Mr. E. Lovett on some Fire-making Aj)paratus. 21 



autumn either on the ground or among the herbage close to the 

 ground. 



The larva changes to a pupa between July and September, and 

 eventually works its way to the surface by means of the small 

 teeth with which it is furnished. 



106. — On some kemaekable Fire-making Apparatus from 

 Eajpootana, India. 



By Edward Lovett. 



(Bead September 14th, 1892.) 



I HAVE recently obtained a somewhat unusually large series of 

 fire-making appliances from the province of Eajpootana, North- 

 west India. These are chiefly remarkable on account of the fact 

 that they represent, in a very marked manner, the two chief 

 primitive methods of fire-making, namely, by percussion and 

 friction. When, however, we consider the gulf that divides not 

 only the different races, but even the castes of India, it is not 

 surprising to find widely divergent ethnological characteristics 

 in a comparatively small area. In describing the specimens to 

 which I have referred, I will in the first place take those that 

 belong to the percussion method of fire-making. These are, as 

 might be expected, made and used by a low caste of Hindoos 

 inhabiting the villages north of the town of Neemuch, and, in 

 fact, the whole of this portion of N.W. India. They consist of 

 a series of bags and pouches, containing in the latter case a flint 

 and steel, and in the former a flint and steel, a hand-pipe, and a 

 quantity of dried leaf rubbish, which is used in the pipes as a 

 substitute for tobacco. It is worthy of observation that the 

 steels are of very poor metal indeed, not very suitable for 

 obtaining the necessary spark ; whilst the flint is represented 

 chiefly by another form of silica known as chalcedony, occa- 

 sionally varied by quartz, and even by a cherty kind of horn- 

 stone, such substitutes for true flint being common in India, 

 where, so far as I am aware, flint from cretaceous beds is not 

 known. The tinder and fuses of these curious fire-bags is of a 

 very primitive description, and the specimens indicate how little 

 the contact with Europeans has so far modified their aboriginal 

 customs ; for we may be certain that these specimens are practi- 

 cally similar to those that have been in use in this part of India 

 for an exceedingly long period. 



We have now to consider the next series, which produce fire 



