NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
Description of the Plate illustrating the Paper.
The negatives from which the Photographs in the Plate were derived show the
appearances presented by cultivations of milk under a magnifying power of a
little over 11 diameters.
The figures on the left side of the Plate show the numbers of colonies of common
lacteal Schizomycetes in cultivations of milk in the state in which it was ob
-tained; those on the right side, the numbers of colonies of Bacillus subtilis
occurring in cultivations of milk which had been boiled.
F i g u r e s 1 a n d 5 a r e d e r i v e d f r o m c u l t i v a t i o n s o f t h e s a m e s a m p l e o f m i l k b e f o r e
and after boiling, all the colonies in figure 5 consisting of Bacillus subtilis.
Figures 3 and 7 correspond in similar fashion.
Figures 3 and 4 are again from a single sample of milk, which was that which had
been procured under special precautions. They show the relative numbers of
colonies present in a cultivation set immediately after the milk was obtained,
and in a second one of a like bulk of the fluid set 24 hours later, and indicate
the excessive multiplication of Schizomycetes which had occurred during the
interval between the two cultivations.
Figure 8 shows the abundance of colonies of Bacillus subtilis which developed in
a cultivation of milk which had been twice boiled.
CULTIVATIONS OF UNBOILED AND BOILED SAMPLES OF MILK IN CALCUTTA
Photo-etching.
Survey of India Offices, Calcutta, September 1889.
On the pathological histology of Rhinoscleroma.
BY
SURGEON-MAJOR G. BOMFORD, M.D.,
BENGAL MEDICAL SERVICE.
An opportunity has occurred during the past year of examining microscopically
the affected tissues in five cases of this rare disease. One of them was
under the care of Surgeon-Major Raye at the Medical College, Calcutta, and the
other four were treated at Indore, Central India, by Surgeon-Major Keegan, the
Residency Surgeon. The latter officer has published an account of his cases in
the Indian Medical Gazette for January 1889, and it is sufficient therefore for
the present purpose to state that the diagnosis appears to be unquestionable, as
the characteristic clinical phenomena were well marked in all the cases.
Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson, on receipt of some sketches of the cases sent to him
by Dr. Keegan, writes, "I shall put the sketches in the Museum of the College
of Surgeons. They appear to me to be good examples of the disease."
The first specimen received for examination was a portion from the upper
lip of Dr. Keegan's first case, preserved in alcohol. That some change had
occurred in the tissue was at once evident, for it had a waxy consistence
and was wanting in the leathery toughness and tendency to creak under the
knife that characterises healthy skin when so preserved. Over the greater part of
the surface the epithelium was not obviously changed in its details, but appeared
as a whole to be thinned and flattened out, with few and shallow interpapillary
processes and scanty interstitial cement substance. There were occasionally, how
- e v e r , d i s t i n c t p r o j e c t i o n s o f t h e e p i t h e l i u m d o w n w a r d s i n t o t h e t r u e s k i n , b u t t h i s
condition was not nearly so frequent nor so pronounced as it often is in Delhi Boil,
Elephantiasis, Syphilitic and other inflammatory growths in the skin. In some
places also the epithelium had been entirely destroyed by ulceration. There was
nothing to be seen at all resembling epithelial nests. The essential change had
evidently occurred in the true skin, which was profusely infiltrated with cells of
rather a peculiar character and converted into a dense, finely granular, but semi
- t r a n s p a r e n t k i n d o f f i b r o u s t i s s u e . T h e w h o l e h a d r a t h e r t h e a p p e a r a n c e o f
fibro-elastic cartilage, and was traversed by dilated vessels, of which the walls
were in many cases thickened and hyaline, while the lumen was often packed
Medical Officers of the Army of India.
45
in the above mentioned carcinomata, and the papilloma, as well as in most of
the cases of elephantiasis examined by the writer at Simla. That they are the
result of some colloid or hyaline change in cells, not necessarily always of the same
variety of cell, and perhaps in some cases even of the blood corpuscles seems
probable enough; but as yet no thoroughly satisfactory transitional form can be
discovered. Some of the large cells, with excentric nucleus and granular or
fragmentary contents, would, as far as mere form goes, answer well enough as a
transition between the endothelioid cells and the hyaline globules; and some of
them particularly, in which the contained fragments are wedge-shaped or poly
- h e d r a l , a r e a l m o s t e x a c t l y s i m i l a r i n f o r m t o s o m e o f t h e h y a l i n e b o d i e s , b u t
they show no special tendency to stain, with aniline violets, and, on the contrary,
stain, often deeply, with carmine.
The number of the hyaline bodies varied considerably in the different speci
-mens. In Dr. Raye's case there were very few, while in one of the Indore cases
they were not only very numerous, ten or even more in one field of the micro
-scope, but of remarkably large size. A large proportion of them are situated just
below the epithelium in the papillary region of the true skin, but they are never
apparently included in the epithelial layer.
There remains to be discussed only the question of the presence or otherwise
in these cases of the so-called rhinoscleroma bacillus or any other schizomycete.
Investigations on this point were carried on independently by Surgeon-Major
D. D. Cunningham, Surgeon Gibbons, and the writer, with an entirely barren
result in every instance. The most approved methods of staining with
gentian and methyl violets, with long immersion in the staining fluids, and
washing out with iodine solution, or with alcohol alone, as recommended by
Cornil, all failed to demonstrate anything which could be considered a bacillus.
The conclusion therefore is inevitable that we have to do here with five un
-doubted cases of Rhinoscleroma in which the disease is not even associated with
a bacillus, and accordingly the claim of the form hitherto described as occur
-ring constantly in Rhinoscleroma to be the cause of the disease may be safely
dismissed. It is satisfactory to learn that a similar negative conclusion on this
point has been arrived at by a distinguished bacteriologist in London, for Mr.
Jonathan Hutchinson, in the same letter to Dr. Keegan that was quoted above,
says—,"Dr. Payne tells me that he has examined your specimens and not found
the parasite." It is unfortunately not known to the writer where Dr. Payne has
published this interesting fact.
CALCUTTA:
J u n e 1 8 8 9 .
A. List of Laccadive Plants.
BY
SURGEON DAVID PRAIN, M.A., M.B.,
BENGAL MEDICAL SERVICE.
West of the Malabar coast, between Lat. 10° and 14° N. and Long. 71° 40'
and 74° E., and distant 120—180 miles from the mainland of India, lie 14
small islands, known as the Laccadives. The islands are of coral formation, and
With hardly an exception each consists of only some portion of an atoll ring, the
remainder of which may be uncovered at low tide, but is more usually merely
indicated by a ring of breakers and a circle of shoal water round a somewhat
deeper lagoon-space. These atolls were formerly supposed to be situated on a
ridge that further to the south accommodated in succession the Maldive and
the Chagos Archipelagos, this ridge being about 300 fathoms from the surface
and the trough between it and the Indian coast exceeding 900 fathoms in depth.
But they are now known to "form a chain of peaks rising from a bed of 1,100
fathoms, or are in themselves 6,600 feet above the bottom."1 Three of the
atolls are merely open reefs; the others form 11 islands, of which 9 are inhabited;
none of them are elevated more than 20 feet above the level of the sea.
Whether the atolls be rising or subsiding is an unsettled point. Local traditions
speak of the west coast of India as being gradually upraised; on the other
hand, physiographers favour the view that subsidence is taking place in this
region. 2 And there does not appear to be any published account of the corals
that compose the atolls, or to have been any attempt made to deduce therefrom
the probable age of the group. But whatever their antiquity, it is probable that
the appearance of these islands was long subsequent to the establishment of
something like the present physical configuration of the adjacent mainland.
At the same time they have a human history of over 500 years, for it was about
1500 A. D. that the inhabitants were converted to Mahomedanism, and the
Sub-Hinduism indicated by deep-rooted caste prejudices, which cannot here be
attributed to contact with Hindu neighbours, but which is nevertheless strongly
1 C a r p e n t e r : A d m i n i s t r a t i o n R e p o r t o f t h e M a r i n e S u r v e y o f I n d i a f o r t h e y e a r 1 8 8 8 - 8 9 .
2 Ansted: Physical Geography, ed. ii, 70; Medlicot and Blanford, Geology of India, Part i, 376.
Subsidence is in both works deduced from the existence of coral islands. This line of reasoning, however,
which appeared when employed by these authors to be direct, has, owing to the vexed state of specialist
opinion that has lately arisen concerning coral formation, been converted into a closed curve.
Medical Officers of the Army of India.
49
by both these gentlemen. In every case exact localities are given, and the mark
of verification (!) added when the specimen is present at Calcutta. The list is
probably by no means complete, since of the 80 species that it includes Dr. Alcock
only reports 38, while of these 38 Mr. Hume omits 16. At the same time it pro
-
bably represents fairly accurately the nature of the flora. The objects of its pub
-
lication are, first, to afford a means of comparison between the present flora and
the flora that may be observed after some considerable interval, and second, to
provide a basis for the determination of the sources from which it has been
derived and the means by which its constituents have been conveyed to the
islands—
List of the Plants.
[Reference is made mainly to descriptions in Dr. Roxburgh's Flora Indica and in Sir J. D. Hooker's Flora
of British India. ]
Capparide æ—
1 . C l e o m e v i s c o s a L . ; R o x b . , F l o r . I n d . i i i , 1 2 8 ; H o o k . f . , F l o r . B r i t . I n d . i , 1 7 0 .
Ameni, (Hume!); Anderut, (Alcock!).
Guttifer æ—
2 . C a l o p h y l l u m i n o p h y l l u mL
. ; R o x b . , F l o r . I n d .
i i , 6 0 6 ;
H o o k . f . , F l o r . B r i t .
Ind. i, 273.
Ameni, (Hume); cultivated. The Poon-spar tree or Alexandrian Laurel.
Malvace æ—
3 . S i d a h u m i l i s
W i l l d . ; R o x b . , F l o r . I n d .
i i i , 1 7 1 ;
H o o k . f . , F l o r . B r i t . I n d .
i , 3 2 2 .
Cardamum, (Hume!).
4 . A b u t i l o n i n d i c u m ,
G . D o n . ; H o o k . f . , F l o r . B r i t . I n d ,i
, 3 2 6 . S i d a i n d i c a
Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 179.
Cardamum, (Hume!).
5 . T h e s p e s i a p o p u l n e a
C o r r . ; H o o k . f . , F l o r . B r i t . I n d .
i , 3 4 5 . H i b i s c u s p o p u l n e u s ,
Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 190.
Anderut, (Alcock!); planted.
Rutace æ—
6 . C i t r u s m e d i c a .
L .
V A R . a c i d a
B r a n d i s ; H o o k . f . , F l o r . B r i t . I n d .i
, 5 1 5 . C .
acida Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 390.
Ameni, (Hume); cultivated. Dr. Alcock does not note having seen this grown
in Anderut.
Simarube æ—
7 . S u r i a n a m a r i t i m a L . ; H o o k . f . , F l o r . B r i t , I n d . i , 5 2 2 .
Betrapar, (Hume!); Bungaroo, (Hume!).
Ampelid æ—
8 . V i t i s c a r n o s a
W a l l . ; H o o k . f . , F l o r . B r i t . I n d .i
, 6 5 4 . C i s s u s c a r n o s a
R o x b . ,
Flor. Ind. i, 409.
Kiltan, (Alcock!); in great profusion.
Sapindace æ—
9 . C a r d i o s p e r m u m H a l i c a c a b u m L . ; R o x b . , F l o r . I n d . i i , 2 9 2 ; H o o k . f . , F l o r .
Britlnd. i, 670.
Ameni, (Hume!).
H
50
Scientific Memoirs by
Moringeæ—
1 0 . M o r i n g a p t e r y g o s p e r m aG
a e r t n .
; H o o k . f . , F l o r . B r i t . I n d .
i i , 4 5 .
Hyperanthera Moringa Roxb., Flor. Ind. ii, 368.
Kiltan, (Hume); cultivated. The Horse-radish tree.
Leguminos æ —
1 1 . C r o t a l a r i a v e r r u c o s a
L .
; R o x b . , F l o r . I n d .
i i i , 2 7 3 ;
Hook. f., Flor. Brit.
Ind. ii, 77.
Ameni, (Hume!).
12. Clitoria Ternatea L.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 321; Hook. f., Flor. Brìt. Ind. ii,
208.
Ameni, (Hume); cultivated.
13. Mucuna capitata W. & A.; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. ii, 187. Carpopogon
capitatum Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 284.
Ameni, (Hume!).
14. Cæsalpinia Bonducella Flem.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. ii, 357; Hook. f., Flor
Brit. Ind. ii, 254.
Bungaroo, (Hume!); forming a dense low jungle.
15. Tamarindus indica L.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 215; Hook. f. , Fl or. Bri t . Ind.
ii, 273.
Ameni, (Hume); cultivated. The Tamarind.
Lythrace
æ —
16. Punica Granatum L.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. ii, 499; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind.
ii, 581.
Ameni, (Hume); cultivated. The Pomegranate.
Passiflore
æ —
17. Carica Papaya L.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 824; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind.
ii, 599.
Kiltan, (Hume); Anderut, (Alcock); cultivated. The Papaw.
Rubiace
æ —
18. Oldenlandia diffusa Roxb., Flor. Ind. i, 423; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iii, 65.
Anderut, (Alcock!).
19. Ixora coccinea L.; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iii, 145. I. Bandhuca Roxb.,
Flor. Ind. i, 376.
Cardamum, (Hume!); Anderut, (Alcock). Sir J. D. Hooker shews that I.
Bandhuca is really conspecific with I. coccinea. There is, however, no
possibility of mistaking the one form for the other as they grow, and it
must be noted that the plant observed by Mr. Hume and Dr. Alcock was
not typical I. coccinea but the form described by Dr. Roxburgh as I.
Bandhuca.
20. Morinda citrifolia L. VAR. bracteata Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind iii, 156. M.
bracteata Roxb., Flor. Ind. i, 544.
Bungaroo, (Hume!).
21. Guettarda speciosa L.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. i, 686; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind.
iii, 126.
Cardamum, (Hume!).
Medical Officers of the Army of India.
5 1
Composit
æ—
22. Vernonia cinerea Less; Hook. f., Flor. Brit, Ind. iii, 233. Serratula
cinerea Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 406.
Ameni, (Hume !); Anderut, (Alcock!).
23. Ageratum conyzoides L.; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iii, 243. A. cordifolium
Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii; 415.
Ameni, (Hume!); Anderut, (Alcock!).
24. Wedelia calendulacea Less.; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iii, 306. Verbesina
calendulacea Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 440.
Anderut, (Alcock!).
25. Wedelia biflora DC.; Hook. f., Fier. Brit. Ind. iii, 306. Verbesina biflora
Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 440.
Cardamum, (Hume!); Anderut, (Alcock!).
26. Crepis acaulis Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iii, 396. Prenanthes acaulis Roxb.
Flor. Ind. iii., 403.
Kiltan, (Alcock!).
27. Launea pinnatifida Cass.; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iii, 416.
Betrapar, (Hume!). This is probably what Dr. Roxburgh means by his
Prenanthes asplenifolia (Flor. Ind. iii, 404), at least partly and as re
- gards the plant "common on the sand- hills near the sea along the
Coromandel Coast" (p. 405).
Goodenovieæ—
28. Scaevola Koenigii Vahl; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iii, 421. S. Taccada
Roxb., Flor. Ind. i, 527.
Betrapar, (Hume!); Kiltan, (Alcock!).
Plumbagine
æ—
29. Plumbago zeylanica, L.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. i, 462. Hook. f., Flor. Brit.
Ind. iii, 480.
Ameni, (Hume! ).
Asclepiade
æ—
30. Calotropis gigantea R. Br.; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iv, 17. Asclepias
gigantea Roxb., Flor. Ind. ii, 3o.
Cardamum, (Hume! ).
31. Cynanchum alatum W. & A.; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iv, 23.
Kiltan, (Alcock! ). The Laccadive plant agrees in every detail with Nil
- ghiri specimens.
32. Tylophora asthmatica W. & A.: Hook. f, Flor. Brit. Ind. iv, 45. Asclepias
asthmatica, Roxb., Flor. Ind. ii, 33.
Cardamum, (Hume!); Anderut, (Alcock!).
Boragine æ—
33. Tournefortia argentea L. f.; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iv, 145.
Betrapar, (Hume!); Kiltan, (Alcock!).
Convolvulace
æ—
34. Ipomœa grandiflora Lamk.; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iv, 198.
H 2
52
Scientific Memoirs by
Convolvulaceæ —contd.
Betrapar, (Hume!). This is not the same plant as Dr. Roxburgh's I. gran-
diflora, which is a variety of I. bona-nox of Linnæus. I. bona-nox is the
true Moon-flower, a plant originally introduced from America. I. grandi-
flora, on the other hand, is a native of the old world, which appears in
America only as an introduced plant.
35. Ipomœa Batatas Lamk.; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iv, 202. Convolvulus
Batatas Roxb., Flor. Ind. i, 483.
Ameni, (Hume); Anderut, (Alcock); cultivated. The Sweet Potato.
36. Ipomœa biloba Forsk.; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iv, 212. Convolvulus
Pes-capræ Roxb., Flor. Ind. i, 486.
Betrapar, (Hume!).
Solanace
æ—
37. Physalis minima L.; Roxb., Flor Ind. i, 563; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iv,
238.
Anderut, (Alcock!).
38. Physalis peruviana L.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. i, 562; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind.
iv, 238.
Ameni, (Hume); Bungaroo, (Hume!); cultivated. The Winter-cherry or
Cape-gooseberry.
39. Datura fastuosa L.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. i, 561; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iv.
242.
Ameni, (Hume); Anderut, (Alcock).
Scrophulariaceæ—
40. Herpestis Monniera H. B. & K.; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iv, 272.
Gratiola Monniera Roxb., Flor. Ind. i, 141.
Anderut, (Alcock!).
Acanthaceæ—
41. Barleria Prionitis L.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 36; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iv,
482.
Ameni, (Hume!).
42. Barleria cristata L.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 37; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind.
iv, 488.
Ameni, ( Hume!).
43. Rungia parviflora Nees VAR. pectinata Clarke; Hook. f., Flor. Brit, Ind.
iv, 550. Justicia pectinata Roxb., Flor. Ind. i, 133.
Ameni, (Hume!).
44. Peristrophe bicalyculata Nees; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind, iv, 554. Justicia
bicalyculata Roxb., Flor. Ind. i, 126.
Ameni, (Hume!).
Verbenace
æ—
45. Stachytarpheta indica Vahl. ; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. In iv, 564.
Anderut, (Alcock!).
46. Premna integrifolia L.; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iv, 574. P. spinosa Roxb.,
Flor.. Ind. iii, 77.
Cardamum, ( Hume!); forming thickets.
Medical Officers of the Army of India.
Labiat
æ—
47. Leucas aspera Spr.; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iv, 690. L. esculenta Roxb.,
Flor. Ind. iii, 10.
Ameni, (Hume!); Anderut, (Alcock!).
Nyctagine
æ—
48. Boerhaavia repens L. VAR. diffusa Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iv, 709. B. dif
-
fusa L., Sp. Pl. 3. B. procumbens Roxb., Flor. Ind. i, 146.
Betrapar, (Hume!); Ameni, (Hume!); Anderut, (Alcock!).
Amarantace
æ—
49. Aerua lanata Fuss.; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. iv, 728. Achyranthes lanata
Roxb., Flor. Ind. i, 676.
Betrapar, (Hume!).
50. Achyranthes aspera L.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. i, 672; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind.
iv, 730.
Betrapar, (Hume!); Bungaroo, (Hume!).
Laurine
æ—
51. Hernandia peltata Meissn.; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. v, 188.
Caurati, (Hume!).
Euphorbiace
æ—
52. Euphorbia Atoto Forst.; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. v, 248.
Ameni, (Hume!).
53. Euphorbia pilulifera L.; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. v, 250. E. hirta Roxb.,
Flor. Ind. ii, 472.
Cardamum, (Hume!); Kiltan, (Alcock!); Anderut, (Alcock!).
54. Phyllanthus Emblica L.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 671; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind.
v , 2 8 9 .
Ameni, (Hume); cultivated. The Amla.
55. Phyllanthus maderaspatensis L.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 654; Hook. f., Flor.
Brit. Ind. v, 292.
Ameni, (Hume!); Anderut, (Alcock!).
56. Acalypha indica L.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 675; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind.
v, 416.
Anderut, (Alcock!).
57. Ricinus communis L.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 689; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind.
v , 4 5 7 .
Kiltan, (Hume); Anderut, (Alcock); cultivated. The Castor-oil Plant.
Urticaceæ—
58. Ficus bengalensis L.; King, Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind. v, 499. F. indica
Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 539.
Ameni, (Hume); planted. The Banyan.
59. Artocarpus incisa L. f.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 527; Hook. f., Flor. Brit. Ind.
v, 539.
Kilian, (Hume, Alcock); Ameni, (Hume); Anderut, (Alcock); cultivated.
The Bread-fruit Tree.
53
54
Scientific Memoirs by
Scitamine
æ—
60. Musa sapientum L.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. i, 663.
Kiltan, (Hume); cultivated. The Plantain.
Amaryllid
æ—
61. Agave vivipara L. A. Cantula Roxb., Flor Ind. iii, 167.
Anderut, (Alcock); cultivated. The American Aloe.
Dioscore
æ—
62. Dioscorea sativa Willd.
Ameni, (Hume); cultivated. The Yam.
Liliaceæ— 63. Gloriosa superba L.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. ii, 143.
Anderut, (Alcock!).
Palmeæ—
64. Areca catechu L.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 615.
Ameni, (Hume); Anderut, (Alcock); cultivated. The Betel Palm.
65. Cocos nucifera L.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 614.
Betrapar, (Hume); Ameni, (Hume); Kiltan, (Hume, Alcock); Anderut
.
(Alcock). On all the inhabited islands and also on Betrapar, which is not
inhabited. The Coco-nut Palm.
Pandaneæ—
66. Pandanus odoratissimus Willd.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 738.
Kiltan, (Hume); Cardamum, (Hume).
Aroideæ—
67. Colocasia antiquorum Schott. Arum colocasia Roxb., Flor. Ind. iii, 494.
Ameni, (Hume); Anderut, (Alcock); cultivated. The Kachhu or Taro.
Cyperace
æ—
68. Cyperus arenarius Retz.; Clarke, Cyper. Ind. 106.
Betrapar, (Hume).
69. Cyperus pennatus Lamk.; Clarke, Cyper. Ind. 194
.
Bungaroo, (Hume), Anderut, in great profusion, (Alcock!).
Gramine
æ—
70. Oplismenus compositus R. & S. Panicum lanceolatum Roxb., Flor.
Ind. i, 294.
Ameni, (Hume!).
71. Setaria verticillata Beauv. Panicum verticillatum Roxb., Flor. Ind. i, 301.
Bungaroo, (Hume!).
72. Spinifex squarrosus L.
Betrapar, (Hume!).
73. Andropogon contortus L.; Roxb. Flor. Ind. i, 253.
Kiltan, (Alcock!).
Medical Officers of the Army of India.
Gramineæ—continued.
74. Apluda aristata L.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. i, 324
. Cardamum, (Hume!).
75. Cynodon Dactylon Pers.? Panicum Dactylon Roxb., Flor. Ind. i, 289.
Bungaroo, (Hume). Mr. Hume refers one of the grasses he saw in Bungaroo
to this—the common Dubh. He did not collect specimens however.
76. Eleusine ægyptiaca Pers.; Roxb., Flor. Ind. i, 344.
Ameni, (Hume!).
77. Eleusine Coracana Gaertn.; Roxb. Flor. Ind. i, 342?
Anderut, (Alcock); cultivated. Dr. Alcock saw a small quantity of some
cereal crop which he did not recognise under cultivation. This is almost
certain to have been the Rhagi crop (Eleusine Coracana ) .
78. Lepturus repens R. Br.
Bungaroo, (Hume!). This coast-grass Mr. Hume also collected at Vingorla
rocks on the western coast of India.
Filices—
79. Nephrodium molle Desv.; Beddome, Ferns of Brit. Ind., 277.
Anderut, (Alcock!).
80. Nephrolepis tuberosa Presl. N. cordifolia Bedd., Ferns, Brit. Ind. 282.
Anderut, (Alcock!).
Of these 80 species then, 78—or 971/2 per cent.—are Phanerogams.
An analysis of the list shows how extensively man has influenced the com
-position of the flora.
The following 17 species are in the strictest sense cultivated:—
Lime.
Horse-radish tree.
Tamarind.
Pomegranate.
Papaw.
Sweet potato.
Winter-cherry.
Amla ( Phyllanthus Emblica ) .
Castor-oil plant.
Bread-fruit tree.
Plantain. American Aloe.
Yam. Betel-palm. Kachhu (Colocasia).
T h e c e r e a l c r o p (
R h a g i ?
) .
Coco-nut.
Except the coco-nut palm and the castor-oil plant all of these are mani
- f e s t l y i n t e n t i o n a l l y i n t r o d u c e d , a n d a s r e g a r d s t h e c a s t o r - o i l p l a n t , t h o u g h i t s
seeds have at times been found in ocean drifts, and though it is conceivable that
it may have arrived as a weed, the probabilities are greatly in favour of its
having been intentionally brought. It is largely cultivated elsewhere in India,
and is cultivated by the Laccadive Islanders also. With the coco-nut palm the
conditions are different, and the evidence, both intrinsic and extrinsic, indicates
that its appearance in the archipelago preceded that of man. Its fruits are
highly capable of ocean-distribution and form a constant feature of ocean-drifts
on tropical shores; it is one of the first species to appear on newly emerged or
unvisited tropical islands; among the Laccadives themselves it occurs on the
55