112 SELECTED NOTES FROM 



islands of the Pacific Ocean, China, and the East Indies, being 

 common along the banks of the canals and backwaters of Travan- 

 core, where it is planted for the purpose of binding the soil. The 

 long leaves are full of tough fibres, which are used for making 

 cordage of various thicknesses, as well as for making hunting-nets 

 and the drag-ropes of fishing-nets. Matting of all descriptions is 

 likewise made from them. Some of the sleeping-mats, which are 

 dyed or stained of various colours, are fine specimens of native 

 plaiting. The leaves are likewise used to make umbrellas, and 

 they are said to furnish excellent materials for paper-making. 

 The fibre from the leaves is commonly used in Tinnivelly when 

 mixed with flax for making ropes. The aerial roots are applied to 

 a variety of purposes in India. Manufactories exist in some 

 localities, where hats, baskets, mats, etc., are made from them. 

 On account of their light, spongy nature, they make excellent 

 stoppers for bottles in lieu of cork, and the more fibrous part, 

 when beaten out and the pulp removed, is used for brushes for 

 whitewashing, painting, etc. The roots are used medicinally by 

 the native practitioners, and an oil prepared from them has the 

 repute of being a cure for rheumatism. The flowers are odorifer- 

 ous, as the specific name indicates. Besides the numerous uses 

 already mentioned, the inner or pulpy part of the drupes is eaten 

 as an article of food in times of scarcity." 



One can easily understand, on looking at the close texture of 

 the woody bundles, whose cut ends are seen in the slide, what 

 strong fibres they would make when ravelled out for the various 

 purposes enumerated. A. Hammond. 



Section of Jaw of Mole affords a good example of mammalian 

 teeth. The fangs of the teeth are here seen in cross-section 

 embedded in the jaw-bone. In the centre of each is the pulp 

 cavity ; then the dentine with its radiating tubules ; external to 

 this the cement, filling up the interval between the tooth and its 

 bony socket. A set of ramifying canals is seen traversing the 

 bone to convey blood-vessels and nerves to the teeth. The bone 

 has, however, no Haversian canals to convey blood for its nutri- 

 tion, being so thin that suflicient nourishment can percolate into it 

 from the outer surface through the canaliculi. H. F. Parsons. 



Foraminifera and Sea Soundings should not be mounted in 

 balsam. Opaque mounting is by far the best. The mounting as 

 transparencies destroys largely the power to clearly discriminate 

 the species, the whole appearance of the shell being so much 

 altered, and the examination as an " opaque " being all but 

 impossible. C. Elcock. 



