340 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
the tree which yielded the shell-lac, and it seems to have been confused 
with the mhowa (Bassta latifolia), smce from the latter there exudes a 
gum without the aid of lac insects. It may, I think, be accepted as 
almost certain that the so-called dried fruits were, as has been ex- 
plained, the dried flowers of the mhowa, which are at the present time 
largely used as an article of food, and for the extraction of an in- 
toxicating spirit by distillation. Both trees are found together in 
the same jungles. 
9. Lycrom (Avior). 
Berberis tinctoria, D. C., and B. lycium, Royle. 
This substance, which, according to the Periplus,® was exported 
from Barbarikon (7. e. a town on the Indus, in Indo-skythia), and from 
Barugaza, 7. ¢. Bharoch, was a plant whose roots yielded a dye, and 
the extract medicine. 
It has already been identified, as pointed out by Mr. M‘Crindle,1™ 
with the rusot of the natives, which is prepared from the two species 
of Berberry named above. The first of them, . tinctoria, is found both 
in the Himalayas and the mountains of Southern India and Ceylon ; 
but the other species is only known from the Himalayas.” 
10. Bprttium (BéédAa, or BoeALov). 
Balsamodendron mukul, Hooker. Called Gugal in Sind. 
It appears to be generally admitted now, that this is the species of 
tree which yielded the gum-resin known to the ancients as Bdelltum, 
and which, according to the author of the Periplus, was exported from 
Barbarikon on the Indus, and from Barugaza. 
Dr. Stocks has described the collection of Indian Bdellium as fol- 
lows!” :—‘‘ In Sind the Gugal is collected in the cold season by making 
incisions with a knife in the tree, and letting the resin fall on the 
ground. It exudes in large tears soft and opaque, hardens and turns 
brownish black very slowly, a single tree is said to yield from one to 
two pounds weight. It is brought to the bazaars of Hyderabad and 
Karachi, where it sells at the rate of four shillings for 80lbs. = 
The Bdellium of Scripture was, it is supposed, a siliceous mineral 
allied to onyx. 
99 The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, by J. W. M‘Crindle, p. 22. 
LOS Tocwett. 
101 Of. Forest Flora, by D. Brandis, p. 22. 
102 Cf, Forest Flora, by D. Brandis, p. 14. 
