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It is remarkable that nocturnal radiation as registered at sunrise is
much more powerful at Mirzapore than on the more exposed Kymore
plateau; the depression of the thermometer freely exposed being 3
degrees greater, that laid on bare earth 6 degrees, and that on the
grass 1.4 degrees greater, on the banks of the Ganges. During my
passage down the Ganges the rise of the dew-point was very steady,
the maximum occurring at the lowest point on the river, Bhaugulpore,
which, as compared with Mirzapore, showed an increase of 8 degrees in
temperature, and of 30.6 degrees in the rise of the dew-point.
The saturation-point at Mirzakore was .331, and at the corresponding
hours at Bhaugulpore .742.


MIRZAPORE (ELEV. 362 FEET), MARCH 9TH TO 13TH, 1848.

Hour Sunrise 9 a.m. 3 p.m. 9 p.m.
TEMPERATURE
Mean 61.1 76.1 86.0 76.0
Max. 63.0 83.0 ... ...
Min. 58.0 71.0 ... ...
Range 5.0 12.0 ... ...
WET-BULB
Mean 48.8 58.5 61.7 63.5
Max. Difference 51.5 56.5 24.3 12.5
Min. Difference 47.0 51.7 ... ...

Elasticity of Vapour .236 .302 .295 .480

DEW-POINT
Mean 34.3 41.9 41.3 55.2
Max. 39.7 ... ... ...
Min. 29.7 ... ... ...
Max. Difference 32.8 52.3 44.7 20.8
Min. Difference 23.8 15.7 ... ...

Weight of Vapour in cubic feet 2.574 3.271 3.089 5.127

SATURATION
Mean .405 .324 .264 .511
Max. .450 .603 ... ...
Min. .327 .176 ... ...

Number of observations 3 3 1 1


TERRESTRIAL RADIATION.
Mean
Air in Shade. Sunrise 60.0 62.5 63.0 58.0 60.9
Exposed Th. 55.0 54.5 55.5 53.0 54.6
Difference 5.0 8.0 7.5 5.0 6.4
Exposed on earth ... 56.0 50.5 54.0 53.5
Difference ... 6.5 12.5 4.0 7.7
Exposed on grass 52.0 52.5 50.5 50.0 51.3
Difference 8.0 10.0 12.5 8.0 9.6


APPENDIX B.

ON THE MINERAL CONSTITUENTS AND ALGAE OF THE HOT-SPRINGS OF BEHAR,
THE HIMALAYA, AND OTHER PARTS OF INDIA, ETC., INCLUDING NOTES ON THE
FUNGI OF THE HIMALAYA.

(By Dr. R. D. Thomson and the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, M.A., F.L.S.)

The following remarks, for which I am indebted to the kindness of the
able chemist and naturalist mentioned above, will be highly valued,
both by those who are interested in the many curious physiological
questions involved in the association of the most obscure forms of
vegetable life with the remarkable phenomena of mineral springs; or
in the exquisitely beautiful microscopic structure of the lower
Algae, which has thrown so much light upon a branch of natural
history, whose domain, like that of astronomy, lies to a great extent
beyond the reach of the unassisted eye.--J.D.H.

1. Mineral water, Soorujkoond, Behar (vol. i., chap. ii), contains
chloride of sodium and sulphate of soda.

2. Mineral water, hot springs, Yeumtong, altitude 11,730 feet (see
vol. ii., chap. xxii). Disengages sulphuretted hydrogen when
fresh.--This water was inodorous when the bottle was opened.
The saline matter in solution was considerably less than in the
Soorujkoond water, but like that consisted of chloride of sodium and
sulphate of soda. Its alkaline character suggests the probability of
its containing carbonate of soda, but none was detected.

The rocks decomposed by the waters of the spring consist of granite
impregnated with sulphate of alumina. It appears that in this case
the sulphurous waters of Yeumtong became impregnated in the air with
sulphuric acid, which decomposed the felspar,* [I have, in my
journal, particularly alluded to the garnets (an aluminous mineral)
being thus entirely decomposed.-J.D.H.] and united with its alumina.
I found traces only of potash in the salt.

Sulphuretted hydrogen waters appear to give origin to sulphuric acid,
when the water impregnated with the gas reaches the surface; and I
have fine fibrous specimens of sulphate of lime accompanied with
sulphur, from the hot springs of Pugha in west Tibet, brought by
Dr. T. Thomson.

3. Mineral water, Momay hot springs, (vol. ii., chap. xxii).--When
the bottle was uncorked, a strong smell of sulphuretted hydrogen was
perceived. The water contains about twenty-five grains per imp.
gallon, of chloride of sodium, sulphate and carbonate of soda; the
reaction being strongly alkaline when the solution was concentrated.

4. Effloresced earth from Behar (vol. i., chap. i), consists of
granite sand, mixed with sesquicarbonate of soda.


_On the Indian Algae which occur principally in different parts of
the Himalayan Range, in the hot-sprinys of Soorujkoond in Bengal,
Pugha in Tibet, and Momay in Sikkim; and on the Fungi of the
Himalayas. By the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, M.A.

It is not my intention in the present appendix to give specific
characters or even accurately determined specific names to the
different objects within its scope, which have come under
investigation, as collected by Dr. Hooker and Dr. Thomson. To do so
would require far more time than I have at present been able to
devote to the subject, for though every species has been examined
microscopically, either by myself or Mr. Broome, and working
sketches secured at the same time, the specific determination of
fresh water Algae from Herbarium specimens is a matter which
requires a very long and accurate comparison of samples from every
available locality, and in the case of such genera as _Zygnema,
Tyndaridea,_ and _Conferva,_ is, after all, not a very satisfactory
process.

The object in view is merely to give some general notion of the forms
which presented themselves in the vast districts visited by the
above-mentioned botanists, comprising localities of the greatest
possible difference as regards both temperature and elevation; but
more especially in the hot-springs which occur in two distant parts
of the Himalayas and in Behar, and these again under very different
degrees of elevation and of extrinsic temperature.

The Algae from lower localities are but few in number, and some of
these of very common forms. We have for instance from the Ganges,
opposite Bijnour, a _Batrachospermum_ and _Conferva crispata,_ the
former purple below, with specimens of _Chantransia,_ exactly as they
might occur in the Thames. The _Conferva,_ or more properly
_Cladophora,_ which occurs also under various forms, at higher
elevations, as in the neighbourhood of Simla and Iskardo, swarms with
little parasites, but of common or uninteresting species. In the
Bijnour specimens, these consist of common forms of _Synedra,
Meridion circulare,_ and a _Cymbella,_ on others from Dacca, there
are about three species of _Synedra,_* {Two of these appear to be _S.
Vaucheriae_ and _S. inaequalis._] a minute _Navicula_ and _Gomphonema
curvatum._ Nothing, in fact, can well be more European. One splendid
Alga, however, occurs at Fitcoree, in Behar, on the banks of nullahs,
which are dry in hot weather, forming a purple fleece of coarse
woolly hairs, which are singularly compressed, and of extreme beauty
under the microscope, from the crystalline green of the articulated
string which threads the bright red investing sheath. This curious
Alga calls to mind in its colouring _Caenocoleus Smithii,_ figured in
English Botany, t. 2940, but it has not the common sheath of that
Alga, and is on a far larger scale. One or two other allied forms, or
species, occur in East Nepal, to which I purpose giving, together
with the Behar plant, the generic name of _Erythronema._ From the
Soane River, also, is an interesting Alga, belonging to the curious
genus _Thwaitesia,_ in which the division of the endochrome in the
fertile cells into four distinct masses, sometimes entirely free, is
beautifully marked. In some cases, indeed, instead of the ordinary
spores, the whole moss is broken up into numerous bodies, as in the
fertile joints of _Ulothrix,_ and probably, as in that case, the
resultant corpuscles are endowed with active motion. In Silhet,
again, is a magnificent _Zygnema,_ allied to _Z. nitidum,_ with large
oval spores, about 1/285 part of an inch long, and a dark golden
brown colour, and containing a spiral green endochrome.

Leaving, however, the lower parts of India, I shall first take the
species which occur in Khasia, Sikkim, Eastern Nepal, and the
adjoining parts of Tibet.

In the hot valleys of the Gtreat Rungeet, at an elevation of about
2000 feet, we have the _Erythronema,_ but under a slightly different
form; at Nunklow, at about the same height; in Khasia, again, at
twice that elevation; in Eastern Nepal, at 12,000; and, finally, at
Momay, reaching up to 16,000 feet. In water, highly impregnated with
oxide of iron, at 4000 feet in Sikkim, a _Leptothrix_ occurred in
great abundance, coloured with the oxide, exactly as is the case with
Algae which grow in iron springs in Europe. At elevations between
5000 and 7000 feet, several European forms occur, consisting of
_Ulothrix, Zygnema, Oscillatoria, Lyngbya, Sphaerozyga, Scytonema,
Conferva,_ and _Cladophora._ The species may indeed not be identical
with European species, but they are all more or less closely allied
to well-known Hydrophytes. One very interesting form, however, either
belonging to the genus _Zygnema,_ or possibly constituting a distinct
genus, occurs in streams at 5000 feet in Sikkim, consisting of highly
gelatinous threads of the normal structure of the _Zygnema,_ but
forming a reticulated mass. The threads adhere to each other
laterally, containing only a single spiral endochrome, and the
articulations are very long. Amongst the threads are mixed those of
some species of _Tyndaridea._ There is also a curious _Hormosiphon,_
at a height of 7000 feet; forming anastomosing gelatinous masses.
A fine new species of _Lyngbya_ extends up as high as 11,000 feet.
At 13,000 feet occurs either some simple _Conferva_ or _Zygnema,_ it
is doubtful which from the condition of the specimens; and at the
same elevation, in the nearly dry bed of the stream which flows from
the larger lake at Momay, amongst flat cakes, consisting of
felspathic silt from the glaciers above, and the debris of Algae, and
abounding in Diatomaceae, some threads of a _Zygnema._ At 17,000
feet, an _Oscillatoria,_ attached or adherent to _Zannichellia_; and,
finally, on the bare ground, at 18,000 feet, on the Donkia mountains,
an obscure species of _Caenocoleus._ On the surface of the glaciers
at Kinchinjhow, on silt, there is a curious _Palmella,_ apparently
quite distinct from any European form.

Amongst the greater part of the Algae, from 4000 feet to 18,000 feet,
various Diatomaceae occur, which will be best noticed in a tabular
form, as follows; the specific name, within brackets, merely
indicating the species to which they bear most resemblance:--

Himantidium (_Soleirolii_) 4000 to 7000 ft. Sikkim
Odontidium (_hiemale,_ forma minor) 5000 to 7000 ft. Sikkim
Epithemia, _n. sp._ 7000 ft. Sikkim
Cymbella -- Sikkim
Navicula, _n. sp._ -- Sikkim
Tabillaria (_flocculosa_) 6000 to 7000 ft. Sikkim
Odontidium (_hiemale_) 11,000 ft. Sikkim
Himantidium 16,000 ft. Momay
Odontidium (_turgidulum_) 17,000 ft. Momay
Epithemia (_ocellata_) -- Tibet
Fragillaria 18,000 ft. Momay
Odontidium (_turgidulum_) -- Momay
Dictyocha (_gracilis_) -- Momay
Odontidium (_hiemale_) -- Kinchinjhow


We now turn to those portions of Tibet or the neighbouring regions,
explored by Dr. Thomson and Captain Strachey. The principal feature
in the Algology is the great prevalence of species of _Zygnema_ and
_Tyndaridea,_ which occur under a variety of forms, sometimes with
very thick gelatinous coats. In not a single instance, however, is
there the slightest tendency to produce fructification. _Conferva
crispata_ again, as mentioned above, occurs in several localities;
and in one locality a beautiful unbranched _Conferva,_ with torulose
articulations. At Iskardo, Dr. Thomson gathered a very gelatinous
species of _Draparnaldia,_ or more properly, a _Stygeoclonium,_ if we
may judge from a little conglomeration of cells which appeared
amongst the threads. A _Tetraspora_ in Piti, an obscure
_Tolypothrix,_ and one or two _Oscillatoriae,_ remarkable for their
interrupted mode of growth, complete the list of Algae, with the
exception of one, to be mentioned presently; as also of
_Diatomaceae,_ and of the species of _Nostoc_ and _Hormosiphon,_
which occurred in great profusion, and under several forms, sometimes
attaining a very large size (several inches across), especially in
the districts of Le and Piti, and where the soil or waters were
impregnated with saline matters. It is well known that some species
of _Nostoc_ form an article of food in China, and one was used for
that purpose in a late Arctic expedition, as reported by Dr.
Sutherland; but it does not seem that any use is made of them in
Tibet, though probably all the large species would form tolerable
articles of food, and certainly, from their chemical composition,
prove very nutritious. One species is mentioned by Dr. Thomson as
floating, without any attachment, in the shallow water of the pools
scattered over the plains, on the Parang River, separated only by a
ridge of mountains from Piti, broad and foliaceous, and scarcely
different from the common _Nostoc,_ which occurs in all parts of the
globe. I must not, however, neglect to record a very singular new
genus, in which the young threads have the characters of
_Tyndaridea,_ but, after a time, little swellings occur on their
sides, in which a distinct endochrome is formed, extending backwards
into the parent endochrome, separated from it by a well defined
membrane, and producing, either by repeated pullulation, a compound
mass like that of _Calothrix,_ or simply giving rise to a forked
thread. In the latter case, however, there is no external swelling,
but a lateral endochrome is formed, which, as it grows, makes its way
through an aperture, whose sides are regularly inflected. I have
given to this curious production the name of _Cladozygia Thomsoni._

The whole of the above Algae occurred at heights varying from 10,000
to 15,500 feet. As in the Southern Himalayan Algae, the specimens
were infested with many Diatomaceae, amongst which the moat
conspicuous were various _Cymbellae_ and _Epithemiae.
The following is a list of the species observed.

Cymbella (_gastroides_).
-- (_gracilis_).
-- (_Ehrenbergii_)
and three others.
Odontidium (_hiemale_).
-- (_mesodon_).
-- _n. sp._
Epithemia _n. sp._
Synedra (_arcus_).
-- (_tenuis_).
-- (_aequalis_).
Denticula (_obtusa_).
Gomphonema (_abbreviatum_).
Meridion circulare.

There is very little identity between this list and that before given
from the Southern Himalayas, as is the case also with the other
Algae. Till the species, however, have been more completely studied,
a very accurate comparison cannot be made.

In both instances the species which grow in hot springs have been
reserved in order to make their comparison more easy. I shall begin
in an inverse order, with those of the springs of Pugha in Tibet,
which attain a temperature of 174 degrees. Two _Confervae_ only occur
in the specimens which have been preserved, viz., an _Oscillatoria_
allied to that which I have called _O. interrupta,_ and a true
_Conferva_ extremely delicate with very long articulations,
singularly swollen at the commissures. The _Diatomaceae_ are:--

Odontidium (_hiemale_).
-- (_mesodon_).
-- _n. sp.,_ same as at Piti on _Conferva._
Denticula (_obtusa_).
Navicula.
Cymbella, three species.
Epithemia.

Scarcely any one of these except the _Navicula_ is peculiar to the
locality. A fragment apparently of some _Closterium,_ the only one
which I have met with in the collection, accompanies one of the
specimens.

The hot springs of Momay, (temp. 110 degrees) at 16,000 feet, produce
a golden brown _Caenocoleus_ representing a small form of _C.
cirrhosus,_ and a very delicate _Sphaerozyga,_ an _Anabaina,_ and
_Tolypothrix_; and at 17,000 feet, a delicate green _Conferva_ with
long even articulations. With the latter is an _Odontidium_ allied
to, or identical with _O. turgidulum,_ and with the former a fine
species of _Epithemia_ resembling in form, but not in marking, _E.
Faba, E. (Zebra)_ a fine _Navicula,_ perhaps the same with _N. major_
and _Fragilaria (virescens)._* [Mr. Thomas Brightwell finds in a
portion of the same specimen _Epithemia alpestris, Surirella
splendida, S. linearis,_ Smith, _Pinnularia viridis,_ Smith,
_Navicula (lanceolata)_ and _Himantidium (arcus)._] In mud from one
of the Momay springs (_a_), I detected _Epithemia (Broomeii n.s.),_
and two small _Naviculae,_ and in the spring (_c_) two species of
_Epithemia_ somewhat like _E. Faba,_ but different from that
mentioned above.

The hot springs of Soorujkoond, of the vegetation of which very
numerous specimens have been preserved, are extremely poor in
species. In the springs themselves and on their banks, at
temperatures varying from 80 degrees to 158 degrees, at which point
vegetation entirely ceases, a minute _Leptothrix_ abounds everywhere,
varying a little in the regularity of the threads in different
specimens, but scarcely presenting two species. Between 84 degrees
and 112 degrees there is an imperfect _Zygnema_ with very long
articulations, and where the green scum passes into brown, there is
sometimes an _0scillatoria,_ of a very minute stellate _Scytonema,_
probably in an imperfect state. _Epithemia ocellata_ also contributes
often to produce the tint. An _Anabaina_ occurs at a temperature of
125 degrees, but the same species was found also in the stream from
the springs where the water had become cold, as was also the case
with the _Zygnema._

The Diatomaceae consisted of:--

Epithemia Broomeii, _n. s._
-- thermalis, _n. sp._
Epithemia inaequalis, _n. sp._
Navicula Beharensis, _n. sp._

The vegetation in the three sets of springs was very different.
As regards the _Confervae,_ taking the word in its older sense, the
species in the three are quite different, and even in respect of
genera there is little identity, but amongst the _Diatomaceae_ there
is no striking difference, except in those of the Behar springs where
three out of the four did not occur elsewhere. In the Pugha and Momay
springs, the species were either identical with, or nearly allied to
those found in neighbouring localities, where the water did not
exceed the ordinary temperature. A longer examination will doubtless
detect more numerous forms, but those which appear on a first
examination are sure to give a pretty correct general notion of the
vegetation. The species are certainly less numerous than I had
expected, or than might be supposed from the vegetation of those
European hot springs which have been most investigated.

In conclusion, I shall beg to add a few words on the Fungi of the
Himalayas, so far as they have at present been investigated.
As regards these there is a marked difference, as might be
anticipated from the nature of the climates between those parts of
Tibet investigated by Dr. Thomson, and the more southern regions.
The fungi found by Dr. Thomson were but few in number, and for the
most part of very ordinary forms, differing but little from the
produce of an European wood. Some, however, grow to a very large
size, as for instance, _Polyporus fomentarius_ on poplars near
Iskardo, exceeding in dimensions anything which this species exhibits
in Europe. A very fine _AEcidium_ also infests the fir trees (_Abies
Smithiana_), a figure of which has been given in the "Gardeners'
Chronicle," 1852, p. 627, under the name of _AEcidium Thomsoni._
This is allied to the Hexenbesen of the German forests, but is a
finer species and quite distinct. _Polyporus oblectans, Geaster
limbatus, Geaster mammosus, Erysiphe taurica,_ a _Boletus_ infested
with _Sepedonium mycophilum, Scleroderma verrucosum,_ an _AEcidium,_
and a _Uromyces,_ both on _Mulgedium Tataricum,_ about half-a-dozen
Agarics, one at an altitude of 16,000 feet above the Nubra river, a
_Lycoperdon,_ and _Morchella semilibera,_ which is eaten in Kashmir,
and exported when dry to the plains of India, make up the list
of fungi.

The region of Sikkim is perhaps the most productive in fleshy fungi
of any in the world, both as regards numbers and species, and Eastern
Nepal and Khasia yield also an abundant harvest. The forms are for
the most part European, though the species are scarcely ever quite
identical. The dimensions of many are truly gigantic, and many
species afford abundant food to the natives. Mixed with European
forms a few more decidedly tropical occur, and amongst those of East
Nepal is a _Lentinus_ which has the curious property of staining
every thing which touches it of a deep rhubarb yellow, and is not
exceeded in magnificence by any tropical species. The _Polypori_ are
often identical with those of Java, Ceylon, and the Philippine Isles,
and the curious _Trichocoma paradoxum_ which was first found by
Junghuhn in Java, and very recently by Dr. Harvey in Ceylon, occurs
abundantly on the decayed trunks of laurels, as it does in South
Carolina. The curious genus _Mitremyces_ also is scattered here and
there, though not under the American form, but that which occurs in
Java. Though _Hymenomycetes_ are so abundant, the _Discomycetes_ and
_Ascomycetes_ are comparatively rare, and very few species indeed of
_Sphoeria_ were gathered. One curious matter is, that amongst the
very extensive collections which have been made there is scarcely a
single new genus. The species moreover in Sikkim are quite different,
except in the case of some more or less cosmopolite species from
those of Eastern Nepal and Khasia: scarcely a single _Lactarius_ or
_Cortinarius_ for instance occurs in Sikkim, though there are several
in Khasia. The genus _Boletus_ through the whole district assumes the
most magnificent forms, which are generally very different from
anything in Europe.



APPENDIX C.* [The tables referred to, at v. i. chapter ii, as under Appendix C., will be found under Appendix A.]

ON THE SOILS OF SIKKIM.

There is little variety in the soil throughout Sikkim, and, as far as
vegetation is concerned, it may be divided into vegetable mould and
stiff clay--each, as they usually occur, remarkably characteristic in
composition of such soils. Bog-earth is very rare, nor did I find
peat at any elevation.

The clay is uniformly of great tenacity, and is, I believe, wholly
due to the effect of the atmosphere on crumbling gneiss and other
rocks. It makes excellent bricks, is tenacious, seldom friable, and
sometimes accumulated in beds fourteen feet thick, although more
generally only about two feet. In certain localities, beds or narrow
seams of pure felspathic clay and layers of vegetable matter occur in
it, probably wholly due to local causes. An analysis of that near
Dorjiling gives about 30 per cent. of alumina, the rest being silica,
and a fraction of oxide of iron. Lime is wholly unknown as a
constituent of the soil, and only occasionally seen as a stalactitic
deposit from a few springs.

A layer of vegetable earth almost invariably covers the clay to the
depth of from three to twelve or fourteen inches. It is a very rich
black mould, held in its position on the slopes of the hills by the
dense vegetation, and accumulated on the banks of small streams to a
depth at times of three and four feet. The following is an analysis
of an average specimen of the surface-soil of Dorjiling, made for me
by my friend C. J. Muller, Esq., of that place:--

_a._--DRY EARTH.

Anhydrous 83.84
Water 16.16
------
100.00

_b._--ANHYDROUS EARTH.

Humic acid 3.89
Humine 4.61
Undecomposed vegetable matter 20.98
Peroxide of iron and manganese 7.05
Alumina 8.95
Siliceous matter, insoluble in dilute hydrochloric acid 54.52
Traces of soda and muriatic acid --
------
100.00