140 « NATURAL HISTORY. 



growing out of the terminal one, is very rare at Mahableshwar, and 

 is not to be found at Matheran. It is very abundant in the Koyna 

 Valley, some of the old trees along the river being literally 

 covered with this, Dendrobium ramosissimum and the bulbs of the 

 Cirrhopetalum fimbriatum. A visit to the Koyna Valley will amply 

 repay a plant-hunter. The ferns and orchids in some parts near 

 the river are in the greatest profusion, and must be seen to be 

 appreciated. 



Of the two hills, Matheran and Mahableshwar, the former has the 

 more varied flora, but several plants are found in Mahableshwar 

 which do not exist at the lower elevation of Matheran. I have 

 made a rough estimate, which is not correct to a dozen plants or so, 

 that there are about 140 plants (excluding grasses) which occur 

 at Matheran, and which do not occur at Mahableshwar, and that 

 there are about 130 plants which are found at Mahableshwar, and 

 not on Matheran, while there are perhaps 140 common to both 

 hills. 



I regret that I have not had longer time to devote to this short 

 note, which has been written hurriedly, in order to be in time for the 

 issue of the Journal in which Mr. Birdwood's Catalogue is to 

 appear. 



T. Cooke. 

 Mahableshwar, April 26tli, 1887. 



notes on mahableshwar and other indian 

 arrowroot-Yielding plants. 



By Dk. J. C. Lisboa. 



There appeared, two years ago, in one of our local papers a short 

 article in which it was sought to prove that there is no arrowroot 

 plant indigenous to Mahableshwar, and a correspondent even 

 attempted to show that a arrowroot prepared there is from Maranta 

 arundinacea, carried from Rutnagherry to the hill and there culti- 

 vated. There is, however, no doubt, that the arrowroot prepared at 

 Mahableshwar is from the tubers of a plant indigenous to that hill, 

 first described by the late Mr. Graham, of the Bombay Civil Service, 

 and as yet not found anywhere else so far as I know. The plant is 

 Curcuma caulina, Nat. Ord. Scitamineass, Grah. Cat. Bomb. PI. It 

 is very common at Mahableshwar, where it is known to the natives 



