108 Papers. [JtJLY, 



obtained a clump of a Dendrobium. This he mounted on his return to 

 Calcutta, and obtained flowers later on which proved it to be Dendro- 

 binum Pierardi. The plant is still alive in the Society's garden at Ali- 

 pur, and though the block on which it was originally placed has de- 

 cayed, its roots have laid hold of some wire netting and Vanda teres 

 stems, and it thrives in quite as exposed a position as that in which 

 it was found.' 



Thus, though the writer was unaware of the fact, Roxburgh's 

 record of Dendrobium Pierardi from the Sundribuns area, which by the 

 way is the locus classicus for the species, had already been amply con- 

 firmed, and there is little doubt that similar happy accidents will in 

 time lead to a confirmation of Roxburgh's other and as yet unverified 

 records. The writer would esteem it a favour if members of the Asiatic 

 Society interested in the Sundribuns would communicate with him 

 should they contemplate visiting on official duty, or for purposes of sport, 

 this very enticing region, when he would be glad to indicate to them 

 what, from the botanical standpoint, still calls for observation and inves- 

 tigation.* 



2. Notes on the Grdm DevafU or tutelary village deity of Orissa — By 

 Jamini Mohan Das, Deputy Magistrate, Cuttack. (Communicated by the 

 Anthropological Secretary.) 



(Abstract.) 



Throughout the plains of Orissa, every village has a tutelary god 

 dess, called Gram Devata or Thakurani. She is generally established 

 under the shade of a tree, and commonly represented by a piece of 

 shapeless stone, surrounded by several smaller pieces representing her 

 children. Carved images are also met with, though very rarely, and 

 sometimes the trunk of a tree, supposed to possess supernatural pro- 

 perties, is worshipped as the village Goddess. The Kandhs of Nayagarh, 

 however, believe their village deity to be of the male sex, and use a 

 wooden post, 2^ feet high, to represent it. Besides the generic name, 

 Gram Devata, each Goddess has a specific name, which is generally 

 one of the thousand names of Kali. The most noticeable feature of the 

 Gram Devata worship is the non-priestly caste of the men who conduct 

 it, In the plains, the Napit, Mali, Raul, or Bhopa is usually the priest, 



* Since this paper was read, the Rev. Mr. Le Quesne, of Bhowanipur, has kindly 

 communicated plants of Reindict clumetorum, raised from seeds collected in an aban- 

 doned Snndribun settlement at Gaoroba. The writer has also jnst learned that in 

 other places whioh mark the sites of habitations of the old dacoits and salt-smugglers 

 who infested the Sundribuus, are to be fouud growing examples of Mimusops Elengi — 

 the BakuVtree. : •'- - -- - J, ■ 



