762 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIX. 



in a pill-box and fed with grains of rice — increase and multiply, giving birth to 

 numerous small pearls. Are such tales current in India ? If so, may I ask 

 Members of the Society to interest themselves in the matter and send me 

 specimens for identification and description 



The male Margarodes is a two-winged insect, the expanded wings measuring 

 about 8 mm. (approximately one-third of an inch). The wings are colourless 

 and transparent, with the exception of a deep red thjckened costal border. 

 There are tufts of long silky white filaments arising from the upper surface of 

 the abdomen. The specimens from the Calcutta Museum are labelled 

 ' Jahada, Nepal, 14th November 1908 ". 



E. ERNEST GREEN. 



Peeadeniya, Ceylon, 29/!i^ Jtme 1909. 



No. XXVI.— TWO SPECIES OF ' CHARA " FROM THE BOMBAY 



ISLAND. 



Specimen No. I was collected on the 14th of November 190S, from a pool on 

 the Vincent Road, Matunga, situated in the fields where rice is cultivated 

 during the rains. The plant grew on the borders of the pool under water 

 extending to knee-depth, entangled with the aquatic plant Hydrilla vertidl- 

 lata (^Serpirulla verticu'uta — Roxb) which it resembles in general appearance, and 

 was greatly interspersed with the filamentous Alga — CEclogonium scutatum. I 

 found great difficulty in separating the Chara plant from these filaments of the 

 (Edogonium. It appeared as if there was some commonsalism between these 

 plants. The pool dries up in the hot weather during the months of April and 

 May, so that it is difficult to say whether the Chara plant is an annual or a 

 perennial plant. The plant is gritty and brittle on account of the deposition 

 of carbonate of lime. The stem is stout and branched alternately. The inter - 

 nodes, when full grown, are about an inch in length. No adventitious root- 

 lets were seen on the stem. Leaves are in whorls of 9, 10 or more. Each 

 leaf is more than six-jointed and tapers singly at the end. The reproductive 

 organs are borne upon the upper surface of the leaves, and at the joints of 

 their basal half. The plant is monoecious, and fertilisation takes place during 

 the night or very early in the morning. Both the organs are borne on the 

 same node, the orange and globular antheridium being below the typical 

 oogonium which is subtended by a few simple short- un jointed leafiets. The 

 antheridium matures before the oogonium of the same node, and so the plant is 

 protandrous, 



Roxburgh in his " Flora of India " mentions some species of the genus 

 Chara and describes one species. C liura rertiivlata, a native of India, includ- 

 ing the genus Chara amongst the Flowering Plants which is unscientific. Bis 

 Chara veruculata, however, has all the general characters of this specimen No. I., 

 and I would therefore name it as Chara verticulata. 



Specimen No. 2 was collected on the 26th December 1908 from another pool 



