Medical Officers of the Army of India.
7
grounds only. His Intsia is precisely Gray's and Bentham s Afzelia and is no
more the natural Intsia of Thouars and Miquel than is Bentham's Afzelia the
natural Afzelia of Guillemin, Perrottet and Richard. Notwithstanding the
authority of the authors who have adopted and accepted this view, it is one
that is neither natural nor convenient. For the view of Roxburgh and of
Hasskarl, which has never received serious attention, there is quite as much to be
said as there is for the view proposed by Gray and practically universally accepted.
Fonesia Roxb., As. Res. iv, 355 (1795), we now know to be the Linnean
Saraca. Saraca differs from Intsia i n h a v i n g n o p e t a l a n d i n h a v i n g u s u a l l y 7
fertile stamens ; the two have, however, pods and seeds that are identical.
Afzelia and Intsia agree as to petals ; as regards stamens they differ as much
as Saraca and Intsia differ ; the two have, moreover, wholly dissimilar pods and
seeds. In the matter of habit, foliage, inflorescence Saraca Afzelia and Intsia are
not separable ; as regards calyx the three are essentially alike. If the differences
as to stamens are insufficient for generic distinction as between Intsia and A
f z e l i a ,
they must be equally valueless as between Saraca and Intsia. Only three sets
of characters are thus left us ; those to be obtained from the corolla, the fruit and
the seed respectively. As regards Saraca and Intsia we find the corolla esse--
tially different, the fruit and the seed alike. As regards Intsia and Afzelia we
find the corolla the same, he fruit and the seed both essentially different. If
then Intsia be distinct from Saraca, it follows that it must be even more distinct
from Afzelia and the view of Miquel is vindicated. As a matter of fact, both
Bentham and Taubert give sectional value to these differential characters ;
B a i l l o n e v e n a d m i t s t h a t t h e y a r e s u b g e n e r i c . T o a d o p t t h e v i e w o f Mi q u e l i s o n l y
to take another and necessary step in the same direction.
Having shown that the group of species, of which Afzelia bijuga is the type,
constitutes a distinct genus Intsia apart from Afzelia, it has now to be shown
that there is another group of species, usually treated as generically separable,
which must be merged in Afzelia. The type of this group is the tree on which
Miquel, Flor. !And. Bat. i, 85 (1855), founded the genus Pahudia. The material
at Miquel's disposal was barely adequate for the purpose, because he had not seen
fruit or seed. Nevertheless, the genus was, so far as this material went, well
Characterised in the original definition. As an after-thought Miquel in the same
work (page 1080) added a second species, P. Hasskarliana, to his original
P. jivanicaT o a c c o m m o d a t e t h i s s e c o n d s p e c i e s , M i q u e l m o d i f i e d h i s o r i g i n a l
diagnosis so materially as to mar the natural limits of his genus. As a matter
of fact his P. Hasskarliana is Hasskarl's Fonesia monopetala; that is to say, is
Roxburgh's F. triandra, Colebrooke's Macrolubium bijugumD e C a n d o l l e ' s
O u t e a
bijuga, Miquel's own Intsia amboinensis. To make matters, if possible, more