MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 69i- 



highest trees. It is by no means uncommon. The leaves fall at the end of 

 January, and the flowers appear in great quantities, together with the young 

 leaves, early in February. The fruit does not ripen till the following year, 

 and hangs on the branches for nearly twelve months. 



The species of Strychnos are divided in the Flora Indica into groups accord- 

 ing to the proportionate length of the corolla to the calyx. Eheede's figure 

 of this species, judging by Clarke's description, shows a flower with a very 

 short corolla tube and subglobose buds. This, as Clarke surmises, is wrong, 

 unless indeed there is yet another species to be found in Malabar with large 

 woody fruit. 



The flowers of S. rheedii are cream-coloured, and borne in lateral cymes, 

 terminating branchlets and many-flowered, the cymes being about one inch in 

 diameter. The calyx is very short, Ath inch long and 5 cleft. The corolla 

 tube is from ^ to j inch long, and the limb from 1^ to ^ inch. The style is 

 slightly longer than the tube, and the stigma small and capitate. The fruit 

 has a very thick shell and is from 2^ to 5 inches in diameter, containing 

 many seeds, similar to, but slightly smaller than, those of S. nux vomica. The 

 fruit, when ripe, is apple-green. 



From this description it will be seen that S. rheedii (Clarke) is closely 

 allied to S, ceimamomifolia (Thwaites), but it is specifically distinct, the 

 lateral cymes and large woody fruit of the former especially distinguishing it 



It may seem curious that a large plant which is by no means uncommon 

 should have escaped observation for two centuries. The explanation pro- 

 bably lies in the fact that this climber stretches over the highest trees, and 

 that its flowers borne at a great height from the ground would easily escape 

 notice. Add to this that the season of flowering is very short and probably 

 does not last more than a fortnight, so that, unless any one happened to be 

 collecting in the locality at the very time of flowering, no specimens could be 

 obtained. 



The lesson to be learned is that there is still a very wide field for botanical 

 enquiry in the forests of the Western Coast. 



T, F. BOURDILLON, f.l.s, 

 QuiLON, 9i/j May, 1896. 



No, III.— NOTES ON SHOOTING IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES. 



The following notes from my shooting diary taken this last winter, espe- 

 cially regarding weights and measurements of the tigers of the Central Pro- 

 vinces may interest some of the readers of the Journal, Our weighing 

 machinery consisted of a circular-faced Salter's spring balance, indicating 

 from 100 to 500 lbs,, but the expansion oflTthe spring was not checked in its 

 case until it recorded 513 lbs., beyond which it could not move ; besides this, 



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