-666 



Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [August, 1907.] 



times twist the flowers into tlieir hair; and tliat the children 



play with them dyeing their finger nails. 



It is not improbable that the use in the Jain tea hills is 



just as unimportant and obscure. 



Sir Joseph Hooker has been so good as to name the balsam 

 authoritatively for me. 



Any one may readily obsei^e that the rose-parple flowers do 

 contain a considerable amount of colouring matter, by rubbing one 

 between the finger and thumb : and if they be rubbed on to a piece 

 of paper, a rose colour is given to it which will persist for months 

 out of the sun ; but in the sun it fades quickly. 



Other species of Impatiens are said to give a red dye, e.g., Im- 



pafiens Griffithii\ Hook. fil. et Thorns., in the Malay Peninsula 



(see Ridley in Journ. Roy. Asiatic Soc, Straits Branch, no. 30, 



1897, p. 103) Further it is said, on authority unknown to me, 



that the Tartars dye their finger nails with sundry species of 

 Impaftens. 



r * 



't. 



