94  Red  Bark  of  the  Nilgiris.  {^'^'leh'^'^m'''^' 
between  the  two  varieties  of  succirubra,  one  of  which,  Mr.  Cross,  who 
never  was,  I  believe,  in  the  micrantha  country,  which  lies  far  to  the 
south  of  the  district  which  he  knows  so  well,  has  recently  christened 
micrantha. 
"10.  I  left  our  plantations  with  no  shadow  of  doubt  upon  my 
mind,  and  wish  all  botanical  questions  were  as  easy.  I  may  add,  too, 
that  I,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  introduced  the  subject  while  in  the 
Wynaad,  with  a  view  to  seeing  whether  Mr.  Cross's  doubts  had  created 
any  alarm  among  the  planters ;  but  I  found  them  treated,  on  all 
hands,  as  illusions."  ...... 
At  Kew  we  had  exceptional  opportunities  for  testing  immediately 
the  accuracy  of  Mr.  Cross's  statements.  Colonel  Beddome  had  sent 
us  a  splendid  set  of  dried  specimens  of  every  cinchona  form  grown  in 
tlie  Nilgiris,  on  which  we  reported  early  in  1882.  Besides  these  we 
possess  in  the  case  of  C.  micrantha  authentic  specimens  of  the  South 
American  plant  collected  by  Weddell  and  by  Pritchett,  in  addition  to 
what  is  presumably  a  type  from  Ruiz  and  Pavon's  herbarium.  Besides 
abundance  of  Indian  specimens,  we  have  one  in  particular  known  to 
have  been  raised  at  Ootacamund  from  Pritchett's  seeds,  and  the  accu- 
rate determination  of  which  has  been  verified  by  Howard.  In  the 
case  of  C.  succirubra  we  have  Spruce  and  Cross's  own  specimens  from 
the  slopes  of  Chimborazo  and  a  specimen,  presumably  from  Ruiz  and 
Pavon's  herbarium,  verified  by  Howard.  Colonel  Beddome's  admir- 
able specimens  were  carefully  examined  by  my  colleague.  Professor 
Oliver,  the  Keeper  of  the  Kew  Herbarium,  and  he  found  no  reason 
to  doubt  that  the  species  of  Cinchona  which  passed  as  micrantha  and 
succirubra  on  the  Nilgiris  were  what  they  professed  to  be.  Dr.  Trimen, 
the  Director  of  the  Royal  Botanical  Gardens,  Ceylon,  also  examined 
them  (together  with  the  further  set  collected  by  Dr.  Bidie)  with  me 
while  he  was  at  home  on  leave  in  1882,  and  we  could  see  our  way  to 
no  other  conclusion. 
Finally,  Dr.  Trimen,  at  the  invitation  of  the  Madras  Government, 
visited  their  cinchona  plantations  in  1883,  and  reported  upon  them. 
What  he  says  on  the  subject  of  the  red  bark  may  be  taken  as  the 
last  word  in  the  matter : 
"  C.  succirubra,  Pav, —  In  regard  to  red  bark  I  can  very  confidently 
endorse  the  opinions  expressed  by  all  the  botanists  who  have  examined  the 
matter,  that  the  well-known  tree  which  forms  the  bulk  of  Naduvatam  is 
