54 JOURNAL, BOMB A Y NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



Gangetic plain, extending from Eastern Rajputana to a little above 

 the bend of the Ganges at Rajmahal, we have a vegetation character- 

 istic of a dry country. The trees are, for the most part, leafless during 

 the hot season, and the herbaceous flora is burnt up. Two palms are 

 cultivated in many parts (Phoenix and Borassus), and in thickets we 

 find two species of Rattan (Calamus). The lower Gangetic plain or 

 Bengal proper of the old maps is distinguished from the upper valley 

 by its humidity and luxuriant evergreen vegetation. The Betel -nut 

 palm, Phoenix, Palmyra, and Cocoanut are generally cultivated. Of 

 indigenous palms, the following are found, Corypha elata, C. talliera, 

 Calamus viminalis, C. tenuis, C. guntba, Doemonorops jenhmsiarms. 

 The Sundarbans consist of a great number of islets which, in great 

 part, are covered with a dense evergreen forest of trees and shrubs 

 with a rich undergrowth of climbers and herbaceous plants. Nipa 

 fruticans is gregarious in the swamps and on river banks, whilst 

 Phoenix pahidosa is found in drier localities. There occur, also 

 two Rattans, a Calamus and a Dgemonorops, both common to 

 Bengal. 



The Malabar region (including Southern Gujarat, the southern 

 half of Kathiawar, the Konkan, Kanara, Malabar Proper, Cochin, 

 Travancore, and the Laccadive Islands) is for the greatest part a 

 hilly or mountainous country and " is (except in the north) of 

 excessive humidity, the mountains often rising abruptly from the flat 

 coast of the Arabian Sea. Its abrupt western face is clothed with a 

 luxuriant forest vegetation of Malayan type, except towards the north 

 where, with the drier climate, the elements of the Deccan and Indus 

 Plain Floras compete with that of Malabar. The eastern face 

 slopes gradually >into the elevated plateau of the Deccan, but it is 

 varied by many spurs being thrown off which extend far to the east- 

 ward, often enclosing valleys with a Malabar Flora. One great 

 break occurs in the chain in lat. 11°N., where a transverse valley 

 separates Travancore from the mountains north of it, and carries 

 species characteristic of the Malabar Flora almost across the 

 Peninsula.' 3 (Hooker). 



To this region, including the Nilgiri Hills, belong over 20 species 

 of palms. Pinanga dichsonii, Bentinckia coddapanna, Calamus 

 rheedii, C. huegelianus, C. brandisii, C. gamblei are endemic. Of 

 other palms we mention : Phoenix sylvestris, P. robusta, P. acaulis 



