408 nUHMA, ITS PEOPLE ASD PIlODUCTIOyS. 



W. coRTMnosA, Jack. Tunasserim. 



W. spicata, D.C. 

 Green la Juckii, W. A. 



SriRADiCLis, Blume. 



Corolla-iule short. Capmie dehiscing into 2 valves, which again separate into 

 2 valves inflected with their margins. Erect annual herbs. 

 S. BIFIDA, Wall. Martaban. 



Stem, petioles, and inflorescence, shortly jnibcscent. Capsule globular, 2-lobcd. 



S. c^spiTosA, "Bl. Martaban, along streams. 



S. eylindriea, H.f. 



AxANTHEs, Blume. 

 A. LOXGiroLiA, "Wiglit (M.). 



OpnioRRnizA, Linuffun. 



Corolla funnel-shaped or tubular. Placenta free, erect. Capsule compressed, 

 divaricately 2-lobcd, opening loculicidally by an apical slit. Herbs. 



* Cymes all terminal, on 2>e(luncles 1-3 inches long. Cali/.c-teefh sliorf, trianffular. 



X Bractlets eonspicuous, subulate, up to a line long. 

 0. GRACILIS, Kz. Tenasserim. 



All parts glabrous. Loaves long-acuminate. 



X X Bracts suluhite, tisualhj 2>ersistcnt, but the hractlets very tninute, if any. 



0. MiJNGOs, L. var. « along the coast, var. /3 in Martaban 



at 3000 feet. The Nicobars. 



All parts (also the capsule) glabrous. 



var. a genuina. Cap)sule about 3 lines across, emarginate, the lobes somewhat 

 acute. 



var. ji orthocarpa. Capsule about 2 lines across, truncate at the apex, the lobes 

 blunt or almost truncate. 



Dr. Erandis' specimens are not suflicient to enable one to make out whether 

 they should not rather form a distinct species. The true Linncan species is a sea- 

 shore plant, growing chiefly in the bc'ach-forests, most probably also growing along 

 the Burmese coasts. 



This plant is so called from its being supposed to be that one which the ' munyoose ' 

 seeks for and swallows as an antidote, after being bitten by a cobra. It is, however, 

 now well known that there is no speciflc for snake poison, and that the fact even 

 of the mungooso {Jlerpesfes) seeking out and swallowing an antidote is merely one 

 of the many fictions of the imagination with which the whole subject is surrounded. 

 The Herpestes owes his immunity to his own agility, which secures him generally 

 from being bitten, to his possessing a thick skin and hisjiid liair, more or less erected 

 when angry, and which probably often foils an otherwise effective bite, and to his 

 peculiar idiosyncracy, in virtue whereof he probably sustains and survives a bito 

 which to an animal of another family would be fatal. 



0. AKGENTEA, Wall. Cluttagong and Boronga Island. 



Stems and petioles brown-pubescent. Leaves thick-memlii'anous, wliitisli beneatli. 

 Capsule glabrous. 



Probably not distinct from 0. euiiescens (Kurz). 



0. viLLosA, lloxb. Tropical forests of Ava. Chitlagong. 



0. ruyosa and hixpidula, Wall. I'egu and Tenasserim. 



0. trichovurpu, Bl. 



