HOOKER'S JOURNAL OF BOTANY "^ AND KEW GARDEN MISCELLANY. EDITED BY Sır WILLIAM JACKSON HOOKER, K.H., D.C.L. Oxon., LL.D., F.R., A., and L.S., Vice-President of the Linnean Society, and Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens of Hew. Oe s IBI VOL. II. SAU Pun ASSAI LONDON: REEVE AND BENHAM, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1850. PRINTED BY REEVE AND NICHOLS, HEATHCOCK COURT, STRAND. HOOKER'S JOURNAL OF BOTANY KEW GARDEN MISCELLANY. ^ AUS PUPA IP IS A Remarks on the Flora of the Nicobar Islands. Translated from Com- MODORE STEEN BrLLE's ‘ BERETNING OM CoRVETTEN GALATHEA'S REISE OMKRING JORDEN,’ 1845, 46, 47. (Narrative of the Voyage round the World of the Corvette Galathea.) Vol.I. Copen- hagen, 1849. 8vo. Translated from the Danish by N. WALLICH, M. et Ph. D., ERS: V.P.L.S.* It has been usual to include the Nicobar Islands under the Scitamineous Kingdom of Schouw (the Indian, or Roxburgh's), comprising the two grand Indian peninsulas, Ceylon, the Maldives, the Laccadives, and the Andamans. But since scarcely more than the following plants of these islands were known at the time,namely, Boerhavia glutinosa, Vahl; Scirpus te subulatus, Vahl; Cyperus cephalotes, Vahl; Pandanus Mellori Roxb., or Nicobar bread-fruit (Alex. Moon's * View of the Plants of Ceylon’); Davallia heterophylla, Willd., and Lindsea tenera, Dryand. (Trans. Linn. — Soc., vol. iii. p. 42); it must have been the position of the islands between — two continents which determined the point. The annexed list of the - genera which occur on the Nicobars will demonstrate that this view has * I have made this translation from a corrected copy of the Narrative, communi- cated to me by its distinguished author, who informs me that Mr. Didrichsen, Assistant-Surgeon on board the corvette, has drawn up this botanical part. It was —— not to be expected that a sojourn of only two months, during the hot and dry season of B sii uit afford very extensive materials for a Nicobar Flora ; nevertheless, jo zeal and industry have done all that was possible, and we have to thank them for - much valuable and interesting information contained in the following pages.—N. W. —— VOL. II. B 2 FLORA OF THE NICOBAR ISLANDS. been very fortunate; a large proportion being likewise found on the peninsula of India, as well as in Ceylon. But it will be remarked, also, that the vegetation is, as it were, aradiation from that in question, connecting it with the Flora (the Polynesian Kingdom of Schouw, or Reinwardt’s) of the grand groupe of islands extending from Sumatra eastwards. This is pointed out by the genera Dissocheta, Orophea, Pterisanthes, Arthrophyllum, and Visenia, characteristic of that - kingdom. If the above view is correct, a tolerable idea of the Nicobar vegeta- tion may be formed from what is known of the Indian Flora (the continent and islands, as far as the Philippines, with a mean tempe- rature of 15°-25° Réaum.) It must be noticed, however, that there exists a geognostic difference between the southern islands (Sambelong, Little Nicobar, and Catschall*) and the northern, and that hence a considerable difference is observable in the distribution and character of their plants. The first-named islands seem to be composed of cal- careous sandstone and clay-slate. Both of these are easily affected by the condition of the atmosphere: the chalk is neutralized by the carbonic acid combined with the rain ; and provided the rocky substratum be not very inclined, the soil is several feet deep and apparently very fertile, consisting of lime, with sand and micaceous clay. We accord- ingly find these islands, although the highest of the whole cluster, forest-clad to the very top. Quite different is the appearance on the northern islands, where plutonian, especially serpentine, rocks pre- dominate. Decomposition of these may in time produce a good soil ; but the process goes on with far more difficulty than in the southern islands, consequently the soil here is much less abundant. Besides, it is only on Bompoka, Tillangschong, and Terressa, that the surface is naked ; on Nancovry, Trineut, Car-Nicobar, and partly also in Terressa, the surface is hidden by a crust of strongly absorbent, meerschaum-like clay, containing iron, tale, and sometimes chalk, but destitute of alkalies, covered partially by a stratum of soil only a few inches deep and unsuited for any sort of cultivation. The undulated surface of these islands, contrary to what is seen on the sharp ridges of the southern groupe, is covered with grass only, without forest, having species of Pandanus and Areca, in small clusters or solitary, scattered over it. It is only in valleys, where a somewhat richer soil has accumu- * I have invariably adhered to Mr. Didrichsen’s orthography of localities —N. W. FLORA OF THE NICOBAR ISLANDS. 3 lated, that large masses of trees are seen. In comparing the vegetable features of these islands with those of the surrounding countries, I will for the present confine myself to those of the southernmost. The profusion of vegetation which covers these islands is probably nowhere surpassed in India. Nearly the whole area of the islands is covered with dense primeval forests: scarcely one open spot is to be met with, where direct solar light admits of an herbaceous growth. But this overwhelming denseness is not owing to the predominanee of a few social plants, as is the case in temperate zones, but results from a large number of species crowded together in great variety. This becomes at once obvious when it is stated that, out of seventy-three dieotyledoneous genera, eleven-nineteenths appear as trees or shrubs, oceasionally (Ficus) in numerous species. But this luxuriance confines itself not alone to the extent of the forests; it is manifest also in the “grand and colossal size of the individual trees and shrubs composing them, and this applies likewise to the tropical richness of certain her- baceous plants (Musa sapientum, Troglodytarum ?), and to grasses (Bambusa). The ** Galathea's ” stay at the Nicobars was during the height of the dry season (January and February), and yet I do not recollect having observed 6ne single sound tree in a naked condition ; the forests being fully as verdant with foliage as with us in the month of June. This, however, is not dependent so much on a predominance of ever- green trees, which are of frequent occurrence (Aurantiacee, Clusiacee, Rhizophoree, Myríacee), as on their continued or, on the whole, little interrupted process of vegetation. As an instance of this I may mention — — that Thespesia populnea, Paritium tiliaceum, Sterculia Balanghas, and | Sophora tomentosa,—trees with herbaceous, soft leaves,—were not only _ in full foliage, but in flower and fruit. The trees in these ancient forests grow so closely together, that they are compelled to shoot up in length, being most frequently without branches to a great height from the root, and the crowns so full of leaves and so much crowded together, that they produce great darkness — z underneath. The leaves are frequently very large in size, such as many Laurinee, Mappa, Artocarpus, Uvaria, Barringtonia. Trees with com- — pound leaves are very frequent (Mimosee, Papilionacee, Aurantiaceæe, — Sapindacee, Canarium, Cuestis) ; sometimes they are very large (Sa- — pindus, Palme). As examples of herbaceous plants with mem d B2 : 4 FLORA OF THE NICOBAR ISLANDS. leaves may be mentioned Musa, Colocasia, Caladium, Asplenium Nidus, Leea. We are reminded of the high development and luxuriance of the vegetation of tropical India by such fruits as the Shaddock (Citrus decumana), the Papaya (Carica Papaya), the Atap (Nipa fruticans), the Jack (Artocarpus integrifolia), the bread-fruit (Artocarpus incisa), the fruit of Entada Pursetha, Barringtonia speciosa, and Pandanus. In the dense forest-shade alluded to, pheenogamous plants were rarely seen, the ground being, for the most part, occupied by impenetrable masses of vegetable matter in a state of decomposition ; and it was only by glimpses that the crowds of climbing, twining, and parasitical plants, occupying the tops’ of the trees, could be discerned. On the smaller islands, e.g. Pulo Milu, and along the sea-shores of those of greater size, as well as generally wherever the forests were less dense and dark, an underwood appeared, which consisted most frequently of species of Guilandina, Psidium, Bridelia, Gelonium, Feronia,- Orophea, Nauclea, Marinda, Jasminum, Eleagnus, Boehmeria, Epicarpurus, Ficus (race- mosa). These were again intermixed with an endless pell-mell of twiners and climbers, the former chiefly consisting of graceful Ferns (Lygodium), Menispermee, numerous Convolvulacee, Ampelidee, Cucurbitacee, species of Aristolochia, Roxburghia, Smilax, and Piper. The large trees were strung with mighty twiners, such as Mucuna, Canavalia, Pongamia, Conocephalus, and the gigantic Entada Pursetha; while their trunks supported half-parasitical Ficus-species, Hoya viridiflora, Pothos scandens, elegant Lycopodia, and many ferns (Anthrophyum, Vittaria, Asplenium), | the luxuriant Asplenium Nidus being the most conspicuous among them. Of Orchidee there were only few in number as well as in species (Dendrobium ?): they were somewhat withered, and were the only plants which pointed at the aridity of the season. "The underwood is so dense as, on that account alone, to be very difficult to be traversed; but it becomes entirely impenetrable on occa- sions, which not unfrequently occur when it is overgrown with species of rattan (Calamus). Their leaves, from ten to twelve feet long, are densely armed below with thorns of several inches, while their elon- gated midrib, eight to twelve feet long, is densely beset with recurved hooks. Here none but the natives are able to penetrate by the aid of the cutlass, which they wield with great dexterity and celerity. I _ may likewise add, that nowhere have I seen such vast primeval forests, FLORA OF THE NICOBAR ISLANDS. 5 with such dense and impenetrable underwood, as 1 found here on the southern Nicobars. At the neighbouring Pulo Penang, for instance, neither are the still remaining forests so grand, nor the ‘underwood so crowded, as to prevent their being traversed with small difficulty. As I have said already, the dense part of the forests, in which under- wood is mostly wanting, is peculiar to the southern islands ; while the more open portion, which is furnished with underwood, is much narrower on the northern islands, with the exception perhaps of Car- Nicobar,—its outer margin imperceptibly dwindling into the vegetation of the more recent alluvium. It is frequently extended, towards the interior, into low valleys, without being met there with any dense forests. On the contrary, the forest becomes more open and low, and is gradually succeeded by a number of elegant shrubs, chiefly of the genera Irora, Inga, Cassia, Colubrina, Flemingia, Bauhinia, Vitex, Mesa, Erycibe, Leea, Rubus (moluccanus), Mussenda (frondosa), and Melastoma (Malabathricum), mixed with shrubby or arborescent ferns. Heath-like tracts covered with a sort of fern (Gleichenia), or luxuriant grass-plains, occasionally take the place of those shrubs. Within the belt thus formed, the hills are on the whole covered with grass only. The sod towards the inner confines of the forest, at places where the soil is richer and more moist, is formed of soft, juicy grasses, and in part of stiff and arid sorts of Cyperacee (Scleria, Cyperus, Diplacrum) ; but the greater area is occupied by more delicate, yet dry and stiff, grasses, among which a species of Imperata (Lalang) performs an important part. This is almost the only plant on the Nicobars which, being in the highest degree social, occupies whole tracts of land, ex- cluding all other lower vegetation, and admitting only here and there, on the borders, the growth of other sorts of grasses, and of some species of Alysicarpus, Desmodium, Uraria, Smithia, and Crotalaria, which may be compared in some degree with our clovers. Towards the - top of the hills even the grasses become scanty and stinted, ceasing at length altogether on spots where the clay is covered by a coarse sand, —— containing some iron, and washed into barrenness by the frequent falls —— of rain, and producing only few and poor plants of species of Zewcas, - Aerva, and Evolvulus. Although all these grass-plains possessed some _ degree of freshness, yet they exhibited such a uniformly arid, barren, - steppe-resembling picture, as to have nothing like it in our country. z ge — from the difference in the soil, produce — 6 FLORA OF THE NICOBAR ISLANDS. such variety of species, and in such profusion and luxuriance of growth, that by way of distinction, the grass-lands of the northern Nicobar Islands might without impropriety be designated as grass-heaths. Even the soft and undulating outline of the hills contributed to this fatiguing uniformity of scenery, very sparingly relieved by the scanty and small clumps of 4reca and Pandanus species. In this last respect the island of Bompoka differs. It has a rounded form and bold volcanic elevation ; it terminates abruptly, with an extensive crater-like depression, overgrown by a dense forest, in which Areca-palms rise above the other trees, while the sides are strikingly varied by a number of radi- ating ridges and valleys, resembling in this respect the ‘island of Madeira on a small scale, and exclusively covered with the before- mentioned grass-carpet. The heights, as well as the skirting flats, which form the greatest part of the area of these islands, participate in the sort of vegetation alluded to; but the more recently formed low-lands, though of less extent, are of far greater importance to the natives; and however different in regard to their origin and structure, the social character of many of their trees and shrubs is very striking, when contrasted with the varied constituents of the old forests. Along the coast extends a narrow slip of land, consisting of fragments of corals, mixed up with débris of old rocks, becoming more pre- dominant as the tract recedes from the sea. Here and there it is interrupted by precipitous rocks, or the accumulation of fresh water. On the whole, the slip is narrower and of less extent on the southern islands ; and, since it constitutes the principal portion of the cultivable land, the consequence of this disparity is, that the population of the northern islands is far greater than that of the others. The sea-beach is elevated some feet by the force of the wind and waves, and consists of dazzling white coral-sand; and, beyond the reach of the high tides, it shelters a narrow band of low, creeping plants, a kind of Ischemum, Dolichos luteus, and Convolvulus maritimus (so common on all tropical sea-shores) Beyond this band, wherever nature has not been disturbed, is seen a dense vegetation formed by two shrubby plants only, namely Tournefortia (argentea ?) and Scevola Taccada, to the exclusion of all others, and, indeed, of each other reciprocally. Thus, the former occurs in great abundance on the island of Trice, the latter not at all; while the reverse is the case on FLORA OF THE NICOBAR ISLANDS. 1 the adjacent Pulo Milu. Both these plants grow so close together, and with such fresh luxuriance, that they look like some neatly-trimmed hedge. The silvery Tournefortia attains a height of twenty feet, and is distinguishable even at a distance by its greyish tint; while the dense-leaved and pale-green Scevola luxuriates in all the vigour of a vernal freshness; but it is often, together with the Ischemum beyond, overgrown by large masses of a pale-yellow, leafless, filiform, social parasite, the Cassytha filiformis. Within or beyond this fence, rarely on the sea-side of it, we have a variety of trees, which are either not found at all elsewhere, or appear here in greatest number, although they belong not to the social class. Among the commonest is the magnificent Barringtonia speciosa, Guettarda speciosa, which perfumes the air after the sun has set, Calophyllum Inophyllum, Paritium tiliaceum, Thespesia populnea, Heritiera litoralis? Hernandia ovigera? and Sterculia Balanghas. Of smaller size, but not less striking by their frequency, are species of Sophora (tomentosa), Canavalia, Bridelia, Glochidion, Mappa, and Ricinus communis. This last, on Catschall, was of the size of a - tree twelve to thirteen feet high, with seeds much smaller than what is usual when it is herbaceous; and it formed a thick grove, occupying several acres, probably the result of cultivation. But it is the Cocoa- nut, almost the only plant cultivated with any sort of care by the inhabitants, which oceupies the largest space of the coral-land, and at once attracts the eye of the new-comer, both by its numbers and form, all the other vegetation, however striking, forming as it were only the frame- work to this palm. I am not aware of the Cocoa occurring anywhere beyond the coral-land, with the exception of the little elevation of - about 100 feet of the small rocky island of Montchal, and the upper part of the river of Little Nicobar. It is planted without any regu- larity, and more closely than in many other parts of India; neither is it kept free from weeds or sometimes even a dense coppice, nor are the older trees surrounded by a circular ridge for the purpose of irrigation in the dry season; and yet I know not that I have seen it anywhere in greater luxuriance, | or producing a greater quantity of fruit, than on the — Nicobars. : There is a fresh-water pool nearly in the middle of Milu, bid on | sandstone and clay-slate formations to the westward, but in other surrounded by coral-land. Its fine, dark, peat-like soil - 8 FLORA OF THE NICOBAR ISLANDS. was still, towards the end of the dry season, very moist, and so un- resisting that you everywhere sank down. There was none of the lower vegetation here, but so much the greater abundance of Pandanus and Areca; especially the former, which, although growing frequently and luxuriantly everywhere, and constituting one of the most striking features of the Nicobar Flora, seems at this place to attain its greatest development, both as to numbers and dimensions. It was from thirty to forty feet high, and more, dividing four to six times into branches, and bearing fruits of eighteen to twenty inches in length. On another island, Trice, there was a somewhat similar pool of fresh water, differing in this, that it had no vent towards the sea-side, so that it must be like a small lake during the rainy season. In February it was almost dry ; the soil contained much less humus, and supported a low vegetation (Helminthostachys dulcis) with few Pandant only, while there was a surrounding high, open forest of various species of Ficus, and of Barringtonia racemosa, with an underwood of ..Feronia elephantum and an Ardisia. I know of no other pools on the islands, like the above; but on the Galathea river, on the river which falls into the bay of Pulo Milu, and probably often on the large islands, extensive breaks in the coral-land are caused by the so-called Mangrove swamps. The inner part of the bay just mentioned, where the river empties itself, is covered with slime, on which, during the ebb-tide, there are only a few feet of water, and where a stray little Mangrove is only rarely observable ; but where the sea recedes entirely during its ebb, the Mangrove thicket commences, covering perhaps the outer two-thirds of the valley through which the river flows. This whole extent is covered with brackish water during the flood-tide ; and during the ebb the mud contains rich quantities of - crustacea and mollusca. With exception of the Mangrove (Bruguiera gymnorrhiza) and a less frequent acanthaceous plant (Dilivaria) there is no other vegetation. Close to the margin of the bay, the first forms a very dense shrubbery, not unlike an Alder coppice; but it soon becomes a high and open forest, made difficult of access by the deep mud, and the knee-formed roots projecting above it. Where the in- fluence of the tides ceases, the Mangrove disappears with it ; and so far as the river inundation extends during the rains a varied vegetation flourishes, consisting of Ficus, Pandanus, Flagellaria, Calamus, Inga, Cordyline, the wild Plantain, arborescent Ferns, Convolvulacez, and FLORA OF THE NICOBAR ISLANDS. 9 receiving a remarkable feature from the very frequent Atap (Nipa Jruticans), a stemless, palm-like plant, having its large fruit often ripening under the water. As soon as the river side rises several feet above the water, the Atap disappears altogether, and the vegetation be- comes very beautiful; the rich, still open forests contain Pandani and Areca-palms, and are succeeded occasionally by open tracts of luxu- riant shrubby or arboreous ferns, Melastomee, high grass, Rubus, Ca- vica Papaya, or occupied by the little, partly enclosed gardens of the natives, in whieh the Sugar-cane, the Cocoa-nut, Oranges, Bananas, Yams (Calocasia indica and Caladium nympheifolium) thrive to a degree of perfection, which points at this tract as the most fertile on the island, and as that which, in case of colonization, would be the principal land to cultivate, the coral-land being almost entirely occupied already. Finally, the coral-land is interrupted occasionally by rocks projecting into the reef, which is inundated during flood-tide. Here the elevated sea-beach does not exist ; and the almost bare rocks are characterized by a very common Casuarina, and also a Callicarpa and a pine ( Celtis vestimentaria, Kamphóvener). It will be noticed, in the accompanying list of genera of plants found on the Nicobars, that a number of forms are wanting which, con- sidering the geographical position of the islands, might have been expected in it; for instance :—Ceratopteris, Marsilea, Stratiotes, Nepen- thes,and Quercus, all of which occur on the neighbouring Pulo Penang, to the extent of nine species of the Oak alone. This deficiency may be owing, in part, to there being no open stagnant water on any of the groupe (excepting, perhaps, Trice); and partly also to our brief ex- amination having taken place during the dry season, and not reaching at all to the extensive, wooded heights of the islands. Enumeration of 261 Genera found on the Nicobars, distributed into - ninety-nine Natural Orders :— Mimosee : Inga, Acacia, Entada, Mimosa.—Leguminose : Bauhinia, Cassia, Tamarindus, Guilandina, Sophora; Dalbergia, Pangamia, Abrus, Flemingia, Numismia, Cajanus, Dolichos, Mucuna, Canavalia, Clitoria, _ Alysicarpus, Dicerma, Desmodium, Uraria, Smithia, Orotalaria.—Ro- — saceæ: Rubus—Myrtacee: Barringtonia, Eugenia, Psidium. — Mela- stomeæ: Dissochete, Osbeckia, Melastoma. —@Œnothereæ : Jussieua:— — VOL. II. c | 10 FLORA OF THE NICOBAR ISLANDS. Rhizophoree : Bruguiera, Rhizophora, Carallia.—Combretaceze : Com- bretum. — Ochnacez : Ochna.— Connaracez : Cnestis.—Burseraceee : Canarium.—Anacardiacee : Semecarpus, Rhus, Mangifera, Sorindeia.— Euphorbiacez : Glochidion, Cicca, Phyllanthus, Bridelia, Gelonium, Ricinus, Mappa, Claoxylon, Manihot, Acalypha, Euphorbia.— Rham- nee: Colubrina, Gouania.—ippocratez : Salacia.—Celastrine : Euo- nymus.—Pittosporeee : Pittosporum. — Polygaleæ : Polygala.—Sapin- daceæ: Schmiedelia, Sapindus.—Aurantiacee : Triphasia, Atalantia ? Citrus, Glycosmis, Feronia. — Clusiacee: Garcinia, Calophyllum. — Dipterocarpeæ: Terminalia, — Chlenaceæ: Hugonia ? — Tiliaceæ : Grewia, Elæocarpus, Monocera.—Byttneriaceæ: Visenia.—Sterculia- cec : Sterculia, Heritiera, Helicteres —Malyaceæ : Paritium, Thespesia, Urena, Sida, Hibiscus, Abelmoschus. —Cucurbitacese : Lagenaria, Mo- mordica. — Papayaceæ: Carica.— Bixaceæ : Biva.*—Nympheacee : Nymphæa.—Capparideæ : Gynandropsis, Polanisia.—Anonacee : Ano- na, Uvaria, Orophea:—Myristiceæ : Myristica. —Menispermeæ : Meni- spermum, Cocculus, Stephania.—Lorantheæ : Loranthus ?.—Ampelider : Leea, Cissus, Pterisanthes.—Araliaceæ : Aralia, Arthrophyllum. —Um= belliferæ: Hydrocotyle.—Sapoteæ : Siderozxylon—Myrsineæ.: Ardisia, Masa.—Ebenaces : Diospyros, —Bignoniaceæ: Spathodea.—Acantha- cee: Thunbergia, Dilivaria, Justicia.—Scrophularineæ : Bonnaya.— Solanaceæ: Capsicum, Datura, Nicotiana, Solanum. — Hydroleaceæ : Hydroleq.—Convolvulaceæ : Convolvulus, Ipomæa, Erycibe, Lepistemon, Aniseia, Calonyction, Evolvulus:—Asperifoliæ : Ehretia, Tournefortia.— Cordiacez: Cordia.—Verbenaceæ ; Vitex, Premna, Clerodendron, Calli- carpa.— Labiate: Ocymum, Stachys? Orthosiphon, Leucas. — Ascle- piadez.: Hoya, Sarcolobus.—Apocynere: Alstonia, Cerbera, Taberne- montana.—bLoganiaces : Fagr@a,—Oleine : Chionanthus,—Jasminee : Jasminum.—Rubiaceze : Mussenda, Ixora, Nauclea, Serissa, Psychotria, Guettarda, Ophiorrhiza, Morinda, Hedyotis, Gonotheca.— Lobeliacese : Lobelia. —Goodeniacexe : Seevola.— Composite : Ageratum, Cyanopsis, Vernonia? Wedelia, Eclipta, Adenostemma, Bidens, Spilanthes, Conyza ? —Aristolochiew : Aristolochia, — Eleagnee.: Zleagnus.— MHernandia- cese : Hernandia,—Laurinew : Polyadenia? Litsea? Cassytha.—Poly- gone: Polygonum.—Amarantacer.: Aerva, Alternanthera, Achyran- thes, Desmocheta.—Antidesmee : Antidesma, Lepidostachys ?—Urti- cec : Elatostemma, Boehmeria, Parietaria, Urtica,—Artocarpew ; Ficus, * Searcely indigenous. N. W. DR. HOOKER’S MISSION TO INDIA. ll Artocarpus, Conocephalus.-—Moree : Epicarpurus.—Casuarineze : Cá- suarina.—Piperacez : Piper.—Palme: Cocos, Areca, Calamus.——Pan- daneæ : Pandanus, Nipa.— Aroides: Caladium, Colocasia, Pothos.— Najadez : Zostera. — Musaceæ : Musa. — Cannacee: Canna.——Zingi- beraceæ: Alpinia (phemicea, Kamphóvener), Amomum fructu acido (Rink).——Orchideæ: Dendrobium.——Bromeliaceæ : Ananassa.*-—Ama- ryllideæ: Crinum.—Hypoxidex : Curculigo.—Dioscoreæ : Dioscorea.—— Smilaceæ: Rowburghia, Smilax, Cordyline.—Junceæ: Plagellaria:— Commelyneæ : Commelyna, Tradescantia. —Eriocauleæ : Eriocaulon.— Cyperaceze : Cyperus, Kyllingia, Scirpus, Fimbristylis, Haplostylis, Di- placrum, Scleria.—Gramineze : Oplismenus, Panicum, Ischemum, An- dropogon, Paspalus, Manisuris, Dimeria, Isachne, Imperata, Saccharum, Bambusa, Pennisetum, Dactyloctenium, Phragmites, Sporobolus, Era- grostis, Poa.—Cycadete : Cycas.—Lycopodinez : Lycopodium.—Ophio- glossez : Helminthostachys. — Marattiaceæ : Angiopteris. — Schizææ : Lygodium. —Gleichenieæ : Gleichenia.-—Hymenophylles : Trichomanes. —Polypodiez: Dicksonia, Davallia ? Lindsea, Aspidium, Diplazium, Asplenium, Pteris, Vittaria, Adiantum ? Pleopeltis, Polypodium, Blech- num, Gymnogramma, Antrophyum, Acrostichum. Extracts from the private Letters of Dr. J. D. Hooker, written during a Botanical Mission to IND1A. (Continued from vol. i. p. 370.) DARJEELING, SIKKIM-HIMALAYA, AND THE PASSES INTO THIBET. Soon after my arrival at Darjeeling, I hired a couple of empty rooms in a long, cottage-like building, full of dissepiments (to speak botanically) - which divide the suites, each of which consists of two small apartments. From having been a boarding-house and hotel consecutively, “ the old hotel,” as it is called, has lapsed into the condition of partly-furnished lodgings. At the invitation of Mr. Barnes (brother of my friends at Colgong), who occupied rooms contiguous to mine, I chummed with that gentleman, and most fortunate I was in finding so delightful a com- panion, whose society I also enjoyed in the excursions I made aai = the month of May. sae The most lofty ridge of the mountain, on the northern spur of * Assuredly not indigenous. X. W. c 2 13 DR. HOOKER'S MISSION TO INDIA. Darjeeling stands, is called StNcHUL: it is ascended from the saddle, crossed by a road from the plains, and lies to the right-hand in coming northward. Elevated at least 1,000 or 1,500 feet above Darjeeling, it is even more subalpine than Pacheem, but still does not rise into the regions of Ranunculacee, Primroses, or herbaceous Sazifrages. A heavy forest covers the whole summit, hoary with pendulous Lichens and Mosses; and its main feature consists in the groves of the large sil- very-leaved white Rhododendron, and the purple-flowered Magnolia. A new species of Balanophora (B. cyathoides, MS.), with the leaves forming a cup-shaped involucre, or sheath, half-way up the flowering stem, grows at an elevation of 8—9,000 feet: it is moncecious, and flowers in May and June. B. dioica, Wall., grows above Darjeeling (alt. 7,500 feet) and flowers in July and August. ‘Two other species, B. typhina, Wall, and B. polyandra, Grift., inhabit lower levels, and flower in September. .. A narrow path winds to the double summit of Sinehul from the saddle, first passing through woods of the trees I described as characteristic of Pacheem, and then amongst a greater proportion of Cornea, Hy- drangea, and Ilex, mixed with the aforesaid Rhododendron and three species of Magnolia. Ferns are very luxuriant, Hymenophylla on the trees, Marattia and Spheropteris and many Aspidia and Davallie on the ground. The commonest Aspidium is caulescent, like our 4. Filiz-masin Wales, and so very abundant as to recall perpetually the latter plant, as it lines the avenues and lake-shores on the property of our friend Dillwyn Llewellyn, Esq., at Penllegare, South Wales. Several kinds of Celastrus are very frequent under-shrubs, but none in greater profu- sion than a new species of the Japan genus Helwingia. At this season its leaves are only unfolding, the upper ones bearing the flower on the midrib, exactly as in Ruscus, Its dark green foliage and bark, and the sub-herbaceous ramuli, besides some peculiarity of ramification, at once suggested its affinity with Araliacee ; to a reduced form of which Order I have now no hesitation in referring it, after a careful examina- tion of both its flower and lurid red fleshy drupe. It is a strong bush, six to eight feet high, branching from the base, of a heavy aspect, and its foliage turns dark in drying: it should be called after my friend .. Deeaisne, the founder of the Order; and I never see it now without thinking of tke happy hours we spent together at Paris. The profusion of 4rums in this region is quite remarkable ; the most DARJEELING TO THIBET. 13 abundant on Sinchul is triphyllous, and it is like Wallich's .4. speciosum (which is also frequent and much larger than is represented by Dr. W.’s figure*); the one to which I allude is, however, bulbous, and has a solitary trifoliolate leaf, and the hood, expanded laterally most extraordinarily, is turned sharply over, and terminated in a long sheathing tail, which envelopes the much longer one of the spadix, which, in the shape of a slender thread, trails eighteen inches on the ground. This, the A, speciosum, and all the species of a verticillate-leafleted groupe, are diccious: they are noble plants, and I hope some of the many roots I have sent down will survive. The enormous clubs of scarlet berries which succeed these cuckoo-flowers are as striking in the woods in September as their blossoms are in April, when the cuckoo cries here as he does with us. Paris is another. English spring genus now in flower, and very plentiful at this elevation (7—9,000 feet). Falconer tells me it is the P. polyphylla ; it is really a grand thing, the stems three feet high, a whorl of seven to ten leaves, with three to five sepals, as many petals, three to eleven stamens, and two to six carpels. I counted ' the number of parts in some thirty specimens, for Professor Henslow, whose ingenious theory of the formation of the flower of P. quadrifolia will find confirmation in the irregularities of this. In autumn the fruit is ripe: it attains the size of an apple, bursting by several valves, and exhibiting a profusion of scarlet seeds very like those of a pome- granate. Disporum and Convallaria are both abundant, and the latter very beautiful, for it bears an immense raceme of white flowers, similar to those of Muscari, but as large as the C. majalis; this raceme is often a foot long. Another species is Wallich's C. oppositifolia. The leaves of an Ophiopogon were very abundant, as of various Begonias, Didymocarpee, but none in flower. Mr. Edgeworth's genus, Strepto- lirion, grows in amazing profusion a hundred yards above Darjeeling, to which station it hardly descends. On the trunks of trees, at 8,000 feet, there are several epiphytal Orchidee, and some which boast considerable beauty: I have three from that elevation, but am ignorant of their genera. Between 7,000 and 8,000 feet, there must be at least twenty species, including Den- drobia, three or four Celogynes, an Eria I think, and a Cirrhopetalum. Three species of Carer occur on Sinchul; but no grass whatever - could I detect : the mountain is also above the region of Cucurbitacee, * Tentamen Fl. Nepal., Tab. xx. + 14 DR. HOOKER'S MISSION TO INDIA. which ascend to 7,500 feet, but not of Smilax and some other sub- tropical genera. Ficus and Pepper both reach the base of the ridge, 7,500 feet, but are not found higher. By the little streams, Viola, Lobelia, Chrysosplenium, and Mimulus, form verdant masses with chick- weed. Five species of Rubus ascend to the summit: amongst them is a creeping white-flowered one, bearing large scarlet fruit. Lardizabala is common, and a small Ampelopsis, and a tufted Vaccinium. 1 did not observe a single Labiate, or Leguminose, and scarcely a Composite plant, except Ainsliea, one species of which flowers in spring, the other in autumn. Urticee are very numerous and succulent. Some small trees of Styrax? bear a profusion of white flowers, which lie like snow . on the ground underneath: there are two species abont Darjeeling. But of all things that fall on the ground here, the most remarkable objects are the vivid red outer petals and sepals of the Magnolia. This magnificent tree is leafless during the flowering season (April), presenting only a few irregular branches from a trunk sixty to eighty feet in height, covered with a whitish bark. The flowers (resembling those of a Lotus) are terminal, oddly inserted, and, as well as their peduncles, brittle, and therefore easily damaged by the wind. There are two species, a larger and smaller-flowered, and I have the foliage of two others. At this height the common white-flowered Michelia, which I presume may be Wallich's Magnolia excelsa, is not so abundant as lower down, at 7,000 feet; where its frequency causes the trees, during its blossoming time, to look as if snowed upon. Like our hawthorn, &c., it does not bloom with equal profusion every year; but this season both it, the Chestnut, and the Oak are now unusually luxuriant. The Rhododendron which abounds on this ridge is the R. argenteum.* It is inferior in size to the Oaks, Magnolias, Ilex, and Pruni and Pyri of the region, but individually it is far more abundant. Apparently the flowering has been very scanty this year. As is the case with most of the genus, it branches from the root: in this species the branches are as thick as the human body, or nearly so, covered with pale pinkish papery bark, twenty to forty feet long, inclined, compressed, sparingly . divided towards the apex: the ramuli also, are few, and leafy only at the apices.T * Hooker’s Rhododendrons of Sikkim Himalaya, tab. 9. = + The other Darjeeling species, which is conspicuous for its scarlet blossoms, is the R. Campbellie (vide Rhododendrons of Sikkim Himalaya, tab. 6.) DARJEELING TO THIBET. 15 From the ridge of Sinchul a good view is obtainable, when the weather permits; but, often as I ascended it, for the first month I never saw beyond the very nearest tree-trunks. Though sharp and steep-sided, scarcely a piece of rock is anywhere visible ; what there is, ` is a friable gneiss, like that of Darjeeling. The clay-banks are covered with Mosses. and Marchantie, chiefly the former, and species of Poly- trichum. t Fungi are immensely numerous in the moist woods, especially the Hymenomycetes. Of these the majority are dry on the cap (always except with the rain,—not viscid, L mean), inodorous, and edible. I am sure there are not fewer than 1,000 Agarics. indigenous to this part of the Himalaya, and probably many more. All are very brittle and difficult to preserve, drying worse by far than the average of the English species. Where-phytivorous insects are so numerous, their destruction is very rapid, eveu in the drying papers before they are six hours gathered,—having been d/own, no doubt, by Diptera, before being pressed. Dr. Campbell has given me a sketch of that. beautiful Phallus, figured in Beechey's * Voyage, * which grew annually on. some bamboo stumps near Cattmandu (in Nepal): he has also seen it. here. Three or four smaller species of Lycoperdon are.common ; but the Bovistine, as a tribe, want more sunny pasture. Agaricus campestris. rarely appears, and only in the artificially grassed paddocks near the residents’ dwellings is it abundant. Mucedinee are. amazingly intrusive in the valley of Nepal and on, the plains, as you might suppose from. the damp- ness of the climate, I think I have a different species on each of the * moist colours" in my paint-box; there is one on my English boots, another on. my country-made shoes ; and. except fire and. hard metal it is. difficult to name any substance free from them.T Hitherto I have. met with only a single underground Fungus, this-tribe probably prefer- ring the drier and. warmer woods to these excessively humid ones, as is. the case, I think, in England; for, if I remember aright, Broome found. the Scotch woods too.damp, and the Welsh also. Some of the Agarics here assume anomalous. forms, so beautiful and. apparently normal, that it was with hesitation L first, classed them with monsters. A com- * P. Demonum. Ur died asi is Lr c ee field-glass of my 16 DR. HOOKER'S MISSTON TO INDIA. mon one, and the most beautiful in appearance, is that of an excessively branched erect bushy mass, six to ten inches high, and as much across, snowy white, firm, and inodorous; the innumerable branches covered with pendent, icicle-like bodies : I can find no fructification. Grotesque normal forms are rare, such, I mean, as we have at home in Lycoperdon, Phallus, and Clathrus, or Aseroé in Australia. Few species last a month; some few survive four; many are exceedingly local. I have not seen one of the hemispherical poisonous groupe, with viscid pileus : those having a plicate very delicate cap and remote gills are common. As in most tropical and sub-tropical countries, the Hymenomycetes here are far the richest tribe in species and individuals, excepting possibly the Coniomycetes and Hyphomycetes, which, I presume, are neglected, of necessity, by even those travelling naturalists who can devote any time to the observation of Fungi. Besides Agaricus, in- cluding many of its sub-genera, we have Lentinus, a few Boleti and Polypori, Hexagonium and Merulius, Hydnum, Thelephora and Auricularia, Clavaria, Tremella, and Eridia ;—Gasteromycetes are much rarer ; I have not even met with the ubiquitous genus Nidularia. Ascemycetes are far from abundant: I have a few Pezize, Helvelle, and Spheria. Hitherto I have found no necrophytes, as Caterpillar Fungi, &c. Billets of decayed wood, especially the logs cut for fire-wood, are often beautifully phosphorescent ; the piles, some feet high, presenting a beautiful appearance in the forest by night, which is distinctly due to the presence of a Mycelium, whose area is circumscribed by a dark line. I have coaxed it much and long, by placing the logs in various places, to humour the Mycelium to perfect its fungus, but in vain. It penetrates deep into the decayed substance. To conclude, I may mention that the size which some of the Agaric? attain is very great, much greater than I have seen elsewhere. The pileus of one is fourteen inches in diameter, very fleshy, with a huge stipes : several species attain a diameter of eight and ten inches ; whilst others have stout stipites as many inches high. One more word about Fungi. The moulds do not spare even the best new and still odorous Russia leather ;—witness my writing-desk turning 4/ue, though placed within two yards of a good fire (but shaded from its direct rays). Morocco leather, of course, is even more liable to be affected. DARJEELING TO TONGLO. 17 Excursion from Darjeeling to Tonglo, a Mountain on the Frontier of Nepal. May 1848. On this trip I had the pleasure of my friend Mr. Charles Barnes’ company, who, by kindly taking charge of our camp and little com- missariat, left me wholly unimpeded and free to collect and observe. We had a kind loan of Major Crommelin’s small tent; and our party consisted of about twenty men, laden with provisions, instruments, papers for my plants, blankets, and cooking utensils. These people were principally Lepchas: each carried about 100 to 150 lbs. weight, in large conical baskets, shaped like gigantic strawberry pottles, only truncated at the base. A slip of bamboo passing across the forehead, aided by two shoulder-straps, supports the weight ; in the hand they have always a bamboo staff, with which, when resting, to prop the basket, and relieve the neck and forehead from the great strain.* It is almost incredible how far and how steadily these men will thus transport enormous loads. Our tent, when wet, weighed nearly 200 lbs. ; and yet one man carried it down a steep descent of 5,000 feet, across two spurs of upwards of 1,000 each, forded five rocky streams, and ascended 2,000 feet to our camping-ground, all within twelve hours! Such articles as will not go in the baskets are lashed up with bamboo or cane slips, in a piece of double bamboo wicker-work, enclosing many layers of leaves (generally of Scitaminee), which is waterproof: similar plaited work forms a shed for the head and the baskets, so that these people carry, snail-like, a rude house on their backs. The Lepcha umbrella is a hood of this kind, open in front, fitting over the head, and reaching to the hips. To see a party of natives coursing along in the rain under these apparently awkward, but, save for their weight, most convenient sheds, is suffi- —— ciently comical. All the limbs are free. Tonglo is a mountain about 10,000 feet high, due west from Dar- jeeling, and it rises from a ridge dividing Nepal from Sikkim. A broad — — valley, cut up by numerous spurs from the mountains N. and E., and * I have remarked gottre to be peculiarly common amongst the people who carry — — the baskets by the head-strap ; and in certain Bhothea villages, where the girls support —— the rice-baskets by the head-strap alone, the disease is universal. Amongst those Bhotheas, too, who convey salt from the Thibetan Passes to the Nepalese villages, it is most prevalent. I cannot but think that congestion of the in the neck may be a very predisposing cause of goitre, frequently as it is seen amongst mountain- - tribes, where carrying on the head prevails. I am, however, aware that this practice - will not aecount for the affection in many districts. SOME. YOL. II. D 18 DR, HOOKER's MISSION TO INDIA. from Tonglo itself, separates Tonglo from the Darjeeling spur ; and we have as many ascents and descents to make, before reaching its base. From the sanatorium it appears one mass of forest, its sides furrowed by deep ravines, the top a short ridge of a lurid grey green colour. Like all the other Sikkim Sub-Himalaya hills, the outline: of Tonglo is tame, everywhere steep, but never precipitous. _ The great mountain, Sinchul, on which Darjeeling stands, first catches the S. E. or rainy winds, and so empties the clouds in part, before they reach Tonglo. In the mornings, Tonglo is very frequently visible from Darjeeling, and the heavens blue and clear from its top to the zenith ; whilst all the eastern hemisphere, up to the very summit of Darjeeling ridge, shows a dense mass of mist and rain. Except during the rains (from June to September inclusive, when the surrounding scenery is very seldom descried), the mornings are generally the finest part of the day, and the western horizon is invariably clear. At from eight to ten, a. m., the mists rise from the eastward, and gather round Darjeeling. At this time, only, small spotted clouds are collected on Tonglo, which, as the atmosphere becomes more and more loaded with moisture, dilate, unite, and envelope the whole mountain, whose humid flanks then receive a copious supply. By the same rule, the breaking up of the diurnal rain commences from the east, the mists rising first from the Bhootan hills ; and it is not till their vapours are dissipated that the then drier wind reaches Tonglo and dispels its shroud too. Hitherto, Tonglo had only been visited by the Surveyor-General, on the previous year (1847), who obtained, through Government, a reluc- tant assent from the Sikkim Rajah to his taking observations from its summit. No other European had trodden it. On May the 19th, we left Darjeeling at a little before noon, and descended a steep spur, from 7,000 to about 2,000 feet above the sea. The zones of arboreous vegetation through which we passed are similar, and similarly disposed, to those noticed during the descent to the Great Runjeet River. First, Chestnuts, Oak, and Magnolia ; . second, Tree-fern ; third, Palms (Calamus) ; fourthly, Plantain ; and then a host of tropical genera. As the native paths lead, of necessity, along the less wooded ridges, the transition is not recognized immediately ; but on looking into the gorges on either hand, the relative positions of these conspicuous plants, between the elevations of 6 and 7,000 feet (to which all ascend), is very obvious. Firing the forest is so easy an operation 21 DARJEELING TO TONGLO. 19 on these great projecting spurs, which are really innumerable, that a good many patches of cultivation are met with at 3,—5,000 feet, the level most affected by the Lepchas and Limbos. Though living in such close proximity, using the same food, and exposed to exactly similar discomforts in climate, &c., these two races retain their widely different manners and customs. They are said to have mixed a little; but still I find no diffieulty in recognizing either tribe. I have described the Lepcha as eminently Tartar in features: the Limbo partakes of these peculiarities less decidedly in cut of nose, mouth, and above all, eyes ; but he is more markedly trans-Himalayan than even the Lepcha, from the absence of any beard or moustache, which the latter not unfrequently possesses after a meagre fashion. The Limbo is much less pleasing in features and address, more slender and sinewy, does not adopt the queue, lacks the pretty (when clean) cotton cloth, does not carry the Ban (or carving-knife in an open sheath), but the curious * Cookery,” or incurved heavy dagger of the Ghorkha (see a picture in Kirkpatrick’s * Nepal,—I have several of these weapons, which are capital for cutting a road through the forest). I believe the origin of the Limbos to be certainly Mongolian, i. e., from beyond the snow, and their ` chief residence is Eastern Nepal, where they long were harassed by the Ghorkhas and waged bloody wars. Only within these two days, news has come from Nepal of the Rajah having levied a conscription of 4,000 Limbos, and cantoned them at Cattmandu, where 1,000 died in a few short weeks of cholera. The tribes are now dreadfully alarmed, and at this moment flocking to Darjeeling for protection. Dr. Camp- bell, the British Resident, tells me that many of them have entered our military service, which the Lepcha abhors. The Limbo houses, which I have seen, are mere hovels, very like and as rude as those of the Irish peasants, with a plaited or grass thatch, curving over the top. The structure is quite unlike the large house with low but pitched roof of the Bhothea and Lepcha, its broad stage or platform, and dairy and piggery underneath. Their language is less harsh (and zezzish, or tsezzish, to coin an expression) than the Lepcha, and is not, I believe, written, like the latter. Another distinction between the Lepeha and the Limbo is, that the first burn and then bury the ashes ; while the latter inter their dead. I had a Limbo in my service for a month or two, but though not precisely an “objectionable,” he was far from an “interesting character,” or such as a traveller seeks to D 2 20 DR. HOOKER'S MISSION TO INDIA. employ, when anxious to make the most of a short residence amongst strange people. I have seen several of their tombs: all were mounds of earth, surrounded with a diminutive paling of sticks, placed cross-wise (like a garden-plot border), and had eggs and pebbles scattered over them. My Lepchas could not interpret this symbol. The little village, or rather hamlet of Singtam, is near the base of the .spur, and inhabited by Lepchas, Limbos, and Murmis, who are decidedly segregated in groups. The soil is a much richer, deeper loam than occurs about Darjeeling, where a stiffer clay prevails ; but I did not determine to what this difference between the soil of the upper and lower slopes of the same mountain is owing, whether to the nature of the rock, which from its felspathic nature abounds in alumina* above, or to the presence of other materials tansported, or if it is due to the disintegration of a different rock below. Here no stone was exposed, but a little lower down mica-schist was the prevailing species. In these positions the soil is very fertile, owing in part to the ashes of the tall forest, destroyed to make room for agriculture. Rice, of species requiring no irrigation, Panica, Paspala, Eleusine, and Milium, are the Cerealia,—Buck-wheat and Barley frequent higher levels. A solitary blackened tree-stump, often hollow, disfigures the fields, and is used as a look-out post, where a watcher guards his field by night from the ravages of the bears and deer, which occasionally fall victims to his poisoned arrow. Nothing is so striking as the great steepness of the cultivated spots. So good a soil, well manured, more- over, by the burnt ashes of the aboriginal vegetation, must be highly pro- ductive; but where it coats a steep hill-slope, and is exposed to the rains of five months, it cannot long remain so, and may therefore -possibly afford a clue to the wandering habits of the Lepcha, who never holds his land for more than three years, at the expiration of which time he seeks a new site. The large Bamboo and Gordonia Wallichii are the prevailing botanical features of the dry earthy slopes of all these spurs. "The latter ascends to 4,000 feet; the former (of this species), scarcely so high. There are, however, so many kinds of Bamboo, they so seldom flower, require so much experience in their native states, and so cautious * The subsoil, or clayey stratum, frequent over the gneiss rock of Darjeeling, contains 30 per cent. of alumina, according to an analysis made for me by my excellent friends Messrs. J. and C. Müller. DARJEELING TO TONGLO. 921 an examination from the botanist, that it is next to impossible to define the limits of the ten or twelve species easily distinguished by the Lepehas. One, a very large kind, is used for Choongis, or water- buckets, it is as thick as a man’s thigh; another for quivers, a third for flutes, a fourth for walking-sticks, again another for plaiting-work (baskets, &c.), and a sixth for arrows; while a still larger sort serves for bows—the Lepcha bow being always made of a piece of Bamboo. It would take many pages to describe the numerous purposes which the various Bamboos serve, even in Sikkim alone. In an econo- mical point of view they may be classed into those which do, and those which do not, split readily. The young shoots of one or more are eaten; and the seeds of another, raw, or cooked, or made into a fermented drink. By two, p. m., we arrived at the bottom of the first valley, where a. stream called Rishi-hoat flows to the Runjeet, over beds of mica-schist, with boulders of gneiss from the hills above. Though the temperature was only 77°, the closeness of the valley and reflected heat from the black soil of the cultivated hills on either bank, rendered the air oppressively hot. Temperature of the waier 70°, and that of a little cataract which emptied itself into the stream hard by was 68°. Chloranthus, Ferns, ome fine Fici (one producing an enormous edible fruit, which is fleshy and good, especially when stewed), grew on the . banks, with a very handsome climbing 4maranthaceous plant, which covers the trunks of the loftiest timber-trees, at 5 and 6,000 feet, and completely obscures them. From the river we ascended a very steep cultivated slope (of 35° to our feelings, but steeps always appear very much more abrupt than they really are) : it was covered with a young maize crop. The Maize is occasionally hermaphrodite in Sikkim, the bisexual flowers forming an immense drooping panicle, and ripening small grains. This phenomenon is very rare, and the specimens of it - are preserved as great curiosities for presents; Campbell has procured me an excellent one. At a Lepcha village, the population turned out to look at us, men and women together, leaning their arms on one _ another’s shoulders, as school-boys wont to do: the men are active and lively, the women frank, children vastly humorous and chubby. We gave the latter, as usual, some small silver coin, which their parents pierce and hang, together with all sorts of silver and copper ornaments, - pebbles, beads made of seed, coarse turquoise, &c., roundtheir little necks, 28 DR. HOOKER'S MISSION TO INDIA. The head-man of the village wore a peacock's feather in his cap, a thoroughly Chinese symbol of authority. All paid much respect to a very old man, who declared himself above 100, but still had some teeth and black hair left. I could not guess what his age really was, his features being contradictory ; the signs of youth I have already men- tioned, those of extreme longevity were equally obvious, in the fore- head, eyes, complexion, &c. Pigs were the principal live stock, and were carefully tended, and fed out of troughs like English swine. There are several villages on this, the Choongtong spur, all small, and if inhabited by Lepchas, only temporary. The Bhooteas, or Thibetan settlers, are more industrious, and they cultivate the same spot for many years. A Lysimachia (like nemorum) grew on the ridge, at 3,000 feet elevation, with Mussenda, a tree very conspicuous from its snowy calycine leaves, whitening the tree. We arrived, five p. m., at the Little Runjeet River, which flows into the Great Runjeet, to the north of this place. Its bed is rocky and very steep, in a deep forest, with Marlea on its banks. The valley was hot (75°) and close, full of innumerable minute flies, which float like specks before the eye. Their bite leaves a spot of extravasated blood under the cuticle.* They are called Peepsas, and sometimes disfigure the Lepchas’ naked legs so much, that it is surprising they do not resort to wearing some sort of hose. A small wild mulberry, Morus Indica, hitherto, I believe, unknown ina wild state, frequents the margin of the river, its fruit is small and not bad eating ; together with several Rudiacee, Gardenia, and Rondeletia, Fici of six or seven species, some dwarf, others arboreous, Réttlera and Zuphorbiacee, many Cucurbitacee, Citrus, Terebinthacee, Sterculia, and a few Ferns. The Grasses are not up yet, nor the. Scitaminee. . Temperature of water, 69°. On crossing the Little Runjeet by a bridge of logs, we ascended’ another very sharp and steep ridge from the base of Tonglo, about 500 feet above the river, and then encamped for the night. The soil was bare and burnt, with some aphyllous terrestrial Orchidee. Two species of Oak grow at this elevation (3,000 feet): one, with a very small and elegant acorn, is a slender tree; the other, a larger and robust species, has broad acorns in heavy woody cups, and sessile leaves. Large Bamboo forms the usual jungle, with two Calami, and several * If the little sac of blood be not opened, the bite, though small, becomes irritating and annoying. Vol. IL. P11, ago ene i £ a j $ i LO P eem psu " un A ig ort FAL no i < vai h d. \ ili nones HN Vu uu seg sitire Fitch dé nih ue i 2c 2 t - a Reeve Derham b Hoeve Cnllant à mq. VOlleciul ng loddy. bet VoLIL PLL sl Ko n (KA BSS as (AE oxy WT M Ej uS =. am > Rees DEL Oe Re cm i nmt I III Ale ba ee qe Piin. utt — Reeve, Benham b Reeve im Fitch del et lith. Implements for colleeting Toddv. BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 23 other dwarf Palms, Epiphytal Orchidee, Fici trailing on the ground, some with long prostrate ramuli and entirely leafless, but producing a fine crop of ground-figs, greedily eaten by the Lepchas, and not very bad. The foliaceous branches are erect, very different and difficult to prove of the same plant, and bear sessile oblong leaves, singularly oblique at the base, very rough, and used for polishing. There are several species of this groupe; one grows at 6,000 feet.* The night was calm and moonlight, with blue sky and a little cirrhus, no dew or rain. A thermometer sunk two feet stood at 78° both this night and the following morning, which is, no doubt, the average bottom-heat required for plants from the bases of the Hima- laya, and 55° or 60° for those of Darjeeling. The temperature of the air at the base varies during the year, probably from 50° or 60° at the coldest, to 90° and 100°. At an elevation above 6,000 feet, the mean variations are much less, from 40° to 70°: any greater degree of cold would certainly kill most of the Darjeeling plants, if continued for a day or two, (To be continued.) BOTANICAL INFORMATION. ToDDYMEN AND Toppy IMPLEMENTS. PLATES I. and II. Toddy, or Palm-wine, is extracted from several kinds of palms; perhaps from none more extensively than from the common cocoa-nut, = ; = Cocos nucifera,—a tree, of which M. de Tussac says, “ Il est difficile de — — refuser à cet arbre la prééminence pour la beauté sur beaucoup d'autres espèces du genre Palmier. Qu'on se figure une belle colonne de - soixante à quatre-vingts pieds d'élevation, dont le chapiteau est formé - de feuilles immenses, courbées également en différens sens, et formant - un panache dont toutes les parties s'agitent mollement par l'impulsion _ des vents. Les fleurs produisent assez peu d'effets, quoique en très- * One ome of this eminently tropical genus grows in Sikkim at A4 9,000 feet T 24 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. grand nombre; mais la grappe de fruits, qu'on nomme régime, est par sa richesse un véritable ornement pour cet ordre.” One of the cases in the Museum of the Royal Gardens, contains a fine cluster (régime) of these fruits, together with some of the many products of the plant. Our stoves, too, exhibit several healthy young plants, from two to eight or ten feet high; most of them still seem sprout- ing from the husk of the fruit, which, enclosing the seed, was partially buried in the soil to induce germination. Beyond a certain age, how- ever, probably eight or ten years, the cocoa-nut trees are generally found to sicken and die, for want of a saline atmosphere; these palms in tropical regions always affecting the vicinity of the sea or saline rivers, never flourishing far inland. Our object in the present notice is to give a brief account of the mode of extracting the Toddy or Palm-wine from this tree, as practised in the Madras Peninsula; and this we are enabled to do through the kindness of J. M. Strachan, Esq., of Teddington Grove, Middlesex, who has presented to our Museum an excellent drawing made on the spot, of Toddymen at their labour (copied at our Tab. I.), together with the implements employed for this purpose (represented at our Tab. IL), accompanied by explanatory notes. These notes, and our illustrative plates, will be better understood if we first extract from Dr. Buchanan Hamilton’s * Travels in Malabar’ his account of the process :— «The Cocoa-nut Palm, after having been transplanted, begins to bear in from thirteen to sixteen years. It continues in full vigour for forty years, and lives for about thirty years more, but is then constantly on the decline. When the trees show flower for the first time, a trial is made by cutting a young flowering-branch, to ascertain whether it be fit for producing Palm-wine. If the incision bleeds, it is fit for the latter purpose, and is more valuable than a tree whose flower-branch, when cut, con- tinues dry and is fit only for producing nuts. The Palms fit for wine are then let to the Tiars, or Shanars, who extract the juice and boil it down to Jaggary, or distil it to extract Arrack. In a good soil the trees yield juice all the year; but on a poor soil they are exhausted in six months. A clever workman can manage thirty or forty trees, and pays annually for each from one to one and a half fanam. When the spadix, or flowering-branch, is half shot, and the spatha, or covering of the flowers, is not yet opened, the Tiar cuts off its point, binds the stump BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 25 round with a leaf, and”beats the remaining part of the spadix with a small stick. For fifteen days this operation is repeated, a thin slice being daily removed. The stump then begins to bleed, and a pot is fixed under it to receive the juice, or Call, which the English call Zoddy. Every day afterwards a thin slice is taken from the surface of the stump, which is then secured by a ligature ; but after it has begun to bleed the beating is omitted. The juice is removed once a day. If it be intended for drinking, nothing is put into the pot, and it will keep for three days. On the fourth it becomes sour, and what has not been sold to be drunk while fermenting, is distilled into arrack. In the pots intended to receive juice which is to be boiled to Jaggary, a little quick-lime should be put to prevent fermentation, and the juice must be boiled on the same day that it is taken from the tree. Twelve trees daily fill a large vessel with juice, which, when boiled down, gives six balls of Jaggary, each worth one caas. The cocoa-nut palm, during the season that it is productive, pushes out a new spadiz once a month ; and after each spadix begins to bleed, it continues to yield freely for a month, by which time another is ready to supply its place. The old spadix continues to yield a little juice for another month, after which it withers; so that there are never more than two pots on oneztree. Each of these spadices, if allowed to grow, would produce a bunch of nuts, containing from two to twenty. When the nuts are very numerous, they attain but an inconsiderable size, and are of little value ; and from seven to ten nuts may be considered as the average produce of each bunch. Trees in a favourable soil produce twelve bunches in the year: ordinary trees give only six bunches. From this it does not appear to me that the gross average produce can be possibly caleulated at less than fifty nuts a tree." - EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. — Tar. I. and IT. The plate (Tab. i.) represents three Toddymen, two in the fore- ground, and the other ascending a Cocoa-nut tree. The shed behind is a temporary Toddy-bazaar, generally kept by a woman, who is helping the figure, shown in the attitude of drinking, to another draught of toddy. ; 2 ~ The figures in the foreground are represented equipped with the as apparatus necessary to their vocation. The ropes, passing round the — . body of the man on the left side of the first plate, and carried on the ^ VOL. II. E : 26 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. left arm of the other, are used in climbing the Cocoa-nut trees, and made of cow or buffalo hide, twisted whilst in its raw state (and are further represented in Plate ii. figs. 9 and 10). The small ladder serves for scaling the trees, to the height of about eight or nine feet from the ground. The small pendent water-tight baskets (Tab. ii. fig. 6), made of tender Cadjans or Palmyra-leaves, are used for holding the toddy which is poured into them: and the cases (Plate ii. fig. 1), fastened on the right sides of both figures, contain each a hooked knife ' (Tab. ii. fig. 3), a small hard-wood stick, or bludgeon, for beating the spadices of the trees (Tab. ii. fig. 4), a wooden strop (Tab. ii. fig. 2) to sharpen the knives (aided by a little emery-powder, carried within the hollow of a small bamboo), and a small bundle of strips of the Cocoa-nut leaf (not represented). These are the implements necessary for the Toddyman’s calling. The Cocoa-nut leaf over the shoulder of the left figure is supposed to be his perquisite, from which he manufactures mats: the manner of making them is by splitting the leaf in twain, and plaiting the fronds together; these mats are used for the purpose of sitting or sleeping upon, and when dry serve for screens, or for the covering of slight verandahs, panáals, &c. The method of climbing the cocoa-nut tree is this. A loop of rope (Tab. ii. fig. 9) is placed over the feet of the Toddyman to keep them from separating further than the extent allowed by the rope, which in ascending the tree is secured from being hurt by a short gaiter, or guard of thick leather (Tab. ii. figs. 7, 8). The large rope (Tab. ii. fig. 10) is then passed round the tree, as well as round the body of the Toddy- man: it is then secured, and forms a sort of band, encircling both the trunk of the tree and the body of the climber. He then raises this larger rope to a level with the arm-pits, and places his feet against the trunk of the tree. By pressing his hands forcibly against the tree, he raises . his feet about eighteen inches, and rests the full weight of his person on the large band. He nexts takes hold of the large band by one hand, keeping the other against the tree (as shown in the figure climb- . img), and, by raising the rope with a sudden jerk, places himself in a . position for again lifting his feet ; and so the operation of ascending is repeated, till he reaches the top. When he reaches the required height, the rope is shifted from the shoulders to the waist: the man then supports himself with ease and has both his hands free. BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 27 ‘The manner of extracting toddy is as follows:—When the spadix is about to flower, the point is cut off and bound round tight with a ligature made of the strip of a branch of the Cocoa-nut tree. It is then beaten or bruised with the bludgeon before mentioned, twice a day, for a week or more; a thin slice being pared off at each time of beating. The spadix thus treated begins to “tear,” or emit a juice, which is toddy, and which is collected in a small earthen pot, tied to the spadix, as well as to an upper branch of the tree, for that purpose, (as shown in the plates, Tab. i., and at fig. 5 of Plate ii.) The Cocoa-nut tree toddy, when fresh drawn and unadulterated, is: of a pleasant sweet flavour, but when kept till it becomes acid, it is intoxicating: to render it more so, the fruit and leaves of the thorn- apple (Datura Stramonium) are bruised into the jar or pot containing the beverage for sale at the licensed toddy-shops ; and in that state it is eagerly drunk by the natives. Toddy produces Jaggary. Arrack is also distilled from toddy, and it makes, besides, a vinegar of tolerable m quality. * Toddy is usually extracted from the Cocoa-nut trees one half of the year, and they yield fruit the other half. The Toddymen are industrious people of the Seva sect: they eat animal food of all kinds, excepting beef, and drink distilled liquors. CHINESE “ RIcE-PAPER,” or “ Bok-SuuNo." 7 l Thanks to our most obliging friend, Capt. Wm. Loring, R.N., who has put us in communication with several intelligent gentlemen now resident in China, we are in a fair way of obtaining correct intelligence relative to many interesting scientific objects, and of having our doubts — solved on some important botanical matters. J. H. Layton, Esg., _ H. B. Majesty's Consul at Amoy, China, has most kindly sent us not only excellent specimens of the pith from which the so-called Rice- - paper is formed, but a model of the knife used in cutting it, and, what _ is even of more value, the following information. . The substance, commonly called Rice-paper by the Chinese, is made from the pith of a plant or tree, which grows principally in the swampy grounds in the province of Sam-swi, in the northern part of the island E 2 > 28 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. of Formosa, where it is said to form large forests. The bark and rind are, previous to exportation, stripped from the pith, which is then called Bok-shung. The iron knife commonly used for cutting this pith weighs about 21 lbs., and is of the roughest and coarsest workmanship,* and per- haps not one blade in twenty is sufficiently well tempered to be advan- tageously used. In cutting, the knife is kept quite steady, the cylin- drical pith being moved round and round against the edge of the knife, which is just inserted into the substance, and thus a leaf or sheet is -formed resembling the most delicate paper, but rather thick in sub- stance. When brought quickly from the workman’s hands the paper is in a damp state. It may have been rendered so, in order to facilitate the smoothing and pressing. At Chang-chew, the large city of which Amoy is the sea-port, there is only one man who can cut this paper. This person ran away from his master in Formosa, and refuses to teach his trade except for a premium of 60 dollars. It is said that there isa neat method of joining this paper when broken, and that it is chiefly made from the smaller pieces of the Bok- shung, and that the larger pieces are used in medicine in the same way as Epsom salts. 5 "ps d It is in vain to conjecture, from the pith alone, to what plant or tree this exquisitely beautiful substance belongs. The vulgar opinion still generally prevails, that, because it bears the name of Rice-paper, it is manufactured from Rice; but the slightest inspection with a micro- scope exhibits the exquisitely delicate medullary portion of a dicotyle- donous stem. Again, from an affinity with the well-known Shola T of the East Indies, many have supposed, and even Chinese travellers have declared, that Rice-paper is made from this, the Æschynomene paludosa. But a comparison of the two will clearly show the difference. Both are light and spongy ; but the Shola is far less delicate than the Bok- shung, and is always exported “peeled,” the external coatings being removed; whereas the Shola is always sent covered with its thin brown * The model (of wood) sent would indicate this. It has a very broad straight ae - S — straight handle, and is more like a small bill hok (wanting the t = which floats and buoys for fishermen, and the very light hats of Sincapore, are made, BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 29° bark. A Chinese drawing of what is said to be the Rice-paper plant is in possession of Dr. Lindley, but neither flower nor fruit is represented: —some have conjectured this to be a Malvaceous plant, others Aralia- ceous. We have seen in the branches of the common Fig, Ficus Carica, a copious medulla, very much resembling, in its texture and pure whiteness, that of the Bok-shung. We have the gratification of knowing that our Consul at Amoy will use his best endeavours to procure flowering specimens of the plant itself. Mr. SrRUCE'S Amazonian Plants. We have (Dec. 17) just received from Mr. Spruce very interesting accounts of his botanical success in the vicinity of Parà, some particulars of which we shall give in an early number of the Journal. At present we must content ourselves with mentioning that besides some cases of living plants and specimens for the Museum of Kew, &c., there is an Herbarium of 300 species despatched to Mr. Bentham, who, as we have already announced, has kindly undertaken to number and name and distribute them to the subscribers. M. Bonczav's Plants of the South of Spain. M. Borgeau writes to us from Paris, after having successfully accom- plished his journey to the south of Spain. He has brought a very large col- lection with him, of which the fullest subscribers’ sets will amount to — nearly 600 species, and the smallest to between 3 and 400. A consider- able number have proved to be new, and M. Cosson is preparing a descriptive catalogue upon them. We have reason to know that not more than two sets remain in hand; and no wonder, when the beauty of M. Borgeau’s specimens is viewed in conjunction with the very moderate cost. Should this notice meet the eyes of any one desirous purchasing a set, we would recommend his writing to “ M. a a No. 8, Rue du Chaume, Paris.” 30 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. WILLKOMM’S proposed Botanical Journey into Spain. By the death of my lamented father on the 14th of September of this year, and family affairs resulting from it, I have been forced to desist from the execution of my scheme for a scientific tour through Spain and Portugalin the autumn of the current year, as detailed in my prospectus issued on the Ist of July. But I do not intend to relinquish my plan; lam, on the contrary, the more intent on its execution, as I am enabled, by the inheritance left to me by my late father, to perform . the tour partly with my own means. "Therefore I have now irrevocably fixed the term of my departure in April of the ensuing year, and intend to visit at first the north-eastern parts of Spain. The plan, as developed by me in the printed prospectus, will be kept constantly in view, though slightly altered in the order of the successive stages of the journey, in regard to the inverted order of the seasons. All who may intend to take part in the results of my journey will please to address themselves, post paid, before the 1st of April, to me (Leipzig, Plauenscher Platz, No. 1), and after this date to Mr. Bernhard Auers- wald, teacher at the ** Erste Dürgerschule" (Peterstrasse, No. 7). The English subscribers will receive the collections directly from Spain by the steamers of the Peninsular Company. The first series, containing the plants of eastern, northern, and north-western Spain, and the north of Portugal, will arrive in England in December 1850, at latest. It is to be hoped that on receiving their parcels the subscribers will not defer to pay the amount of their subscription in full, or at least the half of it; as only under this condition am I enabled to execute the tour sketched out, so completely as it is desirable for the interests of science and of the subscribers themselves. The instalments I beg may be remitted in good bills to Mr. Charles Unthoff, Saxon Consul at Cadiz. Maurice WILLKOMM. Leipzig, Noy. 16, 1849. Mr. DrumMonn’s Plants of South-west Australia. _ The friends of Botany will be glad to learn that fourteen sets of most interesting and well-preserved specimens of South-west Australian BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 31 plants have been received by Mr. Havard (Young-street, Kensington) for distribution to the subscribers. Each collection consists of 550 species, including many entirely new, and of a most remarkable cha- racter, and others of the greatest rarity and very different from those sent by the same zealous and meritorious naturalist in his former trans- missions. We do not denominate them ** Swan River" plants, because they are procured far away from that settlement, during journeys under- taken by Mr. Drummond to the south and east, in an attempt to reach Lucky Bay, which intention was frustrated by a dreadful attack of ophthalmia, rendering him quite blind for a fortnight, and able to travel after that for some time only during the night, his eyes not being able to bear the light of day. The writer of this notice can safely say that he has rarely seen so great a number of fine and. remarkable species arrive at one time from any country. The price, as usual, is £2 the hundred species, together with the share of freight, &c. Appli- cations may be made to Mr. Havard. Some particulars of Mr. Drummond's discoveries during one of the above journeys, namely that to Cape Riche (a second visit to that fertile locality), are given in the preceding volume of our present Journal, p. 247. But of the previous excursion, that destined for Lucky Bay, and which, from the illness above mentioned, extended only to about one hundred miles from the Swan River, the particulars have only now reached us. The plants gathered on this tour constitute what Mr. Drummond has marked as a * Supplement" to the 450 now also sent, collected during the second Cape Riche journey, and he alludes to some of them in the following extracts. — * Several of the Profeacee are very interesting: among them is a very curious and beautiful Dryandra, with long, entire, and very narrow leaves. There are two Grevillie, one with large fennel-like leaves, and - flowers so compacted as almost to resemble a Banksia, and of a deep rose-colour; the other has large glaucous holly-like leaves, in habit resembling a robust Hakea. I found several remarkable Myrtaceous plants; one appears to be a new genus, with flowers (though smaller) - as handsome as those of a pomegranate, which they resemble in shape and colour. It is prostrate with dotted heath-like leaves, and a free(!) _ seed vessel within the permanent pitcher-shaped tube of the calyx; inthis _ particular resembling Dr. Lindley’s beautiful Salisia pulchella, of which — I now send excellent specimens. There are some remarkable — ies 92 NOTICES OF BOOKS, and one, that I take to be of this order, has the general aspect of an annual Myosotis, with three kinds of florets; fertile female florets, with a two-cleft style ; an equal number of barren female, with a club- shaped three-lobed style ; and minute cup-shaped florets, which contain the pollen. You will also receive a singular plant, resembling Poly- carpon, but having the seeds in three distinct cells, and attached by filaments to the valves. There are three sessile stigmas, three to five stamens, and five sepals, but the three inner ones are not on the same level with the two outer divisions, and may perhaps be considered petals. The plant is a bushy annual, about one foot high, growing in a dried-up lake.” NOTICES OF BOOKS. DE VRIESE, Analecta Goodenoviarum. We can announce the appearance of the two first numbers of the above valuable work, under the title of “ Analecta Goodenoviarum ad auctoritatem Herbariorum Musei Caesarei Vindobonensis, Lessertit, Hookeri, Lindleji, Preissii, aliorum, proponit Gurt. HgxR. DE VRIESE,” &c. &c. After some preliminary observations, the first number is devoted to the genera, 1. Dampiera, Br., “ recensio nova,” of which thirty-three species are enumerated :—and Scevola, L., ** justis cireum- scripta limitibus," including nine species. : The second number commences with an article entitled ** De novis generibus Goodenoviarum." These new genera are made at the expense of Scevola; and are, 1. Temminckia (of which Scevola Chamissoniana, . Gaud. in Freye., Voy. Bot. t. 81, may be considered the type), eight species. 2. Camphusia (Scevola glabra, Hook. et Arn.), one species. 3. Merkusia (Scevola crassifolia, Labill., &c.), twenty-five species. The remaining article of this number is called ** Goodenovie Mitchel- liane,” including 1. Linschotenia, nov. gen., one species. 2. Goodenia, of which four species are enumerated, one new; and 3. Velleya, one new species. We trust the remaining numbers will soon follow. 33 Contributions to the Botany of WESTERN INDIA; by N. A. DALZELL, Ese., M.A. (Mr. Dalzell is one of the few zealous and intelligent botanists residing in the Bombay Presidency, a region many parts of which have assuredly been less explored than almost any portion of the vast possessions of the East India Company; and we are sure that our readers will be glad to see in these pages occasional notices of new genera and species from so able a naturalist, —Ep.] LEGUMINOSZ. PHASEOLUS. Ph. sepiarius ; volubilis glaber, foliolis submembranaceis late ovatis acuminatis mucronatis basi 3-nerviis, foliolis lateralibus insequilateris basi subtruncatis, stipulis basin versus adnatis ovato-lanceolatis, peduneulis folio subduplo longioribus, floribus racemoso-capitatis, pedicellis geminis e glandularum basi ortis, calycis laciniis subulatis 3-nerviis, labio superiore profunde bidentato, bracteolis sub calyce linearibus acutis pedicelli longitudine, legumine tereti stricto poly- spermo piloso pilis brevibus brunneis nitentibus. Semina reniformia. Flores majusculi, rosei. Radix tuberosa, edulis.— Crescit undique in sepibus ; f. Sept. Ph. setulosus; volubilis, ramis petiolis pedunculisque setulis sparsis rufo-brunneis retrorsum hispidulis, foliolis herbaceis glabris rhombeo- ovatis vix acutis margine ciliolatis, foliolis lateralibus inzequilateris, stipulis ovatis obtusis ciliatis infra medium adnatis multinerviis, pedunculis folio brevioribus, floribus racemoso-capitatis, pedicellis brevissimis geminis e glandularum basi ortis, calycis glabri campa- nulati labio superiore subintegro truncato, inferiore brevissime 3-dentato, dentibus obtusis, bracteolis ciliolatis lanceolatis calycem eequantibus, legumine tereti stricto gracili setulis minutis scabro, polyspermo bipollicari, seminibus cylindricis 12-13. Flowers of the same size and colour as Ph. trinervis. The seeds | are enveloped in and divided by a spongy kind of pith, and are furnished with a membranous transparent covering over the testa, - which envelope is minutely striated, aud takes its origin from round — the base of the podosperm.— Crescit in provincià Malwan ; Jf. e VOL, II. F 34 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE BOTANY OF FLEMINGIA. F, tuberosa ; perennis, radice tuberosa e basi ramosa prostrata, ramis remulisque parce patenti-pilosulis vel glabris longissimis filiformibus, folis irifoliolatis foliolis anguste lanceolatis acutis eglandulosis subtus in nervis pilosulis marginibus recurvis lateralibus. inzequila- teris, petiolo piloso foliolis paulo breviore, stipulis lineari-subulatis basi connatis caducissimis, racemis axillaribus dichotomo-paniculatis paucifloris folio longioribus, floribus geminis iu apice pedunculi filiformis subsessilibus, ovario pubescente biovulato, legumine glabro calycem pilosum æquante. Flores lilacini. Calyx infra medium eequaliter 5-fidus, laciniis linearibus acutis 3-nerviis. Corolla calyce paulo longior. Vexillum latum, ecallosum, dorso pubescens, calcare carnosulo inflexo ; a/z late, obtuse ; carina sinistrorsum contorta. Filamentum vexillare basi geniculatum ibique dente brevi obtusissimo instructum. Stigma penicillatum. Legumen medio paulo constrictum, apicem versus transverse reticulatum, Zuber bipollicare, esculentum.—Crescit in provincia Malwan ; f. Sept. CROTALARIA. C. triquetra; annua e basi ramosa, ramis prostratis acute trigonis patenti-pilosis, stipulis ovatis acutis reflexis, foliis oblongo-ellipticis basi subcordatis brevi-petiolatis supra glabris subtus sparse patenti- pilosis, racemis oppositifoliis folio 6—7-plo longioribus pauci-(3) -floris, floribus mediocribus distantibus pedicellatis, bracteis triangularibus acutis, bracteolis sub calyce minutis setaceis, pedicello calycem sub- æquante, calycis adpresse villosi 5-partiti laciniis acutis subsequalibus vexillo dimidio brevioribus, ovario multiovulato, legumine adpresse | villoso stipitato oblongo calyce 3-4-plo longiore, vexillo suborbiculari dorso apicem versus sericeo, stipulis petiolisque zequilongis. Folia 13 poll. longa, 7 lineas lata, Racemi trigoni, 6-pollicares. — Crescit in provincia Malwan ; fl. Sept. This belongs to Wight and Arnott's section “ diffuse,” and differs from all in that section by its acutely trigonal stems and branches. C. lutescens; annua erecta elata parce ramosa glabra, ramis teretibus, stipulis nullis, foliis elliptieo-oblongis utrinque glabris junioribus interdum subtus parce adpresse villosulis, racemis terminalibus sim- WESTERN INDIA. 35 plicibus paucifloris, floribus majusculis distantibus longe pedicellatis, bracteis persistentibus bracteolisque sub calyce subulatis minutis, pedicello calycem :equante, calycis glabri laciniis superioribus subulatis vexillo dimidio brevioribus, ovario multiovulato, legumine glabro cylindrico stipitato calyce 3-plo longiore, vexillo amplo polli- cari cordato-ovato acutiusculo dorso multistriato apice parce pilosulo sub anthesi omnino reflexo, alis carina brevioribus, carina apice contorta dorso linea pilosa instructa. Folia 2-24 poll. longa, 10-15 lin. lata, pallida, lutescentia. C. peduncu- lari affinis, sed folia multo latiora, nec acuminata.— Crescit in pro- vincià Malwan ; ff. Aug. et Sept. CLITORIA. C. biflora ; caule erecto lineis pilosis striato, foliolis ovatis vel lanceo- latis acutis, supra parce subtus confertim strigosis, stipulis stipellisque setaceis, pedunculis brevissimis bifloris, bracteis parvis lanceolato- acuminatis bracteolis amplis ovatis acuminatis, calycis tubulosi pilosi dentibus setaceo-acuminatis, vexillo glaberrimo, ovario sericeo.— Crescit ubique; Jf. Sept. Flowers half the size of those of C. Ternatea, pale blue. Macronyx (Subtribe Galegeze), Genus novum. Gen. CHAR. Calyx tubulosus, bilabiatus, labio superiore bi- inferiore tridentato. Corolle papilionacez petala longe unguiculata, subzequi- longa; vexillum rotundatum, sub anthesi reflexum ; ale liber, stricta, oblongz, obtuse; caring obtuse petala superne leviter coherentia, alis paululum breviora. Stamina 10,alterna breviora, filamento vexillari de libero. Anthere rotundatz, conformes. Ovarium pluri-ovulatum, ovulis 2 funiculisque compressis æquilongis ; stylus brevis, incurvus; stigma capitatum., Zegumen compressum, lineare, rectum, strigosum, margi- nibus incrassatis, valvis inter semina cohsrentibus, 7—8-spermum. Herba annua, facie Lathyri Nissolia ; foliis simplicibus, pedunculis unifloris; floribus parvis. : M. strigosus.* Herba annua, diffusa, caulibus adscendentibus, filiformibus, strigosis, * A nearly-allied species of this genus, if not identical with it, is the Tephrosia’ S tenuis, Wall Cat, No. 5970 (from Sezaen, 1826), which our friend Captain Munro also detected at Futtehpore, in Sikri.—ED. F2 36 E D. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE BOTANY Or folis simplicibus, linearibus vel anguste ellipticis, mucronatis, 3-nerviis, nervis duobus marginalibus, intermedio penninervio: stipulis parvis, subulatis, petiolo brevi bistipellato zequalibus. Pedunculi axillares, solitarii vel gemini, capillares, folio breviores, uniflori. Calyx 1 lin. longus, strigosus, dentibus e basi lata subulatis, infimo paulo longiore. Petalorum ungues filiformes, calycis tubum eequantes. Corolla 2 lin. longa, cerulea ; vexillum dorso strigosum, margine ciliatum.. Rami teretes, 5-6 poll. longi; folia pollicaria, 2 lin. lata. Legumen 8-9 lin. longum, 1-11 lin. latum.—In locis lapidosis frequens. Quoad habitum, Orobi species ad memoriam revocat. Floret mense Augusto. Genus Zephrosia affine. INDIGOFERA. triquetra (non Meyeni) ; perennis, caulibus e radice lignosa plurimis herbaceis acute trigonis prostratis apice adscendentibus glabris, foliis subsessilibus ellipticis mucronatis supra glabris subtus strigosis pellucido-punctatis 10 lin. longis 6 lin. latis, stipulis subulatis, racemis axillaribus elongatis folio 3—4-plo longioribus multi-(20—25)- floris, rachi aeute trigona glabra, floribus (purpureis) brevissime pedunculatis, pedunculis fructiferis reflexis, calycis 5-partiti laciniis subulatis sub anthesi patentibus pilis albidis strigosis, corolla calyce duplo longiore, vexillo rotundato emarginato dorso strigoso, carina apice pubescente, antheris apiculatis, ovario 6-ovulato pilis reflexis albidis strigoso, legumine lineari apice mucronato tetragono tetra- ptero 5-spermo 6—7 lin. longo lineam lato. — Crescit in collibus saxosis provincie Malwan. DALBERGIA. monosperma; frutex volubilis, foliolis 5 alternis obovatis vel cuneato- ovalibus apice mucronulatis supra glaberrimis subtus glaucescentibus minute puberulis, petiolis pedunculisque pubescentibus, racemis axillaribus solitariis vel geminis simplicibus paucifloris folio multo brevioribus, calycis glabri laciniis rotundatis parvis, corolla alba ealyce subduplo longiore, staminibus 10 in vaginam supra fissam coalitis, antheris transverse dehiscentibus, ovario glabro 1-ovulato, stipulis linearibus ferrugineo-tomentosis, legumine pollicari obscure reticulato lunulato l-spermo, semine compresso reniformi.— Crescit in collibus provineie Malwan ; f. Jun. I was at first disposed to take this for D. congesta, but there are too WESTERN INDIA. 37 many points of difference to allow this opinion to be tenable. In this species there are no fine parallel diverging veins; the upper surface of the leaves is perfectly glabrous, even in the youngest ones ; the racemes are always simple, and the stamens 10,—the dehiscence of these is peculiar. : D. waciefolia ; scandens fruticosa, staminibus monadelphis, foliis alternis foliolis 20—24-jugis alternis linearibus apice obtusis vel emarginatis basi inzquilateris supra subglabris nitidis subtus stri- gosis, petiolis paniculisque ferrugineo-tomentosis, paniculis axillari- bus terminalibusque folio multo brevioribus, calyce pubescenti basi bibracteolato 5-dentato dentibus obtusis, ovario stipitato glaberrimo 3-ovulato, legumine ?— Crescit in provincià Canara ; fl. Aprili. A very distinct species. Leaves 5-6 inches long; leaflets 9 lines long, 24 lines broad. PoNGAMIA, P. Canarensis ; fruticosa scandens, folis imparipinnatis foliolis 7—10- jugis oppositis brevi-petiolatis oblongo-lanceolatis supra glabris subtus strigosis, paniculis terminalibus folio brevioribus ferrugineo- tomentosis, pedicellis ternis in pedunculo communi apice fasciculatis, staminibus basi et apice diadelphis medio monadelphis, ovarium hirsuto 2—3-ovulato, legumine?— Crescit in Canara prope Gar- suppa; Jf. Aprili. Oss. The“ panicle is composed of simple racemes, on which the peduncles, of equal length with the pedicels, are arranged. The calyx is bibracteolate, wide, cup-shaped, having a ring of dense hairs around the inside"of its mouth. Vexillum with 2 callosities at the base of its limb, which run down the short claw. The leaflets are 2-21 inches long and 1 inch broad, the length of the leaf one foot, with a channelled petiole. Stipules semi-ovate, broad, covered with ferruginous hairs. BALSAMINACE. IMPATIENS. T. pulcherrima; caule erecto herbaceo glabro simplici vel ramoso, foliis alternis longiuscule petiolatis ovatis acuminatis crenato-serratis serraturis setigeris supra hispidulo-scabridis subtus glaucis glaberri- mis, petiolis apicem versus glanduloso-setigeris, pedicellis axillaribus UR. 3 . binis v. ternis unifloris folio dimidio brevioribus, sepalis lateralibus — 38 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE BOTANY OF minutis subulatis posteriore amplo orbiculari apice bifido dorso medio aculeato-cuspidato anteriore cucullato mucronato, basi in calcar filiforme pedicello longius contracto, petalis fere ad basin divisis segmentis cuneato-obovatis apice bilobis segmento anteriore ampliore, fructu medio puberulo demum glabrato ovato-oblongo obtusissime rostrato 12—14-spermo, pedicellis fructiferis ereetis apice cernuis. Herba sesqui- bipedalis. Folium cum petiolo sesquipollicari 6-7 poll. longum, 24 poll. latum. lores rosei, ampli, pulcherrimi, diametro 21 poll. Calcar 24 poll. longum.—Crescit in umbrosis prope Warree, in Concano australi ; fl. Aug. XANTHOXYLEA. " DrPETALUM. Genus novum. . GEN. CHAR. Z7oresdioici. Calyx ? Corolle petala 2, calyce multo ma- jora, profunde concava, cupuliformia, pellucido-punctata, estivatione imbricata. Floris masculi stamina 6; ovarii rudimentum apice bifi- dum.—Frutex inermis, foliis alternis trifoliolatis, foliolis elliptico-lan- ceolatis, equaliter petiolulatis, utrinque acuminatis, glabris, pellucido- punctatis, integris ; paniculis terminalibus. D. biloculare. This is without doubt the Yoddalia bilocularis of Messrs. Wight and Arnott, who place it in the genus Zoddalia with strong marks of doubt, the flowers never having been seen by these authors. I met with this shrub in Canara last April: at that time the buds were scarcely . formed, but after much searching I procured two half-expanded flowers, which will be an apology for the imperfection of the description. ANACARDIEA. GLYCYCARPUS. Genus novum. GEN. CHAR. Flores polygamo-dioici. Calyx quadripartitus, persistens ; laciniis ovatis, obtusis. Corolle petala 4, sub disco hypogyno 4-crenato inserta, oblongo-linearia, eestivatione imbricata. Stamina 4, sub disci margine inserta, cum petalis alterna iisque breviora. Filamenta libera, anthere introrse biloculares, longitudinaliter dehiscentes. In floribus masculis ovarii rudimentum nullum. In flore fertili ovarium unicum, liberum, sessile, uniloculare: ovulum unicum, ex apice funiculi com- planati e basi loculi adscendentis pendulum ; stylus brevissimus ; WESTERN INDIA. 39 stigma capitato-discoideum. ^ Drwpa supera, transverse oblonga, depressa, carne parca, pulposa, dulci, esculenta; putamine crustaceo, monospermo, Hmbryonis exalbuminosi cotyledones crassæ, profunde plano-convexse,—Arbor Indica parva; foliis alternis petiolatis, sim- plicibus, oblongis, penninerviis, integerrimis; petiolo nudo; floribus racemosis, parvis.—Crescit raro in Concano australi; ff. Feb.; fructum maturum habet in Aprili. G. racemosa. The tree, on which this genus is founded, agrees in many points with the Holigarna racemosa; but, unless we suppose some unaccountable errors to exist in Roxburgh's description of that tree, it must be very different, the superior fruit being a sufficient mark of distinction. I propose that my tree, however, be called G. racemosa. VITACEA. VITIS, V. discolor ; glabra, caule ramisque acute 5—6-angulatis rubris, stipulis late ovatis obtusis auriculatis, foliis petiolatis ovatis vel oblongo- lanceolatis acuminatis basi cordatis sinu lato vel oblique truncatis herbaceis serratis serraturis setigeris supra intense viridibus subtus nitentibus purpureis, umbellis oppositifoliis pedunculatis petiolo duplo longioribus, pedunculi ramis 4—5 basi bracteis obtusis suffultis, petalis coherentibus rubris, stylo conspicuo, baccis nigris nitidis pisi majoris magnitudine, pedunculi interdum cirrhiferi cirrhis sim- plicibus. Species pulchra et insignis, tota folii pagina superiore excepta rubra. Folia 3-6 poll. longa, 11—3 poll. lata: petiolus angulatus, canalicu- latus.—Crescit in umbrosis Concani utriusque ; f. Aug. ; fruct. Oct. ANONACEJE. PoLYALTHIA (Oxymitra). P. cardiopetala ; foliis obovato-oblongis breve petiolatis repente acumi- natis glaberrimis marginibus undulatis, floribus supra axillaribus solitariis nutantibus, pedicellis brevibus petiolo zequalibus, basi bi-tri- bracteolatis, sepalis rotundatis velutinis, petalis exterioribus oblongis cucullatis interioribus minoribus in columnam mitreeformem connatis omnibus velutinis.—Fructum non vidi. Crescit in n Canara; Al. Aprili. 40 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE BOTANY OF E The leaves of this species are 7-8 inches long, and 2 broad within two inches of the apex, whence they taper gradually to the base. The inner petals are singularly marked with the figure of a heart. This is a small tree: whether P. fruticans of DC. is distinct, the description of that species is too short to enable me to decide. POLYGALACE. POLYGALA. P. campestris ; 4—5-uncialis annua glauca, caule erecto tereti pubescente basi parce ramoso, ramis adscendentibus, foliis subsessilibus glabris linearibus basin versus attenuatis apice mucronulatis marginibus recurvis, floribus inferioribus 1-92 solitariis extra-axillaribus tri- bracteolatis cernuis, superioribus racemosis multifloris, racemo supra- axillari rarissime oppositifolio folio unciali 3—4-plo longiore, alis foliaceis oblique ovatis mucronulatis capsula longioribus, sepalo supremo ciliato, carina cristata, capsula subrotunda obliqua emar- ginata margine ciliata. P. Wightiane affinis, sed caules et racemi semper pubescentes, et flores inferiores in caule solitarii.— Crescit in planitiebus graminosis provincie Malwan; /f. Junio, Julio. Flores lutei. CAPPARIDEA. CAPPARIS. C. formosa ; fruticosa parva erecta inermis, foliis ovatis vel oblongis utrinque acutis vel lanceolatis junioribus membranaceis tomento stellato facile detergibili vestitis veteribus coriaceis glabris reticulato- venosis nitidis 5 poll. longis 2-23 poll. latis, pedunculis corymboso- racemosis pauci-(5—6)-floris: in ramorum et ramulorum axillarium summitate, pedicellis pollicaribus bracteisque subulatis ferrugineo- tomentosis, floribus amplis (diametro 5 poll) speciosis pallide ceruleis, petalis planis sub anthesi patentibus duobus inferioribus ita adpressis ut in labellum amplum coalita videntur et corolle tripetaloideze speciem exhibent, labello basi macula flava pubescente discoidali notato, filamentis petalisque szequilongis, ovario oblongo tomentoso.—Fructum non vidi. Crescit in umbrosis provincie Canara ; ff. Aprili. This is the most beautiful and showy Capparis with which I am WESTERN INDIA. 41 acquainted, and far surpasses any Indian species which I have seen. Part of Canara was, l believe, Heyne's region: can this be his . C. cerulea ? C. fener; fruticosa glabra ramosa, stipulis aculeiformibus brevibus uncinatis, foliis brev i-petiolatis ovato-lanceolatis obtuse acuminatis glaberrimis membranaceis diaphanis, pedicellis filiformibus axillaribus solitariis unifloris pollicaribus folio brevioribus.— Crescit in montibus Syhadree inter lat. 16° et 19°. This species has small flowers, leaves two inches long and one broad, covered with minute warts on the under side. The solitary pedicels are scarcely thicker than a horse-hair. The whole plant has a very delicate appearance. EUPHORBIACEZE. Tribe Crotonew, Bi. AGROSTISTACHYS. Genus novum. Flores dioici. Masc. Calyx bi- trifidus. Corolle petala 6, glandule 6, petalis alterne. Stamina 10, filamenta basibus connata ; anthere loculis distinctis infra apicem filamenti appensis, loculorum valvulis ineequalibus. Fam. Calyx 5-partitus; petala 5 ; ovarium basi glandulis 5 petalis alternis stipatum, 3-loculare, loculis uniovulatis. Styli 3, breves, bifidi, lobis obtusis.— Frutex, foliis a/fernis, petiolatis, oblongis, utrinque longe acuminatis, serrato-dentatis, glabris. Floribus masculis spicatis, spicis supra-azillaribus, parvis, locusieformibus. Floribus fcemineis solitariis, pedicellatis, pedicellis basi bracteis 3-5 squameformibus instructis. Capsula 3-cocca, coccis bivalvibus, monospermis, seminibus pis? magnitudine. A. Indica.—Crescit in montibus Syhadree, lat. 16°. A rare shrub, rising to the height of 5 feet. The leaves are 15 inches in length (including a petiole of 3 inches), and 4 inches broad. The inflorescence is singular, in minute short spikelets like those of grasses, in a row above the axils of the leaves, and sometimes fascicled. From the interior of each of the closely imbricated braets rises a short articulated pedicel, having 2 bracteoles at its base, and terminated b. a solitary flower of equal length with the pedicel. (To be continued.) VOL. II. G 42 Decaprs or Funai: by the Rev. M. J. BERKELEY, M.A., F.L.3. (Continued from vol.i. p. 239.) Decades XXV. to XXX. Sikkim Himalaya Fungi, collected by Dr. J. D. Hooker. The present series contains the greater part of the species of Agaricini collected in and about Darjeeling, by Dr. Hooker. I think it best to defer the general observations I have to make till I have gone completely through the collection, a task all but finished. I wish merely for the present to guard against a reproach made in the case of Persoon, when describing the Fungi of Freycinet's Voyage, namely, that he had described everything as new, without reference to species already enrolled by mycologists. The truth is, that every species has been most severely serutinized, and it is only after long study that I have felt myself compelled to propose so many new species. In the Agaricini, though several species have close allies in Europe, a vast portion of the forms are altogether new and peculiar, and often on a scale of the greatest magnificence. The new species in the other tribes are not so numerous, but in Boletus the same magnificence and novelty is exhibited. The Agaries seem to form far the greater portion of the Fungi of the country, and amongst the twenty-eight sections into which Fries has divided the genus, eight only are without a repre- sentative. It is curious, however, that the genera Cortinarius and Lactarius are altogether wanting in the collection, though there are at least four Russule. 241. Agaricus (Amanita) regalis, n.s. ; pileo explanato areolato sicco, centro carnoso, margine tenui sulcato; stipite valido exannulato basi bulboso ; lamellis latis subliberis. Hook. fil., No. 108, cum ic. Has, On the ground. Jillapahar, 7,500 feet. August. Rare. Inodorous, firm, rather tough. Pileus 5—6 inches broad, expanded, at length somewhat depressed, greyish brown, nearly smooth but areolate, thiek in the centre; margin thin, sulcato-striate. Stem of the same colour as the pileus, ringless, 8 inches high, 1 inch thick, ab- ruptly bulbous, transversely floccose, cracked and torn, solid and white within; bulb tinged with red, retaining scarcely any traces of the volva. Gills broad, ventricose, crowded, almost free, but attenuated behind. DECADES OF FUNGI. 43 A noble species, which cannot be confounded with any in the small section to which it belongs. There is no trace of a ring either in the drawing or specimens. 242. 4. (Amanita) eriophorus, n. s.; pileo expanso umbonato centro viscoso levi, margine striato chacüre floccoso ; stipite valido lanato bulboso ; lamellis confertis latis adnatis. Hook. fil, No. 111, cum ic. Has. On the ground. Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. September. Rare. Firm, inodorous. Pileus 5 inches across, expanded, with an obtuse broad umbo, cinereous, gelatinous in the centre when moist, obscurely flocculent elsewhere; margin shortly striate. Stem 8 inches high, more than half an inch thick, pale violet, bulbous at the base, clothed with dense down which is disposed here and there in transverse scales, solid but spongy in the centre. Gills broad, crowded, very slightly rounded behind, aduate. There seems to be in this, as in 4. regalis and A. Berkeleii, no trace of a ring. Like those, it is a very distinct and splendid species. Though bulbous, the bulb is not margined, and exhibits no trace of a volva. 243. 4. (Amanita) Berkeleii, Hook. fil. ; giganteus; pileo carnoso firmo subcoriaceo expanso demum depresso fuligineo medio areolato, margine estriato furfuraceo ; stipite valido subzequali solido concolore ; annulo obsoleto ; lamellis latiusculis confertis albis subliberis. Hook. fiL, No. 93, cum ic. On the ground. Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. June to August. Not rare. Inodorous, firm. Pileus 7 inches or more across, fleshy, expanded, at length depressed, dry, rather shining, sooty grey; cuticle in the centre tinged with yellow, breaking up into polygonal areze, margin not striate, furfuraceous, slightly inflected. Stem 9 inches high, 14 thick, ` solid, dark like the pileus, somewhat scaly and flocculent, nearly equal, penetrating into the soil, blunt below. Ring obsolete. Gills mode- _ rately broad (2 of au inch) somewhat ventricose and waved, crowded, pure white, free or slightly adnexed, obtuse behind or acute. A noble species, which cannot be confounded with any other. Its nearest ally is probably 4. excelsus, from which it differs in its firm, almost leathery substance, furfuraceous margin, &c. The ring, if ' present at all, is soon broken up. There is a smaller variety. The = stem is also sometimes bulbous, and the pileus but little areolate. * 4. excoriatus, Fr. Hook. fil., No. 11, cum ic. G2 44 DECADES OF FUNGI. Has. In hot valleys on the bare earth. Darjeeling. May. Forming large mushroom-beds. ` 944. A. (Lepiota) deliciolum, n.s. ; pileo ovato obtuso niveo glabro ; stipite gracili niveo roselloque fistuloso basi subincrassato ; annulo superiore; lamellis angustis distantibus liberis. Hook. fil, No. 40, cum ic. . Has. In the hollow of dead trees. Darjeeling, 8,000 feet. May. Very rare. Inodorous. Pileus 1 inch high, 2 broad, ovate, obtuse, snow-white, tolerably thick for the size of the species, smooth. Stem more than 2 inches high, 1-12 line thick, slightly incrassated at the base, white tinged with rose, rather silky. Ring superior, subpersistent. Gills rather narrow, pure white, rounded behind, free. Exceedingly delicate and beautiful; a very nearly allied species, at present undescribed, occurs in Ceylon. The smooth pileus and distant gills at once distinguish it from 4. clypeolarius. 245. 4. (Armillaria) horrens, n. s.; cwspitosus; pileo e convexo plano, margine subrepando verrucis conicis fuscis exasperato ; stipite valido supra ample annulato floccoso squamoso deorsum cavo ; lamellis postice subrotundatis lineatim decurrentibus, Hook. fil, No. 67, cum ic. Has. On bark of old trees, &c. Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. June and July. Tufted, inodorous, between fleshy and leathery. Pilei 2 inches broad, convex, with the borders arched, at length flattened, liver-colo ured, rough with conical dark-brown warts; substance pinkish. Stem 3 inches or more high, + an inch or more thick, of the same colour as the pileus, darker below, floccoso-squamose, furnished with a broad, re- flected, persistent, reddish ring. Gills moderately broad, tinged with pink, rounded behind, but lineato-decurrent. Allied to 4. melleus, but differing in its tougher substance, conical warts, hollow stem, and other points, This and the four following species are closely related. They vary somewhat in substance; some might be placed in Lentinus, while others are of too tender and fugitive a texture to be so classified. All, at least, must be placed in the same genus, unless the closest natural affinities are to be violated; and the second is so like 4. melleus, that I had at first considered it a mere variety. 4. vagans, Fr., which is taken up from Battarra, exhibits DECADES OF FUNGI. 45 precisely the peculiarity of these species, in which the gills “longe in conum obversum decurrunt." 246. 4. (Armillaria) varus, n. s. ; pileo e convexo plano sicco, mar- gine repando; stipite flexuoso curvo solido e basi attenuato ; annulo amplo superiore ; lamellis pallidis lineatim decurrentibus. Hook. fil., No. 2, cum ie. Has. On rotten timber. Sinchul, 8,600 feet. April to June, Tufted, inodorous. Pileus 2 inches across, at first convex, then plane or even depressed, pale umber, with sometimes a reddish tint, smooth, dry, fleshy, firm, rather tough; margin strongly arched. Stem 4 inches high, + inch thick, incrassated and obtuse below, attenuated upwards, darker than the pileus, blackish towards the base, solid, nearly smooth. Ring large, erect, white. Gills moderately broad, distant, pallid, decurrent, quite thread-like at the base, either continued down to the ring or ending a little way above it. Allied to 4. melleus, but tougher, quite smooth, with truly decurrent gills, and a nearly smooth stem. ‘There is a smaller variety in which the gills are more decurrent than in the larger form. 247. 4. (Armillaria) dieupellus, n. s. ; umbrinus ; pileo carnoso sicco convexo laqueato-incurvo ; stipite elongato fistuloso flocculento ; annulo superiore amplo supra lineato convexo subtus cupulzformi; lamellis distantibus lineatim decurrentibus. Hook. fil., No. 90, cum ie. Has. On dead wood. Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. Common. June. . Inodorous, rather tough and leathery. Pileus 2 inches broad, com. . vex, arched and incurved, dry, smooth, fleshy, dark umber, edge slightly striate. Stem several inches high, about 3 an inch thick, nearly equal, umber with a red tinge, very dark at the base, floeculose, squamulose above, hollow to the apex. Ring near the top very broad, reflexed, convex above, and striated from the impression of the gills. Gills - umber, distant, connected by veins moderately broad, running down to the ring by a narrow line. : Allied to 4. melleus and 4. mucidus, but exhibiting, with two or three allied species, a distinct type. The substance approaches that of Lentinus or Panus. . 248. A. (Armillaria) duplicatus, n. s. ; fasciculatus ; pileo plano sicco — glabro, margine incurvo ; stipite elongato sursum fibrilloso squamoso _ solido, apice farcto; lamellis angustis postice rotundatis dente ad velum duplex lineatim decurrentibus. Hook. fil., No. 113, eum ic. — 46 DECADES OF FUNGI. Has. On dead wood. Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. August. Forming immense tufts, inodorous, firm, dry, leathery. Pilei about 2 inches across, cream-coloured, plane, smooth, with the margin strongly arched and incurved. Substance tolerably thick, tinged with red. Stems 4 inches or more high, } of an inch thick, brownish and smooth below, pale and fribrilloso-squamose above, solid, stuffed, or even hollow beyond the double deflexed pink veil, of which the exterior portion is shorter; the interior broad and striate from the impression of the gills. Gills rather narrow, pallid, entire, not ventricose, rounded behind, and then running down to the veil by a very narrow tooth ; portion of hymenium between the ring and the broader portion of the gills pale red. A very remarkable and distinct species, making even a closer approach to Lentinus than its immediate allies. 249. A. (Armillaria) multicolorus, n. s.; pileo plano umbonato earneo-fusco undulato sicco rimoso, margine striato; stipite solido multicolori-variegato ; annulo reflexo ; lamellis angustis flavo-carneis integris lineatim decurrentibus. Hook. fil., No. 110, cum ic. Has. On dead wood. Jillapahar, 7,500 feet. August and Sep- tember. Rare. Inodorous. Pileus 4—5 inches across, plane, with a strong umbo and arched but not inflected margin, undulated, dry, shaded with yellow, brown, and red, cracked and showing the white substance; border striate. Stem several inches high, 4—} an inch thick, solid, white within, ascending, smooth, flexuous, brown, with yellow and blue shades ; furnished above with a white reflected ring. Gills narrow, entire, linear, suddenly contracted and running down to the ring, yellowish rose-colour. A very singular species, remarkable for its various colours, reminding one of 4. polychrous and A. Harmoge. 250. 4. (Armillaria) omnituens, n. s. ; pileo umbilicato tenui expanso carnoso centro floccoso-verrucoso, margine striato glabro ; stipite solido brevi obseuro glabro; annulo patente; lamellis pallido-carneis decur- rentibus. Hook. fiL, No. 46, cum ic. Has. On dead wood. Darjeeling, 8,500 feet. May. Inodorous. Pileus 2 inches across, umbilicate, rather fleshy but thin, dry, pinkish grey, clothed in the centre with minute irregular floccose warts; margin smooth, striate. Stem 1 inch or more high, DECADES OF FUNGI. 47 1 line or more in diameter, red-brown, smooth, solid, firm, furnished at the top with a spreading narrow ring. Gills pale pink, moderately broad, running down as far as the ring. This is placed in Armitlaria on account of the ring, but it has affinities with several species of other tribes, and approaches in some respects the Lentini. The name is intended to indicate its multiform affinities. 251. A. (Armillaria) adelphus, n. s. ; pileo carnoso subhemisphzerico profunde umbilicato centro flocculento squamuloso margine arcuato striato glabro ; stipite elongato farcto ; annulo remoto patente ; lamellis pallido- carneis longe decurrentibus. Hook. fil., No. 47, cum ic. Has. On dead wood. Darjeeling, 7—8,000 feet. May. Pileus 1 inch across, subhemispherical, carnose, deeply umbilicate, grey, clothed in the centre with flocculent scales; margin smooth, much arched, striate. Stem 2 inches or more high, 1 line thick, red- brown, smooth. Ring narrow, patent. Gills pinkish, much arched, running down to the remote ring. Ves closely allied to the last, but differing in the form of the pileus, the elongated slender stem, arched, very decurrent gills, and remote ring. The pileus, also, is less distinetly warty. 252. A. (Tricholoma) eremoriceps,n.s.; pileo plano carnoso umbo- nato opaco glabro ; stipite incurvo subzequali obscuriore cavo firmissimo ; lamellis distantibus latiuseulis postice rotundatis adnatis. Hook. fil., No. 123, cum ic. Has. Ontrunks of trees. Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. September. Inodorous, subfasciculate. Pileus 3 inches or more across, plane or even depressed, minutely umbonate, dry, smooth, opake, of a beau- tiful cream-colour; margin crenate ; flesh darker, firm. Stem 24 inches high, 4 of an inch thick, nearly equal, except at the base, where it is slightly swollen, much darker than the pileus without and within, very firm, composed of fibres, hollow. Gills distant, rather thick, rounded behind, adnate, with sometimes a very narrow descending tooth, white, with a pale tinge of cream-colour. The gills in the dry specimens are covered with sparkling granules, which appear to belong to some mould. They are nearly globose, and are far larger than the spores of Agarics. They occur in some other species of the collection, sometimes forming a thick stratum. The beau- tiful Agaric before us is allied to 4. inamenus, but it does not appear to be the least silky or pubescent. 48 DECADES OF FUNGI. 253. 4. (Clitocybe) incongruus, n. s.; pileo undulato umbilicato subearnoso glabro cinereo-cesio ; stipite elongato basi incrassato valido concolore deorsum cavo; lamellis latiusculis ventricosis decurrentibus. Hook. fil., No. 103, cum ie. Has. On the ground. Jillapahar, Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. August, September. Inodorous. Pileus 14 inch broad, undulated, umbilicate, smooth, dry, cinereous-blue, slightly fleshy ; flesh white. Stem 6 inches high, nearly 4 an inch thick, incrassated downwards and slightly downy, of the same colour as the pileus, somewhat fibrillose, hollow from the middle to the base, white within except near the surface, composed of fibres, Gills ventricose, rather distant, decurrent, white. A very curious species, resembling somewhat the amethyst form of A. laccatus, and perhaps as nearly allied to that species as to any described. It contracts extremely in drying. 254. A. (Collybia) napipes, Hook. fil. MSS. ; pileo irregulari undu- lato subdepresso corrugato sicco subcarnoso, margine striato ; stipite torto farcto bulboso radicato ; lamellis latis candidis postice rotundatis adnexis. Hook. fil., No. 102, cum ic. Has. On the ground. Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. July and August. Rare. Inodorous, rather firm. Pileus 5 inches or more broad, undulated, somewhat depressed, much corrugated, dry, yellowish brown, slightly fleshy ; margin suleato-striate. Stem 4 inches high, 1 inch thick, very much and generally abruptly swollen at the base, twisted, and fre- quently splitting, fibrous within, with a cartilaginous bark, brown, minutely scaly, sending down a long waved root, at length more or less hollow within. Gills broad and thick, pure white, rounded behind ~ and annexed, distant, sometimes buff when dry. Spores white or buff when dry, broadly but obliquely ovate, large, with a large nucleus. A splendid species, resembling 4. ewrrhizus, Berk., but differing in the absence of the strong umbo, the want of aring, and other characters. It is in fact more nearly allied to 4. radicatus, and especially to what Ihave called var. superbiens. 255. A. (Collybia) raphanipes, n.s.; pileo rugoso depresso carnoso sicco ; stipite deorsum incrassato radicato floceuloso-squamuloso cavo ; lamellis latis albis adnatis. Hook. fil., No. 96, eum ic. Has. Onthe ground. Jillapahar, 7,000 feet. June, July. DECADES OF FUNGI. 49 Inodorous, fleshy, brittle. Pileus 4 inches across, dry, somewhat shining, wrinkled and grooved, olive-brown, plane or slightly depressed ; flesh reddish-brown beneath the euticle. Stem 5 inches high, X of an inch thick in the centre, swollen below, then tapering into the elon- gated root, hollow, red-brown below, white above, clothed with minute flocculent scales. Gills broad, distant, rounded behind, adnate. This differs principally from 4. radicatus in its hollow stem, which is fusiform below; the pileus, also, appears to be drier. They are evidently very closely-allied species, though sufficiently distinct. 256. A. (Collybia) stillaticius, n. s. ; pileo e convexo plano expanso glabro stillante viscoso, margine crenato inciso; stipite firmo cavo adscendente libet flexuoso rufo-picto ; lamellis crassis distantibus flavo- ' albis adnexis. Hook. fiL, No. 38, cum ic. Has. On trunks of dead and living trees. Jillapahar, 8,000 feet. May, June. ; Inodorous. Pileus 2—4 inches across, at first convex, then plane and expanded, with occasionally a broad umbo, smooth, dripping with a viscid cream-like fluid, fleshy, pale olive; margin thin, crenate and split. Stem 3-4 inches high, 2-3 lines thick, firm, ascending or flexuous, reddish-brown, hollow, sometimes rooting, springing abruptly ' from the matrix, equal or subfusiform. Gills distant, ventricose, fleshy, subcrenate, adnexed, or in depressed specimens spuriously decurrent, yellow-white, connected by veins. Allied to A. radicatus, but differing in habit, in its dripping pileus, its crenate incised margin, and ascending or flexuous hollow stem. 257. A. (Collybia) undabundus, n. s.; pileo subhemispherico ob- tusissime umbonato viscosissimo suleato rugosoque; carne brunnea; stipite elongato furfuraceo cavo; lamellis latis undulatis postice rotundato-truncatis adnexis. Hook. fil., No. 77, cum ic. Has. On old timber in woods. Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. June, July. Rare. Inodorous, erect, very handsome. ileus 23 inches or more across, pale brown, hemispherical, with a broad, very obtuse umbo, very viscid, sulcate and wrinkled, fleshy; flesh brown like the pileus. Stem 6 inches high, } an inch thick, attenuated at the very base and : slightly rooting, striate above, shaded with pale brown, furfuraceous, hollow. Gills broad, white, undulated and loosely crenate, rounded behind, adnexed, distant. VOL. II. = 50 DECADES OF FUNGI. Very nearly allied to 4. radicatus, but a softer species, with a == regularly suleate pileus, decidedly hollow stem, dark flesh, and abruptly rounded gills. 258. 4. (Collybia) £riplicatus, Hook. fil.; pileo campanulato um- bonato ab umbone levi profunde suleato nitido sicco, margine tenui involuto; stipite elato squarruloso solido; lamellis paucis distantibus remotis. Hook. fil., No. 88, cum ic. Inodorous, delicate, soft. ileus nearly 6 inches broad, campanu- late, obtusely umbonate, dry, shining, deeply and regularly sulcate, with the exception of the umbo, with fainter and shorter furrows in the intervals, answering to the shorter gills; fleshy in the centre; pale yellow-brown ; border almost membranaceous ; margin involute. Stem several inches high, nearly 4 of an inch thick, of the same colour as the pileus, rough with short squarrulose flocci, solid, sunk into the umbo. Gills few, distant, pallid, quite free, remote. A splendid species, combining the characters of 4. radicatus and A. longipes, with the habit of Heliomyces. No particular locality is indicated in Dr. Hooker’s notes, and the base of the stem appears not to have been observed. I have no doubt, however, that there was a root, as in 4. radicatus. t 259. 4. (Collybia) papaveraceus, n.s. ; pileo e campanulato irregu- lari flexuoso demum depresso tenui toto corrugato ; stipite elongato radicato fistuloso reticulato-striato ; lamellis angustis crispatis ramosis venoso-connexis earneo-griseis. Hook. fil., No. 86, cum ic. Has. On dead sticks amongst moss. Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. June. Smell very slight. Pileus 3 inches across, brittle but rather firm, dry, glossy, reticulato-rugose, thin, at first campanulate, then expanded, uneven, flexuous and depressed, reddish grey; flesh thin, of the same . colour. Stem 5 inches high, 4 of an inch or more thick, rooting and attached by many fibres, fistulose, reticulato-striate or suleate, darker than the pileus, slightly fibrillose. Gills narrow, moderately close, | pinkish grey, crenate and crisped, branched, connected by strong veins, A very curious species, allied to 4. radicatus, but most distinct. The name alludes to the crumpled aspect of the pileus, as ** crumpled as a = poppy from the sheath.” 260. 4. (Collybia) podagrosus, n.s.; pileo convexo carnoso fortiter ineurvato glabro rufo-carneo ; stipite valido ventricoso fibrilloso-striato NOTE ON MICROCACHRYS. 51 solido, lamellisque angustis distantibus decurrentibus | incarnatis. Hook. fil., No. 134, cum ic. Has. On clay banks. Sinchul, 8,000 feet. October. Inodorous, firm. Pileus 1 inch or more broad, convex, strongly ineurved and involute, smooth, fleshy, of a bright reddish brown or flesh-colour. Stem 3 inches high, $ of an inch thick, ventricose, of the same colour as the pileus, streaked, fibrilloso-striate, solid. Gills distant, narrow, shortly decurrent, paler than the pileus. * Very nearly allied to 4. edematopus, but differing in its smooth pileus and distant gills. * A. velutipes, Curt. Hook. fiL, No. 23, cum ic. Has. On dead wood. Darjeeling, 7-8,000 feet. May. P (To be continued.) Note on Microcacurys, Hook. fil., and on a new allied genus of Cow1- FERÆ of Van Diemen's Land ; by WILLIAM ARCHER, JUN., Esa. (Communicated by DR. LINDLEY.) I. Microcacurys, Hook. fil. Flores dioici. Masc. Amenta ovata; Sguame antherifere rhombeo- ovate, unguiculatæ, peltatæ. Antherarum thece 2, globose, squamis suis valde majores, divaricate. Pollen trigonum, trinucleatum. Few. Amenta simplicissima, erecta, vix folia extrema superemi- nentia. Sguame 4, semi-rotunde, cruciatim opposite, conniventes. Ovula 4, amenti ad angulos interiores posita. Strodilus minimus, e squamis triangulari-ovatis inzequalibus erectis formatus. Semina (2 generaliter perfecta) subfusiformia, nudissima, squamis sublatiora ; testa papyracea, triptera.—Arbuscula, 10 ad 20 ped. alta, facie subsimilis Cupresso. Rami ramulosissimi. Ramuli plurimi, tetra- goni, sub 1 lin. lati, subdistichi. Folia rhombeo-ovata, versus apicem inflera, obtusa, dorso obtusangulosa, cruciatim opposita, ramo appressa. Amenta ad apices ramulorum plurima. M. tetragona. Hook. fil., in Lond. Journ. Bot., vol. iv. p. 150 (dene: plante fem. excl.). Oss. The female amenta, je wet by Dr. J. D. Hooker as leben to this plant, appertain to a hitherto undescribed genus, for bimus I have proposed the name of — H - 52 DR. HOOKER'S MISSION TO INDIA. II. PHEROSPHÆRA, Archer. Gen. nov. Flores dioici. Masc. Amenta oblongo-cylindracea, vix ramulis suis latiora. Syuame antheriferze rotundo-ovate, minute ciliato-dentate, unguiculate. Antherarum thece 2, globose, squamis suis minores, membranacez, divaricate. Pollen . . . . Fam. Amenta ovata, suberecta, ramulis suis dimidio latiora. Sguama oblongo- ovate, concave, subnaviculares, ad apicem incurvee, peltate, imbri- cate. Ovula globosa, solitaria, juxta apicem squamarum posita, super costam sedentia. S/robilus minusculus, decurvus, e squamis (circiter 12) foliis submajoribus leeviter patentibus formatus. Semina minima, ovato-globosa, omnino nuda, solitaria; festa chartaceo- spongiosa, levis, substriata. — Frutieulus prostratus, humifusus. Rami ramulosissimi. ^ Ramuli plurimi, tetragoni, sub 1 lin. lati, patentes, subdistichi. Folia rhombeo-ovata, dorso obtusangulosa, cruciatim opposita, arcte imbricata, ramo appressa. Amenta ad apices ramulorum. plurima. P. Hookeriana (nobis). Microcachrys tetragona. Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. (quoad amenta fem. solummodo.) Oss. In Dr. J. D. Hooker's description of the genus Microcachrys, in * Lond. Journ. Bot., vol. iv., he has appropriated to it the female amenta of this hitherto undefined genus, for which I now propose the name of Pherosphera (derived from dépe, I bear, opaipa, 4 globe), on account of its globose seeds. Extracts from the private Letters of Dr. J. D. Hookzn, written during a Botanical Mission to INDIA. DARJEELING TO ToxGLo. (Continued from p. 23.) At daylight the following morning the temperature was 67°, the sky partially clear, with heavy clouds on the mountains, and especially on the Darjeeling spur, where the village seemed as if lifted up into the air. Descended a very steep gully, choked with Calami and Fici, and ascended again to the base of Tonglo by a steep slope, cultivated here and there with Maize, Rice, and Millet, and occasionally Amaranthus, Fennel, Cumin, Capsicum, Yam, Brindjal (Egg-Solanum), Cannabis, and Buck- + DARJEELING TO TONGLO. 53 wheat of two species. "Phe white-flowered Rue seems to escape into the fields: it is certainly wild at an elevation of 4—9,000 feet, and is used commonly for all diseases of fowls (mixed with their food, as in England). Before leaving the base of the hills, the men cut the large bamboos for water-vessels (Choongis) to carry up the hill, none of the species found above this level being suited to that purpose. The ascent continues through dense jungle of Myrsine, Embelia, Cedrela, Gordonia, Aquilaria, and such tropical trees as I mentioned in the ascent from Punkabarrie to Kursiong. At noon we arrived at the Lama’s residence of Simonbong. Tt is one of the smallest and poorest Gumpas (or monasteries) in Sikkim.* Unlike the better class, it is built of wooden beams only, and consists of a single large room, raised on a stone foundation, roofed with shingles, and with small sliding shutter-windows. The temple is placed, as usual, on a narrow ridge or spur of the mountain, elevated about 4,000 feet: near it I observed one or two Lamas’ tombs, called Chaity,—they are cubes of stone-work, raised on a little terrace, about six feet square, surmounted by a hemisphere, which again is topped with a cone and ball. The devout of my party walked round each several times, always from right to left, repeating the ** Om mani Padmi hom," which was inscribed on a slab of slate, let into one face of the tomb. Lamas’ bodies are generally burned, on this side of the snowy range; while in Thibet they are exposed to the fowls of the air, or cut to pieces and distributed. Those of the Lamas on the banks of Lake Yarou are said to be always exposed, and the kites summoned by beating of gongs and blowing a trumpet made of a human thigh-bone. - 'That bodies are exposed, and that the thigh-bone of a man is used for a horn, is true enough ; but the birds probably aecept other signals, less equivocal to their keen senses of sight and scent. At Simonbong (where we halted) the flora of the temperate regions commences. Two species of Bamboo (neither being the alpine) replace travels in Sikkim I have visited many, and been an inmate in the monasteries, and met with the greatest kindness and hospitality from the good fathers. AsIw- Dé — — first European who ever lived with the monks, this courtesy was the less to be — expected. T Campbell, who afterwards joined me, and in whose delightful society I visited other Lama establishments, records the same opinion of these - humoured people. te 9 54 DR. HOOKERS MISSION TO INDIA. the large kind, left below. Wild Strawberry, Violet, Lysimachia, Geranium, Polygonum, and several Rubi, especially the yellow-fruited one (on which we luxuriated), announce the lower level of the second or temperate region, of which Darjeeling may be considered the central point. Potatos and Peaches were cultivated abundantly, the latter forming little groves, but the fruit never ripens on these hills, from the want of sun. It is curious that in this region of the Himalaya, and from Eastern Nepal eastward, along the whole Himalaya, there is absolutely no good fruit, except Wallnuis. Even the English cultivated fruits at Darjeeling are very poor. Apples scarcely ever ripen; Pears never; Peaches never : Currants and Gooseberries have not had a fair trial, but they seem disinclined to flourish. Strawberries grow exceedingly well, but the fruit is very flavourless, much more so than those of the plains, which, though inferior to the English, are still large and fairly good. European vegetables, again, thrive remarkably, but are all deficient in flavour, however abundant the crop and fair the produce may be to look upon. All are good, but not when compared with English, as to taste. Potatos improve wonderfully, and the Darjeeling root, culti- vated on the plains, is, I think, superior to the parent stock in size and mealiness. Mangos and Bananas are the only Indian cultivated fruits I have seen, and both are exceedingly bad. The Orange from the Teesta river is highly esteemed; and excellent specimens of this fruit are brought up from the plains, though always somewhat the worse for the journey. Of course, neither Olive, Fig, Vine, Pomegranate, nor any southern European fruit, grows here: the Physalis (‘Cape Goose- berry," or * Tippare") does, however: it is a plant indifferent to waut of sun and a cool summer, but impatient of a severe winter. The total absence of sunlight and heat, during the summer of this region, is the cause of this dearth of fruits. The winter of the plains, being more analogous to our English summer as regards the amount of heat and cold, such fruits as the- Peach, Vine, and even Plum, can perfect their fruit in April and May, if they only be coaxed through the previous hot and wet season; which, though lasting from June to September, is, to all intents and purposes, their winter. At 7,000 feet on the Himalaya, where the mean temperature is far better suited to their habits, its influence is so modified by the rains and lack of sun during summer and by the cold in the winter, that they stand no chance . DARJEELING TO TONGLO. 55 of fruiting. In short, some English fruits will be content to turn the - winter solstice (November to May) of the plains of India into an English summer, and then produce their flower and fruit ;—but neither these, nor others, will put up with the accumulated evils of a winter like that of England* (as concerns its effects on European vegetation), and a summer more rainy than that of the plains, —for such are the two solstices of Darjeeling. The difference between this climate and that of the north-western Himalaya, at equal elevations, several degrees further north and west, is herein very great. There the winters are much colder and more comfortless to the English visiter; the summer is far hotter and less rainy (but afflicted with dust-winds in May). The rainy season is so much shorter, and the sun so much more frequently shines through the more brief but heavier showers, that the apple and many other fruits are brought to far greater perfection than here. Still further north- west, and beyond the influence of the periodical rains (which deluge the south-eastern Himalaya, and gradually are exhausted, being carried north-west by the south-eastern monsoon), the European fruits are celebrated as the finest in the world. Whether the Grapes, Apples, Melons, &c., of Caubul, Turkistan, Cashmere, &e., are really equal to the English, or not, I am without the means of judging : those who affirm this most positively are Indian residents, who have left England "when young and have sojourned long in the plains, where Pomona’s gifts are scarcer and poorer than in any tropical country I have ever visited.t The opinion of the travellers in these countries, who have left England later in life, with their tastes more matured and recent, is, ` that though the oriental fruits are greater in abundance, and excellent in- flavour, they are not comparable to the better varieties of the same cultivated in England, the north of France, Belgium, and Hol- land. In the valley of Nepal, at-Cattmandu, above 4,000 feet, and in the heart of the Sub-Himalaya, Hodgson tells me Apples ripen * I do not mean that the Darjeeling winter is to be compared for cold or discom- fort to that season in England; but as far as being a winter to English fruit-trees, its specific action on the plant is the same. t This is not stated unadvisedly nor without wide experience. The excellence of the — Mango Y do not deny, nor of one or two of the ennt of inen but Sire 2 particular sorts are searce, comparatively speaking; they have seasons, and so — have the good oranges. No one who has walked through the fruit-market of'a tropical American town, ora western African, and seen their glorious perennial m e sion, of not only species, but varieties of fruit, will for a moment compare the Bazaar to these. So say all who have frequented both. debes c 56 DR. HOOKER'S MISSION TO INDIA. exceedingly well; and so do two varieties of the European Fig. The mean temperature is considerably above that of this place, and, of course, the winter is much warmer, snow being hardly ever seen, and never lying on the ground. There the Plantain and Mango do not ripen, nor the Orange always, nor do the Gooseberry, Currant, or Raspberry mature their fruit well; and it is much too rainy for the Vine. Apricots can be produced with care and are good, but hardly Peaches. From this you see that the distribution of temperature is even of more consequence in India than its mean amount, and that a still more influential disturbing cause is the rainy season, whose effect is not only an excess of moisture, but an interception of the sun’s rays. In Thibet, north of the Himalaya snows, the Apple, Peach, Apricot, and other fruits, are perfect at elevations from 8 to 10 or 11,000 feet ; above which come-crops of Barley, Wheat, Peas, Fagopyrum, and in places too cold for these, Turneps and Radishes are the staple crops; above whose superior limit (15,000 feet), either barren stony mountains or grassy plains prevail. Owing to the comparatively level surface of the Thibetan plain, these crops are characteristic of what cultivation there is at such elevations. The same crops reach nearly 10-13,000 feet, south of the snowy range, amongst the rugged valleys of the Sub-Himalaya; but cultiva- tion is scattered, and only such sites are selected as, though of equal elevation, enjoy a greater temperature during the short season adapted to their growth. Thus, in Bhootan, the limits of wheat are 3,020 to 9,640 feet ; between which levels it is the winter-crop, and is reaped in March. On the plains of India wheat is very abundant, and is also a winter-crop. The damp atmosphere, heat, and moisture are as direct obstacles to its being a summer-crop on the plains, as is the winter's cold to its being a winter one at above 9,500 feet on this side the Himalaya, nor anywhere in Thibet. Radishes, Peas, Beans, and Buckwheat, which are the upper level summer crops of Thibet, are, on this side the snow, the winter-crops of 5-8,000 feet (below Wheat, Barley, &c.), the heavy rains of the Cis-Himalayan region, and total absence of sun, combined with the cold of 9 and 10,000 feet, being very prejudicial; and they form a strange contrast to the dry atmosphere, powerful sun, and heat of its direct rays in Thibet,— which last makes up for the want of a higher mean temperature. To conclude this subject, —the same dry summer heat, combined with DARJEELING TO TONGLO. 57 the intense winter's cold and nocturnal radiation under a clear sky, are equally fatal to the rich, succulent, herbaceous, and arboreous native vege- tation of the Cis-Himalayan mountains, as the extraordinary uniformity with respect to solstitial temperature and humidity in the latter region are to a perennial exuberance of vegetable life, and to the ascent of tropical plants to elevations far above those heights which we should consider their superior limit, did we argue from the influence of mean temperature alone. On ascending Tonglo, we left cultivation and groves of poor Peach- trees on its flanks at Simonbong, altitude about 4,000 feet, the average level to which agriculture reaches in a great part of Sikkim. This is a remarkable contrast to either the north-western Himalaya, or to Bhootan, in both of which countries crops are raised abundantly at 6,000 to 8,000, and even to 10,000 feet and upwards ; and it is owing to many local causes ; some of which, as that the Lepchas prefer dwelling at about that elevation, and the restless life they lead, are obvious ; while others, drawn from natural peculiarities, are of extreme complexity. Sikkim I have always held to be a peculiar nook of the Himalaya, differing much in some of its features from either Nepal in the west or Bhootan in the east; and I am hardly adequately prepared to point out all the prominent features. 1. As a segment of the Himalaya, it is narrower than the average; the snowy mountains of its northern boundary are nearer the plains of India than those of Bhootan and Nepal are, although their peaks attain a higher ele- vation than any known Asiatic or other mountains in the world. 2. It is cut off from Bhootan by a long meridional snowy ridge with peaks 17,000 feet, running thirty miles south from the main range, a very rare if not unique phenomenon in the. Himalaya. 3. Transverse ranges also divide it from Nepal, striking north from Tonglo to the snow, and averaging 12,000 feet in height. 4. A longitudinal ridge (Sinchul mountain, on a northern spur of which Darjeeling stands) separates it from the plains of India. 5. Innumerable ridges, without any arrangement, all reaching 7 to 12,000 feet, are enclosed within these four walls; themselves are intersected by profound ravines, and forest-clad up to and over their summits. 6. What we know of the geology of the country is, that it is remarkably uniform, of crumbling - gneiss and mica-schist hills, much more continuously wooded than those : of Bhootan, where dry and barren hills of mountain Limestone occur, - and where are also broad valleys, equally unknown in Sikkim. 7. Bya — VOL. II. I 58 DR. HOOKER'S MISSION TO INDIA. reference to the map you will see that the rainy wind, the south-eastern monsoon from the Arracan coast, in its progress north-west, first strikes the Cossiah (Khasyah) hills, which it deluges with a vastly greater amount of rain than falls on any other part of India: the rest is expended in Sikkim, and then striking the Himalaya, is deflected west, and becomes comparatively a drier and drier wind (though always rainy) till it reaches the extreme north-western Himalaya. Sikkim is therefore more rainy* than Bhootan and Nepal, or at least more humid. Encircled by hills, it is sheltered from other winds; and the superabundant moisture is not carried off in vapour by the sun, but clogs the valleys and is again deposited at night, equally intercepting the solar rays and nocturnal radiation, diminishing, in short, the day's heat and night's cold, and producing a climate, which, all the world over, in the western Highlands and Wales near home, or on the remote shores of South Chili and Fuegia, is eminently prejudicial to cultivation, whether of grains or fruits. It, moreover, causes the dispersion of the human population :—for few parts of a country, $0 uniform in features, are more favoured than the rest ; warmth and com- parative dryness are sought in the narrow valleys and their southern exposed slopes, above which the heated vapours are raised by the morning sun, to be condensed on the cooler mountain forests, whose murky atmosphere and dark dripping vegetation the poor Lepcha peoples with the bad spirits of his demonology. . I do not think that the similarity of these features in the Himalaya of Sikkim with those of the other far-distant countries mentioned, and their mutual effect upon organized life in both, exists in my own fancy: it is further traceable in the native vegetation, and is eminently conspicuous in the paucity of animal life, especially quadru- peds and birds. My attention was irresistibly called to the subject before I had ascended 6,000 feet on my road to Darjeeling; and to the present hour I am more struck by this fact than by the many grander and more novel phenomena which these mountains present. I am everywhere reminded of the damp west coast of Tasmania, of the New Zealand Islands, of the humid portion of extra-tropical South _ America, of the Hebridean Islands, the north-western coast of Scotland, . and some parts of Wales. A scattered population, rude cultivation, * The mean fall probably does not exceed 100 inches, as measured by the pluvio- . meter, an instrument which takes little or no account of the enormous deposition in .. the shape of mists and fogs. DARJEELING TO TONGLO. 59 a damp atmosphere and dripping sky,—no summer's warmth nor winter's cold,—no genial ray of spring, no Dog-star nor summer's sun, no harvest-moon, crisp frost, or sparkling Christmas. The ground never chirps beneath the tread: the falling leaves decay, and do not rustle under foot. All animate nature is deadened: the forests are quiet, or the few birds that cry utter a mournful note. Magnificent as is the vegetation, exuberant in species, rich in colouring, profuse in the rarest and most delicate forms, of temperate and tropical climes combined, these productions are not the children of a joyous spring, or if of spring at all, surely the illegitimate progeny of a churlish season :— they are smuggled into existence unacknowledged by blue sky and bright sun, heralded by no birds, eropped by no beasts: they bud, and flower, and fruit, heedless of the dashing rain and oppressing fogs. Pray do not think I am unfairly depreciating the climate of Darjeeling, which is admirably adapted to the English constitution. I am only comparing it with more favoured spots, inaccessible to the European invalide. Its effect on the debilitated frame is marvellous,—really incredible ; and if there is truth in children's faces (and where else, if not?) it is undeniably well suited to them too. Its proximity to Caleutta, accessibility at all seasons, the narrowness of the Terai belt, coolness of climate, abundance of vegetables, and great capabilities for further improvement (rapidly as it has progressed), will, no doubt, render it the most crowded of the hill-stations, as it is the only one to which the majority of the Bengal residents can resort, for that short month which may be granted for the re-establishment of health. The great expense of Dawk-travelling, and the tedious length of a water-passage (the only alternative), to reach the foot of the hills, are the chief objections to Darjeeling ;—by the first, the journey (300 miles) cannot be performed under 30/., but in five days only ; by the latter it occupies six weeks, and costs a third of the money. The expense and fatigue of Dawk-travelling I consider one of the greatest evils of India. A country prospers almost in direct pro- portion to the facility of locomotion therein; and India, with all its - justly boasted wealth, splendour, civilization, and appliances, is dis- - gracefully behind Australia and Canada, or even many of the decaying — French, Portuguese, and Spanish colonies, in the + publie means of con- 5 ; veyance, within 300 miles of its capital. Pc (To be continued.) 12 60 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. LINNÆAN SOCIETY. The 4th of December, 1849, will ever be memorable in the annals of the Linnean Society, from the honour it was enabled to confer on itself by the election of Mr. Brown to the Presidency. It should, however, be generally known, for the sake of those members who have taken an active interest in the welfare of the Society, that the election of this eminent man has been an object of their frequent solicitude for the last twenty years ; but the unwillingness of Mr. Brown to accede to the wishes of his friends in 1828, when Lord Stanley (the present Earl of Derby).was elected as the successor of Sir James Edward Smith, and at the subsequent elections of the Duke of Somerset and of the late excellent Bishop of Norwich, could not be overcome, though no members of the Society more strongly urged the claims which the Society had upon Mr. Brown, than these distinguished men. To those who know Mr. Brown, this reluctance on his part to accept of the distinction implied by the late election, is felt to be consonant with their estimate of his character; for the modesty which invariably attends the highest intellectual attainments was never more conspicuous than in this great botanist. But whatever tribute is due to the extra- ordinary sagacity and learning of Mr. Brown, those who are privileged with his intimacy feel that the singular simplicity, the sterling integrity, and the affectionate solicitude and tenderness of his nature, task their regard for him quite as much as his high scientific attainments command their respect and confidence ; and we rejoice that a Society endeared to us by its objects, and by the association of many whom we have loved and lost, and of others who survive to sympathize with us in our love of plants, is under the care of one so eminently calculated to promote its prosperity. Mr. Brown took the chair at the meeting of the Society on De- cember the 18th; and the interest excited by the event was shown by the presence of many who do not ordinarily attend its meetings. He briefly acknowledged the compliment that had been paid to him by the Society, and made a just and due acknowledgment of the great ser- vices rendered to botany by Dr. Wallich, by appointing him one of the Vice- Presidents. The vacancy in the council has been filled by the election of Dr. Charles Morgan Lemann, one of the most zealous botanists of the * BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 61 day, and one who, ever ready to assist others in their inquiries, is unjust to his own extensive knowledge of plants, by not diffusing it more publiely abroad. The following classical address, from the Royal Bavarian Botanical Society of Regensburg, in a printed form, with the seal appended, has been presented to Mr. Brown, by Dr. Wallich, who was officially delegated for the occasion, and has a similar address for presentation to the Linnean Society at their next meeting. Viro eminentissimo, edoctissimo, emeritissimo, Domino Domino ROBERTO BROWNIO, D.C.L., Permultarum Societatum Literariarum Socio et Patrono, Er NurER LINNÆANÆ LONDINENSIS PRJESIDI ELECTO, Botanieorum Antistiti, Qui Antipodum Floram primus et pene solus digessit, Explorans fideliter quas et ipse legerat et alii reportarunt plantas, Qui complures Plantarum Familias Naturales ordine disposuit, Exquirens fortiter novas et neglectas generum notas, Qui Physiologiam Stirpium plurimis investigationibus dispunxit, Exponens feliciter morphoseos et geometrices botanicze leges, Qui reliquias Pristine Floree fossiles diseretim discussit, Expandens florenter intimam lignorum structuram, Qui denique hodiernz Phytographiz et Phytologize aperto discrimine Et pater et stator et auctor exstitit, Et, quod faustum nomen socio imposuit Germanorum Academia distineto, Ceu alter Raius per totum orbem famam sui dispersit, Honorem, quo et se ipsam et virum ornavit Societas Linnzana, Promovendo in sedem patroni divi Linnzi talem viearium, SocrETAs BoTANiCA RaTISBONENSIS REGIA ; Piè gratulatur. Calendis Januar. MDCCCL. Mr. ZEYRER's South African Plants, Some of our readers may be glad to know that a few very good sets of plants, varying from 1,200 to 1,300 species in each set, of Southern Africa, collected by Mr. Zeyher, in various parts of the country, ex- tending from Namaqua Land to Macalisberg, are placed in the hands of Mr. Samuel Stevens, Natural History and General Agent, 24, > 62 NOTICES OF BOOKS. Bloomsbury-street, London, and are offered at little more than half the price recently put upon them by Mr. Zeyher. They are numbered, and the numbers are understood to correspond with a list published in the volume of the “ Linnea” for 1847. NOTICES OF BOOKS. Memorials of John Bartram and Humphry Marshall ; with notices of their Botanical Contemporaries; by Writitam Darutneron, M.D., LL.D. Philadelphia. 1849. pp. 585. We are indebted to our excellent friend Dr. Darlington, of West Chester, Pennsylvania, for a copy of this interesting work,—one quite congenial to the generous nature of the author, who is already known by the affectionate tribute he has paid to the memory of Baldwin, in his * Reliquis Baldwiniane ;’ by his * Flora Cestrica, one of the best local Floras in the United States; and by his useful work on ‘ Agri- cultural Botany.’ The Memorials of Bartram consist of letters, principally from his early patrons in England, among whom the name of the excellent and zealous Collinson stands prominently forward. This correspondence had been entrusted to Dr. Darlington by Colonel Carr, who married Bartram’s granddaughter. A few of the “rough draughts” of Bartram’s letters are given, and it is only to be regretted that the entire letters and journals of this remarkable man have not yet been discovered, as they would have added largely to the value of the work. There is enough, however, to impress us with the striking qualities of Bartram’s nature. His zeal in the search of plants, especially of the forest-trees and shrubs ; the sagacity with which he discriminated them, amid the poverty of his means for self-instruction ; the integrity of his dealings ; the happiness he found in his pursuits, and the fervent piety consequent on his observation of the works of nature, are conspicuous not only in his own letters, but in those of his friends, who abundantly testify to the respect which his talents and character had inspired. To those who take the same pleasure that we do in familiar corre- spondence of this kind, Dr. Darlington’s work will rank with that of Sir J. E. Smith, in the correspondence of Linneus and other naturalists, NOTICES OF BOOKS. 63 published in 1821. Dr. D.’s work is of a more local character, but . this will only recommend it the more to our American friends. One fact has affected us painfully, and was quite unexpected to us, from the known simplicity and prudence of Collinson's life. - His son, who seems to haye inherited his tastes, under date of June the 28th, 1771, alludes to embarrassments which disturbed the happiness of the closing scene of his father's life. In speaking of a balance due to Bartram, which proved larger than was expected, he says :—“ The truth is, latterly my dear parent found those things a trouble to him which caused none a few years since. His situation, too, in point of circumstances, was likewise mortifying. His business, at last, totally declined ; and you will, Sir, I am sure, from the goodness and humanity of your own heart, and your long and unremitted friendship for him, be shocked when I tell you, that he solicited a small pension for an age near 75, great part of which was employed in pursuits advantageous to his country, and was refused !" In the Memorials of Bartram, there is a long and interesting letter from a Russian gentleman, Iwan Alexiowitz, which gives a pleasing account of a visit paid to Bartram in 1769. The mutual correspondence of Bartram and Collinson, from 1734 to 1768, the year of Collinson's death, occupies the largest portion of the work. But there are other letters of interest from Sir Hans Sloane, Dillenius, Catesby, Dr. Fothergill, Gronovius, Miller, Clayton, &c. Those of the son of Collinson, and a few from Dr. Franklin to Bartram, showing the friendship between them, are very interesting. If, however, full justice is ever to be done to the memory of Bartram, it wil be by the discovery and publication of his letters and journals, which we think must be preserved by Collinson's descendants. They are spoken of by his son as “invaluable.” “Your sentiments,” he says to Bartram, “are original, ingenious, and to the last degree pertinent, on the subjects on which they treat. "They were held in a manner sacred by my dearest father, nor is their consequence sunk in the hands of his son, by whom they are considered as an inestimable treasure of. American Natural History." 'There is an occasional notice of William Bartram, and some letters addressed to him by his father, by Muhlenberg, Salisbury, Wilson, and Michaux. One, from the celebrated Henry Laurens, gives a painful description of William's forlorn situation on a farm he had taken in 64 NOTICES OF BOOKS, Florida. William was patronized by Dr. Fothergill, especially for his drawings, some of which are still extant, and of great merit, in the Banksian Library; and we feel that some fuller memorial of this favourite son of John Bartram, and the early friend of Wilson, is due to his merits. Of Marshall, the cousin of John Bartram, less is known ; and this record of him, as one of the early observers of American plants, is the more valuable. He was highly respected, and formed a Botanie Garden in 1773. In 1780 he published an * Arbustum Americanum,' the first publication on the botany of the United States by an American. Schreber in 1791 established the genus Marshallia in his honour. He died in 1801. Among his correspondence are letters from Dr. Fothergill, Dr. Franklin, Sir J oseph Banks, &ec. Among the memorials of these early pioneers of American “Botany, given in this volume, not the least interesting are the representations of the residences of these naturalists (exhibiting a style of building, we apprehend, very different from that of the present day in the United States), and a woodcut of the silver cup presented to Bartram by Hans Sloane, bearing the inscription, ** The gift of Dr. Hans Sloane to his friend John Bartram, Anno 1742.” Tt is fortunate for the history of American botany that Bartram kept copies of so many letters as are here published ; were it not for them . the Memorial of John Bartram would rather have been a memorial of Peter Collinson. Still, the number here published is small, in pro- portion to what he must have written; and Dr. Darlington is naturally very anxious to know if such still remain with the representatives of the Collinson family. Some particulars relating to Peter Collinson are given in our friend Dillwyn's very interesting ‘Hortus Collinso- nianus,’ a privately printed brochure; and we know that Mr. Dillwyn has since traced the existence of a mass of papers, supposed to contain the letters of his friends, to the period when the grandson of Peter . Collinson occupied “the Chantry,” near Ipswich, “‘ where was a room apparently full of old furniture and papers always kept under lock and key by the possessor, who died about ten or twelve years ago." Should this meet the eye of any one able to give information on this head, the Editor will feel grateful to have it communicated to him. 65 BOTANICAL EXCURSION on the AMAZON; dy R. Spruce, Esa. [We have noticed the arrival of Mr. Spruce at Para in a previous number, and have now the pleasure of giving the following more ` recent particulars.—Ep.]} ins Parà, 7th Oet., 1849. Before this time I hope you will have received two letters from me. The ‘George Glen, from Liverpool, has been here about a week; and I shall take the opportunity of forwarding several things by her, though, as I start for Santarem the day after to-morrow, I shall have to entrust them to a friend for embarkation. The pressure of prepara- tion prevents me also from writing so much as I could wish; but the accompanying list of vegetable curiosities which I have amassed for your museum, and which fill two cases, will give some idea of what I have done. Along with these cases you will receive a third, contain- . ing chiefly Orchidee, but also a few Aroideous and other plants. I send to Mr. Bentham at the same time a case of dried Vasculares, of which the first sets will number 300* species, including eighty-three ferns, of which some of the smaller epiphytal ones may possibly be new, and a packet of very interesting lichens to Mr. Babington. 1 have, besides, a Ward’s case full of plants, chiefly Palms, of whose contents I will give a list below ;—these I leave in charge of Mr. A. Campbell, who undertakes to have the case fastened up and despatched about March next. These plants have cost me much trouble, and have already performed voyages in an open boat amounting to 110 miles. When I last wrote to you we were expecting to visit Caripi and Tanaii, which we have since done. Both these places are really on the mainland, though this whole region is so intersected by rivers and igaripés that it may be looked on as a set of islands. Thus, Caripi is constituted an island by the Igaripe-Miri, which communicates at both extremities with the Rio Parà. Its position is on the Bay of Marajó, which, being ten miles wide, quite resembles an inland sea, and is about thirty miles west of Para. The shore of the river is here a beautiful sandy shelving beach, which we could traverse for many miles at low water, though we were occasionally obliged to strip in order to pass the mouths of the igaripés. I made here a rich harvest among * These, as already announced, Mr. Bentham is generously engaged in arranging, and numbering, and distributing to the subscribers.—E». VOL. II. K e 66 MR. SPRUCE'S BOTANICAL EXCURSION the forest-trees, of which new ones burst into flower every day, and 1 have no doubt this is the case all the year round, although the rainy season may be, as they say, the best season for them. Near the beach the trees were lower and more branched than the same species in the dense forest, where, besides, it is only such as are fortunate enough to elevate their heads above their fellows that bear flowers and fruit, while on the beach they flower and fruit profusely. The beginning of summer is, however, more especially the season of flowers,—the end of summer and the beginning of winter, that of fruits. During our stay at Caripi, Mr. Campbell’s men were employed in cutting down trees to enlarge the open space around the house, and I gave them instructions | to let me know whenever "they cut down one in flower. Occasionally, too, I induced them to go a little out of their way to cut down à tree in flower or fruit, and I thus secured good specimens of many interest- ing trees, including the Ucú-uba, or oil-tree (Myristica sebifera, Sw.) ; the Umiri (Humirium, sp.), whose bark is used as a perfume; the Muruni (one of the Malpighiacez), the bark of which excels oak-bark for tanning, the nani, and many others. My principal excursion from Caripi was to an Indian settlement in the heart of the forest, about five miles from Mr. Campbell’s house, where the manufacture of the Caraipé, or fire-proof pottery (a branch of art still confined to the Indians), is carried on. Our journey was certainly an extraordinary one :—along hunters’ tracks, which none but an Indian could have found, over fallen trees, and occasionally across an igaripé, the only means of crossing being by a single trunk of a tree, which I and my - companion were glad to traverse à cheval, much to the amusement of our guides, who tripped across with their bare feet in security. After witnessing the process of making the pottery, an old Indian accom- panied us about two miles further into the forest, to see the Caraipé- tree growing, and, if possible, to procure specimens of it,—which we succeeded in doing, though unfortunately neither flower nor fruit were visible. I visited, also, the Mandiocca grounds of these Indians ; and a woman engaged to procure for me cuttings of every variety they cultivated. When these came, she was unable to say to which of the eight varieties each cutting belonged, but she gave me leaves of each variety separately, and I wrote down the names from her mouth : these, she said, would distinguish the varieties when they came into leaf; 1 : have therefore dried them, and send them along with the cuttings, and ON THE AMAZON. 67 you must do the best you can to separate the varieties. What they have under the name of Maniva-macacheira is a distinct species, the Manihot Aypi of Pohl, the root of which is edible when simply boiled. I ate some of it, which these people gave me, and found it excellent, as mealy as a potato, but possessing more substance, and, I believé, far more nourishing. The promontories stretching here and there into the bay of Marajó are all rocky, the rocks sometimes ten feet high, consisting partly of the usual reddish-grey sandstone of the country, but principally of large amorphous masses of reddish honey-combed rock, quite resembling the dross of an iron-furnace. These I do not hesitate to pronounce vol- canic. I have seen one instance of the contact of the two rocks: the trap had penetrated the clefts of the sandstone and partially fused it. If any of our geological friends would like to see a mass of this rock, Lean probably send one when I return to Para ; but I found it too hard to break off a fragment. At Caripi I visited, also, a deposit of shells at a considerable dis- tance from the river; but I have since obtained better specimens brought from a similar deposit at Salinas, which I send, along with a separate notice. The old low trees along the beach were filled with Orchideous plants, and other epiphytes, besides several Loranthacee. Of the Orchidee only one or two of the smaller species were in bloom; but I gathered of all I could find, and now send them, in order that when they flower you may ascertain whether they include any novelties. After a fortnight’s stay, we proceeded directly from Caripi to Tanaü, in a galiota of Mr. Campbell’s. The distance is 50 miles, and, in con- sequence of our men missing the tide, the voyage occupied us from two o’clock in the afternoon of one day until noon of the next. Tanaii is about thirty miles south of Para, and on a branch of the Rio Para, called the Rio Acarà. This is, comparatively speaking, a drook, being only 800 yards wide; yet it is navigable for the largest vessels at a distance of five days’ journey from its mouth, and its actual source is in the province of Maranhaon. The ground at Tanaii offers an agreeable contrast to the unvaried plain about Para. Immediately behind Mr. Campbell’s house, hills rise to the height of 130 feet, and there are loftier ones behind in the forest. Here and there, too, one comes unexpectedly on a ravine filled with palms and ferns. Of the K 2 68 MR. SPRUCE'S BOTANICAL EXCURSION latter I made an interesting collection, including several climbing species, some very minute Hymenophyllee, besides a good number of Adianta, &c. The palms at Tanaü are a different set from those at Caripi: they include Jriartea exorrhiza, Euterpe edulis, Mauritia armata, Enocarpus Bacaba, and three or four small palms, among which Hyospathe elegans is the most conspicuous, and some others. At Caripi, the magnificent Muritis (Mauritia vinifera and flexuosa), together with Mazimiliana regia, are the most abundant. The Muritis are laden with fruit all the year round, whilst most other palms seem to fruit in the rainy season only. At both Caripi and Tanaii the genera Desmoncus and Bactris are far too frequent in the thickets to render the traversing of them an agreeable or easy matter. Perhaps in no part of the world are palms seen in greater perfection than in equatorial America. Throughout the year this climate knows no wind sufficiently fierce to tear their fronds, and thus rob them of that exact symmetry which constitutes their greatest beauty. I have seen nothing more striking than a grove of Muritis, on the white beach at Caripi, viewed by moonlight, each palm equalling or exceeding 100 feet in height. They recalled the lofty pillars and “high embowered roofs” of the ecclesiastical edifices of my native land. The preparation for the voyage to Santarem is like furnishing a house. I have had to buy kettles, pans, plates, &c. &e., besides a good stock of provisions for the journey, such as rice, dried fish, &e. We are fortunate in meeting with a fine large brig, belonging to Captain Hislop of Santarem, in which to make the voyage ; and we are now in the best season of the year for ascending the river. The rains, how- ever, for nearly three weeks past, have been tremendous, exceeding anything witnessed in the last rainy season, and such as no one here recollects in the dry season of any year. I am rather glad of them, as they prevent vegetation from being burnt up. The Messrs. Wallace started for Santarem before we went to Caripi ;—1 have just heard from them: they were twenty-eight days on the voyage, the last week of which was a perfect martyrdom, from the mosquitoes, which allowed them no rest night or day. This is an awful expenditure of time, during which it is impossible to add to one’s collection. The captain of our vessel does not expect to land all the way up. The voyage to Santarem costs upwards of £10. Mr. Campbell's kind hospitality (for we were living entirely at his expense at Caripi ON THE AMAZON. 69 and Tanaü) has enabled me to husband my slender funds; but there have been many expenses since we came here, which have made a visible hole in them, and I shall look anxiously to England for some replenishment of my stock. They made me pay 25s. duty on the frames for plant-cases! I appealed to our consul, but there was no redress ; and I pay 12s. 6d. for the completing of each case, besides having to buy screws, putty, &c. I have had to purchase a couple of the ham- mocks of the country, which cost above £1 each, and there have been numerous other unavoidable expenses. The packing-cases I now send off cost me no little. The largest of the three, resembling a coffin in shape and size, we made ourselves out of the cheapest timber of the country—a rubbishly cedar brought down from the River Solimoes: the wood cost me 7s. 4d., and the box contains near a shilling’s worth of nails. I was told in Liverpool that I should find everything dear here but food, and that I should have to pay dollars for shillings. This is rather exaggerated: I pay about milreis (a milrei is 2s. 1d.) for shillings, as compared with the cost of the same articles in England. At Caripi I procured, with great trouble and difficulty, two bunches of the fruit of Mauritia vinifera, and one of M. flexuosa. These were of immense size, and could they have been got to England entire, they would have formed as splendid objects as any in your museum. I was told the fruits would all drop off in drying, but I hoped there might be an exception in this case, and I had them carefully suspended in a shed. By little and little I had the mortification to see all the fruit fall, and I am obliged to content myself with sending you a few loose fruits of each. If you could have the two stems nicely cut at one end, they would be interesting to show the internal.structure of palm-stems. The things will require to be carefully taken out of the box: they are carefully packed, but they require also to be gently handled. Few of the palms have the spadices completely clad with fruit, even in their most perfect state; and several fruits usually fall when Sreen. The fruit now on the trees of the Oastawha and Sapucaya is quite green, but I shall hereafter be able to send you good specimens. The Masaranduba flowers and fruits early in winter. I have written out the list of curiosities in such a way that my original labels can be attached to each article, if this would be any advantage. 70 MR. SPRUCE'S BOTANICAL EXCURSION Santarem is the largest town on the Amazon, and there is constant communication between it and Parà; hence I have been induced to make it my head-quarters. Mont’ Alegre, my proposed botanizing- ground, is at a short distance up an igaripé, on the opposite shore of the Amazon; and no vessels ever touch there. At Santarem I will religiously perform Dr. Von Martius's commission, relative to the crucifix,* &c. Since I began this letter, the President of the province has had the kindness to send me nine letters, addressed to the military command- ants at various places I propose visiting. For this and other civilities I am indebted to Lord Palmerston's letter to our consul. The only drawback I feel from the pleasure of proceeding to explore new ground, is, that I go with a poor stock of health, I did not mention that I had an attack of fever (called here a Constipacoen, and much dreaded by the people) at Tanaii, which held me a week, and the effects of which I have not yet shaken off. It was caught by being a whole day with wet feet in a palm-swamp. There is no getting plants here without exposing one’s self to wettings of every kind, and without being almost devoured by insects. You can scarcely imagine how much I long to be among hills. If I am successful, I shall be in no hurry to descend the river again. When I do return to Para, I propose spending three or four months among things I am now obliged to leave ; andif there are any ferns, &c.,in my dried collection you desire to have alive at Kew, I will procure them.T RICHARD SPRUCE.. Many of the vegetable curiosities above mentioned are so interesting that we subjoin a list of them, as forming a part of the Kew Museum :— No. 1. Mauritia flexuosa, Linn. (Muriti, Bras.) (Portion of lower * This, we believe, alludes to a request made by Von Martius, that a memento should be placed by Mr. Spruce where that distinguished naturalist had a miraculous escape from some very imminent danger.—Ep. - + We may here take leave to mention, that Mr. Bentham has already inspected this collection, which is about to be distributed at the price of £2 per hundred species (all expenses included), and he pronounces the plants to be well selected and in beautiful condition,—many very good things, with several new ones. This gentle- man has already named the Leguminose, among which is the rare Sommeringia. There are also beautiful specimens of a fine Pachira, of several fine Rutace@ (or allied mo" and some very curious-looking small plants, which have not yet been examined. ON THE AMAZON. 71 part of stem ; fruit; and leaves of a young plant.) From the lands of Archibald Campbell, Esq., at Caripi, on the Bay of Marajó, Rio Para, S. Am. The palm from which this was cut measured 714 ft. from the base to the insertion of the leaves; each leaf-stalk was about 13 ft. long, and the blade of each leaf 74 ft.; the diameter of the trunk 154 inches. A bunch of the fruit was a heavy load for two men. One of the lowest trees was selected, for the sake of obtaining the fruit perfect : some of the neighbouring trees must have been at least half as high again. No. 2. Mauritia vinifera, Mart. (Muriti, Bras.) (Lower part of stem ; fruit; leaves of a young plant.) Marshes at Caripi, Rio Para, S. Am. Height of trunk to insertion of leaves, 63 ft. Diameter, l6 in. Leaf-stalk, 13 ft. 6 in.; blade of leaf, 7 ft. 5 in. The thin pulp (vitellus) of the fruit of this species is edible. The trunk contains a small quantity of sugar. M. flexuosa possesses the same properties. No. 3. Euterpe edulis, Mart. (Assai or Assai-zeiro, Bras.) Marshes near Para, S. Am. August 1849. (Two spadices and two leaves.) From the very thin pulp of the fruit of this species a grateful beverage is prepared, which is unknown beyond the province of Para. It is made in this manner :—the recently gathered fruits are put in hot water, and allowed to steep for an hour or two, after which, by a pro- cess similar to kneading, the pulp, along with the skin, is separated from the stone, and the whole being shaken in a peculiar kind of sieve (called a Gurupema), the pulp passes through, leaving the stones and skins behind. The liquor thus obtained is insipid, but the addition of sugar and farinha brings out a flavour not unlike that of blackberries, which it resembles also in the deep purple colour. No. 4. Male spadix and spathe of the Tucuma palm (Astrocaryum Tucuma, Mart.) Banks of the Rio Para, S. Am. July 1849. No. 5. Bactris Maraja, Mart. (Marajà, Bras.) (3 spadices.) Marshes near Para, S. Am. July 1849. The ripe fruit of this palm is more agreeable than any other palm-fruit I have tasted. No. 6. Spadix, leaf, and portion of stem of a small palm in the forest near Para. August 1849. (Caudex 12-15 ft.) No. 7. Maximiliana regia, Mart. (Inajá, Bras.) (Male spadix and spathe.) Caripi, Rio Para, 1849. The spathe of this species is a ready-made basket, used by the Indians for carrying earth, clay, farinha, &c. It is sometimes three times as large as the specimen 12 MR. SPRUCE'S BOTANICAL EXCURSION sent. The fruit of the Inajá is burned by the Seringueiros, i. e., India-rubber makers, for smoking and drying the successive layers of the milk of the Seringue, which they apply to their clay-moulds. A leaf which I measured exceeded 30 ft. in length. The Inajá fur- nishes a more delicious “ cabbage " than any other palm. No. 8. Hyospathe elegans, Mart. (Ubim, Bras.) (Stem; 2 leaves; upper part of stem, with male and female spadix ; 2 fertile and 2 male spadices.) In wet ravines at Tanaii, near the junction of the rivers Acarà and Para. September 1849. The fronds of this pretty species make the best and neatest thatching for cottages. No. 9. Iriartea exorrhiza, Mart. (Paxiuba, Bras.) (Spadix; leaf; portion of stem from near summit; stem of a young plant, with the emersed roots.) Tanaii, on the Rio Acarà, a tributary of the Rio Para. September 1849. Young stems of this palm are exported in great quantities to the United States, where they are used for umbrella-sticks. No. 10. Leaf and spadix of a small palm, with red prickly fruit, from Tanaü, on the Rio Acarà, S. Am. September 1849. No. 11. Desmoncus ? (Leaves and inflorescence.) Tanaii, Rio Acarà, S. Am. No. 12. Bixa Orellana, Linn. (Urucú, Bras.) Environs of Para, S. Am., very frequent. July 1849. (Leaves, and fruit laid open to show the seeds, from which is prepared the Ænnatto of commerce). No. 13. Humirium (Umiri, Bras.) (Wood, leaves, and fruit.) Caripi, on the shores of the Rio Pari, S. Am. August 1849. From the bark of this tree a perfume is extracted which is much esteemed in Brazil. The wood is used in house-carpentry, especially for rafters. No. 14. (Anani, Bras.) (Wood; leaves and flowers ; gum secreted by bark.) Caripi, on the Rio Pari. August 1849. A lofty hand- some tree, branching only near the summit. The wounded bark exudes abundantly a yellow, viscid, bitter-tasted: gum, which changes first red, and then umber, in drying. Plaisters made of it are used by the Indians in chest disorders, and it is also extensively used for caulking canoes. No: 15. Myristica sebifera, Sw. (Virola sebifera, Aubl. Uci-uba, Bras., i. e., Oil-tree.) (Leaves and flowers; wood.) Caripi, on the Rio Para. August 1849. The nuts of this tree furnish the best wax in the province. A watery gum exudes from the bark, which finds ON THE AMAZON. rb! a place in the Brazilian Materia Medica. The ashes of the wood are used with Andiroba oil for making vegetable soap; as are also the ashes of the Xiriuba tree, and of the skin of the fruit of the Cacao. No. 16. Sieve called a “ Gurupema," made by the Indians near Para, and used chiefly in the manufacture of * Assai.” It is made from a plant called Uarumd4. No. 17. Sipó, called ** Tíimbo-titica," from forests at Tanaü, on the Rio Acara, near Para. September 1849. This is considered the toughest and most flexible of all the Sipos, and is extensively used as a substitute for string. (I send the leaves: flowers or fruit I have not yet seen.) No. 18. Siphonia elastica, Pers. (Seringueira, Bras.) (Wood ; leaves and flowers.) Tanaii, on the Rio Acara, a confluent of the Rio Para. September 1849. This tree, which produces the genuine Caoutchouc, is one of the largest and handsomest in the forest. When growing in rather open situations, it is branched almost from the very base. The milk is much thinner than that of the Cow-tree, and falls away in drops from any incision that is made in the bark. Much more is yielded by the trunk than by the branches. No. 19. Leaves and bark of the celebrated ** Caraipé,”* or pottery- tree, from Caripi on the Rio Para. August 1849. The Caraipé tree | is exceedingly straight, slender, and lofty, attaining a height of 100 ft. before it sends forth a branch, and with a diameter at the base not exceeding 12-15 inches. The wood is so hard that our tools would not enterit. In making the Caraipé pottery, the purest clay is pre- ferred, as it takes up the greatest quantity of the bark; this quality of clay is procured from the beds of the rivers and igaripés. The accompanying specimens were made for me by an Indian woman, residing on the Igaripé Castanhal at Tanaü, and consist of nearly equal portions of clay and the powdered bark of the Caraipé. They - will bear almost any amount of heat. The two panelas are used for heating milk, boiling eggs, and similar purposes: much larger — are often made. The smallest utensil is a rough model of a Fogaréiro, or chafing-dish, such as is to be seen in nearly every house in the country ; over this the panelas, &e., are heated. * ipa angustifoli i probability ; of which Aublet says, “ Les aiitem oec tn ig er ey écorce, 2c d pec terre moe pour faire leur poterie.” VOL. II. » 714 MR. SPRUCE'S BOTANICAL EXCURSION No. 20. Bark, leaves, flowers and fruit of a small tree, called Muruzi. Caripi, Rio Para, August 1849. Byrsonima, sp.? The bark contains a large proportion of tannin. It is also used as a dye, and when the Indians marched to the attack of Para, in the insurrection of 1835, they stained their garments red with the bark of the Muruxi. The fruit is yellow when ripe, and is considered very good eating. No. 21, Masseranduba, Milk-tree, or Cow-tree. (A piece of the wood, with milk flowing from the end; milk, solid and fluid ; leaves.) In virgin forests, at Tanaii, Rio Acard, Para. September 1849. The milk flows slowly from the wounded bark; its consistency is that of good cream, and its taste perfectly creamy and agreeable, with the exception of a very slight bitterness, derived probably from the outer rind. It is extremely viscid, and it is scarcely possible to get it off the hands or whatever else it touches; this property renders it a rather unsafe article of diet, and serious cases of constipation have resulted from its use by the woodeutters. The timber is excellent for the purposes of ship-building. The frigate Impératriz, built at Para, of the wood of the Masseranduba, and launched in 1823, is still in excellent condition. (Although I have seen only the leaves of the Masseranduba, I have no hesitation in referring it to the N.O. Sapotacee. May it not be the very same as the “Bully-tree”’ of Tobago, which seems to have the same solid and close-grained wood, and whose milk forms an excellent glue ?) No. 22. Tobacco-pipes made by the Indians of Caripi, on the Rio Para, and extensively used throughout the province; with specimens of the shrub (called Tacuari) from the slender branches of which the tubes are made, No. 23. Shell and leaves of the Sapucaya (Lecythis ollaria), Caripi, on the Rio Para. August 1849. No. 24. Leaves and resin of a tree called ** Bred branco” (t. €., white pitch). Caripi, on the Rio Parà. August 1849. The resin is in great request at Para for caulking ships. The tall straight irunks are used for masts. No. 25. Bertholletia excelsa, Humb. (Castanheira, Bras.) (Bark and half-decayed fruits.) Tanaü, Rio Acarà, Pari, September 1849. The bark, beaten as in the accompanying specimen, is used at Para, along with the Bred branco, for caulking ships. The castanhas can only escape from the shell by the decay of the latter, though a forcible ON THE AMAZON. 75 entry is usually made into it by the monkeys and pacas when it is already half decayed. I have seen one instance of castanhas ger- minating while yet within the shell, or ouriço, as it is called. Some of the castanha-trees in the forests of Tanaii are the very largest I have anywhere seen ; I measured one which was fourteen yards round at the base, and at the height of 50 ft. the circumference was apparently very little less; it must have risen to above 100 ft. before puiting forth a single huit No. 26. Portion of a twisted Sipó from Caripi, on the Rio Para. This reached from the ground in a nearly straight line to the top of a very lofty tree, having quite the appearance of a cable. I was unable to pull it down in order to examine the leaves. The smaller Sipó, which has insinuated itself between the folds of the larger one, seemed to cease at about half the height of the latter. No. 27. Bark of a tree called Tauaré, used for making the envelopes of cigars. From Tanaii, Para. September 1849. The single tree I saw of this was too large and lofty to admit of procuring its leaves, but from its habit, smooth fissile bark, and trunk dilated at the base into buttresses (called ** Sapopemas ") I do not hesitate to consider it a Lecythis, though a different species from L. ollaria. There is much dispute among the amateurs of tobacco-smoke at Para, as to whether it is more agreeable when imbibed through cigars of Tawaré, or pipes of Zacuari; but the odour of the former is certainly the less disagree- able of the two. No. 28, Fishing-net made by the iae at Caripi, Rio Parà, of the rind of the petiole of the Jupati palm. September 1849. These nets are stretched across the mouths of the smaller igaripés at high- water; the receding tide leaves the fish confined in shallow water, where they are ‘easily caught by the hand. When the igaripé is wide, several nets are joined together. The strips of palm are joined together by a Sipó called Timbo-titica. No. 29. Dipterix odorata (Cumaré, Bras. Tonga bean). Tanai, Rio Acara, S. Am. September 1849. (Wood and fruit.) No. 30. Tipiti, or Madiocca-strainer, made by the Indians of Tanaii, Rio Acara, Para. The Tipiti is used in this manner :—the two ends are thrust towards each other, so as to increase its diameter and shorten its length; in this state it is filled with the grated root of the Mandiocca ; the loop at the lower end is slipped upon a fixed pole ; another pole L 2 16 DECADES OF FUNGI. put through the upper loop is passed over a beam, and a heavy weight attached to its opposite extremity, so that it acts as a lever to stretch the Tipiti, and thus squeeze out all the fluid part of the Mandiocca. It is made from the rind of the stem of a plant called Uarumd-miri, which is probably one of the Marantacee. No. 31. Sabaó da terra; a soap made at Parà from Andiroba oil, and the ashes of a tree called Xiriuba. Decapes or Funai; by the Rev. M. J. BERKELEY, M.A., F.L.5. Decades XXV. to XXX. (Continued from p. 51.) Sikkim Himalaya Fungi, collected by Dr. J. D. Hooker. 261. 4. (Collybia) ustipes, n. s.; sparsus; pileo campanulato tenui glabro, margine striato ; stipite glabro elongato fistuloso deorsum clavi- formi extus intusque rubro; lamellis angustis eus subdistantibus. Hook. fil., No. 129, cum ic. Has. On the ground. Darjeeling, 8,000 feet. October. Inodorous, soft, brittle. Pileus 14 inch across, conico-campanulate, dry, delicate, red-brown, thin ; margin slightly striate. Stem elongated, 7 inches high, 2 lines thick, composed of fibres, claviform below, fistu- lose, deep red-brown without and within, strigose at the base. Gills narrow, distant, white, somewhat waved, adnexed. Resembling Marasmius erythropus, and allied to Æ. acervatus, from which it is distinguished by its very long stem, scattered habit, and other points. 262. 4. (Collybia) rhodellus, n.s.; pileo convexo umbilicato mem- branaceo ex umbilico rogoso-plieiti rhodello luteo-variegato ; stipite fusco fistuloso ; lamellis distantibus erispatis adnatis pallide rubris, interstitiis venosis. Hook. fil., No. 120, eum ie. Has. On wood. Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. Inodorous, delicate. Pileus. 1-2 inches broad, convex, umbilicate, dry, pink, tinged with yellow, especially towards the margin, membra- naceous, rugoso-suleate from the umbilicus. Stem 2 inches high, 1 line or more thick, brown, fistulose, sometimes attenuated below, but DECADES OF FUNGI. (ui sometimes equal, or even slightly thickened. Gills moderately broad, arched, adnate, distant, erisped, pink ; interstices veiny. Belonging to the same section with 4. dryophilus, though not very closely allied, and approaching near to some Marasmii. 263. 4. (Collybia) antitypus, n. s. ; pileo convexo sicco glabro pallido carnoso, margine inflexo ; stipite curvo solido fibroso discreto albo apice dilatato in pileum immisso ; lamellis ventricosis adnexis albis, interstitiis venosis. Hook. fil., No. 6, cum ic. Has. On mossy trunks. Darjeeling, 8,500 feet. April, May. Inodorous. Pileus 2 inches across, convex, smooth, dry, pallid, fleshy, brittle; margin incurved. Stem 2 inches high, rather unequal, 2 lines or more thick, more or less swollen at the base, dilated at the apex, and sunk into the pileus, from the substance of which it is separated by a definite darker line, of a fibrous substance, solid, smooth externally or sericeo-fibrillose, white. Gills white, broad in front, rounded behind, adnexed, white; the insterstices venose. I cannot point out any close ally of this pretty species, the characters of which are, however, remarkable. The gills extend beyond the pileus, and are attached to the broadly-dilated apex of the stem, but are rather adnexed than adnate. 264. 4. (Collybia) camptopus, n. s.; pileo subhemispherieo hygro- phano obtuse umbonato viscoso subcarnoso pallido, margine sulcato ; stipite ineurvo rigido obscuriore; lamellis latiusculis crassis postice rotundatis subliberis. Hook. fil., No. 113, cum ic. Has. On wood, &c. Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. September. Not uncommon. Inodorous, very soft, fleshy, and pellucid. Pileus 23 inches broad, subhemispherical, with an obtuse umbo, pale, yellowish, viscid, shining ; margin sulcate, though the substance is not very thin. Stem incurved, slightly dilated at the base, solid, very firm and hard, brownish, 2 inches or more high, 2-3 lines thick. Gills distant, waved, rounded behind, nearly free, very thick and fleshy. Allied to 4. antitypus, and differing principally from 4. mucidus in the want of a ring. 265. 4. (Mycena) Broomeianus, n. s.; tener; pileo campanulato umbonato plicato hic illie lineis transversis reticulato ; stipite torto fibroso fistuloso ; lamellis angustis liberis. Hook. fil, No. 62, cum ic. Has. Ondead wood. Darjeeling. June. 18 DECADES OF FUNGI. Inodorous, tender, brittle. ileus nearly 3 inches across, campa- nulate, umbonate, dry, shining, or moist (from rain ?), slightly fleshy, reddish-brown, with a pink tinge, deeply plicato-sulcate, the insterstices sometimes transversely reticulate. Stem 5 inches high, 4 of an inch thick, attenuated upwards, fistulose, composed of fibres, strigose at the base, and there exhibiting within concentric strata, brownish-pink. Gills very narrow, linear, free, white, with here and there a shade of pink. In the young pileus there is no trace of folds. Evidently allied to .4. pelianthinus, but larger, and without any discoloured edge to the gills, which differ in. outline and in colour from those of that species. The reticulations do not extend to the whole of the pileus. The gills are sometimes forked or anastomose. 266. Æ. (Mycena) myriadeus, n. s. ; ceespitosus; pileo e campanu- lato hemispherico minute umbonato glabro, margine striato ; stipitibus plus minus connatis gracilibus fistulosis ; lamellis latis planis adnato- ` subdecurrentibus albis. Hook. fil., No. 130, cum ic. Has. Trunks of dead trees, &c. Darjeeling, 8,000 feet. October. Very abundant. Very much tufted, inodorous, very delicate and brittle. Pileus $— 1 inch across, at first campanulate, then hemispherical, with a minute umbo, smooth, dry, membranaceous; margin striate. Stem 2—3 inches high, not a line thick, united at the base and downy, fistulose, white, with a greyish tinge like the pileus. Gills broad, rather distant, nearly plane, adnate, with a decurrent tooth, white, connected by veins. Allied to 4. tintinnabulum, which it resembles in its gills and habit, but not in its delicate texture, umbonate pileus, and absence of viscosity. 267. 4. (Mycena) nubigenus, n. s.; mollis, fragilis; pileo conico- explanato sicco profunde sulcato; stipite adscendente subæquali fis- tuloso albido ; lamellis latis ventricosis adnexis candidis. Hook. fil., No. 78, cum ic. Has. On old timber. Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. June. Common. Odour faint. Soft and brittle. Pileus 2 inches broad, conical, but widely expanded, greyish-brown, dry, deeply furrowed. Flesh very thin, except in the centre. Stem nearly equal, 2 inches high, + thick, fistulose, dirty white. Gills broad, distant, ventricose, rounded behind and adnexed, white ; interstices even. Allied to 4. galericulatus, but not so tough, and remarkable for DECADES OF FUNGI. 19 its broad white gills. The stem is smooth below, and by no means strigose. 268. A. (Mycena) arafus, n. s.; ceespitosus; pileo e conico-cam- panulato suleato ; stipitibus tenuibus gracilibus fistulosis; lamellis carneo-variegatis subuncinato-adnatis. Hook. fil., No. 37, cum ic. Has. On roots of trees amongst moss. Sinchul, 8,500—9,000 feet. May. Inodorous, very delicately tufted. Pileus 4 of an inch across, at first somewhat conical, then campanulate, strongly sulcate from near the apex, dry, brittle, rather fleshy for the size, brown above, shaded off into white on the margin. Stems 2-3 inches long, not a line thick, brownish, tinged with pink, fistulose, strigose at the base, sometimes connate. Gills distant, ventricose, shaded with pink, adnate, with a slight tooth, not connected by veins. This has the habit of 4. muscigenus, but is larger, and more nearly allied to 4. galericulatus, but distinct from every described species. A species of Coprinus is figured in the same group, which springs from an Ozonium-like Mycelium, 269. 4. (Mycena) dicrenatus, Hook. fil.; pileo conico obtusiusculo carnoso, margine demum expanso recurvo bicrenato; stipite deorsum subinerassato fistuloso; lamellis ventrieosis distantibus subliberis carneo-variegatis. Hook. fil., No. 58, cum ic. Has. On rotten wood. Jillapahar. June. Abundant. Inodorous, brittle, of a delicate pinkish white, with deeper shades on the apex of the pileus and gills, and a brown tinge at the base of the stem. Pileus about 1 inch across, conical or conico-campanulate, rather obtuse, smooth, dry, at length striated and splitting slightly in the direction of the gills, fleshy; margin at length expanded and recurved, bierenate. Stem 11 inch high, about one line thick, ascending, rather thickened at the base, fistulose. Gills moderately broad, ven- tricose, ascending, nearly free ; the interstices reticulated. Allied to 4. alcalinus, but distinguished by many characters from that and others of the section. Unlike that and the other species of the same section growing on wood, it is inodorous. The colours are nearly those of Æ. purus. The whole plant turns black in drying. 270. 4. (Mycena) rubietinctus, n. s.; totus plus minusve rubro- tinctus, inodorus ; piléo e conico anguste campanulato sicco plicato ; 80 DECADES OF FUNGI. stipite fistuloso ; lamellis subventrieosis liberis. Hook. fil., No. 84 cum ic. Has. On trunks of trees. Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. June. Rare. Inodorous, dry, fleshy, brittle, delicate, slightly tufted. Pileus 4 an inch broad, 3 of an inch high, at first conical, then elongato-campanulate, plicate, pale madder-red. Stem 21 inches high, 1 line or more thick, fistulose, deep red. Gills moderately broad, ventricose, ascending, free, shaded with pale red. Resembling somewhat 4. hematopus, but more nearly allied to A. plicosus and A. metatus, but differing, as the last, from other species of their section growing on wood, in being inodorous. 271. 4. (Mycena) zanthophyllus, n. s.; pileo e campanulato hemi- sphzerico subcarnoso striato ; stipite didi ES fistuloso; lamellis flavis demum purpureo-variegatis latis rotundatis liberis. Hook. fil., No. 42, cum ic. T Has. On roots of trees. Darjeeling, 8,000 feet. May. Inodorous, fleshy and brittle, rather delicate. Pileus 1-14 inch across, at first conico-campanulate, at length hemispherical, smooth, striate, variegated with pink in the centre, shaded off into grey, with sometimes a yellow tinge on the margin. Stem ascending, flexuous, 11-21 inches high, 14 line thick, nearly equal, yellowish or purple, fis- tulose. Gills broad, rounded behind, free, pure yellow, at length shaded with red or purple, rather distant, slightly if at all connected by veins. Remarkable for its broad yellow gills. 272. A. (Mycena). russulinus, n. s.; pileo tenui submembranaceo sicco russulino hemisphzerico, margine suleato ; stipite adscendente fistuloso umbrino ; lamellis latiusculis pallido-flavis adnatis subuncinatis. Hook. fil., No. 43, cum ic. Has. On trunks of trees. Darjeeling, 8,600 feet. May. Abundant. , Inodorous, delicate, brittle. ileus 3—1 inch broad, hemispherical, sometimes obtusely umbonate, thin, submembranaceous, dry, of a dull red; margin sulcate. Stem 1-24 inches high, about 1 line thick, equal, ascending, umber brown, fistulose. Gills rather broad, distant, adnate, with a small tooth. Allied to the foregoing species, but very distinct in its uniform red pileus, dark stem, and pale subuncinate gills. 273. 4. (Mycena) rufatus, n. s.; pileo conico hemisphserico viscido rufo striatulo carnosulo ; stipite subtiliter fistuloso concolore ; DECADES OF FUNGI. 81 lamellis pallide flavis adnexis demum rufo-tinetis. Hook. fil., No. 44, cum ic. Has. On trunks of trees. Darjeeling, 8,000 feet. May. Abundant. Inodorous, rather firm. Pileus 1 an inch broad, conico-hemi- spherical, red-brown, smooth, viscid, fleshy in the centre, striate. Stem short, slender, 1 inch high, scarcely 1 line thick, generally ascending, rufous, minutely fistulose, nearly equal. Gills rather narrow, pale yellow, rounded behind, nearly free, at length blotched with red-brown. Allied to the last, but distinguished readily by its viscid, firmer pileus, and ultimately red-brown gills. 274. 4. (Mycena) manipularis, n. s.; valde cespitosus, tener, fragilis; pileo convexo obtuso sicco striato ; stipite gracili; lamellis flavis latiuseulis adnatis. Hook. fil., No. 49, eum ic. Has. On trunks and stumps. Sinchul, 8,500 feet. May. Abundant. Inodorous, densely cespitose, small, very brittle. Pileus 1—3 inch broad, convex, obtuse, smooth, dry, thin, striate, shaded with grey and yellow. Stems slender, 1-2 inches high, not 4 a line thick, minutely fistulose, grey, downy at the base. Gills rather broad, ventricose, adnate, yellow. Distinguished from neighbouring species by its delicate, highly- tufted pilei, and small size. Dr. Hooker describes the pilei as dry; they have, however, the appearance of being somewhat gelatinous in substance, though dry externally. 275. A. (Mycena) prasius, n. s.; pileo campanulato fortiter sulcato sieco pallide prasio; stipite elongato tenui fistuloso concolore basi incrassato rubro; lamellis paucis niveis liberis. Hook. fil, No. 140, cum ic. Has. On the ground. Top of Tonglo, 10,000 feet. Dry, brittle, inodorous, very delicate. Pileus $ of an inch across, campanulate, obtuse, membranaceous, pale leek-green, variegated with about 18 paler stripes, converging in pairs, rather more than half-way up the pileus, between which it is strongly suleate. Stem above 3 inches high, 1 line thick, fistulose, smooth, green, except at the swollen base, where it is red. Gills few, white, ventricose, free or adnexed. An exquisite species, which is perhaps as nearly allied to 4. epipte- rygius as to any described species, but without any of its viscosity. A. chloranthus has similar colour, but is very different, especially in the gills. It does not, indeed, come very near to any European type. VOL. II. M 82 DECADES OF FUNGI. 276. 4. (Mycena) rufopictus, n. s.; fascicularis, fragilis ; pileo viscosissimo plano e centro radiato carnosulo; stipite elongato fistuloso glabro; lamellis adnatis rufulis. Hook. fil., No. 48, cum ic. Has. On dead wood. Darjeeling, 8,000 feet. May. Abundant. Tufted, brittle, inodorous, red-brown. Pilei 3-1 inch broad, ex- tremely viscid, nearly plane, slightly fleshy, marked with darker lines radiating from the centre. Stems elongated, 3 inches high, scarcely 2 lines thick, nearly equal, smooth. Gills nearly plane, paler than the pileus, distant, adnate, at length subdecurrent. Allied to 4. epipterygius, but distinct from every described species. 277. A. (Pleurotus) apalosclerus, n. s. ; graveolens, umbrinus ; pileo udo tenero molli umbilicato squamulis acutis exasperato; stipite firmo rigido solido deorsum attenuato; lamellis decurrentibus interstitiis venosis. Hook. fil., No. 80, cum ic. Has. On trunks of trees. Darjeeling, 7-8,000 feet. June, July. Abundant. Odour strong, disagreeable. Very soft, fleshy, and brittle. ileus 24-3 inches broad, umbilicate, depressed, umber, moist, rough with raised pointed scales or warts; margin striate. Stem 14 inch high, 2 lines thick in the centre, ascending, attenuated downwards, solid, firm, darker than the pileus. Gills rather narrow, decurrent, pale umber, crenate ; interstices venose. This has precisely the habit of some Lentini, but is of a soft, tender consistence. The stem is barely excentric, but as the edge is quite expanded, it comes better amongst the Pleuwroti than in the former section of Omphalia, in which alone it could be placed. It contracts very much in drying, and in the herbarium shows no Lentinoid aspect. It exhibits, indeed, a type quite distinct from anything hitherto described. 278. A. (Pleurotus) verrucarius, n. s.; pileo umbilicato gilvo tenui subfragili humido ; stipite solido firmo glabro ; lamellis pallide ochraceis latiusculis. Hook. fil., No. 20, cum ic. Has. On dead wood. Darjeeling, 7-8,000 feet. May, June. Pileus 4 inches or more across, umbilicate, or sometimes infundi- buliform, thin, rather brittle, moist, but not viscid, reddish-grey, sprinkled with conical black warts, which are crowded in the centres margin inflexed. Stem 1-2 inches high, À—1 inch thick, yellowish, smooth, firm, solid, yellowish; sometimes rough with jagged points, DECADES OF FUNGI. 88 as if torn from the sides. Gills pale, ochraceous, decurrent, moderately broad, thin, transparent when dry. The pileus, when dry, is transparent. The warts are very remarkable and quite distinct from the pileus, indicating, as it should seem, a sort of universal volva. This very fine species has quite the habit of Panus or Lentinus, but the brittle pileus is against its being associated with cither genus. There is no ring. Like the foregoing, it is a Clitocybe in its scarcely excentric pileus. The species of that tribe, however, are essentially terrestrial, and occur very rarely on wood, and then only when it is almost reduced to mould by rottenness. 219. .4. (Pleurotus) anserinus, n. s. ; imbrieato-lobatus; pileo sericeo- virgato umbrino-gilvo, margine involuto ; stipite brevi laterali ; lamellis candidis angustis confertissimis. Hook. fil., No. 64, cum ie. Has. On dead wood. Jillapahar, 7,500 feet. June. Odour rather sweet, faint. Pileus forming an imbricated, lobed, flabelliform mass, 4 inches or more across, reddish grey, inclining to umber, dry, smooth, but marked with silky, virgate lines ; substance softish, fleshy ; margin involute. Stem short, being in fact little more than the attenuated point of attachment of the pileus, obtuse. Gills very much crowded, narrow, white, here and there tinged with red running down the stem, not visibly echinulate. Approaching nearest, perhaps, to lobed forms of 4. petaloides, but resembling closely no described species. In drying it assumes a brown tinge, and the pileus splits very much. The lobes resemble in colour and in appearance those of a goose’s liver, whence I have taken the name. 280. 4. (Pleurotus) edus, Berk. ; imbricatus, tenerrimus, totus pallide rubellus ; pileo tenui glabro ; stipite obsoleto ; lamellis angustis decurrentibus. Hook, fil., No. 9, eum ie. Has. In the hottest valleys, on trunks of dead trees, in open places. Sikkim Himalaya. May. Odour faint. Imbricated, extremely beautiful and delicate, of a pale Aurora-red. ileus 3 inches or more across, spathulate at first, then flabelliform, smooth, slightly rimose, thin, but fleshy, brittle; edge ineurved. Stem obsolete. Gills very narrow, decurrent, extremely thin, crowded, reticulated at the base. Allied to 4. petaloides, but differing in its uniform tint, in the M 2 84 DECADES OF FUNGI. absence of the villous, channelled stem, and in its flabelliform, not per- manently spathulate pileus. 281. 4. (Pleurotus) winguidus, obs niveus, tenerrimus ; pileo imbricato flabelliformi submembranacco ; Mudo prorsus nullo ; lamellis latiusculis postice rotundatis. Hook. fil., No. 12, cum ic. Has. Hot valleys, on dead timber. May. Sikkim Himalaya. Inodorous, imbricate, white, extremely delicate. Pileus 2 inches or more broad, flabelliform or suborbicular, entire, fleshy, but very thin, smooth, convex. Stem altogether wanting. Gills thin, crowded, slightly ventricose, rounded behind. Allied to 4. edus, but a very different species. 282. A. (Pluteus) palumbinus, n. s., pileo convexo umbonato glabro erugi carnosulo palumbino; stipite solido albo deorsum leviter incrassato ; lamellis ex albo roseis liberis. Hook. fil., No. 72, cum ic. Has. On trunks of living trees. Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. Rare. Inodorous. Pileus 2 inches across, convex, subhemispherical, obtusely umbonate, dry, smooth, even, dove-coloured. Stem about 2 inches high, 4 of an inch thick, ascending, white, solid, slightly thickened downwards, and expanded at the base. Gills rose-coloured, at first white, perfectly free. Nearly allied to 4. phlebophorus, but quite even and distinctly um- bonate. There is no other species with which it can be confounded, except 4. Curtisii, Berk., which is at once distinguished by its viscid, liver-coloured pileus. 283. 4. (Pluteus) chrysoprasius, n. s. ; pileo hemisphzerico subconico carnosulo pallide prasio glabro ; stipite elongato fistuloso albo ; Mind latis alutaceis. Hook. fil., No. 142, cum ic. Has. On burnt fir-roots. Base of Tonglo, 2,000 feet. Inodorous. Pileus 1 inch or more across, conico-hemispherical, scarcely campanulate, pale leek-green, dry, smooth, even ; flesh thin, green like the pileus. Stem 3 inches high, 2 lines thick, white, fistu- lose, slightly incrassated downwards. Gills broad, ventricose, rounded behind, perfectly free, tan-coloured. Of this, unfortunately, no specimens have been preserved, but the peculiar characters of the gills are such as to leave no doubt as to its proper position. It is, however, very distinct in character from -every species of its section. 4. leoninus alone exhibits the yellow tone of its gills. DECADES OF FUNGI. 85 284. 4. (Entoloma) Goliathus, Hook. fil. ; giganteus ; pileo carnoso e conico convexo fortiter umbonato sicco sinuato sulcato-rugoso; stipite valido solido subbulboso ; lamellis subliberis. Hook. fil., No. 92, cum ic. Has. Inwoods. Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. June. Rare. Odour like that of the common mushroom. Pileus dry, fleshy, brittle, soon decaying, 8-12 inches across, at first ovato-conical, then expanded, convex, with a very strong umbo, smooth, livid-brown, deeply and irregularly grooved and sinuated; margin at length in- verted and curled back. Flesh stained with brown beneath the cuticle, white elsewhere. Stem 4—7 inches high, 13—2 inches thick, incrassated or bulbous at the base, of the same colour as the pileus. Gills varying somewhat in width, rounded behind and nearly free, pale brown, at length rusty rose-coloured. This species is allied to 4. sinuatus, from which it differs in its very rugged pileus, strongly-developed umbo, and in the gills, which, in proportion to the pileus, are often very narrow. 285. 4. (Entoloma) cystopus, n. s. ; pileo conico glabro hygrophano subcarnoso; stipite cavo deorsum incrassato subfusiformi; lamellis adscendentibus undulatis postice attenuatis adnexis pallido-roseis. Hook. fil., No. 1, eum ic. Has. On dead leaves, twigs, moss, &c. Darjeeling, 8,000 feet. April 22, 1848. Pileus 14 inch or more across, nearly 1 inch high, conical, with the base somewhat expanded, slightly waved, greyish, hygrophanous, not viscid, scarcely striate, subcarnose, inodorous. Stem 3 inches high, more than 2 of an inch thick at the base, about } only at the apex, smooth, bulbous below and downy, rapidly attenuated upwards, fistu- lose, the cavity penetrating into the flesh of the pileus, grey, with a pinkish tinge. Gills ventricose, much attenuated behind, slightly adnexed, but by no means rounded behind or truly free. Spores ob- liquely ovate, angular. This curious species has somewhat the habit of 4. dutyraceus, but its nearest allies are 4. rhodopolius and A. turbidus. The margin of the pileus, as in the former species, seems to be slightly inflexed. 286. 4. (Volvaria) Thwaitesit, Hook. fil.; pileo amplissimo conico- expanso fortiter umbonato carnoso luteo sicco sericeo nitido, margine appendiculato ; stipite solido sursum attenuato solido basi bulboso ; 86 DECADES OF FUNGI. volvà ocreatá, margine leviter patente; lamellis liberis carneo-fuscis, postice valde attenuatis. Hook. fil., No. 85, cum ic. Has. On dead wood. Darjeeling, 7,000 feet. June. Rare. Inodorous. Pileus 9 inches or more broad, expanded, but rising in the centre to a large conical umbo, pale yellow, dry, glossy and shining, clothed with beautiful silky threads, extremely fleshy in the centre, and decidedly so as far as the termination of the gills, beyond which the margin is produced into a ragged membrane. Flesh tinged with yellow, splitting towards the edge. Stem stout, ascending, 8 inches high, more than an inch thick in the centre, tapering above, bulbous below, solid, white, with a few brownish patches, striate, furnished below with a volva, the edges of which only are free. Gills very broad, ventricose, crowded, attenuated in front, and very greatly so behind, so as to be decidedly acuminate, quite free ; spores red, with a brownish tinge. A most splendid species, allied to .4. bombycinus, from which it is distinguished by its size, its less ample, closely fitting volva, its very acuminate gills, which have a brownish tinge, and its smaller spores. It must rank amongst the princes of the Agarics. 287. 4. (Pholiota) evaminans, n. s. ; pileo carnoso convexo-expanso obtuso levi sicco glabro, margine striato; stipite adscendente brevi fibrilloso, annulo fugaci ; lamellis adnatis pallidis postice acutis. Has. On dead wood. Darjeeling. Cespitose. ^ Pileus 3 inches broad, convex, expanded, smooth, carnose, tawny; margin striate. Stem 2 inches high, 1 of an inch thick, ascending, fibrillose ; ring fugitive. Gills moderately broad, pale tawny, adnate, acute behind. Spores elliptie, quite smooth, ferruginous, tinged with olive. Allied to 4. pudicus, especially the tawny variety, but distinguished by its fibrillose stem, fugitive veil, differently formed gills, but especially by its much smaller spores, which, as in that species, are perfectly smooth and slightly more convex on one side than the other. 288. 4. (Pholiota) microsporus, n. s.; fascicularis; pileo viscoso glaberrimo convexo carnoso ; stipite viscidulo; annulo contexto tenui ; lamellis argillaceis angustis postice attenuatis. Hook. fil, No. 45, cum ic. Haz. On dead wood. Darjeeling. Fasciculate. Pileus 2-3 inches broad, convex, viscid, quite smooth, pale tawny, darker in the eentre, with livid shades towards the margin. DECADES OF FUNGI. 87 Stem 2-3 inches high, nearly equal, but attenuated at the very base, varying much in thickness, viscid, smooth, of the same colour as the pileus, at length hollow. Ring thin, persistent, viscid externally. Gills narrow, attenuated behind, argillaceous. Spores extremely small, argillaceous. Distinguished from all neighbouring species by its extremely small spores. Its nearest ally, perhaps, is 4. pudicus, but it has the habit of 4. fascicularis. It has also a strong resemblance to Æ. polychrous, Berk., which has, however, darker and larger spores. * A. aurivellus, Batsch. Hook. fil, No. 50, 141, cum ic. Has. On stumps of trees. Darjeeling, 7,000 feet ; Tonglo, 5,000. May, June. Very abundant. This species differs from 4. squarrosus in its rather viscid pileus, and redder spores, as also in the rounded not subdecurrent gills. The- colour of the spores in German specimens is precisely the same as in those from the Himalayas. 289. 4. (Flammula) chrysimyces, n.s.; ceespitosus ; pileo convexo- umbonato sicco innato-flocculoso carnoso, stipiteque deorsum incrassato cavo aureo; lamellis ventricosis adnexis carnosis ex aureo fulvis flavopunctatis. Hook. fiL, No. 109, cum ic. Has. On dead wood. Darjeeling, 7—8,000 feet. August, Sep- tember. Abundant. _ Odour faint, sweetish. Fasciculate. Pileus 3 inches or more broad, convex, broadly umbonate, fleshy, brittle, floceose, golden yellow. Stem ,9 inches high, varying much in thickness, hollow, incrassated below, slightly floceose, at length smooth, of the same colour as the pileus; ring more or less evanescent. Gills moderately broad, ventricose, fleshy, at first yellow, then cinnamon, but sprinkled with yellow specks. Spores ochraceous, rather small. This species bears some resemblance to 4. aureus, but it is not only smaller, but is at once distinguished by its gills sprinkled with yellow specks, as in some other allied species, by its far smaller spores, and the absence of a distinct ring. Slight traces of the veil remain on the margin. 290. A. (Naucoria) serupeus, n. s.; pileo hemispheerico carnoso um- bonato lacunoso viscido, margine incurvato; stipite elato cavo; la- mellis linearibus postice rotundatis. Hook. fil, No. 56, cum ic. Has. On moist earth. Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. June. 88 DR, HOOKER’S MISSION TO INDIA. Odour like that of 4. campestris. Pileus 2 inches or more across, hemispherical, fleshy, strongly umbonate, viscid, lacunose, dull yellow, shaded with rufous, border arched, extreme margin incurved. Stem 6 inches or more high, X of an inch thick, slightly attenuated upwards from the somewhat bulbous base, pale, rufous, hollow. Gills narrow, linear, rounded behind, pale, dull, cinnamon, with the margin white. Spores elliptic, smooth. : Resembling somewhat 4. lacrymabundus, but distinguished at once by its lacunose, viscid pileus, and different spores. I cannot point out accurately its nearest affinity, which is, perhaps, with 4. festivus. It seems, however, in point of fact to present quite a peculiar type. * A. tener, Scheff. _ Hook. fil., No. 57, 135, cum ic. Has. On the ground. Jillapahar. June. Very rare. Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. October. (To be continued.) Extracts from the private Letters of Dr. J. D. Hooker, written during a Botanical Mission to INDIA. DARJEELING TO ToNGLO. (Continued from p. 59.) If I have called the climate of Darjeeling disagreeable in comparison to many other temperate regions, it is the very reverse when contrasted , with that of the plains of India. There human nature is prostrated by the heat, and all other nature by the rain, at this same season, which is cool and healthy at Darjeeling. When the cholera stalks as a destroying angel, viewless and irresistible, over the length and breadth of the land, annually elaiming its thousands of the native population, while a vitiated atmosphere is sowing the seeds of chronic disease through- out the European population, these hills enjoy an immunity from both the one and the other pest; and if their climate cannot eradicate, it yet braces the constitution to bear functional disease better, restoring strength, energy and spirits to the system, and perfect health, too, where chronic ailments are not established. - There is one other point of view to which I must allude, in respect to Darjeeling; and this, to a geographer, is peculiarly interesting ;— DARJEELING TO TONGLO. 89 though only of nine years’ standing, the station has become, in spite of numerous, and some very serious, obstacles, the emporium of a rising trade with Bhootan, Thibet, and Nepal. The necessity for a sanitarium near Calcutta was very obvious ; and Sikkim, a protected state, was the only province of the hills in this direction where we had any show of right to demand a lease of ground. The kingdom was overrun by. the Ghorkhas, from whom we wrested it in 1817, restoring it to the deposed Sikkim Rajah, and ensuring him our friendship as its sovereign, with the view of placing a fender between Nepal and Bhootan, the latter being a lawless country, which would otherwise have fallen a prey to the Ghorkhas, who to this day thirst for possession of the whole Sub-Himalaya, and hold our protection of Sikkim to be an invidious proceeding. Long left to himself, the Sikkim Rajah ungratefully forgot his dependence upon us, and adopted the jealous policy of his neigh- bours, the Chinese (Thibetans), Bhootanese, and Ghorkhas, excluding Europeans, and refusing every just or liberal demand for free trade and -intercourse between the mountains and plains. It was not, therefore, without reluctance, and some intimidation, that the station of Darjee- - ling (a long strip extending from the plains into the heart of his moun- tain-territory) was obtained from him, on the payment of a just remu- neration. An imbecile, probably so by nature, and certainly by habits and education, ignorant of our real power, disbelieving our professions, and accustomed to rule by intimidation, though he was awe-struck by our cool * proceedings, he was not likely either to aet towards us with judgment or in any conciliating spirit. Direct opposition he dares not offer, but nothing could be easier (he thought) than to put such obstacles in our way as should lead to our either acting on the offensive (when he deems himself safe in his fastnesses), or abandoning the station. As the natives of the plain are unserviceable at this elevation, the British have always required the attendance of the hill-people, and of them the Rajah attempted to deprive us: the traders from the neighbouring countries he either wholly excluded from passing through his dominions, or heavily taxed their merchandize : his country became the refuge for notorious offenders, whom, in defiance of treaty, he refused to surrender, - and various other annoyances were ventured by him. To obviate these difficulties, no little skill and prudence, and even more patience and con- sideration, were needed on our part. To teach any VOL. 1I. wbarian that we ean m 90 DR. HOOKER'S MISSION TO INDIA. be, but are not, aggressors or oppressors, is no easy task; while by refusing all personal intercourse, or indeed any other communication than through his own messengers, we were constantly exposed to receive garbled reports of his intentions, and he, invidious ones of our motives and actions; the go-betweens being frequently people more anxious than the Rajah himself to prevent free intercourse. By our adopting a very firm, but conciliating policy, listening to his real grounds of complaint, exposing fully to his own comprehension the absurdity of attempting to bias us by the weak subterfuges he adopted, and proving to him that we would have as much of our way as we could without doing him injustice, the Rajah was brought to his bearings, if not to his senses; and though still dissatisfied, grasping, insolent, and overbearing, he is fain to acknowledge himself benefited by our proximity, and has granted much that he had withheld, at first, in the unequal contest for total independence of us, his allies and protectors. Darjeeling has thus become the only “ free port ” between Nepal and Upper Assam : to it natives of all countries may resort, and thither the mountaineers especially flock ; whilst an annual fair, which is held at the foot of the hills, and established by the Superintendent of Darjee- ling, offers a still better opportunity to the hill-people to dispose of their goods, and to receive in return the produce of the plains. At this (the Titalya fair) prizes are given for the best grain and stock, and various other inducements held out (with eminent success) for the improvement of agriculture and trade. I have before told you how much I like the Lepchas, and dwelt on the confidence which this naturally timorous people place in the . English, at Darjeeling. It affords one of the best proofs how much may be done by kindness and firmness, amongst the very tribes to whom our name was once a terror, and to whom their chief, the Rajah, perhaps wishes it might still be so. A few years ago, there were scarce half-a-dozen of these people in the then Rajah’s property, now com- prehended in Darjeeling; at present there are many hundreds, and as many of various other hill-tribes, all well-ordered, peaceably conducted, happy, and useful, and if not very industrious and enterprising, yet far more so than their brethren in any other part of Sikkim. It is highly interesting to trace the rise and progress of a little settlement, whether it be planted in the wilds of Australia, amongst II. PLII. Vo JUTE. 91 the savages of New Zealand, the sandy plains of South Africa, or the interminable forests of America. In none of these countries have tribes so mixed, or so civilized, been dealt with ; and still less has there existed such jealousy on one part, and so timorous a nature on the other. It is true we have been backed with that terrible renown for fame and strength which extends along the foot of the mountains; but the English geographer, who judges of our hill influence by the undisputed sway we exercise over the plains of India, and attributes to it whatever success has attended the labours of the servant in civil employ amongst the rude mountaineers, little knows how far more imposing to the latter are the knife of the Ghorka, the bow and arrows of their own Rajah, or the stern guard of the inflexible Mandarin stationed at the snowy passes of the frontier. (To be continued.) JUTE; CORCHORUS capPsuLARIS, L. By Str WILLIAM JACKSON Hooker, D.C.L., F.R.S.A. ; "Fas. Hl. We have in our last volume given a few particulars relative to the fibre of this- plant, as having been employed by the natives of India, and now extensively in Britain ; and we promised some further notice of it, together with à figure| The plant belongs to a natural family (Tiliacee), eminently ‘distinguished for the strong and useful fibre of its bark: the Lime-tree is a familiar example. Of the genus Corchorus, thirty-six species are enumerated by authors, chiefly inhabitants of the tropics or of warm countries, both in the old and in the new world. The generic name (xópxopos) was applied by the ancients to some — common potherb, and particularly to this genus, of which the most common and best-known species (C. olitorius) is employed as a pot- i herb, especially among the Jews, and hence its name Olus judaicum, according to Avicennes. The character of Corchorus, as given by M. De Candolle, is ** Cal. 5-sepalus deciduus. Pet. 5. Stam. plurima. Stylus subnullus. Stigmata 2-5. Capsula subuleformis aut rotunda, 2—5-valvis, 2—5-locularis, valvis io septifer biserialia." Most of the species have an. e one species is named C. siliguosus) ; t 92 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. is nearly globose, and more like the usual form of a capsule, from which circumstance it has received the appellation of Corchorus capsularis; capsulis subglobosis depressis rugoso-muricatis glabris, foliis oblongis acuminatis serratis, serraturis infimis setaceis. Linn. Sp. Pl. p. 146. De Cand. Prodr. 1. p. 505. Wight, Ic. Pi. Ind. Or. 1, f.311. Ganja sativa, Rumph. Amb. 5, p. 78, f. 9. It is an annual plant, and a common weed in the East Indies, much cultivated in Bengal (Dr. Roxburgh says in China also) during the rains, for the fibres of its bark, of which the * gunny," or rice bags, &c., are made. Roxburgh gives the Bengalese name as “ Ghinalta pat." Tothis country, however, it is certainly imported under the more familiar name of Jute. Nevertheless, Dr. M‘Culloch, in the edition of his ‘ Commercial Dictionary ’ for 1846, says that “ Jute consists of the fibres of two plants, called chouch and isbund, Corchorus olitorius (the potherb above alluded to) and C. capsularis. These are extensively cultivated in Bengal, forming, in fact, the material of which gunny bags and gunny cloth are made. The fibre fetches nearly, though not quite, as high a price as Sunn (Crotalaria juncea). It comes into competition with flax, tow, and codilla, in the manufacture of stair and other carpets, bagging for cotton and various goods, and such like fabrics, being extensively used for those purposes in Dundee. But it is not suitable for cordage and other articles into which hemp is manufactured, from its snapping when twisted, and rotting in water. The quantities imported, and the prices, have fluctuated very greatly during the last dozen years ; but from £12 to £15 a ton appears to be a fair average. When first introduced into this country in 1815, the price of Jute varied from £35 to £40 a ton. It was then, however, very little .. known, and did not in fact begin to come into anything like general use - as bagging till 1827 or 28.” < Tab. ILE. Fig. 1. Capsule; 2, expanded flower —magnified. quence of the state of political Candolle has given in his resig- BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 93 nation of the botanical professorship of that city, and of the direction of the Botanic Garden there; both, we believe, created purposely for his distinguished father. It is, however, on the other hand, some consolation to know that this retirement gives him leisure, which enables him to promise a visit to his friends in England during the present year. Dr. Asa Gray. The botanical world will be glad to learn that the herbarium formed during the extensive voyage of the “ United States Exploring Expe- dition, under Commander Wilkes,” is confided to Dr. Asa Gray for publication (the Californian and Oregon plants excepted, which were long ago transmitted to Dr. Torrey, to be incorporated into the ‘ Flora of North America.’) Already Dr. Gray has studied the Composite, his fa- vourite family, and he is at this time engaged with the Sandwich Island collection, the fullest and most complete of the whole, and he will probably publish a little Prodromus or Precursor Flore of these islands in the first instance. This can only be done by a careful comparison of the specimens with the collections from the same regions in London and Paris; and our friend will, we are sure, receive a hearty welcome from the naturalists in England and upon the continent, on his coming among us again. Plants of SPAIN. The indefatigable M. Bourgeau (not Borgeau, as the name was by us inaccurately written) has no sooner distributed his beautiful collections made last year in the south-west of Spain, than, under the auspices of —— “ L'Association Botanique Francaise d'Exploration," he is prepared for = another Spanish excursion during the present year (1850). The special object of this mission is the southern portion of the East of Spain. It has been arranged for him to leave Paris on the 20th of February, for Carthagena. The journey be of seven months’ duration, and be divided into three di portions .—1. He will visit the environs of Carthagena he shores between Carthagena and Cape Gaeta. | i Tobara, Chinchilla, &c., a 94 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. whole of the Sierra de Alearas will be explored. 3. M. Bourgeau will proceed from Chinchilla to Alieant, by crossing the different chains of mountains between the two towns, and then return to Paris. Dratu or Dm. Koca. We are sorry to have to announce the death of Dr. and Pro- fessor Koch, of Erlangen, author of the ‘Synopsis Flore Germanice et Helvetice,’ and of many other useful and talented botanical disquisi- tions. His Memoir on the Umbellifere, published in 1824, in the 12th volume of the * Nova Acta Academiz Nat. Curios., contributed more towards fixing the limits of the genera on a true and firm basis than the works of all preceding writers on the subject; and his knowledge _of European plants was surpassed by few. {t is with much regret we announce the recent decease of John Nuttall, Esq., of Tithewer, in the county of Wicklow, Ireland. Although he wrote - nothing on the science of botany, usually so called, he was eminently successful as an arboriculturist, particularly in cultivating such Conifers as were adapted to the climate of Ireland. On his property- in Wicklow, he grew more species of Pinus than could be found on any other in the country. The trees are remarkable for their health and beauty, and among them is a splendid Abies Douglasii, from whose cones many seedlings have been raised. Mr. Nuttall’s knowledge . of indigenous botany was also extensive, and cultivated by him in common with his and our friend the late Dr. Taylor, of Kenmare, at a period when such pursuits were less followed in Ireland than they are at present. the QUITINIAN ANDEs. of the plants of the Andes of Quito Young-street, Kensington, for dis- Ea oe ad NOTICES OF BOOKS. Amidst the many recent political disturbances in Paris, science has not been wholly neglected by its votaries, for there has appeared of late one of the most useful and beautiful of botanical publications, on a subject which needed beyond any other full and faithful illustra- tion: “ Histoire Naturelle des Quinquinas, par M. H. A. Weddell, Docteur en Science, accompagné de 34 planches dessinées par Rio- creux et Steinheil: folio. Paris, 1849.” This important work we had the pleasure of mentioning in an early number of our last volume of this Journal, when noticing the * Revue du genre Cinchona” of the same able author. During the interesting scientific mission under M. De Castelnau, undertaken in 1843 for the exploration of the interior provinces of Brazil and Peru, M. Weddell, as there detailed, formed one of the party. After accompanying the other officers for two years, he separated from them in 1845, upon the confines of Mattogrosso, in order to carry out his researches in another direction, and which he continued for a year after their return, his own taking place in 1848. The Museum of Natural History of Paris, - we learn from the * Annales des Sciences Naturelles, who had entrusted - this mission to M. Weddell, * have only to congratulate themselves on this appointment ; and they desire to render justice to the courage, intelligence, and scientific knowledge of the young traveller, who with the feeble means which we were able to place at his disposal, alone, in the midst of an immense territory, difficult of investigation and almost a desert, has so well accomplished his object." Among other important results of the journey, is the publication of this work on Cinchonas. Few plants have been more celebrated, few have rendered greater services to mankind than these; yet none have been less understood or more imperfectly studied. In 1639 the medicinal properties of the Cinchonas w wn to Europeans residing in Peru, and the first writi 1650. La Condamine and Joseph forests of Loxa at nearly one and tl later, Ruiz and Pavon, and the cel Spanish Government to insp Peru, the latter in New G 96 tributed, perhaps, more than any other travellers towards a more correct knowledge of the Peruvian Barks; but it was left to M. Wed- dell to determine many dubious points in their history by personal investigation, correct analysis, chemical and otherwise, and by a series of the most beautiful designs. “TI a cherché avec les bücherons, ou cascarilleros, ces arbres épars au milieu de ces immenses forêts, à plu- sieurs journées de tout lieu habité. Ila campé bien des jours et des nuits avec eux; il a accompagné les écorces, objet de son étude, passant de mains en mains jusqu'au port où elles s'embarquent, changeant de . prix à chaque dépôt ; il a pu, sur tous les points, connaitre par lui-même la vérité, qu'on ne sait pas toujours sur les marchés d'Amerique et, à plus forte raison, d'Europe." He has determined the geographical distribution of the Cinchonas, as defined on a map, accompanying the work, of the region they occupy in the great Cordillera of the Andes, to extend from the 19th degree of south latitude to the 10th of northern, forming the large arch of a circle, whose convexity is towards the west: the western portion is most central, near Loxa, in the 4th degree of south latitude and in the 80th of long. (merid. of Paris) : its extreme north point is near the 69th, and the extreme south in the 65th degree. A reference to the map will show that the chief Cinchona districts are the eastern de- clivities of the Cordillera, within the limits north and south above . mentioned, and watered ty the sources of the Amazon and the Orinoco. = Tn our former HET we mentioned the five genera into which . M. Weddell thinks fit to divide Cinchona of Linnæus; and for their . description, as well as for the ample details of the chemical and medicinal qualities, we must refer our readers to the work itself. The plates are admirable. The frontispiece represents “ L’Exploitation du Quinquina dans les foréts de Carabana au Pérou," and the scene is in del Oro. Tab. 1 and 2 exhibit the anatomy lusive, are devoted to species of true 26, to Ladenbergia and Gomphosia ; 28-80 are charming coloured figures fce ; and the concluding plate is the cales, montrant la distribution 97 GRAMINE E Herbarii Lindleyani ; auctore NEES AB ESENBECK. 1849. Cuming. 35 VIE 448. (Communicated by DR. LINDLEY.) Spinifex squarrosus ; var. a, N. ab E. Coix exaltata, Jacq. 2290. 529. Leersia Luzonensis, Presi. 2429. 266. 120. 2410. 2288. 1363. 553. 1274. 1880. 2409. T Thouarea sarmentosa, Pers. Panicum Indicum, Linn., racemo simplici. Paspalus scrobiculatus; 8, N. ad E. P. cartilagi- neus, Presl. Pa longifolius; 8, Zeylanicus, N. ab E. Isachne Javana, N. ad E. Coridochloa semialata, N. ab E. var. ? Margo glume superioris haud repanda, sed infra me- dium obtuse unidentata ; folia angusta. Panicum flavidum, Retz. brizoides, Linz. (Digitaria) pruriens, 77. 8, glabrum, N. ab E. A bs pruriens nonnihil monstrosum. (Setaria) Italicum, Zinn. » $ penicillatum, N. ab E. procumbens, var. a * * * N. ab E. colonum, 8, pseudocolonum, N. ab Æ. Oplienene Indicus, N. ab E. in Endl. Prodr. Fl. Norfolk. Panicum contractum, N. e£ JF. Arn. radicans, Retz, var. a et B. pilipes, N. ab E. cæsium, N. ab E. ined. ? colore minus cæsio differt. Paniculæ rami scaberrimi. Sion N.a E. (Panicum 2284. 679. Panicum cone 98 GRAMINEJE HERBARII LINDLEYANI. compositis apice simplicibus rhachique plus minus villosis, spiculis (3 lin. longis) ovali-oblongis obtusiusculis in ramulis ramorumque apice simpliciter spicatis glabris nitidulis (ferrugineis), glumis parum inzequa- libus brevissime mucronulatis, inferiore paulo breviore ovata trinervi, superiore ovali 5-nervi, flosculo neutro bivalvi, valvula inferiore glume superiori conformi obsolete 5-nervi apice puberula, hermaphrodito bre- viore oblongo obtuso levi (fulvo), culmo ramoso, inferne suleato glabro, infra paniculam tereti striato pubescente, vaginis laxis hiantibus foliisque lanceolato-acuminatis basi rotundatis villosulis. Insule Philippine. Cuming, Phil. n. 2284. Folia 7-8 poll. longa, 6 lin. lata, subtus subsericantia. Ligula hirsuta. Vagine swpe solute. Panicula fere pedalis, erecta, axillis fuscis barbatis.—Differt a P. notato, Retz, panicula minore haud pa- tentissima, foliis latioribus villosulis ; a P, Arnottiano foliis villosulis nec basi subcordatis, ramis panicule a basi aut ases a basi spatio florigeris ; a P. ce@sio, N. ab E., colore viridi. Cuming. 2287. Hymenachne serrulata, N. ab E. » 947. Isachne Myosotis, N. ab E. ined.; panicule parv® racemos: compositee ramis rigidulis 5—2—1-floris, spiculie longiuscule pedicellatis globosis, flosculis scabris zequalibus conformibusque, infe- riore hermaphrodito-masculo, superiore fcemineo, glumis patentibus oblongis hispidis, culmis ezespitosis humilibus repentibus adscendenti- bus ramosis, foliis confertis lanceolatis striatis vaginisque € tuberculis hirsutis, ; Insulæ Philippinæ. Cuming, n. 947. Vix bipollicaris, insigni hirsutie distincta, proxima tamen J. rigidula. Spicule vix magnitudine seminis papaveris. Glume flosculos sequantes, patentissime. ; Cuming. 435. Centotheca lappacea, Desv. i 550. Cynodon linearis, Willd. = 1538. Pollinia Cumingii, N. ab E. ined.; culmo procum- bente (gracili) ramoso, nodis vaginisque foliisque linearibus sessilibus argutissime acuminatis glabris imberbibus, spicis geminis, articulis rhacheos pedicelloque utrinque (rufescenti-) pilosis pilis articulo suo brevioribus, glumis hirsutis apice praemorso-dentatis pallidioribus basi homens seta feculi fertili spicula subtriplo longiore. | Pollinia 1 GRAMINEJE HERBARII LINDLEYANI. 99 adnotato. Vagine ore et margine glabre. Folia 2 poll. longa, vix lin. 1 lata, 3-5-nervia. Spicule 1-14 lin. longe; seta flosculi 4 lin. longa; reliquis ut in illa, apicem si excipis albidum glabrescentem. Cuming. 726. Pogonantherum polystachyum, A. et Sch. y 555. Rhaphis Javanica, W. ab Æ. » 1400. » stricta, N. ab E. ined. ; paniculie lanceolate ramis compositis ramulis centrifugo-pleiostachyis, barba brevi strigillosa, pedicellis extrorsum increscenti-barbatis, spiculis accessoriis masculis neutrisve, fertilis spiculee gluma inferiore scabra apice angusto bidente dorso medio canaliculato-concavo, superiore acuta, seta spicula sua triplo longiore, culmo recto stricto nodisque glabro, foliis linearibus angustis margine scaberrimis culmo brevioribus. Insule Philippine. Cuming, n. 1400. Culmus bipedalis, paucinodis. Folia culmea 6 poll. longa, 13 lin. lata, setaceo-acuminata. Panicula 6 poll. longa, densa. Rami spatio aliquo a basi nudi, hine iterato bifidi eum spicula intermedia sessili, adjecta ab altera parte spicula mascula pedicellata. Glume albide. Proxima Rh. microstachy. Cuming. 980. Rhaphis microstachys, W. ab E. var.? Foliis culmo ` brevioribus holosericeo-scabris setulis ‘ exiguis. i 569. Sorghum Halepense, 8, muticum, N. ab E. An propria 1 species? Pedicelli sunt glabri. " 1395. " tropicum, N. ad E. 8, muticum: » 1002. Spodiopogon angustifolius, 7r. 8, minor, gluma supera seepe mutica. » 1000. Andropogon (Cymbopogon) Martyni, var. a, gluma infera parum marginata, foliis mar- gine valde scabris. » 1398. (Dactylopogon) sericeus, R. Br. $ 1609. Androscepia gigantea, var. a, Brongn. „ 9481. Anthistiria Junghuhniana, NW. ab Æ. Heterolythron scabrum, Jungh. in sched. , OFS. 5 ciliata, 8, subglabra, NW. ad E. » 635. Apluda mutica, Lam. - 1615. Heteropogon Roxburghii, W: Arn. H. polystachyus, R. et Sch. ; = 1003. ^ contortus, R. e£ Sch. totus glaber. o2 160 GRAMINEJE HERBARII LINDLEYANI. Cuming. 565. Meoschium elegans, N. e£ W. Arn. (paulo imper- iH fectius.) su 2430. Ischæmum repens, Rowd. » 1339. Ophiurus undatus, N. ab E. ined. ; culmo simplici mo- nostachyo, spica exserta teretiuscula ad latera undatim suleata, gluma inferiore obtusa obsolete nervosa basi leviter suleata, flosculo inferiore bivalvi, foliis anguste linearibus uninervibus strictis levibus. Insule Philippine, Cuming, n. 1339. Ab Ophyuro monostachyo, cui similis, differt gluma obtusa, flosculo inferiore bivalvi et foliis levibus, tum culmo simplici. Cuming. 562, Rottboellia exaltata, Linz. i 1801. 2411. Saccharum Alopecurus, N. ab E. ined.; foliis planis margine scabris, panicule lanceolate dense ramis tenaci- bus laxis tenuibus undatis levibus plerisque yerticillatis, rhachi communi levi sulcata, pedicellis glabris, spicula lana breviore utraque hermaphrodita caduca 1-andra, flosculo neutro univalvi hermaphro- ditoque bivalvi conformibus membranaceis ciliatis, hermaphroditi val- vula inferiore lanceolata ex apice bidente setuligera, seta in aliis brevis- sima in aliis spicula duplo longiore. Insule Philippine. Cuming, n. 1801 e£ 2411. . Saccharo Sare simile. Differt inflorescentia candidissima, ramus ejus tenaeissimis nec fragilibus pedicellisque glabris, spiculis caducis minoribus (vix 1 lin. longis), pedicellis clavatis, apice delapsa spicula excavata.—Glume apice caudato-attenuatz, membranaceo-chartace® ; inferior 4-nervis, apice bidens. Cuming. 480. 931. Imperata Keenigii, P. de B. ĝi 634. Saccharum semidecumbens, Roxb. var. latifolia? Dif- fert a S. semidecumbente foliis lj poll. latis planis lævibus. i 787. 1841. Saccharum densum, N. ab E. ined.; foliis line- aribus planis apice convoluto-subulatis margine scabris, paniculee ample densissimz subovales ramis subsimplicibus elongatis plus minus ser- pentinis tenacibus pedicellisque glabris, rhaehi communi striata levi, spiculis caducis lana brevioribus utraque fertili, glumis ehartaceis lzevi- usculis, flosculi hermaphroditi bivalvis ciliati valvula inferiore lanceolata ex apice setigera, seta spieula duplo longiore. Insule Philippine. Cuming, n. 1841 ef 787 (panicula magis ex- plicata). GRAMINEJE HERBARII LINDLEYANI. 101 A S. Alopecuro differt panicule multo latioris ramis aliquot pollices longis simplicibus in juventute valde arcuato-flexuosis, qui isti multo breviores et decompositi. Cuming. 623. Phragmites Roxburghii, Kunth. is 671. Chetaria trichodes, N. ab E. ined. ; panicula angusta contracta, ramis capillaribus subfasciculatim decompositis, glumis se- taceo-mucronatis scabris, inferiore flosculi stipitem brevissimum sub- wquante, superiore eodem stipite longiore crasse trinervi, flosculo lineali, arista ad basin fere divisa, lacinia media bilineali lateralibusque lineali- bus sæpe recurvis scabris, foliis lineari-angustis complicato-setaceis vaginisque striatis, Insule Philippine. Cuming, n. 671. Digitalis, ezespitosa, erecta, gracilis.—Similis primo adspectu Cle- lare capillacee, sed differt foliis viridibus nec glaucis, complicatis, vaginis radicalibus latioribus, truncatis, spiculis pallide fuscis nee viri- dulis, g/uinis nervis 3 fortioribus preeditis, superiore flosculos cum stipite brevissimo superante. Cuming. 2451. Sporobolus elongatus, R. Br. » 545. i verticillatus, N. ab E. ined. ; panicula stricta lanceolata elongata, ramis alternis erecto-patulis basi trifidis densissimeque florentibus brevibus strictiusculis, spiculis exiguis, glumis subovalibus obtusis patentibus parum inzequalibus, inferiore paulo bre- viore angustioreque, valvulis obtusis sub fructu obovatis scabris, caryopsi obovata bieonvexa obtusa levi rufo-castanea nitente, culmo erecto sim- plici tereti striato, foliis planis elongatis margine scabris vaginisque glabris. In insulis Philippinis. Cuming, n. 545. : A S. minutifloro differt imprimis axi inflorescentuze stricto et ramis paniculæ ad summum bipollicaribus basi trifidis ibidemque densissime florentibus, quo species verticilli exoritur, —tum glumis parum inzequa- libus aliisque. - Daang COL Pollinia setifolia, N. ab E. ; spicis pluribus (8-13) subdigitato-confertis, articulis, pedicello utrinque, glumis dorso et mar- gine pilosis ciliatisque, gluma inferiore acute bidentata, superiore longe setigera, flosculo superiore bivalvi, valvula inferiore ex apice setigera, seta spicula (unilineali) multo longiore, culmi nodis subsericeis, foliis convoluto-filiformibus strictis vaginisque glabris. Insulæ Philippine. Cuming, n. 1101. 102 GRAMINEJE HERBARII LINDLEYANI. Similis Pollinie ciliari, Tr., differt spiculis duplo minoribus (1 lin. longis) et seta glume superioris multo longiore (2-lineari).—Gluma inferior dorso late canaliculata. Cuming. 1399. 1914. Perotis hordeiformis, N. ad E. E 556. 825. Leptochloa Chinensis, N. ad E. » 713. Dactyloctenium mucronatum, Willd., var. a, Aigypti- acum, JV. ab E. » 696. Chloris barbata, Sw. » 716. Eleusine Indica, var. 8 spicis apice abortivis ut in var. y. » ^X 1418. Arundinella (Miliosaccharum) stricta, N. ab E. ined. ; culmo racemoque strictis angustis glabris, ramis adpressis alternis compositis subsecundis, gluma superiore 4 longiore, flosculo fertili levi apice longiuscule biscto arista triplo breviore, foliis (eulmeis) linearibus convoluto-setaceis adpressis culmo brevioribus vaginisque glabris, ore vaginarum barbato. Insule Philippine. Cuming, n. 1415. Statura stricta et macra distinctissima species. - Gluma inferior 2 lin. longa, subulato-acuminata, quinquenervis, nervis prominulis, lateralibus subcontiguis. Setule flosculi superioris longitudine dimidiz . fere valvulee. Cuming. 1414. Arundinella (Miliosaccharum) nervosa, var. y, sim- * plex, ramis racemi alternis, superioribus longioribus simplicibus, — gemi- natim distantibus. a 667. 3 (Aeratherum) miliaeea, N. ab E., forma minor. » 1397. Rhaphis villosula, N. ad E. » 1224. Triticum vulgare, var. 3, Metzger. 55 - 714. Eragrostis plumosa, Linn., forma laxa. 5 1104. = Zeylanica, V. ab E., minor. e 668. oe # var. glomerata. so "9490. "i naiai, R. Wight. bs 1782. * megastachya, Linn. B, patens. E 1416. Brownii, N. ab E. » 631. Beunbuse. species non determinanda, cum spieule desint. GRAMINEJE HERBARII LINDLEYANI. 103 Gardner. 4031. Anachyris paspaloides, N. ab E. ined. GEN. CHAR.—ANACHYRIS, N. ab E, (Oryzem. Post Leersiam).— Spicule unifloree, dorso convexæ. Glume nulle. Valvule due, char- tacez, muticee, clause, subeequales ; inferior amplior, acutiuscula, arcte amplectens superiorem, 5-nervis, nervis prominentibus ; superior paulo brevior, obtusa, dorso concava, trinervis, marginibus membranaceis dilatatis inflexis genitalia amplectens. Lodicule . . . Stamina 8. Ovarium glabrum, Styli duo basi connati. Caryopsis libera, plano- convexa (ovalis), valvulis clausis tecta.—Inflorescentia. Spicule i» rhachibus dilatatis planis acutis secunde, racemose, pedicellis brevibus di- stachyis, hine spicule quadrifarie, Racemi proprii in racemo polystachyo denso dispositi (18-20) ad ortum barbati. Culmus sesquipedalis, teres, paucinodis, nodi glabri. Vagins laxiuscule, striate, glabre ; inferior aphylla, que sequitur. microphylla; folia media linearia, plana, acuta, supra, presertim basin versus et margine longis pilis hirsuta. Ligula in pilos densos soluta, Racemus terminalis exsertus, 8 lin. longus, lanceo- latus, acutus, contractus. Rhaches proprie medie bipollicares, virides,- lineares cum acumine, Spicule conferte, 1. lin. longe, ovales, apice an- gustiores, dorso exquisite quinquecostate, albe, rigidule, hine concave. Antherze fusco-purpuree. Caryopsis 4 lin. longa, obtusa, asperula, lutea, scutello 4 breviore depresso. Sp. l.—Anachyris paspaloides, N. ab E. In Brasilia. Garduer, ^. 4031 in herb. Lindl, Habitus Paspali pyramidalis. Gardner. 3508. 3510. Paspalus Gardnerianus, N. ab E. ined.; race- mis pluribus (2—4) alternis faleatisque basi barbatis, pedicellis hirtis sub spicula barbatis, rhachi plana obtuse carinata undata margine setosa spiculis geminatis latitudine equali, spiculis oblongo-ovalibus, gluma nulla! valvula neutra (gluma vulgo superiore) tenui puberula trinervi nervo medio obsoleto, folis eulmo stricto multo brevioribus glabris, inferioribus eonfertis a basi argute acuminatis planis margine cartilagineis strictis, culmeis paueis parvis, vaginis — basi holosericeis. In Brasilia. Gardner, n. 3503 e£ 3510 in herb. Lindl. : Deficiente omnino gluma, quz sola in Paspalis prodit, a reliquis cunctis diseedit. Proximus omnino est Paspalo falcato, N. ab E., dif- fert autem preeterea foliis brevibus planis, infimis circa basin 2 lin. latis, culmo stricto licet gracili (2-pedali), rhachi et peduneulis minus hir- 104 GRAMINE/E HERBARII LINDLEYANI. sutis. Spicule 1 lin. longe, obtuse. Valvula neutra, testacea, ad : speciem binervis. FJosculus fertilis flavescens, punctulato-asper, ad basin subinde vestigio glume seu macula testacea exigua obvio. Gardner. 3497. Paspalus notatus, 77. var. B, maculatus, N. ab. Æ. foliis undique hirsutis. ği 4032. < plicatulus, spiculis majoribus, foliis totis glabris. iv 4033. ie effusus, N. ab E. ined. ; racemis pluribus (15-20) brevibus distantibus patentissimis alternis mediisve oppositis fasciculatove-verticillatove-ternis, infimis sepe a vaginis proximis inclusis, rhaehi plana margine basin versus ciliata ipsaque basi barbata spiculis laxe quadriseriatis inzqualiter longe pedicellatis paulo latiore, glumis (4 lin. longis) oblongo-ovalibus acutiuseulis subtiliter pubescentibus trinervibus (lutescentibus), vaginis fauce barbatis tuberculato-hirsutis laxis, foliis lineari-lanceolatis acuminatis planis supra sparsim pilosis subtus puberulis glabrisve, caule ramosissimo diffuso. Brasilia. Gardner, n. 4033 in herb. Lindl. Affine Pasp. cousperso, Tr., eleganti, Fliigge, malachophyllo, Tr., et quoad spiculas aliquanto magis etiam P. paniculato, sed culmo maximo ramoso longe distat aliisque. Folia scabra, 9 poll. longa, 2 lin. lata, mollia. Spice infime circiter 2 poll. longze, maxime distantes a reliquis et in vaginis foliorum proximorum sepe latentes; relique circiter pollicares, patentissimee. Spicule inszqualiter approximate, pedicellis hirtis altero longo altero brevissimo. Habitus omnino laxus et flaccidus. Color læte viridis. Gardner. 4045. Paspalus rectus, N. ab E. ined.; spica solitaria (an et altera?) recta basi barbata elongata, rhachi trigona dorso convexa glabra spiculis geminatis angustiore, glumis equalibus oblongis obtusis trinervibus glabris, eulmo filiformi recto strieto foliisque erectis sub- adpressis anguste linearibus glabris, vaginis ore lanatis. Brasilia. Gardner, n. 4045 in herb. Lindl. Simile Paspalo flaccido, N. ab E., var. monostachyo, differt glumis eequalibus et spiculis minoribus angustioribus, ete. A P. Swartziano, R. et Sch., recedit spiculis majoribus (1 lin.) geminis nec solitariis, et haud ovatis sed oblongis apicem versus parumper latioribus. Nervi glumz laterales, seepe purpurascentes, infra apicem glume cum nervo medio areu junguntur. GRAMINE/E HERBARITI LINDLEYANI. 105 Gardner. 3544. Panicum (Digitaria) horizontale, a, N. ab E. = 3519. » (Setaria) sulcatum, N. ad E. - 3515. ^e 5 scandens, Schrad. » 3518. = 3 macrostachyum, N. ab Æ. » 3514. » (Kchinoleena) procurrens, N. ab E. » 3522. Manisuris granularis, Sw. » 4056. Andropogon (Cymbopogon) trachypus, Zrin. » 3543. Heteropogon contortus, R. et Sch. » 4394. Leptochloa procera, N. ab Æ. Hartweg. 521. Andropogon (Anatherus) bicornis, N. ab E. » 629. Festuca Toluccensis, H. et Kth. var. 8, hephzestophila, N. ab E. ined. ; eulmo stricto, panicula erecta rigida brevi subdecom- posita, ramis brevibus alternis, spiculis subquinquefloris ovali-oblongis, foliis angustissime linearibus setiformibus strictis culmo brevioribus, rhizomate fasciculatim ramoso,—Festuca species nova? F. Toluccensi, H. et Kth. affinis; Benth. pl. Hartweg, p. 97. n. 629. In ipso cratere montis ignivomi, Volcan di Agua dicti. Hartweg. Vid. in herb. Lindl. spec. Hartweg. Differt a forma Humboldtiana statura minore, scil. culmo vix ultra pedali, foliis revera planis, lieet angustissimis nervoque valido notatis longitudine dimidii culmi, neque subteretibus flaccidis culmum zequan- tibus, spiculis nonnihilo minoribus, sed coloris ejusdem, scil. flosculis fusco-purpureis basi axin versus pallidis levibusque. Cseterum Festuca Toluccensis, Festuce duriuscule, Linn. (var. a, stric- te) hac forma intermedia magis etiam accedit, differt tamen spiculis majoribus latioribusque fusco-violaceo alboque variis nitidis, seta flos- culorum terminali rufa, valvula sua plus triplo breviori, culmo infra panieulam scaberrimo.— 75/i radicalia 2-3 poll. longa. Caulinorum ligula biaurita! Rhizoma profunde descendens, in fasciculos foliorum alios steriles alios culmiferes divisum. Valvula superior chartacea, colorata, apice bidentata. VOL. II. 106 - Dzcapnzs or Fuxar; dy the Rev. M. J. BERKELEY, M.A., F.L.5. Decades XXV. to XXX. (Continued from p. 88.) Sikkim Himalaya Fungi, collected by Dr. J. D. Hooker. 291. Agaricus (Psalliota) exaltatus, n. s. ; pileo amplo sicco fusco-pur- purascente subsericeo ; stipite exaltato fusiformi radicato, medio cavo, fibrilloso eortieato pallido ; lamellis latis postice truncatis vel attenuato- rotundatis, e niveo fusco-purpureis. Hook, fil., No. 31, cum ie. Has. On clay and earthy banks. Darjeeling, 7,000 feet. May, June, Rare. Pileus 6 inches across, undulated, at length purple-brown, dry, obscurely silky ; flesh thin, except in the centre, loose, purplish-brown just beneath the cuticle. Stem 9 inches high without the rooting base, fusiform, 14 inch thick in the centre where it has a narrow cavity, covered with a thin, cracking, fibrillose coat. Veil, if present, fugacious. Gills varying greatly in breadth, truncate behind, or attenu- ated, but rounded, yentricose or broadest in front, not adnate, at first snow-white, at length mushroom-purple. Spores minute, purple- brown, obliquely elliptic. Fries suspected that Coprini would be found on a splendid scale in tropical countries. Later illustrations, whether of the pencil or herbarium, do not prove this, the species of Coprini being, gene- rally, either the same with our own, or obscure and uninteresting. The mushroom, on the contrary, assumes every conceivable luxuriance of form. The present is a noble species, and as singular in its characters as it is magnificent. 4. augustus is the only one of its allies that can compare with it in the development of the stem, The difference exhibited in the gills is remarkable; sometimes they are rounded behind, but attenuated and remote from the stem, as in A. cretaceus ; sometimes è of an inch broad, and abruptly truncate. * A. sylvaticus, Scheff. Hook fiL, No. 61, eum ic. Has. On earth. Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. Rare. Of this I have seen no specimens, but the figure indicates a variety, differing in scarcely any character, except the purple, rather than DECADES OF FUNGI. 107 russet tinge. The decidedly fistulose stem separates it from A. campestris. 292. A. (Psalliota) aureo-fulvus, n. s.; pileo hemisphserico acute umbonato sicco aureo-fulvo, margine squamuloso ; stipite elongato flexuoso subtus cum pileo concolore squamuloso sursum pallido ; annulo subdistante erecto ; lamellis latis affixis atro-rufis margine albis. Hook. fil., No. 127, cum ic. Has. On dead wood. Jillapahar, 7—8,000 feet. October. Not common. Inodorous, firm, rather dry and tough. Pileus 1 inch or more broad, hemispherico-subeampanulate, with an aeute umbo, dry, golden- buff, smooth, except towards the edge, which has a few scattered yellow scales. Flesh thin, except in the centre. Stem 3 inches high, seareely 2 lines thick, tawny below, paler above, flexuous, firm, tawny within, narrowly fistulose, slightly scaly, downy at the base. Ring rather distant, cup-shaped: Gills very broad, plane, affixed, dark brown, with a white margin. Spores elliptic, rather large. Combining the characters of 4. squamosus and A. semiglobatus. From the former it is distinguished by its very broad gills ; from the latter by its umbonate pileus, which is sealy on the margin. From A. luteo-nitens, again, it differs in its broad gills, though it agrees in colour and in the squamulose margin. * A. sublateritius, Fr. Bp. Hook. fiL, No. 24, cum ic. Has. On dead wood. Darjeeling, 8,000 feet. May. Odour faint, fungous. ileus rather viseid. Stem spongy, stuffed, at length hollow. It would be easy from these characters to form a distinct species, but I regard it merely as a form of A. sublateritius. * 4. fascicularis, Huds. Hook. fil., No. 81, cum ic. Haz. On dead wood. Darjeeling, 7-8,000 feet. June, July. Abundant everywhere. : 293. 4. (Hypholoma) sacrophalus, n. s. ; pileo e — subhe- misphzerico carnoso umbonato glabro, earne sulphurea ; stipite fistuloso; lamellis sulphureis distantibus postice rotundatis. Hook. fil., No. 79, cum ic. Has. On trunks of trees. Darjeeling, 7-8,000 feet. June, July. Inodorous, tufted, rather firm and leathery. Pileus 2 inches broad, at first conical, then subhemispherical, broadly umbonate, with the P2 108 DECADES OF FUNGI. umbo frequently depressed in the centre, dry, yellow shaded with tawny, very fleshy, especially in the centre; flesh yellow. ^ Veil cottony, attached to the margin, hanging down in long ragged shreds. Stem 3 inches high, 4 of an inch thick, fistulose, the hollow running deeply into the substance of the pileus, yellow above, rufous below. Gills rounded behind, distant, sulphur-yellow, stained at length with the spores, which are of a pale ferruginous tint. Very nearly allied to 4. fascicularis and A. sublateritius, but differ- ing from the former in its more distant, broader gills, and thicker substance, and from the latter in its yellow flesh, decidedly fistulose stem, rounded gills, &e. * A. velutinus, Pers. Syn. p. 409. Hook. fil., No. 70, cum ie. Has. On earthy banks. Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. June, July. The specimens are densely tufted, with precisely the habit of A. macrourus, Abbild. d. Schw. No. 3. "The pilei are rather eampanu- late than ovate, but in the coloured flesh and stem they agree with A. velutinus rather than with 4. laerymabundus. The gills are truly adnate in young specimens. The stem is rather squamose than fibril- loso-striate. 294. 4. (Hypholoma) hemisoodes, n. s. ; pileo semiovato subcarnoso fibrilloso fulvo ; stipite deorsum crassiore flocculento fistuloso ; lamellis latis truncato-adnexis fusco-purpureis. Hook. fil, No. 136, cum ic. Has. On earth banks. Darjeeling, 7,600 feet. October. Inodorous, rather firm. Pileus scarcely 1 inch across, half ovate, dry, rich tawny, silky, slightly fleshy; flesh yellowish beneath the cuticle, then white. Stem 2 inches high, 2 lines thick, rather thicker at the base, tawny, flocculent, whitish at the base, fistulose. Gills broad, between plane and ascending, truncato-adnexed, purple-brown. Spores purple-brown, obliquely ovate, apiculate at either end, but more decidedly so at one extremity. Allied to 4. lacrymabundus and velutinus, but abundantly distinct in the bright-coloured pileus and broad brown-purple gills. 295. 4. (Hypholoma) atrichus, n. s. ; ezespitosus; pileo subhemi- sphzerieo obtuse umbonato glabro pallido-luteo ; umbone rufo ; stipite rufescente deorsum eavo; lamellis angustioribus postice rotundato-liberis atro-purpureis. Hook. fil., No. 35, cum ic. Has. On dead timber and soil impregnated with charcoal. Dar- jeeling, 7—8,000 feet. May. DECADES OF FUNGI. 109 Odour faint; substance rather firm. Cespitose. Pileus 3 inches or more broad, subhemispherical, with a broad umbo; smooth, dry, pale yellow, with the centre rufous, rather fleshy. Stem 3 inches or more high, i— an inch thick, nearly equal, reddish-brown, hollow below, but not decidedly fistulose. Gills rather narrow, nearly equal, purple-brown, rounded behind, free; spores minutely echinulate. Allied to 4. lacrymabundus, &c., but distinguished by its smooth yellowish pileus, rather narrow bright gills, and its stem being hollow downwards, not fistulose to the apex. 296. 4. (Hypholoma) castanophyllus, n. s.; pileo campanulato carnosulo sicco glabro, margine lacerato; stipite glabro æquali fistu- loso; lamellis latis adnatis castaneis. Hook. fil., No. 124, cum ic. Has. On the ground. -Jillpahar. September. Very rare. Inodorous. Pileus 24 inches broad, campanulate, obtuse, pale pur- plish-brown, yellowish towards the margin, dry, smooth, rather fleshy, but tough; margin lacerated, yellow within. Stem 3 inches high, 1 an inch thick, smooth, of the same colour as the upper part of the pileus, fistulose, rather tawny within, nearly equal. Gills broad, adnate, rather thick, of a rich chestnut brown. Spores broadly elliptic, minutely echinulate. Allied to 4. velutinus, but abundantly distinct, and remarkable for its very rich chestnut gills. The spores are larger and more distinctly echinulate, though I find them rough both in — and Indian specimens of 4. velutinus. 297. 4. (Hypholoma) condensus, n. s.; pileo semiovato obtuso pallide vinoso; stipite elongato flexuoso concolore fistuloso ; velo fugacissimo appendiculato ; lamellis postice latioribus rotundatis ad- nexis. Hook. fil., No. 54, cum ic. Has. On the ground. Darjeeling. May, June. Inodorous, densely tufted. ^ Pileus scarcely 1 inch across, half ovate, dry, brittle, pale greyish purple-brown, slightly fleshy ; flesh umber-brown. Stem 3-4 inches high, about 2 lines thick, flexuous, of the same colour as the pileus, fistulose. Veil white, attached to the margin of the pileus, very fugacious. Gills reddish-umber, broader behind, rounded. Spores small, smooth, elliptic. Closely allied to 4. hydrophilus, but differently formed and coloured, with the gills not ventricose, but arched and broader behind. The habit, also, is very peculiar. FO TOP eee ae 110 DECADES OF FUNGI. _ 298. 4. (Psilocybe) cespititius, n. s.; ceespitosus; pileo campanu- lato-conico apice deplanato spadiceo viscido hygrophano carnoso; stipite deorsum incrassato fibrilloso fistuloso; lamellis angustis ad- nexis umbrino-albidis. Hook. fil., No. 69, cum ic. Has. On clay banks. Darjeeling, 7,500 feet. June, July. Abundant. Inodorous, fleshy, brittle, semitransparent, densely tufted. Pileus > an inch or more broad, conico-campanulate, with the apex flattened, viscid, reddish-brown ; flesh umber; margin incurved, Stem stout, 1 inch or more high, 2 lines thick, fibrillose, brownish, fistulose. Gills narrow, adnexed, white, with an umber tinge, dark when dry. Spores pale brown. Evidently allied to 4. spadiceus, but distinguished by its viscid, differently-shaped pileus. The spores are so pale that the species, when dry, might easily be considered leucosporous. 299. 4. (Psathyra) massa, n. s.; fragilis; pileo conico subcarnoso reticulato; stipite flexuoso ; lamellis angustis adscendentibus subliberis purpurascentibus. Hook. fiL, No. 75, cum ic. Has. On dead wood. Darjeeling, 7,000 feet. Inodorous, brittle. Pileus 2 inches or more across, l inch high, conical, subearnose, at length somewhat plicate, olive-brown, reticulato- rugose; margin without striæ. Stem 2 inches or more high, 2 lines thick, attenuated upwards, white, swollen at the base, fistulose. Gills very narrow, ascending, almost free, purple-brown. Allied to A. corrugis, but differing in the narrow gills and other points. 300. 4. (Psathyra) flavo-griseus, n. s.; pileo membranaceo conico- campanulato primum alutaceo-fulvo demum margine suleato griseo ; stipite gracili flexuoso albo fistuloso; lamellis ex alutaceo purpuras- centibus distantibus ventricosis in fundo pilei adnexis. Hook. fil., No. 114-116, cum ic. Has. On dead wood, in tufts. Darjeeling, 7-8,000 feet. Sep- tember, October. Very abundant. . Inodorous, delicate, soft, brittle. Pileus 1 inch or more across, at first ovate, tawny-tan, then conico-campanulate, grey, with the ex- ception of the apex, dry, smooth, membranaceous, suleate. Stem 2-3 inches high, 1 line thiek, smooth, white, flexuous, brittle, fistulose. Gills distant, ascending, rather broad, ventrieose, adnexed, at first tan- DECADES OF FUNGI. 111 coloured, then tinged with pale red-brown; margin paler. Spores elliptic, about half as long as in the following species, purple-brown. A pretty little species, allied to 4. gyroflexus, but differing in its distant gills and larger size. To others of its section it has but a slight resemblance. Fungi described in the third Century now completed. Agaricus a VOL. II, U 146 DR. HOOKER'S MISSION TO INDIA. . patent eoma of widely-spreading branches. The flowers droop from the under-side of the branches, as if they grew so for protection against the rain. Two Barberries are next in abundance: one is like the holly-leaved Fuegian, and the other the counterpart of the small- leaved species of that far-distant region : the first is perennially leafy, the latter scarcely shows a bud yet. Bushes of Olea, Limonia, Sym- plocos, Cornee, some Araliacee, Hydrangea, and Caprifoliacee, Euony- mus, Celastrus, Rubus, Spirea, Cotoneaster, Gaultheria, Vaccinium, and Daphne. The larger trees were a few Oaks, but chiefly Rhododendrons (of which I send a full account separately). Here and there I observed a large Tarus (Yew), but much scattered: the largest of these trees measured eighteen feet in circumference, at five feet above the ground ; —none of them much exceeded this. Other prevailing trees were of the genera Pyrus, Prunus, Cerasus, Photinia? of the Pruni, one was very like Padus, and of the Pyri, there were the representatives in Aria and Aucuparia,* also Acer, Prinsepia ? and the curious Anisodus luridus. Climbing over these were Kadsura and Stauntonia, the latter presenting magnificent clusters of lilac flowers: Ochrea and Clematis acuminata, also, in vast abundance. I saw no epiphytal Orchidee above 10,000 feet ; but Rides was very frequent, and always parasitical on trees, the racemes of flowers erect. Many of the above genera are not natives of the regions below 10,000 feet (which is probably the lower limit of the alpine region), and they ascend to the perpetual snow. Again, very many of the prevailing genera and species of 4,000—9,000 feet are not found so high as this, so that the change is evident in the absence of certain groupes, as well as in their replacement by others. 'The plants charaeteristie of the Darjeeling region, and which do not appear to ascend to this, or do attain it and are seen no higher, are Magnoliaceg, Balsaminee, Vitis, Zanthozylee, Meliacee, most of the Rubi, Melastomee, Cucurbitacee,t Begonia, Aquilaria, arborescent Araliacee, Bucklandia, Cornea, Loranthacee, Rubiaceae, Lobeliacee, Styracee, Jasminee, Apocynee, Asclepiadew,t Oyrtandrea, Solanee (ex- x m cept Anisodus), Labiate, Acanthaceæ, Verbenacee, Laurineæ,§ Euphor- * A small apple grows wild on these hills, st 6,000 Teet. -+ Only one species above 9,000 fect. ; = A Holarrhena ascends to the height of 10,000 feet. § Ascend to 8,000 and 9,000 feet. DARJEELING TO TONGLO. 147 biacee, Piper, Urticee, Ficus,* Juglans, Scitaminee, Epiphytal Orchidee, and Pothos.+ . Still there are many Himalayan genera, of which I have seen nothing, or only such representatives as grow at the very top of Tonglo: I know that in other Himalayan regions, they descend con- siderably below 10,000 feet; but they certainly do not in the parts of Sikkim I have examined, though they no doubt inhabit the regions from 10,000 feet to the snow. Such I shall enumerate, with the known Himalayan species of each. Ranunculi (of which upwards of 20 Himalayan species are already described), Thalictrum 16, Clematis 18, Anemone 10, Trollius, Aquilegia, Delphinium 14, Aconitum 9, Actea, Paonia, Cimicifuga and Nirbisia, Podophyllum, Corydalis 17 (I have seen but two species) Crucifere 40 species (I have only found 1!), Parnassia, Alsinee@ about 20 (only 3 or 4 in my herbarium), Hypericinee 11 (of which I know 3), Geranium 16 (my herbarium numbers 3), Alpine Leguminose about 40 (I have but 1!), Spiræa 11 (1 in my herbarium), Potentilla 40 (I know only 3), Rosa 7 (I have seen 1), Epilobium 15 (2 known in Sikkim), Cireza 3, Crassu- lacee 20 (I have none), Rides 6, Saxifraga 22 (not one in my herbarium seen by myself), Uméellifere 80 or 100 (I have 5 or 6), Lonicera 21 (4 or 5 in my herbarium), Valeriana 15 (I have 2), Dipsacee 14 (Herb. Hook. 0) : Composite and Labiate are not in flower yet, so I cannot judge of them, but certainly the alpine genera