140 DE. R. SPRUCE ON ^ [(Euoca/yus. 



at the geometrical apex of the ripe fruit. I have no note on the 

 form of the fruit of (E. disticTins and lataua^ but I suspect that 

 these (and perhaps (E. circumtextus) are the only species ansAver- 

 ing to Martius's generic character ; for they are said to have obtuse 

 berries, while in the three species first mentioned the berries are 



acute. 



The larger species are among the noblest of Palms ; and they 

 require to be restudied in their native haunts ; for there are pro- 

 bably several among them still undescribed, and it would seem 

 that the same vernacular name is applied to very distinct species 

 in different (or even in the same) localities. The (E. hataua. 

 Mart. Palm. 23, which is supposed to be the same as the " Palma 

 patavona " of Aublet, is surely distinct from the palm that Mr. 

 Wallace and myself have heard called " Pataua " by the Brazi- 

 lians, " Seje " by the Venezuelans ; for no mention is made in 

 Martius's description of the trunk being encased in the spixaiform 

 remnants of the leaf-sheaths, and only becoming denuded in the 

 tallest specimens, after the fashion of the Piassaba ; on the con- 

 trary, it is classed among the species "caudice nudo." 



I thought at one time that our palm might be the (E. circum- 

 textm (Mart. Pulm. 26, t. 26), which is said to have the trunk 

 " ubique tectus residuis petiolorum in opus fibrosum reticulatum 

 dissolutis;" but in the Pataua the veins of the leaf-sheaths per- 

 sist — not as reticulated fibres, but as straiglit spines, l|-3 feet 

 long, and stouter than knitting-needles ; and they constitute the 

 almost ready-made darts which the Indians shoot from the blow- 

 ing-cane. Besides, CE. circumtextus is altogether a smaller plant ; 



r 



for the trunk is only about 20 feet, and the leaves 8 to 10 feet 

 long ; even tbe leaves of (E. hataua are said to be only 15 feet ; 

 whereas the Pataua is a giant among palms, the trunk reaching 

 80 to 100 feet, and the leaves nearly half that length. I find, 

 however, that I have preserved only an estimate (not an exact 

 measurement) of the leaves of the Pataua ; but the pinnae alone 

 of my dried specimens are 5 feet 4 inches (English) long, by 4 

 inches ^vide, and they were so numerous on each frond that I did 

 not take the trouble to count them, but merely indicated their 

 number by the symbol for infinity ; so that I do not hesitate to say 

 that the eutirfi leaves are 40 feet long, at the least. 



All the species of (Enocarpus have the pinnae numerously and 

 strongly plicate ; in the Pataua I have counted 14 or 15 folds on 

 a single pinna. The ripe fruit is usually of a deep violet or black, 



