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



Salix tetrasperma, Roxb.— At the commencement of the hot season, when 

 tropical trees are at their maximum of physiological activity, the upper surface 

 of the leaves of this tree are occasionally covered with a syrupy exudation 

 which dries up in thin white flakes to a sugar or manna. The same trees often 

 yield this exudation several years in succession, but it appears to be confined 

 to a few trees, and is not common. Those from which I gathered it were 

 growing on a laterite soil at an elevation of 4,300 feet at Mahableshwar in the 

 Western Ghats. I could not make out whether the exudation was caused by 

 the punctures of insects or otherwise, but a microscopical examination of the 

 leaves would probably show this. Two or three other species of Salix have 

 also been observed to yield a saccharine exudation ; Salix fragilis in Persia, 

 S. Chilensis in Chili, and Salix sp.in the Punjab. The exudation from the 

 species was very soluble in water, about one in two, yielded a slight 

 precipitate with acetate of lead, and melted at about 150° C. Assayed 

 with Fehlings' solution it afforded 10 per cent, of a reducing sugar. M. Raby* 

 analysed a sample of manna said to be derived from the leaves and young 

 branches of a willow found in Persia, which appears to closely resemble the 

 exudation under notice. 



J. G. PREBBLE. 



[The above is extracted from Notes on Economic Botany by Mr. J. G. 

 Prebble of Bombay, which appeared in the Pharmaceutical Journal on 8th 

 July, 1893.— Ed.] 



No. VI.— A STRANDED DOLPHIN. 



I forward, for our museum, a fairly complete skull of Sotalia plumbea 

 (Flower), the Leaden-coloured Dolphin. The specimen was cast ashore a couple 

 of miles north of the town of Dhanu, Tanna District, and there I found it 

 and was able to rescue so much of it. Carrion beasts and birds and putrefac- 

 tion made exact measurements as impossible as the preservation of the entire 

 skeleton, but enough of the tough skin was left to show that it was unspotted, 

 The length was over six feet and under seven and a half. The carcase was much 

 contorted and mutilated and stank fearfully, so it could not be accurately 

 measured, and indeed the skull was only obtained by a liberal remuneration to 

 people who know no distinction of smells. 



I may here observe that although the stranding of the larger Cetacea is not 

 very uncommon, I have never, in 40 years' acquaintance with them, seen a 

 stranded Dolphin before. 



W. F. SINCLAIR, I.C.S. 

 Tanna District, April, 1894. 



Hooper, ' Chemical Notes on Mannas,' Pharm. Journ., [3], vol. xxi, p. 421. 



