192 NATURAL SCIENCE. March, 



deep-blue seed. This plant seems very attractive to birds, as seeds 

 seldom remain very long on the pedicels. 



Pink fruits are comparatively scarce, being less conspicuous than 

 red. The pink grapes of Cissus Hookeri, Laws., are, however, very 

 showy. They are as large as cherries and of a beautiful translucent 

 pink. The most interesting plant in which pink serves as an attract- 

 ing colour is Hannandia Kunstlevi, King (Olacineae). This is a tree with 

 small inconspicuous green flowers, but, when fruiting, the calyx 

 develops into a large pale-pink disc two inches across, in the centre 

 of which stands the black oblong fruit. 



Yellow drupes and berries are very common, and nearly all are 

 inhabitants of dense jungles. Such are the various species of 

 Urophyllum, some species of Cissus, Chvysophyllum Roxbuvghii, Don, some 

 species of Heptapleurum, Mimusops elcngi and Microdesmis caseavia folia, 

 Don, and Champereia (Santalaceae). Many figs, e.g., Ficus vasculosa, 

 F. uvophylla, have yellow syconia. 



Black drupes, or berries, are commonest among the plants of the 

 open country. It is comparatively rare to find them in the deep 

 jungles, where they would naturally be inconspicuous. Indeed, when 

 they do occur in jungle plants, they are usually set off with a red 

 calyx or rachis, as has been already described. Brucea sumatvana, 

 Roxb., Matthaeasancta, Bl., Rhodamnia trine/via, Bl., Cissus difftisus (Miq.), 

 V actinium malaccanum, Wight, Clidemia hirta, Don, Alpinia allughas, L., 

 are examples. Geophila melanocarpd, Ridl., however, a low herb which 

 inhabits dense woods, has black berries like black-currants, and is 

 certainly by no means conspicuous. Melastoma polyanthum, BL, frequents, 

 open sunny spots, and its fruit, of a dull pinkish colour, would be very 

 inconspicuous if it did not, when ripe, split transversely and disclose a 

 black pulp containing its minute seeds. This black mass is very 

 conspicuous, and few plants are so freely disseminated by birds as 

 this one. A number of black-fruited trees, such as Dialium, Crypto- 

 carya, Parinarium Griffithianum, Benth., are chiefly disseminated by 

 mammals, such as monkeys and civets, as described in the paper 

 above referred to. In Chasalia cuvviflova, Thw. (Rubiacese), a low shrub 

 found in open woods, the black drupes are set off by the thickened 

 white peduncles and branches of the inflorescence. 



White berries and drupes occur commonly in plants growing in 

 damp spots in dense jungles, such as Adenosacme longifolia, Wall., Chlor- 

 anthus officinalis, Alpinia scabra, Bl., Elettaviopsis longituba, Ridl., Gom- 

 phostemma, most of the climbing Psychotrias, Pimelandra Wallichii, Dec, 

 Aglaia glabviflova, Hiern., Clinogyne gvandis, Benth., and Hedyotis congesta, 

 R. Br. This latter is especially interesting, as it belongs to a genus 

 in which nearly all the species frequent open country and have cap- 

 sular fruit. There are also a number of white-fruited plants which 

 occur in sandy open woods near the sea, and in these the fruits are 

 usually massed together so as to be more conspicuous. Euthemis 

 leucocarpa, Jack., has the berries either snow-white, deep rose-colour, 



