^pratoWi

/ (>o

THE

JOURNAL

OF THE

Bombay Natural History Society.

EDITED BY

R. A. 8TBRNDALB.

and

E. H, AITKEN.

VOLUME 1
1886.

Consisting of Four Numbers and containing
Twelve Illustrations.

Bombay:

PRINTED AT THE

EDUCATION SOCIETY'S PRESS BYCULLA.

1886.

CONTENTS.

6n

PAGE.

Introduction .. ... ... ... • •• ••• ••• 1 to 3

List of Members... ... ... ... ... ... ... -3~ixs 8"

Catalogue of the Mammalia in the Collection of the Bombay

Natural History Society ... ... ... -8- * ■;> 14

Catalogue of Birds as yet in the Collection of the Bombay / o

Natural History Society 44 to 2+

Eggs received chiefly from Mr. Davidson 1 2 2i to -£2 1

The Society's Library iPi 22 tc28.f

Note on an Undescribed Hamalopsida, by the Rev. F. Dreckmann, . j.

s.j ^r 24" « x

Note on a Probable New Species of Ibex, by R. A. Sterndale, f.z.s. $4- to ■%&
Note on Mygale Fasciata, by Captain T. R. M. Macpherson ^? W to BH 5- "
On the Mimicry shown by Phyllornis Jerdoni, by Mr. E. H. Aitken. -28

Notes on "The Birds of Bombay," by H. Littledale 29 to 35

On a Hybrid, Ovis Hodgsoni, cum vignei, discovered and shot by

Mons. H. Dauvergne, by R. A. Sterndale, fz.s., &c. ... 35 to 3/

Birds' Nesting in Rajputana, by Lieut. H. E. Barnes, D. A. C. ... 38 to 62
On the uses of Pandanus or Screw Palm, taken from the Journals

of the late Handley Sterndale, with Prefatory Remarks, by

his Brother R. A. Sterndale, f.r.g.s., f.z.s. 62 to 68

A Note on Pandanus Odoratissimus or Screw Palm, by Dr.

Kirtikar, I.M.D ' ... 68

Zoological Notes —

On Variation in Colour in Ursns Labiatus, the Sloth Bear,

&c, by R. A. Sterndale ... ... ... ... ... 69

On the Flying Squirrel of Western India ... 70

On a Species of Pigmy Shrew ... ... ... ... 70

On the frequency of Albinoism in Cutch, by Mr. A. T. H.
Newnham, S. O, 10th N. I., with Notes by Mr. E. H.
Aitken ... ... ... ... ... ••• ... 71

Botanical Notes —

On an instance of fructification in a Staminiferous Plant,

Carica Papaya, by Surgeon-Major G. Bainbridge, I.M. D.... 72

On Abnormal Development in Musa Sapientum, by Surgeon

K. R. Kirtikar, I.M.D 73

Note on Agaricus Ostreatus ... ... ... ... ... 73

On the Fruit of Trapa Bispinosa ... ... ... ... 74

Note on Kasra or Scirpus Kysoor ... ... ... ... ... 74

Note on a supposed Root-Parasite found at Mahableshwar in

October, 1885, by Mrs. W. E. Hart 75 to 77

Memorandum, by Dr. D. Macdonald, M.D., Vice-President of

the Society, on the Species of Balanophora, found and de-
scribed by Mrs. W. E. Hart

List of Bird Skins from the South Konkan

,, „ from Burmah and other parts of India

Catalogue of Snakes in the Society's Collection ...
Proceedings of the Society during the Quarter
A Sind Lake, by Capt. E. F. Becher, R. A., f.z.s.

Notes on the Waters of Western India, by a Member of the Society. 97 to 123
On Abnormalities in the Horns of Ruminants, by R.A . Sterndale,

f.z.s. ,&c ...123to126

A List of the Bombay Butterflies in the Society's Collection, with

Notesby Mr. E. H. Aitken 126tol35

52074

78,

79

80 to

83

83

84 to

86

86 to

90

91 to

96

if CONTENTS

l'AGE.

A new species of Alga, Conferva Thermal is Birdwoodii (with
Illustration) discovered among the Hot-water Algss from
Vajrabai, . exhibited before the Botanical Section on J 5th
March 1886, by Surgeon K. R. Kirtikar, LM.U 135 to 138

Note on frequency of Parasites in Indian Army Horses, by V. S.

J. H. Steel, A.V.D 138 to 142

List of Birds collected and presented to the Society, by Mr. A. H.

Newnham, S. C, 10th N. 1 142, 143

Zoological Notes —

On an Oligodon (Subpunctatus ?~) found at Dahanu, North

Konkan, March, 1886, by Mr. G. Vidal, 0. S 144

Pteropus Edwardsii, by Mr." E. H. Aitken 144

White-ants, by Mr. E." H. Aitken 144

Poisonous Lizards, the Bis-cobra, by the Editor ... ... 145

On Conjugal Infidelity among Birds, by Mr. W. E. Hart ... 145

Botanical Notes —

Note on the Feronia Elephantum (Elephant or Wood Apple)

as a timber tree, by Mr. Frank Rose ... ... ... ...146, 147

Proceedings of the Society during the Quarter ... ... ...147 to 151

Waters of Western India — Part II., Konkan and Coast — by a

Member of the Society . ...153 to 175

Bird-nesting on the Ghats, by Mr. J. Davidson, CS. ... ...175 to 183

Note on some Post-pliocene Molluscs from the Byculla Plats, by

Mrs. W. E. Hart 183 to 194

The Birds of South Gujerat, by Mr. II. Littledale, Baroda ...194 to 200

Note on a Recent Paper, by Dr. Bonavia on the Mango, by
Surgeon K.R. Kirtikar, I.M.D., Acting Professor of Anatomv,

Grant Medical College, Bombay '. 200 to 203

A Catalogue of the Flora of Matheran, by the Hon. H. M. Bird-
wood, Vice-President ... ... ... ... ... ...203to214

A List of the Butterflies of the Bombay Presidency in the Society's

Collection, with Notes, by E. H. Aitken "... ... ...215 to 218

Zoological Notes —

Note on the Homalopsidce. in the Society's Collection, by Mr.

James A. Murray, Curator, Karachi Museum ... .. 219

Note on the conduct of a Tame Pigeon, by E. H. Aitken ... 220
Note on Danais dorippus, by Mr. A. T. H. Newnham, S. C.

10th N. I ib.

Note on Locality, by Mr, A. T. H. Newnham, S. C, 10th

N.I. .." 221

Note on the Breeding of Parra indica, bv Lieutenant H.

Edwin Barnes .' 221 to 222

Note on Reversion to Primitive Types, by R. A. Sterndale ...222 to 223
Some Notes on Abnormalities in the Horns of Ruminants, by

Mr. J. D. Inverarity .".223 to 224

Botanical Notes —

Note on the Gloriosa svperba (N. O. Liliacea), tl Superb

Lily," by Mr. Frank Rose, P. W. D 226

Note on the Gloriosa superba, by Surgeon K. R. Kirtikar ...226 to 227
Uses of the Flower of P and anus odoratissimus, bv Mr. Frank

Rose, P. W. D 227 to 228

Freak in a Zinnia pauciflora observed and exhibited by Mr.

Frank Rose, P. W. D ' ...228 to 229

Note on the above, by Surgeon K. R. Kirtikar 229 to 230

Proceedings of the Society during the Quarter ... ...230 to 243

■&\CAl

5 0 U 11 N A h

OF THE

BOMBAY

Jfottint

mom £

CO

yiJLPl'limj J1.JI_1I XllLMgWMBIgW

No. l.] BOMBAY, JANUARY 1886 [Vol. I.

INTRODUCTION.

In issuing the first number of the Journal of the Bombay Natural
History Society, it seems appropriate to give some account of the
origin of the Society and of its position at the present time. It was
founded on the 15th of September 1883 by seven gentlemen
interested in natural history, who proposed to meet monthly and
exchange notes, exhibit interesting specimens, and otherwise
encourage one mother. The subscription was purposely made little
snore than nominal, and the possibility of forming or maintaining a
museum was scarcely contemplated at that time. For several months
meetings were held in the Victoria and Albert Museum ; but in
January 1884, Mr. H. M. Pbipson kindly offered the use of a room
in his office in the Fort. This removal to a central situation gave
an astonishing impulse to the Society. The meetings were better
attended, the membership increased, and collections began to be
made, so that in a very short time the necessity for more am pip
accommodation was pressingly felt. A committee appointed to seek
for suitable rooms, having failed elsewhere, recommended the Society
to ask Mr. Phipson to let one-half of his office premises, including
the room, of which they had up to this time had the gratuitous use.
He conseuted to this, and so the Society continued to hold its meet-
ings and keep its collections at 18, Forbes Street. Its progress was
so rapid, however, that these premises were soon felt to be too small,
and last month the collections were removed bo larger and ia
every way iuo!S suitable rooms at 6. Apollo Street.

NATURAL HISTORY.

In the month of May last, a very important change was made in
the constitution of the Society. The monthly meetings, being largely
attended by members who took only a general interest in natural
history, had naturally acquired a very popular character, and it
was found impossible to introduce much strictly scientific matter
on these occasions. It was decided, therefore, while continuing the
good work already done in popularising the subject of natural his-
tory, to make better provision for the study and advancement of the
science by the formation of sections as follows : —

1. Mammals and Birds.

2. Reptiles and Fishes.

3. Insects.

4. Other Invertebrata.

5. Botany.

Those members specially interested in any branch of natural his-
tory were invited to join the corresponding section, elect a President
and Secretary, take charge of that portion of the collections
which appertained, to their division, and hold, their own meetings,
thus forming practically a separate Society affiliated to the general
Society. All the sections have now organised themselves and made
their own arrangements for carrying on the work of their respec-
tive branches.

This has prepared the way for another important and necessary
step — the publication of a journal in which whatever of value or
interest is transacted at the sectional meetings may be permanently
put on record. Till now there has been no publication in the Bombay
Presidency devoted to natural history or any of its branches, and,
perhaps, as a consequence of this, there is scarcely any Presidency or
Province the fauna of which has received so little attention. It is
hoped, that the introduction of this journal will stimulate lovers of
Nature, especially in all parts of this Presidency, to record and com-
municate their observations. In accordance with the character which
this Society has assumed from the beginning, the aim of its journal
wiil be, as far as possible, to interest all students of nature, ever
remembering that there are many Naturalists, in the highest sense of
the term, who have not such a technical knowledge of any particular
branch of the science as to be able to enter with interest into ques-
tions of nomenclature and the discrimination of closely allied species.
The Secretaries of the Sections would therefore invite sportsmen

LIST OF MEMBERS. 3

and others to communicate anything interesting or Worthy of note,
which comes under their observation, bearing on the nature and
habits of animals or plants.

One other matter remains to be noticed. No public library in
Bombay affords much assistance to the naturalist, and the absolute
necessity of having a good library of their own early forced itself on
the attention of the members of this Society. Unfortunately it is
impossible to set aside any adequate sum out of the ordinary income of
the Society for the purpose, but on two occasions special subscriptions
have been collected and a number of valuable and necessary works
secured, while several members have at different times contributed
useful books. The Bombay Government has also been so good as to
present the Society with all the parts of Sir J. Hooker's Indian Flora,
already issued, and to promise the rest. With all this, however, it is
impossible to say more than that a beginning has been made ; but as
the usefulness of the Society continues to be day by day more widely
appreciated, the committee look confidently forward to the time when
an adequate Library Fund will be formed and maintained by
spontaneous donations.

Catalogue of the Mammalia in the Collection of the
Bombay Natural History Society.

ORDER I.— QUA DRUM AN A. —None.
ORDER II.— LEMURES.— -None.
ORDER III.— CAKNIVORA.

Family — Felidje.
Genus — Felis. -
Felis tifftis (Linn.). — The Tiger. Hab.: Eastern Asia.

a #• b.— Skulls, presented by Mr. J. Shillingford, Purneah.
c— A Skeleton, presented by Mr. W. Shipp, Lauowlie.
Felis pardus (Linn.). — The Panther.
Felis domesticus. — Hab. : India.

a.— Skull. Donor, unknown.

Family — Viverbidje.

Genus — Viverricut. v.

I Iverricula malaccensis (Gm.). — The Lesser Civet Cat, Hub. ; India,

Burmah and Ceylon.

NATURAL HISTORY.

a <$• b. — Skins prepared for mounting, presented by Mr. E.
H. Aitken, Bombay.

Genus — Paradoxus.
Paradumirus vnusanga (F. Cuv.). — The Common Tree-Cat.

a.— Living specimen from the Straits, presented by Mr, E.
Bodger, Bombay.

&.— Skin and skull, presented by Mr. W. Shipp, Lanowlie.

Family — Mu steli dje.
Genus — Martes.
Maries abiefu-m (Hay). — The Pine Marten. Hab.: Kashmir and Ladak.
a. — Skin, presented by Mr. R. A. Sterndale, Bombay.

Genus — Ldtiia.
hutra nair (P. Cuv.). — Indian Otter. Hab. : India,

a. — A akin of an Albino, presented by Mr. W. Shipp, Lanowlx®,

ORDER IV.— None.

ORDER V.—CHIROPTEKA.

Family — Pteropodid;e.
Genus — Pteropus.
Tterofus medius (Temm.). — The Flying Fox. Hab.: India.

a. — Specimen in spirits, presented by Dr, Charlotte EJIaby,
Bombay.

Genus— Cynopterus .

Cynopterus mnrginutus (Geoffr.). — Little White-eared Fruit Ba«»

Hab. : India.

a. — In spirits, presented by Mr. E. H. Aitken, Bombay.
b,— -Mounted, presented by Mr. J. P. Covnforth, Bombay.
Family — Vampyrid^;.
Genus — Meoaderma.
Mtgadermct h/ra (Geoffr.). — The Long-eared Vampire Bat,

Hab. : India and Ceylon.
a. Specimen in spirits, presented by Mr. G. W, Vidal,-Thana.

Sub-family — Rhinolophin^j,
Genus — Hipposideros.

Uipi'QsiJeros murium (Elliot). — Little Horse-shoe Bat. Hab,;

Southern India, Ceylon and Burmak,

CATALOGUE OF THE MAMMALIA, &C.

a to d. — In spirits, presented by Mr. E. H. Aitken, Bombay.
Family — Noctilionid<e.
Genus — Taphozous.
Taphozous longimanus. — The Long-armed Bat. Ilab. : India.
a. — Specimen in spirits, presented by Mr. E. H. Aitken, Bombay.

Family — VespertilionibvE.
Genus— Scotophilos.

Scotophilus Coromandelianus (F. Cuv.). — The Coromandel Bafc.

Hab. : India, Bnrmah and Ceylon.

a. — Specimen in spirits, presented by Mr. E, H. Aitken
Bombay.

Scotophilus Temmincliii ( Horsf. ). — Temminck's Bat. Hab. : India

Burmah and Ceylon.

a. — Tn spirits, presented by Mr. E. H. Aitken, Bombay.
b fy c— Do. do. Mr. L. H. Batcher.

Genus— Kerivoula.

K&rivoula picta (Pall.). — The Painted Bat. Hab.: India, Burmah

and Ceylon.

afyb. — Two specimens in spirits, presented by Mr. T. Bromley, Junr.

ORDER VI.-RODENTIA.

Family — Sciurid,e.

Genus — Pteromys.

Pteromys oral (Tickell). — Large Grey Flying Squirrel. Hab.:

India and Ceylon.

a to c. — Skins, presented by Col. Peyton.

Pteromys magnificus (Hodgs.). — Hab. : Himalayas. Skin, presented

by Mr. J. C. Anderson.

Family — Myoxid^e.
Genus — Myoxus.

Myoosus avellanarius (Linn.). — Common English Dormouse. Hab.:

British Islands.

a. -Specimen in spirits, presented by Mr. R. A. Sterndale,

Bombay.

6 NATURAL HISTORY.

Family — Murid,e.
Genus — Mus.

Mus decumanvs (Pall.). — The Brown Rat. Hab.: Europe and Asia.

at b $r c. — Living specimens, presented by Messrs. E. H.
Aitken and R. A. Sterndale, Bombay.

* Mus sp. ? — Nov. Sp. Hab.: Bombay.

a, — Liviug specimen, presented by Mr. E. H. Aitken, Bombay.
Musrattus. — Young, presented by Mr. E. H. Aitken, Bombay.

b 8f c. — Adult, presented by Mr. E. H. Aitken, Bombay.

Mm (Nesokia) Elliotanns. — Elliot's Field Rat. Hab.: Bengal, Assam

and Bombay.

a. — Living specimen, presented by Mr. E. H. Aitken, Bombay.

Mus urbanus (Hodgs.). — Common House Mouse. Hab.: India.

a to d. — Living specimens, presented by Mr. R. A. Sterndale,

Bombay.

Family — Lepokid/e.

Genus — Lepus.
Lepus ruficaudatus ( Gcoffr.). — Common Indian Hare. Hab.: India
t 11. — Specimen, mounted in folds of Python. Donor, Mr. W.

Shipp, Lanowlie.

ORDER VIII — PROBOSCIDEA.

Family — Elephantid^.

Genus — Elephas.
Elephasindicuk ( Cuv. ). — Indian Elephant, Hab.: India,

a.— Skull of male, presented by Mr. J. Skiilingford, Purneah,

ORDER IX.— UNGULATA.

Family — Rhinocerotid^e.

Genus — Rhinoceros.
Rliinoceros indicus ( Cuv. ). — The Indian Rhinoceros. Hab.: Hima-
layan Terai, from Central Nepal
to Eastern Assam.

* Apparently undescribed ; to be named hereafter.
\ Mounted by Mr, E. L. Barton.

CATALOG UK OF THK MAMMALIA, &C.

a. — Skull of male, presented by Mr. J. Shillingford, Furneah.

Family — Bovim:.

Genus — Gav^ecs.

Gavceus Gaurtis ( Ham Smith ).-— The Gaur or so-called Bison,

Hab.: India, in parts.

* a. — Mounted head of male, presented by Mr. Leslie Crawford.
b. — Skull, presented by Mr. Leslie Crawford.

Genus — Bubalus.

Babalus Ami (Shaw). — Indian "Wild Buffaloe. Hab.: Central India,
Terai, from Oude to Bhotan, Assam, Burmah and Ceylon.

a Sf b. — Skulls, male and female, presented by Mr. J. Shilling-
ford, Furneah.

Genus — Boselaphds vel Poet Ax.

Boselaphus iragocamclus (Pall.), Portax pictus ( H. Smith ). — The

Nylgao or Blue Bull. Hab.: India.
* a. — Mounted head, presented by Mr. Leslie Crawford.
Sub-family — Antelopin^:.
Genus — Gazella.
Gazella Bennetti ( Sykes ). — Indian Gazelle. Hab.: India.
a. — Horns. Donor, unknown.

b. — Do., presented by Mr. R. A. Sterudale, Bombay.
c— Do „ „ „

dSfe. — Skins, „ „ ,,

Genus — Pantholops.

Pantholops Ilodgsoni (Abel). — Tibetan Antelope. Hab. : Tibet.

a 8f b. — Mounted heads, purchased. Dauvergne Collection,
c to /. — Skulls „ . „

Genus — Antelope.

Antelop elezoariica (Aldro), cervicapra (Pall.). — The Indian Antelope.

Hab.: India.

a to c. — Horns, presented by Mr. R. A. Sterndale, Bombay.
* Mounted by Mr. B. L. Burton.

8 NATURAL HISTORY.

d. — Mounted head, presented by Mr. J. C. Anderson, Bombay.
e Sf f-— Skins, presented by Mr. R. A. Sterndale, Bombay.

Sub-family — Run -caprine.

Genus — Nemorh^edus.

Nemorhcjcdtis buballna (II. Smith). — The Serow. Ilab. : Himalayas.

a. — Skull, purchased. Dauvergne Collection.
Nemorhcedus goral (Hardw.). — The Goral. Hab. : Himalayas.

a. — Skull, purchased, Dauvergne Collection.

Sub- family — Caprine.

V

Genus— Capra.

Capra megaceros (Hutton). — Markhor. Hab.: N.-E. Himalayas.

a fy b. — Mounted heads, purchased. Dauvergne Collection.

c Sf d. — Skulls, „ j,

Capra Sibirica (Meyer). — Himalayan Ibex. Hab. : Kashmir and

Ladak.

a to c. — Mounted heads, purchased. Dauvergne Collection.
d, — Skull, „ ,)

Genus— 0 vis.

Ovis Eodgsoni (Blyth).— The Amnion of sportsmen. Hab. r

Himalayas.

a. — Mounted head, purchased. Dauvergne Collection.
b. — Skull, „ „

Ovis vignei (Blyth)
a. —
h.- )>

c. —
d.—

— The Shapoo. Hab.: N. Himalayas.
Purchased. Dauvergne Collection.

Ovis nahura (Hodg.). — The Burhel. Hab. : N. Himalayas.

a to d. — Heads mounted, purchased. Dauvergne Collection.
e #/.— Skulls, „ „

g Sf h. — Skins, „ »

CATALOGUE OF TH15 MAMMALTA, &C. 9

Sub-family — CerviN.e.

Genus — Ceryults.

Car cuius muntjac (Temm.)', aureus (H. Smith). — The Rib-faced Deer

or Kakur. Hab. : India.

a. — Mounted head, purchased. Dauvergne Collection-

/;. — Skull, presented by Mr. J. Shilling-ford, Purneah.

Genus — Cervus.

Cervus rashmirianus (Falc). — The Kashmir Stag. Hab.: Kashmir.

*a.. — Mounted head, purchased. Dauvergne Collection.

''• >> » yt

c. — Skull, „ „

d. — Skin, „ (,

Cervus (Rucervus) Duvaucelli (Cuv.). — The Swamp Deer. Hab.:
Forest lands at foot of Hitnalayasfrom the KyardaDoon toBhotan,
Assam and Central India.

a. — Skull with horns, presented by Mr. J. Shillingford, Purneah.

Cervus (Rusa) Aristotelis (Cuv.). — Sambur. Hab- India.

a. — Skull, presented by Mr. R. A. Sterndale.
b. — Horns. Donor, unknown.

c. —Skull, presented by Mr. J". Shillingford, Purneah,
**• j> » >> }>

Cervus (Axis) Porcinus (Temm.). — The Hog Deer. Hab.: India.

a. — Skull with horns, presented by Mr. J. Shillingford, Purneah.
^•~— ' )) j) }) >}

Family — Tragulid^e.
Genus — Tragulus vel Meminna.

Tragulus (Meminna) Indica (Erx.). — The Mouse Deer. Hab.: India

and Ceylon.

a. — Skin, prepared for mounting, presented by Mr. . W. F.

Sinclair, Alibag,.

Family — Suid^e.

Genus— Sua.

8 as mlicus (Sehinz.) vel eristatus ("Wagn.). — Indian Boar. Hab. r

India, Burmah and Ceylon.

* Mounted by-Mr. R. L. .Barton.

10 TsArcnAr, History.

a Sf b. — Mounted heads, presented by Mr. Barton.

c fy d. — Skulls, presented by Mr. J. Shillingford, Purneah.

ORDER X — CETACEA.

Family — Mysticrte.

Genua — Bal^nofiek'a.

Bahenopfera India (Hlyth). — The In lianR ?rqual, or Finback Whale.

Hah, : Indian Ocean,
Intervertebral disk. Donor, unknown,

ORDER XII.— EDENTATA.

Earn i I y — M an i qm .

Genus- — Manis,

Manis Pentadarlijia (Linn.). — The Five-toed Pangolin, or Scaly

Anteater. Hah. : India,
a. — Skin, presented by Mr. H. M. Phipson, Bombay.

Catalogue of Birds as yet in the Collection of the
Bombay Natural History Societv.

(N.B.— Contributions ia this section are greatly needed,, and will

be thankfully received.)
An asterisk denotes Mr. Anderson's- collection from Simla. A dagger,
Colond W. B. Thomson's, from Cashmere.

ORDER I.— RAPTOIIES..

Sub-family — Falconing.

* Cerchneis tinnunculus [Lioin.). — The Kestrel.
Falco chicquera {Baud.}, — The Merlin.

Sub-iamily — Accipitrln,e.
Astur badnus {Gm.},.. — The Shikra or Indian Sparrow Hawk.

* Accipiter nisus (Linn.),. — The Europeau Sparrow Hawk.

Smb-family — Aquiline.
t Paudion halietus (Linn.). — The Osprey.
f Haliaetus leucoryphus (Pall.). — The Ring-tailed Sea-Eagle,

Sub-fannily— Buteonin.e.
j Buteo ferox (Cm.). — The Long-legged Buzzard.

CATALOGUE OV BIRDS, cVc* 11

Butastur tees* ( A'/vt/fc/j/.).— *-Thc Wliite-eyed Bazzarl.

Sub-family — Milvinjr.
Haliaatur lulus (Bodd.).— The Maroon-backed or Brahminy

Kite.
Family — Strigid^e .
Sub-family — Syrniin.e.

* Syrniura nivicolum ( Hodjs. ).— The Himalayan Wood-Owl.

Sub-family — Bubgninte,
Kefcupa Ceylonensis (Om.). — Brown Fish-Owl,

Sub-family — Surnjin.e.

* Glauoidiam brodii (Burt.).-*- The Collared Pigmy Owlet.

ORDER IL— INSESSORES.

Tribe — Fissirostres.
Family— HirundinIn M.
f Hirundo rustica {Linn.). — The Common Swallow.

Sub-family — Cypsellinj;.
Collocalia unicolor (Jerd.). — Edible Nest Swift.

Family — Meropid/F..
f Merops apiaster (Linn.). — The European Bee-eater.
Merops viridis (Linn.). — Common Indian Bee-eater.
Merops Philippines (Linn.). — The Blue-tailed Bee-eater.
Merops quinticolor, (VielL). — The Chestnut-headed Bee-eater.

Family — Coraciad.e.
•j- Coracias garrula (Linn.). — The European Boiler.
Coracias lndica (TAnn.).— The Indian Roller.

Family — HaLcyonid^:.

t Alcedo ispida (Linn.). — The European Kingfisher.
Alcedo bengalensis (Gm.). — Common Indian Kingfisher.
Ceryle rudis (Linn.). — The Pied Kingfisher.

Family— BocEROTiy.E.
Dichoccros cavatus (Bodd.)> — The Great Hornbill.

Tribe— Scansores.
Family — Psittacid.e.
Sub-family— PaUsorNinJs.
Palseornis purpureus (P. L. 8. MnlU—fyse -headed Parraquet,

* Paleeoriiis sehisticeps (Hodgs.).

12 NATURAL HISTORY.

Family — Picm^i.
Sub-family — PiciNiE.
t * Picas hiaialayensis (Jcrd. and Sell.), — The Himalayan

Pied Woodpecker.
* Picas brunneifrous {Vig.). — The Brown-fronted Woodpecker.

Sub-fa wily — Campephilin.e.
Chrysocolaptes strictus (Horsf.). — Southern Large Golden-
backed Woodpecker.
Sub-family — Gecinin.e.
*Geciuus squamatus (Yig.). — The Scaly-billed Green Wood

pecker.
Family — Megal.emidj:.
Megalsema viridis (Bodd.). — Small Green Barbet.
Xaritholsetna hcemacephala (P. L. S. Mali). — The Crimson-
breasted Barbet,
Family — Cuculidje.
Sub-family — CucuLiDiE.

tCuculus canorus (Linn.). — The European Cuckoo.
Coccystes jacobinus (Bodd.). — The Pied-crested Cuckoo.
Budyuamis honorata (Linn.). — The Indian Koel.

Sub-family — Ph.enicophain.'E.
Centrococcyx rufipeauis (lu.). — The Common Crow Pheasant.

Tribe — Tenuirostres.

Family — Nectarinieme.
Sub-family — Nectarinin^e.
^Ethopyga vigorsi (Sijkes). — The Violet-eared Red Honeys ticker.
Cinnyris minima (Sykes). — The Tiny Honeysucker.
Cinnyris Af-iatica (Lath.). — The Purple Honeysucker.
Sub-family — Dic.ein^:.

Dicaeum erythrorhynchus (Lath.). — Tick ell's Flower -pecker.

Family — Certhiame.
Sub-family — CERTHiNiE.
tCerthia Himalayana (Vig.). — The Himalayan Tree-creeper.
*Tichodroma inuraria (Linn.). — The Red-winged Wall-creeper.

Tribe — Dentjrostres.
Family— Laniad.e.
Sub-family — Lanian.e.
rLanius erythronotus {Vig.). — The Rufous-backed Shrike.

CATALCGDE OF BIRDS, &C. 13

Sub- family — Malaconotin.e.

Tephrodornis Pondicerianus (Gm.).— The Common Wood-

shrike.
Sub-family — CAMPErHAGiNJC.
Grauculus maeii (Less.). — The Large Cuckoo-shrike.
Pericrocotus flammeus (c'orst.). — The Orange Minivet.
Pericrocotus peregrinus (Linn.). — The Small Minivet.
"Pericrocotus brevirostris (Vig.). — The Short-billed Minivet.

Sub-family — DlGEURlNJS.
Buohanga atra (TIerm.). — The Common Drongo-shrike or

King-crow.
Buchanga caerulescens (Linn.). — The White-bellied Drongo.

Family — MuscicAriD.E.

Sub-family — Myjagrim?.
fMuscipeta paradisi (JAnn.). — The Paradise Fly-catcher.

Sub-family — Musctcapin.e.
Cyornis tickelli (Bhjth).— Tickell's Blue Redbreast.
fAIuscicapula Superciliaris (Jerd.). — The White-browed Blue

Fly-catcher.

Family — Meruljd<e.

Sub-family — My istherinle.
Myiophoneus Ilorsrieldi ( Vig.). — The Malabar Whistling Thrush,
tMyiophoneus Tcmmiuckii (Vig.). — The Yellow-billed Whist-
ling Thrusa.

Sub-fr.inily — MeruliNyE.
*Petrophila erythrogastra {Vig.). — The Chestnut-billed Thrush.
Petrophila cinclorhyncha (Viu.) — The Blue-headed Chat Thrush.
•fCyanocinclus cyauus (Linn.). — The Blue Rock Thrush.
Geocichla cyanotis (Jerd. fy Selb.). - The White-winged Ground

Thrush.
t Geocichla unicolor (Tickell). — The Dusky Ground Thrush.
Mernla uigropilea (L%fr) — The Black-capped Blackbird.
*Turdus ruhcollis (Pall.).— The Red-tailed Thrush.
*Oreocincla mollissima (Biy ). — The Plain-backed Mountain

Thrush.

Sub-family — Timalike.

Pematorhinus Horsfieldi (Sykt. s).— - The Southern Scimitar

Babbler.

14 NATURAL HISTORY.

*Trochalopterum variegatum (Vig.). — The Variegated Laugh-
ing Thrush.

* TroohaJopterum lineatum (Vig.). — The Streaked Laughing

Thrush.
Malacocercus Somervillii (Sykes).-— The Rufous-tailed Babbler.

* Malacias capistratus {Vig.), — The Black-headed Sibia.
Chatarrhcjea caudata (l)um.). — The Striated Bush Babbler.

Family— Brachyfodid.e.

Sub-family ~ Pycnonoin.e.

Ofcocompsa fuscicaudata (JerJ.). — The Southern Red-whiskered

Bulbul.

* t Otoconipsa loucogenys {Gray). — The White-checked Crested

Bulbul.

Molpastes haeraorrhous (Gm.). — The Common Madras Bulbul.

* | Hypsi petes psaroides (Vig.). — The Himalayan Black Bulbul.

Sub-family — Phyllornithin.*:.
Phyllornis Jerdoni {Blyth)-.- — The Common Green Bulbul.
Phyllornis M/dabaricus (Gm.). — The Malabar Green Bulbul.
Iora tiphia (Linn.). — The Black-headed Green Bulbul.

Sub-family — Oriolin^.
Orioius Galbula (Linn.). — The Golden Oriole.
Orioius mtilanocephalus (Linn.).— The Bengal Black-headed Oriole.

t Orioius Kuudoo (SyJies). — The Indian Oriole.

Family — Sylviad.e.
Sub-family — Saxicolin;e.

Thamnobia cambaiensis (Lath.). — -The Brown -backed or Southern

India Robin.
Pratincola caprata (Linn.). — The White-winged Bush Chat.

* Pratincola macrorynchus (Stol.). — The long-billed Bush Chat.

Sub-family — Ruticilin/K.
Chasmorrornislencocephalus ( Vig.). — The White-capped Redstart.

Sub-family — Drymoicin.e.

Drymreca inornata (Syhes), — The Earth-brown Wren Warbler.
Drymoeca iusignis ( Hume). — The Great Wren Warbler.
FrankliuiaBuchanani (Blyth). — The Rufous-fronted Wren Warbler.

Sub-family-- Phylloscopinje.
t Reguloides occipitalis (Jord.). — The Large Crowned Warbler.

CATALOGUE OF BIRDS,. &C. * °

* Regnloides proregulus (Pall.).— The Crowned Tree WWbier.

* Abrornis albo-superciliaris (Ely.).— The White-browed Warbler.

S u b-fain i ly — S y l vin k .
| Sylvia affinis (Bly.). — The Allied Grey Warbler.

Sub-family — MoTAClLLINiE.
f Budytes calcaratus (Pall.). — The Yellow -beaded Wagtail,
t Agrodroraa sordid i (liiipp).— -Tbe Brown Hock Pipit.
Sub-family — Leiotrichinje.

* Siva strigula (Hod (is,). — The Stripe-throated Hill Tit.

* Minla castauiceps (llodgs.). — The Chesnut-headed Hill Tit.

Sub -family — Paring.

* Lophophanc* metanolophos (Vig.)-— The Crested Black Tit.

* Parus mouticolus (Vig.). — Tbe Green-backed Tit.
t Parus nipaleusis (Ilodgs ). — The Iudian Grey Tit.

Tri be — Conirostres.
Family — Co kvi dm .
Sub-family — Corvine:.

* Corvus macrorhyneus (Wagler). — The Indian Corby, or Carrion

Crow.
Corvus splenilens -(Vie ill.) — The Common T»dian Crow.

* Nucifraga hemispila (Vig.). — The Himalayan Nut-cracker.

f Nucifraga tnultipunctata (Gould J. — The Spotted Nut-cracker.

Sub- family — Garrulin^e.
f Pica bottanensis (Deless). — The Himalayan Magpie.

* Garrulus bispecularis (Vig.). — The Himalayan Jay.

t Urocissa flaviroscris (Bly.). — The Yellow-billed P>lue Magpie.

Sub-family— Dendkcoittin.e.
Deudrocitta rufa (Lath.). — Tbe Common Indian Magpie,
f Dendrocitta Himalayensis (Bly.). — The Himalayan Magpie.
Graculus eremita (Linn.). — The Himalayan Chough.

Family — Sturnid.e.

Sub-family — Sturnin.e.
^ Sturnus nitens ( Hume). — The Glossy Black Starling.
Acridotheres tristis (Linn.). — The Common Myna.
Acridotheres fuscus (Wagler). — The Dusky Myna.
Sturnia pagodarum (Gmel.). — The Black-headed Myna.

Sub-family — Fringillin.e.
t Garpodacus erytbrinus (Pall.). — The Common Rose Finch.
*Pycrioramphus ictevioides (Vig.).~Tli& Black aud Yellow Grosbeak.

16 NATURAL HISTORY.

Sub-family — Estreldin^:.
Amadina rubronigra (Hodys.). — The Chestnut-bellied Maaia.

Sub-family— Alaudina;.
Pyrrhulauda grisaa (Scop). — The Blsck-bollied Finch L.uk.
Alauda gulgula (Frankl.). — The Indian Sky Lark.

Sub-family — Passerine.
f Passer domesticus (Linn.). — The Common Sparrow.

* Passer oinnamomeus (Gould). — The Cinnamon-headed Sparrow.

Sub-family — Emberizin.e.
t*Emberiza sfcracheyi (Moore). — The White-necked Bunting,
f Bm'oeriza Sfcewarti (Bhj.). — The White-capped Hunting.
•j-Euibmiza fucata (Pall.), — The Grey-headed Bunting.

ORDER III.— GEM1TORES.

Family — Treronielu.
Sub-family — TreronInje.
Osmotreron Malabarica (ferd). — The Grey-fronted Green Pigeon,

Sub-family— Turturinje.
Turtur Suratensis (Gm.), — The Spotted Dove.

ORDER IV.— RASORES.
Family — Pteroclid.e.
Pterocles exustus (Tern.). — The Common Sandgronse*

Family — Phasianid.e.
*Pucrasia macrolopha {Less ). — The Pakras Pheasant,
t Pucrasia castanea (Gould). —

* Euplocomus albocristatus (Fi#.)» — The White-crested Kali]

Pheasant.
S ub-faniily — Ga lli n.e.
Galloperdix spadiccus (Gm.). — The Red Spur Fowl.

Fam i 1 v — Tetr aoni d.t,.

V

Sub-family — Perdicin.f.
Francolinus pictus (lord, and S-db.). — The Painted Partridge.

* Caccabis C linker (Gray). — The Chukor Partridge.

* Arboricola torqueola (Val.) — The Black-throated' Hill Partridge.

Sub-family — Coturnisinje.

Coturnix Coromandelica (Gm.).— The Black-breasted, or Rain Quail'.

ORDER V. -GRALLATORE3.

Tribe — Pressirostres.

Family— Otidid.i;,

Sypheotides aurita (Lath.). — The Lesser Floricau.

0A.TAT,0arE OF BIRDS, &C. 17

Family — Charabrij » .
Sub-family— Vanelj..in.e.
Lebivanellus Iadieas (Bedd.y. — The Red Wattled Lapwing".

Tribe — Longirostbes,
Family — Scolopac3[D,e.
Sub-family — Tringin/E.
Txinga Temmiueku (Lied.). — The White-tailed Stint.

Sub-family — Totakin.v.
•Rkyacophila glareola (Linn.). — The Spotted Sandpiper,

Family — Parrims.
Sub-family — Parrin,e.
f Hydrophasianus enirurgus {Scop.). — The Pheasant-tailed Jacaue.

Tribe — (Jut/jmrostres.
Family — ArdeidjE.
Bubulcus Cararaaudas [Bodd.).— The Cattle Egret.
Ardeola grnyi (Sykerf. — The Pond Heron,
Demi-egretta gularis {Bosc ).— The Ashy Egret,

ORDER— NAT ATO RES.

Tribe— Lamellitostres.

Family — AnseriDjE.

Sub-family —Plectrgpterin,e.

Sarcidiarnis nielancmotus {Perm.), — Tho Niikta or Black-backed Goose,

Tribe — Mergitores.
Family — Poihcipid.e.
fPodiceps minor (dm.). — The Little Grebe, or Dabchick.

Tribe — Vag ato res.
Family — Lm;id.e.
Sub-family — Sternin/E.
Sterna Seena (Syhes) — The Large River Tern,
t Sterna melanogastra (Temrn.). — The Black-bellied Tern.

The following E°'2's were received chief! v from Mr. Davidson: —

Gyps pallescens.

Neophron giugh.iauns.
Falco jugger.

AsLur badius.
Aquila vindhiana.
Nicaetus fasciatug.
Limnaetus cirrhatus.
Butastur teesa.
Ualiaatur indus.
Milvus govinda.

3

Syrnium ocellatum.
Hubo bengalensis.
Cariue brama.
Hirundo filifera.
Hirundo erythropygia.
Hiruudo fluvicola.
Collocalia unicolor.
Dendrocbclidon coronata,
Pfcyonop rogue concolar,
Cypsellus amniy.

ti

LIST OF BIRDS EGGS.

Caprimulgus asiaticus.
Caprimulgus tnouticolus,
Merops viridis.
Merops pbilippinus.
Coracias indica.
Halcyon smymensis.
Alcodo bengalensis.
Ocyceros birostris.
Picus mabrattemis.
1' ungipicus nauus.
Bracbyptermis aurantius.
Megalaima iuornata.
Coccyestes jacobinus.
Euclyoamis bouorata.
Oentropbus rufipennis.
Oinnyris asiatica.
Lanius lahtora.
Lanius erytbronotus.
Lanius vittatus.
Tepbrodornis pondicerianus.
"Volvocivora aykesi.
PericroC'tus peregrinus.
Pericrocotu? erytliropygius.
Bucbauga atra.
Leucocerca leucogaster.
Myiophoneus horsfieldi.
Pcytoris sinensis.
Malacocerns terricolor.
Argya malcoluii.
Cbafcarr'bsea caudata.
Ixns luteolus.
Otocompsa fuscicaudata.
IVIolpastes baemorrbaus.
Iora tipbia.
Oriolus kundoo.
Tbamnobia fulicata.
Tbamuobia cambaiensis.
Ortbotomns sutorius.
Prinia stewarti.
Prinia bodgsoni.

Noie by the Editors. — We have so for catalogued our Mammals nnd Birds subject to
additions in the future, which will be noted from time to time. As yet we have not
been able to complete our lists of Fishes, Reptiles, &c, which have been reserved for
our next issue, but we may briefly state that our collections up to date consist of —
257 Specimens, comprising about 200 species of Fish in spirits.
12 Fishes stuffed and mounted by Mr. H. M. Phipson.
83 Specimens of Snakes in spirit.
47 Other Reptiles iu spiritt
43 Crabs in spirit.
53 Crabs dried and set.
71 Other Marine Animals in spit it.
In addition to the above we have a collection of Butterflies from the Bombay
Presidency, the Malabar Coast, the Himalayas, the Punjab and from Aden; also some
Moths, Beetles and other insects at present undergoing classification,

Drvmoeca inornata.
Dryinceca rufescens.
Praulinia bucbanaui.
Motacilla Maderaspatna.
Corvus macrorbyncbus.
Zostcrops palpebrosa.
Corvus splendens.
Dendroeitfca rufa.
Acridotheres tristis.
Acridotberes ginginianus.
Sturuia pagodaruin.
Ploceus philippinus.
Araadina punctulata.
Amadina malabarica.
Estrelda amandava.
Gymnoris flavicollis.
Mirafra erytbroptera.
Pyrrbulauda grisea.
Spizalauda deya.
Pt erodes exustus.
Galloperdix spadiceus.
Francolinus p ictus.
Ortygornis ponticerianus.
Perdicula asiatica.
Coturnix coromandelica.
Turnix tiagoor.
Lobivannellus indicus.
Lobipltivia malabarica.
CEdicnemus scolopax.
Parra indica.
Erytbva pbaeuicura,
Hypotsenidia stnats.
Herodias
Ardeola grayi.
Ardca cinnamomea.
Tantalus leucocepbalus.
Sarcidiornis melanonotus.
Podiceps minor.
Pelecanus pbilippensis.

garzetta.

NATURAL HISTORY. 19

THE SOCIETY'S LIBRARY
Contains as yet but the following books : —

MAMMALS.

Mammals of India — (Jerdon).

Mammalia of India and Ceylon — (Sterndale).

Histeire Naturelle de Maui.niferes — (Grervais).

S'IRDS.

Birds of India — (Jerdon). 3 Vols., 2 copies.
Stray Feathers — (Hume, ed.). 7 Vols.
Birds' Nesting in India — (Marshall).
Birds of British Burmali — (Gates),
Fauna Japonica, Aves — (Siebold).
Birds of South Africa — (Layard & Sharpe),
Monograph of the Sunbirds — (Shelley).
Monograph of the Birds of Paradise — (Elliott).
Monograph of the Jacamars — (Sclater).

REPTILES AND FISHES.

Eeptiles of India — (<}unther).

Indian Snakes — (Nicholson).

Malabar Fishes — (Day). 2 Copies.

Fresh Water Fishes of India — (Beaven).

Fishes of Madeira — (Lowe).

Fauna Japonica, Rjptilia et Pisces — (Siebold).

Fishes of the Coromandel Coast-^( Russell )e

INSECTS.

Classification of Insects- — (Westwood).

Text Book of Entomology — (Kirby).

Butterflies of Great Britain — (Westwood).

The Aurelian — (Harris).

Encyclopedic d'Histoire Naturelle., Papillons— (Cheriu).

OTHER INVERTEBRATA.

Cffnckology — (Lammarck).

Fauna Japonica., Crustacea — (Siebold).

BOTANY.

Flora of British India — (Hooker).

Ferns of British India — (Beddome).

Vegetable Products of the Bombay Presidency™(BiruW<aod)«

Bombay Flora— -(Dalzell and Gibson).

20 NOTE ON AN UNL»E£CRIBED HAH.UOrsJDA.

Plants and Drugs of Sine! — (Murray).

Timber Trees of India — (Balfour),

Flore Forestiere de Cochin Chine — (Pierre). 5 parts.-

Icones Plantar urn— (Wight). Vols. II, to VI.

GENERAL.

Zoological Atlas — (Brehra).

Museum of Natural History.

Vertebra ta of Sind — (Murray).

Cassels' Natural History.

Naturalist's Wanderings in the China Seas — (CoIIingwoodJ.

The Calcutta Journal of Natural History. 7 Vols.

Beeton's Dictionary of Natural History.

Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago — (Forbes).

Anatomy of Vertebrated Animals — (Huxley).

The Asian — Vols. I. to VI.

Odontography— (Owen).

.Lectures on Comparative Anatomy — (Owen)

NOTE ON AN UNDBSCRIBED HAMALOFSIDA.

By the Rev. F. Dheckmann, s.j.
Figured on stone bxj Mr. R. A. Stemdale.

This specimen was forwarded to the Society from Saug'or, Central
Provinces, by Mr. H. Craufuird Thomson.

Head short, thick, broad, distinct from neck; cleft of mouth turned
upwards behind; eyes s-mai'l with round pupil; nostrils on the upper
surface of the head in a single large nasal shield, the outer part of which
is divided by a groove running outwards from the nostrils; the two
nasals contiguous; two small anterior f rentals; two loreals, one above
the other, the lower one larger than anterior frontals,, the upper one
small, vertical, longer than broad, five-sided — one praeocular, two
postoculars; 8 upper labials rather high, the 4th entering the orbit;
temporals, 1 + 2-f-D-O; anterior chin shields in contact with four
lower labials; posterior ehin shields small, scale-like; sis transverse
series of scales between chin shields and first ventral. Scales smooth
33; ventrals narrow, 158; anals and sub-caudals bifid. Sub-caudals,
54; ground colour yellowish white, with 32 large irregular rounded
black spots, leaving a narrow stripe of ground colour between them;

natural History. 21

a sories of rather irregular black spots along lower part of the side
alternating with vertebral spots, so that the ground colour appears as
decussating stripes. Belly densely checkered with black. Two
yellowish lines on the upper part of the head diverging from the
muzzle over the eyes to the sides of the head ; from each side of the
vertical a line diverging towards the occiput. Length 10 inches,
of which the tail is li iuches.

NOTE ON A PROBABLE NEW SPECIES OF IBEX.
(Capra Dauvergnii, nob.) or variety of Capra sibirica.

BY R. A. StEKNDALE, F.Z.S.

I have always been averse to multiplication of species, and the
tendency of modern research has been to diminish the number of
existing sub-divisions; it is therefore with some hesitation I bring
forward the claims of the subject of my note to separation from the
two known species of Oriental Ibex — Capra sibirica and Capra JEga-
grus ; Capra sheen and Capra himalayica of authors being identical
with C. sibirica. The question of hybridization between the various
marked species of Caprse and Oves has not as yet received the
attention that it should, and I think on examination it will be found
that certain named species will prove to be hybrids, notably Ovis
Brooheij but on this point I shall have more to say on a future
occasion. The horns of which I have given an illustration
herewith were purchased for me some months ago in Kashmir
by my friend Mons. H. Dauvergne, simply on account of their
size, being 52 inches in length. On receiving them I was struck
by their remarkable divergence from the types of C. sibirica and
JEgagrus, and from any Ibex horn I had ever seen. At first I took
it to be a hybrid between the two above-mentioned species, but I
subsequently abandoned this idea, for it bears no resemblance at
all to the latter beyond the departure from the usual curve of th
well-known Himalayan Ibex. Eccentric forms are not uncommon
in the Persian animal, and Mr. Danford figures a pair, in his article
in the P. Z.S. for 1875, page 458, the tips of which turning inwards
cross each other. In my specimen the horns sweep backwards and
outward having widely divergent tips, and in a case of hybridization
I should look for some modification of the section of the horn the

NOTE ON IBEX.

two species being so vastly different in this respect. Oapra sibirica.
has a square horn, the front broader than the back, and strongly
marked with transverse ridges at intervals of less than an inch.
0. tegagrus has an oval or compressed elliptic section, flatter on
the inner side and with a sharp keel or longitudinal ridge in front,
which ridge has irregular knobs at considerable distances. In the
horns under notice the section resembles that of sibirica, flat in front
and at the sides, slightly rounded beneath. In texture and colour
resembling the Markhor horn, being much darker than the ordinary
Ibex. Instead of the decided ridges of C. sibirica there are
rugosities or folds at the following distances : —

Right horn.. ..2ft", 2ft", 3ft", 4", 5^ 5f6*.
Left horn 2ft, 3ft, 2ft, 4ft, 5,4, 5ft,

the rest of the horn is more decidedly and closely knobbed, with
fine rings at the tips.

At the base the section measures about 3h" from front to back ,
and about 2§" across.

As regards the skull, which in my specimen is damaged in the
occipital region, it is somewhat slighter than that of a head of
C. sibirica with 40-inch horns, but until we get more specimens to
work upon, it is useless to dwell on skull characteristics in this paper.
Colonel Kinloch, in a letter to the Asian, seems to think that this
is an abnormality of sport, from an abnormal specimen killed by
him, but from what I gather I am inclined to believe that my
skull is of a distinct species or variety from the hills north of the
Kishengunga river. Mons. Dauvergne wrote to me in August
last that he came across a similar head two years ago, freshly
killed, horns measuring 42 inches, widely divergent like mine,
with the same characteristics of smoothness and section. I hope
to see this head some day as it has been traced. In a recent letter,
dated 13th December, he says: "Another horn of the same tribe has
been purchased by Sir Oliver St. John ; that is the third I know of
and those skin men tell me they have seen them often, but that they
are not numerous." Their habitat is as yet uncertain, but with such
an enthusiastic and experienced sportsman as Mons. Dauvergne on
the scent, I do not despair of deciding this question. He thinks
they may come from the range of hills north of the Kishengunga
river or the Khagan country west of Kashmir. From enquiries I
have made there are no similar horns in the British. Museum or in the-

NATURAL HISTORY, 23

India Museum at Calcutta. I have also received letters from Sir
Victor Brooke aud Mr. W. T. Bianford, both high authorities on
Indian ruminants, to the effect that such a formation is new to
them. Mr. Blauford suggests that it might be a hybrid between
C. sihirica and megaceros, variety Falconer i; but though I have gone
into the records of hybridization in the gardens of the Zoological
Society, and therefore believe such a combination possible, the absence
of any flattening of the horn and also its curvature is against the
theory. The discovery of more than the three heads above mention-
ed, and the fixing of a particular locality, will go far towards proving
the existence of a distinct species. In the meantime, in placing this
head on record, I wish to associate with it the name of Mons.
Dauvergne, to whom both the Society and m}rself are under consi-
derable obligations as regards assistance in obtaining specimens of
Kashmir fauna, and who first brought it to my notice, and therefore,
as a tentative measure, I propose to call it that of " Capra
Duuvergnii," — R. A. S,

NOTE ON MYGALE FASCIATA.

By Capt. T. R. M. Macfherson.

2nd February. — The following extract was read from a letter, which
the Secretary had received from Captain T. R. M. Macpherson,
forwarding ten specimens of a very large species of Mygale found by
him in the Kamora district : —

"The spiders, though fairly common in the evergreen forests of this
district, are little known, and few men have ever seen them. The
first I ever saw I found in one of my boots last year, and shortly
afterwards I discovered their habits. They are, 1 think, entirely
nocturnal, keeping always to their burrows in the day-time. I have
not been able to ascertain what they live on, but it is probably lizards
and small birds. The natives call them Wagli Duri and say that
they are very venomous, but I have never heard of anybody being
bitten by them. However, their long, sharp and hollow ' falces,'
strongly resembling the poison fangs of a snake, lead me to believe
that they are poisonous, and I would recommend caution in handling
them. I experimented the other day on a chicken. The spider

24 NOTE ON MYGALB FASCIATA.

attacked it viciously, drawing blood in several places, but beyond
frightening the chicken there was no result. However, this spider
may have exhausted its poison, for it had been much irritated and
had been striking repeatedly at sticks and other things before it
attacked the chicken.

" These spiders live in burrows, which they excavate in steep banks
of earth. The burrows vary fi'om one inch to 2^ inches in diameter,
in accordance with the size of the occupant, and are of the form
shown below." (The diagram showed a short, straight passage,
turning sharply to one side at the end, which was a little widened to
form a chamber.) "Sometimes the chamber is to the right, instead
of to the left, as shown in the diagram. The burrow and chamber are
lined throughout with a closely woven, soft web, much resembling
very fine white tissue paper. The total length of the burrows
averages, I should say, about 15 inches, the straight part being about
afoot, and excavated perpendicularly to the face of the bank, which
is usually precipitous.'"

Editor's Note.— -This species, which appears to be Mi/gale fasciata (Seba), is not
uncommon in Southern India and Ceylon, but has not attracted much attention
from its nocturnal habits. There has been a controversy of long standing regard-
ing the bird-eating propensities of this genus. The first to give currency to the
assertion wis Madame Merian, who, in a work on Surinam Insects, published in 1705,
figured Mygale oviculnria in the act of devouring a bird. In 1334 Mr. Maolcay
(P. Z. S. for that year, page 12,) threw doubt on her accuracy, and disbelieved in
any bird-catcbiug spider, which opinion, however, he subsequently modified (Ann.
and Mag. Nat. Hixt., 1812, Vol. VIII., p. 324), having seen in Australia a large Epeira
diadema suekiug the juice of a small bird, Zostarops dorsalis, which it had caught
in its net, but he was still inclined to think it exc ptional and accidental. How-
ever, other writers have sinee supported Madame Merian. (See same vol. Awn. and
Mag. Nat. Kist{, p. 436.) Mons. Jonncs says that its mode of attack is to throw itself
on to its victim, clinging by the double hooks of the tarsi, and striving to reach
the back of the head to insert its jaws between the skull and the vertebrfe. Sir
Emerson Tenhent was told by a lady who lived near Colombo that she had seen a
Mygale. devour a house lizard. Mr. Edgar Layard (/bin. a?id Mag, Nat. Hist., May,
1853,) described a fight between a Mygale and a cockroach, not much of a fight,
for the poor cockroach was speedily overcome and devoured. Mr. Bates, the author
of the "Naturalist on the Amazons," has stated that he has seen birds entangled
in webs spun by a speoies of Mygale and the spider actually on the bird, and his
opinion was that if the My gales did not prey upon vertebrated animals he could
not see how they could find sufficient subsistence. (T/ie Zoologist, Vol. XIII.,
p. 4S0.) So far evidence is in favour of the bird-eating propensities of this genus,
but it would be interesting to prove the habits of our Indian species, and therefore
living specimens taken, if possible with nest complete, would be most acceptable in
order that they may be placed under bteefltfiation. — R. A. S.

NATURAL HISTORY. 25

ON THE MIMICRY SHOWN BY PHYLLORNIS

JERDONI.

By Mr. E. H. Aitken.

At the Meeting of the 1st Section held on July 30, 18S5, Mr. E.
H. Aitken put in the following note : —

" On two occasions lately my attention has been attracted to the
extraordinary powers of mimicry possessed by the green Bulbul,
Phyllornis Jerdoni or Malabaricus, I am uncertain which, as both are
found on the Western Ghats, and I did not in either case see the bird
clearly enough to distinguish it. In May I was walking up from
Narel to Matheran when I heard the notes of several familiar birds
in one bush. I threw stones into the bush and a pair of green Bul-
buls flew out. There was nothing else in the bush. On the
second occasion, last July, I was at Tanna seeking for nests,
when I thought I heard Malacocercus Somervlllei in a jambool
tree. I went up to the tree and could see no bird, but the
Malacocercus continued very noisy. Then I heard a King Crow,
Buchanga Atra, calling out vigorously. I pelted the tree with stoues,
and after a little a green Bulbul appeared at the very top of the tree
and began to abuse me in several languages. Jerdon quotes Tickell
to the effect that P. Jerdoni is an excellent mocking bird, but as he
does not support the statement by his own experience, and as no
other writer I know of mentions the fact, I think it is worthy of
notice."

JOURNAL

OF THE

BOMBAY

Natural Ststflnj §buht%.

No. 2. BOMBAY, APRIL 1886. Vol

NOTES ON "THE BIRDS OF BOMBAY," by Lieut.

H. E. BARNES.*

(By H. Littledale, Baroda.)

It would be presumptuous for a mere tyro in ornithology like
myself to attempt a detailed or formal criticism of Mr. Barnes's
book. It seems to me, speaking generally, to be very fairly done,
and to furnish, what many sportsmen and naturalists will be glad
to have, a cheap and comprehensive descriptive catalogue of the birds
of the Presidency. Until its publication, naturalists have had to get
" Jerdon's Birds," " Stray Feathers," Hume and Marshall's " Game-
birds," Sharpe's " Catalogue of Birds," Hume's " Nests and Eggs,"
and other books, costing in all about Rs. 400,and requiring a book-case
to hold them, besides entailing much labour to search out particular
birds. Now we have this handy and well-printed volume, that will give
most that we want for ordinary purposes, will go into a game bag, and
costs only Rs. 8.

Besides presenting the descriptions and measurements of birds as
found in Jerdon and other writers, this Handbook contains the results
of Mr. Barnes's twenty years' work at the birds of this Presidency,
and I have read these scattered observations with so much interest
that, like Oliver Twist, 1 cannot help asking for more. And that
" more" Mr, Barnes might certainly have given me if he had called
on his fellow-ornithologists of this Society to let him have the use
of their field note-books for his work ; in records of, and deductions
from, field ornithology, the more workers the better work. Hence,
if, in the following hastily jotted remarks, I appear to grumble some-
what, it is in no fault-finding or ungrateful spirit ; my object is
addition, not subtraction, and I heartily thank Mr. Barnes for what
he has done, and advise every good sportsman to buy and study his
book.

* Handbook to the Birds of the Bombay Presidency, by Lient. H. Edwin Baenes
D.A..C., Central Press, Calcutta, 1885. Price Rs. 8-8, V.P.P.

30 NATURAL HISTORY,

Passing over questions of nomenclature, and shunning such a
Charybdis as the discrimination of difficult species (like Aquila
Nsevia), T consider that, in the remarks on distribution and on nests
and eggs in particular, Mr. Barnes has not only lost much good
material that our birds' nesting members would gladly have contri-
buted, but he has also not made as good use of his actual authorities as
he might have done. The care and fulness with which the nidification
of many birds is described, make me wonder that nothing is said of the
nests and eggs of many other birds, which are all more or less fully
dealt with in books that Mr. Barnes had before him when compiling
his work. For instance, Mr. Barnes says that he has been unable to as-
certain anything about the breeding of Elanus ccendeus, the black-
winged kite, whereas there is a full account (from the competent pen of
Mr. Davidson) in " Stray Feathers," Vol. viii., pp, 370 and 415,
to say nothing of Bree's " Birds of Europe," Vol. i.

I may add that, on the 23rd October 1885, I had a nest with three
hard set eggs taken, and the two birds shot, at Tandalja, two miles
from Baroda, and that earlier in the same month I found a nest at
Tatarpura, six miles from Baroda, with young birds in it. The eggs
were, as Mr. Hume says somewhere, like u miniature Neophrons,"
and not like Dr. Bree's figures.

Again, while describing the eggs of the Prinias, Mr. Barnes omits to
point out that the mahogany-coloured eggs are laid by the species with
ten tail-feathers, while the birds with twelve tail-feathers lay eggs of a
different type. Of the eggs of Prinia gracilis and P. Ilodgsoni (the
two species are, I am convinced, identical, the latter being the
breeding plumage), Mr. Barnes says not a word. The eggs are
remarkable, being of two types of ground colour, viz., pure white
and pale blue, and being either unspotted, or speckled with light
red. There are, therefore, four varieties of the eggs of these tiny
birds. They are very common about Baroda, and breed along the
railway line. The eggs in all the twenty odd nests I found last
August were uniform in each nest, i.e., all in each nest were either
pure white, or pure bluish, or white, speckled red, or blue, speckled
red, but I have found the several types in different nests only a few
yards apart, and could see no external difference in the birds.
Again, Mr. Barnes is rather careless in saying of the tailor-bird,
O. sutorhtSy that i( occasionally the eggs are of a greenish white
colour." There are (as Mr. Hume has pointed out) two types of
ground colour, either pure white or pale greenish blue, but both types

NOTES ON "THE BIRDS OF BOMBAY.'5 31

are blotched with red-brown. Mr. Barnes's words would lead one
to suppose that the latter type was occasionally without markings,
which is never the case. His description of the tailor-bird, I may
add, does not discriminate the sexes sufficiently.

With regard to the nesting of the common Indian Swift (C.
affinis) I may add to Mr. Barnes's observations the curious fact that
on the 23rd February 1885 the nests of a colony of the cliff swallow
{H.fluvicold) under the City Bridge, Baroda, were found by me to
be occupied by about fifty of these swifts, who had eggs and youngs
in them, while the cliff swallows had been forced to build a fresh
cluster of nests further under the arch for their February brood.
The nests the swifts had taken were probably those built by the
cliff swallows for their previous September clutch, as last October
I found that the young cliff swallows had all just flown and that a
few young swifts were still unfledged in the nests of //. fluvicola*

SpeakiDg of the swifts, Mr. Barnes calls G. melba (the Alpine
Swift), a somewhat rare cold weather visitant. I saw seven and
shot one near Baroda on the 21st September 1885, which is well
before the " cold weather."

Since the publication of Captain Marshall's useful book, " Bird's
Nesting in India," in which the eggs of Caprimulgus Mahrattensis
are stated to be unknown, Mr. Doig found them to be common in
Sind, and described them in " Stray Feathers" (Vol. viii., p. 372).
Mr. Barnes does not describe the eggs, which, out of Sind at least,
would bo a valuable find for an oologist.'

The blue-tailed bee-eater, says Mr. Barnes, " occurs sparingly
throughout our district." It is common along the Guzerat rivers,
and I have seen hundreds along the Main from TVasad to Dabka.
They move to the tanks and meadows, especially those near the tele-
graph wires, in the rains, returning to the larger rivers as the country
dries up. I took thirty eggs last year from deep holes in nullahs
along the Main — eggs like -those of M. viridis, but larger. In
Guzerat the common bee-eater is called tilwa : Mr. Barnes mves
"hurrial" as the Hind. name. I do not see what Hind, names have to
do with the Bombay Presidency. A guide to the birds of this side
of India should give the names in as many as possible of the local
vernaculars, and should be rich in such details. Mr. Barnes's book
is very deficient in this respect, and I would suggest that our Society

* Canon Tristram Fauna and Flora of Palestine, p. 8-t, notes the same of C. affinis.
I may remark " that the Baroda swifts had not made any l addition Jof an aggluti-
nated straw and feather entrance to the original edifioe of clay," as in Palestine.

32 NATURAL HISTORY.

might compile a list of the Marathi, Guzerati, Sindhi, Canarese,
Bhil, &c, names of the better-known birds. I have already made a
beginning at such a list of the Guzerati names.

The Indian stork-billed kingfisher, P. gurial, has not, Mr. Barnes
says, been recorded from Guzerat. Certainly it is not in Captain.
Butler's list, but I shot one in a banyan tree on the bank of Jaoli
tank, 20 miles north of Baroda, on the 3rd of November last, and
Mr. Davidson writes to me that " this species breeds at Godhra
behind the Collector's bungalow." The little Indian kingfisher,
Mr. Barnes says, lays five or six eggs. Last year I three times found
seven eggs in a nest. On the 27th August 1884, in the middle of
the rains, I found a nest with five fresh eggs near my house : about
three months later than they are usually supposed to breed.
Mr. Barnes is partly mistaken in saying that the Pied Kingfisher
never resorts to wells or tanks. On the tanks hereabouts they reside
and breed commonly. And why does Mr. Barnes tell us nothing
about the wonderful breeding habits of the Hornbills ?

As regards the koel, every naturalist has a different tale to tell ;
but I have found koel's eggs in crow's nests in which there was
no crow's egg : it seems improbable that the koel would have
laid in an empty nest. Once I actually found near Baroda four
koel's eggs, ready to hatch, in a crow's nest in which there was no
crow's egg ! This looks as if the koel, sometimes at least, removed
the crow's eggs, unless, indeed, we suppose that the crow having no
family of her own had adopted the koel's ! Birds do such queer
things ! I once found a Pariah kite sitting close on a hare's skull !

On page 137, No. 235 is misprinted 205, and I remember noticing
an unnecessary d in the middle of Planforcl somewhere. No. 238,
Dieceum minimum, I have several times met with here, and I have
found one nest, which was, however, deserted afterwards, having
incautiously been touched. Mr. Barnes could have found sufficient
information about this species in Hume's " Nests and Eggs." Of the
beautiful nest and eggs of Piprisoma agile, the thick-billed flower-
pecker, Mr. Barnes gives no particulars. As it is not in Butler's
Guzerat list, I may state that I found three nests at Baroda in last
May and June.

The black-headed cuckoo shrike {V. syhesii) comes about June
1st, breeds about Baroda in the end of June and beginning of July,
and leaves about November. I found four nests last season. The
large grey cuckoo shrike ( Graucalus macei) is a permanent resident

NOTES ON " THE BIRDS OF BOMBAY."

here. 1 found six nests last August near Baroda, each with one
egg ; and my men found a nest building in the Police Lines at
Khaira on the 10th October; unfortunately it was destroyed by
monkeys.

Mr- Barnes gives no details of the nesting of these two species,
though Hume describes both, and Jerdon the latter. Can Mr.
Barnes give us any information about the nesting of the white-bellied
drongo, B. ccerulescens ? It occurs sparingly here between
November and April, but seems to go east to the hills to breed.

The Paradise fly-catcher (if. paradisi) is very common here during
the rains, when it breeds. In all instances except one out of nine
nests that I found with eggs last June and July, the birds were in
the chestnut plumage, and in that one case the male was white and
the female chestnut. The mynas destroyed three nests of one pair
of paradise fly-catchers that built in a mango tree near my house.
I saw the little fly-catcher defend her first nest for nearly twenty
minutes against a myna, that at last retired. Next day, however,
the nest was torn to bits, by the myna I suppose. It was twice
rebuilt on other branches of the same tree, with the same result,
1 don't know where she bred after leaving that tree in disgust.

Mr. Barnes has overlooked the description of the eggs of Cyornis
Tickelli in Nests and Eggs; and surely to say only of Dunxetia
(dbogidaris, the white-throated wren-babbler, that " it is probably a
permanent resident," is to leave out of sight much common informa-
tion. It is a permanent resident here, and last August I found
many nests, which, with the eggs, resembled those described in
A7ests and Eggs.

I may record that 452, Ixos luteolus, the white-browed bush
bulbul, is common in the ravines along the Mahi and not scarce
about Baroda. It seems to prefer the neighbourhood of water and
is a hard bird to see, though there is no mistaking its musical trill
from some deep thicket. It is not given in Butler's Guzerat list.
The Indian oriole, which, Mr. Barnes says, he has found chiefly
breeding on neem trees, here prefers mango or mhowra trees. I
can assure Mr. Barnes that he is quite mistaken in thinking that
the Magpie Robin, C. saularis, does not remain to breed in Guzerat.
It is a permanent resident hereabouts, and I found between May
30th and June 26th last eight nests within a mile of my house.
The number of eggs or young varied from two (young) to six
(hard set eggs). I have seen the Dayal (a name also given here

34 NATURAL HISTORY.

to the tailor-bird) in all months here, and have often noticed the
peculiar flurting of the tail over the head, mentioned by Layard (in
Jerdon, who says he has not observed it).

What is a "seasonal visitant," cold season or wet season or hot
season, — who can tell ? At any rate Phylloscopus tnstis is a
" seasonal visitant," while the other Phylloscopi are "cold weather
visitants." And why repeat Linnaeus's old misprint of Anthus
Spinoletta when naturalists like Prof. Newton give the true form
spipoletta (Yarrell, 4th ed.). And while Mr. Barnes was " at his
larks," he might have told us what was the character of the hind
claw of the genus Corydalla (p. 244). Mr. Barnes says the white-eyed
tit {Z. palpebrosa) is a common permanent resident in the Deccan,
but that " in other parts of the Presidency it only occurs, I believe,,
afc* a cold weather visitant." I can certify that it breeds here, and
is fairly common, and that I have seen it in nearly every month.
I can also assure Mr. Barnes that Dendrocitta rufa, the Indian Tree-
pie, breeds here, and is fairly common all the year round. He says
they become very scarce during the hot weather, and certainly I
have seen great numbers of them then in the hill jungles of Abu and
the Vindhyas, but they do not migrate from our Guzerat plains.
They are very shy and wary birds when breeding, and the nests in
the thick mango foliage are hard to find. As Captain Marshall says
" the eggs of the rose-coloured paster {P. ?~oseus) are not known,"
and as Mr. Barnes does not mention them, I may note that a full and
very interesting account of the breeding of these birds is given in the
last edition of Yarrell. I may also say that I kept 18 of them in a
large aviary last season till September, in the hope of their breed-
ing in captivity, but without success.

Estrelda formosa, the green wax-bill, is not very rare hereabouts,
occurring generally in flocks. The common pea-hen I have found
breeding here in the fork of a mango trunk, 10 feet from the ground,
but here, as elsewhere, the usual site is on the ground. Mr. Barnes
ought to have noted that the male of Tumix taigoor, the black-
breasted bustard quail, sits on the eggs and minds the babies, Avhile
the female goes round to fight the ladies of the neighbouring fami-
lies. This brings me up to the grallatores, and I will give only a few
more selections from very many marginalia on Mr. Barnes's Handbook.

The lesser florican visits Baroda in small numbers during the
rains, and breeds here ; but a few remain here all the year round
as I have shot them in the following months : February, April, May,

ON A HYBRID, OVIS H0DG30NI, CUM VIGNEI. 35

June, July, October. I have seeu, but not shot them in August and
September. They are not so much reduced by shooting (as Mr*
Barnes says) as by snaring. Many are brought in alive to the Camp
Bazaar, and sent to me and others as presents, their legs being
most cruelly tied with feathers plucked from their own wings. I
have released several that had been so tied, and have found that it
took several days for them to recover sufficiently for them to leave
my garden. The pelican ibis breeds here at Chittral and at Thasra
in October. The shell ibis breeds in large numbers, with the white
ibis and snake bird, near Khaira. Mr. Barnes says he cannot find
any record of the occurrence of the cotton-teal in Guzerat. It is
very common, especially in May and June, when there are hundreds
on Muwal tank, 20 miles north of Barocla. When the rains fall,
they disperse over the country and take up their quarters in some
small pond or pool, occasionally

Affording: scarce such breadth of brim,
As served the wild duck's brood to swim,

and they nest in the neighbourhood. I extracted a full-sized soft

egg from a bird shot near this last September. Mr. Barnes could

have found it recorded in Butler's Gazetteer list. But enough has

been said, I hope, to justify, even from my own very limited

experience, the opinion with which I set out, that Mr. Barnes

might have got much additional information if he had asked the

" Bombay Natural History Society" for it, and might thereby have

rendered his book still more deserving than it is at present of

being regarded as the standard authority on the birds of the Bombay

Presidency.

ON A HYBRID, OVIS HODGSOXI, CUM VIGNEI,

DISCOVERED AND SHOT by Mons. H.

DAUVERGNE,

By R. A. Sxerndale, f.z.s., &c.

Hybridization between the various known species of Caprce and

Oves has been abundantly proved by the instances that have occurred

in the London Zoological Gardens. In 1864 and 1865-67 and 1868,

a female Capra yEgagrus, the Persian Ibex, bore seven kids, the

father of which was a Markhor 0. Megaceros. In 1872 a hybrid

between a male Ovis Aries and a female Ovis Musimon ; in 1871

two hybrids between Ovis Musimo?i, the Corsican Moufflon, and

our Indian Ovis Cycloceros were born ; also in 1871 and 1882 two

between the former and Ovis Aries. There are two species of deer

36 NATURAL HISTORY.

from Philippine Islands, Cervus Nigricans and Cervus Alfredi which
have twice bred in the gardens, and so have the European and
Mesopotamian fallow deer. Sir Victor Brooke in one of his letters
to me says he has known the common red deer and the Japanese
deer to interbreed. So far the question of interbreeding is amply
proved, but the interesting feature of the case is how far is this
carried out in the wild state so as to create new species. I am of
opinion that, if the truth were fully known, we should have to
narrow down our list of goats and sheep. It is an undecided
question whether Ovis Polii and Ovis Karelini, the two great,
sheep of the Pamir steppes, are not one and the same, and I think
that Ovis Broohei is the hybrid which forms the subject of this
paper. Sir Victor Brooke in a letter to me says : " If we can
prove that the form is a hybrid between those two species {i.e.,
0. llodgsoni et Vignei ), it will be much more interesting than
if it should prove what is called a distinct species. I do not
think the presence of one or even several male 0. Hodgsoni
amongst herds of 0. Vignei would originate a breed of sheep
intermediate in size and character between the two species, the much
larger quantity of Ovis Vignei blood in the district would, in my
opinion, prevail over the infusion of 0. Hodgsoni blood introduced
in such small quantities, and the thus originated larger animals
would throw back to the parent stock. If it is a case of hybridi-
zation what we should find would be herds of 0. Vignei
with here and there large animals mixing and runnino-
with them of 0. Brookei forms." Now this is exactly what
Mons. Dauvergne found. In the mountain range south of

cd o

the Indus near Zanskar, the precise locality being for obvious
reasons withheld from publication, a herd of Ovis Vignei were
observed for some years to contain a large ram of Ovis llodgsoni,
which drove out the weaker Shapoo rams and appropriated the
ewes of the herd. He was ultimately one winterkilled and eaten
by Chankos (the Tibetan wolf), but during his stay he produced
a family of hybrids possessing greater size of horn and head with
characteristic colouring, combining traits of both animals. In
course of time these hybrids were crossed again with the Vignei
stock, and the third generation shows signs of degeneration from
the larger sheep and of reversion to the Vignei type.

The skull of the half-bred animals, which the Tartars called Nyan
Shapoo (the former being the name of the Hodgsoni or Amnion

R.A.Stebudale- Del.

I.Ovis Hodgsonl-2. Hybrid.- 3 Ov

JGMEI .

ON A HYBRID, OVIS HODGSONI, CUMVIGNEI.

37

and the latter of the Vignei), is nearer in size to Hodgsoni, which
is double that of the other. The horns of these are rounded in
front resembling what has been figured of BrooJcei, but hollowed out
behind like Vignei. The horns of the quarter-bred are square in front
and hollowed behind like the true Shapoo type, but are more massive
than the pure-bred Shapoo.*

Now as regards the colour of the skin. The Nyan or Hodgsoni has
no black beard or throat-stripe which Vignei has. The half-bred
shows no black, but the quarter-bred does in a modified but decided
degree. The half-bred turns also in summer to the colour of Hodgsoni,
having more of a blue grey or lavender tiut and less of the fawn colour
of Vignei with the white throat of Hodgsoni, it also gets the dark patch
at the side of the neck. The skin of a quarter-bred specimen before
me is of a bright fawn above ; sides and rump white, and a black
stripe down the middle of the throat.

The skull characteristics are as follows : —

Oirth of horn

Length of horns

Length of skull from between horns t

tip of premaxillfe

Breadth between orbits

Ditto between frontal sinuses

Length of teeth ...

Broadest par. of palate

Ovits

Half-

Quarte

Ovis

'lodgsorn

hybrid

hybrid.

Vignei.

Inches.

Inches.

Inc' es

Inches.

16*

13*

H{

13

36

32

90a

*" 4

30 i

13£

12

n

■n

6*

5*

n

3|

n.

21

2|

2

h

3*

3

2£

9 J.

01

9

if

-4

-4

80f

71f

55 £

59£
52 1

In this table there are two noticeable points. It is plain that there
is a gradual reversion to the size of Ovis Vignei, but although the
quarter-bred hybrid has a greater girth of horn than the Vignei, the
latter has greater length ; and this gives it an advantage in all round
measurement. Take off these extra 7| inches in length of horn, and the
Shapoo stands at 52| against the quarter-bred's 55i ; over 3 inches less.
Now comes the question of locality. The nearest Hodgsoni ground to
where the Shapoo were located was over sixty miles off, but this is not
a barrier to an animal like the Amnion who would cover such a
distance in a couple of days.

R. A. S.

* I have figured the half-bred horns with rounded fronts on account of their
resemblance to the type of Ovi# Brookd, but I have received another pair of hybrid
(half-bred) horns which are quite square in front and as massive as the rounded
i nee. — R.A.S.

38 NATURAL HISTORY.

BIRDS' NESTING IN RAJPOOTANA,
(By Lieut. H. Edwin Barnes, D. A. C)

These notes refer only to Neemuch, which, although id
Rajpootana, is under the Central Indian Administration,

I was stationed there from December 1883 to the com-
mencement of September 1885, and during the whole time
I collected vigorous^, but still there are many birds that do
undoubtedly breed there that I have overlooked; of these I
append a list.

The periods quoted, over which the different breeding
seasons extend, were ascertained from personal observation,,
and represent the time between the earlier and later nests,

2. — Otogyps calvus : Scop.

The King Vulture breeds from the middle of February to about the
middle of March; some few may breed earlier, but they are exceptions
to the general rule, and eggs taken later are generally much incubated.

I took eggs on the 13th and 27th February, and again on the
1st March.

The nests are solitary, and are huge structures, composed of stout
twigs, lined with smaller twigs and leaves, and are generally built in
forks of Peepul or other large trees. The egg, there is only one, is
oval in shape, measuring 3'52 inches in length by about 2*6 inches
in breadth ; the texture is fine, and the shell is very strong. The
egg lining is green, but the egg itself is glossless white.
5. — Pseudo-gyps lengalensis : Lath.

The Indian White-backed Vulture breeds much earlier than the
King Vulture. I found my first nests on the 9th November, but as
three eggs out of five taken on that date contained fully-formed
chicks, eggs must have been obtainable much earlier.

They build in colonies, sometimes as many as twenty nests being
found on the same tree, and these are at various heights, some being
not more than 10 feet from the ground, while others are placed at
almost the top of the tree.

Mr. Hume believed that January was the month in which most
eggs were laid, but in Neemuch all those I found in December
were much incubated, and many eggs had hatched out, so that
November in this part of the country would appear to be the best
month for nesting. I have never found more than a single egg in any

"BIRDS' NESTING IN RAJPOOTANA. 53

one nest, and this averages somewhat smaller than that of the King
Vulture, viz., 3'25 inches in length by about 2*4 in breadth. It is
rather coarser in texture. Some eggs are white, but many of them
are spotted and blotched with pale reddish brown. The egg lining is
36, deep green. They are generally much discolored by the droppings
of the sitting bird..

$. — Neophron ginginianus : Daud.

The White Scavenger Vulture breeds about the end of March or
commencement of April. The nests are solitary, and are placed in
very different situations, on cornices of buildings, edges of rocky
or clayey cliffs, and commonly on trees; when in the latter situation,
they are not usually built in forks, but are placed on large horizontal
branches, or at the junction of a limb with the trunk.

The nest is a large, loose, ragged affair, lined with old rags. The
eggs, two in number, are broadish, oval in shape, of a greyish white
colour, beautifully streaked, blotched, and clouded with reddish brown.
Some are so richly marked as to leave little of the ground colour
visible, while others are comparatively plain. They measure 2*62
inches in length by 1*96 in breadth.

11. — Falco jugger : I. E. Gr.
The Jtiggur Falcons breed from the latter end of January to the
end of February. They nest indifferently on trees, edges of cliffs,
and old buildings ; they often appropriate the old nest of a tawny or
other eagle. The nest is rath si* large, cup-shaped if built on a tree,
loose and straggling if on a cliff. The eggs, usually four in number,
occasionally five, sometimes only three, are nearly perfect ovals in
shape, chalky in texture, of a dingy yellowish brown colour, clouded,
mottled, and blotched with reddish brown. They measure 2 inches
in length by about 1'58 in breadth.

16. — Falco chiquera : Daud.

The Turumti or Red-headed Merlin breeds during March and the
early part of April. The nest is neat, compact, and cup-shaped, and
is composed of twigs lined with grass roots. All the nests I have
found have been in shady trees, such as Peepul or Banian, and have
been fairly Well concealed. The eggs, four in number, are exact
miniatures of those of the Juggur Falcon. They measure 1'66 inches
in length by about 1.26 in breadth.

23. — Astur hadius : Gm.

The Shikra breeds during April. It takes a very long time to
make its nest. I watched a pair for upwards of a month. To-dav

40 NATURAL HISTORT.

tbey would place a few sticks on the nest and to-morrow they would
remove them, arranging and re-arranging and taking an infinite
deal of trouble, and the result was a nest that would disgrace even a
crow. The nests are always built in forks of trees. The eggs, four in
number (sometimes only three), are oval in shape, and are of a pure
very pale, bluish white colour. They measure 1*54 inches in length by
about 1*23 in breadth.

29. — Aquiia vindhiana : Frank.

The Indian Tawnv Eagle commences to breed about the end of
November and nests may be found quite up to the commencement of
the hot season, but December and January are the months in which
most eggs are laid. The nest is a large structure, composed of stout
twigs, lined with green leaves, and it is invariably built upon a high
tree. The eggs, two in number, are broadish oval in shape, but are
subject to much variation. They are white in colour, more or less
spotted and blotched with brown, reddish-brown, and occasionally
purple ; they are generally discoloured. The egg lining is sea-green.
They measure 2'65 inches in length by about 2'11 in breadth.

38. — Arcaetus gallicus : Gm.

I have never succeeded in obtaining an egg of the short-toed eagle,
but earlv in March a native, who often accompanies me in my nesting
rambles, reported that he had found a nest on a high tree, with one
egg in it. As soon after as convenient, I accompanied him to the
spot. There was the nest sure enough, but the egg was gone; the parent
birds were hovering round the nest, but they never laid again. The
native described the egg as being quite white.

42. — Haliaetus leucoryphus : Tall.
The Ring-tailed Fishing Eagle is another bird whose eggs I failed
to procure at Neemuch. I found a nest just finished, at the Panghur
Lake, in December, and doubtless I should have obtained eggs had I
gone a fortnight later, but the distance was so far, and the road so
vile, that 1 did not think it worth while, as I had a series of eggs
which I procured in Sind.

48. — Bulastur teesa : Frankl.
The Teesa or White-eyed Buzzard breeds during April. The nest,
a rather loose, cup-shaped structure, composed of twigs, unlined, is
generally placed in a fork in a mango or other thick foliaged tree.
The eggs, three (occasionally four) in number, are broadish ovals in
shape, and are delicate pale bluish— or greyish- white in colour, quite

BIRDS' NESTING m RAJPOOTAXA. 41

devoid of markings. They measure 1*83 inches in length by about
1*54 in breadth*

56. — Milvits govinda « Sykes.
The Pariah Kite breeds from early in September quite up to the
end of March. I cannot understand how this fact has escaped record,
but even Mr. Hume seems to think that Christmas day was an early
date to obtain eggs. I have found nests at Abu, Deesa, Hyderabad,
Mhow, Poona, Neemuch, and even at Saugor, where I am now
stationed, in September. The nest is usually built in a fork, but is
sometimes placed on a flat bough. The eggs, two in number
(occasionally three), are oval in shape, greyish-white in colour, more or
less spotted, streaked, blotched, speckled or clouded with brown and
purplish or reddish-brown. Some of the eggs are bright and hand-
somely coloured, with the markings clearly defined, but others are
smudgy and dingily coloured. The nests are more abundant in
October and Januar}' than at other times, and from this I am led to
believe that they have two broods in a year. The egg lining varies
from light to deep green, and the eggs average 2'2 inches in length by
about 1*78 in breadth.

69. — Bubo bemjalensis : Frankl.
The Rock horned Owl breeds during March and April. It makes
no nest, the eggs being placed on ledges and in recesses of cliffs,
overlooking water. The eggs, three or four in number, are broad
oval in shape, and white in colour, with just a perceptible creamy
tinge. They average 21 inches in length by about 1*73 in breadth.

70. — Bubo coromandus : Lath.

The Dusky horned Owl breeds during December and January.
The}' build a large stick nest on trees, which they use for succes-
sive seasons, but occasionally they make use of an old Vulture
or Eagle's nest. It is usually lined with green leaves. The eggs,
usually two in number, vary much both in shape and size, but
they are generally broadish oval in shape, and average 2*33 inches
in length by about 1*9 in breadth. They are creamy white in colour,
and somewhat glossy but coarse in texture.

76. — Carine brama : Tem.

The Spotted Owlet breeds from the middle of February to the
commencement of April. It nests in holes, and it appears to be
a matter of indifference to it whether it be a hole in a tree,
a building, a well, an old hay-stack, or even in a rocky cliff. A
few leaves and feathers suffice for a nest. The eggs, usuallv four

42 NATURAL HISTORY.

in number, are oval in shape, and when fresh and unblown are
of a delicate pink tinge, but are glossless white when much incu-
bated. They measure 1*25 inches in length by about 1 in breadth.
I have often found two pairs of birds using the same hole, and fresh
and incubated eggs are often found together.

84. — Hirundo filifera : Steph.
The Wire-tailed Swallow, t > my thinking the handsomest of the
Hirundines, breeds from the latter part of February to April, and
again in August and September. The nest, composed of pellets
of mud, is lined just with a few grass roots, and then with a
plentiful supply of soft feathers. The nest is deep saucer-shaped,
and is placed under the cornice of a bridge, in a niche in a well,
under a culvert, or even under a projecting cliff, always near water.
The eggs, three in number, are longish ovals pointed at one
-end, of a glossy white colour, richly speckled with different shades
of reddish brown. They average 0*72 inches in length by about
0*53 in breadth. If the eggs are taken when fresh, the birds will
lay a second, and if these are taken, a third batch in the same nest.

85. — Hirundo erythropygia : Sykes.
The Red-rumped Swallow breeds during the months of June and
July. The nest, composed of pellets of mud, lined with feathers, is
retort-shaped, and is usually built under bridges or culverts, but I
found one nest under a stone slab, projecting over a well. The
eggs, three in number, are pure white oval*, measuring 0-79 inches
in length by about 0"56 in breadth.

89 — Colyle sinemis : I. E. Gr.

The Indian Sand Martin breeds during February and March
in holes in banks. These holej, from two to three feet deep accord-
ing to the nature of the soil, are excavated by the birds them-
selves. The nest, composed of grass, is well lined with soft
ftathers, and contains generally three pure white oval eggs, measur-
ing 068 inches in length by 0-48 in breadth.

90. — Piyonoprogne concolor : Sykes.

The Dusky Crag Martin breeds during March and April, and
ao-ain in July and August. The nest, composed of pellets of mud,
well lined with feathers, is deep saucer-shaped, and is generally
affixed to the side of a house, under shelter of the eaves. The eggs,
three in number, are white, spotted and blotched with red and
yellowish brown. They measure 0*72 inches in length by about 0'52
in breadth.

birds' NESTIN'G in rajpootana, 43

100,— Oypsellus affinis : I. E. Gfi.

The Common Indian Swift breeds, I believe, all tbe year round.
The nests are placed under the roofs of verandahs, stables, and
such like places, and are composed principally of feathers aggluti-
nated together with saliva. The shape depends altogether on the
place in which it is : if in a hole, the nest fits all round it, and
necessarily takes its shape ; sometimes it is placed betweeu two
rafters, and when these are close together, the nest is long and
narrow. Sometimes the nests are isolated, but generally they are
built in clusters or congeries. Thev almost always breed in com-
pany. The eggs, three in number, vary much in shape, but are
normally very long narrow ovals. They are dead white without any
spots. They average 0*87 inch' s in length by about 056 in breadth.

The roof of the verandah of the house in which I lived at Nee-
much was literally covered with their nests, so that I had ample
opportunities for observing them ; and I believe that there were eggs
and nestlings in some or other of them the whole year through.

114. — Caprimulgus monlicolus : Frankl.
I found two eggs of Franklin's Night Jar on the 15th June.
They were deposited on the bare ground under the scant shelter
afforded by a small tuft of grass. They are longish oval in shape
and are of a pinkish cream colour, spotted and bl >tched with pale
brown and faint purple. They measure 1*21 inches in length by
0-84 in breadth.

117. — Merops viridis : Lin.

The Common Indian Bee-eater breeds during April. They
excavate holes in the banks of nullahs, from two to four feet in extent,
according to the nature of the soil. The eggs, four in number, are
deposited in the bare soil ; they are nearly spherical in shape and
are glossy milk-white in colour. They measure 0'78 inches in length
by 0-69 in breadth.

I have often found eggs in the same hole in different stages of
incubation.

123. — Coracias indica : Lin.
The Indian Roller or Blue Jay breeds during April and May in
holes in trees, old walls, or under the eaves of houses. A little grass
and a few feathers suffice for a nest. The eggs, four in Dumber
are nearly spherical in shape, and measure 1*3 inches in length by
about 1*1 in breadth. They are china-white in colour, and are highly
glossy,

44 natural HibTORY.

129. — Halcyon smyrnensis : Lin.

The White-breasted Kingfisher breeds from early in March to
the end of May, or even later. It excavates a hole in a river
bank, or even in the side of a well. There is no nest. The eggs, five
in number (occasionally six), are placed on the bare soil. They
are almost spherical in shape, averaging 1*12 inches in length by
about 1 in breadth. They are glossy china-white when first laid,
but as incubation proceeds, this fades and they become glossless white,
and are often discolored.

134. — Akedo benyaJensis : Gm.

I found but one nesting hole of the little Indian Kingfisher ;
this was in March, and it contained five unfledged young ones and
an addled egg. The egg was nearly spherical in shape, and when fresh
must have been of a glossy china-white. It measured 079 inches in
length by 0*68 in breadth.

136. — Ceryle rudis : Lin.

The Pied Kingfishers breed from February to April, unlike the
White-breasted Kingfisher. The}' never make their holes in the sides
of wells, but always in river baiks over running water. These
holes are of great extent, one that I examined extending to quite five
feet. The eggs, from four to six in number, are broad ovals,
occasionally almost spherical. They are pure china-white when
blown, and are highly glossy. They measure 1*2 inches in length
by about 0-9i in breadth.

148.— Palceom is torquatus : Bodd.

The Rose-ringed Paroquet breeds from ths end of Februarv to
early in April. It nests in holes, generally in trees, but occasionally in
buildings and old walls. The eggs, usually four in number, are broadish
ovals in shape, pointed at one end, and are of a pure glossless white.
They measure 122 inches in length by about 0-95 in breadth.
197, — Xanthohzma Jmmacephala : P. L. S. Mull.

The Coppersmith begins to breed iu February, and eggs may
be found quite up to the middle of April, but most of them are laid
in the commencement of March. They select a branch decayed
internally, and into this they cut a small circular hole ; there is no
nest. The eggs, three or four in number, are long, narrow, pure white
ovals, measuring 1 inch in length by about 0'7 in breadth.

212. — Coccystes jacobinus : Bodd,

I never obtained an egg of the Pied-crested Cuckoo at Neemuch
that I could be quite sure of, but then the bird is comparatively

birds' nesting in rajpootana. 45

rare, but at Mhow, where the bird literally swarms during the
monsoon, I obtained an egg extracted from the oviduct of a female.

214. — Eudynamis honor ata : Lin,

The Koel lays her eggs in nests of the Common Crow, usually
one egg in a nest, occasionally two, but I once found three, but as
these eggs differed from each other, I am inclined to think they
must have been the produce of different birds. I have never found
the Crow eggs broken. The eggs vary much both in colour and size,
pale sea-green, oily-green, dull olive-green and dingy stone-coloured
varieties all occur, and the markings are olive or reddish brown and
dull purple. They average 1/2 inches in length by 0'92 in breadth.

217. — Cenlrococcyx rufipennis : III.
The Crow Pheasant or Coucal breeds from May to July, or even
later. It builds a large, irregular, domed, globe-shaped nest, com-
posed of twigs and coarse grass, lined with leaves. The nest is placed
in the centre of a thorny thicket or tree. The eggs (I have never
found more than three) are broad, white, chalky ovals, measuring 1*43
inches in length by about rather less than 1*17 in breadth.

234, — Cinnyris asiatica : Lath.

The Common Purple Honeysucker commences to breed in March,
and nests may be found quite up to the beginning of the rains. The
nest is pendant-shaped, something like a Florence flask, or oval with a
tapering neck. This is suspended from the end of a slender branch or
twig. All sorts of material are made use of in constructing the nest :
fibres, cobwebs, hair, fine grass, bits of straw, lichens, dead leaves,
flower petals, pieces of rag, &c, are all pressed into service and are
neatly and compactly woven together. It is well lined with soft
vegetable down. The nest at a short distance resembles one of the
bunches of cobwebs, so commonly met with on trees and bushes.
The entrance, which is on one side, about half way up, is shaded by a
canopy, beautifully adapted to keep out the rains. The eggs, two or
three in number, are dingy little ovals. The ground colour is greenish
or greyish-white, usually almost obscured by greyish-brown or
purplish-grey ill-defined markings. They average 0'64 inch in length
by about 0*46 in breadth.

256. — Lanius lahtora: Sykes.

The Indian Grey Shrike breeds from March to early in July, but
the favorite month seems to be April, as I have found many more
nests in that month than in any other. The nest is generally placed

46 NATURAL HISTORY.

in the centre oi' a thorny bush or small tree, and is composed of
various materials, such as thorny twigs, coarse grass, pieces of rag,
&c, which form the body of the nest, while the interior is lined with
fine grass, hair, and the like. The eggs, usually four in number, are
broad oval in shape, pointed at one end, and are greenish-white
in colour, with brown and purple markings ; sometimes these are ill
defined, but occasionally they stand out clear and distinct, and not
seldom form an irregular zone at the larger end. They measure
1'05 inches in length by about 0"8 in breadth.

257. — Lanius erythronoius : Vig,

The Rufous-backed Shrike breeds from June to August. The nest
is similar to that of L. Lahtora, but is perhaps, as a rule, more com-
pactly built. The eggs, too, are similar in all respects except size,
measuring 0*92 inch in length by rather more than 0*7 in breadth.

2G0. — Lanius vittatus: Valenc.

The Bay-backed Shrike breeds from March to July. The nest,
placed in a fork of a small babool tree, is deep cup-shaped, neatly
and compactly built, and is composed of fine twigs, grass roots, &c,
lined with feathers and fine grass. The eggs, four in number, are
broad ovals in shape, and are of a pale greyish or greenish-white
colour, with an ill-defined zone of brownish and purplish spots at the
larger end with a few spots of the same colour scattered over the
remaining surface. They measure 0*83 inch in length by about
U'G5 in breadth.

276. — Pericrocotus peregrinus: Lin.

The Small Minivet breeds during July and August. The nest
is small, neatly and compactly built, of a deepish cup-shape, and
is generally located in a fork of a branch of a tree at some height
from the ground. It is composed of fine twigs bound together with
cobwebs, and so closely resembles the bark of the tree, that it looks
like a mere knot or excrescence ; there is very little lining. The
eggs, three in number, are rather broadish ovals, of a pale greenish-
white colour, speckled, spotted and blotched with bright brownish-red.
They measure 0"6G inch in length by about 053 in breadth.

278. — Buchanga atra: Herm.

The King Crow breeds during May and June. A few nests may

be found in July, but by far the greater number are to be found

during the latter part of May and the commencement of June. The

nests are built in forks at the extremities of branches, generally at

birds' nesting in rajpootana. $?

some considerable height from the ground. They are strongly but
slightly made, so much so, that the contents of the nest can be seen
from below; they are composed of grass stems and roots neatly
interlaced. The eg^s, four in number, are ^lossless white with
numerous spots and specks of rusty red and reddish-brown; occasionally
the eggs are of a deepish salmon tint, the spots and specks being
brownish-red. I have never found a pure white egg. They measure
one inch in length by about three quarters of an inch in breadth.

288, — Muscipeia paradisi : Lin.

The only nest of the Paradise Flycatcher that I found was in
June, and it was not quite finished. I sent a shikaree a week later
to examine it, when it contained a single egg which he brought in;
it measures 0*8 inch in length by 0"(5 in breadth, and is an exact
miniature of a richly coloured King Crow's egg.

292. — Leucocerca aureola: Vieili,

The White-browed Fantail breeds from the latter part of February
to the commencement of August, but most nests arc found in March
and July, and from this I infer that they have two broods in the
year. The nest is usually placed on the upper surface of a horizontal
branch ; it is round and cup-shaped, rather deep, and is composed
of fine grass roots, tightly bound with cobwebs, and is a very
beautiful nest, not much bigger than the top of a wine-glass.
The eggs, three in number, are little bufty ovals, with a nimbus or
belt of spots round the middle. They measure 0*66 inch in length
\>y about 0'5 in breadth.

385. — Pi/ctoris sinensis : Gm.

The Yellow-eyed Babbler breeds from July to September. The
raests are placed either in small forks in trees, or between the stalks
of growing corn or sedges. When in the former situation, the nest is
deep cup-shaped, but in the latter it is more cone-like, the bottom of
the nest being frequently prolonged to a point. The nest is very
handsome, and is composed of broad-leaved grasses, strips of bark,
vegetable fibres and cobwebs. The eggs, four in number, vary much
in colour, some being white with bold hieroglyphic blotches of rusty
red and reddish-brown ; others are pinkish-white, but so closely
stippled and streaked with bright brick-dust red as to leave little of
the ground colour visible. Every possible combination of these two
types is to be met with, but all the eggs in a nest are of the one kind-
In shape they are broadish ovals, but here again considerable

48 NATURAL HISTORY.

variations occur. They measure 0'73 inch in length by about 0*6
in breadth.

432. — Malacocercm terricolor : Hodgs.
I only came across one undoubted nest of the Bengal Babbler. This
■was in April, and it contained four eggs. Both nest and eggs are
absolutely indistinguishable from those of a Malcolmi.

436. — Argya malcolmi : Sykes.
The Large Grey Babbler is very common, and I have found nests in
each month from January to December. They have, I believe, several
broods in the year, and even when nesting associate in small parties
of seven or eight. The nests, composed of grass roots, are loosely
but neatly woven together, and are placed amongst the smaller
branches of babool trees, at no great height from the ground. The
eggs, four in number, are rather broadish ovals, of a very glossy
greenish-blue colour. They measure 1 inch in length by about 0*78
in breadth.

438. — Chatarrlma caudata : Dum.
The Striated Bush Babbler breeds from March to July. The nest
is usually placed in a low thorny bush, and is composed of grass
roots and stems ; it is deep cup-shaped, neatly and compactly built.
The eggs, three or four in number, are longish ovals, slightly com-
pressed at one end, and are of a pure, pale, spotless, blue colour.
They measure 0-85 inch in length by about 0*64 in breadth.

462. — Molpastes Immorrhous : Gm.
The Common Madras Bulbul breeds from April to September. Nests
arc occasionally found even earlier than this, but they are exceptions
to the general rule. The nest is usually placed in a fork in a bush
or small tree, and is of a neat cup-shape, composed of grass, roots,
&c, lined with hair, fine grass and fibres. The eggs, three or four in
number, are normally longish ovals, slightly pointed at one end, and
vary very much in colour. One type is pinkish white, thickly speckled
and stippled more or less over the whole surface with blood red ; in
another type, the ground colour is pink with large blotches of deep
red and smaller ones of inky-purple. Between these two types
almost every combination occurs. They measure 0# 9 inch in length
by about 0*65 in breadth.

468. — lor a tiplda : Lin.
The White-winged Green Bulbul or Iora breeds at Neemuch in
April and August. I only found two nests: one in April contained
three unfledged nestlings, and the other in August contained three

birds' NESTING in rajpootana, 49

fresh eggs. In both instancss the nests were placed in forks of guava
trees, and were neatly and strongly yet slightly built, composed of
grass roots and fibres bound together with cobwebs. The eggs are
broadish ovals in shape, and are creamy white in colour, with long
streaks of purplish and yellowish-brown. They measure 069 inch
in length by 0*55 in breadth.

470. — Oriolus Tcundoo : Stkes.

The Indian Oriole breeds during July and August. The nest,
pocket-shaped, is suspended between a fork at the extremity of a
branch of a large tree. It is composed of grass and roots, bound
round the twigs forming the fork with strips of bark ; it is lined with
fine grass. The eggs, three in number, are longish orals, pointed at
one end, and are of a beautiful glossy china white colour, with clearly
defined, deep, blackish-brown spots. They measure 1*1 in inches
length by about 0*8 in breadth.

475. — Copsychus saularis : Lin.

The Magpie Eobin breeds during April and May. The nests are
placed in holes in trees or old stone walls, and are often mere pads,
with a depression in the centre for the reception of the eggs, and are
composed of roots, grass, hair, &c. The eggs, four in number, are
moderately broad ovals, pointed at one end, and are bluish or greenish-
white in colour, speckled and spotted with different shades of reddish-
brown. They measure 0*81 inch in length by about 0*67 in breadth.

480. — ThamnoMa cambaiensis : Lath.

The Northern Indian Robin breeds from March to the middle of
July. The nest is placed in a hole in a tree or stone wall, under a
bank or the eaves of houses, and such like places, and is generally a
mere pad, composed of roots, grass, hair, leaves, feathers, &c. The
eggs, four in number, are oval in shape, pointed at one end, and are
pale greenish-white in colour, speckled and spotted with different
shades of reddish-brown.

494. — Cereomela fusca : Bltth.

The Brown Rock Chat breeds from March to the end of July,
rearing, I believe, two or three broods in the season. The nests, which
are mere pads of grass roots and hair, are placed in holes in stone
walls, in clefts in rocks, and under banks. The eggs, three or four
in number, are broadish ovals pointed at one end, and are of a pure,
pale, blue colour, with spots and specks of red and reddish-brown,
chiefly confined to the larger end, where they often form a belt.
They measure 0'82 inch in length by about 0'62 in breadth.

50 NATURAL HISTORY.

530. — Orthotonus sulorius : Forst.
The Indian Tailor Bird breeds from July to the end of September.
The bird selects a largish leaf and manages to fasten the edges to-
gether by a few shreds of cotton, and in the cavity thus formed it
constructs a nest, composed almost exclusively of cotton, with only
just sufficient hairs in it to give it elasticity and to keep it in shape.
This is the most common type of nest, but often they sew two or more
leaves together. The eggs, three in number, are longish ovals,
generally whitish with a few blotches of bright rusty red. Occasionally
the eggs are pale greenish-white with the rusty red markings Less
bright. They measure 0'64 inch in length by about 0"45 in breadth,

534. — Prinia socialis : Sykes.
The Ashy Wren Warbler breeds about the same time and in a
somewhat similar manner to the Tailor Bird, but the nest is not so
neatly made, and grass and fibres are oftener used in its construction.
The eggs, four in number, are broadish ovals of a glossy brick red or
mahogany colour. They measure 0 64 inch in length by about
0-47 in breadth.

535. — Prinia stewarti : Blyth.
Stewart's Wren Warbler breeds in a precisely similar manner to
the Ashy Wren Warbler, and I could discover no constant difference
either in the shape, size, or colour of the eggs.

543. — Drynmca inornata : Sykes.
The Earth-brown Wren Warbler breeds during the monsoon, that
is, from July to the end of September. A favourite site for a nest is
under the broad leaf of a shrub that grows very commonly in the
district. It constructs a purse-shaped nest, with fine shreds or strips
of grass. The leaf which forms a roof to the nest is pierced through
and through with these shreds, and here and there a strip of grass is
fastened to an adjoining leaf or stalk. Another common type of nest
is formed by attaching strips of grass to thorny twigs, so as to form
a sort of framework, and then carefully weaving other strips between
them, the nest necessarily taking the shape of the framework.
Another kind of nest is simply a rather less neatly woven purse,
attached to the stems of growing corn or sedges. The nest is never
lined. The eggs, four, sometimes five, in number, are oval in shape,
and glossy pale greenish-blue in colour, with blotches and spots of deep
chocolate and reddish-brown, and an intricate tracery of closely inter-
laced delicate lines round the large end ; occasionally these lines are
absent. They measure 0"6 inch in length by about 0*45 in breadth.

BIRDS' NESTING IN RAJPOOT ANA. 51

545. — Drymceca sylvatica : Jerd.

The Jungle Wren Warbler breeds during the monsoon, making
a globular nest of grass and fibres. The eggs, four or five in number,
are of two distinct types, pale greenish-white with very close but
minute specks of rusty red, and white with similar markings.
Th^y measure 0*69 inch in length by about 0"5 in breadth.
551. — Franklinia buchanani : Blyth.

The Rufous-fronted Wren Warbler breeds during July, August,
and the early part of September. The nest, composed of grass, is
loosely constructed, and is placed in low bushes or scrub. The
eggs, five in number, are broadish oval in shape, white in colour
(tinged bluish), thickly and finely speckled with dingy red. They
measure 0*61 inch in length by about 0*48 in breadth.
589. — Motacilla maderaspatenis : Gm.

The Pied Wagtail breeds during March, April and May. The
nest is a mere pad of grass, roots, hair, &c, placed in a hole in a
wall or well, on a rocky or earthy ledge, or anything solid, but always
in the vicinity of water. The eggs, three or four in number,
are broadish oval in shape, pointed at one end, and are greenish or
earthy-white in colour, with dingy brown markings. They measure
0*9 inches in length by about 0"65 in breadth.

660. — Corvas rnucrorhynchus : Wagl.

The Bow-billed Corby breeds from the latter end of February
to about the middle of April, making the usual corvine stick nest.
The eggs, four in number, are moderately broad ovals in shape,
and are greenish-blue in colour with spots, streaks, and dashes of
sepia, blackish and olive-brown. They measure 1*73 inches in
length by about 1'19 in breadth.

663. — Corvus splendens : Vieili.

The Ashy-necked or Common Indian Crow breeds during May
and June. The eggs are of the usual corvine type, but are much
smaller than those of the Corby, measuring 1*4 inches in length
by about 0*98 in breadth.

684. — Acridotheres trislis : Lin.

The Common Myna breeds during June and July. A favourite spot
for a nest is on the top of a pillar, in a verandah, just under the
roof, but holes in trees and walls are not neglected. The nest is a
mere collection of fine twigs, roots and grasses. The eggs, four or
five in number (quite as often one as the other), are longish ovals
in shape, and unspotted greenish-blue in colour. They measure 1*2
inches in length by about 0'86 in breadth.

52 NATURAL HISTORY.

685. — Acridotheres ginginianus : Lath.

The Bank Myna breeds in holes, made by themselves, in river
banks, about May. The eggs, four in number, are counterparts
of those of the Common Myna, but are smaller. They measure
1*05 inches in length by about 0'87 in breadth.

687. — Sturnia pagodarum : Gm.

The only nest of the Brahminy Myna that I found was in June ;
it was in a hole in a tree, and contained three fresh eggs. They aro
longish ovals in shape, and are of a pale greenish-blue colour, and
measure 0'97 inches in length by about 0*73 in breadth.

694. — Ploceus philippinus : Lin.

The Baya or Weaver Bird commences to breed about the latter
end of July, that is, when the rains have set in ; it is a gregarious
builder, as many as forty nests being frequently counted upon
one tree, which is usually a thorny babool, growing over water,
river, tank or well, it does not matter which, thus obtaining greater
protection. The nests are retort-shaped, and are composed of
strips of grass, ingeniously interwoven ; the grass is always used
green. They commence operations at the extreme end of a slender
twig, and for the first few inches the nest is solid, gradually increas-
ing in size. After about a foot of the nest is made, they commence to
form a receptacle for the eggs on one side and a tubular entrance
opposite, a strong loop being made across the nest to form the
division. The egg compartment is about seven inches in length by
six in breadth and four and-a-half in width, but they vary much.
The above dimensions are of a very fine nest. The tubular
entrance is generally five or six inches in length, but as the male
bird goes on increasing the length during the time the female
is sitting, it often reaches an almost incredible length. I have
seen one measuring sixteen inches. I am puzzled as to what the
ordinary number of eggs is. I have often found two eggs, much
incubated ; many times I have met with four, and on one occasion
I took seven from the same nest. The eggs are moderately long
ovals, pointed at one end, and are dull white in colour. They measure
0*82 inches in length by about 059 in breadth.

695. — Ploceus mangar : Hors.

The Striated Weaver Bird breeds about the same time as its
relative P. Philippimis. The nest is very similar, but instead of
being affixed to the end of a bough, it is fastened to the top of a

birds' nesting in rajpootana. 53

bunch of reeds growing in water. The eggs are much like those of
P. Philippinus, but are rather smaller.

703. — Amadina malabarka : Lin.

I have found nests of the Pintail Munia throughout the year.
They are usually placed iu low thorny bushes, but they are very
variable in the site they select. I once found a nest under the eaves
of an out-house, and not unfrequently they make their nests in the
sticks forming the foundation of a Kite's nest. The eggs, pure white
in colour, vary from 5 to 9 in number, but I am inclined to think
that occasionally more birds than one lay in the same nest. They
measure 0*6 in length by about 0*4.7 in breadth.

704. — Estrelda amandava : Lin.

I found but a single nest of the Red-waxbill, and it contained four
half-fledged nestlings. This was in October.

706. — Passer domesticus : Lin.

The House Sparrows breed from February to August, and are
quite a nuisance the while ; no amount of persecution seems to
deter them from building in a place when once they have made up
their minds to it.

711. — Gymnoris ftavicollis : Frankl.

The Yellow-throated Sparrow breeds during April and May in
holes in trees. The eggs, four in number, are much smaller and
darker than those of Passer domesticus. They measure 0*74 in
length by 0*54 in breadth.

756. — Mirafra erythropygia : Jerd.

The Red-winged Bush Lark breeds from March to September. I
am inclined to think that it has two broods in the year, as nests
are much more commonly found in March and April, and again in
August and September. The nest is built upon the ground, under
the shelter of a tussock of grass, and is composed of grass stems and
roots. The eggs, four in number, are oval in shape, and are of a
greenish-white colour, speckled and spotted with various shades of
reddish and yellowish-brown, They measure 0'78 inches in length
by about 0"6 in breadth.

757. — Mirafra cantillans :. Jerd.

The Singing Bush Lark is decidedly rare at Neemuch, and I only
succeeded in finding one nest, which was in September. This was
similar to that of the Red-winged Bush Lark as regards locality and

54 NATURAL HISTORY.

material, but was more perfectly domed over. The eggs, four in
number, were much incubated. They measured 078 inches in length
by about 0*6 in breadth.

758.— Ammomanes pTmnkura : Frankl.

The Rufous-tailed Finch Lark breeds during March and April ;
the nest is a mere circular pad, placed in a cavity under a clod of
earth, and is composed of grass roots, scantily lined with a few
hairs ; the eggs, usually three in number (I once found four), are
very variable in size, shape and color, but are usually longish ovals,
measuring 085 inches in length by about OG2 in breadth, and are
usually yellowish-white in color, with specks and spots of reddish
or yellowish-brown.

760. — Pgrrhulauda grisea : SCop.

I found nests and eggs of the Black-bellied Finch Lark in each*
month throughout the year, with the exception of July and August.
The nest, which is a soft pad, with a depression for the eggs, is placed
in a footprint or slight hollow in the ground, under the shelter of a
clod of earth or tussock of grass. The eggs, two in number, occa-
sionally ihree, are moderately long ovals, of a dingy or greyish-white
color, thickly speckled, sprinkled and spotted with yellowish-brown.
They measure O7o inches in leDgth by about 0*55 in breadth.

705. — Spizalaiida (leva : Sykes.

The Southern Crown-crest Lark breeds during July, August and
September ; the nest is placed on the ground in the centre of, or under
the shelter of, a tussock of grass, and is composed of grass roots and
fibres ; it is of a shallow cup-shape. The eggs, two or three in num-
ber, quite as often one as the other, are oval in shape, pointed at one
end, and are of a dingy white colour, profusely spotted and speckled
with yellowish and earthy brown. They measure O'oG inches in
length by about 0*63 in breadth.

767. — Alauda gulgula : Frankl.
The Indian Sky-lark breeds during the month of July, possibly
both earlier and later, but July is the only month in which I have
obtained eggs. The nest, composed of fine grass, is placed in a de-
pression in the ground, and the eggs, three or four in number, are
moderately broad ovals, of a dingy or greyish- white colour, spotted
and speckled with yellowish-brown and purplish-grey. They measure
08 inches in length by about OG in breadth.

BIRDS* NESTING IN RAJTOOTANA. 55

773. — Crocopus chlorigasier : Bly.
I found the Southern Green Pigeon breeding in March. The nest,
which was of the usual stick type, contained two pure white eggs.
They were much incubated, but were still highly glossy. They measured
1*2 inches in length by 0'9 in breadth.

788. — Columba intermedia, Brickl.

By far the favourite site for the nest of the Indian Blue Rock
Pigeon is in holes in masonry wells.

794. — Turtur senegalensis : Smil.

The Little Brown Dove breeds throughout the year ; it shows a
decided preference for prickly-pear bushes, as I found twenty nests
in them to one elsewhere. The eggs average an inch in length to
about 0*84 in breadth.

795. — Turtur suratensis : Gm.

The Spotted Dove has not such an extensive breeding season as the
Little Brown Dove ; indeed, I have only found nests in September.
The eggs measure l'l inch in length by about 0*85 in breadth.

796. — Turtur risorius : Lin.

The Common Ring Dove breeds from October to July ; at least
I have taken eggs in each of these months, but I believe that had
I searched, I should have found them during the remaining months.
The eggs measure 1*15 inches in length by about 092 in breadth.
797. — Turtur tranquebaricus : Herm.

I only found nests of the Ruddy Ring Dove in November, so that
its bi'eeding season seems much more restricted than is generally the
case with doves. The bird is not common, and is very locally
distributed. The eggs measure 1*01 inches in length by about 08
in breadth.

800. — Pterocles fasciatus : Scop.

I was very unfortunate in not obtaining eggs of the Painted
Grouse. The birds are by no means uncommon, and I have frequently
obtained young ones.

802. — Pterocles exustus : Tem.

The Common Sand Grouse has a very extended breeding season,
as I have found eggs from January to June. They are three in
number, and are placed in a depression in the soil, and are of a long
cylindrical shape, equally rounded at r>oth ends. They are of a

56 NATURAL HISTORY.

greenish-stone colour, spotted, streaked, clouded and blotched, olive-
brown and pale inky purple. They measure 1*45 inches in length
by about an inch in breadth.

803. — Pavo cristatus : Liw.

The Pea-fowl breeds during August and September, when the
rains are at their height. The eggs, six or seven in number, are
laid in a depression in the soil (scratched by the hen), scantily lined
with a few grass stems or leaves. They are broadish ovals, slightly
pointed at one end, and are creamy-white or pale cafe-au-lait in
colour, pitted all over like a Guinea-fowl's egg. They measure 2*75
inches in length by about 2 in breadth.

8-14. — Galloperdix sjutdieetis : Val.

The Bed Spur Fowl breeds during June and July, and probably
earlier, as I saw a brood of chicks early in July that must
have been hatched in the beginning of June. The nest is very
slight, placed in a depression in the ground, scratched by the hen
herself. The eggs, from four to six in number, are miniatures of those
of the domestic fowl. They measure 1*6 inches in length by about 1*2
in breadth.

819. — Francolinus pictus : Jar. & Sel.

The Painted Partridge lays after the rains have well set in, viz.,
about August and September. The nest is a very loosely made pad,
placed in a depression in the ground. The eggs, six or seven in
number, are peg-top shaped, and are of a smoky white colour. They
measure 1*4 inches in length and about 1*15 in breadth.

822. — Ortygornis pondiceriana : Gm.

The Grey Partridge breeds from the end of March to quite the
middle of June. The eggs are occasionally found on the bare ground,
but there is generally a more or less compact pad, placed in a
depression in the ground under cover of a tuft of grass. The eggs,
six to nine in number, are slightly elongated ovals, pinched in more
or less at one end, and are of a slightly soiled white colour, and
measure 1*3 inches in length by about 1 inch in breadth.

826. — Perdkula asiaiica ■. Lath.

The Jungle Bush Quail lays towards the end of the rains. I have
never succeeded in obtaining eggs} but have many times flushed
broods of chicks.

birds' nesting in RAJPOOTANA. 57

827. — Perdicula argoondah : Sykes.

The Rock Bush Quail breeds from August to December. They may
commence earlier, but I have only found eggs in the months men-
tioned. The nest is placed in the ground generally under a clump of
grass or shrub, and is composed of a few blades of grass. The eggs,
six or seven in number, are much like those of the Grey Partridge,
but are much smaller. They measure 1 inch in length by about 0*82
in breadth.

836. — Eupodotis edwardsi : Gray.

The Indian Bustard is fairly common at Neemuch. I have an egg
that was found on the bare ground under a tuft of Sarpat grass in
July. This egg is of a dark olive brown colour, with a few streaks and
smudges of a darker shade. It measures 3'1 inches in length by
2*25 in breadth.

839. — Sypheotides aurita : Lath.

The Likh or Lesser Florican does not breed until the rains have
well set in, that is, not until September and October. There is no
nest ; the eggs, three or four in number, being deposited on the bare
ground, under cover of a stunted bush or tussock of grass. They are
broad oval in shape, and are of an olive green colour with reddish
brown streaks and smudges. They measure 1*9 inches in length by
1*6 in breadth.

840. — Cursorins coromandelicus : Gm,
The Indian Courser or Courier Plover breeds during March and
April. There is no nest. The eggs, two or three in number, are
deposited on the bare ground, under shelter afforded by a clod of
earth or tussock of grass. Owing to their colour assimilating so closely
to the ground on which they are placed, they are very difficult to
find. The eggs are nearly spherical in shape, and are of a yellowish
stone colour, closely spotted, speckled and lined with blackish brown?
and having a few underlying clouds or smudges of pale inky grey.
They measure 1*2 inches in length by 0'98 in breadth.

850. — JEijialitis minutus : Pall.
The Lesser Ringed Plover breeds abundantly during March and
April. There is no nest. The eggs, three in number, are placed on
the sand, in the bed of a river ; they are broad oval in shape, much
pointed at one end, and are of a yellowish stone colour, thinly lined
and spotted with blackish brown. They measure 1*2 inches in length
by about 0-83 in breadth.

58 NATURAL HISTORY.

The anxiety exhibited by these little Plovers, when they have
yonng, and their many devices to entice intruders away from their
vicinity, quite equals anything recorded of the Lapwing. On the
17th April, while wandering on the banks of a nullah, my atten-
tion was arrested by the peculiar movements of one of these
birds. It was lying on its side as if in death agony with its wings
fluttering and quivering ; it would make an attempt to fly, but
after proceeding a yard or two it would fall down headlong as if
shot. Suspecting that it had eggs or young near, I made a diligent
search, but could find nothing, the bird all the time accompanying
me and making the most frantic efforts to distract my attention.
I left oft searching, but carefully watched the bird from a dis-
tance. After a short time it settled itself down, as a hen would squat-
ting over chicks. I carefully marked the spot, made a sudden rush at it,
and then on my hands and knees I carefully felt all round, and
presently found a tiny fluffy chick, apparently stone dead. I thought
that I must have stepped upon it and killed it. I felt very sorry, tut
all at once I saw the little beggar open one eye and take a look at
me. I placed it on the ground, and taking my eye off of it for a
moment, it disappeared ; and it was only after a long and painstaking
search that I again found it, still apparently dead. I moved a few
paces away and watched it. After a moment it opened its eyes, gave
a slight stretch, and disappeared as if by magic. I found three
broken egg shells close by, and they appeared as if the chicks
had only just been hatched, and there must have been two others
close by me, although they escaped my search.

855. — LoMvantllus indicus : Bodd.

The Red-wattled Lapwing breeds from April to July. There is
no nest. The eggs, four in number, are placed on the ground,
almost always in the vicinity of water. They are broad oval in
shape, much pointed at one end, or I should say a peg-top shape.
They vary somewhat in colour, but are usually of a yellowish buff,
blotched and streaked with reddish brown. They measure 1'64
inches in length by about 1*25 in breadth.

856. — Loh'phwia Malalarica : Bodd.
The Yellow-wattled Lapwing breeds during April and May.
There is no nest. The eggs, four in number, are deposited on the
bare ground, without any attempt at concealment ; they are not
partial to water, but frequent by preference bare sandy plains. The
eggs are similar in shape to those of Lobivanellus indicus, but

birds' nesting in rajpootana. 59

are much smaller, only measuring 1*45 inches in length by 1*06
in breadth.

862. — Grus anti-gone : Lin.
The Sarus breeds freely during August and September, but I
found two fresh eggs in February while duck shooting and two
incubated in March, probably both these clutches belonged to
birds that had had their first eggs accidentally destroyed. The eggs,
two in number, are of an elongated oval shape, pointed at one
end. They vary in colour, but are generally creamy white,
more or less spotted and blotched with pale yellowish-brown and
purplish-pink. They measure 3*9 inches in length by 2'55 in
breadth.

873. — Rhynchcm bengalensis: Lin.
I f -unci the Painted Snipe breeding in May. It probably breeds
both earlier and later than this, but this was the only month in
which I obtained eggs. They are broadish oval in shape, pinched
in at one end, and are of a buffy colour, blotched and streaked with
rich black brown. They measure 1*4 inches in length by 1 in
breadth-

900. — Metapodius indica : Lath.

The Bronze-winged Jacana breeds during July and August,
making a floating nest of weeds. The eggs (I never found more
than four but then they were all fresh), are broad ovals, pointed
at one end, and are generally of a rich cafe-au-lait colour, but are
subject to considerable variation. One clutch I have is a dark olive
brown, while another is a very pale stone brown. The eggs of this
last clutch are abnormally small. The markings, consisting of a
network of entangled lines, are very deep blackish brown. The
eggs are highly glossy, and measure 1'47 inches in length by 1*02 in
breadth.

901. — Hydrophasianus chirargus: Scop.

The Pheasant-tailed Jacana breeds during August and September.
The nest is a floating one, composed of grass and aquatic plants.
The eggs, four in number, are peg-top shaped, and are of a glossy
rufous or greenish bronze. They measure 1*46 inches in length by
about 1*1 inch in breadth.

902. — Porphgrio Poliocephalus : Lath.

The Purple Coot breeds during September. The nests, built of
rushes and reeds, are floating but not free, and occasionally they rest
upon the ground. The eggs, seven or eight in number, are broadish

GO NATURAL HISTORY.

ovals in shape, and are of a pale pinkish stone colour, thickly spotted
and blotched with rich red brown and pale purple. They measure
1*93 inches in length by about 1*4 in breadth.

903. — Fulica atra: Lin.
I did not succeed in finding a nest of the Common Coot, but a
native fisherman, who has often given me information reo-ardino-
nests and eggs, and whom I have generally found reliable, reported
that he had seen a batch of newly-hatched chicks in April. I was
too busy at the time to go out, so could not verify his statement,
but suspect that what he saw was a brood of the white-breasted
Water Hen.

907. — Eryihra phamicura: Penn.
The White-breasted Water Hen breeds from May to August.
All the nests I have found have been placed in the branches of dense
bushes or trees close to water. The eggs, four in number, differ
much in size, shape and colour. Eggs of the same clutch will even
differ. The usual type is creamy white, with'yellowish brown and light
red spots and blotches, with apparently underlying markings of pale
bluish gray. Some eggs I have are white with scarcely any markings.
They are usually broadish oval in shape, and average 1*55 inches in
length by about 1'18 in breadth.

930. — Archola ffrayi : Sykes.
The Indian Pond Heron breeds from June to August, generally in
small colonies, but isolated nests not unfrequently occur. They are
composed of sticks, and are of a platform shape. The eggs, four or
five in number, are rather longish ovals, slightly pointed at one end,
and are of a deep sea-green colour. They measure 1'48 inches in
length by 1*17 in breadth.

938. — Tantalus leucoeephalus : Gmel.
The Pelican Ibis breeds in colonies during March and April;
The nests are small, rough platforms, composed of sticks, and
are placed high up in lofty trees, often in the vicinity of villages.
The eggs (I never found more than four, but they were fresh and
probably the birds lay more) are elongated ovals, pointed at one
end, and are of a dull unspotted white. They measure 2*77 inches in
length by about 1'88 in breadth.

950. — Sarcidiornis melanonotus : Penn.
I have been very unfortunate with the Nukhtah, as I could never
obtain an egg, but several times in September I have shot half-
fledged young.

EIRDS' NESTING IN RAJPOOTANA. 61

951. — Nettapus coromandelicus : Lin.

This is another bird whose eggs I have been unable to procure,
although 1 have often seen the young.

952. — Dendrocygna javanica : Hors.

The Whistling Teal breeds during August and September. In
Neemuch I have never found the nests on trees, but always amongst
the sedges on the border of a tank. The eggs, six or seven in
number, are broad oval in shape, and are milky white in colour. They
measure 1*85 inches in length by about 1*49 in breadth.

959. — Anas ■pcecilorhijncha : Cuv.

I have never succeeded in obtaining the eggs of this duck, but
have often at the end of the rains shot the ducklings.

975. — Podiceps minor : Gm.

The Dabchick breeds during September and October. The nest,
a floating one, is composed of aquatic weeds and sedges. The eggs,
four or five in number, are, Avhen freshly laid, chalky white, but as
incubation proceeds they become much stained, from the habit the
bird has of covering her eggs with wet weeds when she leaves the
nest. They are elongated ovals in shape, pointed at each end, and
measure 1*39 inches in length by about 0*99 in breadth.

985. — Sterna seena : Sykes.

I found four eggs of the Large lliver Tern in the sandy bed of
the river in May. They are broad ovals in shape, and are of a pale
greenish-grey colour, blotched and streaked with brown, and having
underlying clouds of a pale inky purple. They measure 1*65 inches
in length by about 1*26 in breadth.

In addition to the above, of which I have either procured eggs or
seen the young, the following birds must, I am sure, breed at
Neemuch, as I have constantly noted them throughout the year : —
55. — Haliastur indus : Bodd.
57. — Perm's ptilorhynchus : Tern.
59. — Elanus melanopterus : Daud.
65. — Syrnium ocellatum : Lesson.
104. — Dendrochelidon coronata : Tick.
107. — Caprimulgus indicus : Lath.
144. — Ocyceros birostris : Scop.
147. — Palffiornis eupatria : Lin.
149. — Palseornis purpureas, P. L. S. Mull.

C2 NATURAL HISTORY.

160. — Picus mahrattensis : Lath.

180. — Brachypternus aurantius : Lin,

219. — Taccocua leschenaulti : Less.

265. — Tephrodornis pondicerianus : Gm .

600. — Corydalla rufula : Vieill.

645. — Parus nipaleusis : Hodgs.

647. — Machlolophus xanthogenys : Vig.

674. — Dendrocitta rufa : Scop.

696. — Ploceus bengalensis : Lin.

830. — Coturnix coromandelica : Gm,

832. — Turnix taigoor : Sykes.

834.— Turnix ioudera: Hodgs.

835. — Turnix dussumieri : Tern.

905. — Gallinula chloropus : Lin.

908. — Porzana akool : Sykes.

917. — Xenorhynchus asiaticus : Lath.

923. — Ardea cinerea : Lin.

924. — Ardea purpurea : Lin.

927. — Herodias garzetta : Lin.

929. — Bubulcus coromandus : Bodd.

931. — Butorides javanica : Horsf.

937. — Nycticorax griseus : Lin.

H. EDWIN BARNES.

ON THE USES OF PANDANUS OR SCREW PALM,

Taken from the Journals of the late Handley Sterndale,
with prefatory Remarks,

By his Brother R. A. Sterndale, f.r.g.s., f.z.s.,

Read before the Society on the 7th of December 1885 on
production of specimens of the fruit by Mr. Framjee
N. Daver.

The Keora or Pandanus Odoratissimus grows freely throughout India ;
whether this is identical with the Pandanus of the South Seas, I am
unable to state, hut it must be, from my brother's description, of a closely
allied species, and capable of utilization in the same degree. It is, however,
but little known in India for economic purposes, its sole recommendation
being its extremely fragrant flowers, which are used occasionally by
native ladies for adorning their hair.

ON THE USES OF PANDANUS OB, SCREW PALM." 63

Roxburgh states that the lower yellow pulpy part of the drupes is
sometimes eaten by the natives during times of famine, as also the
tender white base of the leaves, either raw or boiled ; the roots are used
by basket-makers to tie their work with, and he adds that they are also
used for corks. Small indeed are these results as compared with the
manifold purposes to which the tree is put by the South Sea islander.
Roxburgh notices that the leaves are composed of longitudinal, tough,
and useful fibres like those of the pine apple. Yet this economical
product has hitherto been neglected, though the tree is so common in
parts that hedges are made of it. In the Nicobar Islands it is called the
Mellore or bread-fruit, being probably used there for food as it is in the
South Pacific. In the Mauritius it is extensively employed in the manu-
facture of sugar and coffee bags and for export. " Hedge-rows or avenues
are formed of it round plantations, or along the sides of the many roads
which intersect them, and the leaves, as fast as they attain maturity, are
cut till the tree arrives at its full growth, when the production of new
leaves being sl-ower and less useful, younger plants are resorted to." So
wrote Colonel Hardwicke in 1811. Forbes Royle gives but little information
beyond quoting Roxburgh and Hardwicke, and the plant in India has not
received much attention. Voight says that in China and Cochin elephants
are fed on it. Mr. Stonehewer Cooper, in his " Coral Lands of the Pacific,"
gives an account of the Pandanus, which is evidently taken from my
brother's writings, the similarity of expression proving this ; he has acknow-
ledged much of his information so gathered, but might have done more in
that way ; however, he has added nothing more to our knowledge of the plant
than what will be gained in the following paper, written years before Mr.
Cooper's book was published, beyond calling it in one place Pandanus ulilis,
which, according to Voight, is a synonym of P. odoratissimus ; and
stating in another that he does not know of anything that will approach the
leaves of the Pandanus tree as a paper-making material.* This is a point
worth experimenting on, and it is with a view to bring the many qualities of
this plant before the public in India, and interest men in what has been hitherto
neglected as a jungly thing of no value that I have extracted from my
brother's papers, which I hope to publish some day in extenso, the following
notes on a worthy rival of the Bamboo and the Cocoanut.

" Among the most ubiquitous of vegetable products throughout the Pacific
is the Pandanus or Screw Palm. It is called ' Fara ' in most native
tongues, and would seem to a stranger to be as ugly and prickly as it is

* I find that Mr. Coopei's account of the Pandanus, as well as the remark about
its being a good material for the manufacture of paper, is taken verbatim without
acknowledgment from my brother's report to the New Zealand Government on the
Islands of the South Pacific.

G4 NATURAL HISTORY.

densely prolific and apparently useless, but it would be a great error to
suppose so, for it is one of the greatest blessings which Providence has
bestowed upon man in the savage state. It grows, I have heard, upon all the
tropical coasts of Australia, where it is regarded as of no use even by the
Aborigines, but to the savages cf the Coral Seas it is food, clothing, shelter,
and an infinity of benefit. It delights in rocky and gravelly soils, impreg-
nated by the salt spray of the sea (or rather where there i8 no soil, but
gravel only,) and so luxuriates desert isles, where it creates impenetrable
thickets. Its appearance m very singular; when young it loots like a
tussock of ' sword grass,' the edges of the leaves and the ridge in the
middle being fringed with small sharp thorns ; these leaves follow each
other spirally up the stalk, so that the tree grows with a perfect twist like
that of a screw auger. In its earlier stages, when about ten or twelve feet
high, it has sometimes a graceful appearance ; as it grows older, it becomes
grotesque ; as it is an inhabitant of stony ridges where roots are unable to
penetrate to any depth, and of open coasts exposed to the most furious
winds, it secures itself a hold upon the earth by throwing out around its
butt a number of stays or shrouds, straight, tough and sappy, each of
about the thickness of a man's wrist; they grow round the bole of the tree,
following its spiral formation, and appear first as a sort of wart or excres-
cence ; this soon takes the form of a horn growing downwards ; it is of a
delicate pink, smooth and glossy, and cuts soft like a cabbage-stalk,
being full of oily sap, which it is important to know will support
life of man or animals where there is no water. It continues to grow
thus until the point touches the ground, where it takes firm root by sending
out a multitude of fibres which penetrate the sand or crevices of rocks,
and wrap themselves securely about the stones. Thus, the brave Pandanus
will bend to the hurricane, but start — no, not an inch ! When full grown, it
reaches 30 or 40 feet, and by that time has sent out many odd-looking
limbs branching out from the stem something after the fashion of the
golden candlestick in the Tabernacle of Aaron, each crowned at the end by
a tuft of drooping leaves, a blossom of a pale yellow (something like the
flower of Indian corn and of a strong smell, and a large fruit bigger than
a mau's heal, outwardly of a dark green colour and in shape resembling
a pine-c me, or the thyrsus represented in the ceremonies of Bacchus.
The trunk of the tree is hollow from end to end, and would make excellent
drain pipes; the wood is hard as horn and like horn in appearance. I have
seen it when used as pillars in some native houses, scraped and polished as
bright as mahogany. In the ground it soon decays. The fruit consists of
a number of truacated conical polygons, each about 4 inches long,
separate from the others, closely wedged together and radiating from the
interior stalk. The outer ends of these sections are dark green, impenetrably
hard and tough, enclosing eight or ten seeds each, the inner portion, which

UN THE USES OF PANDANUS OR SCREW PALM. 65

is in some species scarlet, in others yellow, has a highly polished surface,
and powerful smell like that of a mango ; it consists of fibrous pulp in
consistence exactly like the interior of a sugar-cane and containing even a
larger proportion of saccharine matter; it can be chewed or cut with a knife,
and when steamed in an oven seems to consist chiefly of syrup. An intoxicat-
ing drink can be made from it by fermenting a mash made of the cooked
fruit, as also strong spirits by distillation. The seeds are about the size of a
haricot bean and are in appearance and flavour like the kernel of a filbert, so
excellent to eat that, were they known, they would be in demand in civilized
lands as an article of dessert. But their existence (or nature) is unknown to
most Europeans well acquainted with the tree, for as much as these kernels
are so concealed and protected as to be almost impossible to get at by
those unacquainted with the process. The hard capsules which contain
them require to be broken in a peculiar manner by a powerful blow from
a heavy stone or sledge hammer, whereby their extraction is very easy.
They are wholesome and nutritious. I have on some desert places eaten of
them at a time as much as would fill a pint measure. The Polynesians are
fond of this fruit, and are constantly chewing the cones ; they also thread
them on strings after the fashion of a ponderous necklace, so as to form a
very gaudy and odoriferous ornament which they eat when they are weary
of wearing. Mixed with scraped cocoanut and baked, it is much used on
many islands, but as a preserved article of food it is most important, and
is in that form peculiar to the Isles of the Equator and the North Pacific.
Pounded and dried and packed firmly pressed in baskets, it presents an ap-
pearance like coarse saw-dust, and will keep for any length of time. It is
called " Kabobo" and is the staple article of consumption in many of the
equatorial isles and in the Ralik and Ratak chains. Many atolls in these
latitudes are destitute of cocoanut trees, so the " screw palm" is the sole vege-
table subsistence of the inhabitants. The " Kabobo" also constitutes the sea
stock with which the savage mariners of the Pintados provision their canoes.
When required to be eaten, it is mixed with a little water and parched in the
sun or baked on hot stones. If it be true that the Pctndanas grows all
round the coasts of North Australia, as I have been assured by seamen that it
does, and that the Aborigines of those parts are unacquainted with its use
— then do they starve in the midst of plenty — as Solomon says " for
lack of knowledge people perish." This I do well know from my own
experience that the wastes of very much of New Holland (except where
there is absolutely bo water either in pools or in ' Alallee' roots) contain
infinitely more means of subsistence for man than such isles as Erikub
or Gaspar Rico and other desert cays upon which it has been my fortune
to sojourn. But inestimable as is the Pandanus in providing food to the
inhabitants of desert isles, it is no less valuable to them as the source
from whence they derive their shelter, their clothiDg, and whatsoever

66 NATURAL HISTORY.

approach to domestic comfort they possess. Their houses are entirely con-
structed of its timber ; the posts and sills are of the straight columnar
trunk, which are set upright round the whole building about 4 feet apart ;
down each side of the post, in the line of the wall, is cut a groove about
an inch deep, and into these are filled laths which are split with a
knife out of the straight stays which grow round the trunks of these
trees. Thus is made a very neat and comfortable dwelling ; the doors and
window-shutters are made in like manner of the split laths, and the
whole is roofed in with the leaves of the same tree. The thatch is made
very ingeniously : the frame of the roof being complete, a great number
of laths, a fathom long, are split and across them side by side ; the long
leaves are doubled and pinned with thin skewers ; these are laid aoross
the rafters one over the other and secured with string ; a roof of this
kind looks very neat inside, is impervious to the heaviest rains, and lasts
usually from 10 to 12 years. The floors are made of smooth water-worn
snow-white coral pebbles from the sea beach, which harbour no insects, and
above them are spread mats of this same palm leaf in a double layer,
the lower ones of a coarse make, the upper of a finer kind, so
delightfully cool and smooth that one may lie upon them with great
comfort, absolutely without any clothing between them and the body ;
on some islands they are made very handsome, being of a bright straw
colour, with a stripe four inches wide along each edge and two others down
the middle. This stripe is worked in a variegated pattern in red, yellow
and black ; these colours are obtained by dyes made from the juice of
certain roots. The floor mats are frequently of great size, sometimes
as large as the whole floor, made purposely of corresponding dimensions.
On islands where they make them and sell them to trading ships they
receive payment at the rate of 2 yards of calico for 2 yards square of fine
mat. On islands where the tapp tree does not grow, Pandanns mats are the
only bed clothes, as also clothing for the body. They consist of eoft
ornamented girdles about 9 inches wide and from 12 to 20 feet long,
aprons, pouches and " tiputas ; " these are made very soft and are
bleached between salt-water and sunshine until perfectly white ; the patterns
which are worked into them are also very handsome. The hats which
they make on many isles out of this material are plaited all in one piece,
like those which are made in Guayaquil, and are very neat and durable.
Some baskets (worked in the same manner as the cigar cases so common
in the East Indian islands) they make so very handsome that I have seen
one of them sold for five dollars and counted cheap. On Samoa the
women wear soft Pandanus mat for petticoats and trains, which sweep the
ground behind them as they walk on state occasions ; these mats are
generally not handsome, being without ornament except sometimes a little
red fringe, and are of a dirty straw colour : nevertheless they are consi-

ON THE USES OP PANDANU.S OR SCREW PALM.

dered so valuable by them that they will sometimes refuse a hundred
dollars for one, and would certainly not give it you in exchange for a
Cashmere shawl ; some of these mats are a hundred years old or
more, and full of holes, which does not deteriorate from their value. At a
Samoan marriage an old mat, which is laid under the bride, is often the most
precious article in her whole " trousseau," and has been probably a portion
of the dowry of her mother and grandmother. The mat which a fighting
chief will sometimes wear about his body is accepted as the ransom of his
life if he fall into the hands of his foes. The fortunate victor probably
knows the history of it before it comes into his possession, and can tell its
age, and where and by whose hands it was woven ; the value which they
place upon them is wholly fictitious. It is a love of ancient usage which has
consecrated them, as the Samoan mats are of mean appearance, and neither
so becoming nor so comfortable to wear as two fathoms of cotton print
which they might buy for a dollar. The work of making mats and other
manufactures from the Pandanus leaf is all performed by women. The
leaf itself is like that of a flag, two or three inches wide ; when gathered, it
is laid in the sun to dry ; it is then stretched to prevent its curling and
to strip it of its thorny edges. For this purpose the women always keep one
of their thumb-nails long, as likewise to split the leaf for finer work ; such
portions as are intended to produce the ornamental part of the pattern are
then dyed ; the plaiting is performed upon a smooth board with a convex
upper surface ; as they use their teeth very much in dividing the leaf, they
protect their lower lip by wearing upon it the scale of a fish. The time
occupied in this work varies accordiDg to its texture of the coarser kinds. A
woman will plait in a day a yard deep by two yards wide. The sails of canoes
on all these islands are made of such mat. The beautifully variegated aprons
of the women of Micronesia, and wrappers which the men wear about their
loins, consume much time in making ; the texture of the fabric being about
equal to that of No. 1 canvas, but much softer after being bleached and
worn some time. On the low coral isles the finest mats are made, and
with wooden dishes, carved pillows, fish-hooks of pearl or turtle shell,
lines of cocoanut fibre and ' Ranan ' bark are the principal articles of
exchange. The 'Ranan' lines are beautiful ; they are immensely strong,
white as linen, and, though laid up by hand, are equal in regularity of
twist and thickness to the best machine-made whipcord or Calcutta white
line. These lines are from the dimensions of a packthread to that of a
logline whch will hold the largest fish ; they last a great number of years ;
the savages are very careful of them, washing them with fresh water
before putting them away whenever they return from fishing ; their finer
nets are made of the same bark, which is that of a small tree indigenous
to most low coral isles. The making of lines and nets is the work of
men. On the Samoan isles, when the necessaries of life were easily

68 NATURAL HISTORY.

obtainable, articles of luxury were in demand, such as fine mats, printed
iappa, carved and ornamented work, feathers of splendid colours, and
oval plates or studs of nautilus shell for the adornment of head-dresses,
as also for various purposes hawk-bill, turtle and pearl shell. Besides mats
another description of clothing is made by savages from the ' Pandanus.'
I have mentioned that it throws out stays from the trunk ; these com-
monly cease to grow out higher than about six feet from the ground, as by
that time the growth of the tree upwards has stopped; before touching the
ground, where they take root, tbeir consistence is flexible and sappy. If cut off •
at this stage and soaked in water after being beaten with a mallet, these stakes
are found to consist entirely of fibres agglutinated together by an oily
sap ; they are, when well cleaned, pure white, soft and strong like 'jute'
or hemp, and are easily obtainable a yard long ; of this fibre they make
'jupons' and a sort of pouches, which are comfortable and serviceable.
1 have no doubt that this product, if generally known (which it is not),
could be turned to some valuable account ; it could be obtained in immense
quantity and at no cost but the work of cutting and cleaning, as the Panda-
nus completely overruns many coral islands and desert coasts. When we
come to consider the numerous wants of man — food, drink, clothing, shelter
and an infinity of comforts — which are supplied by the wood, leaves, fruit,
and sap of this remarkable tree ; when we reflect upon the fact that no
human being possessing a modicum of ingenuity and the instinct of self-
preservation can positively starve where it grows, and that its natural
locality is the most desert coasts of the tropic seas, luxuriating, as it does,
upon the barren beach immediately contiguous to high-water mark, where
there is no soil whatever or apparent moisture ; its nourishment being
derived from the arid sand, coral, gravel or boulders of rock, heated through-
out the day to a temperature sufficient to burn the human skin, one cannot
fail to experience a feeling of astonishment at so striking an evidence of
the providence of God."

H. B. STERNDALE.

A NOTE ON PANDANUS ODORATISSIMUS OR

SCREW PALM.

(Written at the request of R. A. Sterndale, Esq., f.z.s.,

to follow Ms paper.)

The Pandanus we see here is of two kinds. The yellow variety is
generally called Ketalci feft%\) or Suwama Ketalci fraof ^sjr as distin-
guished from the white Kevada (%qit), or (^T?r"%?5T) Sweta Kevada.
The yellow variety is much more strongly scented, and is more highly prized
by the Hindu ladies, who wear it in their hair. Both these contain staminate

ZOOLOGICAL NOTES. 69

organs alone, surrounded by spathaceous bracts ; and it is^these bracts that
form the chief attraction for ladies. The staminate organs of the yellow
variety are simpler than those of the white. The anthers of the former are
longitudinal, and open longitudinally, giving vent to a fine impalpable powder
strongly scented, and forming the pollen. The stamens are almost sessile or
about a line in length. These stamens are innumerably crowded in the shape
of a cone on a flesh spike or stalk. The anthers of the white variety are
shorter and open longitudinally, but their flesh spike is branched. It gives
rise to similar impalpable powder, which is gritty, but perhaps less scented,
though sufficiently attractive. These clustered and branched staminate
spikes go under the name of Kuyali ( ^q&t ) ar*d if they don't get decom-
posed or rotten during the process of drying, are of great value in keeping
off moths from woollen clothes. At least such is their reputation. The
stays or aerial roots Mr. Sterndale mentions in his very valuable paper are
used in this country by goundis or whitewashers for making brushes to
whitewash or colourwash houses. The fibrous tissue is separated from the
tender interfibrous substance by beating the top of perhaps half a yard bit
of the stay or aerial root and made soft and pliable. It makes a capital
brush. There is no other use made of Kevadd that I know of. The female
flower or collection of flowers turning into fruit is seldom used for eny
special purpose in this country,

K. R. KIRTIKAK.

ZOOLOGICAL NOTES.

ON VARIATION IN COLOUR IN URSUS LABIATUS, THE SLOTH

BEAR, &c

By R. A. SffERNDALE.

A correspondent in the Asian of last week (9th March 1886) gives an
account of his killing a sloth bear with two cubs, one of which was brown
instead of the usual jet black. In November 1884, I received a letter from
Dr. Tomes, Civil Surgeon of Midnapore, asking for my opinion on a skin
and skull of a large bear shot in the Midnapore jungle. He described the
skin as " a particularly good one, thick and shaggy about the shoulders, of a
tawDy brown colour throughout, lighter underneath, no black in it any-
where, a whitish collar on chest." Fortunately the skull was preserved,
and the dental formula given by Dr. Tomes enabled me to pronounce it
an albino of ursus labiatus, and not a stray specimen of ursus isabellinus
escaped from captivity. The sloth bear has, as a rule, two upper incisors
less than other bears.

To-day, whilst looking up some correspondence in the Asian on another
subject, I came across two letters regarding grey bears in the plains of India :
one was seen by " H. D. K. " writing from Secunderabad, Deocan, of which the
hind quarters only were grey; the other was reported by " W. M. R." as seen on

70 NATURAL HISTORY.

the borders of the Shahabad and Mirzapore districts. He says the greater
portions of the bear's body was grey, and a light grey too. The Native Shikaris
called it a sufaid bhal. Unfortunately neither of these two bears was
secured. We have, however, ample proof of albinoism in " M.'s" lining cub
and the Midnapore skin.

ON THE FLYING SQUIRREL OF WESTERN INDIA.
There is no doubt the flying squirrel of this Presidency is Pleromys Oral,
but the prevailing colour is grey, whereas Pteromys Oral is a dusky maroon
black grizzled with white. I am inclined to think that it is the same as
Pteromys cinceraceus, which is in all essential points identical with Pteromys
Oral. The Society lately received two living specimens from General WatsoD,
which were made over to me for examination. During the night they managed
to gnaw a hole through their cage, and escaped. One was re-captured, but the
other, I regret to say, has disappeared. Fortunately we retain the finer speci-
men. Wonderful stories are told concerning the flight of these animalp,
though flight is a misnomer. They cannot fly as birds and bats do : they
merely spring from a considerable height, and the extended skin between
their limbs acts as a parachute and floats them along, letting them down
easily. Thus they can skim over a space of 50 to 60 yards. Early on the
morning of their escape one was observed sitting on a cornice near a window
at the northern corner of the Currency Office, where I live. On a servant try-
ing to catch it sprang off in the direction of the Bombay Club and alighted near
the Club-door. The distance was sixty-nine paces. These animals are quite
nocturnal in their habits, sleeping all day rolled up in a ball with the head
tucked in between their fore legs and the tail coiled round the body. At night
they are very active.

ON A SPECIES OF PIGMY SHREW.
I would call the attention of Naturalists to the existence of a Pigmy Shrew
in the low lands of this Presidency, as more specimens are wanted, and it is
possible that on such being found, they are thrown aside under the impression
that they are the young of the ordinary species of Musk-rat. The pigmy
Shrews are a dwarf race, generally found in the hilly parts of India,
Ceylon and Burmah, and they vary in size from 1£ to nearly two inches,
exclusive of tail, which is about another inch. They are true Shrews with all
the characteristics of the genus, and a Burmese species, Sorex nudipes, has the
musk glands strongly developed. The Society has received one lately from
Mr. Littledale, which he found at Baroda swimming about in a flower-pot
during the rains of 1884. He writes : " I kept it alive 3 or 4 days, giving
it crickets and flies. It liked to get under a bit of cotton wool, in the shade,
and used to make a sudden dash at the cricket if it came near, crunching its
back and hind legs first. It has not shrunk at all. It was mouse colour,
and the snout pale fleshy. The eyes seemed greyish blue." I have been
unable to determine the species as yet ; the nearest approach to it is Sorex
perroteii from the Nilgherries, but it does not agree in colour. S. perroteti
being blackish brown, whereas this is a pale inouss colour, rather silvery when
taken out of the spirit and dried.

R. A. STERNDALE.

ON THE FREQUENCY OF ALBINOISM IN CUTCH, &C. 71

ON THE FREQUENCY OF ALBINOISM IN CUTCH, &c

By Mr. A. T. H. Newnham, S.C., ioth N. I., with

Notes by Mr. E. H. Aitken.

Frequent Occurrence of Albinoism in Cutch. — Within the last few months
the following cases of albinoism have come under my notice, which, I think,
are sufficiently numerous to be worthy of mention, viz., May 24, Chat-
torrhcea striata (the striated babbler, presented to Society's collection).;
July, Perdicula asialica, bush quail (presented to Sosiety's collection) ; and
Holpastes haemorrhous, the Madras Bulbul, partially so, the wings only
being white. It would seem as though the prevailing tint of the country,
whioh is principally composed of sandy plains, had some influence on the
colouring of its inhabitants, for the birds generally are of a paler colour than
the same species which I have noticed where the soil is darker in tone,
Besides these specimens which have been shot and obtained, there have
been other occurrences. Last year a perfectly white Sarkidiornis melano-
notus, more generally known among sportsmen as the Nukta, used frequently
to be seen on one of the sacred tanks of Bhuj, where unfortunately it is-
forbidden to shoot, and a second case of P. Asiatica wa3 met with out
shooting. The latter, strictly speaking, was of a soft fawn colour rather than
white. A. white squirrel also used to haunt one of the bungalows here.,

The Bhalu. — We are occasionally visited at night by one of these mysteri-
ous Janwar?. There are various explanations given a9 to what it really
is ; some asserting that it is a lynx, others a female jackal, and others that it is
an old worn-out jackal, which follows in the tracks of some larger animal to
obtain its leavings. I know the latter is the more general belief, but though
I have made frequent enquiries from the Shikaris and villagers here I-'
have not come across any one yet who has actually seen one. The cry is
a sort of convulsive scream ending abruptly in a hoarse crack. I never
hear it at night without sallying forth with a gun to try and shoot it and
clear up the mystery for myself, but hitherto without success. One moon-
light night I heard its cry quite close to me, but could distinguish nothing,.
Perhaps some of your correspondents can enlighten me as to what it is.*

A. T. H. NEWNHAM.

Note by Mr. Aitken. — Mr. Newnham's observations are supported by seve-
ral things that came under my notice during a year's residence at Kharaghora
on the borders of the Runn of Cutciu There were not many species of butter-
flies at the place, but th6 two commonest, Danais chrysippus and Papili siphilus,
were often conspicuously pale and colourless. They would have been con-
sidered poor specimens if caught in Bombay. I. believe that variety of the
former, with a dash of white on the hind wings, which has been separated
under the name of D. alcippoides, is only a stronger exemplification of the
same effect. It would probably be found to be not uncommon in this region.

* The Kol Bhalu, Pheal, Pheeou, Phinkarr, or Sial, i3 an ordinary jackal. Several
have been shot in the act of howling, and there was nothing abnormal about them.
The subject was well ventilated in the Asian in 1381-82, and the general opinion pointed
to the above conclusion. Correspondents gave evidence from all parts of India,— R, A. S.

72 NATURAL HISTORY.

Of four specimens of D. dorippus from Aden, now in the Society's collection,
two exhibit this dash of white. On the other hand, collections of butterflies
caught among the luxurious vegetation of Khandalla or Matheran generally
contain specimens with a depth of colour never mot with on the plains.

But the strangest instance of the effect of an arid, sandy country on ani-
mal colour, if it was really an instance, was a mungoose which I repeatedly
saw at Kharaghora, but did not secure. It was apparently the common
mungoo e of Bombay (H. Griseus),* but the tip of its tail, instead of being
blackish, was white. A golitary " sport " like this has not much significance
by itself, but it becomes suggestive when we remember that the desert fox of
Gutch Qeucopus) differs from the common Indian fox in this very point that
its tail is tipped with white instead of b!ack. E.H. A

BOTANICAL NOTES.

ON AN INSTANCE OF FRUCTIFICATION IN A STAMINIFEROUS

PLANT, CARICA PAPAYA.

By Surgeon-Major G. Bainbridge, I.M.D.

The PapayacecB form a small order of three or four genera and 25 or 30
species only, not very distantly related to the cucumbers. The species are
all tropical, and several inhabit S. America, of which the plant under notice
is supposed to be a native.

Oarica Papaya is the best-known individual of its order, and has excited
much interest owing to the presence in its tissues of Papain, an alkaloid
or principle having the property of digesting animal substances, and service-
able, therefore, as a medicinal agent.

As is well known, the plant is normally dioecious and one of the most
conspicuous examples of this marital arrangement. You will all have
distinguished the male, with its long-stalked panicles of small yellowish
flowers, from the female or pistilliferous tree, with its much larger,
whitish, rather campanalate flowers, which are closely arranged around the
trunk and branches, under the shelter of the leaves, and, having very
short stalks, are nearly sessile.

I was not aware until recently that this arrangement was ever departed
from. But in January last year (1884) I was surprised to find at Dhar-
war, in the garden of a house I had just entered, a male Papaya tree
bearing fruit upon its long pendent stalks.

On examination I found its flowers to resemble the typical male ones in
every respect, except in the presence of a minute ovary in at least some
of them.

By April the fruit had grown to a considerable size, so that some of them
measured ten and thirteen inches in circumference; and, what was more in-
teresting, they contained numbers of ripe black seeds about three-fourths

* Probably H. Fervugineus, Sind species, the tail of which is lighter coloured normally.—
B. A- S.

AlncrmaX Tloureripike ofMusaSaptentawi-

fate

NOTE ON AGARICUS OSTREATUS. 73

of the size of normal ones from well-grown fruit. I saved a large num-
ber of them," intending to try whether they would germinate ; but they were
lost in the hurry of my transfer.

I now show three small specimens of the fruit of the same tree which I
have had sent to me. The largest measures six inches in circumference.
I also present a rough sketch of the tree drawn in April last.

I imagined this curious occurrence to be almost unique ; for its possi-
bility was hitherto unknown to me, though I have seen much of Papaya
cultivation for some years. I find, however, that the fact is noted by
Roxburgh in the Flora Indica, 1832, where he mentions two instances, and
states that the same is common at Malacca.

Botanical class books and other authorities which I have examined do
not mention the matter. There seem to be two varieties of Papaya, one
producing rather globular, and the other citron-shaped, fruit of much larger
size and superior quality. Fertility of soil may, however, possibly account
for this and for the strange " variation " to which I have drawn attention.

G. BAINBRIDUE.

ON ABNORMAL DEVELOPMENT IN MUSA SAPIENTUM.
By Surgeon K. R. Kirtikar, I.M.D.

Read on 1st September 1885 before the Botanical Section.

I submit a photographic print* of an abnormal development of the
flowerstalk of Musa Sapientum (Banana) growing in a garden on Girgaum
Back Road, Bombay. The drooping spike, after having thrown out two or
three clusters of flowers in the axils of the first two or three purple fleshy
bracts, sub-divides and thus forms two spikes instead of a single central.
The primary spike remains thicker than the secondary stalk, as the divi-
sion of the spike is not strictly dichotomous. The secondary grows longer
and sub-divides again. The primary also, after throwing a few more clusters
of flowers, sub-divide again into two spikelets. Thus, there are four spike-
lets instead of one spike. The final or apical buds, sheathed in their pur-
ple bracts, still remain, with a few abortive flowers. I call these " abortive "
flowers, because they never turn into the fruit called banana or plantain, but
open and die,

NOTE ON AGARICUS OSTREATUS.

The Fungus described by Dr. Dymock in his Vegetable Materia Medica
of Western India (p. 704, 1st Edition) is called Phanasamba in Marathi
and named by him as Agaricus ostreaius. Agaricus ostreatus often does
grow onjackfruit tree. But on examining genuine specimens of what
is usually gathered and sold and used under the name of Phanasamba, it ap-
pears to be a Polyporus and not an Agaricus. (See Badham's Esculent

* A water-colour drawing from the same has since been presented by Surgeon Kirtikar
to the Society, of which a lithographic priut accompanies this,

74 NATURAL HISTORY.

Fungi, Plate X., and Mrs. Hassey's Illustrations of British Mycology, XIX.
Plate, Second Series). Dr. Sakharam Arjun, following old descriptions,
also calls the fungus Agarkus ostreatus.

But a figure of the Polyporus is given m Batsch's Elenchus Fungoram,
Plate XLL, page 114, Continuatio Secunda. It is called Boletus
" Nitens " or Crocatus. It appears a proper description of Phanasamba has
not yet appeared. I exhibit several specimens, a general description of
which will appear in my work on the Bombay Fungi, which I hope will be
published at no distant date. As this variety of Polyporus mainly derives its
name from its habitat — growing on Phanas or Jack tree, — I have named it
Boletus Nitens Artocarpalis.

ON THE FRUIT OF TRAPA BISPINOSA.

The fruit of Trapa Bispinosa (exhibited along with the plant in
flower), Shingdda as known among the Hindus.

The fruit resembles, roughly speaking, a bullock's head in miniature,
and is an important and highly-prized article of diet among the Hindus,
The whole of the fruit is mealy, and is as delicious when baked or boiled
as a chestnut. Peeled, pounded and boiled with milk and sugar, it forms
an excellent repast under the name of hulwa, and deserves to be more
widely known. It is eaten either fresh, or is peeled and dried for use after-
wards. For drying, only the mature fruit is serviceable; if it is not
mature, it shrivels up and often decays. Mixed with pepper, salt
and cocoanut kernel scrapings and fried in ghee or clarified butter, ia
lumps as big as a cherry or plum, it is very delicious. It is highly valued
by the Guzrathis, and is generally sold dried in a Kiranis shop (seller
of groceries and spices), and very largely used on fast days, when rice,
wheat, and such other daily articles of food are not eaten.

The plant which bears this fruit is an aquatic annual, and grows very
quickly. It is cultivated largely in tanks around Thana, the young
sprouts being simply deposited on the surface of the water. It flowers
about August and September, and fruit is gathered about November,.
If the old and dead decaying leaves are removed as they form from time
to time, the tanks in which the plant is cultivated have clear water,
probably from destroying minor vegetable life on which it feeds, or at
any rate partially derives its nourishment.

NOTE ON KASRA OR SCIRPUS KYSOOR.

Read on 22nd January 1886.

I exhibit to-day three articles — (1) the boiled hairy root-bulb ~ (2)
the same boiled and peeled; (3) a huhva made of the peeled bulb.
I also exhibit along with specimen No. 3 a huhva made of the fruit
of Shingach referred to in my Notes read before this Section at our Septenv

NOTE ON A SUPPOSED ROOT-PARASITE FOUND AT MAHABLESHWAR. 75

ber Meeting. Pounds and pounds of this delicious bulb are used as an
article of diet on fast days among Hindus. The root bulb is often sold
dried after being peeled. The plant itself belongs to the Sedgewort family,
and is described at p. 288 of Dalzell and Gibson's Flora. The bulbs are
gathered in January, February and March, after the plant dies. I exhibit
the plant here. It thrives in the rainy season, and grows abundantly in
tanks round Thana. The skin of the bulb is hairy ; the rootlets being
often two or three inches long and tufted at the apex, or extreme end.
The roots sometimes shoot out in rings round the body of the bulb.
The leaf of the plant is hispid, 3 to 5 feet long, studded with oblong
air spaces. The plant flowers in the rainy season about July or August,
and having lived its annual life, dies away. It is after this that the bulbs
are gathered ; they are edible even uncooked, but are not very palatable. They
are usually in very great quest, and are obtainable at one anna a hundred
bulbs. The hulwa made with sugar and milk is considered a dainty. This
huhva is more glutinous than the hulwa of Shingada. It would be interest-
ing to find out the relative food-value of these important articles of diet,
especially as regards the proportion of starch gluten, and salts. The leaf
does not seem to be sufficiently strong for any of the purposes for which
common bulrushes are used, such as for making mats, baskets, chair
bottoms, nor do I know of any medicinal uses of the plant. At page 721 of
his Vegetable Materia Medica, Dr. Dymock asks a question as to whether
Kasceroo (Hind) is the Scirpus Kysoor of Roxburgh. I am certain it is.
Dr. Dymock also says it is given in diarrhoea and vomiting. If in addition to
its value as a delicate article of food, it is really useful in diarrhoea, a
congee made of it with milk will be a very suitable form of nourishment in
diarrhoea cases and in vomiting. I can bear testimony to its bland and
soothing properties. The boiled bulb with common salt is very delicate eating.

K. R. KIRTIKAR.

NOTE ON A SUPPOSED ROOT-PARASITE FOUND
AT MAHABLESHWAR IN OCTOBER 1885.

By Mrs. W. E. Hart,^^ on 15th March 1886.
In October a tuberous-rooted plant of curious structure, which I have
endeavoured to sketch below, was brought to me at Mahableshwar, from
one of the valley juDgles below the hill. The rains had continued more
than usually late, which may account for there being then still visible
a plant which neither I nor any one to whom I showed it had ever seen
before. It grew in clusters in moist red laterite clay, through which
occurred the numerous root fibres (lately severed) of some large dicotyled-
onous tree. The man who brought me the plant declared that he very
rarely met with it, never except during the rains, and then only in the

76 NATURAL HISTORY.

thickest jungle, and always at the foot of some large tree. But he waa
unable to state whether the large tree was always of the same species. The
first thing to appear above the soil was a yellow spathaceous stalk, bearing
on its summit a ball, about the size of a marble, almost concealed among
the spathes. Most of these balls were of a velvety texture and a rich brown
colour. Two were rough, not unlike fir-cones. The balls continued to
grow in circumference as the stalks grew in height, till the latter were
about 3 inches long and the balls about the size of bagatelle balls. A
number of minute white flowers then opened over the whole surface of
the rough ball. Having no microscope or magnifying glass with me,
I was unable to identify the plant from the examination of its extremely
minute structural parts. Dr. Macdonald determined the open flowers on
the rough heads to be staminal only, and conjectured the velvety balls to
be composed of pistillate flowers only, and from the stamens being sinuous
and united into a central column, he was inclined to think the plant
might possibly belong to the Natural order Cucurbitacea?. But as he
also had no magnifier, he was unable to speak with certainty, and failed
to identify the plant. I much doubt if there is any Cucurbitaceous plant
without the climbing habit so characteristic of that order. On the other
hand, the small Natural orders Cytinacese and Balanophoracese, especially
the latter, present some features similar to those noticed in my Mahablesh-
war plant. The following characteristics at least of Balanophoraceae,
as described by Dr. Balfour in his Class Book of Botany, seem to be
identical with both those noticed by himself and those determined by
Dr. Macdonald : — "Leafless... with tubers... whence proceed naked or scaly
peduncles bearing heads of unisexual flowers. Staminal flowers generally
white. ..anthers. ..united into a multicellular mass... Parasitic on the roots
of various dicotyledons, and abounding on the mountains of tropical
countries." Dr. Balfour certainly says nothing of the very curious and
characteristic velvety ball, nor was the parasitic nature of my plant fully
established, but what I ascertained of its habits from the man who
brought it to me is at least not inconsistent with its being a root-parasite
He also informed me that the plants died down in the dry weather
and had never been known to survive removal. I kept mine alive
for some weeks in a soup-plate of water, but it was completely withered
before I left Mahableshwar in January.

A. — Brown velvety ball.

B. — Rough ball covered with minute whits flowers.

C. — Spathaceous stalk, greenish-yellow towards the top and brighter-yellow in the
lower part.

D. — Lump of red marly earth, apparently moist laterite clay, containing numerous
root fibres, in which the plant was growing.

I incline to the belief that the plant was one of the Balanophoracese. But
the man who brought it to me was not aware of its possessing any useful

NOTE ON A SUPPOSED ROOT-PARASITE FOUND AT MAHABLESHWAR. 77

properties, nor did lie know any native name for it, though Dr. Balfour
describes the Balanophoracea* as being some of them styptic, and others
edible. I can find no reference to Balanophoracese in Dalzell and Gibson's
" Bombay Flora," published in 1861, nor in GelFs " Handbook for use in
the Jungles of Western India," published in 1863, nor in Drury's " Useful
Plants of India," published in 1873. In the " Cyclopsedia of Natural
History," published by Bradbury and Evans in 1856, two years after Dr.
Balfour's " Class Book," the Balanophoraceaa are described as " a natural
order of parasitical plants growing upon the roots of woody plants in tropical
countries and rooting into wood from which they draw their nutriment.
. . . . None of the species have fully formed leaves, but closely packed
fleshy scales clothe their stems and guard their flowers in their infancy.
Succulent in texture, dingy in colour, and often springing from a brown
and shapeless root stock, Balanophoracea3 remind the observer of fungi more
than of flowering plants, and in fact they appear intermediate in nature
between the two. If they have flowers and sexes both are of the simplest
kind, and their ovules, instead of changing to seeds like those of other
flowering plants, become, according to Endlicher, bags of spores, like those
of true flowerless plants. Even their woody system is of the most
imperfect kind, for it is either entirely, or almost entirely, destitute of
spiral vessels." This writer also notices the styptic and edible properties of
certain species.* Again, however, nothing is said of the large velvety ball,
so striking in my specimen. It is figured in the illustration to the article
which I have quoted, but as oval in shape, and small in size in proportion
to the length of the stalk, which, again, is represented as smooth and
slender.

I have trespassed at this length on your patience, because, if I am
right in my theory that my plant was a Balanophora, it is interesting to
botanists for two reasons : first, as being hitherto undescribed in the
Flora of this Presidency ; and secondly, and specially, as being, apparently,
a link connecting the fungi directly with the flowering plants, without the
intervention of the Ferns and other higher orders of Cryptogams, which
may possibly be of value in the discussion of the Darwinian theory of
evolution.

J. B. H.

* Dr. Dymock, in his " Materia Medica of Western India," states that a drug is sold in
Bombay called by the natives Gaj Pipal, which Messrs. S Arjun and N. M. Khan Sahib con-
sider to be the entire plant of a Balanophora. It appears to be of a different species to the
above, and is considered mucilaginous and astringent.— J. B. H.

78 NATUEAL HISTORY.

MEMORANDUM by Dr. D. Macdonald, m.d., Vice-
President of the Society, on the Species of BALANO-
PHORA, Found and Described by Mrs. W. E. Hart.

The plant consisted of an irregular, somewhat flattened rhizome,
roughly tubercular on its upper surface, and having the remains
of rootlets on its under surface. On the upper surface of the
rhizome there were several short unbranched cylindrical peduncles,
an inch or more in diameter, more or less completely covered by
imbricated fleshy scales, of a yellowish colour ; the peduncle
terminated in a rounded convex head, on which were studded
numerous flowers. These heads were of two kinds — one being
covered with staminate flowers, consisting of a deeply four-lobed
perianth, enclosing a central column or androphore, and having the
anthers arranged in a sinuous in form on its summit. The second kind
of head was soft and velvety to the touch ; but the separate flowers,
which were densely packed, were too small to admit of identification
without a magnifying glass. One or two small portions I tried to
preserve, and after leaving the hills I was able to make out that
they were pistillate flowers, with a minute ovary, and a simple styl©
and stigma.

My first impression was that the plant was possibly a peculiar
cucurbitaceous plant, seeing the flowers were monascious, and that
the staminate flowers had monadelphous stamens with sinuous anthers.
But on returning to Bombay I found the characters answered to
the descriptions given of the Balanophoraceae — an order which
Hooker has studied with great minuteness, and which has many
points of special interest.

More than thirty years ago botanists grouped several orders —
Cytinacese, Rafflesiaceas and Balanophoraceae — into a separate class,
which was placed between the flowering and non-flowering plants.
These orders had a few characters in common : they were parasitical ;
destitute of true leaves ; the stem was generally an amorphous
fungoid mass, and there was an absence of green colour. The nature
of the seeds was little knowD, some being described as consisting of a
mass of spores, and others as having a cellular nucleus. The
researches of Hooker and others have shown that there were not
sufficient grounds for forming a new class, and now these orders
are looked upon as simply degraded exogens. Hooker considers the
Balanophoraceas allied to the Natural Order Haloragaceae. Lindley

MEMORANDUM BY DR. D. MACDONALD, M.D. 79

and others have confirmed the statement of the elder Richard that
the seeds of at least some plants of the order contain an embryo,
which is minute, globular, and undivided.

The Balanophoracese have been likened to fungi from their
appearance and mode of growth, but they differ from fungi in
consistence, anatomy, structure, slow mode of growth, aud in having
conspicuous male flowers. The parasitism of the plants is of such
a nature that there is some difficulty in making out where the tissues
of the host-plant end, and those of the parasite commences, as the
vascular tissue of the one is continuous with that of the other.

The Balanophoraceaa are parasitic on the roots of trees, and are found
in the mountaius of tropical countries. Several species are found in
the Himalayas, and in the Khasya Hills, and eight or ten species are
stated by Griffiths to inhabit the Indian continent. One plant— -a
Balanophore — is mentioned in a list of plants in the N. W. as being
sold in the bazars under the native name of Gochamul ; and another
in Kashmir, or another name for the same plant, GargazmuL
But I am not aware of any Balanophors having been described as
found in the Bombay Presidency.

A stringency is common to most plants of the order, and one
{Fungus melitensis) was known so far back as the time of the
Crusades, when it was used medicinally as a styptic. A few of the plants
are edible, one of which, known in Peru as Mountain Maize, grows
with wonderful rapidity after rain. In this plant it is not the rhizome,
but the scape, or flowering stalk, which is used. It is said to be eaten
like mushrooms, which it resembles in outward configuration.
Candles are made from a hydrocarbon obtained from a Java Bala-
nophor.

The Mahableshwar plant is a Balanophor, and undoubtedly it
belongs to the tribe Eubalanophorese, as it is the only tribe of the seven
into which the order is divided m which the perianth of the staminate
flowers is four-lobed, and the stamens monadelphous. It is not
impossible that Mrs. Hart's paper may be the means of drawing
attention to any monograph or publication in which the plant is
described, if any exists. Should any member of the B. N. H. S. be
fortunate enough to produce another specimen of the same plant, it
would probably be best preserved in spirit.

D. M,

80

NATURAL HISTORY,

LIST OF BIRD SKINS FROM THE
SOUTH KONKAN.

{Ratnagiri and Savantvadi)
Presented to tire Society by Mr. G. W. Vidal, C.S., January 188G.

No. In List

of Birds of

India.

Total No.

?o. and Sex of Specimens.

of Skins of

each species.

m

1

m

1

m m m in i

5

mff

3

m m

2

f

1

%

1

f

1

mff

3

m

1

m

1

m

1

in

1

mf

2

f

1

i 1

2

fffffi

6

m fi

3

m

1

ff

2

i i

2

i

1

m m m m m f i i i i i

11

mff

3

m m m in

4

m mff

4

i i

2

mf

2

f

1

i

1

m m mff

5

m i

2

i

1

m

1

f

1

mfff

4

m m f

3

m

1

mffi

4

m mff

4

in mf

3

in

1

mff

3

mff

3

mmffffffff

10

m mf ff

5

m m

2

2

8

17

23
31

35

39 bis

48

51

54

55

56

00

05

74 sept

75 gnat
70

78

82

84
90
102
103
Ki7
112
114
117
118
123
127
129
132
134
136
140
141
148
149
151
153
160
104
167
179

181

193 bit
194

Otogyps calvus — Scop

Falco perigrinus — 6m

Cerchneis tinrmnculus — Lin

Astur badius — Grn

Hierjetus pennatus — 6m

Limnastus cirrhatus — 6m

Spilornis melanotis — Jerd

Butastur teesa

Circus macrurus — S. C. 6m

Circus asruginosus — Lin

Haliastur indus — Bodd

Milvu8 govinda — Sykes

Strix javanica — 6m

Syrnium ocellatum — Less

Scops br ucii — Hume

Scops malabaricus — Jerd

Carine bra ma — Tern

Glaucidium malabaricum — Bly.
[not typical, but intermediate
between malabaricum and
radiatum (77) ]

Hirundo rustica — Lin

Hirundo filifera — Steph

Ptyonoprogne concolor

Cyp8ellus batassiensis — J. E. 6r...

Collocalia unicolor — Jerd

Caprimulgus indicus — Lath

asiaticus — Lath

monticolus — Frankl...

Merops viridis — Lin

philippiuus — Lin

Coracias indica — Lin

Pelargopsis gurial — Pears

Halcyon Smyrnensis — Lin

(Moris — Bodd

Alcedo bengalensis — 6m

Ceryle rudis — Lin

Dichoceros cavatus — Shaw

Hydrocissa coronata— Bodd

Palaaornis torquatus — Bodd

purpureus — P.L.S. Mull

■ columboides — Vig

Loriculus vernalis — Sparrm

Picus mahrattensis — Lath

Yungipicus nanus — Vig

Chrysocolaptes festivus — Bodd.. ..
Micropternus gularis — Jerd. [not

typical, almost as near phceoceps
(178)]

Brachypternus puncticollis — Malh.

Megaltema inornata— Wald

viridis — Bodd

LIST OF BIRD SKINS, &C.

81

No, in List of

Birds of

India,

Species.

Total No.
No. ami Sex of Specimens, of Skius of

each species

197

202

Xantholcema hsemacephala —
P. L. S. Mull

m m mf
m
i

f

m

in

mm ffff

m f i i i

m m

in

fi

m i

m in

i i

i

ff

ff

/

/

m m

in f

m m ff

m m f i

in f

m

mf
m
m
m m ff

ffff
m mf

m m m m

in m ff

m in i

m m

in f i

m m

mfi i

m m m m

mf

in m m m ff

m m ff i

in

mmm f ffff

fff
mfi

i i

ffff
m in mf

m m m m mffff ii i i

f

ff* » i
tnff'

m m

f
m m in m f

m m i i

in m

m mfi

m

4
1

205
208
212
213
214

1
1

1

1
G

217
219
226
232

Taccocna leschenaulti — Less

5
o

1

2

234

235
238
239
240

2

2
2
1
2

Dicgeum erythrorhynchus — Lath...
Piprisoma agile — Tich

254

2

257

1

260
265
267

Tephrodornis pondicerianus — Gm.

1
2

2

268
270
272
276
278

Pericrocotus flammeus — Forst ...

4
4
2

I

2

280
281

285

286

Chibia hottentota — Lin

1
1

4
4

287
288

3
4

290
293
297

Hypothy mis azurea — Bodd

Alseonax latirostris — Rafil

4
3

2

301

Stoporala melanops — Vig

3

30(3

Cyornis tickelli — Bly

2

342
345

Pitta brachyura — Lin

4
4

351

Cyanocinclus cyanus — Lin

2

353
354
355

Petrophila cinclorhyncha — Vig. ...
Geocichla cyanotes— Jard.& fc'elb.
citrina — Lath

6
5
1

359

8

385

3

389
398
399

Pellorneum ruficeps — Sws

3
2
4

404
435
446
45'J

Pomatorhinu8 Horsfieldi — Sykes. .,
■ Malacocercus Somervillii — Sykes..

Hypsipetes ganesa — Sykes

Criniger ictericus — Strickl

4

13

1

5

452

460 bis
462
463

Ixus luteolus — Less

Otocompsa fuscicaudata— Gould.

Molpastes bsemorrhous — Gm

Phyllornis Jerdoni

3
2
1

5

468

4

470

Oriolus kundoo — Sykes

2

472
475

melanocephalus — Lin. ...

4
1

82

NATURAL HISTORY.

No. in List

Total. No.

of Birds of

Species.

No. and Sex of Specimens.

of Skins of

India.

each species

476

TO

1

479

mf

i

2

481

2

483

497

— indicus — Bly

1

to m
mf

2

514

2

515

Acrocephalus stentorius — Hemp.

and Ehr...

to mf

3

516

- dumetorum — Bly...

TO

1

534

i i

1

538

2

543

i

1

544 bis

*/ «/

to to mf

4

559

mf
to i i i

2

560

4

563

711

1

589

Motacilla maderaspatensis — Gm...

to to/

3

591 bis

t

1

592

Calobates melanope — Pall

TO

1

593

m

1

595

TO

1

597

m i
to i

2

600

2

631

Zosterops pal peb rosa — Tem

m i

2

648

mf

2

660

Corvus macrorbynchus — Wagl. ...

TO

1

663

TO

1

674

mff

3

684

mf
to to mfff

2

686

G

687

TO TO TO f t

m m mfff
mm to

5

688
690

6

3

698

i

1

699
706

mff

TO
f

3

1

711

1

721

m

1

758

Ammomanes phcenicura — Frank] .

to m f

3

760

% %

2

765 bis

m mf

3

773

TO l

2

775

f

1

786

Palumbus Elphinstonii — Sykes ...

f

1

788

f

1

794

i

1

797

■ tranquebaricus — Herm . . .

m

1

798

m

1

803

mf
mff

2

814

3

826

m m m m m mff

8

829

TO

1

830
832

/

fff

m to i

1

3

840

Cursorius coromandelicus— Gm ...

3

846

^E°"ialitis geoffroyi — Wagl

f

1

847
856

i

3

1

859

CEdicnemus scolopax — S. G. Gm.

m mf

3

872

%

1

873

TO

1

LIST OF BIKD SKINS, &C.

83

No. in List

of Birds of

India.

Species.

No. and Sex of Specimens.

Total No.
of Skins of
each species

877
878
882
884
893
894
898
901
903
905
907
910
931
964
971
978
980
987
Total

Us

bis

No

of Species
185.

Numenius lineatus — Cuv ,

phasopus — Lin

Tringa subarquata — Giild ,

minuta — Leist

Tringoides hypoleucus — Lin ,

Totanus glottis — Lin

Himantopus candidus — Bonn

Hydrophasianus chirurgus — Scop

Fulica atra — Lin

Gallinula chloropus — Lin

Erythra phcenicura — Penn

Porzana bailloni — Vieill

Butorides javanica — Horsf

Querquedula crecca — Lin...

Fuligula cristata — Lin

Larus affinis — Eeinh

brunneicephalus — Jerd

Sterna albigena — Licht

/

m

m

i

f
f
m
mf

f
m

f

f

ff

f

mfff

f

Total No.
of Skins
444

LIST OF BIRD SKINS FROM BURMAH AND
OTHER PARTS OF INDIA.

Presented to the Society by Mr. G. W. Vidal, C.S., January 1886.

No. in List

Qf Birds of

India.

Species.

Locality.

No. and Sex.

No. of Skins
of each
species.

23 bis
39

Akyab

m

f
f
m

m
f

i
i

m
i

m
i
i

m
m

m

f

f

m

i

i

m

m

i

55

Calcutta

74 sept
77

Poona

Glaucidium radiatum (typi-
cal—Tick

Raipur, C.P. ...
Burmah

Singbhoom ...
Amherst

142

144

Hydrocissa albirostris — Shaw.
Meoiceros bicornis (Ocyceros

146 ter

Rhyticeros subruficollis — Bly
Brachypternus aurantius — Lin

Lanius caniceps — Bly .-•....

180
215
239
257 bis

Raipur, C.P. ...
China, Baheer..
Kotagherry ...
N. Kanara

Saugor, C.P..,,
Ootacamund ...

Ootacamund ...

Amherst

Madras

Etawah

N. Kanara

261

306

360
434

Malacocercus malabaricus —

452 dec
534
596

781 bis
843

Iole viridescens — Bly

Anthus maculatus — Hodgsn .
Carpophaga cuprsea — Jerd. ...

iEgialitis mongola — Pall

cantiana — Lath ...

(Edicnemus scolopax — S. G.
Gm

847

Karachi

848
859

Diamond island
Etawah

1

24

24

84

NATURAL HISTORY.

CATALOGUE OF SNAKES IN THE SOCIETY'S

COLLECTION.

Family.

Genera and Species.

Locality.

I.— TYPHLOPIDiE

(Blind Snakes.)
II.— T0RTRICIDJ3
(Short-tailed Earth Snakes)
III.— PYTHONIDiE

(Pythons.)
IV.— ERYCID^

(Sand Snakes.)

V.— ACROCHORDIDiE

(Wart Snakes.)

VI.— UROPELTID^

( Rough-tailed Earth Snakes)
VJI.— XENOPELTIDiE

(Iridiscent Earth Snakes.)

V11L— CALAMARID^J [

(Dwarf Snakes.)

IX.— HOMALOPSIDJE

(River Snakes.)

X.--AMBLYCEPHALID.E

(Blunt-headed Snakes.)
XI.— OLIGODONTIA® '
(Filleted Ground Snakes.)

XII.— LYCODONTID^E

(Harmless-fanged Snakes.)

XIII.— COLUBRID®—

I. — Group COKONELLINA

(Ground Colubers.)
II.— Group Colubrina
(Agile Colubers.)

Typhi ops porrectus .....

None.

Python molurus.......

Python reticulatus ....

Eryx johnii

Do.

Gongylophis conicus .

Do.
Chersydrus granulatus.

Do.

Do.

Do.
Silybura brevis

Simotes Russellii ....

Do.
Oligodon subgriseus.

Do.
Oligodon fasciatus .
Oligodon spilonotus .
Lycodon aulicus ....

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Cyclophis calamaria

None-.

Aspidura trachyprocta ......

Do.

Do.

Do.
Cerberus rhynchops

Do.

Do.

Do.

Sp. nova...

Do

None.

Zamenis fasciolatus

Do.

Cynophis malabaricus

Ptyas mucosus juv

Do. juv

Do. juv

Do. (head of adult).

Do. (head of adult).

Bandora.

Lanowli.

In a ship from Rangoon,

Bombay Harbour.

Do.

Do.
Alibag.
Khandalla.

Ceylon.

Do.

Do.

Do.
Alibag.

Do.
Born in Society's rooms.

Do.
Saugor, C. P.

Bombay.
Alibag.

Bombay.

Do.
Tanna.
Bombay.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Mahableshwar.

Khandalla.
Tanna.
Khandalla.
Bombay.

Do.

Do.

Dc.

Do.

CATALOGUE OF SNAKES.

■cJi?

Family.

Genera and Species.

Locality.

XIII.— COLUBEID^-c^.
III. — Group Dkyadina

(Bush Colubers.)
IV.— Group Natricina
(Amphibious Colubers.)

XIV.— DENDROPHID.E
(Tree Snakes,)
XV— DRYIOPHID^
(Long-nosed Tree Snakes.)

None.

Tropidonotus quincunciatus
Do.
Do.

Do. Beddomii ...
Do. plumbicolor...

None.

Do.

Bombay.

Do.
Alibag.
Bombay.

Do.

Do.
Mahableshwar.
Khandalla.

Tanna.
Bombay.
Do.

Do.

XVI.— DIPSADIDiE

Do.

(Broad-headed Tree Snakes)

Do.

Saugor, C. P.

Do.

Do.

Alibag.

Bombay.
Saugor, C. P.

XVII.— PSAMMOPHID^E
(Desert Snakes.)
XVIII.— ELAPIDvE

None.

I Venomous Colubrine Land Snakes)

Do.

Do.

Bombay.
Do.

Born in Society's rooms.

Mahableshwar.
Canara.

Bombay Harbour.
Do.

XIX.— HYDKOPHID.E

(Sea Snakes.)

Do. (embryo, with
tooth for cut-
ting egg.)

Ophiophagus elaps (skin)..

Do.

Do.

Do.

Bombay Harbour.
Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Alibag.
Do.

Do

Do.

Do

Do.

Do

Do.

XX.— CROTALID^E

(Crotali or Pit Vipers.)

Trimeresurus anamallensis .
Do. (head)

Khandalla.
Do.

Ceylon.

8*5

NATURAL HISTORY.

Family.

Genera and Species.

Locality.

XXI.

— VIPERID^

(Vipers.)

Rutnagiri.
Do.

Do.

Do.

Band or a.

Do. (head of 61*

specimen.)

Do

Hurda, C. P.

Bombay.
Do.

Do

Do.

Do.

NOTE.

It will be seen that in the Society's collection there are no specimens of the
genera belonging to the following families : —
Fam. II.— TORTRICID^E (Short tailed Earth Snakes).
„ VII.— XENO PELT ID^E (Iridescent Earth Snakes).
X.— AMBLYCEPHALIDiE (Blunt-headed Snakes).
XIV.— DENDROPHID^] (Tree Snakes).
XVIL— PSAMMOPfllD^ (Desert Snakes).
Up-country members who are willing to assist the Collection, can have
jars, containing spirits of wine, sent to them on application.

H. M. PHIPSON,
Honorary Secretary,
Reptilk Section.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY DURING
THE QUARTER.

The usual monthly meeting of this Society was held on Tuesday evening,
5th January, in the rooms at 6, Apollo Street. There wan a large attendance
of members. Dr. Macdonald having taken the chair, the minutes of the last
meeting were read.

The following new members were then elected :— Lieutenant-Colonel Row-
landson, Captain Gerald Martin, Captain E, F. Marriott, Surgeon Horace
Yeld, Miss E. Rich, Khansaheb Dinshahjee Dosabhai Khambatta, Rao
Bahadoor Ragoonath Mahadev Kelkar, the Rev. Mr. Alexander, Messrs.
W. M. Macaulay, A. C. Parmenides, Anthony Morrison, H. W. Jones and
W. W. Squire.

The additions made to the Society's collections since last meeting were
reported, as detailed below.

The Secretary reported that His Excellency Lord Reay had accepted the
office of President of the Society. He also reported that he had been very
successful at the auction of books mentioned at last meeting, having secured
13 separate works on Natural History, most of them rare and of great value.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY DURING THE QUARTER. 8?

Mr. Justice Birdwood proposed a vote of thanks to the Secretary, which
was seconded by Mr. Sterndale, and carried nem con.

Mr. Sterndale then rose to propose a change in Rule VI., which runs thus : —
"A president and two vice-presidents shall be elected from among the
members resident in Bombay." He proposed that this rule should be amended
so as to admit of the election of three or more vice-presidents, as in a place
like Bombay, where many members are at certain seasons of the year absent,
two are not sufficient. He also proposed that Mr. Justice Birdwood should
foe elected as a third vice-president.

On the suggestion of Dr. Bainbridge, these proposals were put separately,
and, the first being seconded by Mr. F. N. Daver, was carried. Regarding the
second, Mr. Kanga thought notice of it should have been given.

The Secretary said that notice of the intention to make a change in Rule
VI. had been duly given, as required by the rules themselves ; but that he had
not thought it necessary to give notice of Mr. Sterndale's intention to pro-
pose that Mr. Birdwood should be elected one of the vice-presidents.

Mr. Sterndale then rose to explain that his reason for wishing the matter
carried through at this meeting was only this, that it seemed very desirable to
have the governing body complete for insertion in the first number of the
journal which he hoped would be in the hands of members by the 15th of
this month.

Mr. Kanga at ouce agread to this, and the motion, being seconded by
Colonel Walcott, was carried unanimously.

The Sacretary mentioned that the skulls presented to the Society by Mr.
Shillingford of Purneah, which were acknowledged at last meeting, had since
arrived and were now on exhibition in the room.

Mr. Sterndale proposed a vote of thanks to the Agent of the E, I. Railway
for his courtesy in conveying the heads free of charge, which was seconded
by Mr. Leslie Crawford and carried.

Mr. Justice Birdwood then exhibited some fruits of the Ghela (Randiv
dumetorum), a tree common at Matheran, which were inhabited by the larva
of a butterfly, one of the Lyeaenidze. The insect had in each case made a
hole through the hard rind of the fruit and come out for the purpose of
securing the fruit to the stalk with silk, lest it should fall. Some other
curious phenomena were exhibited, and the meeting closed.

Contributions. , Contributors.

Head of Jackal (with solitary horn between the

ears) Dr. K. B. Kirtikar.

Specimens of the Flora of Western Australia ... Capt. O'Grady.

2 Walrus Tusks Capt. W. Walker.

2 Australian Boomerangs Do.

1 Live Koel (Eudynamis honorata) Col. Bissett.

A quantity of fresh water fishes and crus-
taceans W. Sinclair, C.S.

2 Bats Do.

Li?e Octopus and Fish Miss Walcott,

$3 NATURAL HISTORY.

Minor Contributions — From Messrs. K. 0. Campbell, Gibson, W. J. Easai,
Rev. A. B. Watson, and Mr. L. P. Russell.

Exhibits — A live crested Hawk Eagle (Limncetus cristatellus), by H. M.
Phipson.

Additions to the Library. — Malabar Fishes (Dav), presented by Mr. C. P.
Cooper.

The annual meeting of this Society was held on Monday, the 1st February,
at 6, Apollo Street. Dr. Macdonald haviDg taken the chair, the minutes of
the last meeting were read and confirmed. The following new members were
elected ; — Dr. J. C. Lisboa, Miss Oliver, Miss R. Oliver, Colonel Goodfellow,
Dr. H. Cooke, Messrs. W. Woodward, H. G. Palliser, J. Steiner. L. C.
Balfour, B. B. Russell, John Chrystal, N. Spencer, P. Reynolds, C. Lowell,
J. C. Francis, G. Oliver, N. H Cbowksey, and G. Manson.

The accounts for 1885 were put in. Mr. Sterndale proposed that Mr. F. G.
Kingsley should be requested to audit them. The motion was seconded by
Mr. Justice Birdwood and carried.

The Secretary proposed that a managing and financial committee should be
appointed under Rule XIV., consisting of the following ex-officio members,
with powers to add to their number : — The vice-presidents of the Society, the
presidents and secretaries of the sections, and the secretary and treasurer of
the Society. He also proposed that Mr. F. G. Kingsley should be appointed
treasurer. The motion was seconded by Mr. Kanga and carried unanimously.

Mr. N. S. Symons proposed that the funds of the Society should be
deposited in a bank and a banking account kept. This was seconded by Mr.
Jefferson, and carried.

The additions to the collections and library since last meeting were
acknowledged as detailed below.

Mr. Justice Birdwood proposed a special vote of thanks to Mr. G. W.
Yidal and Mr. A. Newnham for their valuable contributions, which was
seconded by Mr. Starling, and carried.

Mr. Sterndale then exhibited a curiously deformed horn of the Cashmere
stag obtained by exchange from M. Dauvergne, on which he made some
interesting remarks, showing how liie deformity had probably been caused.
He also exhibited and made some remarks on the skin of a tiger-cat. Mr.
Aitken read a note by Mr. Newnham on the frequent occurrence of albinoism
in Cutch, adding some remarks on instances from his own experience, tending
to show that a sandy soil and dry climate exercised what might be called a
bleaching effect on the colour, not only of birds and beasts, but of insects also.

Before the meeting closed the Secretary intimated that he had found a
practical European taxidermist in want of employment, with whom he had
entered into an engagement which he hoped would enable the Society to
undertake any kind of work, such as curing skins, mounting heads and setting
up birds, not only for members, but for other sportsmen and naturalists.
All arrangements would, of course, be made through Mr. E. L. Barton, whose
came would be a guarantee for the artistic finish of all work undertaken.

PROCEEDINGS FO THE SOCIETY DURING THE QUARTER. 89

Contributions.— 450 birds' skins, by Mr. G. W. Vidal, C.S. ; skin of hamad-
rayad (OpMophagus Elaps), by Mr. G. W. VidaJ. C.S. ; one snake (Zamenis
Fasciatus), by Mr. G. W. Vidal, C.S. ; 102 birds' skins, from Bhooj, by Mr.
A. Newnham; large ant's-nest, by Mr. W. Shipp ; one stuffed fish (Barbus
Carnations), by Mr. H. M. Phipson, a quantity of small fresh-water fishes, by
Mr. W. Sinclair, C.S. ; three skins of Capra Sibirica, the Himalayan ibex,
showing the colouring at three different seasons, by Mons. H. Dauvergne ;
one pigmy shrew, by Mr. H. Littledale ; two hammer-headed sharks, by Dr.
Hatch.

Minor contributions by Messrs. F. A. Little, John Chrystal, W. Shipp, W.
Thacker, J. M. Mitchell, W. T. Smith, W. LeGeyt, K. M. Shroff, and D. E.
Ait ken.

Contributions to Library.— Birds of the Bombay Presidency (Barnes), by the
author ; Encyclopedic d' Histoire Naturelle (Vol. 1-6), J. Poutz.

The monthly meeting of the Society was held on Monday, March 1, in tho
Eooms at 6, Apollo Street, and was largely attended. Dr. D. Macdonald took
the chair.

The following new members were elected : — Captain G. WilsoD, Mr.

D. Morris, Mr. J. H. C. Dunsterville, Mr. G. J. B. Rayment, Dr. Gaye, Mr.

E. M. Walton, Major W. S. Bisset, R.E., Mr. G. H. R. Hart, Miss Hart, Mr.
G. Fletcher, Mr. J. Anderson, Cap1. T. R. M. Macpherson, Dr. Henderson,
Col. Weatmacott, Miss Maneekjee Cursetjee, Mr. D. B. Maistry, and Mr.
C. C. Mehta.

The following additions made to the Society's collection?, since the last
meeting, were duly acknowledged : —

126 species of ants and wasps, from Cileutta, by Mr. G. A. J. Rothney.
Several black bucks' heads and birds' skins, from Ahmeiabad, by Cjlonel

J. Hills, R.E.
Skull of hippopotamus, from Zanzibar, by Mr. F. D. Parker.
One snake (Echis carinatu'), by Mr. D. E. Aitken.

One Indian moaitor (\Taranus draccena), by Dr. Kirtika.

One sarus ciane (Grus antigone), by Mr. John Griffiths.

A quantity of mussels and sponges, Bombay harbour, by Miss Walke.

A quantity of polyps, Bombay harbour, by Mr. W. W. Squire.

Fresh water sponges, by Mr. W. Gleadow.

Four lizards, alive ( Urmastix hardwickii), by Mr. R. M. Dixon.

Five snakes {Silybura brevis, Chersydrus granulatus, Gongylophis conicus,

Zamenis fasciolatus, Lycodon aulicus), by Mr. H. M. Phipsoc
Minor contributions from Messrs. H. W. Barrow, H. B. Mactaggart, J.

Bristed, W. A. Collins, Thos Lidbetter, J. D'Aguiar, Major Kirkwood,

and Captain Miller.
Additions to the Library. — Cyclopcedia of India, 3 vols. (Balfoui), from
W. Sinclair, C.S. ; Asiatic Society Journal for 1885, from the Secretary, Calcutta.
Two panthers, two sambhurs, a cheetul, and a black buck, mounted by the
Society's taxidermist for up-country correspondents, were also exhibited.

90

NATURAL HISTORY.

Mr. E. H. Aitken announced that, as be was about to leave Bombay, be
was obliged to resign the position of Honorary Secretary, but expressed a
hope that he would still be able to contribute to the Society's collections.

The Chairman proposed a special vote of tbacks to Mr. Aitken for the
energetic manner in which he had fulfilled the duties of Honorary Secretary
since the establishment of the Society.

The vote, on being put to the meeting, was received with applause, and
carried unanimously.

Mr. H. M. Phipson was then elected Honorary Secretary.

Mr. E. H. Aitken read an interesting paper on the classification of insects,
pointing out the characteristics of the different orders, and describing their
development.

The metamorphosis of the dragon-fly was most happily illustrated by the
opportune appearance of one of these insects in the winged condition from the
pupa state during the course of the lecture.

Mr. Sterndale exhibited some curiously formed horns of the Cashmere stag,
showing a bifurcation of the bez tine, and a fine head of the musk-deer.

ii;-.

JOURNAL

OF THE

BOMBAY

Statural Sistflrn $atht&

N0. 3- BOMBAY, JULY 1886. Vol. I.

A SIND LAKE,
By Capt, E. F. Becher, R.A., f.z.s.

Sind, as viewed on the map and as seen from the sea on approach-
ing Karachi, has a most unpromising appearance ; in the former case
the Desert of Sind is written, and in the latter an apparently desert of
deserts is seen, the few houses of Clifton, surrounded by sand Kills,
giving a greater aspect of desolation than if no signs of habitation
were visible ; but along the banks of the Indus which traverses the
whole length of Sind are numerous jhils and lakes abounding in wild
fowl.

The Manchar Lake, however, though communicating with the
Indus, does not owe its existence entirely to that river ; it is about
7 miles long and 4 broad ; on one side are high barren hills of bare
rock, and on the other an open cultivated plain stretching to the
Indus, which is distant about 8 or 9 miles.

The lake itself is for the most part shallow and covered with water
weed ; the water is like crystal, and, looking down on the subaqueous
forest through the clear shallow medium, brightened by the usual
unclouded sun, it has always reminded me of a most perfect
microscopical illumination of some opaque object, a beauty which
a microscopist will understand. The surface of the lake teems with
waterfowl. Mr. A. 0. Hume says with respect to the coots :
" I believe they would have to be counted not by thousands, but
by tens of thousands. * * * In no part of the world have I
ever seen such incredible multitudes of coots as are met with in
Sind." This was written in 1873, but since that date Sind has
been much opened out, and the Manchar Lake being easily accessible
the number of wild fowl has decreased. On three occasions I have
spent about ten days on the lake. Living in a boat is much preferable
to camping on the banks for any one to whom a bird is something
more than a Hawk, Duck, or Snippet.

92 NATURAL HISTORY.

As an example of what sights gratify one's eyes in the early morn-
ino-, it was no uncommon thing to see within a stone's throw of mv
boat the large and little cormorant, keenly engaged in catching their
morning meal, at least two species of tern every now and then de-
scending with a loud splash into the water, the common pied kingfisher
hovering over the surface, stilts, one or two of the numerous gracefid
white herons or egrets, several black-tailed godwits, of course one or
two of the numerous harriers which are perpetually sailing over
the rushes, and two or three species of the smaller waders ; other
birds there were, but I think I have quoted enough ; within a
stone's throw is no exaggeration : no crouching behind a bush,
or concealment was necessary on my part; they hardly paid
any heed to my presence ; on more than one occasion I have seen as
many as three white-tailed eagles together almost within gunshot.

One of the methods of shooting wild fowl when required for
the pot, and I am afraid often when not, is to be poled to-
wards the numerous duck and shoot at them sitting on the
surface of the water at long ranges ; it is remarkable how they
appear to know the exact range of an ordinary gun, but a
choke-bore at present they do not understand ; their almost invariable
practice is to let you approach within 70 and 80 yards before they
take flight.

On the banks are some fishing villages ; great numbers of fish are
caught by driving them into a net ; this operation is accompanied by
the most deafening and prolonged noise ; if fish can hear, they would
hear this ; on the front of each boat is a rocking wooden tray in
which is a copper dekshi ; this tray is perpetually worked, varied
with beating the deck with a short stick, the boat itself being rocked ;
a band conductor, as I will call him, as he seems to regulate the noise
and movements, stations himself in a boat at the mouth of the net ;
it is no uncommon thing for these fishing boats to have a long

C3 o O

perch, on which are seated various species of herons and egrets, and
cormorants, or else, perhaps, a pedlican is standing on their boats.
Mr. Murray says that they use these birds as decoys and sew up their
eyes ; in the case of those I have examined I am glad to say I have
never seen this latter cruelty perpetrated.

The natives are adepts at spearing fish, which, when the fish are
at some little depth is no easy matter ; on account of the refraction,
part of the equipment of every boat is two or more spears, and a stone
on which to sharpen the points.

A SI5TD LAKE. Oij

I always used to look forward to evening flighting, not only from a
sporting point of view, but on account of the bird life which is alwa}-s
to be seen on these occasions ; this shooting was always done from
a boat concealed more or less amongst the reeds. I will take from my
notes an account of an evening's flighting at the end of February last
year. " About 4-30, 1 took up my position amongst the high reeds. The
first to come over are one or two stragglers (duck), and then the usual
enormous flocks of duck pass by, flying high over head from the direc-
tion of the Indus, the first intimation of their approach being the rushing
noise caused by their wings ; after this, or perhaps a little before, some
large flocks of glossy ibis flying slowly in a single undulating line
pass close by ; one slowly unfolds one of its long legs and leisurely
scratches its head, the whcle operation appearing very ludicrous;
all the time one or two harriers hunt leisurely over the reeds
ready to pick up any wounded victim to my gun ; a gull or two pass
over, especially noticeable is the large black-headed Larus ichthycetus,
then comes a flock of graceful small white egrets ; on one occasion I
shot one for identification, which turned out to be Ilerodias inter-
media ; I also watch with interest the fishing of the blue kingfisher
A. ispida} and perhaps A. hengalensis, and the pied kingfisher Ceryle
radis. (I might also have seen the lovely Halcyon smyrnensis^ but as
I am transcribing from my notes on this particular occasion, I did
not.) Many wagtails of two or three species flit about the reed-covered
surface of the water; the hoarse loud note ofthe Reed warblers, Acro-
cephalus stentorhts, is constantly heard, but although close to me, I
can only occasionally catch a glimpse of one amongst the reeds ; the
little warblers (Phylloscopus tristis) flit rapidly in and out amongst the
rushes, and if I do not move, they allow me to admire their ceaseless
activity almost within an arm's length ; as the evening gets on, the
croaking of the frogs and chirping of the grasshoppers (?) keep up a
perpetual monotonous concert with the splashing and cackling of the
noisy purple gallinules; cormorants, both great and small, fly past ; (in
the case of one I shot, the small cormorant was Graculus javanica, but iu
Mr. Murray's Vertebrates of Sind I see that both Graculus sinensis and
G. javanica are common Sind species, the former being distinguished
from the latter by having no white thigh or cheek patch ; I did not
know of this distinction at the time, so was not on the alert to
discriminate between the two species) ; then I see a few curlews,
a flock of crows, and flying close to the surface of the water a
flock of Hinmdiniuce; they are gone too quick for identification.

94 NATURAL HISTORY.

but doubtless Cotyle sinensis ; and then come the duck, but I do
not see the cloud of them which last December used to rise from
the lake as it were simultaneously, passing overhead in varying
numbers ; in a quarter of an hour or so the flight is over, darkness
has set in, and all is still save the croaking frogs and the chirping
insects."

I have mentioned above that Alcedo ispida and perhaps A.bengalensis
are to be seen ; but I must confess that I am fairly puzzled with
Alcedo ispida, A. bengalensis, and a small form which Mr. Hume says :
41 * compels me to identify it with ispida rather than benga-

lensis."— (See Stray Feathers, Vol. I., p. 168.) In no book that I have
seen is the difference between A. bengalensis and A. ispida clearly pointed
out. I have four skins of Sind blue kingfishers before me as I write : three
seem to me almost the, same, except one which is not so long and whose
bill is a trifle stouter than the other two ; these I refer to ispida, but
the fourth is much smaller and much brighter; its length is 5 "75,
bill at top 1*44, bill from gape 1*87, wing 2*65 ; the bill is blackish
brown except at the base of the lower mandible, which is beneath
reddish : the ground colour of the head is very dark brown ; the
throat is white and the rest of the under parts ferruginous, but on
the breast the ferruginous feathers are tipped with faint light
blue ; it is male, and was shot at the Manchar lake on the 15th
December 1885.

As regards the geese and duck, on the last occasion I visited the
lake (Dec. 9, 1885) geese, duck and other wild fowl were conspicuous
by their absence, and I believe throughout Sind ; on this occasion I
only saw a few grey lag geese (A. cinerens), but in February of the
same year I have no note of this species, but the barred-head
goose {A. indieus) was extremely abundant.

The Large Whistling Teal (JDendvocygna fulva). — I shot a few in
December, but none in February ; they are very slow flyers, and when
one of their number is shot, they often circle round it, constantly
uttering their whistling cry; their feet and tarsus are proportionally
very large, and altogether they give any one, who remarks individu-
ality in other than the human species, the idea that they are half-
witted-

The Ruddy Shelldrake (Casarea rutila), more generally known as
the Brahminy, is common ; its hoarse croak is often heard as it flies
overhead; I cannot agree with the statement in Mr. Murray's Verte-
brates of Sind that " they are extremely shy and wary birds," and, as

A MND LAKE. 95

Mr. Reid in Game Birds remarks : " It will not only keep a sharp look-
out on its own account, but will fly along the jhil side before the gun-
ner, uttering its warning note and put every bird, on the qui vive." I
have always found it a slow clumsy bird, easy to approach. I
was very amused on one occasion watching a Pariah dog try in0" to
approach one in some deep mud ; the dog with an unconcerned manner,
as if Brahminy duck was the one thing in this world which it had the
least thought of, the duck as if a dog trying to catch it was an equally
distant thought ; the dog at last manoeuvred till it was quite close and
was evidently heedless of the proverb " First catch your hare before yon
cook it ;" but then the Brahminy flapped away a few paces ; then the
same manoeuvres were repeated to the evident amusement of the bird
and the annoyance of the dog; how long the dog would have pursued
in this wild goose or more correctly wild duck chase I cannot tell, as I
was tired before the dog was ; walking on put a stop to any more
manoeuvres ; this duck and the former are considered not fit for
human food ; a brother officer tried a young Brahminy on one occasion
and ate some of it with relish ; he also had a whistling teal cooked ;
which he and another friend pronounced good ; I have never eaten
the former, but I have attempted to eat a little of the latter ; I shall
never do so again.

The Shoveller (Spatula clypeata) is very numerous ; as a bird for the
table it also has a bad reputation, which, no doubt, is frequently well
deserved, as it is a foul feeder and delights in any dirty pool ; but
those 1 tried at tbe Manchar Lake were not bad eating.

The Mallard (Anas boschas). — Last December I think this was almost
the most numerous species on the lake ; in February I only shot two in
about seven days' shooting.

The Gadwall (Chaulelasmus slreperus) is also very common.

The Marbled Teal (Chaulelasmus angustirostris) very common. When
flying, on account of its proportionately large expanse of wings, it
appears a much larger bird than it is.

The Pintail (Da/ila acuta), another very common species.

The Widgeon (Mareca penelope\ not very common ; I only shot one
last December.

Both the Common and Garganey Teal (Querquedula crecca and Q.
circia) are common, especially the latter ; none of the males which I
shot of the last species during my last December visit had made any
attempts to assume the male plumage.

9(j NATURAL HISTORY,

The Red-crested Pochard (Fulipula rufina) and the Tufted Duck
(F. cristata) are fairly common, especially the latter. I did not shoot
a single one of either of these ducks last December, nor did I observe
any, nor did I see any pochard (Fulig ula ferina) at that time ; I have
only a note of it forming part of my bag last February, but whether
common or not is not mentioned.

The White-eyed Duck (Fuligula ferina) is common.
At the latter end of the season, when the water has fallen, Snipe
common and Jack are numerous in favourable places round the edges
of the lake.

On the babul-fringed banks of the canal from Sehman I secured a
male and a female of Passer pyrrhonotus ; this is an interesting bird
from having been rediscovered by Mr. Doig in 1880, not having been
recorded in India for forty years previously — See Stray Feathers, Vol. IX.
As regards the other animals inhabiting the lake, which particularly
attract notice, amongst the fish there is a fresh- water pipe fish in con-
siderable numbers ; in fact, it is almost impossible to look down into the
water without seeing several of these gliding in and out amongst the
weeds ; the natives never seem to catch it ; there is also a fresh-water
prawn which to the eye uneducated in entomostracan lore appears
similar to the well-known marine form. Mr. Murray informs me that
it has not as yet been properly identified.

There are several species of fresh-water shells, one, — a fresh-water
mussel, — is very numerous ; there is another form of large bivalve,
which is unknown to me ; Limncea sp. (?) is also very common with
a pink variety ; Sphcerium sp. (?) fairly numerous; a smallish Planorbis
sp. (?) is met with on the weeds, but not in any great numbers :
Paludina sp. (?) is very common.

As regards the vegetable kingdom, one of the commonest sights is
to see a number of naked women digging up from the mud the roots
of the lotus, whose broad leaves cover the water in places, and afford
a convenient standing ground for snipe, as I found to my cost, when
working the neighbouring snipe ground ; these roots seem to be rather
highly prized as a vegetable; I tasted them, and they had the flavour
of parsnip, but were rather stringy, as they seem chiefly made up of a
number of fine silk-like fibres. But for the present I have said more
than enough ; if I were to Avrite of all I saw at the lake, I am afraid
the journal of the B. N. H. S. would scarcely contain it.

E. F. BECHEf?, Caft., E.A., f.z.s.

NOTES ON THE WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. !>7

NOTES ON THE WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA,

Part I.—" British Deccan and Khandesh."
By a Member of the Society.

The following rough notes on the waters of Western India are
written " gryphonibus puerisque," and I do not suppose them to
contain much original matter of any scientific value. It is hardly
necessary to say that I have drawn freely upon the standard
works of Drs. Jerdon, Nicholson, Day, and Gunther, but more special
acknowledgment is due to later and less known local writers,
Mr. Wendon, C.E., Dr. Fairbank, Captain Butler, and ether
officers who contributed to the Bombay Gazetteer and the Reports
attached to the Bombay contributions to the Fisheries Exhibition.
Even of my own observations, the memoranda used in these notes
have mostly been put at the service of the officers who compiled
these last-named publications, or used in a lecture delivered before
the Royal Asiatic Society. For the Indian angler, Mr. Thomas's
u Rod in India" stands by itself ; and whoever wants to catch fish
in this country ought to read it, and not depend on my incomplete
remarks.

As but few Europeans on this side of India are much in the
way of sea fishing, I shall begin by describing the fresh waters
of the Presidency, which are divided between four very well-
marked regions.

The first of these is that of the Deccan and Khandesh. All along
the Western Ghats a number of torrents rising very close to their
scarped edge flow eastwards ; generally, at first, with a good deal of
southing. Within a very few miles of their sources these unite to form
rivers, the beds of which a good deal resemble those of salmon rivers
in Northern Europe ; but their streams differ from these in an
important particular. Instead of the alternate rise and fall which
make European angling a speculative pursuit, we have here three or
four months of continual flood, while for the rest of the year each
river becomes a chain of pools connected (if at all) by a very insignifi-
cant current. Another matter very important to the fish is that this
region of torrents and moderate-sized rivers is also one of rice cultiva-
tion carried on in small pond-like fields called kasars, through which a
great deal of the water from the hill sides must pass before it
reaches any definite channel. Below the rice region these rivers
generally flow through wide valleys for from 50 to 100 miles

08 NATURAL HISTORY.

before reaching the great plain of the Deccan. Their course (as
will have been understood from my comparison of them to salmon
rivers) is much diversified with rapids, sometimes even with con-
siderable falls, with gravelly shallows, and with long pools and reaches.
These latter occasionally have alluvial banks and muddy bottoms, but-
more commonly the bank is rocky ; the bed of the same nature, with
a good deal of gravel ; and the water clear throughout the fine
weather, that is, from October to May inclusive.

There is hardly a siugle river of importance that is not crossed by
at least one ancient or modern irrigation weir ; and on some there
are many weirs, all of masonry, sometimes very lofty, and in no
case that I know, of provided with any sort of a fish-ladder. As
many of the tributary torrents as have any stream during the
whole or part of the dry season are crossed by many little dams,
visually built for the season only, of wattles, mats, and mud or gravel,
but sometimes they also are permanent dams of good stonework.

As each group of these rivers debouches from its gradually
widening valleys into the great plain of the Deccan, some one of
them, like Aaron's Rod, swallows up the others; and from this point
to the eastern boundary of the Presidency its course is generally a
huo-e trough about 100 feet deep and half a mile wide,
bottomed alternately with sand and mud, and rarely crossed by a
bar of basalt, over which the river falls in rapids or a cataract.

Except at such places the banks are usually of stiff alluvial soil ,
scarped on the outside of each curve of the stream, where it runs
deepest and strongest, but sloping gradually on the inside of the
curve to wide sandbanks bordering on the " dead water."

The streams which unite to form the Bhima, most of which rise in
the Poona District, illustrate the above description well enough ; but
the finest falls on any large river easily accessible from Bombay are
those on the Godavery at Phultamba.

Before dismissing the Deccan rivers it should be added that each
of them after leaving this Presidency is barred by great irrigation
works, which completely prevent the ascent of fish from the sea
from their lower waters.

Besides its rivers, the Deccan has a considerable number of
artificial lakes and ponds, or, as we call them, tanks. Some of these,
especially those at Khadakwasla, near Poona, and Ekruk, near
Sholapur, are of considerable size, and a good many, even of the
lesser, are perennial. But the greater number are reduced to mere

NOTES ON THE WATERS OF WESTERN INDTA. 99

puddles, or entirely dried up annually, even in ordinary seasons*
Of natural lakes there is not one.

Khandesh, for the purpose of these notes, may be classed with
the Deccan, which it resembles in its geology and. hydrography ;
and though its great river, the Tapti, flows into the Arabian Sea,
instead of the Bay of Bengal, it has only one tributary of importance
(the Puma) that does not rise in the Western Ghats, or in their
great spur, the Satmalla Range. Rivers and tanks in these two
neighbouring regions resemble each other, even as Fluellen's waters of
Macedon and Monmouth. It is true that instead of " salmons in
both," " there is salmons in neither ;"* and it is now perhaps time
to consider what there is instead of salmons.

Nearly all the fishes of any importance belong to two families,
namely, the Cyprinidse, or Carps ; and the Siluridse, or Catfishes.

Probably no writer on Indian fishes, except a professed ichthy-
ologist, can escape from beginning with (i the Mahseer." As a
matter of fact, although it would not be correct to say that
there is no such fish as a mahseer, there is certainly no
fish that has an exclusive right to the title, and it is not a genuine
native name for any fish in our present province. A certain group
of Indian barbels differ from the English representatives of that
genus in preferring troubled waters and a highly predatory existence.
They will eat, indeed, whatever they can come at, from a fly to a
wild fig ; but what they like best, perhaps, is a little fish, no matter
of what sort, even if their own. This frame of mind and palate fits
them particularly for the purpose of the sportsman, and wherever }'ou
find him in India, he and his native assistants will be found calling
some of these predatory barbels tl Mahseer ' or " Big-head." Even
where the term is vernacular, viz., in Hindustan, it varies in local
application, and still more in the Peninsula.

Naturalists, however, have generally agreed in appropriating the
title to the giant of the tribe, " Barbus tor" of whom all that I can
say here, unfortunately, is that within our present area he is not at
all a common fish ; and when found, not often a very large
one. The reason is not far to seek. The great rivers of the Hima-
layas, in which the true " Mahseer" thrives, are fed by rain
and melting snow at different seasons to an extent that makes them
and their upper tributaries perennial. Many of those of the extreme

*Note. — The "Rajputana trout" (Barilins hula) and the " Himalayan trout"
(Oreimis, several species) are not found in this Presidency. Both are Cyprinidse.

100 NATURAL HISTORY.

south of India, where also this fish flourishes, get the benefit of two
monsoons ; and in both cases the upper streamlets rim from lofty
mountains through, at first, uninhabited jungles of great extent,
where spawning fish and descending fry are pretty secure from
their worst enemy — man.

The streams of the Deccan, on the other hand, are full for only
three or four months, and even at that season the sources of almost
every one of them, as far as the barbels are concerned, are, and
have been for many generations, in rice-fields, out of which few
spawning fish, and not many of their fry, escape alive. All the
circumstances are against large fish like Barbus tor, with a taste for
high spawning grounds, and in favour of species moi'e moderate in
size and aspiration, though otherwise of very similar appearance and
habits. These are generally known to the natives as u Kawli MascC
or " scaly-fish" from their large scales. If I remember right, the
allied Burbot has a similar local name on the Rhine. Dr. Fairbank
eives " Mhasala" or " Buffalo-fish" as a Mahratta name for Barbus
lor, and mentions one as 3^ feet long, one foot high (!), and weighing
42 lbs., much the largest I ever heard of in these waters. As
regards the value of the whole group for the table, all I can say is
that I never tasted a Mahseer of any one else's killing that was worth
putting a fork to. What I kill myself are (of course) good fish all
round. They will all sometimes rise at a fly or a spinning 1 ait (dead
or artificial), but live bait is certainly the most killing. The name of
" Indian salmon" is an absurd misnomer for these or any other
Indian fishes ; a Mahseer no more resembles a salmon than a Buc-
caneer might an English naval officer.

Next after the Mahseers come the Labeos, or Rahu or Roho fish,
named by Hindu fancy after the mythical dragon who causes eclipses
by swallowing the sun. The type of the genus, perhaps, is Labeo
Rohita, the " Roho fish" proper, called in Mahratta " tambacla
masa" or " copper fish." The name "Roho" is as much knocked
about as that of Mahseer. These Labeos are easily distinguished at
the first glance from the Indian barbels by their longer form and very
peculiar mouth, set under the snout, and furnished with thick warty
lips, convenient for grazing from above on water weeds, which, with
perhaps some insects and snails, form " the chief of their diet."
They like still and muddy water ; in this resembling the European
carp ; and I should certainly have called them " Indian carp" in
this paper if Mr. Thomas had not most unfortunately appropriated

NOTES ON THE WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 101

the title to an omnivorous fighting barbel closely allied to the Mahseer
and actually called Mahseer by Europeans in our province. Factum
valet quod fieri non debuit, the Rohos must go without an English
name. Iu net-fishing throughout our province they are usually the
largest fish in the net, but are very apt to escape by jumping over
it in fine style. 1 have more than once seen one knock a man down
and go off over his prostrate body, and have got good sport by
wading behind the net with a spear and striking them in the air.
The best baits for them are paste, earth-nuts and gram. Worms
are so scarce in this country that one can hardly count them among
available bait, but when you can get them, hardly any Indian fish
will refuse them. If any gentleman despises bottom fishing, let him
try for a Roho with fine tackle (coarse tackle is of no use), and if he
hooks one, he will find the play much more like that of a salmon than
a Mahseer's ; and the fish, moreover, very much better for the
table. With a little trouble they can be kept alive for a good
while, and even when dead do not quickly become stale.*

After the Mahseers and Rohos there are no Cyprinidoe of any
account either for sport or for the table, though several small sorts,
such as Chela, Rasbora, and Barilius, can be taken with a midge-fiy
or small bait and trout rod, and fried in rows upon a bamboo
splinter, after the fashion known to mofussil house-keepers as
" Havildars and twelves." If small enough, they can then be eaten
bones and all, and are no bad variety in the monotonous bill of fare
of a camp.

The next family, the Siluridce or catfishes, though not so
numerous in individuals, are quite as often " in evidence," as
several of them are much better eating than any Indian Cyprinoid.
They are all scaleless, and most of them have a " dead fin ': behind
the great back fin like a salmon or trout, The commonest and
best for the table is the (i Padi" or " Shiioara masa " ( Wallaqo
attu), the JBoalli of Upper India. Dr. Fairbank gives " Padi " as a
name for Silundia Sykesi, another catfish, much handsomer, and
possessing a dead fin, for which Sykes himself gives " Pari ' and
''■ Sillun" Wallago attu grows to a great size, bites well, and
shows good fight. On one occasion I had played one almost within
reach of the landing net, when a second of about equal size rushed

* Note. — Shah Jahan or his father, I forget which, gave a horse and a village
to a lucky angler who brought him a fine " Rahu machi." The story is in Elliot :

auctore Iinperatore ipso.

102 NATURAL HISTORY.

up, laid hold of the captive, and carried him off into deep water,
where, after a few minutes, the fine tackle gave way.

The terms Singhala, Singhata, &c, signifying " Horn-fish," are
applied by Mahrattas to several catfish with long feelers, mostly
of the genus Macrones. These generally give fair spcrt, and are
good eating. The best way of angling for any of them is to use a
live bait in the evening, when they leave the deep water, and
maraud along the banks, or near the surface. Failing such bait,
fresh raw meat answers fairly well. It is good to shoot some wild
bird or kill a chicken beside the river bank, and bait with warm
flesh, as all carnivorous fish are strongly attracted by the smell
of blood.

In handling the catfishes it is necessary to be very careful, as
several species are provided with formidable spines, to say nothing
of numerous and sharp teeth ; and the wound of either is apt to be
very painful, and takes long to heal.

The larger species are sometimes known to sportsmen as " Fresh-
water sharks " from their size, temper, and well-furnished jaws.

After these there is only one family of sporting fish left to name,
viz , the walking fishes or Ophiocephalidce (snake-heads), commonly
called " MurvelV These are long fish, something of the shape of
a ling, whose head is fancifully supposed to resemble that of a
snake, whence the scientific name.

The Murrells are known to natives in the Deccan by that name,
but elsewhere in this Presidency as Dhak, Dhakru, or Dhok.
They are chiefly remarkable as air-breathing fish, a quality which
enables them to live for many hours out of water, and even to move
for some distance over land, wriggling and crawling with their
flapper-like fins, whence their English name. They cannot, indeed, live
altogether under water, but must rise to the surface occasionally
to take in fresh air ; and they like to lie at the top with their
nostrils exposed and breathe air for long periods together. To do
so in the centre of a stream or tank would expose them to many
enemies ; and the Murrells accordingly lurk in thick beds of weeds,
or under overhanging roots or rocks on the bank, where they lie
half erect in the water, breathing air and looking out for wind-
falls. They are said to have subaqueous burrows, but these, in
the nature of things, they cannot use for any long time to-
gether, and in my opinion they pass most of their lives at the
surface, but so skilfully concealed that they are seldom observed.

NOTES ON THE WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 103

In such a position they can sometimes be caught by dropping a
frog, grasshopper, or the like, upon the water close to them ;
but this is usually very difficult to do without being seen by the fish,
At night they leave their lurking places and cruise for prey
near the surface, and then they are often caught with trimmers
baited with live fish or frogs, or in favourable places with the rod,
using for bait the smallest possible fish, frog, tad-pole, or even
fresh raw meat. I once caught over two dozen of a small species
with the rod in one evening with the latter bait. The Murrella
are said to be monogamou", and, in fact, patterns of domestic
virtue until their young come of age, when the parents turn them
out to seek their fortune ; and eat the laggards. All of them are
good eating when in season, but at other times muddy flavoured.
The same is the case with the catfishes, and this is usually accounted
for by the difference of waters. My own experience is, however,
that these fishes, like salmon, are often good eating even when taken
from still and muddy waters, and earthy flavoured in the clearest
streams. I have no doubt that it is with them, as with the salmon,
a question of season.

In some rivers considerable numbers of Murrells are shot, as they
rise to the surface, with bullets or with barbed arrow?. The
arrow-heads are loosely set, but connected with the shaft by a line
wound round it. The archer plunges into the water, recovers . the
floating arrow-shaft, and hauls in the fish by the line. The mere
shock of the bullet on the water will often stun a fish without actual
contact.

The last thing to be said about these interesting fish is that they
have the power of lying asleep in the mud of dried-up tanks until
the return of the rains, — a power shared by several other fish
of this region, especially by a queer-looking creature, called
" Wambh" u chaldt^ and " chambdre" (" tanner-fish"), JSolopterus
kapirat.

True eels {Ahir) are not very often caught in the Deccan,
partly because they are really not common, but still more because
the fishing gear of that country is unsuited for their capture.
I only once saw one caught, viz., at Phultamba, on the Grodavery,
a famous neighbourhood for fish. My Portuguese cook refused to
cook it on the ground that it was " all same like ishnake." There
is only one species, Anguilla bengalensis, which grows to at least
5 lbs. weight.

104 NATURAL HISTORY.

No prejudice attaches, however, to the spiny eels, called commonly
" BhdrrC and " Wambhat," strange-looking fishes with rows of
prickles and long " trunk-like" snouts. They are very good eating,
but of no importance from a sporting point of view, though I have
seen my servants catch them on hooks baited with raw meat.

Besides the lesser Cyprinidae mentioned above, several fresh-
water herrings will take a trout-fly, giving a good deal of amuse-
ment in a small way, and these are all good for the table in the form
of i( Havildars and twelves." Along with these is sometimes caught
the queer-looking fresh- water garfish {Belone candid), called in
Mahratti a kutra " or " dog-fish," probably from its greediness, or
from its long well-armed jaws. It is exactly like the garfish of
European seas, living mostly close to the surface, and very fond
of skipping over any floating stick or straw. In our present province
both game and meat are often very scarce, and after many days'
diet of tough mutton and tougher " moorghies " in a bad climate,
a very moderate dish of eatable fish is a welcome luxury.

Setting aside nets and traps, it may be said that the main points
for the angler to remember in such waters as I have been describing
are to use a trout-rod for small fish, a salmon-rod for the large ones,
the finest line he dares, and the smallest hooks on the strongest gut
that he can get. Even in spinning he should never use treble
hooks, because almost all the fish he looks out for, except some
catfishes, have small mouths ; and the mahseers, though they have
no teeth in their mouths at all, have such power of jaw that they can
break anything that offers resistance, as a treble hook does. If
further information is required, the best of it is to be got in
Lieutenant Beavan's " Freshwater Fishes of India ' and Mr.
Thomas's " Rod in India."

I repent that I have omitted to notice one handsome genus of
carps, the Cirrhinas, which are very good eating, and would pro-
bably, if one could get them to take either a fly or bait, give better
sport than any other Indian fish, as they have certainly no equals
in grace of form and motion.

Although the fishes have claimed precedence in remarks upon
their own element, their possession of it is disputed by many other
creatures. In our present province, excluding man, only one of
these is a mammal, viz., the Otter (Lulra nair), called in Mahratti
" 03," liLad" and " Pdn-Manjar," (i.e., " Watercat"). I once heard
a Kashmiri Pandit call one u Lucira,'' which comes close as can be

NOTES ON THE WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 105

expected to the Latin and Greek. This animal is far more common in
the neighbourhood of the ghats than is supposed by most sportsmen ;
but being very shy, and of nocturnal habits, is rarely seen. If,
however, one follows up any river near Poona, for instance, in the early
morning, one is pretty sure to come on his unmistakeable " seal " on
a mud bank, and very likely on the remains of his supper. The otter
of the Deccan is much smaller than in Upper India and Sind, though
classed as the same species.

Aquatic birds are more numerous. I have never seen any of the
fishing eagles in the Deccan,* but the Osprey is not very uncom-
mon, and the chestnut and white " Brahminy Kite " does a little
fishing. He cannot go under water like the Osprey, but picks up
small fish from the surface. The fishing owls (Ketupa) are very
rare here, being essentially forest birds. Specimens of two species
were sent from this Presidency to the Fisheries Exhibition, but it
is not stated whence they came. Of Kingfishers, 5 species are found,
as follows : —

(1) The Large Blue Kingfisher, H. LeucocepJiahis ;

(2) The Lesser Blue Kingfisher, H. Smyi'nensis ;

(3) The Least Blue Kingfisher, Alcedo bengalensis ; and the

(4) Pied Kingfisher, Ceryle rudis.

The two last are the commonest, especially in the open
plains ; the others prefer wooded streams, and vary their
fish diet a good deal with grasshoppers and the like.
Halcyon smyrncnsis, indeed, seems almost independent
of water, wherever there is woodland. The Pied Kingfisher
is the most conspicuous and best known from its habit of
hovering over open water and dropping like a stone
upon its quarry. I heard on good authority of its attack-
ing in this manner a dog that had passed too near its nest
in a bank.

(5) Colonel Sykes records the rare and beautiful Three-toed

Purple Kingfisher (Ceysc tridactyla) from this region. The
whole tribe are known to Mahrattas as " Dis" and
" Kilkila" They generally build in holes ; but once in
Sind I found Alcedo uengalensis breeding in a very rude
pendulous nest in the grassy over-hanging bank of a canal.
The young were destroyed by a flood. I fancy that this
kingfisher was not the original architect of the nest.

* The white-tailed sea-eagle (Poli^tus ichthycetus} is recorded from Dharwar,

106 NATURAL HISTORY.

The common and Demoiselle cranes do not touch fish or spawn.
and the large Saras crane, which is accused of doing so, is very
rare in the Decean and Khandesh- It is not likely that any
Plover can interfere much wilh fish or spawn, though I once
saw a common "Did ye do it" (Lobivanellus goensis) catch and
eat a small fish. It is, indeed, the only Plover which haunts the
waters of our present province in important numbers. Esacus
recurvirostris, the great Stoneplover, is found here and there in the
beds of large rivers, and perhaps may eat spawn, or even fry
occasionally, but its main dependence is on insects and Crustacea,
with a few shellfish.

Of the Longirostres, the snipes and their allies we have,
though in no great numbers ; the "full" snipe, " painted Jack,"
and " pin-tail" snipe ; the greenshank, ssveral sandpipers, and
stints ; curlews and whimbrels (both rare) and the stilt (Himantopus
candldus). This bird and its tribe would probably devour fish and
spawn, but I do not know of any positive evidence against them ;
and most of them can plead alibi here, being cold-weather visitors
only. The stilt and greenshank, though not very sporting birds,
are very good for the table.

The coots, waterhens and rails are chiefly represented here by
the bald coot, the European waterhen, and the white-breasted
waterhen, Gallinula phamieura. The second of these is much ac-
cused in England of eating fish spawn ; the first nowhere, I think,
and the last seldom enters the water of its own accord, though
usually living near it. It is, in fact, a bird rather of the bank than
of the river, and I have shot one 20 miles from any bigger water
than a well. All three breed within this region.

The next tribe, however, the Cultirostres : Storks, Ibises and
Herons are mostly very much dependent on the water. Their
chief, the Adjutant, can, indeed, do well enough without it. He is
rare in the Decean, much less so in Khandesh ; but he fishes rarely or
not at all. The fine black-necked stork (Mycteria anstralis) is
rare, and so are the black and the white stork ( Ckonia nigra and
alba), both of which are northern birds that hardly get so far south
as the Decean, even in the cold weather. Even the name of the
former is here appropriated by the resident white-necked stork
(Ciconia leucocephala), which breeds here in trees in the rains, and
is very common, foraging both on land and water, but chiefly on
the edge of the latter. It eats plenty of fish, still more frogs,

NOTES ON THE WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 107

crabs, and tadpoles, lizards, grasshoppers, and, it is said, sometimes
snakes, and even field mice.

This fowl of a mixed diet is sometimes eaten himself by the lord
of creation, under the name of " beefsteak bird" for a change. Sib is
his frequent neighbour, the Pelican ibis, (Tantalus leucoeephalus),
who lives in much the same way and in the same places, and is
not uncommon here. The white ibis is found on the larger rivers,
often along with its relative, the spoonbill ; neither is common, and
neither can eat many fish, though they prohably do not spare spawn
when they find it. Both are eatable, though coarse in flavour.
The shell ibis is almost unknown ; the glossy brown ibis rare ; and
the red-headed black ibis has hardly the habits of a water bird at all.
I regret to say that upon slight temptation he becomes a mere
scavenger ; but in places where he cannot get at dirt, he is, though
coarse, quite eatable.

These ibises have intruded themselves wrongfully between the
storks and the herons, which are numerically exceedingly abun-
dant. Up to the present we have had to deal with no creature,
except the osprey and kingfishers, which can be called a mere
enemy of the fish. For the otters and the piscivorous birds
mentioned above (with the exceptions given) destroy more frogs,
water insects and Crustacea than they do fish, and all these are
deadly enemies of fish spawn and young fry.

The herons, however, and most of the birds remaining for notice,
subsist almost entirely on fish.

The common grey European heron is found on all the rivers and
tanks, and requires no special notice. The great Malayan herons,
A. Goliath and A. JSumatrana, are not, I think, found in this
Presidency, though Sir A. Burnes figured something like A,
Sitmatrana from Sind. A bird somewhat allied to it, the purple or
grass heron, is found on a few weedy tanks in the Deccan, but is not
common ; nor is the queer-looking night heron, which, though its
nocturnal habits keep it a good deal out of sight, generally lets one
know of its whereabouts by its peculiar and often repeated cry.

The egrets are numerous, ar.d first amongst them is the great egret
{.Uerodias alba), valuable for the long feathers of its back. These
are at their best in the early breeding season.- — May, June ar.d July.
3 heir growth coincides with the change of the beak from yellow
to black ; and the plume-hunter should therefore not waste his shot
on an egret with a yellow bill. The same is the case with the lesser

108 NATURAL HISTORY.

■white egret, whose plumes, though, of course, smaller, are still
worth having.

The cattle egret, with his buff plumes, can hardly he counted a
water-bird, and the bittern is rare; but the little paddy bird is
really one of the " features of the landscape" all over India. You
find him on everv stream and pond picking up fish, tadpoles,
crabs and what not, and occasionally swimming, or rather floating.
He does not, as far as I am aware, ever fish beyond his depth. The
sudden change of this little heron from a grey bird to a white
as he flies off is a real transformation ; and his moult from grey
to purple and white is quite a hard thing to get young naturalists
to believe in. The bittern is rare in our present province ; and
it would take up too much time to go further into the history of
the smaller herons, with which, indeed, this is not a favorite region.

Of the great tribe of ducks and geese there are hardly any that
Avill not eat fish spaAvn whenever they can get it, and few that
do not occasionally pick up small fish, but the latter are not
the principal food of any found here, and during the rains,
which are the great spawning season of the fish, you might go all
through the Decean and Khandesh without seeing a single duck
or teal of any description, unless on some remote tanks which are
favoured by the 7nikia, or black and white goose, with its queer
bottle-nose, its duodecimo-edition, the cotton teal, and the bay-
coloured lesser whistling teal. Dr. Fairbank and myself have observed
the larger whistling teal in the Ahmednagar District, but I think
it is only a cold-weather visitor there, and it is certainly very rare.
It does, like the three above-mentioned, breed in other parts of
India. The whole four are very poor eating in the cold weather,,
when the migrant ducks are most numerous and in best condition ;
but they improve much in flavour in April and May, just when the
northern visitors are not to be had. This is easy enough to
understand if we consider that the northern waterfowl begin to
breed in late spring or early summer, and have got through the
trouble of raising their families in July and August. From that
time till the next spring they think of nothing but filling their
stomachs, and though they fall off a little in condition during
their long flight across the mountain barriers of India, they soon
recover it. The few snipe, for instance, that remain here till
April, which are celibate fowls with digestions unimpaired by any
affection of the heart, get to be mere balls of fat, and a tailor might

NOTES ON THE WATERS OP WESTERN INDIA. 109

knock them clown with his goose. Contrariwise, the late snipe in the
British Isles, birds with such strong family affections that they
marry on the spot instead of going to Norway and Eussia to do it,
are almost unwholesome.

To return to our Indian ducks. These mostly breed from July or
August, and at Christmas they have hardly yet recovered from their
domestic exertions. But by April and May they have fully regained
condition, and the young birds have acquired their full size, or nearly.
The first in rank of the migrant ducks is that very eccentric bird, the
flamingo. It is likely enough that some readers may be surprised
at my calling it a duck at all. However, if any gentleman in that
frame of mind will shoot a flamingo, and then compare its feet and
the inside of its bill with those of the nearest duck, he will probably
begin to admit that there is some reason for doing so. If the experi-
ment is followed up by keeping it fifty or sixty hours in its feathers,
{ducking it, and roasting it, he will probably become a convert.
Skinned birds, and especially birds kept after skinning, taste very
different from those simply plucked. A skinned teal, for instance, is
quite unrecognizable.

Our cooks have an execrable habit of plucking birds many hours
before they cook them, which is fatal to all flavour, the victims get
dried up to leather. Game, and even poultry, should be drawn as soon
as oossible after death, but in hot climates the feathers should not
come off till the last moment. They prevent evaporation and keep
off insects. Of course, all this does not apply to game of which the skins
are to be saved as specimens. The sooner the skin is off, the better for
this purpose ; but then the carcases had better be used up in soup
except with a few coarse birds eaten only for want of better, as "a
change on the everlasting mutton and moorghie.1' Of these are the
bald coot, the Brahminy duck and the " beefsteak birds " and ibises
(commonly called curlews). Sand grouse ought to be kept in their
skins, but skinned just before cooking.

To return to our flamingo, he is only found in our present province
on a few large tanks and rivers, and does not breed here. It seems
to be very uncertain when he does breed, but the first flocks fly
southerly on the Indus in September, like those of other migrant
ducks. The flamingo rarely swims, but will sometimes do so on a
tank or river rather than take the trouble of flymg from one sand
bank to another. On one occasion I shot two of a flock which lit and
swam in three fathoms of salt (and rather rough) water on one of

110 NATURAL HISTORY.

the creeks of Bombay harbour. This was on the 28th May, very
late for a migrant bird. They are said to run sometimes, but I never
saw even a winged flamingo so far forget his dignity. It is probably
known to most of my readers that flamingoes shovel up their food
with the upper mandible, turning the head quite upside down, in the
position of the Gordian acrobat, " with his grisly head appearing
in the centre of his thighs." I have seen drawings of a variation of
the bill of the domestic duck, produced by cultivation and selection,
exactly like that of the flamingo. The breed was said to be German,
but how these ducks fed was not recorded by my authority. A flock
of flamingoes inflight, with the sunlight on their red and white plumage,
is a lovely sight. They usually fly in a rather irregular wavering
line, the centre birds much higher than the flankers ; and I have
heard a flock likened to " a drunken rainbow." The native names
are Rajhdns (or king-goose) and Rohi. The latter is so like the
name of the Nilgai in Mahratta that I once supposed myself to be
going in pursuit of the " blue bull," when my guide was really
taking me to a flock of flamingoes.

Heal wild geese do not come into the Deccan or Khandesh, as
far as I am aware. The "black-backed goose," il comb-duck" or
" nukta" (Sarliidioruis melanonotus) is found more or less (generally
less) over the whole regiou ; but many people consider him rather a
duck, and his habits on the water are those of a duck, though his
flight is that of a goose. This bird may be considered the repre-
sentative here of the South American Muscovy ducks, which
essentially tropical birds have got their Hyperborean name by reason
of a funny confusion between " Musk" and Muscovy. They are
supposed at certain seasons to have a flavour of musk. The only
other bird of these waters having any pretence to goosehood is the well-
known ruddy shelldrake called "Brahminy duck" and "Brahminy
goose," and by natives all over India " Chakwa-chah&i." It really has
much of the build and flight of a goose, and seems to me to lead to the
true geese from the shelldrakes, as the " nukta" does from the ducks.
Particularly it has a goose's habit of grazing on young grass or
corn, and this makes me very unwilling to accept Mr. Hume's
charge against it of eating carrion. This idea may have arisen
from a mistake between this bird and the similarly coloured Brahminy
kite (Haliastur indus) caused by the mirage which hangs over
the sandbanks that they both haunt. I have myself carefully
stalked what I took for a Brahminy duck in the bed of the Tapti,

NOTES ON THE WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. Ill

to find, when within range, that I bad wasted my pains on that
" greedy gled." If, however, a carcase of any animal were lying
half in the water, it would attract the Crustacea, to which no duck
objects. I do not know any season at which this bird is anything
but a last resource for the pot, but it is sometimes shot for the sake
of its very handsome plumage.

Of the true ducks, the European mallard (Anas boschas) is not, to
the best of my belief, found in the Deccan or Khandesh at all. When
any sportsman of those parts tells you he has killed so many
" mallards," he generally means the closely allied spot-billed duck
which is found here, with the shoveller, gadwall, and pin-tailed ducks
and the white-eyed duck (Aytlnja nyroca), which would be far better
named the white-winged cluck from its white speculum, the colour of
the eye being very far from constant. It is small, and not usually
considered a first-rate duck for the table, but this depends a good deal
upon its diet, which is, I think, a little miscellaneous. I have heard
single specimens highly praised by competent epicures. This bird, the
shoveller, and the blue-winged teal are perhaps the commonest
ducks of the region, and certainly make the longest visit. The
common or grey teal of Europe is also well known here, but
on the whole the country is a bad one for ducks. The mergansers
and the true shelldrake are not found here at all.

Of the next tribe, the grebes, we have one, very common, . the
dabchicks, probably identical with the European bird, though some
naturalists separate it. At any rate it is similar in appearance and
habits. The Mahrattas call it " Pan-buddi" or " water-diver." It is
a great enemy of fry and spawn ; useless for any human purpose ; but
it gives life, often enough, to waters that show no other swimming bird.
It is sometimes shot as a " teal," a mistake which could not, I should
think, survive the first mouthful, but I have not tried. It is a per-
manent resident, and breeds in some quiet places.

On large rivers and tanks one Occasionally sees the brown-headed
gull, and daily some species of fresh-water terns, very beautiful and
graceful. These eat an enormous quantity of small fish and Crustacea,
and moreover forage ashore, chiefly for grasshoppers. I have not
found the nests of any of them in this region, although one might
well expect them to breed on the sandbanks of the larger rivers. The
strange black and white skimmer (Rhpichops albicollis), which looks
something like a tern, is not, I think, found here, though it does
exist on the lower waters of our rivers beyond our boundary.

112 NATURAL HISTORY.

Only one tribe of birds remains to notice — the fishing birds proper,

headed by the pelican. I have once seen the great white pelican of

Europe in Khandesh, and the Indian grey pelican is occasionally

met with all over the region, and may breed in it. The smaller

white pelican may be found, but I do not know of any record

of it here. Pelicans, indeed, want more fish and bigger fish than they

can often find in our present waters. Even their lesser kindred, the

European and Chinese cormorants, are not common, probably for

the same reason, but another poor relation, the little cormorant,

Pelicanus javanicus is everywhere. There is hardly so small a

puddle that you will not find one or two of these amusing birds on it,

and on very moderate-sized pools a flock will alight and worry the

water in all directions till every fish, crab, and prawn is either eaten

or driven into cover. They have favourite roosting places to which

they fly from a long distance, and about sunset the flocks follow each

other rapidly, always following the course of the water. They are

bold and familiar birds, and will come and fish in front of a tent for

hours, and sometimes attach themselves to buffaloes in the water, as

cattle-egrets do. A solitary buffalo, which used to spend its day

in the water near my tents, was attended by, apparently, a particular

cormorant, who would dive off on one side and come up on the other,

passing even between the fore or hind legs, and then spreading

his wings to dry as he perched the buffalo's head or back ; the latter

did not seem to object at all. Probably his body attracted small fish,

of which some species are very curious, and will come bobbing their

noses against any new object, to the great discomfort of nervous or

thin-skinned bathers. It is just possible that they know enough

about a buffalo to calculate on finding ticks on him, but this is a

mere conjecture. The little cormorant is much given to perching

on trees. Even the larger European cormorant does so more freely

here than in Europe, confirming the statement in Paradise Lost —

" Upward he flew, and like a cormorant,
Perched on the tree of life."

Milton can hardly have had many opportunities of observing
cormorants ; and I have even known the passage to be criti-
cised by English observers as untrue to the habits of the
bird, hut the poet was right. The Mahrattas call the cormorants
" Pdn-kawala" or water-crow — a very good name. This bird
breeds in trees, and no doubt sometimes within our region. But
I have not got the nest here, and I have noticed that cormorants

NOTES ON THE WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 113

are scarce in the Deccan in the rains, when the muddy and violent
currents are unfavourable to their fishing. I think it likely that most
of them migrate to breed; probably to the lowlands of the East Coast.
I did once know a man who declared that cormorant soup was very
good, but I can't say I have tried it. My friend's pot was supplied
with meat of Pelecanus carbo, but probably all species of the
genus would have much the same flavour, and that a strong one.
It would be a good thing if any use could be made of P. javanicus,
for the ravenous little bird probably diverts more fish from the human
dinner table than any other bird or beast except the paddy-bird; and
these two together, I think, eat more fish by tale, in this region,
than all other bipeds and quadrupeds put together.

The next bird (and the last on my list) can do more as an
individual, but he is not nearly so common. This is the "snake-bird"
or "darter" {Plotus melanogaster), a "cormorant with a heron's
head and neck."

This bird may be found on all the deeper streams, but in
this part of India not so often on tanks, probably only
because the Deccan tanks very often offer no good perching
places, or are too much disturbed by men and cattle, for else-
where the snake-bird is as apt to be found on a tank as
on a river. He delights particularly in wooded streams and in
trees that overhang deep water, but I have never seen him plunge
from such a position to catch fish like a king-fisher, as an American
species is said to do, whence the name "darter." Nor does he fishfrom
the wing, but entirely by diving like a cormorant. His flight, however,
is much more lofty, powerful and graceful than that of any cormorant ;
and he frequently soars for a considerable distance without apparent
motion of the wing, which the larger cormorants can do only to a
very limited extent, and the little cormorant not at all. I have never
got the nest of this bird, and I doubt his breeding in the Deccan or
Khandesh. If he does so> it is probably in the hills, but, as with cormo-
rauts, the diminished number of "snake-birds" in the rains makes
me think that they emigrate to breed perhaps to the " Bengal side
of the punkah," where Dr. Jerdon found them most plentiful. They
are much hunted for the beautiful black and white scapular plumes,
which have their edges as it were "Italian-ironed." There is no prettier
plume for a hat than the bunch from one wing of a snake-bird, with a few
white egret feathers set behind it and rising above it. The season for
shooting the birds is in the cold weather; some of them begin to moult

114 NATURAL HISTORY.

in April, and by May not one of them has a feather fit to be seen. The
moult is often so complete that the bird altogether loses the power of
flight, and must remain on a favourite pool for some days. Like all the
tribe, it can scarcely move at all on land. It is generally easy to see
before firing whether a bird is in good plumage or not. If it is sitting
out of the water, or flying, the silvery plumes and similar coloration
of the wing are pretty visible, and when it is in the water, showing
only the neck and head, or flying overhead, the neck tells an
old plume -hunter whether he should spend his shot. In good
specimens the neck looks almost white ; in moulting birds it is much
darker.

It is a mistake to shoot a snake-bird sitting, as the plumes are
likely to be damaged by shot. He should be taken in the water,
when he shows only the head and neck, or on the wing from below.
In the former case small shot should be used, as the thin neck forms
a very narrow target.

Of fresh-water reptiles we have in the Deccan region, first of all, certain
water tortoises or terrapins, easily distinguished from land tortoises
by their webbed feet, and from the fresh-water turtles by their " tortoise-
shell" back and breast-plates, and by having either five or four
visible claws on the fore feet and always four on the hind feet.
Curiously enough, while the American terrapins are of most delicate
flavour, ours are uneatable, smelling foully, as is indicated by their
untranslatable Mahratta name. They are carnivorous, and are
sometimes caught on a live bait, or on a worm, or bit of raw meat.
Some that I kept in confinement refused carrion. The natives often
put them in wells, especially Em.ijs trijuga^ the commonest
species, and call them, as well as all other tortoises, and turtles,
lt Kasaw." All " Ka'saws " are supposed to be poor relations of the
great turtle, who upholds the world, and are accordingly respected
by the more pious Hindus, and an image of a tortoise is often to be
seen on the floor of a temple. This has something to say to the
putting of them in the wells, but they are useful there as scavengers,
and as mortal enemies of the fresh- water crabs ( Telphusidce), which
do a great deal of harm to wells by burrowing in the foundations.
They cannot, I think, do much in the way of catching live fish, for
I have known them to be in wells with fish for many months without
any diminution in the number of the latter, though there was
apparently no other food. Probably frogs, crabs, mollusca, and
insects form their chief diet; and it may be, as I shall show

NOTES ON THE WATERS OP WESTERN INDIA. 11 5

reason for believing with regard to the next group, that they have
been too hastily pronounced " exclusively carnivorous."

This next group is that of fresh-water turtles.

These are, compared to the terrapins, very flat and round, with
a distinct edge, something the shape of two saucers put " lip to lip."
They don't show any " tortoise-shell" at all, but a smooth leathery
surface, flexible round the edges. In front and behind, this flexible
edge is double, and obeys the voluntary action of the muscles, at
least in young specimens, which, after drawing their heads within
the shell, will close the edges of the upper and lower leathery flaps
till they almost touch each other. These fresh-water turtles have all
been classed as carnivorous, though Dr. Kelaart long ago recorded
that one {Emyda ceylonensis) in his possession fed freely on bread and
boiled rice. I have repeatedly myself taken wild specimens with paste
baits, and have seen them assemble under a wild fig tree (Ficus
glomerata, the Umhar or Guler), of which the ripe fruit were dropping
into the water, and apparently taking the figs. It is true that a ripe
wild fig is usually so full of maggots that it constitutes a "mixed diet."

In the courtyard of the Black Mosque of Ahmadnagar, long ago
desecrated and now used as a public office, there was in my day
in a small cistern a fresh- water turtle, about 18 inches long, who had
been there as long as any one could remember, and is probably there
yet. The water was filtered, and the feed-pipe grated, and so little
food would have come to him by that road, and to put any kind of
animal food in the cistern would have polluted the water for many
people and caused trouble. The turtle was regularly fed by his
neighbours with vegetable food, especially, in their season, with parched
heads of maize, which he was very fond of. Specimens in my own
possession were fed on fresh dead fish, and rofused carrion.

They are often taken by the angler with live bait, or raw meat, or
worms, and sometimes, as already -mentioned, with paste. They give
more fun sometimes than one would look for, but often cut the line
with their gouge-like jaws, or get into a hole, or bury themselves in
the mud ; and often when landed, it is found that they have gorged
the hook and the trace must be cut, and the hook recovered after-
wards by the cook. It is necessary to use great care in handling them
as they bite savagely, and can take the piece out ; the jaws are like
two gouges closing on each other.

They make very good soup and curry, and I have been very much
amused at a friend's refusing the former when he knew what it was,

116 NATURAL HISTORY.

who had probably often enjoyed the like before, under the belief that
it was made of a sea-turtle. They are put into wells and cisterns in the
same way as the terrapins, and for the same reasons Trionyx javanicus
is our commonest species, and Chitra indica the largest. I have seen
a bullet glance off the shell of the latter, but it was fired at a consider-
able angle. The turtle was afterwards killed by another bullet, fired
almost vertically down upon the centre of the back, which passed
completely through him. These fresh-water tortoises and turtles, if
turned on their backs, speedily recover their proper position, using
their long necks and heads in doing so.

The crocodile (Mahratta " magar" lt suswar") is only locally
common in this area, very seldom seen in the tanks and smaller
rivers, but occupying particular deep reaches in the great rivers,
often in considerable numbers. These are the places to which the
larger fish and the turtles (crocodiles are very fond of turtles) retire
when the rivers shrink in the dry weather, and where, accordingly,
food is plentiful. As far as I am aware, there is only one species
known here, viz., Crocodilus palustris. I have measured specimens
from the Upper Tapti and Bhima 10 feet long, and I do not think
that that size is often exceeded here. And though I have heard many
crocodile yarns, I do not myself know a single well -authenticated
instance of a crocodile's killing a human being in the Deccan or
Khandesh. Once, in 1875, I remarked as much to a native official,
who immediately said that a man had been killed by one in his
tl Taluka " (or barony) " last year." Being asked for details, he gave
them, upon which I recognised the story as one I had heard in the
same place in 1872 as of tl last year." I dare say that crocodile is
killing that man " last year" to this day. The other form of crocodile-
saga always refers to the " next village," and when you get there,
to the next, and so on, slipping away before the inquirer like the foot
of a rainbow before the infant gold-seeker. I believe that the larger
and more dangerous Crocodilus porosus is found in the lower waters
of most of the great Deccan rivers beyond our boundary. The
differences, setting aside size and temper, are that C. palustris has
two sets of shields on the back of his neck, arranged in two
groups of four and six respectively (the four in front), six shields in
each transverse row of the middle of the back, and sixteen such rows
of dorsal shields altogether to the root of the tail. But in Crocodilus
porosus the " anterior nuchal plates" are none, or only 2, and then
rudimentary, that is, his cousin has a front set of 4 plates on the back

NOTES ON THE WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 117

of his neck ; and he has not, or only two little ones. Its dorsal shields
are usually six in a row on one part of the back and eight in the rest
(the extra two rudimentary), and there are 17 rows in all, to the root
of the tail.

I need hardly say that alligators are not found here, nor any-
where else in Asia, except China, where there is one rare species.
The outward and visible sign of a crocodile proper, as distinguished
from an alligator, is the fourth tooth of the lower jaw on each
side, which grins alike at all seasons, whether the mouth be shut or
open, improving a naturally ugly countenance with a hideous fixed
snarl. In the alligators, this tooth is received into a sort of sheath
or pit in the upper jaw. Some alligators, moreover, have shields
on the belly as well as on the back. I have wasted a great deal of
time on catching crocodiles, and never caught one, though others
have had better luck. Shooting them with the rifle is really good
sport. This should be done in the heat of the day, when they lie
on banks in the sun. In the morning they are wideawake, and before
sunset they begin to forage. They have to be carefully stalked and
clean killed, otherwise they get away into some hole, or (I think)
bury themselves in the mud, as they are well known to do sometimes,
in lakes that dry up for a season, to await the return of the water.
Many a hit crocodile goes off leaving a trail of blood on the water,
and is never seen again. But if they remain in one spot even for
a few seconds after receiving the bullet, that is a sign that they
are very hard hit ; and in such a case the carcase will generally float
within from 30 to 40 hours. I have not had a harpoon that could
penetrate the back scales ; a good hog-spear, however, does so easily.

The story of their being ball-proof arises chiefly, I think, from
the natural unwillingness of man to admit that he has missed. A
very ordinary gun will put a bullet through and through any part
of them, unless, perhaps, the bullet strike at a very great angle
and glance off. 1 believe that this once happened to a bullet fired by
myself from a very light fowling piece. A shot in the small of the
back head, heart or spine will stop them easily enough. Behind the
shoulder is the best shot from the side ; but if you shoot from above,
as from a high bank or a ship, aim at the root of the neck. Not
only is it a good place, but the places above and below are good too,
and the usual error of a rifle shot is high or low.

A crocodile, lying on a bank, covers his heart ( to a great extent)
with his left elbow, and a light express bullet will break upon the

118 NATURAL HISTORY,

' ■ '■ — _____ — a _«

bones of the arm, doing little hurt. When struck or startled in the
water, they will sometimes leap forwards, three or four feet from
the surface, like a salmon, and once 1 saw one, shot through the
heart on shore, literally stand on the end of his tail for a second,
and fall backwards stone dead. They are not heavy animals ;
the largest I ever weighed, a female, 8 feet long, was only 100 lbs.
in weight, though full of eggs. They are not of much use when
you have got them. The bleached skull makes a ghastly tropin^
and the skin a very ughy one ; but I once got two very handsome
shields made of crocodile skins at Ahmedabad. Here I may
remark that I have never got the traditional bangles from the
stomach of any crocodile. I have got sticks ; what the brute ate
them for I can't imagine. The handsome leather used in Europe
for cigar cases, bags, and so forth is all made of the skins of young
American alligators ; the art has not found its way here yet. Natives
use the teeth and shields for charms and the oil for medicine, and
some low castes eat the flesh and eggs. There used to be a small

© _>

tribe in the Tapti valley who devoted their lives to hunting crocodiles,
and showed great pluck and skill in it. They used nets, nooses and
broad-bladed pikes (not harpoons), and always cut the tail with
an axe as soon as possible, — a trick known to other natives besides
them. Crocodiles are commonly supposed only to crawl, but the
young of C. palustris can walk and even run. A recent observer has
noted the same in Ceylon. I have twice kept young crocodiles alive ;
they were savage and sulky, refused food, and threw it up when
administered by force.

Of other water lizards we have only Varanus draccena, the Ghorpur,
which, however, chiefly comes under notice when out of the water,
of which it is very independent. It is lucky that Ghorpurs don't
get to be much more than four feet long, for they are very active
and greedy, and I have seen one much shorter than that wage a good
fight with a small terrier dog. They will eat any animal that they
can overpower and swallow, up to young ducks, and I have no
doubt that they would eat the old ducks, too, if they could either
swallow them whole or carve them in any fashion. They destroy
eggs of all sorts, but T don't quite understand how. They don't
swallow them whole, for the shells are left.

Young Ghorpurs are among the various lizards, supposed to be
venomous and called " Biscobra" in this region. The Biscobra of
Sind is an Eublepharis, according to Mr. Murray, an ugly creature

NOTES ON THE WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 119

certainly, and looking really very like the known venomous Heloderina
of South America. Mr. Murray found the secretions of its skin really to
some extent poisonous.

This is no place for going into so long a list as that of the fresh-
water snakes. It is, perhaps, enough to say that, although almost all
snakes swim well, only those to the manner born can dive well, and
it is easy enough to tell the difference between a true water- snake
and a mere passenger by water. The latter holds his head much
higher, and never stays still in the water, but "keeps moving."

Some snakes, however, are amphibious, and one of these (Tropidonotus
quincunciatus), the spotted water-snake, is very much commoner
here than any of the true fresh-water snakes. They are sometimes
caught on hooks, when a frog or fish is the bait, and then they foul the
tackle, and make the angler unnecessarily nervous. None of them
are poisonous, and I do not think that any venomous land snake
is sufficiently at home in the water to take a bait below the surface.
This tropidonotus is the " pdn-divxir " of the Mahrattas. There are
several varieties of colour. Those in dark, muddy, shady waters are
a sort of dull tortoise-shell colour ; and some in open tanks and streams
might almost be described as black and gold. There is one very
libellous sort of snake-story which describes water snakes as climbing
up boat's cables to bite people on board. Now, a fresh-water snake
could have no motive for going aboard at all ; and if he did go aboard
and bite people, they need no more die of it than if he was a mouse.
As for the sea snakes, which are all venomous, they can hardly
crawl on the sand, let alone climbing up a cable. But no doubt a
really poisonous land snake, swimming across a river, might think
a boat a good place to rest in. A cobra or bungarus would easily
enough get up the cable, and his misdeeds, if any, would be laid upon
the innocent water snakes. Probably, however, most accidents
of this sort arise from snakes being brought on board in cargo or
firewood.

Of frogs (Mendnh, Bhenki), we have many. The most conspicuous
is the big bull-frog (Rana tigrina), an unpopular creature. He eats
pretty nearly whatever creature he can catch, and vice versa ;
reminding one of the ancient Gaelic proverb, "This is the government
of the waters ; the beast that is greatest eats that which is least and
the beast that is least shifts for itself."

The next and less known is Rana esculenta, the very identical
French frog. For want of French cooks he is wasted here upon the

120 NATURAL HISTORY.

storks and catfishes- I never saw Cacopus globulosus, a marvellous
frog figured by Dr. Gunther, the very representative of Humpty
Dumpty among reptiles.

Natives don't usually pay much attention to frogs, but once when I
had a lot of men stung by scorpions, a village elder made cataplasms
of live frogs pounded between stones, and applied the quivering and
mangled reptiles to the injured parts with great success. I think the
very nastiness of the remedy gave the sepoys more faith in it.

Tigers are said to eat bull-frogs in the rains, and thereafter to
sicken and waste away, just as in Ireland a skinny cat is supposed
to have been eating crickets. I think myself that the tiger is pro-
bably pretty far gone in famine before he takes to catching frogs,
and it is pretty certain that all the frogs he could catch in a day
would make him but a poor day's ration.

Of the Crustacea of our fresh waters we know but little, and have
no standard books on the subject. Crabs (Telphusida) are found
almost to the top of the ghats, and furnish food to man, birds, turtles
and fishes. They are said to be unwholesome in the hot weather,
which is not borne out by my own experience. And at that season
certain forest tribes go and grind stones on each other in dry nullas.
They say that the crabs mistake the noise for that of waters. At any
rate the crabs do come out, and are caught and eaten. Another plan
is to drop a bullet or pebble, attached to a string, into the crab's hole,
who thereupon nips it and is drawn out holding on to what he, no
doubt, supposes a live intruder. The Mahratta names for them are
Kenkad and Muta. The former word, with a dry humour charac-
teristic of that nation, is also applied to handcuffs. I have good
precedent for introducing these useful articles into my paper, for the
United States Commissioners to the Fisheries Exhibition exhibited a
pair with a label stating that they were found " very serviceable in the
whale fishery ; and carried by most vessels."

A true prawn is found even above the falls of the Godavery, and
small shrimps up to at least 2,500 feet on the ghats. These latter are
sufficiently abundant to be dried for sale. A cray fish in the streams
of the Satpura is said to reach " a cubit" (hat, 19 inches) in length
over all, and fragments that I found bore out the statement. I use
the term cray fish here, as it always has been used in English and
French (ecrevisse) to mean a crustacean ivith nippers. Some
naturalists have attempted to restrict it to those that have none, but
the limitation is artificial and cannot succeed.

NOTFS ON THE WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 121

Ofmollusks, the most part are water snails, the most noticeable being
the great round ampullaria, as big as a baby's fist. There are at least
two mussels ( Unio), one with a rather delicate shell and pale olive
green epidermis, and one far more solid and of a black or dark brown
colour. The latter is said with great probability occasionally to
contain pearls. One such pearl is in the Kolapur Museum, and
some from Bengal were exhibited at the Fisheries Exhibition. The
natives call all univalves Kuha or Kubi, and all bivalves Shipi, or
some derivative thereof.

Insects of all sorts swarm in and near the water, but there is no
space here for describing them. I do not think that anything like
the appearance in swarms of the European Ephemerides (green drake
and May-fly) is ever seen in this region. The nearest thing to it is
when a swarm of newly-hatched winged white-ants drifts over
a river or tank, when the fish may be seen rising at them all
over the surface. The same thing happens, but more rarely, with
locusts. Mole-crickets, wherever obtainable, are a very good bait
for almost all sorts of fish. Waterbeetles attain an enormous size, and
no doubt destroy fish spawn and even small fry.

Earthworms (Mahratta gandi'd and gandnin) are generally very
hard to get, but when they can be got are as useful here as at home.
Leeches (Jalu) are sufficiently numerous in some tanks to make
bathing impossible, but are not otherwise a plague as in some other
tropical countries.

A notice of these waters would hardly be complete without some
reference to the daily visits of terrestrial animals and birds to the water
which are always a remarkable feature of animal life in dry hot
climates. The large carnivora usually drink just about dark,
perhaps a little before or after. It is said, too, that after eating
they always go to the water, at whatever hour. The small cats do
the same ; but the jackal usually drinks about 9 or 10 A.M. ; and the
mongoose and civets even later.

The larger wild ruminants, where much hunted, drink before
sunrise and after sunset ; but when undisturbed, or after any specially
thirsty business, such as love or war, will visit the water at broad
noon and before sunset. The small four-horned antelope and the
barking deer prefer noon-day ; the gazelle usually drinks a little
earlier, say, 10 or 11 a.m.

But the general drinking time for birds and beasts is when the
morning begins to warm up, say, from half-past eight to half-past

122 NATURAL HISTORY.

nine or ten a.m., when all diurnal animals have been abroad all
morning, and want to wet their throats before retiring, probably
to keep quiet for the day. The grey partridges and francolins are
amongst the first to steal down to the water ; and after them come
the common sand-grouse ; pretty common in this region. The
painted grouse, which is found in low thorny jungle, is an exception.
It drinks by twilight, often so late that it is only recognised
by its very peculiar chuckling note. But after the common grouse
( Pterocles exustus) come, if there are any about, the pea-fowl, blue
pigeon and doves, more rarely the green pigeon (Crocopus chlori-
gaster), according to Dr. Jerdon. I have not myself seen this bird
drink, and one I kept in confinement did not seem to care about
water, getting much moisture in his juicy food. The authority
however, is conclusive, and I have myself noticed the green pigeon
to be commonly found in trees near water about 9 o'clock a.m. and
a little before sunset. The monkeys also drink at this hour (9 or 10
a.m.), and so do crows, who take a regular bath, with a good deal
of demonstration, as in all their doings. Eagles and hawks come about
the same time, and sometimes stand in the water, apparently merely
to cool their toes. When any of them look out for fish or frogs they
do it on the wing.*

Pretty much the same thing happens again from about an hour
before sunset to half-an-hour after it ; but besides this the water
If there are any trees or bushes near it, has always a tendency to
become the centre of all animal life ; and the angler, perhaps, sees
more of this than he would if shooting, or even walking, and for many
reasons it is well that he should have a gun -bearer at hand.

This is hardly the place for discussing fishing-nets, but the best
to have in a camp is the casting-net, which can be handled by one
man. If you have two fishermen, this may well be supplemented
by a gholni, or shove-net, fixed to two bamboos, and with a large
party a seine can be used generally ; wherever the water is large
enough for the use of a seine, native fishermen will be found in posses-
sion of one, or will improvise it by linking smaller nets together.
A small boat is useful in " shooting" the seine ; and the best portable
boats are certainly the canvas " Berth on boats." It is not, however,
easy to shoot from them unless after carefully ballasting them, or
fitting an outrigger ; for, although very hard to upset, they are very

* Note. — Several eagles, especially the serpent eagle (Circactus gallicus), catch
frogs on the marshy borders of tanks.

^3

1

I!

c

NOTES ON THE WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 123

easily made to rock, and even the putting up of a gun to the shoulder
will cause enough motion to spoil the shot. The same is the case
with small native canoes, and the remedies are the same. Safe,
though clumsy, rafts are made of gourds lashed to a charpoy or of
bull-rushes by the natives, but these are apt to sink a few inches below
the surface, and should be surmounted by a bath-tub, a pair of wine
boxes caulked and painted, or some similar device for keeping the
passenger and his ammunition dry.

In some places the natives make round coracles of hides ; and in
others they use huge circular sheet iron sugar boiler for boats ; in
either case reminding one of the Wise Men of Gotham in their Bowl.

KESWAL.

ON ABNORMALITIES IN THE HORNS OF

RUMINANTS.

Bv R. A. Sterndale, f.z.s., &c.

There being several striking examples of deformity in the horns in the
Society's collection, I am induced to bring them to notice and to theorize
on the causes which have led to such results ; and a varied field for
speculation is opened, for many questions arise in connection with the
subject. The first is, are these abnormalities, in the case of antlered
ruminants, transitory or persistent ? and, secondly, in the hollow-horned
ruminants is the fons et orirjo malls in the osseous or horny formation ?
Then comes enquiry into the primary cause of such malformation. The
whole subject is involved in doubt, and but a mere hypothesis can be arrived
at, for almost every day we come across some freak of nature which starts
us off into a new channel of conjecture. With regard to the first ques-
tion, are the deformities of deer transitory or persistent ? that is to say,
would a Sambar Stag, who had developed in his seventh year an abnormal
tine, reproduce that abnormality the following year — the eighth ? or
would he revert to his normal form ? Now I will give an example from
a very fine head in my own collection : the horns are unusually large,
the right beam being 45 inches and the left id inches in length ; on
referring to figure 1 in the accompanying plates you will observe a tine of
9 inches long, which is a decided abnormality ; there is no reversion or
progression towards lower or higher types, but simply a sprout which has
taken a direction quite out of the symmetry of known species. Now, to
arrive at any conclusion one must consider the process of the growth of
antlers : they are produced annually, and with a tendency to increase
instead of decrease ; on the shedding of the old horn there is a decided

124 NATURAL HISTORY.

determination of blood to the head in the animal ; the new growth, a fibro-
cartilaginous substance, is nourished by blood vessels, which ramify
on the exterior, covered by a sensitive velvety skin ; whether this be true
venous blood or a specialised fluid of a more albuminous nature is a
question which has not as yet to my knowledge been solved. Anyhow, a
blood-like fluid is conveyed along the growth of the horn feeding the
bony deposits, and it may be that abnormal sprouts are the result of an
aneurism in one of the blood channels ; but if this be so, my horn brings up
another question, for if you will look at the normal antler you will see an
excrescence exactly corresponding with the extra tine, yet not so fully
developed. Is this tlie sympathy that one sees exemplified in cases of
toothache ? The decay of a particular tooth on one side is frequently
followed by that of the corresponding one on the other. If this particular
stag had been allowed to live for another year, would both antlers have
shown an 'additional tine, or would they have reverted to the normal
shape? There is no reason why such deviations should be perpetuated
in the same individual or transmitted to his descendants. It was thought
at one time that the spike buck of America, which is the many-antlered
Cariacus virgimanus, found occasionally with a single-spiked horn, was a
freak of nature transmitted from the first so formed buck to his progeny,
and this was gravely advanced in an American Scientific Journal, and it
was asserted that the spike horn bucks were gradually crowding out the
antlered ones on the principle of the survival of the fittest, however better
informed naturalists like Judge Caton proved that these were merely
young bucks of the first year whose second season saw them with branch-
ing horns.

I am inclined to think that there is neither persistence nor transmission
in the abnormalities of antlered deer. I believe in injury being the cause
of these freaks.

Sympathy in certain cases of bodily injury affects the horn of that
particular side, and this is permanent through life, and in such cases the
horns are not shed.

There is a curious bifurcation of the tip of the bez tine in the right
antler of a Cashmere Stag's horns in my collection, which must have
occurred whilst the point was tender ; and this reminds me of what I
have recently read in the second volume of the transactions of the Linnean
Society of New York regarding the growth of antlers. It is the com-
monly received idea, accepted by most naturalists, that the blood vessels
contract at the burr or base of the horn on its arrival at full growth, and
that then, the velvet dries up and is rubbed off by the animal, but
the Hon'ble Judge Caton, of Ottawa, Illinois, from observations made in
his own deer park, states : " The evidence derived from a very great

%.

%

R A.SterndaU, Del.

A

ON ABNORMALITIES IN THE UOltNS OF RUMINANTS. 125

multitude of observations, made through a course of years, is conclusive
that nature' prompts the animal to denude its antlers of their covering at
a certain period of its growth while yet the blood has as free acoess to
that covering as if) ever had."

It is the common impression that the animal is extremely sensitive to
pain whilst the velvet is in its quick state. I am, however, informed by
Mr. Fhipsou that he hus seen the old Wapiti Stag, we most of us remember,
near the entrance gate in the London Zoo, rubbing his huge antlers
whilst the blood flowed freely from each abrasion.

Now I come to a very curious deformity in the Society's collection —
figure No. 2? It is that of' the left antler of a Cashmere Stag; the right
antler is perfectly symmetrical, but the left one, as you will observe, is
broken and bent down about 2 inches above the bez antler, and iastead
of branching it has formed itself into a club. There is no doubt of the
fracture here — it is self-evident. Either from a fall, or a blow from a falling
branch, or from some such injury the soft antler was broken, but the
velvet held on, and the nourishment continued, but. in an interrupted way ;
the free circulation was impeded, and instead of the tines branching out
according to their wont, they coalesced into a knob as we see it here. Of
all' the deer tribe, I have found the Axis or Spotted deer most given to
"sports" in its horn". The normal shape is strictly rusine with three
tines, yet 20 per cent, of horns show little sprouts generally at the base
of the brow antler. Figure 3 represents one in the Inverarity collection, .
in which the brow antlers have run riot altogether and the right one has
thrown out several branchlets. Probably in this deer there was something
constitutionally wrong. I have examined all the deer in the Victoria
Gardens and have noticed in the largest stag in the Axis pen, which has
very fair-sized horns, that each brow antler has an abnormal branch.

Though it is thus easy to build up a theory on the deformities of
the antlered ruminants and to speculate on their persistence, a new
tram of thought arises entirely in connection with the hollow-horned
ruminants. In these abnormalities must be persistent ; with them
it is an exemplification of the adage " as the twig is bent, so is the tree
inclined," and as their horns are to a certain extent supported by bony
cores, it is in these we must look, in the first instance, for the deviation
from the usual symmetry. Figure 4 represents a buffalo head, the property
of Mr. Inverarity, at present deposited with the Society ; the deformity
here clearly begins with the bony core ; with such soft and easily deflective
material as horn eccentric shapes can be artificially produced, but the
deflections must be beyond the limit of the bony core ; in the case of this
buffalo the deformity, or rather wrong direction, begins from the base and
must have been regulated by the core* It is not an uncommon thing to

126 NATURAL HISTORY,

find antelope horns running up almost parallel to each other instead of
the usual V shape, I have two such in my own collection, Here the core
again gives the direction, and in the numerous cases reported in the
Asian, and elsewhere, of antelope with distorted horns the core is evidently
the source of the eccentricity. Figure 5 gives a sketch of an antelope
head in the Society's collection ; the deflection starts from the base, and
the bony core is evidently so twisted that I have not been able to unscrew
the horn as can usually be done with dried antelope heads. The horns of
tame buffaloes frequently show deviations from the normal type, There is
in Bombay at the present moment a magnificent old buffalo with grand
horns of a most carious and perfectly symmetrical shape. They are very
massive, and come down low, close on to each cheek, and then sweeping
round with a curve form a perfect circle at the tips.

A LIST OF THE BOMBAY BUTTERFLIES IN THE
SOCIETY'S COLLECTION,

With Notes by Mr. E. H. Aitken.

The butterflies in the Museum of the Bombay Natural History Society
are geographically divided into the following collections : —

(1.) A fairly representative, though by no means complete, collection
from the Bombay Presidency, exclusive of Sind on the one hand, and
Canara on the other, which latter belongs rather to the Malabar
region. For these the Society is indebted largely to Mr. R. C.
Wroughton, also to Mr. Moscardi, C.S., and other members. This
collection is arranged and named.
(2.) A very incomplete collection sfrom Malabar and Canara, partly
purchased and partly contributed by Captain T. M. Macphcrson.
These arc arranged and partly named.
(3.) A small collection of British butterflies presented by Mr. R. C.

Wroughton.
(4.) A small collection from different parts of the Himalayas, partly

obtained by exchange and partly contributed by members.
(5.) A few, interesting, named specimens from the Punjab and from

Aden. These were the gift of Major Yerbury.
I take more interest in butterflies on the wing than on the pin, but
that the following notes may serve a double purpose I have based them on
a list of the species in the first of the collections enumerated above. I
named the collection myself, so that no one else is responsible for the
accuracy of the list, and I must protect myself at the outset by disclaiming
any pretence to give a complete or discriminative catalogue of ihe collection.

R.A Sterndale, Dei.

•

A LIST OF THE BOMBAY BUTTERFLIES IN THE SOCIETY'S COLLECTION. 127

In the present unsettled state of the subject it would be impossible to
attempt such a thing without diverting a great deal more of my leisure than
I am willing to diyert from nature to nomenclature, and I am besides
peculiarly disqualified for such a task by my inability to believe in a great
many of the species which are accepted by those who seem to be
pillars. This will account for the absence from my list of a good many
species, under one or two genera in particular, such as Terias and Tcracolus,
which, if they arc species at all, are very common.

I have no systematic notes of the months in which I have caught each
species. I regret this, but at the same time I think that the data
obtained in this way may be over-valued. Suppose from such notes you
deduce the fact that D. chrysippus, for example, may be met with every
month in the year, is the fact worth recording ? There is no butterfly
which may not be met with any month in the year, for some pupge always
remain over from one season to the next, and an accident may bring tbese
out at any time. What we want to know is when each species is in
season and why ? Almost every species has a well-defined season, depend-
ing on its food plant. For the great majority this is the latter half of
the monsoon, and the two months following, i.et) the period during which
the annual vegetation called into life by the rain remains green. Another
season is the commencement of spring, which even in this country makes
its influence distinctly felt. A, violce comes out at this time. Some
species appear at neither of these seasons except by accident. Virachola
isocrates, for example, where it feeds on the pomegranate, can only be in
season when that fruit is ripening. I have tried, as far as I can, from
memory and notes, to give the limits of the time during which each
species is in season.

NYMPHALIDiE.

DANAlNiE.

1. Danais chrysippus. — This, with the exception, perhaps, of Terias
hecabe, is the commonest and most ubiquitous butterfly on this side of
India. At Kharaghora, on the edge of the Runn of Catch, this was one
of the very few flying things I could get, and my chameleon would starve
rather than cat it. I never found the larva on anything else than Calo-
Iropisgigantca. Dwarf specimens of this are not uncommon. All our Danaince
are on the wing chiefly from about August till the end of the year.

2. D. dorippus. — There is one specimen in the collection without locality.
I have never met with it, but have known of at least one specimen being
caught in Bombay. I believe it to be an occasional variety of chrysippus.

3. D. genutia. — This is common almost everywhere, though by no means
so abundant as the last. One specimen in the Society's collection has that

128 NATURAL HISTORY.

dash of white on the hind wings which is common in specimens of chrysip-
pus from Kurrachee (Moore's D. alcippoides) and of clorippus from Aden.
The collection contains also a very remarkable specimen caught at Matheran
by Mr. Moscardi in December, 1884, in which the ground-colour through-
out is a dull lavender. The markings are normal.

4. D. limniace, — This is common too, especially on the hills. I
found the larva at Lanowlie in October, feeding en Hoya viridiflora.
The offensive smell which makes reptiles and birds — if birds eat butterflies
at all — reject tlrs family, is particularly strong in this species, and is certainly
connected with the extrusion of the yellow plume?. It is also a very
difficult insect to kill. Pinching the thorax has a temporary effect, but it
soon revives. Even when killed past reviving and pinned, it will conti-
nue to wag his head and antennas satirically for some days. This or any
of the last will serve very well to illustrate the intimate connection which
there is between colour and habit, not where the protection of the insect,
by mimicry or otherwise, is. concerned, but simply fronj an aesthetic
point of view. On the underside the greater part of the forewing differs
from the hindwing, but a well-defined area at the apex is of the same
shade. Now in the Danais attitude of rest the forewings drop between
the hindwings until precisely this portion and no more projects and is
visible. For those who like to. theorise I would suggest that the action
of light has produced this effect, the warmer tint of the covered portion
of the forewing representing the original unbleached colour of the
butterfly countless generations ago. A KhaJcce coat often illustrates the
same thing !

5. D. gi'ammica.—Thh is very common on the hills, but comparatively
rare in Bombay. It comes out a little later than the foregoing species,
being very abundant about Christmas time. I found the larva at
Lanowlie in October last year, feeding on Tylophora camosa, also one
of the Asclepiadeacece. It was, I think, the most beautiful larva I have
seen. The ground-colour was a rich reddish brown, or claret colour, and
on each segment there was a pair of round yellow spots with numerous
small bluish-white spots between. On the sides these spots gathered into
a conspicuous longitudinal band. The under surface was black. There
were only two pairs of filaments, which were nearly straight.

G. Enplota core.— -In Bombay this feeds on oleander, but on the hills
I have found the larva? on the wild fig, Ficus glomerata. The larva,
like those of all the Danaince, rests on the underside of the leaf, a
position which exposes it to the notice of birds ; but it affects no conceal-
ment, and is evidently not edible. The pupa, like a nugget of burnished
silver, seems designed to attract attention. Perhaps it acts on the
superstition of its enemies. The natural feeling which forms the basis

A LIST OF THE BOMBAY BUTTERFLIES IN THE SOCIETY'S COLLECTION. 129

of superstition is not confined to us, lords of creation, and I am disposed
to think mary insects save tlieir lives by availing themselves of it. This
butterfly is a great traveller, as indeed are all the Danaince. They are
often to be seen crossing Bombay Harbour from one island to another,
and it is a curious question whether they see the land in the distance, or
go in the spirit of Columbus.

SATYRlNvS!.

7. Melanilis leda. — This and the next are Insects of the dusk, coming:
out after the sun is down and dancing round the roots of trees in
company after the manner of fairies. A little later they come out of their
hunts aud fly straight up into the sky as far as eye can follow them, for
what purpose I cannot guess. They are thirsty creatures, and will gather
in numbers where water has been spilt on the ground, but they prefer
whiskey. I have found the larva of this feeding on grass. It is difficult
to find, being a night feeder and very shy. As the species of grass on
which it feeds grows during the monsoon only, except where there is
water, this species is in season all the latter part of the rainy season,
and in some places for a short they almost jostle each other for room.
About October, when vegetation is drying up, it gives place to the next.

8. M. ismene. — This is very similar to the last in its habits, and
quite as common, more so on the hills. I am aware that they are
supposed to be one species, but on this point I have not given in yet.
I have noticed it on alighting fall over on one side until it was almost
horizontal, which very much enhanced its likeness to a dead leaf.

9. Lethe ncelgherriensis. — In the month of March this is very plentiful
on the ghats, but it is not confined to them. I have caught it in the
neighbourhood of Bombay. It is similar in habits to the last two.

10. Lethe europct. — There is only one specimen of this in the collection,
and nothing to show where it came from. I have not met with it.

11. Mycalesis perseas. — I have nothing to note about this species. I
have caught it in Bombay and elsewhere, but it is not common.

12. Ypthima philomela. — This is a humble butterfly, flying along the
ground in shady places, but it is not specially crepuscular. It is common
in the cold season at Poona, and I think on the hills everywhere.

13. Telchinia violce. — This is not very common, but a few appear just
before the hot season in Bombay and wherever I have been. I met with
some at Mahableshwar last March. It seems generally to be on a journey
going steadily in one direction with a feeble flight, but it will stop to sip
a flower and is easily caught. I believe it is, like the Danaince, offensive to
birds and reptiles.

130 NATURAL HISTORY.

NYMPHALINyE.

14. Atella phalanta. — This is not rare in Bombay, and one of the
commonest species on the hills in March, when people go up for the hot
season. I imagine it comes out after the monsoon and continues all
through the cold weather. It does not remain so long on the wing in
Bombay ; but many species have their season later on the hills than on the
plains. The larva of A. phalanta feeds on Flacourtia montana, and is
easily found if one knows to look for it, not on the higher branches of the
trees, but on the young shoots wbich come up from the roots. The pupa
is a lovely object. So is the butterfly when fresh and iridescent. It is
one of the most sprightly and characteristic inhal Hants of our hill stations,
flitting everywhere from bush to bush and even when it settles moving its
wings for ever in the restless way peculiar to it.

15. Argynnis niphe. — Colonel Swinhoe, in his paper on the Lcpidoptcra
of Bombay and the Deccan, published in the proceedings of the Zoological
Society of London, Feb. 13, 1885, says that he caught this in Bombay in
1877. This is very interesting. I have hunted butterflies for years in
Bombay and never saw a specimen of this. I can hardly believe that such
a conspicuous insect could have escaped me entirely. But looting over the
list I find several other species, of which I am equally positive that they
arc not Bombay butterflies, recorded from Bombay in that year, e.g.,
Colias fieldii and Teracolus dance. The inference is that during the famine
year many butterflies wandered, as we know birds did, into regions where
they were unknown before. There are specimens of A. niphe in the
Society's collection, contributed by Mr. Newnham from Cutch.

16. Pyramcis cardui. — In Bombay this species breaks out in large
numbers at irregular seasons in a way for which I cannot account. It
feeds on different species of llumea, which are all monsoon annuals, and
might be expected to be very regular in its appearance. The larvae are
sociable when very young, half a dozen chumming together under the
shelter of a little network of silk. The butterfly is not very easy to catch,
being a strong flier and wary. It rarely settles except on the ground, and
opens its wings much less than the Junonias.

17. Junonia lemonias. — Though not rare anywhere, this and the next
two arc pre-eminently Bombay butterflies, loving its ditches and well-
watered gardens. Orithyia and hierta, on the other hand, like dry
situations. In habits, otherwise, they are very much alike, flitting about
one spot and basking in the sun all the hottest hours of the day. This
species is in season at the close of the rains.

18. /. aslerie. — Next to T. hemic and D. chrysippus, this is the common-
est butterfly in Bombay at the close of the rains and for some time
after. It attains in old age to a degree of disrcputability and roggedness

A LIST OF THE BOMBAY BUTTERFLIES IN THE SOCIETY'S COLLECTION. 131

not often seen in -any other species. I am inclined to think this is tie
result of ineffectual attempts to catch it on the part of lizards, with
which it is a favourite food. The larva feeds on Lippia nodiflora and
Asteracmiilia longifoiia, both very abundant in Bombay during the mmisoon,
by the side of, or actually in, water. The larva is scarcely, if at all,
distinguishable from that of the next opecies and very like that of P.
ecu dui.

19. J. almana. — This comes out at the simc season, but is not so coimroiv
as the last. The larva, feeds on A. longifoiia : I never found it on L.
nodifiora. Colonel Swinhoe, in the paper above mentioned, suggests that
this and the last are one species. I believe the suggestion was made by Mr.
de Nieeville before, and the opinion of two such authorities is entitled to
respect, but as Colonel Swinhoe appears to quote me in support of his view. 1
ought to say that I do not share it. It is true, as he says, that I reared both
species from a lot of larva1 taken together, but they were taken from a
ditch in which there may have been the offspring of fifty parents. This
proves nothing. Culonel Swinhoe further says that he has a large series
of examples showing every stage of variety between the two. I am dis-
posed to think he might apply the same test with disastrous effect to a
score or so of the species which appear in his own list under the genera
Izias, Teracolus and Tcrias ; but that is a point on which opinions-
will differ. In this case, at any rate, I doubt the applicabilty of the test.
I have not seen many specimens from other parts of India, but I have
reared and caught plenty in Bombay, and I have no hesitation in asserting.
that here both forms are remarkabl-e for their freedom from variation. For
this reason I put down one or two intermediate specimens wdiich I have
seen as hybrids. In the Society's collection there is one specimen inter-
mediate between J. asterie and J. Jemomas, which, for the same reason, I.
believe to be a hybrid, though lemonias-Js a much more variable insect
than either asterie or almana. Of course, these two may very well be
distinct forms or one dimorphic insect. This is a very different thing, not,
in itself improbable ; but Colonel Swinhoe's argument from intermediate
varieties tells rather against than for Such a theory, and I do not know of,
any other reason for entertaining it.

20. J. hierta. — This is not uncommon in Bombay on the uncultivated
pirts of CumbaMa Hill and about dry stubble fiek's. It and the next
appear later in the year than the preceding species.

21. J. orithyia. — This is par excellence the Jvnonia of the Peccan,.
delighting in dry hills and stony plains. On the bare plateau of
Lanowlie I have found it very abundant in company with the last, in
February, revelling in the wealth of minute wild flowers which clothe the
ground in that favoured spot.

132 STATURAL HISTORY.

22. Freds iphita.—Mtzx the raias this butterfly is very plentiful.,
especially among the thorny jungle which covers the little hills of the
Konkan. It is also one of the most familiar species en the ghats. The
depth of colour on the underside varies much, and the white spot is
sometimes prestnt and sometimes absent. I have never seen specimens
here as large as s< me which come from the Himalayas. It has all the habits
of a Junonia, and its colour seems inappropriate, for it lives in the midst
of green foliage and rarely stttles on the ground.

23. Kaliima wardi — I believe this grand butterfly is fairly common
in every well-wooded part of the country. It appears chiefly in March,.
April and May, when dead leaves are in fashion, and haunts dry nullahs
and ravines, flash'ng into sight suddenly and as suddenly disappearing into
a tree where, after long and cautious peering, you (fail to) discern it
sitting motionless on the trunk, inaccessible to your net of course. When
you do catch one, it is broken. I suppose their habit of settling in the
interior of a tree, upon the trunk or larger branches, tends to break their
wings. Last March, the Eev. A. B. Watson, of Poona, made the discovery
that this and several other species which most successfully defy the net,
such as Char axes aihamas, may be captured wholesale at sugar. He had
sugared some trees for moths without success, but passing afterwards by
daj light, he found that they had become a rendezvous for half a doztn
species of butterflies, of which he took as many as he pleased, the present
species, in particular, being so infatuated or so drunk that it allowed itself
to be taken with the fingers.

24. Charades imna. — I became awsre of its existence of this striking
buttejfly only lasi December, when Mr. J. Davidson and I spent part of two
days at Matheran in trying to capture two specimens, or rather, I sin uld say,
one specimen, for when we got them we found that only half of each remained.
I have found since that the species is by no means uncommon on the
ghats fiom December till March at least ; but it does not put itself in the
way of being converted into specimens. It comes out about 10 o'clock,
and, selecting a tree with bright shiny leaves, perches bolt upright in the
middle of a particular leaf, just a foot above the highest point you can
reach with your net. Whether by accident or design, the position is fenced
on all sides with a creeper whose sharp-curved thorns lay hold of everything
that passes them and let go nothing. There the proud creature sits,
chasing away any other butteifly that approaches, and returning to the
same leaf. If you pelt it with stones, it darts off, fakes a shoit circuit
and returns to the same leaf. You nay jeltit for an hour with the
same result. You may easily circumvent it, however, by erecting a
platform of t-tones under its perch, but your aim must be sure and your
stroke sudden, for to other butterfly goes off with such rapidity. There

A LIST OF THE BOMBAY BUTTERFLIES IN THE SOlCETY's COLLECTION. 133

is only one specimen of tkis in the Society's collection, a male which I
caught at Khandalla.

25. Charades afhamas. — 'This is common em ugh on <fjie ghats,
chiefly, I think, from December to March. It is very similar in its habits
to the last, and almost as difficult to capture. They have a penchant for
certain places, and there seems to be one permanently resident at the
reversing station on the Thull Gh&t. In the Society's collection there
are one or two old specimens of' large sifce, with the apical spot which is
wanting in the smaller form,

26. Char axes fabms.- — This is not so common as the last, and I know
little about it. It occurs in Bombay sparingly. There are four specimens in
the collection from Khandesh and the Tanna district.

27. Cyrestis thyodamas. — This was very common at Mahableshwar
last cold season, from December till March at least. Whether it is usually
so I cannot say. I never before met with it, nor heard of its occurrence in
the Presidency. I collected a good many specimens, which are decidedly
smaller and, I think, better marked than specimens from the Himalayas.
It is a sprightly creature, skimming along with the flight of a Keptis or an
Athyma, settling on the upperside of a leaf, with its wings rigidly expanded,
then adroitly transferring itself to the underside of the same leaf. It sees
remarkably well, but does not settle very high, and is easily caught.
1 do not think it ever closes its wings, even when it settles on the
ground.

28. Ergolis ariadne.- — I am not sure 1 have caught this in Bombay, but
it is everywhere on the hills during the cold season. It flies low. Mr.
Davidson sent me a number of the larvae from Dhulia in Khandesh in the
month of October, together with those of the next, from which they were
almost indistinguishable. The pupa; were quite indistinguishable, at
least to my discernment. They fed on Tragia camiabina.

29. Byl)lia ilithyia. — The specimens in the Society's collection are
from Cutch and Dhulia, but I have met with it in Poona. It flies low.

30. Neplls varmoncu — This species is common enough in Bombay and
Poona after the monsoon, and still more so on the hills as late as March.
It frequents gardens and hedges, and has a characteristic flight, steady and
straight, with jerky strokes of its wings, between which they remain
stiffly expanded.

31. Neptis ophiana. — I met with a few specimens of this at Maha-
bleshwar last March. It was new to me, but on the wing is so like
Athyma periits that it may have easily escaped my notice before,

32. Athyma perms. — This is common at Khandalla, Lanowlic and
Matheran, but I did not find it last March at Mahableshwar, which is
2,000 feet higher. It does not occur on the plains, I found the larva

134 NATURAL HISTORY.

at Matheran in March, feeding on Glocliidion lanceolaticm, one of the
commonest trees on the hill. This species seems to lay its eggs by-
preference on the young shoots that come up from the roots, like .4.
phalanta.

33. Eulhalia garvda. — I think this butterfly is less common in the
jungle than it is about human dwellings. It loves to bask on old
grey walls and. may be found, making itself happy in the dirtiest parts of
the native town. I am quite sure it prefers the liquids which it sips from
the roadside gutter to the nectar of any flower. The larva may be
found in the month of October, and no doubt later, on the mango tree.
I found one once on a rose bush, to which it had done some mischief. It
is a difficult larva to rear, sulking and refusing to feed. It eats only
at night, remaining motionless all day, and the interfacings of its light
green spines form such a perfect imitation of the venation of a leaf that
it must very easily escape detection.

34. E. lubentiha. — This is not very rare on the hills, but seems
to keep to the tops of trees, basking in the sun. I have found it at
Matheran in December.

■35. Sytnphcedra nais. — In structure this is said to be near to Eulha-
lia ; in habits it is a Junonia, or perhaps, I should rather say, a Pyrameis,
flying low and alighting generally on the ground, where it basks with
wings expanded. I have not met with it in Bombay, but it is not uncom-
mon at Uran, only five miles from Bombay, and may be found, I dare say,
throughout the low jungles of the Tanna district.. I think its chief season
is the close of the monsoon,- but I have found it in May. There is some
difference 'n the depth of colour in different specimens from the same region.
36. Hypolimnas misippus. — This is very common after the rains. The
larva feeds on Portulacca oleracea, wlich is a monsoon weed in Bombay.
I think Boisduval's enthusiasm carries him too far when he says that the
mimicry of D. chrysippus by this species extends even to their larvae, which
at first sight have a superficial resemblance. This is a spiny larva of the
Junoniit type, and does not need to mimic anything, because nothing is
under temptation to eat it. Females of the dorippus type are not rare, and
there is one in the Society's collection.

37. Hypolimnas aoia. — When the first showers of the monsoon have
fallen in June, a large number of the females of this butterfly appear,
without a single male being visible. Two or three months later, males
appear in great abundance in some places, followed after an interval by
females. I noticed this particularly in 1878 at Uran, where the low
jungle on the hill s'des literally swarmed with this species, and I have at
other times, without noting dates so precisely, found one sex abundant
without the other. In Bombay and Poona this species is common abcut

A LIST OF THE BOMBAY BUTTERFLIES IN THE SOCIETY'S COLLECTION. 135

the close of the rainy season, though never so plentiful as the next. It
wanders little, and I have watched a fiue male in the garden day after day,
basking on the same bush and sucking the same flowers, fiercely chasing
all rivals away, until it was old and faded and broken, and finally disap-
peared. I do not think they live much over a week, but this is a difficult
point to settle, because in captivity there are unnatural conditions which
may lengthen as well as shorten an insect's life.

38. 77. bolina.- — This is the least common of the three species in

Bombay. In collections from Malabar, it is, I think, the commonest.

Perhaps it is more a denizen of the jungle and rarer in gardens. Like
the others, it appears during the latter half of the monsoon and for a short
time after.

A NEW SPECIES OF ALGA
CONFERVA THEBMALIS BIRDWOODll

(With an Illustration.)

DISCOVERED AMONG THE HOT-WATER ALG^E FROM VAJRABAI
EXHIBITED BEFORE THE BOTANICAL SECTION ON 15™ MARCH 1886.

By Surgeon K. R. Kirtikar, I.M.D.,
2nd Surgeon, J. J. Hospital,

Acting Professor of Anatomy, Grant Medical College.

I visited the hot-water springs of Vajrabai near Bhiwandi in the
Thana Collect orate a fortnight ago. The place has been described in
the Indian Antiquary of March 1875 (page Q6) by Mr. Sinclair, of
the Bombay Civil Service, one of our able co-adjutors and generous
contributors in the Zoo'ogical Section. The springs occur, he says,
in or near the bed of the Tan sa River at the village of Wadouli, about
twelve miles due north of Bhiwandi. Those at Akloli and Ganesh-
puri have a temperature of about 100° F. The water is stored, as it
bubbles up from the underground springs, in a couple of big basins
built of black basaltic stones, about eight feet by twelve in dimensions
and four feet deep. The water bubbles up hot through circular holes
cut out at the bottom of the basin. It has a sulphurous taste and smell.
It was analysed by Drs. Giraud and Haines in January 1855, but no
note seems to have been made of this quality of the water. The analy-
sis is given in the Transactions of the Medical and Physical Society of

"13G NATURAL HISTORY.

Bombay (page 24, Vol. V.) and is as follows : --In 10,000 parts or
grain-measures : —

Specific gravity at G0° F . ... 10020

Chloride of sodium ............ 12*41

Chloride of calcium 7-07

Sulphate of lime 2.08

Silica -88

Total Solids... 22-64

The temperature of the water at source is noted 120° F.

The Alga? that I have collected are from the hottest springs of
Gorakha-Machhindra, the temperature of which is 130° F.

Very few Alga3 are described as the inhabitants of hot springs.
Oooke,in his recent work on British Water Algas, mentions only four — ■
Htigeoclonium thermale7 Gleocapsa arenaria, Spirulina oscillaroides
(variety Mvnutissima), and Oscillaria iherrnalis. Hassall mentions
Oscillatoria thermalis (page 250, Vol. I., British Freshwater Alga?)
as being found in a stream of hot water at Stevenston, but, as Cooke
rightly remarks, Hassall's illustration is not sufficiently graphic as to
enable the reader to recognize the species. Hassall, however, observes
that some of the OsciPatoreaa are found in mineral waters and in such
as are absolutely hot and almost boiling.

Kiitzing, in his work " Species Algarum," describes Spirulina subti-
lissima as being found in some Italian hot springs. The Spirulina
thermalis is found in the hot springs of Italy and Bohemia (Carlsbad).
He also describes, among the doubtful species which he has not fully
recognized, Avabaena thermalis, found in the Algerian River Oued-
el-Bammam, which derives its waters from a hot spring.
JRhizoclonium Crispum is also described by the same Algologist as
being found in the hot springs of Germany and Italy.

Thus it will be seen that the Algal inhabitants of thermal springs
are few and far between. I was struck during my visit to Vajrabai
with the rank growth of the Alga? now exhibited before this
Meeting. They were growing luxuriantly, and looked in their
recent and natural condition, richly and beautifully green, firmly
fixed on to the loose pebbles that were rolling in the stream
and to the black basaltic stones lying along the current of the
continuously streaming water, the high temperature of which
the human hand could not stand for more than two consecutive
minutes.

kirtikak's

conferva therm aus birdwoopii

KRK<.fti(<~ dU&x-

2i~- 4, •%&

/jfihUpj s^r(UtCrJt JK &^ v/^47 Jh^-L -

A NEW SPECIES OF ALC4A CONFERVA THERMALIS BIRDWOODII. 137

I found four varieties of Alga3 in the different springs about the
place : —

(1) A species of Ulothrix, not very different in structure from

Ulothrix Radicans of Cooke.

(2) A species of Nostoc with its very minutely beaded appearance.

(3) A Conferva very similar to C ' hcetomorpha implexa {vide

p. 140, Cooke's Algte, plate 54, fig. 6).
These three varieties will by and bye receive special treatment
at my hands, but to-day I propose to examine in detail the fourth
species of Conferva which I have not seen described anywhere in
Kiitzing, Cooke, Hassall or Mrs. Gatty.

(4) To the naked eye this variety of Conferva is visible in the
shape of fine hairy filaments of beautiful rich green. Under the micros-
cope with a 5 inch objective the structure is seen in detail, and is not
unlike that of Enteronwrpha Percursa described and figured by
Mrs. Alfred Gattv in her British Seaweeds under No. 350, Plate
LXXII, the difference being that our specimen has distinct
dissepiments in the body of the Alga and tretrasporous
arrangement of the zoospores inside the tubular segments.
Following Mrs. Gatty 's mode of description given in her work, I
here briefly give the result of my examination of the newly-
discovered Alga.

Color. — Bright rich green when in the hot water ; turning olive
green on being kept in cold water, or on drying.

Substance. — Soft ; can be easily torn off.

Character of frond. — Single ; bearing occasionally slender spine-like
branchlets, short and tapering, not distinctly jointed, growing in tufts.

Joints.— Small, numerous, faintly marked, with from four to six
dissepiments in the long axis of the Alga. Smaller horizontal joints
separating the endocbrome and zoospores into spaces j~ to ^-^
inch in length and -p^ inch in breadth.

3Itasuremeuts. — 4 to 6 inches high when standing in the hot stream
in tufts.

Fructification. — Unknown. In some of the mature segments the
central mass of coloring matter constituting the sporidium is arranged
in a tetrasporous manner, the contents escaping in due time, probably
by rupture of the segment walls.

As the species is q>ite a new one, requiring a designation, I have
obtained the Honorable Mr. Justice Birdwood's permission to

138 NATURAL HISTORY.

associate his name with the Alga, as he is at present the President of
our Botany Section; and as I wish to mark the high sense of esteem
and respect I entertain for him as an accomplished and practical
naturalist, and as a kind and indefatigable worker in the interests
of humanity, I call the Alga Conferva Therm dis Birdw ;odii, and
so be it known in the weedy world.

K. R. KIRTIKAR.

NOTE ON FREQUENCY OF PARASITES IN INDIAN

ARMY HORSES.

By V. S. J. H. Steel, A.V.D.,

Supdt., Bombay Veterinary College and Hospital.

In August 1884 I examined with care the bodies of twelve Lighfe
Cavalry horses destroyed on account of age or incurable injury at
Bangalore. The results are, in some respects, remarkable. Thus, no
doubt is left as to the richness of the zoological field explored by me ;
every one of these twelve horses contained large numbers of parasites
of two or more species. Further, a young mare, the only Australian
of the lot, had two forms of parasite which were not fou ;d in any
of the others ; this suggests the question as to whether she can have
brought those forms from the depot at Oossoor some two years
before, or from Australia some throe years before, her destruc-
tion. Again, certain parasites commonly seen during post-
mortems of horses were conspicuous by their absence ; echinococcus
cysts were not found in the liver, nor armed strongyles in the
anterior mesenteric artery, nor were any thread-worms present
in the respiratory passages, nor flukes in the liver. If well-fed and
cared-for horses were thus infested, how much more so must be
country ponies and horses "roughing it" out in the districts. All the
horses had been watered from the same tank ; had been standing
in open lines ; and had been similarly fed for the six months previous
to destruction. Their fodder mainly consisted of fresh Hariali or
Dhoob grass, more or less moist from washing, but fairby well cleaned
as regards removal of mud, dirt, and foreign grasses. Their gram
was boiled coolthee.

NOTE ON FREQUENCY OF PARASITES IN INDIAN ARMY HORSES. 139

Parasites found in various situations.

No.

In Stomach.

In Caecum.

In Colon.

1

Bots and small round-

[One a«caris megaloce-

Oxyuridet(and in rectum).

worms.

pbala in duodenum ]

2

Bots

Str. arma'us and str.
tetracantbus.

3

Str. armatus and amplrs-

toma collinsii.

4

A very few bots

Amphi. collinsii (at com-
mencement),

-

Bots, a large cyst, v.
few small thread-

Str. armatus (a few), str.
tetracanthus, and ampin.

Avorms.

collins'i (.many) at com-
mencement of douile
rob n.

•0

A number rf tots ard

Str. armatus and str.

Str. armatus and str.

of small (bread-

tetra cant bus (im ma-

tetracanihus (imma-

worms.

ture ?) ; also auiphis-

ture?) ; also amphi. col-

toma colli n si i.

linsii.

7

Str. armatup, str. tetra-

Str. armatus, str. tetra-

cantbus (a few imma-

canthus (a few imma-

ture ?) ; also amphi.

ture?), ampbi. collinsii

cdlinsii Oorne).

(some)at commencement
of double colon.

S

Man}' bo(s, a few
small thread-worms.

A few mature str. arma'us.

A few ma'ure str. armatus.

9

A few str. am atus

Str. armatus arc! ampbi.
ccllinsii (a few) at com-

mencement.

10

One small cyst, str. tetra-
canthus? and a few

Ampbistomes, str. arma-

tus, and str. tetracanthus

ampbistf mes.

(in enormous numbers).

11

Bots and an enormous

A few tumours and small

Numerous amphistomes.

wt rm tumour.

thread-worms (str. tetra-
canthus ?).

12

Bota and mar}' small

One tajDia, many str.

A few ampbistomes ; blond

round- worms.

ariuatus.

spots as though from
parasites.

The evidence given here is of two kinds : (a) Positive— including
presence of parasites or indications of their having been present ;
and (b) Negative — the absence of parasites and of traces of them.
We have positive evidence of the occurrence of parasites as follows: —
1. Bots, the larvce of oestrus equi, in the stomach only,
from which we infer that these partial parasites are at Bangalore in
August not yet ready to assume the chrysalis stage. We can easily
understand why bots were present in every case examined, for
all the horses were standing in open lines and fastened by head-and heel-
ropes ; they were, therefore, continuously exposed to the attack of
the gad-fly and deprived of power to escape it by flight into water
or otherwise. The horse gad-fly is, however, not very irritating,
and it deposits its eggs on the long hairs of the legs instead of on
more sensitive parts, such as the nostrils, attacked by the gad-fly of
the sheep, and (by puncture) the skin as in case of the ox gad-fly.

140 "NATURAL HISTORY.

2. Smalt stomach thread-u-orms, present with or without
cystic " abodes." These are representatives of large-mouthed or
small-mouthed spiroptera (or of both). It is the large-mouthed
form which occurs in the cysts. Of these latter, one was closed and
two were open. In four cases these small thread-worms were found,
but no trace of cyst ; these were probably the small-mouthed form ; un-
fortunately no microscopical examination was made to settle this point.

3. Ascaris mee/alocephcila, in only one case out of twelve, is
probably considerably below its frequency among horses in England.
The specimen was small and apparently immature.

4. Oxyuvis cwvula in only one case. This parasite, the
presence of which is denoted by a white or yellowish deposit of ova
around the anus of the host, is of frequent occurrence in the
rectum of country ponies, and certainly is not rare in India. Its
infrequency in these horses was probably due to this not being its
11 season" for abode in the rectum, or, as this host was a " Waler'7
and young as compared with the most of the other horses, the
oxyurides may have been brought from the Oossoor Depot or from
Australia. In support of this latter view is the fact that the parasite
is very frequent in recently imported " Walers," hut opposed to it
is the fact that the host had been some two years in the ranks and
nearly three years in this country.

5. The single tape-worm observed was apparently a Tcmia

perfoliate/,; it was a "wretched specimen obtained from a Persian horse

which had been some eighteen months in the country and had been

marched from Bombay to Bangalore after purchase. I am inclined to

think he brought this tape-worm with him, perhaps from Persia. This

species of paras-ite is frequent among asses in England and not rare

in the horse. The blood spots on the lining membrane of the colon

in the case from which it was taken may have resulted from previous

and recent occupation by other individuals of this species, hut there

wras no sign of more than the one which was met with in the

caecum. Amphistomes were also present in this case, but they seldom

cause blood spots. The effects of involuntary change of country by

parasites on import or export of their hosts would be an interesting

study — which of them in their unintentionally adopted countries find

the complex requisites for their strange metamorphoses in development

remains to he established.

6. Strongylus armalus was in five cases found in both caecum
and colon, twice in the caecum and not in the colon ; twice in the

NOTE ON FREQUENCY OE PABASITES IX INDIAN ARMY HORSES. HI

colon and not in the caecum. In ail eases the parasite was in the
mature form, and in no case was the larval armed-strongyle found in
the anterior mesenteric artery causing "worm aneurism." It is evident
that in August in Bangalore the strongyle is in the adult dung-eating
stage and found in the large intestine — whether this is the case in
the rest of India remains to be proved. These are the worms con-
sidered by Bollinger as a frequent cause of colic.

7. The evidence about Strongylus tetracanthus, though conclusive
as to presence in so?ne cases, is not invariably satisfactory. The
parasites seen were small thread-worms of a white color (entered as
" immature str. tetr acanthus " in my rough records as prepared at
the time). They seldom (i.e., in only one case infesting the caecum
and in one infesting the colon ) had the distinctive red colour of
str. tetracanthus. They more resembled spiroptera in four cases of
the caecum and three of the colon. Not in a single case did I find the
form which has been called trichonema arcuata, i.e., the young
str. tetracanthus forming small rings in the substance of the
mucous membrane of the caecum and commencing portion of the colon.
But in one case was a cyst of the caecal mucous membrane, and in
two other instances where the small white worms were not found were
cysts, one burst, the other unopened. No microscopical diagnosis, unfor-
tunately, was made of the "small white worms," so ice must leave it
an open question ivhether a form of spiroptera is found in the ccecwn of
the horse. The cysts may possibly have resulted from migrating
str. armati.

8. Amphistoma collinsii, a form of trematode, was found in
the caecum in three cases, but in the coloa in no less than nine.
From this we might infer that the latter is specially its habitat. The
commencement portion of the colon is most frequently invaded. I
would in this connection suggest the view i\v&l frequency of parasites
such as are introduced with the food or water is found in the former case
in the stomachy in the latter in the cceciim or commencement of the
duodenum. This is a generalization of considerable importance and
worthy of discussion ; if it be accepted, we may infer that the amphi-
stomes in their larval form are ingested from the muddy water of
tanks either free or in the textures of minute larvae. These amphi-
stomes are very common in horses throughout ]ndia.

It is remarkable how much freer from parasites some horses
are than otheis. No. 10's intestines and stomach constituted quite
a zoological garden for the helminths. It is remarkable that, even

142 • NATURAL HISTORY,

leaving bots out of the question, iu not one of these twelve cases was
there freedom from parasites.

I Leg to be permitted to close this paper by recommending the interior
organs of domesticated and other animals to members of the Society
as a " happy hunting ground." There is enormous scope for
research, and material in every kitchen and every butcher's estab-
lishment. The odour of gastric and intestinal contents may not be so
enticing as that of the hill air, the ocean breeze, or the fresh dry
atmosphere of the maidan, but the aroma and gases from animals'
bowels are harmless, and (I speak from experience) make one
wondrous hungry ! Again, consider the importance of the problems
to be solved ; in every part of the world the same endo-parasitic
species are subjected to the same surrounding conditions of food j temper a-
ture, and reaction ; any specialities of geographical range must depend on
influences from without ; thus our search for causes of parasitic invasion
should he limited in its range and much facilitated. The remarkable biolo-
gical phenomena observed in study of the life-history of parasites,
and their considerable influence on the health and even life of those
higher animals they occupy as "guests," render them a specially
interesting study to the medical or veterinary worker.

J. H. S.

LIST OF BIRDS COLLECTED AND PRESENTED

TO THE SOCIETY
By Mr. A. T. H. NEWNHAM, S.C., ioth N.I.

1. Neophron ginginianua White Scavenger Vulture.

2. Faleo peregrinus Peregrine Ealcon.

3. Astur badius Shikra.

4. Accipiter nisns Sparrow Hawk.

5. Aquila vindhiana (eggs) Tawny Eagle.

6. Hioraetus pennatus Booted Eagle.

7. Circaetns gallicus Bonelli's Eagle.

8. Nisaetus fasciatus Crestless Hawk Eagle.

11. Butastur teesa White-eyed Buzzard.

12 to 15. Circus macrurus Pale Harrier.

16, 17. Carine brama Spotted Owlet.

18. Coracias indica Indian Roller.

19 to 21. Halcyon smyrnensis White breasted Kingfishes.

22, 23. Ceryle rudis Pied Kingfisher.

24. Palseornis torquatus Hose-ringed Paroquet.

25. Yunx torquilla Wryneck.

26. Eudynamis honorata Indian Kocl.

27. Cinnyris asiatica Purple Honeysucker,

LIST OF BIRDS COLLECTED AND PRESENTED TO THE SOCIETY. 143'

28. Lanius lahtora , .Grey Shrike.

29. Lanius erythronotus .....Rufous-backed Shrike.

30. Lanius vittatus Bay-backed Shrike.

31. 32. Lanius isabellinus Pale Shrike.

33, 34. Pericrocotus erythropygius White-bellied Minivet.

35. Pyctoris sinensis Yellow-eyed Babbler.

36. Thamnobia cambaiensis Indian Robin.

37. Pratincola caprata White-winged Bush-chat.

38. 39. Pratincola indica Indian Bush-chat.

44, 45. Cyanecula succica Blue Throat.

46. Franklinia buchanani Rufous fronted Warbler.

47. Franklinia buchanani Do. do.

50. Motacilla Maderaspatensis Large-pied Wagtail.

51. M. dukhunensis White-faced do.

52. M. leucopsis

56, 57. Agrodoma campestris Stone Pipit.

58. Agrodoma sordida Brown Rock Pipit.

59,60. Gymnoris flavicollis Yellow-throated Sparrow.

61. Ernberiza striolata Striolated Bunting.

62. Mirafra erythroptera Red-winged Bush Lark.

64. Alaudula raytal Indian Sky Lark.

65. Spizalauda deva Crested Lark.

67, 68, 69. Pterocles arenarius Large Sand Grouse.

70. P. fasciatus Painted Sand Grouse.

71, 72, 73. P. senegallus Spotted Sand Grouse.

74, 75, 76. P. exustus Common Sand Grouse.

77, 78. Francolinus vulgaris Black Partridge.

79. Perdicula asiatica Jungle Bush Quail.

80. Houbara McQueenii Houbara.

81. Cursorius gallicus Cream-colored Courser.

82. Chettusia gregaria Black-sided Lapwing.

83. Lobipluvia malabarica Yellow-wattled Lapwing.

84. (Edicnemus scolopax Stone Plover.

86. Totanus ochropus Green Sandpiper.

87. Totanus glottis Green Shank.

89. Himantopus candidus Stilt.

90. Fulica atra •-* Coot.

91. 92. Ardetta sinensis Yellow Bittern.

93. Botaurus stellaris Bittern.

94. Dendrocygna javanica Whistling Teal.

95. Anas boschas English Mallard.

96. 97. Chaulelasmus streperus Gadwall.

98. Mareca penelope Widgeon.

99, 100. Querquedula crecca Teal.

Additional.

103. Elanus casrulens The Black-winged Kite.

104. Rhynchaea bengalensis The Painted Snipe.

105. Gallinago gallinaria .The Common Snipe-

144 NATURAL HISTORY.

ZOOLOGICAL NOTES.

NOTE ON AN OLIGODON (SUBPUNCTATUS ?) FOUND AT
DAHANU, NORTH KONKAN, MARCH 1886.

By Mr. G. Vidal, C.S.

Description.— Length 11|. Scales 17. Upper labials 8 (4, 5, 6 entering orbit)

Minute black spots on the dorsal line about every third scale not white
edged.

A lateral streak of minute black speck9.

Scuta black spotted on each side.

This specimen agrees with the description of Subpunctatus (D et B), except
that the scales are in 17 rows and not 15, and that the dorsal spots are plain
and not white edged.

In the number of rows of scales it agrees with Spini punctatus (Tan), but the
latter, according to the description, has 9 upper labials and no ventral dots.

G. VIDAL.

Pteropus Edwardsii. — One of the 21st of May, one of the hottest days, I

suppose, that man has endured on this tide of India, I was at Belapur near

Panvel, and at about 1 o'clock in the day I came upon several trees covered with

Flying Foxes, all wideawake and fanning themselves hard with one wing.

Some used the right wing and some the left, but not one was at rest. More

than a hundred wings waving at once produced a very striking effect, and I

cannot think that the habit, if at all general, can have altogether escaped notice.

I am curious to know if anyone else has observed it.

E. H. AITKEN.

White-ants. — The following seems worth noting. I have heard of similar
cases, but this is the first that has come under my own observation. One of the
windows of the travellers' bungalow at Panvel had been attacked by white-ants,
when it was opened and left open for two days, thus cutting them off from their
base of operations. Instead of working along to the side ef the window and
going down by the frame, they had made an earthen pipe, three inches long, to
connect the window with the sill below. The pipe was perfectly straight, like
a mill chimney, and very thin, just wide enough to allow passage for one ant at
a time ; so they must have had some arrangement for obtaining "line clear"
before entering at either end. White-ants being blind, it is an interesting
question by what sense they assured themselves when they commenced their
pipe that they were not working out into space.

E. H. AITKEN.

Editor's Note. — A chest of drawers was removed about 4 or 5 inches away from
a wall. The feet of the chest were inserted in saucers of turmeric powder,
and the contents were considered safe. But on opening one drawer after a time,
it was found full of white-ants. On looking behind the chest, there was dis-
covered a track leading up the wall to a level with the drawer, and then a bridge
consisting of a single pipe was thrown across and the drawer entered.

B. A. S.

ZOOLOGICAL NOTES. US

POISONOUS LIZARDS, THE BIS-COBRA.

Editor's Note. — In a letter to Mr. Phipson, Honorary Secretary to the Society,
Mr. Ommanney, Under-Secretary to the Government of Bombay, states that
in tbe official reports seven deaths in Guzerat are put down as having been
caused by a poisonous lizard. He supposes this to be the much-discussed Bis-
Cobra, and asks for information concerning it or any other poisoncus lizard,
if such a thing exists in this part of the -world. Mr. Phipson replied that " all
naturalists are of opinion that no such thing as a poisonous lizard exists in this
country. The belief to the contrary is, however, prevalent in India amongst
the ignorant classes in country districts, and is doubtless kept up by the
snake-charmers and others whose interest it is to foster public credulity in
such matters.

"The word Bis-Cobra is applied to a variety of lizards in different parts of
the country, but in all cases where the reptiles have been pointed out by the
natives and killed, and sent to mu&eums, they have been at once identified as
known species." He adds in a postscript " that according to the highest
authority the only lizard the bite of which is known to be poisonous is the
Heloderrna of the S. W. States of America and Mexico*" It is doubtful now
whether the venom of the Heloderrna is as powerful as has been reported. I
believe no authentic case has been known of the death of a human being from
its bite, though small animals suffer to a fatal extent* I have never seen any
lizard in India like it ; any sort of lizard may be a Bis-Cobra to a native. I once
saw a whole Kacheri full of people put to flight by a common garden monitor.
From what I remember of the Heloderrna which was presented to the London
Gardens by, I thin1', Sir John Lubbock, the nearest approach in form is our
Uromastix harchoichii, only flatter, and yellow and black instead of earthy brown,
the whole body covered with small tubercles ; a very repulsive looking creature,
and capable of giving a severe bite. I believe it killed some small animals :
Guinea-pigs and the like. It arrived in a tin box long and narrow, and when
this was opened at the end it would not come out, but planted its claws against
a ledge at the opening and refused to budge. I think it was Mr. Bartlett him-
self who told me that, not believing in its poisonous properties, he caught it by
the head and pulled it out.

R. A. S.
ON CONJUGAL INFIDELITY AMONG BIRDS.

By Mr. W. E. Hart.

I was interested some weeks ago in reading in the pages of "Nature " several
accounts of instances of conjugal infidelity among birds. Curiously enough
a somewhat peculiar case came under my own observation shortly afterwards.
About the end of April a pair of wild pigeons, in appearance resembling the
"blue rock " of England, began to build their nest in my porch on the top of
one of the pillars supporting it. One night, before the nest had been com-
pleted, the hen bird was attacked in her s'eep by some beast (I suppose a rat)
which bit off one of her legs. She did not seem much worse for the loss, but
from that time nothing seemed to go right with the nest. It was constantly
falling to the ground. On two occasions after an egg had been laid in it. At

146 NATURAL HISTORY.

first I thought this was due to the crowe, but I think now it may have been
caused by the awkwardness of the hen bird, in her mutilated condition,
when alighting on or rising from her nest. In vain the unhappy pair time
after time repaired the disaster, shifting the position cf the nest from one
corner to another till they had tried all four pillars. When we went to
Matheran in May the nest was still unfinished, the eggs still unlaid, and there
seemed no chance of our unfortunate friends ever succeeding in raising a brood
of chicks. Still we could not but admire and sympathize with their patient,
persevering industry and fidelity to each other in adversity, and lecal the tradi-
tions we had heard of how the pigeon, the emblem of love, mates for life, and
how, when death takes one of the fond couple, the survivor pines away and dies
of grief. Alas ! foi another shattered illusion ! When we came back from
Matheran we found the nest finished indeed, and tenanted by a pair of well-
grown chieks nearly fledged, but they were not the children of our one-legged
friend. Her faithless spouse had brought home a second bride with the proper
•complement of limbs, who now ruled his house, accepted his caresses, and regulated
the affairs of his nursery, while the first looked sadly on, standing sorrowful and
solitary on her one leg. She, poor thing, apparently cannot get it out of her
bead that she is the true wife and real mistress of the house, for she often
tries to approach the nest or the chicks. But as often as she does so, her rival
flies at her and drives her off, and even'carries her hostility so far as to attack her
unprovoked when she is sitting quietly by herself at a distance. Lothario, I am
glad to say, never joins in actively ill-treating the deserted one. But his
•coldness and neglect must be as hard to bear. As she never leaves the
neighbourhood, 1 can only hope her forlorn appearance acts as a perpetual
blister to his conscience.

W. E. H.

BOTANICAL NOTES.

NOTE ON THE FERONIA ELEPHANTOM (ELEPHANT OR WOOD

APPLE) AS A TIMBER TREE.

By Mr. Frank Rose.

N. 0. RUTACEyE (Aumntiacew^ or Orange Order.)

This apparently insignificant Iudian tree seems not to have found a description
in Balfour's " Class Book of Botany, 1854 ; " yet a Botanist in 1829 deemed it
a " noble Indian tree. " Be that as it may, besides being a medicinal agent, its
properties, I think, are so well known as to need no reiteration in this journal;
suffice it to say that every part of this " common jungle tree " is reputed to be
useful. It was gracefully named " Ferouia " after tbe " Goddess of Forests " by
the celeb r ate d Portuguese Botanist Correa de Serra. My object in writing
on this subject is to question the assertion of a respected writer, who states that

BOTANICAL NOTES. 147

the timber is "used for house building; " probably be meant cnly for temporary
structures ? I write from experieDse, and beg to differ from him. A beam of this
wood, to save expense, was put up in a bungalow in 1880, and in 1886 perforations
by boiers were the result! I anticipated this, and informed the builder at the
time that a certain percentage of saccharine matter is contained in this tree,
consequently, it was open to the ravages of insects. The timber is certainly
tough, the average weight per eft. = 49 lbs.; is almost equal to that of teak
(Tectona grandis) ; it planes smoothly and receives a good polish ; but cui bona?
En passant, Creosote, possessing that powerful antiseptic property, has
been recommended for the preservation of timber ; but instances have occurred
where creosote, chloride of zinc, carbolic acid and corrosive sublimate have been
used, but without satisfactory results, excepting that they retard the destruction
by insects for a couple of years or so, when the above have not penetrated the
wood. Creosote, I know, acts like a charm, and is efficacious in preserving
animal substances. Then in my humble opinion I consider that the wood of
the Feron\a is unfit for permanent structures, though it may be used for
agricultural implements, but should not be classed with the M Indian timber
trees" of durability.

F. R.

Note by Editor. — The Feronia, Koit, or Kaith bel is mentioned in Balfour's
t' Timber Trees of India," 1862 Edition, and he reports it as much used for build-
ing in Gujerat and Coimbatore,where it is said to be durable, but inVizagapatam,
where it is also much used, it is said to be not very durable, thus confirming
Mr. Hose's opinion. Its strength (360 lbs.) is apparently almost equal to teak,
but there the comparison ceases ; the durability of teak, its properties of resist-
ing insects, and preserving iron from rust are chiefly due to the amount
of tar contained in the wood ; this tar, which was first brought to my notice by
the Gipsies (Bunjaras) of the Central Provinces in 1863 or 1864 was sent by me
for analysis to the Agri-Horticultural Society of Bengal, and the report will
be found in the journal of that time.

R. A. S.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY DURING
THE QUARTER.

TaE usual Monthly Meeting of the Society was held on Monday, April 5th,
at 6, Apollo Street, Dr. D. Macdonald, Vice-Piesident, presiding.

The following new Members were elected : — H. H. the Maharaja Saheb
of Indore, Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, Bart., Captain Street, Mr. N. R.
Cumberleye, Captain L. L. Fenton, Captain W. Aves, Mr. G. W. Terry,
Mr. J. Franklin, Captain Barclay, Captain Bishop, Mr. H. Van Buith, and Mr.
D. George.

Mr. II. M. Phipson then acknowledged receipt of the following contribu

148

NATTJKAL HISTOKY.

tions to the Society's collections duriDgthe past month, and made a few expla-
natory remarks regarding the specimens : —

Contribution.

Description.

Contributor.

A number of snakes (from B.
Burma)

Capt. C. H. Bingham.
Do.

{Var Maccra Keantiah.")

Do.
Do.
Do.

A quantity of insects from
Ceylon.

A quantity of fresh-water fish
from Savitri Kiver.

Genl. J. "Watson, V.C.

(Var. Cineraceus.)

Baroda.
C. A. Stuart.

Do.

............

Oligodon subpunctatus. .

W. Sinclair, C.S.
Do.

1 Turtle

Do.

A quantity of sea anemones
from Dharamtar.

Do.

W. H. McCann.

Fossil tooth of elephant from
Rangoon.

5 African gazelles' heads from

Africa.
1 Spring bok head from Africa.

Wm. Shipp, C.E.

Capt W. Aves.
Do.

Do.

G-. W. Yidal, C.S.

Oligodon subpunctatus..
Hypsipn-ymnus rufescens

Do.

Do.

G. F Johnson.

Mrs Hart.

Wallago Aitu

H. H. Swan, C.E.

A quantity of fish & scorpions

from Suakim.
Megapodius Nicobariensis and

egg from Nicobar Islands.

H. Wenden, C.E.

Do.

Mrs Sleater.

Corallines and marine specimens

from Persian Gulf.
14 Fossil Echinidte from

Capt. Bishop.
Do.

Do.

Khavey Island.
A quantity of Iron Pyrites from

Larek Island.
Specimen of sponge and coral

Do.

Col. Walcott.

Fossil tooth of elephant from
Runn of Cutch.

H.A.Ac worth, C.S.
Do.

1 large Dhaman (alive)

Wm. Shipp, C.E.
R. A. Sterndale.

Do.

Skin of white-bellied flying

squirrel
Skin of yellow cheeked Marten

Pteromys albiventer ...

Minor contributions from H. A. Acwortb, C.S , Mrs. H. S. Symons, J. Par-
menides, H. Buckland, Chas. Lowell, C. E. Crawley, W. W. Squire, Mr?. A. F.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY DURING THE QUARTER. U9

Turner, Father Dreckmann, W. Gleadow, William Sbipp, R. Wroughton,
and Dr. E. M. Walton.

Contributions to the Library. — "Vegetable Materia Medica of Western
India" (Dr. Dymock) from author; "Game Birds of India, Burmah and
Ceylon" (Hume Marshall) ; W. Sinclair, C.S. ; "Moses and Geology" (Kinns)
W. Sinclair, C.S. ; "Wanderings of Plants and Animals" (Hehn), W. Sinclair
C.S.

Specimens deposited with the Society. — 5 ,Cashmere stag heads, from Dr.
Banks ; 2 Himalayan Ibex heads, from Dr. Banks ; 1 Ovis Ammon head, from
Dr. Banks ; 1 Maikhor's head, from Dr. BaDks ; 1 Cheetal's head, from H. S.
Wise ; 2 Black Buck's heads, from H. S. Wise ; 1 Hyena's head, 1 Wild Cat's
head, 2 Neilgbai heads, mounted by the Society's taxidermist for up-conntry
corrtspondents, were also exhibited by Mr. E, L. Barton.

The Secietary announced that the second number of the journal, containing
much interesting matter, was now ready for issue to subscribers. A voto
of thanks was passed to Mr. Sterndale for having, in the absence of Mr.
AitkeD, undertaken the sole task of editorship and for bringing out the
journal so punctually.

Mr. Sterndale exhibited, through the courtesy of Messrs. William Watson
& Co., two cubs of the Indian Sloth Bear (Ursus labiatus,) the property of
Mr. Mainwaring, and now on their way to the London Zcological Gardens.
One of these cubs is the Alfciuo referred to in the second number of the
Society's Journal. The cubs were taken out singly and petted by seme of
the members present, who were much amused at the petulant cry, like that
of an infant, which the little bears made when separated.

The living Flying Squirrel presented by General J. Watson, V.C , was also
exhibited, and appeared to be none the worse for its flight across Rampart
Row, recently alluded to and described in the Journal.

Mr. Sterndale also exhibited a very tame specimen of the Morigoose Lemur
{Lemur mongos) from Madagascar.

Mr. Phipson turned loose one of the two Kangaroo rats {Hypsiprymnus
rufescens) lately received from Mr. G. F. Johnson, of the P. and 0. Compaoy(
Adelaide. The little animal, which is about as big as a rabbit, went bounding
round the rooms and caused much amusement to those present.

Dr. Maconachie showed, under the microscope, a sample of the TuL-i
drinking water, collected an hour or two before the meeting. Among masses
of vegetable matter there were crustaceans, worms, infusoria, animalcula, and
other animal specimens, living, dead, and in various stages of decay.

The usual Monthly Meeting of the Society was held on Monday, May 3, at 6
Apollo Street, and was largely attended. The Hon Mr. Justice Birdwood, Vice-
President, took the chair. The following new Members were elected : His Highness
the Rao of Cutcb, Coloael F. G. Wise, Mr. C. L. Weber, Mr. R. N. Mant, Mr. G.
P. Millett, Mr. James Tod, Mr. R. Riddell, R.E., Mr. Robert Clark, Mr. James
Cheetham, Mr. T. R. Booth, Dr. D. G. Dalgado, Rev. H. P. Le Febvre, Mrs.
Charles Douglas, Mr. P. C. Oswald, R&v. J. Forgan, Mr. Thomas Bromley, Mrs.

150

NATURAL HISTORY.

Dillon, Mr. T. W. Pearson, Mr. R. H. Macaulay, Mr. Andrew Hay, Dr
Bhiccajee Eduljee Gaswalla, Mr. C. E. Fox, Mr. Montagu C. Turner, and Mr.
A.E. Hoare.

Mr. H. M. Phipson then acknowledged the following contributions to the
Society's collections during the past month : —

Contribution.

Description.

Contributor.

A Golden Pheasant alive
from China

A number of Snakes and
Lizards from Saugor ...

Snout of Saw-fish

2 skins of Flying Squirrels-
A number of Snakes ana

Reptiles from Deolali...
Head of large Saw fish. .

1 Porcupine alive

Head of Sind Ibex

Head of Bison

3 Snakes

Pristis anteguorum
Pteromys oral

Hystrix leucura

Capra cegagrus

Gavceus gaurus

E c hi s Carinata, Dipsas
Gokool

Mr. E. D. Barton.

Lieut. Barnes.

Miss R Rich.

Mr. E. C. K. Ollivant.

Mr. F. C. Webb.
Mr. D. E. Aitken.
Mr. A. S. Ritchie.
Mr. B. T. Ffinch.
Mr. Robt. Clark.

Mr. F. D. Campbell. C.E.

Minor contributions from Mr. H. F. Hatch, Dr. Kirtikar, Mr. E. H. Aitken.
Mr. J. W. Evans, and Mr. Nanabhoy Rachanath.

Contributions to the Library. — A series of photographs of animal- shot,
by Mr. J. D. Inverarity. A paper on a new Gerbillue (by Mr. James Murray)
from the author. A paper on a new species of Mus (Mr. James Murray)
from the author.

Mr. Phipson also announced that he bad received a telegram from H. B.
the Maharaja Sahib of Indore, offering the Society two panthers, which had,
however, not yet arrived.

A vote of thanks was then passed to the ladies and gentlemen who had sent
the following exhibits to the meeting : —

Exhibit.

Description.

Exhibitor.

1 Orchid

1 Do

1 Do.

3 Do

2 Do

1 Do

1 Fern

1 Do

1 Do

A quantity of new rare

plants

Phaleonopsis grandiflora.. .Mr. M. C. Turner.

Saccolobium yuttatum (Mrs. Cbas. Douglas

Dendrobium pierardi !Mr. M. H. Starling

JErides crispum
Dendrobium nobile ...
Adiantvm peruvianum
Adiantum concinnium,
Adiantum fergusonii ,

Mr. E. H. Aitken."
Victoria Gardens.
Captiin Passy.
Mr. M. H. Starling.

Do.

Do.

Mr. T. Bromley.

Mrs. Charles Douglas, Mr. G. W. Terry, and Mr. R. A. Sterndale
showed some beautiful drawings of plants. Mr. E. L. Barton exhibited a
carpet made from a tiger's skin and twenty-two black buck skins, and also a
large specimen of Rock Snakes (Fylhon molurus) stuffed and mounted by
himself.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY DURING THE QUARTER.

151

Mr. Starling drew attention to a fern (Adianium fergvscnii) exhibited by
him, and explained that it had been found about five years ago in a garden at
Negombo in Ceylon, but that no one knew how or whence it had come there.
The species was unknown at Kew, but the authorities there considered that
it was a cross between A. farleyense and A. tenerum. Looking, however
to the place where it was found, that was impossible, as A. farleyense had
never been known to bear spores in Ceylon. It was, therefore, regarded by
Dr. Trimen, the Director of the Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya, as a new
species, and named by him after the discoverer, Mr. Ferguson, the Municipal
Engineer in Colombo. Mr. StarliDg also suggested that it would be useful if
those who had plants of A. farleyense would watch them, as his had apparently
prepared to bear spores, the edges of the leaves having turned under,
to as to form receptacles, but that he had not hitherto been able to detect any
spores.

t

JOURNAL

OF THE

BOMBAY

literal Hisiflrg ^0xttcf u.

No. 4. BOMBAY, OCTOBER 1886. Vol. I.

WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA.

Part II. — Konkan and Coast.
(By a Member of the Society.}

The region of the present paper is included, roughly speaking,
between the 16th and 21st degrees of North Latitude and between
the watershed of the Sahyadri Range, with an average elevation of
about 3,000 feet (rising in places to 4,500) and the outer line of sound-
ings, where they increase suddenly, though very irregularly, at
a distance of about 60 nautical miles from the coast.

The mountains, the coast, and the line of deep water are pretty
nearly parallel, running from south-east to north-west, with a slight
westerly divergence in the coast-line and a more marked one in
that of soundings.

The whole region forms the face of the Deecan trap area, descend-
ing westwards into the ocean by a series of the terraces or steps
which characterize this formation and have given it its name
(trappa=step in Swedish or Danish).

Fresh and salt water are so much mixed up in parts of this region
that it is convenient to take the whole together in rough notes like
the present.

Between the crest of the Sahyadris and the edge of the series of
cliffs which form most of their western face is a narrow hio-bland
zone called the " Konkan- Gha't-Mata'," or " Konkan on the top of the
ghats." "Mats'" in Maratha means the top of anything, from a skull
to a mountain, whence, for instance, Materan (" The juDgle on the
hill-top"').

The longest torrent of the Konkan- Gha't-Mata is probably the
Kumbhe nullah, with a course of five miles ; and I suppose that the
little tank at Khandala is its largest sheet of standing water. The
torrents, which are very numerous, generally contain wafer here and

154 NATURAL HISTORY.

— ■■ - — ■ ' ,m

there throughout the year : in potholes under falls, or at spots where
springs occur in their beds.

These are inhabited by characteristic little fishes ; loaches (Nemachili)
and mountain carps (Discognathi). There do not seem to be many
species. I could only distinguish two loaches and one cyprinoid
amongst many hundred specimens collected from every spring and
stream in the basin of the Savitri. The cyprinoid seems to have the
characters of Dr. Day's Dhcognathis (olim Mayoa) modestus,
a species which he bases upon two specimens in the Calcutta Museum,
and supposes to belong to Northern India. Lieutenant Beavan
remarks on its similarity to his Dicognathxis macrochir.

One of the loaches is apparently Nemachihrs rupelli ; the other
I could not identify. All three seem to live chiefly on green water
mosses coating the stones of the streams ; but they are probably pretty
omnivorous. They form a sort of Alpine club ; there is no tiniest
spring that does not hold them ; and the hillmeri all maintain that
they ascend by leaving the rivers during the rains, and literally
climbing up the mountain sides at that time streaming with Avater.

From some experiments that I made, I think that this extraordi-
nary statement is probably true. The most remarkable other
inhabitants of the Gha't-Mata waters are certain highland periwinkles
(Cremnoronchi), whosft resemblance to the Marine Littorinoe (which
people buy by the pint and eat with pins) has given rise to conjec-
ture that they may be descended from "winkles" that inhabited the
Ghats when these were washed by a prehistoric ocean. They seem
to sleep in concealment during the dry weathtr, and come out in
swarms in the rains, when some of the hillmen collect and eat them.
The tiny fishes that I have mentioned, averaging perhaps an inch and
a quarter in length, furnish little food ; and accordingly we have
here no aquatic mammal aid few birds to notice. The Three-toed
Kingfisher (Ceyx tridactyla) is the most characteristic. Halcyon
Uucocephalm and smyrnensis occur, and probably the rare H.
pile ta and chloris. Alcedo hengalensis is common ; and perhaps
Alcedo beavani may be found hereafter.

The ubiquitous Paddy-bird and u Did-ye-do-it," and the smaller
Sand-pipers, frequent the streams ; and the few and small tanks are
used as resting-places by migrating Ducks and Teal.

The rivulets of the Konkan-Gha't-Ma'ta fall over the black cliffs of
the Ghats in innumerable cascades, separated by the terraces which
run along the face of the mountains. Down to about 500 feet above

WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 155

sea -level there is no change in their population ; but here we find
a tiny prawn associated with the loaches and Discognathus modestus ;
and below this we come upon Discognatlius lamia and a number of
small Barbel and Carps, mostly, I suppose, fry of large species. Near
the same level we begin to get a small Murrel ; and at the next step
downwards the torrents unite to. form small rivers, flowing through
valleys of which the bottoms are usually under rice-cultivation.

These rivers very much resemble thoss of the Western Deccan
described in my last paper ; but. before they have time or space to
unite and form important channels, they meet with the salt water.
Probably no river of the Konkan has a perennial fresh- water stream
fifty miles long.

There are however many deep potholes under falls ; and in some
places long reaches of still water are formed by natural trap dykes
crossing the streams or by artificial dams.

Some of the valleys are mere gorges ; others are of considerable
width ; and these latter have usually flat bottoms, and appear to
have been lakes within (geologically) recent times. Many of my
readers are probably familiar with the theory that the basaltic floor of
the Konkan, or at least of that part of it near Bombay, did, within
the present period, sink westwards, somewhat as ice sinks from the
shore when the water fails under it, immersing its western edge in
the sea, and forming, amongst other things, Bombay Harbour, where
there had probably been a lake surrounded by forest. In digging the
Prince's Dock, a forest of Kheir trees ( Acacia catechu) was found m
situ, very much as you may see to-day the same trees growing in
the forests of Mosare and Kirawli, five and twenty miles away; aud
recent excavations in the salt marshes of Uran showed numerous
roots and twigs with the bark on them : these however were not
identified, and may have been mangroves ; but even this implies
a depression of their bed, as mangroves do not grow below low-water
mark.

The lacustrine remains found in the Island of Bombay itself may
perhaps belong to another period. I am not personally acquainted
with them.

But the recent depression that let the sea into Bombay Harbour
would naturally spill the fresh water out of lakes lying further east,
such, for instance, as the wide Panwell Basin, over which people look
towards Bombay from the west edge of Matheran, or from the
reversing station on the Bhor Ghat. The same thing probably

150 NATURAL HISTORY.

happened to the valleys of the Kundlika and the Man gaum K£l. The
line of disruption has never been exactly traced ; but it is suggested
that some clue to it may be obtained from the hot springs ; and in
that case it probably begins near Mhad, and runs through the valley
of Mangaum and the very curious little defile of Ratwad, the
Sukeli Pass, and the salt marshes east of the harbour ; then
between the Parsik and Matheran Hills, and past Bhiwandi to Akloti on
the Tansa River.

This however is all mere conjecture at present ; and the main
importance of the great break off to our subject is that it left us not
a single lake in a country that was once probably a " lake region," and
gave us instead estuaries in which the salt water often gets 30 miles
from the sea. In some places on these creeks the mountains close in
on the channel, and these defiles are often very picturesque.

But generally there is more or less flat salt marsh on one or both
banks of each creek, sometimes reclaimed and converted into salt rice-
land or salt-pans, but often covered with a dense growth of mangrove
bushes, which grow to 25 or 30 feet high. The reclaimed lands are
irredeemably ugly during eight months of the year ; the mangrove
swamps and islands, on the other hand, are very pretty at a distance
or when the tide is in. At low water they are not pleasant neighbours
from the heavy smell and hideous appearance of the bare mud about
their roots, pierced by innumerable spiky and leafless suckers. The
trees are not always true mangroves (Rhizophorea?) ; indeed these
are comparatively rare to the north of Bombay, but more abundant
as you go down the coast southwards. The native name for them is
Kandelj and they are easily distinguished by their strange flying
buttress-like roots, glossy foliage, and flowers sometimes conspicuous
and sweet-scented. Of this order, we have species of Rhizophora,
Ceriops, Kandelia, and Bruguiera, and of others the " Tiwar" (Avi-
cennia tomentosa) and u Surund" (Excwcaxia agallocha)^ both of
which are useful forage plants, " Phungali" (Exccecaria majus), with
white flowers, and the strange " Marendi," or " Creek Holly," for
which I have only a very old botanical name, Acanthus ilicifolius^
probably superseded in late works.

The leaf is exactly like that of the common English Holly, and is
sometimes used as a substitute for it in Christmas decorations, the
berries being made up for the purpose of red beads cunningly tied on
with wire. The flower is pale blue, rather conspicuous, with a super-
ficial resemblance to that of a sweet pea. On embankments and

WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 157

other spots, raised ever so little above the marshes, we find the Chikhli
(Salvador a indica), which so much resembles its relation, Salvadora
persica, that one is surprised to find, apparently, a characteristic
desert plant in so damp a situation. The fruit is of a much deeper
and duller colour than in S. persica. For most of the description of
these trees I am indebted to a report by Mr. Ebden, C.S.

As the estuaries near the sea, the salt marshes give way to clean
sandy beaches in long bays, separated by promontories of trap-rock,
and these beaches are generally backed by groves of cocoanut and
other palms. The embouchure has almost always a steep and hilly
shore on one side (usually the south), and on the other a wide flat strand
prolonged into a dangerous bar. Those of Bankot and Chaul are good
examples. The smaller rivers which rise in the coast-ranges that run
parallel to the Ghats are miniatures of the larger streams that I have
described ; but several of them debouch in the central part of flat
plains, as, for instance, at Alibag and Warsoli. The plain here seems
to have been once the bed of one of the lakes referred to above, the
outer margin of which is still indicated by a line of reefs, of which
Kennery Island and the Chaul Kadu Rock are the most elevated
points. Subsequent to the immersion of most of the lake-bed in the
sea, much of it has been reclaimed by the formation of sand dunes,
orioinally backed by lagoons uhich have gradually become salt
marshes. At this point the industry of man has stepped in to aid
nature, and the sand dunes have become cocoanut gardens ; while the
marshes, embanked so as to keep out the sea tides and retain the
silt washed down from the hills, have become, first, salt rice-lands,
and afterwards, as the silt accumulates to above spring-tide levels,
capable of growing the superior rices which cannot endure even
brackish water.

Wherever these reclamations have been made in creeks and back-
waters, the mangrove swamps are of the greatest importance as
protecting the water side of the embankments and furnishing
materials for the repair of breaches. On the open coast, where the
mangroves cannot face the surf, this function is performed by sand
dunes formed by wind and wave. The total area of these reclaimed
lands is very great, and their formation has within historic times
greatly changed the face of the Konkan waters, and must have
seriously modified their population, especially the Avifauna.

To seaward, immediately north and south of Bombay, that is
from Dharavi to the Chaul Kadu Reef, the group of reefs, banks, and

158 NATURAL HISTORY.

islands of which Salsette is the largest and Bombay the centre, cover
a great number of sounds and inlets, mostly centring in Bombay
Harbour. Many of these are fast disappearing before natural silt and
artificial embankments, expecially the group west of Salsette and
that east of Hog Island and Karanja, both of which have been changed
from islands to peninsulas within living memory. This has given
rise to an idea that " the coast is rising ;" but if by this phrase
we understand an integral upheaval of the rocky sea-floor, there is
no evidence to support the doctrine. And in places where the coast
is directly exposed to the ocean alone, surveys made under my own
orders show that no change has taken place for nearly 30 years, that
is, since the first revenue survey.

The basaltic sea-floor, outside of the reefs and islands mentioned
(and from the coast itself north and south of tbem), descends by
gentle slopes, broken here and there by terraces, until at about 60
sea miles from the coast the " outer line of soundings" is marked by
depths, inside the line, usually of less than 100 fathoms, and outside
it in most cases of more than 200. This is a very rough description
of a matter deserving a fuller and better notice ; but for the purposes
of this paper, the " outer line of soundings" may be described as
marking a range of submarine u Ghats" about 600 feet high, forming
the western face of a plateau continuous with the flat parts of the
coast and descending from it, by gentle slopes and small scarps, at the
rate of about 10 feet to a nautical mile. We know little positively of
its material, but are justified from its outlir.es and position in sup-
posing this to be the Deccan trap, overlaid of course with marine
deposits.

The Orders, Genera, and even Species of aquatic animals which pass
from the salt to the fresh wrater are in places pretty numerous, and it ia
therefore convenient to take the whole area together in noticing them.

The highest aquatic mammal of the Konkan is the Otter, which
inhabits all the creeks and streams and occasionally visits the sea, but
is not very common, and being a nocturnal beast and very shy is
seldom seen. It breeds in the hot weather.

After it come the cetaceans, of which we know but little. The
Indian Borqual is known occasionally to visit the coast, and there
may be other large species. However, in a considerable experience of
the Konkan, I never saw a Whale spout in sight of shore but once.
It would be interesting if the experience of some of the officers of
the B. I. §. N. Company regarding this matter could be made

WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 159

available. I have had two heaps of bones of Whales which had been
stranded south of Bombay. One must have been over 40 feet long and
the other under 30, so far as could be guessed from the disjecta membra,,
The latter was distinguished by possessing flat intervertebral plates
of bone, which I could not find in the former. Neither had teeth.

Besides these, I have at different times received single vertebra? of
at least two Whales. The last and largest of them is in the Society's
Museum, and must have drifted a long way. It shows clearly the
marks of the peculiar spades used by whalers in stripping off the
blubber before " trying it out" into oil. But no whalers fish within
many hundred miles of Bombay.*

We have at least two Porpoises — one a true Delphinus, called by
the natives " Gadha ' (i.e., Donkey), perhaps from his constant habit of
kicking and frisking on the top of the water. There is a smaller one
called " Bhulga," which is less common and is distinguished by
having apparently no bade Jin, It keeps in shallow salt water ; and
1 have not seen it frisk and play like the " Gadha."

I have never been able to get a specimen of either ;f they often get
into fishing-nets, but almost invariably tear their way out. Some
years ago some gentlemen from Bombay tried to harpoon them in

* There are Whale fisheries about the Maldives and Seychelles. The likeliest large
Whale on this coast is Baloenoptera indica, the Indian Rorqual or Finback. I believe
that a specimen in Bombay has been doubtfully identified as belonging to the -allied
genus Physalus. They have no teeth ; only whalebone strainers. Right Whales
(Balsense), which have similar strainers and no back fin, are extra-tropical animals and
need not be looked for here; but the occurrence of a Sperm Whale or Cachalot (Evphysetes
sinius), with visible teeth in the lower jaw, concealed teeth in the upper, and a very
small back fin, is possible, as of Globicephalus indievs, really a gigantic Dolphin, with
a large back tin and visible teeth in both j*ws.

t Since the text was written and sent in to press, I have received three specimens of the
Bhulga, which has been identified as Neomerislearachiensis, and subjoin description, viz, old
female, gravid; total length between perpendiculars, 4 feet 2 inches ; maximum girth, 2 feet
7 inchftS ; width of tail, 1 feet 3 inches ; length of flipper, 9 inches ; live weight, 60 lbs.
avoirdupois ; colour, leaden black, lighter below, especially on the bieast ; nose, chin, and
interior of mouth dirty white.

No dorsal fin; but back behind the flippers flattened and hollowed out and carunculat-
ed; near the lumbar region edged with a slight salient angle, which may be taken to repre-
sent a rudimentary dorsal fin.

Mammae 2, inguinal (of course), concealed in slit valves. No rostrum whatever. The
profile rather reminds one of a Turtle's,

Teeth visible and numerous in both jaws (anxiety to preserve the specimens quickly
prevented their being counted) in both adult and foetus. In the former they are well worn
down, showing that it is an old animal,

Spiracle crescent-shaped, single, central, and far back. No water was expelled from it
in " blowing" during several hours that I had the animal under observation in water over
its depth. I should say here that I am well acquainted with the Rorquals and Globicepha-
Hda: in the wild state, and never saw either spout water. Theic discharge is more like
that of a starting locomotive steam-engine on a railway,

The contents of the stomach were many prawns (palamion), mostly of large size, 3 to 5
inches long; three very small'1 bones"of sepias, the longest 2£ inches, and ooe pen of a fquid
(loligv) also very small. None showed any signs of dental action; they had apparently
been swallowed whole. It is worth while to remark that the tongue of the "Bhulga,"
though distinct, is jaw-bound.

160 NATURAL HISTORY.

Mahim waters, but I believe failed. Two drifted fragments of skulls
(from the Alibag Reefs) are in the Society's Museum. They appear
to belong to different species.

Probably with a suitable steam-launch, and a combination of the
rifle and harpoon, some very good sport could be had out of the " Sea-
donkeys," which are extremdy numerous and not very shy. This
has been tried with success in the English Channel. The sportsmen
referred to above used canoes ; and I have tried to shoot them from
a sailing boat, and (of course) believe I hit them. But I never bagged
one. Of the Sirenia, sometimes called herbivorous cetaceans, Ha.li-
core dugong may occur, as it has been reported from Canara ; but
our basaltic coasts are not rich enough in seaweed to feed it, so its
appearance here is unlikely. It is sometimes called a " Seal ;" but
true Seals are seldom or never found between the tropics.

Of birds we have all those mentioned as found in the Deccan, and
others more appropriate.

The chief of the marine raptores here is the Grey-backed
Sea-eagle, called in Maratha " Khakan" (Halicetus lencogaster).
This bird is very common on the coast and creeks, and breeds here
and there on trees. Sea-snakes seem to be the chief of his diet ; but he
catches a good many fish too, and is said to rob the Osprey of his
plunder. This 1 have not seen myself, though the Osprey too is
common here, both on the salt and fresh waters, nor have I seen
the Sea-eagle touch carrion or strike birds. He does not resort here
to the fresh waters ; but the Osprey is seen on rivers and tanks as
often as on the shore. The Brahminy Kite fishes a good deal on the
surface of the fresh waters and creeks, seldom " out of harbour,"
and picks up carrion and Crustacea on the shore ; and the Paria Kite
(Milvus govinda) frequents harbours.

Some naturalists believe in a " large Paria Kite" (Milvus major') ;
and Mr. Hume has recorded specimens from the dunes of Upper
Sind and Bombay Harbour " which entitles him to a place here. To
my own knowledge, there is in the forests of the Konkan a Kite
answering to the description ; but whether he be really a separate
species, or merely an aristocrat among " Paria " Kites, I don't
pretend to say. The superior size and gentlemanly appearance of
this bird, both on the wing and in hand, are very marked. The
so-called lt Blue Kite," or Harrier (Circus swai7isoni), and Marsh
Harrier (Circus aeruginotus), the White-eyed Buzzard (Bulastur
teesa), and probably the Long -logged Buzzard (Buteo ferox\ hunt

WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 101

about rice-fields and the edges of swampy tanks and rivers for small
birds, and probably for frogs ; and so do both the Serpent-eagles
(Circaetus gallkus and Spilomis clieela). I see that Lieutenant Barnes
considers this last bird to be represented here by Spilornis melanotis ;
but I have shot many ill the Konkan showing distinctly the marks
which he insists on for S. cheela, vU., conspicuous ocellation and
barring on the lower surface and breast.* It is a common bird in the
Konkan jungles. As with many other Eagles, the young of the
year remain for some time with the old birds, and one can often hear
three or four of them calling to each other out of trees or on the wing.
It has several notes : the commonest is " Qui-yu-kuh," sometimes
** Ku-qui-yu-kuh," "Kou-we-you" (rather long and deep), or
a sharp repeated shriek (' Qui-qui-qui." The Brown Fish-owl (Kelupa
ceylonensis) is known, but being a shy nocturnal bird is not often
seen. I never got a specimen myself.

Swallows can hardly be called aquatic birds ; but it is worth while
to notice that the " Edible-nest Swiftlet" (CollocalLi unkolor) breeds
in our present region on the Vingorla Rocks ; and specimens of the
nests from that place are in our museum. The theory that the nests
are built of sea-weed, which would be a more legitimate excuse for
bringing the bird in here by the neck and heels> cannot unluckily
be maintained any longer.

The region is rich in Kingfishers, for which its streams are weH
fitted, being mostly well provided with small fish and overhanging,
rocks and branches.

Halcyon leueocephalus, the large Brown-headed Kingfisher, is rather
common, and it is to me surprising that Lieutenant Barnes seems
to think it a rare bird. It is tolerably familiar here ; and I have
often been able to watch one frequenting a tree near my tent for hours
and days in succession. It has three notes at least. The common call
is " Qui-yu-qui, Qui-yu, Qni-yu-qni." The alarm note is- a harsh
rattling laugh ; and a wounded bird, when retrieved, has a "squawk"
or " caw" very like that of a crow in the like ease.. Halcyon smymensis
is common on all wooded torrents and tanks, and often at some
distance from water, being largely insectivorous. The rare Halcyon
pileata and H. chloris are both recorded by Mr. Vidal, and probably
have escaped the notice of other observers, because on the wing, or
at a distance, they were mistaken for H. smymensis. I have

* A Gujerat specimen shown at our September meeting as S. ckeela had these markings,
but less than many of uy Konkan birds.

162 NATURAL HISTORY.

already mentioued Ceyx tridactylus as found in the Konkan-Ghat-Mata;
and as it is not essentially a bird of great elevations, we may be
pretty sure that it exists on the better wooded streams below the
Ghats.

Alcedo bengalensis is very common on all fresh waters and on the
coast, where it fishes in the pools left by the ebbing tide, and even
in the surf on the reefs (not in heavy surf of course). One of these
" long-shore" Kingfishers got to be very domestic in my verandah,
which it frequently passed through on its way from the sea to
a neighbouring tank, and would perch in for some time, taking
refuge apparently from the violent rain-squalls which swept the coast.
This was during the rains. The Blue Kingfishers seem to like sitting
in the shade at midday in the hot weather ; but Halcyon smymensis
will also sit out on a look-out post, where he can see grasshoppers
and the like. The Pied Kingfisher, on the contrary, seems to sit in
the sun, because he likes it, and you may find him on every tank and
open stream, on the creeks, and sometimes on the shore, where he is
associated with Alcedo bengalensis.

The next set of water-frequenting birds are the Wagtails, which the
natives call "Parit" (=u Washerman"). They are rather numerous,
and as a class well known ; and their technical distinctions of this
and that feather would be out of place here. They are on all fresh
waters, and occasionally on creeks or even on the sea-shore.

The Weaver-birds, or "Bhayas," are water-birds in one sense,
namely, that they almost always build near .vater and, if possible,
over it. We have three species. Ploceus bhaya is common in the
region. P. manyar^ the Striped Weaver-bird, is more frequent at its
northern end, where it opens into the plains of Gujcrat, this being
essentially a bird of the open country and of wraters with reedy
banks. P. bengalensis, the Blaok-throated Weaver-bird, is here
rare and local ; it has the same habits as P. manyar. Neither
of the two last is as lively and interesting as the intelligent
" Bhaya."

Of the Plovers proper, we have none of the Coursers, essentially moor-
land birds; nor, I think, any Swallow Plovers. The Grey Plover (Squa-
tarola helvetica) is said to occur " all along the seaboard." I have
never got it here myself, nor have I seen here, nor do I expect to
see the Indian Golden Plover {Charadrius fulvus). If anywhere,
these birds will be found on the occasional wide stretches of grass-land
near the sea, suoli as the commons of the Alibag Taluka. Mr. Vidal

WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 1G3

has recorded the occurrence of the rare Caspian Plover {CEgialitis
asiatica) ; and Lieutenant Barnes gives CE. geojfroyi^ mongola, and
cavtiana as coast-birds, and CE. dubia and minuta generally for
the Presidency. The last ought to be the dubia. It is a very dubious
species indeed.

The European Lapwing is extra-tropical, and its nearest allies,
the Cliettusue,, are rare cold-weather visitors here. Their place is
taken by the Red-and-yellow-wattled Lapwings, or " Did-ye-do-its"
(LobivaneUus goensis and Sarciophorus bilobus). The first is on every
stream : the latter is less aquatic and rarer. The Stone-plovers CEsa-
cus recurvirostris and CEdicnemus scolopax are not very common.
The former deserves its name, frequenting sheet-rock and shingle in
the beds of rivers and creeks (preferring fresh water). The latter
ought to bo called the Grass-plover, as its favourite quarters are in
open grass-lands, and it is so independent of water as hardly to deserve
a place here. It is the "Bastard Florican" of sportsmen, and does
really seem by its habits to mark the connection between the Bus-
tards and the Plovers, birds not widely separated by anatomical
characters.

Of the riamiantopodida1, or Pied Pea-plovers, the Turnstone and
Crab-plover may be looked for, and I think I have seen the latter-
The Oyster-catcher is a permanent resident, and probably breeds here
in small numbers.

There are absolutely no Wild Cranes in the region, probably because
there are few cold-weather crops.

The Common and Pin-tailed Snipe are frequent cold-weather visi-
tors, though the snipe-skooting of the Konkan is a poor affair to
a man of Sind or Gujerat. The Pin-tailed appears to increase in number
southward, which must be only an appearance, as both are undoubtedly
immigrants from the north. The Jacksnipe is less common here than
above Ghat ; they are all usually known as " Ishna'p;" but the true
Maratha name is '' Slush." The Painted Snipe is a permanent resi-
dent, and breeds here in the rains, but has a curious habit of shifting
its quarters in May, in small " wisps" of five to ten individuals, who
are very careless of cover, perhaps because there is so little left them
that they cannot afford to be particular.

Like the resident Ducks, the Painted Snipe is at this season fittest for
the table, and no doubt for the same reasons as given in my last paper.

The Curlew remains on the coast all the year round ; but its little
brother, the Whimbrel, seems to be only a cold-weather visitor, and

1G4 NATURAL HISTORY.

is not so often seen, although the flocks are larger than those of
Curlews. I have not myself seen the " Curlew-stir.t" on this coast.
The genus (Tringa) seems to be chiefly represented by the little Stint
{T. minuta\ which appears in considerable numbers in the cold-
weather. The Sand-pipers {Actitis glartola, A. ochropus, and
A. hypoleukos} are common at the .same season; the last less so than the
two first. The Greenshank is common, and stays till April. The Red-
shank comes in smaller numbers and for a shorter winter visit. The
Spotted Redshank, if it occurs at all, is rare ; but the Little Green-
shank is common throughout the winter, affecting fresh water and
creeks rather than the sea-shore. The Stint is common on tanks
rivers, and creeks. This bird and the Greenshank sometimes figure
on butlers' bills as " Woody kak" for which they are very fair
deputies. I have not seen the Avocet here. Most of the birds men-
tioned above go into the bag as " Snippets," or are contemptuously
let off, which is a mistake in the case of most of them (unless Snipe
happen to be plentiful), as they are good eating ai d quite as hard to
kill on the wing as Snipe. Certain shikaris indeed include in their
bags of " Snipe" pretty nearly everything that ha-; a tolerably long
beak. In one case I saw with mine eyes the murder of a Paddy-bird
for the bag as a ll Snipe" or " Plover ;" and indeed unless the term
were pretty elastic, there would be no room r<und Bombay Harbour
for the numerous sportsmen of the city. The firing there all Sunday
morning in the cold-weather is enough to make one think the country
up in arms.

The Bronze-winged Jacana is common wherever there are weedy
tanks. Its ally, the Water -pheasant {Hydrophasmnus chirwgvs — why
bMrurgus ?) is much less so. I once saw one perched on a rock on
the sea-shore. When disturbed, it flew off over the water to an island;
but what brought it in such a place I cannot imagine. The Purple
Coot is usually found associated with, or in the neighbourhood of,
the two last birds, but is rare here. The Bald Coot is not very com-
mon. The tanks of the Konkan are too small for it. The White-
breasted Water-hen is very common on the banks of rivers and in
gardens, often at some distance from water. I have not seen the
English Water-hen here. Water-rails and Crakes are not unfrequently
shot amongst Snipe and Quail, especially by " griffins." I hare no
note of species observed.

Of Storks, the Great Adjutant and Jabiru (Mycteria anstralis) are
rare. I have seen the former once below Ghat, and once in the

WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 165

Konkan-Gha't-Ma"ta', to the best of my memory, and the latter only
once below Glial. The Black and the White (European) Stork
I never saw in the Konkan at all. Hero, as in the Deccan, the White-
necked Stork (Ciconia leucocephala) takes the place and name of the
former, and is pretty common.

The Herons are the same as in the Deccan, but far more numerous
in individuals, especially in the creeks and salt marshes. Only the
Purple or Grass Heron is uncommon, as there are few extensive
waters with grassy banks. Most of them frequent the sea-shore :
the exceptions are the Night Heron and (naturally) the Cattle Egret.
Natives shoot the White Egrets (Herodias) a good deal for their
dorsal plumes, which are marketable in Bombay. I do not think
that any true Bittern occurs in the Konkan.

The Ibises, however, are pretty well represented by the Pelican
Ibis and White Ibis ; the former on fresh waters ; the latter usually
on the estuaries, where it associates with Curlews. The Shell Ibis
is locally common on fresh water only. The Black Ibis (Geronticus
papillosus) is rather rare ; and I have not seen the Glossy Ibis
(Falcinellus ignms) at all. " Korle" is the Maratha name for both Ibises
ar.d Curlews.

The Spoonbill is decidedly rare. It is a bird of opener waters
than we have here, where even the creeks are fringed (generally) with
rock or mangrove. Now the Spoonbill does not like either rocks or
trees. With it terminates the list of Fowl merely associated with water,
and begins that of the Waterfowl proper. It leads up, in fact, to the
Flamingo. In our last number I gave reasons for treating this bird
as a Duck, and need not repeat them here. It is a migrant on the
Konkan coast, but remains till June, in which month I have seen
a flock flying north. I am rot personally acquainted with the species
or variety called by some writers Phcenicopterus minor.

No Swans and no true Wild Geese occur in the Konkan. The
Black-backed Goose and its duodecimo edition, the so-called Cotton-
teal (Sarkidiornis melaiionotus and Nettapvs coroniandelicus), are found
throughout the region, though both are rather uncommon. The
climate suits them ; but the waters do not. . They do not like salt
water ; and the tanks and river-pools are not big enough for them ;
hut both may breed in favoured spots.

Of the next group of Ducks, the Tadornince, the Lesser Whistling-
teal is found ; but it is not common ; and I have only seen it myself
in the cold-weather. I was much surprised to find a small flock

ICC NATURAL HISTORY.

established on a rocky estuary, having always associated this bird,
in my own mind, with grass and fresh-water. I have not found the
Larger Whistling-teal here at all.

The " Brahminy " Duck is not common, and is even excluded from
the Tanna District by the Bombay Gazetteer.

I have however once seen a pair in Bombay Harbour. Its
relative, the true Shieldrake, has not yet been reported, I think, from
the Konkan. We have the Shoveller, which is here a wild bird of
respectable habits, and accordingly fit for the table. The European
Mallard is unknown ; and its representative, the Spot-billed Duck, is
not very common, nor, as far as my observation goes, a permanent
resident. It is however extremely likely that when the Tansa Lake
is filled, this and several other Indian Ducks will breed there.
I hope that the Engineers will provide that lake with an islai d or
two ; and that the Municipality will make it a sanctuary as
regards birds. The shooting about Bombay would certainly bo
much improved by such a course, as Ducks like to make a large
sheet of water their head-quarters, but will forage every day
at considerable distances from home. The Gadwall occurs
in the cold-weather, not in great numbers ; and the same
is the case with the Pin- tailed Duck and Widgeon. The Common
and Blue-winged Teal occur pretty frequently, especially the latter.
The Red-crested and Red-headed Pochards are rare ; but the
White-eyed Pochard is the most plentiful Duck on the coast and on
creeks and tanks near the sea. I have not myself shot the Black-and-
white-tufted Pochard here ; but I believe that I have seen it on tho
creeks, which are well suited to it.

Taking them altogether, the waters of the Konkan do not furnish
good Duck-shootirg. The birds mostly spend the day in the middle
of the creeks, or on islands, or on the muddy and narrow margin
between the water and the mangroves, where they are pretty safe that
nothing can see or get at them from the shore-side at all, and
nothing can surprise them from the water-side.

The deadliest way of killing them, no doubt, is to find out a feeding-
ground in the salt marshes and lie in ambush (" flight-shooting," in
short). But the pleasantest way of shooting on a creek is to take
a boat or canoe capable of towing a small dinghy with one man in it,
and run up or down the creek under easy sail and with the tide.
The gunner is best placed in the bow of the boat, unless the sails be
such as to interfero with him there. One man stands to each sail,

WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 167

and one to the painter of the dinghy, in which the u retriever"
sits ready with his paddle or hamboo pole. Either of these is better
than sculls, as the latter involve his rowing with his back to the
game, or fi backing water," and both manoeuvres are inconvenient
if he has to pursue a winged Duck.

Birds are not so much alarmed by the gliding motion of a boat
under sail as by the more demonstrative processes of rowing or
paddling, and will often give a sailing boat a shot. As the bird
falls, the sail-trimmers instantly lower or brail up the sails, the man
at the painter casts off the dinghy, and the " retriever" starts for
Ids bird ; while the helmsman brings his boat to the wdnd, or
throws out a little grapnel or anchor ; a stone does well enough.
In the smooth creeks these manoeuvres are not dangerous. When
the retriever has got his bird (for which purpose he has, or should
have, a light landing net ) he rejoins the admiral, and the proceed-
ings go on da capo. This is by no means a very killing way of shoot-
ing ; but fair bags can be made, plus the poetrjr of motion in what is
usually good scenery, and sometimes very beautiful indeed. Some-
times one should lar.d from the boat, and employ her to divert the
attention of the birds from a stalk, and this gives variety. The
boat too enables one to indulge in a certain amount of comfort, and
even, if necessary, to have books with one, to say nothing of fishing-
tackle and belly-timber ; and birds intended for preservation can be
properly stowed away in a box or basket, or taken in hand at once.
The rest of our water-birds are unfit for the table, or at least com-
monly thought to be. The first of them is the Dabchick, which is
a permanent resident on tanks. It can however fly from one tank to
another, a?id moves about a good deal more than it gets credit for, as
it travels at night, probably for fear of Hawks and Eagles.

A " Mother Carey's Chicken" ( Oceanitis oceam'ca) is known but
rare. I do not know where it breeds; but on one occasion I noticed
great crowds of various Sea-fowl near the Arabian Coast east of Aden;
and the cliffs of that coast may well be the breeding-ground for some
of our species. I don't know of any on our own coast.

I once got a live Shearwater, probably Puffinus persicus, which is
in the Society's Museum. It was a storm-driven bird ; and I have
seen only one other in this region. I have not seen any Skua-gull
here at all.

Indeed the poverty of this coast in Water -fowl is very remarkable
to a fisherman trained on the Atlantic. Lieutenant Barnes speaks of

168 NATURAL HISTORY.

the Lesser Herring-gull as occurring: "in immense numbers all
along the coast ; ';' but I have never seen a really large flock of these
birds here myself. Probably he referred more particularly to the
Sind Coast. The Black-headed, Brown-headed, and Laughing Gulls
occur, especially in the winter ; the two latter go far up the
creeks, and may sometimes be seen over rivers and tanks. The
Sooty-gull (Larus hemprichi) occurs, but is not common. Larus
gelastes, the Rosy-gull, may be looked for. I have not seen it here
as yet.

Gulls indeed are much less numerous on this coast than the next
group, the Terns. On account of the comparatively small area of
permanent fresh water in the Konkan, the Marsh and River Terns are
not very numerous ; but we have in moderate numbers the Caspian,
Gull-billed, and Whiskered Terns ; and probably the large River Tern
and Javan or Black-bellied Tern will be found hereafter, at least as
stragglers.

A small Tern very common on creeks appears to be Sterna
miauta ; it may be Hume's Sterna saundersi^ but I have a dislike to
shooting these birds (which are very confiding, and often attach them-
selves to a boat and follow it for many hours), and cannot be sure
of species not closely examined.

Thalasseus cristatus and bengalensis are common.

The Sooty-tern occurs, but is not very common. On inspecting
after the south-west monsoon a beacon-tower on an exposed reef,
I found in its chamber the remains, apparently, of a Sooty-tern,
entangled with those of a banded Sea-snake about 20 inches long.
It must be supposed that the Tern had caught the snake aid
carried him there to eat him, but been bitten by his victim, who was
probably too much injured by the bird's beak to leave the spot.
At the best, Sea-snakes are very slow movers out of water, t do not
think however that our Gulls and Terns habitually attack Sea-snakes.
Perhaps Larus ichthyattus may. Some of the large European Gulls
would eat a baby if they found him unprotected. It was also very
singular that the Tern should have carried his prey inside the tower.
I can only account for the whole affair by supposing the bird was
desperate from hunger in foul-weather.

The curious Skimmer [Rliynchops) does not occur here.

A white tropic-bird, or "Boatswain-bird," is not uncommon. It is
probably Phaeton candidus or Phaeton ceiherius. It gets the name
of li Boatswain ' from the fancied resemblance of its long pointed

WATERS OP WESTERN INDIA. 16^

T"" - ■ ■■■■ — — —' ■■ — — ■ '

tail to a marlinspike, which (for the benefit of any reader that
"does not know) is a long thick iron pin, with a hole in one end,
used for unlaying ropes. It is the characteristic tool of the boats-
wain, who is immediately in charge of all rigging : and the proper
place to carry it is in the back band of the trowsers.

We have one G-annet, or Booby, which is probably Sula cyanops.
It is not Jerdon's White Booby (S. piscator), which has the bill and
feet red, while in our bird the bill is slate-coloured, blackish
towards the base, and the feet dull slate colour. It is
a good deal to be regretted that recent naturalists have appro-
priated Jerdon's English name to a bird for which he certainly did
«iot mean it, the more so because he prided himself on his system of
English names, and took a great deal of trouble to make them clear
and intelligible to everybody. A few birds of the present species are
driven on to the coast every year by south-westerly gales, and are
generally easily captured by hand. The present writer has sent speci-
mens to the Society's and Victoria Museums, so there need be no
doubt about the bird.

I don't think any Pelican occurs in the Konkan. If an}', the grey
species may be looked for, and there would be nothing surprising in
its occurrence ; but the fresh-waters of the region are rather too small
for it ; and it does not seem to like sea water. The Large Cormorant
does not, I think, occur ; and the Lesser Cormorant (Graculus sinensis)
is not common. The Little Cormorant and Snake-bird are extremely
common.

The highest reptiles of these waters are the Terrapins and Fresh-
water Turtles, which do not differ from those of the Deccan. I have
never got their eggs;* but they seem to breed in the rains, as the
young are very plentiful in October and November.

Two species of Sea-turtles are common on the coast. They are easily
separated from those of the fresh-waters by having flippers instead of
feet, and never showing more than two claws on a flipper, often only
one.

The first is the Indian Green Turtle, Chelonia virgata, closely
related to the Atlantic Chelonia viridis. The name I have adopted is
sanctioned by its use in Dr. Gunther's " Reptiles of British India," and
it is convenient to follow a standard work. It has thirteen shields of

* Since the text was written I obtained eggs of a Fresh-water Turtle {Trionyx javan-
icus) by dissection. They are almost spherical, cream-white, with a hard calcareous
shell, about 25 in number. These Turtles, therefore, follow the Tortoiaea rather than
the Sea-turtles in the matter of eggs.

170 NATURAL HISTORY.

tortoise-shell on the back, of a dull greenish-black colour; but the
surface is always covered with little chips coming off, which give it
a grey appearance when dry. When polished, it shows very pretty
markings. These shields are no thicker than a sheet of thick note-
paper, ; but the bony plates below them are sometimes as much as
a quarter of an inch thick on the sides and half an inch on the shoulders.

The largest I ever got on this coast measured 5 feet between per-
pendiculars, with his head as far in as he could withdraw it. The
greatest total length may bo taken at 5 feet 6 inches, and the live weight
was 2601bs. avoirdupois. No doubt larger specimens occur; but from the
information of a friend who had paid special attention to Turtles at the
Nicobars (where they abound), 1 find that the average there is much
the same as here ; and anything over 1601bs. is a good Turtle. They
are frequently caught in nets ; and the females are surprised at
night when laying their eggs. For this purpose they prefer mid-
night and a spring high-tide, but are not strictly bound to time or
tide ; and I should not be surprised if they were found to lay in
broad daylight on uninhabited coasts. They crawl up above high
water-mark, often on grassy sand dunes several feet above it, and
dig a hole, which is usually about 15 inches deep. The eggs, about
125 (but often far more numerous), are laid in the hole and
covered with sand. They are at first of a very pale yellowish-pink
colour, rather less than a racket-ball ; and each egg has a crease in it.
As development goes on, this disappears ; the parchment-like skin of
the egg becomes tight, and perhaps even stretches a little ; at any
rate the whole egg looks larger, and a dark blue stain appears on
one side, the rest of the egg acquiring a dull white colour.

The Natives say that the old Turtle knows when the eggs will hatch,
and then swims opposite the nest at high-water, and whistles ! to the
young, who, in obedience to the signal, tumble up out of the sand,
and scuttle down to the water. The period of hatching varies
greatly. The Natives put it at 3 weeks ; and I know from experiment
that this is sometimes enough. But I have now six clutches under
observation, of which two are 42 days #old and one 36 days. It
depends upon the position and weather ; shade and low temperatures
evidently retard the hatching. Both wet and drought can prevent it
altogether; the sand must bo damp enough to keep the eggs cool, but
well drained and, if possible, exposed to the full blaze of the sun.
lkeep most of the eggs in baskets, full of sand, set on bricks to secure
drainage, The young are amusing creatures, very black and very

WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 171

active. If turned on their backs, they can right themselves like the
Terrapins and Mud-turtles, and unlike their own parents. They are
apparently omnivorous. At the time Dr. Gun t her wrote, this
species was supposed to live entirely on algw ; but if it could not do
without these, there would be very few Green Turtles on this coast.
The breeding goes on all the year round, chiefly, perhaps, in the
autumn and beginning of the cold-weather. The eggs are just toler-
able fried, or in an omelette.

The flesh resembles that of the "Alderman's Turtle" (Chelonia
viridis)j and is, of course, used like it for soup and cutlets ; but about
the best thing to make of it is a kabob curry. It is said occasionally
to be poisonous. If this is really the case, the cause is probably in
some disease of the animal, and not in any natural changes ; for
the most likely of these, exhaustion after laying eggs, certainly does
not make the flesh of this Turtle unwholesome. The females, however,
are naturally thin and poor at this period ; and the best meat is that
of Turtles caught at sea, barren or not, far advanced in pregnancy, or
males. The latter, I think, do not come ashore at all.

Our second Sea -turtle is the so-called Indian Logger -head {Oawana
olivacea). It is not logger-headed nor olive-coloured at all, but has
rather a fine profile — for a Turtle, and a good complexion, showing
regular " tortoise-shell" colourings when wet. It seldom reaches 3
feet long ; it is less common than the Green Turtle ; and I have never
got the eggs. It is reputed carnivorous ; and by some its flesh is
thought inferior to that of the Green Turtle ; but I cannot myself
make out any difference in taste.

Two other Turtles maybe found here ; but 1 do not think that they
are yet reported. The first is the Indian Hawk-bill or Tortoise-shell
Turtle, which alone has shields thick enough to make combs of.
These overlap each other like the scales of a fish, whence the name
(Caretta squamata). The other is, the giant of the tribe, the Leather-
backed Turtle {Bermatocliebjs coriacea\ which has no tortoise-shell at
all, but a thick skin laid over a ridge-and -furrow arrangement of
bony plates.

The only Crocodile here is C. Palustris. I know that some
specimens from Tulsi Lake have been exhibited at jthe Society's
Rooms as C. porosus ; but they all had the unmistakeable shields on
the nape of the neck characteristic of the former species.

This is only locally abundant ; most so in the Kal River in the
Mangaum Taluka of Kolaba. The fact is the fresh -waters and their

172 NATURAL HISTORY.

fish are not big enough for it ; and it is only an occasional visitor
to the estuaries, and very rare in the sea.

The Crocodile-shooting in the Kil is really good.

At Ashtami, on the estuary of the beautiful Kmndlika River, there
is a small double-barrelled tank, containing innumerable frogs and
water-beetles, a very few tiny fish, and perhaps a score of Croco-
diles over 5 feet long, besides youngsters, which keep in the
shallow water for fear of being eaten by their parents. They are
ludicrously tame. The oldest inhabitant had never heard of their
hurting any one ; and one could see them watching women washing
clothes, and mere babies paddling in the shallow water, without,,
apparently, a thought of mischief. One over & feet long crawled
out within pistol-shot of my tent, and was shot by candle-light. He
had nothing in his stomach but water-beetles, may be a gallon of
them, and flint-stones swallowed, I suppose, to aid digestion.
A few days after a friend of mine (also a member of this Society)
wounded the patriarch of the tanks. A gang of life-boatmen, attached
during the fine season to my own and another private boat, dived
and literally harnessed him, and dragged him ashore, roaring,
snapping, and lashing the "scaly horror of his tail" like the old dra-
gon. But on dissection we found the same water-beetles, plus two
crows which I had been using for bait in a vain endeavour to hook
him. This brute was 10 feet 2 inches long and over-pulled my spring
balance at 3001bs. I had watched them catching something all day for
ten days, and thought it must be frogs or tadpoles. The idea of such
brutes living entirely on water-beetles is new to me; and I would like
to know if any member has seen the like. Their teeth were quite
black, whether b}' reason of the water-beetle diet or not I cannot say.
Usually they are white, with brown stains.

Varanus dracaena, the Ghorpur, is very common, and eaten by
many castes. The name of Water-lizard is, however, misapplied to it.
In its habits it is a Land-lizard, which swims well, as many Land-
snakes do ; and can even dive well, which they generally cannot do.
But it is quite independent of the water, and is often found miles
from anything more than a well or puddle in a nullah.

Varanus lunalus, the Banded Ghorpur, may exist here. Young
Ghorpurs are all banded; but this reptile is described as having 105
cross series of shields between the gular fold and the loin, as against
90 in the original Ghorpur. The Great JJ//d>osauri are not
found.

WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 173

As for the Fresh-water Snakes proper (the IIomalopsidce\ they
are not, as a family, numerous here. This may be surprising to people
accustomed to think of the Konkan as a damp and marshy country ;
but the truth is that that description only applies to it for five
months of the year. From November to May inclusive most of it is
a very waterless country indeed to the great suffering of the
people.

An estuarine species (Cerberus rhynchops) literally swarms in the
creeks. As you sail up them you see a head popped up here and
one there, and as instantly withdrawn, till you wonder what they
all find to eat. It is an active reptile ashore as afloat, and the
native name is Udhan (=" the Jumper") from its peculiar way of
springing forward. The Spotted Water-snake (Tropidonotus quin-
cunciatus), which is not a true Water-snake but amphibious, derives
from that nature a great advantage here and quite crowds out
the Homalopsidffi. I strongly suspect that it fights, and even eats,
them, but cannot propose to prove that just yet.

It has several varieties in colour, varying apparently with the
colour and light of the water ; and ashore, it uses the same curious
springing motion as the Udhan. It occasionally visits estuaries ; and
I have taken small salt-water fish (arius) from the stomachs of indi-
viduals taken in nets in such places. So it is not a mere drift of the
land-floods, but can forage in salt water. So does T. jpunctulatus..

These Fresh-water and Amphibious Snakes are not poisonous. The
next family, the Sea-snakes, are all poisonous, though none of them
can be called " deadly" in the same sense as the Cobra and Chain-
viper, for a fair bite of whom there is no cure. Moreover, their fangs
are very short, and a little clothing would guard a man from them.
It is an additional reason for always wearing clothes when swimming
in tropical waters, in some of which these reptiles swarm, if protec-
tion from the sun and from cold on landing be not enough to induce
any reasonable man to swim in flannels. Except in racing, or at the
moment of leaving the water, these are really no incumbrance at all,
floating lighter than the human body.

Two genera of Sea-snakes, Platurus and Aipysurus, have the same
classes of scales as Laud and Fresh-water Snakes; that is, small scales
above, and large ventral shields below, the latter acting as feet.
I believe that neither genus is represented on our coast. If anywhere,
they should be looked for on shores and in marshes, for we may be
quite sure that the ventral shields exist in them, as in terrestrial

174 natural nmrour.

Snakes and the Homalopsidoe, to enable them to move on land, or
at least on mud. They are, in fact, Shore-snakes rather than Sea-
snakes, though, like the Fresh-water Snakes, their nostrils are placed
high on the snout, and, like the Sea-snakes proper, they have, in
addition to this, the ventral region more or less compressed ; and the
tail flattened out into an oar, to he used as the single and sculling oar
is in a merchantman's dingy. This motion however is not in any
Water-snake or in any Land-snake (swimming for the time) confined to
the tail. The undulation of the whole body propels it forward, and in
some of the most essentially marine species the flat tail, properly so
called, is insignificant ; and the abdominal region does most of the
propulsion. Snakes, in fact, move in water, as on land, by undulation.
Only in the former medium, their best purchase is on their two sides.
On shore, it is naturally on the belly. True Sea-snakes, stranded,
are even more helpless than fish in a similar position, for the latter do
then use their lateral fins on the bottom as legs, and often regain
deep water in that way.

But the Sea-snakes, with their lax bellies and small scales, lie
helpless. They wriggle truly, but on one spot, like a rocking-
horse ; and they generally remain till a passing man squashes their
heads, or a bird of prey carries them off. The Grey Sea-eagle is
a great hand at this, and always goes once up and down his beat
on the coast, every tide, with a view to tide-falls of the sort. These
Sea-snakes without ventral shields, mostly belonging to the genus
Hydrophis, are of a great many species, and offer considerable
variety in form. I might almost say that amongst them there are-
analogues of most venomous Land-snakes. "With a single exception,
however, they are of very similar colouring, banded black and white.

The bands take different shades. In some they almost merge in
a general dull grey ; in some the light favouring, you can call them
purple and yellow. They are continuous round the body or forked',
a single band on the right side meeting two from the left, or those of
each side alternate ; but the type is general.

There are exceptions to it. One is a very widely distributed Snake
(Pelamis bicolo)')^ which has several varieties. That commonest here
is, when young, velvet black above, on the abdomen golden yellow, and
on the flattened tail handsomely mottled black and white above and
below. As it ages, apparently, these brilliant colours fade to a dirty
olive on the back, and equally dull white below, all over ; but one
specimen which I have sent to the Society's Museum seems to

WATERS OF WESTERN INDIA. 175

Lave retained its colours to maturity. Another is the new Hydrophis
phipsoni, striped black, white, or grey.

The Pelamis is the only Sea-snake that justifies the Ancient Mariner's
description. The rest are loathsome reptiles. In many hundred
specimens I have not witnessed the ferocity ascribed to them by
Dr. Gunther. In one case only I saw one bite itself, apparently
with no ill effects, though the species (a Hydrophis) was certainly
venomous. They are held in great contempt by the fishermen,
though these well know their poisonous qualities. On one occasion,
being in the water with halt'-a-dozen naked men, I saw a Hydrophis,
4 feet long, swim towards us, and called to a man who had a bamboo
to kill it for fear of accident. He did not hear me ; but a naked
man, who did, picked up the reptile in the most unconcerned way,
and chucked it on to the sand, where it lay helpless.

Pelamis is much more active both afloat and ashore, and gets
more respect accordingly.

My fishermen call all Sea-snakes " Kilis " in Maratha.

For the Great Sea-serpent, we know nothing of him here, except
that he cannot be of any type of Sea-snake known to us. For, if he
were Platuroicl with ventral shields, he would surely come ashore to
exercise them ; and if he were a true clumsy Hydrophis without
ventral shields, he would as certainly get cast ashore sometimes, as
that tribe and the whales do. Or at least an odd bone would drift to
us, as my bone of the "whaled" whale did from unknown, but
certainly very distant, regions, with the cuts of the blubber-spades
on it. The bones of Sea-snakes float easily.

Our Sea-serpents do not often reach 6 feet long, but we read of
their attaining 10 feet.

It does not follow of course that there cannot be a Great Sea-
serpent of a totally different type, possibly far more saurian or more

fish-like.

KESWAL.

BIRD-NESTING ON THE GHATS.
By Mr. J. Davidson, C.S.

I had paid a short visit to the Kondabhari Ghat in August 1885,
and the beauty of the place at that season, and the number of birds
evidently breeding there, made me determine to go there this year at
an earlier period, when I would find fewer young birds and more eggs.

17G NATURAL HISTORY.

My transfer however to another district seemed at first to make
this impossible. Thanks however to good early rain, the population
were too much taken up with their farming to quarrel with their neigh-
bours, and I found I could get away for a week without any great
inconvenience to any one.

It was therefore with a light heart that on the afternoon of Satur-
day, July 10th, I left my head-quarters on a week's casual leave
en route to the Ghats.

A rapid drive of some thirty odd miles brought me to Dhulia, the
head-qnarters of Khandesh, in time for dinner, and I was fortunate
enough to escape without any rain, though the country near Dhulia
was almost under water, and I could see heavy rain following me
nearly all the way.

The crops were looking well as long as it was light enough to see
them ; but bird-life was not abundant, and all that I saw worthy of
notice was a solitary Adjutant (L. argalus) accompanying some Grey
Cliff-vultures in a banquet on a dead cow.

The Adjutant is never common here, and during the five or six years
I have known these districts, I have not seen a dozen in all, and always
single specimens, and that during the rains and cold-weather. The
Adjutants in the east of India seem mostly to resort to Burmah for
breeding, and breed there in October; but no one seems to have found
out where the birds from Western India breed or when.

A little further on I saw a Roller (G. indica, not C. garrula). This
was distinctly exceptional. During the cold-weather indica is very
common everywhere in Khandesh and Nasik ; but in the hot-weather
it leaves the plains and breeds abundantly in the Satpuras and Ghats,
and at the beginning of the rains it appears to leave the district (plains
and hills alike). From the beginning of June till the middle of
August one hardly ever sees a Roller. About that date, C. gnrrula
appears about Dhulia in some numbers and remains till October, in the
beginning of which month and the end of September G. indica also
returns. Sunday, the 11th, I spent in hospitable Dhulia, and the juve-
nile Bhil population as usual brought a variety of nests and eggs.
These consisted of the usual common Dhulia birds — Priniae (hodg-
so?ii or gracilis) and Steward (for the first two birds are one spe-
cies), Franklinia buchananij Pericrocotus peregrinus, Caprimulgus asia-
Ucusj Drymceca inornata, and Sylvatica^ &c, fyc, the only nest
requiring special notice being one of Volvocivora sykesi. This pretty
little Cuckoo Shrike is one of the earliest migrants in the rains, arriving

BIRD-NESTING ON THE GHATS.- 177

about the 8th of June, and breeding all along the scrub-jungles which
stretch between the Nasik and Khandesh Collectorates. It appears
particularly partial to the Angan f6rest, and, as far as I remember, all
the many nests I have seen have been in forks of Angan trees. The
nest is a pretty firm platform, composed of fine roots ; and the eggs,
which much resemble those of the Magpie Robin, are three in number*

Tho only bird I noticed specially at Dhulia was a single Alpine
Swift (O. melba). In that most useful book Barnes's "Hand-book of
Birds of Bombay," he states that this bird only occurs as a somewhat
rare cold-weather visitant. In this I think he is mistaken, and that
C. melba is a permanent resident in all parts of the country where there
are high enough cliffs to afford safe breeding-places. I have been told
that it breeds in Kanara at the Grairsoppa Falls ; and I find in my
note-book records of having seen it in Nasik and Khandesh in every
month except October and November, so have no doubt that in this
part of the country it is found throughout the year. Last May I saw
flocks of hundreds flying into and out of fissures in the cliffs at Sap-
tashring near Nasik, and though I could not get near the places,
I have no doubt they were then preparing to breed. If they breed there,
their presence anywhere within 200 miles would be nothing extra-
ordinary, judging from the pace they fly at.

In the afternoon, about 4 o'clock, I left Dhulia and drove due west to
Sakri, 33 miles, noticing on the road another Roller, apparently also
indica. As it grew dai-k, occasionally a pair of Painted Sand-grouse
passed across the road, and the cries of many Nightjars (mostly asia-
ticus, the others monticolus) were heard on every side. These birds
are all common inhabitants of the scrub-jungle here which adjoined
the road on each side.

1 rose early on the morning of the 12th and by 8 o'clock had reach-
ed my destination, a rather dilapidated bungalow or tool-shed, belong-
ing to the P. W. P., situated on the edge of the pass. On the road
great numbers tf males of a pure Yellow Moth(a bombyx apparent-
ly) were flying about. I had however no net with me, and did not
attempt to catch them.

On arriving at Kondabhari I at once took a short stroll down the
Ghat. The place is an admirable one for bird-nesting. The hills in
the neighbourhood are very steep and slope down on the Nowapur
Pergunnah, a sort of northern edition of the Daugs, with the same
unhealthy climate and water. At this pass a small stream runs down
and forms a valley seven miles long and in no place at all steep.

178 STATURAL HISTORY.

Government have constructed a very fair road down the valley, and as
the hills on both sides are densely wooded, it is both a capital place
for birds and easily worked.

I wandered down the nullah for a mile or so and found lots of birds;
but nests were few and far between, and when I got back, about 11
or 12, o'clock, all I had found were some dozen of the beautiful hanging
nests of Zosterops palpebrosa. Most of these were empty; but three or
four contained young of various sizes, and two had each four eggs — in
one case fresh, in the other unblowable. The nests were in every case
suspended over the river (then dry), and varied in height from the
ground from 7 to 20 feet. I also found four nests of Myagra azurea —
one with a fresh egg, which I left, and the rest either empty and old
or with big young. This bird is very common on this Ghat, and
makes its nest, generally on an " Umar" tree, it is a very beautiful
structure —a deep cup, generally attached to the side of a single hanging
twig. Its sides are beautifully ornamented with white nests of some
spider, the pattern being so regular in some cases as to resemble Jace-
work, I noticed a single pair of Muscipeta paradisi in chesnut plu-
mage. They are rare at this season here, and I watched them a long
time but saw no signs of their breeding, and when I again visited the
place a couple of days later they were gone.

In the evening I again went out and worked up the nullah. In
the first few paces a pretty little Blue Robin (0. tickelli) darted from
its nest. This was placed in a crevice of the bank, and might have
been mistaken for one of our own familiar Robin Redbreasts. It con-
tained three olive eggs, perfectly fresh. The Blue Robin is one of the
commonest birds at this season along the Ghats, and its pretty metallic
song seems never to cease if you wander along any of the nullahs.
Its nests, of which I found many,including four or five with eggs, were
placed in hollows either in banks or in the roots of trees> and were
composed of dead leaves, lined with fine roots, sometimes intertwined
with hair. I had hardly packed these eggs in my box when one of the
Bhil boys noticed a large rough nest on a bare tree close to the nullah.
It was a difficult tree to climb, and the boy declared it was an old one,
but was promptly sent up to make sure. He scrambled unwillingly
up, and as his hand was touching the nest, and his tongue again pro-
nouncing the antiquity of the structure, a short-tailed bluish
bird darted out. This was a specimen of the beautiful Yellow-
breasted Ground-thrush (Pitta braehyuva), and the nest, which was
a clumsy structure of fine twigs, lined with dead leaves, contained five

BrtlD-NEStlNO ON THE GHATS. 179

slightly-set eggs. They were almost round, of a beautiful China
white, with dark magenta blotches aud lines scattered over them.

A few hundred yards further on two similar nests were found — one
empty, and one containing five fresh eggs. The stupid boy however
broke one in bringing; it down.

A heavy shower of rain now came on, and in the narrow gorge wo
were in it was too dark to see anything, and we were fairly driven in.

The morning of the loth was fine, and 1 drove a couple of miles
down the pass and searched all the jungles on the left side of the road
downwards. Birds were numerous, and I obtained two nests each with
four eggs oiC. tickelU, two nests, with one and five eggs respectively,
of Pitla brachyiira, as well as two empty nests of the same bird,
one of Alcippe poiocephala with three eggs, and one oiMyagra azureat
also with three eggs, and one or two of Zosterops palebrosa.

All these birds were noticed again and again, though Alcippe poio-
cephala is much commoner 50 or 60 miles further south. One of the
Bhils also knocked over with a stone a fine specimen of the Rufous
Scops Owl (S. sunia)y if it is really distinct from S. pennata It is
a full grown male, and only measured 6'1 in length. I noticed many
specimens of Scops bakhamuna^ the Grey Scops Owl of this district
and the Satpuras. They are however very much larger birds, measur-
ing from 8 to 9 inches. The Rufous Owl I have only found in this
Ghat and during the rains. The evening I devoted to endeavouring to
watch specimens of Pants nipalensis and Machlolophus aplonotus
to their nests. The former was very common; the latter scarcer.
I watched both pairs and single birds ; but in that thick green jungle
I invariably lost sight of them in some thick tree, and whether they
had entered a hole or merely flown on to another tree I am to this day
no wiser : I certainly found no nests.

On the morning of the 14th I took a lot of Bhil3 and walked
down the nullah, taking the same ground I had gone over
on the Monday. This is really much the best part of the jungle,
and I was disappointed at its barrenness. I took the eggs, now
three in number, from the nest of M. azurea, and got also
a couple of nests of C. tickelU. In one however the eggs were ready
to hatch. I did not disturb them, and the other was only building.
I also found a nest containing three nearly full-grown young and
one addled egg of G. cyanotis. This Thrush is not common here, and
this seems in this part of the country about its northern limit, and it
is only a migrant, arriving in the rains; it is however common enough

180 NATURAL HISTORY.

along ths ridge running eastward from the Ghats immediately north
of Nasik. Thrushes as a rule are very rare in Khandesh. I have
only seen one specimen of M. Iwrsfieldi and one of M. nigropilea,
while the former is fairly distributed, though rare, in the north of
Nasik, 40 miles south of this, and the latter simply swarms along the
Saptashring Range stretching from the Ghats eastward ; so much is
this the case that in a week the patel of one village sent me in 70
eggs of this bird collected in one small hill.

I watched a pair of Jerdon's Green Bulbul (Ph. jerdoni) for a long
time, but they had evidently not commenced to build, and I shot the
cock. Last year I obtained nests with eggs in this same Ghat m
August. I also shot a pair of Indian Cuckoos (G. micropterus), or,
more strictly speaking, two specimens, for they were both cocks.

Every day I heard a clear note I could not make out ; and finally
I followed it up and shot these two birds in the act of calling. It is
not very common, and this is the only place I have noticed it in
Khandesh. All the time I was at the Ghat I never saw or heard the
European Cuckoo (Cuculus canorns). This is a very similar bird, but
the much narrower bars on the breast make it very easily identified.
It passes through Dhulia in the early part of June, and in July is very
common throughout the Satpuras, a dozen often being heard at one
time. It returns again in September, and no doubt breeds abundantly
in the interval, ^s the Satpuras are barely 50 miles north of these
hills, it is strange none of the Cuckoos stop to breed herein the rains.

Coming back I got a nest with three eggs of Levcocerca leucog aster t
This pretty little Fantail is very common on the Ghat ; but its nests are
difficult to find, and the bird was not rare enough to make me willing
to waste time over it. I only noticed one pair of the larger kind
(Leucocerca aureola\ and that wTas well down the Ghat. It however is
common on the plains above. I noticed one Honey Buzzard (P. pti-
lorhynchus) ; and the shrill cry of the Hawk-eagle (L. cirrhatus) was
constantly heard. This bird is common here and in the Satpuras ; but
in the adjoining parts of Nasik I have never noticed a single speci-
men, and it is far too noisy to he passed over. In the evening the
villagers brought me a number of Mynas' eggs. These must have been
from second nests, as there were lots of young flying about. All were
the common species (A. tristis). Indeed I have never seen a single spe-
cimen of the Blue-eyed Jungle-myna (A. fuscus) in Khandesh, though
it is common on the hills immediately south of that district.

On the 15th I had determined to have a day in the jungles at

BIRD-NESTING ON THE GHATS. 181

the foot of the Ghat, and had sent the Bhil boys down the night before.
The morning was however very wet, and it was past eight before
I started. It was still wetter when I reached my destination, and
I was glad to take refuge in a dharamshalla. About half-past ten it look-
ed a little clearer and I ventured out, and by twelve it was quite fine.
Everything was however soaking wet, and naturally I got very little.
I found one nest of Dumetia albogularis with four fresh eggs. This
bird I found in great numbers last year ; but it was much scarcer this
year, and I only got one other nest with hard-set eggs. The nests
are placed on the ground, and are quite round, composed of long dry
grass, the entrance being at the side. With the exception of a nest,
with one egg, of Alcippe poiocephala, all the nests I found on this
occasion were of common birds, and there were fewor birds and nests
at the foot of the Ghat than along the sides of the nullah higher up.

The 16th was my last day, and I walked along the road for a couple
of miles and then took the other side of the valley. I twice heard the
mournful wail of a Ground-thrush. The bird's cry in the breeding
season resembles that of a young Spotted-owl, and no one would ever
dream it was the cry of a Thrush. I found the nest of one pair, but
the eo-o-s were not vet laid. In the other case I could find no nest,
though the birds kept flying round and round me, and I think I exam-
ined every possible tree. The neighbourhood of this second nest
(for there must have been one)was a very good place for nests. Within
100 yards I saw a brood of Buchanga ccerulescens just able to fly, and
also one of Oiiolus melanocephalus, while on an adjoining tree there was
another nest of this Oriole with two slightly-set eggs. It was a very
deep cup on the end of a thin branch, and though in cutting the
branch to get at the nest it got turned at right angles to its proper
position, the eggs were uninjured. I do not think this nest belonged
to the same pair as that which had young ones flying.

These Orioles are very common here, and I found four nests : one was
new and empty ; from another the birds had just flown ; while the
remaining one contained one fresh egg. The bird would no doubt
have laid more ; but to get at the nest I had to cut the branch off,
and it was only then I discovered that only one egg had been laid.

On the very next tree to the one with this bird's nest was an empty
Thrush's, and 20 yards off a nest of the Common Ghat-babbler
(M. malabarkus). This bird never seems to leave the jungles, and as soon
as cultivation begins on the top of the Ghat is replaced by Argya mal-
colmi. The nest in question contained one fully-fledged young Hawk-

182 NATURAL HISTORY.

cuckoo {Ilierococcyx varius), and there were three old Babblers in
attendance. Nothing could induce the Cuckoo to leave the nest >
and finally the boy threw nest and all down and it still held on
with its claaws and bit at my finger. H. varius is very common
in the valley and on the hills above it, and its shrill cry " Pu-
pe-ha," " pu-pe-ha," re-echoes from every hill, and not one Babbler's
nest brought to me was without one of the round eggs of this bird.
In each case the ombrjro Cuckoo was much further advanced than
the Babblers ; so it seems certain that the Cuckoo lays its egg before
the Babbler does, or that its period of incubation is less. Proba-
bly both are the case, as I remember once starting a Hawk-cuckoo out
of a small bush and finding in it a nest of M. malabaricus with a fresh
Cuckoo's eggj but no Babblers' eggs. I have litle doubt the bird
I disturbed had just laid this egg ; but as Coccystes jacobinus, which
lays very similar eggs, is common in the Satpuras where this occurred
I cannot be absolutely sure. During this visit to Kondabhari I neither
saw nor heard Coccystes jacobinus, so am sure that the Cuckoo's eggs
1 obtained all belonged to //. varius.

A pair of Graculus macei was also apparently breeding near this
place. I could not however discover the nest, though I watched for
a lono time. I found a nest with two young in September last near
the same place ; but in thick jungle it is easy to overlook a nest placed
high up in a fork and of exactly the same colour as the bark.

On my return to the bungalow I found, among other eggs collected
for me, two nests, each containing five eggs, of D. sylvatica and Cisticola
cursitans. The former is moderately common both on the Ghat and
in the Maidan above, but the latter never seems to enter the high
grass and jungle of the valley.

Afterwards I had to leave and drive back to Sakri. On the whole
I found much fewer birds than I expected ; but of course no migratory
birds had arrived, and few young birds were flying. The only mam-
mal I saw was a Hare. There were fresh tracks of two Panthers and
a Hyena and a few four-horned Antelope, but I never came across any
of the animals themselves.

Moths were common, but Butterflies were few. Of the Papilionulae,
the only one really common was Eratonius. I noticed a few specimens
of Polites, Agamemnon, and Nomius : the first two were fresh from the
chrysalis, and the last very battered. Caterpillars were however
abundant, and included several of the Sphingidae and two beautiful
Green Caterpillars of Actias selene.

BIRD-NESTING ON THE GHATS. 183'

On the morning of the 18th I returned to Dhulia, where
the nests of a great many common hirds were brought to me ;
and on the 19-th I returned to my station and a vast pile of
arrears of work. On the return journey the only thing I noticed
was the number of males of Pericrocotus erythropygius which
were flying about as we passed through the angan jungle near Arvec.
This very handsome bird is very common in this narrow belt of jungle,
and the hens were evidently sitting. In previous years I have taken
many of their nests, the restlessness of the birds, who are constantly
flying to and from the nest, at once betraying its position.

J. D.

NOTE ON SOME POST-PLIOCENE MOLLUSCS
FROM THE BYCULLA FLATS.

Communicated by Mrs. W. E. Hart.

"You will doubtless smile if I speak to you of the treasures of the
Byculla Flats. But I can assure you the whole of that much-abused
region is full of interest, both for the geologist and the zoologist. At
no very distant (geological) date the sea must have ebbed and flowed
freely eastward, past the site of the Byculla Club, over all that ground
now covered with cotton mills and municipal refuse heaps, and intersect-
ed by causeway roads and open sewers, which lies between Mahim to
the north and Cumballa Hill to the south. At a comparatively recent
date its approach from the west was in some degree barred by a sort of
breakwater formed by the elevation of the coast-line at Worli. This is
clearly shown by the occurrence of fragments of modern sea-shells in
the red earth at Worli Point, 16 feet above the present high-water
mark. The sandy isthmus just south of Worli village too, in which
modern sea-shells are found in good preservation and in considerable
quantities 6 feet above the present level of high- water, must once
have been the sea-beach at this point. But it was not till the con-
struction of the Vellard Causeway at Mahaluxumi by an English
Governor of Bombay in modern times that all access to the Byculla
Flats was finally denied to the sea. In the interval it still continued to
enter from the south-west at the indentation south of Love Grove,
and spread in a broad shallow lagoon over the present level of the
Byculla Flats. This was slowly filled as the tide flowed in through
the narrow opening between Mahaluxumi Point and the southern

181 NATURAL HISTORY.

extremity of the Worli Ridge, and again was emptied, or nearly so,
as the tide flowed out, much in the same way as we see to-day the
low-lying ground about the muddy creeks of Salsette. The entrance
being so small and the space beyond so great, it is clear the tide can
never have flowed with any great force over the slowly shelving
ground inside. Hence it is natural that whatever creatures died in
these sheltered shallows, or were drifted into them from the sea
outside, would there soon be silted up and preserved in the soft
in-washed mud. Hence it is that you will find every spadeful of the
soil of the Byculla Flats literally full of the remains of countless
sea creatures in a semi-fossilized condition, and for the most part
in a wonderfully well-preserved state.

This lump of earth, marked No. 1, is an instance. It was found
near the race-course on the top of a bank of earth made of the soil
excavated on the spot.. Of course the texture of the shells in many
instances is greatly altered, or even completely changed, generally
owing to the highly aluminous nature of the clay or siliceous condi-
tion of the water in which they were deposited. But this only showrs
how long such specimens must have been lying undisturbed exposed
to these influences ; and the fact that they have so well retained their
original forms shows how very gradual was the operation of the influ-
ences to which they were subjected. The group of fragments of
tubular shells, marked No. 2, illustrates this alteration in texture while
the original form is preserved. A yet more curious illustration is
afforded in every handful of earth about the brick-fields on the west of
the Byculla Flats. The soil here is somewhat laminate, very friable,
and full of small crystals, apparently of gypsum. And its effect on
the shells buried in it seems to have been in some instances to crys-
tallize them, and in others to turn them a dark brown or black
colour. In either condition they still retain their original form, but
are so brittle, or rather rotten, that the slightest touch reduces them
to powder, and I have found it impossible to bring any here in
a recognisable shape.

The alteration in texture, considered in connection with the nature
of the surrounding soil and general character of the locality, would be
of special interest to the geologist. But the shells themselves,
whether their texture is altered or not, present several points of
interest to the zoologist which I venture to think would amply repay
their careful study by a skilled conchologist. I have therefore pre-
sumed to invite to them the attention of the members of the Bombay

NOTE ON SOME POST-PLIOCENE MOLLUSCS FROM THE BYCULLA FLATS. 185

Natural History Society in the section of " Other inveriehratcC in the
hope that some one may be found more competent than myself to
discuss their characteristics.

It seems to me such a discussion might he specially profitable in
two ways. First, a careful comparison of these sub-fossil shells of the
Byculla Flats with those at present inhabiting the sea outside, with
a view to determining such slight differences as may have become
permanent during recent geological ages, might throw much light on
the theory of evolution and the origin of species ; and secondly, from
a study of these marine remains on dry land, we may learn so much of
like creatures still inhabiting the sea as to be enabled more easily to
find living specimens of species hitherto considered rare from
their inaccessibility. It is chiefly in regard to the latter consideration
that I propose to offer a few remarks now on these fragments of
tubular shells which I have produced for your inspection here
to-day.

Among the commonest of the shells scattered over the Byculla
Flats are some not unlike pieces of the broken stem of a clay
tobacco-pipe. My attention was first directed to them about two
years ago by Major E. T. Frere, R.E., who believed them to be the
tubes of some boring mollusc. Unfortunately he was compelled by
ill-health to go to England before he had prosecuted his researches
very far. He took with him however some specimens he had found,
and later I sent him some I found after his departure. By compar-
ing these with specimens in the collections of the British Museum
and the Royal College of Surgeons, and by the help of information
and assistance courteously afforded him by the officials at these two
institutions, and particularly by Mr. Etheridge, the head of the
Palasontological Department at the British Museum, he collected
some interesting information regarding the natural history of tube-
forming animals. This he has kindly imparted to me, and I beg to Jay
before the Society such portions of it as seem to bear upon the
specimens which I have collected from the Byculla Flats.

When found in their least altered condition, the tubes are appa««
rently calcareous and nearly white in colour, or faintly tinged
with pink. They vary considerably in size. But I have found no
fragments larger than those in the group marked No. 3 either in
point of length or circumference. I think the reason of this is that
the creatures inhabiting these shells used to bore downwards into the
soft oozy bottom of the lagoon I have described, big end first. The

186 NATURAL HISTORY.

excavations hitherto made on the Flats have not yet passed the level
at which they attained this circumference, and the length represents
the extreme diameter of a clod ordinarily loosened by a stroke of the
pick in the work of excavation. When this is lifted, of course so
much of the tube as it contains is snapped off and carried away with
it. I daresay if we were to dig carefully downwards from the
present level of the Flats, we should be able to uncover specimens of
greater length gradually increasing in circumference, till at last we
reached the lower or big end, as to which I shall have something to
say presently, but a specimen of which I have not yet succeeded in
finding.

One curious characteristic of these tubes is the way in which they
change their direction, as shown in the group of specimens marked
No. 4. I would particularly draw your attention to a feature in these
to which I shall have occasion to refer again, viz., that wherever
one of these changes in direction occurs, it is marked by a little
rounded knob or excrescence on the shell. Probably these changes
in direction were necessitated, either by the inhabitant of the shell
coming on some hard substance through which he could not bore, or
by his being obliged to work in a very confined space, by reason of
his neighbours crowding on him, or by reason of the limited extent of
the soil suitable for his operations at the scene of his labours. The
excrescences, I presume, were formed by the animal closing the end of
his tube in the old direction when he started in the new to pre-
vent the entry in his rear of water or mad or animals which might
cut off his connection with his upper or smaller end.

What then are these tubes? Before attempting a solution of
that question, it may be as well to state what they most certainly are
not. They are not calcareous casts of the stems and roots of aquatic
plants, formed by the deposit of lime held in suspension by the water
in which they grew on vegetable substances which have since decayed,
leaving only their mineral envelopes. You may think that in
enunciating such a theory for the mere purpose of demolishing it I am
but setting up a mau of straw for the pleasure of knocking him
down. But I remember Major Frere once telling me of a passage in
some work on the geology of Bombay, in which it was suggested that
the shelly tubes found on the Byculla Flats were casts of the roots of
the mangrove bushes once growing there when the place was a muddy
salt marsh. I have forgotten the name of the book, and I have not
been able to find it since ; but I believe it came from the library of the

NOTE ON SOME POST-PLIOCENE MOLLUSCS FROM THE BYCULLA FLATS. 187

Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.* There was much in
it that was interesting and valuable. But this theory was certainly
wrong. By a curious coincidence, 1 happened only t)ie other day to
pick up near the race-course this specimen, No. 5, which shows, I think,
how the theory of the mangrove roots may have originated. You see
here is a bit of the root end of some plant firmly embedded in a fragment
of tube. Jt may either have grown up naturally through the tube, which
had accidentally fallen and become embedded in the earth in such
a position as to allow of this, or it may have been poked in to clear the
tube by some inquisitive cooly five minutes before I found it. I incline
myself to the former theory, both as the more interesting, and
because when I first found the specimen, it was completely filled up
to the edge at both ends with earth, some of which has since been
shaken out, which would hardly have been the case had the piece of
stick been pushed in for the purpose of cleaning out the earth. f
But however it got there, there is the piece of the plant in the piece
of the tube, and it is not impossible that a hasty observer might jump
to the conclusion that the latter was deposited round the former in the
manner suggested by the author of the work to which I have referred.
The general objection to the theory is that the fragments of calcareous
tubes are always single, whereas the roots and stems of mangroves
are always branching. In this special instance the space between
the shell and the wood, now filled up with earth, shows that the
former can never have been deposited on the latter.

But after thus disposing of the theory of another, it is only fair that
I should give him a chance by advancing one of my own. My
theory is that many (I admit not all) of the shelly tubes found on the
Byculla Flats are fragments of the tubes of an interesting and hitherto
rare mollusc, belonging to the family of Pholadida?, and variously
known as Kuphus, or Septaria, or Furcella aretiaria, or Teredo

* Since this paper was read, I have fennel a paper by Dr. Buist on the geology of Bombay

" of the 10th volume of " Transactions of the Bomba

-uv, >,..u,0,'se suggest ion is here mude, viz., that these tubes are Uo i^ota m luimgsu

by marine worms through mangrove roots which hava been formed by the infiltration of

av yago ioi ui me luca volume or " transactions oi tue Doinoay uwograpnicax society.
The converse suggestion is here m;ide, viz., that these tubes are the casts of Korings made
by marine worms through mangrove roots which hava been formed by the infiltration of
lime held in suspension by rain-water, and deposited in successive layers each monsoon
within the outer circumference of the original boring. This theory seems to me as unten-
able as the other, and formed only for the purpose of accounting for the concentric struc-
ture of most at least of the thicker tubes. In the first place, though the fragments of tubes
are literally innumerable. I have never yet found one sticking in a piece of wood. In the second
place, if the rain-water filtering through the soil of the Byculla Flats were so strongly charged
with lime, we should expect to find everything in it thickly coated with lira", not merely
the inner surfaces of these tubes On the other hand, the concentric structure of the tube
seems capable of explanation by the act of the animal itself in thickening the tube
inwards at intervals, for the purpose of reducing the size of the orifice as it diminished in
size itself, in the manner pointed out by Sir Everard Home in his paper mentioned
below.

t At the time of reading the stick was pulled out, and found to have been roughly cut
to a point, thus establishing the truth of the cooly theory.

188 NATURAL HISTORY.

giganteaj of.the habits and history of which very little seems as yefc
to be known to concholo£ists.

I am led to this conclusion by the discovery of such specimens as

those in the group marked No. 6, showing a septum or division

running longitudinally down the tube for some distance from the small

or upper end in such a manner as to divide the tube into two. These

two divisions are in fact the cases of the two siphonal tubes of the

animal — one respiratory and the other excretory — which were closed

at will by means of two triangular pallets working loosely within the

shell. The union of these two tubes into one through the greater part

of their length is the characteristic feature of the Pholadidse. To the

family of Pholadida3 the Teredines are now determined to belong.

But it was long before the Kuphus, which I believe these specimens

to be, was admitted to a place among the Teredines. M. Rang,

who under the name of Septaria excluded Teredo gigantea (Kuphus)

from the genus Teredo, while observing that it very closely

approximates the Teredines and the Fistulana?, thus describes it : —

u Animal unknown; shell unknown; tube calcareous, thick, solid,

in the shape of a very elongated cone, and irregularly flexuous,

furnished internally with small incomplete annuliform septa,

terminated at one of its extremities by a convexity, and at the other

by two slender and separated tubes."

Eumphius figures, under the name of Teredo arenaria^ a species of
tubular shell found in shallow water, among mangrove trees7
apparently identical with that described by M. Rang, and
represents the double tube at the smaller end as branching into
a distinct bifurcation. This of course is a material difference from the
specimens now before you.

Lamarck, still excluding this species of Septaria, which he calls
Arenaria, from the Teredines, recognised only two species of Teredo,
viz., Navalis and Palmulatus, The latter he thought differed only in
its greater size from the former, which is the species long and
unfavourably known to sailors as the borer through the bottoms of
wooden ships.

In 1797 Mr. Griffiths discovered at Sumatra a tubular shell
apparently of a species nearly identical with these before you. He
noticed the difference in the structure of the double tube at the
smaller end between his specimens and those figured by Rumphius,
but ascribed it to the difference of situation in which they were found.
Mr. Griffiths' specimens were procured from a small sheltered bay, with

NOTE ON SOME POST-PLIOCENE MOLLUSCS FKOM THE BYCULLA FLATS. 189

a muddy bottom, surrounded by coral reefs, on the island of Battoo,
near Sumatra, which was exposed by a violent earthquake. The
largest was 5 feet 4 inches in length and 9 inches in circumference at the
base, tapering upwards to 2£ inches. Most of them were covered with
small Oysters and Serpulae for about a foot from their upper extremity,
showing that they must have protruded that distance from the
muddy bottom upwards into the water. But owing either to the
depth or the muddiness of the water, they had escaped notice till the
natural convulsion which laid bare the bottom of the bay.
Mr. Griffiths remarked that the large end was completely closed, and
had a rounded appearance and was very thin, while the small end was
very brittle and divided by a longitudinal septum running down
for 8 or 9 inches. Many of the shells he described as nearly straight,
while others were crooked and contorted. The substance of the shell
he described as having a fibrous and radiated appearance. And
herein lies the only essential difference between his specimens and
these before you, which for the most part present a concentric, not
radiated, appearance.* In all other particulars they approach very
nearly to Mr. Griffiths' Battoo Shells, except in their smaller size.

Godfrey Sellius had been the first in 1733 to recognise a true
bivalve mollusc in Teredo. But it was reserved for Sir Everard
Home, R. N., in 1806 to discover a species of Teredo in the shells
Mr. Griffiths had found at Battoo. He bestowed on it the name of
Teredo gigantea. He published his discovery in a paper entitled
" Observations on the Shell of the Sea-worm found on the Coast of
Sumatra, proving it to belong bto a species of Teredo," and presented
the specimens from Battoo, as well as others found in " Another inlet
of the sea, sticking out from rather hard mud mixed with sand and
small stones from 8 to 10 inches or more and from 1 to 3 fathoms
underwater," to the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons.
Unfortunately these have now all disappeared, except two marked
E348 and E 349c. They are thus described in the Catalogue :—
"E348. — Teredo (Furcella) arenaria — Rumph. sp. (Teredo gigantea.
Home). Habitat : Indian Ocean. Presented by Capt. Sir E. Home,
R. N. E349. — Specimens marked a to i. c. — The terminal portion
of the shell and the double tube."

* In some instances the outer and inrer layers are shelly and those in the centre dis-
tinctly crystalline. In a few the texture of the shell is crystalline throughout. The animal
could not h*ve formed a crystalline shell. But by the action ef the mud or water in
which it was depisited the shell may have been cystallized, as I have pointed out is com-
mon with those found near the brick-fields on the west of the Flats ; and the crystals may
have been subsequently decomposed by some other inflnence on the surfaces exposed to it.

190 NATURAL HISTOKY.

Among the lost specimens are some " showing the manner m
which the animal closes the tube with transverse septa at certain
periods of growth" and " the pallets which are attached to the base
of the tube,"

Henceforth the right of this mud or sand borer to a place in the
genus Teredo and family Pholadida^ appears to have been always
recognised. How or where he got the name of Kuphus, or Uuphus,
or Cyphus, for there seems to be some uncertainty in regard to its
spelling, by which he is known to Gutteard, I cannot say. But
Sowerby in the "Thesaurus Conchyliorum " thus describes two species,
giganteus and clausus, of a genus ' Kuphus,' Gutteard, synonym,
4 FurcelW, Oken : — "The tube of this sand-burrowing mollusc attains
the length of some feet, and has been known as the gigantic septaria
of Lamarck. The small end which protrudes from the surface of the
sand is divided by a central septum, and sometimes forms a double
separated tube. The pallets of the larger species only are known ;
they are spathulate and deltoid. No valves have been found of either
species."* The only other known specimens of Kuphus in England
beside the two I have just mentioned in the College of Surgeons are
those in the British Museum. In the family Pholadidee, next to genus
Teredo is a specimen marked " Cuphus (Gutteard)." Under it is written
* ' Furcella arenaria (Gutteard sp.)«" It is a piece of tube 15 inches long,
with a closed and rounded end showing a visible suture. By it are two
pallets. There is nothing to show where any of these specimens was
found, and no one at tha Museum seemed to know. Besides these, in
another show-case are two very long and big pieces of tube, wanting
the round ends, but shoeing well the longitudinal division into two at
the smaller end. One of them is labelled " Singapore." The other,
3 feet 9 inches long, has no history ; but Mr. Smith, the Curator,
believed both pieces were obtained from Mr. Charlesworth, a well-
known Geologist.

Woodward in 1854, writing of Teredo, after describing T.navalis and
corniformis, continues : — " The tube of the Giant Teredo (T. armaria,
Rumph., Furcella, Lamarck) is often a yard long and 2 inches in its
greatest diameter. When broken across, it exhibits a radiating pris-
matic structure. The siphonal end is divided lengthwise, and some-
times prolonged into two diverging tubes." In 1885, Win. Clark
wrote an account of Teredo, in which he suggested that certain points

* I have never found any pallets. If they do not exist, it may be because the Byculla
Flat specimens belong to the smaller species, which to judge from the size of those found
would appear to be the case.

NOTE ON SOME POST-PLIOCENE MOLLUSCS FROM THE BYCULLA FLATS. 191

of analogy of Teredo and Dentalium make it appear that the former is
the passage between Lamellibranches and Gasteropods ; that is to say,
putting the proposition in a more popular form, Kuphus may be
regarded as the connecting link between bivalves and univalves. Lastly,
in May 1875 was published an illustrated paper on Kuphus in Reeves'
"Conchologia Iconica" (probably written by Mr. Sowerby, Mr. Reeves
having died in 1865), which thus describes the genus Kuphus, Guttearcl
Cyphus : — " Mollusc ; sand-burrowing ; tube large, white, rough,
slightly ringed ; posteriorly attenuated ; divided interiorly into two
tubes ; chambered transversely with septiform laminae ; valves un-
known; compressor palmets shelly deltoid."

The writer goes on to point out that the general appearance of the
tube is so like that of the Teredo as to leave little doubt of the nature
of the animal and its affinity with the genus Teredo. At the same
time he says it can hardly be included in that genus, the valves having
never been seen, and it being certain that the animal does not bore like
the Teredines.

He figures two species, giganlm and clausa, the former of which
has the lower end broadly open, the latter closed in a rounded oval
disc with a visible suture.

It is hard to see how, with a closed and rounded end, inside which
the valves, if any, must be situated, the animal can have conducted
its boring operations through the mud, especially as the shell at this
part is described as very thin. I have a theory, of course a mere guess,
as I have never seen the anterior extremity of the shell, which you
may think it presumptuous in me to advance, but still it does seem to
me not impossible that the closed end may be not the characteristic of
a species, but due to the act of the individual. We have noticed the
rounded projections, the shell of which is very thin, occurring wher-
ever the animal stopped progressing in the old direction and started
in a new. Suppose for any reason he did not start again, the tube
would end in a rounded projection. Might not this account for the
rounded ends of some specimens ? Sir Everard Home, in his paper
already mentioned, says that both Teredo gigantea and Teredo
navalisj when arrived at their full growth, close up the ends of
their shells, and that death is not the consequence of this act. In
some of Mr. Griffiths' specimens he says the shell was considerably
thickened at the end, and in a few the animal had receded up the
tube, forming new inclosures more than once, and at the same time
thickening the walls of the tube so as to diminish the canal in

192 NATURAL HISTORY.

proportion to the diminution of its own size, showing that it must have
survived for a considerable time the first closing of its lower
end.

You thus see how little is as yet known of this last discovered species
of the genus Teredo. But this scantiness of information and paucity
of specimens may be attributed rather to the inaccessibility than to the
numerical scarcity of the creature. For an animal that bores several
feet deep into a muddy bottom several feet below water cannot be
said to offer much encouragement, at least to human beings, to make
his acquaintance. But the introduction may in a measure be facilitated
if the tubes to be found in such numbers about the Byculla Flats are
in fact the remains of this creature. That they are, I think, may
be inferred. First, from the similarity of the place in which they
are found to that described as the home of Mr. Griffiths' " Sea-worm."
At the time when the Indian Ocean ebbed and flowed across the
Byculla Flats, their condition must have nearly resembled that of the
shallow sheltered bay, with a muddy bottom, in the neighbourhood of
Sumatra. Secondly, the general appearance of the shelly tubes here
agrees with the descriptions I have quoted to you in every point,
except that the structure is concentric instead of radiating, which
may be due either to a difference of species or to the alteration the
shells have undergone in the process of fossilization.* Thirdly, and
most important, we recognise here the longitudinal septum, dividing
the tube into two for some inches of its length, which characterized the
shells discovered by Mr. Griffiths.

It is true that in the descriptions and specimens I have mentioned
of Kuphus, there are the closed and rounded lower ends which I have
not yet succeeded in finding. But these are probably still awaiting
discovery some few feet lower down. Major Frere tells me he found
one, but I am sorry I never saw it. I have found these two speci-
mens, marked No. 7, which at first I was inclined to hope might be
the extreme tips of the rounded ends, the shell of which you will
remember is described as being very thin. I am however now inclined
to think that they are nothing more than the excrescences, which we
saw the animal threw out in his shell whenever he changed his direc-
tion, and which have been knocked off the tube. I he group of

* If the process of crystallization were gradual, and the crystal were substituted for the
shell in successive layers, hut were afterwards decomposed, say by heat, the structure of
the tube would be concentric and the text,ur« non-crystalliue. If tn« h»at were not suffi-
cient to penetrate the whole tbirkness of tube, the centre layers would still be crystal-
line, &s first altered from the shell, and the outer and inner l on-crystal line, Dot accord-
ing to the original structure of the shell, but owing to the second alteration it had under-
gone from its crystalline shape.

NOTE ON SOME POST-PLIOCENE MOLLUSCS PROM THE BYCULLA FLATS. 193

specimens, marked No. 8, shows how prominent some of these excre-
scences are, and how easily in consequence they might be knocked off.

I think, from the very large number of the tubes now to be found
loose on the Byculla Flats, that the animals inhabiting those tubes
actually lived in the soil of which the Flats are composed, and that if
we dug further down we should come upon their lower ends. But
of course it is possible that the fragments of tube now found on the
Flats were only washed in from outside, and that the lower ends are
still sticking, head downwards, in some other soil. The fact that
we have only found upper ends as yet on the Flats lends colour to this
theory. The two specimens, marked No. 9, however still show the
sort of soil in which to look for the animal. These are evidently
lumps of clay, though now considerably indurated, through which,
while soft, the creatures which inhabited these tubes were working
their way.

Bearing this in mind, and remembering the description of their
habitat as given by Mr. Griffiths, I would recommend careful search
to be made in those sheltered bays and creeks, which so abound in the
neighbourhood of Bombay, with muddy bottoms over which the tide
flows with no great violence to a height of from 6 to 15 feet. If once
we can find their home, there will be no lack of specimens, for the
abundance of remains on the Byculla Flats shows that, in numbers at
least, they are not deficient. A large capture of living specimens
would probably be attended with important results to science gene-
tally. It would certaiuly be a valuable addition to the best collections
in England, and would reflect great credit on this Society. It will
however be necessary to remember that as all that glitters is not gold,
so every tube is not a Kuphus. Here is a small group of specimens,
marked No. 10, which are the tubes of Dentalia, also very common on
the Byculla Flats. One you see, comparatively modern, is hardly
altered at all ; but the others from their appearance might be coeval
with the oldest and most altered of the specimens of Kuphus to which
I have introduced you. The Dentalia, you will remember, are the crea-
tures referred to by Clark in propounding his theory that " Teredo is the
passage between Lamellibranchs and Gasteropoda." They also are very
interesting creatures, because, if Gasteropod at all, they are very
exceptional members of that order* Huxley regards them as
Pteropods. They constitute a very lowly-organised group without
distinct gills or heart and with a but imperfectly developed head. The
slender tubular shell, as you see from these specimens, is curved,

194 NATURAL HISTORY..

tapers suddenly, has no division, and has an aperture at each end,, that
at the smaller being quadrangular, features which readily distinguish
it from Kuphus.

But I must not allow myself to he betrayed into- trespassing further
on your patience. If I were to attempt to describe all the shells to
be found on the Byculla. Flats I should never have done. Among
them I have no doubt are many besides Kuphus that have hitherto
enjoyed a reputation for scarcity, simply because by their inaccessibi-
lity they have been seldom seen and little studied. By convenient-
ly investigating these remains at our leisure on dry land, we may
learn so much of the history and habits of the animal as to be able
more readily to. secure living specimens in the neighbourhood.

J. B. H,

24th July.

THE BIRDS OF SOUTH GUJERAT.
By H. Littledale, Baroda.

In Major E. A. Butler's excellent list of the u Birds of Sind, Catch,
Kathiawar, North Gujerat, and Mount Abu" (in the Bombay Gazetteer)
several birds are omitted which have been found in South Gujerat
and the Panch Mahals, and which I think must certainly extend to
North Gujerat and the Rajputana Forests at least, if not to Eastern
Kathiawar also. The fauna of any district will obviously be inter-
mediate between the faunas surrounding it, and one oannot draw
a hard-and-fast line beyond which birds arc never fouud to travel. In
fact "never" is a word that the Ornithologist should specially beware
of; with birds " the world is all before them where to choose," and
they exert their privilege of choice to an extent that often upsets the
dogmatic Naturalist, whose li never" has to be modified into u hardly
ever" to suit the facts of the case.

12. Falco babylonicus (Gurney).— The Red-cap Falcon is only
recorded by Major Butler from Sind; but Mr. Doig shot one at
Sanand, near Ahmedabad.

27. Aquila mogilnik (S. S. Gm.). — Mr. Doig has shot at the same
place; Butler only records it from Sind.

35. Lbiuaetus cirrliatus (Gm.). — The Crested Hawk-eagle Major
Butler records from u Mount Abu, rare." Mr. Davidson writes to me
that " it must breed with you ; it is the common Eagle in Werft

THE BIRDS OP SOUTH GUJERAT. 1"95

Khandesh, aud from our liill&=, Pavagarh(a mountain 28 miles north-east
of Baroda), is seen;" but I have not yet found it. It probably will
turn up in the hilly forests of Chota Udepur and tbe Panch Mahals.

39. Spilornis cheela (Lath.). — The Crested Serpent-eagle Butler
records only from " Sind, rare." Mr. Barnes {Birds of Bombay} says it
11 is very rare ; one was obtained at Savantvadi by Mr. Crawford ; aud
another in Sind by Mr. Blandford : these are, I believe, the only
recorded instances of its occurrence within our limits." I shot a female
and got an egg in a nest at Pattra, 15 miles from Dohad, Panch
Mahals, 12th April 1886. Mr. Doig and I were both of opinion when
examining it in the flesh that this bird was true cheela and not minor,
and so I think its right place is in the museum of our Society, where
ii will be found by any one wishing to verify the record, which, as we
had only measurements to go by (Hume, Rough Notes^ Jerdon and
Barnes being consulted), and no skins to compare, would be desirable.
The nest was in a fork of a Kodai tree, in thin jungle, 20u yards in
from the flank of the bed of the Anas River. It was a poor straggly
affair, not bigger than a Kite's, and hardly so compact. The egg, hand-
somely blotched and streaked with dark red at the larger end, mea-
sures 2*6 x 2*2. On the 25th of May I saw a pair of either this species
or S. minor feeding a young bird near Beecheewara (Dungarpur,
Meywar).

57* Pemis ptihrhynchus (Tern.). — Major Butler records the Crested
Honey-buzzard from u Mount Abu, rare." Mr. Doig tells me that he
has shot it in the Ahmedabad District; he and I found a nest, one egg,
in a high Kadai tree in thickish jungle at Singargarh, near Saonth
Panch Mahals, and shot the female on the 25th April 1886 ; and we saw
another at Saran, near Dungarpur, Meywar, 5th May 1886. The
egg was white, faintly marked with cold brown at the larger end.

65. Symium octllatum (Less.) is .said by Butler to be a "perma-
nent resident (I believe)." I found its nest, two eggs, 4th March 1886
near the Race-course, Baroda. One egg was much harder set than the
other, and had a bloodstain on it from the remains of a half-eaten
squirrel that lay beside it» In 1885 I was too late for this nest, find-
ing one fluffy little fellow snapping his bill at me when I called on the
family on the 31st March.

72. Ketupa ceylonensis (Gmel.). — u Sind, lare," says Major Butler;

1 has not yet been recorded from Gujerat, neither did I meet with it in

Rajputana or Central India" says Mr. Barnes. Mr. Doig and I saw

three, and shot one adult and one young bird at Saran, near

196 NATURAL HISTORY,

Dungarpur, Meywar, 7th May 1886 ; and Mr. Doig shot a specimen
at Harsole, near Ahmedabad, in 1884. The young one at Sarau
seemed about four months' old.

74. Scops pemiatus (Hodgs.) — " Sind, cold-weather visitant, rare,"
is all Major Butler records ; and Mr. Barnes says it " occurs spar-
ingly throughout the district, except perhaps Gujerat." I therefore
record that on the 8th February 1886 I shot one, in the rufous
phase of plumage, at Pavagarh, on the hill-side above Champanir,
and my shikarry said he saw another which was white (*'.£., the adult
phase).

15ter. Scops bakkamuna (Forst.) — Mr. Doig got a family of six of
these at Saran, and I kept one of the young ones alive for several days ;
they are only recorded from Sind and Abu, and with nocturnal species
every occurrence is worth record. The nest-hole was in a high Moivra
tree, and was inhabited also by a colony of tree-ants, who made it
uncommonly hot for the man who got down the Owlets for us ; in fact
he twice "resigned," but the sight of a depreciated " dib" encouraged
him to persevere and succeed at last.

77. Glaucidium radiatum (Tickell). — Butler only records this from
the jungles at the foot of Mount Abu ; but we found it common in
the mahals from Dohad northward to Saran (Meywar) ; and A. bramct
correspondingly scarce, and only near the villages.

98. Cypselus melba (Lin.). — I only mention to protest against
Major Butler's remark "only occurs, as a rule, in Gujerat, within reach
of the hills." As the Gujerat Alpine Swifts are within reach of the Hima-
layas if they choose to go there to roost and return in the morning,
this seems an unnecessary limit to place on the range of birds with
such wonderful powers of flight ! I have frequently seen them over-
head near Baroda, and have shot them on the 21st September.

104. Dendrochelidon coronata (Tick.). — This lovely bird is not
in Butler's list; but it is quite common in the hill jungles of the Panch
Mahals, especially near the tanks in those jungles. I found a nest with
egg on a thin bough of a leaf less tree, 20 feet above the path in
the midst of jungle, near Saran. The nest was hardly 1| inch in
diameter, including the bough to which it was glued ; and both nest
and egg are safe and sound in my collection — a feat which Mr. Hume
(Nests and Eggs) never managed to accomplish, and he says "it
is almost impossible to get the egg (for they lay only one) down
unbroken.

118. Merops jphilippinus (Lin.). — Major Butler only records from

THE BIRDS OF SOUTH GUJERAT. 107

" Mount Abu, rare, occurring only as a straggler." This leads me to
remark that Major Butler does not appear to have fully worked out
these species, that keep along rivers such as are more common in South
than in North Gujerat. This species is common enough, and breeds
along the Mahi from the mouth nearly to the source ; it has to keep
to the larger rivers during the breeding season (May), leaving them
for the meadows during the rains.

124. Coracias garrula (Lin.). — Butler says " Sind ; seasonal
visitant ; not common." Mr. Doig notes in my copy of Barnes :
" very common in Gujerat, the Ahmedabad districts, in August and
September, and again in February ;" and I saw two at Goblej, near
Khaira, September 27th, 1886.

127. Pelargopsis gurial (Pears.).- — The Stork-billed Kingfisher is
not recorded by Butler ; but we found it along the Mahi in the Panch
Mahals (and see my paper in No. II. of this Journal).

147. Palaeornis eupairia (Lin.). — Butler refers to one Sind speci-
men of doubtful authority. Mr. Murray (in Epist.) says " this was
undoubtedly a cage-bird escaped ; tail feathers much abraded."

164. Yungipicus nanus (Vig.). — " Mount Abu, rare," says Major
Butler. Mr. Doig saw a pair, and shot a male near Ganji, Dungar-
pur, Meywar, 4th May 1886. It measured only 4| inches in length.

193fo's. Megalwma inornata (Wald.). — Common in the jungles of
the Panch Mahals and at Pavagarh.

238. Dicaeum minimum (Tick.).

240. Piprisoma agile (Tick.). — Neither of these little flower-peckers
is in Major Butler's list ; they are both permanent residents about
Baroda.

250. Sitla castaneiventris (Frankl.). — Not in Major Butler's list.
I shot a pair at Saran, Dungarpur, Meywar, and saw two others there
5th May 1886. They did not appear to be breeding then.

268. Volvocivora syTcesii (Strickl.).»-Major Butler records from
" Abu and the low hills east of Deesa; rare." It goes east after the
rains, and I saw it not unfrequently in the Panch Mahals in May,
doubtless on its way west to breed, which it does about Baroda.

285. Dissemurus paradiseus (Lin.). — Not in Major Butler's list,
but *' breeds in the east of Godhra, and therefore probably throughout
the Panch Mahals'* (J. Davidson, Esq., c.s., in Epist.)

293. Lmcocerca leucogaster (Cuv.), which Major Butler only records
from Abu, breeds at Baroda also, through rarely, L. aureola being
by far the commoner species.

198 NATURAL HISTORY,

297. Alseonax latirostris (Raffles). — Is not in Major Butler's lift j
and Mr. Barnes says u it has not been recorded from either Sind or
Gujerat." I found it common at Sarari in Meywar ; shot a female,
May 9th, 1886. It is so like a Sparrow that doubtless it has been
often overlooked, and will probably be found in quiet shady places,
over water, throughout the jungles of the Presidency, except Sind.
Although in appearance like a Sparrow, it? manners resemble those of
305, Cyornis tickelU , especially in its robin-like flutter of the wings
when standing. I saw it ivhaclcing some insect several times on
a bough, just as a Wood-shrike does, and then swallowing the big
morsel whole.

452. Ixos luteolus (Less.). — Not in Major Butler's list, but
common about Baroda and in wooded ravines throughout the
district,,

459. Otocompsa lemotis (Gould). — Though common in the more
desert tracts to the north, I have never seen this bird in the park-
like country south of Ahmedabad to the Nerbudda. Mr. Barnes
however says it " is far from being uncommon in Gujerat."

463. Phyllornis jerdoni (Blyth).— -Not in Major Butler's list,
but nevertheless occurring sparingly about Baroda, and more com-
monly in the forests of the Panch Mahals.

467 & 468. Iora zeylanica (Gmel.), which Major Butler records
only from Abu, and " not very common " there, is very plentiful
about Baroda, where I have found many of its nests,

475. Cospychus saularis (Lin.). — Major Butler calls this a " cold-
weather visitant." A pair have just left my porch with their
young family which they reared there this June ! I saw seven adult
birds together in a mango grove at Jhalod, Panch Mahals, 20th
May 1886.

481. Pratincola capraia (Lin.). — Major Butler calls this a perma-
nent resident in Gujerat ; but it certainly is not found in the Baroda
District from April to September, and though we specially watched
for it, neither Mr. Doig nor I saw one in the Panch Mahals last
April and May.

490ter. Saxkola capktrata. "» Not in Butler's list, but recorded from

517. Lusciniola neglectus. j Sind in Murray's Verteb. Zool. of Sind.

553. Hypolals rama (Sykes). — Although the Phylloscopinae are all
cold-weather visitants, it is very probable that others breed in Sind
besides this species, which Mr. Doig found breeding plentifully
there.

THE BIRDS OF SOUTH GUJERAT. 1 9&

558. Phylloscopus lugubris (Blyth). — Not in Butler's list, but I shot
one out of a flock of five near Baroda Race-course, 17th September
1885 ; and Mr. Barnes says " very rare winter visitant to the Deccan,"
which give us two landmarks on its line of migration.

bS2ii>s. Sylvia miniiscula*\ Neither in Butler's list; both in

582. - S.althea ) Murray's Verteb. Zool. of Synd.

560. Phylloscopus viridanus (Blyth). — Not in Butler's list. Shot
one at Pattra, near Dohad, Panch Mahals, 14th April 1886. Merely
a cold-weather visitant to the Deccan " (Barnes).

631. See previous paper, Journal No. II.

647. Machlolophus xanlliogenys (Vigors). — Not in Butler's list.
Mr. Doig shot a male in a mango grove at Jhalod, Panch Mahals,
21st April 1 886, evidently breeding or about to breed ; and we saw a pair
at that a bird paradise" Saran,* near Dungarpur, about ten days later.

674. Dendrocitta rufa (Lath.). — To my previous paper (Journal
No. II.) let me add regarding this bird that I counted twenty-
three (23) of them fly out of one tree at Kadana on the banks of the
River Mahi, Panch Mahals, 28th April 1886, and found them very
common in the jungles between Dohad and Khairv\arraat that time.

Serinus pectoralis (Murray), sp. nov. — Not in Butler's list. (See
Verteb. Zool. of Sind, 193, as also p. 201 for 784, Palumbus casiotis.)

765. Spizcdavda rfem(Sykes). — Not in Butler's list ; but this is the
commoner sort about Baroda, and S. malabarica the rarer.

805 & 306. Cyo/nis ticlcelli (Blyth). — Common in secluded spots,
near water, throughout Gujerat, though not recorded from, that district
by Major Butler.

839. Sypheotides aurita (Lath.). — Have found it breeding about
Baroda at the following dates : — 19th August 1885. — Two eggs, and
a third, a bright green colour, extracted 21st September 1885. —

c There is a stream from a spring hero, with overhanging treee, and not
another drop of, water for miles around. The little stream is only abc ut 5 yards
broad, and after a course of 300 yards or sodisappeaisin the sand; but I noted
in my diary at the time the following birds in that one little oasis : — Green
Barbets (inornata), Coppersmith?, Common and White-bellied Drongos, Dovep,
Green Pigetms, Nuthatches (250), T ckell's Blue Rsdbreast, Titmice (Grey and
Yellow-cheeked), Oiioles, Koels, Crows, Sparrow-hawk (on nest, three eggs),
Owlets (.4. radiata, Scops bakhamuna), Paradise and Fantail Flycatchers,
Kingfishers (P. gurial, C. rudis, H. smyrnntis, and A. bengalensiti), Wood-
peckers (Aurantius and Mahrattensis), Common Sand-pipers, Lapwings, Painted
Smd-grouse, common Mynahs, Whit^-tbroated, Hodgson's and Stewait's Wnn-
warblers, Tret -pies, Common and Yellow-throated Sparrows, Bulbuls (462),
Brahminy Myuahs, Fish owls (K. ceylonensis), Ores- ted Tree-swifts, Created
Honey bnzzards, Babblers, seven large Grey Cuckoo-shiikes, Magpie R >bins,
Green Bittern, Rose lioged and Rose-headed Parrakcets, Mottled WolcI owl,
Indian .Nightjar — what a choir !

200 NATURAL HISTORY.

Caught three chicks just out of shell ; no nest; fragments of shell on
a flat bit of ground amid thin grass. 9th August 1886. — Four fresh
eggs. 13th September 1886. — Three fresh eggs. All the foregoing
from near Bakrol, six miles from Baroda.

842. Glareola orientalis. -\

845bis. Ch. pluvialis. > Not in Butler, vide Murray, op. cit.

847. HK ventralis. )

843. Glareola lactea (Tem.). — The Lesser Swallow Plover not in.
Butler's list, though common in the sandy, rocky bed of the Mahi above
Wasad. I got 18 eggs in the bed of the Mahi above Sihora, 6th April
1886. There were no nests, and the eggs were either single or
in pairs on islands. Some were far in under the ledges of rock ;
others right out on the gravel ; and the sheltered eggs were far
finer coloured than the exposed ones.

900 Parra indica (Lath.). — Butler says u permanent resident,,
i" believe.'''' It breeds commonly about Baroda, laying its eggs on
the floating lotus leaves. People in India generally call this bird
a Jacana, pronounced Jakana; but the name is spelt Jacana in Coues's
Birds of North America, and that indicates the correct pronunciation,
I believe, though Ogilvy's dictionary pronounces it as Jakana,

924£/s. Not in Butler, vide Murray, p. 270.

9321. Ardelta Jlavicollis (Lath.). — Only recorded from Sind by
Major Butler ; but Mr. Doig got it near Ahmedabad ; and I saw
a pair near Baroda, May 1884, but as I was waiting for a Panther
(that never came), I did not secure a specimen.

850. JEgialitis minuta (Palls.). — To the instances recorded by
Major Butler I may add that I have frequently shot it along the Mahi
and found two nests, three eggs each, last April 6-th, at Sihora. On:
the Mahi south of Dakore on the same day I found three nests, two.
eggs each, of JEsacus recurvirostris along the river-bed, thus
justifying Butler's remark of this species, (858) " permanent,
resident, 7" believe.''''

NOTE ON A RECENT PAPER BY DR. BONAVIA

ON THE MANGO.

By Surgeon K. R. Kirtikar, I. M. D.,

Acting Professor of Anatomy, Grant Medical College, Bombay.

Under the presumption that he was presented with real Bombay
mangoes* Dr. Bonavia without reserve declares that they were

NOTE ON A EECENT PAPER BY DR. BONAVIA ON THE MANGO. 201

disappointing. He describes tliem as having a red cheek and yellow
colour ; they were stringy. The very fact of their being stringy
precludes them from being considered the real Alphonso mangoes,
much less could they be considered the best. Any mango grown in
Bombay, or around Bombay, may have a red cheek and yellow colour ;
but that does not make it a good mango. The entire absence of
strings is the characteristic of the real Bombay Alphonso, or Afoos as
it is popularly called. The mesocarp, or rather the sarcocarp, consisting
of the pulp of the fruit, can be cut through like fresh cheese that is not
very hard, or can be easily scooped out by means of an ordinary des-
sert spoon with a clean cut. As regards the real mango being
inferior in flavour to the scores of varieties Dr. Bonavia has seen in
Upper India, even supposing he has tasted the best Bombay mango,
it is a mere matter of taste. There is no accounting for tastes. There
is room for wide varieties. The common Konkani kunbi will never
care to eat the finest table-rice that a high class Hindu would prefer.
The kunbi would prefer his coarse rice, which he declares is sweeter
and more substantial. Children will never eat, at any rate fully appre-
ciate, the real Afoos^ but will be content to suck the juice of the Kaiwal
or smaller varieties of mangoes. The real Bombay mango is luscious,
sweet as honey, and its epicarp or rind very thin, almost transparent.
The thinner it is the better, and such as can be easily peeled off with-
out tearing through the rich and succulent pulp. It does not matter
then whether it has a red cheek or not, or whether it is yellow, or rich
orange, or saffron coloured. To turn out a good mango, free from
acidity, the mango must be plucked at the proper time. The nearer it
is to the ripe condition while yet on the tree the better will it turn out.
If the mango is plucked immature, even if it be if the best kind, it
will fail to give satisfaction. It will often, near the stone and a portion
of its pulp, remain pale in appearance, and often form fibrous
cavities, and will be acid to taste, showing that there has been a local-
ized gangrene of the parts concerned. A good mango on the other
hand, plucked perfectly mature and about to ripen, will require certain-
ly not more than five, six, or seven days at the outside to be fit for the
table. " The mango may bear," I agree with Dr. Bonavia, u being
plucked under-ripe, and can easily'' — so far as transit is concerned
I think — "be sent to England and there ripened," but I question if it
would ever ripen under such circumstances to perfection. A good
mango can never ripen well, much less to perfection, under the chill-
ing influence of the cold used to preserve it. Cold may prevent

202 KATUtiAL HIST02Y.

decay and decomposition, but I doubt whether will ever hasten ripe n-
ing or help it. I think it deteriorates the fruit. Cape pears may find
a market in Covent Garden, and so would Bombay mangoes with
a brisk journey of nineteen days across the continent if carefully
packed and looked after constantly during the Red Sea voyage and
continental journey. But in my opinion there would always be
a difference between a fresh mature mango ripening under natural pro-
cesses in five days and an under-ripe mango ripening in twenty
days under forced conditions and chilling preservative influences.

There is often so much deceit practised by the mango-sellers in the
bazaar that an unwary and uninitiated foreigner is likely to be taken-
in and presented with any wretched mangoes — perhaps some thick
skinned Goa mangoes — under the name of Alphonso mangoes. But
anybody that knows what a real mango is, from its taste, appearance,
flavour or aroma and texture, will always recognize it. Even the feel
is characteristic ; and the smell, without cutting, is diagnostic. Ihe
first gatherings of these mangoes are always defective and sold at
enormous prices, and Dr. Bonavia has a just reason to complain when he
finds that Rs. 6 have to be paid for a dozen mangoes. People are so
impatient to eat the first fruit of the season that they pay down any
price. The agents of the up-country Bajahs buy them up at fabulous
rates, as the Rajah's money is almost wit' out a guardian in such eases-
Induced by the hope of making an easy fortune, the mango contrac-
tor takes the earliest opportunity to have his pick of the fruit, and in
doing so often plucks under-ripe mangoes, which sometimes never
ripen at all or, if they do, do not develope into the perfect fruit and are
insipid. Sometimes they rot during the ripening process. 1 have
had an opportunity of tasting some Upper India and Sind mangoes,
and the Deccan, Goa, and Bangalore ones are common enough, but they
do not come up to the Bombay fruit. It is not my intention at pre-
sent to write anything on the different varieties of the mangoes found
in Bombay. During the next mango season the Bombay Natural
History will hold an exhibition of the different varieties of the mango,
when it is hoped a careful list of the various kinds will be made out.

I come now to another part of Dr. Bouavia's remarks. When he
says that he has preached for many years that u it is a grave mistake
to throw away the thousands of stones of superb mangoes that are
consumed every year," one would think that Dr. Bonavia has practi-
cal experience in the matter sufficiently strong to substantiate his
remarks; He is clearly mentioning what is contrary to the actual

NOTE ON A RECENT PAPER BY DB. BONAVIA ON THE MANGO. 208

experience of mango-culturists on this side of India when he says
that " it does not at all follow that a stone of a good mango will not
give a better fruit than that of its parent." The common experience
here is that a seedling is not only not better than its parent in the pro-
duction of the proper fruit, but as a general rule is not even as good
as its parent. For instance, a good Alphonso or Payari (spiked or
sharply curved at the apex) can never be cultivated out of its res-
pective seedlings. They always degenerate, no matter what the
parent is. A special mango has always to be obtained from grafts.
Grafting mangoes is an industry which is very paying, and now that
the whole island of Salsette is under extensive cultivation at the hands
of intelligent and painstaking landowners, it is certain that at no
distant day Bombay will be abundantly supplied with excellent
graft Alphonso and Payari mangoes. Notwithstanding the high
authority of DeCandolle, quoted by Dr. Bonavia, with regard to the
mango cultivated in the colony of Cayenne bearing stones which
produce letter fruit than that of the original stock, the common
experience in India with regard to the Alphonso or Bombay mango is
different. The seed as it developes into a plant takes a long time to
bear fruit, the fruit itself losing the characters of its parent The
seed of an Alphonso mango will not produce an Alphonso fruit, but
degenerate into a common Eaiwal.

K. R. K.

A CATALOGUE OF THE FLORA OF MATHERAN.

BY THE HON. H. M. BIRDWOOD, VICE-PRESIDENT.

A recent visitor to Matheran is said to have complained sadly of
the monotony of its vegetation. That too familiar " Matheran tree'*
was everywhere, and everywhere the same ; and though it was very
beautiful, with its glossy leaves and purple plums, it so impressed
its sameness on the landscape as to induce a sense of depression,
from which the visitor was ghid to escape. It is just possible that
his experience was not altogether singular ; for we do not all cultivate
alike the faculty of observation. Two men, with the same love for
the beauties of Nature, and with equally good eyesight, may look on
the same fair scene of hill and forest, sea and sky, with very different
apprehension of its infinite variety, and with very different degrees,
therefore, of satisfaction. The one may take in, with the trained eye
of the artist, notable details which the other misses. He will see

204 NATURAL HISTORY.

■wondrous shapes and colours, and gradations of colour, in every wave
and cloud, and leaf asid boulder, where the other sees onty trees on the
steep hill -side and a waste of water dappled with shadows. It is one
of the main advantages of our Society that it teaches its members to
make a right use of their eyes ; and in some of us, the discovery that
even blades of grass are not all alike may perhaps have awakened into
activity a faculty hitherto dormant. So that now, in our continued
researches in the vegetable world, we become aware of a multitude of
beautiful forms, hitherto unnoticed, whicli daily reveal themselves
to us ; and it is no more possible for us now to be oppressed by the
sameness of our surroundings, whether at Matheran or elsewhere.
But though a thirst for knowledge has been thus created, we cannot so
easilyquench it. We have no leisure for systematic study ; and when
we consult our standard authors for information about plants, we are
repelled by a difficulty which meets us at the outset. We cannot
refer to the works of Hooker or Roxburgh, Brandis, Graham or
Dalzell, with any readiness or comfort, if we have first to find out
laboriously for ourselves the scientific names of plants by which alone
they are generally known to these writers. Though this difficulty
may be reduced, it is not quite removed by the use of such a synopsis
of Orders as that contained in the " Artificial Key" to Orders I. to
LXXI. of Dalzell and Gibson, published in 1875 by Captain H. H.
Lee, R. E., or in the Revd. Dr. Fairbank's " Key to the Natural
Orders of the Plants of the Bombay Presidency," published in 1876 ;
and members of our Botanical section are still unprovided with
correct lists of the local names of plants, with the aid of which they
would find it a comparatively simple matter to acquire the infor-
mation they are in search of. No doubt, we find valuable
glossaries of vernacular names in Roxburgh and Brandis ; but the
names are not always those in use in this Presidency, and the
glossaries do not, therefore, sufficiently meet the requirements of
students of the rich flora of Bombay and its neighbourhood. And
this remark applies also to the very full list of Bombay names in the
index to Sir George Birdwood's " Vegetable Products," which is
meant for the use rather of the physician, the merchant, and the
agriculturist than of the mere botanist. It is in the hope, then,
of removing this initial difficulty, to some extent, as regards
the vegetation of a certain limited area, which is much visited
by members of our Society, that I have compiled this catalogue,
which furnishes a ready method of learning the scientific name

A CATALOGUE OF THE FLORA OF MATHERAN. 205

*■ i

of a plant of which the vernacular name is known. Almost every
coolie at Matheran knows the names of most of the Matheran trees.
Indeed for some plants you may get a brace of names or more,
if you will only question your informant long enough. My own
particular coolie, Krishna, in the course of two hours spent in the
Primeval Forest and below Chowk Point, gave me no less than 75
names, which he told me he had learnt in the forest, with an air as if
the trees themselves had told them to him. With full confidence in the
sources of his information, I have included these names in the third
column of the catatogue and in the index appended to it, with many
others furnished by Mr. Jaykrishna Indraji, Curator of Forests in the
Porbandar State, a keen botanist, who lent much efficient aid to the
late Dr. Sakharam Arjun in the collection of his Bombay herbarium.
I am much indebted indeed to him, and also to Dr. Kirtikar,
for carefully revising the whole of the catalogue, which can now,
with the aid of Krishna or any other hill florist, be used for the
purpose for which it is intended. I would only add that those
who so use it must not expect to find it by any means a com-
plete list of the flora of Matheran. It is a fair-weather catalogue,
written in the month of May and the early days of June, when
nniny plants which blossom in the rains or the cold-weather are
dried up, past all recognition. It is a completer list, therefore,
of trees and perennial shrubs and climbers than of herbaceous plants ,
though it contains also the names of a few such plants, inserted
either from memory of past cold-weather visits to the Hill, or
obtained from friends or from Mr. Campbell's Gazeteer, or the
Revd. Mr. Gell's Catalogue, published now many years ago, and after-
wards republished by Dr. Theodore Cooke. Such as it is, it is as com-
plete as it could be made in the course of several very pleasant rambles
in the company of our Vice-President, Dr. D. MacDonald, Mr. Chester
MacXaghten, and Mr. Jaykrishna. Such as it is, I offer it to the Society
as an instalment only of a work which I hope will be taken up, conti-
nued, and enlarged by others, if not by myself, till we are in posses-
sion of tolerably complete catalogues of the flora of all parts of the
Presidency. I can only hope that members of the Society who have
the good fortune to visit Matheran during the next six months will
remorselessly criticize and amplify my work and favour our editor in
due course with the result of their labours. To this end, I have
asked Mr. Sterndale to issue a few interleaved copies of the cata-
logue in pamphlet form, and these can be procured from the Secretary.

206

NATURAL HISTORY.

CATALOGUE.

NOTE. — In {he first two columns, the nomenclature adopted for the first 51 orders,
exclu&ive of Order 33, " Loranthaceai" is that of Hooker's " Flora of British India"
Vols. I — IV, which do not include " Loranthaceos," or the Orders 52 — 78 repre-
sented in this catalogue. The synonyms given in the second column are the
names under which the plants are described in Dahell and Gibson's " Bombay,
Flora." Where no synonyms are given, the plants are described under the same
names in both Hooker and Dahell. In the third column, the names are spelt, for the
mostpart. according to the Hunterian system. The word " veV or uyel," which recure
frequently as a component part of a name, means a " creeper " or ' climber.'' The words
" lahan" and " dhakta" (fern. " dhakti") mean 'small,' "mota" Qfem. "moti")
means 'big,1 ltpandhra " means ' white,' " kala," 'black' " tamra," 'red,' and " karu >
'bitter.' The prefix1 il ran" indu ates a " jungle plant," or as we should say " a
wild plant," thoughall the plants in the list are of course wild or indigenous plants
on the hill, with the exception perhaps of the Jack-tree (Artocarpus integrifolia').

Natural Order.

Genus and Species.

Vernacular Name.

Clematis triloba

Mor-vel, Rarjjai.
Karambe), D^khta Kar-

mal.
Naram-panal.

4 Menispermaceae ...

Sajeri, Hir-kinjal.

Yatoli, Vat-yel.

Tan, Yasanvel (Sanskrit

Vrfsadani).
P^r-yel.
Kolisna.

C^pparis pedunculosa

(Near Alexander Point.)
Jao, Sarub, Sar^ta.

7 Guttiferae

Kokam, Ratamba (Wild
Mangosteen).

Syn. Xautbochymusovali- V

Oebrocarpus lonpiioliuB ...\
Syn. Calyeaccion loDgifo- >

A.nci8tr<>clarius Heyneauus ...
Hibiscus birtus

Haldi.

Harkia, Surangi.
Kardor, Kardori.

Rcfn-bbendi L/ahan-bhendi

Syn. Salmalia malabarica. )

bawar, Tdnari s£war
(Silk-ror.ton tree).
(S inskrit Rakht-sr almali).
Goldor, Gordar, Kukar.
Hhaikui,Kbava*i,Kbausbi,

Srfldbawal, Karai, Kuari.

Dliaman.

Erinot arpus Nimmoaiius

Ciiauri, Chor, Cher.
Kntre varjdre f" Dogs and

Monkeys").
Necharda.

CATALOGUE,

207

Na'ural Order.

Genus and Species.

Vernacular Name.

12 Geraniactaa

Laban Tirda, Berki.

Sarimukh pain, Tirda

(Wild Balsam).
Makar-limbu (" Monkey
Lime").

Karepat, Karu-nimb.

P^ndri, KuDti.

P..ia<rf.

Syn. Bervera Koenigii
,, exotica (vur. panicu

:::i

aia)

Cbloroxylon Switrtenia

Billu, Haldi.

Gymnosroria montana ...
Syn. Celastru? montarja
f-ymnosporia Rotbiana...
Syn. Celastiue Rotbiana
Hippooratea Grahami ...

:::}

Yekdi.

Moti Ytkdi.
Ye-vti.

16 Rhamneee

Kanvel, Lokbandi.

Guti, Ghuti (Hart Point

and elsewhere).
Toran.

17 Ampelidese

Telitsa yel.

Nadena.
Kajgolitaa-yel.
Dhindi, Dindi.

Syn. Cisaus dis-color,.
Syn. Cissus latifolia .

>»

18 SapindacfEe

Syn. Leea staphylea ...

Hunigyrosa canescens ...

Syn. Cupania canescens*.

-i

::}

19 Anacardiace fe

KarpS.

Kusimb, Kosamb, Ko-

sham.
Amba (Mango).
^undjir.

Connama monocarpus

D\li Dingala.
Gharri.

Paugara, Paramga.
Palas, Kbikra, the

'' Flame of tbe Forest"
(San-krit, Palasa).
Bondar.

Dalbergia latif ol ia

Sisu, S swa, S'ssm, Tali.

volubilis

(Blackwood Tree).
Alt-i.

Phansa.

Peudyuli-yel, Yek-yel.
Va^ti.

Ra'gi.

Bahawa, Garmala. (In-
dian Laburnum).
Apra.
KancbaD.

Chikakai, Shikikai.

Kher.

* Ihe leaves of the Palas tree are given as fodder to buffaloes. Tbe flowers are
made, with alum, into tbe yellow dye used at the Eoli festival (Brandis). This tree
gives its name to the memorable plain of Palasi, vulgarly called" Plassey" (Birdwood's
Vegetable Products). It yields a, kino and a lac — {lb.)

t Catechu is manufactured in the Konkan from the wood of the Kher tree.

208

NATURAL HISTORY.

Natural Order.

Genus and Species.

'Vernacular Name.

21 Leguminosas

22 Crassulaceee.

23 Rhizopborese

24 Combretacere

25 Myrtaceee.

26 Melastomaceae.

27 Lytbractsa ....

28. Onagraceae
29 Samydacese

30 Cucurbitaceee

31 Begoniaceaa

32 Umbellifeiae

33 Lorantbaceaa

>i
ii
ii

n

34 KubiacEsa

»»
ii
n
ii
ii
n

35 Compositae

Albizzia stipulata

amara

Yigca vexillata

Cylista scariosa

Bryopbyllum calycinum... )
Syn. Kalancboe pinnata... j
Carallia iutegerrima ,

Terminalia belerica
,, Cbebula

„ Arjuna

Combretnm ovalifoliuiu

Calycopteris floribunda )

Syn. Getonia floribunda... j

Eugenia Jambolana \

fifyji.Zizygium Jambulanum J

Careya arborea

Memecylon edule

Lagerstrcemia parviflora

„ flos regina

Woodfordia floribunda 1

Syn. Grislea tomt ntosa... f

Ludwigia parviflora

Casearia graveolens

,, esculenta

Trichosantbies palmata

Cucumi8 trigonus

Begonia crenata ,

Hydrocotyle asiatica® ,

Peucedanum grande )

Syn. Pastinaca grandis ... J

Lorantbus involucratus

loniceroides

lageniferus

cuneatus • ,

Wallicbianus

Viscum arjgulatum ,

Musfoenda froDdosa

Randia dumetorum

Cantbium umbellatHirj

„ angustifolium

VaDgueria edulis ,

Ixora nigricans

Pavetta indica

ii
ii
ii
>i

36 Campanulacese

:::}

Adina cordifolia

Syn. Nauclea cordifolia
Stephegyne parviflora )

Syn. Nauclea parviflora... )

Vernonia coDyzoides

Cyatbocline lyrata

Blumea bolosericea

Lobelia nicotiarjsefoha

Lullei, Laeli.

Siras (near Alexander

Point).
Pirambol, Halula(Matbe-

ran Sweet Pea).

Panpbue

Phansi.

Beht-i a, Y. la.

Hirda (Chebulio Myro-

bo Ian Tree).
Ain.
Mal-vel.

Bsgvel, Yakshi.

J&mbul, Jambu (tbe
common Jambul tree).
Kumbba.

Anjan (Iron-wood tree).
Naneh.
Taman.

Dhaurit

Bokhara^
Mori.
KaundeJ.
Kat-vel.

Brahmi,Karivana,Khopri

Baphli.

Bandguli.

Banda, V^nda
(Parasitic plants).

(Indian M'sletoe.)
Bbiit kes, Sarwad.
Gela.

Arsul, Tupa.
Obap-jel.

Alu (Indian Medlar).
Lckbandi, Atkura.
Pbapbat, Papat, Phapti
(Matbeiau Coffee).

Hed.

Kalam,

Moti-eadori, Sabadevi,
Gangotri.
Bhamburda.
Dh&wal, Devnal.

* An infusion of the leaves of this plant was used by the late Dr. Bhau Daji in his
treatment of leprosy,

CATALOGUE.

209

Natural Order.

Genus and Species.

Vernacular Name.

37 Myrsinacese

Ambafci.

38 Sapotacese ■.

Mohra', M;'iwa, Moha

Mimusops Elengi

(Mowrah tree).
Bokal, Bakuli (below
Simpson Lake).

Kanta-kumbal.

Sideroxylou tomentosum... 1
Syn. Sapota tomentosa... J

Syn. Diospyros nigricans J

Maha (Indian Ebony).
Goindu.

Jasminum arborescens (va»

}

Kiisar.

PaVirfmbul, Pa'rjatn

(Wild Olive).
Karwand, Corinda,

Carissa carandas

Holarrhena antidysenterica
Taberncemontana crispa ..

• • •

(Corinda busb).
Kura, Indrajav.
Pandhra kura.
Krfla-kura.

Larobtani(Dr.MacDonald's

" Seed Traveller ").
Rui, Ak, Madar.

Gymnema snlvestris

Kawali.

Dndh yel (Wax-plant).
Kbar-kbodi.

Leptadenia reticulata

43 Loganiareee

Kanal, Ka'jer-vel (near

Simpson Lake).
Niwali, Nirmali (near

Hart Point).
Ja'ali.

,, potatorum

44 Gentianacese

Exacum pumilum

Paracaryumcailestinum

Syn. Gynoglossum ccelesti

\

Nechurdi.

46 Convolvulacese ...

Gavel.

47 Solan act a?

Solanum indicum

Chiturti, Bhui-vangi.

Wa*ras.

Padel.

Eri-yel.

Ka'rvi (Indian Wattk).

Akra.

Pahadi-atffan.

48 Bignoniact-Ee ......

Heterophragma Roxburejhii ...

,, adenophyllum

Thunbergia fragrans

Strobilanthes asperrimus
Blepbaris asperrima --

Haplanthus verticillaris
Barleria strigosa

\

Ka'la-kirat, Kala-;ikra.

Var. terminalis

Barleria courtallica ,

Koranta.
Itari.

Hygrophila s err p y 1 1 u m

Syn Physichilu8 serpyllum

Ecbolium Linneanum

Syn. Justicia Ecbolium...
Pbaylopsis parviflora

Syn. Aethei'.eina reniforme
Callicarpa lanata

Tectona grandis

}
}
}

}

Ran-tewan.

Dhakta-adulea.

Waiti.

Yesur, Esbwar.

Sag, Sagwan (Teak tree),

Cbamba'r-vel.

Shewan.

Premna coriacea

Syn. Premna scandens,, , ,
Gmelina arborea

}

Vitex Neyundo .

Negud, Nirgundi.

2iu

NATURAL HISTORY;

Natural Order.

Genu8 and Species.

— — ZJ

Vernacular Name.

Pbgosteifion parviflorus
Syn. Pogostemon purpu-

}

Pangla, Paogli.«

Rharnan ,

Chodbara.

Gum^.

52 Chenopodiacese ...

Chenopodium amb'rosoides
Lasiosiphon speciosus

...

Danni.
Rametta.

Machilus glaiicescens

Guliim

Actinodaphne lanceolata......

Elseagrius Kologa

Pisbd

Ambulgi.
Dongri-mirchi(Hill Perj-

per);
Kulti (Sting-nettld

Creeper).
Cband&ra\

Piper silvestris

57 Euphorbiace* ...

Macaranga Itoxhurgbii

Rohio, Roen, Kapila
Pandurai.

BorambL

Asana.

Phyllanthus madraspatana
Ceratogynum rhamnoidea

...

Kanocbai

Chikli.

Awala (Gooseberry tree).

Bhoma.

Pandhar-phali.

Gol.

Sponia Wightii

Fleurya interrupta

Khajoti.

Moti-kba'joti, Agia.
Pahir.

Gerardina beteropbylla...

)>

Urostigma cordifolium

Nandruk, Raneknit.

j>

Var. (?)

I

Ashta + (Sanskrit, Ash-

watb).
Kel.

Wad (Btnyan tree; le-
low Chowk Point.)

Umbar (the " Sycamore
tree" of the Bible).

Datir.

.

>>

Ficus heterophylla

i >
62 Gnetaeice

Kharoti.

Phanas (Jack tree).

Umli.

Got-veh

Dioscorea pentaphylla..

Shend-vel;

Karu-karanda, Nor-vel.

Chlorophytum breviscapum

Kula.

iifi Aroideaa

Sampatsa-kbinda(ftnakf -
root, the "Cobra Lil)");

Suran.

Rokh-a'lu;

Amorpbophallua campanu-
latus.

}

* The leaves of the Piingli are believed in the Konkan to be a cure for snake-bite;
A case of an alleged cure was lately brought to the notice df the Revd. Fr. Dreckmann iu
Bombay. A man had been bitten by a poisonous snake and was said to have recovered
after the application to the wound of the leaves and other parts of two plants, which
were produced ; and one of these was apparently the Pangli.

t The Ashta is distinguished^ the Hill-people from the Pipalof the plains, of which
k is i eihaps a va'iety;

CATALOGUE.

211

Natural Order.

Genus and Species.

Vernacular Name.

Ichw&cb.

,, cblorops

Platanthera Susannse?

Kilabi.

68 Burmanniaceae ..,

Burmannia triflora

(On the road to £he

Governor's bund.)
Ban-kel, Kawadar, Ch£-

Musa ornata „.„..

Curcuma Zedoaria

wan-ke](WildPlantaiu)
Kachora, Kachola.

71 Amaryllidacese ...
73 Palmse

Pancratium parvum

Rao-haldi. (Wild Tur-
meric).
Kbandalu.

Curculigo malabarica

Kajuri.

Bherli-mar° (Fish-tail

Palm).
Kasai, Kan-makai (Job's

Tears).
Vins, Bambu (Bamboo).
Wala-kha8khas(Khaskbas

Grass).
A Grass, with the smell of

Caryota urens

(Palrm)

Coix Iachryma

(Grasses)

Bambusa stricta

Andropogon ?

75 Filices

Syn. Aspidium ciciitarium. j

At-plenium planicaule (

Syn. Asplenium laciniatum. )

Pteris aquilina

„ quadriaurita.

turpentine, near the

Neral Station.
Kajaryatse Bashing (Jn-

dian Beech Fern).

Brake Fein.

(Ferm)

Adiantum lunulatum ,...

Cheiianthes farinosa

Hansrij, RaVjhsn*

(Goo«tfoot Maiden-hair

Fern).
Pa'tkuri (Silver Fern).
Hansraj-yel (Creeping

Fern).

Rooting Fern.

Kadik-pan (Indian Oak
Fern).

76 Lycopodiacese
(Club-mosses)

77 Musci

Lvgodium pinnatifidum 1
Syn. Lygodium flexuosum. J

Pulybotya appendiculata

Acrostichum virens ")

Syn. Psecilopteris virens, V

Gymnopteris contaminant. J

Polypodium quercifolium )

Syn. Drynaria querci- V

folia. J

Lycopodium irnbricatum

Hypnum curratum .. .

,. equarrosurn

„ bryoides

78 Fungi .'.

Agaricus campestris

Alamben (Mushroom),
Bhoiphor (Puff Ball).
K.6rambi P;iran7n

Lycoperdon prateDse

Dcedalia gibbosa

„ versicolor

Polyporus giganteus

* The long trailing fruit racemes of this Palm are likened by the Hill people (o the
flowing locks of the long-haired Bheravs, attendants of Shiv : hence the name " Bherli-

212

NATURAL HISTORY,

INDEX OF VERNACULAR NAMES.

(The references are to the figures in the first column of the

Catalogue.}

Agia ...

• • •

■ • •

• • •

59

Cbambarvel

• • •

• • •

... 50

Ain ...

• • •

• • •

• • •

24

Cbandara

• • •

• • a

... 57

Ak

*
• • •

■ • •

■ • •

42

Chap-yel

• • •

• • •

... 34

Akra ...

■ ••

• • •

• « •

49

Chaura

• • •

• • •

... 11

Alamben

■ • •

• • •

• • •

78

Chawan-kel

• ••

• • •

... 69

Alei ...

• • •

* • •

• • •

21

Cher ...

• • ■

...

... 11

Alu ...

• • •

• ••

• • •

34

Chikakai

• • •

• • ■

... 21

Amba

■ • •

■ • •

• • *

19

Chikli

• • •

• • •

... 57

Ambati

■ ■■

• • •

■ • •

37

Chiturti

• • •

• • •

... 47

Ambulgi

• • •

• • •

• • •

55

Chodhara

• • •

• ••

... 51

An Jan.. .

• • •

■ • •

• • •

26

Chor ...

■ ■ •

■ • ■

... 11

Apta ...

• • •

• * •

• • ■

21

Corinda

• • •

• •■

... 41

Arsul ...

• • •

• • «

• •>

34

Asana...

• • •

• • •

• • •

57

Danni

■ ••

• • •

... 52

Ashta...

• • •

■ • •

• • •

60

Datir...

■ *•

• • •

... 60

Awala

• « •

• • •

• • •

57

Devnal

■ « •

■ • •

... 36

Dhakta-adulsa

• • •

... 49

Bagvel

• • •

• • •

• • •

24

Dhakta-karmal

• • •

... 2

Bakerli

• • •

■ • •

• • •

38

Dhaman

• • •

• « •

... 11

Bahawa

■ * *

■ • •

• • .

21

Dhauri

• • •

• • •

... 27

Bambn

• • •

• • •

• • •

74

Dhawal

• ••

• « •

... 36

Banda

• « •

• « •

• • •

33

Dhindi »
Dindi j

... 17

Bandguli

• • •

■ • •

• • *

ib.

• • •

• ••

Bapbli

• • •

• • •

...

32

Dingala

• • •

• • •

... 21

Behera

• • «

• • •

■ • «

24

Dongri-mirchi

• • •

... 56

Berki

• • •

• • •

• « •

11

Dyli ...

• • •

• ••

... 21

Bhaikui

• * •

« • -»

• • ♦

10

Bhaman

■ • •

• • •

• • •

51

Eriyel

• • •

• « •

... 49

Bbamburda

• • •

• • •

• • *

35

Eshwar

• • •

• • •

... 50

Bberli-mar

• • •

■ • •

• • •

73

Bhoiphor

• • •

• • *

• • •

78

Gavel...

• t •

• • •

... 46

Bboma

• • •

• • •

■ • •

57

Gangotri

• • ■

• • •

... OO

Bhui-vangi

• • •

• • •

. • •

47

Garmala

• • •

• ••

... 21

Bbutkes

• • •

• • •

• • •

34

Gela ...

• • •

• • •

... 34

Billu ...

• • *

■ • ■

■ •■

14

Ghagri

• * *

■ *•

... 21

Birambol

• • •

• • •

• * •

21

Ghuti...

• «•

• • ■

... 16

Bokhara

• • •

• • •

• • •

29

Goindu

• • •

• • •

... 0«7

Bokal

■ «•

• • •

• • •

38

Gol ...

■ ••

• ••

... 58

Bondar

• • •

• • •

• • •

21

Goldor)
Gordar j

... 10

Borambi

• • •

• • •

• • •

57

• ••

f ••

Brahmi

• • •

• t •

• ♦ •

32

Gotvel

• ••

• «•

... 63

INDEX.

213

Gulum

■ • a

54

Kasai

• • ■

ft • •

... 74

Gum a

...

• • •

51

Katvel

• ••

• • ft

... 30

Guti ...

• • •

• • ft

■ • •

16

Kawadar
Kawali

• •*

• ft ft

• • •

... 69
... 42

Halda...

• • •

• • •

• • •

14

Kel ...

• • •

■ • •

... 60

Haldi ...

• • ft

• • •

• • •

7

Kerambi

<>••

• • •

... 78

Halula

• • •

• • •

• • •

21

Khavas

• • •

• ft ft

... 10

Hansraj

I

75

Khajoti

• • •

ft ft ft

... 0»7

Hansraj-yel

J

• • •

■ • •

i t/

Khand-alu

• • «

• ft •

... 71

Harkia

• • •

• ft ft

• • •

7

Khar-khodi

» • •

• • •

... 42

Harkinjal

• • •

• • •

• • •

3

Kharoti

• • •

• • •

... 60

Hed ...

• • •

• • •

• • ft

34

Khaskhas

• * •

• • ft

... 73

Hirda...

• • •

• • ft

• • •

24

Khaushi
Kher ...

• • •

• • •

• • •
ft • ft

... 10
... 21

Ichwach

• ft •

• • ft

• • •

67

Kbopri

• • •

• ••

... 32

Indrajav

• • •

• « •

• • •

41

Kokam

• « •

• ft •

... 7

Itari ...

• • •

• • •

• • •

49

Kolisna
Koranta

• • •

• • •

• « ft

ft ft ft

• •• 0

... 49

Jambu )
Jambul |

25

Kaundel

• • •

ft ft ft

... 30

• • *

• • •

• • •

Kukar

• • •

• • •

... 10

Jao

• • •

• •#

• ••

6

Kula ...

• • •

ft ft ft

... 65

Jatali

• • •

• • •

• ♦ •

44

Kulti...
Kumbha

• • •

• • •

• • •
ft • •

... 57
... 25

Kachola ^

69

Kunti

• • •

• ft ft

... 13

Kachora [

• • •

• • •

• • •

Kura...

• • •

... 41

Kadik-pan

• • •

• • •

• • •

75

Kusar

• • •

ft ft ft

... 40

Kajgolitsa-yel

• • •

• • •

17

Kusimb

• • •

• ft •

... 18

Kajar-vel

• * ■

• « ■

• • •

43

Kutre-vandre

ft ft ft

... 11

Kajuri

• • •

• • •

• • •

72

Kalabi

•• •

• • •

• • •

67

Laeli ...

• • •

• • •

... 21

Kalam

• • •

• • •

• • •

34

Lahan-tirda

• • ■

ft ft ft

... 12

Kala-akra

• * •

• • •

• • •

49

Lahan-bhendi

ft ft ft

• • • *.

Kala-kura

• • •

• ••

• • •

41

Lambtani

• ••

• ft ft

... 41

Kala-kirat

• • •

• • •

• • •

49

Lokhandi

• • •

• • •

16,34

Kanal

• • •

• • •

• • •

43

Lullei

• • •

• • ft

... 21

Kanvel

• • «

• • •

• • •

15

Kanchan

• • •

• • •

• • •

21

Madar

• « •

• ft •

... 42

Kanocha

• • •

• • •

• • •

57

Madvel

• • •

•••

... 24

Kanta-kumbal

• • •

• • •

38

Makar-limbu

L ...

• ••

... 13

Karambel

• • •

• • •

• * •

1

Malia ...

• • ■

• ••

... o\)

Kapila

• • •

• • •

• • •

57^

Mawa "J

Karai...

• • •

• • •

• • •

10

Moha >

• ••

• ••

... 38

Karu-nimb

• • «

• • •

• • •

13

Mohra J

Karu-karanda

• • •

• • •

64

Morvel

• • •

• ••

... 1

Karvi...

• ••

• • •

• • •

49

Mori ...

ft ft ft

• ft ft

... 29

Kardor \
Kardori /

8

Moti -khajoti

• • •

... Oo

• ••

• • •

• • •

Moti-sadori

ft • ft

• • •

... Do

Karepat

• ••

• ••

• • •

13

Moti-yekdi

• ••

• • ft

... 15

Karivana

• • •

• ••

• • •

32

Karpa

• ••

• ••

• • •

18

Nadena

ft ft ft

• ••

... 17

Karwanda

• ••

• « ft

• ft •

41

Nandruk

• ••

• ••

... 60

214

NATURAL HISTORY.

Naram-panal..
Naneh
Neckarda
Nechurdi
Negud )
Nirgundi j
Nirmali >
Niwali J '

Padel...

Pahadi-atgan

Pahir...

1 IXuXS • * • •

Pandharphali
Pandhra-kura
Pandri
Pandurai
Pangara
Pangla \
Pangli J
Panphue

Paramga
Paranza
Par-jam (
Par-jambul J
Par-yel .

Patkuri ,

Pendguli-yel .
Phanas .

Phansa
Phansi )
Phaphat J
Phapti
Pis ha ...
Polara

Ragi ...

Rajhans

Rametta

Rau-bkendi .

Ran-haldi

Ranjai

Ran-kel

Ran-rnakai .

Ran-tewan

Ran-tuer

Ratamba

3

27
11
45

50
34

... 48

... 49

... 60

... 21

... 57

... 41

... 13

... 57

... 21

... 51

... 22

... 34

... 21

.,. 78

... 40

... 4

... 75

... 21

... 61

... 21

... 23

■ • •

34

...

54

• * •

14

» • •

21

• * •

75

• • •

53

• • •

9

• • ■

70

• • •

1

• • •

69

• • ■

74

• • •

49

• • •

21

• • ■

7

Roen \
Robin J
Rokhalu
Rui

Sag ... )

Sagwan J '

Sahadevi

Saldhawal

Sampatsa-kkanda

Santnukh-patri

Sarwad

Skendvel

She wan

Shikekai

Sisam

Sis

Sundar

Suran

isam )

isu ... j —

Tamri-sawar.
Taman
Tan ...
Tali ...
Telitsa-yel
Tirda
Toran
Tupa ...

Umbar
Umli ...

Vagati

Vanda

Vans ...

Vasanvel

Vatoli

Vat-yel

Waiti
Wala ...
Waras

Yakshi

Yekdi

Yek-yel

Yevti

Yesnr...

57
42

... 50

... 35

... 10

... 66

... 12

... 34

... 64

... 50

... 21

... ib,

... 20
... 6Q

• • • «/

... 27

... 4

... 21

... 17

... 12

... 16

... 34

... 60
... 62

... 21

... GO

... 74

... 49

... 74

... 48

... 24

... 15

... 21

... 15

... 50

A LIST (}F THE BOMBAY BUTTERFLIES IN THE SOCIETY'S COLLECTION. 215

A LIST OF THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE BOMBAY
PRESIDENCY IN THE SOCIETY'S COLLECTION.

With Notes by E. H. Aitken-.

The two following species were omitted by me in the first part of this paper
which appeared in July. I have nothing to note about either of them : —

39. Mycalesis mineus. — There is a single specimen in the collection,
without locality.

40. Ypthima singula. — This also is without note of locality. The
Society's collection is rather weak in SatyrinaB.

I find that I also omitted to mention that in Bombay I have found the
larva of Jwionia limonias on Barleria prionitu, a near ally of Asteixicanihd
longifolia, the favourite food of /. almana.

I will now proceed with my list-.

LEMONIDjE.

41. Abisara fratVrna. — When the rainy season is drawing to a close, in
September or October, every bush on the hills is enlivened by the attitudes
and frolics of this little embodiment of vanity. In all its ways it is unique,
perching in the middle of a leaf, on the upper side, with wings half open^
turning jerkily from one side to another, then hopping to another leaf and
strutt:ng round it. Sometimes a pair join in these performances, It is one
of the easiest Butterflies to catch, having no fear. I have found it in Poonaj
but rarely, if ever, in Bombay, though it is common in the low jungles of
the Tanna District.

LYCjENIDM.
I divide the LycaBnidse by form and habits into two strongly contrasted
tribes ; the one, robust in body and brilliant in colour, swift and wary,
given to basking on high trees, may be illustrated by such genera as Vira-
thola and Tajuria ; the other, a feeble folk, without Character, fiittirjg
mostly hear the ground, or resting on low bushes with their wings very
slightly opened, includes such genera as Catdchrysops, Polyommains, Zizera-,
and their kindred. The former have the thorax very stout, few Butterflies
comparing with them in this respect, except the species of Gharaxes and
'some Hesperida ; but they pass gradually into the weaker forms through
such genera as Aphnceus, and, as I do not propose to be the founder of
a new classification, I will merely place the genera in such order as seems
best to illustrate my idea.

42. Anops phcedrus. — This little gem, though nowhere plentiful, may
be met with in every part of the Presidency. It appears after, or perhaps
before, the end of the monsoon, and remains till the end of the year. In
the afternoon, when most other Butterflies have retired to rest, it loves to
bask in the sun on a small tree or high bush, with wings just a little open.

216 NATURAL HISTORY.

43. Baspa melampus. — I have not often caught this, which is rarer
than the last, and have seen it too seldom to form an opinion on the
regular time of its appearance. It has the same habits as the last.

44. Tajuria longinus. — This also is comparatively scarce, but occurs,
I think, almost everywhere.

45. Trasta marimas. — I do not think I ever caught with my own hands
this most splendid, surely, of all the Lycaenidae, and I doubt if it occurs
in Bombay. The specimens in the Society's collection are all, I think>
from the Tanna or Nasik District, and I have met with it myself at Egut-
pura on the Thull Ghat, where it began to appear in October or November*

46. Virachola isocrates, — It is almost impossible with the net to get
a really good specimen of this or the next. They are not only difficult to
catch, being exceedingly swift, wary, and given to settling on high trees,
but, when caught, difficult to secure without injury. There is a delicate
bloom on a fresh specimen which the gentlest touch destroys. It is easily
reared however. As is well known, the larva feeds inside the fruit of the
pomegranate and, some time before becoming a pupa, eats its way through
the tough rind and fastens the fruit with silk to its stalk, thus preventing
it falling off in case it should wither before the Butterfly escapes, as it
generally does. This operation is performed at night, and generally
repeated night after night. I have taken a pomegranate infested with these
larvae (several usually inhabit each fruit) and made it stand in an egg-cup ;
in the morning it was so securely fastened that in taking up the fruit I lifted
the cup. Of all animal instincts that I have seen or heard of, this is one of
the most astonishing and certainly the most difficult to reconcile with any
theory of development. As far as I have observed it, the larva never
leaves its shelter except for the definite purpose so necessary to its safety,
and it taxes ordinary ingenuity to suggest any possible conditions under
which some larvae might have performed the act in the first instance
without purpose. I have found this Butterfly pretty common in Bombay
and Poona from December or January till March at least.

47. V. perse. — I do not think I have met with this except on the hills,
where it is common, appearing in December when the fruit of the Ghela
(Randia dumetoram), on which the larva feeds, is ripening, and remain-
ing till March or April. The larva has the same curious instinct as the
last species and needs it more, for the Ghela fruit withers at once when
attacked and would inevitably fall before its tenant had reached the pupa
state if not artificially supported. I have found only one larva in each
fruit, and have sometimes noticed ants going in and out of the hole made
by it, for what purpose I cannot say. The stony hardness of the fruit
turns the edge of one's penknife and of one's curiosity too. This Butterfly
has the habit of taking its station, during the hottest hours of the day, on

A. LIST OF THE BOMBAY BUTTERFLIES IN THE SOCIETY'S COLLECTION. 217

a particular leaf, from which it darts out in pursuit of every other Butterfly
that passes by, This habit characterises a few brilliant genera in families
widely different. It Is strong in Charaxes.

48. Nilasera amantis. — This is not common, and I am not sure of the
limits of its season. I have seen it oftener about the beginning of June
than at any other time, and oftener at Karanja across the Bombay Harbour
than at any other place. It flies very fast.

49. Ajrfinceus (or Spindasis) vulcanus. — This species is not to be met
with in Bombay gardens ; but in the Deccan it is not rare, and on Karanja
I have found it abundant in the hot season. I think it rarely opens its
wings, except to fly.

50. A. acamas. — Mr. Newnham sent specimens of this from Bhooj.

51. A. trifurcata. — These are without note of locality, and I know
nothing of them.

52. A. elima. — These are without note of locality and I know nothing
of them.

53. CatapcBcilma elegans. — A single specimen of this was caught by
Mr. R. 0. Wroughton at Bassein in the Tanna District last March or April.

54. Rahinda amor. — This occurs almost everywhere, but is common,
nowhere. It appears at the close of the rainy season. It is fond of taking
its stand on the point of a prominent leaf, with wings closed and an air of
decision not easy to describe. Spindasis has the same habit.

55. Jamides bochus. — This is not uncommon in Bombay and the sur-
rounding country, and also in Poona, chiefly, I think, after the monsoon,
but I have no notes.

56. Tarucus theoplirastus. — Common both in Bombay and the Deccan
after the rains. Fpecimens vary much in size and in the intensity of the
spots on the under side. The larva feeds on the tender leaves of the Beyr
or Bor tree {Zizyphus jujuba).

57. T. plinius. — This is not so common as the last, but not rare
coming out at the same season. I have found the larva on Sesbcmia
aculeata, an annual which springs up everywhere in Bombay during the
rains and shoots up to a height of 6_or 7 feet and withers away in October.
Its fragile leaves wither up a few minutes after being plucked, and it is no
easy matter to rear a minute larva on them. I was successful with only
one. I find it described in my notes as green and of the usual wood-louse
form, with a dorsal ridge of small protuberances. The pupa, which came
out in seven days, was greenish, smooth, not £th of an inch long, and closely
attached to the bottom of the pill-box in which it was kept.

58. Castalkis rosimon. — Very common from August to the end of the
year at least, alike on the hills and the plains. It settles much on the ground.

59. C. decided. — I believe, but am not quite certain, that I have
caught this in Bombay. It is not uncommon on the hills.

218 NATURAL HISTORY.

60. Talicada nyseus. — This peculiarly distributed insect is not found
at all in Bombay, nor do I recollect once meeting with it at Khandalla,
Matheran, or Egutpura ; but in a particular spot at Maliableslrwar it was
swarming last March, and I have a faint recollection of its being equally
abundant at the hill forts of Singhur and Poorundhur near Poona, while
at Poona itself it is never wanting during the diy months. Mr. H. Wise
informs me that in Kanara he finds it at an elevation of 1,500 feet. It
lies very low and settles much on the ground, wings always closed.

61. Lycaene&thes lycaenina. — There is one specimen, a male, in the
collection, without note of locality. I have a strong impression that
I myself caught it in Bombay and forgot to label it at the time.

62. Lampides celianus. — This is not confined to the hills, but decidedly
more abundant there than on the plains. About Christmas there is no insect
more abundant at Khandalla.

63. Catochrysops cnejus. — This is very common everywhere after the
monsoon. There is little to note about these commoner Lycaenidaa. They
are very much alike in their ways, flying low and often basking with their
hind wings more expanded than their fore wings, a habit which they share
with some of the Hesperidae. Some of them have also the curious habit of
rubbing their hind wings against each other.

64. C. strabo, — This appears also after the monsoon, about August,
but is not so common in Bombay, I think, as the last.

65. Tolyommatus loeiicus. — This is common everywhere.

6G. Chilades vanmana. — There are five specimens in tie collection
without note of locality, but certainly from the Tarma or Nasik District
I know nothing about it.

67. Pathalia albidisca. — There are a few specimens from different
parts of the Presidency.

68. Azanas crameri. — A single specimen without note of locality.

69. Spalgws epius.— I have found this on Karanja in February,
August, and September, but it is not common.

70. Zizera Jcarsandra. — I find myself obliged, with shame, to confess
that I am not quite sure whether this is the species which swarms all over
the Esplanade in Bombay some time after the rains. I assumed that
I knew it, and now, when a doubt has arisen in my mind, I am no longer in
Bombay. It can scarcely however be any other species,

71. Z.pygmaea. — This is a Bombay species too, but not so abundant.

72. Z. ossa. — This has been described by Colonel Swinhoe for the first
time in the paper which I have already referred to. It is not by any
means uncommon,

E. H. A.

■-.,'(. V j,';--

ft:

S
I

ZOOLOGICAL NOTES. 219

ZOOLOGICAL NOTES.

NOTE ON THE B03JALOPS1DJE IN THE SOCIETY'S

COLLECTION.
By Mr. James A. Murray, Curator, Karachi Museum.

In August last I had the pleasure of examining a good part of the Society's
collection of reptiles, and among them the specimens (six in numher) of
the Homalopsidte, described in No. I of the Society's Journal by the
Rev. F. Dreckmann. The specimens were correctly referred to the Homalopsida3,
but were not assigned to any group evidently owing to the difference in the number
of scales round the body. The other characters agreed quite with those of tbe
genus Ferania, and I had no hesitation in identifying the specimens as Ferania
Sieboldi, (Schbg.,) on finding that the specific characters of tbe only species known
also agreed. When Dr. Gray founded the genus Ferania (Zool. Misc., p. 67), he
had but a single specimen from Province Wellesley in Bengal, and one with only
twenty-seven series of scales round the body. Lieutenant Barnes has done good
service in unearthing several more specimens, and thus being the means of bring-
ing about an amendment of the generic characters of one of the four genera,
constituting the group of Homalopsidas, having no nasal appendage and more
than five upper labials. The generic characters of Ferania, as now amended,
will shortly stand as under : — <

Snout without appendage ; more than five upper labials ; two anterior
frontal s ; scales in 27—31 series.

One species, F. Sieboldi, (Schbg.,) characters as described in Gunther's

Reptiles of British India, p. 284 ; scales in 27 — 31 series.

J. A. M.

LIST OF BUTTERFLIES RECEIVED FROM MAJOR YERBURY,

Campbellpue, Punjab.

5

Hipparchia parisatis

2

C. sareptensis.

2

Auloeera swaha.

3

Euchloe lucilla.

1

A. saraswati.

2

Mancipium canidium.

2

Amecera schakra.

3

M. nipalensis.

1

Callerebia daksha.

2

Catopsilia pyranthe.

2

Ypthima asterope.

2

Teracolus faustua.

2

Y. bolanica.

1

T. fimbricata.

2

Y. nareda.

5

T. protracts.

1

Danais limniace.

1

T. etrida.

1

Vanessa cashmiriensia.

5

Deudorix epijarbas.

2

Jun^nia asterie.

1

Baspa nissa.

1

J. orithyia.

6

Spindasis acamas.

1

Argynnis niphe.

3

Catochrysops cnejus.

1

A. lathonia.

1

Tarucus nara.

4

M. Robertsii.

1

Lycasna putli.

2

Libythea lepita.

3

Zizera maha.

2

Dodona durga.

2

Z. trochilus.

1

Papilio erithonius.

1

Chrysophanus phlseas.

1

Belenois mesentina.

1

Hesperia evanidus.

2

Gonypterix nipalensia.

5

Gegeues karsana.

5

Colias Fieldii.

220 NATURAL HISTORY.

.NOTE ON THE CONDUCT OF A TAME PIGEON.

By E. H. Aitken.

The curious example of conjugal infidelity among pigeons given by Mr. Hart
in the last number of the Journal reminded me of two incidents, illustrating the
characters of the same birds as husbands and fathers, 'which may interest members.
By way of parenthetical preface, I will say that, if the Journal of the Bombay
Natural History Society awakens a livelier interest in the behaviour of animals
as intelligent beings, it will do a valuable work.

In 1879 a baby pigeon, not more than a week old, in one of the nests in my
pigeon-house, was left an orphan by the sudden death of its mother. It was toe-
young to be fed by hand and I supposed it must die, but I was mistaken. The
bereaved father, instead of giving himself up to sorrow, at once took sole charge
of his helpless offspring and reared it successfully. He had not sense to
make any change in his habits. Among pigeons the female sits alone on the
nest, except for three or four hours in the middle of the day, when she is relieved
by the male ; so this bird went in every day, about 10 or 11 o'clock, and kept the
nest warm till 2 ; but all night he slept as he had been accustomed to do, in another
chamber, leaving his naked little child exposed to the cold of a February night.
It survived however and was doubtless all the hardier for its Spartan nurture.

Whether this parent's conduct is attributed to intelligence or stupidity will

depend upon the direction in which we have accustomed our feelings to run ; but

there can be no question about the following case. In my flock there was one old

male bird who w5s quite a character in the community. He was a fat

easy-going, good natured bird, but pampered and self-indulgent to an uncommon

degree. It was a favourite sport of mine to fit him into the mouth of a stone

jar, like a cork, only his head and shoulders out, and in that position to give him

grain, which he would eat with the most composed enjoyment. His wife was

a blue rock with all the strong instincts and affections of a wild bird. Finding

her always willing to take more than her share of the family cares he shirked

his and, during the hot season, gave up taking his turn on the nest altogether

leaving her to sit day and night, which she did, excepting a very short interval

which she allowed herself for food. When the cold season came round, he found

his opportunity to repay her by taking all the night work duty on himself. He

actually turned her off the eggs and slept in the nest himself, while she roosted

at the entrance and kept out the cold air I

E. H. A.

NOTE ON DANAIS DORIPPUS.

By Mr. A. T. H. Newnham, S. C, 10th N. I.

Mr. Aitken mentions in his paper on Bombay Butterflies that he has never

met with this variety, but in the last month I have seen here, in Cutch, two

specimens, one of which I added to my collection. Besides these, another

collector obtained two more at Mandvie, and said he had seen others which

escaped him. Also the same collector had caught the variety known as

D. alcippoides, but haviDg the lower half of the hind wings pale lavender

seaintd of white.

A. T. H. N.

ZOOLOGICAL NOTES. 222

NOTE ON LOCALITY.
By Mr. A. T. H. Newnham, S. C, 10th N. I.

Extraordinary Coincidence. — During a recent visit to Ceylon I happened to
go again to a certain spit of shingle on which I had a month previously found
several eggs of 8terna melanog aster. I was again successful in finding two
eggs of the above-mentioned bird, and on lifting the eggs up to deposit them in
cotton-wool, my eye was caught by something glittering on the spot from which
I had just removed the eggs. On picking it up, I found it to be an " entomological
pin," and presumably one which I dropped when I was there before, as it is in
the highest degree improbable that any one else would have had entomological
pins in such an out-of-the-way place. The question arises, was it a mere coinci-
dence that the Tern laid its eggs on that very spot, or was it attracted by the
glittering appearance of the pin ?

The Bower-bird of Australia, I believe, collects gaily-coloured and glittering
objects and places them round about its nest. Could then this Tern have been
actuated by some similar freak, and have brought the pin from some place where
it had found it ?

A. T. H. N.

NOTE ON THE BREEDING OP PARRA INDICA.

By Lieut. H. Edwin Baenes.

Mr. Hume in his Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds lays stress upon the
alleged fact that the Bronze-winged Jacana lays a much greater number of
eggs than its nearest Indian ally, the Pheasant-tailed Jacana (Hydrophasianus
chirurgus).

At page 591 of the above-quoted work, Mr. Hume writes : — " Of six nests
examined, none contained more than seven, but the boatmen averred that the birds,
sometimes at any rate, laid ten"

Again, on the next page, quoting from Mr. K. Blewitt's experiences in the
Jabulpur, Saugor, and Jhansi Districts, he writes : — " The regular number of eggs
I have not been able to ascertain accurately, but from eight to ten may be taken
as the maximum number."

I have had opportunities of examining great numbers of these nests in situ,
and I have never yet found more than four eggs in any one of them,
although many have been in an advanced stage of incubation ; the fishermen,
too, assert that four is the number invariably laid. I cannot help suspecting that
pome mistake has occurred. I actually took with my own hands over two
hundred eggs, on four different dates, in August and September 1880, from jheels
in the vicinity of Neemuch, and I have taken at least fifty eggs from the Saugor
and Chundrapur Lakes this season, and had I wished,could easily have taken four
times as many. The Saugor Lake is within half a mile of my bungalow, and
is much frequented by these birds, and as I am continually boating and fishing
upon it, I have exceptional opportunities of noting facts in reference to their
habits and nidification.

222 NATURAL HISTORY.

I cannot help coming to the conclusion that four is the normal number of eggs
laid by this bird, and that whenever a greater number has been found, it is th«
joint production of two or more birds.

I do not remember seeing the fact noticed anywhere that these birds often
deposit their eggs on a heap of floating weeds without preparing any nest at all.

It would be interesting if other zoologists would state if their experiences
coincide with mine or not.

H. E. B.

NOTE ON REVERSION TO PRIMITIVE TYPES.
By R. A. Sterndale.

I have mentioned in the Mammalia of India, quoting from a writer in the
India Sporting Review, a case of cross-breeding between jackals and dogs,
in which in the third generation, or one-eighth jackal and seven-eighths dog,
three out of five pups had gone back to the jackal type. I have s-ince then
been noticing cases of reversion in domestic cats'. We have an English, or
rather Scotch, black cat which we brought out from home three years ago.
Her first kittens in India were all white, with patches of the usual Indian
grey or Indian tabby, which consists of small spots in lines on a grey ground.
We destroyed all except two, a son and daughter, the latter a very pretty cat,
with decidedly English points about her : this cat, in her third family of the
usual grey-and-white kind, bad one very handsome tabby kitten, which, with
a white one, was kept. Now this tabby kitten, who was Darned, " Joe," because
like Dickens' fat boy, he was always sleepy, afterwards softened into "Joey,"
turned out a true English tabby, a type I have never seen in India (see the
sketch I have given of him in this journal), and a tabby of a very handsome
kind, unusually so. Were he to escape in suitable jungles and be shot, he
would probably, but for his tail, be identified as Felis marmorata, for he is
nearer in colouring to tint species than any domestic cat I have come across.
Even pure English tabbies have, like their remote ancestor the wild cat (Felis
catus), certain stripes down the side?, but Joey, with the exception of the
bars on his limbs, is clouded like the Rimaudaban (Felis diardi), or the
smaller marbled cat [F. marmorata). English tabbies do occasionally have
their side markings in irregular concentric circles, but the colour of the
ground-work is generally grey instead of Fandy fulvou?. However I take it
that Joey gets his Joseph's coat of many colours from his Eoglish ancestor
and not from his Asiatic grandfather. He is a queer tempered cat, shy
with most people, although his sisters and his cousins and his aunts will go
to anybody ; but he is devoted to me, and at times will not leave me for
a moment. Lately, whilst laid up with the fever which has delayed the issue
of this journal, I had to keep to bed for a day or two and Joey never left
my side, and his meals had to be brought into my room.

Now to go back to Joey's grandmother, the old black Scotch cat. For two
years-and-a-balf she had a constant succession of grey-and-white kittent'
between twenty and thirty, and we wondered why none of her children
resembled her. Lately however, out of a batch of five, three were jet black.

ZOOLOGICAL NOTES. 223

Her eldest daughter (Purry) had lately five kittens,[of .which one was jet
black and two others partly so ; but it is only recently that this colour has begun
to shew itself : of some thirty or forty preceding kittens, only two had a few
black patches — now blackies are getting common.

I forgot to state that Joey's markings are perfectly symmetrical, each
side being alike. As you hold him up with his back towards you, the
pattern runs off on each side from the central stripes as evenly as if they
had been marked off with compasses, which is characteristic of the feraa.

R.A. S.

SOME NOTES ON ABNORMALITIES IN THE HORNS OF

RUMINANTS.
By Mr. J. D. Inverarity.

The most curious instance of abnormal horns I^have, met with was an old
stag samber I shot some years ago near the Taptee. .His right horn was 36
inches long and nothing peculiar about it. The left horn was a few inches
shorter, and Lad no brow antler at all nor the slightest rudiment of one. About
three-quarters of an inch from the left horn was a third horn, a mere knot but
growing on a separate bony pedicle of its own. It was entirely distinct* from
the main horn, the skin covering the intervening space. No] sign of disease or
injury to any of the organs.

Single Samber Horn (Sketch No. 1). — A very massive heavy horn. Either
shed or killed by tiger. I thiiik the latter. The horn had the appea;ance of
having dripped overall round the burr and hung down in what, for a better
term, I will describe as numerous icicles. This horn, for mouths after I picked
it up, sw< ated some oily matter of a most offensive odour.

Four-horned Antelope. — The bony core curves inwaids of one horr. Had
anterior horns, but I have lost them.

Wild Cow-buffalo. — R:ght horn norma', about 3 feet long ; left hoin
not more tl an 18 inches long, probably less, growing almost stiaight down
close to the check and turning backwards. I was close to her for several minutes
and observed it wel1, but did not fire at her. The misshaped horn appeared
much thinner and smoother than the other one. The end was blunt.

There is a curious malformed cow-biscn's head in the Madias Museum of
which you might get a sketch.

I have in my possession in Siotland a small samber head the left horn of
which bends dowD, forming a club close to the skull just like the horn of the
Cashmere stag pictured No. 2. This club shape is the natuial shape of deer's
horns while growing. Any one who has seen stags while their horns are grow-
ing, before they have reached the point where the upper tines bianch out will
corroborate me that the top of the horn is then club-shaped. The Cashmere
stag No. 2 and the small bead I am speaking of have bal their growth
arrested at this stage.

Doe Chinkara. — I have never shot one, but I think their horns are frequently
misshapen. One I have a note of had one horn bent forward and the other
backwards, but having omitted to take a drawing of it my note is not
sufficiently full to enable me to give a more accurate description.

224 NATURAL HISTORY.

See too the curious bison head of mine, shot iu 1885, in the Society's Rooms.
The bony core being only a few inches long, there was nothing to give the
usual bend to the horns, which have accordingly grown straight out and curved
forward. This was a very old cow, the incisor teeth being worn level with
the gums — a thing I have never seen before. I shot her by a fortunate accident.
There were a lot of three bison. I noticed something peculiar about the head
during the stalk, but did not see wbat the real state of the case was. Firing
at the Jarge bull, I broke his shoulder. The second barrel was intended for the
bull, but the cow rushed alongside as I pressed the trigger and got the bullet in
the neck, dropping dead.

I also send for inspection a small samber head. lam not sure whether the
right horn has ever bad a brow antler. There has been a fracture of soma
sort. Whether tbe brow antler has been broken off and the fracture worn
smooth, or, as lam induced to think from there being no fracture visible on
the inside of the horn, that there was no brow antler, is doubtful. If the latter
ss tbe case, the long brew antbr (for the size of head) of the left horn is
remarkable.

Pteropus Edwardsi.

I saw on 9th May this year at Nara, on the banks of the Jouk River, a number
of Flying-foxes fanning themselves in the way described by Mr. Aitken. The
fanners however were only about 10 per cent, of the population.

J. D. I.

Editor's note on above.— Mr. Inverarity was kind enough to send me the
above notes to help me in a continuation of my previous paper on horns;
but ill-health has prevented my taking up the subject more fully this time
so I have published his notes without any addition of my own. I have
copied his sketch of the very curious samber horn he picked up ; and have also
to thank him for the loan of a book on sport in Madras by "the Old Shi-
karry" (G. A. R. D.), in which is a photograph of a cheetal's head with an
abnormal bez-tine of extraordinary length. I have taken the liberty of
copying this, and it forms No. 2 sketch in the accompanying plate.

E. A. S.

Neomeris Kurrachiensis.— (Murray). — The following description of the

Porpoise, mentioned in the paper on the Waters of Western India , page 159,

of which I have given an illustration, has been sent to me by Mr. Murray,

and is in fact a draft of his paper on the subject in ths Ann. and Mug. Nut.

History, Vol. XIII., 1884. It will interest our readers and supplement Keswal's

description.

R. A. S.

': A castacean of the family Delphinidse, which I sball describe under the
name Neomeris Jcurrachiensis. The characters of the genus are : — Dorsal fin
none; nose of skull short, rounded in front, flat and shelving above ; teeth
numerous, compressed, nicked, acute, extending nearly the whole length
of the jaw (Gray, 'Seals and Whales', &c. ).

"Neomeris phocaenoides is the only species of the genus, and its dentition
is given as \i (Delphinu3 melas) or f§ on each side. The species

BOTANICAL NOTES. 225

under notice has £§ on each side, and there are besides a set of f
which were scarcely visible through the gums, and situated out of the line
of the other teeth ia front of the jaws. In shape these \ teeth are
quite unlike the rest, being conical instead of flattened or compressed. The
measurements of the animal taken in the flesh are as under : —

Inches.
Length along curve from tip of snout to notch between

caudal flukes 52

Ditto straight 45

Tip of snout to pectoral fin 10

Caudal flukes 9x3

Distance of blow hole from tip of snout along curve 6*5

Ditto from angle of mouth to eye 1'62

Vent from root of caudal fin 14

Snout rounded ; head very convex, rising posteriorly high to the dorsal
surface; blowhole semilunar; back with a longitudinal band of spinous
tubercles on the vertebral area, beginning nearly opposite the root of the
pectoral, widening to 15 inch about the middle, and again contracting and
ending narrowly opposite or in line with the vent ; no dorsal fin ; pectoral
subfalcate ; teeth \% ; colour shining black throughout, except a purplish
red path in front of the snout (on the upper lip) and on the threat ; intestine
31 feet in length ; contents of stomach Crustacea (species of Penaeus).

Inches.
Length of skull over curves to upper edge of foramen

magnum 10

Ditto straight from below 8

Height of skiall (vertex of super-occipital) 425

Tip of snout to llow-hole 4 25

Ditto to interparietal 625

Interparietal toupperedge of foramen magnum 3-75

Across m axilla r its 4'75

Across blow- hole 15

Length of molar 2 0

Ditto ofbiain cavity 4*0

Greatest space between occipital condyles (upper) 1"5

Across paroccipitals 3*37

Smallest fpace between occipital condyles at lower third 10

Vertical diameter of foiamen magnum 1'75

Breadth across last teeth on each tide (upper jaw) 2 5

Ditto ditto (lower jaw) 2-5

Teeth-line in upper and lower jaw 25

Length of lower jaw to coronoid process 5"62

Greatest vertical depth of ramus 2-62

Palate 4.0

The super-occiprtal is sub globular aLd very convex above ; rcstrum short,

rounded in front j foramen magnum vertically ova1, with the occipital

22G NATURAL HISTORY.

condyles vertically elongated and convex, wider at their lower third ; teeth
email, flattened or compressed, with a sharp sub-crescentic crown, faintly
nicked, and with the middle of their outer and inner sides slightly swelled ;
they are rather obliquely arranged in line, about one-fifth of each succeed-
ing hinder one overlapping its fellow, but not in contact.

BOTANICAL NOTES.

NOTE ON THE GLORIOSA SUPERB A (N. 0. LIU ACE A),

" SUPERB LILY."
By Mr. Frank Rose, P. W. D.

Several writers have pronounced the root of this handsome climbing plant
a violent poison, and next to the Wild Aconite (Aconitum ferox). I much
doubt the assertion, as I have seen Brinjaris using it for medicinal purpose?,
and it doubtless has active properties. Native Surgeon Mohideen Sheriff
(Madras-) has already removed the doubts expressed by certain of the
Medical Faculty by giving it to his patients, and has himself taken "12-grain
doses three times a day." In case an experiment may be wished to be tried,
I send you by this day's post the tuberous root of this shrub obtained from
my garden.

Florists should not lose this opportunity of collecting the roots for next
rains. This ornamental plant flowers early in Augus'. lasting only eleven
days : the petals open with a light green tint, and then gradually assume the
crimson and yellow on the sixth day, when it is then clad in its richest and
gayest colour, after which the whole flower becomes crimson and then fad*s.

This perenial plant is easily identified. The root is bulbous ; stem, green
herbaceous ; leaves, lanceolate, ending with tondrils or cirrbiferous ; calyx, nil ;
and corolla, reflex, G-petalled ; habitat, fi dds and forest?. Willdenow is said to
have discovered this shrub in 1G90. The Indian synoniyms are Nag-dhan
or Nai-kabachnag derived from the Wild Aconite ; Olot-chandal, Bengali ; and
Kalaijpak-Jcirhangu, Tamil. In Ba If our & Botany (Ed. 1854) nothing is ? aid
about this plant.

F. R.

NOTE ON THE GLORIOSA SUPERB A.
By Surgeon K. R. Kirtikar.

With reference Mr. Rose's remarks, I say at once state that I am not
personally able to bear testimony to the violently poisonous qualities of the
roct of Gloriosa superba. I have neither used it medicinally, nor have I seen
any cases of men poisoned by it. Dr. Nornoau Chevers however, in his work
on Indian Medical Jurisprudence, menth ns two fatal cases (pp. 284-285)
in Edition of 1870, and attributes to the root naicotico-ir.itan'i

BOTANICAL NOTES. 227

properties. Gribble in bis recent work on Indian Medical Jurisprudence is
silent on the point.

In bi-j Forest Flora of British Bvrmah (Yol. II., p. 542), Kurz says : — " The
Phoongyees often collect tbe poisonous roots of Gloriosa for medicinal purpose?."
Sir George Birdwood, in his Bombay Vegetable Products, says it was first
described by Hermann. It is said to be a substitute for Colchicum. In Bapu
Gangadhar Josbi's Nighanta Prakdsh, based on various Sanskrit works onthe use
and properties of indigenous drugs, the plant is called " Kalikari," "Kalalavi,"
or " KhadiyanaV." It is said to be destructive of biliousness, pruritus, oedema,
intense thirst, colic, &c. It is therefore not unknown as a remedial agent.
It is said to be abortive also. It is deserving of a trial as tonic and alterative,
especially as Mobideen Sheriff finds it useful in his own practice.

K. R. K.

USES OF THE FLOWER OF P AND AN US ODORATISSIMUS.
By Mr. Fkank Rose, P. W. P.

In forwarding for identification two samples of the extract from the
flower of this tree, known as the "Attar of Keura" aud the "Water1'
{Kevada-ku-aaraq) manufactured last year at Aurangabad, Deccan, but which
have lost, to a certain extent, their aromatic properties from length of time,
and with reference to tbe very interesting paper on the uses of the tree
by Mr. R. A. Sterndale, F.R.G.S. (Journal No. IT. for April), I am induced
to follow up Dr. Kirtikar's " Notes," and say a few words anent the uses of
this achlamydeous flower.

The Flower is certainly of a very fragrant nature, more powerful than
any of the Indian Flora, and it? perfume is considered to be the richest by
the Mahomedan community. The flowers are used for a double purposes
viz., scenting wearing aj parel and keeping away insects, especially the cock-
roaches {Blatta. orientaltti).

Perfumery. — Tue Aaraq, or water, is issued extensively by tbe well-to-do
of the Mahomedan class, chiefly in flavouring their drinking-water during the
hot-weather by adding a few drops to it. Although it may be palatable to
some Europeans in their beverages, confectioneries, et hoc genus omne, I am no
advocate for it; but tastes differ, hence my reason for sending a sample for
trial.

The Attar is prized as much by the Native community as any of Piesse
and Lubiu's perfumes are by Europeans. A superior kind of Attar is
exported from Northern India.

Synonym. — A respected botanist says that the word Pandanus has
its derivation from Pandang (Malay name of the genus), signifying
"Regard," owing to "the beauty of the tree and its exquisite odour."
Daniel Olliver, F.R.S., F.L.S., says that the "Screw-pine" derives it,
appellation from the Pine-apple order (Bromel'acas) owing to the similarity
of their foliage. It is also known as the " Caldera Bush" and " Screw-palm,"
and in Mauritius as the "Variquois Plant." The plant was first recognized
in India in 1771 by that great German botanist Willdenow. I find that

228 NATURAL HISTORY.

Mahadeva (q. v., " Hindu Theatre" — Malati and Mahadeva) is reported to
have sung the praises of the Kitaki (Sanscrit) in the following strain :~

" Faint in the East the gentle moonlight gleams
" Pale as the Palm's sear leaf, and through the air
"The slowly rising breezes spread around
" The grateful fragrance of the KUalci."

In Burmah the plant is known as Sasava and in Madras as TazJian-
cheddi.

Habitat. — This tree I have seen growing in Southern India and in
H. H. the Nizam's dominions: common in the vicinity of Aurangabad*
Deccan. Having an excellent fibre, I am surprised that it is not cared
for and utilized for rope-making in the Nizam's tenitory; but, if so, it
must be to a very limited extent ; the fibre could be more profitably used
also in manufacturing paper. The Japanese cultivate the plant extensively
for its odoriferous nature ; similarly Burmah, where the tree grows wild
and luxuriantly, could augment her revenue by utilizing it too. The tree
is largely resorted to by the Ophidia family.

Fodder.— J. C. Loudon, F.L.S.,, H.S., &c. (1829), says:— "The branches
being of a soft, spongy, juicy nature, cattle will eat them very well when
cut into small pieces." I know that the taste is unpleasant, and from the
fact of the leaves decaying on the tree — especially in the younger plants,
■which are within the reach of all cattle — this assertion seems rather doubt-
ful.

Altogether the P. odoratissimus is a most interesting and valuable pre-
duct of the vegetable kingdom ; and it is to be regretted that a tree so very
useful for economic purposes — from the root to the flower — is not cultivated
and brought into use more largely.

F. R.

FREAK IN A ZINNIA PAUCIFLORA OBSERVED AND

EXHIBITED

By Mr. Frank Rose, P.W.D.

[N. 0. COMPOSITE (ASTEEACE^E).-]

{Syngenesia — Linn. Sub-Order Tubulifloiue.)

It was Mrs. Caroline A White who truly said that "the researches of
modern botanists have done much to simplify and popularize a knowledge
of the vegetable kingdom ; but there are still sufficient mysteries in the
organization, sensation, and self-motive power of plants to afford a wide
field for inquiry and experiment ; and the more we direct attention to
these charming wonders, the more good we shall be doing to our readers,
ourselves, and science."

dpi i>2'vs of the above, I may as well here state — en parenthesis — that certain
habits of the animal and vegetable kingdoms are analogous, of which I hope

BOTANICAL NOTES. 229

to give some interesting facts in due course. The ancientB believed that
plants and trees have instinct and vegetable souls, and looked upon them as
animals ! However, be tbat as it may, there is no doubt that the floral
world has its lusus naturae like aDimals, as will be perceptible in the specimen
of the green flower of the Zinnia panciflora herewith forwarded, obtained
from my bungalow compound from among many hundred plants growing
wild, whose corollas are of different delightful hues.

The plant from which this individual is obtained is fac simile to the others,
except in the flower, and that its growth is stunted. The uncommon colour —
green — I venture to say, is doubtless attributable to some chemical change
which has taken place in the internal arrangement of this only plant from
among a number of others. Science teaches us that the leaves of trees and
grass, being inclined to be more dark than white, have a greater tendency to
absorb than to rtflect the solar rays. For instance, the grass and leaves are
green, but they absorb all but the green rays. In Professor Henfrey's
Botany, 2nd Edition, revised by Dr. Masters, we are told that "the
various tints of colour are produced either by the interposition of colourless
cells between those containing coloured juices, or by the superposition of
cells with different colouring matter one over the other. Then how comes
this one plant to be affected more than all the others which are contiguouss
to it?

Tne most striking feature in this phenomenon I wish to bring to notice
is the abnormal evolution of the corolla having leafy shoots or miniature
plants 2 inches high, from whence another flower-bud is shooting — an
unheard of freak, I think, in this genus ! The Honorary Secretary of this
section will, I am sure, be glad to explain to us the cause of this meta-
morphosis, which will be a very interesting lesson to florists who are not
versed in terafology.

There are other green flowers on the same plant, but at present without
any hafy shoots besides the extracdinary one now sent.

F. E.

NOTE ON THE ABOVE,
By Surgeon K, R. Kirtikar.

Me. Rose's specimen of Zinnia pauciflora is an instance of prolification
or proliferation, which means the production of one organ by another of
a different kind, as that of cup-like appendages by leaves and of branches
by flowers or even fruits. For an illustiation of this sort of monstrous
development, the reader is referred to figures 650 and 774 in Bentley's
Botany at pages 286 and 344 respectively (4th Ed.). In the former is
an instance of a flower of the Rose showing the axis prolonged beyond the
flower and bearing true leaves ; in the latter a monstrous Pear has its axis
prolonged bejond the fruit and similarly bearing true leaves. In the
5th Edition of Lindley's Elements of Botany at p. 62, there is an illustra-
tion of the flowers of Epacris imprma changing into branches.

230 NATURAL HISTORY.

This metamorphosis is technically called descending or retrograde where
the floral parts, i e., petals or stamens or carpels become degenerated and
are transformed into a leaf. This can be easily explained from the homo-
logous nature of the different parts of a flower to the leaf. A flower in its
widest sense is a multiple arrangement of modified or altered leaves.
"Linnaeus f aught it, and Goethe proved it," says Lindley. He mentions an
instance from the Gardener's Chronicle, in which a Rose is said to have its
calyx tube absorbed, at least not manifest ; the sepals half converted into
leaves; the petals more than ba'f changed into sepals ; the stamens fallen
off, apparently little changed; the exterior carpels partly in their customary
state ; those nearer the centre converted into small leaves ; but the remainder
upon the axis or centre, which bad lengthened into a branch, carried up in
every conceivable state of transition, until the last or uppermost carpel
assumed the customary appearance of the leaves of the stem. A beautiful
illustration is also given by Lindley at p. 63 of his "Elements" above
referred to.

The most highly modified leaves of the flower, says Sachs, " are the stamens
and carpels." By a freak of nature they may not develop into stamens or
carpels, or the stamens and carpels may degenerate into leaves at any time.
But though such instances are numerous, they constitute merely a pheno-
menal tiansition of an exceptioral kind, not necessary for the completion
of the life-history of a plant. The floral axis as a general rule ceases to grow
at the apex as soon as the sexual organs make their appearance, or even
earlier. But in singular or abnormal rases like the one exhibited by
Mr. Rose, and normally in Gycas, says Sachs, " the apical growth of the floral
axis ! ecommences, again produces leaves, and sometimes even a new
flower."

K. R. R.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY DURING
THE QUARTER.

The usual monthly meeting of this Society took place on Monday
the 5th of July, and was largely attended. Dr. D. MacDonald presided.

The following new members were elected : — Mr. E. C. K. 011;vant,
Mr. J. A Betbam, Dr. 0. H. Channer, Mr. Frank Rose, Mr. F. Chambers,
Mr. H. Bromley, Mr. W. J. Holland, Mr. T. B. Fry, Mr. J. H. Steel,
Colonel F. W. Major, Mr. Chester Macnaghten, Mr. H. E. An^rewes,
Mr. J. Maguire, Mr. G. A. Anderson, Rev. J. E. Abbott, Mr. Cowasji
M. Dadabhoy, and Dr. Temuljee B. Nariman. Mr. L. de Niceville, of the
Calcutta Museum, was elected an honorary corresponding member of the
Society.

PROCEEDINGS OE THE SOCIETY DURING THE QUARTER.

231

Mr. H. M. Phipson, the Honorary Secretary, acknowledged the following
contributions to the Society's collections since the last meeting : —

Contribution.

Description.

Contributor.

1 Kestrel (alive)

1 Sea-make

1 do.

A quantity of Corals ...

3 Eggs

A quantity of Birds'
Skins and Geological
specimens.
3 Snakes

A quantity of Fossils...
A Cn w's Nest

1 Snake's Skin (15' 5")..
3 Floricans' Skins

Skin of Pine- marten...
3 Ibex's Skins

2 Snakes

1 Snake (4U*)

1 Elephant's Tooth

6 Crocodiles' Eggs (since

hatched).

2 Snakes

Skin of Albino Mongoose
2 Young Crocodiles

1 do.

2 Snakes (alive)

1 White-tailed Porcupine

(alive).

1 Snake

1 Camel's Skull

1 Saw-fish's Snout

1 Sea-snake

A quantity of Fish and
Crustaceans.

1 Snake

Do

K itel(or Honey-badger).

1 Snake

1 Musang

1 B toby (alive)

A quantity of Lizards...

1 iSnake

A quantity of Ctbia's
Eggs.

Bead of 4-horned Ante-
lope

A Land Tortoise

A Rat

2 Snakes

Pari of a Porpoise's Skull
La'ge Snout of Saw-iish

1 Python (alive)

From Khandalla

Hydrophis curta

Pelamis bicolor

From Arabian C^ast .
Alcippe poiocephala .
From Bhooj

Zamenis diadema and
Echis carinata.
From Beluchistan

Made of bottling-wire

Ophiophagus elaps

Mr. Wm, Shipp.
Capt. W. P. Kennedy.

Do.
Mr. E. H. Aitken.

Do.
Mr. A. Newrham.

Do.

Dr. H. Yeld.

Mr. W. M. Macdonald.

Dr. Bccarro.

Mr. D. Bennett.

Martes abietuin jCapt. Olivier.

Capra sihirica I Do.

From Mahableshwar [Mr. J. C. Anderson.
Cynophis malabaricus ...|Miss Dewar.
Found at KhandallaMr. G. W. Terry.

From Tulsi Lake

5 D''P

(Tro

psas gokool.
p. stolatus.
From Baroda.
From Tulsi Lake

HyBtrix leucura

,, Kienzi Walton, C.E.

Lieut. Barnes.

Mr. H. Littledale.

Nowrojee H. Katrak.
C A Stuart.
K. D. Naegamvala.
A. S. Ritchie.

Trimeresurus anamallensis

From Sind
Pristis antiquorum .......

Hydrophis Guntherii ....

From Alibag

Gongylophis conicus

Onycliocepbalus acutus ..
Mellivora itniica

Sil> buia bicatena.ta

Paradoxurus musanga

From the Punjab

Zamenis diadema

From Bijapur

From Afglianistan

„ G. A. Barnett, CLE.

„ E. M. Walton.

Do.
Capt. Feuton.
Mr. W. F. Sinclair, C.S.

Do.
Do.
Mr. R. A. R;ddell.
„ G. Vidal, C.S.
„ W. F. Hamilton.
„ W. F. Sinclnir, C.S.
Msjor Yerbury, R.E.

Do.
Mr. E. Reiuhold, C.E.

„ J. D. Inverarity
Major W. J. M< rse.

Probably a new species ...Father Dreckman.

fcilybura Elliotii

From Alibag.

Python molurus

H. B. And i ewes.
W. F. Sinclair, C S.
Eduljee A. Hormasjee.
H. M. Phipson.

232

NATURAL HISTORY.

Minor Contributions.

From Dr. T. S. Weir, Mr. C. B. Lynch, Mr. H. Curjel, Mr. M. C. Turner,
Dr. Dalgado, Mr. F. Jefferson, Mr. E. C. K. Ollivant, Miss Johnston?
Mr. F. C. Webb, Mr. A. F. Beaufort, and Mrs. Wright.

Contributions to the Library.
Transactions of the Linngean Society of New York, Vols. I. and II.
Becords of the Geological Survey of India, Vol. XIX., Nos 1 and 2.
Journal of the Simla Natural History Society, Vol. I„ Part 1.
Paper read before the Simla Natural History Society by Colonel H. Collett-

A vote of thanks was then passed to the ladies and gentlemen who had so
kindly responded to the request of the Committee and had sent in birds in
cages for exhibition at the meeting. The collection consisted of 122 specimens.

Father Dreckman exhibited two full-sized living specimens of the Green
Pit-viper (Trimeresurus anamallensis) found at Khandalla, which differed in
a very curious way as regards markings and colour.

Mr. Kich also exhibited some beautiful cases of stuffed birds from Australia
and New Guinea.

The usual monthly meeting of this Society was held en Monday 2nd August,
Dr. D. MacDonald presided. The following new members were elected : — The
Hon'ble F. Forbes Adam, Captain W. P. Kennedy, Mr. S. S. Bengallee,
Mrs. Yorke Smith, Mr. F. deBovis, Dr. A. W. F. Street, Mr. P. C. Petit,
Rev. H. Juergens, S.J., Mr. F. J. Daley, Mr. E. G. Colvin, C.S.. Mrs. A. F. Turner,
Khan Bahadur R. J. Ashburner, Mr. Dady M. Limjee, and Mr. Framjee D. Petit.

Mr. H. M. Phipson, the Honorary Secretary, then acknowledged the following
contributions to the Society's collection during the past month : — ■

Contribution.

Description.

Contributor.

1 Crowned-crane.

1 Chamelion

1 Snake

A quantity of Tree-crabs

Lizard (alive)

Cobras :

Panther

Wild Ass (Cutch)

Snakes ,

of Crusta-

2 Lizards

A quantity
ceans.

70 Birds

23 Snakes

42 Lizards

A quantity of Bactra-

chians.
A Foetus of the Mouse-
den-.
A quantity of Insects.

Ardea pavorina

Chamasleo vulgaris

Tropidouotus quincuncia-
tus.
From Mahablephwar

Varanus draccena

Nae-a tripudians

Felis pantos

Equus onaser

Cerberus rhynchops

Gerarda bicolor (?)

Onychecephalus acutus ...

Varanus dracoena

From Alibag

From Ceydon
Do.

Do.
Do.

Do.

Do.

Victoria Girden?.
Mr. H.Barrett.
Miss Dewar.

Do.
Mr. W. Killer.
,, H. Littledale.
Victoria Gardens.
Col. Nutt.
Mr. W. F. Sinclair, C. S.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Mr. A. New n ham.
Do.
Do.
Do.

Do.

Do.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY DURING THE QUARTER. 233

Contribution.

Description.

Contributor.

Aquantity of Corals,
Shell-fish, and
Radiata.

A Goat

A quantity of Sea-shells.

1 Snake

1 floopoo

Specimen of Arraq and

A ttar.
Specimens of Jasper
Pudding-stone.

1 Hog deer .,,,

A quantity of Geological
specimens.

3 Japanese Fish (alive)....

From Ceylon.

From Africa
From Aden

Dipsas gokool

(Mounted in England)....
Made from the Pandanus

odoratissimus.
From Banda

Axis porcinus

From the volcano on
Barren Island, Bay of
Bengal

Mr. A. Newnham.

Victoria Oardens.
Mr. J. D. Katelee.
Col. Walcott.
Capt. Miller.
Mr. Frank Hose.

Do.

victoria Gardens.

Mr. F. J. Daley.
Revd. Fr. Dreckman.

Minor Contributions.
From Mr. A. F. Turner, Mr. R. MacEwen, Mr. John Fleming, Mr. S. Hcdgart,
Miss Whitcombe, Mr. A. H. Follet, Mr. J. A. Guider, and Mr. John Dawson.

Contributions to the Library.

Paper on the Birds of Aden, by Major J. W. Yerbury, R. A»

The Utilization of Minute Life, by Dr. T. L. Phipson.

A Manual on the Diseases of the Elephant, by Mr. J. H. Steel.

Exhibits.

A Japanese Dwarf -tree, by Colonel "Walcott, and another by the Hon.
Mr. Justice Birdwood ; 1 Orchid (in flower) (Phaleonopsis rosea), by Mr. M.
C. Tamer ; a 4-horned Ram (from Arabia), by Mr. C. E. Kane ; 1 double
Cocoanut (from Seychelles Islands), by Mr. A. S. Panday.

The Fungi of Bombay.

Surgeon K. R. Kirtikar exhibited a few fresh fungi collected in and round
Bombay. The spores of the Bhopud or Lycoperdon or Puff-ball and Hydnum
aureatum were exhibited under the microscope, showing the extreme minuteness
of the spores of the latter as compared with the spores of the former.
Dr. Kirtikar observed that fungi form a very interesting form of plant-life, and,
though spoken of somewhat contemptuously as consisting of mushrooms and
toadstools, supply the student of Nature with an infatuating subject for
observation and amusement. It was a subject, he said, by no means easy of
Btudy in this country, especially as previous Indian botanists had paid no
special attention to the Cryptogams. Whatever the difficulties, fungi and the
other cryptogams, or flowerless plants, afford an interesting field, and would
amply repay any trouble that is taken in investigating this unexplored field
of some of the most interesting objects in nature. Places around Bombay at
this time of the year, when there is so much heat and moisture in the air and
in the ground, supply abundant materials for a thorough investigation of this
hitherto neglected department of botany. They are not mere toadstools all

254 NATURAL HISTORY,

these fungi, he said, though he showed a tiny toad which he had found sitting
on one of the Agarici exhibited. The toads, he eaid, found not only a stool
to Bit on, but also a table where they could find their food, as there were-
numerous earth-worms crawling on the adjacent Polypori. The fungus known
to the natives of the country as Phanasamba was a polyporus, and used as
a medicinal agent. The Puffball, known as Bhodiphod or Bhopud (t. e., "Cleaver
of the soil"), and scientifically known as a variety of Lycoperdon, was, he said,
considered a delicacy when propeily seasoned and cooked fresh from the field*
It appeared on the first fall of the rains in the monsoons. The true mushroom
which is sold in the English markets as Agaricus campeatris, is also found
in this country abundantly, but it is yet too early to find the same just now^
It must however be admitted tbafc several pounds of much nutritious food
are thrown away as useless on account of want of proper knowledge of the
various classes of edible and poisonous fungi. It is not everybody that can
relish the musty smell of the varied members of the Fungal tribe, nor is it that
the delicacies will always agree with the inner man. But there is hardly any
doubt that every student of Nature will find immense delight in scanning the
minute threads and spores, and the mycelium or spawn that go to build up the
delicate- structure of the*e cellular plants. It is not from the gastronomic point
©f view that he discoursed, he said, on the fungi, nor was it that he wanted to tell
whether this or that mushroom was edible or poisonous, and whether it would
do credit to a generous and hospitable host to place before his guest at dinner
Indian mushroom toast or stewed or curried toadstools a Id Indienne t Nor did
he pretend, he said, to initate an energetic mercantile firm into the mysteries of
fungus-trade, and encourage a body of speculators to bottle up a few edible
varieties and Bend them to Crosse aud Blackwell to try their fate in an English
market. All he urged on that evening on behalf of those interesting objects
In nature which lie unnoticed was that they had an everlasting interest to
the student of Science, aud if by such occasional display of fungi the Natural
History Society of Bombay encouraged the study of an unexplored field, the
Society will have accomplished one of its principal objects. To the student of
Medicine the fungi have a special interest, now that fresh accessions are being
daily made to our already vast knowledge of bacilli. A thorough acquaintance
with their life, history, and their surroundings, and an acquaintance with their
habits and functions, are essential before we determine whether they are the
cause of disease, concomitants of it, or the mere harmless results of it as any
other objects in nature. Fungi of the minutest kind have been known to exist
on other larger fungi, apparently not affecting their host with disease or causing
its death. Why should not bacilli exist in man without causing disease ? All
this has to be known. It was not his intention however, he said, to enter on
a medical disquisition, but that he touched the subject incidentally. He then
showed from amongst the specimens of fungi some of the typical Agarics,
several polypoid beautifully tinted, a beautiful golden yellow-spiked Hydnum,
the gelatinous ear-like Auricularia, soma needle-like Claviarei, thus illustiating
one of the important divisions of fungi known as the Hymenomycetes, so called
from their possessing tha hymenium or fruit-bearing, or rather spore-bearing,
surface exposed to the air.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY DURING THE QUARTER. 235

Memory and Reason in Animals.

Mr. Sterndale then read a paper on "Memory and Reason in Wild Animals."
He said that the beginnings of instinct, or he would rather call it reason, began
very low down in the scale of animal life, as low down as the Rhizopoda, and
he traced it gradually upwards through the Mollusca and Insecta to birds, and
from thsm to the larger animals. He gave some interesting cases of instinct,
which he was careful to separate from reason, in monkeys, which rejected certain
deadly poisons hurtful to them, and readily took other poisons equally deadly to
man and other creatures but which had no effect on them. He then gave
cases of reasoning in monkeys and other mammals, and passed on to examples
of memory, illustrating his cases by tigers, elephants, horses, &c„ He pointed
out that in desert islands, untrodden by human foot, there was no instinctive
dread of man shown by wild animals. One curious genus of Marine mammalia,
Steller's Rhytina, has been exterminated by sailors owing to this over-confidence ;
but the advent of man is followed by the loss of this trusting nature, and this is
the outcome of reasoning faculties. The wild birds soon see that to confide is to be
knocked on the head. Birds, he said, exceeded mammals, with the exception of
monkeys, in imitative power. Parrots are made to tali?, other birds to whistle.
There is no such mimicry amongst mammals, with perhaps the exception of the
dog, the bark of which is said to be the unconscious mimicry of the gruffness
of the human voice. Wild dogs and wolves cannot bark but only howl.
Domestic dogs which run wild lose in a few generations the power of barking
and revert to the howl, as in the case of those on the island of Juan Fernandez ;
on the other hand, wolf cubs brought up with domesticated dogs learn to bark.
He concluded by saying : — " I must however not tax your patience any longer.
Did time permit of it, I could give many curious instances of the sagacity of
wild animals, their skill in avoiding traps, and their own cunning in circumvent-
ing others. The most marvellous creature is the North American wolverine or
glutton, regarding which much has been written by Dr. Elliot Coues. I think
he heads the list for intelligent rascality, and I recommend such of our members
as are interested to turn up the abridged account of it in the second volume of
Cassell's Natural History, and they will be amply repaid for five minutes reading.
We have nothing like this thoroughpaced villain amongst our comparatively
well-behaved denizens of the jungles. I will wind up with a short certificate to
his bad character from Dr. Coues : — ' The desire for accumulating property
seems so deeply implanted in this animal that, like tame ravens, it does not
appear to care much what it steals, so that it can exercise its favourite propen-
sity to commit mischief. An instance occurred within my own knowledge, in
whl.'h a hunter and his family, having left their lodge unguarded during their
absence, on their return round it completely gutted — the walls were there, but
nothing else. Blankets, guns, kettles, axes, cans, knives, and all the other para-
phernalia of a trapper's tent, had vanished, and the tracks left by the beast
showed who had beeu the thief. The family set to work, and by carefully
following up all his paths, recovered, with some trifling exceptions, the whole of
the lost property.' It is well I nay pay for our Indian police that we have not
wolverines amoug our criminal classes in this country."

The proceedings soon afterwards came to a close.

236

NATURAL HISTORY.

The monthly meeting of this Society was held on Monday, the 6th September
1886. Dr. D. MacDonald presiding.

The following new members were elected :-— Mrs. John Hay Grant, Captain
H. G. E. Swayne, R. E., Mr. K. D. Ghandy, and Mr. S. K. Kambata.

Mr. H. M. Phipson, the Honorary Secretary, then acknowledged the following
contributions to the Society's collections during the past month : —

Contribution.

Contributor.

A quantity of Butterflies
6 Species of Corals

1 Crocodile's Skull

Eggs of Monitor

A quantity of Coralines.
1 Snake

the

A quantity of Bats

14 Snakes

Nest and Eggs of

White-eyed Tit.

A quantity of Sponges,

Coralines, Crustaceans,

Sea-snakes, Fish, and

other Marine Animals

1 Tree-cat ,

1 Crested Hawk-eagle ...

1 Snake

22 Birds' Eggs

1 Markhor's Head

1 Oorial's Head

1 Jungle-cat's Skin

7 Rats ,

18 Lizards

3 Snakes (alive) ,

6 Rats

A quantity of Insects..
A quantityofCrustaceans

1 Lizard

1 Snake

A quantity of Fish and
Marine specimen?.

1 Dolphin's Skull

A quantity of Turtles'

Eggs.
A quantity of Sea-shells
1 Porpoise, with 2 young

ones.
1 Sea-turtle (alive)

From the Punjab
From the M e r g u i
Archipelago
Crocodilus palustris ....
Varanus microlepis

Tropidonotus quincuncia-
tus.

From Oorun
From Saugor, C. P.
From Poona

From the Persian Gulf

Paradoxurus musangi ,

Spilornis cheela

Lycodon aulicus

From Ahmedabad

Capra megaceros

Ovis cycloceros

Felis chaus

From Surat

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do,
Eublepharis Hardwickii..
Tropidonotus punctulatue
From Alibag

Major J, W. Yerbury,R,A.
Mr. F. J. Daley.

Do.
Do.
Do.
Mr. F. R. A. Montgomery.

»

E. H Aitken.

H. E. Bunes.
,, R. C. Wrooghton,

A beautifully s t u f£ e d
specimen of the Duck-
billed Platypus.
1 Stripe-necked Mongoose

Delphinus plumbeus
From Alibag

Do.
Neomeris kurrachiensis ..

Covered with Acorn Bar-
nacles.

From Tasmania

Herpestes vitticollis

Capt. E. Bishop.

Mr. J. A. Simpson.
„ H. Littledale.
Col. Portraan.
Capt. F. B. Peile.

Do.

Do.

Do.
Mr. F. Gleadow.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Do.

Mr. W. Willard.
„ W. F. Sinclair, 0. B.

Do.

Do.
Do.

Do.
Do.

Do.

Mr. E. M. Walton.

N. S. Symons.

Minob Contributions.
From Mr. C. W. L. Jackson, Captain Becher, Mr. Thomas Lidbetter,
Mr. Mitarachi,Mrs. Owen Dunn, Mr. Forrest, Mr. N. V. Mandlik, Major Morse,
Mr. H.Bromley, Mr. C. P. Lynch, Mr. H. Wise, and Mr. Krishoarao V- Ranjit.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY LURING THE QUARTER. 237

Contributions to the Library.

Records of the Geological Survey of India, Yol. XIX., Part 3.

Insects of India (E. Donovan), by Mr. W. Shipp.

Foreign Butterflies, by Mr. W. Shipp.

Foreign Moths, by Mr. W. Shipp.

Reptiles of Sind (J. Murray), by the Author.

Transactions of the N. S. WaleB Lirnaean Society, Vol. I , Part 1.

Magazine of Natural History, Vol. XV1IL, Nos. 103 and 104, from

Mr. W. H. Littledale.
Mr. E. L. Barton exhibited one tiger's head and two panthers' heads, mounted
by himself.
The following papers were then read :— •

A Matheran Seed-traveller, by Dr. D. MacDonald.

Links in the Mammalian Chain, by Mr. R. A. Sterndale.

Pollen Grains, by Dr. Kirtikar.

a Matheran Seed-traveller.

Dr. MacDunald said : — " Members of the Natural History Society who have
visited Matheran in the hot-weather may have noticed seeds with a beautiful
crown of spreading hairs — termed pappus or coma by botanists — carried by the
wind, sometimes along the ground, sometimes high in the air. On account of
their buoyancy, these wind- wafted seeds are often carried to considerable
distances from the parent plant. Several kinds of plants on summit or sides
of Matheran Hill produce comose seeds, but perhaps the seeds of which I now
phow some specimens are the most beautiful. When I first saw these seeds in
May of this year, I could not determine their botanical origin, even approxi-
mately ; but when the then Superintendent of Matheran, Dr. MacDougall,
kindly ' tained for me some of the leaves of the plant, as well as a few of the
maturing fruits, I was able to refer the plant to one of two very closely allied
Natural Orders or Families — the Apocynacecs, or Dogbane Order, to which
plant so familiar in Bombay as the Allamanda, the Tabernamontana, Vinca
rosea, Nerium oleander, Beaumontea grandiflora, and others belong ; or the
Aselepiadacece or Milkweed Order, of which the Asclepias curassavica, the
Stephanotis, and the Hoya carnosa or Wax-plant are well known in Bombay.
These two Orders are very closely allied, and were at one time grouped together
under the name Apocynaceaa. The two are now separated, the distinguishing
characters of the Asclepiadacese being — (1) the stigma, which has five rounded
angles provided with either cartilaginous corpuscles, or a gland which retains
the pollen masses, the stalk or caudicle of the pollen masses being attached
in this vray to the stigma, and (2) the peculiar pollinia or pollen masses which
are developed by the stamens, instead of the ordinary p» lien grains produced by
the stamens in the order Apocynaceaa. In the Asclepiads, when the pollen
masses adhere to the stigma, the poll?n cells simply push the pollen tubes into
the lateral and inferior stigmatic surfaces, and thus self-fertilization is effected."

Dr. MacDonald then contrasted the pollen masses found in the Natural Order,
Aselepiadacece with those in the Order Orchidacece, or Orchid Family, in which
the pollen masses possess a viscid gland at the base of the stalk or caudicle.

238 NATURAL HISTORY.

This however was not intended as a means of retaining the pollen masses in
the flower in which it was produced, but rather as a means of beiDg carried
away to other flowers, as it adhered readily to anything with which it came in
contact. As insects were frequent visitors, especially bees and moths, they
were often the agents in effecting the cross-fertilization which is the rule in this
Order. Pollen masses from the two Orders were shown under microscopes'
Returning again to the comose seed, Dr. MacDonald stated that he had identified
the plant as the Anodendron pmiculatum of Dalzell and Gibson's Bombay Flora,
or the Gymnema nipalense of Hooker's Flora of British India, the native name
being Lamtani,

The identification of this plant illustrated the great value of the natural
system of classification as compared with the artificial or LiDnsean system. The
small twig, with its milky juice, the leaves, and the fruit containing the comose
seeds, supplied data sufficient to make it certain that the plant belonged to one
of two Orders ; and this without the flower, without which any one working on
the Linnsean system could not take a single step, as the whole system was
based on the parts of the flower.

Dr. MacDonald then pointed out that the stalk of the fruit turned back on
itself so as to make the face or side on which it opens turn downwards. As
the fruit matures the seeds become loose in the fruit, and when it splits open, as
the seeds fall out the wind expands the crown of hairs, and they are thus launch-
ed on their voyage of life. The comose crowns, acting as parachutes to
prevent the seeds falling at once to the ground, after a time very readily sepa-
rate, leaving the seeds to germinate where they fall when the rains come.

Before concluding, Dr. MacDonald recommended members who might be
interested in the wonderful examples of adaptations of means to an end which
occur so frequently in plants to read such books as Sir John Lubbock's recent
volume — one of the Nature Series - entitled Flowers, Fruits, and Leaves. Although
dealing almost exclusively with English plants, auy one reading such a book might
learn to regard the plants they saw, even in their own compounds, with more
interest than hitherto.

Links in the Mammalian Chain.

Mr. Sterndale then read a paper on some links in the Mammalian Chain
illustrated by drawings. He said : — " It is common enough to talk of the Animal
kingdom as one great chain — and so it is — link is hooked on to link till we
find that we are at last the ten billionth cousin of the cabbage we are eating,
and so our consciences accuse us of practising homoeopathic cannibalism ! You
may think this is exaggeration; but look at the Campanularia, of which I give
here a magnified sketch ; it looks like a plant, it has buds and flowers, and is
propagated, we may say, by cutting*, but it is an animal — a Zoophyte — yet how
little removed is it in its life from the Drosera rotundifolia, the Sun-dew, and
other carnivorous plants, which, with surprising life-like attributes, not only
catch flies and other insects, but hold them till partly digested.

" These are links which carry us on to our cousin the cabbage, but I do not
-ntend to trace out the pedigree so far. Our time would not permit of such
extensive research, so I propose only to give a few of the most curious links in
the chain as far as the mammals go. The missing link of course we have not

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY DURING THE QUARTER. 239

found yet, nor shall we ever find it, for the impassable gulf of intellect
separates the brute from man, and no moDkey that ever was created will bridge
over the gap ; but the bairier of intellect does not operate between ordinary
mammals. There have been from time to time abnormal creatures brought for-
ward as mis8irjg links, but they have always been human beings with only some
monkey-like resemblances.

" Of all those I have 6een, the best was a little girl, exhibited about three years
ago in Loi don, called Krao, or the Missing Link. She was without doubt an
ordinary child, very hairy, of the fame type as the Burmese family lately-
exhibited here ; in fact, she came En m the same part of the world, not from
Burma, but from the adjacent kingdom of Siam. The points dwelt upon were
her hairiness, flexibility of her jf ints : she could lay ber fingers back till they
touched her fore-arm ; a habit she had of stuffing [things into her cheek pouches ;
and last but not least the way in which the hair on her fore-arms turned
upwards as in the monkeys and not downwards as in men. I looked well at the-
child, who seemed about six or seven years of age, nd found that she was an
ordinary human being, a little more hairy than usual : the flexibility of her
hands was merely a matter of training, as also was the habit she had of stuffing
her cheeks with grapes, &c. The direction of the hair on her arms was curious,
but not in itself sufficient to establish her claim as a link ; so we start from the
monkeys. The link between these and the insectivorous animals lies in the
Lemurs, which retaining the four hands and some of the anatomical peculiari-
ties of the monkeys, in form and face approximate the carnivorous animals.
I have here a living specimen of the mungoose lemur.

" Then from these we go on to the bats. I am not sure that we are anatomically
correct in this link, but no other position could be assigned to the flying lemur
or Galeopithicus.

"The Galeopitliicw volans, of which I have here a rough sketch, is eithei
a link between the lemurs and the bats or the bats and the insectivora. Natu-
ralists differ on this point. From certain structural peculiarities, I incline to
place them before the bats, especially as they are vegetivorous, and therefore
should lead on from the lemurs to the frugivorous bats, and not be placed
between the ins< ct-eating bats and the insectivora. The animal itself i'b some-
what like a lemur, but between its limbs it has a membrane exactly like that of
the flying squirrel, which I here show you, only that it has this membrane
continued round between the hind legs and including the tail as have seme
genera of bats ; and it is supposed from observations made of its flight that this
arrangement enables it to steer itself in its course from tree to tree. In the
numerous families of the Order Insectivora there are many curious links, but
I have not time to-night to go into them. Anatomically, we must carry on the
Insectivora into Carnivora, but talking merely external resemblances, we find
much more affinity with the Rodents. Mice and rats are reproduced in shrews :
the squirrels are externally like the tupaia. The porcupines have their counter-
parts in the hedgehegs, and the jerboas in the jumping shrews. A curious
instance of similarity is to be found in the squirrels and tupaia. This latter
animal is a tree-shrew with a long bushy tail, and when it was first discovered
it was considered to be a squirrel till dissection proved it to be an insectivore.

240 NATURAL HISTORY.

There was subsequently found in the Malayan Peninsula, and I have seen one
specimen from Burma, a long-nosed squirrel (Rhinosciurus tujjaoides), which
closely resembles the tupaia.

' However, I will bring home to you a still more familiar example in the case
of the so-called musk-rat — that most maligned and persecuted little creature
which I always encourage in my house, whilst other people destroy it wherever
it is found. This miscalled rat is a true shrew, utterly incapatle of gnawing
a hole through a door or box, aod therefore much mischief done by true rats is
wrorjgfolly laid to its charge ; it comes into your houses for an object which,
should gain it thanks and protection, and not the violent death it usually meets ;
it comes to destroy cockroaches, centipedes, scorpions, and other creeping hor-
lors, and its only offensiveness lies in its powerful odour, which however it
Only emits when frightened or hurt. I have let one run quietly five times over
a clean pocket handkerchief without any smell being perceptible afterwards'
and the old story of its tainting bottles of beer and wine by simply running
over them is a myth. In the old days, when beer and wine were bottled largely
in this country, muskratty liquor was common. The bottles were not pi )perly
cleaned ; but how seldom do you now hear of the complaint ; it is one of the old
Anglo-Indian stories on a pir with the cobra in each boot and a scorpion in
every keyhole, to say nothing of tigers sitting and licking their lirs in the back
veraudah waiting for the baby ! I have had tame musk-rats and found them
them smell less than other pecs, certainly not so bad as hedgehogs. At Nagpore
a wild one would come out at my call and take grasshoppers from my fingers.

" The most interesting links in the carnivora are those between the cat and
dog. The best known is that of the oheeta, of which I have got here a rough
sketch ; but he is a true cat, his dentition and internal anatomy &.re strictly
feline, though his claws are not retractile and his form is somewhat dog-like >
with long legs and thin body, so he can hardly be called a liuk. We must go
from the cats to the civets and then on from the civets to dogs. There is
a curious animal in Madagascar called Cryptoprocta ferox, which is a perfect link
between the cats and the civets. It is semi-plantigrade, keeping a large
portion of the sole of the foot to the ground, and not walking on the tips
of its toes bke the cats, yet it possesses retractile claws. Tne skull partakes
of the characteristics of both families, and the teeth differ only from the
cats in having one more premolar. It is a very savage little creature, muscu-
lar and active, and so was appropriately termed ferox. The civets are con-
nected with the hjasna by the aard-wolf, a Sjuth African animal about the
size of a jackall, and in general appearance like a young striped h}8ena. It
is called aard or earth wolf from its habit of burrowing in the ground. The
hyeenas again are linked on to the dogs by the Lycaon or Cape hunting-dog,
or hyrona-dog. Here is a rough sketch of one which shews the likeness to
both families: the skull is dog-like, but the animal has only four toes on eaoh
forefoot instead of five.

""We come now to the Bear family, and we must go back te the cats for a link.
No two animals could be more dissimilar than the cat and the bear. Not
only are there internal anatomical differences but exernally they are unlike
the one is light and springy in action, the other heavy and shuffling. The

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY DURING THE QUARTER. 241

tiger, which is the type of all cats, has bat a few sharp cutting teeth which
work on each other like a pair of scissors. The bear has more molars, and
these with flat crowns, which enable him to grind his food instead of
chopping it. The tiger steps lightly on the tips of his toes, with his heel
well raised. The bear puts the sole of his foot down flat on the ground.
I show you here skeletons of the two animals which will explain what I mean.
Now to link the bears with the cats comes a little animal which I have
seen in Darjeeling called the wah or panda (Ailurus fulgens), the red bear-cat.
It is bat like in appearace and has semi-retractile claws, but anatomically it
is a bear, A larger animal has been found in Eastern Tibet by the Abbe
David, and has been called the Ailuropus, Only one of these curious creatures
has been discovered, and it is still more a link between cat and bear than the
other. The Ailuropus melanoleucos is about four to five feet in length. The
specimen secured measured 4' 10." It is bear-like, as you will see from the
rough sketch ; but it is only semi-plantigrade, and its skull exhibits both feline
and ursine characteristics; its dentition is feline as regards the premolars, but
the true molars are ursine.

"The skull has also a considerable elevation of the occipital crest, and the
zygomatic arches are enormous, more so than in any other carnivorous animal :
both these are decidedly feline, as you will observe on looking at these skulls of
tiger and bear.

" The racoons and the glutton link the bears on to the badgers and weasels,
and so on to the otters and sea-otters, and from the last We come to the marine
carnivora — the walruses and seals. The sea-otter, though not reckoned among
the marine carnipora, is quite as amphibious as a seal ; it is seldom seen on land,
though it keeps close in- shore. It has a curious way of floating on its back,
and can sleep in that position, and the females do so, holding their little ones
between their fore paws.

" From these animals we begin to link on towards the whales. The out-
ward form begins to be fish-like, though the skeleton internally pre-
serves its mammalian character in full ; but the hands and feet lose their
graspiDg powers, and being enclosed in fiDgerless gloves and stockings, as it
were, become mere paddles for swimming. Nothing can be more awkward
than a seal or walrus on dry land, yet how graceful in the water. The
transition from a seal to a whale or a porpoise is easy to be understood, and
here is an argument against the development theory, which is generally
understood to be a progression from a lower to a higher standard. If such
transitions take place at all, it would be reasonable to Buppose that the porpoise
evolved from the seal, for it is not in the fitness of things for a whale or
a porpoise to go flopping about on dry rocks till the friction produced legs,
whereas we all know that the permanent disuse of any member will lead to its
deterioration ; and therefore if we are to have an evolution theory at all, let
us suppose that seals took to remaining in the water so long that having no
use for legs they left them off. In the cetaceans the upper portion of the
skeleton retains the normal mammalian form, but the rest is merely a verte-
bral column ; hind legs disappear entirely, although the rudiments of small

24:2 NATURAL HISTORY.

pelvic bones are to be found embedded in the flesh, like the clavicles of the
tiger, useless save as a clue.

" Now I have taken up my foil share of your time, and have but half gone
through my subject. The links between the Eodents, Proboscidea, Ungulata,
and Ruminantia must remain over for some future occasion if the subject be
deemed of sufficient interest to call for more of it."

Pollen Grains.

Dr. Kirtikar exhibited under the microscope the pollen grains of the Rose
hibiscus, Canna indica, Calotropis gigans, Calophyllum inophyllum, Pandanus
odoratissimus, Amarjllis, Garuga pinnata, &c, and went on to explain what
pollen was. He said it was commonly a yellow powder, sometimes gritty, often
impalpable, and was the product of the male portion of the reproductive
organs of flowering plants or phanerogams called stamens. It formed an
essantial element in the process of fertilization or impregnation of the ovule.
The pcllen of the male organs or stamens and the ovule of the female
organs or pistil by themselves, i. e., alone and untouched or unaffected
by each other, were powerless in the propagation of the species to
which they belonged. The pollen had to come into contact, either directly or
indirectly, by being carried from stamens to stigma, from flower to flower, by
the busy bee and brilliantly coloured butterflies and moths, or by simple
currents of air, winds, and storms. Mr. Blockley's researches have shown that
hay fever was caused by the migration of pollen grains of grasses, lilies,
roses, and other plants. Professor Otto Thome, of Cologne, the lecturer said,
bad stated that in forests consisting of those trees which bore catkins, immense
clouds of pollen were seen floating in air, at the time of pollination, which
were sometimes carried to the earth by showers of rain and there formed the
so-called sulphur-rain. Special contrivances, Dr. Kirtikar said, existed in
water-plants for the utilization of pollen grains. Submerged plants always
threw their flower-stalks above the surface of water, as in Trapa sagitta
and water-lily. "Vallisneria spiralis however had a remarkable mode
of fecundation. The male flowers containing the pollen were seated
on very short pedicels at the base of the leaves, often several feet below
the surface of the water. The female flowers on the contrary had very long
pedicels, which at a particular time became greatly elongated and raised the
flower to the surface of the water. The male flowers next became detached
from their pedicels, rose to the surf ace, were floated among the female flowers,
and thus fertilized the ovule. After this had been accomplished — and this is
the most remarkable part of the whole process — the female flower coiled up
spirally and the fruit ripened beneath the water. The subject of cross-fertili-
zation which Darwin had so ably followed, the lecturer said, was a study by
itself vast and interesting, whereby crossing between different flowers of the
same plant, or between flowers on different plants of the same species, was
explained.

Pollen, he said, was discharged generally at the time of the opening of the
flower, i. e., from the time it completed its bud-state to the time it expanded.
The process of pollen-discharge however, he said, might and did continue
for some time after the flower had fully opened, but that this happened

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY DURING THE QUARTER. 243

simply as the remnant of a process which had long since been complete, so
far as fructification was concerned, tbat was to say, that pollen might go on
discharging even after the ovule had been acted upon and fecundated. As
a general rule, the period of the maturity of pollen and the suitability of the
ovule for fertilization were simultaneous. It was noteworthy tbat in the
Natural Orders Orchidacese and Asclepiadaceoa, direct fecundation could never
take place. In that part of the subject, Dr. Kirtikar said, Dr. Ma'Donald
had anticipated him, and already ably spoken on the subject. An insect mutt
intercede in these orders and transfer the pollinia from one orchid to
another.

The pi lien cells assumed a variety of forms. Thirty different forms were
pictured by Dr. Kirtikar on paper and handed round to the meeting. The
contents of the pollen grains, he said, were called fovilla, which consisted
of coarsely granular protoplasm containing essential oil and starch globules
suspended in finely atomized condition and varying in size from 1-4,000 to
1-30,000 of au inch. It was the essential oil, he said, that gave flowers their
value in the world of perfumery.

No. 1.1

JANUARY istiti,

Vol. I.

JOURNAL

OE THE

BOMBAY

UXt%

Edited by
E. H. ATTKEN and R. A, STERNDALE,

CONTENTS.

Page
1 to S

• ■ • * • *

Introduction

Catalogue of the Mammalia in the Collection of the Bombay Natural History

Sooiety. 3 to lU

Catalogue of Birds as yet in the Collection of the Bomba y Natural History Society. 10 to 17

... 17 to 16
... 19 to 2i>
... 20 to 21
... 21 to 23
... 23 to 24
25

Eggs received chiefly from Mr. Davidson

The Society's Library

Note on an Undescribed Hamalopsida, by the Rev, F; Dreckmann, S. J. ..
Note on a probable New Species of Ibex, by R. A, Sterndale, f.z.s ...

Note on Mygale Fasciata, by Captain T. R. M. Macpherson

Gn the Mimicry shown by Phyllornis Jerdoni, by Mr. E, H. Aitkcn

REPRINTED

BY

EDUCATION SOCIETY'S PRESS, BYCULLA, BOMBAY.

1887.

No. 2.]

APRIL 1886.

Vol. I.

JOURNAL

OF THE

BOMBAY

Edited by
E. H. AITKEN and R. A. STERNDALE.

CONTENTS.

Page.

Notes on "The Birds of Bombay," By H. Littledale 29 to 35

On a Hybrid, 0<vis Hodgsoni, cum <vignei, discovered and shot by Mons. H.

Dauvergne, By R. A. Sterndale, F.z.s., &c 35 to 37

Birds' Nesting in Rajputana, By Lieut. H. E. Barnes, D.A.C 38 to 62

On the uses of Pandanus or Screw Palm, taken from the Journals of the late
Handley Sterndale, with Prefatory Remarks, By his Brother R. A.
Sterndale, f.r.g.s., F.z.s. ... ... ...62 to 68

A Note on Pandanus Odoratissimus or Screw Palm, By Dr. Kirtikar, I.M.D. ... 68

Zoological Notes —

On variation in Colour in Ursus Labiatus, the Sloth Bear,&c, By R.A. Sterndale. 69

On the Flying Squirrel of Western India 7°

On a Species of Pigmy Shrew 70

On the frequency of Albinoism in Cutch, By Mr. A. T. H. Newnham, S.C.,
10th N. I., with Notes by Mr. E. H. Aitken .V 71

Botanical Notes —

On an instance of fructification in a Staminiferous Plant, Carica Papaya,

By Surgeon-Major G. Bainbridge, I.M.D. ... 7a

On Abnormal Development in Musa Sapientum, By Surgeon K.R. Kirtikar,

lalVl.U* ««« »•• ••• «•• • •• «•• ••• *■• ••* • •• 73

Note on Agaricus Ostreatus ... ... 73

On the Fruit of Trapa Bispinosa 74

Note on Kasra or Scirpus Kysoor ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 74

Note on a supposed Root-Parasite found "at Mahableshwar in October 1885,

By Mrs. W. E. Hart ... 75 to 77

Memorandum, By Dr. D. Macdonald, M.D., Vice-President of the Society, on the

Species of Balanophora, found and described by Mrs. W. E. Hart 78, 79

List of Bird Skins from the South Konkan 80 to 83

„ „ from Burmah and other parts of India 83

Catalogue of Snakes in the Society's Collection ...84 to 86

Proceedings of the Society during the Quarter ... ...86 to 90

PRINTED AT THE TIMES OF INDIA STEAM PRESS.

1886.

Under arrangements entered into with the Society^

MR. W. J. ESSAI,

FORBES STREET, FORT,

Is prepared to supply store-boxes, pocket collecting-
boxes, killing-bottles, butterfly-nets, &c, at moderate prices.

Members or others requiring these, or any other kind of
Naturalist's Apparatus, may communicate with him.

No. 3.J

JULY 1886.

Vol. I.

JOURNAL

OF THE

BOMBAY

Edited by
E. H. AITEEN and R. A. STERNDALE.

contents;

Page.

•

A Sind Lake, By Capt. E. F. Beefier, R.A., F.z.s. ... ... „. ... 91 to 96

Notes on the waters of Western India, By a member of the Society ... .„ 97 to 123

Gn Abnormalities in the Horns of Ruminants, By R. A. Sterndale, F.z.s., &c. ... 12310126
A List of the Bombay Butterflies in the Society's Collection, with Notes by Mr.

E. H. Aitken ... 12610135

A new species of Algai, Conferva Thermalis Birdnvoodii (with Illustration) discover-
ed among the Hot-water Algae from Vajrabai exhibited before the Botanical

Section on 15th March 1886, By Surgeon K. R. Kirtikar, I.M.D 13510138

Note on frequency of parasites in Indian Army Horses, By V. S. J. H. Steel,

J\.,V t±Jm ... ••• ... ... ... ••• ... ... ... • ••I301O14*

List of Birds collected and presented to the Society by Mr. A. T. H. Newnham,

b,v_y.j loth JN.l. ... ... ••• ••• ••• ••• ... ... ... I4*i 143

Zoological Notes —

On an Oligodon ( Subpunctatus ? ) found at Dahanu, North Konkan, March

1886, By Mr. G. Vidal, C.S. ... ... ... ... I44

Pteropus Edwardsii, By Mr. E. H. Aitken ,., ... ... I44

White-ants, By Mr. E. H. Aitken „ r„ ... ... 144

Poisonous Lizards, the Bis-cobra, By the Editor ... ... 145

On Conjugal Infidelity among Birds, By Mr. W. E. Hart ... ... ... 145

Botanical Notes —

Note on the Feronia Elephantum (Elephant or Wood Apple) as a timber tree,

By Mr. Frank Rose.. ... ... ... ... 146, 147

Proceedings of the Society during the Quarter ... ,M ... ... •••14710151

-^A^«^^/v^•\*^v^*w'v"»'Wv.v■■wv\

garotrag:

PRINTED AT THE TIMES OF INDIA STEAM PRESS.

1886.

#jp ^ Spw af tltq lomkg ftatmiat History |>JH[i$tg.

Hftgftrntt

H. E. the Eight Hon'ble LORD REAY, ci.e., ll.d., f.r.g.s.

Dr. G. A. MACONACHIE, m.d., cm.

Dr. D. MAC DONALD, m.d., b.sc., cm.

The Hon'ble Justice BIRDWOOD, m.a., ll.m. (Cantab).

Secretary.
Mr. h. m. phipson.

o GTwasutet.

Mr. f. g. kingsley.

1st Section— (M4MM4LS AND BIRDS.)
^rcstoent— Mr. R. A. STERN DALE, f.r.g.s., f.z.s.
S»«crctar»— Mr. E. H. AITEEN.

2nd Section.— (REPTILES AND PISHES.)

^rcsitient— Mr. G. W. VIDAL, C.S.
Ssttctavo— Mr. h. m. phipson.

3ra Section.— (INSECTS.)

^jSresttfcnt — Vacant,
gcctttarfi— Mr. E. H. AITKEN.

4th Section— (OTHER INVERTEBRATA.)

^rcsiBcnt— Dr. G. A. MACONACHIE, m.d., cm.

§ecr£tarfi— Mb. J. C. ANDERSON.

5th Section.— (BOTANY.)

^rcsftcnt— The Hon'ble Justice BIRDWOOD, m.a., ll.m. (Cantab).

^ccvctarj)— Surgeon K. R. KIRTIKAR, I.M.D., f.r.c.s., f.s.m. (France).

ISanfters.

BANK of BOMBAY.

©titto

Messrs. E. H. AITKEN & R. A. STERNDALE.

RULES

OF

THE BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY.

1. The Society shall be called the "Natural History Society of Bombay.'

2. Its object shall be the promotion o£ the pursuit of Zoology, Botany and
Geology in all their branches,

3. Members shall be proposed, seconded, and elected by ballot. A majority
of two-thirds of the members who vote shall be required to secure election.

4. Members shall pay an annual * subscription of Rs. 10, payable in advance.
If any member's subscription remain unpaid for more than three months, his name
shall be liable to be removed from the list of members after due notice given by
the Secretary.

5. Members absent from India shall not pay for the period of their absence.

6. A President and three or more Vice-Presidents shall be elected from among
the members resident in Bombay.

7. The President shall take the chair and conduct the business at all meetings
of the Society, or in his absence, one of the Vice-Presidents. If neither is present,
a Chairman shall be elected by the meeting.

8. A Secretary and Treasurer shall be elected from among the members
resident in Bombay.

9. It shall be his duty to record the minutes and proceedings of all meetings
of the Society, and to conduct all the details of business and carry on the corres-
pondence of the Society.

10. The Secretary and Treasurer shall prepare an account of the receipts and
disbursements of the Society to be presented at the annual meeting which shall
be held in the month of January.

11. The ordinary meetings of the Society shall be held in Bombay on the first
Monday of each month.

12. The chair being taken, the order of business shall be as follows :—

(a) The minutes of last meeting to be read and confirmed.

(b) The announcement and election of new members.

(c) The reading of letters and the discussion of any ordinary business of the

Society which shall be before the meeting.

(d) The announcement of presents and donations.

(e) The remainder of the time at the disposal of the meeting shall be devoted

to the reading of papsrs, communication of interesting facts, exhibition
of speei mens, &c.

13. Members having anything of this nature to bring before the Society, shall
give the Secretary intimation before the commencement of the meeting (in the
case of papers a full week before). The subjects of which such intimation shall
have been given shall be taken up in such order as the Chairman may think best.

14. If necessary a Committee of Management shall hereafter be elected from
the members of the Society resident in Bombay.

15. These Rules are provisional and may be amended or added to at some
future time. One month's notice of any proposal to alter the Rules shall be given
to the Secretary.

* -•- — ■■ ■ -

•for the calendar year

Under arrangements entered into with the Society,

MR. W. J. ESSAI,

FORBES STREET, FORT,

Is prepared to supply store-boxes, pocket collecting-
boxes, killing-bottles, butterfly-nets, &c, at moderate prices.

Members or others requiring these, or any other kind of
Naturalist's Apparatus, may communicate with him.

NO. 4.] OCTOBER 1886. Vol I.

JOURNAL

OF THE

A

intra! Ifetorjr

Edited by
E. H. AITKEN and R. A. STERKDALE.

CONTENTS.

Page

Waters of Western India — Part II., Konkan and Coast — by a Member of the Society ... 153 to I75

Bird-nesting on the Ghats, by Mr. J. Davidson, C. S. 175 to 183

Note on some Post-pliocene Molluscs from the Byculla Flats, by Mrs. W. E. Hart ... 183 to 194

The Birds of South Gujerat, by Mr. H. Littledale, Baroda I94 to 200

Note on a Recent Paper by Dr. Bonavia on the Mango, by Surgeon K. R. Kirtikar, I. M. D.,

Acting Professor of Anatomy, Grant Medical College, Bombay 200 to 203

A Catalogue of the Flora of Matheran, by the Hon. H. M. Birdwood, Vice-President ... 203 to 214
A List of the Butterflies of the Bombay Presidency in the Society's Collection, with Notes,

by E. H. Aitken ... ... ... ... ••• ••• ... ... ••• 215 *° 2I^

Zoological Notes—

Note on the Homalopsida in the Society's Collection, by Mr. James A. Murray,

Curator, Karachi Museum... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 219

Note on the conduct of a Tame Pigeon, by E. H. Aitken 220

Note on Danais doripput, by Mr. A. T. H. Newnham, S. C, 10th N. I ib.

Note on Locality, by Mr. A. T. H. Newnham, S. C, loth N. I. ... 221

Note on the Breeding of Parra indica, by Lieutenant H. Edwin Barnes 221 to 222

Note on Reversion to Primitive Types, by R. A. Sterndale ... ... ... .v. 222 to 223

Some Notes on Abnormalities in the Horns of Ruminants, by Mr. J. D. Inverarity... 223 to 224
Botanical Notes —

Note on the Gloriota superba (N. O. LUiacea), " Superb Lily," by Mr. Frank

Rose, P. W\ D. ... ... ... ... ... ... ••• ... ... 22o

Note on the Gloriosa superba, by Surgeon K. R. Kirtikar 226 to 227

Uses of the Flower of Pandanus odoratissimus, by Mr. Frank Rose, P. W. D 227 to 228

Freak in a Zinnia paucifiora observed and exhibited by Mr. Frank Rose, P. W. D. ... 228 to 229

Note on the above, by Surgeon K. R. Kirtikar 22910230

Proceedings of the Society during the Quarter ... ... ... ... 230 to 243

PRINTED AT THE TIMES OF INDIA STEAM PRESS.

1836.

®$W STOiia off tM Jombui) gaittpl History f otfffg,

$rejsifient.

H. B. the Right Hon'ble LORD REAY, ci.e., ll.d., f.r.g.s.

"fcJtce^restticnts.

Dr. G. A. MACONACHIE, m.d., cm.

Dr. D. MAC DONALD, m.d., b.sc, cm.

The Hon'ble Justice BIRDWOOD, m.a., ll.m. (Cantab.)

Mr. H. M. PHIPSON.

Creasurer.

Mb. F. G. KINGSLEY.

1st Section.— (MAMMALS AND BIRDS.)
^rcsftent— Ms. R. A. STERN DALE, f.r.g.s., f.z.s.
5£cretar»— Mr. E. H. AITKEX.

2nd Section.— (REPTILES AND PISHES.)

^resfonrt— Mr. G. W. VIDAL, C.S.
5>ccrctaru— Mb. H. M. PHIPSON.

3rd Section— (INSECTS.)

^resitient— Vac ant.
Sccrctaro— Mb. E. H. AITKEN.

4th Section— (OTHER INVERTEBRATA.)

^icsiBent— Dr. G. A. MACONACHIE, m.d., cm.
^cctctara— Mb. J. C. ANDERSON.

5th Section.— (BOTANY.)

^vtsiUcnt— The Hon'ble Justice BIRDWOOD, m.a., ll.m. (Cantab.).
5 unxiarw— Surgeon K. R. KIRTIKAR, I.M.D., f.r.cs., f.s.m. (France>

bankers?.

BANK of BOMBAY,

©Mors.

Messrs. E. H. AITKEN" k R A. STE&NDALE.

RULES

OP

THE BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY.

1. The Society shall be called the " Natural History Society op Bombay."

2. Its object shall be the promotion of the pursuit of Zoology, Botany and
Geology in all their branches,

3. Members shall be proposed, seconded, and elected by bailer.. A majority
of two-thirds of the members who vote shall bs required to secure election.

4. Members shall pay an annual * subscription of Rs. 10, payable in advance.
If any member's subscription remain unpaid for more than three months, his name
shall be liable to be removed from the list of members after due notice given by
the Secretary.

5. Members absent from India shall not pay for the period of their absence.

6. A President and thrpe or more Vice-Presidents shall be elected from among
the members resident in Bombay.

7. The President shall take the chair and conduct the business at all meetings
of the Society, or in bis absence, one of the Vice-Presidents. If neither is present,
a Chairman shall be elected by the meeting-.

8. A Secretary and Treasurer shall be elected from among the members
resident in Bombay.

9. It phall be his duty to record the minutes and proceedings of all meetings
of the Society, and to conduct all the details of business and carry on the corres-
pondence of the Society.

10. The Secretary and Treasurer shall prepare an account of the receipts and
disbursements of the Society to be presented at the annual meeting which shall
be held in the month of January.

11. The ordinary meetings of the Society shall be held in Bombay on the first
Monday of each month. ,

12. The chair being taken, the order of business shall be as follows :—

(a) The minutes of last meeting to bs read and confirmed.

(b) The announcement and election of new members.

(c) The reading of letters and the discussion of any ordinary business of the

Society which shall be before the meeting.

(d) The announcement of presents and donations.

(e) The remainder of the time at the disposal of the meeting shall be devoted

to the reading of pipers, communication of interesting facts, exhibition
of specimens, &e.

13. Members having anything of this nature to bring before the Society, shall
give the Secretary intimation before ths commencement of the meeting (in the
case of papers a full week before). The vabjects of which such intimation shall
have been given shall be taken up in sac a order as the Chairman may think best.

14. If necessary a Committee of Management shall hereafter be elected from
the members of the Society resident in Bombay.

15. These Rules are provisional and may be amended or added to at some
future time. Cue month's notice of any proposal to alter the Rules shall be given
to the Secretary.

•For the calendar year.

Under arrangements entered into with the Society,

MR. W. J. ESSAI,

FORBES STREET, FORT,

Is prepared to supply store-boxes, pocket collecting-
boxes, killing-bottles, butterfly-nets, &c, at moderate prices.

Members or others requiring these, or any other kind of
Naturalist's Apparatus, may communicate with him.

Jipi

M

•A

f

V

i

\