Insects. length, and in colour is sooty-black. Its head is globular, with a long, narrow, spoon-shaped snout. Its eyes are rudimentary, like those of the mole; and its ear-orifices are no bigger than pin-holes. Its dentition, also, is altogether abnormal. It frequents the Ganges and Indus from their mouths right up to their tributaries within the hills. A specimen has been taken at least 1000 miles above Calcutta. Ordinarily its movements are slow, for it wallows in the muddy bed of the river, and only at intervals comes to the surface to blow. The susu belongs to the order Cetacea; and inquiries have recently been directed to the point whether its blubber might not be utilized in commerce. The insect tribes in India may be truly said to be innumerable; nor has anything like a complete classification been given of them in the most scientific treatises. The heat and the rains give incredible activity to noxious or troublesome insects, and to others of a more showy class, whose large wings surpass in brilliancy the most splendid colours of art. Stinging musquitoes are innumerable, with moths and ants of the most destructive habits, and other insects equally noxious and disagreeable. Amongst those which are useful are the Locusts. bee, the silkworm, and the insect that produces lac. Clouds of locusts occasionally appear, which leave no trace of green behind them, and give the country over which they pass the appearance of a desert. Dr. Buchanan saw a mass of these insects in his journey from Madras to the Mysore territory, about 3 miles in length, like a long narrow red cloud near the horizon, and making a noise somewhat resembling that of a cataract. Their size was about that of a man's finger, and their colour reddish. They are swept north by the wind till they strike upon the outer ranges of the Himalayas. Indian flora. FLORA.1-Unlike other large geographical areas, India is remarkable for having no distinctive botanical features peculiar to itself. It differs conspicuously in this respect 1 For a general sketch of the flora of India, recourse must still be had to the introductory essay to the Flora Indica, published by Hooker & Thomson in 1855. The Flora of British India, the preparation of which is in progress at Kew, will comprise descriptions of all the species known to science up to the date of publication. It will form a great national work on the botany of India. For the following paragraphs on the flora. written by Mr. W. T. T. Dyer of Kew, the author is indebted to the courtesy of Messrs. A. & C. Black, publishers of the Encyclopædia Britannica. from such countries as Australia or South Africa. Its vegetation is in point of fact of a composite character, and is constituted by the meeting and blending of the various floras adjoining,-of those of Persia and the south-eastern Mediterranean area to the north-west, of Siberia to the north, of China to the east, and of Malaya to the south-east. Space does not admit of a minute discussion of the local features peculiar to separate districts; but regarded broadly, four tolerably distinct types present themselves: namely, the Himálayan, the North-Western, the Assamese or Malayan, and the Western India type. Himá layas. The upper levels of the Himalayas slope northwards Upper gradually to the Tibetan uplands, over which the Siberian temperate vegetation ranges. This is part of the great temperate flora which, with locally individualized species but often with identical genera, extends over the whole of the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere. In the Western Himalayas, this upland flora is marked by a strong admixture of European species, such as the columbine (Aquilegia) and hawthorn (Crataegus oxyacantha). These disappear rapidly eastward, and are scarcely found beyond Kumáun. The base of the Himalayas is occupied by a narrow belt Lower Himáforming an extreme north-western extension of the Malayan layas. type described below. Above that, there is a rich temperate flora which in the eastern chain may be regarded as forming an extension of that of Northern China, gradually assuming westwards more and more of a European type. Magnolia, Aucuba, Abelia, and Skimmia may be mentioned as examples of Chinese genera found in the Eastern Himálayas, and the tea-tree grows wild in Assam. The same coniferous trees are common to both parts of the range. Pinus longifolia extends to the Hindu-Kush; P. excelsa is found universally except in Sikkim, and has its European analogue in P. Peuce, found in the mountains of Greece. Abies Smithiana extends into Afghánistán; Abies Webbiana forms dense forests at altitudes of 8000 to 12,000 feet, and ranges from Bhután to Kashmír; several junipers and the common yew (Taxus baccata) also The deodar (Cedrus Deodara), which is indigenous to the mountains of Afghánistán and the north-west Himálayas, is nearly allied to the Atlantic cedar and to the cedar of Lebanon, a variety of which has recently been found in Cyprus. Another instance of the connection of the Western Himalayan flora with that of Europe is the holm oak (Quercus Ilex), so characteristic of the Mediterranean region. occur. Northwest. Assam and Malayan peninsula. Western The north-western area is best marked in Sind and the Punjab, where the climate is very dry (rainfall under 15 inches), and where the soil, though fertile, is wholly dependent on irrigation for its cultivation. The low-scattered jungle contains such characteristic species as Capparis aphylla, Acacia arabica (babúl), Populus euphratica (the 'willows' of Ps cxxxvii. 2), Salvadora persica (erroneously identified by Royle with the mustard of Matt. xiii. 31), tamarisk, Zizyphus, Lotus, etc. The dry flora extends somewhat in a south-east direction, and then blends insensibly with that of the western peninsula; some species representing it are found in the upper Gangetic plain, and a few are widely distributed in dry parts of the country. This area is described by Sir Joseph Hooker as comprising 'the flora of the perennially humid regions of India, as of the whole Malayan peninsula, the upper Assam valley, the Khási mountains, the forests of the base of the Himalayas from the Brahmaputra to Nepál, of the Malabar coast, and of Ceylon.' The Western India type is difficult to characterize, and is intermediate between the two just preceding. It occupies a comparatively dry area, with a rainfall under 75 inches. In respect to positive affinities, Sir Joseph Hooker has pointed out some relations with the flora of tropical Africa as evidenced by the prevalence of such genera as Grewia and Impatiens, and the absence, common to both countries, of oaks and pines which abound in the Malayan archipelago. The annual vegetation which springs up in the rainy season includes numerous genera, such as Sida and Indigofera, which are largely represented both in Africa and Hindustán. Palms also in both countries are scanty, the most notable in Southern India being the wild date (Phoenix sylvestris); Borassus and the cocoa-nut are cultivated. The forests, although occasionally very dense, as in the Western Gháts, are usually drier and more open than those of the Malayan type, and are often scrubby. The most important timber-trees are the tún (Cedrela Toona), sál (Shorea robusta), the present area of which forms two belts separated by the Gangetic plain; satin - wood (Chloroxylon Swietenia), common in the drier parts of the peninsula; sandal-wood, especially characteristic of Mysore; iron-wood (Mesua ferrea), and teak (Tectona grandis). [ 665 ] CHAPTER XXV. VITAL STATISTICS OF INDIA. sources of THE vital statistics of India1 are derived from five chief Five sources. Of these, the first or European army consists of health foreigners under special medical conditions, and subject to returns. the disturbing influence of invaliding.' The second, or native army; the third, or jail population; and the fourth, or police; are all composed of natives, but of natives under special conditions as regards food, discipline, or labour. It is dangerous to generalize from returns thus obtained, with regard to the health statistics of the ordinary population of India. For that 1 The literature of Indian health statistics and medical aid may be divided into eight chief classes :-(1) Separate treatises by a series of medical observers, dating from the latter part of the 18th century and continuing up to the present time. (2) Official special Reports of the Medical Boards of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay on the great outbreak of cholera in 1817; the Medico-Topographical Reports (1825-40) of the chief stations of the Madras Presidency, by the Medical Board of that Presidency. (3) The Transactions of the Medical Physical Society of Calcutta (1823-39), and of Bombay (1837-76); the Indian Annals of Medical Science (Calcutta) from 1853-80; other medical journals at different periods in the three Presidencies. (4) Reports on the Medical Education of the Natives of India, commencing with vernacular medical schools in Calcutta and Bombay (1820-30), developing (1835–57) into the Medical Colleges of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, and extending into medical schools at Haidarábád (Deccan), Nágpur, Agra, Lahore, Balrampur (Oudh), Patná, Dacca, Poona, Ahmadábád. (5) Reports on Vital Statistics by the various Medical Boards, Medical Departments, and Inspectors-General of Hospitals; since 1827 these assume a prominent place. (6) The Annual Reports of the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of India, since 1874, and of the Sanitary Commissioners to the local Governments; the Annual Reports of the Inspectors-General of Jails, of the Inspectors-General of Police, and of the health officers to municipal bodies in the various Presidencies and Provinces. (7) Reports by special Committees or Commissions, such as those on the Bardwán fever, on the cattle-plague in Bengal, the Orissa famine of 1866, the Madras famine of 1878, etc. (8) Annual Reports of the public hospitals, dispensaries, and other medical charities. The author has been unable to test all the dates in this footnote; but he reproduces some of them, unverified, from a memorandum supplied to him Ly Dr. Morehead, formerly of Bombay. Registra tion of general Why worthy. untrust population, however, a system of registration exists, and this system forms the fifth source of our data on the subject. In certain Provinces, registration is carried out with some degree of efficiency. But the natives shrink from publicity population. touching the details of their life. They could only be forced to give uniform and absolutely trustworthy returns of births, deaths, marriages, sex, and age by a stringent legislation, and a costly administrative mechanism, from which the Government wisely abstains. In municipalities, however, registration furnishes a fairly accurate account of the vital statistics of the urban population. For the rural Districts, special areas in some Provinces were selected for statistical supervision; and this has been now gradually extended, with the exception of certain exceptionally situated tracts, to practically the whole population. But the results obtained are still necessarily imperfect. The Sources of error. Death rate in India. The Census operations, conducted under special legislation, will furnish a general picture of the Indian people every ten years. But the complete details have, up to the present time of writing, been obtained only for the two Censuses of 1871 and 1881. The chief results of the Census of 1881 are given in chapter i., and in Appendices I. to X. at the end of this volume. In treating of the public health of India, therefore, three points must always be borne in mind. The data are obtained either, first, from limited classes under special medical conditions; or second, from limited areas under special statistical supervision; or third, from a general system of registration spread over the whole country, but which has hitherto failed to yield trustworthy results. General averages from such sources, struck for the entire population, can only be accepted as estimates based upon the best information at present available. Subject to the above remarks, it may be stated that the evidence goes to show an annual death-rate of 32.57 per thousand in India. During the famine of 1877-78, the deathrate in Madras was ascertained to be equal to an annual rate of 532 per thousand. In 1877, the death-rate among the European troops in India was 12'71 per thousand, being the lowest recorded up to that year; in the native army, 13:38 per thousand; in the public jails, 61.95 per thousand, rising to 176 per thousand in the Madras prisons, which were flooded by the famine-stricken population. In 1883, the death-rate returns of European troops in India showed a mortality of |