The Palms of British East India. 108 



brown, ovate with a stout rostrum or point, terminated by the 

 remains of the styles, surrounded at the base by the now divergent 

 petals often thrown to one side, 1 -celled, 1 -seeded. Substance very 

 thick at the base, consisting of rust-coloured spongy tissue inter- 

 spersed with fibres, above thin consisting of fibres alone. Scales 

 rough to the touch, lanceolate, with irregular margins, dark brown 

 with paler edges. Seed large, covered with a brown membranaceo- 

 cellular covering, surface with six furrows, of which the alternate 

 ones are the largest and most complete, running into each other 

 at both ends. These furrows are filled with the tissue surrounding 

 the seed. Albumen equal, horny, cartilaginous, presenting on a trans- 

 verse section the furrows above-mentioned. Embryo basilar. 



The leaves of this are I am told applied occasionally to 

 the same purposes as those of Nipa fruticans. 



It appears to constitute a distinct genus by its inflores- 

 cence, which is scarcely clearly explainable by the use of 

 the terms ordinarily used in descriptions of Palms, by its in- 

 definite stamina and the structure of the seed. No Indian 

 genus of this sub-family, so far as I know, has more than 

 six stamens : and the only approach to this genus in this 

 respect takes place in Ruffia, which genus also has linear 

 oblong cuspidate petals. 



(To be continued.) 



On the Manufacture of Bar Iron in India. By Captain J. 

 Campbell, Assistant Surveyor General, Madras Esta- 

 blishment. 



No. 2. 

 1. In my former paper on this subject, I recommended an 

 investigation of the principles of the simple, and long prac- 

 tised Native method of smelting iron, on the principle, that 

 as excellent iron is sometimes the result of their operations, 

 the same must always be produced if the process admitted 

 of proper regulation. From my increased experience on 



