This species, taller than the common sorghum and with a loose panicle,[1941] is cultivated in tropical countries for the seed—which, however, is not so good as that of the common sorghum—and in less hot countries as fodder, or even for the sugar which the stem contains in considerable quantities. The Chinese extract a spirit from it, but not sugar. The opinion of botanists and of the public in general is that it comes from India; but Roxburgh says that it is only cultivated in that country. It is the same in the Sunda Isles, where the _battari_ is certainly this species. It is the _kao-liang_, or great millet of the Chinese. It is not said to be indigenous in China, nor is it mentioned by Chinese authors who lived before the Christian era.[1942] From these facts, and the absence of any Sanskrit name, the Asiatic origin seems to me a delusion. The plant is now cultivated in Egypt less than the common sorghum, and in Arabia under the name _dokhna_ or _dokhn_.[1943] No botanist has seen it wild in these countries. There is no proof that the ancient Egyptians cultivated it. Herodotus[1944] spoke of a “tree-millet” in the plains of Assyria. It might be the species in question, but it is not possible to prove it. The Greeks and Romans were not acquainted with it, not at least before the Roman empire, but it is possible that this was the millet, seven feet high, which Pliny mentions[1945] as having been introduced from India in his lifetime. We must probably seek its origin in tropical Africa, where the species is generally cultivated. Sir William Hooker[1946] mentions specimens from the banks of the river Nun, which were perhaps wild. The approaching publication of the Graminæ in the flora of tropical Africa will probably throw some light on this question. The spread of its cultivation from the interior of Africa to Egypt after the Pharaohs, to Arabia, the Indian Archipelago, and, after the epoch of Sanskrit, to India, lastly to China, towards the beginning of our era, tallies with historical data, and is not difficult to admit. The inverse hypothesis of a transmission from east to west presents a number of objections. Several varieties of sorghum are cultivated in Asia and in Africa; for instance, _cernuus_ with drooping panicles, mentioned by Roxburgh, and which Prosper Alpin had seen in Egypt; _bicolor_, which in height resembles the _saccharatus_; and _niger_ and _rubens_, which also seem to be varieties of cultivation. None of these has been found wild, and it is probable that a monograph would connect them with one or other of the above-mentioned species. +Coracan+—_Eleusine coracana_, Gærtner.