ECONOMIC BOTANY OF THE CUCURBITACEM 291 



is a domestic remedy for the inflammation caused by contact with 

 the house lizard. The root of the female plant, which often weighs 

 a pound or more, is of a yellowish colour, and somewhat like a tur- 

 nip in shape ; it contains an alkaloid which is not purgative. 



M. cochinsinensis occurs in the Deccan and South Konkan; it is 

 called in Sanskrit Karkataka from the resemblance of the sculptured 

 seeds, which are flat and rather more than half an inch in diameter, 

 to the shell of a crab (Karka). In the vernaculars it is known as 

 Kakrol. The seeds, after the shell has been removed, are fried and 

 eaten alone or with other food ; they are considered to be good for 

 cough and pains in the chest ; powdered they form one of the ingre- 

 dients of the hot stuff known as Jhal in Bengal, which, mixed with 

 ghi, is given to women after confinement for a few days, and is sup- 

 posed to remove phlegmatic humours. 



M. Oymbalaria, in Marathi Kadaranehi, is a small delicate climb- 

 ing plant with tuberous roots about the size of a wallnut or less ; these 

 tubers have been several times sent to the Chemical Analyser's Office 

 in Bombay, as having been used to procure abortion ; they contain a 

 bitter glucoside, and a very acrid resin, and are highly poisonous. 



Cucumis trigonus occurs in two forms; the smooth-fruited variety 

 (in Marathi Kcitre! or Karit), has a very bitter fruit about the size of 

 a small egg. At the time of the Devali large quantities of this fruit 

 are brought for sale to Bombay ; they are crushed beneath the foot 

 after the ceremonial bath early in the morning on the Naraka 

 Chaturdasi, or first day of the Devali, and the bitter juice applied to 

 the tongue,— a practice which appears to resemble that of eating 

 Nimb leaves on the Varsha-pratipada or New Year's Day. This 

 custom is peculiar to the Konkan, and I am informed by Dr. Bhandar- 

 kar, is unknown in the Deccan. The fruit is considered to be 

 medicinal, and, when pounded or boiled with cow's milk and applied 

 to the head, is supposed to prevent insanity, strengthen the memory, 

 and remove vertigo ; it contains the same purgative principle as 

 colocynth. The other form of C. trigonus appears to be a semi-culti- 

 vated one ; it is pubescent, and in the unripe state is used as a 

 vegetable, when quite ripe it becomes sweet and tastes like a melon. 

 This gourd is called Takmaki in Marathi, and is common towards the 

 end of the rains in gardens and cultivated fields 



