188 
LB GOC : 
old correspondence here lately, and I find that Trimen asked 
Ferguson, in 1883, to find him some more. Under date 
February 22, 1883, Ferguson wrote : ‘ The splendid male 
plants of Cycas Bum^hii that used to grow near Rock House, 
Mutwal, are gone, but I’ll look one up I sent Thwaites 
quite a supply from one of them.’ On February 24, 1883, he 
_wrote : ‘ I had a hunt in the Queen’s House garden here 
to-day for the male of Cycas BumpJiii, with the result that 
all the plants in it — several — are offshoots from the old female 
one in a line with Baillie street, and several of them now with 
their cone-like masses of female flowers just going to exj)and. 
They are all from one old plant, but I will hunt up for you in 
Colombo and as far as Panabokai, 7 miles up the Kelani 
river.’ Apparently he never found a male again.” 
[Thwaites, in letter to Ferguson, October 15, 1864, wrote : 
“ I put in the box a male scale of Cycas circinalis, which you 
will see is totally different from the Colömbo one in this respect. 
I am very much obliged to you indeed for the male scales of 
yours, which are in as good a state as need be for examination. 
It is the Cycas BumpMi of Miquel, FI. Ind. Bat.” Another 
letter, dated October 23, 1864, states : “ Thank you for the 
female inflorescence of Cycas Bumphii. It quite corresponds 
with specimens I got in Reigam Corle. Bennett was certainly 
bringing ‘ Coals to Newcastle ’ in conveying Cycas to this 
Island. That plant at Bagatelle, if it exists, ought to be the 
same as our Central Province one, I should think. ’ ’ Ferguson’s 
letters to Thwaites are unfortunately not available. The 
Bennett referred to was J. W. Bennett, who published “ A 
Treatise on the Coconut Tree,” “ A selection of rare and 
curious Fruits indigenous to Ceylon,” and “ Ceylon and its 
Capabilities.” In the last-named work, p. 96, Bennett stated 
that he had brought two plants of Cycas circinalis from the 
Government Garden, Mauritius, to Ceylon in 1821, one of 
which was planted at Bagatelle, near Colombo, while the other 
“ was transferred by the late Honourable the Chief Justice, 
Sir Hardinge Giffard, to the Royal Botanic Garden at Pera- 
deniya, near Kandy, where it flourished as well as in its natural 
soil.” It would appear from this that the introduction of 
Cycas Bumphii cannot be attributed to Bennett, unless he 
