522 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [December si, 1870. 
of the north-west district of Morocco, called the 
Ghaib. They are shipped in the first instance to 
Gibraltar. In 1839 about 4 or 5 million leeches, 
valued at nearly <£6000 sterling, were shipped from 
Morocco; and in the same year, from Tunis to 
France, leeches valued at 106,000 piastres. In 1813 
their value seems to have greatly increased, for in 
that year 611,000 leeches (valued at TT889) were sent 
to England from Morocco, and 809,000, value <£6358, 
to other countries. The quantity annually shipped 
from Tangier is said to be from 15 to 18 millions. 
Spain and France receive the greater part. The 
leech fisheries of Kaissaireh and other parts of the 
empire of Morocco are annually disposed of by the 
Government to the highest bidder. The right to 
collect leeches in these marshes was at first obtained 
for a few hundred pounds, but now purchasers pay 
heavily for the privilege. In 1856, Til ,000 was 
paid for the monopoly of the collection and export. 
Sixteen to seventeen thousand pounds’ weight of 
leeches are obtained there annually. There was long 
a prejudice in France against the leeches of Algeria, 
as they were placed in the category of dragon- 
leeches, which were excluded by law from being 
used in the civil hospitals of France. The result, 
however, of experiments made in Algeria by order 
of Marshal Vaillant, and subsequently repeated in 
France under the eyes of many members of the 
Academy of Sciences, has fully established the fact 
that the African leeches are fully equal to any ob¬ 
tained in Europe, and therefore for the home supply 
of France recourse need not be had to the marshes 
of Turkey and Hungary. They are to be found 
plentiful in the marshes of Taguin, between Boghas 
and Traret, and a large commerce might be carried 
on in them with profit. Indeed, in the year 1865, 
1,207,000 leeches were shipped from Algeria, of 
which 379,000, value <£1516, came from Stora, Plii- 
lippeHlle, and 11,923 from Bona. 
The rearing of leeches in great natural marshes, 
or in marshes artificially made, forms an important 
branch of rural economy in France. M. Becliade, a 
farmer in the neighbourhood of Bordeaux, became 
a millionaire by transforming poor marshes, for 
which he could hardly pay a rent of 300 francs, into 
magnificent enclosures for leeches, now let for 25,000 
francs. M. Jourdin (‘ La Pisciculture et la Produc¬ 
tion des Sangsues ’) refers to a Parisian capitalist 
who embarked in this species of industry, with the 
satisfactory result of a revenue of 15 for 1, that is to 
say, a leech which cost 25 centimes produced on an 
average 15 leeches a year, which could be sold at 
the same price, or, say 3 francs. Deducting at the 
most 5 centimes for expenses, there remains a gain 
of 2 francs 25 centimes when the operation is on a 
large scale. It is therefore credible that a marsh of 
18 hectares should let for 25,000 francs, and that 
enormous fortunes should have been made by this 
new species of rural economy, which is alike useful 
to the public and beneficial to the private interest of 
those by whom it is prosecuted. 
Lord Desart lately let a piece of marsh land of 
about 10 acres on his estate near Callan, Wexford, 
to a company of Frenchmen, who immediately fenced 
it in, and, having freely irrigated it from an adjoin¬ 
ing stream, proceeded to sow it down under a leech 
crop. The “ seed,” if we may so express it, was 
contained in sacks, each holding 15,000 leeches, 
which were scattered from the hand just as corn is 
sown. Formerly, after becoming apathetic from use, 
leeches were thrown away, and new ones procured 
at a considerable cost; now, however, when no 
longer fit to be used, they are planted in beds in the 
rivers and ponds of France, and, being properly fed, 
soon resume their activity, and furnish the most 
beautiful cocoons. 
Leeches abound in India and Ceylon, and we 
may 3 ’et get them even from those distant quarters. 
Dr. Carter read a paper some years ago before the 
Bombay Medical and Physical Society on the 
leeches of western India, in which he alluded to the 
Matlieran, a terrestrial leech, the common leech be¬ 
ing aquatic. This Matlieran leech is about three- 
quarters of an inch long and of a reddish-brown 
colour, has a black line down its back, is covered 
with black spots, and has ten eyes arranged in a 
circle, with a smooth lip. The common leech, on 
the contrary, is olive-green in colour, has seven lines 
down the back, twelve eyes arranged quadrilate- 
rally, and an uneven notched lip. 
I 11 Ceylon, where the varieties of leeches are more 
numerous than in any part of the world, the propa¬ 
gation of the sort used in phlebotomy is made a secret. 
In India, also, the leech propagators do all they 
can to keep the knowledge to themselves. Major 
Blenkinson, a good naturalist, succeeded, however, 
in propagating them in Scinde, to the great economy 
of Government in supplying the hospitals. Mr. J. 
Sparkes describes the plan, Pharmaceutical Jour¬ 
nal, Vol. YI. p. 259. 
Dr. Hooker, in his 4 Himalayan Journal,’ says that 
he found leeches swarmed in incredible profusion in 
the streams and damp grass and among the bushes. 
“ They got into my hair (he adds), hung on my eye¬ 
lids, and crawled up my legs and down my back. I 
repeatedly took upwards of a hundred from my legs, 
where the small ones used to collect in clusters on 
the instep. The sores which they produced were 
not healed for five months afterwards, and I retain 
the scars to the present day.” 
INTRODUCTION OF MAIZE INTO CHINA;* 
(Indian Corn, Zea Mays, L.) 
BY H. F. HANCE, TH.D., ETC., AND W. F. MAYERS, ESQ., 
F.R.G.S. 
With Xotices of the Plant by Chinese Authors. 
I 11 the summer of 1858, and therefore shortly be¬ 
fore the collections of Mr. Charles Wright had fur¬ 
nished the text for Asa Gray’s celebrated essay on 
the connection of the Japanese and Eastem-Ameri- 
can Floras, the venerable Professor von Martins, of 
Munich, in a letter 011 the relations of the Asiatic 
and American continents, directed my attention to 
the inquiry whether there was any extant evidence 
of maize being a true native of Japan, adding that 
Siebold had stated it to be delineated in the arms of 
that empire. 
At that time Japan was just emerging from the 
position of a terra clausa ; no very comprehensive 
idea of the precise character of its flora and its connec¬ 
tion with that of other countries, based 011 modern re¬ 
searches, was attainable, and, save a stray specimen 
here and there, its vegetable productions scarcely 
existed in herbaria except amongst the rich and un¬ 
arranged treasures of the Leyden Museum. The 
* Read before a meeting of the Linnean Society. 
