PRICKLY PJEARS NOW WILD IN INDIA. 
3^1 
in Bengal and Madras, its introduction having been due apparently to 
its use on board ship as a food. 
Before 1786, Opuntia Diltenii was established in Madras. 
1788. Opuntia coohinelifera introduced from the King^s Garden at 
Kew, to Dr. Anderson's Garden at Masulipatam, and soon after intro- 
duced into the newly founded East India Company'’s Botanic Garden 
at Calcutta. 
1788. The East India Company gave sealed orders to their ships 
proceeding to Brazil to procure, if possible, the cochineal insect. 
1790. Battle of Poongar, when Tippoo's horse got entangled among 
Opuntia hedges, — a circumstance showing the abundance of the plant 
in Mysore. 
1795. A Captain Neilson brought a supply of cochineal insect, 
afterwards classed as Sylvester," from Bio de J aneiro to Calcutta, where 
Roxburgh found that it- would grow on Opuntia monacantha^ and 
whence early he sent a supply to Dr. Anderson in Madras. 
1796. A plantation of Opuntia probably 0. monacanthay made as a 
speculation at Bishra near Calcutta ; but there is no record of cochineal 
having been grown on it. 
1796. Orders by the East India Company in Madras to their 
Collectors to protect the Opuntias in all parts of their charges ; a small 
supply of cochineal insect distributed to each of them, which they were 
to get cultivated, and they were to obtain from the villagers the pre- 
pared cochineal at a fixed rate. 
1799. Big export of cochineal to England. Roxburgh received 
in Calcutta an Opuntia \\h\Qh. he called Cactus Opuntia" probably 
being Opuntia nana, which persisted for a time in cultivation almost 
without flowering, but did not establish itself as a wild plant. 
1800. Anderson received an Opuntia from abroad which he sent on 
to Roxburgh in 1801, and which proves to have been Opuntia elatior, 
now a plant wild widely over India. 
1800 ? Roxburgh received from China Opuntia decumana, which 
grew but indifferently in Calcutta and did not establish itself as a 
wild plant. He also received what may have been the true Opuntia 
Tuna : it has not run wild. 
1801. Buchanan-Hamilton observed in Central Mysore how with 
avidity the introduced cochineal was destroying Opuntia (evidently 
Opuntia monacantka). 
1806 ? Opuntia nigricans^ brought into the East India Company's 
Botanic Garden at Calcutta from England. 
