94 
Inaian Vorest Records. 
[VoL. II. 
These three examples diftered in no special manner from those dug up 
in August and September. The tap-root appeared healthy, and was 
certainly still alive at this time. Unfortunately no comparison was made 
with seedlings of which the shoot was still living and green, but probably 
the only difference would have been that the roots of such seedhngs had 
been able to penetrate somewhat deeper into the ground to moister 
layers. By February 15th not a single green seedling was to be seen, and 
of a very large proportion of them the shoot was also completely dead. 
This brings us to the end of the first year’s period of growth, and 
although the succeeding months, until the next burst of the monsoon, are 
very important ones in the seedling’s struggle for existence, we can only 
wait and note the effect of that struggle after the monsoon has broken. 
What has been described above may be seen going on on a larger 
scale in the forest, though the season of the drying up of the shoots may 
vary, and certainly does so, with the quality and depth of the soil, and 
quantity of moisture in the ground. In the case under observation the 
date — February 15th — is particularly early for all the seedlings to have 
lost their leaves, but the poor soil and early cessation of the rains is 
sufficient explanation. This state of affairs is generally reached by the 
middle of March, and by the beginning of June hardly a trace of the 
thousands of seedlings that were so conspicuous during the rains is to be 
seen. 
(?)) Development during Second Year. 
{i) The new shoot . — We will now pass on, from the seedlings which 
we have watched germinate and make their first start in life, to the 
typical seedling in its second year. Let us start describing the second 
year’s development by imagining a plot of ground — say one yard 
square on which we counted 50 seedlings last year. We examine this 
plot just before the commencement of the second rains, and with 
difficulty we count 15 little brown stalks, which we take to be all that 
remains of our 50 seedlings. After the first month of rain we again count, 
and are surprised to find no less than 30 seedlings easily distinguishable 
by their one or two leaves. At first sight it appears as though new seed- 
lings have sprung up, but on closer examination we find this is not the 
case. What has really happened is that the first shoot has entirely died 
down, while the root has survived, and, with the fresh lease of life in- 
