MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 513 



[In reference to the above, Capt. W. Glen Liston, i.m.s., Acting Director, Bombay 

 Bacteriological Laboratory, to whom the note was referred, writes as follows : " I have read 

 with much interest Mr. Sale's letter. I believe there are many interesting things connect- 

 ed with plague still to be found oat, particularly the reasons why certain places escape the 

 disease while others suffer. I can give two interesting instances. In Simla (which bas so 

 far escaped the disease) the largest percentage of fleas found on rats (over 90 per cent. I 

 believe) belong to the species Ccratophyllusfasclatus and not to Pulev cheoph which I may 

 call the < Plague-rat flea'. Again, Oapt. Gloster has visited the Kangra District in the 

 Punjab where plague has never established itself. In certain plague free villages he caught 

 a number of rats which all conformed to the type of Mm ruttus which we recognize as 

 variety alexandrinus. Very few specimens of this type are found in Bombay and in certain 

 plague-infected Punjab villages the rats of which were examined. I cannot, however, say 

 that the reason why the Kangra villages escaped plague, is because of the presence of this 

 type of rattus, since there are other possible explanations." This Society will be very glad 

 to receive specimens of rats from all parts of India to assist in the matter of identification.— 

 Eds.] 



No. XXVIII.— A NOTE ON HURA CREPITANS, LINN., FOUND TN 

 KHANDALA, WESTERN GHAUTS. 



Hura crepitans belongs to the N. O. Euphorbiacese. It is indigenous in 

 Tropical America, and known as Javilla in Panama, and Acupo and Habillo in 

 New Granada. In popular English it is called sand-box from the fact of its 

 fruit, which is a many-celled woody capsule, being used as a sand-box in the 

 colonies of Tropical America. For this purpose the fruit is first boiled in oil 

 to prevent dehiscence, and then emptied of its seed. 



The tree is from thirty to forty feet high, numerously branched. In its 

 native country it is often planted for the sake of its shade for which it is well 

 adapted, having a great abundance of glossy peepul-like or poplar-like leaves. 

 The tree is of rapid growth, says Surgeon-General E. Balfour. The trunk is 

 strongly armed ; the wood is light. " From the quickness of its vegetation, 

 its parts are of so loose a texture that a loud clap of thunder, or a sudden 

 gust of wind, frequently causes the largest boughs to snap asunder. The 

 wood is only fit for joists and spars." (Loudon's Encyclopsedia of Plants.) 



The inflorescence is very characteristic. In Lindley and Moore's Treasury 

 of Botany, (p. 602, Pt. II, 1870, London) A. A. Balfour says thus :— " The 

 reddish inconspicuous flowers are sterile and fertile on different plants." In 

 the specimen from Khandala which I exhibit, the female flowers and the male 

 catkins are on one and the same plant. 



The male flowers are in stalked "catkin-like heads, each flower with 

 a cup -shaped calyx and a central column around which are one or many 

 rows of scale-like bodies, each supporting on its concave face a stamen." 

 (A. A. B.) 



The female flowers are solitary and stalked in the axils of the leaves, with 

 a like calyx and a rounded ovary terminated by a singularly trumpet-shaped 

 style. The terminal portion of the style, i. e„ the stigma, is cup-like, having 

 a reflexed many-toothed border. 



