198 TWO VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS PROM TRAVANCORE. 



ON TWO TUBERIFORM VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS 

 FROM TRAVANCORE. 



EXAMINATION BY THE REV. M. J. BERKELEY, M.A. 

 (Head before the Linnean Society, March 3, 1860.) 



i860. IN the spring of the year 1858 a notice was read of some 



remarkable vegetable productions from China. 1 Two similar 

 organisms have ]ately been transmitted by Dr. E. J. Waring, of 

 Trevandrum, Travancore, to Mr. Hanbury, who has kindly 

 intrusted them to me for examination. Prepared sections 

 accompanied the specimens, and I have had the advantage of Mr 

 Currey's assistance in their examination ; after all, however, I can 

 do little more than place on record the account transmitted to 

 Mr. Hanbury. 



The first, called in the Tamil language LLjmjQQJLQfjrTi-C&rJ 

 PuUu-manga. Puttu-manga, a name which I understand may be translated 

 White-ant Mango or White-ant Fruit, occurs in Travancore. 

 The following history of it was sent with the specimens to Mr. 

 Hanbury : " Three weeks since, I had occasion to open the floor 

 of the centre room of my house for the purpose of building two 

 walls ; and on digging to the depth of three feet below the surface, 

 I found several holes scooped out in the earth, perfectly smooth 

 and circular, of sufficient size to admit a man's hand. Hanging 

 down from the sides of these cavities were clusters of 4, 5, 6, or 

 10 of the accompanying fruits, of various sizes and shapes. On 

 showing them to the native practitioners, they eagerly took 

 possession of the greater number, calling them by the name of 

 Puttu-manga, and stating that they were found, though but rarely, 

 under the foundations of old buildings, and that they were formed 

 or produced by the white ants. They likewise stated that they 

 were highly valued for medicinal purposes. The cavities above 

 alluded to are doubtless the chambers or galleries formed by the 

 white ants." 



1 Jowrn. of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society ,VQ\. iii. (1859) Botany, 

 r. 102. 



