The "Amilbeds" and the Pummelos 37 



July to September, but its soil is noted for the amount 

 of " kunkur" (lime nodules) it contains. Lime being 

 a large ingredient of the ashes of the Citrus wood, it 

 is not improbable that this element, with tropical and 

 sub-tropical conditions of luxuriance, may have had a 

 good deal to do with the origin of the Citrus decumana. 



Mr. Ridley, of Lucknow, made an interesting 

 experiment with lime-soil for the Citrus. He planted 

 several kinds on nothing but demolition mortar and 

 only watered them. They grew luxuriantly and bore 

 good fruit. ( Vide chap, on " Citrus cultivation.") 



Taking everything into consideration, not impossibly 

 the pummelo may have branched off into its present 

 form and characters from no other source than the 

 Citrus aurantium sinense of Gallesio, the Malta or 

 Portugal orange, or both may have sprung from a 

 common ancestor. At all events the former appears 

 to have had its cradle in Southern China and Cochin 

 China. 



Leaving pubescence out of consideration now that 

 we know it does not count, we have a closely fitting 

 skin like that of the Malta orange. The emargina- 

 tions at the base of the pulp carpels, as shown in 

 section, appear to be a repetition of similar ones 

 often met in that orange, such as those of pi. 82-, c, c. 

 They are commonest in the pummelo and Portugal 

 orange. Then the pummelo proper and the Malta 

 orange are the only Citruses I have seen which 

 present varieties with red or blood colour in their pulp, 

 while the amilbeds have often an orange tinge in their 

 pulp. 



The lemon coloured exterior of the pummelo might 

 perhaps seem a difficulty, the Malta type of Citrus 

 being orange. Besides different shades of orange in 

 different varieties, I have shown that in Kandy they 



