95 
1900.] A, F. R. Hoevn\e--Fj'pigm^'hical Note on Falm-leaf, etc. 
met with any wider than 2|- inches ; though a few manuscripts which 
,I have not seen are said to exist of the width of 3 inches (see Table III, 
No. 83). Manuscripts, under If inches wide are uncommon : instances 
are Nos. 15, 48, 57, 64 and 67 in Table I, and Nos. 4 and 8 in Table II. 
A width of less than If inches is very exceptional. I have only found 
three cases, among all the manuscripts which I have measured ; viz., No. 12 
in Table II which is If of an inch wide, and No. 55 in Table I and No. 5 
in Table II, which are as low as If inches. The width, therefore, is an 
almost absolute test ; any leaf, measuring If and upwards is certain to be 
Corypha umbr., while any leaf measuring If or below, is almost certaiu 
to be Borassus fl. With the width of about If inches, there may 
occasionally be a doubt, but this will be removed by the application 
, of the two additional tests of thickness and venation. In any case 
where the actual leaf can be examined, the three tests in combination 
are absolutely decisive. In almost all cases where the leaf itself can 
not be examined, its width, if recorded, will be found decisive. Thus 
in the case of Add. 1706 of the Cambridge MSS., probably of A. D. 1261 
(Bendall, p. 199 and Table III, No. 57), the width of which is stated to 
be If inches, I judged it to be a Corypha manuscript ; and this was 
kindly verified for me by Professor Cowell by means of Corypha and 
Borassus specimens which I transmitted to him. 
I have been speaking hitherto of the leaf in its prepared state as ^ 
writing material. With regard to the natural leaf, which I had an op- 
portunity of examining and measuring, with the kind assistance of Dr. 
Prain, in the Sibpur Botanic Gardens, the case stands as follows : — Both 
the Corypha and the Borassus palms, as is well-known, have plicate 
leaves folding like a fan, consisting of a number of segments. Through 
the middle of each segment, from end to end, runs a hard rib. The flabs 
on both sides of the rib are tough and flexible ; and these yield the material 
which is prepared for writing purposes. They taper off from their widest 
point towards both ends; accordingly suitable strips are cut out from 
the middle, of such various lengths as the size of the natural half- 
segment will admit. These strips are prepared for writing, by boiling in 
water or milk ; and finally, when wanted for writing a book, the required 
number of strips are cut down to a uniform size. Uniformity, however, 
was always more carefully attended to in point of length than in point 
of breadth. In manuscripts, of an older date especially, leaves of a 
much smaller breadth are occasionally mixed with others (forming the 
majority) which are much wider. Thus in No. 35 of Table I and 
Nos. I, 4, 9, 10, II of Table II the occurrence of narrower leaves is 
indicated in brackets : they are occasionally found as narrow as I| 
inches. 
