,- MII.I.KTS OK TDK liF.NlS -KTAKIA. 



with purplisl) l.n)\vii. IV l.ri^'lit y.-U.-w. ultimately iHcominor 

 i.miige red. (Iniln wliitn as usual. 



'2 (d). S.-taria italioa. Hrnnr. rar. imr. ly|ilHiitl.:i. 



This vHiietv was ivcpived fioin Siud only and is cliaiac- 

 t(iix»>d as follows : — 



Hei'^ht 3.V feet. D-ftris al)out I ^< indies loni,^ and •,' inch 

 I. road. Sjiihca purple hrown, cylindiipai or sliirhtly cluh-sliaix'd, 

 hroad at apex, length 5 inches, breadth I inch, hnsf/rs sliu],tly 

 (-xceediu" the .spikelets. (ihii,i<- III narrower and more aenininate 

 than in any of the other varieties. 



Gknkrai. kkmvkks on Skiakia itai.k a anu rrs vakiktiks. 



The result of my analysis of many samples under vernac- 

 ular names is that the name (.'lii)io is applied in Sind to the 

 variety which I have called typ/ioidea ; Savn is applied in Sind 

 to S. italica ti/iie : the Marathi names, Ra!<(, Kauxj antl liliadli 

 are jfiven to all varieties indifterently ; luinfi is the Gujarati 

 term ; while \ni'fini seems to 1)p the corieot name in Kanare.se, 

 dtlioufjh /uoif/ is also used. 



Sir (ieorj^e Watt and Mr. J F. Duthie state that S. 

 italica occurs wiKl in India on parts of the Himalayas. Ue 

 Candolle, however, doubts whether it has been found tridy wild 

 anywhere. He as.serts that the ppecie.s existed before all cultiva- 

 tion, thousands of years agt), in China, Japan, and the Indian 

 Archipelago. Its cultivation must have early spiead towards tlie 

 West since we know of Sanskrit names. l)Ut it does not seem to 

 iiave been known in Syria, Arabia and Greece, and it is piobably 

 tiirough Russia and Austria that it early arrived among the 

 l.ikc-dwellers of the Stone age in Switzerland 



Mr Duthie saj's that " S. italica is ixith wild and culti- 

 vated in Inilia and largely grown in other warm count lies. In 

 Northern India it is usually sown as a subordinate crop accom- 

 panying y'"/;- ( Andiopogon Sorghum) or Saim (Panicum frumen- 

 taceum). It is cultivated on the Himalaya.s at low elevations. Its 

 Hl)undant ami mitritious foliage yields aji excellent forage if cut 



