58 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX. 



apparent from what I now proceed to record for the first time, as the 

 result of a careful examination of the tubers of the wild and cultivated 

 varieties of Amorphophallics campanulatus by another careful in- 

 vestigator hailing from this side of India. If the naming of the 

 needle-shaped crystals is different in the following note, it will, I hope, 

 be considered, not that I reject the results of Warden and Pedler and 

 accept those embodied in the observations which follow, but that I 

 wish it to be clearly understood that, although the remarks of Warden 

 and Pedler may apply to the Arums generally, the crystals found in 

 Suran may not be calcic oxalates, but calcic sulphates and carbonates. 



At my request, Dr. Nasarvanji Fakirji Surveyor, m.d., b.sc, M.A., 

 M.K.o.P., a distinguished Graduate of the Bombay University, whose 

 special training under renowned scientific workers in London, and 

 whose marked ability and aptitude for microscopical and clinical 

 investigation add a value of no ordinary kind to his remarks, has 

 recently examined pieces of the wild and cultivated varieties of 

 Amorphophallus campanulatus. The results of his observations are 

 embodied in the following note which he has kindly communicated to 

 me : — " The chief points of interest about their microscopical and 

 chemical differences are as follows : — 



" The wild variety shows two forms of crystals, while the cultivated 

 variety shows only one form. I shall first describe those crystals 

 which are found in both the varieties and then those found in the wild 

 variety only. Those found in the former I shall call the white crystals ; 

 while those found in the latter or wild variety only will be 

 described as brown crystals. The white crystals are about 120^ * in 

 length and 3^ in thickness. They are acicular and glistening and 

 have a double contour. They are sharp-pointed at either extremity and 

 always straight. They appear to be rigid ; more numerous in the older 

 parts, while they are almost absent from the youngest part (e.g., leaf-bud). 

 They are insoluble in cold water ; slightly soluble in boiling water. 

 Acetic acid dissolves them with evolution of gas (CO^ probably). 



" On incinerating a thin film of the juice on a slide, these crystals 

 were found to be fractured in numerous places, while many appeared 

 to be either transversely striated or granular. This was due perhaps 

 to the fact that the water of crystallization was driven out by the 

 heat. These crystals were found to be scattered about, not collected in 

 definite bundles. They were probably carbonate of calcium. 



* f* = ifita of a Millimetre. 



