PRICKLY PEARS NOW WILD IN INDIA. 
S05 
the Royal Economical Society of that city. Thence a clever Frenchman 
contrived secretly to bring away a supply of insects which gave rise to a 
stock in Bourbon in 1826. From Bourbon^ Perottet was permitted to 
bring some joints of Nopal strewed with cochineal^'’ which he 
preserved at Pondicherry until the third generation/^ when the 
Nopals died (see Tram. Agri-Hort. Soc. Indian vi, 1839, Appendix, 
p. 31). The East India Company were slow in getting knowledge 
of the presence of the insect so near to India as Bourbon ; but in 1837 
Wallich became aware of it, and asked for a supply. A supply was 
sent which arrived in Calcutta in boxes wherein were Nopals and 
earth for their growth. At the same time a box of cochineal insects was 
sent on rooted Opuntias from the Cape. The Bourbon Nopals were 
so nearly dead on arrival that they were not propagated. The Cape 
plant is said (Bell in Tram. Agri-Bort. Soc. India, vi, 1839, Appendix, 
p. 36) to have been ^'Indicus,^^ i.e., Opuntia monacantJia. We have 
thus a possible second introduction of that species into India ; but 
it is nowhere stated that these Cape plants were grown by the Agri- 
Horticultural Society. 
Voigt, when he heard of the receipt in Calcutta of these insects, 
offered to supply from Serampur the following Cacti 
Opuntia Dillenii,'’^ meaning 0. monacantlia. 
Opuntia triacantha, a plant sent to Carey by Dr. Herbert. 
“Opuntia cylindrica, a plant introduced into Calcutta in 1806. 
“Opuntia cochinillifera^'’— 0. eocJiinelifera. 
“ Opuntia Tuna, as we learn from the Ilortus Suhurbanus 
Calcuttensis the 0. Tuna major of Roxburgh. 
“ Opuntia nigricans, Haworth, apparently the true plant. 
“ Cereus hexagonus, Haworth.^^ 
The list shows that he was cultivating or could lay his hands on 
(i) Opuntia monacantlia^ which had been in Bengal for a long time, 
{ii) on Opuntia eocJiinelifera which had been in Calcutta since about 
1788, {Hi) on the Opuntia which Roxburgh had grown as Cactus Tuna 
major, which may have been Opuntia Tuna,2iX\i)i had been introduced into 
India soon after 0. cochinelifera, (iv) on Opuntia cylindrica which 
had come into India in 1806, (?;) on Opuntia triacantha which must have 
come into India soon after and (^vi and vii) on what he calls Opuntia 
nigricans (probably correctly) and 0 pun Ha ferox, — introductions of 
about the same date. The list is interesting because it enables us to 
account for tne appearance of Opuntia nigricans among the prickly pe rs 
now wild in India 
