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of two kinds, viz., Ma Tai
and Kwai Lam Ma Tai
the second being merely an older state of the first, both being the tubers of the above named rush. The Singapuri Kysur of the Calcutta market, according to the specimens sent, is identical with the Chinese tuber.
Lo Fou Shan. Mr. KERSHAW informs me that he has explored this mountain recently and finds no sign at the present time of the "primeval" and "virgin" forest described by Bourne.
Kwa -Under this name 11 different vegetables are distinguished in the local markets. In collecting specimens with flowers and leaves for the herbarium the following facts were ascertained :-
Sai Kwa, I, is the Water Melon (Citrullus vulgaris).·
Fu Kwa,, is the fruit of Momordica Charantia, and is like a short cucumber with a corrugated surface.
Ching Kwa,
A, Pak Kwa, A, and Wong Kwa, A, are varieties of the Cucumber (Cucumis sativus).
Fan Kwa, A, and Tung Kwa, M, are varieties of the Pumpkin (Cucurbita Popo).
Chit Kwa,, is Benincasa cerifera, like a cucumber but having a hairy surface. Heung Kwa, A, is a cucumber-like vegetable but fluted longitudinally (Luffu acutangula).
Nam Kwa, M, and Kam Kwa, M, are not obtainable locally but their seeds are largely used by the Chinese.
Shui Kwa, K, and Hok Kwa, A, are not, like the above, used as vegetables but are employed as sponges and water-vessels respectively, viz.: Luffa cylindrica and Lagenaria vulgaris. All the above belong to the natural order Cucurbitacea.
The Papaw, of an allied orderiis also called locally Muk Kwa, ✯.
Tau, .-A similar investigation was made into the botanical identity of the various vegetables known to the local Chinese as tau. Hak Tau, AE, Hung Tau, E, and Mi Tau, E, are the black, red and white races of the glabrous podded variety of Phaseolus Mungo, while Luk Tau, E, and Pak Tau, ÉE, are the green and white races of the hairy-podded variety of the same species. Wong Tau, E, is the Soy Bean, Glycine hispida; To Tau, E, the Sword Bean, Canavalia gladiata. Sut Tau, SE, the Lima Bean, Phaseolus lunatus. Pin Tau, E, is Dolichos Lablab; while Pat Yuet Tau Kok, AE, is the Long Bean, Vigna sinensis. By calling the Ground Nut Ti Tau, E, the Chinese recognize it as a bean which it really is.
Mui, -It has long been assumed that Mui,, Li, 4, and To,, represent the Plum, Apricot and Peach respectively. But in 1903 Sir ERNEST SATOW sent two specimens of Ching Mui,, for identification, saying that they were not really plums at all. They had pitted stones somewhat like those of the peach, which fruit they were then thought to be. Last year, however, on examining fresh fruits of Mui from the Hongkong Market it was evident that they were neither plums nor peaches but the fruit of Prunus Mume. This is known as a Japanese fruit (Mume) and it is interesting to find that one of our commonest local fruits belongs to a species that was not known to be cultivated at all by the Chinese or indeed to exist so far South as this province. The Japanese character for Mume is identical with the Chinese Mui.