34 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
4. Colour adaptation to surroundings.—On most tea estates 
up-country in Ceylon there are now numbers of large Dadap trees 
growing, the result of planting for the last twenty years. These 
trees are now visited in the day time by flocks of little lorikeets, 
coloured green with red spots, which cluster amongst the foliage 
and feed off the scarlet blossoms. The similarity of the colourings 
of the birds to those of the leaves and flowers of the Dadap trees is 
very remarkable, and the shades blend so harmoniously that when 
the former are at rest on the branches of a leafy tree it is almost 
impossible to detect their presence. This looks like a case of 
colour adaptation to surroundings so often observable in nature. 
Perhaps during your travels up-country you may have noticed 
it yourself. If not, I think it would be an interesting matter to 
look into. 
S. E. TENCH. 
6, Barons’ Court Chambers, London, W., 
March 23, 1906. 
5. The word ‘“ Boss.’—The derivation of this term, which is 
constantly applied in Ceylon to master craftsmen such as carpenters, 
blacksmiths, and others, forms the subject of a letter to the Spectator 
of 2Ist April, 1906, from Mr. Ernest H. 8. Schwarz, of Rhodes 
University College, Grahamstown, South Africa. 
The author of the letter referred to says :— 
“In South Africa the term “‘baas”’ is commonly supposed to be 
the same, and the Hottentots call the head of the family ‘* Ou baas,”’ 
or old boss, and the eldest son is the “‘ Yong baas.” ‘‘ Ou baas,” 
however, is a term of respect, and may be used in addressing a 
beardless youngster who is in a position of authority, and there are 
grounds for suspicion that the words have been taken over by the 
Dutch from an original native source. It is significant that Cicero 
(“De Nat. Deorum’’) states that the god Vulcan was called by the 
Egyptians “‘ Obas,” who was the son of Cellum. “‘Skelm,” in Cape 
language, is the same as Burns’s “skellum” (“Tam o’ Shanter”’), 
and indicates an unruly person,—Bacchus and his various syno- 
nyms, who in a sense was the father of all. It seems extravagantly 
far fetched to trace back the Hottentot’s ‘‘Ou baas”’ to the Egyptian 
‘“Obas ”’; but I have so frequently come across classical customs 
among the natives of South Africa that to me the connection does not 
seem improbable. I have seen the wailing for the dead. Adonis 
