215 
Genera and Species of Mnseae. 
small, crowded on the erect axis of the panicle, obovoid- 
oblong or nearly round, reddish-yellow, containing rudimentary 
seeds. Flesh sweet, yellow. Wild in India, Ceylon and the 
Malay isles, the favourite food of elephants. The above names 
have often been applied to forms of other species than sapi- 
entum , with a similar habit, such as M. Fehi. 
For fuller information about the cultivated Bananas refer- 
ence may be made to Rumph. Amboin. V, 125-137 ; Blanco, 
FI. Filip, p. 239-246 ; Firminger s Manual of Gardening in 
India, ed. 3, p. 177; Bojers Hortus Mauritianus, p. 331; 
Sagot, in Journ. Soc. Nat. Hortic. France, pp. 238-285 ; and 
Kurz, in Journ. Agric.-Hort. Soc. Ind. N. S. V, pp. 112-163. 
I know nothing definite about M. arakanensis, Ripley, in 
Proc. Agric.-Hort. Soc. Ind. X, 51, a form yielding excellent 
fruit and fibre of poor quality. 
There are wild, seed-bearing Bananas in the Solomon 
Islands, Guppy ! and Timor Laut, H. 0 . Forbes ! for the 
exact determination of which fuller material is needed. 
16. M. acuminata, Colla, Monogr. Musa, 66 ; M. simiarum (Rumph. 
Amboin. 138, tab. 61, fig. 1); Miquel, FI. Ned. Bat. V, 589 ; 
Kurz, in Journ. Agric.-Hort. Soc. Ind. XIV, 297 : M. 
Rumphiana , Kurz, in Journ. Agric.-Hort. Soc. Ind. V, 164. 
Stem long, cylindrical, stoloniferous at the base. Leaves 
oblong, 5-6 ft. long, glaucous beneath, deltoid at the base, 
firmer than those of M. sapienium ; petiole 1-1J ft. long, 
almost without any membranous edge. Panicle drooping, 
shorter than the leaves ; male flowers deciduous * bracts 
lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, violet, only one of those of 
the female flowers, opened at once and revolute, those of the 
male clusters involute at the edge. Calyx white or yellowish, 
1- i| in. long; petal ovate-acuminate, nearly as long as the 
calyx. Fruits in 4-6 clusters of 10-12 each, oblong, rostrate, 
2- 4 in. long, i-ij in. diam. ; skin not easily peeled off; flesh 
sweet. Seeds dull black, angled by pressure, J in. diam. 
Common in Java and the other Malay islands, extending 
eastward to New Guinea. Kurz, who has studied this species 
carefully on the spot, says that a large proportion of the 
Bananas which are cultivated in the Malay archipelago are 
derived from it and that its best varieties are superior to all 
