276 British Association for the Advancement of Science. 
it with sickles. ‘There are few fens, no heaths, and no oaks, elms, 
or hazels. ‘The Zoology of the Deccan exhibits specimens of all 
the different varieties. The wild dog is a native of the Ghauts; 
there are three kinds of monkeys, and two of bats. The domestic 
poultry of this country is supposed to have originated in India, the 
two species being identical. Most of the wading and swimming 
birds are identical with those of Europe. In noticing the fish, Col. 
Sykes remarked that a certain species of fresh-water fish were found 
in pieces of water, two thousand feet above the level of the sea, ex- 
actly resembling our own salt-water fish, With respect to popula- 
tion, the proportion of male to female births, which in England is 
to 93—in the Deccan is 100 to 87; and this difference ob- 
tains, with very little variation, throughout India, modified by the 
singular fact exhibited in the excess of grown-up women over men. 
Sir Stamford Raffles, in his account of the island of Java, states that 
the proportion of births was 100 males to 82 females, but that the 
same disproportion did not exist between grown-up people. In the 
Deccan, the preponderance of male over female children is very 
strongly marked, but a greater mortality amongst the males at a 
subsequent period makes the females outnumber the males. The 
same law, therefore, appears to prevail both within and without the 
tropics. The e average number of deaths throughout the whole col- 
lectorate was one in 37, but that was in an exceedingly bad season, 
when the cholera prevailed. The proportion of marriages is very 
nearly the same as in England and France, it being one in 125 in 
Poonah, one in 128 in England, and one in 130 in France. With 
respect to education—in one province there is only one school to 
2452 inhabitants ; in another, one to 4639; in a third, one to 3337. 
The tenures of land are exceedingly numerous, and amongst them 
is the freehold, which has been acknowledged by the native govern- 
ments; whilst there are many descendants of those amongst whom 
the land was originally divided, now in_actual possession. Artisans 
of various kinds do the work of the farmers in their respective 
branches, and are paid by allotments of land, and a per centage on 
the produce ; thus, the barber shaves for his land; the tailor makes 
clothes for his land, &c.—which land is cultivated by them to pro- 
duce food. The revenue derived by the government was 82 per 
cent. in the aggregate from land, and altogether averaged 8s. per. 
annum for each individual. The native manufacture of silk and 
cotton has been almost suppressed by the machinery of England. 
