688 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



dad, and yet is free from the plague of boils. Another theory is 

 that they are called date-marks, because they almost always begin 

 during the season of the ripening of the dates, and yet another that 

 the name comes from the shape of the scar left, which is generally 

 a long oval, not unlike the shape of the fruit. Some people 

 boldly, casting aside any connection between the boils and dates, 

 lay the blame on the unprotesting mosquito (cf. Journal, B. N. 

 H. S., XVIII, 700). And they are right in doing so. Dr. 

 Wright discovered in 1903 a small protozoon, called Leishmania 

 tropica Wrightii, which is transferred to man by mosquito bites. 

 This parasite causes first an inflammation, then a swelling and, 

 finally, a boil. 



Cultivation. — In the "Agricultural Ledger" (1906, No. 1), 

 Mr. Fletcher gives a full account of the conditions under which 

 successful cultivation of this valuable tree is carried out in countries 

 other than India. He ascribes the uniform failure of the many 

 attempts that have been made in this country to improve and 

 extend the very limited cultivation of the Date Palm, to a lack of 

 appreciation of those conditions. We give in the following some 

 extracts from Mr. Fletcher's article : — 



" The low relative humidity and rainfall in all typical date- 

 growing regions is very marked, and the lower these factors are 

 the better is the quality of the dates grown. Excessive humidity 

 probably acts indirectly by tempering the heat of the sun, while 

 rain at the time of flowering spoils the pollen and during the 

 ripening season causes fermentation in the fruit. The general time 

 of flowering in almost all regions of the date belt is March to May 

 and that of ripening August to November." 



On an average, rainfall during the flowering and fruiting period 

 should not much exceed 5 inches. In addition to this, irrigation 

 is an essential accompaniment to the cultivation of the Date Palm. 

 When the trees are in a dormant condition they can stand a 

 temperature as low as 20° F., but for the formation of flowers and 

 fruits a mean temperature of more than 64° F. is required ; early 

 varieties of dates will ripen fruit, if the mean temperature for the 

 fruiting season (May to October) is above 70° F. and for one 



