IT2 10rn.\'AL. BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIX. 



sill. Ic seems that the rhizome which descends very deep into th< 

 substratum furnishes the necessary moisture. 



if/a latifolia, Convolvulus roUlenamn>, and (',. microphylhit 

 :tiv small uiHlershruhs confined to the dry parts of the Presi- 

 dency. A dense felt of silky hairs anil strong outer walls of the 

 epidermis seem to be their chief protection. The transpiring 

 surface ot Solatium ecmthocarpum \< considerably reduced by 

 the formation of numerous yellow prickle> on the branches ami 

 on Hie midrib and nerves of the leaves, ^olcnunn indicum and 

 £>. trilobatum are similar!} armed. Bl/pkari.i sradica is protected 

 in various ways: the stem is mostly very short, often scarcely 

 visible ; the branches are ash-grey and covered with short hairs: 

 the leaves are small linear and sessile, rough with stiff hairs, 

 and have the margins bent back : at the base of the leaves there are 

 - metimes some small spinous teeth : the bracts are hairy on both 

 sides with a spinous point, the upper part is armed with recurved 

 sharp spines : the .braoteoles are hairy and c.iliate : the outer ami 

 inner side of the calyx are s ftlj hairy, the 3 midnerves of the larger 

 oalyx-segmeni are produced into 3 bristly teeth. In Salvia (ep;ip- 

 >ar. pumila, we find thai the vascular bundles of the inain- 

 nerves are surrounded by water-tissue which unites the epidermis of 

 the upper side of the leave with thai of the lower one. As to 

 .Kin-', iaranicu there is scarcely any doubt that the thick woolly 

 felt covering almost till the part- of the plant, i- protective in 

 function. In Sulicornia hrachiala, a jointed branched shrub, trans- 

 piration is entirely confined to the green branches, there being only 

 scaly bracts and no leaves at all. Succdu frutieosa and S. nudijlora, 

 which usually gro\ in saline places, have fleshy leaves. A transverse 

 section shows that the greatest pari is occupied by water-tissue. 



Before concluding this paper I should like to make a lew remarks 

 on the flora of the Grand Rann, as it has been suggested that 

 a tnor<' accurate knowledge of the vegetation of that pari ol 

 the country might help u> decide the ijiiestion as to the origin 

 of the Hann. I cannot give a better description of that interesting 

 r land than the one given h\ Captain Grant 1 in his 



1 Memo r illustrate a Geological Map of ditch, by C. W. Grant, Esq., Oaptiiin, Bombay 

 ra ( lu the transactions of the Geological Society of London, Vol. V, p. 289. (II) 



