200 ANNALS OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN, CALCUTTA. [D. periacanthus 
very minutely tubercled and pitted, 9-13 mm. in diameter, finely ruminated; the 
chalazal fovea very small, punctiform, obsolete, placed almost in the centre of the 
raphal side; embryo basal. 
HaBrrAT.— The type specimens were collected by Teijsmann in Sumatra in 
the Residency of Palembang at Muara dua (No. 3591 Herb. Hort. Bot. Bogor.) and at 
Muara Enim (No. 3580, Herb, Hort. Bot, Bogor.). It grows also in the Island of Bangka 
at Sungei Ilan ( Teijsmann in Herb. Hort. Bot. Bogor.); Borneo near Kuching in Sarawak 
(Beccari P. B. No. 248, and Low in Herb. Kew.); Labuan (Lob in Herb. Kew.); 
Singapore at Bukit Timah (Ridley No. 10408 in Herb. Beccari); Johore at Tanjong 
Kupang (Ridley No. 6276 and No. 6284— male-specimen). Native names: in Sumatra 
at Muara dua “Rottan Udang" or “Hui urang” and at Muara Enim “Houe 
Landak” (Teijsmann) : im Sarawak “Rotan Manis” or the sweet Rotang on account 
of its edible central shoot. Low gives the name: ''Rotang sabut panjang duri." 
OBSERVATIONS. —I have seen the type specimens of D. periacanthus, upon which 
Miquel founded the species, otherwise it would have been impossible from the de- 
scription alone to recognise in it my D. dissitophylius, as the description is very 
misleading. The type specimens of Z. periacanthus in the Herbaria of Leiden, 
Utrecht and Buitenzorg consist only of  spadices with mature fruit without 
their spathes ; nevertheless Miquel describes these as ‘‘duro coriaceae” and covered 
with short flattened seriate prickles, characteristics which most certainly do not apply 
to the spathes of D. periacanthus. 
D. periacanthus in Ridleys Mat. Fl. Mal. Pen. ii. 185, is certainly not that of 
Miquel; apparently it is one of the group of D. mirabilis, as it is described with 
decussating membranous spiniferous collars around the leaf-sheaths; it has the petiole 
armed with long spines on the edges, and the male spikelets are comb-like with very 
approximate flowers, like those of D. verticillaris, with which Ridley mistakenly 
believes it to have been confused in Hook. f, Fl. Br. Ind. vi, 470, 
The type specimen of D. periacanthus numbered 3591 in the Herbarium at 
Buitenzorg from Muara dua, has spadix in fruit exactly corresponding in size and 
degree of branching to my specimen No. 248, at first considered ‘by me as the type 
of D. dissitophyllus, only its pedicellar part is prickly not only on the edges but 
also on both surfaces, especially in its lower part. No. 3580 from Muara Enim of 
the same Herbarium, does not differ from the preceding; the fruits of both are 
about 17 mm. in diameter; the seed is not very regularly globular, and is slightly 
gibbous on the raphal side, and varies in diameter according to the place where the 
measurements are taken from 10 to 13 mm. Lobb's specimen in the Kew Herbarium 
from Labuan has a spadix in fruit; its peduncular part is strongly prickly on the 
edges and on both surfaces; one spathe still remains attached to the spadix, and is 
armed with slender, seriate, 15 mm. long (at most) spines, not only on the keels 
but also on the intervening surface; the fruits are spherical, 15-16 mm. in 
diameter; the seed is globular and 9-10 mm, in diameter.  Ridley's Johore specimen 
No. 6276 has a more slender spadix than the preceding; the fruiting panicle is 
about 40 em. long; the perfectly mature fruit is exactly spherical and 17-18 mm. in 
