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garden ornament. I am strongly inclined 'to think that both 
P. Gastillonis and P. rugosa or Marliacea are garden forms of 
P. Quilioi. 
Phyllostachys heterocycla, the tortoiseshell Bamboo, I take 
to be simply a deformity of Phyllostachys mitis, caused by the 
repressive action of stiff soil, which forces the growing internodes 
in a soft state back upon themselves from side to side, until they 
reach freedom in the open air, when the remainder of the culm 
resumes its natural aspect. The same deformity may be observed 
in similar circumstances in the case of Phyllostachys aurea. I 
found it myself in plants of P. aurea growing in very stiff soil at 
Grasse, on the Riviera. I have not seen it or heard of it in any 
other species. The more slender stems of P. aurea, when they 
present this appearance, are valued as walking sticks, umbrella 
handles, and for other trifles. Their quaintness gives them the 
charm of curiosity. If you will take the trouble to look at these 
two specimens, P. heterocycla and P. aurea, showing the same 
tortoiseshell-like armour, I think my meaning will be plain to 
you. I may here say that the so-called tortoiseshell Bamboo of 
commerce is not P. heterocycla, but a cane of any bamboo 
artificially coloured by burning. 
Bambusa guadrangularis is used for walking sticks and 
umbrella handles, and for the manufacture of fancy articles, 
pipe-stems, &c. It is almost certainly not indigenous in Japan, 
but introduced from China through the Liukiu Islands. Dr. 
MacGowan, writing to “Nature” February 8, 1886, says: “It 
grows wild in the north-eastern portion of Yunnan, on the 
sequestered mountains of Takuan Ting and Chen Hsing Chou, to 
which in spring men, women, and children resort for cutting its 
shoots, which they tie in bundles and send to market. It is 
prized above all other bamboo shoots as an esculent” (“Nature,” 
xxxiii. 1886, p. 560). There is a most interesting account of this 
species published by Mr. Thiselton Dyer in “ Nature ” xxxii. 1885, 
p. 891, from which I take the following quotation from a com¬ 
munication of Dr. MacGowan. “Its anomalousness is attributed 
by the Chinese to supernatural powers—occult agencies varying 
with each district. The Ning-po Gazetteer tells how Ko Kung, 
the most famous of alchemists, fourth century a.d., thrust his 
chopsticks, slender bamboo rods pared square, into the ground of 
the spiritual monastery near that city, which, by thaumaturgical 
