7o Botany of Southern India. [No. 11, new series. 



but was, for sometime, at a loss to account for it ; till sailing one 

 day, in his pleasure boat, on the Thames, near Greenwich, he ob- 

 served that the dog-vane did not immediately obey the wind, on 

 tacking, but came round slowly. That, to his mind, explained the 

 nutation of the poles. And thus he gave a specimen of his powers 

 of ratiocination. For the analogy to hold good, the earth ought to 

 tack like a ship, with Commodore Trunnion for a pilot. Another 

 analogy, by Dr. Bradley, was derived from a spinning top ; which 

 yaws, or, in boy's language, wabbles while it spins on its peg. 

 But then the top has nothing near it, to affect its motion. Not so 

 the earth ; since, apart from the attraction of the sun, it is strong- 

 ly influenced by the moon ; and the satellite has its librations . 

 When it exceeds, by a wee bit, on the south or north, its custom- 

 ary longe, the pole, on either side, respectively, feels a tug, and 

 there is no recoil : it remains at a minute, that is calculable dis- 

 tance, from its former place. The constant recurrence of the pulls 

 gradually effects a change in the places of the poles, of the arctic 

 and antarctic circles ; and also of the equator, and of the zone-cli- 

 mates : explaining various geological phenomena, not otherwise 

 explainable. To my own mind, the case appears so clear and sim- 

 ple, that I can only wonder there ever was any difference about it. 



VIII. — Contributions to the Botany of Southern India. By Lieut. 

 It. H. Beddome, Assistant Conservator of Forests. 



No. I. 



EUPHORBIACEiE. 



Tetraglossa, new genus, (near Trewia.) 



Gen : Char : Diaecious. Male calyx 2 — 3-parted, corol, 0. stamens 

 numerous, anthers forming a globular head, 2-celled, dehiscing 

 transversely — rudiment of ovary, 0. Female calyx 5-parted, seg- 

 ments acute, tightly clasping the ovary — corol, 0. style thick, stig- 

 mas 2, deeply 2-parted, and very papillose on the inner surface, 

 ovary 3 or by abortion 2-celled, cells 1-seeded. Capsule 2 — 3-celled, 

 cells 1-seeded, Embryo inverse in copious albumen. 



Tetraglossa Indica, Arboreous, leaves glabrous, shining, oblong 



