370 THE CYCLONE AT CALCUTTA. 
from the sides of the branch, instead of one from its under surface. 
These two ribs vanish as they approach the brauch next below on the 
same side of the stem, and they, in their turn, are succeeded by others, 
which in like manner vanish. It appears to me that the careful study 
of these deviations from the normally cylindrical form of stem, which we 
see in the Oak and Ash^ might be the means of helping towards an 
explanation of the strange peculiarities observable in the stems of tro- 
pical climbers, many of which are, I believe, allowed to be very imper- 
fectly understood. 
OFFICIAL REPORT 0^ THE DAMAGES CAUSED BY THE 
CYCLONE OE THE 5th OF OCTOBER, 1864, IN THE 
CALCUTTA BOTANIC GARDEN. 
By T. Andekson, Esq., M.D. 
{Abstract^ 
\. 
The Cyclone was somewhat more violent in the Botanical Gardens, 
than at Calcutta. This is accounted for by the gardens being 
nearer the centre of the Cyclone, and by the open surface of the river 
across which the gale at its height blew diagonally, striking with a 
force unbroken, for the space of a mile, by any obstacle whatever. 
Few trees fell before eleven o'clock, and almost none after half-past 
four P.M. At four o'clock, the great specimen of Adansonia digitatay 
the Baobab tree of Africa, was uprooted, and fell with a crash that 
caused vibrations in the earth felt at a distance of some hundred yards. 
This tree, Avhich had withstood the greatest force of the gale, seems to 
have at last given way from its roots having become loosened in the 
soil by the storm-wave, the waters of which rose to a height of 4 feet 
on the trunk. Three gigantic specimens of Casnarma eqnhetifolia^ the 
oldest in the garden, and none of them less than 150 feet in height, fell 
comparatively early. Many trees, but especially Castiarina equisetl/olia, 
and young specimens of Teak, were not uprooted, but their stems were 
broken off 15 or 20 feet above the ground, while every branch was 
wrenched off; nothing but bare poles without a leaf remaining. The 
greatest damage was caused by the storm-wave which broke over the 
low embankment protecting the garden towards the river. This wave 
laid the greater part of the garden under water, in some places, to a 
