380 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIIl, 



moss, during the rains. As soon as the larva emergies it hurries for the nearest 

 tree, piece of timber, or anything to which it may attach itself by its 

 specially adhesive legs, if I may use the term ; for its legs once they grab 

 on to anything, seem to drill themselves on to the surface, for it wants 

 purchase, a good hold. Once having fixed itself firmly, the whole body 

 seems to be in convulsions, it struggles and struggles, and presently the top 

 of its head splits, and out of the puncture made a brightly yellow grup 

 emerges, soft and with two white patches on either side of its body, these 

 are its wings neatly and compactly folded. As soon as it is free from its 

 shell it seems to vibrate and stretch out its wings like sails are unfurled, 

 and it is surprising to see the hitherto white patches develop into lovely 

 gauze wings, soft and gossamer like. These develop and oscillate at the 

 same time, and within 30 minutes or a little more, the insect that came out 

 of the ground is now a perfect flying creature, brown in colour with long- 

 wings, perfect in shape and size, and within an hour it has flown away, to 

 join the thousands that have gone before it. After a few days all havu 

 gone, and only shells, with split heads, remain sticking by the thousand to 

 the barks of all the trees, or twigs in close proximity to the orifices made 

 in the ground through which they originally emerged. 



They do not come out a few at a time, but when the sun is bright the 

 whole underground family seem to make up its mind to come to the 

 surface, and one follows the other, with clock-like regularity. Each one 

 makes a hole for itself and does not use the one hole to come out, so the 

 whole surface of the ground for yards all round is punctured with neatly 

 drilled holes. 



C. H. DRACOTT, c.e., 



State Engineer. 

 Gangtok, Sikkim, 2^11 July 1914. 



No. XLII.— THE RAMIFIED ROOTS OF TRAPA BISPINOSA, 

 ROXB. (WATER-CHESTNUT.) 



Professor E. Blatter, S. J., in a previous nvimber" of this journal has 

 discussed the morphology and anatomy of the organs of Trapa bisjnnosa, 

 which are usually known as "pectinate organs." He calls them ramified 

 leaves. He brings together a large number of opinions pronounced by 

 dift'erent botanists on these bodies. Thus, Bentham and Hocken Baillon, 

 Wight, C. B. Clarke and De Oandolle have called them leave ; Roxburgh 

 and Trimens looked upon them as stipules, while finally Barneoud pro- 

 nounced them to be roots. They are described as follows by Raimann.f : — 



" Vielfach werden dem untergetauchten Stengelteil B. zugeschrieben, 

 welche nach Art der Wasserranunkeln in haarformige Zipfel zerschlitzt and 

 dabei einander gegenubergestellt sein soUen; diese Gebilde sind aber 

 nichts anderes als Nebenwurzeln mit zahlreichen, 4 zelling angeordneten, 



* Volume XVII, pp. 84-88. 



t Engler and Prantl. III.— VII., 225. I owe the following- translation of the quo- ■ 

 tation in German to my friend Mr. S. L. Ajrekar. 



Very often leaves are attributed to the part of the stem which is sunk under the 

 water. These are supposed to be split into hairlike tips as in the case of aquatic 

 Ranunculaceae and to be placed opposite one another. These structures are, how- 

 ever, nothing else than secondary roots with niimerous simple, hairlike branches 

 arranged in a 4-lined manner. They originate right and left from every leaf 

 mark and appear, therefore to be standing opposite. Occasionally long and simple 

 rootlets also arise in numbers from the same places. 



