378 

NATURE 
[Marcu 17, 1923 
The Flora of an Indian Island. 
A? a preliminary to the faunistic study of Barkuda, 
one of several islands in the Chilka Lake, 
Dr. N. Annandale has investigated its climate, 
physical structure, paleontology, and vegetation. 
The lake is a maritime one in the extreme north-east 
of Ganjam, and is connected with the Bay of Bengal. 
The island, some three hundred acres in extent, 
though isolated for terrestrial animals, is within 
the range of insects of feeble flight and that of 
dispersal for many seeds. The climate is that of 
the coasts of the Circars to the south and Orissa to 
the north. The physical structure is simple and the 
geological formation uniform; the rocks are the 
quartz schists of the Ganjam Malias. The changes 
in the shore water-level, though of faunistic import- 
ance, scarcely affect the vegetation. The rocks 
contain no fossils, but sub-fossil molluscan shells 
abound in the soil of the island and the sand of its 
shores. These shells indicate that the island, as 
such, is recent; the age of the rocks has no bearing 
on its existing biological features. 
Though the vegetation is restricted, several types 
occupy different areas. Much of the surface has been 
colonised primarily by species of Ficus, mainly 
F. bengalensis, with an undergrowth of Glycosmis 
and a partial thatch of woody climbers. This is 
gradually replaced by other species of Ficus accom- 
panied by trees like Melia Azadirachta and Sirychnos 
Nux-Vomica, while the undergrowth is reinforced 
by Capparis and Zizyphus. The foreshore vegetation 
is scanty. Where the coast is rocky the species 
present, though fewer than on sandy or gravelly 
sections, are arboreal and therefore more conspicuous. 
Behind the foreshore comes a Pongamia belt, broken 
in places by intruding Crateva and Melia. Within 
this zone, besides surviving Ficus groves with 
Glycosmis undergrowth, are areas where the latter 
is replaced by Weihea ceylanica, the former by 
Crateva, Odina, and Albizzia. Stony areas have 
a scanty plant-covering ; the rock-flora of the interior 
includes masses of two arboreal Euphorbias, E. 
1 Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. 7, No. 4. ‘‘ Introduction 
to the Study of the Fauna of an Island in the Chilka Lake,” by Dr. N. 
Annandale. 

antiquovum and E. neriifolia. The commonest tree 
on the island is Melia Azadivachta; perhaps the 
most abundant herb indigenous there is Oldenlandia 
Heynet. 
Dr. Annandale’s ecological sketch is supplemented 
by a plant-list prepared from his specimens by two 
members of the Botanical Survey staff. This 
important adjunct to the paper is somewhat marred 
by typographical errors, and shows want of uniformity 
in citation. Messrs. Narayanaswami and Carter 
have not supplied an analysis of the vegetation 
from the point of: view of plant-distribution to 
correspond with Dr. Annandale’s discussion of the 
subject from the point of view of plant-association. 
Their carefully prepared list provides all the material 
required for the purpose, but they have made it 
more troublesome for those desiring to ascertain the | 
facts by adopting a taxonomic system which, what- 
ever its academic merits, has the inconvenience of 
differing from that used in the “ Flora of British 
India.” : 
The affinities of the Barkuda flora are South 
Indian. The list enumerates 139 plant-forms, of 
which two may be new while five remain undetermined. 
The remaining 132 include twenty-one, nearly 16 per 
cent., not. reported from Orissa north of the lake, 
and seventeen, nearly 13 per cent., never found 
north of the Dekhan. One species, Riccia crispatula, 
has hitherto only been known from Ceylon; two, 
Selaginella teneva and Weihea ceylanica, have only 
been reported from Ceylon and from India south 
of the Dekhan. Thirty-five, more than 32 per cent., 
of the Barkuda species reported from North-eastern 
India, are themselves indicative of South Indian 
affinity. Seven are littoral plants that are North- 
eastern Indian only, because they occur on the 
Orissa coast and in the Sundribuns. The remaining 
twenty-eight include ten reported only from Orissa, 
which is a northward continuation of the Circars, 
and eleven reported only from Chutia Nagpur, 
which forms a north-eastern extension of the Dekhan, 
while the remaining seven have been met with both 
in Orissa and Chutia Nagpur but not in the Gangetic 
Plain. : 
The Sed Festival of Ancient Egypt. a 
A? a meeting of the Royal Anthropological 
Institute held on February 20, Mr. P. E. 
Newberry presented a paper on “ The Sed Festival 
of Ancient Egypt.’’ This was perhaps the most 
ancient of all the many Egyptian festivals: it was 
certainly the most important. There are representa- 
tions of it on monuments from the beginning of the 
Ist Dynasty down to Ptolemaic times. 
Various interpretations of the festival have been 
given, but none of them are entirely satisfactory. 
According to the Greek version of the Rosetta Stone, 
it was a festival marking a period of 30 years, but 
there are records of it being celebrated in the 2nd, 
15th, 22nd, and 25th years of different kings’ reigns. 
It appears to have been a repetition of the festivals 
of a coronation and its celebration seems to have 
procured for the king a new lease of life. It. cer- 
tainly had something to do with the king’s assump- 
tion of responsibility for the protection of Egypt. It 
should be especially noted that the king’s daughters 
take a prominent part in the festival. On the mace 
head of Narmer-Menes is the earliest representation 
of it: here there is a princess seated in a palanquin 
and behind her are three men in the act of running: 
NO. 2785, VOL. 111] 

this scene is also found in the Sed festivals of Neusere 
(Vth Dyn.), of Amenhotep IIT. (XVIIIth Dyn.), 
and of Osorkon (XXIInd Dyn.), although in the 
later examples young princesses standing replace 
the figure in the palanquin. This ceremony is prob- 
ably the most primitive one of the Sed festival and 
represents, Mr. Newberry believes, a vace, and a 
race for no less a prize than the Kingdom. Frazer 
in his ‘‘ Lectures on the Early History of Kingship ” 
(p. 260 sq.) notes that something, apparently the 
right to the hand of the princess and to the throne, 
has been determined by a face, and he quotes in- 
stances from classical and other sources. “ Such a 
custom,” he says, “‘ appears to have prevailed among 
various peoples, though in practice it has degenerated 
into a mere form or pretence.” 
Although it is often assumed that the kingship 
was hereditary, in the male line—that the son regu- 
larly succeeded his father on the throne—it is certain 
that in Egypt the king claimed his right to the 
kingship, not because he was the son of his pre- 
decessor on the throne, but because he married the 
hereditary princess who might be the widow or 
daughter of his predecessor. It is obvious, there- 
t 
ee 
