DESCEIPTIONS OF NEW PEA'NTS FROM NICOBAR ISLANDS. 323 



the ridge is calcareous. But eveu supposing these to belong to Areca 

 augusta, it would not materially aiFect the question, but would only 

 demonstrate that this palm which seeds so abundantly (about a 

 maund of fruits yearly for every tree) cannot establish itself on the 

 island. 



The climbing bamboo {Dinocliloa andamanica) is on these islands 

 as common as on the Andamans, but other erect bamboos are con- 

 spicuous by their absence. Thus the only localities on the middle 

 group for arboreous bamboo that have come to my knowledge are 

 Trinkut Island, Kanaka on the east coast of Kamorta, at Hanangsoo's 

 village (east coast of Katchall), and at Malacca, on the island Nan- 

 kowry. I got specimens only from the latter locality, and they prove 

 to be Bamhusa vulgaris, a bamboo generally cultivated by the Malays, 

 and most probably an introduction of theirs, for the bamboo grows 

 near the villages. 



Still more anomalous is the total absence of Dipterocarps, which 

 fact stands in as great a contrast with the flora of the Andamans and 

 the surrounding countries, as the absence of Cupuliferse from the 

 Nicobars and Andamans jointly in comparison with Burma, Malacca, 

 etc. 



The great abundance of cocoa-palms on these islands is generally 

 known, and a brisk trade is carried on by the short-legged Nicobarians 

 with the Burman, Malayan, and even European craft that come over 

 chiefly for the sake of the cocoa-nuts. The islands, being in a rising 

 condition, off'er large expanses of calcareous sand-beaches, the 

 favourite station of this palm. The precipitous coasts of the Anda- 

 mans naturally do not favour the settlement of this palm, and I 

 thought for some time that cocoa-palms were on the Andamans re- 

 stricted to Cocos Island ; but I have since learnt that they grow also on 

 Interview Island, and on the north-west side of North Andaman. (See 

 Dr. Heifer's posthumous journals of his travels in the Mergui Archi- 

 pelago and the Andamans, in " Mittheilungen der k. k. Greographi- 

 schen Gesellschaft zu Wien," vol. iii., 386.) 



Another peculiarity which I wish to notice in passing is the fact 

 that certain trees and shrubs of a more saline character, and therefore 

 restricted to the edges of the sea or to tidal alluvia, grow on Kamorta, 

 locally on the hills, chiefly in the grass-heaths. Examples of such 

 zxe—Cycas JRum^Mi {in trop. forests), Paritium tiliaceum, Lumnitzera 

 littorea, Acrostichcm aureum. To this category must also be added 

 Pandamcs odoratissimus and Casuarina equisetifolia. 



1. Orophea katschallica, nov. sp. — Arbuscula 25-30 pedalis y. 

 frutex magnus, cortice nigro, novellis appresse fulvo-sericeis ; folia ^ 

 oblonga v. oblongo-lanceolata petiole incrassato lin. longo suffulta, 

 basi subinaequali acuta, 3-6 poll, longa, longius v. longissime obtuse 

 acuminata, membranacea, subtus in costa sparse appresse hirsuta ; 

 flores majusculi, pedicello medio minute subulato-bracteato 2-3 lin. 

 longo fulvo-sericeo suffulti et perpauci v. solitarii secus pedunculum 

 supra-axillarem v. lateralem ^-f poll, longo fulvo-sericeo apici insert! ; 

 sepala triangularia, extus minute fulvo-sericea 1 lin. longa ; petala 

 exteriora ovata acuta v. subacuminata, basi contracta, venasa, minute 

 puberula, c. 4 lin. longa, interiora poUicem fere longa, longissime (c. 8 



Y 2 



