renew their plun-

dering tillevening. After sunset they are seen in flocks of many thousands retiring to the

trees and jungles for the night, They prefer the half-ripe jowaree, whilst the farinaceous

matter is still soft and milky. When they can no longer get grain, they feed on various grass

and other seeds, flower-buds, fruit, and also on insects, seeking them on the ground, but they

are rarely seen with cattle in India. ‘The Telugu uname is derived from the name of a plant

whose fruit they are particularly fond of. Mr. Blyth remarks that ‘ they visit the neighbour-

hood of Calcutta only at the end of the cool season, when flocks of them are not unfrequently

observed upon the arboreal cotton tree then in bloom,’

“ Burgess states that he has seen them busily feeding on the flowers of the leafless caper,

a shrub very common in the Deccan,on the banks of the larger rivers. Dr. Adams says

that ‘it is very abundant in the Punjab, committing great havoc on the grain there.’ In the

north-west of India, and in Afghanistan, they devour large quantities of mulberries in spring,

THE FOOD OF THE ROSY PASTOR OR JOWARI-BIRD, 67

hence called the ‘ Mulberry-bird’ in the north-west, disappearing afterwards. They at times,

however, feed much on insects, and are called the ‘ locust-eater’ in Persia, according to

Chesney. They do not breed in this country, quitting the south of India in March, but

lingering in the north a month or so longer. It is ascertained that they breed in vast

numbers in Syria and other'parts of Western Asia, in rocky cliffs. Burgess states his belief

that they breed in India somewhere, and was informed by a native that they do breed in the

Ghats. This however is, doubtless, totally without foundation. Mr. Layard states that one

year he saw large flocks of these birds in July, that they remained only a week, and then

disappeared, They were entirely unknown to the Natives. Burgess also states that in 1850,

towards the end of August, he saw a large flock of the rogse-coloured starlings feeding on

insects in an open field. These instances of their appearing so early are very unusual, and

more especially their occurrence in Ceylon in July, by which time the young could only have

been just fairly fledged.”

Mr. M. F. O’Dwyer, Settlement Collector of Gujranwala, quotes an interest-

ing Hindoo legend, to the effect that in response to the prayers of the people,

the locusts have been imprisoned in a deep valley, surrounded by impenetra-

ble mountains in the west of the Himalayas, The exits from this valley

are guarded by Tillzars (rosy pastors), commissioned by heaven for the

purpose. Now and then, when the sentinels fail in their duty of watch and

ward, the locusts escape and are hotly pursued by the Tillars, who, unable

to drive them back to their prison in the hills, slay them wholesale.

The origin of this legend is supposed to be the fact that the locusts and

Tilliars generally arrive in Gujranwala from the direction of the hills at

about the same time in the spring. It has been noticed also that, when the

locusts enter a grain field, the 72dizars do not pursue them into it, but station

themselves all round its borders and kill the locusts as they issue forth.

The following are abstracts of the information that has been received upon

the subject of this bird :— Y

The locusts in parts of Sind in 1889-90 were reported to have been exterminated by jowari

birds, which did not attempt to eat the locusts, but snipped them in two and left them. In

Khandesh also, in 1883, the jowars bird or rosy pastor was mentioned by Mr. Ommanney as a

great enemy of the locusts.* (Annual Report, Director of Land Records and Agriculture,

Bombay, 1889-90.)

1 The locusts referred to by Mr. Ommanney probably belonged to the species Acridium

succinctum, Linn,, which invaded the whole of the Bombay, Deccan and Konkan in the

years 1882-83.

Specimens of the Rosy pastor (Pastor roseus) were forwarded (8th September, 1891) by

Dr. F, Chand, Civil Surgeon, Gujranwala, as very effectual in destroying locusts.

The Deputy Commissioner, Dera Ismail Khan, wrote (ist September, 1891) that Sanch is

believed to be the Yusafzai-Pashtu fora starling knownas Tilliav in Hindi and Sirokka in

Pashtu. He noted that the bird eats, or rather destroys, locusts in a most voracious manner,

On 7th October, 1891, specimens of the Sanch bird, said to have destroyed a large number of

locusts in the Bannu district, were forwarded to the Indian Museum by the Director of Land

Records and Agriculture, Punjab. They were identified by Mr, W. L. Sclater as belonging

to the species Pastor roseus, Linn. (Rosy pastor).

The Acting Deputy Commissioner of Thar and Parkar, Sind, reports (21st December, 1891)

that the jowari birds have very materially assisted in clearing the district of locusts.

The Deputy Commissioner, Lahore, notices that the Naib Muhafiz Daftar of Peshawar

informs him that Sanch is the Pathan name for the bird known in Lahore as Tilliar (Rosy

pastor),

68 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

In the Civil and Military Gazette of 24th July, 1891, it is reported that a bird known by the

Afghans as Sanch has appeared in vast numbers in the provinces of Jellalabad and Lataband,

and done much good in destroying locusts.

Major H. P. Leigh, Deputy Commissioner, Kohat, writes (27th August, 1891), that all the

natives he has questioned agree in describing the Sanch bird, said to have appeared in such

large numbers in Afghanistan, as a Tilliar (starling or rosy pastor). This bird appears in

Kohat in large numbers, mixed up with large flocks of Kabul sparrows, when the mulberries

are ripe, and migrates down country, re-appearing in the autumn on its way north, The

flocks chatter tremendously and dash from tree to tree, but have not been noticed on the

eround. The bird is known in Kohat as Kangira, and it preys on the locusts, though curi-

ously enough it has been almost a stranger in Kohat during the past year, perhaps because it

found such abundant food among the locust swarms in Afghanistan and adjacent countries.

It is said that the Kangira, if in small numbers, will not face a dense flight of locusts.

In a letter, dated 29th August, 1891, Major H. P. Leigh, Deputy Commissioner, Kohat,

recorded the alleged destruction of a flight of locusts by the rosy pastor. Specimens of the

bird were at the same time forwarded to the Indian Museum and identified by Mr, W. T.

Sclater. The Tehsildar, who was sent from Kohat to afrange for the destruction of some

locusts which has appeared in the neighbourhood, reported that the swarm had been destroy-

ed by the starling. He watched them for some time, and noticéd that, after killing a dozen

or so of insects, the bird would fly off to water, cleanse its bill, and begin again, appearing

rather to kill the locusts for amusement than for food, as it left them in the most mutilated

condition. ,

The Deputy Commissioner, Dera Ghazi Khan, wrote (26th August, 1891) that the common

Tilliar or starling (rosy pastor) eats locusts greedily. On one occasion in July, when flights

of locusts invaded the station of Dera Ghazi Khan, the Tilliars were said to have flown out

in a swarm to meet them and attacked them fiercely. The locusts tried to avoid them, but

did not succeed in doing so, and were beaten off. The damage done in the station was con-

sequently very slight. The Tilliars are most numerous in Dera Ghazi Khan, from about

the middle of July to the end of August.

THE CHEROOT BORER.

By E, C. CorEs,

Offg. Deputy Supt., Indian Museum, Calcutta.

[Reprinted from Museum Notes, Vol. III, No. 1.]

In the rainy season of 1891 attention was again called to the “cheroot

weevil,” Lasioderma testacewm, Redtenb (Dermestide). [This insect drills the

small round holes which are so often met with in Indian cheroots, and is said

to interfere very seriously with the exportation of Indian cheroots. So far as

is known, the beetle lays its eggs on the leaf, and the little curved white hairy

grubs, which emerge from these eggs, tunnel their way through the tobacco,

and finally transform into white motionless pupz from which the beetles

emerge ready to cut their way out of the cheroot, and thus form ‘the round

holes which are so characteristic a sign of the presence of the insect. The

length of time spent by the insect in the various stages has not yet been traced,

and there is stilla good deal of doubt as to the stage in the manufacture at

A BOTANICAL TOUR IN KASHMIR. 69

which the eggs are usually laid. In some old broken-up cheroots, kindly

furnished by Mr, G. W. L. Caine, in August, 1891, were found both some very

young larve and also two minute eggs which were thought to belong to this

species, The eggs were transparent-white in colour, showing the yolk cells by

transmitted light. They were oval in shape, with a number of minute protu-

berances at one pole, and they measured, one of them, about a fifth, and the

other about a third, of a millimetre in length. They were found loose amongst

the broken pieces of tobacco leaf. The eggs were evidently alive when found,

and their presence in the old cheroots goes to show that eggs are at least some-

times laid after the cheroots have been matured. This indicates that care in

packing and storing the cheroots is likely to tend to reduce injury by the insect,

though it would not, of course, prevent damage in cases where eggs had been

laid on the leaf before it was made into cheroots, It was suggested that

subjecting the cheroots to a temperature of 80 or 90 degrees centigrade for a

few hours before packing might serve to destroy any eggs or grubs they

contained. This treatment, however, was found to injure the flavour of the

cheroot, so could not be recommended. Upon the whole, the most likely

means of reducing damage by the weevil seem to be—firstly, to keep the leaf,

during the process of its manufacture, as much as possible out of the way

of old cheroots and refuse tobacco of all kinds where the insect is likely to

breed ; and, secondly, to pack the cheroots in as air-tight a manner as possible

so as to prevent the mother beetles getting into the boxes to lay their eggs.

The insect is known to attack stored rice, opium, and other vegetable sub-

stances, as wellas tobacco, so the cleaning up of the manufactory should be

as thorough as possible,

(ee a

A BOTANICAL TOUR IN KASHMIR, 1892.

By J. F. DUTHIE, B.A, F.LS,

[From the Records of the Botanical Survey of India. |

I left Saharanpur for Kashmir on the 15th April, travelling by the ordinary

rail and tonga route va Rawal Pindi and Murree. I had to halt a few days

at each of these places in order to give time for the heavy baggage to reach

Baramula, at which place I arrived on the ist May. Leaving by boat on the

same day I arrived at Srinagar on the 3rd. A few days were spent collecting

plants in the neighbourhood and arranging for botanical tours in other paris

of the valley.

I left Srinagar on the 9th for Pirniin the Jhelum Valley, about six miles

below Baramula. Here I was delayed some days owing to the illness and

death by cholera of one of my botanical collectors. On the 15th I ascended the

Kajnag range from Pirni to an elevation of about 9,000 feet, and remained

there one day to collect specimens, On the following day the camp was moved

to the summit of the ridge, which is nearly 12,000 feet. The weather was fine,

70 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

and remarkably clear views were obtained of the snowy ranges towards the

north, including Nanga Parbat.

On the 18th I left the ridge, and descending by a steep path on the southern

side, pitched my camp in the Limbar xullah. On the following day some

interesting specimens were collected up to 12,000 feet im a branch of the

Limbar nullah, called the Taltal nullah.

On the 20th I went down the Limbar nullah to the Jhelum Valley and

crossed the river at the ferry close to the village of Nowshera.

From here I took the short cut to Gulmarg, 22 miles distant. The path is

very steep, and not a desirable one in wet weather. I halted at Sumbliali that

night, and spent the next day collecting plants in the Sumbliali nullah up

to about 11,000 feet.

The most interesting discovery on this day was a minute kind of Mistletoe

parasitical on the branches of Pinus excelsa. I originally found this plant in 1884

just within the border of Western Nepal, growing on the same kind of

tree and at about the same elevation (10,000—11,000 feet). Itis published in

the “Flora of British India” under the name of Arcenthobium minutissimum. Tt

was afterwards gathered by Mr. Lace in Kundwar, and I have since seen it, at

Gulmarg, in the Sind Valley, and in the Gudhai Valley of the Astor District.

Tt is abundant also near Gurais in the Kishenganga Valley.

Tarrived at Gulmarg on the 23rd, and spent several days there exploring the

vegetation of the neighbourhood, which offers great variety owing to the

abundant rainfall, the dense forests encircling the marg, and the elevation of

the surrounding mountains.

Baltistdn and Gilgit Tour.—A brief sketch is here given in order to indicate

more clearly the route which was followed.

Starting from Gulmarg on the 20th of June the route taken was as follows :—

From Baramula by the Jhelum and Sind rivers to Gandarbal, up the Sind

Valley via Sonamarg, to Baltal, and over the Zoji La to Dras. From Dras we

proceeded in a north-westerly direction up the Marpu zwllah, and over the

Marpu La to Golteri in the Shingo Valley. Descending the Shingo Valley as

far as the village of Fransart, we crossed over a high ridge, the water-shed of

the Shingo and Shigar rivers, to the village of Shigar. After crossing the

Shigar River by a jhula bridge we turned im a northerly direction up the

Karpuchu Valley and went over the Bari La to a camping-ground overlooking

the north-east corner of the Deosai plains, From here, keeping still towards

the north, we crossed over the Shdtung La, and forded a big stream flowing

towards the Deosai plains. About 500 feet above this was another pass

which we had to cross in order to reach the head of the Khorbala nullah.

From here, descending by a very steep and rocky path, we entered the Satpur

Valley, and passing Satpur Village and Lake arrived at Skardu in the Indus

Valley on the 14th July.

From Skardu we went oné march up the Indus Valley to a place called

Katzura, and from there up the Shigarthang Valley and over the Alampi La

A BOTANICAL TOUR IN KASHMIR. ye:

to Gudhai on the road from Bandipur to Gilgit. The rest of the journey to

Gilgit was made along the new road wa Astor and Bunji.

From Gilgit I made a short expedition to the Naltar Valley via Nomal in

the Hunza Valley.

Returning from Gilgit on:the 10th of August we took the same route as far as

Gurikot below Astor. Here leaving the main Gilgit road, we kept up the

Astor Valley crossing the stream from the Rupal nullah, and thence into the

Kamri Valley, and over the pass of that name, to Gurais in the Kishenganga

Valley. After a few days’ halt we proceeded, vid the Tréghal, to Bandipur

on the Woolar Lake, and thence by boat to Srinagar,

I shall now give a rather more detailed account of this journey.

After traversing the Woolar Lake, the usual course for boats proceeding to

Srinagar is by the Noru Canal, which joins the main Jhelum River a little

below the village Shadipur, so called from the junction of the Sind River with

the Jhelum, A large portion of the Woolar Lake during the month of June

is a perfect garden of water-lilies and other aquatic flowering plants, including

the four-spined Singhara (Trapa Natans), which is very abundant here. The

water of the Sind is beautifully clear by comparison. This river winds for

miles through some fine pasture-land and water-meadows filled with tall hand-

some sedges, whilst the surface gf the water is covered with innumerable

flowers of white waier-lilies.

The river ceases to be navigable beyond Gandarbai, From Gandarbal the

Sind Valley extends some 58 miles up to the Zoji La,a pass leading into

Baltistan, The total rise is about 6,000 feet.

The lower part of the valley is extensively cultivated, rice being the princi-

palcrop. Fruit-trees are also largely grown near the villages, which have an

appearance of prosperity. Higher up the valley cultivation becomes more

limited, and the villages contain a poorer class of people.

The vegetation of the valley froma botanical point of view is rich and

varied. There is plenty of water brought down by numerous snow-fed

streams ; and the hill-sides, especially such as face the north, are thickly clothed

with fine forests. As the elevation increases the submontane character of the

vegetation gradually gives way to more temperate forms until, after passing

the gorge below Sonamarg, a distinctly alpine element is observed, as at

Gulmarg, the elevation of which place is about the same,

The village of Sonamarg consists of a few miserable-looking huts uninhabited

during the winter months, It boasts, however, of a Post Office and Telegraph

Office. After crossing the river at Sonamarg the road passes over undulating

pasture-ground, and here and there through patches of forest composed chiefly

of Pinus excelsa, mixed with willow and Himalayan poplar.

The two principal feeders of the Sind River join near Baltal; the larger one

from the south rises in the neighbourhood of the famous Amarnath Cave,

whilst the other, a small narrow torrent, comes in from the direction of the pass.

72 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

Bdltal is a little over 9,000 feet, There is no village here; only one or two

- huts occupied by the dik runners between Kashmir and Leh. On the day

following my arrival at Baltal 1 explored for some miles the valley to the

south leading to Amarnath. For considerable distances the river is completely

covered over with snow. Further up we came to a place where, owing to the

absence of snow bridges, it was impossible to proceed further, Many interest-

ing plants were collected in this valley.

The Zoji La is rather a dangerous pass when covered with snow ; otherwise

there is no difficulty whatever. I crossed over on the 29th June, at which

time there was no snow on the road.

The views from the summit looking north and south are striking from their

contrast, On the northern side the mountains are bare and rocky, and there

is not a tree to be seen in the valley leading to Dras ; whereas on the Kashmir

side the Sind Valley is beautifully wooded. The different climatal conditions

prevailing on the Dras side are indicated by the presence of many ‘Tibetan

plants ; also by the whistling cry of the marmot, The top of the pass is

11,287 feet. Some interesting plants were found on the ridge to the west of

the pass up to 12,000 feet.

After descending the valley for a few miles I made another detour towards

the east, and collected a variety of specimens near a glacier at about 13,000 feet.

My camp was pitched at Minimarg, 4 miles further down the valley ; and

many new plants were collected on the way.

Before reaching Minimarg we passed a very promising-looking valley

towards the east, called Suk nullah, which I explored on the following day, the

camp in the meantime having been moved down the valley to Mataiyan. The

view looking up towards the pass is very fine. The sides of the valley here

are very precipitous, and apparently quite bare of vegetation,

Between Mataiyan and Pandrds the road crosses from the right to the left

bank, A tall aromatic fennel-like plant, called “ A’pat Kanphur” (Ferula

feeschkeana), is very abundant in this part of the valley. It is much valued

by Kashmiris as a fodder plant, and is cut for winter use. On the Pir Panjal

it is called “ Kangwa.” The valley suddenly opens out before reaching Dras,

an unimportant-looking place consisting of a few scattered hamlets, There is,

however, a small fort here, also a Tehsil and Post Office, The elevation is just

under 10,000 feet. The surrounding mountains are very bare and rocky,

Trees are scarce ; only a few willows and poplars are to be seen near the

villages. I halted for one day, and left on the 3rd of July with a new set of

ponies and coolies.

The road to Leh continues down the valley in an easterly direction. This

is also the ordinary route to Skardu, but a very hot one during the summer

months, The route which I took is a high-level one, and much more interest-

ing for botanical exploration,

After crossing the valley in a north-westerly direction through fields of

buck-wheat, masur (Lens esculenta), etc., the road begins to rise in zig-zags

= a

A BOTANICAL TOUR IN KASHMIR, 73

along a very rocky valley almost bare of vegetation for the first few miles,

At 12,000 feet the botany becomes more interesting. The white variety of the

marsh marigold fringes the sides of the stream ; a brilliantly yellow-flowered

Draba was conspicuous, growing in masses near the top of a pass; and mixed

with it was a rare Anemone (A. albana). The tents were pitched at a place

called Pattarkhan Brangsa, between 12,000 and 13,000 feet. There is an

enormous rock here which affords good shelter for coolies.

I went over the Marpu Pass on the following day. It is over 15,000 feet,

and forms a portion of the watershed between the Dras and the Shingo rivers,

both of which flow into the Indus. It is quite an easy pass, but the path is a

very stony one, and on this account a little more snow would have been an

advantage.

The next camping-ground is at Pattar Dokas, about 2,000 feet below the

pass. The stream of this nullah flows into the Shingo River, a few miles below

the village of Golteri, which was my next halting stage. This village is on the

right bank of the river, and is situated on a plateau of moraine debris, The

elevation is about 11,000 feet. I stayed here for one day as the botany was

interesting, and I had to make arrangements for another set of coolies. The

pencil cedar (Juniperus ewcelsa) is plentiful in this valley, but the trees are

stunted, The Shingo River rises near the Burzil Pass and flows into the

Shigar, one of the tributaries of the Indus.

I left Golteri on the 7th of July, and went down the valley on the left bank

to a place called Chamlong. The river is crossed by a small rope bridge just

below Golteri ; close by here and alongside the river is the village polo-ground.

The path keeps near the river all the way, and is very rocky in places. One

great feature of this valley is the abundance of a very floriferous sweet-

scented rose (2. Webiana). The flowers vary from deep pink to white. The

people here call it sermang. Many other interesting botanical specimens were

gathered. A wild-looking valley, called the Shwaran EAI has to be crossed

by a rope bridge before reaching Chamlong.

On the following day we continued down the river to the village of Fransart

by an extremely rocky and rather difficult track, and some parts of it must be

quite impassable when the river is at all high. There is an alternative and

longer route at a much higher level. The elevation of Fransart is about

10,000 feet. There is a large extent of cultivated ground in this part of the

valley, including many fields of barley. After changing coolies we had before

us a steep ascent up to 12,000 feet in order to cross over into the Shigar

Valley. The small village of Shigar is prettily situated at some distance above

the river. The valley just here is rather wide, and some side valleys open into

it on the opposite side where the mountain scenery is very grand, Their

lower slopes are clothed with forest, consisting chiefly of Pinus excelsa and

Juniperus excelsa, Mosquitoes are very troublesome here at about sunset, and

at higher elevations up to 14,000 feet they are even worse, It must, of course,

74 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

belong to a different species from that of the plains of India, The wild

flowers here are very beautiful and interesting. On the following day we had

to cross the Shigar over rather a difficult rope bridge, 112 yards long. The

loads were taken over by a few experienced men. The water is very deep

here, and so quiet that one wonders why they do not use ferry boats instead of

this twig bridge, which has to be constantly repaired. After seeing all the

baggage safely over, we took the path leading to the entrance of the Karpuchu

Valley, where there is a village called Matral, and a fort or tower built of

alternate layers of wood and stone. From here the road winds up the

valley, gradually ascending through a forest of pine and juniper to our next

camping-ground at about 12,000 feet. This place is called Karpuchu, and

consists, as far as I could see, of a single shepherd’s hut. On the following day

we made another march further up the valley to about 14,000 feet. Heavy

rain came on before the camp could be pitched, and an uncomfortable night |

was spent under wet canvas which was frozen hard before the morning. We

had not far to go the next morning (July 11th) before reaching the summit of

the Bari La, about 15,000 feet. There are several small tarns on the further

side. A good deal of snow was lying about, and vegetation was scanty,

consisting chiefly of Primulas, Sedums, and Saxifrages. A very curious plant

called Galgal is abundant here. It is a species of Saussurea (S. obvallata).

The pale yellow bracts are very large, and loosely envelope the composite

heads of flowers, which are strongly scented. The stillness at these high eleva-

tions is always very striking. After descending, however, for a short distance

on the other side, the air was filled with the shrill cries of the marmots. Our

next camping-ground was close to a big mass of rock at about 14,000 feet,

and looking down the valley towards the north-west one could see a small

portion of the Deosai Plains.

Coolies and all were glad to leave this bleak and inhospitable spot, but we

had a hard day before us, with two passes to get over, and a long steep descent

into the Satpur Valley.

The first pass we came to is called the Shatung La, about 13,500 feet. There

was a good deal of snow here in a melting state, which made walking rather

difficult. The descent is into a valley watered by a stream called the Tikat-

sichu. From here the path ascends to the pass leading into the Kharbula

nullah. 'There is a small lake at the summit of this pass, and a good view of

the Deosai Plains can be seen from here. The path descends steeply from

here into the Satpur nullah, at the head of which is the camping-ground called

Ronishikar or Jalna Brdnsa. It occupies a small piece of flat ground on the

spur of a mountain, and the elevation is about 12,500 feet. Looking down the

valley a view is obtained of some distant mountains on the further side of the

Indus.

The floor of my tent was carpeted with edelweiss, Anemone albana, and other

interesting specimens,

A BOTANICAL TOUR IN KASHMIR. 75

The path down this valley is very steep and very stony. My intention was

to have gone on to Skardu from here, but finding the botany so interesting,

I decided to halt halfway near the village of Satpur. Several bushes of a

handsome Spirceea (S. hypericifolia) were met with on the way down, This

species is not included in the “Flora of British India.” My friend Captain

Hunter Weston, R.H., brought me flowering specimens of this shrub discovered

by him in Baltistdn three years ago. The plant, however, is well known to

. the natives, who call it “ Saber.’ The wood is hard, and the bark is of a red-

dish-brown colour and smooth. Native shikaris from Kashmir nearly always

take back with them a bundle of sticks cut from this shrub, Many other rare

plants were also collected.

There is a good deal of cultivation in the neighbourhood of Satpur. The

fields which have been skilfully terraced contained fine crops, especially of

wheat and barley, nearly ready for the harvest. Other crops are peas, called

here kukan beans or bakla, the Balti name of which is bararak, and turnips

(gonglu) ; wheat is called kanak, and barley is nas. The general name for all

kinds of grasses is kash. Several kinds of fruit-trees are also grown here, such

as walnuts, mulberries, and apricots.

After leaving Satpur the road follows the bed of the river and then over

erassy and more or less marshy land until the lake is reached. The path then

ascends and is carried along the east side of the valley at some distance above

the lake. The lake occupies the whole width of the valley, which is about a

mile across, and its length is nearly two miles. It contains fish. We passed a

curious old wall which extends down the side of the mountain and ends ina

fort overlooking the lake. After passing the lake the path (a very bad one)

keeps more or less by the river until it suddenly emerges into the Indus Valley

immediately opposite Skérdu. I halted two days here, and my time was fully

occupied replying to the numerous letters which had been awaiting my arrival

for many days, and attending to the large collection of specimens recently

collected.

‘Captain Townsend, of the Central India Horse, was here in command of

some Kashmir Imperial Service Troops, and was the only Englishman in this

place when I arrived. I am much indebted to him for his kind assistance in

various ways, 4s well as for his hospitality. The Tehsildar, who is practically

the governor of Skardu, was also most obliging. A great deal might be written

regarding the history of this interesting place, also of the scenery, which is

very striking. All cultivation is carried on by means of irrigation, the

channels for which extend for miles from the sources of supply. The numer-

ous villages which are scattered throughout the valley are conspicuous by

their settings of vivid green patches in the midst of a sandy desert. A very

superior kind of apricot is to be obtained from some of the gardens. When

ripe it is extremely juicy, more like a plum in this respect, and the flavour is

delicious. It is called chzlu, but is very different from the ordinary hill apricot

76 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

met with in this country, the flesh of which is more or less of a firm consist-

ency. Walnut trees are plentiful, also some superior kinds of mulberry.

I left Skdrdu on the 17th of July for Katzura, asmall village about 16 miles

up the valley towards Rondu. It lies on the left bank of the Indus, close to

the large torrent which comes down roaring and foaming out of the Shigar-

thang Valley, This is a very trying march owing to the long stretches of sand

which throw off an immense amount of heat during the day. For the first

‘few miles out of Skardu the path is shaded by an avenue of poplars, but

suddenly this avenue abruptly terminates at the edge of a sandy desert. One

of the villages I passed through was inhabited by Kashmiris, I found a man

manuring his tobacco field with freshly-cut plants of a kind of thistle (Cnicus

arvensis), which he called kanish. The tobacco was of the coarse round-leaved

variety (Wicotiana rustica),

I rested for a short time at the village of Hoto, and was much refreshed by

some apricots which were presented to me. The wheat here was much rusted.

This village is liable to the encroachment of the Indus as well as to inunda-

tions of blown sand. After this the road begins to rise gradually towards

Katzura. A pretty lake is passed, and soon after that the Shigarthang Stream

is crossed by a bridge. A few hundred yards further on is the village sur-

rounded by fruit-trees (walnuts, apricots, and mulberries). On arrival I was

presented with a basket of excellent large round black mulberries. This

variety is called “ kachilosa” or “ shahtut.” Wheat, beans, and tobacco are

cultivated here in small patches. The elevation of this place is about 8,000 feet.

The next day’s march was to Shigarthang, about 16 miles up the Shigarthang

Valley. Soon after entering this valley the road takes a sudden turn to the

south, The ascent is easy at first. The village of Tzok with its fruit-trees

and grassy meadows is prettily situated in an open part of the valley. From

here the road turns round to the north and is carried by a bridge to the left

bank. The scenery now hecomes very wild. Bare precipitous rocks hem in

the valley on all sides and the road becomes steep and stony. Vegetation is

very scanty, but what there is is interesting. The Saber (Spiraea hyperioifolia)

was found again, A kind of ash (fraxinus wanthoxyloides) was plentiful at

about 9,000 feet in fruit, also Juniperus excelsa. After this the road takes a

sudden turn to the west, and ascends steeply between innumerable boulders of

an enormous size, severed from a mountain on the left, and extending down

to the river, where they help to form a series of beautiful waterfalls and cas-

cades, Above this is a small village, near which I came across some of the

tiniest full-grown cattle I have ever seen. They were covered with long black

hair, and looked more like bears.

At Shigarthang the main valley takes a sharp turn to the west towards the

the Alampi Lé and the Banok L4. Two other valleys open out into this bend

of the Shigarthang Valley, on the east the Dora Lumba from the direction of

the Burji La, and the Munda Lamba from the south. The village is on the

A BOTANICAL TOUR IN KASHMIR. 7

right bank of the main stream and is situated on a high plateau composed of

moraine debris. The elevation is over 10,000 feet,

The people of this place are a wild-looking lot, but cheerful and full of

humour. Their head-gear is of the Hunza pattern, viz.,a long bag with the

edges rolled in until it forms a cap. The men whose lot it was to carry the

loads on the next march appeared in the morning with their caps decorated

with the crimson flowers of Rosa Webbiana, shouting and chattering in a lan-

guage which none of my servants could understand. As these men had to

accompany me over the Alampi Ld and for some distance down towards Astor,

arrangements had to be made for their rations, and I was unable to make a

very early start. We made a short march therefore to a place, called Rimo

Chagma (or Ringmo Chami), close to the river and between 12,000 and 13,000

feet, and on the following day started with the intention of going over the

pass.

By the time, however, we had reached the foot of the first serious climb

towards the pass, it was too late in the day to attempt the long and difficult

journey across the snow. The weather was perfect, and without a cloud in

the sky. ‘Phe elevation was about 13,000 feet, In the evening I went up for

a few miles towards the head of the main valley and collected some plants.

Harly the next morning (July 21st) we made for the pass, beginning with a

steep more or less grassy ascent up to 14,500 feet. Beyond this is a wide

corrie surrounded by an amphitheatre of precipices, and with a lake at the

bottom and patches of snow all about. From here turning to the west we had

another stiff climb before us with a good deal of snow to cross at a disagree-

able angle, for the snow was frozen hard and steps had to be cut, Having

reached the top of this slope, we found ourselves in another hollow basin.

Here was a much larger lake all frozen over. There was nothing now to be

seen but rocks and ice and snow.

After skirting the shores of this lake, we reached the foot of the final climb,

a steep staircase of rock, and at last arrived at the summit of the pass, the

elevation of which is 15,200 feet. The descent on the western side is into a

valley which was covered with snow for 2 or 3 miles. The upper part of the

snow slope was very steep and hard, and steps had to be cut for a considerable

distance. We got off the snow at about 1,000 feet below the summit of the

pass, and rested for a short time by some big boulders. From here the finest

view of Nanga Parbat is obtained, and it was seen to perfection on this day.

Looking about amongst the boulders for botanical specimens, I came across

some human bones, and beside them a few pieces of cloth, also a portion of a

gun-stock. They were altogether in a sort of small cave formed by an over-

hanging boulder, which may have afforded the unlucky traveller temporary

shelter, but which eventually became his tomb.

We had to go down the valley to about 12,000 feet before we could find asuit-

able camping-ground. The botany was most interesting, and many new plants

78 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X,

were discovered. The whole way down to Gudhai on the Gilgit Road the

scenery in this valley is very fine. It is richly wooded in parts, the chief

trees being Pinus excelsa, Juniperus eacelsa, and willows. We passed a few

small villages, the most important of which is Bobin ; its elevation is a little

over 11,000 feet. Some fine nullahs open into this valley on either side. At

about 10,000 feet Karbe Village is passed. Near here I came across a number

of Commissariat coolies, mostly Punjabis, cutting grass for the Gilgit trans-

port animals,

From here there is rather a steep descent to the Burzil Valley. The two

rivers join close to Gudahi, the elevation of which is about 9,000 feet.

We are now on the main Gilgit road, a few miles from Naugaun, where I

dismissed my Shigarthang coolies, and got a fresh set to take my loads on to

Astor the next day. |

On arriving at Naugdon I found the entire population either playing, or

assisting as spectators, at an exciting game of polo. The flat roof of a house

served as a grand stand, and here the village band played a variety of tunes.

The next day’s march was to Astor. The road for the first few miles is

very rough and dusty. This is really a piece of the old road, the new portion

which is being carried at a higher level, not then being open for traffic. After

crossing the Burzil Stream and the Astor River, the road ascends to Gurikot,

where there is a good deal of cultivation and many groves of fruit-trees.

From here the new road leads by easy gradients to Astor. The edible pine

(Pinus gerardiana) is common in this portion of the valley, the elevation: being

about 8,000 feet. The local name is Garol. Juniperus excelsa is also abundant

here, and is called chélz.

The scenery of this portion of the valley is remarkable. The villages on

either side are perched on the slopes of an enormous moraine, through which

the river has cut a deep channel with high precipitous cliffs of moraine debris

on either side. Astor itself is high above the river.

The Hollyhock (Alihe rosea) with pure white or mauve-coloured flowers is

abundant here along the hedges of cultivated ground. It is not indigenous,

and was probably introduced at some time or other, along with the large

white-flowering Iris, for planting over graves.

I remained at Astor for a day, and left on the 26th July for Daskin, After

passing the fort the road descends to Harcho, and then ‘ascends to Daskin,

keeping high above the river, Daskin being considerably higher than Astor.

The sides of the Astor Valley look almost completely bare of vegetation.

There are, however, many juniper trees scattered over the rocky hill-sides

which at a distance give the grey colour of the rocks a speckled appearance,

Some interesting plants are to be found in the rock crevices.and in the more

shady nooks. At elevations above 10,000 feet the climate is cool and moist,

and the vegetation is correspondingly luxuriant. These conditions prevail

throughout this part of the country and up to and beyond Gilgit. Nearly

A BOTANICAL TOUR IN KASHMIR. 77

every nullah which opens into these hot, dry and comparatively low valleys

afford views of forests and green pastures extending up to the snow line.

Beyond Daskin the road still ascending passes through the lower portion of

one of these forests, which extend more or less all along the high-level ridges

from Astor to Doian. This proved to be one of the most interesting bits of

botanical ground met with during the whole of my tour. The principal trees

are Pinus excelsa, Pinus gerardiana, and the Pencil cedar. Streams of clear

svater cross the road at intervals, and many rare plants may here be found.

After passing through this forest the road again enters the arid waterless tract,

until Doian is reached, close to which place the same kind of forest extends,

There is a small bungalow at Doian belonging to Messrs, Spedding & Co.,

the road contractors. As rain came on in the afternoon, I was glad to avail

myself of it, and so saved my tents from getting wet, There isasplendid view

from here in clear weather, looking down into the Indus Valley and across to

some very high snowy peaks beyond.

It rained steadily all night and the next morning, and remained cloudy

during the rest of the day. This was an advantage, as the next march down

to Ramghat is a very hot and trying one ona sunny day. The old route over

the Hattu Pir must however have been very much worse.

At Ramghat there is a bridge over the Astor River, which rushes through

the gorge here at a furious pace. This spot is known locally by the name

Shaitan Nara. The camping-ground is about a mile beyond this, on the left

bank of the Dachkat or Misikin Stream. ‘This torrent, like many other glacier

streams, rises and falls at different times of the day, and during the summer

months it is quite unfordable towards evening,

From this place there is a good road mostly over a stony plateau to Bunji,

the elevation of which is under 5,000 feet. This used to be a much more

important place until the great flood of 1841 destroyed it and laid waste a

large extent of cultivated land. There isa very good bungalow here and a

garden of fruit-trees, in which I pitched my camp.

Captain Yielding, D.S.O., arrived here that evening from Srinagar, and I had

the pleasure of his company as far as Gilgit. The distance is nearly 40 miley

by the new road, Itis certainly a journey to be undertaken as quickly as

possible, for the whole valley is extremely hot during the day-time, there

being no shade whatever until you reach the village of Minawar, about 8 miles

from Gilgit. Finding that my coolies were a long way behind, I was

obliged to halt about 6 miles short of this place on a gravelly plain

near the river. As some portions of the new road between this place

and Minawar were not then open for traffic, we had some difficulty with

the loads, especially at certain spots where the debris from the new road was

being shot down on to the only other possible track. I found Captain Yielding

at Minawar early the next morning, and we rode on from that to Gilgit.

The views of the snowy peaks towards the north-east were wonderfully fine,

80 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

one of them, Rakapushi, over 25,000 feet, standing out clear against the blue

sky. The first sight of Gilgit from the Jutial Ridge is very striking, as you

look down upon the wide expanse of orchards and cultivated fields, the colours

of which appeared so vivid by contrast with the surrounding bare and

dazzling rocks,

I stayed at Gilgit for one day, and left early on the morning of the 2nd of

August for Nomal in the Hunza Valley. After crossing the bridge over the

Gilgit River the road follows the left bank of that river in an easterly direction

for about 3 miles and then turns round towards the north up the Hunza

Valley. The distance from Gilgit to Nomal by this road is about 16 miles.

This is a very hot and trying march in summer, as there is nota particle of

shade except at one place, about half-way, where a landslip has brought

down some big boulders. There is no water either, except that of the river,

which at this time of the year is quite muddy and looks more like a mixture

of ink and milk, After entering the Hunza Valley the road traverses for some

miles an undulating sandy tract covered in parts by a large bushy species of

Ephedra (E, intermedia). After passing the half-way boulders the road is

‘carried for a considerable distance along the side of a precipitous hill, descend-

ing again to more level ground before reaching Nomal. The elevation of this

place is 5,500 feet.

On the following morning I left the Hunza road, and went up the Naltar

Valley towards the north-west... For the first few miles the valley is confined

within bare precipitous rocks, Some interesting specimens were gathered near

the river, which has to be crossed by bridges four times before reaching the

village of Naltar, the elevation of which is about 6,500 feet. There is plenty

of vegetation here, and some good crops were seen of wheat, barley, kangni

(locally called pérpit) and chena, Walnuts, apples, and vines are also grown

here.

After resting fora little while I continued up the path for afew miles,

and found a capital camping-ground in a forest of silver fir at an elevation of

about 9,000 feet. Beyond this the valley opens out, and is clothed with fine

forests containing silver fir, juniper, and blue pine (Pinus excelsa). On the

slopes facing the north-east these forests extend to a considerable elevation

mixed with birch and willow. ‘There is a path leading up to the head of this

valley to a pass which separates it from the Chaprot Valley. Numerous

glacier-fed streams come down into this valley from either side, As I had

only two days to spare for botanical exploration, I found it difficult to decide

as to which route to take on each day, there being so much promising-looking

ground in every direction, My expectations were fulfilled on the first day,

and the cooly-load of drying paper which I took with me was very soon used

up, and the collecting box crammed full of rare specimens long before I had

reached any great elevation, In fact, owing to the richness of the vegetation

and the difficult nature of the ground, I managed to get up only to about 2,000

feet above my camp,

A BOTANICAL TOUR IN KASHMIR. 81

T explored another side nullah on the following day (August 5th), and found

this one even more difficult. In one place I had to circumvent a big waterfall,

and by the time I had got round to the top of it evening was coming on and

rain too, This waterfall was rather a remarkable one on account of the rocks

of all sizes which were constantly being carried over the fall. My attention

was first attracted by the peculiar sound produced by the rattling of the

stones.

I much regretted being obliged to leave this beautiful valley, which would

require several days for its proper exploration. There was a good deal of rain

in the night, and all the streams were much swollen when I left for Nomal the

next morning, The river too was very high, and the two bridges near the

village of Naltar looked very insecure when we passed. over them, and one or

both must have collapsed very soon afterwards.

On reaching Nomal I was told that the Gilgit bridge had been carried away

and that the only communication with Gilgit was by the rope bridge. The

damage done by swollen rivers during these few days appears to have been

caused by a wave of warm air acting over a large extent of country; for, on

my way back to Kashmir, I saw in many places signs of the havoc done to

roads, bridges, and village water-courses, all of which happened at about the

same time. At Bunji one of those curious mud streams came down and

destroyed the water-courses ; and at Ramghat the Dachkat torrent gave much

trouble. At Harcho, in the Astor Valley, a bridge was carried away, and in

the Kamri Valley a good deal of damage was done.

In order to escape the heat of the Hunza Valley during the day, I left

Nomal at about 2 a.m. and reached Gilgit in time for breakfast. The rope

bridge was a decidedly disagreeable obstacle at the end of a long and tiring

march, In addition to the sense of insecurity which a man with a fairly

good head for giddy heights need not be ashamed of, and with an inky black

river rushing beneath him at a racing pace, there is a considerable amount

of physical exertion required.

I remained at Gilgit for two days, and I gladly take this opportunity of

expressing my obligations to Mr. Robertson, the Officiating British Agent, for his

kindness and hospitality. I had the pleasure also of making the acquaintance

of Surgeon-Captain Roberts, the Medical Officer attached to the Agency. His

knowledge of gardening does justice to the capabilities of the climate in the

production of good vegetables and fruit. He also takes an interest in botany,

and through his kindness I have since received from him a very interesting

set of specimens collected in the neighbourhood of Gilgit. Iam also indebted

to Captain Younghusband, not only for many acts of kindness during my stay

at Gilgit, but also for a very interesting collection of plants gathered by him

during his memorable journey across the Pamirs.

In-a dry and rocky country like Gilgit there must always be considerable

difficulty in arranging for a continuous supply of fodder for any large number

82 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

of transport animals, Along certain sections of the Gilgit road beyond the

Burzil Pass, the local supply being practically xz, a good deal of expense is

necessarily incurred by carriage.

With the exception of the village sites, where cultivation is carried on by

means of irrigation channels, the hill slopes on either side of the road, in

consequence of the very small amount of annual rainfall, are extremely bare

of vegetation, and what there is is coarse and unpalatable. The most

abundant plant on these hill-sides is a species of worm-wood (Artemisia mari-

tima), which mules and donkeys will eat for lack of anything better, I have

seen no record of any species of Artemesia, several of which are known to

occur in India and along the north-west frontier, as affording fodder for

ponies and mules, But two Himalayan species, viz, A. parviflora and

A, sacrorum, have been mentioned as being eaten by sheep and goats.

A certain amount of grass and weed herbage is to be found along the edges

of irrigated village fields, which, even were it not required by the villagers for

their own animals, would prove to be but a small contribution,

Large quantities of grass and weeds of sorts had to be procured last summer

from the nearest margs lying within the more elevated moist zone, and

accessible from the main valley by certain xullaks, The grasses and other

plants collected from these localities should afford excellent fodder in the

form of hay. The great drawback to this source of supply is the expense of

cutting and the carriage.

The section between Bunji and Gilgit offers at present the greatest

difficulties, as there are so few villages in the neighbourhood. There are,

however, several abandoned village sites, where, I am informed, attempts

have been made, after repairing the old water channels, to grow crops. In a

dry rocky or sandy country it is wonderful how luxuriant the growth of

vegetation becomes by irrigation alone, Every opportunity should therefore

be taken to utilize any surplus village water, and as far as possible to repair

and make use of the old water-channels of the abandoned villages. By the

use of manure, of which there should be an ample supply, considering the

large number of animals daily passing up and down the road, a considerable

quantity of green stuff might be rendered available.

I have reason to believe that large quantities of valuable fodder might be

prepared locally in the form of silage. Many nutritious plants are rejected by

animals by reason of the thorns or bristles with which they are protected. In

a comparatively rainless and rocky country like Gilgit this is the usual

character of the spontaneous vegetation. The same plants, which only

camels or donkeys will touch in a fresh state, would, after being siloed,

become palatable and wholesome food for ponies as well as for mules,

I left Gilgit in the afternoon of the 10th of August for Mindwar, and on

the following day rode to Domel in the Indus Valley, close to the flying

bridge erected by Captain Aylmer, R.E, The views from here of Nanga

A BOTANICAL TOUR IN KASHMIR, 83

Parbat and Rakapushi are exceedingly fine, and I was fortunate in being able

to see these wonderful mountains by moonlight as well as at sunset and

sunrise, I rode into Bunji the next morning and spent the rest of the day

there, and collected some plants in the evening.

I rode to Rémghdét on the following morning (13th August), and walked

from there to Doain, a steep ascent of 4,000 feet, and on the following day

explored the ridge above Doian up to 12,000—13,000 feet, There were fine

views looking over into the Leta and Bulddr mullahs and down the Indus

Valley towards Childs, A large number of most interesting plants were

collected in the forest above Doian and on the open paris higher up, the

most important discovery being that of Pyrola secunda, a species new to the

flora of British India.

On the 15th I got as far as Harcho, and arrived at Astor on the following

day. I had to stay here four days to try and recruit my health, which had

commenced to give way at Gilgit owing to extremes of temperature and

over-exertion,

Mr, A. C. Blaker, of the firm of Messrs. Spedding, Mitchell & Co,, had a

permanent camp here, and he gave me much assistance and was most kind and

hospitable.

T left Astor on the 21st, intending to go as far as Chugam below Rattu in

the Kamri Valley, but was detained a short way below where the Rupal

Stream joins the Astor River. A bridge had given way and was being repaired.

There isa grand view from here looking up towards Nanga Parbat. Some

interesting specimens were collected near the banks of the river.

The next day I made an attempt to reach the village of Tarshing in the

Rupal Valley, and at the foot of one of the big glaciers below Nanga Parbat.

I managed to get up the valley about half-way, when I unfortunately became

ill again and I had to return, The botany near the glacier must be extremely

interesting, and I still hope I may be able some day to explore this locality.

I encamped that night near the village of Rattuin the Kamri Valley ;

elevation 6,800 feet. The valley here is open, and with fine views of Nanga

Parbat to the north and the Mir Malik Valley which joins the Kamri Valley

a few miles further up towards the south-west. Beyond the village there are

broad stretches of undulating pasture-land known as the Rattu plains. The

whole valley,in fact, is beautifully clothed with grass, and there are some

fine patches of forest, especially on the sides of the nullahs coming down to

the left bank of the river.

I went on to Gumin the next day, a very beautiful march, and excellent for

botany, elevation about 9,000 feet, and on the 24th arrived at the camping-

ground of Kalapani, the elevation of which is about 10,600 feet.

On the following day, leaving my camp here,I started off in the early

morning to explore one of the mullahs on the western side of the valley. I

managed to get up toan elevation of 12,500 feet, where a large number of

interesting specimens were obtained.

84 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. LX.

On the 26th I went over the pass (about 13,000 feet), and descended about

3,000 feet on the other side to the village of Gurikot in the Burzil Valley. I

collected some interesting plants on the pass. One very striking feature in the

vegetation of the upper part of the Kamri Valley is the abundant growth of

a most remarkable cruciferous plant called Megacarpea polyandra. It has

thick hollow stems upwards of 4 or5 feet high. It grows in open grassy

places, and at some little distance these tall herbaceous plants look very like

young trees. The local name is chach, and the young leaves are used as sag

or spinach. It is also found on the Pir Panjal Range, where it is called

chattarhak, or chatri.

I marched to Gurais the next day (27th), about 13 miles of very pretty road

along the banks of the Burzil Stream, which joins the Kishenganga about one

mile above Gurais. I had to stay here and rest for a few days and was getting

back my strength when I unfortunately met with an accident resulting in a

broken rib, ‘This, of course, interfered a good deal with further botanical

exploration. I had with me, however, an experienced collector who was on

the look-out for anything new.

The poisonous grass (Stipa sbrica) is abundant on the wooded slopes of the

Gurais Valley.

I have reason to believe that the results of this tour will prove to be a

valuable contribution to our knowledge of the botany of Baltistan and Gilgit.

A complete set of the specimens has been prepared for the Saharanpur

Herbarium ; and two other sets have been distributed, one to the Royal

Herbarium at Kew and the other to Dr, King at Calcutta, The whole of the

mosses, of which a large collection was made, have been sent to Dr. Brotherus

at Helsingfors in Finland for determination, also a complete set of the grasses

to Dr. Hackel in Austria.

The remaining sets will be distributed next cold weather to various institu-

tions in Europe, and elsewhere by way of exchange.

MOSQUITOES.*

By J. Auston Morrat, Lonpon, ONT.

The mosquitoes belong to the order Diptera, or two-winged flies, which

includes all insects of whatever size, form, or colour which have but two wings,

making them easily separable from the Hymenoptera, to which the bees

and wasps belong, which are possessed of four wings.

Again, the mosquitoes belong in that order to the family Culicide which

are characterized by long and slender mouth-parts, long legs and antenne,-

of which there are many genera, and the genus to which the mosquito belongs

is called Culex, which is recognizable from the other genera of the family

by its biting propensity, whilst the distinguishing or specific name of our

* This paper appeared in the Journal of the Entomological Society of Ontario.

MOSQUITOES. 85

common form is pipiens of Linneus, a name suggested by the constant

piping produced during its flight by the rapid stroke of its narrow wings,

which are said to vibrate three thousand times a minute.

A large number of species have been described and named by different

authors—30 are given to America, 35 to Hurope, and 100 to the rest of the world,

Mr, F, W. Urich, ina paper read before the Trinidad Field Naturalist’s

Club, says: “So far as Trinidad is concerned, I may say I have observed at

least ten different kinds of mosquitoes, varying in size and colour, and the bite

of some of them is far from being pleasant.” But, as in other departments

of natural history, species have been created upon very slight differences,

the probability is that many of those so-called ‘‘species” are but local varia-

tions of one species. Yet certain it is, very considerable difference in size

is to be observed in the same locality, but as all creatures are given to vary

in size, the same liberty may be allowed to Culex pipiens. Whether the bite

of the large ones is severer than that of small ones does not seem to have

been specially observed, but personal experience corroborates the statement

that all bites are not equally sharp.

The name ‘“‘ Mosquito” is a Spanish term, signifying “ little fly,’ and would

probably be applied to any biting winged insect, regardless of structure, by

the Spaniards who first landed on the continent, And those of them that

returned to their own country would relate stories of suffering they had to

encounter and endure from their tiny foes, which were of more than Aztec

ferocity and tenacity. Even yet extraordinary tales are told of the size

and savage nature of the mosquitoes of some localities over those of others.

The fame of the New Jersey breed and the Mississippi gallinipper has gone

far abroad, but I suspect that the principle cause of suffering in one locality

over another is to be attributed to numbers, rather than to any difference

in the size of the insects, Travellers have recorded their experience with

mosquitoes in all paris of the world ; some declaring that those of the Arctic

regions are the worst they ever encountered ; but South America, from its

climatic conditions, and its low-lying lands, which are frequently flooded,

is in a position to carry off the prize against the world for its crop of mos-

quitoes, and that the early travellers there were duly impressed with this

fact is evidenced by the names given to places such as the Mosquito Coast,

Mosquito Bay, and Mosquito Town. In ancient history we read of armies

on the march being arrested on the way and made to beat a hasty retreat

from the attack of these tiny warriors, which is quite believable ; for if we

take into consideration the scant and loose covering which they probably

wore, which gave the wearers so much more space to defend, they were not

in a condition to pursue human foes when every man of them was engaged in

a double-handed conflict with such pertinacious insect enemies.

There is a prevalent opinion in Europe that mosquitoes are an exclusively

American production, and in England especially it is the general belief, We

86 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

often see it in print and hear it confidently asserted that there are no mosquitoes

in England. The usual expression is ‘‘We have gnats but no mosquitoes,”

whilst the fact is, the English Gnat and the American Mosquito cannot be

separated genericaliy and probably not even specifically, the two names

being but local synonyms for the same insect. But even scientific authorities

have assisted in perpetuating the misunderstanding. Newman, in his “Familiar

introduction to the history of insects,” has a paragraph headed ‘“ Mosquitoes or

Simulites,” in which he refers to a wood-cut of a Simulia, which strongly re-

sembles thai terrible pest to the early settlers of the country, the “ Black Fly,”

Simulium molestum,whilst he gives Guat as the common name for the genus Culex.

The settlers of this country adopted the common name Mosquito for Culex

pipiens, and used the name Gnat to designate an insect that was more felt

than seen, So microscopic was it that the excessive irritation produced by

its attack on exposed parts was often the first intimation of its presence ;

yet so abundant were they at times that small clouds of them were distinctly

visible from their density. They were active only in the evening, or in

densely shaded woods. This pest seems to have entirely disappeared with the

clearing up of the country.

Many people call all mosquito-like insects by that name, or, if in Hurope, they

would call them gnats,and include under these names the families Tipu-

lidee and Ephemeride, which are quite innocent of all biting propensity. So

that, when these names are used and alarming reports circulated as to their

abundance, it is impossible to be quite sure what insect may be meant. It is

recorded that in 1736 gnats were so numerous in England that vast columns

of them rose in the air from the spire of Salisbury Cathedral, like smoke,

which made the people think it was on fire. Mention is made of a column—

pyramidal in form, over a tree, 50 or 60 feet in height (?)—whilst, at a more

recent date, another column is mentioned as being seen in a garden 3 feet in

diameter and 20 feet high. We may justly conclude that these columns were

not composed of Culex pipiens, And when we are informed that “every part

of these columns was in the liveliest motion,” we may at once infer that they

were composed of some of the Ephemeride, which Wordsworth alludes to, as

“The gilded summer flies,

That mix and weave their sports together in the solar beam.”

And when we are told that “their bite was so envenomed that it was attend-

ed with violent and alarming inflammation,’ we may safely say that these

bites did not belong to those columns, but to the genus Culex, whose habits

are quite different. Who ever saw Culex pipiens ina playful mood? She is

ever intensely absorbed in business ; even her song seems to indicate that her

thoughts are bent in that direction ; at least it turns ours very quickly to her

business methods,

- Whilst on the subject of these dancing columns, I will give an illustration

of their remarkable powers of sustained flight which came under my own

MOSQUITOES. 87

observation. I was returning from an excursion by rail on a fine summer

evening, and to have an opportunity of enjoying it to the utmost, I took

my seat on an open car which had been fitted up to provide extra accommoda-

tion. The car in front of me was high roofed, and over a rear corner of it

had gathered one of these clusters, high and dense, which was vigorously

besporting itself in the rays of the setting sun. I thought to myself

“when we go, you will get left,’ but I was mistaken. When the train started

it went with it, and the cluster maintained its position with as much apparent

ease as when the car was at rest. Did each individual of that cluster keep

its eye on the ear, so as not to fall behind? But it could not accommodate its

movements to suit the lateral swaying of the car; every now and again it

found itself a little more off or on the corner. It maintained its position until

darkness obscured or dispersed the dancers.

Culex pipiens, like many of its relations, lives the earlier part of its life in

the water. The female mosquito, when ready to deposit her eggs, seeks for

stagnant water as the most suitable place on which to doso. The Rev. J. G.

Wood thus clearly describes the operation : “ Placing her front legs ona

piece of floating stick, straw, or anything that will support her tiny weight,

she allows the middle pair of legs to rest on the surface of the water, and

erosses the hind pair so as to look like the capital letter X. She then deposits

a rather long and spindle-shaped egg, and places it upright with the base down-

ward in the angle of the X. Another egg is quickly placed by the side of the

first and followed by others, all of which are glued together by a cement

which is not affected by water. Guided by the crossed legs, the eggs are

formed into a boat-like shape, and are left to float on the surface of the water.”

These boat-like masses are often longer than wide, the lower end of the egos

being the largest, where the head of the future larva is to be, gives more sur-

face below than above, which naturally turns the ends upwards and helps to

give them the boat-like form. In a few days’ time, according io the

weather, the eggs mature, and the tiny larva is ushered into what is for the

time its native element. In this state it is a particularly interesting creature,

large in head, slender in body, with two openings at the tail; one situated a

little to one side, and surrounded with fine hairs, opens into the breathing

tubes, the other being the end of the digestive canal. It is very active, pro-

pelling itself through the water, with a peculiar jerking and wriggling moye-

ment, which has procured for it the appellative “wriggler,” going to the

bottom to feed, then rising to the surface to breathe. It may at times be

seen resting head down, with its breathing tube above the surface and its

mouth-parts moving as if it was taking nourishment, Having changed its skin

several times and eaten allit wants, it prepares for another change of form,

and throwing aside its larval covering, it emerges a pupa. Its form is greatly

altered, much larger at the head-end, where the mouth-parts, wings and legs of

the future mosquito are bunched together in a rudimentary state, the abdomen

88 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, LX,

slender with two propeller-like blades at the end to assist its movements, for

it is still active, but, more singular still for a pupa, it breathes now, not through

a tube at the tail as formerly, but through two projections which it has been

provided with, which are situated on the top of the thorax, so that when it

rises to the surface of the water to breathe, it holds its head up now—a won-

derful change of habit in so short a time ; whilst living in this state, it also

enlarges, but does not feed. Having thoroughly matured, it is now ready to

change its aquatic life for an aérial one. The pupa comes to the surface of

the water, the thorax rising above it, the hinder part straightens out, and

almost immediately the pupa-case bursts on the top of the thorax, and the

head of the mosquito appears in the opening ; by a contracting and expanding

of the abdominal segments, the head and thorax are pushed forward and out

sufficiently far to free its legs, when it feels for a support which may be the

pupa-case which now floats on the water asa boat. The wings now expand,

the abdomen is withdrawn from the case,and Culex pipiens is off on other

business. The whole time required for this last transformation is a minute or

less, The length of its preparatory life is variously estimated, the weather

having a powerful influence—a month is considered quite sufficient. Three

or four days to mature the eggs, fourteen or eighteen for the larval

. stage, and five to seven for the pupal. But Prof, Riley says: “ Their

development is rapid, and with one species at least it has been ascertained

that the entire life-round from egg to adult is undergone in less than two

weeks.”

As soon as they have got their wings they make for the thickest vegetable

shade within reach. It is said that they will fly for miles inland, but never

fly far over water. We read of travellers on the South American rivers, that

they prefer to pass the night in their small boats anchored out on the river,

rather than attempt to sleep on shore; willing to run the risk of being

devoured by alligators in order to escape the certainty of it by mos-

quitoes.

Culex pipiens is a frail and delicate creature to be possessed of such a vicious

and blood-thirsty disposition. But here it must be stated that the sexes differ

in this respect. It is the female only that bites ; she alone is responsible for

all the evil reputation which has been attached to the species ; the male has

not the power,even if he had the will, whilst her will and power seem to

be commensurate.

The mouth-parts of the female constitute a wondrously elaborate and com-

plex apparatus, which no verbal description can do justice to, What appears to

the naked eye to be a single sting is composed of no less than seven distinct

and separable parts. What is taken for the sting is only the sheath in which

the sting rests when not in use. Two of the parts are barbed at the point for

MOSQUITOES, 89

cutting the skin, All but the sheath enter two-thirds their full length before

they begin drawing the blood, the sheath doubling up under the body of the

insect.

The manner in which the mosquito draws up the blood to satisfy its cray-

ings is probably similar to that by which a butterfly secures the nectar from

the flowers. Let us consider the long proboscis as lips, the mouth proper

being situated in the head at their base ; when the lips have entered the fluid

the muscles around the mouth are contracted ; that produces a cavity which

is necessarily a vacuum, and the fluid naturally rushes in to fill it. When it is

filled the muscles around the mouth relax, a valve at the base of the lips

closes and prevents its return, and the fluid is forced down the gullet.

The rapidity with which the mosquito thus pumps up the blood, and the

quantity it secures in a given time, may easily be observed by any one curious

to know by allowing one of them to operate on the back of the hand and

watching the filling up of the abdomen. I once clipped the end off the

abdomen of one thus situated without disturbing its operation, and it pumped

away until a pool of blood that had run through it formed on the back of my

hand and began to run off, when I stopped the performance. I had been

informed that this could be done before I succeeded in doing it,

No poison gland has yet been found in the mosquito, but the irritation

resulting, and often continuing long after the bite is given, has led to the

general conviction that poison must be conveyed with it. One writer relates

that a drop of clear fluid has been observed at the end of the trunk, whilst

Reamur says he saw fluid in the trunk itself. Some contend that this fluid

is used for diluting the blood so as to enable it to pass through the extremely

fine tube, but the quantity that they produce is so small, as compared with the

amount of blood they take, that it could have but little effect in that way,

unless it was endowed with some powerful chemical property. Some have

stated that if they are allowed to take all they want, there will be no after

irritation, the poison being all removed with the blood taken. But personal

experiments in this direction do not confirm the statement.

There is a great diversity in the effect of the mosquito bite on different per-

sons, just as there isin the sting of a bee, not fromany difference in the

sting and bite, but from something in the constitution of the individual. The

Rey. J. G. Wood tells us of the effect of a single gnat-bite on himself, given

at the junction of the thumb with the wrist. (It is cwlea pipiens he is speaking

of.) Hesays: “The hand swelled up until it looked like a boxing glove, was

purple in colour where it wasnot crimson, and it was more than three weeks

after the bite was inflicted before I fully recovered the use of my hand,”

This may be considered a serious case, andif he had received several bites at

the same time, some of them about the face we shall say, there is no saying

how much more serious it might have been, I copy the following from a

90 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, 1X.

communication by H. Stewart of North Carolina, dated Nov. 3, 1891, given in

Insect Life, vol. 4, p. 277, as illustrative of this point :

“T was interested in reading a recent number of Insect Life to the effect that

the poison of the mosquito was provocative of insanity. When I was engaged

in exploring in the vicinity of the north shore of Lake Superior about twenty-

five years ago, I had more than one proof of this fact. One of my men was

badly bitten, and seemed to suffer more than any others of the company. He

became violently insane and ran off in the woods, and in spite of efforts he

eluded pursuit and was never found again. Another man on a different occa-

sion was affected in a similar manner, and was captured with difficulty after a

long chase, in which he exhibited the utmost terror, but after a few days’ close

confinement in the camp he regained his reason, Afterwards he was so seriously

affected by the poison that he had to be sent home. I have noticed that the

poison affected persons differently, causing severe swelling in some, fever in

others, pains in the limbs in others, while some were but slightly annoyed. I

was myself very little troubled by these pests.” Along with that we may place

the report given by a German professor, of a Mexican doctor who was attending

a lady suffering from inflammation of the brain, She had been unconscious

for twelve hours, and gave signs of approaching dissolution. The doctor

removed the mosquito net and opened the windows, giving the mosquitoes free

access to his patient for two hours, when consciousness returned and the lady

given up for lost started on the way to recovery ; which is quite a likely thing,

as blood-letting would be an excellent method for relieving the congested

parts.

We frequently read in the newspapers of people suffering from alarming

sores, the result of “a mosquito bite,” some of them ending fatally. Thought-

less persons, or those ignorant of the nature of mosquito bites, will persist in

rubbing the bitten parts, which only tends to increase the irritation and calls

for more rubbing, This, continued, may break the skin, blood-poisoning may

then ensue, and, if combined with an unhealthy condition of the system, death

may quite likely be the result, I have seen children whose bodies were covered

with sores caused by their scratching the mosquito bites.

To those who have not lived in a mosquito-infested district and have formed

their opinions by reading such reports it might seem that life in such

a place would be constant misery, and would expect to find the inhabitants

covered with sores and bandages; but such is not the case. There is un-

questionably a kind of inoculation that takes place in those much exposed to

the attack, which gives them immunity from any inconvenience after the bite

is given. The writer of the article “Mosquito,” in the Encyclopedia Britannica,

says: “Even in Britain the annoyance caused by the gnats—Culex pipiens

—is very great, and in marshy districts often unendurable, especially to new

comers, for it seems probable that the insects really attack a visitor more —

furiously than they do the natives of the district, but, on the other hand, the

fica tee

MOSQUITOES. 91

latter may be more indifferent to their assaults.” Now, we cannot suppose that

the mosquitoes prefer a stranger to a native, or that the native does not feel

the bite, It is the consequences that make the difference ; the visitor dreads

these, the native does not, as there are none to him, he having been thoroughly

inoculated ; the bites may be felt equally by both, although there are some

endowed with a greater amount of pachydermatous insensibility than others,

It is undoubtedly new comers to an affected district that suffer the worst—that

is if they have not previously been subjected to the attack. Usually a bite on

such a one raises a spot about the diameter of half a pea, hard and whiter than

the rest of the skin, with a distinct red dot in the centre, producing an immense

desire to rub the spot, which, if indulged, causes various degrees of inflammation

and redness, with an increased inclination to rub, lasting for two or three hours

with some, but twenty-four or more with others. This sort of thing may have

to be endured for the whole of the first summer. After that the bite may be

felt just as sharp as before, but no such after-discomfort will follow. Hence

the apparent indifference of the native, but sufficient numbers would make

even him quail before their assault, but, being once clear of them, no further

inconvenience is felt by him. This kind of inoculation is vividly illustrated in

the case of children going into an infested locality to live ; for the first season

every bite leaves its mark conspicuous, but afterwards bites show no more than

if they had not been given.

How long the mosquito lives in the mature state isnot known with any

degree of certainty. Dr. C. V. Riley says : “ So far as we know, our northern

mosquitoes pass the winter in the imago state, but in limited numbers.” Sup-

posing these hibernators are the parents of the summer crop, they might in

this latitude begin depositing their eggs—of which they lay about 300—in the

beginning of May, and allowing a month between egg and imago, we see that

by midsummer the number, under favourable circumstances, would be great.

But the question to settle is, how long does the female live in the summer

before depositing her eggs ? for we cannot suppose that, contrary to the nature

of other insects, she lives ‘long afterwards, unless she does not lay them all at

once. When one visits a piece of wood situated a long way from stagnant

water every few days and finds an unlimited supply kept up for weeks, or

even months together, it does not seem to favour an early demise. Another

interesting question in this connection is, are these hibernating females fertil-

ized before winter sets in, or do the males live over also ?

Tt is the prevailing opinion that mosquitoes live exclusively on animal

blood, and yet, probably, not one ina million of them ever gets a taste of it.

It is not reasonable to suppose that the life, even of the mosquito, can be

sustained long without food of some sort. Several reports have been made

from time to time of a vegetable-feeding species of mosquito having been seen.

Is it a separate species, or is it our old acquaintance Culex pipiens indulging in

a little of her natural vegetable diet? I once saw a mosquito on the smooth

92 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

bark of an aspen poplar, seemingly engaged in an effort to extract something

out of it, but with very limited success, so far as the appearance of the

abdomen indicated ; yet it went through all the movements required to make

the success complete. If they will attack the hard bark of a tree, how much

more likely is it that they would try the soft stems of succulent plants. When

we understand that this is one of the habits of the insect, we see that there is

a double reason present why they should seek the cover of rank vegetation ;

one, protection from the direct rays of the sun, which they cannot endure; the

other, that they may obtain food to sustain life. Yet, no matter what amount

of vegetable juice they may take, it never slacks their thirst for blood. This

the unfortunate collector well knows to his cost when he has been allured, in

the pursuit of some attractive specimens, to the stirring up of a tall and

luxuriant clump of weeds in a damp and shady place.

Many remedies have been suggested for relieving the irritation produced by

mosquito bites. The Rev.Mr. Wood says arnica saved him from a vast amount

of torture. A wash of ammonia is said by others to give immediate relief.

To rid the house of their presence in the evening, so as to get peaceful rest

at night, all are familiar, either by observation or report, with the use of smoke.

Indeed, the primitive ‘‘Smudge”’ was the only method available in new settle-

ments ; but now we have a more clean, convenient and efficacious material to

use for the same purpose in insect-powder, “pyrethrum.’ Make a little

pyramid of the powder about an inch and a half in diameter at the base, on

some incombustible material, and ignite it at the top. Jt will consume slowly,

producing smoke enough to fill a large room, which will kill or stupify every

mosquito in it. :

I copy the following from Insect Life, vol, V, p. 859: “The Indian Medical

Journal for March 16th says that a Bombay newspaper calls attention to the

virtues of the castor-oil plant as a means of protection against mosquitoes. In

Egypt it is planted about houses to drive the insects away. In towns a better

plan is to have the growing plants in pots and bring them into the house for

a day or two ata time, but they must not be kept too long in the shade, for

Palma Christi is a sun-loving plant. A writer is cited as saying that the

mosquitoes are killed by a poison they find on the lower side of the leaf, but

it is stated that if a dozen leaves are placed about a room that swarms with

mosquitoes they will disappear without leaving any dead ones lying about,”

But vigorous efforts should be made in all mosquito-infested localities to reduce

as much as possible the opportunity for their breeding. Stagnant water is

well-known to be the principal source whence comes the mosquito plague.

This, then, should be got rid of as soonas possible. When this cannot be done

at once it should be treated with a little coal oil, which will put an effectual

stop to their propagation, as has been demonstrated by Mr. L, 0. Howard’s

experiment, published in the last Annual Report of the Society, and thus an

immense amount of suffering will be saved to man and beast.

DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF SUINTHUS FROM

KASHMIR,

By OLDFIELD THOMAs,

From the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Ser. 6,

Vol. XI, February, 1893.

The remarkable genus Sminthus, which, nota bene, is a member of the

Depodide,* not of the Muride, has been until recently considered to consist of

only a single species, S. subtilis, Pal. (S. vagus, auct. plurim,), ranging from

Denmark to Central Asia. Quite recently Dr. Buchnerf has described a

second species, S, concolor, from Ganssu, China, a species which has not the

characteristic black dorsal stripe of S. subtilis ; and I have now the opportunity

of describing a third one of the same most interesting group.

The type specimen is a skin with skull, obtained in Kashmir, at an altitude

of 10,000 feet, by Major G. H. Leathem, of the Hast Surrey Regiment, in

whose honour I propose to name the species

Sminthus Leathemi, sp. n.

Extremely similar in size, colour, and general appearance to Mus sylvaticus,

from a British specimen of which it is at first sight hardly distinguishable,

except that the ears are decidedly smaller.

Fur long and soft. General colour rufous-grey, becoming clearer rufous on

sides ; no trace of a darker dorsal stripe. Belly white from chin to anus, but

the hairs slate-coloured for their basal three-fourths, Ears short, rounded,

their visible parts when folded (¢.e., the posterior two-thirds of their inner and

the anterior third of their outer surfaces) thickly clothed with short chocolate-

brown hairs. Arms and legs whitish ; hands and feet silvery white on their

upper surfaces ; palms and soles naked ; hallux reaching to the base of the

second toe, fifth toe to the middle of the second joint of the fourth. Tail

elongated, conspicuously bicolor, brown above, both hairs and scales, white

below.

Skull decidedly larger than that of S. swbéilés, narrower and more elongated

anteriorly, and with a longer arid more oval brain-case ; interparietal bone

decidedly broader than that of 8S. subtilés, its antero-posterior only about a

third of its transverse diameter. Anterior palatine foramina shorter, extending

backwards only to the level of the middle of the premolar ; palate posteriorly

ending close behind the posterior molars, while in the allied species it is

continued backwards for a distance equal to the combined lengths of p.4

and m. 1,

I ce

* This view of the true affinities of Sminthus, first published by Winge in 1887

previously, and I still think it is unquestionably correct.

+ Bull. Ac. Sci, St. Petershb., vol. xiii, p. 267 (1892).

94 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

Teeth apparently quite as in S. subtilis, except that m.3 is longer, as long as

broad, instead of being transversely oval ; ™-3 is also correspondingly slightly

longer in proportion to the other teeth.

Dimensions of the type (a male) :—

Head and body (measured in the flesh by Major Leathem) 66 millim, ; tail

(ditto) 112; hind foot (from skin) 19 ; ear (from skin, approximate) 8°3.

Skull: greatest length (occiput to nasal tip) 20°7 ; nasals, length 7°7, greatest

breadth 2°7 ; interorbital breadth 42 ; greatest breadth across brain-case 9°6 ;

interparietal, length 2°3, breadth 7:0 ; palate, length 8-2 ; diastema 5:0 ; length

of palatine foramina 4°0 ; length of upper tooth-series 3:1.

Hab.—Krishnye Valley, Wardwan, Kashmir, Altitude 10,000 feet. Type

obtained June 24, 1892.

Asmay be seen from the above description, this new species is widely

removed from S. subtilis and approaches in many characters the Chinese

S. concolor, From this it is distinguished externally by its conspicuously

bicolor tail, by its brighter coloration, and shorter ears. In the skull it agrees

closely with the same animal as regards the general measurements and in the

“ starker verschmalert and schlanker ausgezogen vordere Partie” (both being

compared with S. subtilis) ; but it is impossible to believe that so careful an

observer as Dr. Buchner could have overlooked the marked differences in the

palate and interparietal had they also been present in his species ; so that I

suppose S. concolor agrees with S, subtilis in these respects.

As to the structure of the teeth, all the members of the genus seem to have

the small fifth cusp on ™.1, which is stated by Dr. Buchner not to be present

in S. subtilis; for in three specimens of that species in the Museum, from

widely different localities, I find it clearly visible, although smaller than in

S. Leathemi. I presume, therefore, that Dr. Buchner had under examination

only specimens with worn dentition.

Major Leathem is to be congratulated on his discovery of this interesting

little animal, the first representative of its genus found within British Indian

territory.

95 .

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.

No, IL—NUX VOMICA.

Strychnos Nux Vomica described by Surgeon-Major Kirtikar in our J ournal,

vol, VIIT, No. 3, is known in the Kolaba forests, and I suppose it to exist in

those of Tanna, But I have not seen it as a forest plant in the latter district,

and I suppose that we are at the edge of its province,

One fine specimen grows, or did grow, in the camping ground at a village

about a mile from Birwadi Fort, Rohe Taluka, Kolaba District. I think the

name of the place is Chinere ; but it is many years since I was there, and I have

no map here that shows so small a place, However, it is a recognized camp

for District Officers, and was called a “ shooting camp.” Large game are not

now abundant in that country, but the forests are extensive and dense ; the

marshes wide and much frequented by fowl. My men brought me good fresh-

water fish from the little river, and other men much salt-water fish from the

numerous back waters of the Kundalika Hstuary.

On the whole, it is the sort of place that another of our members may be

in some day ; and so I record the tree, This tree was covered with leaves and

ripe (over-ripe) fruit in April, I have not happened to get ripe fruit off any

other tree, nor have I seen any tree of the species leafless to my knowledge.

Of course a leafless tree, unless bearing the very conspicuous fruit, would be

apt to escape notice,

Ina thoroughly tropical country like the Konkan, where the range of

temperature is small, a little matter will put leaf, flower, or fruit of trees back

or forward,

Late or unseasonable rain affects all these strongly, and soil still more, espe-

cially in the case of trees introduced, or at the edge (as in this case) of their

province,

A Pongamia in my garden, which has been evergreen for two years, was

lately quite bare of leaves ; and Polyalthias in the same place are evergreen :

while others within a mile are naked for weeks every year; neither being

watered in any way.

W. F. SINCLAIR.

Tanna, April, 1894.

No. I1—STRANGE BEHAVIOUR OF A PANTHER,

It is only by request that I send the following account of a small adventure

I had with a panther on the 17th J anuary last. I have no desire to be

thought a disciple of the famed Col. Bowlong, and, therefore, have hesitated

about sending the account. I relate the story now with the most careful

accuracy it is possible for a man to give when relating the story of an episode

which happened to himself, It was nearly mid-day, and I had finished the

bit of forest inspection I had come out to do and was about to return to my

96 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X,

camp some 3 or 4 miles away, when I thought I would like to have a look at the

quality of the coppice growth in a piece of forest that had come under the axe

six years before, and which adjoined the forest I had just been inspecting.

Thinking I might turn a partridge out of the sort of stuff I was going to prowl

through, I took my gun from the forest-guard who had been carrying it

hitherto, and loaded it with No. 8 shot cartridge in each barrel. Presently I

got to the top of a ridge where walking was a bit difficult, and having a guard

and two villagers following me in single file, I thought it wise to put the gun at

half cock. I went a couple of hundred yards along the ridge and then com-

menced to descend again through a thicket of coppice, dense enough to make

progress slow and laborious. I placed my gun in the hollow of the left arm,

gripping the stock from beneath and sloping the barrels outwards, whilst, with

my right hand, I cleared a way as I went down the slope. I had got about

half way down, and had just reached a small level bit of open grass-land,

when, as I emerged from the thicket, I saw a panther charging straight for

me, I had only time to seize the gun in my right hand and to get the thumb

on one hammer in an endeavour to cock it, when the beast was at my feet.

Visions of a hospital flashed across my mind and I did the only thing I could

think of at the moment, which was to hit the panther over the back with the

gun, From the way I was holding the gun it will be understood that the blow

T was able to give was not a hard one. It was, however, sufficient to turn the

panther. He slewed to my left, brushing my leg the whole length from two

inches above the knee to the ancle with his body, and sprang on to some rocks

about five yards to the left, where he appeared to halt for a fraction of a

second before springing down and bounding out of sight. As he sprang away

from me I finished the cocking of the right barrel and brought up the gun

to my shoulder, but the thought occurred tome that a charge of No. 8 shot

in the stern at five yards could not be immediately, if at all, fatal, and might

bring the panther round upon us, and whilst I debated about firing, he dis-

appeared, The men who were with me had seen nothing of the panther till

he slewed away from me, they being close behind me. But their faces were a

study when they did see the brute and their ejaculations interesting. I was

both figuratively and metaphorically glad to see the end of that panther, He

was a sleek, handsome brute, hardly full grown, but near it. About 100 yards

further away from where I met him I found the flattened space where he

had been lying in the grass. Why he should have charged me deliberately in

the way he did (his ears were flat to his head and he came at full speed but

ventre a terre) and then have made no effort to scratch or bite meis best known

to himself, My theory is that he mistook me, coming quietly through the

dense thicket, for a bekri ; my shikar clothes and putties may have aided the

deception. He started to charge and win an easy prey and was as flabber-

gasted as myself when he saw the mistake he had made. I gave hima day to

recover his composure and then beat for himin that and the surrounding

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 97

forest, but he was not to be found, The incident happened in the Ghaveda

forest of the Mahim Taluka, in the Thana District, and the Patel of the village

was one of the men with me, |

G. PB: MILLETT,

Tanna District, 4th April, 1894.

No, I1I.—THE SPOTTED-BILLED DUCK.

This duck is very prevalent between Allahabad and Umballa, owing, I believe,

to the fact that in this region, which comprises the country between the

Ganges and Jumna, there are a number of small feeder streams which run into

these two large rivers. All these little streams, which occur every 10 or 12

miles along the length of the larger rivers, are in fairly deep beds flanked by

raviny and therefore uninhabited land, for a width varying from a quarter of

a mile to three or four miles. The waters are consequently undisturbed. In the

dry-season the streams either cease to run, or are reduced to an almost impercep-

tible current. In the curves, however, there are deep pools, and these frequent-

ly are taken possession of by a pair of “ spotted bills” for the breeding season,

The young brood are brought up there, without chance of molestation.

T have found eggs in July and August in such localities, but not later. I

have, however, seen young birds in October and November which might have

been hatched at a somewhat later season. I have also found eggs and young

birds on the banks of the canal. During the last fifteen yearsI have taken some

trouble (with Mr, Phipson’s assistance on more than one occasion) to send this

bird to England, It could, I believe, be easily domesticated. Some of those

T sent home took the first prize at the Crystal Palace Show two years in succession

and produced young freely at the Zoological Gardens. Some of the produce

were sent to the ornamental waters at Sandringham, and I was told by Mr.

Bartlett that the ducks sent there interbred with the wild ducks which visited

England in the winter, and that the young half breds inherited the non-migra-

tory habits of the “spotted bills” and did not leave the waters when the

Northern visitors departed in the spring. It would be interesting if further

experiments could be made in this direction. If anon-migratory wild duck,

so well adapted for the table as is the “Spotted Bill,’ could be established on

English or European waters, a useful result would be obtained,

EK. C. BUCK, I.C.S.

Sima, April, 1894.

No. IV.—THE DESTRUCTIVENESS OF BANDICOOT RATS,

The specimens sent in are saplings of Polyalthia longifolia, a tree of the

order Annonaceee ; that is, a distant relation of the Custard-apple, They are

three years and nine months old from the seed, and did belong to a generation

of about an hundred such until they were nibbled by Bandicoots. I may as

98 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

well observe that they are called in Marathi “Ashok”; and in Gujarathi

“ Asso Pdl” ; but are not at all connected with the Hisdustani Ashoka (Joncaia

Asoka or Saraca Indica), which we here call “ Jasud.”

In the same compound, with these saplings, dwelt many families of Bandi-

coots—each in its own burrow—and now and again these would nibble the

bark of a young “ Ashoka,’”” but the wound generally healed over. Tropical

trees are mostly very hard to kill when healthy. But in March, 1894, the

Ashoka saplings, near a particular Bandicoot burrow, were cut down at the

rate of two or three every night for some days. Only one was attacked at the

root; all the rest were cut into at two points, usually about 3” and 5” above

the ground, and the wood torn away between the cuts in strips not unlike

“ Tandstickers.” No tree was quite cut through ; many were cut half or three-

quarters through, some seven-eighths or more. The largest saplings attacked

were six inches round at the lower cut, The cuts showed many grooves of

concave section, both in diameter and on the longer axis. These were in pairs,

meeting each other near the centre of the remaining wood. The widest groove

measured was }” wide ; the longest 8” long. But they had trespassed on each

other so that few remained of full size.

I have gone into these details because they may be useful to others, In this

case they showed clearly enough the work of a good sized rodent ; and no hare

nor giant-squirrel inhabits the spot. So there could be little doubt as to what

to do next; and the rat-catchers were called in. They caught eighteen

bandicoots, but no rat of any other species in the whole compound, though

it is in the middle of a large town,

Perhaps these large rats ‘fear, like the Turk, no brother near” ; or, perhaps,

the numerous little village cats can keep down other rats and mice, but are not

equal to killing an old bandicoot. The “musk-rat” exisis in the compound

and is carefully protected ; but he is not really a rat at all,

Those bandicoots caught in the neighbourhood of the injured trees had their

stomachs full of Polyalthia splinters. The others had not. The saplings are

all over the compound, but in most of it there is also Haryalz grass or other

root forage, which these rats are very fond of.

In one place they had dug up a lot of dwarf-lily bulbs ; tasted them and

dropped them in disgust. The particular corner where the Polyalthia trees

were attacked happened to contain, it would seem, no other forage to their

taste ; and the supply of plunder obtainable at my expense had been sharply

reduced by the departure of about eighteen adult human beings and six horses

and ponies in different directions, leaving only two temperate native families

cooking and eating in the place.

The method of capture was fumigation with dry grass and red ‘chillies ; very

scientifically fanned into the holes. There was some digging, but very little,

in no case amounting to “digging out.’ Whether stupefied or not, the

bandicoots were very stupid, and were easily caught by hand with little

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 99

resistance, A Norway rat, 6 inches long, would have showed more fight than

these brutes, of which several were over a foot head and body “‘ between

standards.” As they were not living in gutters on garbage, their skins were

clean, and the long black hairs glossy. You could not call them handsome

(though some rats are), but they were not loathsome even to look at, like a

gutter-snipe bandicoot.

Generally, their scrapings for food do more harm than their actual eating,

but there are one or two plants they will never let off, eg., Arabia Guilfoylei,

a common ornament of our gardens, which seems to have a root much to their

taste. I rather think that they eat some insects, especially the larve of

beetles and large moths, but have no proof,

That they are not generally fond of eating young trees is clear, I have over

500 young trees of forty species in the compound, and only the Polyalthias have

suffered noticeably. Four other species of the same order (Annonacee) have

never been touched,

When the gardeners fear the attack of rats upon any root, they protect it

with prickly-pear leaves (Opuntia), and I have known cowage (Pencuna

pruriens) to be used in the same way ; but itis harder to handle and in some

places harder to get. A generation ago, the old hands used to tell great stories

about bandicoots eating babies in the cradle and invalids in bed, But these

seem to be rather out of print now. That the Norway rat will eat anything

that he can overpower, when hungry, I do not doubt for an instant. But

these creatures seem to be of a lower vitality and vice.

W. F. SINCLAIR, I.C.S.

Tanna, 10th April, 1894.

No. V.—THE PISA TREE AND THE INDIAN WILLOW.

Actinodaphne Hookeri, Meissn. Vernacular, Pisa.—This small tree, common

on the Western Ghdts and some other parts of India, yields at the commence-

ment of the hot season a superabundance of saccharine sap that is often forced

through the bark of branches as a fine shower or rain, covering the leaves,

twigs, etc., on the ground beneath with a syrupy layer that gives them a

varnished appearance, The excessive amount of saccharine sap that this tree

yields during the hot season suggests that it might furnish a possible source of

Sugar, as is the case with the sugar maple in America, Dr, Watt, writing of

the genus Acer, says:* “If they were found to take naturally to the soil and

climate of Indian sub-Alpine regions, they might supply the poor hill tribes

with the little-known luxury of sugar,” If attention were given to the

systematic tapping of this tree, it would probably yield abundance of crude

sugar,

* Watt, ‘ Dictionary of the Economic Products of India,’ vol. i, p. 67,

100 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

Salix tetrasperma, Roxb.—At the commencement of the hot season, when

tropical trees are at their maximum of physiological activity, the upper surface

of the leaves of this tree are occasionally covered with a syrupy exudation

which dries up in thin white flakes to a sugar or manna. The same trees often

yield this exudation several years in succession, but it appears to be confined

to a few trees, and is not common, Those from which I gathered it were

growing on a laterite soil at an elevation of 4,300 feet at Mahableshwar in the

Western Ghats, I could not make out whether the exudation was caused by

the punctures of insects or otherwise, but a microscopical examination of the

leaves would probably show this. Two or three other species of Salix have

also been observed to yield a saccharine exudation ; Salix fragilis in Persia,

S. Chilensis in Chili, and Salix sp.in the Punjab. The exudation from the

species was very soluble in water, about one in two, yielded a slight

precipitate with acetate of lead, and melted at about 150° C, Assayed

with Fehlings’ solution it afforded 10 per cent. of a reducing sugar. M. Raby*

analysed a sample of manna said to be derived from the leaves and young

branches of a willow found in Persia, which appears to closely resemble the

exudation under notice,

J. G. PREBBLE.

[The above is extracted from Notes on Economic Botany by Mr. J. G.

Prebble of Bombay, which appeared in the Pharmaceutical Journal on 8th

July, 1893,—Ep. |

No. VIL.—A STRANDED DOLPHIN,

I forward, for our museum, a fairly complete skull of Sotalia plumbea

(Flower), the Leaden-coloured Dolphin, The specimen was cast ashore a couple

of miles north of the town of Dhanu, Tanna District, and there I found it

and was able to rescue so much of it. Carrion beasts and birds and putrefac-

tion made exact measurements as impossible as the preservation of the entire

skeleton, but enough of the tough skin was left to show that it was unspotted,

The length was over six feetand underseven anda half, Thecarcase was much

contorted and mutilated and stank fearfully, so it could not be accurately

measured, and indeed the skull was only obtained by a liberal remuneration to

people who know no distinction of smells.

I may here observe that although the stranding of the larger Cetacea is not

very uncommon, I have never, in 40 years’ acquaintance with them, seen a

stranded Dolphin before,

W. F. SINCLAIR, I.C.S.

Tanna District, April, 1894.

* Hooper, ‘ Chemical Notes on Mannas,’ Pharm. Journ., [8], vol. xxi, p. 421.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 101

No. VII.—A TIGER EATING A BEAR,

Last April, while taking an afternoon stroll down a lovely road cut through

Sal Forest, which had been cleared to a breadth of 200 feet, I observed that

one of the numerous bees’ nests, at the top of the trees, seemed to possess an

unusual amount of vitality, and close inspection convinced me that the

disturbance was due to the presence of a bear; so I sent a man off to my camp

for an elephant anda gun. As soon as these arrived, I approached the tree

and fired at the bear, whereupon he descended at a pace not conceivable to the

uninitiated ; whilst doing so he was badly hit in the body and bled profusely, but

he went off through the high grass jungle at a great pace and we lost him. The

next morning we took up his trail, which was an easy matter, as the blood spots

had not been obliterated, and we found his carcase being devoured by a tiger !

We came on to the scene so suddenly that I was not prepared for a shot and

the tiger disappeared into the forest and escaped.

T have heard of tigers eating their dead companions, but never heard of them

appeasing their hunger on bears before. My mahaut, however, told me it was

not unusual,

T. J. CAMPBELL,

Duvupri, Assam, September, 1893.

No. VIII.—FOOD OF THE WHITE-EYED BUZZARD.

I had proof the day before yesterday that hawks feed on land-crabs, a fact

that personally I was not before aware of, and which may not be known

generally ; so I write this for record and to elicit information from others,

I was strolling along a path by the bank of a jungle stream, and, as I came

round the corner, I saw a few yards off a hawk on the ground apparently

tearing at something ; on seeing me the bird rose to fly away andI shot it,

On picking up the specimen I found that it had one claw of a crab firmly fixed

to its beak. Going back to the spot the bird rose from, I could find nothing,

but I concluded that it had killed a crab, of course to eat, that the crab had

nipped it, and that when I came up it was trying to disentangle itself, I had

the bird skinned and send it down to you, It was not till some time after I

got home that the claw relaxed and fell off, but I have tied it on as I found it,

I know that tigers and jackals eat land-crabs, but never knew before that

hawks did,

KENNETH MACKENZIE, Colonel,

CHIKALDA, BERaR, 20th April, 1894,

[The bird sent down by Col, Mackenzie is a young specimen of the White-

Kyed Buzzard, Butastur teesa.—ED., | .

102 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

No, IX.—THE STRYCHNINE TREE.

The Strychnine tree, Strychnos Nua-vomica, Linnus, grows wild in the South

Konkan and several other parts of India, especially in the coast districts,

According to Kurz and others, it is found in Burma, Assam, and Cochin-

China, extending as far as Northern Australia, Fliickiger and Hanbury state

that it is indigenous to most parts of India, and Dr, Wellington Gray is of

opinion that it is one of the indigenous species. Sir Emmerson Tennent

remarks that it is abundant in the prodigious forests of Ceylon, and says that

it grows in great luxuriance in the vicinity of ruimed tanks. He also states

that, “ Among the Malabar immigrants there is a belief that the seeds of the

goda-kuduru (Strychnos Nux-vomica), if habitually taken, will act as a prophylac-

tic against the venom of the cobra-de-capello (Naia tripudians) ; and adds that

he has been assured that “‘ the coolies coming from the coast of India accustom

themselves to eat a single seed per day in order to acquire the desired protection

from the effects of the serpent’s bite.” From Tennent’s remark, it appears

that the drug as a medicine is of modern introduction in Ceylon, and that the

Sinhalese seem to have learnt its uses from Indian coolies and other immigrants.

Flickiger and Hanbury’s statement and Dr. Wellington Gray’s opinion, as well

as Tennent’s remark, go against the suggestion that the plant was introduced

from Ceylon, The island of Ceylon is so very close to India that the Ceylon

flora is, in many respects, very nearly allied to that of the southern coast of

India. It is a well-known fact that there is a large number of plants which are

indigenous both to India and Ceylon, and it seems to me the strychnine tree

is one of them,

The strychnine plant is a moderate-sized tree. Its stem is usually short,

thick, and often crooked, It bears small greenish-white tubular flowers arranged

in terminal corymbs. In Western India, and all along the coast, the tree begins

to flower in March and April, and in places where it flowers late it continues to

do so till the beginning of the rains, or sometimes even later, In Burma,

according to Kurz, it flowers in April and May, and that is obviously due

to the Burmese climate, The fruit is an indehiscent berry of the size and

shape of a small orange, and, when ripe, is of a deep orange-yellow colour,

Tt is filled with a very bitter, gelatinous, white pulp, in which the seeds are

vertically placed in an irregular manner, According to Brandis the pulp is

orange-coloured, W.R. Dunstan says “the pulp when fresh has a very bitter

taste, and is white, but on drying becomes dark brown.” It seems the colour

of the pulp changes according to the age of the fruit and the locality in which

the plant grows. The seeds are of a light greyish hue and have a satiny or

glistening appearance, They are flat, rounded, and small, a little less than an

inch in diameter, by about a quarter of an inch in thickness, They are

extremely compact and horny, and have a very bitter taste,

Note,=This letter appeared in the Times of India on 5th May, 1894.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 103

The sitychnine tree sheds its leaves like most other trees, and there appears

to be no doubt about the fact. The time, however, depends upon climatic in-

fluence, In Western India this usually happens towards the end of the cold

season, when the tree begins to get new leaves. In Burma, according to Kurz,

it sheds its leaves in the hot season, and it appears to do so, though the hot

"season would seem to be a curious time to do such a thing, The hot season in

Burma is not so trying as with us, and always includes nearly a half of what

is commonly known as the cold season on this side of India, Besides, it should

be borne in mind that the process of shedding the leaves, which begins towards

the end of the cold season, is not always finished till the hot season has actually

begun, or in some cases till it is in full swing, Ina country where the women

do all the outdoor work and attend to business in almost all its departments,

while the men stay at home to mind the baby, it is not at all strange for the

strychnine tree to shed its leaves even in the hot season.

Roxburg was the first to remark that the pulp of the fruit seemed innocent

and was eaten by many birds. According to Hugh Cleghorn’s “ Forests and

Gardens of Southern India,” the fruit is eaten by the horn-bill, Buceros

malabaricus. Sir George Birdwood, in the “ Vegetable Products of Bombay,”

says, ‘‘ The fruit is commonly eaten in the Konkan for the sake of the pulp

enclosing its deadly seeds.” Beddome, in the “ Flora Sylvatica” of Madras,

remarks that, “ the pulp of the fruit is quite harmless and the favourite food

of many birds.” In the Bombay Gazetteer, for North Kanara, it is stated that

‘‘the pulp is harmless and is eaten by horn-bills, crows, monkeys, and even by

cattle.” Ainslie, however, has rightly observed that the pulp is poisonous, and

his opinion has been confirmed by Fliickiger and Hanbury, The experiments

made by Fliickiger and Hanbury gave abundant evidence of the presence of

poisonous alkaloids in the fresh as well as the inspissated juice of the ripe fruit,

It is to be regretted that almost all the botanical observers have not mentioned

the specific names of the various birds and monkeys they say they have seen

eating the fruit. The only bird that has been seen eating the fruit voraciously is

the Malabar Pied Horn-bill, Hydrocissa coronata. Cleghorn’s Buceros mala-

baricus is the same as this bird. Jerdon says the Malabar Pied Horn-

bill is very fond of the fruit of the kuchla, Strychnos Nuzx-vomica.

The ring-necked parrakeets, Psittacus torquatus, do sometimes peck at

the fruit, and drop it in large numbers, as it were out of mere wan-

tonness, or perhaps in search for a tolerably good fruit. Crows are

occasionally seen chasing the horn-bill on the tree, and this circumstance may

have led some persons to believe that the crows go there to eat the fruit, an

assertion which requires verification, The flying-fox, Pteropus medius, appears

to be fond of the fruit, but it seems to eat only the outer rind, and throws

down the broken fruit as if it did not like it very much. Among monkeys,

the only creature that is extremely fond of the fruit is the dark-faced monkey

Semmopithecus entellus, the Langur or Hanuman of Western India, Any man

who has spent a day or two, especially the early mornings and evenings, in the

104 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

forests of Ratnagiri and Sawantwady, when the plant is in fruit, must have

noticed these as well as other particulars, The pouch-mouthed bonnet monkey,

Macacus sinicus, which is tolerably common in the Konkan and on the coast,

always avoids the fruit, The Toque monkey,:Macacus pileatus, of Ceylon, has

never been known to eat the fruit; its cousin, the pouch-mouthed Bengal

monkey, Macacus rhesus, has been reported to be susceptible to strychnine poison,

Blandford says certain vegetable poisons are said to be taken by Semmopithecus -

entellus with impunity, doses of five and even ten grains of strychnine having

been given to one without effect, although the same drug killed Macacus rhesus

quickly. Village cattle, which go out every day for grazing purposes, do

always avoid the tree instinctively, The remarks in the North Kanara

Gazetteer that the pulp is even eaten by cattle cannot be very well understood.

Horses, which lead quite a different life, may possibly make a mistake, but it is

probable they find it out before it is too late. The leaves of the strychnine tree

are so bitter that they are not likely to find favour with cattle or horses, even

during. the time of scarcity. The tender sprouts, however, are eaten by goats

and some bullocks, I know of a bullock just now that is very partial to the

pink leaves. The poisonous character of the young twigs, sprouts, leaves and

fruit increases as they reach maturity, but even then the amount of the poison

they contain is not large enough to cause the death of the insects, birds and

mammals which feed upon them. The fruit,if eaten beyond a certain limit,

will undoubtedly bring about fatal results ; but Nature has so ordained that

the birds and mammals, which live on the fruit, eat only as much of it as is

sufficient for their wonderful digestive powers.

“ These are Thy glorious works, Parent of good.”

The commercial product of the plant is the seed known as nux vomica in the

drug market. As a medicine nua vomica does not seem to have been used

among the Aryans. In fact, the medicinal uses of the drug were unknown to

the ancient Hindoos. The Arabians are said to have been the first to use the

drug medicinally ; but, for want of sufficient evidence, it is not universally ac-

cepted, It is probable the early Arab traders on the coast may have learnt

the uses of the drug from the Nairs and other aboriginal tribes living on the

south-western coast of India, among whom the uses of the drug appear to have

been known from time immemorial, In Europe, however, the drug was intro-

duced in the sixteenth century, and in England, according to Parkinson, about

the year 1640,

The seed contains two alkaloids, Strychnine and Brucine, with a peculiar acid

known as acid trychnic or egasuric acid. ‘The bitter taste and highly poisonous

character of the drug are due to the presence of these alkaloids, In addition

to these, the seed is said to contain also mucilage and sugar. Strychnine is not

restricted to the seed, but occurs also in the wood, bark, leaves, twigs and

roots. Dr. Edward John Waring, in the Pharmacopeia of India, says that the

leaves of a certain parasitic plant of the order Loranthacee, “ growing on Nua-

vomica trees (Strychnos Nux-vomica) in the neighbourhood of Cuttack, have

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. ~* 105

been found to possess poisonous properties similar to those of the tree on

which it grows.” Dr, Waring then quotes from a letter received by him from

Sir W. O’Shaugnessy, and adds that O’Shaugnessy says he saw “an athletic

European sailor killed in less than an hour by half a drachm of the powdered

leaves taken by mistake for cubebs.” The action of Strychnine on lower mam-

mals and birds has been experimented upon in Ceylon and elsewhere, A

series of these interesting experiments have already been put before the public

by another correspondent, and I shall not repeat them here,

Extract of Nua Vomica and tincture, as well as Strychnine, are officinal not

only in the British Pharmacopzia, but also in the leading Pharmacopeeias of

Kurope. In India, the wood, bark, leaves and seed are all used in native medi-

cine, An empyreumatic oil is prepared from the fresh seeds and iy used in

native medicine, The medicinal and economic uses of the drug are fully

described in medical and other books, and it is needless to reproduce them in

this note, In the South Konkan, opium eaters, in the absence of opium, are

known to chew the seed, which is said to produce a kind of intoxication similar

to that of opium. The seed, on account of its stimulating and aphrodisiac

properties, is habitually chewed by Brahmins and others along with pan,

Piper Betle, the betel leaf, Owing to the difficulty of reducing the seed to

powder, itis seldom used for criminal purposes. The leaves, however, are

sometimes eaten by native women with a view to commit suicide, The

antidote usually employed is a drastic purgative.—Yours, &c.,

Bompay, April 6, 1894. R. M. DIXON,

No. X.—THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY.

The difficulty of knowing whether a plant is poisonous or not, and the some-

what divergent opinions of competent authors quoted by Dr. Kirtikar, recall

an incident which may have some bearing on this point. Being camped at

Mandvi on the Tapti, I was strolling in the cool of the evening with the

local Doctor, a Sonar by caste, and a good fellow to boot, There were plants

of the “ Atrophied Carcass,” more classically dubbed Jatropha curcas, scattered

about, and among other things I enquired if the seeds were not edible. He

replied that he did not think any one ever ate them except children, whereon I

ate half a dozen, and liked them, Next rains in Surat, a young Civilian and

myself, being great friends, were out for an evening walk, and finding the

Jatropha seeds ripe, I tempted him and we both ate, one of us a single seed and

the other two. We soon experienced an acrid burning sensation at the

back of the throat, followed by nausea and general malaise, which laid us

up all next day. The conclusion I came to was that chemical changes go on

in some seeds for long after they are ripe. This would account for many

divergencies of authorities, Ifear the conclusion my friend came to was that I

was neither botanist nor epicure, though he was too good to show it,

Poona, May, 1894. F, GLEADOW.

106 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. xe

No. XIL—SOUTH AFRICAN SNAKES,

During a recent visit to Natal, I was much struck by two facts which came to

my knowledge about the local snakes, and which seems to me worth recording.

First :—Is the power (possessed by certain Natal snakes) of springing clear

off the ground. On two occasions, I saw a snake spring at least eighteen inches

off the ground in attempting to strike its enemy. In both cases it was of a

species known as the “ Night Adder,’ and measuring about 30 inches in length.

I regret I failed to discover its scientific name, I was told that the “ Puff

Adder” can and does make similar springs, by persons who had seen it do so,

This is all the more extraordinary because the Puff Adder isa stout heavy

snake, Several other species are popularly credited with a similar power.

Second :—Is the power possessed by one of the two local cobras (? Naja

caffra) of squirting venom at an enemy. A member of this society learned in

such things tells me that this fact has been mentioned more than once by

African travellers. I have it from two reliable witnesses. My brother and Dr,

Lang, the Residency Surgeon of Maseru Basuto-land, when attacking one of

these cobras together, were met by a jet or spray of poison squirted at them

by the snake, The doctor received it on the cheek and in one eye (my brother

had protected his face with his raised arm), The result was very severe

inflammation, which only subsided gradually and after the free application of

carbonate of soda. The poison must have been squirted a distance of at least 5

or 6 feet.

Somali-land has now become an Indian hunting ground, and it will be well for

future visitors there to keep in mind these two traits of South African snakes,

for their North African cousins may possess the same power and habits,

There are said (locally) to be two species of cobras in Natal—one black and

the other mottled, I never saw the former, but the latter often. It is much

smaller than our cobra, and handsomely marked on a pale ground. I did not see

any well-marked spectacles, but the hood was quite plain when the beast was

angry. Incompany with my brother I killed one of these cobras in Basuto-land

in January—February, and after opening her took out 16 young ones. These

were each only about 3 inches long, but were apparently fully formed, Hach

youngster, in utero, was isolated by a gelatinous environment, but there was

absolutely no sign of any egg-shell, was under the impression that the cobras

and all that division of the snakes were invariably oviparous. This specimen

most certainly was not.

IT heard terrible tales of a snake known as the “Black Mamba.” How at

certain times of year it “‘runs amok” (? at breeding time) and charges indis-

-criminately at anything living it sees or hears. In deadliness our King Cobra

is a harmless worm compared to it, &c.,&c. But I had these tales only on

popular (though unanimous) report.

Bompay, May, i894. | R. C. WROUGHTON,

Wee pia

—

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 107

No, XIL.—EHUPODOTIS EDWARDSII.

When out coursing on the 5th June I came across a fine specimen of this

bird on an extensive maidan near some low sandy hillocks; only about 12

miles from Gurmukhtesar on the Ganges. As this is the first I have seen

or heard of ina seven years’ residence in Babugarh, their occurrence in the

Meerut District must be rare enough to be worth recording. Jerdon says:

T have not heard of its occurring anywhere in the valley of the Ganges.”

Some four years ago I came on two houbara (Houbara Macqueenii) near

here,

Florican visit us in small numbers during the rains and cold weather ; two

flocks of the large sand grouse (Pérocles Arenarius) also come in during the

winter. One haunts the plain on the Gurmukhtesar road, the other a maidan

between the two little naddis on which the Civil Veterinary Department Depdt

is situated,

G, M. RAYMENT,

BABUGARH, 6th June, 1894, Veterinary Major,

No. XIJ—A PANTHER SMOKED TO DEATH IN A CAVE,

In May last I was out shikarring for a few days and had khubber of a panther

marked down in thick jungle. I hada beat, but nothing appeared. The man

said the panther must have gone into acave in this jungle, and, accordingly, for

about one hour they tried to smoke the beast out of this cave, but without avail.

Next day a man reported to me that a panther’s pugs had been seen to come

out of the cave, but on the morning of the second day another man came to say

there was a great smell coming from it, and he thought the panther must

have been smoked to death. I accordingly sent off some men and they

brought back to me the body ofa fine male panther which they had with

considerable difficulty dragged out of the cave, As the panther had been

dead at least 36 hours and stank badly, his skin was useless. Next day I went

to examine the cave. I found it was in a nullah under some very

massive rocks. There were 4 if not 5 entrances ; none of them very large, and

in only one of them could a man crawl. Two of the entrances were about 8 feet

higher than the others. Ido not think any passage in the cave could have

been longer than 20 feet, but as the entrances were so small, I could not

possibly examine the place. At the two upper entrances the men had lit fires,

and at one of the lower entrances they had made another small fire, but it was

put out at once, so as to allow the panther to escape through this entrance, It

was near this latter entrance the dead panther was found. One of the men said

he heard a panther growl when he lit the fire, but my shékari listened and hear-

ing no sound disbelieved the man. I cannot understand why this panther was

so foolish as to stay and be smoked to death, and thinking the incident may

be worthy of record, I beg to submit it for our Journal.

Bompay, 8th June, 1894, REGINALD GILBERT,

108 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X,

No. XIV.—MUSCULAR ACTION AFTER DEATH.

- T see in the last number of the Society's Journal an account of the vitality

of a snake’s tail after its separation from the body. Perhaps the following

may be interesting to some of our members :—

In the month of July, some 4 or 5 years ago, I was out shooting florican

with a friend of mine in Guzerat, We had had fairly good luck, and as we

were making our way to the Railway Station to catch the early train back

to Ahmedabad, I noticed my friend, who was shooting in line on my left, sud-

denly point his gun at something on the ground and fire, and, on asking what

it was, he said it was a large black cobra and that he had shot it in two pieces,

the head portion disappearing down a hole. As we were in a hurry to catch the

rain we went on, but very soon heard one of the beaters calling out, and looking

back saw him running towards us with the head portion of the snake following

him, with the hood expanded. It appeared that he had remained behind trying to

dig out the cobra, and the result was that it came out of the hole and went for

him. Of course the snake could not get much pace on and was quickly killed.

Karacal, 1st June, 1894. 8. B. DOIG,

CORRESPONDENCE,

No. 3576 or 1894-95.

MUNICIPAL COMMISSIONER’S OFFICE,

Bompay, 14th May, 1894,

From H. A. ACWORTH, Esgq., LC.S.,

Municipal Commissioner for the City of Bombay,

To THE HONORARY SECRETARY,

Bombay Natural History Society.

Srr,—I have the honor.to forward copy of an extract from a communication

addressed to me on 11th instant by Surgeon-Lieut.-Colonel T. 8. Weir, Health

Officer to the Municipality. Members of the Natural History Society have

in times past frequently interested themselves in the condition of Vehar and

Tulsi lakes with special reference to the piscine life within them, and I should

be grateful for any suggestions with which the Society may be able to favor

me, I need not add that every assistance within my power will be given to

members of the Society desiring to visit the lakes.—I have the honor to be,&e.

(Sd.) H.. A. ACWORTH,

Municipal Commissioner for the City of Bombay.

Extract from the Health Officer's letter, No, 5412, dated 11th May, 1894, to

the address of the Municipal Commissioner.

“ Suggestions have occurred to me as the result of my inspection, and I

“ venture to submit them. I was very much impressed on this occasion by the

greater stagnation of the Tulsi water and the few evidences of life other

PROCEEDINGS. 109

‘than vegetable matter within it, The contrast between Tulsi and Vehar and

‘Tansa is very great, Fish are abundant in Tansa and also numerous in Vehar,

“ but there are few to be seen in Tulsi, I observed that while the water from

*‘ the lake had no odour, water taken by me from an air-cock half way between

* Vehar and Tulsi had an odour of decay such as the water delivered in the

* city had at one time, This water was tepid.

“ T have a suggestion hereafter to make in regard to this, It seems to me

“that it might be well to consult the Bombay Natural History Society in

“regard to the Tulsi lake, and the fish it might be advisable to bring into the

lake from Tansa, Having the Natural History Society, advantage might be

taken to secure the assistance of scientific men in the conservancy of the lake,”

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE MEETING HELD ON 10TH APRIL, 1894.

A meeting of the members took place at the Society’s Rooms on Tuesday,

the 10th April, 1894, Dr, D. MacDonald presiding.

NEW MEMBERS.

The election of the following new members was announced :—

Dr. Pandurang Gopal (Bombay), Khan Bahadoor Nawab Mahomed Sala-

mullakhan (Booldana), Mr, Cecil Richardson (Bombay), Surg.-Captain R. S. F,

Henderson.(Deesa), Surg.-Captain R. Pearse (Calcutta), Mr. A, C. Crampton

(Monywa, Upper Burma), Mr. J. Du Boulay, LC.S. (Dhulia), Major G. S.

Rodon (Belgaum), Mr, C. H. Travers (Ganjam, Madras), Mr. A. W. Peet (Viza-

gapatam), Mr. Muncherjee Framjee Khan (Bombay), Surg.-Capt. C. Donovan,

I.M.S. (Maymyo, Burma), Rev. L. M. Haslope (Bombay), Lieut. C. C. Boileau

(Fort Aijal, N. Lushai Hills, Cachar), and Capt. J. C. Francis (Deolali).

CONTRIBUTIONS.

Mr, H, M. Phipson, the Honorary Secretary, acknowledged receipt of the

following contributions received since the last meeting :—

Contributions. Description. Contributors.

2 Monkeys (alive) ...cccsvcere MacactisS SiNiCUS....ccccecsseee Mr. W. Winiker.

TL TBISID. © cccaceddenbouocodoedbogeded | Holacanthus nicobariensis.) Major W. G. Forbes.

1 Snake (alive) ........s0000 | Gongylophis conicus......... | Mr. F. A. Little.

A number of insects and land

shells, from Bisrampur..| = evereeeee | Mr. J. A. Betham.

1 Fossil Tooth of an Hle-

[DORN GeccocuGe codoocosdccueed | wll §) Ver” Sopadouad | Col. K. Mackenzie.

Striped Hyzena...... w-| Hycena striata ...ccsseccseeee Surg.-Major J. P. Barry.

il SiT@I@ soconceooano00c soe} ZAMEDIS MUCOSUS oveceeeeeeee Do.

iL Woe! BDYevete | Eogoonsneqococbecd | Tragulus Meminna.........+0. Mr. W.F. Sinclair, I.C.8.

:Dobson’s Wrinkled-lipped

IBANE Gsqoocoaceocoocoonaodddcund Nyctinomus tragatus......... Do.

1 Screech Owl (alive) ......| Strix javanica..........-eee | Mr. A. C. Lloyd.

1 Large Sea Mussel............ Pinna SQUAMOSA.....crcereere Mr, C, F. G. Lester.

1 Cowfish yressccsseverearsersoee .| Ostracion cornutus ....... | Capt .H, L. Shopland.

110 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

Contributions. Description, Contributors.

L*Snake orccocreccvessoe maatieanna Dipsas trigonata.c.ccsccrores} Mr. T. Harris.

Specimens of Marine animals,

from the Arabian Sea... eanncence Mr. M. Malting.

Nest and Eggs of the purple-|

rumped Sunbird ......+0 Arachneckthra zeylonica ...| Mr. G. de Bildt.

A collection of insects from

Kiharaphoral (cccccececeoneel jl) JU ln) erasers Mrs. Pearson.

Marine Specimens from the

Arabian Sea Cable of

WO DTY Soh vad ecese gst seuloh Cut NaN kasadneel a Capt. Greery, R.N.

He SNAKE Vi saescncessuccsecdgesasne ZAMENIS STACIis...eceececcaree Mr. L. Butcher.

13 Snakes,from Shillong ...J «=| eeeeeeree Capt. C. A. R. Browne.

A series of Photographs of}

\yalely J Mrawanels) kehcooodood!) 9 | Goncooden Mr. H. A. Heath.

1 Rock Horned Owl (alive).| Ruto bengalensis .,..,....00. Mrs. Godfrey.

1 Klipspringer’s Head ...... Nanotragus oreotragus ...... Capt. J. C. Francis.

1 Oryx Head .sscocsceseorscees OPS (SETS) sonosesnecnoconcecodn Do.

1 Gazelle Head ...ccerceroere | Gazelle scemmeringii ...... | Do,

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIBRARY.

The Canadian Entomologist, Vol. XXVI, No. 1. In Exchange.

The Flowering Plants of Western India (A. K. Nairne), From the Author,

Proceedings of the Linnean Soc, of N.S. W., Vol. VIII. In Exchange.

The Indian Forester, Vol. XX, No. 3, Part II. In Exchange.

The Geography of Mammals (W. L. Sclater). From the Author.

A NEW BOOK.

The Honorary Secretary drew the attention of the members present toa

very handy little volume just published by the Rev. A. K. Nairne, through

the Education Society’s Press, Bombay, on the Flowering Plants of Western

India, and stated that the author would be glad to receive corrections and

additions from members of the Society with the object of perfecting the

Second Edition of the work,

PAPERS READ.

The following papers were then read and a vote of thanks was passed to the

authors :—The larva and pupa of Spalgis epius, Westwood, by E. H. Aitken ;

Fertilization of the Vanilla flower by bees, by W. F. Sinclair, I.C.S. ; Annelide

reefs, by W. F, Sinclair, LC.S.; The Flamingo found breeding in India,

by Lieut. C. D. Lester ; Curious instance of muscular action after death,

by E. J. Ebden, 1.C.8.; The breeding season of the Spotted-billed Duck,

by C. Hudson, 1.C.8.; The breeding season of the Spotted-billed Duck, by —

Sir E. Buck, LC.S.; Measurement of Tigers, by Surg.-Capt. H. F, Cleveland ;

Wolf Cubs, by Capt. G. B. O’Donnell; and Stalking Sambar, by Major

G. 8. Rodon.

Chromo hth. London.

io)

169)

JOURNAL

OF THE

3 OO) ME a Ay SMe

Alatural History Socicty.

Vol. IX.] BOMBAY. [No. 2.

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR.

PART III.

By HE. C. Stuart Baker, F.z.8.

(With Plate C.)

(Continued from page 24.)

Family Lanide.

Sub-family Lanne.

(194) Lantus conLuRomEs.—The Burmese Shrike.

Oates, No. 474; Hume, No. 260 Ter.

This bird is, strange to say, not a winter but a summer visitant to the

North Cachar Hills, and it is probable that it works its way north-west

through Manipur from Burma. It is, at no time, a common bird, and

some years I have not seen a single one. It never extends to the west

of the district, and is most often to be met with on the loftier hills of the

extreme east. I took its nest for the first time in May, 1890, and since

then have taken some half dozen. The nests are just like those of

LL. nigriceps, and the eggs only differ in being somewhat smaller ; 12

of them measure, on an average, *87" x °71".

112 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX,

(195) L. ERyTHRoNoTUS.—The Rufous-backed Shrike.

Oates, No. 476 ; Hume, Nos. 259 and 237 Bis.

A very rare bird, but resident wherever it is found,

(196) L, tEPHRONOTUS.—The Grey-backed Shrike.

Oates, No. 477 ; Hume, No. 258.

Very common during the cold weather, anda good many birds

remain to breed on the hills over 4,000 feet. The nest isa very deep

massive cup made of coarse and fine grasses and very neatly lined with

the latter. Sometimes the nest, in the same manner as the nests of

some other shrikes, is made entirely of fine, strong, flowering grasses, so

placed that the feathery ends are all outside ; most of my nests have

been taken from stout forks of stumpy trees, about four to six feet from

the ground as a rule, but sometimes as high up as 20 feet or even more.

On the other hand, I have seen one nest in a scrubby bush, and others

again in high stragely ones.

The eggs are generally four or five in number, but once I took one

with five eggs, on the point of hatching, and two young ones which

had just emerged from the shell.

Most of my eggs are of the pale greenish-grey type of egg, so common

amongst the eggs of L. nigriceps, but one clutch of two is much brighter

coloured, the ground-colour being quite a bright tint of green, and the

blotches also of a much clearer colour than usual. I have also seen a

few clutches of the pink type.

Twenty eggs averaged *90" *°73".

(197) L, 1saBELLINvs.—The Pale-brown Shrike.

Oates, No. 479 ; Hume, No. 262.

T have seen but one specimen of this bird, which was obtained in

these parts. It is now in the collection of Mr. H. A. Hole, and was

shot, I think, in November, 1891.

(198) L. cristatus.—The Brown Shrike.

Oates, No. 481 ; Hume, No. 261.

This is the commonest of the shrikes during the cold weather, and

some few remain to breed during the early rains. From August to

the middle of November I have never met with a bird.

The nidification appears to be very similar to that of Z. vittatus, bat

the eggs are more boldly blotched and marked than are those of that

bird, The nest is also less deep than most shrikes’ nests are,

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR, 113

(199) Hemirus picatus.—The Black-backed Pied Shrike.

Oates, No. 484 ; Hume, No. 267.

I have met with two birds, males of course, which were undoubtedly

of this species, but the common type is the next.

(200) H. carrratus.—The Brown-backed Pied Shrike.

Oates, No. 485 ; Hume, No. 267 A.

This is the common form of Pied Shrike met with in these hills. It

is to be found everywhere from 2,000 feet upwards at all times and in

considerable numbers. They are very sociable birds, and, even in the

breeding season, they collect in small flocks when feeding. I have

taken four eggs from a nest on one occasion, and on two others have

taken three. They have a very sweet little song, though a short

and rather jerky one.

(201) H. opscurus.—The Malay Pied Shrike.

I met with an undoubted specimen of this species at Laisung in 1888,

The bird had been caught on the nest in a hair noose and was brought

to me with the eggs and nest. This latter was a beautiful little cup

made of shreds of soft grass, covered outwardly with cobwebs. There

was no lining of any sort, but so soft was the material used that none

was required. It was built in a small fork of a branch at about six

feet from the ground, and, as far as I could ascertain from the Naga

who brought it to me, in a very exposed position beside a track leading

through some heavy forest.

The eggs, of which there were three, are quite unlike those of either

Hemipus capitatus or any other kind of shrike with which I am

acquainted, yet, for all that, they havea certain shrike-like character

about them.

In ground-colour two are a pale yellowish-grey, in the third more a

yellowish-brown. The markings consist of small, fine, irregular lines

and specks of vandyke-brown, and others paler and more cloudy in

character, of neutral tint or blue grey ; in the third egg there are also

cloudings of pale sienna-brown, and the bluish secondary blotches are

confined to the extremity of the larger end, in the other two being

fairly equally, though sparsely, distributed throughout.

In general character these eggs are much like eggs of Schentparus

mandelliz.

They measure '76" x ‘56"” and °68" x ‘52”.

114 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

They are regular ovals in shape, being but slightly compressed to-=

wards the smaller end ; the texture is fine and close with a decided

surface gloss, though the shell is very thin and fragile.

(202) TEPHRODORNIS PELVicUS.—Ihe Nepal Wood-shrike.

Oates, No. 486; Hume, No. 263.

Old females sometimes, though very rarely, attain the black bill, for

I have one female in my collection which was sexed by myself, and the

bill is very nearly entirely black. In old males the irides are bright

yellow, in adult, but young birds, it varies from yellow to brownish-

yellow in females, and in males of the first year the iris is a dull pale

glaucous-blue.

I believe the flocks never to consist of more than one pair of birds

and their last brood. On one occasion I shot all the six birds ina

flock, and they proved to be an adult male and female, and four young.

On another, I found eleven birds feeding together, but, when they

eventually left the tree, they divided into two parties and flew off in

opposite directions.

This bird is very common in North Cachar, more especially in the

scattered oak forests to the north of the sub-division. During the

breeding season they leave the more open country and take to ever-

green forest and heavily wooded ravines and valleys. The nests 1 have

taken of this bird were far more like the nests of Aemipus (except of

course in size) than that described in Hume’s “ Nests and Eggs” (Vol.

I, p. 830) as belonging to this bird, and which seems very much like

the commonest type of nest of Lanius nigriceps. The three nests

I have personally taken were all rather broad, shallow structures made

of coarse grasses, twigs and lichen, strongly bound together and lined

with fine seed down,

The eggs contained in the first nest I obtained differ in size only

from the eggs of many Minivets; the ground-colour is white with a

very faint tinge of green, and the markings consist of large spots

aad small blotches of vandyke-brown, rather pale ,and different shades

of neutral tint ; they are fairly numerous everywhere, but most so at

the larger end.

The three eggs measure 90°70", °57’x*69" and *83” x °67.!

The next nest contained only two eggs, in coloration exactly like the

most common type of eggs of Pericrocotus erythropygius, the ground-

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 115

colour is a very faint brownish-white, and the markings, which are very

numerous, are nearly all brown with only a few big underlying ones of

dull purplish. The character of all the marks is distinctly longitudinal,

and they form no distinct ring or cap at the larger end though they

are so numerous there that they become blurred and ill defined.

They, the eggs, measure '94” x*70" and 93" x68".

The third clutch of eggs in shape and colour closely resemble the

eggs of the common Wood-shrike.

(203) T. PonDIcERIANUS.—The Common Wood-shrike.

Oates, No. 488 ; Hume, No. 265.

Quite a rare bird and never, | believe, found here above 2,000 feet.

(204) Prricrocorus sprectosus.—The Indian Scarlet Minivet,

Oates, No. 490; Hume, No. 271.

The typical P. speciosus is decidedly rare here. I obtained a pair of

these birds and a nest containing two eggs on the 31st May, 1891.

I may say at once that in no single detail do these eggs or the.

different nests I have seen agree with those described by Hutton.

(Hume’s “ Nests and Eggs,” Vol. I, p. 335.) The first nest I ever saw

was one which was pointed out to me by a Naga boy on the

13th May, 1891, and which was built low down in a fork of a small

dead sapling. In shape it was a shallow, broad cup, measuring

internally 3:2" by 1:5” and inwardly 2°5” by less than half an inch in

depth. It was made, just like all other minivets’ nests, of fine grasses,

fern and moss roots, a few fine soft twigs and thin weed stalks, all

massed closely together with innumerable cobwebs, and finally complete-

ly covered, outwardly, with lichen. Another nest, which contained

two young ones, was brought to me towards the end of the same

month, and I myself found a nest in April, 1892, from which the young

flew as I climbed the tree. Both these nests agreed almost exactly in

every detail with that already described.

The only two eggs I have seen were in shape and teature typical

minivets, but 1 have come across no other eggs of this genus coloured

the same ; the ground-colour is a decided greenish-white and the

markings are all of the same kind, i.., pale reddish or purplish-brown

spots rather smeared longitudinally in their shape and character,

sparsely scattered all over the eggs. ‘There are no real secondary

spots though some few markings are pale and indistinct,

116 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

The two eggs measure *87"X°60" and :91” 61," being thus far less

broad than Hutton’s eggs.

205) P. FRATERCULUS.—Lhe Burmese Scarlet Minivet.

Oates, No. 491; Hume, No. 271 Ter.

This is the common type in these hills, though it is hard to say of

some birds whether they belong to this or the last species.

As regards wing measurements, I have birds with wings of the fol-

lowing size : 3°7", 3°72", 3°78", 3°82", 3°88", 4", and 4:1",

Now, as Oates gives the wing measurement of P. speciosus as 4°15”

and P. fraterculus as 3°7", it will be seen that there is a complete series

of intermediate sizes, so that it would seem as if wing measurement must

be put on one side and cannot be used as a distinguishing feature

between these two species. This leaves only the tail to go by, which

is absolutely useless, for my biggest bird has the central tail feathers

wholly black, the next biggest has the outer webs red for three-

quarters of their length, and yet again a bird whose wing is only 3°71"

has his two central tail feathers without a speck of red on them, and has

in addition a great part of the second pair also black on the inner webs.

This species is found everywhere from the plains up to about 4,000

feet. It is an early breeder, and, by the end of April and early in May,

the young are all hatched and many nearly fully fledged. I have never

yet taken its eggs, but have often seen the nest, which is just the same

in every way as the one I described belonging to P. spectosus.

Personally, I believe P. jfraterculus to be a bad species and think it

should be suppressed.

(206) P. BrevirostRis.—The Short-billed Minivet.

Oates, No. 495; Hume, No, 273.

I have never met with this bird except towards the low lands north

and south of the sub-division up to some 1,500 or 2,000 feet, but

below this altitude it is not rare.

(207) P. nucLectus.—-Hume’s Minivet.

Oates, No. 496; Hume, No, 273 Ter.

I obtained a male which, I believe, belonged to this species, in

October, 1891.

(208) P. sonaris—The Yellow-throated Minivet.

Oates, No. 498 ; Hume, No. 274,

Fairly common. Found on the very highest peaks. I took a nest

of this bird at Hangrum containing two young birds and an addled

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR., 117

ege. The nest was 3” across and about 1” deep. The’ materials used

were the ordinary ones, but the lichen on the outside was very scanty.

The one egg might almost have been mistaken for that of a sparrow,

rather longer in shape than usual, It is quite the darkest minivet’s

ege in my collection, and the markings, which are brown and inky,

are very numerous, coalescing at the larger end. The egg measures

-89" 56" and may prove to be an abnormally large one.

(209) P. roszus.—The Rosy Minivet,

Oates, No. 499; Hume, No. 275,

Not uncommon in the higher well-wooded valleys, and more especial-

ly is it to be frequently met with in the valley of the Laisung.

The only nest containing eggs which I have taken of this bird was

found in the above valley onthe 14th of May, 1891. The eggs are

like the second one described in Hume’s “ Nests and Eggs” (Vol. I,

p. 838), and are like lightly-marked eggs of Passer montanus.

The nest and others I have seen either empty or containing young

were all lined inside and densely covered outside with lichen, so that it

is only possible to ascertain what materials have been used by tearing

the nest to pieces.

(210) P. pEREGRINUS.—The Small Minivet.

Oates, No. 500; Hume, No. 270.

Common up to 2,000 feet, and not met with over 4,000,

(211) CamporHaga MELANoscHISTAA—The Dark Grey Cuckoo-shrike.

Oates, No. 505; Hume, No, 269.

Not uncommon in the cold weather, and some birds also remain to

breed on the higher peaks.

(212) C. syxest.—The Black-headed Cuckoo-shrike.

Oates, No. 508 ; Hume, No. 208.

I have two or three times met with this bird in these hills, once

getting a hen bird, together with the nest on which she was trapped.

(213) GRaucaLus MActI.—The Large Cuckoo-shrike,

Oates, No. 510 ; Hume, No. 270.

Common everywhere, from the plains to the highest hills,

Sub-family Artamine.

(214) Arramus Fuscus.—The Ashy Swallow-shrike,

Oates, No. 512; Hume, No. 287.

Very common in suitable places throughout the sub-division.

118 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 7X.

I have carefully studied the variations in the bill of this bird and

have come to the following conclusions : Nestlings have the whole bill

a blackish-brown, the gape yellow. In the autumn of the first year the

bird has the bill a dull dark brown, the basal third alone being of a

dull livid blue.

In the male of the second year the bill becomes brighter and only

the terminal third is a dark brown. In the third year, the whole bill

becomes a bright mauve-blue with merely the tip of both mandibles

black.

In females the oldest birds have their bills almost as blue as the

males, but it is more of a livid than a mauve tint.

Family Oriolide.

(215) OxzoLus inpicus.—The Black-naped Oriole.

Oates, No. 514; Hume, No, 471.

I have taken two nests of this bird, each containing two eggs. The

nests in no way differed from those of O. melanocephalus and were

built in creepers hanging very high upon lofty trees in situations

extremely difficult to get at.

The eggs are of the usual oriole type, three havea decidedly pink

ground and are marked in the ordinary way with rather dark reddish-

brown, and the fourth only differs in being paler and rather more bold-

ly and sparingly blotched with a darker brown.

This species is not rare here during the months of December, Janu-

ary and February; but the birds which were taken with the two nests,

above mentioned, are the only ones Ihave seen between March and

October.

Two of the eggs measure 1:09"X°76" and 1°05" "79".

The other two eggs I sent to the Indian Museum, Calcutta, without

measuring them first ; but, if I remember rightly, they were rather

larger than those in my own collection.

(216) O. TENUIROSTRIS.—The Burmese Black-naped Oriole.

Oates, No. 515; Hume, No. 471 Ter.

Very rare here and I have but seldom met with it. The only eggs

T have seen were a pair brought to mein Silchar, together with the

remains of the parent birds.

They are small eggs, measuring only 1°01" & ‘74" and -98" & *73",

and in colour they area very faint pinky-white, boldly marked with

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 119

light reddish-brown, these marks being principally confined to the

larger end. The nest I did not see, but it was said to have been taken

from a Babool tree, about five feet from the ground.

(217) O. meLANocEPHALUS.—The Indian Black-headed Oriole.

Oates, No. 521; Hume, No. 472.

Common everywhere.

(218) O. TRAtI1.—The Maroon Oriole.

Oates, No. 522 ; Hume, No. 474.

Rather rare here, but still to be met with pretty frequently in suit-

able places. In the cold weather I have seen it in the plains of

Cachar and I have taken its nest at Hangrum, ata height of nearly

6,000 feet.

It always seems to build its nest at an immense height from the

ground, and generally amongst the small outer branches of the tree

selected. Twice I have only managed to save one out of three eggs

contained in the nest, twice two out of three, and but once have I

brought (or, I should say, had brought) down all three eggs in safety.

The four I have measured are 1:2" x °8”, 1°14” x °76!, 1:12"X:77" and

HT” X< °82!4,

The eggs are just like rather deep coloured ones of O. kundoo or

_ 0. melanocephalus, but one has one or two most peculiar long wavy lines

of a dark greenish-brown colour and also a few blotches of the same.

This is, most likely, altogether abnormal, for neither of the other two

eggs in the same nest possessed any such; for, though one was too

broken to keep, I examined it carefully in order to ascertain if such

was the case.

Family Hulabetide.

(219) Huxapss wwrermep14.—The Indian Grakle.

Oates, No. 524 ; Hume, No. 693.

This grakle is very common in North Cachar, breeding freely every-

where up to some 3,000 feet. The eggs are in general colour the same

as those of Sturnopastor, rather brighter and perhaps less glossy ; in

most eggs the markings consist of large blotches and spots of chocolate~

brown, with others underlying them of pale inky and lavender, In

some eggs, however, the marks are all of the secondary type, and even

these are very faint, one egg in my collection appearing entirely blue

unless closely looked into,

120 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X,

My smallest egg measures 1°31" *99" and the largest 1°62" 1°14".

The average size of sixteen eggs is 1:47" 1:02". They seem to prefer

trees, for building purposes, which have no branches for some height

from the ground. Year after year they return to the same tree,

sometimes making use of an old hole, but more generally making a

new one close to it; in this way some trees may be seen with halfa

dozen, or even more, nest holes, all within a few feet of one another.

They always build at a great height from the ground.

(220) CALORNIS CHALYBEIUS.—The Glossy Calornis.

Oates, No. 527 ; Hume, No. 690 Bis and No. 690 Ter.

Fairly common, more especially during the cold weather.

Family Sturnide.

(221) SruRNIA stNENsIs.—The Chinese Myna.

Oates, No. 536 ; Hume, No. 688 Ter.

I saw a flock of these birds once during March feeding on a large

cotton tree near the Stockade. I had no gun with me at the time, and

before the man I sent to fetch one had time to return, the birds flew

away and I did not again come across them.

(222) 8, MALABARICA.—The Grey-headed Myna.

Oates, No. 538 ; Hume, No. 688.

A very common bird here. I once shot a bird of this species (?)

with the whole of the underparts white; with the exception of the

vent and a broad rufous pectoral band.

(223) AmPELICEPS CoRONATUS.—lhe Gold-crest Myna.

Oates, No. 543 ; Hume, No. 698 Ter.

A very rare bird in North Cachar; seems to be more common in

some places in the plains not far from the hills.

(224) TemenvcHus PAGoDARUM.—The Black-headed Myna.

Oates, No. 544 ; Hume, No. 687.

I came across this bird on one occasion at Deyungmukh in the

end of April. It was then there in some numbers, but though I

have repeatedly been to the same place since and at about the same

time I have never again seen a single specimen.

(225) AcRIDOTHERES TRISTIS.—The Common Myna.

Oates, No. 549 ; Hume, No. 684. °

When I came here, these birds were very uncommon above 500

feet, but they are yearly making their way higher, are now common

up to 1,500 feet, and are met with now and then up to 3,000,

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR, 121

(226) AirmiopsaR Fuscus.—The Jungle Myna.

Oates, No. 552 ; Hume, No. 686.

Common up to 1,500 feet or 2,000.

(227) Ad. ateicinctus.—The Collared Myna.

Oates, No, 554; Hume, No. 686 Ter.

I have shot one specimen of this, a male, which I got in March,

1890,

(228) SrurNopasTor conTRa.—The Pied Myna.

Oates, No. 555 ; Hume, No. 683.

Common at the foot of the hills, and extending a short way up the

bigger streams.

(229) 8. SUPERCILIARIS.—The Burmese Pied Myna.

Oates, No. 556 ; Hume, No. 683 Bis.

I have seen only two specimens of this bird, both caught on the nest

and brought to me by Nagas,

' Family Muscicapide.

(230) HemicHeLmon stBErica.—The Sooty Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 558; Hume, No. 296.

Very rare here, but a few birds are nearly always to be met with at

Hungrum, where some remain to breed and where I have once obtained

a male and twice a female.

On the 14th of May, 1891, I gota nest containing two egos, Close by

the Government Road, and situated in heavy tree jungle, with an under-

growth of Caladiums and similar plants, was an old stump, covered

with a mass of yellow convolvulus, and passing this one day I observed

a bird fly out and commence using very bad language, evidently in

the hopes of driving me from the tree; naturally the. effect was to

make me search the tree in the hopes of finding a nest and, sure

enough, T soon found a massive moss cup wedged in between the

stump and the remains of a bough. Having discovered the nest, I shot

the bird and found it to be a female of this species; the nest was a

deep, compact cup made entirely of fresh green moss and lined with

moss roots only ; outwardly the diameter was about 4, and the depth

fully 23"; inwardly the cup was rather less than 2" across and about

1'2” deep.

The eggs, two in number, are quite typical fly-catcher’s eggs, of the

Cyornis type ; in general colour they are pale fawn.or stone-colour, and

122 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

they are minutely stippled with reddish at the larger end, where the

marks form a sort of blurred cap ; these marks or stipplings being prac-

tically non-existent towards the smaller end. One egg also has a

very fine, straggly line, of a red-brown, or clotted-blood colour, on the

cap. The two eggs measure 63" °52" and ‘64" x °52."

Another egg brought to me, sazd to belong to this fly-catcher, was

much the same, but the freckles even more blurred, and nearly equally

distributed over the whole surface of the ege. This egg measured

67" x¢ °54", All three eggs are broad ovals, decidedly compressed and

pointed towards the small end. The texture is smooth, but porous and

not glossy, and the shell is also extremely fragile.

(231) H. rerrucinea.—The Ferruginous Fly-catcher.

Oates, No, 559 : Hume, No. 299.

Like the last, an uncommon bird, but resident wherever found.

Of the three nests I have taken, I have only got full descriptive notes

of one. This was taken quite close to my bungalow at Gunjong, and

was found in a small hollow in a dead stump which stood in a nullah

well overgrown with bamboos, trees and thick bushes; outwardly the

nest was of no shape, fitting the hollow in which it was found, only

the side towards the opening being finished off with a neatly rounded

edge. ‘The receptacle for the eggs was about two inches in diameter

by rather less than an inch deep.

With the exception of a few dead leaves at the bottom of the hole, which

probably only got there by accident, the whole of the material used was

moss, the lining and all being composed of scraps from 1” to 3” long.

The eggs were just what would be expected, and may be matched by

many of Cyarnis rubeculotdes and C. tickellz, ete. ; but are more boldly

marked than the majority of these birds’ eggs. The ground-colour is a

pale greenish-stone, and they are distinctly freckled and speckled with

reddish-brown. In shape they are rather long, obtuse ovals, and they

measure *¢@7" x +54", °78" x °56" and ‘74! x °55",

(232) SrpHia stRoPHIATA.—The Orange-gorgeted Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 560; Hume, No. 319.

Only an occassional visitant.

A pair of these little fly-catchers used to frequent my garden all

through the winter of 1890, and I then often noticed them sitting on

the ground. Nearly every morning and evening they might be seen

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 123

perched somewhere about on one of the railings or, less often, on

some shrub or small tree, taking short flights after insects or flying

down to the ground after a grasshopper or similar insect, constantly

spreading their tails and flirting them up and down. ‘Their note is that

common to the genus, and sounding like a very low single “ churr.’’

(233) S. aLBiciLLA.—The Hastern Red-breasted Fly-catcher,

Oates, No. 562; Hume, No, 328.

A very common winter visitant, many staying as late as April, and

some few birds possibly breed on the higher peaks, for one of my

servants once caught a female in the beginning of May, whose ovaries

contained eggs the size of a small pea.

(234) Cyornis Hopesoni.—The Rusty-breasted Blue Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 565 ; Hume, No. 322.

I have only met with this fly-catcher in the cold weather, and then

but rarely.

(235) C. HyPERYTHRUS.—The Rufous-breasted Blue Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 566 ; Hume, No. 321.

A rare bird, but resident. I have shot one in May and another early

in August, and a third was brought to me with three unfledged young

on the 20th July.

(236) C. LEUcoMELANURUS.—The Slaty-blue F'ly-catcher.

Oates, No. 567; Hume, No. 320.

Not uncommon, more especially to the east. I saw it several times

in the lofty peaks about Hungrum and Lere ; but failed to get its nest.

‘(237) C. SUPERCILIARIS.—The White-browed Blue Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 568 ; Hume, No. 310.

Not rare in the same parts as the last bird. I took a nest on the

road between Hungrum and Lere, which may have belonged to this

species. I found the nest in a hole in a way-side stump and shot a

male C. superciliaris which was fluttering about the tree in a great

state of excitement. The nest was a mass of moss, with a neat little

cup in the centre, and I think there is no doubt that it did belong toa

fly-catcher of some sort, but the egg is different in character to any

other that I know of this family. The ground-colour is a greenish-

greyish-yellow or yellow stone-colour, often enough to be seen in fly-

catchers’ eggs, but the stipplings are of grey and greyish-brown such

as I have never met with.

124 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

Their distribution is not unusual, being fairly numerous over the

whole surface, and forming, also, a well-defined ring. The shape is

just like that described of A. szberica, but somewhat blunter. The

only egg the nest contained measured *61” x °52",

(238) C. MELANOLEUCOS.—The Little Pied Fly-catcher.

Oates, Nos. 569 ; Humes, Nos. 324 and 326.

A very common little bird in the cold season, many remaining

throughout the year. They are sociable little birds, and I have several

times seen two pairs together. Their song is very sweet, though weak.

(239) C. astiama.—The Little Blue and White Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 570; Hume, No. 311.

A very rare bird, but resident on some of the higher peaks.

(240) C. oatzst.—The Rufous-bellied Biue Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 572; Hume, No. 309 Bis.

I shot a male of this species on the 14th of April, 1892. This is the

only one I have ever seen.

(241) C. unrtcotor.—The Pale Blue Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 574; Hume, No..303.

Not rare, but very local. None near Gunjong, but generally to

be met with more to the east.

(242) ©. nuBecuLorpEs.—The Blue-throated Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 575 ; Hume, No. 3804.

Almost the commonest fly-catcher in North Cachar and to be met

with in numbers up to the highest hills.

In most birds of this district the red of the breast does run well up

into the blue of the throat, sometimes reaching almost up to the chin.

(243) O. trcxELL1.—Tickell’s Blue Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 576 ; Hume, Nos, 305 and 306.

Very nearly as common as C. rubeculoides, but seems to keep more

to the lower hills and valleys.

(244) OC. maanrrosrris.—The Large-billed Blue Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 577 ; Hume, No. 308.

The nest of this bird is exactly like that of the two last, but is more

often than not placed on the ground or else in some hole ina bank,

I have only seen one taken from a hollow tree. The eggs are also

much the same, but average larger. Two clutches I have taken, both

of two eggs, might have been taken for eggs of Drymoichares nepa~

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 125

lensis; the ground-colour is so much brighter and clearer than usual and,

as with the eggs of that bird, the markings are nearly all confined to

the larger end. The ground-colour is a pale clear greyish-green and

the stipplings are of a dull purplish-red.

Another clutch is very different ; the ground-colour is a pale stone

yellow, but it is almost entirely obliterated by rather bright tan freckles,

so that, at a short distance, the eggs appear to bea pale olive or tan

brown. The largest egg is 84” x 61, and my smallest *70"” x °56";

the average of fifteen being °79" x °58".

The bird is by no means common, and it is now more than a year

since I obtained my last specimen, Nearly all the birds I have got

were trapped on the nests by the Nagas, who are wonderful adepts at

catching and snaring all sorts of birds and animals, I have not

heard it utter any song, but this will, most probably, be found to be the

same as that of C. rubeculoides and C. tickelli.

(245) NiripULA HopGsoNI.—The Pigmy Blue Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 578; Hume, No. 318.

On the few occasions I have met with this bird, it has appeared to

me to be hunting the leaves for insects, much after the manner of some

of the smaller babblers, but every now and then taking short flights

after them into the air. It is not common, and I have not seen it

below about 3,500 feet.

(246) SropaRoLA MELANOPS.—The Verditer Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 579 ; Hume, No. 301.

By no means common in North Cachar.

(247) AnTHIPES LEUCOPs.—Sharpe’s White-gorgeted Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 584.

I shot a bird in 1889, which I then identified as belonging to this

species, but I did not preserve the skin.

(248) A. pouiocENys.—Brook’s Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 586.

This is a very common bird in the cold season, but very few seem to

remain to breed.

A nest—the only one I have ever seen of this species—was brought

tomeon the 19th June, together with a female. It was said to have

been placed in amongst a number of large loose boulders on the bank

of a steep, densely wooded nullah, at the bottom of which rana small

126 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

stream. The nest, which was made entirely of moss, was of no

particular shape outwardly and had probably fitted the base of the hole

in which it was built. The egg cavity measured about 2°5" across by

about 1" deep. The eggs, three in number, are of the Cyornés type; in

ground-colour a very pale greyish-green ; two eggs were covered with

rather distinct freckles of reddish-brown, numerous everywhere, but

more especially so at the larger end where in one they form a narrow

ring. In the third egg the marks are of the same colour and character,

but are confined almost entirely to the large end, there running into one

another and forming a well-defined cap.

The three eggs measure °77" & 56", °75" d¢ °55", and *72!' x °55",

They were just beginning to show signs of incubation.

(249) ALSEONAX LATIROSTRIS.—The Brown Fly-catcher,

Oates, No. 588; Hume, No. 297.

Only, I think, a winter visitant.

(250) A. RuricaAupus.—The Rufous-tailed Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 589 ; Hume, No. 307.

I shot a bird which, I believe, belonged to this species in May, 1891,

on the Hangrum Peak at about 5,600 feet elevation. I did not

preserve the bird, and I cannot now be absolutely sure that my

identification was correct.

(251) A, murrur.—Layard’s Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 590 ; Hume, No. 299 Ter. and No. 307 Bis.

I found this little fly-catcher breeding in the Laisung Valley and took

three or four nests. Unlike .most of its nearest relations, it does not

invariably place its nest on the ground or else in some hole or stump.

The first nest I ever saw was one shown to me by a small Naga boy

built in amongst a mass of wild raspberry shoots and neatly placed

in afork of one of the larger branches. The nest itself was a most

beautifully compact, well-made little hemisphere of moss and lined

with fine fern and moss roots.

In diameter it was about 2°8" outwardly and 1°75" or less inwardly,

the depth of the cavity being about -85". It contained five eggs

which bore the stamp “ Fly-catcher’s” plainly on them and but for

their small size might well have been mistaken for eggs of Cyornis.

The colour is pale stone, but this is almost entirely obliterated with the

dense stipplings and freckles of light olive-brown, so completely

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 127

so that if requires most careful examination to discern the ground-

colour at all.

The five eggs measure °68" °52", *67" x *54" 67" x aue

68" X °52", -63" x °51", The next was taken on the Ist of May, 1891,

(252) CuLicicaPa CEYLONENSIS.—The Grey-headed Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 592; Hume, No. 295.

Very fairly common up to about 2,500 feet, above which very few

seem to wander.

(253) Niztava @Ranvis.—The Large Niltava.

Oates, No. 593 ; Hume, No. 316.

Common to the east above 3,500 feet, breeding everywhere above

this height, but most commonly on the high peaks to the east of the

sub-division.

(254) N. sunpara.—The Rufous-bellied Niltava.

Oates, No. 594; Hume, No. 314.

Much the rarest of the three niltavas in these hills; the distribution

being the same as that of the last, 7. e everywhere and anywhere

during the cold weather, but confined to the higher ranges after March.

(255) N. macertcorra.—The Small Niltava.

Oates, No. 595 ; Hume, No. 315.

This little niltava is very common on the Hangrum and Léri

ranges, breeding in great numbers on all the peaks over 4,000 feet,

The nest here is generally placed in amongst the stones which lie all

over the hills of these two ranges, often forming regular banks or

walls, The eggs vary very much, some I have being just like those

of Microcichla scouler?, others miniature facsimiles of the eggs of

NV. grandis, stoparola, ete,

(256) TeRPsiPHONE AFFINIs.—The Burmese Paradise Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 599; Hume, No, 289.

It may be as well to put on record here the changes of plumage

undergone by a young bird I kept in captivity in a large wire aviary

for over two years. It was brought to me in the autumn, being

then in its first plumage.

Forehead and crown black, fading into dark ashy on the chin,

throat and upper breast ; the nape is a darker shade of the same colour

and is slightly glossed; the back, rump, upper tail coverts, tail and

wing coverts bright, dark chestnut ; primaries chestnut-brown, edged

: !

128 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

with chestnut ; remainder of lower plumage ruddy-orange, inclining

to albescent on the belly. (This is not invariably the case.)

Second year the bird assumed the black plumage of the adult, but

the chestnut plumage remained the same, the breast below the

black and the belly turning white, and two long chestnut tail feathers

appearing.

In the third year the bird was in a sort of transition stage, retaining

the chestnut upper tail coverts and many chestnut feathers in the

wing coverts and scapularies.

Amongst the peculiar forms I have seen was a young cock with the

quill feathers of the wing mixed chestnut and white, most of the

primaries being of the former and most of the secondaries of the latter

colour. Another young male shot on the nest had the following

plumage : head and crest, black; cheeks, shoulders, chin and breast, grey

below albescent ; remainder of plumage that of male of second year, but.

with the long feathers white, and a single white feather in the upper

tail coverts. A remarkable form, which I once saw, consisted in the

retention of the grey plumage of the young bird on the nape and

breast, whilst elsewhere the plumage was that of the adult.

Old males often have the pair of feathers next the central ones much

lengthened, sometimes as much as to 7 or 8 inches.

In May, 1890, I took a most peculiar nest of this bird, the outside

of one half and the bottom of the interior were entirely coated with

mud. The nest contained three eggs, and J shot the female as she flew

off the nest.

My eggs—and I have measured about 80—average far smaller than

those mentioned in Hume’s “ Nests and Eggs” (Vol. II, p. 47), being

only ‘75" x 55". April 14th is the earliest date on which I have

taken eggs and July 10th the latest.

(257) Hypotuymis azurEA.—The Indian Black-naped Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 601; Hume No. 290.

The commonest fly-catcher in North Cachar.

(258) CHELIDORHYNX HYPOXANTHUM.--The Yellow-bellied Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 603 ; Hume, No. 294.

I have had two nests brought to me, said to belong to this species.

The first nest was brought without the bird, but a bird of this genus

was trapped and brought in afterwards. In shape the nest was a very

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 129

compact, deep little moss cup with straight walls, the base being, if

anything, broader than the top, in diameter not more than 2" and about

2:5" in depth, whilst the egg cavity measured about 1:4” by 1”. No-

thing was used in its construction except moss, and there was no lining.

This nest was said to have been built on the ground amongst a quantity

of small boulders beside the Laisung Stream. The second nest was

brought to me with the parent bird in May, 1892, and exactly resembles

that just described in every respect. Instead, however, of having been

built on the ground, it was placed on a horizontal branch just as are so

many nests of R. rhipidura. The first nest contained three eggs of a

type quite unlike that of R. rhzpedura, and I cannot help thinking I

was deceived with them. The ground is a very faint creamy-white,

and the markings consist of a few faint blotches of reddish-brown.

The shape is long and rather pointed, the texture coarse and strong for

the size of the egg, and, though smooth, exhibits no gloss. They

measure ‘61"°41", 61" x°41" and °60"%°40".

The second nest also contained three eggs, two of which were too

much broken to preserve. The third egg (the other two closely

resembled it) isa broad obtuse oval, measuring 55" x °45" ; the shell

fragile and smooth without any gloss.

Tn colour it is white faintly tinged with yellow-cream, and it is spotted

and blotched profusely at the larger end with grey and yellowish-

brown, the blotches forming a blurred and badly defined ring.

I believe both the nests to have belonged to Chelidorhyne ; but, if

the last described egg is correct, then the others cannot be, unless,

which is unlikely, the eggs of this bird vary as much as do those of

Franklinia and Alcippe.

(259) RHIPIDURA ALBIFRONTATA.—Lhe White-browed Fantail

Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 604 ; Hume No. 292.

Though not very common, still by no means as rare as one would

Imagine, considering how seldom it is met with in other parts of Assam.

(260) R. aLpicottis.—The White-throated Fantail Fly-catcher.

Oates, No. 605; Hume, No. 291. |

_ Rather more common than the last.

Family Turdide.

Sub-family Sawzcoline.

130 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

(261) PratincoLA CAPRATA.—The Common Pied Bush-Chat.

Oates, No. 608 ; Hume No. 483.

A common bird ; a few resident throughout the year.

(262) P. maura.—The Indian Bush-Chat.

Oates, No. 610 ; Hume, No, 483.

A very common bird throughout the cold season, but very few seem

to stay to breed. During the six years I have been in Cachar I have

taken but a single nest, and have seen but few birds during the breed-

ing season. Those I have seen were all at an elevation of about 4,000

feet.

(263) P. LeucuRA.—The White-tailed Bush-Chat.

Oates, No. 611 ; Hume, No. 484.

I have seen very few specimens of this bird in North Cachar, and all

my notes.refer to birds seen in April and May, so that it would seem

that these birds merely pass through North Cachar on the way to their

breeding haunts, which may, possibly, be some of the high ranges in

the Naga Hills of Manipur. :

(264) OREICOLA JERDONI.—Jerdon’s Bush-Chat.

Oates, No. 614 ; Hume, No. 487.

Very common in the cold weather, and some few do undoubtedly

remain here to breed on the higher hills, but hitherto I have never

been so fortunate as to get their nest or eggs.

(265) O, rerrrs.—The Dark Gray Bush-Chat.

Oates, No. 615 ; Hume, No. 486.

Even more common than the last bird and a good many stay and

breed in the east of the District, here and there also a pair remaining

elsewhere, On one occasion only have I found a nest; this was in

1890, but the nest and eggs were just as usual, and I seem to have

recorded no notes on them.

Sub-family Rutéczlline.

(266) Henicurus euTTatus.—The Eastern Spotted Fork-tail.

Oates, No. 631; Hume, No. 584 Bis.

Fairly common everywhere, but deserting the larger streams and

rivers entirely during the breeding season. Most of my eggs are de-

cidedly drawn out and often considerably pointed towards the smaller

end, and almost invariably they are very long in proportion to their

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 131

breadth; of course, their size renders them distinguishable from all other

fork-tails’ eggs, except H. leschenaultz, and from these they differ a good

deal in colour. Most of my eggs have the markings consisting princi-

pally of fair-sized blotches, and, in two out of three, these are almost

entirely confined to the larger end. The ground is white generally

tinged with green, less often with grey or greyish-yellow ; generally,

too, the markings are of a reddish-brown, but they also vary consider-

ably, ranging between clear pale rufous-red and a dark violet-brown,

now and then pale violet spotted egos being met with.

(267) H. scuistacrus.—The Slaty-backed Fork-tail.

Oates, No. 682 ; Hume, No. 586.

The bird of these hills averages very small, and the following are the

measurements of the birds I have met with :—

Length 8°2" to 8°6" according to the length of the tail 4:4" to 4°8"

(one bird measured 8°8" and had a tail almost 5”); wing 3°3" to 3:6" ;

bill at front °6" and from gape °8"; tarsus °97".

All the specimens in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, are far below

Oates’ measurements.

In immature birds the crown of the head is a rusty-black. My eggs

are like those described in Hume’s “‘ Nests and Eggs,” but are not like

those of H. guttatus. In most of my eggs the spots are pretty equally

distributed over the whole surface.

(268) H. mmacuLatus.—The Black-backed Fork-tail.

Oates, No. 633 ; Hume, No. 585.

Just as common as the last bird.

I have taken numerous nests and have found them to exactly resem-

ble those of H. schistaceus, though the lining of skeleton leaves, so

invariably found in nests of that bird, are not quite so invariably found

in those of the present bird.

The eggs, too, closely resemble those of H. schéstaceus, but on the

whole they are decidedly darker, both in general colour and markings,

‘which are generally more numerous also. I have never seen a ring or

cap in any of these birds’ eggs.

(269) H. tescHeNavitt.—Leschenault’s Fork-tail.

Oates, No. 634 ; Hume, No. 584 Ter.

Very rare in North Cachar and, as far as I know, entirely confined

to the Laisung River and the small streams which empty themselves

132 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

into it. I have taken three nests, each containing three eggs. All three

were very massive deep cups made of moss, two heing thickly lined

with skeleton leaves and the third having some half a dozen of them

quite at the bottom of the cup, Outwardly the nests varied in dia

meter from 6” to 7°5", and in depth from 3:75" to 4:5". Internally the

egg cavities measured about 3°5” across by 2! to 2°5" deep.

Of the three nests, one was placed in a hollow amongst the roots of

a large tree growing on the banks of the Laisung ; another was placed

under a large boulder, over which water was perpetually falling, though

not exactly over the part under which the nest rested ; and the third

was built in amongst the loose stones of a dry nuJlah in the Laisung

Valley. ‘The first two nests were very well hidden, but the last men-

tioned could be seen from a distance of three or four paces, being only

half concealed by a projecting stone, and there being practically no

small vegetation about it.

The eggs are of two types. Six eggs are much like the commonest

type of H. guttatus, the ground-colour a pale greenish-white and much

blotched and speckled with pale pinkish-brown and lavender, so nume-

rous as to run into one another at the larger end, thence gradually

decreasing in number as they approach the smaller; they can be distin- _

guished from the eggs of A. gutiatus by their greater dullness, some-

what browner tint, and less defined markings.

The second type is exactly matched by a clutch of eggs I possess

of Limonidromus. The ground-colour is a dull yellowish stone-colour

far deeper in shade than that of any other fork-tail’s eggs I have seen,

and it is marked with small blotches of light brown, and others, secon-

_ dary, of lavender-gray, both, in especially the latter, smudgy and indis-

tinct. These eggs have the blotches evenly distributed over the whole

surface but nowhere very numerous. In shape the eggs are long ovals,

but slightly pointed, and the texture is very coarse and quite glossless ;

the shell is thin and fragile.

The nine eggs measured between ‘95" and 1:03” in length and in

breadth varied between °67" and ‘71", the average being *98" x ‘70!

(270) Microctcuita scouLtzRI—The Little Fork-tail.

Oates, No. 637 ; Hume, No. 587.

T have only taken one nest, capturing at the same time one of the

parent birds. In a deep ravine running into the Laisung I saw one

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 133

of these birds fly into a deep rift in a massive piece of flat rock, and,

on examining the place, saw the nest with the bird on it and, before

she had time to fly out, thrust my hand into the hole and caught

her. The nest was oblong in shape, being about 3” across and fully

65 in length, fitting the bottom of the rift, well into the back of

which it was placed. It was made of moss as usual, but of very

small, short pieces, and was also lined in the typical fork-tail manner

with skeleton leaves, though these were rather small and scanty. The

cup was almost a perfect hemisphere, measuring 2°3" by 1°2”.

There were only two eggs, those being of.a very pale clear stone~

colour blotched with pale reddish, and, where they form a ring at the

large end, they are also intermixed with a few others of pale lavender-

grey. The character of the markings are longitudinal in the same

way as with all the eggs of this family. The shell is smooth and

fragile with a slight gloss ; still the texture is not at all fine. In shape

they are long ovals compressed suddenly for fully two-thirds of their

length, and they are decidedly pointed. They measure °77” X °53"

and 72" X:53".

This member of the sub-family is decidedly rare here ; twice

during the cold weather I have seen it on the Jetinga, a big stream,

and a few times on smaller ones. Like some of its larger brethren,

it is a bit of a bully, and I once watched a pair for some time engaged

in bully-ragging a plumbeous redstart (Rhyacornis fuliginosus),

(271) CHIMARRHORNIS LEUCOCEPHALUS.—The White-capped

Redstart.

Oates, No. 638; Hume, No. 506.

About the most common of the frequenters of rivers and streams

in North Cachar during the cold weather, and a few birds undoubted-

ly do breed on the higher streamlets, as | have on the following dates

recorded having seen them :—11th and 13th May, 1891, 24th May,

1892, 7th June, 1891, and 10th July, 1892. The remains of a nest

were brought to me by a Naga, containing two sound and one broken

ego, together with the remnants of a white-capped redstart which

was said to have been caught on the nest.

This (the nest) was too much broken and torn to give any idea

_ of what its original shape was, beyond that it wasa somewhat bulky

affair of moss, lined with moss roots and dead (not skeleton) leaves.

134 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. £X.

The eggs are pure glossy-white speckled and blotched with bright

rufous-red, with a few secondary small blotches of lavender confined

entirely to the larger end. The marks are very numerous at this end,

‘decreasing towards the smaller. In one egg, quite at the extremity

of the larger end, there is a fairly distinct ring about *2" wide, and in

the other there isa very ill-defined cap. They are very bright, glossy

eggs, smooth and close-grained, but rather brittle. They are long

ovals, one being very obtuse, the other rather pointed; the former

measures °89” X°62", and the latter °9"X°6."

(272) Roticinua FRONTALIS.—The Blue-fronted Redstart.

Oates, No. 689 ; Hume, No. 508.

A very rare resident. I have shot one bird in Gunjong (2,500 feet),

and another near Halflong (about 3,500).

" (273) R. aurorza.—The Daurian Redstart.

Oates, No. 641 ; Hume, No. 500.

Not at all rare from October to March.

(274) R. Hopesont.—Hodgson’s Redstart.

Oates, No. 643; Hume, No. 498.

I have shot but three of Hodgson’s redstart, all males and all shot

between the Ist November and 15th January.

(275) R. RUFIVENTRIS.—The Indian Redstart.

Oates, No. 644; Hume, No. 497.

Very common during: the winter, and as many birds do not leave

until late in April their breeding place must be somewhere near North

Cachar, a few probably remaining to breed. A nest containing a

single egg which was brought to me belonged, I am almost sure, to a

redstart of sorts and more likely to this than to any other species.

(276) RHYARCORNIS FULIGINOSUS.—The Plumbeous Redstart.

Oates, No. 646 ; Hume, No. 505.

_ Extremely common from the beginning of October to the end of

March, but I have seen none during the other six months. I imagine

that the young males do not don their full plumage until the second

year, as many males shot during the months above mentioned were in

female plumage. For every male shot in North Cachar I think there

must be fully three females, and to every bird in full male attire there

are nearly twenty in female dress.

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 135

This little redstart seems to feed principally on the wing, and it is

also a very late feeder. I have watched it catching mosquitoes over a

rapid, seating itself on the stones and shingle forming the bank of the

river, thence taking flights after its prey and when I finally left it was

too dark to see its dusky little form against the dark water or grey

stones, but when I did last see it, it was still actively engaged in

dining.

(277) CyaNnECULA suEcIcA.—The Indian Blue-throat.

Oates, No. 647; Hume, No. 514.

Shot a male in October, 1889.

(278) CaLLIOPE CAMTSCHATKENSIS.—T he Common Ruby-throat.

Oates, No. 650; Hume, No. 512.

By no means a very rare visitor in North Cachar and extends

well into the plains. Mr, H. A, Hole sent me a beautiful specimen

of this bird and also one of the next to identify for him. Both these

were, I believe, got by him in the plains, at the foot of the North

Cachar Hills, and I see that, in a late issue of the Asian, he records

both these birds as being common.

(279) C. tscHEBAIwEI.—The Tibet Ruby-throat,

Oates, No, 652.

A rare but regular winter visitant.

(280) TarsiceR cHRys#Us.—The Golden Bush-Robin,

Oates, No. 653 ; Hume, No. 511.’

A rare bird but resident, breeding in the higher ranges and val-

leys. An egg was brought tome by a very intelligent and honest

Naga, which was said to have belonged to this bird. Oates’ descrip-

tion in Hume’s “ Nests and Eggs” (2nd Edn. Vol. II, p. 68) would do

~ equally well for this one, 7.¢., “ very regular oval, a little pointed to-

wards both ends ; the surface of the shell is rather uneven, but there

is a fair amount of gloss * * The colour is a uniform rather deep

blue.” My egg measures ‘79" 58". No nest was brought to me, but

I was told that it was made of moss and leaves, lined with the latter,

and that it was placed in a hollow of a stump. The nest was taken at

an elevation of over 4,000 feet. I believe this egg to be authentic,

(281) Tanrara rurmatTa.—The Red-flanked Bush-Robin.

Oates, No. 654 ; Hume, No. 508.

I shot a single female in the winter of 1886-87.

136 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Voi. IX,

(282) I. nprica—The White-browed Bush-Robin.

Oates, No. 655 ; Hume, No. 510.

I have shot three of these birds, all obtained on the same day in

January, 1892, at Halflong. These birds were catching insects on a

huge leafy tree in thin forest ; they were searching the leaves, making

oceasional dashes into the air as the imsects they disturbed tried

to escape them. The stomach of one contained a large mass of half- -

digested insects, most of which appeared to be a kind of small yellow

beetle, and one other which looked like a small golden tree-bug.

(283) NoropELA LEucuURA.—The White-tailed Blue-Robin.

Oates, No. 659 ; Hume, No. 477.

Very common everywhere above 3,000 feet and breeding freely

above that elevation.

(284) CopsycHus SAULARIs.—The Magpie-Robin.

Oates, No. 663 ; Hume, Nos. 475 and 475 Bis.

Very common everywhere. I have noticed it in the Léri Range

at elevations over 5,000 feet, in some places over 6,000.

(285) OrrrocincLA MAcRURA.—The Shama.

Oates, No. 664 ; Hume, No. 476.

Common up to about 3,000 feet, above which I have very seldom

noticed it ; never over 3,300 feet. .

Sub-family Turdine.

(286) Merruna aupicincra.—The White-collared Ouzel.

Oates, No. 672 ; Hume, No, 362.

I have only seen this bird on a tiny stream running below the

village of Ninglo, about 3,800 feet altitude. I did not shoot it,

but it was very distinctly visible as it sat on a small sapling, and I do

not think I could have made a mistake in my identification.

(287) M. castanza.—The Grey-headed Ouzel.

Oates, No. 673 ; Hume, No. 363.

A not uncommon visitor during the winter, descending to the

level of the plains.

(288) M. ruscata.—The Dusky Ouzel.

Oates, No. 674 ; Hume, No. 366.

I have but two birds, which I can with absolute certainty assign

to the species. These are both females and were shot at an elevation

of about 3,000 feet,

— 7

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 137

(289) M. ruricottis—The Red-throated Ouzel.

Oates, No. 675 ; Hume, No. 364.

This is recorded from Cachar, but I have not obtained a specimen.

(290) M. soungoun.—The Grey-winged Ouzel.

Oates, No. 676 ; Hume, No. 361.

Very common during the cold weather, and a good many birds

stay and breed, though the majority migrate elsewhere, in all

likelihood to the higher ranges of hills in the Naga Hills District

and some to Manipur.

(291) M. arricgunaris,—The Black-throated Ouzel.

Oates, No. 677 ; Hume, No. 365.

Extremely common, and may often be seen in considerable numbers

feeding together in the rice jhums. Nearly the whole of the visible

portions of the under tail-coverts are whitish, and it is only in summer,

when the feathers are abraded, that the brown shows at all distinctly.

The mouth is yellow, and in young birds the commissure, on the upper

mandible, is tinged yellow.

I had a bird sent to me to identify, which had been shot by Mr. H.

A. Hole in the plains, I believe in April.

(292) M. proromomELana.—The Black-crested Gara,

Oates, No. 679; Hume, No. 358.

The only bird I have seen of this species was one shot by my taxi-

dermist on the 20th February, 1893.

This was a female, and was obtained on a hill over 3,000 feet high,

feeding high up in a large tree.

(293) M. osscura.—The Dark Ouzel.

Oates, No. 680 ; Hume, No. 369 Bis.

I shot one of these birds out of a flock of five, which were all to-

gether on a high tree. Jt was shot on the same hill as that on which

the last bird was obtained.

The irides are a dull brown, the legs dark fleshy-brown, and the

lower mandible yellow with a dark tip.

(294) M. rem.—Fea’s Ouzel.

Oates, No. 682 ; Hume, No. 369 Ter.

A sepoy shot one of these birds feeding on a large cotton-tree close

to the stockade, and the skin was brought to me ; but it was far too

138 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

much torn to be of any use, though I had no doubt as to its being a

skin of M. fee.

(295) GEOCICHLA WARDI.—The Pied Ground-Thrush.

Oates, No. 683 ; Hume, No, 357.

A rather rare resident in North Cachar. I have taken but one nest,

which might have been mistaken for one of G. citrina, but was more

massive than most of that bird. The eggs were three in number and

just like English blackbirds’, measuring 1:07" x -81”; 1°09" x -8"

anid OM eeiol.

(296) G. cirrmva.—The Orange-headed Ground-Thrush.

Oates, No. 686 ; Hume, No. 355.

Very common all over the district, but not ascending quite the

highest ranges and seldom breeding below 1,000 feet. |

The average of 40 eggs is 1:05" & °765", the greatest length and

breadth being 1°13" x °81" and the least ‘91" x °71."

(297) PETROPHILA ERYTHROGASTRA.—The Chestnut-bellied

Rock-Thrush.

Oates, No. 690 ; Hume, No. 352.

Not very common at any time and found only on the higher ranges

during the breeding season.

(298) P. ctncLorHyncHA.—The Blue-headed Rock-Thrush.

Oates, No. 691 ; Hume, No. 3538.

Rather common all throvgh the cold weather, a few birds remain-

ing to breed on the most lofty peaks. My eggs are all of one type,

viz., a pale buff ; darker than in Geocichla or Merula eggs, marked in-

distinctly with freckles and specks of pale brown and very pale grey,

and with a few irregular-shaped spots and blotches of umber-brown.

The three clutches, each of three eggs, which I have measured, average

respectively 1:04" x °71", 1:06" x °68" and ‘9L" x “71!

(299) P. sourrar1A.—The Hastern Blue Rock-Thrush.

Oates, No. 692 ; Hume, No. 351 Ter.

Very common all through the cold weather, its favourite haunts

being the lofty, rocky banks of some of the larger streams. It de-

scends, of course, well into the plains.

Its note isa low chuckling “ chur,” sounding almost like the

croak of a frog.

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 139

(300) OrxocivcLa DAuMA.—The Small-billed Mountain-Thrush,

Oates, No. 698 ; Hume, No. 371.

This thrush is very rare here, but probably the few there are are

resident, for I once shot a pair in June and these on dissection proved

to be breeding, the female containing eggs, the first of which would

have been laid in some three or four days. No nest could, however, be

found, though a good deal of time and trouble was spent in the search.

(301) O. moutisstma.—The Plain-backed Mountain-Thrush.

Oates, No. 701 ; Hume, No. 370.

Rare. Probably resident, but as yet I have never met with it either

in the hot weather or rains.

(302) ZoorHERA mMonTICOLA,—The Large Brown Thrush.

Oates, No. 704 ; Hume, No. 551.

I have not met with this bird half a dozen times in as many years

—hever except from November to February. I doubt if it is resident

here, though it may, probably, breed in the higher parts of Manipur

and the Naga Hills. Of the five birds I have shot, four were males

(three young and one adult) and the fifth was a young female,

(303) Z. marcivata—The Lesser Brown Thrush,

Oates, No. 705; Hume, ‘No. 350 Bis.

The commissure is reddish, paler than the rest of the bill. The

young bird differs from the adult only in having the tips of the wing-

coverts all with fulvous spots and the black margins of the feathers of

the lower plumage broader ; thus making the breast look almosi wholly

black. By no means common, but found scattered throughout the

district in the cold weather ; in the hot weather and rains being confined

chiefly to the high ranges of the east, where it breeds in June and

_ duly. The first nest I ever took of this bird was rather abnormal in its

construction, so I give the description of it which appeared at the time

in the Aséan,

“The only nest I have ever seen of this bird was found on the 18th

of June, 1890, and was taken from a thick tangle of cane-bush and

creepers, in which it was placed at a height of some six feet from the

ground. My attention was attracted to the bush in question by the

bird flying out, and, on shooting it, I found it to be of this species,

The nest was placed well inside the bush, and it was not until Ihad cut

away a considerable amount of leaves and branches that I could get at

149 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. LX.

it. It wasa rather massive, shallow cup, about 4" in internal dia-

meter by rather more than 1” in depth ; the exterior materials were —

coarse fern roots, grass, twigs, and dry stalks of plants, all intertwined

with one another, and with here and there a dead leaf fastened in. The

lining was of grass and fine fibres and was fairly thick.”

The eggs, which were three in number, are quite like the eggs of

G. citrina in appearance ; the ground-colour isa pale greeny-grey pro-

fusely speckled with a reddish-brown, the markings coalescing to the

larger end and gradually decreasing towards the smaller. They were

hard-set, therefore the shell was very fragile, otherwise much as in

G. citrina. In size they are larger than the average egg of that bird,

measuring 1:09” * °8", 1:08" x 76” and 1:08" x °75". The next nest

taken was found on the 12th June, 1892. In shape, position, &c,, it ©

was just the same as that described above, merely being a shade smaller ;

the material used, however, was three-quarters moss mixed with a few

twigs and roots, and lined with moss and fern roots. This nest con-

tained three eggs of the same character as those already described, but

having a pale yellow-buff ground-colour, and the blotches far redder

and somewhat brighter.

One egg was smashed before being measured ; the other two were

1:14" x :82" and 1:1" x 81".

Several nests taken in July this year (1893) were made entirely of

living moss outwardly, then moss both dead and alive mixed with fern ~

and moss roots, and with the lining of fine moss and fern roots. Ina —

few nests there were a certain number of fine bamboo roots used next

the lining ; in one or two nests there were a few twigs, and in one three

leaves and a bamboo spathe. In size these nests averaged about 5°75!

across and 2°25” deep, the inner cup being about 3°6" x 15".

The eggs were like those already described.

(304) CocHoa viripis.—The Green Thrush.

Oates, No. 707 ; Hume, No. 608.

Reported from Cachar, but I have not yet obtained a specimen,

(305) CuycLus astaticus.—The Brown Dipper.

Oates, No. 709 ; Hume, No. 347.

Very common on all the larger streams during the cold weather,

descending well below 1,000 feet. I took a nest of this dipper from

the banks of the Laisung, high up near its source. It was a large and —

wht

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 141

massive oval made of moss and leaves, and was placed in between two

rocks, being covered by a third. In height it was abé at 8! in length

only about 63” owing to the walls, where they cay “next the

rocks, being much thinner than the base or roof.’ ‘hc interior

must have been very nearly a perfect sphere, some 4’ in dia-

meter. The eggs were so unlike what I expected that, had I not

found the nest myself and repeatedly seen the parent birds I I should

have believed them to belong to Garrulax leucolophus. Like

the eggs of that bird, these possessed a hard glossy shell, ane in

the same way also the surface was distinctly pitted,

The four eggs measure 1°12” x °88", 1°12” x °88"; 1:11" 9¢ -ggu

and 1:09" d¢ °89".

(806) C. parnast—Pallas’s Dipper.

Oates, No. 710; Hume, No. 349 Bis,

I got two specimens of this bird on a small stream running into the

Jiri River at an altitude of about 3,500 feet. I also saw what [

believed to have been this species on the Ninglo Stream; but, asI did

not shoot it, I cannot be certain, This year (1893) a pair were

to be seen every day in July on the Laisung Stream ; but they were

very wild and would not allow any one to approach within shooting

distance.

Family Ploceide.

Sub-family Ploceine.

(307) PLocEUS MEGARHYNCHUS.—The Eastern Baya.

Oates, No. 721 ; Hume, No. 694 Bis,

Very common indeed up to 2,500 feet, and lesy so up to some 500

feet higher, above which height I have not seen it,

(808) P. BencAtensis.—The Black-throated Weaver-Bird.

Oates, No. 722 ; Hume, No. 696.

Only met with at the foot of the North Cachar Hills. Once T came

across a small colony breeding on the Umrung Plateau, in 1890 3 but

I have not since then seen any.

(309) P. manyar.—tThe Striated Weaver-Bird,

Oates, No. 723 ; Hume, No. 695,

_ As far as I have been able to ascertain, rare even in Cachar and

only occurring in North Cachar as an occasional straggler.

142 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

Sub-family Veduine.

(310) Muwnta arricapriLa.—The Chestnut-bellied Munia.

Oates, No. 726 ; Hume, No. 698.

Excessively common on the plains and close to them, but not common

above 2,000 feet and very locally distributed. I have found them

breeding as late as October.

(311) Unoboncaa AcuTicAuDA.—Hodgson’s Munia.

Oates, No. 727 ; Hume, No. 702.

Extremely common from the level of the plains up to the highest

elevations. Breeds principally in July and August, many in Septem-

ber, and I have taken a nest with fresh eggs late in December.

(312) U. puncrunata.—The Spotted Munia.

Oates, No. 735 ; Hume, No. 699 (699 Bis, Ter. and Quat.).

Not common in the hills though very much so in the plains.

(813) SporacGINTHUS AMADAVA.—The Indian Red Munia.

Oatés, No. 738 ; Hume, No. 704.

I have seen but one pair of these birds in North Cachar, though I

believe they are by no means rare in parts of Cachar itself.

Family Fringillide.

Sub-family Coccothraustine.

(314) Mycrropas MELANOXANTHUS.—The Spotted-winged

Grosbeak.

Oates, No. 744 ; Hume, No. 727.

In 1890 I sawa pair of birds near Hungrum, which, I feel sure, were

of this species ; unfortunately I had not a gun with me so could not

make absolutely sure of the fact, though it is unlikely that I could have

been mistaken in so striking a bird. Hungrum is only about two miles

from the borders of Manipur, in which state the bird was obtained by

Godwin-Austen.

Sub-family Fringilline.

(315) PRopyRRHULA SUBHIMALAYENSIs.—The Red-headed

Rose-Finch.

Oates, No. 752 ; Hume, No, 736.

I have seen this bird several times on the Léri Range.

(316) CarpopacUs ERYTHRINUS.—The Common Rose Finch.

Oates, No. 761 ; Hume, No, 738.

A very common winter visitant.

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 143

(317) HypacaNTHES SPINOIDES.—The Himalayan Green Finch.

Oates, No. 772 ; Hume, No. 750.

The only bird I have seen of this species was one brought to me by

a Naga who had caught it near Asalu, It was avery dirty remnant,

and it was impossible to tell the sex, but it was either a young male

or a female.

(318) Passer DomESTIcus.—The House Sparrow.

Oates, No. 776 ; Hume, No. 706.

This bird does not ascend the hills at all in North Cachar, and, though

they have twice been brought to Gunjong and turned out, they have

all left. |

(319) P. Montanus.—The Tree Sparrow.

Oates, No. 779 ; Hume, No. 710,

Fairly common on the north and west and very common else-

where. I took a nest of this bird containing nine eggs, but as four

of these were hard set and five fresh, I am inclined to think they were

"laid by two birds, more especially as the latter eggs seemed slightly

darker and more finely marked than the former,

(320) P. cinnamomEvs.— The Cinnamon Sparrow.

Oates, No. 780 ; Hume, No. 708.

A rare bird in North Cachar. It appears to be very fond of

perching on the extreme summit of dead branchless trees, and it is in

such positions I have shot all the birds I have. My eggs average even

smaller than Oates’ dimensions in “ Nests and Eggs” (Vol. II, p. 165).

One of my eggs measures only *69" by °54".

Sub-family Hmberizine.

(321) Empuriza FucATA.—The Grey-headed Bunting.

Oates, No. 790 ; Hume, No. 719.

A not uncommon winter visitant.

(322) EH. pusitta.—The Dwarf Bunting.

Oates, No. 791 ; Hume, No. 720.

Very common throughout the cold weather, arriving late in

October or early November, and leaving at the end of March—a few as

late as early April.

(323) EH. AurzoLA.—The Yellow-breasted Bunting.

Oates, No. 797; Hume, No, 723,

A common winter visitant,

144 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

(324) H. spopoczpHaLa.—The Black-faced Bunting.

Oates, No. 798 ; Hume, No, 717.

Uncommon in North Cachar ; but Mr. Hole reports it as common

at the foot of the hills. The bill is dark horny-brown, two-thirds of

the lower mandible, the commissure and gape pale, fleshy horny.

(325) HE. nutma.—The Chestnut Bunting.

Oates, No. 801 ; Hume, No. 722 Bis.

I shot a pair of these birds and saw several others on the Halflong

Peak in 1891.

(826) MuLoPHUS MELANICTERUS.—The Crested Bunting.

Oates, No. 803 ; Hume, No. 724.

Very fairly common.

Family Avrundinide.

(827) CHELIDON NEPALENSIS.— Hodgson’s Martin,

Oates, No. 807 ; Hume, No. 94. .

In 1892, from the 1st to the 12th July, a number of these birds

frequented my compound daily, often entering the verandahs of my

house; and I began to hope they meant breeding in them; but, on the

13th, they all disappeared and I have seen none since.

(328) CoTILE ripariA.—The Sand Martin.

Oates, No. 808 ; Hume, No. 87.

The only bird of this species that I have got in North Cachar was

shot by me as it was hawking for insects which were rising from some

grass being burnt near my bungalow. I saw one or two others the

following day, but they were flying too high to shoot. A colony of

these sand martins used to breed on the banks of the Barak, just below

Lukhipore in Cachar, and probably do so now. Early in November,

1888, they were busy breeding there.

(329) C. srvEnsis.—The Indian Sand Martin.

Oates, No. 809 ; Hume, Nos. 88 and 89.

Some of these birds used to breed in a lofty sandy bank of the

Diyung ; but one year, during some heavy floods, the face of this bank

was washed away, and the nest-holes all destroyed. The following

year the birds all left and have made no attempt to breed anywhere

_ near the same place,

THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR: 145

(830) Hirunpo rustica.—The Swallow. —

Oates, No. 818 ; Hume, No, 82.

There is no bird in North Cachar which is an absolute typical

H. rustica, still there are many which are nearer to this than to the

next species. I say species, as Oates puts them as such, and I am fol-

lowing his classification ; but I do not for a moment consider the birds

distinct myself.

(831) H. eurruratis.—The Eastern Swallow.

Oates, No. 87 ; Hume, No, 82 Bis. and No. 82 Quat.

Common all over North Cachar, breeding in large numbers in the

Naga villages, I have a bird of this species, with a pure white chin

and throat, the lower throat, next the pectoral band, being mottled with

rufous. J have yet another bird, which is a hybrid between this type

and H, daurica or H. nepalensis ; the striations are perfect and the tail

is marked like that of H. rusteca or H. gutturalis,

(832) H. tyrLEr1.—Tytler’s Swallow.

Oates, No. 815; Hume, No, 82 Ter,

T have seen very few of these birds ; but Mr. H. A. Hole says, in a

late number of the Asian: “I have only seen them in any numbers

during the cold weather,” so I presume they are common about

Jellalpur during that season, and comparatively rare during the hot

weather and rains.

(333) H. suirHi.—The Wire-tailed Swallow.

Oates, No. 818; Hume, No. 84.

T have only noticed this bird as a migrant through North Cachar,

and I do not think it ever breeds here.

(834) H. striotata.—The Japanese Striated Swallow.

Oates, No. 820; Hume, No. 85 Quat.

This is one of the swallows, specimens of which are often difficult

to identify correctly ; personally, 1 do not consider this form and

HT, nepalensis distinct, and have birds with wing measurement interme-

diate between the limits assigned by Oates to either bird.

A. nest was brought to me together with a male typical H. strotala,

which was said to have been caught on it. The nest was just like

that of H. rustéca, but very bulky, and was built ona rafter in the

guest house of the village. 1 should have expected the eggs of

this bird to be white, but the four the nest contained were very boldly

146 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Voi. 1X.

marked, even more so than most eggs of H. rustica or H. gutturalis.

They measured 72" x *51', 73” 9¢ °5", °72” X *5" and “71" X °5!.

_ (835) H. pavrica.—The Daurian Striated Swallow.

Oates, No. 821; Hume, No. 85 Ter.

A great many swallows in North Cachar are of this form, having

the lower surface distinctly suffused with rufous.

A nest taken on the 17th May, 1891, was like the nest of H. rustzca,

but with the mud shell very thin—not more than °25” in the thickest

portion.

(336) H. NEPALENSIS.—Hodgson’s Striated Swallow.

Oates, No. 822; Hume, No. 85 Bis.

The common form in North Cachar, but few birds breed here,

though every now aud then a pair or two may be met with building

in the Naga villages, and I have taken one or two of their nests.

TR IQRISS DITPIAD led DEF ET PRPTT TF WeeZI5 BD Ca

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147

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY.

By Surezon-Masor K. R. Kirtikar, LM.S., F.L.S.5

Acting Professor of Botany, Grant Medical College.

PART X.

(With Plates L and Supplementary L.)

(Continued from Vol. [X, page 60.)

MORINGA PTERYGOSPERMA—(Garr),

Natural Order—Morinera.

MARATHI—aize ; aterm.

The tree is commonly known as the horse-radish tree. Some call

it the drum-stick tree. Sir George Birdwood calls it the smooth |

horse-radish tree.

ROOT.—Pungent ; young parts tomentose or puberulous.

BARK.—Soft, gray, corky, whitish-green covered with a fine

brownish epidermis ; innermost part white ; external surface reticu-

late, about one inch thick ; deeply cracked; the bark of the young

branches of some varieties of this tree is distinctly crimson ; the ven-

tral surface of some petioles is in such cases tinged with light crimson ;

the dorsal surface on the other hand is light green.

WOOD.—Soft, light, coarse-grained, spongy, perishable, white ;

rather light brown says Jaikisson Indraji. Young wood and branches

very brittle and break with almost a resinous fracture.

From incisions, made on the trunk by the human hand or by insects

which infest the bark, there exudes a pinkish, reddish gum in

vermicular tears.

LEAVES.— Alternate, decompound, 1 to 2 ft. long, 2 to 3-odd-pin-

nate ; usually 3-odd-pinnate near the extremities of branches.

Pinna.—4 to 6 pair, opposite ; the lower 3 to 4 pair, bipinnate.

PinnuLa.—Opposite, 6 to 9 pair ; the four lower pair generally with

3 to 7 leaflets; the rest consisting of single leaflets.

LEarLEets.—6 to 9 pair, opposite, 4 to $ inch, quite entire, ovate or

obovate, blunt ; lateral nerves indistinct, glaucous-green above,

pale beneath, slightly pubescent along the midrib beneath, caducous

as well as the pinnules.

148 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. LX,

PETIOLE.—Slender, sheathing at the base.

F ETIOLULE.—Slender, short.

Note that the petioles, petiolules, and leaves are all articulated at

base.—( Baillon),

STIPULES.—Absent ; glands instead, linear, hairy, stalked. These

glands are sometimes also found at the origin of the petiolules and

leaflets.

INFLORESCENCE,—Axillary ; in numerous panicled racemes ;

spreading at the ends of branches. Baillon says that the inflorescence

“ consists of very numerous flowers in much ramified racemes of

-eymesy”

Bracts.—Linear, shorter than pedicels.

fAsTIVATION.—Slightly imbricate.

FLOWERS.—Very numerous, rather large ; white, yellowish-white,

or reddish-white ; irregular, hermaphrodite, pedicelled, 1 inch in

diameter, honey-scented; pedicels 6 to 8 lines long. Baillon observes

that “the receptacle of the flower is cup-shaped, lined by a glandular

. disk with a prominent free border; on its oblique mouth are supported

the perianth and andreecium, while the gyncecium springs from the

bottom.” (‘ Natural History of Plants,” Vol. III, 1874).

CALYX.—Cup-shaped, 5-cleft.

SEPaLs.—Distinctly petaloid, unequal, linear-lanceolate, reflexed,

deciduous ; sometimes tinged pink and white, sometimes greenish=

white. Baillon observes that “the prefloration of the sepals is

quincuncial.” (Vide Supplementary Plate L.) The five alternating

petals are usually of cochlear-imbricate preefloration. The anterior,

internal in the bud, and differing in form slightly from the

rest, remaining erect on anthesis, while they become reflexed on

the receptacle like sepals.

COROLLA.—Petals free, 5, unequal, linear, narrowly spathulate ;

according to Hooker the upper petals are smaller. Lindley describes

them as ‘ascending ;” the lateral petals are ascending ; the anterior

are larger. Le Maout and Decaisne describe the petals as follows :—

“Five inserted on the calyx, linear, oblong, the two posterior (the

italics are mine.—K.R.K.), rather the longest, ascending, imbricate in

bud.”

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 149

ANDRGCIUM—

STAMENS.—Perigynous, unequal, inserted on the edge of the disk;

declinate; in two whorls of five each; the outer whorl sterile, being

reduced to mere slender antherless filaments ; the inner whorl

fertile, callous and villous at the base, superposed to or opposite the

petals. Hooker and Brandis say that the sterile stamens are

sometimes seven in number. Note that the sterile stamens are

superposed to or opposite the sepals. Le Maout and Decaisne say

that the stamens are 8 to 10, and line the base of the calyx. Baillon

observes that “the andrcecium is most developed towards the anterior

* side of the flower, so that the fertile stamen superposed,to the

enveloped anterior petal is the longest of all; the posteriory pair

are the shortest.” (Vide Supplementary Plate L.)

Frnaments.—Flattened and hairy at the base, free below, and

above ; slightly petaloid, connivent, united above the middle, un-

equal ; the postericr ones longest; those opposite the calyx-

segments shorter and imperfect.

Antuers.—Yellow, occasionally reddish ; dorsifixed, consequently

_ introrse ; one-celled or simple as Lindley calls them, dehiscing

longitudinally. Brandis describes them as oblong ; Wight and

Arnott describe them as peltate ; Le Maout and Decaisne describe

them as ovoid-oblong.

ConNECTIVE.—Thick, convex.

PoLLEN.—Ovoid with three folds ; in water it becomes spherical, with

three papillose bands (H. Mohl, Ann. Sc. Nat. Sér. 2, III, 348,

—quoted by Baillon).

Disk.—Concave ; lining inside of calyx-tube, with a short free

margin. SBaillon, as referred to already, describes the disk as

glandular; the colour of the disk is ereen,

GYNG@CIUM—

Ovany.—Superior, stipitate, hairy, lanceolate, one-celled, but com-

posed of three carpels.

Styie.—Slender, filiform, terminal, cylindrical, tubular (Baillon) ;

obliquely recurved, but not obliquely inserted (Wight and

Arnott) ; undilated at its stigmatiferous apex.

Stigma.—Perforated, simple (Lindley). Le Maout and Decaisne

say it is truncate ; Kurz says it is perforate and truncate,

150 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

Ovu.es.—Numerous, suspended or descending, anatropous ; with

their micropyle upwards and inwards ; arranged in two rows, on

three parietal placentas ; raphe ventral and very prominent.

Baillon observes that “ in the one-celled ovary there are three parietal

placentas, whereof two are posterior.” He adds a note, however, that

we do find two or four carpels with the same number of placentas and

valves to the fruit. I am quite familiar with this tree, having seen it

during the last thirty years, if not more, growing wherever I have lived,

and I can confidently say that [have not yet seen a two-carpellary or

four-carpellary ovary in this plant either in Bombay or in Thana.

FRUIT.—A capsule, elongate, 9 to 18 inches long, sometimes a little

over two feet in length, }to1 inch thick, rostrate, pendulous,

torulose, 3 to 6-angled, with nine longitudinal ribs, 3-carpelled, 1-celled;

loculicidally 3-valved, valves bearing the seed along the middle of

their inner surface. The capsule is succulent and soft within when

unripe; corky and pitted when mature and about to dehisce ; the

outer coat of the capsule, which is chiefly formed of the ribs referred

to above, consists of tough fibrous plates longitudinally, oftener toru-

losely, arranged and bound together by a green substantial parenchy-

matous substance.

SEEDS.—Trigonous, numerous, in pits of the valves, “ half-buried

in their fungous substance produced from the inner wall of the

pericarp” (Baillon). Hamilton* says that each capsule when full-

grown contains about fifteen seeds. In size the seed is considerably

larger than a pea. Chalaza, apical, corky (Le Maout and Decaisne).

Tresta.—Corky, winged at the angles. Baillon thus describes this

winged nature of the testa from which the plant derives its

characteristic name of pterygosperma:—“In M. pterygosperma

the superficial seed coat is hypertrophied into a vertical wing, which

extends into the sinus between the two valves. These wings are

imbricated with those of their neighbouring seeds, which may at

maturing be arranged in a single vertical row along the axis of the

capsule.” “The number of wings,” adds Baillon, “ will vary of

course with that of the valves, and also because the wing may

remain exceptionally rudimentary on one or two angles of the

seed, or not be formed at all, as is normally the case in MM. aptera,

an African, Arabian, and Syrian species.”

* Pharmaceutical Journal, Vol. V, pp. 68 and 59, 1845-46.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 151

ALBUMEN.—Absent.

Eupryo.—Straight, “large, fleshy, oily” (Baillon). “Large, fleshy,

occupying the whole interior of the seed” (Lubbock’s “ Seed-

lings.”’)

CoryLEDons.—Plano-convex, almond-shaped, fleshy.

RaDicLe,—Very short, superior, turned to the hilum, included

between the bases of the cotyledons and lying close to the

micropyle at the hilar end of the seed.

PrumuLte.—Many-leaved. Sir John Lubbock observes in his work

on Seedlings that “the plumule is well developed, and shows the

primary leaves in a compound form” (“ Seedlings,” Vol. I, p. 381).

REMARKS.

The following are the synonyms of the plant as given by Wight and

Arnott (“ Prodromus,” p. 178) :—

M, Oleifera, Lam. Encycl. Meth. 1, p. 398.

M. Zeylanica, Pers. Syn. 1, p. 460.

Guilandina Moringa, Linn. sp. p. 546; Roxb. in H.1.C, Mus, +. 58.

Hyperanthera moringa,* Vahl. Symb. 1, p. 30.

Spr. Syst. 2, p. 327.

Roxh., Fl. Ind. 2, p. 868.

Anoma moringa,t Lour.—Rheede Malb. 6, t. 11.

Rumph: Amb. 1, t. 74.

Hooker gives the following in addition (“ Flora Br. Ind.” Vol. 1) :—

M. polygona, D. C. Prod. I, 476.

Hyperanthera decandra, Willd.

Jé must be noted that M. polygona, D. C., is considered by Wight

and Arnott (Prodromus) as perhaps a mere variety of the WZ. pterygo-

sperma we have been describing here. They add, however, that they

have never seen a specimen of the former. The character of

M. polygona is described by them thus :—“ All the stamens bearing

anthers ; capsules many-angled ; seeds 3-angled, the angles expanding

into wings’ D.C. (Prodr. 2, p. 478). The synonym of this also is

given by them as Anoma moringa, Lour. (Burm. Zeyl., t. 75 ;

Rumph. Amb, 1, t. 75). Note that Anoma moringa, Lour., as

_ * Also mentioned by Griffith in Notule IV. 672, t. 609.

t Willd. 2°536: Asiat. Res. If. 168, (Stamens half the number fertile, half

sterile.)

152 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, IX,

mentioned above is also the synonym they have given to M. pterygo-

sperma; so that practically I. polygona, D.C., and M. pterygosperma

must be considered the species of the same plant. The species with

wingless seeds known as Moringa aptera, which is a native of Arabia

and Africa, is not very distinct from MZ. pterygosperma. Sir George

Birdwood observes that DeCandolle doubts the distinctness of these two

species ; “and it may be,” says he, “ that the Indian Moringa, although

it has not the hard wood and oil seed of the Arabian, African, and

West Indian plants, is yet specifically identical with them.”

The species described by Dalzell and Gibson as M. Concanensis,

Nimmo (in Graham’s Catalogue, p. 43) would appear to be a mere

local variety of MM. pterygosperma. It is thus described :—A tree

something like M. pterygosperma, but distinguished by very much

larger and rounder leaflets, and a much more powerful odour of horse-

radish ; flowers yellowish, with pinkish streaks ; anthers 5, perfect

but only one-celled ; 5 abortive and much smaller ; flowers in Novy-

ember in the jungles near Penn (Kolaba Collectorate). Dalzell

and Gibson have found it also on the hills in Lus, and have expressed

an opinion that it very probably will be found in Arabia.

Nairne, our latest writer on the Flora of Western India, in referring

to Moringa Concanensis, observes that the plant is like the MZ. pterygos-

perma, but that its leaves and panicles are larger ; its leaflets also

larger oval, roundish ; flowers sweet-scented; petals yellowish, red-

streaked at the base. Nairne further remarks that the J. Concanensis

is wild at various places in the Konkan, also in Sind and Rajputana.

That it grows wild in Rajputana is evidently asserted on the authority

of Brandis, who, as I have already noted in my former papers, is one

of the most accurate observers and descriptive writers on the Indian

Flora. It is just as well to quote his remarks in extenso :—“ Md. Con-

canensis grows wild on the dry hills of Rajputana (Saznjna) near

Kishengurh and Bednore, also on the hills of Sindh (Mhta) and the

Konkan. It has yellow flowers, bipinnate leaves, pinnee 4 to 6 pair

simple pinnate, except sometimes the lowest, which are bipinnate,

with broadly ovate leaflets one inch long, on petioles 4 inch long, with

4 to 6 pairs of rather prominent lateral nerves.”

Asa rule Moringa pterygosperma is more largely found near human

habitation—on the outskirts of existing or extinct villages, in cultivated

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY, 153

fields and in gardens—than in the forest. But that it also grows wild

cannot be doubted in the face of authoritative testimony. For

instance, T. N. Mukhazrji, F.u.s., of Calcutta, an accomplished and well-

informed Botanist, in his Hand-book of Indian Products (p. 98, 1888),

remarks that M, pterygosperma is found wild in the Sub-Himalayan

regions.

Wherever it is cultivated, it is useful for its root, bark, gum, leaves,

flowers and fruif. There is no part of this interesting plant but that

itis used for culinary purposes. very part of the plant is more or

less pungent, the root notably so, and it may be added that every one of

them is used toa more or less extent for medicinal purposes, and not

without success. The root is mostly, I should say principally, used as

a garnish at the Anglo-Indian table, as a substitute for the genuine

European horse-radish, the Cochlearia armoracta (N. O. Crucifere).

Opinions however differ with regard to the flavour of the root of

-M. pierygosperma as an acceptable substitute for the genuine horse-

radish root, Firminger says that as a ‘substitute for herse-radish

it is much inferior in flavour. Surgeon-General Balfour™ says that

the roots of MM. pierygosperma have precisely the flavour of horse-

radish, Dr. Hamilton{ says that the roots of M. pterygosperma

have all the flavour and properties of the horse-radish. Dr. O’Shaugh-

nessy{ observes that the roots have precisely the flavour of horse

radish and seem identical tn chemical composition (the italics are

mine.—K. R. K.). Dr. J. Bidie of Madras regards M. pterygosperma

as a perfect substitute for C. armoracia—the true horse-radish. To this

I may add my own humble testimony, having constantly tasted in

England the true C. armoracia root asa garnish, that the root of

M. pierygosperma is by no means inferior in pungency to the root of

C. armoracia,

Passing next to the bark of MM. pterygosperma, it may be observed

that, apart from its noxious properties, to be dilated upon hereafter,

it yields, says T. N. Mukharji, a coarse fibre for the manufacture of

mats, paper, and rough cordage. From the very fragile nature of the

bark I have very grave doubts as to whether it could afford useful

* Balfour’s Encyclopedia of India, Vol. II, p. 986, 1885.

7 Pharm. Journal, Vol. V, 1845-46, pp. 58 and 69.

{ The Bengal Dispensatory and Pharmacopeeia, Vol. I, p. 289, 1884,

154 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

cordage, notwithstanding the reticulate nature of its fibres; yet I can

safely recommend it to the serious consideration of our indigenous

paper-manufacturers as worthy of trial in the manufacture of coarse

paper. Iam all the more strengthened to make this remark, inasmuch

as the plant is a very quick grower. Not only are seedlings said to be

quick-growers, so quick as to bear flower and fruit within a year, but

they are also easily propagated. Dr. Hamilton says thatthe tree is

of most rapid growth, coming into flower within a few months after the

seed has been sown, and continuing to produce seeds and blossoms

afterwards throughout the year. I have no personal knowledge of this

plant being ever raised from seeds in Bombay or in the Thana District,

which is the northern part of the Konkan ; but I know this, that the

plant takes so kindly to the soil, especially where there is plenty of

water, as to give me the impression that it is easier to propagate it by

cuttings than by sowing its seed. A branch, full two inches thick in

diameter, if put into ground in the early part of the monsoon, which

generally begins in Thana in the first week of June, by April following

the cutting gives substantial fruit. I have Firminger’s authority to say

that even the seedling is of exceedingly rapid growth. He recom-

mends the seed to be sown in June and July.

As regards the timber of this tree, Dr. Hamilton notes that it gives out

a blue colour in spirit and water, which, by transmitted light, appears of

a golden yellow ; the blue is destroyed by acids which leave the tincture

or decoction of a bright yellow, but is restored by the addition of an alkali,

Next, as regards the height of the tree, it is variously given.

Brandis says it is twenty feet. The trunk, he says, is straight; its

girth from four to five feet, and there are a few large divergent branches.

Kurz reckons the height as from thirty to forty feet, which is about the

correct estimate I think. The height of the clear stem, according to

Kurz, is from ten to twenty feet, and its girth from three to four feet.

I may observe, however, that both in Bombay and Thana, the tree very

seldom shows so much height in a clear stem. It is often irregular in

appearance ; in some places markedly so. Dalzell and Gibson call it a

small tree. Drury, again, is nearer the known height. He says that

~ the tree is from thirty to thirty-five feet high.

There are differences of opinion regarding the nature of the stipules,

Asa rule, they are, as stated above, absent. Hooker, Kurz, Baillon and

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 155

others say that, instead of the stipules, there are glands. Le Maout

and Decaisne say the stipules are deciduous. Henfrey and Bentley say

they are thin and deciduous. Lindley adds that they are coloured

besides.

With regard to leaves, Jaikisson notes that they are acrid and

have a burning taste. With regard to the shedding time of

the leaves, Brandis observes that the old leaves are shed in December

and January. The leaves are shedding now (October) in some plants in

Thana. Fresh foliage appears generally with the appearance of the

flowers or immediately before the flowers are out. Some say that fresh

foliage appears in March and April; the flowering time is also various-

ly given. Brandis notes that fresh foliage appears in March and

April, and the flowers between January and April before the leaves are '

out. He adds that, in the Konkan, flowers appear in November. In

other places I have seen them all throughout the year more or less, but

chiefly between January and April. It must be noted, however, that

the same plant never flowers and fruits more than twice a year what-

ever the months it may blossom in. Brandis found it in leaf and flower

in December, 1869. Drury says the flowering time is from January to

July. Kurz says that the plant flowers in the cold season, and the

fruit is ready in the hot season; Brandis notes that the capsules

ripen from April onward, and, unless pulled off, remain long on the

tree, and, I may add, even dehisce zn situ. Firminger says the fruit

is produced in March. if

The colour-markings of the flowers are variously given. These,

it may be generally observed, must be, in my opinion, attributed

to effects of climate and season. Dalzell and Gibson, who are quite

familiar with the Konkan Flora, say that the flowers are white.

Drury and Hamilton also say that they are white. Brandis says

they are white, with yellow dots at the base, Woodrow says

that the colour is yellowish-white. Paxton says that the colour

of the flowers is yellow (Bot. Dict., p. 378, 1868). Roxburgh refers

to a red-flowered species or variety which is found in the vicinity of

Malda ; its Sanskrit name is Madhu-Shagru. I may observe here,

however, that Madhu-Shigru is not always a red-flowered variety. (See

Raj Nighant, Mr. M. C. Apte’s Edition, Shloka 64.) The term is also

156 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

used to represent a white-flowered variety. The red-flowered variety is

sweet-scented (Shloka 66). Old Indian writers recognize three varieties :

Swet (the white), Ni or Krishna (the black), and Rakia (the red)

(Nighanta Prakash). Bhavaprakash mentions two varieties, white and

red. Udoy Chund Dutt notes that the root of the white variety is said

to be a stronger rubefacient, while that of the red is preferred for

internal use for promoting the appetite and acting on the excretions

(““ Sanskrit Materia Medica,’ p.118). In the Benares Hdition of Raj

Nighant (1883, p. 58) four varieties of Shegat are given, viz. :—yellow,

black, white and red. There is really no black variety. By the term

Nil or Krishna it is meant to express probably the greenish colour which

the petaloid sepals often assume.

With regard to the fruit, it may be said that it is useful to the

natives of this country asa vegetable. The unripe capsules are cooked |

and eaten with relish. To some Huropeans it affords a good substitute

for asparagus, and I can say from personal experience that it is by no

means a bad substitute, only that it should be properly cooked.

Besides, it must be remembered that the fruit of different trees is

not alike in taste. Some capsules are distinctly sweet, others are

bitterish. It is the sweet variety which has the taste and

flavour of asparagus. Not unoften the taste of some capsules

is so bitter as to render a seasoned dish void of all enjoyment. The

leaves and flowers are often cooked as vegetables in fritters and curries,

but they have a mawkish taste; the leaves are more so than the

flowers. —

With respect to the gum which exudes from the bark of the plant,

it may be observed that it is insoluble in water, and has a strong re-

semblance to that known as tragacanth obtained from Astragalus verus.

The seeds, observes Dr. Hamilton, appear somewhat like pith-balls

when their winged papery envelope is removed. The seeds, upon

dividing them with the nail, says he, are found to abound in a clear,

colourless, tasteless, scentless oil, of which the proportion is so large that

it may be expressed from good fresh seeds by the simple pressure of

the nail. O’Shaughnessy says that the seeds contain so much oil that it

exudes on compression between two fingers. “ Geoffry informs us,”

says Hamilton, “that he obtained 303 ounees of oil from 8 pounds of the

decorticated seeds, being at the rate of very nearly 24 Ibs. of oil from

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 157

100 lbs. of seed.” The oil thus obtained is the celebrated oil of Ben

or Behen, which at one period constituted a valuable branch of com-

merce with the Hast, until excessive imposts and extensive adulteration

brought it into unmerited disrepute. Dr. Hamilton distinctly calls

Moringa pterygosperma the “ Oil of Ben” tree. In his Catalogue of

the Economic Products of the Bombay Presidency (p. 149, 1862),

Sir George Birdwood states, what is well-known here—in the Bombay

Presidency at least,—that within his observation no oil is obtained from

the seeds of Moringa pterygosperma. The people use the fruit so

largely as a vegetable when it is young and tender that it is removed

from the tree long before the seed matures. The best fruit for

culinary purposes is one in which the seed has but just formed.

From what Mukharji says, it appears that what is called Oil of

Ben is derived from other seeds than those of Moringa pterygos-

perma; for he says that the seeds of Moringa pterygosperma yield

an oil “ similar to the Oil of Ben.” Not only does Hamilton say

that MW. pterygosperma is the source of Ben oil, but even Lindley,

Henfrey, Drury, Dalzell and Gibson say the same thing. Balfour and

others say that M. pterygosperma produces OilofBen. Balfourmoreover

adds that the oil is an aperient and used by the native doctors in gout

and rheumatism. Brandis, Baillon, Le Maout and Decaisne, on the other

hand, differ from the writers just mentioned on this point. They say

that Ben oil, as it used to be sold in the market in former days, was

derived from the true Ben-nuts which are the seeds of VM. aptera. This

is what Brandis says regarding the subject: —“F'rom the seeds of another

species with wnwinged seeds, M. aptera, Gaertn, of Africa, a valuable

oil (the Ben oil of watchmakers and jewellers) is obtained ; but so far

as is known, no oil is extracted from the seeds of this species in India.”

The following are the observations made by Baillon on this

point :— The oil of Ben (M. aptera) is sweet, inodorous and limpid ;

does not easily turn rancid, and finally separates into two parts, one

of which coagulates (in cold countries observe—K. R. K.), while the

other always remains fluid. It is used in the extraction of certain

perfumes, and the more fluid part is often used by the watch-maker.”

Probably oil might be extracted, says Baillon, from the winged Ben

from tropical India, which also contains a quantity of oil, but it does

not appear to have been much used hitherto, Le Maout and Decaisne

158 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

observe that the Morzngec are tropical Asiatic, Arabian and Mada-

gascar trees. The best-known species is J. aptera, of which the seed

called Ben-nut yields a fixed oil of much repute in the Hast, because

it does not become rancid and is used by perfumers and mechanists in

cold countries from its not freezing.

The concluding remarks of Dr. Hamilton’s paper before the Phar-

maceutical Society I have been hitherto quoting are so graphic,

and seem to me to be so useful to loversand manufacturers of scents,

that Iam tempted to quote them in extenso, in the hope that they

may encourage some of our indigenous scent-manufacturers to cultivate

the Moringa pterygosperma plant for its seed, with the view of

obtaining from the seed that bland oil which has been in the past a

very useful scent-storer, and may in future add largely to the manufac-

ture of numerous essential oils and essences from indigenous scented

flowers and leaves. To quote, then, the remarks of Dr. Hamilton, he

says:—‘‘ The oil which is so profusely obtained from the seeds is

peculiarly valuable for the formation of ointments, from its capability

of being kept for almost any length of time without entering into

combination with oxygen.

“This property, together with the total absence of colour, smell, and

taste, peculiarly adapts it to the purposes of the perfumer, who is able to

make it the medium of arresting the flight of those highly volatile parti-

cles of essential oil which constitute the aroma of many of the most

odoriferous flowers, and cannot be obtained, by any other means, in a con-

centrated and permanent form. To effect this, the petals of the flowers,

whose odour itis desired to obtain, are thinly spread over flakes of cotton-

wool saturated with this oil and the whole inclosed in air-tight tin cases

where they are replaced by fresh ones, and the process thus continued

till the oil has absorbed so much as was desired of the aroma ; it is then

separated from the wool by pressure, and preserved under the name of

essence in well-stoppered bottles. By digesting the oil thus impregnated

in alcohol, which does not take up the fixed oil, a solution of the aroma

is effected. in the spirit, and many odoriferous tinctures or waters, as

they are somewhat inaccurately termed, prepared which could not

otherwise be obtained. By this process most delicious perfumes might

be obtained from the flowers of the Acacia tortuosa, Pancratium carri-

beum, Plumeria alba, Plumeria rubra, and innumerable other flowers of

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 159

the most exquisite fragrance, which abound within the tropics, bloom-

ing unregarded, and wasting their odours on the barren air.” It would

hardly be within the scope of these remarks to add to this interesting

quotation the names of such of our odoriferous plants as would give

really very agreeable and delicate oils and essences, and open up a

wide field of research and occupation to our would-be scent-growers

were it possible for them to obtain a sufficient quantity of the

oil of the Moringa pterygosperma seed, As it is my intention to

write an independent paper on the scent-producing plants of Western

India on a future occasion, I do not pursue the subject here any

further.

The following notes from Watt's Chemical Dictionary may be

read usefully in connection with the foregoing observations :—Benic

acid, obtained from oil of Ben, and sillistearic acid, from the fruit

Stillingea sebifera, have the same composition (Watt?s Chemical Dic-

tionary, Vol. I, page 538). Oil of Ben (Watt’s Chemical Dictionary,

Vol. I, page 538) constitutes the oil expressed from the fruits of

Moringa Nux Behen, Desf.; Guilandina moringa, Linn.; or

Moringa oleifra, Lam. It is colourless or slightly yellow, of spe-

cific gravity 0°912, thick at 15° ©, solid in winter.* It has a

mild taste, is neutral to test-paper, and does not readily become

rancid. “It is used in perfumery to extract the odorous principles

of fragrant plants. In India it is used as an embrocation for.

rheumatism. According to Véleker (Ann, Chem. Pharm., LXIV,

342), it is saponified perfectly by potash, 400 grammes yielding

about 18 grammes of a mixture of solid fatty acids together with

oleic acid. The solid fatty acids are :—1. An acid soluble in

strong alcohol, insoluble in ordinary alcohol, melting at 83° C,

and containing 81:6 per cent. carbon and 13°8 hydrogen, numbers

which approximate the formula Os; Hy O2; but the quantity

obtained was too small for complete investigation.t 2, Ordinary

margaric acid. 3. An acid resembling stearic acid and called by

Volcker Benic acid.”

S EEnIEIENEN EnREreneenereeene

* N.B.—In Europe.—K. R. K.

+ Here is a field for further analytical research,—K. R. K,

160 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

“ Another kind of oil of Ben, said to be obtained from the seeds of

Moringa aptera, yields by saponification four fixed fatty acids, viz.,

stearic acid, margaric acid, and two peculiar acids, benic actd* and

moringic acid (Walter, Compt. Rend. XXII, 1143).”

With regard to the fragile nature of the young branches of this tree,

the late Mr. Govindji Narayan, who spent his valuable life in enrich-

ing the Marathi literature with original, entertaining and instructive

works, and whose graphic descriptive power no Marathi writer of his

day, except the renowned Rao Saheb Mahadeo Govind Shastri

Kolhatkar, ever surpassed, if any equalled, makes the following remarks —

in his Vriksh Varnan (Description of Plants) :—‘“* The Shevga tree is

so fragile that even by an ordinary violent wind its branches break.

The tree is sometimes so overloaded with capsules that the branches

break even by the-very weight of the fruit.” Mr. Govindji also notes

that the trees which grow in the Bassein Print afford fruit which is

excellent eating ; that they grow in any kind of soil, and do not require

any special care. He corroborates my observation that the trees flower

all throughout the year. He describes the flowers as being white.

Another indigenous writer, who appears to be well informed in Indian

plants, Raghunathji Indraji of Junagadh, who is popularly known as

Kati Bhat, in his Nighant Sungraha (1893, p. 320) makes the

following observations regarding the Shegat plant :—“ The flowers are

white, red, or greenish. The white-flowered variety is the most com-

mon. Its green bark is very pungent, and has the smell of powdered

mustard. The juice of the bark yields an oil. Both the juice and

the oil are used externally to reduce swellings and enlarged glands.”

Mr. Vasudev C. Bapat, another writer, a resident of the Ratnagiri Dis-

trict, recognizes only one variety of Shevga. (Vanaushadhi Prakash,

Vol. II, page 419).

Moringa pterygosperma as a member of the phanerogamia is a plant

of very great interest. In the classification of plants it has been

difficult for botanists to assign this plant its proper place. It has

ever been a puzzle under what natural order to class it. Inthe days

*N.B.—Benic acid is a name applied to two different fatty acids, both obtained

from oil of ben, the one by Véleker, the other by Walter. For distinction, Vélcker’s

acid, which has the higher melting point, may be called the benostearic acid and

Walter's benomargaric acid.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 16

of my boyhood I used to hear of the fifth proposition in the first book

of Euclid as the pons asinorum. Were it pardonable to parody

this quaint expression, in the advanced days of my scholastic career,

I should say that the Moringa pterygosperma has ever been the pons

botanicorum preestantissimorum. For witness how various botanists

have variously attempted to classify this plant, and yet how far we

are, even at the present day, from arriving at a satisfactory solution of

the difficult question of giving it its proper place among the natural

orders.

The classification of plants in Hooker’s Flora of British India,which,

from the extreme care with which it is compiled, with the assistance of

some of the best and most accomplished botanists now living, must at

all times, at any rate for many years to come, be a standard work of

reference to Indian botanists, is based on Bentham and Hooker’s ex-

haustive Genera Plantarum. Hooker accordingly places the Natural

Order Moringeee next to Sapindacee among the Disciflore, a division

which was generally, in days gone by, included among the Thala-

miflore, but which was first made into a separate division by Bentham

and Hooker. The following are the characteristics of the division

Discifloree :—“ Flowers generally with a conspicuous disk, on or about

which the stamens, which are nearly always definite, are inserted. The

flowers are mostly regular; in the Moringee they are markedly

irregular, somewhat resembling those of the Papdlionacece, which form

one of the sub-orders of the natural order Leguminose.

“The Moringa pterygosperma tree,” says Mr. HE. M. Holmes, F.1.s.

(The Tropical Ayriculturist of Ceylon, Vol. Ill, 1883-84, page 285),

“is a very interesting one from a botanical point of view, being

allied to the Leguminose in habit, and, indeed, very erroneously

included by Linnzus in the genus Guilandina. It resembles the

plants of this family in having compound leaves, stipules’ (glands

according to some botanists, as already mentioned—K.R.K.) “and

flowers which chiefly differ from those of the tribe Cesalpinee in

the odd petal being inferior, in the one-celled anthers, tricapillary

ovary, and anatropous ovules. In the last two characters it

approaches Véolacew, as well as in the three-valved fruit, parietal

placentation, and hollow apex of the style. In properties it resem-

bles the Cruciferee, Capparidaceee and Resedaceee. By Grisebach it was

162 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

placed in the Capparidacece, and by other botanists it has been com-

pared with the Polygalacew, Bignonacew, and Sapindacee.”

Mr. Holmes further remarks that ‘in the classical General Planta-

rum of Bentham and Hooker, it follows Sapindacee as an anomalous

genus of doubtful affinity.”

Lindley has written an elaborate and learned note on the Morin-

gacece or “ Moringads”’ as he calls them. He classes them among

the Hypogynous exogens, Violales. “This is a little group of small

trees,” says he, “with an appearance so peculiar that one hardly

knows with what to compare them, It seems, however, generally

admitted that they resemble some plants of the Leguminose, and it

is to the vicinity of those that all botanists, except myself, seem

agreed in referring them, moved thereto by their pinnated leaves,

with glands between the leaflets, declinate decandrous perigynous

stamens, and pod-like fruit. DeCandolle, who did not overlook the

anomalous structure of Moringa as a leguminous plant, accounted for

the compound nature of its fruit on the supposition that although

unity of carpels is the normal structure of the Legumznose, yet the

presence of more ovaries than one in a few instances of that order

explained the constantly trilocular state of that of Moringa.” I may

observe here that the term unity of carpels used by Lindley is likely to

mislead not a few. What Lindley means is “one-ness,” “

single-celled”

nature and not union of many carpels or “ cohesion ;” for let it be re-

membered that unity also means “ union ;” witness the old adage

“ unity is strength.” It would be well to briefly state here what these

leguminous plants bearing a many-celled fruit are. Loudon says

that Calléstachys lanceolata and Calléstachys ovata, belonging to the

Leguménose bear pods, which are many-celled, stalked, and woody

before ripening.* They are both natives of Australia ; very hand-

some shrubs bearing spikes of yellow flowers. Another leguminous

plant, Afzelia Africana, a tree growing in the Colony of Sierra Leone,

and bearing black seeds with a scarlet arillus, has many-celled pods.

“Tt was named by Sir J. H. Smith,” says Loudon, “after Dr.

' Adam Afzelius, an amiable and excellent Swedish botanist, resident,

* Encyclopedia of Plants, p. 338, 1829.

t Op. cit., p. 339, 1829.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 163

for many years in the service of the African Company, at the Colony

of Sierra Leone.”* Cathartocarpus javanicus, a native of Java, as

the name indicates, is another of the leguminous plants bearing

pink flowers, which has a many-celled pod.t Cassea fistula, our

well-known Béhawa plant, so familiar in the Konkan and striking-

ly beautiful, with its dense, long, bright yellow panicles, reminding

one of the poet’s “ Laburnum drooping gold,” bears a long woody pod,

which botanists are accustomed to describe as spuriously many-celled.

The spurious dissepiments in this pod, be it noted, are horizontal

and regularly arranged between each seed as it lies imbedded in a

black honey-sweet pulp. Such are the deviations of the fruit among

the Leguménosee from the normal one-celled ovary.

To resume our reference to Lindley, “it has, however, always

seemed to me,” says he, “that the resemblance which botanists have

found with leguminous order, are” (? ts—K. R. K.) “ trifling, while

the discrepancies are of the first importance. For example, the habit

of the plant consists of a doubly pinnated foliage, which would do as

well for Roseworts, or Citronworts, or Rueworts ;{ the declinate

stamens are found in Rueworts, Milkworts, Capparids, and many

others ; andas to the pod-like form of the fruit, it is not worth

a thought. The objections are that the sepals are of the same

texture as the petals, the anthers one-celled, the ovary composed of

three carpels which have not the power of turning inward their sides

so as to form dissepiments, and that the attachment of the carpel is

strictly parietal. It is true that the latter circumstance will not be

so much at variance with the leguminous structure as it appears to

be, if it should be proved that the sutural and parietal placentation

are of the same nature, which seems to be the fact. But connected

as it is with other points of difference, and considering that it is

parietal placentation in excess, it appears to be of considerable

moment. ‘This has always led me to regard the Moringads as members

of some great parietal alliance and as claimants of a nearer aflinity

* Op. vit., p. 347, 1829.

+ Op. cit., p. 339, 1829.

{ Note that both the Citronworts and Rueworts of Lindley are now classed under

one head called the Rutacee—(K. R. K.)

164 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

with Violetworts* (Véolales) than with any other order. And to this

opinion I adhere for the following reasons :—The stamens are definite

in number, the corolla is manifestly irregular, the placentation is

parietal, and the flowers are not isomeric, the parts of fruit being three,

while those of the calyx, corolla, and stamens are five. Themain objec-

tion to this view is derived from the stamens being perigynous, and it

will be seen from the altered arrangements introduced into the present

volume” (from which these remarks are quoted.—K. R. K.) “that I

now attach much more importance than formerly. But it must be

remembered that Moringa is not at ali more perigynous than Ver-

rucularia and others among Malpighiads, or than Reseda among the

Crucifers, or than Hscholtzia among Poppyworts ; and that, in fact,

it may be very well regarded as standing in the same relation to

Violetworts as Lscholtzia to Poppyworts. While, however, the

parietal placentation seems to turn the scale in favour of the near

affinity of the Moringads to Violetworts, there can be little doubt

that they also approach the anisomerous Sapindal alliance, especially

Milkworts, in their declinate stamens, one-celled anthers and petaloid

calyx.” Such are the learned observations of the accomplished

Dr. Lindley of unrivalled botanic fame. To question his authority

would be mere presumption.

The following observation in Professor Henfrey’s Botany (edited

by Masters and Bennett, p. 235, 1884) may be read usefully in con-

nection with the foregoing remarks of Lindley. ‘ The species of the

order Moringacew have been referred to the vicinity of the Legu-

minosce principally on account of their perigynous irregular flowers,

pinnate leaves and pod-like fruit. The structure of the ovary

entirely removes them widely from the Leguminose on account of

the parietal placentation. Since, judging from the Rosacee the

occurrence of additional carpels in Leguménosce would be accompanied

by an apocarpous condition or at least by axile placentation.

Diphaca and Cesalpinia digyna (Leguminose) are in fact described

* For the proper understanding of Lindley’s argument, I may here mention the

natural orders which he includes among the Violales. They are as follows :—

Flacourtiacee,Lacistemace,Samydacee,Passifloracee, Malsherbacee, Moringacee,

Violacee, Frankeniacee, Tamaricacee, Sauvagiacee, Crassulacee, and Turne-

Tacee.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 165

as having two legumes* ; but the monstrous forms of Grleditschia

referred to by De Candolle are said to have two coalescent carpels.

Hence Lindley places this order in the neighbourhood of Violacee

and conceives it approaches Polygalacece. Others place it between

Capparids and Resedacew, to the former of which it is closely

allied.”

Passing on to another botanist, although Baillon includes the

Moringa series in the nat. ord. Capparidace, he begins his remarks by

saying that the series represented by the Moringa is of somewhat

doubtful position among the Capparzdacew. Baillon is of opinion that

Moringa shows close analogies with Leguminose, differing essentially

only inthe number of its parietal placentas ; he says that Cordyla,

which belongs to the leguminous series Tounatew or Swartziee,

was formerly placed in Capparidacee, and is only distin-

guished therefrom by its single placenta. Baillon gives a re-

ference to Adansonia (IX, 335) for the enumeration of the

different groups to which Moringa has been referred, even

bringing it near Monopetaw, such as Bignoniacew. I am sorry I

have not the means of referring to Adansonia, else I should have been

able to make this part of my paper complete. One has to be content

in this country with only a few books of reference in the absence of

a well-furnished scientific library, and make the most of scanty

resources for acquiring scientific knowledge. According to J. G.

Agardh, the Moringacew, though collateral with the Capparidacee,

appear to be more allied to the Leguménosw on account of their

pentamerous, nearly symmetrical flowers, and perigynous stamens.

Le Maout and Decaisnet are more decided in their opinion regard-

ing the position of the Moringee among the natural orders. “It is

amongst the Capparidew,” they say, “that we must search for the

real affinities of Moringee.” “The genus Moringa,” they observe,

“has been by some botanists placed in Papiéléonaceee on account of

a slight resemblance in the flower, which, however, indicates no true

* A double ovary sometimes occurs as a monstrosity in Wistaria sinensis, in

Gleditschia and inthe French bean (Phaseolus); and a Mimosa with 5 carpels

(thus a symmetrical flower) is said to have been seen by St. Hilaire (Henfrey

p. 239).

+ Descriptive Botany (translated by Mrs. Hooker), p. 236, 1873.

166 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. TX,

affinity. Hooker (following Lindley) compared it with Violariew,

“which resemble it in their irregular flower, with unequal dorsal petal,

in their perigynous insertion, tubular style, one-celled ovary with three

parietal nerviform placentas and anatropous ovules; but Moringece

are widely separated by habit, one-celled anthers and exalbuminous

seeds.” The affinities of Moringeee with the Capparidece are to be

observed ‘‘in their polypetalous imbricate corolla, perigynism, stamens

more numerous than petals, stipitate one-celled ovary, parietal placen-

tation, siliquose capsule, exalbuminous embryo, alternate leaves, and

caducous stipules.” To these must be added the acrid root, leaves, and

bark which are common to both families, recalling the smell and taste

of the horse-radish, and associating Moringa with the Crucifere, them-

selves so closely allied to Capparidee.

Kurz places this plant between the Capparidee and Violacew, as

orders belonging to sub-division Parietales (¢.e., having parietal pla-

centas) of the thalamiflorous plants. The observations of Wight on this

question are too interesting to be omitted in such a general considera-

tion of the true position of the Moringa in the series of natural orders.

He realizes the difiiculty of assigning the Moringa its exact place.

“ This small order,” says he,* “ consisting of one genus and about

three species, long associated with Legumznose though sufficiently

distinct, and so peculiar in its relations that it is not yet distinct

where it should stand in the series of orders, the structure of the

ovary placing it among the parietose group, near Violariee, while

according to the flowers it is more justly referable to the tribe Cesal-

pine@ of the Leguminose.” Notice that some botanists think the

Moringais more allied to the sub-order Papileonaceee. “'The characters

derived from the tribe Cesalpinee of Leguminose as being the more

conspicuous of the two seem to have induced botanists to prefer

placing it near the Leguminose, the more so as the habit still further

associates it with that order.”

* * * % % & *

“ Affnities—As stated above, these are very obscure owing to the

peculiar structure of the ovary, one-celled with three parietal placenta,

the fruit afterwards ae into three valves. Arnott Cae oe

% Wight?s Illustrations of Pee pp. 186-187, 1840,

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 167

Britannica, 7th Hdition) remarks, formerly considered as part of the

Leguminos@, but now separated by Mr. Brown. It seems, however, to

have more affinity with these than with others ; nor do we see in the

fruit very grave objections to such a supposition, as the flowers of

Gleditschia have occasionally two carpels united in the same manner

as the three of Moringa.”

“ Of the correctness of this view, or otherwise,” Wight goes on to

say, “I can offer no opinion, being altogether unacquainted with

Gleditschia ;* Lindley however holds an opposite opinion ; he says,

‘ DeCandolle, who did not overlook its anomalous structure as a legu-

minous plant, accounted for the compound nature of its fruit upon the

supposition that though unity of carpels is the normal structure of

Leguminos@, yet the presence of more ovaries than one in a few in-

stances in that order explained the constantly trilocular state of that

of Moringa. To this, however, there are numerous and grave

objections which cannot fail to strike every botanist. What its

proper station should be remains to be determined ;’ again,

Decaisne seems to think it has more affinity with Leguminose

than with any other order. On these passages it .may be observed,”

says Wight, “that it would have been more satisfactory had

some of the grave objections been stated, since it is quite un-

deniable that Messrs. DeCandolle, Arnott, and Decaisne are all

eminent botanists and yet they do not seem to have been struck by

them. While I thus object to such sweeping conclusions as the

above, I confess I cannot help coinciding with Dr. Lindley in think-

ing that the doctrine he opposes is pushed, in this instance, much

too far by these authors, though I scarcely feel myself sufficiently

master of the subject to join issue with them on this, one of the most

difficult questions in botany.”

I have thus placed before my readers the different views expressed

by eminent botanists regarding the position of the Moringa plant

in the series of natural orders ; and must now bring to a close the

lengthy quotation, which I have introduced more for the purpose of

bringing together the scattered information on this point than with

any hope of arriving | at a definite conclusion as to which of the

* A North American genus, of whichtthe honeyslocuce wee is a species (G.

triacanthos). There are two Chinese species of this genus besides,

3 :

168 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X,

natural orders Moringa pterygosperma should finally belong. In

monographic papers of the sort I am writing in this series, it seems

desirable that all that is worth knowing should be stringed together ;

that is my only apology for such lengthy extracts.

I might add a distinct chapter describing the various savoury

Indian dishes that could be turned out of the fruit, flower, and leaf of .

Moringa, with the requisite flavouring ingredients, such as pepper

. (ved-and bladk)s salt, cocoanut scrapings, cumin seed, onions, &c.,

but it would | be foreign to the purposes of the paper todo so. In

t fact, knowing how valuable the whole of this plant is from a

culinary point of view, and judging from my own personal taste

and experience what a substantial article of diet the Moringa capsule

is, | am conscious I shall be asked why I include this tree among

the poisonous plants of Bombay. Not only will the captious critic,

but even the earnest inquirer,.the careful student in search of botani-

‘cal knowledge, ask me to explain what is apparently a paradoxical

statement, v7z., that the plant is both poisonous and wholesome. This

I shall try to explain in the following remarks.

THE POISONOUS PROPERTIES.

It is not by any means to be supposed that, because one

part of a plant is edible, any other part of the same plant

is not poisonous, using the word poison in its broadest sense to

signify whatever is hurtful to the human body. Instances are

not unknown among other plants, where one part of the same is safely

used for culinary purposes, whereas another has proved to be distinctly

poisonous. French beans, for instance, are known to serve as an

excellent vegetable. Few will believe, however, that the root of the

French bean runner when eaten is poisonous. Mr. Bartlett has

recorded an instance (Pharmaceutical Journal, Vol. Il, page 721,

1842-43), in which the poisonous effects of the root were distinctly

noted. “ A customer of mine,” says he, “last Christmas was digging

up some roots of the French beans or Scarlet runners and,observing them

to be very large and look very white when broken, thought he would

taste them, thinking there could be no harm in partaking of the root

of a vegetable which had formely supplied his table. His family and

maid-servant being also in the garden, all partook of some, pro-

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 169

nouncing them good and pleasant to the taste; presently, the servant

complained of giddiness and sickness, and while rendering assistance,

the master himself, with the mistress and five children, followed

in the train; the sickness continuing for half an hour.”’

Another instance occurred last year in my own practice in the

_ Thana Jail. For years it was the practice in the -Thana.Jail to

cook up the tender tops and leaves of the sweet potate” (Batatas

edulis) and serve as vegetables to. the jail inmates itith hout - “any -

deleterious effects. One night, last cold weather, I was. spddenly

called by my Jail Hospital Assistant to ‘attend to five or: six cases

of almost epidemic vomiting and purging, in a more or less severe

form, among prisoners both male and female in the different barracks

of the jail. These five or six cases rose to fifty within,the next two

hours. IfI had been hasty in my investigation .of these cases,

I might have put down this sudden outburst of vomiting and purg-

ing to an epidemic of cholera. But there was no cholera in the

town, nor was it raging in the districts around, which supply our

jail with its daily fluctuating population. I made a careful ex-

amination of the vomits of the affected prisoners, and in those .vomits

I found undigested portions of the sweet potato leaves, which |

thought might be the probable cause of this almost epidemic suffer-

ing of the jail inmates, the jail population at the time being over

700 souls all told. To have to treat fifty prisoners within two hours

is decidedly a serious affair. Under prompt treatment, the details

of which need not be mentioned here, fortunately for all concerned,

there was no death. My next step was to obtain a sufficient quantity

of the leaves and tender tops of the sweet-potato plant, which I

submitted for analysis to my friend Mr. Stephenson, F.c.s., then of

Messrs. Kemp & Co. Mr. Stephenson discovered a glucoside in

the plant which I consider was the cause of the ailment. It is well

known that at certain times plants, which produce substantial roots or

tubers, are rich in glucosides in the sap of their leaves before they

finally store up all their starch in their roots and tubers. The gluco-

side discovered by Mr. Stephenson was probably not unlike that

found in the tubers of Jalap (H2ogontum purga) belonging to the

nat. ord, Convolvulaceee, of which the sweet-potato is no mean

member,

170 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

There are several other instances which may be cited here to show

that even although one part of a plant may be perfectly innocuous,

another may be obnoxious. Thus, Adrus precatorius (Marathi Gury,

nat. ord, Leguminose), the root of which is perfectly harmless and

considered a safe substitute for the liquorice-root ( Glycerrhiza

glabra, nat. ord. Leguminose), bears seeds which, if used inter-

nally, act as powerful gastric irritants producing symptoms not easily

to be differentiated from those of cholera. I have several instances

of such affection, which I shall mention in detail when I describe the

plant in a future number of this series of papers on the poisonous -

plants of Bombay.

Take, again, the mature seeds of Bddydn (Jllictum anisatum, nat.

ord. Magnoliacee). The curious looking star-like fruit of this tree is

largely employed as a carminative, and serves as a valuable and much

appreciated flavouring adjunct in Indian curries and pulldos, But

the seed is distinctly poisonous if eaten when perfectly mature. Dr.

Rozario of Mazagon has come across some cases of poisoning from such

seeds. In my own practice at the J. J. Hospital of Bombay, I came

across a case in 1887. Mr.J. Gallagher, the House Surgeon then,

brought the case to my notice. He has since recorded another case

of a fatal nature which occurred very recently inthe J. J. Hospital,

where the seeds had been swallowed outside the hospital.

One more instance I may add to these. From personal experience

I know that a quarter-inch square piece of the bark of Mimusops

elengi (Marathi Bakul or Wowlen, nat. ord. Sapotacee) chewed at the

instance of a zealous benefactor for relieving a bad tooth-ache produced

within twelve hours a terrible cedema of the uvula and the mucous

membrane of the whole mouth, and an incessant flow of saliva for

over two hours. Fortunately the bark was only chewed and

its irritant juice not swallowed, else to a certainty violent gastric

inflammation had followed. This was a case of the patient ejaculat-

ing “ Save me from my friends!” Be it noted, on the other hand,

that the fruit of Bakul is edible and perfectly harmless. It has a

sweet astringent taste.

I have thus tried to justify my insertion of the Moringa pierygo-

perma plant among the poisonous plants, however largely and with-

out harm it is used for culinary purposes.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 171

Now let me turn to the consideration of what constitutes the

poisonous nature of the plant. Rheede was not unacquainted with

the poisonous nature of the root of this plant. His knowledge on

this score was mainly derived from the native Vaidyas, learned in the

existing flora of the Malabar tract of this country, who

materially helped him in the production of that encyclopzdiac

work, known as the Hortus Malabaricus. “ The root,” isays he,

“causes abortion.” I may be permitted to add that the bark

is equally mischievous, Last year, I had to give evidence in

an abortion case before Mr. Patwardhan, the . District Deputy

Collector and First-class Magistrate of Thana. In this case, the

woman, who had successfully used the bark, admitted she had done

so. From 2 to 3 lbs. of the pounded bark had been used externally

on the hypogastric and pubic regions for the distinct purpose of

procuring abortion, The woman was a poor unfortunate middle-

aged widow—and the fate of poor helpless young or middle-aged

widows is very hard in this country ; she had been deceived and

saddled with the burden of a growing foetus ; to avoid disgrace she

tried to destroy the foetus, and she succeeded. This is an instance

of how the Moringa bark is abortive. O’Shaughnessy does not

notice it in his Bengal Dispensatory. All that he says is that

the root reduced to a pulp affords an external irritant. Other

writers say that the root acts as a rubefacient and vesicant, and

causes great pain. Udoy Chandra Dutt says that the root of the

white-flowered plant is said to be a stronger rubefacient, while that of

the bark is preferred for internal use for promoting the appetite and

acting on the excretions. (Sanskrit Materia Medica, p. 118, 1877.)

The ancient Hindu writers, as for instance the author of Raj-

Nighant, of Bhavprakash, of Madanpal-Nighant,* do not reter to the

abortifacient property of any part of the Shegat plant. In Amar-

kosha, a very old Sanskrit dictionary, Shegat is said to be pungent.t

No mention of the abortifacient property of this plant is made

and Lemons, p. 216, 1890).

_ + Dr. Bonavia gives the date as the 8th or 9th century A.D., and observes

that, according to Reinand, it appears that Amarkosha was written in the 5th

century. (Op. cit.).

172 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

in Dhanvantart Nighant. None of the later writers, such as

the compilers of Mghant Ratnakar ; Udoy Chandra Dutt, of

Calcutta ; Dr. Sakharam Arjun, Dr. Pandurang Gopal, and Mr.

Govindji Narayan, of Bombay ; Kata Bhat, of Junagadh; and

Mr. Wasudeo Chintémon Baput, of Ratnagiri ;—make any allusion

to its abortifacient effects. Mr. Jaikisson Indraji, of Porebunder, how-

ever, distinctly says that the bark is used to procure abortion. “ Itis also

used,” says he, “as a substitute for Laminaria tents for dilating the

os utert.” He says that the gum is also abortive. Dr. Dymock says

the same thing. So far as I know the gum is inert. It is insoluble in

water, and if left in it for some time, swells into a gelatinous mass like

gum Tragacanth obtained from Astragalus verus (nat.ord, Leguminose).

“ Rumphius and Loureiro state,” says Dr. Dymock, “ that the bark is

emmenagogue and even abortifacient. In Bengal half-ounce doses

of the bark are said to be used to procure abortion.” This would

point to the fact thatthe bark is used internally, ze., taken by the

stomach, Dr. Dymock, in corroborating the statement of Jaikisson,

adds a remark that “‘ it is difficult to obtain reliable evidence upon a

point of this nature. It would be quite possible to use itas a tent to

dilate the os uteri as tt is very tough* and swells rapidly when mois-

tened.”—(Pharmacographia Indica, Vol. I, p. 898). That it swells

rapidly it cannot be doubted as the wood is porous. But I doubt if

any part of Shegat can be said to be tough except the pericarp of the

capsule. The plant is essentially fragile, and in no way can it be said

to be tough. Dr. Dymock himself says that the wood of the root is

soft and porous, and that the bark of it is thick and soft. The parenchy-

matous cells of the bark “are loaded with globules of essential oil” which

is highly pungent and very much like the horse-radish oil or mustard oil

in its irritating properties. Dr. Dymock observes, however, that “ the

odour of Moringa oil is distinct from that of mustard and garlic, and

more offensive.’ Dr. Dymock further says that the Moringa bark

“contains a white crystalline principle answering to the reactions of

an alkaloid.”

My authority for including this tree among the poisonous plants

of Bombay is Dr. Norman Chevers. It is on his authority that

* The italics are mine. —K. R. K.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY, 173

Dr. Lyon also includes this tree among the abortifacients. These

papers of mine on the poisonous plants of Bombay are essentially

supplementary to Dr, Lyons’ standard work on Medical Jurisprudence,

which in a great measure may be said to be the originator of these my

contributions to the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society.

On the authority of that veteran scholar, Rai Bahadur Kannya Lall

Dey, ¢. 1. E., who to his extensive knowledge of the botany of India

adds the acumen of a careful observer, Dr. Norman Chevers makes

the following remarks regarding the Moringa plant*:—“ A piece of

Sujna bark ” (Sujna is the Bengal name for Shegat.—K.R.K.) “ about

half an ounce in weight, is pounded with twenty-one black

pepper-corns, made into a paste and swallowed to procure abortion.

This is said to be a very dangerous means, as the woman, as a rule,

dies with the foetus.” I may observe that, as stated before, the external

application of the pounded bark has succeeded in expelling the fcetus,

but has left the mother uninjured and fit to be tried ina court of law

for foeticide. Dr. Norman Chevers further observes that “in all the

cases where the application of the substance per vaginam is required,

a good amount of tact and skill is needed on the part of the applier.”

Be it noted here that, in communicating this valuable information to

Dr. Chevers, Rai Bahadur Kannya Lall Dey observes that he has obtain-

ed these facts regarding the various modes of producing abortion in

use near Calcutta by paying a woman who is perfectly conversant

with the practice. Dr, Norman Chevers further says that “he speaks

confidently of the statements of Kannya Lall Dey as facts, because he

finds them to be perfectly in accordance with nearly all that he had

previously learnt on the subject.”

To pursue the subject further and enter into the question of the

physiological action of the bark on the gravid uterus would be perhaps

groping in the dark, inasmuch as what is as yet known about the

abortive properties of the bark is more ina general way than as the

result of physiological or clinical investigation. In other words, it

is not known whether the bark produces tonic or clonic contraction

of the uterus. It is known as an emmenagogue ; and what is an

emmenagogue in small doses, may prove, and has proved, aborti-

* N. Chevers’ Medical Jurisprudence, p. 716, 1870.

174 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

facient in large doses. Mr. Holmes distinctly observes that “ the

decoction of the root or of the bark is given as an emmenagogue ; but it

is said to be liable to produce abortion.” The various parts of the

plant are diuretic ; and diuretics are ina few cases known to have

caused abortion (Ogston’s Medical Jurisprudence, p. 97, 1878).

The leaves are said to be emetic. Excessive vomiting, whether

due to pregnancy or to emetics which are not unknown to abortion-

producers, causes exhaustion of nerve-force and thereby leads to

the expulsion of the foetus. Bapat says that four tolas of the

juice of leaves produces bilious vomiting. The juice of the bark

is said to be purgative, acting especially on the biliary organ ;

should it by any chance produce hypercatharsis, indirectly it may be

the means of causing abortion. Baillon says that the embryo is bitter

and purgative. Royle says that the seeds are aperient. The question is,

whether in the case of Moringa, abortion is caused by any expellant

action on the part of the volatile oil contained in the bark acting on

the uterus through the mother’s blood. It may be noted that no

special abortive property is required in the bark when used locally, Z.e.,

to the os itself. Such artificial direct violence or injury to the os or

foetus, even when the substance used is physiologically non-irritant,

may produce abortion. Under such circumstances, asa general rule,

the healthy uterus takes long before it expels a healthy foetus. Dr.

Barnes lays it down as an axiom that “ the healthy ovum clings to the

healthy uterus with wonderful tenacity.” It is where the system is

diseased, weakened and worn out by incessant worry, anxiety, great

mental prostration, starvation, exposure and other weakening causes,

that such local means take ready effect.

It is for the future investigator to find out the physiological effects

of the volatile oil of Moringa on the uterine system. Let it be re-

membered that the bland oil expressed from the seed of Moringa is

~ entirely different from the volatile oil found in the leaves, root and

bark, which latter has a disagreeable odour, and is similar to the mus-

tard and horse-radish oils, ‘fhe oil of the seeds, apart from its use and

importance in the manufacture of scents, is non-irritating. Let me

quote again the remarks of Holmes on this point. “It is a note-

worthy point,” says he, “ that whereas the whole plant is so offen-

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 175

sive, its seeds are scentless to a remarkable and almost to an incredible

degree ; nevertheless the practical experience of all previous observers

goes to show that the seed-oil is absolutely scentless, and free from all

irritating properties,”

Car] Hubatka has shown that the mustard and horse-radish oils are

identical in composition (PA. Journal, p. 291, Vol. IIT, 1843-44).*

“Tt is singular,” says he, “that man should have selected

horse-radish and mustard as condiments on account of their analogy

in taste, as he also thus detected the analogy between tea and coffee.”

In contrast with this, Broughton says that the oil of the Moringa plant

is different from either oil of mustard or oil of garlic. All these oils,

however, belong to the Allyl compounds. (Roscoe and Schorlemmer’s

Organic Chemistry, Vol. III, Pt. 2, pp. 436-451.) They are not only

disagreeable but pungent. Roscoe observes “that the Attic Greek

comedians mention mustard as a biting substance which causes a flow

of tears, but is an excellent substance for giving a relish to certain

kinds of food.” Suchisalso the experience of those who greedily

chew an extra large bit of the scrapings of the Moringa root at an

Anglo-Indian table. I wish I could say that this flow of tears is not

unknown to me personally !

DESCRIPTION OF PLATES.

Piate L. The solitary flower to the left is drawn as if looked at

from above after full expansion of the corolla, show-

ing only the anthers in the centre.

A. Fruit, a capsule, showing its torulose nature,

B. Horizontal section of the half mature capsule about the

middle, showing the one-celled nature of the fruit,

with the seed ina diminutive state and the wings

greenish, imbedded in the white pulp. Itis in this

condition that the capsules are best used for culinary

purposes,

Prate L, (Supplementary.)

1, Arrangement of the Floral whorls (Diagramatic). [After

Le Maout and Decaisne. |

* Quoted from Ann, der Chem. und Pharm, xlvui, pp. 153, 157,

176 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

10.

Flower (7). [After Baillon.] All sepals and petals, except

the dorsal petal drawn turned down to show the stamens.

Longitudinal section of flower (7) through the stipitate ovary,

showing the ovules and the cup-shaped disk. [After

Le Maout and Decaisne. |

Anther, dorsal view, showing the

peltate connective. |. Magnified. [After Wight. |

Anther ventral view. _

Ovary on the disk and base of calyx. (Magnified.) [After

Wight. ]

Ovule. (Magnified.) [After Le Maout and Decaisne. |

A full-grown capsule cut transversely to show its three valves

and winged seed in situ. (Natural size.) [After Wight. |

Mature seed detached and showing the three wings. (Natural

size.) [After Baillon.] . 3

One of the cotyledons showing the ventral surface, with the

radicle at base and plumule. (Magnified.) [After Wight. ]

Journat Bompay Nat: Hist: Soc;, Vor. 1X.N°2. PLate L. (Supplementary.)

: K.R. Kirtikar, del:. z = AP Cortez, Litho:.

ay THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY.

see Saki a Moringa pterygosperma N. 0 Moringee.

177

MULE-BREEDING.

By Vurrrmary-Masor G, J. R. RAYMENT,

Late Suppr., Crvit Vererary Dezpr., N.-W. P. & Oups.

If horse-breeding is little understood in India and by few, mule-

breeding is even less so. Many people, who take the greatest interest

in the breeding and rearing of horses, for racing, army, or hack

purposes, know nothing whatever of this important industry, which is

daily gaining ground in many parts of the country. Under these

circumstances, I venture to add my mite, gathered during an ex-

perience of seven years and-a-half, to the very meagre literature

already existing on the subject. Where so little is known every

contribution, however small and imperfect, will prove of some value,

MULES AND JENNETS,

2. tis perhaps hardly necessary to premise by saying that the

animal known as a mule is the hybrid produced by crossing the male

ass or jack with a horse-mare, the jennet being the produce of the

female ass or jenny by the horse-stallion,

DONKEY-STALLIONS,

3. The donkeys used by the Government in India are Italian,

French (Poitou), Spanish (Catalonian), Cyprian, Persian, Arab,

Home-bred, Punjabi and a few Bokhara and Khorassani.

Ttalian.—This donkey is far and away the best. He has been

carefully bred for many generations past, and the result is that he

has a decided stamp not to be mistaken when once learnt. He stands

about 12 hands 2 inches. He is a handsome beast, and the tan

markings about his face and eyes, his dark coat and white belly,

remind one of the black buck. He has a good straight back, big

joints, and as a rule for a donkey is straight behind, with his hocks

fairly well under him. Above all, being of his kind thorough-bred, he

stamps his stock, transmitting his good points to his progeny. Again,

his coat is finer and more silky than that of the ordinary jack, so he

feels the heat less and stands the Indian climate better than the others.

The great drawback to his general use is his high price. He costs

over Rs. 1,200 in these days of depreciated currency by the time he

reaches the Babugarh Depot.

178 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. LX.

4. Spanish (Catalonian).—These resemble generally the Italian.

They are bigger, coarser, and inclined to beleggy. They stand 13:1

to 13:2; frequently carrying heavy coats they do not bear the

climate so well. Their stock run larger than the Italian, but are not so

compact, All the same they are not by any means a bad class of sire.

5. French (Poitou).—The foregoing remarks apply with equal

force to this donkey. He unfortunately carries if anything a heavier

coat than his Spanish brother, frequently curling in long coarse

locks all over his body. He stands 12°2 to 13:1. A rather amusing

incident occurred with a French donkey some years ago in this

connection, A new Assistant Superintendent of Horse-breeding,

while attending a Horse Show in the Punjab, came across a very fine

donkey picketted in the lines. Finding his owner quite ready to deal

he purchased him for Rs. 150 and was much elated at having chanced

on such a good specimen of the indigenous animal. Sending him

down to the Depét he wrote a glowing account of the beast to

the General Superintendent, who, of course, was also much pleased.

On the animal’s arrival at Babugarh, the Overseer in charge looked at

him very hard and shook his head. “Seems to me I know that

donkey,” he muttered. In the evening when he again saw our

friend, a sudden idea struck him, and, seizing a pair of scissors, he

proceeded to clip the Jong coarse hair from his shoulder. As the

clippers ploughed their way through the coat, behold the register

number branded on Government donkeys came into view, and the

mystery of the remarkably fine Punjabi was solved. He was a

- young Poitou jack cast and sold the year before for impotence. The

great coarse coat had completely hidden all traces of the brand and, as

the Assistant Superintendent was a new hand, he had, of course, failed

to recognize the animal as an old acquaintance.

6. Cyprian—fSome years ago we obtained several nice batches of

donkeys from Cyprus ; but after some time they fell off so rapidly that

we were obliged to discontinue their importation. They are alto-

gether a lighter donkey than any of the above, run smaller, are

frequently narrow, and wanting in bone. Though considerably cheaper

than other Huropean jacks, I doubt even at the price if as good value

is obtained for money spent on these animals. Their height is about 12

hands 1 inch.

MULE-BREEDING. , 179

7. Arabs are asa rule fairly well shaped. They are generally

white in colour, some being mouse. They run small and often light

in bone. Some of them are wanting in back rib and are inclined to

be flat sided. These are not easy to keep in condition, and once they

fall off are difficult to restore. They average about 12 hands.

8. Persian.—The Persian in many instances has bone, substance,

and depth, with a good back. As a set off he falls off terribly behind,

and his hocks are much too far away from him. His big head and large

ears give him a stupid look. Though possessed of many good points,

he is an ugly animal and astrong contrast to the good looking

Tialian. He stands about 12 hands 1 inch.

9. Home-Bred.—Years ago the Department of Horse-breeding

Operations obtained some Arab donkey-mares. These were crossed

with Italian stallions and the result is the Home-bred donkey. Several

of these have grown even larger than their sires. The average are

somewhat smaller than the Italian, but have bone, substance, and

looks, and are as a rule great favorites with breeders; but few of the

original mares remain, the herd being now chiefly composed of their

daughters and grand-daughters. He averages 12 hands.

10. The Punjabi isa very useful class of sire when he can be

obtained. He is offair size, bone, and depth, is hardy and for a

donkey a ready coverer. He stands somewhat under 12 hands; of

course, I speak of the best specimens, There are thousands of crooked-

legged, cow-hocked, weedy, worthless brutes in the Punjab as

elsewhere.

11. Bokhara and Khorassani resemble the Persian, but run rather

larger.

ADVANTAGES OF MULE-BREEDING.

12. There is one great advantage in mule-breeding which recom:

mends itself to the poorer class of mare-owners. A pony, worth 20

rupees, if put to the ordinary village tat will produce progeny as bad

as herself, if not worse ; put to a decent donkey, she brings forth

a mule, which he can sell as soon as weaned from 40 to 60 rupees,

and which at four years of age will quite possibly be up to Govern-

ment Transport form and so be worth Rs. 150. Thus, no outlay is

necessary fo start mule-breeding. If a poor man has to keep a pony

and selects to have it a mare, he can cross her with a Government

180 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

donkey whenever he wishes. There is no selection and no risk to be

run, asin breeding from Government horse-stallions, where a long

price has to be paid for a brood-mare to begin with. We also, as

horse-breeders, have an object in encouraging the industry. For the

mule being sterile, whatever faults of conformation and unsoundness

he inherits from his dam, go no further. The mare does good work

in producing a very useful class of animal, her faults die with her and

her immediate progeny, and are not handed on to successive genera-

tions. The improvement of the Indian horse depends much on

getting rid of these worthless dams, which can thus be disposed of

profitably. Ifwe, in addition, can induce Government to levy a small

tax on all entire ponies and horses over two years old in the

breeding districts, except on such animals as are approved by the

officers of the Civil Veterinary Department, so as to induce owners

to castrate freely, a marked improvement must follow at no distant

date. The above is the view in which we may regard the mule in its

relation to horse-breeding.

But there is another stand-point, from which mule-breeding must

also be considered. That is, a profitable industry per se.

As I have endeavoured to show in the foregoing, a mare, whose pecu-

niary value is very small, will produce a mule which, by the time it is

weaned, is commonly worth twice as much as its dam. If we wish to

produce valuable mule stock, we must breed from something better than

these. Let us take a mare with fair bone, straight back and not, too

crooked behind, from 13 hands to 13°3 at the outside, value Rs. 80 to

Rs. 120. Putting her to a good donkey-stallion we shall get mules from

13:1 to 14 hands, for which Government is ready to pay Hs. 300 to

Rs. 400, and even more for Mountain Batteries of Artillery and

Ordnance at 4 years of age. Asa mule is cheaper to rear than a horse,

is hardier, less liable to disease, and will grow and flourish where a

horse-colt would starve, or grow up a stunted weed, it requires but

little consideration to understand how profitable an industry mule-

breeding may be made. The natives in many parts of India, more

particularly in certain districts of the Punjab, are awake to this fact.

Not only have they gone in extensively for the industry, but they

attend the large mule fairs, where they buy up young, immature stock

and rear them, with a view to their sale at an adult age to Government

MULE-BREEDING. 181

or Native States. A few years ago some persons, interested in

horse-breeding, became much alarmed at the number of mares that

were being put to the donkey in the north of India, and raised a

great clamour on the subject. They proved by statistics that, at the

present rate of progress, in a given number of years, there would be

no mares left to breed horses from at all, They seemed, however, not

to realize the fact that, in Italy, France, Spain, South America and

Persia, where mule-breeding has been carried on for many centuries,

it has not up to date been shown to have had any appreciable effect

on the horse-supply of those countries. Furthermore, mare-owners

take to the industry because the supply of mules is not equal to the

demand ; they therefore command a good price. But when the

supply equals or exceeds the demand the value of the animal will go

down, and the breeders, finding that it does not pay so well, will them-

selves withdraw from the trade. Again, should the number of mares

be decreased appreciably their price will rise. The enhanced value

of the dam will therefore act as a check on her being used to produce

hybrids, and at the same time encourage people to breed ponies to

meet the demand. The whole question depends on ordinary commer-

cial laws, and may be safely allowed to rest there. It must be

remembered, too, that there are large tracts of country in India quite

unsuited to breed anything better than a small pony, but which are

admirably adapted to produce donkeys and mules.

DONKEY-STALLIONS,

18. A good donkey-stallion should stand about 12:2 to 12:3.

He should have good girth and shank measurements; be deep, but not

too round in the barrel; well ribbed up ; not too much droop in the

quarters, and his hocks should not be very much away from him, nor

sickle. A certain amount of straightness of shoulder may be over-

looked. Above all things for pack work,a leggy sire should be

avoided. All round, the Italian donkey best meets these require-

ments, but, as I have already said, his high price is much against him.

It has been proposed, in my opinion very wisely, to allot a certain

number of these jacks every year to donkey-breeding only, soas to

secure for the future a supply of country-bred sires ; but I fear that

present financial difficulties stand in the way ofits adoption to any

great extent. We have a certain number of donkeys even now

182 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

standing for the service of jennys in various parts of the North-West

and the Punjab, but not nearly enough to produce any large results,

COVERING.

14. Donkeys are very uncertain coverers. Slight changes in tem-

perature, strangeness of surroundings, awkwardness on the part of the

attendants and many other seemingly trivial circumstances will often

make them point-blank refuse to touch a mare, even of their own

species. The difficulty is still further enhanced when they are required

to serve horse-mares. Every year, when our new batch of jacks

arrives, we have a certain number who refuse to do what is re-

quired of them for weeks and months. More particularly is this

the case in instances where they have been allowed even once to

leap a jenny. Our mode of procedure is to take the recruit out with

an old stallion who isa ready coverer, and walk them both slowly

round and round the pony who stands hobbled in the centre. The

old hand, when ready, is allowed his leap in front of the new comer,

who is thus acted on by both amorous and jealous feelings. After

a few lessons he generally takes to the work. If not,a donkey-

mare in season is presented, and when he is sufficiently prepared a

pony is substituted. Occasionally he refuses both. We have some-

times been obliged to turn stallions loose for weeks together with the

herd of donkey-mares before we could induce them to touch one at

all. ‘To show how peculiar and fastidious they are, I will give an

extract from Mr. Sutherland’s excellent little Memorandum on Mule

breeding in India :—

A jack I knew in Poitou had been hand-reared by a little girl,

owing to his dam having been burnt to death the night he was born,

This jack always required a maguégnon or groom to clothe himself

with a horse-rug round his legs before he would prepare himself.”

The same authority tells us, that the presence of anything which the

animal has been brought up with when young is often necessary. A

jack reared with cows will sometimes require a horned beast to be

present. In some countries a jack when born is taken away from his

own dam, and put to a horse-mare to be suckled. When this cannot be

arranged, he is put amongst horse fillies as soon as he is weaned. J have

been perhaps a little prolix on this subject, but I wished to show the

difficulties we have to contend with. Often, a thoroughly tested donkey

MULE-BREEDING, 183

is issued only to be reported within a week of his arrival at an outstand

as refusing his mares. He has then to be marched back, and frequently

the weary round of teaching and testing to be gone through again.

MARES FOR MULE-BREEDING.

15. A mare to breed good mules should be a low, lengthy, cobby

animal, 13 hands to 13°3, with short shanks, good bone, not too sloping

pasterns, good depth, not narrow in front and fairly straight behind.

Soundness from hereditary affections is not so imperative as in select-

ing a dam to breed horses, though, of course, the sounder she is the

better. As in the brood mare proper, the best age is between six and |

twelve. An old mare will throw a good mule. Senility of the sire or

dam does not affect the produce to anything like the extent that it

does in horse-breeding. It would be advisable though to mate an old

mare with a young and vigorous jack and vice versa. In America it

is the practice, when a mare is considered too old for the horse, to get

a mule or even two from her. An American Artillery Officer assured

me that excellent mules were obtained in this way. I have on two or

three occasions induced Zamindars to put an old dam to the donkey,

but only saw the result once. He was certainly a very promising

little beast, but too young to judge.

Authorities on the subject tell us that the size of the mule depends

on the mare; this of course is true. But small mares produce much

larger mules than themselves. One often sees.an eighteen-month old

mule standing higher than his dam by an inch or two.

MULES,

16. Mules from 13 to 13°3 are the best. Below this they are often

not strong enough. Above this height involvesa large amount of

extra work in lifting their loads from the ground to the saddle.

The back should be long and straight, to give plenty of room for the

pack ; a slight inclination to convexity, v2z., roach back, may, however,

be overlooked. A concave, dipped or hollow back is, however, a serious

defect. With such a conformation there is not room for the pack

saddle, and galls are very likely to occur owing to the difficulties in

adjusting the panels to the curve. The shoulders may be a bit straight

without much detriment, but his shank should be short, and have

plenty of bone. Pasterns should not be much sloped. There ought

to be plenty of depth, but not too much roundness of rib. The latter,

though a good point in many ways, does not give a flat support for

184 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCTETY, Vol, 1X.

the saddle, which on animals with this conformation is apt to roll from

side to side or even slip off altogether. The elbows should not be

turned in; the toes should be straight. The greater loin-power,

straighter croup, more muscular thighs and gaskins the better. Big

hock joints, even if they are rough, area decided advantage, more

especially for hill-work. Sickle, cow-hocks, and hocks far out are

defects. These are so common that it is not easy, when buying mules

in large numbers, to avoid them. Though it is better to get as sound

a mule as you can when purchasing, still there are many defects, which

would render a horse almost valueless, which affect the working

power of the mule hardly at all. I have been informed that a spavin

causes a certain irregularity of gait which makes the saddle work

over to the opposite side and produces galls ; that is to say, if a pack

animal be spavined in the near hock he will gall on the off wither or

ribs. A Veterinary Officer, who hada large experience of Spanish

mules, told me this, but I have not noticed it myself amongst Indian,

Persian and Hgyptian animals.

All the foregoing applies to pack mules. For riding we require

better shoulders, a good rein and fair action at the trot. As long as

they are not too light and leggy they may be of any height. A

good riding mule will walk five miles an hour with ease, can trot

and canter as smoothly as a horse and will often jump like a

deer. Being as sure-footed as a goat he is an excellent mount for a

hilly country. As he is wanted for fast work, more care must be

devoted to examine him for soundness.

For draught much the same points must be looked for asin a

harness horse, and a mule of any height may be used.

HANDLING MULES.

17. Mules are frequently difficult to handle. They rarely bite,

but they are extremely handy with their heels, and kick with both

force and precision, Now and then, they strike with their fore-legs.

They have too a knack of suddenly sitting down like a dog and then

rolling over which is most disconcerting. Beating them and all ill-

treatment only make them worse, for they have plenty of pluck and

obduracy. There is only one way that I know of dealing witha

really refractory mule. Get him by the ear and give it a twist, and

he subsides instanter. It has to be done pretty quickly, for they

soon learn the trick and do their best to prevent a hold being taken.

185

A NOTE ON BIRDS FROM CENTRAL INDIA IN

BARNES’S HANDBOOK.

By W. T. BLANFORD.

In Lieut. H. E. Barnes’s ‘‘ Handbook to the Birds of the Bom-

bay Presidency,” I find some species included that, to the best of my

knowledge, do not inhabit Western India. Several of these, I find,

are given on Jerdon’s authority as occurring in “ Central India,” with

the remark that no other observer has found them in that area. For

instance, of Strix candida (p. 61) Mr. Barnes says :— Dr. Jerdon

procured the grass-owl in Central India, as did also Colonel Tickell.

Neither Colonel Swinhoe nor myself met with it there.”

Mr. Barnes and Colonel Swinhoe understand by Central India the

area now known as the Central Indian Agency between Rajputana

and the Central Provinces, and particularly the neighbourhood of

Mhow, Indore, and Neemuch. This is the country to which their paper

“ Qn the Birds of Central India” (‘ Ibis,’ 1885, pp. 52, 124) refers.

The Central Indian Agency, as represented on maps, comprises a con-

siderable tract to the eastward, including Bundelkhund and Rewah, but

these are not, I think, regarded by Mr. Barnes as within the country

to which his work on the ‘‘Birds of the Bombay Presidency ”’ is restrict-

ed, for he speaks of the book in the preface as “dealing exclusively

with that portion of India proper garrisoned by Bombay troops.”

Jerdon’s Central India is a much wider area, In the introduction to

Vol. I of the “ Birds of India,” he divides India into Northern, Cen-

tral, and Southern, and he thus writes: ‘‘ Central India includes

Nagpore, north of the Godavery, the valley of the Nerbudda, with

Saugor and Mhow, Bundelkhund and the countries extending on the east

towards Cuttack and Midnapore.” I put the last words in italics,

because, as will be seen, they contain the explanation of Mr. Barnes’

mistake, or what I think is his mistake. Dr. Jerdon’s Central India

included, besides the Central Indian Agency, the whole of the Central

Provinces* and the region commonly known as Chutia or Chota

Nagpore. |

* Jerdon’s book is dated 1862, the year after the Central Provinces were formed

out of the Nagpore country andthe region formerly known as the Saugor and

Nerbudda territories, with some adjoining districts. The name by which the area

is now known is never,so far as 1am aware, used by him.

186 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, LX.

The important fact is this. The country between the Ganges and

the Godavery, east of the meridian of about 80° east longitude, is a

great, thinly populated forest region, witha different fauna from

that of the Western Central Provinces, the Bombay Deccan, and the

Central Indian Agency. By far the best account of the birds of this

eastern tract is by my friend, Dr. V. Ball, in “ Stray Feathers” (Vols.

II, p. 355 ; ILI, p. 288, and especially VII, p. 191). His last paper on

the subject, “ From the Ganges to the Godavery,” contains a complete

list of all the species recorded by various observers. This list should be

compared with Colonel Butler’s Catalogues of the birds of the Bombay

Presidency in the “ Bombay Gazetteer.’ Both lists are excellent and

are amongst the most important contributions existing to our know-

ledge of the distribution of Indian birds. The area, east of 80° east

longitude, is the tract that many years ago [“ Journ. As. Soc. Beng.,”

XXXIX, pt. 2, p. 337 ; “Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist.” (4), XVIII, p. 282

(1876) | I proposed to call the Bengal sub-province, whilst that imme-

diately to the west of that meridian I distinguished as the Deccan sub-

province, both belonging to the Indian province of the Oriential region.

The Bengal sub-province is distinguished by being the area of the sal

tree (Shorea robusta), the Bara Singha deer (Cervus duvaucelz), the

black partridge (/rancolinus vulgaris), and the red or Bengal jungle

fowl (Gallus ferrugineus), and is inhabited by several Malay and

Burmese birds that are either unknown further west or only re-appear

in the Bombay and Malabar coast-lands. Such, for instance, are the

black and white hornbills (Aydrocissa), the imperial pigeons (Carpo-

phaga), the bronze-winged doves (Chalcophaps), and the green pigeons

of the genus Osmotreron. To the westward, and not in the eastern

area, or only as occasional stragglers on its frontiers, are found ga-

zelles, sand-grouse and bustard (Hupodotis), Gallus sonnerat: and Fran-

colinus pictus. ‘The difference is due in part to the eastern region

being a forest area with a heavier rainfall, but this does not account

for the circumstance that it is inhabited by Francolinus vulgaris, which

is found also in the almost rainless plains of Sind, nor for several other

peculiarities of the fauna.

In 1833 a paper was published by Colonel (then Lieutenant) S. R.

Tickell, entitled “ List of Birds collected in the Jungles of Borabhum

and Dholbhum” (“ Journ. As. Soc. Beng.,” Vol. II, p.569). Borabhum

A NOTE ON BIRDS FROM CENTRAL INDIA. 187

and Dholbhum are small] states situated south of Purulia, and between

Midnapore on the east and Chyebassa on the west. This is in the

extreme east of the Chutia Nagpore country, indeed the tract in

question is often referred to as part of the South-Western Bengal.

It is evidently from this paper of Tickell’s that Jerdon has taken from

it a considerable number of references to birds which he described as

inhabiting Central India. He was never, I think, in Chutia Nagpore,

South-Western Bengal, or Orissa himself, and when he writes about

the country west of Ganjam, which he did, I believe, visit, he calls

it Goomsoor. But he once made a journey to Bastar and the Indra-

wati valley, and it was there, I think, that he must have met with

some of the birds that are recorded in his book as having been seen

or obtained by himself in Central India. It will be noticed that he

draws the limit between Central and Southern India at the Godavery,

and Bastar is north of that river.

The following is a list of species included by Mr. Barnes in his

handbook on account of their having been recorded from Central

India. I am doubtful whether any of them have been obtained in the

Bombay Presidency, and in any case it may be useful to call attention

to the possibility of their having been attributed to the area in error:-—

Limnaetus kienertt, p. 35.

Circus melanoleucus, p. 52.

Stria candida, p. 61.

Cheiura sylvatica, p. 84.

Caprimulgus albonotatus, p.90. (1 regard this and

C. atripennis as localforms of C. macrurus ; C. atri-

pennis has been obtained in the Bombay Presidency,

as stated in the handbook.)

Micropiernus phatoceps, p. 118.

Surniculus lugubris, p. 128.

Chrysococcyx maculatus, p. 128.

Centropus bengalensis, p. 183. (Jerdon certainly in the

Madras Journal,” Vol. XIII, pt. 1, p. 172, stated

that Elliot found this bird in the Southern Maharatta

Country, but I suspect a mistake, as nothing of the

kind is stated in the “ Birds of India.” This species

is found in Mysore however.)

188 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

Lanius nigriceps, p. 144.

Pericrocotus speciosus, p. 151.

Dissemurus grandis, p. 156. (D. paradiseus, which is

only, I believe, a variety, is of course found in the

Concan and Syhadri.)

Erythrosterna albicilla, p. 167.

Enrythrosterna maculata (Cyornis melanoleucus), p. 167.

Mixornzs rubricapillus, p. 176.

Pycnonotus pygeus, p. 188.

Abrornis cantator, p. 281.

Carpophaga cenea, p. 28%.

Gallus ferrugineus, p. 303.

Perhap®one or two of the above have not been included in the

¢¢ Birds of the Bombay Presidency,” solely because they were recorded

by Jerdon from Central India. For instance, Circus melanoleucus is

said by Jerdon to be “rare in the Deccan and Central India.” This

bird may perhaps be found in some part of the Hyderabad territory,

as it ranges along the plains of the east coast to the Carnatic, but

there is not, so far as Ihave been able to trace, any record of its

occurrence in the Bombay Deccan, nor in the Western Central Pro-

vinces.

As regards Carpophaga enea, it may perhaps be found in some

of the Syhadri forests, as it is common farther south in Malabar.

Butler, in his supplementary list (section II), in the “ Bombay

Gazetteer,” says that Major Lloyd includes it as a Concan species, and

that he believes he himself once saw one on the Ghats west of Poona.

I may add that there is a specimen, labelled Bombay, in the British

Museum. But it is clear that Butler attaches very little importance

to the supposed occurrence, or he would not put the bird amongst

the list of doubtful species, and neither Fairbank, Vidal nor Davidson

mentions the species as occurring. It is a noisy and conspicuous bird

not easily overlooked. The British Museum specimen was derived

from Colonel Sykes’ collection, but there is no mention of the species in

Sykes’ Catalogue (P. Z. 8., 1832), and moreover there is a specimen

of the Himalayan Columba (Dendrotreron or Alsocomus hodgsoni),

back also from Sykes’ collection and also labelled Bombay. There

was at one time great want of accuracy about localities in European

A NOTE ON BIRDS FROM CENTRAL INDIA. 189

collections ; thus all Hodgson’s collections, even marine fish, are la-

belled “ Nepal,” and Jerdon’s and Elliot’s specimens from the South

Mahratta Country, the Niligiris, Malabar, and Travancore are all

labelled “Madras” in the British Museum, so the circumstance

of a specimen being labelled Bombay in that collection proves

nothing.

There is another name in Mr. Barnes’ work that might, I think,

have been omitted with advantage. Cercomela melanura was included

in Jerdon’s “‘ Birds of India ” on very slender evidence. Blyth (J. A.

S. B., XVI, p. 181) observed “ amongst Barnes’ drawings there is a

rude figure of what is probably Saz. melanura, Tem.” Now, the draw-

ings obtained by Sir A. Barnes in Sind and Afghanistan were very far

indeed from being good, they were in fact indifferent fiottes by, I

believe, very second-rate native artists. Hume (‘Stray Feathers, Vol.

I, p. 188”) showed how probable it was that a bad figure of a Sazdeola

had been identified by Blyth with C. melanura. I know the latter bird

well and have seen and shot it repeatedly on the Abyssinian coast-land

and at Aden, and I certainly never saw it in Baluchistan nor in Sind,

where I passed three cold seasons in traversing the province. Itisa

conspicuous bird for its size, and easy of recognition. None of the

ornithologists who have collected in Sind— Hume, Butler, Doig, James,

Murray, Le Mesurier, and others—has ever met with the species.

But in the last number of “ The Ibis,” Lieut. Cordeaux relates how

he saw a bird in Kashmir that corresponded exactly with Jerdon’s

description. Of course, the bird was not secured, and it is unnecessary

to say that it is far less probable that C. melanura should be found in

Kashmir than in Sind.

190 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. TX.

NOTES ON THE NIDIFICATION OF CERTAIN BIRDS,

THE NESTS OF WHICH HAVE NOT BEEN

PREVIOUSLY RECORDED IN INDIA.

By B. B. Osmaston.

During a recent tour in Tehri-Garhwal, in May, I was fortunate

enough to find the nests and eggs of two or three species of birds,

which have not, I believe, been previously recorded in India.

The locality visited by me isin a rather isolated group of hills in

the upper valley of the Tons River, and is situated about forty miles

north of Chakrata.

The altitude of the main ridge (called Changsil) varies from 8,000 to

13,000 feet above the sea, and the vegetation of this zone consists of

silver and spruce firs at the lower elevation mentioned, passing, as we

go up, into Karshu Oak, Birch, Rhododendron, Juniper, and lastly,

about 12,000 feet, grass only.

(1) StpH1a sTRopHiaTA, Hodg.

The first nest to be described is that of the orange gorgetted fly-

catcher (Siphia strophiata). On May 23rd I noticed a bird fly into a

“hole, about eight feet from the ground, in a dead Yew branch, which

I found, on examination, contained a nest with two freshly-hatched

young birds and one addled egg.

I watched the parent birds for some time with binoculars. They

were very wary and would not again visit the nest ; however, I saw

sufficient to satisfy myself as to their identity.

On the following day I found a second nest of the same species in a

rift in a Karshu Oak, about five feet from the ground. It contained

three much incubated eggs, exactly similar to the egg found on the

previous day. The nest was rather a loose structure, cup-shaped,

composed of moss and maiden-hair rachis, lined with the latter chiefly,

but also with a few feathers and some yellow papery substance resem-

bling birch-bark. I shot one of the parent birds (the male) for

identification.

The eggs were pure white, elongated ovals and fairly glossy. The

average of their measurements gave—

Length ... ‘76 inches.

Breadth ...°53

The above nests were both found at an elevation of about 9,000 feet.

NOTES ON THE NIDIFICATION OF CERTAIN BIRDS. 191

(2) ANTHUS PRATENSIS, Lin.

On May 25th I was walking along a bare grassy slope varied with

patches of snow, near the ridge, and at an elevation of nearly 11,000

feet, when a bird flew out from under my feet, disclosing a nest and

three fresh eggs, of the regular pipit type. I returned to camp for

my gun, and waited for the bird, which shortly returned and was duly

secured, The skin was sent for identification to the Superintendent of

the Indian Museum, Calcutta, by whom it was pronounced to be

Anthus pratensis—the English meadow-pipit or titlark.

This bird, so common at home, has rarely, if ever, been shot in India,

and its nest has never before been found in this country.

The nest and eggs were similar to many I have seen at home; the

former being cup-shaped, placed in a hollow in the ground and

composed of fine grass stalks. The eggs were rather broad ovals,

thickly spotted all over with slatey-gray and dark brown, the ground-

colour, where visible, being grayish.

The average of the three eggs measured was :—

Length ... ‘81 inches.

readiness Olay 5

I shot another specimen out of many more of these pipits seen in

the neighbourhood, all of which were probably breeding near by.

(3) Rurictnna FRoNTALIS.—The Blue-fronted Redstart.

I found two nests of this pretty redstart on the 25th and 29th May

respectively, at about 11,000 feet. The former contained three hard-

set eggs, the latter four half-fledged young. The nests were very

similar in structure and position, being placed in holes in rocks, about

three feet from the ground, and composed of moss interwoven with a

woolly composite plant and some grass, and lined with moss, a few

feathers, and musk-deer hair. The eggs were rather long ovals

coloured pinkish café-au-lait, with a zone of confluent pinkish-brown

markings and a few gray specks near the larger end.

This colour is most extraordinary for a redstart and I cannot but

think that they are abnormal. There could be no possible doubt as

to the identity of the bird which I shot off the nest, and sent to

Calcutta, where my own opinion was confirmed.

192 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

(4) LoPHOPHANES DICHROUS.

On May Ist I saw a strange tit come out of a small round hole in

a dead branch of a wild Cherry tree. I shot the bird, which proved

to be a brown-crested tit (Lophophanes dichrous), and then investi-

gated the hole, which was at a height of about ten feet from the ground.

On breaking off the branch, just below the hole, I discovered to my

regret that the nest contained four freshly hatched young. It was

placed at the bottom of a cavity about nine inches deep and reminded

one much of the nest of the European crested tit, the nest cavity having

apparently been excavated by the birds themselves, as is often the

case with the latter species. The nest was composed of moss below,

then a quantity of fine hair (probably rats’) above and lined with the —

same material with the addition of a few monal feathers, apparently

for ornamental purposes.

This nest was found at about 8,000 feet.

I may here add that the white-browed bush-robin (lanthia

indica) is fairly common throughout these forests from 8,000 to

11,000 feet, and I have no doubt thatit breeds here, though all my

attempts to find its nests proved unsuccessful.

The distribution of this bird is put down in the Fauna of British

India as “ Nepal and Sikhim extending into western China.” The

fact of its having been hitherto overlooked in these parts seems some-

what strange, but is no doubt owing to its retiring habits and

difficulty of approach.

Its song, although of only a few notes, is very clear and strong and

most characteristic, and when once heard it cannot be mistaken.

7 Nat Hist. Soc.

Journ. Bomb

Mintern Bros.Photo imp. London.

From a Photograph by J.D. Inverarity.

oO.

fal

Tetracerus gquadri corni

193

THE FOUR-HORNED ANTELOPE.

TETRACERUS QUADRICORNIS.

By J. D. Inverariry.

(With a Plate.)

leash before Bombay Natural History Society, on 26th October, 1894.)

This small antelope is only found in India and is a forest antelope,

living entirely in the jungle. They are not gregarious, but are

met with either alone or in pairs. The female brings forth one

or two young, and, occasionally, the two old and two young ones

will be seen together. Though not forming a special object of

pursuit, a shot at the ‘baikrie, as it is generally called, on the

Bombay side of India, is often got when out stalking other game.

If you see one, before it sees you, it is fairly easy to stalk ; but

it more often happens that they see you first, when they will not

admit of approach. On three or four occasions they have stood stupidly

looking at me as I walked in full view slowly towards them and allowed

me to get within 20 yards before bolting. This only occurs when you

do not want to shoot them. Forsyth says that the females are much

more numerous than the bucks, and bear the same proportion to each

other as the does and bucks of the black buck. At one time I thought

the same myself, but further experience has made me sure that this is

not the fact, and that bucks are nearly, if not quite, as numerous as does.

The female is hornless. The male has four horns, the posterior and

longer pair in a good specimen will be 4 inches long or a little more.

One and-a-half inches is a good length for the anterior horns and not

often exceeded ; to get a head as guod as this is rare. In some heads,

the anterior horns are absent, though the bony knobs on which they

would grow can be felt under the skin. In others these bony knobs are

covered with a callous black skin. In some the anterior horns will be

only + or 3 an inch long, and you may shoot a great many before you

get a really good head. The three best heads I have measured—

No. 1 No. 2 No. 3

Posterior Horn... 43 32 3 inches.

Anterior Horn... 14 14 1 inch.

A head in the possession of this Society measures—posterior horn 33",

anterior horn 2,),", The suborbital gland of this antelope is large.

194 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. LX.

REVIEW.

BUTTERFLIES FROM CHINA, JAPAN AND COREA.*

Our knowledge of the butterflies of Hastern Asia has been greatly

added to by this work by Mr. J. H. Leech, which has been appearing

in parts during the past three years and has been concluded with very

praiseworthy expedition. The paper and type are excellent, while the

plates are, both for accuracy and execution, far and away the best that

we have seen ina similar work. In his arrangement, Mr. Leech has

adopted that followed in the “ Butterflies of India ” and “ Lepidoptera

Indica,” and we are glad to see has not considered it necessary to

strike out a line for himself. We do not quite understand why

Mr. Leech should adopt Mr. Moore’s subdivisions of Huplea and

Danais as generic, while he entirely ignores the same author’s subdivi-

sions of Mycalesis and Lethe, and does not apparently consider them

even of subgeneric value. We do not quite agree with him here and

think the correct way to treat all the subdivisions in these genera is as

subgenera ; since by ignoring them altogether a great help to

identification is lost, while by admitting them as generic it is implied

that the different species are much less closely allied to one another

than is really the case. In the case of Ypthima we are quite at one

with Mr. Leech—that the various genera into which it has been split

are not of sufficient importance to be treated even as subgenera,

We think Mr. Leech has certainly gone wrong in the genus

Melanitis, He admits Melanitis aswa, Moore, as distinct from WM, leda,

(auctorum, nec Linnzeus), but treats I. bela, Moore, not as the dry-season

form of M. aswa but as ‘‘ a seasonal form of JM. leda in the district

under consideration.” However, since both J. bela and M. aswa as they

occur in China are practically inseparable from the forms found in

India, where they are without doubt seasonal forms of one and the

same species, it is quite certain that they are also forms of one species

in China. The true MM. zsmene, Cramer, with its rainy-season form

M. déterminata, Butler (= leda auct.), also occurs in Japan and China,

though this is not clearly shown in Mr. Leech’s book. Mr. Leech is no

doubt quite right in his suggestion that the Melanitis leda, var. a of

* Butterflies from China, Japan and Corea, By John Henry Leech, B. A., ¥.L,8., F. Z. 8.,

F, E.S.,&c, BR. H. Porter, 18, Prince’s Street, Cavendish Square, London, W., 1892-94,

REVIEW. 195

“The Butterflies of India ” is really only the female of M4. aswa. We

have long had this form in our collection as the rainy-season form of

the M. duryodana of the “ Butterflies of India ” (nec Felder), which

Mr. Moore has recently shown to be the female of MZ. bela (= M. aswa

dry-season form).

Not much in the Nymphaline callsfor comment, except that, on Plate

XXV, Mr. Leech appears to have figured a specimen of Symbrenthea

hippoclus in mistake for S. asthala, the latter belonging to the S. hypselis

group which has the underside tessellated with black. It is not quite

clear why Mr. Leech adopts the name Neptis ewrynome, Westwood, in

preference to LV. leucothoé, Cramer, which has priority, but which Mr.

Leech sinks as a synonym. ‘This species is the one that is known to

Indian Lepidopterists under some eight or ten names, of which

NN. varmona, Moore, is the least fictitious.

In the Pierine the synonymy given by Mr. Leech is very voluminous,

but we doubt if he is correct in all instances, especially in the genera

Terias and Pieris.’ We notice that Mr. Leech has followed Cramer

in his erroneous sexing of Tachyris paulina, and that he describes

the female of this species as a male.

Mr. Leech seems to have devoted a considerable amount of attention

to the Hesperide, of which family he figures many species and notes

some new synonymy. We do not, however, think that he has succeeded

in every instance in assigning species to their correct genera, ¢.9.,

Notocrypta goto, Mabille, and Notocrypta tibetana, Mabille, both cer-

tainly belong to Celenorrhinus, and the former appears to be identical

with Celenorrhinus asmara, Butler ; Hidari grandis, Leech, is Evionota

acroleuca, Wood-Mason and de Nicéville, a species which has been

named by at least six authors. Padraona trimacula, Leech, Aéromachus

delai-lama, Mabille, and A. nanus, Leech, are all certainly nearer to

Ampittia than to the genera in which they are placed. Rhopalocampta

iranslucida, Leech, has certainly nothing to do with Rhopalocampta,

but belongs to a genus closely allied to if not identical with Pusola ;

and it is almost certain that Celenorrhinus omeia, Leech, is a female

not only of the same genus but of the same species as translucida.

We do not like the continual use of the word “ var.” throughout the

work, generally with the meaning of a local race ; but also used for

seasonal forms and casual varieties. In our opinion the term “ var.”

196 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

should only be used for the last, and no name should be given to such

varieties. Seasonal forms too, we think, should certainly not receive

names ; but the case of local races is a quite different one, and in many

instances it is difficult to say whether a particular form is a good species

or a local race. In describing local races the form first described is

usually treated as the parent race, though this must inevitably be fre-

quently quite wrong, and all the principles of evolution teach us that of

two geographical races occurring in different areas at the same period

neither would be the parent race but both would be modifications of one

progenitor. We have, therefore, to be very careful when assigning local

races to make certain that we are grouping together the local races of

one and the same species ; for instance Mr. Leech admits that the species

he once considered to be a race of Augzades sylvanus, he now considers

to be a race of Hrynnis comma ; and again why should Yphthima chi-

nensis be treated asa race of Y. newara rather than as a race of

Y. nareda ; and many other cases could be quoted. Furthermore if

some subsequent naturalist ascertain that a form, which Mr, Leech has

described asa “var.” of a certain species, has really nothing in

common with it and belongs for example to a different genus, as in the

case quoted above, in such a hypothetical case should Mr, Leech’s name

stand although he may have gone utterly astray ?

We therefore think this sub-specific treatment has its drawbacks,

and should only be used in cases where there is absolutely no question

as to the correctness of the conclusions drawn ; this no doubt is the case

in the large majority of instances in the present work but in such

instances as mistakes have been made, if any there be, the labour of

subsequent authors will be considerably increased.

On the whole, we can certainly congratulate Mr. Leech on having

brought outa most valuable work, which will remain the standard

authority on the districts dealt with for many years to come, and, if

some slight errors have crept in, that was only to be expected, and if

others carp at Mr. Leech’s treatment and synonymy, is not that to be

expected still more ?

197

A BOTANICAL TOUR IN SIKKIM.

By G, A, GAMMIE,

[From the Records of the Botanical Survey of India.]

I departed to collect botanical specimens in Sikkim and on its frontiers on

the 6th June, 1892. As Mr. White, the Political Agent, informed me that he

would probably be at liberty to accompany me ona journey to the little-

known district of Lhonak, I arranged to meet him at Guntok in about six

weeks’ time, when we should make the necessary arrangements for our tra-

velling together. To my regret the exigencies of his appointment prevented

him from carrying out his intention, and I was obliged to abandon the idea

of going alone to Lhonak, as Mr. White considered it inadvisable on my part

to attempt it while important negotiations concerning the frontier were

pending with the Tibetans.

He kindly forwarded to me parwanas written in Tibetan and addressed

generally to the headmen of villages, ordering them to render me whatever

assistance I required ; but at the same time he wisely advised me not to depend

on procuring carriers or supplies from the inhabitants, His passports were

of the utmost value to me onthe rare occasions I had to avail myself of

assistance from the villagers—a service these indolent people would have been

loath to afford me had I not been supported by such indisputable authority.

AsI had no hope of procuring supplies in the country, I made thorough

arrangements for food sufficient for all to be sent at intervals to different

stations, regulating my movements in accordance with the plans laid down,

thus, at all times, avoiding a possible scantiness of rations, which would have

disheartened my men and caused their desertion,—a most undesirable con-

tingency.

The slothful and improvident habits of the inhabitants prevent them from

growing more grain than is actually necessary for their bare subsistence—a

condition of affairs concomitant with their lack of mercantile enterprise,

which is probably due to their isolation from the outer and more civilized

world.

Being thrown on my resources, and having permission from Mr. White to

travel in any part of the country, excepting Lhonak and Cholamoo, I decided

to devote the remainder of the allotted time to exploring the Lachung Valley

with its ramifications, the Lachen Valley and the Chola Range from Tumlong

to the Zeylap La, from whence I could return to Darjeeling by the Gnatong

road,

In anticipation of the meeting with Mr. White, I considered that the first

month of deputation would be most usefully spent in traversing the Singalelah

Range to Kinchinjunga, from which I could march to Guntok by way of

Yoksun,

As I was requested to confine my attention as much as possible to the col-

lection and observation of temperate and alpine vegetation, that of low

198 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

elevations being already well understood, I must omit anything but casual

mention of the tract between Yoksun and Tumlong, and also the valley of

the Teesta to the junction of the Lachen and Lachung. This restriction

divides my narrative into three parts—the first dealing with the vegetation

of the exceedingly moist mountains forming the western boundary of Sikkim,

the second with that of the temperate and drier territory north of the junc-

tion of the Lachen and Lachung, and the third with that of the Chola Range.

First Tour.x—Journey along the Singalelah Range to the tracts on the

southern flank of Kinchinjunga, and the march across the valleys of the

Ranjit and Teesta to Tumlong.

This excursion lasted from the 7th June to the 7th July. The rainy

monsoon broke with almost unparalleled severity on the day of my departure,

and the most interesting portion of the journey, namely, that at high eleva-

tions, was accomplished through incessant fogs and storms of wind and rain,

I thus enjoyed few opportunities of viewing the surrounding scenery, and

had perforce to confine my observations to the vegetation within access to

practicable paths.

The Singalelah Range is an elevated mountain mass, springing from the

face of Kinchinjunga and extending southwards to the plains of India,

Owing to the facilities of travelling afforded by the Nepal frontier road to

Phalut, the range so far is much frequented by general travellers, and is in

consequence too well explored to induce one to linger on the way in search of

novelties, Some Yew trees (Taxus baccata) grow close to the road beyond

Tonglu, and Abies Webbiana is first seen on the last ridge between Tonglu

and Sandakphu, from whence onwards it exists in profusion up to 13,000 feet

in elevation, covering mountain sides with dense and sombre forests. There

are trees of Tsuga Brunoniana below Phalut, and Juniperus pseudo-sabina

abounds near the path to Cheabhanjan, but the other species of Conifers, so —

characteristic of drier Sikkim, are altogether absent. Above 11,000 feet the

most notable plants are Aconites and Meconopsis Wallichii, and a few species

each of the genera Ranunculus, Anemone, Potentilla, Primula, &c., Fragaria

Daltoniana occurs here and there, bearing narrow oblong fruits, reminding

one of small strawberries and resembling them in flavour. The road from

Sandakphu to Phalut passes through a forest of Abies Webbiana, associated

with Pyrus foliolosa, Betula utilis, Acer caudatum and Prunus rufa, &c.,

underneath which are thickets of various Rhododendrons and two species of

bamboo. Qne of the latter is Arundinaria spathiflora which flowered two

years ago, a fact attested by the dead culms still bearing the withered spathe-

like sheaths of the inflorescence. Its average height is 10 to 12 feet. The

other is what Mr. Gamble named A. Gammieana from specimens of the

foliage only ; but having since examined flowers, he has discovered it to be

A. racemosa, Munro, a plant which, although so abundant round Darjeeling as

to be almost exclusively used as fodder for ponies, has never been known to

flower there. The Phalut plant, which differs so much in size and appearance,

lan.

A BOTANICAL TOUR IN SIKKIM. 199

having reddish stems with an average height of 3 feet, may of course owe

its diminutive size to the more rigorous climate of higher levels preventing

its attainment toa normal growth, These two bamboos, the most Alpine

species in Sikkim, grow in impenetrable scrubs in the same spongy soil which

affords support to Rhododendrons and Pines.

On the slopes immediately below the summit of Phalut arboreal vegetation

is scanty and confined to sheltered ravines, The ground is everywhere covered

with a sward of herbaceous plants. Anemone rivularis with blue and white

flowers predominates. Primula rotundifolia and P. sikkimensis (the latter

affecting marshy situations in company with Calathodes palmata) are common.

Meconopsis Wallichit is extremely abundant. The Bhutias eat the young

stems of this plant, and the shoots of a Polygonatum are much esteemed by

the Gurung shepherds, The young shoots of bamboos are cooked and eaten.

Rheum acuminatum is prevalent throughout the whole of Alpine Sikkim, but

is not utilized as food. Allium Wallichii, which is equally abundant, is

consumed largely, sharing with the common onion the reputation of being an

efficacious antidote against the physical discomforts experienced by men and

animals at high elevations.

From Cheabhanjan onwards to Kinchiniunga, the only available path is that

used by the shepherds, who pasture their flocks along the whole range during

summer. For many miles this track follows the contour of the spur’s crest,

so that every day’s march comprises many descents and ascents, As might

be inferred from the proximity of the path to the ridge, streams supplying a

sufficiency of water for our camp were few and far between, often necessitat-

ing long marches to obtain our two chief desiderata—a space large enough to

contain our tents and water for cooking. Atthe end of the first day we

found such a place at Ewanangi, a halting stage for shepherds, Its elevation

by B, P. thermometer was 11,174 feet. The camping ground was covered with

young plants of the formidable Cnicus eriophoroides, a large thistle, At the

commencement of this march we struck the Islumbo Pass and continued in a

northerly direction, The path runs through woods of Rhododendron arboreum,

R. cinnabarinum, R, Falconeri, R. barbatum, and Rk. Hodgsoni, Acer caudatum,

Betula utilis, Pieris ovalifola, Juniperus pseudo-sabina, Abies Webbiana, Prunus

rufa, Arundinaria spathiflora, &c. ‘These trees grow so densely that very

few herbaceous plants exist beneath them. Sazifraga ligulata, a few species

of Polygonum, ferns of two species, and several species of Potentilla being

most in evidence. A variety of beautiful mosses grow on the rocks. On open

knolls the soil is carpeted with Gaultherra nummularia, and the heather-like

Cassiope fastigiata,

The following day’s march was from Ewanangi to Megu, Two Gentians

become common about 12,000 feet, One Gentiana stylophora, with large, ter-

minal, greenish lily-like flowers ; the other Swertia Hookeri, conspicuous by its

brown leaves and inflorescence growing together in whorls on a stem often six

feet high. A white and pink Primula iscommon, Rhododendron Anthopogon

200 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

is abundant. Its fragrant leaves are largely collected and burned as incense

in Buddhist temples. Small trees are represented by the species of Rhodo-

dendron formerly enumerated, by Pyrus foliolosa, Prunus rufa, and the bushy

variety of Juniperus recurva, which forms excessively close thickets. Spirea

bella and Pyrus rhamnioides grow in open situations. Clematis montana with

large white flowers climbs over bushes and at once arresis attention. A suc-

cession of steep ascents and descents, where we first saw plants of Meconopsis

simplicifolia in flower nestling under Berberry bushes, was followed by a

comparatively ievel path running over the rocks of a glacial deposit, at the end

of which lay the large and grassy flat of Megu, the elevation of which by

B, P. thermometer was 12,767 feet. Its bright green surface was interspersed

with many plants of white primroses and yellow Calathodes, a refreshing sight

after travelling through such a Jong waste of Rhododendron. A colony of

marmois lived in the rocks above the camping ground, I always understood

that they avoid the damp climate of the Sikkim mountains and live only in

the dry regions beyond the snows, The tailless rat, another denizen of the

same dry climate, was represented by numerous individuals scampering

amongst the Rhododendrons. A great extent of land beyond the camping

ground is swampy and covered with Rhododendron campanulatum. The step-

ping stones across the wettest parts are formed of slabs of a slate-like gneiss

which are resonant when struck, Various species of Sedum of the section

Rhodioi and the golden Chrysosplenium alternifolium are common in the clefts

of stones, partly submerged in the water, The ridge above is steep, and its

black barren crags of foliated gneiss present a most forbidding appearance,

The following day we marched to Gambothan. Since we left Phalut our

marches had been along the crest of the Singalelah, excepting when we rarely

descended to and traversed the Nepalese side; but here the path, after

running through the swamp at Megu, ascends steeply and passes to the Sikkim

side through a narrow depression guarded on each side by weather-worn cliffs,

Grass covers this ascent, and the bright blue flowers of Primula pusilla,

P. glabra, and Delphinium alpinum give an unique character to the place by

their plentiful presence. In the clefisof a rock we found a small simply

pinnate Polypodium and a species of Pellea.

The tract into which we emerged wore a different aspect to that we had

just left, Above us towered enormous wallsand pinnacles of bare rock, inter-

sected by equally stony valleys, all tending towards the broad and terraced

slope over which we marched without difficulty. Rhododendron Anthopogon

and R. sefosum were the only woody plants. On the sides of the rocks along

the terraces, Saxifraga imbricata and S. Jacquemontiana grew in dense moss-like

cushions spangled with white and yellow flower. The soil is covered with

a thick turf of grassand sedges, amongst which are innumerable plants of

Primula Stuartii anda species of Anemone, Beyond this first terrace the

route led over alternate flats and ravines, and passed four lakes. At first the

rocks near the path are scattered singly over the ground ; further on the

eee:

A BOTANICAL TOUR IN SIKKIM, 201

whole surface of the hill is covered by a confused mass of glacier-deposited

boulders, where the path is marked at intervals by upright white stones.

Very little vegetation, except moss, maintains an existence in this wilderness,

Sir Joseph Hooker, in his admirable account of the Physical Geography of

Sikkim, thus explains the cause of this barren desolation :—“ Glaciers,

again, descend +0 15,000 feet inthe tortuous gorges which immediately

debouch from the snows of Kinchinjunga, but no plants grow on the debris

they carry down, nor is there any sward of grass or herbage at their base,

the atmosphere immediately around being chilled by enormous accumulations

of snow, and the summer sun rarely warming the soil.”

Attaining a ridge marked by a rudely-built monument bearing a small flag

we descended a steep gorge, down which a stream urged its turbulent course,

Its bed was cumbered with gneiss blocks, with many of a fine-grained granite

transported from higher levels, This stream effects a junction with two others

to form the Rangbi River ata flat expanse called Gambothan. The sheltered

situation of this place favours the growth of large pine trees, and copses of a

willow, Salix Wallichiana, fringe the river bank, From eastward another

tributary flows through a broad grassy valley, which rapidly attains a high

elevation, and for a short distance towards the south the united rivers flow

calmly through a forest of Abies Webbiana. The most noteworthy plant

growing in the desolate locality we had traversed is the gigantic Rhubarb (Rheum

nobile) always associated in the traveller's mind with barren precipices where it

delights to grow, and where it heightens the weird effect of such scenery by

its cadaverous stave-like stems ; for only by closer inspection can the actual

beauty of the plant be realized. The only perfect specimens existed on

inaccessible rocks, as the shepherds collect and devour all they find within

reach,

The elevation of Gambothan, by B. P. thermometer, was 12,400 feet.

Leaving Gambothan, a steep ascent was made to the summit of the ridge—

13,300 feet in elevation. For half the distance there is a scattered forest

of Abies Webbiana, Juniperus recurva, Rhododendron campanulatum, Prunus

rufa and Betula utilis, the upper part being almost wholly occupied by

Rhododendron Anthopogon and R. setosum, These when bruised or trodden

upon exhale a strong perfume from the superficial glands with which they are

covered, aggravating the headaches to which all are subject at high elevations

Gentiana stylophora is exceedingly common. Beyond the ridge is the broad

open summit of Bokto covered with grass, on which two large flocks of sheep

were feeding, From this a descent has to be made into the valley of the

Yangsap through dense growths of Rhododendron, Abies Webbiana, Pyrun

foliolosa and P. microphylla; beyond is a steep hill almost devoid of vegetation

and covered with boulders. The path winds up its right flank to a depression

below its summit at about 14,000 feet elevation. There is a fine wood of

Juniperus pseudo-sabina, and the shrubby vegetation mainly consists of a

Berberis not yet in leaf. Descending somewhat, we crossed two small plaing

902 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IG

with a steep low ridge intervening. On these level tracts, intersected with

sheep-walks, it would have been almost impossible to keep the proper path,

had not the shepherds marked them with upright slabs of stones at regular

distances, Leaving the second plain, a steep scramble along the inclined foot

of an enormous black gneiss cliff brought us to the bank of the Ratong River’,

on whose further side we camped on a flat grassy knoll, the only cleared spot

in a waste of Rhododendrons.

Next morning we took the Kanglalama path and continued up the valley

towards the north-west. We crossed one or two alternating flats and trans-

verse ridges, and surmounted a high spur coming out on a large plain rendered

exceedingly swampy by a network of shallow streams, It seemed of very

large extent, but we could not define its boundaries through the fog. There

was no inducement to stop or proceed further im this direction ; so we retraced

our way to within a short distance of our last camping ground, and then

ascended a grassy slope to the east. The descent on the other side led steeply

through grassy pastures in which grewa species of Astragalus and a dark

purple species of Anemone. ‘The floor of this valley is also a succession of

terraces each terminated by a bank, over which the river pours in masses of

foam, There are signs of a more varied vegetation later in the season, but at

present there is very little scope for botanising.

Primula denticulata and P. reticulata resembling P. sikkimensis grow on

the verges of water-courses, The valley lower down descends precipitately,

and the flanks of its spurs are clothed with Pine forests, The next day we

halted at this place, called Rongjing by the shepherds. As rainy weather

had prevailed without intermission since the commencement of this expe-

dition, my men were quite disheartened ; and, being afflicted with complaints

induced by wet and cold, they begged me to hasten into the warmer valleys

of Sikkim,

Being reluctant to subject them to further hardships in this inhospitable

region, I acceded to their request and informed them that. I should go to

Yoksun after spending a few days at Jongri, a locality which I was anxious to

see, as it was the goal of one of Sir Joseph Hooker’s most heroic expeditions,

Returning to Tegyap La, we followed the course of the Ratong for about a

mile, crossed it by a bridge and travelled eastwards up a very steep hill cover-

ed with Rhododendrons ; Cryptogramme crispa was plentiful along the path.

The entrance to the undulating top of Jongri is marked by a shallow lake said

to be dry in the winter. We camped on a terrace immediately below two

stone huts, Many plants were springing up amongst the grass, but the only

ones in bloom were Potentilla peduncularis, P, microphylla, P. coriandrifolia,

P. albifolia ; Primula reticulata, P. Stuartu, P. pusilla, P. glabra ; Pedcularis

iphonantha, Geranium polyanthes, Ranunculus affinis, Meconopsis simplici-

folia and Phlomis sp. A majestic species of Meconopsis grew near the huts

in dense clusters 2 to 3 feet high. The flowers vary in diameter from 5 to 7

inches, are of an intensely vivid blue on opening and change afterwards to

purple. I was informed by the Bhutias that it was not a native of Sikkim,

A BOTANICAL TOUR IN SIKKIM, 203

but had been introduced by them from Nepal. The mountain top of Jongri,

which is admirably described by Sir J. D. Hooker, is formed of alternating

knolls and hollows ranging from 13 to 14,000 feet. Much of its surface is

covered with Rhododexdron Anthopogon to the exclusion of other vegetation.

To the east of the camping ground is a wood of Rhododendrons, mostly

R. lanatum and R, campanulatum, About 12,500 feet Primula pulchra flourishes

on the rocks.

After staying a few days at Jongri I marched down to Yoksun, For about

a mile the path runs eastward along Jongri, and then descends steeply for

7,000 feet, enabling one to pass in review the gradation of vegetation from

Alpine regions to the sub-tropical zone. A few gigantic Yew trees grow a

little above the Ratong. After crossing the Ratong, we travelled along the

slopes on its left bank by one of the most difficult and dangerous paths in

Sikkim to Yoksun. This place is unique from its peculiar formation amidst

such precipitous surroundings. The copse-wood which once enhanced the

beauty of the flat is now reduced to a gaunt gathering of pollarded and

charred trunks, but the beautiful little lake is still surrounded by forest trees,

Here, and everywhere in Sikkim at the same elevation, there are large areas

covered with Kdgeworthia Gardnert,

I halted for two days to allow my men to recuperate in such a congenial

climate. Polypodium rostratum, so rare in the Darjeeling district, is the

commonest fern here. As Mr. Gamble once told me that Mr, Levinge had

found it growing on the same rhizome with Drymoglossum carnosum, I

searched carefully for a confirmation of the fact, but I failed to find an

instance of it : indeed I did not perceive one plant of the latter species,

Variety of ferns is a notable feature of Yoksun. The commonest are

Polypodium rostratum, P. membranaceum, P. lineare, P. Boothii, P, fissum,

P. amenum, P. lachnopus, P. argutum, Nephrodium hirtipes, various varieties

of N. Filiaz-Mas, two forms of Aspidium aculeatum, one of A. auriculatum,

Oleandra neriiformis, Pieris aquilina, P. Wallichiana. Of orchids I observed

Mulanis sikkimensis, Microstylis biloba, Coelogyne ochracea, C. cristata, Otochilus

sp., Era alba, Cymbidium Hoowerianum, Dendrobium chrysanthum, Saccolabium

calceolare and a species of Culanthe in leaf. Remusatia vivipara, Amorpho-

phallus sp., Arisema speciosum, Hedychium coronarium and Piper nepalensis

were common on the rocks, The principal trees are Erythrina arborescens,

Castanopsis tribuloides, Pieris ovalifolia, and two species of Aralia, The

shrubby vegetation is composed of Mesa rugosa, Edgeworthia Gardner,

Dichroa febrifuga, Camellia drupifera, and afew other species. The villagers

grow clumps of a Bambusa, and a few plants of Arundinaria Hookerianz have

recently been planted near the lake, This beautiful bamboo abounds in

Sikkim from 5 to 7,000 feet, and is the kind exclusively used for roofing

temples and houses. For this purpose the culms are cut into short lengths,

flattened out and laid on as shingles, These are said to be very durable and

to make perfectly watertight roofs.

204 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

The cultivated crops are buckwheat, millet and a little maize, After the

grain is sown no care is taken to keep fields in proper cultivation, One en-

closed plot was full of ganja plants (Cannabis indica) in splended condition.

From Yoksun I marched to Tumlong through tropical and sub-tropical vege-

tation similar in all respects to that of the Darjeeling district.

By camparison with the drier regions of Upper Sikkim which I afterwards

visited, I considered that the main characteristic of the vegetation along the

Singalelah Range is its poverty in variety of forms and its superabundant

wealth in individual species of Rhododendrons, I only collected about 200

species of plants in flower and fruit. There was, however, evidence to prove

that the floral harvest would have been more remunerative later in the season.

Sir J. D. Hooker, in his appendix on the Physical Geography of Sikkim,

states: “The banks (of rivers) between 8,000 and 14,000 feet are generally

covered with Rhododendrons, sometimes to the total exclusion of other wooded

vegetation, especially near a snowy mountain, a cool temperature and great

humidity being the most favourable conditions for the luxuriant growth of

this genus.” Such conditions prevailing throughout the Singalelah Ranges

due to its proximity to Kinchinjunga, account for the overwhelming abundance

of Rhododendrons, and may also be accepted as probable reasons for the ~

comparative absence of herbaceous plants (in ordinal and generic forms)

which are unable to maintain a struggle for existence in such an adverse

climate and against such formidable competitors.

Second Tour.—The Lachung Valley.—1 arrived at Tumlong on the 7th July,

and was detained there until the 24th waiting for supplies which where delayed

by the break of communications caused by the excessive rains,

Immediately on their receipt I commenced my second excursion and marched

through the hot tropical valley of the Teesta, arriving at Choongtam, at the

junction of the Lachen and Lachung rivers, on the 28th, Near Choongtam a

remarkable transition from tropical to temperate vegetation takes place with

no palpable increase of elevation, Cnicus involucratus, Astragalus pyonorhizus,

Eupaturium cannabinum, Anemone vitifolia, and a few other plants served to

accentuate the change. Leptocodon gracilis, a fragile climber with blue flowers

rambled over bushes everywhere, I collected many specimens of Pleopelizs

rhynchophylla from a tree at the end of the Lachung cane bridge.

The hill above Choongtam ascends abruptly to 10,000 feet, and is almost

entirely clad with grass alone. It forms the termination of a lofty range

running southwards from Kinchinjhow, and divides the Lachen and Lachung

valleys. The Tibetans aver that this long spur possesses but one practicable pass,

namely, the Sebo La between Momay Samdong and Tungu ; but by dint of per-

sistent enquiry I discovered that there are at least two more —one from Lach-

ung to somewhere near Latong, the other from Yeumtong to Tallum Samdong.

I was informed that they are rarely used, a fact explained by the lack of the

necessity of frequent intercourse between the inhabitants of the two valleys.

A BOTANICAL TOUR IN SIKKIM, 205

From Choongtam we marched to the village of Lachung in one day, As

far as Keadom the valley is narrow, and the path runs along the river bank for

most of the way. Here the valley expands into a large flat, with an elevation

of 6,600 feet, which enjoys such a warm and sunny climate that maize, millets

and other tropical crops are successfully cultivated. Onwards the valley

again becomes narrow, but two or three miles below Lachung it broadens

considerably and remains open for some miles above the village.

A large proportion of sub-tropical trees and plants ascend to a short distance

above Keadom. These are succeeded by a dense shrubby vegetation of

Hydrangea, Rosa macrophylla, and R. sericea, Prinsepia utilis, Pyrus, Pieris

ovalifolia and P, formosa, Zanthoxylum, Rhododendron arboreum, R. ciliatum.

and Maples, &c. Other plants are Leycesteria formosa, Buddleia macrostachya

and B. Colvillei, Berberis, and Rubus niveus with palatable fruits. Roscea

alpina, the Box-like Sarcococca pruniformis are in great quantity. The

handsome fern, Osmunda Claytoniana, overruns large areas in the manner of

Bracken at lower elevations. Two species of Leucostegia, L. Hookeri and

L, membranulosa, with sweetly hay-scented foliage, and a large stipitate form

of Pleopeltis simplex grow in a wood at about 8,000 feet. Goniophlebium

ebenipes was in dense clusters on the tops of many of the numerous

rocks,

This locality is eminently distinguished by its variety of Coniferous trees,

Abies Webbiana, the dominant species on the humid mountains of the Singa-

lelah and Chola Ranges, even here maintains its supremacy in numbers. It

ranges from 9 to 13,000 feet. Up to 11,000 feet it grows intermingled with

the other lighter-foliaged pines, but from that elevation to its highest limit, it

exists alone or associated with the equally dark coloured Juniperus pseudo-

sabina, so that nothing breaks the monotony of their sombre aspect on the

slopes which they clothe with their lofty forests. Juniperus pseudo-sabina and

J. recurva are the two last representatives of arboreal vegetation, both attain-

ing 15,000 feet, the former as a small, stunted, weather-worn tree, the latter as

a prostrate intricately-branched shrub, Large quantities of planks cut exclu-

sively from Abies Webbiana, are annually exported to Tibet. Their prepara-

tion is an important industry of the inhabitants of Lachung, who shape the

timber with no other appliances than the axe and wedge.

Picea Morinda and Tsuga Brunoniana are found between 8 and 11,000 feet,

The former is a tall, conical tree with thick trunk and dark green pendulous

branches, the latter has spreading branches drooping at the extremities and

bears very small cones, Larix Griffithii, the only Himalayan Larch, is restrict-

ed in its distribution to Eastern Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan ; and, previous to

its re-discovery by Sir J. D. Hooker, its existence was only known from a

notice in Griffith’s journals. It is pyramidal in outline and attains a height of

sixty feet. The branches are long and pendulous and support erect, cylindrical

cones closely resembling those of Picea Morinda, It first appears at 8,000 feet,

becomes plentiful at 9,500 feet, and ascends to 12,000 feet. It is the only

206 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

decidous Conifer in Sikkim, the leaves falling in autumn to be renewed in the

beginning of the following summer.

The peach and apricot, introduced from Tibet, are cultivated by the vil-

lagers at Lachung, but in no great quantity, I was informed that the fruits of

both ripen in the end of September. Pyrus sikkimensis, a wild Crab-apple tree,

is common, but its austere fruit is only pleasantly edible when stewed with

sugar. A little barley is reared with radishes and turnips,and these were the

only vegetables I could obtain worth eating ; the scanty yield of potatoes

consisted of wretchedly small tubers, so waxy as to be nauseating when cooked,

The Tankra Mountain was within easy distance of Lachung, and as it

promised a quick introduction to the Apline Flora which I was so anxious

to see, I determined to visit it at once, We crossed the Lachung Rivers

threaded our way through the narrow, dirty lanes of the village, and im-

mediately climbed up the grassy slope above it. For about a mile the path

runs through a dense, herbaceous vegetation composed of the plants I former-

ly enumerated at Lachung. A beautiful small pink lily—Lilium roseum—

grew profusely on banks associated with Roscea alpina and Drosera peltata,

At 9,500 feet we passed through a fine grove of small trees of Rhododen-

drons, Maples, Roses, Lindera, Neesiuna, Betula utilis, and the laurel-like

Daphnivhyllum himalayense. In a mossy hollow within this wood, I found a

large quantity of the delicate little fern, Polypooium trickomanoides. Gomt-

ophlebium subameenum depends from the trunks of Silver Fir ; and Goniophle-

bium erythrocarpum, another epiphytic fern, accompanies arboreal vegetation

to the end. Passing the grove we entered the magnificent forest of pines which

extends without a break to 12,500 feet. We marched to its upper skirts,

where we camped after clearing a sufficiently large plot of ground near a

stream winding through an expanse of Rhododendrons, Two species of

Cremanthodium, Polygonum vaecinifolium, Oxyria digyna, Pedicularis of vari-

ous species, Potentilla fruticosa, beautiful yellow and white Saxifrages, Epilo-

biums, Lactuca macrantha, Parnassia and Aconites were the commonest plants

observed.

The following day we held on our course upwards. The region of trees was

soon left in the rear, and a low growth of Rhododendron campunulatum succeed-

ed, showing the dark glaucous tints of its unfolding leaves. The bladder-head-

ed Sausewrea (S. obvallata) thrives on the damp margins of water-courses, and

bumble bees were busy amongst its foetid flower heads. These are in clusters

of a dark brown colour, enclosed in inflated white papery bracts forming an

ovate head, and yielding sufficiently to allow insects to insinuate themselves

with ease. The woolly-headed Saussurea (S. gossypiphora) delighting to grow

in sandy debris appeared at first sight to be onlya ball of white, fleecy

wool, The flower heads when young are completely enveloped ; but on the

approach of maturity a ring opens on the top disclosing the inflorescence

inside, Another remarkable plant, in similar situations, is Crepis glomerata,

whose carrot-like stem buried in the ground is flattened on a level with its

surface, and-bears a broad head of yellow flowers, surrounded by small

A BOTANICAL TOUR IN SIKKIM, * 207

radiating leaves pressed closely to the soil, Rheum nobile is visible on the

faces of all the cliffs around, and ascends to 17,000 feet.

Our third day’s camp was pitched below the ascent to Kanko La, which

passes at the gorge, cut by the river through a low line of cliffs, forming a

barrier across the head of the Tankra Choo Valley.

The next day we crossed this by the frequented path, and followed the

track to the Tankra Pass, which is at an elevation of 16,000 feet. The ter=

minal valley slopes gently to the pass, is exceedingly rocky, and is bounded

by snowy ridges ; and much snow lay in its hollows. The rounded surface

of the pass is a conglomeration of sand and boulders which are constantly

sliding down from the crags on either side,

On the Tibetan side, a narrow grassed valley descends steeply. Fog

effectually prevented a more extended view. Between the Kanko La and

the barren glacier below Tankra La there was a multitude of bright-hued

flowering plants. Brown and yellow Chrysosplenium, yellow Saxifrages, blue

and yellow forms of Corydalis, a few species of Pedicularis, beautiful small

primroses—P. uniflora, P. muscoides and P. soldanelloides—Ligularia, Rheum

nobile, some blue Gentians, and the bladder-headed Saussuwrea were the most

notable. The plants I found on the pass are those enumerated by Sir J. D.

Hooker. In addition to his list, I may state that Meconepsis horridula, a lovely

plant affecting only the most inclement situations, was collected in full bloom

from under the shelter of rocks. I stayed for two hours at the pass in the vain

hope of the fog lifting to give me a better view. During this time the con-

tinuous winds were most variable, and the variability was rendered more

obvious by the way in which vapour was deposited by different currents. The

wind which blew from the Tankra Valley on the south-west brought hail and

snow, that from the south-east in Tibet precipitated rain, The same meteoro-

logical conditions prevailed during Sir J. D. Hooker’s visit. The Tankra La

lies south of the summit of Tankra Mountain, to the east is a long rocky

ridge cleft by the minor pass of Kanko La; and between this and the culminat-

ing peaks is a large, shallow basin with undulating surface through which flow

the headwaters of the Tankra River. Those on the north spring from many

points under snow fields, that on the south-east rises below the pass and is

immediately lost in the great central moraine, re-appearing at its lower end as

a large and swiftly-flowing torrent. Itis joined near the Kanko La by the

united streams from Tankra ; after effecting the junction, the river turns

sharply to the west through the deep and narrow defile of the pass and hastens

precipitately downwards for somemiles until it debouches in the Lachung

River, a little south of the village of that name. From the Kanko spur to the

limit of Pines at 13,000 feet, the valley is broad and shallow ; here it suddenly

narrows and remains so to its termination, During the week I spent on this

excursion, the weather was uniformly boisterous and wet, while those of my

party who remained below at Lachung asserted that they had enjoyed calm

sunny days and clear nights,

208 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX,

The fragrant spikenard (Nardostachys Jatamansi) is plentiful on Tankra,

and the Scrophularineous plant, Picrorhiza Kurrooa, intensely bitter when

chewed, is abundant about 14,000 feet, and is held in much repute as a_ febri-

fuge and tonic, The only woody plant above 15,000 feet is the humble

Diplarche paucifiora.

I returned to Lachung, where I halted for a week to dry the numerous

specimens collected during the excursion to Tankra La, and also to make pre-

parations for a journey to the Donkia Pass at the head of the Lachung Valley,

and the most northern point I could reach in Sikkim.

We started on the 13th August, and arrived at Yeumtong the same day.

The path runs close to the west bank of the Lachurg River the whole distance,

About half way we crossed an enormous landslip which had partly buried a

large forest of Abies Webbiana and Larch,

The interesting feature of this day’s journey was the extensive Pine woods

through which we travelled. On the western slopes they grew down to the

verge of the stream, and every tree was festooned with long gray streamers of

the Lichen, Usnea barbata. I was told that, when reduced to great straits, the

Tibetans made use of this unpromising plant as food ; when boiled it was said

to be gelatinous and palatable, and as nourishing and life-sustaining as beef.

We saw many tailless rats, but I was prevented from procuring specimens

by my desire to respect the superstitious notions of the Tibetans and Lepchas

regarding them. I was told, with every appearance of belief on the part of

my informants, that the killing of one of these animals was certain to be fol-

lowed by storms of snow or rain according to the season of the year, and many

instances of personal experience were related to me in corroboration of the

fact. The Tibetans are reminded of the near approach of winter when they

observe these rats busy themselves in preparing their winter quarters.

The valley is wide as far as Yakcha ; it there narrows for a considerable

distance, broadening into large swampy flats intersected with streams towards

Yeumtong. The spurs on the western flank are precipitous, rocky and sterile,

supporting vegetation only at their sheltered bases, but forests clothe the

opposite side with their verdure. Every mountain mass in this region facing a

southerly direction in the least degree is, in summer, exposed to the full force

of the damp southerly winds laden with mist which blow with increasing vio-

lence as the day advances, to die away only at night, These continuous currents

rapidly disintegrate the surface, washing down the superincumbent earth and

wearing away rocks which become precipices or crags of fantastic shapes.

Vegetation, therefore, cannot find permanent foot-hold under such circum-

stances, and its abundance is confined to the sheltered flanks where a copious

rainfall is absorbed by the deep and fertile soil,

The increase of 3,000 feet in elevation between Lachung Village and

Yeumtong causes the appearance of many new plants along the route, Com-

posites become more numerous and gregarious. Inula Hookeri beautifies dry

knolls with its densely leafy stems and large heads of yellow flowers, Erigeron

A BOTANICAL TOUR IN SIKKIM. 209

multiradiatus, some species of Senecio, Anaphalis and Aster are equally plen-

uuful. Various Thalictrums and Halenia elliptica, all with blue and white

flowers, grow in the grass and low thickets. Orchids are well represented by

many Habenarias, Satyrium, and the small purple Orchis Chusua (allied to

the common 0, latifolia of England). ‘The monkshood was flowering and

attained a height of 6 feet in flat grassy fields, Cattle and horses are allowed

to graze at large in places infested with this plant, but sheep and goats do

not possess the same instinctive knowledge of its poisonous properties, and

great care has to be exercised by the shepherds when driving them through

these localities,

Myricaria germanica, Allium, Meconopsis simplicifolia, whose spikes 3 feet

in height greatly excel the stunted specimens seen on Singalelah, the large

wild Rose (Rosa macrophylla) with bright red fruits, and shrubby Berberies,

were all common,

The following day was Sunday, so I halted at Yeumtong. The tents were

pitched between the huts and the river which flows tranquilly ina broad shallow

bed down the whole length of the flat. Opposite is the snowy mountain

with a glacier reaching a lower level than any other in Sikkim as Sir J. D,

Hooker mentions ; a thick turf of grass covered the surface of the flat, A yellow

anemone (A. obtusiloba) with leaves appressed to the ground, a surculose

Saxifrage, the Dandelion, Taraxacum officinale, the aromatic yellow Elsholtzia

ertostachya, and groups of brilliantly yellow-flowered Senecio diversifolius, gave

colour to the scene, A small swamp north of the camping ground was brighten-

ed by the yellow flowers of Pedicularis tubiflora, and a small floating

_ Ranunculus, and beyond, in a small wood of Silver fir, I found many specimens

of Meconopsis simplicifolia and M. nepalensis in fruit. I collected a large

supply of seed from the former, but nearly every capsule of the latter had

been destroyed by a small white caterpillar. Neither species ever grows in the

open, both preferring the shelter afforded by rocks or small bushes on the

skirts of the thickets. The commonest plant was Cnicus eriophoroides with

strongly spinose leaves which penetrate the thickest cloth, and cause a smarting

sensation in the skin. Other plants were Salvia glutinosa, Lychnis nutans,

Cucabalus baccifer and Asarwm himalaicum.

Aroids of the genus Arisema are common. In early summer their tuberous

roots are prepared and used for food according to the method described by

Sir J.D. Hooker. I was presented with a few glutinous cakes made in the

most approved style, but the taste was so peculiarly disagreeable that I could

not persuade myself to eat more than one mouthful.

Yeumtong is a large cattle-grazing station and depot for Tibetan exports and

imports, Communication thus far from the lower valleys is kept open by the

people of Lachung who carry loads of planks, bamboo, rice, dye-stuffs, such

as the leaves of Symplocos and the roots of Rubia cordifolia, which are trans-

ported by yaks to Tibet. In exchange the Tibetans bring down loads of salt,

barley, blankets and other commodities for the inhabitants of Lower Sikkim,

210 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X,

I could noi ascertain how many yak-loads of merchandise are carried annually

over the Donkia Pass, but every day during my stay in this part I saw herds

of at least 10 or 12 yaks, and often many more either going or returning.

Looking northwards from Yeumtong, the slope of the valley to an elevation

of 13,000 feet is easy and is black with pine forests. Above, the land is red

and sterile. On the west a tributary stream flows from behind Changokhang

along the base of along declivity of sand. The view higher up is cut off

by jutting spurs below Momay Samdong.

The following morning we marched to Momay Samdong, elevation 15,300

feet. The first and the last two miles of the path are easy, but the intervening

portion is steep, A forest of Silver Fir, Maple, Birch, Pyrus, Rhododendron

and other trees extends to 13,000 feet ; fora few hundred feet further some

scattered black Juniper trees occur; an equal distance is occupied by

Rhododendrons and Willows, and passing the spurs which terminated the view

from Yeumtong, the valley is broad with enormous rocks on its surface, and the

surrounding hills ate rocky. Ihave nothing to add to the excellent descrip-

tion of this spot. by Sir J. D. Hooker, buta place with more inhospitable

surroundings can scarcely be imagined. A few yaks were grazing, the sole

survivors of large herds almost annihilated by an epidemic of rinderpest

which raged during the previous year.

This great calamity had impoverished the inhabitants of the valley, as for

the greater part of the year they depend for sustenance on the curds and

cheese made from the milk yielded by their flocks.

As the morning of 10th August was bright and sunny, holding out hopes of a

fine day, a promise unfortunately not fulfilled, I set out for the Donkia Pass,

seven miles from Momay, and the most northerly point I could reach in Sikkim.

The tracks lead through a waste of stupendous rocks, and the stream becomes

divided into many channels, The hills rising around it are masses of

rock and rubble, forming a most forbidding landscape in the aggregate,

The shallow waters support an abundance of reddish Sedum and Ehewm

nobile, Myriads of the blue Gentians unfolded in the brief glimpse of sunshine

we enjoyed, and Allardia glabra grew in low, dense tufts, bearing large sessile

flowers with yellow disks and purple rays, The musk-scented Delphinum

glaciale ascends to 17,500 feet accompanied by Aconitum Napellus reduced in

size to a small plant with two or three leaves bearing but one short pedi-

celled flower, Other plants were Ranunculus letus, Cyananthus, of two species,

the Edelweiss (Leontopidiwm alpinum), Erigeron, Cremanthodium reniforme,

Lactuca Dubycea, Crepis glomerata, Saussurea, and the curious lichen-like

Antennaria muscoides. Rhododendron nivale and Ephedra vulgaris were the

only woody plants. The feature of the vegetation from 17,000 feet upwards

is the prevalence of plants growing in dense, hard hemispheric tufts such as

Arenaria, Saxifraga, Saussurea, Astragalus, and Myosotis Hookeri. The last

steep ascent to the pass, 18,100 feet elevation, is devoid of vegetation, The

view across Cholamoo to the Kambajong Mountains was clear, and we were able

A BOTANICAL TOUR IN SIKKIM. 211

to appreciate fully the graphic account of this wonderful region which Sir

J. D. Hooker gives in such perfect detail,

My orders forbade the crossing of the Donkia, so I returned to Momay in

the evening through a blinding storm of snow and rain.

As I was anxious to penetrate to the Lachen Valley through the Sebo La, T

waited at Momay for a week in order to obtain good weather for the attempt,

but the cold south wind drove a thick mist and drizzling rain without intermis-

sion, and I was compelled to relinquish the idea. One day I went eastwards to

the great glacier of Kinchinjhow. Passing the hot springs noted by Sir J. D.

Hooker, and climbing to the crest of the terminal moraine, we walked along

the top of a lateral one leading far into the snowy billowy mass of the glacier,

I was surprised to find many plants flourishing in such a bleak place. Hriophy-

ton himalaicum was common, It isa white, woolly Labiate with bright blue

flowers peeping from under the leaves ; I have never observed it but on dry

sandy slopes. The other plants were a minute Sawifraga with extensive run-

ners, a small Gentian, Pedicularis of three species, Mestuca and Carex, Rhodo-

dendron wivale was dead and withered, having probably been killed by the

severity of the previous winter, but, strange to say, Potentiliz fruticosa, in its

largest and most developed form, and not the creeping variety we should ex-

pect to find here, was covered with flowers and foliage and was as much at

home amongst ice and snow as it is at the more temperate elevation of 10,000

feet. From Momay Samdong I returned to Yeumtong and halted there a few

days. I ascended to the glacier on the opposite side, which Sir J. D

Hooker failed to reach through the gorge. Now-a-days there is a catile-

track leading to the high pastures, so that progress is easy. Rosa sericea is

the commonest shrub in the pine forest, and Salix Wallichiana and Pyrus

microphylla are abundant, Between the summit of the first ridge and the

glacier, the path runs along the side of the stream, the rest of the area is

too encumbered with boulders to be walked on with safety. Above 13,000

feet the forest of Silver Firis replaced by impenetrable Rhododendrons and

a few stunted trees of black Juniper. There is little variety in the

herbaceous vegetation, the biting air radiating from the glacier being too

chilly to suit even cold-loving plants, Podophyllum Emodi yielding red fruits

eaten by the Tibetans, Swertva Hookeri, Rheum accuminatum and Cnicus

eriophoroides were conspicuous by their abundance and size.

The weather at Yeumtong was also uniformly wet and miserable, so I started

for Lachung on the 20th August, Arriving the same day I stayed to dry my

collections and to make arrangements for an excursion through the Sebu

Valley to Ghora La ; a part as yet unvisited by any naturalist to my knowledge,

In his “ Himalayan Journals” Sir J. D, Hooker notes “ about five miles

above Lachung the valley forks, the eastern valley leads to lofty, snowed

regions, and is said to be impracticable.” A lofty precipice at the immediate

entrance to this valley, and on its northern flank, attracted my attention, On

enquiry, I discovered that one of my men had ascended to Ghora La, the first

212 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

pass from the northern end of the longitudinal range which extends from

Donkia to Gipmoochi, and forms the eastern boundary of Sikkim, From a

distance the forbidding aspect of this valley would naturally lead one to con-

clude that to explore it would be a matter of great difficulty and danger. It is

almost useless to interrogate the Tibetans as to the feasibility or otherwise of

ascending any comparatively unfrequented valley, as their jealous exclusive-

ness prompts them to overrate natural difficulties in the hope of deterring

Europeans and other strangers from exploring the various practicable routes to

Tibet, The path to Ghora La runs up the valley of the Sebu River, a large

and turbulent stream. I was informed that this valley is held in considerable

veneration by the Tibetans on account of the lofty and unique precipice guard-

ing its entrance, for the sacred mountain of Donkia at its head, and also for the

sacred inscriptions which were carved on the face of a cliff half way up the

ascent to Ghora La ; but this last feature is now completely obliterated, as the

whole face of the rock has fallen down. At the summit of the pass, and visi-

ble from a considerable distance, is an irregular pillar-like rock, which I was

told is a figure of a god, but ‘its real character was apparent on closer

inspection.

Leaving Lachung on the morning of the 3rd September, I took the follow-

ing route. The Lachung Valley path was taken for three miles to the village

of Yakcha. Here the track to Ghora La breaks off abruptly to the north-west,

a direction which is pursued more or less the whole way. A short walk through

a forest, containing beautiful Conifers, Picea Morinda, Tsuga Brunoniana,

Larix Grifithti, brought us to the Lachung, which is crossed by a good wooden

bridge. On the other side it is steep for a short distance, and afterwards the

path runs almost level over somewhat swampy ground. The river Sebu, which

from its source downwards, is a swiftly-flowing torrent coursing through a

boulder-strewn channel, here becomes broader, shallower and more tranquil.

Small willow-trees fringe its banks, with Euonymus and Ilex intricata, while

Thalictrum is specially abundant. Beyond this, a sudden ascent is made along

the base of a stony precipice with Woodsta lanosa growing in its clefts ; and a

little further on I found its allied species, Woodsia elongata, the only occasion I

recollect of their association, as the former affects a more alpine elevation as a

rule. The remainder of the day’s march was steep through a large forest of

Silver Fir, until we arrived at the first convenient camping ground, a cattle

station, named Sebu, artificially formed by a clearance in the forest. Here

Ainsliea pteropoda, Heracleum, and Galeopsis Tetrahit monopolized spots

untrodden by cattle.

The northern side of the valley is enclosed by a continuous precipitous spur,

broken in one place only by a deep forest-clad depression, At the foot of the

chief one at the commencement of the valley, is a small temple where services

are held on certain days of the year. he range on the other side bemg more

gently sloped, is covered with forest and succeeding smaller vegetation, and is

more diversified by ravines.

A BOTANICAL TOUR IN SIKKIM. 213

Of trees which do not extend above 10,500 feet in this valley, are Picea

Morinda, Tsuga Brunoniana, Larix Griffithit, Prunus Padus, Pyrus lanatus,

Pyrus sikkimensis, Hydrangea, Ilex dipyrena. Above this elevation to 13,000

feet is a continuous forest of Abies Webbiana associated with Maples, Birch,

Viburnum, Berberis, and Rhododendron ; Aconitum Napellus grows luxuriantly

on the grazing ground at Sebu.

At 11,000 feet large trees of Juniperus recurvus appear, and at 13,000 feet

(the upper limit of Abies Webbiana) and fora short distance above it they

form the only arboreal vegetation.

From 13 to 15,000 feet there is an impenetrable growth of Rhododendrons

and Willows, with numerous small trees of Pyrus foliolosa, and P. microphylla;

and, intermingled with grass underneath these bushes, is an equal luxuriance of

herbs, such as Aconites, Senecios, Saxifrages, Primulas, Potentillas, Polygonums

and Thistles. Cnicus eriophoroides, which is moderately common in most

valleys, is sc abundant here as to be a perfect pest.

From Sebu (12,500 feet) the next march was to a yak-grazing station, named

Sethang, at an elevation of about 15,000 feet. Up to 14,000 feet the floor of

the valley is very steep, but about 1,000 feet below the level of Sethang we

emerged on a swampy flat, through which the Sebu flows in several channels,

Its surface is covered with grass, and its borders are cumbered with Rhododen-

dron Anthopogon. A tributary from the west pours over the hollow of a preci-

pice in a magnificient waterfall. Above the plain is a steep rocky barrier

thrown transversely across the vallsy. Onreaching its summit we arrived at

the camping ground. The coolies took up their quarters in the deserted huts,

and my tent was pitched near an accumulation of enormous boulders, A small

muddy pond lies at the upper end of the flat.

Here the two branches of the river Sebu unite—one rising in Donkia, the

other in the nameless snowy mass south of Chora La, The former is seen

flowing in a deep and narrow gorge ; the latter rushes down a steep rocky trans-

verse slope similar to that which we ascended below Sethang. These slopes

run parallel to each other, and are probably the terminal moraines of the

glacier, which is now confined to the head of the valley. Rhodedendron com-

panulatum is the common shrub, Primula Stuartii, Meconopsis nepalensis,

Geranium collinum, all in fruit, abound on the flat.

On the following morning I walked to Ghora La, elevation 17,000 feet. The

path descended into the stream from the Donkia, the ascent beyond winding

amongst gigantic boulders on the western side of the slope, At the top is

another small plain, and the remaining portion of the valley becomes broader

and ascends by a long easy gradient to 16,500 feet,

The valley from this point onwards to near its head is bounded by even

ridges and unbroken slopes which are possibly the lateral moraines of the

ancient glacier terminating below Sethang.

Both seemed to be elevated 500 feet above the river, A broad terrace runs

along the base of the eastern one for some distance, Higher up, the valley

214 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

expands and the stream again divides, ‘The eye following the course of the

western branch, is carried to the snowy mountain of Forked Donkia from

whose feet a glacier spreads out over a large area.

There is an accumulation of rocks and sand at the eastern termination of

the glacier, and its waters feed a lake white with suspended silt, This

mountain is an object of worship and veneration, and votive offerings of

prayer-printed cloths fluttered on the banks of the lake. Between Forked

Donkia and the pass is a shivered line of crags devoid of snow ; the pass itself

is an extremely narrow gap with sheer rocks rising sharply on either side. Its

final ascent is occupied by a glacier which widens out eastwards into an

enormous field of ice under another snowy mountain, The actual ascent of

the pass is commenced at a small pool at the end of the glacier, There is no

permanent path amongst the shifting mass of rocks, so we had to make our

way as best we could up the lateral moraine of loosely poised boulders, Half

way up we took advantage of a small snowfield, The last hundred yards was

over the grassy surface of the ice in which we cut steps as we advanced,

The available standing room on the pass would scarcely suffice for ten men,

and the descent on the Tibetan side is startling in its steepness, Its surface

was covered with a shoot of stones, This pass is not practicable for the

passage of yaks, and is seldom used by foot travellers. On the north a high,

naked hill projected eastwards, appearing as a huge pile of stony debris ; on

the south a large glacier descended. Below lay the broad, open, grassy valley

of the Ridu Chu; beyond were a few isolated, rounded peaks surrounding

elevated plateaux of large extent, and further back still were mountains of

the same dull red colour running east and west, while over them hung heavy

masses of clouds which obscured more distant views. The lower part of a

snowy mountain, said to be Chumulhari, was seen in the far east.

The district we overlooked is called Kamboo. Medicinal hot springs of

great repute occur in it. Phari is to the south-east of Ghora La, but is hidden

behind intervening ranges.

The vegetation above 15,000 feet ia the Sebu Valley is very scanty. Sedum

of two or three species, Saxtfraya, Allardia, Meconopsis horlidula, Cyananthus,

Gentiana, Saussurea of three species, Ephedra, Rhododendron nivale, anda few

other plants, principally grasses and sedges, form the bulk of the vegetation,

Rheum nobile grows on the surrounding otherwise sterile heights, reaching to

an elevation of 17,000 feet.

We found a woolly Saussurea (S, tridactyla) at the foot of the ascent to the

pass, but from thence upwards not even a lichen was visible. This Saussurea

and Antennuria muscoides are supposed by the Tibetans to be the most esteemed

of their gods as incense, The plants used in temples are Rhododendron

Anthopogon and Rk. setoswm and a Juniper. I could not obtain definite

information as to the derivation of the name “ Ghora.” I was first told that

the sacred pictures carved near it suggested its name, and I concluded that the

A BOTANICAL TOUR iN SIKKIM, 215

game was a contracted form of Gorucknath ; afterwards it was explained that,

the meaning was “ winding” in allusion to the winding route to the pass,

Yaks are grazed from 14 up to 17,000 feet in this valley during the summer,

and at Sebu I found a large herd of catile.

From Sethang I returned to Lachung in two marches, arriving on the 8th

September,

The time until the 14th was devoted to arranging and packing my collections

and luggage. We returned to Tumlong by the Teesta Valley path and arrived

there on the 20th September.

Third Tour.—The Chola Range.—\ left Tumlong on the 22nd September for

my third and last excursion, The first march was to Rungpo, elevation 6,000

feet, a halting stage of the Sikkim Rajas during their journeys to and from the

Chumbi Valley, their favourite summer resort. The path descends through

cultivated fields to the beds of two arms of the Ryott River which unite a little

further down, They are crossed by cane suspension bridges, The succeeding

ascent is steep, and passes through many fields of dry-ground rice and millet,

An edible variety of Job’s tears (Cota lachryma) is grown near water-courses.

The whole valley is thickly populated, and the inhabitants practise a careful

system of cultivation.

An oak (Quercus semecarpifolia) is common at Rungpo, but the rest of the

vegetation is of the usual type at this elevation.

Onwards to Chola Pass the marches were made eastwards up a continuously

steep ridge, The second day’s journey brought us to Laghep (10,400 feet), a

small cattle station with a camping ground on a projecting knoll covered

thickly with Iris nepalensis, This locality is celebrated for its variety of

Rhododendrons, every species existing in Sikkim, excepting KR. nivale, being

found within a distance of two days’ short marches, It was too early in the

season to obtain seeds, as they do not ripen until November.

The plants of Decaisnea insignis which Sir J. D, Hooker observed at 7,000

feet still grow abundantly there,

The next day’s march was a short one to Pheyeunggong, 12,400 feet, a large

flat-topped peak where the Abies Webbiana is first seen. Beyond Pheyeung-

gong we descended to the Rutto River, where we found quantities of Cathcartia

villosa in fruit, This plant is extremely local in its distribution, being found

only in this small valley and in one small area near the summit of Lingtu,

The ascent continues along the broad valley of Rutto, which becomes bleak

upwards. Abies Webbiana, however, attains an elevation of 12,600 feet at

Chamanako, where we halted.

The first part of the ascent to the Chola Pass is very steep ; an easy path then

leads to the next ridge, beyond which isa small and pretty lake. A second slight

ascent brought us to another small lake,and a pond lies immediately beneath

the pass, The summit of the pass is rounded, and its surroundings are barren

rocks, On the Tibetan side a narrow gorge-like valley descends sharply. Snow

216 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

had fallen the previous night, descending to 13,000 feet. We left Chamanako

on the 28th, and resumed our journey along the Chola Range. The path

follows the course of the Rutto for half a mile, then crosses it, and an ascent

to 14,000 feet follows, through a scrub of Rhododendrons, At 14,000 feet

there is a large hollow covered with Rhododendrons, containing two lakes, the

larger ovoid in shape, the smaller long and narrow. Attainingthe ridge beyond

we descended to the river Rungpo, passing through on the way a narrow defile

walled with rock, Another ascent through small Rhododendrons again follow-

ed, after which we descended and struck a path from Guntok, We walked

along this for a mile, and reached the camping ground, named Buthan, a large

expanse of green turf closed in on the east by a barrier-like cliff,

During this march we found specimens of Chrysanthemum Atkinsoni, the

only example of the genus occurring in Sikkim, some small Sausswreas with

fern-like leaves, Primroses, Parnossia, the bladder-headed Saussurea, Senecio

amplexicaulis, and the small Rhubarb, Rheum acuminatum.

The following day we marched to Kapup, a small plateau under Zeylap La.

We ascended to the top of the rocky barrier east of the camp, From here we

obtained a magnificent view of a long trough-like valley terminated by a ridge

beyond Kapup. The whole scene was of a warm brown colour from the her-

baceous vegetation Killed by the late autumn frosts. This valley, which runs

southwards, is bounded on the north by the main Chola ridge which forms the

political boundary between Sikzim and Tibet. There was along gradual de-

scent down this remarkable valley, in which are two marshy lakes of consider-

able extent. Beyond the second lake a deep narrow gorge intervenes. This

is clothed with Pine forest, and at the end of the valley the meeting of two

opposite spurs holds back the stream so as to forma large lake reflecting the

pine woods on its dark-tinted surface. Surmounting the ascent from the

stream, we emerged on the grassy flat of Kapup with a few scattered Silver Fir

trees, small Rhododendrons and shrubby Berberis in its sheltered parts. The

Spikenard, Nardostachys Jatamansi, was common, but few plants grew in the

closely-cropped herbage.

On the 30th September I walked to the pass, and returned through Kapup to

Gnatong, No vegetation exists at the pass itself, and that below it was fast

withering, At Gnatong the plants still in flower were Onosma, Senecio, and a

few species of Saussurea, Swertia and Sasxifraga. From Gnatong I travelled

by the military road to the Teesta Bridge, arriving at Mongpoo on the 5th

October,

During the whole of this excursion I had only one fine day, namely, the 28th

September, A dense fog with drizzling rain prevailed to my disappointment

during the rest of the time, which prevented me from noting the details of the

scenery I passed through,

217

EXTRACTS FROM AN ACCOUNT OF TOURS ALONG THE

‘MALABAR COAST.

By Epegar THURSTON, C.M.ZS.,

Superintendent, Madras Government Museum,

Soon after my arrival in India, in 1886, accompanied by my staff of taxider-

mists, who excel in fish-stuffing, I made a short tour on the western coast of

the Madras Presidency, from Cochin southwards by the system of backwaters—

the home of ctters and crocodiles—to Trivandrum, the capital of the Maharaja

of Travancore. The object of this tour was the making of an initial collection

of the fishes of Malabar for the Madras museum, and the greater part of the

time was spent at Cochin, which affords abundant natural facilities for fish

capture. More recently, in 1894, a tour was made from Cochin northward to

Cannanore, with halts at Calicut and Tellicherry, with a view to making a

survey of the littoral fauna of the Madras coast of the Indian Ocean with the

assistance of the dredge.

The work of the tours commenced on each occasion at Trichir, a large town

twenty miles from the station of Shorantr on the Madras Railway, from which

place Trichur is easily reached, by a well-avenued road, in bullock cart or

pony transit. Between Shoranur and Trichur is the village of Vadakanchéri,

where the best Trichtr mats are made. At Trichur fishing is actively carried

on with nets from boats in the fine open sheet of water, which extends for some

miles south of the town. The fish market contained an abundant supply of fish

caught locally, as well as fish sent from Cochin by backwater.

At the time of my visit in 1886, the phenomenon of phosphorescence was

extremely brilliant on the first night spent on the backwater ; the fishes, as

they darted to and fro, being so brilliantly illuminated that I at first thought

that it must be caused by Micrococcus phligeri, a microscopic luminous organism

which grows in colonies on the skin of fishes. But, on collecting some of the

water in a tumbler, I discovered that the phosphorescence was really

produced by myriads of small Meduse, many of which contained tiny crustacea

imbedded in their gelatinous substance. Phosphorescence in all its brilliancy

I have, in the course of many wanderings along the coast of Southern India, only

seen on one other occasion, viz., on the Pulicat Lake, north of Madras ; and, in

this instance, it was produced by hosts of copepods.

The natives who live along the backwater between Trichir and Cochin, and

rely largely on the products thereof for physiological sustentation, are able to

obtain not only an abundance of a bivalve mollusc (Velorita cyprinoides), whose

shells are collected together and burned into chunim (lime), but also of fish,

which they capture with line or net, or, more simply, by wading in the shallow

water and picking the fish out of the muddy bottom with their hands. Fish

and shell fish, as captured, are cleaned from the adhering mud and placed in

chatties attached to a string held between the teeth, and floating on the surface

218 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

of the water. The fish which I saw captured in greatest abundance were

Etroplus suratensis, Etroplus maculatus, and Gobius giuris.

The town of Cochin is situated on the south side of the entrance of the most

considerable river in Malabar. This river opens into the sea out of a broad

lagoon with a dense background of cocoanuts, which, with the distant line of

hills, wrapped in a grey haze in the spring months, form the leading character-

istic of the scenery throughout the whole length of the backwater.

The Cochin backwater abounds in oysters (Ostrea, sp.), which live in clumps

on the stone and woodwork (freely bored by an isopod crustacean), and have

their shells encrusted with anemones, barnacles, and mussels, The oysters,

though eaten by the European community, occasionally give rise to an acute

intestinal crisis.

The north bank of the Cochin river is formed by the island of Vypeen,

which is said to have been created in 1341 A.D. by a cyclone or earthquake.

Climbing up the gneiss and conglomerate boulders, which are piled up as

groynes at Vypeen point, where the river enters the sea, and serve as an abode

for the molluse Litiorina undulata, were the crustacea Grapsus strigosus and

Metagrapsus messor.

The shells on the Vypeen shore, used for the manufacture of chunam, belong

to coarse species of Venus, Arca, Tapes, &c., evidently rolled in from a distance

and worn or broken by wave action ; whereas those on the south shore are

more delicate, and suited for museum exhibition. The south shore is riddled

with the burrows of giant ocypods (Ocypoda platytarsis), the smaller Ocypoda

cordimana, and the “ calling crab,” Gelsimus forceps (?), which emerge from

their hiding places in the morning and evening, and are difficult to catch as

they scam per along the sand.

To travellers Cochin is best known as the home of the Jews, black, white,

and half-caste, concerning whose history and customs a great deal of interest-

ing information is contained in Days’ Land of the Permauls; or, Cochin Past

and Present, But it is, from a commercial standpoint, a very important centre

of trade in coir fibre, cordage, kopra (dried cocoanut kernels), cocoanut oil,

ginger, &c.

My camp at Cochin was pitched in the “ compound ” of a travellers’ bungalow

facing the tidal river which affords anchorage, in seven to nine fathoms, for

craft of light draft, such as can pass over the sandy bar, and load and discharge

cargoin smooth water. The bungalow is a noted resort of thieves, and was,

during my stay there in 1886, guarded at night by a constable armed with the saw

of a young saw fish (Pristis), with the base cut away so as to form a handle,

From the bungalow a scene of busy activity can be witnessed from early

morning until sunset, The large open “ compound ”—+the resort of stray cattle

and goats, which caused endless annoyance by rubbing their noses into and

licking up my specimens drying in the sun—forms a convenient spot for

fishermen to spin the cotton thread for their nests by a simple contrivance con-

EXTRACTS FROM TOURS ALONG THE MALABAR COAST, 219

sisting of a stick weighted at the end to which the thread is attached, and

deftly swung round the head. Visitors to the bungalow are beset by profes-

sional mendicants making an income out of the prevalent elephantiasis (Cochin

leg), which attacks young and old alike ; and vendors of stuffed “crocodiles

with flat glass panes for eyes,and mouths lined with red or yellow flannel,

and jewellery of local manufacture made from the small silver coins (putians)

of the Native State of Cochin,

Stored in the bungalow ‘‘ compound ” are casks of fresh water, brought daily

from the sanitarium of Alwayi,about twenty miles from Cochin, The water of

the Alwayi river, from which I obtained a unique dredging consisting of stone

gods, has a good, reputation, and on it the European community of Cochin

depends largely for its supply of wholesome water.

Lining the Cochin river on both the north and south banks are rows of

Chinese or parallelogram dip-nets, about sixteen feet square, which are let down

into the water, and, after a few minutes, drawn up again. These nets afford

an easy and certain source of income, and, like other fixed engines, “ produce

an ‘unearned increment’ to the owner, irrespective of his skill, or of his being

a member of the fishing community proper.’* ‘The men who work the nets

stand protected from the sun within a cadjan shed or beneath the shade of a

portiat or “‘ tulip tree” (Thespesia populnea), whence they emerge to pick the

fish out of the net (the apex or bottom of which is brought within reach by

a long rope) with a hand-net. When the fishes are small and few in number,

the fishermen are defeated by the ever-watchful crows who in company with

pariah kites (Mdilvus Govinda) sit perched on the wooden framework of the

net, waiting anxiously for it to be hoisted up out of the water.

In March, 1886, enormous quantities of mullet (Mugil pecilus), character-

ised by a deep black spot in the centre of the scales, were being caught daily

in the parallelogram nets, This fish is used extensively as food, and the roe is

considered a great delicacy, Another species of mullet (VM, Cie) was also

caught, but in far smaller quantities,

Placed across the Cochin backwater, in which long-nosed dolphins (Delphinus

dussumieri) may frequently be seen disporting themselves, are bamboo

labyrinths and rows of bamboo stakes with nets affixed thereto at

flood-tide. These bamboo stakes serve as convenient perches for hosts

of the smaller sea tern (Thalasseus bengalensis), on the look-out for food.

Fishermen, simply clad in a loin-cloth and widespreading circular hat made of

palmyra leaves, may constantly be seen fishing in the river or backwater from

canoes (“ dug-outs”’) with lines or nets ; fishing with bait from the jetties ; or,

in the cold season, trolling at the mouth of the river for bd-min (Polynemus

tetradactylus), a specimen of which, estimated as weighing over 300 lbs., and

* F, J. Talfourd Chater, Prize Essay. Fisheries Exhibition, London, 1883,

+ “ The word portia is a corruption of Tamil pu-aragsu, flower-king.” Hobson-Jobson,

9220 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

a load for six men, was recorded by Buchanan Hamilton (“ Fish-Ganges’’)

from the Gangetic estuary.

The deep-sea boats (¢.¢., the boats which fish outside the shallow waters of

the littoral zone) secured daily, in March, 1886, large hauls of Hngraulis mala-

baricus, Engraulis indicus (“ anchovy”’), and Dussumieria acuta, known all along

the Malabar coast as the sardine. These fishes are salted and dried for food,

and the surplus is used for the extraction of fish-oil, Also brought in by the

deep-sea boats for sale in the fish bazaar, were the common crustacea Neptunus

pelagicus, Neptunus sanguinolentus, Thalamita prymna, and Squilla nepa.

During my stay at Cochin a journey was made by backwater to the mud-

bank of Narrakal, which, like that of Alleppy, affords smooth water anchorage

for big ships during the boisterous weather of the south-west monsoom,

The mode of formation of these mud-banks, which has given rise to much

speculation, has been most recently dealt with by Mr. P. Lake,* of the Geolo-

gical Survey of India, who states his opinion that “ the Narrakal mud-bank is

very probably, toa large extent, formed of the silt carried down by the

Cranganore river. It does not appear to be very much affected by the rise of

the backwaters.”

The surface of the vast liquid mud-flats of the backwater between Cochin

and Narrakal, through which our boat was laboriously propelled, is covered

with a dense mass of a mollusc (Telescopium fuscum), which produces a curious

appearance as of the spikes of the helmets of a submerged army. On the

sandy shore at Narrakal great quantities of the mollusc Dactylina orientalis

were being washed up by the in-flowing tide ; and the neighbouring muddy

_ shore was strewed with full-grown shells of the pearl-oyster, Avicula fucata.

‘\ These pearl-oyster shells were not worn, and must have been rolled in by the

sea from a bank at no great distance from the shore. Of the existence of such

a bank I can find no record ; but, in the event of the shells being recognised

hereafter, it would be worth while to have an inspection made on the chance of

discovering a bank which might yield material for a fishery on a small scale by

the Tuticorin divers.

A single night’s journey by British India coasting steamer brought me from

Cochin to Calicut, the chief town of the Malabar district, Landing was possi-

ble from a wherry at the sandy beach, on which, except during the south-west

monsoon storms, the waves flow with a gentle ripple, affording a strong

contrast to the surf-beaten shore at Cochin.

A cursory examination of “specimens ”

washed on shore showed at.a glance

that the littoral fauna of Calicut differs in a very marked degree from that of

Cochin, and demonstrated the necessity of detailed examination of the entire

coast line, if any semblance of an approach to an accurate knowledge and

* See Lake, Rec. Geol, Surv. Ind., Vols XXIII, 1890; and King, Ree, Geol, Surv. Ind.,

Vol, XVII, 1884,

EXTRACTS FROM TOURS ALONG THE MALABAR COAST. 221

museum record of the nature and distribution of the littoral fauna of Southern

India (with which alone I am concerned) is to be acquired,

For the great mass of visitors to museums in India, who come under the

heading of sight-seers, and who regard museums as tumasha or wonder houses,

it matters but little what exhibits are displayed, or how they are displayed,

provided only that they are attractive. I am myself repeatedly amused by

seeing visitors to the Madras museum pass hurriedly and silently through the

arranged galleries, and linger long and noisily over a heterogeneous collection

of native figures, toys, painted models of fruits, &c, But, in addition to the

sight-seers, those have to be considered who regard museums in the light of

institutions where they should be able to acquire solid information : ; and our

Indian museums would be fulfilling a very useful function if, in the capital

city of each province, collections were brought together and properly exhibited

illustrating and forming a classified index to the natural history, ethnology,

arts, archeology, economic resources, &c., of the province concerned,

To return, however, to Calicut. Not only do many of the delicate mollusca

washed on shore belong to different genera to those at Cochin, but very con-

Spicuous by their abundance were the siphonophora Velella and Physalia

(Portuguese man-of-war) ; the shells of an edible mollusc (Mytilus viridis) ;

the young of the nocd Batanus tintinnabulum, the carapaces of the crusta-

cean Matuta miersii,* the burrowing crustacean Hippa asiatica, swarms of which

are destroyed by fishermen with each cast of their shore nets and heaped upon

shore ; sharks’ vertebra, teeth, and egg-cases attached to drift coir fibre :

worn madreporarian coral fragments, doubtless carried across by currents from

the Laccadive Islands ; and a pennatulid (Cavernularia malabarica, Sp. 0.,

Fowler). This pennatulid was being cast ashore in large numbers at the time

of a visit to Calicut during the south-west monsoon, 1893, with the object of

ascertaining whether Calicut could serve as a source of supply of cowry shells

(Cyprea moneta) for the Belgian Congo State.t

The crustacean Hippa asiatica, which lies buried between tide-marks on the

Calicut beach, is collected by digging with the hands, roasted with medicinal

herbs purchased in the bazaar, and applied as a fomentation to sore legs.

After some days spent in dredging at Calicut, the journey was continued by

road to Tellicherry, one of the most delightful drives in the plains of South-

ern India. Conspicuous by their abundance were the cocoanut and betel

palm (Areca catechu) ; the deciduous silk-cotton tree (Bombaz malabaricum)

in full flower ; black pepper vines (Piper nigram) twining up the trunks,

and sheltered by the branches of the coral tree (Hrythrina indica) ; the cashew

(Anacardium occidentale) laden with ripening nuts; and jack-fruit trees

(Artocarpus integrifolia) with the young fruits protected by wicker baskets

from the attacks of predatory birds.

* J. R. Henderson, Journ., Mad. Lit. Soc., 1887,

+ The supply was eventually arranged for by a Bombay firm.

= = pee

9292 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

The transfer of the pony carts to the ferry boats, by which the passage of

the three rivers opening into the sea between Calicut and Tellicherry is

effected, afforded an opportunity of studying the habits of the “calling” or

“ dhobi” crabs (Gelasimus annulipes), which abound in the mud between tide-

marks. These crabs were hard at work with their young families making the

burrows which serve as their dwelling places ; the adults bringing up between

their feet from the bottom of the burrows in course of construction mud rolled

into pellets, which they pushed with their feet to a distance of several inches

from the mouth of the burrow; cleaning the feet from adherent par-

ticles of mud, and again descending into the burrow, remaining under ground

from ten to twenty seconds. In the work of removing the mud pellets from

the mouths of the burrows the adults were zealously assisted by the young.

In the city of Madras, the “ microscopic minority” of Kuropeans, who are

regular fish-eaters, will go on year after year without seeing at the table any

other fish, out of the large variety which is sold in the fish bazaar, than seir

(several species of Cybiwm guttatum) ; pomphret, white, silver, grey,* or black

(Stromateus sinensis, S. cinereus and S, niger) ; the so-called ‘‘ whiting” (S¢llago

sthama) ; and perhaps an occasional Hat-fish (Psettodes erumet), which is a poor

substitute for the British sole. During three years in Calcutta I only saw

served up hilsa (Clupea ilisha), which, though bony, is excellent when

smoked ; begti (Lates calcarifer) and the mango-fish or tupsee muchee

(Polynemus paradiseus), which comes up the Hooghly river for spawning

purposes in very large numbers. Again, at Cochin, out of about forty differ-

ent kinds of fish classed as edible by natives, which were being caught at the

time of my visit, only four were considered fit to place before me, wz., seir,

“ whiting,’ mullet, and sardines.

* Silver pomphret is the immature, and grey pomphret the adult Stromateus cinereus.

223

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.

No, I—HYBRID FRANCOLINS,

In 1876 Captain (now Lieutenant-Colonel) 8, A. Butler, 83rd Regiment,

while stationed at Deesa, shot six or seven specimens of Francolins which were

apparently hybrids between Francolinus vulgaris, the northern form or Black

partridge, and F’. pictus, the Painted partridge and southern form.

These hybrids have been described in volume II, page 26, of Hume and

Marshall's “ Game Birds of India,” and one has been figured in the same plate ©

as the Hastern Francolin,

Both species, /’. vulgaris and F’, pictus, are known to occur near Deesa, and

I shall be glad if any member of the Society can kindly assist me in getting

authentic information as to whether hybrids of the above species are now met

with at Deesa or elsewhere, and, if possible, in procuring specimens of the

same. Any information on the subject later than Colonel Butler’s record will

be gratefully received.

G. W, VIDAL, 1.C.8,

Poona, 10th October, 1894.

—

No, II.—NESTING OF THE BROWN FLY-CATCHER.

I am forwarding to you to-day by rail a nest and four eggs of the brown fly-

eatcher (Alseonax latirostris) as I understand that the eggs of this bird have not

hitherto been recorded, These eggs I obtained near here on the ghauts, The

first nests were taken by Sergt. Kemp, of the Barrack Department, and myself

on the 17th ultimo, on which occasion the eggs were perfectly fresh; the last were

taken on the 30th, when fresh and hard set eggs and young birds were met

with, from which I infer that the period of incubation lasts about a fortnight, |

With one exception all the nests have been found on the dwarf teak trees,

which grow so plentifully on the ghauts, They are, asa rule, built on thick

bare horizontal branches, at some litile distance from the trunk and, on an

average, eighteen feet from the ground. The bird seems to prefer the more

secluded nullahs to breed in, generally selecting for this purpose a tree close to

the bank, The nest, as you will see, is rather a large one for so small a bird,

and, except for being so high, would not be difficult to find. Four seems to be

the full complement of eggs, though three hard set eggs have been found.

T also enclose a skin of a bird shot from the nest ; the bird was only shot

for purposes of identification and the skin was unfortunately spoilt.

Tirust you will receive the eggs safely.

BERTRAM A, G, SHELLEY, Lievz., RE.

Muow, C, I, 1st July, 1894.

P. S.—The eggs were taken on the 20th, not the 29th. Three were obtained

from one nest, and the other, the dark specimen, was obtained from a second

nest, I regret I could not send youa complete clutch as I have only one.

B, A. G.S,

224 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

No. I1I.—NOTES AS TO HOW TIGERS KILL,

Perusing the interesting notes on the tiger by Mr. J. D. Inverarity, published

at page 143, Vol. III, No. 3, of the Society's Journal, on the points as to

how tigers kill their prey, I beg to add my experiences on this subject.

I have on several occasions sat over the live bait,a young buffalo, and

seen the tiger kill,

I will give two instances. In each case the tiger rushed and sprang with a

roar, in broad daylight ; one paw was brought down on the snout and up went

the horns, and the other paw over the humps,and with the mouth the back

of the neck was seized. In each case I was too excited to wait longer, and

I fired at the head, The tiger was with his back towards me. In one case I

killed, in the other I missed, and could not account for it. I found my shell in

the buffalo’s skull between the horns.

In another case when it was too dark to see what actually occurred, I have

heard and indistinctly seen the same process, and then all was quiet for

about ten minutes ; I presume the tiger was sucking the blood. He then

walked off without eating at all. Later on he returned to make a meal. The

moon was up ; | shot the tiger ; the kill was untouched. Tigers always begin

feeding at the rump.

FRED, WRIGHT.

ELLICHPUR, 28th June, 1894.

No, IV.—A CURIOUS INSTANCE OF MELANISM.

I send you the following note regarding a specimen of the common Madras

bulbul (Pycnonotus hemorrhous), now in my possession, as it may not be

uninteresting to some of the members of the Society.

At the beginning of March this year a bulbul was found in the fernery of

my garden which, it was noticed, differed somewhat from the ordinary Madras

bulbul in its plumage. The bird appeared to be a young one, and the plumage

resembled that of a young bulbul, except in being several shades darker and in

having no red or crimson feathers in the under tail-coverts, these being glossy-

black. The black of the head and face shaded into very dark brown on the

neck, and the white feathers on the rump and vent were replaced by brown

ones, so that the bird on the whole looked almost black.

The bird has now almost completed moulting and the new plumage resem-

bles that of an adult bird, the feathers on the rump and vent being white and

the black of the head and face more defined, but the under tail-coverts

are stil! glossy-black. I have two other specimens of this bulbul, and on com-

paring it with them find it still looks slightly darker than they do, I have

not been able to ascertain if this peculiarity of the plumage has been noticed

before, but some members of the Society may perhaps be able to throw some

light on the subject.

Mapras, 8th August, 1894. P, BERRY.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 225

No. V.—MEASUREMENTS OF TIGERS’ SKULLS,

Apropos of the article in No. 4, Vol. VIII, on ‘“ Horns and Skull Measure-

ments,” by Capt. St. John Richardson, I have carefully measured, between

uprights, the skulls of two large tigers shot by me in Canara.

The dimensions are 112” by 103” and 142” by 103”. The former belonged

to a tiger measuring 9/-73”, as it lay on the ground ;* the latter to one con-

siderably larger, but unfortunately I omitted to measure it.

HUGH MURRAY,

BELGAUM, 18th June, 1894. Divisional Forest Officer.

No. VI— SAMBHUR HORNS EATEN BY PORCUPINES.

I have frequently been told by “ Gonds”’ and other jungle inhabitants that

porcupines (Hystriz leucura) are in the habit of eating stag horns which have

been shed. I do not know whether this fact is generally known and I certainly

did not believe it until I stumbled across undeniable evidence of it.

Whilst in camp in this district of Nagpur, in some out-of-the-way forest on

the Seoni border, during the month of June, 1893, I found many shed Sambhur

horns, and on picking up one I found it had been gnawed in many places. On

asking the ‘‘ Gonds” with me what animal had done this, they said that it was

done by porcupines, and on investigating the spot I found that it was lying

near a porcupine’s burrow, with a regular ‘“‘run” leading from the burrow to

the horn, and there were fresh tracks on the run.

It would be interesting to know whether porcupines eat horns in this way

for food, as the ‘“‘Gonds” say, or only for wearing down and sharpening their

teeth, in the same way that rats and rabbits are known to gnaw wood.

P. H. CLUTTERBUCK,

Assistant Conservator of Forests.

Nagpur, August, 1894,

No. VIL—CANNIBAL DRAGON FLIES.

Walking among the Trimulgherry Rocks a little before sunset on the 10th

September, I noticed a couple of dragon flies flying in an unusual manner and

followed them up to where they fell among the grass.

The larger one which was uppermost, with his wings at rest, seemed to have

a hold of the smaller one who was on his back by the throat, if a dragon fly can

be said to possess one, and I could distinctly hear a grinding snip-snip going on,

In a few seconds the under one’s head dropped off. More snip-snipping. After

a while I disturbed them, and the larger one flew away. I picked up the body

* Mr. Murray since writes :—‘“ The measurements of the 9/-73// tiger were not taken between

“ uprights, nor were they taken altogether along the curves. Ialwaysmake one man hold

“ the tape on the point of the nose and another man on the very end of the tail; then I press

“the tape down into the hollow of the back, thereby increasing the length by an inch or an

inch and a half.”

226 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

and head of the other. One front leg was attached to the body. Two or

three more legs had been cut off, which probably accounted for the further

snipping I heard after the head was off, and a good deal of the body was eaten.

The head held on to a bit of grass that I put into its mouth; and the body

wriggled and the wings fluttered several minutes after they were separated.

The larger fly was about three inches and a half long, the other scarcely a

quarter of an inch shorter. Both were of the same kind with transparent

wings, body darkish-brown, with a bright steel-blue patch of a light shade in

rear of the wings—more of it on the under than the upper side, The tail

part had a pale yellow ring at the point of each section, the rest brownish.

Speaking of this to a friend, he said that he had seen a similar case, only

that the larger fly had attacked the other one’s back and went on eating him

even after being picked up and laid on the open hand.

I knew that dragon flies were voracious, but not that they had cannibalistic

tastes.

RICHARD ROBERTS.

SECUNDERABAD, September, 1894.

No, VIII—A BISON CALF.

(With a Plate.)

The Bison Calf whose photograph is given in this number of the Journal

was captured during a shooting expedition to the Neilampathy hills in the

Native State of Cochin, Southern India, in August, 1892. One afternoon towards

the close of the monsoon, I was out looking for Ibex which frequent some

high cliffs at the head of a fine open grassy down; the day had been very

misty, at times one could not see two yards ahead, but every now and then

the fog would roll away, and the fine open downs—high picturesque cliffs with

the sunny plains stretching away below the hills—would appear for a short

time, A bison was sighted some 400 yards off lying down near the edge of an

open grass slope near the cliffs and a very considerable distance from cover.

From its position and large size I took it fora solitary bull and began to

consider the best way to approach for a shot, when it suddenly got up and

moved slowly away uphill, stopping every now and then to look back. One of

the shikarees declared he saw a small calf lying down close to the place where

the bison had been lying. I followed the cow, the shikaree going down after the

calf. The cow trotted away when she saw me coming, and after a time passed

through a small wood. I fired to frighten her when some distance away.

She broke at once into a gallop, and disappeared over a hill. I then returned

to where I left the shikaree ; he, in the meantime, had gone down and caught

the calf, tied his turban round its neck and hauled it up the hillside, itbeing far

too heavy to carry on his back. It proved to be a bull-calf scarcely a week old.

It was, of course, in a terrible state of alarm, and I had great trouble in getting

Mintern Bros .Photo imp. London.

UNE OlP IWIN IDIVAING TEU ONIN,

Bos gaurus.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. + 227

the poor little creature to my shooting hut over a mile away, and during the

long time it took to get it there I expected its mother would appear and attempt

arescue. Next day I made up a hammock and had it carried by four coolies

some six miles over very rough and hilly ground to a cattle-shed belonging to

a friend and at once got it fed on cow’s milk by means of a feeding botile

made from a joint of bamboo. It took its nourishment very well from the first

and became much quieter. There were a lot of small calves in the shed

to keep it company. After a couple of.days’ rest I again had it

placed in the hammock, tying all its legs together, and, with four coolies

carrying it, started on an 18-mile march for the foot of the hills to Wallen-

shary. I reached Wallenghary public bungalow late in the evening and stabled

my calf in one of the rooms, tying it toa very heavy washing-stand. While

having my dinner in the next room, I heard a great noise and was much

surprised at seeing the calf suddenly appear, dragging the stand after him. He

did not like being left alone. Next morning I sent him off in a cart for Palghat

and had him railed from there to Metitapolliam, at the foot of the Nilgiri Hills.

and, again putting him in a cart, had him taken up to Wellington, where my

regiment was stationed. He stood the long journey extremely well. I kept

alot of milk in bottles for him, getting it fresh at the various places we

stopped, and fed him by means of the bamboo bottle nurse. Shortly after

reaching Wellington I measured the calf and found as follows :—Height

to top of ridge on back, 2 ft. 10 in.; girth, 2 ft. 9 in.; length of head, 103 in.;

general colour, a dark rufous-brown, I obtained a cow for his sole use,

This cow had a small calf of her own, and at first she showed the greatest

possible dislike to the young bison, so much so that,before I brought the bison

near to get milk, I was obliged to have her hind legs securely tied. After some

five weeks the cow began to show a strong friendship for the bison, constantly

licking it all over, and would not permit her own calf to come near, kicking

at the little creature whenever it approached, Besides its foster-mother, the

bison struck up a close friendship with two small fox-terriers, These dogs took

to sleeping beside it every night, and one or the other closely attended it

during the day in order, apparently, to keep flies away from annoying it. In

return the bison often licked the dogs’ faces ; it has now grown considerably

and has a pair of small horns ; its colour has become a dark brown and it has

four yellowish-white stockings. It is still extremely tame and full of

spirits, at times racing at a tremendous pace with its tail in the air all round

the compound. Its foster-mother still shows great affection for it. It eats

grass, bamboo leaves, bread, gram, oats, carrots, sugar-cane, well for a time,

but appears soon to tire of any one food.

G.S. RODON, Masor,

Royal Scots,

Betcaum, 4th April, 1894.

228 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. LX.

No, IX.—EGGS OF THE BUSTARD,

It is, I think, worthy of record that I recently obtained two bustard’s eggs

from the same nest. Both eggs were of a peculiar colour, exactly alike, and

equally hard set.

H, BULKLEY,

KHARAGHORA, 27th October, 1894.

No. X.—A BLACK BUCK WITH ONE HORN.

On the 17th instant I shot a black buck with one horn,

The antelope was in good condition and bore no marks of fighting ; it was

not so black as some I have shot, but still a very respectable black ; and I

should say it was rather a small animal.

The head bore one horn 173" long, thinnish but perfect ; the place where the

other horn should have been showed a small wart-like excresence about }!

diameter, merely a skin-deep thing, for it moved about on being touched and

came off as part of the skin ; the skull merely showed a lump about 3" at most

inthe centre. There is actually no appearance whatever of a horn ever having

existed, though, if it did, it must have been broken off very early.

My shikari, Abdul Karim, formerly with Mr, Hughes, of the Geological

Survey, and Mr, Hobson, Mr, Fraser, &c., whom doubtless you know by

reputation, says he has never seen one like it,

I am sending the specimen to you for your museum where such abnormali-

ties are of interest,

J. SEWELL,

District Supt. of Police.

BULDANA, BERAR, 27th October, 1894,

No, XI.—DEPOSITS MADE BY WHITE ANTS.

Two years ago I wrote to the Asian on the subject of a vegetable substance

which the white ants appear to deposit on the surface of the ground here, I

asked for information, but no one responded, nor does any one here seem to

know what it is. Natives told me that it was a deposit made by white ants,

and, on turning over a piece or two of the deposit, I found white ants under-

neath. ‘The natives then astonished me by saying that if I let the deposit

alone, it would next morning be turned into fungi, and, sure enough, all the

little egg-like particles became small fungi an inch high with heads up to the

size of a four-anna bit. I ate some and they had all the flavour of mushrooms,

but are of a waxy white colour all through. I have sent you in a small box a

specimen of the deposit. I have put a wet sponge in with itso thatit may

keep moist on the journey and perhaps some of the eggs will have turned into

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 229

small fungi by the time it reaches you, The deposit is flat and generally

circular, some patches only the size of a rupee, others about four inches in

diameter, Those I saw this morning are on a well-frequented road, on the

road itself and afew patches on the bank at the side. I have only native

authority for it that the deposit is the work of white ants, corroborated by

my finding white ants under the patches and in one case by the deposits

occurring where I knew white ants to be. Here the white ants do not seem

to betray their presence by throwing up earth as in Northern India.

C. F. SHARPE, Genzrat,

Coonoor, 28th October, 1894,

No. XIIL—THE MUSK-RAT AND ITS YOUNG.

The following curious incident happened to some friends in Nagpur.

One evening after dinner the lady of the house was startled at seeing what

she supposed was a cobra which took refuge under the piano. On investiga-

tion, however, it was found that it was only a female musk-rat with six or

seven young ones, Apparently their method of progression was for them

to go in single file, the mother leading the way and the young ones following,

each holding on to the tail of the one in front, thus giving to the whole a

regular snake-lke motion, As I cannot find this habit mentioned in Blanford,

Sterndale, or any other books, I thought it might be worth while to mention

it, and perhaps some other members will be kind enough to-say if they have

noticed the same thing,*

P. H. CLUTTERBUCK,

Assistant Conservator of Forests,

Nacpur, August, 1894.

Norr.—Since writing the above, another friend has informed me that he has

also noticed this habit of the musk-rat,

P. H. C,

No, XIJI.—A TIGER KILLING A BEAR,

In the Chanda district last year I heard of a bear (Melursus ursinus) being

killed by a tiger and partly eaten, but had no chance of investigating the facts,

I was transferred in June, and in July the following incidents happened to my

successor, Mr. R, Thompson (junior), and thinking them interesting, I am

sending this account to you,

On going along a nala, he came upon the fresh track of a large bear, and

on following it found the track of a tiger who had apparently followed the

bear. The bear, finding itself chased by the tiger, bolted along the nala a short

book ‘“ The Tribes on my Frontier.”—Ep. |

230 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX,

way and then tried to climb an “Unjun”’ tree (Terminalia urjuna). This

could be plainly seen from the tracks. The bear had almost climbed out of the

reach of the tiger when the latter must have seized the bear and pulled him

down. ‘This could be perceived by the huge vertical scratches on the bark of

the tree. Once down, however, the bear must have stood up to the tiger, and

the state of the ground testified that they had fought for some time. The .

tiger managed in the end to kill the bear and then ate a part of him. It was

thus that my successor found the “gara,” and thinking that the tiger would

very likely come back soon (it being the rainy season), he sent the “‘Gonds”’

with him to a little distance to cut wood for a‘‘machan,” While they did

this, he waited near, but, finding the smell from the “gara”’ too strong, he

retired a short distance. When the men returned and were approaching the

“ gara,” they found the tiger already there. The latter slunk away and did not

return that day. It was shot, however, some few days afterwards by Mr.

Thompson, and it was then found that the whole of his chest and belly had

been ripped up by the bear’s claws.

I do not know whether itis a common occurrence for tigers to kill bears, and

these are the only instances I have ever heard of,.* Probably a tiger would

only attack a bear when being hard pressed for food.

P, H. CLUTTERBUCK,

Assistant Conservator of Forests.

Nagpur, August, 1894.

[* A similar instance was recorded by Mr, T. J. Campbellon page 101 of

this Volume.—ED. |

No. XIV.—THE BARKING DEER.

(Cervulus muntjac.)

When down in the southern part of the Chanda district in March, 1892, I

shot three muntjacs and (although two of them were full grown) none of them

had any horns above the hair, The pedicles were from 3” to 4” long and

covered with hair, the tips being rounded off and also so covered, They

apparently had never supported horns, for, if so, either scars would have

existed on the spots whence the horns were shed, or horns in some stage of

srowth would have been seen.

This year Mr. R. Thompson (junior), the officer who relieved me, also shot

several in the same district and found the same peculiarity. He has promised

me a skull, and, when I get it, I will send it to the Bombay Natural History

Society’s museum.

P. H. CLUTTERBUCK,

Assistant Conservator of Forests,

Nagpur, C, P., August, 1894,

231

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE MEETING HELD ON JULY 10x, 1894.

A meeting of the members took place at the Society’s Rooms on Tuesday, the

10th July, a large number being present, Brigade-Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel

G. A. Maconochie, M.D., presided.

NEW MEMBERS.

The election of the following new members was announced :—

Lirt Mempers.—The Curator, Baroda State Museum; Baron Ed, de Poncins,

(France) ; His Highness Kumar Shri Juswant Singhji, (Jamnagar).

Mempers.—The Curator and Secretary, Provincial Museum, Lucknow ;

Mr, Kaliandas Keshavdas, (Bombay) ; Mr. R. E. Enthoven, I.C.S., (Bombay) ;

Mr, J. McNeil, I.C.S., (North Canara); Mr. Bhugwandas Narotumdas, (Bombay);

Mr. E. Clements, 1.0.8., (Tanna); Surgeon-Captain J. Girvin, A.MS,,

(Kamptee) ; Mr. W. H. Dawson, I.C.S., (Rangoon); Mr. B. B. Osmaston,

(Chakrata) ; Captain A. Jennings, (s.s. Iran, Liverpool) ; Lieutenant James

M. Burn, R.E., (Mussoorie) ; Mrs. Phillips, (uondon) ; Mr, H. J. McIntosh,

I.C.8., (Simla) ; Lieutenant A. J, Pilcher, R.H., (Upper Burma) ; Mr. Lionel

S, Osmaston, (Poona) ; Professor R. M. Dixon, B,A., (Bombay) ; Mrs. Buren,

(Broadstairs, Kent); Mr, R. Thurlow Baker, (London) ; Captain W. Prior,

(Lucknow) ; Mr. J. Brandenburgh, (Bombay) ; Mr. C. E, Low, I. C. &.,

(Khandwa) ; Rev. G, Fitzgerald Windover, (Indore) ; Mr. Fazulbhoy Meheralli

Chinoy, (Bombay) ; and Mr, D, M. Dalal, (Bombay),

CONTRIBUTIONS.

The Honorary Secretary acknowledged the receipt of the following contri-

butions since the last meeting :—

Contribution. Description. Contributor,

1 Snake (alive)......02.sec00000./1yphlops brahminus ........| Mr. A, D. Stewart.

1 pair of Swamp Deer Horns|Cervus: duvauceli......0000«000-, ANONYMous.

¥ Trap-door Spider’s Nest..... soonne Surgn.-Major Lowdell.

1 Panther’s SKin........0..00.0.|PCliS PATAUS ssccsccvescecoesceee| Mr. W. EF’, Sinclair, I.C.S.

1 Baillon’s Crake (alive)...0.|Porzana bailloni ssscccssccee.--| Mr. A. Otto.

A number of Fish from oaseee Capt. EH. L. Shopland.

Aden.

1 White-eyed Buzzard......00.jButastur teesa ..ccscssscccseeee| COl. K. Mackenzie.

LT Snake ......00-sccccccercerereee/aminis ventrimaculatus ...| Mr. H. H. M. James, I.C.S.

1 Dolphin’s SKULL. .s0cce....c0,5teNO PlUMbEUS ccsceccecesere.| Mr. W. F’. Sinclair, I.C.S.

1 Lizard (@live).s.c.00e.ccccree|HUMECES PUNCHAtUS...eeeee4, Mr. A. D. Stewart.

I Painted Bat (alive).........|Kerivula picta sssscccscooceeeee| Dr. deMonte,

A number of Sand Lizards|Ophiomorus tridactylus......| Mr. H. H. M. James, I.C.S.

from Sind.

36 Crocodiles’ Hggs..ss00+0004| CTrOcodilus palustris....0e...| Mr, 8. Tomlinson,

1 Tree Snake.....cesceccscsesoeoe|Ltimeresurus anamallensis ..| Mr. G. P. Millett.

2 Birds’ Nests ssesee...---eeeeee(yphantornis galbulase.......| Mr. C, H. Tooth.

1 White-tailed Poreupine|Hystrix lencura seccsessersesee| Mr. B. A, Gupte.

(alive).

232 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

Contribution, Description. Contributor.

A number of Lizards (alive)|Sitana ponticeriaNa......crse0

Some Black Rock Scorpions|Scorpio swammerdami seer.

(alive).

A quantity of Tree Lizards|Calotes TrOUXii csccccssseeccasee

(alive).

1 Cobra CIUV.)-cv.crcerevccveres Naja tripudians eeocvcceeccoove

1 Harth Snake........c.ccocceees(IILOUTA DTEVISscceser-o.00-e- eee

1 Stone Plover (alive) ......(Mdichemus scolopax ccssccces

Skull and Horns of Wild Ovis poli ee cee seee ceerccpesscecees

Sheep.

1 Skin of Tibetan Marmot./Arctomys himalayanus c--00.4

6 Eggs of the Indian ve Fir undo AUVICOlAcccrcecccesveee

Swallow.

1 Indian Palm Civet (alive) ParadoXULUs DIGeL csc-oore

1 Hee of the White-backed|Pseudogyps bengalensis evs...

Surgn.-Capt. J. Girvin,

Do.

Rev. F, Dreckmann, 8.J.

Mr. C. E. Kane,

Do.

Mrs. N. C. Pearson.

Baron Hd. de Poncins.

Do.

Mr. E. C. Tooth.

.| Mr. W. M. Sterling,

..| Anonym ous,

Vulture.

4 Eggs of Striated Bush|Chatarrhea caudata........e9 Do.

Babbler.

4 Hees of Plain Brown|Amadina malabarica ... sseve06 Do.

Munia.

1 Pied Cuckoo (alive)..,ec0....

1 Dhaman (@live)......... cores

1 Indian Koel @live).......0.

DT Kiraiitcrecceccececcecterscscrserees (DUUCATUS Cec MICS conccoennans

2 Rutous-backed Sparrows...|/Passer PYITMONMOtUS...cccrcceee

1 Indian Pangolin,........00..|Manis pentadactyla seco.

2 Hees of the White-browed|/Pyecnonotus tuteolus ..,...00

Coccystes jacobinUs csccceces

ZAWCDIS MUCOSUSrcececcecvcecre

Hadynamis honorata .,.ccccs.

Mr, N. Melling.

Dr. K. R, Kirtikar.

Mr. N, 8, Symons,

Mr, E. Milch.

Mr. 8. B. Doig.

Mr, B. A, Gupte.

Miss M. Hide,

Bulbul,

2 Indian Vampire Bats. eeBccne Megaderma iyra eneresceccoccce Mr. W. George.

1 Snake........ Bee cacsees Lose rae SLIM OLESALMENSIS ie cessecerees .,| Mr. J, Bradenburg,

1 Lynx Skin.... sosoe{MElIS LYNX ...cepencseseseraececeee| Libs He Ge Farquharson,R.H.

1 Tibetan Marmot’ 3 | Skin. ../Arctomys himalayanus ...... Do.

Nestand Eggsof the Brown/Alsconax latirostris .........\Lieut. B.A. G. Shelley, R.E,

Flycatcher.

Capt. R. H. Light.

Major Rodon.

Surg-Capt. R.S, F. Hender-

son.

Mr. P. J. Tonkin.

Mr. R. H. Enthoven, 1.C.8.

Ly codon Striatuseccccorrescosre

BOS QAULUS cscccccceccccscsceree

Zamenis diadema and Dip-

sas trigonata

1 Chameleon (alive)........,,;Chamzleon calcatatus ......

Some Australian Minerals,|

A SMaikeweeecesecevetescesecere ss

1 Photograph of Bison

BY [SOPIES cocconossoogcanonetD000 5

1 Skin of Wild Dog «sss. Cyon dukhunensis ........,...Mr.G. P. Millett.

1 Panther’s Skull..cee, soeebeue Helis) oats seesesscteveseeceess Do.

1 Large piece of Teak|Tectona erandisecsesr.. ...».Mr. Haripad Mitra (thro’

Wood, measuring 5ft. Mr, W. F Sinclair, I.C.8.)

4in. by 3ft. 3in. from the

N. Kanara Forests.

2 Jerboas (Alive)..c-sereeereee Alactaga, indica ssecccsss-born in the Society's

MINOR CONTRIBUTIONS FROM

Mr, H. Bicknell, Captain Finny, Mrs. B. Smith, Mr, B. Ferozeshah, Mr, BR. C.

Dyson, Mr. A. Foulkes, Captain Shopland, Mr, W. F, Sinclair, 1, C.8., Mr. BR.

M, Myer, Mr. J. Tate, Surgeon-Captain Wade-Brown, Mr. R. Cashel, Mr, Dajee

Abajee Khare, Mr, J, Stiven, Mr. C. E. Kane, Mr, R. H, Enthoven, I. C, S.,

Mr. B, A. Gupte, Mr. J. Adam, the Hon’ble Mr. Justice Starling, Mrs, T. Gray

Hill, Master G. Gordon, Mr, C. Hudson, I. C. 8., and Mr, R. C. Wroughton.

PROCEEDINGS. 233

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIBRARY.

Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, for 1893; in exchange,

A set of back numbers of the Bombay Natural History Society’s Journal;

by Mr. J. P. Cornforth,

Records of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. XXVII, Parts 1 and 2; in

exchange.

The Fauna of British India, Moths (Hampson); by Mr, W. F. Sinclair, I.C.S.

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, Vol. VII ; in exchange.

Proceedings of the Linnzan Society of N.S. W., Parts 3 and 4, Vol. VIII ;

in exchange.

Indian Museum Notes, Vol. III, No. 3; the Trustees of the Indian Museum,

Les Formicides de la Province d’Oran (Algerie), by A. Forel; from the Author,

Actes de la Société Scientifique du Chili, Vol. III ; in exchange.

The Canadian Entomologist, Vol, XX VI, No, 5; inexchange,

Report of the Council of the Zoological Society for 1893; by Mr, W.F. Sin-

clair, I. C. 8,

The Indian Forester, Vol. XX, Nos, 5 and 6; in exchange,

The Victorian Naturalist, Vol. XI, Nos, 1 and 2; in exchange,

The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol, LXII, Part I, No. 4; in

exchange,

The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. LXIII, Part II, No. 1;

in exchange.

The-Flora of British India, Part XX, by Sir J. D. Hooker; in exchange,

Annual Report of the Secretary for Mines, Victoria, N. S. W., 1893; in ex-

change.

Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. IV, 1892;

Smithsonian Institution,

Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia, Part IT, 1892 ;

Smithsonian Institution,

Scientific Taxidermy for Museums by R, W. Shufeldt, M. D.; Smithsonian

Institution,

The Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Library and Philosophical

Society, 1893-94; in exchange.

A VALUABLE CONTRIBUTION.

A special vote of thanks was passed to Baron Ed, de Poncins for his valuable

contribution to the Society’s collection of the skull and horns of a female

Ovis poli.

PAPERS READ,

The following papers were then read :— Man-eating Panthers,” by Mr.

J.D. Inverarity ; “ Wounded Tigers, &c., how should they be killed” ? by Mi.

Regd, Gilbert; and “Some Indian Stalking and Shooting,” by Mr. A, ML.

Markham, I.C.8., all of which will appear in the Society’s Journal. :

A vote of thanks having been passed to these gentlemen for their interesting

papers, the meeting then terminated.

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JOURNAL

OF THE

CO NEES Ay

Aatural History Soviety.

Vol. IX.] BOMBAY. [No. 3,

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY.

By Surezon-Magor K. R. Kirtikar, 1MS., F.LS.,

Crvit SuRGEON, THANA.

PART XI.

(With Plates M and Supplementary M.)

(Continued from Vol. LX, page 176.)

SEMECARPUS ANACARDIUM—(Zznzn.)

Natural Order—ANACARDIACES.

MARATHI faat (Brea); fear (Bamawa.)

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society

on 28th January 1895.)

This is the marking-nut tree of Hnglish writers.

A deciduous forest-tree common in several parts of India and other

tropical countries, varying in height from 20 to 40 feet, very showy when

in full blossom and full fruit. Very common in the jungles of Thana.

Old leaves shed in January and February. New leaves appear in April

and May. The tree blossoms soon after the new leaves are thrown out.

The flowering time lasts from May to August. The seed is ripe in

January and February. (Roxburgh).

BRANCHES—Numerous, spreading.

TRUNK—Straight ; covered with grey, scabrous bark, which is

often brown, Girth 4 to 6 feet.

236 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

BARK—“1 inch thick, dusky grey, blackish with irregularly quad-

rangular plates, separated by narrow longitudinal and shallow,

irregular cross furrows or wrinkles, in old trees rough with exfoliating

scales.” (Brandis’ Forest Flora of N. W. and C. India, page 125.)

“The inner substance of the bark contains,” says Roxburgh, “in

crevices, a quantity of white,* soft, almost insipid gum.” He further

adds that “ from wounds made in the bark, a dirty looking brownzsh*

soft gum is procured, which dissolves slowly in the mouth.” The

latter remark is nearer the truth, according to my experience. The

resinous exudation from the young fruit, however, is milk-white or

cream-coloured as it escapes ; it soon turns jet-black on exposure.

THE WOOD, says Brandis, “is ash-coloured, reddish-white or

brown, even but open-grained.” It is full of acrid juice which

causes swelling and irritation. “ Timber-cutters,” says Brandis, “object

to felling it unless it has been ringed for some time.” It cracks in

seasoning ; is not durable and not much used. Weight, 42 lbs. per

cubic foot. Sap-wood and heart-wood not distinct (Brandis). I find

that under an ordinary magnifying glass the medullary rays are fairly

well distinct. Kurz observes that the wood is grey or reddish-white,

soft and useless. (Forest Flora of Burma, Vol. I, pp. 311—812.)

LEAVES—Generally closely arranged at the extremities of the

branchlets ; simple, alternate, very coriaceous and flat ; very large,

9 to 30 inches long, 5 to 12 inches broad ; cuneate, oblong or obovate-

oblong, rarely linear-oblong. Margin quite entire ; cartilaginous ;

usually contracted below the middle, not unoften also above the

middle, giving the whole leaf a wavy appearance slightly. Apex

rounded, ‘‘ blunt or mucronate,” says Kurz. Base rounded, cordate

or cuneate. The surface is opaque above, and slightly pubescent, espe-

cially when young; whitish or glaucous and thickly pubescent

beneath. Hooker says that the leaves are brown beneath. ‘This

is not the case in the Konkan at any rate. Kurz observes that

the leaves of the shoots or young trees are not seldom elongate, and

cuneate-obovate with a sharp point. Nerves 16 to 25 pairs; stout,

slightly arched, pale white. The entire net-venation is boldly promi-

nent and very coarse, especially on the under-surface, giving the

leaves a notably harsh feel. It is difficult to examine the

ee che Ee eee be hanes)

* The italics are mine.—K. R. K,

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 237

stomata under the microscope on account of this prominent network

of veins or nerves. Kurz agrees with me in the view that

the venation is markedly coarse on the under-surface. Dalzell and

Gibson, who were particularly familiar with the Bombay specimens

also say that the leaves are whitish and tomentose beneath.

PrTioLE—Short, varying in length from 1 to 2 inches, rounded or

half-rounded, stout, not winged, densely puberulous.

FLOWERS—Polygamous or diccious; small, } to 4 inch in

diameter ; subsessile, fascicled ; the fascicles arranged in erect com-

pound terminal panicles,

INFLORESCENCE—In large terminal tomentose panicles ; the lower

branches of the panicles issuing from the axils of terminal leaves.

The panicles are stout, equalling or shorter than the leaves, branching

into numerous spikes. The panicles of the male tree much more slender.

Bracts—Many, small, lanceolate, fugacious.

Bractrotes—Present but fugacious.

AstivaTtion—Imbricate.

The above is a description of the flowers generally. It would be

useful to note the differences in the male, female and hermaphrodite

flowers individually.

FEMALE anp HERMAPHRODITE FLOWERS, says Kurz,

“fare 1 to 3 lines long, racemulose and nearly twice longer than the

clustered, almost sessile, male flowers. Pedicels very thick and

tomentose.” He further adds that both male and female flowers form

a terminal ample robust tomentose panicle of the length ef the leaves

or shorter.

Catyx—®5-fid ; segments deciduous.

CoRroLLA—Greenish-white, or “ greenish-yellow.” (Brandis.)

PrtaLs— Five ; “valvate-imbricate” (Kurz). 3 to 4 times the length

of the calyx ; oblong, slightly pointed at the apex, inserted under the

margin of the disk ; sessile, glabrous, very spreading.

Disk—Broad, annular, between stamens and ovary.

Stamens—5, alternate with the petals ; inserted on the margin of

the disk ; imperfect or sterile in female flowers ; equal ; distinct.

Finamznts—Subulate from a somewhat dilated base ; of the length

of the petals.

AntHERS— Yellow ; ovoid or elliptical.

238 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

«1 OvAry—Free, sessile, 1-celled. “Densely appressed, tawny,

hispid,” says Kurz.

StyLes—Three, from the apex of the ovary ; divergent, incrassate.

Sti¢éma—Sub-clavate, shortly two-lobed or retuse.

OvuLEs—Inserted at the apex of the cell ; pendulous from a basal

funicle.

MALE FLOWERS—Usually smaller than the hermaphrodite ;

often on a separate tree. Calyx and corolla as in the hermaphrodite

flower. Petals “ about a line long ; oblong-lanceolate” (Kurz).

Finaments—Five, of the length of the petals.

AntHeRs—Much larger than in the hermaphrodites.

Pistit—Absent, or small, and abortive, and in the form of a semi-

globular hairy glandular body (Roxburgh).

FRUIT—A drupe, 1 inch long and about as broad, often less ; ovoid,

obliquely ovoid or cordate-ovate, with a slight obtuse notch on either

side under the apex ; unequally compressed ; slightly convex in some

parts, and quite plain in others; seated at the summit of, or more or

less immersed in a fleshy receptacle formed of the thickened disk and

accrescent calyx-base termed the Hypocarp.

Cur-—Fleshy, orange-red, smooth, about the size of the nut, some-

times a little larger.

PrricARp—Smooth, shining black, thick ; containing between the

euter and inner laminz roundish or oblong cells full of corrosive

resinous juice. ‘This juice is white when the fruit is young, darkening

on exposure to the air. In the mature fruit it is brownish or perfectly

black. The inner lamina is hard and rugose; the outer smooth,

leathery and less hard.

SEED—Pendulous, “with a swollen or umbilicate funicle.” (Lub-

bock.)

Txsta—Coriaceous ; inner coat somewhai fleshy.

Eupryvo—Thick, milk-white. Plumule “ ovate-leaved, veined, con-

duplicate, very thin.” (Gaertner).

CoryLepons—Fleshy, thick, white, irregularly plano-convex.

Ax\.BUMEN—A bsent.

RaDICLE—Superior, minute, concealed within the apex of the coty-

ledons; “always directed to the hilum.” (Lindley’s Vegetable

Kingdom, p. 465, 1847.) |

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 239

REMARKS,

T have said on the authority of Hooker and Kurz that this tree is

deciduous. I can also add my own humble testimony to that effect.

In Paxton’s Botanical Dictionary, however, and in Johnson’s Gar-

dener’s Dictionary, the plant is said to be an evergreen. I presume

that this description is taken from the stove-plants of the marking-nut

that are reared in the English nurseries, I think it requires the

tropical heat and open air jungle-life to give it its full character of a

deciduous tree. Balfour observes that the natural order Anacardia-

cee is unknown in Australia (Manual of Botany, p. 473, 1875),

Hooker, however, notes that the Semecarpus anacardium is to be found

in North Australia, Baillon also says that the representatives of the

genus Semecarpus are to be seen in the Oceania, which of course

includes Australia, Among introduced plants belonging to the

Natural Order Anacardiacee I have seen the mango grow in the

beautiful Government Gardens of Sydney. There are several species —

of the genus Rhus (Sumach) also growing there. The mango does

not evidently thrive there, and bears very poor fruit, if at all. But

several of the American species of Rhus seemed to me to be in very

good condition, as if born to the soil. The northern part of Australia

would not be unnatural soil for the growth of the different species

and genera of the Natural Order Anacardiacee. It js therefore diffi-

eulé to understand how Professor Balfour made such a wholesale

statement as to say that the Natural Order Anacardiacee is unknown

in Australia, Perhaps the information we now possess was not avyail-

able when he wrote his work.

The following are the synonyms as given in Part I of the Index

Kewensis compiled by B. Daydon Jackson at the expense of the late

Charles Robert Darwin of sacred memory, under the direction of Sir

Joseph Hooker (p, 115) :—

Anacardium latefolium.—Lam. Eneye., I., 189 (Zi. t. 208),

A, longifolium.—Lam. 1. c.

A, officinale.—Pritz. Ind. Ie., 59.

A, orientale,—Auct. Ex Steud. Nom., Ed. IT,, i. 82.

A. officnarum.—Gaertn, Fruct,, i., 192, t. 40,

A. solitarium.—Stokes, Bot. Mat. Med., IT., 159,

240 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOGIETY, Vol. 1X.

In “ Johnson’s Gardener’s Dictionary ” edited by Wight and Dewar

(1894, p. 892), Cassuvzum longifolium is also mentioned as a synonym

of Semecarpus anacardium. Referring to the Index Kewensis under

the head Cassuvium I find that this last synonym is not mentioned.

Tt appears, however, that according to Rottbéll Casswvium and

Anacardium are synonymous.

Sir Joseph Hooker also mentions Semecarpus latifolius Pers. (ex

Marchand), as a synonym of Semecarpus anacardium. (Flora Br.

Ind., Vol. IL., p. 31).

With regard to the habitat of the plant, Dr. Gregg says that it is a

native of the mountainous parts of India. Dalzell and Gibson, who

knew the Bombay Flora well, say that it is common in the Dekkan

and the Konkan, which latter includes the Waree country (SAwant

Wadi). Contrast with this the observation of the Rev. Mr. Nairne.

He says: “ Semécarpus anacardium is said to be common in the

Dekkan, Konkan and Gujrat, but I should scarcely call it so” (p. 69,

The Flowering Plants of Western India). So far as the Thana dis-

trictis concerned, it is very commonly seen in the jungles. Mr. Govindji

Narayan, an able indigenous writer, in his Marathi work entitled

“ Vriksh-varnan,” observes that the Khérvis of Damaun and Surat use

the marking-nut for nearly every kind of ailment.

In describing the Semecarpus anacardium of the Colonies in his

“Fragmenta Phytographice Australie,” Baron Sir Ferdinand von Muel-

ler observes that “ the tree grows to a height of even 50 ft. ; and that

the fruit is known as the cashew-nut of the Colonies” (p. 23, Vol.

VII, 1869-71). It may be observed that the cashew-nut of this

country is the Kaju plant (Anacardium occidentale).

The Anacardiaceee were formerly classed as a sub-division or sub-

order, by Kunth, Wight and Arnott, and DeCandolle, under the

Natural Order Terebintacee of Jussieu. In the Genera Plantarum,

the Natural Order Anacardzacee is synonymous with Terebinthacee.

“The Anacards,” says Lindley, “are distinctly known by the seeds

hanging from the end of a thread, which rises up from the base of the

carpels, which in general are solitary, or at least quite distinct, and are

sometimes, when quite ripe, placed at the end of an excessively enlarged

disk as in the cashew-nut itself ”’—(Vegetable Kingdom, p. 465,1847),

“ As an ornamental tree, either in full foliage or before the fall of the

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY, | \ 241

leaf,” says Surgeon-General Balfour, “the marking-nut tree merits

observation.” He says that the mature corolla and receptacle are

fleshy and sweetish-sour. As against this, I may observe that the

receptacle is fleshy ; and not the corolla, but the calyx-base. The corolla

is distinctly deciduous ; so is the upper part of the calyx where the

sepals are distinct. “The marking-nut is well described by the Arabs,”

says Dr. Dymock in one of his earlier notes on this plant, “as resembl-

ing the heart of an animal, the torus representing the auricles and the

fruit the ventricles.’—(Pharmaceut. Journal, p. 1003, Vol. VIII,

1877-78, 3rd Ser.)

“The bark of the younger parts,” says Roxburgh, “ is smooth; ” but

from an examination of the plants growing in and around Thana, I find

that the younger parts are invariably covered with a light ash-coloured

or brownish pubescence. Brandis fully bears me out in this assertion

when he says that “ young branches, inflorescence, petiole, and under-

side of leaves are clothed with a short, somewhat harsh tomentum of

simple hairs.” The simple hairs, as seen by me under the microscope,

magnified about two hundred times, are unicellular. Their shape

varies much ; some are straight and blunt, or sharp-pointed ; others

wavy and sharp-pointed. These forms are figured under No, 5 in

the supplementary Plate M. “The bark is astringent and used in

dyeing,” says Brandis.

Wight and Arnott say that the under-surface of the leaves is “ scarcely

downy.” This is not the case so far as the Thana plants are

concerned, If anything, the under-surface is distinctly downy.

The tomentum is apparent even to the naked eye. Kurz agrees

with me in this, for he says, ‘“‘the under-surface is covered with a

thick grey velvetiy tomentum.”’

Kata Bhat of Junagadh says that the flowers are red (p, 285,

Nighant-Sangraha). All the previous writers are unanimous in

describing the colour of the flowers as greenish-yellow or whitish-

green. The stigma is sometimes tinged brownish.

With regard to the one-celled nature of the ovary in Semecarpus

anacardiwm I have this to observe. In the tribe Spondic, of the

Natural Order Anacardiacee, the ovary is syncarpous, consisting of

205 carpels and containing as many cells. From this occurrence of

several distinct carpels in one flower among the Spondie, the one

242 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

celled ovary of the Semecarpus anacardium “ may be considered,” says

Sir John Lubbock, “as reduced types.” (Seedlings, Vol. L., p. 369.)

Baillon observes that the cup-shaped fleshy orange-red enlarge-

ment, more or less high round the pericarp, and encircling the base of

the drupe, is a peduncular swelling. I think itis something more

than that. It contains in addition to the peduncular enlargement,

the base of an accrescent calyx. Baillon says that fermented drinks

and conserves are made from this very showy cup. It has an agree-

ably acid taste, and is perfectly harmless. In speaking of the edible

nature of the friut of a congener of Semecarpus anacardium, namely,

the elm-leaved Sumach of America (Rhus coriaria), Mr. Nuttall -

observes that “the pulp of the drupes of several species affords an

agreeable acid similar to that of wood-sorrel, either oxalic or

tartaric” (p. 122, Vol. II., “North American Sylva). It would

be interesting to know to what particular acid the sour taste of

the bright orange cups of the marking-nut is due. Mr. Wasudev

Chintéman Bapat of Naringre (Ratnagiri district) says that the

orange cups are dried and eaten like figs under the name of Bzpiti.

The ripe fruits are strung together on a piece of twine and hung up

to dry in the sun before being so used. It is stated in Lindley and

Moore’s * Treasury of Botany” that the unripe fruit is employed for

making a kind of ink (Vol. II, p. 1047). I may observe that even

the ripe and dried fruit is similarly used, I should even say principally

used. The dried flat cotyledons are used in this country under the

name of godambi, Though some consider the taste of the fruit

agreeable, Brandis is of opinion that the fruit, when fresh, is “acrid

and astringent; roasted, it is said to taste somewhat like roasted

apples, and when dry, somewhat like dates.” Roxburgh says that

before being roasted, the fruit leaves sometimes a painful sensation on

the tongue. The roasting is usually done in hot ashes. Masters,

who writes the article on Semecarpus anacardium in the “Treasury

of Botany” just referred to, says that “the seeds called Malacca-

beans or marsh-nuts are eaten, and are said to stimulate the mental

powers and especially the memory.” I know a case of leprosy

complicated with loss of memory, in which the nut was used by

a Hindu Vaidya with the special object of curing the latter

affection.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 243

I may add here that, although on the authority of Mr. Masters

I have ventured to state that the seeds of the marking-nut tree are

called Malacca-beans, the plant known in American works as the

Malacca-bean plant should not be confounded with the marking-nut

tree, The former is the Avicennia tomentosa, Jacquin, of the Natural

Order Myoporine, R. Brown. It is now classed under the Natural

Order Verbenaceee by Bentham and Hooker, and is also known under

the name Linnzeus originally gave it, namely, Avicennia officinalis. It

grows abundantly as a straggling shrub on the entire Bombay and

Salsette Coasts in their widely extending marshes. This Malacca-bean

plant of the American Botanists, essentially ripal in its habitat, is an

entirely distinct plant from the inland and jungle-loving marking-nut

tree. The Malacca-bean plant is known to, and described by, American

Botanists as the Soft-leaved Avicennia. Witness the following observa-

tions of Mr, Thomas Nuttall, F. u. s.:—“ The Avicennia or Malacca-

bean, according to Rheed, becomes a tall and graceful tree on the coast

of India, rising to the height of 70 feet, with a trunk of 16 feet in

circumference, sustaining a pyramidal and somewhat orbicular summit

of dense and dark verdure. The wood is whitish, covered with a grey

bark, and is employed for many economical purposes. The kernels,

naturally bitter, deprived of this quality by steeping and boiling in

water, are then sufficiently edible, and known to the Hindus by the

name of Card; an oil may also be expressed from them as from the

nuts of the Anacardium.” (Nuttall’s North American Sylva, Vol. ITT,

p. 79). In reading the above account in Mr. Nuttall’s work, what

puzzles me most is, why Mr. Nuttall gives Anacardium (Bauhin, Pinax,

p- 511 ; Ocpata. Rheed, Malab. Vol. 4, p. 95, tab. 45) as one of the

synonyms of Avicennia tomentosa, The two natural orders, namely,

Anacardiacecee and Verbenacew to which Anacardium and Avicennia

respectively belong, are as far removed from each other as they possibly

can be among the Flowering plants. To sum up, it is necessary to

remember that the Malacca-bean plant is entirely different from the

marking-nut tree producing the so-called Malacca-beans of Masters.

The cotyledons of the marking-nut, when mature, yield a bland

sweet oil, which is entirely free from acrid property. That the

pericarp should contain a highly acrid and corrosive oil, nay, indeed,

244 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. £X.

the whole plant should be more or less acrid, and that the oil of the

cotyledons, on the other hand, should be perfectly harmless, is not

without a parallel in the vegetable kingdom, as will be seen from my

remarks on the oil obtained from the seeds of the Moringa pterygos-

perma in my last contribution to this Journal, describing that plant.

- I may add one more instance of this strange botanical fact recently

gathered from the writings of an Amrican Botanist—Mr. Thomas

Nuttall, r,t. s. He says that the leaves of the Western Yew tree

(Zaxus occidentalis), which is the same as the Taaus brevifolia of the

Americans and the Tacus baccata of Hooker (in part Flor. Bor. Amer.

2, p. 167) “are poisonous to horned cattle and horses, though the

berries are inoffensive. Cattle so affected run about in fury and

delirium, and at length drop down dead. Three children, according

to Dr. Percival of Manchester, were poisoned dead in a few hours by

taking a small dose of the green leaves asa remedy for worms, but

they appear to have suffered no pain, and after death looked as though

they were ina placid sleep, The best antidotes to this poison are

oily substances.” (Nuttall’s North American Sylva, Vol. IIT, p. 89).

Other instances are not wanting in the Natural Order Anacardiacee

itself where the cotyledons are perfectly harmless, though the other

parts of the plant contain an acrid juice, as for instance the kaju-

nut (cashew-nut), The oil obtained from the cotyledons of this nut

is bland, and free from acridity, whereas the pericarp contains an

acrid oil. Baillon mentions another plant, the Semecarpus atra

(Rhus atra, Forst.) of a similar nature. The roasted seeds of this

tree are eaten in New Caledonia ; but the juice of the stalk, or Wold

resin, as it is called, is caustic and poisonous. The apple of it, besides,

known as the Nolé apple, which is merely the fleshy peduncle, is

used to prepare a fermented drink.

The most interesting part of the marking-nut tree is the pericarp

of the fruit. ‘The pericarp contains,” says J. Lapire, ‘‘ 32 per cent.

of a vesicating oil of specific gravity 0°991, easily soluble in ether.”*

This volatile oil is the ingredient which gives the resinous fluid its

acrid, and corrosive, escharotic, or caustic property. The acrid juice

* [ Journal Pharm, (3) XL., 16]—Quoted from Henry Watt’s Dictionary of Chemistry,

Vol, V., 1869.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY, 245

of the pericarp contains anacardic acid and cardol. Besides being

soluble in ether as noted by Lapire, it is soluble in alcohol and vege-

table oils. Anacardic acid and cardol are readily decomposed by heat.

Hxposure to them produces irritant effects even froma distance in

some constitutions, particularly in those which are predisposed to

irritation by virtue of their tender cutaneous system. It is impossi-

ble to know beforehand which constitution might suffer and which

escape. When, however, it is once found out that a particular consti-

tution does suffer from near or from afar, it were best for such a

constitution to keep aloof from the marking-nut, or its operations,

when other persons are using the nut. ‘ According to Basiner,” says

Dr. Lyon, “when subcutaneously injected in large doses, the yellow

oily liquid known as cardol causes in warm-blooded animals stupor

and paralysis.” Medicinally given, the juice, asa whole, acts asa

stimulant and narcotic. Surgeon-General Balfour notes that the juice

is much administered internally to elephants. “Given in large

doses,” says he, ‘it renders these animals furious.”

The volatile nature of the oil of some of the members of the

Anacardiacece is very striking. Thus, for instance, referring to Schinus

molle (false pepper ), Sir Joseph Hooker, in editing Mrs. Hooker’s

translation of LeMaout and Decaisne’s “ Descriptive and Analytical

Botany,” adds a note that “ fragments of the leaf of this plant floated

on water move about by jerks owing to the discharge of a volatile oil

from the tissues.” Let me add that this false pepper plant is a small

tree of tropical America, with a sugary edible drupe’ anda mastic

with a slight odour of pepper (LeMaout and Decaisne, p. 363, 1873).

Balfour says that the torn leaves of this plant send out the resinous

matter with so great aforce “as to cause a sort of spontaneous

motion by the recoil.” Another congener of the marking-nut known

as Melanorrheea usitatissima (or usitata as Dr. Gregg calls it), which

yields the so-called Martaban varnish, possesses a thick viscid greyish

fluid, assuming a black colour on exposure. It constitutes the black

varnish of the Burmese, and is extensively used by them. The point I

wish to notice about this fluid black varnish is, that it has a distinctly

terebinthinate smell. Ordinarily the black oleo-vesinous fluid from

the pericarp of the marking-nut is without any smell, “tis known

246 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX,

as the black varnish of Sylhet’ (Birdwood’s Economic Products of

the Bombay Presidency, p. 261). When a dried nut is held over the

flame of a candle, it burns beautifully, throwing out spirts of lit vola-

tile oil which appear in succession like bright stringed beads, dropping

down copious dark thick varnish-like juice. Around the flames

there isa bluish halo. As the dried fruit burns, it emitsa faint

smell not unlike that produced at the time of baking the cashew

nut. In referring to the volatile nature of the oil issuing from

other parts of the marking-nut-tree, Col. Drury and Surgeon-General

Balfour, in their respective works cited in this paper, make the follow-

ing common remarks :—“ Even the farina of the anthers of the flowers

is very narcotic and irritating ; people of a peculiar habit, accidentally

sleeping under the tree when in blossom or even going near the

flowers, are stupefied and have their faces and limbs swollen.”

O'Shaughnessy says that “the vapoursarising from the nuts during

roasting have been often known to occasion erysipelatous inflamma-

tion” (Bengal Dispensatory, p. 280). Instances of the volatile

nature of the oil found in the plants of the genus Rhus belonging to

the Natural Order Anacardiacee are to be seenin Rhus toxicodendron

and Lt. radicans, which have an extremely dangerous milky juice. “It

is capable of poisoning persons who approach such plants in hot

weather” (Lindley). “ Itis said,” notes Wight, “‘ that merely handling

the leaves of Rhus toatcodendron.is sufficient to cause a crop of vesicles,

and exposure to the volatile emanations from . towxicodendron and

R. venenata has been known to excite insusceptible persons severe

indisposition, or they have had their bodies covered with a crop of

pustules. The two Indian species of Rhus, he says, are not endowed

with these acrid properties (Illustrations of Botany, Vol. I, p. 183,

1840.) Itmay be observed here that Hooker (Br. Flora, Vol. II, p. 9)

says the genus Rhus often contains an acrid juice. He does not,

however, specify which of the 12 species he describes have it. “ Dr.

Bigelow mentions,” says Beck, * that he has known individuals badly

poisoned in winter from the wood of Rhus vernix accidentally burnt

on the fire” (Medical Jurisprudence, p. 837, 1836.) It will thus be

clear that it is the volatile nature of the oil which renders it dangerous

even from a distance.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 247

It will be evident from the foregoing remarks that the genus Seme-

carpus is not the only one belonging to the Natural Order Anacardia-

cece, which is known to affect some individuals even from a distance,

Mr, Thomas Nuttall, ¥F.L.s., an American Botanist, in his ‘North

American Sylva” (Vol. II, pp. 121-123, 1852), mentions several other

American species of the genus Rhus which, besides those I have

mentioned, are topically poisonous. In speaking of the “ Coral

Sumach” (Rhus metopiwm) he makes the following remark :-—

“Like several other native species of the genus (Rhus), this

stately species of Sumach, a native of Jamaica, Cuba and Key

West, is to some individuals poisonous to the touch. This, and

the Mountain Sumach, are called in St. Domingo ‘ Mountain

Manchiniel,’ from the poisonous qualities of the juice they exude,’’

Referring to another species, the Rhus vernix, to which I have just

referred, he says that it ‘‘ affords the Japan varnish, which cozes from

incisions made in the tree, and grows thick and black when exposed

to the air. It isso transparent, that when laid pure upon boxes or

furniture every vein of the wood may be clearly seen. With it the

Japanese varnish most of their household furniture made of wood.

_ The milky juice of the plant stains linen a dark brown ; the whole

shrub like our Poison Ash (&. venenata), to which itis nearly allied,

is in a high degree poisonous ; and the poison is communicated by

touching or smelling any part of it. Inflammations appear on the

skin in large blotches, succeeded by pustules which rise in the inflam-

ed parts, and filled with watery matter, attended with burning and

itching, which continues for several days, after which the inflammation

subsides. The extremities and glandular parts of the body are those

which are most affected. Our Rhus radicans and Rhus toxicodendron

(Poison Vines) operate nearly in the same way, though in a less

degree than the Poison Ash or Rhus verniz, Many persons, however,

can approach and handle these deleterious plants with impunity. One

of the most dangerous species in America is the Rhus pumila, of

Michaux, a native of North Carolina. Mr, Lyons, a well-known and

assiduous collector of rare and ornamental plants, suffered extremely

from its venom by merely collecting the seeds ; it produced a general

fever, and affected the use of his limbs for several years,” Lindley

248 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

observes that the Stageneria vernicifera of the Indian Archipelago,

another member of the Anacardiaceous family which yields the black

varnish called Japan lacquer, contains a resin which is extremely

acrid, causing excoriations and blisters if applied to the skin. The

people of Sumatra consider it dangerous even to sit or sleep beneath

its shade.

It is not that every member of the Anacardiaceous family contains an

acrid resinous fluid. Ondaatje, of Ceylon, for instance, says, that the

resin yielded by Semecarpus Gardneri, a native of Ceylon, is free from

acridity (Pharmac. Journal, p. 819, Vol. XIII, 1882-83, 3rd Ser.).

The dirty brown soft gummy exudation from incisions made in the

bark is notably tasteless and free from acrid properties ; it dissolves

slowly in the mouth (Brandis), This freedom of the gum from acridity

is not unlike that of the pinkish gum of Moringa pterygosperma, nearly

every part of which plant partakes of the odour of the true horse-radish

or of mustard oil. It must be noted that a distinction should be made

between the pure gum and the gum-resin or oleo-resin which respectively

exude from different parts of the plants belonging to the Anacardiaceous

family. The one is a pure gum in solid masses or tears, whereas the

other is a resinous tarry oily-looking fluid, generally white in the

tender parts of the Semecarpus anacardium plant and its young fruit.

The resinous juice of the pericarp is much used medicinally by the

natives of this country. It may be named, without fear of contradic-

tion, as the Indian panacea for all sorts of complaints from the mildest

to the gravest. In fact, there is no affection which the Indian flesh is

heir to in which it is not, almost instinctively, used. It is often used

externally with marked relief, barring individual idiosynerasy, which

renders some constitutions readily susceptible to its poisonous effects ;

it is not less often productive of dangerous results in other instances,

the remedy proving worse than the disease itself for the cure of which

it was originally used, and producing large sloughs, far beyond expecta-

tion. Internally, the juice acts as a tonic, though at times it produces

violent gastric inflammation. When administered by the mouth, the

resinous juice is well dissolved in vegetable oils, milk, curds, or whey.

As an article of domestic economy the resinous juice is extremely

valuable. It is commonly used by the natives for marking linen and

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 249

cotton fabrics, the marks thus produced being indelible, leaving the

fabric perfectly uninjured at the same time. Hence it is that the fruit

comes to be named the Indian marking-nut. Ashes or quick-lime and

water are used to fix the black colour. “The green nuts,” says Rox-

burgh, “ well pounded into a pulp, makes good lime.” ‘The resinous

juice is insoluble in water and is only diffusible in spirits of wine,” adds

Roxburgh, “ for it soon falls to the bottom, unless the menstruum be

previously alkalized ; the solution then is pretty complete, and of deep

colour. It sinks in, but soon unites perfectly with, expressed oils.”

Hence it is that the natives use cocoanut, teel, or ground-nut oil to

wipe off the skin-recent stains of the resinous fluid, or to reduce the

acridity of its poisons. Brandis says that the oil of the seeds of the

marking-nut mixed with the milk of Euphorbia (which species, he

does not mention—K.R.K.) is made into bird-lime by the wild tribes

of the Satpura range in the Central Provinces.

POISONOUS PROPERTIES.

_The marking-nut is a distinct vesicant of the skin, if it were nothing

more. But it is even worse, as will have been gathered from the

foregoing remarks. It only remains to look at its properties from

the clinical point of view. Some escape its action beyond a slight

irritation where the nut is locally applied. Others suffer from

irritation of even untouched parts, while some others suffer

violently even from a distance, though not themselves the users

of the irritant fluid. Their face, their eyes, their ears become

rapidly swollen, not unoften with great constitutional disturbance,

followed by much prostration. The fruit is seldom, if ever, used

internally for the purpose of poisoning. Jail-convicts and malingerers

sometimes use it for producing blisters and ulceration of the skin, to

avoid work. Dr. Norman Chevers bears me out in this assertion.

“ Dr. Hornigberger notes,” says this experienced veteran Medico-J urist,

“that at Lahore he discovered that some of the prisoners rubbed the

juice of this nut on their eyes ; others had rubbed it on their bodies.

The former were apparently suffering from incurable ophthalmia, the

latter from a kind of ring-worm. By this means they continued to

remain on the sick-list, eating and drinking without being necessitated

250 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

to work.’ Superintendents and Medical Officers of Jails beware !

Udoy Chandra Dutt also notes a similar experience as regards the jail-

birds of Bengal. ‘It is often employed by natives,” says he, “ espe-

cially jail-convicts in India, to produce irritation and fictitious marks of

bruises.”” (Materia Medica of the Hindus, p. 141, 1877.) Such

has been my experience in the Thana prison.

Two cases came under my observation in the Thana Civil Hospital

in 1893. In ome of these cases, the deliberate application of the

resinous fluid on several parts of the body produced violent

symptoms ; in the other case, mere pounding of the seeds on a stone

was enough to cause irritation of several parts of the body. It would

be useful to give briefly the notes of these cases.* They are as

follow :—

1st Casz.—A female, aged 20, married, was sent to the Civil Hos-

pital, Thana, by the Chief Constable of Salsette, on 24th April, 1893.

A number of black-nut marks were found on both breasts, thighs and

genitals. She stated that the marks were made by her husband by

way of punishment. The parts mentioned were all swollen on the

day of her admission. On the third day of the application large blis-

ters appeared on the painted parts. Under prompt application, first of

sweet oil (éeel), then of a lotion of acetate of lead and opium, and

subsequently of vaseline, the parts recovered, and the patient was dis-

charged cured, but not before three weeks.

QnD CasE.—In this the whole face and ears were much swollen,

and there were large vesicles on both the forearms, chest and abdomen.

The following are brief notes of this case :—The patient is a young

Hindu, male, aged 24 ; admitted into the Civil Hospital, Thana, on

24th June, 1893. States that he had a swelling on his right forearm,

for which he was recommended the external application of the marking-

nut. He pounded afew nuts and used the resinous fluid on the

affected part. The following day large vesicles appeared on it, as also

redness and swelling on the face and ears, though they were not painted

over. There was violent itching and much constitutional disturbance.

The chest, abdomen, and left forearm were also swollen and red. Pus-

* The notes of these cases are recorded by my Assistants, Rajanna Lokaji and Madhavrao

Shankar Sowani—K, R. K.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 251

tules formed on these parts on the third day ; the right forearm, over

which the fluid was actually used, suffered most. It was considerably

swollen. Within two days, under the same plan of treatment as followed

in the first case, coupled with suitable constitutional treatment, the

swelling of the ears, face, chest and abdomen subsided ; the parts over

which pustules had appeared healed up, and the man was discharged

cured within ten days of the application.

The first case mentioned here is not the only one of its ial where the

marking-nut is used by acruel husband to punish a helpless wife. Dr.

Lyon mentions a case (Med. Jurisprudence, p. 190,) in which a man

was tried before the Bombay High Court, and “ convicted of causing

hurt to his wife by throwing marking-nut juice over her face, blister-

ing of the skin and severe ophthalmia of one eye lasting for several

days being the result.” Dr. Wellington Gray, when acting Chemical

Analyser of Bombay, came across a case where a man introduced

three marking-nuts into the genitals of his wife.

It is not uncommon to find persons painting their skins over to

support false charges of assault. Dr, Newton mentions that the bruised

nut applied locally to the os wtert is often in use amongst the

native women for procuring abortion.

Dr. A. Gibson records a case in the Transactions of the Bombay

Medical and Physical Society, in which a singular vesicular eruption

was produced by the external application of the juice of the marking-

nut(p. 117, Vol. for 1841). At page 271 of the same volume, is record-

ed a case in which the juice of the marking-nut was used mixed with

Nereum odorum (Marathi—Kanher), Plumbago zeylanica (Marathi—

Chitrak), sulphate of copper, beetles (genus Mylabris) and a snake to

boot. No wonder such a diabolical combination, as virulent in effect as

it was disgusting in conception and practice, produced a fatal result!

Dr, O'Shaughnessy records his experience of the deleterious nature

of the resinous juice of the marking-nut with the true spirit of a phar-

macological martyr, in his Bengal Dispensatory (page 280, Hd. 1841).

A minute drop of the juice placed by himself on the back of his hand

occasioned “‘ the eruption of an herpetic blotch, intensely itchy and scal-

. ing from the centre to the cireumference, which did not disappear for

eight months, and left a scar like that of a burn. Dr. O’Shaughnessy

252 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X,

says that ““ by boing the nut (the italics are mine, K.R.K.), an

oil is prepared, which, when undiluted, acts as a blister.” The common

experience is that the process of boiling the nut is hardly necessary to

bring out the blistering property. The crude juice, even as it escapes

from the pericarp, rapidly produces a blister. In some constitutions

the blister appears after 24 or even 48 hours, and not unfrequently,

even a pustule. It is the crude juice that is generally used for

medicinal or criminal purposes. The process of boiling the nut

therefore, may be deemed superfluous.

Mr. C. Duran reports in the Medical Times and Gazette (p. 519,

Vol. II, 1875), a case treated under the care of Dr. Frederick Taylor in

Guy’s Hospital, London, for poisoning by the Indian marking-nut.

The symptoms are briefly as follow :—A Huropean school-boy, aged

13, was admitted into Guy’s Hospital on 18th May, 1874. He stated

that he had painted the figure of an anchor on his left arm with the

juice of the marking-nut nine days previous to admission into the hos-

pital. The seed was given to him by a soldier returning to England

from India, The juice “ was not pricked in as in tattooing,” but mere-

ly rubbed on. When the juice dried, it left a black stain which could

not be rubbed off. During the week it caused some smarting. A full

week after, the boy noticed that the painted arm was red, and that a

number of small pimples had appeared. In the night his face became

red and swollen, and the next day he went to the hospital. During

the first night of his admission into the hospital, he rested his arm,

which was covered with lint, on the abdomen and thighs. The follow-

ing morning both the abdomen and thighs were red. This shows how

long the acrid properties of the juice remain, and how indestructible

it is even when mixed with the serum of the blood for a whole week,

and how it affects adjacent parts by means of such serum even

when they are protected by a thick piece of lint. The boy suffered

from no constitutional disturbance. The redness of the affected parts

resembled that of erysipelas. Although it was the left forearm that

was painted over with an anchor, the back of the right hand and front

of the wrist ‘‘ were covered with a few red spots, surmounted with

minute white pustules.” The face also presented a similar inflamma-

tory condition ; “ the redness and swelling affected both eyes (the left

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 253

being quite closed), as well as the upper lip, chin, and the back of the

right cheek, where there were a few isolated, raised red spots. The

colour was sharply defined, and on the chin was a yellow crust resem-

bling the crusts of eczema. On the inner side of each thigh at the

upper part was a large red, less sharply-defined patch, with one or two

transparent vesicles; and on the lower part of the abdomen were a

few spots resembling those on the right hand and wrist. The erup-

tion caused considerable itching.” This, and numerous other cases

which have come under my observation amply illustrate the erratic

nature of the poisonous volatile principle which renders the

resinous juice of the marking-nut so harmful, and at times even

dangerous. The boy recovered under suitable treatment and left the

hospital in a fortnight. The point noticeable about this case is that

a playmate of the above patient was painted with the juice at the

same time, and in consequence suffered from symptoms which Mr.

J. D. Roberts, under whose care he was placed, describes as being

similar to those of the cases I have cited. Mr. Duran notes that Dr.

White of Harvard University characterizes the eruption as eezema~-

tous, and states that he has never seen it take ona really erysipelatous

type. The duration of the disturbances generally varies from five to

six weeks. (Opus cit., page 520.) ‘ These cases show,’ observes Mr.

Duran, “ that the period of time which may elapse between the appli-

cation of the irritant and the development of the symptoms” may be

go great as to render it difficult to trace the latter and “ connect them

with their real cause,” Dr. White is said by Mr. Duran to observe,

with reference to a similar peculiarity of the American genera of the

Anacardiacee, that “ the time required for the development of the

visible manifestations of the poison upon the skin after contact with

the Rhus* or its emanations seems to vary greatly ; for he found

that, though shorter periods might occur, three, four, and five

days were repeatedly given, by patients especially susceptible to

its action as the interval between contact and the appearance of the

eruption.” |

In the papers published under the head of “Indian Museum at

South Kensington” in the ‘ London Pharmaceutical Journal” (p. 181,

* Rhus toxicodendron and R, venenata, already referred to in this paper.

254. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

Vol. VI, 1875-76, 3rd Series), I find the following remarks which are

well worth quoting :—‘‘ The marking-nuts which often come to this

country mixed with the myrobolans, contain between the inner and

outer layers of the shell or pericarp a remarkably caustic blackish

oily fluid which zs apt to blister or greatly inflame the lips of those

who attempt to crack the nuts.* In persons of erysipelatous tendency,

the inflammation is often considerable and even dangerous.” In one

of his earlier papers contributed to the “ London Pharmaceutical

Journal” so far back as 1878 (p. 1003, Vol. VIII, 3rd Series), Dr.

Dymock observes as follows :—“ Garcia d’Orta remarks that the

poisonous properties of the marking-nut have been much exag-

gerated by Serapion, and goes on to say that in Goa it is administered

internally after having been steeped in butter-milk,* and is also

given as a vermifuge; and, moreover, says he, we (the Portuguese) salt

the young green fruit and use them like olives.” I have this to

observe regarding the remarks of Garcia d’Orta, I have not the means

of knowing at the present moment to what extent and where Serapion

has exaggerated the poisonous properties of the marking-nut. All I can

say is that those poisonous properties are very grave indeed topically

in manymen. If the oil of the seed is administered in Goa internally

for asthma, and for the matter of that for any other complaint, or

no complaint whatsoever after the seeds are steeped in butter-milk, I can

safely say that the oleaginous or fatty principle of the butter-milk well-

nigh renders the poisonous property of the resinous juice harmless by

dissolving it out, inasmuch as it is now well established that the volatile

oil parts from its host (the seed), and leaves it harmless when much diluted

in oil. Moreover, I do not believe that the Portuguese stomach is in any

way different from the ordinary human stomach if it can digest with-

out suffering the salted young green fruit of the marking-nut as a

substitute for olives, with the prior aid of common salt, which possibly

renders the acrid properties of the seed inert, by dissolving out the

poisonous element and changing it chemically. During the process of

salting probably the volatile principle escapes. There is no reason why

the chlorine of the chloride of sodium should not act upon the consti-

tuent elements of the marking-nut.

* The italics are mine. —K, R, K.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 255

In my humble opinion the “‘ Pharmacoposia of India” in no way exag-

gerates the deleterious properties of the marking-nut. It is safer to

emphasize them in the present state of our knowledge as derived

from books and from practical experience. Dr. Dymock distinctly

says that when the nut is given internally “the juice of the pericarp is

mixed with oil or melted butter.” This is his last utteranee on the

subject (“Pharmacographia Indica,” Vol. I, page 390. “In the Concan,”

says he, “a single fruit is heated in the flame of a lamp and the oil

allowed to drop in a quarter seer of milk.” This drawing of the bare

black juice, deprived of its obnoxious, volatile, poisonous element,

removes a great deal of the sting of the poison if not the whole of it.

The poisonous element lies in the volatile oil, which, like all other

volatile substances, is dispersed by means of actual heat, or when

exposed to air.

ADDENDUM.—While the first proofs of the above contribution

were being examined by me, with the assistance of Mr. Mahadeo

Shankar Sowani, my Civil Hospital Assistant, he told me that Dr.

Ganesh Krishna Garde, L.M. & 8., of Poona, could supply me with

some important notes of cases of poisoning by marking-nut which he.

had met with in his practice. I have known Dr. Garde by reputation

and by personal acquaintance as a medical man of great research and

possessing extensive knowledge of Indian drugs. He is well read in

ancient Hindu medicine. His experience therefore is worth recording.

On application he has promptly supplied me with the following

information which I produce in eatenso in his own words :—

“‘ Marking-nut has a special affinity for the skin, and its action on

it must be looked upon as specific, as it invariably affects that tissue

whether applied externally, taken internally or in whatever way

absorbed into the blood. I quote below one or two of several cases

that have come under my observation.

“ Casz No. 1.—A Parsee gentleman came to me one morning com-

plaining of big swellings on the face, forearms, the back of the wrists

and chest. There was no tingling or itching, but a slight dull tensive

pain on tender parts like cheeks and ale of the nose, &c. Some

of the swellings had a reddish discoloration but others were of the

256 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL:HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. LX.

natural hue. My former experience at once suggested to me the

idea that these swellings might be due to marking-nut in some way

absorbed into the blood ; and so I questioned the patient whether he

had ever come in contact with marking-nut in some way or other.

After repeated questionings the patient recollected that he was lately

using for some time a tooth-powder which contained a charcoal of these

nuts. On learning this history 1 told him to stop using that tooth-

powder and gave him one of my usual antidotes for application to the

swellings which gradually disappeared in a few days. Lininentum

calecs ora weak ointment of Bicarbonate of Soda are generally

serviceable when these swellings are fresh, but when they get older 1

generally prefer an ointment of Rhus toxicodendron on Homeopathic

principles, for Rhus tomcodendron has a similar action on the skin

and a weak ointment of its tincture very rapidly disperses all

anacardium irritation and swellings and ulcerations (caused by

local application of the nut). I have lately learnt that the ashes of the

bark of the marking-nut tree is a good application for all the cutaneous

lesions caused by the nut.

“ Casz No, 2.—A few months ago a man came to me from Kolha-

pur with a hard, reddish and slightly painful swelling on the tip and

alee of the nose, a part of the cheeks and upper lip. It had remained.

persistently, shifting its place a little now and then, and becoming

agoravated or ameliorated by various external applications prescribed

by Doctors and Vaidyas but never disappearing altogether. As it had

remained nearly two years so obstinately he was alarmed and came

here for consultation. He told me that the hard, reddish swelling on

the nose and surrounding parts was diagnosed as lupus by a renowned

medical man but his treatment had failed. In investigating the causes

of the swelling I happened to ask him, among other questions, whether

he had ever used marking-nut internally. To this he answered

affirmatively, and said that he had on several occasions consumed a

nostrum containing these nuts prescribed for dyspepsia, constipation

and general debility. ‘This at once put me on the right track and my

diagnosis of the case was Anacardium rash. But I regret to say that

the diagnosis of the case was not completed by treatment as the patient

did not remain here any longer. }

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 257

““T have had several opportunities of observing the effects of

marking-nuts and my long observation leads me to believe that

Anacardium orientale is a specific dermato-irritant, its special

affinity being for the skin of the face, ale nasi, lobes of the ear, and lips

and to some extent the trunk and upper extremities. Of course

locally applied it may affect any part of the skin, The swellings over

the nose, &c., havea striking resemblance to leprosy, and this may

account for its recommendation for that disease in native medicine.

Indeed modern Homeopathic therapeutics recommend it against

leprosy on account of its homeeopathicity to that disease. It is said

also that long continued internal use of the drug causes failure of

memory and some forms of unsoundness of mind.”

In a further note Dr. Garde adds the following remarks :—

“Marking-nut is one of those drugs like Quinine, Nux-Vomica,

Tpecacuanha for which certain individuals show a great

idiosynerasy. I have seen people eating these nuts with

cocoanut kernel without any harm, and many have used a decoction of

about a dozen nuts quite safely. There are, on the other hand, some

people, especially children who get their face swollen simply by being

exposed to the effluvia of the nut, evolved when it is being broken for

external application. These effluvia have been known to affect this

way even from a considerable distance. The people of Gujrat and

Kathyawar are more sensitive to its action than the Dekkanees,

Darker races seem to resist its action ; and people of fair complexion

are very sensitive to its action.”

I am all the more grateful to Dr. Garde for these interesting remarks,

especially as he is convalescent from a serious illness, and has promptly

complied with my request in a very trying condition. Although I am

not prepared to accept his Homceopathic views, I have let him speak

in his own way in extenso, There is one remark I would make, and

that is with reference to his observation that the long continued

internal use of the nut causes failure of memory, and brings on some

forms of unsoundness of mind. In the body of the paper I have

already observed that 1 have seen it used in a case of leprosy for

improving lost memory. I have also quoted from Masters the view

that it stimulates the mental powers, and especially the memory.

258 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. [X:

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE M.

j. The fruit-bearing top of a sprig ; < natural size, showing the

fruit in varying stages of development.

2. The mature fruit with the orange cup-shaped torus (natural size).

3. A vertical section of the mature nut, after the torus has dried

up and fallen ; showing the pericarp with its outer and inner lamine,

and the intervening space occupied by the dark resinous juice

(natural size). The white portion shows the cotyledon of one side.

4. A terminal raceme bearing hermaphrodite flowers (half the

natural size).

5. A hermaphrodite flower looked at from above (natural size).

6. A hermaphrodite flower looked at sideways (natural size) ;

shows the position of the acerescent calyx.

7. Part of a panicle bearing male flowers only (half the natural size).

8. A male flower looked at from above (natural size).

DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLEMENTARY PLATE M,

1. Male flower lookedat from above (after Wight, much magnified),

2. Hermaphrodite flower (modified after Wight, much magni-

fied) ; X showing the stamen slightly drawn down to expose

fully the ovary, and the three styles with their stigmata (front view),

3. Hermaphrodite flower (after Wight, much magnified) ; back

view showing the relative size of the sepals and petals, and the posi-

tion of the accrescent calyx, with a curved dark line.

4, Transverse section of the nut, about the middle diagrammati-

cally showing the cellular receptacles of the acrid resinous fluid

between the outer and inner laminz of the pericarp, in a young fruit

before the cotyledons are fully formed (natural size).

5. Hairs forming the tomentum of leaves and fruit in various shapes

described in the text, as seen under the microscope (magnified 200 tin.es).

6. Vertical section of the fruit and accrescent calyx and disk

(diagrammatic and modified after Roxburgh, showing the receptacles

of the acrid oily fluid ; the pendulous cotyledons ; and the position

of the embryo. The asterisk at the top shows the position oi the

insertion of the styles (natural size).

7. Cotyledons separated and in juxtaposition (after Roxburgh ;

natural size), .

8. Plumule (much magnified, after Roxburgh).

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Notice.

The Plates (N, O, P, & Q) for this yaper will be issued in’

Part V of this Volume.

EDITOR.

259

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES

_ FROM THE INDO-MALAYAN REGION.

By Lionen ve NICEVILLE, F.E.S., 0.M.Z.8., &c.

(With Plates N, O, P, and Q.)

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on28th January, 1895.)

Family NYMPHALIDA,

Subfamily SATyRINz.

1, LETHE (Rongbia) GULNIHAL, do Nicéville, Pl. N, Fig. 1, 9.

L. gulnihal, de Nicéville, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1887, p. 450, pl. xxxix, fig, 7, male;

id,, Elwes, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1888, p. 308; id., Manders, Trans, Ent. Soc, Lond., 1890,

p. 518, 0.18 ; ZL. gulnihal, var., Elwes, Proc, Zool. Soc. Lond., 1891, p. 263 ; Rangbia gulnihal,

Moote, Lep. Ind., vol. i, p. 234, pl. 1xxvi, fig. 2, male (1892) ; R. peguana, id.,1.c¢., p. 235,

Hasirat: Bhutan (de Nicéville and Elwes); Bernardmyo, Shan States

(Manders) ; Karen Hills, 2,000 to 5,000 feet (Hlwes); Sikkim; Mani-

pur ; Saipha, 3,500 feet, Katha District, Upper Burma (coll. de Niceville),

Lieutenants James M. Burn, R.H., and A. J. Pilcher, R.E., have late-

ly obtained a considerable number of male specimens of this species at

Saipha in March. I have compared them carefully with my Manipur

and Bhutan specimens, and am unable to find that any of the characters

given by Mr. Moore to distinguish between LZ. gulnihal and L. pequana

are constant. The best character, as far as my specimens go, is the size

of the ocelli on the underside of the hindwing ; but this is very vari-

able too, they are large in Bhutan specimens, still larger in Manipur

ones, medium and small in the Upper Burma examples. I have

here figured a female example from Saipha, as that sex, though

described by Mr. Elwes, has not so far been portrayed. It is useless

figuring a male from Burma, as the figure could not be made to dis-

close any real differences between Bhutan and Burma specimens ; the

Bhutan form has already been twice well figured.

Subfamily AMATHUSIINA.

2, MELANOCYMA FAUNULOIDES, n. sp., Pl. N, Fig. 2, 9.

Hasitat: North Chin Hills, Upper Burma.

EXpaNnse: 9, 4°5 inches.

Description : Femate. UPPERSsIDE, both wings very pale fuscous

or French-grey, all the black markings of the underside showing

through faintly by transparency. Forewing with the veins slightly

960 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, IX,

infuscated. Aindwing with the outer two-thirds of the abdominal

margin, and the anal region widely as far as the inter-nervular fold in

the first median interspace, ochreous-yellow, this colour being carried

narrowly along the outer margin as far as the second median nervule.

UnpErsiDE, both wings slightly paler than above, especially the hind-

wing. Forewing with a large round black spot near the middle of the

discoidal cell; a broad black line across the cell beyond its middle,

joined to two similar lines running along the subcostal and median

nervures from the base of the wing, the latter broadening out towards

the base of the submedian interspace ; the anterior half of the disco-

cellular nervules black, fining away to nothing posteriorly ; two broad

slightly irregular nearly parallel black lines commencing at the

subcostal and ending at the submedian nervure, the inner line some-

what lunulated between the median nervules ; a very fine obscure

submarginal blackish line ; with an extremely fine black line on the

margin, Hindwing with the abdominal margin ochreous-yellow of a

paler shade than on the upperside, this colour becoming entirely lost

towards the middle of the submedian interspace, extending narrowly

along the outer margin as far as the first median imter-nervular fold ;

the wing is crossed by four broad parallel more or less irregular black

bands, all commencing close to the costa; the first band is nearly straight

and is quite close to the base of the wing and ends on the submedian

nervure; the second band is also nearly straight and ends on the internal

inter-nervular fold; the third band is highly irregular and lunulated,

the concavity of each lunulated portion directed towards the outer

margin, it ends in a somewhat faint detached spot on the internal inter-

nervular fold, anteriorly it is jomed to the second band by a thin black

line running along the costa ; the fourth band is also highly irregular

and lunulated, the concavity of each lunulated portion directed towards

the base of the wing, it commences on the first subcostal nervule

and ends on the submedian nervure ; a somewhat broad submarginal

fuscous line, posteriorly becoming lost in the ochreous anal area; a

very fine black line on the margin ending posteriorly on the first

median internervular fold. Cia throughout very short and cinereous,

Antenne black, Thoraa in front ochreous, posteriorly and abdomen

pale fuscous.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 261

A reference to Hewitson’s, Westwood’s, and Distant’s figures of

Melanocyma faunula, Westwood, all taken from female specimens,

will at once reveal the many important characters in which that species

differs from the present one, which characters are also borne out by

the numerous specimens of MM. faunula I possess from several localities

in the Malay Peninsula and from Chentaboon in Siam. The ground-

colour in M. faunula is almost white on the upperside of the hind-

wing, instead of being concolorous with the forewing ; the yellow

colour is more extensive also, reaching to the second median nervule,

in M. faunuloides it ends midway between the first and second median

nervules ; on the underside of the forewing the black discal bands are

highly lunulated, and the points of the lunules almost meet in

M. faunula, while in M. faunuloides the bands are nearly straight, and

the imner one is only slightly lunulated ; this character is even more

strongly pronounced on the hindwing, as in WM. faunula anterior to

the third median nervule these bands entirely join, enclosing two large

oval spots of the ground-colour ; lastly, the yellow colour is much

duller and does not extend half as far on to the disc in

M. faunuloides.

Described from two specimens kindly given to me by Capt. E. Y.

Watson, which were captured in June, 1893, at Number Three Stockade,

in the North Chin Hills, at 3,500 feet elevation above the sea.

Subfamily NyMPHALINA,

3. APATURA (Rohana) ARTAXES, n. sp., Pl. N, Figs. 3, ¢ ;

4, 9.

Hasirat: Battak Mountains, N.-E. Sumatra,

HxpansE: 6,16; 9, 1°8 inches.

Description: Mate. Uppursipe, both wings deep velvety-black.

Forewing with three subapical white dots placed one above the other, the

middle one rather nearer to the base of the wing than the other two ;

a short oblique shining ferruginous fascia is placed outwardly against

the three dots, Hindwing with the abdominal margin broadly pale.

Unpersine, both wings pale dull brown; a common discal narrow

macular violet-whitish fascia, in the forewing commencing at the sub-

costal nervure, where it is narrowest, ending on the submedian nervure,

where it is broadest, the fascia outwardly bowed, its inner edge

262 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

even ; in the hindwing it commences on the costal nervure, ends on

the submedian nervure, the band is sinuous or recurved, of about the

same width throughout ; the usual two annular spots, one above the

other, across the middle of the discoidal cell ; a reniform spot at the

end of the cell ; a very indistinct submarginal whitish fascia. Forewing

with an additional minute subapical dot placed posteriorly to the

three dots of the upperside ; a small round black ocellus in the middle

of the first median interspace. Hindwing with a very small oval

black ocellus placed in the middle of the first median interspace.

Frmaue, UPpErsipe, both wings dark hair-brown or fuscous, with

many of the markings of the underside showing through by trans-

parency, including the markings in the discoidal cell, and the two ocelli

in the first median interspaces, only on the upperside these latter are

blind ; a prominent, broad, dazzlingly-white discal band, more or

less divided by the dark veins, in the forewing commencing at the

costal nervure, where it is narrowest, ending on the inner margin,

the band curved outwardly in the middle, both its edges rather

irregular, in the hindwing commencing on the costal nervure,

ending on the submedian nervure, of nearly equal breadth through-

out, its inner edge very straight and even, indented only at the

forking of the second and third median nervules in one specimen,

the outer edge lunulated ; a common submarginal waved whitish

line. Forewing with five subapical white dots, the two posterior-

most minute ones in a line with the middle dot; a round black

spot placed against the outer edge of the discal white band in

the first median interspace, outwardly faintly defined by a pale line.

Mindwing with an exactly similar spot, but its outer bounding

line is rather more prominent. UnpgErsipu, both wings pale brown,

somewhat tinged with ochreous, marked similarly to the male,

except that the discal band is broad and pure white as on its own

upperside.

Jam greatly indebted to Heer P. C. T. Snellen for a very perfect

coloured drawing of a single male example of A. nakula, Moore, in

his own collection, here given on plate N, fig. 5, and through the

courtesy of Mr. Francis A. Heron of the entomological department

of the British Museum (Natural History) I have been furnished by

Mr, H. Knight with a very beautiful coloured drawing of the unique

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 263

type female specimen of A. nakula, Moore,* here reproduced on plate

N, fig. 6, which is certainly the nearest ally to A, artaxes, and

occurs in Java, From these drawings the male of my species appears

to be much more scantily marked on the upperside than in A. nakula,

being furnished with three instead of five subapical white dots to the

forewing only, and with no trace of discal and submarginal bands except

the short ferruginous fascia beyond the white dots on the forewing. On

the underside also all the markings appear to be legs prominent, and the

discal common fascia is quite different in character. The females of the

two species differ much more than the males do. A. artawes has the

ground-colour of the upperside fuscous, A. nakula has it “ dul] pale

reddish-brown ; ” the former has the discal band of both wings intensely

white, while A. nakula has it “ whitish” in the forewing ; the band in

A, artaxes is very much broader also ; the black Spots in the first

median interspaces of both wings touching the outer edge of, instead of

being well removed from, the discal band; again the submarginal

markings greatly differ, and the forewing in A. artazes is truncated

at the apex in both sexes, which is not the case in A. nakula, On the

underside the discal white band in the forewing in the female increases

in width from the costa to the third portion, in A, nakula the third

portion is the smailest of the three ; and in that species the discal band

on the hindwing is much narrower than in A. artazes; besides many

minor differences.

The following species of the subgenus ohana of the genus Apatura

have been described :—

1. A. parysatis, Westwood, Kumaon, Sikkim, Bhutan, Assam, Burma, Jelebu

in the Malay Peninsula, Upper Tonkin, Hongkong, (Recorded also

from §.-W. Celebes by Heer Snellen, but either A, athalia, Butler, or

A. macar, Wallace, is probably the species intended),

la. A. parysatis, var. sumatrensis, Staudinger, Sumatra,

1b. A. parysatis, var. nana, Staudinger, Palawan in the Philippine Isles,

2. A. camiba, Moore, South India, Ceylon, Java. (A. parysatis has been

recorded from Java by Mr. Moore before he described A. camiba ; the

latter is probably the species intended),

3. A. macar, Wallace, Macassar in Celebes.

4, A. rhea, Felder, Babuyanes, Luzon, Bohol, Leyte, Siargao, North and

East Mindanao—all in the Philippine Isles.

4a. A. rhea, var. rana, Staudinger, Palawan in the Philippine Isles,

5, A. athalia, Butler, Celebes.

6. <A. nakula, Moore, Java.

7, A.artames, de Nicéville, N.-E. Sumatra,

* Horsfield and Moore, Cat. Lep. Mus. E, I, C., p. 203, n, 414 (1857).

264 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

A. artames has been described from one male in Hofrath Dr.

L. Martin’s collection and one in my own, and several females also in

his collection and my own, some of which were taken in October.

Strangely enough the latter sex appears to be the more common, but

this is probably not really the case, the male of this species is so like

the common A. parysatis that it is passed over by the native collectors

for that species, while every specimen of the conspicuously-different

female that is seen is captured.

4, EUTHALIA BINGHAMII, nu. sp., Pl. N, Figs. 7, 6; 8, 9.

Hasrrat : Daunat Range, Tenasserim, Burma.

EXpPANsE: @, 2°5; 9, 2°7 to 3:0 inches.

DescripTION: Mae, UPPERsipE, both wings deep shining fuscous.

Forewing with the following bronzy-fuscous markings :—two rounded

spots in the discoidal cell, one in the middle, one at the end ; a subapi-

cal triangular patch, its base resting on the costa, its apex on the lower

discoidal nervule; a broad marginal band, broadest on the mner

margin, fining away to nothing before reaching the apex, the band

at the anal angle bearing a small patch of greenish scales. Hindwing

with the costa and outer margin broadly bronzy-fuscous, its inner

edge on the disc regularly scolloped, bearing a series of five small

oval black spots, one in each interspace from the first subcostal to the

first median nervule ; the outer margin broadly greenish-blue, broadest

at the anal angle, fining away to nothing at the second subcostal

nervule ; the abdominal margin pale. UNDERSIDE, both wings light

ochreous-brown, outwardly somewhat darker ; the usual linear black

markings in and about the discoidal cells. Forewing with an inner

discal black band from near the costal nervure to the first median

nervule, anteriorly wide and somewhat diffused, posteriorly narrower ;

also an outer discal somewhat macular black band, increasing in width

towards the anal angle, ending in the submedian interspace in a large

round spot, anteriorly continued to the extreme apex of the wing

by a prominent pale greenish-blue elongated spot. Aindwing with

the outer margin from the second subcostal nervule to the submedian

nervure broadly pale metallic greenish-blue, which colour extends on

to the disc anterior to the inner discal fascia and into the discoidal

cell; the inner discal fascia somewhat diffused; the outer discal

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 265

fascia of the forewing reduced to a series of seven black dots

between the veins in the hindwing. Frmane. Upperrsipz, both

wings shining pale brown, with the usual narrow black markings in

and about the discoidal cells. Forewing with a discal broad band some-

what paler than the ground-colour from the costa to the inner margin, its

inner edge highly irregular, its outer edge bounded by a nearly evenly

disposed. series of blackish lunulated spots ; a discal series of five more

or less rounded sullied whitish spots placed three and two ; these spots

are variable in size, being larger in some specimens than in others, but

are always rather small ; the three anterior ones are close together, —

divided only by the veins, the fourth and fifth spots in the median

interspaces further apart, the anterior one of these the larger. Hind-

wing with an even inner discal fascia, its inner edge diffused, its outer

edge regularly scolloped ; an outer discal series of small round black spots.

UNDERSIDE, forewing pale ochreous-brown ; the five discal spots of

the upperside clear white (not sullied), more prominent than above,

and placed on a dark brown fascia; the usual discoidal markings ; an

outer discal series of round black spots, the posteriormost one much

larger than the others; the disc more or less washed with bluish-

purple, but this is variable in extent. Aindwing with the usual

discoidal black markings ; a prominent outer discal series of eight

small round black spots ; almost the entire surface of the wing shining

pale bluish-green, what may be considered to be the pale brown

eround-colour being reduced to an inner discal fascia from the costal

nervure to the first median nervule, broader in some specimens than in

others, and a marginal band, also variable in width, from the costa

(where it is widest) to the anal angle (where it is reduced to a point).

Body of the male black above, pale brown beneath ; of the female

pale brown above, whitish beneath. Antenne black above, the club

and. shaft beneath ferruginous.

This species is evidently very close to E. zichri, Butler,* from

Sarawak, Borneo, from which it differs, as far as the description goes,

in the male sex, in having on the upperside of the hindwing five

instead of three black spots on the outer bronzy portion, and on the

underside in having a prominent green spot at the apex of the forewing

anda large area in the hindwing (fully one-third of the surface)

* Adolias zichri, Butler, Cist, Ent., vol.i, p. 6 (1869),

266 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

metallic greenish-blue, that colour being apparently entirely absent

from FE, zichri. The female of EH. zichr2 does not appear to have ever

been described. Mr. Distant describes * and figures EH. zichri from

Malacca in the Malay Peninsula; that specimen differs from Mr.

Butler’s description of the species, but agrees with H. binghami, in

having five black spots on the upperside of the hindwing, but differs

from E. binghami and also from the Bornean type of the species in

having the underside entirely ochreous-brown without any bluish

coloration whatever. Iam not quite sure that I have correctly sexed

E. binghami. In all cases in which the sexes differ as greatly as

they do in the present species, there is, when the species is newly

discovered and not much is known about it, a little uncertainty regard-

ing the correct pairing. Should it be hereafter discovered that. the

opposite sexes belong to different species, I would prefer the name

E. binghamii to be applied to the male. The female of EL. binghami

is not at all unlike on the upperside some specimens of /. garuda,

Moore, but the great extent of the blue coloration on the underside will

instantly distinguish it. The latter feature is characteristic of

E. wiphiones, Butler, which is a local race of E. appiades, Ménétriés, but

the acuminate apex to the forewing will at once separate E. binghamit

from the females of all the various forms of LE. apptades.

Described from a single male and five females in my collection.

I name the species in honour of my friend Lt.-Col, C. T. Bingham,

Conservator of Forests, Tenasserim Circle, who has done so much good

work amongst the Aves, Lepidoptera, and Hymenoptera of Burma.

Family LEMONIID A,

Subfamily NEMEOBIINA.

5, TAXILA BURNII, n. sp., Pl. N, Fig. 9, 9.

Hasirat: Loi Maw, 5,000 feet, Katha District, Upper Burma.

Expanse: @, 1:9 inches.

Dzscrietion : Femate. UPPERsIDE, both wings light ferruginous,

with all the markings of the underside showing through more or less

by transparency. Forewing with an outer discal or submarginal series

of diffused or irrorated rounded whitish spots arranged in a slightly

outwardly-curved line across the wing from the costa to the first

* Buthalia zichri, Distant, Rhop, Malay., p. 438, n. 20, pl. xlili, fig. 6, male (1886).

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 267

median nervule, more prominent anteriorly, obsolete posteriorly ; a

similar marginal linear series, each spot on both sides outwardly

defined with black. Hindwing with the marginal series of spots as in

the forewing, but the two anteriormost spots divided by the discoidal

nervule larger than the others. UNprErsipz, both wings a little

paler than above, rather more ochreous in shade. Forewing with the

inner margin as far as the submedian nervure whitish ; the disco-

eellular nervules narrowly defined by a dark ferruginous line ; an

inner discal macular white fascia, the anterior portion of which from

the costa to the third median nervule is formed of spots divided only

by the crossing veins and arranged in one straight line, followed by

three spots placed in echelon in the median and submedian interspaces,

these three spots forming an inwardly oblique straight line ; an outer

discal curved series of white spots arranged regularly across the wing

from the third subcostal nervule to the submedian nervure ; a marginal,

narrow, alniost continuous, series of white spots, prominently defined

on both sides by a fine black line. Minding with an inner discal

series of white spots very similar to that on the forewing, but the

anterior portion ending on the third median nervule is wider ; followed

by an indistinct castaneous macular fascia, which is continued some-

what indistinctly on to the disc of the forewing ; two marginal apical

large rounded black spots divided by the discoidal nervule, each spot

bears outwardly a large white area, inwardly each spot bears a few

white scales ; in the median, submedian, and internal interspaces are

large conical outline silvery-white spots, the base of the cone is on the

margin, the apex is towards the base of the wing, the spot in the

internal interspace the smallest and oval in shape. Cilia of both wings

dusky, just touched inwardly with whitish. Antenne above black,

beneath prominently annulated with white, the base of the club also

white. Thorax and abdomen above concolorous with the wings, be-

neath white. Legs with the femur white, the tibia and tarsi ochreous,

T. burnit is a very aberrant species, and seems to form a link, as far

as the markings go, between the known species of the genus Tawila and

the typical group of the genus Abisara (A. echerius, Stoll). T. burnii

has the more or less silvery macular markings on the underside of

T. haquinus, Fabricius ; 7. thuisto, Hewitson ; T. fasciata, Moore ; and

T. zemara, Butler, which are lacking in the echerius group of Abisara ;

268 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX,

but it possesses the two prominent apical black spots on the underside

of the hindwing, which are characteristic of all the species of Abssara,

but are lacking in Zazila. The coloration and markings of T. burni

are entirely different from those of any known species of Taaila.

Described from a single example taken in April by Lieut. James M.

Burn, R. H., who has generously presented the specimen to me, and

after whom I have much pleasure in naming the species.

6. ABISARA ATLAS, n. sp., Pl. N, Figs. 10, @ ; 1, @.

Hapitat: Java.

HxPanse: @, 9, 21 to 2°2 inches.

Description: Matz. Uprersipe, both wings dark castaneous. Fore-

wing crossed by two oblique pale discal bands,; the inner one is the

broader, straight, of nearly equal breadth throughout, commencing on

the costa and ending on the submedian nervure, posteriorly it is a littie

narrower and curved inwardly slightly towards the base of the wing ;

the outer band is not quite so prominent, more blurred, commencing

on the costa broadly, posteriorly ending at the anal angle in a fine

line; a fine anteciliary pale line from the anal angle to about the

middle of the wing. Hindwing with a broad curved discal pale band,

prominent and whitish on the costa, becoming darker on the disc,

ending about the submedian nervure, its inner edge sharply defined,

even, its outer edge blurred; two large oval marginal deep black

spots in the lower subcostal and discoidal interspaces, each outwardly

bearing a fine pure white line, inwardly defined by a narrow pale line ;

two twinned small similar spots in the submedian interspace; two

pale submarginal lunules in the median interspaces ; an anteciliary

ochreous line, defined on both sides by a fine black line, and again

inwardly between the veins by a white line, this ochreous line is

continued from the margin on to the disc some distance along the

third median, discoidal, and second subcostal nervules ; tad short,

just tipped with whitish. UnpersipE, both wings with the basal

half rather paler than on the upperside, the outer half dark. Forewing

with the inner discal pale band much more prominent than above and

nearly pure white ; the outer band greatly broadened out anteriorly,

posteriorly reduced to a fine line as on the upperside. Hindwing

marked as on the upperside, but the discal band whiter and

——

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 269

ore prominent than above, with an additional minute , oval

sp in the upper subcostal interspace. Body concolorous with the

wings. Eyes with a prominent white line on each side. Antenne

above black faintly annulated with white, beneath entirely white ;

elub black, tipped with ferruginous. Frmaue. Differs from the

male in the ground-colour being paler throughout ; the discal bands

rather more prominent ; the tail considerably longer.

Nearest to A. savitri, Felder, described from the Malay Peninsula,

recorded by Mr. Distant from Province Wellesley, Malacca, Ayer

Panas, and Singapore, all in the Malay Peninsula, and from Borneo ;

in my collection from Rawan and Perak in the Malay Peninsula, North-

East Sumatra and South-East Borneo, which is the same species as

A. susa, Hewitson, described from “ India,”’ from which it differs in

the ground-colour being a rich chestnut instead of ochreous-brown ;

the discal bands are more prominent and whiter, that on the

hindwing with a regularly curved even inner edge, in A, savitra the

inner edge of the band is very irregular; and, most important of

all, the tail in A. savtri is long and pure white, in A. atlas it is short,

ferruginous, and just tipped with white only.

Described from three males and one female kindly sent to me by

Mr. H. Fruhstorfer from Java, but without precise locality.

Family LYCAINID A.

7. PARAGERYDUS PA'TUS, n. sp., Pl. O, Fig. 12, @.

Hasirat : N.-H, Sumatra,

Expanse: 6, 1°7; 9, 15 inches.

Description: Mane. Upprrsips, both wings shining plumbeous-

black. Forew2ng with the usual sexual elongated pale oval patch on either

side of the naked and swollen basal portion of the third median nervule.

Cilia fuscous. Hindwing unmarked. Cilia cinereous. UNDERSIDE,

both wings pure white, rather thickly and evenly scattered all over

with small and large sepia-coloured spots. Forewing with the inner

margin as far as the submedian nervure free from sepia spotting ;

with the following more distinct and larger spots:—One at the base,

two in the middle one above the other, and a very large one closing

the discoidal cell; an outer discal or submarginal series of six, the

series dislocated, the two posterior spots placed nearer the base of the

° ° e oie he : “t ian eb, ts;

wings than the others; a not very distinct marginal series. Hncloz ny <n

with several large spots at the base, a very large one at the end oi the

cell, a very irregular discal series, and a marginal series as in the

forewing. Antenne, head, and body fuscous. FEMALE. “Much as i.

the male, except that the third median nervule of the forewing i is. not =

basally swollen, and the hindwing is highly scalloped instead of being ee

almost entire.

An apparently quite distinct species. It is, perhaps, nearest to the

common P. horsjieldi, Moore, which also occurs in North-East Sumatra,

but the coloration of the upperside is darker, and the ground-colour

and shade of the spots of the underside are very different, the former

being pure white, the latter sepia, while in P. horsfieldi the former is

pale ferruginous,* the latter dark ferruginous. The hindwing in

the male of P. petus is but very slightly scolloped, but this is a most

remarkably inconstant character, especially in the females, of

P, horsfieldt. The upper discoidal nervule is given off from the sub-

costal nervure far beyond the apex of the cell in the male, at the apex

in the female. P. panormis, Hlwes,t described from Burma and

Perak, also occurs in North-Hast Sumatra, but it is a very dee

species.

Described from two males and a female in my collection, captured

at Bekantschan in March and November, and numerous examples in

the collection of Hofrath Dr. L. Martin.

8. SIMISKINA PHALENA, Hewitson, Pl. 0, Fig. 13, 9.

Poritia phalena, Hewitson, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond,, 1874, p. 3445; idem, id., Ill. Diurn.

Lep., p. 216, n. 8, pl. lxxxix, figs. 14,15, male (1878); id., Distant, Rhop. Malay., p. 200,

n,4, pl. xxii, fig. 8, male (1884); id., Hartert, Proc. A. 8. B., 1890, p. 204; Massaga

hartertii, Doherty, Journ. A. 8, B., vol. lviii, pt. 2, p. 128, pl. x, fig.1, male (1889) ; Poritia

hartertii, de Nicéville, Butt. of India, vol. iii, p. 43, nu. 635 (1890),

Haprrat : Singapore (Hewitson) ; N.-i. Sumatra (Hartert) ; Patkoi

Hills, Upper Assam (Doherty); Katha district, Upper Burma (coll.

de Nicéville).

EXpaANsE: 9, 1'4 to 1°6 inches.

Description : FemaLe. UPppzrsipg, both wings shining purplish-

fuscous. Forewing with an oval discal pure white spot beyond the

“ Creamy-white” and ® brown ” respectively in typical Javan specimens.

Tt Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1892, p. 619, pl. xliti, figs, 8, male ; 9, female.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 271

discoidal cell, anteriorly bounded by the third median nervule,

posteriorly extending slightly beyond the first median nervule.

Hindwing much broader than in the male, the outer margin between the

terminations of the second and third median nervules produced into a

blunt tail-like projection bearing a black spot on the underside ; with

faint traces of a series of submarginal bluish-white lunules, and a

marginal very fine white line. UNDERSIDE, both wings much as in the

male, except that the discal white band on the forewing is posteriorly

much wider. Cilia white, here and there touched with fuscous,

almost entirely fuscous on the anal half of the hindwing.

The female is here described for the first time. Its nearest ally is

probably my S. solyma from Perak,* which, however, has the white

spot on the upperside of the forewing bordered with rich iridescent

emerald-green, and in some lights is suffused throughout with this

beautiful colour, thereby greatly differing from the present species.

The markings of the underside, however, are entirely different.

I am indebted to Lieutenant James M. Burn, R. &., for the gift of

specimens of both sexes of this species taken in the Katha district of

Upper Burma at 800 feet elevation above the sea in March and

November.

9, CYANIRIS COSSAHA, n. sp., Pl. O, Figs. 14, ; 15, 9.

Hasitat: N.«E. Sumatra ; W. Java.

ExpansE: @, 9, 1:2 to 1°4 inches,

Duscriprion: Matz, UPPERSIDE, both wings shining somewhat

iridescent bluish-purple of exactly the same shade as in the common

C. puspa, Horsfield. Forewing with the costa as far as (or even a

little beyond) the subcostal nervure, the apex widely, the outer margin

less widely, black. Cilia fuscous, barely tipped with white. Hindwing

with the costa broadly, the outer margin broadly, but slightly decreas-

ingly, black; an oblique powdery white fascia divided by the

black veins commences at the apex of the wing and ends about

the termination of the discoidal cell; this fascia is more promi-

nent in some specimens than in others; the upper disco-cellular

nervule marked with a black line, Cilia rather more prominently

* Journ. A. 8. B., vol, kxii, pt. 2, p. 29, n. 25, pl. iv, fig. 10, female (1894),

272 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

white than on the forewing. UnpsrsipE, both wings creamy-white,

all the markings deep black and prominent; a series of sub-

marginal lunules, six on the forewing, seven on the hindwing ;

beyond which is a marginal series of six and seven black spots

respectively, those on the forewing oval, on the hindwing round,

Forewing with a line on the disco-cellular nervules ; a slightly irregu-

larly-curved discal series of six spots. Hindwing with four rather

large spots towards the base of the wing, the costal one the largest ;

a fine line on the disco-cellular nervules; a very large round spot on

the middle of the costa; the usual irregular discal series of spots.

Frmate. UPPERSIDE, both wings deep black. Forewing with a large

round pure white patch in the middle of the wing, in certain lights

glossed with beautiful pale metallic blue, especially so at its outer edge ;

the base of the wing from the middle of the discoidal cell to the

inner margin, and extending along the inner margin to near the outer

angle, rich light metallic blue. Hindwing with the costa narrowly

white ; a large oval pure white patch in the middle of the wing; the

abdominal margin white ; the base of the wing glossed with rich

light metallic blue. Unperstpz, both wings precisely as in the

male.

Near to C. marginata, de Nicéville, but the black margins on the

upperside of the male are not quite so broad as in the rainy-season form

of that species. The creamy-white ground-colour of the underside is,

as far as I know, found in no other species in the genus, nor do I know

any species which has so large a spot on the. middle of the

costa of the hindwing on the underside as C. cossea. If the Cyaniris

sp. (?) mentioned from Malacca by Mr. Distant (Rhop. Malay., p. 453,

n, 5, pl. xliv, fig. 10, female (1886), is really a female (the blue

coloration of the upperside is much darker than is usually found in

that sex), it is allied to C. cossea. The markings and colour of

the ground of the underside as pictured agree almost exactly

with my examples. But my belief isthat the specimen figured is a

male.

Described from numerous males and females in my collection, and

many others in Dr. Martin’s, from N.-E, Sumatra (one taken at

Namoe Oekor on 17th November, 1892), and one from Pengalengan,

West Java, 4,000 feet, by Mr. H. Fruhstorfer.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES, 273

10, CYANIRIS CORYTHUS, n. sp., Pl. O, Figs. 16, ¢ ; 17, 9.

Hasirat: Battak Mountains, N.-E. Sumatra,

ExpansE: 6, 1°40 to 1°50; 9, 1:45 inches.

Description: Matz, UPpERSIDE, both wings pale shining blue,

Forewing, the costa with a black marginal thread, the outer margin

narrowly black, the inner angle white ; a large discal oval white area

crossed by the blue veins occupying the lower outer end of the

discoidal cell, the lower discoidal, both median, and part of the

submedian interspaces. Mindwing with the discal half of the wing

white crossed by the blue veins; a fine anteciliary black thread.

Cilia of the hindwing broad, white ; of the forewing white at the

inner angle, becoming black towards the apex. UNpERsIpE, both wings

white faintly tinted with blue; all the markings small, black,

prominent ; the usual marginal series of black dots, with a more

or less incomplete series of lunules within. Forewing with a fine

disco-cellular line ; a discal series of three, four, or five small spots.

Hindwing with three or four basal dots, a fine disco-cellular line, the

usual irregular discal series of spots, but all of them small. Ferman,

UPPERSIDE, forewing dull black, the base very faintly glossed with

metallic blue ; a very large oval pure white patch occupies the middle

of the wing. Hindwing with the costa as far as the subcostal nervure

and its first branch and a very small area at the base dull black, the

rest of the wing pure white ; a very fine black anteciliary thread, just

within which is a series of six lengthened oval black spots, the four

towards the anal angle crowned with a fine black lunule, which is

continued along the veins till it unites with the anteciliary thread,

Cilia of the hindwing pure white, of the forewing white posteriorly,

fuscous anteriorly. UNDERSIDE, both wings coloured and marked

precisely as in the male,

This is a very lovely and distinct species, with no near ally. The

male is a little like C. ceya, de Nicéville,* from Java, but is much

larger ; the upperside is of a different shade of colour, more blue ;

the white area on the forewing is larger, that on the hindwing smaller,

ea a a

* Journ, Bomb, Nat. Hist. Soc., vol, vii, p, 328, n, 5, pl. H, figs, 6, male; 7, female (1892),

274 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

not nearly reaching the outer margin except at the apex of the wing,

the marginal dots barely present, with other slight but well-marked

differences on the underside.

Described from numerous male and one female specimen in my

collection from the Battak Mountains taken in September and Decem-

ber. It is a fairly common species, and Dr. L. Martin possesses many

examples of it.

11. CYANIRIS CARNA, n. sp. Pl. O, Fig. 18, 2.

Hasrrat : N.-H. Sumatra.

Expanse: @, 1:3 inches.

Dzscription : Mane. UPPERSIDE, both wings shining bright blue

of a slightly violet tint in some lights. Forewing with the costa very

narrowly, the apex broadly, the outer margin dwindling away to

nothing at the inner angle, black; a large white discal patch beyond

the discoidal cell filling the basal halves of the two median and

lower discoidal interspaces exactly as in C. albidisca, Moore.

Hindwing with the costa rather broadly fuscous, the apical half

of the wing fining away to nothing about the first median nervule

white, the rest of the wing blue; a series of six round fuscous

spots on the margin, inwardly with a series of indistinct blackish

lunules; a fine black anteciliary thread. UNDERSIDE, both wings

white, all the markings pale fuscous or brownish, none prominent ;

the usual marginal series of lunules enclosing black spots beyond.

Forewing with the costa and apex widely infuscated; the disco-

cellular nervules defined with a dark mark ; an irregular discal series

of four spots, Hindwing with the usual basal, discoidal, and discal

spots.

Nearest to C. albidisca, Moore, from South India, differing in the

broader black apex to the forewing on the upperside, the larger white

area on the hindwing, and the infuscation of the costa and apex of the

forewing on the underside.

Described from a single example in my collection from N.-H,

Sumatra.

“et

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 75

12. CYANIRIS MUSINA, Snellen, Pl. O, Fig. 19, @.

Lycena musina, Snellen, Tijd. voor Ent., vol, xxxv, p. 145, n,8 (1892); Cyaniris jynteana,

var., Distant (nec de Nicéville), Rhop. Malay., p.452,n. 3, pl. xliv, fig. 6, male (1886),

Hapirat: West Java (Snellen) ; Perak, Malay Peninsula; N.-E.

Sumatra,

EXpanse; @, °95 of an inch to 1°15 inches.

Description: Mate. Upprrsipg, both wings dark plumbeous-

blue, gradually slightly darkening to the outer margins, with hardly

any gloss; an anteciliary black thread, Cilia of the hindwing

whitish ; of the forewing whitish at the anal angle, becoming black

towards the apex. UNDERSIDE, both wings French-grey, of a very

dark shade for a species of this genus; the majority of the markings

fuscous (not black), outwardly defined with whitish; a marginal

series of fuscous spots ; a submarginal prominent lunular line; the

disco-cellular nervules marked by a fine line, the line defined on both

sides by whitish. Forewing with a discal series of five or six spots, the

anteriormost of these nearer the base of the wing than the others,

these latter placed somewhat in echelon, Hindwing with three basal

spots; the usual irregular discal series of spots, the anteriormost spot

much more prominent than the rest and deep black.

This very distinct species is probably the smallest in the genus. It

Sikkim, through Bhutan, Assam, Burma, and the Malay Peninsula

to Sumatra and Java ; differing therefrom in its smaller size, darker -

(more plumbeous) coloration on the upperside, and much narrower

black border to both wings. The markings of the underside are

almost identical. I have but little doubt that this is the species

figured by Mr. Distant as C. jynteana, var., in spite of his utterly

unrecognisable figure of the upperside (for which he apologises) and

Mr. Moore’s identification of the specimen, as the size agrees with my

larger examples, and the underside appears to be correctly delineated,

but the species is certainly closely allied to C. placida, and very distantly

to C. jynteana, de Nicéville. Mr. Doherty identifies this figure with

his C. melena,* described from the Tenasserim Valley, and occurs

also in North-Hast Sumatra. :

* Journ, A. 8. B., vol, lviii, pt. 2, p, 434, n. 88, pl. xxiii, fig. 18, male (1889).

276 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCTETY, Vol. IX,

Appears to be common in the mountains of Perak and N.-H.

Sumatra, and I have described it from along suite of specimens in

Dr. Martin’s and my own collection.

P. S.—Since the above was written, I have sent all the original

drawings of the species of Cyanzris described in this paper to Heer

P. C. T. Snellen of Rotterdam, who has done such excellent work in

elucidating the Lepidoptera of Malayana. He informs me that the

species above described which I had named C. candaules is his

“ Lycena”’ musina, so I have adopted his name for it. Should, how-

ever, the species ultimately prove to be distinct (I possess no specimens

from Java to compare with my series from the Malay Peninsula and

Sumatra), 1 would propose the name C. candaules for it.

13. CYANIRIS CATREUS, n. sp., Pl. O, Figs. 20, ¢ ; 21, 9.

Hapirat: W. Java.

EXPANsE: @,1°3 to 1°5; 9, 1°6 inches.

Description : Mane. Uprersipr, both wings lavender-blue of about

the same shade as in Javan specimens of C. huegeliz, Moore. Forewing

with a discal white powdering faintly present in some specimens, absent

in others ; a narrow costal black thread; the outer margin with a

narrow black border about 1 mm. wide at the costa, fining away to

nothing at the anal angle ; the tips of all the veins ending on the outer

margin black in some specimens. Hindwing, costa dusky ; the apical

area sprinkled with white in some specimens ; a very narrow outer

black border, broader at the apex of the wing, reduced posteriorly

toa mere thread. Cilia of the hindwing white, of the forewing

white at the anal angle, becoming dusky towards the apex. UNDER-

SIDE, both wings white with a bluish tinge ; a marginal series of small

round black spots, more prominent on the hindwing ; a submarginal

lunular dusky line. Forewing with a very faint (almost obsolete) dusky

line defining the disco-cellular nervules ; a discal series of from three

to five small black spots, the anteriormost one nearer the base of the

wing than the others. Hindwzng with three subbasal black spots; a very

faint disco-cellular line ; the usual discal irregular series of eight black

spots reduced in this species to from three to six. FumaLE, UPPERSIDE,

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 217

both wings fuliginous-black, without any blue gloss whatever,

Forewing with a round white area in the middle of the wing, entering

the discoidal cell at its lower end, anteriorly bounded by the upper

discoidal, posteriorly by the first median nervule. Hindwing with a

large discal pure white area, broadest on the abdominal margin, leaving

the costa and outer margin with a broad even black border.

UNDERSIDE, both wings pure white, a black anteciliary thread. Fore-

wing with the costa narrowly, the apex broadly, the outer margin as

far as the submarginal lunular line decreasingly infuscated ; the disco-

cellular nervules marked with a rather prominent dusky line; a

curved discal series of five dusky spots darker than the infuscated area

on which they are placed ; the submarginal lunular line forming the

outer boundary of the infuscated area ; five marginal oval black spots.

Hindwing with the costa and base somewhat broadly faintly powdered

with fuscous ; the usual three subbasal spots, the anteriormost one on

the costa with an outer whitish ring ; an obsolete disco-cellular line ;

the usual discal series of spots reduced in number to five, all small but

prominent, the anteriormost one on the costa with an outer whitish

ring ; a prominent submarginal continuous broad lunular line; a

prominent marginal series of eight spots, the three analmost ones small

and contiguous.

This species belongs to the * Holly-Blue ” section of the genus, which

contains the British C. argiolus, Linnzeus, and the Northern Indian

species, C. celestina, Kollar, C. huegelii, Moore, &c. From the latter

the male may be known by its unusually lengthened and narrow

forewing ; also by the markings of the hindwing on the underside, the

discal series of spots being reduced in number, and the submarginal

lunular line and marginal spots being much more prominent. The

female is entirely different from the same sex of C. huegelii, on the

upperside it has no blue coloration whatever, and one-half the total

area is black, the other half pure white. The infuscation of the costa

and apical region of the forewing on the underside is a quite unique

character.

Described from four males and one female kindly sent to me by

Mr, H. Fruhstorfer, who captured them at Pengalengan, 4,000 feet,

West Java, in 1893.

278 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

14. CYANIRIS CAMEN AZ, n. sp., Pl. O, Fig. 22, 6.

Hasirat ; Perak, Malay Peninsula; N.-H. Sumatra.

Expanse: @, 1:1 to 1°6 inches,

Description: Matz, UPpersidE, both wings rather pale shining

blue, of a rather more purple shade than in C. corythus, de Nicéville

(ante, No. 10). Forewing with a narrow outer black border, about 1

mm. broad at the apex, fining away to almost nothing at the anal

angle; the middle of the disc in some specimens with a sprinkling of

white scales. Hindwing with the costa white, spreading more or less

on to the disc, sometimes reaching the second median nervule, some-

times ending about the discoidal nervule ; an anteciliary black thread.

Cilia of the hindwing broad and pure white; of the forewing

narrower, white at the anal angle, becoming dusky towards the apex.

UNDERSIDE, both wings white faintly tinted with blue; all the spots

small, prominent, and fuscous ; an anteciliary black thread. Yorewing

with a fine line on the disco-cellular nervules ; a discal series of six

spots, usually placed somewhat in echelon, sometimes forming a

straight line divided only by the veins, the anteriormost spot shifted

inwardly towards the base of the wing ; a marginal series of six linear

spots. Hindwing with a basal series of three spots; a fine disco-

cellular line ; the usual irregular discal series of spots; and a

marginal series of eight spots, the three at the anal angle smaller than

the rest and placed very close together.

Nearest to C. lanka, Moore, from Ceylon, with which it agrees abso-

lutely on the underside. On the upperside it differs in its much lighter

(more blue, less purple) coloration, in having always more or less

white irroration apically on the hindwing, usually on the disc of the

forewing, and the forewing having a distinct black border, in C. lanka

there is an anteciliary thread only.

This species appears to be the commonest of the genus occurring in

the mountains of N.-H. Sumatra, being found also in the Malay

Peninsula. I have diagnosed it from a very large series. It is

probably a local race of C. celestina, Kollar, from the Western

Himalayas.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES, 279

My collection contains the following ten species of Cyaniris from

Sumatra and nine from Java: four species only are common to

both islands :—

SUMATRA. JAVA.

1. C. akasa, Horsfield. 1. C. akasa, Horsfield.

2. C. cossea, de Nicéville. 2. C. cossea, de Nicéville.

3. C. corythus, de Nicéville. be MCD

3. C. ceyx, de Nicéville.

4. C. puspa, Horsfield. 4, C. puspa, Horsfield.

5, C. carna, de Nicéville. be 0 er

6. C. musina, Snellen.

7. C. plactda, de Nicéville.

. C. placida, de Nicéville.

C. colestina, Kollar.

C. coalita, de Nicéville.

C. huegelii, Moore.

C. catreus, de Nicéville.

=e =

—_————— — —— ————————

CH ND HN

———

8. C. camene, de Nicéville. ae

9. C. limbatus, Moore. cea Perens

10. €. melena, Doherty. gh UNE alate Noa a

ib. SURENDRA STIMULA, un. sp., PL. O, Fig. 28, &.

Hasirat : Jaya.

EXpanse: @, 1°65 inches.

Description: Mane, UppErsibe, both wings very deep rich blue.

Forewing with the costa up to the subcostal nervure, the apex broadly,

the outer margin broadly but decreasingly black, the black margin at

the inner angle nearly 3 mm. wide. Hindwing with no anal lobe

or tail, but the outer margin slightly projecting at the termination of

the second median nervule ; with the costa widely black, that colour

reaching almost to the discoidal nervule ; the outer margin with a

narrow black thread ; the abdominal margin broadly outwardly black,

inwardly becoming whitish. Cilia black throughout. UNpmrsipg,

980 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. LX.

both wings very dark, almost black, without distinct markings.

Forewing with an apical triangular pale patch ; the inner margin as

far as the submedian nervure whitish ; a submarginal indistinct series

of five linear black spots. AHimdwing with indistinct traces of a broad

dark discal and submarginal band.

Quite distinct from the same sex of the Javan S. wvarna, Horsfield,

which has a tail and anal lobe to the hindwing, and has the blue

coloration on the upperside of the hindwing further removed from the

outer margin than in that species, Nearest to S. florimel, Doherty,*

from the Tavoy district, Burma, differing therefrom in its larger size,

much darker coloration on the underside, without distinct markings of

any kind. Perhaps nearest of all to “ Amblypodia”’ palowna,

Staudinger, { from Palawan in the Philippines, apparently differing in

its larger size, and the black costal and outer margins to the forewing

on the upperside broader,

Described from a single example sent to me by Mr. H. Fruhstorter

without any precise locality.

16. NACADUBA NELIDES, n. sp., Pl. O, Fig. 24, .

Hasirat: N.-H. Sumatra ; W. Java.

HEixpanse: @, 1:2 inches,

Description : Matz. UPppersidx, both wings shining violet-blue

of almost exactly the same shade found in typical specimens of

NV. atrata, Horsfield, from Java; the margins (as seen under a

magnifying glass) narrowly black. Cilia black, tipped with white.

Tail black, short, tipped with white. UNDERSIDE, both wings French-

grey, all the markings of a slightly darker shade than the ground,

outwardly defined by whitish ; a double series of marginal lunules,

and a very fine anteciliary black thread, Forewing with a spot across the

middle of the discoidal cell, with a faint one posterior to it in the

submedian interspace; a spot closing the cell; a discal chain-like

series of seven spots, the five anterior ones in a curved series, conjoined,

* §, florimel, Doherty, Journ. A. S. B., vol. lviii, pt.2, p. 424, n. 30, pl. xxiii, figs. 17

male ; 4, female (1889),

{ Iris, vol. ii, p. 131, pl, ii, fig. 8, male (1889),

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 281

the two posterior ones separated, out of the line with the others,

shifted inwards towards the base of the wing. Hindwing with the

usual basal, discoidal, and discal markings ; a prominent round black

spot on the margin in the first median interspace.

This is a very distinct species, though it is difficult in words to make

plain the points of difference between it and its nearest allies. It is

perhaps nearest to N. noreia, Felder = NV. ardates, Moore, tailed

form, from which it differs in its larger size (in size it is intermediate

between NV. noreia and N. atrata), in the different shade of violet-blue

of the upperside, the colour of the ground of the underside, the reduced

prominence of all the markings, and the subanal black spot to the

hindwing lacking the turquoise-blue line of scales outwardly placed

upon it, and the anterior outer orange line, found in IN, noreta,

Mr, H. Fruhstorfer has sent me a single male specimen of what

appears to me to be this species from Mount Gede, West Java, 4,000

feet, taken in August, 1892. It differs from the specimens above

described from Sumatra in having no tail, and the markings of the

underside are a little less prominent. At the extreme anal angle of

the hindwing on the underside is a most minute black dot bearing a

few turquoise-blue scales. This dot is just traceable in some of my

specimens of this species from Sumatra, but they bear no blue scales.

Described from four male specimens from North-East Sumatra in my

own and numerous others in Dr. Martin’s collection, and one male

from East Java,

17, ARHOPALA ABOE, n. sp., Pl. 0, Fig. 26, 3.

Hasrrat : Daunat Range, Tenasserim, Burma.

Expanse: ¢@, 1:9 inches.

Description : Mate, UPppersipe, both wings rich shining purple ;

no outer black margin ; cilia black. UNDERSIDE, both wings glossy

lilac-brown, all the spots darker, dull reddish-brown without purple

gloss, outwardly defined by a fine pale violet line. Forewing with the

inner margin broadly up to the median nervure and first median

nervule whitish ; a small oval spot towards the base, a larger

oval one at the middle, and a still larger quadrate one closing

the discoidal cell; a rather large spot in the submedian interspace

982 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

placed at the point where the first median nervule arises ; another

spot at the base of the first median imterspace ; a discal increasing

outwardly-curved continuous chain of seven spots ; a rather promi-

nent submarginal fascia ; a marginal indistinct fascia. Hendwing

with the usual four round spots across the base ; a subcostal spot;

a spot posterior to the last in the middle of the cell; a large spot

posterior to the latter; an elongated spot at the end of the cell ;

a small spot posterior to the latter ; the discal band much dislocated,

the two anteriormost spots well separated and shifted inwardly from

the four spots which follow, these again are partially dislocated from

the next spot, which is an elongated one, the latter again quite

separated from the last quadrate spot of the discal band which is placed

on the abdominal margin ; a rather prominent lunulated submarginal

band; a marginal series of oval dark spots ; the anal lobe very small,

black, crowned. with a few metallic-green scales.

Appears to be nearest to “ Amblypodia”’ arvina, Hewitson,* from

Java, but of which I possess a rather small male specimen from the

Daunat Range, figured herewith on plate O, fig. 25; differing from

Hewitson’s figure and description in having the discal band of the

forewing on the underside continuous, instead of the penultimate spot

being projected inwardly ; and in possessing a small but distinct anal

lobe, a feature which appears to be entirely absent from A. arvina.

Hixcept in its superior size, discal band slightly differing, and presence

of an anal lobe, A. aboé seems to be identical with A. arvina.

Described from a single example in my collection.

18, ARHOPALA ADALA, n. sp., Pl. O, Fig. 27, 3.

Hapitat : Daunat Range and Ataran Valley, Tenasserim, Burma.

Expanse: @, 9, 1°7 inches.

Description: Mane, UppErstpe, both wings rich shining deep

blue, distinctly turning to purple in some lights. Forewing with the

costa up to the costal nervure, the apex widely, the outer margin

somewhat widely and decreasingly black, the inner edge of this black

area is irregular as it is penetrated by the blue ground-colour beyond

the end of the discoidal cell and again towards the apex of the wing.

* Til, Diurn. Lep., p. 12, n. 54, pl. ii, figs, 16, 17, male (1863).

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 283

Hindwing with the costa, outer, and abdominal margins broadly black.

UNDERSIDE, both wings glossy reddish-lilac-brown, all the spots darker,

dull reddish-brown, outwardly defined by a fine pale violet line.

Forewing with the inner margin broadly up to the submedian fold and

the first median nervule whitish ; a small oval spot towards the base,

a larger one at the middle, and a still larger quadrate one closing the

discoidal cell; a costal spot; a rather large spot in the submedian

interspace placed at the point where the first median nervule arises ;

another oblique spot at the base of the first median interspace ; a

diseal outwardly-curved continuous chain of seven spots, the spots

slightly and gradually increasing in size from the anteriormost one

on the costa to the fourth, the fifth and sixth the same size as the

fourth, the seventh a mere dot; a prominent submarginal fascia

divided from a marginal series of oval spots by a pale broken line.

Hindwing with the usual four small round spots across the base; a

subcostal spot ; a spot posterior to the last in the middle of the cell ; a

large spot posterior again to the latter ; an elongated spot at the

end of the cell ; a small spot posterior to this; the discal band

much dislocated, the two anteriormost spots well separated and shifted

inwardly from the six spots which follow, touching the elongated spot

at the end of the cell; the second portion of the discal band

consists of six spots, which are all conjoimed, but are placed in pairs

somewhat, the posteriormost of these just touches the last spot of the

discal series, which is placed on the abdominal margin; a rather

prominent lunulated submarginal band ; a marginal series of oval

dark spots ; the anal angle produced but hardly forming an anal lobe.

Femate. UPPERSIDE, both wings with the blue areas smaller than in

the male. Forewing with the costal black border reaching to the sub-

costal nervure, and closing the cell with a wedge-shaped projection ; the

outer margin of the blue area quite regular ; the outer margin of the

wing nearly twice as broadly black as inthe male. Hindwing has the

blue colour confined to a much smaller area on the middle of the disc :

the disco-cellular nervules marked with a black line. UNDERSIDE, Both

wings as in the male, except that the ground-colour is slightly paler.

This species is a little like A. asopia, Hewitson,* from Maulmain,

which is still unknown to me except from Hewitson’s description and

* Tl, Diurn. Lep., p. 14 /, n. 90, pl, iii c, figs. 50, 51 (1869),

284 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

figure, but the blue coloration of the male on the forewing is less

extensive and darker, and has anteriorly an irregular edge ; the shape

of the hindwing is also different, in A. asopia the anal angle is quite

round, in A. adala it is produced to a point so that the abdominal and

outer margins together form an exact right angle. The markings and

coloration of the underside are very close indeed to A. arvina, Hewit-

son, and A. aboé, de Nicéville (ante, No. 17).

Described from a single pair in my collection, the male from the

Ataran Valley, the female from the Daunat Range.

19. ARHOPALA ADULANS, n. sp., Pl. O, Figs. 28,3 ; 29, 2.

Hasrrat: Ataran Valley, Tenasserim, Burma.

HxpansE: ¢, 1°5 to 16; 9, 17 inches.

Description : Mate. UPpprrsine, both wings rich shining deep blue,

distinctly turning to purple in some lights. Forewing with the costa

up to the costal nervure, the apex widely, the outer margin somewhat

widely and decreasingly black, the inner edge of this black area is

irregular as it is penetrated by the blue ground-colour beyond the end

of the discoidal cell and again towards the apex of the wing. Hindwing

with the costa, outer, and abdominal margins broadly black. UNDER-

SIDE, both wings glossy dark lilac-brown, all the spots darker, dull

reddish-brown, outwardly defined by a fine pale violet line. Forewing

with the inner margin broadly up to the median nervure and first

median nervule whitish ; a small oval spot towards the base, a larger

one at the middle, and a still larger elongated one closing the discoidal

cell ; a rather large transverse spot in the submedian interspace placed

at the point where the first median nervule arises ; another oblique

spot at the base of the first median interspace; a discal outwardly

curved continuous unbroken chain of seven spots, the anteriormost and

posteriormost of these spots of equal size, smaller than the rest; a

prominent submarginal fascia divided by a pale broken line from a

marginal series of oval spots. Aindwing with four small round spots

across the base; a subcostal spot; a spot posterior to the last in the

middle of the cell; a large spot posterior again to the latter ; an

elongated spot at the end of the cell: a small spot posterior to this ; the

discal band much dislocated, the two anteriormost spots shifted inwardly

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 285

from the six spots which follow, touching the elongated spot at the

end of the cell and the third spot of the discal series ; the second

portion of the discal band consists of six spots which are all conjoined,

but are placed in pairs somewhat, the posteriormost of these just

touches the last spot of the discal series, which spot is placed on the

abdominal margin ; a rather prominent lunulated submarginal band ;

a marginal series of oval dark spots; the anal angle produced, but

hardly forming an anal lobe, Fematz. Upprrsipe, both wings differ

from the male only in having the black margins throughout almost

twice as broad. UNDERSIDE, both wings as in the male.

On the upperside both sexes of this species agree almost precisely

with <A. adala, de Nicéville, described above (ante, No. 18). On

the underside, however, the ground-colour of A. adulans is distinctly

darker and less reddish ; the pale inner marginal area of the forewing

is more extensive, reaching to the median nervure instead of to the

submedian fold ; and A. adala possesses in the forewing a small costal

spot placed midway between the end of the celland the discal band,

which is wanting in A. adulans. The female of A. adala (which I have

not thought it necessary to figure) has the blue coloration of the upper-

side considerably less extensive than in the same sex of A. adulans, so

that in the forewing the black area broadly covers the disco-cellular

nervules, and in the hindwing occupies about half the surface; in

A. adulans the black colour occupies the outer third of the wing only.

Described from three males and one female in my collection.

20. ARHOPALA ARAMA, n. sp., Pl. O, Fig. 30, &.

Hasirat : Sikkim ; Burma.

Expanse: 4, 1°9 to 2°1 inches.

Duscription: Mate. Uprersipe, both wings rich shining deep

bluish-purple. Forewing with the costa narrowly and the outer

margin somewhat widely black. Hindwing with the costa widely, the

outer margin as wide as in the forewing, black ; the abdominal margin

broadly pale fuscous ; anal lobe black, bearing anteriorly a few white

scales. UNDERSIDE, both wings shining pale ochreous-brown, all the

‘markings of the colour of the ground, and standing out prominently,

bordered widely with dark brown (almost fuscous), with a fine

286 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Voi. IX.

outermost pale line; a submarginal fuscous fascia, continuous, increas-

ing, rather prominent in the forewing, macular and obsolete in the

hindwing. Forewing with the inner margin up to the first median

nervule pale; a small oval spot towards the base, a larger oval

one at the middle, and a still larger quadrate one at the end of

the discoidal cell; above the latter is a prominent costal spot ;

a large spot in the submedian interspace at the point where the

first median nervule arises; a smaller one at the base of the first

median interspace ; the discal band twice dislocated, consisting of four,

then two, then a single spot. Hindwing with the usual four small

round spots across the base ; a subcostal spot; a round spot in the

middle, and an oblong one closing the cell; the latter followed by a

small spot near the base of the first median interspace, and then by a

large one across the middle of the submedian interspace ; the discal

band highly dislocated, the anterior pair of spots far removed from

the pair next to it, touching and placed almost in a line with the

terminal spot in the cell, the second and third pairs of spots touching

each other, the seventh spot V-shaped, the eighth elongated, touch-

ing the internal nervure, both these latter spots standing alone ;

anal lobe large, bearing a deep black spot, anteriorly with a few

metallic green scales ; a few similar scales on the margin between

the anal lobe and the base of the tail; anterior to the anal lobe is

a lengthened obscure irrorated fascia composed of black and white

scales ; tad’ black tipped with white.

This species belongs to a large and difficult group of the genus

Arhopala. It is near to fig. 29, pl. iv, of Hewitson’s Cat. Lyceenide

Brit. Mus. (1862), named “Amblypodia” adatha on the. plate, from

Singapore probably, but differs in the ground-colour of the underside

being pale ochreous-brown instead of rufous, and in having an

additional spot on the costa of the forewing on the underside. It is

also very near to A. silhetensis, Hewitson, figs. 27, 28 of the same

plate, from Sylhet, but if I have correctly identified that species the

shape of the wings is different, .as is also the shade of blue of the

upperside, A. silhetensis being of a much lighter colour. It is also

near to A. adorea, de Nicéville,* the types of which are now in the

* Butt. of India, Burma and Ceylon, vol. iii, p, 238, n. 789, pl. Frontispiece, fig, 139

male (1890). ' ;

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 287

Raffles Museum, Singapore, but the two male “co-types” are in my

collection. Besides these two specimens I possess a very extensive

series of A. adorea from Java, North-East Sumatra, numerous

localities in the Malay Peninsula and Burma, and the Khasi Hills,

from all of these examples it differs in all the spots of the underside

being much smaller and consequently better separated from one

another ; and in having far less metallic green irroration at the anal

angle of the hindwing on the underside. Arhopala ace, de Nicéville,*

from Perak and North-Hast Sumatra, is another allied species, but

the blue coloration of the upperside is much bluer in that species,

there is practically no black border, and the coloration and markings

of the underside are quite different also. It is also allied to A. acestes,}

de Nicéville, from Penang and Perak, but the coloration of the

upperside in that species is very dark purple, and there are no black

borders to the wings ; on the underside all the markings are very much

larger, and the ground-colour is glossed with purple. Lastly, the under-

side is very similar to that of A. bupola, Hewitson, as figured by Hewit-

son on plate Supplement vii, fig. 64, Il. Diurn. Lep., Lycenide,

which species I identify to be the female of A. ewmolphus, Cramer, but

A. arama has the additional costal spot above-named, the ground-colour

of the underside is different, and all the markings are much smaller.

Described from two examples from Sikkim,{ one of which was

taken at about 4,700 feet near Kalimpong by Lieutenant-Colonel

C.T. Bingham ; one from Loi Maw, Katha District, Upper Burma,

and one from the Ataran Valley, Tenasserim, all males, in my

collection. They are quite constant in coloration and markings, and

are readily distinguishable from their allies.

21, ARHOPALA APHA, n. sp., Pl. O, Fig. 31, @.

Hasrrat : Martaban, Maulmain, and Ataran Valley, all in Tenas-

serim, Burma.

Hxpanse: @,1°8 to 2°13; 9, 1°8 inches.

Description : Matz. UPPERSIDE, both wings rich shining deep

bluish-purple. Forewing with the costa narrowly and the outer

*Journ, Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. vii, p. 329, n, 6, pl. H, fig, 13, male (1892),

} Journ, Bomb. Nat, Hist. Soc., vol. vii, p, 380, n. 7, pl. H, fig. 14, male (1892),

¢ One of these I recorded as A. adorea in Butt. of India, Burmah and Ceylon, vol. iij

p. 238. Now that I have large series of true A. adorea, I see that that species is ach

represented in my collection from Sikkim.

988 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX,

margin somewhat widely black. Hindwing with the costa widely,

the outer margin of the same width as in the forewing, black; the

abdominal margin broadly pale fuscous; the anal lobe black, just

touched outwardly with a few white scales. UNDERSIDE, both wings

shining vinous, all the markings large and prominent, pale fuscous,

outwardly bounded by a fine pale line ; a submarginal fuscous fascia ;

a very indistinct marginal fascia. Forewing with the inner margin

prominently and widely pale ochreous, reaching up to the second

median nervule ; a small oval spot towards the base, a larger oval one

at the middle, and a still larger quadrate one at the end of the

discoidal cell ; above the latter is a prominent small costal spot; a

large spot in the submedian interspace at the point where the first

median nervule arises; a similar spot at the base of the first median

interspace ; the discal band nearly straight and even, slightly dislo-

cated only between the fourth and fifth, sixth, and seventh spots;

the latter very variable in size, very small in the type specimen, twice

as large in another specimen, still larger and shaped like a figure 8 in

a third example. Hindwing with the four basal round spots as usual ;

an oval spot at the middle of the cell, with a subcostal spot anterior to

it, and another spot posterior to it in the submedian interspace ; a

large spot at the end of the cell, with a small spot below it at the base

of the first median interspace; the discal band greatly dislocated,

the two anterior spots strongly shifted inwardly from the rest, touching

the spot at the end of the cell; the next four spots nearly in a straight

line ; the seventh spot V-shaped ; the eighth spot elongated, ending

on the internal nervure ; the anal lobe large, jet-black, anterior to

which is a large area reaching from the abdominal margin to the second

median nervule of metallic green scales; an oblong black spot on the

margin on either side of the base of the tail. Frmwatze. UPPERSIDE,

both wings differ from the male only in the black borders being very

much broader, in the forewing reaching the subcostal nervure, and

extending over the disco-cellular nervules. UNDERSIDE, both wings

as in the male.

This species is closely allied to A. arama, de Nicéville (ante, No. 20), .

and to all the species cited in the description of that species above,

but it is distinguished from all of them by the very rich vinous-red

coloration of the underside, in this respect reminding one of A. acestes,

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 289

de Nicéville, but the colour in A. apha is still richer ; in markings it

differs from that species in having an additional costal spot, and all

the spots are much smaller.

Described from three males and one female in my collection.

22. ARHOPALA ANELLA, n. sp., Pl. P, Fig. 82, 9.

Hapirat: Perak, Malay Peninsula.

BExpanse: 9, 2°0 inches.

Description: Frmats. UPPERSIDE, forewing with the costa some-

what widely, the apex widely, and the outer margin widely and evenly

shining fuscous; a narrow fuscous anteciliary line inwardly defined by

an equally fine whitish line ; the disco-cellular nervules defined by a

fuscous bar ; all the rest of the wing shining bluish-purple. Hindwing

with the costa, outer, and abdominal margins broadly shining fuscous;

the outer margin bearing a well-marked series of black lunules, one

in each interspace, outwardly defined by a narrow whitish anteciliary

line; the upper disco-cellular nervule marked bya black bar ; the

rest of the wing shining bluish-purple. Taz/s three, fuscous tipped

with white, a short one at the termination of the second, a long one at

the termination of the first median nervule, and a short one (the

shortest of all) at the termination of the submedian nervure. UNDER-

sIDE, both wings brown with a slight vinous suffusion, all the spots of

a darker shade of brown than the ground-colour, each outwardly

defined by a prominent narrow brown line of a much lighter shade of

brown than the ground-colour. Forewing with an oval spot towards

the base, a larger oval spot across the middle, and a still larger some-

what quadrate-shaped spot closing the discoidal cell ; a costal spot

above the middle spot in the cell ; a large oval spot at the base of the

first median interspace, posterior to which in the submedian interspace

is a large quadrate pale spot or area, which outwardly bears a pair of

geminated spots of the usual description ; a discal series of six spots, the

four anterior ones in a straight line, placed strongly outwardly

obliquely, the two posteriormost ones of the discal series strongly shifted

inwardly, placed one beneath the other in the median interspaces,

290 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

the anteriormost of all small, the others of nearly equal size ; a pro-

minent submarginal dark brown fascia defined with paler on both

sides ; a narrow dark brown marginal line; an anteciliary pale line.

Hindwing with the usual four small round spots across the base of the

wing ; followed by three others placed one above the other, the

anterior one round, placed in the costal interspace, the middle one

oval, placed in the middle of the cell, the posterior one round, placed

in the submedian interspace; a large oblong geminated spot at the end

of the cell ; a small one immediately below this at the base of the first

median interspace ; a discal series of eight spots placed in pairs, the

lower spot of the anteriormost pair touching the upper outer corner of

the spot at the end of the cell and the upper inner corner of the

anterior spot of the next pair of spots of the discal series, the next two

pairs of spots of about equal size, the posteriormost pair of spots very

elongated and recurved to the abdominal margin ; the outer margin

bears first a pale lunular line, then a dark brown lunular line, then

another pale lunular line, then a series of black lunules, then a straight

anteciliary fine pale line; the two black lunules towards the anal

angle larger than the others, very deep black, and crowned broadly

with rich iridescent metallic-green ; anal lobe rather large and

deep black. Cilia of both wings cinereous outwardly, inwardly

fuscous.

A very distinct species, which has no near ally as far as I know.

The markings of the underside are particularly prominent and are all

well defined, somewhat reminding one of those of A. ovomaculata,

Hewitson, from Sumatra. The presence of three tails to the hindwing

is a very rare feature in the genus. In India, A. abseus, Hewitson,

alone possesses three tails (A. amphea, Felder, from the Philippine Isles

and N.-E. Sumatra, is a local race of A. abseus), though some specimens

of A. amantes, Hewitson, may almost be said to possess that number.

A. aglais, Felder, from the Philippines, may also possess three tails.

But there is no species known to me with three such well-marked

tails as are possessed by A. amnella, as a rule the two outer tails

are mere teeth, and are hardly better than slight prolongations of

the cilia.

Described from a single example in my collection.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 291

23. ZHPHYRUS ABSOLON, Hewitson, Pl. P, Figs. 33, @; 34,9.

Dizsas absolon, Hewitson, Ill, Diurn. Lep., Lycenide, p. 65,n.8, pl. xxx, figs. 11, 12

male (1865) ; Zephyrus absolon, de Nicéville, Butt, of India, vol, iti, p, 304, n, 867 (1890),

Hasirat : India (Hewitson) ; West Java.

Expanse: &, 9, 1:6 inches.

Duscription: Matz. UPppsrsipg, oth wings black. Forewing

with rather more than the basal half brilliant metallic dark green

crossed by the black veins, this green area reaches from the base of the

wing to the middle of the costa, occupies the whole of the discoidal

cell, reaches the inner margin, and stops about 2 mms. short of the

anal angle. Hindwing with the basal two-thirds of the same green

colour as the forewing, leaving the costa, outer, and abdominal margins

about equally broadly black. UNDERSIDE, both wings pale brown

slightly washed with vinous. Forewing with a pair of curved fine dark

brown lines at the end of the cell ; a discal dark brown fascia from the

costa to the first median nervule, its immer edge lost in the ground-

colour, its outer edge sharply defined by a narrow pure white line from

the costa to the second median nervule ; a submarginal series of five

quadrate dark brown spots, smallest and palest at the costa, largest and

darkest in the first median interspace, where the series ends; a large

quadrate orange patch on the disc, posteriorly bounded by the sub-

median nervure, anteriorly reaching the lower end of the cell, its inner

edge somewhat irregular, bounded by an imaginary line from the

disco-cellular nervules to the inner margin, its outer edge bounded

by the submarginal macular fascia, anteriorly this orange patch is

broken into by the discal fascia. Aindwing with a pair of fine dark

lines defining the disco-cellular nervules; a narrow discal white line

from the costa to the submedian nervure above the anal angle, where

it is recurved to the abdominal margin, its general direction very

straight, but the line itself a little irregular, inwardly defined by the

ground-colour being slightly darker at that point ; a pair of Junulat-

ed narrow macular pale violet fascize, the outer the broader and formed

of deeper lunules, the ground-colour between these fasciz rather dark ;

a narrow white anteciliary thread ; around black spot in the first

median interspace well removed from the margin, outwardly bounded

by a narrow deep orange (almost vermillion-coloured) ring ; the small

anal lobe deep black ; anterior to which is a small quadrate deep

292 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

orange patch, which is continued for some little distance along the

abdominal margin. Frmatz. UPPERsIDE, both wings shining dark

hair-brown. Forewing with the apical area bounded anteriorly by the

costa, posteriorly by the first median nervule, inwardly by the disco-

cellular nervules, darker than the rest of the wing ; two triangular

discal orange spots placed obliquely, the one nearest the base of the

wing in the lower discoidal interspace, its base placed against the

disco-cellular nervules, its apex directed to the outer margin of the

wing, the other is placed in the middle of the second median in-

terspace. Hindwing unmarked. Cilia of both wings cinereous.

Unpersing, forewing pale brown, the inner margin whitish; the disco-

cellular nervules faintly defined on both sides by a dark line ; the

orange spots of the upperside faintly visible, with an additional small

and indistinct one placed against the middle of the first median nervule

in the first median interspace ; three prominent discal bands, all

commencing on the costa, the first and second ending at the first

median nervule, the third extending a little below it, all of them

nearly straight, slightly outwardly bowed only, and of nearly equal

width ; the band nearest the base of the wing is dark brown, its

outer edge sharply defined, its inner edge lost in the ground-colour ;

the second band is white just tinted with violet; the third band is

dark brown. Hindwing pale violet-brown ; the disco-cellular ner-

vules defined by a narrow whitish and a narrow brown line; a

broad discal white band, posteriorly more or less marked with violet,

its inner edge quite straight, its outer edge outwardly bowed, the band

commences at the costa, where it is broad, it is still broader in the

middle, it becomes quite narrow posteriorly, and at the submedian

nervure is recurved to the abdominal margin ; a highly lunulated sub-

marginal pale violet line ; a narrow white anteciliary thread ; an oval

black spot in the first median interspace outwardly surrounded by an

orange ring, placed between the discal and submarginal bands; a

small black spot on the anal lobe inwardly broadly crowned with

orange, with an orange line anterior to this on the abdominal margin.

Cilia cinereous throughout. Thoraz and body above dark brown ;

abdomen beneath and legs whitish. Antenne black, the club beneath,

the tip of the club throughout, ferruginous.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 293

Apparently nearest to Z. katwra, Hewitson, which is almost certain-

ly the female of 7. atawus, Doubleday and Hewitson, from the Western

Himalayas and Western China,* the male differing therefrom on the

upperside in the darker and less bronzy shade of the green colour,

which also is of far less extent, especially on the forewing, The

underside is totally different. The female differs on the upperside of

the forewing in having the base of the wing dark brown instead of

pale blue” ; the markings of the hindwing on the underside are

very different, in Z. katura the inner edge of the discal band is

highly irregular and broken, in Z. absolon itis quite straight, unbroken,

and regular. The occurrence of a species of so purely palearctic a

genus as Zephyrus in the mountains of Java is highly interesting,

the furthest southward point where any Zephyrus has been found is

in the Khasi Hills of Assam, from whence I described Z. khasea, and

where Z. duma, Hewitson, is also found, though Z. letha, Watson,

from the North Chin Hills, Burma, 5,000 feet, is from a still more

southerly locality.

Described from a single male taken on 26th August, 1892, on Mount

Gede, 4,000 feet, Western Java ; the female figured from Sukabumi,

2,000 feet, Western Java, taken in 1893 ; and a second female taken

at the same place as the male, but on 50th June, 1892, all captured by

Herr H. Fruhstorfer, and given to me. Thesecond female mentioned

above differs from the type in the entire absence of the broad pure

white discal band on the underside of both wings, the band being

replaced by a pale violet band. Mr. Hewitson described the species

from “ India” from a specimen in Dr. Boisduval’s collection. There

is little doubt, I think, that it does not occur in India, and that it is

probably restricted to the mountains of Western Java, where it is

very rare, as Mr, Fruhstorfer informs me that he captured only six

or seven specimens in all,

* Mr. J. H. Leech in Butt, from China, Japan, and Corea, p 375, says that the two

names represent sexes of one species, and he figures both sexes from Moupin in Western

China (pl, xxvii, figs, 5, male; 6, female), Onthe other hand Dr.C, Fixsen in Romanoft’s

Mémoires sur les Lépidoptéres, vol. iii, pp. 268 and 269, places Thecla katura in the

Dipsas group, and Thecla ataxas in the Zephyrus group. He divides the genus Thecla

into eleven groups, and in these mixes up the genera, species and sexes in the most comic

manner,

294 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

24. CAMENA CRETHEUS, n. sp., Pl. P, Fig. 35, @.

Hasitat: W. Java; N.-E, Sumatra.

EXPANsE: 6, 1°35 to 1°45 inches.

Description: MALe. UPrErstbE, both wings rich shining deep blue

of about the same shade as in C. zcetas, Hewitson. Forewing with the costa

as far as the subcostal nervure black (except a few blue scales placed

between the costal and subcostal nervures towards the base of the wing);

the apex broadly black, the inner edge of the black area evenly

curved ; the outer margin narrowly and decreasingly black, about 2

mms. broad at the inner angle. Hindwing with the costa and ab-

dominal margins broadly black, the latter internally becoming

whitish ; the basal two-thirds of the discoidal cell shining fuscous ; the

apex rather broadly black ; the outer margin with an anteciliary black

thread ;a small submarginal black spot in the first median interspace

in one specimen ; the anal lobe black, bearing outwardly a few tur-

qucise-blue scales and then a few white scales, anteriorly marked with

a ferruginous line ; éazs black, tipped with white. Cilia of the forewing

black, of the hindwing whitish. UNDERSIDE, both wings pale leaden-

colour, slightly shining, of a little lighter shade than in Tajuria

mantra, Felder ; a prominent very narrow outer discal dark line, out-

wardly narrowly defined with whitish, in the forewing a little out-

wardly bowed, commencing at the subcostal and ending on the sub-

median nervure, in the hindwing straight from the costa to the third

median nervule, thence highly zigzag, and at the submedian nervure

recurved to the abdominal margin ; an obsolete darker submarginal

fascia. Forewing with a short broad prominent orange band at the

extreme base of the costa, very conspicuous in unset specimens; the

usual tuft of pale ochreous hairs attached to the outwardly-bowed

middle portion of the inner margin and turned under and forwards.

Hindwing with an oval submarginal black spot in the first median

interspace, inwardly very broadly (almost up to the outer discal dark

line) surrounded with orange, this orange colour being continued to

the abdominal margin in a narrow line, beyond which latter is a white

line of the same breadth ; the anal lobe bears an oval deep black spot,

outwardly bounded by a line of brilliant metallic torquoise-blue

scales, these scales being continued into the interspace beyond, that

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 295

interspace bearing marginally and outwardly some grey sprinklings ;

a prominent anteciliary black thread, which is continued very narrowly

on to the forewing, but is there inconspicuous and pale fuscous,

inwardly defined in the hindwing by a pure white thread, anteriorly

becoming obsolete. Palpi whitish below, black above ; face with two

white lines ; thoraz and abdomen above black, beneath pale leaden-

coloured. Antenne above black, beneath dotted with white, the club

beneath dull ferruginous towards the apex.

This species is nearest to C. carmentalis, de Nicéville,* from the Khasi

Hills, ditfering on the upperside in the more blue, less purple ground-

colour, which colour also is of greater extent in both wings. On

the underside C. carmentalis lacks the yellow base to the costa of the

forewing. It is remarkably similar on the upperside to Camena cippus,

Fabricius, which I possess from Assam, Bhutan, Kalar in the Nilgiri

Hills, and Karwar in North Kanara (the two latter localities are here

recorded for the first time), and Dr. L. Martin has it from North-East

Sumatra, caught by myself at Selesseh. It has been recorded from Nepal,

Hast Pegu, the Shan States, the Garo Hills, and Borneo, and doubifully

from Simla and Ceylon. C. cretheus differs on the underside, however,

in not having a brilliantly-shining silvery ground-colour. It is also

near to “ Jolaus” ister, Hewitson, as figured, but that species does not

appear to possess secondary male sexual characters, and the orange

areas on the underside of the hindwing are much smaller. Itis

not unlike the figuret of the male of “ Jolaus”

(= “ Tajuria” relata, Distant, teste Elwes in Proc. Zool. Soc, Lond.,

1892, p. 637), but the discal line on the underside of both wings is much

nearer the outer margin in C. eretheus. It is probably nearest of all to

“ Camena’” icetoides, Elwes,{ from the Karen Hills, Burma, differing

therefrom apparently in having a large tuft of hairs attached to the

inner margin of the forewing, this tuft in C. zcetoides being said

to be “absent or very much reduced ;’’ in the present species it 1s

large and whitish; further, the orange costal streak to the forewing

isceus, Hewitson,

* Camena carmentalis, de Nicéville, Journ, Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. vii, p. 335, n. 12,

pl. H, fig. 10, male (1892).

+ Iolaus iswus, Hewitson, I. Diurn, Lep., Lycanide, p. 44,n. 15, pl. xix, figs, 13, 14,

male (1865), from Sarawak, Borneo,

t Proc. Zool. Soc, Lond., 1892, p. 636, pl. xliv, fig, 3, male,

296 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

on the underside appears to be entirely absent in that species, and the

orange areas on the hindwing are also smaller in C. icetodes.

Described from two male specimens kindly sent to me by Mr. H,

Fruhstorfer and taken by himself at Sukabumi, W. Java, 2,000 feet,

in 1898, and from a single male in the collection of Hofrath Dr. L,

Martin, taken in the Battak mountains of North-Hast Sumatra in

March,

Genus OPS, nov.

Matz. Forrwine, ample ; costa regularly arched throughout its

length ; apew rather acute; outer margin convex ; inner angle round-

ed; enner margin nearly straight, slightly concave in the middle;

costal nervure terminating on the costa about opposite the apex of the

discoidal cell; jirst subcostal nervule arising nearer to the apex of the

cell than to the base of the wing, near its origin slightly bent towards

the costal nervure; second subcostal arising nearer to the origin of

the first subcostal than to the upper disco-cellular nervule ; third

subcostal arising nearer to the apex of the wing than to the apex of

the cell; upper disco-cellular nervule minute, outwardly oblique ;

middle and lower disco-cellulars upright, in one straight line, the middle

shorter than the lower ; second median nervule arising well before the

lower end of the cell ; first median arising rather less than twice as far

from the second as the second does from the third; submedian nervure

slightly sinuous ; a large round discal patch of androconza on the upper=

side of the wing occupying the outer end of the cell, anteriorly bounded

by the second subcostal, posteriorly reaching to the middle of the

first median interspace. Hinpwine, with the costa greatly arched

at the base, regularly arched to the apex ; apea well rounded; outer

margin straight as far as the second median nervule when it is sudden-

ly angled, from this tooth-like projection the outer margin is sinuated

as far as the anal lobe ; anterior to the anal lobe is an excavation ;

abdominal margin convex ; tails two, of nearly equal length, the inner

rather the longer perhaps, arising from the terminations of the sub-

- median nervure and first median nervule ; costal nervure much arched

at the base, regularly arched to the apex of the wing; jirst subcostal

nervule also arched at the base, arising well before the apex of the cell ;

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES, 297

disco-cellular nervules straight, strongly outwardly oblique, the

upper a little shorter than the lower; second median nervule arising

close to the lower end of the cell; jirst median arising much

nearer the end of the cell than the base of the wing ; submedian

and internal nervures nearly straight. Palp, long, naked, porrect, in

the same straight line as the axis of the body. Eyes naked. Antenne

short, about half as long, or a little less, than the costa of the

forewing ; with a long very slightly swollen club. Fran, differs

from the male in both wings being broader, and in the absence

of the ‘*male-mark’’ in the forewing. Type, Ops ogyges, de

Nicéville.

This genus is certainly allied to those which are clustered around

Camena, Hewitson, and Tajuria, Moore. It is, however, unique as far

as Indian genera go—at any rate in the group which has two short

tails to the hindwing in both sexes arising from the submedian

nervure and first median nervule, and three subcostal nervules to the

forewing—in the secondary sexual characters of the male. The

_ genera Arrhenothrix, de Nicéville, and Camena have tufts of hair on

the inner margin of the forewing towards the base of the wing turned

under and forwards, which is entirely wanting in the genus Ops ;

nor does it possess the glandular patch of scales on the hindwing

towards the base of the costa found in those two genera and also

in Maneca, de Nicéville ; but instead, it possesses a large round

patch of androconia on the upperside of the forewing near the

middle. As regards “male-marks’ it is nearest to Maneca, but

that genus has it on the hindwing instead of on the forewing. From

Maneca it differs considerably in the outline of the wings, the

forewing has the costa much more convex, in Maneca it is nearly

straight, and the hindwing is produced outwardly tooth-like at the

termination of the second median nervule, which is not the case in

Maneca. In neuration and outline it agrees very closely with

Tajuria, especially with Tajura jalindra, Horsfield, and its local

races, I’. indra, Moore, 7. tarpina, Hewitson, and 7. burbona, Hewitson

(=“ Charana” datoe, Martin, MS.) ; but the presence of the “ male-

mark ” separates the species of Ops from all those of Tajuria.

298 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, IX,

25. (1) OPS OGYGES, n. sp., Pl. P, Figs. 36, 3; 37, 9.

Hapirat : Maulmain, Tenasserim, Burma.

ExpansE: $, 1°6 to 1:8; 9, 1°9 inches.

Description: Mate. UppErsipe, both wings iridescent pale cerulean-

blue in some lights, iridescent emerald-green in other lights. Forewing

with the base of the costa pale ochreous ; the outer half of the discoidal

cell, the apex very broadly, and the outer margin decreasingly black ;

in certain lights the large circular patch of shining fuscous androconia

is very prominent. Hindwing with the costa broadly black, the abdo-

minal margin broadly whitish, the outer margin with an anteciliary

black thread ; the anal lobe black, powdered over with white scales,

and bearing inwardly a small ferruginous patch ; tads black, tipped

with white ; c7a of both wings black. UNDERSIDE, both wings dull

brownish-fuscous, of almost the same shade as in Camena cleobis,

Godart; an outer discal or submarginal prominent narrow dark

fuscous line; a very indistinct marginal fascia. Forewing with

the discal line nearly straight, only slightly outwardly curved,

commencing on the subcostal nervure beyond the point where

the third subcostal nervule arises, ending on the submedian nervure.

Hindwing has the discal line quite straight from the costa to the third

median nervule, afterwards to the abdominial margin itis regularly

zigzagged ;a small round black spot in the first median interspace

well removed from the outer margin, inwardly crowned narrowly with

orange, outwardly bearing some metallic turquoise-blue scales; the _

next interspace bears on the margin a few turquoise-blue scales touch-

ing the submedian nervure; the anal lobe bears a moderately-sized round

black spot, narrowly anteriorly crowned with orange, outwardly with

some metallic turquoise-blue scales ; a narrow black anteciliary line ;

cilia of both wings of the colour of the ground of the wings. Body —

above throughout very hairy, pale blue, the abdomen beneath ochreous,

FremaLe. UPPERSIDE, both wings pale dull blue without any metallic

lustre whatever. Forewing with the blue coloration of much greater

extent than in the male, owing to the absence of the “ male-mark,”

and occupying the whole of the discoidal cell. Hindwing with traces

of a submarginal black band ; an indistinct round black spot in the

first median interspace. Otherwise as in the male,

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 299

The female of this species appears to be nearest to the same sex of

Tajuria mantra, Felder, of which there isa single example in the

collection of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, from Mergui, taken in

March by Dr. J. Anderson. Itdiffers from this specimen, as also from

Felder’s description and figure, in the small extent of the yellow

coloration at the anal angle of the hindwing on the underside. In this

respect also it agrees with Hewitson’s figure of “ Jolaus” mantra in

Mil. Diurn. Lep., Lycenide, pl. xx, fig. 24, female (1865), which

figure appears to have been taken from what Hewitson on page 46,

n. 20, calls a “ var.” from Macassar in Celebes, and is said to have

the hindwing on the upperside “all brown,” in 0. ogyges it is nearly

all blue. Mr. Distant has evidently figured afemale from Malacca of

the true T. mantra in Rhop, Malay., p. 245, n. 2, pl. xxi, fig. 11 (1884),

Tajuria relata, Distant, 1.¢., p. 246, n. 3, pl. xxi, fig. 12, female (1884),

is perhaps still more nearly allied to O. ogyges than is T. mantra,

but that species differs from the same sex of O. ogyges in its smaller

size, and the greatly curved form of the discal line on the under-

side of the forewing ; in O. ogyges it is almost straight. Mr. Elwes

says that 7’. relata is the same species as “ Jolaus” isceus, Hewitson,

and in this I think he is right.

Described from five males and a female in my collection.

26. 4(2) OPS CITA. n. sp, El P, Big. 38, 3.

Hasitat: Maulmain and Daunat Range, Tenasserim, Burma.

EXPaANsE: @, 1:65 and 1°85; 9, 1:80 inches.

Description: Mauer. Upprrsipn, both wings pale shining (but

not iridescent) cerulean-blue. Forewing with the base of the costa

pale ochreous, the rest of the costa, the apex very broadly, and the outer

margin decreasingly, black; the large round discal patch of black

androconia is not very distinct, but can be seen in some lights as a

darker shade. Hindwing with the costa very broadly black, extending

as far as the second subcostal nervule ; the outer margin decreasingly

black, reduced to a fine anteciliary thread at the third median nervule;

anal lobe black, anteriorly obscurely crowned with ferruginous, sprinkled

throughout thickly with white scales ; tadls black, edged and

tipped with white ; cilia of both wings fuscous, UNDERSIDE,

300 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

both wings pale reddish-brown, outwardly becoming whitish ; the

disco-cellular nervules marked with a dark brown line, a dark brown

discal line, and an obscure submarginal fascia, Forewing has the

discal line gently outwardly curved, formed of outwardly-curved

lunules, each lunule crossing an interspace, the line commences

on the subcostal nervure just within the point where the third

subcostal nervule originates, and ends on the submedian nervure ;

the inner margin up to the submedian fold white. Hindwing with

the discal line throughout its length highly irregular, posteriorly

it is zigzagged and recurved to the abdominal margin ; a minute

black spot surrounded by a narrow ferruginous ring in the first

median interspace ; between this spot and the outer margin and the

next two interspaces towards the anal angle black thickly sprinkled

over with white scales ; the anal lobe bears a small round deep black

spot, crowned with ferruginous. Body above very pilose, pale blue ;

beneath ochreous. Frmate. UPpErsiDE, both wings pale blue, of a

lighter and duller shade than in the male, with no iridescence. ore-

wing with the blue coloration of greater extent than in the male owing

to the absence of the “ male-mark.” Hindwing has the outer black

margin reduced owing to the greater extent of the blue ground-colour;

the black anteciliary thread inwardly defined by an equally fine white

thread. Otherwise as in the male.

O. eta is near to O. ogyges, de Nicéville, but differs in many

important particulars. The coloration of the upperside is different,

it is not iridescent, and is never emerald-green inany light; in the

forewing there is less blue on the inner margin, the black area on

the outer margin being broader, and there is more blue in the

discoidal cell ; the “ male-mark ” is less prominent. On the hindwing

the outer margin is more broadly black, in O. ogyges it bears a black

anteciliary thread only. On the underside the ground-colour of both

wings is redder, the disco-cellular nervules are marked with a dark

line, the discal line is more irregular, and is further removed from the

outer margin. It appears to be allied to “ Myrina” deudoriz, Hewit-

son,* from Mindanao in the Philippines (Hewztson and Semper), but

een ce eae i ier fit ain AL ULM Ny Ue SvDDTLUnIT TIDE NDT NUTT annIP a RGUanNDTnTraenrreaetiar nitnrnetrtcn eeeieaeaee cme

* Tl. Diurn. Lep., Lycenide, p. Supplement 2, n. 43, pl. Supplement ii, figs, 64, 65,

mate (1869).

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 301

that species has the discal line on the underside of both wings “ white

bordered inwardly with brown.” On the upperside the two species

hardly differ.

Described from two male and one female example in my collection.

(3) OPS MELASTIGMA, de Nicéville.

Tajuria melastigma, de Nicéville, Proc. Zool. Soc, Lond., 1887, p. 460, pl. xl, fig. 1, male;

idem, id., Butt. of India, vol. iii, p. 379, n. 935 (1890).

Haprrat : Sikkim; Khasi Hills; Burma; North Kanara ; Nilgiri

Hills.

Very near to O. ogyges, de Nicéville, but in the male on the upper-

side the blue coloration is different, of a darker shade, and never

iridescent emerald-green in any light. The “ male-mark” is still more .

prominent than in O. ogyges, is more quadrate in form, does not extend

into the discoidal cell, and posteriorly reaches the first median nervule

only instead of ending midway between the first and second median

nervules.

27. TAJURIA TURA, n. sp., Pl. P, Fig. 89, ¢.

Hapirat: Battak Mountains, N.-E. Sumatra ; W. Java.

HxpanseE: ¢@, 1°6 inches.

Description : Mate. Uprursipe, both wings rich shining blue.

Cilia cinereous. Forewing with the costa up to the subcostal nervure,

the apex very widely (its inner edge very irregular), the outer

margin decreasingly black, at the anal angle the black colour is re-

duced to a mere thread. Hindwing with the costa and apex somewhat

broadly fuscous; an anteciliary black thread ; the anal lobe small and

black, with a few turquoise-blue scales posteriorly, and a dull ferruginous

line anteriorly ; abdominal margin broadly whitish ; ads black tip-

ped with white. Unpersie, both wings pale French-grey ; a fine darker

line closing the discoidal cells ; a similar discal line, on the forewing

commencing at the costa, ending on the submedian nervure, approach-

ing the outer margin posteriorly, slightly outwardly curved, in the

hindwing anteriorly straight, posteriorly zigzag and recurved

to the abdominal margin. Hindwing with an oval deep black spot

in the first median interspace close to the margin, anteriorly with a

large patch of clear yellow ; the anal lobe bearing an oval deep black

302 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

spot, anteriorly with asmall patch of clear yellow; the submedian

interspace between the discal line and the outer margin heavily sprinkled

with (as seen under a magnifying glass) dull blue scales on a black

ground; an anteciliary black thread. Czlia whitish at the anal angle,

anteriorly black.

Near to “ Jolaus” ister, Hewitson,* from India, but that species

is smaller, apparently of a lighter shade of blue on the upperside, the

apical area of the hindwing more widely fuscous, and the yellow

patch crowning the black spot in the first median interspace of the

hindwing on the underside much smaller. Also near to T. thyia,

de Nicéville,t from the Khasi Hills, Assam, but that species is smaller,

with the black coloration on the upperside of both wings more extensive,

with a very narrow ferruginous ring surrounding the subanal black

spot on the hindwing below. Also near to T. albiplaga, de Nicéville,t

from Sikkim, but that species in the male has the blue coloration of

the upperside of both wings much paler, and also differs a good deal

in the details of the markings of the underside.

Described from a single example (the type} obtained at Sukabumi,

2,000 ft., Western Java, during 1893, by Mr. H. Fruhstorfer; and

another specimen taken in August in the Battak Mountains of North-

Hast Sumatra and kindly given to me by Hofrath Dr. L, Martin.

28. TAJURIA TYRO, n. sp., Pl. P, Fig. 40, 9.

Hasirat: Ataran Valley, Tenasserim, Burma ; N.-H. Sumatra.

EXPANSE : 9, 1°25 to 1°35 inches.

Description: Frmate. Upprrsipe, both wings’ pale cerulean-

blue. Iorewing with the costa as far as the subcostal nervure, the apex

widely, and the outer margin decreasingly black. Hindwing with

* TIL Diurn, Lep., Lycenide, p. 43, ». 13, pl. xix, figs. 15,16, female (1865). Mr. G.

F, Hampson has kindly examined the tyre specimen in the British Museum collection,

and informs me that it is from Moulmein, Burma, Archdeacon Clerk’s collection, that it

may bea male, but the legs are wanting and the apex of the abdomen has been destroyed

by mites, so that the sex isa little uncertain. It has three subcostal nervules to the fore-

wing. It bas no secondary sexual characters,

+ Tajuria thyia, de Nicéville, Journ. Bomb. Nat, Hist. Soc,, vol, vii, ps 336, n. 18, pl. H,

fig, 11, male (1892),

t Tajuria albiplaga, de Nicéville, Proc; Zool. Soc. Lond., 1887, ps 459, pl, xxxix, figs. 1,

male ; 2, female.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 303

the costa and abdominal margin whitish ; a narrow anteciliary black

line which widens out at the apex and is continued some distance

along the costa ; anal lobe entirely black ; tazls black, tipped and

edged with white. Unoxursips, Goth wings pale French-grey ; a very

indistinct submarginal darker fascia. Forewing with a discal, some-

what irregular, slightly outwardly curved, dark French-grey band or

line, outwardly defined with white, commencing at the second subcostal

nervule, ending on the submedian nervure. Hindwing with a similar

discal line but much more irregular throughout its length than on the

forewing, posteriorly highly zigzagged and recurved to the abdominal

margin ; a large round black spot on the margin in the first median

interspace, prominently anteriorly crowned with yellow ; the submedian

interspace on the margin white sprinkled with black scales; the anal

lobe bearing a small deep black spot, which bears outwardly some

metallic green scales ; anterior to this spot is a short yellow fascia reach-

ing the abdominal margin, well separated from the yellow patch in the

first median interspace; a fine black anteciliary thread, inwardly

defined by an equally fine white thread. ace white in front. Palpi

with the first and second joints white, the third black. Hyes surround-

ed by a white line. Antenne black, the shaft finely annulated with

white. Body above blue, beneath whitish. Legs white, prominently

ringed with black.

In general appearance this species very closely resembles Britomartis

cleoboides, Elwes, and B. buto, de Nicéville, differing structurally,

however, in possessing three instead of two subcostal nervules to the

forewing. From the female of B. cleoboides it ditters on the upperside

of the forewing in having the blue area of greater extent, thereby

reducing the black apical area by about one-half ; the anal lobe of the

hindwing is entirely black, in B. cleoboides it is crowned with ochreous,

and bears some metallic blue scales. On the underside of both

wings the discal line in B. cleoboides is distinctly deep ochreous, almost

ferruginous (Elwes calls it “ pale yellow,” but viewed under a strong

magnifying glass it is really dark yellow) instead of dark French-

grey, it is also outwardly curved, in B. cleoboides it is very straight in

all my twenty specimens (seventeen males-and three females), on the

hindwing also the discal line is very much more irregular ; the two

yellow anal areas do not meet as they do in B. cleoboides; and the

304 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

space between them on the margin does not bear metallic blue scales.

From B. buto it differs on the upperside in the different shade of the

ground-colour, being a paler blue and not iridescent green in any

light ; the blue colour also is far more extensive in the forewing; and

the same differences hold good on the underside as regardsthe discal band

as obtain between it and B. cleoboides, but it agrees with B. buto in the

complete separation of the yellow patches on the hindwing. From

“ Tolaus”’ ister, Hewitson, of which I possess a female from Maulmain,

Burma, and another from Borneo, it differs in the greater extent of the

blue coloration of the forewing on the upperside, and in the outline

of the hindwing, in 7’. tyro the outer margin is well rounded, making

the wing broader, in “Zolaus” ister the outer margin is straight, there=

by making the wing much narrower. Colonel Swinhoe* suggests that

“ Tolaus” ister is the female and Camena carmentalis{ the male of one

andthesame species, I made the same remark when describing the latter,

but now that I possess specimens of “ Jolaus” éster, I think it improba-

ble that this is so, as the coloration of my species on the upperside

is of a distinctly purple shade, while “ /olaus” ister is pale “ cerulean-

blue,” as Hewitson quite correctly describes it. Tajuria relata, Distant,t

is another allied but quite distinct species, which is said by Mr. H. J.

Elwes to be the same as 7’. zseus, Hewitson, see ante p. 295. It is very

unfortunate that the female sex of so many allied species should alone

be known. It may be, however, that the sexes of several of the known

species of Tajuria have been incorrectly diagnosed ; the males

are often very difficult to determine, having no “ male-marks ” or

distinctive coloration, and it is more than probable, I think, that male

specimens are often recorded as female and vice versa in this genus.

Described from two examples from Tenasserim and three from

N.-E. Sumaira in my collection.

Genus BRITOMARTIS, nov.

Mate. Forrwrne, short, broad; costa regularly and evenly somewhat

strongly arched ; apex rounded ; outer margin regularly convex;

tnner angle rounded ; inner margin slightly concave, longer than the

+ Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc,, vol. vii, p. 335, n. 12, pl. H, fig. 10, male (1892).

{ Rhopalocera Malayana, pp. 246 and 460, n. 3, pl. xxi, fig. 12, female (1884-86), from

Province Wellesley and Malacca (Distant), Perak (coll. de Nicéville).

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES, 305

outer margin ; costal nervure ending opposite the apex of the discoidal

cell; first subcostal nervule emitted nearer the apex of the cell than the

base of the wing, bowed upwards near its origin and almost touching the

costal nervure ; second subcostal arising twice as far from the first sub-

costal as it does from the upper disco-cellular nervule ; discoidal cell

somewhat broad, reaching to the middle of the wing ; upper disco-

cellular nervule stout, long, strongly outwardly oblique; mzddle disco-

cellular long, upright, concave ; lower disco-cellular longer than the

middle one, slightly inwardly oblique, concave ; second median ner-

vule arising well before the lower end of the cell ; first median

arising twice as far from the second as the second does from the third ;

submedian nervure straight ; a large patch of androconia on the up-

perside of the wing occupies the outer three-fourths of the cell, and

extends into the discoidal and median interspaces. Hinpwine, much

longer than broad ; costa arched at the base, thence to apex slightly

curved only ; apex well rounded ; outer margin anteriorly straight,

somewhat produced like the teeth ofa saw at the terminations of the

second and first median nervules ; tacls two, short, the outer arising

at the termination of the first median nervule, rather longer than the

inner at the termination of the submedian nervure; anal lode

small ; abdominal margin excavated above the anal lobe, then

convex ; costal nervure strongly curved at the base, then slightly

curved, ending at the apex of the wing ; first subcostal nervule

arising well before the apex of the cell, curved at the base,

then nearly straight ; upper désco-cellular nervule outwardly oblique,

slightly concave ; lower disco-cellular nearly upright (only slightly

outwardly oblique), slightly concave, a little longer than the upper

disco-cellular ; second median nervule arising quite close to the

lower end of the cell; first median arising somewhat nearer to the

lower end of the cell than to the base of the wing ; submedian nervure

straight ; internal nervure straight at the base, lying close to the

submedian nervure, then curved towards the abdominal margin.

Antenne short, about half the length of the costa of the forewing, with

an elongated, rather slender club. Palp? porrect, naked, third joint

long. yes naked. Frmatz. Boru wines, somewhat broader than

in the male. Forrwine, lacks the patch of androconia on the upperside,

Otherwise as in the male. Type, “ Camena” cleoboides, Elwes,

306 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

Of the Indian genera with two subcostal nervules only to the fore-

wing, Britomartis seems to be nearest allied to Hypolycena, Felder, of

which H. tmolus, Felder, from the Philippines, is the type. Herr

Georg Semper considers H. tmolus to be a “ Variety” only, or more

properly a “‘ Local race” of H. erylus, Godart. From the latter species

B. cleoboides differs in the forewing being shorter; the “ male-mark’’

somewhat differently placed, occupying a much larger area in the cell ;

the second subcostal nervule arises twice as far from the base of the

first subcostal as from the origin of the upper disco-cellular nervule,*

in H. erylus the exact opposite obtains; the second median nervule

arising further from the lower end of the cell; and the eyes being

apparently naked instead of hairy. From the genus Chliaria, Moore,

of which “ Hypolycena’” othona, Hewitson, is the type, it may be

known by the naked eyes, and by the second subcostal nervule of the

forewing being far removed from, instead of close to, the first sub-

costal at its origin ; the hindwing, also, is longer and narrower.

Britomartis has male secondary sexual characters, which Chliarca

entirely lacks.

(1). BRITOMARTIS CLEOBOIDES, Elwes.

Camena cleoboides, Elwes, Proc. Zool. Soc, Lond., 1892, p. 687, pl. xliv, figs, 4, male ; 5,

female ; Tolaus iseus, Hewitson, Il. Diurn, Lep., Lycenide, Supplement p. 10, Supplement

pl. iv, figs, 35, 36, male (1869), (nec idem, id., 1. c., p. 44, n. 15, pl. xix, figs. 18, 14, female

(1865) ; Tajuria mantra, part (nec Felder), Moore, Journ, Linn. Soc. Lond., Zoology,

vol. xxi, p. 44 (1886) ; id., de Nicéville, Butt. of India, vol. iii, p. 380, n. 936 (1890),

Hasirat: Karen Hills, Burma (Hlwes); Sarawak, Borneo

(Hewitson) ; Owen Island, Mergui Archipelago, January, captured

by Dr. J. Anderson (Moore) ; Méple, Middle Tenasserim, Burma,

captured by de Nicéville in October, 1892; Ataran Valley, Tenasserim,

Burma ; N.-E. Sumatra, captured by Hofrath Dr. L. Martin ; Suka-

bumi, Western Java, 2,000 feet, captured by Herr H. Fruhstorfer in

1893—all in coll. de Nicéville.

Mr. Elwes says of this species that it has “A large round velvet

patch free from blue scales in the cell of the forewing and with raised

* Actually there is no upper disco-cellular nervule in this genvs, what I have described

above as that veinlet being the basal portion of the upper disccidal veinlet, the middle

disco-cellular veinlet arising from the upper discoidal some distance from the base of the

latter.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 307

androconia,” This hardly expresses the facts of the case, as will be at

once seen by areference to Mr. Hlwes’ figure 4. The “ male-mark’ is

not “ free from blue scales,”’ but is composed of blue scales, but they

appear to be placed at a different angle to the other blue scales on the

wing, and they are not of the same shade of blue, being, indeed, quite

purple in some lights. Mr, Elwes quite correctly points out (probably

from a note of the capturer of the type specimens, Mr. W. Doherty),

that it has only two branches to the subcostal nervure in the fore-

wing. In the male the blue coloration of the forewing on the upper-

side is somewhat variable, in specimens from the same locality it is

more extensive in some than in others, sometimes almost reaching the

anal angle, sometimes far removed from it.

On a closer examination of the pair of specimens of Tajuria mantra,

Felder, teste Moore, taken by Dr. John Anderson in the Mergui

Archipelago, Lower Burma, in the cold weather of 1881-82, and now

deposited in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, I find that one specimen

only (the female) is true 7. mantra, the other (the male) being

B. cleoboides. T. mantra is a much larger species, has a much darker

ground-colour on the underside, and the discal linear fascia is placed

much nearer the outer margin than in B. cleoboides.

Mr, G. F. Hampson writes to me as follows regarding the type

specimen of “ Jolaus” isceus, Hewitson,* from Sarawak, Borneo :—

“ The figure should be of a darker shade of blue, as in the male of

Tajuria longinus, Fabricius ; the discal line on the underside of both

wings should be more continuous, broader, and fulvous; reduced to

obliquely-placed fulvous streaks above the anal yellow patch in the

hindwing. The ‘ male-mark’ consists of a large patch of roughened

scales filling the whole outer part of the discoidal cell of the forewing

on the upperside, and extending rather beyond its limits. There are

no tufts of hairs between the wings. The forewing has only two

subcostal nervules.” This note and a study of the figure leads me to

believe that this specimen is the same species as the B. cleoboides of

Hlwes ; Hewitson’s name isceus will however stand, as the female

specimen he first figured as that species is of a different genus to the

male specimen he subsequently figured as the opposite sex of his

* Il. Diurn. Lep, Lycenide, Supplement, p. 10, Supplement pl, iv, figs, 35, 36, male

(1869),

308 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

“ Tolaus”’ isceus. I am inclined to agree with Mr. Elwes that the

Tajuria relata of Distant from Province Wellesey and Malacca is

the female of T. iseus,as I possess a female specimen of TJ. relata

from Perak, which agrees exactly in the coloration and markings

of the underside with Mr. Hewitson’s figure, pl. xix, fig. 14, im

which case Hewitson was correct in tke first instance in calling

his original type example a male : subsequently he corrected himself,

and said it was a female.

29. (2) BRITOMARTIS BUTO, n. sp., Pl. P, Fig. 41, 9.

Hasitat: Ataran Valley, Tenasserim, Burma ; N.-H. Sumatra.

EXpPANsE: @, 12 inches.

Description: FrmMaue. Upprrsipn, both wings iridescent cerulean-

blue in some lights (of the exact shade found in the common

Camena cleobis, Godart), emerald-green in others. Forewing, with

the apical half black, the blue or green coloration being confined to the

basal half of the discoidal cell, a small patch in the middle of the

first median interspace, the whole of the submedian interspace

except an oblique portion on the outer margin, and the sutural area

except the extreme outer margin. Hindwing with the costa and

abdominal margin whitish ; a very narrow anteciliary black line, towards

the anal angle inwardly defined by an equally fine white line ; anal

lobe black, anteriorly just touched with dark ochreous, outwardly

bearing a few turquoise-blue scales; tals black, edged and tipped

with white. UNpERSIDE, both wings pale French-grey. Forewing

with a narrow discal macular dark ochreous band or line outwardly

defined with white, it commences on the second subcostal nervule, and

ends on the submedian nervure, the band is slightly outwardly curved ;

a very indistinct submarginal darker fascia. Hindwing has the discal

band as on the forewing, but posteriorly it is highly zigzagged and

recurved to the abdominal margin; a very indistinct submarginal

darker fascia ; an oval rather large deep black spot in the first median

interspace broadly crowned with yellow ; the next posterior interspace

on the margin is white, heavily irrorated with black scales, and bearing

inwardly some brilliant metallic-green scales ; anal lobe black, out-

wardly bearing some brilliant metallic-green scales; above the anal

lobe is a short band of yellow colour ending inwardly on the abdominal

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES, 309

margin, outwardly not reaching the patch of the same colour crowning

the black spot in the first median interspace ; a fine black anteciliary

line inwardly defined by a similar white line; cilia throughout

cinereous. Face white in front. Palpi white, the third joint

black. yes surrounded by a white line. Antenne black with very

small white annulations. Body blue above, whitish beneath. Legs

white, prominently ringed with black.

On the upperside B. buto differs from the same sex of B. cleoboides,

Elwes, in the colour of the ground, being distinctly of a lighter shade

and emerald-green in some lights, instead of being of the same shade of

blue in all lights; the blue area on the upperside of the forewing is

of considerable less extent, as will be at once observed by consulting

Mr. Elwes’ excellent figure 5 of the female of B. cleobordes ; on

the underside of the forewing in B. cleobordes the discal band is straight

from the costa to the submedian fold, posterior to which it is directed

inwardly slightly, in 8. buto it is distinctly outwardly curved, and

is, moreover, placed considerably nearer the outer margin; on the

hindwing the black spot in the first median interspace is twice as

large, and the yellow area crowning that spot is well separated from |

the yellow fascia placed interior to it, while in B. cleoboides these two

yellow areas are conjoined. There isa slight difference in outline also—

B. cleoboides is a more “ chubby” or truncated insect, the costa of the

forewing being short, while the forewing of B. buto is more produced

at the apex, and the costa consequently longer. It has two subcostal

nervules only in the forewing. From the figure of “ Jolaus” ister,

Hewitson, the present species may be known by the blue coloration of

the forewing on the upperside being of much less extent.

Described from two examples in my collection, one each from

Tenasserim and N.-H. Sumatra.

30. CHLIARIA AMABILIS, Martin, Pl. P, Fig. 42, ¢.

Hapitat : N.-E. Sumatra; Java.

Expanse: @, 1:0 inch.

Description: Matz, Uppersipe, both wings rich dark ultramarine-

blue visible in all lights, but distinctly iridescent, so that the colour is

much brighter and more prominent in some lights than in others,

310 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

Forewing with the costa up to the subcostal nervure, the apex some-

what broadly, the outer margin decreasingly black. Cilia black.

Hindwing with the costa and apex black ; a fine white and then a

fine black anteciliary thread, both prominent at the anal angle,

obsolete before reaching the apex of the wing; three round equal-

sized black spots at the anal angle ; the two innermost ones with a

patch of pure white anterior to them ; abdominal margin dusky ;

tails short, the outer one rather the longer, white centred with black.

Cilia white. UNDERSIDE, both wings bluish-white ; the disc crossed by

a narrow ochreous band, straight in the forewing from the second sub-

costal to the first median nervule, then slightly deflected towards the

base of the wing and ending on the submedian nervure ; on the hindwing

the band is straight from the costa to the third median nervule, the

portion from the third to the first median nervule is also straight, but

is shifted inwardly towards the base of the wing, then there is a

perfect V-shaped portion in the submedian interspace ; lastly there

are two parallel portions extending obliquely forwards from the .

internal nervure to the abdominal margin. Forewing with the apex

broadly, the outer margin decreasingly, brownish-ochreous. Culza

black. indwing with a highly irregular macular black band

beyond the discal ochreous band; a marginal series of six rounded

black spots, the anal one large, the one in the first median interspace

still larger, the four remaining spots small, the fourth from the anal

angle the smallest of all ; a fine anteciliary black thread. Czlia white.

Thorax and abdomen above blue, beneath white. Antenne black, the

shaft narrowly annulated with white.

Nearest to Chliarta merguia, Doherty,* from Mergui, of which 1

possess a specimen from the Mibbu Pass, Tenasserim, Burma, cap-

tured by Colonel C. T. Bingham in January, and another fromthe Katha

district of Upper Burma; Mr. H. J. Elwes records it from Perak;

and I have both sexes from Bekantschan taken in March and the

Battak Mountains taken in March and December—both in North-Kast

Sumatra. C. amabilis differs from that species in being a little smaller,

male (1889).

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 311

rich dark iridescent ultramarine-blue instead of “ dull indigo-blue,”

and the marginal spots of the hindwing on the underside larger and

more intensely black. The two species are abundantly distinct, the

coloration of the upperside alone will instantly distinguish between them,

besides many small differences in the details of the markings. The

figure of C. merguia is not very good, the underside is mostly “ pearl-

grey,” it is shown of a dull ochreous tint almost throughout.

Described from a single example (the specimen described and

figured) from Java without precise locality, kindly sent to me by

Mr. H. Fruhstorfer, and another male from N.-E. Sumatra sent to

me by Hofrath Dr. L. Martin, who has other examples in his own

collection. He informs me that he has recently described this species,

but the description has not as yet reached me. However, I have

adopted his name for it.

31, CHLIARIA TORA, Kheil, Pl. P, Fig. 43, 9.

Aypolycenu tora, Kheil, Rhop. Nias, p. 31, 0. 99, pl. v, fig. 40, male (1884); Chharia

tora, Elwes, Proc. Zool. Soc, Lond., 1892, p. 639.

Hasirat: Nias (Khe) ; Perak (tilwes ; coll. de Nicéville) ; N.-E.

Sumatra (coll. Martin and de Niceville) ; Borneo (coll. de Nicéville).

EXpanseE: Q, °9 of an inch.

Desorietion : Fematz. UPPERSIDE, both wings dull leaden-fuscous,

with a slight gloss in some lights. ov‘ewmg immaculate. Cilia grey.

Hindwing with four slightly decreasing conjomed marginal round

black spots from the anal lobe, one in each interspace, inwardly

defined by a pure white band, the imner edge of the band

lunular ; a fine white, then a fine black, anteciliary thread, from

the anal angle not quite reaching the apex of the wing. Cilia

and tals white. UNDERSIDE, both wings bluish-white ; crossed by

a narrow discal bright ochreous band, in the forewing straight,

anteriorly lost in the apical ochreous area, posteriorly ending

on the submedian nervure, in the hindwing anteriorly straight,

posteriorly zigzag and recurved to the abdominal margin. Forewing

with the apical half bright ochreous ; two.fine bright ochreous lines

at the end of the descoidal cell. Cilia black. Hindwing with a highly

irregular macular black band beyond the discal ochreous band ;

a marginal series of rounded black spots, the anal one large, the one

312 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. LX.

in the first median interspace still larger, the other four small, the

anteriormost spot ochreous ; an anteciliary black thread. Cilia white,

Body above fuscous, beneath whitish.

The female of this species has not hitherto been described. I

possess a single example taken at Bekantschan at the foot of the

Battak Mountains in N.-E. Sumatra by Dr. L. Martin in July, and

two males taken at Selesseh also in N.-E. Sumatra in May and August,

as well as a very worn specimen from Borneo ‘and one from Perak.

The description above would apply almost word for word to the same

sex of C. merguia, Doherty ; the best character I can find to separate

them is the colour of the ground on the underside, C. tora having it of

a purer white. The disco-cellular nervules of the hindwing below

are not defined on both sides by a fine ochreous line in C. tora as

they are in C. merguia.

Genus MANTO, nov.

Matz. ForEwinc, costa regularly but slightly arched; apex

rather rounded ; outer margin nearly straight ; inner angle rounded ;

inner margin greatly bowed outwardly in the middle ; costal nervure

ending opposite to the apex of the discoidal cell; first subcostal nervule

arising nearer the apex of the cell than the base of the wing, slightly

bowed forwards near its base, but well separated from the costal nervure 5

second subcostal arising much nearer to the first than to the upper

disco-cellular ; thérd subcostal arising nearer to the apex of the wing

than to the apex of the cell ; subcostal nervure terminating atthe apex

of the wing ; upper disco-cellular nervule* stout, rather long, strongly

outwardly oblique ; middle disco-cellular straight, upright ; lower

disco-cellular also straight, upright, not quite twice as long as the

middle disco-cellular ; second median nervule arising well before the

lower end of the cell (the distance between the origins of the third

and second median nervules about equals or is a little less than the

length of the middle disco-cellular nervule) ; /irst median arises about

twice as far from the second as the second does from the third ;

submedian nervure sinuous, strongly bowed posteriorly at its middle.

Hinpwine, costa greatly arched throughout its length ; apex well

rounded ; outer margin at first straight and even in the type

species, very convex in M. martina, Hewitson, angled at the termina-

* There is actually no upper disco-cellular nervule, what passes as such being the

true basal portion of the upper discoidal nervule. :

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES, 313

tions of the second and firsi median nervules ; taz/s, two—a short

one from the termination of the first median nervule (‘15 of an inch

or 3°5 mms. in length); a long one at the termination of the submedian

nervure (‘4 of an inch or 9 mms. in length in the type species, consider-

ably longer in M/. martina, Hewitson); anal lobe small; abdominal margin

excavated above the anal lobe, then straight to near the base, when it is

inwardly curved ; costal nervure curved throughout its length, greatly

so towards the base ; first subcostal nervule arising well before the apex

of the cell, slightly curved ; upper disco-cellular nervule straight, out-

wardly oblique; lower disco-cellular also straight, outwardly oblique,

but not so much so as the upper disco-cellular, a little longer than that

veinlet ; third and second median nervules arising together at the lower

end of the cell; first median arising at a distance from the second equal

to the length of the lower disco-cellular nervule ; submedian nervure

straight ; znternal nervure at first straight, its basal portion lying close

to the basal portion of the submedian nervure, then greatly bowed

outwardly ; male secondary seaual characters consist of a large oval

patch of black androconia placed in the costal interspace extending

beyond the origin of the first subcostal nervule, but not extending into

the cell in the type species, across which lies a thick tuft of black hairs

turned forwards across the androconal glandular patch, the roots of the

hairs being just within the cell.* Antenne exactly half the length of

the costa of the forewing, with a thin elongated club. Palpi rather

long, porrect, scaly, the third joint long. Thorax rather robust,

Abdomen not nearly reaching to the anal angle of the hindwing.

FemaLe. Forewine, has the inner margin straight, not outwardly

bowed as in the male, the submedian nervure consequently straight also.

Hinpwine with no androconal patch. Otherwise as in the male

Type, * Myrina”’ hypoleuca, Hewitson. :

This genus comes into the seventh division of the Indian Lycenide

as proposed by me in “ The Butterflies of India, Burmah and Ceylon,”

vol. iii, p. 398, which contains eleven Oriental genera. These eleven

genera can be split up into two subdivisions according to the position

*In M, martina, Hewitson, the androconal patch is larger than in the type, and ex-

tends into the discoidal cell, the roots of the hairs being in the cell, Mr. W. Doherty in

Journ. A. §, B., vol. lviii, pt. 2, p. 417 (1889), records the following note:—“ Some rare

species of Weocherdira are green above in some lights, especially NV. martina, a Bornean

species. The allied W. hypoleuca was also figured by Hewitson as green, apparently by

mistake,” The males of both species are of course green on the upperside.

314 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

occupied by the longer of the two tails. Manto comes into the first

of these which has the inner tail the longer, and contains five other

eastern genera—dZelius, de Nicéville; Charana, de Nicéville ;

Neocherttra, Distant; Jacoona, Distant ; and Thriz, Doherty. Of

these, Neocheritra and Thria have four subcostal nervules to the fore-

wing in the male; Zeltus has only two; while the other two and

Manto have three. There remain then only two genera— Charana and

Jacoona,—from both of which Manto differs in possessing secondary

male sexual characters. It is nearest of all to Charana, but the

inner margin of the forewing in the male is straight in that genus,

greatly bowed outwardly in Manto ; in Charana the hindwing is about

as broad as it is long, in Manto itis much longer than broad; the

costa of Charana is slightly arched only, in Manto it is greatly

arched ; and in Chavana the second median nervule arises well before,

in Manto at, the lower end of the cell.

(1) MANTO HYPOLEUCA, Hewitson.

Myrina hypoleuca, Hewitson, Tl. Diurn. Lep., p. 38, v. 40, pl. xvii, figs. 54, 55, male (1865).

Hasirat: Java (Hewitson) ; Central Java, 1,500 feet (Fruhstorfer,

coll. de Nicéville) ; Eastern Java (coll. de Necéville).

The anal tail in the type specimen of this species was lost on both

sides, so in drawing it Mr. Hewitson had to guess it. It is not drawn

quite long enough, while the outer tail is shown a little too long in

the lower figure (No. 54), of the right length in the upper (No. 55).

Mr. Hewitson omitted to describe the male secondary sexual characters,

but I have supplied the omission in the generic diagnosis above. Dr.

A. Pagenstecher, in Jahr. des Nass. Ver. fur Natur., vol. xliii,

p. 98, n. 93 (1890), places “‘ Sithon” hypoleuca asa synonym of “ S,”

martina in recording the species from Hast Java. The two species are

I believe distinct, and it is not apparent, even if they should be one and

the same species, why the older name of the two should be sunk as a

synonym of the later name.

39, (2) MANTO MARTINA, Hewitson, Pl. P, Fig. 44, 2.

Myrina martina, Hewitson, Il. Diurn. Lep., Suppl., p. 3, n. 46, pl. ii, figs. 70,71, male

(1869),

Haprrat : Borneo (Hewitson) ; Ataran Valley, Tenasserim, Burma ;

Penang, Malay Peninsula (coll. de Nicéville),

EXXPaNnse: 9, 1°6 inches.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 315

Description : FeMALE. UPpErsinE, both wings dull fuscous, with a

slight gloss in some lights. Forewing unmarked. Hindwing with the

costa broadly whitish ; a large anal pure white patch, crossed by the

fuscous veins, commencing at the third median nervule, ending on the

abdominal margin, bearing three rounded black spots, the first in the

first median interspace close to the outer margin, the second, the

largest of the three, in the submedian interspace well removed from the

margin, the third on the anal lobe ; an anteciliary black line extends

from the anal lobe to the third median nervule and runs down the tails.

Unpersing, both wings a little paler than in the male. Forewing with

the inner margin whitish, but this pale area is much smaller than in

the male. Hindwing asin the male. Ciulza of the forewing cinereous,

of the hindwing pure white posteriorly, cinereous anteriorly.

The male of this species differs from M. hypoleuca, Hewitson, in

having the metallic-green scales (which, by-the-bye, are highly

deciduous) on the upperside of the forewing considerably less extensive;

the hindwing has the outer margin very convex instead of straight,

the anal tail much broader throughout its length and longer also

(‘5 of an inch or 13 mms.), the outer black margin on the upperside

broader, and on the underside of the same wing there is a submarginal

broken black line from the abdominal margin to the third median

nervule, besides a marginal black spot in the submedian interspace

which are absent in M. hypoleuca; there are also some additional

marginal black spots on the upperside of the hindwing in M. martina,

The “male-mark” is larger, and extends into the discoidal cell in

this species.

(83) MANTO INOPINATA, Butler.

Myrina inopinata, Butler, Ann, and Mag. of Nat. Hist., fifth series, vol. xii, p. 159, n, 2

(1883) ; Sithon inopinata, Kheil, Rhop. Nias, p. 32, n. 106 (1884).

Haszirat: Nias Island (Butler and Kheil).

I have not seen this species. As far as the description goes it does

not appear to differ from M. martina, Hewitson, with which

Mr. Butler should have compared it instead of with “ Myrina” t2mon,

Fabricius, a three-tailed African species, Herr Kheil places 1/. martina

as a synonym of M. inopinata ; he should have given the former pre-

cedence, as it is the older name,

316 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

33, NEOCHERITRA NISIBIS, n. sp., Pl. P, Fig. 45, 9.

Hasitat: Kwala Lampur, Selangore, Malay Peninsula ; N.-E,

Sumatra.

Hxpanse: 9, 1°5 inches.

Description : Fumaue. UPrPERSIDE, both wings dull hair-brown,

outwardly rather darker. Forewing unmarked. Cilia cinereous.

Hindwing with the anal third pure white, this white area reaching

from the abdominal margin (where it is widest) to just beyond the

third median nervule (where it is narrowest, dying away to nothing),

its inner edge irregular, arranged step-like, coincident with an outer

discal series of black spots on the underside; this white area bears a

rounded deep black spot on the incision in the abdominal margin

anterior to the anal lobe ; a larger round similar spot in the submedian

interspace well removed from the outer margin ; an exactly similar

spot in the first median interspace close to the margin ; a narrow

black streak close to the margin in the second median interspace ; a

similar streak on the abdominal margin above the incision; an anteciliary

fine black thread from the anal black spot to the third median nervule.

Cilia pure white. Tails two, pure white, faintly at the base centred

with black ; the external one at the end of the first median nervule

short (8 mm, in length) ; the internal one at the end of the submedian

nervure rather long (9 mm. or ‘4 of an inch in length). UNpERstpg,

both wings rather dull orange. Forewing with the ground-colour

of the apical third becoming gradually darker towards the outer

margin; the inner margin pale. Cilia dark grey, inwardly almost

fuscous. Hindwing with the costal third of the wing only dull orange,

gradually merging into the white colour of the rest of the surface ;

the three large spots towards the anal angle as on the upperside, also

the blackish streak on the abdominal margin ; the spot in the second

median interspace smaller, better defined, and of a deeper black ;

with two smaller rather indistinct spots in the two interspaces

beyond ; an outer discal series of four black spots, arranged nearly in

a straight line, the one nearest the abdominal margin shaped like a

very broad V, reaching from the internal nervure to the first median

nervule, the three others decreasing in size, somewhat reniform, the

anteciliary black thread of the upperside reaching almost to the apex

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES, 317

of the wing. Cilia pure white. Face with two white streaks ;

palgt very long and porrect, above fuscous, beneath white, except

the tips which are fuscous; thorax and abdomen above dull hair-

brown ; abdomen beneath dull orange.

Allied to VV. amrita, Felder, female specimens of which I possess from

Perak, Singapore, and N.-H, Sumatra, but differs from the same sex of

_ that species in being smaller, the tails (especially the inner one) much

shorter, the white area on the upperside of the hindwing larger, and the

costal orange area on the underside of the hindwing much smaller.

Nearer to NV. clella, Weymer,* with which it agrees in size, extent

of white area on the upperside of the hindwing, and in the length

of the tails, but differs entirely in the ground-colour of the underside,

N. clella having it dull ochreous instead of dull orange; the black

anteciliary thread in the hindwing is also twice as prominent in

N. cella as it isin WN. nésibis, It may also be near to “ Sithon”

pallida, Druce, from Borneo,t of which the male only is known ; but

that species is said to have “a blue line” above the outer black spots

on the underside of the hindwing, which is absent in the present

species. It is near to “ Sithon” paluana, Staudinger,t but appears

to differ on the underside of the hindwing in having the outer discal

macular straight black band considerably further removed from the series

of black spots beyond. The tails appear toagree in length. “ Sithon”

teunga, Grose Smith,§ probably belongs to some other genus than

Neocheritra. It is described from a male, and the secondary

sexual characters appear to differ from those of Neocheritra. On

the underside itis said to be “dull pale brown,’ while NV. mszbis 1s

orange, besides other differences. Lastly, it differs from WV. namo,

de Nicéville,| in the tails being much shorter, and the ground-colour

of the underside orange instead of “ pale bluish-white.” 1 do not

think it is very closely allied to Thriz gama, Distant, described

from Penang, and males in my collection from the Battak Mountains of

* Hypolycena clella, Weymer, Stet, ent. Zeit., vol. xlviii, p. 10,n. 8, pl. ii, fig, 5, female

(1887), from Nias Island.

+ Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1878, p. 352, n, 14, pl. xxxiii, fig. 3, male.

{ Iris, vol. ii, p. 107, pl.i, fig. 9, female (1889), from Palawan in the Philippine Isles,

§ Ann. and Mag. of Nat, Hist., sixth series, vol. iii, p. 317 (1889), from Kina Bala

Mountain, North Borneo,

|| Journ. A. S. B., vol. Lxiii, pt. 2, p. 41, n, 36, pl. v, fig. 9, male (1894), from the Battal

Mountains, N.-E, Sumatra.

318 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

N.-E, Sumatra taken in March,* and one female from Selesseh, N.-H.

Sumatra, taken in May, in the collection of Hofrath Dr. L. Martin,

though the coloration on both sides appears to be much the same,

but 7. gama has a very much longer hindwing than NV. nésibis, and

the black spot in the submedian interspace and the black anal spot

of the hindwing on both surfaces seem to be much nearer to the

outer margin in 7. gama than in J, nisidis.

Described from a single example (the type) in my collection from

Kwala Lampur, Selangore, in the Malay Peninsula, and another from

N.-E. Sumatra.

34, HYSUDRA (?) HADES, n. sp., Pl. P, Fig. 46, é.

Hasitat: Daunat Range, Tenasserim, Burma.

JXPANSE: @, 1°55 inches.

Description: Manz. Uppersipr, both wings shining fuscous.

Forewing with a large dull coppery-red area occupying the middle

of the wing crossed by the black veins and bearing a black streak .

outwardly on the submedian fold; this red area just enters the

outer end of the discoidal cell and occupies the basal portions of the

lower discoidal, median, and submedian interspaces. Hindwing.

streaked between the veins more or less by the same dull coppery-red

colour as in the forewing ; anal lobe coppery-red. Unpzrstpx, both

wings pale fawn-colour; the disco-cellular nervules marked by a rather

broad and prominent paler line. Forewing with a macular outwardly

curved discal fuscous band, commencing at the costa, ending close to

the submedian nervure ; an obsolete marginal dark fascia. AMindwing

with a discal fuscous band as on the forewing, but more prominent,

outwardly defined with white, posteriorly somewhat ferruginous, and

recurved to the abdominal margin in a W-shaped figure ; a marginal

series of four dark lunules from the first subcostal to the second

median nervule; a marginal oval black spot faintly crowned with

orange in the first median interspace; a clump of black and white

scales in the submedian interspace; the anal lobe black faintly crowned

* Neocheritra gama, Distant, Rhop. Malay., p. 462, n. 2, woodeut fig, 128, female (1886) ;

Thrix gama, Doherty, Journ. A. 8. B., vol. lx, pt. 2, p. 35, n. 7 (1891), from Padang Rengas,

Malay Peninsula, The female has three subcostal nervules only to the forewing, while the

male has four,

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 319

with orange ; with a narrow orange fascia running along the abdominal

margin from above the anal lobe to the termination of the discal

band; tail black, tipped with white. Antenne with the shaft black

annulated with white, the club black, the tip ferruginous. Body black

above, fawn-colour below.

T place this species in the genus Hysudra with considerable doubt,

but do so because the coloration of the upperside is very similar to

that of A. selira, Moore, from the Western Himalayas, but more

especially because the coloration and markings of the underside are

almost identical. The tail, however, is twice as long as in A, selira.*

As far as I can see, however, by the application of benzine to my

unique specimen, it does not possess the characteristic male “ scale-

mark”? of the genus Hysudra, but instead has that portion of the

subcostal nervure between the point where the first subcostal nervule

arises and the apex of the discoidal cell distinctly swollen and free of

scales, with a small oval area also apparently free of, or covered with,

colourless scales in the subcostal interspace immediately anterior to the

point where the first subcostal nervule arises. Without bleaching the

wings of a specimen it is ditticult to define these characters accurately.

The species may be a Deudoria; it is certainly not a Rapala, as it

does not possess a tuft of hairs on the inner margin of the forewing or

a “scale-mark ” on the costa of the hindwing, which are characteristic

features of that genus.

Described from a single example in my collection.

35. RAPALA RHGCUS, n. sp., Pl. P, Fig. 47, 3.

Hasirat: N.-E. Sumatra.

Hixpanse: ¢, 1'5 inches.

Duscription: Matz, Upprrsipe, both wings very rich and dark

slightly iridescent ultramarine-blue of a little darker shade and less

* Tg not the Thecla” micans of Bremer and Grey, which occurs throughout Northern,

Western, and Central China, a Hysudra? Yo judge from Mr, Leech’s figure of “ Rapala”

micans, var, betuloides, Butler, in Butt, from China, Japan, and Corea, p. 414, pl. xxvii,

fig. 13, male (1893), I should certainly guess it to be so, To me that figure has all the

appearance of a large specimen of a female of H, selina, Moore, from the Western Himalayas,

with the orange colour of the hindwing on the upperside confined to a patch at the anal

angle instead of being continued along the outer margin of the wing towards the apex,

320 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

iridescence than in R. sphina, Fabricius, Cilia black. Forewing with

the costa up to the subcostal nervure, the apex widely, and the outer

margin decreasingly, black ; the veins crossing the blue area also

black ; a conspicuous silky shining black “ male-mark”’ on the middle

of the disc, placed at the bases of the median interspaces, very slightly

extending anteriorly into the discoidal cell, posteriorly into the

submedian interspace. Hindwing with the costa and abdominal

margin broadly, the outer margin narrowly, black ; the anal lobe

centred with a black spot crowned with dull orange ; the tazl black

with a white tip ; a fine white anteciliary thread extends from the anal

lobe to the termination of the second median nervule ; the tuft of

hairs attached to the middle of the inner margin and turned under and

forwards, black. UNDERSIDE, both wings dark olive-green ; a pair of

fuscous lines closing the discoidal cells; a discal fuscous band ;

a submarginal and marginal dark fascia, both indistinct, especially the

outer one. Forewing has the discal band with very even edges,

commencing at the costa, ending in a point just before reaching the

submedian nervure, outwardly bowed; the inner margin broadly

paler than the rest of the wing. Hindwing has the discal band slightly

wider than in the forewing, very straight from the costa to the first

median nervule, thence to the abdominal margin zigzag, W-shaped ;

this latter portion is finely more or less edged on both sides with

very pale greenish-silvery scales ; the round marginal black spot in the

first median interspace crowned with dull orange ; the interspace

beyond thickly sprinkled with greenish-silvery scales over a black

ground ; the black anal lobe crowned first with a line of greenish-

silvery scales, then with dull orange ; a fine white anteciliary thread

as on the upperside. Head and body above black, abdomen beneath

dark ochreous. |

This species is nearly allied to R. tara, de Nicéville, from the

Himalayas and Khasi Hills ; but the blue coloration of the upperside

is quite different, being darker and richer in shade, less iridescent, and

in the forewing of greater extent ; the sexual patch is also smaller, barely

extending into the submedian interspace, in A. tara it extends some-

what widely below the first median nervule ; the ground-colour of

the underside is also quite different. It is also near to Rapala eleza,

Hewitson, from Hast Luzon and Polillo in the Philippine Isles ; but

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 321

the “silky rufous spot at the centre of the wing” is not nearly as

large, in R. elcia it appears to be even larger than in R. tara; the color-

ation of the upperside appears to be very similar, except that in R. elcia

it is far more highly iridescent, nearly as much so as in A. schistacea,

Moore, while in &. rhecus it is slightly iridescent only. On the under-

side of the forewing the discal band is said by Hewitson, and is figured

by him, to be ‘‘ equal” (t.e., of the same breadth throughout its

length), in R. rhecus this band tapers away to nothing posteriorly.

More distantly-allied species are A. orse?s, Hewitson, which has a

somewhat different male-mark ; 2. sphinx, Fabricius (—R. varuna,

Horsfield, and figured by Hewitson under that name), R. phranga,

Hewitson, from Batchian ; R. chozeda, Hewitson, from Sumatra (which

I have not seen) ; and R. manea, Hewitson, from Celebes. These last

four, however, do not appear to possess a male-mark on the disc of the

forewing on the upperside.

Described from numerous examples in my collection obtained by

Hofrath Dr. L. Martin, at Bekantschan, at the foot of the Battak

Mountains in N.-E. Sumatra, one of them on 4th July, 1893, and

others from the Battak Mountains themselves taken in May and July.

( To be continued.)

322 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, IX.

THE OORIAL.

By J. D. INVERARITY.

(With a Plate.)

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on

28th January, 1895.)

My experience of this sheep is confined to the range of hills that

divide Sind from Beluchistan, where it is fairly numerous on the lower

slopes of the Khirtar Range and in the low stony hills that lie at the

foot of, and run parallel to, the main hills. Where I shot them in

Sind was from a few hundred feet to about 2,000 feet above sea-level.

They are no doubt to be found at higher altitudes, as the hills extend

to about 7,000 feet in height, but as one camps near the water at the

foot of the hills, I never managed to get any higher than 2,000 feet.

I generally kept to the low hills, as the stalking there was easier. The

Sind Oorial is the same animal as is found in the salt hills of the Pun-

jab, and used to rejoice in the name of Ovis cycloceros. Mr, Blanford,

however, in the “ Fauna of India ( Mammalia)” considers it to be the

same as the climatic variety known as Ovis vignet which inhabits the

Himalayas, at an elevation of 15,000 feet. The differences or sup-

posed differences between the two are set forth in the Badminton

Library volume on Indian Game. The Sind name for the Oorial is

“Gud.” It is usually shot in Sind by driving the hills, but the best

sport is to stalk it. It would be a fairly easy animal to stalk if it

were not that the ground one has to get over is a mass of loose stones,

which grate horribly against each other as you tread on them and

slip away and roll down the hillside. The lower hills are of conical

shape with steep sides covered with loose stone. There are a good many

lumps of petrified wood in places and fossil shells. Here you see the

Seesee partridge running about among the rocks, while overhead high

in the air, in the month of October, are long flights of the “ Cullum” on

their annual migration to India. The best herd of Oorial I saw num-

bered fifteen with three good rams. I had carefully examined the slope

of the opposite hill, 400 yards off, without seeing anything. I showed

myself over the ridge and up got the herd from the hillside where

they had been sitting undistinguishable by me, or my Beluchees,

from the surrounding rocks. On another occasion I saw a fine ram

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THE OORIAL. 323

and three females lying under the shade of a large rock 400 yards

below me, but, as there was no way of getting near them, I sat down

and waited for them to move, occasionally peeping over the ridge to see

what they wereabout. It being the middle of the day, I did not ex-

pect them to move for some time and was lying down, when I heard

a rattle of stones, and a female topped the ridge within a few yards of

me, saw me, and bolted. I made for my rifle which was lying a short

way off. Another female followed the first, and a tremendous clatter of

stones on the other side of the ridge greeted me as I reached the top.

There was the ram and the remaining female galloping away along the

hillside not more than 60 yards off. The rest is too painful to recall,

suffice it to say that the ram’s head, a remarkably fine one, is not in

my collection. Early one morning I saw a single ram standing on

the sky-line of a ridge of hills, and, making a long round, got to the

spot and was standing on a rock looking about for him, when he

suddenly started from under my feet; he was lying under the very

stone I was standing on and went down the hill ata great pace. I

missed him. Yet another day the fates were against me. I had been

watching a ram by himself for some time, when he began to walk

towards a gap in the hills. I hastened down to it to intercept him, and

as I got to the far side of the gap, I heard the stones rattling as he

came along about 100 yards off; on he came till he was within ten yards

of me, though of course, I could not see him as he was the other side

of the ridge, when a puft of wind blew through the gap in the wrong

direction and he turned and fled. I rushed to the top of the ridge ;

he had stopped for a moment and presented an easy shot. My

cartridge missed fire.

In most shikar stories “ what is hit-is history, what is missed is mys-

tery.’ I have in this paper reversed the saying and refrain from

expatiating on the successful days that fall to the let of every one

who perseveres and which fully compensate for the toil of many a

blank day. The photograph was one of my early efforts in that line,

and is by no means a good one. The head is fairly good, 26 inches

long. Like all wild sheep the coat is of coarse hair. I find in Eng-

land that people are generally under the impression, when you point

to a head as that of a wild sheep, that you have massacred a woolly

animal of a confiding disposition, whereas all wild sheep have the skin

ofa deer and are quite able to take care of themselves, A distinguish-

324 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

ing feature of the old ram Oorial is the long mane of hair that hangs

down the whole length of his neck. The female has short horns, a few

inches long, which stand almost straight up. I caught a young one,

which refused to eat, though it was old enough to eat grass, having

horns an inch long ; I let it go, when I found it would starve if kept.

A young Sind Ibex I had at the same time, ate greedily from the first ©

day of capture. Mr. J. Strip, Assistant Collector of Customs,

Kurrachee, writes to me :—“ The Oorial, as far as my experience of the

“animal in Sind extends, avoids the higher ranges of hills in which

“ Ibex is found. In Beluchistan, however, I met with them im

“the higher ranges of the Pabb Hills as well as in the considerably

“lower hills westward of the Pabb. There is no apparent difference

“© between the Sind and Beluchistan ‘Gad’ proper. The rams have a

“¢ sleek coat in summer, when the beard and throat-ruff is nearly absent.”

The Oorial, however, has no beard proper, 2.¢., hair on the chin. The

long hair begins at the throat and extends to the chest,

Mr. Strip has also kindly sent me some measurements of “ Gud” heads

shot by him in Sind and in Beluchistan. The measurements of those

shot in Sind are—No. 1, 80 ; No. 2, 26 ; No. 3, 25% ; No. 4, 253 ;

No. 5, 254 inches. Of those shot in Beluchistan No, 1, 312 ; No. 2,

314; No. 3, 274 ; No. 4, 262 inches.

Tn each case I have given the measurement of the longest horns, as

there is generally a slight difference of 4 of an inch or so between the

horns. Mr. Strip says the tip of the horn of 313 inches was almost

touching the eye. Its fellow had the tip broken and measured 812.

The circumference of these horns was 82 inches. The circumference

of the horn of 80 inches was 10 inches.

325

AN ADDITION TO THE OPHIDIAN FAUNA OF INDIA,

(TARBOPHIS RHINOPOMA, BLANFE.,)

By G. A. BouLENGER, F. R. 8.

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 28th Jan., 1895.)

During a recent visit to London Mr. Phipson has serene to me

a young Dipsadine snake from Sind, which differs from any hitherto

recorded from India. It belongs to a species discovered in Persia, at

Karman, by Mr. Blanford, and described by him in his “ Zoology

of Persia” (p. 424, pl. xxvii, fig. 2) as Dipsas rhinopoma. Dr.

Boettger (Radde’s “ Faun. Flor. Casp.-Geb.,” p. 72, 1886) has already

pointed out that this species is strictly a Zarbophis, which genus differs

from Dipsas in the enlarged anterior maxillary teeth and in the

absence of distinctly enlarged vertebral scales. The species should

therefore bear the name Tarbophis rhinopoma.

The specimen which Mr, Phipson has kindly presented to the British

Museum measures 485 millim., in which the tail enters for 75. It has

nine upper labials, third, fourth, and fifth entering the eye ; 280 ven-

tral shields, and 82 pairs of subcaudals.

I append a description of the species :—

TARBOPHIS RHINOPOMA.

Dipsas rhinopoma, Blanf. “Ann. and Mag. N. H.,” xiv, 1874, p. 424,

and “ Zool. E. Pers.,” p. 424, pl. xxviii, fig. 2. Head very distinct from

neck ; snout broad, rounded ; eye moderate. ostral broader than

deep, just visible from above ; internasals broader than long, shorter

than the preefrontals ; frontal slightly longer than broad, as long as its

distance from the end of the snout, a little shorter than the parietals ;

nasal semi-divided ; loreal twice to twice and-a-half as long as deep,

entering the eye below the preocular, which is in contact with the

frontal ; two postoculars ; temporals small, scale-like, 2 or 3 and 3 or 4;

eight to ten upper labials, third, fourth, and fifth, or fourth and fifth,

or fourth, fifth, and sixth entering the eye ; four or five lower labials

in contact with the anterior chin-shields ; posterior chin-shields very

small and widely separated from each other by scales. Body slightly

compressed. Scales in 23 rows. Ventrals 268 to 280 ; anal entire ;

subcaudals 76to 82. Pale sandy-grey above, with a dorsal series of 65

to 85 brown square or transverse spots larger than the interspaces

between them, and an alternating series of smaller spots on each side ;

on the posterior part of the body the dorsal spots may split up into two

alternating series ; head with small dark spots or specks ; labials dark-

edged ; throat white ; ventrals dark brown.

The type specimen from Karman, South Persia, 5,000 ft., in the

British Museum measures 990 millim. ; tail 155,

326 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX,

NOTES ON THE THAMIN GR BROW-ANTLERED

DEER (CERVUS ELDIT).

By Vert.-Capt. G. H. Evans.

(With a Plate.)

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 28th

January, 1895.)

These beautiful creatures are essentially a plains-loving species of

deer, and are found in this country from the valley of the Chindwin

River as far as Tenasserim. They may be seen in large numbers on

the immense plains of Lower Burma, which lie between the hills and

the sea. The chief characteristics of the forest on these plains are the

dense, almost impenetrable, growth of elephant grass (called Kaing

by the Burmese), and the remarkable scarcity of trees amongst it ;

the few that are seen usually grow at great distances from one another

and are low, very often only slightly higher than the surrounding grass.

The stems are short and the tops irregularly developed, which features

are, no doubt, ina great measure, due to the injuries the trees suffer

from fires during certain times of the year, and also to the fact that the

roots are damaged by excess of moisture during the rains. Those most

commonly met with are the Butea frondosa, Zizyphus jyujuba, Streblus

asper, Nauclea sessifolia, Lagerstreemia flos-regine, and the Strych-

nos nuz-vomica. The soil appears to be perfect for elephant grasses,

as in many places they attain an immense height, and the halms are

frequently as thick and woody as those of certain small kinds of

bamboos. A man standing on the rails of a high bullock-cart is

easily concealed by these grasses. The more common varieties found

are the Saccharum spontaneum, Saccharum procerum, Polytoca

heteroclita, Imperata cylindrica, and several varieties of Arundinaria.

Generally there is little or no scrub jungle about, but occasionally a

few bushes of the Hibiscus order may be observed along the banks of

a tidal creek. The plains, except where broken up by belts of jungle,

or intersected by tidal creeks, extend for many miles along the coast,

the fore-shore of which is, for a mile or two inland, covered with a belt

of mangrove forest. As far as I am aware, Thamin never enter it, nor

have I heard of them in the hills, or taking to heavy jungle, by which

I mean jungle where the undergrowth is very dense and tangled,

Journal,Bombay Nat: Hist: Soc: Voli IX. feat i ot ey

AP Cortez & C8 Litho,

trom Photographs.

THE THAMIN on BROW-ANTLERED DEER |

(Cervus ELD!)

NOTES ON THE THAMIN OR BROW-ANTLERED DEER. 327

‘In Upper, as well as in Lower Burma, I have frequently found

them in scrub and in open tree jungle (Hng-daing), which consists

of Dipterocarpus tuberculatis, and other trees of this order which

flourish on laterite soil. The animals resort to these places for shade,

grasses, &c.

Thamin are gregarious in their habits, keep very much to them-

selves, and though Para (Axis porcinus) abound on the same grounds,

I have never seen the two species grazing together. The herds usually

number from eight to sixty, but the latter number is often exceeded.

During the dry weather fires occur, the result being clearings large

and small, and as at this time of year the dew is particularly heavy, it

is not long before the young grass sprouts up. There are also open

patches (called kwins by the Burmans)—low-lying grounds which are

swampy during the rains, but which retain sufficient moisture in the

dry season to maintain the growth of grasses, thus affording

luxuriant pasturage. In these places Thamin may be found grazing

in the early morning and evening. Other favourite resorts are

the shallow Choungs or Nullas; and in such places, as soon as the

water dries up, which is early in the hot weather, a very quick-grow-

ing leguminous plant springs up, of which these creatures, as well as

Para, are very fond. The time for grazing is, off and on, between

3-30 p.m, and 9-30 a.m., after which hour they retire into the long

grass to rest, and avoid the heat of the day. When it is exceedingly

hot, and the flies very troublesome, the stags often come out for a short

time to wallow in a bog-hole. There is a common belief, and, I think,

an erroneous one, that Thamin rarely if ever drink during the dry

season ; this idea has probably arisen from the fact that fresh water is

then uncommonly scarce, but I fancy if it were plentiful and more

accessible, they would be more frequently observed partaking of it.

During the rains, on certain low-lying grounds, large ponds are formed,

which retain a good amount of water in the hot weather, but Thamin

rarely have access to such spots, as they are invariably leased out for

fishing purposes. However, a Burman, whom IJ know well, and who

had the rights over one of these fisheries, informed me that Thamin

came in late every evening to drink at a waste pool, about four hundred

yards distant from his shed ; at the same time he mentioned the case of

a sporting Hurasian, who succeeded in killing a few animals by lying

328 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX,

up in the lony grass alongside, and suggested, that if I only tried the

same method I should certainly be well rewarded. Fortunately for the

game, our ideas on sport differ from those of the Burmese. As a

matter of fact, I expect these animals do go a long time without water

as, the dew being so very heavy, a considerable amount of moisture

must be taken in with the food.

Under ordinary circumstances, and when the usual precautions

regarding wind, etc., are taken, they are not very wary or difficult to

approach, but if the grounds have been disturbed, which is especially

the case if dogs have been over them, the deer are very sharp and shy;

the least thing alarms them. At first, they move off with a few big

bounds, but before long settle down to a long swinging trot, which I

should describe as their pace when alarmed. Strangely enough, when

startled, they do not generally make for the nearest cover, but prefer

to trot along in the open, halting, every now and then, to have a good

look at the object which caused them fear. The case is different with

wounded stags ; they take to any cover fast enough, and to follow

them into the grass would be almost as foolish as searching for the

proverbial needle in a bundle of hay. One great blessing, however, is

that the misery and annoyance of feeling that you have wounded a

beast only to die a lingering death, can be avoided, as dogs are always

procurable at any fishery, and if a stag is at all damaged, they are not

long in running him down. A few shots daily do not disturb the

ground much, neither do carts, as during the fair weather they are

employed taking things to and from the fisheries, and bringing in

thatch.

During the period when the Thamin stags are in velvet they do not

appear to keep much with the herds, but mix more freely with the

hinds when their horns are fully developed, which is at the end of Feb-

tuary and beginning of March. The rutting season is April and May,

when a certain amount of violent excitement is noticeable, but the

stags are, when compared with those at home, wonderfully quiet

about their hinds. Fights, of course, do take place occasionably, when

the clashing of horns may be heard some distance off. The ruff, at this

period, is seen to perfection.

Hinds go in calf from six and-a-half to seven months, the young

ones being born in the long grass in October and November. The

NOTES ON THE THAMIN OR BROW-ANTLERED DEER. 329

young are pretty little creatures, and their coats frequently have white

spots running through them, but these soon disappear. The hot wea-

ther is, undoubtedly, the correct time to shoot the Thamin, at least in

Lower Burma, as the stags are all out of velvet in the early part

of March, April and May are also good months, but a trifle warm ;

during the heat of the day a temperature of 109° Fahr. in the

shade may be expected. Stags may be killed as late as the end of

August, but to my mind there is no sport in these parts once

the rain sets in. arly morning and the evening are the best times

to find them, The best plan is to make head-quarters at, or rather

near, a fishery, taking every precaution to have your shed or tent put

up well to windward, otherwise you expose yourself to “ olfactory

inferno” and intense bodily discomfort, as the Burmans go in for

making “ Wgapi” at these places, which is with them a favourite

and highly-esteemed condiment. Describing it in simple lan-

guage, I should say that it consisted of small fish in the very last

stages of putrefaction, with a minimum quantity of salt sprinkled

over it.

Water is a serious difficulty, as arrangements must be made to obtain

a daily supply for cooking, &c., but for drinking purposes sodawater

should be carried. A large sola hat and a back protector will afford

much comfort to the sportsman. Having attended to these details, two

comfortable courses are open, vzz., to take a high bullock-cart, which

enables him, when standing up, to see over the grass in many places and

so get a view of a kwin with his glasses. (These kwins are well known

to certain men.) If he happens to be fortunate enough to see a good

stag, he can easily jump out and stalk it. It is also advisable to

steer fora tree, old pagoda, or any other point of vantage where-

by he can obtain a view of the country. The other plan

is to get an elephant, which is perhaps the better method, as a

more extensive view may be obtained than from a cart ; moreover,

it has this advantage that when returning to camp very close snap

shots may be taken while passing through the long grass. Tha-

min are not much alarmed by the sight and smell of an elephant,

as two or three herds of wild ones visit these plains each rainy season.

I do not think that shots can often be obtained from a cart, but I

cannot speak from experience on this point,

330 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX,

The track of a Thamin is very like an impression made on the

ground by moderately separating the index and second finger, and it

is anything but a neat track. I think the best weapon to use is an

ordinary *500 express, or better still, a magnum ‘500. The great

danger threatening the Thamin is the annual slaughter that takes

place. During the early part of the rains, when the grounds are

swampy, a number of men armed go out with spears, eight or ten feet

long, and mounted on buffaloes, of course taking their dogs with

them. A certain number of men surround a patch of kazng, the

remainder go in with the dogs ; gradually the mounted men close in,

and by this simple method Thamin stags, hinds and calves, as well as

hog-deer, and pig come toan untimely end. When the rains are

more advanced, and the plains in consequence flooded, the wretched

beasts are forced to congregate on any pieces of high ground they can

find, so a slightly different plan is adopted. Men armed with spears or

dahs (rough swords) take their dogs and sally forth in canoes ; the strip

or strips of land on which the poor beasts are taking refuge is

surrounded ; some few men then go ashore with the dogs, and the

Thamin are then hunted and mercilessly cut down. Some endeavour

to escape by taking to the water, but the men in the canoes pursue

them and kill them with spears. The flesh is distributed among those

taking part in the hunt; a certain amount is eaten, some is cut into

strips and smoked for future consumption, and if there is any left, it is

sold to the villagers. Very often many carcases are taken into the

large towns where the meat is greatly prized, and good prices

obtained for it. To such an extent is this system carried out that I,

as well as others, have, during the last few years, noticed the

annual decrease of these most lovely animals. Grounds where, only

five years ago, herds of these deer were to be seen, are now almost

deserted. Iam of opinion that, before long, the Thamin will be

very rare on these plains.

In Upper, and in some parts of Lower Burma, very good shooting may

be had quite close to villages, as the Thamin come to feed on the crops.

In places where the slopes of the hill ranges sweep down out into the

plains, by beating the grass in the vicinity with a line of elephants,

other game may be found, such as gaur, sambar, bear, pig, and now

and again a panther or tiger.

NOTES ON THE THAMIN OR BROW-ANTLERED DEER, 331

THAMIN.—Generat Description of THE CoLouR.—This varies

a great deal according to the age of the animal. Some sports-

men are of opinion that two kinds of Thamin exist, but up to the

present I must say that I have failed to observe anything in the

anatomy or habits of the dark and light-coloured Thamin to incline

me to such a conclusion, Any difference there may be as regards

colour is, in my opinion, due to age, season of year, and perhaps to

some small extent to the locality in which they may be found, I

should describe the colour of mature stags to be a dark russet-brown,

which, when seen at some little distance off, conveys an impression that

they are blackish, The coat is long, fairly thick, shaggy, especially

down the course of the spine, and also about the neck. During the

“rutting time,” the hair in this region is from 4$ to 5 inches in

length, ‘The hair is coarse, rather easily removed, and is of a dark

brown colour. Young stags vary much in colour ; up to about the

age of two years they are very like the hinds, requiring the aid of

glasses to make out their “knobs ;” but as they grow older the sides

become darker in colour, and continue to deepen every year till the

animal arrives at maturity. I have not yet seen a light-coloured stag

carrying what would be termed a really good head, The hair sur-

rounding the eyes, and infra-orbital sinuses, is of a darkish dun colour ;

that under the jaws is coarse, long and thick, shading off to a dirty

white round the lower lip. The hair within the ears is also a dirty

white, while that which covers the external meatus is long, and the

colour at the base of the ears is lighter than the general colour of the

body. The hair on the inside of the forearms and thighs, as also that

on the under and posterior part of the abdomen, is a dirty white, and

when washed with soap and water it is seen to be quite white. On

the sternum the colour is generally dark, which, I think, is due to mud

and dirt ; but of course the underpart of the tail and dock, are quite

white.

The hinds are of a glossy brightish-chestnut, the underparts being

light-coloured, and the hair is finer and much cleaner than is the case

with the stags. The calves are pretty little creatures and are usually

spotted (white).

Hraps.—These vary immensely in shape, size, spread, number

of points, etc., but they all possess the remarkable development of the

332 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

basal or brow antler, which, instead of pointing forwards, upwards, and

outwards, as is generally the case with samber, cheetal, etc., those of

the Thamin take a direction slightly downwards, forwards, upwards, and

outwards, which difference gives the head its singular appearance.

With reference to the development of the horns my observations have

led me to the following conclusions, wz. :—That from a year to

eighteen months after birth the young males may be distinguished

from the hinds by the presence of very small protuberances or “ knobs ”

on the skull, known, I believe, as “ bossets ;”’ shortly after this they

become longer and pointed, and in the third year the brow antler

appears, the beam or main horn taking a backward curve. After this

period the horns, at each renewal, increase in length, thickness, and

spread, till the animals reach their prime, when I am of opinion that

the horns diminish in size at each renewal, as many aged stags carry

most indifferent heads. The ages have been judged by the state of

the teeth, allowance being made for the wild state.

The horns are cylindrical and grow from the pedestals or “ bossets,”

which are from an inch and-a-half to two inches long. The basal

antlers, as a rule, run out in a direction downwards and forwards for

some few inches, then take an upward and outward sweep, but at

times they run parallel to each other. The direction of the main horn

varies very much, but generally speaking it runs backwards and

upwards for several inches and then takesa somewhat sudden and

sweeping curve, laterally outwards, upwards, and slightly inwards.

The terminal portions of the main horns are slightly palmated. The

heads I have shot in Upper Burma are nothing like as fine as many I

have shot in the lower part of the Province ; though the horns were

long they were wanting in the lovely sweep which makes these heads

so beautiful. Hach horn is more or less semi-circular in shape.

I should say the majority of good heads have ten distinct points inclu-

sive of the brow antler, and they are disposed as follows :—An upright

tine given off at the junction of the brow and beam ; a second given

off on the inside of the main horn about three-fourths of the way up

and pointing inwards ; and a third is given off on the upper surface of

the horn a few inches from the terminal point. The greatest number

Ihave observed on any head was fifteen—all well developed tines.

I believe it is the custom at home to reckon any excrescence a point if

NOTES ON THE THAMIN OR BROW-ANTLERED DEER. 333

a wine glass can be hung on it, and counting in this way | have seen

one head with seventeen. These secondary points are usually given

off from the upper surface of the brow antler and from the latter

portion of the main horn,

It is curious that, notwithstanding the fact that so many antlers must

be shed annually, it is very seldom that a cast horn is picked up.

In size the Thamin resembles the red deer. As regards the ears

and the fulness and brightness of the eyes, they are like other members

of this family. The face is somewhat long and narrow, and the muzzle

broad and full. Height varies from 10°3 to 11°1, and the girth round

chest from 39 to 44 inches.

Vorcz.—The “ bell” of one of those beasts is difficult to describe,

but it is a kind of gutteral ba-ah.

WeitcHt.—A good stag, cleaned, I should think, weighs from

thirteen to fourteen stone.

I give below the measurement of an average-sized stag :—

Length of face from nose to crest of occiput ...Hleven and-a-half inches,

From pall to end of tail eve cee son ... Sixty-one inches,

Length of tail ... ae aoe ane ee eeHive inches,

Girth round neck behind jaws “oo 200 -»-1 wenty-one inches,

Round base of neck ... ove eve coe eee hirty-one inches,

Girth round chest behind elbows ... ove eof orty-two inches.

Round abdomen a00 oe hte ace eel hirty-eight inches.

Round forearm ccc one soc cep .-- Hleven inches.

Under knee .. coe ere soc “co -e-H'Our inches.

Height at withers «.. Gu ace a eee orty-four and-a-half inches,

This stag was shot early in the afternoon, the measurements were

taken very carefully with a tape measure about two hours after death.

He carried a very nice head.

The sight of a siag on the “qui vive” is one to be remembered ;

the carriage of his beautiful head, crowned with the many-tined antlers,

with the breeze just waving his ‘ruff’ to and fro, setting off his body

to perfection, all reminds one of Landseer’s famous picture, ‘“ The

Monarch of the Glen.”

334 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, IX.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.

No, 1.—FOOD OF THE BULL-FROG,

I am very anxious to learn if it is a common thing for frogs to attack and

eat other reptiles.

During the Pooja holidays I had occasion to go into the garden, at about

3p.m., and on stepping out startled a lizard which ran across the path, when

it was met half-way by a frog, who with one bound seized and swallowed it.

I followed the frog and found him under a bush close by, with about an inch

of the lizard’s tail protruding from his mouth, and by the time I had caught

him the lizard had quite disappeared, and the frog was apparently perfectly

comfortable, I tried to force his mouth open to make him disgorge the lizard,

but he kept his jaws clenched so tight that I was unable to do so, and not

wishing to hurt him, I let him go, The frog was one of the ordinary dark

green ones, with a yellow line right down the centre of his back, and the

victim was a common garden lizard,

A few nights later, I was watching one of these frogs under a table in the

drawing-room, when a toad, about half his size, hopped towards him, and

was immediately disposed of in the same way as the lizard, but was apparently

more restless and less tasty, and it struck me that the frog, on this occasion

acting on impulse, had swallowed his plump little cousin by mistake. Imme-

diately after swallowing the toad he began to show signs of great discomfort,

and struggled hard to evict the unwelcome tenant, and after almost standing

on his head, and pawing at his mouth for about a minute, his jaws suddenly

seemed to spring open and out came the toad, covered with saliva (probably

of his own production, and the cause of his eviction), and beyond the fact

of his displaying more activity than is usual in toads, he seemed none the

worse for his forced visit.

T shall be very glad to know if the food of the Bull-frog has been recorded,

as, during the 14 years that I have spent in this country, I have never witnessed

a case of this sort, and was under the impression that frogs fed entirely

on insects.

I may mention that I forwarded a specimen of these frogs to the Superin-

tendent of the Calcutta Museum, who informs me that it is the common Indian

Bull-frog, Rana tigrina.

J. DUNDAS WHIFFIN,

RouRKELA, SINGBHOOM, B, N, R.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 335

No, IL—MUSCULAR ACTION AFTER DEATH.

With reference to the curious instance described by Mr, KE. J. Ebden,in No. 4,

Vol. VIII of this Journal, I should like to mention a somewhat similar

experience of my own.

In 1887, when on the march to Peshawur, I came across a large water snake

about 40 yards, if I remember right, from a pool, I fired atitand cut it into

two about the middle of the body. To my astonishment the halves of the snake,

which were completely separated, made for the water, and, reaching it about

the same time, disappeared, Finding that my veracity was liable to be called

in question whenever I mentioned this incident, I have of late kept it

to myself,

L. H. PARRY, Carr., B.A,

Hineout, Deccan, July, 1894.

No, IJJ.—THE EFFECT OF MUSIC ON ANIMALS,

Mr. C, K, Cornish has recently published the results of his experiments as to

the effect produced by music on various animals at the Zoological Gardens in

London, and it weuld be interesting if investigations of a similar character

could be made in this country by those in a position to carry them out. Mr,

Cornish says :—

“ At the first sounds of the flute most of the monkeys ran away; and the piccolo excited

loud and angry screams from all sides, Clearly in this case the violin was the favourite. We

then decided to take the opinion of some of the largest and least vivacious animals, and

selected the young African elephant for our next auditor. As this animal had shown the

utmost dislike to the vio.in on a previous occasion, the flute was employed to open the concert,

and with complete success. The elephant stood listening with deep attention , one foot raised

from the ground, and its whole body still—a rare concession to the influence of music from one

of the most restless of allanimals. So long as the flute continued, it remained motionless

and listening. But the change to the piccolo was resented. After the first bar, the elephant

twisted round, and stood with its back to the performer, whistling and snorting and stamping

its feet. ‘The violin was less disliked, but the signs of disapproval were unmistakable. T he

deer, as before, were strangely attracted by the violin, and showed equal pleasure in the tones

of the flute; the gemul deer, for instance, ran up at once to listen to the latter, their ears and

tails being in constant movement at every change of tone or tune, Even the ostrich seemed,

to enjoy ihe violin and flute, though it showed marked signs of dislike at the piccolo, writhing

its neck and walking uneasily up and down its enclosure. The ibexes were startled at the

piccolo, first rushing forward to listen, and then taking refuge on a pile of rocks, from which,

however, the softer music of the flute brought them down to listen at the railing, The wild

asses and zebras left the hay with which their racks had just been filled ; and even the tapir,

which lives next door, got up to listen to the violin; while the flute set the Indian wild asses

_ Kicking with excitement. But the piccolo had no charms for any of them, and they all. re-

turned to their interrupted breakfasts,”

336 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, IX.

No, IV.—A NEW GAZELLE.

When in Biskra, Algeria, some two years since, I was struck by the curious

formation of a pair of Gazelle horns which was shown me, Having collected

azella loderi.

a series of these horns, it

seemed to me that there could

be little doubt of the animal

being unknown to science,

although the evidence of the

horns was very slight, the

skull and skin being then

unobtainable,

Sir Edmund G, ;Loder has

been fortunate enough to

shoot some specimens, a de-

scription of which now ap-

pears in the proceedings of

the Zoological Society.

For the information of

those of your readers to

whom the Society’s publica-

tions are not immediately

available, I append an illus-

tration of this new Gazelle

now known as G‘azella loderi.

The animal shot by Sir

Edmund G. Loder stood

about 2 feet 4 inches at shoul-

der and weighed about 34 Ibs, It is interesting that this new Gazelle should

be discovered within 7 days’ journey of London,

The large game of the country consists of Boar, Lion, Wild Sheep (Ovis

tragelaphus), two other varieties of Gazelles (G. dorcas, G. cuviert), and Addaz ;

the latter animal however is very little known to European sportsmen.

166, Piccapitty, Lonpon,

9th October, 1894,

ROWLAND WARD.

ERRATUM,

In Mr. P. W. Mackinnon’s collection is a male specimen of Tajuria

dicus, Hewitson, bred on 20th November, 1894, from a pupa given by

Mrs. Robson to Mr. Mackinnon as a pupa of Camena cleobis, Godart.

It appears, therefore, that ‘Mrs. Robson incorrectly identified her

specimens, and that the note No. vili, on page 339,—“ Life History

of Camena cleobis, Godart, a lyczenid butterfly ” should read “ Life

History of Tajuria dicus, Hewitson.”

LIONEL ve NICEVILLE.

Mussoorig, October 8th, 1895.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 337

No. V.—A BIRD EATING A BUTTERFLY.

On the night of 30th April, 1894, I stayed at the Risoom dak bungalow, 6,600

feet elevation, in the Kalimpong district of Darjiling, Sikhim. The next

morning I was looking at the butterflies flying about, and amongst others

saw some half a dozen males of Teinopalpus imperialis, Hope, circling round

the top of a flowering tree about five or six yards from and below me.

As I was observing a fine specimen as he flew past, a king-crow, Dicrurus —

longicaudatus, A. Hay, came down with a regular swoop, and carried off the

butterfly, As but few have actually observed insectivorous birds eating butter-

flies, I think this observation is worthy of record.

G. C. DUDGEON.

Facoo Tra Estate, WESTERN DUARS.

May 15th, 1894.

No, VI.—LIFE-HISTORY OF RAPALA SCHISTACEA, MOORE, A

LYCANID BUTTERFLY.

Larva when full grown quite three-quarters of an inch in length ; the anterior

segment contractile ; rather stout ; of the usual onisciform shape, but much

stouter than the larve of Arrhopala rama, Kollar, A. dodoncea, Moore, and

A, ganesa, Moore, or of Zephyrus birupa, Moore, for example, being roughly

cylindrical instead of flattened. Head globular, very small, retractile, and

when protruded, singularly like that of a tortoise, Outline from above, a

hexagonal cylinder (one visible side of which is dorsal, two subdorsal), very

slightly narrowing towards the head; segmental folds deeply marked ; the

spiracular and subdorsal ridges very deeply serrated. The humps are sharply

pyramidal, Of these, there are two unbroken series on each side, one subdorsal

and one spiracular. ‘The subdorsal series consists of eight humps, continuous

from the third to the tenth segment, The spiracular series consists of eleven

humps, continuous from the third to the thirteenth segment, Each hump bears

two, three, or four short brown hairs, The texture of the skin is soft, smooth,

and velvety, Ground-colour purple-brown ; head dark brown, with a narrow

white band across the face immediately over the mouth ; on each side of this

band is a small white spot. The brown colour of the head shades off into

a dull yellow towards the neck, The subdorsal and spiracular humps are of a

dull crimson, and are bordered laterally with white lines, which give them the

shape of the teeth of asaw. The white spiracular line is continuous, Pos-

terior to the white spiracular line there is a lunulated band of the ground-colour

shading into pink above the claspers. Legs, claspers, and abdomen of a pale

blue-grey. Larva feeds at Mussoorie in the Western Himalayas on Spirea

sortifolia, Linnzeus, :

June 30th, 1894.—Larva pupated during the night, Pupa half-an-inch in

length, stout, of a very dark brown colour, July 20,—Imago emerged to-day.

* LIVELANDS, ” Mussoorig, Mrs. 8S. ROBSON,

» 20th July, 1894, :

338. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, IX.

No. VIIL—LIFE-HISTORY OF ATHYMA OPALINA, KOLLAR, A

NYMPHALINE BUTTERFLY,

May 13th, 1894.—I saw at Mussoorie, in the Western Himalayas, a female of

Athyma opalina, Kollar, lay on the leaves of Berberis aristata, Hook, Tt flut-

tered over the leaves, and curled the apex of its abdomen under a leaf, deposit-

ing an egg on the underside. The egg is round, but is a little flattened at its

base where it rests on the leaf, When first laiditis brown, and is covered with

silvery dots which glisten in the sun. May 18th.—The ovum turned to a greenish-

yellow with a brown crescent to be seen through its centre, May 20th.—

This dark mark filled the anterior moiety of the egg, the posterior moiety being

of a light dirty yellow. May 21st.— Larva emerged, but no trace of the ege-

shell was to be seen, so probably its first meal was made off the shell. Larva a

quarter of an inch long, of a dull green colour, with a very large brown head.

June 5th,—Larva now about five-eighths of an inch in length, colour brown,

with a bright green dorsal patch, and covered with small tufts, June 6th,—

Larva changed its skin during the night, and is now much more bristly. June

9th.—Larva again changed its skin, The spines are now more prominent, June

13th,— Larva changed in the night from a dark brown to a beautiful green

colour, very closely resembling the colour of its food-plant, There is a spira-

cular somewhat lunulated narrow yellow band. This band is whitish on the

last three segments ; the underside is brown, merging into pale green on the

last three segments. The legs and claspers are also brown, but of a darker

shade, Head round, colour raw-sienna ; two A-shaped dark bars on the face

are covered with minute white spines. Two black spines on the top of the

head ; the rest of the head covered with raw-sienna-coloured spines.

The third and fourth segments are each armed with a whorl of four

branched raw-sienna-coloured spines. The fifth, seventh, eighth, ninth

and tenth segments with smaller spines; the twelfth segment with two

branched spines; the thirteenth segment with four simple anal

spines, and two small branched spines just above them, The subdorsal

series is very much the largest, particularly so on the fifth segment, All the

branches are of a darker brown colour tipped with white. The larva is entirely

covered with minute white spots. June 20th.—There is now a dorsal band,

moss-green in colour, spotted with darker green ; a broad lateral blue band

lined transversely with darker blue bars crossing the band obliquely ; a some-

what irregular narrow spiracular band extending from the sixth to the thirteenth

segments, colour orange and pale ochreous alternately, the orange colour corre-

sponding with the middle of each segment ; posterior to this is an interrupted

brownish line. Legs black ; claspers and abdomen pale whitish-green. Length

one inch and-a-half, June 21st,—Larva suspended itself by the anal claspers.

Colour throughout yellowish-white. During the day from the head to about

the middle the larva became much yellower, and the posterior half became

almost quite white, June 22nd.—Pupa of a dingy white. June 23rd.—Pupa of

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 339

a brilliant metallic:hue, and looks like burnished gold with burnished silver

wing-cases. July 6¢ha—Imago emerged,

Mrs. 8, ROBSON.

“ LIVELANDS,” MussooRiz,

20th July, 1894,

VIII,_LIFE HISTORY OF CAMENA CLEOBIS, GODART, A

LYCANID BUTTERFLY,

June 24th,—Found several eggs of Camena cleobis, Godart, on Loranthus bicolor,

Linn, (vernacular name “ Banda’’), at Mussoorie, in the Western Himalayas.

The eggs were laid either on the stems or on the underside of the leaves. In

shape they are spherical, and covered with honeycomb-like indentations. The

larva emerges either from the side or the top of the egg, and eats a small round

hole in the shell to get out. It does not.eat the shell after it emerges. At the

same time was found a larva of a lycenid butterfly on the underside of a

leaf, and it bore a striking protective resemblance to the pink and yellow shades

of the edge of the leaf, on which it rested quite flat, with no legs or claspers

visible, The larva was of the usual onisciform shape, except that it was a little

stouter than usual posteriorly, and much stouter anteriorly, so that the outline

was roughly that of a club. The whole larva was yellowish-green, except a

faint pink patch on the anterior segments, beneath which the head is usually

withdrawn. This larva changed its skin on the 26th, and died on the 29th.

July Tth.—On a quantity of “ Banda” brought into the house, two lycenid

eggs were found, and placed in a very small bottle. July 13¢h—A very minute

larva emerged from one of the eggs. Length one-sixteenth of an inch. It fed

on one of the leaves, and was most difficult to distinguish from its food-plant,

and would not have been discovered had I not seen the hole in the

egg, July 19th.—The larva has changed its skin and is now a quarter

of an inch long. Colour-green. The larva is very depressed, with

a pink spot on the “hood,” by which is meant the anterior segments

beneath which the head is hidden. The larva eats a small hole half-way

through the leaf, and then moves to a fresh place. July 30th.—Larva now

three-eighths of an inch long, somewhat fish-shaped. The “hood” is dented

anteriorly, and when seen laterally reminds one of the mouth of a fish, On this

day the head was first seen, it is light brown and shaped like that of a tortoise,

A spiracular white line is now visible on each side of the larva. On the twelfth

segment are two subdorsal white marks which slope from the dorsal line down-

wards and backwards, August 2nd.—Larva changed its skin, Its shape is

now more accentuated, the anterior portion of the body is stouter and more

club-like, the tenth and eleventh segments being also more constricted,

the thirteenth segment more depressed and broader. On the tenth and

eleventh segments are two small subdorsal dots. It is difficult to verify

the segments, as the sides of the larva appear to adhere to the leaf,

August 6th.—The larva is now three-quarters of an inch in length, and

340 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

seen either from the front or the side the “hump ” or “ hood” forms a most

perfect fish’s head with the mouth open, and two small black dots have appeared

on the side of the hump about midway from its summit, which have the

appearance of eyes and complete the resemblance. Laterally a black band

has appeared in shape like a bow, extending from about the fifth

segment, arching upwards just posterior to the subdorsal dots already men-

tioned on the narrow part of the back and descending again at the beginning of

the flap-shaped thirteenth segment, On the ninth segment there is another

pair of subdorsal dots, which dots at this date have turned dark brown. There

is also a narrow dark green dorsal band, which darkens and widens out on the

twelfth segment, and fades away to nothing on the thirteenth segment, The

larva, which up to the present fed very daintily, now eats greedily, and appears

to have almost doubled in bulk in the last few days. August 8th.—The

eye-dots are now larger and quite black, and, in addition, there: are two

minute brown dots, one in front and one behind the eye-dot, forming a hori-

zontal line of three spots. The arched line already described is now quite black

and much broader, The subdorsal dots have mergedinto one dark patch, The

larva when fully extended is now three-quarters of an inch in length, August

9th.—The larva has left its food-plant and looks like a bit of shrivelled leaf,

The ground-colour has changed to a very dirty brown, and the dorsal patch is

a dark brown colour, August 11th.—The larva still lying on the petiole end of

the leaf head downwards, The “hump” is of a yellowish-brown colour, and the

area on which were the dark marks is of a very pretty emerald-green colour

with two dorsal white crescents, with a minute white spot in the space be-

tween the two points of each crescent, All the other markings have disap-

peared. The flattened anal segment is of a light yellowish-brown colour.

August 12th—The larva pupated, attached by the tail. The pupa is half

an inch long, and resembles a small piece of dark brown dead stick.

It is most difficult to find the larve when they first emerge from the egg,

Out of thirteen eggs only three larvee were found. The food-plant rotted and

had to be thrown away as it turned quite black ; one dead larva was found on

the rotten plant. The old food-plant was put into a bottle with fresh leaves,

but no larve appeared. The best plan is to put one egg only in a very small

bottle, when each larva emerges it can then be found without fail.

Mrs. S. ROBSON,

‘‘ LIVELANDS,’ Mussooriz,

13th August, 1894.

Notre py Mr. DE NIcE/VILLE.

Mrs. 8. Robson has very kindly sent mea live pupa of Camena cleobis, Godart,

which I describe as follows:—Pupa attached to the underside of a leaf from

which it hangs free, with no silk band across the middle as is usual in the

Lycenide, It is fixed to the leaf by the anal segment, being attached to a

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 341

small pad of pure white silk. The anal segment where it touches the leaf is

slightly widened out, thus forming a broad circular attaching base, The two

following segments slightly decrease in width, beyond these the pupa is of the

usual lycenid shape. The dorsal view of the pupa presents almost a right-

angle, the apex of the angle being slightly rounded, The abdominal view

presents an angle of about 45°, the short portion of this view consisting of the

three basal segments, beyond which is the long portion which is composed of

the wing-cases and the head. The head ends in two short conical blunt pro-

cesses ; behind these there is on each side a slight depression which bears a pure

white dot, and probably answers to the eyes of the imago, On each side

running down to the apices of the cone-like processes is a pure white line.

The dorsum is smooth and humped inthe middle. The first abdominal seg-

ment is the widest, and is produced into a broad blunt process anteriorly, which

slightly overhangs the dorsum, The abdominal segments somewhat rapidly

decrease in width, but again, as said before, widen out slightly where the anal

one joins the leaf. The coloration throughout is dark umber-brown, with a

broad lighter brown band on each side of the abdominal segments above, Mrs,

Robson informs me that in another pupa in her possession the top of the head-

case is green with a green bar on each side ; the two conical head-processes are

also green, Also that the whole pupa can move to the extent of one-eighth of

an inch, the “ hinge” being at the point where the abdominal segments meet

the wing-cases in the dorsal line, The pupa on pressure being applied to the

anterior thicker portion touches the leaf to which it is attached at the anterior

or head end, but that it springs back to its normal position when the. pressure

is removed,

The fortunate discovery of the transformations of the species adds one more

to the interesting list of lyczenid pupze which are abnormal in their mode of

attachment, lacking a silken girdle entirely. Of these a somewhat similar pupa

is figured in “ A Catalogue of the Lepidopterous Insects in the Museum of the

Hon. East-India Company,’ by Horsfield and Moore, vol. i, pl. xii, fig. 2a

(1857), as Dipsas biocellatus, Grote, MS, This species does not appear to

have ever been described, so I am unable to identify it, As Mr, Arthur

Grote, F.Z.S., collected and made observations on Lepidoptera only, as far as

I know, at Alipur, a suburb of Calcutta, it may be that the larva and pupa .

figured in this work are those of Tajuria longinus, Fabricius, or Camena

cleobis, Godart, both of which occur not uncommonly in Calcutta, Another

pupa is that figured in Mr. Moore’s “ Lepidoptera of Ceylon,” vol. i, pl. xxxiv,

fig. 1b (1881), as Spalgis epius, Westwood, but this identification is incorrect,

the larva and pupa there given being probably that of Horaga ciniata,

Hewitson, this name being subsequently changed to H, cingalensis, Moore.

Still another pupa is that of Tajuria longinus, Fabricius, figured on pl. xlii,

fig, 2b, of the last mentioned work. As the larva of T. longinus as figured by

Mr, Moore does not agree at all with Grote’s figure of the larva of “ Dipsas

342 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

biocculatus,” the latter is most probably that of Camena cleobis. The pupa of

Simiskina phalena, Hewitson (—Massaga hartertii, Doherty), also hangs free,

as does that of Spalgis epius, Westwood, as has recently been shewn in the

pages of this Journal, vol. viii, p. 485, pl. A (1894), by Mr. HE. H. Aitken.

C. cleobis is found at Masuri in the Western Himalayas, at Bolahat in the

Malda district, at Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri, Calcutta, Sibsagar in Upper Assam, in

the Chin-Lushai Hills, in the Ruby Mines district of Upper Burma, and in the

Nilgiri Hills.

Caucutta, 20th August, 1894.

IX._LIFE HISTORY OF KALLIMA INACHUS, BOISDUVAL,

A NYMPHALINE BUTTERFLY.

August 22nd, 1894.—Saw seven ova laidin the Bhutan Hills at 1,800 feet

elevation on the leaves of different plants of Géradinia heterophylla, Ferns,

Polygonum orientalis, and Strobilanthes capitatus,T. Anderson, Eggs not parti-

cularly large for so large a butterfly. Colour dark green, round, ribbed verti-

cally with creamy-yellow. August 27th—29th, Larvee emerged. The food-plant

is like that of Precis iphita, Cramer, Head black and shining, Body dark

brown, shiny, with two dorsal and two lateral rows of warts, each wart bearing

a stiff black hair, the anterior warts bearing three hairs. These are real hairs

not spines, as appears clearly under a microscope. Head not hairy, Larvee

grow very fast at this stage, and feed on the Strobilanthes capitatus.

31st August.—First moult. Verticillate spines now appear instead of hairs ;

also two long spines on the head, which did not exist in the first stage. Colour

shiny black, Larva almost exactly resembles that of Pareba vesta, Fabricius, for

which'doubtless they have been taken, thereby remaining undiscovered until now,

3rd September.—Second moult. Spines on second segment very short and

small; both subdorsal series of spines. yellowish-buff at the base ; a dorsal

row of spines from the 5th segment, shorter than the subdorsal ones, not

yellowish-buff at the base ; two last segments with a transparent appearance,

8th September.—Third moult, Same assecond. Spines long and eleven in

number ; bases of subdorsal spines orange-yellow ; the second out of line;

dorsal and two lateral rows of spines long, two small spines just above the legs

on each side, When the skin is just shed, the spines are very short, and the

larva combs them out with its mandibles and anterior legs. The long spines

on the head are truncated, and grow in much the same way as do a butterfly’s

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 343

wings when just emerged from the pupa. At first they are hardly apparent,

but gradually they become first bumps, then short thick protuberances, until

they are finally fully developed.

13th September.—Fourth and last moult. Larva velvety-black (the orange

spots having disappeared), covered with rather long yellowish hair, All the

spines reddish. General appearance that of a Lasiocampa or Gastropacha larva.

22nd September.—Three larve hung up for pupal change. Four pupated on

23rd. Pupal stage lasts about ten days.

G. C. DUDGEON.

Facoo TEA Estate, WESTERN DUARS.

5th October, 1894,

Explanation of Wood-cut.

The wood-cut shews a section of the larva at the third moult at the segment

which bears the second pair of prolegs, and shews the disposition of the spines,

The base of the fifth spine on each side counting from a proleg is orange-yellow

in colour,

No. X,—THE POWER OF MIMICRY IN CANARIES,

Last spring I was at home at Streatham, where there was a talking canary.

IT had heard of the bird’s accomplishments, and being somewhat sceptical I

noticed it particularly. The canary’s cage was hanging in a window, and

during the winter a parrot had been placed on a table close by. After some

time it was noticed that the canary was repeating some of the parrot’s sayings—

“Pretty polly, pretty dear, polly wants a quart of beer.”

I myself heard this many times, and was quite satisfied that it was the

canary, as the parrot had been removed after the winter and no one in the

house had any ventriloquial skill.

The articulation of the canary was to that of the parrot, as the parrot’s is

to the human voiee, 7.¢., rather worse, but still it was sufficiently clear and

distinct to be intelligible and unmistakable.

There was a tendency to repeat words, e.g., ‘‘ Pretty polly, polly, polly, pretty

dear, &c.,” and sometimes to go off into a whistle without completing the

sentence.

I am told talking canaries are not uncommon, but have never seen an instance

recorded, so perhaps this may be worth noting in our Journal.

Bomsay, 30th December, 1894. W. W. SQUIRE,

No, XI.—MEASUREMENTS OF TIGERS’ SKULLS,

In my note on the measurement of tigers’ skulls, which appeared in the last

number of our Journal (page 225 of this Vol.), the dimension of the first skull

are given as 112” by 105", but the figures which I wrote, or intended to write,

were 143” by 103”. Please make the correction,

HUGH MURRAY,

BELGAUM, 6th January, 1895. Divisional Forest Officer

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THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY.

Plumbago rosea. Linn.

Ja Natural size.

JOURNAL

OF THE

ty @) IV sey SG

Alatural History Society,

Vol. IX.] BOMBAY. [No. 4.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY.

By Surcron-Masor K. R. KintiKaR, LMLS., F.LS.,

Civit Surgeon, THANA.

PART XII.

(With plate N.)

(Continued from Vol. IX., page 258.)

PLUMBAGO ROSHA—(Zinz).

Natural Order—PLUMBAGINEZ.

MARATHI—aze faa.

An evergreen perennial shrub, 2—4 feet high, “ very rarely annual,”

(Boissier), The plant when grown in gardens and in conservatories

is much more handsome than when it grows under a blazing sun,

whereby its leaves invariably suffer in form and substance.

STEM,—Suffruticose, procumbent near the root, sometimes scandent,

jointed where the leaves are inserted ; woody below, herbaceous

above ; thin, long, roundish, longitudinally striated; near the joints

the green colour of the stem is darker green, lined with red; usually

not much branched. Sometimes instead of a single stem a number of

branches shoot out direct from the tortuous roots. Some of these

branches are erect, others procumbent, trailing along the ground.

346 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

Usually however, especially in new plants, there is a single stem from

which several branches arise. Young stems and branches contain

pith in the centre.

BRANCHES.—Bifarious, diffuse ; striated longitudinally ; generally

borne on the upper part of the stem, less numerous on the lower.

Length of branches sometimes three to four feet ata stretch. The

stem when in good condition bears leaves 14—24 feet asunder. Hach

articulation bears a solitary leaf. The procumbent branches, when

they reach the ground, bear fresh rootlets from the joints.

ROOT.—Fibrous, outwardly dusky yellow, or greenish according

to Rumphius. On section it looks yellowish with a brown tinge

in the line of the axis as seen in figure 5, of Plate N, accompanying

this letter-press. The cross-section depicts the appearance of

the root in its fresh condition; on drying it shrivels up. When

mature it is woody and solid. Some say it has a disagreeable odour.

As compared with the general size of the plant, the root is thick

and strong; nearer the stem it is nodose and sinuous, sending

down into the ground many thick fibrille. Sometimes the root

is two feet long; sometimes it sinks much deeper into the soil, so

much so that it is difficult to extirpate it.

LEAVES.—Entire ; alternate ; slightly drooping ; glabrous ; un-

dulate or wavy ; elliptic, ovate, lanceolate, or oblong-rotund, as Rheede

calls them ; striated by means of prominent ribs on the ventral sur-

face ; midrib markedly reddish; the principal nerves are similarly

reddish or even faintly so on the ventral surface in tender leaves,

they are greenish on the under or dorsal surface. The margin of

tender leaves is distinctly tinged red all round. The leaves vary in

colour from dark green to light green. The tender leaves are

generally light green; the older dark green. Leaves growing in

shady places are of lighter green.

Prtiotes.—Very short; channelled; sometimes amplexicaul,

sometimes absent ; margins tinged red. When the petiole is absent

the leaves are sometimes amplexicaul or semi-amplexicaul.

The apex of young leaves is delicately mucronate. To see this, one

has to examine the leaf buds as they expand at the growing point.

The older leaves are obtuse at the apex. The under or dorsal surface

of the leaves is generally of a lighter colour than the upper or ventral.

oe Se ee

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY, 347

VERNATION.—Involute.

StTreuLEs.—Absent.

FLOWERS.— Usually about 14—2 inches in length ; not persistent;

falling before the fruit is mature or even formed ; situated on spikes.

INFLORESCENCE.—In terminal or axillary spikes (racemes).

When the spikes are axillary,they arise from the upper axils of branches.

Spikes usually simple, 1—2 feet long. Rachis of the spike glabrous.

The flowers are arranged on the rachis alternately an inch or more

apart, sometimes only on one side of the rachis,* thus forming -

unilateral spikes or racemes. The flowers are never crowded together.

They are sometimes erect, sometimes transverse, and sometimes bent

downward or slightly drooping.

AistIvaTion.—Of Calyx, plicate (ana. of petals contorted; often

sinistrorse, sometimes dextrorse.

The flowering time is said by Blume to be in May and June. On this

side of India and in European conservatories the plant is well known to

flower more than once a year. ‘There is, however, a short resting period

after the whole plant has once flowered. The blossom does not all

appear at once on the whole plant, but branch after branch throws

out spikes which bear flowers in due time. Rheede says that the

plant flowers throughout the year, but especially in the rainy season.

BRACTS AND BracTEoLEes.—Shorter than the calyx.

Bracts.—2, superior lateral ; 3 says Roxburgh, Often scarious on

the margin ; ovate or ovate-oblong.

BRACTEOLES.—2, ‘‘ conform with the bracts” (Kurz), Rheede de-

seribes 3 small bracteoles, glabrous foliaceous. Rheede’s description

seems to me to be more accurate ; at any rate 3 bracteoles are more

common. The bracteoles are persistent; even after the flowers

have fallen, for a long time the bracteoles are to be seen intact, of red-

dish-brown colour. They are greenish when young. Lach set of

bracteoles, whether 2 or 3, contains a single flower. The flowers are

without any odour.

* “The flowers,” says Sir William Hooker, “ are remarkably secund, that is, turned to one

side” (Curtis’s Bot. Magazine, Tab. 5363). This is well illustrated in the plate given under that

number in Curtis. Curtis’s plate 230 in an earlier volume of his Bot. Magazine bears

bilateral flowers like those in plate N of my series."

348 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X,

CALYX.—Inferior ; gamosepalous, tubular; herbaceous, covered

with stalked sticky scarlet glands throughout its length; 5—10

ribbed; often hyaline between the ribs. Mouth of the tube

funnel-shaped, scarious, very slightly 5-dentate. Limb not persistent ;

but more so than the corolla. Upper half bright red, often deep rose-

coloured ; lower half brown-red, with just ashade of green near

the insertion of the bracteoles. The calyx is distinctly non-accrescent,

nearly always sessile. The pedicel if present is very short, oblong,

and deeply imbedded in the bracteoles. The calyx of young buds is

bright green ; the stipitate glands on it are also green. The viscid

mucus secreted by the stalked glands, or glandular hairs as some call

them, does not dry—(Boissier). Recent researches on these glands will

be referred to under the heading of Remarks later on.

COROLLA.—Bright red, often deep rose-coloured ; hypogynous ;

hypocrateriform ; tube long, slender, slightly angulate, generally

lighter in colour than the lobes at its lower third. Lobes 5, patent,

sometimes equal, sometimes slightly unequal. The form of the indivi-

dual lobes varies much even in the same flower, being sometimes round,

sometimes obovate, but usually obcordate. The midrib of the petals

is distinctly paler and prominent on the under surface, ending some-

times in a sharp point. Hence Boissier calls the petals “unguiculate ;”

sometimes the petal is blunt at the apex, hence assuming the obovate

form; sometimes it is distinctly notched, thus giving the petal an

obcordate appearance. The petals are sometimes faintly striate.

When fully open the corolla resembles that of the Jasmine. The

circumference of the expanded petals taken together is an inch or

even more. The corolla falls comparatively earlier than the calyx.

STAMENS.—5, opposite the petals ; free ; very fine and delicate ;

pale rose-coloured, partly whitish; slightly rising above the “ throat”

of the corolla-tube, and looking purplish.

FinaMENTs.—Filiform ; linear ; dilated at base and inserted at the

base of the petals “into the tops of the 5 nectarial scales ””—(Rox-

burgh).

AntHERS.—Oblong ; introrse ; anther-cells separated at the base,

and opening by longitudinal slits,

POLLEN-GRAINS.—Ovate.

HypocyNous Disk,—Absent,

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 349

PISTIL—

OvarY.—F ree; sessile; superior ; 1-celled ; 5-angular above, or

*¢ 5-cibbous ” as Boissier terms it ; narrowed at apex.

StytE.—Single, slender, whitish ; with 5 small segments, quite

indiscernible and alternating with the stamens. Base of the style hairy.

The union of the segments is a diagnostic character of this plant.

Stiemas.—5, ‘‘capillary, furnished on their inner surface with

several lines of glands’ (La M, and Dec., Mrs. Hooker’s Transla-

tion, page 525).

OvuLE.—1 pendulous from a basal ascending funicle ; anatropal.

FRUIT.—A membranous capsule, circumciss or rupturing near the

apex ; included in the tubular persistent calyx. Blume says that the

dehiscence is valvate ; others say that the pericarp of the fruit dehisces

in a subvalvate manner.

SHED.—Cylindrical or oblong-rotund, with 5 longitudinal strize ;

pendulous ; “ inverted sometimes, appearing erect by the union of the

fanicle with its integuments.”—(La M. and Dec.) The seed is green

when young, black when mature, adnate to the integument at its upper

extremity.

INTEGUMENT.—Simple.

ALBUMEN.—Farinaceous ; slight; separated into two parts by the

embryo.

Emsryo.— Within the albumen ; straight.

RaDICLE.—Superior ; short.

CoTYLEDons.—F lat.

PiLumMULE.—Slightly rough.

REMARKS.

The plant has the following synonyms :—

1. Thela coccinea (Loureiro, Flora Cochinchinensis, vol. I, p. 119,

1790).

2, Thalia coccinea (Loureiro, Flor. Cochin., Ed. Willd., vol. I,

p. 147.)—Curtis Bot. Magazine, Tab. 5368, Ist February, 1863.

3. Pluméago coccinea (Boissier in D. C, Prodr., vol. 12, p. 693.)

4, Plumbagidium rosewm (Spach. Veg. Phan., Vol. 10, p. 339.)

5. “ Radia vesicatoria” (Rumphius Herb, Amboiensis, lib, 1X, cap.

68, p. 453),

350 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, LX.

In writing the above description of this plant, I have mainly followed

Rheede, Rumphius and Boissier, who show a very accurate knowledge

of it. There are many points, however, in their remarks, as in those

of other writers to be named hereafter, which require special notice ;

and I shall refer to them under this head as occasion requires.

First then, with regard to its name, I have adhered to that given

by Linnzeus. Boissier observes that the specific name Thela coccinea™

had to be substituted by Loureiro for Plumbago rosea of Linnzeus

(rosea meaning rose-coloured, pink or rosy), because the colour of the

species we are considering was deeper than that of the pinkest

coloured rose. It was distinctly scarlet. For, says Boissier, “the

corolla is never rosy in this plant.”t To this, however, Sir William

Hooker, presumably the writer of the letter-press accompanying the

excellent plate in Curtis’s Botanical Magazine under No. 5363, gives

avery pertinent reply, albeit ingenious, in the following words :—

“The flowers are one and a quarter inch long in the tube and more

than an inch broad, remarkably secund, and the colour is bright

brickered, partaking of nothing of that purplish hue which induced

Linnzeus to call the species ‘Rosea’, Perhaps Loureiro and Boissier

had this variety (or this coloured variety at least) in view when they

gave it the name of coccinea, but the difference is hardly such as to

justify the change of the old Linnzean and well-established name of

Plumbago rosea to P. coccinea as Boissier has done. Popularly,

too, the rose zs red.”

This reminds me of my school-days, when every class-book I bought

I scribbled with the couplets :—

“ The grass is green,

The rose is red,

This book is mine

Till I am dead ;

Steal it not for fear of shame,

For under lies the owner’s name.”

Of the authorship of these lines I am still in the dark as much ‘as

I am with regard to their pretension to verse. The conclusion I draw,

* Thela, from the Greek Thelé = papilla, so named from its papillose calyx (J. D.

Loureiro ) ; Coccinea meaning red or scarlet,

+ To quote Boissier’s own words =“ Corolla numquam in hac planta rosea est.” D. C.;

Prodr., vol, xii, p. 693.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. | 351

however, is the same as that drawn by Sir William Hooker, namely,

that what is rosy may be considered red. Hxamining further the

aptness of the synonyms mentioned above, I find in a recent edition

of Johnson’s Gardener’s Dictionary (by Wright and Dewar, 1894,

pp. 771-772) that, besides the species mentioned as Plumbago rosea,

bearing red flowers, another distinct species is given under the name

of Plumbago rosea coccinea, which has larger and brighter flowers than

P. rosea, and which is said to bea native of the Neilgherries. This

is evidently done on the authority of Sir William Hooker's letter-

press accompanying plate 5363 again referred to later on. In Paxton’s

Botanical Dictionary (Hereman’s edition, 1868), on the other hand,

I find that Plumdago rosea and Plumbago coccinea are mentioned as

two distinct species. The latter is said to be scarlet-flowered and a

native of the Neilgherries, whereas the former is red-flowered and

found throught the Hast Indies. On referring to the Species Plant-

arum of Linneeus (Willdenow’s Edition, Berlin, 1797, vol. 1, p. 838),

I find that the species described by Burmann as Plumbago zeylaniea

is synonymous with Plumbago rosea. This Plumbago zeylanica of

Burmann is a distinctly red-flowered plant. In the “ Flora Zeylanica,”

which Linnzeus published in 1747, the same statement is made (wde

p. 30). I mention this here particularly, because I wish that the

red-flowered Plumbago zeylanica of Burmann should not be con-

founded with what we now-a-days know as Plumbago zeylanica,

Linn., which isa white-flowered variety. I presume that this white-

flowered species is the Plumbago zeylanensis of Burmann. Asa Gray

prefers to call the red-flowered plumbago of America P. coccinea.*

The plant we are considering is easy of propagation by means of cut-

tings. The cuttings root very readily in the rains, They evidently

require much moisture and grow in almost any soil; they prefer, how-

ever, a sandy soil, and thrive, both as regards leaves and flowers, in cool

and shady places. For I have observed that plants growing in the

open suffer very much in foliage and blossom and never fruit on this

side of India, Firminger observes that “the beauty of the plant

is much impaired by many of the leaves appearing generally in a

decayed condition ; requires shade and moisture.” (Manual of

Gardening, 1890, p. 543.)

* Field, Forest, and Garden Botany of the United States, 1870, p. 222,

352 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. TX.

Next with regard to the habitat of the plant. So far as I know,

it is not found in Bombay growing wild. Itis essentially a garden

variety on this side of India, The Plumbaginee as a class are said by

Mr, Clarke to grow mostly in maritime and saline places, and the

genus Plumbago is distributed throughout the warm regions of both

the hemispheres, But it is questionable whether Plumbago rosea grows

wild extensively, if anywhere at all, in Western India. Kurz thinks

it is not wild in Burma; Thwaites thinks it is not wildin Ceylon;

so says Clarke. Loureiro says that both the species of Plumbago, i.c.,

the red andthe white, grow among the hedges of Indian bamboos,

over which they climb as well in Cochin China as in China. Blume

observes that the plant known as Plumbago auriculata (probably from

its amplexicaul petiole), which is the same as Plumbago zeylanica of

Linneeus, very largely grows in the marshes of Batavia (Bijdragen

Flor. Nederland Indié, vol. II], p. 735, Buitenzorg). Kurz says

that “ Plumbago rosea is not unfrequent in the moister mixed forests

of Pegu, Yomah, and the Martaban Hills down to Tenasserim ;

also Ava.” He also adds that the plant is often cultivated and

springs up “in toungyas,* along the river banks, &c.” Rheede

has noted that the plant grows in sandy places. In Bentham

and Mueller’s ora Australiensis (vol. IV, p. 267), I find the

following remark regarding P. rosea :—“ Another Indian species, dis-

tinguished chiefly by its red flowers and more herbaceous stem,

P. rosea, Linn., is said to have established itself near Rockhampton, in

Queensland, as an escape from gardens.” The question is whether

this happens by means of cuttings or by the dissemination or actual

planting of the seed. If the plant seeds in Australia at all, it isa

remarkable fact—for in Bombay I have never known it to seed. There

is this thing to be observed—that it is unquestionable it seeds on the

Neilgherry Hills; for witness what is noted in Curtis’ Botanical

Magazine, plate 5363, letter-press. It is evident from this plate, depict-

ing a very handsome and substantial blossom, that Sir William

Hooker considers the plant depicted thereon is a variety, for he calls it

“ variety coccinea,” of Llumbago rosea, which Johnson refers to in his

dictionary, as quoted in the foregoing remarks:—“ The plant,” says Sir

* Toung-ya (Burmese)—a form of hill-cultivation carried on by burning the jungles—

(Balfour).

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 353

William, “ has long been én cultivation at Kew, and Messrs. Veitch have

sent us specimens raised from seeds received from the Neilgherries.” The

plant is such an exceptionally good illustration of stove-culture that few

will fail to recognize the value and extreme beauty of Plumbago rosea

as a garden ornament. Under the burning sun of India it can scarcely

hope to bear leaves “ measuring six inches in length and three in

breadth,” or panicles “two or more feet long ” as depicted in plate

5363. The plant requires ample shade and moisture for healthy

erowth. Sir William’s illustration isa vivid example of what the

flower and foliage can be where the plant is not called upon to cope

with the horrible heat and damaging dryness of the Indian sky.

It is difficult to understand the remark made by Mr. C. B. Clarke,

the writer of the article Plumbaginee in vol. ITI of Hooker’s “ Flora

of British India” (vide p. 481) with reference to P. rosea. It runs

as follows :—“ Altogether resembling P. zeylanica and perhaps only

a cultivated variety of it.” To all appearance the plant I am

describing is essentially a distinct species, in which the red colour

is markedly prevalent, not only in the flowers and floral envelopes

and their appendages, but even in the midrib and margin of the

leaves and also in the leaf-appendages. The following conspectus

of the two species given by Kurz* will show the differential character-

istics of the two species :-—

Spikes glandular, pubescent; corolla white, bract ovate, leafy ;

bractlets subulate +. aes eso tae oi dep 265 we. Plumbago zeylanica.

Spikes glabrous or nearly so; corolla rose-coloured or scarlet; bract

ovate, oblong, scarious, brown ; bractlets conform with the bracts... Plumbago rosea.

Roxburgh has pointedly remarked that the specific distinguishing

mark between P. zeylanica and P. rosea, according to his observation,

depends on the racemes and bracts, colour not being a specific mark, F

“ The bracts of P. rosea,” says Roxburgh, “are three-fold, one-flower-

ed, equal, smooth ; the inner or upper two united between the flower and

rachis.” The bracts of P. zeylanica, on the other hand, “ are three-fold,

one-flowered; the outer one is ten times larger than the lateral one ;

they are covered with the same gluten as the peduncle of the raceme ;

sometimes there is a fourth linear bract pressing the calyx.”

* Contribution towards a knowledge of the Burmese Flora, pp. 217, 218, Journal As. Roc.,

Bengal, No. II, 1877.

+ Roxburgh’s Flora Indica, p. 155, Calcutta Edition, 1874.

354 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

With such distinctive specific differences which cannot be considered

to be mere changes due to cultivation, it is somewhat puzzling to meet

with the remark of Mr. Clarke in our standard work on Indian Botany.

In deseribing the root of Plumbago rosea,so far back as 1876,* Dr.

Dymock says that “the root is reddish-brown externally, transversely

jissured, thick and suberous ; internally it is white when first removed,

but soon turns red upon exposure to air.’ (The italics are mine—

K.R.K.) It will beseen from my transverse section of the root (Fig.

5, Plate N) that the color is yellow. It is only the central part

that is brownish-red. This central portion consists of “a woody

column,” to use Dr. Dymock’s own words, “ with a very large vascular

system surrounded by a bark almost entirely made up of thin-walled

parenchymatous cells loaded with large oil-globules, and containing

some starch.” Jaikisson Indraji notes that “ the roots when fresh exude

a yellow juice.” This would account for the yellow colour of the section

of the fresh root depicted in my Plate N. Contrast with this the state-

ment of Dr. Dymock { regarding P. europea that Prof. Flickiger

and Mr. Gerock found its root when freshly cut to be nearly devoid of

colour, but on exposure it immediately assumed a yellow hue. I may

add from personal observation that the root of Plumbago rosea is

naturally yellow on section, even when taken fresh from the ground.

With regard to the habit of the plant, Asa Gray’s Plumbago cocc?=

nea is aclimber. The Indian variety is not always so, but can be

trained as a climber if there is suitable trelliswork to support it.

The cotyledons, according to Gaertner, are foliaceous, and ovate-

oblong ; the embryo is slightly yellow; the albumen perfectly white ;

and the integument of the seed membranceous. (De Fruct. et Semin.,

vol. I, p. 234.) Judging from the dehiscence of the fruit figured on

Tab. 50 (Gaertner), it appears that the valves of the capsule begin

separating at the apex.

With regard to the nature of the glands found on Plumbago rosea, 1

cannot do better than refer to the elaborate researches of Dr. John

Wilson, Lecturer on Botany in the University of St. Andrews, publish-

ed in the Annals of Botany.t As Dr. Wilson rightly observes, Boissier

* Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions, vol. vii, 3rd series, 1876-77, page 190.

f Pharmacographia Indica, vol. ii, p. 333.

ft Vol.iv, No, xiv, pp. 231—255, May, 1890.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 355

does not touch the question of glands in his exhaustive monograph on

the Plumbaginacee in De Candolle’s Prodromus, freely utilized

by me in compiling the foregoing remarks, No mention is made of

the glands in Bentham and Hooker’s Genera Plantarum. Nor is there

in any author among the many that I have consulted any

special mention of the structure and varieties of these glands. The

contribution of Dr. Wilson, therefore, is a distinct advance

upon the previous knowledge of the morphology of the Plum-

baginee ; he therefore deserves the gratitude of every special

student of this order for his elaborate researches. ‘The study of the

vegetative organs of any member of the family” (Plumbaginec), says

he, “is not proceeded far when one finds studded over the leaves, stem,

&c., sunk oval or circular glands with characteristically cruciform dia-

metrical partitions.” They possess, what Dr. Wilson calls the

“ chalk-secreting”’ function, to which are due the mineral substances

‘known as “ chalk-scales” secreted by certain species of the Plumbaginee.

Mettenius having described and figured these glands, Dr. Wilson calls

them, for the sake of brevity, Mettenian glands (glands of Mettenius),

and as such they will be referred to in the following observations.

The structure of these glands may be given as follows, as described

by Maury and quoted in the original French quotation cited by

Dr. Wilson *:

“ The primitive or mother cell is divided mainly into four simple

cells each of which latter is a secretory cell. Their product (or secre-

tion) is stored up in the intercellular space and is thrown out (or

excreted) in consequence of the tension of the cells lying close to the

lower part.”

These glands, observes Dr. Wilson, in general “ occur in longitu-

dinal depressions on the stems of Plumbagos giving rise to a striated

appearance when calcium carbonate is secreted.” They are also present

“on the leaves and bracts of all and sepals of many of the species of

* * * Plumbago * * * examined.” They also occur on the cotyledons

of the genus Plumbago, besides those of several other genera of the

Plumbagineee, “ even before the light is reached by the germinating

seedlings.” (Wilson, p. 240, op. cit.) I have often observed a

* Translated by me with the assistance of Mr. J. Mittra, Barrister-at-Law, Nag-

pore.

356 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX,

whitish crust on some of the leaves of Plumbago rosea. But I

have never been able to account for its appearance — there.

Viewing the crust now in the light of Dr. Wilson’s researches, I

am able to attribute the occurrence of it to Mitiencan glands, I may

observe here that the critical eye of Mr. Jaikisson Indraji, of Pore-

bundar, has not failed to notice this crust. In a Gujrati work, entitled

Arya Aushadh, published in 1889 by Dr. Virji Jhinaé Raval, L. M.

& S., in describing Chitrak, it is stated that in the space between

the amplexicaul petiole and the stema kind of saline substance is

found which, he says, is used medicinally (p. 243). Mr. -Jaikisson

Indraji, in describing the leaves of Plumbago rosea, says that “ they

are covered with a white or brownish bloom.” When I read this state-

ment eight years ago, and observed Jater on for myself the white crust

or bloom as he calls it, I was disposed to attribute it to external agencies.

I thought that the saline deposit was due to salts contained in the

water sprinkled over the plant in the process of watering. But, thanks

to the researches of Dr. Wilson, this calcarious deposit has now a

morphological interest, readily affording the happy solution of a

question which has struck very few before, but which now appears

to be a special phenomenon connected with the glandular appendages

of the genus Plumbago. Were it not for the explanation given by

Dr. Wilson, I should still have gone on imagining that the white crust-

spots seen on many leaves in Plumbago rosea were merely due to the

watering of the plants and to the deposit of the salines from the water-

ing fluid rather than to the inherent power possessed by the glands of

secreting saline ingredients by virtue of the chemical process going

on in their ultimate cells. Dr. Wilson has now shown us that the so-

called Mittentan glands which the Plumbagos contain in large

numbers are the producers of the white saline crust, which consists of

calcium carbonate.

The next set of glands seen in the Natural Order Plumbaginee

constitutes, what Dr. Wilson calls, “ mucilage-glands.”” A few of

them are seen in the leaf-axils of Plumbago rosea, the largest being

°38 mm. in diameter. The stalked glands on the exterior of the

calyx of Plumbago rosea belong to this class. They are well known

for the viscidity of their mucilaginous secretion. They are “spherical,

bright red, and formed of very numerous polygonal cells. When fully

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 357

developed they are very opaque, and their whole structure remarkably

tough. ‘The stalk penetrates a considerable distance into the fully-

formed head, so as to make the base of the gland dome-shaped

or conical. Younger and smaller external glands are fairly

translucent. The stalks of almost sessile glands are composed of a few

comparatively large cells.” Sessile glands are also to be seen in

Plumbago rosea on the inner face of the sepals. Their basal’ cells are

two. ‘‘ Their homology with the stalked glands on the exterior of

the calyx,” says Dr. Wilson, “ traced through the smaller and almost

sessile ones there, cannot be doubted. Further, the sessile glands do

not offer any point of material distinction from normal mucilage-

glands of the leaves.”

POISONOUS PROPERTIES.

The plant which Rumphius has described so graphically and fully

under the name of Radix vesicatorius* (the blistering root), is un-

mistakably the Plumbago rosea of Linnzeus. That this name has not

been given without reason will be apparent from the following

observations. It is the root of the plant which is the most obnoxious

of its entire organization. Its juice is very acridly pungent to taste,

and produces in the tongue a severe lancinating pain. To do this it

must be fresh. The juice distinctly blisters the skin and otherwise

irritates it as violently and briskly as cantharides. Within six to

eight hours, says Rumphius, the skin becomes red and covered with

blebs. Rheedej observes that the leaves and stems are also pungent

to taste, but are not so virulent as the root. More than one writer has

said that the virulent effects are more marked when the juice is taken

from a fresh root. Why is itso? Is it that the irritant property is

due to an evanescent active principle, an essential oil or ether which

deteriorates in course of time as the root dries up? Seventy years ago

M. Dulong isolated an acrid active principle called Plumbagin from

Plumbago europea, the only European congener of Plumbago rosea.

From the researches of O’Shaughnessy it appears that the same

active principle is found in Plumbago rosea. It abounds chiefly in

the bark of the root. “Ié occurs in brilliant yellow crystals, of

* Merb. Amb., Lib. ix, cap. 68, p, 453.

} Hortus Malabaricus, vol. x, t. 9, p. 17.

358 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

aweetish, but acrid and hot taste, easily fusible, partially volatile, scanti-

ly soluble in cold, freely in boiling water, very soluble in alcohol and

ether, in the concentrated acids, and in alkaline solutions, with which

it strikes a deep red colour; or with hydrate of alumina* or

subacetate of lead a crimson-red coloured precipitate is formed, which

constitutes a very valuable and delicate test, available in many

medico-legal inquiries.’{ In the light of these researches of

O’Shaughnessy it is important to remember that happily for toxico-

logists, Plumbagin is one of the few vegetable poisons which can be

detected by chemical analysis as a matter of certainty. “Two

grains of the powdered bark,” says Dr. O’Shaughnessy, “may be

detected ina pint of a mixture of milk, blood and various articles

of food.”

The careful researches of Dr. O’Shaughnessy are further emphasized

by Dr. Dymock and his confrérest in describing the chemical com-

position of Plumbago rosea. They say that “the activity of the drug

depends upon the presence of Plumbagin.” Tt crystallizes, they add,

“in delicate needles or prisms, often grouped in tufts ; has a styptic

saccharine taste; melts very easily, and partly yolatalizes unaltered

when heated. It is neutral, nearly insoluble in cold, more soluble in

boiling water, very soluble in alcohol and ether. It dissolves with

yellow colour in strong sulphuric acid, and fuming nitric acid, and is

precipitated by water in yellow flocks, Alkalies change the colour of the

solution toa fine cherry-red ; acids restore the yellow colour.” The

extreme importance of these tests, from a toxicological point of view, is

my only apology for thus extensively reproducing the remarks

contained in the “ Pharmacographia Indica” of Dr. Dymock and his

colleagues. Dr. Lyon § makes a few remarks which may well be

reproduced here :—“ Plumbagin treated with caustic potash solution

dissolves, forming a bright crimson liquid. Hydrochloric acid added

to this changes the colour to yellow, and on standing the liquid deposits

yellow flocculi of Plumbagin, which may be separated by shaking the

ST i IE RSIS MRL eT NET

* According to modern chemical nomenclalure Aluminium tribydrate and tribasic acetate

of lead respectively.

t O’Shaughnessy’s Bengal Dispensatory, p. 509, 1841,

t Pharmacographia Indica, vol. ii, p. 8332, 1891.

§ Medical Jurisprudence for India, p. 219, 1889.

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 359

acidified fluid with ether. An alcoholic solution of Plumbagin

gives a crimson precipitate with solution of basic acetate of lead.” Dr,

Lyon further adds an important note which is useful for analytical pur-

poses :—“ A colouring matter obtained from rhubarb root gives, with

caustic potash solution, a crimson colour similar to that given by

-Plumbagin. An alcoholic solution of it, however, gives, with acetate

of lead solution, an orange precipitate, not a crimson precipitate like

Plumbagin.”’

There is yet another work, and a more recent one, I should like to

refer to in connection with the active principle hitherto known as Plum=

bagin. Itisthe Dictionary of the Active Principles of Plants, compiled

and published by Charles H. Sohn, F.I.C.,F.C.S., last year. At page 10

of this valuable work Dulong’s Plumbagin is otherwise named O phiozylin

(Cig Hiz Os , or Cig Hp Ors). It is said by Sohn to resemble Juglone.*

It is one of the active principles, found in some of the representatives of

_ the Natural Order Apocynacee, as, for instance, Rauwolfia (Ophioxylon)

serpentina and trifoliata. It is seen in the form of orange crystals of

the tetragonal system, the melting point of which is 71°89, No

wonder, then, that in India the active principle contained in those roots

is of an evanescent nature where the normal temperature is, as a rule,

above the melting-point above indicated, except in the cold weather,

This leads me to consider here the following remark made in the

“ Pharmacographia Indica” (pp. 332-333) by Dr. Dymock and his

colleagues, namely :—“‘ M. Greshoff, who has been investigating the

chemistry of the medicinal plants of Java * * * , is of opinion that

the roots (supposed to be from Rauwoljia serpentina) examined by

Wefers Beitink * * * were really those of Plumbago rosea. Pro-

fessor Bettink extracted with chloroform a yellow crystalline princi-

ple, apparently the Plumbagin of Dulong. Had M. Greshoff the

benefit of Sohn’s recent researches, I am positive he would have come

to the conclusion that they both contain the same active principle ;

* Note.—“ Vogel and Reischauer discovered a substance which crystallized in reddish-

yellow needles in the green outer shell of the unripe walnut (Juglans regia), and gave to it

the name of nucine, and afterwards changed to juglone. C. Reischauer then pointed out that

this substance was probably identical with the regianine which had been prepared from the

nutshells by Phipson, and this was confirmed by the latter chemist,”—Treatise on Chemistry,

Roscoe and Schorlemmer, vol. iii, Organic Chem., part vi, p. 137.

360 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

and perhaps would not have said that, because the roots of Rawwolfia

serpentina contained the active principle known as Dulong’s Plumbagzn,

they were the roots of Plumbago rosea. Asa matter of fact, from the

statement of Sohn we know now, in 1895, that they both contain

Dulong’s Plumbagin which Sohn calls Opizoxylin.

So far, for the active principle of Plumbago rosea. Let me now —

go back tothe researches of O’Shaughnessy, the founder of our accurate

toxicological knowledge regarding the plant we are considering.

Although he avowedly speaks from a clinical experience of ‘ from

300 to 400 cases,” Dr. O’Shaughnessy is modest enough to say in the

very next sentence as follows: — Our experiments lead us to believe

that the blistering quality resides in the Piumbagin, but on this we are

as yet unable to speak in positive terms.’’ This is truly characteristic

of the humility of a thoroughly scientific mind. Dr. O’Shaugh-

nessy was fully aware of the influence his conclusions would exercise

for good or for evil on the readers of his words for countless genera-

tions yet to be. Had he been aware of what the ancient Hindu

writers had said about the plant hundreds of years before him, I am

sure he would have been more positive in his assertion regarding the

blistering quality of Plumbago rosea. Inthe Raj-Nighant of Narhar

Pandit, in the Bhév Prékash of Bhav Misra, in Madanpal-Nighant

and in Dhanvantart Neghant, Plumbago rosea is spoken of as Anal or

Vanhi, which means fire ; and we know that when fire is brought into

contact with human skin, it either burns the skin or blisters it. It

produces a blister where it does not burn. Even so it is with the root

of Plumbago rosea. In Sanskrit it is also called Chztrak, from which

we derive our Marathi name. Rendered into English Chitrak means

the marker. It distinctly marks the skin.

_ The experiments which Dr. Dymock and his colleagues are reported

to have made* with two ewts. of bazar plumbago root (the italics are

mine—K.R. K.) are worthy of notice here. From these two ewts,

was obtained half-a-fluid ounce of a deep yellow oily fluid having a

peculiar penetrating odour. The effect of a few drops of this oil

“smeared upon the upper part of the arm was not vesicating and

occasioned no inconvenient symptoms.” This points to one of two

* Pharmacographia Indica, vol. ii, p, 333,

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY, 361

things—either that (1) the vesicating principle is volatile and that it

had disappeared from the roots before they were experimented on, they

being bazar-bought, and consequently perhaps of old standing, at any

rate not quite so fresh as required ; for all the previous writers have

distinctly said that the vesicating property exists in the fresh root; or

(2) that the vesicating principle is decomposed or chemically altered

during the process of experimentation. This may be supposed to be a

mere conjecture on my part; and so itis. It is only as such that

I submit it for the consideration of the colleagues of Dr. Dymock—

Dr. Warden and Mr. Hooper—who helped Dr. Dymock in bringing

out the “ Pharmacographia Indica,” with the humble suggestion that

in their future experiments fresh root of Chitrak may be tried. The

bazar root though apparently fresh and moist, is necessarily old and,

in consequence, worthless for the purpose of accurate analysis.

Ii should be taken fresh from the ground. Besides I find that

Dr. Dymock and his colleagues had “ to dry the root before it could

be powdered.”’ (“Pharmacographia Indica,” p. 334, vol. IL.) It is

necessary that further researches should be made without drying the

root, for the blistering quality is supposed to exist in the roots of

plants of the entire genus Plumbago when they are fresh. In quoting

the researches made by Prof. Fliickiger and Mr. T. EH. Gerock on

P. europea, Dr. Dymock observes that the Plumbagin which it con-

tains, or which is obtained therefrom, is “ probably the product of a

rapid. oxidation of some primary substance contained in the plant.” (The

italics are mine—K. R. K.) May not this “premary substance,”

Task, be the vesicating agent which in Dr. Dymock’s experiments

underwent rapid oxidation? May not the inertness of the oil he

obtained from the root be due to such rapid oxidation as he conjectures ?

There is room for yet more accurate research in this direction. I have

only to repeat what Dr. Dymock has himself said with regard to the

action of the root of Plumbago rosea :—“ Its action is well worthy

of accurate scientific investigation.” (“‘ Pharmacographia Indica,”

vol. IL., p. 31.) There is need for further observation as to what is

the chemical constitution of the blistering agent in this root,

The root of Plumbago europea has long been known in Europe,

and is used for various purposes. It is employed by beggars, says

Lindley (“ Vegetable Kingdom,” p. 641, 1847), “‘ to raise ulcers upon

362 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

their bodies to excite pity; its root is so acrid that it is used in

Roumelia for causing issues, and even as a vesicant.’ A young

woman who had applied it is said to have affirmed “that the pain

it occasioned was intolerable and that she felt as if being flayed alive.”

It is also said to be emetic. The blistering properties of the entire

genus Plumbago were not unknown to Pliny, for he says, observes

Loudon,* that this plant (I should rather say the genus Plumbago—

K. R. K.) was so called “from plumbum, because it possessed the power

of curing a disorder in the eyes called by that name, which appears to

have been the same as cataract.’’ There is also a modern reason for the

application of thename tothis genus. P. europea is called toothwort

and also dentelazre, Fr., from its curing the toothache, “for which purpose

the bruised root is chewed, when it excites by its causticity a healthy

salivation, but stains the teeth a lead colour.” The “ Pharmacopeeia of

India” notes that the Javanese apply the root of P. rosea topically for

the cure of toothache. Here is additional testimony from authori-

tative writerst :—“‘ The Plumbagos contain a very caustic colouring

matter ; the root of the European species contains a fatty substance

which gives a leaden colour to fingers and paper.” In referring to

Plumbago europea, Beckt remarks as follows: —‘‘Suavages observes that

the workmen who make use of the decoction of this plant for the pur-

pose of obtaining a yellow dye, are tormented by a severe headache if

they work longer than six hours.” As a stainer of the skin of a leaden

hue, I may confidently say that our Plumbago rosea has no

such notoriety. Dr, Norman Chevers says that it is a very active but

painful and a very uncertain vesicatory. (The italics are mine—K. R, K.)

The root is used in various forms in India for criminal purposes.

So far back as 1837, Dr. O'Shaughnessy noted this fact and succeeded

in detecting the poison by chemical analysis as indicated inthe fore-

going remarks. Apart from its blistering property when applied to the

human skin, there is yet a more serious and dangerous use of the root

of Plumbago rosea for criminal purposes which must seriously engage

our attention. Dr. O’Shaughnessy says that it is very largely used as

an irritant to occasion abortion. Tor this purpose ‘‘it is imtreduced

* Encyclopedia of Plants, pp. 118-119, 1829,

+E. Le Maout and Decaisne’s system of Botany, translated by Mrs. Hooker, p. 528, 1873.

{ Medical Jurisprudence, p. 838, 1836,

THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 363

into the vagina and applied directly to the neck of the uterus.” To

this observation of Dr, O’Shaughnessy, Dr. Norman Chevers adds a

note* that the root of Plumbago rosea is frequently used with far more

violence than is described by Dr. O’Shaughnessy. Referring to Dr,

Norman Chevers’ remarks on criminal abortion,t I find that Rai

Bahadur Kannya Lall Dey affords him valuable information regard-

ing the use of chitrak (red variety) for the purpose of procuring

abortion. In a document the Rai Bahadur handed over to Dr. Norman

Chevers, as the doctor’s work was going to press, the veteran Babu

says in unmistakeable language that lal chitra (the Bengali name

of lal chitrak or témbdad chitrak as called in Western India),

“is very certain in its action ; producing shivering almost immediately

after the application, followed by abortion in two or three hours ; and

it may be used at all periods of pregnancy, still the foetus is always

expelled lifeless, and the woman is in great danger.’’ Such is also the

experience of Dr. Allen Webb. Apart from this directly local use of

the root of Pluméago rosea on the generative organs, Dr, O’Shaugh-

nessy has shown that it is administered internally, that is to say, by the

stomach to cause abortion. In support of this Dr. Norman Chevers

cites a fatal case mentioned to him by Kannya Lall Dey which occurred

in 1857, and in which a mixture of chitrak root and some arsenic was

administered toa girl for the purpose of making her abort.t The

indigenous writers I have mentioned above, are totally silent as regards

the abortifacient quality of the root of chitrak. Chakradatta, as quoted

by Udoy Chandra Dutt,§ is the only ancient Hindu authority who states

that Plumbago rosea has a specific action on the uterus. ‘‘ The root of

Plumbago rosea,’ says he, “ taken internally, will expel the foetus from

the womb whether dead or alive.” Dr. Lyon, as Chemical Analyser

to Government, Bombay, refers|| to a case from Sangamner, in which

“some pieces of stick, stated to have been used for the purpose of

procuring abortion, were found to be armed at the end with cotton

covered with a paste in which, on chemical examination, Plumbagin,

* Medical Jurisprudence, p, 251, 1870,

+ Medical Jurisprudence, pp. 712—19, 1870.

~ Dr. Norman Chevers’ Medical Jurisprudence, p. 116, 1870.

§ The Materia Medica of the Hindus, p, 187, 1877.

|| Report for the year 1881-82, p. 11,

364 JOURNAL, BOVBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. TX.

the characteristic principle of Plumbago rosea and zeylanica, was detect-

ed.”? In a subsequent annual report,* reference is made to another

case of death after abortion which occurred at Satara, and in which

Plumbagin, the characteristic principle of Plumbago rosea and zeyla-

nica was detected in a lump of paste found lying in the vagina of the

deceased. In this case arsenic also was detected in minute quantity

in the liver.” Among the modern Hindu writers who recognize the

abortifacient properties of chitrak, are Dr. Sakharam Arjun and

Mr. Jaikisson Indraji.

Taken internally, the root of Plumbago rosea acts as an irritant.

Dr. Dymock states that when given internally in large doses, it acts as a

narcotico-irritant poison. ‘In small doses it acts first as a powerful

stimulant of the mucous membrane of the digestive organs, and after ab-

sorption, as a stimulant of the excretory glandular organs.”{ Colonel

Drury observes that the root is not unfrequently used internally by the

natives in Bengal for criminal purposes. ‘‘ Taken internally,” says he,

“it is an acrid stimulant and in large doses acts as an acro-narcotic.” t

Dr. Norman Chevers says that the root is criminally used internally

in poisoning men.”’§ He cites two well-recorded cases, from which

{ give the following extracts :—

(Case 1). In May, 1843, a woman living in Howrah, pounded a

small piece of a reddish-coloured root which had been given to her, and

having mixed it with milk, gave it to her husband. He was taken ill in

about two hours after swallowing it, and died after having vomited ten

times and being purged once. The Civil Assistant Surgeon observed

a slight flush of inflammation on the surface of the stomach and small

intestines. * * * The surface of the stomach was found by

Dr. Mouat who examined it, to be much corrugated and covered with

small patches of inflammatory blush. On analysing the contents of the

stomach, some of the matter vomited, and the remains of the food said

to have been taken by the deceased, Dr. Mouat could detect no trace

of any mineral poison, but obtained the distinct evidence of the charac-

teristic appearance produced by lal chitra,

* Report of the Chemical Analyser to Government, Bombay, for the year 1885, p. 7.

+ Pharmacographia Indica, vol. ii, p. 331.

{ Useful Plants of India, 1878, p. 348.

§ Medical Jurisprudence, 1870, p. 252.

‘THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 365

(Case 2). In October, 1853, the Civil Assistant Surgeon of Azimgur

forwarded the stomach, with its contents, of a man supposed to have

died by poison, together with a substance found near the body and

supposed by the police to be poison. The stomach was received by

Dr. Mouat in an advanced state of decomposition, but still exhibited

traces of inflammation and was found to contain lal chitra, The

substance sent was also found to be a portion of the root of the Plum-

bago rosea.

Dr. T. D. C. Barry, Chemical Analyser to Government, Bombay,

in his annual report for 1891, refers to a case of poisoning by Plum-

bago rosea. The details of this case are not before me, nor have I seen

the report. Iam writing from the Government resolution on that

report as published in the newspapers. I therefore refer the reader

to the report itself for further information.

The table given by Dr. Dymock (pp. 885-339) in vol. Il. of the

“Pharmacographia Indica” shows the particulars of Plumbago poison-

ing in India, and is well worthy of the perusal of those who are

interested in the toxicology of this plant and its active principle Plum-

bagin.

To summarize briefly what I have stated above, the deleterious effects

of Plumbago rosea may be classified under three heads :—

(1) Externally or locally in men and women as a blistering

agent.

(2) Internally, 2.2, by the stomach in men and women as an

acro-narcotie or narcotico-irritant poison.

(3) Internally, 2.2, by the stomach, and locally through the

genital organs as an abortifacient.

366 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES

_ FROM THE INDO-MALAYAN REGION.

By LiIonEL DE NICEVILLE, FES, C.MGZ.8., 8C-,

(With Plates N, O, P, and Q.)

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on

28th January, 1895.)

(Continued from page 321.)

Family PAPILIONIDA,

Subfamily ParPinionina.

36. PAPILIO (Zupleopsis) DANISHPA, Butler, Pl. Q, Fig. 48, 9

P. danisepa, Butler, Ann, and Mag. of Nat. Hist., fifth series, vol. xvi, p. 343, n. 109

(1885) ; Isamiopsis danisepa, Swinhoe, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1893, p. 314, n. 405.

Hapirat : Near Assam ; Sylhet (Butler) ; Cherra Punji (Swinhoe) ;

Hiarooay stream, Arracan Hills, March (Adamson) ; Sibsagar, Jorehat,

both in Assam; Katha district, Upper Burma; Thaungyin

Forests, Middle Tenasserim, Daunat Range, Burma (coll. de Nicéville).

Eixpanse: 9, 5'2 inches.

Description: Famate. UPPERsIpE, forewing with the basal third

of the wing and the whole of the sutural area bronzy-brown, the

outer two-thirds of the wing fuscous, in certain lights glossed with

brilliant purple ; the outer half of the discoidal cell occupied by a

creamy-white patch, its inner edge irregular ; a very narrow similar

streak at the apex of, but immediately beyond, the cell ; a very small

irrorated white spot at the base of the subcostal interspace ; a larger

triangular one with its apex pointed outwards at the base of the upper

discoidal interspace ; a large creamy-white streak outwardly dusted with

purple scales at the base of the lower discoidal interspace ; a

similar but narrower and longer streak dusted throughout with

purple scales inthe upper median interspace; a very faint purple

irrorated streak in the lower median interspace ; a submarginal series

of nine rounded white spots outwardly edged with purple, the three

anterior ones out of line with the rest, bent inwardly, one spot in each

interspace save the submedian which has two, these latter are

somewhat linear in shape, and the posterior of them reaches the anal

angle of the wing. Hindwing with the costa as far as the costal

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 367

nervure, the outer half of the wing broadly and the abdominal

margin fuscous ; the whole of the discoidal cell and seven streaks

beyond the cell creamy-white, the six anterior streaks are outwardly

irrorated with purple scales, the outermost streaks at either end of the

series are the largest, the series decreasing by pairs till the fourth

or middle spot is reached, which is the smallest ; a submarginal series

of seven rounded creamy-white spots, the two anteriormost ones the

largest. UNDERSIDE, both wings glossy bronzy-brown, without any

purple gloss whatever. Morewing with the markings as on the upper-

side, but there is an additional pair of small indistinct irrorated white

streaks in the middle of the submedian interspace ; there is a

short white streak at the base of the discoidal cell ; and the basal

third of the sutural area is also white. Hindwing marked as on the

upperside, but the white streaks beyond the cell are wider, the

submarginal spots are twice as large, and there is an additional round

white spot at the extreme base of the wing. Cilia of both wings

black, spotted with white (more prominently on the hindwing) at’

each interspace. Head with a white streak down the face on each

side between the eyes anda white spot on each side of the vertex ;

antenne black; thorax with two white spots on each side anteriorly

above, and a white streak posteriorly above, spotted with white

beneath ; abdomen with three series of large white spots on each

side, and a median series beneath.

P. danisepa is a local race of P. caunus, Westwood, from Borneo.

Other local races are P. wgialus, Distant, from the Malay Peninsula,

and P. velutinus, Butler, from Sumatra.* The Javan form has not

been named, though it has been recorded from thence by Dr. Felderas

P. caunus. Of all these, P. danisepa is the largest and most beautiful,

in the same way that P. telearchus, Hewitson, is the largest and most

beautiful species of the group of P. paradowa, Zinken-Sommer.

With regard to P. telearchus, of which I described and figured the

female sex,t Colonel Swinhoe writest :—“‘ The female, which is now,

I believe, in the collection of Messrs. Godman and Salvin, did not

differ from the other sex ; it certamly had no resemblance to the

* Ann, and Mag. of Nat. Hist., fifth series, vol. xvi, p. 348 (1885).

+ Journ, Bomb, Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. iv, u. 169, nu, 8, pl. A, fig. 5, female (1889).

{ Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1893, p. 314, n. 403.

368 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. LX,

insect described and figured by de Nicéville.” I do not know why

Colonel Swinhoe in one sentence refers to the Godman and Salvin

female in both the past and present tenses. But I am quite sure that

I have correctly sexed the species. Mr. W. Doherty has recorded

the following note ‘on this butterfly* :—“ The undescribed female of

this species appears to be dimorphic, one form resembling the male, and

the other the female, of Huplaa midamus, Linnzeus (linneei, Moore).”

It is probable that the Godman and Salvin female is the one which

resembles the male, while the specimen I described and figured is the

more aberrant form which mimics the female Euplea. I observe,

however, that on November 7th, 1894, Colonel Swinhoe (as recorded

in the Proceedings) exhibited at the Entomological Society of London

a female of P. telearchus from Cherra Punji. As he refers to the

specimen I figured and described in speaking of his own example, it

seems probable that he now admits that my identification is correct. I

possess another female example taken at Fort Langleh on 29th

September, 1890. P. butlerz, Janson, from the Malay Peninsula and

N.-E. Sumatra, which is a local race of P. telearchus, is also dimor-

phic in Sumatra, one of these forms of the female from the Malay

Peninsula is figured by Mr. Distant in Rhop. Malay., pl. xxvii,

fig. 6, which mimics a brown Luplwa, while that form and one

mimicking the female of the local race of Huplea midamus occurring

in Sumatra is also found in that island, It is not known if both these

dimorphic female forms occur also in the Malay po ulel but it is

highly probable that they do.

P. dantsepa is a beautiful mimic, except as regards its much

superior size, of Huplaa (Danisepa) diocletianus, Fabricius, which

occurs with it. The male is very rare ; 1 possess five specimens only.

The female here described is probably the first ever obtained, and I

am greatly indebted to Lieut. James M. Burn, R. H., for the gift of

the specimen, which he obtained last March at Mawhun, 3,000 feet

elevation, in the Katha District of Upper Burma. The female of the:

parent form, P. caunus, Westwood, has already been describedt by the

late Herr Eduard G. Honrath, who also remarks on the extraordinary

* Journ. A. 8. B., vol. lviii, pt. 2, p, 130 (1889).

+ Berliner Ent, Zeitsch,, vol. xxxvi, p. x (1891).

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. _ 369

rarity of that sex. Two specimens only were obtained by Baron

Schonberg’s collector Wahnes.

Family HESPERIID.

37, DAIMIO DIR, n. sp., Pl. Q, Fig. 49, 3.

Hasirat: Pulo Laut ; Java; N.-E. Sumatra.

EXpanse: ¢, 1°6 inches.

Description: Mane. UPPErsipe, doth wings dark shining brown.

Cilia cinereous. Forewing with the following hyaline whitish

spots :—Five very small, apical, forming a sinuous line; a comma-

shaped one towards the end of the discoidal cell; a small square one

towards the base of the second median interspace ; another similar

one, but four times as large as the one anterior to it, its outer edge

concave, towards the base of the first median interspace : two pairs

of indistinct sullied spots in the submedian interspace, the spots of each

pair placed one above the other, the inner pair below the inner corner

of the large quadrate spot in the interspace above, the outer pair in a

line with the small quadrate spot in the second median interspace ;

this latter pair of spots has other spots anterior to it on the disc, but

highly indistinct. Hindwing with a large oval shining snow-white

spot on the middle of the disc, neither reaching the abdominal margin

nor the costa ; a rather prominent narrow submarginal macular sullied

fascia. UNDERSIDE, both wings dull instead of shining brown as on the

upperside. Forewing with the hyaline spots as on the upperside ; the

two pairs of spots in the submedian interspace much purer white,

larger, and more conspicuous than above. Hindwing has the large

discal spot considerably larger than on the upperside, anteriorly it

reaches midway between the costal nervure and the first subcostal

nervule, posteriorly almost to the abdominal margin ; the submarginal

fascia as on the upperside. Antenne, head, body, and legs dark

brown; palpi with the third joint dark brown, the second chrome-

yellow. ;

Nearest to D. phisara, Moore, a common species in Sikkim, the Khasi

Hills, and Burma, and I have a single example from Perak in the

Malay Peninsula ; differing therefrom on the upperside of the forewing

in the spot towards the end of the discoidal cell being comma-shaped.

370 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

and extending right across the cell, instead of being much smaller

and round and placed against the median nervure ; and the snow-white

(instead of pale-yellow) area on the hindwing being very much

smaller, confined to the middle of the disc only instead of reaching

the costal and abdominal margins. It is also allied to * Satarupa”

corona, Staudinger,* from Alabat, Mindora, Camiguin de Mindanao,

and Davao—all in the Philippine Isles, from which it appears to differ

on the upperside of the hindwing in the discal spot being much

smaller, and the submarginal fascia being sullied and more continuous,

in D. corona it appears to be broken up into small white spots.

Described from a single example taken by Mr. W. Doherty in

Pulo Laut, Borneo, in June, 1891, and deposited in Mr, H. J. Elwes’

collection. Herr H. Fruhstorfer has sent mea second specimen, since

the description above was written, from Java without any precise

locality. It differs in some slight details from the type, more especially

in having the discal white spot on the hindwing somewhat larger, and

the submarginal line a little more prominent, but it is nevertheless

obviously the same species. In the collection of Hofrath Dr. L.

Martin are two more specimens of this species from N.-H. Sumatra,

one taken at Selesseh on 13th May, the other in the Battak Mountains

in July. They agree very closely with the type.

Genus SUADA, nov.

Mats. Forewina, lengthened, narrow ; costa very nearly straight ;

apex rather acute ; outer margin round at apex, then nearly straight

(slightly convex only) to anal angle; anal angle rounded ; inner

margin straight, considerably longer than the outer margin ; costal

nervure ending on the costa opposite the apex of the discoidal cell ;

first subcostal nervule bent forwards soon after its origin and touching

for some considerable distance, but not anastomosing with, the costal

nervure ; second subcostal arising a little nearer to the first than to

the third ; herd subcostal arising near to the fourth ; fourth subcostal

terminating at the apex of the wing ; subcostal nervure as usual ending

on the outer margin well below the apex of the wing ; discoidal cell

* Satarwpa corona, Semper, Schmett. Philip. Inseln, p. 306, n. 457, pl. xliv, fig. 2, female

(1892). Dr. Staudinger’s name appears to be a MS. one only ; I cannot find the species

described by him anywhere.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES, 371

long, reaching to two-thirds the length of the wing from the base ;

upper disco-cellular nervule long, strongly outwardly oblique; middle

disco-cellular slightly longer than the lower disco-cellular, straight,

inwardly oblique ; lower disco-cellular upright, slightly anteriorly con-

cave, posteriorly straight ; second median nervule arising close to the

lower end of the cell ; frst median arising about four times as far from

the second as the second does from the third, arising much nearer to the

lower end of the cell than to the base of the wing ; submedian nervure

sinuous. IIINDWING, narrow, much broader than long ; costa strongly

arched at base, thence slightly arched to apex; apex rounded ; outer

margin distinctly excavated at the termination of the first median

nervule ; anal angle wellrounded ; abdominal margin slightly convex ;

costal nervure very straight, slightly curved at the base only ; first

subcostal nervule arising rather close to the apex of the cell ; disco-cellular

nervules concave, outwardly oblique ; déscoidal nervule wanting ; second

median nervule arising quite close to the lower end of the cell; first

median arising much nearer the end of the cell than the base of the wing,

arising at about three-fifths of the length of the cell from the base ;

submedian and internal nervures straight. ANTENN# long, more than

half the length of the costa of the forewing, the club moderately stout,

curved at the tip, the end of the club ending in a sharp point. Pa.pr

erect; second joint broad, densely hairy; third joint long, naked, slender,

acuminate, reaching well above the vertex of the head. Lucas very

long and slender ; foreleg, tibia with an epiphysis ; hindleg, tibia

with two pairs of spurs. THoRAX small, weak. Aspomen, slender,

long, reaching quite to the outer margin of the hindwing. Frmate,

Differs from the male only in the wings being somewhat broader.

Type, ‘“ Hesperia” swerga, de Nicéville.

This genus comes into Capt, E. Y. Watson’s subfamily Pamphiline,

Section A (vide Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1893, p. 71), and is allied to

Suastus, Moore; Acleros, Mabille; Lambrzz, Watson ; Koruthazalos,

Watson ; Ozxypalpus, Watson ; and Teinorhinus, Watson, with all of

which it agrees in the form of the palpi. It differs, however, from these

genera in the shape of the wings, which are greatly lengthened, and the

discoidal cell of the forewing beng extremely narrow. It is perhaps

nearest to Koruthaialos, from which it differs in neuration in that the

second median neryule of the forewing arises nearer to the end of the

372 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

discoidal cell than it does in K. hector, Watson, the type of the genus,

and the lower disco-cellular nervule is upright instead of inwardly

oblique ; in the hindwing also the second median nervule arises nearer

to the end of the cell; the disco-cellular nervules of Suada are

outwardly oblique, in Koruthazalos they are upright.

(1.) SUADA SWERGA, de Nicéville.

flesperia? swerga, de Nicéyille, Journ. A. 8. B., vol. lii, pt, 2, p. 89, n, 38, pl. x, fig.

12, male (1883) ; Suastus swerga, Elwes, Trans. Ent. Soc, Lond., 1888, p. 450, n. 4753

Suastus méllerti, Moore, l.c., vol, liii, p. 49 (1884).

Hasitat: Sikkim ; Tenasserim (Beeling, Ataran Valley, Daunat

Range) ; Malay Peninsula (Perak); N.-H. Sumatra; Java.

38. SUASTUS ROBSONIL, n. sp., Pl. Q, Fig. 50, 3.

Hasrrat ; Masuri, Western Himalayas.

Expanse: @, 1°45 inches.

Dzscrierion: Mats. Uprersipe, both wings shining dark hair-

brown. Cilia cinereous. Forewing with a very minute hyaline

white spot in the middle of the outer end of the discoidal cell.

Hindwing rather paler on the disc than elsewhere owing to

the presence of some long dull ochreous hair-like scales. UNDERSIDE,

both wings paler than above. forewing with the inner half of

the wing dark hair-brown as on the upperside; the cell spot as

above; a pale streak in the middle of the submedian interspace.

Hindwing (as seen under a strong magnifying glass) overlaid through-

out with dull ochreous scales ; an elongated minute black spot at the

end of the cell. Abdomen dark brown above, beneath each segment

is ringed with whitish.

Nearest to Suastus minuta, Moore, from Ceylon, from which it

- differs in the cilia of the hindwing being less pure white, and on the

underside in having the hindwing practically unmarked, S. minuta

having its posterior two-thirds pure white, bearing three prominent

dark brown spots, In Captain E. Y. Watson’s revision of the genera

of the Hesperiide in Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1893, p. 76, there

is a misprint bracketing S. minuta with Suada swerga, de Nicéville

(= S. méllerti, Moore), but the two species are abundantly distinct

and are given separate numbers. S. swerga has a much wider range

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 373

than was expected ; not only does it occur in Sikkim, Beeling

in North Tenasserim, the Ataran Valley, and on the Daunat Range

in Middle Tenasserim, but also in Perak in the Malay Peninsula, and

in N.-H. Sumatra and Java.

Described from a single example obtained on the 12th July, 1892,

by Mr. 8. Robson, after whom I have much pleasure in naming the

species. \

Genus GE, nov.

Matz. Forewina, costa regularly and slightly arched throughout

its length ; apex rather rounded ; outer margin nearly straight, except

from the apex of the wing to about the termination of the lower

discoidal nervule where it is at right-angles to the costa ; inner angle

rounded ; znner margin straight, as long as the outer margin ; costal

nervure ending before the apex of the discoidal cell; subcostal nervules

arising at slightly decreasing distances apart; discoidal cell narrow,

extending to beyond the middle of the wing, not reaching to two-

thirds the length of the wing from the base ; upper disco-cellular

nervule rather long, strongly outwardly oblique ; middle disco-cellular

straight, strongly inwardly oblique ; lower disco-cellular also straight,

in the same straight line as the middle disco-cellular, of about the

same length ; second median nervule arising well before the lower end

of the cell; jirsé median arising nearer to the lower end of the cell

than to the base of the wing ; submedian nervure straight ; a circular

sexual dense tuft of hatvs placed on the upperside of the wing towards

the base of the first median interspace ; the area to which the bases

of these hairs is attached shows prominently on the underside as a

circular disc. Hinpwine, longer than broad ; costa greatly arched at

the base, less so to the apex of the wing ; apex rounded ; outer margin

rounded, but considerably excised about the termination of the first

median nervule ; anal angle rather acute; abdominal margin straight;

costal nervure slightly curved only, terminating at the apex of the wing ;

jirst subcostal nervule arising long before the apex of the cell ; upper

desco-cellular straight, upright ; lower disco-cellular straight, outwardly

oblique, longer than the upper ; déscoidal nervule present; second

median nervule arising a little before the lower end of the cell; first

median arising about twice as far from the second as the second does

374 JOURNAL BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. LX.

from the third ; swémedian and internal nervures straight. ANTENNZ=

long, more than two-thirds the length of the costa of the forewing, the

club lengthened, very slender, the apex of the club long and thin,

Part densely hairy, porrect, the third joint hidden beneath the second.

T'norAx smal], ABpomeEn slender, a little longer than the anal angle of

the hindwing. Les, foreleg, tibia with an epiphysis ; hindleg, femur

thickly fringed, tibia with two pairs of spines. Type Ge geta,

de Nicéville.

The genus appears to be nearest to Matapa, Moore, and Sepa,* de

Nicéville, differing from both in the unique character of the “sex-mark”

in the forewing. It differs from the former in having the antennz

perceptibly longer, with a much more slender club, with a longer and

slenderer apical crook, The sexual tuft of hairs in the genus Ge reminds

one of that in Baoris oceta, Hewitson, but in the former it is much

smaller, circular, and placed on the upperside of the forewing ; while

in the latter it is much larger, elongated, and placed in the middle of

the cell and extending far beyond the cell, lying across the bases of the

three median nervules, on the upperside of the hindwing. BB. oceza has

a glandular patch of scales placed on the middle of the submedian

nervure of the forewing on the underside, and extending well

beyond that vein on either side, which is wholly wanting in Ge.

The pale patch in Ge geta on the disc of the hindwing on

the upperside is almost certainly sexual, the scales being much

modified ; there is also a tuft of long hairs attached along the subcostal

nervure and partly covering the pale patch of modified scales, which

also is almost certainly a male sexual character.

39. GE GETA, un. sp., Pl. Q, Fig. 51, ¢.

Hasirat: Penang ; N.-E, Sumatra.

Expanse: @, 1°5 inches.

Description : Mae. UPrErsipE, both wings shining dark brown,

immaculate. Czlia cinereous. orewing with the sexual small round

dense raised tuft of hairs towards the base of the first median interspace

jet-black. Hindwing with a large rounded space in the middle of

* Sepa, de Nicéville, Journ. A. 8. B., vol, 1xiii, pt. 2, p. 49 (1894), from N.-H, Sumatra.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 375

the wing paler than the rest of the surface composed of modified

scales. UNDERSIDE, both wings coloured as on the upperside.

Forewing with a broad dark ochreous fascia commencing on the

inner margin extending on to the disc, and just enclosing the

disc-like “male-mark” on its basal edge. Aindwing unmarked.

Cilia of both wings pale ochreous. Head, antenne, palpi, body,

and legs dark brown.

Described from two examples in my collection—one from Penang,

the other from N.-E. Sumatra; the latter kindly sent to me by

Hofrath Dr, L. Martin, who has other specimens in his own collec-

tion.

Genus IDMON, nov.

Maz. Forewine, triangular, rather short; costa nearly straight,

only slightly arched ; apex somewhat acute ; outer margin regularly

convex to the inner angle; inner angle rounded ; inner margin

straight; costal nervure short, ending just before the apex of the discoidal

cell; subcostal nervules arising at progressively decreasing distances apart;

discoidal cell narrow, rather short, not reaching to two-thirds the length

of the wing from the base ; upper disco-cellular nervule very short indeed,

practically obsolete, outwardly oblique ; mzddle and lower disco-cellular

very upright, slightly inwardly oblique only, both slightly concave, the

middle a very little longer than the lower ; second median nervule

arising close to the lower end of the cell ; first median arising a little

nearer to the base of the wing than to the lower end of the cell;

submedian nervure straight ; a sexual brand placed anterior to but

against the submedian nervure towards its base, this brand is narrow

and raised. HInpWING, almost circular, as broad as it is long ; costa

much arched at the base, thence slightly arched to the apex ; outer

margin evenly rounded to the anal angle; anal angle rounded; abdominal

margin slightly convex ; costal nervure rather arched, ending at the

apex of the wing ; first subcostal nervule arising rather near to the

apex of the cell; dzsco-cellular nervules placed slightly obliquely

outwardly, very concave ; discoidal nervule wholly absent; second

median nervule arising quite close to the lower end of the cell ; Jirst

median arising much nearer to the lower end of the cell than to the

base of the wing ; sudmedian and internal nervures straight. ANTENNZ

376 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, LX.

long, more than half the length of the costa of the forewing, with an

elongated slender club, the terminal crook short. Patri erect, second

joint densely hairy ; third joint naked, bluntly conical, standing out

prominently from the second joint. THoRAx rather stout. ABDOMEN

slender, reaching to the anal angle of the hindwing. Lugs, hindleg,

femur fringed throughout its length, not tufted ; tibia with a tuft of

hairs attached to its proximal and two pairs of spines on its distal end.

Fremate, Differs from the male only in the wings being broader, and

lacking the sexual brand on the forewing. Type, “Baoris” unicolor,

Distant.

Idmon is apparently nearest to Arnetia, Watson, but differs entirely

in the male secondary sexual characters, the male of A. atkinsoni, Moore,

the type of Arnetia, having the inner margin of the forewing lobed,

with a tuft of long setse attached to the lobed portion, while JZ. unicolor,

Distant, has the inner margin to the forewing straight, with no

tuft of hairs, but has instead a narrow raised brand of modified

scales lying alongside a portion of the submedian nervure towards

its base on the upperside of the forewing. The shape of the

wings in the males of the two typical species of the two genera is very

similar, but Jdmon has the second median nervule of the forewing

arising nearer to the lower end of the discoidal cell, while the first.

median nervule arises much nearer the base of the wing than in

Arnetia; and the discoidal nervule of the hindwing is quite wanting in

Idmon, while it is present in Arnetta. Idmon is more distantly related to

Itys, de Nicéville, but the shape of the wings and the palpi will readily

distinguish between them. The male glandular streak on the upperside

of the forewing is almost exactly similar to that found in some species of

the otherwise very different genus Padraona, Moore. J am persuaded

that the genus is a valid one, and can give no more convincing reason

for the fact that it is quite distinct from Arnetia than the postulate

laid down by Captain EH. Y. Watson in Proce. Zool. Soc. Lond,

1893, p. 6, quoted below, with which I cordially agree :—“ In any

particular genus in which male secondary sexual characters are

found, the particular male character (be it costal fold, discal stigma,

or tuft of hairs) may be present or absent in different species of

that same genus, but is never replaced by a character of different

structure.” -

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 377

40, IDMON UNICOLOR, Distant, Pl. Q, Fig. 53, 3.

Baoris unicolor, Distant, Rhop. Malay., p. 381, n. 5, pl. xxxv, fig. 11, female (1886),

Hasrrat : Malacca (Distant) ; Perak.

Expanse: ¢, 1:35; @, 1:35 to 1°45 inches.

Description: “ UPPERSIDE and UNDERSIDE, both wings unicolorous

rufous-brown. Body dark brown. Legs pale brown.”

‘This obscure, and to me unique, Baoris is contained in the

collection of Dr. Staudinger, to whom I am indebted for the opportunity

of figuring and describing it.” (Distant, |.c.)

Mr. Distant’s choice of a name for this species was a little unfortunate,

as in 1883 Mr. Moore had used the same for an extreme form of the

very variable Baoris oceia, Hewitson. My identification of the species

is also a little dubious; all that Mr. Distant says about itis given

above, and if my identification of the unique specimen he figured and

described is correct, the sex of which is not even stated, it has nothing

in common with the genus Baoris, Moore, as that genus comes into

Section B, while my specimens come into Section A, of Captain

Watson’s subfamily Pamphiline. I possess a single male and two

females, all from Perak, of I. wncolor, and find by comparing the female

examples with Mr. Distant’s figure of the species that they agree very

closely:

Genus ITYS, nov.

Matz. Forewine, triangular, rather lengthened; costa very straight;

apee acute ; outer margen convex 5 inner angle rather acute ; ¢nner

margin straight, considerably longer than the outer margin ; costal

nervure terminating on the costa well before the apex of the discoidal

cell ; subcostal nervules arising at decreasing distances apart ; discoidal

cell long, more than half, less than two-thirds, the length of the wing;

narrow ; upper disco-cellular nervule stout, short, strongly outwardly

oblique ; middle and lower disco-cellulars sub-erect (slightly inwardly

oblique), straight, thin, the middle rather longer than the lower ;

second median nervule arising well before the lower end of the cell ;

first median arising a little nearer to the lower end of the cell than

to the base of the wing ; submedian nervure straight ; a long seaucl

tuft of hairs attached to the inner margin of the wing towards the base

378 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

and turned under and forwards. Hinpwine, elongated, much longer

than broad ; costa greatly arched at the base, convex to the apex ;

apex much rounded ; outer margin regularly rounded to the anal angle ;

anal angle somewhat acute; abdominal margin straight ; costal

nervure well arched, terminating at the apex of the wing ; first

subcostal nervule arising long before the apex of the cell; disco-

cellular nervules almost erect, slightly only outwardly oblique,

strongly concave ; discotdal nervule obsolete ; second median nervule

arising a little before the lower end of the cell; fist median arising

about twice as far from the second as the second does from the

first ; submedian and internal nervures straight. ANTENNa long,

more than half the length of the costa of the forewing, with an

elongated slender club, the terminal crook short. Papi porrect,

densely hairy, third joint almost invisible, hidden amongst the hairs of

the second joint. THorax rather stout. AspomeEn slender, reaching

just to the anal angle of the hindwing. lLuas, foreleg with an

epiphysis; hindleg, femur fringed throughout its length, not tufted ;

tibia with a single pair of long spines at its distal end. Type,

ltys iadera, de Nicéville.

This genus may be nearest to ema, Distant*, of which I. ebscura,

Distant, is the type, a species [have not seen, and which appears to be

very badly figured (Ithop. Malay., p. 386, n. 1, pl. xxxv, fig. 19 (1886),

noris the sex stated of the specimen described. Captain Watson’s

diagnosis of the genus Jsma was drawn up from “ Hesperia” cephala,

Hewitson, which may or may not be congeric with Isma obscura. Ttys

is certainly very near to the genus Arnetta, Watson, Proc. Zool. Soe.

Lond., 1893, p. 81, of which “ Isote¢non” atkinsont, Moore, is the type.

It differs from the male of that species in the forewing being more

elongated, the inner margin being longer than (instead of the same

length as) the outer margin ; the discoidal cell is longer and narrower,

the second median nervule arises nearer the lower end of the cell,

there is also a greater space between the origins of the first and

second median nervules, the submedian nervyure is straight instead of

being greatly distorted in the middle; the inner margin is straight,

in I. atkinsona it is lobed towards the base, the lobed portion bemg

turned under; the hindwing is more elongated, the disco-cellular

* Rhop. Malay., p, 386 (1886),

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. O79

nervules are very concave instead of straight, the discoidal nervule

is obsolete, in A. atkinsoni it is fairly well developed ; lastly, the

palpi differ considerably, the third joint being almost entirely hidden

beneath the long hairs of the second joint instead of being projected

far beyond that joint. In Arnetta athkinsoni the male has the bases

of the first and second median nervules of the hindwing much swollen,

this character being found also in the same position in the genera

Gangara, Moore, and Paduka,* Distant, but is absent in the genus

Ttys,

41) (h) TDYS TADNRA n.’sp., Pl. Q, Fig, 52, 4.

Hasitat: Penang, Malay Peninsula ; N.-H. Sumatra.

Eixpanse: @, 1:2 to 1:4 inches.

_ Description: Matz. Upprrsipz, both wings and cilia shining

brownish-fuscous, immaculate. Horewing with the sexual tuft of hairs

attached to the inner margin and turned under and forwards deep

black. UNDERSIDE, both wings as above. Head, antenne, body

throughout, and legs fuscous.

This species is one of the most plainly-coloured butterflies I know,

and is altogether without markings.

Described from one male from Penang, and three from N.-H.

Sumatra, one of which was taken in the Battak Mountains in

September, all in my collection, and others in the collection of

Hofrath Dr. L. Martin.

(2) ITYS MICROSTICTUM, W.-M. and de N.

Isoteinon microstictum, Wood-Mason and de Nicéville, Journ. A, S. B., vol. ly, pt. 2,

p. 385, un, 232, pl. xvii, figs. 3, male; 3a, female (1886),

Hasitat: Silcuri, Cachar (Wood-Mason and de Nicéville) ; Silchar,

Cachar (coll. de Nicdville),

Genus PUDICITIA, nov.

Mace. Forewine,slightly arched recularly and evenly throughout :

) g yy g 3

apex vather acute ; outer margin nearly straight, convex below the

ee eee

* Paduka, Distant, and Paduca, Moore, were described in the same year (1886), and the

former has priority. As, however, there is a slight difference in spelling, perhaps both may

be allowed to stand. ;

380 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX,

apex ; inner angle rounded ; inner margin straight, considerably longer

than the outer margin ; costal nervure ending before the apex of the

discoidal cell; subcostal nervules arising at nearly equal distances

apart ; discoidal cell a little less than two-thirds as long as the costa ;

upper disco-cellular nervule very short, stout, outwardly oblique ;

middie disco-cellular strongly inwardly oblique, in the same straight

line as the lower disco-cellular ; lower disco-cellular straight, shorter

than the middle disco-cellular ; second ‘median nervule arising well

before the lower end of the cell ; jirst median arising about midway

between the base of the wing and the origin of the second median

nervule ; submedian nervure straight, with a narrow brand formed of

modified black scales placed anteriorly against it along its basal second

and third fifths. H1npWwING, costa greatly arched at the base, less so

to the apex; apex much rounded ; outer margin convex, slightly

emarginate at the termination of the first median nervule ; abdominal,

margin rounded ; costal nervure regularly curved throughout, ending

at the apex of the wing ; first subcostal nervule arising well before the

upper end of the cell; discoidal cell reaching to the middle of the

wing; discoidal nervule obsolete; disco-cellular nervules of equal

Jength, slightly concave and slightly outwardly oblique ; second

median nervule arising quite close to the lower end of the cell ; first

median arising much nearer to the end of the cell than to the base of

the wing, the distance between the base of the first and second median

nervules is about three times that between the second and first ;

submedian and tnternal nervures nearly straight. ANTENN# about half

the length of the costa of the forewing, with a well-formed elub,

ending in a long whip-like point. Papi densely scaly, second joint

broad, pressed closely against the face, the third joint entirely concealed.

THORAX very robust. ABDOMEN rather stout, tapering, extending well

beyond the outer margin of the hindwing. Lees, femur of hind-

leg fringed beneath, tibia with two pairs of spines. FEMALE, a little

larger than the male, lacking the sexual brand on the forewing, the

abdomen stouter than in the male, shorter, not reaching beyond the

outer margin of the hindwing. Type, “ Parnara” pholus, de

Nicéville.

Pudicitia is very near to Erionota, Mabille, of which genus

EE, thraw, Linnzeus, is the type, differing therefrom in the presence of a

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 381

secondary sexual character on the forewing of the male ; in the middle

disco-cellular nervule of that wing being straight throughout its course,

in Erionota its posterior portion is strongly outwardly curved ; the

second median nervule arises nearer to the lower end of the cell ; and

the outer margin of the forewing is more upright, less inwardly

oblique, owing to the inner margin being proportionally longer than

in Lrionota.

(1) PUDICITIA PHOLUS, de Nicéville.

Parnara pholus, de Nicéville, Journ, Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. iv, p.172, 0. 11,pl, B,

fig. 3, female (1889).

Hastrat: Bhutan ; Khasi Hills.

Genus ACERBAS, nov.

Matz. ForEwine, triangular, rather narrow ; costa nearly straight,

slightly arched only ; apex somewhat rounded ; outer margin at the

apex nearly at right-angles to the costa, afterwards inwardly oblique,

straight ; imner margin straight, distinctly longer than the outer

margin ; costal nervure ending on the costa before the apex of the

discoidal cell ; subcostal nervules counting from the base of the wing

arising from the subcostal nervure at decreasing distances apart ;

discoidal cell narrow, long, extending to two-thirds the length of the

wing from the base; upper disco-cellular mnervule short, strongly

outwardly oblique ; mddle disco-cellular long, upright, concave ;

lower disco-cellular straight, slightly inwardly oblique, slightly shorter

than the middle one ; lower discoidal nervule in consequence of the

greater length of the middle disco-cellular arising slightly nearer to

the third median than to the upper discoidal nervule ; second median

nervule arising far before the lower end of the cell ; first median

arising near the base of the wing, arising at about the same distance

from the base of the wing as the second arises from the lower end

of the cell; submedian nervure slightly curved ; secondary sexual

character consists of a large inconspicuous patch of plush-like modified

scales in the middle of the wing on the lower surface. Hinpwine,

much longer than broad ; costa greatly arched at base, gently arched

from thence to apex ; apew rounded ; outer margin rounded, very

slightly excavated on either side of the termination of the submedian

382 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

nervure ; anal angle rounded ; abdominal margin nearly straight ;

costal nervure long, gently curved throughout its length, ending at

the apex of the wing ; first subcostal nervule arising far before the

‘ apex of the cell; disco-cellular nervules upright, slightly coneaye, of

equal length ; déscotdal nervule present, fine, the outer portion deflect-

ed downwards so that that portion lies nearer the third median. than

the upper discoidal nervule ; second median nervule arising close to the

lower end of the cell ; jirst median arising about twice as far from

the second as the second does from the third, arising much nearer the

lower end of the ceil than the base of the wing ; discoidal cell reach-

ing to about the middle of the wing; submedian and internal nervures

straight. ANTENN# a little more than half the length of the costa of

the forewing, the club moderate, with a fine terminal crook about

twiceas long as the greatest breadth of the club. Patpr broad,

densely hairy, third joint but very slightly projecting above the second.

THoRAX slender, weak. ABDOMEN reaching just to the outer margin

of the hindwing. Laas, foreleg, tibia with an epiphysis; hindleg,

tibia with two pairs of spurs. Frmauz. Differs from the male only in

the absence of the patch of modified scales on the underside of the

forewing, and in having both wings somewhat broader. Type,

““ Hesperia” anthea, Hewitson.

Acerbas appears to me to be nearest allied to the genera Hetion,

de Nicéville, and Zea, Distant, from the former the male may be

readily distinguished by the quite different character of the secondary

sexual characters, the lower disco-cellular nervule of the forewing is

much shorter, and the firs: median nervule of the forewing arises

nearer the base of the wing ; from the latter it differs in having the

middle disco-cellular nervule of the forewing upright instead of

strongly inwardly oblique. Zea also has no secondary sexual charac- |

ters in the male whatever. |

(1) ACERBAS ANTHHA, Hewitson.

Hesperia anthea, Hewitson, Desc. Hesp., p. 29, n. 17 (1868); Plesioneura (?) anthea,

Distant, Rhop. Malay., p. 404, pl, xxxv, fig. 82, female (1886); Cobdalus ciliatus, Butler,

Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond., Zoology, second series, vol. i, p. 554, n. 2 (1877).

Hapirat: Singapore (/Tewitson) ; Malacca (Butler) ; Borneo

(Doherty, coll. Elwes); Daunat Range, Tenasserim, Burma; Java

(coll, de Nicéville) ; N.-E. Sumatra (coll. Martin).

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES... 383

This is apparently somewhat variable. My solitary female specimen

from central Java, 1,500 feet, captured by Herr H. Fruhstorfer, has

ithe white area on both sides of the hindwing more extensive than in

the typical female example from Singapore figured by Distant. My ©

single male from Burma and two from Java also differ slightly in the

extent of the white area, the Javan specimens having it the most

extensive of all.

42. KURANA FULGUR, de Nicéville, Pl. Q, Fig. 54, ¢.

K. fulgur, de Nicéville, Journ, A. S.;B., vol. lxiii, pt. 2,p.55, n. 46, pl. i, fig. 6, female (1894).

Hapirat: N.-E, Sumatra.

Hxpanse: ¢, 1:7 inches.

Duscription: Mazz, Uppursipz, both wings dark shining

purplish-fuscous. Czlza concolorous. Forewing with a large discal

chrome-yellow patch, occupying about half the surface, the patch is

anteriorly bounded by the subcostal nervure, posteriorly it ends on the

inner margin, its outer edge is evenly curved throughout, its inner

edge is more irregular, from the subcostal nervure to the first median

nervule it is upright and nearly straight, posterior to that vein it is

directed inwardly obliquely, but does not reach the base of the wing

on the inner margin. Hindwing has the basal third thickly clothed

with long chrome-yellow sete. UNDERSIDE, both wings with the

ground-colour duller than on the upperside. Forewing with the

chrome-yellow area paler, anteriorly continued almost to the costa. -

Findwing as in the female. Andennee, palpi, eyes, head, and abdomen

as in the female; thorax above anteriorly clothed with very long

fuscous sete, gradually merging into a thick coat of chrome-yellow

setze, which lie over the base of the abdomen.

This species has been described from two pairs of specimens, the one

(the types) is in my collection, the other in Dr. Martin’s collection.

43. LOTONGUS AVESTA, Hewitson, Pl. Q, Fig. 56, ?.

Hesperia avesta, Hewitson, Desc. Hesp., p. 30, n. 19 (1868),

Hasrrat : Sumatra (Hewson) ; Pulo Laut, Borneo (coll, Elwes) ;

Ataran Valley, Tenasserim, Burma.

EXpPaNsE: 9, 1°7 inches,

DuscriptTion : Femate, UPprrsine, both wings shining hair-brown.

Forewing with two translucent ochreous-white spots placed inwardly

384 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. TX.

obliquely in the median interspaces, the upper the smaller, their outer

edges rounded, their inner edges excavated. Hindwing immaculate.

UnpErsin&, both wings with the ground-colour as above. Forewing

with a prominent pale yellow spot towards the end of the discoidal

cell, anteriorly placed against the subcostal nervure, undividedly con-

tinued to the costa in a broad streak ; the discal spots as on the upper-

side; the inner margin as far as the first median nervule, but not

quite reaching the outer margin, whitish. Hindwing with a straight

somewhat narrow ante-discal pale yellow band from the abdominal

margin to the costa, slightly interrupted by the submedian

fold. Cilia of both wings anteriorly brown, posteriorly cinereous.

Antenne fuscous above, the club beneath pale yellow. Palpi,

head, thoraz, and abdomen above dark brown, beneath and legs

pale yellow.

Nearest to Lotongus sarala, de Nicéville,* from the Khasi Hills

(de Nicéville), Moupin and Omei-shan, both in Western China, taken

in July (Leech), from the figure of the male of which it differs in

having two instead of five spots on the upperside of the forewing, no

discal patch on the upperside of the hindwing, the band on the under-

side of the hindwing half as wide, paler, and less prominently divided

by the submedian fold, the cilia on the anal half of the hindwing is

cinereous instead of orange-yellow, and the head, thorax, and body

above entirely lacking the prominent iridescent green setose covering

which is such a prominent and beautiful feature in LZ. sarala. Of

the latter I possess three females from the Khasi Hills. Another

very closely allied species is the “ Proteides”’ excellens of Staudinger,

from Palawan in the Philippine Isles (Staudinger), N.-Hi. Sumatra

(colls. Hofrath, Dr. L. Martin and de Niceville), but that species has

an additional small subapical spot (sometimes two) in the forewing,

has no spot in the submedian interspace of that wing, and the yellow

area in the hindwing on both sides is much wider even than it is in

L. sarala. I identify this species with “ Hesperia” avesta a little

doubtfully, as Hewitson says that that species has the “ outer ” margin

ee ee ——————ee

* Parnara sarala, de Nicéville, Journ, Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. iv, p. 173, n. 12, pl.

B, fig. 6, female (1889); id., Leech, Butt. from China, Japan, and Corea, p. 616, pl. XXxVili,

fig. 11, male (1894).

+ Iris, vol. ii, p. 141, pl. ii, fig. 6, male (1888).

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 385

of the forewing on the underside broadly grey, while my specimen

has the inner margin thus coloured. In other respects the description

of H. avesta agrees.

Described from a single example in my collection.

Genus CRETEUS, nov.

Matz. Forewine, triangular ; costa very straight, slightly emar=

ginate in the middle ; apew acute ; outer margin at first almost at

right-angles to the costa, then straight and inwardly oblique ; inner-

angle rounded ; inner margin straight and equal in length to the outer:

margin ; costal nervure ending on the costa about opposite to the apex

of the discoidal cell ; first subcostal nervule arising twice as far from:

the second as the second arises from the third ; third and fourth sub-

costals arising close together, the latter ending at the apex of the

wing ; subcostal nervure as usual ending on the outer margin posterior:

to the apex of the wing ; déscozdal cell narrow, less. than two-thirds the

length of the costa; upper disco-cellular nervule stout (it is really the

basal portion of the upper discoidal nervule), strongly outwardly

oblique; middle and lower disco-cellulars very straight, in one

straight line, strongly inwardly oblique, the middle one half as long

again as the lower ; second median nervule arising long before the

lower end of the-cell ; first median nervule arising nearer to the lower:

end of the cell than to. the base of the wing, bearing a “ male-mark,”

which consists of its second and third fifths counting from the

base of the wing being distinctly thickened or swollen ; submedzan

nervure nearly straight, slightly curved forwards in the middle.

Hinpwine, abdominal margin heavily fringed with long hair-like

scales; costa strongly arched at base, then slightly curved only to the

apex ; apex rounded ; outer margin rounded, but emarginate slightly

about the termination of the first median nervule ; beyond this emar-

gination the outer margin towards the anal angle has the appearance

of being somewhat produced lobe-like ; anal angle rounded ; abdominal

margm a little convex ; costal nervure a little curved only, ending at

the apex of the wing ; first subcostal nervule arising well before the

apex of the cell ; dzscordal cell broad, reaching to the middle of the

wing ; disco-cellular nervules short, nearly straight (slightly sinuous

only), slightly outwardly oblique ; discoidal nervule wanting ; media

386 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

nervules all arising close together at the lower end of the cell, second

median arising nearer to the first than to the third; submedzan and

internal nervures nearly straight, slightly bowed forwards. ANTENNE

more than half the length of the costa of the forewing, the club

stout, with a long terminal whip-like crook. Patpt, second joint

very hairy ; third joint also hairy, prominent, long, porrected forwards

in front of the face in the same straight line as the axis of the body.

THorAx robust. ABDOMEN rather slender, not quite reaching to

the outer margin of the hindwing. lLuas, femur and tibia of all three

Jegs most densely hairy in both sexes, but the male does not appear

to be furnished with sexual tufts of hairs. TFrmaue. Differs from

the male only in the absence of the secondary sexual characters, and

the much stouter abdomen. Type, “ Hesperia” cyrina, Hewitson.

This genus appears to be nearest to Lotongus, Distant, of which the

type is the “ Hudamus” calathus of Hewitson, from the Daunat Range,

Tenasserim, Burma ; Malacca ; Sumatra and Java. I possess male

examples of Lotongus schedia, Hewitson (= L. maculatus, Distant),

from Perak in the Malay Peninsula, and Selesseh in N.-H. Sumatra, and

a female from the Battak Mountains also in N.-E. Sumatra, taken in

March, and both sexes of L. parthenope, Weymer, from Nias, from which

C. cyrina differs in having the third joint of the palpi much longer ;

the middle and lower disco-cellular nervules of the forewing much

more strongly inwardly oblique, in Lotongus they are nearly upright ;

and in the presence in the male of the swollen first median nervule in

the forewing, and in the very heavy setose clothing of the abdominal

area of the hindwing on the upperside, both these secondary sexual

characters being absent in Lotongus. The legs too in Creteus in both

sexes are far more densely setose than in Lotongus.

(1) CRETEUS CYRINA, Hewitson.

Hesperia cyrina, Hewitson, Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., fourth series, vol. xviii, -

p. 450 (1876); Parnara parca, de Nicéville, Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. iv,

p. 174, n. 13, pl. B, fig. 10, female (1889).

Hasrtat: Sikkim ; Bhutan ; Khasi Hills.

Genus ZELA, nov.

Matz, ForEWING, costa straight, a little arched only at the base

and apex ; apex acute ;,outer margin almost straight, a little convex

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 387

only ; inner angle somewhat rounded ; inner margin straight, of exactly

the same length as the outer margin ; costal nervure ending on the

costa beyond the apex of the cell ; subcostal nervules arising at de-

creasing distances apart 5 upper disco-cellular nervule rather long,

strongly outwardly oblique ; mzddle disco-cellular upright, strongly con-

cave ; lower disco-cellular straight, strongly inwardly oblique, a little

longer than the upper, much shorter than the middle disco-cellular ;

second median nervule arising far before the lower end of the cell ; first

median arising a little nearer to the base of the wing than to the lower

end of the cell ; submedian nervure straight ; the secondary seaual

character consists of an oblique linear glandular streak of very thick

scales extending on the upperside from ahout the middle of the sub-

median nervure to just before the base of the second median nervule,

the lower portion of the streak in the submedian interspace is nearly

upright, and divided into two by the internervular fold, the anterior

portion is greatly curved outwardly. Hxxpwine, somewhat circular,

longer than broad ; costa much arched at base, less arched to apex ;

apex rounded ; outer margin very convex to anal angle, slightly emar-

ginate about termination of first median nervule ; anal angle rounded. ;

abdominal margin straight ; costal nervure arched, ending at the apex

of the wing ; first subcostal nervule arising far before the apex of the

cell ; discoidal cell broad, short, not nearly reaching to the middle of

the wing ; discoidal nervule present, but very attenuated ; dsco-cellular

nervules upright, concave, of equal length ; second median nervule

arising a little before the lower end of the cell; jirst median arising

about twice as far fromthe second as the second does from the first,

arising much nearer to the lower end of the cell than to the base of

the wing ; submedian and internal nervures straight. ANTENNZ very

long, a little less than two-thirds as long as the costa of the forewing,

the club moderate, terminating in a long curved whip-like point.

Pater broad, densely hairy, the third joint hidden beneath the second.

THorax robust, ABDOMEN rather slender, not reaching to the anal _

angle of the hindwing. Lacs, hindleg, femur and tibia heavily

fringed with long hairs, with two pairs of spines. Fumaue. Differs

from the male only in the wings being broader, and in lacking the

male brand on the upperside of the forewing. Type, Zela zeus, de

Nicéville.

388 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X,

This genus is probably nearest to Zea, Distant, of which the “ Hes-

peria” mytheca of Hewitson is the type. Zea has never been fully

diagnosed, the only characters given are as follows :—“ Foruwine.

Outer margin subequal [instead of a little longer| in length to inner

margin ; upper disco-cellular nervule longer than lower; moderately ob-

lique ; base of second median nervule about twice as far apart from that

of the lower as from that of the upper median nervule. Hinpwine.

Outer margin sinuated or more or lesslobately produced near anal angle.”

These characters are drawn up froma female specimen. But the type

species of Zela may instantly be known from the type species of Zea, if

Mr. Distant’s figure is to be relied on, by the hindwing being far shorter. _

Zela is also allied to the genera Hidari, Distant, and Unkana, Distant,*

but may at once be distinguished from these by the middle disco-cellular

nervule of the forewing being upright instead of strongly inwardly

oblique ; the outer and inner margins of the forewing also are of equal

length, in both these genera the inner margin is much shorter than

the outer. Mr, Distant says that the outer margin in Zea is subequal

(instead of a little longer) in length to the inner margin, but according

to my view of measurement (taken from his figure of the type species)

the outer margin is considerably longer than the inner. The genus

appears similar to Perichares, Scudder, confined to tropical America, as

regards the secondary sexual characters. In general appearance it

most resembles species of the genus Matapa, Moore.

44. ZELA ZEUS, n. sp., Pl. Q, Fig. 57, @.

Hasrrat: Pulo Laut, Borneo ; N.-E. Sumatra.

Expanse: ¢,1°7; 9, 1°8 inches.

Description: Mate. Uppersips, both wings dark shining hair-

brown. Forewing with four hyaline shining stramineous spots :—an

oval one touching the median nervure towards the outer end of the

discoidal cell, a small round one in the subcostal interspace (absent in

Sumatran specimens), a round one four times as large as the last-named

spot towards the base of the second median interspace, a reversed

comma-shaped spot posterior to the last in the first median interspace,

the three last-named spots in a straight line ; the sexual brand placed

just within the posterior spot deep black, inconspicuous. Cilia

* Captain Watson has sunk this genus under Zrionota, Mabille. -

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BU TTERFLIES. 389

cinereous. Hindwing immaculate. Cilia anteriorly cinereous, poste-

riorly orange. UNDERSIDE, both wings paler and duller than above,

the markings similar. yes crimson, Antenne black, the club be-

neath whitish. Head, body, and legs concolorous with the wings.

FremauE. Exactly as in the male except that the wings are broader,

and it has no “ male-mark.”

On the upperside this species strongly reminds one of Zea mytheca,

Hewitson,* but differs in two particulars. In that species the spot in

the cell of the forewing lies against the subcostal instead of the median

nervure, and the subapical spot is wanting; this latter feature is

also found in specimens from Sumatra. The underside of the hindwing

of the two species is totally dissimilar ; 7. mytheca has a broad discal

silvery-white fascia from the costa to the submedian fold, which is not

found in Z. zeus.

Described from a single example (the type) taken in June, 1891,

by Mr. W. Doherty, in the island of Pulo Laut, Borneo, and kindly

given to me by Mr. H. J. Elwes. Subsequently Dr. L. Martin

obtained two males in May from the Battak Mountains and Selesseh,

and I a single female, all from N.-H, Sumatra.

Genus ZAMPA, nov.

Maz, Forewine, costa nearly straight, a little arched only at the

base and apex ; apex acute ; outer margin slightly convex only ; inner

angle somewhat rounded; imner margin strongly bowed outwardly

in the middle, a little shorter than the outer margin ; costal nervure

barely reaching to the apex of the discoidal cell ; subcostal nervules

arising at nearly equal distances apart, arising slightly nearer the one

to the other progressively from the base of the wing ; discotdal cell

narrow, reaching to beyond the middle of the wing; wpper disco-

cellular nervule short, straight, strongly outwardly oblique; middle

disco-cellular nearly upright, a little inwardly oblique only, posteriorly

strongly concave ; lower disco-cellular quite straight, strongly inwardly

oblique, shorter than the middle disco-cellular ; second median nervule

arising well before the lower end of the cell ; first median arising at

about midway between the base of the wing and the lower end of the

cell ; submedian nervure straight. Huxpwine, longer than broad ; costa

* Distant, Rhop. Malay., p. 377, n. 1, pl. xxxv, fig. 7, female (1886).

390 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. LX.

greatly arched at base, less arched to costa ; apex rounded ; outer margin

well rounded, slightly excised at the end of the submedian nervure ;

anal angle rounded ; abdominal margin convex ; costal nervure slightly

curved, ending at the apex of the wing; first subcostal nervule aris-

ing rather close to the apex of the cell; discozdal cell broad,

very short, not nearly reaching to the middle of the wing ; disco-

cellular nervules very short, slightly outwardly oblique, concave ;

discoidal nervule absent; median nervure greatly distorted, instead

of being straight (or nearly so) throughout its length,* the portion

between the bases of the first and second median nervules

is inclined forwards, and the portion between the bases of the second

and third median nervules is inclined still more forwards, almost

indeed at right angles to the normal direction of the median

nervure, thus giving the outer end of the cell a most unusual

shape, being composed of four nearly straight portions of nearly

equal length, wz. :—(1) that portion of the subcostal nervure from

the point where the first subcostal nervule arises to the base of

the second subcostal, (2) the disco-cellular nervules, (8) that por-

tion of the median nervure between the bases of the third and

second median nervules, and (4) that portion of the median nervure

between the bases of the second and first median nervules; second

median nervule arising well before the end of the cell, at about

the same distance from its end as the first subcostal arises from

the apex of the cell; first median arises a little further from the

second than the second does from the first; submedzan and zn-

ternal nervures straight ; secondary sexual characters consist of a very

dense patch of long sete springing from about the middle of the

cell on the upperside and lying across the bases of the median

nervules ; on the underside of the wing the basal portions for some

distance of the second subcostal, third, and second median nervules are

much swollen, this character being correlated with the tuft of hairs

on the upperside of the wing. ANTENNZ very long, a little less than

two-thirds the length of the costa of the forewing ; the club elongated,

moderate, the whip-like apex long. THorax robust. ABDOMEN rather

slender, not quite reaching to the anal angle of the hindwing. Type,

Zampa zenon, de Nicéville.

*T reckon this vein to terminate at the point where the third median nervule arises.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 391

Probably nearly allied to Zela, de Nicéville, but the secondary

sexual characters are entirely different. To compare the two genera

effectually, the females of both the type species are required. The

secondary sexual characters of the hindwing described above are

probably unique. The bowed-out inner margin of the forewing with

the same portion on the underside highly polished 1s doubtless also a

male characteristic.

45. ZAMPA ZENON, 7». sp., Pl. Q, Fig. 58, ¢.

Hasitat: Pulo Laut, Borneo.

Wixpanse: @, 18 inches.

Description : Mare. Upprrsine, both wings shining dark ochreous-

brown. Forewing with an oval hyaline white spot atthe base of the

second median interspace, a similar comma-shaped spot a little ob-

liquely inwardly below the first spot in the first median interspace, the

convexity of the spot directed to the base of the wing. Cilia cinereous.

Hindwing unmarked ; the sexual tuft of long recumbent hairs in the

middle of the wing inconspicuous and concolorous with the wing.

Cilia anteriorly narrow, cinereous, posteriorly becoming much longer

and orange-coloured. UNDERSIDE, both wings have the ground-colour

paler than on the upperside. Forewing has the apex and outer margin

broadly paler, this pale area dying away to nothing towards the anal

angle of the wing ; the inner margin as far as the median nervure

and first median nervule pale and highly polished ; the disco-cellular

nervules defined by anarrow pale line; the two hyaline spots as on

the upperside. Hindwing has the disco-cellular nervules defined by

a narrow pale line as on the forewing ; otherwise unmarked.

In general appearance this species resembles Z. zeus, de Nicéville,

described above, but has only two instead of three or four spots on the

forewing. On the underside of the forewing the present species has

a broad outer pale fascia, which is not found in Z. zeus.

Described from a single example in Mr. H. J, Elwes’ collection

captured in June, 1891, by Mr. W. Doherty.

Genus MIMAS, nov.

Matz. Forewine, costa nearly straight ; apex acute ; outer margin

slightly convex ; ?nner angle rounded ; inner margin straight, as long

as the outer margin ; costal nervure not reaching to the apex of the

392 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. LX.

discoidal cell ; frst subcostal nervule arising nearer to the apex of the

cell than to the base of the wing; second, third and fourth subcostals

arising progressively nearer together ; déscoidal cell narrow, less

than two-thirds the length of the forewing ; upper disco-cellular

nervule short, strongly outwardly oblique ; mzddle disco-cellular very

long, strongly inwardly oblique, at its posterior end curved outwards ;

lower disco-cellular short, half the length of the middle disco-cellular,

strongly inwardly oblique and in the same straight line with the middle

disco-cellular ; median nervure between the bases of the third and

second median nervules distinctly deflected forwards ; lower discoidal

nervule curved forwards in the basal portion of its length, lying about

midway between the third median and upper discoidal nervules for the

greater portion of its length, but arising considerably nearer the third

median ; second median nervule arising long before the lower end of

the cell ; first median arising nearer to the base of the wing than to

the lower end of the cell ; submedian nervure straight. Hinpwine,

much longer than broad ; costa much arched at the base, thence slightly

arched to the apex; apex rounded ; outer marg?n evenly rounded to the

anal angle, slightly, if at all, excavated at the end of the first median

nervule ; anal angle rather square ; abdominal margin straight ; costal

nervure slightly curved only, ending at the apex of the wing ; first

subcostal nervule arising well before the apex of the cell ; disco-cellular

nervules sinuous, outwardly oblique ; discoidal nervule absent ; second

median nervule arising close to the lower end of the cell ; first median

arising about twice as far from the second as the second does from the

first, arising much nearer the end of the cell than the base the wing ;

submedian and internal nervures straight. ANTENN& long, more

than half as long as the costa of the forewing, the club moderately

stout, the terminal crook acuminate, long, about twice as long as the

breadth of the club. Heap broad. Patri, second joint broad, very

hairy, third joint rather short, naked, conical. THorax robust.

AspomeEN rather slender, not reaching to the outer margin of the

hindwing. Lxas, foreleg, tibia with an epiphysis ; hindleg, tibia with

two pairs of spurs. Type, “ Zsmene”’ milizas, Kirsch.

This genus would appear to find its natural position in the subfamily

Pamphiline, Section B, of Captain HE. Y. Watson’s classification, and

to come close to the genus Carystus of Hiibner, vide Proc, Zool. Soe.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 393

Lond., 1893, p. 93, the type of whichis C. jolus, Cramer, from South

America, Of the Asiatic genera hitherto diagnosed it comes nearest

to Lotongus, Distant, from which, however, it may instantly be known

by the inner and outer margins of the forewing being of equal length,

in Lotongus the inner is much shorter than the outer margin. The

only species of this genus known to me have very much the aspect

from the upperside of species of the genus Jsmene, Swainson, but they

differ from all species of the Jsmene group in the form of the antennz

and palpi and in the neuration. The male has a short rather indistinct

discal black streak of modified scales running obliquely and continuously

from the origin of the third median nervule to just beyond the first

median nervule and appearing again as a raised spot on the submedian

nervure.

(1) MIMAS MILTIAS, Kirsch.

Ismene miltias, Kirsch, Mitth. K. Zool. Museum, Dresden, vol. i, pt. 2, p. 128, n. 127, pl. vii,

fic. 6, female (1877).

Hasirat: Jobi Island near New Guinea (Kirsch) ; Humboldt’s

Bay, North New Guinea (de Nicéville).

Dzscriptron: Mare. Uppmrsipe, both wings and cilia dark shin-

ing bronzy-brown. Forewing with the basal third of the surface from

the costa to the inner margin rich ferruginous, and with the black streak

peculiar to the genus on the disc. Hindwing also with the basal third

of the surface and the abdominal margin almost to the anal angle rich

ferruginous. UNDERSIDE, forewing with rather more than the basal

third of the costa and extending outwardly into the discoidal cell rich

ferruginous. Hindwing with the basal half of the costa extending

slightly into the cell rich ferruginous. Thorax above clothed with

ferruginous sete. Abdomen dark brown above, the segments beneath

narrowly banded with ochreous. Antenne black, the club beneath

cinereous.

Herr Th. Kirsch does not mention the sex of the example of this

species which he described, but from the coloration and stoutness of the

abdomen, as shewn in his figure, I would judge it to have been a

female.

Described from a single example in my collection kindly given to

me by its capturer, Mr. William Doherty.

394 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

46. (2) MIMAS MBLIE, n. sp., Pl. Q, Fig. 55, 2.

Hapitrat: New Guinea.

HWxpanse: Q, 1°8 inches.

Description: Femate. UPppErsipE, both wings shining fuscous

with a distinct vinous sheen in some lights. Culza fuscous. Morewing

with the basal fourth from the costa to the inner margin clothed with

long grey sete. Hindwing with the basal third clothed with long grey

setee, UNDERSIDE, both wings with the ground-colour as above. Lore-

wing with six subapical small white spots placed between the veins, the

anterior one on the costa lies between the second and third subcostal

nervules ; the second spot, about twice as long as the first, lies between

the third and fourth subcostals ; the third spot is the smallest of all and

lies between the fourth subcostal nervule and the terminal portion of the

subcostal nervure (the fifth subcostal nervule of some writers); the fourth

spot lies in the subcostal interspace and is equal in size to the fifth spot ;

the fifth spot lies in the upper discoidal interspace ; the sixth spotis of the

same size as the two above it, and lies in the lower discoidal interspace ;

there is a large transverse spot in the discoidal cell towards its end, the

spot slightly constricted at the middle ; a still larger spot in the first

median interspace, its inner edge convex, its outer edge concave,

extending completely across the interspace ; posterior to this again is a

large quadrate patch, almost reaching the outer margin, occupying the

outer half of the submedian interspace, and extending posteriorly to the

inner margin, along which it is continued towards the base of the wing.

Hindwing with an irregularly-shaped discal white spot placed between

the second subcostal and upper median nervules (there is no discoidal

nervule in this genus, so the spot really extends across two inter-

spaces); another round spot about twice the size of the first spot at

about the middle of the submedian interspace. Thorax and base of

the abdomen above clothed with long grey sete, the rest of the

abdomen fuscous narrowly banded with grey. Antenne black, the

base of the club prominently white. Palp: and head beneath grey.

Legs and thorax beneath fuscous.

This is a very conspicuously-marked species, especially so on the

underside, I do not know any species to which it is even remotely allied.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 395

Described from a single example in my collection presented to me

by Mr. W. Doherty, who captured it himself at Humboldt’s Bay,

North-West New Guinea,

Genus HETION, nov.

Mate. Forewine, elongated, narrow; costa nearly straight,

slightly arched only ; apex acute ; outer margin at the apex nearly at

right-angles to the costa, afterwards strongly inwardly oblique,

straight ; inner margin straight, equal in length to the outer margin ;

costal nervure ending on the costa before the apex of the discoidal cell ;

subcostal nervules counting from the base of the wing arising from the

subcostal nervure at decreasing distances apart ; discozdal cell narrow,

long, extending to nearly two-thirds the length of the wing from the

base ; upper disco-cellular nervule short, strongly outwardly oblique ;

middle disco-celullar long, recurved, strongly inwardly oblique ; lower

disco-cellular short, nearly half the length of the middle but twice

as long as the upper disco-cellular, strongly inwardly oblique ; lower

discoidal nervule in consequence of the greater length of the middle

disco-cellular arising much nearer to the third median than to the upper

disvoidal nervule ; second median nervule arising far before the lower

end of the cell; jist median arising a little farther from the second

than that nervule does from the third, arising much nearer to the

base of the wing than to the lower end of the cell ; submedian nervure

slightly curved ; secondary sexual characters consist on the upperside

of the wing of a narrow inwardly oblique brand or line of scales

arising from the second median nervule just after its origin, extending

across the first median interspace, and ending on the submedian

internervular fold ; and on the underside of the wing of a strong tuft

or brush of hairs directed forwards and arising near the base of the

wing inthe middle of the sutural area. Hinpwinc, much longer

than broad ; costa greatly arched at base, gently arched from thence

to theapex ; apex rounded ; outer margin regularly curved to the termi-

nation of the submedian nervure, beyond which the margin is produced

lobe-like ; anal angle rounded ; abdominal margin nearly straight ;

costal nervure long, gently curved throughout its length, ending at

the apex of the wing; first subcostal nervule arising far before the

apex of the cell; disco-cellular nervules slightly concave, slightly

396 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. ix.

outwardly oblique, the upper a little longer than the lower ; discozdal

nervule apparently present, but very fine; second median nervule

arising well before the lower end of the cell; jirst median arising

about twice as far from the second as the second does from the third,

arising much nearer the lower end of the cell than the base of the

wing ; dscoidal cell broad, short, not nearly reaching to the middle

of the wing ; median nervure slightly anteriorly deflected between the

bases of the first and second, strongly deflected between the bases of

the second and third median nervules; submedian and internal

nervures straight, ANTENN# a little more than half the length of the

costa of the forewing, the club moderate, with a long terminal whip-like

crook, about three times as long as the greatest breadth of the club,

Patpr broad, densely hairy, third joint but very slightly projecting

beyond the second. THorax rather robust. ABDOMEN reaching jast

to the outer margin of the hindwing. Lees, foreleg, tibia with an

epiphysis; hindleg, tibia with two pairs of spurs. FrmaLe. Differs

from the male only in the absence of the brand on the upperside and

tuft of hairs on the underside of the forewing. Type, “‘ Hesperia”

elia, Hewitson.

This genus comes into Capt. H. Y. Watson’s subfamily Pamphiline,

Section B (wde Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1893, p. 70), but differs from

the genera in that section, though agreeing with some of those in

Section C, in having a long crook to the club of the antenna. It is

allied to Lotongus, Distant, Cretens, Zela, Zampa, de Nicéville, Zea,

Hidari, Distant, and Mimas, de Nicéville, but the shape of the wing

will separate it from all these except Zea, to which it is nearest allied,

but the second median nervule of the forewing is much more remote

from the end of the discoidal cell, being almost equidistant between

the first and third. The secondary sexual characters of the male are

unique in the Hesperiidee as far as I am aware, no other species having

both a brand above and tuft of hairs below the forewing.

(1) HETION ELIA, Hewitson.

Hesperia elia, Hewitson, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., third series, vol. ii, p. 489,n. 9 (1866) ;

Carystus elia, Druce, Proc. Zool, Soc. Lond., 1873, p. 359, n. 2; Cobalus elia, Butler, Trans.

Linn. Soc. Lond., Zoology, second series, vol. i, p. 554, n. 1 (1877); Unkana elia, var.,

Distant, Rhop. Malay., p. 370, n. 2, pl. xxxiv, fig. 25, female (1886) ; id., Watson, Proc.

Zool, Soc. Lond., 1893, p. 128; Hesperia eburus, Plétz, Berl. Ent. Zeitsch., vol. xxix, p. 226,

n. 8 (1885) ; idem, id,, Stet, Ent. Zeit., vol, xlvii, p, 92, n, 1210 (1886).

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 397

Hasirar: Sumatra (Hewttson and colls. Martin and de Nicéville) ;

Borneo (Druce) ; Malacca (Butler and Plotz) ; Province Wellesley and

Singapore (Distant) ; Perak (coll. de Nicéville).

Genus GHHENNA, Watson.

Gehenna, Watson, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1893, p. 108, n. 27.

Mate, ForEwING, costa nearly straight ; apex acute ; outer margin

nearly straight, slightly convex only ; inner angle acute ; inner margin

straight, about the same length as the outer margin; costal nervure

ending on the costa before the apex of the discoidal cell; subcostal

nervules arising from the subcostal nervure at decreasing distances

apart from the base of the wing ; discozdal cell more than half

but less than two-thirds as long as the wing ; upper disco-cellular

nervule short, straight, strongly outwardly oblique; mddle disco-

cellular very long, upright, straight ; lower disco-cellular short, about

the same length as the upper disco-cellular, straight, inwardly oblique ;

Lower discoidal nervule arises therefore much nearer to the third median

than to the upper discoidal nervule; second median nervule arises

well before the lower end of the cell ; first median arises close to the

base of the wing; submedzan nervure straight. H1npwine, elongated,

much longer than broad ; costa much arched at the base, then nearly

‘straight to the apex ; outer margin curved regularly and evenly to the

anal angle, not at all emarginate ; anal angle rounded ; abdominal

margin straight; costal nervure ending at the apex of the wing ; costal

and subcostal nervures with an apparently common origin, but soon

separating, at the point of separation the two veins assume the form of

a “tuning-fork ;” first subcostal nervule arising long before the apex

of the cell ; discoidal cell rather long, reaching to the middle of

the wing; disco-cellular mnervules sinuous, the general direction

being slightly outwardly oblique ; discoidal nervule obsolete ; second

median nervule arising a little before the lower end of the cell; jirst

median arising also close to the end of the cell, not quite twice as far

from the second as the second arises from the third; submedian and

internal nervures straight. ANTENN& long, more than half (nearly

two-thirds) as long as the costa of the forewing ; club moderately

large, elongated, with a rather long and fine apex or point. Parr

very broad, densely hairy, porrect, the third joint very small, Hap

398 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X,

broad, THorAx broad. ABDomEN rather stout, of the same length as

the hindwing. Lues, hindleg with the tibia slightly fringed, and

furnished with two pairs of spines. Secondary sexual characters

consist on the forewing of a dense tuft of long hairs attached to the

base of the inner margin and turned under and forwards ; the basal

portions of the median and submedian nervures on the underside

furnished with raised lines of scales: and on the hindwing there is a

small oval oblique streak on the upperside close to the base of the

wing, this gland is almost certainly correlated with the curious

“tuning-fork’’ shape of the base of the costal and subcostal

nervures.

Giehenna appears to be nearest to the genus Halpe, Moore, from

which it differs in the forewing in the first median nervule arising

much nearer to the base of the wing ; the male also has a tuft of hairs

on the inner margin near the base of the wing ; and the swollen bases

of the median and submedian nervures are not found in any species of

Halpe ; in the hindwing it differs in the curious “ tuning-fork ”

bifurcation of the costal and subcostal nervures, with an oval gland in

the male placed between the bases of the prongs of the fork ; in Halpe

in the male only the first subcostal nervule makes a “tuning-fork ”

at its origin from the subcostal nervure ; in the female these veins are

normal ; the discoidal cell is much longer, extending to at least

the middle if not beyond the middle of the wing ; the first subcostal

nervule arises much nearer the base of the wing ; the hindwing

too differs greatly in shape, being very much longer than broad

in the type species of Halpe (which I take to be H. moorez, Watson,

from which Mr. Moore must have diagnosed his genus, and not

from the true H. beturia, Hewitson, from Celebes), the hindwing is

exactly as broad as long in both sexes. I have drawn up this

diagnosis from Gehenna gree, de Nicéville, having been under

the impression till Captain Watson pointed out my oversight that

the genus was undescribed. The description is published as it is

somewhat more full than Captain Watson’s, which was drawn up

from ‘‘ Hesperia’ abima, Hewitson, the only other known species

in the genus.

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 399

_ 47. GEHENNA GRAUA, n. sp., Pl. Q, Fig. 59, 4. .

Hapitat: N.-H. Sumatra.

EXxpansE: @, 1:4 inches.

Description : Maun. Upprrsips, both wings shining dark reddish-

brown. forewing with five semi-transparent ochreous spots, two

placed inwardly obliquely at the end of the discoidal cell, the upper

small and round, the lower three times as large as the upper and linear, a

small round subapical one placed in the subcostal interspace, a rounded

one of about the same size as the posterior spot in the cell towards

the base of the second median interspace, a triangular one, the largest

of all, with its base against the base of the second median nervule, its

apex against the submedian nervure in the first median interspace.

Hindwing immaculate. UNDERSIDE, both wings as above, but the costa

and apex widely of the forewing, and the whole of the hindwing frosted

over with scattered golden-yellow scales. Forewing with the hyaline

spots as above; the sexual tuft of hairs at the base of the inner

margin turned under and forwards black. Hindweng immaculate. Cilia

of the forewing concolorous with the wings; of the hindwing paler,

dusky ochreous, Antenne black; the club beneath, all except the

whip-like termination, ochreous-white. Head, palpt, thorax, and

abdomen above dark reddish-brown; beneath and legs greenish-

ochreous.

Near to “ Hesperia” abima, Hewitson,* from Macassar in Celebes,

but that species appears to have a single deeply sinuated spot instead

of two in the discoidal cell of the forewing, and both wings

are much clothed with ochreous hair. On the underside of the

hindwing in G. abima there are five undefined brown spots, in

G. gree that wing is immaculate.

Described from a single example captured by Hofrath Dr. L. Martin

himself in the virgin forest at Namoe Oekor, N.-E. Sumatra, on 23rd

January, 1893.

Genus ITON, nov.

Matz, Forewine, triangular ; costa nearly straight, slightly arched

at the base ; apex acute ; outer margin convex at apex, then straight ;

wmner angle rounded ; inner margin straight, of the same length

* Ann, and Mag. of Nat. Hist., fourth series, vol. xix, p. 83 (1877),

400 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

as the outer margin ; costal nervure ending on the margin a little

before the apex of the discoidal cell; subcostal nervules arising at

decreasing distances apart ; dzscozdal cell narrow, less than two-thirds

the length of the costa ; wpper disco-cellular nervule stout, straight,

short, strongly outwardly oblique; mzddle disco-cellular thin, long,

nearly twice as long as the lower disco-cellular, strongly inwardly

oblique, at first straight, the posterior portion curved outwardly ;

lower disco-cellular short, straight, in the same straight line as the

middle disco-cellular ; second median nervule arismg far before the

lower end of the cell; first median arising nearer to the lower

end of the cell than to the base of the wing, rising in fact about

twice as far fromthe second median as that vein does from the

third; submedian nervure bowed, the curvature being in the

direction of the costa; along and thick tuft of hazrs (in the type

species only) attached to the wing-membrane on the underside towards

the base of the wing between the submedian nervure and the inner

margin, the tuft turned forwards. Hrynwine, much longer than

broad ; costa strongly arched at base, thence straight to apex ; apex

well rounded ; outer margin convex on the whole, but between the

second median nervule and the submedian nervure it is emarginate ;

anal angle well rounded ; abdominal margin convex ; costal nervure end-

ing at the apex of the wing, well curved throughout its length ; first

subcostal nervule arising well before the apex of the cell ; discoidal cell

short, not reaching to the middle of the wing, broad ; diésco-cellular

nervules thin, nearly straight, outwardly oblique; dzscoidal nervule

wanting ; second median nervule arising well before the lower end

of the cell; jirst median arising about as far (perhaps a_ little

farther) from the second as the second does from the third, all three

median nervules crowded together near the lower end of the cell ;

submedian and internal nervures straight. FEMALE differs from the

male in Jacking the tuft of hairs on the forewing, the hindwing is

rather broader, and the disco-cellular nervules are strongly concave

instead of nearly straight. ANTENNa almost exactly half the length of

the costa of the forewing, with a long well-formed club ending ina

short whip-like terminal crook. Patpr broad, second joint densely

hairy, third joint very short. THorax robust. ABDOMEN not quite

reaching to the anal angle of the hindwing when the butterfly is at rest

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 401

with its wings folded over its back. Las, hindleg, tibia with two

pairs of spines. Type, “‘ Hesperia’? semamora, Moore.

Capt. Watson in Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1893, p. 123, places

I, semamora, Moore, and I. watsonz, de Nicéville, doubtfully in the

genus Unkana, Distant, of which U. éatara, Distant (= J. attina,

Hewitson,— G. cruda, Herrich-Schiffer) is the type. The type of Jton,

differs from the type of Unkana in the following characters :—The

forewing is not so elongated, the apex is less acute, the outer margin

is convex instead of straight, it is also of the same length as the inner

margin, instead of being considerably longer ; the middle disco-cellular

is nearly twice as long as the lower, instead of being exactly the same

length ; there is a sexual tuft of hairs in the type species of Iton which

is lacking in Unkana; in the hindwing the disco-cellular nervules are

much more outwardly oblique, instead of being nearly upright ; lastly,

the antennz aré shorter with a much shorter crook, in Unkana

the antennze are more than half the length of the costa of the

forewing. Captain Watson has recently sunk the genus Unkana under

Erionota, Mabille. The genus Jon contains but two species, the

first with atuft of hairs in the male, the second without. The

position of this tuft is, as far as I know, unique in the family,

except in the genus Letion, de Nicéville, in which there is a

similar tuft.

(1) ITON SEMAMORA, Moore.

Hesperia semamora, Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1865, p. 791; Hesperia (?) semamora,

de Nicéville, Journ, A. S.B., vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 60, n. 125 (1881); Parnara semamora, Watson,

Hesp. Ind., p. 46, n. 61 (1891) ; Unkana semamora, id., Proc. Zool, Soc. Lond., 1893, p. 123 ;

id., Swinhoe, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond,, 1893, p. 328, n. 496 ; Hesperia barea, Hewitson, Trans.

Ent. Soc. Lond,, third series, vol. ii, p. 490, n. 12 (1866).

Hasitat: Bengal (Moore); Sikkim; Khasi Hills; throughout

Burma ; Perak; N.-E. Sumatra ; North Borneo.

As will be seen from the localities given above, the species has a

very wide range. I have specimens in my collection from Sikkim to

Sumatra and North Borneo. It is omitted from Mr. Elwes’ Catalogue

of the Lepidoptera of Sikkim, and from Mr. Distant’s Rhopalocera

Malayana. The description of ‘‘ Hesperia’? barea, Hewitson, from

Sumatra, agrees exactly with this species.

402 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

(2) ITON WATSONIIL, de Nicéville.

Parnara watsonii, de Nicéville, Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Sec., vol. v, p. 223, n. 19 (1890) ;

idem, id., 1. c., vol. Vi, p. 388, pl. G, fig. 29, male (1891) ; id., Watson, Hesp. Ind., p. 46, n, €2,

(1891) ; Unkana watsonii, id., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1893, p, 123.

Hapitat: Burma,

I possess a long series of this species from Telin Yaw, Younzalin,

Papun, and Thoungyin, taken in December, February, and March by

Captain EH. Y. Watson and Lieutenant-Colonel C. T. Bingham.

The type of the genus Unkana is the “ Hesperia” attina, Hewitson

1866), = “ Hesperia” latreillei, Felder (1867), = “ Goniloba”

ceruda, Herrich-Schiiffer (1869), = Unkana batara, Distant (1886),

I possess specimens from Bassein, Henzada, and Maulmain (all in

Burma) and from Java. It occurs also in Malacca, Singapore, N.-H.

Sumatra, and again in Palawan and Mindanao, two of the Philippine

Isles. In the verandah of Colonel C. T. Bingham’s bungalow at

Maulmain, during the month of October, the butterfly comes commonly

to the flowers of the Eucharist Lilies to rob the honey, The males are

far commoner than the females. The flight of this large “ Skipper”

is very swift and headlong, but when settled on the flowers busily

engaged drinking the honey it may be caught between the fingers.

Mr, Distant, in describing Unkana batara,a MS. name of Mr. Moore’s,

did not recognise that it is the opposite (male) sex of JU. attina,

owing doubtless to the very great superficial dissimilarity between

the sexes. My own observations on the live animals had, however,

convinced me of the fact before Herr Georg Semper had published

the same conclusion in his Butterflies of the Philippine Isles, p. 288,

n. 417.

48. BAORIS (Parnara) PHILOTAS, n. sp., Pl. Q, Fig. 60, ¢.

Hasirat : North Kanara and Trevandrum, both in South India.

EXPANsE: @, 1:2 inches.

Description: Matz. Upprrstpz, both wings dark brown with a

vinous reflection. Cilia cinereous. Forewing with a quadrate dot at

the base of the second median interspace ; a quadrate spot, four times

as large as the dot anterior to it, near the middle of the first median

interspace. Hindwing with two hyaline white dots just beyond the

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 403

discoidal cell divided by the second median nervule ; the base of the

wing clothed with long ochreous-green setze. UNDERSIDE, Goth wings

dark purplish-brown, this ground-colour appearing, however, only

broadly on the inner margin of the forewing, all the rest of the surface

(as seen under a strong magnifying glass) being thickly covered with

“old-gold” coloured scales ; the pair of spots on each wing as on the

upperside. Antenne, head and body above fuscous ; antennz beneath

have the base of the club, palypz, legs and body beneath pale ochreous.

This distinct little species appears to be nearest to B. bevani, Moore,

with which it agrees in size, but instead of from five to eight spots on

the forewing and three to five on the hindwing, it has a pair of spots

on each wing only.

Described from a single example taken in August at Trevandrum

Travancore, by Mr. Harold 8. Ferguson, and another in Mr. T. R.

Bell’s collection taken in North Kanara, Bombay Presidency.

49, ISMENE IONIS, n. sp., Pl. Q, Fig. 61, 3.

Hasitat: Sambawa ; Western Java.

Hxpansz: @, 1:8 inches.

Dzscrretion: Matz. Uppersipe, both wings shining ochreous-

brown. Forewing with a prominent narrow black androconal streak

extending parallel to the outer margin from the middle of the sub-

median nervure to near the base of the second median nervule. Cilza

cinereous. Hindwing, the whole surface clothed, except the costa and

outer margin rather broadly, with long orange-yellow sete. Culia

anteriorly narrow and cinereous, posteriorly becoming long and

orange-yellow. UNDERSIDE, both wings shining purplish fawn-colour,

crossed by a common broad straight discal purplish-white band.

Forewing has the discal band short, commeneing at the costa, becom-

ing lost posteriorly in a large ochreous-white area; this latter

occupies the whole of the inner margin, and extends broadly on to the

disc as far as the second median nervule. Hindwing has the discal

band extending right across the surface, its inner edge sharply defined,

its outer edge diffused, posteriorly the band is recurved to the

abdominal margin ; the small anal lobe bears a fuscous patch. Head

and thorax clothed oa long orange-yellow sete. Abdomen fuscous,

404 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

tipped with orange-yellow. Hindley has the tibia greatly swollen,

almost as much so as in J, mahintha, Moore.

I. tonts is closely allied to JL. mahintha, Moore,* from Sileuri,

Cachar ; the Khasi Hills; Kalewa in the Chindwin Valley, Bernard-

myo, Theyetmyo, the Ataran Valley, the Daunat Range, and Kun-

padie—all in Burma, from which it differs in the shape of the “ male

mark,” this latter in J. mahintha being very broad, as broad as long,

instead of four times as long ag broad as it is in J. ionis. In

I. mahintha the “male-mark” is somewhat variable, being in

some specimens a solid square, in others it is broken up into two, three,

or four streaks, the streaks being separated from one another by the

veins and internervular folds. The coloration of the upperside differs

in the two species also, the long setze which clothe the wings being

orange-yellow in J, zonzs, rich orange-red in I. mahintha. J. conis has

no discal hyaline spots on the forewing, in J. mahintha there are two

in the female divided by the second median nervule ; usually two (but

the spots, especially the posterior one, are always smaller than in the

female), always one, in the male on the underside, the anterior one of

these in the second median interspace sometimes shewing through on

the upperside, sometimes absent. On the underside J. conis has a pro-

minent discal purplish-white band across both wings, in J. mahintha

there is the very faintest trace only of this band on the hindwing

in some specimens. J. conis is also allied to J. antigone, Rober,t

from Flores, but from the figure that species appears to have the

“ male-mark ” reduced to two small round clumps of scales, and

the discal band on the underside is confined to the hindwing.

Lastly, I. tones is allied to J. dluska, Hewitson,f from Macassar

in Celebes, which, like I. mahintha, has no discal band on the

underside, and has the “ male-mark” on the upperside as large as

in that species, but of quite a different shape, being anteriorly

rounded.

Described from a single example kindly given to me by Mr. H. J.

Elwes, captured by Mr. W. Doherty in the island of Sambawa in

September, 1891. He did not meet with this species apparently on

* Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1874, p.575, pl. Ixvii, fig. 4, male,

+ Tijd. voor Ent., vol. xxxiv, p. 320 (1891); vol. XXxv, pl. v, fig. 6, male (1892).

t Hx. Butt., vol. iv, pl. Ismene ii, figs, 10,11, male (1867),

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 405

his first visit to the island in 1887.* Mr, H. Fruhstorfer has also

given me two males captured by himself in August, 1892, on Mount

Gede, 4,000 feet, in Western Java.

50. HASORA (Paraia) SIMPLICISSIMA, Mabille, Pl. Q, Figs.

62, g; 68, Q.

Ismene simplicissima, Mabille, Bull, Soc. Ent. France, fifth series, vol. vi, p-xxv, un. 1,

(1876); idem, id., Ann. Soc, Hnt. France, fifth series, vol. vi, p. 265, n. 11 (1876); id.,

Staudinger, Iris, vol, ii, p. 138 (1889); Parata simplicissima, Semper, Schmett. Philipp., p. 292,

n, 428 (1892); Ismene philetas, Plotz, Stet. Ent, Zeit,, vol. xlv, p. 56, n. 14 (1884).

Hasitat : Moluccas (Mabzlle) ; Palawan in the Philippines, Mina-

hassa in Celebes (Staudinger) ; Babuyanes, Luzon, Mindoro, Samart

Bohol, Camiguin de Mindanao, Mindanao (Semper); Philippines

(Plétz); Yunzalin Valley, Tenasserim, Burma ; N.-H. Sumatra,

Expanse: g, 1:7 to 1:9; 9, 1:8 to 1°9 inches.

Description: Matz, Upprrsipe, both wings dark shining hair-

brown. Forewing with an oblique discal narrow somewhat indistinct

black streak of modified scales from the inner margin to the third

median nervule. Hindwing immaculate. UNDERSIDE, both wings

ochreous-brown, more or less faintly glossed with violet. Lorewing

with the inner margin broadly somewhat paler than the rest of the

wing ; a broad discal fascia somewhat darker than the rest of the wing

parallel with the outer margin from the costa to near the submedian

nervure. Hindwing with the discal band of the forewing continued —

as far as the submedian interspace, where it ends in a small ochreous

spot ; the anal lobe purplish-black. Cvlia pale ochreous throughout.

Femate. UppErsibE, both wings dark shining hair-brown, Forewing

with the base of the wing and basal half of the inner margin heavily

clothed with long ochreous setze ; three, two, one, or no minute sub-

apical diaphanous “ old-gold” dots; an oblique quadrate similar spot

at the middle of the discoidal cell; a small rhomboidal one placed

obliquely across the middle of the second median interspace ; a

similar one twice as large as the last-mentioned spot and placed in-

wardly obliquely posterior to it in the first median interspace ; in one

specimen there is still another small obliquely-placed similar spot

* Journ, A. S, B., vol. Lx, pt. 2, p. 141 (1891),

406 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, 1X.

touching the middle of the submedian nervure in the submedian inter-

space. Hindwing with the abdominal half of the wing heavily clothed

with long ochreous setee. UNDERSIDE, both wings paler(more ochreous)

than in the male. Forewing with all the spots as on the upperside;

the inner margin broadly ochreous-yellow. Aindwing as in the male,

except that there is a pale ochreous spot at the end of the cell.

Very near to H. badra, Moore, first recorded from Java in the

Cat. Lep. Mus, E. I. Co., p. 245, n, 532 (1857), afterwards described

from Bengal in Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1865, p. 778, from which

H., simplicissima differs in both sexes in the absence of the “small bluish-

white spot” in the discoidal cell on the hindwing on the underside, the

spot anterior to the anal lobe is also smaller and pale ochreous instead

of “ purple-white,” the male also has a distinct “ male-mark ” on the

upperside of the forewing which is entirely wanting in 4. badra.

Described from one male taken in April by Colonel C. T. Bingham in

the Yunzalin Valley, five males and four females from N.-E. Sumatra,

and a pair of specimens from the Philippine Isles sent to me by Herr

Georg Semper. I possess specimens of £7. badra from Sikkim, Calcutta,

Trevandrum, Ceylon, Sibsagar in Upper Assam, the Naga Hills, the

Khasi Hills, Cachar, Chittagong, Maulmain, the Andaman Isles, Perak

in the Malay Peninsula, N.-E. Sumatra, and Java; and it has been

recorded from Upper Burma, Rangoon, North Tenasserim, Engano,

Sumba, Sambawa, Celebes, and Palawan in the Philippine Isles.

Mr. Leech once recorded A, badra from Kiukiang, Yangzee River,

China, but subsequently seems to have considered this specimen to be

H. anura, de Nicéville. The specimens figured are from Sumatra ;

they are somewhat smaller than those from the Philippines,

51. HASORA CHABRONA, Plotz.

Ismene chabrona, Plétz, Stet. Ent. Zeit. vol. xlv, p. 56, n. 16 (1884); Hasora vitta,

Distant (nec Butler), Rhop. Malay., p. 375, n. 2, pl. xxxv, fig. 4, male (1886) ; id., Sem-

per, Schmett. Phillip. Ins., p. 291, n. 424 (1892); id., Swinhoe, Trans, Ent. Soc. Lond., 1893,

p. 329, n. 505.

Hasirat: Malacca (Plétz); Perak; Malacca (Distant); Luzon,

Cebu, Bohol, Camotes, Camiguin de Mindanao, Mindanao—all in the

Philippine Isles (Semper) ; Shillong ; Sikkim ; several places near Bom-

bay ; Khasia Hills (Swenhoe) ; Karinja Island, Bombay ; North Kanara,

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 407

Bombay Presidency ; Bangalore ; Ganjam ; Orissa ; Calcutta ; Sikkim ;

Shillong, North Khasi Hills, Sibsagar—all in Assam ; Kalewa in the

Chindwin Valley, Rangoon, Daunat Range, Ataran Valley—all in

Burma; Andaman Isles; Perak; N.-H, Sumatra; Java (coll. de

Nicéville).

Colonel Swinhoe writes of Hasora witta:—“It has been mixed up

in Indian collections with the commoner Indian Parata alexis, Fabri-

cius,* but can easily be distinguished by the subapical white [not

white, distinctly ochreous] spot on the upperside [on both sides] of the

forewing, and the entire absence of the very characteristic subgeneric

[sc] sexual character of Parata, ic., an oblique glandular streak of

laxly raised scales below the cell in the forewing above.” This writer

uses arata in a generic sense, while speaking of its “ subgeneric”

characters. For my own part, I think Parata might with advantage

be used as a subgenus, as its ‘‘ male-mark” is a very useful character

by which to separate off certain species, such as chromus and alewis, from

typical Hasoras, such as badra, coulteri, hadria, anura, and chabrona,

which do not possess this “ male-mark.”

The confusion regarding this species is very great. As far back as

i881, the late Mr. Wood-Mason and I in discussing the butterflies of

the Andaman Isles,t wrote of Ismene chromus, Cramer :—‘ Andaman

females all have only a single small semi-transparent subapical speck

between the last two branches of the subcostal [nervure] of the

anterior wing ; but those from Continental India have sometimes one

and sometimes two besides this on the disc of the same wing, which

in one from Bangalore in South India are enlarged into two con-

spicuous reversed comma-shaped spots.” The identification of the

species is incorrect, Hasora chromus does not occur in the Andamans,

the species referred to is H. chabrona. At the time of writing we had

only received males of H. chabrona from the Andamans ; we did not

recognise this fact, taking them to be females, as we expected to find

in the males of this species a similar “ male-mark” to that present in

* The species here meant is more probably Hasora chromus, Cramer, Hasora alexis is

a scarce species, being, as far as I know, confined to South India (Ootacamund and Coonoor

ja the Nilgiri Hills, North Kanara, and Travancore), and to Ceylon. Colonel Swinhoe records

both Aasora chromus and H, alexis from “ Shillong,” the latter in error I think,

+ Journ. A. 8. B,, vel. 1, pt. 2, p, 254, n. 104 (1881),

408 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

Lasora malayana, Feider, a common Andamanese butterfly. It is

possible that the late Carl Plotz has also incorrectly recorded “ Ismene ”

vitta from the Philippines as well as from Sarawak (Borneo) from

whence the type of H. wtta came. In this Herr Georg Semper in

his Philippine Butterflies follows Plétz, as he records H. witta from

numerous islands in the Philippine group. Strangely enough he does

not give “ Jsmene” chabrona asa synonym of HZ. vitta as Mr. Distant

does, nor refer to the species in any way, though Plotz records it, as

noted above, from the Philippines, but he notes the presence in his

specimens of the characteristic spot of H. chabrona towards the apex

of the forewing. Again, Mr. A. G. Butler records* “ Hesperia”

vitta (his own species) from Malacca. In this he may be correct,

though I doubt it, but cannot be sure, not having seen the

specimen in question, He also remarks on the characteristic spot,

and notes two of them in his male specimen ; in some examples there

are as many as three. My impression is that Hasora vitta is

confined to Borneo, It may be at once known from HZ. chabrona

by the absence in the male (the only sex described and figured)

of the small subapical spot in the forewing.f It is by this

feature alone I am able to distinguish between the females of

H. (Parata) chromus and H. chabrona, the former never possessing this

spot, while in the latter itis invariably present. The males of the

two species are at once differentiated by the presence or absence of the

male-mark.” In addition to this character the sexes of H. chabrona

can be at once distinguished by the male lacking and the female pos-

sessing two somewhat large spots in the median interspaces of the

forewing. H. coultert, Wood-Mason and de Nicéville, { from Cachar,

is very closely allied to H. chabrona, the females of the two species

may be distinguished on the underside of the hindwing by both the

edges of the discal white band being sharply defined in H. coultera,

much blurred in H. chabrona. The female of H. coulter? possesses the

subapical spot to the forewing, which is lacking in the male, and by

the absence of which, together with the discal band, it is distinguished

* Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond., Zoology, second series, vol. i, p. 554, n. 2 (1877).

+ Hesperia vitta, Butler, Lep. Ex., p. 167, n. 3, pl. lix, fig. 9, male (1874).

t Journ. A.S. B., vol.lv, pt. 2, p. 878, n. 201, pl. xviii, figs. 8, male; 8a, 80, female

(1887),

ON NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN BUTTERFLIES. 409

from the same sex of H. chabrona. Should the test of the presence or

absence of the subapical spot to the forewing be found ultimately to

fail, then I think HZ. chabrona will have to fall before HZ. witta.

Dor go NO pe

eS oe

Ea ee oe

@9 09 82 bo WS wD ww W DW WO DO De Sp ss i pes

PSS ENaARE SNE SSaNSAE HS

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

Puate N, !

Lethe (Rangbia) guinihal, de Nicéville, 9, p. 259.

Melanocyma faunuloides, n. sp., 2, p. 259.

Apatura (Rohana) artaxes, n. sp., &, p. 261.

7 ” 7 ” Ook

SS i nakuld, Moore, g, p. 262.

9 29 9 9 2, D: 268.

Euthalia binghami, nu. sp., &, p. 264.

9? 92 99 e ? D. 264.

Tauila burnit, a. sp.. 2, p. 266.

Alisara atlas, n. sp., 3, p. 268.

” 9 a Me DS 208,

PLATE O.

Paragerydus petus, 0. s8p.. 6, p. 269..

Simiskina phalena, Hewitson, Q, p. 270.

Cyaniris cossea, 0. Sp., O, p. 271.

5 is aaoy cee ae a ale

By COS oy 9 Eh 10s AUS

” 9 ” Q, p. 273.

» fArna, PRN. Aico Ue

» musina, Snellen, ¢, p. 275.

» catreus, 0. 8p., 6, p. 276.

29 ”? i) 2; Dp. 276.

av a CORNER aoe RET Cin sd

Surendra stimula, ,, 8, p.279.

Nacaduba nelides,,, &, p. 280.

Arhopaia arvina, Hewitson, ¢, p. 282.

5 aoe, Disp, go, p. 281.

adala, 4, &, p. 282.

adulans, ,, &, DP. 284, -

99 ” 9 2, P. 284.

arama, 5 6» p. 285.

Set DRG eas) ee a Dood

410 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

PuatTe P,

Vig. 32. Arhopala anella, n. sp., Q, p. 289.

» 933, Lephyrus absolon, Hewitson, g, p. 291.

ole ates ) Ops Bon

5» 00. Camena cretheus, n.sp., &, p. 294.

»» 96. Ops ogyges, 0. 8p,, o, Pp. 298.

08. ye as De 08,

pit Os 1s) UO, Me ISP. oy. Ds 2996

» 89 Tajuria tura, n, sp., &, p. 301.

sO, sy UYTOs Visoh ei. OLS

» 41. Britomartis buto, n. sp., 9, p. 308.

» 42. Chharia amabilis, Martin, ¢, p. 309.

wy uboe a tora, Kheil, 9, p. 811.

» 44. Manto martina, Hewitson, 2, p. 314.

» 45. Neocherrtra nisibis, n. sp., 2, p. 316.

» 46. Hysudra( ?) hades, n.sp., 4, p. 318.

» 47. Rapala rkecus, nu. sp., g, p. 319.

PLATE Q.

Fig. 48. Papilio (Zupleopsis) danisepa, Butler, 9, p. 866.

» 49. Daimio dire, un. sp., &, p. 369.

» 900. Suastus robsoni, n.sp., &, p. 372.

» Ol. Gegea,n.sp., &, p. 874.

» 02, Itys radera, n. sp., &, p. 379.

», 938. Ldmon unicolor, Distant, 2, p. 377.

» 4, Kerana fulgur, de Nicéville, ¢, p. 383.

» 55. Mimas melie, n. sp., 2, p. 394.

» 06, Lotongus avesta, Hewitson, 2, p. 383.

» 7. Zela zeus, n. sp. od, p. 388.

», 98. Zampa zenon, nu. sp., &, p. 391.

» 09. Gehenna gree, un. sp., 3, p. 399.

» 60. Baoris (Parnara) philotas, n. sp., &, p. 402.

» G1. JLsmene ionis, n. sp, &, p. 403.

» 62. Hasora (Parata) simplicissima, Mabille, 2, p. 405.

9 63. 39 ”? 29 29 = 3 p- 405,

411

A KEY TO THE ASIATIC GENERA OF THE AESPERIIDZ..

By Carr. HE. Y, Watson, Inpran Starr Corps, F.4.8., F.Z.8.

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 2nd April, 1895.)

In the Proceedings of the Zoolegical Society of London for 1893.

page 3, there appeared a paper by me on a proposed arrangement of

the genera of the Hespertide, and Mr. de Nicéville has suggested to

me that, for the convenience of workers in India, I should publish an

excerpt of it as far as relates to Indian genera. In adopting his sug-

gestion, I have considered it would render the paper more complete if

all the Asiatic genera were included, as there are only sixteen of the

latter at present described, which have not been recorded from within

Indian limits, and it is quite probable that some of these will also be

obtained hereafter within the Indian region.

I have found it necessary to alter, to a certain extent, the arrange-

ment of my previous paper owing to several new genera having been

recently described, and I have also found that, by slightly modifying

the characters taken, it has been possible to arrange the genera more

naturally. Having also seen specimens of the true [sma obscurus, or

some species very closely allied to it, I now consider that I was wrong

in assigning “‘ Isoteinon” cephala, Hewitson, to the genus Isma, from

the type species of which it differs markedly in the length of the

antennse. It does not, however, appear necessary to found a new genus

for cephala, as it only appears to differ from Zographetus in wanting

the male-mark characteristic of that species, It is therefore tentatively

included in that genus, together with its close ally cephaloides,

de Nicéville.

Since the publication of my paper above referred to, some nineteen

new Asiatic genera have been described—sixteen* of them by

Mr. de Nicéville, who has in every case kindly sent the types to me

for examination to enable me to include them in the present paper ;

one, Apostictopterus, by Mr. Leech, in the “ Butterflies from China,

Japan, and Corea ;” and two by Colonel Swinhoe in the Transactions

of the Entomological Society of London for 1893, which are referred

to below.

* Crossiura, Journ, Bomb, Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. vii, p. 350 (1892).

Charmion, Ochus, Sepa, Journ. As. Soc. Beng., vol. Ixiii, pt. ii, p. 48 (1894),

Suada, Ge, Itys, Idmon, Pudicitia, Mimas, Creteus, Zela, Zampa, Iton, Eetion, and

_ Acerbas which are described in the paper which precedes this in the present Volume of this.

Journal.

412 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

Mr, de Nicéville has also cleared up some confusion which origin-

ally existed in the genera Pisola and Capila. As I had fallen into

the same error as other workers with reference to these two genera,

and had omitted to notice that the insect usually identified as the

female of C. jayadeva was correctly the male of P. zennara and vice

versa, the character on which I separated the two genera in the

synopsis in my previous paper is quite valueless, as it simply

separates the two sexes of one and the same species; it has therefore

been found necessary to take a fresh character on which to separate

the two genera.

The paper* by Colonel Swinhoe referred to above is an excellent

example of the pitfalls and inconsistencies into which those fall who

found Hesperid genera on male characteristics alone. In this paper

Colonel Swinhoe erects two new genera—Calioris and Burara—which

differ from Baorts and Ismene respectively in certain male charac-

teristics, but are otherwise identical with them. But, while describing

these two genera, Colonel Swinhoe still leaves stégmata and jhora in the

genus Aéromachus (presumably because even he had not the heart to

separate two such intimate relations), and also retains the genus [smene

for the species ataphus, jaina, and amara, which differ from edipodea,

the type of Jsmene, in the very important male character of not

having the costal margin of the hindwing folded over, while the

three species themselves differ, enter se, both in neuration and in the

development of the sexual patch on the forewing, in which latter

respect amara is certainly more distinct from ataphus than vasutana

(the type of Burara) is from amara. The description of Burara is

also very faulty, as, while Colonel Swinhoe notes the absence of the

androconia on the forewing, he makes no mention of the folding over

of the costa of the hindwing, thereby leaving it to be implied that in

this detail Burara does not differ from Ismene, which is not the case.

So much for the inconsistencies, and now for the pitfalls. Under

HBasora vitta,t Colonel Swinhoe states that that species can be readily

distinguished from Parata alewis by “the entire absence of the very

characteristic subgenertc sexual character of Parata, 2.e., an-oblique

* It is doubtful if a paper so full of misprints and inaccuracies has ever been published

by any scientific Society.

} This is probably an incorrect identification, the species meant being Hasora chabrona,

Plétz,

A KEY TO THE ASIATIC GENERA OF THE HESPERIUDZ, 413

glandular streak on the fore wings above.” The next line reads

“Genus Parata, Moore,” but if Parata differs from Hasora only

in an admittedly “‘subgeneric sexual character,’ why treat it as a

distinct “ genus.” The same remarks, mutatis mutandis, apply to the

“oenus” Pyrgus, which differs (teste Swinhoe)

from Hesperia in wanting the “sub-generic”’ character of a tuft

of hair on the hind tibize. In this case, however, the pitfall is of

greater depth, as, though Colonel Swinhoe is quite rightin saying that

Pyrgqus and Hesperia differ as stated above, yet he has unfortunately

overlooked the fact that the species galba, for which he re-erects the

genus Pyrqus, differs from syrichtus, Fabricius, the type of Pyrgus,

in the absence of the sub-generic sexual character of a costal fold on

the forewing, so that, arguing on Swinhoean lines, the generic

name Pyrgus is no more appropriate to galba than is the name

Hesperia.

In this same paper Colonel Swinhoe describes eight new species of

Hespertidee of only one of which mention will be found in the lists of

re-erection of the

species below, as I consider that the rest of them belong to species which

have already been described and named. The eight species are

isma isota, Caltoris onchisa, Halpe auema, H. marta, H. wantona,

FH. perara, H. teliga, and Astictopterus kada, What is described as

Isma isota is simply the male of Z. cephala, which species differs

sexually precisely in the points which Colonel Swinhoe has laid stress

upon ; Z. cephala was‘originally described from a female, and the type

is in the Hewitson collection at the British Museum, while in the

general collection at the same Museum there is a series of both

sexes which Colonel Swinhoe apparently omitted to consult

before describing his I. zsota. ‘‘ Caltoris”’ onchisa is an aberration of

“« Caltorts” austent. I have seen the two specimens described, and

can state with certainty that the “pale subapical fascia’? on the

forewing, which is the sole distinguishing character of onchisa, is not

natural, but is the result of an accident either before or after capture,

while the fascia is not of the same extent in both specimens ; I suspected

the nature of the fascia when I saw the specimens, and have since myself

obtained a specimen of Baoris conjuncta, which has a precisely similar

fascia ; the marking is in all probability due to the insects having been

stained by moisture while in their “ papers.” In the description the

414 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, 1X.

apical fascia is said to be on the forewing, and in the note below on the

hindwing; it is in reality on the forewing. Halpe auema, H. marta,

H. wantona, H. perara are without question merely slight forms of

H. homolea, and it is incredible that any author could, from five

specimens only, describe four “new species,” which are admitted by

the describer to be allied to such an exceedingly variable species as

H. homolea, H. teliga, described from a single specimen, is a rather

prominently-marked example of H. moore?, and is readily matched

in any long series of that species. Astictopterus kada is probably

what has been described by Mr. Moore as the female of his Astzc-

topterus olivascens, specimens of which occur with one, two, or three

subapical spots or with none at all ; however, since, as pointed out by

Mr, Elwes, there appear to be two species confused under the one name

A, olivascens, I have tentatively admitted Colonel Swinhce’s species,

though Iam by no means certain he has correctly discriminated

it, as he makes no mention of having examined Mr. Moore’s types so

as to decide for which species his name should stand. As the

species has an anal tuft which entirely conceals the sexual organs, so

that it cannot be sexed without the last segment of the abdomen being

denuded of scalesand examined microscopically, Colonel Swinhoe’s

sexing must be accepted with reservation.

Colonel Swinhoe states in his introductory notes to the paper that he

submitted all his new species to me for examination ; this is quite

correct, except that I did not see specimens of I. zsota or A, kada, but

with reference to the other species, Colonel Swinhoe has omitted to

mention that I told him I did not consider any of them to belong to

undescribed species.

Mr, de Nicéville having sent me for examination a clearing of batara,

the type of Unkana, Ihave seen from it that this species correctly

belongs to the genus Erionota, and as batara was specified as the type of

Unkana, that genus must sink as a synonym. Of the three other

species placed under Unkana by Mr. Distant, U. attina is the

female of U. batara and is the oldest name for the species, while for

U, elia the genus Hetion has been described by Mr. de Nicéville.

In the present paper the genus Parnara has not been retained as

distinct from Baoris, I previously kept these two distinct on a slight

antennal character, but this has since proved to be more individual than

A KEY TO THE ASIATIC GENERA OF THE HESPERIIDZ, 415

generic. The Indian species of the genus present three variations in

their secondary sexual characters, viz., there is either a tuft on the

upperside of the disc of the hindwing (Zaoris), or an oblique discal

stigma on the upperside of the forewing (Chapra), or, lastly, no

secondary sexual character on the wings at all (Parnara), As far as

the Indian species are concerned, these three groups can be kept as

distinct subgenera, but when we come to African species, it is quite

impossible to separate into natural subgenera species without a linear

brand and those provided with it ; in Africa also a fourth group occurs,

which not only has a brand on the forewing, but also has a tuft on the

hindwing, showing that these two characters are closely correlated.

The genera Pithauria, Baorts, and Hasora will be found below

subdivided into subgenera on their secondary sexual characters, but

these subdivisions, though useful for purposes of identification, are in

many cases quite unnatural; for instance, Hasora chromus and

H. coultert, are certainly more nearly allied to Parata simplicissima and

Parata chromus respectively than to each other or to any other Hasora,

However, as the subdivisions of the above three genera have been made,

it has been thought advisable to make reference to them, but I have

not undertaken the responsibility of giving new names to the subgenera

which might be formed in the genera Carcharodus, Hesperia, Aéroma-

chus, Zographetus, Padraona, Halpe, Iton, and Ismene, as the advan-

tages to be obtained by so doing would be very slight, and, with the

exception of a small section of Jsmene, none of the subdivisions have as

yet been named by previous writers.

For detailed descriptions of the genera I must refer readers to my

earlier paper already referred to, as in the present paper the genera are

compared in the keys only on a single character, that taken being the

one most readily recognisable. It must, however, be borne in mind

that, though in many cases a male character is taken as distinctive of a

genus, this is only done when the male character made use of is found

to occur in every described species of the genus, and that the keys could,

if necessary, be constructed on the female insect, but that then the

characters taken would of necessity not be so readily recognisable.

The total number of genera dealt with as Asiatic is 90, of which 74

have been recorded from within Indian limits, This latter number will

probably not be much increased hereafter, but there is no doubt that

416 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

many new genera remain to be described from the islands of the Malay

Archipelago, and probably also from Southern China.

There are 27 species of Hesperiide described from India by various

authors which I have not been able to identify with certainty, and

which will not be found in the lists of species given below. These species

are :—Proteides lankew, Plotz, Ceylon, which is stated to be near

(Coladenia) indrani, Moore ; Hesperia taprobana, Plotz, Ceylon, about

the identity of which I can make no suggestion ; Hesperia kolantus,

Plotz, India, which is a Baores allied to or identical with B. toona,

Moore ; Hesperia saruna, Plotz, India, which is a Baoris allied to,

or identical with, B. kumara ; Antigonus sezendis, Plotz, Ceylon,

which appears to be identical with Sarangesa albicilia; Apaustus

discreta, Plotz, India, which appears to be an Aéromachus

possibly A. jhora; Hesperia vaika, Plotz, India, which is

perhaps a male of Suastus gremius; Apaustus sinhalus, Plot,

Ceylon, which is almost certainly identical with Suastus minutus ;

Apaustus luteipalpis, Plotz, Ceylon, which may be ambrix

salsala; Tagiades vulturna, Plotz, Calcutta, which is appa-

rently a true Tagiades ; Tagiades cosima, Plotz, N. India, which agrees

with Satarupa sambara; Hesperia nala, Plotz, India, which appears

to be a Padraona ; Plesioneura leucographa, Plétz, which is apparent-

ly a Notocrypta; Hesperia alice, Plotz, Mergui, which is near to

B. conjuncta (=narooa) ; Tagiades area, Herrich-Schatter, Bengal,

which is a Celenorrhinus near to C, munda ; Telesto ceectlius, Herrich-

Schiffer, India, which appears to belong to Telesto or an allied genus,

and is probably from the Australian region ; Hesperia larika, Pagen-

stecher, Ceylon, which appears to be similar to Baorts (Chapra) mathias,

except that there are no spots in the discoidal cell of the forewing ;

Cyclopides lynx, Moschler, Silhet, which appears to be a female

Ampittia maro ; Tagiades litigiosa, Méschler, Silhet, which appears to

be allied to, or identical with, Z. menaka ; Tagzades athos, Weymer,

Calcutta, which is close to 7. distans and T. obscwrus ; Plesioneura

varians, Maasen, Southern Asia, and Plesconeura chimera, Kelerst,

India, both of which appear to belong to Notocrypta ; and Plastingia

egena, Felder ; Hesperia onara, Butler ; Telesto luteisquama, Mabille ;

Telesto porus, Mabille ; Telesto disu, Kollar, all described from the

Indian region, besides which M, Mabille has described a few other

A KEY TO THE ASIATIC GENERA OF THE HESPERITDA. 417

Hesperiide from India, but the names and descriptions ere not now

accessible to me ; of the above species, all or nearly all are certainly

well known under other names.

All other species are ascribed to what are believed to be their correct

genera, with the exception of “ Isoteinon” flavalum, de Nicéville, no

specimens of which are available for examination.

With the above-mentioned exceptions, it is believed that every species

recorded from Indian limits is included in the lists of species below,

excepting such as have been sunk as synonyms. Of the 230 species

enumerated in “ Hesperiide Indice,” the following are omitted,

having been wrongly included as from Indian limits: Carcharodus

marrubu, Kerana gemmifer, Halpe beturia, Hasora hadria and Ismene

adipodea ; Amptttia coras has been since described as Taractrocera

niceviller; G. itoralisis sunk to G. albofasciata, A. subtestaceus and

A. khasianus to A. atkinsoni, A. nilgiriana and A. modesta to

A. vindhiana, M. subfasciata to P.lebadea, C. consertus to C. asmara,

C. munda to C. leucocera; B. cingala to B. colaca; B. farrt and

B. penicillatum to B. oceia, “ Parnara” parca to C. cyrina, and

8, subgrisea to 8. gremius ; while O. sura, Z. flavipennis, N. alysos,

fl. sikkima, B. naroot, B. prominens, and S. subfasciatus are shown

under the older names O. angulata, Z. ogygia, N. feisthamelii, H.

homolea, B. conjuncta, B. sinensis, and &. pulligo respectively. On

the other hand D. andamanica, I. stellifer, and B. bada are separated

from D. bhagava, I. salsala, and B. guttatus ; the following species

described from outside the Indian region have been found to occur

within it: Charmion ficulnea, Celeenorrhinus aspersa, Tagiades

dealbata, Odontoptilum pygela, Hesperia poggei, Pamphila gemmata,

Suastus phiditia, Taractrocera ziclea, Pirdana hyela, Baoris

brunnea, Lotongus calathus, Lotongus avesta, Isma submaculata,

Acerbas anthea, Ismene etdka, Hasora chuza, Hasora chabrona,

and Hasora simplicissima; and the following species either have

been recently, or shortly will be, described from the Indian region:

Crossiura penicillatum, Sarangesa sati, Satarupa dohertyi, Caprona

alida, Caprona elwesi, Hesperia geron, Carcharodus swinhoei, Ampittia

marodes, Taractrocera atropunctuta, Astictopterus kada, Koruthaialos

hector, Suastus bipunctus, Suastus robsonit, Lophoides iapis, Notocrypta

necera, Halpe moorei, Halpe hyrie, Halpe fusca, Lalpe asiigmatt,

418 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

Halpe albipectus, Onryza metkiila, Baoris philotas, Ismene ataphus,

and Jsmene ferguson, thus bringing the total number of species

recorded from Indian limits to 257 Gneluding “TIsoteznon” fla-

valum).

Key to the sub-families of Asiatic Husprrup2™.

A,—Sub-family Huspermna.—-When in a state of complete repose

the butterflies rest with their wings extended flat. The lower radial

(vein 5) of the forewing arises nearer to the upper radial (vein 6) than

to the third median branch (vein 4), the middle disco-cellular nervule

being consequently shorter than the lower one. The male insect nearly

invariably has a tuft of hair attached to the proximal end of the

hind tibise, and occasionally has a costal fold on the forewing, but

is never furnished with androconia on the upperside of the forewing.

B.—Sub-family Pampainina.— When in a state of complete repose

the butterflies rest with their wings perpendicularly closed over their

backs. The lower radial of the forewing arises* nearer to the third

median nervule than to the upper radial, the middle disco-cellular

nervule being consequently longer than the lower one. The male

insect frequently has patches of androconia of varying form on the

upperside of the forewing, but never has either a costal fold on the

forewing or a tuft* of hair on the hind tibie.

There seems no doubt that the above two sub-families represent two

perfectly natural groups, as not only do they agree in neuration and

habits, but a peculiar facées runs through each group, by which alone,

with a little practice, the great majority of species can be readily

assigned to their correct sub-family without the necessity of a minute

examination of their neuration or a knowledge of their habits, though,

of course, information on both these points should subsequently be

obtained to confirm the correct position of any species.

Sub-family HespERtin az.

In my above-quoted revision of the genera of the Hesperiidae, it

was found convenient to divide the present sub-family into two sections

on a slight character of neuration, but, as nearly all the genera of the

first section are confined to the New World, it has been thought more

satisfactory to include all the Asiatic genera in one key. 3

* In some species of the third section of this sub-family, the lower radial is as in the

Hesperiine, and there is a tuft on the hind tibiz of the male, but in other respects this section

is nearer to the Pamphiling, and its peculiar palpi serve to distinguish it from all the genera

of the Hesperiine,

A KEY TO THE ASIATIC GENERA OF THE HESPERIIDZ. 419

Key to the Astatic Genera.

A. Radial of hindwing fully developed.

a. Male with a costal fold on forewing.

a’, Hind tibies with terminal pair of spurs only.

Casyapa, Kirby.

b*, Hind tibize with both terminal and medial pairs of spurs.

*ORTHOPH@TUS, nom. nov.

6. Male with no costal fold on forewing.

a’. Male, inner margin of forewing longer than outer

margin.

a”, Cell of hindwing reaching up to or rather beyond

middle of wing.

CaLLIANA, Moore.

b. Cell of hindwing short, not reaching to middle of

wing.

Pisoua, Moore.

b'. Male, outer margin of forewing longer than inner

margin.

a”. Forewing apically produced, outer margin straight.

Capita, Moore.

6°, Forewing not apically produced, outer margin convex.

Crossiura, de Nicéville.

B. Radial of hindwing wanting (7.e., not fully developed into a

tubular vein).

a. Cell of forewing more than two-thirds the length of costa.

a', Male with a costal fold on forewing, and with no tuft of

hair on hind tibiee.

AcHALARUS, Scudder.

b', Male with no costal fold on forewing, but with a tuft of

hair on hind tibiz.

Hantana, Moore.

* T propose this generic name for phaneus and its allies, the name Pierexys being pre-

occupied in Heterocera, O. phaneus is on the wing before sunrise.

f In measuring these distances, the length of the cell should be taken from the bifurca-

tion of the median and subcostal nervures to the extreme apex of the cell, which in nearly

every genus is at the origin of the fifth subcostal branch ; the length of the costa should he

taken in a straight line from the base of the costa, where it joins the thorax, to the extreme

apex of the wing, which is situated practically at the extremity of the fourth subcostal

branch. In referring above to the fifth subcostal branch, it would perhaps be more correct

to say “terminal portion of subcostal nervure,”

420 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol: 1X.

b. *Cell of forewing less than two-thirds the length of costa.

a', Antenne, tip acuminate.

a. ‘Terminal joint of palpi suberect.

a*, Second median branch of forewing arising far

before end of cell, hardly twice as far from base

of wing as from end of cell.

Cuarmion, de Nicéville.

b®, Second median branch of forewing arising shortly

before end of cell, more than three times as far

from hase of wing as from end of cell.

CELZNORRHINUS, Hibner.

6?, Terminal joint of palpi horizontally porrected.

a3. Apex of forewing not truncate.

a4, Lower margin of cell of forewing not strongly

arched between first and second median

branches.

a’, Hindwing, outer margin sinuate.

a®, Hindwing, hardly or not at all elongate ;

hind tibize of male with a tuft of hair attach-

ed to proximal end.

a’, First subcostal branch of hindwing shorter

than first median branch. .

as, Lower margin of cell slightly arched

between first and second median ner-

vules.

SARANGESA, Moore.

bs, Lower margin of cell straight between

first and second median nervules.

CoLADENIA, Moore.

U7, First subcostal branch of hindwing as

long as or longer than first median

branch.

Dario, Murray.

* In measuring these distances, the length of the cell should be taken from the bifurcation

of the median and subcostal nervures to the extreme apex of the cell, which in nearly every

genus is at the origin of the fifth subcostal branch; the length of the costa should be taken in

a straight line from the base of the costa, where it joins the thorax, to the extreme apex of the

wing, which is situated practically at the extremity of the fourth subcostal branch. In re-

ferring above to the fifth subcostal branch, it would perhaps be more correct to say “ terminal

portion of subcostal nervure.”

A KEY TO THE ASIATIC GENERA OF THE HESPERIIDZ. 421

bs, Hindwing, elongate; hind tibie of male

densely fringed, but with no tuft of hair

attached to proximal end.

SatarupPa, Moore.

65, Hindwing, outer margin even.

Opina, Mabille.

Darpa, Moore,

b*, Lower margin of cell of forewing strongly arched

between first and second median branches.

Taciapes, Hiibner.

63, Apex ef forewing broadly truncate.

a*, Quter margin of hindwing angled at second

median branch.

*TAPENA, Moore.

b*. Outer margin of hindwing angled at third median

and first subcostal branches,

Crenopritum, de Nicéville.

Wi, Antenne, tip blunt.

a’, Male with a tuft of hair on fore coxe.

a3, Male with a recumbent tuft of hair on fore coxee.

OpontTopritum, de Nicéville.

63, Male with a radiating tuft of hair on fore coxze.

Caprona, Wallengren.

U?. Male with no tuft of hair on fore coxe,

a®, Outer margin of hindwing crenulated.

CarcHarobus, Hiibner.

63. Outer margin of hindwing even.

at, Antennal club straight.

GoMALIA, Moore.

6¢, Antennal club curved.

a>. Club robust.

Hesperia, Fabricius.

b>. Club comparatively slender.

THanaos, Boisduval.

* In all the species of Tapena, with the exception of the type species thwaitesi, the

truncation of the forewing is less conspicuous and the hindwing is squared, but not dis-

tinctly angled.

422 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

Sprcres.—The following list comprises all the species of the sub-

family Hespertince which are known to occur within Indian limits :—

Orthopheetus—- Sarangesa— Tapena—

phanzeus. purendra. thwaitesii.

lidderdalei. dasahara, aon,

Calliana— albicilia. laxmi.

pieridoides. sati. buchananii.

Pisola— Coladenia— Ctenoptilum—

zennara. dan. vasava.

Capila— fatih. multiguttata.

jayadeva. indrani, Odontoptilum—

Crossiura— tissae angulata,

penicillatum. hamiltonii. pygela.

Achalarus— Daimio— Caprona—

liliana, bhagava. ransonettii,

casyapa. andamanica. saraya.

Hantana— narada, alida.

infernus. phisara. syrichthus.

Charmion— Satarupa— elwesii.

ficulnea. gopala. Carcharodus—

Celzenorrhinus— sambara, dravira.

leucocera. dohertyi. swinhoei.

pulomaya. Odina— Gomalia—

flavocincta. decorata. albofasciata,

aspersa (= clitus), hieroglyphica. Hesperia—

pyrrha. Darpa— galba.

plagifera. hanria. evanidus.

patula. Tagiades— zebra.

pero. helferii. geron.

sumitra. ravi. poggel.

putra. Khasiana. cashmiriensis.

am bareesa. distans. Total 86 species.

chamunda. obscurus.

nigricans. meetana.

fusca. alica.

spilothyrus. menaka,

asmara. atticus.

cacus. gana.

badia. dealbata.

dhanada. pralaya.

aurivittata, trichoneura.

tabrica.

pinwillii.

A¥FFINITIES.—The above arrangement will be found to be very

fairly natural. The genera Casyapa, Orthophetus, Calliana, Pisola,

Capila, and Crossiura are all very closely allied, in fact the differences

A KEY TO THE ASIATIC GENERA OF THE HESPER.ID4, 423

between the last four might be reasonably treated as only subgeneric,

‘Achalarus, though closely allied to several North American genera,

appears to have no nearer Asiatic ally than Celenorrhinus ; all the

genera enumerated between Hantana and Tagiades are undoubtedly

closely allied to one another; Tapena appears to be allied to

Tagiades, Celeenorrhinus and Ctenoptilum ; the last mentioned is

closely allied to Odontoptilum and Caprona ; while the last four genera

are very close to one another, and also show relationship to Achalarus

on the one hand and Pamphila on the other.

Rancz.—The genera Casyapa and Thanaos have not yet been

recorded from within Indian limits: Achalarus, Carcharodus and

Thanaos are almost entirely Arctic in their range ; the first is found

in North America as well asin Asia ; Carcharodus is chiefly European,

but also ranges to North Africa, while Thanaos is typically European,

but species which have been assigned to it, though probably erroneous-

ly, are found in North America. Species of Hesperia occur throughout

the whole of both Hemispheres with the exception of the Australasian

region ; it will probably, however, be found practicable hereafter to

found new genera for many of the species which are now included

under this genus. Sarangesa, Coladenia, Tagiades, Caprona, and

Gomalia range to Africa ; while species of Celeenorrhinus occur both

in Africa and South America. The remaining genera are confined to

the Asiatic region as far as present knowledge goes.

Sub-family PampHininz,

The genera of this sub-family, being very numerous, are conveniently

divided into three sections, of which the two first, founded on a slight

difference in neuration, are purely artificial and are adopted only for

convenience ; the third section, however, consists of a group of closely

allied genera, which appear to have no near allies among the other

Pamphiline, so much so that it is questionable whether it would not

-be advantageous to form them into an additional sub-family under the

name of Ismeninee,* the species contained under which would stand in

much the same relation to the remainder of the Old World Hesperiide

that the Pyrrhopygine do to those of the New World.

*This name (but witha much more extended meaning) has been made use of by

M. Mabille in a paper on the Hesperiide of the Brussels Museum published in the Annals of the

Entomological Society of Belgium, vol, xxi (1878).

424 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

Szcrion I.

Palpi various, but never as in Section III. Lower radial of fore-

wing straight throughout its length and not arising markedly nearer

to the third median branch than to the upper radial, the middle disco-

cellular being therefore only slightly longer than the lower one.

Key to the Asiatic Genera.

A. Fore tibizs without epipbysis, and hind tibize with terminal

spurs only.

a. *Hindwing, second median branch immediately before

end of cell, first median branch nearer to end of cell

than to base of wing.

PampnHiLA, Fabricius.

6, *Hindwing, second median branch well before end of

cell, first median branch nearer to base of wing than

to end of cell.

Heteroprerus, Dumeril.

B. Fore tibiee with epiphysis, and hind tibiz with terminal

and medial pairs of spurs.

a. First subcostal branch of forewing running very close to,

or actually touching, costal nervure.

a, Terminal joint of palpi porrect, plainly visible.

a’, First median branch of forewing nearer to end of ceil

than to base of wing.

Baracus, Moore.

L?, Hirst median branch of forewing nearer to base of

wing than to end of cell.

ASTICTOPTERUS, Felder.

,AposticroprErus, Leech.

6*. Terminal joint of palpi concealed in clothing of second

joint.

Sancus, de Nicéville.

c'. Terminal joint of palpi erect, usually long, slender, and

curving over vertex.

a’. Forewing, second median about twice as far from first

as from third ; hindwing, second median well before

end of cell.

KoruTHAtALos, Watson.

_ “In my P. Z. 8. paper referred to above, the forewingis given instead of the hindwing

owing to an unfortunate oversight.

{In describing this genus Mr, Leech does not say how it differs from Astictopterus with

which he says it agrees in neuration. The type species figured might from its appearance

belong either to Astictopterus or Sancus.

= Fw

Bes

A KEY TO THE ASIATIC GENERA OF THE HESPERIIDZ. 425

6°, Forewing, second median about four times as far

from first as from third ; hindwing, second median

almost at end of cell.

Suapa, de Nicéville.

6. First subcostal branch of forewing well separated from

costal nervure throughout its entire length.

a’. Terminal joint of palpi conspicuous, erect, long, slender,

and curving over vertex.

a’, Second median branch of forewing well before end of

cell, and second median branch of hindwing from

before end of cell.

Svasrus, Moore.

b?. Second median branch of forewing immediately before

end of cell, and second median branch of hindwing

from end of cell.

Tamprix, Watson.

6', Terminal joint of palpi inconspicuous, entirely or almost

entirely concealed in clothing of second joint.

a’, Antenne very long, more than two-thirds length of

costa of forewing.

Gz, de Nicéville.

be, Antenne of moderate length, less than two-thirds

length of costa of forewing.

a’, Terminal crook of antennz short, or entirely

absent, 3

a4, First median branch of forewing considerably

nearer to end of cell than to base of wing.

a®, Second median branch of hindwing from

before end of cell.

a®, No tuft of hair on underside of forewing

in male,

a’. Club of antennze forming a hollowed dise,

TARACTROCERA, Butler.

v7, Club of antennz elongated.

a’. Costa of forewing strongly arched.

Ocuus, de Nicéville.

426 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, LX.

b8. Costa of forewing straight. Forewing

short and broad, apex squared, outer

margin very convex.

* AmprTTta, Moore.

8. Costa of forewing straight, apex acute,

outer margin nearly straight.

Ai®romacuts, de Nicéville.

bs, A tuft of hairs on underside of forewing in

male.

SEBASTONYMA, Watson.

b’, Second median branch of hindwing from end

of cell.

PrepestTes, Watson.

b+, First median branch of forewing not at all or

only slightly nearer to end of cell than to base

of wing, usually much nearer base of wing.

a®, Male with no secondary sexual characters

on upperside of forewing. Cilia at anal

angle of hindwing much elongated.

LopHorpes, Watson.

65, Male with or without secondary sexual cha-

racters on upperside of forewing. Cilia at

anal angle of hindwing normal.

a®, Terminal joint of palpi erect.

a’. Forewing apically produced in male ;

outer margin very oblique, almost equal

in length to inner margin.

Hyarortis, Moore.

b7, Forewing not produced apically in male ;

outer margin hardly oblique, consider-

ably shorter than inner margin.

Tsorrrnon, Felder.

68, Terminal joint of palpi horizontal.

a’, Terminal joint of palpi conspicuous.

a’, Male with a short glandular streak

lying along the submedian nervure on

upperside of forewing.

Ipmon, de Nicéville.

* A, maro, Fabricius, the type of Ampittia, has no terminal crook to the antennz ; other

Species of the genus however have a minute terminal crook.

A KEY TO THE ASIATIC GENERA OF THE HESPERIIDA. 427

b°. Male with no glandular streak on upperside

of forewing.

ARNETTA, Watson.

6’, Terminal joint of palpi concealed.

a®, Hindwing, produced in submedian area ;

longer than broad; the submedian neryvure

practically equal in length to the length

of the subcostal nervure from its origin to

the extremity of its lower branch,

Irys, de Nicéville.

b°, Hindwing, produced in subcostal area; the

submedian nervure much shorter than the

subcostal nervure from its origin to the

extremity of its lower branch.

Antennze short, less than length of cell of

forewing.

ZOGRAPHETUS, Watson.

b°, Antenne comparatively long, longer than

length of cell of forewing.

Isma, Distant.

6°, Terminal crook of antennz long, about twice as long as

breadth of club.

a*. Forewing, first median branch practically equidistant

from end of cell and base of wing.

Martapa, Moore.

b+, Forewing, first median branch nearer base of wing,

practical equidistant from base of wing sal

second median branch,

a’. Uindwing, first and second median piel not

swollen in the male.

a°, Male with an oblique transverse discal stigma on

upperside of forewing.

Sepa, de Nicéville.

68, Male with a short glandular streak lying along

submedian nervure on upperside of forewing,

Punpicitra, de Nicéville.

c®. Male with no secondary sexual characters on

upperside of forewing.

a’, Second median branch of forewing considerably

more than twice as far from first as from third,

AcERBAS, de Nicéville,

498 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. LX.

b’, Second median branch of forewing hardly or less

than twice as far from first as from third.

a®, Hindwing normal, longer than broad.

g », ong

* ZuA, Distant,

6°, Hindwing ample, broader than long.

Erionota, Mabille.

b5, Hindwing, firstand second median branches swollen

in the male.

a®. Forewing, apex truncate ; hindwing very broad.

Gancara, Moore.

b8, Forewing, apex acute ; hindwing slightly elongate.

PADUKA, Distant.

ArrinitiEs.—Ofthe above-named genera, Pamphila and Heteropterus

are closely allied to one another and also apparently to Hesperza and

the closing genera of the preceding sub-family; the want of the

epiphysis on the fore tibice and of the medial spurs on the hind tibize

readily distinguish them. Baracus appears to be allied to Heteropterus

and also to Astictopterus. The succeeding genera as faras Jambriz

connect with one another very naturally, and there seems little doubt

as to their close relationship. The genus Ge is rather out of

place, but is probably close to Lophoides; the next few genera,

from Taractrocera to Pedesies, are all certainly closely allied to one

another and also probably to Pamphila ; other near allies appear to

be Halpe and Padraona which fall into the second section of the

subfamily. The succeeding genera, as far as Jsma, all appear to be

closely allied to one another ; and the remaining genera, from

Matapa to Paduka, also appear to be close allies and show relationship

on the one hand with Jdmon and on the other with Kerana

and Lotongus and the other early genera of the succeeding group.

Rancz.—All the Asiatic genera of this group, with the exception of

Pamphila and Heteropterus, are confined to the Asiatic region. Of

eS ee

* Jp, Distant, Rhop, Malay., p. 377. Antennz, moderate, club elongated, with a long

terminal crook. Palpi, densely scaled, third joint almost entirely concealed. Legs, normal.

No secondary sexual characters on wings or legs of male. Forewing, apex acute, outer

margin straight, slightly longer than inner margin ; subcostals normal ; lower discoidal

arising slightly nearer to the third median than to the upper discoidal nervule; upper

disco-cellular minute, middle one slightly longer than lower ; second median well before

end of cell, less than twice as far from first as from third, first median about equidistant

from second and base of wing. Hindwing, slightly elongate, with an inconspicuous lobe 5

neuration normal, discoidal nervule not traceable, medians well separated. The above

description is taken from a Sumatran male of Z. mytheca, Distant (the type of Zea),

in the collection of Hofrath Dr. L. Martin, and lent to me for the purpose.

A KEY TO THE ASIATIC GENERA OF THE HESPERUDZ, 129

these two, the latter is Huropean and the former is Holartic. No

species of the genera Heteropterus, Isoteinon, Ge, Idmon, Sepa, Zea, or

Apostictopterus have been recorded from within Indian limits,

fleteropterus and Isotetnon are confined to Northern Asia. Ge, [dmon,

Zea, and Sepa are at present only known from Malacca and Sumatra,

and Apostictopterus contains a single species from China,

SpEciES.—The following is a list of the species of this section which

have been recorded from within Indian limits :—

Pamphila— Taractrocera— Hyarotis—

avanti. mevius. adrastus.

gemmata. danna. Arnetta—

Baracus— ceramas, atkinsonii.

septentrionum. atropunctata. vindhiana.

subditus. nicevillei. liys—

vittatus. ziclea. microstictum.

Astictopterus— Ochus— Zographetus—

olivascens. subvitiatus. satwa.

kada, Ampittia— ogygia.

Sancus— maro. indrasana.

pulligo. maroides. cephala,

Koruthaialos— Aéromachus— cephaloides.

hector, stigmatus. Isma—

xanites, jhora. submaculata,

butleri, kali. Matapa—

Suada— indistinctus. aria.

swerga. obsoletus. druna.

Suastus— Sebastonyma— sasivarna.

gremius. dolopia. shalgrama.

sala, Pedestes— Acerbas—

aditus, masuriensis. anthea,

bipunctus. pandita, Pudicitia—

robsonii. Lophoides— pholus.

minutus. iapis. Krionota—

phiditia. thrax.

Jambrix— acroleuca,

salsala. attina.

stellifer, Gangara—

thyrsis.

Paduka—

lebadea.

Total 60 species,

430 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. EX.

“ Tsoteinon” jlavalum, de Nicéville, probably belongs to this section,

but no specimens are available for examination.

Section II.

’ Palpi various, but never as in Section Ill. Lower radial nervure

of forewing deflected downwards at origin and consequently arising

much nearer to the third median branch than to the upper radial, the

middle disco-cellular being therefore very much longer than the lower

one.

Key to the Asiatic Genera.

A. Antenne, tip acuminate.

a. Antenne exceptionally long ; terminal crook short, hardly

longer than breadth of club.

al. Forewing, outer margin equal to, or shorter Har inner

margin.

a2, Second median branch of hindwing from well before

end of cell.

Kerana, Distant.

L?, Second median branch of hindwing from immediately

before end of cell.

a’, First median branch of hindwing almost equidistant

from end of cell and base of wing.

ANCISTROIDES; Butler.

b3, First median branch of hindwing more than twice

as far from base of wing as from end of cell.

Pirpana, Distant.

b1, Forewing, outer margin considerably longer than inner

margin.

PuastineiA, Butler.

b. Antenne of moderate length ; terminal crook long, about —

twice as long as breadth of club.

a. Male with no tuft of hair on fore coxe.

a®, Second median branch of forewing in male three

times as far from first as from third.

a’, Male with no secondary sexual characters.

Loroneus, Distant.

A KEY TO THE ASIATIC GENERA OF THE HESPERUDZ, 431

b3, Male with first median branch of forewing swollen.

Crereus, de Nicéville.

Male with an oblique linear discal stigma on

upperside of forewing.

ce.

ZELA, de Nicéville.

d?, Male with a discal tuft on upperside of hindwing,

Zampa, de Nicéville.

6°, Second median branch of forewing in male less than

twice as far from first as from third.

a’, Inner margin of forewing equal to outer margin,

Minas, de Nicéville,

63, Inner margin of forewing shorter than outer

margin.

a‘. Hindwing broad, evenly rounded, no distinct

anal lobe.

Hipart, Distant.

6‘. Hindwing, elongate, with a distinct anal lobe.

Hetion, de Nicéville. -

b', Male with a tuft of hair at base of fore cox.

PiTHAuURIA, Moore.

(a. Male without discal stigma on upperside

of forewing, Pithauria.

Male with discal stigma on upperside

IL of forewing, Prthauriopsis.

c. Antennze of moderate length ; terminal crook short, as

long as, or slightly longer than, breadth of club.

a. First median branch of forewing considerably nearer to

base of wing than to end of cell.

a?. Male with no secondary sexual characters on wings,

a®. First median branch of hindwing less than twice

as far from base of wing as from end of cell.

a*, Hindwing not produced in median area; distance

from base of wing to extremity of third median

branch less than distance from extremity of

costal nervure to extremity of submedian,

Norocryrprta, de Nicéville,

Sub-genera ¢ j

432 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, IX.

b*, Hindwing produced in median area; distance

from base of wing to extremity of third median

branch considerably greater than distance from

extremity of costal nervure to extremity of

submedian.

Upaspss, Moore.

O°, First median branch of hindwing twice as far from

base of wing as from end of cell.

Actinor, Watson.

b?, Male with two glandular streaks and a tuft of hair on

underside of forewing.

GrHENNA, Watson.

c2, Male with a circular glandular patch on hindwing at

origin of second median branch.

CuritHa, Moore.

d?, Male with an oblique linear stigma on upperside of

forewing.

AUGIADES, Hiibner.

b', First median branch of forewing nearer to end of cell

than to base of wing.

a*, Terminal joint of palpi suberect, distinct.

a3. Second median branch of forewing almost equi-

distant from first and third.

*TELIcoTA, Moore.

b°, Second median branch of forewing many times

further from first than from third.

Papraona, Moore.

t?, Terminal joint of palpi porrect, almost entirely con-

cealed in clothing of second joint.

ta’. Second median branch of forewing almost equi-

distant from first and third.

* Male only, female almost as in Padraona,

} In those species of Halpe in which the males have a discal brand, the second median

branch of the forewing is in that sex nearer to the first than to the third.

A KEY TO THE ASIATIC GENERA OF THE HESPERUDZ. 433

a‘. Second median branch of hindwing immediately

before end of cell, much nearer the third than

the first. Male with no tuft of hair on upper-

side of hindwing.

Hatpg, Moore.

b4. Second median branch of hindwing almost equi-

distant from first and third. Male with a tuft of

hair on upperside of hindwing attached along

costal nervure.

Onryza, Watson.

B®. Second median branch of forewing much nearer

to third than to first. Second median branch of

hindwing almost equidistant from first and third.

at, Second median branch of forewing more than

twice as far from first as from third, First

subcostal branch of hindwing almost equi-

distant from costal vein and end of cell.

Iton, de Nicéville,

b+, Second median branch of forewing hardly or

less than twice as far from first as from third.

First subcostal branch of hindwing very much

nearer to end of cell than to costal vein.

*Baoris, Moore.

ca. Male with a tuft of hair on upper-

| side of hindwing.

Sub-genus Baorvs.

b. Male with a discal brand on

upperside of forewing.

Sub-genera { Sub-genus Chapra.

c. No secondary sexual characters on

wings of male ; club of antennze

short and stout.

(Ga

Sub-genus Parnara,

A fourth sub-genus of Baoris occurs in Africa, in which the males have both: a discal

stigma on the forewing and a tuft on disc of hindwing.

434 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. LX.

d. Autennze short; terminal crook minute, never as long as

breadth of club.

a1, Antenne very short, hardly longer than breadth of

thorax.

GuEGENES, Hiibner.

b'. Antenne about twice as long as breadth of thorax, but

less than half length of costa of forewing.

Erynyis, Schrank.

B. Antenne, tip blunt.

Apopma, Billberg.

AFFINITIES.—The arrangement of the genera in this section appears

fairly natural, and connects satisfactorily with the last section ; the

genera from Kerana to Hetion all appear to be closely allied, and also

show relationship to Erionota, Sancus, Koruthaialos, and Astictopterus

of the preceding group ; Pthauria is rather out of place, but appears

to be close to Hzdari, and is probably a near ally of Baoris ; Notocrypta

and Udaspes are certainly closely related to one another, but show no

particular affinity to any other genera; Actinor, Gehenna, Cupitha, and

Onryza appear to be allied to Halpe, which is itself close to Jton and

Baoris ; Padraona and Telicota are hardly generically distinct and

are certainly close to Augiades, Erynnis, and Adopea ; while Gegenes

appears to be allied to both Baoris and Hrynnis.

RancE.—All the Asiatic genera of this group are found within

Indian limits with the exception of the following :—Gehenna, two

species of which are known, one from Borneo and the other from

Sumatra; Ancistrotdes, the two species of which are confined to the

islands of the Malay Archipelago; Zela, Zampa, and Eetion, all of

which are confined to Malaysia; Mimas, which is found in New Guinea;

and Adopea, which is Holarctic in its range. The following genera

extend beyond Asiatic limits :—TZaractrocera and Telécota to the

Australasian region; Ampittia, Baoris, and Baracus to Africa;

Augiades to Hurope; Gegenes to Hurope and Africa; Padraona to

Australia and doubtfully to Madagascar and South America ; while

Adopea and ELrynnis are Holarctic.

A KEY TO THE ASIATIC GENERA OF THE HESPERHD. 435

Spxcius.—The following is a list of the species of this section which

have been recorded from within Indian limits :—

Kerana— Augiades— Baoris—

diocles. silva. (Baoris).

Pirdana— brahma. ocela,

rudolphii. Telicota— (Parnara).

hyela. augias. cahira.

Plastingia—— bambusee. austeni.

callineura. Padraona— kumara.

noémi. dara, plebeia.

margherita. meesoides, seriata.

naga (?—tessellata). pseudomeesa, pagana.

Lotongus— palmarum. Tconjuncta.

*sarala. gola. assamensis. +

*avesta, goloides. uma.

calathus, Halpe— tulsi.

Creteus— moore. toona.

eyrina. ceylonica. eltola,

Hidari— homolea. canaraica.

irava. separata. bevani.

bhawani. kumara, colaca.

Pithauria— hyrie. philotas.

(Pithauria). aina, moolata.

murdava. gupta. bada.

stramineipennis, fusca. guttatus.

(Pithauriopsis). ornata, flexilis.

aitchisonii. cerata. (Chapra)—

Notocrypta— astigmata, Tbrunnea,

feisthamelii, zema. tsinensis.

paralysos, sitala. agna.

albifascia. brunnea. subochracea.

neera. albipectus. mathias.

restricta. masoni. Gegenes—

monteithit. honorei. nostrodamus.

basiflava. decorata, karsana.

Udaspes— Onryza— Hrynnis —

folus. meiktila, dimila.

Actinor— Iton—

radians. semamora, Total 87 species.

Cupitha— watsonii.

purreea.

* These species are nearest to Lotongus, but, when their males are discovered, may prove

to be distinct.

{ Mr. Leech has recently shown that Baoris sinensis, Mabille, is the oldest name for

Baoris prominens, Moore. Mr, de Nicéville also informs me that Baoris conjuncta, Herrich-

Schiffer, is an older name for Baoris narooa, Moore, and that Chapra brunnea, Snellen, is

ar older name for C. cwre, de Nicéville.

436 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, IX.

Szction III.

Third joint of palpi long, slender and naked, porrected horizontally

in front of the face. Species robust. Habits often crepuscular.

Key to the Asiatic Genera.

A. Radial of hindwing well developed.

a. Second median nervule of hindwing immediately before

end of cell.

a. Club of antenna longer than shaft.

IsmENnE, Swainson.

61, Shaft of antenna longer than club.

a, Submedian vein of forewing distorted downwards near

its origin.

Hasora, Moore.

(a Male with no discal brand on

upperside of forewing.

Sub-genera 4 Sub-genus Hasora.

" 6. Male with a discal brand on

upperside of forewing.

Sub-genus Parata.

bz. Submedian vein of forewing not distorted,

Breasts, Moore.

b, Second median nervule of hindwing well before end of cell,

BapamiA, Moore,

B. Radial of hindwing wanting.

RHOPALOCAMPTA, Wallengren.

AFFINITIES.—This is a well-marked group of closely-allied genera

which show no close relationship with any other genera of the

Hesperiide ; their habits and general facies agree best with the genera

contained in the subfamily Pamphilince ; their neuration, however,

appears to have more resemblance to that found in the Hesperznee ; as

suggested above, they might possibly with advantage be treated as a

distinct sub-family.

A KEY TO THE ASIATIC GENERA OF THE HESPERIIDA, 437

Ranes.—This group of genera is confined to the Asiatic, African,

and Australasian regions ; Ismene and Bibasis have not been recorded

out of Asiatic limits; Hasora is chiefly Malayan, and extends as far

as Australia ; Badaméa also extends to the Australian region ; Rhopalo-

campta is a very large genus, the species of which are almost entirely

African, only two or three being found within Asiatic limits.

Sprctrs.—The following are all the described species of this group

recorded from within Indian limits :—

chuza.

Ismene— Hasora — Bibasis—

ataphus. (Hasora)— sena.

jaina. badra. Badamia—

etelka. anura. exclamationis.

fergusonii. chabrona. thopalocampta—

amara, coulteri. benjaminii.

anadi, ( Parata)— erawfurdii.

harisa. chromus

gomata. alexis. Total 23 species.

vasutana. malayana.

mahintha. simplicissima.

438 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. LX.

ON THE SPECIES OF GALHODIDA INHABITING

INDIA AND CEYLON.

By R. I. Pocock, or tHE British Musrvum.

(With Plates A. & B.)

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 2nd April, 1895.)

The animals which form the subject of the present paper belong to

the group known to zoologists as the Arachnida, which contains, in

addition, the scorpions, spiders, ticks, and the like. For want of a

vernacular term to fit them, they are usually called spiders, but they

differ widely in many structural points from the true spiders, and con-

stitute in reality a very distinct order of the Arachnida. In the first

place being devoid of spinning glands they make no web of any kind,

and in the second place the cephalothorax and abdomen are divided

into a series of definite segments. There are also very many other

characters to distinguish the two groups, but it is not my purpose to

enter upon a discussion of them here, enough having been said to

enable any one readily to recognise a Galeodes from a true spider.

In their distribution the Galeodédcee much resemble scorpions.

They are found in 8. Hurope, over the whole of Africa, in Asia

Minor, Persia, Afghanistan, India, Ceylon, Siam, and Austro-Malaya ;

and in America they range from the southern United States in the north

to Chiliin the south. So far as has been at present ascertained only two

genera exist in India, but neither of these has as yet been recorded from

Burma or any part of Further India, and only one of them appears

to extend into Ceylon. Moreover, it is probable that they are both

relatively recent immigrants into India, for they both form a prominent

part of the Mediterranean Arachnid fauna. These two genera

are Galeodes and Rhaz. The former ranges from Morocco to Nubia, all

over Arabia, Asia Minor and Persia into Greece, 8. Russia, Transcaspia,

Afghanistan, and thence into the Punjab and extends eastwards to the

neighbourhood of Calcutta and southwards into the presidency of

Madras. The range of Rhaz covers that of Galeodes and appears

slightly to overlap it in N. Africa and in the Oriental Region.

For it extends from the Gambia to Masai-Land, and, as has been

already stated, into Ceylon.

SPECIES OF GALEODID4 IN INDIA AND CEYLON. 439

The two genera may be easily recognised as follows :—

a—Legs and palpi short and robust with all the tarsi or terminal

segments undivided. The tarsus of the palp is immovably fused with

the preceding segment or protarsus. ‘The abdominal spiracles are

visible as distinct apertures in front of the posterior edge of the second

and third ventral plates and are not protected by teeth............ Rhaz.

b—Legs and palp2 long and slender; the tarsus of the palp distinctly

movable ; tarsi of second and third leg composed of two segments, that

of the fourth of three segments. Abdominal spiracles situated behind

the second and third ventral plates and protected by a series of spini-

OER, EOCUMM se epacdendeleelspticodcatwcvevsderss tUatientessecue . oe Galeodes.

The Rigen ina nes CapMac species of ted: ix genera are

enumerated below. But considering the relatively small number of

localities from which examples have been obtained, it is impossible to

doubt that a large number yet remain to be discovered.

We know but little of the habits of the Arachnida of this group.

But from the few accounts that have come to hand, they appear to

frequent sandy, dry localities, to be nocturnal, and extremely voracious

but not venomous. Galeodes is remarkably agile in its movements, and

Rhaz by comparison is somewhat slow. An interesting account of a

female Galeodes that was kept in captivity is given by Captain Hutton

in vol. xiof the Journ. As. Soc, Bengal (1842). This gentleman

incidentally states that his specimen laid a batch of eggs; but since

other authors declare that the young are born alive, it is clear that

fresh observations on the subject are much needed. We also know

absolutely nothing about their method of pairing; and this subject is

of the greatest importance, in view of the unexplained and striking

differences that exist between the sexes of the same species, The males

are slenderer than the females, and have much longer legs and palpi

from which we may infer that they have need of greater activity. Their

mandibles are, however, considerably weaker, the dentition of the

upper jaw is nearly obsolete, and they are furnished above with a

curious organ known as the flagellum. The function of the flagellum is

entirely unknown ; but from the small size of the mandible and from

the feebleness of its teeth one would be inclined to suspect that the

mandibles are used by the male for holding the female during copu-

lation. Wealso have no positive knowledge of the function of those

very characteristic organs, the malleoli, which are situated upon the

440 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, IX.

basal segments of the legs of the fourth pair. But from the fact that

they are considerably larger in the males than in the females, and from

their situation in front of the generative orifice, we may infer that

they are sense organs, probably of a tactile nature. The male in

Galeodes is also furnished with a cluster of curious spiniform hairs upon

the fifth ventral plate of the abdomen, and nearly always has the lower

surface of the tarsi of the legs of the fourth pair clothed with somewhat -

similarly modified hairs. But our ignorance of the function of these

two sets of modified hairs is total. Perhaps it need hardly be

added that any observations upon the habits, sexual relations, sense

organs, &c., of these animals would form a subject for a paper of great

interest and of real and permanent value.

In the accompanying paper the total measurements of the palpi and

fourth legs do not include the basal segment, which is immovably united

to its fellow of the opposite side. The individual segments of these

limbs are taken along their upper sides; but the length of the

mandible is measured along its outer surface from its joint to the apex

’ of the upper jaw.

Genus Galeodes.

Key to the identification of the Indian species.

A. Flagellum of the male with its basal cylindrical portion

much shorter than its distal expanded portion. Lower

fang of the mandible with three or two minor teeth.

Palpi and limbs, at least in the adult, not noticeably

LIAMUSCALE seni islets soci deve dudeceecccneosfQtalis (Hlenbsia):

B. Flagellum of the male with its basal cylindrical portion

nearly as long as its distal portion. Lower fang of

the mandible with one or two minor teeth between the

large teeth, Palpi and limbs in parts strongly

infuscate.

A‘, Protarsus of the palp fuscous only in its

proximal alti encs ce ......arabs (C. Koch.).

B', Protarsus of palp fuscous throughout its length.

A?, Male larger; palp and legs longer ;

tibia of palp as long as twice the

width of the head-plate; tarsus of

palp ‘black, ccseseecsccncens-@Ge0tss: Spa, Us

SPECIES OF GALEODIDZ IN INDIA AND CEYLON. 441

B?, Male smaller; palp and legs . shorter ;

tibia of palp not long as twice the

width of the head-plate; tarsus of

palp pale .......0+....0rentalis (Stol.).

(1) Galeodes fatalis (Licht. and Herbst),

(PI. A. fig. 2-24 and Pl. B. fig. 1-1a.).

Solpuga fatats, Licht. and Herbst; Nat. ungeflugelt. Insekten,

ieee sey tole Tt tee b. O (797);

Galeodes vorax, Hutton, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, xi, Pt. 2, p. 857

(1842).

Galeodes bengalensis, Butler, Trans. Ent. Soc. 1873, p. 419.

Galeodes orientalis, Simon, Bull. Soc. Zool. Fr., x, p. 1 (not of

Stoliczka).

Colour of head, mandibles, and appendages mostly pale yellow,

the head generally ligntly infuscate and the mandibles sometimes

ornamented above with two faint greyish-black stripes; patella and

tibia of the palpi and legs also sometimes lightly infuscate ; ocular

tubercle and mandibular fangs black, abdomen greyish-black above,

deeper in the middle on the tergal plates.

Adult 9. Cephalic plate (head) very wide, its width slightly exceeding

the length of the tibia of the palpus ; ocular tubercle polished, distance

between the eyes greater than the diameter of an eye, the membranous

prominence below the eyes smooth and rounded.

Mandibles very powerful; dentition like that of the rest of the

genus, but with two small teeth between the two large fangs on the

movable or lower jaw.

Palpi shortish, the tibia slightly shorter than the following two

segments, protarsus and tarsus, taken together ; the former armed with

a few long spines at its distal end on the inner side; the tibia armed

below with two series of longish slender spines, the protarsus with six

pairs of short, sharp spines, the latter segment narrower towards its

distal end.

Legs shortish, normally spined tarsi of the second and third

armed. with seven spines, 8 in pairs at the distal end, the other

on the anterior aspect of the proximal end of the first segment;

the distal tarsal segment of the fourth leg armed with a single

posterior spine,

442 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

Measurements in millimetres.—Total length from anterior border of

head to anus 46, length of head 8°8, width 13°5, length of mandible

17°2, of palp 41°5, its tibia 13°3, protarsus and tarsus 13°8, of fourth

leg 54, its tibia 12, protarsus 9°5.

& Easily to be recognised from the @ by it smaller size, relatively

narrower head, weaker mandibles, bearing a flagellum, extremely long

legs, etc ; (cf. measurements).

Head a little wider than long ; mandibles clothed above with stout

erect hairs for the protection of the flagellum ; flagellum with its basal

cylindrical portion about half the length of the terminal expanded por-

tion ; teeth in the distal half of the upper jaw rounded lobate, and

ill-defined ; on the lower jaw there are three small teeth between the

two large ones. The tarsi of the fourth legs have their first and second

segments clothed below with thick hairs, these hairs gradually

increase in thickness from their point of origin throughout about two-

thirds of their length, then gradually narrow to the apex, which is

rather blunt ; the third tarsal segment clothed below with normal hairs.

The fifth abdominal sternum furnished posteriorly with a row in parts

double, of cylindrical slender, straight or bent, stout filiform hairs.

Measurements in millimetres.—Total length 31, length of head 6,

width 7°2, width of ocular tubercle 1°6, length of mandible 11, of palp

51, its tibia 17, its protarsus and tarsus 15:5, length of fourth leg 61,

its tibia 14°5, protarsus 12.

In the same bottle as that containing the two specimens described

above from Gwalior there is a third example which appears to be an

immature female. The head and mandibles are considerably smaller

as compared with the length of the palpi and legs than in the

adult, and the specimen thus approaches the male. Moreover what

are stout short spines upon the protarsus of palpi of the adult are

long setiform spines in the young, so that it seems clear that the

shortness of these spines in the adult is due to fracture. Similar

changes with age seem to occur in many species of the genus

Galeodes.

The late Dr. Stoliczka long ago suggested that the species described

by Captain Hutton as Galeodes voraw was identical with that which the

German authors, Lichtenstein and Herbst had previously named

fatalts, This conclusion is.at all events perfectly justified by the fact that

SPECIES OF GALEODIDZ IN INDIA AND CEYLON. 443

Hutton in his very brief account of the physical characters of his

species not only mentions no differential feature for vorax, but uses

words which apply accurately to fatalis.

The type of Butler’s bengalensis is preserved in the British Museum

of Natural History. It is a female and is not distinguishable spe-

cifically from another example of the same sex, which agrees almost

exactly with the figure of G. fatalzs published by Herbst.

Distribution.—If we may trust the accuracy of the localities that are

ascribed to specimens of this species, it certainly has a wide range in India.

The British Museum has received examples from Gwalior (C. Maries),

Secunderabad (A. Ricardo), Bengal (W. Masters), and Madras (Jerdon).

According to Hutton the species occurs in Central and North India.

Moreover, Stoliczka states that it is said to extend into the Punjab and

Afehanistan, and the British Museum has received from Kohat in the

Punjab a single immature female example, which I refer, although

with some hesitation, to this species. This example was kindly

presented by Lieut. A. Graeme Batten.

I think there is no doubt that Monsieur Simon had examples of this

species before him when he compared ortentahs with araneordes. For

he asserts that in his orzentalis the basal part of the flagellum is much

shorter than the lanceolate distal portion, and that the fourth tarsus has

its proximal two segments covered with robust truncate hairs, both of

which statements apply tothe @ I have described above as /atalzs.

But for reasons given below in connection with the species I identify

as G'. orientalis, I believe that my fatalis is not identical with Stoliczka’s

orventalis.

Simon’s examples came from Guntakal near Bellary, and his descrip-

tion applies to my example from Gwalior, except that he asserts that

the appendages are infuscate. I do not feel justified, however, at

present in regarding this as a character of much importance ; for

amongst five males which I have from Secunderabad—all of which

were taken by the same collector, are undoubtedly co-specific and, I

believe, are referable to fatalis—one, the largest, has entirely pale

limbs, while the smaller examples have the protarsus of the palp and

the tibia of the fourth leg infuscate. Curiously enough, however, these

examples from Secunderabad and the two mentioned above from

444 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

Madras differ from the ¢ from Gwalior, in having the modified hairs

upon the fourth tarsi pale in colour, more numerous, longer and sharper

apically. But since it seems to me tobe not improbable that these

hairs become blunted with use and darker with age, Ido not feel

justified in regarding the character as one of specific or varietal

importance.

(2) Galeodes penal. Stol.

Stoliczka, Journ, As. Soc. Bengal, xxxvili, p. 209, 1869, not

G. orientalis, Simon, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, x, pp. 1-2 (1885), x1.

&. Much darker in colour than G. fatalis, the head largely infus-

cate and the mandibles very generally infuscate above ; in the palpi

the protarsas is deeply infuscate, as also is the tibia, but the distal end

of this segment is paler, the femur also is lightly infuscate at its distal

end; in the legs the distal end of the femur and the tibia are infuscate,

the legs of the fourth pair more deeply so than the others, the upper

side of the abdomen has a much more clearly defined median dorsal

band. Mandibles stouter than in fatalis, and the stem of the flagellum

is about as long as the expanded distal. portion; the teeth on the

upper blade of the jaw as in fatals, but on the lower there are only

two small teeth between the two large ones.

Palpi much shorter and stouter than in fatalis ; e.g., the length of

the tibia is considerably less than twice the width of the head, instead

of exceeding it asin fatalzs ; moreover, the length of this segment as

compared with its thickness is about 7 to 1; whereas in G. fatals it

is about 11 to 1.

Legs correspondingly shorter, e.g., the protarsus of the fourth only

slightly exceeds the width of the head.

The malleoli on the coxe long as in the ¢ of fatalis, but

the distal portion differently shaped; for instance, in the outer

malleolus, the blade is wider as compared with its length, has the edge

slightly more convex, the internal process longer as compared with

the external, and its border sinuate instead of straight.

The thickened spines on the fifth sternite of the abdomen vary

greatly in form, being either long, slender, and cylindrical as in fatalis,

or quite short, stout and clavate ; in fact, in each of the four specimens

examined by me these hairs are differently constituted ; these organs

SPECIES OF GALEODID IN INDIA AND CEYLON, 445

therefore cannot be used in distinguishing the species. The tarsi of

the fourth legs have the distal segment either without spines or with a

pair of spines and clothed with normal hairs, or furnished with a few

modified hairs ; the modified hairs on the other two segments are either

closely or scantily packed together and are long and lanceolate; often,

when unfractured, terminating in a setiform apex ; they are much

longer and thinner than the corresponding modified setee in fatalis.

Measurement in millimetres of largest example.—Total length of

trunk 30, width of head 8, length 6, length of mandible 11, of palp

42, of its tibia 13°5, width of latter 2, length of protarsus and tarsus

12, of fourth leg 49°5.

Locality, Gwalior (British Museum), Birbhum and Delhi (Stoléezka).

Of this species I have only seen four males, which were obtained

at the above locality. They are all alike in most of their characters,

although differing slightly in colour and in the features pointed out.

I can find no reasonable grounds for doubting that these specimens

are referable to the same species as those that Stoliczka figures as

orientalis. He seems, however, to have wrongly sexed his large

specimen as a 9; it appears in reality to bea @.

My reasons for thinking that I have correctly determined the

above described examples are, that the largest example figured

by Stoliczka resembles those examined by me in possessing robust and

short palpi.

(8) Galeodes agilis, sp.n.(Pl. A, Figs. 1, 1 ¢.).

This species is very nearly related to G. orzentalis, but is much

larger and has longer palpi and legs. Colour: head-plate is infuscate

anteriorly, the ocular tubercle black; mandibles pale above; palpi with

femur pale yellow, tibia deeply infuscate but paler at its two extrem-

ities; the protarsus and tarsus deeply infuscate, nearly black; the free

thoracic segments and abdomen infuscate above ; legs almost entirely

pale yellow, the femur and tibia of the fourth pair lightly infuscate.

Ocular tubercle narrower than in G. orientalis ; mandibles rather

weaker, with the terminal fangs of the upper and lower jaws longer

and straighter, the terminal part of the flagellum a little longer as

compared with the distal portion. Palpz considerably longer than

in G. orientalis; the tzbia twice as long as the width of the cephalic

446 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

plate and nearly nine times as long as wide ; the protarsus longer than

the width of the head by about one-third of its length. Legs also

longer than in G. orientalis, the protarsus of the fourth greater than

the width of the head.

The spiniform hairs on the fifth abdominal sternite are long, nearly

as long as the plate that bears them, nearly straight, slender, subcylin-

drical, but very gradually incrassate for two-thirds of their distance,

then becoming gradually narrowed to the apex. Spiniform hairs

on the fourth tarsi like those of G. ortentafs, pointed apically.

The malleolé very long, the head of the fifth much longer than half

the width of the carapace, slender, with a long internal process.

Measurement in millimetres—Total length of trunk 44; width

of head 11, length 9, width of ocular tubercle 2, length of mandible

15, of palp 65, its tibia 22, width of tibia 2°5, length of protarsus

and tarsus 18°5, length of fourth leg 76, its tibia 17, protarsus 13°5.

Locality, Bikanir in Rajputana (dfs. Talbot).

in its large size, long legs and palpi, this species approaches

G. arabs. In the latter, however, the distal half of the protarsus and

the whole of the tarsus of the palp are pale, the ocular tubercle is

larger, the spiniform hairs on the fourth tarsi have blunt apices, the

inner process of the malleoli is shorter, and the spines on the legs are

stouter.

(4) Galeodes arabs, C. Koch.

G. arabs, C. Koch, Die Arachn., xv, p. 85 (1848).

G. lucasiz, L. Dufour, Mem. Ac. Sci. St. Petersburg, xvii, p. 385,

Pl. II, Fig. 5 (1862).

G. araneoides, Olivier and Savigny (not of Pallas) arabs, araneoides

and Grecus (?), Butler, Tr. Ent. Soc., 1873, p. 418.

G. araneoides and grecus, Simon, Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., ae

pp. 99-100 (at least in part).

This species has an extensive range, spreading from South Alooea

(Dufour’s lucast?) through Egypt into Arabia and Asia Minor. The

British Museum has a large number of examples ranging from

Smyrna to Afghanistan and from Hgypt and Somaliland to Muscat,

and lastly there is a bottle ticketed Nepal, Hardwicke coll., which

contains half a dozen examples,

SPECIES OF GALEODIDG IN INDIA AND CEYLON. 447

It is solely upon the evidence supplied by this label that I include

G. arabs in the Indian fauna. Atthe same time I may add that

I do not at present believe in the accuracy of the locality. Since,

however, it may be found that the species does actually extend over

the borderland of the Punjab, I subjoin the following brief notes of

its chief characters.

The colour is whitish- or reddish-yellow, variegated with fuscous.

The cephalic plate is fuscous on each side, and the mandibles are usually

furnished above with two stripes of the same colour. The tebia of

the palpus is fuscous, except its two ends which are flavous, and the

protarsus is furnished with a wide fuscous band in the proximal half of

its length, the proximal extremity and distal half, as well as the tarsus

being pale yellow ; the femora of the legs are very generally infuscate,

and the dorsal plates of the abdomen and the free thoracic segments

are also generaly infuscate, so that there is a median series of fuscous

patches—not a continuous fuscous band—along the middle line of the

back.

The ocular tubercle is large. In the adult Q the cephalic plate

either excels in width or is about equal to the protarsus of the palp

or of the fourth leg; in the adult g the cephalic plate is less in width

than half the length of the tibia of the palpi. In the mandibles the

lower jaw is furnished with either one or two minor teeth between the

two major teeth, the posterior of the minor teeth being always small,

and in mature females absent.

Tn adult males the terminal part of the flagellum is about as long as

the basal portion, the modified hairs on the posterior tarsi are narrower

at the base and aé the apex than in the middle ; but the apex may be

rather sharp or somewhat bluntly rounded, the acuteness apparently

depending upon the amount of wear to which the organs are subjected ;

the modified hairs of the abdomen vary greatly in shape and length in

the same individual, The distal tarsal segment of the fourth leg is

generally without spines. The malleolz are usually long, especially in

the male,

Genus Rhaw.

Key to the identification of the Indian species.

A. legs yellow, not adorned with black bands or spots ; tarsi of

palp and of first pair of legs ferruginous ; without a complete

median, dorsal white band on the abdomen,

448 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X,

A‘, The anal segment and the anterior abdominal tergal plates

deep black, the sixth to the ninth terga pale yellow

(head and mandibles as in brevipes)... semiflava, Poe.

B'. Upperside of abdomen not strikingly particoloured, either

black or entirely pale ochre-yellow.

A*. Head and abdomen entirely black or deep brown.

A*. Mandibles the same colour as the head,

2.) blackish-brown ... brevipes, Gerv.

B’, Mandibles pale yellowish-red and contrast-

ing strongly in colour with the black

head ... ay w-. “igriceps, Sp. D.

B®, Thorax and abdomen entirely pale, much paler

than the head and mandibles, which are deep

brown ... aes oc eee phipsoni, sp. 0.

B. Legs yellow, but adorned with conspicuous black bands and

spots ; upper surface of the abdomen black at the sides, white

in the middle.

A‘, Antero-lateral angles of the head yellow ; femur

and trochanter of palp black ; a black spot

on the lower surface of the femur and tibia

of the first leg and on the posterior surface of

the tibia of the fourth leg... nzgrocincta, Bern.

B*. Antero-lateral angles of head not yellow, lower

surface of femur of palp, the legs of the first pair

and the tibia of the fourth pair, not ornamented

with black (teste, Simon) ... annulata, Sim.

(5) Rhax phipsoni, sp. n. (Pl. A, Fig. 3, & Pl. B, Fig. 4.)

& Colour; mandibles, cephalic plate, distal end of protarsus,

and tarsus of palp and tarsus of first leg, ferruginous, the rest of the

body and limbs entirely yellow, although clothed with red hairs,

the antero-lateral edge of the cephalic plate is narrowly yellow, and

the membrane in front of it is, as usual, white.

Head clothed with very long hairs, ocular tubercle of medium

size, furnished with the two normal sete in front, but along the

middle line there is a series of four hairs,

SPECIES OF GALEODID IN INDIA AND CEYLON. 449

Mandible clothed above and externally with long sete, the upper-

inner edge furnished with spines scattered amongst the hairs, those

at the base of the immovable digit apically setiform, normally spined

on the inner surface, teeth of the upper digit subequal in size, the

lower digit furnished with a minute tooth in front of the principal

fang, and one upon it on the inner side.

Appendages.—Protarsus of palp armed below with about 16 spines,

that of the first leg with about 6 longish spines, tibia of the same ap-

pendage furnished below with a number of stout setze ; tibia of second and

third Jeg armed above distally with one short stout spine, the protarsi

armed above with 6 spines, the tibia of the second armed in addition

with one short spine behind and several stout sete below ; that of the

third with about 3 spines behind and stout sete below, protarsus of

second and third armed below with stout setee and a pair of long distal

spines ; tarsus of second not spined (that of third absent); tarsus of

fourth leg armed with 3 pairs of spines below, and the protarsus with

4 spines in front in its distal half and 2 behind. Malleoli longish, stalks

stout.

entire protarsus of the palp and first leg ferruginous, the ocular tubercle

flatter. The mandibles with the third tooth of the upper series much

the largest, protarsus of second leg with 6 upper spines on one side

of the body, 9 (in two rows) on the other side ; that of the third with

seven on oneside and about 12 (in two rows) on the other. Mal-

leoli with shorter handles and smaller heads.

Measurements in millimetres—@. Total length of trunk (from

ocular tubercle to anus) 32, length of cephalic plate 5°5, width 8°5,

length of abdomen 21, of mandible 12°8, length of palp 21, of

fourth leg 32.

Q. Total length 64, length of head 8, width 14°5, length of abdomen

(much distended) 52, of mandible 18, of palp 25°5, of fourth leg 36.

Locality, Trincomali (Ceylon).

This is, I believe, the first record of a species of this group of Arach-

nida from Ceylon. The two above described examples were kindly

sent to the British Museum by My. H. M. Phipson, to whom I have

great pleasure in dedicating the species.

450 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

The species of the genus Khaz do not appear to differ greatly from

each other in any characters except colour, and possibly size and length

of limbs, so thatthe description given above of the dentition of the

jaws, spine-armature of the legs, &., may be taken as applying

tolerably accurately to all the species enumerated in this paper.

(6) Rhazx brevipes (Gervais), (Pl. A, Fig. 4, & Pl. B, Fig. 3).

Solpuga brevipes, Gervais, Insectes Apteres, 3, p. 87 (1844).

The type of this species, bearing the ticket Nepal, Hardwicke-

Bequest, and labelled by Gervais, is in the British Museum of Natural

History. The head plate is deep black with a yellowish-green patch at

its antero-lateral angles ; the abdomen is quite black ; the free thoracic

segments lying behind the head are paler but lightly infuscate ; the

mandibles are deep reddish-brown, the legs and palpi yellow; on the

palp, however, the tarsus and protarsus, except just its proximal end, are

deep brown, and on the legs of the first pair the tarsus and distal end

of the protarsus are also deep brown.

This species is very nearly related to the Algerian species Rhax

ochropus of L. Dufour. But, according to Simon, the latter has no

small tooth in front of the great fang on the movable digit of the

mandible, while in &. brevipes this tooth is very noticeable. Moreover,

the published figures of . ochropus show that the entire protarsus

and tarsus of the legs of the first pair are reddish-brown. R. ochropus

is, however, unfortunately unknown to me, so that I am unable fur-

ther to compare the two species.

R. brevipes also seems to be very nearly allied to, if it be not identical

with, the Persian species R. phalangium, Oliv. The latter, however,

has been too briefly characterised to be identifiable.

In addition to the example mentioned above as ticketed Nepal, the

British Museum has a second example of apparently the same species

from Maballah, and a third which is vaguely ticketed Hast Indies,

(7) Rhax semiflava, Pocock (Pl. B, Fig. 2).

Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6), iv, p. 473 (1889).

The single known example of this species is, like the type of

R. brevipes, a female with the abdomen not distended.

The two species are very nearly related, but R. semilava may be

distinguished ata glance by the difference in the colouring of its

abdomen. This part of the body instead of being black as in

R. brevipes, is yellowish below and at the sides, but on the dorsal surface

the anterior 5 tergal plates are blackish, the 5th, however, being yellow

SPECIES OF GALEODIDZ: IN INDIA AND CEYLON, 451

posteriorly, while the succeeding 4 are entirely yellow, and the last or

anal is entirely black. Moreover, the free thoracic segments lying

behind the head are white and not infuscate as in R. brevipes.

The type of this species was obtained at Kohat in the Punjab by

Lieut. A. Greeme Batten, and presented by him to the British Museum

in 1888. ~

(8) Rhax nigriceps, sp. D.

Colour, head, thorax and abdomen entirely black, mandibles reddish-

yellow above and externally becoming redder towards the base of the

fangs, palpi and legs pale, the tarsus of the first pair and the tarsus and

distal half of the protarsus of the palp deep ferruginous. Total length

of trunk 20 mm, length of head 3:7, width 6°3, length of mandible

9, of palp 12°5, of fourth leg 16.

Locality, Hast Indies. A single female example.

The above given table shows that this species is allied to R. brevipes

of Gervais, but that it may be distinguished from R, brevipes as from all

the Indian species of the genus by the pale colour of its mandibles

coupled with the black of the head plate. In this character as well

as in other respects connected with colouring, it closely resembles the

Hast African species &. termes of Karsch, of which I have seena

single female example from Kilima Njaro. 1 separate it from

R. termes, because in the latter the third (the largest) tooth of the upper

fang of the mandible projects far below the level of the fourth tooth,

whereas in R. nigriceps the apices of the two teeth are not so notice-

ably unequal. No doubt other differential characters will come to light

when long series of properly preserved examples have been examined.

(9) Rhawx nigrocincta, Bernard,

Journ. Linn. Soe. Zool., xxiv, p. 861, Fig. 2 (1893).

This is a strikingly-coloured little species. The head is deep brown,

but bears a conspicuous lemon-yellow patch upon its antero-lateral

angles ; the mandibles are brown ; the abdomen is purplish-brown

at the sides and below, with the anal segment black ; but its upper

side is ornamented with a wide continuous median yellow band ; the

legs and palpi are for the most part yellow, but they are ornamented

with black in the following manner. The trochanter and inferior edge

of femur are fuscous. There is a broad black ring round the tibia, and

the distal half of the protarsus and the tarsus are also black ; on the

first leg the tarsus is brown, and there is a fuscous spot upon the lower

edge of both tibia and femur ; on the second leg there isa complete

452 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

black ring round the femur ; on the third leg there isa corresponding

ring on the femur, and an additional one on the tibia ; on the fourth leg

the ring on the femur is incomplete in the middle line above, while the

ring on the tibia is reduced to a black spot on its posterior surface,

The type and only known example of this species is a female from

Vellore. It is in the collection of the British Museum.

This species is very nearly related to R. annulata (cf. infra), with

which Mr. Bernard compared it. One of the differential characters,

however, pointed out by Mr. Bernard does not in reality exist, For

he states that 2. négrocincta has black rings on the tibia of the legs and

not on the femora, as stated by Simon for R. annulata. This is an

error, the bands being in both species found on the femora.

(10) Rhax annulata, Simon.

Bull. Soc. Zool. France, x, p. 2 (1885).

From Wagra-Koroor near Guntakul, which is not far from Bellary.

Very closely allied to A. nigrocincta, but I provisionally regard it as

distinct on the ground that Simon does not mention the presence in

R. annulata of any lateral yellow patches on the head, nor of the

blackness on the lower surface of the femur of the palp, nor on the

lower side of the femur and tibia of the first legs, nor on the posterior

surface of the tibia of the fourth leg.

EXPLANATION OF PLATES.

Pl. A, Fig.1. Galeodes agil’s, Sp.n. @, nat. size. [ble.

la . he External aspect of mandi-

1b a a First abdominal sternum,

le ne My External malleolus.

2 a fatalis (Licht. and Herbst), 3, external

view of mandible.

2a 9 9 2 9 of 9.

3 Rhax phipsont, Sp. K -» external view of mandible

of @.

4 » brevipes, (Gervais), shOts Oe

Pl. B, Fig. 1. Galeodes fatalis, (Licht, and Herbst) nat. size 9,

la 39 99 ” é.

2 thax semiflava, Pocock, nat. size @.

3 » brevipes, Gervais, _,, OF

4 »» phipsone, Sp. Ne, > 3.

: Mourn _Bormbay Nat.Hist.Soc.

lb.

la. Mantern Bros.del et lith London.

INDIAN GALEODIDA.

— Bombay Nat.Hist.Soc. Plate! Ee

Mintern Bros. delet Chromo lth. London

INDIAN GALEODIDE.

453

18 FORMICIDES DE L’EMPIRE DES INDES ET DE

CEYLAN.

Par Aveustz Foret.

Professeur al’ Université de Ziivich.

Part V.

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 2nd April, 1895.)

Adjonction aux CAMPONOTINA.

27, Camponotus Wasmanniz (Emery).

&% Major:—L.: 10% 12 mill. Mandibules armées de 7 dents,

lisses, luisantes, ponctuées. Téte trapeziforme, courte et trés large,

beaucoup plus large que longue. Stature robuste, comme chez le

C. sericeus. Hvistome caréné ou subcaréné, avec un lobe rectangulaire,

Arétes frontales extrémement divergentes. Angles antérieurs du

pronotum avec deux dents triangulaires obtuses. Suture méso-méta-

notale trés profonde et trés large, formant presque une échancrure.

Face déclive du métanotum tronquée, lisse, luisante. Pédicule surmonté

d’un noeud arrondi, deux fois plus haut et plus large qu’ épais. Densé-

ment réticulé-ponctué et mat (sauf les parties luisantes indiquées),

Une grossiére ponctuation superposée en fossettes, dense sur le méta-

notum (sauf la face déclive) et sur le pédicule, éparse sur la téte et le

thorax, tout-a-fait effacée sur l’abdomen. Une abondante pilosité

blanchatre, longue et brillante, sur tout le corps, les pattes et les

antennes. Pubescence trés diluée. Hntiérement noir, avec quelques

articulations et extrémités brunatres ou rougedtres.

% Minor :—L.: 5°49 mill. Téte beaucoup plus large derriére

que devant. Pronotum armé devant de deux fortes aents pointues,

triangulaires. Noeud du pédicule presque aussi épais que large.

Du reste identique a la % major.

Q:—L.: 18414 mill. Ailes enfumées de brundtre. Pronotum

obtusément anguleux.

Sikkim (Wasmann) ; Assam (Smythies).

Var. mutillarius (Emery). Thorax et pédicule d’un rouge ferrugi-

neux. Souvent une tache noirdtre sur le pronotum. Le 1 seoment

de Yabdomen est noir avec deux taches d’un rouge ferrugineux ou

d’un rouge ferrugmeux avec une tache dorsale, postérieure, d’un

brun fonce,

454 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

Carin Cheba, Birmanie ( Fea) ; Dehra Dun (Smythies),

Cette singuliére espéce forme un groupe 4 part et se place, dans

notre tableau, en téte du genre, comme suit.

O. Pronotum bidenté devant...............0. Wasmannu (Emery),

ESFOMOUIMN | THETIC coop enseeater sees ene

12. Camponotus angusticollis, Jerdon.

Var. sanguiolentus, n. var. 8 major-media (téte & peine plus large

derricre que devant). L. i5 mill. D’un rouge sanguinolent, ferru-

gineux etterne. Abdomen, pattes (sauf les tarses et les articulations) et

scapes d’un brun noiratre. Pédicule, devant de la téte et mandibules

plus ou moins brundtres. Pubescence d’un brun jaunitre, assez

abondante sur tout le corps et plus longue que chez la forme typique.

Pilosité brune un peu plus abondante et un peu plus longue aussi que

chez l’angusticollis, i. sp. Du reste identique.

Assam (Smythies).

1. Camponotus sericeus (Fab.)

Var. mendax, n. var. 8 major. Thorax sans échancrure méso-métano-=

tale, avec une simple suture, sans trace de segment intermédiaire.

La face basale du métanotum ala méme largeur que chez la forme

typique, mais elle n’est bordée nulle part, et passe par une courbe

arrondie, tant aux cdtés qu’a la face déclive. Cette derniére est en

plan incliné. Le métanotum est trés semblable a celui du C. Gestroz,

Hm., mais un peu plus étroit et plus long. A part cela absolument

identique au C. sericeus, varicté a téte d’un brun un peu rougeatre.

Deux § maxima de Mysore (Lee).

Hst-ce vraiment une variété du serzceus? Hst-ce une autre espéce

imitatrice ? Hst-ce peut-étre une anomalie embryogénique de la

% major? Une @ qui se trouvait dans le méme envoi ne différe en

vien des @Q ordinaires. D’un autre cdté, aucune particularité du

thorax ne dénote chez les deux % un passage a la forme 9.

Var. integer, n. var. &minor. Thorax sans trace d’échancrure, égale-

ment convexe d’avant en arriére. la face basale du metanotum a

rebord latéral aigu, dirigé latéralement ; derriére, elle se termine par

deux dents ou lamelles obtuses, horizontales, avec une forte échancrure

médiane. Face déclive fort concave. Variée de ferrugineux et de

brunatre ; devant de abdomen ferrugineux.

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 455

Ceylan.

Cette forme rappelle la var. rectus du C. lateralis, Ol., mais le

thorax, malgré le manque complet d’échancrure, est fortement con-

vexe, Sous le nomde Race peguensis, M. Emery, a décrit la variété

sericeo-opaciventris.

20. Camponotus nicobarensis (Mayr).

Var. monticola, Emery. Birmanie. Emery a donné ce nom 2 la

variété foncée, de couleur brunatre, terne et mélée.

28. Camponotus herculeanus, L.

Race pennsylvanicus, De Geer, v. punctatissimus (Emery). Carin-

cheba, Birmanie (Fea).

Cette forme doit étre intercalée dans notre tableau au numéro 7, 2

edté du G. reticulatus, par les mots.

L.: 7814 mill. EHpistome biéchancré, voisin de la race. Japonicus

Mayr.

29. Camponotus Simoni (Hmery).

N’est probablement qu’une race trés petite du dorycus. % major :

L. 85 mill; & minor 76 mill. Pilosité oblique sur les scapes et

les tibias. Testacée ; abdomen et derriére de la téte plus foncés.

Les mandibules ont 6 dents. Tibias dépourvus de petits piquants.

30. Camponotus albipes (Emery).

N’est guére qu'une variété du reticulatus, r. Yerburyi, avec les

mandibules, les antennes, les pattes et une large tache transversale sur

le 1° segment de l’abdomen d’un jaune pale. Peut-étre race 4 part.

Le C. Bedoti, Emery, n’est, 4 mon avis, pas autre chose non plus

qu’une race du reticulatus. La var. Motschulsky, Emery, & en juger

par la description, est identique 4 ma race Yerbury?.

2. Colobopsis (Camponotus) vitrea (Smith).

Le Camponotus vitreus, Sm. (8 minor) est identique 4ma Colobopsis

angustata, v. Stggi. L’énorme différence entre la §% minor et le

% excuse en partie cette erreur de ma part. . La description de la

Formica vitrea (Smith) étant la plus ancienne, Pespece devra prendre

ce nom ; angustata, Mayr, devient la variété,

456 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

12. Polyrhachis punctillata (Roger).

Var. Smythcest2, n. var. 8. Dehra Dun (Smythies). 8 Correspondent

bien 4 la description de Roger que nous avons traduite, sauf les yeux

qui ne sont pas sphériques, mais seulement proéminents. Deux fortes

dents triangulaires au pronotum.

- Mais la nouvelle variété se distingue surtout par les dents plus

fortes, presque spiniformes de I’écaille ; surtout les deux dents supé-

rieures ou médianes sont trés pointues at aussi fortes que les latérales.

26. Polyrhachis Héppomanes (Sm.)

Race lucidula Hm. 8 :—L.:5 mill. Interméddiare entre Ja form

typique et la race Ceylonensis. Plus luisante, Ponctuation réticulaire

plus faible. Epines du métanotum 4 peine plus longues que leur

distance réciproque. Birmanie (Fea).

60. Polyrhachis forizs (Emery).

% :—L.:5°7 mill. A cdté darmata, mais plus trapue; épines

pronotales beaucoup plus courtes. Noire, abdomen ferrugineux. Sculp-

ture finement réticulée ponctuée avec de grosses fossettes superposées

assez indistinctes, formant des rides réticulaires. Suture méso-méta

notale trés indistincte. Dans le tableau, 4 cdté de l’armata. Birmanie

(Hea).

61. Polyrhachis subpilosa (Emery).

Trés voisine de punctillata, mais avec une pilosité blanchatre éparse

qui manque 4 cette espéce. Le pronotum n’a que deux angles rec-

tangulaires. caille comme chez le puncizllata1, sp. L. 6 mill. Palon,

Birmanie (Fea).

5. Polyrhachis selene (Emery).

Race obtusata, Hmery. Abdomen réticulé-ponctue, presque mat.

Ecaille avec un cone trés obtus, 4 peine indiqué. Du reste comme le

type. Carin, Birmanie (Fea).

39. Polyrhachis simplex (Mayr).

Var. grisescens, Hmery. Abdomen grisatre par suite d’une pubes-

cence plus abondante. Palon, Birmanie (Fea).

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 457

44, Polyrhachis tibialis (Sm.).

M. Emery a décrit sous le nom de caligata la forme extrémement

yoisine d’ argentea, Mayr. que jai considérée comme étant la tibialis,

Smith. Je suis pour ma part toujours persuadé que caligata, Emery =

tibialis, Smith. ,

57. Polyrhachis acasta (Sm.).

D’aprés Emery et Dalla Torre, I argentea, Mayr = acasta, Smith.

C’est fort possible. LL? acasta est de Batjan. Il faudrait savoir exac-

tement si 4 Batjan on trouve I’ argentea ou la tibialis.

58. Polyrhachis Wroughtoni (Forel).

Q:—: 434 4:7 mill. Mésonotum déprimé. Le pronotum n’a

que deux petites dents triangulaires. Les épines du métanotum

sont bien plus courtes que chez l’ouvricre et dirigées bien plus hori-

zontalement, en dehors. Ailes brunes; une tache pale devant la

tache marginale. Du reste comme louvriére.

@:—-L:5 mill. Pas trace de dents ni d’épines. Métanotum arrondi;

face déclive beaucoup plus longue que la face basale. Pédicule surmonté

d’un noeud arrondi, plus large que long. Finement réticulé-ponctué

et mat ou subopaque. Abdomen finement réticulé et subluisant.

Pilosité nulle ou & peu prés. Une fine pubescence grisitre assez

abondante partout, sans toutefois former de duvet distinct. D’un noir

brundtre ; bouche, extrémité des antennes, valvules génitales, articula-

tions, parfois les tibias, les tarses et les anneaux femoraux d’un jaune

roussatre.

Kanara (M. Wroughton), avec les $. Cette charmante espéce

parente de eryptoceroides, Kmery, fait son nid en papier brunatre,

dans les feuilles.

15. Polyrhachis striata (Mayr.)

%:—Assam (Smythies).

2. Formica rufa. (1) ; race. truncicola, (Nyl.)

& :—Cashmeere (J. F. Duthie).

3. Formica fusca, (Li) ; race. rujibarbis, (F.)

& :—Cashmeere (Mrs. de Lotkiniére).

458 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

7. Prenolepis melanogaster (Emery).

%:—L.: 43 4 45 mill. D’un jaune testacé, trés luisante, abdomen

brun, Pubescence nulle. Pilosité dressée longue et fine. Thorax

allongé. Mésothorax étroit, rétréci en selle. Hcaille épaisse. Pattes

gréles.

Carin, Ascinii Ghecu, Birmanie, 1,300 métres (Fea).

8. Prenolepis Jerdoni (Hmery).

%:—L: 3 mill. Gréle ; semblable 4 la précédente, par son mésotho-

rax étranglé. Différe de la Pr. Emme, Forel, par son métanotum

beaucoup moins élevé, moins bossu, par son écaille plus épaisse, ses

yeux plus aplatis et la convexité plus courte, plus postérieure, moins

égale du pronotum. Hille est aussi beaucozp moins poilue. D’un

brun foncé. Funicules, base des scapes et articulations plus piles.

Perak, Malacca (Emery).

Cette espéce forme avec la précédente et la Pr. Hmme un groupe

4 mésothorax rétréci, rappelant les Acantholepis.

Ma Prenolepis Adlerzi n’est autre chose que le Camponotus (Colo-

bopsis) vitreus, Smith, qui m’a été donné par M. Emery. Cette espéce

ressemble beaucoup 4 une Prenolepis et je lai décrite en 1886,

connaissant encore trés mal la faune indo-malaise, sur deux seuls

exemplaires secs, ce qui explique en partie ma meéprise.

1. Acantholepis Frauenfeld: (Mayr), var. integra (For.)

Cashmeere (Mrs, de Lotbiniére),

2. Acantholepis capensis (Mayr).

Race lunaris Hm. M. Emery a décrit sous le nom d’A. lunaris, n. sp.

la variété de l’Inde que j’ai signalée (Part IV, p. 19) dans ce travail,

et dont, le métanotum ressemble 4 celui del’ A. opaca. Jene puis la

considérer que comme une race ou variété, car cette forme du

métanotum est trés inconstante,

5. Acantholepis opaca (Forel).

Cette espéce a été retrouvée 4 plusieurs reprises dans la province de

Kanara, par MM. Wroughton et Bell; elle semble propra 4 cette

partie de l’Inde. Par contre la race pulchella de Poona n’a pas été

retrouvée jusquici. Ce fait est & noter, parce que jai recu une

quantité trés considérable de fourmis de toutes les parties de l’Inde

par lobligeance de MM. Wroughton et Rothney.

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 459

6. Acantholepis Fergusont, n. sp.

% :—L.: 2°743°3 mill, Mandibules 4 bord terminal trés oblique,

armé de 4 45 dents trés obliques ; elles sont luisantes avec quelques

stries et points effacés, Téte en carré un peu arrondi, 4 peine élargie

derriére, un peu déprimée. Epistome avec une forte votite ou caréne

obtuse, longitudinale, médiane. Yeux grands, déprimés, situés un

peu en arriére du milieu des cdtésde la téte. Les scapes, peu

épaissis vers leur extremité, dépassent d’ 4 de leur longueur le bord

occipital. Trois ocelles trés petits, mais distincts, surtout les deux

latéraux.

Pronotum large, déprimé en dessus, presque subbordé, plus encore

que chez A. opaca. _Mésonotum et métanotum comme -chez

l A. opaca (mésonotum faiblement et briévement rétréci), mais 1’échan-

crure méso-métanotale est encore beaucoup plus forte: le métanotum

s’éléve d’abord perpendiculairement derritre l’échancrure et forme

ensuite deux lobes élégamment courbés en ailes d’oiseau qui vole. Ces

lobes sont beaucoup plus longs que chez l’opaca, terminés en pointe,

et semblables 4 deux ailes ou 4 deux cornes, Les stigmates inférieurs

du métathorax proéminents comme chez!’ A. opaca. Entre leur ex-

trémité et celle des ailes du métanotum se trouve de chaque cété une

profonde échancrure qui forme plutét plus d’un demi cercle (beaucoup

moins chez l’opaca, ot les ailes sont courtes et obtuses, et chez la

race lunaris de la capensis qui a un métanotum analogue).

Heaille élevée, sans dents, ni épines, médiocrement échancrée au

sommet, Pédicule longuement prolongé en arri¢re en cylindre, comme

chez Vopaca, Abdomen assez grand ; premier segment avancé en

dessus, devant.

Hpistome, aire frontale, thorax, pattes et pédicule assez luisants

irréguliérement réticulés. Le reste de la téte est mat, avec un reflet

soyeux, et a une sculpture trés fine et trés dense, irréguliérement

réticulée-ponctuée avec tendance A rugosités longitudinales sur le

front. Abdomen trés luisant, trés faiblement réticulé. Face déclive

du métanotum luisante, avec de faibles rides transversales.

Une pilosité jaunatre, fine pointue, assez longue, abondamment

répandue sur tout le corps et sur les cuisses. Sur les tibias et les

scapes elle est bien plus courte, oblique, mais abondante. Pubescence

presque nulle.

460. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX,

D’un roux jaundtre. Abdomen, sauf les 2 anterieurs du premier

segment, d’un brun noiratre. Dessus de la téte brundtre. Pattes et

antennes d’un brun jaundtre. Tarses jaunatres. ;

Travancore, Inde (M. Ferguson).

Cette belle espece se rapproche surtout de ’opaca, mais elle est

beaucoup plus grande et plus luisante. L’opaca a de longues épines

alécaille et une pilosité rare et obtuse. La pilosité rapproche

P A, Fergusonide la modesta, dont elle est du reste enti¢érement différente.

2me Sous-Famitte DOLICHODERIN A.

TABLEAU DES GENRES (chez l’ouvriére),

Un aiguillon distinct. Pédicule trés allongé, avec un noeud der-

riére, métanotum bispineux......... Grex. ANEURETUS (Emery).

Aiguillon rudimentaire. Pédicule court, de forme ordinaire...... 1

1. Peau chitineuse raide, cassante, 4 sculpture souvent grossicére.

Métanotum de forme particuli¢re, plus ou moins cubique ou

anguleux. Gésier sans calice et sans partie moyenne. Abdomen

arrondi, non prolongé en avant.........GEN. DOLICHODERUS

(Lund.).

Peau chitineuse molle, délicate, 4 sculpture fine. Métanotum

presque toujours arrondi. Gésier avec un calice plus ou moins

rudimentaire dont les s¢pales sont chitineuses et retrouss¢es

en parasol ‘des leur base | ool ice cbc ec.csmslenscuvecsecccuowecwecmeeel

2. Orifice du cloaque apical. Dos de ’abdomen prolongé en avant

et cachant le pédicule ; écaille rudimentaire.

Gen. THCHNOMYRMEX (Mayr).

Orifice du cloaque infére ; cinquiéme segment de l’abdomen en-

tiérement caché sous le quatriéme, comme chez tous les genres

de la sous famille, sauf Technomyrmez. Des glandes ana-

Jes en général odorifiques ... 2.200 --.scecccess coerce coe seneccnss scat

3. Dos de P abdomen non prolongé enavant. Ecaille non inclinée ou

i peine inclinée. Gésieravec un grand calice retroussé, dont

les sépales recouvrent la boule en tout ou en partie.

Guy. IRIDOMYRMEX (Mayr).

Dos de Vabdomen prolongé en avant et recouvrant Je pédicule,

comme chez les Technomyrmed sevecsseresecereeereescscercoeseed

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 461

4, Hecaille inclinée, basse, mais élevée an dessus du pédicule. Pal-

pes maxillaires de 2 4 4, labiaux de 3, parfois de 2 articles,

Les glandes anales ont un conduit exeréteur central. Gésier

ayec un calice retroussé de grandeur moyenne, a sépales dis-

tinctes, recourbées...Gun. BOTHRIOMYRMEX (Emery).

Hcaille rudimentaire, entigrement soudée au pédicule, Palpes max-

illaires de 6, labiaux de 4 articles. Chaque cellule des

glandes anales s’ouvre directement dans la yessie anale par

son propre conduit, Callice du gésier en général trés rudi-

mentaire, presque nul, mais fortement chitinisé 4 l’origine

. des valvules qui le constituent presque entiérement............

Gen. T. APINOMA (Forst.),

1% Genre ANEURETUS (Emery).

Emery (Anal, Soc. Ent. France, 22 Février, 1893), en fondant ce nou-

veau genre sur une espéce de Ceylan, récoltée par M. E. Simon, a

eru devoir le placer dans les Ponerine, & cause de Vaiguillon. Je

considére cette opinion comme érronée. Le genre Aneuretus est cer-

tamement extrémement curieux mais il se rattache sans aucun doute

aux Dolichoderince ou il me parait oceuper une place voisine de Doli-

choderus. Emery a attaché trop d’importance 4 la grosseur de Paiguil-

lon qui est le seul caractére séparant ce genre des autres Dolichode-

rince. Je dis la grosseur, car tous les Dolichoderine ont un aiguillon,

tres petit, rudimentaire si l’on veut, cela est vrai, mais nullement

transformé en appareil de soutien, servant a faire jaillir le venin

comme chez les Camponotine. Il s’agit done d’une simple différ-

ence de calibre, de développement d’un organe, différence exception-

elle, il est vrai, dans cette sous-famille, mais fréquente dans d’autres,

Tous les autres caractéres de lAneuretus Simoni le raitachent

aux Dolichoderine, et je ne puis comprendre J’analogie qu’ Emery

trouve entre sa téte et celle des Typhlomyrmex. Les antennes, la

chitine, lepistome, tout est semblable jusque dans les plus petits

détails aux genres Iridomyrmex, Dolichoderus et T. apinoma. Le

thorax resemble 4 celui de beaucoup de Dolichoderus qui est souvent

bispineux. Le pédicule allongé retrouve, d’une autre facon il est vrai,

chez certaines Acantholepis, chez les Occophylla, certains Dolichoderus,

&c.; il ressemble, il est vrai, surtout 4 celui du premier noeud de

beaucoup de Myrmicine, mais. ceci est un fait de convergence et

462 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL AISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

d’adaptation, non pas de phylogénése. Je soupgonne quil s’agit

d’une adaptation 4 usage de l’aiguillon. Hnfin |’abdomen n’a pas

trace de constriction; il a tout 4 fait V’aspect de celui d’un

Dolichoderine 4 part Paiguillon qu’on voit sortir du cloaque. Le gésier

est encore inconnu, mais ne servira guére 4 éclaircir cette question

puisqu'il est 4 peu prés identique chez les Ponerine et le genre

Dolichoderus.

Quoi qwil en soit, ce genre constitue un certain lien entre les

Dolichoderine et les Poneriuce et semble montrer comment les pre-

miers sont sortis des seconds.

Des Hétérogynes solitaires sont sortis les Amb/yoponine, comme

premiére souche des fourmis. De ceux-ci sont sortis les Ponerine

Les Ponerine ont donné le jour 4 trois sous familles: les Doryline,

les Myrmicine, et les Dolichoderince, indépendamment l'une de l’autre.

Des Dolichoderince sont sortis les Camponotine, comme groupe le

plus récent et le plus dérivé (le plus éloigné de la souche). J’ai émis ces

vues sur la phylogénése des fourmis en 1890, 4 la réunion de Bréme

des naturalistes allemands, et je ne puis que les confirmer aujourd’ hui.

A. Simoni (Emery).

%:—L.: 18 mill. Antennes de 12 articles, 4 funicule filiforme.

Mandibules avec trois dents devant, denticulées derri¢re. Hpistome

échancré devant, grand, prolongé en arriére entre l’insertion des

antennes. Yeux grands. Téte cordi forme. Thorax 4 sutures fortement

imprimées ; métanotum avec deux épines. Pédicule formant devant

un long cylindre et derriére un petit noeud arrondi, Du reste caracttres

du genre. Faiblement réticulée, Presque glabre. D’un jaune a

peine roussdtre.

Ceylan (BH. Simon).

gme Genre DoxicHopseRus (Lund.)

Tableau des ouvrieres.

Un sillon longitudinal profond sur le vertex, au milieu, entre les

yeux. L. 5°54 7 mill. Noir; abdomen roussdtre posté-

rieurement. Téte plus large que longue. Stature robuste.

Presque tout le corps, les pattes et les scapes lisses, Iuisants,

hérissés de longs poils assez abondants. Pédicule surmonté

d’un noeud plus large que long ... D. SULCATICEPS (Mayr).

Pas de sillon longitudinal sur le vertex, Stature moins robuste....1

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 463

1, Pédicule allongé, surmonté devant d’un noeud bas, plus long que

large et au moins aussi long que haut. Brun, poilu, assez

Inasam tei) Ws 4sD ay, mill) Oi cee aos deseo D. Sieerr (n. sp.)

Pédicule surmonté d’une écaille. Thorax bigibbeux ............ 2

2. Corps et pattes sans pilosité dressée. Mésonotum avec un sillon

longitudinal médian weseeeneco @eeceevgnt® @eeeee8ece0e 20022809888 see gee 3

Corps couvert d’une pilosité dressée plus ou moins abondante.

Mésonotum convexe, sans sillon ..1.ssccecoses ccscesecccas ove 4

3. L. 4:8 46 mill. Subopaque, finement et densément réticulé-

ponctué. Couvert d’une fine pubescence jaundtre. Thorax

bigibbeux ; meétanotum anguleux, cun¢iforme, concave

derriére. Mandibules ponctuées, pubescentes. Rouge jaun-

atre. Pattes plus jaunatres ; téte et abdomen bruns.........

wee ccs tesonscesseececcerccccesccssesseeecsnstecsseeL), HEAT (Kimani

Dun eo noir ; aaa dibulee fansub tarses et articulations

ferrugineux. Un ee grand et plus opaque que le

yO lniecia a ainweseeesier eee cantaswantese =e var. Fuscus (Emery).

L: 2:3 mill. Tout le corps ices finement réticulé, finement

pubescent. D’un jaune rougedtre ou brunatre foncé, uni-

forme. Thorax analogue 4 celui du précédent.........0+ eee

becvancacns soccsenssosessciasseesouscotas es. D. Moeerwent (Forel).

4, L.4 mill. Mandibules mates, trés densément ponctuées, noires,

bordées de roux, arméesde 10 4 12 dents. Téte large,

Articles 346 du funicule 4 peine aussi longs que larges.

Métanotum avec une surface supérieure plane, un court

talus devant et une face déclive perpendiculairement tron-

quée, Noir, mat, abdomen subluisant. Ponctué. Pube-

scence fine. Pilosité dressée longue sur le corps, nulle sur

les pattes et les scapes. Pronotum non bordé. Mésonotum

BulbeinemlAttess-<resssnesceanasennes D. CARBONARIUS (Emery).

Mandibules luisantes, éparsément ponctuées, Métanotum cunéi-

forme, n’ayant que deux surfaces séparées par une aréte trans-

versale, la basale ascendante, la déclive descendante. Pattes

Gl SCAPES POUUS <--seesnascsnccsecuss snscasnscaaceweseseonsncedenas seed

5. Articles 3 4 6 des funicules beaucoup plus longs que larges. Face

basale du métanotum deux fois plus longue que large, peu

convexe, en plan ascendant, Taille assez gréle, téte plus

464 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

longue que large. Pilosité dressée assez éparse. Sculpture

et pubescence intermediaires entre les deux espéces sui-

vantes. L, 3°5 4 4 mill. Téte assez luisante. Ferrugi-

neux ou brun; abdomen brun, Antennes, mandibules et

pattes TOUSSALTES ......0.ceeesececeneeee wee LD), AFFINIS (Emery).

Noir oud’un brun noir; sculpture plus forte; plus robuste

sniots sash swvslecoddsceteeescetensshesecett=cVal. NIGRICANS (Kimara

Noir ; pattes rousses. Taille plus gréle. Tibias presque

sans poils dressés..............+.0....Val. GLABRIPES, 0. var.

Articles 3 46 des funicules seulement un peu plus longs que larges.

Face basale du métanotum convexe, moins de deux fois plus

lonenerquelarce: iA aia.o, mules. .cccae sconces boveoeast

6. Taille robuste. L. 3 & 3°3 mill. Téte au moins aussi large

que longue, 4 cdtés trés convexes. Pronotum plus large

que long avec le cou. Téte mate, densément réticulée-ponc-

inée, avec de plus grosses fossette éparses. Thorax grossiére-

ment rugueux. Pilosité et pubescence abondantes. Noir

ou d’un brun noir ; pattes et scapes bruns ; funicules, mandi-

bules et tarses roussdtres......... D. BITUBERCULATUS (Mayr),

Taille plus gréle. L. 2°7 43 mill. Teéte plus longue que large a

cotés moins convexes. Pronotum aussi long que large, avec

le cou. Téte subopaque, parfois luisante, moins densément

ponctuée. Thorax en partie subopaque, finement réticulé-

ponetué, avec de grosses fossettes plus espacées, non con-

fluentes. Pilosité plus éparse. Pubescence assez diluée. Abdo-

men trés luisant. D’un brunadtre sale, assez uniformes. -

Abdomen plus foncé. Parfois enti¢rement brunatre. Patte

et antennes roussdtres. Tarses jaundtres, avec les crochets

UNS = Seo screeseccucserceoe se reacswoee= srs -as)). 7 TAPROBAN ZH (Samay

Un peu plus grand et de couleur roussatre plus claire, testacée-

FETYUGINEUSC....+-.0ncceneeesarennenese var. GRACILIPES (Mayr.)

Liste des Dolichoderus de Inde ; synonymie et geographie.

1. D. sulcateceps (Mayr).

Burma (Colonel Bingham). Répand une odeur tenace Waprés

Colonel Bingham.

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 465

Ze J. Stgget, Wasps

% (Voir tableau). Mandibules lisses et luisantes vers lextrémité,

finement réticulées vers la base, avec de gros points fort épars,

armées de 10 4 12 dents. Téte en trapéze trés arrondi, retrécie devant,

aussi longue que large au milieu (sans les mandibules). Yeux gros.

Hpistome comme chez le D. sulcaticeps, a bord antérieur presque

droit (trés faiblement concave vers le milieu). Aire frontale triangu-

laire, peu distincte. Les scapes dépassent locciput de presque la

moitié de leur longueur. Pronotum deux fois plus large que long, peu

convexe. Suture pro-mésonotale profonde. Mésonotum un peu plus

long que large. Hchancrure méso-métanotale trés forte. Métanotum

cun¢iforme, 4 face basale faiblement convexe, un peu plus courte que

la face déclive ; cette derniére en talus abrupt. Passage des deux

faces arrondi. Noeud du pédicule (voir tableau) cunéiforme-arrondi ;

sa face postérieure, lentement inclinée, est plus longue que sa face

antérieure et se continue en arritre par un pétiole encore plus allongé

que chez la D. sulcateceps.

Corps, pattes et antennes luisants, faiblement réticulés, avec d’assez-

eros points épars, irréguliers, souvent en partie élevés, piligéres.

Epistome, métathorax, cdtés du mésothorax et une partie du noeud

du pédicule mats ou subopaques, densément réticulés-ponctués (cdtés

réticulés-rugueux).

Tout le corps, les pattes et les antennes, ces dernicres jusqu’ a l’ex-

trémité du funicule, hérissés d’une pilosité jaundtre, raide, de longueur

médiocre, assez espacée. Sur la massue sensorielle des antennes,

cette pilosité est courte, mais distincte. Pubescence presque oulle.

D’un brun chitain assez foneé, uniforme. Base des scapes, base

de la massue, mandibules et devant de la téte d’un brun plus clair, un

peu roussatre ou jaunatre.

Bangkok, récolté par M. Sigg.

Bien caractérisé par la forme du pédicule.

3. D. Feae (Emery).

Burma (Colonel Bingham), Tenasserim (Fea), Frontitre de Siam

(Major Fulton).

Race fuscus (Em.) Tenasserim (Fea), Burma (Bingham).

4, D. Moggridgei (¥orel).

Sibsagar, Assam (Mr. Wood-Mason).

466 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

5. D. carbonarius (Emery).

Perak (Presqw ile de Malacca).

6. D. affinis (Emery).

Tenasserim (Fea); Ye Valley et Thaungyin Valley, Burma (Colonel

Bingham); Frontiere de Siam (Major Fulton).

Var. nigricans, Em. ‘Tenassarim (Fea).

Var. glabripes,n. v. Taille plus gréle ; écaille trés inclinée ; tibias

sans poils dressés, ou peu s’en faut. Sikkim, avec des chenilles, Arho-

pala abseus (3,000 feet),

7. D. botuberculatus (Mayr).

Bangkok (Sigg) ; Burma (Bingham); Kanara (Wroughton).

8. D. taprobancee (Smith).

= D. gracilipes, Mayr (var.)

= D. semirufus (André),

Répandu dans toute l’Inde, de Himalaya, 4 Ceylan (sauf au

Nord-Ouest).

Une & de Ceylan correspond en tout point a la description de

Smith qui a la priorité sur les autres.

Ceylan (Yerbury); Kanara (Wroughton}; Trevandrum (Ferguson) ;

South Konkan (Wroughton), etc., etc.

Var. gracilipes (Mayr) ; Calcutta (Rothney); Annam (par André) ;

Ceylan (Yerbury); Kanara (Aitken); Barrackpore (Rothney) ;

Burma (Bingham) ; Bangalore (Rothney), &c.

3™e Genre TECHNOMYRMEX (Mayr).

1. T. albépes, Smith.

= tapinoma nigrum (Mayr).

== tapinomea albitarse (Motschulsky).

%. L. 2443 mill. Assez ramassé. Scapes dépassant un peu le

bord occipital (de +de sa longueur), Echancrure méso-métanotale

anguleuse. Face basale du métanotum trés courte, séparée de la face

déclive par un angle droit ; cette derni¢re plane, obliquement tronquée.

Noire ou d’un noir brun. Mandibules, pattes et funicules bruns ; troch~

anters, genoux et tarses d’un jaune pale, blanchdtre. Souvent l’ex-

trémité du funicule jaundtre. Parfois les pattes sont enticrement brunes

(var, bruneipes, n. v.) Mate, densément ponctuée ; abdomen reticulé-

ridé ; métathorax plus grossiérement. réticulé-ponctue. Pubescente,

Parfois en partie subopaque.

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 467

Espéce cosmopolite des tropiques. Trés commune dans toute |’Inde.

Ceylan (Yerbury); Poona, Kanara (Wroughton); Calcutta, Mysore,

Travancore, Cochin, Bhavnagar, Madras (Rothney), &e.

Race drunneus, n. st. L. 3 mill. Téte plus grosse:et:plus large. Yeux

situés plutét en arriére du milieu des cdtés de la téte (un peu en avant

chez I’ albipes). Les 2/3 postérieurs de l’abdomen noiratres 4 segments

bordés de jaune ; funicules d’un brun foncé ; le reste d’un brun clair,

un peu roussdtre ; tarses plus pales. Pattes plus gréles que chez le

type ; devant du thorax plus convexe ; métanotum moins anguleux.

Poona ( Wroughton).

2. T. bicolor, Emery.

Ceylan (EH. Simon).

Differe du T. albipes par sa forme plus gréle (L, 2°5 & 2°8 mill.),

ses antennes plus longues (scapes dépassant locciput d’ 1/4 de leur

longueur), le funicule 4 peine épaissi vers le bout, avec les articles du

milieu presque de moitié plus longs que larges. Pubescence bien

plus rare ; abdomen luisant. Téte et abdomen noirs ; tout le reste du

corps, les pattes et les antennes d’un jaune testacé,

4° Genre InIpomyrMEx (Mayr).

Tableau des owvriéres.

Dos du thorax (sauf le devant du pronotum) horizontal en profil.

Une incisure trés étroite entre le mésonotum et le métano-

tum. Ce dernier cubique, avec une face basale horizontale

et une face déclive obliquement tronquée. ecaille verticale,

large, haute, mince, arrondie. Robuste, glabre, luisant,

faiblement réticulé. Noir; mandibules et antennes rous-

sdtres; tarses et genoux testacés.....,......1, GLABER (Mayr),

Dos du thorax formant deux convexités s¢parées par une large

échancrure évasée ; la premiére convexité pro-mésonotale

faiblement et longuement inclinée en arriére ; la seconde

formée par la courte bosse du métanotum qui est arrondi.

Keaille inclinée en avant.......0.-sessscesee sine sleeie jicecisestnactace 2

2. Corps pourvu d’une longue pilosité dressée, courte sur les tibias et

les tarses, L. 3:5 43:7 mill. Mandibules avec 9 A 10

dents. caille inclinée, épaisse, aussi longue que haute.

Finement pubescent ; luisant, microscopiquement ponctué.

Dun brun noirdtre ; bouche, thorax (surtout dessous) et

468 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. TX.

pédicule roussatres ; antennes, tarses et articulations des

tarses d’un jaune testacé pale.........[. LAVIGATUS (Emery).

Corps presque enticrement dépourvu de pilosité dressée ; tibias et

scapes sans poils dressés....2..0cscessecvocuneeceoeccs= th ode eeadenel

3. Hcaille trés fortement inclinée an avant. Noir, faiblement luisant.

Antennes, mandibules, funicules et tarses d’un ferrugineux

pale. Hpistome d’un roux obscur ; extrémité des funicules

brunie. Téte, prothorax et cuisses roussditres. Hnti¢rement

glabre. L. 3°2 mill (d’aprés Smith)...I. enasratus (Smith),

Heaille a peine inclinée en avant, haute, beaucoup plus haute

qu’épaisse, et plus haute que large, 4 bord obtus. L. 3°3 a

5 mill. Quelques poils dressés aux deux extrémités du

corps et dessous. NSubopaque; finement reticulé-ponctue,

avec une pubescence grisdtre qui recouvre le corps, les

pattes et les scapes, et rend la sculpture parfois difficile 4

reconnaitre. Noir ou d’un noir brunatre ; antennes, mandi-

bules et pattes brunes ; tarses plus ou moins pales. Un

reflet metallique d'un bleu verddtre ou d’un vert bleuatre,

surtout marqué sur l’abdomen............1. ANCEPS (Roger).

L, 3'7 mill, Brun, un peu plus élancé, Convexité antérieure

du thorax un peu plus faible et plus allongée ; métanotum un

peu plus bas et plus arrondi. Pas d’éclat metallique.............. °

Var. WATSONII, n. var.

Liste des espéces du genre IRIDOMYRMEX.

1. J. glaber (Mayr).

Poona (Wroughton) 8; Kanara (Wroughton) &8 @. Jusquwiici

on avait cru cette espéce exclusivement Australienne, mais la double

trouvaille de M. Wroughton ne laisse aucun doute sur sa présence en

Inde. Y a-t-elle été importée par les vaissaux? Je ne puis découvrir

Ja plus petite différence entre les exemplaires de l’Inde et ceux

d’Australie, ni chez Pouvriére, ni chez la 9.

2. J. levigatus (Emery).

Carin Cheba, Birmanie (Fea).

3. J. glabratus (Smith).

Malacca (Vaprés, Smith). Si Mayr n’avait pas controlé le type de

Smith et constaté sa forte inclinaison de Vécaille, on pourrait croire

qu il s’agit d’une forme douteuse ou d’une variété de 1’ anceps.

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 469

4, I. anceps (Roger).

= I, eacisus (Mayr).

Répandu dans toute Inde, de Ceylan 4 la Birmanie ; Assam

(Smythies). Se trouve aussi 4 Java et 4 Sumatra. Cependant je ne

Vai pas recu de la cété occidentale, ni du Nord-Ouest (cette derni¢re

partie est: presque toujours exclue pour les espéces qui n’appartiennent

pas A la faune paléarctique).

Var. I. Watsonzi, n. var. (Voir tableau). Birmanie supérieure

(M. Watson).

Cette espéce repand une odeur aromatique.

5™¢- Genre BorHriomyRMEX {Hmery).

Tableau des ouvriéres.

Heaille trés inclinée en avant, moins haute que la longueur du

pédicule, Yeux fort petits. Enticrement d’un jaune testacé

pales LL) W-8 a) 2) mil se.c-+. acesovecseass. MVORSY Tepe

Eeaille peu ou & peine inclinée, beaucoup plus haute que la

longueur du pédicule ........,ccseressnesecoes sweenietasejenes setae

1. Palpes maxillaires de deux, labiaux de deux articles. Second

article du funicule trés court, aussi court que le 3™°, ou peu

s’en faut, aussi large que long. Mandibules armées de 7 dents.

Couleur noire. L. 1°54 1:9 mill .........B. WALSHI, n. sp.

Palpes maxillaires de deux, labiaux de 3 articles. Second article du

funicule sensiblement plus long que le 3™°, bien plus long

que large. Mandibules armées de 446 dents. Testacé ou

brun clair. L. 24 2°8 mill.........B. WROUGHTONII, n. sp.

Mandibules fournies de 4 dents obtuses, L. 242-8 mill, Téte

carrée, aussi large que longue. D’un brun jaunaire sale.

Echancrure meso-métathoracique assez forte. Pubescence de

la téte fine et assez courte. Troisiéme article du funicule

aussi large que long; 4™e plus large que long.........s0-cees.++

Steet Wsbevdecasdespsessevensceresrscesessaceel Log VV ROUGH TON TiMe ian ane

Mandibules armées de 6 dents; 3™e article du funicule un

peu plus long que large...rec-seseesee--seores var, VICTORIA, 0, var.

L. 2 42:2 mill, Téte un peu plus allongée et plutdt plus

large derriére, Mandibules armées de 4 4 6 dents moins

obtuses, D’un jaune brunatre sale ou d’un brun jaunatre

plus clair, Echancrure du thorax plus faible, Pubescence

de la téte plus longue et moins fine, Troisieéme article du

funicule un peu plus large que long........r. B, DALY, n. st.

470 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

N. B.—Tous les Bothriomyrmex de la faune de l’Inde ont deux

articles aux palpes maxillaires, tandis que les formes Méditerranéennes :

meridionalis, Roger, et atlant?s, Forel, en ont quatre. Ces derniéres

ont en outre la téte plus allongée, avec un bord postérieur assez aigu,

tandis que celui des formes de I’Inde est obtus. Le B. puszllus, Mayr,

d’Australie se rapporte par ses palpes et sa téte au type de l’Inde, et

ressemble au B. Walshz par ses palpes labiaux de deux articles, tandis

que par ses yeux et sa couleur il se rapproche plutot du B. myops.

Inste des espéces du genre BOTHRIOMYRMEX.

1 B. Wroughtoniz, nov. spec.

Poona (Wroughton) ; Kanara (Wroughton) ; Dehra-Dun (Smy-

thies) ; Ceylan (Yerbury). épand une odeur de rose volatile,

lorsqu’on le dérange, d’aprés M. Wroughton. les formes Mediter-

ranéennes ne répandent pas d’odeur.

% (Voir tableau). Les scapes atteignent le bord occipital

de la téte, sans le dépasser. Cdtés de la téte convexes. Hchancrure

m¢so-métathoracique plus forte que chez le meridionalis.

Q9:—L: 8543°8 mill. Téte large, convexe, plus large que

longue, plus large derriére que devant, 4 cdtés convexes, a bord

postérieur obtus, arrondi, 4 peine concave au milieu, et un peu convexe

de chaque edté (chez le meridionalis, la téte est rectangulaire-allongée,

concave derriére, de toute autre forme). Les scapes dépassent a

peine Yocciput. Face basale du métanotum aussi longue que la face

déclive (beaucoup plus courte chez le meridionalis). Du reste comme

le meridionals (aussi les ailes hyalines), mais la pubescence est plus

fine, plus pruineuse, les funicules sont bruns, sauf le ler article, et la

pilosité dressée est presque nulle.

@ :—L: 2 4 2:2 mill. Mandibules avec le bord interne paralléle au

bord externe. Elles ont 2a 3 dents. Bord postérieur de la téte fort

convexe. Premier article du funicule plus court et plus renflé que

chez le merzdionalis ; scutellum plus élevé en dessus du métanotum ;

face basale de ce dernier plus courte que la face déclive (plus longue

chez le meridionalis) ; organes génitaux pales, plus gros que chez le

meridionalts. D’un brun plus ou moins noiratre. Pattes et antennes

d’un jaune testacé pile sale ; les funicules (sauf le ler article) d’ un

brun jaunatre,

LES FORMICIDES DES INDES ET DE CEYLAN. 471

Var. Victorie n. var. (Voir tableau) ; Victoria Pic, Hongkong.

(Dr. Ris.)

Race Dalyi, n. st. (Voir tableau).—Coonoor (M. Daly); Barrack-

pore (M. Rothney) ; Kanara, Poona (M. Wroughton).

2, B. myops, 0. sp.

Kolaba, South Konkan (Wroughton), Dehra-Dun (Smythies).

% : (Voir tableau). Mandibules armées de 6 4 7 dents. Les

palpes labiaux ont trois articles presque égaux. Les scapes n/atteig-

nent pas tout-a-fait le bord occipital ; ce dernier est relativement

assez aigu. Second article du funicule, aussi large ou presque aussi

large que long, un peu plus long que le 3™°. Ce dernier et les

suivants sont beaucoup plus larges que lengs. Le gésier est identique

aceluidu B. meridionalis et 4 celui de toutes les autres espéces du

genre. Téte un peu plus longue que large, trés semblable 4 celle du

B. atlantis ; les yeux sont aussi petits, mais les scapes un peu plus

courts. Thorax plus court et plus large que chez les B. meridionalis

et race atlantis; les sutures bien plus profondément imprimées,

Véchancrure méso-métanotale plus forte que chez le meridionalis i. sp.

Couleur, sculpture, pubescence comme chez le &. atlantis. ‘Taille

plus petite.

Q@:—L: 3d mill, Tete un peu plus longue que large. Neaille

basse, & peine aussi haute qu’ épaisse. Les scapes dépassent & peine

Pocciput. Bord postérieur de la téte assez obtus, 4 peine échancré au

milieu, et convexe de chaque cdté de l’échancrure (chez le merzdionalis

il forme un bord presque droit, 4 peine, mais également concave d’un

bout 4 Vautre, et fort aigu). Cdtés de la téte un peu convexes

(paralléles chez le meridionalis), Face basale du métanotum plus

longue que la face déclive (bien plus courte chez le meridionalis).

D’un brun noiratre. Tarses et articulations pales. Ailes manquent.

Trés voisine de celle du B. Wroughtoniz.

3. B. Walshd, un. sp.

Calcutta (Dr. Tull Walsh) ; Orissa (M. Taylor).

8 (Voir tableau), Trés petit. Téte et thorax bruns ou noiratres ;

abdomen noirdtre, avec le bord des segments jaundtre. Pattes et funi-

cules d’un testacé roussdtre. Thorax court et épais, presque sans

échancrure méso-métathoracique. ,

472 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

2 Presque identique a celle du B. Wroughtonii, mais un peu plus

petite (L. 3°3 mill).

6™° Genre Taprnoma (Foerst).

1. T. melanocephalum (Fabr.)

= Formica nana (Jerdon),

= Myrmica pellucida (Smith),

= Formica familiaris (Smith).

Kanara (Wroughton); Ceylon (Yerbury); Toute l’Inde, spéciale-

ment, Mysore (Jerdon), ete. Espéce cosmopolite, commune partout

sous les tropiques. Mysore, Madras, Bombay, Bhavnagar, Bangalore

(Rothney). :

8 :—L:1541°'8 mill. Teéte seule ou téte et thorax d’un brun plus

ou moins noiratre ou roussatre. Le reste du corps, les pattes et les

antennes d’un jaune pale, souvent blanchdtre. Thorax peu convexe,

sans échancrure. Les 3™° et 4™° articles des palpes maxillaires

élargis, foliacés, en général du moins. Les scapes dépassent 4 peine

Yocciput. Assez mate. Abdomen avec une fine pubescence soyeuse.

2. T. indicum, n. sp.

Poona (Wroughton).

8 :—L:1:3415 mill. Palpes sans articles foliacés (labiaux

de 4, maxill. de 6 articles). Les scapes atteignent tout juste le bord

occipital. Epistome sans échancrure distincte, un peu évasé au

milieu. Dos du thorax sans aucune échancrure. Wntiérement d’un

jaune roussatre pale, finement pubescent, sans pilosité dressée, finement

réticulé ; abdomen faiblement chagriné. Téte et thorax un peu plus

foneés que abdomen. Calice du gésier retroussé, a sépales recourbees,

distinctes, formant un passage a celles du genre Bothriomyrmex (le

gésier du 7. melanocephalum a un calice atrophié, sans sépales dis-

tinctes, comme celui de l’erraticum). Les articles 2 et 3 du funicule

sont beaucop plus larges que longs, les articles 4 4 8 au moins aussi

larges que longs (chez le melanocephalum, les articles 8a 8 sont plus

longs que larges), Mandibules avec 4 dents distinctes devant et

plusieurs denticules microscopiques derriére.

Cette espéce ressemble beaucoup au 7. minutwm, Mayr, d’Australie,

mais chez ce dernier, les scapes n’atteignent pas le bord occipital,

et la couleur est bien plus foncée, d’un brun foncé; abdomen au

moins aussi foncé que le reste.

473

COLLECTING WAYS AND COLLECTING DAYS,

Il—THE LIMESTONE ROCKS.

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 2nd April, 1895.)

The mist hung heavy on the water, but from where I sat at the

edge of the marsh, I could see the dawn breaking behind it. Great

shafts of light, at first pale and dim, then glowing deep red, began to

pierce the thick haze. Before this light had come, in the murky

gloom a couple of little egrets (Herodias garzetta), unaware of my

proximity, had alighted almost at my feet, looming so large that

I had at first taken them for their distant cousin the Jabiru (Xenorhyn-

chus asiaticus). COarelessly they stalked about in the shallow water

peering into it for their morning meal.

From the centre of the marsh, where the fog lay heaviest, came a

deafening uproar of quacking, whistling and piping, with the flutter

of many wings beating the water, and the whirring rush of the flocks

of teal as they rose and swept away to their feeding grounds. I sat

listening trying to make out the calls of the different birds as they

came in a babble of sounds to my ear. The hoarse grating clang

of the comb-duck or nuckta (Sareediorius melanonotus), the “ gra-aa-ak”

of the cotton teal, and the plaintive clear shrill whistle of the red

teal (Dendrocygna javanica) were easily distinguishable. From the

far side of the marsh the purple coots (Porphyrio) were calling loudly,

sandpipers were whistling, and the swirling wild cry of the curlew

rang pleasantly over the water, calling up far-away memories of

solitary rambles by a wild rocky shore in the west of Ireland, where

over the cliff stretched a wide expanse of barren heath and bog-land,

and in the far distance nestling among trees on rising ground lay my

home among cottages thatched and picturesque in their old fashion-

ed way. A curlew was the first bird I ever shot, and though it is

close on forty years ago, that exciting stalk is never to be forgotten.

How I wriggled and crept and made my way, with infinite pains and

to the great detriment of my clothes, from rock to rock along the wet

sand on my stomach, until I got within shot. How, panting more

from the excitement than the exertion I had gone through, I tried to

A474. JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, IX.

steady my trembling hands and the old single-barrel Brown-bess

I had borrowed on the rock in front of me, and at last pulled the

heavy trigger. With what a bang it went off and what a kick it

gave me on the nose and cheek, for I had forgotten to press the

butt tight to my shoulder. It did not matter though, for one of the

two curlews I had fired at lay dead, and though my nose did

bleed. and my face was swollen and lopsided for a couple

of days after, what did I care; I had got my bird. I re-

member too that I skinned and stuffed that curlew, and a

woeful bedraggled likeness of the original it presented when stuck up

with wires on a wooden stand, but it was my first specimen! How-

ever to return to the Limestone rocks. I was crouched behind a

fallen boulder at the foot of a hill and the: marsh lay at my feet.

Behind. me the rocks, in scarped walls and rugged ridges, rose tier

above tier, steep and utterly inaccessible, except by the one path

pointed out to me by the Karen guide the day before. I had started

long before dawn from the zayat or rest-house by the riverside to get

to the foot of the limestone hil! which I intended to climb, but it being

still dark when I arrived, and the old Karen guide saying it would

be dangerous to attempt the ascent before daylight, I sat down ona

fallen rock at the foot of the hill and listened to the sounds of birdlife

on the marsh, the waters of which swept up to the rocks on one side.

These limestone hills are, I believe, peculiar to Burma. Geologists

say they are of the same age as the carboniferous limestone of Hurope,

but very few fossils have been found though the hills abound in caves,

which one would think should be rich in the remains of animals if

not of prehistoric man ; but the fact is, judging from the appearance

presented by the coast-line from Moulmain to Mergui to-day, with its

numerous rocky islands rising there from the sea, these steep lime-

stone hills, now comparatively far inland, were no doubi once

surrounded by the sea, whose waves incessantly sweeping through

their caves and crannies sufficiently accounts for the paucity of fossil

remains to be found in them now. The most marked feature of these

rocks is that they occur in solitary masses, rising abruptly with

scarped sides out of the alluvial plains in the valleys of the Salween,

the Gyne, the Ataran,and other rivers in Tenasserim. Their preci-

pitous pinnacles worn to needle points and knife-like ridges, are the

COLLECTING WAYS AND COLLECTING DAYS. 475

chosen breeding haunts of the two species of adjutant, of the great

king vulture (Otogyps calvus), and of the bar-tailed fishing eagle

(Polioaétus icthayétus). Among their fastnesses the “ 'Taw-seik ” —

the Burmese wild goat (Nemorhedus sumatrensis)—lives a secure life

moksohs ”

(hunters) care to toil up these almost inaccessible heights. That curious

thrush (Gypsophila crispifrons) too is found nowhere except on these

isolated peaks, and it was chiefly for the purpose of securing a series of

this rare bird that I had stopped for a day to explore this hill. Moreover

though it was too late for adjutant’s eggs (they breed in November

and December), the guide told me he knew the whereabouts of two

nests of the fishing eagle, and I had myself the evening before marked

down, with a pair of binoculars, a tree just below the topmost ridge,

to which I had seen a male of the larger wreath-billed hornbill

(Rhyticeros undulatus) fly, with crop and gullet distended with

fruit—proof positive that his mate was somewhere around, probably in

that very tree, sitting cemented up in her nest-hole, and that he like a

good husband was carrying her her supper.

so far as man is concerned, for few Burmese or Karen “

As soon as the guide declared there was sufficient light, we com-

menced the ascent, and horribly rugged and difficult it was. In ten

minutes I had to stop to take breath and to steady myself, for it was a

regular case of climbing by hands as well as feet and clinging on by

one’s eyelashes. We were on the extreme point of a low pinnacle

of rock which was a hard dark-grey limestone worn into holes and

erannies by the action of water. Above and around a thin scrub

jungle allowed great bare masses of the rock to be seen. The vegeta-

tion was all stunted and completely different from that of the plain

below. A dwarf bamboo, creepers, and cycads with a few trees of

lofty height and considerable girth, but with their boles twisted,

snarled and crooked, could be seen clothing the scarped cliffs here

and there right up to the top. The guide carried my gun ;

I had my butterfly net. A little thorny bush with thick, rather

small, lanceolate leaves and clustering pretty white flowers was

just within reach of me, and, early in the day as it was, the

bees were about the flowers sucking out the honey and collecting

the pollen. I had to be careful in giving a sweep with my net, for

losing one’s balance meant a nasty fall on the sharp rocks, Gingerly,

476 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, IX.

therefore, I swept my net and by degrees emptied its contents into my

collecting bottle. One—two—all three kinds of honey bees—Apis

dorsata, indica, and jloralis—also several flies (Diptera) and a whopping

female of Eumenes arcuata, a black and yellow solitary mud-building

wasp. This insect is common all over Burma, and the males are even

more common than the females, though apparently de Saussure had

not got hold of the former when he wrote his Monograph of the

Vespidce, for he says “ Male. Inconnu.”

While I am putting away my bottle—whish past my ear goes

something—a butterfly of sorts and a “‘ blue’ at that. I see it sitting

underneath a leaf with wings closed over its back, a white bar crosses

the underside of the wings, which puts me into a flutter as to the

possibility of the butterfly being that awfully rare blue, Arrhenothri«

penicilligera, de Nicéville. I give a sweep with my net, but the beastly

thorns catch it, and the butterfly frightened flies round twice and

then settles on a bush behind me. This time I catch it, and find

that it is only Camena cotys, which is common enough in Tenas-

serim. It is disappointing. I don’t believe I shall ever come across

Mr. de Nicéville’s butterfly with the jaw-breaking name, and it ought

to occur in Tenasserim too.

However, having gained my breath, and the guide being anxious to

get on, I bent to the climb again. Up and up we struggled, gaining

our way almost inch by inch. Path there was none, only the rubbed

look of the rock here and there or of a creeper which had been often

used as a help in the climb showed the way. In about an hour we got

to the top ofa ridge, on which there was a little space not absolutely as

steep as the side of a house, and along which some pretence at any rate

to a jungle path, led to the foot of the next ridge. I threw myself down

and panted freely. If a bird of paradise or the aforesaid long-named

butterfly had suddenly made their appearance, I should have regarded —

them with indifference. I looked at my Karen companion and I got

dreadfully angry ; he had not turned a hair ; he was perfectly calm, and

was proceeding to light a pipe. Nothing makes me so angry as being

very hot and wet myself and seeing another man cool and comfortable.

However, most considerately nothing shootable or catchable (I don’t

know whether I am right in my terms) appeared until I was able to

move again, and then the guide pointed at something dark that was

mousing about at the foot of a fallen boulder some fifteen yards away ;

it was smal] and I at first took it for a rat, but presently it came more

COLLECTING WAYS AND COLLECTING DAYS. 477

into view, and then, with a curious grating call like ‘‘ quai-tch”—

‘‘ quai-tch-tch,” three or four others followed. It was Gypsophila

erispifrons. To snatch my gun up from where the old guide had laid

it down and to fire both barrels (it was luckily already loaded with

half charges of No. 10 shot) was the work of a second as the saying is.

When the smoke cleared I found one poor bird nearly blown to pieces,

and ashort search produced another, which was luckily much less

knocked about and made a very good specimen afterwards.

Being on my legs now, I looked around. On the plain the sun’s

rays were fast clearing off the mist. From where I stood I could not

see the marsh, but to the right on the other side ofa broad belt of

forest gleaming under the morning sun, the narrow stream of the Ataran

curled and twined out of sight behind another lofty limestone ridge

near the village of Nidong. To the left over the marsh which was

hidden by intervening pinnacles of rock,and beyond a bare expanse of

buffalo grazing ground and paddy fields, the white cupola of a pagoda

and a grove of mighty palm trees (Borassus flabelliformis) marked the

village of Kyaikmyaw, the most important village in these parts.

“ Wheu-u-u”—a low whistle—and I turn and see my Karen crouch-

ing close to the ground, and I also see the back of a largish animal

scuttling off among the rocks and going h—ahem !—for leather, It

was a “tawseik.” I caught one good view of it as it got to the top

of the next ridge, but too far off to shoot at with a smooth-bore. It

seemed to be of a reddish-brown colour and rather clumsy in make,

and in the mist which still hung thinly about the hill it loomed as

large as a good-sized donkey.

Going on towards the foot of the next ridge, I caught flitting about

close to the ground a number of Ypthima huebnert, Mycalests mineus,

and M. runeka, with one Lethe rohria and one Ragadia crisilda, a

pretty delicate black and white buiterfiy. It is strange that, though the

vegetation is so different on these limestone hills from what it is on

the plains below, the insects do not seem to differ. I could not recog-

nize one single shrub or plant that I knew as occurring below, except

perhaps the cycads and an orchid or two ; yet none of the butterflies

or other insects that I caught that day, or have procured since

on these hills, differs one jot from their brethren of the plains, not even

in so much as would make a distinguishable variety.

Half way up the second ridge, the climb whereof was not quite so

stiff as that of the one we had just done, my guide stopped and pointed

478 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

to a tree, on the top of which was a huge nest of sticks with a large

bird seated thereon. It was the fishing eagle. The tree grew out of

a rift in the face of a bare rock, and the way the old Karen managed

to get to it—he must have had prehensile toes—clinging hands and feet

to the bare precipice was a sight to see. Arrived at the foot of the

tree he quickly swarmed up it, I need not say I did not attempt to

follow him. The eagle sat very quiet till the man was right under-

neath the nest ; then she—for it proved to be a female—raised herself

and soared off with a grand sweep of the wings. As she passed over-

head I let drive at her with a No. 3 cartridge, and to my delight down

she came dead as a doornail, with a great thump, on to a bush some

fifteen yards down the hill and in an accessible spot. This was great

luck, for, had she gone any distance and fallen, we could never have

retrieved her. As it was, after the old Karen had brought me dewn

the one large white egg which the nest contained, it took him fully

twenty minutes to clamber down to the tree on which the eagle lay

and bring her up. It was a fine specimen, scarcely, if at all, injured

by the shot. Itis or was a disputed point whether the outer toe of

these fishing eagles is reversible like that of the osprey. From

examination immediately after death of this and other specimens I

can state positively that it is.

Recommencing our ascent with stoppages now and again to collect

sometimes insects, butterfly, bee or wasp, sometimes a bird (twice

it was Gypsophila, of which I got three more good specimens);

by about 11 o’clock we had got to where I thought, and

the Karen said, the hornbill’s tree must be. He also said that

we were close to where the day before his son had taken up

and left under instructions from me six bottles of water. I was

awfully thirsty, so previous to hunting up the hornbill, I determined to

have a drink and dispose of some sandwiches I had with me. The

Karen led the way to a fairly broad and level dip between two

ridges and hunting about found the cache made by his son. What a

treat that water was, cold as ice from lying out in the open all

night. I took a whole bottle off almost in one breath, then

I handed a bottle to the old chap, but he was not very thirsty ;

and only took a short drink ; it would have been different if

the thing had been whisky. Karens get drunk on all decent opportuni-

ties. However he highly approved of half my sandwiches ; these

finished, he left me to have asmoke and toddled off to search for the

COLLECTING WAYS AND COLLECTING DAYS. 479

hornbill. I had finished my pipe and was looking at my day’s collec-

tion, which consisted, besides birds, of some twenty butterflies and some

thirty wasps and bees, among the latter several specimens of the beautiful

Sphea erythropoda,when the old Karen returned with the news that the

hornbill’s tree was about 400 yards off and easy of access ; also that the

female was on, or rather in the nest. Up I got and off we set. . The

tree, like the one that contained the nest of the eagle, grew out of a rift

in the smooth perpendicular face of a wall of rock. But in this case

access to the tree could be got from above by letting oneself down

on to one of the branches by the help ofa pendant root coming out of a

crevice in the rock at the top. The old Karen swung himself down

and, scrambling along the branch, reached a fork between the two large

branches into which the tree divided, and where ina hollow, the

entrance to which had been considerably narrowed by what seemed

to be hard clay mixed with broken leaves and other rubbish, sat the

female hornbill with only the tip of her bill showing. Using his heavy

dah (hatchet-knife), the Karen enlarged the entrance hole and rather

gingerly and with some difficulty, for she resisted stoutly, pulled the old

hen out, fluttering and squawking horribly. He was about to kill her,

when, remembering that we were pretty heavily laden with speci-

mens, I called to him to let her go. I could see she was Rhiticeros

undulatus, the larger wreath-billed hornbill. She fell fluttering for a

few yards, and then, sailing off, perched on a neighbouring tree, not

seeming cramped in any way from her enforced confinement in the

nest. There were two perfectly fresh eggs resting, the Karen said, on

the bare wood in the hollow. These were soon in my hand, and

I found they were of a dull white colour and rather long in shape.

Having packed these, we went on following the crest of a long narrow

ridge. In about another hour we came to the site of an old nesting

place of the adjutants. There were about a dozen old abandoned nests

—some on the tops of low bushy trees, some on points of the bare rock,

The ground underneath and the leaves, branches and boles of the trees

around were white with the droppings of the birds, but of course ‘at

this time of the year there was not an adjutant to be seen. A wall

- of bare rock, some ten feet high, faced us, and this was covered with

the bulbs of that beautiful orchid, Lematodes rosea, none of which how-

ever were in flower. At our back lay the whole valley of the Ataran,

and the view stretched right away to the glistening gold pagodas on the

hill above Moulmein, up the Salween, with its numerous isolated lime-

480 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, IX.

stone peaks and, sweeping round, was shut in to the east and south by

the far off mountain range of the Dawnat. A beautiful cool breeze

was blowing, and I sat down and thoroughly enjoyed the scene.

However we could not loiter long, and, as the old guide said, the

other nest of the fishing eagle was still a long way off, and as it was

the afternoon now, I determined to leave it for him to investigate

next day and bring me the eggs if there were any, and to return now

the way we had come.

The ascent had been difficult enough, but the descent, loaded as

we were, was, for me at any rate, most fatiguing. At one place we

made a detour to visit some caves. These were simply lofty hollows in

the rock not going inany distance.. From the roof of one of the caves

hung large semi-circular combs made by the large honey bee (Apis

dorsata). A bamboo ladder rested against the side of the cave, and the

old Karen informed me that he farmed all the honey and wax on this hill.

He had purchased the sole right of collecting from the man who had

bought the right of collecting honey and wax throughout the Ataran

Valley at the yearly auction in theDeputy Commissioner’s Court. At the

entrance to the cave we saw the marks of bears, and the old man said

that two species—a large and a small one—were by no means uncom-

mon on these hills and destroyed a good number of the combs yearly.

lt was getting dusk when we reached the foot of the hills near the

marsh, and right glad I was to get down with all specimens, especially

the eggs, safe. On the way I had picked up a couple more of the

Gypsophila, so that Ihad a nice little series in full breeding dress.

That they were breeding or about to breed I discovered by dissection

afterwards when skinning the birds. This little thrush has the habits

of a wren, mousing about the ground at the roots of bushes and in the

holes and crannies in the rock. It isa very silent bird, but once or

twice I noticed one perch itself on a bush and give out a low pretty

little song. A new moon was up in the west as I approached the belt

of jungle immediately round the village of Kyaik-myaw. I looked back

at the hill now throwing dark shadows and looming mysterious grim

and black in the half light, at the marsh at its feet on whose waters the

light still lingered, at the broad expanse of plain I had just traversed,

and over which the night jars were wheeling, and, remembering my

successful collecting, I felt happy. It was a day not to be forgotten,

and the memory of it is vividly revived as I write these lines.

Journ. Bomb.Nat.Hist. Soc. Vol. IX.

From a photograph b A Heath.

Wels (ClelOVANE Ol SIPOWWIESI) ID/SiaiRk-

Cervus axis.

481

THE CHEETUL OR SPOTTED DEER,

By J. D. INvERaRItyY.

( With three Plates.)

(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society, on 2nd April, 1895.)

The Cheetul is one of the most graceful of the deer tribe, and its

skin, beautifully marked with white spots, would make one think that

it would be easily seen in the jungle. This, however, is far from the

case, and when standing still it is about the most difficult animal to

distinguish. The white spots match exactly the flecks of sunlight

thrown through the leaves of the trees on the jungle in the midst of

which it stands. The Cheetul is fond of shade and water and is

chiefly found in localities where these abound. They go in herds;

as many as 20 or 80 may be found together, though it is more usual

to find half-asdozen or a dozen. They sometimes collect in large

numbers. The Cheetul has horns of the same number of points as

the Samber—3 on each horn—and, measured on the outside curve, a

very good head will be 33 to 35 inches in length of horn, and in very

exceptional cases will even exceed this. A large number of Cheetul

however, never attain to horns of this size, and numbers of old deer

will have horns 2 feet and under in length. They are peculiar in

having no regular season for shedding their horns. I have seen them

with their horns hard, but the velvet still on in the middle of May,

and at the same period have seen them with horns just beginning to

sprout, and at Christmas time I have observed the same. Aé¢ all

seasons of the year many Cheetul will be found with horns unshed, and

in my opinion they do not shed their horns every year. They fre- —

quently throw out an extra small tine or two, an inch or half-an-inch

in length at the junction of the brow antler with the horn. The longest

upper tine is invariably the outside one.

The longest horns I have shot measure 84} inches. These horns fork

at 17 inches, almost exactly half way. The horns of the Cheetul in

large heads fork much lower down the beam than is the case in

Samber heads, and the inner tine is, I think, invariably in such heads,

of short length. In fact the length of a long Cheetul horn is generally

made up by the extreme length of the outer upper tine. In smaller

keads the upper points are near the top of the horn, but even in them

the outer tine is the longest one. The skin of a spotted buck makes

a handsome mat. Tho late Mr, H.P. Le Mesurier, Agent of the

482 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

G. I. P. Railway, once took out one of his subordinates on the railway

to shoot, and the man, to his great delight, shot a Cheetul stag. He

announced to Mr. Le Mesurier his intention of having the skin care-

fully dressed, and sending it as a present to his brother who kept a public

house at Northallerton. Asa preliminary the skin was carefully removed

and stretched outside the tent, the jackals attracted by it during the

night came up and would no doubt have eaten it, but the owner was

constantly up and rushing out to see if it was safe. Heso disturbed

Mr. Le Mesurier that the latter asked him not to make such a fuss

about a spotted buck skin, to which the indignant proprietor replied,

“Tt may be a spotted buck in India, but it is a leopard at Northaller-

ton.” The above story, which I heard from Mr. Le Mesurier, is told in

rather a mutilated form in the Indian Game Volume of the Badminton

Library. I believe I told it to the writer myself many years ago.

The first of the plates that accompany this paper isa very good

photograph by Mr. H. A. Heath. It will be observed that the stag,

a fine one, whose horns measured 34 inches, has an extra tine (the

measurement of which I have not got) growing out of the right antler

above the junction of the brow antler with the horn, This stag had

an extra tine curving downward, growing at the back of the upper fork,

but this is not shown in the plate, as it is concealed by the horn. An

extra tine at this spot is not very unusual. As I have already mentioned

almost every large Cheetul head has small knobs in the axil of the horn ;

the left horn in the plate it will be seen, has them. Occasionally they

continue to grow into atine. A similar instance will be found depicted in

a plate at p. 223 of Vol. I of this Society’s Journal. The horn there—the

left one—measured 303 inches, and the abnormal extra tine 20 inches.

Mr. N.C. Macleod has a single right horn, a shed one he found on the

Taptee, which has an exactly similar extra tine. This horn measures

35 inches, and the extra tine 19 inches. This horn is scored in different

places with the marks made by porcupines gnawing it. Shed horns are

often marked in this way.

The second plate represents two Cheetul heads locked together.

They were found by Mr. H. A. Heath in the Berars and presented

by him to this Society. They had got interlocked when the stags

were fighting. The deer being unable to disengage themselves, had

died of exhaustion, thirst or starvation, or all three combined. The

following description of their position I hope is intelligible. For the

sake of conyenience I call the head of the one that has its horns

Journ Bombay Nat: Hist: Soe: Vol: IX. | | : | | Hate B.

Tess : : ; : = A. P Cortez, Litho:

from Photographs.

INTERLOCKED Horns oF THE CHEETAL oR SPOTTED DEER.

= ae . Presented to the Society by M: H.A.Heath

THE CHEETUL OR SPOTTED DEER. 483

resting in the fork of the horns of the other, No. 1. The other I call

No. 2. The heads are not exactly opposite each other; the forehead

of No. 1 is opposite the right horn of No. 2. The left brow antler of

No. 1 is driven over the right brow antler of No. 2, so that the latter

is slightly under the burr of the horn of the former. The right brow

antler of No. 1, is under the left brow antler of No.2 for half its

length. The right antler of No, 1, which is a switch horn, rests in the

fork of the left antler of No. 2. The left antler of No. 1 rests in the

fork of the right antler of No.2. The inner point of No. 1 being

securely wedged behind the inner point of the antler of No. 2.

Tt will be seen that if the skulls could move sideways the brow antlers

would be at once unlocked, but this is prevented by the locking of the

horns at the upper points. If the antlers were sawn off just below the

upper forks, the skulls could be moved sideways in opposite directions

and the brow antlers unlocked. If the skulls could be moved back-

wards from each other, the upper forks of the horns of No. 2 could be

drawn clear of the horns of No. 1, but this is made impossible by the

position and curve of the brow antlers. Ifthe head of No. 2 could be

drawn down, or the head of No. 1 drawn up, the upper points would be

disengaged, but the position of the brow antlers again prevents this.

In fact the horns are immoveable and no one could pull them apart

unless he sawed off the antlers below the upper forks, or sawed

off one brow antler from each head. What has assisted the locking

of the horns in this way is that the horns are about the same length,

they are about the same span at the fork of the upper points, and the

horns of each fork about the same height. The length of horn of

No. 1 is—left horn 32 inches, right horn 31 inches. The inside span

of the horns at the upper points is 16 inches. The length of horn of

No. 2 is—left horn 33 inches, right horn 333 inches. The span is

17 inches. The brow antlers of No. 1 measure 10 inches; those of

No. 2,18 inches. The horns of No.1 are quite smooth along the

_ front, and almost smooth along the sides and back of the antlers,

I never saw so smooth a horn on a Cheetul.

The longest Cheetul horn mentioned in Ward’s Book of Horn Mea-

surements is 874 inches. Forsyth mentions one of 38 inches, and Blan-

ford one of 882 inches. 1 have not weighed a Cheetul myself, but from

a note I took from some weights given in the “ Field” several years

ago, I find it was there stated that one Cheetul stag weighed 190 lbs.,

another 175 lbs., two Cheetul does weighed 105 and 100 Ibs. respect-

484 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

ively. The skin of the does is not so bright-looking as that of the stag.

Some years ago there was in the Victoria Gardens, Bombay, a doe, a

cross between a Hog-deer and a Cheetul. I have a photograph of it

I took. The body was coarser and stouter built than the Cheetul, and

the white spots on it were comparatively few and indistinct, but in

colour and general appearance it was more like its Cheetul parent than

the Hog-deer. The Cheetul and Hog-deer both belong to the genus

Axis (see Jerdon), the one being Axis maculatus, the other Azis por-

cinus. Mr. Blanford places them under the genus Cervus. I have in

my possession rather a curious Cheetul head, the brow antlers of which

grow straight out sideways, the distance between the points of the brow

antlers being 30 inches; the right one throws out no less than six extra

points, the left one four points. It is figured at page 125 of Vol. I of

this Society’s Journal, but the plate does not show all the points. The

main beams of these antlers are normal and measure 28 inches. It

was shot in the Madras Presidency, not byme. I have seen a head

in the possession of Colonel Nevill, Hyderabad ; the horns, very thick

ones, though normal in every other respect, grow almost straight up

parallel to each other. They are 34 inches long, and the distance

between the horns half-way up is only 53 inches. (See Plate C.)

I believe that the Cheetul has no regular rutting time, and that the

young are born at all times of the year. As far as my observation goes,

the Cheetul gives birth to one young one at a time, at any rate when I

have come across one, two, or three mothers, each has had one young

one with her. In a herd it is not easy to allot the young to their respect-

ive parents, and it may be they sometimes have twins. When stalking

for Cheetul, the place to look for them is in the neighbourhood of rivers

and streams. In the early morning they will be near the water, and later

on in the day they will be found in the dry nullahs. They are very fond

of the berries of the Ber (Zizyphus jujuba), and they have sense enough

to strike the stem of the tree with their horns so as to shake the berries

down. I have not seen them actually doing this, but I have often

seen the bark of the trees wounded with the points of their horns, and

was informed by the jungle men that by this means they knock down

the fruit. Though the Cheetul is well worthy of ashot, it generally

happens, at least to me, that they are shot when out after Samber or

some bigger game. When beating for tiger they are often seen, but

on these occasions one leaves them alone, and many a good head has

Journal Bombay Nat Hist. Sot; Vil: IX. | Plate C.

A. P Cortez, Litho:

trom a Photograph

ABNORMAL HoRNs OF CHEETAL OR SPOTTED DEER,

| Shot by Col: R.Nevill, C1.E.

a ae) Car IS ad

SRG age case?

THE CHEETUL OR SPOTTED DEER. 485

passed unscathed within a few yards of me, It is an invariable rule not

to fire at anything except tiger when one is thought to be in the beat,

the only good reason for which is that the tiger may be turned by the

shot in front of him back on to the beaters and do some damage, and as

there is some risk of this, of course it would not be right to runit. My

own opinion is, thoughin this I know I differ from many whose ex-

perience commands respect, that in nine cases out of ten a tiger whena

a shot is fired in front of him does not know where it comes from, and

does not turn back. I once saw three tigers (not cubs) go by the same

gun at short intervals. All were fired at and two of them were killed.

Twice I have shot two tigers that followed each other, the second one not

being deterred by the previous shots from coming on, and I could men-

tion other instances, but I must remember that my subject is Cheetul,

and not tigers. Ionce got a shot at a Cheetul ina curious way. I

had been for some days trying in some flat grass jungle to track two

tigers, and had come up to them on two different days without however

getting a sbot. There was a shallow nullah with no cover in it, up the

sandy bed of which I found their tracks almost every day ; indeed one

morning they were sitting in it, but just before rounding a corner on

the other side of which they were, I unfortunately left the nullah to

walk in some long grass by the side of it, and though they bolted close

to me, I could not see them. One night I sat over a gara at this nulla

and intended to stop till 9 a.m. on the chance of the tigers coming up

the nullah in the morning. I was perched in a tree over the nullah, and

long after the sun was up a stag and one doe Cheetul walked past me 40

yards off. At first I did not intend to fire and they walked slowly along

till they were 100 yards off and stood in an open glade. This was too

much for me, and I fired ; neither Cheetul moved. I was reloading

a single barrel I had fired with when the stag staggered two or three

paces and fell dead. The doe started off a few yards and stood looking

for a few moments at the dead one, and then bolted. There were very

few Cheetul in this jungle, so it was rather lucky. My luck for the day,

however, was not over, as I bagged two tigers the same afternoon, not

the same ones I had been previously looking for, but at another place

some miles off. If there are Cheetul about you are certain to hear

them calling during the night, As one lies in bed undera tree

smoking the pipe of peace, listening to the deer, the conclusion is

forced on one that there are many worse places than India,

436

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.

No. I.—THE IDENTIFICATION OF BIRDS.

Since the publication of my volumes on the Birds of India, I have been

pained to find that some ornithologists in India do not agree with many of my

conclusions which were arrived at after much investigation and labour, I am

the more grieved at this, because my critics In some cases do not appear to

peruse my book with attention, and in others they impute ignorance to me

which would be quite inexcusable in a child. I will give recent instances to

show what I mean and to demonstrate that my work is not so full of errors

as these same critics would have us believe.

In a recent number of the Society’s Journal (vol. ix, No. 2, p. 116), Mr, E. C.

Stuart-Baker tells us that he believes Pericrocotus fraterculus to be a bad

species and that it should be suppressed. He appears to have procured a

considerable series of minivets of this type in North Cachar, and he seems

to have laboured hard to make them into two species. It is improbable that

the two species, P. speciosus and P. fraturculus occur together in that country,

Tn any case, he proceeds to measure wings, and to note the colour of the tails.

These characters are of subsidiary importance, although undoubtedly useful in

their way. But why did not Mr. Baker look at my key to these birds (vol. 1,

p. 478,) before expressing a-hasty opinion on the validity of the two species ?

He would there have found the really important and unfailing character for

discriminating the two birds, viz., the length of tail, Let me assure Mr, Baker

that the two minivets of this type are perfectly distinct species or races, if he

prefers the latter term.

Again, some months ago Mr. H, A. Hole published a list of birds in the

« Asian”? with charming illustrations. Writing of Dicrurus ater, he states that

I have described the young of this common species quite wrongly, and he

proceeds to describe what he considers is the young of the Black Drongo.

Will it be believed that the bird he describes is Surniculus lugubris, the Black

fork-tailed Cuckoo ?

EUGENE W. OATES.

MANDALAY 15th January, 1895.

No. I1.—ON THE OCCURRENCE OF GERARDIA

PREVOSTIANA IN BOMBAY.

In the Fauna of British India (Reptilia) it is stated that the only authen-

ticated habitat of this snake is Pegu, and consequently it is worthy of record

that the four specimens in our collection have all been obtained from the

neighbourhood of Bombay, as follows :—

2 Collected by Mr. W. F. Sinclair, 1.c.s., at Alibag.

1 Collected by Mr, J. Mason (our Curator) on the shores of Back Bay.

1 Collected by Mr, A. Corrodi in the Varsova Sands, Bandora.

H. M, PHIPSON,

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 487

No. IJI.—THE SPURS OF THE RED SPURFOWL.

I notice that both Hume and Jerdon mention three as the largest number

of spurs on the leg of the Red Spurfow! (Galloperdix spadiceus), but I have

just obtained a specimen which has four on one leg and two on the other.

I have kept the two legs in case they should be wanted.

C. F. SHARPE,

General,

Coonoor, 6th January, 1895.

No, IV.—THE SOUTHERN INDIAN HARRIER EAGLE.

On the 3rd January last I had the pleasure of taking a nest of the Southern

Indian Harrier Eagle, 39 bis, Spilornis melanotis, The only record of this bird’s

nidification is in a paper by Mr, Vidal on the Birds of the South Concan, so a

few notes may be worth recording. I have taken four nests of this Eagle,

two having 2 eggs in each, and the other two a single young one in each, The

other three nests were taken in March, and I succeeded in rearing the young one

till he was full grown when he left me for pastures new.

The nest taken in January was on the fork of a high Vengai tree (Ptero-

carpus marsupium) and unfortunately had a young one. I brought it home and

it thrived well on raw meat and was getting its plumage, when one day last

week it died in a fit vomitting all its food.

I had great difficulty in gettinga Malayali to climb the tree, for the parent

bird repeatedly attacked him and on one occasion clawed his back,

It darted once or twice at me and I had to wave my hat to keep it off. I

fired in the air, not caring to shoot the bird, but this had no effect, for it came

several times at the man on the tree, and it was only after a great deal of shout-

ing that we were able to bring home the young eagle.

: Wm. MAHON DALY.

YERCAUD, 24th February, 1895.

No. V—PERIODICAL FLOWERING OF STROBILANTHES

KUNTHIANUS.

I notice an article on page 417, vol. v, by Mr. J. F. Duthie, on the flower-

ing of certain species of Sérobilanthes.

Tt may be of some interest to record the flowering of our commonest shrub

(Strobilanthes kunthianus) in August, 1884, and the plants have never been in

flower since, clearly proving that it takes more than 8 or 9 years as noticed.

The natives here call it “ Kuranjal” and say that it flowers once in 17 years,

The seed is readily eaten by jungle fowl, and wasin many cases collected to

feed poultry on. ;

The hills looked very beautiful and had quite a purple tinge where the

shrub was in flower,

Wm. MAHON DALY.

YeRcAUD, SHEVARoY HILts, 28h February, 1895.

488 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX.

No. VI.—ON THE SIZE OF MANGO TREES.

Nearly eight miles from Khandala, and about two miles on the Khandala side

of Rajmachi, on the sloping side of a green valley, there is a huge mango tree

which has apparently remained unnoticed for many years. It first attracted

my attention when I visited the place, nearly a year ago, in company with my

brother, Dr. Dixon, of the Bombay Medical Service, but we had no tape with

us on that occasion, Later on, I again went to the Rajmachi pass, and

measured the tree with the following result :—

A huge tree, a little over seventy feet in height, covering an area of

nearly 5,000 square feet, trunk straight, about six feet, girth

17/5" ; crown very broad and massive, girth of crown nearly

19 feet; boughs widely spreading, thirty to fifty feet long, girth

from six to thirteen feet.

Some parts of the tree have begun to show signs of natural decay, which is

perhaps being accelerated by forest fires, and the present growth of the tree,

on the whole, appears to be very weak, It seems to me that within a few

years no trace of this gigantic tree will be left on the spot where it is now

standing.

In 1837 Col. Sykes noticed a huge mango tree, at Bhimashankar on the crest

of the Sahyadris, 3448 feet above sea level, which was stated to be fully eighty

feet high and from which boards could be cut thirty feet long and three or

four feet wide. It was known as the “Rajah” and was in the immediate

neighbourhood of the Hindu temple at Bhimashankar, The tree died however

some years ago.

Col, Syke’s mango at Bhimashankar does not appear to have been known to

Dalzell and Gibson, as no mention is made of it in their Bombay Flora, and

according to Brandis, the mango, in Northern India, attains a height of

sixty to seventy feet with a girth of fifteen feet.

No botanical writer has, as far as I know, made mention of sucha gigantic

mango tree as the one above referred to, so Lam inclined to believe that

the specimen in the Rajmachi pass is in all probability the largest living mango

tree in India.

Tt would be interesting if other members of this Society would measure any

large mangoes which they may hear of, with a view of establishing the

maximum size attained by this tree.

R. M. DIXON.

Bombay, February, 1895.

No. VIL—THE BIRDS OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY.

In an interesting article on the birds from Central India, mentioned in

Barnes’s Handbook, Mr, Blanford draws attention to several birds which he

thinks have never been obtained within the limits of the Bombay Presidency

proper.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 489

T should like space to make a few remarks on these. With regard to several,

as far as I know, he is right, but in this district I have found the following

comparatively common : Chetura sylvatica and Carpophaga aénea ; while Surni-

culus lugubris I have obtained on perhaps half a dozen occasions, and no doubt

owing to its resemblance to the Dicruride it is frequently overlooked,

I have never myself obtained Ceniropus bengalensis, but my friend Mr, E. H.

Aitken informs me he has several times seen it in the North of the District, and

it therefore deserves its place in the handbook,

I hope in another year when relieved from official duties to write a paper on

the Birds of Kanara, a considerable amount of material for which I have

collected, but in the meantime I may mention that the following birds not

mentioned in the handbook occur there:—

Chetura gigantea, Hass. ;

Batrachostomus moniliger, Lay. ;

Tiga javanensis, Lyung. ;

Vivia innominata, Burt, ;

Alseonax ferrugineus, Hodgs, ;

Garrulaz delesserti, Jerd. ;

Dendrocitta leucogastra, Gould. ;

Osmotreron bicincta, Jerd ;

Carpophaga cuprea, Jerd. ; and

Rallina euryzonoides, Lafr.

This is not the place to discuss the specific differences among the Caprinul-

gide, but I very much doubt the correctness of Mr, Blanford’s views as to the

identity of C. albonotatus and C, atripennis, The former bird I have never seen,

but I have obtained eggs from the late Mr, Otto Moller, and they though

larger were of the C, indicus or C. kelaarti type, and not in the least like the

spotted eggs of C. atripennis, Ican find no note as to the call of C. albonotatus,

but I shall be very much surprized if it is not of the ‘tukkoo tukkoo”

description, and not a bit like the very distinct call of C. atripennis,

J. DAVIDSON.

Karwar, 4th March, 1895,

No, VIII—THE OCCURRENCE OF THE DUGONG IN THE

INDIAN SEAS,

Mr. Edgar Thurston, C.M.z.8., the Superintendent of the Madras Government

Museum, in his recently published description of Ramesvaram Island, Gulf of

Manaar (Bulletin No. 3, Second Edition) writes as follows :—

“The phytophagous sirenian, Halicore dugong (the dugong), which is said

by Jerdon to be found in the salt-water inlets of South Malabar, feeding on

the vegetable matter about the rocks and basking and sleeping in the morning

sun, is, according to Emerson Tennent, attracted in numbers to the inlet from

the Bay of Calpentyn on the west coast of Ceylon to Adam’s Bridge by the

still water and the abundance of marine alge in this part of the Gulf of

490 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. TX.

Manaar. It is of an extremely shy disposition, and I have never seen it my-

self, though I have heard of dead carcases being thrown up on the Pambar

beach, and living specimens being caught in the fishing nets. One was, in fact,

caught, together with a young one, the day before my arrival at Pamban in

1889, and promptly sold for food, as it is considered a great delicacy. There

is a tradition among the natives that a box of money was found in the stomach

of a dugong which was cut up in the Pamban bazar some years ago; and am

official is now always invited to be present at the examination of the stomach

contents, so that the possessors of the carcase may not be punished under the

Treasure Trove Act for concealing treasure. But the stomach contents invari-

ably prove to be green sea-grasses (phanerogams) which are very abundant in

the shallows of one to three feet in depth on the Ceylon coast of the Gulf of

Manaar, and almost entirely exclude the sea weeds (alge), The fat of the

dugong is believed to be efficacious in the treatment of dysentery, and is ad-

ministered in the form of sweetmeaits, or used instead of ghi (clarified butter)

in the preparation of food. The skeleton of a female dugong in the Madras

museum shows, encased in the upper jaw, the functionless teeth, the blunt

points of which are, during life, covered by a fleshy lip forming a snout. The

female is described by Tennent when suckling her young, as holding it to her

breast with one flipper, while swimming with the other, holding the heads of

both above water, and, when disturbed, suddenly diving and displaying her

fish-like tail.”

The skull of one of these Marine animals was presented to the Bombay

Natural History Society by Mr, C, M. Sykes, in April, 1893, the carcase having

been washed ashore at Mandvi on the Coast of Cutch.—(Hd.)

No. Ix.—A TIGER KILLING A PANTHER.

When in camp the other day at the little village of Kalesar, on the Nizam’s

side of the Godavery, opposite Sironcha, I heard a curious story of a tiger

killing a panther, and after considerable cross-examination elicited the following

information which may perhaps be worth sending you,

About a fortnight ago some villagers, on their way to work at daylight, came

across, in open country, the recent marks of a tiger and some blood where he

appeared to have dragged away some animal, Seeing, as they, thought, their

way to beef for breakfast, the men got a tomtom from the village and

followed up the tracks.’ Suddenly a tiger (or tigress they say) bounded out of

some bushes and made for ‘the forest, On going up to the bushes, instead of

a cow, they found a full grown panther (female) frightfully mauled, but still

breathing, They state its back was apparently broken and parts of the

interior torn out and that apparently the tigress had drunk some of the blood.

I saw the skin which was that of a rather large panther. It was much torn,

and a large piece 6” x 5” had been cut out of the centre of the back.

W. F. BISCOE,

SECUNDERABAD, March, 1895.

q ’ J 4 le . reid 2 - oa) e-

. = ‘ “ i : s ; “gee 5

ANTON gael \rf 20) (Sy gieko) GUSRG \NUL PSUS a7 ;

“MOpUuST UAT] Sosg was PATIL “‘MOIPOOM YM aN 44 Ydeagojoug e wi04,

a: ‘00G 4SI JEN Aequiog uainop

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. AOL

No. X.—THE FOOD OF PYTHON MOLURUS.

(With a Plate.)

- The accompanying engraving illustrates a somewhat uncommon incident

which cccurred to Mr. W. Woodrow of the Forest Department and myself,

whilst tiger shooting, in the Forest of Canara, on 2nd April, 1892.

On that date a tiger had been wounded in the first beat. After tracking for

some time through high-timbered forest, the sportsmen arrived at a bamboo

clump, in the trees above which monkeys were swearing vigorously. Feeling

sure it must be a tiger passing through—for the cover was not thick enough for

him to lie up in—the sportsmen ran round with the object of outflanking him,

On arriving in the open forest beyond they were recalled by the “ Mahits,” who

showed them the subject of the engraving lying coiled up amongst dead leaves

with the Langour in its embrace as depicted. The sportsmen now approached

the python, who slowly uncoiled himself and as slowly advanced on them, when |

he was killed by the writer with a shot in the neck. The python measured

12’ 10” and was photographed by Mr. Woodrow the next morning, the monkey

being arranged in the python’s embrace as originally seen.

O, CHANNER,

Surgeon-Major.

THE Fort, BeLcaum, 2nd October, 1894.

No, X1L.—HEMIDESMUS,

For some years past it has come under my observation, on various occasions

and in different places, that this valuable drug has been inadvertently

substituted by Gymnema Sylvestre. Both these plants, as is well known, not

only belong to the same natural order, Asclepiadee, but their similarity im

most respects is so great that they cannot be easily distinguished from each

other, unless the person is well conversant with the characteristics of each —

plant or is cautioned against such an easy error. Gymnema Sylvestre is not

so rare as Dr. Dymock says in his first edition of the “ Vegetable Materia

Medica of Western India,” The reason of this remark is that, when he

wanted to get in the Concan Gymnema Sylvestre under the Deccani name

of *‘ Kavli,” he could not get it, as it is known here as “ Kali kardori” (.c.,

black cord, from its. use in tying firewood bundles,) as it was ascertained

subsequently. Hemidesmus is, however, a plant rare, at least from my expe-

rience, in several places of the Thana Collectorate, Goa, and Poona, so

much so that I can safely say that to every hundred of Gymnema Sylvestre

about one or so of Hemidesmus will be found. Both these plants are found

growing on similar soil and sometimes together, On one occasion the

Gymnema Sylvestre was brought to supply the Medical Stores of Bombay,

and would have been passed unnoticed as Hemidesmus had not the keen

scientific eye of Dr. Dymock made it. out. I myself on the first occasion

when procuring Hemidesmus found it difficult to , distinguish it . from

492 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. aK

Gymnema Sylvestre, but when the plant was in flower Dr. Dymock pointed

out the difference, and thus I overcame the difficulty. Hemidesmus by its

native name Anantamul is only known this side by the medical profession

and a few others connected with Pharmacy, In the Salsette taluka it has no

name because it is not considered to be a medicinal plant. Ina few places

it has a name, but, being confused with Gymnema Sylvestre, it is called

“ Kali kardori,’ being similarly useful, In the Southern Concan it is known

by the name of “ Uparsare,’ but not without some confusion, In the Deccan

itis not distinguished from Gymnema Sylvestre and is known as “ Kavli,”

the name of the latter plant. Ihave reason to believe that some who use

the Gymnema Sylvestre believe it to be the true Hemidesmus, A medical

man of considerable experience in the Deccan once told me that Hemidesmus

was abundant there and it was known by its native name Kavli, being

ignorant that “ Kavli” was the name for Gymnema Sylvestre, and it was the

latter plant which he took for Hemidesmus, Perhaps, being ignorant of this

confusion and the very minute difference between the two plants, it does

not occur to them to separate them by a very close examination,

The most distinguishing mark is the peculiar sweet aroma, nearly like that

of Vanilla, of the root of the Hemidesmus plant which is absent in the other.

CauTION.—To obtain genuine Hemidesmus, the labourer employed for

the purpose of collecting should be paid by the day, and not by the amount

collected, as in the latter case he will be tempted for the sake of profit to

pass off as much Gymnema Sylvestre for Hemidesmus as he can. He must

also, however, be made thoroughly conversant with the minutest differences

in the two plants and be on his guard to avoid the mistake,

HOLARRHENA ANTIDYSENTERICA,

Although it is a well-known fact, as pointed out in the “ Pharmacopceia of

India,’ page 455, that there is a confusion in the selection of this plant, yet I

find that the details given to distinguish it from others are not observed in

procuring the true plant. The confusion which arises and which I wish to

point out is due to its various native names here. I believe the various names

of this plant and its varieties, viz., Kura, Kuda, Kurwah, Koora, Kureya,

are all dialectic corruptions of Kurwa (bitter) with adjectives “ Pandra ”

“Daula” for white, “Tambra” for red, and “Kala” for black, Dr,

Kirtikar, in his list of drugs under the natural order Apocynacee, presented

to his summer session class in the Grant Medical College in 1894, while

lecturing there on Botany, as a temporary measure, speaks of Holarrhena

antedysenterica as “ Pandra Kuda,’ Wrightia tinctora as “Kala kuda,”

and Wrightia tomentosa as “Tambda Kuda,’ “Kala Inderjow.” Dr.

Dymock mentions in the same natural order Holarrhena antidysenterica

and calls it “ Kureya,” “ Pandra Kura,” “Daula Kura,” “Karwa-inderjow,”

and Wrightia tinctora, “ Kala Kura.” In another natural order, Rubiacicr,

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 493

he mentions Hymenodictyon obovatum, “ Saphet Kura,’

excelsum, “ Kala Kurwah,” So it is clear there are five different plants

in two natural orders, “ Apocynacee”’ and “ Rubiacie,’ called by native

names “ Kuras” or “ Kurwas,” and I do not think the Hindustani name

for Holarrhena antidysenterica is clear enough to distinguish it from other

“Kurwahs,” Further, the similarity of most of them to each other adds to

the confusion of the names, The natives, ignoring the above varieties, make

only two classifications of this plant, black and white, wiz., “ Kala” and

“ Pandra ” or “Daula,”’ and even this distinction is not characteristic inasmuch

as some calla variety Pandra, whereas others call it Kala, guided by the

exterior appearance of the plant, which is variable either on account of its

age or some other circumstance. In the native practice only the seeds are

used, and I do not know how far their genuineness can be depended upon in

the presence of such a confusion. The seeds are procured from the jholliwal-

lahs or travelling vydias and professional herbalists or quacks, and they are

paid by the weight of the drug, which is in fact a dangerous temptation, I

believe the distinguishing marks of Holarrhena antidysenterica have been

fully described in the “ Pharmacopceia of India,’ and if the details therein

given are strictly observed, the genuineness and purity of the drug will be

secured, and I would suggest to those procuring or using it to collect either

by paying for the labour or buying it from a reliable dealer, If the true plant

is used, I have found it very efficacious as it was once believed to be,

M. C, PEREIRA.

and Hymenodictyon

BanpRA, April 1895.

Note sy SurGeon Magor K. R, KirtiKar,

The Hemidesmus, which Mr. Pereira speaks of, should have been named

specifically as Hemidesmus indicus, R. Br., of which the South Kokan name is

SUCH (Uparsal) or F qoaty (Opalsari) and not Uparsare as Mr, Pereira

spells it, which isa lingual contortion of the proper name as uttered here,

Anantmul is also a Marathi synonym of this plant not unknown in the Kokan,

It may be added that (aTaet) Wakandi or Hts! Wakhandi is also a Mara-

thi name of Gymnema Sylvestre in the Dekkan. I remember that nearly ten

years ago a plant was sent to me from Sholapur under that name for identi-

fication, as a plant deadening the taste for sweet things, especially cane sugar,

The gentleman who sent it was a medical man practising in Sholapur at that

time. It was Dr. Dharmaji Ganesh Kamat, L.M., who has since settled in

Bombay and is practising there at present, having given up his appointment as

a Railway Medical Officer at Sholapur.

No. XII.—MUSCULAR ACTION AFTER DEATH.

In thinking over the extraordinary statement made by your correspondent

that he shot a snake into two pieces and saw each half run off intoa tank 40

yards away as if they were nothing the worse for the damage, I beg to propeund

what appears to me a reasonable explanation of the difficulty.

494 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL:HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

Last monsoon, I on different days in my garden killed two pairs of snakes

which were hanging on to the shrubs in a state of coition. In each case, before

killing them, I thought there was only one snake, but when killing the one I

saw that I had also to despatch its fellow.

Here then is my explanation, The snake your correspondent thought. he

had shot were two snakes in coition, He missed his aim, or did . not greatly

injure them, but so startled them that they parted, and rushed off for safety to

the nearest water.

Bompay, April, 1895. D. GOSTLING;: F.s.4.

eee

With reference to note II on page 335, I will give my experience : —

I have in two instances cut a rock-snake, measuring about seven feet long,

into two pieces at the middle. In one instance the snake was in the rafters

of the roof of the cook-room at Matheran. I first pinned it with the prongs

of a carving fork tied to a stick, then cut it into two pieces with a sword tied

to another stick. When I released it, the fore half dropped on the floor quite

alive, when I despatched it, the rear half remaining twisted in the rafters,

In the other case, I was travelling in Baroda territory with a native soldier

as escort. Isaw a snake twisted in the small branches of a bush by the

road-side. I borrowed my escort’s sword and cut the snake in two in the

middle, In my excitement it seemed to me that I had missed the blow, for

the snake went off with great rapidity ;he seemed to me to be of great

length, fully fifteen feet long, and his head disappeared down a hole in the

ground, I then pinned his body with the point of the sword near the cut,

looked back at the bush, and found the rear half entwined in the branches as

I had first seen it, The apparent great length was an optical illusion due to

the rear half remaining in the bush while the fore half travelled on. With

some difficulty I got the fore half out of the hole, very much alive, and

despatched it. I made no attempt to watch how long the fore half would

live in its mutilated condition. The rear half in each case was practically

dead, though showing a slight muscular movement.

D. GOSTLING, F.s.a.

Bomray, 17th April, 1895.

No, XIJI.—FISH LEAVING THE WATER.

It may interest the Society to read my experience of a fish travelling on

dry land in our hot Indian sun. In the monsoon of 1893 I was in

Porbandar, Kathiawar. It was in August, and there had been little or no rain

for two months, andthe crops had in many places perished for want of

rain, At 1 p.m. during the heat of the day I was seated in the dry sandy

bed of a river under a road bridge twelve miles from Porbandar. The sun

was burning hot with a cloudless sky. WhileI was seated eating my tiffin

I thought I saw a large fish jump into the air from a dry gravelly sand bank

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 495

in the middle of the river, Thinking I had seen nothing, I took no further

notice, but went on with my tiffin, Five minutes after I again saw it Jump

up into the air some distance off. Then I left my. tiffin and found the fish

travelling over the gravel on its belly, moving rather slowly by means of its

lower fins, I took it up by its tail, . I found the skin quite dry. Jt at once

wriggled loose. Again I took it up more firmly by the tail and put it into a

small gravelly pool about three inches deep but too shallow fer it to swim in,

Then I took it out of the pool by its tail and dropped it intoa pool three

feet deep, where it immediately went to the bottom and remained motion-

less like a pike. I could see it at the bottom of this deep pool during the hour

IT remained at the bridge. The fish was fully twelve inches long and weighed

over one pound, The river was dry except for the two pools I have

mentioned, one of which was too shallow for the fish to swim in, Hence the

reason for its going on its travels, The heat on the hot gravel was very great,

I have on a flat terrace roof in Bombay registered 140° Fahr, with a

thermometer laid on the roof. The heat on this gravelly bed must have been

at least as great.

This fish had a dry hard skin, I do not recollect there being scales on its

skin unless they were quite small. It was in perfectly good condition,

I suppose my word will be taken for the above description, I had with

me a well-known pleader of Rajkot, also a well-known contractor of that

place and four other people connected with the contractor, who all saw what

I did and expressed their great surprise at a fish travelling on dry land in the

great heat of after mid-day, I judge that the fish was leaping for the

purpose of seeing which way it was travelling,

D. GOSTLING, Fs.A.

Bompay, 18th April, 1895.

No. XIV.—THE EDIBLE-NEST SWIFT.

I think it was eight or nine years ago that Mr. G, W.-Vidal presented the

museum of this Society with a skin and some eggs of that curious bird,

Collocalia unicolor, Jerdon, which supplies the Chinese with the luxury of

bird-nest soup. They were obtained from the Vingorla Rocks off the

Rutnagherry coast, I believe that the China market is supplied mainly from

the Indian Archipelago, and some account of the one place on our coast at

which the bird breeds may be interesting to the ornithological members of the

Society. .The Burnt Islands, or Vingorla Rocks, consist of five or six small

islands about nine miles from Vingorla, but not more than four miles from

the coast in a direct line, the chief importance of which, from a nautical point

of view, is that one of the principal lighthouses on the coast stands upon

one-of them. Their area is very small, and the height of the largest is only

110 feet. -Rising abruptly out of deep water, they are accessible only when

the sea is very- smooth. Nothing grows on them except coarse grass, and

there are of course no wild beasts, nor probably any snakes, The security

496 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

of such a situation has not escaped the notice of a species of tern, Sterna

anetheta, Scop, which breeds on one of the islands in hundreds during the

monsoon, I have pleasure in presenting the Society with some eggs collected

by the lighthouse keepers, These men tell me that the birds lay their eggs

on the ground, among the grass, so near each other that the sitting females

almost touch, and when the birds rise together they make a cloud that darkens

the air, The swifts do not breed on the same island as the terns, but on a

smaller one, the peculiar structure of which is evidently the attraction. I was

not able to effect a landing on this island, but the accounts I have received

of it tally so exactly with a description quoted by P. H. Gosse of a breeding

place near Java that I will extract a few sentences,

“Tn a little island on the coast of Java, called the Cap, Sir George Staunton

found some caverns running horizontally into the side of the rock, in

which were numbers of these birds’ nests. ‘ They seemed to be composed of

fine filaments, cemented together by a transparent viscous matter, not unlike

what is left by the foam of the sea upon stones alternately covered by the

tide, or those gelatinous animal substances found floating on every coast,

The nests adhere to each other and to the sides of the cavern, mostly in rows

by the uniform fineness and delicacy of their texture; those that are white

and transparent being most esteemed and fetching often in China their

weight in silver’ * * *‘ When the birds become fledged itis thought time to

seize upon their nests, which is done regularly thrice a year, and is effected by

means of ladders of bamboos and reeds, by. which the people descend into the

cavern ; but when it is very deep, rope ladders are preferred, Thisoperation

is attended with much danger and several break their necks in the attempt, ”

I think Sir G. Staunton must be mistaken when he says that the nests are

taken after the young birds are fledged. They would be too dirty then to

be of much value, They are taken as soon after they are completed as

possible, Then the birds build again, anda second and again a third time

the nests are taken, This is the chief reason, I believe, of the difference of

quality, The nests, as we know now, are not made of any sort of spuma marvs,

but of a substance secreted by the enormously developed salivary glands of the

bird—of spittle in short, In the first set of nests this material is nearly pure,

and these are “ first sort” nests, When the bird is forced to build again, it

ekes out its exhausted supply of saliva with feathers, or other materials, and

the nests are “ second sort.” The third collection is of still poorer quality.

Tt will be observed that Sir G. Staunton says the nest-hunters descend into

the caverns, They do the same at the Vingorla Rocks, The caverns appear

to be inaccessible from the water below, but there are small openings on

the top of the island, through which ladders can be let down, This similarity

in the situations selected by the birds is very curious, Ihave not heard

of any necks being broken at the Vingorla Rocks, but the operation of get-

ting the nests is admitted to be very dangerous.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 497

The right to collect the nests is annually sold by Government, and thirty

years ago used to realise from 200 to 250 rupees, but the value of the right

has declined very much and this year only 41 rupees were obtained. The

explanation offered by my informant was that the birds are forsaking the

island because they do not like the proximity of the lighthouse. I suggest-

ed an alternative explanation by telling him that, if he regularly ate all

the eggs that his hens laid and never gave them achance of rearing a

chicken, his poultry-yard would die out in time, He seemed to think that

there was something to be said for my view, but preferred his own.

The nests, when collected, are taken to Bombay by the same class of men,

T suppose, as those who go about the coast collecting sharks’ fins and fish

sounds, and are ultimately exported to China.

BE. H. AITKEN.

No, XV.—DESCRIPTION OF THE LARVA OF PAPILIO CLOANTHUS

WESTWOOD.

On 20th June, 1894, at Masuri,in the Western Himalayas, I found a

larva of Papilio cloanthus, Westwood, on a large and common tree—not a

shrub—identified as Machilus odoratissima, Nees, on which also feed the larve

of Papilio sarpedon, Linneus, P. glycerion, Westwood, and P. govindra, Moore,

The full-fed larva is 13 inches long, The head and neck are contractile,

The body is widest at the fifth segment, from which it tapers gradually

to the thirteenth segment. The ridge over the head is furnished with two

tubercles, black in front, white posteriorly, The fifth segment has a yellow

bar which projects on each side beyond the body,and has the appearance

of a yoke. The points of this yoke are black, Colour, green. The

thirteenth segment is of a pale transparent blue-green. A pale yellow sub-

dorsal line and an almost white spiracular line are the only markings.

Head of a greenish-yellow. Legs, claspers, and abdomen of the same colour

as the thirteenth segment, The thirteenth segment terminates in two sharp

points which join at the end, so that the division between them is apparent

only on a close examination.

BANKIPUR, BEHAR,

20th June, 1894. Mrs. 8. ROBSON.

No, XVI.—LIFE-HISTORY OF PAPILIO GLYCERION, WESTWOOD.

Larva, when full-fed, 13 to 1} inches in length, The fourth and fifth

segments are the thickest, and the larva tapers from the fifth segment to

the thirteenth,

Colour, green, of the same shade as the food-plant of the larva, the

leaves of Machilus odoratissima, Nees. The whole larva is covered with

minute black dots, except on the anal segment, The third segment is

bordered anteriorly by a narrow ochreous ridge, which surmounts the head

when drawn in, and is continued in unbroken spiracular lines to the tail.

498 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X,

This ridge or hood is furnished with two short, blunt, black, subdorsal spines.

The fourth and fifth segments are furnished each with two subdorsal

vermilion tubercles armed with ashort black spine. The last segment is

bifurcated, and the points are yellow tipped with black. These appendages

are about ;4 of an inch apart at the base, and project outwards at an angle

of about 15°. The legs, claspers, and abdomen are all of a whitish-green.

Pupa,1 inch long, It is of a brighter green than the larva, and is marked

longitudinally with four ochreous-yellow curved bars.

The larva described above wasfound at Masuri, in the Western Himalayas,

in June, 1894, The pupa was kept in Masuri from June to October, and then

brought down to Bankipur in the plains of Behar, The imago emerged

at Bankipur to-day.

Mrs, $8. ROBSON.

BANKIPUR, BEHAR,

21st March, 1895.

No, XVII—CUTTING A TIGER’S CLAWS.

For some time I had noticed that the claws of a fine male tiger in the

public gardens here were growing into the flesh, so I determined to operate

upon him, but unfortunately I adopted the resolution a bit too late, for on

the night of the 25th February he began operations himself and tore out one

of the claws of his left fore foot by the roots leaving an ugly sore. Matters

therefore had to be pushed on at once. The cage in which the larger animals

are sometimes transported was brought into requisition, This is a strong one

six feet long by three feet six inches broad and four feet in height, consisting

of a framework composed of four inch beams fitted with three-quarter inch

bars of iron, one and-a-quarter inches apart on three sides ; while the fourth

side was a sliding door with bars one and-a-half inches apart, From the top

of this cage I had a false ceiling hung, consisting of one inch teak boards

padded with sacking filled with straw, and from the two ends of the cage

I had a couple of bars removed to give room for the tiger’s paws to come

through, All was then ready. The patient was induced on the 28th February

to enter the cage by placing his food in it, and now came the tug-of-war.

The false ceiling was supported at the corners by ropes which were held up

by men standing on the top of the cage, six long iron bars were then passed

through the cage so as to rest on the false ceiling and the ends were manned

by two men on each side. Ata signal given by the superintendent of the .

gardens, the twelve men bore down on the ceiling while we anxiously awaited

events ; and to our great satisfaction we found that the men were able easily

to press the tiger down and to keep him down for any length of time. Indeed

so helpless was he that we were able to lever his legs aboutinto the desired

position, and so examined them one by one, The Superintendent had caused

iron bars to be fixed horizontally opposite the openings at the end of the cage,

A noose was fixed to the leg that was to be operated on andit was pulled

through the opening and lashed on to the horizantal bar. The veterinarian

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 499

who was in attendance had only broughta saw which was useless, but the

superintendent produced a pair of good rose clippers and very soon had all the

claws cut. Some of them had grown into the flesh nearly an inch and had

caused nasty sores, but the worst place of all wasthe toe from which the

tiger had torn the claw. The bone was exposed, and there was a sinus about

three inches long from which at least a hundred maggots were taken, It

looked so bad that I almost made up my mind to shoot the poor beast there

and then, However, the places were dressed with antiseptics and we agreed to

see how they looked next day. The tiger seemed none the worse for the op-

eration and took his food as usual. Next day the same process had to be gone

through, but on this occasion only ten men manned the bars and pressed the

tiger down, and we found them quite sufficient, the only difficulty was when

the beast sat up, when no amount of pressure would induce him to bend his

forelegs, the only thing then was to lever his hindquarters and throw him

on his side, which was easily done. The wounds looked so much better that

there seemed a prospect of their healing, so every day the tiger was thus

pinioned and the sores dressed, and on the 15th April, after forty-five days

confinement, he was put back into his own run completely cured and with

all his claws in order.

H. 8. FERGUSON, F.1.s.,

Hon. Secy., Govt. Public Gardens, Trevandrum,

26th April, 1895.

No, XVIJI.—THE FOOD OF THE KRAIT.

A few days ago Mr, F. L. Muir, of this place,sent me a krait (Bungarus

arcuatus) which he had killed while it was in the act of swallowing another

snake (Dipsas gokool), He writes as follows :—‘ They were found about

six o’clock in the morning on a sort of rockery, round one of the neem trees

in our compound, I went out tosee them and found the krait with only

its head out of a hole in the rockery, gradually swallowing the other snake

which was hanging down the rockery with its tail firmly twisted round a

tuft of grass, I watched them for a long time, the krait very gradually

getting the Dipsas further into its mouth, The exertion of doing this gra-

dually drew it from its hole, and eventually the two fell to the ground and

T killed them both,’ The Dipsas measured 2’ 9$” and was much thicker than

the krait, having a large lizard, a foot long, inits stomach. The krait

measured only 2’ feet ; so it is difficult tosee what would have eventually

happened,

W. He TR Abie

JuHANsI, April, 1895.

[As far as my experience goes the food of the krait consists almost entirely

of other snakes, and we recently received a specimen which contained a young

Dhaman (Zamenis mucosus) several inches longer than its host ; showing that

the lesser can contain the greater, provided itis capable of expansion.—

ED.]

500 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

No, XIX.—FOOD OF THE BULL-FROG.

I observe in the last number of the Society's Journal a note by J.

Dundas Whiffin on the food of the pull-frog, I thought it was generally

known that the food of the bull-frog is any living thing which he can get

outside of. If it is not, I will give examples of his fare from my own

experience.

Three times at least I have known a frog try to swallow a chicken,

The chicken was rescued in each case while some of it was still outside, so

it must ever remain uncertain whether the frog could have taken in the

whole, or was making an attempt at what was beyond its powers. As far

as I remember, the chickens were at least a week or two old, in fact they

must have been more, for they were wandering far from the mother when

seized.

Once I saw an enormous frog swallow the head of a snake about two

feet long, and it was gulping down the body as you wind up a measuring

tape, when the struggles of the snake became so violent that the frog tumbled

with it into a tank, so the result of that experiment must also remain

unknown.

Some months ago I caught a mouse in a trap and dropped it alive inte

a duck pond in the garden, in which there were several frogs, It had

scarcely touched the surface of the water when a frog darted forward

and the mouse disappeared. The thing was so quickly and neatly done

that I am unable to assert that I saw the frog swallow the mouse, but

there was no mouse thereafter for ever.

Finally, a friend of mine and a vice-president of B. N. H. Society once

commissioned somebody to get him a frog for dissection, and a large bull-

frog was brought to him in a very remarkable condition. It was globular

and so hard that it would have made a good cricket ball. He proceeded

to dissect it and took out a full-grown sparrow. If he is in the chair

when this note is read, he will confirm my story.

A poisonous humour is secreted by the skin of the toad which makes

most animals refuse it, but the frog mentioned by J. Dundas Whiffin acted

quite in accordance with its nature in swallowing the toad first and

thinking about that afterwards,

E, H. AITKEN.

Ratnacrri Districr,

Tih May, 1895,

501

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE MEETING HELD ON 23rp OCTOBER, 1894.

A meeting of the members of this Society took place on Tuesday, the 23rd

October, 1894, Brigade-Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel G. A. Maconachie presiding.

NEW MEMRERS.

The election of the following new members was announced:—

Lire Members—H. H. Maharajah Jey Singh of Ulwar, and Mr, Goverdhun-

das Goculdas Tejpal (Bombay).

MempBers—Lieutenant Bertram A.G, Shelley, R, HE. (Mhow); Hon. R. A.

Forbes-Sempill (Bombay); Dr. Bhowanishanker Balchrishna Dadarkar, L, M.

& S. (Dadar) ; Mr. A. G, Cardew, I.C.8., (Qotacamund) ; Mr. J. N. Dallaporta

(Bombay); Mr. Samuel Haughton, C. C, 8, (Ceylon); Mr, Charles EH, Seal,

M.B.C.8., L.R.C.P.E. (Sylhet); Rev. E. Browne (Ahmednugger); Mr. H. J.

Landon (Tanna); Mr. H. E, John (Bombay) ; Captain H. V. Cox (Meerut) ;

Mr, J. Maclean (Bombay) ; Mr. J. H. Vanderzee (Hllichpur); Captain F, T.

Williams (Upper Burma); Surgeon-Captain F, W.C. Jones, A. M.S. (Mhow);

Mr. H. N. Thompson (Burma) ; Surgeon-Lieutenant J. P. Morton, M.B.

(Upper Burma) ; Mr, Arthur G. Chuckerbutty, I.C.S. (Bombay); Mr, J. G.

Covernton (Bombay); Lieutenant A, EH, Hatch (Hyderabad, Sind) ; Lieut-

enant C, O. O. Tanner (Hyderabad, Sind); and Mr, T,L, F, Beaumont

(Kurrachee),

CONTRIBUTIONS.

The Honorary Secretary acknowledged the receipt of the following contri-

butions since the last meeting:—

Contribution. Description. Contributor,

A quantity of Insects from

RAMOC MONS DIAC Usemsacoreccsess|f ts 10 Wl eters scicastc Mr, R. Bruce Foote.

ep Grelilaemtenttoseienasees aeenaecn i> Bungarus ceeruleuy ......00....| Mr. W. Thacker.

IL (COlDIR) cocooednSecsoodpanaseoocHOe Naga tripudiaDs ........cerses. Surg-Capt. J. Girvin.

16 Snakes’ Hegs ........e00e0ee Tropidonotus stolatus ......... Mr. W. Steers.

1 Himalayan Viper ............ Ancistrodon himalyanus...... Mr. W. H. Traill.

Dlaicke Cob ramepancesscrscece sc Naga tripudians .......ec..er- Mr. G. Elton.

1 Pied-crested Cuckoo (alive), Coccystes jacobinus .........++. Mr. N. 8. Symons.

Psammophis leithii .........00»

te RHici sh caminaitalsceeteesee neste ; c

Some Snakes and Lizards | | Zamenis TYMCOSUSeseaceseseciee ee Me J. Babington

from Beluchistan, 4 ISTEMUIAS VELOX |i saceneacensscehelels cies

| Zamenis diademMa ....sc...0000++

(| Zamenis karelinii.............0+

il Weniee (Ok7)9) cocasdaosouecdooocae. Cancer integrifortes............ Mr. W. Webb.

Indian Monitor (alive) ...... Varanus bengalensis............| Mr. J. C. Maynard,

1 Chinkara’s Skin and Horns.|Gazella bennetti ....,....0+e0+ Mr, B, A. Gupte.

L Indian Monitorserresessreres) Vatanus bengalensis sce Do.

502 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. LX.

TN ,

Contribution. Description. | Contributor.

{ Bungarus ceeruleus .........0

A number of Snakes ......4 | Hchis carinata .......0..0c0ss0 Mr. R. P. Banerjee.

| Warperaynusselltmerseescseesce anne

1 Tortoise (alive) .............-.| Testudo elegans ........s0s0+8 Mr. H. F. Hatch.

ISISINEN SS): aoGoodosadcaubbodsaoceddood Liycodon aulicus ............ Mr, G. R. Lowndes.

2 [MIIONCE TA IDES cosconcbaccoood Sypheotides aurita ............ Surg.-Capt. Henderson.

TT TSIM) Ggocdcoaoodaacconcoucaacade Typhlops brahminus ......... Do,

Ug Snialkceeerscseseee soc0acadioacccac Dipsas trigonata ............ Do.

A Smakere se vceccacsuaseoteseccecsee Lycodon striatus .............. a Do.

indian Moniitoneesseseceseee Varanus bengalensis ......... Do.

IP Phoorsaly (Gilive)iceces-ececee Hchis carinata ..........c0.+0» ° Do.

1 Dhaman (alive)............... ZaMenis MUCOSUS .......0c.0e00- Mr. H. McNee.

4 Crocodiles (alive) ......... .--| Crocodilus palustris............ Mr. H. Bulkley.

J Snake (alive) cesses cerdesce Homalopsis buccata .| Capt. Forbes.

IE erm) (UIT) coccaosasebccocode Dipsas trigonata ..............- Mr. H. W. Barrow.

ICobraiCalline) meererscesen steer Naga tripudians ............+.. Mr. D, Smith.

1 Clutch of Hggs of the

Black-breasted Quail ......! Coturnix coromandelica ...... Mr, E. W. Campbell,

UPUGUNS) (GNLINZE)).. Congtecocsoaddoace Milvus govinda...........s.+00+ Mrs. Lees.

UL ISIN Soocotoanoan apcaonopcacaded Zamenis ventrimaculatus ...| Capt. R. Light.

1 Lizard ............++0+..000ee0664, Hemidactylus triedrus ...... 0.

To Siailcey eee eeaeouneccoemseesacse Dipsas trigonata ...............) Mrs. Hutchinson,

IED lackaC oloramesaesecesesesece Naga tripudians ............... Surg-Capt. Henderson.

A collection of N. Canara

JDM ~/Gdseocnogda0 soaosc00nc0¢

1 Painted Bat ..... ppoaddo000e0d

I Sidake cnet ccecacsecemcecstoerce

I Spotted Owlet (alive)

Ih SNOBIIS) “Sompnoasbaveabestoaceoduoos

1 Snake (alive)

ZAS MAGES) (UVC) sece-<eeeerencsees

1 Small Indian Civet (alive).

ecccce

2 Heads of 4-horned Rams...

I Snake (Glive)......... spn000008

UNSnAK eg genesnsee ste eceeee ceseens

Nest and Eggs of Common

Wien Wianbletuesceccsescer

2 Snakes (alive) ........-..0...

2 Lizards (alive) ....... SSa0g00c

1 Great Hornbill (alive) ...

1 Indian Palm Civet (alive).

Ie Dreenvaper ellie) jscecesceers

Cerivoula picta

Zamenis mucosus

evccccevccccscn

eecccccce

eececcccoceseccccacze

Ovis aries

Hryx johnii ....... scobdcosoNg000

Vipera lebitana .

ecceccceccvesccecccccees

Drymceca inornata

eesevcesccve

@eerccevcssccecn

Dipsas trigonata

VaTanus STISCUS....0....0ceeeeeee

Dichoceres cavatus

Paradoxurus niger

Trimeresurus anamallensis...

ecccecccceve

eecceoecacce

Major T. Macpherson.

Mr. Fry.

Mr. C. E. Kane.

Mr. T. Baker.

Major F. G@. Mainwaring.

Mr, J. H. Hawkins.

Surg.-Capt. Henderson.

Mr. Jas. Dunlop.

Mr. C. L. Smith.

Rey. F. Dreckmann, S. J.

Major R, C. Pentland.

Kumar Shri Juswunt Sing-

ji of Jamnugeer,

Surg.-Capt. J. Girvin.

Surg.-Capt. R.§, F. Hen-

derson.

Mr. H. Ingle.

Mr. D. George.

Rey. F. Dreckmann, §, J.

Alarge pair of Koodoo

JBLOIBNIS) ec scosoocndcoscoonkoanoad0e Strepsicerous kudu ............ Sure.-Capt. H. F. Cleve-

land.

2 Geckos.......... cpoddonsosnconted Eublepharis maculatus ......| Mr. F. A. Ingle.

1 Snake (live) .........:... ----.| Zamenis diadema .............+- Surg.-Capt. R. 8. F. Hen-

derson.

1 Snake \(alive) .........s00+.+«-| Dipsas ceylonensis ....... .....| Hon’ble R. A. Forbes Sem-

pill.

2 Smalces) aur eeeseersere see gil ooeacans ccna and Emo Mr. A. M. Caccia.

donotus piscator ............

1 Indian Roller (alive) ...... Coraicias imdiGaresedmenseeseseer Mr. J. F. Snugegs.

1 Clutch of Hegs of the Blue-

breasted Rail...........sesse0 Hypoteenidia striata............ Mr. N. 8. Symons.

2 Eges of the Sarus Crane...| Grus ANTIGONE ...000s0e0eere ....| H. H. the Rajah of Dewas,

J. B.

PROCEEDINGS. 503

MINOR CONTRIBUTIONS.

From Mr. N. 8. Symons, Major H. B. Thornhill, Mr. G. Hodding, Mr. W. Webb,

Mrs. T. Gray Hill, Mrs. Birdwood, Mr. J. Stiven, Rey. F. N. Hill, Mr. H. N.

Bhatkanday, Mr. H. Bricknell, Mr. D. Lindsay, Mr. N. P. DaCunha, Mr. H. W.

Campbell, and Mr. F. Hutchinson.

CONTRIBUTIONS To THE LIBRARY.

The Indian Forester, Vol. XX., Nos. 7, 8, and 9.....0.0 In exchange,

SMithsoniany Heporigtan elo Olive wecc.sectcensssectccaeeerecess Do.

Annales de la Faculté des Sciences de Marseille......... 900000

Reminiscences of Sport in India, by Major-Genl.

TS TPT caond cp accobcdconcocdaonocer “secueasbren oooceidesveawoonoce 18, Nie Vicon,

Etudes Critique de la Shells and Echideuden ......... Rev. F. Dreckmann, S. J.

Handbook of the Flora of Ceylon, Part II, by H.

TYIMEDc.ececverccet0e.e.ccecscees tv erecccerec ceeevesceses Deo eceeee The Author.

Actes de la Société Scientifique du Chili, Vol. IV,

NO. Leeesesoeerercrccrercacseres sos terereseetescocsecooeees seeereves In exchange.

Monographies D*Hchinodermes vivans et Fossites

Chiowis AGBEsiZ) ...ccereesssseenee trereree sesevereceescoe-sseve Rev, F. Dreckmann, 8. J.

The Canadian Entomologist, Vol. XXVI., Parts 7

and § ... ...-«.. secererscsesececsarercrsescescees or csereoreossere, LM eXchange,

Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. LXIII., Part II,

IN@s B ooaceosoancassqs0ccodac “pocdeconcenenseccno poedensosononasad09 Do.

Verhandlungen Zoologisch-Botanischen esellschaftin

\WVGIM cecocceactoc seceneccese cocecsatcoestete cécooececedaend ncgoonedd Do.

Proceedings of the Linnzan Society of New South

TES VO gOXe trae lnectsccencste ere senenesrcseecsssceccsces Do.

Abstract of the Proceedings of the Linnzan Society

of New York for the year ending March 27, 1894...... Do.

The Tin Mines and the Mining Industries of Perak and

Victorian Naturalist, Vol. XI., Nos. 3, 4, and 5..........- In exchange.

Administration Report of the Madras Government

Museum for the year 1898-94 ..rccccccerccesecacsccees secre docdod

Records of the Zoological Survey of India, Vol.

SONG VAD oe PATERS) Uses cscssseccceeesce cngcoasdco8one5 aco En00000 In exchange.

The Annual Report of the Zoological and Acclimatissa-

Indian Museum Notes, Vol. III., No. 3 .....00000. seoacnonoN In exchange.

The Annual Report of the Provincial Museum Com-

mittee, London, for the year ending March 31,1894. =...

Pearl and Chank Fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar by

Edgar Thurston, C.M.Z.S, COee VOLO DIOGTODICRLODTODG0Q0C0RDNICD The Author.

504 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

MR. W. F. SINCLAIR, 1.C.8S. (RETIRED).

The following resolution was proposed by Dr. Maconachie :—‘‘That the

members of the Bombay Natural History Society wish to record their appre-

ciation of Mr. W. F. Sinclair’s services to this Society, in consideration of the

numerous contributions he has made to the Museum, as well as for the

valuable and interesting articles contributed by him to the journal.” Dr.

Maconachie said Mr, Sinclair was one of the original members of the Society,

and he thought that it would not be right to allow him to leave India with-

out the members expressing in some way their appreciation of all that he

had done for them, The Museum contained a great number of Natural

History specimens which had been collected by Mr. Sinclair at Allbag and

elsewhere, whilst few of the journals had appeared without some interesting

note or paper under his signature, or such as “ Waters of Western India ”

under that of his nom-de-plume “ Keswal.’

Mr. R. C. Wroughton seconded the resolution, which was carried unani-.

mously.

INDIAN WILD DUCKS.

The attention of the members was drawn to the circular on this subject,

which was inserted in the journal just issued (No. 1, Vol. IX), and the

Honorary Secretary said that he hoped that up-country members would not

hesitate to send down all the specimens which they could obtain in addition

to the notes particularly mentioned in the circular. This interesting subject

could only be properly worked up by the co-operation of a large number of

members.

GAME BOOKS,

The Honorary Secretary mentioned that these could be had by applying

to the Society, and it was desirable that every local sportsman should possess

one, so that a fairly complete record of the small game killed within a radius -

of forty miles of Bombay during this season might be obtained.

PAPERS READ.

The following papers.were then read:—“‘ A Bison Calf,” by Major G. W.

8. Rodon ; “ Hybrid Francolins,’ by Mr, G. W. Vidal, I, C.8.; A Note on

Birds from Central India in Barnes's ‘‘ Handbook,” by Mr, W. T, Blanford ;

and “ Mule Breeding,’ by Veterinary-Surgeon-Major Rayment,

A vote of thanks was passed to all the contributors, and the meeting then

terminated.

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE MEETING HELD ON 28tu JANUARY, 1895.

A meeting of the members of this Society took place on Monday the 28th

January, 1895, H. EH. Rear-Admiral Kennedy presiding.

NEW MEMBERS.

The election of the following new members was announced :—H, H. the

Maharaja of Bikanir, Major R. Fulton (Dharamsala), Lieut. Colin Campbell

Renton (Jalna), Mr. K, R. Bomanjee, 1.0.8, (Dhulia), Surgeon-Major P. J.

PROCEEDINGS. 505

Damania (Bombay), Mrs. Hight (Nasik), Mr. J. H. Atterbury (Bombay), Mr. A.

Jamieson (Ootacamund), Mr. Jamsetjee Nusserwanjee Tata (Bombay), Mr. J.

Sanders-Slater (Bombay), Mr. J. Macfarlane (Mangalore), Mr. Charles B. Smales

(Burma), Mr. Judah Hyam (Poona), Lieut. A. J. Peile, R.A, (Bombay),

Mr, Samuel M, Johnson (Cawnpore), Captain David B. Thomson (Bombay),

Mr, A. Kearns (Canara), Mr. A. E. Lowrie (Chanda), Mr. C. 0. Hanson

(Chanda), Mr. F. D. Whiffin (Singbhoom), Mr. Moulavi Shaikh Habeb-ud-din

(Hyderabad), Mr. T. J. Ward (Bombay), Captain W. G. Hatherell (Bombay),

Lieut. M. D. Goring-Jones (Mhow), Lieut, H. B. Rattray (Jhansi), Honorary

Secretary of the Calcutta Zoological Society (Calcutta), Mr. P. R. Cadell,

1.C.S. (Surat), Mr. Wm. Shipp, Jun. (Bombay), Surgeon-Captain G. B. French

(Saugor), Mr, John Young (Rangoon), Mr.J. F. Bourdillon (Quilon), Mr. Wn.

Mahon Daly (Yercaud), Mr. R. Foulkes (Yercaud), Surgeon-Major H. P.

Dimmock (Bombay), Dr. Tribhuvandas Motichund Shah (Junagad), Professor

O. V. Muller (Bombay), Miss Benson, M, D, (Bombay), Mr.G. H. Townsend

(Bombay), Mr, R. Reeve (Bombay), and Mr. Jasee Shabudin (Surat).

CONTRIBUTIONS.

Mr, H. M, Phipson, the Honorary Secretary, acknowledged receipt of the

following contributions since the last meeting :—

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MUSEUM.

De ee

Contribution. Description. Contributor.

ee eee

1 Snake .....20000 sonocosoeocascoce Dipsas hexagonatus.........0+ Capt. G. H. Loch.

1 Large Cormorant ......+++06 Phalacrocorax carbo............|Mr. H. Bulkley.

1 Pair of abnormal horns of

Blackbuck ...cecceosseseeeeseee Antelope Cervicapla.......se00s Do.

1 Snake (alive).......-.sse0+s0e Gongylophis COniCUS........+++ Mrs. A. Reel.

1 Monitor .....scceccesocscoreeere Varanus bengalensis..........-. Mr. T. O'Leary.

> Great Hornbills.........++-+»- Dichoceros Cavatus ....cc..e+- Capt. A. Fraser.

1 Snake ...ccccsccoccscssscoecreree Tropidonotos piscator ........ Hon. Mr. Justice Jardine.

1 Snake ..cccccccrecsresseseccee--. Gerardia prevostiana ......... Mr. A. Corrodi.

1 Sake ...cccccccrersscceeseseeces Coluber hodgsonil........ss+.+-- Mr. H. Bicknell.

1 Smake cecocccoscscrsercssserceeee HryX JOHD]i ....e...esseneeseeees Mr. N. 8. Symons.

1 Comb Duck (alive) .........\Sarcidiornis melanonotus ... Do.

A Black Buck’s head with

ODLy ONE HOTN.....2.ceeeerreres Antelope Cervicapra.........- Mr. J. Sewell.

1 Chestnut Bittern (alive) ...|Ardetta cinamomeea ........- Mr. H. B. Thorburn.

1 Fishing Cat (alive) ......... Felis Viverrina .....cccsscecee-e- Mr. J. F. Walke.

1 CObra ...ccccecescssccsescesoeeee Naga tripudians ......sse.ces- Mr, A. C. Walker.

A number of birds’ skins from

the Naga Hills ...... OCACOR hd ee ge ea Op OOS Capt. D. B. Thomson.

1 Monkey (alive) coocsss---seeee MacacuS SINICUS...secccesceceeree Major D. de Houghton,

The lower jaw of some extinct

species of Rhinoceros ....../Rhinoceros sivalensis (7) ...... Mr. T. MM. Cotgrave.

Teeth of Mastodon ........s++- Mastodon Sp .sccccccececesesceees 0.

1 Panther (alive)......--+ss0- Felis pardus ...ssecceeeeeeeereees Mr. W.D. Sheppard., I.C.S.

1 Chamecleotiecs....-sseeesereeees Chameleon calcaratus......... Mr. J. Du Boulay, I.C.S8.

3 Daboias (alive) ...--.-.se++ee Daboia elegans ......ceeseeseeeee Surg.-Capt. 8. H. Prall.

1 Palm Civet (alive) ......0. ParTadOXULUS DIQEY ..ee.se0eee- Mr. G. A. Gupte.

85 Birds’ skins from Java «| = =§==_eeaeee Mr. E. J. Kerkhoven.

1 Indian Screech Owl (alive)|Strix javanica ...eccccsseeeere Mrs. Fulton.

1 Saw Fish scocsseccssessscsere(ETIStiS PECEINATUS....0.++-2000- Mr. A. Corrodi.

506 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X,

Contribution. Description. Contributor.

2 Young Wild-cats (alive) ...|Felis Chaus.......cecoccsessccecees Mr. G. K. Wasey.

2 Black-headed Mynas

(GIliVe) mo ecsee conancossonsead Temenuchus pagodarum ...... Mrs. Dimmock.

IL SAIS cagaacconsodgcccansdscosc0¢ Calophis trimaculatus ......... Mr. W. G. Betham.

1D a hoiaee er. snonscoseses core] DADOIA CIEGADS ...eceeeeeeeervene Mr. W. Thacker.

He Cobras live) seseseeneeseseeres Naga tripudians .......0c0000 Mr. H. J. Ebden, I.C.8.

1 Clutch of Bronze winged

JACANIA’S CLOS...ceccccereconces FFA pC CAMecpeseamemace secon Mr. W. Shipp Gun.)

Nest of the Indian Palm

SVMMUED, coecontstendodcenecos eooeee|Cypsellus batassiensis ......... Do.

2 Jackal-Cuds (alive) ......... CRMIIS BEERS secascoccocdcdeodaced Mr. P. J. Tonkin,

A pair of Black-buck Horns,

25 inches ..-.e00 Renan tecenece Antelope cervicapra............ Mr. H. T. Ommaney, I.C.8.

1 Red-crested Pochard...... «. ili ola enim aseecssedesseces sce Mr. W.F. Jardine,

Nest and eggs of the black-

bellied finch lark ............ Pyrrhulauda grisea ......0sec6 Mrs, A. C. Walker.

Fossil bivalvesfrom Burma} — .seeee Mr. §. B. Bates.

PA DNaMmantecceccusencsieteuencess ZAMEDIS MUCOSUS .ccccccccscccee Surgn.-Lt.-Col. Weir.

1 Skin of the marbled Teal...'Chaulelasmus angustirostris.. Capt. A. R. Hatch.

TE (GHEORO) pacsacnosnacoscpesccenoauss Hemidactylus triedrus......... Mr. Lester.

Paw i teeruecscsccsecsecoucees IAGGUTADACHIUS cemscccc see eacnecneen Mr. B. A. Shelley.

UL Pelli cognscoacpaoanocacconoaceae Lanius erythronotus.........+ . Do.

PAD) ISVS! ERIE) “cocobenas-tosoccag| eased Do.

1 Nukta Goose (alive)......... Sarcidiornis melanotus ...... Col. J. Biddulph.

ADPBITOSNEOES Wie sssescesccccerse| cht) tL athe, Mireweeue Capt. P. Z. Cox.

9 Pairs of Horns from Ber-

LOA cocadncogsaqcanenosonsacaoc0NG goo0de Do.

ASmUIMeTIOL PIGS. Westsserses|) oon nl betel Mr. W. Shipp (jun.)

A large collection of snakes

ATCT ZANASN coms oen tase eeeeetele Citi: Oy tirecemiee Mr. F’. Gleadow.

2 Young Wild Dogs (alive)..|Cyon dukhunensis.............+- Mr. A. Elliott.

MINOR CONTRIBUTORS.

Messrs, W. Thaker, L, Penny, P. E, Myer, W. M. Bell, J, Moreau, James

Moore, A. C, Walker, J. A. Betham, and C. R. Rose.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIBRARY,

The Indian Crustacea (Henderson), from the Author ; The Birds on the

Byingyi Mountains (Oates), from the Author ; The Irish Naturalist, January

to July, 1894, from W.F. Sinclair, C. 8.; The Canadian Entomologist,

Vol. XXVI, Nos, 9 to 11, in exchange ; The Victorian Naturalist, Vol. XI,

Nos, 6, 7, 8, in exchange ; Records of the Botanical Survey of India, Vol. I,

Nos, 3, 4, from Government ; The Indian Forester, Vol. KX, No, 12, in

exchange ; Records of the Geological Survey of India, Vol, XXVII, No, 4, in

exchange ; Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol, LXIII, No, 3, in

exchange ; Field and Garden Crops of the N. W. P., Part III (Duthie),

from the Author ; Proceedings of the Linnwan Society of N.S. W., Vol. IX,

No, 2, in exchange,

THE ACCOUNTS FOR 1894,

Mr, E. M, Slater, the Honorary Treasurer, placed before the meeting a,

statement of the accounts for the year ending 31st December, 1894, showing a

balance at credit of Rs, 3,360-9-6. It was resolved that the accounts be passed

subject to the usual audit.

PROCEEDINGS. 507

PAPERS READ,

The following papers were then read :—1, Notes on the Thamin, or Brow-

Antlered Deer (Cervus eldi), by Veterinary-Captain G. H. Evans; 2, The life-

history of various Indian Butterflies, by Mrs. 8. Robson ; 3, The Oorial, or

Sha (Ovis vignii), by J. D, Inverarity; 4, Food of the Bull-Frog (Rana

tigrina, by J. Dundas Whiffin ; 5, The poisonous properties of Semecarpus

anacardium, by Surgeon-Major K, D, Kirtikar ; 6. Muscular action after death,

by Captain L. H. Parry, R. A.; 7. An addition to the Ophidian fauna of

India, by G, A. Boulengér, F, R. S.; 8, The power of mimicry in Canaries, by

W. W. Squire,

An interesting discussion took place with reference to the various subjects

contained in these papers, in which the following members joined :—H, EH,

Rear Admiral Kennedy, the Hon’ble Mr. G. W. Vidal, Mr, F, Gleadow,

Mr, N.S, Symons, Surgeon-Major K, R, Kirtikar, and Dr, M. D, Cama,

The meeting terminated with a vote of thanks to the Chairman,

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE MEETING HELD ON 2np APRIL, 1895.

A meeting of the members took place at the Society's rooms on Tuesday,

the 2nd April, 1895, Mr. Robert C, Wroughton presiding,

NEW MEMBERS.

The election of the following new members was announced :—

H. E, Lord Sandhurst (Bombay), Lieutenant B, Waterfield, I.8.C, (Punjab),

Major J. W. Wray (Cutch), Mr, T. E, Moultrie (Burma), Lieutenant Stanley

S. Flower (Benares), Major G, A, Collins (Sirdarpore), Mr, Shalom Bapujee

Israel (Janjira), Surgeon-Captain F, I. Wade-Brown (Bombay), Lieutenant

George T. Robinson (Rawulpindi), Mr. T, Lawson Roberts(Bombay), Lieutenant

F. H, Goldthorpe (Punjab), Mr. N. 8. Brodie, I.C.S, (Chingleput), Mr. E. 8,

Currey (England), Mr. Rustom F. Seervai (Bombay), Mr. C, F. Egerton

(Hurope).

ELECTION OF OFFICE-BEARERS,

The following office-bearers were then duly elected :—

President—H. E, Lord Sandhurst,

Vice-Presidents—The Hon’ble Mr, H. M. Birdwood, Brig -Surg.-Lt.-Col, G. A.

Maconachie, and Dr, D. MacDonald,

Managing Committee—The Hon’ble Mr. H. M., Birdwood, Brig.-Surg.-Lt.-Col.,

G. A. Maconachie, Dr. D, MacDonald, the Hon’ble Mr, G. W. Vidal, I.C.8., Rev.

F. Dreckmann, 8.J., Surg.-Lt.-Col, T. 8. Weir, Surg.-Major K, R. Kirtikar, Dr.

J.C. Lisboa, Mr, J. D. Inverarity, Mr, W. 8, Millard, Col. W. S. Bisset, R.E.,

Lt. H, E. Barnes, Mr, J, C, Anderson, Messrs, BR, Gilbert, R. M. Branson, E, L,

Barton, N.S. Symons, and R, C. Wroughton,

Honorary Treasurer—Mr, A, Abercrombie, ex-officio.

Honorary Secretary—Mr. H. M. Phipson, ex-officio.

508 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. 1X.

GAME RECORDS.

The Honorary Secretary requested that members would now send in their

records of game birds shot by them, in the neighbourhood of Bombay, during

the past season, so that a summary might be published, in the Society’s

journal, in the same manner as in previous years.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SOCIETY.

Mr. H. M. Phipson then acknowledged receipt of the following contributions

to the Society’s collection since the last meeting :—

Contribution. Description. Contributor.

1 LamMergeyer...ccccccecesescee lunes barbatus snc: -+- ses Major A. L. Sinclair.

TL IBIBO Gotocesedonsaoadsnbuecssaoo0N8 leita bela wcllectioselsetiee classe ate Mrs. Gilbert.

and) Shells; troma Adenjecess} 1) 9) eeewenen Lieut, A. J. Peile, R.A.

1 Cheetah (alive) ..........-.00+ Cynzelurus jubatus ............ Capt. D. oe Morris,

AGO Nplloclnt ane eerloclerece seltactetseisloetsie POLtAX PICLUS... <c.eer cere

iL IPINGYOHIS, cocophegonboneccoozecane Hehis Cavinata .....eceeccseeee- Mr, H. i. Tiewerhy:

Nest and Eggs of the Rufous-

tailed Babbler ............... Malacocercus somervilli ...... Mr. A. C. Walker.

Web OxauHiShie vec spascsenscecesncecters Ostracion CUbICUS..............- Capt. T. Thorburn.

Tl [SHORE Sococpopastiegaascoatosoncs Typhlops brahminus ......... Do.

A Collection of Moths and

Other Insects.......0.00s0.a0- e Mr. H. H. Aitken.

( |\Silybura brevige sec. 7

| |Ancistrodon hypnale ...... |

I) (SMBH Sogoanodooooonconhodeo00 4 |Trimeresurus strigatus ... | ¢ Do.

| |T. anamallensis...............

| |Chrysopelea ornata .........

1 Widgeon ..........0-.-ceo--0-+0¢| areca PENELOPE ........-+0-+- Mr. M, D. Mackenzie.

IL AROS icoossocoosabachoocodaaooonG Recurvirostra avocetta ...... Do.

Tt Wallneoraay oe ecoganisoacasopeanigone Sypheotides aurita .........0-. Genl, H. Anderson.

1 Spotted Owlet ............... Carine brama ......2..-c.c.c0-e Mr. A, M. Tod.

MGIB IULCTME Weceameacteadsacsotactese Botaurus Sinensis........--..00 H. H. the Rao Saheb of

Cutch.

TL SMAI) so-consanoneoonsodsooeneco > Lycodon aulicus ......... ..-.|Mr. W. Murray.

IB arbeteeNlestvesensceseseeeees Xantholema hemacephala...|Mr. W. Shipp.

2 Rock Horned Owls (alive).|Bubo bengalensis............--- Mrs. McCorkell.

IDEAS IE IONE) concoecaccooecospood [ora tiphia nobsgubaSgonoodsoqdoNca -Aliss M. Horne,

Kegs of Dabchick............... PoOdicePS MiNOT.........--..0-0+: Do.

1 Red-headed Merlin ......... Falco chiquera .........ccccse++. Mr. W. Shipp

1 Cobra (alive)..........:..0.00 Naga tripudians ......c. uceeoen Rev. F. Diece ean 8. J.

8) (Piavoyorustes (GUY) cocdecoocoancad Helis 'carinata <....-..--.-+osen Do.

1 Brown Tree Snake Crake: Dipsas trigonata ......-..0+.0+. Do.

Pigeon’s Hegs cssccxscvees-----(COlUM bia intermedia ......... Mr. J. W. Hind,

Us Screecht Owe ccnsccscececeneee Strix JaVANICA <0.-..ceceeaeseees Mr. Le Maistre.

1 Coronetted Sand Grouse ...|/Pterocles coronatus............ Major R. Fulton.

A number of Butterflies from

Bangalore yoanatecsesncceeneans ondedcoon Capt. E. Y. Watson.

1 Lammerveyer...c..-.<.-cecee0e Gypeetus barbatus ........0.. Genl. W. L. Symons.

Pariah Kites’ Hogs *....cssse00e Milvos govinda..........secse00s Mr. J, Brand,

Spotted Owlets’ “Begs aaaoaceos Caring Drama .....ccccccarecere Do.

White-breasted Water Hens’

LOIS) Gasnacagcaogjancoseda aan Hypotzenidia striata ........ Do.

Nest of Tickel’s Flower-

ReCKGriecnestascacdensccasces siete Diczeum erythrorhynchus ..,/Mrs. Pearson.

1 Marmoset (alive) ..........+ Hapale yulgarus ....0.ss.eceee. Mr. D. Glade.

A collection of Shells from

BortvBlaitensccsesssseeerescest muenseee ° Purchased through Capt.

) T. Finny.

PROCEEDINGS. 509

Contribution. Description, Contributor.

Tl COE, concodconaonosSg0qb4000B000 Naga tripudians ............006 Mr. W. Murray.

4 Young Hyeenas (alive)...... Tely2eiae) SAAN), Soc consroocos0ade Mrs. W. Betham.

2 Antelopes (alive) ...-..s0+0 Antelope cervicapra..........0. Surg-Capt. J.Lloyd-Jones,

VU PeiGAn) Secccercccrercusceesesse Pelecanus javanicus........0.0. Mr. H. Bulkley.

Head of African Wart-Hog...|Phacochcerus zethiopicus...... Capt. P. Z. Cox.

19 Birdy Skins from Central

(Nsiciecssssmiscceseseteeseatescer acl) |) | ereserse re ee H. G, Farquharson,

.E.

1 Long-tailed Field Mouse

AILVC)) .-nscnseaeseecescereaerecss Vandeluria oleracea............ Miss N. Otto.

1 Spotted Owlet (alive) 260086 Canine) bramniaiimiescsceedeeene Mrs. Pearson.

1 White-winged Wood-duck ./Anas leucoptera ...........0.0 Mr. C. W. A. Bruce.

1 Solitary Snipe ..............- Gallinago Solitaria .........00. Do.

A collection of Insects from

MYSOLE <ccsncccaseccensoncraree] = ww we nna Mr. P. H. BR. Lee.

TL IDET OOME oconcoondbooooopaoocOsLOdE Daboia Tse eee auosdeceses ‘Sure.-Lieut.-Col. Weir.

MINOR CONTRIBUTIONS.

From Mr. H, Bicknell, Lieut, $. H. Close, Mr, 8, Rebsch, Mr, J, L, Orr, and

Mr, L. Stansfield,

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIBRARY,

The Irish Naturalist, for January and February, from Mr, W, F. Sinclair,

C.8.; The Zoological Record, Vol, XXX, from Mr, W, F, Sinclair, C.8, ; The

Victorian Naturalist, Vol. XI, No, 9,in exchange ; Proceedings of the Man-

chester Lit, and Phil. Soc., Vol. IX, No, 1, in exchange; On the Diseases of

Cattle in India (Vet.-Capt, S, Mills), from the author ; The Canadian Entomo-

logist, Vol, XXVII, in exchange ; Notes and Jottings from Animal Life

(Frank Buckland), from Mr, H. W. Buckland ; Log Book of a Fisherman

(Frank Buckland), from Mr, H, W. Buckland ; Natural History of British

Fishes, from Mr, H. W. Buckland; Birds of India (Jerdon), from Mr, H. W.

Buckland ; Entomological Soc. of Ontario (Report), in exchange ; Proceedings

of the Zoological Society of France, 1894, in exchange ; Fauna of British India

(Moths), Vol. III, from Mr, W, F. Sinclair, C.S.; Photographs of a Tiger, from

Private D, Pearce ; Handbook of S, Australia, from Government.

The following papers were then read and a vote of thanks was passed to the

authors :—(1) The Cheetal or Spotted Deer, by J. D, Inverarity ; (2) Collect-

ing Ways and Collecting Days, No, II., by Colonel C, T, Bingham ; (3) Indian

Arachnida: The Species of Guleodide inhabiting India and Ceylon, by R. I.

Pocock ; (4) A Key to the Asiatic genera of the Hespertide, by Captain H, Y,

Watson, F.E.S., F.Z.S. ; Miscellaneous Notes—(a) The Identification of Birds

by E, W. Oates ; (2) The Occurrence of Gerardia prevostiana in the neigh-

bourhood of Bombay, by H. M. Phipson, C.M.Z,S,; (¢) Spurs of the Red Spur-

fowl, by General O, F, Sharpe ;(d) On the size of Mango Trees, by BR, M,

Dixon ;(e) The Southern Indian Harrier Hagle, by William Mahon Daly ; (/f)

Periodical Flowering of Strobilanthes hunthianus, by William Mahon Daly.

(g) The Birds of the Bombay Presidency, by J. Davidson, I.C.8.

2 eo attey

23 a

heal nt ft be OR OY Wenee

inde= to Volume Ix.

Names of New Genera and Species have an asterisk (*) prefixed.

Specific Names are written with a small initial letter ; Generic,

Sub-family, Family, and Order Names are written with a capital

initial letter,

Abies

abima ... 506

Abisara eve doo

*abOG eee sce

Abrornis ond

Abrus ... c0C

abseus

absolon ...

AGAR, ac sere

Acantholepis ...

Acanthopneuste

Acanthoptila ...

ACAStA eo son

accuminatum ...

ACdON ... 300

ace

IACOTS Urs Soc

* Acerbas

acestes ... pa)

Achalarus dee

Acleros eats

Aconite... Bile

Aconitum soc

Actidium

Acridotheres ...

Acrocephalus ...

acroleuca

Actinodaphne ..

Actinor

aculeatum

acuminatum

acuta ... 600

acuticauda

ma dailatests o8C

Adansonia

adatha ... 600

Addax ...

PAGE

198, 199, 201, 205, 208, 213, 215

ws» 398, 399

267, 268, 409

281, 284, 409

on AS AIS

eee 7)

290, 466

291, 410

. 158

458, 461

Bee ar G

ea thuees 457

5 al

Popper UG

ae7

99, 198, 199

881, 382, 411, 417, 427, 429

1287) 988

419, 422, 423

5c Ya

ee re OS

210, 213

Heth 66. 67

cain finde

195, 429

432, 434, 435

.. 208

199, 216

- 220

AUaD

282, 285, 409

. 165

. 286

ee) WEOIBRE

aditus

adlerzi ...

Adolias ...

Adopzea

adorea ...

adrastus

*adulans

wgialus ...

aénea

Aéromachus

Aithiopsar

affinis

africana

Afzelia ...

*agilis ...

aglais

agna

agni

aina

Ainslizea

altchisonii

AKASH ooo

alba 500

albana

albicilia...

albicilla...

albicincta

_albicinetus

albicollis

albidisea

albifascia

albifolia

albifrontata

albigularis

albipectus

albipes ...

albiplaga:

PAGE

IG ee 5-55)

w.. 458

. 265

. 434

286, 287

so)! een» ae

Meester OO. 200

. 367

Snot 188, 489

195, 412, 415, 416, 426, 429

a Aone A OTL

6, 16, 18, 127, 202, 464, 466

eet ee Ge

.. 162

440, 445, 452

ie . 290

sie) nee OSs

wu 422

ee AS

Be eh CH

». 435

. 279

: 158, 203

aa eee et

san ae 128, 416, 422

188

20036

Lit) cd SO ee 2 Oa teat

na Lsaeago

. 274

woe toe sels vee 202

—

(t=)

418, 435

455, 466, 467

vse 302

ees see

XXXVIii

albitarse 00

albiventris

albofasciata cs.

albonotatus

AleXIS ceo =00

INDEX.

PAGE

eee eco 466

oe 19

Ay ye

w. 187, 489

407, 412, 487

Algz «. 500 eee 490

SLLCAN eee 0 coo 422

nlite ... sce coe 416

alida «. soc 417, 422

Allardia 210, 214

ATLiUM ye0 one 199, 209

Alocasia oe «54

ALPINA o- «-- 206

alpinum 200, 210

Alseonax eve 126, 223, 489

AlsocOMUS one . 188

alternifolium ... .. 200

Althz oo. mae are soe! fe)

ALYSOS eee coe coe 417

amabilis 309, 410

amadava ox . 142

amantes ene . 290

amatla c 412, 437

Amathuslinz .. - 259

ambareesa, woe 422

Amblyoponins . 462

Amblypodia 280, 282, 286

amonum . 203

Gases »- 42, 60, 208

Ampeliceps +. oon . 120

amphea coo .-. 290

Amphisbeenidee 200 32

Ampittia 195, 416, 417, 426, 199, 434

amplexicaulis «.- ee 000 . 216

AMTItA ove oes cco OLT

Anacardiacez 035, 289, 240, 241, 243,

Anacardium .«-

anacardium eee

anadi

anetheta eee

Anaphalis

ANCEDPS oo»

Ancistroides ...

andamanica

Andropogon. o-.

*anella a0

244, 245, 246, 247, 253

we 221, 239

235, 507

saa ABT

ee aa OB

.. 209

468, 469

a. 480, 484

ALT, 422

eee 66

289, 410

Anemone 73, 74, 198, ‘199, 200, 202, 204,

Aneuretus oe

209

a. 460, 461

angulata ee

angustata

angusticollis ...

anisatum

annectens Bae

Annonacez

annulata . ...

annulipes aan

Anolis ... dad

Anoma ...

Antennaria

anthea eve eee

Anthipes aa

anthopogon ...

Anthus ...

antidysenterica

antigone esa

Antigonus a

antiquoruM eee

BMMON) — oq Bhs

Apatura Aan

Apaustus aes

*apha ... Sea

Apinoma Hoc

Apis ove i

Apocynacesz ...

Apostictopterus

appiades Eee

APLCTA coo ove

aquilina as

Arabia ee. a6

ATADS eee

Arachnida

Arallieeiees

KATAMA coo

araneoides

arborescens

arboreum Pes,

ANIGE, 500 wets

Arcenthobium..

arcuata

arcuatus

ardates ... on0

ATCA eve B08

ATe@CR

Arenaria

arenarius

argentea

argioluss.. an6

PAGE

417, 422

wee ABB

we 454

. 170

nas

97, 99

448, 453

. 299

eel

210, 214

382, 417, 429

coo cna 12)

199, 200, 201, 208, 213,

ece

214

as 197

492, 498

w 404

eee eo. 416

Ae ae

406, 407, 437

261, 263, 409

on ag

287, 409

a. AGL

ws. 476, 480

359, 492, 498

411, 424, 429

Beaah Mae, GS

200 ". 152, 157, 158, 160

IG ece 203

eee eco 99

440, 446, 447

.. 438, 439, 449, 509

ic es

285, 288, 409

443, 446

we BA, 208

199, 205

sie) Gee

Aci tee aC

ie ese

La weet Og

Mey era 2151

w» 416

one 221

prea 1)

PY a Oy

see 457

eT T

INDEX, XXX1X

PAGE PAGE

argutum G60 te 506 . 203 | *atlas ... “5 vee oe 268, 409

Arhopala “e - 281, 409, 410, 466 | atra ae soe toe ove vos 244

aria ae oe rae a soe 429 | atrata ... sos coe ee oe 280

Arisema we owe wee ... 209 | atricapilla soc Pe soc «oe 142

Ariscema, 600 oe 206 ... 203 | atrigularis ... one co 12, 137

aristata bc sot nee ... 3388 | atripennis 20 Boe coe a, Wisin helt)

armata ... Ne hes bel .- 456 | atrogularis Joc wee 600 con eB

armoracia no 300 - 153 | atropunctata ... o> ve 417, 429

Arnetta ... coc 376, 378, 379, 497, 429 | atticus ... S00 coc «se 422

Aroidez ee ean 20 42, 46 | attina ... ot oc -, 401, 402, 414, 429

Arrhenothrix ... ... pee 20%, 476) || SUWCmMar... 1 cc foe. 0) een edaliaen ated

Arrhopala cee eve ie «. 307 | Augiades oe wes 196, 432, 434, 435

Artaminee 00¢ 500 me soo TUE |) BAEWETENS coc C00 wee sae wee 435

Artamus eae S06 tee pele) | BUC Ola ere noo zee ae ove 143

¥artaxes ea Vel 261, 268, 409 | auriculata tus aie oc ose OOD

Artemisia oe ape ae we 92 1 auriculatum ... ree ide noe) 0B)

Artocarpus ... 9 «.. wae wee DDT | BUPivittata +» se awe ww 428

Atum ... ade . 42,52, 53, 54,55 | aurorea... 606 nate S00 eve 134

Arundinaria ... ... 198, 199, 203, 326 | austeni... ... wae awe 413, 435

Arundinax ... aa as Pee G) avalnciiners 560 oo. too = cco

arvensis Bae ae ..- 76 | Averrhoa aoa bot re Pas 75)

arvina ... Ap ets 282, 284,409 | Aves... O00 000 506 coo 266

Asarum 200 aoe ade . 209 | avesta ... soe B00, 394, 410, 417, 435

Asclepiadee ... vue Ne >. 491 | Avicennia see Hae AHH ree 243

aslatica ... aD eke se ..- 221 | Avicula... vee doc c00 eee 220

asiaticus Be se coo) WE air} |) Sst oe wee sos wee 027, 484

asmara ... sare eas 195, 417, 422 | axis coe wis one “90 ove 481

ROAM aU resets Stier lek eee96| azutea "ssh" 1 ce bo ses, eres

ASOPIA ... coc ove oo. 283, 284

asper ... he ee se ... 326 | baccata 500 sale we 198, 244

aspersa ... 406 nate -.. 417,422 | baccifer 28 coe SOC ««. 209

Aspidium 200 200 ees 505 GAO || SBME coe mae ia ee 417, 435

ASBAMENSIS cos save bei +. 435 | Badamia eve vee eee 486, 437

Aster... wok Bas oe . 209 | badia ... ace ae on Bric

asthala ... os. C0 . 195 | badra ... 500 soc 406, 407, 437

Astictopterus ... 413, 414, 417, 104, 428, | Balanus 200 o0e cnc coe 201

429, 134 Bambusa 600 cos one eee 208

astigma ... ace c00 onc ee. 124 | bambusae ede . 435

astigmata soc eee »» 417,435 | Baoris 374, 316, 317, “402, 410, 419, 413,

Astragalus... 156,172, 202, 204, 210 414, 415, 416, 417, 433, 434, 435

‘aSWA ... “ee eve os. 194,195 | Baracus eae vee 424, 428, 429, 434

ataphus coe ch 412, 418, 437 | barbata Bote acon cod ah coe, 2108

TESUSY eed» oes sa «= ove 293 | barbatum wee ree ae +. 199

alel ave 406 ee 3, 4, 6, 7,486 | barea... nbs Ee see soe 401

athalia ... te Scie one ... 263 | basiflava Sb con soe vee 435

athos «. on coo = cee ses 416) || batara «.. snc 200 401, 402, 414

Athyma.... ove ese ope ese 338 | Batatas sa one ogo ae 169

atkinsoni «.. 216, 376, 378, 379, 417 | Batrachostomus noe Soc «.. 489

atkinsonii occ eae eee e-» 429 | bedoti ... ooo ses ose eee 455

atlantis ... onc oe) -y 470, 471 bela... eee sat 500 194, 195

INDEX,

PAGE

bella on vee 200

bengalensis 15, 141, 187, 219, 441, 443,489

benjaminii ... oe ooo 4am

Berberis 201, 205, 213, 216, 338

Betula ... - 198, 199, 201, 206

betuloides aisle 550 oat sly)

beturia ... 398, 417

bevani ... 200 ie es 403, 435

bhagava 417, 422

bhawani 205 aoe sac ece 435

Bibasis... a wae 436, 437

bicincta i «. 489

bicolor ... 206 b0e S05 «BU HAO

Bignonacesz 162, 165

Bignoniacez « 165

bilimbi... 55

biloba . 203

*binghamii 264, 409

biocellatus 341, 342

bipunctus 417, 429

birupa ... - O87

bituberculatus : 464, 466

blanfordi 50 200 « 24

Bombax Pe

boothii ... 203

Borassus 556 one o00 477

Bos oac 00 . 226

Be inomennee 461, “469, 470, 472

boulboul wee 5 IB

brahma .., +. 435

brevifolia Be .. 244

brevipes o00 Ley 450, 451, 452

brevirostris ooo 116

Bringa ... a0 one 905! |)

*Britomartis ... 303, 304, 410

*bruneipes sie >. 466

DIUNNEA..o 306 00 417, 435

*brunneus nos sie ona - 467

brunoniana ... 198, 205, 219, 213

bubalinus sea aed aes ve 288

Buceros oo. eae = eae Ace WOE}

buchananii... see eae . 429

Buddleia . 205

Bungarus . 499

bupola ... coo LOU

Burara seo 900 - 412

burbona “0 too) 2M

burkii ... noe. LS)

*burnii 266, 409

Butastur Stic not 2n6 101

Butea ee.

butleri ...

*buto

CACUS eve

cecilius

Celogyne

CBYE aan

Czesalpinese

Czesalpinia

Cafita ce.

cahira ...

Caladium

Calanthe

Calathodes

calathus

calearifer

calceolare

caligata...

Calliana

callineura

Calliope...

Callistachys

Calocasia

Calornis

Caltoris...

calyus ...

Camellia

PAGE

Pea 315

we 868, 429

.. 808, 304, 308, 410

Jeo) Sea

BME 2415

4 32208

dey WER

ses 1) GTERIGG

duce Conta

sch lOG

jee, RAS

B4, 121

we 203

199, 200

387, 417, 435

w» 222,

wears odBOB

ve) ROAST

. 419, 422

hn Wee

Sb UG ROUBS

she. ge ROR

ik ADORNS

. 120

Bis wo

o0c - 475

nee . 208

Camena...294, 295, 297, ‘298, 304, 305, 306,

308, 339, 340, 341, 342, 410, 476

*camense

camiba ...

campanulatum...

campanulatus ...

Camponotine ...

Camponotus

Campophaga

camtschatkensis

canaraica

candaules

candida

cannabinum

Cannabis

cantator

canturiens

capensis

Capila

capitatus -

Capparidacez cv.

Capparides

gee

278, 279, 409

see . 263

49, 200, 201, 203, 206

42, 60

458, 461, 462

458, 458

eoalbil

ws 185

.. 435

a5 UG

185, 187

+» 204

wee 204

. 188

w. 458, 459

412, 419, 422

we 118, 842

161, 162, 165

Soe eee 166

caprata toe

Caprimulgus ...

Caprinulgide ...

Caprona

carbonarius

Carcharodus

Carex

carmentalis ...

*carna

carmosum

Carpodacus

Carpophaga

carribeum

Carystus a0C

cashmiriensis ...

Cassia

veo

Cassiope

Cassuvium

castanea cee

castaneiceps

Castanopsis «s.

Casyapa swe

INDEX,

PAGE

. 130

2 5 lists

aes . 489

417, 421, 499, 499

463, 466

. 415, 417, 421, 422

ose eeal

295, 304

274, 279, 409

. 208

peat nnd

186, 188, 489

a 158

392, 396

foe 2e

we 163

v2 199

wee 240

sreedteta 186

coe pee a0

sae (ee o08

419, 422, 428

CASYAPA «0. - £22

catechu ... . 221

Cathartocarpus ave - 163

Catheartia eae SEe Gua basorsae i)

®catreus = 276, 279, 409

caudatum one 198, 199

CAUDUSs.. 367, 368

Cavernularia <0 . 221

Celenorrhinus 195, 116, 417, 420, 499.498

celestina cos 50 ong ATG ZO)

Centropus tne coe 187, 489

cephala coe «. 378, 411, 413, 429

cephaloides ... oe 411, £29

ceramas can ve a00 «ee 429

cerata ... soc see ae woe 435

Cercomela ae ae - 189

certhea... 206 aes boo lal

Certhide oc dda ae)

Cervulus aie s05 Sa aol)

Cervus... ane 186, 326, 481, 484, 507

Cetacea LOO

ceylonica oor . 435

ceylonensis see ee «=: 127, 456

COEYX eee 280 273, 279

chabrona 406, 407, 408, 409, 412, 417,

437

Chetornis 16

Chetura ove 187, 489

Chalcophaps

chalybeius

chamunda

Chapra oe. aes

Chaptia

Charana

Charmion

Chelidon 46

Chelidorhynx ...

Chibbia

chilensis

chimera a

Chimarrhornis...

chinensis

Chliiaria ae

chozeba sor

christi

chromus

chryszus

Chrysanthemum

chrysanthum ...

Chrysococcyx ...

Chrysosplenium

chusua nee

chuza 200

ciliatum

ciliatus

cinclorhyncha ...

Cinelus

PAGE

» 186

vee - 120

. 422

1406, 416, 433, 435

ere

me 5

997, 814

411,417, 420, 422

io. ARTE

ce | 1285128

Laat

.. 100

... 416

. 188

ee are)

306, "309, 310, 3)1, 410

eee

cineraceous

cinereicapilla ...

cinereus —s «we

cingala 200

cingalensis

einiata 606

cinnabarinum, ...

cinnamomeoventris

CINNAMOMEUS oo

cippus eae

Circus soc

Cisticola oh

citrina 208

Cittocinela ...

Claytoniana

Clematis

cleobis

cleoboides

clitus

cloanthus ee

clella 20

aeo

wee BIL

sine) SSE

407, 408, 415, 437

a . 135

. 216

. 203

se HBF

200, 207

a . 209

Pee Tey,

sas, DOS

sa, fase Sem

. 138

.. 140

ie USE as

<2, sees

ah! Cae

spall" Sapna

. B41

vic V) Seaeaige

CA ae

eas

wee 295

187, 188

12, 28

138, 140

eo l86

wee 205

. 200

298, 308, 339, 340, 341, 342

303, 305, 306, 309

toe woo 422,

oes 497

. 317

xlil

PAGE

Clupea toe ove «. 222

Cnicus 76, 199, 204, 209, 211, 213

coalita ose ae 219

Cobalus ose aoe -. 9382, 396

coccinea 349, 350, 351, 352, 354

Coccothraustinz Ee one oo 142

Cochlearia ve 153

Cochoa . 140

coelestina coe 277, 278, 279

Coix 900 Sop. ANS)

colaca soe : 417, 435

Coladenia we ene 416, 420, 422, 423

collinum tae ate soe Ale}

Collocalia =00 soc ace we 495

colluroides ; 600 ae spo) LULA

Colobopsis or 20 .. 455, 458

Columba on0 CoC eee 188

colvillei eee 500 900 son PADS

comma 500 o00 =00 soo. NG

compantlatumtess |) sey 2) es) eee 210

CONCaNeNnsis .0. nate ase welog

concolor 20 atte 93, 94

conjuncta ope woe 418, 416, 417, 435

consertus sec coc coe 417

contator bac soc coo PAD

contra 500 906 soem al

Convolvulacee... . 169

Copepoda “a0 see ar PALL

Copsychus one one 508 ee 136

coras 20 eee 417

cordifolia sat see 209

cordimana cae oaC 550 dao valle)

Cordyla ove ner coc op5 5%)

coriandrifolia ... 500 ee sae 202

coriartia eve 500 ase, 242

corona oe aie coe O10

coronarium 200 tele seo 208

coronata 50 con e060 soo LL}

coronatus Sas Soe: .«, 18, 22, 120

Corydalis boc ove ee. 207

*corythus "273, 278, 279, 409

cosima soo a00 eee 416

*cossaa ose 271, 279, 409

Cotile soc oem coo 144

cotys eee eee «oe 476

coulteri .. 407, 408, 415, 437

Crassulacez 6 ood ooo 164

erawiurdil 505 eve 487

Cremanthodium 206, 210

Crepis ore i bene twee aU Gu2il()

INDEX.

cynosuroides ...

Cyornis «.- one

Cyprea ... oon

cyprinoides :

CYTINA ove cos

Dactylina sce

Daimio ..- eee

daltoniana

#dalyi ... nos

dan ose

Danais ove ops

Danisepa

PAGE

*Creteus +» 385, 387, 396, 411, 431,

435

*cretheus ene o. 294, 410

crinigera cee 23, 24

crisilda : age CATIN

crispa is O08 vee 202

crispifrons ... ooe wwe 475, 477

cristata ead ee see nop ANB)

cristatus BAS ane . 112

Crossiura dcr) we tea ee 419, 422

Cruciferz oon 2, 161, 166

eruda bog fade « 401, 402

cryptoceroides ... coc on owe 407

Cryptogramme eele 200 ea 02,

Cryptolopha ... ono «- 18, 20, 23

Ctenoptilum ... coe 423, 422, 423

Cucabalus coe ves -- 209

Culex vee 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 90, 91

Culicicapa ... eee ac - 127

Culicide 20K ere Oe

cunnesius tee 006 see ooo 218

Cuon o0C soe oot oe 39

Cupitha, oan coe 432, 434, 435

cuprea 200 906 eee coe 489

curcas 6oD eee ee 105

cursitans 200 206 dae OL:

cuvieri c eee coe 330

Cyananthus ... s0¢ -- 210,214

Cyanecula om etete gos coe 135

| Cyaniris toe ane ewe 201,409

cyaniventris cee snc Sag | Al

Cyarnis 200 400 veges

Cybium 323 soe 220

cycloceros : sat ose O22

Cyclopides ... eco 416

cylindrica 2 coc coe soo 326

Cymbidium eve oon eee 203

Sia Giants) gimueeaneeen

... 121, 128, 126, 188

Beal

Pa Se a. OTT

++. 386, 387, 417, 435

se eee eve 220

eee 309, 410, 420, 422

sc eee eco 198

coe eee coe 469

coe ere oe 422

eee eee eco 194

ot se feeeoOg

INDEX.

é PAGE

danisepa 366, 410

danna ... soe 200 se woe 429

Daphniphyllum ano coe .-. 206

Uarauieeces Bad 650 soe 43D

Darpa ... mee 2ac 421, 422

dasahara p00 soc 700 wa. 422

Catoe coc G00 600 son ZOE

dauma eso 500 500 ke IBY)

aurvica... ove sae 145, 146

dealbata eee 500 417, 422

Decaisnea ep CALS

decorata toe se woe 42.2, 435

delai-lama ace see oon cco LOB

delesserti s0¢ see 489

Delphinium ... soe 200, 210

Delphinus coe Goa cals}

Dendrobium ... eee coo oe. 203

Dendrocitta ... 200 8, 489

Dendrocygna «. 200 500 Spo 208)

Dendrotreron ... sate 500 Pere tere)

denticulata ... AoC eae --. 202

Depodidze “00 con 506 “on 8B}

Dermestide ... 500 ave sso (Bs)

Dessemurus oo. 506 260 ooo) 1)

determinata z. cee soo eee 194

Deudorix oon 200 coo SY)

deudorix wale ane 6 coo BAD

dhanada sae Ue eee 42

Dichroa Soc igs eee 208

dichrous aes ae soc coo UGE

Dicruride ase Coe 0 Bh eh Reh)

Dicrurus oo aoe 3, 7, 337, 486

CigyNa oo. coe 900 oo. 164, 206

dimila ... ono seo con eee 435

diocles ... “oc bor coe eee 435

diocletianus oe. a6 Bee see 308

Diphaca cas 2pc o0c ... 164

Diplarche 200 ses cee eee 208

Dipsas ... eee 291, 293, 325, 341, 499

Diptera ... ° sor eon O04, 476

Dipterocarpus ... soe cee eve Olt

dipyrena soo 000 600 one, \Alie)

*dirz cee oo0 see os 369, 410

Disciflore Gon soc SoC eo. 161

discreta Apc eae eas ... 416

DISSCMUTUS eee s00 200 oe 188

distans ... eco cco ee «416, 422

disu a s00 eas 500 «e- 416

diversifolius ... one Bue es. 209

dodonma “oe nels “56 ooo Oot

dohertyi coe

Dolichoderine...

Dolichoderus ...

dolopia ...

domesticus

orcas sc

dorsata ... ae

dorycus ...

Dorylinz

dzacontium

dracunculus

ALrAavira ...

Drosera

druna

drupifera

Drymoglossum

Drymoichares ...

dubyzea ...

dugong ...

duma ere 000

dumetorum

duryodana

dussumieri

Dussumieria ...

duvauceli

ebenipes

eburus ...

echerius aie

Edgeworthia ...

edulis ... was

edwardsii

*Hetion....

CZEDA ove soc

Elachura

elcia ove

eldi ee

eldii

elengi ...

elia eee cee

elliptica

elongata soc

Elsholtzia

altola 0.

elwesi

elwesii ..- eve

Emberiza ove

Emberizine

eCMMe ooo oot

... 460, 461, 462, 464

we» 382, 895,

xiii

PAGE

417, 429

460, 461, 462

429

we 148

w.. 336

476, 480

eee 107

396, 401, 411,

414, 481, 434

a» 416

320, 321

woe BOT

we. B26

seu 70

396, 414

vee 209

eget?

we. 209

woe 435

weal

ee CDE

= 43

30143

ove 468

xliv

PAGE

emodi ... ood 500 = PAU

Engraulis sale a0

entellus 103, 104

Ephedra eae : ...80, 210, 214

Ephemeride ... onc cae eo) hd

Epilobium - 206

epius «ss Sc woe 110, 341, 342

Eragrostis 500 280 ae oe AT

HInia umes eee . 203

Hrigeron é 208, 210

Hrionota 195, 380, 381, 388, 401, 414, 429,

434

sHaphenatdes co ono OB), 209, 21], 2138

Eriophyton ... D206 coe mall

eriostachya ss. , «es coo 209

erraticum one boc S00 vee 472

erumei ..» sc sor . 222

erylus .. x00 ioe 200 ... 306

HIYDDIS«.. : 500 196, 434, 435

Erythrina soe toe ».2 203, 221

erythrinus one 6 «oo 142

erythrocarpum . 206

erythrogastra ... . 138

erythronotus or oe 112

erythropoda «. + se. vee 479

erythropygius «+. 5 Wil

Hrythrosterna ... ond O00 Spo, lists)

Kscholtzia S00 coo. cee so» 164

esculenta 008 ope 500 dae)

etelka ... see .. 417, 437

Ktroplus 600 soe tee ». 218

EKudamus doe OO,

Eulabes... B00 cee ORO soo. 15)

Hulabetidw ... A00 “00 5 iLL)

Humenes . so . ove -. 476

eumolphus .. 200 ao coo LOU

Euonymus - 212

Hupatorium ... one 096 . 204

Huphorbia o0c cos . 249

Huplea... o 194, 368

Huploeopsis ... . eve 366, 410

Hupodotis one 107, 186

EULOPHAccs «ee "854, 357, 361, 362

eurynome cee aa0 . 195

CUIYZONOIAES ve oe wee 489

Huthalia coe ale «- 264, 409

evanidus soe 422

excellens : . 384

excelsa ... one 70, 71, 73, 76, 78, 79, 80

excelsum co ste coe coe 493

INDEX,

PAGE

EXCISUS «.. sos sate noc «oe 469

exclamationis ... coe toll

Hxogonium ... £05 oan Se OS

feeschkeana vow eas ae . Pee

falconeri «ee 199

familiaris «ee 472

farri see relia

faselata ... Wels eee eee «we 267

fastigiata 200 os 5 IG)

fatalis ... 440, 441, 442, “443, 444, 452

Gabi ay ene 208 abo ate « 422

faunulae. 060 300 eae ee DOL

*faunuloides .. . se 259, 409

fe 400 ye , 137, 463, 465

febrifuga coc 003 eee 203

feisthamelii ... D0 417, 435

felix-mas 56 . 203

*fercusoni . 418, 437, 459, 460

ferrea «. 600 s08 S60 - 130

ferruginea vee eee vos 122

ferrugineus 186, 188, 489

Ferula ... ane sa cri sem te

Festuca... 50 ate sas eco nell

ficulmea... oa oe ALT, 422

fissum ... 006 Soc eve a. 203

fistula vee LOS

flabelliformis ... nate eee . ATT

Flacourtiaces ... Peay ee - 164

flavyalum ANT, 418, 430

fiavipennis ... soe 200 coe 417

flayocincta ... 506 ae coe 422

flavolivascens ... tee coe 21, 24

flexilis ... -» 425

floralis ... oan 206 oo . 476

florimel... he 00 eee coe 280

flos-reginse ... B00 on0 . 326

foliolosa eee 198, 200, 201, 213

fOlUS) Viens aa aoe 250 o» 435

forceps «. sae see oon coe 218

Formica a nee 455, 457, 472

formosa... coe soe 3, 205

fornicata S00 oe 500 aden D4’:

fornicatum ... nate ste see Od

fortipes ... see soe. eee 21, 22

fortis os. ooo soc «ee 456

Fragaria ove S50 . . 198

fragilis ... Sasi, dua toe --» 100

Francolinus 186, 223

Frankeniacece «rv. ut one eee 164.

Franklinia

fraterculus

fraturculus

frauentfeldi

Fraxinus

frenatus

Fringillide

Fringillinz

frondosa

frontalis

fruticosa

fucata

THOUS TT RD oe

fuliginosus

fusea

fuscata ..

fuscatus...

fuscum ...

fuscus ...

galba ss.

Galeodes

Galeodidz

Galeopsis

Galloperdix

Gallus ...

GAMA ere

gammicana

GANA eee

CANESA os

Gangara,

gardneri

Garrulax

Garuda oe.

garzetta

Gastropacha

Gaultheria

QAULUS s

Gazella ...

*Ge co5

Gegenes...

Gehenna

Gelasimus

Gelsimus

gemmata

gemmifer

Gentian

Gentiana

Geocichla

Geranium

INDEX,

PAGE

wcll ta dos

116, 486

. 486

. 458

eee)

vee 149

1. 826

8, 8, 184, 191

206, 211

143, 220

383, 410

183, 134

oe 417, 422, 435, 457

eae

eee eco 136

eco eee 16

. 220

oe L17, 121, 463, 465

ose 438, 439, 440, 441, 442

we» 418, 422

so. 488

ces O19

35, 487

... 186, 188

317, 318

Bee Win sce 198

es tame

Bee SST,

879, 428, 429

w» 208, 248

Pen an gg

soe 266

. 478

Gr eee)

.. 199

a) . 226

br . 836

373, 410, 411, 425, 498, 429

e. a 410, 432, 434

434, 435

. 228

.. 218

417, 429

aly

210, 211

199, 201, 214

et ne ray SIGE

a, 202) 913

Gerardia

cerardiana

germanica

ZeTON ose

gestroi ...

*oeta eve

cigantea

Giradinia

giuris ...

elaber ..

glabra ...

elabratus

*olabripes

claciale e..

eleadovii

Gleditschia

elomerata,

glutinosa

elycerion

Glycerrhiza

Gobius ...

gokool

cola ead

goloides...

Gomalia

PoMAta oo.

Goniloba

Gonrouhichinnen

gopala ..

pean tora

ZOtO exe

govinda

eovindra

eracilipes

gracilis ...

OTC ove

erecus ...

orahami

Graminicola

orandis ...

GTapsus...

Graucalus

oTeMIUS...

eriffithii

erisescens

Guilandina

guilfoylei

Guleodidz

gulnihal

SUPtA ove

xly

PAGE

w. 486, 509

78, 79

. 209

417, 422

Pelee ees)

874, 410

ss Seg

ste tne Bae

. 218

467, 468

.. 170, 200, 202, 210

Peeve Bre ANS

464, 466

2 210

30, 33

; 165, 167

we 2OGH 20

Persea b (03)

Pre Coates Ci 8)i/

Pees 6 bl 70

eens

Per abe ce 2018)

Pha ges COs

. 435

491, 422, 428

.. 437

Pec bY

205, 206

oon 202

ee. 206

. 195

. 218

.. 497

464, 466

.. 14, 15, 204

398, 399, 410

. 446

AER:

pepe alt

127, 188, 195

. 218

See Ta

416, 417, 429

205, 212, 213

eon © ENG

151, 159, 161

cal go

SUR SAVES

259, 409

otal aaaes

xvi

euttatum

guttatus

eutturalis one

Gymnema 300

Gypsophila

Habenaria 200

hades .. mele

hadria ... ood

hemorrhous ...

Halenia... On

Halicore 500

Halpe

hamiltonii

hanria ... eee

Hantana

haplonota

haquinus 900

harisa

hartertii

INDEX.

PAGE

- 222

130, 131, 132, 411, 435

i 145

491, 499, 493

.. 475, 477, 478, 480

.» 209

318, 410

Seer Ne

. 224

eos 209

- 489

398, 413, 414, “415, 417, 418, 428,

432, 433, 434, 435

eco oo. 422

. 422

419, 422, 423

eee cog ALO)

- 267

coe 500 eee 437

270, 342

Hasora 405, 406, 407, 408, 410, 412, 413,

hector ...

Hedychium

helferii... a0

Hemichelidon ...

-Hemidactylus ...

Hemidesmus

Hemipus... eve

Henicurus

Heracleum 200

herculeanus ...

Herodias Ae

OOry coe

415, 417, 436, 437

872, 417, 429

an SUB

. 422

30, 88

491, 492, 498

118, 114

500 506 --- 130

con As

eee 900 oo. 455

eco eve 473

Hesperia 371, 372, 318, 382, 383, 384, 386,

387, 888, 896, 398, 399, 401, 402, 408,

418, 415, 416, 417, 421, 492, 493, 498

Hesperiidee

195, 369, 372, 396, 411, 413,

416, 417, 418, 493, 436, 509

Hesperiine

Heterocera

heteroclita ...

heterophylla ...

Heteropterus ..-

Hibiscus oe

Alidari

hieroglyphica o..

himalaicum

himalayense ...

himalayensis ...

. 418

. 419

se B26

Se eeeode

424, 498, 429

vse eee eeo 326

195, 388, 396, 431, 434, 435

ARM cai Ne) 20D

Be CAN

ws 206

coe TAL

Hippa ...

hippoclus

hippomanes ...

Hirundinide ...

Hirundo

hirtipes

hodgsoni

Holarrhena

homolea

honorei ...

hookeri ...

hookeriana ..

hookerianum ...

Horaga o..

horlidula

Horornis

horridula

horsfieldi bid

hottentota one

Houbara 200

huebneri 208

huegelii

hunthianus ...

Hyarotis

Hydrangea

Hydrocissa ...

hyela ... oe

Hnenonieuyon

Hymenoptera ...

Hypacanthes ...

Hyperanthera ...

hypericifolia ...

hyperythrus ...

hypoleuca one

_ Hypolyczena

Hypothymis ...

hypoxanthum ...

hypselis

hye) (e.-

Hystrix...

Hysudra

*jadera onc

Tam brix 500

Tanthia

japis ... coe

icetas Be

icetoides on6

icthayétus <a

PAGE

eve sae 221

- 195

. 456

- 144

- 145

eee ex. 203

123, 125, 134, 188, 199

499, 498

414, 417, 435

deste que

“99, 199, "205, 208, 210, 211

don . 208

. 203

. 41

. 214

heal

.. 207

. 270

Lge ea

SO eee

ey crn FG)

276, 277, 279

. 509

a. 426, 429

ws. 205, 213

ne) LOS. 186

we 417, 485

yes. (8

we 84, 266

wee 148

sea GREER

. 128

313, 314, 315

wee 806, 311

“2 128

Be 8

woh) eG

we 417, 485

, 224

818, 819, 410

378, 879, 410

371, 416, 4195, 428, 429

oxe>) | ABD TOD

417, 429

vas penne

295, 296

deni iesrte

*Idmon 375,377, 410, 411, 426, 428, 429

INDEX.

PAGE

Iguanide ove a06 O00 eo 90

Tlex eee 50C 506 ee 212, 213

ilisha ore eo 222

Tllicium coc vo LO

iluska... cd6 - 404

imbricata ae eee 200

immaculatus SABI

Imperata 008 aele - 326

imperialis 500 . 337

inachus ... de . 342

indica ... 98, 136, 192, 204, 091, AT§

#indicum ens 006 . 472

indicus... con nt IDI. 220, 439, 493

indistinctus ... 500 008 ooo 429

indra ... ec 500 56 PIE

indrani ... 200 coc 416, 422

indrasana aoe eee «oe 429

infernus a06 B56 eee 422

innominata ... .. 489

inopinata . B15

inornata one tas DOC dee De

insignis ... cos 200 on0 . 215

integer 200 556 206 « 454

integra ... oo0 hes Seg . 458

integrifolia ... O00 . 221

intermedia ... “00 oan 80, 119

intricata 50D wee is ole

nes o5 Sue oO see - 208

involucratus os. 200 . 204

lolaus 295, 299, 302, 304, 306, 307, 308, 309

*IONIS ove eos 4038, 404, 410

iphita ... one peo He

iphonantha . 202

ITAVA = eve S00 cde 206 . 435

Iridacez ae eon cao

Iridomyrmex ... 460, 461, 467, 468

Tris 200 200 eee 000 . 215

isabellinus . 112

iszeUS «we 295, 299, 304, 306, 307, 308

Isamiopsis . 366

Isma__..378, 411, 113, 4\7, 427, 498, 429

Ismene...292, 393, "408, 405, 406, 407, 408,

410, 412, 415, 417, 418, 436, 437

ismene 30 sac es - 194

Ismeninz poo 2283

1S0ta ove 900 ooo «418, 414

Isoteinon 378, 379, 411, 417, 418, 426, 429,

430

Ree) on, css 295, 802,045,809

alton 399, 401, 402, 411, 415, 433, 434; 436

xlvil

PAGE

*Itys ... 376, 377, 379, 410, 411, 427, 429

Jacoona 560 odie 0 . 314

jacquemontiana one oa . 200

Jaina ca 412, 437

jalindra 505 200 Sac pe chsyel

jatamonsi coc “00 208, 216

Jatropha noc 506 ase soe 105

javanensis wee 489

javanica ese O00 on - 473

javanicus f 200 . 163

jayadeva eis wee onic 419, 422

jerdoni ... 19, 130, 458

jhora... eens 412, 116, 429

HOUT, “coo . 393

Jonesia ... 500 900 S00 wee OG

Juglans «B58!

jujuba ... oe 326, 484

Juniperus 73, 76, 78, 198, 199, 200, 201,

205, 213

jynteana coe 21D

sel uaetens .. 413, 414, 417, 429

kali ooo oe 429

Kallima Wine 500 ove O42

Kkatsala oe. - 435

katura 5 28

kelaarti xe aes - 489

Kerana ...383, 410, 417, 428, 430, 434, 435

khasia ... ; 55 is - 293

khasiana coe ape ese 23, 422

khasianus «» AIT

kieneril . 187

kolantus oo noc - 416

Koruthaialos 371, 372, 417, 424, 439, 434

kumMa4a, ovo 416, 435

kundoo oo. 000 p00 tae . 119

kunthianus bos - 487

kurrooa ... te b5 . 208

labiatus ea soo Ane coo) oe)

Lacerta... S00 500 28 icone

lachnopus eis s00 oo . 203

lachryma a0 +. 215

Lacistemace ... oe 164

Lactuca eee 206, 210

leetus o- 210

leevigatus -» 468

Lagerstraemia «. » 326

lahtora oao ooo vee oe 829 8

xlvi INDEX.

PAGE

lanatum oon i" «. 203 | Lilium ...

lanatus ... one --- 213 | Limatodes

lanceolata aa eee 162 | limbatus

lanka os. con Sue .- 278 | Limnaetus soe

lanke sec ve 416 | Limonidromus

Laniide 200 ee. 111 | Lindera ese

Laniine a6 ee. 111 | lineare ce

Lanius «.. soe ee 8, 111,114,188 | linnei e

Tanosa eee 20¢ one es 212 | litigiosa

larika ... oo0 eo. 416 | litoralis vo

Larix. «. 205, 212, 213 | Littorina

Lasiocampa =». Lo --. 343 | Locustella

Lasioderma ae aa de --- 68 | locustelloides

lateralis a wee) LOO Loder see 200

Lates ... 000 ove coe 222 longicaudata

Latifolia see -- 39) longicaudatus ...

latifolia eve 209 | longifolia

latifolinm a00 eee) ZOO. longifolium

latifolius 500 cao ooo soo ED longinus

latirostris oc «-- 126,223 | Lophoides

latreillei soc oa soe eee 402 | Lophophanes

IDSsiM, — o4c sod “00 oe eee 422 | Loranthacese

leathemi 400 93, 94 | Loranthus

lebadea 505 417, 429 | Lotongus

leda, 600 905 noc 200 coe 194

Leguminose 161, 162, 163,164, 165, 166, | lucasii

167, 170, 172 | lucidula 4

Lemoniidz ... aes «-- 266 | lugubris ee

Lens eco cee 906 eco xo OH lunaris cc.

Leontopidium ... Ae ae --- 210 | lunulatus as

Lepidoptera eee ese 266, 341 luteipalpis eae

Leptocodon ... soe 500 es 204 | luteisquama

leschenaulti ... aoe «-» 131 | luteiventris ..

letha .,. eee eee soe ee 293 | Lycena...

TGeGhe Wease ove 2194, 259, 409, 477 | Lyceenidee one

leucocephalus .. +... ... 4.183 | Lychnis eee

leucocera eos ve 417, 422 | Lygosoma soe

leucogastra ... 20 50 soe ASO Lyme.) es on

leucographa ... a0 one coe 426

leucolophus ... cee coc eee 141 | Macacus ve

leucomelanurus Afi ri -- 123 | macar on 500

leucops ... ae wee ncC ee 125 | macegrigoric

Leucostegia os. oro soc ee. 205 | Machilus soc

leucothoé sec a00 300 se. 195 |) macil~ ... 208

LEUCUEA se ai iiiees tie 130, 136, 224 | macqueenii ...

Leycesteria ... eee iat ee. 205 | macrantha

lidderdalei «. coe <c eee 422 | macrophylla ...

Ligularia an ane ° -e. 207 | macrostachya ...

ligulata ... as ac ts eee 199 | macrura aa

liliana cee ce on eve 429 1 macrurus se

rae

wee B36

4, 7, 387

Bey oh)

239, 240

307, 341

417, 426, 428, 429

ong JIG)

oe 104

coe OOD

383, 384, 386, 398, 396, 410,

417, 428, 430, 435

«oe 446

coe 456

. 18, 187, 486, 489

458, 459

HEME 3233

.. 416

wee 416

aetcigatl

Ses TG

269, 313, 340

Yast incase

ArT gun (5

boc) Mey REO

BOs, RO ES

she) |) REO,

Peres 7

Boetiy

we 206

205, 209

<eee205

BRR eo 125

1 Sy

INDEX,

PAGE

maculata ose sos coe ... 188 | Melanitis eee

maculatum ase os 52, 53, 54,55 | melanocephalum

maculatus eee — ese. 187, 218, 387, 484 | melanocephalus

Mesa eo awe eee : «- 203 | Melanocyma ...

mezsoides ace soc ee. 435 | melanogaster ...

mevius one c eo. 429 | melanoleucos ...

magnirostris oss es eo» 124 | melanoleucus ...

Magnoliaces ... a4 “ «. 170 | melanonotus ...

mahintha wee 2 : 404, 437 | melanops

major at «. 22 | Melanorrhea .

malabarica « 120,221 | melanoschista ...

malabaricum ... . 221 | melanotis

malabaricus tee -. 103,220 | melanoxanthus

Malaxis soc 500 -. 203 | melanura O00

malayana sue wee awe «S408, 487 | melastigma

Malsherbaceee ... “00 : -. 164 | *melie ...

mandellii eee eee et aa |e vtelophus

RMA MCap eee weT fee * weer veeminccatoud |) Melursus

Maneca sos) eee) eee 297 || Membranaceum

*Manto ... ee eve ~—-3'12, 410 | Membranulosa...

mantra eee »». 294, 299, 306, 307 | menaka ... coe

Manyar os. ‘ So0 ... 14] | *mendax

margherita Ace ose ... 435 | mereuia... er

matginata .. «. --- 189, 272 | meridionalis

maritima renee eee G2! |) Metulars was ae

MAaTO .s. eee coe 416, 426, 429 | Messor ..

maroides ene oa ... 417,429 | Metagrapsus

marrubii Pe area ear ieaese c4d7. |) Metopluniy 1 ies.

marsupium see one 487 | MicaNS oe ave

marta co « we «se 418,414 | Microcichla ...

martina we 312, 313, 314, 315, 410 | Micrococcus ...

masoni re eee 45 microphylla

Massaga sees wwe~S« 270, 842 | Micropternus ...

masuriensis ...

Matapa ... soc

mathias... eee

374, 388, 427, 428, 429

. 429

416, 485

Matuta... .. ee 5 ooo 22

maura ... con con --. 130

Meconepsis ... ses 300 oe 207

Meconopsis 198, 199, 200, 202, 209, 213,

214

medius ... ose oes spc coe 103

Medusz... soc cor 217

meetana ove eee 422

Megacarpa ee S4

Megalurus sen LB

megarhynchus 2 2 woe L41

meiktila | 418, 435

melenaess oss

melanicterus ...

a. 275, 279

eee eee 144

microstictum ...

Microstylis. ...

midamus 900

Miersii ... owe

miltias ... coc

Milvus ... =00

eco

xlix

PAGE

coe 194

we 472

. 118, 119

259, 261, 409

we 458

niger

187, 188

we 473

woe 125

vee 245

Prarie ci

ose TUESR

ate) aE

... 189

vee BOL

394, 410

wee 144

ws 62) 99

eA 208

wee 205

416, 422

wee 454

310, 312

470, 471

eee 136, 138

La eons

Bi OS

aoa

we B19

127, 131

SONG

«- 201, 202, 211, 213

coe ST

ww 879, 429

wee 203

0 Ya NaeES

oot

392, 393

adi RSS

*Mimas 391, 393, 396, 410, 411, 431, 434

Mimosa coo eco

Mimusops cae

mineus ... ae

minuta ... a

minutissimum...

minutum 000

toinutus...

Mixornis

modesta... ban

moggridgei -».

coe 165

soo 0)

coc oe ATT

tee coo O12

coe ee 10

eee coe 472

_.. 416, 429

eanles

417, 460

463, 465

molestum

molle

mollerii

mollissima

molurus

moneta ...

moniliger

Monopetaz

montana

montanus |

monteithil

monticola

moolata ...

MOOTE] oe»

morinda

Moringa

moringa

Moringaceze

Moringese

motschulsky

mucosus

Mugil

multiguttata

eco

INDEX,

PAGE

we 0 fee ASE

ger

wi BID

we 139

falar Ol

dey iusneeeo

syainjol aan 489

saosin ean

ccd pre eeh00

ie ekL TMA

ween e e 35

w. 189, 455

.. 898, 414, 417, 485

205, 212, 218

147, 244, 248 |

oie) eg (159

162, 164, 165

147, 152, 158, 161, 165, 166

eco

multiradiatus ...

munda

Munia

muntjac

murdava

Muride

Mus —

Muscicapide

muscoides

musina

mutillarius

muttui

Mycalesis

Mycerobas

Mylabris

Myoporinz

*my ops

Myosotis

Myricaria

Myrina

Myrmica

Myrmicinee

mytheca

Mytilus

Nacaduba

NAGA ave

Pr fetal

esis) CatetaO

we em enBd8

ey ea COE)

wt! aaa 209

416, 417

woe 280

. 435

wel hbietsh OB

ans cies L2T

207, 210, 214

275, 279, 409

sip eeetb3

pct eet LG

we OANA GT

secs gaa

.. 251

ods acgneennaes

469, 470, 471

see ca eeeeBO

aM eee 209

+. 800, 313, 314, 315

Bute nt ir

ww. 461, 462

388, 389

oe 221

208, 409

eee eee 435

nagaensis

Naia a...

Naja

nakula ...

nala

namoa ...

nana

nanus

napellus

narada ...

Nardostachys ...

nareda ...

NALOOA ove

natans ...

Nauclea

NERTA ove

Neesiana

neglectus

*nelides

Nemeobiine

Nemorhedus ...

Neocheritra

Neornis

nepa

nepalensis

Nephrodium

Neptis

Neptunus

Nereum

neriiformis

newara

nicévillei

nicobarensis

Nicotiana

niger es.

nigram ...

nigricans

*nisticeps

nigrocincta

nigrorufa

nigTum ...

nilgiriana

Niltava

*nisibis

Nitidula

Nitiqdus ...

nivale ...

niveus ...

see

g . 102

coo coe 106

262, 263, 409

318, 314, 316, 317, 318,

seo 4i06

i) separa

268, 472

we 195

210, 218

wen 422

+3) 208,206

w. 196

416, 417, 435

BAe ee

we 417, 485

we. 206

ai) |) Peat

wv. 280, 409

sees.) GBR R26E

Pay oe

410

one hee

9, 16, 124, 144, 145, 146,

208, 209, 213, 215

sachin dabenene Oe

sacl! poate:

fon DAD

Sih) autos

is O08

ste, CRaISG

ewe = 417, 429

igs gemeesn eo:

tes -ubdeseanee

Pees ees AIG)

Bac, unisoanowill

422, 464, 466

111, 114, 188, 448, 451

448, 451, 452

Se a Cae

ul. aie eedioe

social Svaceudalen

oe eee

w.. 316, 410

iat lee

sath eae

wo 210, 211, 214, 215

ove eee 205

nobile

noémi

noreia

nostrodamus

Notocry pta

Notodela

nummularia

nutans ...

nux-behen

nux-vomica

Nymphalide

Nymphaline

oatesi

obovatum

obscura, ...

obscurus

obsoletus

obtusata,

obtusiloba

obvallata

occidentale

occidentalis

occipitalis

oceia oa

ochracea

Ochromela

ochropus

Ochus ...

Ocypoda

Odina

Odontoptilum

odoratissima

odorum ...

(cophylla

cedipodea

*oeta, <50

officinale

officinalis

officinarum

*ogyges

ogygia ...

Oleandra

oleifera ...

oleifra ...

olivascens

omeia ...

ONATA see

onchisa ...

Onosma...

INDEX,

PAGE

... 201, 207, 210, 214

wee 435

. 281

ae , 435

195, 416, 417, 481, 434, 435

alas

vee 199

eee neh . 209

ee ch, AehEBS

95, 102, 103, 104, 326

Sh eee ae . 259

195, 261

. 194

w.. 493

Me ea ty 1ST BTS

co ene TUBE Cari iG ee

wa. 429

. 456

e209

Ba 206

221, 240

.. 24d

.. 374, 8,

e00

eer 11, 495,

We ec) ec At

mee eee 17) 407) 400)

297, 298, 300, 301, 410

417,

e90 coe e2g

PAGE

Onryza .. .. 418, 433, 434, 435

opaca 458, 459, 460

opalina ... . 338

Ophioxylon ... b00 S00 eee OOO

*Ops 296, 298, 410

Opuntia... 060 a5 3)

Orchis . ao0 a. 209

Oreicola... wae one Boe) lei0)

Oreocincla aa 600 500) 3039

orientale eae 239, 257

orientalis 290, 342, 441, 443, 444, 445,

446

Oriolide cn ood -.. 118

Oriolus .. é . 118

ornata 600 piso ee

oTseis oo. 21

Ponthonteriet: cee 419, 422

Orthotomus ... “on ee 12,23, 24

Osmotreron ... on 186, 489

Osmunda coc eee 205

Ostrea ... 93 .. 218

othona ... one con oan ese 306

Otochilus .-- 203

Otogyps eo 475

ovalifolia on “199, 203, 205

ovata ae 503 . 162

Olviseal tee 322, 336, 507

ovomaculata wots oo. 290

Oxypalpus . ee ove OSL

Oxyria w..

Padraona .

Paduca ...

Paduka ...

padus

; peecilus

*peetus ...

pagana ...

pagodarum

pallasi. ..

pallida

pallidipes

pallidus

Palma...

palmarum

palmata

palowna

paluana...

_ palustris

toe Soc eo. 206

-. 195, 376, 415, 416, 428, 432,

434, 435

Ligh sees Ae

de 379, 428, 429

die oy, Fe

we 918

e269, 409

bss ws 435

sei. sap ue

sins caeeot TC MCRaelieL

ee Lh coe Re a

21, 22

es 408

INDEX.

PAGE

Pamphila ww. 417, 423, 424, 428, 429

Pamphiline ... 371, 377, 392, 396, 418,

423, 436

Pancratium ... - 158

pandita... coe 429

panormis eve eee ee 270

Papilio ... 366, 410, 497

Papilionacez ... coe 161, 165, 166

Papilionide 5oc 366

Papilionina ... 20 ee -- 366

paradiseus coe 6, 9, 188, 222

paradoxa cos ese . 367

Paragerydus 269, 409

patalysos eae . 485

Parata. ... 405, 407, ‘408, 410, 412, 413,

415, 436, 437

parca 387, 417

Pareba ... . 342

Parietales Sp . 166

Parnata... 380, 381, 384, 387, 401, 402,

410, 414, 415, 417, 433, 435

Parnassia eas be -. 206, 216

parthenope ... oo 20¢ . 387

parviflora : eoetO

parysatis 5 263, 264

Passer... ... ee mp dUNey tes

Passifloracee ... cen nione INDE:

Pastor 0. . 66

patula, ... ee eee sac coe 422

pauciflora toe nee eo. 208

paulina... eee soe one eee 195

Pedcularis eee . 202

Pedestes aC 496, 498, 429

Pedicularis ... 10.206, 207, 209, 211

peduncularis ... eee one «. 202

peguana +. 259

peguensis one : eee 455

pelagicus ese sas ... 220

Pelleea os. ere: ene vee eo: 200

pellucida ses . 472

peltata ... eee eee “ eee 206

pelvicus ace 6 . . 114

Pencuna eee eve eve soc SH)

penicillatum ... toe 417, 422

penicilligera ... eee 476

pennsylvanicus wee 455

PeTara es 413, 414

peregrinum Zoe coe 66

peregrinus coe ewe 117

Perichares eos ree BSS

PAGE

ricrocotus eel14, 115, 118, 486

PEIO") ee. ene a eee 422

Petrophila ... oe soc vee 138

phaioceps ese . 187

phalangium ceo eee 450

phalena... 270, 342, 409

phanzus one 419, 422

Phaseolus Ze ios

phiditia es 417, 429

philetas... soe coe soe ee 405

*philotas cee .. 402, 410, 418, 435

*phipsoni oot 448, 452

phisara ... 369, 422

Phlomis «oe 202

phltigeri io ail

pholus ... 380, 381, 429

phranga 321

Phyllergates ... aac mere 22

Phylloseopus ... mee coc pan IG

Physalia coe el

picatus ... soe we cepelilics

Picea 205, 212, 213

Picrorhiza --... a vee ... 208

pictus 186, 223

Ppieridoides ... ooe oo. 422

Piering eee eee = IBS

PIETISO ses sve --195, 199, 205, 303

pileatus... & ~ 104

Pinus See CAUE, ale 78, 79, 80

pinwillii . 422

Piper 203, 221

pipiens ... 85, 86, 87, 88, 90, 91

Pirdana... 417, 430, 435

Pisola +0195, 412, 419, 422

Pithauria «415, 431, 434, 435

Pithauriopsis ... 43], 435

placida ... 275, 279

plagifera aan « 422

Plastingia aha Eahcca 416, 430, 435

platytarsis bon --. 218

plebeia ... eee 435

Pleopeltis 204, 205

Plesioneura 382, 416

Ploceidze eee oe eee 141

Ploceinze 20 coe ee 141

Ploceus... ove eee 141

Plumbagidium .-. 349

Plumbaginaceze eos ove - 855

Plumbaginee ... 346, 352, 353, 355, 356

Plumbago coe 251, 346, 349

plumbes

Plumeria

Pnoepyga

Poa eee

Podophyllum ...

INDEX,

PAGE

oa ese 100

wae nO Son ery UST)

SAE 10, 19

Ao0 eae coe 47

z eve : ona OT

poggel ... - ee 417, 429

Polioaétus a0 coe » 475

poliogenys ... or zee) COEDS

Polyalthia ... we 95, 97, 98, 99

polyandra 280 oe 84

polyanthes i ace eae soe 202

Polygalacez ... +e «ee = =—.162, 165

polygona 151, 152

Polygonatum ... : na puke

Polygonum ee 199, 206, 213, 342

Polynemus ... zs eee =. 219, 2.22

Polypodium 200, 203, 206

Polyrhachis S06 ae «ee 456

Polytoca 200 500 p00 oo. O20

pondicerianus ... o 215

Ponerine see cam ee. 461, 462

Pongamia one a “or son) | 9D

populnea eos 219

porcinus we 327, 484

Poritia ... ave see . 270

Porphyrio 00 for “ . 473

POTUS oe. . coe 416

Potentilla 198, 199, 202, 206, 211, 213

pralaya «.. eve 422

pratensis oes sce se coe 191

Pratincola... cor “or «eo Lod

precatorius .. soe -- 170

PeCis; se . 342

Prenolepis * “e8 ° . 458

prevostiana ... ss 486, 509

Primula... 198, 199, 200, 202, 203, 213

RINT), sce > wom ul eee 22, 24

Prinsepia ese ese ae eee 205

Pristis ve see noc coe 218

procerum oot ces “p- ses 320

prominens 417, 435

Propyrrhula_ ... eve eos 142

proregulus «ee aes oe aranyhO

Proteides = ss. ae ee 9384, 416

protomomelzna ome coc eer low

Prunus ... «- 198, 199, 200, 201, 213

pruriens coe eee in cape

prymna.. eos see coe ose 220

Psettodes - 222

Pseudomesa bar bebtcr +» 435

PAGE

pseudo-sabina, oe. »-- 198, 199, 201, 205

Psittacus toe os 2. 103

Pteris eae ee. 203

Pterocarpus » 487

Pterocles . 107

pteropoda - 212

Pteropus «oe 103

Pteroxys eae . 419

pterygosperma... 17, 152, 244, 248

*Pudieitia 379, 381, 411, 427, 429

pulchella - 458

pulcher ... % 16

pulchra... . 203

pulligo ... coe 417, 429

pulomaya +. 422

pumila ... roe oo 247

punctatissimus »» 455

punctillata, .. 456

punctulata «ss -» 142

purendra -- 422

purgal<s: vos soo LT,

purreea ... -- 435

pusilla ... 10, 200, 202

pusillus... «ee 470

puspa aay a)

putra soe 422

Pyecnonotus 188, 224

pygeeus ... - 188

pygela ... 417, 422

pyonorhizus otic --. 204

Pyrgus ... Ane +» 413

Pyrola .. 83

pyttha ... “00 oo «oe 422

Pyrrhopygine ... ess - 423

Pyrus ...198, 200, 201, 205, 206, 211, 213

Python .. 3 see «oe 491

egeionin soe eos ew $55

quadricornis ... ve see ove 193

Quercus... oor Ac are soe 215

Tacemosa cae arc +. 198

TAGiaDs «+» coc eve 435

radicans vee ee 246, 247

Radix oe o. 9349, 357

Ragadia... oe ove ATT

Rallina ... ase see 489

TAMA = ove ses pais soe BOT

Rana. eee oe ss. 334, 507

Yana ate eee “ ose soe 263

liv

Rangbia ose

ransonettii

Ranunculus

Rapala

Rauwolfia

ravi

rectus

recurva

recurvus

regia

relata

remifer

Remusatia va

reniforme Aor

Reptilia or

Resedaceze N00

restricta

reticulata

teticulatus

thamnioides ...

Rhax 205

rhea

rhesus

Rheum

rhinopoma —«.. Se soc 5 35)

Rhipidura oon ano BY)

rhipidura ve 29

Rhiticeros 200 aoe £09

Rhodiol... 206 onc ene --- 200

Rhododendron... 199, 200, 201, 202, 203,

205, 206, 210, 211, 2138, 214, 216

*rhoecus sce 319, 410

Rhopalocampta 195, 436, 437

Rhus... 239, 242, 244, 246, 247, 253, 256

Rhyacornis one ong U8}

Rhyarecornis . 134

thynchophylla... . 204

Rhyticeros . 475

Tiparia ... - 144:

rivularis aoe cae LYE

roberti ... one 06d eS)

*robsonil -. 342, 410, 417, 429

robusta oe. ac one eee 186

Rohana, ... «se 261, 263, 409

rohria ... i, - 477

Rosa 73, 77, 205, 209, 211

Rosaceze eco 164

LOSES ‘oe exe cool, 346, 479

Rosezea oe - 206

LOSCUM veo coe

INDEX,

PAGE

259, 409

a0 - 422

198, 202, 209, 210

319, 337, 410

359, 360

- 422

Seon)

sy) 205

sac 2 213

5 BD)

soo 1. 295, 299, 304, 308

aealas

. 208

. 210

Liiva estOAG

161, 165

. 435

. 202

woe 455

. 200

"488, 439, 447, 450

ee the REDD

. 104

199, 201, 907, “210, 211, 214, 216

ve 206, 349

TOSCUS eve

rostratum

rotundifolia

rubeculoides

Rubia ...-

Rubiaciee

tubra ...

rubricapillus

Rubus ..

rudolphii

ULI ad

tufescens

rufibarbis

ruficaudus

ruficollis

tufilata ...

rufiventris

TUGOSA evn

Tuneka, oo.

rustica ...

Rutaceze

Ruticilla

Ruticillinze

PMU, | A5c

rutilans ...

Saccharum

Saccolabium

sacrorum

sala

Salixae eee.

Salpornis

salsala ce.

Salvia cee

SAM DATA...

Samydacece

Sancus ee.

sanguineum

vos

one

ove

eae

*sangulnolentus

Sapindaceze

Sapotacez

Saraca ooo

sarala

Sarangesa

SATARYVA coe

Sarcidiorius

sarpedon

SATUNA eee

sasivarna

‘Satarupa .

ooo

eoe

PAGE

ots POLO

». 208

sha) eens

122, 124, 125

pM ERE) 219)

492, 498

2) teas

avi fl SERS

es . 205

ee . 435

198, 199, 200, 201, 457

37) deals

. 457

aut" Uy oe

PIE 31)

woe IOS

. 134

Mra cnx 208

sadis) eeeeT

a076, 145, 146

SA ARMIES

w. 184, 197

. 130

144

ona 14s RIND

.. 826

. 203

ia) peeeneied

100, 201, 211

eM ss

416, 417, 429

Peet 101)

as 416, 422

ree eg, 30

424, 429, 434

Pee)

220, 454

.. 161, 162

eNO

ane ado She

ee 904, 435

416, 417, 420, 199, 423

« coe 422

eee coe A73

sos soar AU

-- 416

ooo 429

370, 416, 417, 421, 422

INDEX,

PAGE

sati an aaa fu we 417, 422

satwa . 429

Satyrine 5 2)

Satyrium . 209

saularis oo. S00 . 136

Saussurea 14, 206, 210, O14, 216

Sauvagiacez ... us eee . 164

Savitri - 269

Saxicoline .. se . 129

Saxifraga 199, 200, 201, 210, 211, 216,

214, 217

scheedia... . 883

Scheeniparus ~ 113

Schinus woe 245

schistacea coe 321, 337

schistaceus 5 Bl

Scincidee 33

scouleri 127, 131

scropha cco 6)

Sebastonyma 426, 429

sebifera 2 LEY)

gecunda ne nog | te)

Sedum ... 200, 210, 214

selene . 456

selira sc . old

semamora eae 401, 435

Semecarpus ... 235, 507

semicarpifolia ... . 215

semiflaya 448, 450, 452

semirufus . 466

Semnopithecus 103, 104

sena ae . 437

Senecio ... con 209, 213, 216

Sepa .. 374, 411, 427, 429

separata... ae so. 435

septentrionum -. 429

seriata ... oe ee se vow 435

sericea 205, 211

sericeo- precirentris - 455

sericeus . : . 454

reer cog) eee coe 309, 360

sessifolia j 200 oo. B26

setosum ... see soe 200, 201, 214

sezendis... 250 000 - 416

shalerama >» 429

Shorea «+. i 206 eb SG

siberica... see cos 121, 124

sibrica ... onc oe wo. 84

CGH goo the soc 455, 463, 465

sihama, ... age Aaa

sikkima.e..

sikkimensis

silhetensis

Sillago ...

Simiskina

simon? ...

simplex

simplicifolia ...

simplicissima ..

Simulia...

Simulites

Simulium

sinensis ...

sinhalus

SINLCUS ...

Siphia ...

sitala

Sithon ...

Sitta

Sittide

siva

Sminthus

smithii ...

smythiesii

socialis

solaris ...

soldanelloides ...

solitaria

solitarium

Solpuga

solyma....

sonnerati

sorghus...

sortifolia

Sotalia ...

spadiceus

Spalgis ...

spathiflora

speciosum

speciosus

Sphenocichla ...

Sphex

sphinx ...

spilonota

Spilornis

spilothyrus

spinoides

Spirza ...

spodocephala ...

Spondiz

PAGE

we AIT

199, 202, 208, 206, 218

. 286

ape

270, 342, 409

455, 461, 462

wel!) ese ROBIE

200, 202, 209

. 405, 410, 415, 417, 487

jal) eee eRe

= 86

120, 144, 165, 299, 417, 435

ia liens ws 416

AUC

122, 190

. 435

814, 315, 317

btoiyal

we 435

. 145

. 456

we 116

aid ses t2000

. 138

. 289

441, 450

Recdietioe Or

es cae sh LEU

we 887

ae . 100

wae Jl Sate: bE Ly

110, 341, 342

198, 199

we 208

. «115, 116, 188, 486

oa int andi, RRS

ese nel /ceas eat oe REET

vec abt ebaveby seellnes Omura

cseint> 255 OUGNEIMRG

ahellety avs DEMAREST,

we 429

on we 148

w. 75, 76, 200, 337

we 144

erody

coe tae oon

Gve coe eee eco

ceo vie

lvi

spontaneum

Sporeginthus

squamata

Squilla ..

stellifer...

Sterna ...

stertoreus

stigmata

stigmatus

Stillingia

*stimula

Stipa

Stoparola

stoparola

Strageneria

stramineipennis

Streblus

striata ...

strigosus

striolatac.. ati

Sire | -.. 20K

Strobilanthes ...

Stromateus ce.

strophiata

Strychnos

stuartiil

Sturnia ... ae

Sturnide

Sturnopastor ...

stylophora eve

*Suada, ... ae

Suastus ..

Subamenum eee

subditus...

subfasciata

subfasciatus

subgrisea

subhimalayensis

submaculata ...

subochracea

subpilosa

subtestaceus

subtilis «.. eee

subvittatus

succinetum

BTLECICA coe

sulcaticeps

sumatrensis

sumitra

BUDAATA cee one

INDEX,

PAGE

feel he S26

. 142

10, 11

ne 220

417, 429

. 496

ey a

. 412

. 429

1. 159

279, 409

. 125

. 127

ws 248

we 485

. 326

Pea

. 218

. 145

eo 186, 48M

342, 487, 509

be) au cee

ww. 122, 190

95, 102, 103, 104, 326

=» 200, 202, 213

ak J iedat homo

wie ORDO

119, 121

ss. 199; 201

370, 372, 411, 495, 429

371, 372, 410, 416, 417, 425, 429

«- 206

«oe 429

-. 417

. 417

eve ee coe 142

417, 429

ah es a5

ete cr: «oe 456

417

soe «it OBO

eee ece ete 499

eve 67

eee eae eee 135

462, 464, 465

w. 268, 475

skis a OD

.. 127

superciliaris

superciliosus

sara

suratensis

Surendra

Surniculus

Sus

Susa,

sutorius...

Suya

Swartziese

swerga ...

Swertia ...

swinhoei

sykesi

sylvanus

sylvatica

sylvaticum

sylvaticus

sylvestre

Sylvidze 4c

Symbrenthia ..

Symplocos

Synantherias ...

syrichthus

syrichtus

tabrica ...

Tachyris

Tagiades

46, 53, 57, 187, 489

PAGE

«20, 121, 128

417

. 218

279, 409

187, 486, 489

.. 39

. 269

12, 28

ws. 165

871, 872, 429

199, 211, 216

. 196

“6, 98

491, 492, 493

. 195

. 209

wo. 46, 53, 57

. 422

we 418

coc «os 422

ee . 195

416, 417, 491, 429, 423

Tajuria 294, 295, 297, "299, 301, 304, 306,

Tamaricaceze

Tapena ...

Tapes es.

Tapinoma

tapinoma

taprobana

taprobanee

tara eee

Taractrocera

Taraxacum

Tarbophis

tarpina «..

Tarsiger... vec

Taxila

Taxus <5< we

Technomyrmex

tECBA = ane pao

Teinopalpus ...

307, 308, 341, 410

. 164

421, 429, 493

ee 200 «ee 218

461, 472

eT eG

be aS

464, 466

320, 821

417, 425, 428, 429, 434

cee ane - 209

cee ode eos OLD

eco eee 297

eos eco 135

.. 266, 267, 268, 409

we 198, 244

a». 460, 466

eco eco 101 p

eeo BYE

Teinorhinus ...

telearchus

Telescopium

Telesto ...

telfairii ...

Telicota...

teliga ..

Temenuchus

tenuirostris

Tephrodornis ...

tephronotus

Teraxacum

Terebintacese ...

Terebinthacee...

Terias

termes

Terminalia

Terpsiphone

Tesia

tessellata

testaceum

Tetracerus

tetradactylus ..

tetrahit

tetrasperma

teunga

Thalamifiore ...

Thalamita

Thalasseus

Thalia

Thalictrum

Thanaos

Thecla

Thela

Thespesia

thrax

Thrix

thuisto

thwaitesi

thyia

thyrsis

tibetana

tibialis

tickelli

Tiga

tigrina

timon

tinctora

tintinnabulum

Tipulide. ...

feo

INDEX,

PAGE

a ESTE

367, 368

. 220

. 416

432, 484, 435

413, 414

eet

. 118

114

ws 209

000 so. 240

ano BL

. 195

50 Ga

. 230

6, 127

25 wal

. 435

ee 68

. 198

. 219

. 212

. 100

2 BN

. 161

. 220

. 218

. B49

209, 212

421, 423

293, 819

349, 350

. 219

380, 429

31, 317, 318

. 267

491, 499

. 802

. 429

. 195

ee CL

122, 124, 125

. 489

334, 507

. 815

.. 492

» DOA

See SS

tissa

tmolus

tomentosa

toona,

tora

torquatus

tortuosa

Tounatez

toxicodendron

tragelaphus

trailii

translucida

Trapa

triacanthos

tribuloides

Tribura

trichoneura eo.

trickomanoides

tridactyla

trifoliata

trimacula

tripudians

tristis

trochiloides

Trogonophis

truncicola

tschebaiwei

Tsuga

tuberculatis

tubifiora

tulsi

*tura

Turdide

Turneraces

Typhlomyrmex

*tyro oe

tytleri

Udaspes

uma

undulata

undulatus

unicolor

uniflora...

Unkana...

urjuna ...

Urocichla

Uroloncha

ursinus ...

Ursus ... sae

lvii

PAGE

wee 422

. 306

243,

416,

311,

492

435

410

- 103

246, 247, 258,

. 158

- 165

256

- 336

5 Wily

. 195

-- 167

- 303

. 422

. 206

. 214

- 359

tue

. 102

16,

- 457

198, 205, 219,

120

- 135

213

- 327

- 209

- 435

301,

So) LS)

410

, 136

-- 164

- 461

ie? a. B80

eee eee 12,

432, 434,

410

145

435

vee 435

ese

cee £75,

388, 396, 401, 402, 414

. 218

479

124, 376, 377, 410, 495

- 207

- 230

-. 142

62,

229

lviii

usitata ...

usitatissima

Usnea

utilis

vaccinifolium ...

yagus

vaika

Valella ...

vaTians ...

yarmona

vaTuna ...

VASAVA oe

vasutana

Velorita

velutinus

venenata

Venus ..

Verbenaceze

vernicifera

vernix ...

Verrucularia

verus

vesicatoria

vesicatorius

Vespidze

vesta oe.

Viburnum

*yictorize

Viduinee

VIENE] eve

vignli ...

villosa ...

vindhiana

Violaceze

Violales...

Violarieze

viridanus

viridis ...

Vitifoliaes.

vitrea,

vitreus ...

vitta

Vittatus ee.

vivarna

Vivia ~ ese

vivipara

volitans...

WOIBRK |) ose

vulgarise..

INDEX.

PAGE

woe 245

1. 245

sb . 208

198, 199, 201, 205, 206

. 206

. 416

Fe A6

. 195

2 Geil

1. 429

412, 437

Me ace SO

246, 247, 258

. 218

. 243

oe UES

246, 247

. 164

156, 172

. 349

. 857

woe 476

_ B42

ONS

469, 471

A tage i)

. 322

. 507

ioe x5 SB

Sieh amet Wl

... 161, 164, 165, 166

162, 164

. 166

aoe al

140, 221

we 204

we . 455

Li Sie ER sts

406, 407, 408, 409, 412

ea as bis), 112.499

sail Pisce Maes oP

a acc Nae aise ABO

ieee cagcre.. Shaae(ie

Be tiveccta ll

441, 442, 443

186, 210, 228

vulturna

wallachiana

wallichiana

wallichianum ...

wallichii

*walshiee.

wantona...

wardi

wasmannii

*watsonii

webbiana ss

Webianaes.

wiegmanni

Wistaria

Woodsia

Wrightia

*wroughtonil ...

xanites

xanthosehista ..

xanthoxyloides

Xenorhynchus

xiphiones —

yerburyi

Ypthima

Zamenis

*Zampa

Zanthoxylum ...

PAGE

- 416

- 211

201,

198, 199

203

469, 470, 471

403, ‘402, 435, 468, 469

77, 198, 199, 201, 205,

208, 218,

- 165

ABT, 469, 470,

414

. 138

. 458

215

- 212

. 499

472

. 429

19, 20

@ 2503)

. 266

. 455

194, 196,

477

.. 499

411, 431,

. 389, 390, 391, 396, 410,

434

- 205

Zea one 382, 388, 389, 396, 498, 429

zebra .. 422

*Zela 387, 388, 391, 396, 410, “411, 431, 434

Zeltus 56 -. ol4

7ema «eo. 435

zemara seo

zennara 412, 422

*zenon 390, 391, 410

Zephyrus .. 291, 293, 337, 410

#ZCUS ... .. 387, 388, 391, 410

zeylanensis So Bail!

zeylanica 151, 251, “351, 352, 353, 364 |

zichri 265, 266

ziclea 417, 429

Zizyphus 326, 484

Zographetus -» 411, 415, 427, 429

Zoothera : 188