AliOCASIA INDICA. 55 



sheets 240 x 370 mm. " In many cases he tore off the lower 

 edge of the old sheet, on which remarks (as, for example, on 

 native medicinal uses) were inscribed, and affixed it to the 

 new sheet." The slip referred to above would appear to be 

 one of these, for Habarala is the Sinhalese name, not Malay, 

 of Alocasia macrorrhiza Schott. It may be noted that Thun- 

 berg frequently cites Malay names as Sinhalese, and vice versa. 



The herbarium sheet bears two inflorescences, one minus 

 the spathe, and a leaf. The leaf is unfortunately folded over, 

 and the attachment of the petiole is not evident on the 

 photograph. Of the two inflorescences, the appendage of one 

 is very much shorter than the male portion of the spadix, 

 while that of the other is slightly longer than the male part of 

 the spadix, but less than the total length of the male and 

 female parts combined. The whole spadix is nearly as long 

 as the spathe. 



The relative lengths of the parts of the spadix do not agree 

 with the figure of Arum indicnim in Wight, Icones, 794, nor 

 with the usual description that the appendage is longer than 

 the inflorescence ; on the other hand, they correspond well 

 with specimens of Alocasia macrorrhiza in the Peradeniya 

 herbarium. As far as can be determined from the photograph, 

 the specimens are Alocasia macrorrhiza, and the Sinhalese 

 name Habarala is correctly applied. 



It may be noted that Alocasia macrorrhiza is one of the 

 common cultivated species in Ceylon, and that it is not 

 otherwise represented in Thunberg's collection. • 



The Sinhalese name, Rata-ala, merely means " foreign yam." 

 At the present day Rata-ala and Desi-ala are applied, as far 

 as can be ascertained, to a species of Xanthosoma ; and Mr. 

 H. L. van Buuren, who is engaged upon an investigation of 

 the Ceylon species of Alocasia, &c., has not been able to find 

 Alocasia indica. We have, therefore, no evidence that this 

 species is grown in Ceylon . 



