648 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVI. 



1 in. long. Its base is surrounded by the reflexed calyx-lobes. The 

 protruding cylindrical radicle reaches sometimes 1 ft. before falling 

 from the tree. As Rhizophora conjugata does not reach so far into the 

 sea as Rhizophora mucronata, the stilt-roots show, of course, reduction in 

 their development. Besides, I could neither observe that the branches 

 give off aerial roots, as they do in the true mangrove. 



The same process of vivipary as observed in Rhizophora takes place 

 in three othf»r plants of the same order, viz., Bruguiera gymnorhiza, 

 Lam., Bruguiera caryophylloides, Bl. and Bruguiera parviflora, W. et 

 A. Bruguiera gymnorhiza is an evergreen, glabrous shrub or tree. 

 The entire coriaceous leaves are bright-green above, paler and with a 

 prominent midrib beneath. The petals are setigerous, hairy at the base 

 and glabrous above. The thickly coriaceous fruit is surrounded at the 

 apex by the calyx-lobes, which afterwards drop off. It is obconic and 

 less than 1 in. long. The fusiform, more or less angled radicle, often 

 reaches 1 ft. in length before falling. 



Less common, and only occurring in the southern parts of the Pres- 

 idency is Bruguiera caryophylloides. The shrub, branching frum the 

 base, bears entire coriaceous leaves, which are pale and shining above, 

 dull anl glabrous beneath. The white petals are hairy on the outer side 

 and on the margins. Each lobe of the bifid apex bears 3 to 5 bristles and 

 there is a longer one at the incision. The oblong obovoid fruit is only 

 | in. long with a slenler, cylindrical radicle of 6 to 8 in. in length. 



Also found in salt-marshes but not so common is Bruguiera parviflora. 

 Its entire, oblong-lanceolate leaves are coriaceous, shining above, dull 

 beneath. The lobes of the bifid petal? hear short hairs at the apex. 

 The fruit, entirely surrounded by the enlarged calyx, is f to 1 in. long. 

 The cylindrical, striate radicle reaches 4 to 5 in. before falling. 



A? to the single phases in the process of vivipary in Bruguiera, I 

 had no opporfcun'ty to observe the ripening of the radicle. Thus I am 

 not quite sure, whether the hypocotyl alone falls off, leaving the cotyle- 

 dons and the cilyx on the mother-plant or whether the cotyledons, the 

 pericarp, and the calyt follow the radicle. I came to doubt about it 

 after having read a description of Bruguiera erbpetala by Haberlandt. 

 This famous biologist was in a position to make careful observations in 

 the garden of Bivtenzorg. He found that fruit and calvx were 'detached 

 at the same moment, and he is of opinion that this circumstance is of 

 prominent importance in the life-history of that species. His reason is 



