108 NATURAL HISTORY. 



equally operative at both places. Mahableshwar is about 70 miles 

 nearer the Equator than Matheran, The latter is an isolated hill, 

 rising from the plain of the Konkan, midway between the Western 

 Ghats and the sea; whereas Maliableshwar is further from the sea, 

 and is, to all intents, a part of the range of Ghdts. The highest 

 point of Matheran is about 2,500 feet above the sea-level ; whereas 

 the Mahableshwar pi iteau is at a general elevation of 4,500 feet 

 above the sea, and at Sindola rises to 4,700 feet. These differing 

 conditions are not without their effect. Some plants are found at 

 Mahableshwar which will not thrive on the lower mountain-top. 

 Some Matheran plants, on the other hand, find the higher levels of 

 Mahableshwar beyond their range. I will give here only a few 

 instances. The most casual observer is struck by the wonderful 

 undergrowth of brake-fern at Mahableshwar, and of the arrow-root 

 plant, — which in the months of October and November blooms on 

 almost every square yard of the jungle, — and by the beautiful pro- 

 fusion of the Osonunda fern, mixed with brambles and willows, along 

 the upper stream of the Yenna River. At Matheran, the brake-fern 

 is scarcely kuown. In a few years it will perhaps be extinct; for 

 it cannot defy the onslaughts of thoughtless fern-hunters who take 

 away stray specimens to languish and die in Bombay or Poena 

 gardens. It would be impossible for any number of fern-hunters to 

 destroy it at Mahableshwar. Even if unmolested at Matheran, it 

 drags on ab best but a feeble existence. The site is too low for it, 

 the lowest limit of its range in our latitude being probably at a 

 line at least 2,000 feet above the sea level. The Osmunda again is not 

 known at Matheran ; nor is the willow; nor the arrow-root (Curcuma 

 caulina), though other plants of the genus Curcuma are plentiful 

 enough. I have certainly seen Mahableshwar raspberries in Matheran 

 gardens ; but they were not what raspberries ought to be. 

 Ao-ain, there are some well-known Matheran trees, such as the 

 Kumbha (Carey a arborea), the Malia or Indian Ebony (Diospyros 

 avsirnilis) and the Chandara (Macaranga Rovburghii), which do 

 not grow on the Mahableshwar plateau at all. I have been in 

 communication on this particular subject with Dr. T. Cooke, who 

 has made the flora of Mahableshwar and Matheran a special study 

 for manv years, and I hope that he will favour the Society with the 

 result of his observations embodied in a "Note''' on this Catalogue, 

 and give us lists of the more prominent plants on either hill which are 

 not found on the other. After taking full account of these, it will 



