It is evident that the author of that essay (M. Macdonald), or the person from whom he derived his information (Lieut. Lewis), considered the plant in question to be a laurel; as the camphor tree of Japan is described to be. But, as neither of those gentlemen seems to have been conversant with botany, it continued to be far from improbable that the botanical character of the plant might have been mistaken by them; and that it was referred by the author of the essay cited, to the genus Laurus, or to the class and order to which that genus belongs, upon no other foundation but a preconceived notion grounded upon the exist ing information concerning the camphor tree of Japan. It was the less unlikely, that the two plants might belong to different genera, or even to different orders, as camphor is well known to be a production of a great variety of plants, though in a less pure state, and not so readily and abundantly afforded; and, as it was observed by Kampfer, in speaking of the Laurus camphorifera and of the extraction of camphor from its wood and roots with the aid of heat, that "natural camphor in substance and of greatest value is furnished by a tree on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, which is not of the Laurus genus." "Camphoram naturalem et cristallinam perquam pretiosam ac raram impertitur arbor in Sumatrâ et Borneo insulis. Sed hæc arbor ex Daphneo sanguine non est."+ *Kampf. Amen. p. 770. Considering then the specific character of the camphor tree of Sumatra to be unsettled, and the generic character dubious, botanists in India have been long solicitous of more correct and definite information on this subject, and Doctor Roxburgh, in particular, was at great pains to procure living plants with specimens of the fructification. His endeavours had not been successful at the time of his quitting India; but he had received a rough sketch of the fruit and leaf, from the appearance of which he was led to name the plant Shorea camphorifera; and his conjecture, as will be shown, was not very remote from the truth. It has been my fortune, in his absence, to receive from Doctor Roxburgh's correspondent Tapanooly (Mr. Prince, the resident at that station), a number of the seeds in very perfect condition, and a few living plants. The latter, I am sorry to say, did not outlive the subsequent cold season; but the examination of the seed enables me to determine the genus of the plant with entire confidence. It undoubtedly belongs to the Dryobalanops of the younger Goærtner; and is not unlikely to be the identical species which furnished the specimen inspected by him, and which he named Dryobalanops aromatica. Gærtner's information, indeed, states the specimen to have been received from Ceylon, with an intimation that the bark of the tree is the genuine and best cinnamon. But, as there is every reason to be satisfied, that cinnamon is exclusively produced produced by a species of the faurel, the information which accompanied the specimen in question may have been in every part inaccurate. As this point, however, is uncertain, and the specific characters of Gartner's species are unknown, or at least unpublished, it is for the present necessary to allot a distinct name to the camphor tree of Sumatra. I propose therefore to name it Dryobalanops camphora, until its identity with D. aromatica be esta blished. The description which I shall offer of it is unavoidably imperfect, as the flower has not yet been seen by a botanist. But the generic character is so strongly pronounced in the fruit, that there can be no doubt of its place in the same natural order with the Shorea, the Dipterocarpus, and Vateria, to which the Hopea of Doctor Roxburgh is to be added; and most probably in the same class and order in the Linnean artificial arrangement, viz. Polyandria monogynia. This section of Juissieu's natural order of Guttifera comprises trees remarkáble for their aromatic and resinous productions. Shorea robusta and Zambuga, and perhaps other species of the genus, yield in great abundance the resin called by the Hindustánis Dhuna, and by the English in India Dammer, which is very generally used as a substitute for pitch for marine purposes. The natives of India also employ it in their temples in the manner of incense. Dipterocorpus costatus, turbinatus, incanus, alatus, and probably other species of the genus, afford the several sorts of balsam called by the natives of India Garjan; by the Singhalese, Dhornatel; and by the English, Wood Oil. Vateria Indica produces the resin in India called Copal, as very nearly approaching the true resin of The best specimens that name. are employed as ornaments, under the denomination of amber (Kahroba) to which it bears exterior resemblance, in its recent and fluid state it is used as a varnish in the south of India, (Buchanan's Mysore, 2, p. 476), and dissolved by heat in closed vessels is employed for the same purpose in other parts of India. Another plant of the same genus, Vateria lancée-folia, affords a resin, from which, as from other resins, the Indians prepare one of the materials of their religious oblations. 1 Petioles short. Stipules in pairs, subulate, caducous. Perianth one-leaved; five-parted, persistent. Capsule superior, ovate, woody, fibrous, finely streaked with longitudinal furrows, embraced at the base by the calycine hemispherical cup and surrounded by its enlarged leaflets, which are converted into remote, foliacrous, spatulate, rigid, reflex wings; one-celled, three-valved. Seed solitary, conform to the cavity of the capsule. Integument simple, thin, membranaceous, thickened along one side and thence penetrating to the axis, and continued between the interior fold of the cotyledons. Perisperm none. Embryo conform to the seed, inverse, milkwhite. Cotyledons two, unequal, almond-fleshy, thick, chrysaloid contortuplicate; the exterior one larger, convolute, and cherishing the interior one, smooth without, wrinkled within; the interior one much smaller, wrinkled on both sides, uniform or round cordate (as is the exterior one, if its folds be expanded). Plumule simple, conical, two-leaved. Radicle near the summit towards the back, columnar, a little curved and ending in a short conical tip; ascending. The seed has a strong terebinthine fragrance. The following particulars concerning the extraction of the camplior, were communicated by Mr. Prince, resident at Tapanooly, to Doctor Roxburgh. "This tree grows spontaneously in the forests, and is to be found in abundance from the back of Ayer Bongey, as far north as Bacongan, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles. It may be classed among the tallest and largest trees that grow on this coast; several within daily view measuring six or seven feet diameter. Before it acquires such dimensions its age is conjectured to be years; but it will produce camphor at a much earlier period when the tree does not exceed two and two and a half feet in diameter. The same tree which yields the oil, would have produced camphor if unmo lested, the former being supposed to be the first stage of the latter's forming, and is consequently found in younger trees. The natives have no certain means of ascertaining the tree which produces either the one or the other, although there are some men styled Toongoo Nyr Cappoor who pretend to that knowledge, but they cannot give any reasons for their judgment beyond favorable dreams, which superstition has rendered infallible: and it must be admitted that the suc cess of this description of peo ple, in discovering and procuring, is greater than the majority of those who go in search of the camphor. The distinction may have arisen from the peculiar favor of fortune to some indi viduals over others, as in most other circumstances of life from whence they have acquired a celebrity, otherwise they could give some rational explanation of their superior success. Both oil and camphor are found in the heart of the tree, occupying a vacuum, which, in others, is frequently filled with pitch; it does not extend to the whole but length; length; on the contrary, they are or BRAHMINY LIZARD. (From the same.) My tent having remained pitched on the same spot for a length of time, a small lizard, of the species known amongst Europeans at the presidency by the name of the Brahminy lizard, became in a great degree domesticated, and without any alarm frequently made its appearance. One day while reading, my attention was suddenly diverted from my book by hearing a noise resembling that of scratching on the carpet just behind the chair. On looking round, I perceived the lizard had caught a centipede (about an inch and a half in length) and held it fast by the middle. The centipede struggling violently to get free, and the lizard at first with some difficulty preserving its hold.-In about three minutes, however, the lizard had contrived to master and in part to swallow the centipede, the extremity of which, as long as it remained in sight, continuing to be much agitatedafter it had entirely disappeared, the lizard crawled away, apparently well satisfied with its prey. On the 18th of July, while riding in that direction, I discovered a tremendous swarm of very small dark coloured insects in the vicinity of a large pool of stagnate water; they were collected in heaps, and covered the ground to a considerable distance. These, on minute inspection, proved to be locusts in miniature, but without wings. In this place they remained, hourly increasing in numbers, for some days, when the great body moved off, taking a direction towards the town of Etawah: they creeped and hopped along at a slow rate, until they reached the town, where they divided into different bodies, still however keeping nearly the same direction, covering and destroying every thing green in their progress, and distributing themselves all over the neighbourhood. The devastation daily committed by them being almost incalculable, the farmers were under the necessity of collecting as many people as they could, in the vain hope that they might preserve the crop by sweeping the swarm backwards, but as often as they succeeded in repelling them in one quarter, they approached in another; fires were then lighted all round the fields with the same view-this had the effect of keeping them off for a short time, but sufficient fuel could not be supplied, and the moment the fires became extinguished, the insects rushed in like a torrent. Multitudes were destroyed by the birds, and many more by branches of trees, used by the farmers for that purpose, as well as by their being swept into large heaps, and consumed by fire, yet their numbers seemed nothing diminished. They so completely covered some mangoe trees, and the hedges surrounding the gar dens, that the colour of the leaves could not be distinguished. They had no wings and were about the size of small bees. They continued to creep along the ground, or hopped when their progress was interrupted. July 27.-They were increas ing in size, and had overspread that part of the country in every direction. From the want of rain, and the overwhelming inroad of these insects, the farmers were nearly ruined. Nothing impeded their progress, they climbed up the highest trees and scrambled over walls, and notwithstanding the exertions of several people with brooms, the verandah and outer walls of the hospital were completely covered with them. They no longer continued to move in one particular direction, but paraded backwards and forwards, wherever they could find food. On the 28th of July, the rains set in with considerable violence; the locusts took shelter on trees and bushes, devouring every leaf within their reach, none seemed to suffer from the rain. On the 29th it did not rain, and the young swarm again were on the move, continuing their depredations; they were fast increasing in size, and equally lively as before the rain. It again rained on the 30th, and again the locusts took shelter on the trees and fences; several large flights of locusts passed over the cantonments, and I ob; § served |