3'20 
T):ETEnMINATJONS OF THS 
spread, birds aiding in their dispersal through short distances by 
carrying the seeds when they eat the fruits. 
The rarity of Opuntias in rice-growing tracts is noteworthy. Rice 
fields are not fenced, and Opuntias have not had encouragement. It is 
among garden lands and about villages that they mostly flourish, and 
the practice of using them for the protection of young shade-trees along 
roadsides has often greatly increased their spread. 
All the species established in India flower freely : those which 
Roxburgh and others introduced into India, which did not flower freely, 
have died out. 
On pp. — 295 above and in the accompanying map the present 
dispersal of Opuntias in India is given ; it is there shown that Opimtia 
elatior is pre-eminently the Opuntia of the west, and Opuntia Dillenii 
the Opuntia of the south. Opuntia monacantha is the one chiefly found 
to the north-east. 
Opuntias are rare in the Punjab plain away from the canals except 
about Delhi ; but Opuntia monacantha has recently been used much for 
clothing hillocks in Lahore. They have not penetrated the hills of the 
Central Provinces nor the hills of Burma. 
On pp. 311 — 314 above, the nomenclature of the books is corrected. 
For the purpose of this paper Linnaeus^ herbarium, and Wallich’s 
herbarium preserved by the Linneau Society of London, the herbarium 
of the British Museum of Natural History, South Kensington, and the 
herbaria of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Calcutta, have been 
examined. Linnaeus^ and Wallich's herbaria did not help in the 
investigation. 
Enquiries made from Mr. Couchman, Director of Agriculture, 
Madras, led to the detection of Opuntia decumana at Coimbatore. To 
him, to Mr. W. Kirkpatrick who called my attention to the ‘'^Salt walP^ 
of Opuntia on the Rajpiitana border and to Mr. Mahaluxmiwala, Sup- 
erintendent of the Municipal Gardens, Bombay, who supplied sped” 
mens on rec^uest for study, the author’s best thanks are cordially given. 
The author hopes that his work will prevent any waste of money 
in fruitless attempts to destroy prickly pear by means of the cochineal 
insect. Such attempts, as have been made in the past, have been made 
in ignorance of the true food plants of that little insect. 
CHRONOLOGY. 
Before 1786, probably long before, Opuntia was established 
