4 . DR. awdehson's enxtmeratiok of 



fuU 



mens of the recent gum, of the " Chakazzi/' and of the valuable 

 Copal, in which are many insects ; and I would suggest that 

 entomologists should assist us by their opinions whether these 

 belong to existing species or not. 



b. ■- 



An Enumeration of the Palms of Sikkim. By Thomas Ander-' 

 soN,M.D., P.L.S., Superintendent of the Eoyal Botanical Gar-" 



dens, Calcutta. 



[Read June 18, 18G8.] 



- ' 



The deep valleys of Sikkim, which are fully exposed to the moist 

 winds blowing from the Bay of Bengal, are filled with a luxu- 

 riant vegetation abounding in tropical forms. Among these are 

 several species of Palms possessing considerable interest from 

 their occurrence in comparatively so northern a region. Dr. 

 Hooker, the first botanical explorer of Sikkim, found ten species 

 of Palms in that country * ; and in the introductory essay to the 

 ' Flora Indica,' p. 183, Drs. Hooker and Thomson again state the 

 numbers at ten. By repeated explorations in the Teesta valley, I 

 have been able to add five species to that number, but I have never 

 found Areca disticha and Licitala peltata, both of which are in- 

 cluded in the number of Palms in Sikkim given by the authors of 

 the ' Flora Indica.' I have thus seen fifteen species of Palms in 

 the forests of Sikkim, belongring to the erenera Areca. Wallichia, 



also speci- 



Calamus 



Herbarium 



Botanical Gardens, Calcutta. ' CalamuSjthe most extensive genus 

 of Palms in Asia, is represented in these forests by seven species, 

 while the other genera, except WallicTiia and Phcenix, which con- 

 tain two species, are illustrated each by one species. Calamus schU 

 zospathus belongs to the non-scandent Zalacca-like section of the 



r 



genus ; but, exclusive of it, there are seven climbing Palms in 

 Sikkim, as Flectocomia Himalayana is popularly a Eattan, and as 

 powerful a climber as any Calamus. 



The sudden diminution in moisture which takes place almost 

 at the frontier between Nepal and Sikkim does not favour the 



Himalayan Journals, i. 143. 



